really? i disagree, having casually looked at the rack recently. actually appreciating that the covers tend to reflect the content inside rather than just being generic pin-ups which felt like a problem last decade
― Nhex, Thursday, 27 July 2017 14:45 (six years ago) link
This sort of thing. And this. Just a weird 90s-chunky sort of ugliness.
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 27 July 2017 15:22 (six years ago) link
oh ok. i see what you mean
― Nhex, Thursday, 27 July 2017 15:27 (six years ago) link
Yeah. But I do miss Marvel being good! Seemed like they were on a roll just 4-5 years ago.
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 27 July 2017 15:59 (six years ago) link
ugh yeah that secret empire cover is terrible. it's not actually illegible but it might as well be.
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Thursday, 27 July 2017 16:43 (six years ago) link
chuck: i see it too. I think it's retro nostalgia to the target audience which i presume to be men in their thirties?
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Thursday, 27 July 2017 17:19 (six years ago) link
That Ironheart/Iron Man cover finally answers the pressing question "What if Rob Liefeld understood proportions and could draw feet?"
― this iphone speaks many languages (DJP), Thursday, 27 July 2017 18:10 (six years ago) link
That Generations cover is a variant. The real ones are better - https://comicstore.marvel.com/Generations-2017/comics-series/97936
― absorbed carol channing's powers and psyche (morrisp), Thursday, 27 July 2017 19:09 (six years ago) link
haha
https://twitter.com/SenatorWatcher
― soref, Friday, 28 July 2017 22:13 (six years ago) link
funny and upsetting!
― Nhex, Saturday, 29 July 2017 04:18 (six years ago) link
Reading Jason Aaron's Wolverine run from 10 years ago (!), its good trashy fun.
― Chuck_Tatum, Sunday, 30 July 2017 18:50 (six years ago) link
I figure that those who care probably know, but hadn't seen it mentioned: The Cosmic Trippiness that Al Ewing is writing in The Ultimates 2 is totally amazing - if you like that sort of thing, then it's probably a career highlight (and I've liked-to-loved pretty much everything he's done apart from That One Book)
― Andrew Farrell, Sunday, 6 August 2017 11:35 (six years ago) link
couldn't get into that; very metal hurlant which isn't my thing i guess
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Sunday, 6 August 2017 16:05 (six years ago) link
I can't really get into it. I miss Mighty Avengers tbh
― Chuck_Tatum, Sunday, 6 August 2017 21:54 (six years ago) link
The intergalactic mercenaries in Al Ewing's Rocket seemed very familiar to me, so a quick check on Wikipedia confirms that I do remember them, not as Technet, but as the Special Executive, from near the end of Alan Moore's run on Excalibur. I don't think I remember reading it at the time, but it's definitely been at least 20 years, and it's a classic Moore "all of these characters are interesting and also they as a team have a specific agenda and there's a great fight scene, and the whole thing is maybe 10 pages" - I'd consider it as part of a spanning set of "Why comics are great"
Also of course reading a wiki entry about any Marvel characters who have been around for that long is a bit like listening to a young child make up an incoherent story - shout out to the paragraph that opens "The Technet were allowed to stay in Brighton, England, where they would use their alien technology to provide the city with sunny weather."
― Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 8 August 2017 17:55 (six years ago) link
They were later used by Claremont and Davis in their US run of the same characters; that's where I remember them from. Really loved that book as a kid!
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Tuesday, 8 August 2017 18:01 (six years ago) link
yeah, I remember them from the Claremont/Davis years
there's something essential british about them imo, but I can't put my finger on what it is
― mh, Tuesday, 8 August 2017 18:06 (six years ago) link
IIRC, a couple of them had fairly OTT British speech patterns.
Do not overlook the brief period during the Alan Davis solo run on Excalibur (one of the best Marvel runs ever, btw) when the Technet lived in the lighthouse and became the N-Men under Nightcrawler's tutelage.
― I'm Calling My Loyer! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 8 August 2017 18:22 (six years ago) link
Looks like the Silver Sable / Felicia Hardy movie ("Silver and Black") is really happening: http://deadline.com/2017/08/silver-and-black-marvel-sony-movie-sicario-2-holmes-and-watson-bad-boys-3-release-dates-1202147448/
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Saturday, 12 August 2017 03:04 (six years ago) link
I've read a few of the "Generations" issues so far (Jean Grey / Phoenix and Wolverine / All-New Wolverine).
Alex Alonso apparently said, "These stories do happen, they really count. They really matter. This isn't some alternate reality story or some time-travel story." – OK, but these seem like the definition of the one-shot "time-travel story" (and not much more)
The Wolverine ish is pretty good, and genuinely touching at the end (through Tom Taylor still can't write well in Logan's voice, IMO).
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Saturday, 2 September 2017 01:36 (six years ago) link
Also, they seem to be violating their own "compressed timeline" rules (re: "only 13 yrs. have passed since FF #1," or whatever); but I'm not complaining about that...
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Saturday, 2 September 2017 02:05 (six years ago) link
Just skimmed the Secret Empire plotline (for background on the time-travel). Nutty stuff. Is the Marvel Universe "remade" every few years now? (Oh, and BlackWidow is dead? Puh-leeze...)
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Saturday, 2 September 2017 03:20 (six years ago) link
Welp, thats one less spoiler i have to mind now thanks
― i believe that (s)he is sincere (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 2 September 2017 03:25 (six years ago) link
Whoops sorry :/
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Saturday, 2 September 2017 03:25 (six years ago) link
ah, no biggie. just hadn't read the last week or two of continuity; i think i'll be able to handle the shock
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Saturday, 2 September 2017 17:29 (six years ago) link
I can also now report there is a spicy/intriguing reveal at the end of the Thor (Jane F.) / Unworthy Thor (young Odinson) issue of "Generations" (...no spoilers!)
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Saturday, 2 September 2017 18:24 (six years ago) link
http://www.indiewire.com/2017/09/marvels-inhumans-review-imax-abc-worst-1201873382/
― albvivertine, Wednesday, 6 September 2017 21:58 (six years ago) link
The Hawkeye "Generations" is the best one yet -- and actually one of the best single issues of anything I've read in a while. Kelly Thompson does a great job of nailing the Kate / Clint verbal interplay; and in her portrayal of young Clint, accurately hearkens back to Clint as recognizable in the old days (e.g., the Mark Gruenwald series).
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Monday, 11 September 2017 16:53 (six years ago) link
So this is what Legacy is all about (big spoilers): http://www.cbr.com/how-marvel-legacy-changes-everything/
Not to judge a book by its online summary, but I don't see anything here that psyches me up about the current state of the Marvel U. Of course, it comes down to the quality of individual series, anyway; and unfortunately, I'm not sure what the "quality" ones are anymore.
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Friday, 29 September 2017 20:16 (six years ago) link
they’ve got to pull a Poochie with Old Man Logan now
― mh, Saturday, 30 September 2017 19:51 (six years ago) link
I think we are due for a "wipe everything out and start over, this shot is too complicated" reboot in two years which, given marvel's cultural capital, is a level of mismanagement only matched by the us government
― i believe that (s)he is sincere (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 30 September 2017 19:55 (six years ago) link
Forbidden Planet in Glasgow had a special midnight opening for this, which seemed a bit ambitious.
― Gunpowder Julius (Ward Fowler), Saturday, 30 September 2017 19:58 (six years ago) link
people do midnight events for practically everything these days
I thought the Legacy event book was better than most of that type, but mostly because they let Jason Aaron script it (meaning, the dialogue and connective tissue between dictated plot points) with art that didn’t seem rote.
That’s praise of a very corporate construction, but if you didn’t feel invested in any characters before, nothing seemed very rousing. I’m hopeful they don’t do a back-to-basics Fantastic Four instead of the elder statesmen/young geniuses thread that culminated after Hickman’s run.
― mh, Sunday, 1 October 2017 03:26 (six years ago) link
O.M. Logan & OG Logan are probably gonna have a “Bub”-off (while Laura rolls her eyes in the background).
Something funny about these “soft reboots” is how they don’t necessarily affect the continuity of many of the series themselves (this point may have been made in the article). Even something as huge as the last Secret Wars was wiped from most characters’ memories; their lives resumed like nothing had happened; etc. So who are these complex rewrites of history “meant for”? Your average Marvel fan who’s more into backstory than character?
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Sunday, 1 October 2017 03:31 (six years ago) link
aren't they pretty transparently efforts to "shake things up" and sell books since they've told every story literally hundreds of times for every character
― Nhex, Sunday, 1 October 2017 03:54 (six years ago) link
the first thing I thought of with the Wolverine appearance (spoilers: he rolls up in a semi truck with BEER on the side) was the episode of Chappelle’s Show where the guy rolls up in a truck full of menthols he bought with his reparations money
― mh, Sunday, 1 October 2017 15:50 (six years ago) link
Oh, no doubt... I guess I'm wondering why they don't simply continue to "shake things up" by engaging top talent for interesting, creative, and offbeat work, as seemed to be the mission statement for a few years there.
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Monday, 2 October 2017 04:21 (six years ago) link
sadly i suspect those books don't sell. at least, that's the excuse they love to give
― Nhex, Monday, 2 October 2017 04:46 (six years ago) link
like i wonder how that Vision series did
― Nhex, Monday, 2 October 2017 04:52 (six years ago) link
they're reissuing it in semi-prestige two-issues-in-one format now, so i assume reasonably well
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Monday, 2 October 2017 15:01 (six years ago) link
luv2shake things up by returning to the status quo
god i wish marvel could just run the comics division as a loss-leading content farm for movie ideas - if they get one billion-dollar box-office smash out of a story adapted from the comics, they should be able to fund endless wolverine romance comics or whatever in perpetuity
― Mr. Eulon Mask, urging the UN to ban the "homicide robot" (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 2 October 2017 15:07 (six years ago) link
actually, can we have a wolverine romance comic where old man logan and regular logan get it on
'i'm the best there is at what i do. and what i do... is very, very nice'
― Mr. Eulon Mask, urging the UN to ban the "homicide robot" (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 2 October 2017 15:23 (six years ago) link
hah, that reminds me of the criticism of newspaper op-ed columns: most people only have a really good idea to launch a story every so often, but you've got to run a column every week regardless of the quality of the pitch
it's worse with serialized content, because all of the ideas in-between the good ones are just continuity grist for the mill
it's why the x-men have to sit around at the mansion and clean their rooms, go to the mall, or play baseball a few times a year. and they should.
― mh, Monday, 2 October 2017 15:24 (six years ago) link
I would lol a lot if they revived The Crimson Dawn
― Marcus Hiles Remains Steadfast About Planting Trees.jpg (DJP), Monday, 2 October 2017 15:24 (six years ago) link
you are a bad man and should feel bad
― mh, Monday, 2 October 2017 15:25 (six years ago) link
who's the comics equivalent of david brooks, i wonder
i just read the crimson dawn wikipedia page and it is utterly impenetrable
― Mr. Eulon Mask, urging the UN to ban the "homicide robot" (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 2 October 2017 15:33 (six years ago) link
it's chuck austen
― mh, Monday, 2 October 2017 15:38 (six years ago) link
although it looks like jeph loeb wrote the crimson dawn junk, and he's another good candidate. he's also failed upwards stupendously
― mh, Monday, 2 October 2017 15:40 (six years ago) link
chuck austen is a solid choice, yeah - and unlike the inexplicably successful loeb, he doesn't even have the screenplay for commando in his credits to burnish his reputation
― Mr. Eulon Mask, urging the UN to ban the "homicide robot" (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 2 October 2017 15:44 (six years ago) link
scott lobdell maybe?
― Mr. Eulon Mask, urging the UN to ban the "homicide robot" (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 2 October 2017 15:46 (six years ago) link