Will teach me to use the link index instead of just scrolling.

C'mon please read the whole review before you post.

Suffice to say that even in the “final” battle (final in quotes because the dénouement will be happening in a giant-size special)

Bendis should not be allowed to write ANY magic based character EVER. He's a fucking idiot when it comes to anything that doesn't fit within his personal geek genre staple. Magic is as often about the subtle approach as it is anything flashy. Bendis (like Quesada)has no grasp of the fucking word it seems.

And yet again, you try to insert your own words as some else's in an attempt to belittle them. You, not I, bring up stage magicians in comparison to actual sorcerers (Like Alan Moore for example). Y'know what I love? That you continue to try to delude yourself (and anyone reading the TB) that A) you know jack shit about anything and B) are something other than the weak-egoed homophobic poseur dipshit who actually paid to see Twilight but wasn't even sufficiently lame enough to do it to get laid. (and No, it never gets old bringing that back up.)

But hey, talking out your ass then scrambling to make the sophistry work is part of your 'charm' (such as it were)I suppose.

Fuck me isn't there a board at the Smithsonian for this?

Other than that she's just a dyslexic failsafe for when Superman can't handle the situation.

Seriously, and strife in the DCU could just be handled with her and her garbled talk.

But as much as I like his appearance, I can actually understand why Native Americans would consider it offensive. It is just reducing an ethnic group to a stereotypical appearance and seeing them in only by their ethnicity. It is not as bad as the Super Friends treatment of Apache Chief, Samurai, El Dorado or Black Vulcan (all black heroes have to have "Black" in their name you know), but it is close. It is Affirmative Action in comics at its worse - token diversity instead of seeing the other person as being anything other than his ethnicity.

Jacen Burrows' artwork is too good for Ennis' forgettable script.

Does it apply to all members of that ethnicity/ religion ...whatever...no, that would be short sighted and obtuse.

But there sure as shit is a reason they propogate. What about pride in a cultural heritage? Why does James Proudstar wear the funny little feather? Pride from where his people once came.

This annoys me as much as people who say they won't ever use cliches. Why? There's a reason it became a cliche, it was a damn good turn of phrase.

Perhaps we're the ones at fault for not seeing beyond the ceremonial headress.

I'm not saying you can't make reference to magick in the Marvel Universe, I just don't want to see it throw out it's old Ditko influenced magic system in place of something more realistic.

I love Marvel's Silver and Bronze Age, but I will be the first to point out there is not one Native American character save for Forge who was not shown stereotypically. All American Indian characters are good with a bow, have spiritual powers and are mystics (even Mirage fought the Demon Bar and she's a mutant). Even Forge, the least stereotypical of them, had to be a shaman.

So I could see someone say "Hey, maybe he shouldn't be just another American Indian stereotype."

When the foundation of comics was laid down there wasn't equality or diversity like there is today. There are no far reaching roots for any non-white hero like Superman, Batman, Spider-man, the X-Men. There just aren't any non-white icons that stand up next to the giants.

Please pick up all seven and not just 72. It would be like only watching the last five minutes of the God Father.

Red Skull even makes reference to the absurdity of wearing the costume and it is darkly funny.

The simple fact is that these countries are still predominately white. Now depending on where you live it might skew your perception. Like I live in the NE corridor outside Philly so we have a lot more diversity than the national average, but look at the last US census. Fact is 70%+ of the country is still anglo.

Is the ratio really that far off in the comic universe?

;-)

However, I do think that Power Man and the Falcon do transcend being just token representatives of their race. Their dialogue, attitudes and backgrounds might have been very cliched but I think the writers had an idea for a character that happened to be black, instead of coming up with a the idea they needed a black character and than coming up with an idea.

Last time I'll try being saucy.

Luke Cage actually came out before the entire blackpoitation movement - hell, he came out before Shaft. So I don't think the creators intent was to make a blackpoitation hero but instead make a hard boiled hero from the streets, and if you are making al hero from the streets at that time it would only make sense that he would be black man.

The same with the Falcon. Yes, I think Kirby said he wanted Cap to team up with somebody he never would have teamed up in the Golden Age, but I don't think he just said I will make him an arbitrary black man. I think he thought of a good character who life has been shaped because he is black. Personal Note: I hate that Englehart added the back story that he was once 'Snap' Wilson - pimp. Instead of being a virtuous American who was black, he had to be an ex-pimp and drug dealer whose personality is changed by the Red Skull and the Cosmic Cube. That is just stereotyping at it's worse.

By the way, why isn't there a super-hero in Minnesota? Damn it I want the Golden Gopher and Captain You Betcha defending the damn Twin Cities.

Plus, they revealed he was an ex-gang leader on his first bio if I remember right, so it isn't like it came out of the blue. And he is the one who made the choice to change his life - he didn't need a magic box to alter reality to make him change.

How about now? Are you a Frog now?

Must purchase more eye of newt...

(Apologies to Chris Rock)

By the way, when people say the PC crowd are a bunch of whiners, aren't they whining about them? Just a thought.

| But any man you says ASBAR is the epitome of Batman doesn't really have a leg to stand on.

Nobody's being a crybaby about being PC either. There are just certain abhorred trends from the past that have always stemmed from the ignorance of certain parties, and the false assumptions they make about things they lack the ability to understand.

I guess what I'm saying is that you look like the Marvel fans who screamed 20 years ago when Groo moved to Epic, because it spoiled their oh-so-serious Marvel line. Take a breath, fella, before your lungs implode. They're comic books, and silly ones.

So it's clear, I didn't like Morrison's Batman work, but I will give "Batman and Robin" a look.

And it's "know" not "now." If you're going to berate people the least you could do is present yourself in a manner that at least suggest intelligence. You're getting nowhere fast ranting at people. And what exactly do you mean by Silver Age? Is there a certain style or tone you are referring to? Basically, your whole argument lacks clarity and your writing is atrocious.

Please do not procreate.

Plus, think how many times the heroes are fighting a villain or some robots or are in a death trap and you think "To bad they can't just eat their way out." Well, problem solved.

Hey , if the Imperial Guard was a LSH spoof, did they ever make a Matter-Eater Lad counterpart?

His power has come in very handy. Once he stopped a massive crisis (not Crisis) by eating the Miracle Machine. It drove him insane, but he stopped the crisis!

Does Batman have hard boiled VO like The Dark Knight Returns or Batman Year One? No.

Is he a dark, grim, humorless man like in ASBAR? No.

Is he willing to kill? No.

Does he enjoy inflicting pain and hurting people? No

Does he have no personal life outside of being Batman? No (Miller's Batman is that he is only Batman, here Bruce Wayne is an actual persona and not just a mask - just ask Rachel).

Does he actually have any sort of romantic feelings for someone else and have any sort of relationships outside of people he knows as Batman? Yes, Rachel.

Is he troubled and bothered by his actions, constantly debating the merits of what he is doing? Yes - like O'Neil's and Leob;s version

Plus, when Jim Shooter was writing it in the past he actually wrote down these little character profiles and basically said that a couple of members were only on the team because sex, like Dream Girl ("Everyone knows her powers are useless, but she is good in the sack") and Triplicate Girl ("Instant foursome" or some shit like that).

And I am not knocking Miller - he obviously had a huge impact on the direction of Batman in the last 20-some years, just like Moore did with the Joker. But I think people forget that it was O'Neil who brought back the crime/detective element to Batman, just like it was Englehart who really made the Joker back into a psychotic villain (of course, O'Neil started the trend back).

As for Morrison, I actually appreciate more what he tried to do than what he actually accomplished. It is hard to bring many of those Silver Age elements back into a modern comic book, but he did somehow manage to bring the Club of Heroes/Batmen of Many Nations into the modern Batman Universe and make them work (now if somebody could do that with the "Green Arrows of Many Nations").

Without Adam West pushing the camp level of Batman in the sixties as far as you could, DC probably never would have decided to go back to his Golden Age roots, and if that happened we probably would be talking about how in Chris Nolan's Batman the joker & his partner King Tut flung a giant pie at the city but luckily the Dynamic Dou and Bat-Mite stopped him.

Actually, if the Adam West show hadn't sparked Batman's popularity again they were going to cancel the comic, and maybe Batman would be in the same boat as Plastic Man and Captain Marvel are in now.

Next movie Batman better be in a death trap.

On the other hand, the Golden Age brought us "The Color Crimes of Crazy Quilt!", so you have a point. Any time B&R take on a villain the Boy Commandos can handle, we're talking lightweight.

For me, the Golden Age Batman was at least one character, but in 1954 after the Seduction of Innocence he became a completely different character. That was when they introduced Batwoman, Batgirl, Ace the Bat Hound, Clayface II, Dr. Double X, Mr. Zero (later Mr. Freeze), and had issues where we see Batman, Robin and Superman on a bicycle built for three.

It's like Reality TV. Mostly white but various reps: old person, hottie, jock, homo, and an increasing number of non-whites. Because, well, I think many comic readers are non-white, certainly on the coasts, but most writers are still white, and writers write what they know.

Not gonna buy Old Man Logan until it is completely finished and still getting a lot of love.

Noooo, Psynapse, don't make me defend Joe, but he's not homophobic. I loved Seven Soldiers, and I generally love Zatanna. Also, even more, Scarlet Witch. I like Wiccan, Nico Minoru and Dr. Strange and Hellblazer, so I guess I am fond of the magic users.

I would also say Baron Blood, because vampires are evil, and Nazis are evil, but a vampire Nazi? Whoaaa daddy....

I remember reading Lou Reed saying in a Lester Bangs interview how he fit in tons of classical riffs in there, but that sounds like the kind of bogus statement a speed freak might shoot off. However, I do think he has a soft spot for the LP.

/end of hijack.

But when Daredevil took on Dr. Octopus was always one of my favorite. Same with Sasquatch taking on Super-Skrull.

Nocenti and Romita Jr's entire run on DD is pure comic goodness. They also did the best Inferno tie-in.

I'd like to see Dr. Strange protecting the Marvel Earth from mystic threats. I don't see his powers having much effect on the physical world, although they've often been portrayed that way. I also see him as being useless in a fight and Wong useless as well. That's why he occasionally needs the Defenders. Remember the Oath by BKV. He takes Wong to Night Nurse and runs into Iron Fist and Arachnae (or whomever the character was). I was thinking: Defenders line up right there.

I don't really care for the idea of Strange as an Avenger. The Avengers are the Popular Kids. The Defenders are the Outcasts. The mystics, the monsters, the loose ends, the thugs. They get together when they have to, then they split and others come in when they have to.

But I'm not a big advocate of Dr. Strange as Alan Moore/Warren Ellis/real magic (yeah, I really think it's real, too, guys). As a reader, with it being something to read, I don't find it too much fun.

Like most concepts, if you take it back to the original premise, you get the best starting point. Ditko, bay-bee, Ditko.

I would never do fan fiction. I've always said that if you're going to spend the precious, failing seconds of your life doing that, you might as well take a shot at doing it pro. And I've always felt that comic book writing takes a particular kind of writing talent(which doesn't seem to stop a lot of current writers or the editors who hire them) but I have a vague Defenders story floating around somewhere in case Marvel ever calls (because I ain't calling them, bay-bee). I use my three of my four favorite Marvel characters as they core of the team (sorry, nothing for Johnny Human Torch to do) with Nighthawk also in the mix. Dr. Strange battles a Japanese fox spirit summoned by the Hand, while the Black Widow fends off Hand ninja who would otherwise kill Doc, and the Hulk rips apart a giant plant monster made physical by Hand sorcery in a perversion of the Shintu religion. Doc doesn't cross his own line by bringing magic into the physical world (he lets the Hulk take out a good section of mid-town, instead). Most of the time, only the reader should ever know what Dr. Strange is doing ... I guess that's my point. I dunno.

Actually, something with Bat-Mite and Ace the Bat Hound, that knows it's goofy is far less goofy than TDK. "Good, soldier." Yeah, like that's not goofy dialog once you've paid your taxes. Goofier than "Holy Jumping Crawdads" by far.

Mark Gruenwald introduced the concept of the Skull's Skeleton Crew. Crossbones, Mother Night, the Sleeper and that cyborg scientist I can't remember (or was he a robot? What does it matter what religion someone is?).

Who can forget the Serpent Society, either in their consistent eighties incarnation or the seventies original, lead by Sub Mariner villain Warlord Krang and smashed by the Nomad?

I like Cap against organizations like HYDRA, AIM, the Secret Empire, etc. Dr. Faustus (supervillain shrink) was always a fascinating concept. Also, Baron Zemo, Batroc and his Brigade (particuarily the version with Machete and that MASTER O' KUNG FU villain).

Somebody wrote it before, but I think 'The Spirit' is so bad, and such a naked revelation of Miller's extreme shortcomings and fetishes, that it requires a retroactive reevaluation of all his work, even those previously regarded as 'good.'

Alright, back to doing something useful.

I know if I published comics right now, I'd have a book that featured a girl with a vampire boyfriend, but that's just me liking money and popularity and knowing I could cancel the thing at any second...

But I think Lynch is way better with his weird stuff. Dune sucked, while Mulholland Drive is actually one of my all-time favorite movies, even though I don't really understand it. Seven Soldiers is my favorite Morrison, but Animal Man and AS Superman are also awesome, and all relatively mainstream.

Finally Grant has dialed back the Wierdometer from bat shit crazy back to 11.

So I hope Morrison's not just waiting to kill Dick and give the mantle to Damien.

People, I am shocked. Not kidding. Dune was an incredible flop, got horrible reviews (Ebert picked it as the #1 worst movie of the year) and I have never actually heard anyone say they liked it before.

Everyone loves Blue Velvet, so that's his major triumph. Twin Peaks also was great at the beginning and end. But Mulholland Drive is by far my favorite. I don't need to fully understand, I understand enough and it's the only Lynch movie I felt emotionally involved with.

Due to an emergency, I was away last week. Yesterday's two-week comics total? $68. No wonder they court the adults. Who can afford that? And Marvel randomly makes some issues of the same comics $2.99 or $3.99 so if you don't look at the price....

From that huge stack, so far I've read Exiles (good, not great, art too cartoony for the story), Ms. Marvel (actually very good. But I love the Karla Sofen character. First issue of MM I've read since Carol Danvers joined Iron Man in Civil War) and New Mutants (which is actually just awesome, total geeky joy for me).

As an oldie, why in the world would I buy X-Men Forever? It's a reprint of comics I already have. Terribly overwrought comics I already have, actually.

They both sucked.

Vertigo ruled in the 90's. Currently, I buy exactly zero Vertigo titles, but in the 90's there were the obvious-Sandman, Hellblazer, Preacher, Swamp Thing-as well as Sandman Mystery Theater, Kid Eternity, the Dreaming, Shade the Changing Man, even Black Orchid wasn't bad.

Some of the mainstream DC was pretty good as well. I believe that is the time when Kinetix et al, aka the Zero Hour Legion, existed, my all-time favorite version of the Legion. Also loved the Justice League by Chuck Wojniwicz (something like that) with Diana, Obsidian and Albert/Nuklon, whatever he called himself, Power Girl, etc. Though many people hate that JLA. Also, this was one of the best times for Wonder Woman, for what it's worth.

Not to worry though I think I take a different direction than what I've seen so far from Avatar. Maybe even more consciously now.

I have come up with one good 90's Marvel: X-Factor during the original David/Stroman run. I recall really liking that.

I have just realized that my all-time #1 favorite series is from the 90's: the original Suicide Squad.

Whose gimmicks were worse? Marvel had Northstar come out, DC killed Superman. Which series were worse? Superman or X-Men? Who sums up 90's terribleness better? McFarlane or Liefeld? So many questions.

While I was a Preacher fan, I just threw away the very last issue and pretend that the second-to-last issue was the end. Much, much better that way.

I didn't care for the Nocenti DD stories because, in spite of her talent as a plotter, she undid so much of what Miller accomplished in only seven (eight?) issues of "Born Again." I didn't want to see Murdoch back in the same old storefront lawyer situations. I LIKED him as a supposedly sighted fry cook!

Now, if each time I typed, shit, cock, fuck, balls and assplay someone close to me died. You can bet your ass that would be the last time I typed a dirty.

Same thing with Wolverine in Old Man Logan. Personally, I bought it hook, line and sinker.

One of my favorite future stories, although it went through multiple titles -- Armageddon 2001.

Did the whole thing get bastardized afterward, you betcha, but for a few precious moments that summer (remember when annuals always came out in the summer)I was in alternate reality heaven.

I love that book just a little too much.

http://tinyurl.com/r2pxuo

I might have to move back to Minnesota so I can become Captain You Betcha.

Yeah, LongShot still sucks, but he's way more interesting than he's been in nay other title.

Yeah, LongShot still sucks, but he's way more interesting than he's been in nay other title.

Yeah, LongShot still sucks, but he's way more interesting than he's been in nay other title.

And I completely agree with goose about Old Man Logan. It's just so damn stupid, all the time.

Private Hudson was a realistic, human, kick ass Marine who was scared by a scary situation but did his job and came through. Great character by Cameron, great performance by Paxton.

Now, we all know supervillains are real...

I love giving him the role of DC's Batman, something the Marvel U has desperately needed.

47. The Assholes (that's what they call themselves so back off!) at aintitcool.com are still the high bar for fan critiques IMHO. Yes, even when they're dumping on me.

Hellz Yeah!

Can't wait till one of those clowns actually gets in a fight. That'll bring the reality train home.

And I don't think it ever once mentioned comic books, which was weird because you know these guys had to have read one too many...

The sad thing is they are destroying every criticism JoeNathan has ever had. BBQ while in costume and guys never taking off their costumes, that is how these guys act. Shit, they probably sit around the house watching TV in their tights and cape.

I don't like to judge others, but this is just sad...

How the hell didn't he know he was so popular?!? He was only the biggest selling figure they ever had!!!