Marvel Comics blabbery

prediction: Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur remains a cult fave (such as any Marvel/DC comic isn't cult at this point), the Daredevil event is well-received and does pretty good (but not X-Men core or Spidey numbers), the Wolverine story disappoints fans, the rest are flops, all are washed away and forgotten by next summer

Marvel sales are probably going to take a hit this winter, the new distribution deal is making it both harder to order and more expensive for everyone but tiny accounts so fewer people seem willing to take a risk on what they're pumping out.

Timeless

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/04/Goldie_Timeless.jpg

“Wash… away… the tears”

what the fuck

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/joe-bennett-apologises-over-immortal-hulk-43-anti-semitic-error/

― Joe Biden Stan Account (milo z), Thursday, February 4, 2021 2:28 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

So about that...

looked it up to see what it is he did and apparently it includes straight up fanart of bolsonaro beheading political opponents, so yeah fuck this joe bennett guy pic.twitter.com/uTzSIvi2wu

— Zuk (@garaboldin) September 1, 2021

Al Ewing did offer a public apology and severance of his relationship with Bennett.

There’s an image doing the rounds that Joe Bennett drew back in 2017. I won’t link to it, but I have seen it, and it’s reprehensible. Thread follows. /1

— Al Ewing Writes Comics (@Al_Ewing) September 2, 2021

That's a shame, I loved his contributions to Immortal Hulk.
Also: Al is short for Alasdair???

Marvel Unlimited finally redesigned their app!!!!

Except it’s… worse? Like… much worse? The design is a little more modern, and it crashes less, but it’s now entirely geared to new readers (which is fine!) but they’ve also killed off all the search filtering, so create digging — while not impossible — is really annoying now. If you want to find, say, Claremont’s 80s work, you have to start at 2021 and scroll down dozens of pages of icons until you reach 1980 - except the dates of publication aren’t listed anymore, just the tittle and issue number.

Wolk's book is out TODAY

was gonna post that yesterday re wolk's book
barreled through it last night and had a ton of fun
reading about the impetus for project was very moving and sweet

decided to see how reviews were and was happy fellow comics nerd junot diaz was the Times reviewer, was thinking of him when reading the book as was delighted when first read brief wondrous life of oscar wao to read all the footnotes showing off his marvel geekery (and just the use of footnotes took me back to reading marvel comics) - tons of fun footnotes in this book too

diaz review here https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/books/review/douglas-wolk-all-of-the-marvels.html

last issue of the Al Ewing-written Hulk’s out today

Have enjoyed The Immortal Hulk a lot, though favorite persona is the gentle, misunderstood, Trimpe-era Hulk. Each time I watch "Ant-Man", when he first shrinks to the quantum realm, wish fulfillment has me spotting a Jarella civilization on the way down.

Really looking forward to this! I remember Wolk's bulletin board from a few years back, where they read and discussed a Marvel comic every day - was exhausting and impossible to keep up (sadly) so I'm looking forward to this more digestible version.

Wolk’s book already under attack from the Marvel Method crew on FB for giving Stan Lee undue credit as per usual.

Not actually the case afaict. Unless folks are just getting their dander up because Wolk gives Lee any credit.

Book's a pretty fun ride so far, although quite a bit more slight than I'd hoped. Ironically, it's probably better suited for those who aren't as steeped in Marvel lore.

Marvel changes the Punisher's logo: https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/punisher-new-skull-logo-debuts-surprising-marvel-comic-series/

Eh, this one isn't even pretending to be a permanent change. call me if they really decide to go ACAB

that's pretty obviously just his "I'm working for the ninja death cult" look

is it the skull of a bull?

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/d/d9/Beast_%28Demon%29_%28Earth-616%29_from_Elektra_Assassin_Vol_1_1_001.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/300?cb=20100421205349

looks like the version of The Beast, the demon that the Hand follow. If the image link works, it’ll show the Elektra: Assassin version

eh no luck, it’s halfway down this page

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Beast_(Demon)_(Earth-616)

RIP Tom Palmer, for my money the greatest comic book inker of all time.

https://www.tcj.com/an-interview-with-tom-palmer/

Ike Perlmutter has been "laid off" by Disney.

Perlmutter gives interview to sympathetic folks @ WSJ

Don’t know if this goes under Marvel or Fanta, but it’s cool: https://www.marvel.com/articles/culture-lifestyle/fantagraphics-rediscovers-the-wonders-of-marvel-s-atlas-comics

Thought the thread revive wld be for this major scholarly work

https://www.marvel.com/articles/culture-lifestyle/abrams-books-marvel-value-stamps-a-visual-history-roy-thomas-charles-kochman-interview

LOL @ that cut-up spread of Stan.

xp Hmm interesting that Marvel didn't want to bother with this themselves

I cut out all those fuckin' stamps and taped them together on my wall, thereby effectively ruining a huge number of books. Seems like Marvel could have come up with a less destructive way to get people to be completists.

a win for them - if you're a true completist you'd have to buy even more copies!

Those Atlas reissues from proper scans are long overdue, I thought I might have to wait much longer. Surprised Fantagraphics are doing it but they already did Disney books so there's no real leap. That Maneely book is 75 dollars though.

the Artists Library series are at a larger trim size and on fancier paper than the regular Atlas Library — probably more like the EC Bradbury book from last year

I really like Archangel's blue/pink costume (especially when he let his bright yellow hair out), can't find anything more than a suggestion that Walt Simonson designed it. I also really like the Spiderman 2099 costume and it has similar colours/design.

Only (barely) related – I dug this costume redesign, but think it only lasted for a minute(?):

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/6/63/X-Factor_Vol_1_26.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/329?cb=20180228041215

(Hmm... the one time I don't test my shit out in the "html test" thread...)

Why come this never happened: 

Hello. We're X-Factor, here to capture the dangerous mutant you've identified in the area.
"Huh... you're a red-headed lady and a guy wearing AmberVision glasses, with a big 'X' on your jumpsuits. You look a lot like, y'know, that famous mutant team that's always in the news..."
Yes, it's a coincidence. What are the odds. Anyway, sometimes the lady covers her hair with a hat. Lead us to the mutant threat, please.

Oh, and the blond gentleman just has a really thick back. Those aren't folded wings. Why would you think that.

hello yes this is marvel girl she’s back. the fact my wife is identical to her is weird and awkward. hope we resolve this in the next few dozen issues

Out of nowhere (at least to me), Hickman and Hitch are writing a new Ultimate mini-series this week, which is apparently going to Kick Off Big Things.

The issue itself follows directly on from Secret Wars and nothing much happens, but it's quite good (won't spoil).

I wonder -- is this Hickman's thing, now? Instead of writing yearslong epics, he starts a story with a bang, pisses off, and gives it to someone less interesting to finish.

I am a completist by nature and this is a very bad quality to have with comics. I read ALL the Swamp Things and there is not a lot to recommend after Moore.

I'm currently trapped in She-Hulk. I got through Savage She-Hulk which was fine for being a dopey old comic. The Byrne stuff was good sometimes but the breaking the 4th wall eventually got tiring. I realized after reading the Byrne omnibus that there was an entire chunk missing when he left for a while. I'm reading those now and it's a slog. A good bit is written by Steve (Howard Duck) Gerber and it tries way too hard to be clever. The stuff in between Gerber and Byrne's return is dreck. Soon I'll get into more modern stuff and I'm hoping that will pick up a little.

I am a completist by nature and this is a very bad quality to have with comics.

Oh man, feeling u...

I read ALL the Swamp Things and there is not a lot to recommend after Moore.

No longer feeling u! Veitch 4 life (although I realize I'm in a serious minority for believing it to be one of the greatest comics runs of all time).

Veitch wasn’t great, but he was waaaay better than what came afterwards. The idea of Nancy Collins ST sounds good, but nope. The idea of teenage ST daughter sounds good, but nooooope.

Yes, both of those runs were terrible. Not-so-secretly love the Wheeler run, though.

Veitch run is great, Millar run frequently approaches competency.

about the Hickman bit?

he did the x-men thing for a couple years. exiting seemed planned, he was just setting up a much different status quo

the ultimate thingy seems less like a secret wars continuation than a backdoor way to return to his ultimate universe master plan imo


in other Marvel news, is that spider-man plot cycle they’re going through right now as bad as it seems? barely checked it out but it seems like “well, we have to explain the crazy shit that started the flash-forward in time status quo and just made up something”

the internet theory is that they intended to kill off MJ and chickened out at the last minute leading to some weird, but pro-corporate synergy choices.

The Spencer run had some similar meddling, seemed like they were finally about to undo the One More Day thing and then... nothing, run ended. Also had a crazy super retcon finale arc that was very strange. Followed by an odd stop-gap year with Ben Reilly returning temporarily ("Beyond")

I'm ride or die for the Millar Swamp Thing, which is not challenging Moore for the best Swamp Thing, but is definitely the best Millar.

Yeah the last Spider-Man run is not good. It’s like Spider-Man is Marvel’s Superman, they’re always breaking the status quo for no particular reason, perpetually whiffing it

I still haven’t read Moore’s run. I really should…

Oh man, it's the best.

I was not very pleased w/the last Spider-Woman series (though I bought all the trades), but I am pleased to see a new one (with different creative team) is coming: https://www.fandompost.com/2023/08/08/marvel-comics-sets-new-spider-woman-solo-series/

Jess is my favorite character, fwiw

Can anyone recommend a good 1980s Spider-Man run for a boring January evening? I know (and enjoy) the early 90s DeMatteis run — is there anything else like that?