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Entertainment / Re: American comics discussion thread.
« on: November 27, 2007, 09:51:00 am »
I used to devour comics as a kid but I don't read that many any more, and I certainly no longer read them for the characters - I know it's the way the industry works but I just got tired of the constant conveyor belt of writers and the regularity with which they kill off/resurrect/reboot characters when they can't think of decent ideas. I really only read superhero comics by my favourite writers nowadays.
But I agree Marvel characters are generally better than DC.
I read Ultimate Spider-Man when it first began about 5 years ago, because it was written by Brian Michael Bendis, whose own Powers was recommended to me, and really enjoyed that. For those who don't know, the Ultimate series is a reboot of major Marvel characters, outside established continuity, and brought right up-to-date. It went off the boil after a couple of years and I gave up, but its origin arc really shows up how inadequate the first Spider-Man movie was (never bothered with the other two. )
Grant Morrison is the man. His own stuff (The Invisibles, The Filth etc.) is his best. Mind-bending stuff, more amazing ideas per page than most comics have in their lifetimes. But he's also one of comics' most prolific writers, and he does plenty of work for the big guns, the last thing I read being Seven Soldiers of Victory for DC.
I think Batman grows old quite quickly, and I don't know how anyone could do anything fresh with him, but Morrison's writing the main Batman series at the moment, so I think I'll pick that up when it's collected.
Superman is an odd one. In most writer's hands he's really dull. Too powerful and too perfect to do anything interesting with. But Grant Morrison knows how to write him. 'Epic' is not the word. In comparison, all other superheroes are pissing in the wind. I recommend picking up Morrison's run on All-Star Superman (the All-Stars are DC's less iconoclastic answer to Marvel's Ultimate series) since it's the best comic I've read for a couple of years.
I used to love X-Men, but the only X-book I've read in years is Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men, which began about 5 years ago. Absolutely stunning stuff - brought the series back to its core premise but convincingly advanced it for the 21st century (and Marvel have displayed considerable cowardice in backtracking on everything Morrison did, presumably to capitalise on the popularity of the movies, cartoon, toys etc.) Strangely, the comics that got me into X-Men weren't the '90s stuff, which I actually never liked (Age of Apocalypse, in particular, but also - Gambit, ferchrissakes) but reading re-printed collections of the earlier comics from the '70s and '80s. Years ahead of its time.
Also, fans of Wolverine should pick up Frank Miller and Chris Claremont's Wolverine mini-series. A friend of mine lent it to me and I have to say, even though it's, I dunno, 25 years old and quite tame by today's standards, he's never been cooler than in this book. It's the story that first introduced the idea that he once lived in Japan and studied the way of the samurai.
Also - and if you read comics this shouldn't need to be said - but even if you've never read a comic in your life, read this:
Read it before it gets turned into a crappy film. The single best comic/graphic novel/whatever you need to call it, of all time. In fact, it's one of the best things of all time... If I started on this it would just result in a 1000-word gush. Alan Moore is a legend.
If we're talking American comics, and not just Superhero comics, I also used to read Jaime Hernandez' half of Love & Rockets but I've not picked it up in a while. Cool stuff.
But I agree Marvel characters are generally better than DC.
I read Ultimate Spider-Man when it first began about 5 years ago, because it was written by Brian Michael Bendis, whose own Powers was recommended to me, and really enjoyed that. For those who don't know, the Ultimate series is a reboot of major Marvel characters, outside established continuity, and brought right up-to-date. It went off the boil after a couple of years and I gave up, but its origin arc really shows up how inadequate the first Spider-Man movie was (never bothered with the other two. )
Grant Morrison is the man. His own stuff (The Invisibles, The Filth etc.) is his best. Mind-bending stuff, more amazing ideas per page than most comics have in their lifetimes. But he's also one of comics' most prolific writers, and he does plenty of work for the big guns, the last thing I read being Seven Soldiers of Victory for DC.
I think Batman grows old quite quickly, and I don't know how anyone could do anything fresh with him, but Morrison's writing the main Batman series at the moment, so I think I'll pick that up when it's collected.
Superman is an odd one. In most writer's hands he's really dull. Too powerful and too perfect to do anything interesting with. But Grant Morrison knows how to write him. 'Epic' is not the word. In comparison, all other superheroes are pissing in the wind. I recommend picking up Morrison's run on All-Star Superman (the All-Stars are DC's less iconoclastic answer to Marvel's Ultimate series) since it's the best comic I've read for a couple of years.
I used to love X-Men, but the only X-book I've read in years is Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men, which began about 5 years ago. Absolutely stunning stuff - brought the series back to its core premise but convincingly advanced it for the 21st century (and Marvel have displayed considerable cowardice in backtracking on everything Morrison did, presumably to capitalise on the popularity of the movies, cartoon, toys etc.) Strangely, the comics that got me into X-Men weren't the '90s stuff, which I actually never liked (Age of Apocalypse, in particular, but also - Gambit, ferchrissakes) but reading re-printed collections of the earlier comics from the '70s and '80s. Years ahead of its time.
Also, fans of Wolverine should pick up Frank Miller and Chris Claremont's Wolverine mini-series. A friend of mine lent it to me and I have to say, even though it's, I dunno, 25 years old and quite tame by today's standards, he's never been cooler than in this book. It's the story that first introduced the idea that he once lived in Japan and studied the way of the samurai.
Also - and if you read comics this shouldn't need to be said - but even if you've never read a comic in your life, read this:
Read it before it gets turned into a crappy film. The single best comic/graphic novel/whatever you need to call it, of all time. In fact, it's one of the best things of all time... If I started on this it would just result in a 1000-word gush. Alan Moore is a legend.
If we're talking American comics, and not just Superhero comics, I also used to read Jaime Hernandez' half of Love & Rockets but I've not picked it up in a while. Cool stuff.