The plot is alas pretty difficult to enjoy, even with a charitable outlook. Our heroes seem to follow vaguely defined trails to find newly-appeared mutants using Cerebro in its "Plot Demanded Indications" mode. They also come up with impromptu plans that make no sense whatsoever: beset by a bunch of bad guys with whom they are in the process of wiping the floor, the X-Men telepathically find out that their comrade Iceman is a prisoner in some undisclosed location! What to do? Trounce the villains and slap one around until he talks or... just allow ourselves to be defeated and brought to the same place as our comrade, hoping nobody will have the idea of rendering us unconscious for the duration or just shoot us in the head? Yeah, let's opt for the second idea.
Sure, it's just supposed to be zany fun... but it's clear that these comics were still written for 12 year old kids! (One could of course argue that comics were always meant to be just that, and that more "adult" storytelling is something of an odd affectation).
I was one of those kids--although under 12--when I got this off the stands and even then I found the story's action very convoluted and silly, though I loved the new character Lorna Dane. And the cover of #50 is one for the ages.
But as I was used to the Heck layouts-Roth finished art with its simple clear storytelling, along with Roth's attractive faces, I have to admit that the Steranko interior art was jarring to me back then. True, it had a kind of jagged edge or energy but I found it awfully sloppy in places. Anyway, by the end of #51 I was just about getting used to the Steranko-drawn X-Men...then in #52, it's back to Heck-Roth!
Post by The Captain on Jan 10, 2019 20:45:14 GMT -5
Thanks to a suggestion from @mrp about reading order for Green Arrow, I ordered the Longbow Hunters TPB from Amazon last week before diving into his solo series. Read it in one sitting tonight, and I came away incredibly impressed. This is how to do an actual "adult" comic book without having to resort to tons of foul language (yes, there is some, but it's organic in the context of the story), graphic violence (not to say it isn't violent, but there's a reason for it and it never comes across as gross or for shock value) or gratuitous T&A or explicit sex (sure, you know that Oliver and Dinah have sex, because you see him carry her up to their bedroom and then they are cuddled up with zero clothing on a couple of pages later, but you don't SEE it and you don't have to in order to understand what just happened and why).
The story is pretty complex and sets up Oliver for his solo series, which I'm excited to get into as soon as I can hunt down the first issue, because I think it's important to start at the beginning (I have all of them from #2-29, then #31-36 or so).
"As a youngin' I used to share the colt 45 on the street corners with my friends. I'm not proud." - icctrombone
"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That's dead. Forever." - Baron Helmut Zemo
The fact that there is a Highway to Hell but only a Stairway to Heaven should tell us all we need to know about expected future traffic.
Post by Reptisaurus! on Jan 10, 2019 22:49:34 GMT -5
Huh. I read the Longbow Hunters and it always felt like "If you like sexualized violence, here is sexualized violence for the sake of sexualized violence! Come for the sexualized violence, stay for the sexualized violecence!"
On the other hand adult superhero comics are sooooo not my thing, 99% of the time. (For almost the exact same reason I can't handle Alan Moore's Miracleman.) I mighta missed something.
Post by beccabear67 on Jan 11, 2019 0:12:11 GMT -5
But that's realism, if you can't 'handle' it... uh, well, 'cept for the colorful costumes, and, er... the super-powers, and the... codenames... but other than that it's down and dirty nitty-gritty realism for real adults... man!
I like Mike Grell comics but never tried Longbow Hunters. So the above probably doesn't apply to it. His longbow parts would be realistic anyway as I'm pretty sure he has actually hunted with a longbow.
But that's realism, if you can't 'handle' it... uh, well, 'cept for the colorful costumes, and, er... the super-powers, and the... codenames... but other than that it's down and dirty nitty-gritty realism for real adults... man!
I like Mike Grell comics but never tried Longbow Hunters. So the above probably doesn't apply to it. His longbow parts would be realistic anyway as I'm pretty sure he has actually hunted with a longbow.
Quite! He also seems to be familiar with Japanese archery.
While the person who drew the Conan cover below probably never used a bow.
_________________________________ People in white coats is where I put my humorous science cartoons. Roquefort Raider is where you can see some of my more serious stuff. Feel welcome to drop by! Éditions Roquefort is my publishing house.
I read Thor #219, continuing the story of the "Black Starts", giant machines that go around destroying solar systems. It was pretty good ,though the dialogue could have been better. We still haven't met the beings behind the Black Stars, but we meet some of their minions, who despise their masters. We also get a bit of buildup with the side plot of Hildegarde's sister (Krista) and the mysterious stone she found. No doubt Thor will have some trouble with that as soon as he's done whoopin' those Black Stars.
Post by adamwarlock2099 on Jan 11, 2019 13:22:44 GMT -5
I dont remember a lot of sexualized violence in Longbow Hunters. And 90% of the time I am with Reptisaurus on "adult" comics. They try way to hard to try and NOT be superhero comics and yet as beccabear pointed out, they still have all the hallmarks of being a superhero comic. While I don't like Miller's art, The Long Goodbye is an "adult" comic, and doesn't have any (that I can remember) of the hallmarks of superhero comics, done right.
Bettie Mae Page -- April 23, 1923 - December 11, 2008 Prince Rogers Nelson -- June 7, 1958 - April 21, 2016 “We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing." -- Charles Bukowski
I just read the first story of Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon, which takes up most of the first issue of the 1980s Kitchen Sink series that reprinted Caniff's newspaper strip. I liked it - enough that I'd be tempted to buy the IDW reprints if I knew for certain they were a significant improvement over the KS mags. But I have the first 12 issues of that series, which I think covers roughly the first two volumes of the IDW books, and I hate the idea of spending money for something I already have in another format, so I think I'll hold off till volume 3.
I'm impressed with the Canyon strip to the degree that I now wish I had ordered the first volume or two of Caniff's Terry and the Pirates when I was looking for stuff from the 30s a couple years back; not sure why I didn't think of it at the time. But I don't feel like backtracking right now, so I'll save Terry for sometime down the road.
Post by beccabear67 on Jan 12, 2019 16:32:01 GMT -5
I've moved on to Amazing Adventures 'War Of The Worlds' (aka Killraven) thanks to getting a lot of them. #19 is the second appearance and it's pretty clanky for a future even by 1973 standards. I think Chaykins pencils credit might be more for layouts, though there is one nice splash page of a martian. #20 is by Marv Wolfman and a better read filling in the occupied Earth background more and focusing on an obsessed cyborg nemesis for Killraven called Warlord. Herb Trimpe's art style suits most of the characters, and the Wellsian tripods look good too. Killraven gets a much less ridiculous and actually cool looking costume too! Don McGregor starts as writer with #21 and introduces the first female cast member Carmilla, and her mutant clone sidekick Grok. There is a crossbow from a museum fired like a gun; four quick shots? Seems pretty unlikely and it is a very basic one in the drawing, so there's a possbile flaw, possible because the drawing doesn't show him firing more than one into a monster, but the caption says four arrows... would he fire four at once? I don't know, I wasn't into D&D.
I don't have #22, so next will be #23 with some sort of mutant rat problem. where's Tom Sutton when you need him? #24 promises a New Year's Eve 2019 setting!
Last Edit: Jan 12, 2019 16:37:40 GMT -5 by beccabear67
I bought the Lowbow Hunters off of the rack back in...errr...I'm gonna say 1987? Anyway, I loved it at the time and, although it's been ages since I last re-read it, I remember it holding up very well to adult eyes.
Today Im thinking of reading either Marvel's Essential X-Men Volume 7 or Dark Horse's Omnibus trade paperback Star Wars Long Time Ago Volume 4.
But Im not sure if I already have but I think I read the Star Wars Omnibus trade volume 4 last year or maybe it was Volume 3. One of them has the Empire Strikes Back comic book adaptation. Ill have to go look through them later today.
But I am still going to be reading Essential X-Men Volume 7 today
I read a two part Legion story in Adventure Comics #378-379 (in the Legion of Super-Heroes Archives vol. 9). Five Legionnaires get poisoned on Brainy's birthday, and they have 12 hours to live. Of course there are traces of kryptonite in the poison so that Superboy is affected, too. After reading enough of these, I'm pretty well convinced that kryptonite is the most common substance in the universe. I find it odd that Superboy chose to spend his last hours in the 20th century, rather than in the 20th century with his parents. That decision worked in the end, though (spoiler: they don't die). I think it's totally cool that Karate Kid wants to spend his last hours going out on a blaze of glory, so he decides to take on the Fatal Five! It reminded me a bit of Wolverine taking on the Hellfire Club:
He fares pretty well before the fight gets prematurely ended before they can finish him off. Anyway, the Legionnaires get together at the final hour and write a will. I find it interesting that Brainy left his force field belt to Invisible Kid. Invisible Kid is supposed to be very intelligent himself, so maybe there's some camaraderie there. It seems like Shooter is giving his creations, especially Karate Kid, some good face time. Some other Legionnaires show up and find the five Legionnaires apparently dead (as well as the person who poisoned them) though they're not dead yet, but in a state of "time freeze" caused by an alien who wants the Legion's help. He tells the remaining Legionnaires he can cure their comrades if they go back to his dimension and help him. They agree. Once there, they find that these aliens have powerful minds but their bodies have become weak due to lack of activity. They are unable to repel an invading army and want the Legion to fight for them. The Legion agree, but a sortie shows that 8 Legionnaires isn't enough. The Legion convince the Seerisieans that they must fight for their own freedom, as they greatly outnumber the invading army. It works, and they are victorious. Of course, they get transported back, but the Seerisians can't help them because the Legionnaires goofed by thinking their pals dead and launching them into space in space coffins. However, Ultra Boy remembers the Miracle Machine, and they are able to revive their buddies, since they weren't actually dead yet, and capture the bad guy. It's a but of a let-down that the poisoner is a small time crook I've never heard of before, but this was still a good two-part story.
Plus, both covers have Neal Adams art, which is always a good thing. Unfortunately, he doesn't do the interior art.
Last Edit: Jan 14, 2019 11:00:52 GMT -5 by dbutler69
Post by Batflunkie on Jan 16, 2019 21:58:36 GMT -5
The Demon Volume 1, Issues 1-16.
What a fun read~
Bought the recent Kirby Centennial re-release and just guzzled it down like water. Still have a very hard time stomaching Kirby's dislike of being stuck on such a title when he just exuded so much creativity on every page of every issue. First two issues are, to me, probably the strongest of the title with Klarion's first appearance following shortly behind
"I trust that a certain knowledge of popular culture will provide a reassuring familiarity in an otherwise strange and hostile environment."~ Charlie, The Last American #1