Bore Comics Thread: Crisis On Infinite Megathreads

[Barry Egan]

(Image removed from quote.)

Pretty fucking impressive.

Captain America grabbing the shield, or the deft use of meme imagery?

[Eric P]

was not a fan of the Swamp Thing "reboot."

[Cormacaroni]

I liked it and Animal Man a lot at first but got bored when the fill-in artists started appearing. The consensus seems to be I got off at the right time.

Good to see you're on board with Prophet. Did you check out Glory yet? It's nowhere near as well-written or imaginative as Prophet but it looks spectacular and is consistently entertaining.

Book O'the Month for me has to be Matt Kindt's SuperSpy, which was on my pile of shame for literally 2 years. I read the first few stories and thought, cool! But then other books arrived and I just put it aside. Big mistake. Reading the whole thing is so much more fun than reading the individual stories (which are typically concise little gems of noir storytelling), as you get the added fun of piecing together the interlocking narratives, all of which are told out of sequence. The art really grew on me as well...basically a much less ornate Craig Thompson. He has similar skills but mostly keeps it very simple in order to crank out this big story. The book is OOP now it seems, but it's 5 bucks or so on comixology. Highly recommended.

[chronovore]

At a convention in February, I found a big volume of Catwoman by Brubaker and the delectable Darwyn Cooke for five dollah. I have been waiting to enjoy it, and was really, really enjoying the storytelling overlay it has with Darwyn's Parker series. (Thanks, Cormacaroni!) Instead, I ended up getting the entire goddamned thing water damaged so badly the binding is buckled.

 :'( :'( :'(

[Cormacaroni]

Those are pretty great. Darwyn isn't around very long but Cameron Stewart does well too. Slam Bradley

[Eric P]

Yeah I loved the Catwoman series

You read Gotham Central yet?

I need to get King City by the guy who writes Prophet.  Apparently he also does porn comics? 

[Cormacaroni]

Yeah, Gotham Central is good. Not amazing but solid. King City is great, thought you'd have been on that already.

He does porn and posts a ton of killer art links to twitter. His taste is idiosyncratic but awesome. @royalboiler

[Eric P]

got the Glory and Manhattan Projects trades in yesterday.  Glory was pretty good but the art is all over the place.  I like the original sketches of the lead character as a kind of dumpy overweight nerd a bit more than her as someone who is slim and athletic.  I think the series could have been better if we see her transform into a bad ass warrior.  Glory looks weird as fuck.  I hate her hair and the artist draws her like she has a babyhead on an adult's body.

Manhattan Projects is Next Level (tm).  NEXT.  LEVEL. 

[bork]

Didn't read the new Glory series because of the art.  Just hate the way she looks.

Prophet also looks nothing like he used to...but that's a good thing.

[Eric P]

it reads like Image's Promethea which it kind of is

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Manhattan Projects is Next Level (tm).  NEXT.  LEVEL.

I KNOW, RIGHT? So happy to buy the TPB and support the series. Please, please, please let it continue.  As I said in July:

I read the first 5 issues of Hickman's The Manhattan Projects. SUPER impressed. I was expecting some sort of wink-wink Atomic Robo series of historical jokeism from the description, but instead it's something much darker about America's relationship with science and the pursuit of knowledge at all costs.

Though I would add to that, I love the boyish character of Feynman, and how he represents the pursuit of science for science's sake, without respect for the consequences. And it's a gripping good yarn on top of all this, too! AND THE COLORING. Man, it's been a while since I've been so stoked for a new series.

[ManaByte]

Bendis is the Liefeld of comic writers. Ends a five-issue limited series with an annoying cliffhanger.

[bork]

Bendis is the Liefeld of comic writers. Ends a five-issue limited series with an annoying cliffhanger.

Spider-Men?

[ManaByte]

Yea. The whole thing actually wasn't completely horrible, mostly the parts with Peter Parker interacting with the Ultimate Gwen Stacy and Aunt May being good. But the dumbass goes and ends what was actually a decent mini-series that made the Ultimate Universe not look so distinguished mentally-challenged with a cliffhanger.

[bork]

I read it too.  I don't know if that could even be called a cliffhanger, but I can see how people would look at it that way.

It will be forgotten about soon enough.

[ManaByte]

Brubaker's final issue of Cap:

[Joe Molotov]

 

[Verdigris Murder]

it reads like Image's Promethea which it kind of is

Your extra-tera-astral projections
Sear my third eye,
Like the cattle of amazement.

Promethea is basically Moore having an ENORMOUS ideas wank, he be lounging in his pool, bitches be wafting his raven coloured mane, Therbius III, a loung talrentedusssss. Dlew foh mostah tarenterrrled price.

[Verdigris Murder]

Actually Brubaker is amazing. I just basically wish that there were more people like him doing the things he does: intense no hole bards Criminal graphic journalising/that special needs guy/a bad guy, being a loveable cunt/the thing with the 'gay punisher' on the ULTIMATE SPACE SHIP.

[Momo]

God bless Lieutenant Latvia

[Verdigris Murder]

Seriously, Promethea is like a really intense water-boarding of ideas, and the artist with III in his name really just works so well with Moores thoughts, which he obviously did after getting high.

I'm really enjoying 100 Bullets, I originally thought it was based on a thing by a Nintendo game or something. It's not, and the art is arresting in its baseness.

[Eric P]

My Friend Dahmer is intense and depressing.  Derf knew him in highschool and this book is a memoir of their hanging out together and how he was at the time.  At the end you can only say "how did no one notice?"  brutal book.  I really feel sorry for Dahmer; not enough to excuse what he did but jesus...

[Cormacaroni]

Yeah, that messed me up as well. I can't conceive of a child, even a large one, wandering through school halls with open cups of whiskey all day and no one intervening. But it happened.

[Tasty]

Anyone else laugh at loud at Dick's retconned New 52 Robin costume?



On the other hand, I thought this was pretty cool:

[Eric P]

woof

[ManaByte]

So unlike shitty Fear Itself, AvX actually mattered. Completely reversed House of M (with the same Scarlet Witch reset button) and no more Phoenix ever.

Stupid Cyclops is in prison, Magneto and Emma Frost are villains again. Mutants everywhere. I don't have any problem with that.

[Yeti]

No more Phoenix ever?

[ManaByte]

No more Phoenix ever?

Scarlet Witch destroyed the Phoenix Force and the side effect was the restoration of Mutants.

[Eric P]

So what's the word on the new 52?

mixed bag at best.  i like Demon Knights, Justice League Dark, Animal Man and Swamp Thing and kind of sort of liked Action Comics and Frankenstein.  Demon Knights is like reading a power metal album.  It's insane in a good way.

[Joe Molotov]

The Batman: Court of Owls stuff has been pretty good, if you like Batman.

[Tasty]

Batman is going to get awesome this Wednesday.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Batman #13 hits on October 10 and features the first appearance of the Joker since September 2011's Detective Comics #1 (where another villain removed his face, after which he promptly went into hiding.) The story arc we're heading into, and which permeates all the Bat-books, is titled "Death of the Family," playing on 1988's "A Death in the Family," which famously killed off the second Robin, Jason Todd. The reference is obviously saying "this is going to be like that, but it's going to affect everyone, not just Batman and Robin."

Writer Scott Snyder has been hyping this for months, if not a whole damn year. If you wanna get into Batman comics, there will be no better time. This event is going to rock the Bat-verse, I can sense it.

[close]

[Tasty]

Definitely. I think Snyder said this storyline could last a year or more, too. Getting in on ground zero is always exciting.

Definitely backlog Batman #0-12 when you get the time, and maybe B&R too. B&R isn't fantastic, but it's pretty good IMO. Mostly cause of Damian.

[Tasty]

I think he confirmed it goes to at least until #17, which would be February yeah, but he's said before he prefers longer running arcs. Court of Owls was 11 months.

Wonder what the tie-ins will be like. I already pick up Nightwing, it will probably crossover into Red Hood and maybe even Teen Titans cause of Drake...

[ManaByte]

Marvel's relaunching all their books with new #1s beginning with Uncanny Avengers on Wednesday. So it's a perfect time to get back into comics.

[Tasty]

Wait, so Marvel Now really is a ripoff of New 52? I thought they were just shuffling around their writers and relaunching some things as well as finally getting their digital asses in gear.

[ManaByte]

Wait, so Marvel Now really is a ripoff of New 52? I thought they were just shuffling around their writers and relaunching some things as well as finally getting their digital asses in gear.

Marvel's digital has been superior to DCs for a long time now. EVERY $3.99 Marvel book comes with a digital copy. Whereas in DC, only the books that get covered in the mainstream press get digital copies bundled with the print one.

[Tasty]

I was more talking about how they have 20 different services offering overlapping but not completely complimentary series. There was like Marvel.com, Comixology, Chrome app, some other ones, etc. And they all offered different sets of series.

Link: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/02/07/marvel-digital-comics-buy/

With DC it's pretty much just Comixology. As a digital-only buyer I don't care about budles or whatever. Why take up both physical as well as digital space? Worst of both worlds.

[Cormacaroni]

Marvel's digital is by no fucking means superior to DC's, sorry. DC (and Image and basically everybody else) drops it's prices by a $1 after a month; Marvel drops only after a YEAR's worth of issues (or 12 issues, whichever comes first). Also, there are still gaps in their line-up - like Fury MAX, probably the best thing they're publishing. I could care less about a digital code 'cause i never get the paper singles anyway.

[Tasty]

I do admit though, Comixology's Marvel Mondays are pretty great. But yeah, it doesn't make up for DC heavily discounting their stuff as you go further and further back. Wanna get caught up on two years' worth of old Detective Comics? $50.

Basically a permanent Steam sale of comics. Too hard to resist usually, which is why I don't make a habit of browsing Comixology too much.

[Eel O'Brian]

man, i am so tired of the joker

i think everyone would give batman a pass for killing him

"well, okay. just don't do it again."

[Cormacaroni]

at the least, stop locking him up in Arkham Asylum - a combination ticking time bomb/revolving door/insta-Joker gang

[Cormacaroni]

Would read a series where Joker was chained to Batman's radiator and was reduced to barbed comments when Damian delivered his cat food

[Eel O'Brian]

hahaha! so would i!

that whole face removal storyline sounds kind of dumb, tbh

[Tasty]

man, i am so tired of the joker

i think everyone would give batman a pass for killing him

"well, okay. just don't do it again."

To be fair, he hasn't really done anything worthwhile since Death in the Family/Killing Joke. He's usually in the background during stuff like Hush/No Man's Land/the crisises/Batman RIP/etc.

Not to mention he hasn't been seen for over a year, which is kinda unprecedented for a villain of his magnitude. There's usually at least stupid cameos. We're overdue for a good Joker story.

Edit- His missing face is barely part of the story as far as I can tell. Just something to make him look scarier. The true plot will probably be some kind of twisted scheme.

[Eel O'Brian]

Although I did like that Azzarello Joke GN, he did a good job explaining why anyone would ever want to work for a genuine homicidal lunatic.

[Cormacaroni]

Yo cormac what would you recommend I check out? I already started Punk Rock Jesus from a previous post of yours and I'm really liking it.

I gave up on Punk Rock Jesus (and said so on twitter, whereupon Sean Murphy responded and made me )

I dunno, I twitter about comics all the time. I think you personally would love the new Batman stuff given your history but I'm not sure you'd like a lot of what I'm into.

Such as: just read the new Alison Bechdel 'Are You My Mother?'. It's the follow-up to her crossover hit about her dad, 'Fun Home'. This one is ostensibly about her mother but really it's a bunch of Bechdel navel-gazing and regurgitating her therapy sessions. Her mother is a bit character at best. When you have to delve back to the time spent in the womb to deconstruction a relationship, you're lacking in actual material I think. That said, I found it very enjoyable and thought-provoking....but would be stunned if it takes off like Fun Home. It's just not as interesting and lacks any kind of hook like that book had (the crazy, closeted-gay Dad who runs the eponymous FUNeral Home and then suicides shortly after Bechdel herself comes out)

[Tasty]

Well that's not really comics' fault then.

Also how can you not get at least some kind of cool feeling from the upcoming posters:

[Cormacaroni]

I think the Joker was pretty central to RIP/Batman & Robin really. As central as any other villain was anyway.

[Eel O'Brian]

he's overexposed in the comics, too

dude stole mr mxtplk's (sp) powers and made himself a god

basically, fuck the joker, and fuck the strained "bububu i can't lower myself to that level and kill him" storylines the character drags along behind him like a blanket

[Tasty]

I think the Joker was pretty central to RIP/Batman & Robin really. As central as any other villain was anyway.

The main villain of those was Hurt. I mean, yeah, Joker was definitely a notable factor, but even now I'm struggling to remember anything he did aside from

spoiler (click to show/hide)

killing Hurt at the end of B&R 2009.

[close]

[Eel O'Brian]

he's not even a character anymore, he's a hot topic t-shirt design

[Tasty]

I think my biggest problem is when the Joker is written in a way that overshadows Batman and other villains story wise. He is up there as probably my favorite comic book villain of all time alongside Magneto and Dr.Doom, but they ought to give him a break and focus on other villains.

Aren't you just getting into comics? They HAVE been giving him a break. That's why his return is being hyped.

[Eel O'Brian]

Batman: "I will make an exception in your case."

That one line would stir shit up proper, add an unpredictable element (for a while) to what has become THE most predictable villain, AND breathe some life into the Batman character. Every time Joker showed his face (or pulled it out of his pocket, or whatever) he'd be taking his life into his hands.  They wouldn't even have to actually go through with it, just the notion that Batman has had his fill of Joker and WOULD go through with it would be enough.

or, how about an occasional story where the Joker just does some wacky shit and doesn't actually kill anyone at all. Because right now, it goes a little bit like this:

Joker shows up out of nowhere after having been presumed dead, or whatever

Kills a henchman who makes a slightly innocent remark which set him off because WOOOOOOOHOOOOO he's crazy

Kills a whole lot of people just to get Batman's attention

Batman shows up, beats the shit out of him, stops himself at the last second because I CAN'T EVER CROSS THAT LINE MOMMY AND DADDY

Joker word balloon with shaky font comes out of Arkham Asylum window OMG HE'LL BE BACK

rinse, repeat, zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Tasty]

Batman: "I will make an exception in your case."

Lol this is basically what he said to Darkseid right before shooting and "killing" him.

Joker is just a man, he doesn't get to bend the rules. Especially since an exception has already been made.

That's kinda the whole point of Joker. Kill him and he wins. Yeah, it's dumb in a comic way. Yeah, people get killed because of it. But it's why Batman vs. Joker is such an interesting and popular dynamic.

Killing him off wouldn't do anything, they'd just bring him back somehow and then his character would be kinda tainted.

[Cormacaroni]

Well, Feelbad - the twist recently is that the current Robin IS a take-no-prisoners badass ninja assassin in a 10yr child's body. He has killed multiple bad guys in cold blood by this point. When he was left alone with the Joker in an interrogation room, he just beat the shit out of him with a crowbar and there was a genuine sense of danger to the proceedings. Obviously a major character can't ever really die in these comics of course, but there was at least a palpable sense that one of the heroes was actually prepared to do the smart thing.

And also, there was the Batman 666 issue that showed Damian as Batman in the future, and he actually HAD killed off a bunch of the badguys in that timeline IIRC.

Andrex - Joker set up huge chunks of those storylines, you may need to read it again. Don't forget that he was appearing in disguise for a bunch of B&R too

[Cormacaroni]

btw, the most satisfying resolution to the Joker - Batman thing we're ever gonna see is in - where else? - Dark Knight Returns where Batman paralyzes him (a riff Miller lifted from his Daredevil run but hey, it works)

[chronovore]

Reading the heck out of Scott Pilgrim. I'm up to Volume 4, and I'm impressed and surprised at how true the movie stayed to the books.

he's overexposed in the comics, too

dude stole mr mxtplk's (sp) powers and made himself a god

basically, fuck the joker, and fuck the strained "bububu i can't lower myself to that level and kill him" storylines the character drags along behind him like a blanket

Yeah, but it's less "can't lower myself to his level" and more about trying to prove that we can all rise above our problems, and be cured. In Killing Joke and DKR, it's clearly a case of Bruce hoping to exorcise his own demons which drives his need to not kill Joker, and give him a chance to be cured.

I don't like it, because there's some simple math about all the people Joker has killed, and how just locking him up will lead to more dead people.

[Tasty]

Well, Feelbad - the twist recently is that the current Robin IS a take-no-prisoners badass ninja assassin in a 10yr child's body. He has killed multiple bad guys in cold blood by this point. When he was left alone with the Joker in an interrogation room, he just beat the shit out of him with a crowbar and there was a genuine sense of danger to the proceedings. Obviously a major character can't ever really die in these comics of course, but there was at least a palpable sense that one of the heroes was actually prepared to do the smart thing.

And also, there was the Batman 666 issue that showed Damian as Batman in the future, and he actually HAD killed off a bunch of the badguys in that timeline IIRC.

Andrex - Joker set up huge chunks of those storylines, you may need to read it again. Don't forget that he was appearing in disguise for a bunch of B&R too

Right, Orbulon or whoever. Still, he wasn't a presence, and in that case, he actually helped Batman. I was talking about his stuff as a villain.

Even in like Infinite Crisis he had a farily-large part IIRC, but I don't really think of him doing anything noteworthy coming out of it.

[ManaByte]

I was more talking about how they have 20 different services offering overlapping but not completely complimentary series. There was like Marvel.com, Comixology, Chrome app, some other ones, etc. And they all offered different sets of series.

Link: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/02/07/marvel-digital-comics-buy/

With DC it's pretty much just Comixology. As a digital-only buyer I don't care about budles or whatever. Why take up both physical as well as digital space? Worst of both worlds.

That article's over a year old. Now the Marvel comics store account can be linked to Comixology so if you buy or redeem a code at Marvel.com, you can download and read the comic in the Comixology app.

[Reb]

I was more talking about how they have 20 different services offering overlapping but not completely complimentary series. There was like Marvel.com, Comixology, Chrome app, some other ones, etc. And they all offered different sets of series.

Link: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/02/07/marvel-digital-comics-buy/

With DC it's pretty much just Comixology. As a digital-only buyer I don't care about budles or whatever. Why take up both physical as well as digital space? Worst of both worlds.

That article's over a year old. Now the Marvel comics store account can be linked to Comixology so if you buy or redeem a code at Marvel.com, you can download and read the comic in the Comixology app.

Ugh don't you just hate it when people link to an article and then take it out of context?