the story is moving too fast. it's like a fast paced movie where the editing just goes from one clip to the next with no transitions in the story.
can anyone tell me what's happening?
[Edited 8/26/08 11:32am]

This is a confusing thread title if I ever saw one

Comic lovers maybe, just a suggestion

I used to love DC, but I've given up in the past few years. The way they treat their characters is infuriating to me, and they don't seem to care at all about continuity. And they give way too much latitude to Keith Giffen.

Sorry I can't help you out with your question...

DC = disappointing comics

um well there's this stuff happening and there's a bad guy in a stupid costume and he gets a bunch of other bad guys in stupid looking costumes together and gives them all makeover and he's all "i'm king lord bufu, kneel before me" and shit, and lex luthor gets pissy, and the good guys do a bunch of stuff, and the flash, and that jack kirby dude gets dissed and martian manhunter bites it and they keep having funerals for him so we will all think he's really really dead, no we really mean it DEAD, and something about a lesbian with no face.

that's either the plotline to final crisis or i'm starting to remember details of our house party last weekend.

Anxiety said:

I'll probably get lambasted for saying this, but does anybody actually like Martian Manhunter? I think he's such a bore, especially when you consider that he's got, like, every single superpower there is practically. The fact that he can do everything doesn't make him interesting at all.

Efan said:

i liked him when i was a kid, but i think he was more colorful and fun up through the 70s. plus he was a background character most of the time and we didn't have to waste a lot of time thinking about him. he just flew around in his big blue cape and panties and looked pretty.

Efan said:

Same with Marvel - Joe Quesada is a f-cking joke.

Anxiety said:

I think we have different definitions of pretty.

Efan said:

well he also had green skin and red accents on his costume. come on, he was like a flying christmas tree!

uPtoWnNY said:

It's true. Both companies have managed to suck all the joy out of the experience. It might be justifiable if the stories were excellent, but for the most part, they're just terrible. I now tend to pick up superhero comics in smaller and smaller doses, usually just reading one-off issues or story arcs in various series. Oh, and recently I collected the entire run of Invincible, which isn't in the "great" category yet but is definitely more fun and more pure superhero escapism than anything I've seen from Marvel or DC recently.

Anxiety said:

I could never get into him. I didn't start reading JLA until about 1980, so I missed out on him until he came back, which irritated me a lot. But I was glad I missed out on him the first time around, along with the annoying Snapper Carr.

Efan said:

aahh whadda you two know about anything anyway. True, Martina Manhunter wasn't used to the best of his abilities or was even exposed to a wider audience properly. half the time i felt like he was just always Batman's psychic bitch.
but still he was kinda one of those bed rock characters like what Nightwing is. all the other heroes liked him and trusted him.

Milty said:

I guess. But he's kind of hard to use to the best of his abilities. I mean, if he was used that way, he wouldn't need any teammates. He's as strong as Superman, can fly, is invulnerable (except to fire), can read minds, can turn invisible, and can change his shape into anything. That's a whole lotta power in one dull-as-dishwater guy.

Honestly, I don't know what the hell is going on. I really liked the Death of the New Gods mini-series which had its basic premise totally fucking ripped by having Orion and Darkseid finsih their fight in Countdown. What the fuck?

THEN

to top it all off

Now we see Orion dying in Final Crisis instead? By a bullet that travels through time? (I'm seriously hoping it's an Alpha Bullet, the counter to the Omega Effect) I can't tell if Barry Allen is back or not. I don't understand what the Question has to do with anything. I don't like how the New Gods were supposed to be shown "in their true forms" but are regulated to human forms atm. I can't follow how this all ties in with the current Action Comics, Detective Comics, Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, GL Corps, GL, the Trinity series, Superman and Batman, etc.

It's all a huge hot fucking tranny mess.

THAT SAID....

I am VERY MUCH enjoying the Final Crisis minis with the Legion of Superheros, and the Spectre. I'm also loving Booster Gold, the last Wonder Woman arc, and the new Braniac arc in Action Comics.

Efan said:

you know, it occurred to me that "new frontier" martian manhunter was a character i really really loved. but then, i loved all the characters in "new frontier". i wanted to lick the pages, and when the video came out, i wanted to lick the screen. so maybe i shouldn't give MM so much credit.

I used to pick up a few DC titles now and then, but when they started going into permanent crossover mode, I decided I wouldn't touch any of them with a ten foot pole.

Unfortunately, it seems that Marvel is headed in the same direction. Fortunately, it seems as if their constant crossovers are self-contained without one leading to another to another to reverse the last and the one before it and Superboy punching the universe or something.

But, really, I'm just down to a few X-books anymore. And I've switched all my buying over to trades.

I miss my hardcore comics days. Then again, I actually enjoyed them back then. I try to get back into them every few years, and I'm always left with a sour taste in my mouth.

Efan said:

true. i hear ya. maybe that's why they nixed him.

Dauphin said:

i havent got into the minis yet but i agree with you as far as the tie ins go. What does the Batman RIP story arc have to do with Final Crisis? it makes no sense especially since all the upcoming JLAs have Bats in there and the Superman/Batman title.
it's kind of annoying. I feel like I've wasted so much time starting with Identity Crisis in 2003/04 up til now. As for Countdown and 52, I totally avoided that.

Milty said:

i didn't understand the significance of countdown or 52, i don't understand the significance of final crisis, and i don't understand what the hell is going on in batman r.i.p. - the writing of all this crap is so passive aggressive. they advertise all of these huge, monumental, milestone changes and the actual stories are just muddled psychodramatic hooey with a bunch of second/third tier characters mucking around like we give a shit and then we get a panel or two of wonder woman or superman furrowing their brow and scratching their chins.

though it's freakin TOLSTOY compared to what's going on at marvel. as far as i'm concerned, spidey comics were all cancelled a year or so back.

oh, but back to DC: i'm loving tiny titans!
[Edited 8/26/08 17:55pm]

Efan said:

Co-sign!

"Final Crisis" is beyond awful. As much as I loathe "Identity Crisis" thematically, it was at least comprehensible.

AlexdeParis said:

True. I like Brad Meltzer a lot, but thematically, Identity Crisis was despicable in so many ways. (Did anyone read that blog by the female editorial assistant at DC who was horrified when someone in the office was so excited when the rape pages came in?) I think there were some incredibly horrible parts about that story, but in the end, it was coherent and fairly well done. But what it led to was a real meltdown in the whole company's line, in my opinion.

Efan said:

i think DC lost sight of what WAS successful about identity crisis - it focused on the characters and put them in an emotionally intense situation where we see them interacting in ways we don't usually get to observe in the typical Bam!Pow!Whap! crossover event series. yeah, the story was deeply flawed and it's deserving of all the backlash it got, but the whole focus on character was what kept me reading the damn thing. there's been little to none of that in their event series since.

Anxiety said:

I agree with both of you with one exception: I was pleasantly surprised with the bulk of "52." I think it worked because it focused on a lot of minor characters and didn't ignore character development (and it was on time!). Just about everything else has been crap.

AlexdeParis said:

i guess. i kinda liked the black adam/isis stuff. i didn't and still don't care about the question lady, and they need to poop or get off the pot with developing batwoman into a substantial new character, unless i'm missing the whole point of her needing to be obscure and wishy-washy for whatever reason.

Anxiety said:

DC seems pretty homophobic. I think they like the publicity they get initially from announcing they have a gay character, but then they quickly downplay the character into obscurity.

Anxiety said:

I really liked Isis and Black Adam, but I'm a huge Captain Marvel fan (and don't even get me started on what they're doing to those characters). I like the new Question, but my interest was mainly in the last days of the old Question. Are any of the old Charlton characters going to be around by the time the Watchmen movie is released? Anyway, I also enjoyed seeing Booster Gold get a little spotlight.

I still wish Isis had lived. Loved her.

Efan said:

Well, you have to appreciate the irony of Batwoman being gay when she was originally created to quell the rumors of Batman and Robin being gay.

Efan said:

not to mention they seem to have an easier time introducing lesbian characters than gay male characters. at least marvel has, like, northstar. does DC even HAVE gay male superheroes?