Kenny Evil Posted November 1, 2012 Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 I can only guess these Scarlet issues were trying to boost sales by ripping off of the AOA interruptions of the X-Titles. That is exactly what happened according to Glenn Greenberg. The marketing department saw the success of the AoA titles and wanted the Spidey books to replicate it, ignoring the fact that the AoA had a strong narrative drive and a year of preparation behind it. The Spidey guys managed to negotiate them down to 2 issues a title rather than 4 except for Web of Scarlet Spider, which would get the full four. That's right, two more issues of the Scarlet Spider after Ben had given up the name. The Spider-man writers were pretty sick of the delays getting Ben into the costume and just powered through these issues as best as they could before getting to Sensational Spider-man #0 where Ben would finally, finally become Spider-man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted November 1, 2012 Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 X-Men 2099 #1-35: John Francis Moore wrote every issue and, to be honest, though it's about the best the 2099 Universe had (Spider-Man notwithstanding), it's pretty bland. It's not as dangerous as something this removed from continuity should be. ON the other hand, Ron Lim's art is a fucking revelation. Where the hell is he these days?! Love that guy. He drew some of my favorite stuff as a kid. The last four issues, drawn by Jan Duursema, are ugly in comparison. Comics: 980 Graphic Novels: 21 Trades: 45 Omnibus: 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted November 1, 2012 Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 ON the other hand, Ron Lim's art is a fucking revelation. Where the hell is he these days?! Love that guy. He drew some of my favorite stuff as a kid. Lim was one of Marvel's quasi-superstars from the 90s I actively enjoyed. I reviewed an issue of Anita Blake a while back that he did, and it was terrible. Whatever he used to have, it wasn't even kind of on display there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted November 1, 2012 Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 Yeah, Mike and I covered one of those (IIWY? maybe?) and it was fucking awful. A total shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor Posted November 3, 2012 Report Share Posted November 3, 2012 Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic (Book 2) - Better than Book 1, but not by much at all. I just don't get what some of this stuff is collected, beyond this being the 'complete epic'. And it sure is complete. The Return of... - Simple one and done stories to start the main titles again. Nothing horrible, but when 2/3 feature no-name villians, they are all rather forgettable. I read it yesterday, but I forgot what the first issue of this trade was. Nightmare in Scarlet - A non-ending ending to the New Warriors. Resolves the plot from the Scarlet books, but I did nothing to really end the classic, legendary and downright all-time great run that was Scarlet Spider as a New Warrior. SpM & Punisher: Family Plot - This was garbage. Punisher with a ponytail and the head of a crime family. Because why? Venom: Along Came A Spider - This was shit. Actually, this was worse than shit. I have read Chinese take-up menus with more well defined characters. And the art is worse than the writing. Media Blizzard - Simple three part story with a villain I can get behind and some world building for Ben Reilly. First good issues in this series. Comics: 25 Graphic Novels: 1 Trades: 171 (995) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor Posted November 5, 2012 Report Share Posted November 5, 2012 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man: Forces of Nature/Jumping to Conclusions/Identity Crisis/Animal Instinct - Nothing at all wrong with these. Continuing the nice light Spider-Man stories. Only complaint is that I know how good this series gets when it stops being one and done stories. I wanted more of that, but for what these are, they are fun. Comics: 25 Graphic Novels: 1 Trades: 175 (1011) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor Posted November 7, 2012 Report Share Posted November 7, 2012 Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic (Book 3) - Continuing the trend of getting (slightly) better as we go along. The Final Adventure - I understand the thought behind this. Fans might be waiting for Peter to be Spider-Man again. So you take away his powers. Makes sense if you are all in on Ben Reilly. However, when you set up an 'out', it really defeats the purpose. Unlimited #11 & Spider-Man Team-Up #2 - I liked the Ben/Black Cat chemistry. I did not like the Ben/Silver Surfer anything. The Return of Kaine - Too soon. Kaine should not have been brought back so soon. Kaine as a character/villain has possibilities. But if you are trying to establish Ben, he should really be facing off with some classic Spider-Man villains. The skeleton in the smoke stacks was a 100% wrong move. After all the clone clonery, they should have just left it as Ben=Real - Peter=Clone. Introducing the skeleton just casts doubt on that, which in turn, cast doubt on the entire direction of the Spidey Universe. Web of Carnage - Too soon. Bringing back Peter in the proper titles happened way too fast. Mini series like Final Adventure? Fine. But again, having Peter around is just cutting Ben off at the legs and not really allowing him to grow as Spider-Man. Also, Carnage is ass. Comics: 25 Graphic Novels: 1 Trades: 176 (1026) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Evil Posted November 8, 2012 Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 Prof, I would seriously suggest that you The Life of Reilly if you haven't already. It really hits on a lot of the points you're making and there's a lot that you've guessed correctly regarding editorial decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted November 8, 2012 Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 Marvel Two-In-One #1-100 and Annual 1: been slowly combing through these for a few months. What an amazingly consistent series! Creative team and quality-wise. There are some stinkers, and some downright failures (how can Thing and Ghost Rider having a motorcycle race not be good? I don't get it?!) but overall, it's a great series. It's also got some amazing Ed Hannigan covers. My five favorites stories: 1. The Serpent Crown Affair (Thundra, Hyperion, Stingray AND Scarlet Witch? And more? Crazy!) 2: late in the series, Thing is in the hospital after having his ass kicked over and over in the FF and MTIO and the entire Marvel Universe of heroes has to protect him from the entire MU of villains. A great fun story with the only villain truly gaining entry to Thing's room being a reformed Sandman who brought cigars and beer to share. Beautiful. 3: Crossover with the Liberty Legion where Thing goes back in time and fights in WW2 with the LL. LOVE the LL (hence writing the fan-fic) and love this story! 4: #75, one of the very first comics I ever read: double-sized story featuring Thing and the Avengers having their monthly poker game broken up by being sucked into the Negative Zone to get involved in Blastaar versus Annihilus and the Super Adaptoid. Holy fuckballs is this amazing!!! Also, Blastaar's girlfriend looks exactly like him but blond and dainty. Fucking crazy! 5: Probably my favorite is the last issue of the series where we revisit a world from an earlier issue when Thing cured himself moments after their rocket crashed back on earth. IN that world, there was no Thing so Ben and Johnny never fought. This means Johnny never went and discovered an amnesiac Namor who never went back to find his people and stumble upon Captain America frozen in ice. Doom was able to kill the FF (Spider-Man rounding out the team) so not even the combined might of the X-Men, Avengers and other heroes were able to stop Galactus from sucking the earth dry and leaving humanity living on a cracked husk of a post-apocalyptic planet. Ben Grimm leads a small group of survivors in what used to be New York. An in continuity what if story where Ben even says "If I never wuz the Thing, then I guess there never was a Blackbeard either!" Amazing. Comics: 1081 Graphic Novels: 21 Trades: 45 Omnibus: 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Posted November 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 Wow! That last one sounds fucking amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted November 8, 2012 Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 'Tis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted November 8, 2012 Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 It really is. Why the Thing isn't remembered as a viable series star on his own, I'll never know, because this whole series was a spectacular highlight of him, away from the rest of the FF. And that last issue was fucking spectacular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molly Posted November 8, 2012 Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 I've been working on that series through the Essentials and I'll concur: some of the best comics ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic (Book 4) - Continuing the trend of getting (slightly) better as we go along. It is almost like I said that last time. Blood Brothers - A six part story that really didn't need to be that long. And the story didn't really end until the unofficial part 7. The mystery villain approach was a mistake to me. We had just come off of the Clone business and mysteries. Some parts of that entire thing (Traveler & Scrier) were never resolved AND you just introduced the mystery of the skeleton. Just too soon for another one. Randomness - Officially bringing Peter back full time just screams panic. I thought having him show up was too soon. Having him constantly there seems like a panic move to a sales dip or something. And Spider-Man Team-Up is nowhere near as fun a Marvel Team-Up. Redemption - This is what the Return of Kaine storyline should have been. More personal, more emotional, just flat out better. Kaine should not be a part of 'The Game' or whatever that was. He really shouldn't be a supervillain. In this he is just a man with an internal conflict working thru some issues. With superpowers. Art is a bit shit tho. Randomness #2 - I think I complained about Reilly not facing the A-level Spidey villains. But really, I don't think the Spider-Man villains were in a good place at the time. Seems like everyone was dead or in their 'edgy 90s' phase. Also, I read an issue of Daredevil. It was a different Daredevil from what I expected. Matt was acting a little too, well, Spider-Many. Odd. I just thought about it. How does Ben know Matt is Daredevil? If I remember correctly, Peter didn't learn that until the Death of Jean Dewolf which was way after the original clone story. And given the fact Ben and Peter haven't talked these things out (as proven by Ben not knowing anybody), it really does not make sense. Comics: 25 Graphic Novels: 1 Trades: 177 (1043) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 I've been working on that series through the Essentials and I'll concur: some of the best comics ever. I would buy a Marvel Two-In-One Omnibus so fucking hard. I have the entire series digitally, and most of it in issue form, but I will throw money at Marvel any time they decide to make this a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koete Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 You guys should come to the Baltimore Comic-Con sometime; Ron Wilson is there pretty much every year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 LOVE to meet Ron Wilson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dc20willsave Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 So it's settled. We're all going to Baltimore Comic-con and sleeping on Koete's couch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 LOVE to meet Ron Wilson. Met him briefly at a show a while back. Hell of a nice guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 So it's settled. We're all going to Baltimore Comic-con and sleeping on Koete's couch. If I'm going all the way to Baltimore, I better be getting some free meth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dc20willsave Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 I know if I'm going to Baltimore, I better see John Waters and we sure as hell are visiting Divine's grave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 I know if I'm going to Baltimore, I better see John Waters and we sure as hell are visiting Divine's grave. On meth? Seems like kind of a bummer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 The Roberts #1 and 2: The Boston Strangler and the Zodiac Killer are alive. They're not well. They're both in the same old folks home. This is fucked up. I had a very similar idea a few years ago, and this book is a few years old. IN fact, I had the idea at about the same time the first issue was coming out. They played out very differently, though. Namely, this one got published. It's good, but it definitely should have been three issues. As it works, these are like two 50-odd page issues and the first ends on the cliffhanger. The second begins and explores things in almost a textbook kind of way. I thought the first issue was a little padded out but the second was chock fucking full of information. Paced out over 3 issues would have been better. I liked the art a lot. I really liked the lettering. It's an interesting concept that didn't quite hit too well. Phantom Zone #1 and 2: Purported at the time as Jack Kirby's final penciled book. That's bullshit. But this was the first thing post Topps Comics Jack did and the first for Image as well. Inks by the Image founders and Ordway, and Thibodeaux. And there's my issue. I respect Thibodeaux a great deal. I understand he was good friends with Jack and Roz. But he's probably my least favorite Kirby inker. Add to that, there's a missing chunk of story before it ends (Jack didn't finish it) that is drawn by Mike Thibodeaux that makes me want to walk off a cliff. You have Liefeld, McFarlane, Larsen and Ordway inking the book already. You know that any of them would jump at the chance to draw ten ages to finish a Kirby story. Those guys are all VERY Kirby-influenced and could ape the style if it was required. So what happens? Thibodeaux draws the last ten pages ina style reminiscent of a Filipino guy who wasn't good enough to break in New York in the 70s. It's a damned shame. Also, the second issue is like 60 pages long where the first is like 25. Weird shit. Comics: 1085 Graphic Novels: 21 Trades: 45 Omnibus: 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuaveStar Posted November 11, 2012 Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 World's finest #6: It's the daughter of Batman of Earth-2 VS The son of Batman on the main DC Universe, also Power Girl discusses changes to her costume. Still a fun comic, and the art is great, and the way Power Girl deals with Damien is great: Power Girl gets Damien to stop kicking Huntress's ass, by quite literally, kicking his ass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted November 11, 2012 Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 Screamland #1-5: I'd like to see more of this. The movie monsters from the 30s were real monsters and are now washed up former actors. Until their agent brings them back together for one more movie to get them back into the public eye. Why isn't this a movie? Fun, funny and a little sweet. Crawl Space: XXXombies #1-4: Crawl Space was supposed to be an anthology set of horror minis. As far as I know, only the first four issues went to print. Fun and stupid. Full of nudity, sexual innuendo (and in-yo-endo) and extreme gore. Not for everyone. Comics: 1094 Graphic Novels: 21 Trades: 45 Omnibus: 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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