Comic Book Coffee Break #53

 Thanks for joining me on my Comic Book Coffee Break!  Today I'm having Yuban coffee with cream and Vanilla.

Let's talk comic books.

With the Black Widow movie dropping, we got to work on a whole spotlight episode for Howe's Things s that means another themed entry for CBCB.

Marvel

Back in 2015 I read the first volume of the Nathan Edmonson/Phil Noto run, The Finely Woven Thread. I was taken with the art which manages to feel both modern and 70s chic all at once.  The story was a little nonsensical at times, but I figured I'd follow the series for a while.  Only I didn't. Then jump to 2020 when the movie was set to come out. 

I remembered nothing about V.1 so I reread it and then the next two volumes.  They didn't really leave much of an impact on me, outside of the artwork. They make Natasha such an insular character that it's hard to invest in the character as a reader. It's a very stylish run, but I don't think it's going to convert anyone who already isn't onboard for Black Widow. 

Next I followed it up by reading The Name of the Rose by Marjorie Liu, Kiss or Rill by Duane Swierczynski then Widowmaker by Jim McCann.  I wish I had something to report on these, but they just didn't do it for me.  Marjorie Liu run stands out a bit with her more nuanced treatment of the character but with only 5 issues there wasn't really time to invest.

The Web of the Black Widow by Jody Houser and Stephen Mooney was a step in the right director but it's so rooted in continuity that it wasn't very approachable.  It isn't the "Year One" it is marketed as. 

Finally that brings me to Ties that Bind by Kelly Thompson and Elena Casagrande.  This was by far the best representation of the character that I've read or seen so far.  And yes it helps to have a vague idea of the relationships with Hawkeye and/or Bucky, but there's enough here to fill in the blanks.  This is clever and intriguing and I can't wait for volume 2.

Also, I very much liked the Black Widow movie.  We discussed it to death over on Howe's Things. 

DC

Over on DC, I've been reading Super Sons.  I finished the Ridley Pearson series with volume 3. This is a good end to the series, and I do think this works overall. I like that this is doing its own thing, but I wish it felt a little more like the DC world. Then I read both volumes of Adventures of the Super Sons by Peter J. Tomasi.  I don't know.  I think this premise is just stretched too thin. I don't see following the ongoing digital first series, but then I've tried to quit Super Sons before.  

Next Time...

I'm dragging my heels on finishing Final Days of Superman, but it will happen.

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You can find back issues of the video version of Comic Book Coffee Break here.
The audio version of Comic Book Coffee Break is over there. 
You can find me as the co-host of 9021 Here We G0: A 90210 Rewatch Podcast and This Endorian Life, both for the Radio Meanwhile Network. 
I also host Howe's Things, the podcast and radio show of the David A. Howe Public Library. 

Comic Book Coffee Break #52

 Thanks for joining me no my Comic Book Coffee Break!  Today I grabbed coffee at Dunkin' on my way in for an early meeting. Pretty solid coffee.

Let's talk comic books!

This week I was guest-hosting Previously on X-Men and the focus was on The First X-Men, a 2012 limited series from Neal Adams and Christos Gage.  Because of that you get an all Neal Adams issue.  Let's do it.

Marvel 

I'd already read The First X-Men a while back so I jumped back to Adams' early X-Men stuff as collected in X-Men Visionaries: Neal Adams.  This collects several issues from '69-'70 illustrated and plotted by Adams.  I always like the original team so it was fun to dive into this mess of a story and revisit the characters. The story dealt with Havok and then with the Sentinels, but I was primarily focusing on the art, which did live up to the hype.  It's bright, clever and delightfully chaotic. I can see why it got the "Visionaries" treatment. 

On to The First X-Men.  I guess I'd categorize this as... harmless?  It's fine.  It's a relatively entertaining story about Wolverine and Sabertooth setting up a proto X-Men team. It doesn't provide much in the way of new insights into the characters, but it does tell a very serviceable story.  We really picked it apart in the episode. 

DC Comics

I've read a lot of books with Neal Adams art, Green Lantern/Green Arrow and classic Batman comes to mind.  But I've only recently read some of the stuff we wrote as well. Let's talk The Coming of the Supermen. This feels to me like something that was written in the 80s, forgotten for a few decades, then dusted off and printed with no changes.  And I mean that as a compliment. It's kooky, it's weird, and I had a great time. 

Batman: Odyssey on the other hand, is every bit as bad as you've heard.  Despite the negative reviews, I went in to this slightly optimistic. After all, I'd enjoyed the Superman story, so I thought maybe. 

No. Everything about this is bad.

For starters, the plot is impossible to follow.  Not difficult, IMPOSSIBLE. The character designs are clunky and the overall look of the book is unappealing. I've read a lot of bad graphic novels, but this might actually be the worst mainstream graphic novel ever assembled.  I can't believe it went to print. 

There was one section with Robin and a dinosaur that I enjoyed, but it was brief. That's as close to a compliment as I can get. 

Here's the thing though, I do think you should read it, as least part of it anyway. It's worse than you think.

Next Time

I'm finishing up Superman Savage Dawn, then that's only leaves Final Days.  See you then.

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You can find back issues of the video version of Comic Book Coffee Break here.
The audio version of Comic Book Coffee Break is over there. 
You can find me as the co-host of 9021 Here We G0: A 90210 Rewatch Podcast and This Endorian Life, both for the Radio Meanwhile Network. 
I also host Howe's Things, the podcast and radio show of the David A. Howe Public Library.