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Post by chadwilliam on May 19, 2022 15:12:09 GMT -5
So what about Untold Tales made you want to fight me? Clones aside, I wasn’t a fan of Untold Tales. I wasn’t a fan of the premise. Seems in comics (and this could be my perception), that ‘untold tales’ is code for ‘the best tales ever, which we’re bringing to you now’. But if the ideas for the stories were so great, why weren’t they told in the first place, rather than untold? Unfortunately, it seems as if Steve Ditko might have agreed with you which is why we didn't get a Spider-Man project from him in the 90's. www.cbr.com/spider-man-steve-ditko-untold-tales/I think there are certain things which Ditko and Lee overlooked during their run - did they ever explain how Flash Thompson discovered that all those photos of his hero Spider-Man were taken by "Puny" Parker, for instance - which Busiek picked up on, but I can understand him taking offense at this rather than perceiving it in the light intended. I mean, I love a lot of The Beatles cover bands out there, but I can understand why it kind of rankled the actual group. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2022 15:13:36 GMT -5
Ditko explained it better than I did, I guess.  |
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Post by Batflunkie on May 19, 2022 15:18:55 GMT -5
X-Men The Hidden Years was kind of like that too Well the point of Hidden Years was to fill in a gap when the X-Men weren't having new stories published. I get that, but was it really a story worth telling though when it's entirety was surmised in Giant-Size X-Men #1? |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2022 15:20:15 GMT -5
Clones aside, I wasn’t a fan of Untold Tales. I wasn’t a fan of the premise. Seems in comics (and this could be my perception), that ‘untold tales’ is code for ‘the best tales ever, which we’re bringing to you now’. But if the ideas for the stories were so great, why weren’t they told in the first place, rather than untold? Unfortunately, it seems as if Steve Ditko might have agreed with you which is why we didn't get a Spider-Man project from him in the 90's. I'm kind of sad to know this actually, Steve Ditko is my favorite Spider-Man artist of all time. I would have hoped he would have appreciated the homage. I'm mixed on the missed opportunity for him to revisit the character. Part of me says "darn, that would have been awesome". Part of me also says the track record for even the best creators to return after too many years is not so good, and maybe it's for the best his classic work remains his legacy on the character. |
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Post by MWGallaher on May 19, 2022 16:19:11 GMT -5
I don't know if this contributed to the "jumping out" for you, but to me, it felt pretty radical that for (I think) the first time, DC departed from the classic, inimitable "Superman" logo and went with something more stylish and contemporary. I'm not arguing that it was better, but that it gave SUPERMAN FAMILY a sense of daring and boldness. The content may not have merited that impression, but the new logo conveyed it. I actually think you may have nailed that for me as well. I hadn't thought about the logo that way, but as I look back at some of the covers, that totally does pop out to me. And also agreed, at least to my tastes, it wasn't like the content itself was notably better. It hadn't occurred to me, but now that I've brought it up, I realize that the SUPERMAN FAMILY logo is a modification of the logo for the SUPERGIRL series that was cancelled just before SF launched. I guess DC was unhappy to lose that design--imagine if they'd based the new title's logo on the JIMMY OLSEN or LOIS LANE logos, instead... |
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Post by chadwilliam on May 19, 2022 18:46:28 GMT -5
For the late 70's and early 80's, I actually find myself in the same boat with Superman. While I love a lot of classic Silver Age era material, the 70's was a slog for me with much of Action/Superman, but DC Comics Presents I thought often kept things interesting. Can't say that DC Comics Presents had a greater ratio of good stories than the regular titles, though there undoubtedly are some classics in there - Brave and the Bold however... Considering the fact that if anyone is the Curt Swan of Batman it's Jim Aparo, it's surprising to me how long it took for him to actually become the regular artist on Batman. His connection to Batman goes back to what, 1970? '71? How is it that he didn't get promoted to the head title until 1987? And don't forget Bob Haney. Though there's a certain logic to not giving him the keys to any major character what with his penchant for creating his own continuity, personalities, and even logic for his tales, I'd argue that Brave and the Bold was the only consistently great Batman title throughout the 70's with his giving his stories all he had and more everytime. I'd much rather read about The Atom jumping around inside a dead Batman's brain to reanimate him than the dreck of David Reed. |
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Post by MWGallaher on May 19, 2022 19:42:39 GMT -5
Can't say that DC Comics Presents had a greater ratio of good stories than the regular titles, though there undoubtedly are some classics in there - Brave and the Bold however... Considering the fact that if anyone is the Curt Swan of Batman it's Jim Aparo, it's surprising to me how long it took for him to actually become the regular artist on Batman. His connection to Batman goes back to what, 1970? '71? How is it that he didn't get promoted to the head title until 1987? I didn't usually buy Batman in the '75-'80 time frame, so I thought I'd take a look at who was handling the title after Irv Novick. I was surprised to find significant runs by Ernie Chan and John Calnan before Irv returned to the book. Calnan seems like he's been almost totally forgotten now! |
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Post by kirby101 on May 19, 2022 19:58:23 GMT -5
Ditko repeatedly and always said after he left Marvel in the 60s that he would NEVER draw Spider-Man for them. So I find that story hard to believe.
Also this was not the first time other writers revisited his spidey stories.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 20, 2022 0:00:27 GMT -5
Batman Adventures was the best Bat Book of the 90s, in my opinion. Prior to that, it was Legends of the Dark Knight. The regular books didn't interest me too much.
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Post by Dizzy D on May 20, 2022 2:34:16 GMT -5
My general feeling is that the smaller titles can get to do more interesting things, while the main titles are under more heavy control by editorial and only allowed to shake things up when the formula is not giving the sales results they want any more.
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 20, 2022 6:51:10 GMT -5
Ditko explained it better than I did, I guess.  While I believe Ditko got mad from what I've read about him, that's not really reasonable, IMO. he clearly knew that Spider-Man was an ongoing book and owned by Marvel, right? I LOVED untold that Untold tales actually made an effort to make sense continuity wise instead of just being Busiek's vision of early Spidey (Which also would have been good, I'm sure)... wouldn't writing stories to REPLACE yours be alot more offensive then adding to them? I'd guess Ditko doesn't subscribe to 'imitation if the sincerest form of flattery' |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 20, 2022 7:31:08 GMT -5
Batman Adventures was the best Bat Book of the 90s, in my opinion. Prior to that, it was Legends of the Dark Knight. The regular books didn't interest me too much. Wholeheartedly agree. I only bought Batman or Detective if the story/cover seemed interesting on a issue to issue basis. But bought both LOTDK and Adventures religiously. |
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Post by kirby101 on May 20, 2022 7:36:36 GMT -5
Here is what Macchio said, www.cbr.com/spider-man-steve-ditko-almost-return/So he was never going to do Spider-Man, but maybe a Peter Parker story, maybe. I still don't buy that he didn't because of Untold Tales, unless they told him his new story would have to fit in with what Busiek was doing. Which is very different than just being mad at Untold Tales. In that case, it isn't Ditko saying they could not revisit his original stories. |
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Post by majestic on May 20, 2022 8:19:59 GMT -5
All the team up titles (Brave & Bold. DC Presents. World's Finest. MTU. MTIO) were my favorites during the 70s. I also loved DC Dollar Comics.
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2022 8:22:42 GMT -5
I am more likely nowadays, when I can afford it, to buy the Judge Dredd Megazine (which began in 1990) than 2000 AD, which features Dredd among a lot of other strips.
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