The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

[MikeinLA]

Just finished "Rocketeer the Complete Adventures". Pretty good. The second story was a lot darker than I expected, but I liked it better than his origin story. Has anyone read the other Rocketeer collections? I'm considering getting those.

[Arion]

Yeah part of the reason why I don't like to read X-Men comics is because of all the retcons they've done for most if not all of what Morrison tried to do with the franchise.

I thought the death of Magneto was the only retcon.

[Grayson]

I thought the death of Magneto was the only retcon.

Well, the Magneto/Xorn connection was certainly the biggest and most immediate retcon to come from Morrison's New X-Men run. Eventually they also retconned the idea that Ernst was actually a reeducated Cassandra Nova. While not a retcon, Bendis completely wiped out the expanding mutant population with the House of M and I don't know what you want to call what was done to the Phoenix during AvX but it completely ignores a lot of the ideas and concepts that Morrison introduced. Anyways, those are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head.

[Keb]

Essentially what Morrison set out to do was to turn mutant from being a term in the MU to being a culture. What marvel did after he left was just absolutely shit all over this idea. First they dropped this idea in favor of the x-men being superheroes again, then depowered them all to isolate a few and make them unique again. If you read the Morrison manifesto, you'll see that this is the idea he wanted to create for the x-men. It worked too! The X-line had cool shit like x-statix and mystique and all that but after reloaded they kind of let those non-superhero titles die while they forced Claremont's garbage down our throats. Morrison's ideas were great but I think it ran contrary to what Marvel wanted to do when they put Bendis on Avengers and made that their top franchise.

[Grayson]

Astonishing X-Men Omnibus - Just like the New X-Men Omnibus, it was great to go back and reread another phenomenal chapter in the X-Men saga. Picking up not long after the end of Grant Morrison's New X-Men run, Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men sets out to reestablish the X-Men in the eyes of the world by literally "astonishing" them. Whedon nails the characterization of these characters pretty well. Scott is Scott and Emma is Emma but you can really see why these two work so well together. Even more outstanding is Whedon's depiction of Kitty Pryde and her relationships with those around her, especially Peter and Emma. I won't lie to you, the final interaction between Kitty and Emma still brings a tear to my eye every time.

I remember when I originally read this series, I was a little disappointed that Whedon didn't tackle traditional X-Villains. Upon rereading, I honestly believe that is one of this series' strengths. Whedon does such a great job blending his new characters into the fabric of the X-Universe that you don't need Magneto, Mr. Sinister, or Apocalypse to balance them out. They stand on their own and they are just as dangerous as those who came before them.

Artistically speaking, John Cassaday fluctuates but he stays pretty solid throughout the entire run and having a full 25 issues by the same artist, especially an artist the quality of Cassaday, is an absolute blessing. There are times when I feel like Cassaday has topped some of his best Planetary work and other times he falls a little bit short. All things considered, the art in Astonishing X-Men definitely blows the art of New X-Men out of the water. In any case, just like Morrison's New X-Men, Whedon's Astonishing X-Men is another must have for any X-Men collection.

[Keb]

I never liked Kitty Pryde until Whedon wrote her.

Supervillain Team-Up: M.O.D.O.K.'s 11 - entertaining enough for $7. I liked the end the most. Though that Van Lente used a good mix of comedy and action in the series and the characters were good if nothing more than simple. I did not like Rocket Racer's stammer. I don't remember him having one. Easy fun light read.

[covalesky]

I never liked Kitty Pryde until Whedon wrote her.

Not even insecure pre-teen Claremont Kitty?

[Keb]

Like in Dark Phoenix Saga? No. I absolutely hated Ultimate Kitty Pryde.

I'm not even half-way through the first Strange Tales book but it's a hell of a lot of fun. If you guys ever come across these, I highly recommend (thanks Squid).

[covalesky]

I was talking about the original comics, not the Ultimate verse. But if you didn't like it its your thing. Kitty has been one of my fav X-Character consistently since I first read about her.

[Victorian Squid]

Not even insecure pre-teen Claremont Kitty?

Er, covalesky, Pryde was a teenager when she first joined the X-Men. (She was 13.)

Also, it's worth noting that Claremont did not create her (although you didn't say he did), she is a creation of writer/artist John Byrne based on a girl he went to art school with.

[Keb]

I was talking about the original comics, not the Ultimate verse. But if you didn't like it its your thing. Kitty has been one of my fav X-Character consistently since I first read about her.

No, even in the MU proper I wasn't really a fan of her. Like in the crossovers and stuff. Just never really cared for her. It got worse when Millar introduced her in Ultimate X-Men and she was irritating. Then Bendis made her more irritating.

I would much rather have a mature, adult Kitty Pryde than a teenage one.

[covalesky]

To be fair Kitty is one of the few characters that actually grew over the time.

[Victorian Squid]

To be fair Kitty is one of the few characters that actually grew over the time.

[covalesky]

I meant grew old

[Keb]

Invincible Iron Man vol. 1 by Matt Fraction & Salvador Larroca

Is this an omnibus? I'm guessing it is. With 19 issues collected, it's pretty hefty. I did read the Five Nightmares hardcover a few years ago but never read anything beyond it. Wasn't impressed by it too much. Even this time around I want really too impressed with that story. It kind of dragged on a bit and at times it needed something to happen. I did like the idea of Ezekiel Stane as a next gen Iron Man type thingy. The first six issues of the Dark Reign (related) Most Wanted story really ramped up. I like that this collection made me really appreciate Maria Hill a lot more. Normally I find her annoying. All it took was Tony Stark banging her to make her a better character. Want too happy with how she turned out after her run in with the Controller. The second part of the Most Wanted story started to drag but it had a cool ending. The cool Norman Osborn beating up dummy Tony was good. Also the fight with Namor was really good even though short. I laughed at Donald Blake making an appearance. The one thing I really liked was how Larroca stayed consistent throughout the series. I'm not a huge fan but I like him well enough. The coloring in the first story arc made the art very static but once they changed colorists, the art was more vibrant and was a lot better. Felt like the pencils loosened up a bit. Solid read.