[Abyss]

L.E.G.I.O.N./R.E.B.E.L.S. ended well enough. Satisfying if blunt. I did enjoy the reread and finishing out the run.

Next up, back to Marvel to catch up on the X people post the disappointment which was the whole WAY OF X, TRIAL OF MAGNETO, ONSLAUGHT SOMETHINGED, INFERNO mess.

XMEN - great cast, i especially like what the writer did w Polaris and Sync, the rest are well in character and fun. Not brilliant or wildly original but solid mutant zappy splody floppies. The action is glorious.

NEW MUTANTS - loved loved the way the old and new cast worked their way to the finale w the Shadow King. On some level i kind of hate how every X villian is getting a redemption arc, but it worked well here. Yay they brought Rictor back from the steaming pile of magical poo that was Excalibur.

X FORCE - by example working less well is the attempt to make Omega Red interesting. He's a visually stunning villain and great to see pummeling Wolverine and they really should have left it there. Beast continues to be an asshole to no particular end point. Kid Omega continues to be the star of the cast which is absurd. Something just ate Forge's brain. Still a fun comic but not as clever as it is trying to be.

WOLVERINE - in the midst of a glorious Deadpool arc and i am actually laughing out loud at this. Deadpool is trying to get back on XForce by helping Logan. It is not helping Logan but it is helping me just fine. Glad we're done w vampires for a bit (heehee see what i did there?).

MARAUDERS - New crew - yay! New art team - not so yay. New spaceship - yay! New tired boring rehashed Shi'ar space story - yawn. Kwannon on team - Yay! All previous development jettisoned and calling her Psylocke again - meh. Cassandra Nova as a team member (rejecting redemption arc) - genius! Cassandra Nova looks like a muppet on meth with this art - yick.

Next up X LIVES & DEATHS OF WOLVERINE

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 06 September 2022 - 03:37 PM, said:

Next up X LIVES & DEATHS OF WOLVERINE

I'd like to thank this/these (two) series for restoring my faith in Marvel and the Xbooks.

Not for the casual xbook fan, Wolverine jumps back in time to his own body at various significant times (ie Weapon X program, Japan, Great White North) to stop time/body jumping Omega Red from killing Professor X.
At the same time, Moira goes on the run and something that looks like a Phalanx infected Wolverine appears to be hunting her.

I suppose these might read ok as standalone, but really, LIVES is a gift to longtime Wolverine fans, and DEATHS is the closure to the Xmen story Hickman began in HoX/PoX.

The art throughout is excellent, the stories move fast, the characters are who the longtime reader wants them to be (well, depending on how you feel about Moira's recent developments). Laura, Gabby, and Akihiro get some great moments towards the end of DEATHS. So do Sage and Beast.



Next up was a Mark Waid oneshot THE RISE AND FALL OF AXIOM. Essentially (yet another) an alt Superman story that doesn't go so far as to make him evil so much as pissed off at humanity. Inconsistent art, bland characters, a few clever moments but overall meh.

[QuickTidal]

Dove back into Marvel Unlimited to catch up on all the X-stuff (I was only through HoX/PoX and about the first 6 issues of the post HoX/PoX stuff in the various titles that splintered off from that) under Hickman's Watch and a little beyond. So I have DAWN OF X, and then REIGN OF X to go...and I will read DESTINY OF X (post-Hickman) as well and see how I like it.

The X-Books were my entrance into comics of so many years ago (the Ultimate X-Men titles were that entry), and this is arguably the first time in a long time that I've been enjoying X-books this much and not knowing where it goes.


Please refer me to anything else I should be checking out on MU beyond this.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 29 September 2022 - 03:36 PM, said:

....


Please refer me to anything else I should be checking out on MU beyond this.

IMMORTAL HULK is complete and great and surprisingly mindfucky for a book about a character whose primary thing is smashing. A bit history heavy if you're not familiar with Hulk and other gamma folks.

If you have not read Hickman's F4/FF run you really should.

Ellis's MOON KNIGHT is worth a look.

SUPERIOR SPIDERMAN made me love that character again by replacing him with a villain.

XMEN RED, not the current run but the original, complete, self contained, great cast, lots of fun.

ANNIHILATION was one of the bestest crossovers of the last few decades.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 30 September 2022 - 04:20 AM, said:

If you have not read Hickman's F4/FF run you really should.

I've read this one, it was my intro to Hickman actually.

I'll check out the others! Thanks!

[JPK]

Abyss, on 30 September 2022 - 04:20 AM, said:

QuickTidal, on 29 September 2022 - 03:36 PM, said:

....


Please refer me to anything else I should be checking out on MU beyond this.

Ellis's MOON KNIGHT is worth a look.

You're a brave cat-thing recommending Ellis to QT of all people.

[QuickTidal]

JPK, on 30 September 2022 - 02:33 PM, said:

Abyss, on 30 September 2022 - 04:20 AM, said:

QuickTidal, on 29 September 2022 - 03:36 PM, said:

....


Please refer me to anything else I should be checking out on MU beyond this.

Ellis's MOON KNIGHT is worth a look.

You're a brave cat-thing recommending Ellis to QT of all people.

To be fair, I not only used to read Ellis and love his work, I met the man once upon a time...his more recent fall from grace doesn't really affect that for me.

[JPK]

QuickTidal, on 30 September 2022 - 02:37 PM, said:

JPK, on 30 September 2022 - 02:33 PM, said:

Abyss, on 30 September 2022 - 04:20 AM, said:

QuickTidal, on 29 September 2022 - 03:36 PM, said:

....


Please refer me to anything else I should be checking out on MU beyond this.

Ellis's MOON KNIGHT is worth a look.

You're a brave cat-thing recommending Ellis to QT of all people.

To be fair, I not only used to read Ellis and love his work, I met the man once upon a time...his more recent fall from grace doesn't really affect that for me.

I never met him, but I've quite enjoyed his works in the past as well.

You do seem to have a tendency to be very aware of as well as critical of anyone involved in a misconduct accusation though and Ellis' was pretty bad. You can see where my line of thinking there came from, right?

[amphibian]

I love Planetary. I also abhor that he damaged the lives of many women. I stopped giving him money/attention for new projects.

That was my decision about it.

[amphibian]

I also think Wood and Bunn had great runs on Moon Knight after Ellis.

[QuickTidal]

JPK, on 30 September 2022 - 04:20 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 30 September 2022 - 02:37 PM, said:

JPK, on 30 September 2022 - 02:33 PM, said:

Abyss, on 30 September 2022 - 04:20 AM, said:

QuickTidal, on 29 September 2022 - 03:36 PM, said:

....


Please refer me to anything else I should be checking out on MU beyond this.

Ellis's MOON KNIGHT is worth a look.

You're a brave cat-thing recommending Ellis to QT of all people.

To be fair, I not only used to read Ellis and love his work, I met the man once upon a time...his more recent fall from grace doesn't really affect that for me.

I never met him, but I've quite enjoyed his works in the past as well.

You do seem to have a tendency to be very aware of as well as critical of anyone involved in a misconduct accusation though and Ellis' was pretty bad. You can see where my line of thinking there came from, right?

Oh for sure. I’m just saying that suggesting it to me is not off sides as I used to be a fan prior to his transgressions.

[stone monkey]

Reading Kieron Gillen's Once and Future: "Oi, Arthur! Frenchie shagged your missus!"

King Arthur is supposed to return at Britains hour of greatest need, and therefore I love that the conceit of the series is that it's Britains hour of greatest need because King Arthur has returned.

This post has been edited by stone monkey: 30 September 2022 - 10:35 PM

[T77]

I highly recommend Beta Ray Bill by Daniel Warren Johnson. It's only 5 issues.

[Abyss]

Just Finished BATMAN: LAST KNIGHT ON EARTH.
It's a Batman alterverse story. Batman wakes up, younger, semi-mindwiped, in a future where the world turned on its heroes and then imploded. He goes in search of wtf happened, with only the Joker's severed head for company.
It's good, close to great at points, bogged down in trying to mess w the reader at others. The overall story works well enough as a possible dark future, but now and then the writer/artists try to 'fool' the reader by suggesting it's imaginary or a dream or something and it's just unnecessary and unconvincing. The Joker's severed head is great fun and the best supporting character in the whole thing, except that he doesn't quite make sense if the reader spends a moment thinking about it. Could have made wider use of the Batfam and villains i think.


Worth a read if you have the DCI app. Can't say I would reco for money.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 30 September 2022 - 06:17 PM, said:

JPK, on 30 September 2022 - 04:20 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 30 September 2022 - 02:37 PM, said:

JPK, on 30 September 2022 - 02:33 PM, said:

Abyss, on 30 September 2022 - 04:20 AM, said:

QuickTidal, on 29 September 2022 - 03:36 PM, said:

....


Please refer me to anything else I should be checking out on MU beyond this.

Ellis's MOON KNIGHT is worth a look.

You're a brave cat-thing recommending Ellis to QT of all people.

To be fair, I not only used to read Ellis and love his work, I met the man once upon a time...his more recent fall from grace doesn't really affect that for me.

I never met him, but I've quite enjoyed his works in the past as well.

You do seem to have a tendency to be very aware of as well as critical of anyone involved in a misconduct accusation though and Ellis' was pretty bad. You can see where my line of thinking there came from, right?

Oh for sure. I'm just saying that suggesting it to me is not off sides as I used to be a fan prior to his transgressions.

Honestly i hammered that list out and had forgotten about Ellis' fall.

I respect people's choices re creators and their conduct. Had QT fired back 'Warren Ellis is scum and i refuse to read anything he is involved in' i would not argue.
I myself am all over the place when it comes to badness by creators' whose work i enjoy. Afaik, he doesn't get any money from people reading his Marvel runs on the app, so i'm less troubled and it IS a very good run and some entirely nice people who did none of those things worked on it - Declan Shalvey is an exceptional artist and his work there is great.


In counterpoint, as much as i enjoyed them, i have difficulty w recommending works where i know he sees profit from them, ie: Crooked Little Vein, even if everyone would benefit from a little more Godzilla bukkake in their lives.

[amphibian]

Shalvey really is a brilliant artist. I'll eventually find his other works.

I maintain that Mike Del Mundo's art on Haden Blackman's Elektra run is the level best art I've ever seen across several issues. However, Shalvey made art close to that level on Moon Knight.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 06 October 2022 - 07:59 PM

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 06 October 2022 - 04:09 PM, said:

I maintain that Mike Del Mundo's art on Haden Blackman's run is the level best art I've ever seen across several issues.

I once watched Mike Del Mundo do a live sketch duel (given a character by the crowd to draw VS another comic artist present) VS Frank Quietly.

Quitely drew as well as he always does. An excellent sketch.

Del Mundo literally drew (in like 20 minutes time) a piece of what could be polished cover art on any Big 2 comic had it been coloured...it was EXQUISITE.

[amphibian]

If you can find the pictures or video of that, I would love it.

[Abyss]

JM Straczynski's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN run. About 15 floppies in so far.
DAMN this is is some fine fine comics.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 06 October 2022 - 08:05 PM, said:

If you can find the pictures or video of that, I would love it.

Sadly, it was an "on the spot" kind of thing and sketch duels always raffle off the sketches at the end of the session to two lucky winners who walk out of the room with that sketch...so nothing other than my memory as I didn't win it.