Weekly Comic Spotlight #29

[Wood]

Hey Guys,

You've been kind of quiet lately, hopefully it's just the flu bug and you'll be back in full force soon enough. I'm DYING for another Back Issue Spotlight, it's been awhile since you talked back issues.

Anywho, I didn't see a thread for this week's episode so I figured I would start one:

1) JSA #13 -- Great issue. I really love how Johns is weaving in the Kingdom Come mythos into the mainstream DCU. I have no idea how (or if) this all ties into what Morrison has planned in Final Crisis, but I'm loving the ride until then. Two quick points. The purple faced guy at the end is the REAL Gog, i.e., the super powerful one from The Kingdom. As to the Alex Ross illustrations that hearken back to Kingdom Come, they don't appear to be from Kingdom Come (not reprints) BUT Superman DID have a ponytail at the start of Kingdom Come [John said he couldn't remember that].

2) Thor #6 -- While this issue was late, the series had been on time before that; seems unfair to characterize this series as a 'late series' based on one issue. I COMPLETELY disagree with you guys about the artwork and the costume, I think Coipel's art is phenomenal and think the costume works b/c it's much grounded in true Norse mythology. I'm loving this series so far, particularly that Loki comes back as a woman. That's classic.

Keep up the good work guys,

Wood

[JohnMayo]

There have been a few things preventing us from doing another Back Issue Spotlight recently. That track of episodes is far from dead, I just need to find a little more time in the day.

Part of it is the crunch at the end of a month/start of the next month with the two Mayo Report episodes, the Previews teleconference and the Previews Spotlight. Plus there is the Weekly Comics Spotlight and me needing to find the time to crunch the monthly numbers and write my CBR report. This month it was worse than usual since the January 2008 numbers were messed up and required significantly more time on the number crunching side.

Add to that the, um, issues surrounding my column for a new comic book magazine that resulted in the scuttling of a significant amount of work on the column requiring a last minute rewrite of one column and starting from scratch on the next column. The amount of wasted time and effort on that project was time I could have spent on other things.

And, at the moment, I haven't even opened up the DCBS shipment that arrived yesterday or read more than four or five things from the previous one and I still have most of the one before that to read.

The other main slowdown on releasing the other episode tracks like the Back Issue Spotlight is the time it takes to edit them. I've been reworking my editing process to avoid some of the major glitches that happened in a number of episodes that required them to be fixed and reposted. I think I've found a methodology that might speed things up considerably without sacrificing too much in the way of quality. That should help a lot too.

My upcoming Japan trip is also something that we are working around. I've got a few things that I have to get done before that trip. I will will probably need a little time afterwards to recover from it before we kick things back into high gear.


1) I wound up flipping through Kingdom Come the other day and, yep, you are right, Superman does have a ponytail. Which makes sense. Kingdom Come was the future of the DCU as it stood at that point in time and Superman was still in the post-death-and-resurrection-and-needs-a-haircut mode. Good catch on that, Wood.

2) There was a two month gap between issues #3 and #4 of Thor. While not as late as some titles, it is two months behind where a monthly series should be. Two issues each a month late within the first six issues? Come on, at this point they should have been on time if they had built up any sort of buffer in the schedule. Clearly they didn't. If they had, then issue #4 wouldn't have been late. And, after having that extra month to get out issue #4, here we are another month late on issue #6? Hopefully this was simply some anomalies and not the start of a trend.

Perhaps I was a bit hard on the title but this is more than just a single issue being late.

Okay, two issues isn't a whole lit more than a single issue but this early in the game lateness is much less acceptable than an issue or two being late on a long established title.


While you might be right about the costume being grounded in Norse mythology, I'm not really up on my Norse mythology so I hadn't noticed.

Overall, I agree that the art is good. I just don't care for the short and wide look that Thor is currently sporting. He'll either grow another foot or narrow by about a foot whenever he should up elsewhere in the Marvel Universe.

[Wood]

The good news is it sounds like you're busy doing comics-related things

Forgot about your impending trip to Japan, you must be giddy.

My sons are just now getting into Power Rangers so I'm boning up a bit on the long history there.

[JohnMayo]

I just wish more othe comics-releated things I was doing included more actual reading of comics...

I'm really looking forward to the Japan trip. I haven't seen that side of the family in about five or six years. I might even some podcast segments for a post-trip report. We'll see how that goes.

If you can find it, check out "Legacy of Power", episode five of Power Rangers DinoThunder. It give a decent overview of the Power Rangers history. The new season, Jungle Fury, seems to be off to a fairly good start.

[BobBretall]

2) Thor #6 -- While this issue was late, the series had been on time before that; seems unfair to characterize this series as a 'late series' based on one issue. I COMPLETELY disagree with you guys about the artwork and the costume, I think Coipel's art is phenomenal and think the costume works b/c it's much grounded in true Norse mythology.

I don't recall saying I dislike Coipel's art, I think as art it's very nice. I just don't like the costume update. I guess I'm just not big on updating classic costumes. This new costume is the Thor version of the "Iron Spider". A needless re-working of a costume I loved. And if you want to really get back into the "old Norse" look, I believe Thor had red hair and a big red beard in the Norse legends. I don't want to see that either. This is not the Norse Thor we're talking about, it's the Marvel super-hero created by Stan Lee with an original design by Jack Kirby.

[Wood]

2) Thor #6 -- While this issue was late, the series had been on time before that; seems unfair to characterize this series as a 'late series' based on one issue. I COMPLETELY disagree with you guys about the artwork and the costume, I think Coipel's art is phenomenal and think the costume works b/c it's much grounded in true Norse mythology.

I don't recall saying I dislike Coipel's art, I think as art it's very nice. I just don't like the costume update. I guess I'm just not big on updating classic costumes. This new costume is the Thor version of the "Iron Spider". A needless re-working of a costume I loved. And if you want to really get back into the "old Norse" look, I believe Thor had red hair and a big red beard in the Norse legends. I don't want to see that either. This is not the Norse Thor we're talking about, it's the Marvel super-hero created by Stan Lee with an original design by Jack Kirby.

I understand that perspective although, to be fair, this is NOT the same Thor in many ways. Remember, the very definition of Ragnarok is the death of the gods. The rebirth, while similar in many ways, is shaped by the times and has its differences from prior incarnations. Look no further than the fact Loki is a woman this time out.

As to the art, sorry if I misunderstood your stance. I know you took issue with the costume [and I too would prefer the classic look, but I don't mind this one as much it seems]; but I also remember you taking issue with how wide Thor is drawn; and that speaks much more to Coipel's art style than the costume.

Either way, I'm just happy to have him back and that we're still in the honeymoon phase of JMS' run.

[JohnMayo]

I gues the best way to phrase my take on it is that while Coipel is a good artist, I don't like the "look" of Thor. Both in terms of the costume and the physique of the character. It is very well drawn. I just don't care for what Coipel set out to draw.

Your point that this is a different Thor is a valid one. But be that Thor thou Thor-eth of olde or not, he looks like he it built more like Puck from the original Alpha Flight than a Norse God. Or maybe Norse God are short and wide, I really don't know.

In any case, it is a decent book, they are doing good stories in it.

[Wood]

I gues the best way to phrase my take on it is that while Coipel is a good artist, I don't like the "look" of Thor. Both in terms of the costume and the physique of the character. It is very well drawn. I just don't care for what Coipel set out to draw.

Your point that this is a different Thor is a valid one. But be that Thor thou Thor-eth of olde or not, he looks like he it built more like Puck from the original Alpha Flight than a Norse God. Or maybe Norse God are short and wide, I really don't know.

In any case, it is a decent book, they are doing good stories in it.

Actually, Vikings were shorter than the average person today:

http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/vikheight.shtml

[JohnMayo]

I guess I always think of gods as being larger than life...

[BobBretall]

I understand that perspective although, to be fair, this is NOT the same Thor in many ways. Remember, the very definition of Ragnarok is the death of the gods. The rebirth, while similar in many ways, is shaped by the times and has its differences from prior incarnations. Look no further than the fact Loki is a woman this time out.

Excellent point, I had not thought of that. Different Thor = Different Costume

As to the art, sorry if I misunderstood your stance. I know you took issue with the costume [and I too would prefer the classic look, but I don't mind this one as much it seems]; but I also remember you taking issue with how wide Thor is drawn; and that speaks much more to Coipel's art style than the costume.

True. However, he does not seem to draw other people "wide", so I was attributing Thor's generally "odd" (to me) look as just a statement of how Coipel had interpreted the new Thor & his costume. Though, I guess he's not a chick (like Loki), so I should be happy he's only a wide-guy with a crappy costume

[choanata]

I can't wait for next episode. I picked up Sisterhood #1 and thought it was pretty wretched. Looking forward to hearing your takes.

This week's episode was great, they're all really good. Love the Weekly Review and when I can listen, the Mayo Report thing. Eventually I'll get to listening to the other podcats, back issue and previews and super fans.

[BobBretall]

I can't wait for next episode. I picked up Sisterhood #1 and thought it was pretty wretched. Looking forward to hearing your takes.

We both liked it (had some minor qualms, but overall it was good). What about Sisterhood really got on your nerves?