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Whats everyone reading?

Started by Paul faplad Finch, 30 March, 2009, 10:04:36 PM

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Smith

I would hardly call Middle East in space tremendous.And his Batman is pretty weak.But thats just my opinion.

positronic

#6061
Quote from: Smith on 19 April, 2017, 08:02:38 AM
@Positronic We got the tail end of Morrisons Batman,and Court of Owls was great;but IMO for anyone who isn't Batman(and often for him,too),N52 was a toxic wasteland.

Oh, I disagree. It was (mostly) pretty toxic for Batman. What was a good tone for the re-integrated supernatural DC characters of 'The Dark' was pretty bad for superheroes, Batman and allies included. But that's because the supernatural characters had no real consistent history of publication or background details (except for the Vertigo version of Constantine), so a reboot actually helped define the supernatural side of things better and with more consistency.

Batman Incorporated I think suffers being split between the pre- and post-N52 DCU, with things that just don't match up between the first and second halves. I felt like having come this far, I had to stick with it through the conclusion. Morrison did the best he could with it, I guess. It still feels like years' worth (from the beginning of his regular Batman run) of an interesting, but very 'Elseworld' kind of Batman. At least it wasn't boring, even if some of the villains were incomprehensible.

Multiversity was much better, and inclines me to forgive him somewhat for Final Crisis. I did not read his Action Comics run after a brief glance through it. Some of Morrison's other work is maddeningly nonsensical. You may proclaim yourself a magician Grant, but that doesn't mean you can bedazzle me with b-s, and I don't mind calling attention to the emperor's lack of pants on such occasions.

I've been really leery of DCU Batman titles since 2011. Snyder wasn't my cup of tea prior to the reboot, and even less afterwards. IMO the closest they got to a decent DCU Batman title prior to Rebirth was John Layman & Jason Fabok's relatively brief run on Detective Comics (Volumes 3-5 in TP). After Rebirth, James Tynion's writing on Detective Comics is now the best DCU Batman. Although I still prefer Jeff Parker's Batman '66.

Smith

Not sure where to start there...I hated the new Constantine.I found Multiversity a lazy rehash of Morrisons previous work.It even gets referenced in the work itself.Oh look,im doing the same thing Flash did in JLA #3.
In all honesty,I barely read Batman in recent years.Last run I really enjoyed was Dini's Detective  Comics.Great stuff.

Theblazeuk

Paul Dini + Batman = :) :) :)

There has been some enjoyable stuff out of nu-52. Azzarello's Wonder Woman springs to mind and Dan Abnett's Aquaman (latter nothing special but it was fun).

positronic

Quote from: Smith on 19 April, 2017, 10:41:10 AM
Not sure where to start there...I hated the new Constantine.

The character, or the New 52 comic? That was one title from 'The Dark' group which was pretty bad. So was the team book written by Paul Cornell with the Demon in it (forgot the name already). Frankenstein wasn't any good in his own book, but was good as a character in JL Dark and in some other supporting roles (same with Constantine, mainly in JL Dark and as a guest in other stories). I didn't read I, Vampire. Star Spangled War/G. I. Zombie was good but only lasted for one story arc. Phantom Stranger and Pandora were also good. The two main ones were JL Dark and Swamp Thing (but only under Soule). Basically the first year or so of Dark titles wasn't any good, but they improved as a group right up to the big mass cancellation in April '16 (except for Constantine, which actually got worse). Yeah, granted it's a DCU Constantine, not the one you see in Vertigo's Hellblazer. He can't be a 'Mature Audiences' character in a mainstream DCU title. The reboot allowed them to work out more of an underlying logic to how the supernatural operates in the DCU, where before it really seemed fragmented and inconsistent, with a lot of seemingly-conflicting worldviews of motivating forces and alignments of otherdimensional beings. The general darker tone of the DCU after the reboot worked in favor of those titles, while I think it hurt the superhero titles (along with their many other problems).

But the N52 superhero and team titles (apart from those few that just carried over with the same ongoing stories and writers) were mostly pretty bad.

I don't think things have improved any with Rebirth. By that time they'd already cancelled any of the series that I liked, so I mainly just get a few non-DCU titles these days (apart from Detective, which I just borrow to read). Somehow they're selling better now, but I can't see why. Must be the re-numbering.

positronic

Quote from: Theblazeuk on 19 April, 2017, 10:43:27 AM
Paul Dini + Batman = :) :) :)

I liked his original Vertigo bio-graphic novel w/Batman. Good stuff.

Smith

Well,you already answered your own question about Constantine.
I actually think they improved with Rebirth.I just hope they don't screw it up soon.

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: TordelBack on 02 April, 2017, 10:33:59 PM
Quote from: Smith on 02 April, 2017, 12:03:29 PM
Im making my way thru Abe Sapiens series...and its pretty boring.Just hanging around with a group of survivors and scavenging for supplies.Its like a low key Walking Dead.

Interminable stuff, I agree. I gave up after the Sacred Places Collection  (Vol 5?).

Vol 5 is the real low point, actually. You could actually skip it and miss very little. Vol 6 is not much better, but does at least cut hin loose from the dull supporting cast that Scott Allie's gathered around him, and resolves the zombie/cult plotline of the previous two books. Vol 7 is much improved, but other than Strobl's story finally going somewhere it's mainly another exercise in navel-gazing.

Vol 8, though... Vol 8 is brilliant. The journey may have been excruitiatingly dull, but the destination is a cracker. Exactly what I was hoping for when I first heard Abe was getting a solo series. Such a missed oppurtunity overall, though.
@jamesfeistdraws

positronic

#6068
Quote from: Smith on 19 April, 2017, 01:54:25 PM
Well,you already answered your own question about Constantine.
I actually think they improved with Rebirth.I just hope they don't screw it up soon.

Hard to say. I didn't like the Rebirth HELLBLAZER either, but I suppose it might be a slight improvement on the previous New 52 incarnation of Constantine, the only aspect of which was interesting to me is that he was able to interact with a bunch of the other supernatural/Dark characters in those other titles I mentioned. As the star of his own N52 title, he wasn't so good. Without that interaction, I'd rather just read all the Vertigo Hellblazer trades I've missed (there have been quite a few). It makes me think there was little point in bringing the character back into the DCU.

ScottCB78

Reading Tom Kings Omega men, love Tom Kings writing and think his Batman run is seriously underrated.
Also trying to catch up on DC Rebirth, got all the 1st few issues from each comic but then slaked off..

Smith

Hello there,Bizzaro me.And welcome.

positronic

#6071
Quote from: Smith on 21 April, 2017, 10:04:49 AM
Hello there,Bizzaro me.And welcome.

I think you meant "Good-bye, Bizarro me." Bizarros always do (and say) things the opposite of all earthly people. Or did you actually mean to tell him farewell? You have to learn to speak Bizarro-language to make yourself understood to a Bizarro, so saying "welcome" is like saying "get lost".

They never did a story in which Mr. Mxyzptlk visited the Bizarro homeworld of Htrae, but I wonder if someone else on that planet saying his name not-backwards would cause him to return to his home dimension for 90 days.

The Adventurer

I read King's Omega Men on recomendation here and found it overall excellent. It was a bit more of a Kyle Rayner story then I expected, and I didn't know as much about the Omega Men as I thought I did going in, but it was suitably excellent.  The fact you can get all 12 issues in a single collection is also nice, and being 12 issues it's got a lot of room to breath.

THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

positronic

I haven't really read Tom King's stuff, apart from Convergence which was just an excuse to spin the wheels at DC for 2 months, leading nowhere and making absolutely zero sense in the conclusion.

I've had both his Omega Men and Batman work urged upon me by zealous fans of it, though. Just couldn't really find the time since I have no predisposition.

Smith

Hate to repeat my self,but-bad,overrated stuff.Middle East..IN SPACE.Oil...IN SPACE.Israel...IN SPACE.King cant even decide if its Kyle or Hal hes writing here.
And whos the mastermind who killed several planet to get to space oil.[spoiler]A generic American general.Yeah,apparently in DCU,Uncle Sam made it to other star systems.Somehow.[/spoiler]Which was never addressed before.Or after.[spoiler]And why is a Green Lantern being debriefed by US army anyway?[/spoiler]Again,is this Hal or Kyle?
Its nonsensical,dumb and it makes Avatar look bloody subtle by comparison.