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X-O posted:I took off work to drive someone four hours to watch something for two minutes. I wish I’d taken off to just sleep instead. My friend took an 11 hour flight and five hour drive to do the same thing. I'm staying in bed.
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Aug 21, 2017 17:01
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| # ? May 2, 2024 14:40 |
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X-O posted:I took off work to drive someone four hours to watch something for two minutes. I wish I’d taken off to just sleep instead. Did you go blind though?
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Aug 21, 2017 18:01
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Lightning Lord posted:Did you go blind though? Nope. I will begrudgingly admit that was pretty drat cool though.
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Aug 21, 2017 19:41
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I've read an absolute ton of comics from the last ~20 years, a bit from the 80s, and a tiny bit from the 60s and 70s (Spider-man through to Captain Stacey's death, a bunch of Tomb of Dracula). I felt like correcting that so I've started a reading project to go through Marvel's back catalog. I'm basing it off of the Complete Marvel Reading Order. I'm not reading every single comic, because among other things availability is an issue, but I'm going pretty deep. I figure I can probably do a couple hundred / month in addition to whatever else I read. I've been taking notes as I go and thought I'd call out some of the early stuff that stuck with me. Early on my notes are basically "cool panel on page x, villain y is interesting, theme of second story is different, etc." A lot of "nothing interesting happened" or "same as issue x". The early FF stuff is pretty awesome when you come at it from the lens of what came before, but that doesn't mean everything was worthless. I'd actually recommend a lot of these stories over stuff that comes later, like Torch in Strange Tales (nonsensical plots and questionable art), or any of the Ant-Man I've read. Anyway... before reaching the superhero era with FF#1 I read 37 monster era books, consisting of various issues of Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, and Journey into Mystery. It was interesting to see the transition from four-in-one to two-in-one to books devoted to single stories as they moved towards the superhero era. There were some real gems in those early books, including lots of great Kirby monster art. I don't know that I'll ever really come around completely on Kirby - his grotesque characters are incredible when appropriate, but look out of place in more pedestrian settings - but the man sure knows how to draw monsters, robots, aliens, and evil looking bad guys. Some of my favorite panels and setups from those early issues: Tales to Astonish #12 - Archaeologists in Bornea discover a Giant Man-Ape, who ends up saving them from a Dinosaur.  Tales to Astonish #13 introduces Groot, but I prefer the Abominable Snowman from that same issue.  Tales to Astonish #17 has a killer two-part story about Vandoom, a Frankenstein type monster who dies to save the townspeople who hate and fear him. He dies saving them from Martians, because of course there are aliens attacking this small European town. Kirby draws awesome aliens. The death scene is maybe my favorite part. You don't often get panel sequences like this in this era.    Strange Tales #82 introduces "IT", some kind of quicksand bog monster. The logical approach to fighting it is with dynamite.  Also from that issue and unrelated to the monster, Darius Storme. If he hasn't been used again since this, that's a huge mistake.  There are also some great little speculative fiction stories. Don't get me wrong, there's lots of bad ones too (some of the ones Kirby draws cool monsters in are not good stories), but considering they don't have a lot of room to work with they play with some interesting ideas. A story in Strange Tales # 75 stood out to me - the scientists accidentally release a poison gas that will end the world, only for God to save the day.  Journey into Mystery #65 has a two-parter where the monster is the hero (transformed), and ends up getting the girl. This one hits on both the story and the art note, with some really solid Kirby work.   Tales to Astonish #21 has an awesome mostly silent backup that might be my favorite story from the whole reading experience. It's only a cover page and four pages of 3x3 grids, but Ditko absolutely nails it. I've included it in its entirety below, if that's not kosher I'll remove it.      There are also some great (terrible) 50's/60's type moments, like this story set up in Strange Tales #78...  ... and this collection of hippies from Tales of Suspense #20 (surprisingly, neither drawn nor written by Ditko).  And of course from Strage Tales #97, the introduction of Aunt May and Uncle Ben...   ... who have kidnapped a mermaid because they can't have children of their own.  I will never understand why Lee and Ditko reused that couple in Amazing Fantasy #15. I do find that one big negative is the stories repeating themselves. Given I've only read a fraction of the anthology monster books available at the time, and I'm already seeing repetition, I'm sure these themes and even entire stories are often ripped off from earlier books, be they comic or pulp mags. And, as I read into the early superhero stuff I also see a lot of repetition from the monster era. Anyway I'm a lot further in my reading than this, but that's probably more than enough images for now. Jordan7hm fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Aug 22, 2017 |
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Aug 22, 2017 22:58
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Kirby and Ditko really did some great work on those Atlas-era monster/horror books.
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Aug 23, 2017 00:06
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I admire to trip and your determination. Good luck.
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Aug 23, 2017 01:53
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Looking forward to more, Jordan! I have basically all of the EC new trend stuff and the art is pretty killer, even if the stories often seem a bit over-written and pedestrian. Those were almost always four 6 or 7 page stories an issue.
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Aug 23, 2017 03:48
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Jordan7hm posted:I felt like correcting that so I've started a reading project to go through Marvel's back catalog. The year before last, I started a project to read every X-Men and mutant related book from 1963 until present. It took me an entire year to get through the nearly 60 years of continuity. I don't want to know how long it would take to get through most of Marvel's back catalogue. Godspeed, young man.
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Aug 23, 2017 06:08
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Why isn't this chat thread named after August General in Iron? 
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Aug 24, 2017 15:40
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Vincent posted:Why isn't this chat thread named after August General in Iron? Because Madkal is (was?) getting married this month and wanted to make is special for himself.
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Aug 24, 2017 15:55
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Endless Mike posted:Because Madkal is (was?) getting married this month and wanted to make is special for himself. 3 days to go.
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Aug 24, 2017 16:25
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I made that complaint a year ago! edit: Or maybe it just the suggestion of a thread title that was then ignored 
Teenage Fansub fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Aug 24, 2017 |
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Aug 24, 2017 19:09
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Clearly the only solution is for Madkal to call off the wedding and for a mod to change the thread title then.
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Aug 24, 2017 20:21
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I have sunk too much money into this wedding to call it off. Now if a bunch of villains plotted some insane scheme to prevent the wedding or some random clones started showing up I might consider changing the thread title/asking a mod to change the title.
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Aug 24, 2017 21:01
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What if the new ruler of the underground sends a tentacle monster to kidnap you?
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Aug 24, 2017 21:32
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Wouldn't be the first time.
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Aug 24, 2017 22:01
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How about we compromise: August Wedding in Iron.
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Aug 24, 2017 23:42
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That makes me think... Did The Absorbing Man and Titania ever get married? There's too much opportunity with the whole 'ball and chain' thing to pass up, I'd think.
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Aug 24, 2017 23:47
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Sinteres posted:I think they probably made a bad call on this story too, but they didn't know how bad things would be in real life when they started this event. They should have listened to their critics who absolutely did know.
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Aug 25, 2017 05:22
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Dan Didio posted:They should have listened to their critics who absolutely did know. 2016.txt
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Aug 25, 2017 05:54
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Teenage Fansub posted:That makes me think... Did The Absorbing Man and Titania ever get married? There's too much opportunity with the whole 'ball and chain' thing to pass up, I'd think. Man, I hope that if they didn't, Crusher proposes if he survives the cliff hanger from last month's Blackbolt.
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Aug 25, 2017 06:56
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Is Dial H for Hero any good? I read the reboot a few years ago and thought it was okay, but was curious about the original series.
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Aug 25, 2017 12:52
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Tomorrow is the day and I am decked out with batman underwear, batman cufflinks, and a batman flask. I just wish I had a positive batman marriage story to focus on now.
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Aug 27, 2017 01:55
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Madkal posted:Tomorrow is the day and I am decked out with batman underwear, batman cufflinks, and a batman flask. I just wish I had a positive batman marriage story to focus on now. I think the thing to think about is Batman's relationship with Robin, rather than his relationship with a woman. THAT relationship has been rock solid since the 40s, despite some on-again, off-again periods.
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Aug 27, 2017 13:51
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DM Tom King on Twitter, tell him you're getting married, and ask him very nicely how the Catwoman thing is going to play out
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Aug 27, 2017 14:16
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purple death ray posted:DM Tom King on Twitter, tell him you're getting married, and ask him very nicely how the Catwoman thing is going to play out I don't know how to use Twitter but I think I have just done that. If Batman and Catwoman end up getting hitched now you can thank me.
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Aug 27, 2017 16:05
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I'm reading DC 1,000,000 and there's a Starman issue that reminded me of the Starman series from the 90s. My library had most of the trades and I remember thinking it was pretty cool in high school--would it hold up today? If I remember correctly, it was sort of an early take on superheros and nostalgia and other themes that became more prevalent in the industry later on. But I don't remember too much about it plot wise or anything.
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Aug 28, 2017 04:14
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A Strange Aeon posted:I'm reading DC 1,000,000 and there's a Starman issue that reminded me of the Starman series from the 90s. My library had most of the trades and I remember thinking it was pretty cool in high school--would it hold up today? If I remember correctly, it was sort of an early take on superheros and nostalgia and other themes that became more prevalent in the industry later on. But I don't remember too much about it plot wise or anything. It's the best. Starman is definitely my favorite series of all time, and despite some of Jack Knight's cooler-than-thou '90s hipster references early on, I think it has aged extremely well. The Starman #1,000,000 issue is an important part of the Starman series, and it would be included in the TPBs. Unfortunately, the earlier print run of TPBs from the '90s left out several stand-alone issues for no good reason, but the six Starman Omnibus editions are complete with all crossovers, tie-in issues, and anything else Starman-related. It should be one of those series like Sandman, Watchmen, Y The Last Man, Planetary, Preacher, etc. that get recommended to every comics fan, whether they're a new or experienced reader. And it's the perfect superhero book for people who hate (or think they hate) superhero books, too.
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Aug 28, 2017 04:30
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It *should* be recommended, but given how difficult it is to get ahold of without buying the individual issues digitally (assuming the whole series is even available digitally), it's difficult to really do so. The other series you mentioned are shorter and/or more readily available.
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Aug 28, 2017 12:15
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Madkal posted:Tomorrow is the day and I am decked out with batman underwear, batman cufflinks, and a batman flask. I just wish I had a positive batman marriage story to focus on now. PS: Today is Jack Kirby's 100th birthday, so let's post cool Jack Kirby stuff. 
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Aug 28, 2017 15:32
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As long as we're posting Kirby stuff, here's a tribute Alex Ross did in honor of the King's 100th birthday.
Jedi fucked around with this message at 16:28 on Aug 28, 2017 |
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Aug 28, 2017 16:20
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Aug 28, 2017 17:50
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Aug 28, 2017 19:15
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My personal favorite Jack Kirby panel 
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Aug 28, 2017 19:24
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Big Bad Voodoo Lou posted:It's the best. Starman is definitely my favorite series of all time, and despite some of Jack Knight's cooler-than-thou '90s hipster references early on, I think it has aged extremely well. The Starman #1,000,000 issue is an important part of the Starman series, and it would be included in the TPBs. Unfortunately, the earlier print run of TPBs from the '90s left out several stand-alone issues for no good reason, but the six Starman Omnibus editions are complete with all crossovers, tie-in issues, and anything else Starman-related. poo poo, I was hoping you wouldn't say it was so good. Even the DC 1,000,000 issue reminded me how much I liked the writing. 6 Omnibus editions--what's that going to cost me? I felt really happy about the $30 I paid for the DC 1,000,000 Omnibus, but I'm guessing I'm not going to be so lucky with Starman. Of the other ones you mentioned, I've read them all except Planetary--I haven't heard it in the same conversations as the others, I'm assuming I should read it as well?
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Aug 29, 2017 03:28
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A Strange Aeon posted:poo poo, I was hoping you wouldn't say it was so good. Even the DC 1,000,000 issue reminded me how much I liked the writing. 6 Omnibus editions--what's that going to cost me? I would actually be willing to ship you the first Starman Omnibus cheap (are those out of print?). It's been read a total of once and I bought it before dropping out of comics. Can't make that deal for the other 5, though. PM me and we'll figure it out.
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Aug 29, 2017 03:42
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I bet you can put together a complete run for less than the cost of the Omni's.
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Aug 29, 2017 04:07
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It looks like all the Omnis can be gotten for $15-$30, except the 3rd one, which on Amazon is $179.95. WTF? And I don't think I've seen a paperback Omni before--how does the binding hold up on so many pages, if people have any experience?
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Aug 29, 2017 04:28
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It looks like you can get the paperbacks of vol. 1 and 2 for $15 and $20 on ebay. Vols. 4-6 look to be between $40 and 60 for hardcovers, and there's no listings at all for vol. 3. Complete sets of floppies look to be around $150, with or without the Shade minis. Comixology has the entire series fro $2/issue, and there's DC sales a couple times a year for buy one get one, or 50% off or whatever. EDIT: The binding should be fine. They're under 500 pages, which isn't at all unheard of for TPBs.
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Aug 29, 2017 04:32
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The Starman Omnibus editions were much thinner than most modern DC and Marvel Omnibuses, and not oversized like the Marvel ones. They were really nice. Despite being a superfan, I don't own them, since I collected the series from the beginning and bought every related issue along the way. Years ago, I sent mine off to a bindery and had them bound into four beautiful custom hardcovers, with custom tables of contents. Sadly, that was before Starman #81 (a Blackest Night tie-in) and the Shade 12-issue miniseries came along so many years after the fact, but I think Omnibus Vol. 6 even includes Starman #81. A Strange Aeon posted:Of the other ones you mentioned, I've read them all except Planetary--I haven't heard it in the same conversations as the others, I'm assuming I should read it as well?
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Aug 29, 2017 04:35
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