Comic Books Issue #2

[Jaxom 1974]

Okay.

Re-read Infinite Crisis from 1 to 7 straight today. It flows much better that way, but there are still chunks of story where you have to scratch you head and go, "Huh?"...The Donna Troy team, the Spectre bits...oh they work. Don't get me wrong. But reading them just felt...akward...like there was an issue missed or something...

It got me thinking. Why? What was different from the original Crisis? Then it dawned on me. Totally different age of comics. The original Crisis was 12 issues because it told the story completely...this new one was only 7 because they spread the story outinto add on issues to get us to spend more money!

I shoulda known...

[Nephrite]

52 #2 - This was pretty good. Elngated Man & Bosster parts that is. The Montoya parts were like reading thru a cheap noir knock-off. What the hell is it with Montoya mentioning alchohol in every second sentence? She's quit her job like 10 days ago. I don't think you become a serious alchoholic in a week. She's such a poser.

Aquaman - Sword of Atlantis #42 - Still the best of OYL titles. Kind of like a buddy movie with two guys getting into fist-fights all the time. Except under water. And you get a lot of story in every issue, not like Busiek's current Superman stuff where they're stretching the whole thing waaay too long.

All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder #4 - Yeah, it's out.

And Batman is an ever bigger pscho if it's possible.

I don't know, in a way I like it. Kind of reading it to see what the hell wil Miller do next. Bruce Wayne eating rats, Superman with Golden Age power levels, Bruce groping his dead mother.

You know that kind of stuff.

Then there's the obligatory "Miller hates Superman" thing. Geez, Frank Superman is a fictional character. I know it, and you should too. You'd think Superman killed his cat or something.

I guees the next few issue will be all about Batman humiliating Superman. <sigh> Never so that before.

This one's for you Frank, my lovechunks.

As far as the art goes, it took Jim Lee 120 days to do this?

Christ.

Robin #150 - This title continues to kick ass.

Now some people complain how the portrayl of Cassandra Cain is wrong, but I couldn't care less. She was a lame character anyway. She knew like what 127 martial arts.

WTF? I can't even name that many, and I not so sure that there even are that many fighting techniques out there.

And it takes people decades to become masters of a single martial art, but Batgirl got 127 by the age of 15?

Riiiight. I can take giant planet eating aliens, but a teenager who can dodge bullets because she knows judo is a bit too much.

So she's evil now, and good ridance. Bring back Babs. Suerly if a kid can learn abazzillion martial arts, somebody out there can cure Barbara?

Superman/Batman #25 - Man I'm gonna miss this book. It was so wild and nuts and bizzare rolled into one. Probably the only DC title that was fun in a year of blowing people's head off by the way of back-hand bitch-slapping.

This thing had Bat-Mite. BAT-MITE! And Superman trapped in the Source Wall, and Batzarro and Composite Superman-Batman and Darkseid not willing to get into fist fights.

And that great McGuinness art. Like I said I'm gonna miss it.

[Jerol]

I buy only a few comic titles. Too much other stuff to do, too many books to read.

I have been following New Avengers and a few others. The thing that gets me about this Sentry is that he's just a poor replacement for Thor. Bring back the God of Thunder for chrissakes, let's get a little rain going here. I borrowed from a friend the first volume of The Ultimates - Thor as a socialist hippie was a riot. And when another character was complaining that Thor was a fraud, a deluded mental patient, that there was no way he could move a giant explosive device into a mythical dimension he just walks up behind and says "oh ye of little faith". That kicked ass.

I am also reading Conan, because it's Conan. I love Nord's art. The guy's got balls because you're walking in some mighty big shows when you draw the barbarian.

And finally, I've been following Astonishing X-men because first of all, I'm a Whedon-fan boy and second, there's not a zillion mutant characters to keep track of.

[Xanrn]

I take it you missed Fantastic Four 536/537 (latest two issues).

Thor's Hammer falls to earth, Dr Doom attacks the place cause he wants it, F4 show up fight, Doom trys to pickup the hammer, but can't "Pfft Doom needs no help".

End of 537 Some tall blonde guy built like a brickshit house in hat and trenchcoat to cover his identity, buys a one way train ticket to the area where the hammer landed.

[Jaxom 1974]

Now some people complain how the portrayl of Cassandra Cain is wrong, but I couldn't care less. She was a lame character anyway...So she's evil now, and good ridance...

You mean the "new" Batgirl? Nevr got/understood that premise. She's bad now? Still don't care.

[Baeraad]

Then there's the obligatory "Miller hates Superman" thing. Geez, Frank Superman is a fictional character. I know it, and you should too. You'd think Superman killed his cat or something.

I guees the next few issue will be all about Batman humiliating Superman. <sigh> Never so that before.

This one's for you Frank, my lovechunks.

... you know, that actually provides a strong temptation for me to buy it? Superman gets on my nerves. I mean, I realise that condescending moral superiority goes with the superhero territory, but there is such a thing as going way, way, way, way too far.

Though I'm a bit curious about how it's even possible for anyone to humiliate Superman. I mean, he's better than everyone else at everything, that's really his entire character concept. Might be worth buying to find out how far Miller has to bend the laws of physics to satisfy his anti-Superman bias...

[haLobEnder]

Marvel's bringing the price of their comics down in Canada! Yay! Maybe now I'll start reading their comics again instead of just reading the synopsis. Maybe, but probably not.

[Galactus]

End of 537 Some tall blonde guy built like a brickshit house in hat and trenchcoat to cover his identity, buys a one way train ticket to the area where the hammer landed.

A guy with the intials "D.B." btw

Nova #2: Cammi and Drax and Richard.... Oh what fun! "So there's no.... Destroying, in your past?" "I'm not that Drax, and no, I never lie."

Also, Quasar! (admittedly my only experience to Quasar is him being *completely* owned by Thanos in the Infinity Gauntlet story...)

[Ser Paladin]

Also, Quasar! (admittedly my only experience to Quasar is him being *completely* owned by Thanos in the Infinity Gauntlet story...)

I have the entire run of Quasar from the 80s/ early 90s. I enjoyed everything by Mark Gruenwald back then. Cap, Quasar, Squadron Supreme (realistic tratement of superheroes, far before its time).

[Jaxom 1974]

I have the entire run of Quasar from the 80s/ early 90s. I enjoyed everything by Mark Gruenwald back then. Cap, Quasar, Squadron Supreme (realistic tratement of superheroes, far before its time).

Gods yeah! Eventually I'll have to get rid of all my comics...but I'm keeping my entire Quasar run!

[Ser Paladin]

Gods yeah! Eventually I'll have to get rid of all my comics...but I'm keeping my entire Quasar run!

Gruenwald was somewhat ridiculed in the mid 90s. I guess he was pretty much the opposite of the Image style world. But now, everything Geoff Johns or Bendis is doing, reaching back into the archives to drive their stories, is a tip of the hat the Gruenwald's style of storytelling. There were others who also did that back then (Nicieza's early stuff, for one), but MG could go find some barely used villain and make them "work" contextually in Cap or Quasar.

Yes, there were some sour notes, as Maelstrom is a weak nemesis, and Cap-Wolf was just awful, but the heroes vs heroes stuff in Squadron Supreme, particularly the "Batman" here staying true to the dream while the more powerful heroes became fascists (behavior modification machine, rather than DC's current "magic mind wipes")... genius and visionary.

[Nephrite]

... you know, that actually provides a strong temptation for me to buy it? Superman gets on my nerves. I mean, I realise that condescending moral superiority goes with the superhero territory, but there is such a thing as going way, way, way, way too far.

But where does Superman treat anyone with condescending moral superiority?

That's more Batman's teritory, cause (if you didn't hear it already) does. Not. Kill.

Though I'm a bit curious about how it's even possible for anyone to humiliate Superman. I mean, he's better than everyone else at everything, that's really his entire character concept. Might be worth buying to find out how far Miller has to bend the laws of physics to satisfy his anti-Superman bias...

Well, so far every Batman story (sans Year 1) had Batman humiliate Superman just so Miller can show us how cool Batman is.

The strip I posted above is actually a response to Miller's overused plot, and all those Batboys who spend days on the net pointing out how Batman's smartness can beat God, Superman and reality itself.

There's several more of those actually...

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

This one is animated

I don't know, I just find them funny as hell.

[Galactus]

Incidentally, I someone at the CBR forum made this poll with, more or less, every mutant in history, so take your pick

Favourite Mutant?

[Nephrite]

Incidentally, I someone at the CBR forum made this poll with, more or less, every mutant in history, so take your pick

Favourite Mutant?

I voted for Beak from Morrison's New X-Men days.

And I can't believe that Gambit is in the lead!

Isn't he like the most despised mutant in history of mutants?

I know I liked him when I was 10, cause wearing a trenchcoat was soooooo KEWL back then.

[Galactus]

You *can* vote for several people.... I voted for (among others) Emma Frost, Elixir, Kiden, Bruiser (Molly from Runaways) Beast, Cyclops and Dust....

[Nephrite]

Besides that, he has several other strong factors in his favor. His accent, his roguish history as a bad boy, and his unattainable girl. Oh, and the playing cards. People love that.

Oh yeah. How did I forget about the playing cards?

Although, how far can he trow that stuff really? 10 feet? 15?

If I had his power I'd throw something like golf balls or rocks. Do some real damage.

[Ran]

Yeah, I'm a bit of a gambler. Fancy a game??

Doesn't sound like Gambit at all...

"Oui, I'm a bit of a gambler. Fancy a game, homme??"

That's better.

I always assumed that charging items up added to their mass somehow.

[Xanrn]

The world record is 216 feet, which even at half or a quarter that distance, would be quite the fair range.

He does sometimes, but they're hard to carry around. And knives and such would be hard to explain. But playing cards? All he has to say is "Yeah, I'm a bit of a gambler. Fancy a game??"

Yeah was a guy on Mythbusters looked like Martin, he was throwing them with enough force for them to stick into a Dartboard.

They were testing the myth you can kill people by throwing them, but apprantly the worse you can get is a papercut.

[Ran]

The person on Mythbusters was Ricky Jay, an actor (he was on Deadwood, for example, as Cy Tolliver's right-hand man) and sleight-of-hand expert.

He formerly held the world record for throwing a playing card, zipping one 190 feet at 90 miles per hour.

[Baeraad]

But where does Superman treat anyone with condescending moral superiority?

That's more Batman's teritory, cause (if you didn't hear it already) does. Not. Kill.

I must admit that it's probably less what he does and more how I'm expected to see him. Everyone (in the DC universe) is always going on about how wonderful he is - and the narrative doesn't even allow for the possibility that they're mistaken, because it's pretty much a given that Superman will never ever do anything selfish or cruel or even just plain stupid. This gets on my nerves, because I prefer the freedom to choose to like or dislike a character.

Hence, I like Batman, who is bitter and arrogant and who on occasion fucks up big big big time. I like him because it'd be so easy to dislike him. It's possible that I'm just freaky that way.

The strip I posted above is actually a response to Miller's overused plot, and all those Batboys who spend days on the net pointing out how Batman's smartness can beat God, Superman and reality itself.

Heh. I can see how that might be annoying, yes... but personally, I kind of enjoy the idea that it's possible for a vanilla human to beat the Man of Steel using intelligence, money and preparation. It's the kind of thing that supervillains are always trying to do, and they always fail. It'd be fun to see it work on occasion, especially since... well, not to read deep philosophical statements into superhero comics, but intelligence is the foremost human trait, so having strength and valour beat cunning every time is sort ironic.

Mind you, if Batman always wins, then I admit that that's just as predictable and annoying as Superman always winning. I just haven't read enough to see it and be annoyed by it yet. Give me time.