Comic Reviews and discussions

[Reginald Ret]

They're not bumbling idiots.

Huh, pretty cool.

[Faust]

Holy shit! Pax Americana is incredible. Frank Quitely doing a mix of Steve Ditko/Dave Gibbons panel grids along w/ JH Williams style layouts, and Morrison doing a condensed recursive story structure. Whew!

You'll probably have to have read Watchmen to get most of the references.

For meta-context: Pax Americana features characters from Charlton Comics, a company DC bought in the 80's, and were originally the characters Alan Moore was going to use for Watchmen, but DC didn't want him to ruin them, so they had him make up new versions of those characters. So Morrison does a Watchmen pastiche using the original versions of the characters.

Though of course I'd like a book by my fav writer & fav artist, but still! Highest possible recommendation.

I love Frank Quietlies art and I loved their work on All star superman, it's the story that defines the character for me, they manage to get the gentleness of the character that seems to get overlooked so often. I'll give multiversity a look in a month

I have read very little over the last few months (work devouring all but the smallest amount of my free time).

I've managed to squeeze in Nailbiter and Bedlam.

Bedlam is beautiful and though it is an obvious joker/batman analogue the characters are interesting and the plot is good. The second volume falters a bit with a hacker serial killer bit which is more goofy then bad.

Nailbiter could go either way, the first six issues are a set up to what looks like it will be a big story so it's another slow burn, I'll come back to it in a couple of years.

[Bobby Campbell]

Bedlam is beautiful and though it is an obvious joker/batman analogue the characters are interesting and the plot is good. The second volume falters a bit with a hacker serial killer bit which is more goofy then bad.

Bedlam looks super cool! Those Frazer Irving covers really sell it.
His and Morrison's Annihilator has been pretty awesome.



My fav thing I've read recently is the old Paul Jenkins & Jae Lee Inhumans run. I liked it so much that I re-read their old Sentry series too.

Reading Neil Gaiman & John Romita Jr's Eternals now. Not bad! Great big Kirby mythos. 

[Faust]

I love the old Sentry story. I never understood the hostility towards the character from the comic community, I think he was largely misused when he was brought into the marvel universe in general but Sentry/Sentry Reborn were excellent.

The corrupted nature of him needing to endanger the people he loved to gain their adoration by saving them, and the drug addict aspects of that whole persona really made for excellent stories, but he really didn't work in the superhero teams, either sidelined or reduced to a 2dimentional being (like in siege), oh well.

What's become of him largely reminds me of Genis-Vell in his Captain Marvel run. Sidelined, forgotten, a character to step in to fill a niche and disappear again.

Captain Marvel was great, It went into complex moral ambiguity with him playing the role of a mad god, drunk on prophetic vision of minute detail of the future it had a lovely morality play where he would either side with the needs of the many, or the needs of a single creature to an absurdest degree.
From a marketing point of view he was a disaster, most people were horrified when he got his sidekick to kill himself, and the series abruptly ends when the writing goes too far morally. It's a shame.

I don't remember much about Eternals, I read it years ago when I hadn't read many comics, I had just come off of reading sandman and wanted to read More Niel Gaiman but I didn't know what the celestial were and I hadn't even heard of Jack Kirby at that point so I was confused, however I remember his description of the character with the super speed as something like "The man who lived in a world of statues" and thinking that was a really cool way way of interpreting that kind of power.

Annihilator looks gorgeous, but it's only at issue 4, so I'll hold off a bit.

[Faust]

Goddamn I loved Birdman.

The film takes the critique of dumb superhero movies and uses it as great metaphor or analogue for blissful ignorance.

When more and more of these super hero films try to go "Dark" and "serious" and instead end up being absurdly contradictory morose + black rubber (dark knight rises) or hollow dry wells devoid of emotion like Man of steel, Birdman really hangs the context of the superhero story where it should be, blissful idolised escapism.

The film is on the surface about the theatre which is not something I know much about, nor would normally go to a film to see, its about the failed once superhero film actor being ground down by all of lifes little bits, as he tries to make a play that goes more and more disastrously.

The film uses a little superhero imagery as escapism and a parable for dumb ignorance, not proposed as a solution for lifes problems, but as the effect that manifests in the minds of those incapable of coping.

I haven't done it justice, or I've over hyped the parts I liked and will cause people to have expectations going into this.
2014 was an awful year in cinema for me, this is the first film I've enjoyed in a long time.

[Doktor Howl]

Bedlam is beautiful and though it is an obvious joker/batman analogue the characters are interesting and the plot is good. The second volume falters a bit with a hacker serial killer bit which is more goofy then bad.

Bedlam looks super cool! Those Frazer Irving covers really sell it.
His and Morrison's Annihilator has been pretty awesome.



My fav thing I've read recently is the old Paul Jenkins & Jae Lee Inhumans run. I liked it so much that I re-read their old Sentry series too.

Reading Neil Gaiman & John Romita Jr's Eternals now. Not bad! Great big Kirby mythos. 

Yep.  I'm caught up on Annihilator, and it's fun so far.

[Bobby Campbell]

I love the old Sentry story. I never understood the hostility towards the character from the comic community, I think he was largely misused when he was brought into the marvel universe in general but Sentry/Sentry Reborn were excellent.

Yeah! It’s such a great concept, and those 2 Paul Jenkins stories are really something special, but he probably doesn’t work as an ongoing part of the connected universe. I think he functions best as a kind of primal repression that emerges very infrequently, and is quickly forgotten all over again, restoring the status quo.

I posted something on reddit about how I hoped that Marvel Studios has been filming extra outtake footage in their film productions, so they could make the flashbacks in an eventual Sentry movie super authentic. Imagine a Sentry movie in 2020 w/ never before seen footage from a bunch of the previous Marvel movies? (If you’re into that sort of thing!)

The reaction was split between general enthusiasm and pretty extreme vitriol for the Sentry character.

The corrupted nature of him needing to endanger the people he loved to gain their adoration by saving them, and the drug addict aspects of that whole persona really made for excellent stories

I think the idea of examining the profound flaws that exist within the human psyche, in the normally safe superhero genre, is exactly why the character is polarizing. Some people like staring into the void, and some really don’t!

Captain Marvel was great, It went into complex moral ambiguity with him playing the role of a mad god, drunk on prophetic vision of minute detail of the future it had a lovely morality play where he would either side with the needs of the many, or the needs of a single creature to an absurdest degree.

I haven’t read it, but that sounds great, I’m sold!

We should maybe start a review blog someday? (Unless turning stuff into projects wrecks the fun for you?)

I don't remember much about Eternals

It ended up being pretty bizarre! JRJR’s art was my favorite part, as he is probably the best at drawing Kirbyesque machinery. I guess the idea was for Gaiman to update the Eternals concept for contemporary Marvel continuity, and the result was this odd mixture of Gaiman’s usual solid scripting, references to old Eternals comics I’ve never read, and “Civil War” era Marvel comics I’ve never read. I was a bit lost, but the images and raw ideas were still pretty incredible.

Probably the best result that came from it was getting the idea to check for Jack Kirby interviews on Youtube, and finding several hours of solid gold. Including an hour long conversation between Jack and Stan in the 80’s! They even argue directly about who deserves what credit, and left me with a less demonized view of Stan.

Goddamn I loved Birdman.

Oh man me too!

My favorite movie of the year for sure. Watching that in the theater was one hell of an experience! I absolutely loved how they made almost the entire movie, up until the last 10 minutes, seem like one continuous shot. It was relentless! It created this effect of emotional immersion in the experience of the narrative. By the end of that movie I was stressed out, shaken up, and pretty well amazed.

I really like your interpretation!

It’s exceedingly obvious, but the Michael Keaton Batman/Birdman parallel really did add an awesome level of abstraction.

Also the way Ed Norton’s character tried to dominate the production is exactly why he got fired from being the Hulk. (Which apparently wasn’t a coincidence)

Yep.  I'm caught up on Annihilator, and it's fun so far.

Nice! I think GM & Burnham's "Nameless" is going to be even better.

I just finished Julie Wertz’s “The Infinite Wait and Other Stories” which was a pretty much perfect graphic novel comix collection. Intricately drawn introspection w/ fart jokes in just the the right proportion. A next gen Alison Bechdel / Harvey Pekar. I remember trading mini comix w/ her at a small press con 10 years ago. She’s done well for herself!

[Faust]

I haven’t read it, but that sounds great, I’m sold!

We should maybe start a review blog someday? (Unless turning stuff into projects wrecks the fun for you?)

I hijacked Liberated the Verwirring blog last year and posted a few reviews there and the odd bit of discordian news, My last entry is last may which stands as testament to my commitment to projects, its mostly due to having read fuck all in the last six months barring christmas  and going through one of the most prolonged stressful pressure at work I've ever experienced.

However, whenever I get a chance I  post my reviews here if not there too.  The blog is word press, I can make an account for you on it if you would like? Same goes for anyone else who would like to post... well anything not just reviews to the blog.

[Bobby Campbell]

The blog is word press, I can make an account for you on it if you would like? Same goes for anyone else who would like to post... well anything not just reviews to the blog.

Sure! That sounds great, thanks 

No rush!

[Doktor Howl]

I tripped across "The Dark Knight Strikes Back", the sequel to "The Dark Knight Returns", while I was downloading Sin City on Nook.

I said, "heh", and downloaded it, too.

It was fucking AWFUL, and further proof that Frank Miller has lost his fucking mind.  And not in a good way.

[minuspace]

Goddamn I loved Birdman.

The film takes the critique of dumb superhero movies and uses it as great metaphor or analogue for blissful ignorance.

When more and more of these super hero films try to go "Dark" and "serious" and instead end up being absurdly contradictory morose + black rubber (dark knight rises) or hollow dry wells devoid of emotion like Man of steel, Birdman really hangs the context of the superhero story where it should be, blissful idolised escapism.

The film is on the surface about the theatre which is not something I know much about, nor would normally go to a film to see, its about the failed once superhero film actor being ground down by all of lifes little bits, as he tries to make a play that goes more and more disastrously.

The film uses a little superhero imagery as escapism and a parable for dumb ignorance, not proposed as a solution for lifes problems, but as the effect that manifests in the minds of those incapable of coping.

I haven't done it justice, or I've over hyped the parts I liked and will cause people to have expectations going into this.
2014 was an awful year in cinema for me, this is the first film I've enjoyed in a long time.

Regarding the theatre, I guess I took it to represent the narrator's mind, or some similarly cavernous construct.  It was funny how escapism was then equated with levity.  My personal favorite take-away is to remember not to let the roof-door lock behind me, particularly when wardrobe is compromised  

[Bobby Campbell]

I tripped across "The Dark Knight Strikes Back", the sequel to "The Dark Knight Returns", while I was downloading Sin City on Nook.

I said, "heh", and downloaded it, too.

It was fucking AWFUL, and further proof that Frank Miller has lost his fucking mind.  And not in a good way.

Yeah DK2 is pretty fucking bonkers! Though I have to say, for me, it passes that weird threshold where something is so bad, in such a unique way, that it becomes an object of surreal curiosity. 9/11 happened while he was working on issue 2, and he just put all of his crazy directly into the work.

The Batman story he did after that one falls into same category for me: All Star Batman and Robin. A must see train wreck! A crazy bad FM story drawn by Jim Lee, and there's this awesome tension between the story and art where FM's writing becomes increasingly unhinged, but Jim Lee responds w/ pure excellence. He draws the fuck out of that terrible story, and it's really kind of cool.

Have you seen recent pictures of FM? He looks like he might die any day now. I don't think he's said whether it's cancer or whatever, but he looks scary. Wheelchair bound, can't draw, can't type. Current project? DK3. He's whispering dictation to Scott Snyder. I don't like what his artistic message has become, but damn do I respect his work in the medium.

[Faust]

I tripped across "The Dark Knight Strikes Back", the sequel to "The Dark Knight Returns", while I was downloading Sin City on Nook.

I said, "heh", and downloaded it, too.

It was fucking AWFUL, and further proof that Frank Miller has lost his fucking mind.  And not in a good way.

Yeah DK2 is pretty fucking bonkers! Though I have to say, for me, it passes that weird threshold where something is so bad, in such a unique way, that it becomes an object of surreal curiosity. 9/11 happened while he was working on issue 2, and he just put all of his crazy directly into the work.

The Batman story he did after that one falls into same category for me: All Star Batman and Robin. A must see train wreck! A crazy bad FM story drawn by Jim Lee, and there's this awesome tension between the story and art where FM's writing becomes increasingly unhinged, but Jim Lee responds w/ pure excellence. He draws the fuck out of that terrible story, and it's really kind of cool.

Have you seen recent pictures of FM? He looks like he might die any day now. I don't think he's said whether it's cancer or whatever, but he looks scary. Wheelchair bound, can't draw, can't type. Current project? DK3. He's whispering dictation to Scott Snyder. I don't like what his artistic message has become, but damn do I respect his work in the medium.

All star batman and robin is so weird its considered to only exist in its own Miller version of the DC multiverse.
Where batman isn't just batman, he's The Goddam Batman.

Where batman would have robin paint him, and an entire room yellow, before proceeding to beat a green lantern within an inch of his life.

[Bobby Campbell]

All star batman and robin is so weird its considered to only exist in its own Miller version of the DC multiverse.
Where batman isn't just batman, he's The Goddam Batman.

Yeah! I like to think of the GD Batman of that series as FM's response to the extremely unfavorable fan/critic reaction to DK2. "What, are you dense? Are you retarded or something?" I'm sure it's not actually that simple, but I can totally imagine his frustration w/ people rejecting his attempt at high concept operatic complexity in DK2, and consequentially responding with what appears to be pure antagonism.

Like: Who are we to tell him his comics suck? He's goddamn Frank Miller!

[Bobby Campbell]

Nameless was indeed pretty great!

Chris Burnham keeps getting better and better. Stylistically he looks like Frank Quitely crossed with Philip Bond (A solid mix!), but that's only just the superficial gloss. His technical skill and storytelling is headed off the charts.



Morrison's hot streak seems to have reached the point where it's self sustaining. He's got all the best artists drawing for him, and he's great at giving art direction, so even if a particular story is more miss than hit, it's tough to tell because the book still looks so gorgeous.