Poster Above You Discussion Thread

Just read DC Special Series #11, featuring three generations of Flash. The Jay Garrick vs. Johnny Quick fight was a highlight, but Wally’s high school graduation was heartwarming. And his decision to leave Kid Flash behind as he goes to college really felt like a precursor to TV’s Young Justice.

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Read- or should I say, re-read- Birds of Prey #16-17. Some great Joker vs. Oracle moments. But Dixon’s gotta keep reminding you of his politics, huh? Those weak liberals with their limp wristed military policies, and so on.

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I realized immediately after I posted that that you would probably have already read those issues and went back to being wracked with indecision.

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Oh boy, I just read a thing.

Somebody assigned any and everything Grendel to me, an indy franchise. Luckily, I buy out people’s comic collections at times and have a big pile of assorted randomness which included Grendel: War Child, a collection of a ten issue series set almost towards the end of the Grendel timeline meaning this was probably a horrible place to start, but it’s the only complete Grendel story I had.

From what I gather from some brief research, the Grendel franchise started off as a sort of pulpy street level antihero, but as the series continued forward, the Grendel mantle passed from character to character and evolved into a bigger concept so that by the time we get to this current series, Grendel is like a dynasty that control the entire world a couple hundred years in the future under the reign of the Grendel-Khan. When the story picks up, the Grendel-Khan is dead and the Grendel-Khan’s scheming wife has kept the Grendel-Khan’s children in isolation so that she can control them and the kingdom. Grendel-Khan’s son, the heir, is abducted by a mysterious character in a Grendel costume which we eventually discover is called Grendel-Prime, and the series revolved around Grendel Prime keeping the heir away from the Grendel-Khan’s wife who now controls the world.

It was weird. The author in the foreword said he just threw everything at the wall. Zombies, swamp creatures, vampires, super weapons and cyborgs? They are all here, man. It’s hard to critique because (very minor spoilers) 70% of the book is nothing more than Grendel-Prime wrecking fools that try to stop him and reacquire the child. There’s barely any dialogue from him. No internal monologue that I remember. Just carnage. You see some political manipulations from the Grendel-Khan’s wife and support staff and you see the heir’s step-sister try to deal with her isolation, and that’s most of the book. After you get to the half-way point, the series finally starts getting some small wrinkles to it that change things up a tiny bit, and the final issue which is twice as long goes in a completely new direction, but it’s a book with a very narrow focus.

So was it good? Yeah. It might sound like I hated it, but it’s kind of like Mad Max Fury Road with a simple concept that’s executed very well. The only straight up criticism I have of it is that though I quite enjoyed the art as a whole, it had a handful of moments where I couldn’t figure out what happened. I think it needed another panel or two to clarify the action in those spots.

I didn’t really love it, though. It feels as if there should have been a deeper layer to the story. At times I felt like the story was trying to communicate something about power or politics, but I can’t say I could really tell what message I was supposed to have received or if there was really anything there at all.

That’s about it. I’d read more of it, but I’d say I’m a pretty casual fan.

Just finished Animal man (2019) #1-#11. I had been eyeing this series for some time now and I can say I’m glad I’ve finally given it a chance. The series is as surreal as it is gory and I am not upset about it. I love learning more about The Red, The Green, and The Rot. I feel more educated on the subject and feel like I will watch “Swamp Thing” with a different mindset (I really just want an excuse to binge watch the series again so I don’t feel so bad about it). I fully plan on continuing and completing the series while it’s available, I can’t just leave on such a cliff hanger! Thanks @HubCityQuestion for another good assignment.

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whoops mean Animal Man (2016*)

It’s actually Animal Man (2011) — but I’m glad you enjoyed it! It’s a really solid run if you want to keep reading.

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:man_facepalming: ya saw I goofed twice but couldn’t bring myself to correct it a third​:face_with_hand_over_mouth:

I’m going to hate when I reach the end. Anything relating to or also features the JLD I get so immersed into. I am enamoured with each member and eat everything they do up🖤 I wish Animal Man was more involved with the League but perhaps I’ll find out why he’s not…

I finally got around to reading Doom Patrol (2016) #1. Now I finally see where the TV show gets its craziness from. It was bizarre but intriguing and I’m curious to see what happens next.

Convergence New Teen Titans was old-fashioned, but enjoyable. Obviously, the art was only okay (not George Perez, unfortunately :cry:), but it was fun, and a walk down memory lane, for sure (NTT was one of the first collections of comics I bought). For people who like NTT but are okay with art that won’t completely satisfy that GP itch, it’s an easy recommendation from me. Convergence Shazam is mandatory reading, however.

Justice League: Darkseid War: Green Lantern

It was okay. I kind of feel like leaving it there, but I guess I’ll stay true to form and blabber on until everyone stops reading.

I haven’t read Darkseid War or much Green Lantern, so this book was probably not written for me. Still, I think got the gist of it and it was just fine or possibly a little less than fine.

Spoilers

The main level of the story boiled down to the Green Lantern Corps is in desperate need of help, Hal Jordan gets ridiculously OP god powers and fixes everything then gives up god powers. End story. The deeper level has a scene of Hal comforting himself by time traveling to see himself after his father died. This is pretty interesting except Tom King writes it in such a way that you aren’t supposed to know it’s adult Hal talking to child Hal when the issue starts and that when Hal talks about how God is limited in what he can do you think he means the traditional view of God and then King later reveals that the man talking is adult Hal with god-like powers and that he’s really talking about his own limitations. The problem is, you can clearly see the ostensibly anonymous adult talking to child Hal is wearing adult Hal’s classic brown leather jacket, so the thrill of the reveal isn’t really there and it’s made worse when King repeats a couple pages going over the same dialogue. Yeah, I got it the first time comic. It does do some somewhat interesting philosophical work even if I don’t think it’s sound philosophy, I credit it exploring an idea.

It’s fine.

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@BatWatch
I don’t know if I’m just reading the issue through rose-colored lenses, but I rather enjoyed it. Perhaps it was Shaner’s art (which was gorgeous as always), but I thought it was pretty good. Also, the jacket thing was the reveal, unless I read that wrong. Anyway, glad you got some enjoyment out of it, even if you didn’t love it.

I didn’t mind reading it. Unless I’m remembering it wrong, you could see the jacket from the first scene in the past. Just the bottom, but that was enough for me. Maybe it wasn’t revealed then and I just assumed it was Hal since I knew he was getting God-like powers, so it tracked? I’m not up-to-speed on then Justice League and Green Lantern happenings and I’m sure that would have made it more meaningful, but yeah, it just didn’t quite come together for me.

I think it was the repetition of the couple pages and dialogue that moved if from pretty good to just fine for me. It’s like, “I got it.” It’s spelled out enough.

Looking forward to Gotham by Gaslight. I have heard of it, but if I’ve read any, it was very little. Feel like I did buy a couple of issues real cheap, but I had no idea what was happening.

I’m disappointed these threads don’t get used more. I think they are really fun. Guess people don’t read their assigned stuff too quickly.

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@BatWatch
Yeah, I will admit the repetition is annoying. Also, it’s Gotham by Midnight. Gotham by Gaslight is something else. It’s great, too.

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I liked what they did with Blue Devil during underworld unleashed but those first 6 of his 80’s series were a little too dated for me.

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I have read Batman Family #3 many times. The first story predates JURASSIC Park by Michael Crichton by a good 17 years. The ending-- where Dick and Babs call each out on their secret identities is one of those moments that made a small child love DC more than Marvel. Challenge of the Batwoman is a good story, but really hammers home how poorly women were treated in the past in literature of the fantastic. The Challenge of the Kiteman is high in entertainment value. And then… we have the Batman of the Future. It is possible for that same small child to love the imagination on display, and how much story actually gets told in such a short space. And it is possible to hate that same story because its bad science and total lack of the actual Batman and Robin can really male your Brane```
umm, I mean brain hurt. And my feelings have not changed about Brane and his adventures in all this time.

Batman Family is one of those books that quietly changed the business. It sold, you see-- often far better than Detective Comics, Issue 1 had been scheduled as an issue of 1st Issue Special-- and that comic series got cancelled for being kind of dumb. So the story got published as Batman Family with no real plan-- that’s what #2 is all reprints. It ran for 20 issues, and then got sacrificed in the DC Implosion to keep 'Tec alive.

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I read Resurrection Man #1. I’ve read (and really enjoyed) the New 52 series, but this was not as good as that. The art was fine, but I wasn’t a big fan. Sometimes Guice seemed like he didn’t know how to do a proper sequence and so it was hard to tell what was going on for a second. Also, the fridging of Irma was not wonderful, and made me cringe a little. The concept of the Resurrection Man is genius, however. It was a very Aztek (a series I recommended on this thread a while back) situation of pros and cons, averaging out to a pro. Overall, not a waste of time, I did read it and like it, but I don’t think I’m going to continue.

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@PTLooker

I can understand that.

I remember enjoying Blue Devil as a kind of unique wacky sitcom. I really liked the premise of someone who was my mystically drawn to the strange and ended up in such nonsensical situations. I do recall it having that overly verbose style common at the time. It also seems like the beginning may have started a little rough, but I couldn’t recall a better starting point.

To each their own.

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Gotham by Midnight 1-5

Great story. Really enjoyed it. Thank you whichever of my fellow Bat Brethren assigned it to me. I don’t recall which. There are too many Bat-People on this site…I looked it up. Batwing. Thank you, Batwing.

As Batwing told me, Gotham by Midnight is a hidden gem. The story focuses on a Gotham police task force that works overnights dealing with supernatural crimes. The series reads as a fast-paced horror crime procedural. All the protagonists have their own tie to the mystical lead by Jim Corrigan, more commonly known as the host of the Spectre. Ben Templesmith does the art, and his exaggerated yet minimalistic style usually hits the perfect mix of horrific and mysterious revealing just enough to revolt you.

It’s not perfect. The first few issues do a great job of developing the cast while doing enjoyable smaller adventures, but the story then takes the turn towards a much more epic storyline, and though I still enjoyed it a lot, I felt the story missed an opportunity by putting characters that were still being developed in such dire stakes. I would have preferred if the story had taken more time developing the players and the threats before cranking things up to eleven. I also have to see that though Templesmith’s art adds a ton of value, it is occasionally so vague that it’s hard to make out exactly what was supposed to have happened, and these occasional moments annoyed me.

Overall, quite great.

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Ah, I didn’t know there was a sister thread. Starman #0 was a pretty good reboot issue for the long-running superhero persona. James Robinson’s script could have worked just about as well in live-action, and I could easily see it as a movie hanging out in the VHS aisle beside The Shadow and Darkman in the 90s.

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