tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post2585505981934960565..comments2024-03-27T11:32:34.392-07:00Comments on NOT A HOAX! NOT A DREAM!: THE NEW TEEN TITANS #6 & #7Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-24519905692346447442015-01-22T14:37:43.939-08:002015-01-22T14:37:43.939-08:00I've heard a lot of good things about the Levi...I've heard a lot of good things about the Levitz/Giffen LEGION, but the Legion has never really appealed to me as a concept. Nonetheless, DC is releasing <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401244165/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401244165&linkCode=as2&tag=nahnad-20&linkId=3IWH4LJDOZXMOCNN" rel="nofollow">a trade paperback of their "Great Darkness Saga"</a> next month, and while I didn't pre-order it, I might pick it up eventually for a sampling of the run.<br /><br />As for Barr/Davis Batman, I've already read that and I even wrote a couple posts about it!<br /><br /><a href="http://notahoaxnotadream.blogspot.com/2013/12/legends-of-dark-knight-alan-davis.html" rel="nofollow">LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT: ALAN DAVIS</a><br /><a href="http://notahoaxnotadream.blogspot.com/2013/12/batman-by-mike-w-barr-alan-davis.html" rel="nofollow">BATMAN BY MIKE W. BARR & ALAN DAVIS: DETECTIVE COMICS # 569, 570, 571</a><br /><a href="http://notahoaxnotadream.blogspot.com/2013/12/batman-by-mike-w-barr-alan-davis_20.html" rel="nofollow">BATMAN BY MIKE W. BARR & ALAN DAVIS: DETECTIVE COMICS # 572, 573, 574</a>Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-52004533690552245392015-01-22T12:51:00.123-08:002015-01-22T12:51:00.123-08:00There is also the Levitz/Giffen LEGION OF SUPER-HE...There is also the Levitz/Giffen LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and the Barr/Davis Batman stories.angmc43@hotmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15379700547226493861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-62335091749385530452015-01-22T09:19:18.313-08:002015-01-22T09:19:18.313-08:00I basically ignored DC in the nineties because of ...I basically ignored DC in the nineties because of my limited experiences with them in the eighties. The only DC I read regularly, as I've noted several times before, was BATMAN ADVENTURES. I looked at a friend's "Death of Superman" and "Knightfall" issues, but they didn't really make me anxious for more. I've still never read a single ongoing monthly DC comic on a regular basis, and considering that I've basically given up on modern comics, it's unlikely that I ever will. I generally got my DC fix from the Bruce Timm cartoons and various mini-series and trades of major story arcs.<br /><br />Which is why I'm trying to fill in all the holes in my DC knowledge via reprints nowadays. There are many runs I want to read: Wolfman/Perez TITANS, Byrne Superman, Perez WONDER WOMAN, DeMatteis/Giffen JLI, and, though they seem unlikely to ever be collected in full, all the pre-CRISIS Batman stories from Gerry Conway and Doug Moench.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-76395999666677881482015-01-22T07:41:09.048-08:002015-01-22T07:41:09.048-08:00I too remember raising an eyebrow at the Trigon ma...I too remember raising an eyebrow at the Trigon material in issue #6 in a "wow, they got away with this back then?" kind of way when I first read it a few months ago. <br /><br />Curiously, it seems like the general consensus amongst comic fans is that DC (at least until the 90s) was always the brighter, sunnier, more kid-friendly book, relative to the more gritty and streetwise Marvel (ie Spider-Man had a dead uncle and dead girlfriend; Green Lantern, meanwhile, had to stay clear of yellow light...). Then, of course, everything went nuts in the 90s and 00s, and now DC has the head-rolling, arm-slicing, needlessly-trying-to-prove-"we're not kids books!" reputation as the more gratuitously "dark" company. I've admittedly not read much Bronze Age DC (I started with DC until the 90s, when the entire industry was changing; I didn't know, for example, that Bronze Age DC had actual swear words) so I can't speak to the difference personally, I've just always gotten the impression that the zeitgeist, at least once upon a time, thought DC=bright, Marvel=dark. <br /><br />Like you said, it could just be the DCs you encountered that tipped your impression the other way. That certainly is a litany of intense issues you listed off. The first toe I dipped into the DC waters regularly was "Knightfall", which of course climaxed with Bane breaking Batman's back. That probably would have been traumatic to me at some point, but I was easily a tween the first time I read it (well on my way to becoming a jaded teen), and had been reading 90s-era Marvel for a few years before that, so I was more "kewl!" than horrified. <br /><br />As for issue #7, I think I enjoyed that one just for being the issue where Cyborg finally gets the enormous chip he's been lugging around since issue #1 off his shoulder. I found the character hugely insufferable up to that point, and while I still wouldn't call him a favorite, at least after issue #7 he becomes readable. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-42377446182198205302015-01-20T10:08:20.517-08:002015-01-20T10:08:20.517-08:00I've wanted to read TOMB OF DRACULA forever. I...I've wanted to read TOMB OF DRACULA forever. I've heard so many great things about it. I bought the first ESSENTIAL volume years ago, but I only read the first few issues. Marvel released some Omnibus volumes of the entire series, but I passed on those. I should go back and try to find the remaining Essentials, since Gene Colan's artwork looked really good in black and white.<br /><br />Interesting about the LEGION scene, considering -- as you say -- that there was a big hullabaloo about Nightwing and Starfire sharing a bed years later. Maybe LEGION just fell under the radar somehow.<br /><br />"<b>You make a point that despite the angsty Marvel, the brighter DC Comics had its rougher side as well.</b>"<br /><br />Funny thing is, I never thought of DC as brighter. Maybe I just looked at the wrong DCs and the right Marvels, but Marvel felt much more "four-color" to me than DC when I was a little kid. Part of it was the swearing; Jim Shooter had outlawed all curse words in Marvel comics, around 1980, while DC characters kept on using them.<br /><br />But DC in general just felt darker and grittier to me. I distinctly remember an issue of SUPERMAN or ACTION COMICS where, I assume in a dream sequence or something, Superman punches his hand into Lex Luthor's chest. That freaked me out. And I think I've said before around here that I was practically traumatized by "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorow", which disguised its carnage with kid-friendly Curt Swan artwork. Then there was "A Death in the Family", featuring Robin beaten to death by a crowbar-wielding Joker... and it just went on.<br /><br />I swear, somehow every DC comic I looked at as a child made me feel dirty and ashamed. But then, maybe I was just -- as Aunt May might say -- "a sensitive boy." Heck, even "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge", published years before I was born, gave me the creeps!<br /><br />(For reference, these were all things I read when I was between the ages of eight and ten years old.)<br /><br />...Moving on: I think Cyborg's reconciliation with Silas was more out of guilt than anything else. He finds out his dad is dying and he's spent the past however many months ignoring the guy who raised him and saved his life. Then when this bomb is dropped, he realizes what a dick he's been (no offense, Robin) and makes amends.<br /><br />As far as Robin's pupils go, I think it's just a matter of "to each their own". I just find them very distracting and not nearly as cool looking as the blank whites. I think pupils can be very effective in small doses. John Byrne gave Wolverine pupils once or twice, and they worked extremely well. Neal Adams had done the same with Batman years before. I think Robin's eyes should be blank the majority of the time, with the pupils only showing up for special occasions.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-59554380848467639292015-01-19T13:37:26.350-08:002015-01-19T13:37:26.350-08:00Well, Wolfman already handled the combination of s...Well, Wolfman already handled the combination of satanism, sex (in a scene where Dracula and Domitia are clearly doing it), and (off-screen) infanticide toward the end of his TOMB OF DRACULA run. And I think AVENGERS#200 was on the newsstands that year (although that was an accident). But yes, it is very explicit here. DC Comics seemed to have gotten away with a lot in those days. I remember a 1980 LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (pre-Levitz-Giffen) where Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl wake up in bed, and its clear they ain't got a stitch on. I found it funny this panel didn't seem to raise a few eyebrows (unlike a similar scene in a future NTT comic). Also, in the same comic, the colorist was trying to tone down the risque clothing of Shadow Lass and Princess Projectra (Dave Cockrum-Mike Grell designs) by coloring the skin parts.<br />You make a point that despite the angsty Marvel, the brighter DC Comics had its rougher side as well. <br />As for Cyborg's reconciliation with his father, I don't quite understand the reason. One would think Vic knew his origins (Earlier he mentions the accident that killed mom and got him this suit). I suppose the difference is that Vic finally realized that his father's reason for making him a cyborg had nothing to do with scientific research but genuine fatherly love. The mortally ill revelation also helped.<br />I never really had a problem with Dick's pupils. It made Robin look more badarse with his stern glare. The only time it bothered me was the cover to SECRET ORIGINS ANNUAL: TEEN TITANS, with the sliding heads of Dick as Robin- Boy Wonder, Robin- Teen Wonder, Nightwing, and Dick staring at you. Rather discomforting.angmc43@hotmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15379700547226493861noreply@blogger.com