Comments on: The Perfectly Acceptable Hercules

By: Banhammer

Banhammer — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:24:40 +0000

HEATHEN. THOU HAST FORGOTTEN THOR!

By: benfromcanada

benfromcanada — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:46:39 +0000

Dude, sorry, but you forgot Deadpool. Everything he touches is gold nowadays.

By: Linkblogging For 03/12/09 « Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

Linkblogging For 03/12/09 « Sci-Ence! Justice Leak! — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:56:02 +0000

[...] Chris Bird wonders why we’re at the stage when ‘OK’ is considered a high standard in superher… [...]

By: Danny Sichel

Danny Sichel — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:48:24 +0000

[/i]wait, how does being smart give you good motor reflexes and hand-eye coordination?[i]

It lets you accommodate for your own shitty motor reflexes and hand-eye coordination ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY.

Plus, you get to use every possible surface for ricochets.

By: Draco

Draco — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:01:15 +0000

I’m seeing a problem with defining “good” here. MGK’s list of good comics here is perfectly serviceable, at least for this month (my two quibbles would probably be Thor and Secret Warriors, although Thor could go downhill very fast). But among the discussions, we have people saying that X comic should be preferred over Y comic, due to either the art/writing. Can a comic be good based on one part alone?

Personally Larroca’s art on Invincible has consistently been an annoyance for me, despite managing to make me sympathize with Tony Stark again. Then again, there are comics such as 300 which succeed entirely on the art alone. A final example is Loeb’s and McGuiness’ Hulk run, which despite having great visuals I found utterly unreadable.

So is there a certain level of quality in both the art and writing that must be reached for a comic to be good? Or can a comic succeed with just one exceptional trait?

By: John Seavey

John Seavey — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:04:05 +0000

Strikedynamite said:

“John,

Granted I’ve only read MGK’s version of Civil War (and of course the legit Avengers tie-ins) but you’ve no interest in reading about a guy trying to redeem himself for past mistakes?

Isn’t that the whole point of somebody like, say, Spider-Man?”

But redemption requires remorse and penitence, and Tony doesn’t show either of those things. Bad shit happens to him as a direct result of his utter lack of a moral compass, and he goes, “Oh no! Bad shit is happening to me! I’ve got to do something about it!” There’s never any acknowledgment on his part that he is ultimately responsible for his own problems.

Peter Parker agonizes about his moral decisions. Tony Stark assumes that whatever benefits him personally is probably right, too.

By: Mary Warner

Mary Warner — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:13:23 +0000

I am new to the internet (I’ve only had it for about a year now), but that Bendis line was a joke. I think I found complaints about Bendis stretching things out the first time I saw a comics website.
And GP, you’re right. Huge and top-secret are contradictory– that’s one of the things that bugs me about those kinds of stories. But if the story is good enough, I can overlook that sort of thing, just as I overlook the fact that nearly every Marvel hero now seems to be a crime-fighter full time without any apparent means of support. (Although that really does bug me at times.)

By: marvinmartian

marvinmartian — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:21:34 +0000

My favourite Herc moment has to be his trial when he describes assaulting Constrictor in Dan Slott’s She-Hulk.

Oh how I laughed.

By: Rob Brown

Rob Brown — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:52:58 +0000

Rob: Read an issue. If nothing else, the artwork is amazing.

I’m on it!

I’d settle for Tony showing remorse, instead of just doubling down on being a smug douche like every issue of IIM I’ve bothered to read.

That’s how I feel too, and not just about Stark. If a character’s been a shitbag in the past, I’d like them to admit they were wrong and not act that way in the future if I’m expected to look at them as a good guy. Don’t just pretend it never happened, and for god’s sake if somebody does bring it up don’t rationalize it, don’t make excuses.

By: Black Rabbit

Black Rabbit — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:44:18 +0000

During last night’s Saints vs. Patriots game(kinda sounds like a Dark Reign one-shot…felicitations Montreal, by the way), a matchup of two of the best quarterbacks alive, they interviewed a player who’d worked with both men. As close as I can remember, he said, “God blessed both of them with great minds. They can make complicated decisions in a fraction of a second, and they’re almost always the right one. They’re just the smartest guys on the field.”
Granted, the Gods also gifted Drew Brees and Tom Brady with Str, Dex, and Con scores of at least 15, but you don’t qualify for the Elite QB prestige class without high Int and Wis (Wisdom being the province of a particular patron of young Cho). Besides, have you seen the size of the average NFL playbook? It’s as thick as the DSM-IV (not a D&D manual), and QBs are expected to both memorize it and apply it in a split-second, whilst the dogs of war are let loose upon their throats.

By: Evan Waters

Evan Waters — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:17:51 +0000

I think the key to Incredible Herc is that it’s got a really solid character dynamic at its core. (I say, despite Cho and Herc having been separated for a while in recent issues.) Both the protagonists are immature, but in different ways, so they’re unprepared for different situations and support each other in others. This makes for the funny as they’re almost always kind of out of their depth, but it also means we get some poignant lessons in growing up now and again.

By: dan

dan — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:46:02 +0000

And two, I won’t buy an Iron Man comic until Civil War has been retconned away.

I’d settle for Tony showing remorse, instead of just doubling down on being a smug douche like every issue of IIM I’ve bothered to read.

By: Jonny K

Jonny K — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:17:08 +0000

I’m reading and enjying both, and I can’t really understand how you say Secret Warriors is merely competant, and Invincible Iron Man is good – I’d put it the other way around, without a doubt.

By: Remora

Remora — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:22:31 +0000

I think X-Force should be on the list if only for the gorgeous art. The storyline itself is good, though, perhaps a bit too densely plotted.

And Uncanny is better now than its been, well, since Morrison.

But then I remember MGK saying that X-men books aren’t his cup of tea, and so, I guess that’s that.

By: clay

clay — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:59:51 +0000

Bendis stretches is out quite a bit. (I’m surprised nobody ever criticises him for this.)

You must be new around here. By ‘here’, I mean ‘the internet’.

I’d say the two biggest complaints about Bendis are (in no order): 1) his use of the same speech patterns for every single character, and 2) his stories get dragged out too long with little happening.

Unless that was a form of sarcasm too subtle for my eyes.