Comics VIII - the Crime Syndic8 of America

[Little Valkyrie]

Yeah, there are people who hate entire runs who still collect the major series like F4 and Avengers. That said I also think F4 was mediocre but only really disappointing when put up against Fraction's best work.

At this point I think all these guys are imitating some Grant Morrison's bigger self-hype moments. It's kind of amusing so long as no one takes it too seriously.

You want self-hype, read any of Joe Casey's recent comments about his stuff. Now there's someone with his head up his ass.

[Sci-2]

You want self-hype, read any of Joe Casey's recent comments about his stuff. Now there's someone with his head up his ass.

What are you talking about? Clearly issues of The Bounce created a wormhole due to their awesomeness, traveled through time and inspired Ditko & Lee to create Spiderman.

[red snow]

Didn't pick up Sandman. Figured there's no point as there'll be a beautiful hardcover out in a few months.

Did grab the new Saga though.

I guess Joe Casey can have an ego given how well Man of action has done. Surely it would be tongue in cheek if he were to suggest that the Bounce is anything other than the Spider-man stories he always wanted to tell (in a Snyder/Tynion style)?

[Little Valkyrie]

Infinity still feels like a very dry BBC News Report version of some exciting comic book happening somewhere.

Guardians of the Galaxy, with that gorgeous Francavilla art, was probably not as bad this time, but Bendis is a lying liar on twitter (no real shock). [That is to say, cancerverse nerds! infinity nerds! you will want to read tomorrows guardians of the galaxy. was tweeted, but was barely applicable--especially the first part.]

And I have no idea what Yost was thinking with Scarlet Spider, because so many cliches dodged, and now he hit this one head-on? So disappointing.

[Sci-2]

Infinity + Avengers was good. Though I thought the Alephs might be more of a threat than they ended up being? Or is the Galactic Council busy with that threat, which is why they can only spare a few ships to help liberate Earth?

Battle for the Atom was way too decompressed, and the final issue had the most excitement. Really I feel like this event could've been told in 4 issues. All that said, I loved the final epilogue.

Have some other stuff to read, but will probably do that later tonight or tomorrow.

[Lady Octarina]

Guardians of the Galaxy had great art, but the story itself seemed a bit off, not sure it works. Captain America: Living Legend continues to look gorgeous, but I think it's just not my kind of tale. Battle of the Atom was alright, but only managed to crown this as a disappointing event; from the start, though, I'm more interested in the consequences than the story itself. I hope they don't forget to explore the emotional results of the final epilogue (and let's pretend we didn't know that would happen - though I still think it was an incredibly childish reason to do that). I was surprised to see Superior Spider-Man Team-Up Special was the best Marvel issue of the week.

Has anyone read Sandman Overture? Do you think reading this before I read the original series will diminish my enjoyment of either somehow?

Infinity still feels like a very dry BBC News Report version of some exciting comic book happening somewhere.

:agree:

With imperialist undertones, though, and ridiculous attempts at patriotism and melodrama. :ack:

[Sci-2]

Has anyone read Sandman Overture? Do you think reading this before I read the original series will diminish my enjoyment of either somehow?

I suspect it'll diminish your enjoyment of Overture as I feel like the first issue's weight comes from knowing the cast.

[red snow]

:agree:

With imperialist undertones, though, and ridiculous attempts at patriotism and melodrama. :ack:

Still sounds like the BBC to me ;)

What's left to say about Saga? It's consistently great and while it meanders it always feels important (something Bendis thinks he can do) and substantial. Plus the cliffhanger ending is a real shocker.

I got around to reading Samurai Jack 1. Clearly that idea works best in animated form as I wasn't feeling the comic at all. Last week was pretty disappointing for new series. None of them were bad but not of them were amazing either.

Slowly catching up on New Avengers and Avengers. I think New is the better comic but both are great in my opinion. I'm not sure if Hickman is deliberately setting up a romance between Thor and Hyperion but between his dialogue (maybe Spencers) and the art direction I'm definitely getting that vibe,

update: hold on a second uncanny x-men has a character called "goldballs"? Surely this means there are no good names left?

[Winterfell is Burning]

Infinity + Avengers continue to be great. If Hickman doesn't mess up in the ending (considering this is a Marvel crossover, that's a very, very real possibility), this will be their greatest crossover in a couple of decades at least. I also wonder if the Avengers will end up finding out about the Illuminati, considering Thanos' new plan.

Saga continues to be awesome, and with a world that, by being unexplored, opens lots of possibilities.

Battle of the Atom was mediocre and mostly irrelevant, both the crossover and the final issue itself.

[Ouroboros]

Avengers AI is a book I'm actually quite enjoying. The colours are a bit weak and the line art is a bit sketchy, but its an interesting premise and Humphries is doing a surprisingly good job considering how bad I've found most of his other stuff. Kind of like Spencer on Superiors Foes. Another writer I've never liked much of putting out a very enjoyable book.

[red snow]

Infinity + Avengers continue to be great. If Hickman doesn't mess up in the ending (considering this is a Marvel crossover, that's a very, very real possibility), this will be their greatest crossover in a couple of decades at least. I also wonder if the Avengers will end up finding out about the Illuminati, considering Thanos' new plan.

Saga continues to be awesome, and with a world that, by being unexplored, opens lots of possibilities.

Battle of the Atom was mediocre and mostly irrelevant, both the crossover and the final issue itself.

I guess it's the last X-men event before they become utterly redundant thanks to Ihumanity.

Avengers AI is a book I'm actually quite enjoying. The colours are a bit weak and the line art is a bit sketchy, but its an interesting premise and Humphries is doing a surprisingly good job considering how bad I've found most of his other stuff. Kind of like Spencer on Superiors Foes. Another writer I've never liked much of putting out a very enjoyable book.

I just found nothing about the concept behind Avengers AI that appealing. It does feel like these smaller books are where the writers are allowed to have a bit more fun though.

[Sci-2]

Aaron Examines the Aftermath of the X-Men's "Battle of the Atom"

We had a mini X-Men retreat last year or early this year -- I forget -- where we talked about this. Then, of course, there were many phone calls back and forth. Everybody threw ideas in and threw things out that affected their characters and books.

Then we cobbled everything together into a story that would have ramifications for all the main X-Books. We pretty quickly put together the basic framework for the two months.

Heh, at least he's honest about it.

[Winterfell is Burning]

Aaron Examines the Aftermath of the X-Men's "Battle of the Atom"

Heh, at least he's honest about it.

Funny how in the beginning Bendis, and IIRC Lowe and Wood too, were saying this was Jason Aaron's idea, but now at the end he says it was "everyone's" idea.

[Sci-2]

Funny how in the beginning Bendis, and IIRC Lowe and Wood too, were saying this was Jason Aaron's idea, but now at the end he says it was "everyone's" idea.

What's annoying is when the facist propaganda that was AvX came out with its imperialist overtones, it was wrong to have faith. Cyke and the rest of his supporters were wrong to believe in the Phoenix, and Captain Aryan and Scarlet Genocide were heroes.

Now, the threat of the O5 staying is worse than the Phoenix, since it could break the universe. But somehow the lesson here is that Kitty was right to trust her gut and her fellow X-men were wrong to doubt her?

[red snow]

I was highly entertained by Aaron's admission they cobbled battle of the atom together as well. I also like how Beast is evil in all timelines/dimensions. Because the whole mess they are in with the O5 is all his fault.

[Sci-2]

I was highly entertained by Aaron's admission they cobbled battle of the atom together as well. I also like how Beast is evil in all timelines/dimensions. Because the whole mess they are in with the O5 is all his fault.

What's annoying is that the last big X event, AvX, was also cobbled together as a response to New 52. And they didn't even know Xavier would be dead until late. Possibly during the event.

Kinda sad less people are reading Uncanny Avengers, as Remender is actually doing something of genuine interest that respects both the Avenger and X franchises.

[red snow]

What's annoying is that the last big X event, AvX, was also cobbled together as a response to New 52. And they didn't even know Xavier would be dead until late. Possibly during the event.

Pretty shit as a 50th anniversary.I'm still appalled that the X-offices didn't have a big Days of future past event planned considering the original comic's future was in 2013. Obviously the comic itself couldn't have 33 years pass (although this wouldn't stop Bendis) but it would have been a great way to celebrate it - possibly by having a sentinel program and registration occurring. It seems the sentinels are floating around in the comics at the moment so odd they haven't capitalised. The only excuse I can think of is that they want to do it next year to co-incide with the film. Far better to pay homage to the fans and have some trades out for the movie. Do a "watchmen" style set of series called "Return to days of future past" or some branding with DOFP at the forefront.

Kinda sad less people are reading Uncanny Avengers, as Remender is actually doing something of genuine interest that respects both the Avenger and X franchises.

I'm still reading but the whole Kang/apocalypse twins just feels like self-indulgent left overs from his uncanny x-men run. I can understand how people have lost interest as the first arc was a lot more about them being heroes and dealing with earth-based threats. This arc is very insular, like an X-men book.

Plus the teams constant bickering is wearing thin - especially when they are just mouthpieces for Remender digging out of his Havok speech. I think they'd have been better going straight into the Red Onslaught story or having some more hero-based solo adventures.

That said I'm reading Uncanny Avengers while avoiding the X-books entirely so Remender is at least doing that right. Maybe they need to crossover into the x or avenger books for a sales boost?

[Winterfell is Burning]

What's annoying is that the last big X event, AvX, was also cobbled together as a response to New 52. And they didn't even know Xavier would be dead until late. Possibly during the event.

Hickman said that he was the one that brought up Xavier, since he was planning to use him in NA, and then Breevort and the other writers decided to kill him pretty much as an afterthought, which obviously annoyed him. Had Hickman kept his mouth shut, Xavier would probably be alive.

[Lady Octarina]

Pretty shit as a 50th anniversary.I'm still appalled that the X-offices didn't have a big Days of future past event planned considering the original comic's future was in 2013. Obviously the comic itself couldn't have 33 years pass (although this wouldn't stop Bendis) but it would have been a great way to celebrate it - possibly by having a sentinel program and registration occurring. It seems the sentinels are floating around in the comics at the moment so odd they haven't capitalised. The only excuse I can think of is that they want to do it next year to co-incide with the film. Far better to pay homage to the fans and have some trades out for the movie. Do a "watchmen" style set of series called "Return to days of future past" or some branding with DOFP at the forefront.

:agree:

That said I'm reading Uncanny Avengers while avoiding the X-books entirely so Remender is at least doing that right. Maybe they need to crossover into the x or avenger books for a sales boost?

If we are to trust the Bleeding Cool rumors (and Rich Johnston has been correct more often than not lately), Remender will be in charge of next year's event, that would obviously involve Uncanny Avengers. And, anyway, it's inevitable that we'll get crossovers with the other books, with the scale of things that are happening on that one. Plus, if the Scarlet Witch manages to do what she's planning in #14 before Rogue arrives on the scene to kill her, at least we'll get some special guests in UA. I also recall Remender saying, back when he still gave interviews on Uncanny Avengers, that in year two of that book (which has already begun, but I assume he meant 2014 more than anything), it would be more integrated with the rest of the Marvel U, but especially with his Captain America book (also funny to think that Cap's traumatic decade in Dimension Z has had zero influence on his appearances elsewhere - though, as the writer of elsewhere cannot bother with characterization, that's not really surprising...).

[Sci-2]

Hickman said that he was the one that brought up Xavier, since he was planning to use him in NA, and then Breevort and the other writers decided to kill him pretty much as an afterthought, which obviously annoyed him. Had Hickman kept his mouth shut, Xavier would probably be alive.

This doesn't surprise me.

but especially with his Captain America book (also funny to think that Cap's traumatic decade in Dimension Z has had zero influence on his appearances elsewhere - though, as the writer of elsewhere cannot bother with characterization, that's not really surprising...).

As someone who isn't reading Capt. America, I'm actually glad none of this decade in another timeline stuff is factoring into other books. Maybe over time it can get a mention but right now it'd just be needless clutter.

Asking people to factor that in given the nature of when scripts get written seems unreasonable?