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Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 7:01 pm
by RoIIo Tomassi
Marvel:The End. 2003 mini that kicked off the entire "The End" subgenre. By Jim Starlin. Some bad guy kills all the heroes. Thanos leads the handful of survivors against the ne'erdowell. Eventually Thanos gets the power of the almighty and resurrects everyone. Then rekills them all during a tantrum. And finally sacrifices himself to re-resurrect the entire universe.

Marvel Universe. Roger Stern's shortlived 1998 ongoing that only lasted 7 issues. The first arc featured the Invaders and the second arc featured Ulysses Bloodstone's Monster Hunters. The premise of the series was to present any and all stories predating the Rocket Flight in FF #1. Sadly, it was cut short.

Marvel Universe: Millennial Visions. A oneshot from 2001 that had writers/artists pitching "future" versions of various Marvel heroes. Some clever premises. Of particular note is a war between Wakanda and Atlantis, which came true 12 years later in the fallout of AvsX.

Marvel vs DC(vs Marvel). The extraordinarily overblown fightfest from 1996. They took a perfectly fun idea and muddled it up with a ridiculous story that burdens the entire series. So much that many of the fights(the draw of the entire exercise) are severely truncated in favor of a bunch of hooey "plot" nonsense. And some of the battles are obnoxious. Storm defeat Wonder Woman?

Mighty Marvel Westerns. A series of oneshots from 2006 featuring various Marvel Western heroes. I only have 2 of the 5, and the Handbook style Western Outlaw Files. But look forward to finding the others.

Tales of the Marvels: Inner Demons. Remember when Marvels came out and it was a huge hit? Marvel followed it up with a bunch of high priced acetate covered painted books. This one was about a bum hanging out with amnesiac Namor before Johnny Storm found him in the Bowery. Decent story. And nice art.

Marvels Comics. See the 's' on the end of Marvels? So, in the Fictional Marvel Universe, there is a fictional Marvel Comics publisher. This series of oneshots from 2000 are issues of those fictional comics. There were books on Cap, Daredevil, FF, Spidey, Thor, and X-Men.
Of course, the FF are public figures, so their comic is "accurate".
And Cap's issue is written by Rick Jones with art by Steve Rogers!
The other characters' press is a little more circumspect, so liberties have been taken.
Daredevil is a demon kicked out of heaven and hell teamed up with a stuntman living in Hell's Kitchen.
The Spider-Man is a half monster who lurks in shadows feasting on innocents and criminals alike.
The X-Men are Captain America's secret black ops team of criminal mutants working off their prison sentences like the Suicide Squad. Because obviously all mutants are no damn good and if they're being heroic, they're being coerced.
There are some semi decent ideas here, but mostly I think there was a lot of wasted potential.

Up next is whatever is left in the 'M' box.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 11:36 pm
by RoIIo Tomassi
Diabolical wrote:I recently found the 4 issue mini he had in the early to mid 90s with Graydon Creed, Mystique and Birdie.
I've been meaning to read it again. It wasn't bad from what I remember and had badass art from Texeira.
And I liked the Birdie character. She was kinda like Sabretooth's Harley Quinn.
I'm readin' an issue of the Maverick ongoing from 1998. In it, Maverick's part time GF is some Russian ex-spy who's got a mad on for Sabretooth and is tracking him down to kill him. Maverick mentions Birdy. According to Mav, she was killed by Victor Creed's father. I have no idea what book that happened in. But she dead.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:03 am
by Diabolical
RoIIo Tomassi wrote:
Diabolical wrote:I recently found the 4 issue mini he had in the early to mid 90s with Graydon Creed, Mystique and Birdie.
I've been meaning to read it again. It wasn't bad from what I remember and had badass art from Texeira.
And I liked the Birdie character. She was kinda like Sabretooth's Harley Quinn.
I'm readin' an issue of the Maverick ongoing from 1998. In it, Maverick's part time GF is some Russian ex-spy who's got a mad on for Sabretooth and is tracking him down to kill him. Maverick mentions Birdy. According to Mav, she was killed by Victor Creed's father. I have no idea what book that happened in. But she dead.
She died in that same Sabretooth mini, IIRC.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Fri May 03, 2013 4:36 pm
by RoIIo Tomassi
I'm back with the rest of that 'M' box.

First up, Maximum Security. A three issue mini from 2000. It also had a bunch of tie in issues all across the Marvel Line. It's kinda Quesada and Jemas' first attempt at a proto-event. Anyway, the premise is all the Alien races are fed up with Earth and its heroes always interfering in their cosmic shit. So they quarantine the planet...and turn it into a prison planet for all their undesirable dregs. Which is where all the tie ins came in, heroes dealing with various aliens dumped on Earth. The main series was written by Busiek and reminded me of the goofy premises that would've showed up in an Avengers issue back in the 70s or early 80s. And it was just short enough not to become dull or pretentious in its ambition. So, better than I thought it would be. Oh, and the whole thing was just a scam so the Kree could break into a prison on the moon and get the Supreme Intelligence back. Mission accomplished.

Mekanix. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when Chris Claremont's writing turned to abysmal shite. But I think I've narrowed it down. It was clear he had become shitty during that sequel to God Loves, Man Kills in XTreme X-Men. This six issue mini series was written in 2003, pretty much right after the Sentinels attacked Genosha and killed 16 Million people and nobody gave a shit (but a year later somebody blows up Stamford and 600 deaths cause everybody to go apeshit and start a Civil War, but that's a different rant--). Anyway, Kitty Pryde is enrolled at Chicago U getting her masters. She's dealing with usual anti-mutant BS that Claremont is good at. Then some tiny adapting Sentinels attack and she, along with Karma and telekinetic mutant exchange student from Genosha have to save everybody including the bigots from the Sentinels. Then get blamed for it. The first three issues were great. Then the awful started seeping in around 4-5. It wasn't atrocious, but it was cloying. The series mostly finished okay. But I think that was the tipping point. Claremont's suckage started there and he's sucked ever since.

And finally Models Inc. A four issue mini from 2009 that updated all the "Girl" comics from the 40s and 50s into the modern Marvel U. So Millie the Model, Chili Storm, Hedy Wolfe, etc join Patsy Walker(Hellcat) in a murder mystery where Millie is a suspect. MJ Watson cameos as a fellow fashion model. Let's just say this book clearly wasn't aimed at my demographic and I'm glad I only dropped like $1 for the entire series. Although I give it points for having clever covers that mimic modern day fashion mags.
Also in a backup story Tim Gunn puts on the Iron Man armor and fights some A.I.M. guys. Yup. Couldn't make that up.

So that's the 'M' box. I've been pulling the boxes randomly, but I seem to be going in a reverse alphabetical order so the next box(not on purpose!) will be the 'J-K-L' box. Or maybe not.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 8:24 pm
by RoIIo Tomassi
Some non Spidey 'S' books.

Spitfire. A 2009 oneshot from the 'Women of Marvel' series of oneshots. Spitfire and her new beau, Blade the Vampire Hunter track down a really old chick vampire who supported the Nazis and kill her. By Paul Cornell who wrote the short lived MI-13 series.

Stan Lee meets... A series of one shots from 2006 where Stan Lee writes himself interacting with Spidey, Doc Strange, Silver Surfer, Thing, and Dr. Doom. There's a backup story in the Doc Strange issue by Bendis and Bagley where Impossible Man shows up in the then current Marvel U and goes apeshit because everything is "wrong" (ie Wolverine and Spidey are Avengers, House of M, Civil War are happening, Gwen Stacy had Osborn's babies etc). It's just short of being as hilarious as that Atomic Robo story in the comic shop. And it's Bendis basically tirading about his own shit. Pretty funny stuff.

Starlord. The first issue of a 3 issue mini from 1996 by Tim Zahn. Some guy finds Peter Quills crashed ship and puts on the Starlord costume. Need to find the other two issues before the movie comes out and everybody bumps up the price on Starlord shit.

Star Masters. First issue of a 3 issue series from 1996 where Quasar, with help from Silver Surfer and Beta Ray Bill, stop aliens from invading Earth. A follow up to the Quasar ongoing and the Starblast mini. I did some research, and apart from a backup story in a Spidey Annual and the Combo Man promo comic, I believe this is the last story Mark Gruenwald wrote before he died. I need to find the last two issues.

Storm. A 1995 mini series with foil covers. I was surprised and delighte to open the first issue to see Warren Ellis and Terry Dodson as the creative team. Unfortunately, the story was about Mikhail Rasputin and the surviving Morlocks in an alternate dimension and Storm having to deal with all that shit and fighting Callisto again. A weak plot from Ellis.

Storm. The 2006 miniseries that told the 'retconned' first meeting between future married couple Storm and T'Challa. Setting aside that drawback, the story was good delving into Storm's origin and the death of her parents and her life as a thief in Cairo. But then after I thought about it, when Storm and T'Challa do it for the first time, I realized Ororo is only twelve years old at the time. Yes, Black Panther deflowered Storm when she was only twelve. Grrrrrross. Yeah, he's only fourteen or fifteen at the time, but it's not his first time. She's only twelve, dude. Black Panther, sex with twelve year olds. Yuck.

Strange. A 2010 mini from after Doc Strange loses the Sorceror Supreme
Title. By Mark Waid and Emma Rios. Strange takes on an apprentice and she dies.

Strong Guy Reborn. A oneshot from 1997. An attempt to be lighthearted and humorous as Guido and Lila Cheney get embroiled in an interstellar war between to dingbat alien races. Saw the end coming from page 3. Only interesting in the fact that somebody actually greenlit this in 1997. And in retrospect, given the events of recent X-Factor issues where Guido is now the head of Hell and in effect the Master of Mephisto, Hela, Sattanish, and everyone else.

Sub-Mariner:The Depths. A 5 issue MK series from 2009 by Milligan and Esad Ribic. A scientist in the 40s is intent on disproving the theory of Atlantis. Namor is more of a bogeyman in the series as 'cabin fever' (or whatever it's called on submarines) sets in on the crew of a sub sinking into the depths of the Marianas Trench. Namor actually only shows up in the final issue and never speaks. So in that regard the series is misleading. But other than that it was good.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 10:38 pm
by anarky
RoIIo Tomassi wrote:And in retrospect, given the events of recent X-Factor issues where Guido is now the head of Hell and in effect the Master of Mephisto, Hela, Sattanish, and everyone else.

Please tell me that, even if he's the master of Hell, he's still his goofy, lovable self. Because that sounds awesome.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 11:04 pm
by RoIIo Tomassi
No, he's kind of a dick. See, earlier in the series he died. Layla Miller brought him back to life, but the down side was he no longer had a soul. Later on he expressed his feelings for Monet and she went on a date with him, but it ended badly. He became more agitated and surly and combative with everyone and eventually quit the team. The next time we saw him, he was working with Jezebel (Mephisto's daughter) in trying to prevent the Hell on Earth War. After it started anyway, he go into a fight with Monet and she died. So he had to take on the mantle of head demon so he could bring Monet back to life (knowing none of the other Demon Lords would do it). He succeeded, but it was at tremendous cost and now (I'm assuming) he resents the woman he loved and saved. Intense stuff from Peter David. I'm bummed X-Factor is going bye bye.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 11:47 pm
by RoIIo Tomassi
I just read a recap of what's been happening in Captain America's book since NOW started, and the more I read the harder I was laughing because I kept thinking there's no way this awful shit is real!! I absolutely thought it was some kind of prank. Cap is in an alternate world called Dimension Z complete with a capital city called Zolandia(no I am NOT kidding) run by Arnim Zola. And Cap has been raising Zola's infant baby for the last ten years. A baby he stole or kidnapped or something. Please somebody tell me this fan fiction shit is just a practical joke.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 8:21 am
by jjreason
That's disgraceful. Flornbi couldn't have come up with that.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 5:01 pm
by anarky
Yes, he could.

But even he would realize how stupid it is and not tell anyone he had.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 5:49 pm
by Tom Foolery
Here's the Article.
You might have to take a break every few paragraphs. Y'know, because of the vapors you get from laughing so hard.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 6:01 pm
by anarky
For starters, that's not how dimensions work, and I'm pretty sure the MU has the same rule. That's a 1950s shit writer mistake, and inexcusable in 2013.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:59 pm
by RoIIo Tomassi
A few random series. I bounced around.

Avengers: X-Sanction. The overpriced, decompressed 4 issue mini by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness. Cable comes back from the dead (after Second Coming) and knows the future. The Avengers are going to kill his foster daughter Hope! With only 24 hours to live, he kicks everybody's ass, until Cyclops and Hope show up and rescue everybody and stop him. Then Hope uses her deus ex machina Phoenix power to save Cable's life. This of course was a prelude to AvsX when the Avengers did in fact show up to kill Hope.

Fear Itself. Taken by itself, this wasn't a bad series. It didnt need 500 tie in issues, but the main story was fast paced and had a lot of 'Oh shit' moments, like Odin bitch slapping Thor and Bucky Cap getting killed. Of course, none of the 'deaths' lasted more than a month after the end of the series.

Spider-Woman. The 18 issue series by Byrne and Bart Sears from 1999. Teenager Martha "Mattie" Franklin gets super powers and decides to emulate her idol Spidey. The "origin" story was lame and contrived (see: Gathering of Five) and having ALL the previous Spider-Woman in the first story arc was even lamer. But after that, it turned into a decent teen hero comic with lots of fresh villains. Graham Nolan and Erik Larsen filled on a few issues. Later on Mattie was killed during Grim Hunt and nobody seemed to notice.

X-Man. After I tracked down the final 75th issue, i went back and read the final years worth of books after Warren Ellis and Steven Grant took over. I was leery after slogging thru 50 issues of Terry Kavanagh's tepid writing. Holy shit, it was great! It sucks they waited until the series was on its death bed to kick it into high gear. The series started dealing with the multiverse and the premise of multiple Earths on a hierarchy strata, Earths "above" ours are more utopian, and the ones below are "broken"

The first arc had a group of mutants traversing "down" and stealing infants from a lower Earth. A creature tracks them down and fights Nate before he realizes what they did. Then he goes and just executes them all with his mind. Fycking hardcore.

The next arc involved an alt universe Maddie Pryde trying to use Nate as a weapon to take over the multiverse. Nate doesn't play ball.

The third arc involved a perfect being from the "Top" earth wanting to destroy all the lesser Earths. Nate basically has to team up with The Authority(theyre called the Protectorate, but it's clearly homage/ripoffs of the Authority) to stop the guy. Most of the Authority dies and Nate invades "heaven" to stop the badguy.

The final issue had Nate sacrifice himself to stop an ersatz Superman living in Kansas from harvesting all life on Earth. The entire last 13 issues were all great. Ariel Ollivetti did most of the art, except the last two issues. You can skip the first 62 issues, but check out the end of the series. Great stuff. And by Steven Grant no less.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:22 pm
by anarky
So, um, the Multiverse is broken because of Wolverine time traveling and changing the past?

What the alabaster fuck?

Changing the past is a weekly hobby for half the characters in the MU. How did this particular instance become a problem? I'd think something like fucking Age of Apocalypse would've had worse consequences.

Re: Marvel Universe

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:48 pm
by Tom Foolery
I think it was more along the lines of 'this was the straw that broke the camel's back.' It wasn't Wolverine's time travel specifically, but more of the cumulative effect of everybody effing in the timestream. Sadly, the bigger issue is that Marvel has already established "rules" of time travel. Specifically, that one can't "change" the past, it only creates divergent time lines. But either Tom Brevoort is an idiot or he can't reign in Bendis' stupid paradox bullshit. Because Bendis doesn't understand time travel. If Logan goes in the past and does something, then goes back to the future, the turns around and heads back A FEW HOURS LATER to stop his few-hours-earlier-self. He can't then KILL the other Logan because he will WINK OUT OF EXISTENCE. The entire Age of Ultron story is fucktarded fan fiction. Also, all the "big" reveals at the end were underwhelming. Galactus is gonna eat Ultimate Earth? Yawn. Angela is here? Double-yawn. Poly bagged for no reason.