Whew...I'm out of breath from Marvel 1968 Week...so just a couple of (relative) quickies before the All-Star break:
***They had me until they said Jim Lee:
I'm glad to see DC finally pretend to have an actual movie plan, even if at this point it seems a little too much like a "me too" after Marvel's summer success. Still, it's got to be an improvement over the embarrassing "on-again, off-again, let's spread casting/writing/directing stories and then cancel the projects" we've seen over the past couple of years involving DC properties.
Still, Jim Lee?
***Heaven forbid Marvel 1968 prevent me from bitching about Marvel 2008. Namely, Skrullapalooza. Let skip back to Secret Invasion #1, where the S.W.O.R.D. space station is destroyed:
And now, #4:
So, even if we grant that Agent Brand was grossly underestimating the amount of oxygen she had left, these scenes mean that the entire series has taken place over what, 15 minutes?? 4 issues, 15 minutes. Wow, that has got to be some kind of new record for slow paced.
In his review this week, Caleb said, "This is a much busier issue than the last." But it really wasn't. Everything that happened was already covered elsewhere, usually better (Ms. Marvel's battles), full pages were spent for "reveals" that were already revealed elsewhere (we already knew S.H.I.E.L.D. was infiltrated with Skrulls, so why spend one whole page recapping that Jarvis-Skrull wants Maria Hill to surrender??), and lots of scurrying around, signifying absolutely nothing (Nick Fury's Avenger Babies--what exactly they were doing or accomplished, nobody knows or cares). I'll have to admit, Bendis et al have concealed it fairly masterfully. But 4 issues in, and we've had one issue's worth of plot development, if that. 4 issues, 15 minutes...wow.
***Would it be wrong of me to say that I liked Hellboy I better than I did Hellboy II? Because I did. Sorry.
***I know that Geoff Johns is bound and determined to revert Superman's status quo to pre-Crisis. And more power to him, I guess. But this bit from Action Comics #867 bugged me:
What he have here is sort of the "Indy in the refrigerator" problem. E.g., in Indy IV, when your hero survives a freaking actual nuclear explosion in the opening bit, well, you've pretty much told your audience that your hero is invulnerable, so every other bit of "peril" for the rest of the movie seems trite and unconvincing.
Same deal here. I mean look at that--we have a solar flare or whatever that VAPORISED AT LEAST THE ENTIRE QUARTER OF THE PLANET that Superman was standing on. And he survived.
Is Superman really that strong/tough/invulnerable? Should he be?? I mean, come on...the next time the Toyman shows up, what's the point? Or even Doomsday. Now that we know that nothing on Earth except some stray kryptonite can kill him, has Johns made the character boring by making him too goddmaned powerful?? (And don't get me started on Brainiac being as powerful as the Death Star...)
I like the story so far, but I wonder about the long term consequences. And next time Johns shows Kal-El staggered by some crappy ray blast or such, well, we'll know he was just puffing this sequence up to make us go "wow!"
MEANWHILE...
I'm taking a personal All-Star break to recharge my blogging batteries. I'll be back Thursday (unless something really fascinating comes up). Peace out, y'all..and go, National League!!
***They had me until they said Jim Lee:
I'm glad to see DC finally pretend to have an actual movie plan, even if at this point it seems a little too much like a "me too" after Marvel's summer success. Still, it's got to be an improvement over the embarrassing "on-again, off-again, let's spread casting/writing/directing stories and then cancel the projects" we've seen over the past couple of years involving DC properties.
Still, Jim Lee?
***Heaven forbid Marvel 1968 prevent me from bitching about Marvel 2008. Namely, Skrullapalooza. Let skip back to Secret Invasion #1, where the S.W.O.R.D. space station is destroyed:
And now, #4:
So, even if we grant that Agent Brand was grossly underestimating the amount of oxygen she had left, these scenes mean that the entire series has taken place over what, 15 minutes?? 4 issues, 15 minutes. Wow, that has got to be some kind of new record for slow paced.In his review this week, Caleb said, "This is a much busier issue than the last." But it really wasn't. Everything that happened was already covered elsewhere, usually better (Ms. Marvel's battles), full pages were spent for "reveals" that were already revealed elsewhere (we already knew S.H.I.E.L.D. was infiltrated with Skrulls, so why spend one whole page recapping that Jarvis-Skrull wants Maria Hill to surrender??), and lots of scurrying around, signifying absolutely nothing (Nick Fury's Avenger Babies--what exactly they were doing or accomplished, nobody knows or cares). I'll have to admit, Bendis et al have concealed it fairly masterfully. But 4 issues in, and we've had one issue's worth of plot development, if that. 4 issues, 15 minutes...wow.
***Would it be wrong of me to say that I liked Hellboy I better than I did Hellboy II? Because I did. Sorry.
***I know that Geoff Johns is bound and determined to revert Superman's status quo to pre-Crisis. And more power to him, I guess. But this bit from Action Comics #867 bugged me:
What he have here is sort of the "Indy in the refrigerator" problem. E.g., in Indy IV, when your hero survives a freaking actual nuclear explosion in the opening bit, well, you've pretty much told your audience that your hero is invulnerable, so every other bit of "peril" for the rest of the movie seems trite and unconvincing.Same deal here. I mean look at that--we have a solar flare or whatever that VAPORISED AT LEAST THE ENTIRE QUARTER OF THE PLANET that Superman was standing on. And he survived.
Is Superman really that strong/tough/invulnerable? Should he be?? I mean, come on...the next time the Toyman shows up, what's the point? Or even Doomsday. Now that we know that nothing on Earth except some stray kryptonite can kill him, has Johns made the character boring by making him too goddmaned powerful?? (And don't get me started on Brainiac being as powerful as the Death Star...)
I like the story so far, but I wonder about the long term consequences. And next time Johns shows Kal-El staggered by some crappy ray blast or such, well, we'll know he was just puffing this sequence up to make us go "wow!"
MEANWHILE...
I'm taking a personal All-Star break to recharge my blogging batteries. I'll be back Thursday (unless something really fascinating comes up). Peace out, y'all..and go, National League!!
I'm glad you agree with me that nothing really happened in Secret Invasion #4 -- the review on (I think) Comic Book Resources said it was jam-packed with happenings, and that made me wonder if we were reading the same book. It was all setup and didn't actually advance the plot at all, and that's kind of inexcusable when you only have eight issues! (More discussion on this issue can be found at my site, Thunderdog.)
ReplyDeleteIt has been an exercise in wheel-spinning, that's for sure.
ReplyDelete