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This thread's for talking about the Marvel Comics line, whether the comics are decades old or brand new.

As well as the superhero tales of the Marvel Universe, that also includes all the other things Marvel's done (Epic Comics, Icon Comics, Star Comics and all the rest), as well as the older stories by Atlas and Timely, the companies that later became Marvel.

Acquisitions like Malibu Comics and Miracleman are also on-topic, as are the licensed 20th Century Studios titles, the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Zoids and Transformers comics, and all of the comics created locally by regional imprints like Marvel UK and Marvel Italia.

  • We have dedicated threads for some groups of titles (such as Spider-Man and the X-Men). You can still discuss them here, but you might want to use the more specific threads.
  • We also have threads for Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Predator and some of the other franchises. Sometimes it may be more useful to discuss the comics there rather than here — but they're still on-topic and there's no hard rule.

Technically, Marvel's Infinity Comics (and their predecessors, Infinite Comics) are webcomics, not comic books, but it's fine to talk about them here.

Discussions that are only about Marvel adaptations in other media (films, video games etc.) are off-topic, but discussing the differences between the adaptations and the original comics is fine - as long as spoilers for the adaptations are tagged.

Please follow the spoiler policy rules - tag spoilers for the latest issues, for any previews or content leaks, and for off-topic comics (e.g. if comparing Marvel to a DC story). When including spoiler tags, try to write so that tropers can make an informed decision before viewing them (e.g. which series and issue will they spoil?).

    Original text of OP 
A thread for all the miscellaneous Marvel discussion that doesn't have its own thread.

So apparently, they're making a Black Panther movie. Let's hope Hudlin is kept as far away as possible. On a related note, anyone think that the whole 'Super Hero that is also a King/Ruler' is kind of ridiculous? I mean where do heroes like Aquaman and T'Challa find the time to both lead a nation and go gallavanting on the other side of the globe?

Edited by Mrph1 on Sep 1st 2024 at 8:36:28 PM

Whowho Since: May, 2012
#53776: Feb 27th 2022 at 12:33:45 PM

News of it seems pretty scarse. Marvel didn't do any kind of announcement.

slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#53777: Feb 27th 2022 at 12:38:12 PM

Wonder what’s the story behind Runaways.

It’s not like the characters aren’t still bankable, hell Nico is appearing as a playable character in the upcoming Midnight Suns game.

Edited by slimcoder on Feb 27th 2022 at 1:05:08 AM

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Whowho Since: May, 2012
#53778: Feb 27th 2022 at 12:57:59 PM

Definatly feels like something happened behind the scenes.

HamburgerTime Since: Apr, 2010
#53779: Feb 27th 2022 at 1:02:43 PM

Yeah, you usually are given enough issues to do at least a rush-job ending these days, which makes me wonder if this was due to somebody pissing somebody off.

shanejayell Since: Jun, 2011
#53780: Feb 27th 2022 at 1:50:45 PM

Well, the author is still working for Marvel so... who knows?

Whowho Since: May, 2012
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#53782: Feb 27th 2022 at 2:01:12 PM

Its especially weirder since Runaways lasted 38 issues which is....... really long when you think about it. Most series nowadays, even the ones more high-profile than Runaways rarely ever gets to that number without being relaunched.

Wonder what changed.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Whowho Since: May, 2012
#53783: Feb 27th 2022 at 2:09:22 PM

Prior to it's cancellation it was dropped down to one issue every two months, but I figured that was due to the pandemic.

shanejayell Since: Jun, 2011
#53784: Feb 27th 2022 at 2:09:56 PM

Marvel might have been keeping a low selling monthly going in the hopes that trade sales would make up for it. If the trade sales also went off. that might do it.

Tho it still doesn't explain the sudden cancel.

PizzaDog11 Pizza is my business from closer than you think Since: Mar, 2018 Relationship Status: Holding out for a hero
Pizza is my business
#53785: Feb 27th 2022 at 4:40:36 PM

If it was living on trade sales (and it seems like sort of series which would), going bi-monthly may have killed it. A year is a LONG time to go between trades

Akirakan Since: Feb, 2015 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#53786: Feb 27th 2022 at 5:20:06 PM

I imagine they just wanted to go in a new direction (and I wouldn't be surprised that Rowell is still involved).

The Runaways were teased to seemingly form a new Young Avengers team. They might be waiting the right timing to announce a relaunch.

HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#53787: Feb 27th 2022 at 6:09:53 PM

That seems pretty unlikely.

Gert would rather burn in the fiery pits of hell than become a super hero.

Sure, there's her future self who is a super hero, but upon meeting her, Gert said fuck that shit and rejected it hard.

Plus, Super Heroes (namely the Avengers) have kinda screwed over the kids multiple times (sans Hank Pym sadly enough).

One Strip! One Strip!
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#53788: Feb 27th 2022 at 6:12:33 PM

Since the Runaways was brought up again, I'll draw attention to one little detail Whowho may have missed concerning Alex.

Remember when he told Molly he'd throw up any food he ate due to being undead? Well, note that he's casually eating cookies in his last appearance.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#53789: Feb 27th 2022 at 6:18:57 PM

[up][up] This looks like a job for the Defenders!

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Whowho Since: May, 2012
#53790: Feb 27th 2022 at 11:59:43 PM

[up][up] Oh yeah that is an interesting point.

The timeless tease also very clearly shows Alex's Doc Justice helmet, and while certain members of the Runaways would never want to be heroes, Alex and Karolina are the ones who would.

A combined runaways and young avengers roster would appease me it must be said. Curious.

RedHunter543 Crimson Paladin Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Crimson Paladin
#53791: Feb 28th 2022 at 12:50:06 AM

So when is Daredevil regarded to have gotten good as a comic series?

Because thinking on it, I knew I shouldn't have started with Essential Daredevil back when I was a kid.

Like I said, my major introduction to him was Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and the 90s Spider-Man cartoon.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Feb 28th 2022 at 3:50:45 PM

"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#53792: Feb 28th 2022 at 1:09:17 AM

Was it the Frank Millar run or someone before him?

Edited by slimcoder on Feb 28th 2022 at 1:09:29 AM

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Tiamatty X-Men X-Pert from Now on Twitter Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: Brony
#53793: Feb 28th 2022 at 2:07:59 AM

[up][up] I'd say it started when Roger Mc Kenzie took over as writer in the late '70s, and especially when Miller came on as artist. Miller taking over writing duties was what cemented Daredevil's status as a Great Comic. (It was Mc Kenzie, with artist Gene Colan, who created Ben Urich. And I feel like the introduction of Urich was arguably the turning point for Daredevil.)

X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#53794: Feb 28th 2022 at 2:14:23 AM

Huh right looking over my Daredevil: Frank Miller and Klaus Janson book 1, Roger Mc Kenzie is the main writer for most of the issues until Miller took became the primary writer near the end.

And his books have the same serious tone as Miller's run, even an issue where Bullseye goes absolutely insane from a tumor in his head and starts hallucinating everyone as Daredevil driving him into a maddened frenzy.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
RedM Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: You can be my wingman any time
#53795: Feb 28th 2022 at 9:27:10 AM

In regards to Future Gert being the leader of the Avengers, I was always like... "Ok, but what does she do? Is her power still just owning a dinosaur?" Which would be kinda funny, I guess, if she was just a Hawkeye-type Badass Normal who just shouted "Avengers, Assemble!" and then ran around the battlefield doing kung fu while Old Lace bit people.

I've been reading a lot of the pre-Ultimatum Ultimate line recently. While the quality of those stories really varies, I do like the whole superhuman arms race aspect of it. In theory, it's supposed to feel like a more thematically cohesive, tight-knit shared universe, but it doesn't always succeed. I'm not just talking about Early-Installment Weirdness from before the whole universe thing was planned out, like mentions of Reed Richards in Ultimate Spidey and the entirety of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up. I'm not just talking about how, as of Ultimates 3, Wasp is Caucasian and Mjolnir looks like the 616 cinderblock instead of an axe-hammer. I'm talking about little things like how Mark Millar writes Thor as a chill hippie who speaks regular English, while other writers give him lines like "yea, verily". Or how Ultimate FF can never, within the pages of one series, decide how old the characters are supposed to be. Reed jumps between 18 and 22, and his little sister is a teenager in one arc and apparently 8 in the next. Oh well. I at least enjoyed Ultimates 2 more than the first volume, at least because it seems willing to engage with the imperialism and shady stuff instead of just being like "look at all this unpleasant stuff."

Shifting gears, I got around to reading Brubaker's Captain America, and, wuddayaknow, it's good! I'm up to Cap's "death". So far, I'm really struck by how the company's vision toward Cap has changed. The Nick Spencer run and (from what I've heard) Ta-Nehisi Coates's run are using Captain America as a statement on America and its history and the fractured promises of the American founding and trying to live up to ideals that never really existed and blah blah blah, while Brubaker's run so far is pretty divorced from that. It doesn't really ask questions other than "What if Cap had a fight on a train?" and "What if Bucky was alive after 60 years and was an assassin?" I think the death of the Red Skull in the first issue singlehandedly makes this one of the greatest first issues ever in terms of getting you hooked to read the rest.

Edited by RedM on Feb 28th 2022 at 10:28:06 AM

The very best, like no one ever was. Check out my Spider-Man fanfic here! [1]
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#53796: Feb 28th 2022 at 10:02:37 AM

Yeah I read the start of the Brubaker run too, a greater emphasis on spy fiction and espionage.

The current change to Captain America stories presumably is due to the current stuff going on in the US.

Man I feel bad that while Bucky got all the good shit in Brubaker, Sam's Cap run got Nick Spencer.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
TheEvilDrBolty Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: I'd need a PowerPoint presentation
#53797: Feb 28th 2022 at 10:36:44 AM

Brubaker's run gets more political after Steve's death, though. Bucky's first arc is dealing with a right-wing outsider presidential candidate who is being set up as the puppet of a Russian oligarch who is possessed by a Nazi.

...this was written in 2008.

Edited by TheEvilDrBolty on Feb 28th 2022 at 1:38:09 PM

slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#53798: Feb 28th 2022 at 10:40:08 AM

Man I gotta get the Death of Captain America omnibus

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#53799: Feb 28th 2022 at 10:53:06 AM

Aside from the usual adage "everything is political", I am pretty sure it's impossible to write a Captain America run without getting overtly political in some level. It's a man draped in the US flag, politics are in his bones.

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
TheEvilDrBolty Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: I'd need a PowerPoint presentation
#53800: Feb 28th 2022 at 11:10:14 AM

[up] Having read a lot of old-school Cap at this point...yeah. The strongest options with Cap are either political allegories (like how John Walker is so very explicitly "Captain America as hired by the Reagan Administration," or more subtly, how the original Baron Blood story uses the Nazi vampire trope to tell a story about British social class) or stories about war trauma, leaving for war and coming back irrevocably changed (which the nap in the ice and every Bucky story are implicitly about).


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