The Comic Book Thread

[Maf]

ComicPop did Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow on back issues this week which got me reading through it again. It’s so good. Every issue either has a perfect “Super” moment or something completely not “Super” which fits Kara so well and are moments that could never be done with Clark.
 

The simple bit of the story is Supergirl and a young girl called Ruthye are chasing after a psycho barbarian across space. 
 

Here are three of my favourite moments.

A Simple, Perfect Truth
 

Spoiler

Her Power was not of Action but of Restraint

 

Spoiler

 

Thank You, Neighbour

 

Spoiler

 

[Maf]

Finally finished Avenger’s Kang Dynasty and oof that’s a boring comic. It did pick up slightly in the second half for a bit, then descended in to explosive nonsense for the final 2 issues.

 

The bit that is good (“good” in this case meaning not entirely boring) I spoiler below in case it’s used in a movie in 2 years time

 

Spoiler

Kang wages war with earth and sets a rule that all fighting must be done on the ground (because Kang, quite consistently in the comic, sees war and battles with a very sportsmanship kinda attitude) but if anyone comes messes with his space base he will get fucking mad

 

The US Government tells the Avengers if they can’t deal with Kang by a certain time they’ve got 75 Sentinels ready to go and attack Kang Directly

 

Out of options a small group of Avengers go to space and try to break Kang’s base’s force field but it doesn’t work. Seeing this the US sends the Sentinels which before they even reach Kang, Kang takes commands of and comes back to Washington DC with them and starts blowing everybody up

Also every major US city including Washington DC is surrounded by defences set up by the Master of the World (Not even going to bother…) which has effectively trapped everyone inside. When Kang reached the middle he drops a green bomb that kills every one in Washington DC.

 

After the US and other countries accept surrender and Kang takes over the world, people and left over heroes are either part of the resistance or put in PoW camps.

 

This part was cool and the prison stuff is kind of like, but no where near as good as, Days of Future Past. So this part was cool and woke me up a bit.

 

The issue where Kang kills everyone in Washington also has no dialogue the entire issue to try add effect to what happens. It sort of works

 
Apart from that though most of this comic is a snooze fest and hard to recommend for any reason 

 

Literally putting me to sleep by the end. I’ll be surprised if I remember much of this story in a week’s time 😴

[OCH]

43 minutes ago, Maf said:

Master of the World (Not even going to bother…)

I will!

 

😂

Well done @Maf for surviving pre-Bendis Avengers. The fact that this one is well regarded (and the name of the upcoming MCU film) speaks to the quality of those stories before it...

[Maf]

I realised one of the big problems with the Avengers and it’s that all their powers are the same. They all fly around shooting lasers out of their hands. All the lasers have different names. Repulser Rays, Hex Magic, Zero Energy, Bio Bolts, Photon Blasts, whatever the fuck Wonder Man does. Which just means they fly around shooting different coloured lasers from their hands. I think it’s part of why none of them feel cool and so many of them feel unnecessary. Because there’s no clear understanding or explanation of what is actually different about them.
 

As opposed to the X-Men who (despite having too many psychics/telepaths) have largely distinct power sets which provides them roles/reasons to be on a team and an understanding what is happening when they use their powers. Even Justice League is better because they’re all the best at something.

 

One of the only unique power sets on the team is Captain America who basically does nothing the whole comic because most of the threats are too big for him to punch. He just orders everyone around all the time and people call him “The greatest warrior” multiple times in comic but you never see it until right at the end.

 

The absolute, biggest positive about this comic is Kang. He’s actually a really cool character. He comes off as a sincere threat, they address his power over time, how he uses it, his attitude to conquering, and it’s all pretty consistent with the other Kang story I’ve read Avengers Forever. He’s very cool. I would like to see a story where Kang fights Ultron

[OCH]

11 minutes ago, Maf said:

He just orders everyone around all the time and people call him “The greatest warrior” multiple times in comic

Which always brings to mind this great quote from Wolverine in the original Secret Wars. Xavier defers leadership of the heroes to Captain America. Logan ...does not agree.

[Maf]

That’s Wolverine just being a punk. I like that Cap is a literal Super Soldier and one of the greatest fighters in the world. Just in these classic Avenger’s stories he doesn’t have much to do action wise and he is written like a stick in the mud, pedantic, whiny bitch. Which doesn’t follow why everyone takes orders from him.

 

But I like Cap’s place in Marvel Comic, it just doesn’t work here. If he’s feet aren’t firmly on the ground he doesn’t have anything to do 

[OCH]

[Maf]

I just learned a minute ago that Jenna Coleman is playing

Spoiler

John Constantine in the show or now Joanna Constantine?

My mind is going backwards. I’m not against it but it’s so weird. 

[Nag]

I've watched 5 episodes up to now and it's really fucking good... and I have no real knowledge about the story apart from knowing who/what the Sandman is.

[Jimboxy]

@Maf i edited in that spoiler for you, you're welcome

11 hours ago, Nag said:

I've watched 5 episodes up to now and it's really fucking good... and I have no real knowledge about the story apart from knowing who/what the Sandman is.

Yep, I'd agree with that, episodes 4 and 5 where particularly good, don't really want it to finish

[OCH]

Going through some of my old books in storage. Uncanny X-Men, with classic Onslaught foreshadowing.

I miss Joe Mad drawing X-Men...

[OCH]

Talking to someone about Comic book magazines, the other day:

 

Wizard, for example. Personally I only used to read a few. Those with eye catching covers. It's funny to look back through older issues though (Marvel Vision, was my book of choice) you realise how outdated print media magazines actually are. Perfect little time capsules though.

[Maf]

Should have guessed they’d be doing Spider-Verse again. Hopefully they do actually end the Spider-Verse and send all these characters away. It’s weird that there’s a “Spider-Family” except they all hang around with each other and not Peter. 
 

Also I really like Mark Bagley drawing Spider-Man when it was Ultimate Spider-Man, but the same art style for a different, older version of the character. It doesn’t look bad but it doesn’t really fit. 
 

Not to moan about it up and down, I hope it’s good. Just my immediate thoughts

[Maf]

Electra as Daredevil might be cooler than Daredevil 

 

[Maf]

They’re doing a new style for the covers of Detective Comics and I think they look really cool

 

[Maf]

This is fun. So Batman is losing a fight to a robot called Failsafe, which is a robot Batman designed to beat himself in case he had to be stopped. Why the name Failsafe. However if Batman designed it he would know how to beat it, so he let his other personality, the Batman of Zur-en-Aar make it. 
 

So Batman tries to let his other personality out to shut it down, but…

 

 

😆 I love that. He let his other personality build the machine. But his other personality knew Batman could default to him to stop it, so his other personality got rid of the memory of how to beat it. Batman is a prick, even to himself. I really like that. It fits the story, it fits the character, and it’s really funny.

 

But then it ends with something cool and something you basically never see in Batman comics

 

 

It might also not be as over as you think because earlier they scan Failsafe and find he has “some” Amazo technology in him. So I think it might fuck up Superman as well. Either way, can’t wait for #4. This is a fun story. Simple stakes but good takes on the characters.

[OCH]

^Supes would be quite the failsafe.

 

Meanwhile, I've been reading some classic X-Men lately. This contrast in what is being depicted amused me. So I thought to share. The first image is from X-Men #11 (1965). The second is from Civil War: X-Men #4 (2006).

 

 

Spoiler

It's amazing the X-Men beat anyone in the beginning😄

[Maf]

So the first page of that Batman comic is a small retcon where at the end of the Tower of Babel storyline Superman confronts Batman and says “You had plans for stopping each one of us, what’s the plan for stopping you?” Batman then says the plan is the Justice League. Which Superman immediately calls bullshit on and wants to know what’s the real plan for stopping Batman. The answer is Failsafe.

 

I’m really liking this story. It’s nice to read a Batman comic that doesn’t feel like a 6 issue event where Gotham burns and the Bat family has to all join forces. It’s simple so far but I enjoy the simplicity, and the characters are well written. 
 

The only thing I don’t like is Failsafe is seemingly designed to go in to action if Batman ever goes too far. In this case Batman was framed for murder in #1. But Batman has been framed for murder many times. Only last year in Detective Comics Batman/Bruce Wayne was wanted for murder of a gangster’s daughter. I’ve never read it but there’s also a pretty famous Batman story called Bruce Wayne: Fugitive which is where Bruce is framed for murder.

 

So have to ignore that part because it’s comics and they’ve been telling these stories for decades. Sometimes things just repeat. Maybe later they’ll explain an actual reason why Failsafe came online. Either way. I really like this so I can get over it

[OCH]

- Michael Golden

 

Jumping ahead in X-Men. I've seen far too many "top 10 X-Men we need in the MCU" lately. A couple I clicked on. Most I haven't. While I would love to see an authentic Original Five X-Men onscreen for the first time. The instant gratification crowd aren't going to stomach that. The recency bias of newer fans isn't either. They haven't even debuted yet and people are throwing around Wolverine, Gambit, Bishop and Emma Frost. I think my sigh could be heard from the street outside my house. It's not like I'm suggesting one of the obscure rosters...

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

The X-Men have around 50 members, at this point? That isn't exact, just a guestimate. But there's never really be a story that uses all of them at once ...that works.

The best rosters, such as the one above, are small. Six (five and a half, as Kitty Pryde is a trainee here) characters. That's all you need. Not just cherry picking the popular. But those that have the right interactions. But you've got to put the work into the inter-personal stuff first. That's why even recent storylines like Krakoa, a literal island nation of mutants. Focuses on eight at most.

[OCH]

80's fashion, even in comics, was interesting...