Fabian Nicieza: The Works (S/D, C/D)

Thunderbolts, if his run is in TPBs or quarter bins -- it's pretty lengthy, so I'm not sure it's worth per-issue prices at the usual "it's a back issue, it's $3" rates. I'd argue that he did the "big complicated story that you have to keep reading to understand" thing here better than it had been done in the X-books in years.

Gambit. I never liked Gambit in the X-Men, and I didn't read the limited series, but the ongoing series was pretty great at times. New Orleans ends up being portrayed ... um, oddly ... but no moreso than usual. (And for the last time, if Gambit was born in the city to city natives, he's not a Cajun, although he might well still be ragin'.)

Psi-Force, which I think Dan could talk about better than I could, since I barely remember it.

Destroy the X-stuff, probably. I wasn't reading much of it.

Psi-Force was SOOOOOOOOOOO great, largely because of the gigantic amounts of death and angst stuffed into it (at one point he killed the fan favorite as a character advancement point for the least sympathetic character in the book... who became really, really great and relatable as a result). You'd think that a "Misfits of Science meets Annie meets Akira (only it predates Akira)" book would be really painful to read, but it was actually magical. I miss it dearly.

Gambit's emo. C'mon, you know it.

Totally off-thread, but have been enjoying the pleasant nostalgia raised by the knowledge here. The Escapo thread reminded me of old DC fave, Eclipso, which then led to a little browsing, and a stumbled-across pic of the Fatal Five giant purple man-monster with the exposed brain. How cool was he? Good memories...

As soon as Rob Liefeld ran off to start Image, he massaged shiploads of life into the title by clearing out Cable, Domino and Domino-impersonator Copycat, reunited the group with Rictor and Sunspot and left Sam Guthrie in charge of a mixed-up group of mopers, malcontents and loose cannons, with only the huge balls Sam had been steadily developing over the past year to keep him sane.

And even when Cable and Dom were reinstalled, it was still pretty good and Sam was firmly ensconsed as the team's heart (made abundantly clear when he was yanked into X-Men for 3 terrible years).

The first Deadpool limited was a ton of fun. Deadpool got to kill lots and lots of lamers, show that his heart still beat for his former love and throw Black Tom and Juggernaut out of a 747. How rock is that?

The other classics (Warriors, T-Bolts and Gambit) have been mentioned. Wasn't around for psi-Force but it sounds wonderful.

Gambit likes jazz (older the better) and the blues. He and Blade once swapped old 78s.

New Thunderbolts is brilliant. Speed Demon sneaking away from the strip show by Pretty 'I gave Nova an orgasm using only a whip in New Warriors' Persuasions to beat the crap out of the Fathom Five crazies at hyperspeed was great. And it produced a solid contender for line of the year with the Radioactive Man/cops one-way exchange: "I am the Radioactive Man. I am with the Thunderbolts. Take me to them now - or I will render both of you sterile" *cue speeding cop car*. And PHOTON.

C/D is the only comic that's made me snort through my nose in laughter more than once while reading it in the old Forbidden.

This has always bugged me.

KNEE - SEE - EZZA?

KNEE - CHEE - TZA?

I always thought it was Knee-CHAY-zuh.

In some interview with his coworkers, they claimed his name was pronounced like "nice and easy"

I'm hoping it'll rhyme with "Ibiza".

"Nice cheese-uh"?

First half of his New Warriors run was totally great imo; second half was a bit MTV-emo-ish for my tastes. Barima OTM about post-Liefeld X-Force too