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Post by badwolf on Sept 10, 2021 20:41:05 GMT -5
Finished the New Teen Titans Omnibus and now going back to try again with the second Archives of Silver Age Teen Titans (Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash and Wonder Chick).
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Post by arfetto on Sept 10, 2021 21:10:18 GMT -5
Do the various collections, like It's a Good Life ..., Clyde Fans, etc cover the Palookaville series in its entirety? I thought I had most of the issues but when I dug them out a few days ago I found I was missing more than I thought - and also that the series continued for several book-sized issues (100+ pages) after I'd thought it was done. Mycomicshop.com doesn't seem to have many of the back issues either.
I do not think issues 1-3 of Palookaville are collected anywhere, but I could be wrong.
The It's a Good Life... book collects issues 4-9, and the Clyde Fans book collects 10-23 (10-19 were in the comic format, but 20-23 were in book format, but all of them are collected in the newest Clyde Fans collected edition).
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Post by berkley on Sept 10, 2021 22:11:55 GMT -5
Do the various collections, like It's a Good Life ..., Clyde Fans, etc cover the Palookaville series in its entirety? I thought I had most of the issues but when I dug them out a few days ago I found I was missing more than I thought - and also that the series continued for several book-sized issues (100+ pages) after I'd thought it was done. Mycomicshop.com doesn't seem to have many of the back issues either.
I do not think issues 1-3 of Palookaville are collected anywhere, but I could be wrong.
The It's a Good Life... book collects issues 4-9, and the Clyde Fans book collects 10-23 (10-19 were in the comic format, but 20-23 were in book format, but all of them are collected in the newest Clyde Fans collected edition).
OK, that isn't too bad then. I have the It's a Good Life book and was planning to buy Clyde Fans anyway, so that'll take care of most of the holes in my run. I think it's only #3 that I'm missing from those first three issues. Should be able to find that eventually, one would think.
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Post by james on Sept 11, 2021 3:35:41 GMT -5
Walt Simonsons Thor vol 1-5 The Boys vol 4-6 What if com 1 and 3
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Post by spoon on Sept 12, 2021 17:30:12 GMT -5
I read Wonder Woman #15-21, plus guest appearances by Wonder Woman in Adventures of Superman #440 and the first story in Action Comics #600. Somehow I was under the impression that I purchased all the issue that George Perez did pencils or layouts on, but when I looked in the long box, it turns out I'm 2 issues short. But I'm ending my binge read here, because the stuff I've read hasn't motivated me to buy those issues.
Overall, it was like the run was "cerebral" in the sense of detachment, but not in the sense of having compelling, intellectual insights. Also, Wonder Woman comes across here as the type of character that an A-list actress would pass up in favor of one of the villain or supporting roles, because those are meatier and she's too milquetoast. The Superman crossover is pretty to look at for the Byrne pencils and Perez inks, but I'm not sure Byrne and Perez were on the same page as far as how their plots linked up. It's like a contrivance for the Supes/WW meet-up and action scenes. Darkseid abandons his scheme in a way that doesn't seem like he thought it out. Also, Darkseid says stuff in Action Comics, and then he is explained as having been mistaken in the pages of Wonder Woman. It seems a little weird, so I don't know if that contradiction was intentional or if Byrne went off the reservation in his description of the Olympians so Perez had to fix it.
Perez tries to do something interesting things, like in the big Myndi Mayer issue, but even then the book feels more staid than vibrant. One of my favorite elements of the series, though, is Perez's visual depiction of Olympus. It has floors that allow gods to stand upside down or perpendicular to each other. It's like M.C. Escher, but less annoying and more fun. It gives an impression that's both classic, but unreal and trippy.
I have so many unread comics, so these issues haven't motivated me enough to continue with this series anytime soon. There is an indication of a new direction and I do have a couple unread issues from a bit later, so maybe much further down the road I'll revisit the series.
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Post by profh0011 on Sept 13, 2021 7:59:42 GMT -5
I remember the whole time I was reading Perez' WONDER WOMAN as it came out, my opinions and reactions to it kept flip-flopping. He was trying so hard to be "different", and, I suppose, in his mind, "better", but his entire run, I felt, was very uneven and inconsistent. He'd spend time trying to make her spiritual, then do several issues of INTENSE violence. It was like, in my mind, he was somehow unable to ever get away from the bad neighborhood he grew up in.
Not too long after he left, I eventualy got fed up with it and quit buying.
A few years later, the Golden Age ARCHIVE books started. My head exploded.
A lot of people don't want to face up to it or admit it, but NOBODY has ever written Jack Kirby's "Fourth World" characters right. NOBODY. They're too personal as creations.
Well... that goes DOUBLE for WONDER WOMAN. The original version blows EVERY SINGLE version since so completely out of the water, there's really no point in anyone else even bothering, or reading them. EVEN George Perez' WW sucks really, really bad compared to William Marston & Harry Peter. WONDER WOMAN was a unique, personal creation that nobody else ever should have tampered with.
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Post by badwolf on Sept 13, 2021 9:57:36 GMT -5
I read the Wonder Woman omnibus a couple years back (just before the first movie, I think) and while I don't regret buying it, I was a little disappointed. Diana often seemed like a secondary character in her own book, sacrificing her spotlight for her supporting cast. Also I think starting her off "fresh" without any knowledge of the world was a problem.
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Post by Batflunkie on Sept 14, 2021 18:39:39 GMT -5
Adventures Into Fear (Featuring Man-Thing) #11-#18
With fall settling in, I was kind of in the mood for something mildly spooky. I've had Man-Thing kind of on a backburner for years and had always wanted to read his exploits after having read Fear #19 and Man-Thing #1 inside my HTD Omnibus. I think the best thing about this series, and any other series Gerber writes, is Steve's very well-honed grasp of the intricacies of the human mind and their inner emotions. The book, also much like Howard, is a whirlwind of the strange and surreal
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Post by berkley on Sept 14, 2021 20:49:13 GMT -5
Adventures Into Fear (Featuring Man-Thing) #11-#18 With fall settling in, I was kind of in the mood for something mildly spooky. I've had Man-Thing kind of on a backburner for years and had always wanted to read his exploits after having read Fear #19 and Man-Thing #1 inside my HTD Omnibus. I think the best thing about this series, and any other series Gerber writes, is Steve's very well-honed grasp of the intricacies of the human mind and their inner emotions. The book, also much like Howard, is a whirlwind of the strange and surreal yeah, I think the entire Man-Thing saga is a single huge epic that starts from the beginning of Gerber's Fear run and carries on through the entirety of the Man-Thing series itself. One of my favourite things ever done in comics.
It's interesting that it's largely its own, self-encapsulated story: even though it deals with sorcery and magic on a cosmic scale, there's no mention of Doctor Strange or any of all that previously established mystic side of the MU. Instead of using Dormammu (or Mephisto, for that matter), Gerber used Thog, who I believe was an original character or perhaps a little-known, little-used pre-existing one. Jennifer Kale's magic wasn't connected with Strange's world at all, the Atlantis angle wasn't connected with the newly-acquired REH characters and their Atlantean history, Dakimh wasn't The Ancient One, etc, etc.
It's only a side-issue and relatively unimportant to the question of the story's quality, but I bring it up because it just happened to occur to me how different this is to the usual feeling that everything has to be tied together in the shared universe.
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Post by MDG on Sept 15, 2021 8:20:51 GMT -5
Been reading Avengers--end of Stan, beginning of Roy. I still get worn out by the constant bickering and overblown dialog, but OK. I assume that the "college kids" who loved Marvel at the time were reading them ironically before that was a thing (except for Ditko's Dr. Strange, of course.)
Also, Brave and Bold as it moves from Cardy to Aparo. Generally solid stories if you don;t think about them too much. The thing striking me his how much Batman isn't a "mysterious creature of the night" as a guy who wears a weird outfit but hangs out with friends, goes on vacation, gets called to official meetings, etc. I love the idea of Batman being somebody's godfather, even though the World's Greatest Detective doesn;t tumble to the facts that his godson is 1) one of a pair of twins, the other hidden and unacknowledged; and 2) a devilspawn (essentially Damian of the Omen).
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Post by profh0011 on Sept 15, 2021 13:05:58 GMT -5
it just happened to occur to me how different this is to the usual feeling that everything has to be tied together in the shared universe.
Now if only they hadn't insisted on having Man-Thing guest-star in practically every book they were publishing at least one... ( MASTER OF KUNG FU, for God's sake!!! --the issue that also guest-starred David Carridine, heh.)
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Post by profh0011 on Sept 15, 2021 13:12:33 GMT -5
Also, Brave and Bold as it moves from Cardy to Aparo. Generally solid stories if you don't think about them too much. The thing striking me his how much Batman isn't a "mysterious creature of the night" as a guy who wears a weird outfit but hangs out with friends, goes on vacation, gets called to official meetings, etc. I love the idea of Batman being somebody's godfather, even though the World's Greatest Detective doesn;t tumble to the facts that his godson is 1) one of a pair of twins, the other hidden and unacknowledged; and 2) a devilspawn (essentially Damian of the Omen). If you want something really crazy, watch BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, a show I like to describe as "totally insane fun". Episode after episode, Batman involved in stories he has NO BUSINESS being involved in, totally outside and above his "weight class"-- world-conquerors, alien invasions, time-travel, underwater adventures, space travel, no limit. And he always seems more competent than whoever he's teamed up with-- even when it's the entire Green Lantern Corps on their own home planet.
Recurring characters include Green Arrow (who he has an ongoing rivalry with), Aquaman (who's just a little too full of himself and enjoying being a legend) and Blue Beetle (who seems to be learning as he goes how to be a hero). One of my favorites was the 2-parter where he went to an alternate universe, but when he came back, he found someone had framed him for a crime he didn't commit, the Gotham cops were after him, and to clear himself, he had to TEAM UP with... THE JOKER. Oh, man, it was HILARIOUS!
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Post by Icctrombone on Sept 15, 2021 15:13:40 GMT -5
Just read this I can't tell what's happening on the cover. The inside wasn't much better despite the Pro work of Paul Ryan. This book is the result of the cancelation of the West Coast Avengers and a crappy period for Marvel in general. No wonder Marvel was bankrupt.
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Post by Batflunkie on Sept 15, 2021 18:25:23 GMT -5
Just read this I can't tell what's happening on the cover. The inside wasn't much better despite the Pro work of Paul Ryan. This book is the result of the cancelation of the West Coast Avengers and a crappy period for Marvel in general. No wonder Marvel was bankrupt. I do love John Walker/U.S.Agent's costume redesign for Force Works, but that's about it
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Post by Batflunkie on Sept 15, 2021 18:37:09 GMT -5
It's interesting that it's largely its own, self-encapsulated story Howard The Duck kind of is too to an extent (if you pardon the minor appearances by marvel staples like Spidey and The Defenders) and that's what I like about it. It's just kind of a shame that Gerber was forced off the book. HTD MAX is a good continuation, but far too short and way too edgy for it's own good (though with all the lampooning of various Vertigo titles like Preacher, I'm wondering if that was intentional)
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