I'm not really up to date on comics - I've only just read Planet Hulk, which was much better than I was expecting it to be. I'm reading through Knightfall on and off at the moment as well, which is pretty good so far. And a friend got me the first three volumes of Transmetropolitan for Christmas, which are fucking awesome.

Not reading much else comicy at the moment, but I flick through random issues as and when I see them.

Recommendations not seen so far in the thread:

Preacher - a vampire, a superpowered priest and a hitwoman go on a fucked up roadtrip across America (and France, briefly) to bring God to account for his crimes against humanity.
Superior - a 12 year old with MS is transformed into Superior (basically Superman). He saves the world. Then trouble starts.

 

The last I read was the Blackest Night Green Lantern arc, which I thought was pretty good in terms of plot and artwork. I'm pretty much only into DC and sometimes Xmen so I doubt I can contribute much else.

 

A trailer for a recent event in Power Rangers comics by BOOM! Studios.

Power Rangers Shattered Grid Trailer.

In short, a version of Tommy Oliver called Lord Drakkon from a world where he didn't become good decides to conquer other realities and it's up to many different teams of Rangers to team up and fighting him.

It's going to happen in 25th issue, but I recommend to read the series from the beginning because it's really good.

In a way it's a really good fanfic that starts when Tommy just switched sides, but with the general setting updated to modern times. Because the comic doesn't have to worry about a budged, the Rangers are a lot more global in their battles against Rita. The characters, including villains, are explored a lot more than in a show. For example Finster who becomes a very dangerous opponent for Rangers.

 

So what are people's thoughts on DC's Rebirth?

 

Eh. Too much nostalgia-baiting, not enough fresh ideas. Almost all good runs either already ended or will end up soon.

 

My opinion as well.

I really hated the N52, but Rebirth is just trying to have its cake and eat it too.

Personally think they should have just reset the Universe back to right before the N52.

I do wonder how much of it is just DC lacking good writers atm though.

That said, I'm not really sure how you can have fresh ideas until you accept that characters have to grow and move on. You can't keep Batman as a young, single, hero forever. Let the older generation grow, die, and move on.

The N52 should have been done like Ultimate Marvel. A new line of comics while still keeping the original.

Just random thoughts...

 

Superman being Superdad was pretty great for a while but then they flat out ran out of ideas. Dark Knight Metal is terrible.

Wildstorm off to the side is great though

 

I disagree, while there were many, many problems with New 52, they did some things right and the state before Flashpoint was a complete mess. Of course, it was a mess because of bad editorial, and then the same bad editorial was in charge of planning the reboot, with the results we've seen.

With Rebirth, they should've gone Zero Hour/Infinity Crisis route and have one point where the history is changed and not the mess we have now, where they changed continuity piece by piece.

A lot, though there is a lot of badly assigning people (see King of Batman for example). On the other hand, they should do more to get new good writers, Marvel managed to snatch some talented people recently. Editorial is doing a bad work in general though.

The saddest thing is that what was happening until Silver Age nostalgiatards came and started resetting stuff left and right.

Well, Earth One is DC's Ultimate.

I wanted to defend some elements, but then I've read the final issue. Ugh.

 

What elements in particular? I only read the lead up and the main series and it was complete dreck to me

 

What were your favourite runs of the last ten years?

I've mostly stuck to Spider-Man and Batman. I really enjoyed the bulk of Morrison's run and a decent enough chunk of Snyder's, in the Batman side of things. I wasn't too impressed with Death of the Family, though I had fun reading it. There's that scene were Joker's like "Another pretty flower" that I liked. Very creepy. Some of the Morrison arcs were bit too grand for my tastes, but he really went big. I don't think I read Batman, Inc or Leviathan. The last time I read any Batman was around the end of Jim Gordon's stint as Batman.

As for Spider-Man, Ultimate turned into a hot mess around '08 or '09 and it never really recovered. In Amazing Spider-Man, I liked Big Time and there was another run or two after Brand New Day that wasn't total crap, but I got tired of Dan Slott's shit after a while. Spock was OK and filled with cringe. Spider-Verse was flat out disappointing.

As you can see, I'm not super into DC and Marvel, and having read the last few posts, it doesn't look like things have gotten a lot better. If anything, things appear to have gotten more frustrating. Having said that, if you guys have any recommendations, I'm all ears. :-]

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In the last few years, I've also really enjoyed Transmetropolitan, Asterios Polyp and Y: The Last Man.

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Picked up Blacksad and powered through that baby real quickly. It's not amazeballs, and if anything, is rather down to earth. But it does what it sets out to do very well. It's charming, intriguing and fast paced. The artwork is lovely and I love the detail on the clothes. Cool jackets and suits. Nice social commentary as well. It reminded me a lot of Wolf Among Us (the Telltale game). Highly enjoyable.

 

TIm Drake was my Robin.

So...I really enjoyed the Red Robin series. Seeing him grow beyond the Robin mask and the dichotomy of being so similar to Bruce but different at the same time was awesome.

 

@Arthellion

I actually kinda liked edge-lord!Todd when he came back as Red Hood. The animated film with Neil Patrick Harris as Dick was fun too, although my fav was Year One. Ah that reminds me, I did read a bit of Nightwing (where he's a secret agent or sth?) but lost interest a while after.

I'll give the first arc of Red Robin a go and see if I like it.

I also read some of the Terry McGinnis ones, but the quality really varied there. I like the idea of him as a Batman Beyond in that he's not doing this for a reason bigger than himself. He's not fighting for some ideal. He's just trying to do the right thing for the hell of it. I think in the old cartoon, he was just a bit of a hooligan who decided to be more responsible and stole Bruce's suit? But they changed his backstory so many times that I don't even know anymore.

 

Red Robin kinda starts off in a Dark Place. It’s after Battle for the Cowl.

Bruce is “dead.”
Dick is Batman and Damian is Robin. Tim has basically lost his best friend (Connor), girlfriend (Stephanie), biological and adopted father’s, and even his superhero role to someone he considers unworthy.

It’s a solid series and even if I hate the N52 for making it end, it does have a solid ending imo

 

Sometimes it managed to pull out the "dumb fun action" aspect and crazy twists pretty well. Starro or "it's the fifty-third planet". I enjoyed how it reused some old lore, like the pendant that Barbatos had from Shaman playing into the whole "I always watched over you". But in the end it was too dumb, too try-hard meta, too rushed and with a completely anticlimactic ending.

From "recent" stuff? Anything Ewing on Marvel's side. Duggan's Deadpool, Uncanny Avengers and GotG. Cates' Thanos and Doctor Strange. Ahmed's Black Bolt. Priest's Deathstroke. Yang's New Super-Man (and the Justice League of China).

I liked it too, but it veered too hard into Tim-wank. And I still think that Red Robin was a mistake as far as pseudonyms go.

 

I agree on Red Robin b being a terrible name. I didn’t see it as much as Tim Wank. It’s not more that than any of the other boy’s solos could be.

If you want Tim Wank Read Tynion’s current Detective run. Its terrible and not even in a way that’s true to the character.

Red Robin highlighted Tim’s intelligence as tactical, but they’ve basically turned him into Donatello.

 

Oh, come on. It was basically batgod formula applied to Tim. He became master of preptime who outsmarted everyone and was a better detective than Bruce.

I'm actually reading it, though the last time I've read it Tim just got back, so it's hard for me to fully judge how he handles this character. He did a good job with Cass, Basil, Luke and Jean-Paul, but his Steph was pretty bad. Kate was obviously set to be unlikeable, so I'm sort of torn if the fact that she is is a success or a failure as it proves lack of a better idea regarding the character.

 

I'd argue that he'd been built up to that point. It wasn't as if he was a new character who suddenly was better at everything.

In a vacuum, I could easily see it as wank...but I honestly read it as the culmination of his years as Robin. It had been hinted at for years that Tim was potentially smarter than Bruce. Red Robin saw the culmination of that potential. Tim would never be able to match Bruce physically or in other areas, but mentally it was the result of growth. Right prior to Red Robin he got his butt kicked by Todd and near the end of the series Ras Al Ghul wiped the floor with him in a physical fight which shows his weaknesses.

Were their certain moments that were a bit much? (Thinking beating shiva with paralytic chocolate)...Yeah just a bit. But as a whole it was well done.

Imagine if you had Bruce receiving the same training Dick/Tim/Jason had received from an early age and I think its safe to say he would have been at Tim's level at that age.

Its no worse than Todd one shotting Shiva in one of his recent comics.

 

Missed that reply.

He wasn't a new character, but considering his earlier Robin ongoing - he was suddenly better at everything.

But what I came to comment here is the topic of Metal again. I'm doing some chronologising and damn, there is so much build-up that goes nowhere. Bat-squad and JLA were said to be created specifically with Metal in mind. They played no role. The same thing applies to the Red Hood's infiltration of Gotham's criminal underworld. I know that the story is supposed to partially be about Batman's plans failing, but they didn't even fail. They were just outright forgotten despite being used to foreshadow the event.

 

Has anyone read Action Comics #1000: The Return of The Red Pants?

All the stories where just filled with nostalgia and a determined effort to return Superman to the 80's. Some where good but most where meh at best. Tom Kings story was easily the worst for me and I've taken it as fanfiction.

The reveal at the end of Bendis was groan worthy at best.

Still hate those red pants.

 

Anyone able to recommend a drop in point for Spider-Man? Read up to the end of the Ultimate universe and Spider-Verse then fell off the wagon.