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HamburgerTime Since: Apr, 2010
#1: Jul 18th 2012 at 3:22:58 PM

I suck at introductions, so, long story short, the discussion topic for this thread is in the title.

In my case, my favorite storyline in any comic that I've read thus far is, without question, Grant Morrison's "Here Comes Tomorrow," otherwise known as New X-Men issues 151 to 154. Now, this storyline is very controversial (in fact there's some guy complaining about it on the YMMV page, which I really should clean up), probably owing mostly to the fact that it's very, very strange, but I'll try to get across the reasons that I like it here, and there are four of them:

First off, it's very, very strange. Yes, the exact reason some people hate it is the very reason I love it. I've grown quite partial to Mind Screws over the years, and can Morrison ever dish them out! That's the main reason why he's in the running for my favorite writer of any kind of fiction. I actually get sort of a "natural high" from experiencing a well-crafted Mind Screw, and it feels quite good. This story is full of all sorts of weird scientific gibberish and metaphysical gobbledegook that makes you lap it up and beg for more, particularly with all the "Aha!" moments sprinkled therein. It's screwy, but it makes sense, in that in within all the bizarre dialogue you can pick out the revelations and say "Oh, so that's what Weapon XIV was!"

Second, it's a very natural-feeling coda to the overall themes of Morrison's run. In his third issue on the title, Morrison has Beast discover that in at most four generations, mutants will be the dominant species on Earth. This sets the theme for the entire run: that the future (in this case mutants) is coming whether we like it or not, and we must all accept and be prepared for it. The theme of "the future" appears throughout Morrison's run, which is really more sci-fi comic than superhero, with advanced technology and crazy Cosmic Beings abounding, and "Here Comes Tomorrow" itself takes place in the distant future. What it also does it reveal the absolutely perfect villain for a story about embracing whatever the future holds: the very first self-aware lifeform on Earth, the sentient bacterium Sublime. Sublime was revealed to have orchestrated everything that happened in Morrison's run, all for the express purpose of wiping mutantkind off the face of the planet. Why? Because carrying the X-gene entails immunity to infection by Sublime. Just think about it. Sublime is the ultimate antagonist for a piece about how accepting the future is a good thing. He's essentially every crotchety old man who never shuts up about how much better the 1950s were than the 2010s taken Up To Eleven; for Sublime, the "good old days" were three billion years ago in the primordial Cambrian ooze, and he can't accept that the world has progressed beyond that, so therefore, everything must be destroyed. Is he a strawman? Maybe a bit; it's pretty clear Morrison thinks that the past wasn't all that great, but I'm not sure you could find a better villain for a pro-future story than what is almost literally the past attempting to destroy the future to save itself (incidentally, I'm told there's a Buffy The Vampire Slayer comic with almost the exact opposite premise).

Third, it gives a satisfying coda to one particular character: Jean Grey, the Phoenix. First, something must be understood. Morrison, despite all the flak he receives for doing this, didn't want to kill Jean. Those orders came from the editors, who felt she was Too Powerful to Live. In fact, one of the things about comics Morrison seems to be strongly against is the fact that many stories end before they can be completely told. This is particularly apparent if you've read his Final Crisis, whose villain, Mandrakk, is essentially the sentient, metafictional embodiment of tropes like Aborted Arc and Stuffed into the Fridge. Alas, killing Jean was in his contract, so it would appear Morrison intended to give her not just a death but an ending. Thus, Jean takes her rightful place as the cosmic embodiment of all life, a fundamental force of the universe eclipsed in power only by... bigger fundamental forces of the universe. And I actually like her that way. It was fairly satisfying, and if she never comes down to this plane of existence again, I'm actually pretty cool with that.

Fourth, it serves as a commentary on the comic book industry itself, though I'm not sure if Morrison intended it to be so or not. On the one hand, Morrison really likes doing that; the aforementioned Final Crisis in particular is basically all about the flaws of the industry and why it's so great nevertheless, so it would be completely in character for Morrison to use metafictional commentary here. On the other hand, most of the things Morrison seems to be commenting on... hadn't actually happened yet. There's frequent talk (mostly from the Stepford Cuckoos) about great, unknown calamities that basically did nothing except make the world more depressing, and "holes" in existence that are corrupting everything, and how the world refuses to change and will ultimately destroy itself through stagnation. Sounds a whole lot like Marvel's Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy era (approx. Civil War to Siege), doesn't it? The thing is, most of this didn't happen until after Morrison was gone. So, eerie coincidence and me just reading too deeply, Morrison's highly accurate guess about the immediate future of comics, or is Morrison... a wizard (no, wait, that's Alan Moore)?

I'm not blind to the flaws in even my favorite things, however, and "Here Comes Tomorrow" definitely has one: creator favoritism. As I said, the story takes place in the future, a future in which the only surviving characters that we'd recognize are characters either created by Morrison or used by him in the issues set in the present day.

So, that's "Here Comes Tomorrow." Apologies for the herd of teal deer. Like it, don't like it, none of my business. If you do want to check it out, the entire arc (and indeed the entire run) is available on Marvel's website, so it's as simple as getting an account there.

edited 18th Jul '12 3:28:21 PM by HamburgerTime

VampireBuddha Calendar enthusiast from Ireland (Wise, aged troper) Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
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#2: Jul 20th 2012 at 7:05:11 AM

Interesting. Must read that some time. I don't suppose it's available in a downloadable format?

By the way, Morrison is a wizard. No, seriously, an actual wizard. I have a book on modern occultism somewhere, and the very first chapter in it is an article by Morrison on how to cast magic spells.

As for my favourite arc, "The Apocalypse War" was narrowly beaten out by "Portrait of a Mutant" from Strontium Dog. This story, told almost entirely in flashback, is Johnny's origin story, and it's also a potent warning of the dangers of race discrimination.

So let's set the scene. It's 2050. A nuclear war has just ended, and Britain is starting to rebuild. Due to strontium-90 fallout, pregnant women who go outside give birth to mutants.

But these mutants aren't X-Men, who look like unusually attractive humans but have widely diverse powers. No, in the entire history of Strontium Dog, I would say there are less than five mutants whose mutations are in any way beneficial. All the rest are merely disfigured in some way, with things like misplaced organs, animalistic features, or bumpy skin. The norms, shocked at the new births, turn on the mutants for various reasons ranging from ignorance to fear of contagion to the mutants being living reminders of the horror they have just gone through.

Into this milieu comes Nelson Bunker Kreelman, a deeply unpleasant individual and an ambitious politician who runs on a platform of "Down With Mutants!" As time goes on, he rises within the government, eventually attaining the rank of Minister for Mutations and gaining enough influence within the House of Commons and the general populace that he can openly defy the prime minister. Also, he and his followers take to dressing like Nazis and holding mass rallies.

This story was written in 1981, and was informed by apartheid-related violence in South Africa and the rise of the National Front in Britain. I read it in 2009, at a time when the BNP had made significant gains in the wake of The Recession, and the message seemed as important and chilling today as it did before I was born - those who look different are people too, and their suffering is no less serious than yours. Also, ordinary people can support evil regimes, and evil prevails when good men do nothing. Heck, even when good men do act, they can't really eradicate the evil that lurks in peoples' hearts.

And good men do indeed act. Kreelman's wife, Diana, bears him a son named John; due to being caught in a strontium shower, John ends up mutated, with the ability to emit α rays from his eyes. This gives him X-ray vision and short-range telepathy and {{mind rape}} powers. Long story short, Kreelman tries to keep Johnny locked up, and Johnny runs away to Milton Keynes where he joins the mutant army.

Some time later, when Kreelman starts instituting actual concentration camps for mutants, the mutants ghettoes stage an uprising and occupy Upminster, the new seat of the British government which hovers above what remains of London and can relocate if need be. This brings me on to my second reason for loving "Portrait of a Mutant": it introduces much of the rest of the supporting cast, including Middenface McNulty, the Torso from Newcastle, and Evans the Fist.

Overall, it's a story with a lot of exciting action and a message that can still be relevant 30 years after it first appeared. It's also quite a dark story, as regardless of what the mutants achieve, they no longer get to live on Earth, and the attitudes and sentiments on which Kreelman coasted remain the same, so the only improvement in the lives of those who remain is that the government is no longer overtly trying to kill them.

If you're interested, the whole thing was reprinted in Strontium Dog: Search/Destroy Agency Files volume 2.

Ukrainian Red Cross
TheMightyHeptagon Since: Aug, 2011
#3: Aug 1st 2012 at 11:37:39 AM

I think I wrote most of those complaints (or all of them...)

Sorry about that sad I hope I didn't offend anyone too much

As for my favorite... Brian Michael Bendis' Daredevil run has had a special place in my heart ever since I read it back in High School, and I've reread it multiple times since then. The highlight of it, for me, would probably be the story arc right at the middle (I think it starts with "Lowlife" and continues with "Hardcore") where they introduced his relationship with Milla Donovan and ultimately had him take out the Kingpin and declare himself Hell's Kitchen's new crimelord.

I really love the bottom-up vision of the Marvel Universe that Bendis gave us with that one, where we get a real look at the superheroes who have to strive for justice at the absolute lowest point of society and deal with battles that are never consequence-free. It's worth reading just for Alex Meleev's grainy artwork, but Bendis really took that comic in places that I never expected he would.

All in all, it's probably one of the best examples of the whole "superhero gone bad" story that I've ever seen in a Marvel book, just for how morally ambiguous it gets at times. Matt never completely loses your sympathy or becomes needlessly violent, but we see the kind of person that it really takes to devote himself to battling crime on the frontlines of the criminal underworld, and we see why decisions are never easy to make in an environment like that. Is he ultimately right or wrong? You can answer the question either way you want and still enjoy the story immensely.

It helps that he also did an another arc a little bit earlier where Matt never actually donned the Daredevil suit, and actually resolved the entire plot just by using his skills in the courtroom ( or almost did, anyway...). It reminds us that he's not a thug, just a man who seeks justice in any way he has to.

Instead of just making Matt Murdock a borderline Villain Protagonist (like some writers might have), it honestly just made me love him more. He became that rare example of a dedicated crime fighter who has zero illusions about the difficulty of his job, but actually finds the strength to quit angsting and get results, and never gives it up simply because he knows it's his duty to do the right thing. Contrasted with his burgeoning relationship with Milla (one of my favorite love stories in comics) it works very well—we get to see Matt's struggle to balance his loving, human side with his uncompromising, violent side on a very real level, and we feel all of the pain that he does. Very well done.

As an X Men fan, I should probably mention how much I love The Dark Phoenix Saga too... Though it's a completely different type of story, it has a lot of what made me love Bendis' Daredevil run so much: stories with Black-and-Grey Morality and real, painful moral choices, but also plenty of room for the frenetic action, and fast-paced storytelling and likable characters that made me fall in love with Marvel in the first place.

(The Dark Phoenix Saga tends to get most of the street cred, but "From the Ashes" is also one of my favorites, just because it's the one that introduced me to Claremont's X-Men back when I was 12. I've been a devoted X-fan since then.)

edited 1st Aug '12 11:40:31 AM by TheMightyHeptagon

HamburgerTime Since: Apr, 2010
#4: Aug 1st 2012 at 11:52:17 AM

[up] No hard feelings; in fact, I tip my hat to you for (apparently) being the only other guy maintaining the page. Some things on YMMV seem a touch nattery, that's all.

andersonh1 Since: Apr, 2009
#5: Aug 1st 2012 at 1:06:09 PM

One of my favorite arcs ever is "The Road Back", the first eight issues of Green Lantern volume 3 back in 1990, written by Gerard Jones and pencilled by Pat Broderick. This was my introduction to Green Lantern and Hal Jordan, and made me a fan of the character. The story takes three essentially broken Green Lanterns (drifter Hal Jordan, guilt-ridden and near suicidal John Stewart and utter jerk, loudmouth Guy Gardner) and sets all three on the road to improvement,though only Hal really gets there during this storyline. Guy shows that he has redeeming qualities and John Stewart, while largely a victim and pawn of the Mad Guardian, is right around the corner from being put in charge of the Mosaic world and finding some healing and peace after he allowed Xanshi to be destroyed.

It's a story that does many things. It allows Hal Jordan to age, giving him grey hair and a 15 year history as a member of the Green Lantern Corps. It makes him a thoughtful and soul-searching veteran, who isn't sure he even has a purpose in life any more without his career and with no Corps. The story begins to rebuild the Corp from the ground up and restore the Guardians to the universe as well. It offers plenty of action, but also takes its time in building up to the climax of the story without feeling like a modern decompressed comic. Eight issues of story and I'm left wanting more when it's over, not sighing with relief that we've finally reached the end. I was re-reading it recently and while the main plot is progressing in the background of issues 1-3, each issue also presents a self-contained story that ends with some resolution while still leading into the next issue. The initial plot arc, which consists of Guy Gardner harassing Hal Jordan for wanting to quit the Green Lantern "hero" lifestyle, is wrapped up in three issues, leaving the larger story to unfold from there on. It's a well-structured story.

"The Road Back" made me a Green Lantern fan, and a fan of Hal Jordan. I wish this version of the character still existed. It's a shame that four years later would see the character turned into Parallax and ruined for years until "Final Night" gave him a merciful death via heroic sacrifice, and the fix fic "Rebirth" brought him back.

edited 1st Aug '12 1:10:16 PM by andersonh1

TheMightyHeptagon Since: Aug, 2011
#6: Aug 1st 2012 at 3:22:35 PM

[up] Do you know if you can get it as a paperback?

edited 1st Aug '12 3:22:42 PM by TheMightyHeptagon

Tiamatty X-Men X-Pert from Now on Twitter Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: Brony
#7: Aug 1st 2012 at 7:55:08 PM

You know, as lackluster as Fear Itself was as a whole, the Journey Into Mystery tie-in was phenomenal. Kid Loki makes deals with at least three devils (Mephisto, Hela, Surtur), deceives and manipulates everyone he meets, and the pay-off is the death of the Serpent. It's dark and there's a real sense of danger with everything he's doing, but it's also hilarious. Kid Loki is doing some Very bad Things, and you're not totally sure why he's doing most of them, where he's going, but you can still see that he's a hero at heart.

And then the final, wrap-up issue, #630 with Volstagg telling his kids about the whole event . . . wow. That is a ridiculously good issue. One of the all-time best single issues I have ever read. It starts off cute and fun, but then just all of a sudden, it becomes bittersweet and just . . . a beautiful issue.

And then two issues later, we got hel-puppies.

The Fear Itself tie-in arc also had a really good Mephisto filler issue.

X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.
andersonh1 Since: Apr, 2009
#8: Aug 2nd 2012 at 5:08:09 AM

Do you know if you can get it as a paperback?

I know it was available at one point since I have the trade, but the copy I have was published not too long after the story originally ran in the monthly comic, so I don't know if it's still in print or not. You might find it on Ebay or Amazon or wherever.

NateTheGreat Since: Jan, 2001
#9: Sep 13th 2012 at 2:41:01 PM

I'm a fan of the Avengers and Defenders, so of course I enjoyed the Avengers/Defenders war. It was especially clever how the villain got the Avengers to hate the Defenders by telling a warped version of the truth, but never outright lying.

Tiamatty X-Men X-Pert from Now on Twitter Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: Brony
#10: Sep 13th 2012 at 3:17:49 PM

I'm already loving the Everything Burns crossover arc between Journey Into Mystery and Mighty Thor. But Gillen's involved, so of course it's awesome. But holy shit the newest issue of JIM is awesome. I love Kid Loki. One of the best characters ever.

X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.
LushCity Since: Aug, 2012
#11: Sep 15th 2012 at 2:28:21 PM

If we're saying 'arc" and not run, then its Joss Whedon's Astonshing X-men opener. The dude's first mainstream comic and he's coming after Grant Morrison of all people, and not only does he hit out the park, he gets an Eisner. At that point I had to be grudngly execpt the glory that is Whedon.

TheMightyHeptagon Since: Aug, 2011
#12: Sep 16th 2012 at 2:22:04 PM

[up] I'd count that one as an arc, just because of how well Joss managed to tie every story in it together. Four separate stories (the Mutant Cure, the birth of Danger, Emma's posession, and the Breakworlders' weapon) that easily could have stood on their own, but fitting together the way they did, they made up the best 24 issues I've ever read in one sitting.

Lots of great emotional moments, and the final battle on the Breakworld was one of the best climaxes I've ever seen.

Jhimmibhob Since: Dec, 2010
#13: Sep 17th 2012 at 6:45:59 AM

[up][up]Agreed, mostly ... though it's hard to forgive Whedon for bringing back the silly costumes. Plus, the man brought Colossus back to life. I don't care how well you do it, or to what degree you lampshade it: once you avail yourself of the Revolving Door of Death, you're part of the problem.

edited 17th Sep '12 6:49:31 AM by Jhimmibhob

TheMightyHeptagon Since: Aug, 2011
#14: Sep 17th 2012 at 5:36:45 PM

[up]Yeah, but he did it a lot more tastefully than most writers would have.

His resurrection was actually an important plot point, and it served as an entry into restarting the old Colossus/Kitty pairing, which grew into a really well-done tragic love story.

And as for the costumes...if you really hate "silly costumes" that much, why do you bother reading X-Men in the first place?

TamH70 Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#15: Sep 22nd 2012 at 8:39:27 AM

All of Nemesis the Warlock's run on 2000 A.D. up to the penultimate Book, which took the character development of all the main cast, "good" guys and "bad" guys and those caught in the middle and took a great big dump all over it. There's a wikipedia page, of course,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_the_Warlock

But the map, as usual, does not fit the territory.

VampireBuddha Calendar enthusiast from Ireland (Wise, aged troper) Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
DrFurball Since: Jan, 2001
#17: Sep 26th 2012 at 10:05:55 PM

Amazing Spider Man #31-33, by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. The most iconic display of Spider-Man's Determinator status and ends with a nice little heartwarming note that was unusual for the Spidey stories of the time.

Silver Age perfection.

NULLcHiLD27 Since: Oct, 2010
#18: Sep 26th 2012 at 11:00:59 PM

Swamp Thing (Vol. 2) #25 - 31/Annual #2.

I think this was Alan Moore's best writing (especially the ending monologue in #31, which almost makes my heart skip every time I read it) and that it did a great job of working up to the return of Arcane and I thought the annual was a great payoff.

It also made me a definitive fan of Moore and Swamp Thing, as well as an avid comic reader, so there's that.

shastab24 Since: Dec, 2010
#19: Sep 27th 2012 at 9:33:26 PM

Another writer to follow Grant Morrison, Rachel Pollack worked a bit to find her footing in Doom Patrol. She got into her own groove with the Fox and Crow arc and then had her amazing Tieresias War. It's my favorite of her run, even if the art is atrocious. It's a story of identity and what it means to live outside a social binary, while accepting those within.

Of course, I also like her Time Breakers. A nice cohesive story about time travel in a way that people really don't do it. Good art this time, too.

Robbery Since: Jul, 2012
#20: Sep 29th 2012 at 11:51:18 PM

"The Judas Contract" by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. It was everything that was good about their run in the New Teen Titans, and firmly demonstrated just why Dick Grayson, whether as Robin or Nightwing, was the guy in charge.

SlendidSuit Freelance Worrywart from Probably a Pub Since: Oct, 2011
Freelance Worrywart
#21: Oct 25th 2012 at 1:07:56 AM

Hmm. Bit of a tie.

Does WE 3 count as a story arc? Because that's a simply gorgeous book. One of Morrison's best imo.

In terms of more Mainstream stuff, I am really enjoying 52, three volumes down and I'm loving every minute. It reminds me of why I got into reading comics in a way.

And the final contender is probably all of Transmetropolitan, because credit where credit is due.

Gimme yer lunch money, dweeb.
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#22: Oct 25th 2012 at 8:32:26 AM

I loved the very brief period of time between Spider-Man's unmasking in Civil War and Back In Black. Especially a two or three-issue arc in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man in which Spidey had to battle Mysterio in the high school he worked at. That remains my favorite Spider-Man story ever. It's funny, makes great use of all the characters involved, and really shows what Peter Parker's life would be like if all the villains knew his identity, while avoiding the cliche of "Villain attacks his girlfriend, oh no!" and just being a good, solid "Villain attacks Peter's personal life" story.

edited 25th Oct '12 8:34:14 AM by TobiasDrake

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Kentok Earth-Pig Born from Upper Iest Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: You can be my wingman any time
Earth-Pig Born
#23: Oct 25th 2012 at 11:44:25 AM

The Church & State arc in Cerebus. Typically, I would say Jaka's Story but C&S has a incredibly epic feel to it towards the end. It is definitely the definitive arc in the entire 300 issues and where the series reached it's peak of popularity.

You can get what you want and still not be very happy.
HamburgerTime Since: Apr, 2010
#24: Oct 25th 2012 at 11:48:16 AM

[up][up] That's the arc that had Hell-Mysterio, which I still think could be used as a convenient back door for you-know-what.

Kentok Earth-Pig Born from Upper Iest Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: You can be my wingman any time
Earth-Pig Born
#25: Oct 30th 2012 at 7:09:45 PM

Oh, and how could I forget Daredevil Born Again?

It's quite possibly the ultimate superhero story arc if you ask me. Anyone remotely interested in the character should read it, though I'd advise that you read up a little on Daredevil first...since the storyline acts as something of a "grand finale" for the Frank Miller run.

You can get what you want and still not be very happy.

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