Sperg about comic books here

[Water-T]

That was my idea as well. Get an actual experienced ARG writer on staff to help with a Riddler arc. The process ARG players go through mimics the detective process closely enough, and making the riddles something like cryptography or a weird website keeps them from feeling corny like a verbal riddle.

They could leave 1 riddle unsolved at the end of each book, giving the reader time to try and solve it on their own before the next issue. If you want to go next level, you could include some actual ARG elements like a website or a seeded search result for some fake in-universe gadget.

The Batman Arkham games had the Riddler use ARG-like quests to stump Bruce. They required using clues to either find dozens of ? shaped items around the map or to solve the puzzle traps that held them. Finding all of them would unlock the last clue leading Batman to Riddler's lair to catch him.

 

[JimiHendrix]

The Batman Arkham games had the Riddler use ARG-like quests to stump Bruce. They required using clues to either find dozens of ? shaped items around the map or to solve the puzzle traps that held them. Finding all of them would unlock the last clue leading Batman to Riddler's lair to catch him.

except the arkham games have the issue of not knowing how to write pretty much anyone except Joker or Batman. They butchered bane and Riddler especially, Riddler in the Arkham games isn't the genius plagued by OCD trying to prove his superiority because he has too and only fails due to his mental illness.

where as in the arkham games, Riddler is just a guy who's really good at building things but is a complete idiot in every other regard who is just oblivious to his own stupidity. Riddler even has a line in Arkham Knight along the lines of "What? How can you be winning? It's like I've been transported to some other universe where I'M the idiot and you're the super genius"

I just really like Riddler and the Arkham games did him and especially Bane, really badly.

but i mean if you're just going for his character aesthetic, i mean it works I guess.

 

[Ahriman]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFxcn7XhJOO/

Spawn 311 Tribute Cover
Given the limited amount of minority characters in the comic industry today that are considered major Superheroes, I thought it appropriate for one of those well-known heroes (Spawn) to pay tribute to a man who made a lasting impact on helping shape such a strong superhero of color. Chadwick Boseman is a person who honed his skills and then made a career using them. Then he fought a fight against his own body that showed the true spirit of this man. We should all admire the traits Chadwick shared with us. And the inspiration he gave to millions of children around the globe who got to see a strong, meaningful and proud hero that looked like themselves.

TODD

 

[Owlman]

Nothing Marvel. I'm reading Three Jokers and Morrison's GL regularly. I read Tynion's run and while there was some stuff I liked, I felt it was underwhelming. Better than Scott Snyder's or Tom King's run, but those weren't good at all. Mostly done with DC at this point. Metal is junk with pretty pictures. Bendis is raping Superman and LOSH and so much else. Wally is the fucking New Gods now. Wondy is bad, Aquaman junk. Its like they looked at Rebirth and thought 'how do I undermine this?"

There's some good indy books. Big girls from Image.

Personally, I really liked Snyder. Although he had a few problems (BatGod, Rarely used the Batfam, etc), I thought he was really good. Tynion’s run is good, but after King, I’d take anything.

I definitely agree with everything else you said.

 

[Johnny Treason]

I'm really enjoying how 3 Jokers is portraying Red Hood; A severely damaged vigilante who is always on the cusp of going too far, instead of the light-hearted, quipping Dick Grayson clone he's so often reduced to.
The fact he's not in his horrendous new costume helps as well.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Are there any notable black villains? Equality of evil and all that - or have they all been retconned into Killmonger-esque, 'Remember they are victims before they are villains, always make sure to mention how racism has hurt them' types?

I was trying to think of Marvel villains that were black, and I couldn't think of any - especially not recent ones.

Black Manta's the big DC one. Off the top of my head, Amanda Waller is a pseudo-villain at times. I think the new 52 reverse flash was also black? Uh, the Green Arrow villain Brick was black too iirc. The New 52 had a black Clock King as well.

The Brotherhood of evil had Houngan, notable for being seen as a rando that fights the Doom Patrol/Titans in the famous runs. Tobias Whale was a black albino who fought Black Lightning. The second Tattooed man was a black dude who had a Final Crisis spinoff miniseries.

There was also Holocaust from Milestone comics, one of like 5 villains you'd remember from that series.

Black Manta's the only A lister here though. The rest are B-listers at best if you don't include Waller. The New 52 Reverse Flash is notable for being Wallace West's father (the new black kid flash.)

I don't know if Killer Croc counts since he used to be white.


Marvel has uh. . . . . . . .Killmonger/Man-Ape for the BP villains.
Hypno-Hustler, Rocket Racer, and Prowler are all Spidey villains that are also black. Then you have a shitload of 70s blaxploitation influenced villains like Deadly Nightshade and shit.
I think Shang-Chi had a black sidekick named Midnight Sun that became a villain or anti-hero of some sort.
Alex Wilder from Runaways was a good one. He ded tho. You also had Tombstone, one of the maggia dudes. A lot of Serpent Society members were black too fsr?
Uh, speaking of Tombstone, there were a strange amount of black villains that also had albinism. Like Nekra. There was also a dude named Centurius, a super scientist type. Oh and Thunderball from the wrecking crew.

I think the biggest name Black villain from Marvel is probably the Sphinx or Apocalypse. Yeah yeah they're Egyptian, but we don't explicitly know if it's African descent egyptian or full on black. If those two don't count, then I'd honestly just say Killmonger due to that movie. The rest aren't A-list in terms of visibility except for maybe Prowler due to being a semi-iconic Spidey character and being related to the origins of Miles.

Nothing Marvel. I'm reading Three Jokers and Morrison's GL regularly. I read Tynion's run and while there was some stuff I liked, I felt it was underwhelming. Better than Scott Snyder's or Tom King's run, but those weren't good at all. Mostly done with DC at this point. Metal is junk with pretty pictures. Bendis is raping Superman and LOSH and so much else. Wally is the fucking New Gods now. Wondy is bad, Aquaman junk. Its like they looked at Rebirth and thought 'how do I undermine this?"

There's some good indy books. Big girls from Image.

3 Jokers is fun. Anything MOrrison does is fun.
Metal is just odd, but at least it sort of feels like they're just trying to finish up the event.

Bendis is mediocre. Wondy is bland, but has Maxwell Lord in it now. The Flash is the same schtick, but seems to have more of a legacy hero schtick again. Aquaman is undergoing weird stuff.

honestly the problem with rebirth was trying to center the "rebirth" itself around Doomsday Clock and the Metal events. Geoff Johns needs to have an editor for his own shit.

Miles Morales has his Uncle as the Prowler. I feel like, in universe, he's tried to use the Killmonger-esque excuse, but he gets called out on it. Though the level of sympathy seems to change from writer to writer. Pretty sure Luke Cage has an evil brother, but I don't know enough about him/can't remember the last time he was used to say how he's handled.

The biggest DC one is Black Manta. Bendis set up a black supervillain in his Superman run, but I'd be very surprised if anyone else outside of Bendis acknowledges her. But I think by virtue of fighting Superman multiple times she can technically be considered notable. DC has a few others, but I don't think they're big/used enough to be considered notable. To be fair, the same is probably true of Marvel, I'm just less familiar with those guys as a whole.

Bendis came up with Red Cloud, a fucking stupid name. Her motivations are also stupid.

Black Manta is hella cool though. He's even killed Aquaman's baby, a truly evil act.

That was my idea as well. Get an actual experienced ARG writer on staff to help with a Riddler arc. The process ARG players go through mimics the detective process closely enough, and making the riddles something like cryptography or a weird website keeps them from feeling corny like a verbal riddle.

They could leave 1 riddle unsolved at the end of each book, giving the reader time to try and solve it on their own before the next issue. If you want to go next level, you could include some actual ARG elements like a website or a seeded search result for some fake in-universe gadget.

I love this idea. Batman has both the Riddler and Cluemaster as villains so it'd be fun.

Personally, I really liked Snyder. Although he had a few problems (BatGod, Rarely used the Batfam, etc), I thought he was really good. Tynion’s run is good, but after King, I’d take anything.

I definitely agree with everything else you said.

BatGod is entertaining but not something I wanna see all the time. I wish Morrison did more though. I loved the Black Casebook shit, the Club of Heroes stuff, and Dr. Simon Hurt was a pretty fun villain that I still don't totally understand the backstory of. I'd love it if they just tied him to Barbatos.

I'm really enjoying how 3 Jokers is portraying Red Hood; A severely damaged vigilante who is always on the cusp of going too far, instead of the light-hearted, quipping Dick Grayson clone he's so often reduced to.
The fact he's not in his horrendous new costume helps as well.

The Red Hood got fucked hard and the 3 Jokers isn't pulling any punches. I wish they didn't kill "the Clown" because it feels like he'd have been a fun one to bring back into rotation.

Hell, check out one of this years Batman/Detective Comics annuals. Joker berates Bane over not using Alfred's death to traumatize Bruce.

I will say that the Justice League books are solidly entertaining. I like JL Dark right now. Wish they'd just try pushing Zatanna to be a super A lister because she has the potential to be a big seller, honestly.

 

[Owlman]

BatGod is entertaining but not something I wanna see all the time. I wish Morrison did more though. I loved the Black Casebook shit, the Club of Heroes stuff, and Dr. Simon Hurt was a pretty fun villain that I still don't totally understand the backstory of. I'd love it if they just tied him to Barbatos.

Absolutely. Morrison will always be the best Batman writer.

 

[jspit]

Personally, I really liked Snyder. Although he had a few problems (BatGod, Rarely used the Batfam, etc), I thought he was really good. Tynion’s run is good, but after King, I’d take anything.

I definitely agree with everything else you said.

I understand. I could probably explain better.

Scott Snyder got five years of Capullo art that made his okay to bad stories seem better.

I'll be more specific. Y1, Court of Owls was a year long story that was okay and ended flat. Y2 was DotF, a go nowhere story in which Joker is Stephen King's It then a bunch of middling one or two issue stories. Y3 is Zero Year, a long drawn out mess thats cluttered and its best bits are member berries. Y4 is endgame and part Superheavy. Endgame was bleh and Superheavy sucked. Y5 wrapped up superheavy.

Lots of pretty artwork and Snyder wasn't as offensively bad. But Harper Row, Duke, Jokerit, and the Batman that Tom King gave us were planted in Scott Snyder's run.

 

[Owlman]

I understand. I could probably explain better.

Scott Snyder got five years of Capullo art that made his okay to bad stories seem better.

I'll be more specific. Y1, Court of Owls was a year long story that was okay and ended flat. Y2 was DotF, a go nowhere story in which Joker is Stephen King's It then a bunch of middling one or two issue stories. Y3 is Zero Year, a long drawn out mess thats cluttered and its best bits are member berries. Y4 is endgame and part Superheavy. Endgame was bleh and Superheavy sucked. Y5 wrapped up superheavy.

Lots of pretty artwork and Snyder wasn't as offensively bad. But Harper Row, Duke, Jokerit, and the Batman that Tom King gave us were planted in Scott Snyder's run.

I definitely agree with you on DOTF and Endgame. Those stories sucked and they make Joker War seem all the less special.

Oh wow! Another story where Joker decides that enough is enough and stops holding back, leading to some rather nasty things! One that ends with

Spoiler: ends with...

batman and/or joker dying!

Color me surprised.

Edit: Now thinking about it, Court of Owls was kind of a rip-off of Morrison’s Club of Villains, so even that wasn’t that good.

 

[TchPiKinmup]

Marvel just published a "tribute" to the first appearance of the new X-Men, Giant Sized X-Men #1. The tribute is the original comic book, using almost all of the original text, but completely redrawn. Each page is done by a different artist. It's a curiosity at best and feels like a mess in some parts, sadly uninspired in others. The current X-line is miles away from what made it popular but I guess this was a bone thrown to the old fans.

I'd read the original comic many times over the years -- the X-Men had been my favorite for most of my formative years. That familiarity led to noticing a couple of minor changes here and there. Turns out the changes were made by Marvel to apply some "Current Day" standards to the book.

Rewriting Giant-Size X-Men (A Little) As Well As Redrawing It

Rewriting Giant-Size X-Men (A Little) As Well As Redrawing It

In the back of this week's Giant-Size X-Men Tribute comic book published by Marvel, Len Wein's widow Valada Wein talked about the project and a few minor

bleedingcool.com

Spoiler: Words

In the back of this week's Giant-Size X-Men Tribute comic book published by Marvel, Len Wein's widow Valada Wein talked about the project and a few minor changes along the way.

MARVEL: As part of this tribute, Marvel worked with you to update a few words that would not be appropriate in a modern reader's view. How do you think Len would have written it today?
VALADA: I am pretty sure Len would have understood and cooperated with the minor rewrite that was done to address contemporary concerns about language. Len, I think, did a good job of giving characters their own 1., voices, even having them use language or terms he would not ; use himself. John was an angry character, possibly reflecting what Len might have gleaned from the Wounded Knee protests in 1973 (although that ved the Sioux and not Apache). The changes are — = retain the rhythm that Len used in his writing and a -e ess likely to cause unnecessary offense in these more enlightened times.

So what words changed? Well, we noticed a few.

Art from original Giant-Size X-Men #1.Art from tribute Giant Size-X-Men #1.
"Squaws" to "mice"…

Art from original Giant Size-X-Men #1.Art from tribute Giant Size-X-Men #1.
"Cripples" to "old man"…

Art from original Giant-Size X-Men #1.Art from tribute Giant-Size X-Men #1.
"The Jap" to "He's Back"…

Art from original Giant-Size X-Men #1.Art from tribute Giant-Size X-Men #1.
And "crippled one" to "legless one"… the choices are always interesting, but it's notable that God Loves, Man Kills was just published, as is.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Absolutely. Morrison will always be the best Batman writer.

He's easily the best Modern Batman writer.

Marvel just published a "tribute" to the first appearance of the new X-Men, Giant Sized X-Men #1. The tribute is the original comic book, using almost all of the original text, but completely redrawn. Each page is done by a different artist. It's a curiosity at best and feels like a mess in some parts, sadly uninspired in others. The current X-line is miles away from what made it popular but I guess this was a bone thrown to the old fans.

I'd read the original comic many times over the years -- the X-Men had been my favorite for most of my formative years. That familiarity led to noticing a couple of minor changes here and there. Turns out the changes were made by Marvel to apply some "Current Day" standards to the book.

Rewriting Giant-Size X-Men (A Little) As Well As Redrawing It

Rewriting Giant-Size X-Men (A Little) As Well As Redrawing It

In the back of this week's Giant-Size X-Men Tribute comic book published by Marvel, Len Wein's widow Valada Wein talked about the project and a few minor

bleedingcool.com

Spoiler: Words

In the back of this week's Giant-Size X-Men Tribute comic book published by Marvel, Len Wein's widow Valada Wein talked about the project and a few minor changes along the way.


So what words changed? Well, we noticed a few.

Art from original Giant-Size X-Men #1.Art from tribute Giant Size-X-Men #1.
"Squaws" to "mice"…

Art from original Giant Size-X-Men #1.Art from tribute Giant Size-X-Men #1.
"Cripples" to "old man"…

Art from original Giant-Size X-Men #1.Art from tribute Giant-Size X-Men #1.
"The Jap" to "He's Back"…

Art from original Giant-Size X-Men #1.Art from tribute Giant-Size X-Men #1.
And "crippled one" to "legless one"… the choices are always interesting, but it's notable that God Loves, Man Kills was just published, as is.

Kind of flaccid but new art is nice.

 

[Next Task]

I get it, though it's pretty sad that I'm surprised it was only changing a couple of words.

'Crippled' and 'legless' aren't synonyms, though. Taking out The Jap is the most understandable, then squaw, but changing the cripple is the most Current Year.

Should have just put a disclaimer at the front if they were so worried, but current Marvel never met a virtue it couldn't signal, so...

 

[JimiHendrix]

if we're talking about batman writers we like, i like tomasi. i think he did an equally good job on batman and superman.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

man with all the fun of DC trying to bring back the Silver Agey level of creativity and whatnot with the Dark Multiverse stuff and all that. It's kinda funny that the only Silver Age-ish books to come out of the Metals events have been The Terrifics and a Metal Men revival. Does Legion of Superheroes count?

Anyways I highkey just wanna see a JSA book goddamnit. That and a revival of Showcase to run characters that could be up for getting a book or sth. God knows we ain't getting a Blue Devil book going.

 

[Owlman]

Ngl, this was boring as shit.

 

[JimiHendrix]

View attachment 1644649
Ngl, this was boring as shit.

i liked seeing nightwing and the harley stuff, for once, wasn't bad tho.

 

[Owlman]

i liked seeing nightwing and the harley stuff, for once, wasn't bad tho.

Those two along with Punchline finally being interesting and the art are the only good things about it. Joker War was so fuckin boring.

 

[JimiHendrix]

Those two along with Punchline finally being interesting and the art are the only good things about it. Joker War was so fuckin boring.

yeah tynions original plan with the designer would've been better, but DC wouldn't let him unfortunately.

 

[Syaoran Li]

Been getting interested in comic book tie-ins, which were a big thing in the 80's and 90's. Sometimes it could even lead to spin-offs based on whatever movie, show, or game it was meant to promote.

Apparently, Topps Comics was one of the ones whose bread and butter were either movie tie-ins or based on public domain characters like Dracula and Zorro. Their biggest original character was Lady Rawhide, a "Bad Girl" from the 90's who got her start in their Zorro comics.

Topps were also the ones who did the Jason vs. Leatherface comic that was supposed to be a prequel for their Jason Goes To Hell tie-in.

Like, I have no interest in the capeshit or the preachy indies of the 2000's and 2010's, but I'll admit I am a bit of a sucker for tie-in comics/licensed IP's or comics from niche genres like war, horror, and Westerns from before the big Modern Age of Comics.

As for actual Marvel and DC properties, I'm mainly interested in checking out Tomb of Dracula and getting back into The Punisher.

 

[Prehistoric Jazz]

I want more Midnighter. If he's going to be in the DC proper, why hasn't Batman interacted with him? You'd think he and Oracle would have interesting banter. If nothing else, kick some goddamn heads off!

I read somewhere that Wildcats isn't going to happen, is that true? The Wild Storm was interesting and I was looking forward to it.