The Comic Book Thread

[Boogeyman]

Alright I saw the Infinite Crisis thread and I couldn't resist this one too. Let's talk Comic Books. I don't know how into them any of you are but I'll give a quick run down of my recent favorites.

Superman/Batman: Alright this one is written by Jeph Loeb one of the greatest writers in comic books and he's got a rotating cast of the best artists in comic books. Whats not to love? The first storyline really highlighted the relationship beterrn Batman and Superman, the next brought back Supergirl nuff said, the third was an in depth look at what Superman and Batman could have been in a different world and what could never be changed about them, and this latest story arc ties it all together with an Avenger's like team they have to face and a cacophany of villains manipulating events in the shadows across dimensions.

Green Lantern: My favorite hero hands down, not only Green Lantern but Hal Jordan Green Lantern. For those of you who didn't know he was the original and the most powerful. Unfortunately he went crazy at one point and began to kill all the other Green Lanterns in the universe then absorbed the power battery to try and have enough power to ressurect his home town which was destroyed. He died reigniting the Sun though as his heroic side shined in one last act of heroism. Then came his Rebirth last year, as it turns out he was being controlled by a being of living yellow energy named Parallax who was fear incarnate, Green Lanterns are chosen as beings without fear and this allowed Parallax to sneak up on them through their rings as he had been imprisoned in the Central Power Battery.
Parallax had been imprisoned also within Hal when he died. That is why he became the host spirit for the Spectre. The Spectre was trying to contain and cleanse Parallax but it couldn't. Thus when Parallax escaped Hal Jordan was returned to life as redeemed. So now one of the Greatest Heroes on the planet is alive and kicking once more. Pick it up.

Astro City: Astro Wha? Astro City, the best series you've never heard of. Unique universe but one you can easily recognize. This is Kurt Busiek's universe and it is good. Art and storylines that remind you of the nostalgic times when comics were simple and innocent but also with messages and subtext that are fit for an Alan Moore book. If you're interested try picking up the Tarnished Angel TPB and revel in a super hero story from a super villain's point of view. Steeljack is just released from prison and dealing with a system that never expects him to change. He lives in Kiefer Square with all the other B-Team supervillains and you get a symptathetic look at super villains simply trying to escape the conditions they live in, but being sucked into a never ending loop. One of the greatest humanes of the Super Hero genre.


I've got more but I'll hold off.
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We're so bad and mean
We make nightmares out of dreams
We're the Spaceballs!

[Parallax]

Well, although it's been months, or maybe years, since I've read a single comic book, I remember well the days of being a...well, I read comic books sometimes back in the day. Now I just spend money on them and let them collect on a shelf, but I am seemingly totally unable to break away. I think I ought to blame Boogeyman5870 for that.

All of the classic characters, the classic situations, I'm feeling just a touch nostalgic right now...and I can't claim I'm not still a comic book geek, after all, I own a startlingly wide assortment of superhero movies on DVD. I want to see X-Men III and the new Superman movie. I'm not one bit ashamed of it, either. However, before I launch into the land of comic-book nostalgia, I must address something.

[Boogeyman]

Red Son- This was the first comic I bought recently and what got me truly interested in them. As Parallax said it shows the entire universe in a universe where Superman was a communist. Unlike my friend however I do like Superman. Yes, he is overly strong and all that, but to be honest Batman who is just a guy has a better track record. After all Superman has died, the worst Bats got was a broken back. He is all powerful, but he can be beaten just like any other hero. I always find it fascinating as well as he is an alien but always represents the best of humanity. It shows that being human is more than just being born one.

Kingdom Come- One of the finest comic books ever written. Shows the side of superheroism and indeed power in general that can go so wrong. It shows what happens when those who have this immense power use it poorly. Then again it brings the heros into their complete roll of Earth's protectors. This highlights the primary difference between Marvel and DC, the heros of DC never kill, ever. Marvel heros will slaughter to get their objective, not all of them, but some of them (Wolverine *cough*).

JSA- My favorite ongoing series. I can't exactly explain why but I love it dearly but I do. For those who don't know the JSA was the original super team during the WWII era. The guys the JLA look up to. Original Green Lantern, Original Flash, the guys who have saved the world more times than even Superman. Now it is the new team though. A few of the old guns are still on board but mainly it is newbies taking up the mantles of the original heroes. New heroes struggling with the weight of legacy and learning what it means to be a hero. Earlier story arcs also feature Black Adam and Captain Marvel working together.

Last Point- Parallax should read more of his comics primarily his DC stuff.
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We're so bad and mean
We make nightmares out of dreams
We're the Spaceballs!

[Parallax]

Mmm...read comics? I'm afraid I don't understand what you're talking about. I didn't know that one was supposed to read them, I thought they were merely there to accumulate dust in a big pile in my room. Apparently, that was my mistake. In any case...I feel the need to talk about Red Son some more.

[Boogeyman]

Marvel is actually getting pretty decent. They are getting some of the best writers from DC on contract, but at the moment there are only three Marvel series I am excited about.

The first is Marvel Civil War. They tried it with the mutants before but now the government is issuing a general statement to masks. Register and work for the government or hang up the tights. Theres a split down the middle of the heroes with some of the more mainstream Avenger types rallying behind Iron Man and Reed Richards to fight for it and create peace. Then the other side rallying behind Captain America and Spiderman to keep their identities secret. It just started but it is shaping up to be a great conflict.

The next one is Daredevil. I know Parallax for one thinks Daredevil is kind of a lame superhero but this current story arc is really good. Matt Murdock has been outed and is currently in prison with all the villains he put in there. Everyone is out for his blood and he is basically hospitalizing everyone while still playing the poor blind man routine. The villains are starting to realize they are the ones that should be afraid. Also his long time friend Foggy Nelson got stabbed.

Finally there is the Ultimates. Avengers set in a more familiar world. Instead of being an independent group of heroes, they are a tool of the US government and even deployed overseas triggering a "Superhuman Arms Race". Currently the team has been crippled by a mole and a foreign group of super humans has attacked. The country is crippled and almost all of the members of the Ultimates are incapacitated, in the last issue they just started fighting back and everyone gets to see just how dangerous they are and how inevitably screwed the Invaders are.
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We're so bad and mean
We make nightmares out of dreams
We're the Spaceballs!

[Parallax]

Mmm...well, I've always liked Marvel's characters better, although DC has often had the better writers. As far as their universes...I guess they're about the same for me, I like the science aspect of much of Marvel's universe, but DC's universe has more diversity to it, I think.

Honestly? I just really like Thanos. In fact, I just ordered The Infinity Gauntlet off of Amazon. You all can back off once it gets here.

Also, I like some of the TopCow stuff even better than I like Marvel. About the only comic book that I can actually be seen to read is Witchblade. Make fun all you like, but I'll always be a fan, I suspect.
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He's a victim - not a perp - and I'm choosing to let him go.

[Boogeyman]

Witchblade? Being mezmerized by well drawn boobies. Yeah the art work is great but the same guy did the Supergirl story arc for Superman/Batman and that was even better. Top Cow is good for a entertaining read but give way too much gratuitous violence and language. They are waaay to into their image and it seems to hamper some of their stories.

You want some Indie Comics? I'll give you some flippin Indie comics that put Witchblade in it's place!

Watchmen: Ok so its not a series, it was only twelve issues and is now primarily in graphic novel form. It also happens to be the best thing ever written in the graphic novel/comic medium (Citation: Only comic to make Time's top 100 Greatest Novels of All Time... yeah of All Time). I could go into some stuff about it hear but I don't have the space or the energy. You want a good discussion on it look for some 400 level college classes. Read it. It also happens to be Alan Moore of V for Vendetta and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (The good comics not the destroyed movie) fame.

Wanted: A Top Cow book, and a perfect example of my earlier statement. A very cool read and a fun one, but it contains WAAAAAAY to much gratuitous violence and what not. If you can get past all of the flashy sin thats there to distract you Mark Millar penned a good story about what would happen if the super villains one. I'll give you a hint in the comic Christopher Reeves actually was supes before they remade reality after their victory and turned him into what he was before his death (R.I.P).

V for Vendetta- Well I don't need to go too in depth but it if you've seen the movie you've got the principles but the book takes you on a different but just as worthwhile ride.

Astro City- See my first post
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We're so bad and mean
We make nightmares out of dreams
We're the Spaceballs!

[Ranadiel]

Woohoo a topic about comics. I'm relatively new to comics since I only started a few months ago arround the time of Infinite Crisis, but I am completely hooked right now. Now then time for some of my picks.

52- This is a series currently out that deals with th missing year in the DCU(since all other titles jumped forward a year). It is a weekly comic that is supposed to be detailing the currentt week. At the moment it has somewhere around 6 plots that are running together. It is a really interesting approach to telling a story that I am really enjoying.

Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis- I never thought that I would be telling anyone that I was buying anything related to Aquaman, but this is just too good. With the year jump, Aquaman has shifted its focus from being another Superhero book to being a sword and fantasy title. The main character is now a young man who has suddenly been thrown into a world which he never knew existed and everyone seems to think he is Aquaman who has been missing for a while. This book is filled with mysteries, underwater oddities, and good old fashion brawls.

Firestorm- This book has managed to make for good fun. It is really well written and has some good mysteries going on as well.

I think that will be it for my recomendations for now.

[Parallax]

[Blackjack]

All of y'all need to start reading Runaways right now. It's a Marvel series that has nothing to do with, and is largely unaffected by, all other Marvel canon. The reason being, it is set in Los Angeles while the rest of Marvel is largely in New York. The art (by Adrian Alphona), writing (by Brian K. Vaughan), and plot and characters are some of the best out there.


Anyway, the plot (there will, of course, be some spoilers here. I won't give anything too major, though):

Six teenagers (Chase Stein-17, Gertrude Yorkes-15, Karolina Dean-16, Nico Minoru-16, Alex Wilder-16, and Molly Hayes-11...okay, so five teenagers and an eleven year old) are forced together every year by their parents, claiming "charity work" as the cause. One year, they discover a secret passage in Alex's game room and spy on their parent's meeting. Turns out their parents aren't working out charitable donations, but are sacrificing a woman to creatures called the Gibborim. Turns out their parents are The Pride, a group of villains that, literally, control LA and much of the surrounding area (ever wonder why Doc Oc and Magneto didn't just pick up and move to California? It's because of these guys). Naturally, the group is freaked out and, as per the title, runaway. But first, they manage to steal weapons and info from their parents.

(The following info is blacked out, don't highlight unless you want to know about each kid's "powers")


Nico's body, during a fight with her mother, absorbs a staff known as The Staff of One. When Nico's bleeds, she can call out the staff and cast powerful magic. The hitch is she can only cast each spell once. Hence The Staff of ONE.

Chase's parents are scientists, and Chase swipes a pair of gloves called the Fistigons. These allow him to create and manipulate fire (see my icon for an example)

Karolina finds out that she is an alien. She can fly and shoot beams of light, but draws power from the sun, so is weaker at night and indoors.

Molly is a mutant. Super strong and tough.

Gert's time travelling parents were planning on leaving her a dinosaur that they had "made" for her -- genetically engineered in the 87th century. She has an empathic link to the dinosaur.

Alex has no powers, but is the brains behind the group and their leader. They stole the Abstract, which is sort of a playbook for the Pride, detailing the past and future of the organization. They also stole Mrs. Dean's decoder ring. Alex takes the reigns with that, and works on decoding the book to find out what their parents are really up to.

Anyway, they run, and decide to take their parents down. But, true to comic book form, one of them is still loyal to his or her parents, and plans to take the Runaways down first.


And that's all just the first 18 issues. Needless to say, they do win, the traitor is killed, along with all of their parents, and the runaways, well...continue to run. Now they're dealing with the power vacuum caused by their actions.


There are about 36 issues out (Maybe 34 or 35, I'm not 100 % sure of the actual number), with digets of all the first 18 issues (season one, if you will) being collected into one hardcover book, and the "second season" currently divided into two paperback trades, with more on the way (There's about six issues in each arc, and each arc gets a paperback). It is definitely worth checking out. Like I said, one of the best books out there today.
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Can your science explain why it rains?

YES. YES IT CAN.


"Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming." -- Myrna Loy

[Tullaryx]

Ahh people who like and love comic books. You are my kind of people. I used to collect and read them like crazy when I got out of high school a decade or more ago. Since then my interest waned for several years. Part of it due to the cost of buying 30-40 titles monthly. But I've recently returned to reading comics again, but this time less of collecting them and more of just enjoying some of the excellent writing that seems to have popped up in the last 4-5 years.

Below are some of my current favorites...

100 Bullets - This on-going noir series from Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso. I'd actually seen the first issue of this series on the shelves when I decided to stop buying and reading comic books due to cost. It's something I've regretted somewhat since, but I've caught up to the most recent issue and I consider Azzarello's writing for this series some of the best. He captures the basic and timeless themes of what makes for a great noir tale. I'd say he even ups Frank Miller's Sin City in the fact that the writing matches the quality of the artwork. Where Miller's writing for Sin City seem like an homage to the writings of Dashiell Hammet, Mickey Spillane, Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson it still had a sense that it was playing at being noir. Azzarello's writing is noir and he doesn't advertise the fact that it is. He's also created one of the better characters of the last decade in the leader of the Minutemen: Agent Graves.

Transmetropolitan - What can I say about Warren Ellis' immensely, politically-incorrect diatribe and homage on Hunter S. Thompson other than it's one of the funniest, most compelling and timely comics of the last couple decades. His character Spider Jerusalem is just so vile a character that its hard not to like him. The fact that he might be going insane but at the same time still sound like the most sane person in the world he inhabits makes him such a classic character. I'm still surprised that Vertigo and DC had actually greenlighted Ellis to continue writing the title to its conclusion. But then Vertigo is also the arm of DC that gave comic book readers Ennis' Preacher.

The Walking Dead - Has to be one of my most favorite titles ever. It helps that I'm a huge fan of the zombie subgenre. Kirkman actually understood just exactly what zombie fans had been wanting to see and read in their comics. Even though many sees this title as strictly a horror comic I would add that it's also a very good book in detailing how humanity reacts in so many different ways when confronted with a major crisis with an emphasis on world-ending types. For a horror comic Kirkman's book has just enough of the gore that makes zombie stories so fun to read, but it also concentrates on relationships and characters. Kirkman treats the subject matter very seriously and fans of the book are glad for it. He does get to cut loose and have a ridiculous amount of fun on his zombie mini-series: Marvel Zombies.

Daredevil - I've always been a fan of Matt Murdock and his devilish alter-ego. But outside of Frank Miller's run on the title, he's always been treated like the red-headed stepchild of the Marvel Universe. I was surprised to find out that the title was rebooted a couple years ago with some chap named Michael Bendis taking over writing duties. Whoever made that decision to hire Bendis should be commended. Daredevil under Bendis' capable hands, and afterwards Ed Brubaker, puts the character back into the spotlight and, I'd daresay, has become even better than what Miller did to him. This is currently my must-read of each month. Even though Bendis has since moved on, I'm glad Marvel put another writer who "gets" the character in Brubaker.

Sleeper - A very underrated title and one that I think more people should pick up and read. Even though its set in the Wildstorm Universe, Ed Brubaker's spy-thriller comes close in quality and execution as a noir title with other titles similar to it like 100 Bullets and Sin City. Even though there's costumed superheroes and villains in the book, Brubaker concentrates on the powered characters who actually don't parade in tights and spandex. If there was a title out there right now that HBO could easily turn into another great series this would be it.
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