Spritenaut 32 Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 6 hours ago, The Natural said: If you want more Miller/Azzarello, get Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade as well. Thanks. I didn't know about Last Crusade. Planning to stop by the LCS tomorrow and pick up a copy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 5 hours ago, Keep Calm, Akira Hokuto On said: Thanks. I didn't know about Last Crusade. Planning to stop by the LCS tomorrow and pick up a copy. Cool. Hope you like it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 Read Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes. Thought the stories ranged from decent to solid with the better stuff usually leaning towards the longer stories. I think Shooter's story of Ultra Boy on the run was the highlight for me. Will definitely check out more Legion stories at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 JLA: Tower of Babel collects JLA #43-46, JLA Secret Files #3 and the Brave and the Bold #28. In the title story from JLA #43-46, Ra’s al Ghul has a plan to turn the world into what he wants and stopping the Justice League of America. This was a great story by Mark Waid for reasons I’ll cover. The plans, language disruption causing chaos from Ra’s and for the Justice League…by Batman. Batman has come up with traps/methods to stop the JLA if ever required. This book shows Batman’s preparation for all possibilities, is Batman right or wrong to? You with the JLA will debate this. JLA Secret Files #3 accompanies Tower of Babel showing how Bats contingencies were stoles by Talia al Ghul for her father, Ra’s and how over the years the Batman came up with them. The Brave and the Bold #28 is the first appearance of the JLA as members Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman contend with Starro trying to take over Earth. It was good to see the debut of the group. All this was collected in DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection, their answer to Marvel’s which has been going for a long time. The format is flawed though, the introduction before the stories especially Tower of Babel spoil what happens. There are no spoilers in Marvel’s intros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 Favorite Miller works are Year One, parts of his original DD run, and Man Without Fear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouderDrew Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 Just downloaded for my Kindle: Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City, Superman: Brainiac, Infinite Crisis, Green Lantern: No Fear, and The Flash by Mark Waid (Book 1). Looking forward to reading them. Has anybody read any of those titles and what did you think of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted December 3, 2017 Author Share Posted December 3, 2017 Waid Flash is very good. Infinite Crisis is divisive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 The set up for Infinite Crisis was significantly better than the actual story. Speaking of, the 1152 page Infinite Crisis omnibus is coming back into print in June. Flash by Waid is amongst my favorite runs after. If you haven't read Green Lantern Rebirth, I'd suggest it before No Fear. Johns had a massive run on the book that was quite good (though I pretty consistently preferred GLC to the main book because, well, Hal Jordan has never been an interesting character) Brainiac is okay. I never really dug Johns on Superman that much. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouderDrew Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 12 hours ago, Brian Fowler said: The set up for Infinite Crisis was significantly better than the actual story. What issues or stories were to lead up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiztor Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City was a good read. I had heard it touted as being amazing, so my expectations were a bit high, but it is well worth checking out. Fun stand-alone that you don't have to read anything leading in to it. Infinite Crisis. i felt it was very good. at the time i wasn't reading the lead-ups to the event, which i actually think helped me enjoy the event itself more. It is unapologetically a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths, so if you liked that event (and/or the idea behind the story) you will likely enjoy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 10 minutes ago, twiztor said: Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City was a good read. I had heard it touted as being amazing, so my expectations were a bit high, but it is well worth checking out. Fun stand-alone that you don't have to read anything leading in to it. Infinite Crisis. i felt it was very good. at the time i wasn't reading the lead-ups to the event, which i actually think helped me enjoy the event itself more. It is unapologetically a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths, so if you liked that event (and/or the idea behind the story) you will likely enjoy it. I'll say this. The fact that it was so unapologetic, at the time, felt like a huge surprise and almost a betrayal. They had been building something over a span of years and it felt like all of that was jettisoned in the name of a nostalgia that didn't really speak to a lot of the readers. It felt like the opposite of organic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbarrie Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 I vaguely remember Dark Knight, Dark City. I had no idea it was highly acclaimed. Seemed alright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 4 hours ago, SouderDrew said: What issues or stories were to lead up? Oh Lordy there's a lot. Countdown to Infinite Crisis (I know it's in one of the trades, maybe OMAC Project) led into OMAC Project, The Rann/Thanagar War, Day Of Vengeance, and Villains United. Those were each six issue minis (and they each got a one shot during the event that are collected as Infinite Crisis Companion) Then there was a Superman/Wonder Woman crossover that I don't remember the name of the collected edition. The Return of Donna Troy is somewhat important. And the Power Girl trade that had JSA Classified 1-4 and a few other things in it. Those are probably the major ones, but the entire line was setting up the big event. Well, it was setting up a big event, like Matt said, it didn't end up being what it felt like it would be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 So what were people expecting at the time from the build? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 A story of all the heroes falling to pieces as their relationships collapsed and the villains standing united to take them down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 19 hours ago, SouderDrew said: Just downloaded for my Kindle: Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City, Superman: Brainiac, Infinite Crisis, Green Lantern: No Fear, and The Flash by Mark Waid (Book 1). Looking forward to reading them. Has anybody read any of those titles and what did you think of them? Dark Knight, Dark City - I thought Milligan was a great writer during this period (early 90's). I really dug the first few years of Shade the Changing Man, and most of Milligan's other projects during this time were quite good. Dark Knight, Dark City collects the Batman of the three-parter and five issues of Detective Comics written by Milligan. Mixed bag, imo. It's Milligan straining to be weird when well-written, more mundane stories would have worked better. I like the 'Tec issues better than the Batman three-parter, but the three-parter has some atmospheric art from Kieron Dwyer trying to channel Mignola, while the Detective run has art by Jim Aparo and Tom Mandrake - neither of whom I liked. Not one of Milligan's better efforts, but still worth a read. Superman: Brainiac - Collects a five-parter from Geoff Johns' Action Comics run. Liked this quite a bit. Art is by Gary Frank. I'm a big fan of Johns/Frank, so I recommend this highly. Infinite Crisis - I'd recommend it but not strongly. Green Lantern: No Fear - Worth reading, but not one of my favorites from the GL run. I really like Johns' GL run - maybe my favorite mainstream superhero run in the past 20 years (definitely top 3 or 4), but the first year is kinda slow. Enjoyable, but nothing more. I'd recommend reading the whole run. The first year starts setting up things that start paying off in years 2 and 3. In general, the book really picked up for me after the Sinestro Corps War. The Flash - Book 1 (Waid) - I don't love it as much as others, but the Waid run is really underrated. IMO, the Waid Flash and Johns Braniac collection are the best things on your list. None of it's really that bad. Dark Knight, Dark City is probably the least of the list, imo. It was decent, but it's one of Milligan's lesser efforts from that time period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 1 hour ago, Brian Fowler said: A story of all the heroes falling to pieces as their relationships collapsed and the villains standing united to take them down. And what did Infinite Crisis actually end up being? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 A sequel to COIE that turned two heroes of that into villains (uh, spoiler warning?) and made them the cause of most of the problems lurking. The heroes l especially the Trinity, never dealt with the problems between then in any real way, they just kinda... Moved on. What built as a story of personalities turned into a big cosmic dust up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 That is a pity. Its not like those types of stories have to be mutually exclusive. I only read Villains United from the build up stories you mentioned due to Secret Six. Always wondered what that actually lead to beyond the Six's story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 Parts of Infinite Crisis worked, it was just a case of too many chefs trying to make one dish in my opinion. They did all that build-up with Power Girl as a lead-in and then had her tied up for the damn series. Iy kinda pissed me off because I've lways loved PG going back to Infinity Inc That's just one example of something they fucked up in IC. We won't even tak about the screwiness of Legion of 3 Worlds (though I liked it in the whole "Yes! Kono!" moment) I think if anything IC and everything after it proved that no matter how hard they try DC just can't fix Hawkman James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted December 5, 2017 Author Share Posted December 5, 2017 I like the idea (from JDR?) that all the various Hawk/Bird characters were part of the Carter Hall reincarnation cycle. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 Legion of 3 Worlds was a Final Crisis tie in, not IC. Edit: the sad thing is, Johns DID fix Hawkman. And then he got wrecked again. But the Johns/Rags book was great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 Finished The Dark Knight: Master Race quite a bit. On its own merits, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Nice to see Andy Kubert's art again and it was a pretty good read. As a sequel to Dark Knight Returns and Dark Knight Strikes Back, I have mixed feelings. The hc was a quick, breezy read ( I think I finished most issues in less than 10 min). "Quick" and "breezy" aren't two adjectives I usually want to use when reading comics and not qualities I usually associate with Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello. I don't love DKR as much as most, but it feels like a weighty, important story. An event. The themes and plotting has a gravity to them, and a sort of moral ambivalence. Stylistically, Miller used a lot of small panels and dense dialogue and narration. On the other hand, Master Race is big panels and sparse dialogue. Eh. Also, am I wrong in assuming the plotting was almost entirely Miller? I kinda assumed Azzarello was brought in to rein in MIller's stranger impulses and help with the scripting. The book really didn't feel like anything Miller has done recently, though it didn't feel like Azzarello either. As much as I don't miss Miller's unrelenting bleakness and "shades of gray" characterization, it made for more complex conflicts. Master Race's conflict is more typical comic book fare - less personal and with an outcome that's fairly predictable given the stakes. I never really expected the Kandorians to take over the world, and the tone of the ending manages to be somewhat sunny and hopeful - despite the fact that a a huge amount of death and destruction had taken place. I also don't think DKR would have resolved the final threat with a too convenient deux ex machina (in the form of Ray Palmer). I dunno. This felt more like a good Elseworlds JLA story to me. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I don't feel like it fits as the third act in the Dark Knight trilogy. It's not what I expected out of Miller or Azzarello and I wouldn't put it up there with either's best work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Austin Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 22 hours ago, Brian Fowler said: Then there was a Superman/Wonder Woman crossover that I don't remember the name of the collected edition. Sacrifice. Read Countdown to Infinite Crisis before Sacrifice. But I enjoyed Countdown, such a sad story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 12 hours ago, Brian Fowler said: Legion of 3 Worlds was a Final Crisis tie in, not IC. See! I got goddam Crisis mixed up! James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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