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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 2, 2024 14:28:04 GMT -5
Detectives, Inc.Don McGregor (writer), Marshall Rogers and Gene Colan (artists), 2009 (collecting material originally published by Eclipse Comics in 1980 and 1987) This collected edition published by IDW – acquired cheaply somewhere – has been sitting on my shelf for probably a decade but I only got around to reading it now (a sort of mini-project for me at the close of this summer has been to finally get through some of these books that have been gathering dust for way too long). Anyway, the first story, “A Remembrance of Threatening Green” introduces Ted Denning and Bob Rainier, partners in a just-barely-getting-by private investigation agency in New York. They are hired by a mid-wife named Ruth Hamilton to look into the death of her work colleague, and lover, who was killed in an apparent hit and run but who Ruth is convinced was murdered. The lesbian angle one was considered pretty ground-breaking at the time of its original publication. In the second story, “A Terror of Dying Dreams” (published as a 3-issue mini-series in 1987), our titular detectives are hired by a social worker named Deirdre Sevens to tail the husband of a former high school friend who is getting regularly beaten by him. Deirdre suspects that he’s having an affair, and wants proof to show her friend so she finally dumps him. They do find evidence of this, but things take an unexpected turn when he’s murdered! These are both solid stories, and, of course, with McGregor the point is not the whodunit mysteries but rather the studies of the various characters. He considers these personal favorites of his, but I have to be honest, his tendency to overwrite really comes to the fore here (esp. in the first one), so I can’t say that I like these more than, say, his various Black Panther stories or Killraven. Otherwise, though, the art in both, by Rogers and Colan respectively, is top notch.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 2, 2024 14:46:00 GMT -5
I honestly find Don McGregor to be almost completely unreadable at this point. Not just overwritten but given to describing exactly what the art is showing. That’s one of the reasons I haven’t re-read Nathanial Dusk in eons. I’m very afraid it won’t hold up because of the writing.
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Ryot
Junior Member
Posts: 27
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Post by Ryot on Sept 3, 2024 12:37:34 GMT -5
After meeting Jim Lee a few weeks ago, I got itchy for some Jim Lee stuff from when I was younger and decided to open up a CLASSIC from the DC Vault. Crazy to think this is already 20+ years old, HUSH! (DC Compact Series Version) Definitely a great must read for any comic fan. Even knowing how everything plays out in the end, its still a lot of fun to read and be stunned by Jim's art. The way Jeph writes Batman and Superman is always great. They're very much in theme with their character archetypes, even 20 years later. Seeing Batman brought to the breaking point of almost breaking his one rule has a lot of weight in this story. Just an all around fun time, which I'm sure all of you know!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2024 13:05:21 GMT -5
After meeting Jim Lee a few weeks ago, I got itchy for some Jim Lee stuff from when I was younger and decided to open up a CLASSIC from the DC Vault. Crazy to think this is already 20+ years old, HUSH! (DC Compact Series Version) Definitely a great must read for any comic fan. Even knowing how everything plays out in the end, its still a lot of fun to read and be stunned by Jim's art. The way Jeph writes Batman and Superman is always great. They're very much in theme with their character archetypes, even 20 years later. Seeing Batman brought to the breaking point of almost breaking his one rule has a lot of weight in this story. Just an all around fun time, which I'm sure all of you know! Hush is such a classic! Agree with everything you said, and awesome you got to meet Jim Lee!
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 3, 2024 13:15:51 GMT -5
So I read the other half of Jemm, Son of Saturn and I still can't decide if I like it or not. The finale was very unsatisfying (a plot point set up in #2 is left unresolved, among other faults), there are too many characters (one disappears without explanation between issues and is never seen or mentioned again) and many of them are either underdeveloped or unlikable, the issue-to-issue pacing is clunky... I don't know. I wanted to like it, but it's not something I can see myself rereading in this lifetime. Well, I might go back to admire the Gene Colan art, which improves a lot when Bob McLeod replaces Klaus Janson as inker, but otherwise...
Cei-U! I summon the near-miss!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2024 13:34:13 GMT -5
So I read the other half of Jemm, Son of Saturn and I still can't decide if I like it or not. The finale was very unsatisfying (a plot point set up in #2 is left unresolved, among other faults), there are too many characters (one disappears without explanation between issues and is never seen or mentioned again) and many of them are either underdeveloped or unlikable, the issue-to-issue pacing is clunky... I don't know. I wanted to like it, but it's not something I can see myself rereading in this lifetime. Well, I might go back to admire the Gene Colan art, which improves a lot when Bob McLeod replaces Klaus Janson as inker, but otherwise... Cei-U! I summon the near-miss! I remember when it came out, and the ad for it seemed really interesting. A little "different", kind of cool and mysterious, and something about the character design I liked. Picked up the first issue and could not get into it, much as I really wanted to (one of those series I felt like I "should" like but had to be honest that I didn't). I actually revisited it briefly just 5 months ago, decided to try skipping ahead and grab #4 since Superman was on the cover, and maybe that would hook me a little more. It did not
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 3, 2024 15:58:50 GMT -5
I finished Showcase Presents: The Martian Manhunter, Volume Two, last week. I had been working on the Marco Xavier issues and I've now finished those. Yup. That was a thing that I did. They are not really hard to read. Kind of fun at times. There's a ruthless leader of an international crime cartel, and he's always butting heads with the Manhunter. But the Manhunter can't quite catch him. The bad guy is called Faceless because he always wears a mask. The Manhunter is masquerading as Marco Xavier, a mysterious playboy. Faceless trusts Xavier for some reason and always gives him courier missions of one kind or another, very hush-hush so Xavier can maintain his very thin veneer of respectability. But the Manhunter can't quite get the goods when he tries to use his insider knowledge to trap Faceless, mostly because he has to always make sure that Faceless doesn't suspect that Marco Xavier is the mole. Zook shows up a few times! Yay! And Faceless hires Professor Arnold Hugo to get the Manhunter in one episode! And then you get to the end of the Marco Xavier arc and you can hardly believe the twist at the end! I never saw it coming! It's pretty awesome in its audacity. It wouldn't work at all if the series was taking any of this the least bit seriously. When I finished this Showcase volume, I was going to move on to my Amazing Adventures Omnibus, which reprints Amazing Adventure #1 to #6, Amazing Adult Fantasy #7 to #14 and Amazing Fantasy #15. I've had it for more than ten years, and I've read all the stories in it. I read some of them in other reprints and I had three or four of the original comics in the past. When I got the Omnibus, I read the stories I had never read before, and then over the next few weeks, I went through and read the stories I had already read in the past. But I've never read it from start to finish. This is something I've been meaning to do for years! But I'm putting it off again to read Shade the Changing Man #1 to #8. I just got these in the mail about two weeks ago. I should read through these pretty quick and then get back to the Omnibus.
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Post by spoon on Sept 5, 2024 20:52:29 GMT -5
I've been reading the Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch Epic Collection (vol. 1): Vengeance Reborn. So far I've read Ghost Rider #1-7. It's like tangential nostalgia, because my twin brother was buying the series for a little bit. I read a couple of his issues, but never really got into it.
The seven issues I've read were all written by Howard Mackie. The art is usually Javier Saltares/Mark Texeira, but sometimes it's pencils/inks and other times it's breakdowns/finishes. For #7, Texeira handles the full art chores, and I like the art in that issue the best. Texeira has a moody, textured style that can be compelling at times.
I'm not as enamored with writing. Some aspects of it aren't working for me. I'm trying to make up my mind whether those are objective flaws or legitimate writing choices that just resonate with me or haven't paid off yet. For instance, Danny transforms in Ghost Rider, this demonic, violent being that seems to operate under his own will rather than being controlled by Danny. This should obviously lead to some angst and conflict for a conscientious person. However, I feel think is underexplored compared to what I would expect as a major theme. I'm questioning if that's a flaw in the writing or if I'm expected something too heavy-handed. Is Mackie using some subtlety that I should appreciate?
I think one of the reasons I'm hoping for more meat to Danny's internal conflict is because the external conflict isn't so suspenseful. So far, it doesn't seem like any villain can actually harm Ghost Rider. The suspense of a fight is about whether a villain can knock Ghost Rider away far enough to escape. Or, in a slightly more suspenseful vein, will Ghost Rider stop the villain before this or that innocent person is killed.
That brings me to depictions of violence. The stories seem to aim for high body counts. There's bad writing in pursuit of letting vicious serial killers up those body counts. For instance, at one point a supervillain named Blackout and his small group of thugs is confronted by a much large group of the Kingpin's gun-toting thugs. The way the scene is "blocked" (to use a movie term), Blackout is pretty much screwed if he does anything but a peaceful cooperative retreat. Somehow we get a nonsensical scenario in which Blackout sheds some blood and is free to kill some more without being riddled full of bullets. Danny also has a family member who ends up in a coma. I thought she might awaken, and it would lead to an interesting story. Instead, it just ends up as way to get in some extra violence.
There's a whole lot of things that don't get explained. Again, I'm not sure if that's sloppy storytelling or a conscious choice to learn through immersion rather than overdoing the exposition. Some of it though really feels like forgetting to explain. Ghost Rider has mental power called a "penance stare" which makes a criminal feel the suffering of his victims. But the name "penance stare" is used by a villain first, before we get any explanation of the power. Shouldn't Ghost Rider be the one to name it? And if a villain has a name for it and an understanding of what it does, shouldn't the script make Ghost Rider curious about where he got that knowledge?
Some things I did like were the character design for Ghost Rider and his motorcycle. Also, some of the existing villains who show up (curiously with an emphasis on villain who Captain America had faced most recently) are intriguing. I'm a Mr. Hyde fan. I think of Marvel's Scarecrow as more generic and less interesting than DC's Scarecrow, but Mackie and Texeira go a good job making him much more than a generic villain in #7. I also remain hopeful that the different pieces of world-building, plot threads, supporting characters, and villains will build to something bigger. It's also interesting that Mackie sets a lot of the story in a specific area of New York, the Cypress Hills neighborhood on the border of Brooklyn and Queens. It's know for his cemeteries, although my research tells me Mackie incorrectly places Harry Houdini's grave in Cypress Hills Cemetery itself rather than a different cemetery in the same area.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 8, 2024 0:39:40 GMT -5
I am up to Shade the Changing Man #5 and I like it a lot! Ditko is producing some great art and a very intriguing storyline. And it’s all so much fun and comic book-y!
I remember really liking the first two issues, and I don’t know why I quit buying it. I was looking at what else was on sale that month, and it’s a lot of comics! Including quite a few annuals that I remember buying. Maybe I just didn’t have enough money.
Has anybody else read the 1970s Shade series? I was already familiar with the first two issues from way back, and I read the third issue last year. I read #4 last night for the first time. And I just now read number five, and there’s a twist that kind of blew my mind! I wasn’t expecting something like that.
But I don’t want to go into it if nobody else has read it.
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Post by Ricky Jackson on Sept 8, 2024 9:44:06 GMT -5
I am up to Shade the Changing Man #5 and I like it a lot! Ditko is producing some great art and a very intriguing storyline. And it’s all so much fun and comic book-y! I remember really liking the first two issues, and I don’t know why I quit buying it. I was looking at what else was on sale that month, and it’s a lot of comics! Including quite a few annuals that I remember buying. Maybe I just didn’t have enough money. Has anybody else read the 1970s Shade series? I was already familiar with the first two issues from way back, and I read the third issue last year. I read #4 last night for the first time. And I just now read number five, and there’s a twist that kind of blew my mind! I wasn’t expecting something like that. But I don’t want to go into it if nobody else has read it. I read Shade a few years back when I bought 1-8 together like you did. I really liked it to, although the finer details of the story are a bit hazy now
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 8, 2024 10:15:30 GMT -5
I am up to Shade the Changing Man #5 and I like it a lot! Ditko is producing some great art and a very intriguing storyline. And it’s all so much fun and comic book-y! I remember really liking the first two issues, and I don’t know why I quit buying it. I was looking at what else was on sale that month, and it’s a lot of comics! Including quite a few annuals that I remember buying. Maybe I just didn’t have enough money. Has anybody else read the 1970s Shade series? I was already familiar with the first two issues from way back, and I read the third issue last year. I read #4 last night for the first time. And I just now read number five, and there’s a twist that kind of blew my mind! I wasn’t expecting something like that. But I don’t want to go into it if nobody else has read it. I read Shade a few years back when I bought 1-8 together like you did. I really liked it to, although the finer details of the story are a bit hazy now I’m talking about Sude’s secret identity revealed to the reader. He’s been a behind-the-scenes villain the whole series. He only appears here and there, the leader of the large criminal organization trying to take over Meta. I didn’t realize he had a secret identity. He’s a big globe-shaped monster with a big face and weird arms. I thought that was just a thing on Meta. It never occurred to me that it was a humanoid inside a contraption. It’s like, what if a door opened in MODOK’s back and a human stepped out.
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Post by spoon on Sept 9, 2024 22:27:26 GMT -5
I read Ghost Rider #8-12, the Ghost Rider/Wolverine serial from Marvel Comics Presents #64-71, Marc Spector: Moon #25, and Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #28, completing my reading of the Ghost Rider Danny Ketch Epic Collection vol. 1.
There are some improvements. Mark Texeira's inks have an increasing influence over the art. Unfortunately, the TPB ends the issue before Texeira takes over from Javier Saltares as penciler. Also, we do get more on Dan's moral dilemma about turning into Ghost Rider and some hints and contradictions about Ghost Rider's true nature.
Some of the drawbacks are continuations of the same flaws. Sometimes backstories of supporting characters or explanations of things are lacking in a way that feels like poor writing or forgetting to include something in the story rather than an intentional slow burn. Also, Ghost Rider imperviousness to permanent continues to limit the dramatic potential. If there's really no chance the protagonist will be killed, you can only build so much drama from the suspense over which non-combatants will be killed before G.R. can stop the villain. There is one story in this TPB where Ghost Rider is obliterated about as completely as one could possibly imagine, but he comes back in very short order. Howard Mackie does try to build drama in our hero's increasing frustration that he can't capture a killer called Zodiak, and it sort of works.
There are crossovers and guest appearances galore. It seems there's a lot of cross-promotion for the series. X-Factor shows up in #9. I was so hopeful they'd have a lot to do, but we don't get any really cool moments for the team. At least there's a cameo from Baby Christopher. Also, Masque is involved in the issue, which calls to mind Jean Grey tangling with him/her (I can never quite tell with Masque) during a guest appearance in X-Men. Archangel is strangely missed from this issue, despite appearing on the cover. The issue also introduces an international team of female mercenaries called H.E.A.R.T. I think the intention was sexy and cool, but the execution is cheesy to me.
The G.R./Wolverie serial by Mackie with art by Texeira and inker Harry Candelario is just okay. I feel like Mackie doesn't have a good grasp on Wolverine. He has the Japanophile refer to ninja's outfits derisively as pajamas. Also, Danny's friend Jack turns out to be a karate student of a brilliant master, which is a heck of an implausible hook. The story does have some moments here and there.
Despite not writing a prior issue of Moon Knight, Mackie gets to write the double-sized #25 with G.R. in a guest role. It took me a while to realize that the main villain was from the Havok serial in MCP that Mackie wrote. I don't get the point of the story except to depict some carnage and promote G.R. in another book. Moon Knight is riddled with doubt when some terrorists claim to worship Khonshu, but it seems very flimsy.
The story ends with a crossover between Doctor Strange and Ghost Rider. The good doctor allows the story to raise some question about the nature of Ghost Rider. The crossover feels somewhat disjointed because Roy & Dann Thomas have such a different scripting style from Mackie. The Thomases actually drawn some negative attention to Mackie's scripting by having Doc point out how often G.R. refers to "the blood of innocents" or variations on that. It's those canned, seemingly gritty lines that keep the character from developing more depth. Do you know how clueless I was about Doctor Strange as a kid? Growing up, I never heard of Doc's apprentice Rintrah (the alien being who looks like a bipedal bull). I had no clue such a character existed. Now, I find out that he first appeared in the series that ended in the 1980s. Then, he was in Doc's entire run of Strange Tales vol. 2. Now, he's in the Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme run at least through #28. That's a run of several years, and he seems like an interesting, affable character.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,220
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Post by Confessor on Sept 11, 2024 10:18:29 GMT -5
I re-read issues #64 and #65 of Daredevil last night... These are both really fun comics. They date from 1970 and are set during the period where Karen Page has recently learned Matt Murdock and Daredevil are the same person, and as a result she has fled to Los Angeles to become a movie star. Karen lands a small guest-star part on a gothic TV series that is clearly inspired by Dark Shadows and Matt follows her to the City of Angels to confront her and hopefully win her back. While in L.A., Matt joins forces with a reformed Stunt-Master to thwart a gang of crooks, and he and Karen also have a run-in with Brother Brimstone. It's all great fun, and the scripts by Roy Thomas are very entertaining and full of late '60s/early '70s flavoured dialogue. Gene Colan's artwork is really nice too and rather inventively composed on occasion. I really like this early-to-mid '70s period of Daredevil. It's probably my favourite period apart from the Frank Miller run a few years later.
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Post by berkley on Sept 11, 2024 18:04:43 GMT -5
I re-read issues #64 and #65 of Daredevil last night... These are both really fun comics. They date from 1970 and are set during the period where Karen Page has recently learned Matt Murdock and Daredevil are the same person, and as a result she has fled to Los Angeles to become a movie star. Karen lands a small guest-star part on a gothic TV series that is clearly inspired by Dark Shadows and Matt follows her to the City of Angels to confront her and hopefully win her back. While in L.A., Matt joins forces with a reformed Stunt-Master to thwart a gang of crooks, and he and Karen also have a run-in with Brother Brimstone. It's all great fun, and the scripts by Roy Thomas are very entertaining and full of late '60s/early '70s flavoured dialogue. Gene Colan's artwork is really nice too and rather inventively composed on occasion. I really like this early-to-mid '70s period of Daredevil. It's probably my favourite period apart from the Frank Miller run a few years later. I actually prefer the Lee/Colan and Thomas/Colan runs to Miller's. I haven't read much of the Conway/Colan issues that followed Thomas's but I don't usually like Conway's writing much so it's possible I would put Miller ahead of that one in spite of the Colan artwork.
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Post by berkley on Sept 12, 2024 0:30:42 GMT -5
I re-read issues #64 and #65 of Daredevil last night... These are both really fun comics. They date from 1970 and are set during the period where Karen Page has recently learned Matt Murdock and Daredevil are the same person, and as a result she has fled to Los Angeles to become a movie star. Karen lands a small guest-star part on a gothic TV series that is clearly inspired by Dark Shadows and Matt follows her to the City of Angels to confront her and hopefully win her back. While in L.A., Matt joins forces with a reformed Stunt-Master to thwart a gang of crooks, and he and Karen also have a run-in with Brother Brimstone. It's all great fun, and the scripts by Roy Thomas are very entertaining and full of late '60s/early '70s flavoured dialogue. Gene Colan's artwork is really nice too and rather inventively composed on occasion. I really like this early-to-mid '70s period of Daredevil. It's probably my favourite period apart from the Frank Miller run a few years later. I actually prefer the Lee/Colan and Thomas/Colan runs to Miller's. I haven't read much of the Conway/Colan issues that followed Thomas's but I don't usually like Conway's writing much so it's possible I would put Miller ahead of that one in spite of the Colan artwork.
I forgot to respond to one other thing: I love the idea of actress Karen Page getting a part in a Dark Shadows-type tv series. It's been a long while since I read these issues so I can't picture them clearly - do we get any scenes from that show? Because I think Gene Colan and Syd Shores would be a great team for the artwork of a Dark Shadows-type comic series.
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