Sperg about comic books here -

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Wtf are you basing this off of? Most popular shounen manga have protagonits who explicitly avoid killing, Demon Slayer and AoT may be exceptions but the antagonist are also literal unfeeling monsters. Seinen is a different category but Golden Kamui sells well and the main protagonist despises killing and most other best selling manga are Sol and romances.

It depends. A lot of Shonen manga has bad guys dying, and some of the most well-known have the heroes killing before their balls even drop. Like say, Goku eradicating the Red Ribbon Army and killing the first King Piccolo. As a pint-sized child.

The Dcau Batman never killed anyone and even without his og rouges gallery Gotham is still a shithole as seen in Batman Beyond plus he still fought his rouges while in the Justice League. And did you actually watch Batman'89 or Batflecks films? BvS' main conflict is caused by Batman branding people and Superman thinking that that led to them dying. Batfleck steamrolling through the mooks is completely ignored AND his Joker is Still Alive even after killing Robin so you're wrong on pretty much all counts.

Batman in the DCAU usually fights guys who are, as I said, just yahoos who rough people up and cause some property damage. So it makes sense that Batman there spares them. These villains aren't filling up whole cemeteries with dead bodies. That, and when he saw how the Joker tortured Robin, he was ready to break his rule:

Batman: "I'll break you in two!"
Joker: "Oh, Batman, if you had the guts for that kind of fun, you'd have done it YEARS AGO!"

That's the sound of a man who's done playing with kid gloves. Had Joker not surprised him, he would have killed the clown.

Because he's a retard looking for validation to justify how Batman should basically be a judge, jury, and executioner because it's "good writing" which apparently is something he wants for all stories about superheroes..

Like how Mark Grayson killed Conquest to save his friends. I suppose that was him being judge, jury, and executioner.

Fun fact: the way Batman conducts himself would land his ass in trouble faster than if he just killed mass-murdering psychopaths. Both the law and society are more forgiving of people who kill in self-defense than they are of people who use physical or psychological torture. If Batman kills a mass-murderer, the law would just see that as a private citizen defending himself from a threat. But if Batman psychologically torments a goon to get some info? He's going to end up getting waterboarded in Gitmo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justifiable_homicide#Examples_of_justifiable_homicide_in_the_United_States

https://www.hrw.org/news/2003/03/11/legal-prohibition-against-torture

 

[kaien]

American Splendor had some great comic strips when it came to Harvey Pekar wanting to be introspective. I can see why him and Robert Crumb used to admire one another.

It was never as good as when Crumb was drawing it, but man, when it was good it was good. American Splendor was one of the main things that got me reading the undergrounds. That and the time I stumbled on the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, when I was way, way too young for it...

 

[Cactuar King]

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Again, a sexy-ass issue. Emerald Knight’s origin was awesome, Luthor was cool, and Owlman is still badass.
I liked Sinestro appearing, but I’d prefer if they changed his design. Maybe give him long hair and a beard? Make him less evil looking.

Is that Atomica? She got ugly since her debut.

 

[Volthoom]

View attachment 2221483
Again, a sexy-ass issue. Emerald Knight’s origin was awesome, Luthor was cool, and Owlman is still badass.
I liked Sinestro appearing, but I’d prefer if they changed his design. Maybe give him long hair and a beard? Make him less evil looking.

I wish they changed Sinestro's design too. Also I wish they had an earthy 3 joker on the legion of justice. However I loved this issue it's great to see the Emerald Knight get some lime light for once.

 

[Tor Lugosi]

I've always thought Tynion was a fairly mediocre writer (who, from what I've head, only ever got ahead in the comic industry due to being friends with Scott Snyder).

Speaking of mediocre, I recently read Trinity by Matt Wagner, which I found to be mostly disappointing. The art has this sort of lazy, first draft look to it -- Superman often looks bland while Wonder Woman bounces between looking alright and looking like a weird tranny, whereas Batman is the only one done with consistent detail and effort. The story isn't anything great: Ra's al Ghul wants to the cleanse the world yet again, this time he recruits Bizarro (the failed clone of Superman version) and Artemis (a runaway Amazon) for help.

The start of the story feels like its meant to be some sort of globe trotting mystery where Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman team up for the first time to solve it and stop whoever is behind it. But it isn't. The Trinity constantly just immediately figure out plot points with little build-up or flair. Instead the story is largely just a collection of action scenes, with the bad guy escaping during it and then a page or two of the characters tracking them down again for another action scene. The characterization and dialogue is also very middling.

There is one really weird thing in the story - a sort of strange, sexual energy directed at Wonder Woman. Ra's al Ghul makes repeated comments about wanting to rape her and turn her into his personal concubine and later wants to turn all of the Amazons into breeding cattle. Even Batman at one point basically attacks Wonder Woman, throwing himself on her and kissing her.

I don't really know what went wrong here. Matt Wagner is definitely capable of much better -- his 'Monster Men' and the 'Mad Monk' minis are both really good in terms of art and writing. With Trinity, though, the art looks amateur-ish and the writing feels like something out of a teenager's fan fiction.

 

[JimiHendrix]

I've always thought Tynion was a fairly mediocre writer

i just enjoyed his Detective Comics run where he got to utilize the entire bat family. You pretty much don't get to see Batman, Robin, Cassandra and a bunch of others interact anymore. they're all either separated into their own books or don't exist. like right now Tim is just no where.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

That's enough batman for now....

Hellfire Gala is uhhh....a thing

 

[SITHRAK!]

That and the time I stumbled on the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers

They reprinted the entire run of the Freak Brothers in a trade softcover 'omnibus' about 12 years ago.
I was super fucking pumped to get a copy but when I had a look in my local bookshop, it was seriously disappointing.
The paper was 'Soviet gulag toilet paper' grade, worse than newsprint.
They'd shrunk the comics to meet a smaller size format, making the fonts tiny (the 'Fat Freddy's Cat' strips at the bottom of the page were completely unreadable).
And the shitty paper quality meant that the printing wasn't clean- half the writing was illegible because the paper was so rough that the ink had areas missing.
Really fucking disappointing.

 

[AnOminous]

Really fucking disappointing.

Sounds depressing. I remember the Cerebus phonebooks being really cheaply printed but at least they were legible and the printing was half-decent. The books themselves were incredibly flimsy, though, and the spines prone to falling apart.

 

[GranDuke]

I don't really know what went wrong here. Matt Wagner is definitely capable of much better -- his 'Monster Men' and the 'Mad Monk' minis are both really good in terms of art and writing. With Trinity, though, the art looks amateur-ish and the writing feels like something out of a teenager's fan fiction.

I kinda put it down to whole Trinity idea being stupid and him being unable to turn it into something worthwhile.

 

[Prehistoric Jazz]

Anyone following Heroes Reborn? #5 is out. Some of the ideas are interesting, but it seems the main series is split into two stories, making the bit by Mcguiness seem far too compressed. That might be a good thing with some of the writing.

 

[kaien]

They reprinted the entire run of the Freak Brothers in a trade softcover 'omnibus' about 12 years ago.
I was super fucking pumped to get a copy but when I had a look in my local bookshop, it was seriously disappointing.
The paper was 'Soviet gulag toilet paper' grade, worse than newsprint.
They'd shrunk the comics to meet a smaller size format, making the fonts tiny (the 'Fat Freddy's Cat' strips at the bottom of the page were completely unreadable).
And the shitty paper quality meant that the printing wasn't clean- half the writing was illegible because the paper was so rough that the ink had areas missing.
Really fucking disappointing.

That's rough, I had seen that volume but never actually read it. Plus side, the comic-book versions were reprinted so many times that at least those aren't hard to lay hands on.

Hellfire Gala is uhhh....a thing

I don't really care about the plot or if it even has a plot, the gags and cameos have been a kick so far. It's corny but I'm here for a comic where El-P and Killer Mike spectate on a staredown between Cap and Doctor Doom.

 

[Amber the Hedgehog]

That's enough batman for now....

Hellfire Gala is uhhh....a thing

I get so strong writing by females with no interest in superhero comics vibe from it. On very basic level I get that "prom episode" has story potential. Large parties have been the place to network and make alliances, kindoms and conspiracies have gotten their starts from right people having an opportunity meet. The characters can give a monologue without it looking awkward and having social obligation to behave can result in fun passive aggressive fighting with thinly veiled insults. If something bad happens you have room full of tension and suspects. So it's not an idea completely without merit but how they have advertised it whole thing just looks bad.

Spoiler: This is a super hero event

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They have mainly pushed the fashion angle, not that interesting to most super hero readers and it's not well implemented. It's so glear that the costumes are designed by multiple artists with different levels of competence. Now this somewhat unavoidable when doing art as a group but what really makes the thing bad is the missing united story telling. Most costumes are clearly designed looking as flamboyant as possible and that look just doesn't fit all established personalities. The costumes don't have same level of formality witch is important for tone setting. That would be bad enough but it also destroys what power high consept designs usually have in stories. They are ment to make the important characters to stand out and give variety from the general style. It would have been so much better if the consept fasion peaces had left to Emma Frost and few other characters that need get noticed or have personalities that would take excuse to really dress to impress. Most characters should have fairly standard formal clothes, they can show some personality just nothing outrageous. Most guys in standard suits and girls in nice long dresses.
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So far only thing about it that remotely not ridiculous is this humor cover. I know what that sounds like but I mean it as a compliment. It's actually dynamic and gets the appeal of these two characters.

 

[JimiHendrix]

looks like tim drake gonna suck some dick soon.

 

[DJ Grelle]

And if comics and their fans continue going that way, western comics will continue bleeding readers and support until the last of the old comic fans dies and everyone else goes to manga or anime, because Batman's comic story makes less sense than the average filler episode of Naruto.

American comics is merely a subset of western comics. There are plenty of good comics still out there, just less known because they're rare in English.
You've all heard about Tintin, I'm sure, but that isn't the only YA/more serious ligne clair/franco-belgian comic out there.
I can wholeheartedly recommend two series,both are a bit older but still release every year or so. (Not at the american tempo but the quality is better imho) Here they are:

Yoko Tsuno is a more sci-fi and technical oriented comic series (with imho one of my favorite alien tech design philosophies in existence. Vinean tech is just AESTHETIC.) The older comics are not drawn as good as the newer ones but are still very nice to see. Yoko is a japanese electrical engineer living in europe and having wacky adventures all over the world (though I don't think she has been in america for some reason) and also some adventures in outer space.

Alix is a more historical oriented comic. Alix is adopted by a roman senator and has an interesting life in the principate (early roman empire) He sees lots of interesting stuff and it's pretty cool.

There are tons of other series but I don't know if they still run. Michel Vaillant is good, it's about racing. There are more childish comics out there. You might know The Smurfs or Asterix. Along those lines exist also Tuniques Bleues (about the american civil war) Kiekeboe (YA belgian simpsons comic) Red Knight/ Rode Ridder (about a knight in red, all sorts of medieval adventures) Spike and Suzy/ Suske en wiske (for like 12-14 year olds) Jommeke (toddler comic books, really wholesome).

Of course, these all underwent a more "multicultural" evolution the last decade but nowhere near the absurdity that is american woke comics.

 

[Tor Lugosi]

Been getting back into reading X-Men in chronological order. I'm a few issues after the Secret Wars event.

Spoiler: lots & lots of 80s X-Men sperging

- New Mutants' Nova Roma arc was it's first big story arc and was mostly great. Before this I think the biggest multi-parter was the Team America story, which was kinda dumb. I don't know why Claremont thought trying to add Team America into the X-Men lore was a good idea and he seems to have largely abandoned it, so I'm assuming he realized that a team whose skillset mostly consists of "we ride motorcycles really well" didn't quite mesh with the X-Men.

Sunspot is the only character I'm still finding somewhat bland and ill-defined, the only time I find him interesting is when he's interacting with his family. All the others have pretty strong personalities and roles, with Dani in particular developing well from outsider/loner to team-leader.

Anyway, as for the Nova Roma arc, there were only really two problems I had with it, first being that Magma's introduction felt lazy. That the sole Amazon the New Mutants capture ends up being the daughter of the Roman senator that they ultimately side with and a mutant on top of that felt like a string of coincidences that could've been handled better. I think a better way to have handled it that would've been cleaner narratively would have been to have Magma realize that the New Mutants were powerful outsiders and willingly give herself up to them, hoping they could help her father.

The second problem was that Rahne's (Wolfsbane) deep love for Sam (Cannonball) felt like it came out of nowhere and is now suddenly the focal point for her character. So far it hasn't been too annoying and hopefully it stays that way.

- I mostly skimmed the Secret Wars mini for the X-Men parts. I read it in full a while back when I was reading through Spider-Man. I've always felt the miniseries was bloated and overly long; they could have easily cut out a few characters and probably shortened it to 8 or 10 issues. Anyway, the X-Men stuff in it is pretty middling. A lot of the non-X-Men characters suddenly being prejudiced against mutants felt arbitrary and just there for cheap drama, and then there was specific character drama that I didn't like. In particular, the use of Magneto and Colossus is pretty bad.

The way the X-Men constantly stick up for and defend Magneto no matter what consistently came across as retarded. There's a couple of scenes that are basically just:
Character: We don't trust Magneto!
X-Man: It's because he's a mutant!
Character: No, it's because he's a terrorist that's murdered people.
X-Man: Nuh-uh! It's because he's a mutant!
At one point the X-Men even use the "one man's terrorist is another man's liberator" line of reasoning that Magneto has used in the past to justify his actions which the X-Men have constantly disregarded and argued against. Magneto also seems to constantly forget he's the master of magnetism and instead just uses his powers to fly and throw rocks.

Then there's Colossus. He mostly spends the mini-series obsessively pining over the alien healer chick and being jealous that she likes Johnny Storm. What's worse is that other characters realize that the obsession is a side-effect of the alien healer's power... but nobody cares to tell Colossus that nor does he ever figure it out. Had he had a character arc here where he slowly figures it out and then breaks out of his slump, deciding he wants to return to Kitty and so has a reason to fight again it would've been fine, and they could've even done the whole 'he breaks up with Kitty due to his conflicting feelings upon return' story, he just would have seemed like less of a retard.

The one shining spot with the X-Men in Secret Wars is Xavier. Having regained the full use of his legs he attempts to fully take command of the X-Men, coming into conflict with Storm who had become the leader of the X-Men since Cyclops' retirement. Charles quickly realizes he really isn't quite suited for combat nor being the actual field commander, yet stubbornly refuses to give up his newfound field leadership role. I suppose they could have done more with Cyclops being the former leader but him hanging back and not wanting to take charge fits with where his character is currently at (retired and married).

- Around this time are two miniseries. The first being X-Men & the Micronauts. It's not bad but nothing special. Nothing important really happens with the X-Men, whereas this seems like a really important story for the Micronauts given that half of their universe is genocided by the main antagonist (The Entity) and a major character dies. Even the twist, that The Entity is actually Xavier's dark psyche manifested into reality isn't given much weight. Xavier pretty much shrugs it off and chalks it up to the duality of man. Also, Xavier dark side shows that he really, really wants to fuck his female students, no matter the age.

The other mini-series is Magik, the four issue series that chronicles Illyana's seven years in Limbo after she was taken by Belasco. I really enjoyed this mini-series and don't really have any faults with it. The sole problem with it is that I think Claremont realized he made her too bad ass by the end of it and didn't know what to do with her in the New Mutants, but that's not really a fault of the miniseries itself.

Within the mini she became a powerful sorceress and memorized a library's worth of arcane tomes, becoming skilled and powerful enough to defeat Belasco by herself; was taught how to fight by Cat; became toughened enough that she was able to kill her two best friends in Limbo; and just generally survived this harsh, desolate place for years. Yet when she returns to regular reality and joins with the New Mutants her sole purpose is often just teleporting the team around. She's otherwise 'too tired' to do any spells or gets knocked out quickly in a fight. With the power, skill, and experience she accumulated by the end of her seven years in Limbo she probably should've been able to mop the floor with the Hellions in their first battle.

- Bill Sienkiewicz joins as the main artist of New Mutants in the next issue for me, which leads into the famous Demon Bear story and soon Doug Ramsey and Warlock join, who I think are the last major members to join the New Mutants. In Uncanny, the X-Men are mostly just dealing with personal problems upon returning from Secret Wars, in particular Carol (Ms. Marvel's) persona and memories are starting to take control of Rogue.

 

[kaien]

The other mini-series is Magik, the four issue series that chronicles Illyana's seven years in Limbo after she was taken by Belasco. I really enjoyed this mini-series and don't really have any faults with it. The sole problem with it is that I think Claremont realized he made her too bad ass by the end of it and didn't know what to do with her in the New Mutants, but that's not really a fault of the miniseries itself.

New Mutants had that problem with both Magik and Karma. They were cool character concepts with powers that turned out to be way too strong to easily write around.

 

[Water-T]

New Mutants had that problem with both Magik and Karma. They were cool character concepts with powers that turned out to be way too strong to easily write around.

That's why Karma got written out early in the series by having her taken over by the Shadow King in issue 6. Xi'an didn't show up again for 2 years, which by then she got to be the size of Tess Holiday since Shadow King could enjoy food again in a corporeal body and just bail into new, healthy body when necessary.

 

[kaien]

As was the case with X of Swords, Hellions is a highlight of the Hellfire Gala because it's just Zeb Wells clowning on the whole thing.



(Everyone is drunk except the Orphan-Maker, who thinks he's drunk thanks to Empath.)

 

[jspit2.0]

Has anyone been following this Ant thing?

Ant, for those who don't know was created by Mario Gully in '96.

He created her while in jail for robbery.

He then got picked up by Erik Larsen in the mid 00's when Larsen was in charge at Image. Larsen went gaga for the character.

I wonder why?

Larsen bought the character off Gully shortly before he was arrested in 2012 for larceny.

Just recently, the Ant was released with a new issue #12 done by Larsen.

It's definitely a funny entry in the never changing, always weird and wacky American comics scene.