Episode 1571 Talkback - Previews
Adam_Murdough
Posts: 506
Out of the frying pan, into the Previews! We go through the August catalog for items shipping starting in October... right after a Surgeon General's warning from Chris about the new Fantastic Four movie! (1:48:26)
Listen here.
Listen here.
Comments
http://thecomicforums.com/discussion/3561/new-dcbs-preorders-begin-what-looks-good#latest
As to Dani's inquiry, yes, there will indeed still be a Ms. Marvel title post-Secret Wars. Same creative team, just a new number one issue and a slightly different status quo (but not THAT different).
Next up, The Vision: this new look for the character was introduced in Rick Remender's Uncanny Avengers, so it's quite possible there might have been a bit of unintended synchronicity on Vision's appearance in the film. Or they could have based his Age of Ultron look on the initial sketches by Acuna. Who knows.
Moving to DC, Superman's new look. It looks like Supes is going to be depowered for a while, but not powerless. I think that's why they chose to go back to the t-shirt look, as Kal's pretty grounded; leaping again instead of flying (correct me if I'm wrong), stuff like that.
To @Adam_Murdough: you were indeed correct about your assessment on the new Superman: Lois and Clark series. Here's the rundown from an interview with Jurgens on ComicBook.com: I might be tempted to pick that up.
Finally, Batman. It's not really a spoiler to point out to @ShaneKelly and @wildpigcomics that the suit of armor is not Gordon's regular outfit. It's actually, in a way, his Batmobile. His regular suit outside the armor is actually really neat and streamlined, and suits Gordon well. Pun intended.
I actually had to make a quick trip today to the LCS by my office to pick up a book I missed on a DCBS order. Of course, the FF bomb was a big topic there and they even had the movie poster taped to the floor as you walked in.. it had been dubbed the "Fantastic Floor".
They had a row of shortboxes of unsorted "new arrival" back issues for $1 each as a limited special (although I assume much of the collection will become part of their dollar bins anyway). I had maybe 5 minutes to check them out and boom- the bulk of the Byrne FF run was there for the taking. I only have a few issues of it but have definitely wanted to read the run.
I've never been a big fan of the FF but I've always liked the limited Byrne work I've read, and that run has its reputation for a reason, so this was a nice little score. Far better way to get more familiar with the FF than watching any of the films, I gather.
Re: FF: Hats off to Chris for going through with that and reporting back. Even before the movie came out, once the negative press started to snowball, I WANTED the majority to be proven wrong. I WANTED the movie to be good, or at least decent. I WANTED to (maybe) go see it, come away pleasantly surprised, and then I could go through life with the comfortable knowledge that not everything is as bad as the internet makes it out to be, and that "y'all are a bunch of Disney zombies for giving the FF movie such a hard time!". But... yeah at this point the reviews are so overwhelmingly awful that I can't give it a chance. I will give Chris MAJOR kudos for actually quantifying WHY "this doesn't seem like the FF". I saw that criticism many, many, many times over the past week, but Chris was the only person to actually document how the characters don't act remotely like they did in the comics, especially in terms of family dynamics or lack thereof. The FF were a family before they even got powers, so for them not to even come together much at all until maybe the end of the movie, and then to have it all so weird in terms of (non)jokes? Not good enough.
Re: DC female-lead comics:
I've read the first two issues of Black Canary. I've liked it, but not loved it. It's been like a mixture of recent Batgirl comics and Fraction Hawkeye, but with a somewhat weaker "voice" than either of those projects. It's decent and okay and I'll probably pick up issue #3. But it's not wowing me. It's not all that original and it seems to be trying too hard to cultivate this sorta in-on-the-joke/cool-kid/like-our-trendy-indie-band aesthetic, and it does so in a way that is NOT nauseating... but just isn't all that interesting either. That said, the artwork by Annie Wu is fantastic, the writing is decent, and the setup is at least something different, which I'm fine with for a while.
What's really impressed me, though, is the new Starfire series. Two issues in and it's as good (writing-wise) as anything Palmiotti and Conner did on Power Girl. The set up is interesting and the supporting cast are genuinely likeable, which is rare for new characters these days. The artwork is bright and nice. I've never even been a fan of the character, but the series has exceeded my expectations so far.
Batgirl... I'm of two minds about. It's definitely very strong for what it is, but it remains steeped is sooooo much social media txt speak and hyperbolic 20-going-on-10 emotionalism that I really have a hard time with it sometimes. I've read like half the issues so far. I'll read a couple in a row, then something will happen in an issue that will make me roll my eyes, stop buying it for a while, and think "This seems like it's written by two guys in their 30s who are like desperately trying to get dates with girls half their age or something..." Yick, I know. But I feel like it's just trying. so. hard. to be cool and hip. But it nonetheless DOES have a very strong aesthetic voice and it is very, very well done for what it is. The art is flat-out awesome and the plots are definitely exciting. I'm very divided on it, only partially because I remember when Barbara Gordon was a smarter, more mature, more admirable, more unique character. It's like Gail Simone took away half her personality, then Cameron Stewart and company took away the rest. :-/
Re: Batman:
I don't think the last few issues have been bad at all. I'm not a fan of stunts or replacement heroes just for the sake of it, but Snyder lets you know in the first issue of Gordon's tenure as Batman that Bruce is still out there and poised to return. I'm not a Snyder-defender much at all, but the writing in the last few issues has been better than 80% of the past issues. Gone are the long info-dump monologues full of redundant metaphors. He is just presenting a unique story now, and things are rolling. And Capullo remains absolutely incredible. I can understand it if people have dropped off this title due to Zero Year-and-a-Half, but at this point, even as someone who was a HUGE fan of Morrison's run and who thus decried Snyder's stuff as being obviously inferior... at this point I just have to give people a semi-incredulous look and tell them Yes, you should be reading Batman. This is obviously a seminal run in the character's history. A landmark run that will eventually be spoken of the same way people speak of O'Neal/Adams. If you're a Bat-fan, you should (eventually) read this entire run. Same way that X-fans should read all of Claremont's original X-Men run, even though certain storylines were less good than others.
Oh, that reminds me, though: Batman by Neal Adams Omnibus. I cannot wait for this! Apparently it's going to retain the original coloring for those old issues. And "Batman Odyssey" was AWESOME! Yes, it was ridiculous. Yes, there were passages of dialogue and monologue in there that were baffling, bewildering, and flat-out awful. But that's part of the charm! You're NOT wrong (from what I understand). My Supes reading has been regulated to stray issues of "Superman/Wonder Woman", but he seems way weaker than normal... yet, not totally powerless by any means.
I saw some of the criticisms that I heard about prior, and since I've read very little of the comics I don't have that comparison to make. But I can draw a comparison with the previous two movies, but that doesn't affect my enjoyment, or even how good of a movie that I think it to be. It is weakest for the first half of the third act, as it gets confusing. Reed blurts out one or two lines that if I could comprehend better, they might clear things up, but I bet they don't.
I'm looking forward to hearing the director do his fourth part episode on Kevin Smith's Fatman on Batman.
It's a shame because I absolutely love Josh Trank's Chronicle. It was my #1 favorite film of 2012. Very unfortunate.
Dani, you are such a great and welcome edition to the podcast. I'm a long time listener and known as one of the biggest Wonder Woman fans in the CGS community. I can't agree with you enough about her new costume. Horrendous! Absolutely horrendous!
I usually don't listen to the Previews episode but I wanted to hear Chris' very much appreciated rant on the FF film. I ended up listening to the whole episode and I forgot how much you can find out by listening to these Previews episodes. One question. Has there been any confirmation as to how the X-Men will fit into this new Marvel universe? Rumor has it they're getting their own planet, which I personally think would be very unfortunate.
I can't believe you've NEVER seen Back to the Future!
I will send you my VHS copies if you promise to watch at least the first one.
PM me your address and I'll send them asap.
Couldn't agree more with Dani's thoughts on Ms. Marvel. What a great read. I disagree with her on Silver Surfer a bit though. Loved it at first, but tbh, I've gotten a little bored with it. Hopefully Dawn remains a part of the Surfer's world though. She's been a great addition.
Murd's never seen Back to the Future? INCONCEIVABLE!
"Secret Wars" is amazing. If Hickman can stick the landing on this, it will go down as a masterpiece in comic history.
"We Stand on Guard" and "Rebels" are both buys for me, and "Paper Girls" is definitely going on the pull list.
(SPOILERS)
As Karnak can find the weakness in anything, he found the weakness in escaping from Hell and broke out.
(END SPOILERS)
As you were.
It's comics, Chris. You of all people know that nobody stays dead in the funny pages. LOL
Another Dark Circle book? Huh. The Fox has been good - not as good as the original Freak Magnet mini-series, but good - but Black Hood was pretty bad, and they keep cancelling & resoliciting The Shield, so Archie isn't having the best track record with this imprint so far and although I hope The Hangman does okay, I'm not holding my breath.
Ms. Marvel is my favorite Marvel book right now. So happy it has found an audience and that Kamala's star continues to be on the rise. Really curious to see how being an (All New, All Different) Avenger is going to impact her life.
Have to agree with @Elsiebub on Starfire, that book has been so much fun... the perfect midpoint between 80s comics Starfire and animated Teen Titans Starfire.
Guardians of the Galaxy co-starring the Thing and Kitty Pryde? Yes, thank you, I'll take two, please.
But I love these episodes for the same reason that I hate them. You all do a great job of bringing things to my attention that I may have missed otherwise.
I have cut back on Marvel and DC going forward. I still get a lot compared to some people, but I am getting far less than what I was before. I used Convergence and Secret Wars to have one last big hurrah where I got everything related to both events, and then afterwards, I'm using it as a time to be very selective about what I get. With Marvel I can be even more selective because I have the Marvel Unlimited App, so anything I am not sure about or don't really feel a desire to own later, I can still read the stories 6 months later and enjoy them without unloading the issues later from my collection. I wish DC came out with something like that. I don't mind paying the once a year fee to access anything I want just with a later start date than the in store date.