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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 10, 2017 20:18:00 GMT -5
I didn't read Sovereigns at all, but I did just read Magnus... (well, the 4 issues.. apparently it's a 5 issue mini). It's not bad... a bit dark. It reminds me of the I, Robot Will Smtih movie... it certainly resembles it more than the original property.
I still don't get why one would use a minor property like this just for the name... for every person that buys it for the name, another would probably skip it because they think they know what it's about, and long time fans will be annoyed at the in-name-only treatment.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 24, 2017 20:53:42 GMT -5
The SovereignsThe Sovereigns #0-5 2017 Grade: B Overview: Much as with the previous Gold Key Alliance project, Dynamite attempts to generate sales and interest through a story arc reminiscent of the Valiant Unity 2000 Event, in which a threat posed to all of time and existence presents the opportunity for the universe to experience a cleansing fire, followed by a hard reboot. The differences this time, however, are three-fold: 1. This event was published concurrently with the rebooted titles that presumably occur in its wake. This caused me no end of confusion in the beginning, as the Magnus of this title did not align at all with the Magnus of the 2017 solo title. 2. This event is set in an ambiguous continuity that appears to align with the original Gold Key/Valiant continuity. While the series is legally prohibited from outright saying as much, the basic details align perfectly (providing Dr. Spektor eventually showed up on the scene). The Sovereigns appears set in the distant future of that continuity, after Magnus apparently time-traveled back to the present day. It might also work with the previous Dynamite continuity (Gold Key Alliance aside), thus my neither labeling it as an "era" of the original continuity nor as a reboot. And really, either way, this continuity gets fried after five and a half issues anyway. 3. This event was pretty good. It was full of unnecessary decompression, vague teasers, unanswered questions, and half-developed ideas, but both the writing and art were surprisingly strong -- far better than anything else we've seen done with the Gold Key heroes since Dynamite gained control of them. Worth noting: - Can exist within either the original Gold Key/Valiant continuity or the previous Dynamite continuity. - Published concurrently with the rebooted 2017 Dynamite Gold Key titles, though this event predates them. Worthwhile to read?:It's good. It isn't brilliant, it doesn't do anything particularly amazing with Magnus, and there's nothing must-read about it overall, but it's of a reasonably high quality. Worth Re-reading?:Probably not. There's far better Magnus material to revisit.
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Post by shaxper on Nov 24, 2017 23:31:08 GMT -5
The Kyle Higgins RebootMagnus #1-5 2017 Grade: C+ Overview: A very different take on the Magnus franchise, set in the near future, in which we have a downtrodden thinking/feeling robot servant class. When a robot servant kills its master (also the CEO of the leading company that builds robot servants) a tense cultural stalemate is on the verge of exploding, and it's up to Dr. Kerri Magnus, the only human capable of traversing the A.I.'s collective network, to digitally hunt down a robot terrorist and prevent all out war. The writing and plotting are insultingly simplistic in execution, but the collective A.I. network concept is novel, and the central character has promise. Tom Peyton was the first to put forward the concept of a female Magnus (as an alternate universe version of Magnus), but Higgins does it well, presenting a character who truly feels female without relying upon cliches nor stereotypes, and artist Jorge Fornes never exploiting her sexuality nor physical appearance for the sake of sex-deprived male readers. This character feels authentic and is treated respectfully. Unfortunately, the writing comes off as surprisingly simplistic for such a concept-rich series, many of the characters feel woefully uni-dimensional, and the art feels crude and amateurish. But, worst of all, WHY would you ever take a Magnus series out of the 4000 AD backdrop unless you have a better alternate setting in mind? The "near future" essentially looks like today but with robots. Worth noting: - This iteration of Magnus was left open for future story arcs, but Dynamite hasn't announced anything, and the series seems to have been met with overall indifference. Worthwhile to read?:Hey, it's different. It's clumsy and simplistic in a lot of spots, and that becomes all the more frustrating because it repeatedly asks you to take its ideas and themes very seriously, but it's a different kind of concept that has some bright spots, even if it's a drastic departure from the basic Magnus premise, bearing very little in common with the franchise this thread has been following all along. Worth Re-reading?:It's not really Magnus, but it is unique in its approach. Probably worth returning to in its own right, but not as part of some marathon Magnus re-read.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 25, 2017 22:07:00 GMT -5
I think that's a pretty good assessment.. maybe when it didn't sell, they cut back on the characterization to tell the whole story in the 5 issues allowed?
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Post by shaxper on Nov 26, 2017 3:26:20 GMT -5
I think that's a pretty good assessment.. maybe when it didn't sell, they cut back on the characterization to tell the whole story in the 5 issues allowed? I think it was always intended to be an initial 5 issue story arc, a try-out of sorts. The end result just feels indicative of the nature of the industry these days -- you walk in to a meeting with the editor, pitch some interesting high concepts, and you get a free pass at a 5 issue arc, no one actually checking over how you implement it. This premise sounds great on paper; Higgins just doesn't write it well.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 27, 2017 0:24:12 GMT -5
Maybe.. I feel like 6 is more standard though, and it did feel rushed to me... I feel like the robot society could have had alot more time... as it was, it was really mostly just backdrop.
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Post by shaxper on Nov 27, 2017 4:41:20 GMT -5
Maybe.. I feel like 6 is more standard though, and it did feel rushed to me... I feel like the robot society could have had alot more time... as it was, it was really mostly just backdrop. Yes, but I think that was the point. Set the reader up to want to know more so that we'd come back for a second story arc (which may or may not still be coming). I do see your point about things being rushed in terms of how they finally revealed Magnus' origin. That should have been given more time and attention than it was, and sort of felt like a throw-away. Maybe that was done because Higgins was told the series wasn't being continued beyond the first arc.
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Post by shaxper on Nov 2, 2018 10:31:48 GMT -5
I just had a troubling thought about the original Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 AD that had never occurred before. A series in which the servants we depend upon are going rogue and need to be put down, published in 1963...geez. Was Manning responding to the Civil Rights movement? I know Manning gave us a positive African American character late in the series, but still... a paradise made up entirely of white people trusting too heavily on a servant class that's ready to turn on them at any given moment, and Magnus being the hero who will protect them from this, I kind of can't "unsee" this now.
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Post by beccabear67 on Nov 2, 2018 13:13:06 GMT -5
I can't say where they came from, maybe my older brother, but I had the Gold Key #22 (origin reprint) and #23 and have found myself citing the 'man shall not serve machine' motto most of my life. So, glad to see this thread and will survey all the relaunches! Interesting thought about the civil rights time of the concept creation shaxper. Maybe someone who knew Manning could say but I think it's much more likely an idea that came from someone reading the text science fiction of the day where in Asimov and EandO Binder these were very basic areas of exploration. I had a fair number of the DC Tarzan with strips collected which were by Manning and I can't recall anything setting off the creepy alarm like some stuff in old '40s Jungle Comics. I mean other than a white guy being 'Lord' in Africa anyway.
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Post by shaxper on Nov 3, 2018 11:20:31 GMT -5
I can't say where they came from, maybe my older brother, but I had the Gold Key #22 (origin reprint) and #23 and have found myself citing the 'man shall not serve machine' motto most of my life. So, glad to see this thread and will survey all the relaunches! It will be exciting to have someone to discuss them with again, beccabear! Good point about the sci_fi origins of the concept. I don't get the impression for even a moment that Manning was explicitly or intentionally racist, but perhaps some of the authors he was borrowing from may have had a more "Lovecraftian" outlook on the subject of equality.
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Post by beccabear67 on Nov 3, 2018 22:10:30 GMT -5
When I first saw Judge Dredd and the Mega Cities it reminded me of the '60s Magnus future in some ways, but gone a bit wrong as human civilizations are liable to. I think there were infrastructure robots that reminded me of some in Magnus too. Those Russ Manning robots are very much like the SF pulp cover robots of the '20s-'40s, especially those by Frank R. Paul... and the buildings are very NY World's Fair (take your pick of which ones).
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Post by theturok on Apr 23, 2023 11:59:07 GMT -5
What do you think of the rest of valiant comics? solar and turok and the others?
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 23, 2023 12:20:38 GMT -5
Solar was great, at Valiant, though I didn't care much for the Turok series, when it debuted. Liked the earlier appearance, in Magnus; but, it lost something by the time he finally got a series. Much preferred the original Gold Key Turok stories.
Valiant was great, while Shooter was running the show. It lost that spark after he was ousted. I hung with Archer & Armstrong, until BWS left and the same length with Eternal Warrior, though it never lived up to the possibility I had for it, in my head. X-O was the only other one I stuck with, after the purge, but for less than a year, from that point. Subsequent Valiant did nothing for me, though I did check out Quantum & Woody much later, after the company went under.
I'm a harsh critic of Shooter, at Marvel; but, at Valiant, he was on to something and it fizzled, when he was gone.
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Post by shaxper on Apr 24, 2023 8:17:48 GMT -5
What do you think of the rest of valiant comics? solar and turok and the others? Funny you should mention that as we have a special project about Valiant in the works. The short answer is that I love it. The long answer is on the way... Welcome, to the forum, by the way!
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Post by theturok on May 5, 2023 18:08:13 GMT -5
What do you think of the rest of valiant comics? solar and turok and the others? Funny you should mention that as we have a special project about Valiant in the works. The short answer is that I love it. The long answer is on the way... Welcome, to the forum, by the way! Thanks for the welcome, man I have followed some valiant comics and I want to ask about it(The numbers are the issue that I read) turok(9) is fun have good action and characters and i love timothy troman work But I was hoping for the return of the old concept of the lost land or the lost valley I forgot the name of it and there is solar(17) and X-O Manowar(15) where good but now i feel they are overpowered and And the story does not go anywhere, however, I love characters and ideas, and I hope to know whether it will improve later Shadowman(8) its boring now for some reason bloodshot(3).Eternal Warrior(5).Harbinger(12).Archer & Armstrong(5) Excellent ideas, but the characters are OP and their personalities are boring, stories that do not go anywhere, adventures and action without danger and a great threat, and characters that I do not care about, even though I loved Aram and his brother from the flashbacks Harbinger(12) kinda boring for some reason i like H.A.R.D. corps(6) more Magnus and rai I did not return to them from the Unity event, but I liked what I read, and I look forward to reading more of them Now I want to try Ninjak and Timewalker and Geomancer and Armorines and Secret Weapons , but I feel that it may not be good. What do you think of it? And what is the series that will improve ? And I apologize for taking so long in my words
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