Comic Book talk (I.E. Marvel, DC, Image and the rest) Spoilers ahead

[SacredFireman]

Damnit, I've been reading back issues of Azrael and damn it all I wish DC hadn't gotten rid of him.

Aside from that the best comic out without a doubt is Blue Beetle 24. Use of his entire cast, a great tribute to the prior Blue Beetles and even an in joke about Amazons Attack.

[Lunchebox]

God damn I love Blue Beetle, that book is awesome.

[Mikero]

The writer of Blue Beetle comes into my store to buy Blue Beetle.

Why? Because he wants to see what the final product came out as.

Don't they send it to him for free? Yes, but by the time it gets to him it's way far behind from when it actually came out so it's not important anymore. So he comes into our store and buys the issue when it comes out and then just writes it off on taxes.

[Lunchebox]

That's actually not a bad idea.

Also, that's pretty cool, do you ever just talk to him for a while?

[Mikero]

Not really but I've seen him and kind of met him. My assistant manager (and I guess manager) knows him. I only ever work with my assistant manager unless he's sick or I'm working a saturday.

Actually a lot of different writer's buy comics there. Not all comic writers. One guys writes for movies and worked on Transformers. Charles De Lint has a special sub box and I've met him a couple times. I'm not familiar with his work but I girl I know from high school freaked out when she found that out.

Actually, there's a guy who hangs out with a lot of comic book writers and artists all the time, they're his friends or something. It's weird 'cause he'll be like "Oh yeah I was hanging out with Ed" talking about Brubaker and stuff like that. But he doesn't name drop or dick ride,, those are just his friends so it comes up.

Olivier Coipel came for a day, but that a promotional thing and my friend Sonia (who works there too and is in class with me) forgot to remind us he was coming and my friend Shawn (also animation) and I slept that day away as it was the day after our summer camping trip.

[Lunchebox]

Holy #####, ED BRUBAKER?!

I need to become friends with your friend.

[Mikero]

Woah hold your horses bud, really I just picked one of the big names off the top of my head. I'm not sure if he actually hangs with Brubaker (but he probably does).

[SacredFireman]

Seems like I'll get the ball rolling again. DC this week shocks us with the return of a character who died in a controversial way in Robin 172.

Brave and the Bold 11 was a fun read having Ultraman(Anti Matter Universe) and Superman start a team up. Though Superman erroneously stated that Ultramans power comes from the sun. He actually gets it from Anti-Kryptonite but I'll let it slide.

Countdown: I feel robbed by the entire hinted origins of Kamandi's universe being ignored as the Morticoccus unleashes itself.

Death of the New Gods, JLA and Tangent Supermans Reign felt like boring filler. Though Death of the New Gods angered me with the death of two more well known New Gods.

[Mikero]

Actually it was Ultraman who said that Superman's powers come from the sun. Pretty sure.

Morticoccus was always the main story of Countdown anyway.

[Orange Devil]

I still love the Megaman series. I have all.... 4 issues. Best ending ever.

"Sure, we didn't beat Wily, but WHO KNOWS WHAT THE FUTURE CAN HOLD!"

ie- Nobody bought it but me.

[Speed Racer]

Yeah, so The New Guardians series from the 80s is full of fail and AIDS. Literally and figuratively.

[Mikero]

A lot of 80's comics were pretty bad. And I can't stand how they were all into in the heavy inks and many lines back then. Like.. Look at Image back in the day, urrrrrghnnn.

I think New Universal starts again soon, can't wait.

[SacredFireman]

A lot of 80's comics were pretty bad. And I can't stand how they were all into in the heavy inks and many lines back then. Like.. Look at Image back in the day, urrrrrghnnn.

I think New Universal starts again soon, can't wait.

Yep. newuniversal starts again May 14. I can't wait either.


I've also been rereading my Exiles trades. The series seemed to be great until just around Mimic died. Just felt off after that. The current New Exiles story seems kinda eh. But it might be getting interesting again with the lasts issues cliffhanger of that worlds Black Panther. Also, I hope they resolve the whole Proteus issue soon.

[Mikero]

I never really liked Exiles other than Rogue and sometimes Morph. And, of course, Longshot, who is the #####en man. Also Psylocke but I don't know what her story is with all that.

[SacredFireman]

Psylocke joined after New Excalibur and the Exiles (in the crossover X Men Die by The Sword) fought against Mad Jim Jaspers I believe (never was a big Excalibur reader) and almost all of the Captain Britain Corps is annihilated. The 616 Captain Britain is saved by two of the Exiles and taken to their Crystal Palace and is saved with the help of alternate universe doctors Psylocke calls in with the Palace's systems. In the end after the whole war since the Army is wiped out it's up to the Exiles to oversee the Omniverse now and Cap Britain entrusts Psylocke to help the Exiles or somesuch.

Hmm, which Rogue do you mean in Exiles? The one on the team who just joined?

[Mikero]

Yah I read Die By The Sword, but I wasn't sure if she'd stayed on the team.

The Rogue in the red with the shoulder length hair. Pretty much every Rogue is awesome anyway. Especially 616.

[SacredFireman]

Yeah she's around. The Black Atlantean Gambit is making passes at her in New Exiles right now.

[Mikero]

So basically, every Gambit and every Rogue have some sort of thing. That's quite dry.

[SacredFireman]

It's amazingly silly if you type it out yes. Well at least they had the Weapon X Gambit and Storm as a couple before they died due to dangerous mission and King Hyperion. That and Magneto and Rogue who had Magnus as a son, sadly he didn't last...

Exiles has killed off lots of characters when you think about it. Some in quite gruesome ways. IE Mimic possessed by Proteus and turned into pretty much a mummy.

[Mikero]

'Cause they can always find another one.

Marvel's Omniverse is unlimited, where as DC's is [currently] confined to 52 Universes.

[SacredFireman]

That's one thing I dislike. The Captain Britain Corps and now the Exiles are the Gaurdians on the OMNIVERSE which means any alternate reality anywhere including DC, Marvel, Image,Dark Horse, real life, etc... but we know they'll never have a crossover with another company in it, except maybe Image like that one Marvel Team Up issue with Invincible.

I will always complain about Magnus' death, way too quick.

As for DC that'll likely be fixed in Final Crisis given Rip Hunters mention of the Megaverse in 52.

[Mikero]

Omniverse doesn't inclue DC, Image, etc. The Omniverse encompasses all the alternate universes of Marvel only. As with DC's Omniverse containing the 52. Both would be then contained by some otherverse.

Image crossovers with other companies all the time. And DC and Marvel amalgamated into Amalgam Comics for a while back in the days of Marvel Vs. DC. Amalgam Universe was a series Marvel and DC did together, merging their two omniverses for a while. Characters were merged to create things like The Iron Lantern, Dark Claw, and Super Soldier, and had limited series'.

[SacredFireman]

Nope nope there's only one "Omniverse" DC, Marvel, Image and any other universe of Multiverse is a part of the "Omniverse" since Omni means all. Or so I've been led to believe.

But let's see this week was great. Action comics and it's Superman and the Legion of Superheroes story has a grand finish and an even grander teaser for an upcoming Final Crisis mini/tie-in.
[spoiler]The Legion of Three worlds which will have Superman-Prime and the Legion of Supervillains and of course 3 of the incarnations of the Legion.[/spoiler] Strangely I wonder if the 5 years later Legion will ever appear again?

I feel a bit disappointed in Young Avengers Presents #3 as I was hoping we'd see the Scarlet Witch at least a bit.

Secret Invasion stirs things up with at least three confirmed Skrulls.

Countdown was alright but I was hoping that [spoiler]Mary was going to stay good, so I suppose this means she'll be evil during Final Crisis and during her fight with Supergirl.[/spoiler]

New Exiles was a bit too wordy for my taste this time around.

Supergirl features the return of [spoiler]Resurrection man[/spoiler] I don't think I've seen him since DC One Million.

[Majikn]

I don't know what the hell you guys are talking about half the time, but I will say one thing:

I don't believe you're talking about some crazy (but possible, I suppose) theory where there's a parallel universe to ours where superheroes exist, you're just talking about companies and their separate stories, each having their own fictional representation of what the Omniverse actually is.

So in this instance, you can't say that Marvel's multiverse and Stephen King's multiverse and Harry Potter's universe are part of one big Omniverse, but you could say, for example, that in Stephen King's Omniverse, there may very well be worlds where Harry Potter actually exists, and others with Spider-Man and all that crazy junk, but they can't be directly involved in his plot. Instead, you see things you'd identify from Marvel or Harry Potter in his stories (The Dark Tower, specifically, a part of which is actually made into a comic book series by Marvel, coincidentally) and they're rather "echoes" of other worlds than direct contact between them.

[Nautilus]

Anyone every read Captain Atom: Armageddon? It was actually a pretty sweet mini series, that was a nice break from the standard DC and Marvel universes. Plus the Wildstorm Captain Atom rocks what DC's looks like.

[SacredFireman]

Anyone every read Captain Atom: Armageddon? It was actually a pretty sweet mini series, that was a nice break from the standard DC and Marvel universes. Plus the Wildstorm Captain Atom rocks what DC's looks like.

That was the DC Captain Atom. After that run he vanished and came back into the normal DC universe during Infinite Crisis got a new suit and suddenly became a bad guy.

[Nautilus]

I knew they were the same, I was just saying that design owned the silver, blue and red one. Woah, the villain thing surprised me, but I guess I can see it happening, he has a habit of complaining how all the popular heroes like Superman kept getting all the credti, and that he was just shoved under the rug. He's kind of bitter.

[Mikero]

He's pretty much been totally gaybar until Countdown anyway.

[Yubi Shines]

I said I didn't like the first two Fables earlier in the thread, and I still don't, but the later books that I've read (Storybook Love, March of the Wooden Soldiers) shaped up to be pretty good. I still think the storytelling is too jumpy, though, as in, it goes from point A to D without mentioning B and C much if at all.

It also over-expositions at times. [spoiler]Each character will remind and reremind the audience that Sleeping Beauty's curse involves sleeping and Bluebeard kills womens. It doesn't happen with the more obscure/made up stuff like Bigby's background, and a relatively unknown character from folklore like Reynard the fox doesn't get any introductory text at all. Weird.

For one thing, if they're all immortals that have lived with each other for so long, why would they need to remind each other of what they are? And if the main cast are well-known fairy tale figures (Snow White, Big Bad Wolf, Briar Rose) why would the audience need to be reminded who they are? Granted, Bluebeard's a little more obscure, probably since Disney would never make a movie out of him. Too bad, since I like his story. They'd probably design him to look like Jafar and make him a wicked sorcerer, though.[/spoiler]

[SacredFireman]

Whoo boy. I went to the New York Comic Con today only day I can attend this week. My god it was great. Sadly I should've cut class since I was not able to get to the line for Alex Ross signings fast enough and wound up carrying many comics around for no reason. That and no one for Dynamo 5 comes in until Sunday. Sigh.

[Yubi Shines]

Starting to read All Star Batman and Robin.

Everyone either seems to love it and hail Miller as a god, or hate it with fiery rage and call for him to be burned and cut into pieces.

I'm leaning to the first camp, but I've still got a ways to go.

[SacredFireman]

I think you can only hate it if you try to take it seriously. Which I don't think you should ever do with the Dark Knight Returns universe. I'm only a bit annoyed with it because of how craptacular Batman and Robins relationship becomes in the future.

[Yubi Shines]

LET ME TAKE YOU TO SCHOOL, SUCKERS. IN CHEMISTRY.

Yeah, I agree that you can't take it seriously.

[SacredFireman]

Let's see. This weeks releases were decent.

Hulk #3 was a fun read since I dig the whole "who's the new Hulk" aspect of the story. And by now from what I infer the new Hulk's been narrowed down to either being [spoiler]Doc Samson or General Ross, though there's always a possibility for a surprise twist I hadn't planned on[/spoiler]

Countdown has finally ended and left me with a bit of a did anything really happen feeling since only Mary was really affected, not counting the New Gods dieing which was its own seperate thing.

The Birds of Prey finally get back on friendly terms and the team's getting ready to relocate.

Death of the New Gods 8 certainly left me reeling a bit since it somewhat makes the battle in the previous weeks Countdown make some sense and less sense now.

[Speed Racer]

We're reading American-Born Chinese for that class that I have. I really like that one, as opposed to La Perdida that we had to read last week.

[Mikero]

Countdown ended with a whimper instead of a bang. That's annoying.

Hulk was good. Ms. Marvel was bleh. Uncanny X-Men was good. X-Force was good. Thor was good. Young Avengers Presents was good. Mighty Avengers was interesting and OK.

I just realized I missed Power Pack Day One #2. But whatever, that's just a random I picked up for no reason in the first place really.

Today I also finished Runaways Vol. 7 and Cable Deadpool entirely (with Deadpool vs. The Marvel Universe just coming out this week in trade). I started Fables vol. 4 which is really good so far.

[SacredFireman]

Ah Countdown, at least you made Buddy Blank into OMAC again. Good enough.

[SacredFireman]

Alright let's kick this thread into a Lazarus pit and continue the talk.

Booster Gold #9: If you ever liked the characters from the Justice League International this is one great issue. You'd think alternae timelines would get annoying but Booster Gold makes them fun.

The Titans #2 is also out. Giving some more info as to why Trigon's started attacking the Titans is given. No one has yet found Tempest.

Amazing Spidergirl #20. Clone Saga Take Two, maybe. This could be interesting.

Guardians of the Galaxy #1: While I've heard great things about Nova and Annihilation I've never really been into Marvel's space stuff though I did pick up Annihilation: Conquest from the start. Honestly the teams and it's semi existent dynamics are great andeven without the endings teaser I'm definitely gonna keep reading.

Wolverine #65: Wolverine and Mystique continue brawling virtually killing each other. The ending felt awfully forced but I guess it's to be expected as there was never a real chance of Mystique getting killed off.

My top three of the week in order of greatest to not as great but still greater than the rest is...Booster Gold, Guardians of the Galaxy and Wolverine.

[The Otaku]

"Pigeons From Hell"

Sounded interesting, so I checked it out. And it is:

MySpace Comics Pigeons From Hell Preview

The art looks like it came from Venture Bros.

[Lunchebox]

You know, I wanted to talk about Incognito, Ed Brubaker's new book.

And I thought of this thread.

Which you all let slip by into page 3.

Shame on you all.

Incognito is very good, and is making me consider picking up trades of Criminal.

I can't wait for Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #2 to come out next week.

Invincible feels a little weak lately.

Captain America and Punisher War Zone are good.

And I can't seem to stop reading Ultimate Spider-Man.

And after many delays, I got to read Kick Ass #5.

I wish Mark Millar stopped writing so slowly, because I know it's not John Romita Jr. delaying the book.

[Mikero]

I have a metaphorical boner for Geoff Johns' writing.

My favourite DC books right now are Green Lantern, Action Comics, and JSA.
When someone can make Superman relatable without making him a complete wad (Smallville) or an illegitimate father (Superman Returns) they are clearly doing something right.

That said, I'm worried about Blackest Night. It's more of a premise issue than anything.

Before buying JSA I bought and read read Kingdom Come for the first time (for obvious reasons if you've been reading JSA since "The Next Age"). It's very good, as promised.

In Marvel stuff, I'm still surprised at how Spider-Man continues to be good. I need to drop X-Factor, and half the other X titles.

I never finish my stack of comics to read on Fridays at work. Never. I just add to it weekly and get through what I can. I had to drop Punisher War Journal (it was sucking anyway) and some other stuff.

I'm about to read Skydoll, which was leant to me. The name only serves to remind me that I really need to read more of the Flight books.

[Lunchebox]

I started reading Criminal for the first time a couple weeks ago, and that was amazing. Got Hellboy... Last week, I think, and I'm really digging the Wild Hunt, same for B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess, and I can't help but think the whole Hellboy universe it beginning it's climax...

Walking Dead continues to be interesting, some how, and Invincible... I dunno, I really like it, but at the same time, it bugs me, no idea why. Kick Ass continues to be a fun read, and Captain America continues to be fantastic (is there anything Brubaker can't write?).

[Mikero]

Yeah Cap is great.
Still loving New Avengers, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna actually be BUYING Dark Avengers since Mighty Avengers was never as good anyway. I'll definitely read it though.
I read too many X-blahblah books, I need to drop some since they're sucky (X-Factor in particular) but X-Force and Cable have been great, along with some others. Young X-Men is up and down. I'm probably gonna stop reading Wolverine after Old Man Logan is done.
Spider-Man And The X-Men has been a surprisingly fun read, and Amazing Spider-Man continues to lock my interest.
Deadpool is Deadpool and thus wicked.

Skydoll was good. It's published by Marvel in America but it's actually from France or some silly place where they make interesting things. It's actually by Soleil, but apparently the rest of their stuff isn't as good.

In DC, the latest Final Crisis was good, which makes 2 out of all of them good in my book. And it's finally starting to actually be lucid with what's going on. Trinity is going downhill after a strong start. Titans is still pretty good, but I'm not keen on where Teen Titans is going. Flash (Wally West) is done, and I'm not decided if I'm gonna pick up the new book which will be focused on Barry Allen. I've dropped The Brave And The Bold since it's been boring for a while.
I dropped a lot of titles recently because I just don't have time to read them at work and they're not good enough to buy. I have some Green Lantern trades to catch up on, I can't wait for JSA: Thy Kingdom Come part 3 to come out in hardcover, and Action Comics continues to rock leading me to confirm that Geoff Johns is my favourite DC writer right now.

I got a book of James Jean's covers for Fables, which is beautiful.

I could probably say more but I don't really care.

[Lunchebox]

I have all three issues of Marvel's translation of Sky Doll. It's okay.

I recently, out of financial need, dropped most of my books. I dropped about all the books from the big 2, since I wasn't enjoying them as much lately. Secret Invasion was lack luster, so I didn't buy it. Final Crisis is... I don't know, I don't think I like it.

And Daniel Way Deadpool is sort of okay... But I wish he would ut the whole "Deadpool vision" crap.

[Mikero]

There's more translations coming. Secret Invasion was a lot better and more consistent than Final Crisis has been, but with Marvel events you really need to be reading 90% of the tie-in issues to get an honest feel for how big it all is, especially with Secret Invasion. I've got no complaints in Deadpool, and the most recent issue was great since we're clear of Skrully tie-in stuff.

[SacredFireman]

So...wow. Been quite a while since I was on the site for anything. Umm...I liked Trinity, anyone else?

[Mikero]

It was.... Alright.

I think it was too long. Since I was reading for free at work, I missed a couple issues, but yeah. It took a long time before all that stuff with Konvict became relevant to the universe changing things. It felt too much like they only had enough story for a bit less than 52 issues, and had to make it work.

That said, it was pretty good for a weekly. Better than 52 and Countdown were by far. And at times, I thought it was more epic than Final Crisis (which was going on at the same time, suckily) was.

Posted on:  8 July 2009, 02:18:14

Blackest Night is upon us.

I'm decidedly absolutely loving this #####ing #####. I was iffy at first, there are still concepts I'm iffy on, but in all I'm into it. I'm into big GL events, but so much has been leading to this for the past four years it has more scope in the whole DCU than past GL big ones (like 2007's Sinestro Corps War). I guess it's DC's big summer event, so it SHOULD take in the whole DCU, but the Sinestro Corps War was pretty light on stuff that didn't have to do with usual GL business, so it's nice this is already thick with non GL characters. But I love anytime the Green Lantern Corps mixes with everything.

[Majikn]

http://www.amazon.ca/Ultimates-Millar-Bryan-Hitch-Omnibus/dp/0785137807

I've ordered this. I read volume 1 already and, having thoroughly enjoyed it, I guess I have no problem paying for it.

[Mikero]

I'm not a big Ultimates fan.

In that... I haven't liked anything I've read from Ultimate universe. I started The Ultimates (the first one) but I didn't really get into it. I really don't like Cap in it at all.

Ultimate X-Men supposedly gets better after the first volume but it's UP TO the first volume to get me into it so that didn't work.

Ultimate Spider-Man is done by one of my favourite Marvel writers but... It's really weird.

[Majikn]

I'll be able to compare them once I start moving on. Ultimate Spider-Man was what I started with. I like it despite everything that I don't like about it. I can imagine the main continuity might be that much better to get into, but with more effort.