slop101

If you like Brubaker's writing at all, I would highly recommend these:

rocket1312

I love Sleeper. Is that other stuff more recent? I'm not familiar with any of it.

Inhumans99

X-Factor The End Of X-Factor
Captain America Living Legend

slop101

Not really, they've all come out roughly over the same time period. Criminal is still going, as is Fatale. Even thought he changes up his style, it's the same artist on all those books as well.

Inhumans99

All-New X-Men / Indestructible Hulk / Superior Spider-Man: The Arms Of The Octopus

Inhumans99

A+X=Outstanding, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up Friendly Fire

rocket1312

I've been reading the Brubaker run on Captain America, and when I got to where Civil War comes in, I decided to go back and read that series before continuing. Of course, House of M is constantly referenced (which I read when it was new but don't remember) so I decided to go back to that first. Then I figured, what the hell, why don't I go back to where all of this nonsense started and read Avengers Disassembled (which I never read). I did a lot of bouncing around before starting back at the beginning, but this is what I've read in the last couple of days. Marvel Unlimited is the only reason any of this is possible.



Outside of a handful of Simonson issues, I've never read Thor. This was the supposed grand finale for the series (everyone dies!). Until JMS relaunched it a few months later, that is. I was able to follow the story ok, but this was obviously written for longtime fans of the character. I got the sense that Oeming was attempting to tie together all of the lose ends to Thor's story and make sense of the 50 years of continuity up to that point. In that regard it reminded me of something like Geoff Johns' Green Lantern: Rebirth or Hawkman. Of course not being familiar with the Thor mythos, most of it was lost on me. I enjoyed it, but it would be hard to recommend to anyone who isn't a fan of the character. It does explain why Thor was m.i.a. for a while.



I had read this when it was new. I guess this is important in the big picture of the grand story Bendis was telling. However, I remember the later issues being delayed quite a bit and seem to recall the rest of the Marvel continuity kind of passing it in the timeline. That meant that we kind of already knew what the end result was before the series was finished. On it's own, the story (Nick Fury going after the financial backers of supervillains) is sort of interesting even if it feels kind of rushed towards the end. Of course the reason for the delay was probably the painted artwork by Gabrielle dell'Otto. It's really nice to look at, but there's nothing about the series that really merits it. It's not like a standalone thing like Kingdom Come or Marvels. It's just another chapter in the whole New Avengers/Civil War/Secret Invasion/etc. story that consumed Marvel for years.



Another series that I had read when it was new. I was never an Avengers fanatic so I wasn't outraged by this like a lot of old school fans were at the time. I also adore Bendis's work on Daredevil, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt at the time. Re-reading these first 15 or so issues 1) made me appreciate all of the groundwork Bendis had been laying in terms of his big picture, and 2) made me realize just how aggravating his writing can be at times. It also seems like there were big story points that were changed on the fly and the series feels a little disjointed because of it. I know the identity of Ronin was changed for various reasons (it's obvious who the intended identity was). I also get the sense that the Sentry's story was changed up a bit. There seems to be a chunk of it missing. One day he's a mental case who's trying to piece together his forgotten history, the next he's had a haircut and is now part of the team. Maybe there's some other tie-in that I missed.

That last fact highlights what the biggest issue with this whole deal is. Bendis was creating this multi-year epic, but the story plays out over the course of so many different series and tie-ins that it's tough to follow if you don't read everything. However, it's not a traditional cross-over in the sense that each part is numbered and you can easily figure out what comes next. It's just a lot of stuff that happens in a lot of different places, and it doesn't even always make sense chronologically if you read by publication date. The fact that Marvel Unlimited's "event" pages on their website seem like they're totally broken doesn't help either. Seriously, does anyone else use this service? I love the content, but their website kind of sucks.

fujishig

I hated disassembled, especially coming off of the great, classic Busiek years and a mediocre Geoff Johns run only to see Bendis completely tear the team apart.

Secret War was more notable for Bendis kicking off his long form story. It's actually pretty impressive that he had the helm of the Avengers and pretty much the major crossovers of the Marvel Universe for so long. I think the seeds of Secret Invasion kicked off in that story as well, and Luke Cage being elevated to main eventer status. Plus the whole Nick Fury brainwashing superheroes stuff.

New Avengers was actually, at the time, a decent way to keep in touch with what was going on in the Marvel Universe since they were at the center of the major storylines. But you know they were going too crossover heavy when whole issues were just backstory for the main event, or what would have traditionally been one-shots. I can't imagine they guy just buying New Avengers was happy that he would have to wait months for the characters he was paying to see get back in the book. And then when they started Mighty and Secret and whatnot, they all tended to blend together for me when the crossovers came.

As for the Sentry, there are a bunch of secondary stories about him during that time. I also though the original Marvel Knights series that introduced him was pretty good... basically a golden aged hero who everyone forgot (kinda like DC's Triumph)

rocket1312

I realize this would never happen, but it's almost like they should have just let Bendis write a weekly "Marvel Universe" series that could bounce around from character to character telling his big story. Instead, you get random bits of this story spread over multiple titles. And like you mentioned, the stories featured in the various books didn't necessarily focus on the title characters. And there's not a lot of rhyme or reason to it, so it's hard to follow. I'm just glad that he and Brubaker kept Daredevil out of it. Years from now, that's the Marvel run from this period people are going to remember/revisit because you'll be able to just pick it up and read without all of the extraneous baggage.

fujishig

And then when they did bring Daredevil into it, first as an Avenger (where he was pretty superfluous) and then in his own featured "event" (which is better left forgotten) it was a trainwreck. Then Waid took ahold of him and Daredevil continued his run of getting awesome writers to write his character.

But being disconnected from Civil War (aside from a trip home for Nova) is one of the primary reasons I loved Annihilation and the cosmic stuff at the time.

Inhumans99

Inhumanity HC

slop101

And?

Kinda' wanted to pick it up, but I heard it was just mediocre.

Inhumans99

It was disjointed...like there was a tight story lurking somewhere in the book, but it was not found in this HC. It felt like this HC was more of a companion book, and the main story took place somewhere else (which it kind of did....in the Infinity omnibus). I grabbed it at Instocktrades for 52% off, so I still got my money's worth, but just barely.

I actually like the idea behind this story, and felt it was a good way to reintroduce "mutants" back into the Marvel universe. I know that originally this was supposed to be Matt Fractions next big Marvel Event, but politics appear to have derailed the impact of this event.

It does not help that although I really love Marvel Comics, that I am aware that it looks like they keep trying to recapture lightning in a bottle (Civil War) with the constant stream of Event stories they keep throwing at a wall to see what sticks.

slop101

Yeah, the Marvel "events" have been getting old for a while now. Infinity was good, but that was like one good one out of 10 not so good events. But I guess they drive sales.

PhantomStranger

It is a stark difference, even jumping between a 90's comic (with Image Comics as the exception) and one from today. It looks like artists want to throw in a splash panel on every other page these days. It's like Alan Moore's From Hell is not even in the same medium.

JasonF

It's huge, heavy, and unwieldy, but the quality seemed fine. My copy is packed away, so I can't check if it's a sewn or glued binding, but I never once felt like the spine was coming apart or pages were in danger of falling out.

And I love that New Warriors omnibus you mentioned. That series first came out right at the height of my teenage Marvel fandom, and I loved it. Just read the omni earlier this year and I still love it. It's really the last hurrah of a stye of team book that was super huge in the 80s (Wolfman/Perez Titans, Claremont X-Men, Levitz LSH) that has since faded away, and I love all of that stuff.

Inhumans99

Mind MGMT Volume Three The Home Maker - you must start with volume one, and you will either shrug your shoulders and walk away from the book, or will be happy to go along for the ride. Finally, it may seem odd to point out...but this HC had my favorite batch of covers (maybe it was because the colors made them pop)

Inhumans99

Captain Midnight Volume 2 Brave Old World - enjoyable book of an old-fashioned hero with mad tech chops reawakening in the modern world.

Inhumans99

The Victories Volume 3 Posthuman - Michael Avon Oemings take on a team of super heroes, fairly gritty and raw book. Also, monster sphinxes with multiple pairs of breasts...just saying.

Inhumans99

2 Past Midnight (featuring X, Ghost, and Captain Midnight) - fan off all three individual titles. The story is okay, but the artwork is just gorgeous (Eduardo Francisco creates some real stunning panels of Ghost)

Inhumans99

Bloodhound V2 Crowbar Medicine - I highly recommend reading the first trade, gritty book about a super who is occasionally released from prison with a proclivity to hunt down other supers. Saffron Bell (FBI Agent, his handler) and Travis Clevenger make a great team. Why take my word for it...Warren Ellis and Kurt Busiek are fans, so you can't go wrong by giving this series a try.

Inhumans99

- A+X = Amazing (volume 2) - underrated series...one and done stories of some unusual character team-ups, Jubilee and Captain America anyone. Also, some humor to be found (Kitty and Spider-woman forcing Hydra to clean up rubble after they were on the losing end of a battle, Beast and Wonder Man out for a night on the town). Did I already mention it is not part of a sprawling crossover event.
- Satellite Sam - Matt Fraction and B&W art from Chaykin...Nuff said, not really, okay, behind the scenes of a sci fi show, lurid pictures of women, politics in getting a show put on the airwaves, that should help.

fujishig

I realize the question is only what did you read, but any thoughts on your recent reads, Inhumans99?

Inhumans99

Not a bad idea, and I think I will go back and edit some of my posts to add a few words (even a super quick reaction on what I thought of the book may encourage some of you to consider picking the book up in print or digital).

rocket1312

I haven't posted in a while, but I've been continuing with my journey through Marvel's 2000's big events...

Avengers Disassembled: As I mentioned before, I didn't read this when it came out, but I was aware of the story and all of the controversy. Now that I've finally read it, I can see what everyone was upset about. I have no real emotional ties to the classic Avengers and in theory I'm fine with re-tooling a concept that may no longer be working. However, it's a shame that Bendis couldn't give the team a proper send-off and allow them to go out with a little dignity. I've probably read like 3 comics that featured She-Hulk and even I was upset by how she was treated. Even the big moment when all of the former Avengers answered the distress call and fought the Kree army was a terrible letdown. It mostly just made me pine for Busiek and Perez. The whole ordeal just came off as rushed and quite crass. It's too bad, because an "end of the Avengers" story could have been epic.

Iron Man Disassembled & Captain America Disassembled: I thought the Cap stories were enjoyable enough, but the bizarre subplot with him hooking up with Scarlet Witch didn't seem to go anywhere other than to plant the seeds that Wanda was going crazy. Obviously, better things were in store for his series. I liked the Iron Man one less even though it had more relevance to the main story. Neither is essential to the big picture and can be happily skipped.

House of M: I read this when it came out and after re-reading it I realized I had no recollection of it whatsoever. I ended up enjoying it more than I remembered mostly because these sorts of alternate reality stories can't help but be fun. The main conceit of Wanda giving everyone the lives they always wanted doesn't really hold up to much scrutiny, but I'll let it slide. The one real weakness I found was that most of the interesting stuff was happening outside of the main series.

House of M: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four/Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, World of M featuring Wolverine, No More mutants: I usually never read these sorts of tie-ins, but I liked all of these to varying degrees. FF and Hulk were my favorites. FF had Doom vs. Magneto and Hulk was a really strong Peter David stand alone that seems to fit in seemlessly with his ongoing series. I also enjoyed Spider-Man even though I have a hard time with the concept that people hate him because he wasn't born with his powers. Also, continuity wise it doesn't seem to jive with what we saw in the main series. Iron Man and Wolverine were my least favorites, but the Wolverine trade had a couple of really good one-offs like the Captain America and Black Panther issues. I only read parts of No More Mutants. The Exiles bit was fun (and works well in the larger context of the series) and The Day After was a strong bit of Claremont X-Men setting up the new status quo for the x titles, though it should have been an in issue in one of the main X-Men series. I couldn't muster up any enthusiasm for New X-Men or Mutopia X, so I skipped them.

I may revisit some of the Decimation stuff like X-Factor and Deadly Genesis (another story that should have just been part of the main series), but just looking at the reading list for that event makes my eyes glaze over. Can anyone honestly recommend stuff like The 198, Son of M, or Endangered Species? I'll probably just move on to Civil War instead.