Bought // Thought March 21

[Not Jake]

oh you wouldn't pay $4 for super-strength blah blah i'm an aquaman fan



so just don't post it.

 

[hippy fascist]

split personality?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

oh you wouldn't pay $4 for super-strength blah blah i'm an aquaman fan



so just don't post it.

Was that supposed to be me?

Anyway, $4 well spent. And I am an Aquaman fan.

Amazing Spider-Man #whatever: After reading this issue and drooling over Garney's art but mostly ignoring JMS' run-of-the-mill, uneventful story (except for that "Fitzgerald" thing, which annoyed me momentarily before I pressed on), I had pretty much one thought at the end of it: "Please, God, don't let them have Peter kill someone." Peter gets to knowingly, intentionally kill exactly one person, as far as I'm concerned, and that's the last person he fights before he hangs up the tights forever; because after that, he's pretty much no longer Spider-Man. He's betrayed the ideals he believes in at his very core--he's used his powers irresponsibly, in service to his own personal vengeance rather than justice and the common good. Writers have flirted with homicide in Spider-Man comics before, but it's always just been hyperbole. I'm praying that that's the case here, too. I'm not saying I'll drop Spider-Man's comics and burn all the ones I already own or anything drastic like that, but it definitely won't be the same character anymore. The murder line is one that I am very thankful Peter still hasn't crossed in all these years, and I hope he never does.

Plus, May's still ****ing alive. If Peter didn't go all KILL-KILL-MURDERALIZE-DESTROY!!!!!11 when he thought his wife blew up thanks to a plane bombing or, y'know, the Green Goblin murdered his girlfriend right before his eyes, I just can't see any justification for his doing so now, when the old bag's not even dead, just hanging from a thread in a hospital bed.

So, in closing, Garney is my God. (Yes, capital "G," *****es! )

 

[PhotoJones]

Was that supposed to be me?

Anyway, $4 well spent. And I am an Aquaman fan.

Amazing Spider-Man #whatever: After reading this issue and drooling over Garney's art but mostly ignoring JMS' run-of-the-mill, uneventful story (except for that "Fitzgerald" thing, which annoyed me momentarily before I pressed on), I had pretty much one thought at the end of it: "Please, God, don't let them have Peter kill someone." Peter gets to knowingly, intentionally kill exactly one person, as far as I'm concerned, and that's the last person he fights before he hangs up the tights forever; because after that, he's pretty much no longer Spider-Man. He's betrayed the ideals he believes in at his very core--he's used his powers irresponsibly, in service to his own personal vengeance rather than justice and the common good. Writers have flirted with homicide in Spider-Man comics before, but it's always just been hyperbole. I'm praying that that's the case here, too. I'm not saying I'll drop Spider-Man's comics and burn all the ones I already own or anything drastic like that, but it definitely won't be the same character anymore. The murder line is one that I am very thankful Peter still hasn't crossed in all these years, and I hope he never does.

Plus, May's still ****ing alive. If Peter didn't go all KILL-KILL-MURDERALIZE-DESTROY!!!!!11 when he thought his wife blew up thanks to a plane bombing or, y'know, the Green Goblin murdered his girlfriend right before his eyes, I just can't see any justification for his doing so now, when the old bag's not even dead, just hanging from a thread in a hospital bed.

So, in closing, Garney is my God. (Yes, capital "G," *****es! )

i am so glad that more than one person on the boards appreciates ron garney for his amazingness.

 

[Kevin]

He's ok.

 

[Not Jake]

He's somewhere between where Corp thinks he is and where COMICBOY thinks he is.

 

[Not Jake]

Anyway,

Aquaman #50: Average
TMI, Tad. What ARE all these developments. Who the hell are these guys. Why are they here. I didn't read the first OYL arc. I know, I suck, whatever. This thing was a tad confusing. I figured that the dweller is the old Aquaman; what I don't understand is why he's such a *****. Otherwise I seem to be sort of catching the gist of stuff. This was an oversized ish, worth $4 if not for its contents, then for its absolutely stunning cover. I knew I was buying this just from that beauty. Everyone I've asked agrees, this is like, one of the best covers ever. EVER!

The ish itself is paced kind of awkwardly. And by "awkwardly" I mean "slowly." It's paced slowly, and I think that's because there's too many things going on at once. You have your Narwhal identity thing going on, you have your underwater church thing, there's the Aquaman part of it, then that splits into Aquaman & Squid Boy while Dweller and King Shark meet, and then Shark leaves, and then Aquaman comes, and then Narwhal comes. Oh, and then there's something going on with some old people on an iceberg. I think. And a ghost who knows Atlantean stuff, and he's in a tube or something. Too much for me to absorb.

Also, I want the cover artist to do the interiors.

I'll prrrrroooobbbbably pick up the next issue. It'll be cheaper, and if it has another cover this sexy, I'll probably just have to do it. The story could be entertaining if condensed a little. Just needs to have the fat cut off of it, and be quickened along.

 

[Not Jake]

Oh, and the dialogue was a bit cheesy.


BrianWilly is right, firefox doesn't like the word "dialogue." Right click it and select "add to dictionary."

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I think they favor the alternate spelling "dialog."

 

[yenaled]

The new Topo made me laugh quite a bit. Though I wish he had come up with a reason for that name and not just a nod to old Aquaman continuity.

 

[Darthphere]

Ms Marvel #13- See, this is a Ms Marvel I can get behind of, in more ways than one. *cough*. Anyway, yes, the evil conniving government lapdog Ms marvel that Bendis has tried to force feed us in the CW: The Initiative and New Avengers, you know the one that lied about Captain America being alive to trap all her old friends, yeah, she's not in this book. Brian Reed reminds me why I love this book and why Ms Marvel has become a favorite of mine.

The story starts off in Philadelphia, Iron Mas has called Carol to observe the latest AIM attack where 96 people were killed with what they call a "DNA bomb". But like always, Tony has an ulterior motive for asking her there, one we find out later in the book. Ms Marvel is pissed as hell, as lately she's been dealing directly with AIM and can't believe SHIELD wasn't on top of this, going as far as calling out Tony on what we all have observed, they seem to be too busy tracking down Captain America's underground to you know, catch the bad guys, and calls the Civil War stupid. This is where I fall back in love with Carol as Tony lays down a cheapshot about her "Not thinking it was stupid when she took Julia Carpenter away from her kid" her response is powerful punchout of Iron Man. Some stuff with her publicist later and a visit from Arana, Carol finds she needs a new goal in all of this, as she asks Tony for the resources necessary to go and take the fight to the bad guys, aka AIM. We go back to that ulterior motive of Tony askign Carol to Philadelphia and laying down that cheapshot, he needed to know Carol was still human and needed to see if she would fight for what she believes in. Wow, Tony still knows what human is? Of course all this is just backstory into how she became leader of the Mighty Avengers. We get a look into Carol's "Strike team" as Wonder Man visits her on her brand new minicarrier and asks Simon for some help in repairing what they did to Julia Carpenter, but of course, Julia isn't going to sit back and let these guys take her kid as she tracks down Arana and trust me, she isn't happy.

Aaron Lopresti steps in as the new artist, and thank god, we get some decent art on this book. Hey I personally liked De La Torre, but Lopresti does a much better job on this book, drawing the females. The action is crisp and clean, and everything just plain looks better than before.

Its been a problem lately in comic books, where the solo books show a different light of a character while others show them as evil *******s bent on enforcing a stupid law. But, this issue is solid, and while others may write Ms marvel as an overbearing *****, this book IMO shows the true side of Carol Danvers, solid outing as The Initiative takes over Ms Marvel.

 

[Red]

Question about the last issue of ASM, is'nt May's maiden name Reily?

 

[Tropico]

Yeah, it's already been mentioned a bunch of times in this thread. And the thing about the webbing that he used to "store" the black costume not dissolving, too.

 

[Red Mask]

Ms Marvel #13- See, this is a Ms Marvel I can get behind of, in more ways than one. *cough*. Anyway, yes, the evil conniving government lapdog Ms marvel that Bendis has tried to force feed us in the CW: The Initiative and New Avengers, you know the one that lied about Captain America being alive to trap all her old friends, yeah, she's not in this book. Brian Reed reminds me why I love this book and why Ms Marvel has become a favorite of mine.

Word, dark papa. Reed doesn't need this burden of explaining why Carol lied to Spider-Woman. Bendis better have a good explanation in his New Avengers story.

The story starts off in Philadelphia,

They were in Indianapolis!

Iron Mas has called Carol to observe the latest AIM attack where 96 people were killed with what they call a "DNA bomb". But like always, Tony has an ulterior motive for asking her there, one we find out later in the book. Ms Marvel is pissed as hell, as lately she's been dealing directly with AIM and can't believe SHIELD wasn't on top of this, going as far as calling out Tony on what we all have observed, they seem to be too busy tracking down Captain America's underground to you know, catch the bad guys, and calls the Civil War stupid. This is where I fall back in love with Carol as Tony lays down a cheapshot about her "Not thinking it was stupid when she took Julia Carpenter away from her kid" her response is powerful punchout of Iron Man.

Everybody check that out! It's worth it

Some stuff with her publicist later and a visit from Arana, Carol finds she needs a new goal in all of this, as she asks Tony for the resources necessary to go and take the fight to the bad guys, aka AIM. We go back to that ulterior motive of Tony askign Carol to Philadelphia

Indianapolis.

and laying down that cheapshot, he needed to know Carol was still human and needed to see if she would fight for what she believes in. Wow, Tony still knows what human is? Of course all this is just backstory into how she became leader of the Mighty Avengers. We get a look into Carol's "Strike team" as Wonder Man visits her on her brand new minicarrier and asks Simon for some help in repairing what they did to Julia Carpenter, but of course, Julia isn't going to sit back and let these guys take her kid as she tracks down Arana and trust me, she isn't happy.

Yeah, now Carol is back on track to becoming 'the best of the best'. She's got a team, she's got publicist, and an agenda. Wonder Woman had a publicist too, but she died of a drug overdose.

 

[Kraven]

I read ASM this week, and apart from the continuity errors, I thought it was a great issue. A good start to the arc, and I am interested in where it's going.

 

[Darthphere]

Word, dark papa. Reed doesn't need this burden of explaining why Carol lied to Spider-Woman. Bendis better have a good explanation in his New Avengers story.



They were in Indianapolis!



Everybody check that out! It's worth it



Indianapolis.



Yeah, now Carol is back on track to becoming 'the best of the best'. She's got a team, she's got publicist, and an agenda. Wonder Woman had a publicist too, but she died of a drug overdose.

Philadelphia, Indianopolis, same thing.

 

[Dread]

While running an errand I found myself in front of COSMIC COMICS in Manhattan with a few extra greenbacks in my pocket than I expected and stepped in to decide if I should try something new. I gave the trades and some T-shirts a look before settling onto a choice. I'd read some good reviews about the book in the B/T as well as from The X-Axis.com, and I'd just read Darwyn Cooke's DC: THE NEW FRONTIER and enjoyed it. So I settled on his DC relaunch of THE SPIRIT, collecting the first 4 issues (including the 4th which shipped this week). Amazingly, issues #2 and #3 were harder to find than #1, which was overordered. I got the shop's last copy of #2.

Naturally, comic legend Will Eisner created THE SPIRIT back in 1940, and he was sort of Eisner's lead for noir detective stories with the slightest trappings of a "superhero" element because that's what was selling at the time. Naturally, Eisner was a master at the comic storytelling techniques that the medium now takes for granted, so these stories seemed to showcase that quite a bit. Into that mold comes Darywn Cooke, who came into comics fresh off gigs for Timmverse cartoons and a flair for dramatic pacing from that work; his comics look more like fluid storyboards than many artists. Admittedly, I know very little about the Spirit character aside for his image. Fortunately, Cooke's series dives right into the pulpy world while still filling in newbs like me on the status quo. Cooke also is able to master the fine art of telling one-shot stories for the monthly format, while tying elements and subplots together across several issues for the trade. Few writers really accomplish this without flaw, but Cooke can. Much like Eisner himself, Cooke uses the Spirit and his world as the backdrop for fast paced detective noir stories, set in Central City (isn't that where the Flash hangs out?).

Elements like kid cabbie Ebony White (who used to have exaggerated "black lips" in the 40's) and other bits are refreshed without losing their essence. The Spirit's origin is recapped in issue #3 and it works without completely dragging the story down. After all, this character is 67 years old and hardly mainstream, so you have to do some recaps somewhere. Commissioner Dolan, P'Gell, and everyone else gets a fresh coat of paint while Cooke plays the elements honestly. After all, THE SPIRIT predated a lot of "gritty" heroes (and came barely a year after Batman).

Issue #1 tells a "by-the-book" adventure, where the Spirit rushes to the rescue of a chatty, kidnapped TV reporter named Ginger Coffee, whose delving into the affairs of the criminal Pill nearly cost her her life. #2 recaps P'Gell, a vixen of a madame whose speciality is attaching herself to rich men and then robbing them blind; in this case attaching to a Middle Eastern Prince with a bloody history, although her own bloody past is revealed. #3 goes over the Spirit's origins in a well told flashback that ties in every major character, and #4 introduces hard-arse dame Silk Satin of the CIA. Hussein from #2 is involved heavily in #4, and the name of the man who was involved in Spirit's "death" in #3 leads into #4, so there is a sense of a subplot here, there just isn't any decompressed pacing. These are solo stories that connect, not one story unfolding very slowly. Cooke is at home with Golden Age materials and is fitting to the style. Eisner would be proud.

With all the events and melodrama crossovers of the Big Two, one needs a few titles where there are no expectations but a good read with no stress, and THE SPIRIT is one of them.

 

[deemar325]

I might check it out based on your review and I hate the Spirit.

 

[Darthphere]

I might check it out based on your review and I hate the Spirit.

Why?

 

[deemar325]

I always thought of him as a poor man's Green Hornet and Ebony White always rubbed me the wrong way, although Green Lantern did have Pieface.

 

[Not Jake]

...The Spirit...as a poor man's Green Hornet?

 

[Not Jake]

Get over the whole Ebony White thing. I don't get offended because Tony Stark is a white stereotype. Or should I say white TRUTH. Hahaha, money sex alcohol dickiness. Read it and weep.

 

[Dread]

It could be possible that the Green Hornet was an influence on Eisner for The Spirit. The Green Hornet debuted on the radio about 4 years before The Spirit was first published (1936) and ran on the radio until 1952 (although it was originally "The Hornet" and the color was added for copyright, and because green hornets are supposed to be the angriest). I believe it was created by the same guy who came up with The Lone Ranger radio program; in fact the Green Hornet was originally supposed to be a distant relative of the Wild West era Ranger, least according to Wikipedia. Of course, the Green Hornet Republic serials and comics didn't start until 1940, when THE SPIRIT debuted.

There are naturally simularities and differences between the Green Hornet and the Spirit, but in a way many early heroes had simularities. Green Arrow was almost a direct rip of Batman when he started, for instance, complete with a kid sidekick, lots of gadgets and an "Arrowcar". Both Green Hornet and The Spirit are white men with brown hair whose costumes consist usually of an eyemask and a fedora and who have minimal fighting prowess (relying more on surprise and the unexpected more than sheer skill or brawn), although there are plenty of differences. Green Hornet had Kato, his martial artist sidekick, and more of an array of gadgets than the Spirit, who had allies but no real "sidekick". They also had different origins.

They both had their share of ethnic stereotypes back then in supporting characters, but that was common for many characters of the Golden Age. I can't count how many WW2 era comics had exaggerated black characters as part of Bucky's brigade or whatever the hell it was called. Comics didn't really start attempting to be considerate with ethnic stereptypes until well into the 80's, IMO. And even now there are problems. Quick, name me 5 superheroes from China or Japan who aren't martial artists. Even today a majority of male black heroes either rely on costumes/tech or have "brute" sort of abilities.

Not Jake has a point that there are "white" stereotypes too, especially with Italian Americans (usually always linked the the mafia). In most forms of media, especially TV and movies, you see some stereotypes presented that would get you fired at work. I mean INVINCIBLE IRON MAN and THE CONDOR have loads of them. Our society has moved past the age where someone in a position simply being Black or Hispanic is in itself some shocking surprise, but in a way the media, and some in government, still haven't caught on. Maybe having the majority of things run by people near retirement age doesn't make for trends that change quickly. I mean how many times has the flaming gay stereotype been relied upon?

That all said, though, Cooke takes the elements of The Spirit, some outdated like the names (Silk Satin? Ginger Coffee? Where are the feminist groups!?) and whatnot, but he makes it work as more modern puply fun with his style and pacing. Basically if you liked his take on old characters in NEW FRONTIER, this might be readable. But if you just hate The Spirit, I can understand it. I mean I hate Gambit and Cable, and I wouldn't read any of their books even if I was paid to.

 

[yenaled]

Quick, name me 5 superheroes from China or Japan who aren't martial artists.

9 of the Great Ten!

Anyway, Cooke's Spirit has been a breath of fresh air each month. Stand-alone adventure with completely beautiful art and dialogue which just flows off the page naturally. Giving something new for the modern readers but remaining incredibly in touch with Eisner's original. Anyone who doubted Cooke's ability to write a wonderful action/adventure comic book must have never read a thing by him and anyone who hasn't at least tried it is really doing themselves a disservice.

Just like Gray and Palmiotti's Jonah Hex, Spirit is a great alternative each month to the normal comics published by DC and both vastly under-perform in sales.

 

[BrianWilly]

9 of the Great Ten!

Oh, you just know they're all kung fu masters or something.