Comics VIII - the Crime Syndic8 of America

[Sci-2]

So this past weekend I read Trinity War, and actually caught up on series like JLA and JL. Pretty good stuff.

I also liked Forever Evil #1 but I'll go over that after reading the rest of today's haul.

[Little Valkyrie]

So this past weekend I read Trinity War, and actually caught up on series like JLA and JL. Pretty good stuff.

I also liked Forever Evil #1 but I'll go over that after reading the rest of today's haul.

I am so very, very happy to see delicious villains vs. villains, B/C-listers, and Silver Age classics like the Crime Syndicate. All strengths of DC.

Now, Finch's art... :(

[red snow]

We also have Magneto, who's always aging backwards.

Kid Magneto would round out the team perfectly. Three non-aging mutants and a little Lensherr :)

[red snow]

So this past weekend I read Trinity War, and actually caught up on series like JLA and JL. Pretty good stuff.

I also liked Forever Evil #1 but I'll go over that after reading the rest of today's haul.

If those books have the pacing of the opening arc then I suspect they work far better when read in trade/one sitting.

My Marvel/DC burnout is reaching new levels when I can't even get on board "forever evil" (which I'd have been devouring a few years ago. On the brightside I have discovered "hawkguy" and enjoying it a lot. It's a shame "arrow" is on TV as Hawkeye would make a great TV show too.

[red snow]

Looks like I'm down two more comics. JH Williams is leaving Batwoman because of last minute editorial interference and a reluctance to allow the lesbian marriage (although he insists it wasn't because of the lesbians). So I'll be quitting that book with issue 26.

Even more disheartening is that Ben Templesmith has been removed from "Ten Grand". Apparently due to lack of communication and falling behind of schedule. I can understand them letting him go but for me his art defined the series far more than JMS' writing. I'll give the new artist a go but i think it will lose a lot of its magic. No reason was given from Templesmith. I do wonder if it could be connected with him being "work for hire" as opposed to co-creator? I do think it's a little unfair for JMS or any writer to have sole ownership of their comic (unless they provide all the initial designs as well). Maybe Templesmith has a more lucrative title that he can part own (or solely own) and is working on that. Still not very professional of him though.

[Sci-2]

Looks like I'm down two more comics. JH Williams is leaving Batwoman because of last minute editorial interference and a reluctance to allow the lesbian marriage (although he insists it wasn't because of the lesbians). So I'll be quitting that book with issue 26.

Wait, I'm reading that Williams was told NOT to depict the marriage.

"We were told to ditch plans for Killer Croc's origins; forced to drastically alter the original ending of our current arc, which would have defined Batwoman's heroic future in bold new ways; and, most crushingly, prohibited from ever showing Kate and Maggie actually getting married. All of these editorial decisions came at the last minute, and always after a year or more of planning and plotting on our end."

[GallowKnight]

So this Forever Evil/Villains month thing, is it a villain vs. villain story?

And on the topic of this weeks other comics

X-Factor: So it ends. It was a satisfying ending, I guess. Nothing big and flashy but instead a nice new status quo for Madrox and Layla. I'm going to miss this comic though.

Superior Spider-Man: Enter Spider-Man 2099, my favourite webslinger in the whole wide world. Not much significant really happened though, except Harry Osborn's kid showed up. But then the main Spider-Man vs Spider-Man action is definitley coming up. Also, the time flux thingy, is that something that carried over from Age of Ultron or just something completely unrelated (I did not read Age of Ultron)?

Superior Foes of Spider-Man: I am really getting around to liking this one, Boomerang is an asshole, but an funny asshole. Shocker still has a weird characterisation but otherwise its shaping up nicely with a nicew few nods to the previous Thunderbolts line-up and Remenders run on Punisher. Also gives us the delightful quote "Big, Sweaty, Hippo Manboobs".

Battle of the Atom/All New X-Men: With the excpetion of Molly Hayes form the Runaways the line-up of the future X-Men is probably one of the most boring alternate X-Men line-ups I have seen (even without Wolverine), plus we now have Three different Beasts running around. Also I was reminded why I like my Jean Grey dead. Some neat things came up though, such as the momentary death of youngCyclops and its effect on the older version.

Also Deadshot has a new origin story that is more bland and less villainous then his old one. And the New52 Ventriloquist apparently looks like the Ring girl.

http://www.1upcollectibles.com/assets/images/Blog/DK-Ventriloquist.jpg

[Sci-2]

So this Forever Evil/Villains month thing, is it a villain vs. villain story?

It looks like that is what is going to happen, at least for a bit as the Justice League, Justice League Dark, and Justice League of America is "dead".

I suspect once October rolls around we'll find that the teams are actually still alive. I thought Forever Evil #1 was pretty good though, as it quickly set up all the varied groups (Luthor, Rogues, Bat Villains) and a bit of their stakes.

Other comics:

Battle of the Atom/All New X-Men: With the excpetion of Molly Hayes form the Runaways the line-up of the future X-Men is probably one of the most boring alternate X-Men line-ups I have seen (even without Wolverine), plus we now have Three different Beasts running around. Also I was reminded why I like my Jean Grey dead. Some neat things came up though, such as the momentary death of youngCyclops and its effect on the older version.

What I wasn't clear on was who this Jean Grey was. Is she time displaced Jean all grown up, or is she the resurrection of dead Jean?

I have to admit I liked both issues though I wasn't clear on the problem with young Scott dying. I thought it would be fine if they died because the Time Cube prevents paradox or some-such?

Trillium: Interesting and mysterious, giving off some Fountain + 12 monkeys vibes. I think it's worth checking out.

[Calibandar]

Question: I'm looking into getting a trade collection featuring the Shi'Ar Imperial Guard.

One that I have looked is the War of Kings collection, by Dan Abnett.

There is also a "Realm of Kings" trade, which seems to be a sequel.

Another that I have seen is Ed Brubaker's run "Uncanny X-Men: Rise & Fall of the Shi'ar Empire".

Anyone familiar with these?

[Lady Octarina]

The "Is he...?" teaser, what do you think it's about? Everyone's usual first guess is Marvelman, of course, but I find that unlikely. I'll be very disappointed if it's just about Thanos' theoretical son from Infinity, though the colors and date suggest it might be just that. Plus, Axel Alonso said an entirely new character would get a solo ongoing on Now 2; that seems as good a guess as any.

What I wasn't clear on was who this Jean Grey was. Is she time displaced Jean all grown up, or is she the resurrection of dead Jean?

I have to admit I liked both issues though I wasn't clear on the problem with young Scott dying. I thought it would be fine if they died because the Time Cube prevents paradox or some-such?

They never really bother applying unified laws to time traveling stories, though, do they?

I wondered the same about Jean, but the level of intimacy she showed with Storm and Rachel suggests regular dead Jean back once again. She looks so young compared to Kate Pryde that it either took her a long time to come back or she returned and died and returned a few times in-between.

[Winterfell is Burning]

Infinity this week was pretty good, the first two chapters of Battle of Atom were unimpressive- as TGK said, this group of future X-men is the most boring one they ever did- and X-factor wasn't that good either (I think this arc proves they work well as a team, but not really as individuals). I tried Legacy this week but I wasn't impressed, the character voices for everyone but Legion sounded completely off.

[Lady Octarina]

As usual, my impression was the opposite of yours, WiB :box:

Infinity was as pretentious as usual, but managing to deliver what it proposes even less. The big reveal at the end was laughable, and I so hope this character is a new one instead of Hickman retconning an established character to suit his megalomania.

Battle of the Atom is going much better than I expected; possibly the best X-event since Messiah Complex (but then, the others were pretty bad). Sure, the future team is less interesting than it could be (btw, did both Beast and Iceman have to get equally monstrous at old age?), but I have a fondness for Kate Pryde, it's always nice to see Molly Hayes, and that's not the worst version of Deadpool we've seen recently. All Xaviers are annoying, so that came as no surprise. They could have gone for something that felt less like fanservice with Xorn's identity, but it was still okay, mostly. X-Factor was an adequate ending, even with that self-declared deus ex machina, but it made me so glad that it confirmed Madrox and Layla won't be on the next series. I wish Siryn went back to normal, though. And for once I read and enjoyed Legacy, particularly how Cyclops sounds like a major coward, which perfectly fits my vision of the character. I loved the methods Legion used to defeat Magneto (so obvious; why don't people use that more frequently?) and Magik!

And it seems we have two new teasers. Honestly, the first one was cool, but going further down that line just sounds ridiculous. Particularly if it happens to be just a teaser for Inhumanity which... well, everyone knows about it already; would they waste their time with mysterious teasers?

[Sci-2]

Infinity #2 was good. I liked the reveal at the end as it's nice thanos isn't narrowly focused on the time gem.

I also think the scope is awesome - it actually feels like the team is over their heads in terms of scale as opposed to the usual idea of some Uber bad guy like sentry or the God of fear.

[Little Valkyrie]

Question: I'm looking into getting a trade collection featuring the Shi'Ar Imperial Guard.

One that I have looked is the War of Kings collection, by Dan Abnett.

There is also a "Realm of Kings" trade, which seems to be a sequel.

Another that I have seen is Ed Brubaker's run "Uncanny X-Men: Rise & Fall of the Shi'ar Empire".

Anyone familiar with these?

The UXM trade is pretty self-contained, I think, Shiar empire shenanigans with Havok and Polaris and the Starjammers.

War of Kings is awesome, but I think it works best in the context of that whole glorious run of Marvel Cosmic. There's a pic that summarizes it all well that I have somewhere around here...

[Sci-2]

Flipped through the older All New X-men issues.

Is it just me or is Beast a major creeper when it comes to young!Jean? Imagining her in his favorite outfit, hanging out with her for a private telekinesis session...

Ew.

[Winterfell is Burning]

It isn't your impression, Beast is pretty pathetic these days.

[red snow]

Wait, I'm reading that Williams was told NOT to depict the marriage.

"We were told to ditch plans for Killer Croc's origins; forced to drastically alter the original ending of our current arc, which would have defined Batwoman's heroic future in bold new ways; and, most crushingly, prohibited from ever showing Kate and Maggie actually getting married. All of these editorial decisions came at the last minute, and always after a year or more of planning and plotting on our end."

Yeah, but he was quick to say they never told him not to marry them because they were gay. Considering Superman, Spider-man and the Flash have all jumped through hoops to demarry them (divorce is superhero kryptonite apparently) it may be that they just don't want any of their characters getting married. Most of us suspect it's a bit of homophobia though but you'd wonder by now why anyone would be reading "Batwoman" if they were that small-minded anyhow.

The sad thing is that with Williams leaving Maggie will be fridged within a year.

Trillium: Interesting and mysterious, giving off some Fountain + 12 monkeys vibes. I think it's worth checking out.

Glad to hear it's good. It has TPB written all over it for me though so will wait.

Question: I'm looking into getting a trade collection featuring the Shi'Ar Imperial Guard.

One that I have looked is the War of Kings collection, by Dan Abnett.

There is also a "Realm of Kings" trade, which seems to be a sequel.

Another that I have seen is Ed Brubaker's run "Uncanny X-Men: Rise & Fall of the Shi'ar Empire".

Anyone familiar with these?

The original Phoenix saga is still pretty great for Shiar guard stories. The Abnett stories are probably your best bet though.

The "Is he...?" teaser, what do you think it's about? Everyone's usual first guess is Marvelman, of course, but I find that unlikely. I'll be very disappointed if it's just about Thanos' theoretical son from Infinity, though the colors and date suggest it might be just that. Plus, Axel Alonso said an entirely new character would get a solo ongoing on Now 2; that seems as good a guess as any.

I feel like doing my own teasers " Who gives a...?" . "Does Fox/Sony...?" We'll have to endure these pointless teases for 2 weeks and then they'll be falling over themselves to tell us pretty much every detail about this character before they actually appear in the comic (with an obligatory "we really wanted this to be a surprise but you internet people spoil it anyhow")

[Sci-2]

It isn't your impression, Beast is pretty pathetic these days.

The first time I read the part about the favorite outfit I thought he was just being nostalgic, but then the whole revelation about him being in love with Jean cast a weird vibe on the scene.

Most of us suspect it's a bit of homophobia though but you'd wonder by now why anyone would be reading "Batwoman" if they were that small-minded anyhow. The sad thing is that with Williams leaving Maggie will be fridged within a year.

Heh, well Bendis is already on Twitter telling Williams he's one of the best in the industry, and to make the call when he's ready.

Marvel is gutting DC of talent....because DC is run by idiots.

eta:

I feel like doing my own teasers " Who gives a...?" . "Does Fox/Sony...?"

Hahahaha.

Yeah, I'm betting it's for Inhumanity.

[red snow]

Heh, well Bendis is already on Twitter telling Williams he's one of the best in the industry, and to make the call when he's ready.

It's just a shame they get scooped up by Bendis (he got Kevin Mcguire a job sharpish though) - only marginally better than going to Millar IMO. That said JH WIlliams could get me to read a Bendis book. Hell, an author bad enough to not want me looking at a WIlliams book would have to be really awful.

Marvel is gutting DC of talent....because DC is run by idiots.

The ones who quit and have a name are even more clever and go to Image. At some point DC is going to run out of talent - although maybe we should see DC as a set of superhero stabilisers - giving new creators a chance to get noticed and if they are good enough they get fed up of the interference and go elsewhere. It does make it nice for Marvel not having to take a risk on new talent though.

Yeah, I'm betting it's for Inhumanity.

Oh,the inhumanity of it all.

"Are we bored (of your tedious teasers)?" "Are we (gutting the X-men franchise out of pettiness)?" "Are we (still under the belief that the comics in anyway influence people watching our movies)?" "Are we (paying someone to come up with these ad campaigns)?" "Are we (there yet)?

[Little Valkyrie]

I found this take on the Batwoman marriage nixing, from the perspective of character development, a convincing one:

http://www.comicosity.com/crisis-of-epic-proportion-is-batwoman-the-marrying-kind/