Amph ***OFFICIAL*** Comics Thread

The guide said "52 known universes in the Local Multiverse", so it looks like this time they've (wisely) avoided limiting themselves.

 

Heard about this on NPR and think I'll have to pick it up...

Fatherland: A Family History by Nina Bunjevac

http://www.graphicnovelreporter.com/reviews/fatherland-a-family-history#

 

I'll have to pick up the Multiverse Guidebook, especially since Grant Morrison is writing it.

Speaking of Grant Morrison, over the weekend, I was treated myself to three Kevin Smith interviews with Grant Morrison on Smith's Fatman on Batman podcast. It's amazing stuff. I love how Morrison talks about growing up and dressing up like Austin Powers to get girls.

 

Well, there is the Earth-2 series which runs concurrently. "Multiversity" is why DC didn't do a whole lot with it outside of "Countdown To Final Crisis" and "Countdown To Final Crisis: Arena". DC wanted to wait for him to tell his tale, but given how slow he is, that's why it has taken so long.

The story is that the original Multiverse had gotten so big due to all the Imaginary Stories, contradictory stories and retcons that were done, that it wound up becoming huge. DC opted to narrow it down when it was revived, to just 52, so that it wouldn't get so out of hand and would be easier to keep track of.

 

Batman 37 was pretty good. Not as good as last issue. Just a lot of Bruce running around not knowing what to do, with a cool little twist at the end.

Some will be agitated at the new, possible, Joker origin, but I like it. I like it mostly because it debunks the to "On the nose" origin he gave him in Zero Year. With this we're back to the multiple choice idea, which always works better.

Joker should never have a true offical origin.

 

Agreed. Joker's history should remain a mystery.

I haven't read issue #37 yet, but I've been loving Snyder's run accompanied with Capullo's artwork.

 

Several pages from the official "Spider-Verse is still awesome" file







As deliciously meta as Spider-verse is (and damn skippy it is) I actually finally read my copy of Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (which really isn't the first annual ever, y'know, Marvel numbering)



And I actually really enjoyed it mostly because the main storyline is a really well drawn, simple, fun done-in-one focusing on Spider-Man trying to return someone's cell-phone to them. And him running into chaos every page or so. I actually kind of like the smaller, simpler stories that show how Peter Parker is a hero, even running all over town for returning a cell phone, with even the people asking him "Don't you have something better to do?" And he just sez "Nope." Really captures the essence of Parker.

 

I contend that only the parts of Spider-Verse NOT written by Dan Slott (or Hopeless) are the actual fun parts of Spider-Verse. Take Spider-Man 2099 by PAD. It is so refreshing to see an Inheritor fight last more than three panels and for it to be a defeat for the Inheritor. Oh, and PAD also remembered how to actually write Leopardon. It should be telling when the creator of one of the characters you've devolved into a whiny self-absorbed petulant child goes out of his way to write a story during your event that says "Hey, this isn't the real Mayday Parker, M2 and her family are safe and sound."

 

I bet Slott totally didn't know about that story and the editors hid it from him because that's totally how it works.

...

 

None of it matters anyway because Secret Wars will allow them to reset anything they feel like resetting! Ah, comic books.

 

True. Just sometimes it's more about the journey than the destination. Spider-verse is an awesome ride and pretty much everyone loves Gwen Spidey and want her to survive Secret Wars.

 

Who said he didn't know about it? Of course he knew about it. But at the same time, the editor is the person who could've told DeFranco to reign it in a bit, not Slott. He could've asked, maybe he did ask, I'm not privvy to the writing discussions at Marvel. Still doesn't make Slott's involvement in Spider-Verse any less of a mess, still doesn't make anyone (again, outside of Hopeless) else's involvement any less fun.

And, yes, this all probably won't matter because of Secret Wars. But this was supposed to be the big send off of over 50 years of Spider-Man stories. It was supposed to be this huge event. And what do we get? Slott going out of his way to murder fan favorite versions of the character with invincible Psychic Vampires that totally can't lose ever until some contrivance at end. I don't know. I just expected more from an event of this caliber.

 

I'm personally loving it. ¯\(o_º)/¯

 

I love Edge, I love most of Team-Up. I love the 2099 tie-in, and I loved Scarlet Spiders. And the multiversal threat brings all Spiders together concept I love. But I just find Morlun and his family boring. Silk insufferable. And the wanton murder of iconic (Hostess, MvC, Spidey and his Amazing Friends) Spiders for nothing but shock value to be crass story telling.

Also, I love how Slott completely ignores that Peter discovered Morlun's inherent weakness waaaaaaaaaaay back in the JMS run. But, nope, Slott's pet Silk has to "discover" it here.

 

That's why the Marvel Universe is going to be rebooted, so it won't anchored to decades of story telling.

 

Eh, it's going to be something more along the lines of the CoIE-boot or the Flashpoint-boot. It's not going to be a complete reset of the world with new origin stories. They tried that. It was called Heroes Reborn and it was horrible. If anything, they're streamlining the main continuity and thinning the multiverse. There will likely still be a multiverse just not with hundreds of thousands of worlds. IF, and I mean IF, anything gets a full reboot it'll be Ultimate provided they don't just completely merge the popular Ult characters into the main universe and drop the line entirely. We don't know exactly what the marketing plan will be after Secret Wars. But it should be a fun ride if for the Alex Ross covers alone.

As to why they are doing it, yeah, I understand. The recent popularity of the movies has them thinking they need to make the comics more accessible. Still, Morlun first appeared in 2001. Has had two run ins with Spider-Man and one with Black Panther. This is hardly a convoluted history of stories and a little research would go a long way into at least making some of the more grating elements of Spider-Verse (character inconsistency, one panel fights, continuity issues) less noticeable. If the Spider-Verse think tank can remember there was a What If? issue with "Aunt May: The Amazing Spider-Ma'am" in it from the 70's. Slott can remember Peter discovered the radiation weakness in 2001.

 

I think it's even going to be less than that. Not even a reboot, in any sense.

 

Marvel NOW!, NOW!

 

I haven't gotten every Spider-Verse issue but a significant chunk (Edge of Spider-Verse, 2099, Spider-Verse team-up, Spider-Verse and the main ASM. Didn't go in for Scarlet Spiders or Spider-Woman). Everything I've read I've enjoyed. Peter David's is good because PAD is really awesome at tie-in comics, he goes along for the ride, finds a corner and sort of grooves on that story but this is probably the most directly tied-in tie-in comic he's done in awhile. but it's a Spider-Man event so obviously he has to follow along the main storyline. However, the story he's working with is pretty self contained. Edge of Spider-Verse I thought was a really interesting take and it did give sp//dr and Spider-Gwen which are my favs. I know there's a kerfuffle about how Spider-Girl has been handled but I like that part of the story, probably because I didn't read any MayDay comics, because it gives a "ground zero" to a character who has all the horrible stuff happen to them. didn't know they went out of their way to say the OG Spider-Girl's family is still fine, that's kinda funny. I don't really have any complaints about Spider-Verse because I think it's a cool idea and there's a ton of stuff I enjoy in it (Slott worked in both the Raimi "Spider-Man" and Webb "Amazing Spider-Man" into it too, he couldn't show them because of legal reasons, I think, but gave them both shout-outs). I'm honestly just kinda miffed that Bendis didn't do a Spider-Verse tie in (but the flashback to Miles dad working for Kingpin two issues I've dug). it's a big Spider-Man event but not a gigantic, impossible to follow line-wide crossover. The total of Spider-Verse books is pretty hefty but not quite as much as say, Civil War or Secret Invasion, etc

 

On the MU post-Secret Wars, everything points towards them just playing with the worlds, multiversity and having all their characters able to interact commonly with each other while thinning out the population of some areas. If this is not a reboot but a complete redesign of the landscape while retaining all the history then I'll be very impressed with them taking that risk as long as it is a permanent shifting.

 

Yknow what we are gonna get in Secret Wars? Crazy evil Ultimate Reed with that wacky looking Helmet!



Dang, I really need to get Hickman's Ultimates Vol. 2, I get the feeling that'll play into it. his first 6 issues were crazy good.

 

The 3 Hickman issues in it are great, the Humphries ones? Not on the same level.

 

Well, this is yet another auto-add to my list. Geeze, Marvel, in the last month you've added 6 books already (4 Star Wars books, 2 Secret Wars). But it's Bendis and Bagely, maybe actually doing a better job of "ending" the Ultimate Universe than Cataclysm did. I love the Ultimate Bends/Bagely team so much I'll give them a mulligan on that.



http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=58844

 

I decided to start picking up Warren Ellis' Freakangels in trades, having read the series off the net several times. It's still great - lovely relaxed pacing, memorable characters, and stylised art really make this series for me. Nice to be able to read it even when my connection is down.