(tomorrow the ILC characters poll will be back but I have a headache and this is easier)
16. ORION #1-25
At first I started reading this because it was Walt Simonson eye candy even though all that happens is the standard bite-bite-bite-fight-fight-fight stuff but then suddenly!! it starts getting really good, with a power corrupts storyline and deus ex machinae which are actually entertaining and monster cosmic stuff (including tasty loose ends, hey whatever DID happen to the earth-juggling super-giant?). And Simonson is still great! Towards the end it tails off a little and I think cancellation came as a disappointment but generally this is Good Stuff.
― Tom (Groke), Monday, 12 September 2005 21:28 (nineteen years ago) link
The Morrison/Millar run. At the time I thought this was really ace and now it reads very strangely, like people who want to write mad silver age stuff but haven't actually worked out how to yet. The ideas are there but everything's TOO big and crazy: the first two episodes in each arc are terrific and the third is always shit. Only bad in comparison to Ultimates and Seven Soldiers and JLA, I suppose. In the middle of it there's a really nice one-issue story about Jay Garrick and the Thinker which stands up better than all the hypercosmic sagas. It doesn't help that this was during the Flash "speed force" years so all the supporting cast are (dread word) 'speedsters' and the whole speed force concept is a massive "INSERT LAZY ENDING HERE" card to boot.
― Tom (Groke), Monday, 12 September 2005 21:36 (nineteen years ago) link
Ponderous vehicle for James Robinson to grim'n'grit up assorted G.A. and JSA characters. A review of this in the Slings And Arrows Guide praises the set-up in #1-3 but considers the payoff in #4 corny. THIS IS WRONG. The set-up is repetitive and hammers home the one or two personality hooks Robinson gives each character, which is all he can really afford to give them since the cast is so bloody huge. The diffuse focus means no arc really ends satisfyingly - compare to DC: THE NEW FRONTIER (covering vaguely similar ground) and you'll get the idea. HOWEVER the fourth issue is terrific because of it's awesomely hokey plot. Hurrah! If only they'd used the body of a cat.
― Tom (Groke), Monday, 12 September 2005 21:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Monday, 12 September 2005 22:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Monday, 12 September 2005 22:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 12 September 2005 22:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― kit brash (kit brash), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 06:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― Vic Fluro, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 06:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 11:11 (nineteen years ago) link
Though he also later says "I'm honestly as happy writing Superman Adventures as I am writing Wanted. I don't see one as bring better or more literate than the other"
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 11:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 13:53 (nineteen years ago) link
Grant on Flash was OK, but not as great as I expected. Back then I had already been a fan of his work for a long time time, so having him as the regular writer for my favorite character ever was a dream come true. But...well, "Hell To Pay" was such a great ending for Waid's run it became a tough act to follow to anyone who had to step on his shoes. Plus, he went out with the promise of coming back one year later with "Chain Lightning" which, back then, was hyped to be this super-cosmic-time-and-space-spanning-Flash-epic that was gonna change the world for ever and all that crap. So Grant's stuff was OK, but by coming after "Hell to pay" and with the hype behind "Chain Lightning", his run turned out to be a bit underwhelming and it ended up being a mildly fun way of killing the time until Waid's return.
― iodine (iodine), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― O'so Krispie (Ex Leon), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:59 (nineteen years ago) link
er because Millar used to write Sonic The Hedgehog monthly, I would not be surprised that the plot where Flash races Sonic The Hedgehog across the universe came from him rather than Grant.
Their usual writing practice was to divvy up dialoguing issue-by-issue, rather than story-by-story, so that would fit. Also since there's no way Grant didn't write that one with his new version of the Mirror Master, which wouldn't fit with the three-on three-off pattern. (of course it all got thrown wonky when he had to bail from the last three due to overcommittment, which might be what you're thinking of?)
― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 00:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 08:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 08:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 08:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 09:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 17:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 17:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― kit brash (kit brash), Thursday, 15 September 2005 01:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 15 September 2005 01:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― kit brash (kit brash), Thursday, 15 September 2005 02:39 (nineteen years ago) link
G-Mo! On the FF! Cool! Not really. A pretty thin plot (Doom manipulates reality but underestimates the FF's innate goodness) allows GM to trot round some icons without really seeming too enthused by any of it. Nice Jae Lee art - murk is boring but he does it better than most - is it really true tho that the Torch's powers stop working if its RAINING??? (ok I think it was some sort of mutant super-rain)
― Tom (Groke), Monday, 19 September 2005 12:24 (nineteen years ago) link
All Colossus stories in which he is painting are funny and this is no exception as he expresses his inner torment by drawing a mid-90s Simon Bisley picture. When you think about it it's amazing that the X-books have never done the "his name is Rasputin yes Rasputin WHO ELSE HAD THAT NAME" plot before, but David Hine is a pretty decent low-key writer so this works as a good read and a stupid larff. Hine's rise to mild x-prominence is a bit odd though - who'd have thought when I was reading "Sticky Fingers" in CRISIS all those years ago that he'd end up doing a hokey Colossus mini?
― Tom (Groke), Monday, 19 September 2005 12:28 (nineteen years ago) link
12 issues of nothing but fighting drawn by John Romita Jr = pretty good fun! I read it all in about 40 minutes but so what? Wolverine murderises lots of good guys then gets turned good again and murderises all the bad guys instead: in some ways this is the quintessential Wolverine story and certainly seems to have been a crowd-pleaser, but on the other hand you can't imagine it having been done at any time prior to now.
― Tom (Groke), Monday, 26 September 2005 12:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 26 September 2005 14:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 26 September 2005 14:19 (nineteen years ago) link
I'm not sure the comic's ever been better to be honest.
― Tom (Groke), Monday, 26 September 2005 14:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 26 September 2005 14:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― carson dial (carson dial), Monday, 26 September 2005 14:47 (nineteen years ago) link
The great thing about the Baron FLASH (& the Messner-Loebs run) is that in 6/8/10 years time some writer is going to come along and revive it all in the same way Johns is all about the Cary Bates rogues galleries and soapy set-ups.
― Tom (Groke), Monday, 26 September 2005 14:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 26 September 2005 14:57 (nineteen years ago) link
:)
― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 26 September 2005 14:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― kit brash (kit brash), Friday, 30 September 2005 00:58 (nineteen years ago) link
quick question, the person who started the thread about martian manhunter's 'demise' - are they really that person?
also: it roxx. so hard.
― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 30 September 2005 06:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 30 September 2005 09:56 (nineteen years ago) link
One of them (don't ask me which one) died in some crossover or Flash event some years ago. He was running up the wall of some building when he lost his powers, fell down and SPLOTCH!
And yes, Messner-Loebs' Flash was lovely.
― iodine (iodine), Friday, 30 September 2005 15:01 (nineteen years ago) link
Is what who now?
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 30 September 2005 15:07 (nineteen years ago) link
chuck register and then go to the introduce yourself thread/forum which will be one of the few things you'll see and start a thread introducing yourself, post it, and then immediately you'll have access to the rest of the site. look for the tracker 'forums' at the bottom then.
― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 30 September 2005 18:35 (nineteen years ago) link
I don't remember reading this, but it sounds very much like the Gene Bomb in INVASION!, doesn't it?
― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Monday, 3 October 2005 08:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Monday, 3 October 2005 13:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Monday, 3 October 2005 13:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 3 October 2005 13:56 (eighteen years ago) link
Signed, A confused stupid comics pirate.
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Monday, 3 October 2005 14:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 3 October 2005 14:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 21 October 2005 14:15 (eighteen years ago) link
Also d/led: The Brave & the Bold #200, final issue, Batman/Batman by Mike W. Barr & Dave Gibbons. Turns out, I used to have this as well, but I had completely forgotten about it. A strange tale of Earths 1 & 2 and a man named Brimstone (with AWESOME hair) who traversed the multi-dimensional barrier using only his hatred for Batman.Justice League of America #171 & 172 Another Earth 1 & Earth 2 story. This one concerns the annual team-up of the JLA/JSA and the death of the original Mr. Terrific. I remember getting the first issue from a used bin when I was a kid, and then I never found the conclusion, so I've just been walking around like a moron for all these years wondering who killed Mr. T. Turns out it was Jay Garrick, but the JL/SA decided that since they've always liked Jay Garrick more than Terry Sloane anyway, they'd just wipe their own minds and forget about it.
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 15:52 (eighteen years ago) link
The Brave & the Bold #85, Peak Neal Adams, 1st appearance of Green Arrow's beard! Amazingly, I've read this before! It must have been reprinted in one of those DC Blue Ribbon Digests. Still, fantastic non-fantastic Bob Haney story. Bruce Wayne, congressman! Batman and GA share a psychiatrist! Psychiatrist uses self-hypnosis to remove knowledge of their secret IDs! Who needs Zatanna?
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 28 November 2005 15:39 (eighteen years ago) link