The Sword and Laser discussion

This may be in the wrong folder.

I have discovered some of you guys share my love of comics, any of you guys pick this up? Without spoiling it, I loved the art and I was shocked by the bleakness of the story so far.

thoughts? comments? ham sandwiches? spare change?

I just read it Kdawg. It's looks like it will be a really interesting storyline. Some of the big one page scenes seemed a little cluttered to me but otherwise I thought the art was quite good.

I'm very curious as to what the "no one will see it coming" ending Bendis is talking about is, cuz I'm sure someone saw it coming

I read it and it was good but its also unfortunate that all the delays mean it no longer makes any kind of sense with continuity. The story was actually written well over a year ago but art delays kept it from being released until now.

One problem is Emma Frost. After the events of Avengers vs X-men she no longer has telepathy powers but there she is using them. Another is Spiderman since he is no longer Peter Parker yet he's acting all quippy like Peter Parker. Maybe you could write that off as Spock being doing a good acting job but in reality its more that Bendis wrote it before Spock took over Peter Parker's body. Yet it has to be Spock because there is an Age of Ultron crossover in Spock's book next month.

Kdawg91 wrote: "I'm very curious as to what the "no one will see it coming" ending Bendis is talking about is, cuz I'm sure someone saw it coming"

Reboot! Pretty much everyone I think sees it coming. Comics are dying and are in an ever quickening cycle of event / renumbering / reboot. After the success DC had in their reboot its a given Marvel will follow suit by rebooting what isn't working (Superman and a few other books at DC) and keep what is working unchanged (Batman and Green Lantern at DC).

but a reboot after a reboot? that's a LITTLE crazy.

If they would change the status quo, maybe it would be interesting..but you know the chances of that occuring.

Kdawg91 wrote: "but a reboot after a reboot? that's a LITTLE crazy.

If they would change the status quo, maybe it would be interesting..but you know the chances of that occuring."

Marvel Now wasn't a reboot though, it was just a relaunch which is something Marvel has done frequently. All the Avengers books relaunched five or six years ago and then again about two years ago and then again just the last few months. A few of the X-men books have had multiple relaunches as well . . .Uncanny X-men is now on its second relaunch in two years. You can take it to the bank that Spiderman will relaunch (if a reboot doesn't happen first) before next summer since it will be imperative to have Peter back in charge of his own body before the next Spidey movie comes out since its now a requirement at Marvel that the comics resemble the movies (which is why white Nick Fury suddenly has an out of nowhere black son who also is named Nick Fury and looks sort of like Samuel L Jackson).

What I'm referring to is a reboot which is sort of what DC did. They didn't change a thing hardly on Batman or Green Lantern because those books were selling great but they completely rebooted Superman, Flash, and a few other books. I can see Marvel following suit.

I actually didn't think about Marvel Now just being a relaunch, I guess after jumping off in DC 52 I just made a general assumption.

I still think unless its drastic changes a reboot will come across kinda funky.

But maybe Bendis got a plan.

Speaking of Marvel and reboots, Comixology is offering 700 free Marvel comics right now, including the recent Marvel NOW #1s: http://kotaku.com/5989841/you-can-dow...

Edit: the servers still seem to be borked at the moment, but you have until 11pm ET on March 12th to try it out.

borked? more like flattened. LOL

Apparently they stopped the promotion since their servers imploded.

well issue 2 is out tommorrow, guess we shall see where this is headed!

I think I know where this is coming from if not heading.

No way can this be 616 Marvel and in a preview of an upcoming issue you can clearly recognize Starlord in a picture. So I think this is basically a "What If the Guardians of the Galaxy lost Annihilation Conquest" story. Its an alt verse story that will somehow spill into 616 verse. Starlord is the team leader of GotG for those who don't know.

Makes total sense. For those who don't get it here is the cliff notes. Ultron went to space, started an intergalatic war. He was defeated by a rag tag group of heroes teaming up to defeat him and those heroes became the new Guardians of the Galaxy. If GoTG had failed Ultron would have made it to Earth eventually.

There is a GotG movie coming out soon. The series has just rebooted and is being written by Brian Bendis who also is writing Age of Ultron. Starlord is the team leader of GotG. It all connects because it pushes the GoTG book and movie at the same time and both books are by the same guy.

And if you don't get the 616 references, since some might not, that is a reference to the main Marvel reality. Way back when in a totally unrelevant at the time Captain Britain comic, there was a joke about the reality known as mainstream Marvel Universe being Universe 616 of the space time continuum (or whatever Marvel calls it). Since then 616 has become slang for the main Marvel Universe much to the chagrin of many of those in charge of the MU.

That alternate universe theory would actually make sense.
Because otherwise I have some serious problems understanding how Peter Parker can be Spiderman, how cap shield was broken ( didn't Iron Man forge him a stronger unbreakable shield during fear itself ?) and how New York and San Francisco are totally destroyed ( it's one thing to kill and revive heroes, but cities ? Come on...)

alternate universe makes sense. Did they state Peter was Spidey in this? Isn't Doc Ock posing as him anyway?

Every time I hear about these "multiverse shattering, mind blowing, nothing will ever be the same" events of Marvel and DC, I feel good about quitting reading American comics except for Dark Horse. It started with House of M and reached a point of pure bullshit with so-callled Civil War. That, and the idiotic Spiderman magical retcon called One More Day were the last drops for me. At that point I said to myself "Enough is enough. I refuse my intelligence to be insulted" Then came Secret İnvasion, Warld War Hulk, some other bullshit etc. Each time more plots more idiotic, more over the board and more ridiculous than the last one. As I see it, this ship called mainstream American comics industry is sinking.I don't care how much they sell now. As long as they don't return to making comics for smart people, it will burn out pretty soon.

Thank God, we still have Mike Mignola, even though he writes painfully slowly.

I would check it out just for the artist, Bryan Hitch who did The Ultimates.

I tried a few of the current line-up of Marvel comics and it's pretty clear they've gone off the rails.

I wish a better writer than Robert Kirkman would create an Invincible-like universe that isn't so painfully clumsy and so obviously a pastiche of DC/Marvel heroes. Kurt Busiek is coming out with a new Astro City series this summer, which is awesome news, but there again I keep comparing those characters to the more famous versions. Furst Family is clearly the Fantastic Four, Samaritan is Superman, and so on.

Tamahome wrote: "I would check it out just for the artist, Bryan Hitch who did The Ultimates."

I did not read the comics, so take what I'll say with a grain of salt, but most of my comic book fan friends say this is the worst work of Brian Hitch. Appearently, he was about to leave Marvel for good, and this was his last assignment, so he was "less-than-enthusiastic".

Rasnac wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "I would check it out just for the artist, Bryan Hitch who did The Ultimates."

I did not read the comics, so take what I'll say with a grain of salt, but most of my comic book fan ..."

His wide angle scenescapes of ruin are great but his people look bad.

The Superior Spiderman tie in this month was the first issue of this series I liked, and it also answered my question of which Spidey was in this age of ultron.

I'm still liking the story so far

I'm wondering if I really want to continue this as its been three issues and it doesn't feel like much of anything has happened. I no longer trust Marvel when they say things like "this is the event that changes everything" and quite frankly the big spoiler that is out there now about one of the major things that will come out of this doesn't really interest me at all.

For those who haven't heard of the spoiler, Neil Gaiman is coming back to Marvel to help co-write the ending of this and *here comes the spoiler* (view spoiler)[ he is bringing one of his characters, Angela, with him. If you don't know who Angela is then you understand why its sort of underwhelming. She is a character of his from the 90's who was introduced into the Spawn universe and she's basically some barely clothed red head with angelic like powers of kicking ass without having a wardrobe malfunction though that defies all logic. Somehow Angela is going to be pivotal in the climax of this series and become part of the regular MU. (hide spoiler)]

Just got issue 3 but I have to admit I am more excited by East of West #1 than by Age of Ultron #3..

Rik wrote: "I'm wondering if I really want to continue this as its been three issues and it doesn't feel like much of anything has happened. I no longer trust Marvel when they say things like "this is the ev..."

I read a few Marvel but I am like you.

Too many crossover and big events..
Try to make the comics interesting instead of having to release a crossover every year just to keep sales afloat.......

east of west was pretty cool

Rik wrote: "I'm wondering if I really want to continue this as its been three issues and it doesn't feel like much of anything has happened. I no longer trust Marvel when they say things like "this is the ev..."


IF THATS THE BIG EVENT...I'll poke my eyes out

Aildiin wrote: I read a few Marvel but I am like you.

Too many crossover and big events..
Try to make the comics interesting instead of having to release a crossover every year just to keep sales afloat.......

And really they don't need the events right now. I was extremely skeptical of Marvel Now but overall its been awesome in the books I read. Bendis is doing great work on All New X-men and Uncanny X-men and he's finally made the X-men interesting again (I say this as someone who got into comics because of the X-men back in the 80's and has a 500 issue run of them now). The Avengers books are epic. Spiderman is clearly doing a gimmick right now with Spock but its far more interesting than anything since they erased the marriage. Forget the events and just focus on these great stories. Sales are up remarkably right over last year for both Marvel and DC which is amazing. I figured after the New 52 fad wore off we'd see sales drop across the board for both companies but instead both are growing in sales.

That said, after five issues of AoU its finally reached a point where something interesting might happen now. Its funny though seeing how many readers are whining on a comic book forum I browse now and then (Comic Book Resources) because their characters were killed off too easily (She Hulk and Black Panther especially).

wow, all that work and drop the ball on the one yard line. Somebody care to explain the end of this to me?

Rik wrote: "Aildiin wrote: I read a few Marvel but I am like you.

Too many crossover and big events..
Try to make the comics interesting instead of having to release a crossover every year just to keep sales ..."

I agree with you that the quality of Marvel Now is better than expected. I am however getting quite mad about Marvel shipping schedule. It makes it impossible to have steady artist on a given comic and it impacts the quality a lot.( there's a reason the only Marvel titles nominated for the Eisner are monthly titles).

What makes Uncanny X-Men great is Bendis AND Bachalo, not Bendis and some random artist that changes every 4 title...........

Why do you thing Batman has been the best selling comic for the last 2 year ? I think aside from Snyder's genius a huge part is that it has been Snyder/Capullo for 90% of the time and not Snyder and some random dude...

Heck, look at the image titles. Pretty much every cult comic they have right now has had the same artist since the start of the serie ( Saga, Chew, heck Walking Dead only had 2 artists over 100+ issues)

I completely agree - comics are a visual medium first and foremost, and the visual style can make or break them.

My last cry for marvel was the runaways, and that series really suffered in the end from strange artists. I won't even say they were better or worse, but when I don't recognise the characters anymore, I'm out of the series.