The Marvel Thread

[lugaru]

Anyone else thinking that this "necrosha" thing is just a pale imitation of "blackest night"? House of ideas my bottom..

This has been in works just as long as Blackest Night has been which is at least 20 months.

Ahh...well, a happy coincidence then. Both companies jumping on the zombie bandwagon.
Colour me wrong.

And that is giving DC the benefit of the doubt and not assuming it is a direct response to Marvel Zombies, one of the most popular series of events in the last few years.

[Previsionary]

Lugaru has a point, considering Marvel Zombies has had like 5 series in its collection + several one shots since it began in 2007 (with the latest one ending not even a full month ago).

[tommyboy]

Umm...in my opinion, the (current comic) zombie bandwagon has less to do with marvel's zombie outings, and much more to do with Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead (and yes, I know Kirkman wrote Marvel Zombies as well. But if his independent series had not been popular, neither company would be thorax deep in the undead right now).
So I'm not giving DC any more credit than Marvel, but I was unaware of how long necrosha had been in planning (due to my colossal disinterest in all things X), hence my original question.
Both companies jumped on the bandwagon. As they both tend to do.

[Podmark]

The earliest seed of Necrosha was in New X-Men 32 from November 2006. That issue only sets up the Selene threat and her alliance with Wither. The first seed of the undead aspect was in X-Force 2 from May 2008. Those are publishing dates so the actual plans would be earlier than that.

[Previsionary]

Black Widow: Deadly Origins (4):

Spoiler

Over the past few years, Black Widow has slowly become one of those characters I truly enjoy reading about. Now that one of my favorite writers has been given a chance to write her, I should love this extremely, right? Well........ you're right. I did love it. I loved the humorous opening between BW and her target. However, this is not just a baseless book about BW and her origins; it's a book that hopes to streamline all those different takes into something that's cohesive while still making use of the present. Despite the humorous, action oriented opening, this book really does have some emotional moments for Natasha and someone from her past pays a price that makes Natasha seek vengeance.

I must say that I find it so refreshing that mainstream companies are still willing to give female characters a shot at maintaining their own books without resorting to gimmicky plots, sexy outfits, or giving them a male counterpart co-star.

Deadpool Teamup 899 (2):

Spoiler

I don't know what it is about Deadpool, but I feel so disconnected from the series. Everything from the overuse of his random personalities that he keeps developing via captions to his lack of supporting cast members leaves me feeling particularly cold towards him. Also, I just can't understand why he needs three series when none of them are particularly strong. Regardless, this book finds DP and Hercules trapped in a maze by one of DP's comedic/mercenary rivals and a foe that manipulates dreams and subconscious images. Did Van Lente succeed where I feel Way fails? Not particularly. Sure, he's a little funnier, but he, too, decided to do what the "Merc w/ a Mouth" writer does and that is to basically copy Way's style instead of using their own. Also, the red headed villain in the book, and his "should-be-dead" sidekick, didn't really stay true to their characters. Other than the plot being incredibly bad and bland, it's ok. Just ok.

Sidenote, if this is a new ongoing series, why in the world would Marvel continue their numbering gimmick? Make sense, Marvel. Also, I'll never forgive you, Van Lente, for making my "Ultimate Trio" script less viable. Bah.


Psylocke #1 (3.5):

Spoiler

Speaking of strong women, this is the Psylocke story that sees Betsy returning Kwannon's body back to Japan after Fraction's BAD/MESSY story of her return. How well does that go for her? Obviously, not well. Before I detail the story, I want to point out that I got a very "Aeon Flux" feeling from the art direction. It's not something I'd normally like in print form, but it kinda works here. Kinda (a few messy spots). Anyway, the story begins with the New X-men kids fighting "Sack." Psylocke and Dazzler interfere and save the day before the real story gets going once Ali reminds Betsy that she needs to bury her old body. Sadly, Psylocke no longer feels a connection to it. Eventually, she and Wolverine hop in the X-jet and head to Japan. After a minor mishaps, Psylocke is well on her way to burying her original body. As she does this, we get some of her much needed, and missing, thoughts that we never recieved from the early 90s. As she's contemplating, Psylocke is attacked by The Hand, and this leads a very impacting scene where Psylocke has her "Kill Bill" moment. The backup strip revolves around Hope. Nothing big at all. It's just there to fill in the missing moments of Cable and Hope's time together after her foster mother died.

As I said in the spoiler section, a lot of the thoughts and developments Yost implemented here should have been done in the 90s. Missed opportunities. I really enjoyed the small amount of time Yost gave to Psylocke's great friendships with Dazzler and Wolverine. Friendship isn't something that's emphasized in X-men these days.



So what did you guys read?

[Silver Shocker]

I read Nova #31.

Spoiler

It had Nova chasing after Darkhawk, who's a fugitive from the Shiar Empire after taking the rap for the death of Lilandra in War of Kings. Nova chases after him on a planet called shard, a mining colony planet, which the Nova corps has evacuated because of a monstrous plant-like creature that comes out of the Fault during the fight. Nova and Darkhawk decide to team up to handle the threat, but a remaining Kree miner finds an amulet just like the one that lets Chris Powell turn into Darkhawk and this turns him into a Raptor. This new Raptor attacks Nova and Nova briefly mistakes him for Darkhawk, leading to yet more fighting between the two, but the fighting is broken off by the new Raptor who attacks them both. The story then cuts away to the Nova Corp's ship, where the Worldmind explains that Nova's life signs have disapeared. This is followed by the planet exploding with Nova and Darkhawk being dead (this being a monthly comic though, and with preview pics for the next issue showing them in it, it's a given they survived, but how is the mystery).

This is a pretty good issue, but not the best the book's been. The major draw to me was the guest appearance of Darkhawk, who I've enjoyed seeing in Marvel's cosmic books lately. On the art front this issue was an improvement over the previous issue (which came out just last week!), which I felt had very rough art (from a different artist). One thing I've always admired about Divito's art is that it is solid and consistent. It rarely dips in quality, and the character's costumes and body proportions don't tend to differ from panel to panel.

[AfghanAnt]

I just read X-Factor 50 and what?

Spoiler

PAD has always been hit and miss with me but he really missed it with explaining Layla's powers.

[Previsionary]

Heh, AA. I think I glossed over it because of all the time travel elements, and just accepted that Layla had a random power and wouldn't be seen very often from that point on. I mean, she did effectively cause her weird nature and lifestyle. Oh, PAD... did you HAVE to use time travel in a story to explain Layla and Fitzroy?

[marhawkman]

Um... yes?  Hello... it's Fitzroy!  A mutant whose only power is to make time portals.  Of course the story needed to have a temporal paradox tossed in to spice it up.

[Previsionary]

Uh, hi, Marhawk. Welcome to sarcasm land. But no, he didn't "have" to use time travel to explain Fitzroy. He chose to do so. That's the beauty of being a writer; you have so many creative ways and paths to take to tie up and answer questions. Also, time travel is a sucky plot device. Just sucky. Sucks more than a Paris Hilton song. ^^.

[murs47]

Sucks more than a Paris Hilton song. ^^.

She made a song?

[deano_ue]

Just sucky. Sucks more than a Paris Hilton song. ^^.

bwahahahahaha ohh you didn't go for the obvious joke awwwwwwwwww

[Previsionary]

I know this interview is a bit old, but I found parts and pieces of it very interesting. If you guys have any interest in the Ultimate Universe or Mark Millar in general, give it a read.

[Podmark]

Read the latest Spider-Man today guest starring Deadpool. Lot of fun, wasn't a fan of the art though. Plus it builds on the Kraven's which is a story I'm really interested in.

Also read X-Force. It was pretty good, mostly a fight issue. Crain was his usual murky self, the low point being a page where I thought Logan was Warpath, the high point being a pretty sweet Banshee splash.

[Silver Shocker]

I read that Miller interview. It was very interesting, and gives me stuff to be excited about in Ultimate Avengers. There seems to be pages missing though. I don't agree with him on some of his points though, his his claim that Nazi-themed supervillains are too outdated for viewers to understand or that the ideal amount of time working on a single book is 24 issues.

[lugaru]

Punisher Max 75: hope it does not become a collectors issue because my g.f. accidentally messed up the cover by leaving a half eaten apple on it. Great stories though, especially the first (dolls).

Punisher Max #1:  A nice retro story tying in the rise of the kingpin with the punisher. The comic seems like a nice marriage between the Marvel Knights cartoon violence and the punisher Max awful consequences. It is not too much of a spoiler to say something really bad but really funny happens to a mobster in a punisher comic.

Daredevil 502: not much to say without spoiling, but let's just say I'm glad my hunch was right. Anyway Matt Murdoch remains one of the most complex heroes out there, and every time his back is pressed to a wall he fights back a little bit harder, this time with an army of evil ninjas.

[Previsionary]

Anyone read X-force? If so, was I the only one let down by the art because one couldn't make out what was going on in some panels? Also, it hurt me to see one of my fave characters back in this new position, and I think some of my enthusiasm for this arc is dying out. I blame all the other marvel events going on. Yep.

I read that Miller interview. It was very interesting, and gives me stuff to be excited about in Ultimate Avengers. There seems to be pages missing though. I don't agree with him on some of his points though, his his claim that Nazi-themed supervillains are too outdated for viewers to understand or that the ideal amount of time working on a single book is 24 issues.

No pages were missing. It was only 6 pages long before going to the artist.

[murs47]

I read it. No complaints from me, I actually love Crain's art. It gives the book a very grim and gritty look which is fitting.

Read DD and Punishermax as well. Both entertaining reads.

[Podmark]

I mentioned X-Force above.

[Silver Shocker]

No pages were missing. It was only 6 pages long before going to the artist.

Then how come half the pages end mid-sentence, only for the next scan in sequence to be right dam smack in the middle of a completely different sentence about something else? 

[Previsionary]

No pages were missing. It was only 6 pages long before going to the artist.

Then how come half the pages end mid-sentence, only for the next scan in sequence to be right dam smack in the middle of a completely different sentence about something else? 

They don't start up in different places. The sentences are just cut weird in the magazine. Example: page one ends with:

"...[A]nd just comes back and he's cleverly manipu-"

and page 2 picks up with:

"lating everything."

But now that I look at it, one page is missing. My bad. I'll add it into the earlier post.

[Previsionary]

Double Post:

I finally got around to reading Dark X-men. I'd rate it a 3. Nothing really happened to draw me in and the team is still a huge failure for Osborn, but at this point, that's not surprising. Osborn's teams are all on the verge of self-imploding at this point. Anyway, remember when news came out that Nate Grey was returning? Well... who would have thought that Mystique's "new" human form would play into it? Certainly not I.

Oh, this issue came with the second part of the "Hope" backup minis. Again, it's pointless. Everything these backup strips are trying to get across are the same things we learned from the first few issues of Cable. Duane, you have to stop being so repetitive with your Cable storylines. That's your major problem with that book and you're keeping it going in other books. Hopefully, all of this will add up in the end and add new information. Hopefully.

[Zippo]

I really reeeeaaaaally hope that Mystique and Normie aren't somehow able to trick Nate into working with them. Being one of the most powerful telepaths to ever exist, there is really no excuse. Norman already has the Sentry as his power player anyway.... Even though everything seems to be pointing in this direction, I'll be pretty miffed if it happens and lasts longer than one or two issues.

[Silver Shocker]

They don't start up in different places. The sentences are just cut weird in the magazine. Example: page one ends with:

"...[A]nd just comes back and he's cleverly manipu-"

and page 2 picks up with:

"lating everything."

But now that I look at it, one page is missing. My bad. I'll add it into the earlier post.

Page 2 ends with:

"and sort of an old man in a young man's body, isn't..." [talking about Ultimate Cap]

page 3 starts with

"...open it up so you start seeing a bit more about them." [talking about reinventing characters like Ghost Rider and Blade]

The other example I saw was the one where a page starts with Miller talking about Samuel L. Jackson and Nick Fury, but you added the missing page in that case.

[Previsionary]

No, actually page 2 (which is a double spread) ends with:

"...but then I want to..."

and page 3 opens with:

"open it up so you start seeing...."

[Silver Shocker]

Huh. So it is. My mistake then.

[murs47]

I decided to finally give post BND Spider-Man a try with Amazing 612. It was amazing.

But really, I like this fresh new direction with Electro. I didn't have a clue who some of the other people were like his female roomate(?). But whatever, Electro's part was worth the cover price to me.

[AfghanAnt]

I decided to finally give post BND Spider-Man a try with Amazing 612. It was amazing.

But really, I like this fresh new direction with Electro. I didn't have a clue who some of the other people were like his female roomate(?). But whatever, Electro's part was worth the cover price to me.

Is Electro still into female shapeshifters who change into Spider-man for sexual encounters?

[murs47]

I decided to finally give post BND Spider-Man a try with Amazing 612. It was amazing.

But really, I like this fresh new direction with Electro. I didn't have a clue who some of the other people were like his female roomate(?). But whatever, Electro's part was worth the cover price to me.

Is Electro still into female shapeshifters who change into Spider-man for sexual encounters?

uhmmm....i'm not sure. he didn't display any kind of kinky behavior in the issue.

[Podmark]

I decided to finally give post BND Spider-Man a try with Amazing 612. It was amazing.

But really, I like this fresh new direction with Electro. I didn't have a clue who some of the other people were like his female roomate(?). But whatever, Electro's part was worth the cover price to me.

Is Electro still into female shapeshifters who change into Spider-man for sexual encounters?

lol no it didn't come up. But I was wondering about it. He's clearly shown to be into women in the issue though.