Unpopular Comic Book Opinions - Part 1

[Goshdarn Batman]

Billy new 52 Batson is not the parangon of good, and that leaves room for character development. What a shame!

I just think it's sad that every single character in the DC universe has to be flawed/a jerk/dark and gritty.

 

[Charlie Boy]

Barry Allen's about as wholesome as they come.

 

[SuperFerret]

For a medium/genre that's been around for over 70 years, it baffles me that people still think that real character development has a place in superhero comics.

 

[Naked Shia]

it has its place. even if eventually the statu quo has to be maintained. Regardless, it doesn't mean characters should stay exactly the same forever. Writers should try to do different and bold things, even if it's temporary. See Dick Grayson for instance.

 

[SuperFerret]

And yet, Dick's pretty much the same person he's always been. Slightly more mature, but not the kind of character development you'd normally see. Superhero comics typically go plot first, not character first, and Dick's Robin-to-Nightwing-to-Batman-to-Nightwing transformation is mostly a plot thing.

 

[Naked Shia]

I get your point, but I don't think Dick today is the same as he was in 1940. He's the same person, but he has grown as a character. Its not only baout being more mature, it's also about being his own man instead of being a sidekick maong other things.

Does character development has a place in comics? I don't have a definitive answer. Do i want it? Yes.

 

[Tron Bonne]

YES it is. I wish DC would at least offer an old continuity Justice League title and an anthology title that would have stories of pre-New 52 characters (especially Captain Marvel). Since the consensus seems to be that DC is hellbent that the the New 52 is here to stay.

Well yeah, you don't reboot a continuity if you don't plan to push it.

 

[SuperFerret]

They haven't really published anything Pre-Crisis since Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, so any hopes of pre-New 52 stories being published are in vain.

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

Adventures of Superman is cancelled!

I guess DC's evil genius saw this thread

 

[Tron Bonne]

Where di dyou read that?

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

Adventures of Superman cancelled

 

[Czar Colossus]

Not happy!

 

[Arach Knight]

I haven't posted to this thread in a while, but it seems I have new grievances...

- I loathe Superior Spider-Man. The entire concept seems to miss the fact that it isn't about Spider-Man's powers and suit. It is very much about the personality behind the mask: Peter Parker. And not PINO, but the actual Peter Benjamin Parker. We already have a violent Spidey (Scarlet Spider) and have self-aggrandizing superheroes. Superior is rather pointless and my every attempt to read the book just stirs within me a greater ire.

- I love the direction that Cyclops has taken in All-New/Uncanny X-Men. By which I mean current time Cyke, not past Cyke. Over a decade of X-Men stories have culminated in this slow, but logical turn for Cyclops, whom in his own eyes is still the same superhero he has always been. I love watching his former friends lament his seeming alignment shift. Meanwhile, Cycke is getting stuff handled and I can entirely buy into his perspective about abandoning co-existence in favor of becoming a mutant protector. It is some of the best and most consistent comicbook writing in a VERY long time.

- New 52 is garbage. I have read the first fourteen issues of Justice League, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern and I have yet to find anything appealing. Superman is returning to his pre-Crisis power level (able to press a mass greater than the mass of Earth), Batman's presence on the Justice League is as nonsensical as ever.

- Jeph Loeb shouldn't write for Marvel. I dug the "color" series he did with Tim Sale, but outside of that, every other story he has written for Marvel has been problematic in terms of the plot itself, or his characterization of popular figures. I still don't get how the man allowed Red Hulk to lift Mjolnir because he was in "zero gravity" even though the restriction on lifting Mjolnir is an enchantment, not a matter of the mass of the hammer. It is as if Loeb confused Mjolnir with the Key to the Fortress of Solitude. I do love most of his work for DC though. He seems a better fit for those characters.

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

Not happy!

I hope they leave Batman 66 alone.

New 52 is garbage.

Yes. Ugly and boring.

 

[Tron Bonne]

- New 52 is garbage. I have read the first fourteen issues of Justice League, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern and I have yet to find anything appealing. Superman is returning to his pre-Crisis power level (able to press a mass greater than the mass of Earth), Batman's presence on the Justice League is as nonsensical as ever.

When was this?

 

[The Question]

- I loathe Superior Spider-Man. The entire concept seems to miss the fact that it isn't about Spider-Man's powers and suit. It is very much about the personality behind the mask: Peter Parker. And not PINO, but the actual Peter Benjamin Parker. We already have a violent Spidey (Scarlet Spider) and have self-aggrandizing superheroes. Superior is rather pointless and my every attempt to read the book just stirs within me a greater ire.

I don't think it misses the point. It just has a different point. I don't think the comic is trying to make the point that what makes Spider-Man is the powers and the suit, I think the comic is just trying to tell a story about a super villain masquerading as Spider-Man. It's not a Spider-Man comic, it's a Doctor Octopus comic in which the plot revolves around Doctor Octopus posing as Spider-Man.

 

[Arach Knight]

When was this?

Issue #13 of Superman in the New 52 reboot.

Just ridiculous. And to put into perspective just how awful this is, Helspont is capable of completely curb-stomping Superman. Yes, this same "can bench press the equivalent mass of Earth for 5 days with no sign of fatigue or exertion" Superman, gets curb stomped by Helpsont the Lord of Daemonites.

New 52 is rife with this sort of "awesome" writing. I suppose it is entertaining to watch for those whom loathe Superman.

I don't think it misses the point. It just has a different point. I don't think the comic is trying to make the point that what makes Spider-Man is the powers and the suit, I think the comic is just trying to tell a story about a super villain masquerading as Spider-Man. It's not a Spider-Man comic, it's a Doctor Octopus comic in which the plot revolves around Doctor Octopus posing as Spider-Man.

Marvel has wasted decades attempting to find some way to allow someone else to usurp Peter Parker as Spider-Man. There was the second clone saga in which we were being led to believe that the blonde barista in California was the real Peter Parker with amnesia, thus allowing him to be single and "hip."

When that didn't fly, Marvel changed it up and made that blonde barista the actual clone, but still made him the sole Spider-Man. When that didn't fly, they killed him off and brought back Peter Parker proper.

Then they tried to recreate a "Spider-Man" that was free of the Peter Parker legacy by giving readers Kaine Parker as the new Scarlet Spider, a Spider-Man that is just as brilliant, but far more lethal. Flash forward just a short while after pulling Kaine into that roll, and now we have Otto Octavius as a brilliant but more lethal Spider-Man.

The pattern is present, a long time grievance of ardent Spidey/Peter fans, and pretty irksome at this point. It isn't fresh, it isn't interesting. It's tired, and oddly immature that so many Marvel editors seem discontent with accepting that Peter Parker should just grow the hell up. Being "extreme" and "grim" aren't edgy anymore. This isn't the 90s. That crap ended with the Attitude era of the WWF.

Trust me. A few years from now, Marvel will pull some other hackneyed story involving Peter getting body swapped, mind swapped, cloned yet again, possessed etc. It is the unfortunate role that the character is subjected to post Stan Lee and Roy Thomas.

 

[Anubis]

Yeah, but f**k Spider-Man.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Spawn 10 is one of the most fun single issues ever

 

[Tron Bonne]

I guess that brings me to my unpopular opinion of not thinking that superhero power levels are all that important, and one of the most puzzling things that fans get tied up on.

 

[The Endless]

It comes down to good writing. Power levels, as well as actual characterisation, should be written consistently.

Black Panther putting the Silver frickin Surfer in an arm-bar? GTFO. Deathstroke managing to land a hit on Wally West? WTF? Batman winding Wonder Woman by kicking her in the gut? What is this i don't even...

It's bad writing, is what it is.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Power level could affect how fun the story is
And consistency in using them is needed too

 

[Tron Bonne]

There's a point where I agree. Stuff like the Black Panther example, but most of the time, especially when it comes to heroes like Superman, you're never going to have a complete level of consistency. As long as he's got a superhuman level of strength, it's fine most of the time. Sometimes you just have to roll with things and not sweet the pedantic stuff.

 

[The Endless]

I agree there. It's why 99% of the time guys with super strength are said to have an "unquantifiable level of strength" or whatever. Same with guys with superspeed etc. It does give a bit of leeway and freedom to tell a story.

But sometimes it's annoying. Like when a character conveniently forgets they have a certain power for the sake of the plot. It's the same as a character acting unnaturally out of character for the sake of the plot. See the entirety of Civil War.

 

[Arach Knight]

It comes down to good writing. Power levels, as well as actual characterisation, should be written consistently.

Black Panther putting the Silver frickin Surfer in an arm-bar? GTFO. Deathstroke managing to land a hit on Wally West? WTF? Batman winding Wonder Woman by kicking her in the gut? What is this i don't even...

It's bad writing, is what it is.

LOL

I literally laughed for a good minute while reading this post. It is absolutely true. It isn't so much about the scale of powers as much as it is about the consistency. It makes no sense for Helspont to curb stomp a newly empowered Superman that has returned to pre-Crisis power levels, while previously getting curb stomped by Lord Majestros, whom is a deliberate parody/homage to Superman.

So which is it? Is Helspont so ultra-god level powerful that he could spit in Darkseid's cheerios and punk him? Or is he getting his tail handed to him by anyone with post-crisis Superman power levels? It is ridiculous to have no consistent representation. And it isn't as if this grievance is new. The Tick is written entirely as a parody of this problem, which is why his "drama powers allow his powers to scale to whatever plot contrivance he is facing. In that case, it is witty satire. What is the excuse in every other situation?

There's a point where I agree. Stuff like the Black Panther example, but most of the time, especially when it comes to heroes like Superman, you're never going to have a complete level of consistency. As long as he's got a superhuman level of strength, it's fine most of the time. Sometimes you just have to roll with things and not sweet the pedantic stuff.

It isn't a matter of being a pedant. Anyone who follows the stories for a length of a time will see that the powers are portrayed one way, then are suspiciously lessened or increased as the plot demands. The Tick, Squirrel Girl? Those characters are shown that way intentionally. Every other moment is just poor writing and/or editing. I don't subscribe to the Joe Quesada school of thought that suggests that one should try to ignore canon as much as possible to "tell a good story." In my view, one can't tell a good story while ignoring canon, unless the story is written outside of continuity.

So when I am shown Superman scoffing at the lack of additional mass to press when he has already pressed the mass of earth for five days in a row, yet Helspont literally beats Superman up and down the Himalayas and space, I am going to experience cognitive dissonance like any other person who doesn't just remain cognitively unconscious while engaging in an activity. It's hard to miss. Especially since Helspont has been shown to be powerful, but not powerful enough to decisively defeat someone of similar power level as Superman. And again, Majestros is more post-Crisis Superman.