The Comic Book Thread

[noiseredux]

wow, yeah that's great.

(I don't watch the Olympics, so had no idea about Marvel costumes).

[samsonlonghair]

I am sure y'all have noticed that Marvel teamed up with the uniform provider for many of the events at the Winter Olympics to promote, if generically, Marvel's brand. The Captain America-inspired uniforms are fine, but the Captain Marvel ones are awesome! Seeing Mikaela Shiffrin's profile pictures on TV and the internet with the Captain Marvel colors and that distinct starburst, and especially with her profile and blond hair, she could damn well BE Captain Marvel. I was really excited to see that.

Wow! She's stunning! Too late to recast?

[bmoc]

I finished Doomsday Clock #3. There have been lots of good moments in the series thus far. I'm really digging it but I find myself with more questions after each issue!

I picked up issue #4 today. It focused on one character in particular and gave some much needed backstory and exposition. Like with the Watchmen comics, each issue of Doomsday Clock has some sort if fictional document at the end. Issue #4 has the best one yet. It is not so much the words on the page but the way that they are presented that makes it great.

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DC's New Age of Heroes stuff has been a bit hit and mix. I mean, I do love how they've essentially decided to troll Marvel a touch by blatantly doing their own versions of the FF, Hulk, Ghost Rider and Spider-Man, but the quality isn't quite there. The Terrifics is probably the best book so far. Didn't realise how much I missed Plastic Man before this, add in a good place to use perennial misfits Mr Terrific and Metamorpho and it's a solid team. Phantom Girl is a bit too on the nose insofar as making the team an erstaz-Fantastic Four but I do love me some Legion so any hint of them is welcome to me. And it's fun and wacky and full of mad ideas like a FF comic should be.

I read Sideways and Damage as well. Damage is blah and his design is very late 90's. Not for me. Sideways would work better if it was less of a Spider-Man homage but has some promise.

[marurun]

Read all of Hack/Slash on Hoopla. I like the main characters and a lot of the storylines, though some of the cross-over stuff is super dumb. But I also think the author/artist/creator Tim Seeley protests too much when the comics are called sexist. There's nothing, I think, inherently sexist about the main character or the stories (other than the slasher tropes, but the book attempts to subvert those, so it's OK), but the pin-up style covers and poses, and the art of some scenes in the comic itself, are decidedly misogynistic. Seeley likes to argue that there's nothing inherently sexist about an attractive woman, and that's true. Women can choose to look how they want. But when you're a dude drawing a sexy goth in her, what, early 20s, and putting her in explicitly sexualized poses on your cover, it's clear who you're trying to market the book to, no matter how much actual depth is in the character and the stories inside. That said, when you get past the cover I don't think the book does the main character wrong, and there's a kind of sadness to the ultimate conclusion of the story.

There's 5 collected volumes in TPB, all available on Hoopla via your local public library, and it's mostly a good read.

Also reading the Collected SCUD: Disposable Assassin on Hoopla. Just dropped on Hoopla recently. It's a bit rough in the early parts, but I assume it will get better. Creator Rob Schrab and occasional writer Dan Harmon have gone on to larger media careers. This is kind of an early look at their talent, rough around the edges as it may be.

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Binge read Tom King's Batman run in preparation for the wedding. I very much enjoyed his Vision mini, Omega Men was okay and Mister Miracle has been intriguing so far, just hope he can stick the landing.

On Batman though, well I can see why King has caused a lot of division among fans. He is very fond of hammering home his point that Batman is just a broken little boy in a gadget-laden bat costume and that's why he pushes people away and yadda yadda. Fine, it's ground that's now well worn but King uses it less to define what makes Batman so kewl to edgy teens and more set up and reflect his relationships with Catwoman, Bane and the city of Gotham itself.

There are some really excellent issues as well, I really liked the single where he teams up with Swamp Thing, there's a gag in there that genuinely made me laugh and I liked the issues where Bruce and Selina double date with Clark and Lois. They were fun, they were cute and he at least understands why Batman and Superman are friends despite being so dissimilar.

Then however there's the times he forces people to act out of character or contrives situations because he had a cool idea first and wrote his script after. Case in point the whole of the I Am Suicide arc, Wonder Woman and Batman in a hitherto unheard of parallel dimension and Deadshot and Deathstroke fighting in a war between the Riddler and Joker despite neither of them being paid for it.

In fact none of the villains in the war of Jokes and Riddles have any motivation to side with who they do and it's odd that Freeze or Ivy would give half a shit about the Riddler's machinations. But they do so King can have his story about how Kite Man is a joke and Batman is a douche. I will give him credit though for not making it just a dumb slugfest, page after page of brawls along the lines of Avengers Vs X-Men, like I know some of the fans want. And while King's Batman is a drag (I really kept wanting Superman or Martian Manhunter to turn up and put his loss in perspective) the support cast is a lot of fun. Props for making Catwoman cool again and not just a sexy ornament.

So it's spotty but so are most runs on comics, even the most celebrated. Synder dropped a few dud storylines on his time with Batman while Morrison and Miller both ended up going off the rails with varying degrees of insanity. I would generally recommend it except the Night of the Monstermen arc which is hokum and easily skipable.

I've also been reading Aquaman and the tie-in Mera book which are both dealing with Dan Abnett's epic Game of Thrones-esque storyline about a coup in Atlantis and Arthur going on the lam.

Arthur loses the throne to a populist but staunchly protectionist Atlantean who demands Aquaman produce his birth certificate and literally puts a wall around Atlantis so no one can get in or out. Also he hates poor people and fish-people. So it's not subtle stuff but it has been epic, with lots of intrigue, nice momentw where Aquaman uses some tricks he learnt from his fellow Leaguers, slightly shit characters King Shark and Vulko get some depth (no pun intended) and some cool stuff to do. Add in the return of Dolphin, Mera and Orm teaming up and all the book is missing is some shenanigans from Black Manta to make it the perfect Aqua package.

[bmoc]

I picked up Doomsday Clock #6 today. I still think #4 was the best one thus far but this one is a strong contender for my second favorite.
Major spoilers below:

So a bunch of major DC villains show up in one spot for a meeting about how they are going to get organized. Marionette and Mime are there as Joker's prisoners. Out of nowhere, the Comedian shows up and starts killing everybody. He begins by shooting Typhoon in the face and tossing out grenades all over the place. Best part is that he really didn't give a crap about any of those DC villains or what they were doing. He just wanted Marionette and Mime so he could find Ozymandias. Meanwhile, Joker is just standing around in awe of the carnage saying that "This is the best day every!"

I also took a gander at the covers of the next issue. One of them seems to indicate that

the OG Green Lantern, Alan Scott, might be making a return and that Mothman could be involved in some way.

In any case, the quality of Doomsday Clock has been very good thus far. I just hope that they are able to ditch the bimonthly release schedule. If this keeps up, it will be around this time next year before it finishes.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I'm planning on jumping into comics hard again, and I figured I'd stick with my first comic love, Poison Iv... I mean Batman. And from there I was just honking maybe expanding into other D.C. Characters.

However, I don't have much experience with D.C. Comics, mostly movies and the (old?) animated universe, with the Batman, Superman, and Justice Leauge shows. But looking into it, a lot of characters I liked from there are really minor characters, connected to a character even D.C. Doesn't seem to care about (like Firestorm), or we're only in like 4 comics in the 60s.

Looking at the DC website, it seems like the "main" Justice league (Bats, Supes, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern) are the main characters everybody shot off of, and the ones with the most attention and care. There's some B tier people who seem to have large impacts too, like Aquaman, the Flash (not a fan) and Cyborg.

I guess what I'm asking is, what would be suggested to look into? Compared to Marvel, DC seems easier for casual reading, and has less characters focused on. I love the Batman related stuff (well, except Robin, but whatever), but out of the others I don't really know where to start.

[bmoc]

I'm only somewhat familiar with the current DC landscape from reading Doomsday Clock so my advice will be limited.

If you are looking for fairly recent Batman stuff, Dark Nights Metal was pretty well received. So much so that The Batman Who Laughs got his own ongoing solo series https://www.dccomics.com/comics?seriesid=441516#browse

Firestorm plays a big role in Doomsday Clock especially the last few issues. There are 3 issues left but they are being released at a snail's pace. It might wrap up this year at the rate it is going.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I've done some more research, and outside the 5 or so big names, most of it is crossover stuff such as Justice league or Suicide Squad, or shorter (50 singles or less) runs. Which works for me personally, TBH. The big crossover stuff isn't my style, and the Big 3 interest me the most.

I did look into that Batman, among the very large number of others.

Firestorm isn't actually of interest to me, I just find it weird that I've never even heard of a character that prolific... I knew his main villain, but not him.

I guess I should just be glad I'm not trying to get into marvel.