villa4europe Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 Anyone ever read the before watchmen stuff? Hows that hold up compared to the original? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted September 16, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted September 16, 2016 5 minutes ago, villa4europe said: Anyone ever read the before watchmen stuff? Hows that hold up compared to the original? None of it is in even the same stratosphere as the original. A lot of is rubbish. High point is the Dr Manhattan stuff, which is decent, followed by Nite Owl (conveniently packaged together in the trade). Rest is weak to outright poor. I wouldn't bother. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted September 24, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted September 24, 2016 Ready for the movie I've just reread 2 of the more notable Dr Strange stories - Triumph and Torment, and the Oath. Surprised they read so well still. Triumph and Torment is a very short story, 2 issues perhaps when first released, but it's a good small story that puts Dr Strange into the kind of scenario only he fits particularly well - traveling to hell to rescue a soul from Mephisto. It's also fun reading it knowing Mike Mignola drew it, knowing he went on to do Hellboy and you can see elements of that comic in his designs. A very short story but fun. The Oath is a longer read and probably does a little more for the character, despite largely avoiding the stuff he's most known for (fighting astral projections and dimension hopping). The story concerns Strange discovering a mystical cure for cancer following his right hand man Wong being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour. The recurring theme is oaths, their importance and how they can define and control a person's actions, and for what is a very small story it has clever moments and interesting turns. You could read it in an hour but it's worthwhile. The only thing i don't really like is the art. Marcos Martin has a very classic comic poster style I don't like somehow, and he draws Strange too obviously as Vincent Price which I find bizarrely irritating. There's always elements of Price in Strange but the closer they get to him the more off putting it is. Worth a read if interested in the character before the movie. You could read both in an afternoon with time to spare. Season One is also recommended but haven't personally read it to comment. I should add that for some reason Strange comics have a habit of reiterating his origin, either in passing or out and out replaying it, which can be irritating. He's a character completely defined by his origin in many ways which makes the constant referring back to it really annoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon_c Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 R.I.P. Steve Dillon. "Not enough gun", one of my favourite comic book moments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 The Moebius collected 'Edena' edition is due soon. Moebius died before completing the story, but the most recent installment, 'Sra', is here in English for the first time. He was a unique talent, a contrast to the American stuff we see so much of here. Hollywood turned to Moebius and Giger when they required something different. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted December 29, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted December 29, 2016 The latest collected volume of Moon Knight is a return to form for the new take on the character and it'll be a **** tragedy if they don't adapt it. The reboot of Moon Knight has been brilliant, stumbled at the third volume admittedly, but going from Ellis' taking over and banging out 6 simple unconnected stories with a new take on the character, through to now with a return to a serial story but taking everything Ellis added, it's been great. And the art work is beautiful. The whole thing is beautiful, from the panels to the layout, and there are stunning images over and over. Marvel, adapt it. Now. Give it to Netflix and tell them to bang out 6 unconnected episodes and 7 that play with the things that make Moon Knight more than a Batman knock off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazzap24 Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 As a Batman comic lover, there is nothing better IMO than the Knightfall/Knightquest/knightsend Arc. I had all the individual comics and sold them a few years back in desperation, never got over it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted December 30, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted December 30, 2016 Moon Knight is the best comic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted April 4, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted April 4, 2017 Marvel comics are struggling a bit at the moment, and their VP of Sales has blamed diversity. Whoops. Their problem is actually more complicated than that. They have taken classic characters and chosen to reinvent them in 'diverse' ways. Occasionally its worked - Miles Morales has been popular, Kamala Khan, Lady Thor... But others feel cheap and token, turning off fans who like the classic characters and not bringing in others who see it as cheap pandering. There's an interest in new diverse characters coming in, or changes that feel earned. Not randomly deciding that Iron Man is a black girl now. Write a story with a new character who happens to be a black girl, and so something interesting with it. They have a growing absurd fascination with events. Events used to be at the very least interesting, you'd annually get a big crossover that ran for 8 issues with great moments and interesting ideas. Then they started doing them over and over. Theres been about 2 or 3 a year recently. They also are obsessed with Issue 1s. Some comics ran for hundreds of issues continuously. Worried that put people off they made an alternative line that rebooted everything. Now? They just randomly go with issue 1 restarts all the time. They have to many comics ongoing. Only a few seem to have anything particularly interesting going on, like Moon Knight and Dr Strange And it's such a bad place to work nobody with talent hangs around. Conditions are allegedly bad and supposedly theres a lot of editors messing with the stories being put out. But yes. It's totally diversity making them struggle. Nothing else at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 The numbering gets silly. I know the #1 thing is just a sales ploy, but it gets even more ridiculous when they then revert back to the all time numbering. I believe Amazing Spider-Man did it a few years ago because #500 looked better than #37 or whatever what they were at. I've never read any of it myself, but I feel like getting rid of the Ultimate universe wasn't a good decision. It was an easy way to diversify and give things a more modern spin. As you mentioned above, Miles Morales was pretty successful and most people these days would recognise that version of Nick Fury over the original. Then you have them self sabotaging some of their most iconic groups, like the X-Men and Fantastic Four, because of the film rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted April 4, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted April 4, 2017 The continual shoe horning of the Inhumans everywhere is a particular bugbear. We know you want to replace the X-Men with them Marvel... But they're almost entirely crap characters. The only good one doesn't even speak. The X-Men have a bunch of crap characters but they also have some truly brilliant ones. Stop trying to replace then with shitty characters nobody has ever liked. It's funny how the comics compared to the films is like a perfect mirror. Marvel smash the box office, DC struggle, Marvel struggle on paper, DC do a very well received reboot (even if the Watchmen thing was stupid - not sure of that actually was followed through?). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted April 9, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted April 9, 2017 Just finished Civil War 2 after starting the trade a couple of months ago and bouncing off it. Ugh. Spends 6 issues to get going, splutters along for an issue and a half, and goes out with a wet fart of an ending. Suffers from Inhumanitis, the plot you can't buy for a second, has stupid 'shock' moments and reeks of universe reboot fodder... Avoid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted April 13, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted April 13, 2017 Marvel released a new X-Men title recently (a shocker in itself), X-Men Gold. It made the news. Why? Because the artist decided to hide lots of controversial and offensive Islamic references in the first issue, that took about 5 minutes for anyone to notice. Including a reference to a Quran verse about not trusting non-Muslims, and as petty as drawing a Jewish character in front of a jewellery shop so their head was pointedly next to the word 'JEW'. They've sacked him of course. But the next 2 issues have gone to print, so i hope they've gone through the art with a fine toothed comb. As for the artist? His 'apology'? Well, it's basically not one. But he blamed the Jews. Career? Dead. Good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted April 22, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted April 22, 2017 Marvel's rumoured revert to classic versions of characters and bringing back the historic numbers has been confirmed. They are going to reset characters to their old selves with classic costumes and return to the legacy numbering of issues in autumn, starting with a one off comic to launch what they're calling 'Marvel Legacy'. Popular new characters will be subsumed into the new line, which should mean Morales and Khan make the jump, but presumably Thor will be Thor Odinson again, Iron Man won't be a black girl and Steve Rogers won't be a Nazi any more, etc. This is a good idea, but it really does make all the pissing around they've done recently look even worse. A few of those major lines left the legacy numbering years ago at this point (a few have had multiple new No.1s since) so going back to the issue numbering they left behind years before is weird. But resetting a bunch of characters is a good idea. Whether it brings readers back...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phumfeinz Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 23 minutes ago, Chindie said: Iron Man won't be a black girl and Steve Rogers won't be a Nazi any more, etc. Lmao, what Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted April 23, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted April 23, 2017 7 minutes ago, Phumfeinz said: Lmao, what Civil War 2 Iron Man spoilers Spoiler Tony Stark becomes aware of a brilliant young MIT student, Riri Williams, who basically does what he did and makes an Iron Man suit from scrap, and recruits her. At the end of Civil War 2, Stark is beaten so badly Captain Marvel he's comatose and Williams takes up the mantle. As for Cap, it was recently revealed Rogers is actually a longstanding Hydra double agent. Because comics. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V01 Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 (edited) Double agent Cap who had picked up Mjolnir, they really don't think these things through. Edited April 23, 2017 by V01 spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Just finished this I highly recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 (edited) I’m starting to get into marvel quite a bit at the moment, particularly Thor, and I’m looking at getting myself a few comics to read and collect. I’m off to comic con tomorrow at the NEC, figured it’s a good place to start. Bit confused about where to begin though, with the Thor comics. I like the idea of starting with the really early versions, like when the character was first introduced. Any suggestions? Edited November 17, 2017 by Tayls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted November 18, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted November 18, 2017 10 hours ago, Tayls said: I’m starting to get into marvel quite a bit at the moment, particularly Thor, and I’m looking at getting myself a few comics to read and collect. I’m off to comic con tomorrow at the NEC, figured it’s a good place to start. Bit confused about where to begin though, with the Thor comics. I like the idea of starting with the really early versions, like when the character was first introduced. Any suggestions? The classic Thor stories are usually considered to be under Walt Simonson's run, which they've released as a series of collected editions and an omnibus. Simonson took the initial Thor idea and developed a lot of the style and ideas that ended up being parts of the characters mythos, like Beta Ray Bill and more of the Norse influence. The difficulty with Marvel as opposed to DC is Marvel's best stuff tends to be certain runs under certain writers, whereas with DC you can pick up a lot of one shot stories that tend to be classics (particularly for Justice League characters). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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