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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 30, 2022 5:01:54 GMT -5
To quote Oscar Wilde: "All art is useless." Doesn't mean it has no intrinsic value but, from a utilitarian standpoint, it serves no purpose (other than to employ its makers and disseminators).
Cei-U! I summon the alternative viewpoint!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 30, 2022 4:58:04 GMT -5
Iron Man #1, the one from '68. I sold my original copy during my California misadventure back in '98 and I still regret it. If I could get that and Sub-Mariner #1 for that thou, I'd be one happy fanboy.
Cei-U! I summon the longstanding regret!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 30, 2022 4:51:35 GMT -5
I don't think people appreciate how hard it is to write a good team book. ...especially the Justice League. Imagine trying to come up with a threat big enough to warrant the collective efforts of Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter. Now imagine doing that every month. It's no wonder Gerry Conway resorted to rebooting the League late in his run. Yeesh!
Cei-U! I summon the daunting task!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 29, 2022 18:52:40 GMT -5
I gave it a 5. I'm a die-hard Claremont X-Men fan, but that storyline seemed awkwardly paced, as if Claremont wasn't really sure what he wanted to do, and so the thing limped along awkwardly and then jumped to an arbitrary climax far too quickly. I adore what the Dark Phoenix Saga did for the X-Men franchise in its aftermath, and the concept itself was very powerful, but as a stand-alone story, I think it was problematic at best. That's my thing with Claremont, particularly this. His pacing is uneven. Like I said, he started well, then kind of stalls, then kicks it up, then stalls a bit, then rushes to an end. I think pacing has affected some of his other stories. As time wore on, it wasn't his pacing that rubbed me wrong, but his repetition. Considering that Claremont rarely, if ever, wrote full-script, at least some of the pacing problems you mention are likely attributabl to his artistic collaborators, especially Byrne (his FF run frequently featured weird pacing). In my eyes, Claremont's biggest flaw was ripping off ideas wholesale from other, usually better, works in other media. (Modesty Blaise, Star Trek, Alien, etc, etc).
Cei-U! But I still love the Dark Phoenix story!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 29, 2022 6:45:34 GMT -5
I gave it an 8: it has a good beat and you can dance to it.
Cei-U! I summon the Bandstand Boogie!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 29, 2022 5:11:21 GMT -5
I seem to recall reading a joke, possibly in Chew, about 60 issues and a TV series. Which has me wondering, what's your ideal length for a comic book series? Whatever length is required for the creator(s) to complete the story they have to tell.
Cei-U! I summon the variable in that formula!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 28, 2022 5:00:55 GMT -5
I'm another big Marie Severin fan. Wish she'd had a more extended run on Kull and that she'd had a few long runs on some other characters. She was one of the best Hulk artists - but then the Hulk was never a favourite of mine. She did some excellent work on Dr. Strange, but it happened to coincide with a period when I think the writing wasn't really special, at least relative to the best periods for that character. If only the Kull series had lasted longer, perhaps she would have rivalled John Buscema's Conan run - in terms of quantity and longevity, I mean: I already think she rivaled or surpassed him in terms of quality. I wonder what the decision-making process was that didn't make her the obvious Kull artist when the series was revived with #16, I think it was, after a few years in limbo. Probably she was too busy with her other tasks, but from a fan/reader/consumer perspective, however useful she may have been as a behind-the-scenes utility artist who helped keep the whole show running, I'd much rather she had been drawing more comics. Kull, alas, was not a big seller (no, I don't get it either). Retitling it Kull the Destroyer, replacing the Severins with Ploog, and dethroning the title character and turning him into a Conan-style wanderer were all done to try to make it more broadly appealing. When that didn't work, they tried moving him to the b&w mag Kull and the Barbarians (a run I just boughjt last weekend). When that didn't work, they revived the color title (now "the Conqueror" once more) but it failed once again, as did the two '80s runs, the ones printed on nice paper. For some freason, comics fans just couldn't or wouldn't warm up to Kull.
Cei-U! I summon the mysery!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 27, 2022 18:06:05 GMT -5
I've read Star Trek #9 & 10 from the Gold Key series. These are apparently the first two Len Wein stories, though you couldn't tell that from the credits - because there weren't any. I guess Len was actually a Star Trek fan whereas the previous writer was not. The writing in these two issues is okay. Reasonably Star Trekish plots, but some of the dialogue is not good. However, my bigger complaint is with the art. It's not that great, and the characters don't really look like the actors, either. I can forgive that, though, as it's probably not easy to capture that, but the coloring is ridiculous. Most of the Star Trek characters have the wrong colored shirt - they mostly just give everybody except Spock a yellow shirt, and Scotty's hair is also colored wrong, in addition to his short. If they didn't address each other by name in the dialogue, I'd have no idea who is who. These comics came out in 1970-71 so there's really no excuse for so many basic coloring errors. If memory serves, the licensing agreement between Paramount and Gold Key only allowed them to use the likenesses of Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley. Ergo, the other characters couldn't look too much like the actors who portrayed them.
Cei-U! I summon the fine print!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 27, 2022 6:23:15 GMT -5
Finally got to read the tabloid sized Superman vs Wonder Woman story from 1977 and it only took me 45 years to finally read it! I LOVED all those tabloid sized comics from DC & Marvel back in the 70's but sometimes they were hard to find on the news stand back then. They were also hard to find as back issues due to their unusual size. So this one I never got to read. I recently bought it for a great price. It is an Earth 2 story set in 1942. It is by Gerry Conway & Jose Luis Garcia Lopez. It was a decent WWII themed story but of course the beautiful art by JLGL in an oversized format is the main reason for getting this. So happy I got to finally get a book I waited to read for over 4 decades! One of my favorites. My copy is signed by JLGL himself, an ansolutely lovely gent I was fortunate enough to meet a few years back.
Cei-U! I summon the cherished classic!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 26, 2022 17:44:37 GMT -5
I guarantee you'll be disappointed qith FF Annual #3: sloppy plotting, sloppy art, the best part is the villain pin-up pages. Cei-U! I summon the serious letdown! FF Annual #3 didn't have villain pin-ups...though of course many Marvel baddies popped up in the story itself You're probably thinking of the earlier FF annuals, FF Annual #1 and #2, both of which had villain pin-up pages. You are correct, sir! I stand duly chastised and chagrined. Of course, this means FF Annual 3 has no best part, unless you count the reprints of FF #s 6 and 11,
Cei-U! I summon the goof (meaning the error, not he who made the error)!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 26, 2022 5:42:01 GMT -5
I guarantee you'll be disappointed qith FF Annual #3: sloppy plotting, sloppy art, the best part is the villain pin-up pages.
Cei-U! I summon the serious letdown!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 25, 2022 6:21:41 GMT -5
I can't believe I missed this poll first time around!
I'm not a big fan of Frank Miller, so I haven't read most of the choices listed. Of hose I have, I picked Elektra Assassin, partly because it's the only item I own in the original floppies, mosdtly because I really dig Sienkiewicz's art.
Yes, I picked the one Miller didn't draw.
Cei-U! I summon the contrarian!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 24, 2022 9:43:56 GMT -5
I'm okay with Royer's inks (I must be, given my collection) but I'd hardly consider him Kirby's best. That would be either Wally Wood or Bill Everett (Frank Giacoia, Syd Shores, Joe Sinnott and Dick Ayers are also strong contenders). Royer is *too* faithful to the pencil art. Jack's strength was in his storytelling, not the polish of his finishes. I think (as Stan Lee apparently thought) that Kirby's pencils worked best when paired with a stylistically strong inkslinger. Cei-U! I summon my two cents' worth of opinion! I like Royer on Kirby now more than I used to, but still feel, like you, he was too reluctant to change anything. Sinnott will probably remain my favorite, though Shores and (sometimes) Giacoia are good.
Wood's inks are aesthetically gorgeous, but take something away. The best I can say about Ayers is he didn;t screw things up.
I feel that Ayers gave Kirby's pencils weight, depth, and clarity (clarity is where I think Royer sometimes comes up short). They didn't always mesh well, but when they did--like on the first Fantastic Four Annual--the result was a thing of joy.
Cei-U! I summon the dynamic duo!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 24, 2022 7:06:12 GMT -5
That's a cheerful looking batch of comics. Sheesh. Cei-U! I summon the vivid disincentive to buy/read!
Actually it was a top seller for DC back in 2019. Oh, I'm sure. I am clearly not the target audience for contemporary Big Two comics, but I'm cool with that.
Cei-U! I summon the generation gap!
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 24, 2022 5:09:27 GMT -5
Had a good time at the Grit City Comic Show on Saturday but my printer was acting all wonky that morning so I had to go without my want list. Still, I didn't do too bad for flying blind.
First, I picked up a short stack of Marvel magazines:
Bizarre Adventures #27 (X-Men solo stories by Cockrum, Perez and John Buscema)
Howard the Duck #1 and 9 Kull and the Barbarians #1-3
as well as several mid-'80s mini-series:
The Shadow War of Hawkman #1-4 X-Men/Alpha Flight #1-2 X-Men Vs. The Avengers #1-4
and, just for the hell of it, I bought a copy of EC Classics eprinting Frontline Combat #9 (the all-Civil War issue) and Two-Fisted Tales #1. But my real score for the day was a somwhat batered library copy, complete with dust jacket, of Batman from the 30's to the 70's for a measly $10.
I also picked up three nice figurines of the Silver Age Superman, Batman and Robin in the same scale as my Justice League PVC set.
So all in all I'd call it a good day at the con. Would you agree?
Cei-U! I crave your validation!
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