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Post by Batflunkie on Aug 26, 2023 17:38:41 GMT -5
Amazing Spider-Man #5-#10 So this book is something that I've really been looking forward to reading before bed. It's also interesting to see Ditko's style develop from these just kind of gothic, whispy lines into something much more uniform and pleasing (I think that might have been something that Stan kind of influenced while working with him. I do remember him wishing that the characters "smiled more" in his book). I think Peter ditching his glasses is the biggest sign of change in the book as he slowly opens himself up to forming relationships with other people (mostly Betty Brant) outside of Aunt May while still fending off villains of the month, Jonah, and Flash Particularly liked this scene at towards the end of issue #10
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Post by spoon on Aug 26, 2023 20:13:38 GMT -5
I read Daredevil: Yellow #1-6 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. The mini-series is set mostly during Daredevil's yellow costume days, but with framing and narration taking place sometime in the aftermath of Karen Page's death. I've no real interesting in reading that death arc (I may have flipped the TPB in a bookstore), because I feel like it was a repetitive of other DD stories, undermines Born Again, and eliminated an interesting character. With that said, I was interesting in a wistful look back prompted by that grief. Despite that, it's less Karen/Matt focused then I expected. Karen doesn't show up until the final couple pages of #2, a third into the series. It's more like an all-purpose early days story, with Matt's thoughts about his father a major theme.
The art by Sale is very kinetic. I also like how the "production design" (in cinematic terms) straddles the line between a retro look and a modern one. Occasionally, I don't like the caricature-ish choices Sale makes, like when Matt's face, in his civilian identity, looks bizarrely flat. The writing is solid, if not spectacular. It's wistful, but it doesn't really build to quite the payoff one would wish for. Of course, these were just the early days of Daredevil's career so there was no great resolution, but Matt's memories and reflections on Karen just feel like their done because we've reaching the last issue of the series rather than any satisfying narrative conclusion.
Reading this mini-series made me want to re-read those early issues of Daredevil to compare the depictions and see what's added/deleted/reframed/etc.
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Post by lordyam on Aug 27, 2023 18:35:02 GMT -5
Arak Son of Thunder. It's a fun romp even if it's clearly Thomas doing Conan, and Arak is a cool character. I felt like it's different enough not to just be Conan at DC... the semi-historical definitely added something. No question about that. I still wish Thomas had done more of a conclusion, and I think Arak could definitely use a reboot. I remember one person said that the reason Marvel did well was because it mixed realism with fantasy (granted that person DID go overboard to the point of arguing that all marvel stories should be low key)
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Post by lordyam on Aug 27, 2023 18:36:18 GMT -5
Amazing Spider-Man #5-#10 So this book is something that I've really been looking forward to reading before bed. It's also interesting to see Ditko's style develop from these just kind of gothic, whispy lines into something much more uniform and pleasing (I think that might have been something that Stan kind of influenced while working with him. I do remember him wishing that the characters "smiled more" in his book). I think Peter ditching his glasses is the biggest sign of change in the book as he slowly opens himself up to forming relationships with other people (mostly Betty Brant) outside of Aunt May while still fending off villains of the month, Jonah, and Flash Particularly liked this scene at towards the end of issue #10 JJ actually did get some more fleshing out as well. His step father was someone who publicly was a great hero......but behind closed doors he was an abusive drunk who brutalized Jonah and his mom. This convinced Jonah that "no one's a hero every day of the week"; I think it works fairly well (just as much as the jealousy motive).
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Aug 28, 2023 2:51:39 GMT -5
I read Daredevil: Yellow #1-6 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. The mini-series is set mostly during Daredevil's yellow costume days, but with framing and narration taking place sometime in the aftermath of Karen Page's death. I've no real interesting in reading that death arc (I may have flipped the TPB in a bookstore), because I feel like it was a repetitive of other DD stories, undermines Born Again, and eliminated an interesting character. With that said, I was interesting in a wistful look back prompted by that grief. Despite that, it's less Karen/Matt focused then I expected. Karen doesn't show up until the final couple pages of #2, a third into the series. It's more like an all-purpose early days story, with Matt's thoughts about his father a major theme. The art by Sale is very kinetic. I also like how the "production design" (in cinematic terms) straddles the line between a retro look and a modern one. Occasionally, I don't like the caricature-ish choices Sale makes, like when Matt's face, in his civilian identity, looks bizarrely flat. The writing is solid, if not spectacular. It's wistful, but it doesn't really build to quite the payoff one would wish for. Of course, these were just the early days of Daredevil's career so there was no great resolution, but Matt's memories and reflections on Karen just feel like their done because we've reaching the last issue of the series rather than any satisfying narrative conclusion. Reading this mini-series made me want to re-read those early issues of Daredevil to compare the depictions and see what's added/deleted/reframed/etc. I've always seen Daredevil: Yellow as being just as much a eulogy for the comic book stories of the Silver Age, back when storylines were simpler and we knew who the good guys and the bad guys were, as it is a re-telling of ol' Hornhead's origin. It reads like an unabashedly nostalgic and wistful love letter to old Marvel comics and the characters of Daredevil and Karen Page as well. Of course, whiff of pathos and tragedy pervades all of Leob and Sale's colour themed books, but it works best in Blue, the Spider-Man one, because pathos and tragedy are at the very heart of Spidey's story. It feels a little more forced in Yellow, Grey and White, IMHO. Also, just like in the other colour-themed books, the colour "yellow" has a double meaning in that it refers to the colour of Matt Murdock's original costume, but also to the theme of cowardice -- real or supposed -- that runs through Daredevil's origin story.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,190
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Post by Confessor on Aug 28, 2023 3:11:31 GMT -5
Amazing Spider-Man #5-#10 So this book is something that I've really been looking forward to reading before bed. It's also interesting to see Ditko's style develop from these just kind of gothic, whispy lines into something much more uniform and pleasing (I think that might have been something that Stan kind of influenced while working with him. I do remember him wishing that the characters "smiled more" in his book). I think Peter ditching his glasses is the biggest sign of change in the book as he slowly opens himself up to forming relationships with other people (mostly Betty Brant) outside of Aunt May while still fending off villains of the month, Jonah, and Flash Particularly liked this scene at towards the end of issue #10 JJ actually did get some more fleshing out as well. His step father was someone who publicly was a great hero......but behind closed doors he was an abusive drunk who brutalized Jonah and his mom. This convinced Jonah that "no one's a hero every day of the week"; I think it works fairly well (just as much as the jealousy motive). The jealousy angle goes back slightly further than ASM #10 even: in ASM #1, JJ is shown as clearly having been annoyed at Spider-Man saving his astronaut son's life, when his sub-orbital flight goes haywire, feeling that the wall-crawler up-staged his son and stole his glory... It was also revealed much, much later in the '90s that Jameson hates all masked heroes because his first wife was killed by a masked assailant and the culprit was never caught. Though I always felt this was a rather unnecessary (and not terribly logical) retcon, it does kind of tie into Jameson's Silver Age characterisation insofar as he distrusts all masked heroes and regards them all as attention-seeking glory-hounds. Further rationale for Jonah's hatred of Spider-Man was explored in an issue of the Tangled Web series in the 2000s, in which we get a glimpse of Jameson's childhood upbringing. His father is shown to be a highly decorated war veteran, who is regarded as an all-American hero. But at home, he regularly abused his wife and son. As a result, Jonah grew up convinced that nobody can really be a hero 24/7 and that they all have a darker side just waiting to be exposed.
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Post by spoon on Aug 30, 2023 16:16:59 GMT -5
I read Daredevil: Yellow #1-6 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. The mini-series is set mostly during Daredevil's yellow costume days, but with framing and narration taking place sometime in the aftermath of Karen Page's death. I've no real interesting in reading that death arc (I may have flipped the TPB in a bookstore), because I feel like it was a repetitive of other DD stories, undermines Born Again, and eliminated an interesting character. With that said, I was interesting in a wistful look back prompted by that grief. Despite that, it's less Karen/Matt focused then I expected. Karen doesn't show up until the final couple pages of #2, a third into the series. It's more like an all-purpose early days story, with Matt's thoughts about his father a major theme. The art by Sale is very kinetic. I also like how the "production design" (in cinematic terms) straddles the line between a retro look and a modern one. Occasionally, I don't like the caricature-ish choices Sale makes, like when Matt's face, in his civilian identity, looks bizarrely flat. The writing is solid, if not spectacular. It's wistful, but it doesn't really build to quite the payoff one would wish for. Of course, these were just the early days of Daredevil's career so there was no great resolution, but Matt's memories and reflections on Karen just feel like their done because we've reaching the last issue of the series rather than any satisfying narrative conclusion. Reading this mini-series made me want to re-read those early issues of Daredevil to compare the depictions and see what's added/deleted/reframed/etc. I've always seen Daredevil: Yellow as being just as much a eulogy for the comic book stories of the Silver Age, back when storylines were simpler and we knew who the good guys and the bad guys were, as it is a re-telling of ol' Hornhead's origin. It reads like an unabashedly nostalgic and wistful love letter to old Marvel comics and the characters of Daredevil and Karen Page as well. Of course, whiff of pathos and tragedy pervades all of Leob and Sale's colour themed books, but it works best in Blue, the Spider-Man one, because pathos and tragedy are at the very heart of Spidey's story. It feels a little more forced in Yellow, Grey and White, IMHO. Also, just like in the other colour-themed books, the colour "yellow" has a double meaning in that it refers to the colour of Matt Murdock's original costume, but also to the theme of cowardice -- real or supposed -- that runs through Daredevil's origin story. I definitely agree about the nostalgia. I have read any of the other Loeb/Sale color minis, although I may have flipped through Grey. I actually don't know what White is.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 30, 2023 17:08:52 GMT -5
I did a re-read of Hellboy: Seeds of Destruction. This is in hopes of doing a fairly complete read of the Hellboy-verse. I've read this one a couple of times. It's a great start and a nice semi-origin for the character. I do think it's a bit verbose. I'm not sure if that's the fault of Mignola being a new writer or if it's Byrne's contribution. Or both. It's also a bit heavy on plot and light on characterization...which is fine in retrospect...but may have been a bit detrimental at the time. Still a fine start.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,190
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Post by Confessor on Aug 30, 2023 18:46:28 GMT -5
I've always seen Daredevil: Yellow as being just as much a eulogy for the comic book stories of the Silver Age, back when storylines were simpler and we knew who the good guys and the bad guys were, as it is a re-telling of ol' Hornhead's origin. It reads like an unabashedly nostalgic and wistful love letter to old Marvel comics and the characters of Daredevil and Karen Page as well. Of course, whiff of pathos and tragedy pervades all of Leob and Sale's colour themed books, but it works best in Blue, the Spider-Man one, because pathos and tragedy are at the very heart of Spidey's story. It feels a little more forced in Yellow, Grey and White, IMHO. Also, just like in the other colour-themed books, the colour "yellow" has a double meaning in that it refers to the colour of Matt Murdock's original costume, but also to the theme of cowardice -- real or supposed -- that runs through Daredevil's origin story. I definitely agree about the nostalgia. I have read any of the other Loeb/Sale color minis, although I may have flipped through Grey. I actually don't know what White is. It's Captain America: White. If you've not read Spider-Man: Blue yet you really should. It's the best of the series IMHO.
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Post by dbutler69 on Sept 2, 2023 7:34:11 GMT -5
I read Marvel Masterworks Daredevil which reprints Daredevil #12-21. It's entertaining (the opening story arc featuring Ka-Zar was my favorite story) but there are a lot of stupid elements here. The Mike Murdoch story is infamously silly, but there are things here just as stupid. Such as Spidey (who acted like a complete moron in his two issues here) thinking that Foggy Nelson is Daredevil! Foggy then decides to roll with it and pretend he really is Daredevil in order to impress Karen Page! And she's dumb enough to fall for it. It was like a bad sitcom. Then there was the issue where some evil genius switched minds with Ox and went on a rampage. When he knocked out Daredevil, he decided to frame Daredevil by putting Ox's clothes on Daredevil - over DD's red tights, no less - to trick the police into thinking it was really Daredevil "disguised" as Ox, not Ox himself, who went on that rampage. And the police are dumb enough to fall for it and put DD in jail! Lots of stupidity here. At least there was some good art (John Romita then Gene Colan) and some of Stan Lees humor, which helps alleviate some of the stupid happenings.
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Post by dbutler69 on Sept 2, 2023 7:36:13 GMT -5
I also read Marvel Spotlight #30 featuring the Warriors Three. This comic was just a ton of fun! Len Wein, John Buscema, and Joe Sinnott delivered a really fun comic that made me wish they had turned this into a series.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 2, 2023 11:19:22 GMT -5
I read Marvel Masterworks Daredevil which reprints Daredevil #12-21. It's entertaining (the opening story arc featuring Ka-Zar was my favorite story) but there are a lot of stupid elements here. The Mike Murdoch story is infamously silly, but there are things here just as stupid. Such as Spidey (who acted like a complete moron in his two issues here) thinking that Foggy Nelson is Daredevil! Foggy then decides to roll with it and pretend he really is Daredevil in order to impress Karen Page! And she's dumb enough to fall for it. It was like a bad sitcom. Then there was the issue where some evil genius switched minds with Ox and went on a rampage. When he knocked out Daredevil, he decided to frame Daredevil by putting Ox's clothes on Daredevil - over DD's red tights, no less - to trick the police into thinking it was really Daredevil "disguised" as Ox, not Ox himself, who went on that rampage. And the police are dumb enough to fall for it and put DD in jail! Lots of stupidity here. At least there was some good art (John Romita then Gene Colan) and some of Stan Lees humor, which helps alleviate some of the stupid happenings. These were so cheap in the 1970s that I had every issue for $1 or $2 each by 1980. I never really like the Ka-Zar issues much so I don’t remember them very well. But the other issues I read over and over again. I can’t really argue with you about the much stupidness involved because yes there is much stupidness. But I always loved this whole run anyway. It’s a heckuva lot of fun and I don’t think it would be more enjoyable if you removed the stupidness.
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Post by Rob Allen on Sept 2, 2023 17:40:19 GMT -5
I read Marvel Masterworks Daredevil which reprints Daredevil #12-21. It's entertaining (the opening story arc featuring Ka-Zar was my favorite story) but there are a lot of stupid elements here. The Mike Murdoch story is infamously silly, but there are things here just as stupid. Such as Spidey (who acted like a complete moron in his two issues here) thinking that Foggy Nelson is Daredevil! Foggy then decides to roll with it and pretend he really is Daredevil in order to impress Karen Page! And she's dumb enough to fall for it. It was like a bad sitcom. Then there was the issue where some evil genius switched minds with Ox and went on a rampage. When he knocked out Daredevil, he decided to frame Daredevil by putting Ox's clothes on Daredevil - over DD's red tights, no less - to trick the police into thinking it was really Daredevil "disguised" as Ox, not Ox himself, who went on that rampage. And the police are dumb enough to fall for it and put DD in jail! Lots of stupidity here. At least there was some good art (John Romita then Gene Colan) and some of Stan Lees humor, which helps alleviate some of the stupid happenings. These were so cheap in the 1970s that I had every issue for $1 or $2 each by 1980. I never really like the Ka-Zar issues much so I don’t remember them very well. But the other issues I read over and over again. I can’t really argue with you about the much stupidness involved because yes there is much stupidness. But I always loved this whole run anyway. It’s a heckuva lot of fun and I don’t think it would be more enjoyable if you removed the stupidness. The trouble with these issues is that they followed Wally Wood's run, which I absolutely loved. Wood's Daredevil was the first comic book that I made sure to buy every issue of. I kept buying it after Wood left, but it wasn't as good. The Ka-Zar story was OK but it really went downhill after that. Eventually I lost interest and my consecutive-issue string ended with #19. So I missed Gene Colan's debut in #20.
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Post by commond on Sept 5, 2023 18:59:20 GMT -5
I read Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis & Kevin Maguire's Defenders mini-series. If you're familiar with their Justice League work, it follows a similar format. If you love their Justice League work then you'll enjoy this. If you don't like their work, or you've never read it, you'll probably hate it. The characters are written completely out of character, and Maguire chooses to draw both Namor and the Silver Surfer in extremely cartoony fashion. I liked it, as it amuses me whenever the characters insult each other. Would have liked to have seen this trio do an Avengers series.
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Post by spoon on Sept 6, 2023 17:45:46 GMT -5
I read DC Archives: The Action Heroes vol. 1 reprinting the Captain Atom stories originally published by Chartlon Comics in Space Adventures #33-40, 42 and Captain Atom #78-82.
It really a book of two distinct segments. The Space Adventures stories are around 5 pages. It doesn't leave a lot of space for character development, growing a supporting cast, rogues gallery, etc. Compounding the limitations of such short stories is the fact that the plots are so repetitive. So many stories involve a bunch of (usually nuclear) missile that Captain Atom has to prevent from reaching their target. Variation comes from whether they're launched by a foreign dictator, aliens, or a rogue scientist. There are actually individual Space Adventures issues with multiple Captain Atom stories with missile plots.
But if we going back to the beginning, maybe nuclear missile stories seem interesting for their echoes of Captain Atom's origin story. U.S. Air Force Captain Allen Adam (his first name, oddly, appears in the second story, but nowhere else in the volume) accidentally gets trapped in a nuclear missile while doing maintenance. It launches and explodes during a test, with the captain still in it. He miraculously rematerializes with super powers. It's such a freaky idea. It's not just that his cells were altered. Rather, the scripts repeatedly note that Adam died/ceased to exist/disappeared and then rematerialized. You'd think that would screw with a dude's mind, but the stories just glide past the horror of it all.
The mythos are limited and inconsistent. Capt. Adam seems at various times to be a pilot/scientist/mechanic, but always a USAF Captain. He's got a pal/fellow officer/mechanic named Gunner, but they don't get the textured friendship of say Hal Jordan and Tom Kalmaku. It's inconsistent how many people know his secret identity, but then all seem to be in the Air Force or the White House. General Eining, who shows up in two stories, seems to be the inspiration for the post-Crisis General Wade Eiling. Even though the top brass know his dual identity he's still given Air Force duties that put him hot water when he unexpectedly leaves for a super-hero task. You'd think someone would tell his immediate superior that he's allowed to leave with no notice for top secret missions.
We get a break of several years as Steve Ditko goes off to do Spider-Man and Doctor Strange stories. The Ditko and Captain Atom return with full length stories in Captain Atom (renumbered from some other series). These 20-pagers allow for more complex stories, actually super-villains (Dr. Spectro shows up twice, plus there's the ghost), and finally a love interest for just one story. But then there's a second love interest who also expands the universe to a second super-hero when Nightshade (Eve Eden) is assigned to help Captain Atom/Captain Adam on a mission. Get it? Adam and Eve. There's some more emotional depth to these stories. Like one where a character sacrifices her life and the revelation that Dr. Spectro wants to reform and uses his powers for good, except those powers are twisting his mind. In a shocking plot twist, Captain Atom unknowingly foils Dr. Spectro efforts to repair his own mind.
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