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The Marvel Thread

Started by Previsionary, December 24, 2008, 11:48:35 PM

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Silver Shocker

I still gotta read his Mighty Avengers run, cuz you guys have been really me it's really good since back when Ewing was announced to write New Avengers.
I enjoyed New Avengers/U.S. Avengers. I didn't love it but I liked enough of it. And he took part in Avengers No Surrender which I found pretty great. If he was given the main Avengers book I'd probably pick it up.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Silver Shocker

#3571
So Slott's final issue of Spidey came and went. I totally forgot until just now, and it's basically a Tangled Web story. How appropriately mundane and inert.

I've been waiting for Slott to get off Spidey for years now and now that it's finally happened I should feel happier but I don't feel much of anything. It's it's mostly just that it ws a war of attrition. His long, intensively damaging Spidey run just grinded my enthusiasm to dust. Plus we never had to settle for his run anyway. I dropped it years ago and I'm happy I did so, because I know I wouldn't have enjoyed continuing to read it. We already got the first installment of Spencer fun run, and unlike years past, we have healthy alternatives. Spider-Man/Deadpool is still a fun, if superfluous book. I've heard really good things about Renew Your Vows, which I absolutely plan to read. There's also Chip's PPSM, which people seem to like. And then there's Peter David's Scarlet Spider, which I'm still reading. It's a nice, fun low stakes book with a touch of PAD's playful humor. I like it's nice that we live in a world where Slott is no longer on Spidey but PAD's SS is still around (for now). Plus Gage's version of Spider-Verse is coming, so yeah, things are looking like an upswing.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Silver Shocker

Over in the Actually-Is-Required-Reading-For-The-Main-Series Infinity Countdown: Champions:

Spoiler
Sam Alexander has had his Nova helmet taken away from him by the Nova Corp. It begins...He's not on the cover to #24 (#22 and 23 don't show the whole team) which doesn't bode well for Sam. Is Sam out with Richie Rider (or a new character) set to take his place?

Also, Riri Williams aka Ironheart is getting a new costume...whose color scheme looks a LOT like Hornet of the Slingers. I wonder if that's intentional or if they were going for "feminine, but not too feminine, and distinct enough from Iron Man to stand on its own" and magically landed on Hornet's color scheme by coincidence?
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

HarryTrotter

Amazing Spiderman #1 wasnt exactly amazing.Spencer tries a bit too hard to throw in predictable jokes in every panel.And homaging his earlier works.While trying to return things to their classic status.Even going as far as returning Peter back to school.There is a lot of foreshadowing with Kingpin,and the dream sequence and...Still,Im kinda interested to see where this goes from here,so we could say it worked.
There is also a very Bendis-ian problem here,characters are all part of them same hive mind speaking thru different mouths.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

HarryTrotter

So IDW will be doing a whole bunch of Marvel comics aimed at younger readers.
I would question the sanity of farming out your comics to somebody whos in even deeper $hit then you,but at this point,Im not all that surprised.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

daglob

The specter of Star Comics comes shambling into view...

HarryTrotter

This more like a Heroes Reborn case.
And who knew we would miss Alonso?
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Tomato

Just read asm #1 and #2.

On the one hand, I'm annoyed that we're further backsliding this character after we already backslid him to the daily bugle. On the other... It always left a bad taste in my mouth that he didn't earn his own degree (which he was more than smart enough to do) so if this means him actually having a chance to earn it legitimately and have some growth, awesome. I just want it to not linger on is all.

As for the cliffhanger... I'm reminded of a JLA story that I am quite fond of despite the goofyness of the concept.

HarryTrotter

It was okay.But I give it a issue or two before we see the middle finger Marvel so likes to flip to its fans.And Spencer has to explain this comic wasn't for you anyway.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Silver Shocker

#3579
Not enough time to go big into detail like I want to but I'll just say I'm loving it for the same reason the good ol' boys over at Crawlspace are: It's not Slott.

HT:

Maybe, but we aren't there yet.

T:

I'm letting Spencer off the hook on that because: quite possibly the #1 criticism of Slott's run (and post-OMD Spidey in general) is that Spidey was a "manchild" (a criticism I 100% agree on), and it's been 3 issues (the FCBD comic very much included) and Slott had, what, 9 years and well over a 100 issues and NEVER improved on that front. And no, the fact that Pete owned his own company and was scmhoozing around Tony Stark-style doesn't matter, because he was STILL acting like a manchild. To give the perfect example, the first issue of that era had a scene where Peter went on stage, gave a presentation, and the punchline was his fly is undone. That was pretty much Slott's run in a nutshell. Well, that, and sexual assault, casual bigotry, Doc Ock worship and killing characters without earning it.

I'm also cool with the degree part because 1. It reminds me of one of the first Spidey comics, I ever read, a Roger Stern Hobgoblin issue where Peter has to drop out of college and 2. Because it's fallout for Spock and one of the big sticking points of that era, arguably the #1 issue (it's certainly up there for me) is there wasn't ENOUGH fallout for Doc Ock's little joyride. Everything was wrapped up in a neat little package WAY too quickly (even with Doc coming back so many times, that he was never really absent from the book at all) so I actually like Peter having to take some responsibility for it (it's his mantra, after all), even if in this case, it comes off like something he has no control over. That's life, and it's something Spider-Man stories (good Spider-Man stories, and bad ones for that matter- I've got a bit of a guilty pleasure for the Byrne/Mackie era) have demonstrated with aplomb.

And yes, I assure you, that is the short version. I didn't touch on Ottely's art (I don't care for it) The villains that are popping up (I LOVE IT!) the individual little details in the issues (the alien invasion sequence for example, the backup story in #1, which I LOVED) the fact that Slott's confirmed to be co-writing Spider-Geddon (and now I'm not buying it; might buy the tie-ins) or the fact that Scarlet Spider is totally ending with October's issue.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Tomato

As an aside, I just wanna express my annoyance about the fact that we're back to a #1 issue again... normally I couldn't care less about that, but because it's TECHNICALLY a new series, Marvel/comixology counted my previous asm subscription as complete even though the series is clearly continuing, making me have to resubscribe to a series I was already following. I've had issues with subscriptions "sticking" in the past, and every time I subscribe is a gamble on whether it ACTUALLY subscribed or I'll have to do it again in a few weeks when it's become apparent my book isn't coming.

Silver Shocker

#3581
Well, you're not alone on the "getting screwed by reading digital" front. Marvel recently redesigned their website and to say me and my fellow Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited subscribers got screwed is to do a disservice to getting screwed. The MDCU section is just terrible now. It's harder to find anything, you apparently can no longer add titles to your library/must reads list, it's just a mess. Based on this, I'm starting to suspect Marvel is going to discontinue the entire service in the next year or so, but otherwise I hope this part sooner rather than later because as it stands I can't imagine putting up with this nonsense for another two years or more. Maybe I should send Marvel a politely worded email about it...

Anyway, back to the comics:

Ant-Man and the Wasp: There was a cute little moment where Cassie made a cameo and the artist (Javier Garron) and the colorist directly based her civilian clothes after her Stinger costume, Purple-and-Black color scheme and all. Nice touch. I especially enjoyed it since I got that awesome Ant-Man and Stinger Toys-R-US Two-Pack (Toys-R-Us lives on in Canada!   :thumbup: ) for my birthday in June from a close family member and its been sitting on my table ever since.

Infinity Wars: Lots of big "shocker" moments in this storyline that are REALLY predictable but still kinda enjoyable.

Spoiler
The new villain Requim is, as many guessed, myself included, Gamora, who chops off Thanos' head (indeed, Thanos is dead in the first chapter of IW, before his tie-in one-shot even comes out), opposes the Guardians and the rest of Doctor Strange's new Infinity Watch and during an altercation she stabs Quill Electra-style. To Be Continued. But of course he's not going to die-or-stay dead.

We also have Drax leaving with Adam Warlock and Kang, who, during his time visiting Earth where all the action is, is using the disguise of Iron Lad so yay Young Avengers reference. Side-note: how many people in the superhero community knew Iron Lad was Kang? I actually hadn't thought about that, but if the answer was "all the major Marvel heroes/Avengers" Kang's disguise might not work for long. Plus the Guardians already know Adam's teamed up with him so it almost makes you wonder why he bothered at all.

We also see more of Daredevil hood Turk Barret, who's in possession of the Mind Gem, and starred in the Infinity Countdown Daredevil One-Shot. I passed on that one but looked into what went down in it so I was curious when the events of it would pay off (Duggan wrote it). Well, we see that here. Turk's got a gang of supervillains (I guess he's the new Hood?) including Bullseye, who we saw him recruit at the end of the one-shot. I may have to see about picking up that one-shot on a future visit to the shop and add it to the rest of this books. Typhoid Mary is also there. Strangely Marvel seems to be giving her a big push in the comics, possibly because Alice Eve is playing her in Iron Fist Season 2 (cue Dan Slott claiming movie audiences everywhere know who she is because an in-name-only version of her appeared in the Jennifer Garner Electra movie).

Also, we have some stuff with Loki. The big takeaway is a very meta plot that Duggan's seeded throughout his Guardians/Infinity Countdown/Infinity Wars run: that the continuity has changed IN UNIVERSE as a result of Secret Wars 2014 and possibly other cosmic retcons and that the characters themselves have discovered this. It's very DC. We even have sequences implying that DC's Captain Marvel (as in SHAZAM) exists in the Marvel multiverse (that part got a lot of press online, I think I saw that DC returned the favor recently). This continues into Infinity Wars with Loki looking into his "past continuity" (he also encounters a heroic Loki who wields Thor's hammer and him and his version of the Avengers fight what I can only describe as a Cancerverse Venom Symbiote, which notably appears on the cover to a later issue where the Infinity Watch are fighting it.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Silver Shocker

Amazing Spider-Man #3. The least fanservicey issue so far from my point of view but one that did elicit a few comments and commentaries from me. Using bowling as a backdrop for the story is different, I don't recall ever seeing that in a Spidey story before.

Spoiler
A quick broad hot take on the "double Peter Parker" story angle; it's a neat story angle, one that plays on the main story conceit of Spidey i.e. the burden of that responsibility ruining his social life as Peter Parker, but one that would be more interesting if Peter hadn't had approximately over 9000 clones over the course of his lifetime.

I admit to some bias about Pete and MJ being back together because I've gotten swept up in the post OMD Spidey backlash, but honestly? They make a cute couple. They did back when JMS wrote the book (and I have seen people compare Pete and MJ here to that run, which I agree with) and they do here.

other observations:

Some cute banter to be sure:

Peter [while bowllng with MJ] All those 3 AM viewings of The Big Lebowski finally pay off.

MJ: I'm a Kingpin gal myself.

Peter: You know, that sentence could be easily misinterpreted.

MJ: It has Bill Murray, Tiger. It wins.

She's got you there Peter. [SS hasn't actually seen either film.] Then again, Bill Murray was in the Charlie's Angels movie and that movie was terrible.

Hey, Norah Winters is in this. I wonder if she's still going to be portrayed as a casual racist?

Spidey, on the obscure villain the "Tri-Sentinel": "Yeesh. Who even asked for this thing to come back? It's like the Arrested Development comeback -- How do you even hope to recreate that magic, right? You can't!  Still some funny parts, though. I'm just worried culture is becoming too dependent on nostalgia, you know? Like it's eating itself..."

Hmm, how very meta. Is Spencer being hypocritical, or self-depreciating?

Spidey: Which super villain did we make up a catchy theme song for?
Peter: Trick question -- we make up theme songs for all of them. It's how we remember their names!

Me: I do not accept this as my personal canon.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

HarryTrotter

SS did a pretty good job of summing up my own feelings on the issue.
Ok,show of hands,who didnt see that revelation at the end coming?
Is this your first Spiderman story ever?
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Tomato

*first comic book ever. Heck, it's been done in Animorphs.

Silver Shocker

Heck, the original Star Trek did it. "IIIII'MMMM CAPTAIN KIIIRKKKK!!!"
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

HarryTrotter

I meant the power without reaponsibility thing.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

detourne_me

I like how we trust Peter as the narrator, and I understand why he trusted the device so much
Spoiler
since he is a dummy and thought he could trust the clone

HarryTrotter

ASM #4 So that guy,right?  :)
Oddly,I find myself enjoying Spencers run so far.Also,in the first version (which was actually a caption,and NOT Uncle Ben) its With great power there must also come great responsibility.As in responsibility is something you must have,not something that is granted.Small thing,but it makes a difference.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

HarryTrotter

So,while Im generaly okay with Spencers sitcom vibe of ASM,he has a very Kevin Smith-like  idea that referencing a whole bunch of thing actually makes a story.
A trivia contest,look I know who made the spider-buggy.Also something about Kingpin,but who cares?Also,with the whole Patient Zero thing still somewhat fresh,it might be too early to have another bandaged mystery guy connected to Peter.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Silver Shocker

I enjoyed it. Eh, I didn't really have a problem with the trivia contest. I especially appreciated the reference to Will O' The Wisp. I remember those stories fondly from the Essential reprints.

As for the bandaged villain, I and others online predict he's

Spoiler
the Phil Ulrich Hobgoblin working for Mephisto.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

HarryTrotter

ASM #8 just kinda pinballs from one random funny to another.I guess Im supposed to be up to date with the Avengers?

Apparently,they changed Captain Marvels origin story to Aquamans origin story,more or less.I guess its because of the movie.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Silver Shocker

Yeah, it was pretty silly. It kinda reminded me of something I'd seen on The Muppets as a kid or some 90's cartoon or something.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

HarryTrotter

Was David Wise writing this,cuz this is an 80's cartoon plot,by the numbers?  :lol:
I was hoping they will do more with Peters supervillain identity.

And there is apparently a possibility of John Byrne returning for an elseworld X-men story.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Silver Shocker

#3594
Re: David Wise: impossible, it didn't end with Shredder and Krang arguing in the Technodrome/Galvatron and that Headmasters guy nobody cared about (Zarak?) arguing where their ship floats through space.  :lol:

The kleptomanic thing is fun in dopey way, the problem is it feels WAY out of place in the mainstream Marvel U. There's a part of my brain that demands a extensive explanation for how the gang of thieves was able to pinch every one of these things, even though the other part of my brain knows it's missing the point. It's kinda like asking how Deadpool and She-Hulk know they're in a comic book.

Re: John Byrne: Yes, I'd heard about that on and off, I wonder if that would happen, if anyone actually wants that, and if it would be any good. Is Claremont coming with him? Cuz I heard that inexplicably his recent Nightcrawler was actually good somehow. Is Byrne still as outspoken as he was known to be back in the day? And will Peter David leave Marvel in protest if this happens?  ;)

On a totally different note, Spidergeddon is currently coming out. It can be summed up as: second verse, same as the first. I'm so glad I skipped it.

Spoiler
Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Man U.K. die in the first issue. Because Marvel has to keep stride with DC's Heroes in Crisis, you see. And also gosh darnit we have new Spidey varible characters to sell you, which I realized way, WAY too late was the actual reason for all the killing in Spider-Verse. Are we sure this is Spider-Man and not Yu-Gi-Oh! Or Transformers G1 and/or Beast Wars?

Fun fact, Spider Man Noir making it out of the battle against the Inheritors (aka the most boring villain group ever) is actually how I realized with one issue left to go that Spider-Verse wasn't going to bring back ANYONE they killed (except Kaine, the one character I think should have STAYED dead. Yeah, Kaine sucks. And Peter David just finished spending an entire Ben Reilly series demonstrating how much he sucks. Anyway, I knew they were serious because they made sure to keep Noir, who had been showing up in video games and cartoons and such.

Speaking of which, am I the only one thinks actually killing him this time (he might come back to life by the end of the story) is a terrible business move, what him set to appear in a Spider-Verse movie in two months?  Someone dropped the ball there. Unless he turns out alive as the actual villain, but, no, that was the Clone Conspiracy.

Also, here's food for thought. I was just watching a video that described the ninties as the "least quality-controlled era" in comic book history. Do you guys think that's true? Is 90's Marvel, for example worse than Marvel circa 2004 (the year Bendis' Avengers run started) to 2018? Also 2004, geez that makes me feel old. And yes I'm aware of the irony.

For that matter, the Clone Saga is considered not only one of the worst comic stunt storylines from the ninties, it's considered one of the worst Spider-Man stories ever made. Thus I posit the question: which was better, Clone Saga or Clone Conspiracy?
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

HarryTrotter

Claremont recently wrote some of the X-men Black.TBH,I dont even know what X-men Black is,but Claremont was there.
They might as well bring Byrne back,considering they have been canibalising his stories for years.
Speaking of which,they really shoul leave that one villain from JMS Spiderman alone.Actually,leave that whole run alone.
Read the first 2 issues of Slotts F4.Its mostly people standing around and talking how cool they used to be.Then Slott tries to pull off "Once an Avenger"
As mentioned a few times before,there was a LOT of good stuff in the 90's.I would use Vertigo as an example of capable editing.
Marvel in the 90's is a topic that everyone and their brother went over already,and Jemas years have been weird.Btw,anyone remembers early 2000's and the industrys attempts at aping manga?  :) Also,Jemas and Alonso are starting a comic company together.Im not making this up.
Funny story,Bendis' Avengers recently came up on a different board,and one poster
defended it as a nececary step forward.Because Avengers were living in a mansio and had a butler and so on.And thats probably what Marvel editors at the time also thought.They "knew" they have to modernize,but didnt know how to approach it,or even whats the end goal for the modernization.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

daglob

I dunno, but there was a stretch in the '70s-early '80s that I think DC was just putting something, anything in some comics. I started dropping titles even as they were cancelling them, and gave Marvel a bit more of my money. I came back in the late 80s, as I dropped Marvel titles, mostly the X-Books, as I believed Claremont just got burned out on mutants, and he was doing the same story over and over and over again. By that time, I could choose from the independents, and in some cases I did.

Silver Shocker

#3597
Quote from: daglob on November 01, 2018, 12:06:28 AM
I dunno, but there was a stretch in the '70s-early '80s that I think DC was just putting something, anything in some comics. I started dropping titles even as they were cancelling them, and gave Marvel a bit more of my money. I came back in the late 80s, as I dropped Marvel titles, mostly the X-Books, as I believed Claremont just got burned out on mutants, and he was doing the same story over and over and over again. By that time, I could choose from the independents, and in some cases I did.

That does sound right based on a smattering of old DC comics from around that time that I read over the years.

QuoteJemas years have been weird.Btw,anyone remembers early 2000's and the industrys attempts at aping manga?

Yeah, I actually forgot about the Jemas era. The books that were still good were good, but a lot of other stuff was eh. I remember writing for the trade, I remember Nuff Said (which let's face it, had like 2 or 3 books that actually benefited from the gimmick. Spider-Girl and Thor had funerals as the story that worked. I distinctly recall Tischman's Cable outright cheating and not doing a Nuff Said at all. I remember covers that told you nothing about the story (heck, we still have that; the final issue of Scarlet Spider and the newest issue of Amazing Spider-Man are just pictures of SS and Spider-Man in the city. Spidey has a LOT of covers like that and Ultimate Spider-Man especially did that) and as I've discussed earlier, we had an era where editorial recap boxes were straight up verboten, to the point that Marvel airbrushed them out of some of the trades. Boy, am I glad that era is over.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

HarryTrotter

And Avengers had the issue where Kang nukes Washington and Earth surenders.You think that would be noticed in other titles,but no.

About Clone Saga,funny that its remembered as lasting the whole decade,when it actually took two years.But when you have 4-5 Spiderman titles a month,it adds up.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Silver Shocker

OH yeah, look up how many trades Marvel did with "The Complete Clone Saga Epic" AND "The Complete Ben Reilly Epic".

Ah, yes, The Kang Dynasty. I loved that arc. But yeah, no other book reflected that, and the very first issue of Johns run had Hank and Jan flying around outside the White House talking about how rebuilding Washtington DC. Convenient.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa