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Oct. 12th, 2004 11:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dewinged-11:38 AM
Okay, I don't feel like reading at my desk today. I'm admittedly still half asleep, my mind wandering despite the fact that I did sleep early last night. My body is probably readjusting, which is going to make things suck for a few days. Well, more than they usually do, I guess. I started musing on comics, a usual, and the state of some books, and I keep drawing some basic conclusions and working out the reasons why.
My thought? I don't like where Avengers is right now, and where it's headed.
Now, to be honest, I started reading the book when it was put back to normal at the end of Heroes Reborn, and it was pretty well-received back then. Busiek had/still has a head for past history, and clarifying things that have gone before while bringing in new things as part of the mythos. For someone who had a vague idea of who a lot of the characters were, he did a good job of making newer readers like myself familiar with the characters, and the art by Perez never fails to please me.
(Of course, putting one of my favorite Marvel characters on that team of reformed Avengers was pretty much a set thing for ensuring my loyalty. You folks know me by now: I've been reading the book at all just waiting for their return.)
But now? Bendis is taking an arc to essentially annihilate everything Busiek built. (And, to give credit, the ones who took over after Busiek. But Geoff Johns' run on Avengers was not nearly as strong as his stuff on JSA and Teen Titans, and Chuck Austen, well, you know how that turned out.)
There's a theory: Do so many people like what Bendis is doing now /because/ it's following Chuck Austen's stuff on the book? I can imagine some mentalities being 'It's not Austen, therefore good.' Not everyone's mind: some might have very good reasons for liking Bendis' 'Chaos" story.
But...with what's coming up, the restructuring of the team, and this story in general, it's just not working for me.
I wish I had online resources available here at my desk to secure some of the details, but I don't, so I'm going to wing it.
I'll start here: I can see what they're trying to do with the Avengers. They're going for an iconic team book with the most recognizable characters in the Marvel Universe, much like the 96-97 revamping of the JLA was a team book of the DC Universe's iconic characters.
The JLA works. At one point, the 'big 7' of the League each had their own book (at least one, some have more), and the JLA was where they united for the world-shaking tasks. Since they each had their own books, such things like characterization and personal advancement were not needed, which is why Grant Morrison succeeded on JLA because he disdains such things as it is. The JLA on his run was the 'cinematic team-up' book, with a number of new faces as time went on, some of which I admit to getting attached to.
The thing is, the JLA 'big 7' were all characters that had been, in one incarnation or another, members or legacies of the Justice League, if they were not the original Founders. JLA #1 had 2 Original Founders (Aquaman, Martian Manhunter), three of their earliest recruits (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman), and 2 that were the new incarnations of two of the other Founders (Green Lantern, Flash). Through countless League incarnations and other media (cartoons, a certain TV show pilot I still haven't seen, for example), the public perceives them as working togethe, as a team.
With this new Avengers lineup...and I can't even lookup what the final roster is from here. But I remember a few things, and I'll try and explain what makes things on the back of my neck itch when I ponder this as a team.
1) Spider-Man. Do not get me wrong. While I don't read the Spider-books (because I know my monetary limits. q.v. Superman, Batman), I always liked him. The movies proved it to an extent that Spider-Man is just cool, and the core concept is an ordinary guy with superpowers. At least, it was. I mean, I can certainly relate to a teenage geek who got bitten by a radioactive spider and didn't get radiation sickness, no longer had to wear thick glasses so he could see more than 2 inches in front of his face, and invented his own adhesive substance and projection devices for that stuff, at all of 15-16 years old. Yeah, lots of ordinary guys can totally understand what that's like.
However, Peter Parker is older now, and deals with more ordinary-people issues, like his troubles in his marriage to his SUPERMODEL ACTRESS WIFE. I mean, I can so totally relate to having a SUPERMODEL ACTRESS WIFE. All my friends talk about is the troubles they have in thair marriage to their SUPERMODEL ACTRESS WIVES. Yeah, way to relate to the common man there, Marvel. (Note: This paragraph was paraphrased from a pose I saw somewhere else. Sadly, I do not remember where, or whom, but I want to give them proper credit, and make perfectly clear I do NOT take credit for this paragraph. It was something I heard and repeated, and not my own.)
But, okay, I still like Spider-Man, but the whole thing is that while he can do team-ups, he is still an outcast, and a loner in a lot of ways. I know he's a reservist Avenger, but I can't see him going toe-to-toe with Kang full-time.
2) Sentry. Who? What?
3) Spider-Woman. I'm not even sure if this Spider-Woman is Jessica Drew or Julia Carpenter. And hey, wasn't there another one besides those two? But, aside from being named after a Marvel Hero and adding two extra letters, there's nothing that seems to edge towards the 'Iconic' motif that Marvel and Bendis are going for.
4) Luke Cage/Power Man. Iconic? Uh...well, Iconic characters aren't suddenly pulled out of the ass-end of Comic Limbo after how many years?
5) Wolverine. Honestly? I was always neutral on Logan. Never hated him, never thought he was the best thing since sliced bread either. He's just...there.
And he's just here in the Avengers now, too. Matter of fact, he's EVERYWHERE! Okay, granted, Wolverine is probably one of, if not the most recognized, hero in the MU right now. And I can kinda see the marketing thing, but I think he's on every team, and guest-starring in the ones he's not on. Enough, already! I want someone to explain how he can be everywhere at once and not be cloned.
Wait...I read the recent Uncanny. Don't mention clones and Wolverine, please...
Anyway, the whole point is that with the League, you can have a team like that and it seems right. Here, with the Avengers, even is the base concept of the planet's mightiest heroes is the same, it really seems like Marvel's trying to put the square peg in the round hole.
Okay, going off the rant mode.
Okay, I don't feel like reading at my desk today. I'm admittedly still half asleep, my mind wandering despite the fact that I did sleep early last night. My body is probably readjusting, which is going to make things suck for a few days. Well, more than they usually do, I guess. I started musing on comics, a usual, and the state of some books, and I keep drawing some basic conclusions and working out the reasons why.
My thought? I don't like where Avengers is right now, and where it's headed.
Now, to be honest, I started reading the book when it was put back to normal at the end of Heroes Reborn, and it was pretty well-received back then. Busiek had/still has a head for past history, and clarifying things that have gone before while bringing in new things as part of the mythos. For someone who had a vague idea of who a lot of the characters were, he did a good job of making newer readers like myself familiar with the characters, and the art by Perez never fails to please me.
(Of course, putting one of my favorite Marvel characters on that team of reformed Avengers was pretty much a set thing for ensuring my loyalty. You folks know me by now: I've been reading the book at all just waiting for their return.)
But now? Bendis is taking an arc to essentially annihilate everything Busiek built. (And, to give credit, the ones who took over after Busiek. But Geoff Johns' run on Avengers was not nearly as strong as his stuff on JSA and Teen Titans, and Chuck Austen, well, you know how that turned out.)
There's a theory: Do so many people like what Bendis is doing now /because/ it's following Chuck Austen's stuff on the book? I can imagine some mentalities being 'It's not Austen, therefore good.' Not everyone's mind: some might have very good reasons for liking Bendis' 'Chaos" story.
But...with what's coming up, the restructuring of the team, and this story in general, it's just not working for me.
I wish I had online resources available here at my desk to secure some of the details, but I don't, so I'm going to wing it.
I'll start here: I can see what they're trying to do with the Avengers. They're going for an iconic team book with the most recognizable characters in the Marvel Universe, much like the 96-97 revamping of the JLA was a team book of the DC Universe's iconic characters.
The JLA works. At one point, the 'big 7' of the League each had their own book (at least one, some have more), and the JLA was where they united for the world-shaking tasks. Since they each had their own books, such things like characterization and personal advancement were not needed, which is why Grant Morrison succeeded on JLA because he disdains such things as it is. The JLA on his run was the 'cinematic team-up' book, with a number of new faces as time went on, some of which I admit to getting attached to.
The thing is, the JLA 'big 7' were all characters that had been, in one incarnation or another, members or legacies of the Justice League, if they were not the original Founders. JLA #1 had 2 Original Founders (Aquaman, Martian Manhunter), three of their earliest recruits (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman), and 2 that were the new incarnations of two of the other Founders (Green Lantern, Flash). Through countless League incarnations and other media (cartoons, a certain TV show pilot I still haven't seen, for example), the public perceives them as working togethe, as a team.
With this new Avengers lineup...and I can't even lookup what the final roster is from here. But I remember a few things, and I'll try and explain what makes things on the back of my neck itch when I ponder this as a team.
1) Spider-Man. Do not get me wrong. While I don't read the Spider-books (because I know my monetary limits. q.v. Superman, Batman), I always liked him. The movies proved it to an extent that Spider-Man is just cool, and the core concept is an ordinary guy with superpowers. At least, it was. I mean, I can certainly relate to a teenage geek who got bitten by a radioactive spider and didn't get radiation sickness, no longer had to wear thick glasses so he could see more than 2 inches in front of his face, and invented his own adhesive substance and projection devices for that stuff, at all of 15-16 years old. Yeah, lots of ordinary guys can totally understand what that's like.
However, Peter Parker is older now, and deals with more ordinary-people issues, like his troubles in his marriage to his SUPERMODEL ACTRESS WIFE. I mean, I can so totally relate to having a SUPERMODEL ACTRESS WIFE. All my friends talk about is the troubles they have in thair marriage to their SUPERMODEL ACTRESS WIVES. Yeah, way to relate to the common man there, Marvel. (Note: This paragraph was paraphrased from a pose I saw somewhere else. Sadly, I do not remember where, or whom, but I want to give them proper credit, and make perfectly clear I do NOT take credit for this paragraph. It was something I heard and repeated, and not my own.)
But, okay, I still like Spider-Man, but the whole thing is that while he can do team-ups, he is still an outcast, and a loner in a lot of ways. I know he's a reservist Avenger, but I can't see him going toe-to-toe with Kang full-time.
2) Sentry. Who? What?
3) Spider-Woman. I'm not even sure if this Spider-Woman is Jessica Drew or Julia Carpenter. And hey, wasn't there another one besides those two? But, aside from being named after a Marvel Hero and adding two extra letters, there's nothing that seems to edge towards the 'Iconic' motif that Marvel and Bendis are going for.
4) Luke Cage/Power Man. Iconic? Uh...well, Iconic characters aren't suddenly pulled out of the ass-end of Comic Limbo after how many years?
5) Wolverine. Honestly? I was always neutral on Logan. Never hated him, never thought he was the best thing since sliced bread either. He's just...there.
And he's just here in the Avengers now, too. Matter of fact, he's EVERYWHERE! Okay, granted, Wolverine is probably one of, if not the most recognized, hero in the MU right now. And I can kinda see the marketing thing, but I think he's on every team, and guest-starring in the ones he's not on. Enough, already! I want someone to explain how he can be everywhere at once and not be cloned.
Wait...I read the recent Uncanny. Don't mention clones and Wolverine, please...
Anyway, the whole point is that with the League, you can have a team like that and it seems right. Here, with the Avengers, even is the base concept of the planet's mightiest heroes is the same, it really seems like Marvel's trying to put the square peg in the round hole.
Okay, going off the rant mode.