The Official DC Stupid Question Thread....

[Ultra-Herald9]

You know it's just gonna turn into more divisions. Half the heroes will side with the Thundavengerbolts, and the other half will jerk off to their own thoughts of how Captain America-y they're being. And there will be another Goddamned event about it. What will they call it? I'll bet it will just be called "Dark War" or something.

I really just don't get how Marvel is able to get away with such mediocrity. They recycle similar ideas over and over and they never put they're cards directly on the table and say "here's what we got".

Meanwhile, stories like FC get constant flak. Man, i have rarely been so dissapointed in the comic book community. Final Crisis was FAR from perfect but that doesn't stop people from coming out the woodwork ranting about how they hate FC.

I mean, I just don't get it!! The thing i love about it was that this wasn't they story everyone expeected. It wasn't about some ultra-pumped cosmic baddie who ravages all we know which i think turned out to be its biggest flaw to the average reader. Everyone claims that thats not what they wanted to see but really....thats exactly what they wanted to see or at least what they expected.

The constant ranting about how people hate event books for crossing over into everything was heard by DC so they made FC have very little outside consequence which turned out to be yet another failing. What do people want??

Final crisis was a good end to a good story. The potrayal of Supes here was none like i've ever seen and so beautifully done. Superman portrayed as this sole remaining true protector of mankind(or whats left of it) that is so fragile himself was simply amazing. Grant seriouslyknows how to write a great Superman. I love how Nix came back to. You really get the sense that he ascended to godhood by him returning only for the final battle.

overall i think fc will be written off and underrated for a long time. It was just too big. Maybe the shoulda followed the formula of making some invincible uber villain who strikes earth with his armies from hell meanwhile some C-list hero gets a major character revision and a power boost to form a rag-tag team that ends up helping the major heroes beat the **** outta Cosmic villain number #147 while saying some nonsensical yet humorous quips now and again. At least DC woulda made some cash by making a mini with that character or spining off into a new team book. Quality has become so formulated now.

 

[Aristotle]

I really just don't get how Marvel is able to get away with such mediocrity.

Because it isn't just what comics fans want, it's what people want. As a culture, we've been conditioned to like the easy, the accessible, the boring, the mediocre. Why bother trying to understand Final Crisis, Kurt Vonnegut, Murray Roman, Aphex Twin, Mr. Show, and Mondrian when you can just have Secret Invasion, John Grisham, Dane Cook, Katy Perry, Saturday Night Live, and Thomas Kinkade and not bother with all that thinking?

I mean, I just don't get it!! The thing i love about it was that this wasn't they story everyone expeected. It wasn't about some ultra-pumped cosmic baddie who ravages all we know which i think turned out to be its biggest flaw to the average reader. Everyone claims that thats not what they wanted to see but really....thats exactly what they wanted to see or at least what they expected.

The constant ranting about how people hate event books for crossing over into everything was heard by DC so they made FC have very little outside consequence which turned out to be yet another failing. What do people want??

What people really mean is that they just want recycled ********. They want another story about Skrulls almost ****ing everything up. They want a story that pretends to change things, even though they'll turn around and smugly ***** that Final Crisis's changes will be retconned quickly. (Do they really think Dark Reign's gonna last?) Essentially, comic book fans like to ***** about things that are fashionable, no matter how contradictory. I've seen Marvel zombies who never read a DC comic in their life *****ing about Cassandra Cain's mischaracterization, as if they know jack **** about it!

It was just too big.

It was too good for these people. As you say, I've never been this disappointed in the readership. They have just failed completely.

 

[Jordacar]

I missed all the Black Mask stuff. What Batman stories are essential Black Mask?

 

[javi1024]

I missed all the Black Mask stuff. What Batman stories are essential Black Mask?

im pretty sure War Games is where he takes power of the underground, and Under The Hood deals alot with him. i don't know if Detective Comics dealt with him, and i'm certain he's prominent in Catwoman since thats where he died.

 

[Aristotle]

I missed all the Black Mask stuff. What Batman stories are essential Black Mask?

You didn't miss much. I'm a hardcore Bat person, a completist, so I read it, but you really didn't miss much of anything. It was one of those "new status quo" things that didn't pan out so well so they used Infinite Crisis and War Crimes to drop it and let Grant Morrison do wonderful things on Batman.

 

[sdc10]

Because it isn't just what comics fans want, it's what people want. As a culture, we've been conditioned to like the easy, the accessible, the boring, the mediocre. Why bother trying to understand Final Crisis, Kurt Vonnegut, Murray Roman, Aphex Twin, Mr. Show, and Mondrian when you can just have Secret Invasion, John Grisham, Dane Cook, Katy Perry, Saturday Night Live, and Thomas Kinkade and not bother with all that thinking?

Because there is a difference between thinking and having to know decades of continuity in order to understand what the heck is going on. Even people who consistently read comics sometimes had a hard time understanding what was going on.

 

[BrianWilly]

Continuity has very, very little to do with the complexities of Final Crisis. Obviously you need to know the general idea of the universe and of course it shouldn't be the very first DC book you pick up ever, but you certainly don't need to know decades of it. People who are criticizing the complexities of FC are criticizing it for other reasons irrelevant of whether you need to read hella stories in order to get it, 'cause you don't.

You really should read it for yourself. I feel like half the controversies surrounding FC has only come about from people getting inaccurate impressions of the series from others who only half-understood it themselves.

 

[Manic]

God damn. I need to hurry up and read this thing so I know what the entirety of the DC board is going to war over.

 

[Hush]

Its a good story, just don't expect action to the gils like SI.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

God damn. I need to hurry up and read this thing so I know what the entirety of the DC board is going to war over.

It's actually pretty enjoyable to read this constant back and forth without having an opinion of my own. It's like watching a foreign couple totally ream each other out in a different language.

 

[Aristotle]

Even people who consistently read comics sometimes had a hard time understanding what was going on.

That's your barometer of intellectualism? "people who consistently read comics"=people who know how to think?

 

[Manic]

I just read a particular miniseries today, which reminded me of a question I should've asked way back when I was reading Seven Soldiers.

What exactly happened to the Fourth World that would cause the New Gods to fall and take human hosts? How exactly did Darkseid end up running a Dark Side club, and why were the gods of New Genesis all vagrants?

 

[BrianWilly]

Eh...
Technically, what happened was Countdown, and also Death of the New Gods. But the events of those two comics contradict each other, much less Morrison's original concepts, so we're stuck with "splintered" versions of what truly happened.

Basically, the was a war in heaven and evil won. That's...pretty much what you need to know. More specifically, the Source killed off all the New Gods to gather their souls in preparation of the Fifth World. Darkseid injected himself with Anti-Life and fought the Source and then Orion, but was severely wounded and "fell."

For the purposes of Final Crisis, Morrison treats those events as physical manifestations of what really went on, which was more...not physical. And when Darkseid fell he actually fell "backwards through time," which is why we see him in his Boss Darkside form in the time of Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle. The entropic hole that he left when he fell through spacetime was left in the present, though, which is why the Crisis starts at FC#1 and not during Seven Soldiers.

Does that...help at all.

 

[Manic]

Somewhat, although did everyone else (other than Orion, apparently) "fall" along with Darkseid?

 

[CBG]

Final crisis was a good end to a good story. The potrayal of Supes here was none like i've ever seen and so beautifully done. Superman portrayed as this sole remaining true protector of mankind(or whats left of it) that is so fragile himself was simply amazing. Grant seriouslyknows how to write a great Superman. I love how Nix came back to. You really get the sense that he ascended to godhood by him returning only for the final battle.

If you haven't already, pick up Grant Morrison' All-Star Superman. Arguably the quintessential Superman story.

I've seen Marvel zombies who never read a DC comic in their life *****ing about Cassandra Cain's mischaracterization, as if they know jack **** about it!

Just to clear the air, I'm no Marvel zombie; Cassandra Cain is one of my favourite characters in all fiction, and I followed the character since her introduction.

 

[Manic]

I loved Cassandra Cain. It's a shame she died and never returned when her series ended a couple of years back.

 

[Aristotle]

Just to clear the air, I'm no Marvel zombie; Cassandra Cain is one of my favourite characters in all fiction, and I followed the character since her introduction.

Not saying nobody has a right to *****. Just saying I've met such people.

 

[CBG]

I loved Cassandra Cain. It's a shame she died and never returned when her series ended a couple of years back.

Pity.

Not saying nobody has a right to *****. Just saying I've met such people.

People who jump on the bandwagon for the sake of such? Jeez. . .

 

[Kraven]

Another stupid question for the stupid question thread:
I've noticed in recent weeks that issues of Sandman: Dream Hunters have been coming out, but there's also a softcover for it already. Are these issues reprints of the originals, or is it new material?

 

[CBG]

Another stupid question for the stupid question thread:
I've noticed in recent weeks that issues of Sandman: Dream Hunters have been coming out, but there's also a softcover for it already. Are these issues reprints of the originals, or is it new material?

It's a graphic novel adaption of the original prose story.

The TPB out now is the original story by Gaiman, which he did in prose. Yo****aka Amano (sp?), the famous Final Fantasy artist, provided accompanying illustrations for it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The current comic adaptation is being drawn by P. Craig Russell, by the way. He did some earlier Sandman work and is generally one of the best fantasy comics artists ever.

 

[CBG]

The current comic adaptation is being drawn by P. Craig Russell, by the way. He did some earlier Sandman work and is generally one of the best fantasy comics artists ever.

He's responsible for the art in "The Sandman #50" and "Lucifer #50".

 

[TheCorpulent1]

He also did the comic adaptation of Gaiman's lovely (but creepier than I would have expected) children's book Coraline.

 

[WolfCypher]

Are there any significant werewolf or vampire-type characters in the DC universe? Like Marvel's Jack Russell or Michael Mobius?

 

[Aristotle]

Yo****aka

Heh. Classic. That's right, folks! Wrongheaded censorship for the sake of kids who don't deserve our sympathy and "family values" that hark back to an age that never existed > Japanese culture.