Random comics I miss
Apr. 30th, 2007 08:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreJust random comic books I miss.
Generation X: Often weird and convoluted, well written only half the time, yet probably one of my top 5 comicbooks ever. I don't think I've ever read a comic book that featured a stronger or more crucial bond between the characters. Often it seemed the only thing in the world that they had was each other, and in several cases, that was true. Also? The not "not pretty" portion of the mutant population was about even with the "pretty" portion, as opposed to your usual X-book(or team book in general) where most are pretty and one or two token ones who aren't. The kids and teachers didn't like each other, their methods, etc., but they needed each other, and eventually, whether or not they liked each other became as irrelevant as liking or disliking your sibling is...like them or not, you love them and will do anything and scarifice anything for them. Also? They weren't in it to be heroes, just to survive. The only ones(as written for years) who would go on and become heroes are Jubilee(because it was the only life she knew and option she had beyond solitude, and being alone was the only thing she really feared) Paige(who, though she really did have a heroic nature, was mostly in it to prove she WOULDN'T screw up like she saw her brother Sam doing) and Everett, the token all american hero. The rest? Wouldn't be caught dead being a hero unless it was to keep an eye on or be with one of the others. The ONLY way I'm able to live Jono joining the X-Men is by telling myself that he only did it because he knew Jubilee and Paige would never speak to him again if he didn't. (This is also why I often find it hard to read most of their scattered post-GenX appearances...they completely miss the point of YEARS of characterization and what defined the characters) It wasn't a book about future heroes, it was a book about irredeemably screwed up, damaged kids(even Everett, the normal one ad the voice of reason at times, had his darker side) who only had each other trying to figure out what to do in a world that didn't want them. Though Marvel has tried to recreate the dynamic of the team with the "nothing but each other" theme in Runaways and, to a lesser degree, Academy X, they've never quite succeeeded. Also? The combo of the White Queen and Banshee is flatout the coolest superhuman teaching combo ever. And not once did they feel compelled to pair them off. (Fear the day I sit down and reread Generation X and post on it...fear it and tremble at the idea of the spam that will fill your flist if I'm in one of those moods)
New Warriors-The real ones, not the jokes Marvel has been trying to convince us they've always been. The stray young heroes gathered together by a sociopathic Batman clone(I love Night Thrasher-more than Batman-to bits but hey, he is what he is) to tackle the crimes and villains the the big guns were too busy fighting off Ultron and the likes to deal with. Urban superheroes with an edge, but unlike all the modern ones, they really WERE heroes, through and through. They screwed up, stepped on toes, occassionally hated each others' guts and always stood by each other(except when Thrash got a little too high strung at times, but he always got over it.) Despite what Marvel has been insisting the last few years, they may not have always been good, but they were NEVER jokes. Like Generation X, subsequent attempts to recreate them just haven't held up.
Ruse and The First-For the most part, I'm over CrossGen, but I love these two books and miss them like crazy. A Victorian paranormal mystery series about a detective who makes Holmes look open, friendly and maybe a little dim and his lovely, plucky, witty and long suffering assistant? How could I resist. And a soap opera of the gods with one of the hottest antiheroes/villains ever? *shiny*
More Than Mortal-Irish history and mythology about a girl who's the child of the gods guided by a cursed priest and the ghost of her ancestor? Awesomeness. They're bringing the book back, but it'll be about Brigit, not Derdre. And, while I like Brigit, I find the book rather boring when it's about her...she's too much the perfect warrior, while Derdre is young, flawed and learning. Also, Brigit's time and conflict are pretty much the most welltrod path in celtic fantasy, while Derdre's are considerably less well trod.
Thunderbolts-Like New Warriors, the real ones. The supervillains who pretended to be heroes and fell for their own con. Screw ups trying again and again to get it right in a world that thinks their still pulling a con, and heroes who've fought them and heard the line to many times to think that they can get it right, even if they do believe their intentions are good. The current series isn't about redemption or just wanting to be appreciated, it's villains who don't care squat about redemption, just about playing nice for a while so they can get a free ride to a new life.
Chuck Dixon era Birds of Prey-Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Gail's run, despite a few rough patches, but it's all about sisterhood and girl power*which is great, but not the same as what it started as). Chuck Dixon took two female characters who, at the time, were defined by physical abuse against them-Oracle's being shot and crippled, Black Canary's being tortured after attempting to take on a group of criminals by herself-being used to motivate mean in their lives-Batman and Green Arrow-into action and greater levels of violence than what they'd engaged in before, and made them serious contenders.
There are others, but my fingers are tired.
Generation X: Often weird and convoluted, well written only half the time, yet probably one of my top 5 comicbooks ever. I don't think I've ever read a comic book that featured a stronger or more crucial bond between the characters. Often it seemed the only thing in the world that they had was each other, and in several cases, that was true. Also? The not "not pretty" portion of the mutant population was about even with the "pretty" portion, as opposed to your usual X-book(or team book in general) where most are pretty and one or two token ones who aren't. The kids and teachers didn't like each other, their methods, etc., but they needed each other, and eventually, whether or not they liked each other became as irrelevant as liking or disliking your sibling is...like them or not, you love them and will do anything and scarifice anything for them. Also? They weren't in it to be heroes, just to survive. The only ones(as written for years) who would go on and become heroes are Jubilee(because it was the only life she knew and option she had beyond solitude, and being alone was the only thing she really feared) Paige(who, though she really did have a heroic nature, was mostly in it to prove she WOULDN'T screw up like she saw her brother Sam doing) and Everett, the token all american hero. The rest? Wouldn't be caught dead being a hero unless it was to keep an eye on or be with one of the others. The ONLY way I'm able to live Jono joining the X-Men is by telling myself that he only did it because he knew Jubilee and Paige would never speak to him again if he didn't. (This is also why I often find it hard to read most of their scattered post-GenX appearances...they completely miss the point of YEARS of characterization and what defined the characters) It wasn't a book about future heroes, it was a book about irredeemably screwed up, damaged kids(even Everett, the normal one ad the voice of reason at times, had his darker side) who only had each other trying to figure out what to do in a world that didn't want them. Though Marvel has tried to recreate the dynamic of the team with the "nothing but each other" theme in Runaways and, to a lesser degree, Academy X, they've never quite succeeeded. Also? The combo of the White Queen and Banshee is flatout the coolest superhuman teaching combo ever. And not once did they feel compelled to pair them off. (Fear the day I sit down and reread Generation X and post on it...fear it and tremble at the idea of the spam that will fill your flist if I'm in one of those moods)
New Warriors-The real ones, not the jokes Marvel has been trying to convince us they've always been. The stray young heroes gathered together by a sociopathic Batman clone(I love Night Thrasher-more than Batman-to bits but hey, he is what he is) to tackle the crimes and villains the the big guns were too busy fighting off Ultron and the likes to deal with. Urban superheroes with an edge, but unlike all the modern ones, they really WERE heroes, through and through. They screwed up, stepped on toes, occassionally hated each others' guts and always stood by each other(except when Thrash got a little too high strung at times, but he always got over it.) Despite what Marvel has been insisting the last few years, they may not have always been good, but they were NEVER jokes. Like Generation X, subsequent attempts to recreate them just haven't held up.
Ruse and The First-For the most part, I'm over CrossGen, but I love these two books and miss them like crazy. A Victorian paranormal mystery series about a detective who makes Holmes look open, friendly and maybe a little dim and his lovely, plucky, witty and long suffering assistant? How could I resist. And a soap opera of the gods with one of the hottest antiheroes/villains ever? *shiny*
More Than Mortal-Irish history and mythology about a girl who's the child of the gods guided by a cursed priest and the ghost of her ancestor? Awesomeness. They're bringing the book back, but it'll be about Brigit, not Derdre. And, while I like Brigit, I find the book rather boring when it's about her...she's too much the perfect warrior, while Derdre is young, flawed and learning. Also, Brigit's time and conflict are pretty much the most welltrod path in celtic fantasy, while Derdre's are considerably less well trod.
Thunderbolts-Like New Warriors, the real ones. The supervillains who pretended to be heroes and fell for their own con. Screw ups trying again and again to get it right in a world that thinks their still pulling a con, and heroes who've fought them and heard the line to many times to think that they can get it right, even if they do believe their intentions are good. The current series isn't about redemption or just wanting to be appreciated, it's villains who don't care squat about redemption, just about playing nice for a while so they can get a free ride to a new life.
Chuck Dixon era Birds of Prey-Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Gail's run, despite a few rough patches, but it's all about sisterhood and girl power*which is great, but not the same as what it started as). Chuck Dixon took two female characters who, at the time, were defined by physical abuse against them-Oracle's being shot and crippled, Black Canary's being tortured after attempting to take on a group of criminals by herself-being used to motivate mean in their lives-Batman and Green Arrow-into action and greater levels of violence than what they'd engaged in before, and made them serious contenders.
There are others, but my fingers are tired.
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-01 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-01 02:42 am (UTC)Although the Thunderbolts 3.0 have kinda grown on me. It's different, with some similar elements, and some of Ellis' better mainstream work in recent years. That said, THIS should have been "New Thunderbolts". ;)
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Date: 2007-05-01 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-01 03:46 am (UTC)New Warriors I also miss, even though it was such a 90's version of Teen Titans sometimes. It took knock-offs and C-list heroes and made you care about each and every single one of them. Nova, Justice, and Speedball started out as pretty simple "rebel," "all-american," and "comedy" type heroes, but they really developed into some of the most interesting characters around. No matter what that idiot Larson says, I'm thrilled that Nova's finally being respected as a big-time hero, and I only wish that Justice had gotten the return trip to the Avengers he deserved (the second tour always means more than the first) or that Speedball hadn't been character assassinated.
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Date: 2007-05-01 03:56 am (UTC)And ITA 101% on all about the Warriors...A large part of the appeal was that they were all different kinds of heroes, some of which SHOULD have been incompatible, who managed to make it work.
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Date: 2007-05-01 11:53 am (UTC)