The Comic Book Thread

[BurningDoom]

As far as continuity goes, yeah...it is what it is. I still can't wrap my head around Batman going through so many Robins in the span of like five years. I've chosen to just ignore continuity when it comes to DC. I mean with all the different "Crises" and the New 52, does DC even care about their continuity anymore?

DC actually cares about it more than most companies. That's why they keep having Crisises, to clean up loose ends and tighten up continuity.

Yeah, but they're basically fixing continuity by erasing it. It's just retconning on a grand scale. I understand why they do it, but if someone just did that to something I've followed for years (like erasing five years of Buffy/Angel), I'd probably be a pissed off fan.

Don't get me wrong, I like the New 52, but I'm not one of those types of fans I was referring to. For me, the New 52 was a nice way in as someone who hadn't followed DC comics for years.

Gotta admit. I'm not happy my DC Universe and characters are gone. I miss the old Post-Crisis universe that I read for nearly 25 years. But now I know how all those old-timers felt when the original Crisis on Infinite Earths wiped out their universe (or multiverse).

[Gamerforlife]

For the handful of Buffy fans on this forum who may or may not be reading Buffy, I think Joss needs to retire the Buffy character. The last two issues of Buffy were awful. Meanwhile, the Angel & Faith book continues to be leagues better than Buffy's book issue after issue. At this point, Faith is a FAR more interesting slayer than Buffy and every bit as capable. She has far, far, FAR more chemistry with Angel than Buffy ever did too.

I really wish the Buffyverse would start circling around her and Angel. Buffy can be killed off at this point and I don't think I'd care much. There's nothing left to do with her character. Let her die a heroic death. Buffy's old news. Faith is where it's at now. She's technically the REAL slayer anyway.

[BurningDoom]

For the handful of Buffy fans on this forum who may or may not be reading Buffy, I think Joss needs to retire the Buffy character. The last two issues of Buffy were awful. Meanwhile, the Angel & Faith book continues to be leagues better than Buffy's book issue after issue. At this point, Faith is a FAR more interesting slayer than Buffy and every bit as capable. She has far, far, FAR more chemistry with Angel than Buffy ever did too.

I really wish the Buffyverse would start circling around her and Angel. Buffy can be killed off at this point and I don't think I'd care much. There's nothing left to do with her character. Let her die a heroic death. Buffy's old news. Faith is where it's at now. She's technically the REAL slayer anyway.

Nothing new. Angel the T.V. series was better than Buffy, too.

[Gamerforlife]

For the handful of Buffy fans on this forum who may or may not be reading Buffy, I think Joss needs to retire the Buffy character. The last two issues of Buffy were awful. Meanwhile, the Angel & Faith book continues to be leagues better than Buffy's book issue after issue. At this point, Faith is a FAR more interesting slayer than Buffy and every bit as capable. She has far, far, FAR more chemistry with Angel than Buffy ever did too.

I really wish the Buffyverse would start circling around her and Angel. Buffy can be killed off at this point and I don't think I'd care much. There's nothing left to do with her character. Let her die a heroic death. Buffy's old news. Faith is where it's at now. She's technically the REAL slayer anyway.

Nothing new. Angel the T.V. series was better than Buffy, too.

I always thought so, but I've heard many people disagree. I always liked the darker, more grown up feel of Angel versus the bunch of kids fighting evil feel of Buffy. Loved both shows though, but Angel had more compelling story arcs and characters. When the show did comedy though, it was pretty amazing. The puppet Angel episode is funnier than any episode of Buffy ever made.

In a weird way I feel vindicated now that the overwhelming majority of the Buffy fandom agree that Angel's book is much better than Buffy's. And I'm damn happy to see Faith getting spotlighted. It rarely gets mentioned but going back over the events of both television shows, one can see that Faith was the last true slayer, despite everyone always acting like Buffy is the true slayer. Joss seems to want everyone to forget that though for some reason

Anyway, in other comic book news I absolutely LOVE Swamp Thing and Batman right now. I have quickly become a Scott Snyder fan. He's doing awesome things in these books, and the New 52 version of Joker is pretty badass. He's more sinister and scary than ever before...at least in the main Bat title anyway. I found his appearance in Catwoman to be rather stupid, but then again I find EVERYTHING in Catwoman to be stupid. Hate that book, and hate that character. Please DC, kill Catwoman off. You can axe Batwoman too while you're at it. I'm quite happy with Barbara Gordon and the Birds of Prey as the main females in Gotham thank you very much. Dinah Lance could kick Batwoman and Catwoman's ass any day of the week.

I also read up to issue 48 of The Walking Dead last night, and the show is never going to match up to the insanity in issues 40-48. Even if they wanted to, I think it'd be too much for a TV audience. To say that things get dark in those issues doesn't even do them justice. Makes everything we've seen on the show so far seem like a pleasant stroll through a park. They go places in that book that I just don't think you can go on a television show without losing a lot of your audience

[Forlorn Drifter]

Certain areas of the Walking Dead comic book I really don't see them doing on TV. I'm not exactly sure which area of the story 40-48 is, seeing as I read the trades, but there is definitely some screwed up stuff in there.

I'm personally looking for some more stuff, but there's so much I want to look into. How does everyone here feel about Hack/Slash? Is it good besides eye candy?

[Michi]

You can axe Batwoman too while you're at it. I'm quite happy with Barbara Gordon and the Birds of Prey as the main females in Gotham thank you very much. Dinah Lance could kick Batwoman and Catwoman's ass any day of the week.

Me thinks someone's still a little miffed that Batgirl got her a$$ whooped.

[Gamerforlife]

You can axe Batwoman too while you're at it. I'm quite happy with Barbara Gordon and the Birds of Prey as the main females in Gotham thank you very much. Dinah Lance could kick Batwoman and Catwoman's ass any day of the week.

Me thinks someone's still a little miffed that Batgirl got her a$$ whooped.

That's part of it, but I just kind of don't find her interesting, and I don't really like someone with no connection to Batman at all running around with an outfit and name that bring him to mind. She's not a Bat character and she's not part of the Bat family, and she even turned down a chance to join Batman Inc. Why is she called Batwoman? I read Batwoman #0 where they revealed her origin story, and her reasons for donning the name and likeness of Batman felt incredibly forced. There is no reason for her to be BATwoman. She's just a woman who woke up one day and decided to be a super hero, and because she's in Gotham she just went with a Batman motif

That's the lamest origin story for a Bat character I've ever heard. She has no connection to him at all and her backstory doesn't even give her a real reason to connect with Batman or Bruce Wayne on any level whatsoever. It's completely ridiculous. It just irritates me that there is this Bat book that's not a Bat book. Joker's running around going after all the Bat characters right now and I doubt he'll even give a thought to Batwoman, because Batwoman doesn't matter.

[Michi]

There is no reason for her to be BATwoman. She's just a woman who woke up one day and decided to be a super hero, and because she's in Gotham she just went with a Batman motif.....

While I'm not fond of most of the back story (I was happier with what little knowledge I had before all the extra from #0), one thing that never bothered me about it was that she decided to take up the bat mantel because she was saved by Batman. That seemed logical to me from the get-go.

I understand where you're coming from, but really, what else did you expect someone who lived in Gotham to choose? A moose? (That'd be funny, actually) The Bat is a pretty permanent symbol in that city.

[BurningDoom]

There is no reason for her to be BATwoman. She's just a woman who woke up one day and decided to be a super hero, and because she's in Gotham she just went with a Batman motif.....

While I'm not fond of most of the back story (I was happier with what little knowledge I had before all the extra from #0), one thing that never bothered me about it was that she decided to take up the bat mantel because she was saved by Batman. That seemed logical to me from the get-go.

I understand where you're coming from, but really, what else did you expect someone who lived in Gotham to choose? A moose? (That'd be funny, actually) The Bat is a pretty permanent symbol in that city.

Something more original would be nice, since we already have Batman, Batgirl (both Cassandra and Barbara), Nightwing, Batwing, Robin, Red Robin, and Huntress. At least all those other bat-people have connections to Batman unlike Batwoman. And there's actually already been a Batwoman, for that matter:



FYI:
Gotham City is also the original Green Lantern's (Alan Scott) home turf. I know he's not seen as much more than a JSA member nowadays, but back in the Golden Age he was one of the consistently top-selling characters in comic books.

[Gamerforlife]

There is no reason for her to be BATwoman. She's just a woman who woke up one day and decided to be a super hero, and because she's in Gotham she just went with a Batman motif.....

While I'm not fond of most of the back story (I was happier with what little knowledge I had before all the extra from #0), one thing that never bothered me about it was that she decided to take up the bat mantel because she was saved by Batman. That seemed logical to me from the get-go.

I understand where you're coming from, but really, what else did you expect someone who lived in Gotham to choose? A moose? (That'd be funny, actually) The Bat is a pretty permanent symbol in that city.

Yeah, I suppose. It's just that Bat family origins have always been so well thought out and meaningful, giving a really good reason for donning the Bat mantle that actually connects them to Batman or Bruce in some meaningful way. Dick and him share the same tragedy. Barbara has spent her youth watching Jim Gordon and Batman fight crime so she finds a way to live up to the two men she idolizes. Tim Drake was like the ultimate Batman/Robin fan. Jason Todd was a troubled youth who Batman took on as a son. Batwoman just got saved by Batman once and thought "Hey, that whole Batman thing is pretty cool. I'm gonna steal that."

To be perfectly honest, even her reason for wanting to be a super hero felt a bit flimsy to me. I just didn't find her origin story very compelling. It felt thrown together to me. The thing that bugs me too is that we have a female Bat character already. They had a running joke in Batgirl about how people confuse her with Batwoman. It's meant to be funny, but it emphasizes how redundant it is to have a Batgirl AND a Batwoman. They could have at least went with something not so similar to Batgirl, like when Cassandra was running around as Black Bat, or how Tim Drake became Red Robin. Now I'm just nitpicking.

FYI:
Gotham City is also the original Green Lantern's (Alan Scott) home turf. I know he's not seen as much more than a JSA member nowadays, but back in the Golden Age he was one of the consistently top-selling characters in comic books.

I'm not familiar with Alan Scott, but I've noticed in both comics and cartoons a strong bond between Oliver Queen and Batman that I've always liked, pre-52 Oliver that is