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Post by todd on Mar 23, 2011 6:50:14 GMT -4
I used to love comic books until the mid 90's when they decided to reboot the entire marvel universe. That annoyed me so much I stopped buying them. It was like giving the long time loyal fans a slap across the face. Do you mean the aftermath of the Onlsaught story that spun off into "Heroes Reborn" where Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, and company did new incarnations of Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and Captain America? Those didn't last too long and they got absorbed right back into regular continuity within a year. There was also the "Ultimates" universe that came along in 2000, but that wasn't a reboot of the entire Marvel universe, it's an alternate line of continuity that runs parallel to the Marvel U that has always been there and remains reboot-free since the 1960s. If you jumped because of a reboot, you jumped on a false alarm. Does anyone here read any non-superhero stuff? Recently I've been discovering a lot of the early DC Vertigo stuff that came out in the early 90s before I was old enough to apprecitate it. Then there's the current series The Unwritten and Jonathan Hickman books like Pax Romana, and especially Nightly News which I thought was pretty great. Also, for some older stuff, Brian Michael Bendis' creator-owned work from the 90s like AKA Goldfish, Torso (which I'm real surprised has never been optioned for a movie) and Jinx still hold up really well. There's a lot of really inventive and original new stuff out there, too. On the superhero front, I finally got to read issue 3 of Batman Inc yesterday (right before number four hits tomorrow) and I really think it's hitting it's stride. It's like "Batman Brave and The Bold" done more mature and in the main DC continuity with Batman teaming with a new odd or obscure character every story arc. I've got five new books to read coming out tomorrow: Silver Surfer 2, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep 21 , Batman Inc 4, Green Lantern 64, and Haunt 14. That's the one Mark. Understand Captain America and The Fantastic Four were my two favorite books and I had been reading and collecting those books since around 1977. I know they changed everything back but by that time they lost me as a customer. Maybe this wasn't a reboot but I remember some really wacky things with spiderman. Peter Parker being a clone or something like that. I was never a big DC fan except for Detective Comics and the Justice League in the 1980's with Booster Gold and Guy Gardener. I dont remember the writer's name but those issues put a unique funny twist on the Justice League.
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Post by ljacone on Mar 23, 2011 7:46:43 GMT -4
Non-superhero stuff I am digging right now:
glamourpuss by Dave Sim (of Cerebus fame). This is a schiziophrenic comic; a mix of a history of the photorealistic art style of comic strip artists such as Alex Raymond anf Stan Drake and a bizarre satire of the fashion and magazine industries. It's beautifully drawn, and Sim's satire is very biting, often hilarious. The historical aspect of the artists and their work is often fascinating. Just great indy comix.
I've got some funnybooks, too: Futurama Comics by Bongo, Uncle Scrooge by BOOM!, and Darkwing Duck also by BOOM!
Some traditional comics which I don't consider superheroes which I am reading: Magnus, Robot Fighter and The Mighty Samson over at Dark Horse (both revivals of the classic Gold Key characters), which I would call Science Fiction; GI Joe: A Real American Hero at IDW (continuing the 80s continuity with Larry Hama writing), which is a War book; and the upcoming Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters from IDW, clearly a Monster book.
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Post by wildfire on Mar 23, 2011 8:47:17 GMT -4
Transmet. is/was a fantastic book... Warren Ellis, when he doesn't go overboard.
Fables is probably my fave, though... although one could argue it's a bit superhero-y.
Elfquest is a very close second... those it went down hill when it got popular and they split into several books. The early stuff (the original series and Kings of the Broken Wheel) is great.
Like everyone into comics (pretty much) I defintely have read and enjoyed Preacher and Sandman.
Let's see.... Castle Waiting was pretty good... Cerebus has had it's moments over the years, though he's more a plot device than an actual character.
@ Todd: I'm guessing you're referring to when Bendis took over... as Mark set, the other stuff is temporary. I kinda agree with you there... he changed EVERYTHNG... much of it not for the better, IMO.
Sniped! Sounds like you ARE talking about Heroes Reborn.... that was just a olive branch to the Image guys... I think Marvel thought people would still by Rob Liefield's ridiculously proportioned characters, if only they were Marvel. Funny how that was pretty much the last hurrah for that whole crew.
Sniped!
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Post by wildfire on Mar 23, 2011 8:51:26 GMT -4
Some traditional comics which I don't consider superheroes which I am reading: Magnus, Robot Fighter and The Mighty Samson over at Dark Horse (both revivals of the classic Gold Key characters), which I would call Science Fiction; GI Joe: A Real American Hero at IDW (continuing the 80s continuity with Larry Hama writing), which is a War book; and the upcoming Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters from IDW, clearly a Monster book. There's doin' a new Magnus book? cool.. I'll have to check that out... I really liked the Valiant stuff. Good little universe, that... too bad it got lost in the industry contraction after the book time.
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Post by maddog1981 on Mar 23, 2011 8:57:20 GMT -4
I loved Transmet even though I hated the politics of the book.
The thing with mid 90s Marvel is, they screwed up most of the titles do bad that they did that to undo most of the shit the books were mired in.
Bends for all of his faults made the Avengers matter again and turned it into a top seller. Now if DC could do the same for JLA.
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Post by ljacone on Mar 23, 2011 9:03:14 GMT -4
Sniped! Sounds like you ARE talking about Heroes Reborn.... that was just a olive branch to the Image guys... I think Marvel thought people would still by Rob Liefield's ridiculously proportioned characters, if only they were Marvel. Funny how that was pretty much the last hurrah for that whole crew. Well, not really "that whole crew" as Jim Lee went on to do Hush for DC and now is one of their top execs. Of course, his FF was far and away the best book of that entire exercise. Whilce Portacio's Iron Man was not BAD but it was not especially GOOD either. He would go on to do some more work including the relaunch of his creator owned Wetworks series and then work with McFarlane on Spawn. He never seemed to be cut out for full time comics work after that stuff with his sister, which is unfortunate. Liefeld's books were awful. Heroes Reborn was not a total failure though -- it brought about Heroes Return, which meant Busiek and Chen on Iron Man (*fistpump*) and Busiek and GEORGE PEREZ on Avengers (F*** YEAH!). It also was the impetus for the creation of the Thunderbolts, and the superlative Alpha Flight volume 2. wildfire -- Dark Horse right now is working with Jim Shooter on an entire line of Gold Key revival books: Solar, Man of the Atom; Magnus, Robot Fighter; Turok, Son of Stone; and The Mighty Samson. These are not based on the Valiant versions of the characters but go back to the Gold Key originals. Of course, that is where the Valiant books started as well before the VU expanded with all of their original characters. Shooter of course was the EIC of Valiant in the early days. If you liked the Valiant Magnus -- especially the early stuff before the Malev Invasion -- you'll dig the DH stuff. Only problem is that all of the books are very slow to be released. I think we are on like #4 of Magnus and its been published for a year.
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Post by wildfire on Mar 23, 2011 11:16:05 GMT -4
I'll have to look for the GOld Key revival.... maybe once they do trades... Dark Horse Trade's EVERYTHING.
I agree 100% the Busiek era of Avengers/IM was fantastic... far better than Bendis. Definitely enjoyed Thunderbolts, too.
I think what I really hated about recent Marvel was the Skrull thing... it's WAY to easy a Deux Machina to forget past bits of continunity, and very lazy writing, IMO. I haven't really read much mainline Marvel stuff since then... just X-Men, and the Space Stuff (Nova, mostly)
DC DID make JLA relavent for a while, when they first switched back to the 'big guns'. This latest incarnation is kinda meh, though.. not much they can do about that, though other than go back to the big guns.
I really like to see the old Titans 'move up' to JLA, that would be very good, I think... IF you took Dick Grayson (however you dress him), Starfire, Cyborg, and maybe Changling or Arsenal and toss in a few old hats, Like MM, maybe Booster, that could be a great book with a good writer.
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Post by maddog1981 on Mar 23, 2011 12:37:16 GMT -4
I've come to accept that DC will never get it with the JLA.
I wasn't a fan of Secret Invasion but it led to Dark Reign which I think was the best thing that happened to a superhero book during the past decade.
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Post by ljacone on Mar 23, 2011 13:10:33 GMT -4
I've come to accept that DC will never get it with the JLA. I wasn't a fan of Secret Invasion but it led to Dark Reign which I think was the best thing that happened to a superhero book during the past decade. Considering the sales of the Justice League book, I think DC "gets" what most comic readers want from the book. I think eventually we'll get back around to the Big 7 but it will take someone with the editorial stroke like Morrison had to pull it off again. Wow, maddog, you are the first person I have ever seen admit to liking Dark Reign. I thought that storyline was God awful. All of the line-wide Marvel stories have been crap since Avengers: Disassembled.
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Post by Havoc on Mar 23, 2011 13:32:34 GMT -4
So, am I like the only person on here that has never bought a comic book??
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2011 13:33:13 GMT -4
On the JLA talk...
I really liked the JLA of Vixen, Steel, Vibe, Gypsy and Martian Manhunter back in the day and then I really loved the Justice League with Batman, Guy Gardner, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle and others...
I see Guy Gardner is in Green Lantern : Emerald Warriors which looks like a cool book. I'm right now re-reading Guy Gardner : Reborn and then his series. I loved that he used Sinestros ring, it was a fun book and I didnt mind how they changed him into a Warrior...
On the Non-Super Hero Topic...
My top favorites are Shade, the Changing Man from Vertigo and the Sandman Mystery Theatre. Those two were awesome books, Transmet I started collecting but stopped...
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Post by maddog1981 on Mar 23, 2011 18:31:43 GMT -4
I've come to accept that DC will never get it with the JLA. I wasn't a fan of Secret Invasion but it led to Dark Reign which I think was the best thing that happened to a superhero book during the past decade. Considering the sales of the Justice League book, I think DC "gets" what most comic readers want from the book. I think eventually we'll get back around to the Big 7 but it will take someone with the editorial stroke like Morrison had to pull it off again. Wow, maddog, you are the first person I have ever seen admit to liking Dark Reign. I thought that storyline was God awful. All of the line-wide Marvel stories have been crap since Avengers: Disassembled. I liked Dark Reign because it finally felt like one of the big two did something different with their universe. The bad guys won and the heroes had to deal with it. Now, I didn't like everything in it. I thought Dark X-Men and Dark Wolverine were retarded. But I loved Dark Avengers and Ms. Marvel having to deal with her identity as a hero not being her's anymore.
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Post by maddog1981 on Mar 23, 2011 19:42:55 GMT -4
Currently trying to catch up on Justice Society of America. Reading issue 18. I really like the concept of the JSA but there are just way too many characters running around. I would be happier with the old timers with 5 or 6 younger guys.
I forgot to mention that I've been enjoying Red Robin quite a bit.
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Post by maddog1981 on Mar 23, 2011 21:47:12 GMT -4
Black Adam...
I don't get it...
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Post by MT on Mar 24, 2011 5:00:58 GMT -4
So, am I like the only person on here that has never bought a comic book?? Probably. Those who've commented on Warren Ellis and Transmetropolitan share my basic view: he's a good writer but the politics of that book aren't my sort of thing. I recently read a min-series called Supergod that he did for small publisher Avatar Press. It started off good, but devolved into a pretty grim, pointless slaughter with no real ending. I thik he likes working for those guys because they let him do whatever he wants and don't edit him at all. ljacone: I was reading GI Joe: A Real American Hero for about the first six issues, then I decided to cut back a little and that was one of the titles I dropped. I liked it, but I couldn't justify continuing to pay the $3.99 cover price. I'm looking forward to reading the new FF #1 to see what that's all about. I've liked the writer's other work, and I understand he's got a new take on the Fantastic Four conecpt.
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