You're not taking into account that the costumes in the film are doing to comic films what the watchmen did to the old 50's super hero genre.

Hell, even the song alone in the trailer being the same one found in Batman And Robin soundtrack should tell you that at least zack snyder gets it. I look forward to the film.

I have to agree with this. I just got done with the second trade and I still have no idea what the heck is going on, or why the issues have such a hard time segueing into each other. I'm sure there are like 10 regular series and 5 miniseries that detail all of this crap, but you'd think that
a) they could at least give you some kind of recap to make the book make sense on it's own... at the very least have some of those old-time editorial blurbs about what other issues are necessary (see Donna Troy and company get whupped in issue 4 of blahblah!).
b) They could get some higher profile/more consistent artists on this book. I know it's weekly, and it probably sells fine without, but when only one out of every four issues is even comprehensible, there's a problem.
c) They could get some protagonists that I could actually cheer for. I hate Mary Marvel (though that may be the point). I hate Jimmy Olsen and all his whining. I kinda like the Rogues, but it made me hate all the "heroes" like the Flash that they interacted with. I'm neutral about pseudo Catwoman, but I have no idea what the point of that storyline is. I hate Donna Troy, Jason Todd, and "good" Monitor, who is utterly ineffective at doing anything. I hate all the monitors.

Ironically, the stinking Monarch is in this fiasco too, so I can see the comparisons to Armageddon. Every time I see him I think "they screwed up Hawk and Dove for this?"

That's not even getting into the fact that it doesn't really lead into Final Crisis, even though it's the "Countdown to Final Crisis."

Thankfully JSA has seemingly steered way clear of any of this.

Here is an article by Steven Grant that speaks to some of these issues, and ties the disconnect between Countdown and Final Crisis to the spoiling of Armageddon 2001 - Captain Atom was supposed to become the Monarch; this was leaked, and DC panicked and changed the ending so that Hawk became the Monarch. Grant's thesis is that DC was so stung by this that they adopted a corporate strategy of high secrecy, so that there was no crosstalk between editorial offices about what would happen in Final Crisis, Countdown, and Death of the New Gods.

As for the JSA, it's steered clear of Countdown and Final Crisis but disappeared right up Alex Ross' butt. I want him off the book in the worst way.

You're not enjoying JSA? I find it to be one of the best books DC is putting out right now. Just a nice grand superhero tale, that while laden with continuity (if you want it), doesn't rely much on the rest of current DC.

I have to say, I'm not enjoying Final Crisis much either. I frequent another comic message board, and the reaction over there is really high on the book. Made me feel like I was missing out on something. I've read reviews, and have seen people point out what Morrison is doing and why that's clever, but at the end of the day when I come away from the books I don't feel much of anything. They're just kind of there.

I do like JSA. The first few issues of the new series were great, and Eaglesham's art is some of the best at DC right now. I just feel like the current storyline is dragging, and I think the buildup of new characters has cluttered the book tremendously.

It's still tons better than JLA. For one thing, my eyes don't bleed when I look at the art.

That's fair. I'm personally digging the hell out of the current storyline, but it has been going on for awhile. Actually, how the book is done there really hasn't been a break between any of the stories has there? Each one has just dove tailed into the next. I don't feel like any issue has put a "period" on the runon sentence that is JSA yet.

Even though they have a shit-ton of characters, I don't have a problem keeping track of who's who. I think Johns is handling the cast expertly, and I feel like I "know" some of these characters better than characters in books that only have teams of 4 or 5. I would like for some quieter issues after so many issues of bombastic stories eventually. Like a thanksgiving issue, that would be nice.

Eaglesham is the unsung hero of that book. His art isn't as instantly impressive as someone like Jim Lee or Hitch, because it's not flashy, but when you get down to it he is doing some amazing storytelling in these issues. To be able to handle a cast of dozens so effortlessly is a feat in and of itself, to have it look so pretty is just a bonus. His style is also a bit of a throwback, so it suits the characters really well. He definitely comes from the Perez school of things. He's awesome.

Outside of the art, how is JLA now under McDuffie? I'm rereading Morrison's JLA now because I'm yearning for some good JLA stories, but that book really left me cold under Meltzer and I read the first 2 McDuffie issues and wasn't turned off, but wasn't intrigued either. That story felt like a major retread of the JLU story.

I was curious too why you felt Alex Ross was bringing JSA down? I haven't heard much about how he's influencing the story, though he is co-credited with writing the book. The last issue I read (JSA 17), Hawkman even grumbled about all the heroes stumbling over each other when trying to fight. And I'm not sure who Fernando Pasarin is, but I really liked his art on the issue. It really is a more character-oriented book than most other superhero team books... there wasn't even really a fight in this issue, and it seemed to segue right into the annual (which I haven't read yet).

JLA is almost exactly the opposite. You'll still get little character moments, but it's been mostly action. I used to like Ed Benes, but I'm growing a little weary of his style now. And I also didn't understand


I'm also confused about which Green Lantern is on this team... both of them?

Hal is the Main GL in the JL. But I remember a scene earlier in this series right around the time of the Black Canary/Green Arrow marriage where Hal was thanking John for filling in for him so he could take care of some business. IIRC, Hal and John are now the Earth sector lanterns from Earth since Guy and Kyle are back on Oa training new corps members.

From Wiki:

The trailer definitely has scenes straight out of the graphic novel. I'm hoping the overall story can work in a 2 hour format, but all the depth and multiple layers to the narrative can't be translated. It could still be good, but I don't see how it can carry the same weight as the book which has to be read and reread because of all the things you find every time through. Hopefully the movie will stand up as its own entity. That is really all you can ask for. They have to make sure it works for a general audience that has no idea what The Watchmen was.

BTW, I thought Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan looked pretty cool on screen, but I'm not liking the Comedian or Nite Owl much in the brief views of them so far.

And if Paul Dini didn't have enough to do with Batman, Eidos tapped him to write the story for a game entitled "Batman: Arkham Asylum"

I can understand the desire to bring the movie to the screen, but the overall impression I get from it is that it's just going to be another fanboy fest.

Also, has anyone even considered that audiences might be offended at the fact that



300 had the opposite problem that this movie did. That was a comic with not enough material to make into a cohesive film, and Watchmen has way too much.

I choose to believe all Watchmen doubters will be pleasantly surprised...

I'm leaning towards it being a better of the Moore adaptations.

So, I was glancing through the latest Comic Shop News (Free at your local comic book shop!) and found a blurb that answered something I was curious about - Back in Countdown, Jimmy Olsen found out Superman's identity, but nothing had been said about that since then. It appears the other writers decided it was a bad idea and won't acknowledge it. Nice. They didn't even bother having Mephisto pop in to mess it up.

Another comment from the above mentioned Comic Shop News - There's a picture of Krypto that looks like it was done by Alex Ross - Anyone know what it's from? T'anks!

Hey, Giantorbo -- I was in a shop yesterday and saw the first Manhunter trade. Since you're always talking the book up I decided to check it out. It was pretty good. I'm definitely going to pick up the second trade. Thanks!

Grant already stated. Countdown doesn't count. It never happened. You're wasting your time reading that in more ways than one. If you're going to get into final crisis, and I wonder really, why? then don't pick up countdown as it simply didn't happen

Well, that just sucks. I'm only getting the main Final Crisis book - and I'm not sure why at this point.

I have been out of comic book collecting for quite some time now, but I was at the local newsstand this past weekend and I noticed some Marvel titles with $5.99 cover price, is this what is coming soon for all the books? From what I could tell the price for a regular book is $2.99 but if I remember correctly that has been the norm for quite some time now, is it time for another price increase? Is anyone here still buying monthly titles or just buying the trades?

JonKramer991:

What Marvel titles were $5.99? I know that titles such as Sky Doll & Universal War One are $5.99. What else did you see that was $5.99? I don't believe that the price for a monthly would jump up that high . . . maybe $3.25 or $3.50 (the price of a majority of monthlies from indie companies like Oni Press).

I don't think a raise in price is going to happen soon. I'll ask the owner of my LCBS what he thinks (he's been in the business for 20+ years) and post you what he says.

I'm still buying more monthly titles than trades. But if the price goes up too much I'll switch to more trades.

Cool!

Well, that's really going to screw up Mary Marvel. How would you explain her transformation from non-powered at the end of the Infinite Crisis series of books to in Final Crisis #3?

(BTW, I hated what they did with her character. DC could have made her more interesting, but they turned her into a one-trick villain.)

Simple. What happened in Countdown was suppose to happen in Final Crisis. Only this time the reasoning was that

In fact, if you even take Countdown into account, it just didn't make sense in that at all. She went from evil to good and then said F it, I'm evil again..

I grow oh-so-weary of these big events that an astoundingly good issue of The Walking Dead that kept me guessing can lift me out of dread. It almost made the last 10 issues better, somehow.

Is their official stance that Countdown to FC really doesn't amount to much? It doesn't even link into FC despite having that in it's title? I'm collecting the trades, but I might as well stop now, right?

I feel bad for those who actually bought the issues every week at 2.99 a pop (around 155 bucks total). Not that continuity is the only reason to buy a comic, but in this kind of event driven book, you'd think that the "big changes" would be relevant for at least a few months after the book concludes. Geez. It's not like anyone bought it every week for the incredible art.