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Post by bobc on Aug 27, 2010 11:44:58 GMT -5
Back to the topic:
I just read AA #3, and it is PHENOMENAL. This book is so refreshing, so well written, so filled with suspense that I find myself looking forward to each new issue! The writer actually makes a reference to one of my favorite bands, the Smiths--did anyone else catch that?
This is one GREAT book. Top notch!
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Post by bobc on Aug 26, 2010 16:27:11 GMT -5
Man, HB--did you ever nail it. They are incredibly charismatic, and are very skilled at getting naive adults to believe they are angels and are getting picked on. They could even manipulate seasoned professionals and you'd be surprised how often they could pit one professional against another. I recall one boy named Jesse who was almost 15 but looked like he was twelve, and he one of the few kids at our facility who was allowed to still go to public school. He looked like a typical cute, chubby kid. One day when Jesse was at school, I got a call from his principal who informed me "Either you come and get Jesse, or THE POLICE WILL." I got to the school, only to find Jesse giggling like a crazy person, chasing his teacher around with a pair of scissors. I got the scissors away from him, got him back to our treatment center--but that was when he truly went psychotic. He was made to strip down to his underwear (a tactic to keep them from running away) but he ran around the cottage, grabbing whatever he could find to stab himself with. I ended up having to physically restrain him but eventually he became so slick with sweat that I could barely hold him! Throughout the whole ordeal he was giggling and making really, really scary, nasty sounds. I could certainly see how, in times gone by, people would think a kid like this was possessed.
We never knew what set this episode off, but he never was allowed to go to public school again. The next day he acted like nothing happened and convinced his new on-campus school teacher (who should have known better) that we were abusing Jesse and made the whole incident up.
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Post by bobc on Aug 26, 2010 9:01:35 GMT -5
Hey Sharky
I actually connected very well with the kids--in fact several of them have contacted me recently even though I worked with them almost 20 years ago. We used art all the time--writing and sports, too. These things helped the kids who were "products of their environment" (in other words, they grew up with crazy people raising them). We did have a few budding sociopaths, however, and nothing really worked on them. One boy was setting fires since he was 2 years old, and it was virtually impossible to prevent him from doing it because he was ingenious at finding ways to start fired. When he was five, he basically burnt down several houses on his block so he had to be institutionalized just as he was turning six. He never left the institutions, either. By the time I got him, "Doug" was 15 and you could not believe one thing that ever came out of his mouth. He'd lie even when there was no reason whatsoever to do so. Doug had zero abuse in his background (that we knew of) and over time I grew to understand that most crazy kids are simply products of the insanity their parent (s) raise them in--but there are a minority of disturbed kids who have something organically wrong with them. There is an emotional deadness about them that you sort of have to feel to understand. It's pretty scary, really.
I am hoping Finesse is one of these kids--it'll be fascinating if handled well.
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Post by bobc on Aug 23, 2010 12:47:17 GMT -5
I LOVE this book! Starry is so right--Gage is actually renewing my faith that writers today can actually write dialogue! He's like Bendis' polar opposite!
I also agree that the "Wasp's" costume sucks. Can someone fill me in as to why and when the real Wasp was killed? In a sense it seems like taking over your dead wife's identity is really bad taste.
Anyway--love the interactions between Tigra, Quicksilver and Finesse. I've never mentioned this on the forum before, but before I got into the art field I was a house-parent for emotionally disturbed children and had lots of experience with borderline (sociopath/psychotic) kids. Gage has nailed it with Finesse. These children have no empathy whatsoever with other kids but they learn, over time, to say all the right things to make you think they do. This emotional deadness is truly creepy and can raise the hair on the back of your neck.
This book is great and can't wait for the next issue!
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Post by bobc on Aug 22, 2010 20:41:07 GMT -5
I don't know, Shir. All I know is T'Challa is once again on the D-list, replaced by a girl no one ever even heard of until a year or two ago. That "Age of Heroes" book featured frikkin Squirrel Girl in the previous issue, if that gives you any indication of the respect BP gets. Oh and by the way, even the female BP gets reminded she lost to the Sub Mariner, and gets soundly thrashed by some big ugly goon with no super powers in AOH. Why in the world would anyone follow a hero like this? T'Challa is apparently replaceable like an old shoe.
I read on another forum that one fan said BP was mostly known from the Avengers, where he was always talked about with great respect, "even though he almost never did anything to deserve it." That pretty much sums it up.
Make this character FORMIDABLE.
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Post by bobc on Aug 19, 2010 11:10:31 GMT -5
EXACTLY.
Marvel seems to be borderline retarded when it comes to the concept that people want a character that is FORMIDABLE. In Jungle Action, the Panther was constantly getting his A kicked, his costume was constantly tattered--he just came off weak. In recent years BP has been improved power-wise, but it is absolutely infuriating that issue after issue goes by and the Panther never even fights any bad guys!
In Doom War, T'Challa is once again incapacitated--and this time he is actually replaced by a 20 YO GIRL, who does more fighting in those issues than T'Challa ever did in the entire 40 years he's been around. I mean why is this so hard for BP writers to get?
Towards the end of Doom War, T'Challa gets his strength level boosted through mystical means, and true to form, he sees very, very little action and most of it is against generic Doombots. I think he exchanged one punch with Doom.
Where has BP's acrobatics and superhuman speed gone? His ability to see in the dark? His almost preternatural stealth? Now all he does is exchange a few punches, which is hardly exciting super hero fare.
Last but not least, as Starry said, T'Challa needs to go up against some FORMIDABLE foes and WIN. Captain America does this all the time.
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Post by bobc on Aug 18, 2010 13:49:51 GMT -5
I'm sad. The Black Panther comic has been canceled--after it was finally getting good. Bizarrely, rumor has it that the Panther storyline is going to continue in Daredevil (?). Apparently the Panther dominated Doom War comic was out-selling The Black Panther many times over, but now that is over and BP is cancelled.
So guys--tell me the truth--is the Panther just not a viable character in most of your eyes? Did Hudlin's run make him just too unlikeable? I read online that one former Avengers writer didn't think BP could last "six months" when the series started years ago.
What is the problem?
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Post by bobc on Aug 5, 2010 15:45:03 GMT -5
I gotta say I agree with Sharky that although this group looks promising, there are too many Avengers titles. It seems to me there are more than 5 Avengers titles floating around out there--and it is too much of a good thing. Everything's starting to blend together. I realize the logic in terms of the Avengers being a recognizable brand, and that the name sells, but the Avengers are going the way of Wolverine.
Why not name this new group something else. In terms of raw power, they remind me of the original Defenders, mixed with Guardians of the galaxy.
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Post by bobc on Jun 20, 2010 14:50:30 GMT -5
Come to think of it, The Falcon didn't make much of a splash in the Avengers. I like the character but he didn't seem to really bloom while in the group. The Beast was the exact opposite for me--when he joined I thought it would be a mistake, but now he's one of my favorites. He seems to be viewed by most fans as the one Avenger strongly identified with another group who came to be even more beloved in his stint with the Avengers. Unlike Reed and Sue.
Speaking of X-men in other groups working or not working, was I the only one who thought The Champions was a very weird collection of characters? I remember buying the book, but always thought having Iceman and Angel on the team just never clicked.
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Post by bobc on Jun 19, 2010 17:35:34 GMT -5
I'll stick to the non-Bendis Avengers:
1. Reed/Sue: great characters but they didn't belong in the Avengers. Reed Richards is a preeminent leader and has been for decades so just having him hanging out in the Avengers as a "team player" was awkward. Sue, under the right circumstances, might have worked on her own.
2. Dr. Druid. Self explanatory.
3. Two Gun Kid. No.
4. US Agent/Living Lightning/Firebird/Darkhawk (most of the W Coast Avengers never did a thing for me--it's all a big dull blur)
5. Gilgamesh. Good God.
6. Rage. I thought black exploitation ended in the 70's but boy was I wrong.
7. Silver Claw. Just didn't float my boat.
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Post by bobc on Jun 19, 2010 9:12:15 GMT -5
Waspie LOLLLL! That was a bold and incisive comparison/contrast of the two writers! I came to the same conclusion!
Bongsy--No harm done, if you don't count the incalculable damage to poor Brubaker's reputation. Let's hope of bevy of Brubaker's lawyers aren't swooping in for the kill!
HB--I restrained myself. I will go to my grave swearing I never hit the smite button on our beloved Dr Bongsy! He is right--you can go to the comic store and see 500 different Avengers titles right now so it is easy to get confused. After all, I, myself recently purchased a Bendis Avengers title a few weeks ago. I flogged myself mercilessly with a tender young sapling in penance!! The Pope is still demanding an audience with me--or was that an exorcism? I must pay and pay dearly.
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Post by bobc on Jun 18, 2010 18:30:36 GMT -5
You confused Brubaker with BENDIS?!!!! Oh my dear lord. My hand is quivering over the "smite" button...
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Post by bobc on Jun 15, 2010 13:06:13 GMT -5
I absolutely loved it! Loved the interplay between Valkyrie and Black Widow. "I don't even want to know where you were hiding that sword!" LOL!!! Also: Brubakker, I think, made a very wise move in showing the Valkyrie feeling discomfort at being "pawed at" by a man--that was very much her character when she first appeared and was exciting. IMO the Valkyrie is a great character but should have stayed closer to her original handling when she appeared in the Defenders. Well, that was actually the second time she appeared, but who's counting?
On the art front: AMAZING. That one shot of Ant-man flying upwards showed such grace--no stiffness whatsoever.
And FINALLY--lots of ACTION!!! It's about time!
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Post by bobc on Jun 14, 2010 16:49:50 GMT -5
Yeah--who knows where this will go but for me it looks very promising.
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Post by bobc on Jun 14, 2010 11:13:59 GMT -5
I really liked it, Waspy! I think the whole concept of why the team was put together was fresh and cool, and the art was top notch (excellent anatomy). The costumes for the new characters are very imaginative, and the one "iffy" costume, veil, is actually made fun of by the girl wearing it--which I thought was very good writing. This comic had some very funny moments, like when Tigra refers to Quicksilver as "changing sides more often than a tennis match!" Overall, the dialogue is absolutely, refreshingly great! I hope this comic catches on because it is very good and I love the fact that Tigra and QS are in it!
Speaking of dialogue and Bendis, I accidentally purchased the latest Avengers title he wrote, not realizing it was him, and within one minute of reading the stilted, one to four word soundbites he relentlessly passes off as dialogue, I stopped reading it. I won't make that mistake again.
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Post by bobc on Jun 4, 2010 9:39:30 GMT -5
Is it any good? Does Thor really fight Black Bolt? Who wins?
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Post by bobc on Jun 2, 2010 11:39:58 GMT -5
Yeah that was my take as well--that somebody just messed up and included The Ant Man story. The story is really dumb too! Oh well, as a connoisseur of cheese, I am not complaining.
Sharky--I bought that very Black Widow edition and was pretty annoyed when I actually took it out of its plastic wrapper. Even though the title says Black widow, the cover overall leads you to believe the Inhuman stories are included, and as you said, they are not. I mean how hard is it to just put a pic of BW on the cover, instead of the full AA cover? That way, there is no confusion--especially since these hardcovers are usually sealed in a plastic wrap. From here on out, I am just gonna purchase Essential editions, since they are never wrapped in plastic.
Essential Editions are cheaper anyway and you get more issues.
I never read Amazing Adventures when they originally came out--I was too young--so I was really looking forward to reading these Silver Age stories. But yeah it was pretty disappointing. Watching Natasha take on normal human thugs (for the most part) was a real snoozer. I can't remember which stories were included here exactly--but in general, the most memorable BW battles, IMO, were when she took on the Man Bull solo in Daredevil, as well as her fight against the Red Skull in the Avengers in the 90's.
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Post by bobc on May 28, 2010 14:47:02 GMT -5
My secret shame is that I cannot remember one thing about this issue other than Hawkeye tricking the Grandmaster.
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Post by bobc on May 27, 2010 16:51:31 GMT -5
Hee hee! Man HB you really managed to focus in on one of the few truly horrendous moments in this Essential FF Book--notably the Gate Keeper, or whatever the heck he was called! I have so far just skimmed through this edition, and when I got to that storyline and saw that character, I groaned out loud! Man that was one truly stupid creation! I vaguely remember him from that time--but he is probably best assigned to Marvel's trash heap of bad ideas!
There are some great battles in this book, including the one you talked about where High Evolutionary fights Galactus. That is one of the story-lines in which I first noticed how good Perez had gotten, particularly with Sinnott inking him. I never took any notice of Sinnott as a kid--didn't have an opinion one way or the other. Today, as an adult, I think he was really, really good. I think our beloved Sharky is a big fan, if I recall correctly.
I don't think I ever saw the story about the X-Men defeating Magneto sans powers. I just remember Storm and how dull she was without her powers.
You know I still can't get over the fact that Madame MacEvil (Iron Man) somehow mutated into Moondragon. How on earth did I miss that?
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Post by bobc on May 27, 2010 10:16:28 GMT -5
Mo' good news! The latest Essential Fantatsic Four book (8)is out, and it has plenty of stuff in it to interest us trendy Avengers fans!
First off, I know most of you are big George Perez fans, and some of his best work is here. I never realized it before, but Joe Sinnot really was one of the best, if not the best, inkers for GP's pencils. GP appears about halfway through this collection, and you can tell he had gained a lot of confidence in those years. His catalog of poses was way larger, and his innovative use of blending panels together is in evidence here.
Also--Avengers Luke Cage and Tigra show up (I totally forgot that Tigra hung out with the FF for a while), and Tigra is especially enjoyable.
Across these issues you can see two major character changes take place. The Thing carries most of the early battles practically on his own it seems, but slowly over the later issues, the Invisible Girl makes great gains in the power and control of her abilities. At one point Luke Cage asks her why she doesn't change her name to Invisible Woman, so it is clear that the writer is setting the stage for Sue to be less of a kidnap bait, and more of a pivotal, powerful member of the team. She even makes a statement in one battle to the effect that she is a "card carrying member of the FF," not just a kidnapping waiting to happen.
The second major change over these issues was the addition of a much larger supporting cast. Thundra, Tigra, Luke Cage, the Impossible Man, etc. show up, making these issues much more enjoyable IMO. I never liked Luke Cage much--at least not in the FF--but his presence here kidn of shakes things up. Plus he doesn't stick around long.
The only downside in this era, for me personally, was the annoying trend of having super heroes losing their powers but still staying with the team. Both the Thing and Reed lose their powers in this run--and unfortunately these plot twists really bog down the action. I can't recall one time, whether it be the FF, Storm, Thor etc., where a character loses his/her powers, and it actually adds something to the story. I really don't want to see the Thing in a exo-skeleton suit, nor do I want to see Storm running around powerless with a mohawk.
Anyhow, really enjoyed this book overall--it brought back some great memories.
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Post by bobc on May 27, 2010 9:49:27 GMT -5
Weird. I bought a Black Widow book that collected her stories from her Amazing Adventures (I think it was) days, and although she shared that series with The Inhumans, the Inhumans were nowhere to be seen in the BW collection. Marvel must be getting sloppy
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Post by bobc on May 26, 2010 11:16:49 GMT -5
Yeah--gotta agree, most of the stories were really, really bad.
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Post by bobc on May 25, 2010 10:52:16 GMT -5
I don't have the book in front of me, HB, but you are right--heads must roll for this Slasher abomination!
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Post by bobc on May 24, 2010 9:34:30 GMT -5
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Post by bobc on May 24, 2010 9:32:14 GMT -5
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Post by bobc on May 24, 2010 9:28:34 GMT -5
Hmmmm--convoluted is one way to put it! Dare I ask if MME was really Moondragon, why did she control Iron Man's armor using a machine, rather than over-powering Stark's mind with her mental abilities? Pointless question, I know, but still. Plus Moonie would never call herself evil, since she always thought she was always better than everyone else.
I'm betting someone just liked MME's costume and decided to appropriate it for a new character! Hee hee!
Did Lobster Head ever appear again? God I hope not. Where's Van? he's the Iron Man expert
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Post by bobc on May 23, 2010 18:37:06 GMT -5
Hey guys! Good news! The Essential Iron Man 4 edition is now out! I have to admit I have only skimmed it so far, so maybe there's a good reason for it--but out of the clear blue sky there's an Ant Man episode in there! Right after Iron Man 44! Can anyone explain this? I (quickly) scanned the story looking for some link that would make it appropriate for Iron Man (you know, like how they put Defenders issues in Avengers Essentials if both teams appear in the story) but I am drawing a blank! I wonder if it's a mistake or what?
Anyhow--this Essential Iron Man 4 has some great moments, and some really strange, outrageously bad moments as well! In fact, it is probably the most bizarre Essential edition I've ever read, and I'm not just talking about the Ant Man thing.
First of all, the writers seemed to pick the most all-over-the place group of villains imaginable. One minute Iron Man is battling truly powerful, exciting foes like the Super Adaptoid, Sub Mariner or Thanos, and the next issue he's going head to head with PRINCESS PYTHON! I kid you not. Obviously, to make such a "battle" work (well, sorta) you have to really downgrade IM in the power department. "I'm being CRUSHED TO DEATH!!" IM bellows as Precious the Python wraps himself around IM! Hee hee! Come on guys! That is pure cheese! Reminds me of when Iron Man fought the Angel! It takes some serious literary back flips to make these battles seem fair! I mean being brought to your knees by Princess Python is some seriously embarrassing chit!
Bizzaro moment number 500: When IM fights the Sub-Mariner (great battle, by the way), IM's armor is controlled by a mystifying new villain named Madame MacEvil--and she looks EXACTLY like Moondragon! And I do mean EXACTLY. Same costume, same bald head, same moon-shaped ear-rings! Does anybody know the deal about this? As far as I know, MacEvil mercifully never shows up again in Marvel history, but her appearance is a head scratcher!
Also--a contender for the absolute WORST costume imaginable appears in this volume! The Slasher! Off the top of my head, I can't think of a dumber costume--it is MIND-BOGGLINGLY BAD! The Slasher is this scrawny clown who wears a body suit with giant black spots all over it (?), AND he has giant lobster claws growing out of his HEAD, for no apparent reason! I love it!
Anyhow, for Avengers Completists, Thor, Goliath, CA and the Falcon appear in one of the first stories, but the art is so horribly bad it's no wonder I never knew about this appearance! Cap also appears in another story.
The best story, IMO, is Iron Man's fist meeting (to my knowledge)with Thanos and Drax the Destroyer, towards the end of the edition. It's obvious that Iron Man writers were getting way better around the time of this episode--and the villains started to be formidable enough to go up against the Avengers' second most powerful member.
Anybody else reading this?
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Post by bobc on May 21, 2010 10:59:00 GMT -5
I'm liking the blog! Glad you had the good sense to put "Under Siege" in the #1 spot
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Post by bobc on May 19, 2010 14:25:31 GMT -5
He is lost somewhere in the woods with Doctor Druid.
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Post by bobc on May 17, 2010 14:19:15 GMT -5
Woody--I think Doomwar is one of the best books out there. It isn't earth-shattering or anything, but it is very good IMO.
I happen to love underdog characters--my favorite characters over the years have usually been low-powered, somewhat unknown (by the public at large anyway) super-heroes like Quicksilver, Nightcrawler, Black Widow, etc. They tend to work great in team situations, especially when they save the day. My problem is the fact that there are suddenly sooooo many of them. I just bought some Siege-related book where some obscure team led by Rage (it is sad that such a grade Z character is about the only one I recognize) suddenly appears and fights some other team, and I couldn't even tell who was on what team! It's hard to get interested in who wins...
All I can say is look at how Busiek introduced new Avengers back in some of the Avengers' best periods. He'd introduce one, maybe two at a time, but always kept a good balance by keeping older, recognizable characters like CA or the Vision in the majority. That worked.
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