Serpentine
Banned
ComicsGAF is not great with gifs
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COMICS! |OT| October 2016. Capes, Crime, Bondage, and sometimes Overwatch.
- Thread starter Messi
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echoshifting
Banned
That sounds fair to me.
I don't think it's too much to ask people to spoiler impressions of a book on release day. Go back and look at the saga stuff on Wednesday. If you are reading a book what was said essentially tells you the nature of what happens. We just had someone who said their enjoyment of the book was lessened due to the fact that people didn't spoiler stuff. Or whatever, regardless of what I say nothing will change, this is like the 10th time we have had this conversation.
Tragicomedy
Member
They're terrible because they aren't reviews. Recycling the same two or three variants of "I said biiiiiiitch" or "I didn't expect that" gifs don't summarize anyone's actual response to the comic in question, unless that person lacks the emotional nuance and language skills of a five year old. How do you justify criticizing Bendis' writing style when you can't form two or three coherent sentences to express said criticism?
It was never cute. It never added anything to the discussion. It was a lazy person's means of "reviewing" comics while avoiding the need to use big boy and big girl words. You can't interpret what the gif user is attempting to say about the comic. You can't even tell if they liked or disliked the issue, and that's pretty damn fundamental to all further conversation.
Comic GAF insularity is well established, whatever. We're a community thread for a reason. But lazy gif reviews are the most pointless expression of that insularity. We should collectively strive to stamp them out with the same dedication and fervor we employ to stamp out the Civil War II's of the industry.
We must aim to be better than the 2016 graduating class of Trump University's School of Coherent Thought.
Every long term thread like this is a community thread regardless of what we do tho...
No problem with getting rest if it.
I'm blaming The Flow for everything.
echoshifting
Banned
No, this is a different conversation. We're now talking about spoilering emotional reactions to new books and impressions. That is a new request, and I don't think it's really well thought out.
We already have reasonable standards in place to prevent spoilers for new books for one week and many of us make an effort to avoid spoilers when possible on older material too. Are we really talking about adding another layer, a 24-hour ban, effectively, on all reviews of new books?
Tragicomedy
Member
To be clear, my objection doesn't stem from this being a community thread. That is perfectly apropos for this community, the topic, and the group of regulars we have. I love this community. It's my one stop shop for comics, and the first and last GAF thread I visit every day.
I'm simply saying end the gif review madness. I'm not anticipating pages full of Echo and Donnie levels of insight and discussion. Those gents are outliers in terms of the thought process, insight, and coherence they bring to the table. I'm not on that level, so I wouldn't dream of arguing for it to be the norm.
I'm merely saying we can do better than pages of "I said biiiiiiitch" gifs for completely different comics that are aiming for completely different emotional responses. Less isn't more in that case. It's pointless for discussion, and ultimately confusing to new visitors.
I don't mind some posters doing the gif stuff because the write better reviews than most people here like bkata <3 and then others like psych post some funny varied ones.
Just change it up.
I actually agree with you on gifs. As someone who overuses gif responses. I don't mind them but it would be nice to see it varied up.
Donniewahlberg
Banned
So. Just so we're absolutely clear here.
This is totally not the time for a I said bitch gif. Right?
Freezasaurus
Member
I got to the early issues of Year Four before I stopped reading. I was just bored and kind of hit a brick wall by that point and had no desire to continue.
The prominence it rightly deserves.
Imaginary people change clothes, too.
Image Hardcovers are fantastic. A few specific ones have issues with the binding, like Black Science and The Wicked + The Divine. But other than that, it's a great format.
Brett Parsons is the artist on that one. He's also done a good bit of Tank Girl art, which is where I was first exposed to his work.
Hellboy is such a great series. Love it to death.
So more pony gifs is what you're saying? Got it.
Tragicomedy
Member
Not at all. I'm singing your praise for the level of discourse you bring to the table. I'm not anti-gif use. I'm against the almost exclusive use of gifs in replacement to actually talking about or reviewing a comic. And that happens all the time.
Donniewahlberg
Banned
Literally the only image hc I have is the snyder severed one
I find it quite hard to predict what will get the hc treatment so I'm always two volumes into whatever series by the time they show up and I don't want to pay up again. Wouldn't mind switching for a good few series though, deadly class or southern bastards. The velvet one that's coming up looks great.Haha cheers man, I'm just goofing. I actually totally agree with what you're saying, I'm just keeping my nose out since I don't actually contribute to the weekly Wednesday review stuff. I consistently run way behind y'all so anything that gets away from the *race to react* mentality that means said weekly discourse can be less obvious as to whst its specifically about suits me fine.
I like this oneThis gif is still approved tho right??
Freezasaurus
Member
It's a team effort. I'm there to keep him in line. And make the images.
I think I did a good job.
You surprised us all, my friend.
echoshifting
Banned
Daredevil #11: This was pretty good. I want to say "surprisingly good," but I feel like I've been letting the book off easy here for too long because it had such a bad start. At this point we know Soule can write a reasonably competent Daredevil. He still hasn't managed to make his Daredevil great, though. Not even for a moment. Now, I'm sure this is a tough book to write. DD has been one of Marvel's top books since...holy fuck, 2001??
Bendis - Brubaker - Waid, how do you follow that?
And I think my impulse to go easy on Soule comes from the fact that clearly, he wants this to be great. He's working his ass off to bring together old and new characters in ways that are exciting, ways that pop. But it still isn't. Part of the problem this book has always had is the separation from those past great runs; there's barely a tangible connection at all to ANY of Matt's history. Every time he even winks in that general direction I get excited, but Soule's taking too long to connect the dots, and it's frustrating. Not only do I want to check in with those characters and learn what the hell Matt did to end up here, I also want him to feel like he's on solid ground again, like he has a fleshed out life, with a real supporting cast. And if he isn't ready to integrate those characters, bring in some new faces. We are 11 issues in and I still couldn't tell you a single thing about anyone Matt works with as an ADA. Oh, I remember from this issue, his boss is a guy. That's it.
Anyway, to the nuts and bolts. I like the new villain. Great visual design, and the details Matt uses to locate him are clever and cool and uniquely Daredevil. My enthusiasm for the next issue is guarded, though. There are a lot of ways this could go wrong:
. I'll just keep waiting and hoping for Soule to find his way to a great run.
Wait what's Shadowland? Sorry I don't know what you're talking about.
And I think my impulse to go easy on Soule comes from the fact that clearly, he wants this to be great. He's working his ass off to bring together old and new characters in ways that are exciting, ways that pop. But it still isn't. Part of the problem this book has always had is the separation from those past great runs; there's barely a tangible connection at all to ANY of Matt's history. Every time he even winks in that general direction I get excited, but Soule's taking too long to connect the dots, and it's frustrating. Not only do I want to check in with those characters and learn what the hell Matt did to end up here, I also want him to feel like he's on solid ground again, like he has a fleshed out life, with a real supporting cast. And if he isn't ready to integrate those characters, bring in some new faces. We are 11 issues in and I still couldn't tell you a single thing about anyone Matt works with as an ADA. Oh, I remember from this issue, his boss is a guy. That's it.
Anyway, to the nuts and bolts. I like the new villain. Great visual design, and the details Matt uses to locate him are clever and cool and uniquely Daredevil. My enthusiasm for the next issue is guarded, though. There are a lot of ways this could go wrong:
"this serial killer thinks he's an artist!" is pretty cliche so this dude needs some interesting powers to work; oh god I'm so tired of the Inhumans please use them wisely; please don't let this turn out to be a "EVIL BANKSY" story
For now, but it will be awkward when the Rockets face the Hawks in the finals.
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
No no no no listen LISTEN
I fucking KNOW about the -- the Violators (De La Soul Is Dead reference) but WHAT ABOUT LEGION?????
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Idk. I think he's doing IvX but then he's only solicited for #0.
Not when two separate panels takes place at the same time and location.
Rocafort established in #7 that she was wearing a crop top.
Freezasaurus
Member
Didn't Monica fly into her eyes and get teleported to California? And THIS is the thing you question? America Chavez is all-powerful.
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
People act really willfully ignorant about this shit.
You can say "OMFG THIS BOOK RULES" or "THIS BOOK SUCKS GOD" but you know that an emotional reaction to a comic is a straight up spoiler. Anyone pretending otherwise is just trying to win some dumb hypothetical argument.
echoshifting
Banned
Deadly Class #22: Oh man, did Remender fuck this up??
Deathstroke #2-3: Improving with every issue! Priest may have been away from comics for a long time but he seems to have a firm grasp on DC's books, pulling in a couple of characters and plots I'm not familiar with, and utilizing them in ways that are still satisfying to me as a new reader. This is going to be a great read once it's collected, I think...there are snippets of flashbacks sprinkled throughout every issue, and it's tough to see the connections unless you're going back and revisiting past issues. I admire the craft, here; it's not easy to make a book both compelling with each new issue and still rewarding as a complete reading experience. This is why Priest is considered a master.
Detective Comics #940: I'm not wild about the way this issue's Big Event has been handled.
. This makes it impossible for either the readers or the characters to have an appropriate reaction.
...
Night of the Monster Men parts 2-3 (Nightwing/Detective Comics): ...which is incredibly lame and frustrating because this is a bad crossover. It's inconsequential and not very interesting.
Almost all of the characters I care about are now dead...and he's populating the cast with less interesting people. We will see how these folks turn out but I'm not optimistic about the future. I'm worried he may have overdone it when he cleaned house. Saya doesn't seem too interested in her new role as chief protagonist.
Too much Shabnam. He's awful, not the good kind of awful just awful. Please don't tell me this book is about to become an object lesson in the dangers of killing off most of your main cast.
Too much Shabnam. He's awful, not the good kind of awful just awful. Please don't tell me this book is about to become an object lesson in the dangers of killing off most of your main cast.
Deathstroke #2-3: Improving with every issue! Priest may have been away from comics for a long time but he seems to have a firm grasp on DC's books, pulling in a couple of characters and plots I'm not familiar with, and utilizing them in ways that are still satisfying to me as a new reader. This is going to be a great read once it's collected, I think...there are snippets of flashbacks sprinkled throughout every issue, and it's tough to see the connections unless you're going back and revisiting past issues. I admire the craft, here; it's not easy to make a book both compelling with each new issue and still rewarding as a complete reading experience. This is why Priest is considered a master.
Detective Comics #940: I'm not wild about the way this issue's Big Event has been handled.
Tim is "dead," but before the dust has even settled we learn that he's not really dead, merely a prisoner of Mr. Ozymandias
Tim is the third Robin to die, and even though he's been Robin longer than Damian and Jason combined, his is the only death to basically pass without comment. Contrast to the death of Damian, which was also obviously planned to be a short "death" from the start, but which also kicked off a round of "RIP" issues across the entire line and drastically changed the direction of Batman & Robin for the remainder of its run. Granted, Damian is Bruce's kid so it's a bit different, but Tim has been around FOREVER. They didn't even have a scene of them putting him in the GROUND, they're too busy with Night of the Monster Men
Night of the Monster Men parts 2-3 (Nightwing/Detective Comics): ...which is incredibly lame and frustrating because this is a bad crossover. It's inconsequential and not very interesting.
I suppose the writers and editorial probably feel justified in their poor treatment of Tim since a) we the audience know he's not dead and b) they're portraying an immediate, severe threat, so naturally Bruce and the others don't have much time for him other than the occasional "oh yeah it sucks that Tim is dead." That's garbage, though. That's all by their own design...they didn't have to give that information to us so readily, creating a disparity between how we might feel about his death versus how the characters should feel about his death. They didn't have to just launch immediately into Night of the Monster Men, they chose to do that.
I'm not a Tim fan but if I was I'd be pretty upset by how this has been handled. Jason's death DEVASTATED Bruce. Damian's death BROKE Bruce. Tim's death should have a little more impact than "shut up you guys I'm trying not to think about Tim."
I'm not a Tim fan but if I was I'd be pretty upset by how this has been handled. Jason's death DEVASTATED Bruce. Damian's death BROKE Bruce. Tim's death should have a little more impact than "shut up you guys I'm trying not to think about Tim."
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
It's some DBZ shit. One second I can't turn Super Saiyan, then all of a sudden my whole dam family can do it in an instant.
echoshifting
Banned
lol okay man.
The post I was responding to was suggesting a 24-hour spoiler window on impressions as well, but please go on about my willful ignorance.
What do you like about it? It's not working for me.
I gotta dig up my reviews
But:
Art
Action scenes
Team ups
Gotham girl
Surprisingly yes the dialog.
I haven't read the last 3 issues of detective but the night monster men part 3 was definitely the weakest outside that one crazy scene with g girl
echoshifting
Banned
Fair enough. I might give it another shot when the next chapter comes out. I was pretty hung up on
the poor handling of Tim's death.
LaunchpadMcQ
Banned
I would say I'm more in echo's camp. I'm definitely not as crazy about the Night of the Monster Men event as others, but it's perfectly serviceable and pretty fun.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Adrienne Brashear <3
Let's not forget the time she gave Carol the "bitch please" stare:
Let's not forget the time she gave Carol the "bitch please" stare:
Repeating this question as I'm wondering how to treat the series going forward.
Also, on the Mignolaverse: I've heard a good number of the series are winding down/ending, right? Are new things taking their place? (Like, I guess Joe Golem is running now at least). Or is the whole universe coming to an end at this point? I'm curious as to how things will progress, but as a trade-waiter (who is currently one behind on Hell on Earth but otherwise caught up in that regard), I'm also terrified of googling it and running the risk of spoilers.
Donniewahlberg
Banned
Honestly things are a bit in the air. The current era is winding to a close. Both hellboy and abe are done, and BPRD is finishing up un the next few months, signalling an end to the current three core books and the hell on earth phase.
What's next? The plan was always for a third and final era to completely finish up the entire series, but I'm not sure any of that included Mike taking off to paint, Arcudi stepping down abruptly, and Scott Allie biting people's ears in bars. HB in hell and frankenstein were both set to run longer and John was to work on the HB and the bprd series for longer.
Currently Chris Roberson has come on board and is heading a kind of interlude phase of mini series that fill in continuity and spots where Mike has ideas for, like the black flame or the hellboy 1950s stuff. Mike describes this himself as Roberson having 99% control over what he's doing right now. I know Roberson has a kind of overarching story planned for his stuff, but it's not the main event.
Will Roberson run the final era of BPRD. I'd guess it's the plan right now as long as his stuff is well received over the next few months. We should find out some stuff soon, there was only two books I November's solicits and they don't have long to run.
Joe Golem and Baltimore will probably continue too, but the are a separate thing.
Personally I dont really know what I want to happen. I didn't really expect Arcudi to drop out, and it's a bit of a strange thought having new writers involved now, but it's a bit wait and see. Dark Horse and Mig will probably have side stories and smaller stuff for a good long time to come, but I dont mind the core thing ending soon, I just hope they have a solid plan in place and it doesn't spiral off or anything. I've yet to read any the new Roberson stuff but I've certainly not read anything I've disliked yet of the recent reade stuff, enjoying it more than ever in fact.
Also, wrote all that on my phone and I have company in so apologies for all the typos haha I hope that covered it. This is coming out next year though and loves snazzy
LordOfLore
Banned
What is it with Marvel and calling things Project Pegasus? Didn't they already call something that in the old Nova books?Adrienne Brashear <3
Let's not forget the time she gave Carol the "bitch please" stare:
Between the Dominators as the crossover villain, Legion flight rings being seen on both Flash and Supergirl, and
Mon-El
Meredith McClaren is the new artist. Campbell left after 14 I think. The book has a lot of anime faces now.
You don't understand complaint
Yea man I needed something fun after the diluted mess of the first batman arc.
i agree with you about tims death but at the same time this is the worst crisis hitting Gotham
Awesome, seriously thanks for going all out on that, really appreciate the in-depth response! I just kind of had come to the realization that I had no idea where this massive cluster of books I've invested into is currently heading, haha!
Meredith McClaren is the new artist. Campbell left after 14 I think. The book has a lot of anime faces now.
That example looks... somewhat worrying. I think maybe I'll give the post-Campbell stuff a try digitally or something instead of committing to grabbing the series in trade. It's weird because I'm usually fairly accepting of art changes (though they definitely can sting, and I really do wish comics tended to treat the artist as a more integral part of the team than they often seem to), but with this book the art was a huge, huge core part of my enjoyment.
Donniewahlberg
Banned
Hahah I know what you mean. I will say, don't worry too much. Mike has been more than willing in the past to put stuff on hold until he's ready or the time is right. I think it's more likely there could be a bit of a break rather than they go ahead with anything half assed. Arcudi also said that while, yes, there is still stuff to be done with the BPRD and the planned third phase, that his upcoming end to hell on earth will feel very much like a series finale and should fully satisfy in itself, and I totally believe in him. I have no idea how hellboy ended, people have been aweosme about not spoiling that around the entire but by all accounts it's similar. Could Mig go back? He said he potentially could but by all accounts it was a very satisfying ending that could be read as THE ending, so there a very strong end point coming now, and then we just have to see what comes next.