Marvel's Conan is pretty good but I keep waiting for more Lovecraftian horror.
The one-shots were pretty decent. Not sure they were as excellent as you said, but certainly worth while reading.
DC Comics has truly gone to crap. I site Detective Comics 999, Flash/Batman Heroes in Crisis tie and even Heroes in Crisis #6.
Honestly if this is what I can expect from DC...I'd rather be eaten by the Rabbit of Caerbannog. Like a thousand times.
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DC Comics has truly gone to crap.
Sadly, I cannot disagree with this.
I was impressed with Rebirth and some of the immediate follow-up, but since then they've steadily disappointed me. The only things I'm regularly getting from them now are Detective, Batman Beyond, Hawkman, and Doomsday Clock.I was collecting that Batman Who Laughs miniseries, but it's gotten a little too silly for me, so I'll probably just drop it.
I've already dropped Doom Patrol, Nightwing, Flash, Titans, and Justice League Dark.
I haven't touched the regular Justice League, Batman series, or anything Green Lantern in years, but all that was screwed up way before Rebirth.
I was never going to touch that Heroes in Crisis crap, mainly because of the whole screwing over Wally West thing.
Doomsday Clock has gone totally FUBAR with all the delays.
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DC Comics has truly gone to crap. I site Detective Comics 999, Flash/Batman Heroes in Crisis tie and even Heroes in Crisis #6.
Honestly if this is what I can expect from DC...I'd rather be eaten by the Rabbit of Caerbannog. Like a thousand times.
The only DC book I'm even half-heartedly reading is Teen Titans. I'm just waiting for a new Legion of Super-Heroes or Justice Society launch (or anything to do with the Global Guardians...).
Both companies are kind of crap, right now. The only things I'm actually looking forward to, at the moment, from Marvel are Runaways and whatever Domino's new team book is going to be called, although I still pick up random X-books and Avengers books out of habit.
Set,
I honestly think Immortal Hulk is a great horror book that few people understand just how good it is. That and the fact Hulk's personality has shifted to more of a "I'm not a smart guy, but I'm smart enough!" So there's that.
Marvel might not be winning it, but compared to DC, it's definitely NOT losing me as much. The X-books aren't doing it for me as much as a few Spider books and Avengers No Road Home.
And Philip is right, Doomsday Clock would be better if they hadn't run into ALL these delays.
Plus I think it is too welded to the panel set-up of the original comic. Some scenes just doesn't work with those.
I can't comment on that so much as I felt if this had move or finished up by 2018, then I'd feel better about...something I guess..
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I'm liking the new Daredevil so far. I think the story is a bit of a comic cliché, but it's solidly told and the art is good.
The one thing that's got my puzzled is why they ended the old series, put out the mini series, then started this new one. Seems it might have been easier to just make the transition within the old series and keep things going.
A-zombie,
I can't explain that either...but I can say after two issues, they'll be needed to fix some stuff soon.
A-zombie,
As far as MCU appearances...we'll see. I still want someone to do my "Fantastic Four helps to kick start mutant kind"...but I could be wrong.
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I was both impressed and a little disappointed with Detective Comics #1000. There were some great stories and lots of awesome artwork. I was most impressed with the Kevin Smith story.
My disappointments come from (a) I was kind of hoping there would be a story focusing on Batman and Commissioner Gordon. Not having one felt kind of weird. (b) The Tom King story was idiotic, not the least of which because it marred what was otherwise an awesome issue by including Damian Wayne.
Tom King has been WILDLY inconsistent with his Batman books of late.
A-zombie,
Not sure about that since I did enjoy his take on Vision when wasn't exclusively DC> But yeah he can get WAY more into his own head than into a character's.
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I'm still enjoying The Punisher, but man is this story dragging. The writer has clearly fallen victim to modern comic idiocy, and is incapable of telling a story in anything less than a dozen issues. It's kind of sad.
War of the Realms seems like it can be interesting.
Fantastic Four is proving fun, but I prefer a truly villainous Doom.
I'm loving the art on Daredevil, but the story is just a continuous dragging out of the previous series. Once again, it seems there are far too many comic writers who can't provide a simple, shorter story arc. It doesn't help that editors and other big wigs won't let them try, all for the sake of being able to better repackage things into trade paperback form.
The new Marvel Comics Presents is a mixed bag. Some of the stories are great, others are just outright crap. The current running Wolverine story is fun. It's the first new Logan story I've read in years - very interesting, and with good artwork. The Spidey story was good - short, to the point, and well-told. If they allowed more stories like that, the world would be a better place. The Captain America story was, unfortunately, the crap. Given the writer, I wasn't surprised. He (and others like him) are one of the big problems with Marvel (and probably DC as well). The art was decent, at least.
I read a little about the current Punisher issues and talk about dumb rube goldberg setups. 20 steps to win! Bad art as well.
Yeah I felt the same way with Punisher if only because by now either Zemo would have had time to find someone that could actual KILL Frank...or Frank would have already made it to Zemo.
War of the Realms is an epic size story. I just don't necessarily feel the weight. Probably because once you've fought Celestials AND Thanos, it's not like an army of Frost Giants, Fire Giants/Demons, and the rest would pose THAT much of a threat.
FF's Doom might not be 100% villainous, but I think that's because he's not felt wronged...yet. That last move by Sue might change things.
The Daredevil arc is...weird but I'm hopeful it will be resolved soon.
I haven't read any of the Marvel Comic presents, but the new one, MArvel 2 in 1 is pretty good start.
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I've been a fan of Batman Beyond since the character first appeared on TV (minus the idiotic story where Tim Drake was in the future wearing the costume). The most recent series by Dan Jurgens has been pretty cool.
I liked the way he brought back, then killed off (again) the Joker. Even if it did (slightly) go against what they had done in the Return of the Joker animated movie. I especially enjoyed Jurgens very accurate description of Harley Quinn as "the first of the clown's imitators". Which is really all she was and all she ever will be. Efforts to turn her into an anti-hero notwithstanding.
I hope they keep going with the series, but I also hope they leave the Joker dead this time.
I don't think the Joker will stay dead mostly because people want their bad guys as eternal as their good guys.
But yes, the recent run of Jurgen's Batman Beyond has been better than...well most anything else in DC that I can think.
Thori really has grown on me. I especially liked him being in Journey to Mystery, though not sure he's that big an asset when you have ARES on your behind...
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Not sure about this new direction they're taking things in Detective Comics, with this Arkham Knight and his group. Two issues in and it feels like a poorly constructed rehash of the group run by Batwoman's father. It doesn't help that they deemed it necessary to add in one of the most annoying characters in all of comicdom, the spoiled little asshat Damian.
I'll probably be dropping Tony Stark Iron Man pretty soon. The writting is horrible, and the story just drags on and on. The writer's really not doing a good job, which also makes me leery of continuing Fantastic Four, since he's writing that one as well.
Marvel Comic's presents continues to impress, however. As does War of the Realms, and the Thor series.
I'm still liking the new Daredevil as well. This recent issue with Punisher was really great.
I still like Batman Beyond, but the writing seems a little weak. I was kind of okay with the Joker being brought back, but hopefully they won't do it again. This most recent issue seems to have Bruce Wayne replaced with an imposter. Which is just lazy, considering the other should be familiar enough with him by now to know something is wrong.
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Going forward, I was looking at the previews magazines for Marvel and DC.
Seems like DC is giving more work to Tom King. He's become like Grant Morrison to me - very hit or miss. Morrison's got more hits, however.
Otherwise, DC seems less than impressive going in to the near future. They continue to over-Batman everything (and that's coming from someone who loves Batman). They've permanently screwed up to great franchises (Green Lantern and Flash). They're doing stupid s@#+ with their magic characters (which is why I dropped JL Dark). And they've put one of my favorite characters, Martian Manhunter, in the hands of idiots.
Marvel is...somewhat better. They've got several good series going on (Conan, MC Presents, Thor, Daredevil, Immortal Hulk). However, they've also got some stupid s+&& (Punisher is dragging, several bad characters). I also tend to think they've got too much going on with Spiderman and X-Men. It's overkill, like Batman.
Maybe I'm just old and cranky....
Actually, I am. It's also the simple truth that both companies have some stupid asshats making stupid decisions.
I'm starting to agree with you about DC overusing Tom King. Mostly because his Heroes in Crisis REALLY has forever tainted Wally West...at least until they get a more competent writer involved.
Green Lantern I've stopped because everyone after Geoff Johns hasn't really found their groove.
With regards to Marvel's mutant side, I think once Hickman jumps on board, some of the problems they'll have with mutants will stabilize. But I could be wrong.
Spider-man is doing fine. Not great but fine and that's alright.
I do think Dan Slott's Iron Man is sorely dragging in spots, but I'm hopeful once they wrap up this story arc, we'll see more of Arno Stark versus Tony. That should be good.
Also glad you've come around to my way of thinking about Immortal Hulk.
That whole thing with Punisher is the prison was bad. Bad art and a dumb rube goldberg plot.
Eh. I'm less upset with that than I am Zemo's response.
"My prison's been destroyed? Where's Graviton? Or someone hire me out Arcade!"" You know, real A lister villains you can use to beat up a guy with a gun.
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Finally caught up on my reading, minus what came out this week, which I haven't picked up yet.
Definitely not thrilled about this new Detective direction. A teenage or 2o-something Arkham chick? Yeah, it's totally believable she'd be abelt o master this skill necessary to out think/fight Batman AND build an organization of fanatical followers. Overall, not impressed. Seriously, Tomasi, I expected better.
Hawkman is still pretty decent, although it took them too long run through this Deathbringer storyline. Batman Beyond is still fun to read. This third run through for Batman and the TMNTs looks promising as well.
On the Marvel side, Savage Avengers #1 was....interesting. I don't see it carrying on very long, though. Punisher is starting to get really boring. Might have to drop it soon. I know there's a new Tony Stark: Iron Man waiting for me, but I'll probably put it back on the shelves and tell the store to take it off my list. Daredevil is interesting, but depressing bordering on reptitive. How many times in one issue can he lament how broken his body is?
War of the Realms has been (much to my surprise) surprisingly entertaining. The Iron All-Father was pretty sweet. I find myself really hoping Thor forcibly separates the two halves of Malekith's face.
Immortal Hulk continues to be cool. It's interesting to see some of the parellels they've inadvertently established between Hulk and Moon Knight. Two heroes dealing with multiple personalities, each of whom is both strengthened and weakend by them. They should really get those two together.
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I've got nothing better to do today, so I might try and get over to the comic book store and pick up this week's stuff. Might do good to get out of the house, maybe bring the boy with me.
I've been considering allowing him to start collecting. If he wants to, that is. I just have to be careful about what I give him permission to collect. There are some books out there that might be a bad influence. Too much SJW/Woke preaching, not enough good story-telling.
Immortal Hulk is probably the best Hulk run since Peter David's. I honestly like not only the multiple personality issues (as you noted) but just the over all "fantasy thinking" that's sort of been incorporated into the Hulk Mythos that doesn't feel tacked on.
Daredevil's last issue was okay if only because Peter Parker's like "Stop it!"
War of the Realms IS indeed more fascinating that I originally thought it would be. (I love they used the Celestial to mow down Frost Giants) What is most interesting to me are the tie ins don't feel..well not just unnecessary but truly interesting in their own right.
Savage Avengers, I'm not totally going on all in but if they get Conan to cut loose some more...I'm all for it
Tony Stark, Iron Man hasn't been consistent enough for me to say "Read all of it" But I will say when they finished this arc, I'm looking forward to seeing more.
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I wasn't a big fan of the way Doctor Strange started off, with him going out to space and his alien techno-mage sidekick. There were still some decent stories within that arc, however.
I'm liking it better now that he's back on Earth. The current storyline with Galactus has been pretty cool, especially with Dormammu popping his flaming head up to take advantage of the situation.
And it's nice to see Clea again. I'd prefer them to be back together permanently.
The art could be better. It's not bad, but also not my favorite.
A-zombie,
The new arc with Galactus, Clea and Strange is more compelling than I originally thought it would be. Mostly because a certain red skinned guy with a penchant for screwing over people makes a nice appearance.
We'll see if the art improves later in the series.
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I was never going to touch that Heroes in Crisis crap, mainly because of the whole screwing over Wally West thing.
Revisiting this, I'm not collecting it, but have come to understand that the murder mystery massacre which opened the series was caused by Wally West. So it seems that Didio has finally come full circle in his a#~%@#@ attitude regarding Wally and just had the writer turn him into a villain.
Sad, but not surprising. That kind of crap writing is a good example of why I've cut down so much on DC titles.
I'm less convinced Dido had a hand in it so much as he gave the go ahead to King to pretty much crap all over Wally West and the rest.
Also rumor has it that Wally will be joining a new Suicide Squad...like that turned out SO well for his other Uncle...
Having False Face show up was a nice touch. But I think the major thing is right now the Batman team is kind of running on fumes, what with a Speedster AND the whole Joker thing.
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The latest issue of Marvel Comics Presents was a mixed bag. The Wolverine story is starting to drag a bit, but it was nice to see some callouts to the 80's in there, and the artwork is top notch.
The Nightcrawler story could have been better, but it was nice to see the flashback to Excalibur. I think the story would have been improved if it had maybe been a two-parter.
The Venom story was utter crap.
I haven't been reading much of the Presents but the team up between Peter Parker/ OG Spider-man and Kamala Khan/New Hotness Ms Marvel has been interesting.
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I've noticed in two ongoing Marvel series - Iron Man and Punisher - the first story arcs each lasted 11-issues. I'm almost afraid to go back and check other series, to see if it's the same.
It would really be sad (but completely unsurprising) if Marvel had been dictating the lengths of story arcs to its writers. That's just asking for s~$~ stories.
A-zombie,
I dunno about Walking Dead, but for Iron Man at least, the most recent arc wasn't that long...
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Much like the main books, the War of the Realms tie-ins have been pretty decent. There was that very fitting end(?) to Cul Borson, even if he was kind of a dick. The Fantastic Four one was okay, but it continued to highlight what I've come to realize is my disappointment with Franklin and Valeria Richards. They're both kind of...annoying. Not nearly as bad as Damian Wayne, though.
The Dog Days of Summer 80-page giant was pretty cool. I didn't recognize the Ferdinand minotaur character, and his story was kind of lame. And I skipped most of the Batcow story because it was completely idiotic (which I should have expected from Didio. Otherwise, they had some cool stuff.
The first issue of Last Knight on Earth was pretty cool. The cover art was kick-ass, the interior art was pretty slick as well. The story was okay, but seemed a bit formulaic. We'll see how this one goes.
I thought the Detective Comics Annual was pretty neat. I never expected them to bring back The Reaper (probably one of my favorite Bat-villains), let alone a whole slew of them. It was cool the way they pulled a piece of the original Year Two story (Judson Caspian's years-long absence from Gotham) to bring in the son. There was a bit of continuity error, however, as Batman stated he hadn't seen Rachel Caspian since the confrontation with her father. That's false. There was a one-shot where she returned ) alongside Joe Chill's son as a replacement Reaper. I look forward to seeing where they go with this.
New Abomination is f!~@ing creepy awesome. Immortal Hulk and his many personalities is still kicking ass.
A-zombie,
Immortal Hulk is what I point to when people want to see what comics can do with horror and heroics.
The end of the Serpent for now is fine mostly because he's never quite filled out his fear god role for me. Franklin and Valeria are WAY more interesting (to me at least) than Damien since they both clearly have better parenting models.
Last Knight was what I expected from Snyder which is to say slightly weird but overall better than average.
I honestly wasn't that thrilled with the Detective Comics Annual myself...but that's just me.
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I’ve been bagging and boarding my Green Lantern comics recently, and today’s run got me thinking of why I ultimately stopped collecting anything Green Lantern. In the end, I put most of the blame on the editors for allowing Geoff Johns to do everything he did. And although some of his work was pretty decent, in the end it made things way worse.
Sinestro Corps War – that was a decent storyline. I liked the idea of Sinestro building his own corps and going to war with the Green Lanterns. His ultimate goal being to make the Green Lanterns embrace some of his tactics was well-written, and gave some added death to a villain who’d been kind of played out. The showdown between the Guardians and the Anti-Monitor was one of the cooler aspects of that story.
The rise of the other color corps was a mistake. It was poorly written for one thing. There was no real sense to what each corp represented. It should have been more balanced for one: Love vs Hate, Fear vs Courage, and so forth. And it was too limited. There are a lot of emotions. The ones they had seemed very arbitrary. And that they continued to keep all these other corps around after each of these big stories, something which (a) diminished the cool factor of the Green Lanterns, and (b) made it more difficult to craft future stories. You had an entire universe of cosmic baddies and evil alien races, but now every story had to suck in these other lanterns.
The Black Lanterns and Blackest Night story line was really cool, but did we truly need yet another evil entity? One that was more powerful than the Anti-Monitor? The answer to that is “no”. And I think the whole story could have been accomplished successfully without the other colors (except maybe yellow).
After all that is when s@@% started to really get bad. The Third Army storyline ruined the Guardians of the Universe, effectively turning one of the few really powerful cosmic forces for good into a council of wannabe Darkseids. And then you just replace them with….more Guardians, but GOOD this time.
The follow-up with Volthoom the First Lantern was…to put it mildy….utter s#~@. Same with Relic and the idea of all this emotional energy generated by living beings as something that could be used up. The less said about that s@~! the better. Ultimately, that’s where the final straws were for me.
Okay, rant over.
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Continuing my thoughts on what other screw ups DC has made over the last few years....
They should never have brought back Barry Allen, Bruce Wayne, or Hal Jordan. They also should never have brought back Wally after they made Bart Allen the new Flash.
Essentially, DC should have had the balls to continue with successors. The long runs of both Wally West and Kyle Rayner showed that it could be successful as long as you DO have decent writing (as with Flash and GL), and DON'T already have a plan in place to bring the character back before you even killed him (as with Bruce Wayne).
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Also, there are way too many human Green Lanterns. What's the count up to now? Five? Six? I guess it depends on if Rayner is still a GL. And whether or not Guy is still in that idiotic Red Lantern Corp.
Either way, they should never have let it get that far. It probably would have been best if they never had Kyle, and just went with John Stewart.
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While I'm on the subject - could someone at DC please make up their f**%ing minds about what to do with Guy Gardner.
Green Lantern
Wielder of the original yellow ring
Weird half-alien super powered dude (who owns a bar).
Green Lantern again
Red Lantern
Did I miss anything?
And I thought Donna Troy's history was f&&+ed up.