Yes indeed... I've been so focused on Marvel, i haven't read anything significant from DC in three years, other than the "Blackest Light" saga going on now. I've completely missed the return of Kryptonians in the Superman books (Kandorians, perhaps?), and the latest death of Bruce Wayne.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Baxter" <truthseeker...@hotmail.com> To: "SciFiNoir2" <scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Monday, February 1, 2010 4:02:59 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] Marvel Comics' Complex Storylines coming to a Head Soon Man, have I missed a few million things... "If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director?" -- Charles L Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com From: keithbjohn...@comcast.net Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2010 07:50:10 +0000 Subject: [scifinoir2] Marvel Comics' Complex Storylines coming to a Head Soon Anyone else still follow Marvel Comics? For the last 2-3 years, I've been following best as I can several major events shaking up the MU. There was the Avengers Disassembled, where the Avengers were decimated due to the Scarlet Witch's breakdown. That was followed by House of M, where the Witch reshaped reality into one dominated by mutants, then restored reality, only to remove the mutant abilities of ninety-nine percent of the world's mutants. Then there was the Civil War, where Iron Man and Captain America fought over a government order for heroes to register as agents. That culminated in Cap's death and the ascenion of Iron Man to lead SHIELD. And that was followed by Invasion, where it was revealed the Skrulls had for years replaced key heroes, leaders and villains on Earth. They got within a hair's breadth of conquering Earth, but lost. The fallout from that saw Iron Man disgraced, and the new hero of the day as Norman Osborn, who know leads SHIELD's replacement HAMMER, as well as the Avengers. Now we have the "Dark" books, as Osborn and his criminal cohorts control things, but a growing resistance of heroes are gathering to fight them. Meanwhile, Thor and the Asgardians have defeated Ragnarok and are back from Limbo, but are now preparing to do battle with Dr. Doom, who along with Loki has conspired to exploit the Asgardians. As if that weren't enough, there's Siege, where Osborn has decided the Asgardians must go, and is preparing to hit Asgard with everything he's got. Oh--and let's not forget Doomwar, where Dr. Doom has been manipulating the near-death of T'Challa, and is now preparing to invade Wakanda, but is soon going to have his hands full fighting T'Challa, his sister (the new Black Panther), the FF, and Namor. Whew! The Marvel Universe is going to all sorts or turmoil, and I haven't even addressed Annihilation, War of Kings (involving the Inhumans and Cyclops' crazy brother), the great Winter Soldier storyline (the return of Bucky), the X-Men's travails, the Spidey books, or the fact that Daredevil now rules the Hand. I know the concept of the megastory, the maxiseries, and the crossover storyline has been done to death by Marvel and DC in the last few years. Many fans groan and complain at the requirement to buy several different books to follow the latest invasion or battle, and more than one fan feels the major event is just a gimmick to make people do just that: buy many titles. Often, it's felt, the "events" themselves are simply not that compelling. Exceptions include Crisis on Infinite Earths, Heroes Reborn/Return. But I have to say i've been caught up in Marvel's incredibly dense, far reaching, and complex storylines. I dug the Civil War, though some aspects of it were puzzling (Spidey reveals his identity to the world? Reed Richards creates a cyborg clone of Thor?) I'm liking Osborn in control, and the battle we know is coming to take care of that. I like the Black Panthers taking it to Doom. Thor has never been more interesting, and I can't wait to see what happens with Siege. Guess I'm just a sucker for the high drama. I understand that Marvel's plotted this for years, and that when the smoke from all these battles ends by April, the major books are going to go "lighter", more retro. The Avengers will be less grim, and I hear more of the Marvel heroes will return to more high adventure, and less morally complex behavior. I guess the dark superhero years are coming to and end. Too bad, it's been a great ride. Though, I guess I have to remember that the lighter years still gave us things like the Kree-Skrull War, the death of Gwen Stacy, etc. Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. Get Windows Live Hotmail Free. Sign up now.
