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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 4, 2015 10:17:18 GMT -5
In my opinion, Lee's SS run gets bad early on. It's one of those runs that fell short of my expectations. I can't into the supposed lofty story of the Surfer as a Christ and humanity as disappointingly close-minded. The Silver Surfer of that era is too whiny for me. If I recall correctly, there are certainly situations where he bemoans the distrust of humanity . . . when that distrust is totally justified. Like I think there was some illusion that made it seem like the Surfer was attacking innocent people. Don't remember exactly what it was, but I remember thinking that Surfer felt persecuted by people who were behaving rationally under the circumstances. But his overly dramatic woes and behavior are what keep me interested in this series. He goes on and on about how AWFUL humans are, and how he doesn't understand them, and how he doesn't trust them, but yet every single time he's tricked into helping them. And then there is your huge battle for the issue. Well, that and battling Mephisto. And, it's so hilarious to me, that I never grow tired of it. I mean, I may after a bit, but I'm 13-14 issues in, and it hasn't gotten old to me yet. It makes me chuckle. OH THE WOE OF THE SILVER SURFER. But he simply cannot ignore someone in need. But, dang it, he sure wishes he could. hahahaha. Better that than some of the issues of the Silver Surfer from the 1987 series. IMHO it went downhill after Englehart left. The Silver Surfer is supposed to be a noble and philosophical superhero, and his series at times turned into a burlesque comedy. No thanks, leave that stuff for Plastic Man or Deadpool.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2015 12:04:02 GMT -5
But his overly dramatic woes and behavior are what keep me interested in this series. He goes on and on about how AWFUL humans are, and how he doesn't understand them, and how he doesn't trust them, but yet every single time he's tricked into helping them. And then there is your huge battle for the issue. Well, that and battling Mephisto. And, it's so hilarious to me, that I never grow tired of it. I mean, I may after a bit, but I'm 13-14 issues in, and it hasn't gotten old to me yet. It makes me chuckle. OH THE WOE OF THE SILVER SURFER. But he simply cannot ignore someone in need. But, dang it, he sure wishes he could. hahahaha. Better that than some of the issues of the Silver Surfer from the 1987 series. IMHO it went downhill after Englehart left. The Silver Surfer is supposed to be a noble and philosophical superhero, and his series at times turned into a burlesque comedy. No thanks, leave that stuff for Plastic Man or Deadpool. Well, I WILL say that I *am* slightly annoyed at the shortened issue length. This is silver age Stan Lee! There should be NOTHING short about these issues!
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Post by spoon on Feb 4, 2015 22:35:48 GMT -5
I read the three issue Hawkworld miniseries. I have read a lot of Hawkman comics (although I did read the first couple Silver Age Hawkman stories a month or two back), but I still get the impression that it was quite a departure from what came before. It's a very dark take on Katar Hol's history. And it fascinating to read the story of the two Shayeras. I was on the fence when I started. But by the end, I really liked the story.
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Post by paulie on Feb 4, 2015 23:43:12 GMT -5
I read the three issue Hawkworld miniseries. I have read a lot of Hawkman comics (although I did read the first couple Silver Age Hawkman stories a month or two back), but I still get the impression that it was quite a departure from what came before. It's a very dark take on Katar Hol's history. And it fascinating to read the story of the two Shayeras. I was on the fence when I started. But by the end, I really liked the story. The monthly series is terrific as well.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 5, 2015 9:49:46 GMT -5
I read the three issue Hawkworld miniseries. I have read a lot of Hawkman comics (although I did read the first couple Silver Age Hawkman stories a month or two back), but I still get the impression that it was quite a departure from what came before. It's a very dark take on Katar Hol's history. And it fascinating to read the story of the two Shayeras. I was on the fence when I started. But by the end, I really liked the story. I read The Shadow War of Hawkman a couple of months ago, as well as the first 3 issues of the 1986 Hawkman series that came out shortly thereafter. I liked them very much, especially Shadow War. Yes, between the Hawks not being able to consort with any other superheroes, and their public identity getting revealed, things sure were a-changin' for the Hawks. I guess Isabella wanted the Shadow War to drag on for something like 4 years but editor Denny O'Neil said no way. Isabella left the title and it went downhill shortly thereafter.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Feb 6, 2015 12:13:57 GMT -5
In my opinion, Lee's SS run gets bad early on. It's one of those runs that fell short of my expectations. I can't into the supposed lofty story of the Surfer as a Christ and humanity as disappointingly close-minded. The Silver Surfer of that era is too whiny for me. If I recall correctly, there are certainly situations where he bemoans the distrust of humanity . . . when that distrust is totally justified. Like I think there was some illusion that made it seem like the Surfer was attacking innocent people. Don't remember exactly what it was, but I remember thinking that Surfer felt persecuted by people who were behaving rationally under the circumstances. But his overly dramatic woes and behavior are what keep me interested in this series. He goes on and on about how AWFUL humans are, and how he doesn't understand them, and how he doesn't trust them, but yet every single time he's tricked into helping them. And then there is your huge battle for the issue. Well, that and battling Mephisto. And, it's so hilarious to me, that I never grow tired of it. I mean, I may after a bit, but I'm 13-14 issues in, and it hasn't gotten old to me yet. It makes me chuckle. OH THE WOE OF THE SILVER SURFER. But he simply cannot ignore someone in need. But, dang it, he sure wishes he could. hahahaha. Yeah, I think that is a good reading. The Silver Surfer is a lot more palatable - and I really do think the first 5 or 6 issues are great, great comics - if you read it as "Nobody wants to hang out with Captain Drama Queen."
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Feb 6, 2015 13:01:33 GMT -5
Yeah, I think that is a good reading. The Silver Surfer is a lot more palatable - and I really do think the first 5 or 6 issues are great, great comics - if you read it as "Nobody wants to hang out with Captain Drama Queen." :-) That is so fitting when you say it like that. I personally enjoyed the first series as a whole. There were some that weren't as good as others, but it didn't have as many downward dips as Vol 2, even though in the end I prefer SS as a cosmic player more so than Captain Drama Queen. Still makes me laugh. In fact #15 is pretty much the best condition comic I have as far as it's age and most I ever paid for a comic book. $45 for probably (never had it professionally graded) a FN/VG copy. Ms CW, don't know if you know but the first 14 issues were also reprinted in Fantasy Masterpiece which is how I got them.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2015 14:25:01 GMT -5
Yeah, I think that is a good reading. The Silver Surfer is a lot more palatable - and I really do think the first 5 or 6 issues are great, great comics - if you read it as "Nobody wants to hang out with Captain Drama Queen." :-) That is so fitting when you say it like that. I personally enjoyed the first series as a whole. There were some that weren't as good as others, but it didn't have as many downward dips as Vol 2, even though in the end I prefer SS as a cosmic player more so than Captain Drama Queen. Still makes me laugh. In fact #15 is pretty much the best condition comic I have as far as it's age and most I ever paid for a comic book. $45 for probably (never had it professionally graded) a FN/VG copy. Ms CW, don't know if you know but the first 14 issues were also reprinted in Fantasy Masterpiece which is how I got them. No!! I did NOT know that! I will have to look into that. Thank you!
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Feb 8, 2015 16:22:06 GMT -5
Read Gotham by Gaslight...I liked it, although the way it ended was waaayy too rushed. I feel this is a storyline that would have benefitted from several issues instead of a one-shot. Still a decent read.
Struggling to get through Action Comics #544. The cover is cool, which is why I bought it, but here is me trying my darndest to give Superman a chance and its not working. I mean, he is wearing super sunscreen for protection? He wraps a satellite up in his cape and throws it into space to stop its harmful rays from destroying Earth? Its still too campy and silly for me.
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Post by paulie on Feb 8, 2015 21:36:46 GMT -5
Read Gotham by Gaslight...I liked it, although the way it ended was waaayy too rushed. I feel this is a storyline that would have benefitted from several issues instead of a one-shot. Still a decent read. Struggling to get through Action Comics #544. The cover is cool, which is why I bought it, but here is me trying my darndest to give Superman a chance and its not working. I mean, he is wearing super sunscreen for protection? He wraps a satellite up in his cape and throws it into space to stop its harmful rays from destroying Earth? Its still too campy and silly for me. Gotham By Gaslight is rushed! Good call. Action #544 is a few miles south of mediocre.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2015 0:10:06 GMT -5
Let's see...
-finished the Deadman Baxter reprint series with all the Deadman stuff from Strange Adventures and Brave & the Bold
-read the first Masterworks volume of Golden Age Sub-Mariner stuff featuring Sub-Mariner Comics #1-4
-continued my way through the Golden Age Dr. Fate archives, and have reached the point where the helmet changes form full to half helmet. The tenor of the stories changes vastly after the origin story where the Kent Nelson identity was introduced, and Kent almost becomes the focus rather than Dr. Fate himself, as a lot of the short strips go towards establishing Kent, his relationship with Inza etc. plus some of the air of mystery and mystique of Dr. Fate is lost. Not sure how the change on helmet will affect the stories, but I enjoyed the pre-origin stories much more than the post-origin stories so far.
-I'm now halfway through the firs volume of the FF Epic collection featuring the early Lee/Kirby stuff (I've read 1-9 and it collects up through #18)
-working my way through the second Essential volume of Luke Cage, but a run of issues by Don McGregor and Frank Robbins have slowed me down a bit-I normally like McGregor and the stories aren't bad, but the walls of text mixed with Robbins quirky art all blending together in black and white on newspirnt have made it slower reading. Here's another series that I think lost its way a bit and the Hero for Hire issues before the title change to Power Man were much stronger and more compelling than the stories since. Add in DDD inventory fill ins, rotating creators and the series has lost some momentum for me, but I mostly like it so far, so keeping on.
-started the second Checker volume of Raymond's Flash Gordon that I own (I have vol. 2 and 6, I read 6 last month working on 6 now), the first sequence collected in it features Flash and company back on Earth using sci-fi tech (from Mongo?) against the great invading dictator (not named but likely a Hitler analogue as it was 1941) rather than pure sci fi adventure, a different feel than I was expecting for FG
-also working my way through the first Del Rey collection of he original REH Conan stories-I grew up on the de Camp Carter versions but I prefer the Howard originals and its been a while since I have read through them (and I am not sure I have read all the REH originals in the unedited form yet, the versions sometimes mash up in my brain) I want to read/reread all the Howard originals again before I dive into a massive Conan comic read.
-M
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Post by The Captain on Feb 9, 2015 6:50:10 GMT -5
I read 19 issues of Marvel Team-Up (25-43) on the plane from Pittsburgh to Houston, in an Essentials that my daughter let me borrow from her collection. Lot of Gerry Conway with a little Len Wein and Bill Mantlo writing, with Jim Mooney and Sal Buscema doing the art.
Nothing great, but it sure helped pass the time!
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,085
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Post by Confessor on Feb 9, 2015 9:47:52 GMT -5
I read 19 issues of Marvel Team-Up (25-43) on the plane from Pittsburgh to Houston, in an Essentials that my daughter let me borrow from her collection. Lot of Gerry Conway with a little Len Wein and Bill Mantlo writing, with Jim Mooney and Sal Buscema doing the art. Nothing great, but it sure helped pass the time! I love that era of Marvel Team-Up but, man, 19 issues straight! That's a lot of MTU to get through in one go. You're a hardier man than I. EDIT: Hey, look...my 600th post!
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Post by paulie on Feb 9, 2015 11:14:54 GMT -5
I read 19 issues of Marvel Team-Up (25-43) on the plane from Pittsburgh to Houston, in an Essentials that my daughter let me borrow from her collection. Lot of Gerry Conway with a little Len Wein and Bill Mantlo writing, with Jim Mooney and Sal Buscema doing the art. Nothing great, but it sure helped pass the time! I liked the team up with the Sons of the Tiger in #40. Confessor is right... that is a whole lot of Mantlo to digest at once.
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Post by The Captain on Feb 9, 2015 12:12:24 GMT -5
I read 19 issues of Marvel Team-Up (25-43) on the plane from Pittsburgh to Houston, in an Essentials that my daughter let me borrow from her collection. Lot of Gerry Conway with a little Len Wein and Bill Mantlo writing, with Jim Mooney and Sal Buscema doing the art. Nothing great, but it sure helped pass the time! I liked the team up with the Sons of the Tiger in #40. Confessor is right... that is a whole lot of Mantlo to digest at once. It was mostly Conway, which wasn't too bad, but the Mantlo stuff is really dense. It's good, but it takes much longer to finish an issue of his work.
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