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Comments
I figured it was a similar deal to DC One Million or whatever, but whatever.
So, before I read stuff that came out today, I should probably go over the stuff I read yesterday.
Daredevil 10: Yeah, okay, I liked the conclusion to the arc more than the setup. It gave us some nice insight into the character -- essentially, he's Lawful Good. Everything good about this series continues to be good: the art is excellent, the characters are interesting, etc. The next one looks like the end of a crossover event, so I won't buy it just yet. I'll wait until I get to the point in Avenging Spider-Man where it starts.
Swamp Thing (original series) 4: The basic story is pretty good, but Cable's motivation is gradually making less and less sense over time, though that's pointed out in-story, so I guess that's just the character. Abby seems more like an actual character this issue, so that's good.
Avenging Spider-Man 3: This continues to be a good series. The conclusion was appropriately Spider-Man-ish ("Spider-Manly?"), the humor is good, the character interactions are interesting, especially for a Marvelverse newcomer.
Animal Man 10: A lot to say about this one. Worldbuilding, a Justice League Dark crossover, another kidnapping (I'm hoping the "one of Buddy's kids has been kidnapped by one of the hunters" plots slow down a bit at some point; they're happening a bit too frequently), Constantine saying something about how they need to find a big green guy who isn't Swamp Thing (Hmmm...the only person who jumps to mind is from Marvel
), and apparently the next issue will have Buddy fighting himself. This continues to be one of the best titles I'm reading.
Swamp Thing 10: So...not a lot actually happened in this one. Some new info about what happened to the Parlaiment, and Anton Arcane says he killed Swamp Thing, but I'm skeptical on that one. So...not much to say.
Avenging Spider-Man 4: Excellent little one-shot story. The fake origin listing for Hawkeye was hilarious, and the actual plot was a really good study of the character and what he's doing on a superhero team.
I disagree. The only reason he missed in the first place was because Spider-Man refused to cover him while he took the shot.
He means as a character.
ETA: I think his speech at the end about not missing was alright, but his personality during the rest of it was annoying enough for that speech to not come across as emotional so much as obssessed.
Yeah...I won't say it made me like the character, but it made me not be entirely indifferent to him, which is...something, I guess?
Well, at least it serves as an introduction to Hawkeye, who regardless of being lame, is a big part of the Avengers.
Yeah, a lot of what I like about it is probably that it's the first I've seen of the character (my parents keep saying we'll go see the Avengers movie and then not doing it T_T)
Tap into your inner 16 year old and steal their money and the car. Or tap into your inner 5 year old and badger until they do it.
But anyway, The Avengers movie really doesn't do much with Hawkeye. Mostly because he's the last member to join + he doesn't get an introduction scene, like Thor (Although Thor got an scene with Loki that was fairly exposition heavy)
I've been working on the latter strategy. Admittedly, we've been busy with stuff
Anyway, I'm thinking of grabbing another New 52 series. Probably an actual superhero one, since I'm really only reading one. Recommendations?
Malk says Flash's pretty good. I've read the first two issues and it's OKish, I guess.
Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E's pretty good too and I'd say that book's pretty superhero-y (Come on, it's Frankenstein as a Milton-quoting secret agent leading a team of horror creatures in black ops missions, not unlike Secret Avengers. Except, you know, cool and not written by Bendis)
There's also Justice League International, but to be honest, you might as well try to find Keith Giffen and J.M DeMatteis' Justice League run, which is a million times better (And prolly on Comixology)
There's also Batman INC, which just (re)started, so you wouldn't have to worry about archive binging (Although I don't think you really want to read just one issue right now.)
I think I'll check out Flash for now, though Frankenstein is on my list.
I was considering that, but didn't it get canceled?
Oh, yeah, it did.
More reason to get the Giffen one! (Although it seems to be incomplete. Ah well)
I like Flash because it's not trying to go in 'bold new directions' or re-invent itself. It's just solid superhero stories about the fastest man alive, excluding the most recent issue, sadly.
Frankenstein is also done by Lemire. It's not as good as Animal Man obviously but it's fun post-hammer horror monster mash.
And if you like it you should also check out Men of War #8 which was about Frankenstein's adventures during WW2.
Wonder Woman is supposed to be good, albeit with the pitfall of Wondy not having much of a personality, or so I hear it. Action Comics is supposed to be picking up now that Morrisson has elseworlds to play with and can do whatever the heck he wants instead of telling an origin story we all know.
Anyways my own throw outs to the gateway comics and recs. I'm not going to relist the ones already tossed out there, since for the most part I agree those are all worthwhile comics. Right now though, have some Marvel stuff.
Marvel
Spider-man
Kraven's Last Hunt - A classic Spider-man story and for good reason. As Sergei Kravinoff's descent into madness hastens along he hatches his final plan. He has to prove himself the ultimate hunter by besting his ultimate prey, Spider-man. Which means he plans to kill Spider-man, replace him and finally bring down the criminal Spider-man himself couldn't beat. What follows is a brutal ride and descent into madness as Kraven and Spider-man are pushed past their limits and we see how they stand up in the aftermath.
The Death of Jean DeWolf - Another Spider-man classic. This time it follows Spider-man's quest to avenge the death of his friend on the police force Jean DeWolfe after she is killed by the Sin Eater. What follows is one of the first superhero comics to question the inherent righteousness of what superheroes do, and how do they hold themselves accountable. Features Daredevil being awesome and a bro to Spider-man when he is flipping out.
Can Nothing Stop the Juggernaut - Another classic(notice a pattern yet) where Spider-man punches way out of his weight class to great effect. The Juggernaut, a guy who has gone toe to toe with Thor and the Hulk decides to go on a rampage in New York and it is up to Spider-man to stop him. What makes this story great is that in 2 issues it completely sells Spider-man's determination. Hopelessly outclassed he never gives up and uses every trick he has to try to stop the Juggernaut.
The Gauntlet/ The Grim Hunt - something of a sequel to Kraven's Last Hunt and a buildup for the Sinister Six by revamping some of Spider-man's classic rogues gallery. The Kravinoff family decides to take revenge on Spider-man for besting Kraven and engineers a gauntlet of Spider-man's foes to wear him down for a hunt and then finally kill him when he is at his weakest. Some of the Gauntlet mini arcs (Vulture and Morbius for instance) are rather weak, but the other ones like Electro, Sandman, Rhino and Mysterio serve as good intros for the new Sinister Six who lead in Slott's run. The Juggernaut and Lizard chapters are great though and the Lizard sequence is one of the darker dips in the recent Spider-man continuity. The Grim Hunt itself is just a brutal no holds barred story.
Runaways - In a ways this comic is a great primer for the Marvel universe in general. Helmed by Brian K. Vaughn it tells the story of six teens who discover that their parents are super villains. So they do as the title suggests and run away. A fresh set of characters you grow to care about and general traipsing around that lets you get a feel for the greater Marvel universe around them.
Silver Surfer: Requiem - The best Silver Surfer story hands down. When Norrin Radd, the Silver Surfer realizes he is dying, he begins a journey to wrap up his life and come to terms with his old home, his new home on Earth, the companions he has made and his service to his master Galactus. What follows is a very beautiful story, both visually and narratively.
-- And I have to go hang out with friends now, so here, have some place holders for the series I will chatter about in more detail later tonight.--
Incredible Hercules - Do you like Greek mythology? Do you like Marvel Universe Mythology? If so then you will like Marvel's Incredible Hercules. Spun off with Greek Demigod Hercules and teen super genius Amadeus Cho fleeing the law after a failed attempt to get Hulk to settle down and stop smashing New York again, it follows the two friends on a journey across the Marvel U, particularly the myth based parts. What follows is yet another great primer for Marvel comics, great character work, hilarious dialog and recap pages and just an all around fun comic.
Planet Hulk - One of the best Hulk stories ever written. After Hulk is shot into space by his former friends, he lands on a hostile alien world where he basically has to be big green space Conan to survive. While the idea of space Conan might be enough to sell you on the book in general, this comic is the first time Hulk himself is looked at as a character, not just Banner's repressed id. With the planet being to dangerous for Banner to survive for even a few minutes, Hulk is given the reins for months on end and for the first time can grow as a character instead of just punching Banner's way into/out of problems. It's a story about tragedy and triumph, about a man vs. the world and learning to put his faith in people again. And most importantly it is about how being Madoka Hulk is suffering.
Journey into Mystery - Do you like epic myths framing the story of an ex-con trying to prove to everybody and himself that he is a good guy? Do you like stories of the younger brother trying to support his older brother from behind the scenes? Do you like trolls trolling trolls trolling trolls? Do you like humor? Then you will like Journey into Mystery, aka Loki's book. Revived as a kid after his former self fucked things up wildly, this new Loki is out to prove to Asgard that he isn't his old self. But being a trickster at heart his way of solving problems is a bit more trollish than just hitting them in the face with a hammer. And the faux fancy narration at the start of each arc and sprinkled around seems to remind us that yes, the gods in Marvel are actual gods, not just really strong guys who talk in a silly way.
Venom - The new series lead by Rick Remender. All you need to know to get into it is that Flash Thompson is Peter Parker's buddy(after being a total jerk to him in high school), a huge Spider-man fanboy and an army member who lost his legs in Iraq. When offered a chance to be a secret agent using the Venom symbiote as a prosthesis by the US military Flash leaps at the chance. If you are expecting goofy buddy antics between Flash and the evil space goo... well don't. Once the book starts it pretty much all starts going down hill in Flash's life. This is the first time since the intro stories the Venom goo has been showed as actually toxic(figuratively) to it's hosts since it's reveal. And boy howdy does it not pull any punches. Still with his life falling apart because of a evil space goo that is totally not a metaphor for substance abuse problems, Flash goes out and does his best to be a secret agent superhero. And I must say, this new Venom design is really cool. Yes I know it is shallow to include that in the rec reasoning, but it is really cool looking with the carapace armor.
Mighty Avengers - Well at least Slott's run on the old title from issues 21-36, although slogging through the previous twenty issues might help you appreciate how good this run is. Coming in at a time when most Avengers teams were either running around talking a lot, or being fascist militaristic douchebags, a team of Hank Pym, Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Jocasta, Stature, US Agent, Quicksilver and Vision was assembled to fight threats that were too big for one hero to fight on their own. In other words a return to classic Avengers coolness and a great intro for some classic Avengers mainstays like Hank Pym and Quicksilver. Sadly the Avenger's main titles that followed didn't execute the idea of a team fighting threats too big for one hero to fight on their own very well, but it was a fun ride that lead into...
Avengers Academy - Where Hank Pym and various other Avenger's members decide to try their hand at the ol Super Hero School set up. Deciding to pull kids who were weaponized as part of Norman Osborn's mad science experiments, the teaching staff of old Avengers members decide to teach them there is a better way to go about using their powers. Especially since some of the teachers, like Pym, Quicksilver and Speedball have fucked up horribly in the past, but managed to bounce back and fix themselves thanks to the Avengers. But the real strength of this book is the new Academy kids. We are all introduced to six new characters very fast and all of them develop distinct noticeable personalities.
Ares - A brief over the top romp through Marvel's myth stories, where Ares, god of war decides to beat up the Japanese pantheon to rescue his son. Nothing special, just a short action movie of a comic featuring Ares setting himself on fire and Hercules throwing him at the enemy. And Ares being one of the best dads in comics.
X-Men
Wolverine: Weapon X- By Jason Aaron. If you want a version of sniktbub that makes doesn't suck go here. It's a book that balances grittiness, the craziness of superhero comics and gives Wolverine a personality beyond stabbing things and disagreeing with authority.
Morrison's Run on X-Men - Starting at issue #114. If you want a handle for the new takes on Cyclops, Wolverine, Emma Frost, Beast and Xavier, this is the book for you. What's notable is this is the book where Morrison actually shook up the X-men and had changes that mattered for years down the line. The introduction of the new uniform costumes for the characters, the idea that Xavier's school for gifted youngsters was actually a school and not just a front of a silly bald psychic, an explanation why folks in the Marvel U hated mutants more than other folks with superpowers and the idea of mutants being a community beyond heroes and villains. While it might be true that he overreached, at least in the eyes of various Marvel folks who scrambled to retcon parts of his run it is a very good run on X-men and it has a strong theme throughout the whole run. "How far will parents go to destroy their children once they realize their children are better than them?" Which incidentally set a tone of things getting worse and worse for mutantkind that spread out to all the other books.
New Mutants vol 2/ X-Men: Academy X/New X-Men - blah despite the annoying amount of title changes, this book is the first time that there was really a look at the Academy as an actual school. Features a whole new slew of new characters and well... some of them are better than others. Starts off as wacky school hijinks mostly but then something interesting happens. After M-Day happens and mutant haters start swarming out of the woodwork to kill off the X-men once and for all, the kids are thrust into it. Suddenly seeing the world that hates and fears them so much, these kids have to grow up fast to survive the onslaught of zealots and killer robots out to kill them.
New Mutants vol 3 - A nice jumping on point for the X-men side characters. What this book brings to the table is that feeling of a cast of misfits uniting as family that the other X-men books had lost in recent years to the idea of teams and command structures. And since it features B-lister side characters, the writers have a lot more freedom to play around with their cast and plot things out.
X-Men Legacy - Start at issue #181 when it was still called X-men. This is a book where you have to like character focused arcs. Because once it gets going it is primarily about Rogue and Professor X. Rogue's attempts to gain control of herself and Xavier's attempts to put everything he has done in the past into perspective. If you wanted to know anything about these two characters this is the book to turn to. And it's one of those great books of continuity building on a characters, letting them grow and evolve as time goes on going from an insecure wreck, to a team leader and eventually a caring teacher.
X-Factor - Do you like merry bands of fuck ups? Do you like recap pages the writer refuses to take seriously? Do you like half assed private detective stories? Then you might like X-Factor. Pulling together a bunch of X-Men C-listers from over the years, Jamie Madrox(the man who can create copies of himself) decides to rally them together to find out why all the mutants lost their powers on M-Day. They form X-Factor investigations, but never really get around to solving that case. What is fun about this book is a more grounded group of superheroes, the interplay between this merry band of fuck ups, and Jamie Madrox desperately trying to be a private detective in a super hero universe.
Wolverine and the X-Men - A return to the idea of Xavier's school as an actual school, silver age weirdness and wacky school hijinks. Fun art, fun writing with a real emotional core behind it all.
Dark Phoenix Saga -
God Loves, Man Kills -
Messiah Complex -
X-Men: Second Coming -
The Flash 1: Seems good. Not the best thing I'm reading, but it was pretty solid, and made me want to read the second. Incidentally, what's the deal with his costume?
Avenging Spider-Man 5: Best issue of this series so far. All about nostalgia and Spider-Man and Captain America getting to know each other better and stuff. Also, we get a flashback picture of Captain America punching Hitler, which is always nice.
Man, I reread Kraven's Last Hunt last night. It really speaks to the versatility of Spider-man as a character that he can have such a dark spooky story, and then later go team up with Rulk to gladiator fight in the sewers.
Alkthash: Needs more descriptions, yo.
Alkthash: Speaking of, can I rec all the indie comics? Pretty please?
Juan - placeholders mang
Fair enough.
Teacher Alk, Professor Malk. Question: Why is Namor an X-Man?
Err, what's wrong with his costume? Do you mean the way it assembles or whatever?
Yeah, that's what I meant. what's it made of/how's it work, etc.
^^^Technically a mutant.
His clothing is made of GOES FAST.
My question was more "How did Namor join our beloved band of mutated allegories for minorities worldwide?"