tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.comments2024-02-22T02:31:34.108+00:00Too Busy Thinking About My ComicsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13449125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-33152286827635388802015-11-01T18:38:55.223+00:002015-11-01T18:38:55.223+00:00I am older generation than the core demographic of...I am older generation than the core demographic of DCAU, so I missed it for a very long time. However, it seems to me that those shows have become to DC family of characters what the Lee/Kirby and Lee/Ditko originals are to Marvel. Dean H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17923782800713104454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-19288573794532079152015-10-29T13:57:40.106+00:002015-10-29T13:57:40.106+00:00Hello Eric - I think we all struggle after a fashi...Hello Eric - I think we all struggle after a fashion with the characters we experienced as kids. And there are characters who I simply can't accept being portrayed with serious moral failings. Superman doesn't kill, no matter what the situation, and Dan Dare doesn't take orders from Thatcher-like surrogates. These takes don't sit well with me. But having said that, a well-played revamp of a character can work wonders for its appeal. In the case of The Ultimates, you might particularly appreciate the version of Thor, who I'm very fond of. He seems to me to be the closest to a hero - in a traditional form - to be found in The Ultimates. Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-90984647147334140082015-10-29T13:49:59.650+00:002015-10-29T13:49:59.650+00:00Hello Sally - from what I know of your comics, and...Hello Sally - from what I know of your comics, and your enthusiasms in general as expressed at your blog etc, I think you'd enjoy Spandex very much. If you ever do take the plunge, I'd start with #3, as I suspect I've said a good few times. But being a fan tends to lead to repitition :)<br /><br />I think you've put your finger on one of the absolutely major strengths of the Six. In the end, there are the old types on show of hero, villain, supporting character and so on. Instead, there's people, individuals, and we're left to experience and judge them as such. <br /><br />I have followed Al Ewing's Loki and I've never once regretted it :) As you imply, it would be a terrible misjudgement to return him to the cod-fiendish, one-dimensional Loki of old.Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-593717798416967902015-10-28T21:08:08.040+00:002015-10-28T21:08:08.040+00:00Superman: The Animated Series was a favorite of mi...<i>Superman: The Animated Series</i> was a favorite of mine as a child. It was where I was introduced to most of the DC mythos, from classic Superman villains to the New Gods. That was the show where the creators felt more at easer with introducing DC Comics mythos and characters. It added to the charm of the show, because it made the world that Superman and Batman lived in that much bigger.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05530285387834876902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-4031788526611647522015-10-28T21:04:10.429+00:002015-10-28T21:04:10.429+00:00I guess I need to learn that heroism is far more c...I guess I need to learn that heroism is far more complicated than I'm willing to admit. I must be falling into the rigid conservatism that super-books fell prey to. I like heroes that are flawed, but still people to aspire to be. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05530285387834876902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-57944503228016037552015-10-28T20:56:28.782+00:002015-10-28T20:56:28.782+00:00That sounds awesome. Time to start looking for bac...That sounds awesome. Time to start looking for back issues and reprints in <i>Marvel Triple Action</i>. I also got reprints of The Kree-Skrull War from the early 80s series where they reprinted classic Marvel stories on Deluxe Baxter paper.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05530285387834876902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-38622744869469977532015-10-28T19:44:55.808+00:002015-10-28T19:44:55.808+00:00I've never run across Spandex, but Secret Six ...I've never run across Spandex, but Secret Six and Journey into Mystery were two of my absolute favorite books. The writing was sublime, the art was great, which is a combination rarer than it should be. <br /><br />With Secret Six, you can't really call this rag-tag bunch of misfits heroes or even anti-heroes. Maybe anti-villains? They all did terrible terrible things, but they were still so human...and occasionally hilarious. And in the end, tragic. <br /><br />The whole Loki story has been superb. Did you read Loki: Agent of Asgard? It took the whole concept of trying to be different from what you were, and made it even more sublime. I REALLY hope that they don't go back now to turning Loki into just another villain again, he's come much too far, and the writing again, has been so good.SallyPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05592635194271250605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-54411910987178703252015-10-28T16:00:21.531+00:002015-10-28T16:00:21.531+00:00Hello Dean:- thank you, that's a very good and...Hello Dean:- thank you, that's a very good and one I ought to have made myself. I have alot of fondness for many aspects of the 90's DC cartoon style, although I have massive problems with the frail girl-child depictions of grown adults. That aside, and it's no minor point, you're quite right to note that the style might seem singular and off-putting. That's especially true, of course, for anyone who didn't experience the shows and comics at the time, for whom the approach might indeed seem archaic. Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-53438165525136283942015-10-28T15:55:45.635+00:002015-10-28T15:55:45.635+00:00Hello Eric - I'll take a stab at such a recomm...Hello Eric - I'll take a stab at such a recommendation, but I'll opt for the stories that I think are the finest in terms of storytelling rather than trying to hit the most famous/apparently significant issues. <br /><br />1. Avengers 1 to 5 & 16 by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby. Cobbled together when 1964's launch of Daredevil was painfully delayed, The Avengers was something of a schedule-filler. As such, it's early appeal lies in the bravado storytelling of Lee & Kirby rather than the stories themselves, which quickly become rather tedious. (Issue 16 is the first 'changing of the guard' issue.) <br />2. #57-58 - The introduction of The Vision by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, with one of the best epilogues the genre's ever thrown up<br />3. #67-72 - Sal Buscema's first run at any superhero comic and perhaps his finest work, this is an under-appreciated sequence with #72 being particularly enjoyable<br />4. #92-97 - The Kree-Skrull War, by Thomas & Neal Adams and John Buscema. Marvel's first protracted cosmic epic, and a hoot until its underwhelming final issue<br />5. 98-104 - Thomas, Windsor-Smith & Rich Buckler - a solid run, with #102 being - I think I'm alone here - one of Marvel's finest ever set-ups for a really tense climax.<br />6. #129 & Giant-Size Avengers #2 - Englehart's long run is a splendid one, but it's also hard to seperate individual issues or even runs because of his issue-to-issue continuity. The best jumping-on point is probably 129/GS2, in which the self-proclaimed weakest Avengers take on Kang. A tragic conclusion & some lovely Dave Cockrum art, although it apparently wasn't what Englehart wanted at all. If you like those issues, go for the run as a whole.<br />7. #181-189, by Michelinie & Byrne et al - for my money, the last of the classic era Avengers. <br />8. #273-277 + the terrific epilogue in 280 - by Stern, Buscema et al - A brutal and yet not grim'n'gritty showdown with a fearsome gaggle of super-villains, with some very touching as well as unsettling scenes<br />For my money, that's the essential material, though there's lots of other fun issues and doubt anyone else would agree. <br /><br />Also, check out the splendid Wait What podcast, which has both programmes and written pieces about Avengers history. All fun, all inciteful. The Avengers read-through shows are especially fun http://www.waitwhatpodcast.com/?s=avengers Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-62147416427559922322015-10-27T18:27:20.613+00:002015-10-27T18:27:20.613+00:00I would like to co-sign your endorsement of Millar...I would like to co-sign your endorsement of Millar's Superman Adventures run. It is a well-written comic series and its setting in the DCAU helps considerably. It was exactly the sort of general reader-friendly, continuity-lite context that the Ultimate Universe was.<br /><br />One caveat, the art can be off-putting. Bruce Timm is like Jack Kirby in that his style is distinctive enough that it can be tough to replicate well. The A-listers for that style were on the Batman titles, so the Superman book did not always look the best. That is likely Dean H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17923782800713104454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-35736773953520613162015-10-27T05:22:25.357+00:002015-10-27T05:22:25.357+00:00For your money, what are the best eras for The Ave...For your money, what are the best eras for <i>The Avengers</i>? I'm interested in reading some of the classic stuff, like Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Steve Englehart. I want to get to the heart of these characters.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05530285387834876902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-4327927451586589202015-10-25T08:33:16.951+00:002015-10-25T08:33:16.951+00:00Hello Eric - I don't think that's what Mil...Hello Eric - I don't think that's what Millar did, although he certainly made some controversial choices. By the same token, his version of Thor, for example, appears to me to a heroic figure and a half. To my mind, Millar's is the most fascinating take on The Avengers since Steve Englehart's, which I think is the key: it's a comic that's interesting even when it's being contentious, which all too few corporate properties are. Do I have issues with the comic, with its depictions, its representations, its politics? Yes, in places I do! But then, that's part of what makes The Ultimates alive and interesting. <br /><br />Best yet, it's a hoot of a story. Hitch's work is magisterial, Millar's tale is compelling; it's widescreen in the very sense of the term. Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-17437893533626102862015-10-25T01:51:04.937+00:002015-10-25T01:51:04.937+00:00I have reservations about reading The Ultimates. W...I have reservations about reading <i>The Ultimates</i>. While I am glad that it helped Marvel characters to reach a new audience, Mark Millar's excesses kind of turn me away. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't he exaggerate the worst aspects of The Avengers to characterize them (like Hank Pym going from mind-controlled scientist who hit his wife one time to full-on psychopathic abuser?)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05530285387834876902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-13445520699368931742015-10-20T09:20:42.324+01:002015-10-20T09:20:42.324+01:00Hello Jacob - I'm glad you enjoyed what was he...Hello Jacob - I'm glad you enjoyed what was here, and I quite understand why you should talk about the matter of ethics. For this half of this chin-stroke about The Authority and The Ultimates, I thought I'd best focus on the bare bones of method and, in its broadest sense, influence. But as you rightly say, the ethical content of TA and TU is fascinating, and, of course, it contributes a great deal to the both the success of each project and the contraversy each generated. So something of that will, I assure you, and FWIW, be along next time :) Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-90591987276753072132015-10-20T09:16:32.444+01:002015-10-20T09:16:32.444+01:00Hello Eric - I don't think you'd be disapp...Hello Eric - I don't think you'd be disappointed in Millar's Superman Adventures. They're set in the world of the WB TV series, and as such have little in common with how the superhero was typically portrayed during the period. But they're often alot of fun, and at moments, touching too. If you're on Comixology, they're all there. The two-part alt-Jor-El story I mentioned is enjoyable. You might also appreciate issue 41, which offers up 22 stories in 22 pages. Tis fun :)Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-71421291615187245402015-10-20T08:26:44.660+01:002015-10-20T08:26:44.660+01:00Delightful observations as always.
I find this po...Delightful observations as always.<br /><br />I find this post a little frustrating, sadly, because it doesn't contain any of your trademark ethical insight. Which is totally reasonable! You're allowed to mix it up! But THE AUTHORITY is the comic that made me sit back and go "good lord these 'heroes' are awful," and helped me to really appreciate the somewhat more... complex relationship that the British seem to have with their protagonists (the Judge being the most famous example in comics, I suppose), and THE ULTIMATES is, well, THE ULTIMATES. So I can't help but be a little sad when your scalpel doesn't descend, since, unlike Straczynski or Bendis, I think Ellis and Millar both think very hard about what sort of values they're portraying, even if it is often is in the negative spaces.<br /><br />Ugh, this comment has become about all of the things your post is not about. Apologies.<br /><br />-- Jacobjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15180954065141846493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-33710219060435045902015-10-20T02:19:09.067+01:002015-10-20T02:19:09.067+01:00The way you look at comics inspires me to seek out...The way you look at comics inspires me to seek out these title, as well as others. I am very interested in tracking down and reading Mark Millar's <i>Superman Adventures</i> books. Reading good Superman stories is always a pleasure.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05530285387834876902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-39477270097540744262015-10-16T22:02:40.821+01:002015-10-16T22:02:40.821+01:00Hello there - it's strange to think of ASM#25 ...Hello there - it's strange to think of ASM#25 coming out within a year of A Hard Day's Night. Lee and Ditko were so disconnected from 60s youth culture that their work typically seemed to describe a timeless Eisenhowerian cartoon reality. Rare indeed were the references to the pop-culture of the age, although Lee did loosen up a little in 64/5 - eg Strange Tales 130. (Kirby was similarly behind the times until the counter-culture inspired him so in 68/9.) It wasn't until Roy Thomas began referencing the likes of the Strawberry Alarm Clock that the slightest trace of the age began to appear. Stiil, the simple fact that Peter Parker was caught so uncomfortably between youth and adulthood, and surrounded by untrustworthy and/or vulnerable adults, made ASM seem, in its own way, dynamic and even a little questioning. Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-89182410605110061422015-10-15T21:39:39.781+01:002015-10-15T21:39:39.781+01:00Well, the recommendation came because of one of yo...Well, the recommendation came because of one of your Several Splendid Comics article from back in August. I don't mind politics in comics or superheroes as long as it's intelligent and fun.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05530285387834876902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-91178772614006408042015-10-15T19:58:17.681+01:002015-10-15T19:58:17.681+01:00Certainly ASM #25 is chockfull of verbal and visua...Certainly ASM #25 is chockfull of verbal and visual humor, highlighting both Ditko's and Lee's talents in a relatively lighthearted story that still had a lot of drama. I'd nominate it as the most purely fun done-in-one Spider-Man story ever, an exemplar of what made Spidey Marvel's most iconic hero -- a good mix of humor and drama, with the hero's own pride escalates his problems and then he has to use his wits as well as his powers to save himself; including the ironic scene of Peter being chased by his high school peers who hate him but idolize his costumed self (and writing that made me think of scenes in A Hard Days Night of the Beatles running from their adoring fans).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-21274376649782861112015-10-15T19:40:53.852+01:002015-10-15T19:40:53.852+01:00Hello Eric - I'd not thought of recommending C...Hello Eric - I'd not thought of recommending CBATMD to you, but it's as political as they come along with being a great deal of fun. A good choice, sir, and I hope you enjoyed it. Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-16904441345293767632015-10-15T19:39:47.019+01:002015-10-15T19:39:47.019+01:00Hello there - yours is a fascinating thesis and I&...Hello there - yours is a fascinating thesis and I'm grateful to you for making it. I'm not sure that Gwen's death works very well as a metaphor for the political disillusionment felt by many in the period. After all, Spidey was blameless, whereas the likes of Nixon were as crooked as it comes. And that's being kind. Yet at the same time, you're absolutely right to suggest that the 70s did indeed feature a collapse of political faith in many who'd considered themselves liberals of one stripe or another. (Sheldon, who's shown using labelling theory to explain the ill behaviour of many Marvels, seems to be a liberal.) As such, it does indeed seem apt, as you say, to consider Sheldon's disillusionment in that context. Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-68439045043546197502015-10-15T19:28:39.368+01:002015-10-15T19:28:39.368+01:00Whether Busiak intended it or not, if we use the a...Whether Busiak intended it or not, if we use the actual publication date of Amazing Spider-Man #121 in 1973 (rather than "Marvel time" by which as it now would have to stand even the horrific events of 9/11/01 would have had to have taken place before Reed, Ben, Sue & Johnny took that fateful trip into space), Sheldon't losing faith in faith in the Marvels world echoed that of most Americans in the real world in the wake of the assassinations of the 1960s and the political scandals that would see both Vice-President Agnew and then President Nixon resign. Of course, no U.S. President was ever universally revered, not even George Washington and certainly not Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Roosevelt during their own lifetimes, still it seems most people trusted them. But even if the Watergate scandal had not yet sunk Nixon's administration at the time Spidey tried to rescue Gwen and instead broke her neck, the distrust in our government and even in our military was already high. I was too young to really comprehend what was going on in 1973, but I recall when Watergate proceedings took over regular tv programing for months, and I've since read enough about the escalation of the Vietnam War and the CIA's involvement in the violent overthrow of various democratically elected governments which our government didn't like because they were "too socialist". It was easier to hide U.S. involvement in the overthrow of the Iranian government in 1953, but increasingly harder to hide such actions, such as the overthrow of the government of Chile in 1973. With the defeat of the Nazis and Imperialist Japan in 1945, the U.S. was not just a superpower but embodied a superheroic ideal in comparison to our soon to be former ally, the Soviet Union, our new super-foe. But by the mid-1970s it was much harder to pretend we were always in the right, and certainly difficult to believe that our motives in helping sustain South Vietnam were truly justified. Spider-Man couldn't save Gwen and as it would turn out the U.S. couldn't save South Vietnam. In real life as in Marvel Comics, the heroes had feet of clay.<br />Gwen wasn't even the first superhero's girlfriend to be killed (maybe Iron Man's Janice Cord or Namor's Lady Dorma?) but because this was Spider-Man's girlfriend, Marvel's most iconic and popular hero, this was all that more intense for regular readers. All the more so because in 1973 most readers understood that a death like this meant the character was truly dead and would not be coming back in a few issues, unlike say the umpteenth time the Red Skull or Dr. Doom seemed to die in an explosion or were seen falling to their seeming deaths, etc. Of course, given the deaths of Janice and Dorma, this trope was already being overused in the '70s, and has been used over and over again in the 42 years since. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-83332237594451866572015-10-14T20:06:19.882+01:002015-10-14T20:06:19.882+01:00Another excellent article sir. The way you write a...Another excellent article sir. The way you write about comics always has my interest peaked. I bought the first two issues of <i>Captain Britain and The Mighty Defenders</i> by Al Ewing and Alan Davis based on your writing and recommendation.<br /><br /><i>Marvels</i> does sound like an excellent read and a wonderful celebration of the Classic Age of Marvel.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05530285387834876902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-4513146535154342512015-10-14T20:00:42.124+01:002015-10-14T20:00:42.124+01:00True. A little research might show what kids or ge...True. A little research might show what kids or general audiences want. "Proper" research like you said, to find some sort of template from which one can play with and experiment. Of course, it would help if more current creators remembered some of the lessons from the old masters, like the idea of "Every issue is somebody's first issue." Accessibility in location and content. Who knows, maybe I'm completely missing the mark.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05530285387834876902noreply@blogger.com