theswordisdrawn

July 14, 2011 4:18 am And just when Fear Itself didn't seem like it could lose my attention any further... THIS!

The Mighty. Or as we might as well call them, as it really IS what they ARE, MORE AVENGERS!!!!!!!!!!

Or more specifically THE SAME OLD AVENGERS.

I'm bored Marvel. I'm tired of reading the same cast of characters rotated again. I've had enough.

As with 'The Worthy' these SHOULD have been a cast of characters power from the cross-section of the World. Instead it's the same old US heroes, in the same old US setting, dressed up to try and persuade the reader that this is a GLOBAL EVENT.

When it very much isn't.

I'd have prefered a more blanced and diverse line-up. Something more like:

Captain Britain
Storm
Doctor Strange
Iron Fist
Black Panther
Valkyrie
The Black Knight
Namor
Talisman

For variation and appeal.

July 8, 2011 10:19 am My only thought is that if Loeb's involved I don't really have any interest in reading it.

Burned one too many times over recent years...

July 4, 2011 5:48 am No love for Ben Templesmith's Welcome to Hoxford? That's an awesome Werewolf comic. Four issue min from a couple of years ago.

July 1, 2011 6:26 am

@ErronSF Originally Chris Claremont had intended to continue his Raising Hellfire set-up into his run on New Excalibur. Elias Bogan was to appear, continuing that plot, and he added Sage to Excalibur purely to be part of that (Let's face it she had no other purpose there). It had been hinted that Bogan was many hundreds of years old, and given that the London branch of the hEllfire Club was the original branch, I believe the intention was to reveal Bogan was actually a founding member.

A few issues into New Excalibur though Chris Claremont posted over on Comixfan's forum (As offten he did in those days) that he had been told all Hellfire properties, characters and concepts were now off the table for him. No direct reason was given, but it was assumed by many that it had something today with Joss Whedon's fiorever delayed 'faux Hellfire Club' appearing in Astonishing X-Men, at the time.

This is a great shame. The London Hellfire Club had been pencilled in as the Big Bad of New Excalibur, and Claremont had been building up his storyline for a long time.

Despite that being nixed, you can still see the hallmarks of Bogan in those early issues. The team of 'Dark X-Men' as they were solicited (And later renamed 'Shadow X' to tie them into The Shadow King) all wore masks with markings under the eyepieces which look identical to the tattoos which Bogan branded onto Sage's face. When that groups Charles Xavier attacked people he placed a psychic mask on them, which also bore those tattoo like marks.

A great sshame that never came off, as what eventually happened with New Excalibur was a bit of a mess when forcedly re-written.

June 30, 2011 11:02 am We've never been made 100% clear as to what Sir James Braddock's dealings with Hellfire Club actually consisted of. Were they in any way related to his work on Genosha? Or was this just a membership based on wealth and priveledge? Both Psylocke and Captain Britain have used their family connection to covertly attend Hellfire Club bashes in the past. Brian was also briefly the Red Bishop of the original London Club during Excalibur. I have often hoped they'd reactivate the LOndon Club. It was the first, after all. There was plans to bring it back as the main adversary of Chris Claremont's New Excalibur. But as I understabd it that got vetoed once the story had begun, as it was thought it would be confusing once Joss Whedon's faux Hellfire Club was introduced in Astonishing X-men.

June 28, 2011 7:17 am I'm calling it here. That's not Brian Braddock as Captain Britain, but his older brother Jamie. Who presumably in the Ultimate Universe never went crazy.

June 14, 2011 3:24 pm @RoiVampire Still not convinved. 

June 14, 2011 3:22 am Still really not feeling Fear Itself, as an Event. The idea that the whole world is cowering in Fear, despite only really showing anything happening in TWO American cities, and a brief glimpse of Brazil? I'm just not convinced.

This is Marvel's America! Shit like this happens almost every ther week. What makes Fear Itself different?

The last time a Marvel Event truly show a proper Global Event was probably House of M. By rights the idea of these hammers falling SHOULD be the perfect opportunity to showcase the whole of Marvel universe. Hammers falling in every main territory of the world. Instead, we have a fairly insular Event which is really only happening in North America but purports to BE the World.

And I still find it deeply ridiculous that for an Event based on characters from Scandinavian Mythology, no part of this story is actually taking place in any part of Scandinavia...

February 16, 2011 10:30 am I actually agree with pretty much ALL of those arcs. I also like the idea of the set length mini series, a la Hellboy, you mention. I've been saying that Marvel aught to be adopting that approach more for the past couple of years. It certainly can work.

December 1, 2010 4:35 pm

Hi Jamie,

 

Not a problem.

 

A bit of missing info on my part, and also a bit of buying wholescale into third partyfan grumbling. Bad form on my part, but I hadn’t the chance when I was posting yesterday to double check on a couple of things.

 

My intention was to present a couple of viewpoints I’ve been hearing from friends, Twitter and via email since the announcement of KerPow. It's so rare that this site has an article dealing with the UK scene that thought I'd try and bring in my own experiences. But it was a fdrantic rush, typed into and iPhone at speed, which looking back at the post now, is not as coherent as I'd intended. And not entirely what I was aiming to say.

 

I am rather glad to hear that two of those 4 shows are in Manchester and Telford. I had heard a rumour of a third London show a while back, and assumed wrongly that these 4 that when I'd heard a couple of guys whining about it on Twitter that this was a confirmed escalation of the London show. My mistake. Shows in Manchester and Telford would be a good idea, spreading out to a broader cross section of the Country. I’m definitely in favour of that.

 

Re: Skipping BICS because of MCM, I think I ought to clarify that. I certainly feel that this October into November was somewhat congested with Con activity. I can recall earlier in the year one of the organisers of Dublin Con, over on Millarworld’s forum, trying to rearrange their proposed dates due to clashing with Thought Bubble, and then finding that between BICS and MCM finding an available weekend was proving difficult. There were other reasons why the that con didn't happen this year, but couple with many British creators going over for NYCC, the week before BICS, that’s a lot of con activity in a small space of time!

 

From my own experience, in the weeks coming up to BICS, I was hearing friends saying that this year they really had to pick one or two out of the triangle of BICS/MCM/Thought Bubble. Times are tough, money is tight. And that was something I also found echoed online, on a couple of forums I visit regularly , and also through Twitter.

 

That was in part also prompted by a couple of creators usually present at BICS saying that because they were attending NYCC and MCM they weren’t going to be able to do BICS as well. It was certainly a talking point which I heard several times at the Con itself.

 

The late cancellations of a few creators frustrated some people. I recall one idiot getting a bit mouthy with a staff member about Jock having cancelled the day before, and his having come down from somewhere up North only to be disappointed. I believe that was ill health though. Like THAT was anybody’s fault! You try telling that to a guy who's made the trip especially, though.

But the worst thing was seeing a queue on the Sunday being broken up, after the creator being queued for didn’t turn up on the day. Another guying queuing with me had said this was second time he’d seen that happen the same day. Unfortunately, I don’t know which creator that was, but that was the word on the floor at the con. The blame wasn't being levelled at the organisers however.

 

Interesting that you mention Table prices. That’s one element of Cons which punters probably don’t tend to think that much about. If the difference is quite as significant as you say (And let's face it you'd probably know far better than I :) ) I could certainly understand if some creators did feel it more cost effective to do MCM instead. There’s more people through the door, so potentially a higher return.

I will say though that certainly over the past couple of years BICS has had a huge Small Press presence. It's one of the few cons where small press guys can get a prominent place in the main hall. Last year they were arguably the dominant presence in the main hall, and pretty much all the usual familliar small press faces were still there this year. The faces missing were mostly the regular attending pros, from what I could tell. Which was a shame, but these things happen.

 

I did hear at least one complaint over the rise in table prices this year. But I guess there was one significant difference between BICS last year and this. Last year BICS was Arts Council funded. Thought Bubble has been in the past also. And that kind of money makes a world of difference to organising a show of that size. Unlike in the US, UK conventions are not generally organised by large companies. Usually it's a team of a handful of guys who find sponsorship cash to get the show put on. The last government were very proud of funding the Arts in all forms, and some  Conventions were able to benefit from that. But since the the Election those grants have been disappearing. The money just isn’t available anymore.

 

It certainly would not surprise me if the price rise for tables had something to do with that. I mean an entire row of the main hall at BICS this year was bought up by an Indie film company, who had paid to shoot their film at the show. It was one way to raise capital for the show, I guess. And that’s what’s really tough for the more traditional UK conventions. The public kind of expects a US style convention, but the kind of money required to do that?

I think it is also partly why there is some friction between those of us who have supported conventions like Bristol, Dublin, Thought Bubble and the like, over the years. Because if we don’t continue to support them we know that they’ll very quickly cease to be. They are the last of the dedicated Comic shows in the UK, and do a great job of showcasing the medium of comics as a whole, at all forms and at all levels.

In recent years at UK cons I’ve seen some great panels. From painted cover tutorials to life drawing sessions with burlesque performers. From discussions with Manga creators to companies doing new translations of European comics. From discussions with big name industry Creators right down to small press companies and creators. Not just superhero comic creators, but guys like Charles Vess or Michuru Morikawa. At the larger multi-medium conventions there isn't room for panels like that. They're don't draw in the more casual every day fans. But at a dedicated Comics convention they is room for them. And from my past experience they actually do gather a decent sized audience.

 Don't get me wrong, I have done MCM Expo before.

And I’ll be honest… I did have a blast. :) There's no sense in denying that.

I actually got Jamie to sign a copy of Suburban Glamour when I was there earlier in the year .

But it’s a very different crowd, supported by a far greater spread of different interest groups. Many of whom aren’t even into comics. I personally hope that the Comics Village at MCM continues to grow, and more importantly gets more Comics panel time at the show. But at its heart, alot of people still don't see it as a comics convention. It's certainly the biggest Anime and Manga show in the UK, and the cosplay is huge! To the lengths that it kind of wigs me out...