The COMICS MONTHLY MONDAY THREAD

[ljacone]

[RHagen]

[NewFun#6]

Castle did blow up a shitload of z-listers in some fairly recent book I read not too long ago. Punisher War Journal v2, maybe? I think it mighta been at the Stilt Man's funeral. Shit, I can't remember.

[Fanboyimus Prime]

[Arthur Ratnik]

[panpan23]

HOLY SHIT I HAD THAT BIRTHDAY RECORD!!!!

Now to listen to the rest of the episode.

Happy Birthday, Scott.

[NewFun#6]

[Hair-Metal Hero]

OK, I'm only partway through the show, but I feel your pain when it comes to Superman. I don't want dark superman either. The darkest he's ever gotten that I like was on the Animated Series after Darkseid pulled that mindjob on him and those two threw down on Apokolips, and the force of the confrontation bled the color from Supes' costume. I think the dynamic in the Timmverse of those two really allowed for Superman to get a little meaner, but only because of the history those two had, and Supes was pretty justified in his anger.
Superman really needs to be the beacon of humanity, he wears the bright colors for a reason, he's not Batman or the Punisher, he doesn't avoid the light, he is the light.

[NewFun#6]

[Hair-Metal Hero]

I just think that what may be killing part of that piece of Superman is the studios and the writers not wanting to play with the heavily Judeo-Christian allegory. Its a simple line to draw comparisons from Moses or Christ to Kal-El, which is a shame. They aren't going to want to play with the zaniness of the Silver-Age stories either, again, a shame, as there is tons of story potential there as well. If we aren't going to get that, then Superman still needs to be a Science Fiction character at heart, with big ideas and aliens and robots, daring do and such. The last thing I want to see is a Superman film, where Clark Kent is the focus, skulking around back alleys looking for leads on a story about a hideous rapist or some such crap.

[ljacone]

[Arthur Ratnik]

[Hair-Metal Hero]

Hey, My mom thinks I'm cool! And who needs chicks when you have an assortment of Fleshlights to choose from(Yes, I actually own two, if you have questions, send me a PM).

Seriously though, I'm only 31, and I outgrew the DARK phase a long time ago, if I even had one.
Superman, Wonder Woman, Spidey, Captain America and some others can only veer so much into edgy before they lose what they are at the core.

And I really want to read that Punisher Spring Kitty Special.

[Joe Anthrax]

[panpan23]

[Joe Anthrax]

[rd666]

Greetings all -

Long time listener/lurker and semi-regular emailer - been registered on this bitch for 6 months, so I figured I might as well join the fray...

Just finished the latest comic show - big fun as always!

I enjoy that you guys are opinionated and in my exact demo (Class of '86 Motherfuckers!) so we are like minded on many things and have seen the pop culture world through the same filters -

I've always had a soft spot for Superman as a character - The Icon - I agree 100% with the assessment that the vast majority of writers have no fucking idea what to do with him.

I consider him and Captain America to be two sides of the same coin - the 'Ultimate American/Idealized Virtuous Man' -

One is homegrown and one is the 'Ultimate Immigrant' and both of them have way too many duds in the canon - but when someone 'gets it' it fucking rocks giant balls.

Q: What is cooler than when the chips are down and all Hell has broken the fuck loose and Cap or Superman (JLA/Avengers goosebump moment, anyone?) picks up Thor's fucking hammer and takes care of business?
A: Nothing.

Superman is the embodiment of purity of heart - Absolute Power - absolutely uncorrupted.
An alien being with Godlike power who was made more human than most real humans by the Kents.
He does the right thing because he can. Because he was raised believing, if you can - you SHOULD.
It really goes no deeper than that.

Cap is the other side of the equation - the embodiment of courage the indomitable human spirit.
No special powers or abilities - only his body and mind and most of all heart.
The living embodiment of the American Dream and that one man can make a difference.

With no inherent flaws or quirks to easily exploit for storytelling purposes, it's no accident that in the wrong hands, these two can seem like whitebread cardboard cutouts in spandex.

I mean, fuck, of course Batman is crazier than a rat in a plugged up shithouse - how hard is it to crank out 'edge of madness' Bat-Stories? (I still love him though)
And we all know Peter Parker is a guilt ridden, pussified, neurotic nerd at heart - not too hard to cook up a dilemma every 30 days there...(Mad love for Spidey since '74)

But both Captain America and Superman suffer from the same curse - in a world of anti/gritty/dark/half-assed 'heroes' - they are really the only two that have always been worthy.

Looking forward to the next Vault! A#1 motherfuckers!

PS: Hey Chris, you get on Cinemageddon yet? Do that shit!

[Dan North]

I've got an idea for get Chris to read a goddamn superhero book: Batman Year One. It's my second favorite comic book ever and I think you might enjoy.

I also have a suggestion for the top five: your top five favorite comic stories EVER.

[rd666]

Oh, and while I am a fan of the character concept, I haven't followed Supes regularly at all since the 70s as a wee lad and only have a few dozen random 70s & 80s Superman titles myself - but I do have access to all the issues...elsewhere...

So if you guys did some kind of 'Essential Reading' lists of runs or stories that would be kickass - with 2000+ stories, that's a shitload to blindly wade into.

[TheDLA]

Thanks for turning me on to The Walking Dead. Man it's a dark book, I normally don't really like my "entertainment" that dark but it is compelling storytelling. I couldn't help myself and blew through the whole run in a week and started picking up current issues. I will miss the suspense of not knowing what is coming next - your recaps are just like a good audiobook. I am trapped in a cubicle 9 hours a day with a 40 minute drive stuck on each end and TTF helps the day go by. Thanks for all of the free entertainment.