JimintheCuse

July 27, 2009 11:25 am

Wow.  Just...wow.  I have 6 tattered issues of the original Moore/Gaiman issues, and I recently dug them out of there plastic and cardboard coffins after watching the guys' do the video show and they hold up nicely.  If this is something where they reprint these in an omnibus-style binding, count me in. 

But the thought of Marvel and Joe "big event" Quesada roll this character into Marvel continuity..? shudder!  Though maybe he could kill the Sentry like stated above - that would be poetic (even though the last few issues of DARK AVENGERS have made the Sentry more interesting than he's ever been).

July 27, 2009 11:07 am Yeah, I'm not denying that it sounds like sour grapes, Greg, but wouldn't the review for an anniversary issue be the place to kind of take stock of the direction of the series?  I guess when you've invested more years into a character than cumulative years worked, you feel a certain closeness to the character. Obviously I'm not alone in my disregard for the 'deal with the devil' horsecrap, but even still, I've liked the last 10 issues and will probably start buying it again based solely off of those.  I'm sure that there's a character you feel very strongly about, Greg - otherwise you wouldn't be a comic fan, right? - and believe me, if someone went in and waved a magic wand and said 'poof! Everything you know about this character is crap and HERE'S how it should be.', you'd be a little put off.  That being said, yes, I'm still a little bitter about it, and I make no excuses for that fact.

July 24, 2009 4:27 pm

Man, who would WANT to chillaxe with Hawkman anyway?  Between him bitching about how Obama and the democrats are running into the ground and the fact that Kendra hates his hawk-guts and shows it by banging Arsenal every which way to Tuesday, you would never get a word in edgewise.

Oh, yeah, and Abe Lincoln is one of those inter-dimensional Nexus points.  That dude shows up EVERYWHERE!

July 24, 2009 4:15 pm

This actually kinda bums me out a little.  Like Dave and PVT above state, a lot of the appeal of this series is the co-mingling of the old and new guard characters. In fact, after reading the previous volume written by Goyer, Robinson, and Johns, and the current stories by Johns, I'd say that was the most important factor in this book. I certainly thought at the beginning of Johns' run that there was no way that the book could work with the continual addition of characters, but the Gog storyline proved me wrong.

I'll give them both a few issues, but if the split is due to Jay Garrick being a neo-con and Stargirl wanting to support Ralph Nader, I'm dropping it like a ticking gamma bomb.

July 24, 2009 3:52 pm

I couldn't agree w/you more, Indy, especially about growing upt with Spidey and relating to Peter as a growing character.  I felt that the whole 'deal with the devil' reboot completely delegitamized 20 years of stories and character development.  And not only on a character level, but their relationship had so much weight in the early days of the marraige. And here's my biggest question from this whole thing, and maybe I'm a little too concerned w/continuity then I should, but when I go back and read, say, the first Venom stories that Michelinie and McFarlane did together, where MJ was terrorized by Venon AT THEIR HOME - did that happen?  Or was MJ merely visting Peter, not living in their own pad? How does MJ figure into KRAVEN'S LAST HUNT? As bad as the clone saga ended up being, did she still lose the baby??  I know that's all really literal, and maybe Marvel will address it at some point,  but there's 'literally' THOUSANDS of instances where the same continuity question exists. 

And just for the record, I read the first 3 issues of BLAND NEW DAY, thought they were horrible (Slott/Mcniven intro of Mr. Negative and JJ has yet ANOTHER heart attack - yawn), and started picking it up again around issue 588 only because I read that they were going to start to address the remifacations of BLAND NEW DAY. 

One more addendum to the back up features on issue #600.  The Madame Web (Geoff Johns!) device of foreshadowing the next year?  Not ONE thing I saw peaked my interest.  I guess we're just going to have rely on NEW AVENGERS to get any exposure to the Spidey we grew up with, Indy. And yes, I'm a grumpy old man, dammit!! Flibbity floo!

July 23, 2009 3:42 pm

Y'know, this book has quietly been steady and strong, as well as touching like you say, throughout this entire New Krypton story arc.  I've never been more excited to be reading the SUPER-TITLES, and picked this up on a whim yesterday.  I totally agree with your assessment of it.  I really am coming to love Igle's art, too.

And yeah, can you imagine where DC would be without Geoff Johns?!?  One shudders to think.  The whole universe would probably be centered on Ambush Bug or some other Didiot.

July 23, 2009 3:29 pm Agree 100%.  Can't wait till Hickman & Eaglesham on FF.

July 23, 2009 3:26 pm

I had almost the same reaction to the back-up stories, vadamowens. I enjoyed MJ's return, but that's mainly because Peter's love life has been set at -11, and the bimbos they've created as love interests have been vacuous and cliched.  Otherwise, I agree with you about the 100% that many of Marvel's flagship titles have slipped precipitously.

July 23, 2009 1:59 pm

Thanks, chlop. Sorry if I come off a little grumpy. That's been my general feeling about this book since "Bland New Day".

July 16, 2009 9:42 am

I really, REALLY liked Scalped - and props, Josh, for going with your gut (that title page did take my breath away), but, at the risk of sounding innocuous, BLACKEST NIGHT had MULTIPLE panels/pages that took my breath away - the splash page where Hal shows Barry who has died? I want it on a poster.  I swear, Reis is channelling Hitch and Alan Davis at their best but making the art completely his own.

 But as to your review, Josh, you're exactly, dead-on-the-money right.  SCALPED is so consistently good that it tends to lose its effect, at least for me somewhat, on an issue by issue basis. I've had the same issue with CAPTAIN AMERICA and JSA (well, not the last 2 issues of JSA), and if you're reading the issues in trade, then there's more of a payoff, I think.  The deep and long characterization - which I prefer to, oh, shoving 80 X-characters into a book and calling it an 'event' - is rewarding, but on an issue by issue basis, there's just a touch left to be desired.

And honestly?  The book I actually kept flipping backwards through, and then picking up AGAIN when I was done with my stack was CAPTAIN AMERICA 601. The story was a little trite, but that's not why you pick up this issue. Colan is a living master, and I could hang every page of his art here on a wall.