Meme: December 12
Dec. 12th, 2013 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
next_to_normalStill taking requests. Today's topic comes from snickfic:
Snick asked for: Comics you are reading/have read, and what you like and dislike.
Heh, I have been meaning to make a comics post for a loooong time, but then I didn't have a lot of time to read them, and I got distracted by other shiny things (I am easily distracted by shiny things). But I just bought a bunch of new stuff, so I might as well talk about some things. Fair warning, this is pretty much ALL MARVEL ALL THE TIME, and even more narrowly, AVENGERS OMG. Because I <3 them.
Captain America: Man Out of Time (Waid, Molina, Kesel)
This is a five-issue miniseries dealing with Cap acclimating to the future immediately after being unfrozen. Fish-out-of-water Steve is one of my favorite things, and I was a little disappointed that the movies skipped over that period (save for a few deleted scenes from The Avengers), so I had high hopes for this one. It was a bit disappointing in that regard. I did enjoy Cap's sort of bemused "Am I dreaming? Or have I lost my mind?" reaction to everything, and his continued insistence on narrating as though filing a report with his superior officer is kind of hilarious:
But the actual interacting with the new world thing is a whole lot of "tell" and not "show" - Tony's trip to the Smithsonian, Steve's chat with the cranky old general - and then there is accidental time travel back to 1945 in which Cap realizes that he ~belongs in the future and calls the Avengers to take him home. Meh.
I am a terrible comics reviewer in the sense that I never concentrate on the art unless it's REALLY good or REALLY terrible, so mostly this was fine? Except that I found the facial expressions to be weirdly exaggerated and occasionally distracting.
Avengers: Endless Wartime (Ellis, McKone, Keith)
I looooooved this! Mostly because it is all my favorite people (the MCU Avengers plus Captain Marvel... and Wolverine, who I don't really care about, and he doesn't really seem to fit in this lineup, but whatevs) and the banter is SPOT ON.
(Side bar: what is wrong with the MCU that Hawkeye is barely even a character when he is clearly the comedic gem of the Marvel comics? I could - and still might - do a whole post of squee about Matt Fraction's Hawkeye series, and what I've seen of him in the team series is equally delightful.)
NORSE NAZI MAGGOT ROBOTS OF DEATH. What more could you ask for in a plot, really? LMAO! It's the usual McGuffin, but it has a link to both Cap's and Thor's pasts that grounds it and gives it the necessary emotional oomph.
Anyway, in general, it's all GO TEAM, which I love, even if it's a bit of a cynical ending, with the "it never ends, we won the battle not the war, we never get to stop fighting" thing - which actually kind of reminded me of Angel, and not in a bad way. Not too sure about this iteration of the Hulk (measuring Hulk cells? predicting a Hulk-out? okaaaay...) but whatevs. I can go with it.
Also, Steve and Carol bonding, and I have discovered that the Cap/Cap joint leadership deal DOES THINGS to me. MOAR CAPTAIN MARVEL in general, basically. (My next comics post, if it ever happens, will include Captain Marvel, since I just bought like 12 issues? Thanks to fanfic, I adored Carol before I ever read anything from canon with her, haha.
Let's see, what else? I've read a lot of first issues, so I don't have much to say about them, but it gives you an idea of what I'll probably be reading next:
Avengers Vol. 4 #12.1 (Bendis, Hitch) - I think I picked this one up in one of the "free #1" promos at Comixology, but I will probably read more.
Captain America Vol. 5 (Brubaker, Epting) - I bought a whole Captain America bundle that included #1-24 (the last three of which are part of the Civil War arc) and a Winter Soldier one-shot. I like Cap, I wanted the Civil War issues anyway, and 25 issues for $20 seemed like a very good deal. So far I've only read #1, but I bought the whole thing, so I'm sure as heck going to read the whole thing.
Captain America Vol. 6 #1 (Brubaker, McNiven, Morales, Ponsor) - This may have been another free #1? Possibly that first round when Marvel had a zillion #1 issues and I asked for suggestions. I figure I'll finish Vol. 5 before I go buying more Cap, though.
Saga #1 (Vaughn, Staples) - Help me out here, guys. I keep hearing how amazing this series is, and I picked up the first issue for free, but I'm just not feeling it? I mean, it was okay, but didn't make me want to run out and spend $25 on the rest of it.
snickfic:Snick asked for: Comics you are reading/have read, and what you like and dislike.
Heh, I have been meaning to make a comics post for a loooong time, but then I didn't have a lot of time to read them, and I got distracted by other shiny things (I am easily distracted by shiny things). But I just bought a bunch of new stuff, so I might as well talk about some things. Fair warning, this is pretty much ALL MARVEL ALL THE TIME, and even more narrowly, AVENGERS OMG. Because I <3 them.
Captain America: Man Out of Time (Waid, Molina, Kesel)
This is a five-issue miniseries dealing with Cap acclimating to the future immediately after being unfrozen. Fish-out-of-water Steve is one of my favorite things, and I was a little disappointed that the movies skipped over that period (save for a few deleted scenes from The Avengers), so I had high hopes for this one. It was a bit disappointing in that regard. I did enjoy Cap's sort of bemused "Am I dreaming? Or have I lost my mind?" reaction to everything, and his continued insistence on narrating as though filing a report with his superior officer is kind of hilarious:
But the actual interacting with the new world thing is a whole lot of "tell" and not "show" - Tony's trip to the Smithsonian, Steve's chat with the cranky old general - and then there is accidental time travel back to 1945 in which Cap realizes that he ~belongs in the future and calls the Avengers to take him home. Meh.
I am a terrible comics reviewer in the sense that I never concentrate on the art unless it's REALLY good or REALLY terrible, so mostly this was fine? Except that I found the facial expressions to be weirdly exaggerated and occasionally distracting.
Avengers: Endless Wartime (Ellis, McKone, Keith)
I looooooved this! Mostly because it is all my favorite people (the MCU Avengers plus Captain Marvel... and Wolverine, who I don't really care about, and he doesn't really seem to fit in this lineup, but whatevs) and the banter is SPOT ON.
(Side bar: what is wrong with the MCU that Hawkeye is barely even a character when he is clearly the comedic gem of the Marvel comics? I could - and still might - do a whole post of squee about Matt Fraction's Hawkeye series, and what I've seen of him in the team series is equally delightful.)
NORSE NAZI MAGGOT ROBOTS OF DEATH. What more could you ask for in a plot, really? LMAO! It's the usual McGuffin, but it has a link to both Cap's and Thor's pasts that grounds it and gives it the necessary emotional oomph.
Anyway, in general, it's all GO TEAM, which I love, even if it's a bit of a cynical ending, with the "it never ends, we won the battle not the war, we never get to stop fighting" thing - which actually kind of reminded me of Angel, and not in a bad way. Not too sure about this iteration of the Hulk (measuring Hulk cells? predicting a Hulk-out? okaaaay...) but whatevs. I can go with it.
Also, Steve and Carol bonding, and I have discovered that the Cap/Cap joint leadership deal DOES THINGS to me. MOAR CAPTAIN MARVEL in general, basically. (My next comics post, if it ever happens, will include Captain Marvel, since I just bought like 12 issues? Thanks to fanfic, I adored Carol before I ever read anything from canon with her, haha.
Let's see, what else? I've read a lot of first issues, so I don't have much to say about them, but it gives you an idea of what I'll probably be reading next:
Avengers Vol. 4 #12.1 (Bendis, Hitch) - I think I picked this one up in one of the "free #1" promos at Comixology, but I will probably read more.
Captain America Vol. 5 (Brubaker, Epting) - I bought a whole Captain America bundle that included #1-24 (the last three of which are part of the Civil War arc) and a Winter Soldier one-shot. I like Cap, I wanted the Civil War issues anyway, and 25 issues for $20 seemed like a very good deal. So far I've only read #1, but I bought the whole thing, so I'm sure as heck going to read the whole thing.
Captain America Vol. 6 #1 (Brubaker, McNiven, Morales, Ponsor) - This may have been another free #1? Possibly that first round when Marvel had a zillion #1 issues and I asked for suggestions. I figure I'll finish Vol. 5 before I go buying more Cap, though.
Saga #1 (Vaughn, Staples) - Help me out here, guys. I keep hearing how amazing this series is, and I picked up the first issue for free, but I'm just not feeling it? I mean, it was okay, but didn't make me want to run out and spend $25 on the rest of it.
no subject
Date: Dec. 14th, 2013 03:56 am (UTC)And yeah, movie!Clint is such a downer compared to comics!Clint. It's so weird reading the movie fanon about Clint as the strong silent type who hangs out in the rafters and watches.
Re: Saga, FWIW, I only really got invested at the beginning of the second volume. There are a whole bunch of wonderful supporting characters you haven't met yet, and they make all the difference, I think. Plus it takes Vaughan and Staples a little while to really pull out all the stops in terms of worldbuilding.
no subject
Date: Dec. 14th, 2013 04:45 am (UTC)LOL right? I mean, sure, some allowance can be made for Loki-induced PTSD, but seriously. Comics!Clint might hang out in the rafters, but only because he is an ENORMOUS TROLL and it's part of some elaborate prank.
(Have I mentioned lately how badly I would love a Hawkeye movie based on - or at least with the same tone as - Matt Fraction's series? SO BADLY. Make it happen, Marvel movie gods!)
To be fair, though, I have seen an equal amount of comics!Clint characterization in MCU fic, which is also weird and confusing, but frankly, far preferable to broody movie!Clint. :)
Maybe I will give Saga another shot. If I skip right to volume 2, will I be hopelessly lost?
no subject
Date: Dec. 14th, 2013 04:29 pm (UTC)(Have I mentioned lately how badly I would love a Hawkeye movie based on - or at least with the same tone as - Matt Fraction's series? SO BADLY. Make it happen, Marvel movie gods!)
Oh man, that would be SO AMAZING. Although I think I'd want it to happen out of continuity with the main MCU, possibly with new casting - it'd be too jarring otherwise, I think? IDK, we'll have to see what they do with Hawkeye in Avengers 2. And then, and then we could have KATE, TOO.
no subject
Date: Dec. 16th, 2013 04:26 pm (UTC)I don't know... I think it would work as part of the main MCU. I think the problem at this point is that Hawkeye has so little characterization in the MCU at all - giving him some personality would be a huge improvement, lol. (Also, Jeremy Renner has FAR more range than Avengers or his action-star reputation would suggest.) Supposedly, Hawkeye will have a larger role in Age of Ultron, so I am hoping he's more like comics!Clint.
But yes, KATE. Kate should definitely be there. Actually, I would be down with a whole Young Avengers franchise, but mostly I want Kate. (And Kid Loki. I love Tom Hiddleston, but KID LOKI.)