Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

2021 Marvel Comics Omnibus Thread


odessasteps

Recommended Posts

On 1/28/2021 at 8:56 PM, Eivion said:

Did you ever read Remender's X-Force? Hickman's Avengers? The current Immortal Hulk from Al Ewing it also pretty damn good.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Maestro (Prequel to The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect) by Peter David.  I miss the good old days of Peter David on The Hulk.  The art, IMHO was tremendous as well.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The first few issues of John Buscema's run on Conan the Barbarian were a bit rough, but I liked issue 27 enough that I decided to keep reading the book. I was still hankering for some Barry Smith Conan, though, so I read the first issue of Savage Tales. I'm pretty sure the Frost Giant's Daughter story was printed in Conan the Barbarian, Savage Sword of Conan and Savage Tales, but it's a nice short story. What really impressed me was how good the rest of Savage Tales was. An anthology with Barry Smith, John Romita, Gray Marrow, Gene Colan, and John Buscema doing non-Comic Code art? It's a travesty that it was cancelled after the first issue. It could have been an amazing outlet for Marvel's finest to do mature comic book work. Sure, the stories are full of scantily clad women, and Stan Lee has some weird sexual politics going on in his stories, but I don't think Man-Thing was ever better than the origin story in Savage Tales #1. Maybe I'm a sucker for the black and white art, but it felt closer to Bernie Wrightson's Swamp Thing than the Man-Thing stories that followed. 

I also started reading Michael Golden's run on Micronauts which has been supremely fun. It doesn't feel like a Marvel comic at all. I feel like I'm reading an 80s independent publisher like First or Comico. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finished up the Squadron Supreme mini-series today. Lots of interesting ideas about superhero comics in keeping with what a lot of the British writers were doing in the 80s. I can see the parallels with Watchmen except that the writing and artwork is obviously superior in Watchmen. The thing that kept bugging me is that even though I enjoyed the way Thomas used the Squadron Supreme in the Avengers, what's the point in introducing these DC copies into the Marvel Universe? If the DC characters are so iconic, and you want to work with them so desperately, then why not jump ship and work for the opposition? I get that Gruenwald used the characters, and their alternate universe, to tell the kind of story he couldn't with the Avengers or the Fantastic Four, but the entire concept of the Squadron Supreme is strange to me. And I say that as someone who loves Astro City and all of the homages/tributes in that series. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

I finished up the Squadron Supreme mini-series today. Lots of interesting ideas about superhero comics in keeping with what a lot of the British writers were doing in the 80s. I can see the parallels with Watchmen except that the writing and artwork is obviously superior in Watchmen. The thing that kept bugging me is that even though I enjoyed the way Thomas used the Squadron Supreme in the Avengers, what's the point in introducing these DC copies into the Marvel Universe? If the DC characters are so iconic, and you want to work with them so desperately, then why not jump ship and work for the opposition? I get that Gruenwald used the characters, and their alternate universe, to tell the kind of story he couldn't with the Avengers or the Fantastic Four, but the entire concept of the Squadron Supreme is strange to me. And I say that as someone who loves Astro City and all of the homages/tributes in that series. 

Gruenwald loved DC characters to the point of putting Barry Allen (or Will Payton) in Quasar and doing shadow crossovers with DC writers and all sorts of other things, but he had one of the steadiest gigs in comics, especially as the 80s went on. It's hard to rock that boat for love of fictional characters. Plus, things like Twilight of the Gods ultimately didn't happen. Watchmen was changed so that it wasn't the Charlton characters. He probably couldn't have written that same story over at DC at that point even if he wanted to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He was also a genuinely nice guy. Like of the big 3 that would be in the EiC office, he was always such a genuinely appreciative person when he'd get his weekly bundles (especially the DC books).

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for asking, @The Natural. I'm moving this convo from the DC thread...

Quote

How you getting on with your Spider-Man reading, @twiztor? Best wishes, bud. 

Oh man, Nat, you have no idea how good of timing you have. I literally JUST read a couple Spidey stories on my lunch break. ASM #121-122.......The Night Gwen Stacy Died. Before we get there, let me backtrack for a minute.

i've been reading 1-2 comics a day. took a couple sidetracks when stories intersected with Spidey (the first dozen or so issues of Daredevil, Astonishing Tales #1&2 [KaZar/Kraven story], some Marvel Team-Up where Spidey or his villains were involved, that sort of thing). I'm really digging this journey a lot. I was surprised at how hot-tempered Pete can be early on, especially while dealing with Flash. Ditto the times he gets all jealous and emotional when he thinks he'll lose Gwen to Flash (or anybody else). Mary Jane as a side character and party girl that's always around is also something i didn't expect. The stories have mostly been solid and really do feel like they build on each other. He never beats a villain the same way twice, and that actually gets referenced as history. Fascinating read for late 60s/early 70s cape comics.

THIS particular storyline has been amazing. From the way Green Goblin has been treated so far, to Harry's drug trip making it seem like he'd be the one to die, to Pete constantly getting sidetracked before he can get back to Gwen, was note perfect. The death is shocking (or would have been at the time, obviously in 2021 not so much...) and you can really feel Pete's emotions coming out. I had no idea Goblin died here, or that his death in the first Tobey Maguire movie was ripped straight off this page. And that epilogue with MJ is SO DAMN PERFECT. all the feels.  Sidnote, I didn't realize it happened so soon (basically immediately!) after Stan Lee was off the book- curious if there's more to that story.

If i wasn't in this for the long haul before now, i certainly would be now.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finished Red Nails, which is considered by many to be Barry Smith's best work on Conan. What interested me is that Roy Thomas wrote an editorial where he said it might be the final issue of Savage Tales. It seems Marvel had a difficult time publishing their black and white magazines, which is a shame because they are a clear precursor to the rise of independent comics, graphic novels, and comics for mature readers. If that trend had begun earlier we would have seen some amazing creator driven stuff in the 70s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...