Aw, geez… Not this again. STOP TRYING TO BAIT ME
I thought Green Arrow kicking Deathstroke’s ass in Identity Crises was cool.
On a serious note, it was the only Crises event I really cared for, but I’m a big fan of “Mystery” themed arc’s so I’m a bit biased.
Meltzer might’ve tried to make it a mystery, but it was a poorly conceived mystery. I’ve read a ton of crime novels and comics and Identity Crisis does such a poor job of laying clues that are supposed to be fair to the reader that the “mystery” aspect of it rings completely false. The “clues” that are presented, such as the flamethrower the killer uses, are illogical as well. For example, if the killer didn’t want to kill Sue, why bring a flamethrower in the first place? That is a lousy way to try to introduce a red herring. And the whole “insanity as the killer’s motivation” is just hollow, a cheap copout.
And you know, the heroes could have avoided most of the story’s plot if they had simply sat back and waited for the autopsy to be performed.
Don’t even get us started on the Deathstroke vs. JLA fight… Green Lantern throwing a punch with his ring hand… Zatanna being able to mutter a couple of syllables before vomiting, just the wrong ones… I call it crappy writing but I guess to some people IT’S ALL SKILL, BABY.
The best thing Identity Crisis did is present the heroes’ humanity and show a genuine sense of emotion. I just happen to feel the plot completely undermines all of the groovy Green Arrow narration because everybody just acts so dumb. Also, and this isn’t really Meltzer’s fault, but after Identity Crisis, the DC Universe just wasn’t the same. It started to suck. Pretty damn hard.
Finished X Omnibus. It was good. Art was top notch for a CGW book. Characterization was a bit lacking though. A fun, quick read.
Been reading a lot in the GIT Captain America dvd rom. I started reading right after it dropped ‘and the Falcon’ from the title and have made it through about 25-30 issues from 1978-1980. Roger McKenzie wrote the majority of the stories. Pretty good stuff.
Hmm you make some good points, now that I think of it they could have waited, but that would make for a dull story so there’s that.
The humanization was a good thing, it’s hard to connect with DC’s heroes, at least on a more “Personal” level.
My favorite thing to come out of this, though, was my man Dr. Light becoming the big threat he used to be again. Also the Bat-wipe was pretty interesting, and sowed some seeds for later use.
new shipment of books came yesterday. here’s whats on dock:
All Star Batman & Robin HC - pleasant surprised this contains 9 issues and not 6 like ASS
Green Lantern: Sinestro War vol. 2 & Tales of Sinestro Corps HC’s - looking forward to these
Superman/Batman Worlds Finest Deluxe HC - Steve Rude in oversized format drool
Terror Inc tpb - Lapham goodness
Shadowpact vol. 3 - i think this takes me through the end of Willingham’s run
Umbrella Academy tpb - looks good
X-Factor Visionaries vol. 4 - the last of it, completing David’s initial run
I also picked up every new X-factor trade beginning with the Madrox mini because I figured if i loved the old PAD x-factor so much, why not try the new?
Yeah, that’s a kickass comic… I’m gonna drool with you. No homo. Unless you want to.
gonna sell my invincible tpbs and get the hcs I LOVE IT.
Also incoming is vol 1 of Savage Dragon.
BTW Identity Crisis was nice
Yeah, but it’s just as lame to try to get readers to swallow a plot that only occurs because the heroes aren’t very smart. That isn’t a good way to build trust in the reader. Especially because Identity Crisis aspired to be a somber and serious story. It’s hard for me to accept its credibility when silly gaps in internal logic distract me from embracing it.
The humanization aspect was good, but I think it was also a negative portent for DC comics in general. I mean, the Green Arrow narration in Identity Crisis is only, like, a few overwritten words away from being cheesyass (and, as goody might say, “ham-fisted”) Loeb-style Superman/Batman “insight” captions.
But see, that whole thing they did with Dr. Light felt like a precursor to the continuity porn that the other DC books and Infinite Crisis succumbed to. Dr. Light was a joke back in the day when he used to fight the Teen Titans. And then in the '80s Suicide Squad he was still kind of a joke (and he died, too). I forget how he came back to life, but if I can accept his resurrection, then I don’t really need an explanation as to why he’s now some hardcore motherfucker.
If Dr. Light had just shown up and started kicking ass, with no reference to his feckless past misadventures, I would have been fine with just that.
Batman’s mindwipe was sort of interesting because it kept me reading when the story was originally being serialized and I had no idea what the heck was going on. In retrospect, though, it was kind of a lousy way to make the early 2000’s Asshole Batman even more of an asshole and set up the OMAC garbage. I thought it was funny when Paul Dini repaired Batman and Zatanna’s relationship in Detective Comics and barely gave the mindwipe incident a mention.
Just picked up three must reads, here they are
Batman: Lovers & Madmen: After a few years of reading Batman, I’m a little wary or Joker origin stories. I mean, even Moore’s take on the Joker in The Killing Joke seemed a little lacking (imo). Yet some how Green managed to create a believable Joker origin while still telling a great Batman love story at the same time. If Green had decided to call Lovers & Madmen Batman: Year 4, I doubt any one would argue
Criminal: The Dead and the Dying: Criminal could very well be the best comic being made right now. Fables, DMZ, TWD, Punisher, and Cap. are all fantastic, but nothing satisfies me like a Criminal TPB. I know a lot of people on here are all ready members of the church of Bru, so I don’t really need to say much about this one.
Nat Turner: Must read…that’s all.
hmm…better than dmz or punisher? high praise indeed. still not totally sold on bru though…
ASBRBW: Very interesting read. Must note that the HC uses the shitty toilet paper thin paper that recent dc trades have and can pull out of the spine easily. I can’t believe there was so much bile and hate for this book. My biggest qualm is that the pacing is really strange and there isn’t enough Batman. The first 9 issues are definitely Robin and random DC heroes show. The art is great though. Love Batman’s attitude. Definitely love it as a prequel to DKR.
GL: Sinestro vol. 2 and tales of sinestro hc: what a finish to a great story. Superboy Prime is still my favorite villain in years. Not sure I like Kyla just being a regular lantern, and this new guy who became Ion seems pretty lame. My favorites are the GLC characters, and I wish they would have spent a little more time with my boy from thanagar. Also was the big fight in NYC with the anti-monitor referenced in any other books at the time?
ASBAR, as with most things that are popular to hate on, isn’t deserving of the reputation it has. It does have some serious weaknesses, chief among them that Frank Miller should have drawn it himself. Some of the time jumps were also hard to buy (Dick Grayson shows up on a milk carton before his kidnapping even shows up on a newspaper?). Some of the dialogue is very corny (“fierce rock,” huh?). And, of course, the book is ridiculously slow, partly due to plotting and partly due to Jim Lee’s ever-present tendency to overdo everything. I’m glad I didn’t read this series until now, because if the crawling pace is this noticeable in a trade, it would have been downright unacceptable in monthly issues. This is odd, because Miller’s stories usually haul ass.
Beyond that, it functions reasonably well as Batman-by-way-of-Sin City. I’m not quite willing to say that it’s like DKR, because it lacks the richness of DKR’s sociopolitical commentary, but the characterization of Batman and his world are in the same style. One thing I really liked is the explanation Miller arrived at for Batman allying himself with such a young sidekick. This is one of the elements in the Batman mythology that is most difficult to resolve, and Miller handles it well. It’s good to see that he still has some good Batman-related ideas left in the bank.
I love Fables and I loved the new trade.
That is all.
Gotta watch da “Fly Show”.
Yep Im late again regarding DC TPBs but i just read 52all 4 vols since saturday. It was ok and decent. I didnt like the Ralph Dibny thing too much even though I liked Identity Crisis. At first it was good and a moment there I thought he was going to leave her in the time loop and then he backs out. I just wasnt interested in his story anymore. Black Adam story i enjoyed a bit, steel was a bit interesting, well booster gold hmmm he seems to be an interesting guy but i dont know. The metal men story arc was meh. And DC dont play with lesbians they go all out in this one and yeah her story was decent. But yeah like im saying im really forcing myself to give DC a shot by going back reading the crossovers arcs in TPBs.
Should I bother with countdown? I may wait for the TPBs but i probably just do the library thing like I have been doing recently for DC. So far i did identity crisis, 52, batman and son, and wonder woman love and murder.
avoid countdown like the plague
May I ask why Countdown was so bad? I’ve never read it and doubt I ever will, but I really wanna know.
Today I bought A man named Kev; the last collection of the Kev series. If any of you haven’t read this series yet from WildStorm, you do not deserve to be a DeadPool fan; GO GET IT!
ok let me put it in a way that you would understand
52 = deadpool
countdown = t- ray
hmmm coming from a dp fan that is pretty good advice. I looked it up yesterday and uh :shake:
Just so you’d know, I happen to like T-Ray and…that example pretty much didn’t explain anything.
Oh and I’d hardly make 52 a comparison to DeadPool, DC wise 
I just ordered Absolute Sandman volume 1 on amazon the other day, so it should be getting to my place tomorrow. I’ve heard great things, so I can’t wait to read it!