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Post by spoon on Sept 30, 2017 14:02:54 GMT -5
Captain America #339"America the Scorched" 0.75 USD @ March 1988 Writer: Mark Gruenwald Penciler: Kieron Dwyer Inker: Tony DeZuniga Colorist: Gregory Wright Letter: John Morelli Editor: Ralph Macchio & Marc Siry Editor-in-Chief: Tom Defalco Synopsis: We join the story with Famine causing havoc in the countryside, causing death and decay by killing a farmer, cattles, and various crops. And she does this to acres and acres of land. In another location, the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, in his Captain America costume is fighting a bureaucrat the size of the Hulk in a three-piece suit. They are in a chamber hall somewhere. His opponent told him the shield and costume doesn't belong to him. And they both disappeared. He found "The Captain" costume on his feet, and put it on, but his opponent said that he is obsolete and he can never get through the red tape, at which, steel red tape binds him and mummifies him. He tries to rip the face off his opponent to see who it is, but all he saw was the President, and then himself. And suddenly he woke up in a plane ride with his teammates, D-Man, Nomad, Vagabond, and Falcon. Apparently he was having a nightmare. He shoots the breeze with Falcon and D-Man. He resigned himself to his fate that his no longer Captain America, and that's that. The Falcon disagrees with his decision. The pilot of the chartered flight, well paid by D-Man, told them a problem occurring in Kansas. They head over to Kansas to take care of the problem. At Fort Meade, Maryland, the new Captain America and Bucky who are heading for some R&R are talking about what happened last issue when they heard a commotion up ahead. And it's Freedom Force members Pyro, Avalanche, and Blob. Blob laughingly told the two that he saw the X-Men die in Hawaii. This didn't sit well with Cap as he didn't want to hear anyone die after he lost control and killed Doctor Power in the previous issue. Then the PR system came alive with orders summoning for Cap and Bucky. They're given new orders to take down a supervillain causing havoc in the midwest, it's Famine. In Kansas, several military helicopters chase Famine, but are themselves taken down by the Horseman. And the helicopters crashed down on the Earth. Famine didn't have time to celebrate as he was attacked by Falcon. He is followed by the parachuting trio of The Captain, D-Man, and Nomad. Falcon took down Famine from her flying "horse-monster", but the touch of Famine damaged Falcon as he landed and double turned in pain. As Famine tried to do more damage to Falcon, she is attacked by Nomad's disks which halted her attack on Falcon. A melee ensued. The remaining heroes fighting the Horseman and her "horse-monster." The Captain made sure Falcon was okay, and then ripped the side of tractor and used it as a shield and rejoined the melee. She dispatched Nomad. D-Man gets the better of the "horse-monster." The Captain managed to hold her hands apart preventing her from blasting or touching anything. She then bellowed to her master, and she was suddenly teleported and is suddenly nowhere to be seen. The group re-grouped as they have casualties from this encounter. Three hours later, the new Captain America and Bucky arrived, perplexed as there is no sign of Famine anywhere, and they know they are in the right place. A couple of weeks later, Steve Rogers drops by Stark Enterprises and meets with Tony Stark. D-Man recovered the van in Washington, and Falcon and Nomad are in the hospital recovering from their painful encounter with Famine. Back in Tony's office, the two went to his training area and gave Steve Rogers a new adamntium shield. And Steve tried it out and gave it a little practice session, and was feeling like his old self. He missed having his shield, even though this is not like the original. It is close. Tony told him it's Steve's on permanent loan. Tony internally told himself that his next battle with the U.S. government itself, he knows, Steve won't interfere. That story is in Iron Man #228. Comments: This is a Fall of the Mutants tie-in with Apocalypse's horseman, Famine as the antagonist of the story. The mutants are dealing with a villain named Apocalypse and his four Horsemen, in their respective comic book titles. There are several dramas occuring at the same time. Steve Rogers losing the Captain America persona is disturbing him even in his sleep, giving him nightmares. John Walker's taking the life of a villain the previous issue is still bothering him. His brief encounter with Freedom Force shows he isn't up to date regarding who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. Without good intel, Steve Rogers' group loses half their members as they were hurt badly in their encounter with Famine. And at the end Tony Stark somehow "bribes" Steve with a new shield so as to prevent him from interfering in his upcoming battles with the U.S. government in the so call Armor Wars saga. This may have been the first issue of Captain America I ever read. My older brother had a copy. Then, my school library end up carrying Marvel Comics (crazy, I know!), and I read several issues of the Gruenwald/Dwyer run there. The X-Men died in Dallas. If you check the dialogue, Blob doesn't say "Hawaii"; he says, "Haw, haw!" He's laughing in his bullying style. Blob's comment made me think of the odd nature of the "Fall of the Mutants" event. It's sort of a non-crossover crossover. The three X-titles (X-Men, New Mutants, and X-Factor) ran plotlines that were basically independent. Any crossing over basically occurred between X-Factor (with its New York based plot) and non-mutant titles like Power Pack and Daredevil (indirectly). Famine teleports from a scene in X-Factor #25 to fight the Captain and his allies in Kansas in this issue of Captain America. The paradox is that there one more issue FotM tie-in issue of X-Factor after that issue, but based on Blob's comments, the FotM tie-in issues of X-Men had already ended and Freedom Force had flown back from Dallas to D.C. But because X-Men and X-Factor didn't directly tie together during FotM, I guess that could work. I like how Captain American feels like a team book with the Captain working with Falcon, Nomad, D-Man, and Vagabond. Vagabond basically stays on the sidelines, but that's realistic, because she's basically Nomad's girlfriend who has no powers and only a brief history of training as a fighter. The team has a hard time with just Famine and her robot horse. In contrast, Marvel Girl basically tackles Famine alone in the pages of X-Factor just before this. But D-Man is really a newbie and Nomad is still written as a relatively new even though he's been a hero for few years (and the 1950s Bucky before that). The skills of The Captain's team are treating somewhat inconsistently in this run, but I like the idea of some of them learning on the job. This issue teases the possibility of a meeting between The Captain and Captain America by having them both head to face Famine, but snatches the possibility by having Walker & Hoskins arrive late. This works well because it keeps building anticipation. Walker & Hoskins were probably late because they were traveling farther to get their, but it also suggests they may not be ready for prime time. Dwyer draws Hoskins with a kind, realistic face, which a contrast to the caricature he was depicted as, for example, back on the splash page of #327 by another art team. It shows how the portrayal of the character has changed.
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Post by spoon on Sept 30, 2017 13:26:14 GMT -5
I think we'd have to include the Punisher in this discussion. Here is a character whose occasional appearances in ASM I had loved in the 70s, but by the early 90s had multiple titles as well as monthly appearances alongside seemingly every character Marvel published, and even some they did not (Archie). Even the Punisher's equipment received its own title (Armory). That would be like Batman's utility belt having an ongoing series. The ultimate effect was to diminish my love for the character and to greatly dilute his impact. I think Punisher works best as a recurring character who guest stars in other character's titles as a gray-area anti-hero, perhaps with periodic minis or one-shots. That's why that first decade or so of his history. Then again, I haven't read much later Punisher.
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Post by spoon on Sept 29, 2017 16:45:01 GMT -5
Captain America #3380.75 USD/0.95 CAD @ February 1988 "Power Sruggle" Writer: Mark Gruenwald Illustrator: Kieron Dwyer Inker: Tom Morgan Colorist: Gregory Wright Letterer: Jack Morelli Editor: Ralph Macchio Synopsis: We join the new Captain America and Bucky in a one-sided battle outside a castle in upstate New York's Adirondack mountains, against goons dressed up as ancient Roman soldiers. They easily took them down and afterwards they talked about the intel that The Commission gave them. Apparently the owner of the castle is a wealthy scientist and presidential adviser named Anthony Power, who used his wealth to have his mind transferred to his son's healthy physical body, which has a vegetable mind after returning from the Vietnam War as a "basket case." Then Power donned a body armor and created a group called the Secret Empire who main object is to create a nuclear war where only he and his cronies would survive. They tried to nuke Russia twice but were thwarted twice by the superhero group known as the Defenders. He attacked the Defenders and got his brains fried by Moondragon, the psychic mentalist of the group. And was kept by S.H.I.E.L.D. as a "vegetative-state" patient, but escaped last month. So now that Cap updated Bucky who really didn't understand their mission, they proceeded to go inside the castle to find Power and put a stop to him. Inside the duo fought many robots dealing with blasters and gases. As they went through battling the robots, the new Captain America made his way up the stairs and found what looked to be the base of operations room. As they were about to attack the base of operations room, a giant hand crashed through the ground they were standing on and grabbed the new Captain America and Bucky. Meanwhile in a jail cell in Las Vegas, The Captain's group and the Serpent Squad were in opposite jail cells. Nomad complained about helping the authorities, and then being jailed by the same authorities. Falcon warned him to keep it low as small towns like this don't take too kindly to costumed folks like them, and that Steve Rogers is no longer Captain America and isn't recognized as so. Nomad's still in a bad mood and kept ripping on the cops, who warned him to watch what he's saying, all to the annoyance of the Falcon. As Nomad came back to where the group was standing to let them know he wasn't successful convincing the cops that they all used to be partners of Captain America, Siderwinder, the leader of the Serpent Society, suddenly materialized in between both groups' jail cells. Cap instantly blurted out, "Sidewinder!" And this surprised the Serpent Society leader as he didn't recognize Steve Rogers' face, not knowing he's the original Captain America. Sidewinder offered to get the Serpent Squad out of jail. Back at the Adirondacks, the giant took Cap and Bucky and smashed them together unscuccessfully as they brought up their respective shields to block the blow. They couldn't pry themselves away from his fingertips, so Cap hurled his shield to the giant's eye, who released them after getting hurt. Cap and Bucky scrambled through a doorway as the giant tried to squash them by stepping on them. He then put his giant hands through the doorway searching for the two, which grabbed the giant's hand. As the giant pulled his hand back, Cap and Bucky mad their way to his neck and hugged it like a tree and grabbed each other's hands and squeezed. Timber! The Giant fell to the ground unconscious. Back at the Las Vegas jail. Sidewinder is teleporting each member of the Serpent Squad from their jail cell to freedom. As he was about to teleport the last criminal, D-Man bent the bars separating the two groups and Steve Rogers immediately leaped into action. He grabbed him in a full nelson lock. They teleported outside. Unable to shake off an unmasked Steve Rogers, Sidewinder teleported them both back to the jail cell and grabbed the spanish-speaking member of the Serpent Squad's neck and threatened to inject her with poison from his hands. Steve Rogers knows he's bluffing but doubted himself, and let go as he couldn't gamble with another person's life. And Sidewinder gloated teleporting himself and the last member of the Serpent Squad, saying that Steve Rogers was predictable and that he, Sidewinder, would never have hurt her. Just then the cops came in and saw the bent steel bars, and drew their weapons. Falcon was shaking his head as he was just able to convince the cops to release them, only for the cops to find the other half of prisoners gone and the steel bars bent. Nomad told of Cap saying that he should've let her be killed. But Cap was doing what he usually ideally does on those situations. Back at the Adirondacks Cap and Bucky attack the base of operations room which sounded a red alert and the scientists placed Doctor Power in a rocket for him to escape. As the engines were hurtling the rocket for escape, the new Captain America hurled his shield and disabled the rocket, which crashed to a wall. As Cap goes through the debris, he got hold of Doctor Power, who suddenly blasted him with a ray blast from his gloved hand. Cap got hurt but lifted up his shield to block subsequent blows and made his way to Doctor Power and gave him a straight right hand to the face. A pissed off Captain America got the villain down and then in anger kept pummeling Doctor Light for several panels. And stopped. Bucky arrived to congratulate Captain America for winning. John Walker said he blew it, the villain's dead. He's not supposed to kill as he's not the Commission's executioner. The original Captain America wouldn't have killed this villain. Comments: That last panels had me thinking... what if Mark Millar handled this storyline of John Walker as the new Captain America? Ultra-violence to the max would be in the main menu for sure. This issue showcases the difference between the two Captain Americas. The original is gullible and wouldn't risk someone else's life. And the new one, even though he meant well, can get angered and will lose himself in battle and forget that he has to hold back. Given the same situation, I most likely would have killed Doctor Power if I was in John Walker's shoes as Captain America. After all, here's a deranged villain who wants to create a nuclear war, and has sent goons, robots, and giants to kill me. Fuck him, I'd have crashed the adamantium shield over his neck and severed it from his body just to make sure that deranged fucker is dead. I think this issue marks an important development in the run for a couple reasons. First, Kieron Dwyer takes over as penciller. He ends up make his mark on the title and he's one of the first artists I think of when I think of Captain America. Second, since Steve Rogers has quit, each issue has focused on either John Walker or Steve Rogers. This is the first issue that features plotlines both the new Captain America and the Captain (beyond just a cameo). So the trend toward weaving the two separate threads into a really cool story is getting underway. Notice that Sidewinder and the four jailed snake-themed criminals don't actually know each personally. They're not Serpent Society members at this point, but they have gotten Sidewinder's attention. Hmmm. Another interesting thing is how Gruenwald has put together a diverse group of villains. Two of the four new snakes are female, as are a number of existing Society members and Fer-de-Lance is a Spanish speaker. As the president of the "John Walker is a Sociopath Society", I disagree about Walker's response to Professor Power. The idea that Power escaped while in a vegetative state didn't make sense. How does a vegetable do anything that requires conscious thought. So of course, it turns out Power is still a vegetable, but he's put in a machine called a cerebral stimulator (apparently to revive him). Walker and Battlestar see this and overhear this, so the find out Power is still a vegetable. It seems to me that Professor Power was unconscious for most of the issue, and just groggily shoots as a reflex when the new Cap grabs him. Gruenwald tells us this by having Power mumbling in a slurred voice. So I think it's clear that Power didn't actually send goons, robots, and giants to kill Walker. Power had no idea what the heck was going on. Of course, that doesn't excuse all that Power did before, but I think Walker killing Power was mostly due to rage. Walker was pissed that he had to do so much fighting and he was going to take it out on a barely conscious super-villain in no real position to fight back. Steve Rogers is being impractically morally rigid. This goes back to codystarbuck's criticism of Rogers's characterization on the first page of this thread. Rogers is doing plenty of vigilante activities, so it's ridiculous that he'll selectively paint himself in the corner by refusing to break the law in times of great necessity (like not breaking out of jail). I think it's a little weird that no one seems to recognize The Captain. He's chosen a costume that's pretty obvious a variant of the official one (like the black Spider-Man costume).
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Post by spoon on Sept 27, 2017 21:01:05 GMT -5
I'm very wary of ascribing views expressed by characters in fiction to the author. Sometimes, yes, it's clear that characters are mouthpieces for the author to espouse certain points of view. But many times, especially if the writer is really good, it can be unclear. For example, if a writer writes characters who are saying racist or insensitive things, does that mean the writer is necessarily racist or insensitive? Or are they just doing a good job of characterization for a character who is racist? Or in this example, when Gruenwald is depicting institutionalized racism, does that mean he's condoning it? Or is it commentary on the Commission and America? Is it purposeful, or thoughtless? I'm not sure if this was intended to be a response to me, but it's not what I'm taking issue with. I'm not claiming that racist characters are speaking for Gruenwald. I'm saying that the depiction of Lemar Hoskins, especially at the beginning, was marked by negative racial stereotypes. I'm not saying a racist character is a stand-in for Gruenwald. I'm saying what Gruenwald depicts as reality (how Hoskins objectively behaves and what he actually does) is stereotypical. Now, it's a murky situation, because arguably reality should depict a diversity of characters within a given group. Just because one black character is dumb or hyper-macho doesn't mean all black characters are. There are idiots of every ethnicity. Storytelling that reflects reality would have "bad" characters who are white and straight and male . . . but also bad characters/villains who are black or gay or female. I just know that I'm uncomfortable with early depiction of Hoskins and happier with what he evolved into over time. I don't disagree with this, and I don't think it's inconsistent with my views or concerns. I like this Gruenwald run. I don't think Gruenwald was a mustache twirling villain. Biases are complex things. People can unconsciously default to negative stereotyping, only recognizing the problem when it is pointed out to them. Just because one fixes a problem doesn't mean there wasn't a problem in the beginning. Part of me feels bad discussing this, because Mark Gruenwald passed away years ago, so is not able to rebut any criticisms. I'm interested if he wrote anything on the issue. I don't think I've read any Battlestar back-ups since I read them way back when. However, I have read through #350 recently. I do like how he changed, and the story where he takes the name Battlestar is a turning point. He becomes the moral compass as John Walker goes more and more off the rails.
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Post by spoon on Sept 27, 2017 19:54:12 GMT -5
Captain America #334Comments: The cover page with the new Captain America and Bucky jumping into action is a great cover, giving a feeling that we have a new era and it's all slam bang action against villainy. It just gave off a positive vibe. The new Bucky is a black guy, but his first training is remedial English instead of physical or combat exercise. Mid to late 80's, and the black Bucky's doing remedial English at the Pentagon. Here's Gruenwald writing that the new Bucky is a dummy. I wonder if the new Bucky was hispanic or chinese, would he be going to English as a second Language class (ESL). John Walker had two other super-powered friends who were white. Why didn't Mark Gruenwald choose either one, and what class would they be attending after being chosen as Bucky? Sign of the times, and it's only thirty years ago. Here's a sign of the times, John Walker used a public phone in the Pentagon to call his former manager. The case of Lemar Hoskins, the new Bucky (later Battle Star) is a fascinating situation. I don't know what Gruenwald was thinking, but unfortunately, I think he decided to play on negative racial stereotypes. Lemar was previously one of a trio of Walker's allies called the Bold Urban Commandoes (a.k.a. the Buckies). Now, it's true neither of the either two Buckies are black. One is clearly white. The other seems to be Latino, but later gets a non-Latino-sounding surname. But Lemar seems to be the leader of the Buckies. They also go around wearing Cap masks (but with a "B" in place of the "A") but shirtless. Combined with the use of the word "Urban" in their name seems to play into racial stereotypes of brutish masculinity. Once Lemar becomes the Bucky (as opposed to a member of the Buckies trio), it seems like an effort is made to humanize him. He gets to be a bit less of a dumb macho jerk and more thoughtful. This increases over time, and Lemar is really more of the conscience and the cooler head in this Cap/Bucky duo. I have two competing theories about the remedial English bit. One is that it's simply a continuation of the negative stereotypes that characterized Lemar Hoskins before. The other theory is that Gruenwald wanted to put some reasons in the story for the transformation of his character. If Lemar is hitting the books as part of the job, maybe Gruenwald that provides a good reason for his change in character. Of course, is that John Walker was also a bit of meathead in his prior identity, but he's not placed in academic classes by the Commission.
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Post by spoon on Sept 27, 2017 19:30:38 GMT -5
Captain America #3370.75 USD/0.95 CAD @ January 1988 "The Long Road Back" Writer: Mark Gruenwald Illustrator: Tom Morgan Inker: Dave Hunt Colorist: Gregory Wright Letterer: Jack Morelli Editor: Ralph Macchio Synopsis: Falcon, Nomad, Vagabond, and D-Man have been tracking Steve Rogers' van and finally found it inside an earthquake made hole in the middle of a rural road. However, there's no sign of Steve Rogers anywhere. D-Man suggested he get the van out of the hole. The team was unbelieving but he was able to wedge the van out of its place and throw it above in the open road. They all couldn't believe it, and Nomad, who is still jealous of his girlfriend's high praise of D-Man, felt dejected with D-Man's feat of strength. But D-man apparently has some medical condition and have heart issues as he settles down first before going back up. Falcon can't believe that Steve will just abandon all his equipment in the van, so he thinks Steve will come back, and he suggested they all wait for Steve to come back to the van. Elsewhere, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Serpent Squad made their way towards the vault area of the casino, disguised in trench coats and felt tip hats. A huge security guard blocked them, and killed him and obtained his key card for access to doorways. They made their way to the elevator, and emerging on their destination floor, they were suited up in their Serpent Squad costumes and prepared for battle. The key card didn't open the vault, so one of the members spat venom-like acid on the lock, and their strongest member ripped away the door leading to the vault. Inside were armed security guards and tried to stop them but to no avail as the criminals overpowered them with their various powers (i.e. strength, rays, and speed). And they threatened the casino officials that they will rip their heads off unless they open the vault, to which the official acquiesced. And they started taking the loads of cash. Back at Steve Rogers' van, the heroes are still sitting around at nightfall waiting for the former Captain America to return. They each had their opinion on what they would tell Captain America when he returned. Falcon basically wants him to fight the bureaucrats, Nomad just wants him to go back to crimefighting and can even have the guise of Nomad back, and D-Man doesn't care about his accumulated wealth and will suggest to Cap to do with whatever he wants to do with his wealth that he made from Unlimited Wrestling. Later that night, a motorcycle arrived. Steve Rogers. He told them about what happened in the previous issue. Then he decided it's time to get back into business and that he's ready. Cap refused Nomad's offer, saying that Nomad earned the right to use the name and costume. D-Man went over his motorcycle and brought out a black costume he suggested to Steve Rogers. Nomad smacks himself in the head citing D-Man is a brown-noser. Back at the casino, the Serpent Squad was trying to leave the vault but was met with an army of armed police officers and security guards. They went on an alternate route and brought some of the casino officials with them as hostages. As they made it to the top floor, they dealt with the hostage negotiators. Driving in the van, Cap and company heard on the radio about the casino problem. They made their way to the casino, and Cap emerged in his black costume from the van. As they entered the casino they were blocked off by the police because they weren't recognized. And they were kicked out. Outside Cap comes up with a battle plan, having Falcon carry each one of them to the top floor. And they crashed through the top window and a melee ensued against the Serpent Squad. D-Man squared off and took out the powerhouse of the Serpent Squad. Cap used his usual acrobatic style attack while Falcon flew the hostages down two at a time. They took down the criminals. Cap got off the phone with the cops, who were irate that they interjected themselves. They broke the law. Cap has a predicament, where does he draw the line, now that he is no longer Captain America. Comments: They should have allowed Steve Rogers to keep the beard. It gives him more character. No matter what he does, trouble seemed to follow him. Hence he needed to go back to crimefighting eventually. It's in his nature now, and there's no escaping it. The only problem is he can't get away with breaking certain rules that the authorities gave leeway to Captain America. He is no longer that character. On a side note, Nomad just doesn't like D-Man. I wouldn't mind the two of them tangling in future issues. The only problem I have with D-Man, is from the neck and up, you can mistake him for Wolverine. And will D-Man's health issues finally catch up with him in future issues? After all, he cited a heart problem in the middle of the issue. The four snake-themed criminals in this issue (Fer-de-Lance, Puff Adder, Black Racer, and Copperhead) are four new characters, not prior members of the Serpent Society or one of the Serpent Squads. I don't think they actually use a team name either. This will important in later issues. D-Man's costume was a subject of discussion in previous issues when he teamed with Cap. The headpiece evokes Wolverine, but he noted the rest of the outfit was adapted from Daredevil's original costume. It emphasizes that D-Man is a charmingly mixed-up newbie.
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Post by spoon on Sept 27, 2017 19:10:13 GMT -5
I finished reading Captain America #287-350 a couple weeks back, so I have a lot of thoughts about these issues. I wrote about a few of the issues you've reviewed in the What Comic Have You Read Recently? thread, but couldn't up posting on them.
I agree with you that John Walker is a flawed character and then makes him interesting, but I disagree with the general impression that he's a good guy. I've referred to him as a sociopath in my own posts. In his appearances as Super-Patriot prior to #332, Walker seems most interested in personal gain. He wants to make a name for himself. He has a manager to make money. He's fine with deception and crime to advance his schemes. For instance, his cronies, the Buckies, pose as supporters of Captain America to smear Cap. It's true that Walker sometimes thinks "what would Captain America" do, but this is after he tried to undermine the previous Cap. A lot of this has to do with Walker's ego. Also, Walker really wants the job and he's an authoritarian. He'll do what he needs to keep the job, including going after the Watchdogs (who he agrees with on several substantive issues).
Walker steals Guardsman armor to attack his former allies to try to keep his job. He only tells the truth when he figures he's about to be caught, and it will help him keep his job to fess up.
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Post by spoon on Sept 24, 2017 9:22:25 GMT -5
If you are only looking at 2008 or so to present,t hen it would be Tony, Cap and Thor, but if you look at the breadth of Marvel from '61 to present and figure in recognizable of the characters over the majority of that period, two of the three would have to be Spider-Man and the Hulk. Part of what makes DC's Trinity, the Trinity for them is that they were the only 3 characters who remained in print in their own titles (not as strips in other titles) throughout the entire history of DC. That lead to their being considered part of the fabric of DC and what was most associated with DC when DC was mentioned. Other than Spider-Man. Marvel doesn't have that. Even Hulk had his first title cancelled, most of the other iconic heroes were strips in other titles first, and FF has fallen of the publishing radar. Also, Supes, Bats and Wondy were present in other forms of media throughout the course of DC's history, adding to their recognizability to the general public, from Fleisher cartoons for Supes to the cover of Ms. Magazine for Wondy and the myriad of appearances for the Bat, they achieve a certain iconic status in pop culture being recognizable to those not "into" comics. Of the Marvel heroes, only maybe Spidey and the Hulk had that prior to 2008 (the X-Men did to a lesser extent after the success of the '92 animated series and the Singer films. However, presence in mass media doesn't lead to automatic recognition factor, see the FF, who appeared on Saturday mornings in various formats through the years and even had films prior to '08 but never achieved the kind of recognition factor Spidey and Hulk had, let alone Supes, Bats and Wondy. So I am not sure Marvel has a Trinity (or as Bert said, even needs one). And I think the idea of the Trinity has held back other DC characters who are just now starting to come into their own beyond hardcore comic fan culture. -M I remember the three DC Trinity characters being singled at as being the only continuously published ones at point, but that really hasn't been the case for a long time. When Wonder Woman's old title was canceled during Crisis, there was a big gap until her new title (even taking into account the Legend of Wonder Woman miniseries that filled 4 of those months). Superman and Batman have consistently had multiple titles. With the exception of the early days with Sensation Comics, I don't think WW has generally had multiple titles. So she was generally treated as a junior partner before this trinity concept was launched. Marvel doesn't have a clear analog, because hasn't chosen to have that focus or the focus has varied over time. In terms of the awareness of the general public, the most accurate analysis would be to demote WW and draw the comparison between Superman and Batman at DC and Spider-Man and Hulk at Marvel. Those characters were widely known among the general public, even among those who didn't know anything about comics. They had the most exposure in other media and were a big presence in licensed products. I remember as a little kid, I would get the sunglasses, clothes, etc. with the Hulk on them and my brother would get Spider-Man. There wasn't another Marvel character that was close. Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man were the trinity of the Avengers, not of the larger Marvel Universe. It's only really been since the advent of the MCU among the general public that they've had such a significant status. I think a lot of fans would be hard pressed to identify which company published Thor and Iron Man, or even who they were, prior to the first Iron Man film. A major part of why the first Iron Man film was a watershed is because it represented a second or third tier character having blockbuster success. This was something expected of Superman, Batman, or Spider-Man, but not this guy. Part of this is that, until recently, the Avengers wasn't the capstone on its universe like the Justice League was. In Marvel, it couldn't simply be a matter of putting the leaders of the premiere team at the forefront. But in Marvel, Spider-Man and the Hulk operated outside the Avengers with a status of individual heroes as big as the whole roster of the Avengers combined. The Fantastic Four and X-Men were just as prominent as the Avengers. The Fantastic Four was probably bigger in the 1960s and the X-Men were bigger in the 1980s and 1990s. In terms of sales, public exposure, licensing, etc., I bet Wolverine was in the top 3 Marvel characters for much of period that the X-Men were at the top of the comics universe. The Punisher had mulotiple titles and was probably among the top characters in solo title sales for a while.
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Post by spoon on Sept 18, 2017 19:05:42 GMT -5
"Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney and Wings, by a country mile. I also quite like "A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran. Those are the only two that I ever actively listen to. They might be the only two that's played on the radio. Maybe the spy who loved me, also. Skyfall gets a lot of airplay too.
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Post by spoon on Sept 18, 2017 18:54:29 GMT -5
"Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney and Wings, by a country mile. I also quite like "A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran. Those are the only two that I ever actively listen to. These are also my top two in the same order. But a lot of my other favorites are apparently ones that aren't popular. A while back, I read an article that ranked the James Bond songs, and so many of my favorites were poorly ranked: The Living Daylights, The Man With the Golden Guy (the lyrics are cheesy, but that's why I like it), and Another Way to Die (the Jack White/Alicia Keys song from Quantum of Solace).
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Post by spoon on Sept 18, 2017 18:44:56 GMT -5
On the other hand, I saw It this weekend and think it may be the best movie released in 2017 that I've seen. (I'm not counting the 2016 movies, including some Oscar nominees, that I saw in early 2017).
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Post by spoon on Sept 16, 2017 13:09:34 GMT -5
I finished Captain America #334-350 recently, which is the rest of the Captain America: The Captain TPB I was reading. For good measure, I read Avengers #298-300, because Steve Rogers appears as The Captain in those issues. Unfortunately, I don't have the Avengers Annual in which the Captain appears. I probably don't have the patience for a full-fledged review thread. However, I like these issues, so I'd like to write about these issues in a semi-detailed fashion here over a few posts.
#334: We start with the new Captain America, John Walker, reviewing film of Steve Rogers in action, as he was advised to do. Walker's buddy from the Bold Urban Commandos (Buckies), Lemar Hoskins, shows up in the training room in uniform as the new Bucky. While Walker trains, Hoskins has to go to Remedial English class. Hoskins is black and I think his depiction is somewhat problematic (as the kids say), but I think I'll hold off an in-depth discussion until I get to #341. Freedom Force makes fun of Cap & Bucky in the cafeteria. Very high school of them. Val Cooper informs Cap & Bucky that Ethan Thurm (former manager to Super-Patriot and the Buckies) has been calling the Commission to try to reach Walker. Cooper is not pleaseed.
Cap and Bucky have a training session with Guardsmen cadets (the green-armored guys from the Vault). The duo lasts 12 minutes. In separate debriefing, the Guardsmen are bashed and Cap & Bucky are praised. Walker thinks the trainer is going easy on them. Walker and Hoskins arrange a meeting with Ethan, Hector and Jerome (the 2 Buckies who didn't get hired). The new Cap is trying to get Ethan to stop calling the government. Instead, Ethan threatens to publicly reveal that Walker is the new Cap. Afterward, Lemar suggests they smack Ethan around to insure his silence. John thinks going rogue may hurt their careers. The next day, John has changed his mind. He decides the Captain America code of ethics is to solve your own problems rather than turning to your government handlers. Walker is a sociopath, but he's half-right. Cap has a training session with the Taskmaster, who is a prisoner of the government.
Walker has a plan. He and Hoskins will "borrow" a pair of Guardsman suits to kick the crap out of Ethan and the former Buckies, while protecting the reputations of the new Cap and Bucky, who haven't gone public yet. It goes according to plan, as much as a illegal, self-serving assault can. The threaten Ethan not to reveal the identities in the name of national security and one of the Buckies gets shot in the back with a laser blast. The total crazy plans couldn't blow back to hurt Walker, could it? Stay tuned. When Val Cooper confronts John about two stolen sets of armor and a super-powered bar fight, Walker confesses. He literally thinks, "What would Cap do?" Sociopathic Cap code of ethics! Walker and Hoskins can't keep their jobs after this, can they?
#335: Cap & Bucky still have their jobs! In fact, the Commission to Coordinate Super-Human Activities are so fine with their new psycho, that they swear him in and tell him his first mission is forthcoming. Val is disappointed the head commissioner didn't tell her a mission was lined up. Hmm? Meanwhile, in the "southeastern United States", a bunch of thugs in orange and purple tactical gear blow up a store with a sign labeled "Adult Books and Toys." The angry proprietor comes out wearing overalls and toting a shotgun. The thugs, who called themselves Watchdogs, line up like a firing squad and kill the store owner.
At a D.C. briefing, the new Cap and Bucky learn their mission is to take on the Watchdogs. The Dogs seem to be an amalgam of the Christian Right, with the terrorist tactics (and the non-racial issue positions) of the KKK. Cap & Bucky are told the Watchdogs are against "pornography, sex education, abortion, teaching of evolution." Walker thinks to himself, "Hmmm . . . I'm against those things, too," because that's how he rolls. The commissioner explains that even though people are entitled to their views, you can kill people and burn down buildings to enforce them. Whether that reasoning penetrates John's brain or he just wants to keep his job, he's on-board.
With DeMatteis having been pushed out over his plan to replace Steve Rogers with Native American Black Crow a few years before, it's interesting that specific political positions were used in this issue. One would think that the timidity might result in a "show both sides as equal" story. Sure Walker says he supports those views, but he's a sociopath. I guess the briefer saying violence is the right method was the way to inoculate the issue from right-wing criticism.
Cap and Bucky are setting up a sting, which happens to be set in John's old hometown of Custer's Grove, Georgia. At the barbershop, John slyly explains that he's back because he wants to raise a family where people have decent 'Murican values instead of decadent California. In part 2 of the sting, Lemar puts on his best Miami Vice outfit to pose a pornographer holding a casting call for a girlie magazine photo-shoot. Walker busts in, threatens to kick the "black butt" of the "filth peddler" (he knows the audience he's appealing to), and fight undercover Lemar. John notices an old girlfriend is at the casting call. John and Lemar are both jailed. An old friend bails John out and is impressed by the act John has been putting on.
That night, John is invited to join the Watchdogs. Their mission will be to burn down the county library, which has refused to remove 152 "immoral books". Take that, Charles Darwin and S.E. Hinton! But first, the Watchdogs need to lynch a pornographer. It's Lemar, who has been taken from the jail and drugged, so he can't resist. That plan didn't work out so well. John feels like the Commission is testing him. John's desperate plan is to suggest the Watchdogs burn down the library right away, so they're not so tired for their real jobs in the morning. Awesome suggestion, bro! Two guys stay behind to hang Lemar, but John hopes that Lemar's super-strength can handle those odds.
During their torchlight march to the library, Dog #1 mentions John is missing. Dog #2 is like, don't worry, bro, he said it was the "call of nature." Dogs always have to pee on their way to their first arson. There's Captain America on the library roof! Where'd he come from! With his shield practice and the Watchdogs not prepared to draw their guns, Cap makes short work of them. Cap runs back to check on Lemar. Lemar super-strong neck allowed him to survive until he could tear himself free and beat up the two Dogs, so it's all good.
Tom Morgan has been the penciler for these last few issues. He's solid. Morgan is better than some Beatty/inker pairings, but weaker than others.
Steve Rogers doesn't appear in either #334 or #335, as Gruenwald lets the readers get to know Walker and Hoskins. It takes some faith to have a sociopath have the whole protagonist spotlight while Rogers is nowhere to be seen.
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Post by spoon on Sept 11, 2017 19:42:21 GMT -5
The best writer to pen Swamp Thing. :-( I'm not sure I'd go that far, but the Wein/Wrightson Swamp Thing is definitely what I'll remember Len Wein for, personally. One of my all-time favourite comic runs. The Alan Moore ST seems so different, I don't even feel the need to compare them. This makes me wonder - do most people think Len Wein was at his best at DC? I know Cei-U rates his writing on the Hulk very highly, and he also created (or co-created? I forget) the new X-Men that ended up becoming so popular a little later on, but most of the talk I've seen so far has focused on his writing and editing at DC. Len Wein co-created the new X-Men. The appearances of the various characters were mostly work by Dave Cockrum that predated the revival of X-Men. When Cockrum was drawing Legion of Super-Heroes, he had sketched various characters he was thinking of using for LOSH. Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Storm were all reworked from those visuals. Wein worked with what Cockrum brought. There was editorial involvement with some elements as well. Wein credited Roy Thomas with coming up with the name Storm for a character who combined visual elements from Cockrum (for a proposed character called Black Cat) and powers from Wein (for a proposed male character named Typhoon). After Wein, left Claremont and Cockrum changed the characters to varying degrees. I get the impression Nightcrawler was the personality that changed the most. Wein conceived of Nightcrawler as being serious and distant. Claremont made him more light-hearted.
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Post by spoon on Sept 6, 2017 19:49:43 GMT -5
I don't want to get to personal here (particularly since I'm a Byrne fan...at least Byrne circa 1975-1990) but the subject of Byrne's "mean-spirit" got me thinking about his work and my interactions with him over the years. I was at one time a member of the Byrne forum (actually, I was a member of the older forum that predated this) dating from its inception in 2004. For the most part I felt Byrne was usually on point with his opinions when it came to comics, but his increasingly bizarre and contrarian views on creators rights and politics gradually lead to me voicing my disagreement and getting banned. The final straw was his strange irritation at the fact that Kirby's family and Marvel had finally come to an amicable financial agreement. By taking a hard-line "it was work for hire" stance, Byrne seemed to think that he deserved some sort of praise for being objective and pragmatic in the face of overwhelming sentiment, even taking into account the decades long injustice of the Kirby/Marvel situation. The fact that he benefited from a royalty deal that found its roots in the examples of the mistreatment of Siegel/Shuster and Kirby seemed either lost on him or beside the point. I made a comment that it was almost as if Byrne (and a few others on that forum) where suffering from a collective Stockholm Syndrome when it came to the business side of Marvel and DC. Sure, they despised the creative direction of the Quesada era (a sentiment I generally agree with) but that's where it began and ended for them. That "older forum" wouldn't happen to be the Unofficial John Byrne Fan Site, would it? It was run by some Swedish guy. I think his first name was Magnus. Or maybe his last name was Magnusson. Anyway, I was a member of that forum, too. It was the first message board about comics (and maybe even the first message board on any topic) that I regularly frequented. At first, the posters were just fans and it was lot of fun. Then Byrne showed up, and ironically a lot of the fun got drained out. I didn't know about Byrne's reputation for being a difficult person at that point. He seemed to be look to pick fights all over the place. To be fair, a certain portion of the members seemed to be trolls. I get the feeling that some were people who had met him at conventions or elsewhere and now bore a grudge against him. But Byrne couldn't stop himself from taking the bait. Also, Byrne's fire was directed at anyone who disagreed with him on anything. In a thread, I once made the mistake of saying that I preferred Byrne's art on Uncanny X-Men to his art on X-Men: The Hidden Years (which was being published at that time). Byrne joined the thread to tell me that I didn't know how to read comics and his art on Hidden Years obviously reflected improvement. Over time, there were different camps. Some members felt it was okay to voice various opinions. Others became sycophantic regarding their idol. They delivered North Korean style praise of Byrne and apologized profusely about anything Byrne disliked or disagreed with. In spite of that, I still like a lot of Byrne's work. I feel like sometimes distaste for Byrne the person bleeds over into evaluation in Byrne's work as an artist/writer. But it was tiring reading his posts, because he seemed to have a constant desire to get into fights.
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Post by spoon on Sept 3, 2017 23:29:59 GMT -5
With that said, I do think that some of the activists can be a little aggressive in their accusations of whitewashing. Like with Iron Fist or the Ancient One from Doctor Strange -- honestly, the creators were kinda screwed either way. Don't cast an Asian and people accuse you of whitewashing. Cast an Asian and people accuse you of feeding into stereotypes of the Asian martial arts hero or the exotic spiritual guru. On the other hand, the casting of Emma Stone to play a Hawaiian character named Allison Ng was pretty bad, and the casting of Scarlett Johansson in "Ghost in the Shell" was just a trainwreck in all aspects. Another thing you have to understand about Asian Americans is that, due to language barriers and other cultural issues, we have long been perceived as being passive and apolitical. While African American have a long history of organized activism, most Asian American immigrants didn't want to make a fuss. They were too busy running their small businesses, and wanted to be seen as hardworking contributors to society instead of troublemakers. A lot of things that marginalized Asian Americans didn't get called out. But things are different now with second and third generation Asian Americans. We are native English speakers and we understand the political system better than our elders. We have the means to challenge ignorance that they didn't. Maybe we're overly aggressive at times because as kids we watched while our parents were marginalized and they quietly accepted it so that we would have a chance to do better. I think being more civil and less strident is generally more constructive. But I definitely understand why Asian Americans react so strongly. We want America to know that we are here, that we do matter, and that we will speak up. It's really a matter of the squeaky wheel getting the grease. African-Americans are more organized at lobbying for diversity in casting than other minority groups. The result is that Hollywood feels a lot of pressure to recast white characters as black, but not much pressure regarding Latino or Asian casting. I saw a study of the demographics of speaking roles in TV or movies recently which confirmed my hunch that black actors are actually currently over-represented in casting relative to the African-American proportion of the U.S. population. Latinos in the U.S. actually outnumbered African-Americans, but Latino representation on the screen is relatively low. Despite this, whenever the ethnicity of a white character is changed, the character almost always becomes black rather than Latino or Asian (e.g., Heimdall, Nick Fury, Valkyrie, Iris West, Ben Urich, etc.), though there are some exceptions (Ned Leeds & Flash Thompson in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Elektra). As you note, the only cases in comic movies/TV in which casting seems to change minority characters to white characters is when they are originally Asian (the Ancient One, making the Hand multi-ethnic rather than almost completely Japanese). Even when Asians are cast, there seems to be a disproportionate number of actors/actress who are Asian/white mixed race rather than just Asian (Linda Park, Colleen Wing, Elektra, etc.). I don't include Mantis, because the original character is mixed race. I don't if that's just some strange sociological phenomenon is which the Asian acting pool is disproportionately mixed race or if TPTB have some strange aversion to casting people with Asian faces.
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