Comic Books

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Brad
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Re: Comic Books

Post by Brad » Sun Nov 14, 2010 11:47 am

Daniel: Thanks for the explanation. I will give Rebirth another go here today. Given the new knowledge, plus other things I've read about the reboot (which basically led me to believe that I had to push through the confusing parts and eventually stuff would make sense) I should be good to go without going back and reading old stuff, though I might eventually if I enjoy this enough.
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Re: Comic Books

Post by Brad » Wed Nov 17, 2010 8:57 pm

Okay. Just got another haul. >_>

Here's what I have read since my last post:
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 1
World of Warcraft Vol. 3-4 (these books were much better than vol. 1 & 2. More cohesive storytelling throughout)

So yeah. Not a lot of reading done in the last week.

Here is what I have picked up since:
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2-5
Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn
Batman & Robin: Batman vs. Robin
Batman: The Return - Issue 1
Batman Incorporated - Issue 1

Here is what I had before and still need to read:
Batman: The Long Halloween
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Green Lantern: No Fear

Daniel (or anybody else that might know), do you know which comes before which with the Batman & Robin books? I'm PRETTY sure it's Batman Reborn before Batman vs. Robin. I got them because I knew that the new Grant Morrison series were starting today and they sounded interesting, but AFAIK they follow the events of Batman & Robin, but if I'm off base on that, please let me know so I can fill in gaps where needed.

I have a feeling I'm gonna go through Astonishing X-Men first though. I read through the first volume and REALLY enjoyed it, so it definitely is a series I'd like to get through.

I also picked up Arkham Asylum for PS3 from Amazon for $15 on Monday.

I'm sick. :|
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Re: Comic Books

Post by dwchang » Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:21 am

Brad wrote:Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn
Batman & Robin: Batman vs. Robin
Batman: The Return - Issue 1
Batman Incorporated - Issue 1

Daniel (or anybody else that might know), do you know which comes before which with the Batman & Robin books? I'm PRETTY sure it's Batman Reborn before Batman vs. Robin. I got them because I knew that the new Grant Morrison series were starting today and they sounded interesting, but AFAIK they follow the events of Batman & Robin, but if I'm off base on that, please let me know so I can fill in gaps where needed.
Damn.

I wish you would have talked to me beforehand. Maybe you enjoyed them, but I personally do not think you will enjoy those books. The Bat Books are a freaking mess right now. It doesn't help that Grant Morrison is the type of writer that likes to confuse people just for the sake of confusing them. You know, one of those guys that thinks he's SO clever b/c he brought in some obscure character only old people remember or a convoluted plotline that "makes you think." I'm all for things making you think, but not when you intentionally make it confusing. That's so artificial. Anyway, I think he's one of the most overrated "popular" writers in comics today (with Brian Michael Bendis...only I like some of Bendis' stuff). In fact, I stopped reading all of his Bat Books after the Return b/c it finally "closed" that arc and I can make a clean break. Personally I prefer Paul Dini's writing for any Bat Book. Helps that he wrote the cartoon back in the 90's.

As you may have figured out (from reading those titles), Batman died in Final Crisis or rather was "stuck in time" because Darkseid had some elaborate (i.e. confusing) plot to end the universe. I don't even fully get wtf was going on or how his plot really worked. The only thing you need to know is Bruce Wayne was dead for ~2 years or so and has now returned after his journey through time. Dick Grayson (i.e. first Robin and Nightwing) took over the Batman duties for awhile and now Bruce is establishing some "business" with global Batmen or some junk. Like I said, I stopped reading.

To answer your questions though, I believe Batman Reborn is before Batman vs. Robin. Pretty sure the latter is the 2nd trade and the first is the first trade where Dick is Batman. As for gaps, there's honestly way too many since Final Crisis was over 2 years ago and basically that's 2 years of Bat Books to fill. I have most of them in single issue form if you are that interested though. As you can tell, I did not enjoy them :|. It's a month+ away, but I'll be sure to bring some good stuff later this year when I intend to visit. I can also bring books like these Bat Titles upon request, if by some weird coincidence you like these titles and disagree with me :P.
Brad wrote:Here is what I had before and still need to read:
Batman: The Long Halloween
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Green Lantern: No Fear
Is "No Fear" the first GL trade? Basically after Rebirth, they restart GL with issue #1. They're on 56 or something. That's basically the majority of my GL reading (that reboot till now).
Brad wrote:I have a feeling I'm gonna go through Astonishing X-Men first though. I read through the first volume and REALLY enjoyed it, so it definitely is a series I'd like to get through.
Figured you'd enjoy it. Whedon is a great writer and it's a shame Warren Ellis took over and ruined the book. I hope Volume 5 is not Ellis because you will notice a considerable drop off in quality. I stopped reading after his first arc.

Without spoiling things, there will be a villain later on that is related to Professor X's past. It'll sound really messed up and this goes all the way back to...wait for it...wait for it...Grant Morrison. I can tell you the background of the character later if you're curious, but you're going to go "wow that's fucking retarded" and it is. That's the only bit of "background" I think you may be missing for Whedon's run.
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Re: Comic Books

Post by Brad » Mon Nov 22, 2010 7:26 pm

I haven't read the new Batman books yet. I got caught up reading the X-Men books. I read vol. 2-4 in one shot and yeah it was fuckin awesome (god damnit I love Kitty). There was definitely quite a bit of stuff I was fuzzy on, but it was the kind of thing where I enjoyed it anyway, but might've enjoyed it even more had I read what had come before it (such as, the whole Genosha ordeal, why is Professor X out on his own, where are Storm, Rogue, Jean Grey, Gambit, etc., what's Emma Frost's story and why is she in the group, that sort of thing. It's also not the kind of thing I'd want to just read a synopsis on. I'd prefer to read the books in some relative form of continuity so I can actually experience the story unfold).

And yes, Vol. 5 is Warren Ellis. I haven't started it yet but I'll definitely give it a shot.

On the GL front, as far as I can tell, Rebirth comes before No Fear. I really don't know what TPBs come after that.

So yeah, my next book is definitely The Long Halloween. I've put that one off for too long. Keep the advice coming though (but try and keep it as spoiler-free as possible. Or wrap it in a spoiler tag).
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Re: Comic Books

Post by GloryQuestor » Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:37 pm

On the Marvel front, the Nova limited comic series has been pretty good. Here's his Marvel bio --you can read from "Early History" to "Namorita" to get a good backstory of his character before diving into the limited series.

The (now discontinued) run spans from Annihilation to War of the Kings, ending with Issue 36 (the beginning of the Thanos Imperative and Secret Avengers), along with 8 other issues from each of the two major series he was involved in, Annihilation and Annihilation Conquest. I found 8 total TPB volumes comprising the main Nova series and the collected side-issues from Annihilation and Annihilation Conquest.

You should definitely look into this one. :)
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Re: Comic Books

Post by dwchang » Wed Nov 24, 2010 6:26 pm

Brad wrote: I got caught up reading the X-Men books. I read vol. 2-4 in one shot and yeah it was fuckin awesome (god damnit I love Kitty).
Yeah it's not a surprise that Joss Wheodn's favorite character (in any media format) is Kitty Pryde so it's also not surprising she plays a prominent role in his run. At Comic-Con during his Q&A a few years back, some girl came up to the mic dressed up as Kitty and Whedon was like "ARE YOU KITTY PRYDE?" He sounded kind of...crazy.

Anyway I guess you can see why Meri has such a hetero-crush on her :P.
Brad wrote:There was definitely quite a bit of stuff I was fuzzy on, but it was the kind of thing where I enjoyed it anyway, but might've enjoyed it even more had I read what had come before it
I'll try to answer these as best I can. If you would rather read them then be warned SPOILERS AHEAD:
Spoiler :
Brad wrote:the whole Genosha ordeal
At the start of Grant Morrison's run (I think), Professor X's never born, already dead (?) twin sister Cassandra Nova (I told you Morrison likes confusing people for no reason) launched this super Sentinel attack on Genosha. Genosha was home of > 1 million mutants and accepted as a "Mutant Country" or something to that nature. Almost all of the mutants died in that attack and it was obviously a big deal. She did it since it was in complete opposite viewpoint to what her brother wants.

I said earlier that there was one villain during Whedon's run that might not make sense and that was Cassandra Nova. IIRC, she appears in Whedon's run as some disembodied spirit or subconscious. She tries to trick Kitty into digging up her brain or something. I forget. But yeah, freaking Grant Morrison. Basically Professor X had this twin sister that he tried to kill in their mother's uterus (no..seriously) so she's obviously pissed off. I have no idea why Grant Morrison would make such a retarded villain involving not even born babies.
Brad wrote:why is Professor X out on his own
Maybe 2 or 3 years ago there was a major event called "Deadly Genesis" where it's revealed there's a third Summer's brother (other than Cyclops and Havok). Charles kept this hidden from the X-Men and more importantly Scott and Alex.

Basically during the very famous comic introduction of X-Men like Wolverine, Storm, etc. (i.e. Giant Sized X-Men #1 in the 1970's) Jean, Iceman, Beast and Angel are captured by this "Living Island" Krakoa (you might already know this story). Cyclops is the only one to get away and he recruits the "new" X-Men that you already know and love (Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm, etc.) and they save the day, yadda yadda. Well "Deadly Genesis" basically tells this lost tale where Charles had another team of mutants that included Scott's younger brother (Vulcan) and he sent them to save the X-Men prior to the known rescue. They failed and are presumably killed (hence the new team you know) so Xavier keeps it a secret.

To make a long story short, the X-Men find out about this during that event and are disgusted with Charles and basically kick him out. He's been basically abusing his mind control powers to keep them from remembering things so they no longer trust him. I mean what else has he kept hidden?
Brad wrote:where are Storm, Rogue, Jean Grey, Gambit, etc.,
This one is a bit easier to answer. This is simply a book thing. The Astonishing book basically had its own team while Uncanny X-Men and X-Men (which is now Legacy) had its own cast of characters. With so many mutants, they obviously wanted to split them up so that they could each get enough attention. My guess is Whedon had first choice when assembling the cast for his book (since it was easily the biggest seller) and the others divvied out the others.

Of note though:
-Jean Grey is dead. She died at the end of Grant Morrison's run maybe around 2004 or so. I'm actually surprised she's still dead since you know comic books and death. I believe Magneto kills her.

-Storm is queen of some African nation. She marries the Black Panther (another super hero) who happens to be king of that country. For a good amount of time she's not in the X-Men books, but is in them recently.

-Gambit is back with the X-Men, but a few years ago he was actually with Apocalypse. I think he was trying to save them from Apocalypse by submitting to him, but he gets his brain messed with and becomes Apocalypse's new Death. After being a villain for awhile he eventually rejoins the team. Probably got "unbrainwashed' or whatever. I do remember him being with Mister Sinister during Messiah Complex but that might be because of something involving Rogue.

-Rogue can now control her powers better. She can control when she absorbs people's memories and powers. I think she's now leader of one of the teams too.

Brad wrote:what's Emma Frost's story and why is she in the group
This goes back to the Genosha incident. Emma is no longer a villain by the time of the Cassandra Nova and is teaching mutants in Genosha. Kind of like what Charles was doing by training the X-Men on how to survive. Due to the attack she loses all of her students and she eventually joins the X-Men. She survived the attack because she has a secondary mutation that manifests during the attack. It's her ability to turn to diamond.
END OF SPOILERS
Brad wrote:And yes, Vol. 5 is Warren Ellis. I haven't started it yet but I'll definitely give it a shot.
Unfortunately I think you will see a considerable difference in quality. It's not to say Warren Ellis is a bad writer, but as I noted elsewhere, he's not very good with mainstream titles like X-Men. He's great with his own creations like Global Frequency though.
Brad wrote:On the GL front, as far as I can tell, Rebirth comes before No Fear. I really don't know what TPBs come after that.
I did a search and you're right. It looks like No Fear is the first 6 or 8 issues of the rebooted GL. It's up to issue 56 or 57 now. If you like Rebirth, you will most likely enjoy the current GL run.
Brad wrote:So yeah, my next book is definitely The Long Halloween.
Damn straight. As I noted to Julian, this is probably my favorite "Batman story." It's just a good and entertaining mystery/detective comic and feels more "Batman-y" then Dark Knight Returns.

Damn that reply took forever...
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Re: Comic Books

Post by dwchang » Wed Nov 24, 2010 6:33 pm

GloryQuestor wrote:On the Marvel front, the Nova limited comic series has been pretty good. Here's his Marvel bio --you can read from "Early History" to "Namorita" to get a good backstory of his character before diving into the limited series.

The (now discontinued) run spans from Annihilation to War of the Kings, ending with Issue 36 (the beginning of the Thanos Imperative and Secret Avengers), along with 8 other issues from each of the two major series he was involved in, Annihilation and Annihilation Conquest. I found 8 total TPB volumes comprising the main Nova series and the collected side-issues from Annihilation and Annihilation Conquest.

You should definitely look into this one. :)
Personally I am not a fan of the "Cosmic" books like Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova, etc. I know plenty of people who are fans (like TJ), but I guess it's odd....I enjoy super hero comics, but can't accept cosmic stuff. It's just too "out there" for me. Anyway if you are into that stuff (from your tastes I'm not sure you are Brad), Annihilation was the big event. It involved this dude from another dimension called....Annihilus *cough* :P.

Then again classics like the Infinity Gauntlet were great so who knows what I'm missing...
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Re: Comic Books

Post by BasharOfTheAges » Wed Nov 24, 2010 9:21 pm

Never really been into actually reading comics, but this whole thread is a pretty neat read in and of itself. :up:
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Re: Comic Books

Post by Brad » Fri Nov 26, 2010 4:41 pm

Just picked up the JMS run of Thor (all 3 volumes). This better be good :O
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Re: Comic Books

Post by Prodigi » Sat Nov 27, 2010 9:37 am

Brad wrote:Just picked up the JMS run of Thor (all 3 volumes). This better be good :O
Next time you're at the comic store can you see if they have the full collection of Preacher? If so I'm joining you in a visit to the store when I get there and buying it.

I'm a fan of Garth Ennis and that series seems right up my alley.

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