Moments of the Week up in here. We've got Spider-Man OMIT nonsense, Brightest Day taking some big steps forward, SHIELD, Secret Warriors and more for your viewing pleasure this week. But, before you jump to the moments, remember that today is the last day to enter our Three Years Later contest for your chance to win a copy of The Walking Dead Compendium (collects issues #1-48) and the runner-up prize of Invincible Iron Man Omnibus. If you've already entered, hit the jump and enjoy the Moments of the Week!
Amazing Spider-Man #639
Peter and MJ never get married again because MJ wanted kids and refuses to have kids with a super hero because it's no different than having an abusive father. I guess they retconned the whole pregnancy and miscarriage out of continuity along with the unmasking. Oh wait...
Apparently he still unmasked and Aunt May was shot. How did Aunt May survive? After the doctors pronounced her dead, he started giving her CPR and she came back to life. No explanation for why no one knows who he is despite his unmasking.
Oh, and if you were wondering how history went after the whole 'no kids, no marriage' talk? They decide that they can never ruin the sanctity of holy matrimony by getting married and not having kids, so they promise never to get married and just love each other for ever and ever and then go on their honeymoon and everything after that was the same as we always knew it. Just without them being married.
Meanwhile, in another universe, Spider-Man and his daughter can't figure out what the hell is wrong with their 616 counterparts.
Avengers Prime #2
I know Cap just came back from the dead and all that, but, uh, he's known Thor for a loooonnnngggg time and we're to believe that not once did he ever ask what this Midgard nonsense he was talking about meant? I can understand telling new readers what Midgard might be, but don't do it at the expense of the characters.
Kind of disappointed at the use of Hela here. At this point in time, she's ruling in a sectioned off part of Hell thanks to the deal Loki and Mephisto made, which takes place at the onset of and in the aftermath of Siege, which is the same point in time of this Avengers Prime story. As Kieron Gillen is writing an excellent story dealing with her already and seeing as it's been in the works longer than Avengers Prime and that Prime contradicts the portrayal and actions of Hela in that concurrent storyline, I'm not sure why no one stepped in and told Bendis this or made him change his story. Davis draws a great Hela though.
Brightest Day #7
Finally, some answers as to what the recently returned to the land of the living White Lanterns are supposed to be doing. Only took seven issues. There were other revelations for Martian Manhunter (burn down Star City forest), Aquaman (find Aqualad before "they" do), Firestorm (blockhead is to read more books, smart guy is to stop reading books and they are supposed to stop the Black Lantern Firestorm from destroying the White Lantern), the Hawks (don't let Hawkman die and stop Hawkworld), and Deadman (find a replacement for the dying White Lantern entity).
It's interesting that many of the jobs contradict one another, like having Captain Boomerang kill Dove while telling Hawk to stop her from dying. Also, it looks like the characters get their life back permenantly if they complete their "job", as shown by Reverse-Flash's sequence above and how he returned Barry Allen from the Speed Force in Flash: Rebirth.
Deadpool #1000
I now want to see this Canada based team in action. Beaver vs Squirrel Girl would be a great match up. Loved Ms. Puck-Man's name. Not Puck-Girl, Ms Puck-Man. Oh, for the Moositaur, there was a dream sequence where Deadpool imagined Moose say moo at the start, which is the joke for that panel. The Bendis joke was great, too.
Deadpool graciously accepts the honour of being Captain Canada, though he later tenures his resignation when he finds out they offered Wolverine (the costume doesn't fit because it was tailored to Wolverine's height) and even Northstar the job before finally making their way down the list to him.
REBELS #19
Lobo's been getting around lately. This time, he's recruited by Brainiac-2 to fight against Brainiac-1. I like how he still has the Red Lantern ring from recent Green Lantern issues.
Red Robin #15
Tim faked a major injury (with help from Miss Martian impersonating him and taking the bullet) to throw Vicki Vale off the trail of his secret identity (and that of the entire Bat family, which she was dangerously close to proving). He going to fake this spinal injury for a year to show that he isn't Red Robin. That's Bruce Wayne Batman-level dedication/obsession.
Secret Warriors #19
How can he call himself an American and not like sauerkraut on his street meat from the hot dog vendors in New York?
Shadowland #2
Not sure how Kingpin was able to summon Ghost Rider with a secret Hand magic scroll, but damn did Billy Tan not draw one badass looking Ghost Rider.
This doesn't look like a fair fight to me. No one on this page can beat Luke Cage, Iron Fist or Spidey from Daredevil's side. Black Tarantula used to be incredibly powerful and nearly killed Spidey in their first encounters, but he hasn't been really shown to be that strong in a long time. There's a lot of Hand ninja, but they are all canonfodder as far as I'm concerned. Should be a short fight.
SHIELD #3
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36 comments:
Hilarious comment about Jersey Shore. I've seen all of two minutes of that show, and I can't disagree with your assessment.
I didn't think we HAD learned how Fury lost his eye, then I just read the last of Fury: Peacemaker that Marvel put up online this week. It's contained in there.
So, if we're to take Mary Jane, and presumably the comics, argument to absurd conclusions, I suppose this means that cops, firefighters, soldiers, paramedics--hell, ANYONE who helps people for a living or is in public service--shouldn't get married, let alone have kids. And I guess we should also discount any couple who, for one reason or another, are incapable of having kids because having kids is the only reason for a couple to get married as opposed to living together. And I suppose we're also meant to conclude that choosing not to get married but living together and having sex on a regular basis as if you were married actually eliminates the possibility of pregnancy because it's only married couples who are capable of having kids. Who knew that "shacking up" was such an effective means of birth control? :p
I usually enjoy Bendis' work, but his lack of respect for other writers' stories always bugs me. It does sometimes seem that the only continuity he cares about is Bendis continuity - if he didn't write it, it may not have happened at all - and that's just frustrating to readers trying to make sense of the Marvel U as a whole. I feel bad piling on Bendis since it's rather cliche to do so on the Internet, but this is a real annoyance for me that crops up on a regular basis.
The first time the story of how Nick Fury lost his eye was told was in SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS #27 from 2/66.
The Brightest Day #7 panel remind of the Gantz manga where dead people can have a second chance to continue their live if they accomplish some weird and risky missions. Weird.
Wait, that Spider-Girl panel was actually in OMIT? They actually allowed something like that to get into a 616 Spider-Man comic?
Wow...
@p.golowatschew: Maybe Johns has been reading Gantz and that's where all the unnecessary gore comes from.
@stillanerd: If you read Life of Reilly you'll realize that the "it would be irresponsible for Spider-Man to be a father" logic was part of the reasoning of editors and writers back in the Clone Saga. It's a flawed logic as you pointed out, but it's not that unreasonable (heck, even in The Wire you could see that the life of a cop wasn't particularly suited for a family life).
Doesn't the whole reverse flash back to life thing seem a little counter-productive? The white light gives him back his life for essentially bringing flash back to life. But how is reverse flash going to spend his new life? By trying to kill the flash! What the hell???
I didn't read the OMIT issue, just the scans here, and you know what?...I don't mind what MJ says. She's just saying it from her perspective, because a Marvel character says it doesn't make it global gospel, but I can see that almost making sense from one woman's stand point. She loves Peter more than the idea of kids. She's not avoiding marriage to stay sterile, she's avoiding marriage because it's completely unnecessary to her new world view. Was it 'necessary' for marriage to occur to breed? Of course not, not scientifically anyway, but many women have that view point. You get married, then you have kids, and so MJ is eschewing that life path. She's happy to just be in love because that's ultimately the most important thing (and many forget that sometimes). I'll stand up and say it's actually not that bad.
stand up ? calm down its a comic no one is going to attack your views
Ha, of course, what was I thinking that someone might attack another comic fan's views on the internet. Sorry, mate, my head got away from me there and I forgot where I was.
Seriously, though, stand up is just a turn of phrase, I didn't actually leave my seat to say what I had to say. I was more saying I'll go against the common view, at this time. Thanks for showing me no one would attack my views, or tell me to calm down in expressing them. Cheers :)
@Space Jawa - No, the Spider-Girl thing wasnt in the issue. I was making a joke with an out of context panel that seemed like it was tailor made for this storyline.
It has become clear to me now that Joe Quesada is nothing but a giant dick. The first issue of this whole OMIT story arc he is writing made clear that this is basically giving one, great big, giant f@#! you to all the Spider-Man fans displeased with One More Day.
But now he has decided to go further by dragging the the Spider-Girl of MC2 universe into this sh@! storm, thus giving a major f@&! you to the fans of this character whose loyalty has brought back the character from cancellation multiple times, and whose story is going to end permanantly in the next couple of months to make room for Arana to get the name and book in the 616 universe.
I can understand if you want to tell a story a certain way and don't worry much about upset fans, but Quesada seems determined to go out of his way to tell all the fans unhappy with vision for the Spider-Man universe that "I'm in charge, so all of you can just go to hell!!"
Who does Joe Quesada think he is?
I have to agree, somewhere around FabNic taking over Red Robin, I've REALLY started to take a liking to Damian as a character, I don't know if he's become less annopying or just more caustic with his spoiled younger sibling attitude, but he really does have some great lines againts Tim and Steph
For those who are wondering, the panel with Spider-Girl in it is from SPIDER-GIRL #81.
Wow! What a conservative view about marriage. It's even worse that it's coming from MJ, who has always been kind of liberal. I guess that by her point of view, May and JJSr shouldn't have married either, since they are too old to have children.
Retconning baby May out of existence is also kinda stupid, but I loathe Spider Girl so much that I can't say I'm unhappy with it.
Brightest Day: Didn't really followed the comics, but I already like the white ring and the way he is being a dick with the characters. Hey, your mission is to launch a boomrang! And you, you have to catch it!
Are the caterpillars from Secret Warriors still relevant? I wanted to buy the trade because I'm a sucker for new characters, but if this turns out to be a 90% Nick Fury book, I'll pass my way.
Shadowland: Colleen, Misty, Shang Shi... Something is missing in this pannel full of HoH characters. Oh, yeah, the new and awesome Tarantula, but no way a writer would use a recent character he didn't create.
@mugiwara - Secret Warriors is primarily about Nick Fury and Hydra. Personally, I love that aspect of it. The caterpillars are mostly side characters, but have been building up towards bigger parts throughout the series. There have been two other caterpillar teams introduced as well.
Re: Tarantula - she went into a coma or something after that Brood fight didnt she? She hasn't appeared since then, so i don't think you can fault Diggle for not using her.
Quesada has managed to make the whole omd/bnd/omit thing seem even worse than it did in the first place. They are just fictional characters, and even moreso, they are just trademarked images, but bad writing, bad plotting, a bad concept, and some of the most piss poor art I've ever seen from Quesada really damages the character far more than the clone saga ever did.
Bendis has NEVER had any real concern for anyone else's storylines. Ever since the company wide stuff started, his stuff has blatantly contridicted everyone else's work.
REBELS and GLC are both being written by Tony Bedard, so the Lobo thing was no surprise.
SHIELD 3 was definitely the weakest issue so far. It really dropped the cohesion the first two issues. I enjoyed it, but it was a bit of a mess, both writing and artwise. Also, Isaac Newton as ancient super-villian and murderer of Galileo?
"Who does Joe Quesada think he is?"
The editor in chief of Marvel comics who has the approval and support of the people in charge of the company. As much as people bitch on the internet about that, until he does something horrible that catches actual mainstream attention, he won't be going anywhere since no one who isn't already reading the comics has no idea or interest in what's going on them. Same with Didio and Johns over at DC.
As for Bendis ignoring other people's stories, why is that a bad thing? Why should a writer be shackled to 20 year old stories or stories he's not writing? I believe it was Marv Wolfman, and I could wrong on that, said, and I'm paraphrasing/mangled the quote here, "continuity means your worst writer has as much influence as your best writer." Good stories* first, continuity, and all that other stuff second, no matter what.
*The definition what constitutes a good story being subject to personal opinion, yadda yadda yadda.
Is Quesada still referencing himself in drawing Peter?
Eric, weren't you the one that didn't like Hickman's reveal of SHIELD being a part of Hydra because it was rewriting too much of past history? I'm curious as why you think that's bad and why Wolfman's quote about not being shackled to continuity was valid.
I'm really enjoying Red Robin these days. Yost really didn't cut it with me (it felt like he was forced to hide why Tim believed Bruce was alive, and that really hindered the story) but Fabian has really brought great energy to the title.
@Eric - While I will readily admit to being a continuity nut, I am not so fanatical as to be incapable of appreciating a good change in history. In the case of Bendis (and others of course), I feel that he sometimes contradicts *recent* history without providing the requisite payoff in story. In the case of Avengers Prime #2, we're talking about a story that is taking place in Thor RIGHT NOW (and during JMS's recent run). This isn't 20 year old continuity. This is 20 day old continuity. That strikes me as a noteworthy distinction in this case.
Continuity should yield to excellent stories. But, the Marvel universe is ONE BIG STORY in a real sense. When the story contradicts itself within a short period of time, the story is harmed. When the story contradicts itself over 10 years, the harm is clearly lessened, as you say.
Jank - That is an issue of characterization, not continuity. My issue wasn't so much that Hydra was secretly controlling SHIELD but that they have been portrayed as so inept over the years that it seemed absurd to me that they could do so. Hickman wasn't violating any story in particular but rather the accrued characterization of Hydra generally being rather inept. Had Hickman spent more time building up Hydra before the reveal I might not have a problem with it.
Aaron K - "But, the Marvel universe is ONE BIG STORY in a real sense."
Not really. According to the first issue of Brand New Day, Spider-Man hasn't been seen for about 100 days because of the SHRA but, if you do a timeline between New Avengers #27 and Secret Invasion #1, there is no way you could get a 100+ days out of it. Bendis's post Civil War stories in New and Mighty Avengers maybe add up to two months, being generous, and there isn't a lot of room to expand them beyond that since all of the events happen in quick succession. Add in all of the other post-CW, pre-SI stories and you have, putting it lightly, a clusterf$%& of a timeline. And that's not even taking the X-Men into account.
"This isn't 20 year old continuity. This is 20 day old continuity. That strikes me as a noteworthy distinction in this case."
These shared universe stories are never going to fit into a cohesive whole and the more titles you add the bigger the problem gets. Trying to make any kind of sense out all the MU titles is ultimate futile because editors will never be able to micromanage them in a way that all fits together. There are too many moving pieces for that.
At their best, shared universes provide a tapestry or jumping off for a writer to set their story in. They aren't any kind rigid structure that provide a clear outline of what happened and when. The more rigid you try to make them the less sense they are going to make because, as said above, their is too much to manage, even back during Marvel's Silver Age high point.
Just wanted to add really quick that Hela is also currently appearing in X-Factor as well. I don't know why all writers suddenly decided that they wanted to use her in their stories.
SHIELD 3 was awesome! Why didn't you guys like it? Finally the incoherence from the first two issues make sense, now you can see the big picture. It's about shaping the fate of humanity. A faction led by Newton thinks the world will finish in 2060 (this actually happened, but Newton used biblical numerology to come to this conclusion) while the original intent of SHIELD was to build humanity towards eternity, and daVinci is coming to set them up straight. Oh, and Leonid is Newton's bastard son with the deviant (the evidence is in Leonid's lost memories found in issue 2 where he remembers being taken by the light man and he sees the book with no words, because Newton stole the words). Things are shaping up.
Here we go again. Look, continuity is important. It comes with any serialized fiction. Otherwise, stuff would be like the Looney Tunes, where characters can be shown to go to hell and then be back to normal next time without any explanation.
I am with you on Damien. It's a tribute to DC's staff - especially Morrison - that someone who everyone found grating has grown in unexpected ways. It gives me hope for the rest of DC's poorly used or poorly conceived characters.
"Look, continuity is important. It comes with any serialized fiction"
Yes, for something like Invincible, Naruto, and Fables which are one story under the control of one writer and will, presumably, end at some point, just like any other kind of normal serialized fiction. None of that applies to either Marvel or DC.
How many writers have contributed to how many decades worth of stories over how many thousands upon thousands of comics? And you expect that you fit together much less make any kind of sense? That. Is. Insane.
Insane is 2 high profile, top 10 selling comics coming out around the same time from the same publisher featuring the same character and that same character not acting anything remotely close to the same way in both titles when both titles take place in the exact same timeframe and are epilogues to a major event like Siege. That. Is. Insane.
Maybe Bendis wrote Prime before the Loki one-shot since Marvel clearly doesn't think Davis can do a monthly title and it got too far along in production for Marvel to think about changing since doing so would cause massive delays? Maybe the fact that the Loki one-shot didn't originally have creative meant that it was too late to be taken into account by the post Siege books? Maybe it happened because Brevoort doesn't edit Thor but edits 10 to 20 other comics in a given month not to mention any other job responsibilities he has and it was an oversight? There are plenty of rational and reasonable explanations as to why it happened.
Forgot to add - Putting out around 70-80 comics a month takes a lot of work and things are going to be missed. It's human nature. Not to mention, it's probably better for Marvel to have a new book out every month and get the larger picture right-ish rather than possibly delaying a book to get all of the details right and mess up their forward momentum.
the way I heard it Fury didn't actually loose his eye the sight in one eye was diminished with age he has about 10% vision left in that eye
Eric - I guess it boils down to HOW Marvel wants to anger its fans: either by writing contradicting stories (like with Hela) or by getting it right and delaying a work. I buy comics regardless on when they come out, so I want them to get it right. Is that so hard a request?
I also don't like how your implications that we are stupid people if we care for such things as continuity.
My last statement would've been better served if I handn't typed "how."
"Is that so hard a request?"
Given the sheer number of comics Marvel produces with what is probably a limited staff trying to put out on a monthly schedule, I'd say yes.
"I also don't like how your implications that we are stupid people if we care for such things as continuity."
I don't think people are stupid for caring about continuity, I just don't get it. Continuity has nothing to do with whether or not a story is good on any level. What does Hela's status quo is in Avengers Prime has nothing to do with the quality of the story Bendis is telling. You may not like it because of that, which is fine, but that doesn't make it inherently bad. For example, I don't care for horror stories but that doesn't mean there aren't any good ones out there simply because I don't like the genre. Same principle - it's just something you don't want to read because of something is unconnected with it's quality.
The other way you can argue for continuity is the whole serialized fiction aspect. Of course, all successful serialized fiction has a beginning, middle and an end. Marvel, and DC, superhero comics only have one of those, a beginning. There is no middle and no end since they never plan on ending them. Therefore, continuity is simply a character's status quo and not much else.
For example, if continuity where part of whether or not story is considered good, the Morrison's New X-Men run wouldn't be consider good because it's basically out of continuity at this point given that Marvel's either ignored or rolled back all of the major changes he made yet it is consider the high point of the franchise for at least a decade of time, if not more. Same with any other number of stories. Superman: Birthright is no longer in continuity yet that doesn't make it automatically bad since it is no longer part of Superman's current fictional history.
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