Comics are Awesome III

[Dominic]

Didio's comments (or the comments of whoever it was) were roughly concurrent with King's, maybe a bit after. King spilled beans at a convention, then DC followed up with their comments.

And Earth-16, to my understanding, was actually based on the "Super Son's" world, originally designated as the Pre-Crisis Earth 154. Although it's odd that in Convergence, the past version actually seems to be based on the 90's versions of the characters.

Earth 16 is Earth 154 as much as Earth 10 is Earth X. They superficially have a similar premise. But, the new iteration is not going to be identical. The Super-Sons were meant to be successors to the then current heroes. Earth 16 is meant to be successors to the heroes of yesterday, the 90s (as shown in "The Just").

[Sparky Prime]

Didio's comments (or the comments of whoever it was) were roughly concurrent with King's, maybe a bit after. King spilled beans at a convention, then DC followed up with their comments.

Well it certainly wasn't DiDio, that's all I'm saying. Unless what you're referring to was actually about the Convergence storyline itself rather than the outcome of it, because I do recall him saying every character was on the table for Convergence... But the only post-Convergence interview I've seen with him is the one andersonh1 posted, and he doesn't exactly support (or deny) King's comments in that.

Earth 16 is Earth 154 as much as Earth 10 is Earth X. They superficially have a similar premise. But, the new iteration is not going to be identical. The Super-Sons were meant to be successors to the then current heroes. Earth 16 is meant to be successors to the heroes of yesterday, the 90s (as shown in "The Just").

Exactly, Earth 10 is supposed to be an analogue for Earth X. Just as Earth-5 is to Earth-S, Earth-48 is to Earth-6, Pre-Crisis Earth- 2 to the New 52 Earth-2, and whatever others of the 52 are based on a previous Earth. None of the 52 Earths are supposed to be identical to the Pre-Crisis Earths, but that doesn't make them any less of an analogue for those previous Earths that they might have been based on. It doesn't matter if the "Super Sons" were meant to be the successors of the current heroes vs heroes of yesterday. That's still the exact same premise, and is what the creators based it on, making it the direct analogue.

[andersonh1]

I plan to make decisions about my pull file in August or September. The plan is to have no more than 5 titles that I am committed to buying. Depending on how things look with Marvel after "Secret Wars", "Earth 2: Society" might have a chance.

I only have three titles at the moment: Green Lantern, Batman 66 and Transformers. I wouldn't mind a few more, but it depends on what they publish in future.

[Dominic]

Current pull-list:

-More than Meets the Eye
-A Real American Hero
-Secret Wars (and a number of tie-ins)

My plan is to be down to 5 books by September, after "Secret Wars" ends. A certain number of books will be, or have been, auto-added to my list. "Earth 2 Society" is technically on my list, and the Bendis "Iron Man" book is all but guaranteed to be auto-added. By August or September, I will know enough about post-"Secret Wars" Marvel to have made whatever decisiions I am going to make.

"More than Meets the Eye" is hanging on by a thread. If "Earth 2 Society" bumps anything from my list, it is likely to be the MtMtE. Marvel is all but guaranteed to have 2 or 3 series of interest, albeit secondary books.

---------------------------------

Information about post-"Secret Wars" Marvel:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/artic ... ecret-wars

http://www.comicbookresources.com/artic ... e-iron-man


Between the the linked articles and Starlin's "Infinity Relativity", it looks like the changes to Marvel will be less "Crisis" scale than originally expected. The big changes to come out of Starlin's current work (likely with editorial mandates form Marvel seems to be Warlock's costume. (All of the Warlock's siginificant appearances, even the problematic ones, still occured. But, he now "always looked like he does now" and has had years of development cancelled out.)

"Iron Man" is apparently picking up and using material from Gillen's run, possibly Taylor's. (I really would have expected that to be some of the first baggage tossed.) Bendis' "Iron Man" has respectable odds of making it on to my list though.


The really interesting note is from the interview with Alonso et al. Apparently, some of the SW tie-in books are meant to continue in some way after "Secret Wars" ends. This makes the possiblity of a post-"Secret Wars" multiverse seem more likely, effectively negating the impact of "Time Runs Out".

(Aside from a few "Ultimates" characters being dropped in to mainline Marvel, not much seems to be changing.)

The scale of the changes (or lack of) would bother me less if not for the build-up and promised impact. (This is still arguably the biggest thing Marvel has ever done. But, the over-all results are not likely to justify the build-up.)

[andersonh1]

JT, you might be interested in this.

BATMAN: THE GOLDEN AGE OMNIBUS HC
Written by BILL FINGER, GARDNER FOX and others
Art by BOB KANE, JERRY ROBINSON and others
Cover by DARWYN COOKE
On sale NOVEMBER 4 • 784 pg, FC, $75.00 US
The stories that catapulted Batman to legendary status are collected here in a single, massive volume. These original stories from DETECTIVE COMICS #27-56 and BATMAN #1-7 include the origin of the Dark Knight, as well as the debuts of Robin, Commissioner Gordon, Professor Hugo Strange, The Joker, Catwoman and more!

I'll certainly be buying a copy. I already own books containing a lot of these issues since I have Batman Chronicles vol 1 and Batman archives 1, but there's enough new material along with an upgrade in format to make it worth my while. I like these massive omnibus collections. I just wish DC would release them more often. Last year during Batman's 75th anniversary would seem to have been a more appropriate time.

Batman 7 has a November 1941 date, so this looks like about two and a half years of early Batman, giving it about the same amount of material as the Golden Age Superman omnibus.

[Sparky Prime]

Green Lantern: Lost Army #1 came out today... Haven't been the the comic book store myself but I noticed Newsarama had this article about Guy Gardner showing up in it. Guy, like many characters after Convergence, sports a new look (which was first shown with the cover of #4 in the September solicitations) and it is somewhat reminiscent of his jacket look, but is more sleek and has some red highlights. Have to say, I like it. Anyway, the interesting reveal here is that

Spoiler

Guy says that despite not having any rings with him on Earth, he somehow ended up with the rest of the displaced Green Lanterns wearing both a Red and Green ring

.

[Dominic]

Still a few weeks behind in "Secret Wars". But, I have read enough to say that this is my favourite event book in a good long while. It is not as good as "Multiversity". But, it is a different type of book.

The best over-all part of "Secret Wars" is that it is structured so that the tie-ins are all self-contained. There are a few throw-away lines in the main book. But, none of the tie-ins are needed. Battleworld feels like a legitimate setting because the different series are not constantly referencing each other.


-edit:
And, the first post-"Secret Wars" series that I plan to read has been announced.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/artic ... inson-kirk

"Squadron Supreme" by Robinson and Kirk. (Too early to actually add it. But, it is on my radar.)

[andersonh1]

Green Lantern: Lost Army #1 came out today... Haven't been the the comic book store myself but I noticed Newsarama had this article about Guy Gardner showing up in it. Guy, like many characters after Convergence, sports a new look (which was first shown with the cover of #4 in the September solicitations) and it is somewhat reminiscent of his jacket look, but is more sleek and has some red highlights. Have to say, I like it. Anyway, the interesting reveal here is that

Spoiler

Guy says that despite not having any rings with him on Earth, he somehow ended up with the rest of the displaced Green Lanterns wearing both a Red and Green ring

.

I decided to add this book to my pull list for now since it looks interesting and since I only had three books a month anyway. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I will say that the art looks good, and it's good to see Guy back to his traditional look, mostly. I don't think the red works with the green costume, but I'll take it over the red lantern look any day. And the addition of an apparently friendly Krona to the story has potential.

I am a little weary of the Corps being removed from the regular universe yet again, but at least they're not all dead or depowered this time, and there's a potentially interesting sci-fi story to go along with it. In fact, the way that Lost Army is emphasized over Green Lantern on the cover makes me think that this is a story with an end in sight rather than an open-ended series. It may be like Mosaic in that respect. At any rate, I'm on board for the time being.

[andersonh1]

Green Lantern: Lost Army #1
"Hit them hard and fast?" Start the book off with a literary cliche, why don't you? Most of the dialogue is similarly clunky, but the story is sound. A group of Green Lanterns are lost in unknown space, fighting for their lives as the book opens, and they're accompanied by Krona. They later discuss whether or not he's the same person who the Green Lanterns have fought many times. If he is, he's much younger and a lot friendlier. He's enjoying this new universe. John Stewart is in charge of the group which consists of him, Arisia, Kilowog and others. Guy Gardner turns up halfway through the book, back to his old GL uniform, but with red trim and other red, and he's got a GL and Red Lantern ring. John calls him the Christmas Lantern since he's red and green, giving us a bit of levity in an otherwise all drama issue. The issue ends as the small group find what looks like a pyramid in space that's fueled by rage and aggression.

So, some awkward dialogue aside, it's a good first issue that throws the characters in the deep end and makes them fight to survive. They can't connect to the central battery, so the rings have a finite charge. They have Krona with them, and he's always been one of the most dangerous enemies of the Corps in the past. It remains to be seen whether or not this is the same Krona, or another one from a different universe. John gets a few pages flashing back to his days as a Marine, presumably fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, as he draws on his military background during the GL battle. I like the parallel, and it helps make the outer space fight more tangible by relating it to a more down to Earth combat situation. And of course, we already get hints of coming conflict between John and Guy. It's a solid first issue, with great art, and it's a $2.99 book so the price is better than most books on the shelf at the moment.

Batman 66 #24
This is the first issue of the book I've read since I've been watching the actual show. Jeff Parker doesn't write this issue. Instead we get Ray Fawkes, with former Superman Man of Steel artist Jon Bogdanove on art. He always drew a great retro-looking Superman back in the day.

Millionaires in Gotham are withdrawing their money from the bank, and Commissioner Gordon calls Batman. Bruce and Dick are about to rush to the Batpoles when Alfred reminds them that they're due at a benefit for wayward youth, so naturally they go, ready to deal with any problems at a moments notice. The villain turns out to be Marsha, Queen of DIamonds, who is using mind control to rob everyone at the charity ball blind (and hypnotize Dick Grayson). Bruce makes a change to Batman and pursues Marsha, with the lovestruck and hypnotized Robin along for the ride. Sadly, Robin has stripped the Batmobile's diamond studded brakes to give the diamonds to Marsha to the Batmobile can't stop. It goes over the wall at a construction site and explodes (No!), with Batman managing to escape and rescue Robin at the same time.

Back at the Batcave, Batman manages to find a way to free Robin from the hypnosis, and without the Batmobile they're forced to take a bus to Gordon's house, where they get in his car and arrive at Marsha's hideout. She tries to hypnotize him, but having worked out the frequency of the hypnosis, Batman and Robin have worked out how quickly to blink their eyes to resist it. Awesome. From there it's just a question of taking out Marsha's goons, freeing Gordon from hypnosis, and letting the police clean up the mess.

A winner of an issue. Fun all the way through, and pretty authentic to the tv show. But how could they destroy the best Batmobile ever?

[JediTricks]

I am so very far behind on this thread, so I'll just bypass since I'm barely a part of the main discussions about Secret Wars and Convergence anyway...

Batman '66 #21 (yeah, that far behind) - AMAZING! Batman has to leave Robin at home and team up with Batgirl following a lead to Japan, where they pick up the very sexy Batmobile-J and find Lord Death Man waiting. This issue had a great pace, a very authentic voice and look to the tv show, and yet a unique setting that only the comics could achieve. The art was just right, not too stylized, not too realistic, not too plain. And the story let the enemy be just risky enough for our heroes, letting the humor come from how the characters respond to situations. I wasn't in love with the art on Batgirl's face, it just didn't seem right, but at the same time it didn't hold me up at all either.

Archie vs. Predator #3 (of 4) - this book continues to deliver the goods, despite being especially silly yet gruesome. This book is the anti-Afterlife With Archie, where that book is dark and brooding and drawn with a horror finesse, AvP (a gag they poke slightly in the book) goes right to the heart of modern Archie storytelling style. Characters die with some weight to the story, yet there's still something to be said for how light the fare is. Having all the cops disappear at Sabrina's house was a bit cheap, but there's only 4 issues so it makes sense to hurry the material up. The pickup story at the end was cute, felt like something born of the '70s hippy-dippy Jughead comics of that time.

Transformers vs. GI Joe #6 - since we're not really taking this book seriously in any way as a representative of its licenses, it makes as much sense to discuss it here as anything. This book is still utterly fucking bonkers, and it's got too many story threads running at once AND that art style is still a massive challenge (along with the pages having fake pulp-weathering underneath), but holy shit does it tell a crazy page-turner of a story. I literally couldn't describe it in one sentence without it looking like a paragraph, but a lot of shit happens like "General Flagg executes the world leadership to keep them from removing GI Joe from action" and "Perceptor is seen turning traitor and examines Wild Bill's dead body" and "Doctor Venom alters Bumblebee's dead body to act as his control station as a headmaster for Soundwave's headless corpse... one that he stuffed with dead greenshirts" and "the book ends on the premise that all of this may just be PTSD'ed-out Scarlett's broken mind playing with action figures in an asylum". That doesn't even cover HALF OF WHAT HAPPENED!!! You have to admit, or you don't but whatever, that this book packs a goddamned ton of story into each issue. I've suspended reading the meta materials in the back for the last 2 issues, it's so much going on that it's too dense to also read a page-by-page commentary. This issue also has thumbnails from Scioli's attempt at drawing this issue in the 24-hour Comic contest, and you can see the rough framework of the story on those pages