Evin

April 24, 2012 3:45 pm You wanna know why Runaways tanked? Because even though Joss Whedon and Terry Moore are amazing, their runs suuuuuuuuucked. The Whedon run in particular is what killed it, if you ask me. Nonsensical time travel, characters acting completely uncharacteristically, and the most depressing and ultimately useless team member addition ever? Nooo thanks. Every author after him has had to deal with the baggage he left behind. It didn't help that Terry Moore's story was ultimately stupid, but having to drag along all the Whedon bullshit certainly wasn't a bonus for him. Kathryn Immonen did a better job (her plot ideas were much more in line with the tone of the book) and I'm sure if they had gone directly from BKV to her and skipped the two runs in the middle the book would have done better. It makes me sad that they're popping up in other books, because I don't READ other books. The Immonen run ended on a cliffhanger, but seeing the solicits for Avengers Academy I can see that the character placed in peril is apparently completely fine. I think he was in the Daken stuff too. I dunno. I just want to see the story where that got resolved. I have a feeling it's out there somewhere, but I have no idea where. In short, someone kill Klara already. Although she'd already the most depressing thing in the Marvel U so maybe that's too much. At least fix her. Have SHIELD show up and put her in superhero foster care and give her a therapist and bring her back in 10 years when she isn't awful or something. She's been dead weight this whole time.

February 7, 2011 5:34 pm Whoa, spooky. Speaking of Lars and podcasts and iFanboy, Lars is totally on today's episode of my podcast, Sack Lunch All-Stars, wherein we mention iFanboy.

http://sacklunch.ca/?p=90

March 5, 2010 4:56 am This is my pick for Lucy Knisley alone. The fact that there's a Punisher story in something called "Girl Comics" is also kindof hilarious and mindblowing.

October 6, 2009 4:37 am

Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

*buys*

March 21, 2009 4:43 am Thor is my favourite Marvel character, and Ultimate Thor is the entire reason for that (mainly due to his high levels of awesome in Ultimates 2 and Ultimate Power), so I am a little pissed to see him "die" here. But, then again, it's Thor. He's not dead, he's just in Valhalla. I'm sure he'll find a way out. He is a god, afterall.

March 10, 2009 3:43 pm

@ultimatehoratio

I definitely agree. Like I said, I can begrudge it the ending it has because it does mostly get us there, and also because to have the original ending would either make the film way too long, or make normal people confused/mad/whatever.

 I am just now worried that the thousands of people who are seeing this movie without having read a comic in their lives will then pick up the book, get to the ending, be all "Wait, aliens? What? That is weird. Comics are stupid."

March 10, 2009 2:17 pm

The ending in the book is so my most beloved part of Watchmen. You are Captain Wrong, Josh!

 That said, I can begrudge the ending the film has, because, as you said, they do mostly all reach the same points as they do in the book, it just felt kindof lazy and sterile to me. They did the same thing (conclusively) throuigh doing less (cinematically) by doing more (literally). And what I mean is that the characters pretty much acted the same, but since adding all the genetic engineering and artist kidnapping and all of that just to explain how an alien showed up to destroy New York would have added a ton of time to an already long movie (because if they didn't, you'd leave the general public really, really confused and probably a little cranky when the squid showed up) they needed something different and more easily explained, and to have the world powers to do the same thing would require a shit-ton more people to die, in way more cities than New York, which is what they did. The same through less by more.

And that just strikes me as lazy, sortof. I mean, it predicated by necessity, but even though it gets to the same place, it feels like a different one. The thing that I love about the ending of the book is how much sense it makes. It says something more interesting about humanity that we all unite when something larger and outside of ourselves appears and shows us what we are. In the movie it's not the epiphanous "Holy shit!" momentof the book, it's more a "That motherfucker! C'mon guys, let's round up a posse and kick his ass!" one. I mean, one can definitely say that Manhattan is the thing that is big and outside ourselves, and so you do reach that conclusion, but in watching the movie it didn't feel like that to me. The ending of the book to me feels like humanity ducking into a cave, desperately trying to find something to protect itself with, so that the fucked up shadows that it thinks are monsters outside won't get it, and the ending in the movie feels like someone just spilled a beer on humanity and they're kicking back the bar stool and looking for a fight.

 This is rambly and overlong so I am going to shut up. A more coherant reaction from me exists over at http://evin.livejournal.com/390924.html if anyone cares.

November 10, 2008 2:29 am Man, I liked that. Or rather, I really liked the last story. The first two I could take or leave, but the third really won my affection.

October 17, 2008 10:38 pm

I did actually consider Mouse Guard and American Born Chinese when staring at my self, but, as great as they are, I think that they're largely (Mouse Guard especially) more art-heavy than they are story-heavy. ABC is better, but still a little light, I think.

 Plain Janes is a good idea, although I totally just did buy our last copy a few weeks ago, though I imagine we could get more.

I do also agree that Understanding Comics is a little... dry. I just thought it might work because, if there's anything that could be regarded as a textbook for this stuff, it's that one.

 Thanks for the help, guys.

October 6, 2008 6:34 pm These things are gorgeous. This and the Y: The Last Man Deluxe Hardcover #1 are going on my shelf this month. Thankfully I work at a bookstore and get them at 25% off.