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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 29, 2016 20:30:47 GMT -5
Read the Star Wars Epic for the Dark Horse Rogue Squadron series... definitely made me nostalgic for the old Star Wars continuity. Nothing totally exceptional, but some fun stories that definitely have the proper 'Star Wars' feel.
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 29, 2016 21:16:56 GMT -5
I was more of a Star Trek nut growing up, but that didn't stop me from constantly watching VHS copies of the original, unaltered Star Wars trilogy over at my dad's apartment until every ounce of it was seared into my brain like an after image Only thing that I can say that I've ever really enjoyed from Star Wars was the Young Jedi Knights series of books Still have vivid memories reading a copy that I borrowed from my middle school library, mostly the stuff about the tie-fighter pilot who had no clue that the Empire had lost to the Rebellion
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 29, 2016 22:30:01 GMT -5
I definitely read a few of those, and they were OK for what they were, but man, is Kevin Anderson a terrible writer. He's definitely the most forgettable part of the old stuff, IMO.
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 30, 2016 11:23:32 GMT -5
I read Amazing Spider-Man #51 digitally last night. It's the middle chapter of the three-part story that introduced the Kingpin. So definitely a must-read for fans of the Silver Age! (And for every other comic book fan, when you think about it.) Despite being a big fan of Spider-Man for 40 years, there's still a lot of 1960s Spidey stories I've never read. I bought Marvel Masterworks volumes for the Ditko issues in the 1990s. And I've read most of the next 200 issues at some point or other. I bought The Amazing Spider-Man off the stands from #153 on for almost ten years. And I had a lot of back issues. (In the 1970s, you could get stuff like Spider-Man #41 for $2 in F or VF condition.) And then there was Marvel Tales! I had the Marvel Tales reprints for almost every issue of Spidey from #80 to #105. And since then I've used the library to read select Marvel Masterworks and Essential volumes. But there's still about 15 issues from #44 to #112 that elude me. Spider-Man #1 to #40 is my favorite comic-book run ever! But the more I read of the John Romita years, I can see why fans love it as much as the Ditko years. I can also see why some fans might prefer the Romita years! I would like to one day have the Marvel Masterworks volumes for Spidey from #41 to the death of Gwen Stacy so I could read them all in order. I really love the first Kingpin story arc! It has everything! Peter Parker throws his Spider-Man suit in the trash! The Kingpin appears, fully formed, gathering the chaotic New York crime organizations under one umbrella. A perfect villain for Spider-Man! (I love Kingpin's cigarette holder.) The supporting cast is doing their thing, milling about (Gwen and Harry), worrying about Peter (May and Betty), not worrying about Peter (Mary Jane), defying the Kingpin (stupid Foswell) and getting kidnaped by the Kingpin (Jameson)! As Kingpin was behind the scenes in #50, #51 has the first meeting between Spidey and the Kingpin! It's pretty exciting! Spidey gets stomped! I've been reading a few other issues digitally (I started with #47) and there is one thing that bugs me. The way Peter and his friends all talk the same! It's never "Gwen, can I give you a lift?" It's always "Your chariot awaits, milady!" And they all talk like that! Mary Jane, Gwen, Peter, Harry, even Flash Thompson! Everybody is always "on" with the flippant remarks. I never really noticed it before, but reading five issues in just a few days has really highlighted this rather annoying affectation. I've also been wondering about Mary Jane and Gwen's relationship to each other. They seem to both like Peter a lot, so they have a bit of a rivalry going on. But they are always smiling and being nice to each other; perhaps a bit too nice! I was thinking of going back through these issues and adding a bit of cattiness to Gwen's remarks as I read. (Such cattiness would not be in character for later Gwen, but in the early Romita days, I think she still had some of the edge from the Ditko Gwen.) I suspect this cattiness is a bit too subtle for Mary Jane, who I'm beginning to wonder about. Is there something wrong with MJ? Is Peter dating someone with mental problems? Well, that's my two cents on Spider-Man #51!
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 30, 2016 11:35:55 GMT -5
I read this when I got up this morning: It's taken me a while to warm to Luke McDonnell's Justice League of America, but this (and the previous few issues) are actually pretty good. So much crazy stuff going on! Now I have to brace myself for what's coming. "The End of the Justice League" a four-part series within the series. I read it when I first got it about four years ago. I don't think I've ever read anything so gut-wrenching as this cold and merciless (and unnecessary) assault on Justice League Detroit. They were helpless in the face of an editorial decree! (And, admittedly, in most other situations as well.)
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 30, 2016 11:44:25 GMT -5
I also read this yesterday: OMG! Kang transports the Avengers to the confusing maze under Immortus's castle! And to help defeat them, he gathers the Legion of the Unliving - dead Marvel characters chosen specifically to defeat this set of Avengers! Frankenstein's Monster! The original Human Torch! Wonder Man! Baron Zemo! The Ghost! Midnight! (Who?) One of the earliest back issues I ever had was a beat-up copy of Giant-Size Avengers #3. It starts in the middle of a story that began in Avengers #131, continued in #132 and concluded (well, not quite) in Giant Size Avengers #3. And I loved it! But I've never read the other two parts of the story before now! I'm so stoked!
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 30, 2016 16:09:28 GMT -5
I've also been reading Season of Mists. It's been a very long time since I read it. I'm getting near the end. I just read the chapter where all the pantheons have sent emissaries to Dream to get the key to Hell from him, and they all have dinner together. I think my favorite scene in Season of Mists is the after-dinner entertainment! Where Cain is sawing Abel in half. And then he turns him into sausage. And Shivering Jemmy is laughing at Abel. "I likes that fat man. I think I calls him Mister Shouty! Ha ha! Mister Shouty is a funny man!" I would have a hard time picking a favorite Sandman storyline. I haven't read A Doll's House in a while but I used to read it over and over! I read The Kindly Ones just a few months ago. It's one of those three. But Dream Country is good too!
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,085
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Post by Confessor on Apr 30, 2016 20:43:32 GMT -5
Read the Star Wars Epic for the Dark Horse Rogue Squadron series... definitely made me nostalgic for the old Star Wars continuity. Nothing totally exceptional, but some fun stories that definitely have the proper 'Star Wars' feel. That's a great series. I loved it as it was coming out.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 30, 2016 21:05:51 GMT -5
OMG! Kang transports the Avengers to the confusing maze under Immortus's castle! And to help defeat them, he gathers the Legion of the Unliving - dead Marvel characters chosen specifically to defeat this set of Avengers! Frankenstein's Monster! The original Human Torch! Wonder Man! Baron Zemo! The Ghost! Midnight! (Who?) ! Why, none other than Shang-Chi's brother! I was so happy to see him again, even for a short time, and even in an undead state! A martial artist in a black bodystocking, wearing a cape and a fedora... So much pulp in one character!!!
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Apr 30, 2016 21:29:28 GMT -5
OMG! Kang transports the Avengers to the confusing maze under Immortus's castle! And to help defeat them, he gathers the Legion of the Unliving - dead Marvel characters chosen specifically to defeat this set of Avengers! Frankenstein's Monster! The original Human Torch! Wonder Man! Baron Zemo! The Ghost! Midnight! (Who?) ! Why, none other than Shang-Chi's brother! I was so happy to see him again, even for a short time, and even in an undead state! A martial artist in a black bodystocking, wearing a cape and a fedora... So much pulp in one character!!! Thank you! I've read that sequence of comics a half dozen times - including last week! - but never quite new Midnight's story. Appreciate this.
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Post by Paste Pot Paul on May 1, 2016 15:30:03 GMT -5
Read the Star Wars Epic for the Dark Horse Rogue Squadron series... definitely made me nostalgic for the old Star Wars continuity. Nothing totally exceptional, but some fun stories that definitely have the proper 'Star Wars' feel. What are some of the better Star Wars comics Dark Horse did? I have access to a bunch, but a lot are...dire. Kind of enjoying Legacy(?) the Ostrander/Durseema stuff, though the coloring in those is heavy handed, and want to read more but have no idea which are good or not.
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2016 15:32:49 GMT -5
I'm getting pretty close to the end of the Starman Omnibus, Volume One. I'm mostly enjoying it. I'm getting used to James Robinson's writing tics and, annoying as they may be at times, I can look past them. Well, most of them. But Starman #15. Whoa! So bad. I kind of wish I hadn't read it. It's the fourth part of a five-part story. The first two parts were really good! (Especially Ted Knight's chapter.) The third part wasn't so great. The O'Dare family members are not the awesome supporting cast that Robinson thinks they are. They're kind of boring. I think maybe he should have picked one of them (doesn't matter which one) and fleshed out that character's cop stereotype. But #15. Uh. Yeah. Solomon Grundy and the 1970s Starman are chloroformed by the new Mist's gang and taken to a penthouse and beaten up. Regular humans kidnap Solomon Grundy and the 1970s Starman and take them and beat them up. I've never read a comic book with the 1970s Starman and don't really care too much about him. But I'm not buying Robinson's Solomon Grundy at all. Later dialogue informs us that the new Mist examined medical reports of super-hero encounters involving Grundy and came up with a mixture of weedkillers and chemicals and so on that would subdue him. "Clever girl, the Mist," says her henchman. The Mist may indeed be very clever, but she can't possibly be half as clever as James Robinson thinks himself to be. Medical reports from past super-hero encounters? Was Grundy hospitalized at some point? Was he examined by doctors? Perhaps there was an autopsy when he looked dead, but he came back to life? I just can't make this work in my head. If James Robinson didn't want to use Solomon Grundy, he should have come up with a new character. If he thought he could improve the old Grundy, he was dead wrong. I suppose a lot of people don't really have a problem with these changes. But this is a pretty weak chapter anyway. Really. Any version of Solomon Grundy that can be abducted by Clockwork Orange thugs with some weedkiller is so far removed from any meaningful depiction of Solomon Grundy that I can safely ignore any future appearances of that character. I also thought the henchman comparing the movie versions of Philip Marlowe was a pretty dumb segment, but a lot of stupid people say a bunch of dumb things about Chandler's books and the various movie versions. So the henchmen is just like some dumb troll on IMDB, and it actually works in the context of the story. (Although I do have a bit of a problem believing that anybody thinks that George Montgomery was the best Marlowe. I find it much easier to believe that some crazed movie buff would kill somebody for saying it than to believe that somebody would actually say it.) I really hope that Robinson doesn't actually believe some of that gibberish about Marlowe that he put in the henchman's mouth. That just leaves one more chapter in the omnibus. I don't know how interested I am in reading 1990s Starman any further than this. Is the new Solomon Grundy a major part of future storylines? I think a subdued Solomon Grundy as a supporting character could be very interesting, but I just don't have enough faith in Robinson's writing prowess to come up with something that works for me. Green Lantern takes 12 or 13 pages to defeat Solomon Grundy in this issue. That's Golden Age pages! So that's three or four months at least! Green Lantern should have got some Clockwork Orange thugs with weedkiller to help!
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2016 17:04:33 GMT -5
Read the Star Wars Epic for the Dark Horse Rogue Squadron series... definitely made me nostalgic for the old Star Wars continuity. Nothing totally exceptional, but some fun stories that definitely have the proper 'Star Wars' feel. What are some of the better Star Wars comics Dark Horse did? I have access to a bunch, but a lot are...dire. Kind of enjoying Legacy(?) the Ostrander/Durseema stuff, though the coloring in those is heavy handed, and want to read more but have no idea which are good or not.
I enjoyed the very earliest one, Dark Empire, that the did. It had a sequel, but I don't remember reading it. I might have though. It is set after the events of RotJ and was the first glimpse of that era we got. I also enjoyed the two Agent of Empire series Ostrander did, about an Imperial secret agent, kind of Star Wars meets Bond feel, but quite entertaining. You already are reading Legacy, which is the other series form Dark Horse I dug. The last Star Wars series they did, the 20 issue run by Brian Wood was good as well, but focused on the major characters not any other corner of the Star Wars universe. -M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 1, 2016 19:58:50 GMT -5
I'm getting pretty close to the end of the Starman Omnibus, Volume One. I'm mostly enjoying it. I'm getting used to James Robinson's writing tics and, annoying as they may be at times, I can look past them.
Actually there's a perfectly good explanation of how Grundy is characterized in this book. It will be addressed later, but it explains the how different Grundy had been characterized over the years.
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2016 21:03:26 GMT -5
I'm getting pretty close to the end of the Starman Omnibus, Volume One. I'm mostly enjoying it. I'm getting used to James Robinson's writing tics and, annoying as they may be at times, I can look past them.
Actually there's a perfectly good explanation of how Grundy is characterized in this book. It will be addressed later, but it explains the how different Grundy had been characterized over the years. I don't have a problem with changes per se. But I have a feeling that any explanation that includes a Solomon Grundy that can be quickly overcome by three Clockwork Orange thugs with the new Mist's fancy weed-killer is probably not going to work for me. If Robinson didn't want to use Solomon Grundy, he should have come up with a new character. The Solomon Grundy in the early issues of Starman is just not very interesting.
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