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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 8, 2014 7:59:54 GMT -5
Since "pax" is the Latin word for "peace," it's really not all that remarkable that two writers separated by four decades would use it in such a context.
Cei-U! I summon Longstreet's seeing-eye dog! (If you get that reference, you're old!)
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Post by The Captain on Oct 8, 2014 8:31:17 GMT -5
Since "pax" is the Latin word for "peace," it's really not all that remarkable that two writers separated by four decades would use it in such a context. Cei-U! I summon Longstreet's seeing-eye dog! (If you get that reference, you're old!) In and of itself it isn't that remarkable, but the ideas themselves are similar enough to give one pause.
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Post by fanboystranger on Oct 8, 2014 10:29:21 GMT -5
Finished Reign of the Zodiac. Doran's art was beautiful as always, but at times the art seemed to be in opposition to the script and the storytelling suffered. Giffen also tried to develop a cant or dialect for the dialogue of the other world, which always seems like a great idea to a writer when trying to create authenticity, but in execution is usually quite annoying to try to read, and here it was annoying as hell. I loved the premise of this book, and some of the characters would have been great to read long term, but it fails in the execution. I don't know if it was planned as an 8 issue mini from the get go or whether it died on the vine after 8 issues because of poor sales, but the pacing was terrible. It took 5 issues to get everything set up, 6 rushed it all the a climax, 7 was done by a fill in artist and was all set up for the denouement, and 8 tried to tie everything together unsuccessfully, but still leave things open-ended. There were so many interesting sub-plots or seeming sub-plots that got introduced and hen dropped and/or ignored, it just wound up being a hot mess in the end. So much promise, such a great creative team and a wonderful premise full of promise, but in the end, so disappointing. -M Completely agree with this assessment. This was one of my most anticipated titles when it was announced, but it was pretty much a disaster, especially when you consider the creative team. This was a low period in Giffen's career as a writer-- everything was so oblique and often impenetrable, and there's several failed series around that time to prove it. Luckily, he'd soon move to Marvel and produce Annihlation.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2014 11:19:59 GMT -5
Interesting. In Serenity, Pax (G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate) was the name of the chemical compound that the Alliance put into the air processors on the planet Miranda to calm the population and keep down aggression, but I'm sure Joss Whedon had never read any Silver Age JLA before writing that into the script I'd completely forgotten about that. There is another JLA story (issue numbers escape me) shortly before this that I felt had to have at least partially inspired the Observers in Fringe.
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Post by hondobrode on Oct 8, 2014 14:03:39 GMT -5
Reading the Gotham Central series I picked up at Comixology and enjoying it. Great team of Brubaker, Rucka and Lark with a smattering of The Bat and mostly the GCPD trying their best to handle Bat villains without having to resort to turning on the Bat signal. Solid. Renee Montoya Crispus Allen
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Post by berkley on Oct 8, 2014 21:30:39 GMT -5
The most recent "classic" I've read was the Moench/Sinkiewicz Moon Knight series. I've always considered myself a fan of the character from his first appearances in Werewolf by Night, Marvel Spotlight, and Rampaging Hulk backups, but hadn't seen much of this first solo series before as it started around the time I stopped following Marvel publications in general.
I'd have to say that on the whole, this series never really came together for me. And I think the reason for that is not so much any great flaw in the writing or the art, but just that the whole idea of a superhero who mainly fights assorted non-costumed bad guys - terrorists, gangsters, street thugs, madmen, etc - has never worked for me. It breaks me out of the particular variety of suspended disbelief that I find I need to enjoy superhero stories.
Sinkiewicz's art was good, but his early, Neal Adams influenced work has never done a lot for me. It wasn't until he lifted his game in the last few MK issues he drew that I began to see why he's won such acclaim over the years.
I still plan to read some of the later MK miniseries and also the recent Warren Ellis one. Curious to see how the character has evolved since this first series, in which Moench took him in a direction that didn't entirely work for me.
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Post by antoine on Oct 9, 2014 19:48:57 GMT -5
I know everybody here is mostly a superhero fan, but I just read Black Hole by Charles Burns, and it was FANTASTIC! This might have been one of the best comics I've ever read. Great Story (Teenagers in 1970' Seattle live with the aftermath of a sexually transmitted disease which causes grotesque mutations), amazing art and GREAT character development,
I highly recommend this to everyone. Now I have to find more Charles Burns\
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2014 20:59:20 GMT -5
I know everybody here is mostly a superhero fan, but I just read Black Hole by Charles Burns, and it was FANTASTIC! This might have been one of the best comics I've ever read. Great Story (Teenagers in 1970' Seattle live with the aftermath of a sexually transmitted disease which causes grotesque mutations), amazing art and GREAT character development, I highly recommend this to everyone. Now I have to find more Charles Burns\ Black Hole was chosen for the CCF Long Halloween by one of our esteeme dmembers, you can see the discussion here-M
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Post by antoine on Oct 9, 2014 21:36:50 GMT -5
I know everybody here is mostly a superhero fan, but I just read Black Hole by Charles Burns, and it was FANTASTIC! This might have been one of the best comics I've ever read. Great Story (Teenagers in 1970' Seattle live with the aftermath of a sexually transmitted disease which causes grotesque mutations), amazing art and GREAT character development, I highly recommend this to everyone. Now I have to find more Charles Burns\ Black Hole was chosen for the CCF Long Halloween by one of our esteeme dmembers, you can see the discussion here-M Wow! What a coincidence! I generally read most of the threads on the forum, but I just had a baby girl 16 days ago, so I have way less time for myself! Glad somebody liked it too! Now I wanna read Xssed Out and everything else CB wrote/draw
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2014 23:02:05 GMT -5
Black Hole was chosen for the CCF Long Halloween by one of our esteeme dmembers, you can see the discussion here-M Wow! What a coincidence! I generally read most of the threads on the forum, but I just had a baby girl 16 days ago, so I have way less time for myself! Glad somebody liked it too! Now I wanna read Xssed Out and everything else CB wrote/draw Congrats on the baby girl! -M
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Oct 10, 2014 19:54:36 GMT -5
Recently been doing a fair bit of reading. Here are some issues along with some thoughts. Spider-Woman #1-3 I have the first 15 issues or so from this series. The guy whose collection I am helping sell had them and I put some up on ebay with little interest. I decided they are all in decent shape (plus I kinda like the cover for #3 above...a lot) so I am deciding to keep them. Spider-Woman is definitely an odd character. I need to pick up her origin in Marvel Spotlight but the first three issues were entertaining enough to want to continue. Nothing spectacular (or amazing...or web of...or superior...I will stop now) but its 70's goodness that I enjoy. Avengers #194-196 Avengers is a series I really am lacking on (as in, I maybe have a few issues). Luckily, this collection had some and I plucked out this mini run to hang onto. I enjoyed it a lot. Taskmaster is a cool looking villain and I like how it adds to the explanation of where all the bad henchmen come from. Neat idea, simple enough and great artwork. I have a few other issues from the late 70's/ early 80's that I have hung on to as well so I am looking forward to those.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 11, 2014 20:15:34 GMT -5
I read the 1st half of the Roy Thomas retro Invaders series today and yesterday... (the 1st 22)... it's very Roy Thomas-y.
I LOVE when he does crazy stuff like tying in the story from the early Avengers where the Grand Master sends Cap, Torch and Namor after the then current Avengers, it was VERY cool. He also tossed in some nice references to other early 40s stuff. It's always fun to make continuity where none was meant to be.
OTOH, I forget that Roy Thomas dialogue in large doses can get a bit trying.... having characters say 'check' or 'copesetic' to start every exchange gets old real fast, as does the constant stream of G rated German epithets.
The art is pretty good for the most part, not stellar, but passable. I'll definitely get the 2nd half of the series when that trade comes out in a couple months.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,090
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Post by Confessor on Oct 17, 2014 4:58:52 GMT -5
Not had much time for reading lately, but I did manage to read some Perishers newspaper strips and an old The Self-Made MAD paperback. The Perishers was the usual light-hearted fun that it always is whenever I dip into it and The Self-Made MAD is definitely one of the better paperback book collections put out by "the usual gang of idiots" in the '60s. Both books were good, clean fun with clever artwork.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Oct 17, 2014 8:07:55 GMT -5
Just got back into my Jim Aparo Batman collection and read Brave and the Bold #113 and 114 last night. I'm trying to work my way through what I feel is the "essential" Batman runs/stories before his 75th celebration is over. If I don't make it, I'll have to wait until his 100th celebration and that would just suck. Those are the rules. Eh.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 18, 2014 20:31:59 GMT -5
Read the Great Darkness Saga today... very enjoyable story... Levitz and Giffen did an amazing job giving a huge cast all screen time. I wonder, though, was Darkseid a big surprise back when it came out? It seemed pretty obvious early on... what with Orion and Kalibak clones and all...maybe it's just easy to see the clues when you know already?
The other positive thing that was striking to me was how full of personality each and every legionnaire is....I'd read some silver age legion, but mostly I'm familar with the triangle era and beyond.. I didn't realize how firm a foundation those later writers had.
On the down side, it is certainly soap opera-y at times, with everyone pairing up. It also is hard to fathom that they're all kids.. or are they not? They talk about having 13 different leaders and are all drawn as adults (mid-late 20s I'd say) yet Brainy mentions when they induct the new Invisible Kid that he's 'Under 18' (even though he looks and act 30-35). Perhaps that's the motivation behind the '5 years later' era?
I'm definitely looking forward to the big pile of Levitz Legion I have at home now (though it'll probably be a bit before I get to read singles with all my travel coming up)
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