The Comic Book Thread

[SouthtownKid]

especially in JMS' Thor, which is still my favorite run for that character ever (although Simonson's run is a close second for me).

The last couple years of Jurgens' Thor>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>JMS' Thor

Pfft. Get the fuck out of here with that shit. The Dark Knight Trilogy is a bunch of terrible shaky cam action sequences, terrible-detective Batman with a cookie monter voice, hamfisted social commentary, and characters announcing their narrative purposes directly to the audience (hurr durr I IS CHAOS, HURR DURR HE WHITE KNIGHT, DERP DE DERPY HE IS DARK KNIGHT). The only people who like those movies are people who don't understand symbolism in film unless bludgeoned on the head with it, repeatedly, for like three hours.

You're an idiot. The Nolan films are fine. But you're much more an idiot for your opinion that the '90s Flash tv show wasn't bad. I mean, you must be legitimately mentally handicapped.

 

[Taiso]

The last couple years of Jurgens' Thor>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>JMS' Thor.

I'll check it out at some point. JMS is going to be hard to top for me, however. I really liked what he did to revitalize th character in the current state of Marvel. Thanks for bringing it up, though. Whether or not I end up liking it more than JMS, I'm sure it'll be a good read either way.

Is Jurgens doing anything these days?

 

[SouthtownKid]

I'll check it out at some point. JMS is going to be hard to top for me, however. I really liked what he did to revitalize th character in the current state of Marvel. Thanks for bringing it up, though. Whether or not I end up liking it more than JMS, I'm sure it'll be a good read either way.

Is Jurgens doing anything these days?

I'm not sure. I seem to remember seeing his name attached to something, but I can't remember what.

My problem with JMS is that he makes a big hoopla about how he is doing something new, yet it is always something someone else has already done, and many times, very recently. And usually, imo, the other person has done it better.

He was very proud of himself for his revolutionary idea of bringing Asgard to Earth, and yet that had been what the last 20 or so issues of the series immediately before his had already been about. That kind of shit irritates the hell out of me. Another example was in his script for his first Amazing Spider-Man issue. In the notes, he said something like, "But this isn't a normal vampire; we're avoiding that cliche... This vampire feeds off of psychic energy!" Yeah, hey asshole, ever heard of MORBIUS? The longtime Spider-Man villain who already exists, already does exactly that, and who even actually just appeared in Amazing not long before your run? Due fucking diligence. Practice it. So, basically, JMS really rubbed me the wrong way right from the moment he started working at Marvel.

For Jurgens' run, I really enjoyed the first 25, which he did with JRjr, who captures a great Kirby-esque sense of power. But where the series really got interesting is towards the end... about #36-79. The first few issues are kind of just set-up with Odin dying, but once Thor inherits Asgard and the Odinforce (and brings Asgard to Earth), it really gets good.

Collected in 5 TPBs:

http://www.amazon.com/Thor-Death-Odin-Dan-Jurgens/dp/0785149791/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1394845782&sr=8-5&keywords=thor+jurgens
http://www.amazon.com/Thor-Lord-Asgard-Dan-Jurgens/dp/0785150870/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y
http://www.amazon.com/Thor-Gods-Earth-Dan-Jurgens/dp/0785150889/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z
http://www.amazon.com/Thor-Spiral-Dan-Jurgens/dp/0785150897/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0316GH6HWWRPXRHXXK88
http://www.amazon.com/Thor-Gods-Men-Dan-Jurgens/dp/0785150900/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

I'm really happy to see Marvel brought these back into print a couple years back. The first edition TPBs were going for some outlandish prices on the secondary market. $70 and above...

 

[Hot Chocolate]

I thought Fraction's early Iron Man run was great. I really enjoyed it quite a bit. He really found a voice for that comic. I don't think he's been anywhere near as good since then, though.

Thor is being a dick because of Civil War, if I recall correctly. Tony sided against Cap, who Thor considers like a battle brother and beyond reproach. Also, Reed Richards, who was also on Tony's side during Civil War (a character direction I absolutely do not agree with, never have and never will), was instrumental in the creation of the Thor clone that ended up killing Giant Man.

And I love their confrontations, especially in JMS' Thor, which is still my favorite run for that character ever (although Simonson's run is a close second for me).

No love for his Hawkeye?

I also like his Satalite Sam( Chyakin baby! ) and Sex Criminals

 

[terry.330]

Yeah, people have been jizzing all over his Hawkeye run. I read a bit and dug it but it didn't blow my socks off.

I picked up some hefty HCs lately, gonna keep me busy for most of the spring.

BPRD Plague of Frogs 1-4
Planetary Omnibus

 

[SouthtownKid]

Yeah, people have been jizzing all over his Hawkeye run. I read a bit and dug it but it didn't blow my socks off.

Same here. Read the first few and it was good. But it didn't change my life or anything. If I read more super-hero stuff currently, maybe Hawkeye would stand out in comparison to the mediocrity of everything else. But taken in a vacuum, it just seems okay to me. It seems like the baseline level of "good" that all comics should START at, rather than a shining example of anything they should be striving for. Or maybe it picks up more later on.

 

[Hot Chocolate]

BPRD Plague of Frogs 1-4
Planetary Omnibus

IS that the BPRD HC that features the pre-Frogs stuff cause man those first minis were a bit rough but Frogs they ironed out the kinks on

 

[Taiso]

Everyone at the LCS was raving about Hawkeye and I was going to buy the trade but when I saw how expensive it was for how little you got, I decided not to bother. It may be a good read, but I'm not really hankering for it so badly that I need to make more time to read it at that asking price. I barely have enough time in the day as it is right now. Maybe some day.

I'm not really reading very much in the way of superhero books these days.

Captain America.

Uncanny X-Men, which I should have no business enjoying because it's written by Bendis, who I generally don't enjoy, and Cyclops is sort of a jerk in it. But Bendis has been spot on with this book and I feel he needed the change from The Avengers to revitalize his writing a bit. He still has a lot of his staple annoyances as a writer, but for some reason, I'm finding this compelling. As for Cyclops, I am not normally in favor of long term changes to characters in super hero comics based on storyline events but I am buying his new approach after how he was treated following AvX.

I was reading Nova, but that got boring.

I'll probably pick up Spidey once Peter is back. I intend to read Superior in trades. I was Byrne stealing the occasional issue at the comic shop, and it seemed solid but I just didn't want to read the whole Doc Ock arc on a monthly basis.

 

[genjiglove]

I'm surprised you haven't checked out Jason Aaron's Thor book, Taiso. Get the first couple trades at least, it's a quality book.

The only other superhero book I'm really into these days is Batman. I was reading Cap too, mostly because I love Remender but I can wait for trades.

Really thinking about dropping The Walking Dead too. I've been reading it since 2006 and it's really starting to get old.

 

[Hot Chocolate]

Bendis's current Ult Spidey run seems to be where any passion he has goes

 

[genjiglove]

I think it's fitting to the tone of the book that the Stray Bullets Uber Alles Editon could be used to beat someone to death pretty easily. This thing weighs a ton.

 

[brentsg]

I liked Green Arrow decades ago.

Is the comic taken from the TV show just terrible? I mean aside from the cover art that all looks awful and the same for the first year or so.

 

[SouthtownKid]

I liked Green Arrow decades ago.

Is the comic taken from the TV show just terrible? I mean aside from the cover art that all looks awful and the same for the first year or so.

Which comic are you talking about? If you mean the current ongoing, it's not related to the tv show at all, other than that the New 52 Ollie is younger than before the reboot and has no beard. The current ongoing has been pretty strong since Lemire and Sorrentino took over. Not before that.

They did actually also have a comic that tied-into the show, but it ended with season one.

 

[brentsg]

Yeah the one with the show. I didn't know it had ended, but saw it in the Comixology sale. It looks bad so best to stay away I'd guess.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Yeah the one with the show. I didn't know it had ended, but saw it in the Comixology sale. It looks bad so best to stay away I'd guess.

I'd stick to the regular series, to be honest. Although Grell did draw some of the tv tie-in stories. The hit to miss ratio wasn't great, though. Like any tv tie-in, I guess. Nothing real is going to happen in the comic, because they'll be too worried about potentially contradicting the episodes.

I would recommend checking out the ongoing though, from the point Lemire took over.

 

[genjiglove]

It was apparently god awful before Lemire took over though.

 

[famicommander]

The only Green Arrow stories I really like are when he is paired up with someone with whom he has tension, like Green Lantern or the Question. His solo stories just don't hold my interest I guess.

 

[SouthtownKid]

The only Green Arrow stories I really like are when he is paired up with someone with whom he has tension, like Green Lantern or the Question. His solo stories just don't hold my interest I guess.

The new series is like a totally different guy, anyway. You could hate Green Arrow before and love the new character. It's also very possible for someone to love the old character and hate the new comic. All bets are off.

 

[famicommander]

It's just the whole basis of the character. Green Arrow has always been three things:
1. Batman's replacement on the Justice League when he's busy doing Batman stuff (seriously, that's why he was created)
2. Robin Hood (obviously)
3. Voice of the liberal left (which is why I like when they pair him up with the Ayn Rand nut Question)

Those three things, taken alone or together, just aren't all that appealing to me.

 

[SouthtownKid]

It's just the whole basis of the character. Green Arrow has always been three things:
1. Batman's replacement on the Justice League when he's busy doing Batman stuff (seriously, that's why he was created)
2. Robin Hood (obviously)
3. Voice of the liberal left (which is why I like when they pair him up with the Ayn Rand nut Question)

Those three things, taken alone or together, just aren't all that appealing to me.

I don't know where to start with you.

First things first, I guess. They never teamed up Liberal Left Green Arrow with Ayn Rand nut Question. EVER. The Ayn Rand nut was Ditko, and he never wrote Question for DC. Only for Charlton. O'Neil took the Question and completely flopped everything the Charlton character had been about. The O'Neil Question would make Ditko spin in his grave if he was dead, and it might put him there if he ever read it. The new character's philosophy was a complete slap in the face of Ditko or anything Rand espoused.

Secondly, the new character is not the voice of the Liberal Left. At least not yet. Maybe he will become that when he gets older. It's a new character.

Green Arrow was originally created decades before the Justice League was, so no, he wasn't created for that reason. Nor did he fill that role in the early JLA stories.


The Robin Hood thing I can't help you with. If the bow and arrow themselves are a problem for you, then yeah, avoid the book. But none of the other things you mentioned apply to the new book.

 

[Hot Chocolate]

Cowan's art is why I read O'Neil's Question

 

[SouthtownKid]

Cowan's art is why I read O'Neil's Question

It's one of the greatest series DC ever published, imo. Cowan's art is great, one of my favorite art runs ever, but the story is also great. Great character arcs for the major people. Where Charlie ends up and what he's like are completely different than what you'd expect around issue #3. And totally different than the typical hero path.

I'm in the process of selling off the majority of my collection... trying to get rid of at least 4 or 5 thousand books. But I'll be keeping the O'Neil/Cowan Question.

 

[Hot Chocolate]

It's one of the greatest series DC ever published, imo. Cowan's art is great, one of my favorite art runs ever, but the story is also great. Great character arcs for the major people. Where Charlie ends up and what he's like are completely different than what you'd expect around issue #3. And totally different than the typical hero path.

I'm in the process of selling off the majority of my collection... trying to get rid of at least 4 or 5 thousand books. But I'll be keeping the O'Neil/Cowan Question.

It's one of those runs that is deserving of the omnibus treatment

 

[Hot Chocolate]

Oh and Spidey 2099 is getting another solo
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=51749

 

[Taiso]

I was pretty happy to see Peter back as Spidey at long last. First issue I've bought of any Spider-man book, except for those 700. issues that came out a few months ago, in a long time. It was a good read and I know I'll enjoy the Superior arc when it trades.

I also think, for my peace of mind, I needed to wait for Peter to come back before reading it. Monthly violations of Peter's life by Otto may have made for good reading, but I would have been tearing my beard off begging for someone to stop him. Spidey isn't even my favorite hero (although he's in my top 5) and he has my favorite supporting cast of any super hero ever, so to see them all get hoodwinked over and over would have been agonizing.

Also, as it regards TWD:

Not really sure what to make of the current arc. It is still the book I first read whenever I get home, and I'm still invested, but I don't think it's been as epic as Kirkman wanted it to be.

I recently learned that Kirkman rhas said he has several regrets about how he wrote the comic, the biggest being how he chopped off Rick's hand. He said he wished he'd never done it because it presented a lot of challenges to him as a writer that were, and still are, difficult to overcome. He has to avoid putting Rick in certain situations so that he doesn't create a complete bullshit scenario to get him out of it. Would have been easier if he'd have had two hands.

I liked it when it happened at the time. The book had a very distinct identity back then and every issue was packed with a type of tension that's been lacking for a long time. He briefly brought it back with issue 100 but it went away again after several issues.

The prison arc was so devastating that I was always expecting the worst. Personally, I think it's time for another cast cull of that magnitude. But I'll keep reading it for sure.