The COMICS MONTHLY MONDAY THREAD

[Joe Anthrax]

I, for one, think Chris should be required to give every "Get Chris To Read A Goddamn Superhero Comic" segment in the form of a fifth grade oral (snicker) report. I'm not certain if the uncomfortable pauses were intentional or not, but they made the reading perfect. Kudos! I haven't laughed that hard in far too long of a time.

Michael, thank you for reminding me of The Infinity Gauntlet. I remember that being one of the first big crossover events that I was reading in my college comic collecting years. I was only following the X-titles at the time, and this gave me a great overview of the entire Marvel Universe. I'll have to dig that out and re-read it sometime soon. Even though you aren't going through with "Nothin' But the Nineties", I would love to hear a VftL dealing with this series.

The Walking Dead returns...

I too liked the comic book trailers for Cap, Thor, and X-Men First Class. Surprisingly, Cap impressed me most, probably because of Joe Johnston's involvement (I just recently saw The Rocketeer for the first time a few weeks ago, and it was everything a 1940's superhero movie should have been). The retro feel of First Class has me interested, especially Kevin Bacon looking all 60's Hugh Hefner as Sebastian Shaw. Thor I'm kind of lukewarm on, mostly because I'm not familiar with the latest iteration of the character. I remember the old Kirby Thor, where he was actually Donald Blake until he tapped his cane on the ground to become Thor. What happened to that, and what happened to the Shakespearian language that Thor was always speaking (did modern writers just find it too difficult to throw in some class to their funny books)? Plus, WTF is up with DC not releasing anything for Green Lantern...not even a 30 second trailer?!? I think Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Mask of Zorro) can put together an action film that is also really fun, but DC's lack of support during the Super Bowl coupled with Marvel's trailer blitz really have me fearing for the movie...

Joe -- Plus the fact that there still is no listing of a Guy Gardner cameo in the film -- Anthrax

[NewFun#6]

Joe, my friend, I fear it is time for you to face the sad reality that the GL film is gonna be ass. I'm sorry, dude.

[Fanboyimus Prime]

Speaking of John Byrne...is getting Chris to read X-Men the Hidden Years too much to expect?

And possibly the old X-Men trade on Neal Adams that covers that era. I've read it and X-Men the Hidden Years and it's a very interesting look into an underrated era of the X-Men.

Though yeah if you need Wolverine not an era you'd want to explore.

[NewFun#6]

[Hair-Metal Hero]

The biggest problem with Wolverine the past 20 years has been overexposure. Great character with loads of story potential seeing as he has lived for so long, but at this point its pretty much all been done.

I too love movie Wolvie, even though he's about a foot too tall. Him having the relationship he had with Kitty from the comics transposed onto movie Rogue really worked for me, and his personal history stays consitent. When we are introduced to him in the first X-Men film, chugging beer and cage fighting like a wild animal, I said to myself, YES! Its WOLVERINE! I'm rather excited to see what Darren Aronofsky does with his take on Wolverine in the new movie, and with Jackman getting a more weighty physique for it. That being said, I didn't hate Wolverine:Origins, but again, it squandered potential, and I HAAAAAATE Gambit in all of his forms.

[Joe Anthrax]

[NewFun#6]

Not at all. I like Stewart and pretty much detest Guy Gardner.

[Joe Anthrax]

[Joe Anthrax]

Plus, I'm dissappointed you didn't take my Luke replying to Vader line and run with it...

Joe -- Search your feelings, you know it to be true. -- Anthrax

[APLUK]

Really enjoyed this week's show guys. First time I've listened to Comics Monthly Monday as I hadn't read SWAMP THING and had always planned to and I read WALKING DEAD in Hardcovers so I didn't know if you were up to where I was and I didn't want to spoil that either, but this was a jolly good listen.

5 stories/arcs that are better than WATCHMEN:

1. JOHN BYRNE's NEXT MEN. Byrne's best work bar none.
2. PREACHER. Best finite series ever published by an American Comic Book Company
3. Who Took The Super Out Of Superman (Superman 496-499) May be nostalgia talking, but damn this was a great Superman tale from somebody who can write Super hero comics without them being parody's.
4. THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #178 - 200. Intelligent storytelling from J M DeMatteis, wonderful art from Sal Buscema (who I'd always thought as a workmanlike artist until this run) and, in issue 200, one of the best Spider-Man stories ever.
5. MARVELS

I could go on (Brian K Vaughn's run on RUNAWAYS is better than WATCHMEN, so is WALKING DEAD) but I won't. Got to disagree about DC and Marvel being one company. Whilst I would love a SUPERMAN/SPIDER-MAN team up by Busiek and Bagley I'd rather they stay seperate. Competetion is good. Maybe you could do 5 Ways WATCHMEN has ruined superhero comics? Or is that too negative?

Andy
The podcast is here:
http://apleyland.podomatic.com/

Our website is here:
http://www.heykidscomics.webspace.virginmedia.com/

[NewFun#6]

[Hair-Metal Hero]

Preacher is the real deal. Eye popping, violent, irreverant, just damn fine storytelling. A blast to read, and a story where all the characters are more than what they appear at first glance.

Here are some of the stories that I reread usualy once a year, call it my better than Watchmen.

Frank Miller's runs on Daredevil as writer(Elektra storyline, Born Again)
Crisis on Infinte Earths
Preacher
Kraven's Last Hunt
The Dark Knight Returns
The first 50 or so issues of Amazing Spider-Man
Midnight Nation
and so on....

[APLUK]

[Fanboyimus Prime]

Hey Apluk Spectacular Spider-Man #199 was the 3rd or 4th comic I ever owned.

Anyway my picks:

1. Sacred Invasion in Incredible Hercules. The Secret Invasion story arc of the book that frankly took the event, mugged it, and then after drinking a lot of beer did some nasty things to it. A story everyone should read.
2. Thunderbolts 1-75. A bit long I know but everything about the Thunderbolts before the thankfully short lived "Fight Club" thing was awesome.
3.The Return of Barry Allen. Forget about Flash Rebirth, the Return of Barry Allen is far,far superior a story.
4. Stormwatch: Post Human Division 1-12. That book kicked ass. 13 onward was a completely unrelated story and I haven't touched it.
5. Whatever Happened to Truth Justice and the American Way? (Action Comics 775). Superman showing why he's the man and the Elite/the Authority are a flash in the pan. (One that has now faded away too).

[mguy1977]

For the "not real" Cap movie pardon my French but F*ck Germany. I want Cap beating & killing Nazis, fighting (or even killing) Hitler & get some tail at the end of the war. I will not see the Thor movie but I don't care for Thor. Avengers I will see on DVD. I will see Green Lantern & The upcoming Superman movie in theaters when they first come out. I don't want the evil empire (Marvel/Disney) to buy the good company DC Comics (DC/WB/CW/Time Warner). That is just a horrid thought to think of. I still enjoy DC comics by a margin of 10 to 12 titles (DC/Vertigo/the late Wildstorm) to 1.5 titles (FF & Criminal) on a monthly basis. I don't mind a DC/Marvel crossover from time to time. But I sure as hell dont want Axel Alonso breaking up the marriage of Superman/Lois like they did w/ Peter/MJ w/ a deal w/ the devil--SERIOUSLY or worse ideas at Disney HQ. Marvel has great movies but DC has great tv shows & animated films. Marvels has what a few cartoons on a premium network that I cant watch anyway from DisneyXD phfft so no great loss for my part.

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Walking Dead reviews are back.

Keep them coming 2 to 3 issues at time please!!!! PRETTY PLEASE!!!!

Matthew

[ljacone]

"That's Lt. Horwitz. Severe shell shock. Thinks he's Ethel Merman."

[Arthur Ratnik]

[ljacone]

5 stories better than Watchmen? I liked Watchmen the one time I read it and the one time I watched the movie, as background.

-"Stark Wars" (AKA: Armor Wars), Iron Man v.1:no.225-232. The most badass Iron Man story of all time is one of the most underrated Marvel superhero stories of all time. Classic and dang near pitch perfect.

-normalman by Jim Valentino. My favorite comedy comic book of all time.

-The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. The stuff of legend as far as I am concerned. If Disney wants to get into the "comic book movie" market this is the story they should adapt.

-Annihilation. I swallowed the hook on this series from the start and it did not disappoint in any way. Awesome series.

-Beowulf, Dragon Slayer #1-6. Quite possibly the most insanely awesome sword and sorcery comic ever produced. No I am not kidding.

Also, I hate Big Bang Theory. Not only is the show a bunch of hipsters laughing at people like me and my friends, it also, that's right, sucks ass and is not funny. QED.

[NewFun#6]

[ljacone]