Marvel Comics General

Oh my God◊.

That is amazing.

That is truly beautiful. I like Gwenpool a lot more than I was expecting.

A little late, but re: the SHRA: My understanding is pro-reg was intended to be right, but they thought it was too obvious, presumably for the reasons we've been discussing. So they gave them a few puppies to punt so anti-reg would look like a valid option too, and by most accounts went way overboard. It does not help that, IIRC, Quesada told the writers to explicitly not draft the terms of the SHRA and just let it be whatever it needed to be for each story. And as such it was reasonable legislation in pro-reg books and a Dystopian Edict in anti-reg ones.

edited 28th Sep '16 6:22:02 PM by HamburgerTime

Yeah, you're kinda right. That's pretty much covered in the tropes section on Civil War. Anyway, I think that we can all agree that if a SHRA were to be enacted for realsies, it wouldn't be based on something as flawed and amorphous as Civil War's SHRA. I think one of the biggest problems with an SHRA, though, would be trust. Because, in the end, for all the benefits that super heroes would get with a SHRA, they would still have to make a vital trade off: revealing their secret identities to people they don't know.

edited 30th Sep '16 10:10:17 AM by fredhot16

I don't know why they would ever think that. Not only is this a universe where Richard Nixon was a literal supervillain, but even though this was post-decimation a super human registration act is by it's very nature a mutant registration act. For over 30 years the idea of a Mutant Registration Act has been implicitly and explicitly likened to the Nazi registration of the Jews. The Pro-Registration side started in a hole, but for some unknown reason Millar thought they had to dig deeper.

God, Ms. Marvel was a punch in the fucking gut made even more stinging because you could tell G. Willow Wilson was winding that punch back for awhile. I just want Kamala to be happy :(

I'm pretty sure that's the reason why the X-Men sat out the first Civil War, that's very much covered territory for them and it's repeating the same story except with all superhumans.

edited 28th Sep '16 10:45:55 PM by MegaJ

A superhero registration act should be different from a mutant one.

That it wasn't means that somebody fucked up.

I blame everyone but especially Mark Millar.

So in Ms. Marvel one of Bruno's scholarship options is in Wakanda, anyone think T'Challa heard what happened to him & feeling sympathy for him over the pre-cog justice thing helped pull a scholarship for him? I'd like to think he would do something like that.

Also the new issue of Deadpool which is the recent 2099 is really interesting. Apparently or honestly not surprising in any case Shiklah went off the deep end & tried to take over the Earth with Wade having to bring in literally everyone to take her down. They succeeded but their a lot of casualty's so Wade had to seal her again. This explains Warda's hatred with Wade who was most likely raised by Shiklah herself & her ultimate plan is finding the casket of her mother with the only person aware of its location is Wade. Things are getting intense now that Wade is calling in some help who is funnily enough revealed to be the Danny Rand or Iron Fist of 2099. He's apparently become a Little Italy kung-fu crime boss with a Black Panther & White Tiger as his guards. Wade is also apparently his oldest friend & ironically enough doesn't hold much hard feelings toward the merc, deciding to help him out with a smile on his mustached face. Funny stuff really.

edited 28th Sep '16 11:05:09 PM by slimcoder

@CL: What's a Paladin?

Today!

Ms. Marvel #11 is great. Very sad. I liked the flashback scene of Bruno and Kamala's mom. I love how well it conveys their relationship, almost like a mother and son. It's sweet. The confrontation between Kamala and Carol is sad. And then the stuff at the end with Bruno was even sadder. Poor Kamala, all alone now. On the plus side, Hijinx calling Becky "Judge Dredd Barbie" was glorious.

Squirrel Girl #12 is hilarious, as always. Brain Drain is amazing. His nihilistic monologues? So good.And I feel Doreen's pain at being in the middle of nowhere with no electricity and no Internet. That shit is the worst. We invented these things because life without them is boring as balls! Also! One of the footnotes suggests reading previous volumes of USG via the library, a states that libraries and librarians are awesome. This not is not wrong. Libraries and librarians are in fact awesome and worth supporting.

Moon Girl #11 is really fun. Poor Lunella can't catch a break! I hope she and Ms. Marvel do meet again, and that they become friends. I also want things wot work out with Mel-Varr. He's a good kid. And I really love the art in this book. Bustos and Bonvillain are so good.

Ultimates #11 is frigging awesome. I think Ewing might write the best version of Thanos I've ever read, and yes, that includes Starlin. Brilliant, powerful, ruthless, manipulative, and a monstrous bastard who knows he's a monstrous bastard and enjoys it. He's great. The Ultimates themselves also all get some nice character moments. The action is exciting. The art is gorgeous - the two double-page spreads at the start are stunning. I'm going to miss Rocafort on this book - this was his last issue. And man, he really brought the big crazy cosmic shit to life. This series is stellar.

New Avengers #16 is amazing. It's so weird and ridiculous and awesome. Wiccan defeats a villain by literally declaring himself a bigger deal than the villain. And then Vermin is defeated by his rats going on strike, because that shit just kinda happens when Squirrel Girl's around. (Though, of course, Tippy-Toe's speech is very stirring. She's very eloquent.) I just love this series.

Captain Marvel #9 is great, aside from Carol mocking Magneto for making a Hitler comparison. The thing is, if anyone is allowed to invoke Godwin's Law, it's a Holocaust survivor. (Gage does deserve credit for apologizing, though it's not surprising. He's a nice guy who doesn't want to offend people, especially not inadvertently, and it was a lapse in judgment on his part.) But other than that, it's a great look at Carol's ongoing attempts to be responsible. And there's good Alpha Flight stuff, too, especially with Aurora.

Nighthawk #5 is great. Tilda is the best. Some really funny lines, and she gets a fantastic rant of righteous fury. It's great.

Spider-Man/Deadpool #9 is really fun. The Hateful Hexad are great. I love them. I love the loser villains, they're so endearingly stupid. I am . . . uncertain about Itsy-Bitsy. Her design is pretty '90s. And her dialogue. We'll see, but I'm not liking her so far.

The Deadpool Annual: The first story, the parody of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, was awful. It wasn't funny. It wasn't clever. It wasn't an original idea, and it wasn't done with any sort of interesting or amusing twist or insight. It was just "imagine if this kids' cartoon was really violent and gory." That's been done before, and done better. This was fucking terrible. But! The Adam Warren story was great! It was short and weird and funny. It got me more interested in the Livewires series Warren did for Marvel years ago - the Gothic Lolita character is delightful. I do love Adam Warren.

Spider-Woman #11 is a great emotional issue. I loved the callback to Avengers Assemble, and Hulk making Spider-Woman a sandwich. That bit was one of my favourite things ever, because it's a thing that happened. Jessica's anger about Banner's death was great.

Captain Samerica #13 is good. Rage's rant at Sam is great. Spencer did a good job writing the outrage a lot of people feel towards police violence against blacks. I also like how Sam beat US Agent. Very clever.

Captain Steverica #5 is fairly interesting. It resolves the conflict between Totally Awesome Hulk having Banner cured of being the Hulk, and CWII having Banner search for a cure for the Hulk. So that's cool.

Totally Awesome Hulk #10 is really good. Cool exploration of Cho losing control of his anger about Banner's death. With Black Panther also being awesome throughout the issue!

Nova #11 was really good. Very cool conversation between Sam and Rich. Cool to see Sam finally grow some confidence that he's doing the right thing, and that he's meant to be Nova. And then he hits his head on a branch, because he's still Sam, and he still has to make an ass of himself.

The Dr. Strange Annual is fun. Kathryn Immonen brings a weird humour to the story, which works really well. Some nice stuff with Clea, too.

While I can understand why he's upset, I'm still a little disappointed in Bruno.

I don't know if Bruno meant half of what he said, but he's very angry at Kamala so I think she just needs to let him be in his feelings for a bit and leave him alone and he'll come around.

But this is comics so yeah....

ok, I just finally read the whole Black Knight stuff, which is to say, 5 episodes of swordfighting the Unity Squad in Weirdworld. well, there's more to it, but that's the main idea. I really liked it, such a shame it got cancelled. Weirdworld brings a tolkienesque feeling that would be very cool in Marvel. and those fire-spitting trolls look like something straight from D&D. I can only hope Dane will return at one point, even in someone else's book.

Maybe he can become an active Avenger again? He was an on-and-off member for a long time and was even a major player in the early 90's. I wouldn't mind if he showed up there again.

he's pretty damn busy with ruling New Avalon, keeping the rest of Weirdworld in check (which is to say, daily fights against fire-spitting trolls and other monsters) and not becoming too crazy with the Ebony Blade. what I had in mind was some character travelling to Weirdworld for some reason. maybe Doctor Strange or Scarlet Witch? there has to be a lot of magic shit in that island.

New Avengers #16: This arc took a left-turn into WTF with the Maker's backup plan, but the series remains solidly entertaining and crazy in some of the best ways.

Extraoardinary X-Men #14: And this one's still meandering aimlessly. We're still on the Apocalypse from the future arc, while also getting a new villain because this title's been running two separate stories simultaneously for a while now.

The most memorable thing is a really obvious and predictable fakeout over whether Forge will spontaneously betray everyone for Apocalypse, but with a punchline that actually managed to be pretty funny even though we all knew it was going there. Execution matters more than originality, and that part worked, even if the rest has just been plodding about.

Captain America: Sam Wilson #13: I've been loving every issue of this comic and this one is no exception. Sam throws down with John Walker^Hey! The U.S.Agent over the side he's taken on the comic's Fantastic Metaphor for police violence and it is glorious. A surprise reveal at the end raises the stakes for the conflict between the Captain America titles, indicating some unrest in the house of Cap and hinting at a possible Awesome Cap v. Captain Hydra conflict to come.

Spider-Gwen #12: A solid issue that concludes the Punisher arc. At least, for now. The fight scene is great, the characters are perfect. There is one moment that doesn't sit right with me: with all the witnesses to George and Gwen's farewell near the end, her secret identity should be completely busted. But it comes back from that with a spectacular ending that sets up the next arc, and I am already hyped for it.

Web Warriors #11: This comic's never really escaped the feeling of just being "Spider-Verse but more", and with this final issue, that doesn't really change. The characters are highly creative and many have distinct identities, but it's always been a hard title to get into because it's so neck-deep in fantastic elements built on top of other fantastic elements that there's not much stable ground to really grab onto. Still, it had an interesting and diverse cast, and even if the storytelling was never quite spectacular, I'm still sad to see them go.

...unless they're getting relaunched, in which case, congrats for sticking around? I don't pay a lot of attention to the monthly solicits. <.<;;

As for the issue itself, it's half a fight scene and half rushed conclusions to two separate conflicts set up. I'm not sure if the creative team knew this would be their last issues, because everything gets resolved kinda abruptly and very little of it is well explained. Most glaringly, AU Harry Osborn manages to punch out Karn, one of the Spider-slaughtering Inheritors, in an Offscreen Moment of Awesome between pages and seems no worse for wear afterwards.

The Ultimates #11: One of the biggest pitfalls of writing event tie-ins is balancing the needs of the event with the needs of the comic. Too often, it's easy to wind up putting the comic's story on hold so you can do the event, or barely even acknowledging the event for the sake of focusing solely on the story you were already writing.

This issue is neither. It is a perfect example of how to integrate the needs of the event with the needs of the comic, combining the themes and struggles of Civil War II with the themes and struggles of The Ultimates. It was the event that put Thanos here, but it's the Ultimates who use that as a fresh opportunity to explore their team purpose of solving the unsolvable, all while leading back into the thematic debate of profiling the future and the difficult question of who's right. Ultimates #11 is simultaneously a great addition to the stories of both Civil War II and to the Ultimates.

Nova #11: I feel confident assuming this one's getting a relaunch. Final issue of the current volume and it's a doozy. This is one of those issues that proves you don't need to shoehorn an obligatory fight scene into every issue to keep reader attention. It's mainly Sam meeting the Worldmind which, by the way, welcome back, Worldmind. God, I've missed that AI since Rich died.

And speaking of whom, Sam also gets to spend some time chatting with Dick Rider himself, and learning a valuable lesson about how secret identities are stupid, pointless, and only hurt the folks you love. Especially when you're a space-cop and the enemies you're trying to protect your loved ones from are Qlatunarx-9 from the Blagtuun Nebula.

I am certain this comic's coming back, so I'll just say I look forward to seeing what the next arc has in store for Sam.

Spider-Woman #11: COL Danvers is wrong. I feel it in my bones. I have since Ulysses first became a thing. There is something about his enhancement that isn't right. But at the same time, I also feel for her. I feel for her because I was Pro-Reg in the original Civil War. In Civil War II, Carol is the new Tony.

This was a great bit of character work. Jess's pain is palpable. She is crushed by what happened between Barton and Banner and her hurt and rage and big knot of emotions is visible in every panel. The break-up between Jess and Carol is as crushing as the one between Steve and Tony way back when - in the few comics that did a good job of exploring it, that is. Carol is wrong. But it's still tragic to see her best friend walk out on her.

Ms. Marvel #11: The drama! The suspense! The heartbreak! F*cking hell, was this a great issue from a great arc tying into a great event in a great title. I've said this before but if you are not reading Ms. Marvel, you are wrong about life.

The confrontation between Kamala and COL Danvers has been a long time coming and it absolutely did not disappoint. Neither did the rapport between Kamala and Stark, who remains the best apprentice-stealer. But what really made the issue stand out was the unexpected double-whammy of Bruno severing his and Kamala's friendship on the same day. Heart-rending and tragic yet, at the same time, I can't say I blame him either. This is drama, plain and simple. Emotionally powerful even when there isn't a designated bad guy involved. So good, all the chills.

The Totally Awesome Hulk #11: If you asked me years ago who I'd want to see win in a Black Panther v. Cho fight, I'd smugly call it a Sue-off and say I hope they kill each other. But that was because I was still bitter over Reginald Hudlin's run on BP. It was my first exposure to the character and I hated every second of his take on him. But recent comics, cartoons, and the Civil War movie have all done a lot of work towards seeing T'Challa Rescued from the Scrappy Heap for me. So I went into this really just wanting to see him punch Amadeus Cho's smug face in.

Amadeus is obnoxious as usual, but at least we're starting to see his Perfect Shiny Perfectness armor break down. He's on the warpath for Barton that I was pissy about him not embarking on a month or two ago, so I owe somebody a Coke. He is finally having actual trouble controlling the Hulk-Rage and that, in and of itself, makes him a better character. This event is the best thing to ever happen to Totally Awesome Hulk.

And T'Challa was nothing short of great. He and S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Oh discussing the responsibilities of the crown is possibly the best part of the issue, and the thing that finally made me realize that I no longer harbor any ill sentiment towards BP over Hudlin.

Captain Marvel #9: Chapter 4 of "Lonely at the Top" and, once again, we get a great inside look at Carol's feelings starting with a choice quote: "So much is going right. How can they not see that? Do the things that went wrong just wipe it all out? I'm fried. Trying to think of everything ... to cover all the possibilities ... and it NEVER STOPS. But it's more obvious now than ever. If I don't do this, no one will. Or someone'll do it a hell of a lot worse."

Congratulations, Carol. We've been making the comparison since the event begins, but it's finally official. Now you're Tony Stark.

And frankly, I wish Tony had gotten this kind of writing in the original Civil War because it's amazing. The writer does a fantastic job of showing how Carol is simultaneously trying to stand her ground against ethical breaches in her questionable project, while also sliding down the slippery slope all the same. With now even Alpha Flight turned against her, she is fast running out of allies. This is basically "Everyone Shits on Carol Week", but it doesn't feel half as mean-spirited as the several months of Everyone Shits on Tony.

Spider-Man / Deadpool #9: This, uh...this. A good 15 or so pages of fairly serviceable, entertaining Deadpool and Spidey banter as they fight a legion of losers from Marvel's history. Like a bonding montage without the montage. Nothing really special. Then shit gets real with the introduction of our new villain, who I honestly don't know what to make of. I'm going to have to see more of her before I can form an opinion.

Wheels are turning, plot's in motion...and I'm hoping this has something to do with Mephisto because this series can't just drop a huge OMD reference on us and then f*ck off into something completely different! Can it?

Captain America: Steve Rogers #5: This is basically a catch-up issue, covering what Cap's been doing behind the scenes since CWII began. And some of it's a bit problematic. Specifically, it accredits the Hulk vision to Hydra, claiming that they were pulling strings to trick Banner into the research that he was working on when Barton killed him.

This is an issue primarily because it's glossed over. It's a potentially earth-shattering revelation that threatens to tip the scale on one of the key inciting incidents, but it's just in there as an afterthought with very little attention or care paid to how it affects the events. Specifically, it seems to confirm that Banner really WAS going to turn into the mindless Hulk monster after all. The research was a Trojan Horse from Hydra, which completely vindicates Barton. That's an issue since it completely undermines other entries in the event, especially Totally Awesome Hulk perma-curing Banner.

It's the kind of thing that needs to be explored, not just carelessly lobbed into a montage of events. But the writing's still on par with the comic so far, so I give this issue an A for continuing the story it's telling but an F for appropriately tying into the event. Not because the idea is bad, but because the writer introduced a plot point that carries a lot more meaning than he's actually willing to ascribe to it.

Thunderbolts #5: Like Web Warriors, this title spun out of an event and was always a cooler concept than execution. The biggest problem it's always had is that it's hard to really buy the suspense and danger the characters are in when one of them is omnipotent. It takes a lot of authorial fiat to justify Kobik not just solving everything all the time - while still going back to that well a LOT anyways. Ultimately, it's not clear why this isn't just a Winter Soldier & Kobik story; the team doesn't really do anything anyway.

This issue is no exception, as the Thunderbolts barely qualify as a cameo. Fixer appears for a couple panels and that's it. It's purely a Winter Soldier story from beginning to end and although the next issue promises more Thunderbolt action, I kinda don't want it to. I want Bucky to Winter Soldier himself out of the predicament the issue lands him in. And I definitely do not want another "Kobik fixes everything" resolution yet at the same time cannot for the life of me come up with a reason for why she shouldn't, because she can solve everything in five seconds. Because she's Kobik.

That said, the fight between Bucky and Miles is great and really showcases the distinction between Bucky's skill and years of combat experience versus Miles's formidable powerset. It's the kind of quality fight choreography I don't usually expect from this series.

Civil War II: Kingpin #3: This series has been an interesting exploration of Wilson Fisk's character from the beginning and this issue is no exception. After surviving an assassination attempt last issue, we not only see the extreme measures Fisk goes to in order to ensure another attempt does not succeed, but we also see how he processes those measures emotionally.

This issue also features a great use of the Punisher. I've talked a lot about how Castle is at his best as a sort of horror movie monster for villains, and that makes him a great adversary for the Kingpin's comic because Antihero Antagonist is basically the Punisher at his best. Fisk is a character, fleshed out and developed and interesting, and Castle is a cold, methodical killing machine - more "event that happens to characters" than a character unto himself.

Nitpick: There is a point in the comic where Fisk blocks Castle's M16 with an end table. Comics tend to play fast and loose with physics, but that's just bad. Especially when Castle manages to shove a knife through said table to stab Fisk in the chest just a couple pages later.

Conclusion: This was a really good week for comics. A lot of good stuff. Even the comics I'm pretty meh on were surprisingly entertaining hits.

I love that fact that the newest spier-man deadpool introduced a literal man bear pig in bear boar man. someone needs to call al gore.

Nova has been confirmed to be getting a relaunched. In Marvel Now, there will be a Novas comic with Sam and Richard Rider co-heading the title.

Is Dick going to rebuild the Nova Corp? Because there's a handful of people in limbo that were decentish Novas

I too loved Mss. Marvel, I felt Bruno was in the right for how Kamala had been treating him and him caving in to all the problems she had caused. Kamala needs to know the pitfalls of superheroics, I think he just needs time to sort himself out now. I don't want him put on a bus but it seems that's where it's going. He'll eventually forgive her I think, even if his mind is made up.

Just a shame they went a cliched route with this though, as much as it's a lesson Kamala badly needed to learn, it does make the book slightly less uplifting and it'll leave a void.

No clue. When he speaks to Sam the background changes due to them talking inside Worldmind◊ and the new/disbanded Corps with Robbie etc isn't featured despite earlier confirmation that they're still out there in space somewhere doing what they can even without Nova power.

I really feel bad I missed out on ms marvel from the start I got the first two trades from work and its a pretty damn fun series

Does Rich still have the Worldmind with him? Because Sam didn't take it when he left, which was bugging me while I was reading the issue. Like, this is the collected knowledge of all Nova Corps, you are the last of the Nova Corps, and you're just going to leave it in the asscrack of space?

For the new Novas series, I'd love to see Rich and Sam work on recruitment. Like the X-Men, the Nova Corps concept loses a lot when they're a hop, skip, and a jump away from complete annihilation. Annihilation was a great arc and a lot of interesting stories have spun out of it, but "the LAST of the Nova Corps!" has been a plot point for a while now. I think I'm ready to put it to bed.

edited 30th Sep '16 7:22:37 AM by TobiasDrake

Not addressed. Rich better try to find his brother who's missing in space since 2010(which is ~2 616 years not counting the time skips)and his former Corps members+Namorita.

Would be fun to find Robbie with a young daughter or other child since the last Nova of the future/691 had the last name Rider◊.