[Comics] The "Let's Bitch about Comics thread!"

[Hailey Knight]

Oh lord I remember one of the comics right after that, the in-universe news was all "One of the worst lovers spats of the century!"

Seeing Green Scar Hulk kick Tony's ass...was just TOO satisfying.

Whoa, whoa, what the fuck. So what I described happens, and in the next issue we're picking up with the lawsuit stuff, but apparently between these two issues was the entirety of World War Hulk?!! That kinda fucking matters, for the situation you just described, among others.

Did they just not plan this or was this book small enough that nobody cared? I sure get the sense that Slott didn't care anymore by this point. He probably knew he was leaving the book within a couple issues since he was on Spider-man duties post-One More Day. But still, that's a hell of an oversight.

 

[Yoshimickster]

Whoa, whoa, what the fuck. So what I described happens, and in the next issue we're picking up with the lawsuit stuff, but apparently between these two issues was the entirety of World War Hulk?!! That kinda fucking matters, for the situation you just described, among others.

Did they just not plan this or was this book small enough that nobody cared? I sure get the sense that Slott didn't care anymore by this point. He probably knew he was leaving the book within a couple issues since he was on Spider-man duties post-One More Day. But still, that's a hell of an oversight.

I'd go with "Not well planned" , basically they wanted Hulk to beat the shit out of everybody, they didn't think it would mess with any other stories.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I'd go with "Not well planned" , basically they wanted Hulk to beat the shit out of everybody, they didn't think it would mess with any other stories.

Now that I'm on the penultimate issue, I think you're right. It's essentially rushing through explanations of things as if they happen off-panel as a means of wrapping up many, many dangling threads and unused Chekhov's guns, in preparation for Slott's exit from the title.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Done.

I'm not sure which was worse, the second to last tidying up issue, or the final time-waster issue that's only good element was a minor relation to Hickman's Fantastic Four. Though by the end with various minor characters, I'm leaning back into "writer didn't care" territory. Overall, it's probably some poor planning mixed with some apathy.

Pretty sure no one's going to buy these, but I'll throw them onto eBay and cross my fingers. Hell, I was dumb enough.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Marvel announced December solicitations.

Looks like the Civil War II fallout will be:

Spoiler

Maria Hill takes the heat ... legally anyway. Somehow Carol Danvers gets away with only her reputation tarnished.

On the upside, U.S. Avengers will begin! Hopefully Al Ewing gets to actually do the series instead of having its characters hijacked for next summer's Big Dumb Thing. I would hope the less-than-stellar sales of Civil War II would wake Marvel the fuck up, but they'll just blame it on DC Rebirth and do the same thing they've been doing the last several years.

Ooh, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #13, Squirrel Girl vs Taskmaster? That sounds fun .

 

[filmfanatic]

Marvel announced December solicitations.

Looks like the Civil War II fallout will be:

Spoiler

Maria Hill takes the heat ... legally anyway. Somehow Carol Danvers gets away with only her reputation tarnished.

On the upside, U.S. Avengers will begin! Hopefully Al Ewing gets to actually do the series instead of having its characters hijacked for next summer's Big Dumb Thing. I would hope the less-than-stellar sales of Civil War II would wake Marvel the fuck up, but they'll just blame it on DC Rebirth and do the same thing they've been doing the last several years.

Ooh, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #13, Squirrel Girl vs Taskmaster? That sounds fun .

Don't forget that Squirrel Girl is getting her own graphic novel in October.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Don't forget that Squirrel Girl is getting her own graphic novel in October.

Already pre-ordered. Just two weeks! Fucking love that comic. No other comic do I enjoy reading the "current events" page. Or footnotes. The rest don't even have footnotes! Lazy.

 

[CynicismKills]

I just can't get past the art. I hate it so much.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I just can't get past the art. I hate it so much.

Why? What's wrong with it?

 

[GasBandit]

For those who don't know the jingle, yes it's real :

 

[Hailey Knight]

For those who don't know the jingle, yes it's real :

Holy shit.

Why? What's wrong with it?

Though I don't have a problem with the art, I can't say that Ryan doesn't push Erica a little further than her comfort zone at times:

But I personally think it's fine and the writing more than makes up for any artistic shortcomings. I look forward to the new Squirrel Girl more than any other comic each month.

 

[Yoshimickster]

Me on Twitter: OH-a link to a free "Zombie Tramp" comic. Well sure the title is awful, but I figure since its been AROUND long enough it can't be as terrible as I think!

Turns out, it was. Its a fucking shitty exploitation comic.

 

[CynicismKills]

Why? What's wrong with it?

I'm not a fan of her style in general, really, but the way she draws faces is probably the biggest issue I have.

Like this one, wherein Captain Marvel looks more like a squirrel than SG does.

Or this one, which is just, what the fuck.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Welp, I put those She-Hulk books on eBay.

15 minutes later, I already had a bid.

 

[PatrThom]

For those who don't know the jingle, yes it's real :

There were people who didn't know?
Do they also not know what happens when Captain America throws his mighty shield? Or how the Sub-Mariner is the prince of the sea? Have they never beheld the mighty Thor in breathless wonder?

--Patrick

 

[GasBandit]

There were people who didn't know?

Thousands of people learn Vader is Luke's father every day.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Or how the Sub-Mariner is the prince of the sea?

You don't want to know how few people even know Namor exists.

 

[AshburnerX]

You don't want to know how few people even know Namor exists.

This is ENTIRELY Marvel's fault.

 

[PatrThom]

You don't want to know how few people even know Namor exists.

To be fair, I think he likes it that way.

--Patrick

 

[Tress]

Namor is lame.

There, I said it.

 

[Frank]

DOC BRUCE BANNER, PELTED BY GAMMA RAYS, TURNS INTO THE HULK!

AIN'T HE UNGLAMOURACE?

Oooooon the rainbow bridge to Aaaaasgaaard!

All those 60's barely animated Marvel cartoons had AWESOME jingly openings.

 

[AshburnerX]

Still my favorite old theme song. WARNING: Catchy as hell.

 

[Sparhawk]

DOC BRUCE BANNER, PELTED BY GAMMA RAYS, TURNS INTO THE HULK!

AIN'T HE UNGLAMOURACE?

Oooooon the rainbow bridge to Aaaaasgaaard!

All those 60's barely animated Marvel cartoons had AWESOME jingly openings.

Belted by Gamma Rays, not pelted.

 

[Frank]

I was remembering the lyrics off the top of my head before I actually posted the intros.

I also got the opening line of the Thor song completely wrong.

 

[PatrThom]

Dear Lord, I'd never heard that one.
It's horrible.

--Patrick

 

[Hailey Knight]

Civil War II continues to be horrible. This month's issue's special mentions:

- Though we're at the point of "the stakes have never been higher" everyone's still quipping (thanks Bendis)
- Characters with one POV in their own titles have a different point of view in the main book (thanks Brevoort, that's some solid editing)
- Someone in Miles's Spidey costume might be seen with a dead Captain America and might have killed him, but that means Miles will do it in, like, a week (thanks Captain Moron Marvel)
- And this is the last of the main series before the post-Civil War II comics begin, and the comics will proceed without its mattering

Will Marvel learn next year? Probably fucking not.

 

[Covar]

Miles won't do anything, not a single prediction by Ulysses has come to pass.

 

[CynicismKills]

Miles won't do anything, not a single prediction by Ulysses has come to pass.

I dunno, Miles and his Deus Ex Venom Stab are Bendis' baby, so who knows.

 

[Covar]

Its a good thing no one knows Steve is a nazi.

 

[fade]

I just can't get past the art. I hate it so much.

Yeah, I can't say I hate it, but I'm not a huge fan. Same reason--not of fan of the goofy faces.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I don't understand DC with some New 52 trades.

Batman: Death of the Family is the five Batman issues of that story arc. Joker: Death of the Family is all the tie-ins. Why not throw in the main story and make it a complete/extended version of the story?

You might argue that would mean less money for DC, even if they could just up the price of the big volume. Fine ...

Except with a later arc. Batman: Endgame is the six issues of that arc, while Joker: Endgame is the tie-ins plus the six main issues, so it's everything. I do not understand.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I don't understand DC with some New 52 trades.

Batman: Death of the Family is the five Batman issues of that story arc. Joker: Death of the Family is all the tie-ins. Why not throw in the main story and make it a complete/extended version of the story?

You might argue that would mean less money for DC, even if they could just up the price of the big volume. Fine ...

Except with a later arc. Batman: Endgame is the six issues of that arc, while Joker: Endgame is the tie-ins plus the six main issues, so it's everything. I do not understand.

There are times I've actually considered what it would take to work for DC's collected editions department, if only so I could influence how books come out the way they should come out. But I have no idea what skills or credentials one would need.

 

[Hailey Knight]

There are times I've actually considered what it would take to work for DC's collected editions department, if only so I could influence how books come out the way they should come out. But I have no idea what skills or credentials one would need.

I'm not convinced there's even a person doing that. It's so haphazard that it feels like the product of miscommunications and blind luck between many people who are already busy with a ton of different things. Swing that issue over to Marvel, and why does the Daredevil by Brubaker omnibus only include two-thirds of the run? I don't know. Probably neither does Marvel. But they're sure willing to be put time and effort into a worthless Secret Wars prequel book that's just various single issues from across thirty years.

But if you ever get that job, make them put out an omnibus for Lemire's Animal Man .

Not that I don't appreciate that there are so many collections. I've reduced my current floppies down to four titles, with that only increasing by two Marvel Now titles, because I really only read Vertigo stuff before, so there's loads and loads of great stories that I've never touched. My Amazon wishlist has never been so stuffed.

On that note, Nick, what is your opinion on Geoff Johns's Green Lantern run? It seems there's a massive amount of work there to add up to three 52-length omnibuses and I was wondering if you thought it was worth reading (though it'll be a while before I could afford that).

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I'm not convinced there's even a person doing that. It's so haphazard that it feels like the product of miscommunications and blind luck between many people who are already busy with a ton of different things. Swing that issue over to Marvel, and why does the Daredevil by Brubaker omnibus only include two-thirds of the run? I don't know. Probably neither does Marvel. But they're sure willing to be put time and effort into a worthless Secret Wars prequel book that's just various single issues from across thirty years.

But if you ever get that job, make them put out an omnibus for Lemire's Animal Man .

Not that I don't appreciate that there are so many collections. I've reduced my current floppies down to four titles, with that only increasing by two Marvel Now titles, because I really only read Vertigo stuff before, so there's loads and loads of great stories that I've never touched. My Amazon wishlist has never been so stuffed.

On that note, Nick, what is your opinion on Geoff Johns's Green Lantern run? It seems there's a massive amount of work there to add up to three 52-length omnibuses and I was wondering if you thought it was worth reading (though it'll be a while before I could afford that).

To be fair to Marvel, they DID at least collect all of Brubaker's run in the Complete Collection softcovers, which I have.

You're definitely right that it's haphazard sometimes. Some collections make no sense the way they're put together. For example, they recently republished The Death of Superman, which was my first trade ever and what got me back into comics. Except this new edition doesn't include the Justice League fight with Doomsday, which was a pretty goddamn important issue. I WANT to get the new editions, especially since the later ones include the Bloodlines annuals. I never expected that. And I imagine these new editions would include the covers, something my current Return of Superman trade doesn't.

But then you have upcoming editions of Nightwing and Birds of Prey, respectively. Both of them collect The Hunt for Oracle storyline. It was a 4-issue crossover, two issues from each series. Except from all solicitations I've seen, the Nightwing trade doesn't include both of the necessary BoP issues. And yet, Birds of Prey includes both Nightwing issues. It doesn't make sense at all to me.

And yeah, I'm with you there as far as trades go. I got rid of the rest of my floppies sometime last year. Now I only have trades. I don't even have enough bookcase room for all of them. The rest are relegated to long boxes. But it's so much easier flipping through storylines.

As for Geoff Johns' Green Lantern? I honestly don't know. I dropped out around the midpoint with Blackest Night. Largely because I hated how it was collected: the mini-series was collected separately from the GL issues. So Hal disappears halfway through the mini-series only to suddenly return with half a dozen new friends who weren't introduced before. I also don't know how well the transition into New 52 works. I also ALSO don't know how well it reads without including Green Lantern Corps and other spin-off series, because I feel like much of that would be required reading. At least it was early on, like with the Sinestro War.

 

[Hailey Knight]

To be fair to Marvel, they DID at least collect all of Brubaker's run in the Complete Collection softcovers, which I have.

The stuff encompassing what's missing from the upcoming omnibus is OOP, while the softcovers that have the same material as the omnibus remain in print. So ... yay? I still think they could do better or just put it all in one. It implies that they don't think the last third is that good; having never read it, I don't know.

But then you have upcoming editions of Nightwing and Birds of Prey, respectively. Both of them collect The Hunt for Oracle storyline. It was a 4-issue crossover, two issues from each series. Except from all solicitations I've seen, the Nightwing trade doesn't include both of the necessary BoP issues. And yet, Birds of Prey includes both Nightwing issues. It doesn't make sense at all to me.

That's exactly what I mean. It's just senseless. Then you'll have areas where they do it right, like the New 52 Swamp Thing Omnibus includes necessary crossover issues of Animal Man, and the Animal Man trades include necessary issues of Swamp Thing.

As for Geoff Johns' Green Lantern? I honestly don't know. I dropped out around the midpoint with Blackest Night. Largely because I hated how it was collected: the mini-series was collected separately from the GL issues. So Hal disappears halfway through the mini-series only to suddenly return with half a dozen new friends who weren't introduced before. I also don't know how well the transition into New 52 works. I also ALSO don't know how well it reads without including Green Lantern Corps and other spin-off series, because I feel like much of that would be required reading. At least it was early on, like with the Sinestro War.

Okay, fair enough. The second omnibus includes everything essential to Blackest Night, i.e. the main event, the Green Lantern stuff, the Green Lantern Corps stuff--it's pretty all-encompassing from the Amazon description and I'm gonna guess is a better way to read it than even when it was coming out monthly.

The transition to New 52 is weirder because there's such a huge tonal shift in other titles, but from the way people talk, it sounds like Johns just ignored that a reboot had even occurred. The fact that a writer could conceivably do that because New 52 wasn't as hard a reboot as DC pretended says a bit about how poorly handled New 52 was even in its inception from an editorial standpoint.