The Watchtower - A thread for all comics

[Girth Certificate]

gah, Walking Dead cliffhangers are a lot harder to take when the comic is actually good

[Flub]

I've just read the first issue of Superior Spiderman. It's actually very good.

[paddyo]

Anybody reading the Allred's FF?

ITs a really funny and cute little comic about the extended fantastic four cast with great kitsch art and lots of humour... i would recommend it

[moosegrinder]

Fucking hell fire. Transmetropolitan vol 2 seems to be out of print. I can't buy a new one off eBay because Paypal are fucking me about. GNNNN,

[Talvalin]

Fucking hell fire. Transmetropolitan vol 2 seems to be out of print. I can't buy a new one off eBay because Paypal are fucking me about. GNNNN,

There'll be hardcovers soon enough. If not, then DC are going to get a slap from me because I've been fucking waiting years for Transmet hardcovers. Make it happen people!

[Space Renegade Ulala]

*hugs complete collection of Transmet issues*

Literally just that and Planetary that I own every issue of, I think but yeah, if they were to collect Transmet in hardback volumes, I'd be all over that shit in no time and flogging the issues cause damn, floppies are a pain.

[Arn X Treme]

I did enjoy a lot of it until

The Obi-Wan-Peter-Parker bit at the end.

I give it three months before Dr Strange pops Petey's ghost into his body to set things back the other way.

I've just read the first issue of Superior Spiderman. It's actually very good.

[Flub]

I first read Transmet a few years ago. I probably read something on the net that said it was good so I bought the first trade in my local FPI. I also remember going back the next day and buying the rest in one go. I suspect if I had to make a list of the best comics I've ever read it'd be at the top.

There's also a very nice brand new high rez scan collection of the series floating around on usenet if you fancy it so your trades can stay in storage.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

Speaking of Ellis - and horrendously late to the party on this one - Nextwave, Agents of H.A.T.E.

Just got it today and holy shit. HOLY SHIT. I'd give all involved a blow job if it meant getting another 12 issues out of them, it's just so much fun. I mean, I'd seen panels from it here and there (notably the Elvis MODOKs) but fucking hell.

[moosegrinder]

Any comic that has it's own theme song is alright by me.

[Flub]

Speaking of Ellis - and horrendously late to the party on this one - Nextwave, Agents of H.A.T.E.

Just got it today and holy shit. HOLY SHIT. I'd give all involved a blow job if it meant getting another 12 issues out of them, it's just so much fun. I mean, I'd seen panels from it here and there (notably the Elvis MODOKs) but fucking hell.

Canning Nextwave was quite possibly the most evil and cruel act in history. I'll never forgive them for it.

[Arn X Treme]

Read two awesome books this week!

Saga #9 - you really should be reading this series if your not already, the first trade is like six quid and contains six issues! Do the math!!!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Secret History Of The Foot Clan #1 - This was all kinds of mental, with massive tie-ins to the current idw series as well as a really cool TMNT: Tournament Fighters Reference. I do feel that unless you have a general idea of the characters from either the Cartoon, Mirage Comics or maybe the cartoon then you will be at a loss. There's a couple of great references to their new origins as well as some long standing cannon references.

The art is all kinds of nice too!

[moosegrinder]

TMNT is a cracking comic, I fucking love it and not because of the nostalgia factor. It's fast but well paced, nicely plotted and has bags of charm.

[K]

I like Warren Ellis, but I thought Transmetropolitan was a bit *too* Warren Ellis for me, in the same way that his novel was – he’s got this annoying habit of going for slightly juvenile scatological references that gets a bit tiresome, i.e. “the guy had been arrested in 49 states for sodomising a crack-addicted donkey while stuffing an LSD-soaked confederate flag up his ass”. OK in isolation, but his novel was just that, over and over again for 300 pages, and I remember Transmet being similar. Ellis is better when he’s being relatively restrained, i.e. The Authority and Planetary, in my jaundiced opinion anyway.

I’m reading through 100 Bullets at the moment, and really enjoying it – Azzarello has a fantastic ear for slang and dialogue. I have to confess that some of the storylines are so convoluted I’m struggling to follow them a little bit – I’ve just finished the arc about the bandage-wrapped detective, and the plot was so byzantine that I was absolutely bamboozled by the end of it. I get the sense that that story was supposed to be complicated in a Chandler-esque kind of way, but it just span out of control for me.

[moosegrinder]

Also see Garth Ennis. "Oh look, an Irish character. Ridiculously violent deaths. Something to do with religion. Obscene use of sexual imagery." I love Preacher and The Boys and Punisher Max, I really do, but it's hard fucking work sometimes.

[Sabreman]

Maybe I should get back to 100 Bullets. I followed it for the first 40 or so, but drifted away like so many other things. Might be back in the mood for it now.

I read Old Man Logan on moosey's recommendation. Tons of fun, but it really does make you wait for the good stuff! The reveal behind Logan's pacifism was really well done too - I didn't clock it early.

Speaking of TMNT, I've just jettisoned the last bunch of comics I'd hung onto since the mid-80s (all replaced digitally, and I had a moment of clarity where I realised I only ever kept them because I've always had them). Anyway, one of them was my favourite single TMNT issue: 'Turtles Take Time' - Mirage number 33, where they get trapped in a time warp and go back through history, at one point encountering the Knights of the Round Table. Funny issue, and containing one of my favourite sequences of panels. Isn't on Comixology yet, and I'm kind of regretting I didn't at least scan it now.

[Scruff]

Also see Garth Ennis. "Oh look, an Irish character. Ridiculously violent deaths. Something to do with religion. Obscene use of sexual imagery." I love Preacher and The Boys and Punisher Max, I really do, but it's hard fucking work sometimes.

Yeah, but mu'fukin' Barracuda!

I also think you could miss the middle out of most of his series and you wouldn't be any lesser for it.

[SonOfSoAngry]

Yeah, but mu'fukin' Barracuda!

I also think you could miss the middle out of most of his series and you wouldn't be any lesser for it.

Though if you did that with Punisher Max you'd miss The Slavers.

Holy fuck, The Slavers.

"All that counts is you can't stop me. I'm stronger than you, so I can do anything I want... Isn't that the way it works?"

[Scruff]

^^

That's why I said most. Punisher Max is probably his most prolific series that I've read, but as great as Preacher and The Boys are, they seriously tread water in the middle.

[Flub]

I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about with Hawkeye. Two issues in now. Fuck me. This is special. Stunning art (love the purple). It's funny, doesn't take itself seriously and I'm getting a bit of a Nextwave vibe from it.

[moosegrinder]

The new Captain Marvel TPB is out, Amazon have sold out already. I've ordered it from the Marketplace instead of taking my chances in Waterstones (there's aren't any comic shops near me any more unless I go to Sheffield and that ain't happening this weekend). Quite looking forward to it even though it's a blind buy.

Ennis does pad out with shite (Herogasm, anyone?) and he probably should go and see a psychiatrist but when he's on form he's fucking amazing.

[Arn X Treme]

Maybe I should get back to 100 Bullets. I followed it for the first 40 or so, but drifted away like so many other things. Might be back in the mood for it now.

I read Old Man Logan on moosey's recommendation. Tons of fun, but it really does make you wait for the good stuff! The reveal behind Logan's pacifism was really well done too - I didn't clock it early.

Speaking of TMNT, I've just jettisoned the last bunch of comics I'd hung onto since the mid-80s (all replaced digitally, and I had a moment of clarity where I realised I only ever kept them because I've always had them). Anyway, one of them was my favourite single TMNT issue: 'Turtles Take Time' - Mirage number 33, where they get trapped in a time warp and go back through history, at one point encountering the Knights of the Round Table. Funny issue, and containing one of my favourite sequences of panels. Isn't on Comixology yet, and I'm kind of regretting I didn't at least scan it now.

just leaving this here.....

http://depositfiles.com/files/8phdkn33u

[AK Bell]

The new Captain Marvel TPB is out, Amazon have sold out already.

I've been collecting Captain Marvel since she had the rename. I wouldn't say it was a brilliant book but I'm certainly enjoying it. It does feel like it has an authentic woman's voice and makes it a refreshing read.

[moosegrinder]

As long as it's enjoyable that's all I ask. It's also fresh enough that it's not been too tainted with the spaghetti junction cluster-fuck that is the Marvel continuity (or so I'm led to believe).

[Hexx]

So, you know. DC Comics and stuff. Here’s what I’ve been hearing.

Conflict between creative and editorial is on a bit of a high right now. This does vary from editor to editor it seems but the common thread is that plots and scripts are accepted from writers to an editorial brief… only for that editorial brief to change and the entire issue needing rewriting from scratch. Again and again. Plot elements suddenly parachuted in to already written, in some cases drawn books.

The problem is not so much editorial interference but inconsistent interference. Minds change, directions change, constantly. This also scuppers long term plans from DC’s writers, and they have little confidence that their plots won’t be knocked off at a tangent at any stage. Who lives, who dies, it changes at the drop of a hat, it seems to come.

This may be why you haven’t heard much about Trinity War of late – as the actual war still hasn’t been worked out yet. Books are joined to the crossover and cut on a weekly basis. It’s currently onto its fourth version, that I’m aware of. Even the FCBD preview had to have art changes so that it was Baz being attacked, not Hal Jordan. There are big mystery characters, the identity of which keeps changing internally week to week. Villains Month had the ideas parachuted in, but then the details of these changed. And then plots had to fit the new gatefold covers, some writers were given the cover reveal as a de facto plot point that now had to have that issue rewritten to reflect.

There are ways to get around this. Be Grant Morrison. To a slightly lesser extent, be Scott Snyder. Or ideally, be one of Scott Snyder’s proteges and get some measure of protection by using him as a buffer.

As for Jim Zubkavich he just didn’t have anyone to buffer him on Birds Of Prey so got canned. I’m told that DC decided that, given recent criticism, they wanted a female writer on the book. Gail Simone, the natural choice given her history was considered to take over the book, wasn’t willing to work with with the editor, after her experience on Firestorm which she walked off. Anne Nocenti hadn’t performed on sales well of late. So Christy Marks. an old friend of Dan DiDio‘s from ABC was asked, who already works with said editor on Amethyst.

Harras: we all saw what Christy was doing on “Amethyst,” and we were looking at “Birds Of Prey” and internally and editorially we were thinking of taking it in a different direction.

Interestingly, while Jim Zubkavich had to go through a competitive pitch to get the book, Christy Marks was appointed without pitching.

Marks: In general, it’s too early for me to say anything more. I’m still absorbing a ton of previous material and doing my initial thinking about the direction.

The first issue is only out in a couple of months…

And while many may feel sorry for Jim Zubkavich, as a result of this situation, he’s already been approached by Marvel, looking to score another one over DC. And they’ve been doing a lot of that of late, while DC draws talent from Image and Oni, Marvel just waits a little while and then goes in and takes their favourites – Joe Bennett, Paul Cornell, Mahmud Asrar, Pete Woods and Joshua Hale Fialkov are all recent acquisiations.

Marvel is suddenly becoming the cool place again. They publish a lot of superhero comic books, with less diversity of content than DC, but there is also less micromanagement right now. The creators are to a better extent trusted to work through the approved ideas and will be given enough rope to hang themselves… or ropewalk to success. As a result, the comics sound like they have more of an individual voice. From Jonathan Hickman to Cullen Bunn, from Dan Slott to Joe Keatinge, their individual voices are encouraged. Even when Kieron Gillen is writing comics with a job to move a character from Position A to Position B for another comic to start, he does it with a clear and discernible authorial voice. People are still hired and fired, but even in retrosolicited changes like the recent junking of the team from the Thanos origin for another higher profile team, the original team is given new work as soon as possible.

Make no mistake here, Marvel is not a barrel of laughs. It’s a job. Age Of Ultron has been set since 2011, books have plot points mapped out well in advance at creator and editorial conferences, and the bigger books dominate the plots of the smaller ones. There is less spontaneity as a result, Marvel is more about order right now, while DC is chaos. Marvel isn’t spinning on a sixpence… but then again, the creators at DC are getting rather dizzy.

There are of course notable exceptions. Action Comics, Batman, Batwoman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Animal Man, Green Lantern, All Star Western, Aquaman, Swamp Thing, have all felt distinctly like the work of their authors, for better or worse. But too many creators fear either their books are slipping away from them, or the fight to get them back is an exhausting one.

Of course this is often the way of Hollywood. Television studios full of writers rooms with everyone pitching in, constant notes from executives and showrunners storming out from one show to another. Despite all the upheaval, people still seem to rather enjoy The Walking Dead. Order and chaos. It doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad, but it can be rather frustrating. And frustrated people leave.

But Iunderstand that there is the feeling being expressed amongst DC creators I’ve talked to, from the rebellious to the compliant, that things have to change. That comics writers be given their shot to see what they can do. And specifically challenge those last minute changes to the comics, and the feeling of constantly working in fear of the next mad idea they’ll have to accommodate.

But the example I was most specifically given against this argument is that DC doesn’t want to have 52 Batman Odyssey‘s on their hands, the highly idiosyncratic Batman book from Neal Adams that ran this year and last, which though enjoyed by many attracted much criticism.

Mind you, having one or two Batman Odysseys around the place can always shake things up – did you read Frank Cho’s Wolverine this week? Mad as a bag of badgers but a welcome addition.

The New 52 was always a mixture of order and chaos. Has it swung too far one way? Can it be swung back?

DC, naturally, did not return emails.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/01/18/chaos-and-order-at-dc-comics/

One of the comments nails it

Coming from a retailer AND his customers, (and keep in mind this is JUST our area, I'm not talking about other areas or cities), people see DC as falling apart.

The whole 52 titles thing isn't working.

People, and I'll admit myself as well, see them as tv execs cancelling shows that don't have time to be proven or making decisions based on polls.

In other words, the guys who cancelled Firefly.

Our customers don't want to take a chance on a title that isn't well established, like Batman, Superman, etc. because they feel it won't be given a chance and will be cancelled.

Why spend money on something that won't last? They'd rather spend the money on Marvel Now products which are WAY better because it looks like Marvel is caring a while lot more. New Avengers, Avengers, Captain America (selling more copies than we ever have before), Hawkeye and even Hulk. Heck, we sold out of Thor for the first time since Fractions' #1.

Here's the thing DC needs to know. People DON'T HAVE TO BUY their books. People are LOOKING for a place to jump off and buy other things. We lost a LOT of customers to Spidey 700 because chose to jump off then. Same with DC titles. As soon as someone is replaced as a writer or artist, people see it as a weakness, not a bonus. They see DC scrambling for position with gimmicks and crossovers.

I've had numerous people ask, "When is everything going back to the way it was?".

Another problem is STILL, a year later, people don't know what they're supposed to know. Yes, Superman and Doomsday fought, but was the JLI involved? What happened in those 3 years of Barbara Gordon? What are we SUPPOSED to know and what we are we supposed to forget?

People have had it. They've stopped caring.

And all this from a guy who didn't pick up more than 2 marvel titles 5 years ago. Now, I buy 2 DC titles, Batgirl and JLDark. I read over the others so I know whats going on so I can tell customers, but our DC sales are about half what they used to be.

And where's that line for $2.99 drawn at again? Some people keep asking.

DC needs to stop acting like high class tv execs who live in a bubble and start caring about the titles, not "Quick, cancel it! Add something else! Hurry!"

Just give people good, well written stories, stop writing like the comic should come with an action figure and man up.

[SonOfSoAngry]

Harras: we all saw what Christy was doing on “Amethyst,” and we were looking at “Birds Of Prey” and internally and editorially we were thinking of taking it in a different direction.

Seeing as what Christy did in the first issue of Amethyst (a character originally aimed at young girls who currently has a cartoon on DC Nation aimed at young girls) was put an attempted gang-rape in it, I'm not sure whether this "different direction" is going to be fun for fans of the Birds Of Prey.

"Next Issue! The Birds Of Prey are caught in the clutches of a sadistic rapist who's also an anthropomorphic fridge."

[BubbleFish]

Shameless plug but I'm having to sell some of my trade paperbacks due to moving.

Spent weeks trying to find a way to keep them without success so selling the ones I can just about part with. Before I get scalped by one of the shops I thought I'd at least give first refusal here http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?/topic/268094-trade-paperback-collections-for-sale/

[Flub]

Could someone explain to me why Marvel 616 Nick Fury has turned into the Ultimate Nick Fury? I'm not complaining about the switch but I've got no idea how it happened.

[AK Bell]

Could someone explain to me why Marvel 616 Nick Fury has turned into the Ultimate Nick Fury? I'm not complaining about the switch but I've got no idea how it happened.

Is it meant to be his son or something? I couldn't be arsed to find out

[Chocky]

Could someone explain to me why Marvel 616 Nick Fury has turned into the Ultimate Nick Fury? I'm not complaining about the switch but I've got no idea how it happened.

Is it meant to be his son or something? I couldn't be arsed to find out

Yeh it's his son who has also happened to lose an eye.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Johnson_(comics)