This story would have been much better if it had... you know... been good.
Monday, September 2, 2013
The Culling, Part 4: Teen Titans #9
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207 comments:
1 – 200 of 207 Newer› Newest»For perhaps an even more egregious example of a pointless character death in the New 52, check out Green Lantern: New Guardians #23.
On second thought, you're probably better off saving your hard-earned cash. If people quit wasting money on poorly-written crap like this, maybe DC's editorial staff will finally take a hint. Just search up spoilers online – you, too can seethe with the anger of the entire Red Lantern Corps!
Though I like me some Spin Doctors, I do prefer Two Princes, highly!
It seems kind of laughable that a cousin of the Entity is named King of Worms. What kind of King of Worms is he? Does he have the power to give you Earworm by making you listen to something like Justin Bieber on a continuous loop until your sanity is broken?
1) Avengers Arena
I started reading it from the beginning, curious as to how much of a trainwreck it'd be... though I actually find it an interesting and well written story. While there's hardly a death in every issue, you do get the sense that no one is completely safe.
Though apparently they're ending it, to relaunch another book in it's place dealling with the survivors... but I found it much better than the culling. They explain why the villain is so powerful to do all this (...kinda) and also why none of the senior heroes are storming in after them.
2) Lobo
That's gotta be the quickest retcon in history: "Ignore what Rob Liefeld did - THIS is Lobo." Although in regards to the concept art, the writer has come out saying Lobo in the book doesn't actually look like that.
The Worm King? It could be anything ranging from Worm Zero to Mannimarco, the Worm King....but Clockwork Servants could be...THE Y2K BUG!
It seems likely that both this comic and Doctor Who were influenced by an iconic scene from Disney's The Black Hole. http://mindreels.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/black_hole_02.jpg
It seems likely that both the comic and Doctor Who were influenced by an iconic scene from Disney's The Black Hole (1979)
http://mindreels.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/black_hole_02.jpg
Thank you, Linkara. Thank you for risking your sanity to deal with the worst of the New 52 so I didn't have to.
I didn't read any of the books involved in The Culling past the first issue and while I didn't regret that at all, this month of reviews has made me feel much better about my own "crap-sense" when it comes to bad comics.
i don't know what is more offensive, if having superman and wonder woman together because of twilight(btw, it is good to know the effects of that book series are still around), or somehow making the connection of "Wonder Woman = Bella swang"(and, i may sound like a shipper here, but lois lane fits the bella swang place better than diana). also, if you wanted the twilight demographic so much, why did you cancel the "i, vampire" book series? i mean, if it had low sells, i understand why you would cancel it, but if you want the twilight demographic, wouldn't have made more sense to have a vampire romance?
So Harvest is like LOST. making BS up as it goes along and is just boring repetitive crap. This was written by ToM DeFalco right? the man who created Spider-Girl? the man who created a better clone saga and original one. What happen? [still love Harvest Voice,even if he has no real motivations] at least this is the end.
Watching these reviews has made me even happier to be a Marvel man and not a DC reader. Heck, Marvel has problems, but at least they didn't do a line-wide reboot that largely seems to have royally screwed with its characters and what readers loved most about them. Personally, the only books I'm reading from DC are "Lil' Gotham" and "Batman '66" and they aren't in the main DC continuity. You take a look at either of those, Linkara? In particular, "Batman '66" is a blast.
oh my god this comic is annoying. this guy is just like prometheus from cry for justice, except they actually beat him. i dont understand the New 52, the Trinity War event is really strange and it ended this week, that event will lead into something that is far more devastating to all comics but dont understand why there moving to an all villain twist until March or whenever Geoff Johns feels like it.
Linkara, I must disagree with you on Harvest's design. I dislike it. If I had to pick the worse aspect of it, I would say it is the red. Too warm of a color, a cooler color would work better. Like purple, or a cyan shade.
Duuuuuuuuude!
90's Kid backstory iiiiiiiincoming! Or perhaps something far more sinister...either way, I look forward to seeing where this goes.
Oh, poor 90s Kid! He went through so much crap, and now on top of everything, he thinks the Entity's back!
uh-oh, whacha doing with that mystical book 90s kid? maybe the entry is still alive in the 90's kid?
Is that what I think it is? IT IS! PLUSH KINGKARA!!!!!!
And man, this was pointless. I'm glad the only New 52 Story I read so far is that Free Comic Book Day 2012 with that Pandora woman we saw at the end of Flashpoint. Speaking of Flashpoint, I used a Joseph-Beth certificate I got for Christmas for the Wonder Woman/Aquaman trade, and even though I liked it at first, several months later I began questioning it. Particularly a part where the Amazons wouldn't protect a priest join them for "worshipping a false god".
As for the storyline, in Kaiba's words "Holy crap, the plot is actually advancing!" And I did kind of said "I KNEW IT!" when you said that the Entitny had other members of its kind. So my theory is that it's another glitch or something like that. Though I got starting thinking of Jeff the Killer when you said "a face that any creature that knows fear will recognize" ,but that's just me and I'm not saying he is the culprit.
Also HOLY CRAP WHAT IS 90'S KID DOING?!!!
Wait a minute....
Capture youths to whittle them down to one to join him. They keep joining him although adults wouldn't. Everything goes according to his plan even the parts that appear contrary. A big crazy facility...
Harvest is Willa Wonka!
His true plan is to find a teenager to run his chocolate factory.
I know you're a big fan of the Titans but why are you still reading the book when Slobdell is still writing it?
This whole series was just... ugh. It was painful to just watch the review.
Knowing how these stories work, it will be something entirely unexpected... and poor 90's Kid, seeing that book again after what he want through before!
It got really repetative how often Harvest kept saying everything was going to plan when it was pretty clear he was just failing and trying to cover his ass and still look awesome.
And you do bring up a good point, why does Rose want to bring the kids back? Nowhere is gone, it's blown up, at this point why keep working for this idiot? Go freelance! Become a soldier of fotune, actually be your own boss and stop listening to someone who is clearly an idiot.
Even when under mind control from her dad, Rose Wilson was smarter than this before the reboot.
So, is 90s kid worried about getting taken over again? He looked really disturbed there. Wonder what he wants that book for.
Here's my take on this comic book:
What a metric load of wasted paper, ink and... I dare say it: talent. The story is - for a lack of a better term - ridiculous, Harvest is the ubervillain (I do have umlauts on my keyboard, but I refuse giving this character the honour of getting a ü in über) who escapes due to "having written themselves into a corner"-syndrome.
I thought these crossovers allow the writers to glimpse beyond the mask of madmen good and evil and explore their backstory... well, not this comic. This series was like "The best superimposed fings soundwords in the old Adam West Batman-series" with a few flakes of storyline sprinkled on top.
Nice Review! I love watching your videos
About the whole Amazons as rapists, slavers, and murders I think they were trying to make the Amazons more like their counterparts from the original myths.
King of Wyrms, hm? So, we are dealing with the original dragon or something?...
NOOOOOOO!!!! WHY DIDN'T YOU BURN THIS PIECE OF SHIT CROSSOVER, LINKARA?!? FOR THAT MATTER, DID YOU ACTUALLY BUY THIS TPB?! WITH YOUR OWN MONEY?!? I WOULD HAVE STOLE THE DAMN THING AND BURNED IT ALONG WITH OTHER GOD AWFUL NEW 52 BOOKS LIKE RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS! HELL, I'D EVEN BURN SCOTT LOBDELL ALONG WITH IT JUST TO SATISFY MY NEED TO AVENGE STARFIRE, EVERY OTHER CHARACTER HE'S WRITTEN IN A PISS-POOR MANNER, AND THE FANS THAT HAVE BEEN BETRAYED!!
I'm sorry if I'm yelling or advocating theft or going on a psychotic rant, but after putting up with such a miserable storyline that had jack squat in regards to a resolution (or anything else for that matter) I am ready to go after each and every dumbass behind this reboot and do things to them that would make a lover of snuff films puke! This reboot and almost everything that has come from it has no reason to exist other than to swindle hard-earned money from comic book lovers. Yes, there are actual good books in this reboot, but any good coming from this is buried underneath the mountain of shit that is the "design by committee" approach to these characters and their rich history.
Again, I apologize for going off like this. But it hurts me that these characters, who have lasted for almost a century, are in the hands of the most despicable bottom feeders that have zero passion for these characters, their creators, and the industry as a whole. I feel sorry for anyone still working at DC who have to work in such conditions, where their creativity is put on a choke chain and any good ideas barely survive the meat grinder of mediocrity. -_- I pray for this madness to end soon and this company is placed in more capable hands.
Finally, great job on the latest chapter in the storyline. I hope 90s Kid is not planning to mess with powers he does not understand.
Yeah, fuck DC. The only way to get better stories is to not buy things like the Culling. Not sure how this is supposed to hook new readers, when I have no idea what's going on, who the characters are, or what their motivations may be. It's already too convoluted for new readers, and why did DC change their whole line of stories to appeal to a demographic that doesn't buy their comics to begin with? And take Batman as the prime example, since obviously DC was banking on getting new readers with this one. In one of the first issues there's a scene with Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, I believe. Also, Damien Wayne is Robin. Whose Damien Wayne? Bruce Wayne has a son? Whose Talia Al Ghul? As a new reader, it's so much easier to follow now that they've relaunched. I'm not a new reader, that's just an example.
I did sigh relief that the Culling is over. Still waiting for that Holy Terror review. I don't know if this is common knowledge, but I read a long time ago that Frank Miller was working on a new Batman story called "Holy Terror, Batman!" I'm not surprised he wasn't allowed to go ahead with it.
There are some new 52 titles that I'm interested in reading, but I have been and still am pissed at how they're releasing the trades. All of the single issues come out the same month, so why are the trade releases so inconsistent as to what month/year they come out. The stories are already written. Just bind that shit it up and release them. I want to read vol 2 of Word's Finest.
Interesting bit at the end. I will that "clockwork servants" had me thinking Mechakara.
I know it's a minor thing, but the caption to the video is the funniest I've ever read.
Huh, I was thinking that Mechakara transferred his mind into comicron 1 back in To boldly flee.
vote with your wallets, well said. Also I would recommend the new Swamp Thing series and the new Animal Man series. In spite of the fact that they killed off a child character in the latter book it's still a good read.
I actually like the more traditional portrayal of the amazons DC is doing now. I know Greek mythology and it never felt right that the amazons were treated as good in the comics when I knew what they did in the myths. Same with the Greek Gods but that's gotten a little better recently.
I don't think portraying them more accurately is what makes the Wonder Woman comics bad.
I agree with the sentiment regarding "Vote with your wallet," unfortunately I feel that the way the system is set up now the big publishers can find ways around it.
They seem more interested in sales to the retailers than final sales to the customer. As long as a book sells X number of copies to the stores, it doesn't matter how many people are actually buying. And with their focus on reboots, relaunches and gimmicks like 3D covers and encouraging "Collectors Issues" it seems they are falling back on selling to the collectors market like they did in the 90's rather than the general market.
Couple with that is their desire to try and go for the elusive "New Fan" market, or the fans developed or who WILL be developed from the upcoming "movies" (Of which they have had limited success with at BEST and even then they are only properties like Batman and Superman and haven't expanded their other properties), and it seems like the general fans have been left out in the cold.
It doesn't matter if the general fans dislike something. The collectors will boost the numbers- at least initially- so that complaints can be ignored. And if they disagree with a change, the argument can be that "future fans" will simply take their place. It's really the biggest problem not only with DC, but also Marvel these days, is that they focus so much time on trying to develop and encourage "new" fans that they outright ignore and take for granted the customers they DO have. Sure, there are perhaps token efforts made to address some of these fans concerns, as the companies can't really afford to lose them entirely. But nothing done to address their REAL concerns and major issues the fans- and even creators- are putting forth.
It's a frustrating situation, which is unfortunately far too similar to the situation in the 90's- focus more on "new" fans developed from other media, and more on the collectors market, rather than telling good stories that actually satisfy the readers. Problem is, that situation in the 90's led to the almost destruction of the industry itself. I fear if the bubble bursts again, the industry might not recover this time.
My god i am seriously getting tired of Blips freakin ads not playing or crashing their player. I am really tired of having to start the player over again to watch not just linkara's content but anyone's content from channel awesome. Also im tired of having to watch the damn 60 second bumper when Blips pile of crap player can not load its own ads. Even with my ad blocker off on bot linkara's blog and on the main blip site. But most of all i am tired of blip lying to my face when that blip failure page starts. NO BLIP ADS DO NOT TAKE 30 SECONDS! THEY TAKE BETWEEN 60 - 90 NOT INCLUDING THE FINAL BOOK END AD. Im sorry linkara but i may just turn the ad blocker back on and just give you the money directly because unless Blip gets their act together im not sure what to do here.
Oh the episode was good considering the fact the comic is the equivalent to watching a poorly edited infomercial probably does not help at all.
The comic: Wow. That was...anticlimactic doesn't even begin to describe it. It didn't end so much as STOP DEAD. I think what happened was that the writers just said, "Screw it, we're not writing anymore of this bull. Uhh...Harvest gets away, The End." This comic has less resolution than MONSTER A GO GO!
Your storyline: UH OH! I really hope nothing bad has happened to 90s Kid AGAIN. The 'King of Worms' makes me think of a Basilisk.
....It's not a basilisk, is it?! :O
"We're not gonna tolerate crap like the Culling anymore!"
But... you said earlier you're still buying this series...
I love your stuff dude, I really do, but I am forced to decry this statement in horror and confusion.
HOW THE FUCK CAN A GUY MAKING VIDOES ON THE INTERNET MAKE FOUR GOD DAMN MINUTES OF UNPROFESSIONALLY CREATED MATERIAL FAR MORE INTERESTING THAN FOUR DAMN ISSUES FROM A PROFFESSIONAL SOURCE?
it boggles my mind. those four minutes had more pathos than those four comics. the question of a new entity, who manipulated machines. even that tiny part with nineties kdi at the end has a lot of potential. is there some small semblance of the entity inside of him? or has he been harboring some anger and guilt over the fact the entity pupeptted his form so long ago. in just four damn minutes. shakes head.
when it comes to the outer gods, there is only one true option; something much older than them. what we mortals call magic is something far greater than we think. it is a form ofcomprehension before comprehension, ehyt attempts to comprehend it through logical means often ends in failure. your gun would not work, but the claws and blades of these 'magical' creatures will. they are outside of any definition of time and space, thus they are not vulnerable to dimensional warping abilities, what the outer gods rely on, and can touch the otherwise untouchable beings. the problem is whever one brigns one with the force and ability to slay an outer god, there is always a negative reaction. the death throws of an outer god slain by their elder turns their interdimensional energy into supernatural energy, which then propagates throughout the dimension and, potentionally, other ones as well. this event can forever change a world and many other worlds.
least that is from what I think of the concept. I always find it rather odd, sometimes conflicting, to have both so called interdimensional manipulation and magic separate yet in the same world. basically it is like having two character with sueprspeed and claiming hwo their abilities work are entirely different. superman forces his way through while the flash vibrates his being to reduce friction, but basically it is similar methods for the same results.
from whre I stand, interdimemsional power is second to or another variant of magic. magic is older, and iut only has the illusion of weakness because of its self imposed controls. also I get this from the fact Grundy, a supernatural construct, totally screwd over a chthulu in justice league.
Surprised you didn't use the Steve Martin "Here's an idea, have a point" clip. What a useless story, if it can even be called a story. Strangely enough I think Mandark's/Pawadox's voice suits Harvest, he probably can't speak too well without lips. Oh well, it's over now.
I've not really bothered with actual comics nowadays, I've really just been making my own stories in my verion of the DC universe (as well as my own superhero universe). Cuts down on a lot of despicable and pointless rubbish you can find getting in the way of enjoying a series.
Oh, New 52. What terrors will you inflict upon us next?
Do you have any thoughts on JLA, JLD, Justice League, or Trinity War?
Wow. After having seen this, it's no wonder you preferred reading stuff like the Darkwing Duck comic.....which isn't saying that much, seeing as the Darkwing Duck comic was bright, colorful, and actually had a sense of fun.
Check your privilege Lewis and consider an exhaustive trigger warning before each of your videos. You referred to Harvest as "Little-Miss-Can't-Be-Wrong" and these comments are sizist and transphobic. Certainly, while you were alluding to the song title, you were making a joke; but these jokes reinforce patriarchy and gender-binary hegemony by reinforcing what is "okay" and what is "other."
From your review, it appears that Harvest identifies as a male, but isn't it xir right identify as xe chooses? Additionally, if the character chooses to identify as male, then the entirety of the the trans-community does not deserve to come under scrutiny through the reckless language that confuses the identities of a character. I will grant, that, if xe identifies on the gender spectrum, rather than as heteronormative, then it is not the fault of the reviewer that DC would show its bigoted opinions again by making the character the villain, and further by not granting sufficient character development to explore Harvest's identity or identities.
Next, your reckless language identifies the character as "Little" and encourages "littleness" as something to be derided and mocked. From the art, it appears that Harvest is of median size and considerable physique. There is nothing objectionable about being other than size-spectrum normative; but these comments confuse and muddy the issue.
Last, the use of "Miss" harkens back to days when arranged marriages (rape) were socially acceptable and even obligated. No person should ever have to be identified by their marital status. Harvest should have the right to use whatever title xe identifies with, be it Mr., Ms., Dr., etc.
I will not ask you to edit your video and remove this trigger, but please consider these remarks and be more mindful of the communities that you walk on.
I love the recent character development for both Harvey and 90's kid, and it seems that 90's kid is only starting to be more interesting.
Also, hairbrain theory here, both maybe Vyce didn't build his own robotic troopes, that they are the Clockworks, and that is how the King got access to our world.
It would be great if you used "Clockworks" as the term for the robots.
90s Kid, what are you doing?? Put it down! PUT IT DOWN! THIS WILL NOT END WELL! D:
Hard to believe Harvest takes no joy in this since his face seems plastered into that dumb grin. Or is he supposed to be a future incarnation of The Joker? He has the "No Face" thing down.
I would agree, except, Wonder Woman is a really good series right now (mythological context for brutal amazons? What's that?)
You know, the way you describe the "King of Worms" sounds similar to the Great Leader of Shocker. His head is a large, red eyeball covered in snakes. Snakes are somewhat similar to worms. Also, not making confrontation with others. This reminds me of how the Great Leader would never show his face until the end of the first Kamen Rider series. We would only hear his voice over an intercom in the Shocker bases. Furthermore, a clockwork army might also mean a mechanical army. An army of cyborgs you could say. The Shocker Kaijin were cyborgs. Call me crazy, but I could be onto something.
(Hopefully) before anyone says anything about the change to the Amazons' backstory being closer to Greek myth: why do you care?! Wonder Woman's background has ALWAYS been a loose adaptation of stuff from Greek myths, more accurately described as bringing in elements therein. This change was unnecessary and has had no real impact on the story of Azzarello's WW run, so it's only there to further make things "grimdark" as people like to call it.
In addition, the Great Leader of Shocker was an inter dimensional creature of some kind. He had his own dimension that we saw in the Spirits manga.
Hey linkara, would you recommend James Robinson earth 2 series to someone who has yet to have read anything of the new 52, or JSA.
so... The King of Worms id Parallax?
When you first put up your schedule I was confused as to why you didn't just have all four parts of the Culling in the same month...now I get it, its such a stupid event that its a "Labor" to get through it.
You forgot Harvest's most important ability in your summation: his elaborate series of plans in the event a vortex opens up and swaps his coffee for tea. Well that and the true identity...Evil Exposition Man! *Cue dramatic reveal music*
And after you gesture at the cybermat I realize...stuff has moved around again A.) What's the doll beside Snowflame and The Thing? and B.) Wasn't the book in front of the Pollo model with the scarf?
The reason behind Harvest's unsafe base design: "I come from a time and place where OSCA has long been consumed by its own power! A power that means nothing to me!"
Well there is one good thing you can say about The Culling, its over.
Looks like the October storyline is finally on...and already unsettling.
Clockwork servants...does this mean the King of Worms built the robots from The Girl in the Fireplace...probably not but it won't stop me from hoping for a AT4W/Doctor Who crossover...fan fiction writers get on it!
90's Kid...whatever's going to happen, you gotta know it's going to be personal.
well, he seems outraged about the Lobo redesign, my questions finally gotten answered
And so The Culling is over and now to forget about it. I wonder what you'll hit next for the New 52. The only other book that I think is horrendously awful is Ann Nocenti's Catwoman run (starts at #0 with the infamous image and goes to now) and that's a mess in every single way possible (not often to see the dialogue this bad). Say what you will about Winick's Catwoman, once he got past the first two shakey issues, the rest of his stuff was pretty solid and very character based.
Also, to the people reading the comments looking for recommendations, check out Layman's Detective Comics (Start at #13.) Lemire's Green Arrow (Start at #17), Sword of Sorcery (Cancelled but get the trade), Batman/Superman, Superman Unchained, Vibe (possibly the most upbeat book of the 52), The Movement, Green Team, The Flash, iVampire (this isn't Twilight at all like the original ads suggested), Resurrection Man, and more. There are great stuff out there and possibly to come.
Hell, Harley Quinn's new series sounds neat and the first issue (#0), will basically be her critiqueing several different artists, looking for the right person to draw her book (like Dwaryn Cooke, Bruce Timm, Sam Keith, Adam Hughes, etc). That sounds like fun!
Also, Linkara, about the Lobo design. Check this article. The writer (who cowrote the recent Batman annual), had this to say:
http://www.hitfix.com/news/online-backlash-over-lobo-redesign-may-be-premature
That image you showed: She stated that's not what Lobo looks like in the book. don't want to be a jerk, but just check the article.
Damn, this video wouldn't load
had to refresh it several times, and it only started working after an hour
anyway, I just realized something
all of you'r complaints about the New 52 are IDENTICAL to you'r complaints bout the previous incarnation of the DC universe
In other words, you aren't complaining about the re-boot, or them "ruining the characters"
in reality, you are only complaining about them not fixing it
I will say that if there's one series that clearly profited from the re-boot, it's Green Arrow
Ever since Jeff Lemire (who also writes Animal Man, Justice League Dark, and wrote Agent Frankenstein) began writing it, the series turned into something grand and majestic, and it strongly takes advantage of blank slate the re-boot provides
Is The King of Worms Parallax?
@John Teece
Avengers Arena only LOOKS like a good series if you aren't familiar with any of the characters
If you ever read Runaways or Avengers Academy, you'd realize just what an insulting mary-sue fic it is
This is in my opinion the biggest failure of Marvel Now
They claim to keep all of the original continuity, yet they utterly disregard it on multiple occasion
The New 52 at least has the excuse of being a brand new continuity, and the characters being different people
"if you wanted the twilight demographic so much, why did you cancel the 'i, vampire' book series?"
Because "I, Vampire" was actually good
It was really less like Twilight and allot more like Hellsing
they also had a guest appearance by Batman, where he was depicted as an utter looser
(someone with a "no killing" policy is a liability when dealing with an entire bloodthirsty army intent on world domination)
Good thing Justice League Dark and the Stowrmwatch were around to help out
@Ben Grimm
"Heck, Marvel has problems, but at least they didn't do a line-wide reboot that largely seems to have royally screwed with its characters and what readers loved most about them."
yeah, instead they royally screw with their characters and utterly disregard everything established about them, while claiming into you'r face that they are still as they ever were
Other things you could've done instead of reading this:
Watch either Teen Titans or Young Justice or read their tie-in comics. YJ to see Artemis as a hero instead of dead.
Do a vid with all the New 52 recommendations you have thought of or received from the comments.
I'm sure there are more things you could've done instead of this...just need to think of them.
And more New 52? Yay...maybe a straight primer on the DCU before and after the reboot...along with what you wish would've stayed. Possibly a long, rant-filled video though huh.
Huh so MissingNo has a family. Must have been awkward at thanks giving.
MissingNo: So what did you do?
KingOfWorms: Controlled another computer, you?
MissingNo: Absorbed another universe.
KingOfWorms: Missing you gotta cut back on those, you don't know where they been.
MissingNo: I can stop when I want to I just don't want to.
And here's a terrible, terrible problem with the comic (and similar works). Every time the group uses some tactic to fight the enemy, it fails miserably and the enemy talks about how great they are. Purely through the enemy having whatever power they need to handle any situation.
And if Harvest's plan (which I'm fairly sure was rewritten several times considering how poorly managed it was) was to have former Ravagers spread across the world, cause chaos and confusion and spur the global public into a genocidal backlash*, then why didn't he just have the Ravagers go across the world and do that? Why would he ever need to have the Culling or the Titans or anyone else?
*When in fact formally established government agencies with authority over metahumans would be far more likely, but sadly Civil War writers showed that comic books don't dare use that idea.
"I actually like the more traditional portrayal of the amazons DC is doing now. I know Greek mythology and it never felt right that the amazons were treated as good in the comics when I knew what they did in the myths. Same with the Greek Gods but that's gotten a little better recently.
I don't think portraying them more accurately is what makes the Wonder Woman comics bad."
You're entitled to that opinion, but they never WERE supposed to be the mythological Amazons. Because the mythological Amazons didn't create Diana in the original mythos. The Bana-Mighdall weren't in the original mythos. Simply put they're just not the same Amazons culturally, technologically, or socially.
"Could a writer create a character smarter then the writer"
Deadpool?
"Check your privilege Lewis and consider an exhaustive trigger warning before each of your videos. You referred to Harvest as "Little-Miss-Can't-Be-Wrong" and these comments are sizist and transphobic. Certainly, while you were alluding to the song title, you were making a joke; but these jokes reinforce patriarchy and gender-binary hegemony by reinforcing what is "okay" and what is "other.""
I am beginning to suspect that you are trolling me.
Also I called him "Little MISTER Can't Be Wrong." Check your ears.
I'm still waiting for Mechakara's inevitable return in To Boldly Lewis. Especially considering how superfluous Mechakara was in To Boldly Flee.
"Also, Linkara, about the Lobo design. Check this article. The writer (who cowrote the recent Batman annual), had this to say:
http://www.hitfix.com/news/online-backlash-over-lobo-redesign-may-be-premature
That image you showed: She stated that's not what Lobo looks like in the book. don't want to be a jerk, but just check the article."
Which just raises the question of what the hell DC was thinking when they released that design image and didn't state it was a concept drawing or the like (especially when they DID state that several other designs were concept ones).
N: Ehhh, I give it 5/10 for effort. Next time, throw in references to MALE OPPRESSION and talk about WOMBYN POWER.
"Avengers Arena only LOOKS like a good series if you aren't familiar with any of the characters
If you ever read Runaways or Avengers Academy, you'd realize just what an insulting mary-sue fic it is"
Pretty much this.
For example, all of the deaths in Avengers Arena have been characters from other books. The only death that is an original character in Avengers Arena gets his own damn funeral! While others who had their own books are tossed aside like rag dolls and aren't brought up again.
Just saying, Avengers Arena is the most insulting book if you know the characters before you read it, because the whole book is to launch the writer's new characters.
"Which just raises the question of what the hell DC was thinking when they released that design image and didn't state it was a concept drawing or the like (especially when they DID state that several other designs were concept ones)."
Probably just wanted to get more people to check out the issue (there's no such thing as bad publicity or some crap like that.)
Also, thanks for replying! I feel special! :D
Spoilers (Don't read):
......
90's Kid is going to screw everyone and the entire Earth, isn't he? Hate to see what happens if he were to say, unleash the Deadites.
really? I've found the New 52 Wonder Woman series by Brian Azzarello to be the best New 52 book, so have may others and it's consistently one of the best reviewed comics today, I think you need to get over what they did to the Amazon's, I personally thought the change was for the better as I never found them remotely interesting before.
I thought Earth 2 was absolute dog shit, or did you put that in as a joke? If so, lol.
Really enjoying Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, All-Star Western, Trillium, FBP and The Wake. Animal Man also getting the artist from American Vampire! More into Image and Dark Horse over DC and MARVEL though.
King of Wyrms, eh?
Been reading any RPG books there thanks to Iron Liz?
Sounds a lot like an aspect of the Defiler Wyrm corrupting/using the Weaver's agents for it's own agenda. Wait... Wyrm and Weaver? Is it the Storm Eater?
The Entity kinda had a Eater-of-Souls vibe with it, so we've yet to see a cousin that's like the Beast-of-War.
Thousand points to anyone that knows which RPG series I'm talking about.
ok Linkara, seeing all the DC hate in the comments, I think it's time you once again reviewed some god-awful Marvel stuff to remind them why Deadpool is the only Marvel title you are reading
I'd suggest starting with Secret Invasion, then this lil gem http://teamhellions.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/heroesforhire13.jpg
and then give them some of the Marvel Now titles, like Avengers Arena, the god-awful Iron Man run, and Nova
I'm also sure you'r have a field day with the Thunderbolts, alto that's mostly because how 90s it is
point is, remind them just how much more Marvel can suck compared to DC
"Sword of Sorcery (Cancelled but get the trade)"
Okay. It's 328 pages, which is a good length for the price, and it's released tomorrow, which is convenient. Might also get World's Finest Vol 1, but maybe I don't want to overburden myself, since I'm in the midst of Batgirl Knightfall Descends.
"I am beginning to suspect that you are trolling me."
What would ever give you that idea, Linkara? Great review, by the way. Harvester voice got really funny the more you used it. I also like the conundrum of whether a writer can write a character who has more sense than he himself. It's also a conundrum as to how Scott Lobdell is considered a writer.
"Just saying, Avengers Arena is the most insulting book if you know the characters before you read it, because the whole book is to launch the writer's new characters"
Which then further raises the question about why they had to kill all of the Runaways and Avengers Academy students, instead of just creating other original characters to dies, especially seeing how all of said characters were completely out of character during the whole thing anyway!
By the way, I have a good strategy for you people about how to not give money to bad comics
First pirate the new issue and read it
If you liked it, go to the store and buy it
if not, skip it
this way you can vote with you'r wallet, while still being up to date on the plots
"vote with your wallets, well said. Also I would recommend the new Swamp Thing series and the new Animal Man series. In spite of the fact that they killed off a child character in the latter book it's still a good read."
not to mention, the current story-line is actually implying that he might be brought back (unless Brother Blood messes things up even more)
"really? I've found the New 52 Wonder Woman series by Brian Azzarello to be the best New 52 book, so have may others and it's consistently one of the best reviewed comics today, I think you need to get over what they did to the Amazon's, I personally thought the change was for the better as I never found them remotely interesting before."
I also liked it very much(altough i do not read it since the stupid superman X Wonder Woman idea), but here is my problem with the book. you could have removed all the references to the DC Universe, and i don't think anything would have changed(except for you-know-who). Diana could be any other character, even a 100% original creation, and you would not notice. if this was a darkhorse comicbook, or from an alternate universe, then i'm pretty sure Linkara might have enjoyed it(because, again, his problem is that he feels this is a...betrayal of the character, not that the book is bad).
To give you an example, let's say batman, in the main universe, starts to kill people with a gun, and he is not a clone or a replacement or anyone besides the one and original Bruce Wayne, who has decided by himself, with no mind-control or tricks, to do it, but it is written in such a perfect, flawless way, where each piece fits just perfectly, to the point that you could not believe no one has done it before. it would STILL be a betrayal of the character.
So in conclusion is this crossover was complete Dumb!
I totally agree they screwed superboy origin among other things. I said last week tried to make young justice like origin but couldn't do that right.
Oh god Star Wars Christmas Special clip. That maybe to good for this crossover.
Oh that is so true about the lack of joy in comics.
This was written by the same guy? Makes me really want to know what is going on editorial at dc.
Wonder Girl consumed by her own power? God I really hate what they did with her New 52.
Harvest must have great dental plan or pay well or health system. I say they were under mind control but doesn't look it ever had any of that.
And Ravagers was cancaled in less then year after being launched. They accomplished so much.
I REALLY HATE WHAT THEY DONE TO WONDER WOMAN. I have said this before but I tried the book and it just was so bad. From horrible new color scheme wonder woman to new look of the gods to the way characters act. They been trying to change wonder woman over and over. It doesn't work. They changed her origin, the amazons, the gods. She still didn't make as popular as Superman and Batman. They tried to make her something she wasn't and it doesn't work. When people who even like agree that it feels she guest star in her own book there is something with it. Don't get me wrong I wanted to like this book after JMS' nightmare RUN. I wanted to read wonder woman. It was so bad at the start. Everything I read about it hasn't changed. Really the twilight thing? You know that really worked for Twilight clone movies? Oh wait no it didn't because they all bombed in box office.
I got to agree with Kit that new Guardians #23 had a whole lot of pointless deaths. Just a bunch of crap.
Wanna see how much I care about this months 3d villain month or Forever evil? I'm buying 0 issues of it.
Hm. I have to wonder 90s trying to make up for what happen to entity or something else up? Hm.
...huh. Thinking about it, the King of Worms, being a "cousin" of the Entity, is probably along the same lines, most likely a computer worm that evolved into an eldritch horror...
...but my initial reaction, listening to its description, was for my mind to spring to Giygas. Doesn't interact directly, knows fear so well that its face became a personification of fear, the "clockwork servants" could be the Starmen and other robots...
I dunno, again, it's probably a computer virus from the past decade, and Earthbound is older than Pokemon technically so the King being the "youngest" wouldn't fit. Oh well, if it does end up being Giygas, I'd like to say I called it I guess early.
Don't forget about Magneto and Sinestro as villains who thinks they're doing the right thing.
In your Man of Steel vLoG you said that in the culling review you were gonna go into how now DC is trying to make every character act like Batman. I guess you didn't have time with all the other crap you had to go through, but I hope you analyze that aspect of the Nu52 some other day.
Think I'll get Justice League Dark Volume 2 as well. It has issues 0, 7-13, and annual #1, so it's also a good length. Also, Jeff Lemire is supposed to be good, and his Animal Man was okay. Not interested in the Rot crossover, or anything to do with Swamp Thing in general. I read volume 1 of Alan Moore's version, and, I liked the art. Wasn't into the character.
"To give you an example, let's say batman, in the main universe, starts to kill people with a gun"
to be fair, he did do such things back in the Golden Age
and by the way, Superman has yet to appear in any issue of Wonder Woman
Azzarello has a strict policy of keeping the other titles out of the series continuity (alto there were references to the events of Wonder Woman in Superman and Batwoman, the Wonder Woman titles is free from any references or character appearances from outside the series)
this is due to his belief that Wonder Woman should be first and foremost her own character, and for that her series has to be able to stand on it's own without any gimmicks
"Lobo is currently a main character on Stormwatch, and these covers depict pretty well how he looks"
Eeeexcept they've been saying that the Lobo who has been currently running around the DC Universe is an imposter.
And no, I don't think the changes to Wonder Woman make her more interesting. In fact, I think the changes to her origins make her far LESS interesting and unique a character.
"to be fair, he did do such things back in the Golden Age"
As linkara said at the star of this crossover, that is pretend that the last 60 years didn't happen.
Eee! The new plot seems so Lovecraftian! I can't wait to see where this goes.
King of Worms? So Nyarlathotep? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyarlathotep
Hey Linkara, this is Shy Ranger. I forgot to post this on your previous video, but I had a thought you might be interested in.
As much as we joke about Paradox (especially the Yugioh abridged one) being stupid for his decisions, there is one thing he has over Harvester. I saw the movie, and he NEVER says he's a good guy or a hero.
We could assume that Paradox knows he's evil or bad and that his methods are destructive and uncouth, but he is doing whatever it takes to fix the future, sort of a means to an end or a method to his madness.
And before anyone asks how someone could come to that conculsion, remember that Paradox comes from an apocalyptic future, and as fiction always says, there are some seriously messed up people in the apocalypse.
So yeah, Paradox failed, wasn't that great, and probably could've come up with a better plan. But the future probably made him irrational, thinking that destruction in the past was the only way to prevent greater destruction in the future.
Note: This also goes for the Yliaster villains in Yugioh 5Ds.
Hey Linkara, this is Shy Ranger. I forgot to post this on your previous video, but I had a thought you might be interested in.
As much as we joke about Paradox (especially the Yugioh abridged one) being stupid for his decisions, there is one thing he has over Harvester. I saw the movie, and he NEVER says he's a good guy or a hero.
We could assume that Paradox knows he's evil or bad and that his methods are destructive and uncouth, but he is doing whatever it takes to fix the future, sort of a means to an end or a method to his madness.
And before anyone asks how someone could come to that conculsion, remember that Paradox comes from an apocalyptic future, and as fiction always says, there are some seriously messed up people in the apocalypse.
So yeah, Paradox failed, wasn't that great, and probably could've come up with a better plan. But the future probably made him irrational, thinking that destruction in the past was the only way to prevent greater destruction in the future.
Note: This also goes for the Yliaster villains in Yugioh 5Ds.
These have been some of my favorite reviews in a long time, I like to see you review more recent stuff :)
Keep up the great work
I don't think 90's Kid wants anything sinister from The Absent Grimoire, I think he simply believed it was a special trade paperback of Bloodgun.
Definitely agree with you, a lot of the great stuff in the New 52 could have easily been done without a reboot. In fact, its the things that needed a reboot to happen that are bad, including the erased Titans history, Barbara Gordon possibly having never been Oracle (at least that's what recent issues seem to suggest), Amanda Waller looking like a supermodel instead of the intimidating, professional woman she used to be, etc. Ugh, hopefully DC will get over the crappy politics going on in their offices, and just focus on their fans and telling great stories again.
You know, after seeing bad stories like this one, I can't help but mull over how it can be changed to make a better story. Here are my thoughts on The Culling story improvement:
1) Harvest is trying to fight a specific enemy, either in the main DC universe or in another dimension.
2) While he doesn't have the power to directly battle the enemy, he has the ability to make his own pocket dimension where he is essentially invincible and has complete control over his surroundings.
3) However, he is not able to pull his enemy to his own dimension. He can, though, pull others from the main DC universe there. In that way, he is forcibly conscripting his own army.
4) He cannot just send every person he pulls to fight the enemy for some specific reason (It can drain the energy or powers of lesser heroes; it's a necromancer that can raise its fallen enemies as its own); therefore his dimension is a place where he tests who is worthy to fight for him.
5) Since his own dimension is the culling place, he can trick the heroes into battling. He can have some team up to fight constructed enemies or he can use illusions to make others battle each other.
6) Those that succeed he will send to fight; those that fail he will kill since he would consider it a waste of time to send them back where they came from. Alternatively, if we go by the enemy in another dimension, we can have it so Harvest does not know how to send anyone back to the DC universe, only to the enemies universe (although there would be a way that the heroes will have to figure out).
7) Harvest can try to convince the heroes to fight through coercion or force (bomb in head, loved ones threatened, etc.). Alternatively, he can spell out the entire plan to them expecting them to go along with it because they are heroes and there is a villain that needs to be defeated. Of course most heroes won't go along with the part about some having to be killed.
Those are just some thoughts on how the story can be improved. I'm sure others can build on this. Come to think of it, I think some of those points resemble a few of your own story lines. I'd say it's neat that you're showing yourself as a better writer than a major comic book publisher, but considering how DC is right now, it's honestly not much of a bar at this point.
As I mentioned in the comments thread for the last Culling video, there's a big difference between "this is not to my tastes" and "this sucks as a piece of writing/art". You added New 52 Wonder Woman as an example of what you don't like with the changes to her origin and the Amazons portrayed as corrupt (IMO not a big shock for a xenophobic isolationist society of a single gender), but are you trying to say that Azarello's Wonder Woman is a bad comic? Or that they made a change you didn't like to fictional characters who are inherently malleable, and you don't like that specific change, but do not condemn Azarello as a bad writer or Wonder Woman as a bad comic.
Again, if Azarello's Wonder Woman is in your opinion a bad comic, I challenge you to do a video on a story in that series, and explain why it's bad from a technical standpoint. Because it seems to be one of the better regarded New 52 series from a critical standpoint, and using it to address larger problems against the New 52 would offer a weightier critique than something like the Culling, which many already wrote off.
Awww! The 90s Kid wants to help! I think he feels bad about the whole Entity thing, so he's going to study up on this new enemy to make sure he can do something when the encounter happens.
You can pretty much apply that to Marvel too. I haven't paid a dime for one issue of Avengers Arean but apparently I decided to peek through the first page that lists who died in an issue. Turns out Juston Seyfert and his Sentinel, characters I WANTED to see more of and was ecstatic to see return in Avengers Academy, were amongst the causalities in the series.
Rot in deepest pits of hell, Marvel and Dave Hopeless.
90s Kid took the book? He was possessed by the Entity before so maybe he has some residue within him...or maybe knows something. It does seem to match up a bit with the Missing.no stuff so I want to see how this concludes ultimately.
Regarding the New 52 and The Culling...yeah I don't get it either. And the nonsense of "it's all according to plan"...that is just so annoying. There is no master plan in comic books no matter how good a writer some are. Things will get cancelled, panned and ruined whatnot so unless you have a true writer it just won't ever work out. It's just a measure just to bring Harvest as some sort of big deal when he's just annoying, stupid and should just go away.
BTW: Supermegamonkey finally reviewed all of US-1...and the series gets crazy later on. Alien truckers and a guy named Baron Von Blimp...you really should return to it and do all the issues.
Casting my vote for Slender Man as the "King of Worms". Everybody else has been named, only fair if he gets included among the candidates.
urructu
The new 52 Wonder Woman and it's Portrayal of the Amazons is a complete and utter betrayal of what thier suppose to be about. While most of the DC reboot just threw out thier characters history, whith wonder woman they decide to to shit all over what she's suppose stand for. To the person who said her books the the best it's been in 50 years, do you honestly Robert Kanngigher's run in the 60's was better than George Perez's late 80's/early 90's run? Martson created the amazons to subvert the original myths,same reason hercules is traditionaly portrayed as a villain in Wonder Woman comics. Also Perez did avery good job of making the Amazons interesting characters,thank you very much.
To me making the amazons into rapist,murdering,slavers is like making Martha & Thomas Wayne gangsters who got a karmic death they deserved from sombody who's family they killed.
Here's what bothered me about the New 52: it was supposed to draw in new readers, but it completely screwed that up. I mean, if you're new to comics, you're probably just going to pick up the titles that look interesting without knowing much about them, right? Why would you want crossovers with people you know nothing about? How would you even know you need to pick up some other title to get the missing pieces of your story? Half the time they don't tell you. And even when they do, doesn't it seem weird that part of the story is going to be in a completely different book? How is that going to make sense if you're not used to it?
What made DC think dealing with this crap would appeal to new readers?
Probably too obscure to be the case, but it'd be neat if it was the Morris worm.
Time to offer a (only slightly) dissenting opinion.
First of all, there's no arguing *this* crossover sucked. It did. I wont' defend it.
Instead, I'm playing Devils' Advocate on the New 52. You see, while I've read Batman, Green Lantern, and the Titans (along with an odd off/on relationship with Superman), I've always been more of a Marvel man at heart. I've been reading X-Men continuously since 1989.
I feel about the current state of Marvel the way many do about DC. And ironically, because I was never super-invested in many of the DC titles the way I was over in Marvel, I've largely enjoyed ... roughly 2/3rds of the DCNU.
Why? Well first off, I'm of the opinion, that if you're going to change things, just reboot it. My biggest issue with Marvel right now is the HUGE sweeping changes that many characters have suffered. That huge chunks of continuity have been thrown out the window with no explanation, and writers continually re-write events not even months own to justify their take on a character with no editorial oversight.
To me, Marvel is the company where the editors spend more time writing the story arcs thant he writers, and almost no oversight is given to any kind of internal consistency.
In this video, you picked on the spoileriffic nature of that one editor's note, pointing to Legion Lost #10. Marvel doesnt' do that anymore. Almost every title exists in a vacuum of characterization and plot consistency. Wolverine, Cyclops, and so manny others appear in multiple titles every month with no sense of congruency or when things are taking place. Until a crossover event happens, then whoever happens to be writing gets to use THEIR version of the character and that become the new dominant "vision" until the next crossover gets a different writer, and THEIR version sits on top of the heap for a couple months.
I just.. I finally gave up. Nearly 25 years of fandom, and I've finally walked away. I wish someone would just swallow the pill and REBOOT Marvel so at least then I could let go of the past and move on. Who knows, I might even like some of the rebooted changes, as long as their was a central vision.
And for as annoyingly short-sighted and ham-fisted as this LATEST DC Reboot is, I like it. I'm reading Justice League for the first time, and honestly enjoying it. Green Lantern I stopped reading, but only because Johns' ending was so spot-on, I honestly feel like anything after it would just be a disservice. So I'm through with GL till the next reboot.
Batman has been incredible, but it also took the least damage from the reboot.
Superman.. I'm iffy on. I like some of the changes. I don't mind the hints of cockiness and arrogance. He's still relatively new at this, and his parents died when he was a teenager. If he STAYS like this, i'll grow tired of it, but I feel like its a part of his character arc, to fully mature into the Superman we expect. Hopefully, I'm right.
Teen Titans... ngh. As a Teen Titans book. IT SUCKS. As a "young Supers" team, I dont' mind it too much. I wish they'd titled it something else, though.
Wonder Woman... good concepts, shoddy execution. What Azzarello has done to the Amazons and the Greek Gods is kind of shameful.
Aquaman is a surprisingly good book, imo. And it's not because I'm a Johns' fanboy. Sure, I love his GL run, but his work on other title,s have been hit or miss for me.
Flash was a slow starter, but I think has really hit it's stride as it's gone along.
Stormwatch... was kinda terrible, but it had its charms. And then it got rebooted in its own series, and I'm honestly not sure it's an improvement.
((to be continued))
((continued from previous post))
Basically nearly everything they integrated from Wildstorm has failed miserably because they borrowed the image and names, but none of the personalities or backgrounds. The closest we got was Hellspont in "Superman" and he's just a junior league Darkseid knock-off.
At least with the Titans, I feel like there's SOME hope we'll get some of the old glory back. Given how the DCOU was massacring it's roster left and right, I almost feel like the reboot was a mercy killing, putting them down quickly, rather than killing them by inches like they'd been doing.
Still, good reviews, Linkara. Look forward to seeing more on the reboot.
This is gonna be so buried, but I have to say it...
When the New52 started, I was buying more DC books than ever before...but after reading a few books into the reboot I was so annoyed and disgusted that I swore of DC entirely. I know there's some good New52books, but I just can't stand giving DC any money right now. So many of my favorite characters are either gone or changed to be unrecognizable in a ridiculous crusade to be "iconic" (wherein I guess "iconic" translates to "boring" since they took every character with something unique or interesting about them and reduced them to the same boring status quo as anyone else.)
I started out a Marvel fan, but a bunch of DC characters won me over, and I was a bigger DC fan for several years...but now that's in the past. Right now I'm just grateful for Captain Marvel, Hawkeye and Deadpool for keeping me in comics.
so, i have been thinking of ways to stop the entity, and how about tricking it to get into comicron, make nimue invert and increase the temporal thingy and trap the entity in a temporal prison were time never passes, thus leaving it forever frozen in time.
To the people commenting about Wonder Woman's series, here's the thing... the whole origin change and Amazon thing, these elements aren't even really used. Sure, occasionally a god makes mention of how Wonder Woman is a demigod, but otherwise, these elements just exist. The writer hasn't really used them and if you somehow ignored or missed them in the issues these ideas were debuted in, you probably wouldn't even know they existed. Though that does beg the question why the writer even changed those things if they barely have any revelance on his run.
But other than those two things and the fact that Wondy isn't getting enough panel time in her own book, the current series isn't too bad at all. Hell, Wonder Woman is still pretty much in character. She's still a very loving and caring person (though still one who isn't afraid to throw down if the situation ultimately calls for it). Two of the best moments come from her interactions with Hades and demigod.
1. When Hades kidnaps the girl Wondy is trying to protect, she goes to hell and offers herself up in the girl's place, which Hades accepts and demands that she marries him. To make sure she's fully commited or something, he uses her lasso on her to see if she does truly care about him. She replies that she does and later flees. When he confronts her about this, she replies that she loves him, but that she loves and cares about everyone (definitely helps that she lets Hera hang around her after the goddess gets depowered despite everything she has done in the past).
2. Wonder Woman is trying to track down a god after he steals a baby (Zeus's new heir), so she goes around tries to talk to other demigods to see if they got any info. One of the demigods turns out to be a very depressed and violent little girl, who was murdered by Hera when she found out, though Zeus gave the girl some more immortality so she could survive. The girl is very angry and upset, but also very lonely. Wonder Woman, instead of fighting her, decides to comfort and talk to her, actually befriending and making her happy.
There's other stuff, but Wonder Woman is still technically in character and still awesome. Despite questionable changes and not enough panel time, Wonder Woman is still a pretty solid book and worth a look (this series is frickin' praised out of the wahoo by critics, even gaining perfect scores or picks of the week by the various sites if that sort of thing matters to you readers).
Heck, I recommend the zero issue by itself, even if you have no interest in the series. It's essentially a throwback issue due in a silver age style, where we see Wondy when she was a young girl. It's got the silly narration boxes, thought bubbles, and great characterization, establishing Diana's compassion.
But anyways, that's just me responding to several people's comments I have been seeing.
I think it is supposed to be spelled Wyrm, as in dragon...Or Parallax. Whichever works for Lewis...
Linkara, I really appreciate your show and everything you do on AT4W, and wish to congratulate you on another great episode.
Now onto a serious topic here. How anyone finds the current Wonder Women run good at all is truly offensive to me.
Brian Azzerralo has taken everything good about Wonder women's mythology and an warped it into this hideous mockery of what it used to be.
This generic demigod starring in the book has nothing to make her truly her own character, nothing that makes her worthy of being Wonder Women. There is nothing about this new character that makes her unique, she inherited the origins of the freakin side-kick from the old DCU.
Batman is fear, superman is hope, wonder woman was truth, now all she has is rage, and not much else. She lost everything that made her a great hero, kindness, compassion, but also able to completely own who if you ever tried to mess with what she believed in.
Nowhere does Azzerralo's complete inability to get Wonder Women's character show more then in the issue where Hades uses the lasso on her. Her response of loving the world and all in it is completely in character, of the old Wonder Women, but I have no reason to believe this new character has any reason to.
So there's your answer to whoever it was that asked Linkara to provide a bad story from the New 52 Wonder Women.
It gets even worse when you consider that we just came off of two great runs on Wonder Women, by Gail Simone and JMS,, the latter's was advertised very poorly and the first few issues were average overall, but once the mystery of the series unravels, it becomes a fantastic story and a celebration of who Wonder Women is.
The current run's story wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't supposed to be about Wonder Women, but it is, and it fails so badly.
I'm not trying to start any fights here, really I'm not, I'm just stating my opinion on a subject I'm passionate about. I will not be responding to any responses to this comment because, A. nothing anyone says will change my opinion, and B. I don't want to make Linkara suffer through another back and forth flame far on his BlogSpot.
To any who do enjoy this new run, more power to you but I just wanted to state that I think it is the worst change to anything that the New 52 did, except maybe Starfire.
Okay, this storyline sucks ass, but this video is one of your funniest in a whikle. And yeah, blatant exposition is Lobdell's style. And yeah, I 100% agree with you in regards to the New 52.
Oh, and I forgot to put into my last comment that i'm not opposed to change in the New 52, I love what they've done with Green Arrow recently, and Aquaman as a whole. I'm opposed to bad change.
It might be Wyrm, but based on the constant mention of fear Worm is just as possible since dragons aren't usually associated with feeling fear.
Mr. Lovhaug, when you do Harvest's lines in that mocking "lisping voice," it sounds like you're doing an impression of John F. Kennedy. :-P
Just for those curious, my list of titles I've enjoyed in the New 52:
Batwoman
Batgirl
Batman
World's Finest
Red Lanterns
Supergirl
I've recently decided to drop the Teen Titans book. Not only do I find the Trigon arc amazingly bad, but the only storyline from this book that I can say I enjoy has been the Silent Armor arc and only because that's the only fight that I can count as a "win" for the Titan... And the airplane conversation between Wonder Girl, Superboy, and Robin (found it hilarious).
I also dropped the Batman and... book since I care very little about Two Face's "new" backstory and even less about Carrie Kelley.
So, even though I've always considered myself a DC fan, I'm currently reading more Marvel books (find both Nova and Wolverine & the X-men far better "teen" books than Teen Titans)...
See, I actually enjoy Wonder Woman a lot (it and Snyder's Batman are the only New 52 titles I care about) so that declaration at the end of the review puts me in a weird position, although I admit I like the title in spite of the Amazons retcon.
I remember when this crossover came out I heard nothing but mediocre things about it but holy hell did I not think it would blow just THIS badly.
I think a writer can make a character that is smarter than the writer him/herself.
I can write something so that my character thought of a solution to a problem in a matter of seconds. However I can think of a problem then ponder the problem and come up with some solution weeks later and simply say my character though of it in a matter of seconds or even thought of it hours beforehand.
Example:
Sorry I can't think of one of the top of my head... that's kind of the point.
Or think of a problem with only one set solution and work backwards from the solution so that the character deduces all the info this character needs to get the solution.
Example:
Problem:
I need something that to stop the big final boss type character that's almost invincible.
Solution:
This final boss character has a secret vulnerability to fire.
What Smart Character Does:
How does the character figure this out. Well lets say that the boss creature has his living space only use electrical power when it would be much easier to use heat or combustion energy. After the character explores some other possible reasons why (air in the place is highly flammable etc.) he finds the solution. Then at the final boss battle he lights a match causing the boss to ether die or run away.
Now if I were dropped in the situation I would have just assumed the final boss character was simply going green and left it at that. I wouldn't have noticed the reasons why he should be using combustion or pieced it together. This creates the illusion this character is constantly making calculations like this. This just happened to be one of many things he observed, however this one didn't add up so he pursued it and made a big conclusion with a very small piece of evidence (This also duplicates every plot hole, if a plot hole exists it is another plot hole that this character doesn't notice and pursue the plot hole). Point is I wrote a story where a character finds a solution to a problem in a matter of minuets but if I was dropped in that situation it could take me years to come up with the solution.
Or one could always go the more lame-brained route, just use a bunch of big words.
Example:
"You created the hexi-decimal shifting para-optic transvestite algorithm, that's really impressive"
The Comic: ... Well... Eh. (shrug)
Your Arc: King of Worms... And his current face is basically fear itself... Curious. As for 90's Kid... I'm of two minds based on what we saw: 1. That's not him, but that would be too predictable. 2. He's trying to be a bit more proactive so that what happened to him last time doesn't happen again. Of the two, I think the second is more likely if a bit odd for him since he's been established as being a bit... slow wen it comes to planning stuff out.
Fiery Little One
There not much I can say about this comic other then well I guess it exist.
I know they were trying to make the Amazons more in line with their Greek mythos but I got a question for every one who saying that.WHY!?Amazon in the Greek myths only raped men so they can produce offspring, so they can maintain their population.The DC Amazons are quasi-immortals who have no reason to try to maintain their population.Hell even if they do need to boost their population,why is rape and murder the tool of choice.Aren't they suppose to be a secret, wouldn't a pile of corpses make people ask question.Wouldn't it be far easier if a few just leave the island every so often and then return pregnant.Oh wait then we wouldn't get naked women.Carry on than.
So wounder women and super man is base on Twilight?That explains why no one really likes it.
I didn't mind the Trigon arc, it could have been better but at least he was a more credible and entertaining mega-powered threat than Harvest.
But the Trinity War crossover (which I still need to read the last few issues of) was very excellent inspite of a couple minor plot holes (but nothing which affects the main story much).
The Amazon bit really pissed me off though... there's a lot of a good in this reboot but also some stupid.
Here's my current DC reading list:
Justice League
Justice League Dark
Supergirl
Batgirl
Batwoman
Birds of Prey
World's Finest
Earth-2
There's more that I'd read if I could afford it (Batman '66 looks so good!)
Looks like 90's kid's run in with the entity affected him more than he admits.
For TVTropes and the like, is it Wyrm or Worm Linkara?
Who is allen???
Also Tiamat was a dragon and had dragon monsters under her command. Also, look into the critter on the Gate of ishar.
Also I do believe a writer can make a character smarter than they are, simply because a writer can draw on outside sources to beef up their characters including soliciting other people's expertise in writing them. Look at Aaron Sorkin's characters, Sorkin is a very smart man on his own but no one in real life is as quick on the draw as the characters in the West Wing or The Newsroom, that's because Sorkin had a team backing him up to help him think all these things through but ultimately he's the one who writes the final script.
So, the Culling ended. I guess that's all that's left to say about it, at least by me, anyway.
I suppose I can still find a few small glimmers of hope in the fact that this comic exists, though.
It goes to show that even talented, professional writers sometimes turn out complete crap for money, that everyone has off days every now and then.
And if it can get published, I guess it means that there may still be hope for me as a fiction writer as well, so long as I'm willing to keep plugging away at it and publish things from time to time.
Thank you for doing this review, Linkara. It's been a real help, in a lot of ways.
What blasphemy is this?
The agents of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. should look like this:
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/07-08-2006%2010;16;37AM.JPG
Also... Never Open William's Head, Evil Reptiles Emerge!
Just sayin'
"What made DC think dealing with this crap would appeal to new readers?"
well, apparently it does
"And no, I don't think the changes to Wonder Woman make her more interesting. In fact, I think the changes to her origins make her far LESS interesting and unique a character."
The sales and reviews say otherwise
oh and another thing, he's back!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXHagqYNJ54
"To the person who said her books the the best it's been in 50 years, do you honestly Robert Kanngigher's run in the 60's was better than George Perez's late 80's/early 90's run?"
YES!
"Martson created the amazons to subvert the original myths,same reason hercules is traditionaly portrayed as a villain in Wonder Woman comics. Also Perez did avery good job of making the Amazons interesting characters,thank you very much."
And Batman originally shot people, you'r point?
I did read Marston's Wonder Woman, in fact, until Azarello's incarnation came along, it was the only version I truly liked
There were little bits and peaces throughout the years I thought were OK, but overall after Marston died, Wonder Woman became a pretty bland and uninteresting character, struggling to stay relevant
The thing is, back when Marston created Wonder Woman, she was a subversion
The very fact that she was a female hero who could take care of herself made her stand out
But since then the industry became filled with other female heroes, and suddenly WW was no longer special, beyond her historical significance (and honestly, even Yellow Kid is historically significant, yet he sure doesn't get new stuff published)
I think this kinda sums it up
http://data.whicdn.com/images/19246884/wonderwoman328_large.png
Azzarello managed to do something everyone else failed at since Marston's death - make her relevant beyond just an empty brand
Seriously, for most of the time since CoIE she didn't even have a proper supporting cast, not to mention to convoluted back-story with WW's costume and Steve Trevor's mother (WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!)
Etta did stick around for a while, but then was kinda forgotten (also to all of you freaking out over Amanda Waller's change in figure, where were you when they did the same with Etta Candy after CoIE?)
Azzarello used her mythological roots as a way to create an extensive and well developed supporting cast, something nobody before even seemed to bother
Now, I do think the making the Amazons more malicious was unnecessary (I mean, it had VERY LITTLE impact on the story), but I do think being the child (and potential heir) of Zeus did help allot (Marston only included the clay origin as a way to fix an earlier plot-hole, and he never cared much about it, it really only caused problems when later writers started misusing it)
Honestly, the current run is as close to perfection as a modern interpretation of WW could get, and that's final
However, I'm still looking forward to Grant Morrison's take in his Earth 1 graphic novel
if there's someone who could do an even better job, it's probably him
and another thing
did you know that Brian Azzarello took the job on the series after he became terrified by what Dan Dido had originally planned for her?
Yup, no matter what you think of his interpretation, they originally planned something much worse.
nad now you know
Wonder Girl has a good reason to fear the wall: If Warblade showed us anything, it's that rocks are the strongest weapons known to man - and walls are GIANT ROCKS!
Soooo... the whole point of this crossover was to show that Harvest is the bestest guy evar who knows everything, is super strong AND can block any attack? Sigh, I wrote better fanfics when I was 12 and only had a friggin' typewriter. The hell is their excuse <_< ?!
Twilight with Supes and Wonder Woman? So I guess Batman and Catwoman will star in the 50 Shades of Grey knockoff o_O ?
I don't know who exactly DC is targeting with stories like this, but they SERIOUSLY need to get their mojo back. They had plenty of time to prepare for this New 52 offensive, but it seems DC is more of a mess than ever before.
There's a German saying going "A fish rots from the head down" - and DC is a fish that REEKS of death and pestilence.
Oh, and it looks like 90's Kid will prepare for war. Spidalicious XD !!
Okay, based on that story segment, I think I can guess what you'll be covering in October and November:
10/07: Green Lantern Vol. 3 #48
10/14: Green Lantern Vol. 3 #49
10/21: Green Lantern Vol. 3 #50
10/28: Clone Saga: Web of Life
11/04: Tales to Astonish #27
11/11: Journey into Mystery #83
11/18: Tales to Astonish #44
11/25: The Avengers #1
When is the Mythicon 2013 Live show coming?
"I did read Marston's Wonder Woman, in fact, until Azarello's incarnation came along, it was the only version I truly liked
There were little bits and peaces throughout the years I thought were OK, but overall after Marston died, Wonder Woman became a pretty bland and uninteresting character, struggling to stay relevant"
Well then it really is going to have to come down to a difference of opinion, since I thought Rucka's run and Gail Simone's run were MUCH better than this one and some of the best stories Wondy has ever had.
Lewis: If you feel that strongly about it, I would suggest you just review Guts (SUBTLE) next year and get it out of your system.
"Twilight with Supes and Wonder Woman? So I guess Batman and Catwoman will star in the 50 Shades of Grey knockoff o_O ?"
This makes WAY more sense than you probably intended
http://www.deviantart.com/art/dc-bringing-pervyness-to-you-since-388985906
"Well then it really is going to have to come down to a difference of opinion, since I thought Rucka's run and Gail Simone's run were MUCH better than this one and some of the best stories Wondy has ever had."
those were OK
the problem I had with those was that WW never really felt like her own character if you know what I'm saying
Too many guest appearances by other heroes, and a supporting cast that just wouldn't stick around
It always kinda felt to me like nobody really knew what to do with her
nothing ever seemed to stick, whether it was the villains (I can literally count all of those that lasted through the years on a single hand), or the supporting characters
She just kinda lacked a proper identity
I mean, everyone knows Alfred, Robin, and the Joker
Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Lex Luthor
but most people would just go blank with WW
which is why I think that tying her so intimately to the Olympians was a great idea, as most people are already familiar with them, and Azzarello did a great job at making every single one of them stand-out as a distinct personality with their own unique look and voice
Staying rather close to the way they were in the original myths, but also putting a unique twist on each of them, while staying true to the originals at the same time
I'm actually shocked nobody tried this earlier
Greek mythology (and mythology in general) is a gold mine for things like these
To begin with, I just didn't care about the N52. Now I'm almost sure I hate it. This story-ark is terrible. How did it get a average on 3,5 stars on Amazon?
By the way, do you know the Superboy comics from the 90's? Is it any good?
"To the person who said her books the the best it's been in 50 years, do you honestly Robert Kanngigher's run in the 60's was better than George Perez's late 80's/early 90's run?"
"YES!"
Kannigher's run was bland run of the mill standard silver age dc stuff like teaming up with younger versions of herself with little to explanation and marrying an monster.Perez updated the character while keeping her true to her original ideas.Perez got rid of the idea of her having a secret idetity impersonating military secretary and made her the amazons ambassador.In perez's run the amazons stop being Isolationist and open up to the world.I admit Perez's reboot wasnt perfect(It screwed up donna troy's origin and the JSA's history) but I feel it was one her best runs.
"Martson created the amazons to subvert the original myths,same reason hercules is traditionaly portrayed as a villain in Wonder Woman comics. Also Perez did avery good job of making the Amazons interesting characters,thank you very much."
"And Batman originally shot people, you'r point?"
As I pointed out you wouldnt retcon
Martha and Thomas Wayne to being major criminals.Another example, you wouldnt retcon Jor-El into being a mad scientist that deliberatley and directly caused Kryton's destruction.
"Seriously, for most of the time since CoIE she didn't even have a proper supporting cast, not to mention to convoluted back-story with WW's costume and Steve Trevor's mother (WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!)"
The supporting cast problem has more to do whith the fact every new writer threw out the previous writers supporting cast.It's problem with lack of respect for the character.Azarello is guilty of this too(Hypolyta has spent most of his run petrified,War bears no resemblance to pre-crisis Mars or post-crisis Ares,Steve and Etta haven't been seen outside Geof Johns Justice League,everybody else is an new character).I dont see any problem with the Diana Trevor backstory personaly.
For anyone who thinks thinks the New 52 retcons are good, I like to direct you to this blog that does a much better job than I can explaining why their bad
http://talkingtothevoid.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-deconstruction-of-amazons.html
http://talkingtothevoid.blogspot.com/2013/05/daddy-issues.html
" To give you an example, let's say batman, in the main universe, starts to kill people with a gun, and he is not a clone or a replacement or anyone besides the one and original Bruce Wayne, who has decided by himself, with no mind-control or tricks, to do it, but it is written in such a perfect, flawless way, where each piece fits just perfectly, to the point that you could not believe no one has done it before. it would STILL be a betrayal of the character. "
Which is ultimately a terrible precedent from a creative standpoint, because it says that keeping the status quo the way the fans want it is much more important than telling a great story. Ideally, if that story was told in a "perfect, flawless way", it would sell readers on the idea that Batman would finally break down and use a gun. But if the readers want the characters to be one way and refuse to accept anything else, what's the point in even trying to tell a great story? Story doesn't matter, and the purpose of the characters is as a security blanket for the audience; toys they want to see played with in a very specific way, without any room for trying anything new.
I like the reboot they have been beating Marvel most of the time in sales so apparently a lot of other people like it as well, we all don't think like you and most of your fans apparently you're the minority get over it or get on with it.
After rewatching the OMD review I was wondering, what are the chances of you reviewing the horrid Avengers VS X-men crossover?
"I'm still waiting for Mechakara's inevitable return in To Boldly Lewis. Especially considering how superfluous Mechakara was in To Boldly Flee."
He probably won't bring Mechakara back, because he knows that if he does so, Sad Panda will happily remind him that he promised to not resurrect again Mechakara in his storylines (at least,I think it's what Sad Panda said in one of his live (french) videos on twitch).
Lewis. Let me issue a retraction if you did not refer to Harvest with a derogatory pronoun. I hold you under scrutiny, because I believe that there can be no quarter given for justice. I believe that misogynist culture is guilty until proven progressive, but you have done so in this instance.
" Lewis: If you feel that strongly about it, I would suggest you just review Guts (SUBTLE) next year and get it out of your system. "
I haven't read Guts yet, but if it's anything like the previous story "Blood", it'll continue to be an inventive, complex story with excellent dialogue, a likable protagonist, and a surprisingly unique take on Greek mythology. It won't be terrible from a technical standpoint, unlike everything reviewed on Atop The Fourth Wall. So Linkara would have to work really, really hard to offer a cogent argument about why it's on the same level of irredeemable badness as Countdown, Ultimatum, Marville, Sultry Teenage Super Foxes, etc.
And honestly, Azarello's work comes from a place far more diversely read than Linkara's reviews could credibly reach. From what I've discerned (and please correct me if I'm wrong), Linkara reads mainly superhero comics (with some horror that seems to overlap, which would make him unfamiliar with other types of comics and stories-- Azarello's Wonder Woman reads more like a 90's Vertigo saga with Diana thrust in the middle of an Endless-style family drama. Whether that's a good thing for the series or not doesn't impact the quality of its writing, especially when the writing goes further than the type of stories that most often feature both in what Linkara likes as well as what he reviews.
"He probably won't bring Mechakara back, because he knows that if he does so, Sad Panda will happily remind him that he promised to not resurrect again Mechakara in his storylines (at least,I think it's what Sad Panda said in one of his live (french) videos on twitch)."
You trust Sad Panda enough to believe him, then you don't know Sad Panda.
"Lewis. Let me issue a retraction if you did not refer to Harvest with a derogatory pronoun. I hold you under scrutiny, because I believe that there can be no quarter given for justice. I believe that misogynist culture is guilty until proven progressive, but you have done so in this instance."
Hold it! In your previous comment, you accused him of being sizist! Yet the phrase "Little-Mister-Can't-Be-Wrong" still contains a derogatory reference to size! I'm shocked that someone who claims to hold Mr. Lovhaug under such "scrutiny" would commit such a blatant oversight! Or are you saying that you care not for the plight of shorter males?
(And for those of you wondering why I'm humoring this: what can I say, I'm bored.)
So I was reading through the posts here and found yet another feminnerist with her (his?) panties in a tiwst over Linkara supposedly saying "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong".
Nervmind fact he didn't say it. Seriously? Linkara is the man pushing femininerdism everywhere on the internet. Further, he does not even flirt with off-color jokes (except thinking "bitch" is somehow acceptable over other four-letter terms) which, differences in opinion aside, I can respect him for. I believe it is evident that if he makes a joke about a character, he is not in any way making a joke against women or any protected group for that matter. So to the followers of political correctness I say stop proving me right, just for once, that this current wave of so-called feminism is nothing more than whiny, entitled, wannabe-victim mentality.
90s Kid with the Absent Grimoire. . . I wonder if this has anything with the time storm that sent 90s Kid to the future.
King of Worms . . . given that worm is a synonym for computer virus and what we have seen of the Entity/Missingno, I think it's safe to say that the King of Worms is possessing Nimue and Comicron 1.
Great review on this terrible, terrible crossover and the first of many New 52 stories. While I still wait for an inevitable beatdown on Red Hood and the Outlaws, I think The Culling is actually ten times worse than Red Hood and the Outlaws. Someone at DC should consider bringing back the pre-Flashpoint DCU. . .
"For anyone who thinks thinks the New 52 retcons are good, I like to direct you to this blog that does a much better job than I can explaining why their bad
http://talkingtothevoid.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-deconstruction-of-amazons.html
http://talkingtothevoid.blogspot.com/2013/05/daddy-issues.html"
Sorry, but the person who wrote it is an complete idiot who has no idea what they are talking about
Diana doesn't even HAVE any "daddy issues"
You would know it if you ACTUALLY READ THE SERIES!
In fact, Diana doesn't even seem to give a rat's ass about Zeus. She was much more hurt by being lied to for her whole life by her mother, and even there she finds the will to forgive her very early on.
In fact, the blogger does not even mention Hera's unusually sympathetic portrayal in this. While her actions are still portrayed as wrong, she herself is portrayed as a very tragic character. It's probably the first time anyone has looked at a story like this from Hera's perspective. And the more the story keeps revealing about her and Zeus, the more you start to understand her reasoning.
And it's the same with the amazons. While their culture is portrayed as harsh and cruel, the amazons themselves were ultimately portrayed as brave and loyal individuals, willing to follow their queen even into the worst of fates.
It's like how someone being part of a culture that practices cannibalism does not make them an inherently evil person, no mater how much our culture vilifies it.
"Which is ultimately a terrible precedent from a creative standpoint, because it says that keeping the status quo the way the fans want it is much more important than telling a great story. Ideally, if that story was told in a "perfect, flawless way", it would sell readers on the idea that Batman would finally break down and use a gun. But if the readers want the characters to be one way and refuse to accept anything else, what's the point in even trying to tell a great story?"
Thank You!
THIS!
I've seen too many great TV shows turn into utter trash due to the whole "status quo is good" bullshit.
The best series are those who don't have ANY type of status-quo.
Just look at Venture Bros., probably the most awesome animated show ever created, which has it's setting and character's in constant flux. Characters die, heroes turn evil, villains become heroes, established truths turn out to be lies, while obscure rambling turn out to be the truth. If you'd watch a season 1 and season 4 side by side, you wouldn't be able to guess they are the same show.
nicely demonstrated here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CHVLSY_Hrk
(warning, massive spoilers for the first 4 seasons)
"You trust Sad Panda enough to believe him, then you don't know Sad Panda."
I think the only thing we can trust Sad Panda in is mocking people so it makes sense (unlike his shows).
Someone at DC should consider bringing back the pre-Flashpoint DCU. . .""
they won't
there were people bitching about wanting the pre-CoIE DC universe back, and they didn't back-down there either
so please, just grow-up, and accept fate
but don't worry, I predict another re-boot in 10 or 20 years, and who knows, maybe that version will be closer to what you like
Anonymous 3:20 AM:
1. Um, the title of that second article wasn't referring to Diana having daddy issues with Zeus, it was referring to the final salient point, of OTHER PEOPLE defining her as the daughter of Zeus.
2. If it's marked as Wonder Woman, I'd want the focus squarely on her, especially in the first 10-15 issues.
3. SLAVERY. What you're doing is saying that forcing people into SLAVERY is an ethical thing to do.
Nitz the Bloody:
I mean it. If he feels so strongly that Azzarello doing that to the Amazons is a failure, he should at least review issue #7.
here is the difference between CoiE and The new 52. they had a reason, a GOOD reason for doing it, it was succesful, nad it was WELL-DONE. the new 52 TRIES to be the new "Coie" but it isn't.
The moment they think it's profitable to do so, DC Comics will bring back Pre Flashpoint DCU. Also, you say that they "stuck to their" guns on keeping the status quo regarding Crisis on Infinite Earths but they really hadn't given that they gradually added a lot of Pre-Crisis stuff back into continuity due to fan appeal. Hell, they even brought back the multiple universes again.
Finally, I'm not even going to justify the remarks of the horrible person who claimed loyalty to their leader and one member of a society being nice made a society "not evil" while still regularly engaging in rape, murder and slavery. If the person who said this truly holds these views it's not the blog writer who's the idiot, it's him or her.
you should review New Mutants #98
or its about time you review Cable #3... just stay away from Teen Titans... at first your blatant predjudices against your favorite team, being badly portrayed was funny... but now its just sad... like watching Christian Weston Chandler rant about.... whatever he's ranting about.
"you should review New Mutants #98
or its about time you review Cable #3... just stay away from Teen Titans... at first your blatant predjudices against your favorite team, being badly portrayed was funny... but now its just sad... like watching Christian Weston Chandler rant about.... whatever he's ranting about."
Okay, one: There is no Cable #3 from what I was reading from. It was a two-issue miniseries and I didn't realize it at the time so I neglected to include its tagline.
Two: Shock of all shocks, I have opinions about things that I like and I shall express them.
Three: What the hell is your obsession with Chris-Chan? This is the second post you've made referencing him.
sorry for the late reply
got a bit overwhelmed by Villains Month (turns out to be less gimmicky than expected, while each of the issues works as a stand-alone story, they also tie-in into either the ongoing story-line of their associated title, or into the Forever Evil series)
so where were we?
"The supporting cast problem has more to do whith the fact every new writer threw out the previous writers supporting cast.It's problem with lack of respect for the character.Azarello is guilty of this too(Hypolyta has spent most of his run petrified,War bears no resemblance to pre-crisis Mars or post-crisis Ares,Steve and Etta haven't been seen outside Geof Johns Justice League,everybody else is an new character)."
New characters only in the sense of interpretation.
The thing is, the gods were the only ones who were still kinda there
Most of the time they were only in the background, but they were always there.
What Azzarello did was take them, and have them take center stage
The gods won't go away, unless someone tries to completely retcon WW's connection to Greek mythology
This is why I think it was a good idea tying her close to the Olympians
And I think that in an earlier interview, Azzarello stated that he would like to use Steve and Etta eventually, but that he doesn't have a place for them in the current story-arc
Well, at least it's a good thing the rest of DC did not forget about them (especially Steve, he's almost like Nick Fury in the Marvel films at this point, popping-up in almost every title)
"For anyone who thinks thinks the New 52 retcons are good, I like to direct you to this blog that does a much better job than I can explaining why their bad"
sorry, but that person failed to make any convincing argument beyond "I don't like it, and neither should you!"
"here is the difference between CoiE and The new 52. they had a reason, a GOOD reason for doing it, it was succesful, nad it was WELL-DONE."
If you read some the fan-reactions from back then, you'd realize the situation was exactly the same
In fact, there are still obsessive people who want DC to revert things back to the pre-CoIE state
"it's not the blog writer who's the idiot, it's him or her"
I think they are on about the same level
and you as well
"So I was reading through the posts here and found yet another feminnerist with her (his?) panties in a tiwst over Linkara supposedly saying "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong".
Nervmind fact he didn't say it. Seriously? Linkara is the man pushing femininerdism everywhere on the internet. Further, he does not even flirt with off-color jokes (except thinking "bitch" is somehow acceptable over other four-letter terms) which, differences in opinion aside, I can respect him for. I believe it is evident that if he makes a joke about a character, he is not in any way making a joke against women or any protected group for that matter. So to the followers of political correctness I say stop proving me right, just for once, that this current wave of so-called feminism is nothing more than whiny, entitled, wannabe-victim mentality."
...Uh, I was just joking, dude. I wasn't actually accusing Linkara of the same thing that N was; I was using sarcasm to point out that N was being utterly hypocritical in their "analysis" by making a ridiculous argument about sizism and then forgetting about it later when issuing their so-called retraction. You'll notice in the last line that I say I'm "humoring" this; I was merely pretending to take N's ideas seriously. I don't agree with N AT ALL. But I don't blame you for misinterpreting it, since I forget sometimes that sarcasm doesn't always travel over internet comments. So my apologies if you got the wrong impression.
Why didn't Robin just walk up to Harvest and roar "I AM A MAN!" in a suitably manly voice?
slightly off topic here, but I just had to share this with someone
So, I read the Villain Month issues, with Cyborg Superman, Two-Face, the Ventriloquist, the Joker, Count Vertigo, Deadshot, and Darkseid leaving quite an impression with me
So much that I actually began questioning some things...
Well, I guess that's the sign of a great writer
Well anyways, it made me realize something
Many people tend to refer to superheroes as wish-fulfillment
But I realized, people don't really want to be superheroes. Nobody really wants the burden of responsibility, or the moral dilemmas that come with it.
In reality, people want to be supervillains.
Supervillains are the true wish-fulfillment. People want the power so that they can truly cut loose. The ability to do whatever we went whenever we want, and nobody and nothing being able to stop us. Supervillains are the ultimate power fantasy, and everyone's deepest desire.
Heroes Are What We Want Others To Believe We Strive To Be! VILLAINS IS WHO WE TRULY ARE!
*we interrupt this post, due to the commentator's minor sanity slippage, we'll be right back after medication and Fernet is applied*
I just realized that the most recent in-continuity to 616 Marvel comic you've ever reviewed is One More Day, which came out in 2008, almost all the Marvel comics you review are either old or not even canon. Any plans on reviewing something from Marvel a little more recent?
OK, so now that we have this shit behind us, how long till we get a review of Avengers Arena?
It's only fair that Marvel gets some epic trashing as well
They did enough stupid stuff in the past few years as well to earn it
"I just realized that the most recent in-continuity to 616 Marvel comic you've ever reviewed is One More Day, which came out in 2008, almost all the Marvel comics you review are either old or not even canon. Any plans on reviewing something from Marvel a little more recent?"
The problem is that a lot of the bigger ones, the ones that would be most worth reviewing, usually have elements to them that I'm iffy about touching. With Civil War, it's politics. With Avengers vs. X-Men, it's X-Men related stuff, with Siege or World War Hulk, I didn't think they were that bad. I haven't read any of Fear Itself, so I don't know there. Avengers Arena has the problem of it being too long and my major complaint about it is that it's a series whose sole point is to kill off a bunch of kid characters for seemingly no reason.
"Avengers Arena has the problem of it being too long and my major complaint about it is that it's a series whose sole point is to kill off a bunch of kid characters for seemingly no reason."
There is a reason for it
To show how awesome a bunch of originalcharacterdonotsteal are, which is achieved through the holocaust of the casts of two previous series
This in itself is reason enough to rip it apart
Fair and simple, it's an even bigger (and more insulting) Mary Sue fanfic than the Culling was (which only killed one named character, as opposed to the casts of two entire franchises)
That was just dull. You did your best (and Harvest Fudd made me laugh very hard) but the story itself is all sorts of pointless. The bad guy escapes, the good guys are fine, all that happens is a YJ castmember is pointlessly killed and some second tier villains form a Runaways knockoff.
BTW, you said you did two live shows over the last two weeks. Will you put them up? I ask because I wanted something different than that supremely dull, joyless series.
I've been thinking about it every day for the past year, but I DID like Prometheus. Especially the scene where the girl with the dragon tattoo had an octopus surgically removed from her vagina. The lighting in that scene made it.
I'm interested to see how this King of Worms storyline goes. It's thrilling that the magical beast could ambush Linkara at any moment.
I bet you had fun with that party-blower. Those make such an entertaining sound that it HAD to make up for all of that suffering... Right? Right, Linkara?
WHERE IS THE MYTHICON LIVE SHOW LINKARA?! I understand if you simply forgot your camera or if it didn't record, but can you please give me an update and give me some closure.
I miss Demon Knights.
Then again it lasted one trade longer then what I thought the market would have accepted it for, I I got more enjoyment from it longer then I had hope for.
I'll admit I never jumped on the reboot, I wasn't against it, it's just I had a hard time finding the players I wanted to latch onto to read. Two of my favorites were gone, Ted Kord and Ted Grant, and Demon Knights was one of the few titles I felt like I could be excited to read based on setting and the general idea of a band of different heroes come together (sort of) to fight a uncommon threat.
That being said: Come one, we can have a Ted "Wildcat" Grant book. Just switch his story from being a boxer to being an MMA fighter. Instantly modernized without losing sight of the roots. (My sarcasm wants to say "can the only heroes without powers have to come from a batman franchise?" But I'm sure it is just because he wasn't a common hero even before the reboot.)
"The problem is that a lot of the bigger ones, the ones that would be most worth reviewing, usually have elements to them that I'm iffy about touching."
Here are my "recomendations" then:
-Age of Ultron by Bendis, its boring, confusing and pointless and fails as an event
-Bendis has written plenty of mediocre Avengers comics
-Something from Dark Reign, pointing out the sheer stupidity of the premise of people trusting Osborn
-There's bound to be a Deadpool comic you haven't liked
-Jeph Loeb's Hulk run, you already said you thought making Ross and Betty Hulks was stupid, plus the writing is abyssmal
"-Something from Dark Reign, pointing out the sheer stupidity of the premise of people trusting Osborn"
Actually, considering how incredibly stupid the average citizen in the Marvel universe is, I have NO PROBLEMS believing that
They'd probably give Stalin a Nobel Piece Prize as well
You can also harp on the stupidity of Avengers vs X-Men
how the decision to make the X-Men into villains was purely marketing driven (seeing how the X-Men movies are produced by a rival studio), and how Trinity War did a much better job with the same premise
I wouldn't be too worried about the X-Men stuff
Marvel's been treating them like trash ever since they started making their own movies
I fully support you taking-on Avengers vs X-Men, and Avengers Arena
As an X-Men fan, I'm OK with you being ignorant on the subject
Just two things - Cyclops character derailment, and Wolverine Worship (which is even worse than Frank Miller's Batman worship)
Also, go ahead and rip Avengers Arena a new one
Doesn't matter if it's too long, you can turn it into an ongoing segment like Miller Time, Marvel sure deserves a good beat-down on a regular basis
AvsX was what made me jump ship from Marvel
The New 52 made it pretty damn easy for me to go over to DC (I still follow Deadpool, Young Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy tho, the rest is way too emo for me)
Speaking of which, I know you were skeptic about villain month, but so far it's really good! In fact, it fulfills all the criteria to be a great jump-on point.
Thus far all the issues I've read (Darkseid, Joker, Count Vertigo, Deadshot, Gorilla Grodd) worked perfectly as a stand-alone story, and were successful in making me want to read more about the villains. And while there were no major cliff-hangers (thus making them work as stand-alone), they do have a note at the end, informing you where you can follow the villain's fate next month
(I'm actually holding-off getting Forever Evil till the end of the month, as I prefer to leave the League's fate a mystery for my self while reading these)
I'm pretty sure you could do a top 15 things that are wrong with Civil War or something without getting too much into real world politics, you did it in Amazons Attack. Most of the problems with Civil War are characters being idiots and contradictions between writers.
Reviewing AvX would actually prove more controversial because it basically pitted Avengers fans against X-Men fans and nobody agrees. With Civil War most people suported the anti-reg side but weren't rabid about it, and since the event happened 7 years ago and no longer affects the MU, few would rage over what you would say.
Linkara, about your hesitation to review Civil War: would it really be so hard to review the comic without focusing on the political aspect of it? It seems to be that there are plenty of flaws that can be exploited without necessarily being political about it... not controversially so, at least. For instance, Maria Hill setting her soldiers on Captain America fore refusing to enforce a law BEFORE said law was even passed, Iron Man is supposed to ultimately be the good guy despite many morally questionable moments on behalf of the Registration side(many of the tie-in books outright vilified Iron Man and the Registration Act, which was extremely easy considering Tony was employing supervillains and cloning Thor to use as a weapon), both sides make stupid decisions that prevent the war from coming to a swift and peaceful end, and the aftermath leads to Captain America's death and, of course, One More Day. Then, of course, there's the fact that the whole premise is "heroes fighting other heroes", and we all know how much you love that. I concede that talking about the political aspect would be inevitable, but politics are not the only reason people hate this comic. Just something to think about if you're still debating whether or not to review it.
Dear Mr. Lovhaug,
My apologies to posting here and not Twitter (don't care for using it myself). This is probably as good a post as any.
Just saying this: you've phrased characters collectively owned by certain companies as their respective "stable of heroes" before. With what you said recently about not being sure if DC is your favorite company anymore, just focus on your favorite stable. While there are still a dozen or so books I follow from DC (counting Vertigo...) at any given point, I in NO way respect them as a company. The main mass of DC Entertainment as a company is simply shameful, and cannot be given quarter at all. Certainly not while Bob Harass and Damn Didio are in charge of everything, anyway (feel free to use those, by the way).
I know it's not you'r style, but I'd do a side-by side comparison of Civil War and Trinity War, as I generally feel Trinity War handled the "heroes against heroes" conflict much better
The center of the conflict is whether Superman should be held responsible for accidentally killing Dr. Light
The heroes are at odds with each other, and split into groups. Some want to brake Superman out of prison (which Superman himself refuses to do), others want to keep him in, and other want to prove his innocence
Despite this, all parties do their best to prevent the conflict from escalating, and there's more emphasis on the heroes working together than the heroes fighting each other (in fact, the only time they fight is due to mind control)
And most important of all, EVERYONE IS IN-CHARACTER!
Speaking of which, we know you aren't a fan of "heroes vs heroes" stories, but what about villains vs villains?
All the previews and interviews seem to imply that Forever Evil is essentially going to force the villains of the DC universe to band together, and protect the earth for the Crime Syndicate.
What do you think of evil vs evil stories?
Wait, I just figured it out!
An ill-defined, uber-powered villain who can do whatever he needs to make him unbeatable; trying to assimilate rather than kill the good guys; "heroes" who are trying to save themselves rather than help anybody!; the death of a little-used (lately) female supporting character; the villain suffers a slight setback, rather than being defeated...
This is a 90's X-Men crossover! It SO is!
Also, the King Of Worms has the recognisable face of all fear? At first I thought that'd be impossible to show.
Then I though, hey, just have him drawn by Liefeld!
~ Mik
I'm joining the suggestions of making Avengers Arena an ongoing segment
That series is the embodiment of everything wrong with Marvel, as well as it's fanbase
Seriously? They turn Wonder Woman into a Sexist, Raping Slaver!?
Did the Writers at DC watch the ‘Wonder Woman 2011’ Pilot for Reference!?
Also, Why should they conform Female Characters as “Only allowed to be in Romance Stories”!? That is just plainly ignorant as it comes across the idea that the Writers think that all Women can do is swoon for the Male Character.
And after Four Issues, NOTHING has been accomplished!
I know Comics tend to have to have ongoing stories, but at least make it feel like what our Heroes did MATTERED in each story line!
I wonder who Alan or Steve are. O.o
Also, King of Worms…Would there also be ‘King Of Games’ involved?
Or Faceless…as in a Slenderman?
Nice Review, Linkara! =3
A Plan 9 next, I see? Wouldn’t that class as Plan 10 then?
"Seriously? They turn Wonder Woman into a Sexist, Raping Slaver!?"
No, my dear ignorant friend, they turned the Amazons
Wonder Woman herself is actually the same way she was before the re-boot, and all of this happened without her knowledge, due to her growing-up in a highly sheltered environment
She's just as disgusted by this revelation as anyone else would be
Please, next time pay more attention to what people are saying, before making yourself look like an utter moron
" 'Also, Why should they conform Female Characters as “Only allowed to be in Romance Stories”!' "
And if you actually read the stuff that's being published at the moment, you'd realize that romance is rarely ever used as a main driving point for the female protagonist
(in fact, recently there were statistically more male heroes motivated by romance than female ones)
Way to be ignorant
yay
"I've seen too many great TV shows turn into utter trash due to the whole "status quo is good" bullshit.
The best series are those who don't have ANY type of status-quo."
Im sorry, but he truth is there are a lot of great shows that
have status-quo in them.
Shows like Gargoyles, Avatar The Last Airbender, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: The Next Generation and even The West Wing
have a status-quo in them.
"Just look at Venture Bros., probably the most awesome animated show ever created, which has it's setting and character's in constant flux. Characters die, heroes turn evil, villains become heroes, established truths turn out to be lies, while obscure rambling turn out to be the truth. If you'd watch a season 1 and season 4 side by side, you wouldn't be able to guess they are the same show."
that you opinion, but not all of the best series can work without status-quo.
"I haven't read Guts yet, but if it's anything like the previous story "Blood", it'll continue to be an inventive, complex story with excellent dialogue, a likable protagonist, and a surprisingly unique take on Greek mythology. It won't be terrible from a technical standpoint, unlike everything reviewed on Atop The Fourth Wall. So Linkara would have to work really, really hard to offer a cogent argument about why it's on the same level of irredeemable badness as Countdown, Ultimatum, Marville, Sultry Teenage Super Foxes, etc.
And honestly, Azarello's work comes from a place far more diversely read than Linkara's reviews could credibly reach. From what I've discerned (and please correct me if I'm wrong), Linkara reads mainly superhero comics (with some horror that seems to overlap, which would make him unfamiliar with other types of comics and stories-- Azarello's Wonder Woman reads more like a 90's Vertigo saga with Diana thrust in the middle of an Endless-style family drama. Whether that's a good thing for the series or not doesn't impact the quality of its writing, especially when the writing goes further than the type of stories that most often feature both in what Linkara likes as well as what he reviews.
" To give you an example, let's say batman, in the main universe, starts to kill people with a gun, and he is not a clone or a replacement or anyone besides the one and original Bruce Wayne, who has decided by himself, with no mind-control or tricks, to do it, but it is written in such a perfect, flawless way, where each piece fits just perfectly, to the point that you could not believe no one has done it before. it would STILL be a betrayal of the character. "
Which is ultimately a terrible precedent from a creative standpoint, because it says that keeping the status quo the way the fans want it is much more important than telling a great story. Ideally, if that story was told in a "perfect, flawless way", it would sell readers on the idea that Batman would finally break down and use a gun. But if the readers want the characters to be one way and refuse to accept anything else, what's the point in even trying to tell a great story? Story doesn't matter, and the purpose of the characters is as a security blanket for the audience; toys they want to see played with in a very specific way, without any room for trying anything new."
So are you going to response to Nitz the Bloody comment Lewis Lovhaug
Honestly, I really don't get what people are getting so worked-up over
I have a share of titles I like, and a share I don't like. I don't care about what I don't like. And if I stop liking something I used to like, I just move on, because I know that sooner or later I stumble upon something else I enjoy. No series lasts for ever. No writer's run lasts forever. Therefore there is no point in getting angry over any of this.
I mean, with Linkara, there is, because he makes money out of being angry.
But anyone else?
Just pointless.
Enjoy a series while you like it, drop it once you stop to, and don't bother anyone about it.
I love the current Wonder Woman run, love every single moment of it, I also really enjoyed Man of Steel, and I'm sick of being harassed by elitist fanbrats who can't come to terms with someone making an interpretation they don't like
NEWSFLASH, they aren't real!
They are characters that can be used and interpreted in an endless variety of ways
Oh, and I'm OK with the idea of a gunslinger Batman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Di19SF0Ywc
Anyway, awesome and fun episode
Looking forward to Plan 9 from Outer Space
Love that movie
And I do agree you should do Avengers vs X-Men, or Avengers Arena, so that the Marvel elitists won't feel all high and mighty
In the New 52, I'm reading 23 titles out of 52, and with Marvel Now I'm reading 6 titles out of 37
So there's that
I'm joining the queue in support of Villain Month
They've been awesome this month, and I even got a friend interested in comics with them (he read The Joker, Two-Face, The Ventriloquist, Bizarro, and Poison Ivy, as they were his favorite villains in the cartoons - he was a bit surprised at the different interpretations of The Ventriloquist and Bizarro, but had no problem accepting them, unlike some other so called "fans")
And we aren't the only ones to think so
http://retcon-punch.com/2013/09/06/green-arrow-23-1-count-vertigo/
http://retcon-punch.com/2013/09/05/the-flash-23-1-grodd/
so to Lewis, good luck with you'r future work
and to the others,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d3r-AZMI1Y
"So are you going to response to Nitz the Bloody comment Lewis Lovhaug"
Why do people post new comments asking if I'm going to respond to something?
I read every comment.
I already saw it.
I have nothing to say.
It's a simple difference of opinion and I see no reason to respond because we're not going to see eye-to-eye on this.
The most interesting part of the review is what happened afterwards.
I had a hunch that the entity couldn't have been the only God or being out there. The Worm King and clockworks. I wonder what's the 90's kid is up to?. Surely, that old god would be smarter than retake a old host. Even if the 90's kid is a good unassuming choice. Linkara better check up with the 90's kid and inform his friends. Why am I imagining the worm king being some small slimy worm thing that enters its victims via earhole or it slides in like that Tim Curry black ooze from Fern Gully . Just something icky.
As for the comic, its already partially out of mind. That shows how unmemorable it is.
I'm sorry you feel that way. I wanted to open a dialogue because that would've been productive for both of us.
"Shows like Gargoyles, Avatar The Last Airbender, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: The Next Generation and even The West Wing
have a status-quo in them."
don't wanna burts you'r bubble, but Gargoyles and Avatar the Last Airbender really didn't have much of a status-quo
The Legend of Korra did have one, and it was what held it back
just here to correct my self
instead of saying "They've been awesome this month" I should have said "They've been awesome this week" seeing how Villains Month is far from over
And I still promised my friend to pick-up Black Manta, Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Clayface, and Scarecrow when they come out
On Arena (Yeah, like everyone else commenting), I can see two other options:
A countdown-like multiparter covering multiple issues, because a lot of the actions that occur really have no bearing on what happens later on. There are entire issues where maybe one "important" thing happens.
Or
Just focus on the single worst issue in the entire run. For that, I nominate #10: blatant stupidity, nonsensical character actions, ugly art and one extremely dull character death (that gets undone immediately after) in an idiotic rip off of a Joss Whedon story arc using the same damn character.
That issue alone encapsulates so much of what's wrong with the story. The whole arc is bad, but that one takes the cake.
So the arc could sub as a review if you want to go longer. But #10 . . . Man, #10.
Lewis: Just read the Guts volume of Azzarello's Wonder Woman run. I...critics STILL bought into this crap after the last page of issue 7 and the first page of issue 8 turned Wonder Woman into a MASSIVE HYPOCRITE!? She rails against Hephaestus' set-up as slavery, but then turns around the next issue and uses the weapons he made in the very next issue? No! Wrong! No! Hypocrisy!
In case you're wondering: Yeah, I initially said you should do it if you're that passionate about it, but this run is just disgustingly overrated. Other big issues I spotted: The lasso being insinuated to be smoke and mirrors to hide that she intimidates people, but later is presumed to actually work. Wonder Woman saying that all life is precious because life is brief. (She knows people who have extraordinarily long lives, so this being her reason that all life is precious is just hollow.) Wonder Woman acting ungrateful to Hermes because, even though he saved her life, he enjoyed engaging in brutality. An entire two (and a bit) issue plot arc that indulges in imagery that invokes statutory rape. One of the worst two page spreads I have ever seen. Useless digressions from a bland peanut gallery. Obvious, not clever at all sexual entendres. Turning Persephone (who HOMER actually identified as "The dread Persephone") into a wuss who slashed her wrists because Hades asked for a divorce. An entire scene where Aphrodite is framed so we NEVER see their face. (No, I don't care if she's nude, that's still a tasteless thing to do.) Strife making a pun that you have to sound out to comprehend. Dog-faced Gorgons. Wonder Woman having to be saved by Strife, making her seem less awesome. Azzarello having this take insist that she loves everyone, even though she comes across as FAR more of a warrior than a diplomat, Wonder Woman spitefully shooting Hades full of "her love", Wonder Woman somehow making a mile long shot with a pistol to even do that and the dumb action scene that makes up most of the last two issues before we reveal that...we're bringing The New Gods into this. Wow!
@Volvagia
dude, you are grasping at straws here
WW only accepted the weapons after the male amazons working at Hephaestus' workshop told her they were there willingly
The thing with the lasso was mostly Hephaestus messing with her head
Persephone snapped due to the millennia she spent in the underworld, and due to the psychological abuse Hades put her through through all the ages
also, the shot from Eros' pistol was meant to be an act of mercy
not that Hades was looking in the mirror when the love-bullet hit him
in an earlier scene, it was revealed that Hades secretly hates himself, and that his cruelty was a direct result of this
In another scene, Diana also said that to love others, one has to first learn to love oneself
guess you don't understand the concept of subtlety
@Volvagia
what Anon(September 10, 2013 at 2:46 AM) said
plus
those weren't supposed to be gorgons, but Hades' children, Macaria, Melinoe and Zagreus
to be fair, Zagreus is actually supposed to be male, so it is quite a big mistake (either on the part of the writer, or the artist), but otherwise it's pretty much them
They even refer to Hades as their father several times
as for Aphrodite, the point was that she's so beautiful that mortals can't possibly comprehend it
Anonymouses 2:46 and 7:16:
Okay, point by point:
1. If there were even the slightest bit of self questioning to get to the end of issue seven to her taking the weapons, I might have still bought it. But as is, though she might not HATE him, I don't buy she should just be so comfortable on raiding his armory. 2. I'll concede that that's one way to read it. But if that's supposed to be possibly true, Azzarello still winds up doing NOTHING with that dropped note of ambiguity, so why even make that his line at all?
3. Okay, I get what happened. I just don't buy that it ever WOULD happen. Sorry. Just make it be some sort of construct that THINKS that's what happened and maybe reveal that STRIFE is the real Persephone trying to redefine herself or that the real Persephone actually did escape and has managed to evade capture. Those would quickly and easily resolve the problem.
4. Mercy? I don't quite buy that. FORCING someone to change like that comes across as cruelty, no matter what the intent is. (See also: The Identity Crisis brain alteration of Doctor Light.) Plus, even if you think it's not cruel and a spiteful parting shot, I ask this: If she was going to do that anyway, couldn't she have done it from a plausible seeming distance instead of a mile away shot WITH A PISTOL.
5. First, they do nothing to set them up before the issue 9 scene, second, because Hades' character design in this book looks 10-12, I wouldn't WANT to think he has kids and, finally, the image of what amounts, to readers less soaked to their pores in the Greek myths, as Dog-Faced Gorgons? Not scary. So, good job, Azzarello and Cliff Chiang. You pulled out a silly and obscure facet of Greek myth, even though your chosen character design for Hades makes it really gross, adding even further to the story's massively uncomfortable undertone of statutory rape.
6. Really? Okay, that's one way to read it, but, to me, it still seems tasteless, treating someone like a collection of body parts and not a person. Like the beginning of the first issue of Winick's Catwoman? Or Vicki Vale in ASBAR?
And that's not even getting into a non-auditory medium writing down a pun you actually have to sound out to comprehend (you shouldn't NEED to do that), introducing the rest of The Fourth World mythos in Wonder Woman instead of Superman, Supergirl, Justice League, a book of their own or Teen Titans (all of whom would make more sense for an intro for the rest of the New Gods) and Wonder Woman having a reason that all life is precious that, because she knows people with insanely long lives, rings hollow.
Wow. I was thinking about looking into the Teen Titans reboot a while ago, but then I looked at the team, and now I see this crap they're trying to push, and it's all really looking like a tall glass of NOPE.
The New 52 is REALLY hit and miss. Some of the comics are good, like I've been enjoying Aquaman and Batgirl, but then there's crap like this. The Batman comics also seem that way. I loved the hell out of the Mad Hatter arc in Batman: The Dark Knight, but WTF is the friggin obsession the Batman writers have with Clayface?! I've seen him pop up in three separate arcs now... two of which are in the same series. Getting a little bit sick of Clayface, guys... There's lots of villains in Gotham, please use them!
Also, is it just me or is anyone else tired of the random ass crossovers and interludes in the middle of a story? Things are going great, plot's progressing, and then suddenly, BEFORE WE TELL YOU WHATS HAPPENING NEXT, HERE'S SOMETHING POINTLESS! NOW WAIT ANOTHER MONTH FOR THE NEXT ISSUE! -_-;
Whew, had to get that off my chest. So... Linkara. I got this free comic a while ago that features humanoid elephant boobs. You wouldn't be interested by any chance, would you? :P
Now that you mention it, yeah while Brian Azzarello`s writing on Wonder Woman is interesting and I like his comic so far, but making the Amazon`s into murdering rapists didn`t flow with me.
And neither did having Superman and Wonder Woman get together.Ugh!
BTW great review Linkara as always!
Also I have one thing to ask. Wat do you do if people question your credibility as a comic critic if you utter any discontent over the Reboot? They call you old fashioned or that you say you don`t have an open mind. It`not that I don`t, it`s just that I genuinely feel as though some of the changes are at the very least questionable. Sometimes the line of writers and artists,while there are a lot of them that are really good, there are still those who are questionable as well. But that dosen`t mean I don`t like a lot of the books in the New 52, but I do have a lot of opinions.
So yeah how do you deal with it ?
Harvest is not a spin doctor he's too pathetic.
Personally I don't see anything wrong with the new 52 amazon culture, they've always been a highly prejudiced isolationist cult and it brings them more inline with the actual general nastiness of the greek legends their based on.
"Personally I don't see anything wrong with the new 52 amazon culture, they've always been a highly prejudiced isolationist cult and it brings them more inline with the actual general nastiness of the greek legends their based on."
Except the problem is that Wonder Woman's amazons AREN'T the same as the Greek Amazons AND NEVER HAVE BEEN.
" Except the problem is that Wonder Woman's amazons AREN'T the same as the Greek Amazons AND NEVER HAVE BEEN. "
They are now, thanks to the reboot; these are fictional characters with fictional histories. So again; does that mean that Wonder Woman under Azarello is an actual badly written comic (in terms of technical qualities and not its placement in a continuity framework), or that it has a status quo change not to your personal taste? If it's the former, then by all means review it on your show. If it's just the latter, then maybe it's more to do with the limits of your tastes, not Azarello or even the New 52?
"They are now, thanks to the reboot; these are fictional characters with fictional histories. So again; does that mean that Wonder Woman under Azarello is an actual badly written comic (in terms of technical qualities and not its placement in a continuity framework), or that it has a status quo change not to your personal taste? If it's the former, then by all means review it on your show. If it's just the latter, then maybe it's more to do with the limits of your tastes, not Azarello or even the New 52?"
Both, since Diana's personality and character are then incosistent with the kind of world she was brought up in. It would be like discovering that Jonathan and Martha Kent were actually cult leaders waiting for Clark's superpowers to develop so that they could worship him as a God - it's a change that's at odds with the kind of person she is and with the kind of people they're SUPPOSED to be.
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