Marvel Comics General

Was Ares particularly well-liked? In the case of stuff like killing Hawkeye, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, and driving Scarlet Witch insane, those were all pretty long-standing characters with big fanbases. They were always going to come back. The poor New X-Men kids didn't have that sort of support, I don't think.

Ares's death got a bigger backlash than Janet's, believe it or not.

I didn't know that. Well, he should be easy enough to resurrect when the time comes. Wasn't he shown in the Greek afterlife or something after he got killed? He is a God after all.

Yeah, he was one of Mikaboshi's army of undead gods in Chaos War.

And all of them were restored to life at the end except him for some reason, possibly because he was the only one there who wasn't killed by Pak and Van Lente themselves.

As for the New X-Men, well, Warren can revive the dead now and most of them are buried in his backyard. Surely something could be done with that...

edited 19th Nov '12 7:33:12 PM by HamburgerTime

Captain Marvel continues to be awesome. Dexter Soy draws the hell out of a comic. That guy is just incredibly talented. Looks like he's leaving the book soon, which is a shame. Filipe Andrade will be replacing him, and I don't think I really care for his style. Hopefully, Rios replace him after a few issues.

@ Hamburger Time,

Why do we need every character to be resurrected? Sure, this kind of thing happens all time, bu I don't see why the reader would actively want it to happen. Poorly done resurrections only weaken the credibility and retroactively takes out the impact of the previous stories. Except on rare exceptions, they should never be desirable.

Furthermore, it is not like we even need these characters. Marvel has a fuckton of characters already. They need to develop more the ones they already have instead of binging the same ones all the time. Take the new X Men, for example, there is loads of ignored children nowadays, such as Surge, Loa and Gentle. Why bring some of them back if Marvel can't even use consistently the ones she already have?

I'm not saying they 100% need to be resurrected (though I would personally like it), I'm simply commenting on a trend I've noticed.

So, some recent issues of New Avengers and Scarlet Spider got me confused with the S.H.I.E.L.D. status right now. Like, who is currently leading it? I thought it was that Fury Jr. guy, but apparently it is either Hill or Daisy.

Which books should I read to caught up?

I'm not sure when or where Captain America stepped down as Director, but as near as I can tell, Daisy is a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. officer that may or may not technically outrank Hill in terms of agent class or somesuch, while Hill is the acting Commander of S.H.I.E.L.D. and thus officially outranks Daisy even though she doesn't have the rank for it.

Military rank can be confusing that way. It's entirely possible, for example, for a United States Army Colonel to be the commanding officer of a military base where a Brigadier General is stationed and, as a result, the men will report to the Colonel in an emergency station even though the Brigadier General is a step above his pay grade. If it comes down to a conflict of orders between the Brigadier General and the Colonel, who actually prevails in that conflict can depend entirely on situational context.

Yeah, that is what I got from the New Avenger's banter between the two. That Daisy is technically high rank but that Maria is the official commander. Yet, Scarlet Spider #005 flat out called Daisy Johnson "Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.". That was when I thought it would be a nice idea to ask here about this whole deal.

Who the hell would put a 18 years old into a such high position, anyway?

The recent Avengers issue also had Hill call Daisy, "Director," to which Daisy responded, calling Hill, "Acting Commander".

The dialogue between the two in that issue made it clear that Daisy outranks Hill, but still has to abide by Hill's orders. Whatever the official titling of the two, that seems to be the situation.

Okay, nice. And do you know where the hell I go to find out the full story?

Oh, screw that. I will just look from the first Secret Warriors issue and see where it gets. No, wait, I think I will go as far as to the Secret Wars mini. There is when all this mess in the S.H.I.E.L.D. leadership stated, wasn't it? It is also where Daisy made her first appearance, apparently, so I can get a better idea of who is this girl, exactly.

So, Secret Wars, Secret Warriors and Battle Scars... What are the other S.H.I.E.L.D./Fury series I might want to read?

edited 26th Nov '12 8:40:13 AM by Heatth

Captain Marvel #7 was really fun. Makes me wish Monica were being used in one of the Avengers titles.

No idea where you can find the full story. Either Cap stepped down from his post offscreen at some point, or it happened in a title I haven't quite caught up in yet.

Don't bother with Battle Scars. It wasn't good. And it doesn't really explain anything, either.

Really? Too bad. But isn't Fury Jr. supposed to be an important character from now on? I should at last give a look to know who the hell he is.

Also, I forgot the two S.H.I.E.L.D. mini in my small list last post. I think they are set in the past or something but, since I am binging S.H.I.E.L.D. recent history, I guess it doesn't hurt take a look.

Do you know what else I should read? Captain America solo comic maybe? There should at last be some mentions of him working as the director and stepping down in there, right? There seems to be quite a few series and mini about him in the last couple of years, though. Which ones should I read.

God, following Marvel comics can be quite confusing sometimes.

Preview from Avengers #2, the recruitment drive issue. Art looks gorgeous and the newbies look like The Falcon, Shang-Chi, Captain Marvel, Spider Woman, Spider Man, and Eden Fesi. Not sure who the two dudes by the pool are. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=42314

edited 26th Nov '12 11:12:16 AM by comicwriter

Spider-Woman, Spider-Man, and Captain Marvel hardly count as newbies; I'm pretty sure all of the abovelisted have been a part of at least one incarnation of the Avengers in the past, but those three were in the most recent lineup.

Nick Fury, Jr. is Nick Fury's son, and a shallow and transparent attempt to capitalize on movie Fury being black. You don't need to know who he is, because he's a fucking stupid character. Marvel's going to try to make him important, but I'm just going to keep imagining someone else whenever I see him.

As for the two S.H.I.E.L.D. minis, the second one isn't finished yet. But they were awesome. Gorgeous art, and a very Hickman-esque story.

edited 26th Nov '12 11:43:20 AM by Tiamatty

Well, as goes the saying "there is no bad character, only bad writers". Fury Jr is a retarded concept, this I agree, but who knows how he will be used in future? I mean, I've just enjoyed a bunch of ideas about a Darker and Edgier 90s version of Spider-Man. That is an stupid character concept as well, but it was well used.

And, anyway, if Fury Jr is being forced through my throat, I would rather understand what the hell is going on.

Also, no other recommendations for my recent drive on S.H.I.E.L.D. related stories? You are usually very well informed about Marvel comics news, so I was hopeful you could give me something.

Btw, just finished the Secret War mini. It went in less details about the fateful operation that lead to Fury being fired than I hoped, but it was quite insightful about Daisy's character. Since my main experience with her was from early Secret Warriors, in which is is quite insecure, I got rather confused in seeing her so arrogant in New Avengers. At last now I know this is her actual original personality*

edited 26th Nov '12 11:54:39 AM by Heatth

The two by the pool are Sunspot and Cannonball.

I thought Nick Fury jr was just going to replace Sr and then be quietly retconned into being the original all along ten years from now when nobody is looking. I mean what else are they going to do with him?

Huh, true. They do look like him. Then I guess the girl in the left of the same page is that teleporting girl from the X-Men, right? The one who use doors? Who is the other one.

I guess this mean there will be more X-Men in the Avengers, even outside Uncanny Avengers? Cool. But all these are B-lists at best. I somewhat doubt they will be made full Avengers members just like that.

Eh, I doubt they would do that. Do Marvel have an history of making such blatant absurd retcons?

edited 26th Nov '12 5:45:34 PM by Heatth

Well, they have kinda swept Teen Tony and Mrs. Marvel's baby under the rug.

That's a case of a good retcon.