|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I used to buy each DC animated film as it came out, until they started adapting suck-ass stories. Now I just randomly check to see if something good is coming out.
Lo and behold! They are working on an adaptation of Gotham by Gaslight, one of my favorite Elsworlds stories. Bateman versus Jack the Ripper in late 1800s America (maybe early 1900s, it's been awhile since I read it). Hopefully, they'll do there best to duplicate Mignola's fantastic art.
I'm a fan of that, but we'll see if it's better than Flashpoint.
I used to buy each DC animated film as it came out, until they started adapting suck-ass stories. Now I just randomly check to see if something good is coming out.
Lo and behold! They are working on an adaptation of Gotham by Gaslight, one of my favorite Elsworlds stories. Bateman versus Jack the Ripper in late 1800s America (maybe early 1900s, it's been awhile since I read it). Hopefully, they'll do there best to duplicate Mignola's fantastic art.
For me it started with the All-Damian show.... We went from new creative interesting stories to adaptions of stories I didn't like... and ONLY focused on them. Everything Batman related has been All Damian all the time and now it's stretched into Teen Titans.
I really miss the days of Green Lantern: First Flight and Wonder Woman (still my favorite adaption of her story)
I mean, they've always been hit and miss (hated Superman Doomsday and the Batman Anthology movie) but I was always eager to see what was coming next. Now I may rent it when it comes out.
Reminiscing through about 41 years as a comic fan is a bit long. I have early memories and I have the more memorable memories.
Early memories, I was about 8, cooped up in a hospital for surgery (around 1977). My parents brought me a stack of comics to read. I don't recall exactly what was in the stack beyond early Hulk issues, Roy Thomas' early Defenders, Werewolf By Night, and Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes (those double sized issues).
My most memorable list (basically specific runs) not in order...
DC
The Legion of Superheroes - The old Superboy and the Legion double sized run and then the 5 Years Later run with Kieth Giffen. "5 Years Later" should be in an omnibus. I'd preorder it this minute.
Teen Titans - Perez/Wolfman relaunch back in the early 80s iirc. No other Titans relaunch has even come close to this, imho.
Batman/Detective - Norm Breyfogle (80s), and Kelley Jones (90s) are my two favorite runs. Doug Moench (probably misspelled) wrote for Kelley iirc, and Alan Grant wrote for Breyfogle those years.
Also memorable but less than the above classic (to me) examples...
Pat Broderick's Green Lantern comes to mind, as well as Jim Balent's Catwoman, and Mark Waid's Flash run which was way, way, better than his Cap run, and Lemire's awesome Green Arrow run.
Also to JLA/JLE/JLI despite most people seeing this as a joke book rather than serious comic. I miss seeing Bart Sears artwork (JLE).
Marvel
Daredevil - The Frank Miller run. I remember buying #158 at a newsstand in Brooklyn under the train station. Daredevil always resonated the most with me for some reason. I also liked the John Romita Jr. years too.
The Defenders - Roy Thomas years. 'Nuff Said!"
The Incredible Hulk - Peter David years. I've never been a huge fan of the Hulk until Peter David wrote his long run. This 10+ year run was "incredible" for me and catapulted the Hulk into the spotlight for me.
Fantastic Four - John Byrne's run specifically, as well as just about any FF previous issues right on up to his run. This team book is legendary to me as so many Marvel icons were introduced in this series.
On a slight tangent, Marvel Two-In-One's classic Project Pegasus arc should be mentioned here because of the Thing. This 6 issue arc was my favorite despite my hating of the team up books in general.
Amazing Spider-Man - Micheline and McFarland (though I hated Todd's arrogance), and everything up to the first clone story. The Jackal clone thing ruined Spidey as the clone shtick is still here even now. Props (again) to John Romita Jr's run with Webhead as well.
Ghost Rider - Howard Mackie and Javier Saltares/Mark Teixeira (2nd series). I don't know why but I prefer Dan Ketch to Johnny Blaze. It seems sacrilegious but I don't care. This run was great.
X-Anything (1975-1991) - Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, Peter David, Alan Davis (Excalibur), etc. Everything until Chris Claremont's departure. The X-Men from #94 - #280, and all the spinoff books from those days were what made me a lifelong fan. These mutant shenanigans are my fondest memories of comic books in general. If I could regain my collection of comics, this would be my top priority. It's sad to see what became of things nowadays.
Other honorable mentions - Avengers from around the Byrne days but nothing else stands out past the classic numbers (1963+). Bob Layton's Iron Man years. Nicieza/Bagley's reboot of the New Warriors up until Bagley's departure. Jae Lee's Namor. Various Captain America story arcs only and Waid's great run.
I stopped collecting Marvel after Civil War (Spidey before that around the Ben Riley days). Marvel bought permanent real estate in the pooper after that fiasco. Maybe it's rose colored grognard Ray-Bans (or Ruby Quartz poisoning) but current Marvel has dropped so far that nothing short of a big bang type reboot will get me on board again.
I stopped collecting DC when Image alumni saturated it (mostly during the new 52). They are great artists but most of them are crappy writers IMHO.
Jim Lee's Superman was the final straw for me. The creation of a character like Wraith reeks of the Image Comics "I'll create yet another secret government project/agency with a specific agent that can beat up Superman just because I can" kiddie mentality. Why the big two give these manchildren so much liberty with altering classic canon is beyond me.
To each their own.
I started reading X-Men with Giant-Sized #1, just one issue before Claremont's run started with #94. I have very fond memories of those years; they define the X-Men for me.
Although we did used to joke about the special keys on Claremont's extended keyboard -- you know, the ones labeled "best there is at what I do", "ultimate expression of her soul self", etc.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Walt Simonson's Thor is how I rolled.
Thejeff,
I was born in 1976 so...I wasn't around when he was just doing the art.
Now 1984! That I remember! :)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I can't remember how far back my Thor collection ran, mainly because I started it late and bought back issues up to a certain point. I think I only went about as far back as Buscema's start as artist on the title, so #180's or so.
Simonson's run was definitely one of the best. Skurge at the bridge remains one of my all time favorite moments in any comic. Looks forward to seeing how that's treated in the movie later this year.
My introduction to Simonson was with Manhunter, back in the '70s when I was buying Batman and Detective regularly. Sigh. 100 pages for 60 cents. Those were the days.
Damon,
Thor has been my gateway to Simonson moreso than other others.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ghost Rider - Howard Mackie and Javier Saltares/Mark Teixeira (2nd series). I don't know why but I prefer Dan Ketch to Johnny Blaze. It seems sacrilegious but I don't care. This run was great.
To be fair... Danny Ketch was better written. As much as it hurts to say, Johnny Blaze's GR sucked as a book. I picked up the DVD with all the comics from the 70s to the 2000's and those early ones were just BAD... By issue 7 they had gone through at least 4 writers. The core concept changed on a whim, along with his powers, his triggering effect, and any motivation... Sometimes he was a carnival act, sometimes he was roaming the American west, sometimes he was Hollywood stuntman... sometimes he had a public Identity, sometimes he didn't... sometimes Ghost Rider himself was worked into the stunt show.
They're crazy reading!!
I'm curious to see how Spirits of Vengeance plays out. If it makes it to 6 issues or not...
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
For me it started with the All-Damian show.... We went from new creative interesting stories to adaptions of stories I didn't like... and ONLY focused on them. Everything Batman related has been All Damian all the time and now it's stretched into Teen Titans.
Exactly! You almost make me want to bring back my "who does and doesn't get eaten by the zombie horde lists".
To be fair... Danny Ketch was better written.
See, there you go again. You'd definitely be on the "doesn't get eaten list".
Personally, I'd love to see another reboot of Ghost Rider, but not regarding the person playing host. I'd love to see the TV version brought in, where it can move (or be transferred) from person to person.
A-zombie,
I thought the Spirit of Vengeance COULD do that already. It just didn't feel like it.
A-zombie,
True but I thought there were times people OTHER than Danny, Johnny and now Robbie having a handle on using the Spirit of Vengeance and/or it chose them.
The one thing I will say to Johnny, was while he had poorly written and inconsistent stories... He had a decent origin/background.
The whole idea of the demon Zarathos being bonded to a human soul and fighting for control in the later half of the first volume was pretty solid.
After Danny Ketch showed up... the origins were all over the place. The only consistant part was that Danny was NOT Zarathos... he was something more 'mysterious'.... Then there were the stupid amulet of power supposedly shoved inside various humans of a family line... then there was maybe Zarathos taking over Blaze again... then the spirit was an angel... Oh and there are a bazillion of them in this Highlander-esque game where you can suck the power out of easch other... then there were other characterts like Robbie that was possessed by a completely unrelated ghost... who happened to give the same standard Ketch powers...
Frankly at this point I have no idea WHAT the deal is with the Spirit of Vengence... who it is, why it does what it does... how it's activated.... It all changes drastically between writers.
It does change but at the same time, it still kicks more butt than it doesn't.
|
By that time though, we were into the glory days of Indy comics boom:
Grimjack and Nexus and Badger and Grendel and Mage and many others.
Cerebus until Dave Sim had his patented Creator Breakdown.
I was a big fan of Mage: the Hero Discovered, and also Aircel comics like Warlock 5 (notable for getting to see the artistic development of Denis Beauvais, from the not-great stuff in the first issues to the amazing visuals only a year later) and Dragonring/Dragonforce, and Comico books like the Elementals (with characters I'd first seen in the Day of the Destroyer adventure from Villains & Vigilantes, making it the first time I recall RPG characters being adapted into comic book characters by their creator) and the Justice Machine, and finally, Southern Knights, by, I don't even know who.
Long before Image, there was a lot of neat indy stuff out there. (Of which, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles seems to be the only property that really took off...)
So...any thoughts on the DC one shots for this week?
|
|
After watching the first Tobey Maguire Spidey movie with my boy yesterday, it put me in mind of the 1990 Spider Man series. That one was very similar to Legends of the Dark Knight started the year before.
Both series had some great stories and art. I really wish they'd return to that format as well, but the way it evolved in Legends, with story arcs of varying lengths. I think that could do really well in today's market.
Eh. I think I prefer to not mix DC animation with Marvel stuff.
|
|
Not sure what, but something put me in mind of the weird (to me) but excellent Black Orchid 3 issue miniseries done back in the late 80s by Neil Gaiman.
Between that series and Sandman, Gaiman quickly became one of my favorite writers. I loved the Sandman: Overture series he did a few years back. I wish he'd do more comics work. I know the company is revitalizing the Vertigo line, and using some Gaiman as the basis. I'm not sure if he's writing any of it, but it would be awesome if he did.
Sorry A-zombie. I misread and also I was suffering from some lack of sleep.
He's done a number of great characters for both DC and Marvel. He's still one of my favorite Thor artists.
I think right now Simonson just wants to be remembered and not disliked like some others of yore that went back to the well too many times...
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In honor of the late, great Norm Breyfogle...…
"Night People" was a three part story back in the late 80s Detective Comics run (issues 587-589, in June/July/August 1988, to be precise). It introduced us to Mr.Kadaver, whom I thought was kind of lame, and the Corrosive Man, whom I thought was cool as s!*!. The three covers Breyfogle did really blew my mind. The story itself was pretty cool as well. It's one of those stories I go back and read every couple years.
All in all, the Grant/Breyfogle run on Detective was top notch. And it's what cemented Breyfogle as one of my favorite artists.
Yeah, I remember getting that story when it was current, and the Ventriloquist / Fever story, and the Ratcatcher, and others. I still have that stuff. Yeah, that grim darkness that Grant, Wagner, and Breyfogle gave us was just what Batman needed. And I remember Batman himself, swooping around with that exaggeratedly long cape...
|
|
My comic book store had a 50% off back issue sale this weekend. I was able to pick up 18 of the 19 issues I was missing from the Doctor Strange 90's run ($1.50 each with the sale), and one of the four issues I'm missing from Legends of the Dark Knight ($2.50), as well as a promise to find the other 3 for me.
I had to restrain myself from picking up 12 of the 13 Marvel G.I. Joe issues I'm missing - those would have been $10-15 each, even with the sale.
I don't buy comic books so much as I keep wondering if the old ones I had are worth more or less since I never put them in sleeves...
Let's see, I started when I was 14...I'm 58 now...carry the one...
Yeah, it's been a while. I started reading comics when I was 9, and my dad bought me the odd 12- or 15-center, but they were mostly going to 20 and 25 cents by the time I was buying regularly.
At some point in the late 70's I lost my entire collection to date, and didn't start buying again until 1980 -- I think with the debut of New Teen Titans as illustrated by George Perez. So my collection isn't what it might have been; something like 28-30 "long boxes" full.
I don't have a collection. Mostly because Mom tossed away most of my comics before I graduated high school...
Yeah well. Mine did it because she thought my closet should be filled with clothes. I'm just glad I didn't put any my D&D books in there...
|
|
Whenever I curse Grant Morrison for giving us the annoying little s$@+bag that is Damian Wayne (among other sins he's committed), I have to remind myself he's also given us some pretty awesome stuff as well.
For example, I always enjoyed his run on Justice League. He gave us the White Martians in a really awesome story. And he gave us what I consider one of the single best issues in comics - Rock of Ages part 5 of 6, from JLA #14, January of 1998. The entire issue was narrated by the Black Racer and featured one of the most epic battles against Darkseid ever to take place.
|
|
I miss Martian Manhunter. Ever since the New 52 they've continued to write him terribly. I understand the newest crap they've dumped on him is that he was a corrupt cop on Mars. That's one of the stupidest f*&$ing things I've ever heard.
I blame Dan Didio. That dude just seems hell bent on ruining s&*& from my youth. He's f*~+ed over Wally West, Martian Manhunter, the Green Lantern Corp.
It's almost like the douchenozzle doesn't want me collecting DC comics.
|
|
Picking up my comics yesterday, I was telling the kids at my comic book store about when I first started collecting. That led me to the oldest issue of a Batman comic I own - Batman #318 from December 1979. I'm not sure how it ended up in our house, but I eventually acquired it from one of my older brothers. That one introduced The Firebug.
I blame Dan Dido for the failings of DC Comics over all.
It's not hard for me to admit a fact even if others are too blind or silly to see it.
|
|
June 1987 was the cover date for The Flash #1, with Wally West taking over in what would become a 20-ish year stint as the Scarlett Speedster. He would, of course, later be unceremoniously dumped (and then continuously s$@+ on) by the a+%$~&@ Dan Didio.
Those first few issues of the new series brought us an awesome appearance by Vandal Savage. Still one of my favorite appearances of that villain. The way they wrote him made him feel like someone who had lived an incredibly long time. He was smart enough to hide himself from most people, and to embrace modern technology, but also seemed to have forgotten some of what he could do and was only now remembering it. To me he came across as more of a horror villain.
Ultimately, the appearance set the stage for him to be one of Wally's more recurring and dangerous enemies (along with Grodd and Cadabra), and made him one of my favorite villains for awhile. I think that culminated with the DC One Million story, in which he played such a prominent role.