Bought/Thought February 11, 2009 - SPOILERS

[Spider-Jay420]

SPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERS


Thor #600 - I really liked this issue. It was expensive at $4.99, but well worth it. After JMS gives up slow issue after slow issue, #600 is all action, baby! Thor finds himself in glorious battle with a ressurected Bor, his grandfather, thanks to Loki's trickery. The misunderstanding makes complete sense and they way it was handled was done really well. About midway through, Thor realizes he's got his hands full and bellows AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!! and it echos throughout Manhattan. Of course, who shows up? Norman Osborn's Avengers two point oh. Anyway, I'm not gonna spoil the end, but two things happen which really has me awaiting next issue. All I'll say is 'Banishment' and 'Latveria'. Nicely done, JMS. Definately a worthy anniversary issue.

Aside from that, there are many reprints contained here, including a quick, new 8 pager buy Stan Lee which was,...what you'd expect from Stan. Love the man, but his best stories are behind him. Also 3 or 4 reprints from Stan with Jack Kirby on art. Honestly, I just skimmed through them (Blasphemy, I know), but I was wanting to move on.

BATMAN #686 - Neil Gaiman's "Whatever Happened To the Caped Crusader" part 1 was enjoyable for me. It reminded me of the animated series episode 'Almost Got Him', as we see a funeral service in the backroom of a bar in Crime Alley, complete with Joe Chill as bartender. Villians arrive one by one and Selina Kyle and Alfred say a few words, not as a eulogy, but as how Batman was killed, but not really. The intriging thing was, as the issue rolls along, Bruce Wayne and another anonomous person are speaking throughout, and Bruce is like, "Wait, that's not how it happened.", which of course only leads to more questions. The issue ends with Bruce asking "What's going on here?" and the other voice answering "You're the world's greatest detective, Bruce. You figure it out." Is he in Heaven? Is he really dead? We'll see. Looking forward to next issue and hopefully this will be a nice end story for the Batman. (Until he comes back after Battle for the Cowl. )

 

[Aristotle]

The misunderstanding makes complete sense

Of course. They always do, right?

 

[Keyser Soze]

I just can't wait for Thor or Batman. Tomorrow can't come fast enough!

 

[Hush]

GLC and Batman 686 were good but Batman had its WTF points.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Thor was kick ass and I love how it helped set up the next Marvel event. This is how Marvel should be setting up events IMO. Nice subtle build ups, not suddenly here's [INSERT EVENT NAME], we've been building it up for like a bajillion years, even though there's been no build up at all.

And with Thor's banishment, I wonder if this will lead into Thor's character interacting more in the Marvel Universe and whatnot. Join the Avengers like how Brubaker's Captain America did in New Avengers, yet still have the main book be its own thing.

 

[Aristotle]

So what's the new Marvel event? I'm not gonna read the Thor issue, so someone wanna spoil it for me?

 

[hippie_hunter]

So what's the new Marvel event? I'm not gonna read the Thor issue, so someone wanna spoil it for me?

Spoiler

Marvel hasn't announced it yet, but it seems like they're going to be doing a Civil War part 2, but instead of the heroes led by Captain America and Iron Man, it'll be the villains led by Norman Osborn (with the Hood, Avengers, the Initiative, and HAMMER on his side) and Dr. Doom (with Namor and Loki at his side).

Secret Invasion: Dark Reign was what led to the first hints where Dr. Doom and Namor plan to ditch Osborn when the time is perfect and take over the world where he would rule the land and Namor would rule the seas. It was also pretty reasonable to assume that Loki would be involved in this alliance on account that he wants Asgard returned to the skies (Doom - land, Namor - seas, Loki - skies) and formed some sort of alliance with Doom in earlier issues of Thor.

Now what we have in Thor #600 is Loki proposing to move Asgard away from the dry, barren, and hot Oklahoma, to an environment that suits Asgardian culture better filled with snow capped mountains, game, castles, small villages, and forests. That is of course Latveria. Loki's proposed move of Asgard to Latveria is very similar to that of Namor's move to the very same place.

I'm hoping that Marvel does this right, because so far, the prospects for this event (if it does happen) will be very cool.

 

[Spider-Jay420]

Of course. They always do, right?

I'm sure you're just busting my balls, but it made sense because after Loki brought Bor back to life he cast a spell over him so he saw everything around him as a hellish, nightmare vision. Loki also made is so when Thor (or anyone else) tried to speak to Bor, all he heard were threats and such.

I just thought it was better than the normal "What are you doing here? Let's fight" deal.

If you care, which you probably don't.

 

[Mr. Green]

Spoiler

Marvel hasn't announced it yet, but it seems like they're going to be doing a Civil War part 2, but instead of the heroes led by Captain America and Iron Man, it'll be the villains led by Norman Osborn (with the Hood, Avengers, the Initiative, and HAMMER on his side) and Dr. Doom (with Namor and Loki at his side).

Secret Invasion: Dark Reign was what led to the first hints where Dr. Doom and Namor plan to ditch Osborn when the time is perfect and take over the world where he would rule the land and Namor would rule the seas. It was also pretty reasonable to assume that Loki would be involved in this alliance on account that he wants Asgard returned to the skies (Doom - land, Namor - seas, Loki - skies) and formed some sort of alliance with Doom in earlier issues of Thor.

Now what we have in Thor #600 is Loki proposing to move Asgard away from the dry, barren, and hot Oklahoma, to an environment that suits Asgardian culture better filled with snow capped mountains, game, castles, small villages, and forests. That is of course Latveria. Loki's proposed move of Asgard to Latveria is very similar to that of Namor's move to the very same place.

I'm hoping that Marvel does this right, because so far, the prospects for this event (if it does happen) will be very cool.

That actually sounds really cool.

 

[BrianWilly]

The day that Peter Tomasi took his place as the rightful king of Asgard.

Green Lantern Corps #33

Oh man. Oh man I LOVE THIS BOOK. I haven't loved a book this much in a long time, that I would barely be able to wait for the chance to read it, that I would accidentally drop pieces of Subway tomatos all over a page in my eagerness to get to the next page. You don't know what loving a book is like until you've spilled food all over it, is what I say.

Something that probably does get said from time to time but doesn't get said nearly enough is what bloody amazing art comes out of Gleason. I mean I realize that we realize that Gleason is, oh, one of those nice, realiable artists, does stylish stuff, it looks good, whatever. But I don't think we realize just how much we're getting from him here. Look at how he depicts the construct shadows with Kyle and Soranik, or Miri and Saarek twirling through the vastness of space with the Anti-Monitor's hand, or that inky power shot of the Corps during Origins and Omens. We're getting masterful stuff here, far above and beyond the usual, perfectly serviceable "here's some superheroes and action scenes" stuff.

Mongul and his presentation on Daxam, along with the Sinestro Corps, was incredible. I had thought I would maybe be bored with this storyline 'cause Daxam kinda bored me the last time we were there, but Tomasi did incredible things with incredibility. Mongul's dialogue is flawless. Mongul's freaking arm flying around killing people and zapping at mofos in the woods was a riot. And I love how he managed to make the Sinestro Corps's reverance of fear relevant with the Daxamites' crippling xenophobia, their utter fear of outsiders; that's something I would never have thought of and gives a little needed zap to the storyline other than it merely being "Sinestro Corps takeover that just happens to be on this random planet."

Kyle...what to say? His personal project...and Guy...and then all those Lanterns wanting to help...fdashiifwefGUH. And it's so good, because it's so fitting, and it's so fitting because it's so good. Kyle was damaged. We knew that from the pictures he'd been drawing. Because something happened and he was affected by it, "he" killed someone and it means something, people around him died and it that means something, it has a consequence, and it's a consequence that has to be dealt with instead of ignored or magically retconned away like it was no big deal. That is what a story is. And, yeah, he could maybe mope about it and probably go down to a really dark place with it, and that's probably a story too, but that's not what Tomasi is choosing here. He's choosing to turn it into something beautiful and good for the characters, and y'know what, this does not happen enough. This. Does. Not. Happen. Enough. Thinking about it now, it's astounding to me how this -- the idea of turning tragedy into a bittersweet, empowering, positive thing as a priority instead of an afterthought -- just does not happen these days. Heroes making the choice to be empowered by tragedy, to turn it on its head, is the afterthought as far as how writers think about these things. Most creators will just make them cry about it, and then mope, and then wear darker costumes for a few years, maybe quit the team that they were on and join a darker one, and then after which they might eventually try to work through it...after basically being dragged kicking and screaming to that point by their friends (if they even have any at this point). Not Tomasi. We see shades of this in whis Final Crisis: Requiem as well, in which he wrote J'onn's death giving the heroes' renewed strength at the same time that it devastated them beyond measure.

And I realize that in real life, tragedy often does completely devastate a person for the worse and that there is no upside to it. But I get tired of this being the case one-****ing-hundred percent in my fiction. I feel like people think that's where all the good dramarama lies, and that's true to a degree, but certainly not to one-****ing-hundred percent degree.

But more to the point, we got a cool scene with a bunch of Lanterns. And that's cool.

(10 out of 10)


Nightwing #153
And another one at DC bites the dust, and we're all the poorer for it. Well, that's not entirely fair; this book was going to be cancelled no matter what, it's just part of the ongoing DC saga. It's not really a bad thing. It had nothing to do with sales and everything to do with the collective story, so I can't really complain. That much. Rucka's Wonder Woman was cancelled during IC due to the "collective story," and we all know how that turned out.

Tomasi's run on this book apparently received mixed responses from the readership. For every positive response, I often hear a "Meh, it's not bad, it's just not getting me to care." And I get that, somewhat. This is a book stocked to the brim with "character moments" whereas the general comicbooky action stuff happens just...every once in a while. And I think that may have thrown people for a bad loop, because Nightwing seems to be a book that should be action action action drama actionactionaction. The idea of Dick Grayson, the character of him and what he deals with, seems to be built for that.

But y'know what...we've tried that. We've had that. And "that" was fine, but we've had one hundred plus issues of "that" to varying degrees of success and lack thereof. Maybe it was time for something new, something just a tiny bit more cerebral at the expense of action action action. I certainly didn't mind, and it's certain not like Dick just spent twentywhatever issues sitting on his sodam. And I just think the work that Tomasi did on Dick Grayson is phenomenal and therefore will almost certainly be underappreciated by the rallying editorial cry of "MAKE IT DARKER! MAKE HIM DARKER!" that will eventually come.

And on that note, I wanna make a note here of how Dick is responding to Bruce's death here in this book versus how Tim is going to respond to it. Make no mistake: Tim is gonna mope. He's already been moping in his own book, the creative choice has already been made to make him harder because of this. This is going to change him for the worse. It has happened, it is happening, it will happen more. Again, Tomasi has chosen something different for his character. "Thank you, Bruce. There will always be hope in Gotham City." Let's see how long it lasts.

The art is mostly great, but then there are these tiny moments that pop up that make you go "Gyuh." Like y'know that "iconic" image where Lois is cradling dead Superman's body and wailing in grief about it? Well it appears here, except that here it looks like Lois is just screaming in rage, like she's SO ****ING ANGRY at Superman for dying. Either that or she's orgasming on his corpse or something. Rape in marriage: still a crime. Huh, what were we talking about?

That ending story with Barbara was super awesome.

(9.2 out of 10)
(8.5 out of 10 for the entire run)


Batman and the Outsiders Special
I don't...really know some of these characters that well, and I don't really know why some things are happening. I just got this for the Tomasi. *shrug* It's decent so far, Geo-Force has gone a bit off the deep end -- hmm, literally -- and then there's some supposedly dangerous villains that I don't really care about at the moment other than for their offering certain proof that Tomasi simply can't last a month without some kind of horrifying gore in his bookses!

And I gotta say, that scene with Alfred was totally tearjerky.

Wait and see, I suppose.

(7.3 out of 10)


Thor #600
Well, that ending's not dire or anything.

So this is totally all great and wonderful and all that. The writing is top-notch. The art leaps off the page and sexes you.

But what's with this "The law is the law is the Asgard is the law" nonsense? Bor was rampaging and freaking out and killing people up and down the street, and Thor has to kill him which is all unfortunate or whatever, but hey remember when the guy was rampaging and freaking out and killing people up and down the street? Am I to believe that Asgardian law -- enlightened and wise and venerable and godly -- is just going to ignore that the danger to and death of innocents in order to stave off some imaginary affront? Odin himself, much less other Asgardians, had the tendency to bend a few rules now and then when he had reason; hell, the backup stories in this very book show that! Isn't obsession with the letter of the law instead of its spirit the exact sort of SHRA bull**** that Tony pulled and Thor renounced?

Do I like the story that's being told here? Yes, very much so. Do I think that JMS has been stretching certain perceptions and ideas to their breaking point, in order to tell this story that he wants to tell? Also yes. He's been doing it in certain ways with Loki, and he's done it before on others of his books. I suppose I'll just have to resign myself to the fact that this incarnation of Asgard that JMS is writing -- practically blunt and medievel about their principles -- is just a different incarnation than the ones before and that's that.

(8.1 out of 10)


Vixen: Return of the Lion #5
This was a pleasant surprise. After the JLA did everything humanly and inhumanly possible to make Vixen unappealing to me, this was a very pleasant surprise. Here is Vixen kicking ass and being not at all unappealing about it, all through a backdrop of a relatable plotline and gorgeous artwork. She fights Superman with the powers of an armored beetle -- no, not that one, and then French kisses him! Context? What context?

Hilariously, there's a caption at the beginning informing us that "This story takes place before the events of Batman R.I.P.," as if anyone who had been reading the four whole issues before this couldn't have figured that out. And on an equal hilarity note, the cover marks this as being the fifth out of six issues, except that there's a bit ol' THE END at...the end...of this issue. Too bad; I probably wouldn't follow a regular Vixen ongoing, but I wouldn't have minded another issue of this.

(8 out of 10)
(8.6 out of 10 for the entire series)

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Thor #600 was fantastic. The fight with Bor and the Dark Avengers (even though Ares and the Sentry, the only two guys who could possibly stand a chance against Thor, were conspicuously absent) should finally shut the people who complain about the lack of action up, and it was pretty awesome in itself. I liked that JMS made Bor such an unbelievable powerhouse--the trend in the Marvel gods seems to be that they get weaker over time, with the Elder Gods in distant prehistory being some of the most powerful. Given that Bor is basically the Asgardians' version of an Elder God, he should rightfully be a badass. I liked when he finally cut loose and stopped fighting hand-to-hand a lot.

I have no problem with Thor being banished from Asgard for killing Bor. To BW: yes, the law is the law is the law in Asgard. We've seen it before. Thor was banished from existence by Odin for killing Loki at one point, so the idea that Balder--righteous, noble, and loyal to a fault Balder--would banish him from Asgard for killing another member of the royal family makes perfect sense. Also, when Balder was in command of Asgard in earlier Thor comics, he basically condemned Thor to death by stealing his power in the middle of a fight so he could add it to the Odinforce and defend Asgard with it. Balder is a good friend, but he's also very much a by-the-book, needs-of-the-many-outweigh-the-needs-of-the-few sort of leader.

Also, Thor never objected to Tony's stance in the Civil War. He objected to the very idea of the heroes being so wrapped up in their own affairs that they went to war with each other in the first place, endangering and neglecting the innocents they claimed to protect. So he was mad at pretty much all the heroes for being so childish. He was mad at Tony in particular because of the Clor thing. Now, does that mean Thor is a slave to the letter of the law and would have been on Tony's side in CW? No. He's bent the rules himself on many occasions, which is probably why he makes a better king than Balder does. But will he ask his friend and brother to give him special treatment, effectively declaring himself to be above the law when even Thor himself admitted that he should've done more to try and reason with Bor instead of killing him? Heeeeeeeell no. Thor is the most noble guy in all of Asgard for many reasons, a major one being his inclination toward self-sacrifice. I'm sure Thor could've fought his sentence and probably could've convinced Balder in the end, but that would show the Asgardians that their king sets himself on a pedestal above the rest of them, and unlike Odin, who was basically considered infallible, Thor isn't viewed as omnipotent and all-knowing--people were already questioning his loyalty to Asgard in previous issues because he's never there. This isn't just an isolated decision on Balder's part; this is the culmination of what several little events from throughout JMS' run so far have been building to. If you include the fact that everyone in Asgard knows Thor used to be a total dick before his infallible daddy sent him off to learn how to behave, this is sort of the culmination of Thor's entire life coming into play.

But that's just my take on it. I'm the first to call bulls*** whenever I feel like Thor is being mistreated, but nothing in #600 set off my alarms. Well, maybe Loki getting away with everything scot-free, but I know he'll get his comeuppance soon enough. He always does.

Speaking of calling bulls*** when Thor is being mistreated, I also saw Hulk vs. last night. First off, let me just say that the commentary track on Hulk vs. Thor is ******ed and it comes off pretty clearly that neither Kyle nor Yost knows a goddamn thing about Thor or his world except what they gleaned from probably like 5 or 6 of Simonson's issues. That said, the movie's not too bad as a movie. Outside of Thor predictably coming off like a drooling moron in his fights with the Hulk, it's almost enjoyable. It's certainly one of the better animated movies Marvel's put out, although that's not saying much. I enjoyed Hulk vs. Wolverine more, even though the plot is a little looser and sort of wanders a bit in that one. Deadpool is handled extremely well, which I was happy to see. He had some genuinely funny moments, which is all you can really ask for from the character. Some of his jokes felt forced, but outside of Joe Kelly's run, some of them always do. Kyle and Yost are clearly a lot more comfortable in the X-Men world, which makes sense because they're X-Men writers and they've done two X-Men cartoons already. The animation style on the Wolverine movie was also better, I thought. The style on the Thor movie felt a bit too blocky, and not in the good, DC/Timmverse sort of way. The shadowing on some things, like Loki's face, were just horrendous on the Thor part, but everything works pretty well on the Wolverine part. It's pretty infuriating that Wolverine fares better in his fights with the Hulk than Thor does in his, but I'm used to that sort of nonsense.

Anyway, decent movie, terrible fights for Thor, almost kinda looking forward to Tales of Asgard if I make myself forget that Kyle and Yost are the primary forces behind that as well. In the end, though, Marvel really just needs to either get some new blood on these things or call it a day in the animated DTV department. Every single one of their animated movies has ranged from fair to absolute dreck. Maybe they should give Timm, Dini, or Burnett a call.

 

[Phaedrus45]

The only issue I read last night was Thor #600. I knew that would be the big talk in this forum; so, I wasn't going to accidentally have anything ruined by spoilers. Like everyone else, I loved this issue. In fact, I bought all three covers! (I didn't like how the Variant Issues weren't labeled as such, as Marvel usually does. I wish DC did that. I got two issues of REBELS, Batman, and Batman and the Outsiders, and I can never tell which is the regular issue and which is the variant.) I especially loved the Avengers Assemble part of this book. Even though I maybe should have expected that outcome, I didn't.

It was a long time getting to some action, and everything that's happened previously has been building up to this issue...but, now I can say it was all worth the wait.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I can't help wondering how much better the pacing on Thor might feel if we'd gotten these 13 issues in 13 months instead of spread out over almost a year and a half.

Anyway, REBELS was a lot of fun. I'm not a huge fan of the original Brainiac, but his descendants are always a joy to read. Vril is lovely because he's a complete bastard who happens to be a good guy by trade. He's not the familiar jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold, either (at least not so far as I've seen); he's literally just a jerk who happens to do good as a byproduct of his job. It's refreshing to see that kind of unabashed cynicism at DC, even if it is festering everywhere at Marvel like the plague. Brainiac 5 is great in this as well, especially his comment about Supergirl ("she was going back to this century anyway" ). I was surprised to find the Threeboot Brainy portrayed in this issue. I thought for sure we'd be seeing the Silver Age Legion for all appearances from now on. Anyway, back to Supergirl: she was surprisingly not offensive to my brain in this. I actually sort of liked her because she was just a normal, confused person caught up in this crazy time-spanning plot with the Brainiacs rather than her usual, overly entitled self. More of this would be great for Supergirl (although, for all I know, she may already be getting it in her series, which I don't read). The Omega Men are always nice to see as well. Basically, this issue was setup with a lot of fun moments, but although it was light on actual plot, the elements it's setting up for the rest of the story are looking pretty great. Andy Clarke's art sure didn't hurt, either. He still goes overboard a bit with the tiny hatching lines, but his figures have firmed up from his Aquaman days and the painted look of the coloring really works well with his clean, simple style. Looking forward to the next issue.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Thor #600
Thor #600 freaking kicked ass! What an awesome book, Thor continues to get better and better. If there's one good thing that came out of my tentative foray into Marvel last month, it was getting into Thor.

As others have said, this issue feels like the culmination of all the slow-boil development of the preceding 6 issues, if not the whole run. We begin the story thinking Loki's masterplan has come together masterfully, only to be reminded by the closing revelation that her schemes are ongoing, and that more deptths to her depravity wait to be explored. Though I've heard great things about the Red Skull revival through the whole Death of Captain America/Man Who Bought America saga, and of course this seems set to be Norman Osborn's big year, Loki must surely at least be considered a candidate for Marvel's best villain right now. Spellcheck-nemesis J Michael Straczynski just writes her with such crawling deviousness that you love to hate her, but at the same time can see how her silver tongue could beat down the defenses of even the best of people.

But after me recently voicing concern about his lack of character development, there is some great stuff with Thor here. As the narrative twists begin to resemble Shakespearian tragedy in their scope and implication, Thor here is treated to a speech that wouldn't look out of place in one of the Bard's great plays. Not only is his heroism displayed to great effect throughout, but his parting words to Asgard show he's no fool either. He knows Loki's behind this. Loki knows he knows. But Thor only wants the best for Asgard, so even though he's in the right and knows who's in the wrong, he accepts exile because he knows it is the best way to keep the stability of the Asgard he has restored intact.

But what I love is that, though dealing with story beats that in lesser hands could have been contrived "get the character from Point A to Point B" fodder, JMS manages to make it all utterly convincing. Someone on here voiced concern that Balder essentially becomes a walking plot device, blindly following the rule of Asgard and falling in line with Loki's plans. But JMS has more respect for the character than that. Coipiel helps, mind, as you can just see the doubt and angiush seething through Balder in every frame. Heavy lies the crown, it would seem. And his last scene with Loki shows he's not a mindless dupe quite yet.

Bonus points go out to the back-ups, too. Yes, the Stan Lee story was hokey, but in a good way. It was just totally classic, corny Stan, and as such the tale felt wonderfully old-school. And the Mini-Marvels story was just dripping with wit, that was a real treat to read. Loved the old Tales of Asgard biography on Loki, but the Balder one was iffy. Guy seemed like a male Snow White!

But back to the main story of Thor #600, this was pretty much a perfectly-constructed comic. The 40+ pages of the main story flew by, dominated by one of the most epic smackdowns I've read in the past year, and ending with a clever way to tie the events of Thor into the Dark Reign landscape, one that doesn't feel contrived because it isn't - a look back at Thor #5 reminds us this has been the works for some time. One glimpse at the cover for #601 sealed the deal - I can't wait for the next issue!

Damn it, now I'm up to speed, these delays are going to kill me...

 

[Aristotle]

The only issue I read last night was Thor #600. I knew that would be the big talk in this forum; so, I wasn't going to accidentally have anything ruined by spoilers. Like everyone else, I loved this issue. In fact, I bought all three covers! (I didn't like how the Variant Issues weren't labeled as such, as Marvel usually does. I wish DC did that. I got two issues of REBELS, Batman, and Batman and the Outsiders, and I can never tell which is the regular issue and which is the variant.) I especially loved the Avengers Assemble part of this book. Even though I maybe should have expected that outcome, I didn't.

It was a long time getting to some action, and everything that's happened previously has been building up to this issue...but, now I can say it was all worth the wait.

Can you explain to me why you buy variant covers?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Bonus points go out to the back-ups, too. Yes, the Stan Lee story was hokey, but in a good way. It was just totally classic, corny Stan, and as such the tale felt wonderfully old-school. And the Mini-Marvels story was just dripping with wit, that was a real treat to read. Loved the old Tales of Asgard biography on Loki, but the Balder one was iffy. Guy seemed like a male Snow White!

If you liked the stuff with Loki's younger years, you might want to check out the Thor: Son of Asgard series. It's basically an updated and expanded account of how Thor and the other major Asgardians got to be the people they are today. I was a bit wary going into it when it was first coming out, but it turned out to be done surprisingly well. Who knows? It might make the wait between this issue and the next more bearable. In fact, I'm probably going to reread it myself.

 

[Aristotle]

It was just totally classic, corny Stan, and as such the tale felt wonderfully old-school.

So does everyone just realize how bad his writing is, but you all just still choose to see it as good writing?

 

[Keyser Soze]

If you liked the stuff with Loki's younger years, you might want to check out the Thor: Son of Asgard series. It's basically an updated and expanded account of how Thor and the other major Asgardians got to be the people they are today. I was a bit wary going into it when it was first coming out, but it turned out to be done surprisingly well. Who knows? It might make the wait between this issue and the next more bearable. In fact, I'm probably going to reread it myself.

Hmmmm.....I may look into that. But first things first, I have the Ages of Thunder trilogy hopefully in the mail on its way to me, to help ease the pain.

 

[Keyser Soze]

So does everyone just realize how bad his writing is, but you all just still choose to see it as good writing?

When I first got into the Spider-Man comics as a kid, much of my early reading was in fact reprints of the early Stan Lee stories, like the origin story and his first encounter with Doctor Octopus. And then there was the big Marvel Universe book I got one Christmas that helped acquaint me with the wider universe, full of excerpts from various Stan Lee origin tales. And thanks to Stan's substantial on-screen presence, you can't help but hear that narration in his twinkly old man voice.

Is he the most nuanced and literary of writers? No, of course not. But his work has such charm about it that I can't help but feel nostalgic when I read it. I'll always remember Stan Lee as the first comic creator I could name and put a face and voice too. Stan The Man will always have a special place in my heart.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

So does everyone just realize how bad his writing is, but you all just still choose to see it as good writing?

They're kitschy and fun to me. Like sci fi B-movies. I certainly wouldn't want him writing any ongoing stories with any of my favorite characters at this point, but as a one-off little parable, which is what the back-up story in Thor #600 was, he's fun to read. And, like him or not, there's no denying that he did play a role in getting these characters to where they are today, so I respect that. I can't say I particularly like his original Thor stories, but they get better over time.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Can you explain to me why you buy variant covers?

Sure!

I'm a Marvel completionist, and I buy every Marvel comic that comes out every month. (The one exception is I don't by 2nd printings, except with the case of the 2nd printing of the Obama cover.)

After Infinite Crisis, I got back into DC comics more and more, and now if it's a rarer variant cover for them or an independant, I'll pick those up. (My comic shop gives them to me at cover price, unlike a comic shop I sometimes visit in Tacoma that charges about $9.00 per variant.) I usually won't pick up a 50/50 cover with DC, like the many Final Crisis issues. (Now, I might have picked up some DC 50/50's, but I'm never sure which ones those are. I was hoping those DC ones I got this week were a bit rarer than the regular issues.)

And, maybe the biggest reason I pick up these variant issues is because I can. If I was strapped for cash and couldn't afford them, I wouldn't do it.

It really is an addiction with me. I don't smoke and I rarely drink (except one or two in social situations); so, I consider this my vice. Well, that and movies and music.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Hmmmm.....I may look into that. But first things first, I have the Ages of Thunder trilogy hopefully in the mail on its way to me, to help ease the pain.

Cool. The SoA stuff was considered a "young readers" series, I guess, so it's available in digest form. Each volume is like $6 or $7 each.

 

[bryanss3]

if variant covers are a vice I'd hate to know what you consider your deep dark secret.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

One time he read a Chris Claremont comic published after 2000... and liked it!

 

[Aristotle]

I don't smoke and I rarely drink

Oh dude we gotta get you some drugs. Where do you live, I might know a guy.