What comics are you reading?

shinzero01

Well-Known Member
Contrabardus said:
shinzero01 said:
AJ_Katon said:
Fellgrave said:
Young/Time-displaced!Cyclops is fine. Adult!Cyclops is a dick.
Yeah but he's an enjoyable d*k with a fascinating storyline (or working with what you can given the crap the X-men have been going through)
The enjoyable thing (and fascinating storyline) is whats debatable and a source of division among X-Men fans. Personally, I just found him to be an annoying hypocrite that missed the point of the original idea of the X-men.
That's not accidental, it's come up in the X-books and he's openly admitted that he's abandoned those ideals. He became disillusioned with the original idea behind the X-men and basically turn into a lukewarm Magneto figure with his brotherhood of slightly illegal mutants hiding out in the ruins of Weapon-X, which qualifies as an evil lair. It's symbolism that has all the subtlety of a sledge hammer.

The point of what happened to him is that he basically broke from all the shit dumped on him over the years and forgot the point of the original X-men. Killing Xavier was just the last straw on the pile.
It's not just killing Xavier that bugged me. It was trying to shirk the responsibility for his own actions in killing Xavier. He tried to blame the Phoenix for it when everyone and their grandmother could've told him what would happen.
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
shinzero01 said:
Contrabardus said:
shinzero01 said:
AJ_Katon said:
Fellgrave said:
Young/Time-displaced!Cyclops is fine. Adult!Cyclops is a dick.
Yeah but he's an enjoyable d*k with a fascinating storyline (or working with what you can given the crap the X-men have been going through)
The enjoyable thing (and fascinating storyline) is whats debatable and a source of division among X-Men fans. Personally, I just found him to be an annoying hypocrite that missed the point of the original idea of the X-men.
That's not accidental, it's come up in the X-books and he's openly admitted that he's abandoned those ideals. He became disillusioned with the original idea behind the X-men and basically turn into a lukewarm Magneto figure with his brotherhood of slightly illegal mutants hiding out in the ruins of Weapon-X, which qualifies as an evil lair. It's symbolism that has all the subtlety of a sledge hammer.

The point of what happened to him is that he basically broke from all the shit dumped on him over the years and forgot the point of the original X-men. Killing Xavier was just the last straw on the pile.
It's not just killing Xavier that bugged me. It was trying to shirk the responsibility for his own actions in killing Xavier. He tried to blame the Phoenix for it when everyone and their grandmother could've told him what would happen.
You're right in that he should have expected the Phoenix to be corrupting; Scott of all people knew that. But his arrogance led him to believe he could handle it... or the Phoenix played on his desire to restore the mutant race that he ignored his history with the being, either/or.

He was undoubtedly swayed to the absolute extreme when he killed Xavier, but his refusal admit that the Phoenix only played with what was there (his buried resentment of/anger at Xavier for all the BS Chuckles pulled over the years) was what made Modern!Scott a huge dick.
 

FinalMax

Well-Known Member
da_fox2279 said:
shinzero01 said:
Contrabardus said:
shinzero01 said:
AJ_Katon said:
Yeah but he's an enjoyable d*k with a fascinating storyline (or working with what you can given the crap the X-men have been going through)
The enjoyable thing (and fascinating storyline) is whats debatable and a source of division among X-Men fans. Personally, I just found him to be an annoying hypocrite that missed the point of the original idea of the X-men.
That's not accidental, it's come up in the X-books and he's openly admitted that he's abandoned those ideals. He became disillusioned with the original idea behind the X-men and basically turn into a lukewarm Magneto figure with his brotherhood of slightly illegal mutants hiding out in the ruins of Weapon-X, which qualifies as an evil lair. It's symbolism that has all the subtlety of a sledge hammer.

The point of what happened to him is that he basically broke from all the shit dumped on him over the years and forgot the point of the original X-men. Killing Xavier was just the last straw on the pile.
It's not just killing Xavier that bugged me. It was trying to shirk the responsibility for his own actions in killing Xavier. He tried to blame the Phoenix for it when everyone and their grandmother could've told him what would happen.
You're right in that he should have expected the Phoenix to be corrupting; Scott of all people knew that. But his arrogance led him to believe he could handle it... or the Phoenix played on his desire to restore the mutant race that he ignored his history with the being, either/or.

He was undoubtedly swayed to the absolute extreme when he killed Xavier, but his refusal admit that the Phoenix only played with what was there (his buried resentment of/anger at Xavier for all the BS Chuckles pulled over the years) was what made Modern!Scott a huge dick.
And of course, that doesn't even go into the whole thing with him and Emma.  So he's been a bit of a problematic dick before AvX.  Though I do have to ask myself what is it with telepaths and Scott?  Is he some kind of walking psychic chocolate that entices powerful telepaths/psychics to take weird interest in him?

I think we can all agree that while Young/Time-displaced Scott was disillusioned in short order, he handled it a lot better.  He said, "Screw this, I'm going to be a space pirate with my dad."  It was just a case of him seeing his older self, not liking it, and saw a way out of that mistake.
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
Pretty sure he also wanted a break from Jeen, as well.

She didn't handle the news of their marriage well. I would have wanted to give Destiny/Fate/The Universe a giant 'FUCK YOU' as well, were I in his shoes.
 

Contrabardus

Well-Known Member
I'm currently catching up with Marvel again after being out of the loop for most of this year due to other things eating up my reading time.

Gwenpool is fun.

Hellcat and Squirrel Girl are the same kind of goofy cuteness.

I've enjoyed Moon Girl more than I expected I would.

Deadpool is kind of all over the place, especially since he became an Avenger. His bromance with Spider-man has kind of made that a little easier to handle. Mercs for Money also helps as it shows he's still a huge unreliable asshole.

I've been ignoring the cartoon/MCU tie in stuff from DisneyXD.

Silver Surfer sucks. The art is bad and it's just weird and stupid.

Haven't cared much for Moon Knight recently for a lot of the same reasons. The art is good, but the writing went a little too deep into the crazy to the point that it makes no sense and it's hard to tell what is going on. I get that's part of the point, but going too far in that direction just turns it into nonsense.

I understand what they are going for in trying to illustrate that Moon Knight is a crazy bastard, but there's really no one to root for and it's hard to tell who is or isn't dead, or whether someone is good or bad. Hell, it's hard to tell whether some of the characters ever really existed in the first place, and I'm not talking about Spector's many personalities or the various Gods and monsters either. There's no anchor or grounding with reality, so that makes it hard to connect with any of the characters or care about what is going on much.

They are overusing Black Panther. I get that it's because of the movie hype, but hope it calms down after it is released. I like his regular comic, but could do without the World of Wakanda and him being a central character in several non-crossover plotlines at once.

Marvel is overusing him and it's starting to get to Batman levels of him being involved with too much.

Yes, Deadpool is also massively overused for many of the same reasons, and is even worse about it. I'm also unsure about the decision to make him a "non-lethal" hero. So far it's been fairly interesting and has worked out, but I'm unsure if they can keep this going.

He doesn't have to become what he was or the Punisher, but part of his appeal is the fact that he's always been willing to cross the line and go dark. I'd love to see a comic book character that actually understands the concept of having reasonable threat assessment be a factor in how they decide to deal with enemies. Deadpool is actually a really good character for this.

They also seriously need to cut back on gay characters. I like that there are gay characters and that they are in fairly prominent roles, but Marvel has overcorrected and now there are too many. It's getting to be an oversaturation. It's gotten to the point that I've actually forgotten who is straight or gay, and it no longer stands out as a trait anymore.

Less then 5% of the population is gay and it's actually close to around 4%, it's unusual for someone to be gay. In Marvel comics, it's downright common to the point that it's getting absurd.

I do like that the younger generation of characters are more diverse as far as gender and ethnicity goes. Could do with a few less Koreans and mix up the Asian ethnicity a bit more, but otherwise that end is working out.

Also, less Spider-people. I don't mind a few, and it was made worse by the recent 'yet another Spider-man clone arc' story. I like Miles and Jessica, but could do without Silk and Gwen being around as much as they are.

I like Gwen more in her own universe rather than just being 'random spider-powered team up of similar age' or 'too many spider-fems' go out for coffee and run into trouble'.

We haven't reached 90s-00s levels of critical mass overexposure, but we're getting there fast.

Also, Marvel needs to learn how to write issues where nothing happens. American comics need SoL stuff injected into them. I'm not saying all the time, but American comic writers are afraid of character centric issues without action.

I could read an issue on occasion where it really is just a group of heroes sitting around for coffee or taking a break and just shooting the shit and having fun sometimes without being emotionally crushed by the latest world shaking event or having some random event crash in and ruin their day. This should happen a lot more than it does.

Most comic book readers are adults, we can handle an issue where nothing important happens and no one gets punched in the face sometimes.

Overall, it's more good than bad. Still got a few months worth to catch up on though.
 

Contrabardus

Well-Known Member
Finally all caught up on Marvel.

They seem to have backed off of Black Panther being in everything and are doubling down on X-books again.

Captain Hydra ended about how I expected it would. The Legacy thing seems mildly interesting so far. Hasn't hooked me yet though.

Gwenpool has become something of a cross between Squirrel Girl and Deadpool. That's neither good nor bad.

Nice to see Wade getting back into the kind of villain groove again. I did enjoy the Deadpool and Spider-man book.

I still think they're overcorrecting with the whole 'gay characters' thing. I do like some of the gay characters and stories, but still say it's being overdone.

The lack of threat level assessment is also kind of annoying sometimes. I get that they can't kill off major villains and that it does fit for some of the heroes, but it's also overdone to the point of absurdity. This is nothing new, but it's something that sticks out more now that I'm older.

I really would like to see some characters that are capable of that kind of thinking without being portrayed as immoral. There is a middle ground between Spider-man and the Punisher that wouldn't really be a legal or moral issue if lethal force was used when dealing with certain villains.

Especially considering several heroes are basically sanctioned government agents who would have both the authority to deal with certain types of threats that way.

It's not enough to get me to stop reading comics or anything, but both of the big companies have this problem.

Killing a mass murdering convict that has been tried, convicted, incarcerated, and has escaped custody to go on yet another murder spree shouldn't be portrayed as a legal or moral conundrum. It's not the same as killing the average street thug or gangster.

The same goes for planetary threats or people attempting actual genocide who have shown they have the capability to do so and repeatedly try. There's no real excuse for not at least attempting to kill Thanos given the opportunity for example. I actually see that as less moral than simply incarcerating him yet again knowing he'll escape and keep doing what he's been doing to the universe at large.

I'd actually like to see a comic storyline deal with this without painting the one who kills a villain like that as morally compromised or going down a slippery slope where they have looser and looser morals about killing.

On the other hand, Wilson Fisk is a criminal and a murderer, but he's not a threat to the planet or someone who is just going to run around murdering hundreds of people at random every time he's out of a cell until he's captured again.
 

TC_Hazard

Well-Known Member
Reading Dark Knights Metal in which Edgy Batmen from Evil Universes invade the Earth. Naturally, the main one is not the Batman with the Speed Force or Doomsday powers but the one that fused with the Joker.

It's edgy but fun.
 

Contrabardus

Well-Known Member
Catching up on the last year of DC now. Nice place to start up again after being out of the loop for a while because it begins with yet another reboot to try and dump a lot of the New 52 baggage. It's a moderately successful attempt so far.

Props to DC for actually printing the word "Fuck" in some of their more mature titles. This is nothing new, but even in the most hardcore of Marvel stuff they tend to shy away from that.

Marvel is more coherent and structured in their stories, but DC is more creative. Art wise they are about equal, but DC is a lot more willing to go full on weird. Especially in their off the wall titles.

Gotta say that Hana Barbera crossover thing was nightmare inducing, in a good way. I love how they were willing to go dark and mature with it and ruin some childhoods.

Still got a long way to go.
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
Contrabardus said:
Catching up on the last year of DC now. Nice place to start up again after being out of the loop for a while because it begins with yet another reboot to try and dump a lot of the New 52 baggage. It's a moderately successful attempt so far.

Props to DC for actually printing the word "Fuck" in some of their more mature titles. This is nothing new, but even in the most hardcore of Marvel stuff they tend to shy away from that.

Marvel is more coherent and structured in their stories, but DC is more creative. Art wise they are about equal, but DC is a lot more willing to go full on weird. Especially in their off the wall titles.

Gotta say that Hana Barbera crossover thing was nightmare inducing, in a good way. I love how they were willing to go dark and mature with it and ruin some childhoods.

Still got a long way to go.
What Hanna-Barbera crossover?
 

Contrabardus

Well-Known Member
da_fox2279 said:
Contrabardus said:
Catching up on the last year of DC now. Nice place to start up again after being out of the loop for a while because it begins with yet another reboot to try and dump a lot of the New 52 baggage. It's a moderately successful attempt so far.

Props to DC for actually printing the word "Fuck" in some of their more mature titles. This is nothing new, but even in the most hardcore of Marvel stuff they tend to shy away from that.

Marvel is more coherent and structured in their stories, but DC is more creative. Art wise they are about equal, but DC is a lot more willing to go full on weird. Especially in their off the wall titles.

Gotta say that Hana Barbera crossover thing was nightmare inducing, in a good way. I love how they were willing to go dark and mature with it and ruin some childhoods.

Still got a long way to go.
What Hanna-Barbera crossover?
There was a series of one shots, mostly in annuals, that featured Hanna Barbera cartoons interacting with DC characters.

Top Cat met Batman and Catwoman, Booster Gold met the Flinstones, Adam Strange met Johnny Quest, Hal Jordan met Space Ghost, Snagglepuss testified in front of Congress, and Suicide Squad met the Banana Splits.

The stand alone Hanna Barbera comics also have a considerably darker and more mature tone than the shows originally did and have some more adult humor and darker themes than you'd expect. Some more so than others.

For example, while there is some mild innuendo, the Scooby Doo comic is pretty kid safe.

The Flinstones in particular has been adapted with some pretty dark satirical humor, including a scene where giant flying petrosaur "drones" eat a family on a picnic in a plotline revolving around a "war on terror" involving fern stealing lizard people.

I'm actually pretty surprised I've enjoyed the Hanna Barbera stuff from DC as much as I have. They seem to have understood that some the licenses work on nostalgia and that they'll have little interest to a younger audience, and the way they have written them reflects that.

Honestly, some of it reminds me of some of the parody stuff Mad Magazine does, only officially licensed.
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
Picked up the Rick & Morty Vs Dungeons and Dragons e-trade for 2 bucks on Amazon. It's a fun read. The art is a little off-model at times, but the humor is spot on. Jerry is surprisingly effective as a D&D player, and watching Rich geek out is gold. Recommended.
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
Ran through DC's Flintstones and Scooby stuff in a couple of days; really good stuff. Currently making my way through Injustice Year One.
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
Read through the Spider-Ham series. God, I miss that brand of childish humor in comics...
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
Been reading some of the Secret Wars 2015 Battleworld/Warzones titles, after reading the Time Runs Out storyline. Honestly, how the writers get Stark and Rogers to work together after shit like that... I mean, ok, continuity rules, but... I don't know. Maybe I'm spoiled by their MCU interpretations.

Still, Time Runs Out was a good read. Worth the time it took to work through it.

The Battleword/Warzones titles have been really good, so far, with only the Marvel Zombies one being a bit boring. I love the What-If'ness of some of them, like Civil War and Age of Apocalypse. Going to be working my way throught the rest over the next few weeks.
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
Tales from the Dark Multiverse has been been interesting reading. Lois Lane as the Eradicator was an interesting choice. Looking forward to the DM take on Blackest Night...
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
Been reading random comics on the site I use, and recently read some '80's DC non-superhero comics.

Cinder & Ashe is a cool 4issue series about a 'Nam vet and his partner, a Vietnamese-American woman who he saved as a child, working as troubleshooters in the South. It's a well-written series by Gerry Conway and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. Recommended.

Hardwire is a 13 limited series about an Iron Man type, who has multiple personalities, wielding a mini-Zaku against a criminal conspiracy. A little weird, but a neat read. By Michael Fleisher and Vince Giarrano.
 
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