Marvel Comics blabbery

Puck's the next John Constantine.

Got to say, I was pretty underwhelmed by the usually great John Cassaday's cover to the recently released Conan Omnibus.

That said, editorial actually did some work on this one and it is packed with some really good bonus stuff if you are a fan of the original Barry Windsor Smith era of the title. They redid the colors more to the original 4 color and they don't look bad, always going to look different as the paper stock is so much brighter white in the first place.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51zK4pwlXqL.jpg

This one is better. Don't get what happened to Conan's head on the omnibus, I guess that is volcano head or something.

https://www.previewsworld.com/SiteImage/CatalogImage/STL106693?type=1

I kinda like modern artists doing interpretations of the original covers, if they have to use one not from the original series.

I know this is a nerdy, late-night-at-summer-camp discussion topic, but has Marvel ever offered a cosmological explanation for how its different “universes” were created* & how they exist in relation to each other; why so many details across the various Earth-xxx’s are the same, but then timelines/characters diverge at certain points; how warping between them is so easily achieved; etc.? Or is it just “comic book logic”?

*notwithstanding their re-creation by Franklin Richards in the wake of Secret Wars, or whatever went on there.

I don't know, and looking at DC, I don't want to know.

Ahem, I believe you'll find that, while Franklin Richards created the Heroes Reborn universe in the wake of Onslaught, that it was actually Franklin's father who was instrumental in the creation of Prime Earth after the end of Secret Wars. (pushes up glasses, brushes nacho crumbs from stained Wlzards of the Coast t-shirt)

Morrison actually did a decent job of putting the multiversal shit in order over at DC (even if DC ultimately took a shit all over his attempts). Marvel hasn't made quite as sweeping an attempt afaik.

Al Ewing's Ultimates series (two of them when you count a mid-run renumbering, iirc) get into the cosmic entities pushing the buttons outside of the multiverse in a fun way

yeah, i'm working my way through those at the moment and there's some v fun cosmic creation/destruction stuff in there

this al ewing guy is going places, lemme tell ya

I mean, I like other writers but he's good at what he's doing.

I'm kind of making the uncharitable assumption (well, uncharitable for the other writers) that he's responsible for most of the good character beats in the Avengers crossover fiasco title, too.

i've only just started catching up with his stuff on marvel unlimited and his morrison / moore / ellis influences are worn maybe a little too obviously on his sleeve sometimes but the stories themselves are always fun and creative

Mighty Avengers had a lot of heart and he salvaged about half the character team for the Ultimates gig

the actual series was screwed over by a relaunch that was immediately jacked up by that Axis event, and then ended relatively early due to another

man, i HATE these
https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/ut-graphic-tees/marvel-x-jason-polan

not feeling those

Draftsmanship on the buildings is p tight, everything Marvel-related looks like hot trash.

Guess those decades of IP really panned out, huh?

It’s wild to see this marginal-seeming stuff I grew up with turn into a zillion-dollar cultural juggernaut. Excelsior, I guess...

i hear you with that. The entire world is obsessed with a Darkseid knock-off!

Would legit have liked to see Thanos taken down by Hawkeye and Ant-Man.

I lost track of Jason Aaron's Thor as it got a bit dithery towards the middle of the Jane Foster run. The last book, though, "The Death of..." is a real return to form.

Not sure about the crossover stuff right now, as I haven't got that far...

I'm wondering if there's a maximum number of big crossovers per year and they've been pushing the "war of the realms" that Aaron's been writing across Thors down the road for quite a while

War of the Realms is typical Marvel insanity with regards to their publishing - a million tie-in minis. I'll wait until they're all collected and hope they end up at the library.

So how y'all feel about Hickman's (apparently long-planned) major overhaul of everything X-related? I know his Avengers run is divisive but I'll be damned if I know why. Dude's pretty much torn it up with all his Marvel work so I'm psyched to see what's in store.

I'm down for the two weekly miniseries, will see how it continues from there. I'm guessing everything they've done this year in Uncanny (Disassembled/Age of X) is some kind of set-up/filler for whatever he has in store.

I know his Avengers run is divisive but I'll be damned if I know why.

I think Hickman's on record about having Thanos foisted upon him. He did seem rather shoehorned into the saga.

I guess I do understand the qualms re: characterization, although I think he did all right given the scope of the story he was juggling. In the case of the impending X books, I think he's only committed to the two minis so I'd assume he's just engaged more with the worldbuilding, which I'm cool with.

I think Hickman's on record about having Thanos foisted upon him. He did seem rather shoehorned into the saga.

"any way HE wanted to"

Nah I geddit. There's probably an argument to be made that Thanos should only be written by or in consultation with Starlin (an edict which Marvel clearly doesn't respect inasmuch as Starlin has said the next Thanos hardcover is his last work for them).

FWIW, Thanos is one of the very small handful of characters who actually survived the destruction and recreation of the universe in Secret Wars so he is, in theory at least, the same Thanos he's always been.

Excited by this! There hasn’t been a big-ticket, over-complex long-ass run on something at Marvel or DC that I’ve enjoyed for a while - probably since GMo’s Batman and Hickman’s Avengers runs, really. Everything Hickmsn’s done for Marvel has been great or at least interesting - unusually, it’s his indie work where he’s more variable.

(Tbh I don’t really care about Thanos or his character consistency)

In the case of the impending X books, I think he's only committed to the two minis so I'd assume he's just engaged more with the worldbuilding, which I'm cool with.

He’s writing an ongoing after the minis too!

Didn't know that! Cool.

Yeah the two storylines you mention and maybe like Annihilation et al are probably my favorite mainstream epics of the century. Would love to think this might reach those heights but I'm tempering my expectations.

They’re doing a Marvel Age reprint series; I picked up the Black Widow volume... it reprints six old stories (going back to Mystic Comics #4), and has a long introduction by Ralph Macchio.

Knowing nothing about it other than the bus ads (and, of course, the underlying property), I think I may like to see the “Dark Phoenix” movie when it opens in a few weeks. #ClaremontCinema

Have the recent X-Movies been decent-ish? (not counting “Logan,” which I did see)

Eh. First couple Young X-Folks flicks were dece, Apocalypse was kinda lame and forgettable. You should maybe catch up on everything since First Class, but also probably don't bother since they're pretty much only screening this film because it was finished when Disney bought Fox.

I just wanna see that shuttle cockpit heat da fuq up

Seems feeble that they're doing a Dark Phoenix movie AGAIN, as though there aren't some other X-plots over the years to draw on.

they fucked it up the first time tbf

I got some cool back issues. Got five issues of Adventure into Fear with Morbius...The Living Vampire and the magazine version of the Blade Runner adaptation.

Al Williamson's artwork on that Blade Runner adaption is really good. That man could really draw.

they fucked it up the first time tbf

yeah i didn't mean to imply they'll do it better this time

as though there aren't some other X-plots over the years to draw on

it's interesting (ish!) that the MCU movies rarely seem to draw from specific storylines the way that x-men does and nolanbats did

(and that's a good thing, i think?)

Several MCU movies have drawn from specific plotlines: Winter Soldier, Civil War, Ragnarök, The Dark World, Age of Ultron, Infinity War / Endgame, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange... They're not super faithful adaptations of those storylines, but then again, neither is X-Men: Apocalypse or the The Dark Knight Rises.

(Age of Ultron obviously is not an adapation of Age of Ultron the comic, rather than the first Ultron story in The Avengers.)

Al Williamson was a god. That Blade Runner adaptation is indeed great - and that Steranko cover!!

Claremont and Sienkiewicz with one-off New Mutants

Wow

(Whatever happened to that New Mutants movie that was being developed; is that still on?)

The film is mentioned in that article.