News:

Rings of Reznor!

Main Menu

DC Comics Reboot

Started by B A D, August 10, 2011, 04:50:53 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

BentonGrey

Kk, man, you really need to read his Astro City then.  You'll absolutely love it!  Yeah, Busiek is one of my favorite creators, period.  About the only thing of his I ever read that I didn't love was his Aquaman, and it was still good, despite its flaws. 

Wow, that's quite a sales pitch for a Sonic comic.  Color me intrigued.  If those show up on Comixology Unlimited or something one of these days, I may very well give them a shot.  Thanks!

IDW's TMNT is fantastic, every month, one of the best comics I've ever read.

Spade, that's right; I only like good comics.  :lol:
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Deaths Jester

Quote from: BentonGrey on April 11, 2017, 04:13:06 PM
Quote from: Deaths Jester on April 11, 2017, 03:11:27 PM
...so confusing on Roy.

...And such a cop out with the Time guy...

...And why I avoid most of the big two's current comics. Give me Astro City...


Exactly.  Astro City is what pretty much all comics should be.

What I really love about Astro City is the fact that the city and the people there are what drives the stories, not the super heroics and such.  The heroes are portrayed as real people with real worries and they age too, not just some super-powered/mystical cutout. Talking about aging in Astro, I already miss seeing Crackerjack and Quarrel running around in the comic.....
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

BentonGrey

Yeah, the stories are always, ALWAYS character driven.  Now, don't get me wrong, I love a bit, grand idea driven story every once in a while, and comics can often pull off plot-driven yarns, provided they don't exist at the expense of characters.  Nonetheless, the best stories, in this as in all mediums, tend to be character driven.  The setting of Astro City itself is every bit as endearing as the characters.  You know what I really loved (relatively) recently?  Seeing the sidekick grow into the role of the Confessor.  That was such a wonderful, absolutely delightful surprise story, as was the return of Steeljack.  It says something that here, years and years in, he's still telling some of the best stories he's ever told.  It also says something, and something that modern comics desperately need to learn, that he manages to do it with almost entirely stand-alone stories. 

Yeah, though Quarrel and Crackerjack's story was a little problematic for me, it was darn gripping, and I liked the both of them, though her more than him.   :)
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Deaths Jester

I loved how they brought Steeljack back and kept him as a PI.  Showed that even though he was a villain at one time in his life, he changed for the better and is helping out the common folk.  Only thing I didn't like about that though was it was very similar to the first time Steeljack appeared...but it was still new feeling because of the characters introduced.
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

BentonGrey

Yeah, I suppose a noire feel require certain plot elements, but I had a real blast reading that story.  It made me so happy to see him turning his life around, and I'm a sucker for a happy ending. :)
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

daglob

Quote from: Spade on April 11, 2017, 05:58:00 PM
If you wanted confusing,I could recount the trial in Fall of Green Arrow.
And I dont was to sound like a hipster,but you guys kinda have limited tastes in comics.


Hey! I like all sorts of Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age comics.

kkhohoho

#1296
Quote from: BentonGrey on April 11, 2017, 06:00:24 PM
Kk, man, you really need to read his Astro City then.  You'll absolutely love it!  Yeah, Busiek is one of my favorite creators, period.  About the only thing of his I ever read that I didn't love was his Aquaman, and it was still good, despite its flaws. 

Wow, that's quite a sales pitch for a Sonic comic.  Color me intrigued.  If those show up on Comixology Unlimited or something one of these days, I may very well give them a shot.  Thanks!

I know. I keep meaning to read it, but for whatever reason, I've never gotten around to it. I guess that's something I should work on.

As for Sonic, if you do pick it up, getting started is a bit... tricky. See, the thing about it is that, just like with DC, there's more than one continuity to choose from. The original continuity, lasting all the way from 1993-2013, doesn't have much to do with the games aside from using most of the characters, but given that you probably haven't played a single one of them, that shouldn't be a problem. But around 2010, one of the old writers, Ken Penders, got it in his head that the characters he created for it should be his and his alone, which wasn't helped by the fact that that one of the games, Sonic Chronicles, more or less took characters and concepts wholesale from his Sonic comics and filed the serial numbers off.  Because of this, he filed a lawsuit that no-one but him could use his characters and won, forcing Archie (who publish the comic, natch,) to do a reboot. The result was a new continuity that was based much more closely off of the games, only with the main cast members that were never in the games still being a part of things.

Now, you might say that you might as well just go with the old continuity, since for someone who hasn't played the games, it might be much easier to understand, but prior to Ian Flynn coming onboard with #160 back in 2006, (and he's stayed onboard ever since,) the comic wasn't exactly what you'd call good. It had it's moments, but between characters with lots of potential being vastly underused, mediocre (and sometimes just plain BAD, especially where Penders was involved,) plots and storytelling, and art that often ranged from passable to atrocious, it had slowly but steadily become a mess. And then Ian Flynn with artist Tracey Yardley came on board. Almost like magic, they fixed every single one of the comics' problems practically overnight, cleaning up the art, turning untapped and uninteresting characters into entertaining and even awesome ones, and churning out fun action-packed storylines that weren't afraid to still stop and breath when they needed to. So basically, you're picking your poison; either you go with a continuity that stands on its' own but has a crapton of baggage before the actual good writer comes on board, or you go with one that has none of that baggage, but relies much more on familiarity with a 25 year old series of games. (Or maybe just both one after the other.) It's your choice.

That said, if you do go with the old continuity, there's an informative and entertaining blog that covers nearly every one of the pre-Flynn issues and specials, (or will have in a few weeks time,) so that should help you if you go that route. But either way, it's still pure awesomeness regardless.

Oh, here's the blog: http://robotnikholmescomicblog.tumblr.com/
The Golden Age; 'A different look at a different era.'

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1089779/chapters/2193203

HarryTrotter

@Benton,maybe,but you not reading all the good comics,are you?Your not even familiar with the works of Tharg the Might...c,c,c
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

daglob

Quote from: Spade on April 12, 2017, 04:52:33 AM
@Benton,maybe,but you not reading all the good comics,are you?Your not even familiar with the works of Tharg the Might...c,c,c
Tharg is on my list, along with Big E.

HarryTrotter

Quote from: daglob on April 12, 2017, 02:12:20 PM
Quote from: Spade on April 12, 2017, 04:52:33 AM
@Benton,maybe,but you not reading all the good comics,are you?Your not even familiar with the works of Tharg the Might...c,c,c
Tharg is on my list, along with Big E.
I know;and I didn't mean to offend you or anyone.I'm just seeing a lot of people who complain about being feed up with DC and Marvel but never try anything new.Never try to expand their horizons,so to speak.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

BentonGrey

Haha, Spade, you haven't offended me, but you have got me wrong.  I guess you haven't noticed that I mostly read NON Big Two books.  In fact, my reading list is 90% independent, as the only mainstream book I read is Aquaman.  I've read a lot of pulp and pulp revival stuff in the last few years, but in terms of modern books, I'm reading:
Lobster Johnson (great pulp revival)
G.I. JOE
TMNT
Astro City
Atomic Robo (always delightful)

I was reading a bunch of other things that have all ended at this point, including the King features, and I've got my eye on a few other series that I might start picking up.  But, you see, I didn't like what Marvel and DC were doing, so I gave my money to folks who were doing things right.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

HarryTrotter

And yet your still not reading 2000ad.There is really no excuse for that.:(
Interesting how Astro City did more with the "Superhero registration act" in 6 issues then Marvel did in 200.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

BentonGrey

Haha, I am fairly certain that 2000AD would be a bit too gritty for my tastes.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Deaths Jester

#1303
2000Ad is okay. It's a bit of a pain to get in some parts of the States. I'd like to see them expand their horlzons on what is in it but that's just me.

And as you can tell, I'm not a reader of the current Marvel or most anything DC has done ever. I'm more an old school Marvel reader along with reading things like Astro City, Metal Hurlant, and a handful of miniseries but that's pretty much it because the industry isn't producing much of the stuff I prefer.
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

HarryTrotter

#1304
From what I hear,Diamond really does a terrible job with prog distribution in North America.But like with everything else,you can get the collections.
@Benton That like your opinion,dude.But you are really missing a lot.
@DJ Im not sure I understand what you mean by expanding their horizons.What would you like to see in it?
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Tomato

So I'm waaaaay late for that portion of the discussion, but I'll throw my hat in about the Sonic comics: They're really good. I will SLIGHTLY correct kkohoho about the original continuity not existing in a vacuum... the original comics were a bizarre mix of the continuities for both the 90s animated cartoons, for better and worse. The upside is if you're a fan of SatAM (the better cartoon) the comic doesn't end on a cliffhanger. The downside... regardless of which continuity you choose, you ARE expected to know who those characters are. That said, even post-reboot, the games aren't REALLY a factor... ignoring that the plot of the games is often as loose as a Mario title (Eggman=Bad Guy, Sonic= Good Guy. Not complicated) most of the plots and characters you need to know about are introduced in the comic itself.

For my money, I'd say new continuity 100%. Sure, you probably should go back and read the stuff before (if only to see the annoying french snooty character from the cartoon transform into the BEST CHARACTER IN THE SERIES), but you also don't have to slog through the nonsensical Ken Penders garbage like Rob O' the Hedge or pretty much all of the Knuckles series because holy HFIL that comic is garbage.

I'll also add that while I'm waaaay behind on it for reasons I'll get into, Archie's Mega Man is set to be the same, but the opening arcs suffer because you can tell they're trying to rush through the plots of the first few games and it's super rushed in the beginning. By now it's probably a lot better, since invariably they've gotten through enough of the games to get to the characters they want to play with (such as Proto-Man) but I haven't read anything since the reboot/crossover.

Back on topic, read Titans this week. Still awesome, though it is a little depressing that we didn't even get a full year of it before the first CROSSOVER.

kkhohoho

Quote from: Tomato on April 16, 2017, 03:43:54 PM
For my money, I'd say new continuity 100%. Sure, you probably should go back and read the stuff before (if only to see the annoying french snooty character from the cartoon transform into the BEST CHARACTER IN THE SERIES), but you also don't have to slog through the nonsensical Ken Penders garbage like Rob O' the Hedge or pretty much all of the Knuckles series because holy HFIL that comic is garbage.

I wouldn't say he's the absolute best character in the series, (that's Bunnie for my money, oh looky I made a funny,) but he still ends up pretty darn awesome, and it is amazing seeing him go from the worst character in the series to one of the best.

Also, I'll admit that I haven't actually read the reboot stuff yet, which I still need to work on. If you say it doesn't rely so much on the games, then who am I judge? But if that's the case, then yeah, definitely start with the reboot, if only so you don't have to put up with all of that Penders baggage. Once you're done with that, then you can go back and read the old continuity to your heart's content, or at least the stuff that Flynn had a hand in.

But I also wouldn't say you're expected to really know who these characters are, at least when it comes to the SatAM crew. It's not as if the comic's saying 'Hey, we would have introduced these characters properly, but you'll just have to watch SatAM to know just who these guys are, sorry about that.' It does treat them as though they're being introduced for the very first time, and you don't feel as if you have to watch the show before reading the comic. Hell, I didn't watch the show until after I read all of the old comic continuity, and I never felt as if I actually needed to watch it to understand who these people were. So that's not really an issue in my book. That said, you should watch it if you can, because it's awesome in its' own right. It was an early 90's animated show and more or less belonged in the animation renaissance going on at the time, so it's definitely worth checking out.
The Golden Age; 'A different look at a different era.'

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1089779/chapters/2193203

SickAlice

Batman #21 lived up to the hype, hope the rest of the story keeps the same pace. One of those anyone should try to avoid spoilers before reading so that's all say for now too.

The_Baroness

And the second part of "The button" was great. We got so many things out of it... the real historical moment the JLA formed... the classic Crisis... all things stolen from them... and more hints of the JSA return...

As usual, dc rebirth keeping a nice overall quality.

Big shout out to Blue Beetle. That was fantastic. Cannot say how much I love seeing Ted acting as a mentor for Jaime

Wonder Woman is nearing the big end of the two parallel storylines and it has been one of the best rides.

Really don't like that Cass is named Orphan... but she feels like the Cass I fell in love with. And it has been great that Detective Comics has focused on her a bit more.

Rip Hunter mixed with the GL has a lot of interesting things

And... the disturbing mind of Gail Simone wrapped up Clean Room. Pretty great series. And she is already teasing a volume 2 down the line


HarryTrotter

For a moment I was worried DC stoped cutting off peoples legs,but Im all better now.At least another interesting Superman villain is back.
Wildstorm is still going strong,but thats a longer writeup.
Button,ofc,doesnt answer anything.Its all just a setup for Doomsday clock.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

HarryTrotter

Well,I cant complain about Dark Days:The Forge.Mostly because I have no freaking idea what is going on.
All artifacts in the DC universe are made of same metal?Why are there excepts from Carters journal?And wth Joker has to do with any of that?
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

The_Baroness

no idea about the metals.... but this may be hinting at nth metal being part of what makes all the other artifacts (hence the Hawk's importance and return to combined E1 and E2 origin)

Characters absent from New 52 are mentioned or shown (Lady Blackhawk, Immortal Man) Plus showing some interesting throwbacks like one of THE Monitor's towers.

Also that one is one of the three jokers, but no idea which one yet.

Big issue here... While it is good that Batman is being shown as a detective once more (something really missing on current run, on which he is a super brawler), this issue really does put some big shade on him... What they did to poor Eel O'Brian is pure villainy.

About the other comis:

Bug is just fantastic, so much love for Kirby here.

While not directly related to Dark Days... the Flash keeps hinting at the unraveling of the new continuity and establishing that everything from before still happened (Eobard, like the Psycho-Pirate, remembers EVERYTHING)


HarryTrotter

Imo,it doesnt work as a mystery.Or I just dont care.
After Button and Lazarus Contract,Im all evented out.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

SickAlice

Lobo/Road Runner may well get my Comic Of The Month award. And I really thought it would be something I'd hate too but it just works. Though it also really emphases the classic Lobo comics and it's been a long time since I've had one to read so there's probably that too.

daglob

I agree. After a couple of the Hanna-Barbera team-ups, I was worried. I liked the Martian Manhunter/Marvin Martian team up as well as the Wonder Woman/Taz team-up too. The Bugs/LSH was... interesting.

SickAlice

As said elsewhere props where props is due to DC getting Rebirth right. The team on Aquaman is telling. The brass at Top Cow commended DC's current writing for being some of the best stuff they put out in awhile. Normally they don't believe in doing work for other companies because they consider selling product for the opposing team is just taking dollars from their own. Yet Hawkins was so compelled about DC's current writing he met at their summit and leased to them. And by leased I mean Stjepan Ĺ ejić. And he's Top Cows star artist right now so that's saying a mouthful.

SickAlice

Odd idea that will never pan out I'm sure. I haven't read these what if Hollywood based books. Like what if Stoltz in Back To The Future or Big Trouble+Escape From LA. But I was thinking today what would be fun is a mini-series linking American Psycho and Batman Begins. Like say that the Bruce Wayne in that canon was actually another namesake of Patrick Bateman or that is the version of himself that ran through his imagination in the moment and link how his character went from the end of AP to becoming Bruce Wayne then Batman in that canon, and the why's of course.

HarryTrotter

Insert your own Crazy Steve joke here. :)
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

HarryTrotter

Random thought,Rick Veitch didn't do a lot of research while writing Swamp Thing,did he?Since there are some odd stuff there,such as Transylvania being in Serbia(its in Romania) or Austrians having tanks in 1914.(first deployed in 1916 on the Somme by British).How hard was to check that,even in the pre-internet era?  :doh:
Then again,in recent times we found out Pakistanian is a language.Or so somebody at DC thinks.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

daglob

Ah, remember: someplace multiverse is a strange world similar to the DC Universe, except there are no super heroes and no black lines around everything. In that universe Transylvania is in Romania, and the Pakistani speak Urdu instead of their own language, and all the other things.

Or Veitch screwed up.

One of my favorite stories is still "World's Funnest".