Brian K Vaughan: S/D

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Search: Y The Last Man, though if they said it was ending in four issues I wouldn't be distraught or anything. Also: Runaways Runaways Runaways!

D: No idea. Chamber was only allright, but for an X-Men miniseries about the day before yesterday's man, allright is pretty good.

He's written Ex Machina, and Mystique, and a bit of Ultimate XMen. How are those?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 10 June 2005 09:45 (twenty years ago)

His Ultimate X-Men is the most enjoyable the book's ever been. As a meat-and-potatoes X-book it's just as good as Astonishing, to be honest, but the characters don't have the history. He also shows he can juggle a big cast - I think he'd be a good choice for any of the big team franchises after this and Runaways.

I like his writing a lot. Never read Y, or not yet anyway.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 10 June 2005 10:04 (twenty years ago)

Mystique is entertaining enough - lots of spy shenanigans and good use of Mystique's character and powers. Not brilliant but worth a borrow maybe

― Mark C (Markco), Friday, 10 June 2005 10:19 (twenty years ago)

I like to spell his name as Bryan.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Friday, 10 June 2005 10:25 (twenty years ago)

Ex Machina is pretty good on the strength of the tpb. Interseting attempt to mix politics and superheroics. He writes strong believable characters in all his stuff that I've read. Also, his scripts can be really funny.

― David N (David N.), Friday, 10 June 2005 10:29 (twenty years ago)

Ex Machina can be really great - the "only superhero in the world" angle is refreshing, and some of the political stuff is well done. It can also be pretty silly, a la last issue's "okay NYC, we're going to crack down on FORTUNE TELLERS! What, no uh this isn't related to the plot at all!"

Runaways is amazing, and the second series so far is as good as or better than the first. Y's taken an upturn lately as well, in my eyes.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 10 June 2005 12:11 (twenty years ago)

Jordan, that fortune teller thing was totally plot-related! In regards to the whole 9/11 guilt thing. And I liked the turn in that entire sequence - instead of Mayor Hundred getting his own Oracle, his wounded ego leads him to flex some political clout.

BKV can do no wrong in my eyes, especially in light of his Ultimate X-Men run, and even in spite of his "hey, look what I just read" tendency (which has been minimized of late) (and, hey, if I knew something, I'd show it off, too). The fact that he's (playfully?) trading barbs w/ Mark M online can only help improve my opinion of him.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 10 June 2005 14:22 (twenty years ago)

Sorry, uh, I meant that the whole fortune-teller thing was only there for the sake of the plot. Which everything is in some sense, but it still seemed kinda arbitrary. I agree that the ending of that issue took the path of fewer cliches, that was cool.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 10 June 2005 14:32 (twenty years ago)

Actually, that whole fortune teller scene had a distinct eau du Starman - James Robinson employed a fortune teller (way too) often in that series as a COMING SOON teaser-offerer. That's one of the reasons I was happy BKV stayed away from that device.

Also, speaking of non-sequiturs, THE TWIST in the first Runaways series totally floored me, so that earned BKV 10 years in my book where he can do whatever he wants.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 10 June 2005 14:40 (twenty years ago)

But what about the (latest) twist in the SECOND series?

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 10 June 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

You mean the SPOILER you posted? Yeah, that was OK, as far as "...whoa..." moments go. I had some emotional investment in that 1st twist, tho, which made it really suck / great.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 10 June 2005 14:45 (twenty years ago)

Is The Twist in the first series the identity of the person that we spend the whole series trying to identify? Or the second decision that the parents made some years before?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 10 June 2005 15:28 (twenty years ago)

That first thing.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 10 June 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

I LIKE BKV. A LOT.

― Leeeeee (Leee), Friday, 10 June 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

He's kind of like a light-hearted Bendis who hasn't fallen off yet.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 10 June 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

He seems a lot less "Look look I go to the movies!" than Bendis.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 10 June 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

They're both properly bald, though.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 10 June 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

Amazon says he also wrote the following: ring any bells?

X Men Icons: Cyclops
Spider-Man/Dr. Octopus: Negative Exposure
Green Lantern: Circle of Fire
The Hood Volume 1: Blood From Stones
X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic, Book 1

I could always check them out from the, eh, international library, but recommendations for or against are always nice.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 10 June 2005 18:35 (twenty years ago)

I heard good things about The Hood. Negative Exposure (the bits I read) were a bit meh. The rest, I dunno.

By the way.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 10 June 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

Tell me more about this beef with Millar.

― Flyboy (Flyboy), Monday, 13 June 2005 11:22 (twenty years ago)

If you g00gle their names, you'll find a thread on M!llarw0rld that talks about such good-hearted shenanigans. Such as MM's appraisal of Runaways: "I hate those wee cunts. It's just Power Pack without the street-credibility." BURNED BY THE HORNY HULK GUY OH NO!

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 13 June 2005 12:48 (twenty years ago)

Don't forget: www.bkv.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2552&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Monday, 13 June 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

Also I read my first non Force/Statix X-thing in like ever (2 years?) (that is to say, a BKV UXM, FYI OMG) and boy, it's really pretty good! This whole mutant-team concept sounds like it might have some legs!

― Leeeeee (Leee), Monday, 20 June 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)

??? Do you fear the touch of Grant Morrison? New X-Men was really good, and if it wasn't, Astonishing is!

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 20 June 2005 21:16 (twenty years ago)

Do you fear the touch of Grant Morrison?

Understatement!

― Leeeeee (Leee), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 01:33 (twenty years ago)

Give in, Lee! GIVE IN.

ACCEPT THE LOVE.

And start with the DOOM PATROL trades for maximum effectiveness.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 01:53 (twenty years ago)

eight months pass...

I don't know why I've been thinking of Swamp Man lately, but allegedly it's terrible because he wrote script after script of a people talking in a car.

― c(''c) (Leee), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 04:35 (nineteen years ago)

Is it All Star Swamp Man?

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 15:01 (nineteen years ago)

Warning: BKV's Swamp Mang contains very little actual Swamp Mang (only 2 issues, from memory, in two years). Bits of it are great, bits of it interminable.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

So according to Comic Shop News, BKV's set to write a Dr Strange mini. Yay! One of my favourite artists writing one of my favourite characters, who's more than deserving of decent treatment, given his last two books have been either mediocre (Flight of Bones) or wretched (that JMS one). Anyway, I'm cautiously, extremely optomistic.

― Oblivious Lad. (Oblivious Lad), Friday, 24 March 2006 08:09 (nineteen years ago)

recommend me a dr strange trade!

(besides the essential which i'm sure is good... but i want colour)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 24 March 2006 17:10 (nineteen years ago)

Is there a Dr. Strange trade (aside from Essential)?

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 March 2006 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

that's what i'm getting at!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 24 March 2006 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

That's what I'M getting @! I think the only Strange trades out there are:

- Essential (B&W reprints)
- Marvel Masterworks (color reprints of the Essential stuff)
- Strange (the aforementioned JMS mini that, from my exposure to #1, is kinda pfffft; Tep might be more forgiving)

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 March 2006 17:59 (nineteen years ago)

Slocki, buy the Dr. Strange Essentials, mail them to me, I'll read them and colour them in as I go, and then mail them back to you.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 24 March 2006 18:03 (nineteen years ago)

A WARLOCK MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE - ESSENTIAL DR. STRANGE: THE CRIMSON BANDS OF CRAY-PAS EDITION

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 March 2006 18:06 (nineteen years ago)

dunno if it's still in print but 4-5 years marvel did do a colour collection of the Englehart/Brunner issues, which I really love but hesitate to reccomend cos they are v. v. cosmic and v. v. early 70s - brunner is smoking neal adams, englehart fires up a bowl of the tibetan bk of the dead, the colours are day-glo psych, the universe ends and is re-made etc etc

but really the ditko issues are still seriously creepo otherwordly visionary and totally ESSENTIAL and you cld colour em in YRSELF

i have fond memories of the 80s run by Roger Stern, Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin - typically tight Stern plotting, Marshall Rogers pissing around w/ crude colour overlays, lots of insane detail and porno 'tash

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Friday, 24 March 2006 20:51 (nineteen years ago)

you know what i think i saw that englehart/brunner TP a couple of months ago

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 24 March 2006 20:53 (nineteen years ago)

Marshall Rogers!?!?!? I know RS worked w/ PAUL SMITH! on some latter isues of Dr. Strange, but MARSHALL ROGERS!!!

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 March 2006 20:57 (nineteen years ago)

There were also some baxter-paper reprints of the early part of the Lee/Ditko Dr. Strange run, but those may be pretty tough to find. In addition to this, there's a collection of some of the early stuff and a story by Lee with art by Barry Windsor Smith tacked on for good measure. Again, tough to find.

The ESSENTIAL stuff is great, even in B/W, though.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Friday, 24 March 2006 21:29 (nineteen years ago)

You so totally need to read the Ditko ones. B/W (Essentials = cheap) or color (Masterworks = expensive, you can usually find the "Doctor Strange Classics" miniseries from 1984 much cheaper, e.g. http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=25929501450 ).

Classic piece of brilliant too-much-time-on-somebody's-hands-ism: http://www.luckymojo.com/vishanti.html

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:08 (nineteen years ago)

I really like Ex Machina, but I'm afraid it's about to turn to shit.

― J (Jay), Saturday, 25 March 2006 21:06 (nineteen years ago)

"somebody" = editor-in-chief of Eclipse Comics!

― kit brash (kit brash), Sunday, 26 March 2006 07:26 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

I've read a bunch of Vaughan's work lately, and it's all been pretty good. His dialogue often feels false, though. If not false, then perhaps outright bad. Granted the only teenager I know is 19, and a big redneck stoner, but the kids in the Runaways occasionally make comments that just feel wrong. My enjoyment and/or suspension of disbelief is thusly spoiled. One example I remember without flipping through the book is when the sorta dumb blond guy (Chase, right?) makes an off-hand reference to the Menendez brothers. That kid would've been like six when that trial was all over the place. The line is something like "I'm going to go all Menendez on them", which is not only an annoying formulation to begin with, but one that's used far too often throughout the book. In fact I think a similar statement is made by a different character within a page of the Menendez reference. Every time it's employed the line is a clunker. Perhaps the fact that these lines aren't funny or clever is supposed to reenforce the supposed "realness" of the characterizations, but I kinda doubt that. They seem more like failed attempts at your standard sarcastic, wise-cracking kid stereotype. It's the stuff of bad sit-coms, not good comics. Similar problems pop up in Y the Last Man; that scene where they mourn all the dead 65-year-old rockers at the Washington Monument is unintentionally funny. And Ex Machina's gay marriage story, however well-intentioned, was as corny as anything in Essential Thor Vol. 1. The common thread is that, in its attempts to make the characters feel like real people, Vaughan's writing often has the opposite effect. I still like his work, and find it superior to most of what I've sampled since coming back to comics, but it always falls short of true greatness.

― chocolate kuegelhopf (Garrett Martin), Monday, 22 May 2006 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

On the evidence of Y I think he's at heart a deeply formalistic writer who would like to be a naturalistic one (I like Y, by the way).

― chap who would dare to be a nerd, not a geek (chap), Monday, 22 May 2006 16:55 (nineteen years ago)

i agree with chocolate k... although i think the dialogue in y is WAY better than runaways

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 22 May 2006 17:35 (nineteen years ago)

You guys!!! The Chase groanness is explicable because he's the kind of dope who'd say stupid things like that. The dead rockers in Y, I'll grant you that (who cares about dead Stones -- Sleater-Kinney is still alive!!!), and I've become too bored with X-Machines, but BKV has done great dialogue in his non-creator stuff like Ult X-Men and Mystique, a-a-and his first Escapist story!

― c(''c) (Leee), Monday, 22 May 2006 17:54 (nineteen years ago)

It's not that Chase wouldn't make dumb comments, but that a guy like Chase probably wouldn't know enough to make that comment in the first place. I haven't read anything else by Vaughan, but I'm looking forward to his Dr. Strange. Oh, and the dialogue problem isn't as prevalent in the Ex Machina I've read, but those creepy facial expressions bother the hell out of me.

― chocolate kuegelhopf (Garrett Martin), Monday, 22 May 2006 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

The line is something like "I'm going to go all Menendez on them", which is not only an annoying formulation to begin with, but one that's used far too often throughout the book

Maybe he wouldn't think to use the reference, but kids totally say stuff like that!

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 22 May 2006 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

(except with more swearing!)

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 22 May 2006 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

I like his dialogue. It's corny but at least it doesn't showboat.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Monday, 22 May 2006 21:35 (nineteen years ago)

i think the problem is that it's like novel dialogue.

― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 23 May 2006 00:08 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe he wouldn't think to use the reference, but kids totally say stuff like that!

I'm sure they talk that way. The reference feels wrong, though, and that's the third time a character uses the "I'm/they're gonna go all [cultural, political, or historical reference] on them/us" within a dozen or so pages, which makes the entire line just annoying as hell. I don't know, Vaughan needs to learn some new slang, or colloquialisms, or whatever.

― barefoot manthing (Garrett Martin), Tuesday, 23 May 2006 12:30 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe he wouldn't think to use the reference, but kids totally say stuff like that!

REALISM FALLACY

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 23 May 2006 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

I love the Police, I guess

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 13:37 (eighteen years ago)

I have David Shire on my mp3 player too! ("Theme from The Conversation") And I'm BALDING! I AM BVK!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 14:22 (eighteen years ago)

Cleveland is supposedly the home of rock 'n' roll, but it's hard to find good Cleveland bands.

Pere Ubu, hello

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 14:26 (eighteen years ago)

Devo!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 14:27 (eighteen years ago)

ELECTRIC EELS MOTHERFUCKER

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 14:29 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=cleveland+bands&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 14:32 (eighteen years ago)

Wedding bands are not music! They are NOIZE!

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 14:33 (eighteen years ago)

Wedding bands are the spandex of rock.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 14:35 (eighteen years ago)

The Grand Avenue Band looks like they rule.

Weddings:

American (ha)
Jewish
Slovenian
Italian
Croatian
German/Austrian
Irish
Polish

They do Justin Timberlake and all the Croatian hits!

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 14:35 (eighteen years ago)

Croatia is the keytar of rock.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 14:40 (eighteen years ago)

The Grand Avenue Wedding Band gives the people what they want. They are the Dan Slott of music (or maybe the Greg Horn?).

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 14:42 (eighteen years ago)

A GUIDE:

- Grand Avenue Wedding Band = Joey Q
- Steely Dan = Dan Slott
- Keane = Mark Millar

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 14:52 (eighteen years ago)

Greg Horn = Poison

And don't forget Rocket from the Tombs...

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

They're included w/ Pere Ubu by proxy, Grampa. :D

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 17:08 (eighteen years ago)

Gail Simone = Pipettes

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 17:15 (eighteen years ago)

Just doing my part for rockism, David.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 17:46 (eighteen years ago)

You just won yourself a Mirrors CD for your efforts, Mattwell. KEEP ROCK ALIVE!

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 17:55 (eighteen years ago)

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 18:10 (eighteen years ago)

Love & Rockets = Love & Rockets?

(answer: no!)

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 18:25 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

Vaughan & Alphonsa on Runaways RIP as of #24.

;_;

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 18:40 (eighteen years ago)

BKV's semi-official announcement.

This has me more angry at him than when he killed [REDACTED]!

― c('°c) (Leee), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 19:40 (eighteen years ago)

Holy jumping sharks, Batman!.

I wanted him to stay longer, mainly because I had the hope that a certain deceased character would come back...

― Amadeo (Amadeo G.), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 19:54 (eighteen years ago)

DEAD MEANS DEAD.

All BKV's interviews/FAQs I've read state that [REDACTED] is dead for good -- so the best shot for [REDACTED] coming back to life would be under new managament.

― c('°c) (Leee), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 20:08 (eighteen years ago)

Huh. I guess I don't mind this...I like it when books have real endings, and if the new team sucks I'll just pretend it got canceled.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 20:11 (eighteen years ago)

They should just cancel it, it kinda sucks now anyway.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 20:25 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

A friend at MTV is interviewing Mr. Vaughan tomorrow and wants to know if anyone has any questions for him.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 12 October 2006 14:56 (eighteen years ago)

How does he shave his head?

― David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 12 October 2006 14:59 (eighteen years ago)

How could he kill off the fat girl in Runaways, what a monster

― Adrienne Begley (sparklecock), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:13 (eighteen years ago)

Keep 'em coming. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:43 (eighteen years ago)

Does he feel that many of his characters speak with the same voice?

What is his fascination with puerile, teenage sense of humor?

Why is he so sensible about properties he owns? I.e. letting go of Runaways and killing fat chick therein?

― c('°c) (Leee), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:50 (eighteen years ago)

Is he worried that he'll run out of facts?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 12 October 2006 16:01 (eighteen years ago)

Haha

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 12 October 2006 16:33 (eighteen years ago)

is Yorick supposed to be quite so irritating? I mean, I know he's meant to be slightly annoying, but most of the time he's a full-blown prick.

― chap who would dare to contain two ingredients. Tea and bags. (chap), Thursday, 12 October 2006 16:53 (eighteen years ago)

The answer to that one is yes.

― c('°c) (Leee), Thursday, 12 October 2006 17:31 (eighteen years ago)

Thank you all. ;-) I've sent them over en masse to my friend.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 13 October 2006 03:54 (eighteen years ago)

is Yorick supposed to be quite so irritating? I mean, I know he's meant to be slightly annoying, but most of the time he's a full-blown prick.

I've stopped reading now that Yorick has dissed Yoko Ono. Sometimes you just gotta make a stand.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 13 October 2006 11:54 (eighteen years ago)

From my friend, for Daver:

How does he shave his head?

Clippers with no guard for that perpetual five o' clock shadow look.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 13 October 2006 15:52 (eighteen years ago)

THANKS BRIAN I LOVE YOU PLZ WRITE DOCTOR STRANEG MONTHLY FOR TWNETY YRS K THX

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 13 October 2006 15:56 (eighteen years ago)

Hahaha

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 13 October 2006 16:05 (eighteen years ago)

twelve years pass...

Paper Girls: C/D?

― Manfred Hemming-Hawing (WmC), Tuesday, 6 August 2019 13:13 (five years ago)

D in my experience unfortunately.

― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 6 August 2019 19:50 (five years ago)

Not a firm C, but I've liked the 5 volumes so far. Reading via free library borrows.

― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 7 August 2019 19:37 (five years ago)

I read the last issue yesterday, which prompted the thread revive. I think it's reasonably solid -- I remember being occasionally confused by the time travel plotting when reading it a month at a time, but I imagine it would be clear on reread. From the first issue I thought 'well this is obviously going to be a movie someday,' but I see Amazon is going to make a tv series out of it.

― Manfred Hemming-Hawing (WmC), Wednesday, 7 August 2019 19:47 (five years ago)

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