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The return of Pulp


The NZA

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yeah, Logan might be by to say "it never left the indie books, you know!" and he'd not be wrong, but its all over the superhero books these days, and im fucking loving it.

 

if you followed the history of comics, you know this is where much of the superhero thing that guys like Ellis have been crying for years now about its domination of the medium. since then, its been niche at best - ive loved Weird Western Tales from Vertigo, and Mignola's Hellboy & B.P.R.D. feel like monthly gifts to me, but we're talking Vertigo (not a stranger to anything fringe) and Dark Horse (same, plus theyve brought so much respectable manga & samurai books here its not even funny).

 

But recently, most mainstream superhero books im reading, its clearly bleeding over, and the books've been made all the stronger for it. I didnt give a fuck about X-Factor till Maddrox was written as noir, which was a crazy refreshing change out of nowhere (especially for an x-book, which usually defines convoluted supehero drama). Id checked out Power Man & Iron Fist in the day, but current series - having Bru & Aja put the book out there like a shaolin kung-fu film quickly made it to the top of my must-reads (and Bru's doing much of the same with Daredevil, while keeping the angst & madness on board too). Ghost Rider even got some of it - mostly supernatural heaven/hell stuff that i thought stale since spawn, but with Highwayman and other such sci-fi tossed in, its been a great read.

 

Hell, arguably the best superhero book of last year was Morrison's All-Star Superman, which did what i started to feel every writer on that or Fantastic Four needs to do: write it like a sci-fi book. The alien pulp thing was a perfect call for Quitely, a man who knocked it out of the park with Grant on New X-Men and followed that up with one of the best works ive ever seen in the Sandman realm in Endless Nights...and that's saying a lot, guys like Sam Keith, Bachalo and all kinds of greats had a go at the title.

 

i just think it's really cool that we can do respectable books like The Lone Ranger around the same time that Marvel tries its hand again at Strange Tales. god, i hope this isnt just another phase.

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It never left indie books, you know!

 

I encourage this trend.

On a side note: I really dug New X-Men, it played a big part in getting me interested in the mainstream again, but I haven't read any All-Star Superman. I picked up Batman R.I.P. (just because it immediately precedes What Ever Happened to the Caped Crusader?) and found it kinda not-so good. I was pleased that there was no mention of dolphin saving or carbon footprints, but it wasn't really up to par for me.

I don't think I've read Superman since the John Byrne relaunch when I was a kid. Is it really that good?

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I loved the Maddrox mini-series that preceded X-Factor v2. Haven't read X-factor since Civil War though. Are you reading any of the Marvel NOIR books? I've got the Daredevil issues sitting on my harddrive, but haven't gotten tot hem yet.

 

 

It never left indie books, you know!

 

I encourage this trend.

On a side note: I really dug New X-Men, it played a big part in getting me interested in the mainstream again, but I haven't read any All-Star Superman. I picked up Batman R.I.P. (just because it immediately precedes What Ever Happened to the Caped Crusader?) and found it kinda not-so good. I was pleased that there was no mention of dolphin saving or carbon footprints, but it wasn't really up to par for me.

I don't think I've read Superman since the John Byrne relaunch when I was a kid. Is it really that good?

Not to turn this into yet another tangential thread of Grant Morrison hateration, but I found R.I.P. and Final Crisis (for the most part) a giant fucking turdsplat. Haven't read all of Morrison's run on X-men...yet, but I did really like All-Star Superman.

 

 

 

 

BaytorH8R5000 will launch Morrison hate in T-minus 10....9....8....

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No, Logan already used the joke about Morrison's obsession with environmental bullshit. I suppose I could go on about how he's good at building up really neat stories with no payoff but that doesn't anger me, it just makes me sad.

 

But in other news the pulp trend has encouraged me to read a lot of shit that I would not otherwise (Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, etc) in fact that very thing is making this new series of Marvel Zombies better than the entire damn series (though I have a soft spot in my heart for Machine Man shenanigans) I'm hoping that with the trend of rebooting old shitty series (Damage Control, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc.) Marvel might see it in their hearts to open up the good old Men in Black series but I realize that that hope is a ghost of a pipe dream and even if they did it would be that movie adaptation bullshit not the old pulp-style ones. :(

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anyone who hasnt read Grant's run on New X-Men really oughta; that team single-handedly brought the x-books back. so, so good, even if it does get weird by its end (it is morrison, after all).

 

Logan - i thought All-Star Superman was the best supes book since Red Son, hands down. really worth tracking down the TPB when you can.

 

props again to newt for getting me onto Iron Fist, and Baytor for Ghost Rider and getting back onto Moon Knight (yet another relaunch this week, im told - where's ghost rider though?)

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Okay, here's the thing with Ghost Rider, those sneaky fuckers have decided that for a new plot-line they needed a whole new series so they launched "Ghost RiderS" (because Danny's back and not douchey anymore) there have been 2 issues released so far.

 

I wanna know where my fucking Moon Knight is though.

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Man I have absolutely no idea what's going on in the modern Marvel Universe. I just don't have the time, patience or money to be following all these series. Just the idea of all these different series crisscrossing in all the big events and shit, argh it just does my head in.

 

For me now, I much prefer reading 50-60 issue series that have a beginning middle and end. Currently reading Ex Machina and 100 Bullets (which I'm buying) and Powers (got hooked before I realised it was ongoing). I intend to check good arcs of stories, Bendis' run on DD and such but otherwise I'm good parting ways with regular MU.

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Man I have absolutely no idea what's going on in the modern Marvel Universe. I just don't have the time, patience or money to be following all these series. Just the idea of all these different series crisscrossing in all the big events and shit, argh it just does my head in.

 

For me now, I much prefer reading 50-60 issue series that have a beginning middle and end. Currently reading Ex Machina and 100 Bullets (which I'm buying) and Powers (got hooked before I realised it was ongoing). I intend to check good arcs of stories, Bendis' run on DD and such but otherwise I'm good parting ways with regular MU.

 

This is why you should be reading Ghost Rider and Moon Knight, mostly self-contained stories with very little to do with the multiverse shenanigans of the rest of those assholes.

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yeah, i was ok with MAX ghost rider but the book proper that baytor's on is a different vein/feel entirely.

 

honestly ASC, if you're digging Powers & such, i cant recommend Daredevil enough. pretty much the arc Bendis started on right up through what's up now with Brubaker is all solid. im also enjoying Iron Fist a great deal, but i love cool kung-fu shit. and yeah, anything you get recommended here, you're almost certainly safe its self-contained, which is why im trying to pick more of these up in trade & encourage that. Marvel editors stepping off and letting creative teams do their thing, even with huge events going on - its something i never saw growing up, and its really paying off in spades here.

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Yeah, Moon Knight's been pimped a bit here alright been meaning to check that one out all right. I got some MAX Ghost Rider series by Ennis but it was so bad I couldn't finish it.

 

Where would you recommend to start with these?

 

On Moon Knight #1 is a good start with the current volume (I think we're on like, 5 or something? I don't know, just keep looking till you find the one where the art doesn't suck.)

 

If you're talking about the Western Ghost Rider one then I'm with you, that was shit. The other one Ennis did with Johnny Blaze was so-so but it ties into this new series. Just go from the first issue of the new series, ignore the pointless 2-issue deviation into Planet Hulk (you literally don't have to read it) and proceed from there. It starts out kinda okay, but post WWHulk it just keeps getting better. You'll also want to check out the 5-part Daniel Ketch series that really isn't very good but sets the stage for the core book. It's a small detour that answers some questions you'd have otherwise.

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^^Moonknight is also much lauded by the geeks at my local shop. I read the Civil War issue and wasn't impressed, so just passed it by. However, I was a big Ghost Rider back in my early fanboy days, so I might have to check out the new GR stuff since you're backing it so passionately. Only problem is finding the time to read more stuff...

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  • 9 years later...

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