By
Phantom Troublemaker
Since
I started the Needless
Things Podcast
the frequency of my commentary and speculation pieces has been
dwindling. I enjoy talking a lot more than I enjoy writing and I
enjoy conversation more than I enjoy tossing lengthy essays out into
an unresponsive void.
Plus,
now that I have paying supporters on SupportPhantom.com
(few though they may be) I feel a little more obligated to post stuff
there when I am taken with the desire to write.
But
every once in a while I still get the itch to post something here
that’s a little broader and more interesting than a toy review.
Which is why I’m here today.
I
want to talk about Marvel – comics, TV shows, movies; everything.
Or at least, everything I’m qualified to talk about. Obviously I
can’t read every comic book Marvel publishes and right now I’m
choosing to read even less than I normally do because a lot of them
seem to be terrible. And I’m going to discuss that, too.
Today
is comic book day. I’m going to write some about my history reading
Marvel comics and some about what I think of Marvel right now.
I’ve
often stated that Uncanny
X-Men #234
is the comic that got me invested in sequential storytelling and
started me collecting. But that’s not really true. Six years
earlier I got hooked on Larry Hama’s GI
Joe: A Real American Hero.
Hama
presented interesting characters in an ongoing, compelling story that
I wanted to follow every month. I looked forward to going to the
grocery store or drug store with my mom in the hopes that a new issue
would be out. GI Joe is my sentimental favorite toy line and the
adventures that Hama presented in the comic, not to mention the file
cards that he wrote, are a big part of that.
But
I couldn’t collect every issue of GI
Joe.
Back in the early 80s I had no way of knowing when issues came out or
how they were distributed and the occasional trip to the store wasn’t
going to provide a full run.
Uncanny
X-Men
#234 is what led me to discover comic book shops.
I
got that issue from a general store at Carolina Beach. It was on an
old school spinner rack with issues of Detective
Comics,
Conan,
New
Mutants,
Green
Lantern,
and Solo
Avengers.
I bought several comics that day, but the one with the lurid, green
and purple cover with the monster on it is the one that embedded
itself in my psyche. The next issue I was able to purchase was #239,
which started my all-time favorite crossover, Inferno.
But there was a four issue gap in the story and I had to know what
had happened.
I
can’t remember the details of how we found a comic shop, but that
would be a story for another day anyway. My point is that it was a
Marvel comic book that compelled me to become a regular reader and
collector.
Aside
from picking up the occasional Batman comic I didn’t venture into
DC comics until I discovered Hellblazer.
But Marvel wrapped me up in a warm blanket of hype and storytelling
and carried me through what I suppose was the second and most
important phase of my comic book life. The first phase was
discovering GI
Joe and
Uncanny
X-Men
and recognizing comics as a valid form of entertainment that I
enjoyed. The second phase was making the format a habit and a regular
part of my life.
I’m
in a bit of a flow here, so let me lay this out as I’m thinking
about it for the first time ever:
Phase
One: Recognizing comics as a valid form of entertainment that I
enjoyed
Phase
Two: Making the format a habit and a regular part of my life
Phase
Three: Learning about the people that create comics and determining
who my favorites were while at the same time learning the histories
of the characters I liked
Phase
Four: Expanding beyond the titles that I was familiar and comfortable
with and discovering new writers, artists, and characters
Phase
Five: Trying every new thing that becomes available
Phase
Six: Deciding new things suck
Phase
Seven: Deciding everything sucks
Phase
Eight: Okay, some stuff is still good
Phase
Nine: Man, lots of stuff is good!
Phase
Ten: Slow down, junior
Or
something like that.
Phases
Two and Three were spent in the Marvel Universe reading mostly X-Men
and Spider-Man books, but occasionally going further afield. Phase
Four is where I started to read more DC, Vertigo, and a few
independent books, but that’s another post.
Over
the years I’ve gone through phases where I was more and less
invested in comic books, but I’ve usually stuck with or at least
stayed aware of what was happening with the X-Men. Age
of Apocalypse
– many people’s favorite thing ever – was a stopping point for
me. I did not like it. And I get flack every time I mention that.
Just for the sake of argument, let’s pretend that everyone is
allowed to have their own opinions and taste, okay?
I
dove back in after Scarlet Witch blooped most of the mutants out of
existence. As much as I hated that concept, I do feel like some good
stories came out of it. After that I was a fairly constant reader
until a few years ago when Rick Remender stopped writing X books and
Brian Michael Bendis started. I was appalled that Bendis was being
allowed into my corner of the Marvel Universe. I love Ultimate
Spider-Man
and a couple of other Bendis books, but I find his writing on team
books to be intolerable. His written dialogue is some of the worst
and he writes every character exactly the same.
Once
the Marvel Cinematic Universe started up I wanted to check out some
of these characters. I read some various Iron Man comics for a while.
Kieron Gillen’s stuff was great, Matt Fraction’s was less so. He
took twelve issues to tell a one issue story. I might be
exaggerating, but not by much.
I
read books about Thor, Hulk, Captain America, and other Marvel
mainstays. I couldn’t tell you much about them. It was rare that I
stuck around for more than a few issues and I can’t remember any of
the stories I read about the main Avengers. I did like Remender’s
Uncanny
Avengers,
though. At least, up until that terrible “AXIS” storyline. It
started off well enough, but once Red Skull turned into full-on Red
Skull Onslaught it got bad quick.
I
checked out Original
Sin and
apparently was the only one that enjoyed it. I waited until the whole
thing had been released, though. Taking it all in at once might have
made a difference.
Okay.
I’m rambling. That’s what happens when you write a post over the
course of three weeks. Let me get back on track.
Right
now the Marvel books I’m reading are:
Silver
Surfer
Gwenpool:
The Unbelievable
Black
Widow
Spidey
And
Howard
the Duck
and Mockingbird,
both of which were excellent and recently ended. Plus I do intend to
get caught back up on Spider-Woman.
I dropped it when they did the “Spider-Women” crossover because I
didn’t think it was good and I knew we were heading right into
“Civil War 2” after that and I was confident that wouldn’t be
good, either. But it turns out that one had a minimal effect on
Spider-Woman.
The book was great, so I want to add it back.
Speaking
of excellent, I also buy all of the Star Wars books, but they don’t
really count for this conversation. I’m mostly talking about
superhero books and stuff that is a direct creation of Marvel.
So.
Four books. No main continuity Spider-Man. No X-Men. Certainly no
primary Marvel Universe stories.
To
me, that reeks of editorial problems with Marvel’s general
direction. The only titles that I enjoy are the ones that are on the
fringes of the Universe where creators seem to have a bit more leeway
with storytelling and aren’t getting bogged down by events.
Honestly,
what is even the point of getting attached to an X-Men book? Even if
I like it, whatever story is being told is going to be derailed by
some mandated event within six months. I’ve seen it happen again
and again over the years and I’m over it. I’ve given up.
When
I get hungry for X-Men stories, there are plenty that I haven’t
read that I can track down. Not to mention the hundreds of issues of
old X-books I already own and wouldn’t mind reading again. The same
goes for Spider-Man. As for the Avengers, I have to admit that most
of them aren’t inherently compelling enough to me to go out of my
way to check anything out.
So
how have I decided to buy so few titles? What goes into my decision
to avoid most of Marvel’s books?
As
I mentioned, the inevitable story-breaking events are a major
deterrent. I also keep up with recaps from various websites so that I
can stay current and pick something up if it sounds interesting.
Of
course, there are also my monthly
Previews
rundowns.
I have a pretty good idea of who’s writing and drawing what and if
anything new looks good. I’ll add stuff to my pull list from time
to time and let me tell you - I have a big ol’ stack of #1 and #2
issues from books I’ve dropped. Maybe I’ll do a giveaway
sometime.
So
help me out here, Phantomaniacs – what’s good? What are you
reading? Am I shortchanging Marvel’s quality or am I spot-on?
Let
me know. Drop me an email or join the Needless
Things Podcast Facebook Group
and talk about it with the Irregulars!
Next
time we’ll be talking about Marvel on TV!
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