Comic Book Discussion Thread (Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, Top Cow, IDW, Indy, etc)

So DC is finally talking about Trinity War.

Maybe If I catch up on my comics I'll care enough but it's nice to see the JLD getting thrown in there though.
 
A few things that bug me about Age of Ultron so far.

All other major events have some kind of build up. AU just happens out of no where, almost like its not really happening in the main continuity. Sure there's tie-ins but they act more like one-shots having no impact on the ongoing story.

Marvel is obviously milking this. 3 issues in and I feel like you could've crammed them into a single issue.

I was confused with Spider-Man's demeanor. He's acting like normal ol' Peter Parker Spidey in the AU series, but his Supioer Spider-Man tie-in he's all douchy Otto-Spidey. You could say he's trying to act like Peter as to not draw attention, but he did too well of a job. So far he's never been perfect at replicating Peter's attitude. It's just seemed off, like Bendis wrote this way before Spider-Man's switch.
 
I'm sticking with AU, but yeah, it does feel weird, like Age of Apocalypse. I'm pretty sure it's not main continuity (no matter how much they want to tell us that it is). Way too many people are just randomly dying for it to actually mean anything. The way I see it is that it's just a small building block (along with Avengers and New Avengers) to Infinity later this year.
 
I'm sticking with it too, but yeah, I'm sure it's going to end with things going back to normal. Time travel or maybe it was all a dream. Wouldn't that be awesome.
 
Age of Ultron is suppose to be set in "undisclosed time in the Marvel universe". Issue 10 is suppose to shed light on when it'll happen or maybe they'll just pull a Terminator and send someone back in time to stop Ultron from taking over. Eitherway nearly all Marvel crossovers (what am I saying, I can't even think of one that didn't free drawn out) feel drawn out.
 
I don't think Age of Ultron really feels drawn out, mostly because the issues are coming out at an alarming pace. I'm seriously surprised that Bryan Hitch has maintained the schedule with some modicum of success.

And about Trinity War, I'm not sure how I feel about this event spanning Justice League, Justice League of America and Justice League Dark. I don't read Justice League because every single character but Aquaman is pretty boring. If Batman was more like Snyder's Batman, I would enjoy it more, but he wasn't, so I dropped it after about 4 issues, though I would like to read the Throne of Atlantis story at some point. I do read both JLA and JLD (good to see them getting some love, especially Frankenstein), so I will check out Trinity War, but I'm not a big fan of DC spanning there "events" across multiple books, forcing you to buy stuff you otherwise wouldn't read.
 
First two or three issued could've been condensed and Hitch got a start on the title months in advance, plus he's being replaced by two other artists I think after this week's issue or the next one.
 
From what I understand, Age of Ultron has been in the works for a long time, well before all the Marvel NOW stuff. Ultron's return was teased in some .1 Avengers issue a while back that we redistributed as a FCBD comic last year, as well has Bendis' Moon Knight which ended a while ago.

In interviews, Hitch has said all his issues (6 I think?) have been done for months (maybe even a year or so?) and he has no idea what else they've tacked on. It definitely feels strange reading this now so soon after the Marvel NOW refresh...I understand why they do events, but I wish the big 2 companies would just let writers and artists do their own thing.
 
Thinking about picking up the Dark Justice League tpb but before I do, I just wanted to get some opinions on the books. Anybody here read it? Yay or nay?
 
[quote name='motorkill']Thinking about picking up the Dark Justice League tpb but before I do, I just wanted to get some opinions on the books. Anybody here read it? Yay or nay?[/QUOTE]

Justice League Dark is pretty good. I've enjoyed it from the start, but there are a few rough issues in there.
 
Anyone sign up for free Marvel #1 promo again? I think the signup is closed now, but they're supposed to send out an email tomorrow about getting the issues.
 
I signed up. I think they are staggering the periods of access though so not everyone may get the email tomorrow.
 
[quote name='motorkill']Thinking about picking up the Dark Justice League tpb but before I do, I just wanted to get some opinions on the books. Anybody here read it? Yay or nay?[/QUOTE]

[quote name='GhostShark']Justice League Dark is pretty good. I've enjoyed it from the start, but there are a few rough issues in there.[/QUOTE]

Personally I thought the first arc wasn't all that good and was rather confusing. The vampire tie in stuff was alright. And everything after Jeff Lemire took over has been fairly enjoyable.

--

On the topic of Age of Ultron I think it's alright so far, but I agree with everyone else it seems really out of place and the tie-in's just don't fit into what's happening in those books at all, and to be more specific the Fantastic Four tie-in was just really wacky since that story was framed as if it was happening in the current Fantastic Four story, but I guess it didn't?
 
[quote name='binici']Deadpool (last minute insert) was awesome, looking forward to more X-Men and Thanos Rising is magnificent (from what I heard).[/QUOTE]

I heard the opposite about Thanos. Still i'm getting it since he's my favorite comic book villain.
 
Read the new Batman and Robin that came out this week. Now I normally love the series and enjoy Tomasi's writing of Batman, but this issue came off as...well, off. I Understand each issue of BaR are basically dealing with the 5 steps of grief and loss (this one being denial), but Bats came off way more insane then usual, especially for a character best known for being in constant control of his emotions and disciplined. Plus I know it's the debut of
Carrie Kelley
in the normal DC continuity, but I don't even understand her role in the whole thing as well or why she's even here. I Guess DC is trying to make people think "this could be Robin OR this person can be Robin!" The plus side is the art from Gleason is still fantastic, but I see Bruce as a man of morals and not one leading him to do the things he does in this issue.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']I heard the opposite about Thanos. Still i'm getting it since he's my favorite comic book villain.[/QUOTE]

I enjoyed Thanos Rising. I really never understood some of the reviews on it. It's an origin story, one that many people are not familiar with, and they don't judge it on those merits. The art is a little rough and ugly at times, though.
 
How many of you have had to try and explain the different continuities/earths/realities to a non comic book reader? Had an interesting conversation with a buddy about it, in relation to the Dark Knight Returns blu-rays. As a fan your initial reaction is to give as much details as possible but I realized he probably didn't care about the differences, why they were there and so on. I ended up starting with the short version and explained as he requested. For a non-fan it does have to be a bit odd to pick up on stuff like that first.
 
I guess the different timeline/universes is a difficult concept to understand if you're not familiar with comics. I've never had that conversation before so I'm not sure how I would explain it in detail. Then again most people who aren't into comics could probably care less anyways. It's like someone trying to explain anything car related to me.
 
[quote name='Clak']Anyone get their Marvel free #1 invite? Supposed to start going out today. Haven't gotten mine yet.[/QUOTE]

I got mine about an hour ago but it has a bad link and won't let me download them. Not sure if it's another server issue on their part or just an error in my email. They really should have just added all the books to all accounts that signed up to avoid any of these sort of problems.
 
[quote name='Clak']Anyone get their Marvel free #1 invite? Supposed to start going out today. Haven't gotten mine yet.[/QUOTE]
Not everyone would be getting theirs today according to the sign up page, today is just when they were starting to send them out.

[quote name='Rodimus']I guess the different timeline/universes is a difficult concept to understand if you're not familiar with comics. I've never had that conversation before so I'm not sure how I would explain it in detail. Then again most people who aren't into comics could probably care less anyways. It's like someone trying to explain anything car related to me.[/QUOTE]
I've run into it a couple times with people asking where does this fit in to the "story". It's always a fun one explaining that at times.
 
Yeah I knew they were just now starting to send them out. Not a good sign if they're already having issues though.
 
I got my email earlier. What sucks is they no longer have an 'add all' button so you have to individually add all the comics to your cart. I got an email about it taking up to 12 hours for them to appear in my library only to have the confirmation that they were in my library show up right after. Pretty cool.
 
I can only get 626 of the 723 "free" Marvel comics I got to show in my collection, even though the email confirmation says I "ordered" them all. Anyone else have that issue?
 
[quote name='kodave']I can only get 626 of the 723 "free" Marvel comics I got to show in my collection, even though the email confirmation says I "ordered" them all. Anyone else have that issue?[/QUOTE]

Actually, now that you mention it, I went in and had a look and it appears I only have 617 even though I clearly ordered them all as well.

EDIT: I asked them on Twitter and received this response, "ah, that’s only the Series #, not individual issue #. That’s how many Series you have." Makes sense, but I'm not sure why you would have 623 and I have 617 then.
 
[quote name='Tsel']Actually, now that you mention it, I went in and had a look and it appears I only have 617 even though I clearly ordered them all as well.

EDIT: I asked them on Twitter and received this response, "ah, that’s only the Series #, not individual issue #. That’s how many Series you have." Makes sense, but I'm not sure why you would have 623 and I have 617 then.[/QUOTE]

It may be because I added other free comics outside of the promotion from here: http://comicstore.marvel.com/free-comics
 
Finally got my invite from Marvel. Man I wish they'd set up an easier way to add comics. It would take forever to add everything they offer.
 
[quote name='Clak']Hmm, Marvel Zombies is pretty cool. Is it ever explained wtf turned them into zombies?[/QUOTE]
It is, the book itself is an offbranch from a storyline in Ultimate Fantastic Four #12-14 or so if I remember right. Though how all the heroes and villains became zombies and turned on all the normal people was explained in a one shot by Robert Kirkman (who wrote the first two mini-series). The other titles in the series go from bad to god fucking awful.
 
[quote name='Clak']Hmm, Marvel Zombies is pretty cool. Is it ever explained wtf turned them into zombies?[/QUOTE]

Basically
In Ultimate Fantastic Four, the FF find and capture a zombie version of the Fantastic Four from another dimension/universe. And they're smarter than the Ultimate Fantastic Four so they escape, but Doom uses his powers to send them to another Universe which is the Marvel Zombies universe.
Of Course I could be remembering all of that wrong. It has been a long time since I read the early issues of UFF.
 
[quote name='Clak']Hmm, Marvel Zombies is pretty cool. Is it ever explained wtf turned them into zombies?[/QUOTE]

They explain at the end of one of the Zombies series. Two or something. It goes full circle with everything starting over again. Like a giant loop that just keeps getting repeated.
 
[quote name='Clak']Hmm, Marvel Zombies is pretty cool. Is it ever explained wtf turned them into zombies?[/QUOTE]
Zombie Superman, but they recolored him to be a Zombified version of the Sentry. The whole infection could have been stopped in its tracks, but Reed Richards thought it was the next level of evolution and instead worked against the rest of the living.

[quote name='bardockkun']It is, the book itself is an offbranch from a storyline in Ultimate Fantastic Four #12-14 or so if I remember right. Though how all the heroes and villains became zombies and turned on all the normal people was explained in a one shot by Robert Kirkman (who wrote the first two mini-series). The other titles in the series go from bad to god fucking awful.[/QUOTE]
This is true. Some of the Marvel Zombies series are completely fucking awful. The one starring Machine Man is pretty fucking awesome.
 
[quote name='CaptainJoel']
This is true. Some of the Marvel Zombies series are completely fucking awful. The one starring Machine Man is pretty fucking awesome.[/QUOTE]
The Machine Man one had it's moments I'll admit, but the last one I remember and just saying aloud "fuck this shit" was at the end it was just all a dumb excuse to bring back THE MIDNIGHT SONS! YOU KNOW, THE TEAM THAT EVERYONE WAS CLAMORING FOR WITH MORBIUS THE VAMPIRE, POOR MAN'S SWAMP THING AN-...hey guys where are you all going?!
 
[quote name='bardockkun']The Machine Man one had it's moments I'll admit, but the last one I remember and just saying aloud "fuck this shit" was at the end it was just all a dumb excuse to bring back THE MIDNIGHT SONS! YOU KNOW, THE TEAM THAT EVERYONE WAS CLAMORING FOR WITH MORBIUS THE VAMPIRE, POOR MAN'S SWAMP THING AN-...hey guys where are you all going?![/QUOTE]
That was my only problem with it. Just so fucking silly. Who wanted the Midnight Sons back? Other than the same people that wanted the Skrull Kill Krew back, I mean. I also kinda liked that one with the Zombie Squadron Supreme.
 
[quote name='Javery']So is there tagging software out there for .cbr and .cbz files?[/QUOTE]
What exactly are you wanting to do with the files? Just adding some data to make them easier to sort or get full information?

I use ComicRack on my files like that. I've converted everything to .CBZ as it can save the metadata in the files itself, and then use the ComicVine scraper and other plugins to get the data and then sort using other plugins for that software.
 
[quote name='bardockkun']It is, the book itself is an offbranch from a storyline in Ultimate Fantastic Four #12-14 or so if I remember right. Though how all the heroes and villains became zombies and turned on all the normal people was explained in a one shot by Robert Kirkman (who wrote the first two mini-series). The other titles in the series go from bad to god fucking awful.[/QUOTE]
What was that one shot called that explains it? I just finished the one with the Midnight Sons. Which kinda makes no sense considering they aren't all guys...anyway. I don't really think it even makes sense that Morbiius could be a zombie, or wolverine for that matter, fuck that healing factor, huh?
 
[quote name='JP']What exactly are you wanting to do with the files? Just adding some data to make them easier to sort or get full information?

I use ComicRack on my files like that. I've converted everything to .CBZ as it can save the metadata in the files itself, and then use the ComicVine scraper and other plugins to get the data and then sort using other plugins for that software.[/QUOTE]

Thanks - I think Comic Rack is what I'm looking for. I just want to be able to track all of the comics I own and have read and what's coming up that I want to read. It would be nice to load in a .cbz file and have the metadata linked to it (publisher, authors, artists, date, etc.).

I also wish there was some sort of reading order to the DC New 52. Every now and then there is a box that says "*See Nightwing #8" or something and I'm always like dammit, I was thinking about reading Nightwing eventually but should I go back and do it now?
 
[quote name='Clak']What was that one shot called that explains it? I just finished the one with the Midnight Sons. Which kinda makes no sense considering they aren't all guys...anyway. I don't really think it even makes sense that Morbiius could be a zombie, or wolverine for that matter, fuck that healing factor, huh?[/QUOTE]
Marvel Zombies: Dead Days. The zombie infection in the Marvel Zombies books seems to have a higher rate of evolution, so it beat Wolverine's healing factor.

[quote name='Javery']
I also wish there was some sort of reading order to the DC New 52. Every now and then there is a box that says "*See Nightwing #8" or something and I'm always like dammit, I was thinking about reading Nightwing eventually but should I go back and do it now?[/QUOTE]
See, I wish that Marvel did that. DC never seems to be a problem to me since I read most of their books and know what's going on, but Marvel has some of the most all over the place publishing schedule of any of the books and it makes events a real bitch to keep track of sometimes. I wish they'd do what the Superman related books did in the 90's and have a second set of numbers on the cover denoting where the various books fall in the grand scheme of things.
 
I've never had a problem keeping track of Marvel books. I guess that's just me, I suppose.

And if anything, DC's new style of "events" are harder to follow since they don't have their own series anymore and they're spread across multiple books like "Wrath of the First Lantern," "Rot World," and that one between JL Dark and I, Vampire. Trinity War is doing that, but I don't read Justice League so I am basically forced to buy that if want to get the whole story. As compared to the old way of events where I could just buy the 6-12 issue event and select what tie-ins I wanted, if any. That was simple and it should stay that way. Though it seems Marvel is semi-adopting that now with a nearby Captain Marvel event so I will have to buy Avengers Assemble. And that sucks.
 
[quote name='CaptainJoel']

See, I wish that Marvel did that. DC never seems to be a problem to me since I read most of their books and know what's going on, but Marvel has some of the most all over the place publishing schedule of any of the books and it makes events a real bitch to keep track of sometimes. I wish they'd do what the Superman related books did in the 90's and have a second set of numbers on the cover denoting where the various books fall in the grand scheme of things.[/QUOTE]
The only good thing to come out of 90's Superman, well, besides that Superman cover where you peel and stick on Lobo and Superman fighting all around the cover. That was pretty gimmicky, but goddamn awesome.

And if I question Marvel or DC continuity, then that just kind of opens up a rabbit hole of questions that continue to make no sense. So I basically read the story, but shut off a good chunk of my brain these days.
 
Now I see what you guys were saying Zombies goes down hill pretty fast, they can't even keep their facts straight, like with the whole not feeling pain thing.
 
[quote name='JP']How many of you have had to try and explain the different continuities/earths/realities to a non comic book reader? Had an interesting conversation with a buddy about it, in relation to the Dark Knight Returns blu-rays. As a fan your initial reaction is to give as much details as possible but I realized he probably didn't care about the differences, why they were there and so on. I ended up starting with the short version and explained as he requested. For a non-fan it does have to be a bit odd to pick up on stuff like that first.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='Rodimus']I guess the different timeline/universes is a difficult concept to understand if you're not familiar with comics. I've never had that conversation before so I'm not sure how I would explain it in detail. Then again most people who aren't into comics could probably care less anyways. It's like someone trying to explain anything car related to me.[/QUOTE]

Oddly enough, I've actually had some fairly interesting discussions about the DC multiverse with people who have little to zero interest in comics. My desk at work has a couple of DC Direct figures of Elsewords characters, like the Kingdom Come Superman and Red Son Green Lantern. People will ask why they look so different from the popular renditions of those characters, and they seem generally interested when I explain it to them. Then again, they are probably just happy to get away from their cubicle...
 
Actually I lied, I did have a converstion with my dad about multiverses/timelines.

He was a big comic book collector in the 70's - 80's but when I was 3 or 4 he sold his collection to help start up a business. (He had key issues like Giant sized X-Men #1 and first app. of Wolverine) When I got older he was my main influence/enabler when my intrest started. I still have all the comics he bought me as a kid.

Several years back I explained the premise of the Ultimate Universe and he hated the idea of restarting the storyline. Infact he hates it anytime they restart numbering. Even after I told him that they still had the main universe intact and Ultimate Marvel was actually pretty damn good he still scoffed at the concept. I kept trying to defend it but he countinued with his inane old man rhetoric "They've done this several times and it always fails" "Why are they trying to get new readers, they should focus on keeping the old ones happy."

I bought him the first several issues of Thor during one of the more recent volumes. He thought female Loki was a cheap gimmick and stopped reading it. Eventually I forced him to read Old Man Logan (Unforgivin is his favorite movie so I thought it was suitable) and he liked it but not enough to peak his intrest so I gave up.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']Actually I lied, I did have a converstion with my dad about multiverses/timelines.

He was a big comic book collector in the 70's - 80's but when I was 3 or 4 he sold his collection to help start up a business. (He had key issues like Giant sized X-Men #1 and first app. of Wolverine) When I got older he was my main influence/enabler when my intrest started. I still have all the comics he bought me as a kid.

Several years back I explained the premise of the Ultimate Universe and he hated the idea of restarting the storyline. Infact he hates it anytime they restart numbering. Even after I told him that they still had the main universe intact and Ultimate Marvel was actually pretty damn good he still scoffed at the concept. I kept trying to defend it but he countinued with his inane old man rhetoric "They've done this several times and it always fails" "Why are they trying to get new readers, they should focus on keeping the old ones happy."

I bought him the first several issues of Thor during one of the more recent volumes. He thought female Loki was a cheap gimmick and stopped reading it. Eventually I forced him to read Old Man Logan (Unforgivin is his favorite movie so I thought it was suitable) and he liked it but not enough to peak his intrest so I gave up.[/QUOTE]

Old Man Logan is so overrated though. I can't blame your dad for not getting excited about modern comics because of it. But even if it was a really good story it sounds like your dad is just set in the past and his old ways. I know re-numbering and reboots can be confusing for everyone and annoying for collectors, but I couldn't care less about that as long as the stories are good and the art is good - isn't that what comics should be all about? The only time it's a bad thing is when it's a marketing gimmick and people get kicked off of books - like Jason Latour de facto being kicked off Winter Soldier because the title was cancelled (despite good sales numbers), but will surely be back under the Marvel NOW banner with a new #1 closer to the release of Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier.
 
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