COMICS: Darth Badly's Comic Shack

[James T. Skywalker]

Originally posted by Justin@Apr 15 2006, 06:56 PM
The latest Nightwing was awful, IMO.* I won't be reading it any further.
Quoted post


I'm gonna finish out this arc, then drop it.

If they can find another writer who actually respects the characters and doesn't talk down to the reader, maybe I'll pick it up again someday.

(P.S. Please DC hire Fabian Nicieza to write Nightwing! His comments about Dick here (http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=66877) just proves that he gets the character better than the last two authors have!)

(P.P.S. And yeah, I know DC's not gonna look here...) :bop:

~JTS

[Justin]

Why finish the arc if it sucks? Just find out online what happened.

I was surprised to hear about how Devin K. Grayson's Nightwing run was so despised by many fans. She is actually one of my favorite Bat-universe writers, and I picked up her Nightwing run at the start of the "crutches" arc, and I was really enjoying it.

I stopped reading because they kept interrupting it with silly tie-ins that took the focus away from the story, and made it hard to read. It's a shame that story wasn't done at another time, when the Infinite Crisis tie-ins weren't taking over all the books.

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Justin@Apr 15 2006, 09:56 PM
The latest Nightwing was awful, IMO. I won't be reading it any further.
Quoted post

Is that the year later strory arc with Jason Todd? I've only read the first one and it was alright!

Teen Titans and Robin started out great!

[P-Ray]

Badly!

Have you read Young Avengers #11 yet? Still I say, what an incredible book!

[James T. Skywalker]

Originally posted by Justin@Apr 15 2006, 10:27 PM
Why finish the arc if it sucks? Just find out online what happened.

I was surprised to hear about how Devin K. Grayson's Nightwing run was so despised by many fans. She is actually one of my favorite Bat-universe writers, and I picked up her Nightwing run at the start of the "crutches" arc, and I was really enjoying it.

I stopped reading because they kept interrupting it with silly tie-ins that took the focus away from the story, and made it hard to read. It's a shame that story wasn't done at another time, when the Infinite Crisis tie-ins weren't taking over all the books.
Quoted post


I liked Devin Grayson's arc, for the most part, but it wasn't great, and certainly wasn't going to keep me on the title if she returned OYL. And as for why I'd finish the arc if I don't like it? Stubborn, I guess. I don't want an incomplete story arc in my collection. :)

~JTS

[James T. Skywalker]

And I'm probably not gonna be able to pick up my issues until Thursday or Friday, which is no fun. :(

~JTS

[Darth Badly]

Originally posted by P-Ray@Apr 19 2006, 10:49 AM
Badly!

Have you read Young Avengers #11 yet? Still I say, what an incredible book!
Quoted post



Not yet.

I'm enjoying the FAMILY MATTERS story though.

:cheers:

[Darth Badly]

Originally posted by James T. Skywalker@Apr 19 2006, 03:44 PM
And I'm probably not gonna be able to pick up my issues until Thursday or Friday, which is no fun. :(

~JTS
Quoted post


I'll be in FP tomorrow to pick up IC 6 and other stuff.

:)

[Darth Badly]

Bought:

Crisis 6

Young Avengers 11

:)

[James T. Skywalker]

I picked up Justice #5, Manhunter #21, Birds of Prey #93, and JSA Classified #11. Need to find Robin #149 this weekend, and was able to find and buy Robin #146, which tied into the Superboy/Superboy-Prime fight in IC #4.

Also picked up JSA: The Golden Age trade, which looks really good. I'm also trying to find James Robinson's Starman trades, hopefully they're out there somewhere.

~JTS

[Darth Badly]

Originally posted by P-Ray@Apr 19 2006, 10:49 AM
Badly!

Have you read Young Avengers #11 yet?* Still I say, what an incredible book!
Quoted post



I've just read it, my friend. What a great great read for any AVENGERS fan! I loved it. I think it's now the book that I look forward to reading most each month.

I loved LOVED the stuff about the Hulking (I read the Kree-Skull war the first time around) and I LOVED LOVED what he did with the twins. That's such a good idea - I only hope they stick to it and carry it through to other Marvel books.

SPOILERS BELOW:
I hated it when John '****t' Byrne rewrote history and made Wanda's kids imaginary / part of her magic. That was utter nonsense at the time and took away some of the character's dignity for no purpose. After that happened it seemed to be the case (and I never ever understood this bit) that Wanda didn't remember the kids, but that everyone else did. I just never understood how that was suposed to have worked? Like no one was going to mention them to her??? Anyway rant over.
END SPOILERS

P-RAY - I loved the book, can't wait for the next one, and rate Allan Heinberg very highly. Happy days.

:)

PS This issue made me think that I might get the tpb collections for my bookshelf cos I could read these again. The series is a great contribution to the Avengers mythos.

[Darth Badly]

PPS P-RAY the letters page made reference to an YOUNG AVENGERS SPECIAL - did you get that? I don't remember ever seeing it.

:(

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@Apr 22 2006, 12:50 PM
This issue made me think that I might get the tpb collections for my bookshelf cos I could read these again. The series is a great contribution to the Avengers mythos.
Quoted post

That's wild! I was just thinking the same thing since the first trade just came out I recommended it to a buddy of mine who picked it up.

I want to get it for myself to go back for an easy read.

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@Apr 22 2006, 12:54 PM
PPS P-RAY the letters page made reference to an YOUNG AVENGERS SPECIAL - did you get that? I don't remember ever seeing it.

:(
Quoted post

Yeah I got it! If I remember correctly, it recaps the YA characters and some of the ongoing storyline up to that point. The way I am, I got it for my collection.

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly+Apr 22 2006, 12:50 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darth Badly @ Apr 22 2006, 12:50 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-P-Ray@Apr 19 2006, 10:49 AM
Badly!

Have you read Young Avengers #11 yet?* Still I say, what an incredible book!
Quoted post



I've just read it, my friend. What a great great read for any AVENGERS fan! I loved it. I think it's now the book that I look forward to reading most each month.

I loved LOVED the stuff about the Hulking (I read the Kree-Skull war the first time around) and I LOVED LOVED what he did with the twins. That's such a good idea - I only hope they stick to it and carry it through to other Marvel books.

SPOILERS BELOW:
I hated it when John '****t' Byrne rewrote history and made Wanda's kids imaginary / part of her magic. That was utter nonsense at the time and took away some of the character's dignity for no purpose. After that happened it seemed to be the case (and I never ever understood this bit) that Wanda didn't remember the kids, but that everyone else did. I just never understood how that was suposed to have worked? Like no one was going to mention them to her??? Anyway rant over.
END SPOILERS

Quoted post
[/b][/quote]
I was talking to a buddy of mine at the comic store who stated that this storyline contradicts or cancels the House of M stuff. I didn't think so as well as thought that it may be a way of getting things back.

What do you think?

[Ripley]

Has anyone here watched the Ultimate Avengers movie? I've been thinking of watching it, but I hear the storyline got sent through a Scooby Doo filter.

[James T. Skywalker]

Originally posted by Ripley@Apr 23 2006, 07:34 AM
Has anyone here watched the Ultimate Avengers movie? I've been thinking of watching it, but I hear the storyline got sent through a Scooby Doo filter.
Quoted post


I haven't seen it, but Mark Millar (author of The Ultimates) didn't have a whole lot of input into the movie, and neither did Bryan Hitch (artist for the same), so I'm a little leary. I've heard it's a so-so movie.

~JTS

[P-Ray]

I enjoyed it overall!

I think it all depends on your expectations at the time. ;)

[James T. Skywalker]

Being a huge Ultimates fan, I'd probably go in with pretty low expectations because I know that no movie can capture the perfectness that is Millar and Hitch's run on this series.

That's just me, though. :)

~JTS

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by James T. Skywalker@Apr 23 2006, 11:25 PM
Being a huge Ultimates fan, I'd probably go in with pretty low expectations because I know that no movie can capture the perfectness that is Millar and Hitch's run on this series.

That's just me, though. :)

~JTS
Quoted post

I agree! It's entertaining, IMO but not as much as the comic!

[Darth Badly]

Originally posted by P-Ray+Apr 22 2006, 10:37 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(P-Ray @ Apr 22 2006, 10:37 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'>Originally posted by Darth Badly@Apr 22 2006, 12:50 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-P-Ray@Apr 19 2006, 10:49 AM
Badly!

Have you read Young Avengers #11 yet?* Still I say, what an incredible book!
Quoted post



I've just read it, my friend. What a great great read for any AVENGERS fan! I loved it. I think it's now the book that I look forward to reading most each month.

I loved LOVED the stuff about the Hulking (I read the Kree-Skull war the first time around) and I LOVED LOVED what he did with the twins. That's such a good idea - I only hope they stick to it and carry it through to other Marvel books.

SPOILERS BELOW:
I hated it when John '****t' Byrne rewrote history and made Wanda's kids imaginary / part of her magic. That was utter nonsense at the time and took away some of the character's dignity for no purpose. After that happened it seemed to be the case (and I never ever understood this bit) that Wanda didn't remember the kids, but that everyone else did. I just never understood how that was suposed to have worked? Like no one was going to mention them to her??? Anyway rant over.
END SPOILERS

Quoted post

I was talking to a buddy of mine at the comic store who stated that this storyline contradicts or cancels the House of M stuff. I didn't think so as well as thought that it may be a way of getting things back.

What do you think?
Quoted post
[/b][/quote]

I was actually gonna post and ask you the same thing.

Here's my take:

THE 'HOUSE OF M' QUESTION
On page 10 of the story the new Vision recals the memory files of the old Vision and tells the kids that the Scarlet Witch went bonkers and killed AntMan / Hawkeye, and the former Vision. I think that the way it works is that only a few heroes (Spidey, Cap, Ms Marvel) remember the actual events of HOUSE OF M - that is they remember the altered reality. To the rest of the world (including the YA) they would remember 1/ the events of Avengers Dissassembled and 2/ that millions of mutants woke up one day without their powers (but don't know why they lost them). I think that's how it works.

So I don't see any contradiction with the HOUSE OF M.


THE 'HOW FAR DID WANDA'S REALITY WARP GO?' QUESTION
The question of Skull Intelligence brings up an interesting point. When Wanda warped the reality of the Earth (once into the HOUSE OF M, and then back again to 'our' Earth only with 1/ Hawkeye alive 2/ less mutants) did she also affect the rest of the entire universe? Or not? To believe that she warped the reality for the entire cosmos is a bit much, isn't it? So if we assume that Wanda only changed Earth then there must have been Skull / Kree / etc sitting out there spying on the earth who suddenly saw the change and went 'whhoooo!' what's happening down there!


THE 'WHY DIDN'T BILLY REMEMBER WANDA'S KIDS?' QUESTION
When the SuperSkull makes reference to Wanda's twins I assume he is refering to the FIRST twins (the ones that later dissappeared). I don't know quite why he says 'according to Skull intelligence she did' because it was a matter of common knowlege what with Wanda being a superhero and all. The kids (certainly the twins) however do not seem to know that Wanda had twins - which might be acceptable from a normal member of the public, but not from Billy who is a BIG Avengers fan. So I'm not quite sure why he doesn't rememeber about Wanda's kids. Either: 1/ Everyone else knows, but he just didn't. (Which would be a bit crap.) 2/ When the Scarlet Witch lost her memory of the twins (always a dodgy plot point) then so did others. 3/ He has no memory of them because he is them.
4/ To be explained in the future.

NB The Vision is correct in remembering that he was the father of the twins - at least until that dolt Byrne tried to be too clever by half. I always liked the idea that The Vision had fathered the children, and when I read the storyline first time around kinda assumned that maybe Wanda had accidentally on purpose used a bit of her powers to help things along. I hated it when they (Byrne) unmade the twins and I always thought it did the character of Wanda a great disservice as well as making things less interesting. (The kids were Magneto's grandchildren and they could have got some great storys out of that, as well as how the Avengers would cope with second generation Avengers growing up in the family.)

Small point - I'm not sure what the flashback image in Panel 4 Page 10 is of. The Hulk is present so it's not Avengers Dissassembled is it?

What do you think, my friend? What's your take on the above?

[Darth Badly]

Originally posted by P-Ray+Apr 22 2006, 10:32 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(P-Ray @ Apr 22 2006, 10:32 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-Darth Badly@Apr 22 2006, 12:54 PM
PPS P-RAY the letters page made reference to an YOUNG AVENGERS SPECIAL - did you get that?* I don't remember ever seeing it.

:(
Quoted post

Yeah I got it! If I remember correctly, it recaps the YA characters and some of the ongoing storyline up to that point. The way I am, I got it for my collection.
Quoted post
[/b][/quote]

I just picked it up from a store's back issue shelf.

:)

[Darth Badly]

Hey! Looks like I'm getting a visitor! (He could have called first.)

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly+Apr 24 2006, 08:20 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darth Badly @ Apr 24 2006, 08:20 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'>Originally posted by P-Ray@Apr 22 2006, 10:37 PM
Originally posted by Darth Badly@Apr 22 2006, 12:50 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-P-Ray@Apr 19 2006, 10:49 AM
Badly!

Have you read Young Avengers #11 yet?* Still I say, what an incredible book!
Quoted post



I've just read it, my friend. What a great great read for any AVENGERS fan! I loved it. I think it's now the book that I look forward to reading most each month.

I loved LOVED the stuff about the Hulking (I read the Kree-Skull war the first time around) and I LOVED LOVED what he did with the twins. That's such a good idea - I only hope they stick to it and carry it through to other Marvel books.

SPOILERS BELOW:
I hated it when John '****t' Byrne rewrote history and made Wanda's kids imaginary / part of her magic. That was utter nonsense at the time and took away some of the character's dignity for no purpose. After that happened it seemed to be the case (and I never ever understood this bit) that Wanda didn't remember the kids, but that everyone else did. I just never understood how that was suposed to have worked? Like no one was going to mention them to her??? Anyway rant over.
END SPOILERS

Quoted post

I was talking to a buddy of mine at the comic store who stated that this storyline contradicts or cancels the House of M stuff. I didn't think so as well as thought that it may be a way of getting things back.

What do you think?
Quoted post


I was actually gonna post and ask you the same thing.

Here's my take:

THE 'HOUSE OF M' QUESTION
On page 10 of the story the new Vision recals the memory files of the old Vision and tells the kids that the Scarlet Witch went bonkers and killed AntMan / Hawkeye, and the former Vision. I think that the way it works is that only a few heroes (Spidey, Cap, Ms Marvel) remember the actual events of HOUSE OF M - that is they remember the altered reality. To the rest of the world (including the YA) they would remember 1/ the events of Avengers Dissassembled and 2/ that millions of mutants woke up one day without their powers (but don't know why they lost them). I think that's how it works.

So I don't see any contradiction with the HOUSE OF M.


THE 'HOW FAR DID WANDA'S REALITY WARP GO?' QUESTION
The question of Skull Intelligence brings up an interesting point. When Wanda warped the reality of the Earth (once into the HOUSE OF M, and then back again to 'our' Earth only with 1/ Hawkeye alive 2/ less mutants) did she also affect the rest of the entire universe? Or not? To believe that she warped the reality for the entire cosmos is a bit much, isn't it? So if we assume that Wanda only changed Earth then there must have been Skull / Kree / etc sitting out there spying on the earth who suddenly saw the change and went 'whhoooo!' what's happening down there!


THE 'WHY DIDN'T BILLY REMEMBER WANDA'S KIDS?' QUESTION
When the SuperSkull makes reference to Wanda's twins I assume he is refering to the FIRST twins (the ones that later dissappeared). I don't know quite why he says 'according to Skull intelligence she did' because it was a matter of common knowlege what with Wanda being a superhero and all. The kids (certainly the twins) however do not seem to know that Wanda had twins - which might be acceptable from a normal member of the public, but not from Billy who is a BIG Avengers fan. So I'm not quite sure why he doesn't rememeber about Wanda's kids. Either: 1/ Everyone else knows, but he just didn't. (Which would be a bit crap.) 2/ When the Scarlet Witch lost her memory of the twins (always a dodgy plot point) then so did others. 3/ He has no memory of them because he is them.
4/ To be explained in the future.

NB The Vision is correct in remembering that he was the father of the twins - at least until that dolt Byrne tried to be too clever by half. I always liked the idea that The Vision had fathered the children, and when I read the storyline first time around kinda assumned that maybe Wanda had accidentally on purpose used a bit of her powers to help things along. I hated it when they (Byrne) unmade the twins and I always thought it did the character of Wanda a great disservice as well as making things less interesting. (The kids were Magneto's grandchildren and they could have got some great storys out of that, as well as how the Avengers would cope with second generation Avengers growing up in the family.)

Small point - I'm not sure what the flashback image in Panel 4 Page 10 is of. The Hulk is present so it's not Avengers Dissassembled is it?

What do you think, my friend? What's your take on the above?
Quoted post
[/b][/quote]
I'll have to get back with you on this chum! Going away for the weekend ;)

[James T. Skywalker]

I read a lot of good stuff this week, but next week is going to be even better.

Infinite Crisis #7.

Action Comics #838.

Teen Titans #35.

Detective Comics #819.

Lots of good stuff next week. And again, this week was great, and I'll have my reviews in my SW.com blog coming soon!

~JTS

[Darth Badly]

I'm looking forward to the last issue of CRISIS.

[Justin]

So am I, because it will finally be over and we can move on. :)

[James T. Skywalker]

Originally posted by Justin@Apr 28 2006, 06:13 PM
So am I, because it will finally be over and we can move on. :)
Quoted post


Not me, 52 starts the very next week! :happydance:

~JTS

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@Apr 24 2006, 08:20 AM

I was actually gonna post and ask you the same thing.

Here's my take:

THE 'HOUSE OF M' QUESTION
On page 10 of the story the new Vision recals the memory files of the old Vision and tells the kids that the Scarlet Witch went bonkers and killed AntMan / Hawkeye, and the former Vision. I think that the way it works is that only a few heroes (Spidey, Cap, Ms Marvel) remember the actual events of HOUSE OF M - that is they remember the altered reality. To the rest of the world (including the YA) they would remember 1/ the events of Avengers Dissassembled and 2/ that millions of mutants woke up one day without their powers (but don't know why they lost them). I think that's how it works.

So I don't see any contradiction with the HOUSE OF M.


Quoted post

I didn't either so I'm glad that we agree!

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@Apr 24 2006, 08:20 AM


THE 'HOW FAR DID WANDA'S REALITY WARP GO?' QUESTION
The question of Skull Intelligence brings up an interesting point. When Wanda warped the reality of the Earth (once into the HOUSE OF M, and then back again to 'our' Earth only with 1/ Hawkeye alive 2/ less mutants) did she also affect the rest of the entire universe? Or not? To believe that she warped the reality for the entire cosmos is a bit much, isn't it? So if we assume that Wanda only changed Earth then there must have been Skull / Kree / etc sitting out there spying on the earth who suddenly saw the change and went 'whhoooo!' what's happening down there!

Quoted post

Very good point!

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@Apr 24 2006, 08:20 AM

THE 'WHY DIDN'T BILLY REMEMBER WANDA'S KIDS?' QUESTION
When the SuperSkull makes reference to Wanda's twins I assume he is refering to the FIRST twins (the ones that later dissappeared). I don't know quite why he says 'according to Skull intelligence she did' because it was a matter of common knowlege what with Wanda being a superhero and all. The kids (certainly the twins) however do not seem to know that Wanda had twins - which might be acceptable from a normal member of the public, but not from Billy who is a BIG Avengers fan. So I'm not quite sure why he doesn't rememeber about Wanda's kids. Either: 1/ Everyone else knows, but he just didn't. (Which would be a bit crap.) 2/ When the Scarlet Witch lost her memory of the twins (always a dodgy plot point) then so did others. 3/ He has no memory of them because he is them.
4/ To be explained in the future.

NB The Vision is correct in remembering that he was the father of the twins - at least until that dolt Byrne tried to be too clever by half. I always liked the idea that The Vision had fathered the children, and when I read the storyline first time around kinda assumned that maybe Wanda had accidentally on purpose used a bit of her powers to help things along. I hated it when they (Byrne) unmade the twins and I always thought it did the character of Wanda a great disservice as well as making things less interesting. (The kids were Magneto's grandchildren and they could have got some great storys out of that, as well as how the Avengers would cope with second generation Avengers growing up in the family.)

Small point - I'm not sure what the flashback image in Panel 4 Page 10 is of. The Hulk is present so it's not Avengers Dissassembled is it?

What do you think, my friend? What's your take on the above?
Quoted post

See I'm lost with all this because I never read the Byrne change or whatever it was. For some reason, I don't remember any of that!

I don't however feels it contradicts House of M becasue wasn't all Wanda's perception? Plus, now I'm confused because Wanda changed reality in House of M until what or whom changed it back? It's all running together for me now.

[Darth Badly]

Wanda went bonkers. Wanda blanked out.

Quicksilver (somehow) pursaded Wanda to remake reality into the HOUSE OF M. She did. Most heroes got their heart's desire. ONLY... Wolvie's heart desire was to have ALL of his memories... so he did including memories of the original real Earth. Wolvie went around getting the heroes together and finally (after 6 issues of talk) they all attacked Magneto. There was a big fight. Quicksilver was revealed as the cause of the trouble. Magneto attacked him. Seeing father hit brother shocked Wanda out of her state. She turned the world back to 'normal' except she said 'no more mutants' and so lots (nearly all except 190) mutants work up back on normal Earth but without their powers.

I don't see any contadiction between YOUNG AVNGERS and the HOUSE OF M.

There are several problems however with Wanda and her memory re the original twins, but those problems pre-date Young Avengers.

[Darth Badly]

P-RAY - here's someone else's summary..

QUOTE:

Avengers
In their early adulthood, both Wanda and Pietro were among the first members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, though neither Magneto nor his children were aware at the time that he was their father. After Magneto's abduction by the alien Stranger, the twins were recruited into the Avengers by Captain America. The Scarlet Witch has become one of the team's mainstays since then.


The Vision and the Scarlet Witch, as a couple. Cover to The Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3. Art by Richard Howell.Wanda married the android Vision; her hex powers allowed the couple to have children. However, it was later revealed that the "children" were not actual children; rather, they were fragments of the soul of the demon Mephisto, who had previously been discorporated by Franklin Richards. The children were restored to their natural forms as parts of Mephisto; also during this time period, the Vision was disassembled by the government, then subsequently rebuilt without the ability to feel emotions. The emotional damage incurred upon Wanda during this time frame, combined with her powers being enhanced by Immortus, drove her temporarily insane, leading her to a brief alliance with her father, Magneto. However, she recovered, and remained a member of the Avengers, though she and the Vision were separated, working on different branches of the team. In order to keep Wanda's grief from overwhelming her, Agatha Harkness placed a spell on Wanda to erase her conscious memory of her "children", although she later removed this spell.

After the dissolution of the West Coast branch of the Avengers with which she served, she was a founding member and field leader of the short-lived superhero team Force Works. Wonder Man died during Force Works' first adventure, and it was years before he returned. When he did return, it was Wanda's hexes that drew his energy-based body back together, as a kind of "ionic ghost". She restored him to true life (with the assistance of Agatha Harkness), and the pair openly had an affair for several months. Around this time, an encounter with Morgan le Fey left Wanda's magic powers drastically altered and increased. She was told by Agatha Harkness that this "chaos magic" was her true power, but Doctor Strange has since confirmed that "chaos magic" does not exist. The Scarlet Witch has remained a frequent member of the Avengers since the reformation of the team, and she began a slow move towards a reconciliation with the Vision.

[edit]
Breakdown

Variant cover to House of M #1. Art by Joe Quesada and Danny Miki.[edit]
Avengers Disassembled
In the recent "Avengers Disassembled" crossover, grief over the loss of the twins again drove the Scarlet Witch insane. She tried to rewrite reality to recreate them, inadvertently causing a series of threats and incidents to inexplicably occur one after the other. The attacks killed Scott Lang, the Vision, and Hawkeye.

When the Avengers later confronted the Scarlet Witch, she had created an illusion where she was having dinner with the Vision and their children. Believing the Avengers were trying to take away her children, she attacked them. In the end, Wanda fell into a coma after battling Doctor Strange. As Captain America carried the unconscious Wanda out of the house, Magneto arrived, and ordered his daughter handed over to him. Captain America complied and before anyone else could stop him, Magneto carried his daughter away back to Genosha.

[edit]
House of M
Main article: House of M
At Genosha, Magneto asked Charles Xavier, an extremely powerful telepath, to help Wanda. Xavier agreed, but after several months of trying, he was unsuccessful. Doctor Strange was asked to try to help, but he too had no idea on how to help her. Xavier called for a joint meeting of the Avengers and the X-Men to decide Wanda's fate. While most of the members were against killing her, Wolverine and Emma Frost believed that her mental instability and her extreme powers left her too dangerous to be left alive. The teams ultimately agreed to withhold judgement until they could travel to Genosha to survey how Wanda was doing.

Fearing the worst, Quicksilver rushed to Magneto and told him that the two groups were planning on killing Wanda. When an ashamed Magneto admitted that he didn't know what to do anymore, and that the groups may be right, Quicksilver convinced Wanda that she could undo her wrongs by using her powers to turn the world into a world of peace. Using her powers, Wanda warped reality into the House of M, a world where mutants were the majority, humans the minority, and Magneto the ruler. In this reality, Wanda was believed to be a human, due to an alternate body she created to represent her in public while she cared for her children.

A young mutant named Layla Miller (whom Dr. Strange hinted was actually created by Wanda) was able to use her mutant abilities to restore several of the heroes' memories. They headed over to Genosha to attack Magneto, believing him to be the one responsible for the change. During the battle between Magneto's forces and the others, Layla was able to restore Magneto's memories as well.

Enraged, Magneto confronted Quicksilver, angry that Quicksilver had done all of this in his name. Quicksilver told Magneto that he would have let Wanda die, but Magneto replied that Quicksilver had only used him and Wanda; Magneto then killed Quicksilver.

[edit]
"No more mutants."
Wanda revived her brother, telling Magneto that Quicksilver had only wanted him to be happy, and that Magneto had ruined them, choosing the mutants over his own children. Saying "No more mutants," Wanda changed the world back to its original form and caused ninety-eight percent of the mutant population to lose their powers, leaving the mutant race on the brink of extinction. Surviving mutants and ex-mutants now refer to this as "M-Day: The worst day in mutant history."

After the fallout, she was seen in a small, unknown European village, happy and apparently oblivious to all the carnage she had caused.

[edit]
Magical Progeny?
In the Young Avengers series, the characters Thomas Shepherd and Wiccan (Billy Kaplan) look almost exactly alike. Wiccan has abilities similar to the Scarlet Witch, while Tommy has Quicksilver's superspeed. Their names, Thomas and William, are the same names of the Scarlet Witch's twins. The Super Skrull, upon meeting the two, assumed they were her children. Although it is not public knowledge that the Scarlet Witch had any children, the Super Skrull claimed, through Skrull Intelligence, that he knew they existed.

The new Vision used the previous Vision's memory files explain that the Scarlet Witch created her children from two lost souls. When Mephisto claimed those souls as his own, the power that the Scarlet Witch had placed in the souls caused Mephisto to be destroyed when he absorbed them, setting the souls free. Wiccan theorized that when the souls were set free they formed into the people that became Thomas and himself. This has yet to be proven as fact. The most probable theory is that the reversal of the House of M reality warp is responsible for them being brought into being.

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@Apr 30 2006, 07:39 PM
Wanda went bonkers. Wanda blanked out.

Quicksilver (somehow) pursaded Wanda to remake reality into the HOUSE OF M. She did. Most heroes got their heart's desire. ONLY... Wolvie's heart desire was to have ALL of his memories... so he did including memories of the original real Earth. Wolvie went around getting the heroes together and finally (after 6 issues of talk) they all attacked Magneto. There was a big fight. Quicksilver was revealed as the cause of the trouble. Magneto attacked him. Seeing father hit brother shocked Wanda out of her state. She turned the world back to 'normal' except she said 'no more mutants' and so lots (nearly all except 190) mutants work up back on normal Earth but without their powers.

I don't see any contadiction between YOUNG AVNGERS and the HOUSE OF M.

There are several problems however with Wanda and her memory re the original twins, but those problems pre-date Young Avengers.
Quoted post

Thanx for the recap! Somethings I forgot and some things I remebered. ;)

I don't see the problem between YA and House of M either.

I'm also enjoying the results(stories) from House of M. However, my main problem is with the fact that Wanda said "No more Mutants" what seemed like out of the air. The story didn't lead up to that, IMO and was it ever explain why she just happened to say that specifically?

I mean don't get me wrong, I like that they are dealing with less mutants and Hof M in itself was good, but they stories don't seem to combine, IMO.

Do you understand what I'm trying to say?

[Darth Badly]

Yes, it was a bit out of nowhere.

I think what they were trying to get at was that Wanda was pissed off with the crappy relationships in her family and that she blamed that in the main on their mutant powers (and the pressures etc there of) and so wanted a world where there were no more mutants - just normal powerless people. That didn't really come across very well in HOUSE OF M because they spent 7 issues running around to no purpose and we didn't even SEE Wanda once, and then only one issue at the very end on her and her family.

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@Apr 30 2006, 08:10 PM
Yes, it was a bit out of nowhere.

I think what they were trying to get at was that Wanda was pissed off with the crappy relationships in her family and that she blamed that in the main on their mutant powers (and the pressures etc there of) and so wanted a world where there were no more mutants - just normal powerless people. That didn't really come across very well in HOUSE OF M because they spent 7 issues running around to no purpose and we didn't even SEE Wanda once, and then only one issue at the very end on her and her family.
Quoted post

Agreed!

As I have said, I like the overall results however the path to get there was somewhat lacking.

[James T. Skywalker]

Here are my comic reviews from two weeks ago:

http://blogs.starwars.com/JamesTSkywalker/29/comments

And, there were some great comics out this week. Infinite Crisis #7 (great ending), Action Comics #838, Detective Comics #819... and I even read Civil War #1 (didn't buy it, but did read it). That's gonna be a fun trip for you Marvel Zombies! :D

~JTS

[Darth Badly]

All comic deliveries were delayed by a day this week over here, because we had a Bank Holiday on Monday. I expect to get my Crisis issue 7 later today.

:)

[James T. Skywalker]

Be sure to give us a full, massive review with a nice retrospective on the series. ;)

~JTS

[Darth Badly]

Back from town with Crisis 7 and Civil War 1.

:)

[James T. Skywalker]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@May 5 2006, 03:29 PM
Back from town with Crisis 7 and Civil War 1.

:)
Quoted post


I actually read Civil War #1 at my local store, and I really enjoyed it. I'm not familiar enough with the Marvel Universe to pick it up month-by-month, but I might consider getting it in trade paperback if it's really, really good. The only other regular Marvel U title I get in trade currently is Astonishing X-Men.

~JTS

[Darth Badly]

Just for JTS - here's the cover of the first issue of DC's '52' - out May 10th next week.

[James T. Skywalker]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@May 5 2006, 04:12 PM
Just for JTS - here's the cover of the first issue of DC's '52' - out May 10th next week.
Quoted post


The preview pages for that issue are effin' awesome. Can't wait for Wednesday.

~JTS

[James T. Skywalker]

Folks remember StarWars.com's Holo Net News website, right? Well, DC's kinda doing something similar for 52:

http://www.dccomics.com/sites/52/

Also, my reviews for the weeks of April 19 and April 26 are now up on my blog! Check them our here (http://blogs.starwars.com/JamesTSkywalker/29) and here (http://blogs.starwars.com/JamesTSkywalker/30) for the respective dates above.

~JTS

[Darth Badly]

Read CIVIL WARS 1 - enjoyed it although it does follow the same pattern as HOUSE OF M 1 so far.

P-RAY - you'll want to get this.

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@May 7 2006, 05:33 PM
Read CIVIL WARS 1 - enjoyed it although it does follow the same pattern as HOUSE OF M 1 so far.

P-RAY - you'll want to get this.
Quoted post

It's getting mailed to me tommorrow ;) I liked the Civil War stuff in Spidey and I have rtead Illuminati already.

BTW, getting comics only once a month is tuff!

[Justin]

Well I just read Infinite Crisis #7 and it was just more of what I had disliked about the previous issues.

Infinite Crisis was terrible, in my opinion, and I'm glad it's over. It was trying to do too much all at once without the narrative space it needed.

Also, Batman and Wonder Woman just DECIDE not to be superheroes?? Give me a break!!

There is no way that either character would just walk away for an entire year.

When I heard all this "One Year Later" business, I thought it must mean that Infinite Crisis #7 took place outside of the timestream, or somehow everyone was shot into the future or something.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected those characters to just say "I'm going to take a year off from superheroing." You

Especially when Superman laments that they weren't there to stop Superboy and Batman says "it's not going to happen again" or whatever.

Completely retarded.

[James T. Skywalker]

Well, I'm not gonna respond to those points you made, Justin, because you're entitled to them. A lot of people felt the same way.

As for myself, I enjoyed the saga quite a bit. Sure, there were some weak points to the issue--I would've liked to see more of the Metropolis fight, and how did Nightwing recover from a near-fatal blast by Alex Luthor, and Wonder Woman didn't exactly play as big of a role as the other members of the Trinity--but it was still a satisfying conclusion for me.

And Batman and Wonder Woman didn't just DECIDE not to be superheroes; Batman is taking a year to do some remedial training with his proteges, and Wonder Woman's lost some of her powers (remember, the Greek gods left the DCU's plain of existence in IC #4-5, and Cassie's only still powerful because she made a pact with Ares to keep him anchored to this reality in some way) and wants to reconnect and find out who she is, and how she can relate to the world better.

And if I were Batman and something happened that forced me to pick up the same weapon that was used to kill my parents after years of not doing so, I'd probably want to take some time and reevaluate my choices and my methods.

As for the main story itself, <div onClick="openClose('b90fafbfa7c57386c9bb38cc53d87b84')" style="font-weight: bold">[ Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide]</div><div id="b90fafbfa7c57386c9bb38cc53d87b84" style="display:none">I thought the two Supermen versus Doomsday was awesome. Superboy-Prime versus the Green Lantern Corps was really cool, Kal-El and Kal-L dragging Prime through the remains of Krypton and Krypton's red sun to land on the Green Lantern Mogo was inspired. And our Superman ripping the S-shield off of Prime's costume was excellent. But the coolest moments were when the Joker killed Alex Luthor and Superboy-Prime vowed to escape from his prison in a very, very disturbing scene.</div>
I thought this was a great event, and even though I wish they'd added an issue or two so that everything that felt so compressed could be stretched out a bit, I think Johns and crew did an excellent job, and now I can't wait for 52.

~JTS

[James T. Skywalker]

If you want to read some more of my thoughts on Infinite Crisis #7, and other comics that came out last week, check out my latest blog:

http://blogs.starwars.com/JamesTSkywalker/31

~JTS

[Justin]

So I finally broke down and bought Civil War, after vowing not to buy anymore mega events, but I only did it because Mark Millar was writing it and I have loved everything he has written. If it had been anyone else, I would have left it on the shelf.

So anyway, it was great. I was surprised by who took what side because I had expected it to be the opposite, and I'm looking forward to seeing how other heroes deal with it.

[James T. Skywalker]

The first week of 52 was a lot of fun. I think this is going to be a great series. It's definitely going to have the folks who are in it for the long haul rushing to the comic shop every Wednesday.

~JTS

[Darth Badly]

Hi guys

Just back after a ten break in the countryside (Norfolk).

No new comics bought or read in that time, but back on the case now.

:yoda:

[P-Ray]

I finally raed Infinite Crisis #7!

Good, but I thought that the ending (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman leaving) was lackluster! I thought that it could have been written and explained better!

BTW, The ongoing Batman story "Face to Face" is very enjoyable!

[Darth Badly]

I completely agree with you (and you, Justin) about the ending of Crisis.

I had expected soemthing would stop or force the heroes into their decision instead they just wander off - which I though was very weak and lame and also out of character (at least for Batman).

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@May 20 2006, 10:53 AM
I completely agree with you (and you, Justin) about the ending of Crisis.

I had expected soemthing would stop or force the heroes into their decision instead they just wander off - which I though was very weak and lame and also out of character (at least for Batman).
Quoted post

Agree completely!

I did enjoy the lastest Avengers! You?

[Darth Badly]

I enjoyed the last one I read. I forget which number it was now.

I also read (& enjoyed) the NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL.

[James T. Skywalker]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@May 20 2006, 07:53 AM
I completely agree with you (and you, Justin) about the ending of Crisis.

I had expected soemthing would stop or force the heroes into their decision instead they just wander off - which I though was very weak and lame and also out of character (at least for Batman).
Quoted post


I don't think it was at all out of character for Batman. He swore an oath to protect his city and to do it without taking a life. In the Crisis, a machine of his creation was perverted to control beings that murdered dozens of heroes and villains alike, and he was stretched so far and was so emotionally raw that he came close to murdering a man in cold blood with a weapon that he'd sworn never to use.

He needed time to sort things out, to reassess his vision, his plans, and his goals, and to retrain his body and mind for the days ahead. But he decided he wouldn't do it alone, which is something that he would never have thought to do a year before this event.

Perhaps it was a little rushed; I myself would have preferred another issue to clear everything up, myself. But I don't think that his decision, or Diana's, was out of character.

~JTS

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by James T. Skywalker@May 20 2006, 01:23 PM

Perhaps it was a little rushed; I myself would have preferred another issue to clear everything up, myself. But I don't think that his decision, or Diana's, was out of character.

~JTS
Quoted post

This was going to be my response!

They could have explained it better with another issue or even just a few more panels.

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@May 20 2006, 12:37 PM
I enjoyed the last one I read. I forget which number it was now.

I also read (& enjoyed) the NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL.
Quoted post

It was probably #18! I enjoyed that and the Annual very much!

I also enjoyed how Civil War started out! ;)

[James T. Skywalker]

Originally posted by P-Ray+May 20 2006, 10:43 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(P-Ray @ May 20 2006, 10:43 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-James T. Skywalker@May 20 2006, 01:23 PM

Perhaps it was a little rushed; I myself would have preferred another issue to clear everything up, myself. But I don't think that his decision, or Diana's, was out of character.

~JTS
Quoted post

This was going to be my response!

They could have explained it better with another issue or even just a few more panels.
Quoted post
[/b][/quote]

Agreed. I also wish that Phil Jimenez could have done the pencils for the whole series, but beggars can't be choosers. All in all, I would rather get my comic on time than worry about whether or not four of the best artists in the comic industry can put together a solidly drawn issue (which they did).

(And still, if they could've gotten Ivan Reis to do the entire series on his own, I wouldn't have minded that either.)

So yeah, I had my complaints about the series too, but they were pretty minor, and I otherwise enjoyed the whole of it.

~JTS

[Darth Badly]

V FOR VENDETTA DVD DETAILS

Warner Home Video has released details for the V for Vendetta Special Edition DVD, which will hit stores on August 1.

Disc 1 features include:

* Freedom! Forever!: Making V for Vendetta -- The cast and crew of V for Vendetta reveal the intense filmmaking process.

Disc 2 features include:

* Designing the Near Future * A look at the artistic process of creating the frightening future world of V.

* Remember, Remember: Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot * The history behind the story of Guy Fawkes.

* England Prevails: V for Vendetta and the New Wave in Comics * The origins of the original V story is illuminated.

* Cat Power Montage * Cat Power song played under images of the film.

* Theatrical Trailer.

* Easter Egg: Hidden Bonus: Saturday Night Live Digital Short.

[Darth Badly]

UNCLE ALAN NEWS -

The article below is from Publisher's Weekly and cover Alan Moore's latest work which is out this August. (LOST GIRLS can be ordered directly from www.topshelfcomix.com if anyone wants it).


Alan Moore's 'Literary' Pornography


by Douglas Wolk -- 5/1/2006
Current Issue » Article






Already a star in the world of graphic novels for wildly successful and critically acclaimed books like Watchmen and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, British writer Alan Moore reached a new level of mainstream fame this spring with the success of the movie V for Vendetta. So what's he doing for his next act? Pornography.

For nearly 16 years, he's been working on Lost Girls with American cartoonist Melinda Gebbie. It is, everyone involved with it declares, beautiful, literary and moving. It's also bluntly pornographic, with explicit sex scenes on almost every page. Beyond couplings of every combination of women and men, the story involves fetishism, incest and even a touch of bestiality, as well as a whole lot of sexual activity involving minors, all depicted in Gebbie's sensuous pastels and paints.

Set in the period leading up to the outbreak of World War I, Lost Girls centers on three women who meet at a European hotel: an aristocratic British lesbian in her late 50s; a middle-aged, middle-class, unhappily married English woman; and a 19-year-old farm girl from the American Midwest. Amid increasingly heated bouts of debauchery, they tell each other the stories of the early sexual experiences that formed their fantasy lives and worldviews. Oh, yes: the three women are, respectively, Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Wendy from Peter Pan and Dorothy from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The story also incorporates tributes to Moore and Gebbie's favorite moments in the history of X-rated writing and artwork. "You've no idea how tiring the research was on this book," Moore jokes. "It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it."

Set to debut this summer at Comic-Con International in San Diego, the book is the latest move by a creator known as much for his provocations as for his talent. Moore is an anarchist and an occultist, and (most shockingly to Americans) refuses to accept money for the film adaptations of his work. Whatever the critical reception or commercial fate of any of his projects is, he's one of the most sought-after writers in his medium.

But for Lost Girls' publisher, Top Shelf Productions, a small indie house specializing in literary graphic novels, the book has the potential to elevate the company to a whole new level—or financially cripple it. "This is the single most expensive publishing project Top Shelf has ever done by a factor of almost 10," says co-publisher Chris Staros. "We're putting the whole company on the line, but it's the book I personally want to be remembered for as a publisher. It's one of those books that's going to challenge our system to live up to itself."

Top Shelf is planning a 10,000-copy first printing for Lost Girls as a set of three oversized, 112-page clothbound volumes with dust jackets, packaged in a slipcase and shrink-wrapped. To cover the heavy production costs, the book will be priced at $75.

But for all of Moore's popularity, the book has a number of things against it, in addition to its daunting price. Given the explicit content, it will largely miss out on sales to libraries, an important channel for graphic novels. At least one major book chain, Borders, is passing on the title, says Kurt Hassler, graphic novel buyer for the chain. (Hassler says the explicit content was not the sole reason for the decision, but declines to elaborate.) Concerns about running afoul of law enforcement or offending community sensibilities also have some independents refusing to order the book. "We like to be an all-ages–friendly store; generally, we won't sell anything that's porn. We definitely try and avoid that at all costs," says Phil Boyle, owner of Coliseum of Comics in Orlando, Fla. Likewise, one owner of a small bookstore in the Bible Belt, who declined to be named, told PW that while her store sells both erotica and a growing selection of graphic novels, she won't carry a book that's billed and promoted as "pornography."

That's the term Moore deliberately, defiantly uses to describe Lost Girls, though. "I didn't want to call this 'erotica' because, for one thing, erotica is material relating to love," he says in a telephone interview from his home in Northampton, England. "What we wanted to talk about was sex, and so I thought that the word 'pornography' was probably blunter and more honest."

Still, in the U.S., any comics that involve nudity—let alone graphic sex—carry the potential for censorship or even prosecution. Paul Gravett's reference work Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics was recently removed from California's San Bernardino County Library because of nudity, and Georgia comics retailer Gordon Lee was arrested in 2004 after accidentally givinga minor a copy of a comic containing nudity. To date, the nonprofit watchdog organization the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (the comics equivalent of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression) has spent more than $40,000 defending Lee.

Top Shelf knows exactly what it's getting into with Lost Girls—Staros is the president of the CBLDF. According to Staros and his co-publisher, Brett Warnock, CBLDF lead attorney Burton Joseph has vetted Lost Girls, and claims that if the book is prosecuted in any state, it's defensible.

Not all retailers are scared off by the book's explicit content. Michele Sulka, v-p of marketing at the Ohio-based bookstore chain Joseph-Beth Booksellers, which has stores in Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, says, "It certainly looks like [Top Shelf] has put a lot of effort into making this not just another book, but an art piece, really. It would definitely be something that we'd want to offer to our customers. But would it be something we'd be bringing in in tens? No." (She notes that it will help that the book will be shrink-wrapped.)

Cliff Biggers of Dr. No's Comics and Games in Marietta, Ga.—where Top Shelf's Staros also lives—says that his store "will be cautious and prudent about how we display and market the book. Every store owner has to be careful to make sure that they're making it available to the intended audience, and not to people thinking that it's a perfect follow-up to Watchmen or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."

Why is Top Shelf willing to bet so much on this project? Top Shelf also publishes the current edition of Moore and Eddie Campbell's From Hell, and recently made a deal to co-publish a future volume of Moore and Kevin O'Neill's successful League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series after Moore broke with DC Comics (in a much-publicized dispute over the film adaptation of V for Vendetta). Perhaps the publisher is just trying to please a superstar author. But Top Shelf's agreement to publish the super-deluxe edition of Lost Girls was the tiny company's first deal with Moore, back in 2000. Both Staros and Warnock were rabid fans of the project, on the strength of a few early chapters that had been serialized by several long-defunct companies in the early '90s.

"I'd been a fan of Alan Moore my whole life," Staros says, "and I realized I'd gotten my first Alan Moore autograph, and it was on the contract to publish Lost Girls." Top Shelf has spent years and thousands of dollars on the grueling process of preparing Gebbie's fragile artwork (Moore had been paying Gebbie to draw the book; they are now engaged to be married) for publication. But all the financial risk has an upside: a $75 book with a name as big as Moore's attached to it has the potential to be an enormous moneymaker.

As for his own intentions, Moore explains, "Lost Girls originally came about because it had struck me that there really isn't any good, serious artwork dedicated to sex, given that it's a human activity in which most of us have some interest. There are whole genres of books dedicated to the fields of, say, being a detective, or being a space patrolman, or being a zombie back from the dead, which are fairly rarefied in terms of their actual human application. But the only genre that is actually dealing with sexual material is this gritty, unpleasant, under-the-counter kind of genre, where there are absolutely no standards."

Lost Girls' third volume includes this eminently quotable line: "Fiction and fact: only madmen and magistrates cannot discriminate between them." It appears on a page with several images whose content can scarcely even be alluded to in a family magazine, the largest of which is lovingly rendered in the style of the Decadent artist Franz von Bayros.

"That probably will be the chapter that gets us burned," Moore jokes. "We've accompanied it with a narrative that is allegedly by Pierre Louÿs. This is stuff that appears in the later parts of the book, because we figured that, really, if any genre should build to a climax, it has to be pornography. We set ourselves this goal of doing something that works as art and as literature; however, with pornography, you have the problem of a kind of brain-genitalia blood balance. If all the blood rushes to your head, it's probably nowhere else."

[Darth Badly]

Ultimate Fantastic Four #30, kicks off the "Frightful" story by Mark Millar and Greg Land.

Here's how Marvel describes the book:

"After time-traveling, visiting twisted parallel universes, and unearthing an ancient terror, Mark Millar and Greg Land are ready to unleash something truly 'frightful' on the Ultimate Fantastic Four: the return of Dr. Doom.

"Ultimate Fantastic Four #30 kicks off 'Frightful' which sees not only the return of Doom, but the introduction of the Ultimate Frightful Four as well. And if the deck wasn't stacked enough against the FF, the zombies held captive in the Baxter Building since the 'crossover' storyline make their escape."

There will be a variant cover for Ultimate Fantastic Four #30 featuring a zombie rendition of the original Fantastic Four #1 by Arthur Suydam, the man behind the covers and variant covers of the Marvel Zombies series. Plus, there will a sketch variant of Land¹s cover featuring the zombie FF and Doom.

The issue arrives in stores on May 24.

[Darth Badly]

Back from town with issues 1 and 2 of '52'.

[Justin]

New issue of Powers out today. It is, true to form, awesome.

[Darth Badly]

Read '52' issues 1 and 2.

Enjoyed them more than I expected to. Not sure I'll stick with it week by week though.

Parts I enjoyed (SPOILERS) seeing Dr Magnus again. And the collecting mad scientists thread. NB What happened to the Metal MEn then? I remember reading them as a little kid in The Brave and the Bold and enjoying them. I think the different personailites of the different metals appealed to the junior scientist in me.

:)

[P-Ray]

Avi Arad leaves marvel!

http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=23471

[Darth Badly]

Just got issue 3 of '52'.

[P-Ray]

I didn't want to pst this everywhere, but here's a Marvel movie update!

Marvel's Plans for World Domination
Rumor Roundup X4: Not gonna happen. Just be happy with the Wolverine spinoff and the Magneto prequel. Fantastic Four 2: It'll suffer from sequel-villain overload, with Galactus, Silver Surfer and Dr. Doom. Iron Man: He won't be a booze-soaked souse. Because deviating from the comics makes the fanboys so happy. Don't call it Hulk 2: It's The Incredible Hulk, and it'll be about Bruce trying to ditch the green giant. Didn't the box-office take from the first one already accomplish that?

[Darth Badly]

Picked up a bunch of stuff:

52 issue 4

New Avengers 19

Daredevil 85

Fantanstic Four 536 & 537 (with Dr Doom and Thor's hammer)

Ultimate FF 29 & 30



P-RAY - I think you'll love New Avengers 19 - I think it's the best issue for ages. Really good. Loved the sequence with Spidey on the SHield Helicarrier.

DB

[Darth Badly]

Cover for the next YOUNG AVENGERS - out June 26

[Darth Badly]

Preview pages...

[P-Ray]

Originally posted by Darth Badly@Jun 9 2006, 06:27 AM
Cover for the next YOUNG AVENGERS - out June 26
Quoted post

:happydance: I'm ready!

[Darth Badly]

Anyone get any new stuff last week.

And of course there's the BIG news about Spidey's identity...

[James T. Skywalker]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darth Badly @ Jun 16 2006, 12:35 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Anyone get any new stuff last week.
[/b][/quote]

Yup, lots. 52, Superman, Checkmate, Green Lantern Corps, Firestorm, JLA Classified, Battle for Bludhaven, Nightwing, a Superman Returns prequel, and the X-Wing Rogue Squadron omnibus trade.

Previous week was expensive as heck, too.

And yeah, big Spidey news this week. Loved JJJ's reaction.

~JTS

[jedi hunter]

its been a while since i posted how is everyone?


anyway did anyone read civil war #2 i cant bieleve what they did to spiderman i was completly shocked.I would do a spoiler tag but i dont know how(can anyone tell me for future reference?) . And i am also enjoying the 52 series and i never thought i would say that about a dc comic.

[Darth Badly]

I think they'll regrete the Spidey thing in the fullness of time. It's a good shocker for the CIVIL WARS series but blows a lot of stories for the future.

[Justin]

I agree, I think it will make for soem interesting drama in the short term, but in the long run it was a mistake.

But that's ok, because Ultimate Spidey's identity is still a secret! And he's still a teenager! I'm so glad we have Ultimate Spidey.

[Darth Badly]

They did the 'what would really happen if everyone knew who you were' storyline with Daredevil over the last few years under the Bendis run.

They were really good stories.

Killing Foggy Nelson
Unmasking SPidey

They're burning bridges!

(Unless of course Wanda recons it all - which is certainly a possibility.)

[jedi hunter]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Justin @ Jun 17 2006, 02:25 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I agree, I think it will make for soem interesting drama in the short term, but in the long run it was a mistake.

But that's ok, because Ultimate Spidey's identity is still a secret! And he's still a teenager! I'm so glad we have Ultimate Spidey.
[/b][/quote]
Every word you said is exactly what i was thinking. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif

[P-Ray]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darth Badly @ Jun 17 2006, 06:23 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
They did the 'what would really happen if everyone knew who you were' storyline with Daredevil over the last few years under the Bendis run.

They were really good stories.

Killing Foggy Nelson
Unmasking SPidey

They're burning bridges!

(Unless of course Wanda recons it all - which is certainly a possibility.)
[/b][/quote]
That's a very good possibility, IMO!

[James T. Skywalker]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darth Badly @ Jun 17 2006, 03:23 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Killing Foggy Nelson
Unmasking SPidey

They're burning bridges!
[/b][/quote]

Don't forget bringing back Jason Tod... er, Bucky! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif

~JTS

[Justin]

I couldn't believe they brought back Bucky AND Jason Todd (two characters who you would think would stay dead- and I think it was a Marvel rule that only Bucky and Uncle Ben stay dead) in the same year.

[James T. Skywalker]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Justin @ Jun 17 2006, 10:55 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I couldn't believe they brought back Bucky AND Jason Todd (two characters who you would think would stay dead- and I think it was a Marvel rule that only Bucky and Uncle Ben stay dead) in the same year.
[/b][/quote]

At least both of them were good stories--yes, I really, really liked Winick's Jason Todd arc. I thought it was played out very well, and I really enjoyed Doug Mahnke's art on the title, which I rarely ever say. The only other time I really enjoyed Mahnke's stuff was in JLA: Obsidian Age.

~JTS

[Justin]

Personally, I thought the Jason Todd story was awful. I can't stand Judd Wininck's writing, I wish he would leave comics and pursue a job in lawn care.

[cj790]

Ok, I haven't bought any comics for about 5 months now and the tension is getting to me...

Is anyone still getting Knights of the Old Republic?
Hellblazer?
Testament?
Lucifer?
Fables?
Albion?

What am I missing, and how did SW Republic end?

[James T. Skywalker]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Justin @ Jun 18 2006, 01:54 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Personally, I thought the Jason Todd story was awful. I can't stand Judd Wininck's writing, I wish he would leave comics and pursue a job in lawn care.
[/b][/quote]

His Batman arc (with the exception of the "As The Crow Flies" story) was solid, IMHO. The revelation of how Jason returned in Batman Annual #25 was a little hard to believe, but it fit the context of the time that the story was being released. But everything else, the interaction with Superman, Nightwing's characterization (which it would be nice to see more of in Winick's Outsiders), the guest spots with Green Arrow and Zatanna... I thought all of that was done extremely well.

And it was leaps and bounds above what was going on in Batman: Gotham Knights. David Lapham's City of Crime was alright last year, but it was just too darn long.

And don't get me started on All-Star Batman.

~JTS

[Justin]

Ha ha, I LOVE All-Star Batman and Robin! It's great. If it were in regular continuity I would be upset, but as a "what-if" type deal I think it's awesome. Especially the whole "Are you retarded or something? I'm the G***amn Batman!" thing. Classic.

[P-Ray]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(James T. Skywalker @ Jun 18 2006, 06:17 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
His Batman arc (with the exception of the "As The Crow Flies" story) was solid, IMHO. The revelation of how Jason returned in Batman Annual #25 was a little hard to believe, but it fit the context of the time that the story was being released. But everything else, the interaction with Superman, Nightwing's characterization (which it would be nice to see more of in Winick's Outsiders), the guest spots with Green Arrow and Zatanna... I thought all of that was done extremely well.

[/b][/quote]
I agree. I like the way the whole thing was handled.

[P-Ray]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darth Badly @ Jun 9 2006, 07:09 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

P-RAY - I think you'll love New Avengers 19 - I think it's the best issue for ages. Really good. Loved the sequence with Spidey on the SHield Helicarrier.

DB
[/b][/quote]
I know this is a long time coming, but I finally read this today and absolutely loved it! Fantastic read.

I also read the first 3 issues of 52. I was worried after the first issue because there was so much going on but as they continued in issues 2 and 3, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Batman #653 was very good but issues #149 and 150 of Robin were incredible. A shock in #150 for sure.

[James T. Skywalker]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Justin @ Jun 18 2006, 03:29 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Ha ha, I LOVE All-Star Batman and Robin! It's great. If it were in regular continuity I would be upset, but as a "what-if" type deal I think it's awesome. Especially the whole "Are you retarded or something? I'm the G***amn Batman!" thing. Classic.
[/b][/quote]

Oh, of course, it's a fun read, but on the whole I've enjoyed both Winick's run and Robinson's current story far more than Miller/Lee on ASB&RTBW.

And the "g***amn Batman" line is quite possibly one of the best lines in any comic ever.

~JTS

[Darth Badly]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(P-Ray @ Jun 19 2006, 11:29 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I know this is a long time coming, but I finally read this today and absolutely loved it! Fantastic read.

I also read the first 3 issues of 52. I was worried after the first issue because there was so much going on but as they continued in issues 2 and 3, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Batman #653 was very good but issues #149 and 150 of Robin were incredible. A shock in #150 for sure.
[/b][/quote]


I thought you'd enjoy it. I did.

What's the shock in Robin 150? Can you post hidden by spoiler???

Am shopping in FP tomorrow.

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

[James T. Skywalker]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darth Badly @ Jun 20 2006, 03:52 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
What's the shock in Robin 150? Can you post hidden by spoiler???[/b][/quote]

Doesn't look like there are spoiler tags on the new revamp of the forum...

~JTS

[P-Ray]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darth Badly @ Jun 20 2006, 06:52 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I thought you'd enjoy it. I did.

What's the shock in Robin 150? Can you post hidden by spoiler???

Am shopping in FP tomorrow.

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif
[/b][/quote]
I'm probably too late, but I wanted to suggest that you pick up Robin #148 - #150(1 year later stuff).

If you don't get it fairly soon, let me know and I wuill Pm you with what happens. Just for the record thouh, ut will be a better read than me telling you! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif

[Darth Badly]

P-RAY - I'm not gonna buy the Robins so spill away!

Back from town with:

Civil War 2

And

Wonder Woman 1

[jedi hunter]

i came back yesterday with-

Flash:fastest man alive #1 (just a tad disapointed but a good read)
Eternals #1 (havent read yet)
x-men fairy tales #2 (which totally sucked)
52 #7 (I loved what happened to BG)
and since i had some extra money i got Last Planet Standing 1-4 (havent read yet)

[Darth Badly]

Read CIVIL WAR 2.

Enjoyed it, but it was a bit of a fast and slight read. Not much meat.

[P-Ray]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darth Badly @ Jun 22 2006, 06:02 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
P-RAY - I'm not gonna buy the Robins so spill away!
[/b][/quote]
Sent that in a pm Sir Badly! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif

[Darth Badly]

Picked up:

NEW AVENGERS #20

ETERNALS #1

ULTIMATES

ALL STAR SUPERMAN #4

[James T. Skywalker]

Badly, how did you like Wonder Woman #1?

~JTS

[Darth Badly]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(James T. Skywalker @ Jun 24 2006, 09:32 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Badly, how did you like Wonder Woman #1?

~JTS
[/b][/quote]


Just about to read it.

[Darth Badly]

IRON MAN MOVIE DATE

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment on Friday announced that the Iron Man movie, to be directed by Jon Favreau, will reach theaters on May 2, 2008.

Iron Man is the first feature film to be produced independently by Marvel Entertainment, expected to be financed through Marvel's $525 million revolving film financing facility and distributed under Marvel's overall distribution arrangement with Paramount.

Iron Man will be produced by Avi Arad, creative advisor to Marvel Studios, and Kevin Feige, Marvel's president of production. Executive producers are Favreau, Ari Arad, Favreau and Louis D'Esposito. It will also be the first project for the newly launched Avi Arad Productions.

"We're thrilled to be launching the summer 2008 movie season with Iron Man," Feige said. "Marvel has had great success with the first Friday in May -- Spider-Man broke records on that first Friday and X2 debuted at the top of the box office charts as well. We're looking forward to extending that track record with Iron Man and are extremely pleased with the progress of the script, the production team we are forming and the initial production designs."

Here's how the film is described:

"Based upon Marvel's iconic Super Hero, the film will follow billionaire weapons-manufacturer, Tony Stark, who confronts the sins of his past after he is injured by one of his own weapons. Equipped with a high-tech suit of armor, he becomes Iron Man to combat evil on a global scale."

[P-Ray]

Ultimate Avengers 2 update!

http://www.superherohype.com/news.php?id=4466

[Ripley]

<span style="color:blue">Bought Watchmen over the weekend. Great read.</span>

[Enfilade]

Bought the new GARGOYLES Comic from Slave Labor Graphics.

If you remember the GARGOYLES TV show, the comic is written by the same guy who created the storyline for the first two seasons (Greg Weisman). The first two issues of the comic introduce the cast and story using the one episode storyline that Greg wrote for Season 3, and then from issue 3 on, all new stories--what we would have seen if Greg had been able to write Season 3 as he intended. (So, the rest of the Goliath Chronicles isn't cannon--this is.)

[James T. Skywalker]

Hey BADLY! Never got that WW #1 review, mate! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif

~JTS

[Darth Badly]

Been off on hols for ten days and so not posting.

Back now.

[P-Ray]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darth Badly @ Jul 9 2006, 08:56 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Been off on hols for ten days and so not posting.

Back now.
[/b][/quote]
Welcome back, Chum! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif

[Darth Badly]

Back with new stuff.

Will list tomorrow.

[James T. Skywalker]

A lot of fun stuff this week; my picks for the week are Superman #654 (the first issue with Kurt Busiek as solo writer and Carlos Pacheco on art chores) and Green Lantern #12 (return of the Cyborg Superman!). 52 Week 10 is also quite awesome, especially since it features our favorite intrepid reporter, Clark Kent, and his royal-bad@$$ness, Black Adam.

~JTS

[Justin]

Yeah 52 is very good, even though it has a supremely lame title.

I got the first volume of Alias on Wednesday and I read the whole thing Wednesday night. It's excellent.

[James T. Skywalker]

Yeah 52 is very good, even though it has a supremely lame title.


No one ever said it was easy to rip off the best show on television. ;)

And yes, 52 rocks. Week 11 was also a lot of fun, and I'm really, really intrigued by Ralph's and Cassie's story.

~JTS

[Ripley]

Lately I've been considering picking up some of the rebooted Squadron Supreme books. Anyone here read them?

[Justin]

YES!!!!!

Pick up the collected editions of Supreme Power. They're amazing.

I wish the book had stayed a MAX title when it changed from Supreme Power to Squadron Supreme.

All the cussing and violence added to the real-world feel.

[Justin]

Wow, I guess noone here reads comics anymore.

Anyway, All-Star Superman #5 is amazing. I loved it.

[P-Ray]

Wow, I guess noone here reads comics anymore.

Anyway, All-Star Superman #5 is amazing. I loved it.

I have a stack to read that you wouldn't believe. I just haven't been in that mode but will finally have a chance to read on FRiday.

[James T. Skywalker]

Wow, I guess noone here reads comics anymore.

Anyway, All-Star Superman #5 is amazing. I loved it.

I'm still reading plenty, I just didn't wanna do the whole "post all the comics you bought and give a couple thoughts" routine anymore. Figured people were getting tired of it.

I've bought WAY too many comics in the last two weeks. Yesterday was the worst, since I also bought copies of all the comics that I was going to buy last week but couldn't because my shop received damaged copies.

So let's see, I got:
52 WEEK #17
ACTION COMICS #842
ALL STAR SUPERMAN #5
JLA CLASSIFIED #26
JUSTICE #7 (OF 12)
SUPERMAN BATMAN #29
TEEN TITANS #38
TRIALS OF SHAZAM #1 (OF 12)
UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #2 (OF 8)

and...

BLUE BEETLE #6
JSA CLASSIFIED #16
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA COVER B #1
SUPERGIRL & THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #21

And yeah, I got Cover A of JLoA #1 last week.

Scary, I know.

~JTS

[Ripley]

I got the second Ultimates trade. I loved Cap's manipulation of Hulk in issue 13.

[kopernikuz]

Hey all, just checking in to the thread... just recently got lured back into comics after many years out of the loop. Marvel's Civil War peaked my interest, and I ended up finding myself scrambling for back issues and trades to catch up on Decimation and House of M etc... I couldn't believe all the stuff I've missed!

Some of the comics I'm now BACK into and have on my pull list or subscribe to:

X-Men
X-Factor
New Avengers
Ghost Rider (yay he's back!)
Moon Knight
Eternals
Wolverine (natch!)
Wolverine: Origins
Iron Man

Obviously, I'm a Marvel fan... lol. DC has never interested me other than Batman, I used to be heavy into buying Batman books... but not so much any more.

Anyway, looking forward to discussing titles here.

[P-Ray]

I finished reading a bunch of Marvel stuff today.

I am loving the Civil War stuff including the crossovers.

[James T. Skywalker]

Obviously, I'm a Marvel fan... lol. DC has never interested me other than Batman, I used to be heavy into buying Batman books... but not so much any more.


You should check Batman out again. Grant Morrison is currently writing Batman (with one of the Kubert brothers on pencils) and Paul Dini (of Batman: The Animated Series fame) is writing Detective Comics.

Should check out Superman titles, too. Kurt Busiek (JLA: Earth 2, Conan) is currently writing both titles (with Fabien Nicieza, who does some Marvel work too, helping on Action Comics), and in October, Geoff Johns and Richard Donner (director of Superman) will be co-writing with the other Kubert brother (can never remember which one's which, Andy and Adam).

~JTS

[P-Ray]

SPOILER(in case it's true)...























I heard today from my buddy who runs a comic shop that Batman finds out he has a son, and then he moves into the mansion and doesn't get along with Tim.

Has anybody heard that yet?

[Justin]

Wow, no spoiler warning or anything!

[P-Ray]

Wow, no spoiler warning or anything!
Well actually I don't even know if it's true! It's just a rumor or discussion at this point.

[Justin]

Well if you heard it from someone who works in a comic shop, then it's likely to be true, and thus mentioning it spoiled it for everyone.

Like when I figured out way in advance that Superman wold have a superbaby in the new movie, I chose not to state my theory in case it turned out to be true, thereby spoiling it for everyone else.

[P-Ray]

Been changed. Don't know how to do the spoiler tag on this new site. I guess it may be the same.

[kopernikuz]

Well if you heard it from someone who works in a comic shop, then it's likely to be true, and thus mentioning it spoiled it for everyone.

Like when I figured out way in advance that Superman wold have a superbaby in the new movie, I chose not to state my theory in case it turned out to be true, thereby spoiling it for everyone else.
You didn't have to reveal that to spoil that sad movie... Brian Singer spoiled it enough on his own... just the very presence of the superbaby spoiled it...

ugh...don't get me started :P

[P-Ray]

You didn't have to reveal that to spoil that sad movie... Brian Singer spoiled it enough on his own... just the very presence of the superbaby spoiled it...

ugh...don't get me started :P
I agree completely!

And I too was going to say that I think we knew well in advance about the baby. Singer even had to reveal who's baby in one interview.

[Ripley]

Just got Batman: The Long Halloween from inter-library lone. I can't wait to start it.

[James T. Skywalker]

Just got Batman: The Long Halloween from inter-library lone. I can't wait to start it.

One of the best Batman stories ever written. When you're done with that, make sure to pick up Batman: Dark Victory, also from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.

~JTS

[P-Ray]

JTS...if you don't mind possible spoilers, could you read my post up above about Batman and tell me if you have heard anything about that?

[Justin]

You ought to just go out and buy the comic to find out for yourself. It's a good one, I think it's the first (or second?) issue in Grant Morrison's new run.

[P-Ray]

You ought to just go out and buy the comic to find out for yourself. It's a good one, I think it's the first (or second?) issue in Grant Morrison's new run.
I get all the Batman stuff. I just haven't recieved my latest shipment yet plus if it were true, I didn't know how far down the road it would be.

[Ripley]

One of the best Batman stories ever written. When you're done with that, make sure to pick up Batman: Dark Victory, also from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.

~JTS
I'm reading it and Year One in order. Any other essential Batman stories to pick up (I already know about Dark Knight Returns)?

[James T. Skywalker]

I heard today from my buddy who runs a comic shop that Batman finds out he has a son, and then he moves into the mansion and doesn't get along with Tim.

Has anybody heard that yet?

Read the Batman title, written by Grant Morrison currently. Go pick up issues #655 and 656. :D

EDIT: Yeah, as Justin said, it's good. The next issue is the one where the kid comes back to Gotham, apparently. That should be out in a few weeks, on regular stands.

~JTS

[James T. Skywalker]

I'm reading it and Year One in order. Any other essential Batman stories to pick up (I already know about Dark Knight Returns)?

Hmmm... in terms of early Batman stuff, those three are the best. If you can find it, The Man Who Laughs is a classic retelling of the first real confrontation between the Batman and the Joker, written by Ed Brubaker (Gotham Central, Daredevil, Captain America). That story uses a couple keys from the Joker's origin as told in The Killing Joke, which is a must-read from Alan Moore. Other pickups: Arkham Asylum (graphic novel from Grant Morrison), the Knightfall saga (three trade paperbacks, many different writers, that follow Batman as he's beaten and recovers from having his back broken by Bane), No Man's Land (five trade paperbacks, various authors, that follow the aftermath of an earthquake in Gotham), Bruce Wayne: Murderer?/Fugitive (four trades, various authors; Bruce Wayne and his bodyguard are framed for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Vesper Fairchild). And then there's Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee's [i]Hush, which is much more formulaic than Loeb's two masterpieces with Tim Sale, but the art is brilliant and it changes a bit of the status quo for Bruce and Batman. Oh, and one that's labeled as Batman story, but really is, is JLA Volume 7, Tower of Babel by Mark Waid. Great stuff there.

Those are all favorites of mine. Others could recommend some good stuff too. And a lot of the stuff coming out right now is really good as well.

~JTS

[Justin]

No Man's Land was amazing. Greg Rucka's novelization of it is excellent as well.

[P-Ray]

Jonathon Mostow to do Sub Mariner movie!

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=16485

[Justin]

I don't think they should make a Sub-Mariner movie, I think they should put him in a Fantastic Four movie.

[P-Ray]

I don't think they should make a Sub-Mariner movie, I think they should put him in a Fantastic Four movie.
I agree completely!

[James T. Skywalker]

Yeah, if he's gonna be anywhere, it should be in the third Fantastic Four movie (since the next one is already set to feature the Silver Surfer and [presumably] Galactus), or in a Defenders movie (imagine having him, Hulk, Dr. Strange and Silver Surfer together). :)

~JTS

[Justin]

A DEFENDERS movie?! LOL

[P-Ray]

I finally caught up with my 52's and I'm enjoying them for the most part.

Some stuff I am just skimming through.

[James T. Skywalker]

52 has been great. Especially some of the recent revelations.

But I wanna see more of Steel. And of course, more Renee, Question and Black Adam.

Batwoman, too.

And Supernova.

Ok, I just want more 52! :D

~JTS

[P-Ray]

52 has been great. Especially some of the recent revelations.

But I wanna see more of Steel. And of course, more Renee, Question and Black Adam.

Batwoman, too.

And Supernova.

Ok, I just want more 52! :D

~JTS
I'm really enjoying the Steel, Supernova, Booster Gold and Batwoman stuff! But I'll be honest with you, I'm skimming thru the Black Adam/Shazam stuff. I have never been a big fan of those characters.

[P-Ray]

The cover of Empire's comic book issue!

http://www.superherohype.com/news.php?id=4749

[James T. Skywalker]

That Hitch cover is kickass.

Big week of comics from both sides of the Big Two. Morrison's Batman, Justice League #2, and 52 (as always) came out for DC, while The Ultimates 2, Ultimate Spidey #100 and Civil War: Frontline hit stands for Marvel.

I picked up almost everything I wanted yesterday, but I still have to pick up The Trials of Shazam #2 and Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #3.

Also got a second long box to store my comics. Stupid collection is growing too fast.

~JTS

[Ripley]

Since I've gone through some of the Batman stories you've guys have mentioned I figured it was time to hit the Superman essentials. I've read Birthright and will be getting the Death of Superman trilogy and the first few Man of Steel volumes. Any other suggestions?

Also I've heard from some of my friends already deeply entrenched in superhero lore that current DC is leaps and bounds ahead of current Marvel (my recent reading of House of M does support that a bit). Do you guys have any input on that? I just wondered because my interest in DC has gone up quite a bit due to the recent films- Superman Returns and Batman Begins are leagues ahead of all the Marvel flicks IMO.

[Justin]

I don't normally read regular Marvel titles, but the current big event - Civil War - is awesome, and way better than DC's Infinite Crisis.

If you want to read some good Superman stories, off the top of my head I can recommend A Superman For All Seasons, Bizarro's World (I highly recommend this one), Return to Krypton, Secret Identity (which is kind of a what-if story that's not really about current continuity Superman, but it's a great story), Superman/Batman: Supergirl.

[James T. Skywalker]

Superman: Red Son is a great Elseworlds (what if) story that I highly recommend. As far as regular continuity stuff goes, any of Greg Rucka's trades are great ("Unconventional Warfare", "That Healing Touch", "Ruin Revealed"), but need to be read together for the full story. Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek's first One Year Later story, "Up, Up and Away!" was great, I highly recommend that trade. And if you want some good Superman and Batman teamups, try the Superman/Batman collections of "Public Enemies", "Supergirl", "Absolute Power" and "Vengeance" (the last two are still only available in hardcover, though, I think).

Infinite Crisis itself is a good Superman story, and a good story in general (though it did falter a bit at the end). But it's available in hardcover right now, so I'd recommend at least picking it up and checking it out. If you haven't read some of the precursors to it, you may not quite get it (it's very heavy on the continuity), but it's still a good Superman story.

As far as Marvel and DC's current publishing stuff, Justin's right, Civil War is a good read, but I like what DC's been doing more myself. From their lead-ins with Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis to their huge undertaking with the weekly 52 series, as well as their line-wide One Year Later jump, DC is running very strong right now, with lots of great creative teams working on many different titles. Richard Donner (director of the first Superman movie) is co-writing Action Comics with Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison is writing Batman, Marv Wolfman is reinvigorating Nightwing, Kurt Busiek is on Superman, Paul Dini (writer for "Batman: The Animated Series") is writing Detective Comics, Brad Meltzer (writer of Identity Crisis) is writing the new Justice League of America, Allen Heinberg on Wonder Woman. Lots of great new titles and miniseries. DC's definitely on the upswing, even if Marvel still gets more publicity and their sales are still above DC's overall.

Marvel has some solid regular titles, from what I've heard. Their Ultimate line is doing well, Captain America and Daredevil are being written by Ed Brubaker and are generally considered to be better than they've been in a long, long time, and Civil War has people interested in a lot of minor titles (Cable/Deadpool, New Thunderbolts, Ms. Marvel). They're doing well too, but DC seems to be firing on all thrusters creatively right now, which is great for DC fans. I hope DC can keep gaining momentum and that their big event next year will dwarf Infinite Crisis's success.

~JTS

[Justin]

Superman: Red Son is a great Elseworlds (what if) story that I highly recommend. As far as regular continuity stuff goes, any of Greg Rucka's trades are great ("Unconventional Warfare", "That Healing Touch", "Ruin Revealed"), but need to be read together for the full story. Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek's first One Year Later story, "Up, Up and Away!" was great, I highly recommend that trade. And if you want some good Superman and Batman teamups, try the Superman/Batman collections of "Public Enemies", "Supergirl", "Absolute Power" and "Vengeance" (the last two are still only available in hardcover, though, I think).

Infinite Crisis itself is a good Superman story, and a good story in general (though it did falter a bit at the end). But it's available in hardcover right now, so I'd recommend at least picking it up and checking it out. If you haven't read some of the precursors to it, you may not quite get it (it's very heavy on the continuity), but it's still a good Superman story.

As far as Marvel and DC's current publishing stuff, Justin's right, Civil War is a good read, but I like what DC's been doing more myself. From their lead-ins with Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis to their huge undertaking with the weekly 52 series, as well as their line-wide One Year Later jump, DC is running very strong right now, with lots of great creative teams working on many different titles. Richard Donner (director of the first Superman movie) is co-writing Action Comics with Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison is writing Batman, Marv Wolfman is reinvigorating Nightwing, Kurt Busiek is on Superman, Paul Dini (writer for "Batman: The Animated Series") is writing Detective Comics, Brad Meltzer (writer of Identity Crisis) is writing the new Justice League of America, Allen Heinberg on Wonder Woman. Lots of great new titles and miniseries. DC's definitely on the upswing, even if Marvel still gets more publicity and their sales are still above DC's overall.

Marvel has some solid regular titles, from what I've heard. Their Ultimate line is doing well, Captain America and Daredevil are being written by Ed Brubaker and are generally considered to be better than they've been in a long, long time, and Civil War has people interested in a lot of minor titles (Cable/Deadpool, New Thunderbolts, Ms. Marvel). They're doing well too, but DC seems to be firing on all thrusters creatively right now, which is great for DC fans. I hope DC can keep gaining momentum and that their big event next year will dwarf Infinite Crisis's success.

~JTS
It would be nice if both companies would ship their titles in time as well. ;)

[James T. Skywalker]

It would be nice if both companies would ship their titles in time as well. ;)

52 is on time. That's all that really matters for me. :bigsmile:

~JTS

[Justin]

52 is on time. That's all that really matters for me. :bigsmile:

~JTS
It would be nice if 52 was still good. I've decided to stop buying it.

[Ripley]

Got New X-Men: E is for Extinction off of inter-library lone. Pretty interesting read. I myself like the leather costumes more than the originals although it isn't really that big of a deal to me.

[James T. Skywalker]

It would be nice if 52 was still good. I've decided to stop buying it.

I still love it. I mean, it tosses so many things on their heads. If you read Gotham Central prior to 52, would you ever have imagined Renee Montoya hanging out with Black Adam? Me either, but it made sense here. Would you have imagined Ralph Dibney tagging along through the underworld with Fate's helmet?

And the stories that have come out that we didn't know about beforehand (the space heroes, Will Magnus and T.O. Morrow, whatever is going on with Red Tornado, Skeets) have been pleasantly surprising. I especially like the use of Magnus, he's been a fun character to read about--especially since I've seen very little of him in the past.

Overall, I've enjoyed the series. There have been some down issues, but it's been true to its word from the beginning, at least to me.

~JTS

[P-Ray]

Anybody still read comics around here?

I'm still really enjoying all the Civil War stuff.

I just cancelled Supergirl and Batman. JTS, do you still get those? What do you think of those.

For DC, I'm lovin' Teen Titans and Justice League. I have about 30 52 comics still to read.

[kopernikuz]

Still doing Civil War here!

In addition to any title bearing a Civil War banner I regularly receive on my pull list:

Battlestar Galactica
Lone Ranger
Highlander
Batman Confidential
Star Wars: Dark Times
24: Nightfall
The Eternals (w/Neil Gaiman)

My subscriptions:
X-Men
Wolverine
Wolverine: Origins
Moon Knight
Ghost Rider
The Amazing Spider-Man
The New Avengers
X-Factor

[James T. Skywalker]

52 is gearing down--and up at the same time! There are only 13 weeks left, and MAJOR stuff is happening!

A few examples:

-the Four Horsemen of Apokolips!
-Lex Luthor: Man of Steel!
-Skeets vs. Supernova & Rip Hunter!

And much, much more! Not to mention Ralph may be traveling with someone other than the Helmet of Fate, Renee Montoya lost her traveling companion, and the space heroes are still just lost.

Read 52! It's still the best, most consistent book being shipped! :)

~JTS

[P-Ray]

Still doing Civil War here!

In addition to any title bearing a Civil War banner I regularly receive on my pull list:

Battlestar Galactica
Lone Ranger
Highlander
Batman Confidential
Star Wars: Dark Times
24: Nightfall
The Eternals (w/Neil Gaiman)

My subscriptions:
X-Men
Wolverine
Wolverine: Origins
Moon Knight
Ghost Rider
The Amazing Spider-Man
The New Avengers
X-Factor
I read the first 3 of Lone Ranger and really enjoyed it!

I love the X-Men, Wolverine, Amazing, New Avengers and X-Factor. I really like the new artist on X-Factor. It makes a big difference.

I almost dropped Wolverone:Origins and now I'm glad that I didn't. It's getting really good. Especially the most recent issue where his son comes up and just cuts Wolvie's stomach wide open.

[P-Ray]

52 is gearing down--and up at the same time! There are only 13 weeks left, and MAJOR stuff is happening!

A few examples:

-the Four Horsemen of Apokolips!
-Lex Luthor: Man of Steel!
-Skeets vs. Supernova & Rip Hunter!

And much, much more! Not to mention Ralph may be traveling with someone other than the Helmet of Fate, Renee Montoya lost her traveling companion, and the space heroes are still just lost.

Read 52! It's still the best, most consistent book being shipped! :)

~JTS
I've still got like 30 of 'em to read yet. And I just saw in previews that I need to have WWIII pulled as 52 ends.