The Marvel Year In Review

[Darthphere]

Then whoever the **** takes over SWORD. SWORD is supposed to be SHIELD's space arm.

SHIELD is an organization dude, it doesn't have arms.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I would have to come up with new words to describe the depths of my hate for you.

 

[Darthphere]

Do it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

No. I don't feel like it.

 

[Darthphere]

Lazy.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Not really. He could probably think that the barrier is there for protection, it's really not his business as to why some alien race has put a barrier around THEIR territory.

I don't know. For some reason, when a Marvel title tries to include an event in such a quick fashion into their titles, it just comes across as a cheap plug. Tony Stark has been nothing BUT butting into other people's business. And, if we have learned one thing with the Marvel Universe is that when something happens with the Kree, Shi'ar or Skrulls, it in some way involves a threat or future threat to Earth. (Of course, Tony has appeared in almost everyone's comics, and it is nice to see him not involved in all that.)

On a side note about cheap plugs and tie-ins, I have loved Nova, but hated when they tied his series into the whole Civil War thing at the beginning of the year. I know I was the minority in this point of view; but, for a character who was so involved in the New Warriors to not choose a side and decide to fly off rang untrue to me. This year really had some bad, bad tie-ins, with Ghost Rider and Moon Knight supposedly being Casualty of War crossovers.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Eh, war changes a man. The guy fought in a war that threatened the entire universe, only to come home to find that his friends screwed up one time and it led to the pettiest of squabbles between the US' entire superhero community. Makes sense to me that he'd just be disgusted with the whole lot of 'em and want to get the hell away. I didn't have a problem with it.

 

[Phaedrus45]

But, this same hero gets involved in Universal problems with people he doesn't even know, wanting to do what is right. If it was the Irredeemable Ant-Man, I'd expect him to take his ball and go home. Not Nova. Nova is all about getting involved in other people's business lately.

 

[Darthphere]

But, this same hero gets involved in Universal problems with people he doesn't even know, wanting to do what is right. If it was the Irredeemable Ant-Man, I'd expect him to take his ball and go home. Not Nova. Nova is all about getting involved in other people's business lately.

And now he has a whole universe worth of other people's business.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, he'd have to do exactly what Tony is doing if he wanted to extricate Earth from all its tangled problems single-handed. Why bother with humans who are busy destroying themselves while there's a whole universe of genuine innocents out there to save from genuine evil like the Annihilation Wave?

 

[Phaedrus45]

More Minis (Part 3)

What If?-Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire/Civil War/Annihilation/Planet Hulk: The end of '06 saw What If? get back to its old direction and improved on greatly from the two previous sets that were released. Back was the Watcher, and back was Marvel giving us alternate versions of some of their big events. None of these particularily blew me away; but, I still enjoyed them. Planet Hulk was probably the worst, giving readers two stories that were either too short or too uneventful. Sadly, November was suppose to see the release of What If? The New Fantastic Four, but it was cut short due to the passing of Mike Wieringo.

Sub-Mariner #1-6: The more I review, the more I realize Marvel put out an abundance of average comics in '07. Of course, I doubt that is any worse than previous years. Sub-Mariner was one of the minis I was looking forward to, especially with how well Silent War turned out. Sadly, it followed the old plot element, recently seen in Wolverine: Origin, of having an unknown child come back and seek revenge on his clueless father. The plot elements began in M-Day/Civil War involving the Inhumans and the Atlanteans were totally f'ed up; probably because everything ended up focusing on World War Hulk.

New Avengers Illuminati #2-5: No single issue pissed me off more than #3, involving Bendis totally changing the Beyonder's origin in his pursuit of making Marvel fit whatever storyline he's trying to tell. Not witnessing a bigger ego since Liefeld in the 90's, Bendis defines all that is wrong with comic writers today, totally wiping out stories of those who paved the way for him. I'm not upset with the Skrull storyline that he's now trying to make into such a big event; but, it's the path he takes that makes me want to take my foot and give him a good, hard kick in the balls. Plus, if I was a comic writer, I would be really offended that Mr. Ego deems himself so self-important as to have such things as Secret War and the Illuminati change Marvel so much as to infect characters and stories I'd be wanting to tell. (Hmmm...his total lack of respect for Secret Wars should have been noticed long ago; since, he took that classic maxiseries name and created something that had nothing to do with the other. He really is an arrogant, self-important, egotistical bastard.)

Hulk vs. Fin Fang Foom: A December release that tells an untold tale of Hulk and Fin Fang Foom's first encounter with each other in Antartica. Set in the far past, Peter David tries to make it more current by bring up the subject of Global Warming, which only made me feel the subject was a bit out of place to when this story should have occurred in Marvel History. The story is done well, but not anything that will be remembered after it's shoved in a comic bag. Also included is the first appearance of Fin Fang Foom, which I believe was already presented the previous year when Marvel released the Marvel Monsters special series of books.

Fantastic Four-Isla de la Muerte: A light tale also released in the end of December, presenting a story about Sue and Johnny's curiousity about where The Thing goes for three days out of the year on vacation. Of course, this leads to a normal Fantastic Four adventure, where the Mole Man makes an appearance. Incorporating many elements we've seen in past F4 comics (humor, action, and melodrama), this comic is alright; just like with the above Hulk comic, also, forgettable.

Hulk/Power Pack #1-4; Fantastic Four/Power Pack #1-4; Iron Man/Power Pack #1-2: Also including the previously mentioned Spider-Man/Power Pack, these light-hearted comics are generally one of the better ones I would recommend for younger readers. They mix a good amount of humor and action, and even the recently added Mini Marvels additions will make a 616 comic fan chuckle. (A recent Mini Marvel had the egotistical Tony Stark decide to make armor for all of the other members of the Avengers, thinking they want nothing more than to be like him.)

Legion of Monsters-Werewolf By Night/Man-Thing/Morbius/Santana: Not sure who at Marvel thought this was a good idea; but, none of these stories were in any way connected, and each character's story was just a side story, as they had to share the action with another Marvel Monster's story. Not as bad as Mystic Arcana, it's not much better, either.

Silver Surfer-Requiem #1-4: This comic looked good, and could have been called Silver Surfer: The End. It presents the final days of the Silver Surfer, and was very melodramatic.

Silver Surfer-In Thy Name #1-2: The current Silver Surfer mini, this is nothing original. Silver Surfer finds a universe that seems to have found a way to achieve true peace between themselves and others...only to discover this peace is forced on other races and things are not what they seem. Also, another race believes the Silver Surfer is a God who has been sent to save them from their oppressors, because he resembles a likeness of said god. Anyone who's read just a few comics have seen this done SOOOO many times before; it's too bad they can't release a Surfer comic that is a spin-off from his recent appearance in Annihilation, ala Nova.

Daredevil-Battlin' Jack Murdock #1-4: This was a decent series, retelling one of the most important moments in Matt Murdock's young life, the boxing match that his father refused to throw. Told from Jack's perspective, each issue was one round in that classic boxing match, and each issue told his tale and why he was the man he became in Daredevil #1. I get tired of all of the retelling of origins, like with Mythos; but, this one was a tale that hadn't really been focused on before and much more enjoyed.

Captain America-The Chosen #1-5: I seem to be enjoying this title more than others; but, I find it well drawn and well told. Cap is lying almost dead, and his spirit goes out to a member of the military who is in desperate need of some inspiration to save himself and fellow members of his troop. This series speaks on courage and fear in times of war. I find it very well done and timely.

The Twelve #0: This series really hasn't begun; but, this #0 issue presents three classic tales from Daring Comics, featuring Rockman, The Laughing Mask, and The Phantom Reporter. The series will feature twelve characters from Marvel's earliest years as Timely comics, as well as various characters Marvel has obtained throughout the years. Written by Straczynski, this issue also presents drawings and quick blurbs about the upcoming series, and I have high hopes for it in '08.

Marvel Spotlight-Marvel Zombies/Thor/New Fantastic Four/World War Hulk: Four more Marvel Spotlight titles that appeared in '07, focusing on various events that happened in '07. These are alright; but, I preferred the old version that focused on writers and artists. If they focus on characters, I would rather have it be a good combination of old and new events, writers, and artists. My most hated thing about this series is that Marvel charges the regular prince of 2.99 for something that is basically a promotional device. It should be much cheaper.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Yeah, he'd have to do exactly what Tony is doing if he wanted to extricate Earth from all its tangled problems single-handed. Why bother with humans who are busy destroying themselves while there's a whole universe of genuine innocents out there to save from genuine evil like the Annihilation Wave?

Ah, so Nova is like George Bush, focusing on other countries problems and ignoring his own.

 

[Harlekin]

No, because Bush is President of America, but interferes with other countries nonetheless.

Nova actually is, by duty, one of the protectors of the Universe and has the 'right' to interfere wherever he damn well wants to.

 

[Darthphere]

Ah, so Nova is like George Bush, focusing on other countries problems and ignoring his own.

Wow, this was stupid.

 

[Phaedrus45]

No, because Bush is President of America, but interferes with other countries nonetheless.

Nova actually is, by duty, one of the protectors of the Universe and has the 'right' to interfere wherever he damn well wants to.

Yeah, but do you think Bush seems himself as protector of his universe and feels he has the right to interfere wherever he damn well wants to?

Anyway, I said that because I was thinking how people take a comic, movie, or book and say the writer is in some way slamming Bush or the administration, when in actuality the writer was just telling a story. I wish I could remember one of the examples of a recent movie; but, I'm drawing a blank. I know some pretty big feature films had been accused of it, though.

I don't think Darth got my humor behind the "stupid" statement. hehe

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Bush does it in the thought of protecting America, Nova does it because he's simply trying to keep that singular planet from killing itself as a registered protected planet of the Nova Corps. That would be more like Bush launching war on himself, but instead of war, he'd be fighting like some gang banger.

As for the Registration thing, it's not like Nova thought he had all sorts of time to sit around and wage guerilla war against the SHRA even if he DID think it was a good idea to fight the SHRA (given that he was Nova Corps., chances are, he wouldn't think that.) He was forced to Earth by the Xandarian World Mind to relax, and when he found out that they were having a power struggle between registering with a singular government, forcing both sides to fight each other, rather than focus on saving lives (though the Initiative with it's numbers probably did focus more on saving lives), he realized it more as stress (especially given his mom and dad), and took off to the stress free life of blasting evil into oblivion.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Bush does it in the thought of protecting America, Nova does it because he's simply trying to keep that singular planet from killing itself as a registered protected planet of the Nova Corps. That would be more like Bush launching war on himself, but instead of war, he'd be fighting like some gang banger.

As for the Registration thing, it's not like Nova thought he had all sorts of time to sit around and wage guerilla war against the SHRA even if he DID think it was a good idea to fight the SHRA (given that he was Nova Corps., chances are, he wouldn't think that.) He was forced to Earth by the Xandarian World Mind to relax, and when he found out that they were having a power struggle between registering with a singular government, forcing both sides to fight each other, rather than focus on saving lives (though the Initiative with it's numbers probably did focus more on saving lives), he realized it more as stress (especially given his mom and dad), and took off to the stress free life of blasting evil into oblivion.

Yeah, I understand that's everyone's view on why he did it. I just saw it as filler and a way to make a cheap tie-in with Civil War. It just doesn't fit it with the rest of the book, him going through the events of Annihilation, popping over to Earth for a quick "gotta see what's happening with my friends and family," and then getting back into Annihilation Conquest. And, it just rings untrue to the Richard Rider I remember from New Warriors. (Or, maybe I'm just projecting how I feel a hero, friend, or family member should react in that given situation.)

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

He just didn't really have the time to sit around and worry about it. With an entire universe in turmoil, joining up as anti-SHRA or pro-SHRA probably didn't work all that well for him, as he knew it was going to be temporary anyway with his presence. He was suppossed to be there for a little rest.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Haha...yeah, but when does any 616 hero get "a little rest" on Earth.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

lol Yeah. That was one of the things in his comic, and reason for leaving so quickly. Space was literally LESS stressful to him.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Things are a lot more clear-cut in space. The scope of Earth's problems is disproportionate to the amount of effort he'd spend there.

Yeah, but do you think Bush seems himself as protector of his universe and feels he has the right to interfere wherever he damn well wants to?

Anyway, I said that because I was thinking how people take a comic, movie, or book and say the writer is in some way slamming Bush or the administration, when in actuality the writer was just telling a story. I wish I could remember one of the examples of a recent movie; but, I'm drawing a blank. I know some pretty big feature films had been accused of it, though.

I don't think Darth got my humor behind the "stupid" statement. hehe

V for Vendetta was accused of it. It was probably true in that movie's case, though.

 

[PhotoJones]

It's true in the sense that Bush fits the bill for what V For Vendetta warns about.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Exactly. He's a figurehead for neoconservatism, which is what V for Vendetta the movie updated V for Vendetta the comic's story to.

 

[PhotoJones]

Was there a different way to interpret the movie, or something? I thought that was pretty obvious.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

No, I was just giving Phaedrus an example of a movie that was cited as being anti-Bush, since he couldn't come up with one. It just happened that the one I thought of really was anti-Bush in a way.