The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

by **Chris** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:15 pm

Mike Mercury wrote:
Some of Aguirre-Sacasa maybe, but I don't remember anything as bad as those two universal inhumans issues where BB came back from...whatever he was doing....wherever he was.....somehow.....

But to each his own. I still won't judge his long-form arc until it's reached any sort of resolution. There's a lot of just treading water going on in his decompressed style in the mean time.

EDIT: Which I'll probably only read about in vague spoilers anyway, when the book splits I'll likely not bother with either one of the two.

Which were just two issues.

by **Victorian Squid** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:28 pm

Holland Oats wrote:
Which were just two issues.

I only use those two as the most recent, weakest issues. There were bad ones early on and in the middle too. And also Dark Reign with all the cowboy & army man Sues, Bens, and Johnnys....wonder whatever happened to those lovable misfits...they really should have remembered to look into Franklin shooting somebody with a toy gun, I think. Aquirre-Sacasa's issues were often very personal, character-based stories as opposed to Hickman's so-detached-the-pages-fell-out style of writing the book. And viewed on a personal level, the characters are currently almost sickeningly dysfunctional as a family and a team.

by **Chris** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:34 pm

Mike Mercury wrote:
I only use those two as the most recent, weakest issues. There were bad ones early on and in the middle too. And also Dark Reign with all the cowboy & army man Sues, Bens, and Johnnys....wonder whatever happened to those lovable misfits...they really should have remembered to look into Franklin shooting somebody with a toy gun, I think. Aquirre-Sacasa's issues were often very personal, character-based stories as opposed to Hickman's so-detached-the-pages-fell-out style of writing the book. And viewed on a personal level, the characters are currently almost sickeningly dysfunctional as a family and a team.

I've been enjoying the fuck out of the book since day one. I did not like Dark Reign, I'll give you that.. but since the start of his Fantastic Four-proper run, it's been one of my favorite books every month.

I would probably put it 3rd all-time behind Byrne and Waid/Ringo. Lee/Kirby after only because while their run was great to look at and FULL of ideas, the writing style just doesn't stand the test of time well.

by **Victorian Squid** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:49 pm

Holland Oats wrote:

I've been enjoying the fuck out of the book since day one. I did not like Dark Reign, I'll give you that.. but since the start of his Fantastic Four-proper run, it's been one of my favorite books every month.

I would probably put it 3rd all-time behind Byrne and Waid/Ringo. Lee/Kirby after only because while their run was great to look at and FULL of ideas, the writing style just doesn't stand the test of time well.

I like all those runs too, with extra nostalgia for the Stan/Jack issues despite their age at this point. And I think the dialogue had a certain cadence or rhythm then unique to the FF. Plus some of those covers are amazing. And even Byrne's more recent run has started to feel dated in a few places when I re-read most of them a couple months ago.

Although I do remember feeling like there was an arc or two in Waid's run I thought dragged, I don't remember now which one or ones and don't own 'em anymore at the moment to check.

I like what Hickman is doing enough to keep reading for now, but it's being written so long-form this arc I can understand a little bit why Punchy might be eager for a little resolution. At least that's how I interpret his confusion, I guess.

Probably it'll have some resolution shortly, and hopefully we'll all be somewhat satisfied with it. I haven't re-read the latest issue yet.

by **chap22** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:17 pm

Mike Mercury wrote:Roy Thomas was also better, Aquirre-Sacasa, Hickman's pretty far down the list for me and even then I wouldn't rank him until the 4 cities thing is wrapped up and can be weighed. FF:Dark Reign and several of the early books in his run were crap. Like the one where Reed bitches out scientists for half the issue, or the nu-world vacation issue.

Silver Surfer arm bar and all, I'd also still say the McDuffie/Pelletier run was better than Hickman's. Shit, I'd even say the Pacheco/Loeb stuff was more fun and had a better understanding of the characters than Hickman's.

by **alaska1125** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:43 pm

Read it and liked it. In for issue two for sure. I don't get the "fanfic" comment at all, and I found it to be a nice (if short read) reintroduction. I thought it covered most of the bases for a new reader, and my 13 year old son thought it was "cool and hilarious".

by **Zero** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:13 am

Token effort to keep me in the group until I can get real reviews written for Static and Batman this weekend. Also OMAC and Nightwing need doing.

Aquaman #1

So I guess we're meant to really like Aquaman now? This wasn't a great #1 and the fact that Geoff Johns decided to spend a whole issue addressing the fact that people think Aquaman is a poor character doesn't do anything but reinforce the fact that people think Aquaman is a poor character. If this is gonna be the hook :wink:

for the series then I'm really not too interested, and the cookie-cutter competence of the art does nothing to make the book stand out from the crowd. I've said a lot of bad things about some of DC's relaunch titles but most of them at least had something interesting going on in the art department (Justice League aside) for a character that was on a high just before the relaunch, this is a poor start to the brave new aqua-world.

3

Next week was aaaaaalmost the Penguin miniseries, but instead let's go with a comic that was easily the best of the new 52.

Animal Man #2

by **Punchy** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:14 am

Heh, Hook.

by **Punchy** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:16 am

by **Zero** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:17 am

Punchy wrote:Heh, Hook.

Quick edit to make that look deliberate...

by **Victorian Squid** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:18 am

chap22 wrote:Silver Surfer arm bar and all, I'd also still say the McDuffie/Pelletier run was better than Hickman's. Shit, I'd even say the Pacheco/Loeb stuff was more fun and had a better understanding of the characters than Hickman's.

I don't think I ever read more than one or two issues of McDuffie's run. I think I remember deciding Pelletier drew an ugly Sue and indignantly ignored the rest of that run. If it was pretty good maybe I'll get cheap trades one of these days, I can't remember how long they were on the book. There are some gaps in some of the '90s-'00s runs I've never read even though they're my favorite team book long-term since I was a kid.

by **Chris** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:36 am

I don't think I ever read anything by McDuffie that was anything but mediocre.

by **Victorian Squid** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:51 am

I re-read FF #9, that was a solid issue without any of what I called the treading water. Still can't help but feel Reed is being written like a head-trauma victim and just reacting to things--unless he's really meant to be so shaken by everything that he can't think two minutes ahead or formulate a plan of his own. I don't get him not even presenting any other options besides lettingThe Inhumans torture the two alternate Reeds or not treating an escaped alternate version of himself with an infinity gauntlet of his own (not to mention a captive Doom!) as a top-level threat requiring notifying his friends in the global superhuman community. But then whoever planned bringing the collection of villains and AIM nobodies along to deal with the whole thing instead of just about any other group of people was not thinking right anyway.

by **Punchy** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:58 am

Mike Mercury wrote:I re-read FF #9, that was a solid issue without any of what I called the treading water. Still can't help but feel Reed is being written like a head-trauma victim and just reacting to things--unless he's really meant to be so shaken by everything that he can't think two minutes ahead or formulate a plan of his own. I don't get him not even presenting any other options besides lettingThe Inhumans torture the two alternate Reeds or not treating an escaped alternate version of himself with an infinity gauntlet of his own (not to mention a captive Doom!) as a top-level threat requiring notifying his friends in the global superhuman community. But then whoever planned bringing the collection of villains and AIM nobodies along to deal with the whole thing instead of just about any other group of people was not thinking right anyway.

And where the fuck is the Thing? Hickman seems to have completely forgotten about him.

Anyway, I quite liked Aquaman #1, even though I don't mind how lame Aquaman is (I loved him in Wednesday Comics Supergirl), this attempt to make him cooler works somewhat for me. Like a lot of the other DC #1s though, not much happened.