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Post by shawnhopkins on Sept 17, 2017 0:42:58 GMT -5
I didn't destroy them, as they were a gift from a friend, but I only read them once. Marvel's "Rawhide Kid". They apparently thought it was a good idea to take this 50s character, and reboot him as gay. I was happy to receive them, as a gay man I wanted to like this book. It was the stupidest stuff I ever read....he was calling fighting bad guys boring, giving women fashion tips, opening dropping hints to his sexuality...just overall embracing every bad gay stereotype. Marvel positioned publishing this as a gay positive move at the time. A good goal, but when I read it I was like "Not like this! Not like this!"
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Post by shawnhopkins on Sept 17, 2017 0:33:04 GMT -5
Iron Man. For a character that was always supposed to be a sophisticated playboy, Tony Stark never had real charm until he borrowed Robert Downey Jrs.' The wit, the feet of clay, the sly delight in upending expectations and breaking the rules, and the very human flaws Downey brought to the character elevated it above what was on the page.
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Post by shawnhopkins on Sept 12, 2017 21:27:21 GMT -5
Thanks, Slam_Bradley , for helping me to understand that the critical flop in theaters is actually this television series and not a separate film. Anyway, I'm just utterly confused as to how Marvel screwed this up so badly. If there was ever a media franchise Marvel needed to take off, it's the one intended to prove once and for all that Marvel doesn't need the X-Men anymore. Both on TV and in the comics Marvel has been trying to push the Inhumans as replacements for the X-people for years, now, and it never worked for me... as in not at all, to the point where I actively resent the Inhumans now. They have nowhere the attractive power of the better representatives of the X-Men cast, and while the concept behind their existence is interesting in a comic-book context, it is far more removed from normal people than is that of the X-Men (who are basically "the other" among us, the outcast, the people we loathe and fear for no good reason). The writer actually makes me want to see that series with her introduction, with the description of a cool and complex SF world. This, however, is where things go south : "Basically, it comes down to this: We’re given no reason to like or care about what happens to the royal family. " Yeah, that would be a major problem. It's the one I had with Iron Fist as well (on top of the generally lousy martial arts moves)... we were given no reason to empathize with Danny Rand, who comes across as petulant and childish. No matter how intriguing the TV Attilan may be, no matter how exotic the sets or gripping the action, if we don't care about the characters, the show will stink. Yep, they just don't work as a replacement. "Normal people hate and fear me because when I hit puberty my true nature was revealed, and now everything I touch dies." "I got my powers from some magic mists. They're pretty cool. Humans don't mind me. I dated that guy from the Fantastic Four." "I'm forced to live underground and fight for my very life against powerful entities that see my kind as the end of the human race." "I live in a castle on the moon!" "Despite this I follow the teachings of my mentor and protect humanity, working toward a world where mutants and humans can live in equality and peace." "We had slaves like, until really recently. It's OK, though. They're an inferior species."
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Post by shawnhopkins on Sept 11, 2017 21:05:01 GMT -5
I'd recommend Sweet Tooth. Best Vertigo comic in many years.
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Post by shawnhopkins on Sept 11, 2017 20:14:23 GMT -5
Waited through the whole thing and he doesn't even show up at the end.
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Post by shawnhopkins on Sept 10, 2017 18:58:59 GMT -5
I don't think I've destroyed a comic, but my cat puked on a really bad Ron Marz issue of Green Lantern and I considered it appropriate commentary.
That issue of The Eltingville Club is the one where they're all old and bitter, right? Yeah, that's some dark stuff, as you'd expect. But even though Bill is an incredibly bitter and disgusting misogynist in it, I don't think the message was misogynist, because we're supposed to side with Jerry as he grows up and leaves the club for good for just that reason. It's probably a reaction to misogynist controversies that were going on in comics and gaming at the time.
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Post by shawnhopkins on Sept 10, 2017 18:49:53 GMT -5
Most of the Defiant line ended up in my local store's 10 for a buck box so I checked it out. A lot of the books had promise, but I also felt they had off-putting elements that were going to turn away large audiences.
The art was often not that good on many of the books and the coloring made it look muddy.
The "heroes" often took that moral complexity thing from Valiant to the next level. War Dancer's goal, for example, was to destroy the world. Dogs of War had an Archer and Armstrong buddy setup, but troubled and unlikeable characters. I get that they were trying to make more complex and adult superheroes but this was right at the time when the hot books were swinging away from that with Image's childlike plot lines.
Prudence and Caution captured the Archer and Armstrong thing better but only lasted two issues. The Good Guys, with heroes created by fans, was too gimmicky. I only read a Preview issue of Charlemagne, which I thought was a unique concept but had ugly art. I liked Dark Dominion pretty well, thought that had an interesting concept with the idea of facing fear. Warriors of Plasm was ruined by gimmicks. I didn't get the 0 issue from Previews and I definitely wasn't putting it together from a card set.
More of a personal nitpick, but the whole Plasm thing, with the biological planet and the "gore for the org" is a bit of a disgusting thing for the lynchpin of the line. It looked just like snot. The cover of Plasm 0 looks like a guy playing in snot.
I dug Shooter's next effort, Broadway comics, a lot more. That had some great books like Knights of Broadway, shame it didn't last.
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Post by shawnhopkins on Sept 10, 2017 18:19:27 GMT -5
Oh man. One of the greats.
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Post by shawnhopkins on Mar 29, 2017 9:21:25 GMT -5
I guess We3 is not old enough to be a classic (12 years?), but I cried like a baby.
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Post by shawnhopkins on Dec 22, 2016 10:42:12 GMT -5
Hi, I used to enjoy posting on the board at CBR. I made an account here early on but never really got around to using it. I'm reading more older comics lately, in fact I'm trying to read my way through 1963 right now on Marvel Unlimited, so I'm looking forward to participating here.
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Post by shawnhopkins on Jul 23, 2014 4:02:59 GMT -5
Counting stuff I do just for me and not the social media and forums I manage for work:
Still at CBR, at least for now. I'm on staff at toonzone and used to post a lot there, but I'm taking a break from it. I used to post on Gamefaqs' Comics board a long, long time ago. I post only occasionally on Facebook and the Facebook Rita's.
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Post by shawnhopkins on May 1, 2014 22:41:04 GMT -5
Hi guys. CBR was getttin' way too real for me (the just closed Rita's), so here I am. I'm still Shawn Hopkins, a former journalist who makes his living blogging in the hills of Eastern Kentucky.
I've been collecting comics for more than 30 years now. I like both old and new, indie and mainstream. I have a special fondness for Archie and other teen comics, and humor comics in general.
The classics board was my favorite board at the old CBR, so I just wanted to say thanks for creating a place for us.
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