Marvel Comics blabbery

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?

I’m mildly intrigued by this

https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comic/4373093/avengers-twilight-1

But is the Dream?

Chip-written alternate reality? I'll give it a shot at some point

Disappointed at the lack of shiny vampires.

Zdarsky's career is so weirdly split between fun stuff and glum journeyman product. I like his Batman run right now, it's very silly but very readable. The first issue of Twilight was fine, but everyone's read a billion of these things by now and this one isn't anything special.

(FWIW the Cliff Chiang Catwoman miniseries from last year was a actually pretty fun, original take on "what if superheroes but dystopia and they're old so their back hurts")

since I enjoy reading random stuff on Marvel Unlimited, I started reading through the original Alpha Flight series from 1983. John Byrne might be a notorious shithead, but he could at least do a little X-Men style Canadian spinoff that had some interesting, if very dated by 2024 standards, moments

I guess it was subtle for the time since people weren’t looking for obvious tells, but any summary (see Wikipedia) that tries to say it took a while for the series to hint about Northstar’s sexuality is… wrong

I’ve been cracking up because every time he shows up there’s some obvious “hey did you know this guy is gay? he’s gay!” setup

I've always found Byrne to be vastly overrated. Most of his art is just so static, and there is a bland sameness that he brings to everything. I consider him the anti-Kirby.

I did enjoy the Doomsday +1 book he did for Charlton very early in his career.

yeah, I wouldn't say he's good per se compared to my favorites, but I think he's generally cohesive/consistent

with the whole Marvel Unlimited deal I've tackled a pretty broad swath of comics and tapped out more than a few times. so, I'm putting that caveat on my comments

When I was a kid in the 80s, I found Marvel Comics annoying because they had too many captions compared to DC.

That is probably... not true, but it's how it seemed at the time.

Anyway - I was reminded as I'm rereading Byrne's Superman run, for the first time since the UK reprints came out in the early 90s. They seem way more zippy and readable than his Marvel comics (although possibly more hacky - and his Superman is a real prude!)