Writing The Official Comic Book Thread: Resurrection

[Semjaza]

Well, the other comic book thread is more or less dead. It's several pages back at this point, but I'm very happy about how successful it was. It was one of the top several threads in this section in terms of replies and views. Yay!

I'm hoping to bring it back. I'm also hoping people have something to say a little more often. I'd hate to have to register at yet another board for good comic book discussion.

In any case, here is the list for comics shipped to stores this week: [url]http://www.diamondcomics.com/shipping/shipping_111903.txt[/url]

I didn't get to go today, but I plan on it tomorrow. New Runaways and Human Target issues... two of my favorite comics. Plus Outsiders, which has been fun.

Runaways has been talked about before, but I'm not sure if anyone else here gets Human Target. It's a really excellent comic. The basic idea follows a man who assumes other people's identities... to the point that he actually thinks he [i]is[/i] them. It can be confusing, but always ties together well at the end of the issue.

It's still pretty early on, so check it out.

[UnsungHero]

The other day while cleaning out my cupboard I came across an old comic. It was a Speical Edition Flash comic book.

After reading over it I thought to myself, "This is ******* awesome!"

Anyway while browsing through my local newsagency I came across a comic called "Xmen Xtreme" (or is it the other way around?)
Is it worth for me, a 17 year old guy to endure embarrassment in buying it?
Or is it simply shite?

Your thoughts people..

[Mitch]

[size=1] This thread pertains well to this thread. So I merged.

If you like something, you shall do it. Comics aren't and shouldn't be reserved for a certain age group. It defies this in my opinion. I think anyone can enjoy them.

That's my thoughts on your question, anyway.[/size]

[Semjaza]

X-Men Xtreme is a waste of time, I think. Ultimate X-Men is decent, but I feel it has really come down recently. That leaves a few others, but they mostly suck. With the exception of New X-Men, that is.

If you like X-Men at all, I really think you owe it to yourself to read New X-Men. I think it has one issue left in the current arc, so if you want to try it out either wait for the new arc or grab a few older issues. It's really great stuff and it really appeals to the fanboy/girl in anyone.

As for the whole age thing, I'm 21. Many comic fans I know are much older than me. The comic shop I go to is in downtown Chicago, and I'm sure many would be surprised to see the type of people that shop in there. Sure you have your teenagers (although no one too young) and your occassional 45-year-old-Comic-Book-Guy-looking people... but the place is filled with successful businessmen and well to do people of all ages. You're never too old for this stuff.

Flash, by the way, currently rocks... so you might want to check him out.

[UnsungHero]

New Xmen, eh?

I'll be sure to check it out.

Thanks Aza (can I call you that?)

[Manic Webb]

I recently started reading the No Man's Land arc of Batman. Crazy stuff. I know it's old and everything, but I'm really enjoying it. It's interesting to see how fast a big city can turn into a lawless battleground when no one's allowed to enter or leave, resources are limited, electric power has been cut off, and there's no communicating with the outside world. Aside from the idea of the US federal government completely abandoning a once prosperous city and not allowing anyone to leave, the situation doesn't seem too unrealistic. I know I'd be tagging my turf, hording food, and trying to find a way out. The mine field by the harbour seems kinda excessive, though.

Being the Bat-Family fan I am, I also read some Birds of Prey. Apparently, a little waist-down paralyzation isn't gonna stop Barbara Gordon from kicking *ss. Even if it means she has to get some other superhero to do the kicking for her. The paperback volume I read was pretty interesting. When Black Canary met Lois Lane, I didn't expect Lois to kick that much butt.

[Heaven's Cloud]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Manic [/i]
[B]I recently started reading the No Man's Land arc of Batman. Crazy stuff. I know it's old and everything, but I'm really enjoying it. [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=indigo]It is interesting that you mention ?No Man?s Land?; I actually just re-read this mini-series about two or three weeks ago. I really think that is one of the most enthralling Batman series written in the past dozen years (with the exception of the first Grendel story line). They did an excellent job portraying all of the Dark Knights fascinating characteristics, especially his ability to formulate a specific plan with contingencies layered upon contingencies (which the writers pull off marvelously). They also do an excellent job showing how Batman has trained his ?disciples? (Nightwing, Robin, ect).

The premise for the comic was fairly original, which seems to be among the most challenging aspects for long lived characters. I really enjoyed the addition of Superman into the story and showing how he was incapable of solving the crisis.[/color]

[quote]If you like X-Men at all, I really think you owe it to yourself to read New X-Men. I think it has one issue left in the current arc, so if you want to try it out either wait for the new arc or grab a few older issues. [/quote]


[COLOR=INDIGO]I really enjoy the present story that is occurring in New X-Men. [spoiler]If you have been following X-Men over the years you understand how big of a leap it was to make Magneto a hop-head, split personality megalomaniac.[/spoiler] Although I think that all of the ?X? series (even Ultimate after last issue) have been pretty interesting as of late, New X-Men seems to have something that the others are lacking. [/color]

[Boba Fett]

[COLOR=green]I collect the Star Wars comics published by Dark Horse...

If anyone's interested, I'd recommend the [B][I]Empire[/I][/B] series.[/COLOR]

[Semjaza]

I've never bothered with the Star Wars comics. I'm not sure why. Someone had convinced me they were nothing special, so I've never checked them out. I might as well next time I'm at the shop.

I've mostly been reading the same old, same old. New X-Men obviously, which is still kicking butt. The current arc is great and even the goofy bad guys that are currently helping Magneto are interesting.

Runaways is great as always. I almost missed the current issue, but I managed to get it later on. I'm really happy that they're back to those painted covers. I think the last issue was black with simple art, like a good deal of other Marvel comics for that month. Looking forward to the next issue... it's a shame that this and Sentinel apparently might not make it past a few more issues.

Human Target is still one of my favorites. I don't know if anyone ever bothered with it -- I've recommended it a few times -- but it really is great stuff. The latest issue was no exception.

X-Statix has been going well. I was starting to wonder where the current arc was going with Henrietta, but the latest issue answered that and made it all tie together well. Good as always.

I still need to pick up Losers and a few others. Missed Plastic Man #1, so I'm hoping for a reprinting.

[DeathBug]

[color=indigo][size=1][font=century]This be the recent comic rant from myOtaku.

[QUOTE]My friends, the comic gods have smiled upon me. My local comic haunt (Millenium Comics, off of state road sixty in Brandon, next to Fameous Tate's,), has added a $1 section.

^_________^

I got a huge load of new comics, and a few treasures.

Spider-Girl #68: Well, Brad's a bigot and a cretin; this ish pretty much seals it. Meanwhile, May/Spider-Girl's classmate and ex, Jack Jameson (Also the costumed crimefighter the Buzz), is seriously stressed. His girlfriend was outed as a mutant and left town, and now the mysterious Dr. Jade has returned.

Apparently Dr. Jade was instrumental to the Buzz's origin, and killed one of Jack's close friends. The Buzz is determined to track her down and bring her to justice, but all his leads get him nowhere. Jack's rready to take his anger out on Brad, knowing that he's one of the punks that scared Nancy into leaving.

You know, I think May should have just let Jack beat the crap out of Brad. I know she can't let on that she saved Nancy as Spider-Girl, but she knows Brad's a creep; why protect him?

This ish felt kinda' filler-y, at least until the appearance of Dr. Jade's associate at then end. Now it feels kinda' foreshadow-y.

Venom #8: Sweet Lord, would someone teach Daniel Way how to pace a story?! "Shiver" started really excrutiatingly slow but got faster in the last two parts, and now "Run" has gone from a great first two issues to mindless comic rehetoric.

There are too many characters with agendas not explained, too many leaps in logic, and the questions I had from the first issue still haven't been answered! This is like a bad X-Files riff. The conclusion is next month; if I'm not 'wowed', I'm ditching this series.

Man...I wanted Venom to have a cool solo series for once....

Spectacular Spider-Man #9: Doctor Octopus has issues. Seriously messed-up issues. However, I'm not sure who's more messed-up: the good Doctor, or the mysterious new super hero known as the Kiwi Kid?

Well, actually, Kiwi Kid is Peter's neighbor, Big John, whom Spidey has enlisted to keep taping the action at Octavios's hideout for some reason. Meanwhile, Detective Garret and the Isralei servicemen are ready to storm the place, but all attention is actually turned to Times Square.

Spider-Man, right on schedual, has arrived in front of the assembled world community, is about to unmask himself. Ock, of course, also shows up.

I really like what Octavious says to the crowds: "I want you to take a good look at your hero. I want him to be famous, and I want his family to spend the rest of their lives explaining away his actions. I want him to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, to become mired in a legal morass until the end of his days. But most of all, I want you to see the difference between us: I will retain my status after today, and he will become nothing but a man."

Is it any wonder I love Paul Jenkin's writing? If you only buy one Spider-Man book, buy Spectacular. Hell, if you only buy one comic book period, buy Spectacular. unless Mark Millar's Marvel Knights title blows me away this March, this is my favorite stint of writing on a Spidey book by far. If only I could say the same of the art.

Spider-Man Unlimited #1: What? Another Spider-Man book? Yes, but this one is different. You see, the premise behind this (And its sister title, X-Men Unlimited), is that it is the first exposure for the particular writers/artists in the book. It's their way to "Break in" to the business. I love the idea of the book, and think we need more books like it.

However, the constantly rotating team means that quality will be on a stoey-by-story basis. (There are two stories in each issue.) Nonetheless, I will support this title as long as I am financially able.

The first story....ehhh.... If youv'e ever heard of or read the classic story "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man", you've basically read this story. If you haven't, this might seem touiching, but to most Spiderfans, it's a retread. The art's none too great, either.

The second story makes this issue, and was worth the price of admision alone. I'm not going to really reveal all that much, lest I run the risk of spoiling the punch-line, but even if you just see this issue on the stands, read the second story. The art's pretty good too. ^__^

Transformers G1 #0: Well, I keep hearing good things about the Dreamwave Transformer comics, so I checked this one out.

Big mistake. I want my $3 back.

Trigun vol 2: We certainly aren't in Kansas anymore. After the first volume was incredibly similar to the anime, I kind of expected more of the same here.

Nope. Everything old is new again. There's way too many differences between the manga and anime to count at this point, but one thing I noticed is that everything is more intense. Legato is more bloodthirsty. Monav is more determined. Knives is more sadistic. Wolfwood is more enigmatic.

I am in awe. If you're a fan of Trigun, read this. If you're a f an of manga, read this. If you're niether, at least borrow it from someone that has it. ^_^

And, my back-issue treasures....

The Exile Returns parts 1 and 4 (Web of Spdr-Mn 118 and Spider-Man #53): Waaay back in '94, when the now-hated Clone Saga began, there was a second Spider-Man by the name of Ben Riely. Sice this is around wghen I started reading, I don't hate the CS, although I can easily see its flaws. However, in its beginnings, it was'nt that bad. This was one of its earliest stories, and it's pretty good.

Basically, Ben returned to New York because Aunt May was sick (being a clone of Peter, he has all of Peter's memories up until the point of cloning; he also has Peter's emotions.). However, now in New York, a city he left years ago after disappearing, he finds that even with one Spider-Guy in town, there's still a lot of heroing to do.

So, when he hears that Venom's back in town, he decides to bring him to justice. Can't accuse him of being a slow starter.

Even though Venom beats the crap out of him, Ben (Now nicknamed the Scarlet Spider) manages to beat Venom single-handedly. Sure, Venom almost killed him, but in the end, the bad guy was thrashed. Nice.

The back issue $1 bin also had "The Child Within", "Shrieking" and "Exiled", but I left those for another day. I'm comiced-out.[/QUOTE][/color][/font][/size]