Comic Books

[Stego]

I'm working my way through Secret Invasion/Dark Reign at the moment and I enjoy Dark Avengers. At least I did until the Dark X-Men got involved. It seems to have jumped the shark. Marvel is a fucking mess right now, it seems.

[Papirolle]

I just saw the Thor movie, which was surprisingly good i thought.

I used to read a LOT of comics back in the day, mostly X-titles and pretty much anything Vertigo published. However, I never read any Thor. After seeing the Thor movie I got the urge to read some Thor comics. So the question is what should I read? Are there any good Thor comics out now? Or should I go back to the "good old days". Any run or storyline in particular that was good?

Thanks for all the advice!

[Calibandar]

Well, a classic that's been remastered/recoloured is Walter Simonson's run on Thor, now available in hardcover for a hefty price. This is often seen as the most legendary run done on Thor. Myself though I did not care for the artwork, even this recoloured version that everyone else seems to love, so I stick to new Thor graphic novels that strike my fancy.

Naming a few that I've bought the last two years:

Thor vol. 1 and 2 by Straczynski. This is the most famous run of the last couple of years.

Also some standalones with great artwork:

Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers- Rob Rodi

Thor: For Asgard: Rob Robi

Thor: Ages of Thunder- Matt Fraction

Thor: The Trials of Loki-Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

[Papirolle]

Great info, Calibandar! I'll see what I can find of that.

Thanks a lot!

[red snow]

I'm working my way through Secret Invasion/Dark Reign at the moment and I enjoy Dark Avengers. At least I did until the Dark X-Men got involved. It seems to have jumped the shark. Marvel is a fucking mess right now, it seems.

I've been reading uncanny X-force due to all the hype and I have to say I'm enjoying it. Reminds me of the old-school X-men days and it pays enough service to the past without being bogged down by it. BEst of all it seems to be pretty self-contained and happily goes along with it's own epic storyline without being a slave to the overall line. That siad I haven't reached the "shism" issues yet so it may still be fucked over yet.

Speaking of Schism, Wolverine and the x-men has been pretty fun so far but that's possibly because I love Bachalo's style and page composition,

[Sci-2]

Uncanny X-force might be the top superhero book, and for me rides neck to neck with Batman Incorporated and Unwritten. I also like Locke and Key, as well as Morning Glories.

All top notch books.

[Nephrite]

Let the shitstorm begin.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Let the shitstorm begin.

Not sure what to say other than at least they got some solid talent onboard. I'll probably pick up the Azzarello stuff.

I hope Alan Moore is surrounded by friends right about now...

[Nephrite]

I personally don't care for Watchmen all that much. It's a good story, but I don't view it as some holy cow (as far as Moore is concerned I like Marvelman way more). And Moore spent the better part of the last 2 decades writing stories about characters created by HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne so he's shouldn't be upset. It's a bit unfair to say that he can write about these characters but, his creations (well, analogues) are out of bounds.

[polishgenius]

I personally don't care for Watchmen all that much. It's a good story, but I don't view it as some holy cow (as far as Moore is concerned I like Marvelman way more). And Moore spent the better part of the last 2 decades writing stories about characters created by HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne so he's shouldn't be upset. It's a bit unfair to say that he can write about these characters but, his creations (well, analogues) are out of bounds.

Not to mention that Watchmen was originally going to be written with already existing characters.

My big concern is that I don't see what they're going to tell. Watchmen's a story that pretty much covered all the bases- they've obviously realised a sequel would have been out of the question, but every character there has their backstory already told in the original book. So these are likely either going to be redundant or irrelevant.

[Sci-2]

I personally don't care for Watchmen all that much. It's a good story, but I don't view it as some holy cow (as far as Moore is concerned I like Marvelman way more). And Moore spent the better part of the last 2 decades writing stories about characters created by HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne so he's shouldn't be upset. It's a bit unfair to say that he can write about these characters but, his creations (well, analogues) are out of bounds.

Watchmen is good but highly overrated. The fundamental twist in the story depends on a major character shift that is given know no explanation. I think outside of comic book circles the book would not hold up to scrutinity.

The same thing applies to Seasons of Mist arc in Sandman.

To some extent the praise is laughable, but there is quality in both works to mitigate the fan boy pawing fawning.

In other news - Hickman's work on Fantastic Four, as well as his scifi four parters (Transhuman, Red Wing, Mass for Mars) are incredible.

[delete this account pls]

DC owns Watchmen, the same way they own Superman or Batman. Alan Moore did the work for them, and got paid (very well) for it. They don't need his permission to do this. The timing is weird though. It's clearly a cash grab, so you'd think the right time to do this was when the movie came out a few years back. Either way, they'll sell a lot, and most of the people being outraged will buy them anyway, and most of them probably wont be very good, and a couple might be OK to decent, and when it's all over Watchmen will still be there on your shelf to read whenever you want.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Not to mention that Watchmen was originally going to be written with already existing characters.

They kind of were. DC bought the rights to old Charlton Comics characters like The Question, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Nightshade and Peacemaker. The Watchmen characters were closely modeled after these characters.

[red snow]

It's about time they come clean and admit they are doing the prequels. I'd rather they went for reboots (like they've just done with everything) as then there'd be an element of danger to the stories, As it is, we know that every character comes out of this one fine and really shouldn't have any revelation that was not mentioned in the original series.

They do have some great talent working on it with Azzarello being the shining light, IMO, but that's based largely off his Batman:vengeance mini from last year which was excellent. JMS may be excellent on Doc Manhattan too or he may be very meh (gut feeling on niteowl). Ozymandias could be interesting but it would be Rorscach and Comedian if I were to buy any.

I think the creators involved are being very brave to give it a go. I bet there were a lot of creators turned it down as fanboy criticism is going to be bad, let alone the inevitably harsh criticism Alan Moore will throw at them about being talentless hacks who are surviving off someone else's work. At least Azzarello and JMS can argue against that (len wein too).

[Dr Adder]

finally moon knight got cancelled thanks to Bendis being unable to write anything other than avengers, stupid twit thought it would be cool to have all his favourite characters as a single entity, glad to see the end of "Captain Spiderine". hopefully this shamefull period can be eventually buried.

[red snow]

finally moon knight got cancelled thanks to Bendis being unable to write anything other than avengers, stupid twit thought it would be cool to have all his favourite characters as a single entity, glad to see the end of "Captain Spiderine". hopefully this shamefull period can be eventually buried.

I thought his daredevil run with Maleev several years ago was good for a couple of years. I've never been able to fully embrace his Avengers work but I must be in a minority as he turned the avengers into the flagship franchise.

I wonder if he'll move to DC comics as i'm not sure where he plans to go after his avengers work wraps up. Hopefully he'll stay away from the X-men books,

[Nephrite]

Not to mention that Watchmen was originally going to be written with already existing characters.

My big concern is that I don't see what they're going to tell. Watchmen's a story that pretty much covered all the bases- they've obviously realised a sequel would have been out of the question, but every character there has their backstory already told in the original book. So these are likely either going to be redundant or irrelevant.

Well, Straczynski has this to say:

it's always bothered me that someone as brilliant and precise about time as Jon could just blithely walk into the intrinsic field test chamber as the time-lock closed. He'd know better than that. But since it did happen, you now have to say, "Okay, that being the case, how did it happen? Is there something we don't know? Or more to the point, was there something he didn't know?"

There you go. Admit you always wanted to know this.

In other news - Hickman's work on Fantastic Four, as well as his scifi four parters (Transhuman, Red Wing, Mass for Mars) are incredible.

I second that.

DC owns Watchmen, the same way they own Superman or Batman. Alan Moore did the work for them, and got paid (very well) for it. They don't need his permission to do this.

What's funny is how much he's upset about this. Back when he was doing the book it was already known how much DC screwed Siegel and Shuster. So when they didn't give him the rights he got all "OMG a big multinational evil corporation screwed me over. How could this happen?"

Also he wrote a comic where Dorothy has sex with Cowardly Lion. I'm pretty sure that L. Frank Baum didn't want that with his characters either.

The timing is weird though.

Well, DC is desperate and Dan DiDio is Dan DiDio. And Moore can't get more pissed at them.

I've never been able to fully embrace his Avengers work but I must be in a minority as he turned the avengers into the flagship franchise.

Well, he's the Marvel equivalent of Geoff Johns. He writes, people will buy.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

They do have some great talent working on it with Azzarello being the shining light, IMO, but that's based largely off his Batman:vengeance mini from last year which was excellent. Ozymandias could be interesting but it would be Rorscach and Comedian if I were to buy any.

That's pretty much the hook for me. I like Azzarello's stuff and he just happens to be writing my two favorite characters from the original series. Otherwise I probably wouldn't bother with any of these.

[Sci-2]

What's funny is how much he's upset about this. Back when he was doing the book it was already known how much DC screwed Siegel and Shuster. So when they didn't give him the rights he got all "OMG a big multinational evil corporation screwed me over. How could this happen?"

Also he wrote a comic where Dorothy has sex with Cowardly Lion. I'm pretty sure that L. Frank Baum didn't want that with his characters either.

Sorry if I missed a link, but has Moore actually expressed outrage over this?

I do remember him snidely commenting there wasn't even "third rate talent" in comics anymore or some nonsense. It was more than a little over the top.

[dornish prince]

i've been casually re-reading 100 bulletts over the last month or so and that is precisely why i will be checking the ones that he is involved in out. i don't remember if the one that jae lee is drawing is one of those but i will most definitely be checking out his work as well.