Bore Comics Thread: Crisis On Infinite Megathreads

[Eel O'Brian]

superman was pretty awesome in the late 80s when jerry ordway was doing a lot of it

[Great Rumbler]

Superman for All Seasons is pretty good.

[bork]

How was Superman: Up, Up, and Away?  Focusing on a depowered Superman using his reporter skills to fight crime as Clark Kent seems kind of interesting.

[Eric P]

i actually never read it though i was intrigued by the concept

[chronovore]

http://www.tcj.com/superhero/rich-kreiners-yearlong-best-of-the-year-new-krypton


We’re in the midst of complimenting, amazingly enough, aspects of three ongoing commercial mega-crossovers. Last time, acknowledgment went to crafted early moments of Brian Michael Bendis’ Dark Avengers which displayed real cleverness in conception and smacked of authentic presidential malfeasance. This time it’s the more complex social and political framework underlying the “New Krypton” cycle in DC’s Superman-related titles.

“New Krypton” is the realm created by the enlargement of Brainiac’s bottled city of Kandor, a Silver Age artifact familiar to Superman readers of longstanding. That enlargement unleashes a flood of super-powered Kryptonians on Earth, in essence 100,000 new Supermen, itself a wrinkle that might awaken some curiosity in readers of almost any standing.

Early on there are glimpses of what that many endowed aliens might mean to the storyline. Among the glistening spires of New Krypton, a newly supered-up visitor dumps a blue whale carcass in a pristine courtyard: “I found this in the water. It tried to eat me. I punched it. It stopped trying to eat me.” At street-level Metropolis, two Kryptonians exhibit indifference, then disdain, at a traffic accident; they were moved neither to prevent it before nor to mitigate the severity of the injuries after. It all tends to heighten the clash of sensibilities and, in the process, throw into high relief the deep-seated humanity the Kents bequeathed their adopted son Clark during the course of his upbringing.

Of course things get worse for almost everybody. There’s an admirable coordination between the saga’s authors, among them Geoff Johns and James Robinson, in conveying the astonishment and confusion rippling along both sides of the species divide.They provide the satisfying progression from nervousness to apprehension to suspicion to antagonism to provocation and hostility between the sides, an escalation accelerated by sheer foreignness and disparate wherewithal. On “our” side are wary citizens, overmatched costumed good guys and, well behind the scenes, bad guys forwarding their own agenda. The other side boasts a multitude of strange visitors from another planet, augmented to unmatchable levels, carrying out their own agenda in plain sight. And why wouldn’t they? What have they to hide or be ashamed and hesitant about? Anyway, who could do anything about it?

In one proactive bit of vigilante housecleaning — not to trivialize death, even in funnybooks — several cops are killed in the line of duty by Kryptonians (unnecessarily, it appears to readers). The newcomers’ leader, Alura, explains: “there’s an earth term I’ve learned of late – collateral damage. These policemen were unlucky.” Eventually she will allow that humans are “Pathetic and inferior yet mired in hubris. Let them all die.”

Not to trivialize real-world horrors — especially as funnybook inspiration — but it’s difficult not to map specific incidents, twists or snippets of dialogue onto those real-world horrors.  First to mind are the conflicts of the Middle East. American servicemen and women, armed and armored like relative supermen, alien supermen, intervene in Iraq, hoping that shock and awe can pave the way to immediate objectives. Perhaps a closer mapping still is that of the Palestinian / Israeli fighting during the winter of 2008. There, the latter, enjoying a similar superiority of armament and weaponry, inflicted wildly disproportionate degrees of “collateral damage” upon their opposition. Theirs was a premeditated response that could have flowed directly from the position enunciated by the fictional Alura: “Until we are absolutely safe, there can be no limits.”

As for our escapist entertainment, Superman, compromised by his multiple allegiances, is superimpotent to effectively intervene, unable to prevent unfolding tragedies. So’s Supergirl, twice over, as her mom is Alura.  By way of contrast, Lex Luthor remains an exemplar of unswerving motivation, pure as driven soot. All in all, the opening act made for a tight and tidy dilemma for its principle players.

As of the end of the second collected volume of the “New Krypton” storyline, some of the most intractable problems mentioned here have seemingly been sidestepped, put on a back burner by the fabulous developments possible only in comics. Thank goodness this is only an imaginary story, eh?

And this is all without Superman in it? It sounds really good.

[Cormacaroni]

It has Superman in it. but really, it's not that good. Utterly bemused at the excitement over this. The initial premise is good and it started off well but it's filled with absolutely inane events and is now a muddled mess. Plus, it's blatantly leading into a huge crossover event.

[Eric P]

well, remember, i said i've only read the beginning stuff, but i found it enjoyable

it may shit the bed later but i never got there

[Cormacaroni]

Eric P: EXONERATED

Manabyte: NOT EXONERATED

[Diunx]

http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/2010-01-27-marvel27_ST_N.htm

More details about Marvel's "Heroic Age", I love how both Dc's and Marvel's new status quo have this very optimistic feel to them after both Secret Invasion and Final Crisis left their universes in the shitter.

[ManaByte]

Concept art from the GL movie:
http://cosmicbooknews.com/articles/glm_report/

Holy shit. And to think they almost made it a Jack Black comedy.

[Ichirou]

I hope the plot they talked about isn't the real thing.  It reads as horribly unfocused and can't decide on a villain (Hector Hammond or Legion) or a setting (Earth or space).

[ManaByte]

GL always takes place in Earth and space and this is an origin movie so it makes sense.

It's like complaining about Batman Begins having too many villains.

[Raban]

GL always takes place in Earth and space and this is an origin movie so it makes sense.

It's like complaining about Batman Begins having too many villains.

Hey Mana I'm interested in GL. What some essential shit that I should read? Is it worth digging up the Showcase Presents books or should I focus on the more contemporary TPBs?

[Ichirou]

GL always takes place in Earth and space and this is an origin movie so it makes sense.

It's like complaining about Batman Begins having too many villains.

It's not in any way like that.  I'm talking about the basics of storytelling.  It reads as unfocused - you don't split the plot in half over most of the movie with two mostly unrelated stories starring the same protagonist that switch back and forth.

[ManaByte]

GL always takes place in Earth and space and this is an origin movie so it makes sense.

It's like complaining about Batman Begins having too many villains.

Hey Mana I'm interested in GL. What some essential shit that I should read? Is it worth digging up the Showcase Presents books or should I focus on the more contemporary TPBs?

Read Geoff John's run. Start with Rebirth then issue #1.

[Cormacaroni]

Chew continues to be hilarious and surprising. Fantastic art too. Strongly recommended.

[Eric P]

GL always takes place in Earth and space and this is an origin movie so it makes sense.

It's like complaining about Batman Begins having too many villains.

Hey Mana I'm interested in GL. What some essential shit that I should read? Is it worth digging up the Showcase Presents books or should I focus on the more contemporary TPBs?

the showcase stuff is mad goofy, i'd start with rebirth exactly as mana suggests

[Diunx]

I would actually recommend secret origin and Emerald twilight before rebirth to get a little familiar with Jordan, Rebirth is not really that good if you are not familiar with the GL world.

[Raban]

Hmm. We'll see. Goddamn comics and their complexity.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/02/02/the-seven-most-amazingly-shojo-moments-in-x-men-misfits/

[close]

[Great Rumbler]

(Image removed from quote.)

spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/02/02/the-seven-most-amazingly-shojo-moments-in-x-men-misfits/

[close]

 

[Mr. Gundam]

That's Longshot in the bottom left corner with the mandolin? Holy fuck.

[Diunx]

I though that was Emma

[bork]

The scariest part is that is 100% American-made.

[Great Rumbler]

The scariest part is that is 100% American-made.

Not entirely. Anzu, the artist, is from Indonesia.

[Diunx]

http://www.amazon.com/Absolute-Star-Superman-Grant-Morrison/dp/1401229174/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265157871&sr=1-1

[Eric P]

BONER!

[Diunx]

Chew continues to be hilarious and surprising. Fantastic art too. Strongly recommended.

Yeah, this has become one of my most anticipated books each month.

Siege #2 enjoying it a lot more than BN so far.

[chronovore]

Chew continues to be hilarious and surprising. Fantastic art too. Strongly recommended.

Will find. Thanks.

[Cormacaroni]

Chew continues to be hilarious and surprising. Fantastic art too. Strongly recommended.

Will find. Thanks.

First 5 issues are out in trade, 'Taster's Choice'.
One-time only offer: If you don't like it, I'll buy it from you and give it to someone else!

[Cormacaroni]

http://www.amazon.com/Absolute-Star-Superman-Grant-Morrison/dp/1401229174/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265157871&sr=1-1

but October? gah.

[chronovore]

Chew continues to be hilarious and surprising. Fantastic art too. Strongly recommended.

Will find. Thanks.

First 5 issues are out in trade, 'Taster's Choice'.
One-time only offer: If you don't like it, I'll buy it from you and give it to someone else!

Yeah, cool. Of course, I'd have to ship it to you and you'd have to ship or hand it off again. But I'll probably like it.

My copy of Leave It To Chance by Paul Smith showed up yesterday: 1600 yens for a lovely HARDCOVER. Amazon.co.jp is teh awesum.

[Cormacaroni]

Yeah, amazon is our best bet. The only problem I have is that buy one comic, and they send you an email every day for the rest of your life plugging shitty comics.

You will LOVE Chew. 

[chronovore]

Yeah, amazon is our best bet. The only problem I have is that buy one comic, and they send you an email every day for the rest of your life plugging shitty comics.

You will LOVE Chew. 

I've got that system beat, Fuad Ramses! I use a chaff hotmail account for my amazon dealings, and get my notifications on stuff i actually care about, like MP3 freebies and sales, through their twattings.

[Cormacaroni]

on the other hand...gmail. no need to ever do anything with it. let amazon and google's servers fight for all i care.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

http://www.beaucoupkevin.com/blog/this-is-a-tiny-game-piece-that-features-aquamans-wife-vomiting-blood/2010/02/02/

Red Lanterns are an awful idea even by the lowered standards of Comics!

[ManaByte]

[Eric P]

jim lee own shares in an india ink mine or something?

[ManaByte]

jim lee own shares in an india ink mine or something?

That's 100x better than the non-variant cover.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

is that cover supposed to mean something to me? serious question.

[Junpei the Tracer!]

You shut your whore face, it looks fine.

[Cormacaroni]

Hawkman

i've never watched an ep of Smallville but i must see this

[Howard Alan Treesong]

oh God

[Eric P]

oh my god

hahahahaha

[Diunx]

Hawkman

i've never watched an ep of Smallville but i must see this

Two full hours!

(Image removed from quote.)

HOLY SHIT

[Diunx]

That's badass.

[Ichirou]

I love that this discussion has turned into how did Hawkman make his mace?

[Cormacaroni]

Brian Blessed is intrinsically interesting.

[cool breeze]

superman's costume is a trench coat 

[ManaByte]

He's not Superman yet. He's "the blur" and he just runs around real fast...in a blur.

[Eric P]

Is there anything else interesting about Hawkman?

the hawkgirl resurrected lovers story

especially as hawkgirl hates hawkman

[Raban]

I've been meaning to ask, I assume you guys download a lot of comics. Where exactly do you get them from?

[chronovore]

I like comics, I like movies and TV shows about comics, but can't deal with Smallville. I even like that lovely critter Kristen Kreug, but still can't stomach Smallville.  :'(

[Ichirou]

Unless you have a huge budget, anything to do with costumed heroes is going to look majorly cheesy.

[Cormacaroni]

I've been meaning to ask, I assume you guys download a lot of comics. Where exactly do you get them from?

direct connect hubs all the way for me.

[Diunx]

I've been meaning to ask, I assume you guys download a lot of comics. Where exactly do you get them from?

Warez-bb.org and Myxss.com

[Diunx]

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/marvel-astonishing-line-100215.html

I don't even know what to say about that x-men artwork, just fucking awful.

Spidey/Wolverine on the other hand

[Howard Alan Treesong]

DAT ART

[bork]

[Phoenix Dark]

You shut your whore face, it looks fine.

(Image removed from quote.)

No, it doesn't.

r&d meeting

dude 1: ok, how can we change superman's costume so it's not gay, and not piss off the nerdling fans?
dude 2: lets give him a dark trenchcoat or some shit right, then have the superman logo tagged on his black tee
dude 1: sounds innovative and inclusive, i like it
dude 2: ok now lets work on the justice league members
dude 1: nah, just have them look gay, no one will care
dude 2: alright