Comics IX - Cheerleader Number Nine

[red snow]

I may have to check out Manifest Destiny.

I liked Lazurus #5. Poor Forever, that scene of her training in front of her father was sad. And what is up with that family who's house got flooded in Montana?

It's still good but the flooded family is something that won't make sense until later. It felt like a lot of set-up. I also thought this arc was going to be an origin but it seems like it will be glimpses into the past. Probably for the best in order to keep the momentum going. Her "father" really was a bit of a dick with her.

I'm still curious as to how the waste live. I don't think the family in the floods were waste although that was my initial thought,

Manifest destiny is definitely worth a look due to the premise. It may work better as a trade but monthlies can work well in building the mystery of a comic.

[Sci-2]

@Lady O:

Uncanny X-Men was a disappointment; I expected more from Kris Anka's art. But at least Emma looked gorgeous. The big problem, of course, is the characterization was probably worse in this issue than any other - Bendis never disappoints in disappointing us.

I was surprised that this issue was received so well. I liked the art, but I think dividing time between a female focused character issue and the appearance of the Inhumans made two unsatisfying stories in one book.

Inhumanity: The Awakening went too far with the connectivity stuff; it got really distracting and confusing at some point.

Yeah, definite Twitter fatigue. I also felt like there was something a bit off about someone taping people ripping out her feathers. That didn't really make sense.

Wolverine and the X-Men was amazing, both the parts in school and Cyclops teaming-up with Wolvie! It's really annoying that Jason Aaron seems to have saved his best stories for his last issues, just to make us sorry to see him go.

This was a pretty fun issue. It made me think about how much better the X-men would be if the Schism could heal, or if the writers were better at making realistic group conflict without draining the books of fun visuals and ideas.

....Holy crap, I think I have a record for Lady O agreement. Thankfully status quo will probably return next week when UA 15 comes out. ;-)

[red snow]

....Holy crap, I think I have a record for Lady O agreement. Thankfully status quo will probably return next week when UA 15 comes out. ;-)

Or a Hickman Avengers book :P

I'm still enjoying my catch up on Superior Spider-man. It was great to see he now has minions working with him as well. The character is great but one thing I'm noticing is that Otto is feeling less and less like Otto and more like a different character. I guess this could well be intentional and that the person we are seeing now is some amalgamation of Pete and Otto. If it's not intentional then it just seems as though Slott has wanted to write about a different type of Spidey which is fine when it's this good.

The upcoming covers with spidey 2099 have me worried that the ultimate "fix" may involve Otto taking Miguel's body though. Then again there's no rush for Marvel to return the status quo just yet and looking at the sales the book is still doing better than it was before the relaunch. It's a case where I'm relieved Disney doesn't have the rights as you could guarantee that Peter Parker would be Spider-man just in time for the film in 2014.

[red snow]

so much for my last post...

[Sci-2]

Or a Hickman Avengers book :P

Well I'll never say Hickman suffers from megalomania, but I do think we need some actually progress in New Avengers.

We need to see them actually utilizing all possible resources, or better explaining the need for extreme secrecy as there are multiversal travelers/researchers/protectors they could be seeking out.

so much for my last post...

It's funny that I was beginning to think I should start reading Superior Spiderman again even as they might possibly end it.

Also, apparently September 2014 will be a "game changer" for Wolverine.

[red snow]

Well I'll never say Hickman suffers from megalomania, but I do think we need some actually progress in New Avengers.

We need to see them actually utilizing all possible resources, or better explaining the need for extreme secrecy as there are multiversal travelers/researchers/protectors they could be seeking out.

It's funny that I was beginning to think I should start reading Superior Spiderman again even as they might possibly end it.

Also, apparently September 2014 will be a "game changer" for Wolverine.

I think it's a shame that they are potentially ending the Otto run although maybe they'll find a way to stick this personality in another clone or something. Seems strange how only clones of Spidey ever seem to work as spin-offs. I guess 30 issues is a 2.5 year run in old schedules. Just not sure how interested I'll be in reading a Parker book again. The good thing about otto is that he isn't angsty. Of course, Slott may well be teasing us again as many thought Parker was returning in the first 12 issues.

Trying to get excited for a book in 2014 is beyond me. I'm sure Wolverine will go through several game changers before then. I like the image of him with a gun as I don't think I've ever seen him with one. It makes sense he should use one though given the short range of his powers.

[Lady Octarina]

Ah, that sucks, I was really enjoying SpiderOck! A nice solution would be if, by some time travel/Age of Ultron late consequence/some such crazy thing, both Peter and Otto coexisted in a similar-looking body at once. Not another clone solution, and a way to use that pointless event for something other than bringing Miles Morales to 616. But then we'd have five Spider-Men, counting Scarlet and Miguel... Oops? Still something I'd be interested in reading, certainly much more than simply the story of Peter Parker regaining his life.

This was a pretty fun issue. It made me think about how much better the X-men would be if the Schism could heal, or if the writers were better at making realistic group conflict without draining the books of fun visuals and ideas.

....Holy crap, I think I have a record for Lady O agreement. Thankfully status quo will probably return next week when UA 15 comes out. ;-)

Why, do we usually disagree on UA? Only on Wanda, isn't it? But no worries, we're sure to disagree on Christmas day =)

I think the Schism will end, eventually. It took them eight years to sort of reverse House of M, but they weren't foolish enough to continue with that when they didn't have any more good stories to tell. the same will happen here. And, imo, the Schism is reaching that point of fatigue much quicker. Of course, this won't happen for the next few years, as Bendis is insisting on this revolution story that he simply doesn't seem able to properly develop. And people will get tired of reading two similar books about mutant schools, especially if I-forgot-who manages to keep WATXM so much better than Uncanny.

I'm not sure, though, if it will only end once Xavier returns, or once Cyclops dies. And probably Wolverine as well.

[Sci-2]

Why, do we usually disagree on UA? Only on Wanda, isn't it? But no worries, we're sure to disagree on Christmas day =)

Christmas? Is that when Avengers comes out next?

Actually, I'm I've grown more sympathetic to Wanda as really Marvel just f-ed up a ton of characterization these last few years. They should try to make something more original than hero vs hero conflict because none of it sticks. I mean Tony cloned Thor, and that clone killed Bill Foster. But all that's water under the bridge?

Of course, this won't happen for the next few years, as Bendis is insisting on this revolution story that he simply doesn't seem able to properly develop.

By the time Bendis has this revolution the MU will have changed too much due to Inhumanity, seeing as Disney wants there to be a movie and that won't happen until 2017 or so at the earliest.

Though apparently Fraction is off the Inhumanity book...

I'm not sure, though, if it will only end once Xavier returns, or once Cyclops dies. And probably Wolverine as well.

Actually killing off Cyclops and Wolverine would make things interesting. I don't really think Xavier needs to come back as he was increasingly irrelevant even before his death.

eta:

Maybe Fraction is leaving Marvel?:

Now I am told that, after creative and editorial disagreements over the book, Matt Fraction will no longer be writing the book, and that he will be replaced by Charles Soule.

[red snow]

I just read that article on "inhuman" and it's DC levels of incompetence to fuck up a major launch so badly. I guess Joe MAd has to be off the book as well as there's no way he's going to draw an issue from a script that hasn't been written yet and expect it to land in 2014.

It does seem like Fraction is focusing on his creator stuff to the delay of his Marvel work at the moment. Considering he's under contract at MArvel I don't blame them if they think he's not pulling his weight and/or getting Diva-ish. The article does confirm that Fraction has other projects coming up with Marvel suggesting a repositiioning of him. To be honest I only care about Hawkeye coming out from him but maybe they are better giving him titles that are off to the side. They may not be massive earners for them but when his books work they are probably solid GN sellers.

I wonder how much longer Soule will be able to play both sides of the fence? Maybe Marvel will offer him an exclusive just to derail one of DCs better writers at the moment. From what I've heard his swamp thing and red lanterns titles are good. He's also got the superman/wonder woman title coming out. Or maybe Marvel/DC are chilling out on the creator exclusive stance which seems to be happening on occasion. I'm all for it as it means there's a chance Bendis may dip his foot in over at DC and eventually give me a chance to enjoy X-men.

[Lady Octarina]

This whole thing with Fraction is really weird, considering he supposedly left FF and F4 to work on Inhumans... But Soule is a less hit-and-miss writer than him, so maybe this change will work for the best. The only Fraction title I really cared about was FF, but since that's already over, whatever.

[red snow]

This whole thing with Fraction is really weird, considering he supposedly left FF and F4 to work on Inhumans... But Soule is a less hit-and-miss writer than him, so maybe this change will work for the best. The only Fraction title I really cared about was FF, but since that's already over, whatever.

Considering how many Image books he has at the moment I find it hard to believe that isn't responsible. That or he's coming up with Hawkeye/FF indie-style takes on projects Marvel wants to be more mainstream.

In other news; newsarama have been publishing readers polls on top Marvel, DC and Image books. Obviously there's brown nosing for every entry but the results are still interesting even when you take into account what fanboys the vocal newsarama readers can be.

Dc is interesting in that the top books also tend to mirror their best-sellers which means DC fans have more taste or that DC puts its major talent on its most obvious sellers (Batman, Wonder Woman, Justice League).

Marvel on the other hand is a bit of a mix with some of its top sellers not on the list (Avengers) while poor sellers (Superior foes, Hawkeye and to a lesser extent Daredevil) chart high. It's good to see Superior Spider-man at the top as it's a strong seller and had newsarama posters tearing their eyes out and wanting to murder Slott. I still think they should try and squeeze another year out of Otto Spidey. Could a new heroic Dr Octopus work though?

Anyway the image ones are out tomorrow. It will be Walking dead vs Saga But Walking dead has far more readers (but will they even know about the poll). I also think it's something the publishers will pay a lot of attention as it's essentially a free market survey for them. Good news for superior foes hopefully. It could be bad news for titles/teams not selling well and failing to make the lists. Wolverine for example.

[Sci-2]

What's Fraction doing on the Image/indie side? Sex Criminals and Satellite Sam, according to Wikipedia.

I recall Fraction wanting Inhumans to represent a metaphor for minorities, I wonder if he tried to write the book as a Hawkeye type thing that was more character focused, and Marvel wanted more tight spandex babes and explosions?

[red snow]

What's Fraction doing on the Image/indie side? Sex Criminals and Satellite Sam, according to Wikipedia.

I recall Fraction wanting Inhumans to represent a metaphor for minorities, I wonder if he tried to write the book as a Hawkeye type thing that was more character focused, and Marvel wanted more tight spandex babes and explosions?

I thought he had more than that but you're probably right. I get the impression a lot of the Marvel/DC writers are probably putting together as much IP to publish via Image/Oni press as possible at the moment though.

I don't know why Marvel even bother to get Fraction to write popular books as it's never that great anyhow (uncanny, forever evil, Iron Man).

[Sci-2]

I thought he had more than that but you're probably right. I get the impression a lot of the Marvel/DC writers are probably putting together as much IP to publish via Image/Oni press as possible at the moment though.

I don't know why Marvel even bother to get Fraction to write popular books as it's never that great anyhow (uncanny, forever evil, Iron Man).

Actually, you're probably right that he's got more irons in the indie fire that are going to come out. Makes sense as him and his wife make bigger splashes in media via their indie stuff. That leads to the optioning for TV/film, aka the big bucks.

I think his Iron Man was pretty hot. And Fear Itself did sell well IIRC?

On the Newsarama list - I think it is interesting how the higher rated Marvel stuff wasn't selling that well. I think it shows how Newsarama, CBR, and so on are isolated communities....and that a boatload of people are just downloading the books.

[red snow]

Actually, you're probably right that he's got more irons in the indie fire that are going to come out. Makes sense as him and his wife make bigger splashes in media via their indie stuff. That leads to the optioning for TV/film, aka the big bucks.

I think his Iron Man was pretty hot. And Fear Itself did sell well IIRC?

On the Newsarama list - I think it is interesting how the higher rated Marvel stuff wasn't selling that well. I think it shows how Newsarama, CBR, and so on are isolated communities....and that a boatload of people are just downloading the books.

I couldn't get into the Iron Man run but thought Fear itself was awful. You do raise a good point about it being a sales success though. Maybe Fraction just doesn't want to do those kind of books anymore? I suspect the deeper they've gone into the project the less "inhuman" is looking like Fraction's original pitch of "marvel's Game of Thrones" and more like " X-men bunch of teenagers getting emo over being hated and handling their new found powers".

[Sci-2]

Interview with Fraction, Alonso, and Soule coming up on CBR. Friday IIRC, but it might tomorrow. Apparently the change was amicable, with Fraction and Marvel jointly deciding to shift.

I think Fraction has just gotten tired of cape comics why Soule is really into it. And there probably isn't any long term money for him in it, as he's not a real architect like Bendis or a big name like Grant Morrison.

=-=-=

ANXM #20: So the covers are just lies now? A decent issue, but I really don't get why the ANXM are allowed into combat. And why enemies who know about them being lynchpins of the timeline would fire at them.

Uncanny Avengers #15: Clearly this comic is based in an alternate reality at this point, so I'm fine with the ever rising stakes and body count.

Young Avengers #14: One of my favorite single issues of the year. I still don't buy the Kate/Noh-barr relatonship, but outside of that lots of great stuff. Really, really liked the Chavez origin story and the revelation about her relationship to Billy.

Have some more books but will get to them later.

[Winterfell is Burning]

=-=-=

ANXM #20: So the covers are just lies now?

They always have been. Wolverine specially has been in many covers in issues he didn't even appear.

Anyway, Daredevil #34 was perhaps the best this week, but the ending as well as the fact he's leaving NY makes me wonder Waid is going to kill Foggy, which would suck, in no small part because DD doesn't have that big of a supporting cast anyway- it would be like Spidey killing both JJJ and Mary Jane in terms of importance.

[red snow]

Interview with Fraction, Alonso, and Soule coming up on CBR. Friday IIRC, but it might tomorrow. Apparently the change was amicable, with Fraction and Marvel jointly deciding to shift.

I think Fraction has just gotten tired of cape comics why Soule is really into it. And there probably isn't any long term money for him in it, as he's not a real architect like Bendis or a big name like Grant Morrison.

I think Soule is a rising star. His "letter 44" is excellent and while I've yet to read his DC work he seems to be falling into that rare "Snyder/Lemire" group that can create good books in that editorial quagmire. So I think his hunger to be a top comic writer means there may be more passion injected into the series (probably more willing to keep editorial happy - it can't be worse than DC). Fraction is already there so he's probably all "bro" about it.

As an aside Paul Rudd has got the role of Ant Man. Funny how that came so quickly after the other contender announced he was developing a Sandman film.

[Kalbear]

Man, Hawkeye is good.

I also liked Fraction's run on X-men. It wasn't the best what he did with Pixie, but for the most part the characters were interesting for the first time in a while and they were interacting with each other as real people.

[red snow]

Man, Hawkeye is good.

I also liked Fraction's run on X-men. It wasn't the best what he did with Pixie, but for the most part the characters were interesting for the first time in a while and they were interacting with each other as real people.

I think this is what Fraction is best at - his character interactions. That's at the heart of Hawkeye as well. His crazy stuff is hit or miss for me,