DC to REBOOT???

[C_Miller]

Not to scare you away, but the Legion isn't really rebooting in September. It's been described as the book with the least amount of changes.

Meh. It's the same with Batman, which Scott Snyder said will still be acesseable to new readers, so hears hoping. I can afford to try out a lot of different books with all the deals floating around, so I'll definitely try it out. I've always liked the idea of Legion, just never been able to get into it. Maybe this will be different.

 

[Mike Farley]

Barry Kitson is as good as almost anyone working at Marvel these days. I'd say only Alan Davis, Stuart Immonen, and John Romita Jr are in his league.

 

[Hound of UIster]

JRJR hasn't been good in along time. And I'll stake the claim that Eaglesham, Coipel, Dodson, Opena, Aja, Caselli, Deodato, Cheung, Kirk, they are all better artists than Kitson.

 

[Mike Farley]

Cheung I'll maybe give you. Everyone else on that list, while talented, aren't at Kitson's level. Kirk and Aja are closest. Deodato will have to practice for 100 years to come close to anyone else on the list.

 

[Myasishchev]

God, I want to just say JRJR's bad, but that's not really true, because he does have a lot of talent, a lot of craft: but I just don't like him. It's like if Frank Miller and Jack Kirby had a really charmless baby. Or maybe I just hated The Eternals (what do you mean blindly buying hardcovers based on your past appreciation of the writer might be a bad idea?). That might be it, but the art didn't help.

Eaglesham is really good, though; his contribution to the Secret Six shall never be forgot. Deodato is fine (although I'm uncomfortable with the apparent conclusion from a quick google image search that, under Deodato's pen, Moonstone uses her gravity powers on her tits). Opena is fine too (the dark Wolverine!).

But in any event, I'd still put Kitson up against them. Better? I dunno, but I'd rather see him than Deodato or Opena. Maybe it's because he reminds me of a combination of Dave Gibbons and Kevin Maguire. Not quite as good as either at the peak of their strengths, but clean lines and storytelling and good acting.

Maybe it's as simple as I can't stand contemporary Marvel comics, no matter how pretty they are. (And thus I also have to admit to some ignorance of the works of the men on that list, although they're not not totally unfamiliar.)

I guess it's a matter of taste, anyhow, and I have weird tastes, like thinking that Howard Porter was essential to Morrison's JLA, or that J. Calafiore is actually really good.

 

[Mike Farley]

Thinking Califiore is good is weird? I'm loving him on Secret Six.

 

[Admiral_Young]

John Romita Jr is the reason why I dropped the current "Avengers" title. His blocky style works with some things but not what should be one of Marvel's flagship titles. I don't like my favorite characters to look ugly. He makes Carol and Jessica Drew look the worst I've ever seen them.

 

[Myasishchev]

Thinking Califiore is good is weird? I'm loving him on Secret Six.

People unfavorably compare him to Nicola Scott a lot, which I think is wholly unfair.

While I like Nicola Scott too, I think they're really on about the same level, albeit with differing strengths and weaknesses--Scott's layouts and anatomy are usually stronger, while Calafiore's in-panel blocking is usually better* and his blacks are more atmospheric. Scott also has the weakness of giving everyone samey looking faces (see also Bryan Hitch, except sometimes he forgets how to draw even the one face). Like, Catman and Scandal looked related a good half the time under Scott. On the other hand, she drew a much better Jeannette than Calafiore.

The upshot is, DC sucks for passing both of them over in the relaunch.

*The latest Six has an egregiously bad piece of mise-en-scene, however. So, Deadshot and Jeannette are fucking, right? On a kitchen island. So, instead of choosing wiser angles from which to frame our action, Calafiore instead decided to put a sheet over them. Try to imagine the chain of events where you've decided to fuck on the kitchen island, but instead of just doing it like a supervillain, you go to the linen closet, pick out a sheet, and then fuck. Yeah, it's not working, is it?

Extra hilarity points for the fact that Calafiore faithfully rendered all the items previously on the kitchen island which they have passionately knocked onto the floor, right before they went to the linen closet.

Actually, analyzing it thusly, I'm not sure Calafiore's not in on the joke, and I'm the dork.

 

[Saga]

John Romita Jr is the reason why I dropped the current "Avengers" title. His blocky style works with some things but not what should be one of Marvel's flagship titles. I don't like my favorite characters to look ugly. He makes Carol and Jessica Drew look the worst I've ever seen them.

its like his skills as an artist have deteriorated over time. i remember his run on Thor was pretty good. but as for Avengers...i quit the moment i finish reading Avengers Disassembled.

 

[23skidoo]

I picked up the new issue of Adventure Comics yesterday and I wasn't prepared for the simple statement made on the letters page to affect me the way it did: that next issue, the 529th, will be the last.

Now, I don't rank Adventure Comics in the same league as Action and Detective because while the renumbering was instituted a few years back - a likely preview of what DC may be forced to do with Action and Detective before long - unlike those other titles, the comic had actually been discontinued for many years before it was brought back. The numbering may have been restored, but it isn't the same publication.

That said, it ending (apparently it's not being renumbered) is symbolic. It actually began as New Comics in 1935 - predating Action and Detective by several years. It later became known as New Adventure Comics in 1937, and a few years later, Adventure Comics. It ran until 1983 in its original run.

For some reason, it really hit me when I saw the announcement that the magazine was ending. It really hit home that DC is really going to do this. Not the rebooting/reimagining/rejigging of the characters. They've done that so many times in the past I really could care less. But that they're really abandoning history. I guess part of me was hoping it was just a joke, or that someone would see sense over there.

But from what I'm reading on other forums, no one seems to care about preserving history. That's the same mentality that's killing real physical books too (and, for that matter, comics).

Alex

 

[Admiral_Young]

I don't think anyone cares about preserving history because the company it's self doesn't give a shit. Like I said earlier in the thread, there is absolutely no reason you can't still tell your relaunched stories in continued numbering. The majority of fans aren't stupid. We'll buy and read the books anyways.

As for Adventure Comics...it went to it's original numbering scheme when it became a Legion centric book and that was just last year I think.

 

[Captain Craig]

But from what I'm reading on other forums, no one seems to care about preserving history. That's the same mentality that's killing real physical books too (and, for that matter, comics).

Alex

I care about the numbering, the history. The fact that the numbering was the largest single unique thing that made the hobby collectible.

With so many reboot/renumbers a Flash #1, Green Lantern #1 vol.2,3,4 are really worthless, really. It's not something new and special, it's a repackaging.

A number #75, 200, 300 from a consecutive run that, THAT is unique especially if, like was often the case, a story of merit was crafted for that monumental issue.

I care, but the industry long ago destroyed what made comics actually collectible.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ I agree with that wholeheartedly. What the hell kind of value is a "Number One" supposed to have when you keep on having them, just repackaged? The only real value are going to be the original books...but oh wait...you are discontinuing those in favor of "new" "history changing" "number ones". Really? Sigh.

 

[C_Miller]

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the age of the comic collector is ending. People who buy comics are now buying them to read and enjoy. You no longer have the person who buys two copies, one to read and one to bag, board and never look at again. With those people dying out, you have to find new readership and those new readers don't care whether this issue is 1 or 1,000 they just want a good story and I know when I was just getting into comics, I would have found it all a lot more accessable jumping on to a #1 rather than #432 (The first issue of X-Men I ever read).

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the age of the comic collector is ending. People who buy comics are now buying them to read and enjoy. You no longer have the person who buys two copies, one to read and one to bag, board and never look at again. With those people dying out, you have to find new readership and those new readers don't care whether this issue is 1 or 1,000 they just want a good story and I know when I was just getting into comics, I would have found it all a lot more accessable jumping on to a #1 rather than #432 (The first issue of X-Men I ever read).

Exactly. New mainstream comics have no real, durable collector's value now.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm thinking age of the collecting in general is dying out. I used to be heavy into trading cards when I was a kid. Then as I grew up (and the cards got less and the packs more expensive) I abandoned it.

 

[Sindatur]

Yea, just about everything collectible is no longer holding it's valuable. It's got to be something incredibly rare to still be worth something, and even the really rare isn't worth nearly what it was when Ebay was young (and the economy was better).

Toys, comics, books, glassware, cards, etc (Everything)

 

[Admiral_Young]

Grant Morrison talks a little more about "Action Comics" and touches on "Multiversity" (looks like it's still coming, will be nine issues that take place on seven parallel worlds and have two book end issues).

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/07...out-supergods-action-comics-and-multiversity/

 

[scnj]

I imagine Multiversity will be next summer's big event book.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Probably standalone. With exception to FC, Morrison doesn't do big events.