Amph ***OFFICIAL*** Comics Thread

As frustrated as I am with the widespread use of the Miller-inspired template, I genuinely enjoy All-Star Batman and Robin, but almost exclusively because I treat it as a self-parody. In contrast, look at TDKR. It's a a scathing satire of the world of the mid-80s and everything in it, the people, American culture and society, politics, the Cold War, all of it, filtered through Miller's pen and told through the unique language of the comics medium with two of its most enduringly iconic characters. Superman as a government stooge! Batman as a sadistic psychopath! These takes are both contrary to the then standard depictions of both characters, as well as the extreme logical progressions of them. But it's a satire! It's meant to be both unsettling and funny. Year One is less satirical (although it's definitely present) and more Miller railing against the state of New York City at the time of publication, where Miller was living. Both are intensely personal and have sometjing to say, not just darkness and grimness because "It's what the kids think is cool." It's simply an unfortunate consequence that both of these books, in addition to works like Watchmen (which says very similar things as TDKR but in a very different way in terms of form and structure) led to a glut of books that emulate the style but not the substance, and we've been reaping the

To cut a long rant short, you have ASBAR, which presents that version of Batman but pushed to positively comical levels, and has absolutely nothing to say. Not even anything of worth, but literally nothing at all, which seems strange when you take into account how political Miller's writing is. I mean, like you said, they paint a whole room (and themselves!) yellow just to screw with Green Lantern. I cannot possibly imagine Miller, even as unhinged as he's seemed the past few years, writing that book sincerely. I really just think he's f-ing with everyone.

 

I'm not denying that both All Star Batman & Robin and Dark Knight Strikes Again were almost parodies of the genre at times but I still enjoy them. Parody has always been a thing Miller uses that he tones up and down, sometimes it can spill over into craziness but other times he makes pretty salient points. Like Donald Trump popped up in a talking TV head panel in DKIII #3 and it was pretty neat but also worked inside the narrative. Sometimes I think Miller's love of pure, crazy comic-book-ing can come across as parody but I think he genuinely does mean it as a tribute.

 

What I meant to say is that he's parodying himself more so than the actual superhero genre as a whole. He's taking the popular public perception of his own work and cranking it up past the breaking point just to rile people up, to incite a reaction. For instance, when Batman refers to himself as "the goddamn Batman" in the second issue of All-Star Batman and Robin, and it thereafter became an infamous meme, he started using it all the freaking time, as a direct result of the controversy it incited. I wouldn't throw out this defense for, say, Mark Millar, whose writing I think is self-aware in the most cynical sense, but Frank Millar is definitely not lacking in self-awareness. Sometimes that results in awful, flat-out racist garbage like Holy Terror, other times it results in something completely and utterly insane like ASBAR.

 

What I liked about ASBAR is it is this nuts, over-the-top tale of a macho load of idiots trying to beat their way to a better city, then #'9 changes the picture. It starts off in the same mad fashion as its predecessors... Then Robin nearly kills Green Lantern and Batman is faced with the consequences of his acts - it goes from to mad to serious very quickly. Somehow it works.

It needs to be finished.

 

Last year, Mike Marts (Marvel & DC) and Joe Pruett (Marvel & Caliber) were among the founders of Aftershock comics. They've released quite a few series since December with different writers including Adam Glass, Marguerite Bennett, and Ray Fawkes.

I have most of the issues from 4 of the series and am wondering if anyone else has picked up any of the work or even heard of the company. A quick Google search of the forums didn't show anything having already been brought up.

 

Ah, comic book day. How doth I love thee?

This week:
All New X-Men 7
Dath Vader 18. I didn't think I'd get these titles, but this one has me for now.
Saga #35. I feel the need for a refresh of a couple of previous issues.
Hercules 5
Daredevil 5
Captain America #7 which is celebrating 75 years of Captain America. And sheesh, must be 75 pages long too.

 

Interesting thing I saw about the Superman titles and the solicits.







Two different costumes. One for Action which is Post Crisis Superman and the other one is different. Could it be a new Earth-2 or is it DCnU Superman? Further support of different costumes...

Spoiler

Maybe, perhaps the Superman cover was a preliminary cover and done before the final design was settled on.

 

So does anyone have stacks of "to be read" comics? I sure as heck do. Hell, I have even two different stacks the "monthlies pilling up" and then "generally trades to get to whenever". I don't think I've touched ASM since #4 but I always generally get in Spider-Man and the Star Wars comics right as soon as I get them or at most inside of a few days.

 

I do. My omnibus of The Invisibles, which I'm working my way through now, both volumes of Seven Soldiers of Victory, and I own Morrison's runs of Doom Patrol and JLA digitally; I need to get through those. I'm a Morrison guy, what can I say.

Oh, also Michel Fiffe's Copra. I'm behind on that and I've been meaning to catch up.

 

Seven Soldiers & We3 are my go-to Morrison stuff, I have a couple of random issues of his Batman run a few years ago. Final Crisis is oddly readable even if it's borderline incomprehensible and the mish-mash of art styles is annoying. Batman Arkham Asylum is a decent read but I personally don't see it as some sort of pinacle of Bat-dom. All Star Superman is great. Although I will admit to having not read a single page of Animal Man or Invisibles which is what people keep going off on about as being the best.

I heard about Multiversity for years and it was supposedly the "end" of Final Crisis but didn't exactly hear anything too good when it came out.

 

It reads best in one fell swoop. Even then it's kind of rehashing points he made in Flex Mentallo, and honestly I can think of a large number of books of his I'd recommend first (Such as Animal Man and The Invisibles, Al, FFS )

 

Steve Rogers getting back to normal: not quite the literally definition of deus ex machina, but hey who cares.

All new X-Men, I think I just wanna watch these characters grow up, but this is not particularly well done.

 

Yes, I have a bunch. I really need to start making an effort to get caught up. Usually, I don't let these things get so big, but the last five years for me have been different from the norm.

It isn't and when it was made, wasn't meant to be. Morrison's monthly run from 2006 to 2013 was the pinnacle of Bat-dom, since he used so much of everything. Even finding a way to make the late 50's to early 60's stories work in the context of the darker Batman that had emerged out of the first Crisis.

 

I recently picked up Moon Knight: The Epic Collection, Volume 2, which collects the middle chunk of the Moench/Sienkiewicz run. I bought a bunch of these comics when they first came out back in the eighties, and back then I would have rated Moon Knight's comic over Batman's any day of the week, so I was really looking forward to reading this collection. It's good stuff, a lot of one-and-done stories interspersed with longer arcs. Moench's writing is generally solid with the occasional flash of inspiration, doing good work with making the title character a believably three-dimensional character with flaws and psychosis years before Batman mined this kind of material; the rogues gallery in this volume is hit or miss, with some pretty second-rate villains for the main part (arguably the Moon Knight comic's biggest problem), but hitting home-runs with characters like Scarlet and Morpheus.

The comics in this volume are where Sienkiewicz's art really begins to shine, and any issue he inks himself is a delight - the Morpheus story that ends the collection is for me the pinnacle of the artwork in this book, being weird and expressive and just incredible to look at (it was one of the issues I'd picked up as a kid, and remains a treasured possession), but even the more mundane stories are pretty great looking. Of the three or four inkers in this volume, Klaus Janson's work in the most compatible with Sienkiewicz's, but still isn't as good as the artist inking himself.

Overall, if you're a fan of Moon Knight or Bill Sienkiewicz this is worth buying.

 

Went to a comic con which really didn't have much in comics. Toys? Sure. Random junk? Yeah. It was ok and I do like thumbing through boxes but I got to be more picky or something. The big one is in a month, The Motor City Comic Con.

But I did get a few things.

Battlestar Galactica #1. "First Collector's Item Issue". 3 bucks.
Daredevil 165 which has Doc Oc as a villain
Daredevil 188, and Black Widow cover
Marvel Update '89 #7.
Tomb Of Dracula 59 and 60
I'll be damned I went looking for Marvel Premiere #35 the first issue of The 3-D Man and found it.
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones 1 and 2
Happened upon a cyberpunk batch from Image called Dark Minds which i had never heard of. 1-5. Dammit...no #4. I'll find you.

 

So this happened.

 

This is going to be amazing!

 

Bruce Lee #1 co-written by Shannon Lee. Gonnah have to get that.

 

Kingpin getting a 4 issue miniseries

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DC Rebirth

So, Rebirth means such and such comics were not selling well enough so let' drop them and start everything we're keeping with new writers and artists but it's not an actual reboot it's still New 52. Ok.

 

Hell, as long as the Post Crisis Superman is around, I'm all for it.

 

100% this. I loved Bill's work on Moon Knight. I agree with your comments about Marc's rogue's gallery, that is a major glitch. I know Bill wasn't around after, I think, issue 30 (with Jack Russell and Morning Star the villain), but one of my favorite MK villains is in Moon Knight 37 and 38 - Zohar. I remember stumping Charlie Huston when I asked him if he'd ever consider bringing Zohar back. Outside of Doug and Bill, I really miss Charlie Huston writing Marc. Wouldn't mind seeing Tomm Coker come back to do more art too.

 

Speaking of, I got swag for Moon Knight #1 coming this month.



This week's haul:

Uncanny X-Men #6
Spider-Man #3
Old man Logan #4 Excellent cover
Invincible Iron Man #8 which is a Road To Civil War 2 issue
All New Avengers #....#? Well, whatever issue this is. Unless I'm blind it's not in an obvious place. Wtf. Anyway, KAIJU! And it's a Standoff issue. "Case No. 009"??
The Uncanny Avengers "Case No. 008"??
Black Panther #1
Bruce Lee #1. I'll read this first tonight.

 

Just realized I did not get Black Widow #2, and I want it. I need to write the list down. That's like the 3rd time I've missed something I wanted.

 

I know the feeling. I've had to do it for back issues when I'm seeking them out at one of the stores. When I've bought comics that were new, that only happened once and that was with "Amazon" #1 from Amalgam back in 1996. I had gotten all my usual titles, plus most of the one-shots and when I got home, I realized I had forgotten it. Fortunately, I went back into town that night with my friend who was going into town and to the same store where I got my comics and I was able to pick it up.

 

So how cool is it that Old Man Logan is shown the adamantium encased Wolverine?