Sperg about comic books here

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Tor Lugosi said:
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He apparently tried to get it turned into a TV show starring himself... but I assume the network execs couldn't stop laughing when he started describing the idea, "You see, I'm this buff, tall badass with super-powers- uh, no, this isn't a comedy..."
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Newman's Lovechild said:
But of course IDW thought it worth publishing.

Is Michael Chiklis struggling to find TV work these days?

Edit: I just noticed, 'cover by the Sharp Bros'. It took more than one of them to make it look that bad?
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This comic is from 2009-2010. Right around the time when Iron Man 2 and The Walking Dead TV adaptation built up hype before release. This drew Hollywood's attention to comics. Big two rights were not for sale, but indies were cheap and available. Studios began optioning indie comics right and left in hopes of another hot IP.

Some celebs tried to capitalize on it. They "co-wrote" their own comics with protagonists based on themselves and their appearance. If a film studio picked it up, said celebs would be a shoe-ins for leading roles, creator royalties, and licenses to use their likeness. Maybe even a taste of that Robert Downey Junior level of fame. Of course, these comics were bland, did not sell, and a few that got optioned were soon shelved. Rashida Jones' "Frenemy of the State" and Samuel L Jackson's "Cold Space" are two notable examples of these comic books. Chiklis is just one of many.
 
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Tor Lugosi said:
View attachment 2107533
He apparently tried to get it turned into a TV show starring himself... but I assume the network execs couldn't stop laughing when he started describing the idea, "You see, I'm this buff, tall badass with super-powers- uh, no, this isn't a comedy..."
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To his credit, Chiklis was kind of bad-ass on The Shield. He also had some comic book cache from playing The Thing in both Fantastic Four films (he was the best "thing' about them). I think he did a good job as a dad with super strength in "No Ordinary Family", which sadly only lasted 1 season. So this is a lot less out of left field than Courtney Love or Avril Lavigne getting their own manga series.
 
Water-T said:
To his credit, Chiklis was kind of bad-ass on The Shield. He also had some comic book cache from playing The Thing in both Fantastic Four films (he was the best "thing' about them). I think he did a good job as a dad with super strength in "No Ordinary Family", which sadly only lasted 1 season. So this is a lot less out of left field than Courtney Love or Avril Lavigne getting their own manga series.
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I like Chiklis a lot (and they should re-use him for the new F4 movies, or at least his voice like they did with Lou Ferrigno as Hulk), but I don't think he'd be a good fit for an action hero, and his comic counterpart is obviously a very idealized version of himself, especially compared to now.
 
Archie-Pep-Nov1983.jpeg

Crucially important "What's In" and "What's Out" list from the trend-setters and arbiters of taste Archie Pep Comics circa late summer 1983. (Cover date is November but it probably hit magazine racks around late August since the month on the cover is when it's meant to be pulled from racks if unsold.)

Were 3D movies really all that big in 1983? I know there was Jaws 3-D but that one was a critical dud.

I remember as a kid also being very puzzled about what "Rockabilly" and "Valley Girls" were. And of course "The 50's Look" is always going to be in style in Riverdale, so the artists didn't need to change up the clothing styles all that often.
 
Is anyone reading any GI Joe right now? I love the original 152-issue run from Larry Hama (even if the back half of it did get pretty stupid, thanks to executive meddling) and could stand some of the Devil's Due stuff, but none of the more recent Joe comics seem to know what to do with the property. About once a year, I pick up a Joe comic and go " ... eeeeeeh," and put it back down. Even the Hama stuff just doesn't work for me.

Maybe it's just that GI Joe as a property is too eighties? I think there's room for a proper reboot, what with there being a new ongoing unpopular war for them all to be veterans of. But have there been any good Joe comics recently?
 
Slowboat to China said:
Is anyone reading any GI Joe right now? I love the original 152-issue run from Larry Hama (even if the back half of it did get pretty stupid, thanks to executive meddling) and could stand some of the Devil's Due stuff, but none of the more recent Joe comics seem to know what to do with the property. About once a year, I pick up a Joe comic and go " ... eeeeeeh," and put it back down. Even the Hama stuff just doesn't work for me.

Maybe it's just that GI Joe as a property is too eighties? I think there's room for a proper reboot, what with there being a new ongoing unpopular war for them all to be veterans of. But have there been any good Joe comics recently?
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Weird, I was just about to ask about Marvel's old GI Joe comics. Back in the '70s and '80s Marvel had a good track record of taking a toy property and turning it into a decent comic, so I was curious as to how their GI Joe comics turned out and if they were worth reading.
 
Tor Lugosi said:
Weird, I was just about to ask about Marvel's old GI Joe comics. Back in the '70s and '80s Marvel had a good track record of taking a toy property and turning it into a decent comic, so I was curious as to how their GI Joe comics turned out and if they were worth reading.
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YMMV, but I quite like the '80s Joe comics. Larry Hama took these very basic toy bios and fleshed them out into likable characters. It took them a little while to find their feet, and the later issues can be pretty hit-or-miss because Hasbro kept changing the toys and making Hama introduce their new stuff all the time (urgh, Serpentor), but for my money the first sixty issues are a decent series.

There was also some nuance to the characters and situations. Not a lot--it's a friggin' toy tie-in comic--but it's there.

In the first issue, the Joes have to rescue a scientist from a secret government project who's turned whistleblower and is spilling secrets to the press. The scientist is an absolute pacifist and hates the use of lethal force, but she's also full of government info and has been kidnapped by Cobra. One of the Joes (Snake-Eyes, getting a head start on his role as the "lethal force first, second, third and forever" guy) suggests that a targeted bombing raid on the Cobra position would solve all of their problems, including the scientist's whistleblowing. But that gets nixed by their commander, who points out that passing judgment on her actions isn't their job. They don't have to like what the scientist does or what she believes; they have their orders.

When they move in to rescue the scientist, the Baroness throws a wrench into their plans and Snake-Eyes and Scarlett are left stranded and facing Cobra Commander. The scientist realizes that the Joes could have escaped and saved their own lives if they weren't trying to help her, and jumps in front of Cobra Commander's gun to give them an opening to take him down. It fails, of course, because this is the first issue and we can't capture/kill off the Big Bad right away, but it's an effort.

Ultimately, the scientist ends up becoming an ally of the Joe team. She's still a pacifist and strives to avoid the use of lethal force wherever possible, but she's heartened to see that the military does in fact have principled people in the system somewhere. And the Joes acknowledge that while they don't agree with her, she genuinely is trying to save lives.

TL;DR: Characters agree to disagree and help each other without being politically aligned.

Also, it may have been Burger King Kids' Club as fuck, but it is genuinely nice to see characters of all different races getting along.

Snake-Eyes is white, and his blood brother Storm Shadow is Japanese. Stalker, the cool sergeant, is black; so is Roadblock the heavy gunner, who also happens to be a cultured-as-hell gourmet chef who almost once blows their cover because he's offended by the quality of the restaurant food. Spirit, alas, gets hit with the "token Native American" hammer, but he's still a skilled character who gets a few moments of comedy and joins the rest of them in terrorizing the REMFs on base. Clutch is Jewish, and Duke is a block of wood.

And they all. Get. Along. Sure, there's friction and some don't like each other all that much, but they pull together and back each other up during missions. Team cohesion is important. In one issue, Dusty beats the shit out of a loudmouthed newbie who's abusing another recruit that cracked under torture. They have to work together. Race doesn't matter.

TL;DR: Characters judge each other by content of character.

It's sad, how little of this stuff there is in modern comics.
 
sasazuka said:
View attachment 2111613

Crucially important "What's In" and "What's Out" list from the trend-setters and arbiters of taste Archie Pep Comics circa late summer 1983. (Cover date is November but it probably hit magazine racks around late August since the month on the cover is when it's meant to be pulled from racks if unsold.)

Were 3D movies really all that big in 1983? I know there was Jaws 3-D but that one was a critical dud.

I remember as a kid also being very puzzled about what "Rockabilly" and "Valley Girls" were. And of course "The 50's Look" is always going to be in style in Riverdale, so the artists didn't need to change up the clothing styles all that often.
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The cover is ironic, since there's a lot of crossover between Rockabilly and Western fashion.

In any case, there's nothing you couldn't get in an issue of Archie that you couldn't get in an issue of Teen Titans or X-Men, except those had some actual cool shit and not just lame High School drama.
 
Been in a real Robert Howard/Conan the Barbarian binge lately... what are some of the better comic runs with him?
 
first issue of the robin comic was good. i like damian a lot. not entirely sure why Raptor is on the island though since i'm pretty sure he ate shit and died. Nite-wing is also there, which is odd since this is supposed to be for the "best fighters in the world" but they were likely just background fillers. so wotever.
 
Well they had some of them talking about how they got in by cheating or bribing others so at least there is some plausible explanation why some jobbers are there.
 
Boston Brand said:
Been in a real Robert Howard/Conan the Barbarian binge lately... what are some of the better comic runs with him?
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Almost all Conan comic books published by Dark Horse are very good. You can literally pick anything with Dark Horse logo, and get a decent comic at worst. Out of currently published Conan comics, European open domain books from Glenat are solid, but more hit and miss than Dark Horse's titles. They are published by Blaze as "Cimmerian" in the U.S. due to licensing reasons. Greedy assholes holding licensing right to Conan in the U.S. tried to stop their publication, and got Diamond to drop these books from distribution.

If you like Conan comics but want the edge sanded off for some reason, try old Marvel stuff. Black and White Savage Sword of Conan probably the best from that era. Ironically enough, Dark Horse published collected volumes of it in late 2000s and 2010s. I would avoid ongoing Conan titles from Marvel. Most of them are low effort shit, with some average books here and there.
 
That Justice Society animated film has been out for a few days now. Anyone watch it?
 
Duncan Hills Coffee said:
Now though? It's all clicked for me. Maybe it's because I'm older and have more experience with the overzealous 24 hour news media as well as modern events being eerily similar to the events in the book, but it all started to make sense. If anything, The Dark Knight Returns is just as relevant now as it was back when it was written. I also adore how Frank Miller characterized Batman as a guy who's clearly not mentally well but is just sound of mind enough to where he's still an effective crime fighter.
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I think as much as anything DKR is a comic about getting old and dealing with getting old, and you have to have gotten old, or at least felt the process of aging some in your life, to really hook into that part.

It's key to Batman's characterization, but to Superman's too. I love, maybe as much as any single page in a comic book, the splash of Superman and the narration that says, "WE MUST NOT REMIND THEM THAT GIANTS WALK THE EARTH." He's abdicated some of the control over his power because he's been around so long and seen so much that he's become terrified of the consequences it represents.

On current comics: the second issue of Daniel Warren Johnson's Beta Ray Bill miniseries just hit, and it is stupid good. Great ideas and wild art.
 
Is that Beta Ray Bill mini connected to some event or big storyline? Or I can jump in with no knowledge of what happened in Marvel in last 10 years?
 
GranDuke said:
Is that Beta Ray Bill mini connected to some event or big storyline? Or I can jump in with no knowledge of what happened in Marvel in last 10 years?
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It starts off with a loose tie-in to the King in Black event, but it doesn't really have anything to do with the main plot there. The only important related bits of the current status quo are:

1. Odin is retired and Thor is the new king of Asgard
2. Bill's old hammer got wrecked a while ago and he hasn't gotten a new one
 
Tor Lugosi said:
That Justice Society animated film has been out for a few days now. Anyone watch it?
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Yes. Whether it is good or not depends on the standard you judge it by - If you judge it in absolute terms, it's middling, passes the time. If you judge it against the average of DC animated movies it's a little better than most of the recent ones. It feels a bit like a mishmash of the animated Crisis movie (the one with the alternate Batman that was Thomas Wayne and Atlantis was at war with Thermyscira). It starts off weakly but gets a bit better towards the middle with a potentially interesting twist but then gets a bit nonsensical and more formulaic again at the end.

I've probably also spent too much time on the Farms because watching Wonder Woman murder her way through hopelessly outclassed German soldiers had me feeling sorry for the Axis powers. You're probably not meant to think "that poor guy was probably only in the army because of the economic collapse of his country resulting from punitive war reparations to France which in turn were so severe because the US was demanding repayment of its war loans and now the poor guy is having to go one to one with a literal immortal demi-goddess who has just thrown him spine-first into pile of jagged rubble."

But I did.

The animation is a little weird - the designs are vaguely reminiscent of the old B:TaS in that they're very simply drawn and shaded but at the same time they're kind of very precise in places which makes me wonder how they did it and if it's computer generated somehow. It lacks warmth but then so does the story. I spent most of the movie thinking they should have used Black Canary more up until they did and she came out with one of the most cringe lines imaginable.

I was mildly surprised to see Stana Katic was doing the voice for Wonder Woman. But then I mainly remember her as the vampire love interest in the third Librarian movie so honestly every time I see her in something I feel the same sense of surprise.

Barring I think three attempts at humour in the entire thing the movie doesn't try to be "fun" at all. It's going for serious and poignant. Which unless you're 14, I don't think it's going to pull off.

But anyway, having sufficiently lowered your expectations you might enjoy it. It's way less good than Justice League Dark, Assault on Arkham, Under the Red Hood or Superman vs. The Elite. I'd put it on around the level of Gotham by Gaslight. Better than Soul of the Dragon though which was, imo, execrable.
 
JimiHendrix said:
soul of the dragon at least gave us a good Shiva.
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Yes. But that was pretty much the one saving grace. She's one of my favourite characters but I also hate it when they mess with her being the best martial artist by throwing in people who are better than her.

Also, the ending was dumb.
 
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