After spending over $100 on getting the various new Marvel restarts, I've had enough. Nostalgia had me hopeful that I could get back to some of my favorite heroes of my child hood, Reality woke me up faster than a flatulent noise in church though.
I've read the following new book restarts until their current issues...
Avengers
New Avengers
Uncanny Avengers
Captain America
Hulk
Thor
Iron Man
Fantastic Four
FF
Superior Spider-Man
All New X-Men
Uncanny X-Men
X-Men Legacy (utter crap btw)
Cable and X-Force
Uncanny X-Force
Savage Wolverine
Marvel lost me at Civil War originally (except Planet Hulk at the time), but the new Marvel universe is totally unrecognizable to me. Still a boatload of Avengers books, and X-Men books. Now they are even being blended together with Uncanny Avengers (not too bad btw), and Shield Agents are EVERYWHERE! In almost every book, even the new Uncanny X-Men this week.
The books seem to have lost their separate identities with the Shield glue, and some books are like Marvel decided to go to Bizarro World. Wolverine the headmaster, and Cyclops is the new black sheep. Still stale stories messing with time again and again, this time by bringing the younger Cyclops to the future to deal with his older self. Nightcrawler is dead, Colossus is hanging with Cable and more upcoming mutants than the eye can see. During all this Logan finds time for a vacation in the Savage Land.
On the other somewhat lighter side, The Red Skull has Xavier's noodle, The FF is now pretty much a kindergarten for weird kids, Dock Ock is in Spider-man's body trying to nail Mary Jane, Hulk is working for Shield, Iron Man is trying to nail a Shi'ar chick, and the Avengers roster is so huge that If I was a super-villain, I'd either retire or take my chances in Metropolis or Gotham.
All the decades taken to define these characters, wrecked in the past several years. Newer talent like Remender, Aaron, Bendis,etc. just don't hold a candle to people like Miller, Byrne, Claremont, David, etc.
The only barely passable titles were Superior and Thor. Uncanny Avengers is great from a logic perspective, it was a matter of time before the Avengers had a co-op grouping with Mutants to maintain the peace so to speak, but the Red Skull/Xavier brain story is thin.
Whew, end rant. I cancelled all my Marvel pulls at my local Comic Shop. I'll stick to DC and Valiant.
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And then there's this (skip to #1.) Specifically this part:
"...predicted that Age of Ultron will be something like Marvel's version of DC's reality-altering Flashpoint...A reality-spanning choice is made this issue that will affect the Marvel Universe for years and years to come. Between all of that and the super-surprise ending, Marvel is certainly suggesting that their universe will look at least a little different after Age of Ultron is done."
Sure it's just a prediction, but it could also be Marvel's way of going all 52 on the 616 without copping to it.
I dropped my few Marvel titles awhile ago, but I actually really like the Superior Spider-Man arc that's going on. Of course, I have to admit I'm not actively collecting it so much as I'm gathering information about it from comics news sites and speed reading copies off the stands.
I'll buy Age of Ultron as long as Moon Knight keeps appearing in it but, other than that, Dynamite's Pathfinder is the only thing I'm collecting right now. If you haven't given it a chance, it's a really fun book. There's a collection of the first six issues due out soon.
I'll look into the Pathfinder comic if I can snag a copy. :)
The only way I'd ever consider even picking up another Marvel book is if they retcon back to before Civil War. I doubt it will happen though, the Avengers/Shield marriage in the movies seems to have a heavy influence in comics. Black Widow and Hawkeye's triple A popularity surge in recent comics shows this, they were very minor characters for the most part. Personally, I never like Clint Barton/Hawkeye (or the West Coast team for that matter). I did love the Black Widow from the Daredevil days, not as much in Captain America.
Going all 52 this soon when they just restarted some titles is kind of stupid too. We'll be on Uncanny X-Men volume 98 before long.
Pretty much the only Marvel book I'm reading is Deadpool and I'm slowly getting the trades for Ultimate Spider-Man.
I highly recommend reading the new Deadpool series, even if Marvel is otherwise dead to you. It's a lot of fun. It's only on issue 3 so it's easy to get into, and the starting story is Deadpool gets recruited (by SHIELD...) to take out the resurrected zombies of the various Presidents of the United States who want to destroy America. It's the kind of crazy off-the-wall awesomeness that's why I read comics.
and the starting story is Deadpool gets recruited (by SHIELD...)
More Shield! Even in Deadpool! :(
I loved the original Deadpool series, his humor was his ultimate superpower. TBH, I don't think I could buy another Marvel book for awhile.
Decades taken to define these characters? Are you kidding me? I think you should do some re-reading of the decades you're thinking of and compile the massive list of changes that have happened a multitude of times by various Editors/Writers.
Yes, right now the books have a lot of crossover. Because of the just ended crossover event. It happens, and has happened quite a few times in the past with various groups. People change teams, characters jump to other books, things happen. Wolverine and the X-Men is one of the better, fun books that Marvel is putting out right now. Wolverine as the headmaster makes sense after all this time. Cyclops being the black sheep had a long build up, and unless you read it all then you're obviously going to be confused. Nightcrawler is dead. Okay, people die. Thankfully he's still actually dead, and hasn't been resurrected like so many other characters. Colossus is with Cables band for a reason.
And really, above all your complaint is about a book that takes a character out of the current events for a side story? That sort of thing has been happening in comics for ages now.
Really, Marvel isn't at its strongest right now, but thinking that DC is any better at the moment? The new 52 aside from maybe 3 books is absolute trash. Both local shops I go to can barely sell what DC is putting out right now.
But now that my completely disagreeing with your taste is over, I suggest you go back and read a series that you missed. Uncanny X-Force was a fantastic series. If you didn't pick that up, you're missing out.
Your opinion is noted. :)
At least the DC characters still have their identity for the most part. They are still the characters I remember. DC has some major flaws like Cyborg being a JLA member, what they are trying to pass off as the Teen Titans these days, and the crappy Image heroes and villains they are integrating into the DCU. Beyond that I've been much happier with this salvo of reboots despite the canon issues people complain about.
Marvel just feels like a jumbled mess by comparison. Too much A and X, not enough individuality in the titles anymore.
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I'm sorry man. Marvel has dropped the ball almost as bad as dc has. The only marvel I'm reading now Avengers academy/arena. I have no idea what people see in Morrison, the crackhead needs to go the millar direction and get his own universe to hallucinate and trip balls in .
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If your interested IDW is doing some great work with their licensed stuff. I've been very happy with My Little Pony's first three issues. Way darker then we were expecting.
Have a Review.
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I'm sorry man. Marvel has dropped the ball almost as bad as dc has. The only marvel I'm reading now Avengers academy/arena. I have no idea what people see in Morrison, the crackhead needs to go the millar direction and get his own universe to hallucinate and trip balls in .
His creator-owned stuff is his best (invisibles, the filth) but I like his writing.
Is he really a crack-addict?
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games
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I finally pulled the plug on my comics habit after collecting since the late 70s. I was not impressed by DC's new 52 and then doubly disappointed when Marvel decided to do more or less the same thing. The A vs. X plotline was, to me, unintelligible, and it just felt a lot like jumping right back to the bad old days of 1991 or so when the hobby almost destroyed itself with incomprehsnible mega-crossovers. The superhero-verse just wasn't for me anymore, Marvel or DC.
Maybe my frustration tolerance was higher when comics were under a dollar, but when every book is 3-4 bucks, that's a lot tougher to swallow when you finish reading the book and your reaction is more WTF than OMG.
I haven't bought a comic in probably 3 or 4 months now. I might go back and pick up some Knights of the Dinner Table, and my son was reading Deadpool, but he hasn't been asking me to take him by the comic shop to pick up any new issues, so maybe he's kind of over it as well.
I was sad to stop supporting my FLCS, but the latest relaunch or whatever they want to call it seemed like a good time for me to say goodbye.
I'm sorry man. Marvel has dropped the ball almost as bad as dc has. The only marvel I'm reading now Avengers academy/arena. I have no idea what people see in Morrison, the crackhead needs to go the millar direction and get his own universe to hallucinate and trip balls in .His creator-owned stuff is his best (invisibles, the filth) but I like his writing.
Is he really a crack-addict?
No.* His head may be cracked though.
*At least I've never seen any evidence or even solid accusations.
Invisibles is my favorite, partly because it plays with a lot of things I'm interested in. It was very uneven and plagued with problems though.
Filth didn't grab me as much. Joe the Barbarian was fun though.And I really like a lot of his superhero stuff. The recent stuff, not talking Doom Patrol here, was much more mainstream, still with bits of craziness, but mostly just really solid storytelling and characterization. JLA, New X-Men, Seven Soldiers, his various Batman titles.
The man likes his substances. I don't mean to beat up people who enjoy altering their mental state during their creative process, but I hated New X-Men, and he went on and on in at least one interview about how he was high and he saw Professor X who was telling him he was doing a "good job" among other positive things.
Dude's a crackhead. I'm not saying he should stop writing and live a life of the straight and narrow, but I don't like his writing for something like X-Men, or hell, even Doom Patrol. He needs his own worlds to muck up.
I liked All Star Superman real well.
The New X Men, I thought it started really good, and then kinda discorporated. It felt to me like he was getting paid and then delivering the agreed upon number of studio albums to the record company, regardless of whether they sucked or made sense. Maybe his neurons was burned crispy; IDK.
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Would you care to write a Setting for a Superhero Comic?
Sure. Been doing it for years.
:)
I've been thinking of a Spider-man, Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), Superman, and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan/Sinestro) cross over fan fic though.
Wasn't thinking of fan fiction - rather a new (public property) setting.
In a totalitarian city-state policed by supers...only the Pack, a collection of children who are endowed with power jamming abilities can lead an uprising.
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Sure it's just a prediction, but it could also be Marvel's way of going all 52 on the 616 without copping to it.
No, it's not. Geeze.
Marvel doing a New 52 type of wipeout/reboot would be the only way I would pick up another book from them at this point.
Marvel doing a New 52 type of wipeout/reboot would be the only way I would pick up another book from them at this point.
That's honestly how I feel about DC too. It's pretty strange to think that the best books are currently coming out of the smaller publishers. Valiant/Image/Dynamite are much more enjoyable than most things from the big two.
I'm hoping that cosmic marvel starting up again will put some great books back in the mix. But without the Abnett/Lanning combo, I don't know how well it'll go.
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I've heard that Thor has been good, but haven't picked it up to check.
Other than that, X-Factor is my only 'must-have' Marvel title (others I might pick up an issue here or there, to see if they've become readable while I wasn't looking) and Legion of Super-Heroes my only 'must-have' DC title (and that's a case where I love the characters and the setting and the genre, but am waiting for it to 'get good').
Hypernaturals, an indy book, is pretty interesting. It's pretty gonzo futurism, by a pair of former Legion of Super-Heroes writers, who are getting to do some radical transhumanist / post-singularity stuff that might not have fit as well into the Legion title with it's somewhat old fashioned 'future' setting.
As a counterpoint, I think a lot X-Books are really great at the moment and the new titles all look excellent. X-Men Legacy actually has turned out to be pretty good with its latest issues. I'm not so wild about what the Avengers are doing, but I've always been more of an X-Men fan.
And I hope Marvel stays by their guns and does never, ever, ever reset their universe. Those resets are one factor why I dislike DC so much.
I started collecting comics again after a decade long hiatus back in '04 and went strong until mid last year. My daughter's birth and massive burnout caused me to take what will probably be another decade long hiatus.
I love the iconic characters of both DC and Marvel. My only problem is that comics cost a LOT of money now. Especially if you have several favorites you want to follow. Couple that with the enormous time and resources it takes to actually care for your books, and you find you can not simply do that AND gaming as well (least for me). Sure, there's digital, but I'm not quite there yet.
I see hope in the genre with peeps like Scott Snyder, Rick Remender and others rising the bar in quality, however. And I must say, the fact that Aquaman is cool again (or for the first time?) almost kept me in the game.
The nail in the coffin for me though, would have to be the way character death is handled. I could go on and on. But it is has gotten pretty ridiculous now, in Marvel mostly. "SIEGE #2: THIS ISSUE, SOMEONE DIES FOR REAL! 'Nuff Said!". Bleh.
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The nail in the coffin for me though, would have to be the way character death is handled. I could go on and on. But it is has gotten pretty ridiculous now, in Marvel mostly. "SIEGE #2: THIS ISSUE, SOMEONE DIES FOR REAL! 'Nuff Said!". Bleh.
Yeah, that's a big factor as to why I stopped reading although I will get TPBs sometimes when I hear good things.
Case in point, Captain America.Even though I'm still annoyed they brought Bucky back, I thought they did a pretty decent job with the whole storyline. The death and return of Captain America though... what a joke.
Blah double blah. I have been following the swedish Marvel comics, which today amount to Spidey. Last issue, kind of later than american, was the big showdown vs the Kraven clan. Suddenly the bad guys executed a minor character I actually liked, and though similar things have happened before, this time it felt cynical and pissy to gather interest. I seriously lost interest in the Marvel universe with Civil War, and I feel very tempted to call it quits. To be honest, not everyone in the world particularly enjoys the flag waving America f@+$ yeah attitude of Shield and similar b#!~#+%~. The writers are not that good.
Still, I am grateful for the fun I did have with it.
I agree about Civil War, it's the one event comic in the past 10 years that I hated and while I own the singles (because I read them as they came out) I didnt buy the trade for my bookshelf as I have with most of the others. I thought Mark Millar was writing the Marvel Charaters as Mark Millar Characters. Too many people acting out of character with no real instory explanation.
It took a one shot by Christos Gage, to really get me to see why Tony Stark was behaving the way that he was and although I STILL didn't agree with his stance it made me see that he was really between a rock and a hard place as opposed to the flippant dick he was being in Civil War.
For me, as a rational adult as well as an almost lifelong comic book reader, the event is a catalyst. The event itself should be entertaining and get your attention but the stories that come out of the event are what usually shines.
Alot of longtime comics readers seem to have really short memories about this sort of thing because back in '85 Crisis had all these crossover books and their entire universe was basically rebooted. Secret Wars (which doesn't really hold up that well) did almost the same thing sans the full on reboot. But a lot of stories were generated out of Secret Wars (most notably the Thing deciding to stay behind on battle world and the Venom suit bonding with Spider-Man).
These events have had the same templates for years.
And as far as older creators being better? There are a lot of people who are looking at these books with rose colored glasses. Granted, I'm a big fan of Miller's Daredevil run, but the book was STRONGEST when it was focused on Elektra. His ACTUAL best work on Daredevil was when he left and came back to do the Born Again arc which is, to my mind at least, THE definitive Matt Murdock story.
Byrne? Same thing with Fantastic Four. I LOVE that run but it wasn't as perfect and pristine as people like to believe. He was at his best on stories focused on Doom and Galactus. And I'll argue that Jonathan Hickman's run might be the best run on FF since Lee and KIrby's run. It has a long running plot arc and hits all of the right emotional beats and is consistently good throughout his 2-3 year run. It's actually BETTER Byrne's run in my opinion.
Look I get it. Most people wish that they had the same comics that they read as they did growing up. Hey, guess what? GO READ THOSE BOOKS. I actually like to see the characters change or grow. I dont want to read about the same exact stale characters I read when I was 12. I like that because of everything that's GRADUALLY happened to Cyclops he's skewed more Magneto than Prof X, so much so that even Magneto is saying "Uh D00D...".
I dont read DC anymore because they did a full continuity wipe. So all the characters and stories that I read as a child are basically gone. That's fine and I dont hold it against them. In fact, even with me being more of a Marvel guy, I wish them the greatest success. But those books are not for me anymore. I'll pick up a trade here and there but for the last year I've pretty much been DC free. As I said before it's not that I dont like change, I do, but the way that it was done in a pretty abrupt manner didn't sit well with me.
Do I enjoy everything out of Marvel. HELL NO. But right now I'm reading more X-books than I've read in over 20 years. Remender's Uncanny X-Force was fantastic. Aarons Wolverine and the X-Men I was very skeptical at first has really won me over. And Bendis All New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men are damn solid. Remender's Captain AMerica and Uncanny Avengers are great in different ways (Making Arnim Zola an actual threat and what Remender has done with the Red Skull in terms of making HIM an actual threat? Geez. Poor, poor Chuck. I cant wait to see what Magneto does when he finds out what the Skull has done. That's gonna be UGLY).
Hickman's Avengers and New Avengers are a slow build but I expect that this time next year we'll be knee deep in full on CRAZINESS like we were during his run on Fantastic Four and it's sister title Future Foundation.
Long story short. I'm not that much of a traditionalist where I cant appreciate new things when I see them. Even with New 52. The only trade that I've picked up has been Batman: Court of Owls. And while I really dont see what the big deal is about Scott Snyder I do like what he's done with the title and while I've never really been that big of a fan of Greg Capullo this is the best art I've seen out of him EVER.
Anyway bottom line I guess is that I just felt the need to step in here and point out that someone here in Paizo land feels differently about Marvel Comics. Ultimately read what you like I guess.
Here's what your friendly neighborhood Freehold DM is reading....
Avengers Arena - liking it. Not loving it though. I am a HUGE fan of battle royale.
Amethyst - if you aren't reading it, please give it a chance. Damn good stuff.
Hit Girl/Kick Ass 3- Millar needs his own world to muck up and this world is perfect.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Keepin it real in HOOFLYN!!!!!
Legion of Super Heroes- LONG LIVE THE LEGION!!!!
Battle Angel Alita: Last Order - my love affair with alita continues into the 21st century .
Ame-comi- cheesecake versions of dc heroines. You had me at cheesecake.
Pathfinder - duh.
And I think that's about it....
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Here's what your friendly neighborhood Freehold DM is reading....
Avengers Arena - liking it. Not loving it though. I am a HUGE fan of battle royale.
Amethyst - if you aren't reading it, please give it a chance. Damn good stuff.
Hit Girl/Kick Ass 3- Millar needs his own world to muck up and this world is perfect.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Keepin it real in HOOFLYN!!!!!
Legion of Super Heroes- LONG LIVE THE LEGION!!!!
Battle Angel Alita: Last Order - my love affair with alita continues into the 21st century .
Ame-comi- cheesecake versions of dc heroines. You had me at cheesecake.
Pathfinder - duh.
And I think that's about it....
What? No Buffy?
I'm reading:
All of the Valiant Titles (X-O Manowar, Harbinger, Archer and Armstrong, Shadowman and Bloodshot)
Image: Up until 7 issues ago I had been reading Walking Dead from near the beginning but the death of one of the remaining longstanding characters and how this death was executed made me finally drop the book for good.
Still, love INVINCIBLE though.
Reading both Manhattan Projects (Jonathan Hickman) and Thief of Thieves (Hickman / Nick Spencer) in trades.
Fatale, next to Sleeper, might be the best thing that Brubaker / Phillips has ever done. And that's saying ALOT with the fact that those two also did Criminal.
On the Marvel Front:
Avengers, New Avengers, All New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Uncanny Avengers, Captain America, Wolverine and the X-Men and Thor God of Thunder. Also Powers.
In trades? Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Daredevil and probably Indestructible Hulk.
No DC titles. I may pick up the second Batman trade, but while the first one was decent it didnt wow me.
I pick up Usagi Yojimbo trades when I can. Picked up the Fear Agent Omnibus vol 1 by Remender, Opena and Moore. Real good Pulpy Sci-Fi action.
I also picked up the first trade of THE SIXTH GUN by Cullen Bunn from Oni Press. I've never been a fan of Deadlands but I'd totally run a Deadlands game based on this comic.
What? No Buffy?Here's what your friendly neighborhood Freehold DM is reading....
Avengers Arena - liking it. Not loving it though. I am a HUGE fan of battle royale.
Amethyst - if you aren't reading it, please give it a chance. Damn good stuff.
Hit Girl/Kick Ass 3- Millar needs his own world to muck up and this world is perfect.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Keepin it real in HOOFLYN!!!!!
Legion of Super Heroes- LONG LIVE THE LEGION!!!!
Battle Angel Alita: Last Order - my love affair with alita continues into the 21st century .
Ame-comi- cheesecake versions of dc heroines. You had me at cheesecake.
Pathfinder - duh.
And I think that's about it....
No, my heater and gas are working, I've no need for kindling.
I only by superhero stuff when it is written by Grant Morrison now. His New X-Men stuff was good.As much as I liked Morrison's run on the new x-men(Hey it brought the X-men to the 21st century),I found that it was kind of a mess,too much ideas at the same time,and I did prefer Whedon's run who had maybe less depth and originality but was much more focused!
But there's nothing better than Milligan's X-Force/X-Statix!
^o^
Sorry,I'm not used to ^o^,what does that mean?^o^I only by superhero stuff when it is written by Grant Morrison now. His New X-Men stuff was good.As much as I liked Morrison's run on the new x-men(Hey it brought the X-men to the 21st century),I found that it was kind of a mess,too much ideas at the same time,and I did prefer Whedon's run who had maybe less depth and originality but was much more focused!
But there's nothing better than Milligan's X-Force/X-Statix!
It's just my expression of joy at the Whedon knock, mild as it is.
I consider Whedon's run to be much better than Morrison's. Morrison may have had better big ideas, but the execution on most of them came from a 'What the <bleep!> was he smoking?' angle. In many cases I didn't recognize the characters Morrison was writing except by how they were colored/accesorized. With Whedon he had the voices down quite well.
Morrison was probably doing shrooms. Or maybe some type of hallucinogen. I know he was active on bluelight or some other pro-legalization site...Can't remember which.
Alright, I've been trying to keep a lid on this but I keep re-reading this thread and there's something that honestly bugs me about some of the responses to Marvel Comics.
Mostly I think it's the misinformation (Marvel Now is a REBOOT! Just like Flashpoint! - Hey It actually isn't but keep tell yourselves that to make it easier to bash it...) or maybe its the complaints about character deaths (REALLY? you people really expect Capt America/Thor/Professor X/Johnny Storm to STAY dead?).
I'll just lay out how I view these things.
I love superhero comics. I love them more than I do Fantasy RPG's. Although I mostly run Fantasy RPG's I'm at my best when I run Supers RPG's. I'm just more familiar with the plots and character beats of that genre than anything else. I've been reading comics since I was 6 or 7 years old, really getting into them when I was 11-12 and I really (as side for a few breaks here and there) never stopped reading them. And When I say a few breaks that's more like me dropping my pull list from 20 books to 5 or 6 during a 2 -3 year period.
What I see often and what I really see in the statements of the OP is that he stopped reading for years and then started reading again and expected everything to be what it was when he had stopped reading (or even before that). To me that's just unrealistic and just not fair. It's also not how comics have worked in a very long time. Having a few conflicts and then having everything returned to the status quo like nothing really happened isnt what ANY superhero comics are like these days and thank GOD for that.
The idea that these characters (THESE PROPERTIES) are going to remain dead is a level of naiveté that is stunning to me. I hear it on line, I hear it on-line at conventions and I hear it in comic book stores. I look at these people and I'm like "Have they been reading super-hero comics AT ALL? EVER?" For me these hero (or even in some cases villian) deaths are the BEGINNING of the story. Not the end. The whole Death of Captain America was EXCELLENT. We got a Bucky at first as the reluctant hero then as a very different Captain America. I thought the Bucky run was so good that when they were bringing Steve back I was a little annoyed. Not because of the resurrection but that was going to mean less Bucky Cap!
It's a way to see what these worlds become when a vacuum needs to be filled. Johnny Storm's recent demise at the hands of the Annihilation wave was an AMAZING way for that character to go out and really emotional within the context of the story. But it seems that to a lot of readers, the context ISNT IMPORTANT. and if the context isn't important? WHY THE HELL ARE YOU READING IT?
Go watch CSI or NCIS or LAW AND ORDER where it's basically the same thing week in and week out and NOTHING really changes.
It's like watching the first season of LOST and coming back for season five and going "OH MY GOD EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED!! I HATE IT!!!! GGGRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Or BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Or THE WIRE
Or BREAKING BAD
or SONS OF ANARCHY
or any story with a continuing narrative.
Is everything that Marvel or Superhero comics in general does great? HELL NO. and I sure as hell have my own personal biases. I thought that DC's New 52 was clumsily done and was too much too soon. Which is why when people especially in this thread start talking about Marvel basically doing the same thing it only goes to show that they have NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT.
The changes, whether you like them or not were not just dropped into existence. They were done gradually over a period of months, years in most cases really. SHIELD as an over arching influence in the Marvel U has arguably been in place since a little before Bendis started the NEw Avengers in 2005. Nick Fury going dark after his little Secret War with Latveria only really started to get fleshed out when you realize that HE realized that the earth had been infiltrated by Skrulls YEARS later in the pages of New Avengers.
The beef and ultimate break between Cyclops and Wolverine has been building for I want to say AT LEAST a decade now. The only issue I think that people have is that everyone thought that Scott would be for integration and Logan would be the one being more militant. But with everything that's happened to both of those characters where they are right now makes perfect sense. I'm not as self centered to think that just because those characters should be where I want them to be that they are in the wrong place. Or that I cant enjoy the story that's being told with the characters.
I HATED that Geoff Johns brought back Hal Jordan. HATED. IT. But When I spoke to Johns at NYCC briefly back in 2010 he said he understood but that I should just give it a chance and pick up the first trade. I did and I can admit that I loved everything up until the end of the Sinestro corps war. Johns addressed issues that I had with Hal's return and even though I'm still not a huge Hal Jordan fan and feel that the Yellow impurity (ie. Parallax) while valid within continuity was a bit of a cop out, it didn't stop me from enjoying the overall story being told.
I've already expressed how I feel about the whole "these new people dont hold a candle to Byrne, Miller, Claremont and David" thing. I have the omnibuses and trades from these runs on my shelf. They are great no doubt but they are not perfect. NONE OF THEM.
I contend that Claremont's run on the X-Men ran out of gas after issue #175. ALl of his best work existed before that when he worked with Byrne, Cockrum and the HUGELY UNDERRATED Paul Smith.
MIller's work on Daredevil was it's most solid when the story focused on his own creation Elektra. When the story strayed from Ben Ulrich and Elektra and The Hand it was weaker. The sole exception being the Born Again arc which is for my money the best Matt Murdock story in print.
Peter David is the one I agree with the most as I'm presently rereading his Hulk run from beginning to end. He's pretty shaky at the beginning of that run but it feels like once he starts to set up where he wants the book to go and the characters? He's rock solid.
I'll continue this later discussing the newer crop of Marvel writers that people seem to like crapping on...
Hey, I just hate on whedon. I think comics took a wrong turn when they started making use of soap opera writers and geeks who have "made it" for writing talent and ignoring the young and unknowns who have traditionally been the creative arm of the industry.
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I only read X-Factor (and currently Young Avengers. We'll see on that one. Liked and disliked parts so far althoguh loathed the ending of the Children's Crusade when it finally came out) from Marvel. My DC pull list is slightly larger but not exactly huge anymore. My problem with Marvel is the sheer number,and size of crossovers recently and some of the directiosn they've taken. It seems, and this may be my perception through not liking things rather than fact, that there's no such thing as a status quo anymore. The quo changes every 12-18 months with another 8 part multi-platform crossover so it never actually lasts long enough to get to be statused.
Of course this may just be because I'm nearing my forties and getting a lot mroe picky than younger me was, or the comics are still being written for people younger me's age and older me just doesn't understand them anymore. And you kids can get the &*$% off my %^&$ lawn.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games
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My issue is less with rebooting or renumbering or relaunching or whatever you want to call it (though I do prefer my X-Men in X-books and my Avengers peeps in Avengers books rather than blenderizing them together, but that's just me) than it is with the "everything's a crossover" and "everything's a world-shaking event" pattern of how the Marvel-verse has been going the last 5-8 years. I get annoyed when major characters die off-screen in some book that's not even their own book, or when the continuity of the books you're reading starts to make no sense if you don't collect all 40 other issues of the crossover.
At $3-4 a pop, that's not happening for me. The fun value ROI isn't there for me at that price.
I don't have anything against today's crop of writers and artists. There are good ones today like there were yesterday, and there are hacks today like there were yesterday. I'm sure there are enjoyable comics out there; I just don't want to collect them anymore.
P.S. Agreed on Paul Smith - brilliant! The first X-Men issue I ever bought was #172. Loved his Kitty Pryde. LOVED HER!