General Comics Discussion Thread

[Doctor Oak]

And as for the sexist hiring, I'll agree that they hired incredibly few woman. But you also have to factor in how many woman actually applied for the jobs or were not as qualified their male counterparts.

But how does that work with dropping almost all your female creative staff at the same time? There's no conspiracy being drawn up here, the evidence is pretty clearly set out for all to see - the people managing DC have absolutely no interest in either working with or selling to women.

 

[Sir Red]

See, that's why I said I made sure to mention I hadn't read the article yet. XD But yeah, in that case they definitely fucked up. Not to mention that they stopped one of the best female hero books out there (Brian Q. Miller's Batgirl) and took one of the best female characters in all of comics (Oracle) and retconned all of her character development away from the past 20 years. And a lot of the male writers, who are perfectly good writers, have shown at various times throughout their careers that they just struggle with writing a woman properly. And I won't even go into the whole "sexually liberated" topic from this past week involving Starfire and Catwoman. But yeah, DC's reboot has been essentially alienating woman on multiple fronts. The only female writer that I can think of working on the new 52 is Gail Simone, and even then the two series that made her a fan favorite are gone (one completely, the other only carrying on by name).

 

[Doctor Oak]

*Casts revive*

So, Miles has finished his first arc as Spider-Man (well, becoming Spider-Man at least), and Brian Michael Bendis tweeted this tonight:

"SPIDER-MEN??!! June 2012!!?? WHAT THE WHAT??!!"

Ok, so, it's fairly safe to assume this is Ultimate related. Firstly, Bendis doesn't actually do any 616 Spider-Man books (it's like the one series he DOESN'T write), secondly, we already knew that Bendis and 'Ultimate Spider-Man series artist' (finger quotes since she's only actually done 4 of the 6 books so far) Sara Pichelli have been busy working on another Ultimate related project.

Thirdly, and probably most notably. The two logos you see here are, firstly, Peter Parker's Spidey logo that adorned the polybag that issue #160 - the Death of Spider-Man - and secondly, Miles Morales' Spider-Man logo.

It certainly seems that we haven't seen the last of Ultimate Peter Parker - but will this be a revival... so soon? I hope not. Miles has found his footing rather quickly in the Ultimate Universe, and there's a lot of room to grow before even considering bringing back Peter (if ever). That said, I trust Bendis to have something good up his sleeve whatever the eventual concept turns out to be. I'll be looking forward to any more information.

Just for comparison's sake, here's the polybag cover for USM #160:

 

[Sir Red]

Hmm, interesting premise on the whole Spider-Men front. Personally I hope they don't bring Peter back, because that really just kind of opens the door of death in the Ultimate universe making it exactly like all of the other universes in comics.

Speaking of events and whatnot, I cannot wait for the Batman "crossover" to happen starting (kind of) next month. Night of Owls looks to be an incredibly exciting and fun book, especially with how many of the various Bat Family books it will touch into (if only for an issue or two).

Honestly, though, I don't think Scott Snyder can do any wrong right now. The man has three wildly successful series going strong right now, two of which are my favorite monthly releases (Batman & Swamp Thing). I wonder how long before somebody tries to turn him into the DC equivalent of BMB. >>

 

[Chadwyck]

While Peter Parker's death in the Ultimate Universe made me horribly depressed, I have to say that I'm hoping they don't bring him back either. I like Miles, and the only thing I can say that I dislike about him is that he isn't Peter Parker, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Like I said, Peter dying made me terribly sad. I'm interested to see where the Spider-Men thing goes, but I'm not following much Marvel at the moment. Well, not when compared to how much DC New 52 I'm following.

I'm so excited for the Night of Owls, Batman is definitely my favorite of the New 52. And I'm not even saying so as a Batman fanboy, but from an actual legitimate viewpoint. It's definitely got the best writing from any of the series out right now, in my opinion, and as much as I dislike missing out on certain crossovers from not following some Batfamily books (like the crossover Nightwing had with Batgirl back in issue... 4, I think?) I'm really looking forward to it affecting the others. Particularly Nightwing, which is another one of the series high up my list of awesome comics at the moment.

I've also been told to follow the new Punisher series that is out now, but I've got limited funding so I'm going to have to hold off until I've got more cash, but I'm interested to see the crossover that's going to be having with Avenging Spider-Man and Daredevil, as Daredevil is one of my favorite Marvel books at the moment.

Also, just going to throw this out here, I'm really excited to see Avengers Vs. X-Men, even though the whole X-Men canon is confusing the -eff- out of me right now. Probably should actually read Fear Itself and get a bearing on what's been happening with Marvel's canon.

 

[Sir Red]

See, that's exactly why I don't like the Marvel 616 canon. Everything is damn convoluted and they have massive event, after massive event with things that shake it all up and are confusing as all hell. At least DC tries to keep their huge events to one a year.

Also, I'm not that stoked for AvX. I mean, they've all fought each other numerous times now, so that novelty is a bit thin. Plus, Phoenix is back for its dozenth trip to Earth. So much rehasing with this event. Not to mention that it will probably play out across the 8 Avengers and 12 X-Men books in addition to the event ones and the special "battle books".

Speaking of Nightwing, last week I read it before Batman and the ending dialogue came off as confusing and like it was a bit jumpy in logic and progression. Then I read Batman and Snyder just wrote it all so much better. I think the main thing was the whole explanation of the tooth being missing that made Nightwing so confusing.

Edit: Just saw a new teaser for Spider-Men

 

[Doctor Oak]

So, Marvel Infinity Digital Comics.

Hrm.

Reading the one for AvX #1 really doesn't strike me as anything revolutionary or impressive. It's basically just an evolution in what Comixology already does - but with just a little more control, and fancier transitions.

It's a nice thing to have, I guess - but I don't really see it as the 'future of comics' Marvel would have us believe.

AvX itself seems a bit meh, but at least appears to be a slightly more humble event than previous ones like Civil War. A good old fashioned Super Hero throwdown is always welcome. The reasons for the fight are also a lot less contrived than previous reasons for the whole Marvel Universe to suddenly start beating the shit out of eachother, but still pushing it a bit.

Also, Holy God is it impossible to read the Avengers today without them seeming impossibly twee and silly. Thor, especially, is just impossible to take seriously.

 

[Doctor Oak]

So, Spider-Men is a cross-over between Amazing Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man.

Admittedly, the summary of the story does sound enticing - especially since it's going to be written by Bendis, who I have faith in being able to tell a strong, emotional story with these characters after Death of Spider-Man and Fallout. Still, this is just as disappointing as resurrecting Ultimate Peter Parker, really. A cross-over between mainstream Marvel and Ultimate Marvel was the one thing that was never meant to happen. It's just one more rule of the UU that's been broken, and one more step towards the line losing its uniqueness.

Oh well, I'm still looking forward to what should still be a good story. If nothing else, having a fresh pair of eyes looking upon the current state of the Ultimate Universe - especially when those eyes are Peter Parker's - will be a refreshing reflection on the huge world-changing events occurring recently. It may even be a spark towards making some of it 'right' again.

Also, this could be a good opportunity to give Miles some web-shooters at last.

 

[Doctor Oak]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=38336

Ultimate/Movie Nick Fury is now being forced into the mainstream 616 Marvel Universe as 'Nick Fury Jr' - white Nick Fury's illegitimate love child with... uh, Samuel L Jackson?

Agent Coulson is also getting thrown into the comicsverse (which is... uh... well, go see the movie), but really the biggest "whut" is the lengths at which they are going to hammer this change into the mainstream universe.

I mean, he even manages to wind up with a fucking eye patch - then shaves his head, grows a goatee, and finds out his name isn't actually Marcus Johnson (which he begins off the mini-series as) and is actually Nick Fury Jr - the 'Jr' bit obviously being ignored as much as possible.

It's pretty much laughably ridiculous - and yet it's straight faced "this is happening now" stuff. It pretty much means the end for the old school Nick Fury once and for all (who is surely set to die sooner rather than later), and doesn't really bode well for the Ultimate Universe either. The last time Marvel felt the two universes were too similar, they let Jeph Loeb loose on it. Ultimate Nick Fury is already being replaced as head of SHIELD by a white guy with a gammy eye, and it's all pointing towards a sticky end for him in this summer's 'Divided We Fall' event. Basically, mainstream Marvel decides they want a black Nick Fury, so we can't have a black Nick Fury. It concerns me to think of what madness that path may lead down.

 

[Sir Red]

As we talked about in chat, that's an incredibly stupid idea. Plus it's so shoe-horned in there that it's nauseating. They clearly only did this in hopes that people will see the movies and decide to check the comics out and if they want the 616 comics to be exactly like the movies. Which is stupid and a cheap ploy, in my opinion.

Stay classy, Marvel execs.

 

[Doctor Oak]

What's funny, is that this is all exactly how it happens.

 

[Doctor Oak]

Maybe... finally?

Nathan Fillion 4 Hank Pym.

 

[Fumanshu]

Cool.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=482021