Comic Books Comic Book • Page 458

I'm at B&N, they have bogo 50% off DC, I'm caught between two Wonder Woman books, Lords & Liars and Afterworlds, anyone read these?

 

Both good. I preferred Lords and Liars for Janin's artwork.

Afterworlds is a bigger, more cosmic story (and takes place after Death Metal).

 

I haven't read either of them, but I will say Lords & Liars contains the whole Mariko Tamaki run. Afterworlds, on the other hand, is the start of the Cloonan & Conrad run (that I believe will end up being 4 trades total; it's currently in its final stretch in floppies). So, it's up to you if a complete writer's run or the start of a couple writers' run is more appealing.

(I also know Afterworlds has Norse stuff and art from Travis Moore, who's excellent at drawing sexy people, lol.)

 

Thanks! I'm going with Lords & Liars. My other pick is Crush and Lobo so I guess I'm double dipping Mariko Tamaki hah

 

Almost done with Crush and Lobo, very fun

At the end of Young Justice they hinted at Mary being a bad guy in the season that would've followed. Is there a good story for that in the comics?

 

Well, uh… define “good story,” lol.

In the late ‘00s series Countdown to Final Crisis, which is a weekly series I have not read (and that is generally not well respected), she gets caught up in some kinda Black Adam stuff and has a black costume. I think she ends up in a coma before this? And de-powered sometime after, until the New 52 reboot. Honestly, the idea of making the innocent girl go bad feels, to me, like mostly pointless “shocking” nonsense.

 

Frank Quitely work with someone other than Mark Millar challenge.

 

Yeah, uh, Countdown to Final Crisis is very not good.

Just a complete dumpster fire of a series that was hastily thrown together after the unexpected (and likely unique) success of 52, and it shows.

 

Oh. I was hoping there'd be something compelling like the dark Willow arc in Buffy (as flawed as the rest of that season was). I wonder if Young Justice would've pulled it off (along with evil Kara) but I guess we'll never know

 

It was also meant to be a setup to Final Crisis and Grant Morrison used none of it and did their own thing. There is a dark version of her in Final Crisis too, but there’s dark versions of several characters in that and it doesn’t last long or have much too it beyond being some cool panels.

 

seems like the new Harley is another book I will drop with Howard writing it. dang.

 

good that he's gone. but Marvel Entertainment being folded into Disney proper gives me pause.

 

cannot wait

 

From what people who’d know are saying, that’s actually likely to be a net positive. (It’s closer to how things are for DC at WBD; it’s surprising that it took this long, especially since Marvel Studios & Marvel Entertainment have been separate for years.)

The penny-pinching, limiting marketing and hurting creators and getting titles prematurely canceled, has been especially tough. Now the whole “IP farm for Marvel Studios” thing could be enough of a corporate selling point to give some books a longer life, instead of low direct market preorders on a #1 shooting a book right out the gate.

 

Started JH Williams' Batwoman! Love Kate
...
James H Williams III
James Tynion IV
so your father and grandfather (and great grandfather) were also James? You gonna name your kids James, too?

 

yeah I've read similar and that's definitely best case scenario. but I can't help but have a little trepidation about Marvel Comics being under a larger Disney division making the comics even more focused on profits.

 

I’ve seen some of the doom & gloom takes, and they’re not 100% unwarranted, but like… idk. It’s true that the direct market is a hot mess that I doubt will outlive me (in its current form at least); it’s equally true that comics has been predicting its end for longer than I’ve been alive.

It’s worth noting that, while Marvel Entertainment is a tiny drop in the Disney bucket, it’s also a drop that has managed to remain profitable for quite a while, with a direct pipeline of its ideas into Marvel Studios. It’s also worth noting that, as chaotic as Warner Bros Discovery has been in recent years, DC’s comics have actually been in a largely healthy state (in spite of fears that Discovery or whoever would shut it down & just license characters out). A Batgirl movie with Michael Keaton was thrown out and turned into a tax write off; a Batman animated series with Bruce Timm & Ed Brubaker was shopped out. On the comics side, books announced as inspirations for James Gunn are selling out & being reprinted, and you praised the direction of the line fairly recently.

I bet the New York offices are eventually gonna close & the comics will move to LA, like DC did around a decade ago. I’m sure some good people will lose jobs (which is unfortunately always a concern when you’re owned by a big corporation). And, I could see the line getting smaller, which honestly… yes please? lol. But, I personally don’t see the comics going away (or getting shittier) in the immediate future.

 

(Are you a real comic reader if you’re not also attempting/pretending to be an amateur business expert? lol.)

 

All good points for sure. I suppose there is no point worrying about it until more information comes out. Turning Marvel Comics into an essentially R&D division that isn't concerned with profits would be ideal. Just let creators create.

Re: the bolded I've actually dropped a handful of DC books over the last couple of weeks hahah. Line is still doing good stuff but I've lost a bit of interest in the Dawn of DC stuff and a couple of my favourite books have transitioned to new creative teams that I don't like. Catwoman and Harley (only one issue so far so it could change) are two that I'm fairly disappointed in but that's not an indictment on the line which overall is in a healthy state just writers that don't vibe with me. Just had a bit of a chuckle when I read that.

absolutely not. it's the best part of comics.

 

Oh no… Life comes at you fast I guess, lol.

What are you currently digging? I personally adore Poison Ivy and cannot believe I’m so blessed to have such a dope ongoing series around that fav of mine. Lots about the Superman line frustrates me (particular the identity reset and the way they’re squandering poor ol’ Jon Kent), but Action Comics is doing its best with the Dawn of DC status quo. That upcoming Hawkgirl mini set in Metropolis seems like it’ll be another nice addition to that corner. And, I’m… curious about both Wonder Woman & Flash.

 

Nightwing is probably my favourite ongoing at the moment, I love it so much. Batgirls and Poison Ivy are brilliant too. I have Unstoppable Doom Patrol sitting here at the moment waiting to be read, very excited for that. The two bat books are good. I guess I was a little hasty blaming it on Dawn of DC, moreso that the majority of the lead books for the line haven't grabbed me much but some of the books coming down the line look very intriguing and more in line what I like that what's out there on shelves so far. I'm not a huge fan of Joshua Williamson, so I don't think I'll be reading that main Superman book for a time.

 

Oh yes, that first issue of Doom Patrol was quite good imo! I don’t typically waste the extra dollar on DC card stock variants, but I got the scratch off cover, lol; my Jane was Chainsaw Nun, which I’m quite happy with.

I know Tom Taylor is DC’s sweetheart, but I’ve really evolved into a Taylor hater as of late. That whole Nightwing/Titans corner just isn’t my thing, personally, and I think his Jon Kent work has been mostly lukewarm garbage, lol. Cannot believe that Bendis rescued Jon from Tomasi mediocrity, Future State gave a solid proof-of-concept of where he could go next, and editorial thought of making him bi… and then he fell right off a cliff. That squandered potential is an intrusive thought for me at this point, lol.

And, yeah, I’m anti-Williamson and am on your side on a lack of interest in his Superman, which is apparently a minority opinion. What I’ve seen of it is pretty whatever.

(Oops, this post got more negative than initially intended!)

 

Just read Maneaters vol 3. I learned later that there was controversy around issue 9 originally quoting a tweet, unattributed but used without permission--it was since removed in the tpb. The author's response to the controversy didn't really paint her in the best light

Minor spoilers ahead: another criticism was that the series so heavily focused on people who menstruate that it left out trans women from its feminist agenda, but the tenth issue reveals that one of the characters was actually a trans boy all along, and while it may have been the plan from the start, it still kind of feels latched on at the last minute as a response to the criticism

All that said, I thoroughly enjoyed how weird and messy the series was and I definitely don't regret buying/reading it. There's one final "standalone" volume left, which I'm sure will be just as interesting

(I mostly skimmed over every fourth issue that closed out each volume because they were mostly in-universe advertisements and magazine articles, etc. While I do appreciate the creativity that went into those, I feel like they were detrimental to the flow of the narrative. That's probably my only gripe)

 

Now that it’s finished I’m reading through the Human Target mini from Tom King and it’s dynamite. If you’re a Justice League International fan, it’s a must read and the style of a 1950’s mystery is super fun.