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Post by Dizzy D on Oct 6, 2016 4:18:29 GMT -5
Couple things that don't go in the review threads: TMNT Universe #1 - Not sure if this connects to the current continuity or not, but it was a good set up for the turtles being hounding by a group called the 'Earth Protection Force' that hates Mutants.. kinda going for a bit of an X-Men vibe, and it was pretty cool with good art. The best part (even though it's only 4 pages) is a Leonardo backup with him fighting some ninja... written by Eastman and art by Bill Sienkiewicz.. great title to pick up if you want Turtle goodness without trying to figure out where the back story is at right now. Black Panther vol. 1 - Really great art, but the story left me a bit confused and a bit unsatisfied... it seems a neighboring country is trying to destablize Wakanda by claiming T'Challa is too involved with the rest of the world to care about them, and they've subverted some of the royal guard women to help them.. or maybe they revolted on their own, it's not clear. As someone who didn't really read much Hickman, I felt pretty confused, and VERY little moved forward in the 4 issue trade. Pretty, though  . Personally I had not that much problems following BP so far: It's not a neighbouring country, there are agents of a neighbouring country interfering (especially a woman with mind control), but most of it is large groups of people within Wakanda itself. During the past few years Wakanda has been at war with Doom and with Namor, attacked by Thanos' agents and so on which have caused large scale destruction of life and property within Wakanda, so a lot of the population is really unhappy with T'Challa for failing to protect them and more importantly unhappy with the monarchy at all. T'Challa himself is focused on saving his sister, who was killed/nearly killed (unclear if she is actually dead and he's trying to bring her back or on the brink of death) during the last of those attacks. Meanwhile those bodyguards revolted on their own: One of them killed a bunch of people who had enslaved women. T'Challa's mother punished her for acting as a vigilante, instead of obeying the law. The other bodyguard, her lover, freed her using some powered armour. The two of them then started to act as vigilantes and rebels. So basically it's placing T'Challa against various forces he is actually sympathizing with (he's agreeing with the rebels that there should be more democracy within Wakanda), but the agents use mind control to make all protests become violent, so T'Challa wants to stop them. I don't know if T'Challa actually interacts with the former bodyguards in the first 4 issues. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 6, 2016 5:08:16 GMT -5
He doesn't... and, in fact, he doesn't actually acknowledge they exist in any way. I guess it's not so much that I didn't follow what was going on, just that it didn't get pulled together in any way that turned into a narrative of some sort. T'Challa is basically just running around beating people up, and it's clear the story is meant to be much more reflective and political, yet none of that actually ties into to what T'Challa is doing, which is punching people and brooding over why he's failed.
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Post by Dizzy D on Oct 6, 2016 6:43:20 GMT -5
4 issues was way too short for a TPB and Coates is focused on longer term storytelling (which makes sense due to his background), I'm following the series in singles, so I'm enjoying it, but it's very slow. I think Marvel wanted to push out a TPB on Coates' name, but they should have had a bit more patience.
Unrelated: I started on Grayson TPB 4 yesterday (and also have bought a load of IDW comics due to the humble bundle this week. Lots of Transformers and GI Joe, but also the first issues of Micronauts, Mask and several issues of Rom). I really dislike that the first chapter so far is all about some Robin crossover. I started it late, so I'm still during that issue, but Dick hasn't even appeared yet.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2016 12:00:53 GMT -5
Read Outcast by Kirkman and Azaceta Vol. 3 last night. I'm not a big Kirkman fan, but I am digging this series and the art by Azaceta is moody and fits the horrific feel of the series perfectly. IT's been a slow build on the mythology behind the Outcast and the big picture, but vol. 3 had pieces starting to fall into place and ended on a heck of a revelation/cliffhanger.
-M
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Post by thwhtguardian on Oct 7, 2016 20:06:11 GMT -5
He doesn't... and, in fact, he doesn't actually acknowledge they exist in any way. I guess it's not so much that I didn't follow what was going on, just that it didn't get pulled together in any way that turned into a narrative of some sort. T'Challa is basically just running around beating people up, and it's clear the story is meant to be much more reflective and political, yet none of that actually ties into to what T'Challa is doing, which is punching people and brooding over why he's failed. That sounds a lot like the story Priest did only not told as well. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Oct 10, 2016 4:39:10 GMT -5
The Humble Bundle had an IDW bundle this week and I picked it up. Working my way through it in alphabetical order, I'm halfway through the G.I. Joe trades. Most of it is pretty by the numbers G.I. Joe comics by Chuck Dixon and the Action Man reboot had an interesting premise with its main villain, but overall they were nothing that made me want to pick up the rest, but I just finished a trade which was very good IMHO:
Cobra: The Last Laugh by Mike Costa and Christos N. Gage, with art by Antonio Fuso. I am a big fan of the comic series Sleeper and this series hits most of the same points: both deal with undercover agents infiltrating a terrorist organisation but then lose contact with their own organisation. Fuso's art also resembles Phillips' a lot. I'm not exactly clear on the timeline of this within G.I.Joe continuity, it appears to be a reboot with Cobra being a relatively young organisation (or at least only recently discovered). The cast is also pretty small, so you don't need to have any previous knowledge of the franchise to read and enjoy this series.
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Post by hondobrode on Oct 10, 2016 15:04:50 GMT -5
He doesn't... and, in fact, he doesn't actually acknowledge they exist in any way. I guess it's not so much that I didn't follow what was going on, just that it didn't get pulled together in any way that turned into a narrative of some sort. T'Challa is basically just running around beating people up, and it's clear the story is meant to be much more reflective and political, yet none of that actually ties into to what T'Challa is doing, which is punching people and brooding over why he's failed. That sounds a lot like the story Priest did only not told as well. The Marvel Knights Priest / Velluto / Almond run is outstanding; probably the best title Marvel was publishing at that time.   
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,210 
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Post by Confessor on Oct 10, 2016 15:58:33 GMT -5
Just read Jessica Jones #1...  Despite being really disillusioned with modern Marvel, this was a really good read and felt like slipping on an old, comfy pair of shoes for this long-time Alias fan. It really did feel like a continuation of the previous series all those years ago. Highly recommended for anyone who liked Alias or, presumably, the Jessica Jones Netflix show. |
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Post by brutalis on Oct 13, 2016 7:35:32 GMT -5
Was in need of some light mindless entertaining in my reading so delved in to the latest Archie 1000 page Spectacular: 75th Anniversary Bash. It is always fun to revisit the world of Archie comics as they are friends everyone has grown up with yet never truly outgrown. These 1000 page digests are a blast of reprint freshness covering stories from all ages of the Archie comics. You find Lucey, Bolling, Goldberg, Doyle, DeCarlo, Ruiz, Parent and the occasional gems from the likes of artists not usually associated with Archie like Colan, Milgrom, Austin and others.
The cost is perfect being $8-15 depending on where you purchase and discounts and these thick digest sized books carry a big punch. I like having all the different years and styles of stories and art all in one book. The variety and silliness and humor transcends there being any difficulty in finding something joyful and happy within. i kind of like the mindlessness in these short gag filled stories as they can be read over and over again and even if you find a story you remember then you don't mind as it is short enough to enjoy yet once more.
This is a really good time to be collecting Archie items as there is so much reprinted in so many differing formats that there is no way you shouldn't be bringing Archie and the gang into your life!
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Post by Spike-X on Oct 16, 2016 1:27:25 GMT -5
I liked the first Velvet trade, but somehow it didn't inspire me to get the next one. I got the first two trades from the library. I felt the same about the first one, but the story really picks up in the second, and by the end of it (about half an hour ago) I was dying to get my hands on the next one. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Oct 17, 2016 4:38:29 GMT -5
Making my way through the IDW bundle, so short opinions of each:
Transformers: More than Meets the Eye and Robots In Disguise: Pretty great! I haven't read Transformers (Scioli's GI Joe vs. TF excepted) since Marvel did them, but these two parallel running series are good comics. The most important development is that the Transformers are no longer at war: MTMTE focuses on a group of Transformers that have left their homeplanet to find a legendary colony of Transformers, mostly a comedic series with some points of drama and action, my favourite bits being the Scavengers, a group of Decepticons that now the war is over spend their time well... scavenging and running into trouble. RiD focuses on rebuilding their homeworld after millions of years of war, including the return of many refugees that were not alligned to either side.
These IDW series are interesting because they do away with Autobots=good, Decepticons=evil and turns them into more rounded characters. Interesting that neither series refer to the war itself much, most flashbacks are pre-War (and build on why the war even started).
Transformers Devastation: not great, not terrible, but I miss a lot of context here, while the rest of the Bundle was good to read standalone.
Transformer Infiltration: Good place to start. I like that it starts with Ratchett just like the old Marvel comics and it takes its time before getting the big names like Optimus and Grimlock involved, but a standard Transformers comics.
Transformer vs. GI Joe: really good, but I already had that one in paper form. After Godland, I'm pretty much sold on anything he does.
And for the non-Transformer stuff:
GI Joe: The Last Laugh was really good as said above.
Action Man: I like the premise behind the main villain (spoilers to get more into that), but overal not that good.
Rom, Micronauts and Mask and the whole crossover around it: pretty disappointing. Especially Rom which I had good memories off.
Street Fighter X G.I. Joe: I honestly thought it was terrible. Nothing worse than comedy that doesn't click.
Cobra Civil War and the GI Joe things: fine. I enjoyed it, but not enough to get more.
Combiner Wars, Windblade: Not read yet, I'm going alphabetically through the Bundle.
So overall: Worth it, but if you're low on cash, I'd get the 1st and 2nd tier, the 3rd didn't add that much to me.
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Post by hondobrode on Oct 19, 2016 23:51:42 GMT -5
@mrp
Read the first 5 issues of IDW's Micronauts, and I hate to say it, but it's just meh so far, and not enough for me to continue with it.
Of course I know all the Marvel-created content can't be used, and I'm fine with that, but Oz, the Pharoid character is annoying, as is the Space Glider character.
The last issue with Karza's back story and wife was good.
On another note, I read the first issue of IDW's Rom and liked it. I'll probably stay with it. In fact, 30 years later it still had a pretty faithful vibe of Marvel's series; a good thing.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2016 0:08:51 GMT -5
@mrp Read the first 5 issues of IDW's Micronauts, and I hate to say it, but it's just meh so far, and not enough for me to continue with it. Of course I know all the Marvel-created content can't be used, and I'm fine with that, but Oz, the Pharoid character is annoying, as is the Space Glider character. The last issue with Karza's back story and wife was good. On another note, I read the first issue of IDW's Rom and liked it. I'll probably stay with it. In fact, 30 years later it still had a pretty faithful vibe of Marvel's series; a good thing. Against my better judgment, I tried the first 2 issues of IDW's Revolution. Ugh. It killed any momentum I thought Rom might have had. Micronauts don't get involved until issue 3, so I don't know how it will affect that yet. As for those Micronauts characters at IDW, well I found a lot of the Marvel characters very annoying and repetitive after the first 11 issues with Golden. Rann spends most of the rest of the 1st series and all of the 2nd Marvel series moping or navel gazing, Mari's emotions and personality changed at the flip of the switch through the series and alternated between damsel in distress, woe is me pathetic princess or shrewish harpy depending on the issue and what contrived melodrama they were trying to include in a particular storyline, and Bug's shtick got old after a while, so I am glad they can't use the Marvel content. Acroyear was the only character I consistently liked throughout both runs. Hunter and Devil were both annoying characters as well and neither ever really fit in with the team dynamic. I also think that the world building in the IDW series is good and while the characters are taking a while to grow on me, they have at least be consistently portrayed throughout. I just finished reading or rereading every Micronauts comic produced (both Marvel series, the 2 Devil's Due series plus the Karza mini) last month, and outside those first 11-12 issue of the Marvel series, the IDW series stands up as good as anything else produced under that title. Those first 11-12 issues were a near perfect comic epic, everything else was mediocre to poor at best. The entire Marvel series really felt like Mantlo and Golden had 1 story to tell that took a year to do, and then Mantlo was left to fumble around trying to do something with the license for the next 3-4 years but didn't really have anything interesting he wanted to do with the characters and no new ideas for plots so kept recycling the same stuff over and over again or crossing it over with Marvel Universe stuff as filler and sales boosts. Gillis took over on the second series and had a few interesting ideas but no grasp of the characters at all and the execution of those ideas was poor at best. The Image/Devil's Due stuff was an interesting reimagining of the concepts, but again poorly executed at the start by an inexperienced comics writer and then rushed because they were fighting cancellation every step of the way and hampered by inconsistent art, and a couple of the guys had very poor visual storytelling chops. The IDW series started a little slow, but seems to be hitting its stride just as the Revolution series butted in, so I'll have to wait and see how it all plays out before I decide whether or not to keep on the book. I am likely dropping Rom though as the art is iffy and the Revolution stuff has killed a lot of the interest I had in the story that was being built in the first couple of issues. -M |
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Post by hondobrode on Oct 20, 2016 0:17:02 GMT -5
I haven't read Micronauts since it came out and probably wouldn't like it as much now, but it's one of my favorite Marvel series along with Rom.
Revolution was sort of intriguing, but the tiny bit I read of the preview killed it for me.
Maybe the movie-verse will play out better on the big screen. Who knows.
Just today the comics news sites were saying that Hasbro is going to have their own convention, either Has-Con or Hasbro-Con, and will include Magic : the Gathering as well.
If I can pick up the subsequent Micronauts issues on the cheap I'll gove em another try.
Completely agree with you on Devil's Due Micros.
BTW, are those Micronaut novels any good ? I never knew they even existed until you posted.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2016 0:27:42 GMT -5
I've only read the first one (haven't been able to track down 2 or 3 yet). They are an alternate reality of the Image/Devil's Due set up. Ryan Archer is the main character and he is earth bound as his dad leads a team that has first contact with the beings who come through the rift led by Ordall. Archer keeps having dreams/visions of the Time Traveler and flashbacks to a different life where he was a hero and leader of a rebellion on the other side of the rift (i.e. the Devil's Due/Image series that came out) and the first book ends with him allying with Knave and entering the Rift in search of Acroyear after accepting the message the Time Traveler was trying to impart through the vision.
Lyons is a solid writer, so it was a good read, but if you don't like the Devil's Due/Image worldbuilding of the Micros, you won't like the novel's mythos either.
-M
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