Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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As the world's most revered internet feature approaches its 100th edition, an awestruck humanity can only stand back and gaze in wonder at just what it will throw up next.
Personally, I can't say what it'll throw up next.
Because I won't be the one throwing it up.
You will.
And so will everybody else who occupies the worldwide web the world knows only as The World Wide Web.
But just what subject matter do you wish to become entangled in your World Wide Webbing?
As history has taught us, there's only one way to find out.
And that's for you to suggest a topic for debate in the comments section below.
Posts
27 comments:
Awww, I’m first in line and I don’t have a decent SYB topic in mind.
b.t.
We're all waiting for Sean, aren't we? It's his slot...
Phillip
Ha! I was thinking the same thing, actually, Phillip.
b.t.
SEAN!!!
If Shawn does not reply… But I think it would be fun if we just talk random shit for the next 48 hours. No particular question just let a Freeform.
Ah, ok. I was a bit busy earlier (and thought of holding on, to blag Speak Your Brain #100 next month anyway) but here goes -
What do people here make of twenty-first century super-hero comics? I think it's fair to say the interest in them on this blog is mainly ones from the 70s/early 80s. But if you've tried some more recently, what do you think?
I'll be back in a bit to discuss with reference to Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory and JLA, which were recommended to me by my aul' pal M.P. after I sided with young Matthew McK against him about the Scottish Member of the Order of the British Empire's work in the Great Two Matts Debate of 2024.
Prior to that I read Marvel's House of M to keep up with some Peerless Power of Comics posts, so Bendis may come up too.
And possibly even Garth Ennis, seeing as I read some of his Punisher comics not so long ago (don't ask me why).
But I have to have a bite to eat first.
-sean
* For the purposes of discussion, '21st century' includes the late 90s.
I forgot thats when Morrison's JLA actually came out. Duh.
UK Dudes - CHarlie here. Look - I bought a used book from the UK (Michelin Green Guide 2006 of Aquitaine France) and they sent me a coupon for 75 pounds of free wine if you buy 135 pounds worth from "nakedwines.com" which apparently is highly rated as an online seller. If any of you are interested, speak up! First come first serve.
The coupon just has a number and a PW on it to use at their www site.
Charlie can't use if b/c it is a UK-only offer.
So - Speak your mind. But I think it has to be redeemed in the next few weeks.
SEAN - Charlie has indeed been waiting for your 7 Soldiers review!!!
Charlie did enjoy a Thor run around 6-7 years ago, where Thor was the herald of Galactus.
Also, the Mark Waid run on Archie was excellent!
O/wise every thing Charlie's bought the past 20 odd years was pretty much a disappointment.
1) The art is problematic. I can't understand what the hell I'm looking at in various panels!
2) Stories seem to be really, really thin and stretched out over too many issues. They could be condensed.
sean:
Yes, we really do need to hear what you thought of Morrison’s SEVEN SOLDIERS thing.
As for 21st Century comics, I had a last gasp of enthusiasm for mainstream comics around the turn of the century, but it didn’t last long. There were some titles that I dug for a while but soon grew tired of, and some that I liked almost entirely because of the art (Olivier Coipel, Chris Samnee and a few others).
When the Covid Lockdown happened, I stopped going to my local comics shop every week. After a month or two, , I realized that I hadn’t really been following any new comics for awhile anyway and I didn’t actually miss going to the shop every week. So I haven’t bought a ‘new’ comic in about five years.
So — what was I digging before losing interest, you ask? I liked Ennis’ PUNISHER comics but found some of them a bit of a chore to read, because of the artists he was paired up with. He did several arcs with an outstanding Croatian artist named Goran Parlov that were just stunning. Pure hateful human ugliness drawn beautifully!
I liked Morrison’s NEW X-MEN series a lot (especially with Quitely drawing it) but the longer it went on, the less interesting it was. I couldn’t tell if he lost interest in his own storyline, or just lost control of the narrative over time. I had the same reaction to his various ongoing Batman series at DC.
Oh! That reminds me — I did think his ALL-STAR SUPERMAN series with Quitely was great, front-to-back. And their WE 3 Limited series too. The VINAMARAMA series Morrison did with Phillip Bond was pretty fun — it was kinda like Jack Kirby Cosmicism with a South Asian overlay, like Hindi ETERNALS or something.
I liked Warren Ellis and John Cassaday’s PLANETARY a lot. Ellis’ THE AUTHORITY was fun at first but I lost interest with each successive story arc. I truly despised Mark Millar’s run on that, and haven’t enjoyed many of his other comics either.
I’ll have to give some thought to which other 21st century comics that I liked or didn’t….
b.t.
The only superhero titles I’ve bought over the last twenty five years, are Millar and Hitch’s Ultimates (vol 1 and 2). Very good and the basis of Marvel’s cinematic universe, in many ways. Also, around 4 issues of David Aja’s Hawkeye, which looked great but didnt really hold my attention. And the recent Miracleman SIlver Age comics in were definitely, in no way, absolutely not a cash grab. I highly recommend The Ultimates. The other two, not so much.
Haven’t read a Morrison comic for years. Really liked St. Swithin’s Day and Zenith. Nothing, really, since then. Dabbled with Animal Man, Doom Patrol and All Star Superman, but there was nothing there for me. Personal taste, and all that.
DW
…which were definitely, in no way, absolutely not a cash grab.
Thank God he finally showed up!
Sean, that is. I was getting ready to call the embassy.
Assuming we still have those.
M.P.
Charlie - My bookshelf has 2 Michelin Green Guides: 1.) Northern France & the Paris Region; & 2.) The Atlantic Coast. Both are dated 2001 - and neither offer free wine! The inside pages of the Michelin Green Guide nearest my bookshelf's edge now have mildew on them! I need to open some windows in the mornings!
I haven't read any 21st century comics, so can't comment. I read some of my brother's, in the 1990s, and they were bad enough. I've always assumed things have continued to deteriorate.
Phillip
PHILLIP - I find ebay interesting at times. Like the Paris Match mags I bought from France a few months ago. I think I paid only like $3 each and about $3 each for shipping from France. They all featured Bardot and were from mid 1960s.
There is no way I could buy them that cheap in the United States, since, well, they probably weren’t available in the United States. And The French periodicals are more or less available from Canada, shipping from Canada is absolutely outrageous. Each issue would probably cost $10-$15 to ship to the United States.
So, buying these magazines and shipping them from France are the cheapest deal around and not unreasonable at all.
And so it goes with buying old Michelin green guides from the United Kingdom, lol. I bought a handful of used books over the past few years from England and they were very reasonable priced even with shipping from the UK.
When Marvel regained the Conan license in 2019 I started buying the new versions of Conan The Barbarian and Savage Sword Of Conan (re-launched as a colour comic-book rather than a b&w magazine). The most obvious difference from the past were the covers - not a single one featured a scantily-clad wench cowering in terror as Conan fought a horrible monster. Needless to say the new Conan comics were accused of being woke but the stories were enjoyable enough and one was even written by Roy Thomas. In 2022 the Conan license passed to Titan but the only Titan Conan comic I've read so far was a download on Free Comic Book Day 2023. My days of reading comics are probably behind me now.
Charlie - At least one of my Michelin Green Guides was bought in 'The Works' (a UK bargain bookshop chain). The Northern France & Paris region one has a sticker pricing it at £2.99 - a very good buy. For the other book, however, I paid full price (probably because I bought it just before going to La Rochelle about 21 years ago.) Those books were good for French medieval buildings, etc - before the internet took off, making them obsolete. I remember filling in a special page at the back of another similar type of French tourist book (but a smaller, thinner volume) - I think it was reader feedback/ tips to improve the series - and got a freebie through the post, in return. But I think it may just have been another volume, from the same series. It was all about 21 years ago, so my memory's a bit hazy (a book about Normandy, I think! )
Phillip
As is the case with some of you, I haven't read much new heroic material in several years. Since the turn of the millenium, though, I did enjoy Marvel's original "Civil War" arc, although I didn't pick up all the extended issues- only the seven part series itself. That, and the run of Amazing Spider-Man that ran at the time- Dan Slott did some interesting things with the book. Didn't like all of it, but it was worth the reading.
Like b.t., I read "All Star Superman", and found it fine. But my favorite post-200 book/run is, by a long shot, Darwyn Cooke's "New Frontier". Loved that series; of course it was essentially a Silver Age story so it may not count for Sean's topic.
In a more general sense, my problems with contemporary heroic comics lie in writing (decompressed storytelling, continuous reboots, and an apparent lack of storytelling focus).
And, more as a matter of personal taste, the art. As an artist, I appreciate a good sense of design and clarity to the visuals. Much of today's comic art (and that of the past couple decades, actually) seems overly cluttered, hard to follow, and an attempt to cram too much detail in at the expense of clarity and readability. That, along with computerized coloring, which (in my eyes) overpowers and obscures the artist's linework and generally muddies the whole effect.
Okay, aging bronze-ager rant over. After all, I still love the medium!
MARVEL ZOMBIES is categorically worth a read. It boldly braves new ground and for those of you who like those Syfy horror comics then this one will really be for you!
Would anyone know if DC ever ventured down the zombie path?
Charlie - the man with the UK vendor’s wine coupon.
I agree with Redartz and Charlie regarding the de-compressed storytelling in some modern comics. I’ve seen it in the work of Bendis, Stryzinski, Reggie Hudlin and others, and it kinda drives me crazy. Moderately entertaining as you’re reading it, but then you get to the last page and realize you haven’t actually read much of a story.
The first issue of Hudlin’s BLACK PANTHER series starts off with a mostly dialogue-free, very cinematic sequence beautifully executed by JR JR. It’s basically like a pre-title sequence in a movie, and it’s really well done for what it is, but it takes up like 90% of the comic!
On the other hand, Bendis often indulges in what I call “Ping-Pong Dialogue”:
Cap: That can’t be right.
Iron Man: Well, I’m just saying —
Cap: I can’t believe that Thor would —
Iron Man: — just saying —
Cap — do something like that —
Iron Man: Would you let me finish?
Cap: — never in a million years —
Iron Man: LET ME FINISH, DAMMIT!
Etc
That kind of naturalistic overlapping back and forth dialogue works great in Robert Altman movies, but not so much in comics.
OK, enough of that. I’m still waiting to hear sean’s take on SEVEN SOLDIERS…
b.t.
Give it up Sean!
Well, that’s a great big question.
After the big boom and bust of comics came and went in the 1990s, I was just lazily buying Alan Moore and Frank Miller stuff. Miller I gave up on after 300 came out. He was just creatively dead in the water. I stuck with Moore but having lost interest in Gaiman about halfway through Sandman, and never having had much interest in Milligan or Morrison the whole decade sort of passed me by.
[DW - St Swithins Day is a good shout, I wish GM had done more stuff like that].
I took a renewed interest in comics from around 1999, but there weren’t many comics I’d buy as floppies. I really liked the Bendis run on Daredevil - though BT is bang on about his dialogue getting annoying. The way all the characters talked the same way is a weakness, as well. I agree about the decompressed storylines, but that’s only really an issue if you’re buying month by month. I don’t really do that.
But whilst we’re talking about the definitely-not-a-cash-grab Miracleman Silver Age - that’s a perfect case in point. When Moore started MM, he had to cram a lot into 6-8 pages per month! Then when he wrote Olympus he wrote longer chapters, but in which he still managed to cover insane amounts of plot progression. Gaiman’s Golden Age presented little fragmented stories and mood pieces, which felt self-contained. But by the time we come to Silver Age it just drags on interminably and then doesn’t really resolve. That’s the first comic in years I bought as a floppy and I eventually just gave up.
I guess we won’t be seeing Gaiman make the same mistakes on Dark Age any time soon though, will we?
Generally these days I’ll occasionally take a look around at what’s supposed to be good and pick up a collected edition. As a result I’ve enjoyed Slott and Allred’s Silver Surfer run. The Fraction / Aja run on Hawkeye. None of these have made me hanker for more of the writer’s material, but they’re engaging enough.
contd...
...
Flavour of the month seems to be Tom King. He has the same prodigious work rate as Bendis, he seems to put out about 7 miniseries a year. They vary in quality, and I really wish he’d trim down some of his verbiage. And perhaps write about something other than PTSD? But his Mister Miracle and Human Target series are excellent. And the two Batman one-offs he did with Mitch Gerads last year were pretty strong. Even - whisper it - his Rorschach series wasn’t bad.
The good thing about King is that he seems to get really great artists working on his stuff. It doesn’t always make them good books, but they’re always worth a look. It makes me sad that for the last decade of his comics career Alan Moore didn’t manage to come to any kind of accommodation with even a small publisher that would allow him the same calibre of drawing talent. Kev O’Neill’s work was great, but Jacen Burrows was not.
I really like the Big Guys of cartooning - Dan Clowes, Seth, Chris Ware, Charles Burns. Newer guys like Nick Drnaso and Jon McNaught. I used to really look forward to Richard Corben’s stuff from Dark Horse every year. RIP. At least he’s being honoured with really nice editions of hard to find work now.
I also like quite a few of Image’s bonkers SF comics: Prophet, Saga, and Descender are excellent. Most stuff written and drawn by Simon Roy is really entertaining. Honourable mention to Ether from Dark Horse. There’s a few people I like because of their eccentric art. In an ideal world good comics are a perfect synthesis of writing and art, but like a lot of 70s comics fans I can take the latter without the former. I like Tradd Moore and Brandon Graham for that reason. Graham’s stuff is actually really interesting in a Krazy Kat Komics kind of way.
If I were to make a bold statement, I’d say comics are as healthy as they’ve ever been. Not necessarily in terms of sales, but in terms of quality there’s much more of a range of stuff freely available, and creators aren’t being f***ed over the way they were in the 70s and 80s. I guess if I were reading superhero comics alone, it would be hard to maintain an interest as there’s no fresh ground to break. But I’m pretty happy with how the market looks right now.
Charlie - I read a Marvel Zombies ages ago and really enjoyed it. I’ll have to give that another go.
Redartz - with you on computerised colouring. It’s sometimes great [the Ether book I mentioned is gorgeous], but often just an extra layer of clutter and confusion on the page.
Redartz also - I only read New Frontier a couple of years ago. It took me a couple of chapters to get into but it was wonderful. Did you read any of Cooke’s ‘Parker’ stories?
Matthew:
Not to keep beating a dead horse about Bendis, but YES — I got tired of practically every character speaking in that same quasi-naturalistic start/stop/stammer style really quick. I don’t remember which comic it was in, but I remember one instance where Bendis’ dialogue for Dr. Strange was like something that wouldn’t have sounded odd coming out of Peter Parker’s mouth — lots of colloquial “y’knows” and “I means” etc. It was jarring.
While we all wait for sean’s thoughts on Morrison’s SEVEN SOLDIERS, here’s one of mine : six of them didn’t do much for me.
b.t.
BT -
I think I know the bit you mean. There’s a scene where Reed Richards, Dr Strange, and Peter Parker call a meet with Matt Murdock to complain about how his becoming Kingpin of Hells Kitchen has driven crime into their boroughs. Everyone talks the same. Exactly the same way. Even Matt who ends the meeting with ‘You know what? Fine’ and walks away.
Sean, Give it up!
I noticed that any new comics I have picked up and actually read have had a bronze age look to them like the Chris Samnee ( very much Alex Toth inspired art) Batman and Captain America comics , Titans Conan with the John Buscema styled art of Roberto D La Torre and most of these books are written by Roy Thomas and Mark Waid I also like Mike Deodato art (whose style reminds me a bit of Gene Colon and Neal Adams). The only title I semi regularly follow is Dark Horses B. P .R .D and errr Groo.
I've never seen or rated Morrison's 7 Soldiers of Victory comic so looking forward to Sean's review.
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