AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: PARALLEL LIVES #1
GERRY CONWAY (w)
ALEX SAVIUK (a)
Cover by BOB LARKIN
• He’s Peter Parker: a shy, introverted teen whose life changed forever when a radioactive spider bit him.
• She’s Mary Jane Watson: product of a broken home, concealing her pain with an outgoing party-girl persona.
• They meet, fall in love and get married. This is their story.
• The classic 1989 graphic novel returns!
64 PGS./Rated T+ ...$4.99
Full May solicits in one spot. Stuart Immonen drawing Avenging Spider-Man is good, Kathryn Immonen writing it is bad.
Kathryn Immonen's written more good stuff than bad, I think.
Heralds, Hellcat, Wolverine and Jubilee, and her Girl Comics story, were all good-to-great.
Her Marvel Comics Presents: Hellcat was incomprehensible, and I've heard similar things about her Runaways and Pixie Strikes Back.
I think she does have a very unusual way of crafting a narrative, that can make her work confusing. But if you can get past that, she's usually telling some pretty fun stories.
So what's the general consensus on Vol. 4 of the main series so far? Just curious
you all better fucking like it :evil:
Which issues are you referring to? Because going by May's solicit, the Avengers vol.3 hardcover just now gets to the ongoing and rather filler-centric Osborn story.
Full May solicits in one spot. Stuart Immonen drawing Avenging Spider-Man is good, Kathryn Immonen writing it is bad.
Kathryn Immonen's written more good stuff than bad, I think.
Heralds, Hellcat, Wolverine and Jubilee, and her Girl Comics story, were all good-to-great.
Her Marvel Comics Presents: Hellcat was incomprehensible, and I've heard similar things about her Runaways and Pixie Strikes Back.
I think she does have a very unusual way of crafting a narrative, that can make her work confusing. But if you can get past that, she's usually telling some pretty fun stories.
Yeah this is about how I felt, though I was only aware of her through Runaways and PSB and it wasn't till W&J I realized she actually could write well
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CorporateLogoThe toilet knowshow I feelRegistered Userregular
I read the Hellcat trade before her Runaways arc and was really bummed at how bad it was compared to Hellcat
He didn't create Ant-Man, just O'Grady and the dude had a solo book that got canned in under 20 issues.
A character doesn't count when they're legacies? First I've heard of that. Since there isn't a single Ant-Man doesn't it make sense that the creators get royalties from which ever version they created? That said, O'Grady has appeared in various titles after his solo title got cancelled. I'd have thought Kirkman would have gotten royalties from his appearances in Secret Avengers.
I dunno, I'm just pretty tired of seeing characters I like die. And really, if this is presumably to clear the way for his bland predecessor to retake the role, that's pretty dumb.
And since I was largely reading the book for that character, I don't really have any desire to read it, now.
Plus I mean, O'Grady kind of reached the end of his character growth that would make him different from "snarky hero". Dude has been trying to be a big hero for years now and sacrificed his life to save a child from a group of murderous adaptoids. That seems pretty fufilling to me.
Otherwise he just becomes another superhero or descends back into total asshole territory. Especially since he is on a team with Hawkeye and Venom who are both cocky, snarky assholes.
I dunno, I'm just pretty tired of seeing characters I like die. And really, if this is presumably to clear the way for his bland predecessor to retake the role, that's pretty dumb.
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Death is a good thing when it actually sticks, and when it doesn't it damages the universe being worked in significantly. When you have characters undermining the significance of death in the books by joking about how people always come back, yet they were crying at character's funeral or passing issues earlier, you've reached a point where it would just work better to have them stay on the sidelines if you have no direction to go with them now.
That's why when you look at the current Marvel landscape, the stuff with the real changes where readers are liking what they see, while still allowing for greater growth, comes from characters being injured and adjusting (USAgent), taking on new roles to stand out (Julia Carpenter, Flash Thompson), or simply changing their location from team to team (Beast). Death doesn't have to be the only thing to make people act or work differently to cap off character growth, yet it's often the first button pushed these days. This is why the Ultimates right now actually has a genuinely interesting threat on the horizon, because we're seeing real consequences for the time being because death has some meaning still. Heck, the new Transformers ongoings have a sense of permanency that the characters will stay dead because it's being treated that way. That feeling is just gone from regular Marvel and DC books.
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Secret Avengers #23 was another miss for me. It had nothing to do with the death, but more Clint's attitude in the issue. When Beast of all people is telling you your attitude is bad, it just doesn't work. And we have evidence from his other works Remender knows how to do decent characterization and not be so over the top. Some of the stuff about Johns and Aquaman #6 would apply here, which would be a step back for a writer of Remender's quality.
When has Clint been upset about having a villain on the team, you know? He hung out with six of them, actively trained them to be heroes with the Thunderbolts, who were very much the same thing Venom has been, former bad guy trying to be a good guy but needing help getting over that precious no-kill barrier Hawkeye has shot through himself recently. Hell, Clint even trained two teams of Thunderbolts, so it wasn't just a fluke. I could even throw Spider-Woman into this whole thing as well, or does it not count when you're hooking up? There's just a complete lack of self awareness in the writing that makes me think this is the way Remender thinks Clint should be written.
Add to it we had Uncanny X-Force this week too, and even the co-plotting of Circle of Four in Venom, this comes in at the bottom of the list.
Could it be Clint's showing his own insecurity, as a villain-turned-hero?
Also, since I just saw scans of O'Grady's death over at the Something Awful comics forum, a question comes to mind. Why'd Eric ever get rid of the G.I. Ant-Man suit? A light armor suit with laser guns sure would have come in handy, when he was being stomped to death.
Plus, Hester's design was a lot cooler than the traditional, bedpan-on-head Ant-Man design.
Plus I mean, O'Grady kind of reached the end of his character growth that would make him different from "snarky hero". Dude has been trying to be a big hero for years now and sacrificed his life to save a child from a group of murderous adaptoids. That seems pretty fufilling to me.
Otherwise he just becomes another superhero or descends back into total asshole territory. Especially since he is on a team with Hawkeye and Venom who are both cocky, snarky assholes.
True. However, these kinds of characters tend to go in cycles with their development like Booster Gold. Pym's done it as well what with confronting Ultron and hitting Jan. I expect when
O'Grady
returns he'll have regressed back to being an asshole again.
I thought Hawkeye had evolved beyond being an asshole?
Harry Dresden on
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
It didn't read that way with Clint
Cap and Jim Hammond show up with Flash and the symbiote to say he would be a good asset for the team, as he's been doing covert ops for a while. Clint freaks out and says why should he have such a notorious villain on the team, then yells at Cap for trying to undermine him and kicks them out of the little lair, when we just had this talk between the two in the .1 issue where Clint was also over the top. It would have been great if someone just pointed out the Thunderbolts connection (Cap even trained them at one point, The Redeemers), or other villains turning hero, just to recognize that yes, it can work, but they don't.
Flash is basically where Black Widow was earlier in her career, when that point isn't even mentioned it just seems deliberate for the sake of the story Remender wants to tell, which seems to be the often used leader with something to prove goes over the top and nearly loses the team until he has to lighten up.
The symbiote's a flesh-eating monster, and the only things keeping him in check are an alcoholic's capacity for self-control and something Hank Pym designed.
It'd be naive to think that something wouldn't go horribly wrong there.
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Yet at the same time we've had the Avengers/Clint try and protect a crazy woman with reality altering powers from getting hit with a cry for justice. Justice!
This is a problem with long running books, the constant changing of what is considered acceptable in terms of reforming. And coming from Clint, of all people, it just seems out of place. If this was Steve being the stern father with Venom, while still being sour for Flash beating him up and taking his motorcycle, that makes more sense. Seeing how it's playing out now, I think a better option for Clint would have been to be the way too lax leader, who tries to be so completely different from Steve or Braddock that he is then forced to be a bit tougher. He wants to be the cool uncle who thinks constant positive feedback, even on the big mistakes and obvious signs of the team walking over him, is better. Flower power over glower power.
I bought this issue thinking Venom would actually, you know, do something in this issue since he is on the cover. I guess coming in blind to the series just because Venom was on the cover was going to smack me in the face.
So, he just joined THIS ISSUE? There was no build up to it? Just wondering. I am trying to keep track of any Venom related story.
Posts
PARALLEL LIVES
fuck you marvel
fuck you
Aint letting this get botp
Kathryn Immonen's written more good stuff than bad, I think.
Heralds, Hellcat, Wolverine and Jubilee, and her Girl Comics story, were all good-to-great.
Her Marvel Comics Presents: Hellcat was incomprehensible, and I've heard similar things about her Runaways and Pixie Strikes Back.
I think she does have a very unusual way of crafting a narrative, that can make her work confusing. But if you can get past that, she's usually telling some pretty fun stories.
Tumblr Twitter
Which issues are you referring to? Because going by May's solicit, the Avengers vol.3 hardcover just now gets to the ongoing and rather filler-centric Osborn story.
"Ride or Die" confirmed Dominic Toretto, as they took off to find the Dragon Balls in hopes of reviving their friend Sonic
TWITTER TWATS
Yeah this is about how I felt, though I was only aware of her through Runaways and PSB and it wasn't till W&J I realized she actually could write well
I read the first issue out of interest, and it was really strange. The narrative was incredibly jumpy. Batman: Odyssey made more sense to me.
fuck
ugh
Well that's annoying
I liked him
Unsurprising though, they said one would die and given the make-up of the rest of the team...
"Ride or Die" confirmed Dominic Toretto, as they took off to find the Dragon Balls in hopes of reviving their friend Sonic
so
who Marvel doesn't really like very much
My mistake. Not sure why I thought Fraction made him. Since
"Ride or Die" confirmed Dominic Toretto, as they took off to find the Dragon Balls in hopes of reviving their friend Sonic
Huh, I forgot to pick that up today.
Kind of glad I didn't, now.
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the end
I like him a bunch
but it was a good solid death that worked with the character's direction over the past few years.
Death isn't inherently a bad thing.
I dunno, I'm just pretty tired of seeing characters I like die. And really, if this is presumably to clear the way for his bland predecessor to retake the role, that's pretty dumb.
And since I was largely reading the book for that character, I don't really have any desire to read it, now.
Tumblr Twitter
Plus I mean, O'Grady kind of reached the end of his character growth that would make him different from "snarky hero". Dude has been trying to be a big hero for years now and sacrificed his life to save a child from a group of murderous adaptoids. That seems pretty fufilling to me.
Otherwise he just becomes another superhero or descends back into total asshole territory. Especially since he is on a team with Hawkeye and Venom who are both cocky, snarky assholes.
you haven't even read the book
Like, at all?
Tumblr Twitter
That's why when you look at the current Marvel landscape, the stuff with the real changes where readers are liking what they see, while still allowing for greater growth, comes from characters being injured and adjusting (USAgent), taking on new roles to stand out (Julia Carpenter, Flash Thompson), or simply changing their location from team to team (Beast). Death doesn't have to be the only thing to make people act or work differently to cap off character growth, yet it's often the first button pushed these days. This is why the Ultimates right now actually has a genuinely interesting threat on the horizon, because we're seeing real consequences for the time being because death has some meaning still. Heck, the new Transformers ongoings have a sense of permanency that the characters will stay dead because it's being treated that way. That feeling is just gone from regular Marvel and DC books.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
Add to it we had Uncanny X-Force this week too, and even the co-plotting of Circle of Four in Venom, this comes in at the bottom of the list.
Also, since I just saw scans of O'Grady's death over at the Something Awful comics forum, a question comes to mind. Why'd Eric ever get rid of the G.I. Ant-Man suit? A light armor suit with laser guns sure would have come in handy, when he was being stomped to death.
Plus, Hester's design was a lot cooler than the traditional, bedpan-on-head Ant-Man design.
Tumblr Twitter
True. However, these kinds of characters tend to go in cycles with their development like Booster Gold. Pym's done it as well what with confronting Ultron and hitting Jan. I expect when
I thought Hawkeye had evolved beyond being an asshole?
Flash is basically where Black Widow was earlier in her career, when that point isn't even mentioned it just seems deliberate for the sake of the story Remender wants to tell, which seems to be the often used leader with something to prove goes over the top and nearly loses the team until he has to lighten up.
How awesome is that?
It'd be naive to think that something wouldn't go horribly wrong there.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
This is a problem with long running books, the constant changing of what is considered acceptable in terms of reforming. And coming from Clint, of all people, it just seems out of place. If this was Steve being the stern father with Venom, while still being sour for Flash beating him up and taking his motorcycle, that makes more sense. Seeing how it's playing out now, I think a better option for Clint would have been to be the way too lax leader, who tries to be so completely different from Steve or Braddock that he is then forced to be a bit tougher. He wants to be the cool uncle who thinks constant positive feedback, even on the big mistakes and obvious signs of the team walking over him, is better. Flower power over glower power.
So, he just joined THIS ISSUE? There was no build up to it? Just wondering. I am trying to keep track of any Venom related story.
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