Comments on: What I bought – 28 October 2009

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:12:27 +0000

FGJ: I wonder if the reason is twofold – Hercules has been around for a while, so “normal” Marvel readers are more comfortable with him, and also that the book was doing well as The Incredible Hulk and simply changed over, and a lot of people kept going out of habit before realizing that the book is good. If it had started with a new #1, I wonder if it would have survived.

You’re right, though – it’s quite vexing.

By: FunkyGreenJerusalem

FunkyGreenJerusalem — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:03:19 +0000

I don’t really have a lot to say about this comic. It’s consistently entertaining and probably the best book Marvel publishes right now. But you already knew that!

Hercules continuing success confuses me.
I love it, and it’s great it’s still going strong, but I can’t figure out how it survived when Captain Britain and Agents Of Atlas got canceled.
Both those books going the way of the dodo leave me scratching my head as to what the heck people want from superhero books – as to me, those books ticked all boxes – but I figured I’m just off in my own little world of tastes.
But Hercules delivers the exact same sort of thrills, laughs and great characters that those two had, except it’s still going.
So people do want that sort of a book… just not three of them.

It vexes me.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:50:09 +0000

s1rude: Sorry about that. I’ve been banging on Rucka’s scripts since he started this run, and I’ve been giving better reasons why they’re bland, and I just didn’t feel like it this time. If the next issue is still blah, I’ll break it down better!

By: s1rude

s1rude — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:19:17 +0000

Man, am I tired of the piling on of Rucka’s scripts in Detective.

It’s a shame he’s not getting a better effort from Rucka.

Really, you can judge how hard somebody worked on the script? Greg Rucka pulled this script out of a drawer, farted, scratched himself and sent it off to Williams? Engage in some critique or something, but a comment like this is offensive bs.

Sorry, Greg, I appreciate your putting stuff out there, but this is just a meaningless slam of something you don’t have or offer any insight into.

By: TimCallahan

TimCallahan — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:58:55 +0000

I buy ALL comics for the art. I wouldn’t buy any of these — even the Morrison ones — if they were just published as scripts.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:29:43 +0000

Thanks, Brian. It’s always cool to hear that from readers.

By: lilacsigil

lilacsigil — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:28:51 +0000

I recently reduced my pull list by about 90%, because I was sick of reading through/looking at offensive bullshit (yes you, Greg Land) in order to get a superhero story. Detective Comics survived the cut because it’s a good story, awesome art, and I don’t have to wade through page after page of crap to get what I want from a comic. It’s not Rucka’s A Game, but his B Game is better than most people’s A Game.

By: JackKing

JackKing — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:30:48 +0000

I’ve got to admit, those comics you linked to look horrible. I’d certainly like to read the bottom 10 comics list.

By: Brian D.

Brian D. — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:01:18 +0000

Interesting point about the anti-climax of the Reed arc (although I think I enjoyed it a bit more than you). I guess I also took it as a kind of meta-commentary on the recent state of Marvel: not just Reed’s doing bad things during Civil War, but the way the whole company gets subsumed by these big crossover events, sometimes (often?) to the detriment of individual titles. So, if we read the multiverse Reeds as standing in for the crossover– mapping out big ideas, making them all connect, “solving” problems but overlooking the human element that makes us care in the first place), then those last few pages of Reed rejecting the Big Abstract in favor of the small, messy, and everyday emotions is actually kind of a lovely affirmation of Marvel First Principles. Anyway, I’m really enjoying Hickman’s writing, and Eaglesham’s art is growing on me (although I still wish someone would buy Reed a razor). And I like the models– Lee & Kirby, Byrne, Mark Waid– that he cites for inspiration, so I’m hopeful about the future of the title.

Thanks for another great set of reviews, Greg. Even when I disagree, I always love reading your work– it’s so thoughtful and well-put. And it also makes me want to add things to my pull-list.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:36:06 +0000

Jack: Man, I've read a lot of crappy comics. I read an issue of Demonslayer, for instance. That was pretty awful. And that issue of Untamed was pretty bad. Maybe I should do a post about the ten worst issues I've ever read. That might be fun!

By: JackKing

JackKing — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:22:33 +0000

Greg: Out of curiosity, what would be the worst comic you’ve ever read?

I’m not stating that Ambush Bug 7 is the worst ever, just the worst I’ve read. I’m sure there’s a whole lot of crap out there worse than this but I haven’t read it.

By: MCGroupy

MCGroupy — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:55:21 +0000

Hey how come nobody is making a big deal about Sergio Aragones’ work on Bart Simpson #50? Now that he’s on the title for the foreseeable future, let’s check that out. It is brainless fun, but it Sergio after all…

Die Hard Year One #2 was pretty good. I’m really looking foward to seeing how John McLean came up with “Yippee Kai-yay Mother F@!&$@$ as his trademark battle call . Always helps when the great Howard Chaykin is the scribe behind it all.

Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my must-reads every month. If you are a casual fan of the series and cut back on your spending during the economical bliss, do yourself a favor and pick it up. The Kang cover is one of the best looking books out this week.

I skipped reading the Clone Saga so far this week. I’d like to give this mini series a chance to see how it was really supposed to pay off but it should have been catorgorized as a What If book.. so with that said, I see no rhyme nor reason to put it to the top of my reading stack.

Is it me or does Gary Frank’s rendition of Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes on this week’s cover of Superman: Secret Origin #2 look like they are the most malnourished heroes in all of the multiverse? Super-Anorexic Legion of Superheroes is more like it. (Hey, even the greats can accept some criticism sometimes).

Yes, more Ultimate Avengers please. This story is going places at hyperspeed. It’s a must read now, don’t wait for the TPB.

X-Necrosha looks great. Hopefully it will read great too.

Lastly, I dusted off a copy of the TPB Visionaries – Kurt Busiek off the bookshelf. This is a run of the first few issues of The Untold Tales of Spider-Man. From what I understand these ‘tweener” stories (that were better left untold) take place between some of the early issues of Amazing Spider-Man and are actually considered canon. I can’t say that I disliked it entirely. I do like reading the early adventures of everyone’s favorite webhead. I can say that I’m glad that Ultimate Spider-Man (Vol. 1) put an end to recreating the Original. You don’t mess with Lee/Ditko. Those who were there in the day need not apply themselves to tracking this down.

Happy Halloween!

By: Adam Tyner

Adam Tyner — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:59:25 +0000

“There was obviously some reason DC pulped issue #6, but I doubt if we’ll ever learn what it is. That’s kind of disappointing.”

The badnik having a paper bag over his head reading “Not Dan” probably points in the right direction. I’ve loved, loved, loved everything else Ambush Bug had ever been in (the first two minis were the first comics I can ever remember collecting from start to finish), but this miniseries was unredeemably awful from word one. Clunky sense of humor, really rushed looking art…and c’mon, Dan Didio is no Julie Schwartz.

#7 seriously might be the single worst comic I’ve read all year.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:29:24 +0000

Yes, I do, Brian.

By: brian

brian — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:26:58 +0000

I might just be noticing this, but do you always do your reveiws in alphabetical order?

Cheers,

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:31:29 +0000

Craig: Yeah, Lucinda Williams is pretty freakin’ awesome.

JackKing: I wouldn’t go that far, but it wasn’t very good.

By: Ant

Ant — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:04:07 +0000

Secret Warriors gave a big hint, more like a flashing neon sign, about who the dad of oe of their characters is .

By: JackKing

JackKing — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:07:30 +0000

Ambush Bug 7 was possibly the worst comic I’ve ever read. I’m not usually negative about comics but good gods that sucked.

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:47:32 +0000

Random lyrics: Lucinda Williams’ “I Lost It”. “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” is a fantastic CD. I used to work in a grocery store that played four or five tracks from it every day on the Muzak. Of course, once I heard “World Without Tears”, I realized that Lucinda recorded fantastic albums all the time.

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:22:02 +0000

Wraith:
One problem I have with the “bad story is validated” argument is that the opposite holds true with the same argument: bad art would be validated with strong sales by a good story. Does only the writer deserve to be “rewarded” for his efforts?
Comics is a collaborative effort (American comics at least). Every body is putting effort into it and it just so happens that one person will probably be putting in better work than the other. My problem with the “reward for bad work” argument is that it’s too personal. Just think about the final product. If the story doesn’t do it for you despite the art then don’t buy it, but don’t think about it as “rewarding” the writer, because then you’re punishing the artist.