What Titles Are You Currently Reading?

[Rushmoras]

So far, read through the end of 1997.

Regarding Superman, still not a fan of his weekly comic books, because the plot keeps on dragging on and on and on, and the fact that the plot is weaved through four - sometimes five - Superman titles does not help it, because they have various degree of quality ranging through awful to I guess it's good enough. I guess, "Identity Crisis" storyline (Superman versus Brainiac) in 1996 was kinda good (since I marked it, but can't really remember that much of what has happened there). I'm not really a fan of how Superman later in 1997 became electrical, though the closing arc for the year 1997 with the Dragon's Tooth and some monster-serial killer on the loose was good (throughout all titles).

What really surprised me was... Supergirl's comic. Yeah, actually, the stories there... they are kinda what would I have expected from Hellblazer before even knowing what that was all about. It's so different from Superman that... wow... and actually, majority of it is interesting.

Batman. Again, not really much there is to say. It has some interesting stories, but mostly not interesting. I liked "Legacy" Arc (continuation from Contagion), some one-shot comics from 1997 (Batman/Wildcat, Batgirl, Poison Ivy, Mister Freeze and Batman/Phantom Stranger), but mostly there's nothing to say. Doug Moench in the main Batman title is still having Batman for two years now I guess (since pre-Knightfall) tracking down The False Face Society and Dixon in Detective Comics is doing his own separate thing, which is mostly unrelated to anything.

In Robin comics... they are good, I guess, but I usually skip everything related to the 'Kid General'. I just find him... bleh.

Wonder Woman. I thought that I would like John Byrne, but aside from his initial Second Genesis and Bloodlines arc, most of what he writes is boring. I guess it's better than Loebs, because I did not skip (mostly) any of the issues. The most interesting probably thing was that Diana got made in to a Goddess of Truth, and her mother became Wonder Woman as a penance to Themyscara (I guess somehow he had to rectify whatever shit Loebs wrote-in, but...).

Justice League. I liked Midsummer Nightmare (1996) and the first arc. The rest was kinda 50/50. But I like the fact that it can be read separately from any other comic books. I mean, they acknowledge the current status quo (like Superman being made from energy now or Diana being 'dead'), but mostly, to what is going on, its its own separate thing.

Hellblazer. Ever since he got to hang-out with his hippy friends, because a new writer came-in, in a bar for the most of the time, I don't like it. It has some good stories, but most of the good ones are unrelated to the broader arc.

Oh, yeah, and Genesis Event... what a fucking waste of time even with skipping most of the reading material.

[Rushmoras]

Read through the year 1999. Had to ditch Supergirl somewhere after issue 30 perhaps, because for a long while I just found the writing boring and non-engaging.

Regarding Superman... I don't really think that baring the fact that Lex Luthor made sure that DailyPlanet is no more, there were any issues that actually stood out, and what's got my attention was the issues that were released in December 1999, because it felt like Superman titles will be more mature from now on in terms of quality in writing and drawings. Even the Man of Steel comic books somewhere in 1998 became tolerable (after Louise Simonson departed from writing them).

Regarding Justice League... I think that I don't like team-up stories. Out of 35 issues that I read maybe I liked about six or seven of them. Everyone is like "Oh, my God, Grant Morrisson is the best", and all I am thinking that the respective solo titles of characters are much better than the team ups. Of course, the mini series of JLA are quite good and had no qualms with them.

Batman. So, I completed the No Man's Land arc today, and overall I've gonna say that it was good. Did I like everything therein? Nope. There were countless of issues that were boring and/or I just skipped, but the whole ending sequences and/or everything surrounding Cassandra Cain, were very interesting. Dark Victory was also very good mini-series, and whole lot better than the Long Halloween in my opinion.

Wonder Woman. So far, I like Eric Luke's run, especially his war against the titans arcs. And I think he's better than John Byrne at least.

Hellblazer. Warren Ellis saved the series, because I was really pondering of whether I should ditch it, because it was so damn boring for many issues. But then he came with his writing style and bam, Constantine was good again.

Sandman Present's Lucifer. Was also an interesting mini-series.

Day of Judgment Event. I kinda liked it, but it was on a boring side.

 

Edited July 16, 2023 by Rushmoras

[Rushmoras]

Read through the year of 2003. Nothing substantial I've got to add, save for these things:

a) the most memorable arcs in Justice League were World War 3 (Issues 36-41), Tower of Babel (43-46); The Queen of Fables (47-49); The Obsidian Age (68-75) and Trial by Fire (83-89);

b) for sometime now, Batman has been for the lack of better word an unlikeable c***, especially in Robin comics;

c) the best "discoveries" for me was randomly stumbling upon Lucifer and Gotham Central. They are both equally interesting and probably the best reads out of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, JLA and Hellblazer comics;

d) for the most part, I don't care about Superman's futuristic Metropolis and all the troubles it causes. It's been stale for some time now. Though, I guess with the issue of Superman No. 200 (2004 February), they are going to reconcile something with Superman: Birthright, which reading it prior to this, in my opinion was something out of Elseworlds without being labelled such.

[Rushmoras]

So, I was reading JLA "Pain of the Gods" story from 2004, which is basically, JLA coming to terms with various losses they suffer, and in penultimate issue of the story, Wonder Woman comes to the JLA tower for some consolation, and Martian Manhunter is there, and says: "I sense you are distraught. do you need some moral support?" or something like that, and Diana happy to talk it out begins to open her mouth, but Martian Manhunter says to her then: "Well, then go to Superman", and walks away. This was unintentionally hilarious.

[Rushmoras]

Well, flash forward a couple of months and now I'm in DC's 2007 era, just completed Amazons Attack event, and, oh boy, what a shit fest it was (pardon my French).

If I understood what was happening correctly,

Spoiler

Circe, furious that Ares took their daughter in the beginning of the new Wonder Woman, which was issued in 2006, devises a plan of vengeance against the Greek Gods. She thinks that getting back at them through the Amazons, by pitting the world against them, will somehow return her daughter back or something. So, she, through magic and persuasion, and whatnot witchy craft, replaces Sergeant Steel from the Department of Metahuman Affairs with a shape-changer, who, as a pretext for assassinating Maxwell Lord, apprehends Wonder Woman. But, instead of, you know, interrogating her for this specific instance, has her hauled to some off site black ops facility to be tortured for information about the Themyscarian super weapon.

Meanwhile, while all of this is happening, Circe appears on Themyscara and, sacrificing a portion of her own soul, resurrects Queen Hippolyta, who appears not like herself (and neither are the Amazons, I might add). This is more evident, when Circe through magic shows her Diana bound in chains in the world of man. Enraged and furious, Queen Hippolyta summons under her banner an army of Amazons (who don't even protest at all this decision, I might add) to invade the world of man, and save her daughter...

This was the main premise, and while writing this summary down, it would have seemed that this could be a pretty decent story. But it wasn't. In fact, looking back at it, all I can say that it was a cavalcade of random events about characters that are acting seriously way off. I think, I actually liked only three issues in the entire event, and even that word "liked" is a strong one. I actually liked the ending portion of Amazons Attack (No. 6) due to how absurd it was -

Spoiler

so, it appears that Granny Goodness has been masquerading as Athena for a while now, and now is holding captive some of Amazon generals. What happened? Did Darkseid kick her out from Apokolips or something? This was so random thing to put in this series, when you literally have Ares from the last volume grinding his teeth at Athena for becoming too powerful.

Also, I'm surprised that Jodi Picoult wrote a couple of issues for Wonder Woman. No disrespect or anything for her, I'm sure she's great novelist, but, um, everything she has written in Wonder Woman either seemed off character and/or random events that ultimately bear no substance whatsover. Will Pfeifer, while doing almost the same thing in Amazons Attack mini-series, managed to at least be more entertaining with his dialogues.

That being said, it was probably the worst character assassination event that I have yet to read from DC.

[Lantern7]

@Rushmoras . . . You might want to check out Incredible Hercules: Love & War. We got rampaging Amazons there, but Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente do a great job with it.

[Palimelon]

Currently the X-line (RIP, Krakoa era!) but also a few other titles like the main Avengers title and the Titans. Wonder Woman too, but my God I think I am hate reading it at this point (nice artwork though).

[Palimelon]

The ComicsXF bullpen share their favorite Krakoa memories.

[Rushmoras]

Some thoughts about Marvel's Silver Age stories as per cover dates from 1962 to 1969. So, spoilers aplenty, beware:

More than six months ago decided to try reading some of Marvel's Silver Age comics. At first, it was mostly Fantastic Four, Thor and Spider-Man, but as stories progressed, I found myself including Iron Man, Avengers and X-Men as well. Then, I included Daredevil as well, and in the end I found myself reading ten titles in total: Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, Daredevil, X-Men, Avengers, Silver Surfer, Hulk and Captain America.
 

Spoiler

Regarding the Fantastic Four (1962). Including Annuals, I think I've read so far one hundred issues in total (the last was #93 (cover date of December 1969). This is one of few comics that for 8 years in a row had the same author (Stan Lee) and the same artist (Jack Kirby) making them, while others gradually shifted from Lee and paved way to others like Roy Thomas (Avengers, X-Men, Hulk, Daredevil) or Archie Goodwin (Iron Man). And, from early on, I guess it differentiated itself from other titles with how grandiose it was in terms of threats the team faced. While other titles (such as Spider-Man or Avengers) nine times out of ten faced off more mundane villains, the FF teamed squared themselves off with aliens, and was thee comic for grand space events such as the coming of Silver Surfer and Galactus (Issues 48-50, 74-77). It was also thee comic to introduce such now well known characters as Prince Namor (Issues 4-6, 9 etc.) - or, in his case - reintroduce, the Inhumans (Issues 44-46) or Black Panther (Issues 52-53).

Though, the first couple of years, the team faced off against Namor and his infatuation with Sue Storm, which was kinda conceived as a love triangle between Sue, Reed and Prince Namor, along with him trying to get back at the surface world for destroying Atlantis, but also most stories dealt with the team dynamics - like Reed's guilt for Benjamin's condition, but it also differentiated itself from other titles at that time due to the fact that actually the romance plot between the two main leads did in fact progressed to a point that Sue and Reed did get married (Annual No. 3) and eventually have a child together (Issues 80-81). Whereas, such romance plots in other titles were used either for driving a wedge between possible would be couples (the Amazing Spider-Man) or were dragged out for the longest of times to go nowhere (Thor).

Regarding the Hulk (1962) [and then The Incredible Hulk (1968]. Hoo boy, for the longest time this might have been a comic book, which issues I have skipped the most, because the stories were simply too dated and/or uninteresting for the modern reader. I guess, you could say that I found it interesting that for quite a while Hulk was treated as some sort of proto Doctor Jakyl and Mister Hide type character, wherein the Hulk was the embodiment of everything that Bruce Banner was not, but, I guess it got phased out after a while to a more standard Hulk lore when he shared his comic with Namor (I guess, in Tales to Astonish, which I did not read, because I did not like the original run all that much). And, even when I picked up the Incredible Hulk (1968), for the most part, the stories haven't changed from what Lee was writing all those years back. And it took (at least from what I've read so far) Roy Thomas (Issue 120) to bring more nuance to the character, which isn't solely "Hulk bash and Hulk smash" type of stories and character archetype that Lee was going for.

Regarding Thor (Journey into Mystery (1962) [and then Thor (1966)]. I think that for me this is the second most interesting comic book out there from Marvel's Silver Age. For the most part, it deals with Thor protecting the Earth from Asgardian threats such as Loki (Issue 85 and others), who wants to kill Thor in order to challenge Odin, or the Queen of the Norns (Issues 149-152 and others), who was spurned on by Balder the Brave, and wants revenge, but sometimes is forced to work with the heroes as well (Issue 170). What's interesting is that for the longest time the comic book treated Don Blake (who in the first story found a magic walking stick that allowed him to turn into Thor) and Thor as different characters, and only in Issues 158-159 of Thor it is revealed that Odin wanting to teach his son humility transported him to Earth and stripped him off his powers thus creating a different persona who is capable of compassion and helping others, and that persona is the catalyst that drives Thor on.

Moreover, for the longest time the main love interest of Thor/Don Blake was Jane Foster, who at the time was working as Blake's assistant nurse, however, in Issue 136, when Thor brings Jane to Asgard in order to bless their union, Odin turns her in to Immortal Asgardian and tasks her to face off an enemy, and when she is scared of that enemy, Odin refuses to marry them, and already in the next issue (137) Jane is replaced by Lady Siff as love interest.

Also, just like the Fantastic Four, this is the comic for cosmic events that spun out such characters as Ego the Living Planet (Issues 134-135) or Hercules (Annual No. 1).

Regarding Spider-Man [The Amazing Spider-Man (1963)]. Probably, so far, this is the only comic that I've read from Silver Age that follows the characters social growth - from school to university etc. For the most part, Peter Parker's life in university did not differ all that much from his life in high school. For many issues he was still an outcast, though, in high school, he was an outcast due to constant bullying, and because he was taking care of his ailing aunt, he could not participate in social life of school, even though he was a success with the ladies for some reason. And this did not change much for the longest issues when the high-school period was over, and Parker started university, because - he went to the uni with the same frenemies that he had in school. And only with the introduction of Gwen Stacy's possible interest in him, did his role of an outcast change.

What I find interesting is that even though the authors did try to pair off Peter with Mary Jane at first, but her character was so unlikeable, and so air headed that in the end, after Gwen's death, they will reshape Mary Jane's entire character to fit in line with Gwen's. Also, I was surprised that J.J. was the one behind the creation of Scorpion (Issue 20) solely because he wanted someone to take down Spider-Man so bad that he funded a questionable experiment.

Regarding Iron Man [Journey into Mystery (1963) and The Invincible Iron Man (1968)]. I'm not gonna lie, for the longest time and even for many issues after that, this comic was less than mediocre. Sure, it had its moments (like Iron Man for four or five issues battling some Soviet Union counterpart version of himself, which was supposed to be in actuality a filler issue about Capitalists versus Communists, but it was so damn good written that it was four or five parters). Most times when it shines is when Tony is dealing with his personal dramas and not fighting his villains. For example, even though Iron Man as a character got introduced in No. 39 of Tales of Suspense, but it took the introduction of Happy Hogan (Issue 45) for me to say that - hey, this is the real origins story for this comic.

Regarding Captain America (1968). Honestly, I haven't formed any strong opinions about the issues that I've read, because for the longest time it shared a comic with Iron Man in Journey into Mystery, and only in 1968 it got its own separate comic. Most of the stories are him working for SHIELD and battling the forces of Hydra and AIM while mooning over Sharon Carter. I guess, personally, I would say it is better written then Iron Man, but probably more or less close to the quality.

Regarding Daredevil (1964). Right of the bat I'm going to say that this comic has the best origin story out there from the one's I've mentioned above. Its actually so good that it could have been created this year and what not. For the most part, it's probably about Matt Murdock having to reconcile him being a vigilante with his love life, and because of this, trying to conceal his secret identity, he creates such idiotic plots that always more or less come biting him in the ass, such as, pretending that he is his own twin brother (Issue 25) or faking his own death (Issue 54-55), when for the most part, most of his troubles would be solved, if he would just talk to someone. But, I guess, this is an issue for most of these comics were people act first (fight it out) and (almost) never ask questions.

Daredevil's rogue gallery though? Yeah, much to be desired so far. It is really a long way from him battling Kingpin's goons or ninjas, or even meeting Elektra...

Regarding X-Men (1963). For the most part - Marvel Girl, Cyclops, Beast, Ice Man and Angel lead by Professor Xavier (until his death in Issues 41-42) battle against evil mutants that try to take over the world. Not much nuisance there. Their main enemy is Magneto and his Brother Hood of Evil Mutants. Most of the stories are pretty skippable I'm going to say, because they did not age well or simply were never good to begin with, but when it shine, oh, boy, this comic really does shine, like Roy Thomas' Sentinels Arc in Issues 54-59, but I guess I can see why this comic was cancelled initiality (I think, five issues left to read until the part where they cancelled it from Issue 66), though, if the last remaining issues are anything that Roy Thomas wrote, I'm going to say that they cancelled it prematurely.

On the other hand, this clearly is not the same team of X-Men that were reintroduced during Clermont era.

Regarding Avengers (1963). Mostly so far it is a team-up book for lesser known characters or characters that would probably not sell well on their own, at least I think this was the idea. At first it consisted of Hulk, Iron Man, Wasp and Giant Man, but as time went on the roster changed, and the core team never stays the same, because some characters just come and go. Most parts, like the X-Men, I guess are pretty skippable. I couldn't even say which of the issues so far actually stand out or are better. Maybe those that introduce Vision (Issues 57-58) or Kang the Conqueror (Issue 7), who initially was just a one-off villain from the Fantastic Four, wherein they used Doctor Doom's time machine to go in to the past and encountered some space faring Pharoah usurping Egypt's throne or something, but after a while this bloke's personality got expanded. But, yeah, until Roy Thomas, I did not like most of the stories that Lee wrote here.

Regarding Silver Surfer (1968). From the pages of Fantastic Four this character got spun out in to his own comic book, and the stories deal with him trying to unsuccessfully understand humanity while being trapped on Earth (as per Galactus orders in FF Issues 74-77). And, you know what? This is the most quality series I've encountered so far. I would even say that it could force some modern comics to take a run for their money.

Well, that's probably it for now. Gonna write something else if and/or when I reach the year 1979 for Marvel lol.