Sperg about comic books here

[Jetpack Himmler]

(Superman building a wish-granting machine? Singing a perfect note that pains Darkseid? What the fuck!?)

At the expense of sounding :autism:, the Miracle Machine is an obscure part of DC lore associated with the Legion of Super-Heroes. The Legion received one as a gift from the Controllers (an offshoot of the Guardians of the Universe) after they defeated a rogue Controller, who planned to use a Sun-Eater to destroy the galaxy. Morrison is rather infamous for using forgotten characters as the case was for the prominence of Sonny Sumo and Libra in Final Crisis.

As for Final Crisis itself, I find it to be a very confusing read. The one thing I enjoyed most about it was that it returned Barry Allen back to the land of the living. I know that Wally fanboys bring up his death in Crisis on Infinite Earths, but since later stories confirmed that he was inside the Speed Force so there was always the possibility he could return. Grant Morrison has always been a mixed bag for me, I got into DC Comics when he was writing JLA and co-wrote The Flash with Mark Millar and I quite enjoyed All-Star Superman and Multiversity, but as you say, he tends to be self-indulgent. I mostly ignored his work on Seven Soldiers, Batman and the New 52 Action Comics because I simply wasn't interested.

I am optimistic about his work with Liam Sharpe on The Green Lantern. According to both his and Dan DiDio's accounts, he talked himself into the job.

 

[Zaryiu]

So I have been looking up Comic books news for a while and I decided to post about what i read and I'll keep it and i'll elaborate on these news if anyone wants to hear more:
1. Poseidon was killed (and unlike Zeus years ago he's really dead in that he hasn't reincarnated) and Cheatah was the murderer
2. IDW in their inferior run of Judge Dredd brought back Trump (I'm sure they brought him in once before) to push a pro-immigrant narrative
3. In the current Batman Beyond Timeline they revealed new stuff: Harley killed Penguin, Dick Grayson retired to become Bludhaven mayor who's inspired by Bruce philanthropy, Dick has a daughter and it seems Joker is really back again (Oh and Terry has his own Robin
4. Marvel has revealed that the Soul Gem is not the only one with a world in it and they retconned the Infinity Gems origins
5. Wolverine was retconned as the hero that inspired Venom to stop being evil
6. Wally West and Johnny Thunder (Earth 19) we're killed
7. In a Wonder Woman and Justice League Darkq John Constantine was revealed he can't cast spells and is dying (I guess?) because the demon blood transfusion he got years and years ago isn't bworwor anymore
8. Marvel created a bigger threat than what the Avengers are able to handle, Sentry three parts? They have become unified into one and he became so powerful the Avenger had to let him go after he killed someone

I'll continue later because I don't want make an even bigger wall of text

 

[Agent Wet]

I seen videos pop up saying that stan lee has died today I don't know if this is true or not.

edit: nevermind its real

 

[Liquid Kent]

F



Excelsior, true believers.

He's in Asgard / Fourth World / DC+Marvel Heaven / 31st Century now.

 

[Stab You in the Back]

I was flipping through an old Marvel handbook and came across this character who gets treated with more respect and seriousness despite being a joke character than most real characters do in modern Marvel comics.

Spoiler

 

[Tranhuviya]

The funny books are by no means great literature, but they have a place as pieces of cultural ephemera.

To elaborate on what I meant here, I view the vast majority of comics as being similar to pulp novels in terms of cultural value. Both are centered around heroes with superhuman traits, both are perceived as juvenile, and both have a large impact. Comics have inspired everything from the noseart on planes in the Second World War to the costumes worn by Elvis. While they are by no means great literature, they do have a very real impact on our culture.

w/e. I am very smart. I use big words.​

 

[Devilish Jack o Lantern]

Wally West and Johnny Thunder (Earth 19) we're killed

When did this happen ?!

 

[Zaryiu]

When did this happen ‽

Heroes in Crisisis the crossover where Wally, Roy Harper and buch of other heroes were mudered (oh and so far Wally death has been ignored) was kiloed by a Watchmen character (Ozymandias?) in Doomsday Clock

 

[Jetpack Himmler]

When did this happen ‽

As for Johnny Thunder of Earth-19, he died in Flash #57 at the hands of Hunter Zolomon. On a semi-related note, I wanted to show this video, which had Professor Geek declaring that DC Comics is effectively dead.

While I agree that it would be better if DC let Dan DiDio go, let's face reality, comic books as a medium have been in terminal decline for years and it has only been accelerating for the last decade. Neither DC nor Marvel's parent companies (Warner Media and Disney) give a flying fuck about the comic books subsidiaries because it's the IPs that are the real money makers as they have been successful in more profitable mediums.

 

[RockVolnutt]

While I agree that it would be better if DC let Dan DiDio go, let's face reality, comic books as a medium have been in terminal decline for years and it has only been accelerating for the last decade. Neither DC nor Marvel's parent companies (Warner Media and Disney) give a flying fuck about the comic books subsidiaries because it's the IPs that are the real money makers as they have been successful in more profitable mediums.

I know I shill whenever this topic comes up but I think leaving it to other mediums is where it'll become dead-dead. They only really exist as temporary fads in terms of movies and such, I'd be surprised if the MCU sticks around into the 2030s and 40s, their home in the funnybooks is the only medium they're in that has the vast long running histories that IMO are the main appeal. I wouldn't even mind if capeshit was less of the focus as long as they continue those universes.

This could be read as a jab at the fans but it's absolutely not, more I really think Warner and Disney don't realize just how important the source material is unless they want to eternally keep trying to recreate it all. No one who seriously likes Batman is there for surface level "HE GOT A BAT SYMBOL ON HIS CHEST" over the long history associated with the name. These are the longest running collaborative works of fiction in American history.

Someone might say "They can just make original characters in other mediums!" at this point and I'd ask them if they think Agent Coulson movies are really going to be this hot new thing. Just reboots of that every decade or a half until Hollywood finally lights itself on fire. The same Hollywood that needs international markets to have a shot at making back the insane amount of money they spend on these things.

 

[Devilish Jack o Lantern]

While I do agree that comics may be on a decline I still think that focusing on just the super hero stuff is the only thing in the medium that sells is a bit absurd . While yes that’s where most of the big bucks come from the creator owned market still has a lot of potential , just look at comics Like Chew or the walking dead; two non super hero, indie comics that sold well enough for them to become ongoing series . I feel like if we give Creator owned books more chances I do feel like we can get a new resurgence in the market .


However as a guy who has his fingers of the pulse in the comics market i have to say that more and more comic companies are focusing on the following : Children’s books , personal stories , educational books and trade paper backs . Their biggest market at the moment is selling books not magazines therefore they are focusing their efforts in trying to get the younger demographic to buy comics by doing that , the biggest percentage of revenue they gather is from those focus areas at the moment. I know for a fact that DC comics, Boom and First seccond publishing are focusing more of their newer talent those new areas. I have to say maybe the comic book medium as we know it is at an end and a new ventures are beginning to sprout from it .

 

[Zaryiu]

As for Johnny Thunder of Earth-19, he died in Flash #57 at the hands of Hunter Zolomon. On a semi-related note, I wanted to show this video, which had Professor Geek declaring that DC Comics is effectively dead.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=id=Z-XNHF4zvXM;t=0
While I agree that it would be better if DC let Dan DiDio go, let's face reality, comic books as a medium have been in terminal decline for years and it has only been accelerating for the last decade. Neither DC nor Marvel's parent companies (Warner Media and Disney) give a flying fuck about the comic books subsidiaries because it's the IPs that are the real money makers as they have been successful in more profitable mediums.

Literally who?

 

[Jetpack Himmler]

I know I shill whenever this topic comes up but I think leaving it to other mediums is where it'll become dead-dead. They only really exist as temporary fads in terms of movies and such, I'd be surprised if the MCU sticks around into the 2030s and 40s, their home in the funnybooks is the only medium they're in that has the vast long running histories that IMO are the main appeal. I wouldn't even mind if capeshit was less of the focus as long as they continue those universes.

This could be read as a jab at the fans but it's absolutely not, more I really think Warner and Disney don't realize just how important the source material is unless they want to eternally keep trying to recreate it all. No one who seriously likes Batman is there for surface level "HE GOT A BAT SYMBOL ON HIS CHEST" over the long history associated with the name. These are the longest running collaborative works of fiction in American history.

Someone might say "They can just make original characters in other mediums!" at this point and I'd ask them if they think Agent Coulson movies are really going to be this hot new thing. Just reboots of that every decade or a half until Hollywood finally lights itself on fire. The same Hollywood that needs international markets to have a shot at making back the insane amount of money they spend on these things.

I'm looking at it from the perspective of Hollywood executives who are not really known for their long-term thinking. The big reason why Warner is in such a panic over the DCEU and trying to reverse course is because Justice League cost them a reported $300 million (if not more) and was by most accounts a bomb. The comics probably operate at marginal profit or loss compared to the films so they let DiDio do whatever the hell he wants as long as it's not a fiery wreck. They aren't motivated by sentimentality for the art form.

As for future of the medium, things are looking pretty grim. Comic books are practically nonexistent on the newsstands and convenience stores nowadays, and Marvel/Diamond's shenanigans with comic shops have forced the closure of many, and others to shift towards other hobbies like TCGs and wargaming.

Have to agree that Hollywood is going to have a reckoning with its bloated budgets and lack of originality.

 

[RockVolnutt]

I'm looking at it from the perspective of Hollywood executives who are not really known for their long-term thinking. The big reason why Warner is in such a panic over the DCEU and trying to reverse course is because Justice League cost them a reported $300 million (if not more) and was by most accounts a bomb. The comics probably operate at marginal profit or loss compared to the films so they let DiDio do whatever the hell he wants as long as it's not a fiery wreck. They aren't motivated by sentimentality for the art form.

As for future of the medium, things are looking pretty grim. Comic books are practically nonexistent on the newsstands and convenience stores nowadays, and Marvel/Diamond's shenanigans with comic shops have forced the closure of many, and others to shift towards other hobbies like TCGs and wargaming.

Have to agree that Hollywood is going to have a reckoning with its bloated budgets and lack of originality.

I might've jumped the gun in assuming "other mediums" automatically meant the MCU or other movies. People like making that argument despite the soap opera antics of Spider-Man not really working with the "one installment every few years" format and making the movie industry into a bloated clone of what's going on with comics sounds like a recipe for disaster.

 

[Detrogen]

8. Marvel created a bigger threat than what the Avengers are able to handle, Sentry three parts? They have become unified into one and he became so powerful the Avenger had to let him go after he killed someone

I hated this and the majority of Lemire’s Sentry miniseries.

Spoiler

Bob struggles with the Void for years of continuity and in all instances the Void has expressed pure malice towards him and the Sentry. All this is undone in a brief conversation we see off-camera in a matter of minutes. Not to mention Scout recreating the Sentry formula by doing some basic investigating. You’d think somebody might have figured it out earlier.

 

[Detective K]

So I read Lemire's Thanos run, 12 issues, followed by another 6 by Donny Cates. Lemire did a good job of securing Thanos as one who isn't to be fucked with. It was enjoyable.

Cates took it into more absurd "what if?" territory, which I honestly kind of adore. On top of that, he fan-serviced Frank Castle into a cosmic being. I know, it's stupid, but I loved it.

After Thanos, Cates did Cosmic Ghost Rider. I would classify it as humor, and not necessarily good, but I honestly smiled a few times, and the ending was pretty neat.

Spoiler: End of Cosmic Ghost Rider

I think Cosmic Ghost Rider will be some sort of weird canon soon, and I don't know how I feel about that, but the mini was pretty darn fun.

 

[Zaryiu]

So here's news that caught me off guard: THE BATMAN THAT LAUGHS might actually be worth reading/buying from the following details catching my attention: It's a book end to my favorite Scott Snyder Batman story (The Dark Mirror was fantastic and I don't say that lightly), James Gordon JR is Back, an alternate Bruce Wayne gets a Joker something (gas or something liquid he does) infection and it goes bad, like creates something part Batman, part Joker and all spex predatox badguy. I don't why but despite myself I wish this would turn out decent.
In related news the Batman that Laughs? Even Joker is creeped by how wrong he just is, to the point I rarely if ever saw Joker get that serious in a long time that he went to Lex and told him outright not to make a deal with the horrible thing in his basement. Luthor lied and did that so Joker got dead fucking serious and release his Joker gas inside the base to turns members of the Legion of Doom (might not be the right name but it's the one I remember) to tear each other apart and last picture was just before the outright fight between two Titans of evil

 

[Cyber Bowling]

So here's news that caught me off guard: THE BATMAN THAT LAUGHS might actually be worth reading/buying from the following details catching my attention: It's a book end to my favorite Scott Snyder Batman story (The Dark Mirror was fantastic and I don't say that lightly), James Gordon JR is Back, an alternate Bruce Wayne gets a Joker something (gas or something liquid he does) infection and it goes bad, like creates something part Batman, part Joker and all spex predatox badguy. I don't why but despite myself I wish this would turn out decent.
In related news the Batman that Laughs? Even Joker is creeped by how wrong he just is, to the point I rarely if ever saw Joker get that serious in a long time that he went to Lex and told him outright not to make a deal with the horrible thing in his basement. Luthor lied and did that so Joker got dead fucking serious and release his Joker gas inside the base to turns members of the Legion of Doom (might not be the right name but it's the one I remember) to tear each other apart and last picture was just before the outright fight between two Titans of evil

IMO, Synder is a good idea guy who rarely gets the execution of his ideas right. On paper, all of his plotlines sound like they should be really good, but anytime I've tried to get into them they've just been a slog. He kind of reminds me of a goofier/willing to embrace the heavy comic elements version of Brian Michael Bendis. Namely, he's more focused on his specific version of characters/continuity and just expects everyone else to have that same vision and idea. Obviously with so many stories and writers everyone is going to have a slightly different take on characters, but Synder's stuff just feels like it takes place more in an elseworld style story than the main DC world. To me, the Batman That Laughs was actually the worst of his creations because it really felt like a Gary-stu author pet villain who despite being really hyped up, never felt like he had much of a presence in the story. I think it was a case of hyping him up too much so by the time he really started to do things, it was ultimately impossible to meet that hype.

That being said, I know a bunch of other people who highly recommend Synder's recent stuff, so it might just be a case of his style really not meshing well with what I enjoy.

 

[Affluent Reptilian]

Sooo DC has published Zoe Quinn's 'Goddess Mode #1' today. I thought this kind of thing was more Marvel's bag.

 

[Evian Les Rutabaga]

Sooo DC has published Zoe Quinn's 'Goddess Mode #1' today. I thought this kind of thing was more Marvel's bag.

DC's trying to resuscitate their Vertigo line by holding a pillow firmly across the patient's face.

Spoiler

Of course Hermeticorp's symbol is some game map wankery superimposed on the symbol for amalgamation all on a pentacle conjoined with an annulet: "We're secretly working on magitech to immanentize the eschaton! It has nothing to do with Lovecraftian horrors from outside our comprehension, honest. See? It's 'Azoth' not 'Azathoth'!"

But we're all white male game designers, whose corporate culture has no room for female people of ambiguous brownness except to use their genius and toss them aside after the gig. Too bad we're all lacking in Goddess energy so it's all crashing and burning around us. Oops. If only there were someone who could see where this is all going, an Oracle of feminine wisdom that we'd ignore because that's worked so well. We could call her Cassandra! Cue the transformation scene cribbed from Promethea.

The best I can say about the art is that Stjepan Šejić's alternate cover reminds me of Dan Brereton's work. I get that the team may have wanted to get away from 90s muted palettes, but 80s dayglo colors over black isn't working for me. If they could have paid Šejić or Brereton for the entire book, the art might have made up for the clunky narration.

tl,dr: There are some YA ideas that have potential, but more effort is going into looking cool than developing the ideas.