Direct Message 07: Amazing Spider-Man #700

New Comics Should be Good blogger Alec Berry and I have come together once again, this time to discuss Amazing Spider-Man #700. I liked it more than Alec did. I think he and I trade back and forth liking things. What will happen next time? Who knows! But, for now, go read that and, then, don't forget to check out the latest edition of Random Thoughts where I offer up predictions for comics in 2013. Some are serious, some are not, try to separate the two.

You can read Direct Message 07 HERE!

29: Three Months

Today's edition of Random Thoughts has me venting a bit and finally doing an edition of that thing where it's basically one long thought. I haven't reached the point where I'm outright 'naming names' yet. But, I assume that time will come, too. In the meantime, go read as I repeat myself a bit, insult a lot of people in broad terms, insult some specific people in not-too-hidden ways, and, basically, share way too much information.

The Return of Random Thoughts!

Random Thoughts! has returned on Comics Should be Good with a new feature that will be part of every post: the Random Joe Casey Question! Each week, I will ask Joe Casey a question and he will answer it.

You can read the newest edition of Random Thoughts! HERE!

Blogathon 21: Random Thoughts! Part Three

[Concluding my random thoughts on event books and other trends of the last decade of superhero comics.]

Random Thought! I recently reread all of the Splash Pages Tim and I wrote on Final Crisis. Remember when the general comics community loved Secret Invasion and thought Final Crisis was too hard to understand? Gee, who would have thought a few years later, they'd have the reputations they have now...

Random Thought! How cool would it have been if Secret Invasion ended with Noh-Varr killing the Skrull Queen and, then, stating that the beginning of Earth Year Zero starts now? That would have been a swerve I would have loved.

Random Thought! I wonder how people would have reacted if all of the modern heroes were the Skrulls and the '70s/'80s heroes that got off the Skrull ship were the real deals? "I've got your reboot right here!"

Random Thought! Are Annihilation and the books that followed events? Crossovers? What? Does it matter?

Random Thought! Siege still disappoints me...

Random Thought! We had three Bendis events this decade. And none of them really satisfied. He's much better at ongoing series where the ending feeds into something else. Events don't work as well that way.

Random Thought! I didn't read Blackest Night because it took two things I'm not a fan of, zombies and Geoff Johns, and made an event book out of them.

Random Thought! When event fatigue actually happens, companies will stop doing them.

Random Thought! Yes, Final Crisis was the best event of the decade.

Random Thought! Sorry for these being fairly half-assed. That's what happens around supper time.

In 30 minutes, I begin discussing The Dark Knight Strikes Again.

As well, my mom donated $20, so we're up to $205!

[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative! (Details in this post.) After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]

Blogathon 20: Random Thoughts! Part Two

[Continuing my random thoughts on event comics and other trends of the past decade of superhero comics.]

Random Thought! I will never understand why it's Speedball's fault that the bad guy whose superpower it is to explode exploded. Aside from putting a bullet in his head from three football fields away, what the fuck do you do to stop that from happening? The guy has no other skills! Because the Avengers have magical 'stop guys from exploding' tactics...

Random Thought! Civil War was effective because it was so fucking stupid. It started idiotic arguments and got people all riled up with every issue. It wasn't simply building a 'big moment,' it was building big dumb moments that would piss people off.

Random Thought! Where was the person who said to Tony Stark, "Look, I'm with you, but... uh... I'm not fighting Captain America. That's just not going to happen."? I'll never understand how those characters went from best buds to fighting one another so quickly.

Random Thought! Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman standing around, talking about how relevent each of them are is... well, pretty dumb, too. That shit only matters to us, not them. That's called bad metafiction.

Random Thought! The idea of actual villains making up the Thunderbolts was another dumb idea and one that Warren Ellis spent 12 issues mocking and pointing out how stupid it is.

Random Thought! If you pay attention to the timeline in Bendis's Avengers titles, you'll noticed that the time period Civil War and Secret Invasion was, like, a month. Of course people thought Tony Stark did a shitty job! He was there for a month and a giant alien invasion happened! He did a shitty job!

Random Thought! Final Crisis was the real 'secret invasion.' Secret Invasion was more like 'really obvious typical invasion.' After all, in the former, evil won before the good guys knew there was a fight; in the latter, the bad guys revealed themselves at the beginning of the invasion and started fighting in Times Square.

Random Thought! Okay, so Grant Morrison had a pacifist Superman, too. He won a fight with a song.

Random Thought! People in the Marvel universe are jerks. First, they blame Speedball for Nitro exploding. Then, they blame Spider-Woman because a Skrull replaced her who happened to be the leader of the Skrulls. Christ... fucking assholes.

Random Thought! I want to write a parody of one of the Velvet Underground/Lou Reed's songs called "Darkseid Says."

[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative! (Details in this post.) After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]

Blogathon 19: Random Thoughts! Part One

[Beginning my random thoughts on event books and other trends of the past decade of superhero comics.]

Random Thought! What was the first Marvel event of the decade? I don't recall many in the early days of the Quesada/Jemas regime. Was the first House of M? There were some crossovers, sure, but no big line-wide events with a separate mini-series to tell the story and spin-offs and tie-ins. Was there something before that? I'm drawing a blank.

Random Thought! At the same time, was Infinite Crisis the first DC event of the time period I'm discussing? Was there actually, like, four or five years there were there were no big line-wide events? Did events not become the thing until around 2004/2005?

Random Thought! If that's the case, why did they disappear? I know Marvel went through a period of rebranding and revamping titles, but DC? Or did they find that people just didn't give a fuck about comics like Day of Judgment and Genesis, so they stopped for a while?

Random Thought! There's only one Geoff Johns comic I actually love and that's Infinite Crisis #2. Even bought a copy of it for myself despite reading my dad's copies. I loved his idea that Superman-Prime and the group were coming to the DCU because the previous 15-20 years of comics had sucked. Granted, the irony is that it's not like things got lighter or more like the 'old days' after the event...

Random Thought! Oh, Scarlet Witch... you're powerful enough, but you can't stop the X-Men. "No more mutants?" PFT! Try telling that to Marvel's once largest franchise!

Random Thought! Then again, when the House of M world was created, various people could remember their old lives, so it's not like her powers were 100% at any point.

Random Thought! I still think that House of M should have been the thing that makes Peter Parker say "Fuck the world" and hang himself. Ugly and mean, I know, but so is remembering a life where everything you ever wanted was true and, now, it's gone. I'm sorry, but there's no way in a hell a guy with a life as shitty as his is most of the time wouldn't kill himself in the wake of that. But, as Tim and I have discussed, these people should all be suffering from 20 different kinds of mental illness after all of the weird shit they've seen.

Random Thought! I remember talking to Geoff Johns before Infinite Crisis came out and he was talking about how it would be less a continuity reboot and more of a tonal reboot for the DCU. That... that didn't actually happen, did it?

Random Thought! Will Superboy-Prime be in the new DCU? Oh my god, is he the editor?

Random Thought! I'm still pissed that the US cover prices of the Infinite Crisis hardcover and Civil War trade are the same. Even more pissed that the Canadian cover price was higher on the Civil War trade. That, and DC actually keeping shit in print is why DC's collections department has it all over Marvel's.

In 30 minutes, more random thoughts as I move past House of M and Infinite Crisis hopefully.

[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative! (Details in this post.) After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]

Some Random Thoughts (Mar. 25 2009)

• Read the first issues BOOM's The Incredibles and The Muppet Show earlier this week and enjoyed both. The Incredibles suffers from the lack of voices since I think they really brought a lot to the characters in the film (come on, you need Holly Hunter and Sam Jackson!), but, otherwise, it's a cute little book. I never really watched The Muppet Show... at all, so the book didn't connect with me as it will almost surely connect with fans of the show. Really liked the art, though. Roger Langridge draws an awesome Kermit.


• With a couple of Marvel titles I reviewed for CBR getting second printings, I've joined the "Marvel cherry-picked my review for a pull quote" club finally. For Dark Avengers #3, they took part of an early paragraph in my review that's used accurarely and part of a sentence from the end that's not quite as accurate: "This is Bendis at his best... a must read each month." I actually said: "If future issues continue the dark, psychological interplay between these deranged characters, then Dark Avengers will be a must read each month." For Secret Warriors #2, they didn't really alter it much to get "One of Marvel’s best books." They've yet to take a negative review and make it seem like I loved the book yet. (Okay, this random thought is me just doing the lamest sort of bragging there is...)


• Has there been an explanation yet for the "Iron Fist is cancelled!--Oh wait, it's not!" business from Monday? After Marvel tried it with Captain Britain and MI:13, is it the new policy when trying to get fans all worked up and maybe increase sales on low-selling books?


• I will be buying Wednesday Comics.


• A while back, Brian Cronin had a post up at Comics Should be Good that I'm too lazy to link-hunt for about comic creators taking shots at one another in comics. Cronin argued that the practice has no place in comics. I'm going to disagree, if only because I love "Back in the USSR," which is, let's face it, a pot-shot song. The Beatles and the Beach Boys had a nice friendly rivalry going at the time, so the Beatles took it up a notch and did a song in the Beach Boys' style, but about America's big enemy at the time. It's a good song and wasn't really meant to be insulting to the Beach Boys, just a friendly jab. Now, comics are narrative and potshots can really detract from the narrative value, but, to me, that's just pointing out the difference between good and bad potshots: good ones don't detract, while bad ones do. To me, that's the only real rule: if it works, then it's okay; if it doesn't work, then it's not okay. As well, where do you draw the line? Is Brian Azzarello's use of the writers of 52 in Doctor 13: Architecture and Mortality wrong? Does the maliciousness of the potshot count? Does it come down to which side you're more sympathetic to? Hard questions to answer.


• Before anyone asks: no, I won't be reading or reviewing Flash: Rebirth or that Black Lantern story that's coming up. Not my thing and the only reason for me doing either would be to piss people off--and I don't go out of my way to do that. Most of the time. I'm really not a fan of bringing back Barry Allen (or Hal Jordan really), so that bias taints things. As for the Black Lanterns... I find the whole spectrum of Corps kind of silly/stupid.


• The current storyline involving Chris Jericho and Hall of Famers on Monday Night Raw is a story I really wish DC would do in JSA: a young, very skilled guy calling out the old-timers as has-beens and glory hounds. Jericho is the heel, obviously, but it's also very hard to disagree with anything he says. But, my problems with the amount of active senior citizen superheroes in the DCU are nothing new.


• The first issue of the new Seaguy series comes out next week. However, in a hypothetical universe, would you have rather Morrison gotten to complete the Seaguy trilogy or the Marvel Boy trilogy, assuming only one could happen? As much as I dig Seaguy, I'd probably pick Marvel Boy.


• A while back, I remebered a story I came up with once called "Fear and Loathing in Metropolis." Clark Kent and... I can't remember if it was John Henry Irons, Ron Troupe, or J'onn off in search of Truth, Justice and the American Way. It would have been godawful. And, yet, still strangely compelling.

Random Thoughts (Dec. 29 2008)

* Go read Tom Spurgeon's interview with Tucker Stone. It's long, but it's damn good stuff. In fact, he may have referred to me as a lunatic with regards to my positive-leaning review of Secret Invasion #8 (which, if he is referring to me at that point, he's completely correct in doing so--it's the one review I've done for CBR that I would go back and change, because I fucked up). The interview focuses on Stone's thoughts on "mainstream" comics and it's all very smart and very interesting.

* Where are all of the hardcore Rann-Thanagar Holy War fans bitching that I gave the final issue half a star in my CBR review? What's "funny" is that I will totally be buying Strange Adventures despite it almost certainly being just as bad as Holy War... Does that seem odd? It shouldn't since Jim Starlin is like Joe Casey in that I will buy anything he writes--although, I should add that I'll buy any of his cosmic work--if only to think about it and relate to the rest of his work. I mean, comparing Holy War to any of his Marvel cosmic work would be amazing. Why exactly is he unable to make the DC stuff work, while, at Marvel, he writes brilliant stuff? I think it has to do with having some core characters at Marvel like Warlock and Thanos that make up the foundation of every story, and not having the same type of characters at DC, but there's got to be more to it. Also, Starlin is doing some of the art in Strange Adventures. That's enough in and of itself. (By the way, I noticed in Marvel's March solitics, the second "Marvel Masterworks" hardcover featuring Adam Warlock is coming out and it contains Starlin's amazing run on the "book" (as it was over several titles) and is something you should definitely think about buying. I have reprints of those comics and I'm considering it.)

* I'm looking forward to this week's comics.

Random Thoughts (Dec. 7 2008)

* The results of Greg Burgas's panels contest are in and I placed 14th out of 21 entries... ouch. I console myself with the knowledge that I was the only person to properly identify the page from Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil #1 by Joe Casey and Charlie Adlard. Not surprising that I got it since I knew what it was at first glance, but no one else got it?

* Writing the advance review of Secret Invasion #8 was not nearly as fun as I hoped, because advance reviews are much more calculated and deliberate then regular reviews since the primary objective of discussing the comic is pushed aside a bit by the efforts to avoid spoilers--especially on a big book like this where spoilers is pretty much the substance of the comic. Talking about a comic in vagueries and hints isn't that fantastic, especially because I'm used to discussing comics in whatever way I choose here. Still, I did enjoy getting the chance to review that comic before everyone else. I almost wish I could have reviewed the "secret" "Dark Reign" solicitations... why didn't I think of that?

* Last night, I reread my essay on Marvel Boy after a discussion with Tim and it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I've been saying for a while that I need to rewrite it, but I don't think I do... unless I wanted to add new thoughts, of course. Talking with Tim, rereading that essay, and seeing that Noh-Varr apparently shows up in Dark Avengers, I'm partly convinced that in a few years, I'll wind up writing a long piece called "How Brian Michael Bendis Ruined Noh-Varr (And Why)."

* A quick explanation on why I think Hurt is Satan: it goes beyond "Batman R.I.P." for one thing. The entire run is peppered with Satan references (including the obvious Batman #666 story) that, when taken as a whole, almost suggest that Hurt not being Satan doesn't fit with the rest of the run. But, I'll probably get into that sometime in late December/early January when I do a long post on Morrison's second "year" on the book to go with my post on his first "year." It will probably be titled "Breaking a Better Batman" or something like that.

* Still considering what my next Joe Casey series of posts will be. The Last Defenders is sitting atop a stack of comics, begging to be reread (I never read all six issues in one sitting), so maybe that will be it.

Random Thoughts: Secret Invasion #1-7

Since Secret Invasion #8 comes out this week (and I'll be reviewing it for CBR since Canada's shipping schedule is unaffected by the American Thanksgiving, meaning Canadians get to read it before everyone else... odd), I figured I'd reread the first seven issues and be all caught up regarding all of the characters, plots, subplots and little bits of information that may play a part in the final issue. So, here are some random thoughts as I flip back through the issues:

* Why does Tony Stark try to arrest Luke Cage and company in Antarctica? Isn't that just a bit outside of his jurisdiction?

* Did we ever see how Jarvis got replaced? I'm sure the issue featuring that plot would have been padded and boring, but... did we?

* In issue one, the SHIELD helicarrier is clearly crashing over Manhattan... in issue three, it turns up in the Bermuda Triangle... what the fuck? I know I'm not the first person to mention this, but, seriously, what the fuck?

* Why would Emma Frost be on the ship featuring the '70s heroes? In fact, why those specific heroes? Like, only the Invisible Woman represents the Fantastic Four and in a lovely bit of retroactive placement, Jessica Jones is there in costume. Why just Wolverine and Phoenix from the X-Men? Seems very random, going for characters who are either dead or have changed their look...

* How stupid is Clint Barton? Every other "hero" off that ship turns out to be a Skrull, but his back-from-the-dead wife is real? Okay, the emotional element is pretty strong, but still.

* Norman Osborn is one smooth talker.

* Even Nick Fury calls his group Commandos... just saying.

* I've got to wonder... will Ares be pissed off that his son is a member of Nick Fury's Howlin' Commandos Secret Warriors?

* Really, it's a quick read, but I'm mostly left with nit-picky questions regarding how the Skrulls managed to get DNA samples of every hero and villain in order to create so many super-Skrull warriors. Especially the Galactus one that shows up in issue seven... And how fucking shitty are these Skrulls, really... they get their asses handed to them pretty easily in issue seven.

* Some scenes really seemed designed for the serial nature of the series, particularly the bit between the Skrull Queen/Spider-Woman and Tony Stark where she tells him that he's a Skrull sleeper agent... it seems designed for shock value that's quickly undermined if you read these issues in one sitting.

* I will say that, so far, it works better than Civil War as a whole story, though. Some of the middle issues get a bit too jumpy and fragmented, but there's more of a whole feeling here. To the point where some of the New Avengers and Mighty Avengers issues seem horribly redundant or unnecessary (especially that Captain Mar-Vell/Noh-Varr one).

* However, like Civil War, logic is almost completely replaced in some spots by what seems like a cool idea... hitting those "fanboy orgasm" moments. Really, the whole invasion seems very ill-planned from a logic perspective, explained away by mentions of scripture and prophecy...

Not much here to discuss, honestly. We'll see how it ends, because that will also determine if I keep reading the Bendis-penned Avengers books.

Random Thoughts (Nov. 13 2008)

* It occurred to me sometime in the past few days (I can't say when), but what if the post-"RIP" make-up is Dik Grayson as Batman with Damian as Robin and Tim as the new Nightwing? I haven't seen that possibility floated anywhere else (so apologies to anyone who thought of it first), but there would be a certain logic in that, don't you think? Or, hell, throw Jason Todd into the mix and have him upgrade to Nightwing while Tim becomes Red Robin or whatever the hell that's called. Not saying this is a good idea, but it certainly wouldn't be out of place in the DCU and would be a way to factor in the different generations of heroes, especially between Bruce, Dick and Tim... why not make the Nightwing identity a transitional one between Batman and Robin? A sort of university/college education in superheroing with the Robin identity acting as junior high/high schooling, and the Batman identity being the Professional Real World Hero job... Again, not sure this is a good idea, but it makes a certain amount of sense and would place Dick/Nightwing into the hierarchy in a stronger way.

* Tony Daniel is writing "Battle for the Cowl"? Really? I'm still not sure if I'll pick up the non-Grant Morrison stuff being written by Denny O'Neil, Paul Dini and Neil Gaiman... so, yeah, don't think so. Daniel's art is bad enough, thanks. (That sounds a little too snarky, doesn't it?)

* This week was a very good one for what I bought. It actually made writing reviews yesterday a bit difficult as I reviewed three books that I thoroughly enjoyed and was getting sick of praising stuff. It's hardly news, but I'm always more comfortable tearing into stuff... which speaks to my character in a negative way, I suppose.

* The other day, I got a chance to read 2 Guns, the BOOM! mini by Steven Grant and an artist whose name escapes me. Lots of twists and turns with an ending that becomes pretty obvious partway through, but still very enjoyable.

* New Watchmen posters do little to make me feel better about that flick... Everything looks too slick, too neat and clean, which is not how I picture that world, aside from specific places/people. I'm trying not to hate everything I see related to the movie, but nothing so far has impressed me much aside from the odd shot in the trailers/bits of footage I've seen. That said, I'm holding any real judgements until seeing the movie, because who actually cares about the posters?

* Though, the trailer for The Spirit looks both fucking insane and fucking awful. It's one thing to see Frank Miller's obsessions on the page, but in live action with stylised green-screen environments... Wow. Fans of the character will no doubt have a shit fit upon release, but it could be one of those wonderful theatre experiences where you see something truly insane that you will never forget.

* I almost picked up the JSA Kingdom Come: Superman special when I learned that Ross didn't paint over his art--something I've wanted to happen for well over ten years. The preview pages didn't look bad, but money is tight and I'm sticking to the essentials right now. Otherwise, despite what I said in last week's Splash Page, I would have picked it up.

Random Thoughts (Nov. 9 2008)

* The one comic that I really want to read, but haven't gotten a chance to get yet (for various reasons including money--or the lack thereof--and the shop not having a copy): ACME Novelty Library #19. I really hope to get a copy before the end of the year because my "best of 2008" list will be laughable without it. (Although, by some tastes, my list will be laughable even with it, so...)

* Currently rereading Paradigm for the first time as a whole. I haven't read an issue since it ended back in 2003 (cover dated November, so it's been five years). Have read the first four issues and... I've got to say, this is one weird comic. It goes where it wants, it lies to you, it tells you that it lies to you... It's also a dense read. I own all thirteen issues (both copies of the first one). The original first issue is autographed by artist Jeremy Haun, who I met at Wizard's Chicago con back in 2003. I also bought my "Fight for the sitcom" t-shirt from him then and have loved it ever since. In fact, it and my jacket (which I call The Jacket) are my two favourite items of clothing that I own. The 2003 Chicago con was also where I met Steve Higgins in person for the first time--and Steve is/was a big Paradigm fan. He has several letters printed in issues and I remember spending much of the Friday(?) night at the bar in Chicago talking to him. About what, I don't remember. Wow, that was over five years ago... it seems like forever ago, really. That night in the bar was kind of shitty since it was the hotel bar and I got in before they started carding people (I was only 20 at the time) and the bathroom was in the hotel proper, not the bar itself, so I couldn't leave to use the bathroom or else face not getting back in. Which meant I nursed a single pepsi the entire night. The irony was that I didn't drink back then (despite the legal age in Ontario being 19)... Other than that, it was a good time. But, back to Paradigm... Not sure if I'll write about it here quite yet. Steve should, though. But, I'm enjoying it quite a bit and it works really well when read together. I remember reading it monthly and getting lost here and there. The black and white hurts the book only in that Haun's art isn't always clear on who is who... The writing is a bit obtuse at times, too, but that's part of it. It's weird to think that I was reading this, Automatic Kafka and The Filth at the same time five years ago... I miss 2003.

* I'm rethinking how to go about discussing new comics here since I'm also doing review for CBR of many of the same books. I didn't bother with it this week since the only comics I bought were for reviewing purposes. Maybe I'll switch to extended discussions/reviews of the books I don't review at CBR. Then again, the purpose of those reviews is different from what I do here already. Who knows.

* A week or two back, I reread a lot of Grant Morrison's small mini-series. Marvel Boy, Flex Mentallo, WE3, Seaguy, and Vimanarama. The first four have been discussed a lot by various people, but I don't remember much time or effort spent looking at the last one. It was the third of the three three-issue minis Morrison did at Vertigo a few years back and was generally regarded as a disappointment after Seaguy and WE3. Vimanarama is a sort of cross between Indian culture and Jack Kirby... a superhero comic done with a Bollywood influence. It's understandable why it didn't catch on much, but it's not a bad read at all. Philip Bond does the art and it has some really interesting ideas... and fits well into Morrison's usual themes. A superhero who loses his powers because his one true love doesn't love him; an ordinary guy who becomes a superhero at the end; even an elevated plane of existence where words take the place of the items they refer to. Not a substantial work really, but a strangely forgotten one...

* Question: has anyone reading this gotten the recent Marvel Boy hardcover? If so, did Marvel simply reprint the previous collected version, which broke up a couple of double-page spreads (one of which was pages two and three of issue four) or did they insert a black page to maintain the original art as printed in the issues? Just curious.