Bought/Thought 20/02/08

[Blader5489]

I thought PJ and I were the only ones who liked his Wolverine arc. Lo and behold, a new ally to fight against the darkness!

Heh.

 

[fifthfiend]

People complain that my reviews are long and it takes a while to skip past my reviews if they choose. Paragraph-breaks would simply make my post physically longer. That, and I figure the compactness keeps every issue review seperate.

I'm just saying, normally I would be inclined to read them but the lack of spacing makes it onerous if not impossible.

...Also in general it can't be a good creative decision to tailor your form to suit people with no intention of reading your work.

 

[Dread]

I'm just saying, normally I would be inclined to read them but the lack of spacing makes it onerous if not impossible.

...Also in general it can't be a good creative decision to tailor your form to suit people with no intention of reading your work.

That's a fair point. I suppose this is akin to the Asop's Fable about the boy, his father and the donkey riding from town to town; trying to please everyone is ultimately futile.

The problem is I rarely get too much consensus feedback. There are those who comment, basically, "your posts are too god-damned long and it is a chore skipping them!" and there are those who go, "great reviews!" and very little in-between, besides folks commenting about specific points I have made and so forth, which is natural MB custom and what I expect.

Plus, with the 20,000 character limit, I have to make more posts to cram everything in and sometimes I would rather get in as many reviews within as few posts as possible. Good lord, you won't believe how many times I have cursed at that text limit per post.

Watch. With paragraph breaks, a post of my usual length is about twice as long on the screen and it won't be long before someone complains about it. "Wah, I have to scroll for so long!" And I really, really don't like using spoiler tags in the B/T topic. I use them when I repost my reviews in other topics but this one is spoiler-tag free.

But, you've made a decent point about the breaks and I may use them from now on. It is a more natural way of typing for me anyway.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Just read Runaways. Whatever, I hate you Whedon

 

[Aristotle]

Batman and the Outsiders #4 - I'm really not sure where Dixon is going with this. On the one hand, if he can deliver on the plot he's setting up with space programs, genetically engineered creatures that look like they're headed for the prison planet, and OMAC/Brother I involvement, and somehow tie it in to what Brother's been doing in Countdown, this might be one of the best stories to come out of the Countdown Era. If the ending isn't worth the story, though, or worse, if this becomes another mysterious "Two Legions" scenario, with two different Brothers acting in two different ways, it's going to be just another symptom of the overall problem that the Countdown Era has faced. 8/10.

Batman Confidential #13 - Thank God that abominable Joker origin arc is over. I really can't think of a Batman story I like less, and I've read/watched/listened to just about every Batman tale that ever was. After a mediocre start and a horrible second story, BatCon finally gets a good creative team and a good story: the return of The Wrath. I loved The Wrath when I first read the old 1984 special, The Player On The Other Side, and I always thought that if I were to write comics, The Wrath would be the guy I'd bring back. Instead, Tony Bedard's doing it, and it's a damn good story so far, with damn good art from Rags Morales and Mark Farmer. 10/10.

Birds of Prey #115 - Well if that don't beat all! Sean McKeever made me care about Misfit! You know, I think I might get to LIKE that kid if McKeever stays on this book for awhile longer. Still can't abide Black Alice though. I just hate goths, and I hate their stupid reasons for their stupid behavior. I also think Black Alice has a really cheapass power that's bound to screw some REAL hero over in a moment of need. But that's not really the point. This story has some good Alice/Misfit/Oracle interaction, and the explanation of the whole Killer Shark thing, which leads into the next issue (and I can't wait.) I was sad to see Simone leave the book, but it seems like this is one book DC never gives to a creator that can't work with it. Dixon, Simone, and now McKeever have all done great things with it. 8/10.

Brave and the Bold #10 - I don't know when Mark Waid lost touch with what makes comics fun, but it sure happened fast. One second he was gold, the next...**** the what? I'm hoping the finale issues make up for the weirdness and not-funness that has been the last few issues of this title, but this one just kept the losing streak alive. 5/10.

Catwoman #76 - Well it's an interesting idea and all, but first, I don't see why she has to be on the prison planet for it to happen. Second, I still don't see why an even more interesting story had to be interrupted. Third, not only does it not NEED to be on the prison planet, but I don't think it SHOULD be--I can't imagine what it could possibly contribute to the Salvation Run story. 6/10, just because this story's in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Checkmate #23 - Pawn 502 harkens back to a brief moment in time when I was so busy, I stopped reading comics again. Just for a couple of months, but that was all it took for me to miss the Pawn 502 introduction. I caught up on a lot of missed issues in that time, but not all of them, and apparently Checkmate was one of the books I forgot to read. I'm going back and re-reading it now, but I don't really need to, to enjoy this final Rucka arc of the book. It's stunningly good, as usual with Rucka, and as usual with Checkmate. Bruce Jones, you better make the biggest turnaround and comics-creating history if you want your Checkmate to be half the book it is now. 10/10.

Countdown #10 - I'm loving it. Brother Eye and his OMACs are really starting to act Kirbyesque, which is fitting, since their namesakes are Kirby creations, and since they're going to war with Apokolips, part of Kirby's finest work, the epic Fourth World saga. Still, I do have to wonder where this is all going. In the next nine issues, they've got some ground to cover. 7/10.

Death of the New Gods #6 - Jim Starlin is the only person who could have put a coda on Kirby's Fourth World. He's the only guy who can truly replicate the style, both in art and writing, that made those comics perfect. It's over-the-top. It's ham-handed. It's heavy and fast. It is the best Jack Kirby story that Jack Kirby never wrote. And when, midway through the book, Superman says, "this is how a god would die," it is exactly the way Jack Kirby would have done it, were he alive to do the story today. Even the identity of the killer, deliciously unexpected, is vintage Kirby. (I'm happy to see it's not Infinity-Man.) While it's more than obvious that this isn't how Kirby would have ended the Fourth World, if it has to go out via editorial mandate, then Jim Starlin is giving it a hell of a sendoff. 10/10.

Flash #237 - The art's not the greatest, but for most of the book I just kept thinking, "see, Waid, this is how you write a family superhero book." And then page 18, loaded with some of the most horrible puns in modern comicdom, ruined it all. It was mediocre from there on out. Still, just for showing Waid that it wasn't the concept that sucked, but the execution, it gets a 7/10.

Grendel - Behold the Devil #4 - I finally got a chance to read all the Behold the Devil I've had lying around, and God it's nice to get back into Hunter Rose again. It's been just too long since I enjoyed a good Grendel tale. 7/10.

Hulk #2 - OK, Jeph, it's still fun, and I'm still reading, and Iron Man (for once) is a sympathetic character again. And I'm enjoying it, which is more than I can say for any Hulk-related storyline since...well, since the last Hulk #1, actually. 8/10

Justice League of America #18 - Finally, the Justice League of America book starts to feel a little bit like the Justice League of America. I give this book another year before I feel anywhere near as good about it as I did about the old JLA book for basically its entire run, but it ain't bad. Ain't bad at all. 7/10.

NASCAR Heroes #1 - Just kidding, I didn't read this.

Shadowpact #22 - I could see the ending from the beginning of the arc. It was telegraphed really obviously. But, I guess the point wasn't to surprise anyone. And the point Sturges was trying to make, he made. A good issue to end a good arc of a good book that probably won't be around too much longer. 8/10.

Star Wars - Dark Times #9 - I was enjoying the Dark Horse Star Wars comics (as always) even when they were starting to get stagnant, with their endless rehashings of post-ROTJ New Republic happenings, or Clone War battles, but I've been absolutely blown away by how much fun the "relaunch" of sorts has been. Dark Times, Rebellion, Legacy, and KOTOR are some of the most fun books I'm reading currently. 7/10.

Superman-Batman #46 - What? The Oblivion Bar shows up on radar now, even though it's a pocket dimension? And what's this crap about Batman not believing in magic? Green clearly doesn't give a **** about continuity, or character history, or character development. First he ****ed up the Joker (and Batman) in his BatCon arc. Now he's ****ing Batman up again by making him an obtuse unbeliever in magic and anything supernatural, even though Batman KNOWS AND WORKS WITH MAGICAL BEINGS. On a somewhat regular basis. He just teamed up with Zatanna not too long ago. He lost a piece of his MIND to Zatanna. He was STANDING IN A BAR FULL OF MAGES. He doesn't believe in magic? WTF is this ****?

But I'll tell you what beats all: the new color of kryptonite, this vaunted new [blackout]silver kryptonite[/blackout], you know what it turns out to do? [blackout]It gets Superman really stoned. No, seriously, that's what it does. He thinks the Justice League, which thanks to Green's lazy writing includes a corporeal Red Tornado, look like cartoon characters, and he thinks it's "never too late for breakfast." I've been stoned, I've been on mushrooms, and magic-silver-K apparently just puts Superman somewhere between stoned on some diggity-dank and tripping on shrooms.[/blackout]

Once again, we get Green trying to toss out name-checks like Dinosaur Island and the Oblivion Bar (in BatCon it was Harley Quinn) to make himself look like a credible writer, when in reality he's lazy, doesn't do research, and doesn't appear to care about the characters nearly as much as he cares about making a fast buck off them.

And then, of course, just like in BatCon, the horribly trite ending to every issue. [blackout]This issue, Superman finally comes to sympathize with the lowlies who foolishly use drugs--"I can finally understand why some people need an escape."[/blackout] Of course, he spares a little good-natured ribbing for his old grumpyguts friend Batman: "...well, except you, Bruce." Batman is now serving his old 1990s purpose of making the star of the book look nicer, more heroic, and more decent by comparison...IN A BOOK HE'S SUPPOSED TO COSTAR IN.

Honestly, people need to stop approaching this as a book that allows them to redefine Batman, Superman, and the World's Finest Hetero Life-Mates. That worked for the first arc or two, but Loeb stopped trying that because it was time for the book to start working on its own. And creative team after creative team just keeps trying to duplicate the magic of those early issues, instead of making their own. The series usually remains good and fully readable (even under Green's hideous guidance), but creators need to stop thinking they can have The Big Superman-Batman Moment, and DC needs to stop thinking this is Legends of the Dark Knight, and give it a consistent creative team for a couple of arcs. 6/10.

WildStorm Revelations #4 - Everything about the WildStorm Universe continues to impress (except WildC.A.T.S. and The Authority, the flagships of the line.) I can't help but feel that they should have done Armageddon, Revelations, and Number of the Beast instead of Captain Atom Armageddon, and have THESE lead to the WorldStorm. Who knows? It might have given Morrison that precious extra time to actually complete his scripts for his WildStorm books. We might be looking at a very different WSU and a very different DCU today. 7/10.

Wonder Girl #6 - I didn't read the first five, but I picked this one up because a lot of times, something important or relevant happens in a mini like this, but you only need the final issue to find out. And I was right: somehow this mini has tied into the Death of the New Gods. In fact, Wonder Woman comes FACE-TO-FACE with the God-Killer (makes you wonder why she doesn't tell somebody?) And then there's a bunch of other crap, and it all apparently ties into Countdown, while also trying to serve as THE BIG WONDER GIRL DEFINING MOMENT, superceding the previous BIG WONDER GIRL MOMENT in Teen Titans, which superceded another BIG WONDER GIRL MOMENT in the same book. But this BIG WONDER GIRL MOMENT will soon be superceded by something else. Cassandra Sandsmark is the new Dick Grayson, apparently. 5/10.

 

[RockSP]

[Birds of Prey #115 - Well if that don't beat all! Sean McKeever made me care about Misfit! You know, I think I might get to LIKE that kid if McKeever stays on this book for awhile longer. Still can't abide Black Alice though. I just hate goths, and I hate their stupid reasons for their stupid behavior. I also think Black Alice has a really cheapass power that's bound to screw some REAL hero over in a moment of need. But that's not really the point. This story has some good Alice/Misfit/Oracle interaction, and the explanation of the whole Killer Shark thing, which leads into the next issue (and I can't wait.) I was sad to see Simone leave the book, but it seems like this is one book DC never gives to a creator that can't work with it. Dixon, Simone, and now McKeever have all done great things with it. 8/10.

Sorry to break it to you but McKeever is off the book.

(But hey I didn't know Rucka was off Checkmate until I read your review so we're even...)

 

[fifthfiend]

But I'll tell you what beats all: the new color of kryptonite, this vaunted new silver kryptonite, you know what it turns out to do? It gets Superman really stoned. No, seriously, that's what it does. He thinks the Justice League, which thanks to Green's lazy writing includes a corporeal Red Tornado, look like cartoon characters, and he thinks it's "never too late for breakfast." I've been stoned, I've been on mushrooms, and magic-silver-K apparently just puts Superman somewhere between stoned on some diggity-dank and tripping on shrooms.

Silver Kryptonite is officially the greatest Kryptonite ever.

 

[yenaled]

I have to say Death of the New Gods kicked ass this week.

 

[Aristotle]

I have to say Death of the New Gods kicked ass this week.

This week? That book has been amazing since the first panel. By the way, was [blackout]Orion's death[/blackout] about as perfect as it could be, [blackout]aside from the fact that it precludes his prophesied defeat of Darkseid from ever happening[/blackout]?

Silver Kryptonite is officially the greatest Kryptonite ever.

For Superman, yes. For readers, no.

 

[GNR]

Hulk #2 - OK, Jeph, it's still fun, and I'm still reading, and Iron Man (for once) is a sympathetic character again. And I'm enjoying it, which is more than I can say for any Hulk-related storyline since...well, since the last Hulk #1, actually. 8/10

yea,you haven't read the Knaufs Iron Man obviously t:

 

[Aristotle]

Iron Man as Director of SHIELD is basically him trumpeting into my brain, "I am Adolf Hitler."

 

[Dread]

Just read Runaways. Whatever, I hate you Whedon

It is amazing how in about 12-13 month's time, RUNAWAYS has gone from "Dread's #1 Marvel book" to "Meh, that's still here? It's kinda alright."

 

[Blader5489]

Iron Man as Director of SHIELD is basically him trumpeting into my brain, "I am Adolf Hitler."

The book is really damn good, one of Marvel's best.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

It is amazing how in about 12-13 month's time, RUNAWAYS has gone from "Dread's #1 Marvel book" to "Meh, that's still here? It's kinda alright."

I didn't like a single thing about the last issue. The issues come out too far apart and I don't even really care about most of the characters anymore. A competent writer better take over the book next.

 

[Dread]

I didn't like a single thing about the last issue. The issues come out too far apart and I don't even really care about most of the characters anymore. A competent writer better take over the book next.

Terry Moore is writing the book next (I believe). With art by...Ramos.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Never heard of Moore before. Ramos is meh

 

[GNR]

Iron Man as Director of SHIELD is basically him trumpeting into my brain, "I am Adolf Hitler."

yea,you haven't read the Knaufs Iron Man obviously

 

[imdaly]

That's a fair point. I suppose this is akin to the Asop's Fable about the boy, his father and the donkey riding from town to town; trying to please everyone is ultimately futile.

The problem is I rarely get too much consensus feedback. There are those who comment, basically, "your posts are too god-damned long and it is a chore skipping them!" and there are those who go, "great reviews!" and very little in-between, besides folks commenting about specific points I have made and so forth, which is natural MB custom and what I expect.

Plus, with the 20,000 character limit, I have to make more posts to cram everything in and sometimes I would rather get in as many reviews within as few posts as possible. Good lord, you won't believe how many times I have cursed at that text limit per post.

Watch. With paragraph breaks, a post of my usual length is about twice as long on the screen and it won't be long before someone complains about it. "Wah, I have to scroll for so long!" And I really, really don't like using spoiler tags in the B/T topic. I use them when I repost my reviews in other topics but this one is spoiler-tag free.

But, you've made a decent point about the breaks and I may use them from now on. It is a more natural way of typing for me anyway.

While I never comment in these threads, I do read them every week and look forward to your reviews in particular.

As for a solution that I think would cater to everyone: Why not just put each issue's review inside it's own spoiler tag? That way you could break up each issue's review into paragraphs and at the same time make your posts take up even LESS space on the page for those that for some reason want to skip your detailed reviews. Win, win, right?

Whatever you do, keep up the great reviewing.

 

[iloveclones]

It is amazing how in about 12-13 month's time, RUNAWAYS has gone from "Dread's #1 Marvel book" to "Meh, that's still here? It's kinda alright."

Dread is now referring to himself in the third person. iloveclones is very dissapointed........

Agreed though how quickly Runaways has become bad. Shame on you Marvel.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Who ever wanted to see the kids in early 1900s New York? Nobody. There's more than enough to keep them busy in present day California; especially with Secret Invasion coming up and Xavin on the team.


Can I write Runaways, please?

 

[Kitsune]

Dread is now referring to himself in the third person.

Elmo does that too.

 

[Manic]

But I'll tell you what beats all: the new color of kryptonite, this vaunted new [blackout]silver kryptonite[/blackout], you know what it turns out to do? [blackout]It gets Superman really stoned. No, seriously, that's what it does. He thinks the Justice League, which thanks to Green's lazy writing includes a corporeal Red Tornado, look like cartoon characters, and he thinks it's "never too late for breakfast." I've been stoned, I've been on mushrooms, and magic-silver-K apparently just puts Superman somewhere between stoned on some diggity-dank and tripping on shrooms.[/blackout]

Just for the hell of it, I hope Superman starts keeping a lead box of silver kryptonite in his sock drawer for those extra-stressful days.

 

[El Bastardo]

Never heard of Moore before. Ramos is meh

Ouch, Spoons. Watch it.
You hurt me. Deliberately?

 

[Dread]

While I never comment in these threads, I do read them every week and look forward to your reviews in particular.

As for a solution that I think would cater to everyone: Why not just put each issue's review inside it's own spoiler tag? That way you could break up each issue's review into paragraphs and at the same time make your posts take up even LESS space on the page for those that for some reason want to skip your detailed reviews. Win, win, right?

Whatever you do, keep up the great reviewing.

Thanks. That's also a decent idea. Spoiler tags eat up character space, though, but it isn't a bad idea and it would make it easier to repost them anyway. We'll see what I decide in a few days.

Dread is now referring to himself in the third person. iloveclones is very dissapointed........

Agreed though how quickly Runaways has become bad. Shame on you Marvel.

It wasn't intentional.

It isn't a BAD comic per say, just a rare one that is hardly exceptional.

Who ever wanted to see the kids in early 1900s New York? Nobody. There's more than enough to keep them busy in present day California; especially with Secret Invasion coming up and Xavin on the team.


Can I write Runaways, please?

You couldn't do worse.

To play Devil's Advocate, at least the idea of the kids meeting the Kingpin and then travelling back in time 100 years is more original for that franchise than, say, having the X-Men fight their sentient Danger Room/Cerebro and then fight aliens in space.

Elmo does that too.

And Cookie Monster talks in I think "second person". How exactly did this help us learn how to talk as kids? I don't get it.

 

[imdaly]

And Cookie Monster talks in I think "second person". How exactly did this help us learn how to talk as kids? I don't get it.

Bob Dole must've watched a whole lot of Sesame Street.