|
Post by urrutiap on Aug 14, 2017 14:17:10 GMT -5
Today Im reading issue 2 of the old ongoing Superman series by John Byrne. Where Lex Luthor runs a silly computer algorithm to find out Superman's identity and his assistant freaking out thinks its Clark Kent.
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on Aug 17, 2017 11:18:47 GMT -5
I read read "The Twelve Labors of Wonder Woman" collecting Wonder Woman #212-222. It was decent. There was some very questionable science, plot holes, and some WTF? moments, but each story in this series also demonstrated the ingenuity of Wonder Woman. Plus, her lasso came to some very cool uses. It seems a little creepy to have the JLA members spying on her, though.
|
|
|
Post by Jesse on Aug 17, 2017 12:11:32 GMT -5
The Invaders #15written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Frank Robbins Pretty standard super team battle. A newly formed British superhero team, The Crusaders, are tricked into fighting The Invaders by a Nazi agent who plans to assassinate King George VI. I didn't care for some of the artwork but the story was entertaining enough.
|
|
|
Post by sabongero on Aug 17, 2017 12:31:13 GMT -5
This is a Marv Wolfman/Gil Kane creative team work. Basically, Superman has to obtain some plants that can cure sick twins in Metropolis General Hospital. As he was flying on his way to obtain the plants, everything that can go wrong in a day, has gone wrong. And he had to save countless many emergencies on the way. Eventually though he did get the plant to save the twins, and then as a sendoff, thanked "him" for being able to save all those people, as he looked and spoke to the reader.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2017 22:42:32 GMT -5
I am making my way through the first volume of Jack Katz's First kingdom (among other things) and finished Books One and Two (i.e. the first two 32 page issues/installments) of the series. It is a really dense read. I like Katz's artwork, but his page layouts and track for the eye is often counter-intuitive, which makes many pages lack flow and take you out of the narrative trying to figure out which panel follows which panel. So, you have to take it slow, one because there is such a rich, lush worldbuilding heavy narrative and two to make sure you stay on track of the narrative flow through the pages. Each panel is gorgeously illustrated, but again following the word part is sometimes difficult as it is all unboxed captions with any dialogue written in caption form sans dialogue balloons or thought balloons. So far, I find Katz to be a great illustrator, with an interesting story to tell, but his actual visual storytelling skills seem a bit unrefined in terms of the narrative flow of panels through pages. However, what is there is so immersive and interesting, it is worth the effort. I have 4 more books to go in the first trade volume, and I have the second trade, but I need to track down the rest of the series. I can understand why it took Katz so long to produce the issues though, every page is just densely packed with story and imagery. I think he may have gone broke paying for all the India ink he used in crafting those pages as there is just so much inked linework and background in every panel. I find myself going back through just letting the panels soak in after I have finished reading a section because there is just so much going on visually in each panel. It's a very different aesthetic than a lot of mainstream comics take. Here's a sample page (behind spoiler tags...) -M
|
|
|
Post by Jesse on Aug 19, 2017 11:41:27 GMT -5
Avengers West Coast #52"Fragments of a Greater Darkness" by John Byrne The conclusion of the story arc involving Wanda's children after the startling revelation last issue. The Avengers confront Master Pandemonium who has absorbed the souls of Wanda's children. It's revealed that Pandemonium's origin is partly a lie orchestrated by Mephisto. The issue concludes with Mephisto fighting a witch's Familiar off panel while the Avengers stand around and comment on it. It was a really bizarre way to depict the final fight scene. The issue ends with Wanda's memories of her children being erased. The artwork and some aspects of the story weren't great but I do like the roster of this team and enjoyed the return of the original Human Torch in the previous issues.
|
|
|
Post by Jesse on Aug 19, 2017 11:48:30 GMT -5
The New Teen Titans #32"Trivial Pursuits" The Titans take some time to decompress after their epic confrontation with Brother Blood last issue. With the exception of Beast Boy the Titans visit a mountain inn to relax. They end up literally stumbling upon a murder mystery (because of course they do) and end up stopping some unrelated poachers as well. This was a pretty fun read for a one off issue and it teases the next story arc at the end.
|
|
|
Post by Jesse on Aug 19, 2017 11:58:11 GMT -5
Justice League of America #13"Unlimited, Chapter 2" by Dwayne McDuffie The Justice League continued to be picked apart by their villains who have decided to organize and band together taking out and capturing multiple teams of heroes. I'm not a fan of some of the artwork but this has been a very exciting story arc so far.
|
|
|
Post by Jesse on Aug 19, 2017 12:09:57 GMT -5
World's Finest Comics #16Superman in "Music For The Masses" Not the most interesting story but there are some pretty fun sequences. Superman repeatedly helps out an aspiring songwriter who moves to Metropolis to make it big as Clark recalls the story to Lois over dinner.
|
|
|
Post by hondobrode on Aug 19, 2017 12:44:22 GMT -5
I am making my way through the first volume of Jack Katz's First kingdom (among other things) and finished Books One and Two (i.e. the first two 32 page issues/installments) of the series. It is a really dense read. I like Katz's artwork, but his page layouts and track for the eye is often counter-intuitive, which makes many pages lack flow and take you out of the narrative trying to figure out which panel follows which panel. So, you have to take it slow, one because there is such a rich, lush worldbuilding heavy narrative and two to make sure you stay on track of the narrative flow through the pages. Each panel is gorgeously illustrated, but again following the word part is sometimes difficult as it is all unboxed captions with any dialogue written in caption form sans dialogue balloons or thought balloons. So far, I find Katz to be a great illustrator, with an interesting story to tell, but his actual visual storytelling skills seem a bit unrefined in terms of the narrative flow of panels through pages. However, what is there is so immersive and interesting, it is worth the effort. I have 4 more books to go in the first trade volume, and I have the second trade, but I need to track down the rest of the series. I can understand why it took Katz so long to produce the issues though, every page is just densely packed with story and imagery. I think he may have gone broke paying for all the India ink he used in crafting those pages as there is just so much inked linework and background in every panel. I find myself going back through just letting the panels soak in after I have finished reading a section because there is just so much going on visually in each panel. It's a very different aesthetic than a lot of mainstream comics take. Here's a sample page (behind spoiler tags...) -M I have most of the original issues of this from when Bud Plant published them back in the 70's & 80's, but they're packed away, so I bought the complete reprint volumes from Titan last year and proceeded on my massive Jack Katz reading. I agree with you mrp that he puts a lot of detail into his work, and I like the over-arcing storyline, but, he needs the help of an editor to help polish things a bit. Also, part of the problem, for me anyway, with some sci-fi / fantasy epics like this, is having to learn another entire language to keep track of everything. For some reason, that was the biggest turn off for me with this particular work. I quit about halfway through because it was such a drudgery keeping track of everything and the vocabulary. I guess I'm lazy like that. For some reason this work in particular was the worst I've wrong across in that sense, but otherwise, I really enjoyed the characterization and story. As I read this, I felt it was too much of a struggle to finish, and I hate myself for feeling that way as I can see the genius here. If someone used this as the source material for a movie and polished up some of the rough spots I think it would be a really epic series.
|
|
|
Post by Spike-X on Aug 19, 2017 19:47:45 GMT -5
I've been re-reading Mage: The Hero Discovered (to be followed by The Hero Defined) in preparation for the new series. The earliest issues are very, very raw, but it's worth sticking with. I actually bought the first couple of tpbs that were published by Image once they acquired the rights. I don't know if they were poorly bound or what, but in trying to re-read them I couldn't even open them without the pages warping all over the place. Luckily I was able to grab the rest on Comixology. I might even get these there as well, and throw these out. Picture of the crappiness
|
|
|
Post by Spike-X on Aug 19, 2017 21:06:56 GMT -5
Thor Annual #2 - some nifty Kirby art in desperate search of something resembling a plot to illustrate.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Aug 20, 2017 8:20:59 GMT -5
I read What If? #44 last night and was completely chilled by it. The basic premise is that Namor never came upon the frozen Captain America in the 1960's, so he wasn't thawed out until the mid-1980s As a result, when Richard Nixon visited China, a communist-hating janitor at a government facility who thought Nixon was selling the US out to its enemies, revived the 1950's Captain America and Bucky. They became public sensations due to their crime-fighting exploits, which draws the attention of Quentin Harderman from the Committee to Regain America's Principles. He uses them to support a politician for the Senate, which helps that man get elected, and then "Cap" uses his influence on the American public to sway support in favor of this senator's policies, which include a national ID card to weed out illegal aliens from taking jobs from Americans and a federal jobs bureau designed to keep minorities from getting hired. The senator also gets the Emergency Security Powers Act passed, with "Cap's" help after "Cap" is shot from behind (by a CRAP sniper) during a meeting with peaceful demonstrators from Harlem, so that African-Americans could be blamed, causing racial tensions flare, and he creates a group called the Sentinels of Liberty, which is designed to enforce martial law in the aftermath. Steve Rogers, still floating in ice, is found by a US submarine, which brings him onboard and thaws him out. The captain of the sub sneaks Steve into New York, where he is shown that Harlem has been walled off to create a ghetto before being taken to meet the underground resistance led by Nick Fury, Peter Parker and Snap Wilson. It is revealed that the senator, and "Cap" and "Bucky" by extension, are having their strings pulled by William Taurey, head of the Secret Empire, who wants to be elected president so he can establish an American monarchy under himself. During a press conference where "Cap" is introducing some new teammates of his, called the Freedom Five, the resistance strikes and Steve defeats the impostor Cap on camera in front of the country. The speech Steve delivers at the end is as follows: "He (the fake Cap) told you that Americans were the greatest people - that America could be refined like silver, could have the impurities hammered out of it, and shine more brightly! He went on about how precious America was - how you needed to make sure it remained great! And he told you anything was justified to preserve that great treasure, that pearl of great price that is America!
Well, I say America is nothing! Without its ideals - its commitment to the freedom of all men, America is a piece of trash! A nation is nothing! A flag is a piece of cloth! I fought Adolf Hitler not because America was great, but because it was fragile! I knew that liberty could as easily be snuffed out here as in Nazi Germany! As a people, we were no different from them! When I returned, I saw that you nearly did turn America into nothing! And the only reason you're not less than nothing - is that, it's still possible for you too(sic) bring freedom back to America!"I loved the job that Peter Gillis did turning Steve Englehart's classic Cap story on its ear. What If? is usually a hit-or-miss title for me, as some of the stories are just role reversals or glorified fan fiction (What if the Punisher had Wolverine's abilities?, or some such crap like that), but this took a serious look at what would happen if the man who stood up for America's ideals wasn't around to defend them and what the implications of that would be if perverted by unsavory elements. Lastly, I don't know if Gillis had a time machine or crystal ball, but damned if this story, written 33 years ago, didn't have WAY too many parallels with what is happening in the USA under the current administration.
|
|
|
Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Aug 20, 2017 14:24:54 GMT -5
Read this today...love me some Gil Kane. This plus a few other recent pickups has me wanting to try and get at least the first 30 issues of MTU now. Also, some more Morbius appearances from that time frame if possible (I know he appeared in Fear so I may have to seek some of those issues out). Fun fact...Spidey gives Jean Grey a nice smooch in this ish!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 21:22:18 GMT -5
I started reading Cerebus and am through the first 6 issues. I'm digging it so far. Only 294 to go.
|
|