Marvel and DC Crossovers

If there is one thing that comic publishers like to do it is hold mega-crossovers. Why? Money. People buy lots of comics to get the whole story. This can cost almost $100. Why are we spending this much? Is it worth it? No.

DC Crossovers. The half-stories.
Let me explain that subtitle to you. DC advertises that all of these books tie into Death of the Family, yet when one reads them they only get 2 or 3 pages of story about Joker. DC sucks us into a trap of thinking that we need to read these, don't let them! One thing that is especially hard for me is dropping subscriptions. Shortening my Pull-List isn't easy because every time I read a lousy issue I just think "Maybe next issue will be better." Spoiler alert. It isn't. No matter what title, if the first tie-in is bad the second will be complete crap too. This takes $2.5 dollars out of future comic buying endeavors. We should no longer submit to this torment, here is my advice. Stick to 2 or 3 tie-ins that you think will be great. If they don't meet your expectations, drop it. Now I just have to try that...

Marvel Crossovers. The core driven events.
Marvel has one thing that DC will never catch onto, core-issues. In AvX the were the Avenger Vs. X-Men issues, in Civil War there were Civil War issues, now in Age of Ultron there are Age of Ultron issues. Why does Marvel do this? For readers who weren't planning on reading the storyline to go "Hey I might wanna just read the core-issues and no tie-ins." Now the reader is sucked in. Enter ads for tie-ins. Now the reader wants to know everything about the storyline because the core-issues are just so good. The reader is now caught in a web different from DC's but equally as deadly.

I hope you have learned a little about the buying habits of us comic readers when faced with a succulent looking crossover. I hope I have inspired you to be less willing to purchase a whole event, be it Marvel or DC. I also hope that I can practice what I preach and not buy everything that has the words "Age of Ultron" on it...But they just look so good.

3/6/13

This week was the first week that I felt that I was really a Marvel fan, instead of a DC fan who got a Marvel book here and there. My Pull-List was four-fifths Marvel. Let me also say, that this week was a phenomenal week for comics.

• All-New X-Men #8

What a truly wonderful story arc. rarely do I find a comic series that has such a surprisingly strange conceit that turns out to be entertaining and understandable. The issue starts of with Archangel and his past self flying around and trying to grasp the fact that they are actually meeting each other. It was a touching and human moment. This moment didn't last long as the Angels fly over to Avengers Tower where Hydra's troops are burning the building to the ground. They work together to stop the destructive forces until Thor comes and bails them out. The Avengers part in this issue was brief and consisted of Cap and Beast talking behind the X-Men's backs while Iceman and Kitty Pryde try to guess exactly what the pair are saying. This turns out to be a funny and clever scene. I will not ruin the last part of the issue for those who are yet to read it but will end with saying that it was a terrific issue.

• Age of Ultron #1

I bought this book on a whim. The cover looked awesome and if it was going to be a big deal I didn't want to miss it. It is a big deal. This was the only post-apocalyptic comic I have ever enjoyed. Even though Hawkeye is a pretty dull character he was portrayed perfectly and the fight scene was amazing. This whole book just screamed bleak. It was so pathetic to see what humanity had become with this Android takeover. The dialogue between the survivors, who were well selected except for Tony Stark who would in reality be the first to go, was really natural, and again, super bleak. I am super pumped for #2.

• Deadpool Killustrated #1 (second printing)

As soon as I saw the cover of this issue a month a go I was sure I wanted it. Too bad that the comic store had already sold out. The wait for the second printing has been grueling, but it was so worth it. This really shows Deadpool at his funniest. As he fights Moby Dick he just spits out one-liners making the scene just that much more ridiculous. I really liked how this issue summed up everything that I missed from Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe in only a couple pages. Deadpool has an awesome encounter with a character whom he dispatches with haste, I won't spoil who though.

• Deadpool Killustrated #2

I think that the other of this book just wants Deadpool to fight as many people as possible in the allotted pages. He finishes of Moby Dick, Dracula, The Headless Horseman, and my favorite, Little Women. He kills all of these fictional beings in only the funniest ways. The plot is also great with Sherlock Holmes thinking about how he might stop the Merc with a Mouth before he hurts the time continuum beyond repair. This is one of my favorite books in print and I am looking forwards to next month.

• Before Watchmen: Rorschach #4 of 4

I can't write a full review about this comic because I didn't understand a page of it. It was awful.

My Final Goodbye to Damian Wayne

I hope you all know that I love Damian, with all of my heart. He is the best Robin and one of the best characters in comics. I was heartbroken when I looked on my Google+ feed to see an article about the death of Damian. Since then I have been preparing for Wednesday when my heart will be torn from my chest as I read Batman Incorporated #8. So this my friends and loyal readers, is my final tribute to Damian Wayne.
When I first got into comics I loved Batman. But I hated Robin. I always thought of Batman as some kind of bad-ass loner who didn't need an annoying little kid at his side. As I got to know the Bat-Family better one character stood out to be the most interesting seeming; Batman's Son. However, I still was opposed to Robin. It was that bittersweet moment when I just finished one of my newly purchased graphic novels. I turn the page hoping for some more of the story even though I knew that I was at the end of the book. I saw one of those ad pages where they spotlight an author and show all of the Batman books they have written. This particular page showcased Grant Morrison. I looked the page up and down and came across the cover of Batman and Son. I don't know what it was about that picture but in my mind I decided that moment that I needed all of the comics with Damian in them that I could possibly get my greedy hands on. Thus began my relationship with this particular comic book character.
A couple days later a box arrives from Amazon marked with my name. I ripped the box open and found all of the GNs I ordered tucked in. I first "met" Damian as an infant on the last page of Batman: Son of the Demon. I devoured Batman and Son in the same night. I think Grant Morrison introduced me to many things that night.

1. Truly good comic writing.
2. Damian Wayne.
3. The idea that Robins are pretty awesome.
4. Some of my favorite ever stories.

As I kept reading about and getting fascinated by the ten-year-old boy my interest for comics grew. I bought boxes and boxes of GNs loving everything about the "Death Era." I think that the New 52 has also made Damian the amazing character he is. Batman and Robin is the only series of the New 52 in which I have never had a complaint about a single issue. Batman Incorporated has also been a super exciting and fun series.
As I think about these decision Grant Morrison is making I am ultimately sad. The Batman canon will not be quite as intriguing without him and that will disappoint fans, but most of all I am sad because Damian is going to die. Batman Incorporated will be the first title I read tomorrow and I plan on burying a picture of Damian in my backyard. I really hope he's gonna get resurrected in a couple years, because if not I will send DC so many complaint emails they won't even be able to breath. (that didn't make much sense.)

Why Marvel Can Change the Universe and DC Can't

From my brief knowledge of Marvel Comics I have noticed one thing in particular. They like to change the universe, a lot. Take for example Civil War a giant mega-crossover that changed the course of every series it touched. My argument here is not that this kind of strategy is a bad thing, just that is a pain in the ass to catch up on. I haven't been reading Marvel for hundreds of years so I don't know what they mean when they mention a reference from Secret Invasion in a Marvel NOW series. I don't think that this is fair for anyone who wants to read a quality comic without having to buy every single comic that preceded it. I am however, enjoying how most have the Marvel NOW series have been based off of AvsX. I am not saying that AvsX was at all decent (it wasn't.) It's just kind of neat to see how the X-Men are dealing with Scott Summer's being so changed. That being said I don't think they should stop putting out big Marvel events (Mostly because I want to be able to read them as they come out, now that I have a better sense of the Marvel Universe.) I just think that Marvel should think through what will happen before they write the story. I say this because now with Marvel it seems like all of the writers who are writing about the aftermath of AvsX have to compensate for their co-workers lame story by writing about something that was minor but interesting in the event.
This is a problem that only Marvel has to deal with (Enter DC Comics.) It seems as though DC is scared to ever change anything in their universe. What was their latest event? Flashpoint? All we got from that was an origin reboot. If anything I would have DC do a what-if story. Take Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe even though I haven't read it, it seems like a fun story that would never actually happen but is cool to read about. May I suggest Lord Grayson, an alternate universe where Dick gets so drunk on power when he is Batman that he decides to kill Bruce when he returns and disbands the Justice League, making him the king. And what if Jason then challenged him for the throne? The main question is why not?
What I want to summarize about this post is two things. Marvel is too ambitious and needs to work on the actual content of their mega-events and DC needs to be more ambitious and throw a curveball sometimes. Please tell me what you think about it and if a Lord Grayson storyline is a good idea.

2/13/13

Today provided a marvelous Batman story, a sub-par Batgirl story, a pleasantly unusual story of my favorite, Damian Wayne and an utterly nonsensical and confusing Comedian comic. Once again, here are this weeks reviews.

• Batman #17

What have we come to expect from comic finales? Drama, tension, resolution, and most importantly a change. We don't want to have spent hours of our lives reading a comic that will never mean anything than the initial thrill it provided us. Snyder and Capullo's stunning ending gave me all four of those things.
There was definitely drama. Hell, when isn't there drama when it's a story about the Joker? From an interesting trap to the psychotic jokes and tricks we have come to expect from the Clown Prince of Crime. There was also drama to the point of me feeling like I was there, I credit that mostly to Greg Capullo whom I will always think of when I think of the Joker.
Tension is a hard thin to bring to a comic. In a movie scary music, slow-motion and quick dialogue will do the trick, but in a comic the tension is purely the excitement and the vividness of the drawings. I was scared, worried and excited all at the same time. One of the key factors in this chapter of Death of the Family was the actual family. The family is a hard group to bring together and keep the suspense high. Snyder managed that by having the family face a different form of Joker evil than Batman.
The story pulled into the finale with many loose ends and questions left unanswered, I felt at peace with the end result. One of my favorite parts of the whole comic was the end where Joker leaves one last non-lethal gag that I will forever remember.
Did it change the entire universe? No, not really. However, this will always be remembered as one of the greatest Joker stories ever told. People refer to a great comic storyline as a party, you can be late to the party, or not come at all. I think I overstayed my welcome and read the invitation too many times. By that I mean that I probably shouldn't have bought all of the tie-ins and I shouldn't have read all of the pre-event articles. But it was a party I am glad I attended.

• Batgirl #17

This issue tells the story of the fallout of Death of the Family and describes the difficult relationship between James Jr. and the rest of the Gordons. It was kind of good, and kind of random, I really don't see what DC sees in these Joker-inspired gangs but they seem to really be trying to suck all of the material possible out of them. My main problem with this comic, however, was that it was a change of creative teams. Gail Simone was doing a great job on the book and it seems like a stupid idea to take her off the book. The new artist is quite good but the writer has yet to impress me.

• Batman and Robin #17

This was the single most pointlessly weird issue thus far in the New 52. The vast majority of the book is dedicated to showing Bruce, Alfred and Damian's dreams. They are all brutal and somewhat psychotic, but very entertaining. The art, especially the extraordinary inking, adds to the eeriness of this comic.
I have come to realize that they do this kind of thing in the Batman and Robin book just to show what a queer relationship they have.

• Before Watchmen: Comedian #5 of 6

Of all of the mediocre Before Watchmen titles two books have really stood out. 

1. Silk Spectre was awesome
2. Comedian is terrible

Comedian has just been incomprehensible. They are trying to tell this elaborate story of the Vietnam war by flashing back and then switching back to the present, again and again and again. It really drives me nuts when I see the Comedian playing games with some Vietcong kids and then immediately turn the page to find a violent jungle battle. There is literally no transition between scenes, I mean at all. It is also way over-brutalized and the language is filthy for no reason. I understand that the Vietnam war was gory and the Comedian is a brutal character, but did they show that kind of stuff in the original Watchmen? I am not excited for the sequel, and I don't think it will include any of the traits of a good sequel from the Batman review.

2/6/13

This was a very fun week for one reason. HIT-GIRL. There was also The New 52 Young Romance valentines day special. I can pretty much write the conversation they had in their conference room. "Okay, we've done this before and we can do this again. How do we extract the most amount of money from our fans and giving them the least possible amount of entertainment?" "How about we release a hardcover edition a year before the paperback so that fans have the choice of waiting 1 and a half years for their comics to be collected into one book at a normal price or they could throw ten dollars down the toilet by buying a hardcover?" "Great idea!" "Wait a second, haven't we done that before?" "Yeah, how about we do a holiday themed issue where we get a bunch of creative teams to make about 5 crappy pages and then show 2 awesome characters kissing on the cover?" "Best idea yet!"

• Hit-Girl #5

Hit-Girl is awesome. Kick-Ass is awesome. Mark Millar is awesome. This issue is awesome. This couldn't have been a funnier, more gore filled, intriguing comic. I liked every aspect of it. From the clever plot to Hit-Girl hanging someone with their guts spilling out. I though that JRJR's art was terrific like usual and that this was a fantastic way to wrap up this awesome mini-series. To make things even better in the back I found out that the Kick-Ass 2 movie just finished filming, the Secret Service is going to get it's own movie and that Kick-Ass 3 is coming out in May. Really, what could be better?

•  The New 52 Young Romance Valentines Day Special

More like, what could be worse? This book had several flaws, so many that I will list them as bullets:

• Too damn expensive. I pay $8 for a book that's not even worth the time I spent reading it.
• Sloppy writing. Every conversation was so awkward and forced it made my skin crawl.
• Art changing every five pages. I can't stand when a series changes artists so you could imagine how I would feel as I switched from one art-style to another while I was just getting used to the first.
• Too many stories. I wish that they had cut half of the tales in the book so that the two somewhat interesting ones; Batgirl, Aquaman, could get some more time in the spotlight.

There was one good thing. In the middle of the comic there were the funniest Valentines cards ever.