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Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Gavok posted:

The whole storyline where they got killed was negated via Dr. Strange, so it never happened.

So Prince of Orphans isn't still randomly a country-running murderous tyrant or is that still in play?

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Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Macdeo Lurjtux posted:

Doesn't a tiny Ares fly a tiny bomb down his throat during Bendis' Avengers?

Man never mind Galacta, when are they bringing Ares back?

Have they got some kind of black-list of characters Bendis took into New Avengers, like Ares and Sentry and ... well Ronin was just like, Clint in a new suit, right? But still I want Ares back, man.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

If he/she/the author set up a Kickstarter for a hardback collection of their work so far I'd go loving nuts, this comic is so goddamn good.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Macdeo Lurjtux posted:

I thought it was a toothpick at first until I looked at the panels again and saw it was a collar stay. That's incredible.

That's like the longest setup in comics history. They introduced Clint's collar stays what, 2 years ago?

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
T'Challa and Namor's relationship is the best thing to happen to them both in decades. Just throwing that out there. I absolutely love where it's gone since AVX.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Jiro posted:

JLA/Avengers is the poo poo just for that premise alone. Also Cap beating the poo poo out of Prometheus was kick rear end.

Is Prometheus ... somebody? I've never heard of him before or since JLA/Avengers, but I don't read DC a lot.

But yeah, JLA/Avengers was what got me into comics in the first-place. It's really old school, and has got a ton of better-off-dead characters that Busiek has a soft-spot for like Jack of Hearts and Triathlon, but only as cameos. Most of it is really, really good fun.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

TwoPair posted:

Master of Kung Fu #4: Shang-Chi fights his evil dad.











Someone's been watching Sozen's Comet recently.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
Didn't Justice League Unlimited straight-up kill Terry in that time-travel episode? I don't remember it exactly because it wasn't one of my favourites, but I remember he gets it from the twin Joker girls, of all people. Like they rip him apart with electrified whips, his suit flatlines and we cut to Bruce's stunned reaction.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

I can't wait for him to misread the one line they end up giving him.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
A fickle god mockingly killing a powerless servant is about as badass as that panel of Poison Ivy taunting someone as her plant dissolved his legs to mush.

Seriously, Kill 6 Billion Demons is a great webcomic (and so is Necropolis, which has appeared here a bunch of times), but neither the intent nor the effect of that scene is "Wow, that's badass."

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
I remember a lot of people saying that was Hickman at his most fanboyish for Doom and, yeah, that'd probably be it. It's still very weird for me that he had no better plan for Thanos than getting clumped after delivering a pretty good line. I thought he was building up to more with that angle.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Nevvy Z posted:

Why didn't he kill it?

This is pretty much one of those actions that only happens because comic book writers are a very particular sort and nonsense like this is occasionally accepted as more than melodrama.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

When I'm 94 years old and Kill Six Billion Demons is finally done it's going to be so awesome.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

bobkatt013 posted:

Infinity 4 aka dont gently caress with Thor (sorry for so many panels)









As much as this sequence was the best part of Infinity (and it was, by a mile) I can even in this exchange pick out the things that really, really didn't work for me. The Builders are crap, for one (the Ivory Kings are exactly the same villain except upscaled in threat level) and don't fit the universe, nor did the Ex Nihilo. And this sequence, much like Fraction's whole run on both Avengers books while well written definitely felt like something from one of his indie books (or even Fantastic Four) rather than something Captain America, Iron Man or Thor should be doing.

I get that I'm probably in the minority in this, and I'm not denying that there's good stuff in there. That run just felt so tonally off to me from start to finish.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Say Nothing posted:

That Beyonder was retconned into basically being a bewildered infant member of his race.

That part itself was pretty cool (80s obsessed idiot teenage supergod) but the Ivory Kings themselves weren't. They're good for exactly one story and it's been told. I'm really hoping Ewing isn't seeding the idea of them returning in Ultimates 2, because I have so little interest in revisiting that story again.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Happy Noodle Boy posted:

I'm just glad Hickman took his little Secret Wars story and turned it into a years long double book epic that ended with the destruction of the multi-verse and a line wide derail of every other marvel book.

Like I would love to see the sales pitch go from "I want to write secret wars" to "ok I'll do avengers and new avengers" to "get every writer on the phone I'm killing the universe and reshaping it after my favorite character"

I'm not sure if I entirely buy the theory that Hickman just wrote Avengers and Secret Wars to wank off on his Doctor Doom love, but if I were to entertain that theory there's an awful lot of wood for that particular fire,

But then I didn't like Hickman's run on Avengers/NA at all; I found the tone completely wrong for an Avengers book, his villains without exception forgettable and the characters he introduced didn't fit the world at all. I recognize that it was technically well written and juggled, but it felt more like one of his indie books than a mainstream Avengers title.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
As one of the three Northern Irishmen on SA I officially apologize for Garth Ennis. He's not going away though. After this RHI business we need all the money we can get.

prefect posted:

Timg'd for :nws:-adjacency:



Is that Amanda Conner on art? Maybe I'm going nuts.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
What was even the point of that.

"Hey guys, check out what my face can do!"

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Toshimo posted:




All-New Marvel NOW! Magneto #1 (2014)

This is some incredibly blunt and silly writing. It's like it's half setting up a joke with the barista talk and half just "That guy was like the barista of MURDER."

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
Every time Ben Grimm gets a badass moment is the best time.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Evil Mastermind posted:

Got you covered.


Am I missing something with the background Surfer is falling into here? Why is he falling into a different city block in every panel? Including the two where he's already landed?

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
Okay, is Ares seriously back or is this just like the Sentry appearing for a cup of coffee in Uncanny Avengers and then disappearing for 5 years? Because I could definitely do with more Ares.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Some of you guys seem to have real trouble figuring out what badass means in the context of a super-powered fight.

Maybe I'm outta my tree but here's my 2 cents on that: if the underdog wins despite his disadvantages it's badass, if the guy with all the advantages just wins, it's not badass, even if it's executed pretty well.

On the plus side we don't get nearly enough George Perez around here.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
That was the only point where some people's comments that Hickman was just being a bit of a Doom fanboy with his run sort of stuck for me. It's not like Hickman treated the character poorly or anything (in fact the page leading up to the fatality he comes off as loving badass and a near perfect inversion of Cap facing him down in Infinity Gauntlet), but Thanos' actions there just didn't make sense.

I think in one of the earlier Ultimates issues when Thanos is floating in the void it's revealed that he believed he had "miscalculated" a gambit, which is about as far an insight into the confrontation as we get I think. Maybe he thought he'd really call Doom's bluff or flat-out didn't know how much power he really had. It's good to know it left an impression on writers like Ewing enough to address it eitherway.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
Someday there’ll be a thread on The Character Assassination Of Scott Summers, and then we’ll get awesome Cyclops Did Nothing Wrong character examinations again.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
Seriously, cracking a joke every now and then isn’t some Moore-ish acknowledgement at the hatefulness of your own creation.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Skwirl posted:

I don't understand why cap doesn't just beat the poo poo out of Kraven right there.

For all he knows the guy in danger could be moments from death. Cap wouldn't leave an innocent in peril just so he could beat up on a bad guy.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Johnny Aztec posted:

To be honest, exactly where is Kraven gonna go? I mean, he is just human. A really good hunter but if he tried to hunt actual dangerous people, he'd be stomped.

But he's got guts!

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Somberbrero posted:

some people aren't reading immortal hulk itt





hulk smash disaster capitalism

My problem with Immortal Hulk is Ewing is doing that thing he did with The Ultimates where he's seeding certain ideas and beats that are so incomprehensibly broad in scale and long-term that any possible exploration and resolution that doesn't follow years and years of storytelling would feel like a compromise.

But, I mean, he's peppering these in-between really compelling short-and-mid-length stuff so well that I've literally never felt like I wasted time reading a Ewing comic so as long as he keeps somehow managing to do this I guess it's all gravy.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
Yeah it was weird to have what I thought was going to be the stand-out scene of the issue immediately one-upped, but that's what happened. That scene was such an unexpected gem and it constantly amazes me how Ewing can rubberband from horror to uplifting so effectively.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
The One Piece anime is a nightmare that highlights everything wrong with the Japanese manga/anime industry. Poor art, filler arcs, nightmarish pacing, atrocious dubs, filling episodes with clip material to save costs, an absolute refusal to halt production or adopt a season-based structure. It's pure poison and would turn any reasonable person off.

There's one movie that's worth watching called Movie Z. It's a pretty decent watch and does that rare anime movie thing where it enriches the canon instead of just pulling from it.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
It really is, but speaking to anyone thinking of giving it a go - it's definitely one of those things you have to spend probably hundreds of pages with before getting a proper feel for it. It's a huge investment, but totally pays off.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
If you want a barbarian that enjoys killing, you get your butt down to 2000 AD and you find yourself some vintage Slaine.

There's a point where Slaine is elected young king, where he gets to be king for a year and then he's ritually killed. The thing is the king gets to decide how he's killed and Slaine is so loving hyped about it. He's like "You're going to burn me, roll up my ashes and pass them out to everyone in the realm so they can get high smoking their dead king."

Then later he saves Ireland from drowning by reminding God what a good screw he is.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
Aaron's recent 12-issue run is really quite good and very accessible. It almost reads like a greatest-hits of stories he obviously loves, with a bunch of his own creation thrown in.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
That's uh, that's some shot of Valeria there.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

TwoPair posted:

Marauders #1: Shadowcat vs. Russians







Kitty Pryde being able to out-fight fully armed and trained soldiers is pretty weird.

It is pretty badass though.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
It always bugged me that even at the time the Makers were being written as this unstoppable alien race far beyond our power whose return meant our certain doom, Hickman was also telling us about the Ivory Kings, an even more unstoppable alien race even farther beyond our power whose return meant our even more certain doom. Really took the stings and triumphs out of Infinity for me. It was impossible to stop looking past the crisis when we constantly got told how bad the next one would be.

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...
I love seeing Jimbei interact with the crew but it's so weird having a former captain just decide he absolutely wants to join Luffy to the point of abandoning his own crew. It never really worked for me.

On a side-note, can we agree Chubby Kung-Fu Chopper is best Chopper?

Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Verant posted:

Feng Shen Ji, a manhua exploring a very different take of the classic Chinese story The Investiture of the Gods.

Zi Yu, master swordsman and brother to the final emperor of the Shang dynasty, faces off against Shi Xing, Great God of the Ferocious Affiliation, one of the six strongest servants of and true son of TIAN, Ruler of the Gods, to protect the one family member he still has left and the protagonist of the story: Wu Geng.

The problem? Shi Xing is immortal (and very insane due to the curse that made him immortal), and no mortal weapon can harm him.

Fortunately, Zi Yu has two advantages: he's the strongest human to have lived, and he has mastery over the Smelting Aura technique, which allows practitioners to conjure specific items of their choosing. Zi Yu's item of choice? Swords.





Very nice art, but why did it work that time? Or am I just overthinking the bit?

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Nilbop
Jun 5, 2004

Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

Infinitum posted:

Probably my one biggest issue with Marvel+DC as opposed to manga. It always returns to the status quo, no matter how much they hype the consequences.
So hopefully Harley's allowed to get on with it, because she legitimately has made great progress over the years towards anti-hero.

I'm probably in the minority here but this is legitimately my least favourite type of story for exactly this reason; we know nothing is going to change. Every year or two someone writes a big "No, [SUPER/BAT]man! This time you HAVE to kill him!" story where they lampshade and mock a very specific part of the industry and propose the killing of the bad guy. And we know that even if Joker, or Thanos, or Magneto gets killed they're going to come back. So I'd rather see a random writer celebrate that side of the industry, having fun with it Lego Batman or Ninja Batman style, rather than trying to hype up their latest "This time it's fo' real" moment.

Harley's growth is allowed by DC because it turns a minor asset into a major one. Killing the Joker removes a major asset. It will literally never, ever happen until the far off day when the Joker becomes unprofitable. Why even bother pretending it will? Just to validate a rote writer's unmemorable story?

quote:

Oh boy, another story about Batman not murdering the Joker that somehow revolves around the very specific idea that The Joker can't be contained by any prison on the planet but also death will permanently stop him. That is sure intelligent and hard-hitting commentary.

Oh good, it's not just me then.

Nilbop fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Sep 18, 2020

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