Comics are Awesome III

A general discussion forum, plus hauls and silly games.
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Dominic
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

Post by Dominic »

DC's handling of Wally is clumsy, but not hard to understand.

They made Wally a central figure in a controversial story, raising the character's profile. Think of Elastic Man and his wife, ~15 years ago. Did anybody really care about Sue before she got killed off? (No. They did not.)


I have been sporadically reading "Freedom Fighters". It...sucks.

DC editorial should have a formalized rule against using the term "ratzi" in anything that is pitched to people over the age of 7. (The Bronze Age ended over 25 years ago. Time to grow the hell up.)

The opening pages of the most recent issue blatantly reference Morrison's "All Star Superman" before sliding in to the stupidest possible follow-up to Morrison's "Master Men". In a way, it is impressive for being an explicit follow-up to a brilliant one-shot that completely misses what made the one-shot good, to the point of being offensively stupid.

My local comic shop divides new arrivals 3 ways. Marvel and DC each get their own section, divided by a section for the rest. DC's lower output means that the Diamond catalogue (and occasionally non-DC indies) are in the DC section. I really want a reason to look at the DC section other than the Diamond catalogue.
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andersonh1
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Dominic wrote:DC's handling of Wally is clumsy, but not hard to understand.

They made Wally a central figure in a controversial story, raising the character's profile.
I would argue that DC Rebirth raised Wally's profile, and did so without damaging the character. Wally only had a low profile in the first place because DC editorial sidelined him over the last decade in favor of Barry Allen, who arguably should have stayed dead. Not that I have anything against the character, and indeed I'm enjoying his Silver Age series for the first time, but he was more effective as a dead character than a live one. It remains to be seen whether Wally West will benefit from this controversy or not.
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andersonh1
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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I found this article to be an interesting bit of speculation about the relationship between Doomsday Clock's plot and Geoff Johns's experiences with DC films.

https://aux.avclub.com/geoff-johns-reck ... 1835326649
Hollywood is at the foundation of Geoff Johns’ comic-book career. He broke into the entertainment industry as a production assistant for Superman: The Movie director Richard Donner, who would join Johns as the co-writer of Action Comics in the mid ’00s. Johns would build his career as a power player at DC Comics, revitalizing dusty properties and penning hit crossover events that reshaped the entire DC Universe, and that knowledge would prove very useful to Warner Bros. as superheroes surged in popularity in both film and television. Like Carver Coleman, Geoff Johns got ahead in Hollywood because superheroes helped him see the future, but once you reach a certain level of power, you become a target. Carver is killed by his mother when she bashes his skull in with his Academy Award. Johns is fired by DC’s parent company after being set up for failure with a troubled production.

The roots of that troubled production start at Superman, and Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel kicked off DC’s cinematic universe with a bleak, cynical worldview that was more distinctive than Marvel Studios’ work, but also not as appealing. As the first of his kind, Superman is at the core of the DC Universe, even if he’s not DC’s most profitable character (that’s Batman). There’s something particularly intoxicating about changing Superman, but if you go too far, there’s one hell of a come down. DC Entertainment felt it after Man Of Steel, and Johns felt it after the New 52. With all this context in mind, this narration from Doctor Manhattan gains autobiographical implications that makes Doomsday Clock more personal: “I have recreated the Metaverse. And it has turned against me. I see a vision of Superman in the future. He has found me. And he destroys me. Or I destroy the Metaverse.”
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Dominic
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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I would really like for DC to actually have a plan. A decade ago, they had the creative credibility to write comics about comics. Now, they can barely write comics.
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andersonh1
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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The Justice Society is coming back in the pages of Justice League. I figured it would happen at some point, since Starman showed up for a panel in the first issue.

https://www.newsarama.com/45553-scott-s ... -them.html

And the recently character assassinated Wally West gets a mini series, "Flash Forward".

https://www.cbr.com/flash-forward-wally ... s-spinoff/
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Spider-Man Life Story #4
The 90's.

Doc Ock (now an old man) has hunted down Ben Reilly in Chicago. Meanwhile, Peter turns down Tony Stark's offer to merge their companies, unless Tony stops making weapons, which Tony refuses to do, believing he is helping keep America safe. After work, Peter encounters Doc Ock as well, and he manages to gas Peter. Waking up at Oscorp, Peter finds Otto has brought Harry and Ben as well. After realizing Peter Parker is Spider-Man, Doc Ock believes the reason he and May split up sometime before her death was that Peter convinced her to leave him. Now that he's old and getting closer to the end of his life, he's brought them all together so that he can study the two and create his own clone. But surprising every body, Doc Ock's results show that Peter was actually the clone all along. Ben freaks out, attacking the Doctor, and as Peter talks him down, Doc Ock accidentally kills Harry and flees.

Having confirmed Doc Ock's results, Peter offers to exchange lives wanting to retire to a quiet life. Ben accepts but reveals his life hasn't been exactly quiet, as he reveals a red mask. Peter then goes to confront Norman, figuring he must have told Otto all about the cloning and was the one who gave him access to the Oscorp lab. Peter reveals that his own tests show he actually is the real Peter Parker, Norman's little ploy didn't even give him a second of doubt that he was always the original. Peter also tells Norman that Otto killed Harry. He's lost everything. Norman attempts to kill Peter with a glider (but he easily stops it) and Norman dies of a heart attack. Leaving New York, Peter re-unites with MJ and his twins.

--
Really wish this issue had addressed what became of Gwen's clone. Last we saw her, she'd left New York with Ben to start a new life together. This issue sort of implies they split up, with Ben being with someone named Lori instead. Not that I'm really surprised. Given the whole clone situation, and Ben continuing the super hero life, I can see her going her own way. But I hope she'll still turn up again. Really interesting to me that Peter ends up playing along with Norman's deception because he wants to switch places with Ben. Also hoping to see if the twins inherited Peter's powers in the next issue. Be very interesting to see where they take the story now that Peter has essentially retired.
Last edited by Sparky Prime on Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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andersonh1
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Green Lantern #8
This issue is a big homage to the 70s Green Lantern/Green Arrow series. So Hal and Ollie team up to take down intergalactic drug pushers, only these drug peddlers harvest human souls as their drug, and an alien hitman is after the pusher. In addition, Morrison brings back Xeen Arrow, a giant Green Arrow from another dimension from one of Jack Kirby's Green Arrow stories in the 60s, and I've actually read that one. I have a small collected volume of Kirby's Green Arrow stories. He only had about 11 I think. Talk about obscure continuity, but Morrison's run has been full of that sort of thing. And Sinestro turns up at the end of the issue, back in his old costume (which he's been using over in Justice League). This whole series is a mix of 60s and 70s Green Lantern filtered through Morrison's modern sensibilities, which is working very well. If a character has a long history, why not mine it for story ideas?
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Archie Comics "Mega Man" series

I've been reading this online lately, and it's consistently making some surprisingly deep arguments regarding the pros and cons of advanced A.I. The latest one I've read, that prompted this post, was Dr. Light explaining to an acquaintance why he would make a robot capable of love: "Because a robot with near-human thinking ability that can't love is far scarier than one who can." I honestly don't even know where I come down on most of these issues, but it's been legitimately fascinating to think about them, and especially impressive coming from an Archie comic based on an 80's video game franchise.
Check it out, a honey bear! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkajou
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Dominic
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Where are these comics being posted? When Archie lost the license, the comics mostly went away. (Archie even removed "Mega Man" from their forums.) Obviously, you may want to answer privately.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Justice League 26 - There's a sensible use of the Multiverse established in Multiversity as the Justice League recruits help from every universe to save reality. There are other character based subplots going on, but the most interesting is the Martian Manhunter hunting down Lex Luthor, who is appearing and offering people choices in the lead up to Year of the Villain. Feels like a transitional "address a lot of subplots" issue to me.

Amazing Spider-Man 24 - One of my periodic attempts to sample a Marvel comic. I like the tiny Legacy numbering (issue 800 and something... I don't have the book in front of me) below the main number. Sadly, this book is what so many Marvel books are when I try them out: bleak and frankly unpleasant to read. Far too much time is spent watching Mysterio talk to a psychiatrist and then get slaughtered by some demon in what probably should have taken only a few pages at most. There's not a lot of Spider-Man action either. This issue isn't going to convince me that this is a series worth reading.

And I flipped through Aquaman 49, since they accidentally put it in my pull box. It confirms that I was right to drop the book. It's a long conversation between Aquaman and Mera, told in flashback as Aquaman gets his memories back. And what we learn is that Mera told Arthur that she's pregnant, he "needs some space", she demands as his queen that he stay, and then in a fit of anger kills him in a power display that reminds me of what Tom King had Wally do in HiC. Not only does this not fit at all with the end of "Drowned Earth" (there's nowhere for Aquaman to have come back and had this conversation, and Mera is still active over in Justice League), but it's all so stereotypical. The man needs his space and can't face up to the responsibilities of impending fatherhood, the woman has no emotional control, and as for commanding your significant other to do anything... try that and see how well it works out. We had a mature and loving couple under Johns, Parker and Abnett, and now we get this cardboard set of cliches. Not good. I hope we get a new writer sooner rather than later.
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