More Talk of Comics

[jordanmichael]

I wrote a paper on Understanding Comics for my Nonfiction Writing class. I love college.

Basically, the thesis was
comics: time and action are subjective
television: time and action are objective
literature: time and action are optional

[das kranke Tier]

Planet Hulk was waaaay better than House of M.

Also acceptable:

_____ was waaay better than House of M.

Seriously?  I've heard such good things about both.  That's disappointing.  Oh well, I suppose I kind of need to read "House of M" if I'm to have any kind of clue as to where the Marvel universe is at right now...

[Andrew_TSKS]

not really, to be honest. you need to read civil war, but house of m you could understand if you asked someone to describe it in three sentences.

[das kranke Tier]

Yeah, I've read the synopsis, and I'm interested to see how that shit goes down...I got it for a steal anyhow, so even if I'm not overly impressed it's not a complete loss.

[DCDave]

No more mutants.

Also, if you want to read an incredible marvel gn, read Annihilation

[das kranke Tier]

That's on my list after Civil War

[DCDave]

Put it before Civil War.

[Almanzo]

Annihilation is great. Marvel's cosmic stuff has been practically nonpresent since what, Infinity Watch!? I'm a sucker for Jim Starlinesque stuff, so pile on the Quasar, Eternity, Nova, Silver Surfer, etc.

I think that Planet Hulk has been capital DUM; the Hulk has been reduced to a one-dimensional punchline, and the whole crossover is a pointless fanwank set up to allow the Hulk to smash stuff over and over and over. Like he needs an excuse to smash stuff like a big fucking baby!

House of M was a travesty, and worse, it weirdly conflicts with the goings-on in the main Marvel Universe. I'm so ecstatic to see a unified Marvel Universe again, with almost full transparency between all of the books out there (in other words, no more "Magneto's destroying NYC in the June issue of New X-men, but it's completely untouched and unmentioned in the same month's issue of Avengers like it was in the late nineties and early 00's), but the whole "House of M" thing was written off too easily and forgotten almost as soon as it was finished. Sure, we have "no more mutants," but the whole "Civil War" plot line - which is basically Days of Future Past - is more in line with what X-books have always been about - but instead of the Xbooks fully embracing this and making it a central issue, they're all dealing with "No more Mutants" and the Civil War might as well not even be going on other than that there's a stray sentinel in the background every once in a while. Muddled. Bad.

[DCDave]

Planet Hulk and World War Hulk are pretty separate.  World War Hulk is dumb.  Planet Hulk was awesome.

This week's Astonishing X-Men had a literally jaw-dropping panel - Anyone else read it?

[Almanzo]

Planet Hulk and World War Hulk are pretty separate.  World War Hulk is dumb.  Planet Hulk was awesome.

Oops; I meant WWH.

I haven't picked up comics for this past week yet, but I'm curious about the Astonishing thing. You're not talking abuot the Lockheed reveal, are you?

[DCDave]

There is a thing with Cyclops that is equivalent to the issue of Danger where he says "I want that thing off my lawn"

[Andrew_TSKS]

House of M was a travesty, and worse, it weirdly conflicts with the goings-on in the main Marvel Universe. I'm so ecstatic to see a unified Marvel Universe again, with almost full transparency between all of the books out there (in other words, no more "Magneto's destroying NYC in the June issue of New X-men, but it's completely untouched and unmentioned in the same month's issue of Avengers like it was in the late nineties and early 00's), but the whole "House of M" thing was written off too easily and forgotten almost as soon as it was finished. Sure, we have "no more mutants," but the whole "Civil War" plot line - which is basically Days of Future Past - is more in line with what X-books have always been about - but instead of the Xbooks fully embracing this and making it a central issue, they're all dealing with "No more Mutants" and the Civil War might as well not even be going on other than that there's a stray sentinel in the background every once in a while. Muddled. Bad.

good call on all of this.

also, yeah, i kinda hate wwhulk too. i'm bummed that i bought 4 of the 5 issues already and will feel dumb if i don't pick up the fifth and final one. i care way more about the continuing adventures of ben urich in paul jenkins' "frontline" title. i'd like to see that storyline just get its own ongoing title, to tell the truth.

haven't been reading the annihilation shit at all, though. i'm not on the same page as you and dave--marvel's space shit has always bored me. i started getting nova in my box when the title came back, but i liked the first three issues way better than the annihilation tie-in. i'm thinking i'm just gonna stop getting the title now that that's over.

[Almanzo]

also, yeah, i kinda hate wwhulk too. i'm bummed that i bought 4 of the 5 issues already and will feel dumb if i don't pick up the fifth and final one. i care way more about the continuing adventures of ben urich in paul jenkins' frontline" title. i'd like to see that storyline just get its own ongoing title, to tell the truth.

Totally agreed - I'd like to actually see "Frontline" become a unifying MU book in the way that "52"/"Countdown" is for DC - a sort of central thing to read that keeps you up on what's generally going on throughout all of the titles by giving you a few neutral characters to follow in their own little arcs. I mean, maybe it shouldn't be weekly, but a bi-weekly "Frontline" that covers everything would be so kick-ass and would go a long way toward truly embracing and working this unified MU narrative.

[Andrew_TSKS]

yeah dude, that's a really good call actually.

[Almanzo]

yeah dude, that's a really good call actually.

Yeah, I'm just really in love with the idea of unified universes, which you might just call "good editors instead of incompetent ones." Chris Claremont's heyday, when he was juggling basically all of the X-books and offshoots, remains the model of this for me; if Wolverine's off in Madripoor in June's issue of his own series, he's not going to be in Uncanny that month and someone might even mention, "Oh, Logan's off playing detective again." It's just something that's important to me as a fan and as a reader - a "living" universe that everything's taking place in. DC has   always been better at this than Marvel, but I like Marvel books and characters more and want to see them make it work.

[DCDave]

It's really telling that the "best" example from Marvel comes from Claremont, who I find to be almost totally unreadable now.

[Greg Nog]

Yeah, but just because Claremont's strong in continuity doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of his ability to write entertaining yarns.  Just a different strength.  By the same token, Grant Morrison doesn't exactly tie whole universes together in ways that make much sense, but on a scene-by-scene basis, he's pretty great at creating some high drama.

[Andrew_TSKS]

yeah, i agree with dave, claremont's stuff sucks these days.

[coldforge]

I don't give two hoots about continuity. It's obvious, anyway, that writers come up with whatever idea for a story they like, and then kill off/resurrect whatever characters they need to in order to shoehorn that story into continuity. The integrity of a universe with that many alternate worlds, retcons, and label-wide Grand Apocalyptic Struggles Against The Ultimate Villain is that important to you? Give me a good story. God knows they need them.

[lastclearchance]

scott pilgrim 4 drops today, does anyone besides me care?

[bethany_m]

yes!

[Greg Nog]

scott pilgrim 4 drops today, does anyone besides me care?

HOLY FUCKING CHRIST YES

[elpollodiablo]

Hey comics guys: I almost picked up the first DMZ trade the other day. Is this a purchase I should make?

[Almanzo]

Hey comics guys: I almost picked up the first DMZ trade the other day. Is this a purchase I should make?

I'm a big Wood fan (snerk), but I couldn't get into that book at all. It felt really ham-fisted to me and the art is terrible. "Army @ Love" is doing the same thing about 473 times better.

[Almanzo]

By the way, is anyone else reading "Army @ Love?" It's become probably my favorite current book. Veitch has always been a genius, but this stuff is just pure awesome. The satire is legitimately hilarious, the art is killer, and the whole package is just totally endearing.