Bought/Thought January 2nd, 2009

[BrianWilly]

Yes, the difference between what Marcdachamp and fiend is suggesting is that in Marc's scenario, if Peter hopped into Reed's time machine and went back a year, he would find out that, holy ****, he was actually married to Mary Jane and that his current memories are hella wrong. But that's not the case. If Peter hopped into Reed's time machine right now and went back a year, he would find everything exactly as he remembers it. Mephisto is far more competent than that, or else OMD would simply be too easy to undo.


Anyway, a very quick and short surprise...
Teen Titans #66
Holy ****ing ****s on bricks on crap, this was actually good.

And I don't mean it wasn't completely horrible like usual, I mean that it was good. It actually entertained me. I enjoyed it. So many good moments and good lines. "Well then, hi there, future robot overlord."

Now, that being said, I fully expect this to not last and for the next issue to go back to the gratuitous snuffporn that this title has been...after all, I really liked the first few issues that McKeever wrote as well, and look where that got me.

Also, WTF is Cassie thinking, not wearing her bracers. (technically she stopped in the last issue, but I'm talking about it here) I mean, she clearly knows it's sacrilege, but then she does it anyway. I have no idea how Simone is going to work this into her WW stuff especially since she's been putting a lot of emphasis on the bracers as an Amazon symbol.

Also also, Eddy Barrows is very nearly the single worst artist to be working on this title. He's not a bad artist at all, mind. He is, however, absolutely horrible for this title.

(7.9 out of 10)

 

[Marcdachamp]

Again, incorrect. Spider-man was not married, did not ever get married and has never been married, there was never a wedding at which he got married, he never at any point in his history entered into a state of matrimony. It was wholly and utterly excised from history and from ever having happened. It is in no way whatsoever the case that 'no one remembers things the way that they occured' because they emphatically did not ever occur that way.

The thing is, MJ seems to remember. If she does, in fact, remember it, it had to have happened.

 

[BrianWilly]

Please to note that Harry Osborn is not rotting six feet below the ground anymore and that Peter no longer has organic webbing. That's not memories. That's history. History itself has been changed, not just people's memories of it. If MJ does remember -- which is total speculation at this point, albeit a plausible one -- then she remembers a reality that no longer ever happened for anyone else.

 

[imdaly]

Please to note that Harry Osborn is not rotting six feet below the ground anymore and that Peter no longer has organic webbing. That's not memories. That's history. History itself has been changed, not just people's memories of it. If MJ does remember -- which is total speculation at this point, albeit a plausible one -- then she remembers a reality that no longer ever happened for anyone else.

Harry never was buried, because he never died, as shown in the latest issue of ASM. That's not changing history. That's revealing more history. Otherwise Pete would not have finally asked Harry exactly how he's not really dead. If history was changed, Pete wouldn't be asking, as he'd never know that he "died" in the first place.

 

[Red]

[soapbox]

Spoiler

As a minor note, am I the only one who feels that WAR HEROES, much like AMERICAN DAD (or LIL' BUSH), is an irrelevant concept after the November elections? I mean here is a story that really needed McCain to win to have it seem topical, as it depicts him waging an unpopular "100 year war" against Iran after Washington is attacked by a suicide bomber, which gets so desperate that the only thing that can be done to increase military recruitment is, literally, to turn every soldier into Nuke (a pill popping super-soldier death machine). In an America with Barack "The One" Obama about to take office behind history, a popular win and a globe full of genuine good will, and a Democratic majority in Congress that was increased just enough that the media said, "oh, YEAH, Republicans have been a minority in Congress for two whole years now", and Bush an obvious lame duck, stuff like WAR HEROES just seems like a knee jerk story for an era about to pass us by (much as a Bill Clinton type story would have seemed in 2002-2003). Instead of hating the Republicans for their inefficient rule and corruption (which are fair reasons to hate them), many writers like Millar should be thanking them for years worth of material, and wondering what to do next. I mean, it isn't like any of them would dare write a story in which a Democrat proved to be corrupt or inefficient, y'know, because it does kind of happen in real life, almost, right? I only brought this up because an ad for WAR HEROES was in the issue, before some cool Romita Jr. line art.

[/soapbox]

Can I assume you voted for Obama?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Harry never was buried, because he never died, as shown in the latest issue of ASM. That's not changing history. That's revealing more history. Otherwise Pete would not have finally asked Harry exactly how he's not really dead. If history was changed, Pete wouldn't be asking, as he'd never know that he "died" in the first place.

Or Harry being whisked away to Europe was the change from history being rewritten. He might've still been dead in the normal continuity if OMD never happened. Who knows?

Anyway, the way I understood it, OMD did literally change history in exactly the way fifth said: Peter and MJ were never, ever married. The memory change is for Peter's secret identity only.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Yeah but you get sick of same villains fighting the same heroes over and over again, it gets kinda boring after a few decades. Back in the silver age villains were way less strict about having set heroes to fight, a silver age issue could have a villain appear from a different series, just to mix things up.
Back in the Silver age, red Skull killed Peter Parker's parents, that's way more out of the blue then this.

Besides they can easily come with a reason for this villain to fight the x-men, he is a villain, he doesn't need much motivation to fight heroes: maybe he was hired to it by someone else, maybe he wants to steal their tech, maybe he thinks if he can kill the X-men he will become famous or maybe he wants to rob their house. The fact is the X-Men have been shut off from the rest of MU over the past 20 years, so I think some more interaction and having them fight villains from other series could be fun.

Good points, Overlord.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Dread, you keep missing the point: the villains are cooperating with each other to wipe out the heroes. So instead of indulging in old grudges that have proved fruitless over the past 40+ years, they've (apparently) been mixing and matching which villains take on which heroes. For example, as others have mentioned, instead of Thor being taken down by Loki, he's defeated by Magneto.

In this case, Logan is deceived precisely because he's dealing with a villain he's never encountered before. You're complaining about Millar putting shock before logic, and while the moment was shocking, it's also logical for the villains to throw someone at Logan that he has no history with. That's the only way he'd fall for it.

You're looking for dramatic weight where, logically, none should exist. If the X-Men are finally going to be taken down, it isn't going to be because Magneto or Sinister finally got lucky after decades of failures, it's because they were blindsided by someone they aren't used to. It actually reminds me of No Country for Old Men, in that regard.

Exactly. Why would the villains "big plan" be to throw the same old thing at the heroes that's failed time and time again?

It makes more sense to come at them with a different angle.

 

[Franklin Richards]

I hate to be derivative but then everything is derivative. I'd like to see a Tower of Babel type scenario. Maybe where Doom draws up the plans and then certain agents are chosen to carry them out. And the agents wouldn't be chosen emotionally. They would be chosen by who could get the job done.

Say for instance the plan is to kill Daredevil in a confession booth. Doom sends... oh... let's say Hydro-Man and Diablo. They have the talents and plan to take DD out and they do.


Anywho... just brainstorming. Where'd I go?

 

[Dread]

Please to note that Harry Osborn is not rotting six feet below the ground anymore and that Peter no longer has organic webbing. That's not memories. That's history. History itself has been changed, not just people's memories of it. If MJ does remember -- which is total speculation at this point, albeit a plausible one -- then she remembers a reality that no longer ever happened for anyone else.

Or Harry being whisked away to Europe was the change from history being rewritten. He might've still been dead in the normal continuity if OMD never happened. Who knows?

Anyway, the way I understood it, OMD did literally change history in exactly the way fifth said: Peter and MJ were never, ever married. The memory change is for Peter's secret identity only.

That is how I interpreted it, too. Mephisto literally altered Marvel-616 to "erase" Spider-Man's extra powers as well as all knowledge of his secret identity from friends/enemies alike and to negate the existence of his marriage with MJ. In the minds of Peter and others who should be aware, they two merely "dated" or were at most "engaged" or living together for some time, but that is over and done with. Furthermore, it seems Peter's career as a teacher has also been erased. Which has to be odd since there were quite a few villains who Spidey only was able to track down or learn about or whatever from that job, which means THEY were altered, too.

And Harry Osborn was revived, because clearly if JMS couldn't even tap a gold mine like a public school staff to create credible new supporting cast members in NEARLY EIGHT YEARS, no one else could be expected to. I mean, er, Mephisto works in mysterious ways.

Frankly, Dr. Strange or maybe some various god characters should be the only ones who should have been at least somewhat resist and may recall more, but I doubt editorial would agree.

OMD was "Spider-Crisis" basically.

Can I assume you voted for Obama?

Spoiler

Actually, I voted for neither and went for a third party. The glorious thing about the Electoral College was that it usually keeps perennial "red" or "blue" states what they are and thus it makes voting in Presidential elections anti-climatic. Whether I like them or not, a Democrat for the White House will ALWAYS win New York State. Much as a Republican will ALWAYS win Texas. So both parties take these states for granted and it gets predictable. But, frankly, if the 2000 election wasn't enough to get politicians to seek to do away with the College after eight years, I doubt it would start now. Both parties benefit too much from only having to focus on "battleground" states that have fewer people to impress every four years.

That said, I was swept up a bit in the fortnight long good will that came of Obama winning and making history. But then again, I live in NY. The only difference between a Republican and a Democrat in local politics is that NY Republicans are tough on crime. That is about it. From spending policy to corruption, both are equal in NY.

The only thing that gets my knickers in a bunch is media bias. Most of it (Hollywood, 90% of TV news and program networks) is on the Liberal side, reporting any nasty thing a Conservative does as if it was the worst thing since the Holocaust, while giving Dems a pass. But what is the alternative? Talk Radio or Fox News, that basically treat Conservatives as gods and Liberals as fascists? That just trades one side's propaganda for the other, and that is why Americans are both polarized and misinformed, which is a deadly combination.

But **** all that. Let's talk comics!

 

[Themanofbat]

Furthermore, it seems Peter's career as a teacher has also been erased. Which has to be odd since there were quite a few villains who Spidey only was able to track down or learn about or wharever from that job, which means THEY were altered, too.

I love you...

In ASM #546, the FIRST issue of BND, on page 7, when Peter is getting INTERVIEWED for a "Physics/Environmental TEACHER, Grades 11 & 12", the person doing the interview states to Peter "I'm sorry, but I've already heard a number of bad things about you. During your LAST TEACHING ASSIGNMENT, there would be times when you'd go missing for days without any explanation. And as much as this city needs teachers, they do not need teachers like you Mr. Parker".

[Bob Dylan]Come mothers and fathers, throughout the land...
And don't criticize what you can't understand.[/Bob Dylan]

I really should read your posts more in depth... I could probably take'em apart... t:

Cheers...

 

[Dread]

A simple, "No, they actually covered the teacher aspect in ASM #546" would have sufficed. But, that works too. It's no problem.

Undoing the marriage and then being able to enjoy Peter's swingin' single adventures when an entire universe has been mind-wiped by a Hell-Lord into undoing his significant other's position in his life as well as the one and only thing Peter did in 20 years that was in any way mature and adult isn't quite my idea of a comic I want to hop aboard. At least not at this time.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I totally agree with you dude, 100%. New X-Men was doing just fine, why didn't they just change the name from New X-Men to Young X-Men and just keep the same numbering. Recently having new #1's has usually helped with sales and gaing new readers; Captain America, Ironman, New Avengers, Thor, etc..., but this is not one of those cases. Marvel should've just did what they did with Inc Hulk/Herc and just change the name of the book, without making a new #1. Increible Herc is awesome and has a great fanbase, but others have said that if Inc Herc started with a new #1, it would've been more risky and could've cost the book it's current success, this is what happened with Young X-Men. Plus they got rid of a great cast of characters, they didn't fall into limbo but they were good where they were.

Surge
Hellion
Rockslide
Mercury
Dust
Elixir
X-23
Prodigy
Anole
Pixie

I think Young X-Men would have been much more successful if it didn't have a rather dull first arc and continued on from where New X-Men left off. It should have kept Blindfold, Rockslide, Anole, and Dust along with the other former students of the Xavier Institute like Pixie, X-23, Elixir, Surge, Hellion, Mercury, and whatnot. And they shouldn't have been putting in new characters like Ink and Greymalkin.

It should have been more along the lines of Uncanny X-Men is right now, a book having all of the mutants pop up, except in this case, the younger mutants.

 

[Texas]

Actually, Pete's stint as a teacher was mentioned when he was interviewing in one of the issues of BND. As was when he worked for Stark (issue # 7 I think of Invincible IM)

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I read all of the What Ifs that just came out. They were uniformly terrible except for the Doctor Doom one, and even that one had kind of a silly ending (made worse by the fact that it could've been a good ending if not for the narration). The Runaways backup was pretty awful too. Amateurish art, clunky dialogue, the whole nine yards. Although, I have to admit, it was nice to see Aunt May b**** Peter out for killing the Kingpin. Ah, the good old days, when parents taught their superhero kids that killing is actually, y'know, wrong.

 

[RockSP]

bought

Batman: Cacophony #2
Incognito #1
Avengers: The Initiative #20
Green Lantern #36
Incredible Hercules #124
Captain America #45
JLA #28
JSA #22
Guardians of the Galaxy #8
Kick-Ass #5
War Machine #1
Fantastic Four #562
Astounding Wolf-Man #11
X-Force #10
Wonder Woman #26, #27
New Warriors #19
X-Men: Worlds Apart #3
Gigantic #2
Madame Xanadu #7

thought

Avengers: The Initiative - Ant-Man gets a promotion but 3D Man is "no longer welcome" is the only part that left me scratching my head.

War Machine - Not feeling Cyborg Rhodey. They need to get him into that cloned body ASAP.

Gigantic - Art's not the greatest but the premise is interesting. And the predicament the title character is in is all kinds of screwed up. "Uh, yeah I'm your brother who has been missing for 50 years and now I'm back in an alien robot body and oh yeah I accidentally helped kill your daughter when I was fighting some other giant robot freaks in the city earlier". Heh.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

3D Man probably was welcome by the people in charge, but apparently Crusader made a lot of friends at the base. I figured 3D Man chose to leave because it kind of sucks to be approved of by the bosses but hated by your peers. The fact that other Initiative-ites saw 3D Man's killing of Crusader as the cold-blooded murder it was made me happy.

 

[elswick1979]

In regards to the poster known as DREAD

I really should read your posts more in depth... I could probably take'em apart... t:

Cheers...

So, so, so very true, my friend.

 

[Dread]

I read all of the What Ifs that just came out. They were uniformly terrible except for the Doctor Doom one, and even that one had kind of a silly ending (made worse by the fact that it could've been a good ending if not for the narration). The Runaways backup was pretty awful too. Amateurish art, clunky dialogue, the whole nine yards. Although, I have to admit, it was nice to see Aunt May b**** Peter out for killing the Kingpin. Ah, the good old days, when parents taught their superhero kids that killing is actually, y'know, wrong.

3D Man probably was welcome by the people in charge, but apparently Crusader made a lot of friends at the base. I figured 3D Man chose to leave because it kind of sucks to be approved of by the bosses but hated by your peers. The fact that other Initiative-ites saw 3D Man's killing of Crusader as the cold-blooded murder it was made me happy.

Agree on both counts.

Although to be fair, Spider-Man hasn't outright killed villains even in this new age (unless you count Digger, who was basically a zombie, or THE OTHER). The worst he has done is pretty much silently accept and sometimes even cheer on vigilantes like Punisher or Wolverine when they help him out, considering in the past he never got along with them because he KNEW they killed people.

But, yeah, it was good that Crusader had made allies and not everyone was as slaughter happy in the midst of the invasion as Delroy and Ryder were.