The Comic Book Thread

[lhb412]

^Ha, someone else noticed the disproportionate celebration of Kirby's 100th!

http://io9.gizmodo.com/why-is-dc-comics ... 1795472475

[lhb412]

Zack Davisson's been killing it with his translations of Shigeru Mizuki's works - now he's doing the original Captain Harlock and Devilman manga as well!

https://twitter.com/ZackDavisson/status ... 2553416704

[lhb412]

[klen7]

Now you have my attention

[Dr Kain]

This just arrived:

[lhb412]

^Is that a Darwin Cooke cover? Seems like he had a backlog of covers done from these omnibuses done before he passed away.

[Dr Kain]

[mr.negativity]

DuckTales is back on TV in September, but it's also returning to comics -- here's what to expect from issue #1 of the new series.

[lhb412]

^There is no such thing as too much Duck Comics. Academic papers have been written to that effect. Hopefully the new cartoon will steer some kids to the original material.

[Dr Kain]

These arrived today:

[Dr Kain]

I got to meet this awesome man this weekend at Denver Comic Con:



Also picked tese up:





Also:

[lhb412]

^Is Neal Adams a jerk? I know he's crazy and believes in, like the Hollow Earth thing or something similar?

If you want a real altercation with a comics professional at a convention, go to Don Rosa's booth and call everything DuckTales!

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

Well it is kind of fitting that I just finished the third Omnibus volume of Spider-Man, completing Stan Lee's run on the series.

Overall, the stories were awesome, but outside of the tablet multiparter and the issues with Harry's addiction, I can't say they topped the ones from Volume 2. Issue 101 was probably the worst issue of the entire book, which is a big disappointment since it introduced one of my favorite Marvel characters. The artwork was just terrible and the story felt extremely rushed. In fact, I feel like the whole story should have taken up like 5-6 issues rather than 2.5. As for the artwork, they forgot to color Morbius' eyes red half of the time and sometimes his cape was a cape, sometimes they were attached to his sides like Spidey's web wings. It kept changing like every other panel.

That aside, the only other flaw I really sensed in Lee's entire run was time. I can deal with him forgetting names, but time is the biggest factor and where things didn't make sense. In this book, why the hell is there a child out in the middle of the night that George Stacy has to save from being crushed? Spidey was fighting Ock at like 2-3 in the morning. No child should have been out at the time. Then there are other things from earlier on in the series like when Peter had to lose his Spidey suit to Jameson to get away from the slayer. In the next issue he goes to grab his clothes he left the day before, heads to school, then in the next panel Jameson is gloating how he has had Spidey's costume for weeks, then goes to Peter at the end of his school day. WHAT?! Also, Gwen's birthday went from being a few week's away in one issue to the same day by the end of the third part despite all three parts taking place on the same day. o_O Oh, and then it will be mid-winter for one issue, but all of the snow is gone and it is bright and sunny like summer the next. It doesn't make sense.

However, nitpicks aside, these were truly outstanding stories to read and I'm glad to have finally read them. I highly enjoyed the tribute to King Kong they did in the last two issues, along with the Bates house being Connor's South Hampton estate, along with the stories revolving around Kingpin. I hope Marvel doesn't keep us waiting too long for Volume 4 because I want to finally be able to read everything the leads up to and then after Gwen's death the same way I just got to experience everything surrounding George's.

Until then though, my next book is the Michelinie/McFarland Omnibus.

[Dr Kain]

So I've been reading the Michelinie/McFarlane Omnibus and I have to honestly say that these stories are terrible compared to the Stan Lee and Roger Stern ones I have read. Like, the book started out fine but it seems like after the Silver Sable test run issue things have gone down hill. They've now changed Sandman's name from Flint Marko to something else (more like two things else since they've called him by two different names in these issues). The book tour thing was interesting, but it seems to have gone by the wayside for the really dumb MJ getting kidnapped plot, which dragged on for too long, and yet, its conclusion felt rushed.

The artwork is great, but how the hell did Michelinie last as long as Stan Lee with his subpar writing capabilities? I feel like these stories are really only remembered because it's Todd McFarlane and not someone good. Well, hopefully the Inferno stuff will improve my outlook on these issues. Can't wait to finally see Hobgoblin join a demon.

[Dr Kain]

Well I just completed the Michelinie/McFarlane Omnibus and I feel the stories never really improved all that much from my previous post. They were enjoyable, but hardly anything amazing. Also, McFarlane's art got really sloppy at times. There was one moment where I thought a bird was wearing the Spidey costume due to how long and angular his jaw got. I did like the little homage to the first Keaton Batman movie, that was fun.

There were a few things that annoyed me though. THey spent several issues talking about how Jameson is not himself, showing that Chameleon was him in one issue, and then that is it. Next time we see Jameson he has sold the Bugle to some rich dude and was yelling at the TV screen that had the Bugle on it. That was pretty lame and pointless.

Which brings me to my next problem. These Spidey stories have suddenly gotten way too heavy on relying on the reader to be keeping up with every other Spider-Man comic coming out at that time. I swear that on every third page there was something like, "This happened in Spectacular Spider-Man #whatever." "As was told in Web of Spider-Man #whatever." "Do you want to know what he is talking about? Give us your life savings and we will write about it in a super special ultra annual so you can find out." Really freaking annoying.

The Inferno issues were quite annoying and the continuity seemed off. I could have sworn the entire event was in the span of a day, but the way it is written in Spider-Man, it's over the course of nearly a week. Maybe it just felt like it was a day because of how quickly I read it last year. Also, they never actually showed Hobgoblin making his deal with N'starith (or however it is spelled). That was lame. His glider goes haywire and that is it. But the next time he appears is in the Return of the Sinister Six story when he is possessed. AGH!!!!

The Assassination Plot six parter was also a tad of a let down. The first two parts were enjoyable, but it ran too long and the ending had no payoff. We didn't even get to see Spidey and Red Skull fight each other. WTF? At least have Red SKull punch him once and run off, but nope, they couldn't even do that. Captain America felt utterly pointless here as he did absolutely nothing. He might as well have just walked into a panel and said, "Hi, I'm Captain America and I'm here because we need sales, bye." Sabertooth was also wasted potential.

Then we have this Acts of Vengeance thing, which I've heard about before and people made it sound like a bigger deal than it was. Spidey having cosmic powers (which he obtained in a different series because of course he did) made no sense. Nothing was ever done with them and then the Cosmic suit he gained in the last issue was pointless. This entire thing was nothing more than a stupid gimmick that lasted what, two months, if that? Why even change his costume for a whole 10 pages?

Wow, that is a lot of negativity for a book I didn't hate. I guess that after all of these years of the hype with how 'OMG MICHELINIE AND TODD MCFARLANE WERE LIKE THE GREATEST SPIDER-MAN TEAM OF ALL TIME!!!!!" was what I grew up with, and what I have heard people drool over the years, I was severly let down. I really did enjoy the stuff leading up to Venom and the return of Venom issues. I liked how Peter tricked the symbiote into trying to return to him to beat him the second time. Silver Sable was what I remember growing up with (still have yet to read her introduction into the Spidey world).

On to the Erik Larsen Omnibus, which will probably be the end of my Spidey train unless I dive into the Clone Saga stuff.

[mr.negativity]

[lhb412]

^Huh. That's something I don't think anyone expected. I wonder how well Dark Knight III did? It seemed to get nothing but derision online, but in comic shops you have fans who probably bought every issue of DK and DKII Miller did in the '80s and '00s in their comic shops and plan on doing the same for any more until the end of time.

Really dig this SDCC exclusive DuckTales cover Jeff Smith did. He really turned up the Carl Barks pastiche element here, though he already has quite a bit of Barks in his usual style.

[mr.negativity]

[Dr Kain]

Last night I finished reading the Erik Larsen Spider-Man Omnibus and overall, it wa quite subpar. There were a couple of good stories in it such as one where Spidey and Punisher had to team up to take on a government drug facility, the stuff with Venom, Styx, and Stone, The Return of the Sinister Six story, and I highly enjoyed the two parter between Doctor Doom and The Fox. Everything else was pretty bad, but the worse was The REvenge of the Sinister Six story. That thing was a complete incohrent mess. Well first, I should start with the Beast story where MJ and Peter are arguing over if they had a kid they don't want it to be a mutant. That was completely insulting and very out of character for the couple.

However, the worse was how pissy they were with each other during the Sinister Six story all over a movie that MJ was going to have to have a nude scene. Peter was such a jackass to MJ during that bit. Oh yeah, the Sinister Six where in this thing. Most of them were also way out of character. Yes, they have killed before if people got in their way, but they were never the mass murderers Erik Larsen wrote them to be in this story, which just goes to show how the man has no idea who these characters even actually are. We also never actually saw what they did in the alternate dimension they went in, how they got their weapons, how they recruited Gog, and how they came out. The artwork was bad, really bad. In all of the Omnibuses for Spidey I have read over the last 12 months, never was the artwork these god awful. Addtionally, the layout to the panels were all over the place and sometimes you couldn't even tell what was going on in them. Everything was so ugly. Then we have Spidey with a robotic arm cast that is like 4 times bigger than it needed to be. Everything was so angsty for the sake of being angsty. If you asked me to recite the plot to this story, I couldn't tell you and I just read it. Stuff happened and that it, end of story.

The last three issues in the book were stories from when they started Amazing's number run over for some reason. I wasn't reading Marvel by that point, so I have no idea who came up with this "brilliant" idea. Anyway, the first issue dealt with Brock's wife committing suicide and then Venom vowing revenge, only for him to not even show up in the next two issues, which had Smythe using mini Spider Slayers on Jameson and Peter. First, the Venom story makes no sense because Peter's costume is missing, so he goes to Aunt May's house to see if he has one left there and it ends up being his black suit? He burned that way back in issue 301 when he and MJ decided it was best for him to no longer wear it due to Venom. Oh, and MJ was apparentely killed in a plane crash or something. Well I know how this story ended up since I read Straczynski's run, but seriously? Who also at Marvel thought this was a good idea? Has Marvel made any good decisions after 1990 when it came to their comics? The Clone Saga, giving the X-Men generic leather jackets, turning Cyclops evil, One More Day, Brand New Day, killing Captain America, wiping out the Fantastic Four, turning Cap into a Hydra Agent, good god, how have they stayed in business for this long?

Overall, I am done with this Omnibus and I am so happy I am done. I can not believe these were the comics I grew up on as they were borderline crap. I'm now looking over at my comic box wondering if I should just try to sell off the 90s comics I was planning to keep for nostalgic purposes because maybe I don't need them after all. With that said, now that I am out of Spider-Man Omnibuses to read (at the moment, not sure I really want to get The Clone Saga books anymore) it is time I move onto the Lee/Kirby run of Fantastic Four.

[lhb412]

Okay, got the individual issue a month ago... but I wanted to wait for the nifty hardcover that came today. It's a whole lot of fun, but very slight - as I said, it's a single issue story. If you want a more substantial team-up you'll have to go for 'Shades of Green,' written in the mid-'90s and currently reprinted in Usagi Yojimbo Saga vol. 1. I just love how the TMNT end up in Usagi's universe via Stan Sakai's reasoning: in both stories the sorcerer Kakera (the Usagi-verse's counterpart to Master Splinter) takes four ordinary turtles from a pond, and via a ritual transmutes them into the TMNT, their minds being whisked from their home universe. Of course, in Shades of Green it was the original Mirage Comics version of the TMNT and with this story they're the from the current IDW comic, which causes a bit of confusion among the characters in this story. I was waiting for Usagi to mention that the TMNT are wearing different colored masks, while the ones he knew before all wore red.

Now I just need to see the episodes of the new TMNT cartoon Usagi stars in. I think there are three? I know Stan Sakai wrote at least the first part, which is awesome. I'd love for someone to actually produce an Usagi show or movie to raise the profile of this wonderful series and Stan Sakai.



Somehow missed the Hellboy hardcover story (called 'Into the Silent Sea') released a few months ago. Picked it up this week and loved Gary Gianni's artwork. Story is classic Mignola: all atmosphere and striking imagery. Gianni did unrelated backup stories to a bunch of early Hellboy issues, so it just seemed appropriate for him to bring him back into the fold.

[eabaker]

I need to get over to my local cmic book store and see if they have that hardcover. I would just order it online, but I have a gift certificate for the store that I've been meaning to use. I adore the fact that, because of Usagi having the same continuity running as it did in the 80s, that this crossover means he's encountering a Turtles multi-verse (although I'm also glad that TMNT isn't the kind of title tat would ever treat that concept as seriously as Marvel and DC do).

I also haven't seen the Usagi episodes of the Nick show (we watch on Hulu, so we have to wait till the season is over), but I have a pretty good feeling about them. I mean, I love the show, so I'm looking forward to everything this season, but I always really love a TMNT/Usage crossover.

[eabaker]

Speaking of TMNT...

A month ago (to the day!), I ordered a dozen out of print Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and TMNT-related comics from Mirage Studios. They arrived today, and they'd thrown in five extra comics!

In addition to the titles I ordered (Fugitoid #1, TMNT 30, TMNT 41, Turtle Soup v1 issues 1-4, The Haunted Pizza, The Maltese Turtle, Plastron Cafe 1, Casey Jones North By Downeast 1-2), they also included: Plastron Cafe 2-4, Casey Jones and Raphael #1, and Green-Grey Sponge-Suit Sushi Turtles.

[lhb412]

^Very cool! I remember in the days far before easily available reprints ordering directly from Mirage for the dwindling stock of TMNT trade paperback collections (that were already a decade old at that point). I'm pretty sure I had some freebies thrown in, but I can't for the life of me remember what they were.

Usagi's been so damn good ever since it came back from hiatus a few years ago. I mean, Stan Sakai maintains a high level of quality as a baseline, but for my money the series hit a peak from the mid-'90s into the mid-'00s in the lead-up to the first Grasscutter story all the way through the Travels With Jotaro/Fathers and Sons arc where it felt like every story was a classic and every character being introduced was a new iconic character. Ever since Stan came back from hiatus I feel like he's been hitting at those peak levels again.

Recently took stock of my Hellboy collection. I stopped buying the trade paperback collections once I decided to switch to the hardcover Library Editions, but at the moment I still only have the first two. Thinkin' about giving away my paperbacks (vol.1-10) to inspire me to just get all the Library Editions. In addition, I've bought every individual Hellboy issue released since 2002 and have a few earlier ones as well. Looking it up I see that all I'm missing is 15 issues and I will have the complete collection! I think I'll go for it: none of them are especially expensive. Heck, I only paid four dollars for the first issue a few years ago! I love the idea of having ever single issue of an iconic comic series. Usagi simply isn't doable because there's over a hundred issues I'd need to hunt down. I'm interested in getting individual issues of Love and Rockets but I never see them for sale anywhere (those that have them seem to keep them!).

Apparently Hellboy's gonna be exponentially easier to read soon: they're reprinting it all in paperback omnibus format next year. Four volumes to collect the (generally longer) stories that comprise the main storyline starting with Seed of Destruction and two volumes to collect all the short stories. What's interesting to me is that this'll be the first time this material is published in chronologcial fashion, telling the story of Hellboy's life in order. The shorter stories especially jumped all around the timeline. I'm tempted to go for these but I think owning the same material in two formats already is enough, don't you?! (it's collector's madness)

[sentaison]