Koete

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  2. The Flash

    in Comic Book Adaptations

    Posted

    This was the best episode in awhile for me. There was a lot of good character stuff in this: the scene at the bar between Cisco and his brother, Caitlin undermining Zoom, Barry and Iris talking about their relationship, Barry's three dads talking about whether he should risk the micro particle accelerator. And it delivered on the superhero front: Rupture shooting laser blasts with a scythe, Zoom speed killing a room of cops, and Barry getting put into a machine that's as Kirby as it's going to get for the CW. There were a couple places where they didn't play it as safe as they could. Rather than Zoom being kept in check by Caitlin, he kills a bunch of people to make his point when he still encounters resistance. And even though we know it's not going to stick, Barry disintegrating (and becoming one with the Speed Force?) wasn't the expected outcome. Once they put Jesse and Wally in the room, I knew they were going to use this to give them their powers. Granted, it would have been better if the explosion somehow got channeled into the room rather than the cliche of them breaking out, but it was a good way to resolve that and keep with the accelerator being uncontrollable. 

    How weird was it for Barry's dad to go "huh, my mom's side of the family was named Garrick" and for Barry to not react to it at all though?

  7. Every comic you've read in 2016

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    X-Men: Mutant Massacre TPB - As "nothing will ever be the same again" superhero stories go, this one actually delivers on it. Not only are the Morlocks almost completely wiped out, but Nightcrawler's in a coma, Colossus is paralyzed in is metal state, and Kitty Pryde is seemingly permanently intangible. Over in X-Factor, it looks like their cover is going to be blown (which, as Dan said awhile ago, was convoluted from the start) and Angel's going to lose his wings. Claremont and Louise Simonson build up the Massacre, starting with a couple Morlocks outside the tunnels, then captions describing the assault, and on, until there are several issues where the X-teams are surrounded by corpses. They spend several issues tending to survivors, which really gives the crossover weight rather than just something done for shock value (Leech crying for his surrogate mother got to me). The Thor crossovers are a bit random, but Thor reflecting on the Massacre from a warrior's perspective does add something. The Power Pack issue is just bizarre. With one of the boys telling the other one to kill the Marauders after seeing all the bodies, maybe it was a commentary on kids not understanding the gravity of violence from entertainment? But it's not really explored. Between that, the kids holding their own against the Marauders, and Jon Bogdanove's cartoony art, it goes against what the rest of the issues are trying to do. The rest of the art is mostly typical 80s Marvel stuff, with the stand-out issues being those drawn by Walter Simonson and one by Alan Davis. After getting descriptions of how much blood there is and how bad the massacre is in early issues, there's a double page splash by Simonson of an energy blast ripping through a Morlock that really takes you aback. The last issue is an epilogue/transition to the next story issue, and the cleanness of Alan Davis' art demarcates that. Plus, he's ones of the superhero greats.

    Avengers: Under Siege TPB - Along the same lines as Mutant Massacre on a smaller scale. Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil take over Avengers Mansion, leaving Hercules and Jarvis in critical condition. Also like Mutant Massacre, Thor shows up for a couple issues to have words with the villains as only Thor can. There's a lot of fights against heavy hitters like Absorbing Man, Titania, Mister Hyde, and the Wrecking Crew, but there's some interesting character work too, involving the female characters. On the Masters' side, Moonstone was the original controller of the dark dimension spawning Blackout. Zemo is well aware that she could challenge his position as leader, so he spends a chunk of the early issues insuring his position of power. The Wasp is the leader of The Avengers at this time, and while most of the members respect that, there are two that don't in different ways. Hercules is, unsurprisingly, pretty angry that he has to follow the orders of a woman, especially in battle. This allows him to be manipulated by Zemo, leading to his being trapped and beaten into a coma. Black Knight is in love with the Wasp, and feels like he needs to always rush to her aid, despite her being the leader and able to take care of herself. By the end, when he tries to do it again after being wounded, he finally listens to her and understands he was out of line. The biggest drawback to the story is the later part of Baron Zemo's plan. The Masters take the mansion in minutes, they capture a couple Avengers, including Cap, beat up Jarvis...and then everyone's just kind of waiting around for some data files to be stolen. It feels like it could have gone farther, but had to stop so the Avengers could come to take back the mansion. Baron Zemo being petty as hell and ripping up the picture of Cap and Bucky almost makes up for it. If you're doing Avengers and issue after issue of battles, it's hard to do better at the time than John Buscema inked by Tom Palmer. Even though he only did breakdowns, the faces are pure Buscema. And Tom Palmer was Gene Colan's go-to inker, which is the only credential you need. 

    Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle HC - Can you tell I have a lot of unread classic Marvel stories laying around? This is the weakest of the three on a writing level. Claremont is overwrought and on the nose, but through that, he hits some emotional moments. Louise Simonson is less so, but in a similar ballpark, getting some good melodrama out of Angel and Cyclops. Roger Stern's writing really flows, considering the exposition of the time, with the superheroes acting like superheroes and the supervillains acting like supervillains. Comparatively, I remember a lot of corny jokes from David Michelinie. It's also more of a traditional series of Marvel issues, with several smaller arcs that have plotlines that carry through. The first two are a forgettable team-up with Namor, followed by an inventory issue recapping the origin. Rather than saying something new about it, it's basically a recreation of the original script and panels, a total waste of an issue. Then a couple issues where Iron Man fights Blizzard, Melter, and Whiplash, filling the action quota. The malfunctioning armor that's come up in the issues pays off as it frames Iron Man for murder, resulting in a quest for answers that leads to a first confrontation with Justin Hammer. In an amusing comparison with Avengers, Iron Man fights a dozen villains by himself without trouble. Then there's the classic "Demon in a Bottle" issue. Tony's alcoholism has been getting worse with each issue, from a few mini-bottles of gin on a plane to morning to drinks to getting wasted when Iron Man gets framed. They're up front about where things are going to, but there are some more subtle moments, like a shot of a table that shows everyone drinking coffee except for Tony. The strongest thing about the actual issue is that, soon after a page showing Bethany Cabe helping him get sober, he goes to take a drink after learning that S.H.I.E.L.D. is the majority shareholder of his company. Even though he doesn't take the drink, it's clear that one montage doesn't mean he's free from alcoholism. John Romita Jr. draws a Tony Stark that really captures the era. Beyond that, it's John Romita Jr. inked by Bob Layton, it's classic Iron Man. Overall, it's decent superhero comics, but it's not at the level of the previous two.

  19. The Flash

    in Comic Book Adaptations

    Posted

    The opening tried so hard to be gritty that it completely failed to be. The idea that soldiers were dressing like World War I a few years before what we see of present day Earth-2 breaks the logic of that world. The orphanage Zolomon was taken to was so evil it was cartoonish. For an episode about Zoom's origin, it didn't do much to make him more of a character to me. Teddy Sears was better, but he's no Tom Cavanagh. I never bought the relationship between him and Caitlin, so her being abducted just made me feel like they were dragging things out. It was kinda anti-climatic after Zoom beating the shit out of Barry in the past that he just hands his speed over. 

  25. Supergirl

    in Comic Book Adaptations

    Posted

    The ending with Siobhan was weird. When Cat says "I turned to someone who's been obsessively observing Kara for the past two years" and the camera reveals Wynn, my instinct reaction was to say out loud "Ewww!" And who the hell can track typing speed on a hard drive? Is that even a thing?

    Yep, this actually happened. Creepy as hell.