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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 12, 2018 15:48:56 GMT -5
So apparently some commentator on NBC said that the Dutch were so good at speedskating because it was the common means of transport in Amsterdam. Which is just... really?
Anyway seen a smithering of speed skating (is shown everywhere here, especially Sven Kramer going for his third gold on the 5000 meter), biathlon and curling (aka known as the most insidious sport to be drawn into when zapping past it).
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 11, 2018 13:42:48 GMT -5
X-Men Red #1 Written by Tom Taylor, art by Mahmud Asrar, colourist Ive Scorcina, cover by Travis Charest. Plot: Jean Grey is back and assembles her own team of X-Men. With the support of Namor of Atlantis and T'Challa of Wakanda, Jean speaks to the United Nations in order to get her recognized as the voice of the mutant population. Of course, things don't go as planned. Writing: The story starts off with a short scene with the full team saving a young mutant and bringing her to the team's new undersea base. The scene then shifts to two months earlier, Jean and some of her future team saving another young mutant. The flash forward seemed unnecessary to me, but I guess showing the full team in the first issue might draw some readers that want to know which direction the team is heading. The basic premise, I like. I always like X-Men trying do actually work on their dream instead of just running after the villain of the day or hiding in Australia. Art: The whole comic is sadly not completely illustrated by Charest, but Asrar is a good enough artist. Not much chance for really special things in this first issue, which is mostly Jean talking to people. Overall, interesting enough with enough talent behind so I'll keep following it. So now we have an X-Men Blue, X-Men Gold, X-Men Red and an Astonishing X-Men. Methinks one book should change its name. Other than the characters used, is their anything that really sets these books apart? I'm not reading the other titles around now (apart from one terrible annual of X-Men Gold, cause they suckered me in with Alan Davis Excalibur themed cover), but this title has some creators I like a lot and I like the idea of this team becoming the ambassadors for mutantkind to the UN.
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 11, 2018 4:00:22 GMT -5
Quite frankly, I have never been a fan of any of the Image guys. Part of it was that they tended to run off at the mouth, while keeping their brains turned off, when they launched the whole thing. The other part was I never cared for any of their styles. Way to much linework and not enough attention to storytelling. Jim Lee was one of the few who thought before he spoke; but, he quickly showed he wasn't about creator's rights when he set up a studio to churn out stuff that he owned. I'm also not a fan of him as an executive at DC. Erik Larsen probably shot his mouth off more than the others (his infamous "Name Withheld" pieces at CBG); but, he mostly stuck to producing his own book and did so consistently and relatively on time. i give him props for that. He was also less derivative than the others (other than a visual design swiped from the Hulk and Abomination). I learned to ignore their stuff and they quieted down after a few years. I do have to say I have more respect for Jim Valentino keeping his connections to the alternative world and being instrumental in drawing some higher quality projects to Image. I think he did more than the rest to open the company up to more artistic content, setting them up for the diversity they have now. If and when I get around to Image, in the Other Guys thread, I am going to have a tough time being objective. I don't want to slag off things I don't like in the thread; but, there is plenty at Image I did and do like. Spawn isn't one of them. At the time the advanced marketing started for the first issue, I looked at the designs in CBG and said, "Grendel wants his mask back, Ghost Rider wants his chains, and Spectre and Spider-Man would like a word or two." Then, when the first issue came out, there was that horrendously bad writing. I could have gotten a third grade remedial class to come up with better material than that! Wasn't there also a baby in it, with a gigantic head, since Todd couldn't draw children to proper proportions? It was still better than Youngblood, though. Yeesh!!!!!!! You're being quite reductive on Jim Lee's stance on creator rights: Wildstorm was his shared superhero universe, which would be work for hire with creative rights owned by the company, but unlike any other publisher at the time, he paid out royalties to all of the creative team on his books, including inkers, letterers and colourists. There was also room for creator-owned works like Kieth's The Maxx, though. Somewhat later, Homage Comics became his imprint for the creator owned series that were published by his studio.
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 10, 2018 17:01:27 GMT -5
X-Men Red #1 Written by Tom Taylor, art by Mahmud Asrar, colourist Ive Scorcina, cover by Travis Charest.
Plot: Jean Grey is back and assembles her own team of X-Men. With the support of Namor of Atlantis and T'Challa of Wakanda, Jean speaks to the United Nations in order to get her recognized as the voice of the mutant population. Of course, things don't go as planned.
Writing: The story starts off with a short scene with the full team saving a young mutant and bringing her to the team's new undersea base. The scene then shifts to two months earlier, Jean and some of her future team saving another young mutant. The flash forward seemed unnecessary to me, but I guess showing the full team in the first issue might draw some readers that want to know which direction the team is heading. The basic premise, I like. I always like X-Men trying do actually work on their dream instead of just running after the villain of the day or hiding in Australia.
Art: The whole comic is sadly not completely illustrated by Charest, but Asrar is a good enough artist. Not much chance for really special things in this first issue, which is mostly Jean talking to people.
Overall, interesting enough with enough talent behind so I'll keep following it.
So now we have an X-Men Blue, X-Men Gold, X-Men Red and an Astonishing X-Men. Methinks one book should change its name.
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 9, 2018 8:57:00 GMT -5
Image's Wayward is based in both Japanese folklore and Irish mythology.
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 9, 2018 5:48:33 GMT -5
Cloaking devices have been a part of Star Wars for decades. Good point! "No ship that small has a cloaking device." It's something of a throwaway line, and it causes lots of problems. We never see a ship that does have a cloaking device. Not the Death Star, the Executor, any Star Destroyer, any Rebellion capital ship, etc. There's some similar hand-waving about warp drives. TIE Fighters don't have them. "It's a short range fighter." Yet the similarly sized X-Wing does, as seen by Luke's jaunts to Dagobah and Bespin. They did try to fix this in the prequels by showing Obi-Wan's personal ship docked to a warp gate ring as seen in this Lego model version: The difference between TIE fighter and X-wing always seemed more of a cost/design difference between Empire and Republic to me. The Empire builds hundreds of cheap, expendable fighters with no hyperdrive (always used from Star Destroyers so no need for mobility themselves), no shields, limited life support and throws them in large numbers at the opponent, because it's a fascist empire where individual lives mean nothing. The Rebellion is small and needs every pilot they have, so the X-Wings are better protected and made for hit&run tactics.
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 6, 2018 10:23:49 GMT -5
Read: Avengers #52-54,62, skimmed others Daredevil #52 Black Panther appears in lots of Avengers comics, almost 80 consecutive issues, so I'm going to skim them and hit the highlights. Why is Black Panther an Avenger? Does he not have a kingdom to rule? Avengers #52 dedicates a single panel to the question, in which Black Panther claims that serving the entire world is a greater calling than serving one kingdom. Vision reminds us of this reasoning in #62. Also in #62 we learn Black Panther left a regent in charge, who went a bit insane. Having had to lock up his regent, it might be a good time to stay in his own kingdom, but the idea isn't even mentioned. He is immediately back in the jet with the Avengers toward New York. He will next visit Wakanda in #72. We won't see this visit, but will get informed of it. He's back in New York by #73. Why? Christopher Priest offers a retroactive explanation 30 years later. An explanation that doesn't quite fit, but makes more sense than anything in these pages. But it really makes so little sense. He has a kingdom to rule. Responsibilities. I could get being a reserve Avenger, based in Wakanda, on call for earth-threatening emergencies. But one who lives in New York? Thoughts? That's my problem with more heroes than just Black Panther. I think Coates solution is the best. For those not following current Black Panther: SPOILERS! {Spoiler: Click to show}Basically, Wakanda has now become a constitutional democracy with an interim council till the first election. T'Challa is still king, but it's a ceremonial/symbolical function. He can still advise and has a seat on the council, but has no political and military power any more.
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 2, 2018 5:34:30 GMT -5
Looks like fun but Wasp's costume seems dull. Now I watch it a second time I see the yellow is there...but only barely. But I guess if it is faithful to the character she will go through several in the course of the film. If it were faithful to the comics, she would have a costume change with every scene! It's not Janet.
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 1, 2018 5:50:43 GMT -5
Origins is always seen as the lesser one, because it was not made by Rocksteady, but in many ways I like it better than Arkham Knight and in some ways I like it better than City and Asylum (even though overall I like Asylum far more and City quite a bit more).
So I still think it's worth playing.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 31, 2018 6:46:37 GMT -5
Also liked Arkham Asylum better than City. City is certainly not bad and its Freeze boss battle is probably the highlight of the entire series for a boss battle, but I liked Asylum for the same reasons as Impulse.
Speaking of Batman games, I recently played Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. It's basically a standard Lego game. I have finished the main story, but unlocking the remaining characters has been disappointing mostly.
Is this game written by Geoff Johns (I really don't like Johns' writing in case you were wondering)?
Because we have a couple of dozen playable characters like usual with the Lego Games (150 not including DLC).
50 of the 150 characters are Batman related (which is fine, this is a Batman title instead of a general DC series. Generally you get the current comic version and the 1966 Adam West TV-series version of each): 6 of those are different version of Batman (including 1 which has 8 different costumes), several Robins (and their later identities), 2 versions of Batgirl (but only Barbara Gordon, no Stephanie or Cassandra), 2 versions of Alfred. Most of his classic villains (including obscure ones like Condiment King, Polka Dot Man). Some comic characters like Ace the Bathound, Bat-Cow and Bat-mite. No Gordon though, no Huntress or Batwoman or Scarecrow or Ra's al Ghul. We do get minions for Killer Croc? Is Killer Croc even the kind of villain to have minions?
Then we have 20 Green Lantern related characters including Daffy Duck as the Green Loontern, because despite being a Batman game the majority of the game takes place on the various Lantern planets. No Alan Scott though. No Jade. Kyle is there, but as White Lantern, not as a Green Lantern.
10 Superman characters, which makes sense cause Superman is of course a major character. No Lois or Jimmy though. No Power Girl. We do get Manchester Black and Solar Suit Superman.
6 Flash characters: Basically Flash, Grodd and all the Rogues.
Game is pushing Cyborg really hard (he has 8 different forms like Batman, Robin, Joker and Lex Luthor have, each with specfic powers) and you get him for most levels, we also get a Beast Boy, Kid Flash. We don't get a Starfire, Donna Troy, Terra or Raven though. We do get Miss Martian (she was created by who again?) and Wonder Girl (Cassandra, not Donna).
No Legion Characters (except Supergirl and Superboy), Doom Patrol (except Beast Boy), JSA is Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Captain Marvel and .... Stargirl. She was created by who again?
We get Kalibak and Orion, but no Mr. Miracle or Big Barda.
We get Captain Marvel and Black Adam, but not Mary Marvel.
We get Aquaman and Black Mantha, but no Mera.
For the rest we get most characters you'd expect: Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Doctor Fate, Etrigan, Plastic Man, Atom and some surprises (Detective Chimp, Frankenstein, Bronze Tiger). We get Vibe, but not Vixen.
The biggest disappointment is though that 4 slots are used for real people: Adam West (ok, Adam West is cool, so I'm completely fine with him in the game), but also Kevin Smith, Geoff Johns and Jim Lee (oh and Conan O'Brien is in the game, but not playable).
And they added their own created character for a slot, the Fierce Flame.
DLC does introduce some missing people: we get movie version of Gordon (and most Batman characters), the Arrow-verse version of the Green Arrow and his cast (and post Crisis,pre-52 Huntress), Bizarro versions of the JLA (plus Guy Gardner and Darkseid), the Suicide Squad (movie version).
Now I get that I won't get some of my favourites (Midnighter, Legion, John Constantine, Doom Patrol, Chronos) as they are not the best known characters DC has. But Starfire, Raven, Donna Troy, Power Girl, Mera and so on are big names IMHO and people I'd expect to be there, instead every unlock was "Oh hey, another Lantern I don't know about".
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 31, 2018 5:27:12 GMT -5
So did Arnold Drake. From the DC Wiki, among other sites: According to Comic Coverage: Which Came First: The Mutant or The Freak?, creator Arnold Drake felt: "...I've become more and more convinced that (Stan Lee) knowingly stole The X-Men from The Doom Patrol. Over the years I learned that an awful lot of writers and artists were working surreptitiously between (Marvel and DC). Therefore from when I first brought the idea into (DC editor) Murray Boltinoff's office, it would've been easy for someone to walk over and hear that (I was) working on a story about a bunch of reluctant superheroes who are led by a man in a wheelchair. So over the years I began to feel that Stan had more lead time than I realized. He may well have had four, five or even six months." I'd like to find the original source of this quote from Drake. Yeah, I don't buy it. I don't think any comics historians buy it. (A) There were only two months difference between when the books hit the stands, (B) What possible reason would Stan have to copy an unproven and not-yet-commercially successful formula? (C) The X-men were a fairly obvious amalgamation of Stan's own best selling titles - The X-men and the Fantastic Four. The egghead, the reverse human torch, the girl. And, hey, the Iron Man-esque Angel as well. Combine that with teenage superhero/Spider-man and $$$$$$. (D) And weren't really "reluctant" super-heroes at all. The "world that hates and fears them" thing wasn't played up at all until the Sentinels story, more than two years after the X-men debuted. The uncomfortable outsider quality of the Doom Patrol - the thing that really defined the book - didn't show up in the X-men 'till years later. They were both not-quite-traditional superteams led by a guy in a wheelchair, but they weren't similar in tone at all. (Basically the Doom Patrol had a theme and a point of view, and the X-men just felt like generic Marvel product.) (E) Lee and Kirby didn't really borrow current ideas from another company. Fantastic Four # 1 was influenced by JLA, but I can only think of one example after that that could have been influenced by DC. (The Phantom Eagle miiiiight have been a response to Enemy Ace.) Sure, the early Thor had lots of Superman elements in it, but it wasn't Weissinger's continuity heavy 1962 Superman. It was the simpler, 1946-ish Lois Lane love triangle Superman. I know this is strange considering that Marvel spent most of the '50s blatantly ripping off Dell and EC and basically every other major company, but once the '60s hit they didn't really steal ideas from other companies outside of obvious genre signifiers (Let's do some romance books! Let's do a war book!) (F) Arnold Drake has never been shy stating that the Doom Patrol used elements from the Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four. So in the extremely, unlikely (to my eyes impossible) event that Stan said "A guy in a wheelchair with a superhero team? That is a 100% sure-fire money maker idea that I must steal! So Smart! Such Genius! This brilliant idea never would have occurred to me in a million years! I will be rich! RICH I TELLS YA!!!!" Then turn-about seems to me to be fair play. Yeah, I agree with this. The timing is just too narrow, especially with the lead-in times that were on comics at the time (pre-digital colouring, e-mail and so on, I'd expect you were spending a lot more time between initial pitch of a comic and having it land on the stands. Maybe somebody who was in the industry can confirm/deny this?). Early X-Men was banking on two "big" ideas: a common origin for both heroes and most villains (the new race of superpowered humans emerging) and being a superhero school. Neither were part of Doom Patrol's pitch. The X-Men were never reluctant heroes and the hated and feared part came later, based basically only on the actions of both Magneto and Bolivar Trask (and I think by that time X-Men was already a better seller than Doom Patrol, based on the figures here: www.comichron.com/yearlycomicssales/postaldata/1966.html). The only common connection between the two is a leader in a wheelchair and it makes sense make a leader/teacher disabled, so the young team of heroes/students can not always fall back on him. Also "mutants are hated and feared" was already in Amazing Adult Fantasy #14, the X-Men prototype Stan Lee did, which in turn predates the Doom Patrol. If there is any cribbing in early X-Men it's from different source: Cyclops always had a very strong resemblance to The Comet, a superhero who had disintegrating beams shooting uncontrollably from his eyes that could only be stopped by his special visor.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 27, 2018 5:47:11 GMT -5
Wicked and the Divine volume 6: 6 trades in and still surprising developments. I think it's wrapping up soon though seeing developments in this issue.
Kill or Be Killed volume 3: So far not my favourite Brubaker/Phillips work. As in it's still very very good, but I'm not loving it as much as their other works.
Aquaman Volume 4: Mostly buying this for Sejic, but Abnett is also great when he's inspired.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 25, 2018 8:45:37 GMT -5
Has anyone ever taken the time to compile a Marvel timeline of issues from the 1960's through the 1970's? What I mean is, a timeline tying the universe together, issue by issue, so that moments when characters appear in other books, it is connected in some sort of overall timeline? A monstrous task no doubt. I only ask because I am reading Omega The Unknown #5 and Peter Parker interacts with young boy, John-Michael, at the Daily Bugle. When does this occur in relation to his own stories? That was the thought that came to me and seemed impossible to figure out but lead me to wonder if anyone had ever mapped out such a thing. Even, perhaps, a timeline for Peter Parker/Spider-Man in all his appearances across the Marvel Universe. Have you checked out the Marvel Chronology ProjectI can't speak to its accuracy or functionality any more (I used it a bit back about 15 years ago when someone on the Avengers Mailing List I was on introduced me to it), but it tries to do what you are looking for. -M www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/ is a similar project. I think between the two of those, you should be able to reconstruct some working timeline for it.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 23, 2018 11:56:18 GMT -5
I know the only reason Moon Girl&Devil Dinosaur is still being published, is because it's doing really well on Scholastic Book Fairs, while sales in singles are low.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 23, 2018 6:03:48 GMT -5
There are already a couple of other publishers/comics that have switched away from publishing in monthly's first. Dark Horse and Top Cow have several digital-first/digital-only titles (DH's Critical Role series, for instance, is available as digital single issues and will be only available physically as a trade). Stjepan Sejic and Linda Sejic have both series that are direct to trade and don't have monthly issues.
Especially for smaller publishers and titles avoiding the direct market can save them a lot of money in the long run.
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