Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Jun 2, 2017 11:05:52 GMT -8
Is Dakota North related to Fargo by any chance?
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Post by Jeremy on Jun 4, 2017 12:54:32 GMT -8
Is Dakota North related to Fargo by any chance? Wait. Wait. I finally know to answer this: Yah, you betcha.
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Post by Jeremy on Jun 4, 2017 13:23:51 GMT -8
Also, not technically a comic book, but today I got to speak with Jessica Jones! Krysten Ritter is currently filming Season Two in Manhattan, and she appeared at a convention over her new book. I was at the convention as well, and stopped by to see her speak.
I asked her what her most memorable fan interaction ever was. I was hoping she would say "This one right now." Sadly, that did not happen.
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Jun 4, 2017 13:51:46 GMT -8
Is Dakota North related to Fargo by any chance? Wait. Wait. I finally know to answer this: Yah, you betcha. I, too, can see Russia from my house!...
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Jun 12, 2017 17:11:26 GMT -8
R.I.P Adam West. His movie was leagues better that Batman v. Superman. I'm sorry to see him go.
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Post by Jeremy on Jun 12, 2017 17:17:33 GMT -8
Although I was not a huge fan of the original Batman series, I always got a kick out of West's tongue-in-cheek portrayal of the Dark Knight, and I admired how willing he was to engage in constant self-parody over the last few decades. RIP
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Post by Jeremy on Jun 24, 2017 20:16:43 GMT -8
Started reading Gotham Academy. It's technically a Batman series, but Batman almost never appears. Instead, the series focuses on a group of teenagers at a creepy Gotham City boarding school. The writing isn't all that great, but the moody art (which favors deep blues and purples in the color scheme) compensates. I kind of wish they'd have just cut Batman out of the equation entirely, because his infrequent appearances jar with the rest of the series.
Also been reading Goldie Vance, a recent short-lived series about an adorable teen detective. The series is a lot of fun, and the main character checks just about every cultural box. She's biracial. She's bisexual. And she even rides a bicycle!
(Don't look at me like that. I enjoy finding patterns.)
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Post by Jeremy on Jul 19, 2017 19:49:56 GMT -8
I decided to write my very first book review! And despite what you think, it's not about a comic book! Technically!
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Post by Jeremy on Jul 30, 2017 7:41:42 GMT -8
Okay, so everyone grabs the cameras when Marvel makes Thor a woman, or Spider-Man a black guy, or Ms. Marvel a Muslim. So... why did no one pay attention when DC announced the debut of Chinese Superman?
I mean, I'm not going to act like New Super-Man is a groundbreaking series (based on the first six issues, it's fun and well-illustrated, but probably a B or B+ overall). But given that DC has been criticized for not diversifying their roster as much as their chief competitor, shouldn't there be some notice when they create an Asian spin-off of their most famous hero?
Maybe DC is specifically trying not to tout New Super-Man too much because they're worried about racist backlash? (I mean, the series takes place in China, so the hero would obviously be Chinese.) Or because they're trying not to emulate Marvel in the "We have a new official version of your favorite hero, so live with it" sort of way?
I dunno. Maybe I'm just overthinking it.
In any case, the series is fun and well-illustrated.
...
On the Marvel side, I'm quickly losing interest in the Captain Marvel series. It's too bad, seeing as she's one of my favorite female superheroes (probably second after Batgirl), but the series has gone completely sci-fi, without any of the human, Earthy side that once made the character entertaining. And the Civil War II arc has been pretty dull.
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Post by Jeremy on Aug 28, 2017 18:17:51 GMT -8
Okay, I posted this on Twitter yesterday, but I need to share it here, too. I want to say this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen in a comic book, but the truth is, I've been reading a lot of 1960s Wonder Woman stories lately, and this is just a drop in the bucket. The series makes no sense - it constantly defies the laws of physics, makes up plot details and then forgets them on the fly, and lacks any sort of coherent storytelling. I... kind of love it.
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Post by Jeremy on Sept 9, 2017 18:56:43 GMT -8
When Marvel announced last year that Ta-Nehisi Coates would be writing a new Black Panther series, the world got really excited.
Having now read the first three issues of his Black Panther series, I can now safely say that my excitement is diminished.
Okay, it sounds like a good idea on paper. Coates is a talented writer, and the story of an African civilization that's both ahead of and behind the progression of the modern world seems like the sort of thing he could put an interesting spin on. So what's the problem?
Well, Coates may be good at writing essays about African-American philosophy, but comic books are not essays. Comics have their own rhythms, their own paces, and their own tones. Oh, and pictures. Comic books are chiefly a visual medium, even if dialogue is necessary to define characters and establish motives.
The Black Panther series feels like Coates wrote up a string of essays about African tribalism, then broke them up into little word balloons and scattered them across a series of panels and pages. There's barely any character defined between all the endless speeches and soliloquies, and barely any plot progression or intrigue. (More than once does the story cut away just as an action scene is about to begin.)
Most fatally, Coates chooses to take this series very seriously. In recent years, Marvel (in both comics and film) has distinguished itself from DC with its greater emphasis on humor. But there's almost no humor to be found in Black Panther - every character speaks in broad, didactic strokes, and hardly anyone cracks a smile.
What an utterly boring series. Whatever the upcoming Black Panther movie has planned, I really hope it doesn't use this as a guidepost.
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Post by Jeremy on Sept 27, 2017 19:21:57 GMT -8
I checked out the new Sabrina the Teenage Witch series! I saw the cover and oh boy, it's been so long since I read a Sabrina comic! Or watched the TV series! Sabrina's so much fun, and Salem is a riot! I can't wait to laugh along with the fun adventures of -
(SEVERAL ISSUES LATER)
...well, that was... dark.
Yeah, I hadn't heard much about Chilling Adventures of Sabrina before now, largely due to its erratic publishing schedule. (Six months passed between the publishing of issues #1 and 2.) But it's proven quite popular with older Archie fans, and it's even getting its own CW series next year.
Rest assured, this is not the Melissa Joan Hart (or Emily Hart!) version of the character. This series is dark, violent, and at times quite bloody. It also features some moderate swearing and some more-than-moderate nudity. Yikes.
As with Afterlife with Archie, this series really wants to separate itself from the brand tone. And while it's pretty cool to watch Sabrina dabble in the dark arts, a lot of the unpleasantness seems shoehorned in just because the writers want to flip familiar properties upside-down. "Look! It's Betty and Veronica, but now they're getting burned and mutilated!" (Oh, yeah, that happens.)
I dunno. It's certainly a readable series, but the Archie team may be laying it on a bit thick. What's next - Josie and the Pussycats becoming meth addicts?
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Post by Jeremy on Oct 30, 2017 16:31:24 GMT -8
I just finished reading the five-volume Spider-Man: The Complete Clone Saga Epic, which reprints a controversial Spider-Man arc from the mid-1990s. Parts of it were decent, and other parts were really awful. But you can imagine my sense of accomplishment when I finally finished Volume Five... ...until I realized the last issue ends on a cliffhanger, leading into Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic... which is SIX volumes! It's like watching the entire run of Lost, expecting the story to wrap up in the finale, only to learn that there's another half-dozen seasons left before the actual ending. Great job, Spidey.
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Post by Jeremy on Nov 8, 2017 16:13:38 GMT -8
News broke yesterday that Brian Michael Bendis is leaving Marvel Comics and joining DC.
This is pretty big. Bendis has been one of Marvel's most popular writers, having written hundreds of stories over the last 17 years. Ultimate Spider-Man, Jessica Jones, Miles Morales - the guy has a lot of creations under his belt. So the fact that he's suddenly jumping to Marvel's chief rival is jarring, to say the least.
I mean, can you imagine if the director of the Avengers movies decided to leave that franchise and direct Justi--
Ohhhhhhhhhhh.
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 31, 2017 10:15:43 GMT -8
Okay, I checked out the new Josie and the Pussycats series to see how bonkers it is.
It's pretty bonkers.
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