Bought/Thought, July 1st, 2009 - There Will Be Spoilers

[TheCorpulent1]

I didn't think either is a ripoff of anything. Just coincidental timing on RIP's part and Brubaker utilizing well-worn sci fi elements in Reborn. I'm not really sure why Reborn isn't just a regular Cap arc either, but I suppose since Cap's death made such a big splash in the media, Marvel figured they could eventify his resurrection to attract some more attention.

 

[The Batman]

I didn't think either is a ripoff of anything. Just coincidental timing on RIP's part and Brubaker utilizing well-worn sci fi elements in Reborn. I'm not really sure why Reborn isn't just a regular Cap arc either, but I suppose since Cap's death made such a big splash in the media, Marvel figured they could eventify his resurrection to attract some more attention.

I also think Marvel just needed another major event to combat the blackest night. I've no doubt that this might make blackest night look small in comparison, as well as the return of barry allen.

Still, IMO, I do find the series very "Rebirth" esque. From the use of a hyped artist in hitch, to giving us a modern updated origin of the character before bringing him back, there might be some influence going on in there....my main problem is that reborn has more similarites to rebirth than R.I.P did to Death of Cap, but no one's gonna say anything about it....

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't really see it. That's how they've always done resurrections. Brubaker did it with Bucky 40-odd issues ago, in fact. I mean, maybe not throwing a new, big-name artist on, but that's standard event procedure more than it is specifically Rebirth procedure.

 

[Dread]

Big week with a lot happening. Spoilers ahead, hoo boy. July is off with a bang.

Dread's Bought/Thought for 7/1/09:

ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #17: The "prison" arc continues on it's climax after Gary/Wolf-Man managed to defeat his evil vampire ex-mentor (are there every any GOOD ex-mentors in Kirkman-Land?) last issue. That issue ended with him trying to convince his daughter Chloe, who'd been trained and empowered by Zechariah to kill Gary, that she'd been lied too and he didn't kill her mother. She seemed to buy it and then impaled him with her katanna. Well, the way this issue wraps up that last page of #16 seemed really obligatory, like "oh, we need a cliffhanger". Gary literally pulls the sword out and continues the scene, and Chloe is convinced because it's about time in the story for her to be so. Don't get me wrong; it wasn't done poorly, it was just a bit predictable and formulaic, which is surprising as this was usually the series that has more twists in it than some issues of INVINCIBLE had.

Father and daughter team up to take on Thrill-Kill and Kursk, on loan from INVINCIBLE, before Gary heads off to do undercover work to stop the Face and his bad of baddies, and inadvertantly saves Mecha-Maid, the only member of the Actioneers who isn't a vampire. Talk about awkward! This bit works a bit better. Part of me doesn't buy that after all this worrying about his daughter, Gary would just trust her to Cecil while he goes off to be a hero, although it is in his nature and to be fair Cecil has beem straight up for him. It was nice seeing the CAPES crew again. Personally I thought it would have been cool to have Wolf-Man work with Capes for an arc or so, get to know the cast and whatnot. But that door's closed I guess.

The issue ends with another werewolf following Gary. Does he work for the Elder Brood, the pack that were after Zechariah, or another pack? This may end up being a better cliffhanger page than the last.

It is interesting that Cecil is actually arresting Zech. It feels weird since I am used to Marvel and DC, where vampires are automatically considered undead and it "doesn't count" to destroy them instantly. Even heroes who normally don't kill like Spider-Man, Superman, or Batman will hold no qualms for staking a vampire and being done with them. Granted, Zech is always willing to work with the gray areas so for all we know Zech could get a government job somewhere. Cecil could also want Zech to help prove Gary's innocence for the death of his murder, or to somehow get the Actioneers back to normal. Who knows. I was just overly used to vampires being automatically destroyed so it is a slight change of pace.

Jason Howard's art is solid and fitting for the book as usual. Now that WOLF-MAN is shipping monthly it is a lot easier to get into it and remain excited about the title. At least here Kirkman has already killed his hero's love interest so it isn't a surprise or anything.

AGENTS OF ATLAS #7: Oh, yeah, that quote of quality from Comics Bulletin will REALLY get people to try the book, Marvel. What next, quotes from IGN? The Angry Video Game Nerd? No one outside the Internet knows who they are. At any rate, this is our 3rd issue within 9-10 weeks, which is a damn speedy schedule. This issue wraps up the Atlantis two-parter and may seemingly end the DARK REIGN subplot as well. It also works on expanding the cast a little, and on general team goodness. The last two issues didn't need epic fight scenes to be good, just Jeff Parker's grasp of the characters along with some solid art by Gabe Hardman, who is wrapping up a run on this book before taking a break for some Hollywood storyboarding. There actually are two stories in this issue.

The main story with Hardman's art continues the adventure in the deep, in which the Agents went to investigate Namor's connection to Osborn's Cabal, and ended up placing Namora in a tempting choice to marry Namor and make Oceanus stronger than ever. This book along with INCREDIBLE HERCULES has the funniest recap pages around. They're always awesome. The Agents are naturally mixed about the idea of Namora leaving them; Hale doesn't think it is a hot idea, Bob Grayson thinks she can do both, Venus just wants her to be happy, and Woo eventually settles on allowing her the choice to choose. Unfortunately, the Atlantean elder Tulem overplays his hand. Attempting to hedge his bets, he leads the Agents into a trap against a monstrous sea creature that Hale thinks Bob is "into" in a hilarious bit (the Uranians are KINKY). This stategy backfires as now Namora is less eager to rejoin Oceanus since that was what Tulem was manipulating them towards. There is a retcon about the Atlanteans experimenting with hybrid DNA and thus Namora's birth hardly being an accident, which works considering how many hybrids there have been. Obviously, Namora doesn't like feeling manipulated so even if she wanted to rejoin Namor, she would likely give it more thought. Woo then plans to stop focusing on Osborn and on getting Atlas as a whole up to speed.

Meanwhile, Woo's agents convince Mr. Khanata to join Atlas, which is pretty sweet. It adds a bit more flavor to the team, a Wakandan ex-SHIELD agent with no powers from the first mini. I'd missed him and it will be great adding him to the mix to keep things fresh. Not every book has to add a "change" that is a death. Hardman's art is solid as usual, both details and very pulp-hero feeling. Which works for AGENTS OF ATLAS, which is very much like a pulp style comic shoved into modern Marvel, which is what gives it it's unique flair.

Pagulayan does a back up story about the dragon Mr. Lao, in which monks meditating during one of his 24-48 hour "naps" learn more about his past. This includes being incolved in China's monarchs since before the Ming Dynasty and ultimately being trapped in a magic lamp by a genie (!) until Yellow Claw found him in the 1950's. As the Q & A at the end notes, Plan Chu "was still quite wicked". I would say the genie subplot to Lao's past was a bit much...but then again this is an origin for a giant talking dragon, on a team with mystical gorilla men, robots, aliens and sirens. Everyone is obligated to a wiggy origin. Never was one for genie's, but they do exist in Marvel. That's where the CLAN DESTINE came from, after all.

AGENTS OF ATLAS isn't one of those books that shouts from the rooftops to be noticed, and beyond the loose Dark Reign subplot, which is merely just decent continuity, is off in it's own thing mostly. That is a shame for sales but is awesome for the book itself. Hell, back in 2005 when the last mini ended I would have thrilled for even another 6 issues, much less an ongoing attempt that likely will see up to issue #12 at least. So I am enjoying the ride every page so far. I buy a few team booms (DYNAMO 5, MIGHTY AVENGERS, AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY), and it usually always measures up to them. The characters are well defined and amusing, and there is always a proper balance of adventure with some witty banter.

Coming next is the uber long review/rant session about...

 

[Dread]

CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN #1: Sold in Universe-1235 as "Beating a Dead Horse, then Denying It Was Ever Dead" #1 of Five. Ah yes, the big book of the week, at least besides WAR OF KINGS #5. While it is $4, this issue at least is worth the price; 30 issues of story instead of 22. Bryan Hitch has been yanked from FANTASTIC FOUR because Marvel apparently figured they wanted him drawing a book that actually is relevant, and they have a point there. The Alex Ross cover is pretty sweet. Continuing from the much ballyhooed CAPTAIN AMERICA #600, this issue starts the obligatory saga of reviving Steve Rogers after about 2.5 years of rest. Which, while longer than DC kept Superman dead, still seems too soon for many of us.

Brubaker actually makes an attempt to make this book readable for people who haven't been reading CAPTAIN AMERICA for the last few years, without boring those readers who have; a useful skill, that. It starts with a recap of Rogers' life and times, from his endless WWII flashbacks to being shot just at the end of the Civil War "last year" and seemingly being killed by agents of the Red Skull. Hitch gives Cap a slight Ultimate redesign in 1944 with the helmet part, and while some say 616 Cap did wear other outfits occasionally, I still liked the idea of his original costume back then; he didn't NEED a helmet to survive gunfights with Nazi's. Just his shield and grit. However, like all things in comics, apparently his death wasn't a sure thing; Sharon Carter has "remembered" details out of the blue that indicate that Steve can still be saved, so Barnes and his allies are off to deprive Death of another victim. These leads him and Widow to analyze the weird gun that Sharon supposedly shot Steve with alongside Hank Pym and Vision Jr. of the Mighty Avengers, and get some aid from Nick Fury in raiding HAMMER's facility, looking for Arnim Zola's gear to piece stuff together. Unfortunately, they don't find Zola's trinkets, but do fight a fight against Ares and Venom of the Dark Avengers.

Hitch usually struggles with traditional costumes, preferring his leather/zipper/rivet affairs, but I thought he handled all the designs pretty well here. Granted, Butch Guice is helping on art, which may help account for that as he's been working on CA a while. I especially liked how despite the title, Brubaker was really bringing in other Avengers who would legitmately want to help revive Steve if they could, such as of course Widow and Falcon, but also Hank Pym. My only quibble is that he writes Vision as acting nothing like the newer younger version and methinks confuses him for the standard Vision. They may look the same if you squint, but they don't act exactly the same. But this probably is a minor nitpick considering the revelation inside. Considering how Dan Slott has written Hank Pym for 6 issues of MIGHTY AVENGERS (not counting Requiem or his last issue of AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE co-written by Christos Gage), it actually was a little refreshing and odd to just see Hank act like a competant, stable genuis hero. Slott, at best, writes Hank as a professional, occasionally dysfunctional eccentric. Sometimes that works (and can be hilarious) and sometimes it goes too far, like many schticks. There is something to Brubaker's brief portrayal here, Pym as a professional. It touches being "generic" if it was done for too long, but for the bit in this issue it's fine, and actually refreshing. Guess Pym can analyze something or talk with other heroes without acting arrogant or losing his temper now and then.

That, and it was both weird and awesome seeing Pym in his "Wasp" suit in house slippers analyzing Dr. Doom technology. Hitch isn't the best with that "He-Wasp" outfit, but it works well enough.

The revelation is that Steve Rogers, surprise, isn't really dead, but his psyche or soul or spirit or whatever has been sent into the time-stream, jumping back and forth across various points of his life, with his body also lost in time. Red Skull apparently needed Carter as well as Zola's suped up Doom-made machine, but since Sharon botched the experiment, Steve is still lose in time. This of course opens a whole host of problems. What about his body? The one that was dead on TV, that Brubaker literally had AUTOPSIED, that has been buried, and that Thor was able to contact on the astral plane? And how would plucking Rogers from time actually work? If they take a version of him from the past, won't that mess up time, like Kang trying to have Iron Lad as an apprentice? Would his body somehow "regenerate" if they get his "spirit" back into it, or does he need a new cloned body or something? To be fair, Brubaker did drop hints of SOMETHING going on with Rogers' body and Skull & Zola's experiments a year or so back in CAPTAIN AMERICA, so it isn't quite as bad as Bendis trying to convince everyone that he'd planned Secret Invasion subplot for 4-5 years. It isn't quite that heavy handed. That said, he made the death so convincing with the blood and shooting and autopsy that now it rings a little hollow, an "oh, of COURSE now Sharon remembered ****" eye roll reaction. It still is heavy handed. I mean...come on, there was an AUTOPSY. Now the body was fake? Of course it was. And Brubaker sets this up with the first line of the story, "Captain America's life was full of myths and lies because it's a legend, blah blah", which is code for, "I am about to lay down some grade A baloney, so open wide." Cap's death worked because it was so realistic and yet so orchastrated, yet mundane. It was captured on the chaos of TV news, akin to many a political assassination. Before Obama-Spidey, that issue alone sold over 350,000 copies across a few printings, and was universally positively reviewed to boot. Now? Meaningless. It took 20 years for that ASM "Death of Gwen Stacy" issue to become a bad joke, a punchline, due to resurrections and rehashes, and only two years for more modern classic issues.

It's only issue one, but to be fair, a more believable way of getting Steve Rogers back would have been Barnes leading a team into the Underworld to literally yank him back like Hercules is trying to do with Zeus now in INCREDIBLE HERCULES. Time Travel is a tricky wicket and even when it works you always have some sort of paradox or logical loophole to ignore.

I've written very long posts about this topic before. I think no one at Marvel, not the editors nor Brubaker, realized quite what they had in Barnes. Realized they had energized the franchise in a way that would work for a DECADE or two and that they will NEVER, EVER have such an opportunity to do so again. Unfortunately, the idea of slow and steady growth is lost in the current event cycle of comics. All Marvel and company know is hyping for movies that never bring in fans, or event crossovers that never sustain high sales for long. The notion of a comic book selling well, better than in years, simply because it is GOOD, simply because of FOWARD PROGRESS and REAL CHANGE that was EFFECTIVE and UNIVERSALLY CHERISHED is alien to Marvel or comics in general; such things are Latin, a dead language, in the era of shameless cash in events, car salesman style editorial interviews, and the cynical fleecing of costumers at every single turn. Frankly all fans of mainstream comics should be horrified that now, it is official that "good" is not enough to keep a book the way it is, even if it sells well (a rarity). Rather than allowing Barnes to organically run his story course and destiny in the mantle, they're going for the sloppy cash in sooner rather than later. Like this would have sold any worse in another 2-10 years. Go ahead, convince your audience that no change matters while encouraging them that this time, THIS TIME it REALLY matters, NOTHING WILL BE THE SAME, or whatever baloney sells a solicit says.

Brubaker to be honest has done an okay job of executing this first issue. I like how he's added an ensemble cast and is capable of writing characters like Pym or Fury well with only a few pages. I like his mixing of a little espionage with superhero stuff. And at least he seems to be trying to tell something about Steve by having his "soul" blip across time. On the one hand, blips to WWII are useless; EVERY SINGLE INSTANT of Rogers' tenure in WWII has been chronicled, retconned, reprinted, and retold. There is no need to now retcon more stuff because that just encourages the next man to retcon it. Where does it end? But then you have moments where Steve watches his mother die as a kid. Steve's life before WWII hasn't been as well chronicled. That doesn't mean it is a mystery. We know he was a poor kid in Brooklyn. His mother died and his father was an alcoholic. He was artistic and moral. Really, is there anything more to need to know? I never was a fan of telling stories about characters before they became interesting, or feeling the need to apologize or muck with "mundane" parts of an origin. Like writers who feel the need to mess with Colossus' simple past on a farm. It works. Not everyone has to be an eventful cluster**** of battle from the day they were conceived like Wolverine (I DEFY anyone to read Wolverine's new biography in the WEAPON X FILES handbook and tell me it isn't a ****ing mess because of all the needless digging, retcons, and "explanations" atop each other). What does blipping to the 1930's have to do with how to revive Steve without messing up his own timeline to Immortus levels?

I get the feeling that Brubaker wants to make this about characters, and wants to execute this well. Overall, I couldn't help but enjoy the issue despite reservations. That said, there is a difference in his work between stuff that is a heart on his sleeve, and stuff where editorial is nudging at him. REBORN is an editorial nudge to say the least. I don't think it will be as bad as DEADLY GENESIS, if only because he hasn't needlessly sacrificed a C-Lister yet, but it may not reach the heights of his more potent works. How can it? It's basically Barnes and Widow stealing Zola's DELORIAN to save Steve back to the future. Some argue, "all resurrections are stupid". Then, maybe they have become relied upon too much. Maybe that is a well that is too dry. Maybe it has become cliche shorthand for drama and illusionary change. Maybe characters should be allowed to grow, change, die and even be replaced, so long as it works (which it did fo Cap; over 40% higher sales than when Steve was dead, two years later without the aid of crossovers). "Go along with it" is an excuse for people who have already settled their mind on what they think the work will be, or are so jaded by DC that they are hardly surprised that Marvel also knows how to stifle creative ideas with ham fisted cash in's or fear of real, fundamental change (especially with, gasp, a movie coming).

Brubaker at least left more unused subplots in his older CA stories that he almost gets away with convincing me this was planned all along. Almost. He still failes overall, but while Bendis' "I really planned Secret Invasion and Spider Woman to be Veranke since 2005" bull was a shot that completely missed the dart board, Brubaker's "no, really, I planned this since issue #25" at least hits past the corners, a respectable shot. SOMETHING was planned. Just he left it vague enough so it could change at a moment's notice; I write and I know the practice. I run a message board RPG or two and know exactly how to do that, to have a general idea but leave things loose that I can literally make up something 5 minutes ago and play off like it was all planned since I was born. For professional writers to deny to our faces such a practice is garbage. I'm not a professional and I know how to do stuff like that.

Most resurrections get around the awkward details of explaining how someone can come back from the dead by denying the death actually happened. Norman Osborn magically gained a healing factor and "recovered in Europe". Dr. Doom just swapped bodies or it was a Doombot or whatever. You THOUGHT Wolverine impaled Magneto, ha ha, it just crippled him for a while, no one checks a pulse THAT well. No, that wasn't really Xavier, it was a shapeshifter who was handed psychic powers to pose as him because Xavier was busy in his attic preparing for aliens. No, that was Xorn pretending to be Magneto, pretending to be Xorn that Wolverine beheaded. All manner of hapless, worthless explanations. Even Superman in the iconic "death" event that triggered stories like Cap's didn't really die; he was just in a really bad Kryptonian coma. Even Brubaker himself brought back Bucky by denying he had ever died, and unlike THIS resurrection, that one made sense BECAUSE it was NEVER SHOWN ON PANEL, it was always up to Steve's memory (and Stan Lee's accepted retcon), which Brubaker showed was imperfect, as many memories are. REBORN is literally doing what Brubaker in the past specifically avoided when he did his "revive".

There are few resurrections that do claim someone outright died and came back, usually involving mythology or magic, which itself can simply be a Maguffin explanation. In some ways REBORN goes with a theory that is loosely similar to how Joss Whedon resurrected Colossus; that the body that was autopsied/buried/whatever was fake. Colossus was revived by a machine from Ord and the Breakworld, which if you really, REALLY think about it, it is complete bull that the Breakworld would literally have a resurrection machine. Under Kruun, the very IDEA of a "hospital" or in any way tending to the sick or wounded was treated as an ultimate sin and punished by death. For such people to invent a Resurrection Machine, or even to get past the bloody stone age, was always buffalo feces on a stick. Brubaker is trying to do what all retcons try to do; convince you that what you read and saw was false. Those weren't real bullets, that wasn't real blood, somehow Sharon Carter was mind-wiping hundreds in the croud and a WORLDWIDE TV AUDIENCE, yeah, uh, Red Skull and Zola are just THAT good at video editing. They even hacked into narration boxes to pull it off. That's crap no matter what angle you look at it. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle couldn't find a logical way to resurrect Sherlock Holmes after he seemingly killed him off; ironically, Doyle by then hated Holmes but the character was so popular that he couldn't be allowed to stop writing him; the first fictional case of a character existing beyond natural length. If it didn't work in the 19th or early 20th century, why the hell does anyone expect that tactic to be narratively literate NOW?

At this point I like everything about REBORN but the actual rebirth part. Barnes works well with Widow, and I liked his reaction to facing heavy hitters like Ares, something you can't do with Steve since he has battled every single menace in creation. Which is PRECISELY why resurrecting him and ditching Barnes is the stupidest long term strategy the franchise could have. Where does that leave Barnes? Nowhere. His natural role in the story Brubaker began 50 issues ago led to Barnes in the mask now. There's no place without him in that role, and by reviving Steve, even if he puts Rogers out to pasture or "retirement" or keeps Barnes the star of CAPTAIN AMERICA, that merely means that Steve will be back and Barnes in limbo the NANOSECOND Brubaker leaves CA, which is inevitable. I like the inclusion of a full cast of characters from Falcon and Carter to some Avengers and Nick Fury. Ideally this would be an arc of CAPTAIN AMERICA, but this will get it more profile and perhaps allow Brubaker more leeway to use said side characters who would realistically want to revive Steve if they could. Where it loses some luster is in the resurrection explanation itself, the whopper one has to swallow, and the confusing angles to explaining it. "He's dead and he wasn't", Zola? That's trash. You either are or aren't. If your body is trapped in a time loop, you are not dead. You never died in the first place. Skull and Zola were able to pull off a MEPHISTO MARRIAGE ERASER move with a few brainwashed people and some camera edits? C'mon!

I've stated outright with DARK REIGN that a whale of a premise can be forgiven if the aftermath is executed well. Brubaker is trying, I can sense it. The next four issues probably won't be terrible. The immediate arc with Cap back, the first 6 months or so, will have a "hell yeah, return of the king" style mood. But what then? What in 2010 when it no longer is fresh that Rogers is back and the franchise is at square one after it's glimpse at 21st century greatness? Will Brubaker just coast? Will he call it a run and leave it to the NEXT beat writer (which, to be fair, would be his right; 5-6 years is a solid run by any era) to have to deal with, much as Bendis left DAREDEVIL to Brubaker after exhausting every corner and box he had? And I am tired, so god damned mother ****ing tired, of big two comic books thinking so god damned small, of not knowing real, genuine, slow and steady quality and always reaching for all they know how, the crossover steroid event that is shallow and meaningless in under a Presidential term's time. Stunts like this are what chase embittered fans to indie's and snobbery. I don't doubt Brubaker's execution. I am saying that even with the best story execution of all fictional history, the story ends in a corner, in a been there, done that, move on hole. And the shame of it was it was a hole Brubaker himself and Marvel itself had covered up and driven past.

Did Marvel really have to compete with REBIRTH or BLACKEST NIGHT? DC is a dying company. It's Number Two. It has been Number Two for as long as I have been alive in sales and it will always be Number Two, because being Number Two is all it knows. It is backward thinking and outselling it for Marvel is almost like outselling nothing at all, like beating a video game boss for the 4,000th time with the same pattern. Was a movie really worth gutting a great revision for? Movies have NEVER, EVER EVER EVER EVER EV-VARR, produced so much as ONE solitary new fan who stayed beyond six months. Why is it worth crippling a great new status quo for a fleeting jump? I wouldn't care so much if the Barnes stuff wasn't good, or didn't offer so much promise across the board, or had been mishandled, but it hadn't! Marvel puts out so many garbage stories that they refuse to back off on, like undoing the Parker marriage, shoe-horning the Storm/Panther marriage, mutilating Wolverine's origins, and M-Day so gutting the X-Men as a premise that NO WRITER SINCE has made it work without ignoring the problem (beyond Peter David on X-FACTOR, which is a C-List book sales and editorial wise). Why not bend over backwards to undo THOSE heaping piles of gorilla fecal matter!? No, they do contortions to undo the best damn change any of their comics have had for something as simple, shallow, and fleeting as a movie and a cash in. It's the kind of thing that no matter how well Brubaker writes some scenes, makes me want to pull out my own hair and go read CONCRETE or something.

At the very least, for this sort of obligatory thing, it's better than many so far. The issue has a lot of great moments. It wins a few battles, for an unneeded war.

 

[iloveclones]

It is. When someone made a comment essentially saying this was a rip off of what was happening in DC, Bru said this on Comic Book Resources

"You should read the comic. I have no idea what you're talking about, but unless DC published Slaughterhouse Five in the 60s, I don't think there are any similarities here."
So that's his inspiration, not Lost, and not DC

Omigod, He's ripping off Slaughterhouse Five???!?!? Has he no shame? The horror...THE HORROR!!!!!


so i guess it's all right to rip off a book, but not a tv show...

 

[Dread]

People usually say that "everything is a rip off of something." Of course, the first step to wholesale loss of quality is lowering collective expectations.

 

[Darthphere]

Jesus Dread, I can't believe there are people that actually read all your reviews.

 

[Dread]

Jesus Dread, I can't believe there are people that actually read all your reviews.

Only a couple.

In fairness, not all individual issue reviews are that long. The secret is the more I am complaining, the longer I get. I mean with a great comics, there sometimes isn't much to say besides how great it is. But have some niggles? Get a chair. Least for me.

Anyway, length is also why I add spoiler tags for reports.

 

[iloveclones]

I read the first and last sentence. If there's something significant in-between, I'm really mad....

 

[Tron Bonne]

I know this is slightly off topic and we're kind of pass this now (I'm catching up on the thread) posts and I'm sure I'll feel stupid for asking, but what does BSG stand that you guys were talking about earlier on?

 

[Blader5489]

I know this is slightly off topic and we're kind of pass this now (I'm catching up on the thread) posts and I'm sure I'll feel stupid for asking, but what does BSG stand that you guys were talking about earlier on?

Battlestar Galactica

 

[Tron Bonne]

Ah, yes, of course. I should have seen that.

 

[Darthphere]

Only a couple.

In fairness, not all individual issue reviews are that long. The secret is the more I am complaining, the longer I get. I mean with a great comics, there sometimes isn't much to say besides how great it is. But have some niggles? Get a chair. Least for me.

Anyway, length is also why I add spoiler tags for reports.

Your "review" is like 10 paragraphs, 8 of which have nothing to do with the actual comic but your feelings on how Brubaker is an ******* for bringing baclk Steve and Marvel is a crappy company.

 

[Dread]

Your "review" is like 10 paragraphs, 8 of which have nothing to do with the actual comic but your feelings on how Brubaker is an ******* for bringing baclk Steve and Marvel is a crappy company.

That means you at least read it.

Or at least made an educated guess.

 

[Darthphere]

That means you at least read it.

Or at least made an educated guess.

No I read it dude. I disagree with like everything you said, but I read it.

 

[Dread]

No I read it dude. I disagree with like everything you said, but I read it.

Fair enough. I imagine you're in the "everyone knew it was happening, suck it up and enjoy the ride" camp like Corp. I understand that camp but I'm just not there, not yet anyway.

I do think Brubaker is executing a bad idea well. But it still is a bad idea, and I can't get past it, at least not yet. Not completely.

Bought/Thought for 7/1/09, Part III:

DESTROYER #4: Still hasn't gotten around to telling Destroyer's origin for those not in the know, but at this point I am not sure if that matters. Kirkman has created enough of a world and cast for his title hero that may not matter to the readers of this. Usually Marvel MAX titles see abysmal sales even for $4 books, but DESTROYER is selling over 14k, which isn't far from where INVINCIBLE sells for Image, which isn't bad. Apparently Robert Kirkman's steady audience is about 15-20k, or about where Chris Claremont sells now. Fine for Image or Marvel MAX.

The series faced a problem last month, eliminating the elderly Destroyer's main villain, the generically named "Scar", but continues along. Destroyer's daughter Felicia will survive, and her husband, Turret, after having retired as a superhero for some eight years to marry her, has now gotten a new taste for the life. Despite his heart now seeming to hiccup every mission, Keene hasn't died yet, so when his superior tells him that the token terrorist group HORDE is centrally located for once, he hops out of bed to stop them. Despite being armed with a new laser canon, it is Turret's unexpected arrival that saves the mission and defeats the Horde's monster of a boss. Marlow is now in awe of Turret's might and considered having convinced him to quit for so long to avoid repeating his own guilt over what he puts his own wife through "his greatest mistake".

This mini has basically been an "old hero's last story" kind of thing, only littered with Kirkman's style of superhero banter mixed in with incredible amounts of gore. This issue has a lot but it's nothing compared to prior issues. It's not the best from Kirkman nor is it the most imaginative story ever, but it doesn't think it is more than it is, and satisfies as another Kirkman superhero romp, similar to how CAPES and TECH-JACKET worked for themselves. Corey Walker's art is quite good; he's improved greatly since he co-created INVINCIBLE five years ago to be honest, and he works well alongside Kirkman. I still am very curious if Walker and Kirkman deliberately intended to have the 80-something year old Keene Marlow look like a dead ringer for John McCain, or if old guys just look the same after a while. At any rate, a little mini that knows what it does and does it well. This may not become a classic, but it could be a little cult fave for some and I am curious how the last issue will go. A better work to end Kirkman's Marvel era than ULTIMATE X-MEN.

FANTASTIC FOUR #568: A run that even Marvel wants to end, as they're doing everything possible to make sure it ships on time. Whether that means attaching a co-writer for Millar, or getting Hitch some help on pencils, whatever it seems to take to make sure Hickman's run starts right on schedule. I'm sure there are some who would see that as some sign that professionalism at Marvel is returning. Don't be fooled. If this was a run like Whedon and Cassaday on ASTONISHING X-MEN, a run that averaged over 90k sales no matter what or when issues came out, Hitch wouldn't be on REBORN and if he was, Marvel could let FF slip 700 months behind schedule for all they cared. It it only because Millar and Hitch have underperformed sales wise, sales that stand at 46.5k sales in May (basically, outsold by CABLE, POWER GIRL #1, DEADPOOL, and even NEW MUTANTS #1, as well as McDuffie's last gasps on JLA) that Marvel has declared this run a bit of a failure and is eager for some new blood on the book. Marvel's about as shallow as a $20 ****e in this regard. Look at the shipping loop-de-loops Marvel pulled for Millar's OLD MAN LOGAN that ran late but was still selling over 75k an issue. So that is why the hack from FANTASTIC FORCE (whose sales have been dire, even for a mini) is co-writing the issue, although I hardly noticed any shift in theme.

I must say it is interesting to see Hitch draw two books this month for two different writers, since he also drew REBORN #1. Brubaker has a different script style, at times giving Hitch, gasp, some 6-8 panels a page to draw. Millar, though, usually sticks to four or less for Hitch, relying a lot on splashes and double page spreads. Not quite to the level of Loeb on HULK, which is almost a poster book some issues, but still noticeable.

I sometimes have criticized this run for being pretentious. This issue takes it up a notch. I almost feel as if Millar expects us to read it with gloves on, it takes itself so importantly. The irony of course is that like the McDuffie run, any changes have been superficial and all but ignored by subsequent writers. Like McDuffie, he has relied on Maguffin hooks like alternate realities that don't count and time travel that leads to nowhere. Just McDuffie's run wasn't as self important. Of course, this is coming from a guy who brags that KICK-ASS outsells AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, even when it hasn't.

In this issue, Thing and "The Shoehorned Random Love Interest That Walks Like A Woman" (known on Earth-616 as "Debbie from Brooklyn") try to have some human beats with Thing apologizing for scaring Debbie by smashing onto the set of her ex-boyfriend on TV and crying over the idea of their engagement breaking off. He then subsequently smashes through her wall and tears up the street to stop some hecklers from calling him dangerous. I guess we call that "The Hank Pym School of Provin' Them Wrong". My problem with Debbie is the same now as it was before, despite a few great panels. I don't buy her as a character, or her romance with Ben. She's come out of nowhere. Her only hook is "being normal" and is frankly uninteresting. Rather than try to build the idea of Ben falling for a woman as hard as he did for Alicia to the point of wanting to marry her (even after Dan Slott reunited them years ago in THE THING, that everyone ignored after MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #1, but Hickman recalled in DARK REIGN: FF #1) realistically and competently, Millar has shoved them together and tried to play it as fast hot love, but that doesn't work. It feels more forced than slow motion in a John Woo film. It feels like a stage direction from a script, which doesn't fly. Debbie will likely be gone after next issue, and not a soul will miss her.

Having gotten to "own" Dr. Doom and lambaste him last issue, as well as blow up Latvernia (which I wonder how that will fly with THOR and all, a book that sells over 75k that Marvel cares about a lot more), the Marquis of Death, or Milkshake of Apocalypse, or whatever the fork his name is, launches his attack on the Four. Of course, he is TEH AWESOMZ and he completely schools them with waves of his hands and a lot of talking smarmy-ness; maybe he's Bendis from another reality. He's actually Clyde Wyncham from 1985 and OLD MAN LOGAN, a character Millar has trucked around from three completely unrelated works and fully expects you to have read them all and agreed with how great it is, because Millar's awesome that way. Right? Eh, no. To me it just feels forced, a guy screaming about how cool he is rather than simply being cool. But hasn't that been Millar for years? I used Google.

Via the nature of time warps, I figure his "apprentice" is a young Dr. Doom at this rate, who gets in some shots when Muppet of Destruction is busy chewing Richards out for this and that and overselling himself. The issue ends with Reed being attacked by his family, and the Baxtor building being swarmed with alternate reality versions of themselves. I found myself being both completely confused and totally not caring to understand it. I never thought such reactions could co-exist.

I'll be honest; this title would be dumped if I wasn't interested in Hickman's run, but his ideas, or peaks at ideas, from his DARK REIGN mini have convinced me to at least hive him an arc or two on the main FF title before judging him harshly. So it's just wincing for one last Millar issue. To be honest, this hasn't been Millar's worst; it's not crass, and it isn't full of Socialist propaganda, but it manages the feat of taking itself of the utmost importance while being completely meaningless. It's only lasting contribution was a spin-off mini that is DOA, and maybe reminding people who Alyssa Moy was.

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #15: Proving why ex-girlfriends can be psycho for anyone. After mocking Lanchester Sneed/Shockwave for failing to kill Iron Man for him, Osborn has sent Madame Masque, the star of Stark's personal "SO I ALMOST MARRIED A VENGEFUL MAFIA DAUGHTER" film, to finish him off. The problem though is that all ex's have unfinished business that sometimes distracts from a task at hand, whether picking up a cell phone or professional assassins. Makes for great drama, though. And to be fair, Osborn is a guy who thinks sending Venom to fight Human Torch is a brilliant idea.

Some dislike Larroca's art, and he does rely a bit on D'Armata's colors, but he'd drawn every issue of this run so far, now bordering on a year and a half. That's an awful long time for an artist to collaborate on a book without at least one fill in issue or massive latenesses these days. It's worth appreciating.

WORLD'S MOST WANTED has now ballooned to 8 chapters, excessive by any era, and while some of those chapters felt a bit filler, this one doesn't. Maria Hill tracks down Black Widow and tries to convince her to work with her despite now having a rep for having "snapped" around the grid. Meanwhile, Stark and Pepper reunite in Russia, where Masque decides to take out a pound of flesh from Iron Man, taking Potts hostage and wanting to settle business about how he felt about her. Through all this Stark is now rapidly losing his memory as well as his intelligence, reduced to writing notes for himself or not being appalled at the idea of a mundane life.

It takes a hero to inflict brain damage on himself to protect his superhero buddies from a monster like Osborn. I suppose it reads a little like FLOWERS FOR IRON MAN seeing Stark at a different angle, without most of the attributes people relate with him. On the other hand, there are moments where I think Fraction risks taking it too far. Characters have well known and worn traits for a reason. They usually work to keep them distinctive. That said, it was interesting to have Stark of all people having to go through a "I am losing my powers" story. It also explains why Stark has been rapidly falling for Potts; he's literally forgotten Happy Hogan, his former best friend.

Masque comes in and easily steals the issue with her manner. It comes across that she's really too good for Hood and one wonders why she is even with him. Rebounds can be a bear for anyone I guess. She used to date captains of industry who could build a nuke in a bathroom with scraps; now she's dating a slave to a demon's bedsheet. I suppose it's realistic that she'd then want to get something out of Stark. Whitney used to rely on "bio-duplicates" of herself, at least to explain away some death's (such a rare thing for Marvel), so I wonder if this could be one. I thought some of the scenes with Potts, Stark, and Masque were entertaining.

The bit with Hill and Widow was fine, although a part of me was wondering why Widow would find it so hard to believe that Hill would have some vital data that Barnes could use. It read a little as Fraction needing to extend the scene a few pages and add a chase, so he stretched a bit to do so. The bit with the woman calling HAMMER was funny, though. But for a storyline that has already been stretched eight issues and counting, I am not sure decompressing pages of material here and there is needed. Fraction has collaborated with Brubaker in the past (IMMORTAL IRON FIST) and like him he often likes to do very long term stories that stretch a while but try to give you enough every issue where it feels worthwhile. He hasn't succeeded with every issue of IRON MAN so far, but he's running well with DARK REIGN and I solidly enjoyed the issue.

 

[Dread]

Bought/Thought for 7/1/09: The Final Gasp

WAR OF KINGS #5: The penultimate issue of the core WAR OF KINGS event mini, it gears up for a heck of a showdown for the end. It hasn't had quite as many explosions or combat as Giffen's original ANNIHILATION, but I have been enjoying it a bit more than ANNIHILATION CONQUEST, which too heavily relied on Phyla and Adam Warlock as stars, roles that they struggled with (to say the least). This mini barely has a "lead" if you will, although Crystal and Gladiator come close, both doing the narration to the series thus far. Gladiator gets the chief action sequence this issue, as he has for most of the issues in a way, from issue #1 to #3 to this one. Abnett & Lanning are on course for the finale next issue, or at least the climax before another one shot epilogue, with Paul Pelletier rocking out on art as usual. The cover is completely inaccurate, though, but haven't they all been this mini so far?

The issue starts with an almost, "Where were you when Lilandra was shot?" style intro, which I guess means she's actually stuck in space/time and not dead. But I digress. Of course this brings chaos to quite a few situations. The Inhuman can no longer sit back and wait for the Starjammers to end the war, and have to go all "nuclear option". The plan is a "T-Bomb" that Maximus built that uses sonic vibrations to spread "weaponized Terragin mists" across planets. Or the Universe. It seemed to imply that the waves of this would spread across the galaxy at least. My only problem with it is that it isn't perfectly explained what the effects are. If the Terrigen mists are "weaponized", you would assume it is akin to germ warfare, and the effects would be lethal instantly. On the other hand, the rest of the characters including Medusa assume that the effects would be that everyone across the galaxy would be made into Inhumans themselves, and this would bring peace. The mists don't work on normal humans, and with mutants the effects vary; they gave powers to Quicksilver, but usually killed any depowered mutant he tried to "cure" with them. Who knows how it would effect other aliens like Shi'ar. In some ways the logic is akin to the first X-MEN, where Magneto believed that making Earth's world leaders into mutants would solve everything. Wouldn't that risk empowering your mortal enemies? What if the Shi'ar instead were appalled at becoming "monsters" and decided to attack the Kree with more vigor since they now all have super-powers? What if Vulcan became even more powerful and psycho like Pietro did? There are far too many unanswered questions with this strategy for me to completely buy why most of them are gung-ho for it, even Karnak. Maximus is insane, so I can buy why he'd love it. And Gorgon is usually a bit simple.

Crystal apparently is the only one of the lot whose experience in the outside world has apparently made her the only Inhuman with "common sense" or some forethought to things. She and Ronan both implore on Black Bolt to reconsider the decision; Ronan believes since the Kree are immune to Terragenesis, they'd become the new Alpha Primatives, the Inhuman's slave class. Medusa zealously defends Bolt's decision, then suddenly has a change of heart when Maximus makes it clear that using the T-Bomb will kill Bolt too, since he basically has to detonate it from within. Considering Maximus has always wanted to get rid of Black Bolt and rule in his stead, it makes perfect sense that he'd make a machine like that, and it also is good to see this subplot come back up without Maximus as a cackling villain.

Meanwhile, Vulcan is overjoyed about Lilandra's assassination but quickly finds that it is stirring a civil war in his empire, although he is literally about to kill the messenger when Talon explains how fleeting their alliance may be. The "Datasong" gives the Raptors an agenda for the Shi'ar across long stretches of time, so things like a current mortal emperor are not something they are eternally loyal to. Talon flies off, likely to appoint a successor when Vulcan is inevitably killed or defeated next issue. Vulcan, meanwhile, hears that Attilan itself has launched at them, and decides to destroy it himself. Brace for impact, Bolt vs. Vulcan starts next issue; they square off in the final page after Vulcan seems to snuff or delay the T-Bomb.

Gladiator and the Starjammers continue to fight in the chaotic streets of Chandilar. There is no sign of Darkhawk, which means that subplot will likely be settled in his own mini, where it probably belongs (Chris Powell regained control of his amulet literally seconds after the Raptor Razor used his form to kill Lilandra). Gladiator is practically going ape**** and killing anyone he deems corrupt in the Empire, specifically the leader of the Death Commandoes. He gets into a battle against Black Cloak, seemingly the mightiest of their number (his spear manages to gore the seemingly invulnerable Kallark). Marvel Girl, settling a subplot from, oh, about 3-4 years ago when Claremont was still on Uncanny X-Men, avenges the murder of the Grey family by splattering Cloak's brain with TK. It was such a cool expression of a long overdo subplot from years ago with X-Men stuff that it makes me wonder why in heck that Abnett & Lanning have turned their back on letting Havok do likewise. He and Polaris get a few nice panels together but all they do is embrace and await the end of the world. To be fair, Havok's done more in this series than Black Bolt, who until now has spent most of it sitting in a chair, even tie-in's. What he hasn't done is been successful. He's been waging a low intensity war against Vulcan since Brubaker's year on Uncanny X-Men. Vulcan personally imprisoned and tortured him and Polaris. The battle against Vulcan in KINGBREAKER directly led to Raza being MIA and presumed dead. Vulcan personally killed Havok's father, Corsair. Everything was geared up for Havok to rise up, be a man like Richard Rider, and do what has to be done against Vulcan. Instead, that's been punted to Black Bolt, a guy who also needs a win, just not quite as badly, and doesn't have a personal connection. Yes, the Imperial Guard messed up Crystal's wedding and Gladiator pummeled Bolt (although didn't kill him when he could have). But that has nothing to do with Vulcan personally. The two are just opposing generals here. And while I am sucker for a well paced action sequence, which I suspect we will get in WOK #6, without that personal touch, it feels hollow. This is akin to Cyclops never getting to blast Mr. Sinister or Apocalypse, but Silver Surfer taking them out at the last moment. I don't think Bolt should cheat Havok out of what by all rights should be a climax to HIS subplot just because he's spent the last few years getting captured or beaten up in INHUMANS comics.

I am 90% positive that is what is going to happen, and while it won't be a deal breaker, it is a bit underwhelming. There is 10% of me that looks at what Abnett & Lanning did with that page for Marvel Girl, settling her subplot, and thinking, "Well if they remembered stuff like that, surely they haven't forgotten subplots for Havok that KINGBREAKER kept fresh this year and will try to settle them too". It is possible that the struggle between Bolt and Vulcan shifts from space to Chandilar. It is also possible that Havok gets some power boost absorbing...SOMETHING and jets into space (since he can breathe in space if he has enough energy, at least briefly). I don't think it is likely, but I think it is 10% possible. It is akin to building a storyline in which Joker cripples Batgirl, nearly killed Gordon, murdered one of the Robin's, but Batman never gets to fight him; he's stuck fighting muggers in Gotham while Captain Atom gets to take Joker down. While it still could be a cool moment, it lacks that emotional punch. Heck, I would argue that Bolt's eagerness to employ mutagenic germ warface across space is arguably a move too akin of Vulcan and his Nega-Bombs. Which may be a point DnA are trying to make.

I liked how Ronan's experience led him to try to dissuade Bolt from doing an "all or nothing" move that rarely brings about peace. I actually find myself rooting for Gladiator now (who is also a dark horse to take down Vulcan instead of Bolt or Havok; he can easily fly to the location of their duel). Crystal has been strong throughout and while I do feel Havok is being shafted, he and the X-Men in the Starjammers have been written well with whatever they've been given. Perhaps it is better to be written well for only 2-4 pages an issue vs. being written poorly for 22, as has happened with many other X-Men back on terra firma. Still, Havok's tiresome "I have to match up to Cyclops" whining will never go away if he never actually accomplishes something worthwhile. The last time he was the man, he was in an alternate dimension, which is how ANYONE can be The Man. NFL SUPERPRO could be awesome in some alternate dimension. What counts is doing something great in this one. The rest of the Inhumans have acted a bit...well, inhuman, but they are people who do have a slave caste, so it tends to happen. Overall, though, good writing with solid art, and a far, FAR better "event" than the usual Marvel Earth one. I can't wait for the finale, and I can't wait for the next round of tie-in's this month. That's how it should be. Anticipation for comics rather than dread.

Most Marvel events in recent years have failed to tell the difference between a good beginning and a good ending. Hopefully the next issue will prove that some angle at Marvel still can. At any rate, Abnett & Lanning have managed to keep up the tradition of the ANNIHILATION style events being better in quality than the grander scale traditional ones, even if themselves not flawless. NOVA, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, and ASCENSION up in the next few weeks!

 

[Darthphere]

Fair enough. I imagine you're in the "everyone knew it was happening, suck it up and enjoy the ride" camp like Corp. I understand that camp but I'm just not there, not yet anyway.

I do think Brubaker is executing a bad idea well. But it still is a bad idea, and I can't get past it, at least not yet. Not completely.

If the bad idea is bringing Steve back, then I continue to disagree with you.

Also, yes, I'm in that camp.

 

[Themanofbat]

Wait... wait... is Cap #25 now worthless on eBay???

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

OH MAH GAWD!

Sell your copies while you can!

 

[Dread]

If the bad idea is bringing Steve back, then I continue to disagree with you.

Also, yes, I'm in that camp.

Gotcha.

I haven't eliminated all possibility of me joining that camp. I just am not there yet. Beyond the immediate "triumph" of saving Cap, and then the 6-12 months after, of "hey, Cap is back!" vibe, I see far less of a creative future for the franchise with this track instead of keeping Barnes in the role. With Steve back, Buck's role in that mask is finite and destined for forgettable John Walker style mishmash as soon as Brubaker calls it a run. There is literally no other place for Barnes' story creatively and sales wise if he is not Captain America. No one will buy a series with Barnes if he is not Cap (and by "no one", I mean, "no more than the people who bought CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13, dead at issue #15 with some 16k sales a month"). I called LOCKJAW AND THE PET AVENGERS not selling above 20k, and I was right. I have a more realistic grasp on comic sales trends than others. There's no other place for Barnes' story if he's not in that role. If even he can't be allowed to take over for Steve, who can? The same Marvel that won't allow two characters named "Spider-Woman" or "Penance" will not allow two men to call themselves Captain America. No matter how Brubaker spins it, it will be a demotion, and that is a shame. I thought Barnes wasn't close to waring out his welcome or potential yet.

It is worth noting that before CIVIL WAR with Steve alive and kicking butt, Brubaker's CA series barely sold more than 37k a month. Two years after CA #25 the Barnes led book is still selling almost twice that. Is it really worth throwing that way just to fulfill obligations towards movies/events/comic inertia? I don't think so.

Brubaker's had a career making run on CAPTAIN AMERICA. It will be a shame to look at it on the shelf and shake my head, "well, now that's all pointless" like I've had to do for so many Spider-Man or X-Men stories over the years. It deserves much better. He's the Frank Miller of CAPTAIN AMERICA; it will be at least 20-30 years before CA sees a better talent, much as Miller was on DAREDEVIL.

Y'know, when the Starjammers first stayed in space following the events of Uncanny X-Men, several years back now, I thought that it was a s**tty role for them because, c'mon, X-Men in space is hardly ever worth the effort. I thought that they were just being dumped there because no X-writers wanted to deal with their baggage, particularly with all their own considerable baggage they had to juggle at the time*. Now, though? I've said it before and I'll re-say it: I love how this series has now given Havok, Polaris, and particularly Rachel a place to be well-written because I swear to Buffy, the X-books are the perfect place to be right now...if you want your stories and characters to suck ass. Any poor souls we can save from that place is a small victory. Please don't send them back. Put them in the Guardians, in Nova, wherever...just don't send them back.

That is true. As much as I have complained about Havok getting shafted out of revenge against Vulcan, what little he has done in this series or in the space books has been great. KINGBREAKER even managed to be fun, even if pointless. Space has made them better. They're far better off than most of the rest of the X-Men now.

Hell, why do you think I occasionally pine for Colossus to "leave the X-ghetto"? He's been drowning with them since at least the end of the 80's. Colossus even has an IN with the space race if editorial allowed it. He could probably show up in Breakworld and try to run it or at least help whatever faction is running it with Kruun deposed and Aghanne dead. SWORD could have been dissolved with SHIELD and the situation could be a powder keg again. It's doable and it would be more interesting than, "Colossus mopes and fails to beat anyone relevant on the X-Men, take 400". Let's see the big man do something new!

*I'm referring, of course, to the fact that House of M actually increased the amount of mutants that appeared in the X-books instead of decreasing them. Good work there, Marvel. (On a complete and total sidebar, I peaked inside of the new Uncanny X-event Dark Utopia or whatever it is and quick-counted something like at least twenty-five different mutants in that one issue. Twenty-five mutants in a single issue. Five of them, at least as far as I can tell, were completely new characters. Oh yeah, Marvel, good job sticking to it and paring down all those mutants that readers were getting sick of. Decimation was totally not dumb or pointless or anything.)

Also very true. While increasing mutant characters in many X-Books, M-Day robbed them of a premise. They don't work as an allegory about minorities if there are fewer of them than pandas in the wild. They're just another offshoot like the Eternals and Inhumans, and they've hardly been massively popular in a while. It is very telling that no writer on the major X-Men books, Brubaker, Carey, or Fraction, for the last 3-4 years has managed to do anything with M-Day besides avoid it completely or nudge at it and make it work. The only story M-Day leads to is attempts to reverse it. There is a part of me that thinks Marvel editorial has sat on that either because of Joe Q's edict or because no one has yet figured a good way of reversing it. However, even a BAD way of reversing it may leave the franchise in a more interesting direction afterward. Morrison had made mutants commonplace, which may have been too much, but the answer was not a complete 180. In Morrison's defense, mutants have become a bit commonplace at Marvel.

 

[The Batman]

DC is dying now? Considering that Marvel was in WORSE shape than DC over a decade ago when it was nearing bankruptcy, the concept that dc is dying is silly hyperbole. DC, like any company, is in a period where its under sucky leadership.

 

[Dread]

DC is dying now? Considering that Marvel was in WORSE shape than DC over a decade ago when it was nearing bankruptcy, the concept that dc is dying is silly hyperbole. DC, like any company, is in a period where its under sucky leadership.

You have a point here. Still, right now all Joe Q has to do is be slightly less of a moron, or at least know when to keep hands off of some franchises and get out of his own way, and he out-duels DiDio. Both still have ham-fisted policies to bluntly enforce their own fanboy beliefs that don't always do comics any good.

 

[The Batman]

You have a point here. Still, right now all Joe Q has to do is be slightly less of a moron, or at least know when to keep hands off of some franchises and get out of his own way, and he out-duels DiDio. Both still have ham-fisted policies to bluntly enforce their own fanboy beliefs that don't always do comics any good.

To be honest, a nutless monkey could run marvel, and it could still pull ahead of DC...i realized long ago that deep down, DC and the people who run it really DONT want to be number one, otherwise they wouldnt do half the things they do....