|
|
Post by commond on Dec 14, 2022 18:02:21 GMT -5
I've just re-read a bunch of Finder books, including the first story arc ("Sin Eater", running a bit more than a dozen issues), the collected Mystery Date stories, and the Five Crazy Women book. Finder remains one of the best comics I've ever read AND one of the best made-up universes I've come across. No kidding. That includes the Dune or Middle-Earth universes. I've started reading Finder lately based on your recommendation. Luther Arkwright too. |
|
|
|
Post by arfetto on Dec 15, 2022 18:54:35 GMT -5
This week I read: Stormwatch (Volume One) issues 37-50 (1996-1997) Stormwatch (Volume Two) issues 1-9 (1997-1998) Wildcats/Aliens (1998) Stormwatch (Volume Two) issues 10 and 11 (1998) The Authority 1-12 (1999-2000) Planetary/The Authority: Ruling the World (2000) Jenny Sparks: The Secret History of the Authority 1-5 (2000) The Authority 13-16 (2000) in these collections:
Before I mention my thoughts, I will say that even after all these years I have not read any sort of reviews or feedback on what other readers think of these issues, except that I have heard people say good things about the series in brief passing (with one exception which I will mention later). Though more-so in the past than in current years. When I was younger, I almost could not escape seeing a comment online about Apollo and The Midnighter, but that has waned in recent years. I actually have not heard much mention of The Authority in ages. So I apologize if I overuse some comparisons that people probably often make about these comics. It just takes me a long time to "get to" things. By the time I get to the "current thing" it is already decades old haha.
I really enjoyed the Ellis written Stormwatch issues and the first 12 issues of The Authority. Stormwatch was like Morrison/Porter era JLA mixed with late season DS9 and a bit of X-Files intrigue (I am thinking of '90s entertainment of the time) following the Moore/Charest era of Wildcats. Ellis Stormwatch was like a natural, perfect fit for the Wildstorm times. I really enjoyed Raney's artwork on the title as well. Stormwatch (Volume One) issues 48-50 were especially intense and a high point for the run. Volume Two of Stormwatch continues without Raney, but eventually Hitch joins and the transformation into The Authority would soon be complete (it would just take a Wildcats crossover with Aliens to get there somehow haha - which was not included in the 2 volume Stormwatch tpb set due to copyright reasons I guess so I had to find an older TPB that included it).
The Authority 1-12, I also have (almost) no complaints about. Slick, big budget stuff and I was impressed with the characters assembled from the Stormwatch run, like a refinement of the comic book superhero team roster into some, well, cool, iconic archetypes. I am sure I will read the Stormwatch and first 12 issues of The Authority again some day.
I think my favorite character overall was Jack Hawksmoor, the Spider-Man/Trashman/(maybe Danny the Street?) inspired character. Didn't Ragman have city powers at one time? I don't know much about Ragman sadly, I just thought I read about that one time (edit: or was it The Question?). Seeing Hawksmoor's progression from Stormwatch to issue 12 of The Authority was interesting. In Stormwatch he starts off as only killing as a last resort (he does so twice in Volume One if I recall, and cries after at least one of those and feels terrible about the other) but eventually it starts to come easier to him because of this. By the end of the run, he is beating bad guy's with their own body parts. It is a bit sad to see the more idealistic characters lose their "heroic codes" like that, but understandable considering the continually ramped up atrocities they face.
I did have some complaints (and perhaps some very minuscule mental eye-rolls haha) with the Ellis issues, but nothing worth mentioning here. Overall, they were some fun reads. Thumbs up from me.
But, since I have The Authority Omnibus, this is not the end of the story.
Coming right off the ending of The Authority issue 12, I found the Jenny Sparks 5 issue series to be unnecessary and almost crude. Mark Millar takes over as the writer at this point, and by page two characters are saying stuff I feel like they would not have said based on Ellis' previous issues. But that is just how it goes, I know I am a bit pedantic about characterization haha. I also think it did the "Jenny Sparks Spirit of the 20th Century" thing in too obvious a way (and then unnecessarily convoluted it up to cover for that by including a time-traveling Engineer plot).
Well, I have not read much Mark Millar, but I really enjoyed his last few issues of Swamp Thing (I think it was called Trial by Fire and had the Parliament of Worlds, the Swamp God stuff was quite chilling and worth checking out, had cool Hester artwork too). But his work here I can't say is my favorite style haha.
Now, back to my caveat about not reading reviews and stuff about The Authority while it was new. The exception is, I remember Wizard Magazine raving about the Millar/Quitely Authority quite a bit. When I was a kid, Wizard was the only comics magazine generally at the grocery store so I read it often. Even though I did not agree with the magazine often (I remember being so angry they made Ch'p "Mort of the Month" once haha), it was still fun to stay up to date on comic news (to get to a comic shop I had to travel over an hour, so that was a special occasion for me - otherwise I had to rely on newsstand comics and Wizard). The thing is, to the best of my recollection I do not remember them hyping up Ellis' Authority run very much at all (I do remember that they liked the first few issues of Stormwatch Volume 2, but they never hyped it, it just got a single page review and I think got maybe a B or A- or something). But the Millar/Quitely stuff I remember was plastered all over Wizard. Maybe I just overlooked Wizard's Ellis Authority articles though, missed some issues or something.
I guess Wizard was super into Millar's Authority for its irreverent, outlandish attitude. I understand that, but to me Millar so far (my next issue to read will be issue 17 so I am not finished) is a weird fit for The Authority as it was. What Ellis, Raney, Hitch and others did before the Millar issues, I feel was well constructed and actually pretty thoughtful for a big action superhero comic. I like Quitely's artwork and paneling (there is some impressive artwork in these issues), but I am not yet sold on Millar's vision for The Authority. It feels like these issues miss the point of the Ellis issues. Or maybe Millar is just parodying those issues or something, I have no idea. But now the characters and stakes don't feel "real" and there is no emotional connection (unless you find the villainous "Iron Man" character finding happiness and reformation after killing a nursery of babies to be something that tugs at the heart strings haha - okay, maybe that is some "commentary" on how easily superhero types are forgiven for terrible acts in comics, but I'm still wanting to read a comic with an actual story here too, not just quips and cheekiness) so whereas I was speeding through the Ellis stuff to get to the next issue, invested, I have now slowed down and decided to take a break from The Authority Omnibus after Millar's first completed four issue arc which I did not enjoy much at all except for the artwork.
But, that is just four issues, there may be some cool stuff still within this big book.
|
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on Dec 17, 2022 8:34:19 GMT -5
So I finished the Strum Und Drang epic collection. Man, what a hell of a ride. The issues leading up to the final battle (especially 298, revealing the true story of Red Skull) were excellent. I'm kind of sad that DeMatteis didn't get to finish the book how he wanted (he did later publish "The Life And Times Of Saviour 28" which, minus all the Cap related characters, is his original vision), but is still a great story regardless.
|
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 17, 2022 12:22:32 GMT -5
Continuing with my bit 2000 AD purchase.. I read Judge Dredd Complete case files Vol. 40...which includes the 'Total War' story line and it's aftermath. I've definitely been digging Dredd... I think the stuff I'd read before was on the bad end, as these stories are so much better. I love that the story is ongoing with being too continuity heavy. The home grown terrorists trying to bring democracy with being rich elites themselves really strikes a cord. I'll definitely be continuing to get these as they come out, and will probably go backwards some once I catch up on my pile of trades  |
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Dec 17, 2022 12:47:54 GMT -5
I read Legionnaires 3 #1-4. It's a miniseries featuring the original three members of the Legion of Super-Heroes that was published as Crisis was ending and immediately after. Keith Giffen is credited as "plot/designer" with Mindy Newell on dialogue, Ernie Colon as penciler, and Karl Kesel as inker. I'm wondering what designer means. Did Giffen do designs of buildings, vehicles, etc. to show the artists what he wanted? There are some hallucinatory scenes; maybe he planned it. To me, the highlight of the series is the Colon/Kesel art. It's a very interesting stylistic combo. The plot has a Time Trapper problem. When you have a villain who has such extensive power, how do you make a story work? Here, he comes up with a plot against the Legion, but I'm not sure what the contours are supposed to be, how it was supposed to work, and how he decided to call it quits. It's sort of circular, so the point is probably more the journey. Also, sometimes the Trapper is very menacing, but sometimes his minions display comedic incompetence.
Then, I read Batman: Digital Justice. This is a GN published in 1990 with computer generated art. It takes place in the future, with a Gordon descendant taking on the Batman identity. Although it's an interesting experiment, the quality of the art varies widely. Sometimes, I find the story difficult to follow, which I think is a combination of the writing, the art at times being unclear on what's being depicted, and transitions between panels that don't clearly lay out what's happening. It doesn't do enough to make the characters interesting, and facial expressions at times don't adequately express the characters' feelings. It's too long, but it flows better after I get acclimated to the style.
Finally, I read Marvel Team-Up #100. This is the issue that introduces Karma in a Spider-Man/FF lead feature followed by a Storm/Black Panther back-up. I read the lead story years ago, but I don't remember whether I ever read the back-up. The lead story is reasonably good. Interesting origin for Karma and her family. There a quick cameo by Prof. X, Storm, Colossus, and Wolverine (in his original costume, this was published right around the transition to the brown one). Although the story is written by Claremont, the Xavier dialogue feels a bit atypical. There's no indication that Karma is going to Xavier's school, and it's two years before New Mutants is launched. I'm not as big into Miller's art as some others (although I think my appreciation has grown over time), but his depiction of the Thing has grown on me since the last time we read this. The back-up is an interesting read that establishes that Storm and T'Challa met as teenagers, but nothing earth-shattering. It's a Claremont-Byrne collaboration published when their X-Men partnership was almost over.
I may start a New Mutants read-through. I see in this thread that Mormel has been reading the early issues. I've read the first 75 issues before. Mostly that's been out of order as individual issues/a few in a row, although I think I once read from the beginning to the teens or twenties. However, I haven't read much of the last 25 issues. I'm thinking about either reading the whole run or just from #75 to the end (#100).
|
|
|
|
Post by Cei-U! on Dec 17, 2022 13:51:03 GMT -5
I read Legionnaires 3 #1-4. It's a miniseries featuring the original three members of the Legion of Super-Heroes that was published as Crisis was ending and immediately after. Keith Giffen is credited as "plot/designer" with Mindy Newell on dialogue, Ernie Colon as penciler, and Karl Kesel as inker. I'm wondering what designer means. Did Giffen do designs of buildings, vehicles, etc. to show the artists what he wanted? In this case, "designer" means that Giffen did breakdowns (rough layouts) for the series, thus determining the pacing, staging, and other significant narrative elements.
Cei-U! I summon the 411!
|
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on Dec 17, 2022 13:56:57 GMT -5
I read Legionnaires 3 #1-4. It's a miniseries featuring the original three members of the Legion of Super-Heroes that was published as Crisis was ending and immediately after. Keith Giffen is credited as "plot/designer" with Mindy Newell on dialogue, Ernie Colon as penciler, and Karl Kesel as inker. I'm wondering what designer means. Did Giffen do designs of buildings, vehicles, etc. to show the artists what he wanted? There are some hallucinatory scenes; maybe he planned it. To me, the highlight of the series is the Colon/Kesel art. It's a very interesting stylistic combo. The plot has a Time Trapper problem. When you have a villain who has such extensive power, how do you make a story work? Here, he comes up with a plot against the Legion, but I'm not sure what the contours are supposed to be, how it was supposed to work, and how he decided to call it quits. It's sort of circular, so the point is probably more the journey. Also, sometimes the Trapper is very menacing, but sometimes his minions display comedic incompetence. Then, I read Batman: Digital Justice. This is a GN published in 1990 with computer generated art. It takes place in the future, with a Gordon descendant taking on the Batman identity. Although it's an interesting experiment, the quality of the art varies widely. Sometimes, I find the story difficult to follow, which I think is a combination of the writing, the art at times being unclear on what's being depicted, and transitions between panels that don't clearly lay out what's happening. It doesn't do enough to make the characters interesting, and facial expressions at times don't adequately express the characters' feelings. It's too long, but it flows better after I get acclimated to the style. Finally, I read Marvel Team-Up #100. This is the issue that introduces Karma in a Spider-Man/FF lead feature followed by a Storm/Black Panther back-up. I read the lead story years ago, but I don't remember whether I ever read the back-up. The lead story is reasonably good. Interesting origin for Karma and her family. There a quick cameo by Prof. X, Storm, Colossus, and Wolverine (in his original costume, this was published right around the transition to the brown one). Although the story is written by Claremont, the Xavier dialogue feels a bit atypical. There's no indication that Karma is going to Xavier's school, and it's two years before New Mutants is launched. I'm not as big into Miller's art as some others (although I think my appreciation has grown over time), but his depiction of the Thing has grown on me since the last time we read this. The back-up is an interesting read that establishes that Storm and T'Challa met as teenagers, but nothing earth-shattering. It's a Claremont-Byrne collaboration published when their X-Men partnership was almost over. I may start a New Mutants read-through. I see in this thread that Mormel has been reading the early issues. I've read the first 75 issues before. Mostly that's been out of order as individual issues/a few in a row, although I think I once read from the beginning to the teens or twenties. However, I haven't read much of the last 25 issues. I'm thinking about either reading the whole run or just from #75 to the end (#100). I enjoyed Legionnaires 3, but the Time Trapper's plot didn't make a lot of sense to me. |
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Dec 17, 2022 14:27:15 GMT -5
I read Legionnaires 3 #1-4. It's a miniseries featuring the original three members of the Legion of Super-Heroes that was published as Crisis was ending and immediately after. Keith Giffen is credited as "plot/designer" with Mindy Newell on dialogue, Ernie Colon as penciler, and Karl Kesel as inker. I'm wondering what designer means. Did Giffen do designs of buildings, vehicles, etc. to show the artists what he wanted? There are some hallucinatory scenes; maybe he planned it. To me, the highlight of the series is the Colon/Kesel art. It's a very interesting stylistic combo. The plot has a Time Trapper problem. When you have a villain who has such extensive power, how do you make a story work? Here, he comes up with a plot against the Legion, but I'm not sure what the contours are supposed to be, how it was supposed to work, and how he decided to call it quits. It's sort of circular, so the point is probably more the journey. Also, sometimes the Trapper is very menacing, but sometimes his minions display comedic incompetence. Then, I read Batman: Digital Justice. This is a GN published in 1990 with computer generated art. It takes place in the future, with a Gordon descendant taking on the Batman identity. Although it's an interesting experiment, the quality of the art varies widely. Sometimes, I find the story difficult to follow, which I think is a combination of the writing, the art at times being unclear on what's being depicted, and transitions between panels that don't clearly lay out what's happening. It doesn't do enough to make the characters interesting, and facial expressions at times don't adequately express the characters' feelings. It's too long, but it flows better after I get acclimated to the style. Finally, I read Marvel Team-Up #100. This is the issue that introduces Karma in a Spider-Man/FF lead feature followed by a Storm/Black Panther back-up. I read the lead story years ago, but I don't remember whether I ever read the back-up. The lead story is reasonably good. Interesting origin for Karma and her family. There a quick cameo by Prof. X, Storm, Colossus, and Wolverine (in his original costume, this was published right around the transition to the brown one). Although the story is written by Claremont, the Xavier dialogue feels a bit atypical. There's no indication that Karma is going to Xavier's school, and it's two years before New Mutants is launched. I'm not as big into Miller's art as some others (although I think my appreciation has grown over time), but his depiction of the Thing has grown on me since the last time we read this. The back-up is an interesting read that establishes that Storm and T'Challa met as teenagers, but nothing earth-shattering. It's a Claremont-Byrne collaboration published when their X-Men partnership was almost over. I may start a New Mutants read-through. I see in this thread that Mormel has been reading the early issues. I've read the first 75 issues before. Mostly that's been out of order as individual issues/a few in a row, although I think I once read from the beginning to the teens or twenties. However, I haven't read much of the last 25 issues. I'm thinking about either reading the whole run or just from #75 to the end (#100). I enjoyed Legionnaires 3, but the Time Trapper's plot didn't make a lot of sense to me. Yeah, he determines that Lightning Lad is the weak, so he's going to mess with his head . . . to achieve what? He needs to kidnap Graym first and then capture all three of the original Legionnaires rather than just capture Garth . . . why? He fails to turn break Lightning Lad, then just stops trying and lets him go because . . . the mini reached its allocated page count? |
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Dec 17, 2022 15:16:51 GMT -5
I've become more of a binge reader in recent years, especially since I can afford to assemble runs that I couldn't as kid because there are many more TPBs and I have more money. But yeah, a lot of stuff blurs together especially when it's not a bunch of issue that I read and re-read as kid (like Uncanny X-Men). There are so many issues of Captain America I've only read once (some of the issues during the period when Steve becomes The Captain are exceptions), so I lose track. Like when I recently read the DeMatteis/Zeck Ameridroid arc, and Cap's previous encounter with him is mentioned. I didn't remember that, but after a while vague recollection comes back. A couple years back, I binged #286-350, so this period after the last Essential TPB is the only period where I had gaps in my reading. There haven't been a lot of comics that I've wanted to re-read, but stuff like the revamped Valiant from 2012 and Transmetropolitan have been the exception. I started getting some of the Epic Collections recently and most of them contain stuff that I've read before and actually wanted to read again (with the Killraven one being the lone exception considering that I only read about half of it). I actually had a fairly low opinion of DeMatteis' run the first time I read it, so I'm not sure why I wanted to pick it up in the Epic Collection format, but I'm glad I did. It really encompasses everything that I'd grown to like about Cap from a little boy watching the old Marvel Super-Heroes serials to a grown adult entranced by the First Avenger and The Winter Soldier. I think the only time I was let down was when I finally got to Gruenwald's run after being told how great it was because he was on the book for 10 years and it just being kind of "meh". I usually enjoy Gruenwald's writing (loved what I read of DP7 and Quasar) but after a certain point (probably after #350 I think) it just became disjointed and not really fun to read even though the storylines were fun concepts Also, there's a really great Captain America podcast episode from a year ago that has DeMatteis on a guest and they talk about his run on the book.It's well worth a listen I listened to the podcast episode a couple days ago, and it was so good. There was behind the scenes info I didn't know, but one cool thing is that how J.M.'s description of thematic/character elements lined up with what I understand reading this. I say that because sometimes I feel like writers who are cryptic/"gnostic" in their writing are hailed as geniuses. But I think it shows how great J.M. DeMatteis is as a writer that he effectively conveys what he wants to tell readers. Also, he pointed that he hadn't even realized the backstory of MCU Bucky (as pre-Serum Steve's protector) was actually like Arnie Roth's backstory until a friend pointed it out to him. I was thinking the same thing about Arnie and MCU Bucky as I reading, so to hear DeMatteis say it makes me think it may have been an influence of the screenwriters. I think of the DeMatteis/Zeck run as better than the Stern/Byrne run, but DeMatteis pointed out that he worked of some elements (Steve's new job; supporting characters like Bernie) set up by Stern/Byrne, so I realize they deserve credit for their work on those elements. |
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Dec 17, 2022 15:46:01 GMT -5
Finally, I read Marvel Team-Up #100. This is the issue that introduces Karma in a Spider-Man/FF lead feature followed by a Storm/Black Panther back-up. I read the lead story years ago, but I don't remember whether I ever read the back-up. The lead story is reasonably good. Interesting origin for Karma and her family. There a quick cameo by Prof. X, Storm, Colossus, and Wolverine (in his original costume, this was published right around the transition to the brown one). Although the story is written by Claremont, the Xavier dialogue feels a bit atypical. There's no indication that Karma is going to Xavier's school, and it's two years before New Mutants is launched. I'm not as big into Miller's art as some others (although I think my appreciation has grown over time), but his depiction of the Thing has grown on me since the last time we read this. The back-up is an interesting read that establishes that Storm and T'Challa met as teenagers, but nothing earth-shattering. It's a Claremont-Byrne collaboration published when their X-Men partnership was almost over. I may start a New Mutants read-through. I see in this thread that Mormel has been reading the early issues. I've read the first 75 issues before. Mostly that's been out of order as individual issues/a few in a row, although I think I once read from the beginning to the teens or twenties. However, I haven't read much of the last 25 issues. I'm thinking about either reading the whole run or just from #75 to the end (#100). Forgot to mention that this issue is also the first appearance of Father Michael Bowen, a couple years before his niece, Dagger, first appeared. Although I'll note that he's named Bowen in one panel and Brown in the next. |
|
|
|
Post by MDG on Dec 17, 2022 17:03:21 GMT -5
I read Legionnaires 3 #1-4. It's a miniseries featuring the original three members of the Legion of Super-Heroes that was published as Crisis was ending and immediately after. Keith Giffen is credited as "plot/designer" with Mindy Newell on dialogue, Ernie Colon as penciler, and Karl Kesel as inker. I'm wondering what designer means. Did Giffen do designs of buildings, vehicles, etc. to show the artists what he wanted? In this case, "designer" means that Giffen did breakdowns (rough layouts) for the series, thus determining the pacing, staging, and other significant narrative elements.
Cei-U! I summon the 411!
One giveaway to Giffen breakdowns around this time is a tall panel on the left side of the page. I think the first issue of his Justice League has this on every page. |
|
|
|
Post by commond on Dec 17, 2022 21:26:02 GMT -5
I reached the end of the line for Ms. Tree, IMO one of the best characters of the 1980s and one of the best female characters in the history of comics. I'll admit that I preferred the stories where she fought the Muerta family more than the stories taken from the lastest issue of Newsweek magazine, but it was a tremendous run right up until the end. I'm feeling a bit wistful wondering what happened to the characters in their lives after the final special.
|
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on Dec 17, 2022 21:51:41 GMT -5
Although the story is written by Claremont, the Xavier dialogue feels a bit atypical. It always struck me as odd too, even as a kid. I think Chris just felt like being a bit whimsical with that scene. |
|
|
|
Post by chaykinstevens on Dec 18, 2022 9:13:46 GMT -5
I reached the end of the line for Ms. Tree, IMO one of the best characters of the 1980s and one of the best female characters in the history of comics. I'll admit that I preferred the stories where she fought the Muerta family more than the stories taken from the lastest issue of Newsweek magazine, but it was a tremendous run right up until the end. I'm feeling a bit wistful wondering what happened to the characters in their lives after the final special. Have you read Max Allan Collins' 2007 Ms. Tree novel, Deadly Beloved? |
|
|
|
Post by tonebone on Dec 18, 2022 9:50:38 GMT -5
I also have that Authority Omnibus. Have you had any problems with the binding? I went through TWO copies, which I returned for new ones, after OPENING the book and the cover completely falling off. My retailer was super gracious about returning them. |
|
