The 2006 Mopee Awards!

[FenrisUlf]

Just found this online at http://www.captaincomics.com:

 

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This astonishing retcon -- so thoroughly ignored by DC, but never openly repudiated -- has become legendary among comics fans. Mr. Silver Age of CBG has even named an annual event in his column "The Mopee Awards" -- awards granted to stories so wrong-headed and just plain dumb that we choose to ignore them as if they never happened.

 

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What would any of you nominate as the most Mopee-worthy story of 2006 in superhero comics?

[Spidey88]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

Ooog - though I admit my own opinion on the subject is rather byassed/narrow in scope, I'd have to go with "The Other" storyline in Spider-Man (that continued through 2006, right? I've tried to block it out. Forgive me if I'm mistaken on the time of the storyarc.)

 

Not only do we see Spidey get brutally maimed and basically killed (tell me that Spidey isn't THE LAST Marvel character that should happen to - don't kids read this comic too?) by a throwaway enemy with no real resonance to his relationship with Spidey (no offense to JMS, but Morlun was intended for his original run only) who had a pretty concrete death (whose baffling ressurection was never explained), and gets killed again (under, admittedly, very extreme circumstances) by the guy with one of the most ironclad CVK's in all of comicdom?

 

God forbid Spider-Man be put on the ropes by someone that actually MEANS something to us comic fans - but considering Morlun's "dead" again, maybe that's a good thing.

 

Good gravy, don't even get me started on what happened after. You know, I'm a reasonable guy. I can forgive a lot of pseudoscience and mumbo-jumbo. Hey, these are comics, right? Give me an explanation for wierdness that makes some sort of sense in the context of the story, and I'm happy. The writers are dealing with things entirely beyond the scope of reality, after all. The Fantastic Four"s costumes never get wrecked? Unstable molecules - works for me. Spider-Man's web cartridges actually hold enough fluid to allow him to swing around town all day without carrying a huge tank of web fluid on his back? Sure. I'm fine with that.

 

But I have to say - writers who don't do their research (in any media format) about real-world subject matter (particularly those subjects I take an interest in) really irritate me. I'm a biologist who specializes primarily in spiders, cephalopods, reptiles, and amphibians - so let me tell you, I think it says a lot when I say that a single element of "The Other" made me shoot steam out my ears, after years of reading Spidey comics.

 

For the record: spiders do not shed their skins only once in a lifetime. They moult every time they grow - many times over the course of their lives, generally stopping with most species once they reach adulthood. They said that supposed "once in a lifetime" fact so many times over the course of "The Other" I thought I was going to gouge my eyes out. It was irritating enough when a random teacher said it - it got to me more and more the more they said it. Tony Stark, super-genius saying basically "Oh, yeah - spiders shed their skins only once in a lifetime. Doesn't everyone know that?"

 

ARRRGGGH!

 

To quote Handy off The Tick: "READ A BOOK!"

 

Just say something like: "When spiders shed their exoskeletons, they can regenerate serious damage to their bodies - even missing limbs". It's accurate, and fits the story too.

 

I know it seems petty, but wouldn't a lot of people here be a little miffed if Larry King interviewed some sci-fi guru who repeatedly said "Han Solods was my favorite Star Trek character", and thought he was right? That's what I went through reading this drek.

 

(Ahem) Anyway...

 

Back on topic (sort of), did anyone really think Spider-Man needed a power-up? I sure didn't. What he needed was for someone to stop writing him as if he was some third-rate punk. (I think ol' Bendis may have some part in influencing that whole schtick. Utimate Spidey has a win/loss ratio of like 1/4). To paraphrase Captain America when he was recruiting for the New Avengers: "You're frickin' Spider-Man. You've been everywhere. You've done everyting. You've fought every villain on the planet." For cryin' out loud, he's not invincible, but he's no pushover either! Give him the credit (and competence) he is due, that's all.

 

That's not to say I think that the new nightvision and enhanced sense of touch are a bad thing - they totally fit spiders to a tee. But saying things like "My Spider-sense is instinctual now"? It always was! He had to conciously ignore it to go against the instictive defensive urges it gave him. Cripes, learn a little about the character you're writing, goon!

 

And the stingers? What the heck? We don't need another Wolverine. The only thing that's prevented an anuerysm for me is Peter's affirmation of my own thoughts on numerous occasions - "Spiders don't have stingers!"

 

 

And that's why I think "The Other" should be forgotten as fast as "Spider-Man: Chapter One". Another waste of paper, as far as I'm concerned. Spidey's continuity is pretty organized compared to say, the X-Men - it didn't need cleaning up.

 

 

 

 

By the way, I never did find the article on the original link. What DC story were you referring to?

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

By the way' date=' I never did find the article on the original link. What DC story were you referring to?[/quote']

Once again I hear about another storyline I missed and I am sad.

 

Try this for Mopee.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

What would any of you nominate as the most Mopee-worthy story of 2006 in superhero comics?

That's too easy: Blue Beetle's brains blown out.

[Enforcer84]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

Anything written by Mark Millar?

[Teflon Billy]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

I liked the Spiderman: The Other story arc.

 

TB

[assault]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

That's too easy: Blue Beetle's brains blown out.

 

Yep. I'd go with that one too.

[Spidey88]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

Ooh - good call on the Blue Beetle thing. I don't read DC at all; but at the time that happened, it felt as if a million fanboys cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced...

[FenrisUlf]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

OT but -- concerning Blue Beetle (and Booster Gold, to a lesser extent), were they always joke characters, or did they only become jokes after joining the Justice League?

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

OT but -- concerning Blue Beetle (and Booster Gold' date=' to a lesser extent), were they always joke characters, or did they only become jokes after joining the Justice League?[/quote']

They became comic relief in the Justice League. I personally don't like to say they were joke characters, but they were the resident smart-asses. They were both very competent characters in their own right, but once their solo books died JL became their dominant locale and the humor really pivoted around the two of them. (Mr. Miracle was a third member of the gang, but he left early on.)

[teh bunneh]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

Log is right. They weren't joke characters. They were competent superheroes who had a carefree, lighthearted attitude towards adventuring. I really loved the Giffen/Demathis JL era.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

Log is right. They weren't joke characters. They were competent superheroes who had a carefree' date=' lighthearted attitude towards adventuring. I really loved the Giffen/Demathis JL era.[/quote']

It's my favorite run in comics, and owning the entire run in JLI and JLE is the pride of my collection.

 

There was a great storyline where Booster left because he was tired of being viewed as a joke character, in fact. There was just as much drama as comedy in those books, but it is generally forgotten or glossed over.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

They became comic relief in the Justice League. I personally don't like to say they were joke characters' date=' but they were the resident smart-asses. They were both very competent characters in their own right, but once their solo books died JL became their dominant locale and the humor really pivoted around the two of them. (Mr. Miracle was a third member of the gang, but he left early on.)[/quote']

 

Log is right. They weren't joke characters. They were competent superheroes who had a carefree' date=' lighthearted attitude towards adventuring. I really loved the Giffen/Demathis JL era.[/quote']

 

Sounds like I really missed something, then. But obviously Beetle was all played out or they wouldn't have snuffed him on-screen like that.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

Sounds like I really missed something' date=' then. But obviously Beetle was all played out or they wouldn't have snuffed him on-screen like that. [/quote']

The whole era is being wiped out. Beetle is dead. Booster is... I'm not even sure what his status is, exactly, but he's been made over/screwed over as I understand it. Maxwell Lord is a killer. Ice is dead (though that's old news). Others (Flash, Elongated Man, J'onn, frex) act like it never happened. The current staff seems to be embarrassed by the era and trying to wipe it out.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

The whole era is being wiped out. Beetle is dead. Booster is... I'm not even sure what his status is' date=' exactly, but he's been made over/screwed over as I understand it. Maxwell Lord is a killer. Ice is dead (though that's old news). Others (Flash, Elongated Man, J'onn, frex) act like it never happened. The current staff seems to be embarrassed by the era and trying to wipe it out.[/quote']

 

Isn't that becoming distressingly common with new editorial shifts at the big comics companies? That is, the whole 'wipe out everything our predecessors did'?

[McManus]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

I too have the complete JLI/E era collection. And it is definitly my favorite time for the JL.

[freakboy6117]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

that's what really annoyed me about the whole prelude to crisis story beetle rocked it showed just how capable skillful and cool he could be when well written and then they snuffed him like a punk and replaced him with an ill defined cosmic powered(magical outer space artifact bonded with his spine gah) newbie.

 

i could quiet happily ditch the whole house of M hey lets devote all our titles to a bunch of pointless what if stories for months at a time actually all of the marvel big event stuff lately has been stupid and pointless civil war isn't bad.

its an intreasting cocncept but the execution has been just silly really they could have built it up over a couple of years and not crammed it in with 5 other huge events in 10 months. but long term planning isn't a comic book industry concept

[Hermit]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

Has the "Gray Goblin" and his sister been heard of since Sins Past and its offshoot? I think that Gwen ever sleeping with Norman is being mopeed by about 90% of the fans if not Marvel itself.

[keithcurtis]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

that's what really annoyed me about the whole prelude to crisis story beetle rocked it showed just how capable skillful and cool he could be when well written and then they snuffed him like a punk and replaced him with an ill defined cosmic powered(magical outer space artifact bonded with his spine gah) newbie.

 

i could quiet happily ditch the whole house of M hey lets devote all our titles to a bunch of pointless what if stories for months at a time actually all of the marvel big event stuff lately has been stupid and pointless civil war isn't bad.

its an intreasting cocncept but the execution has been just silly really they could have built it up over a couple of years and not crammed it in with 5 other huge events in 10 months. but long term planning isn't a comic book industry concept

 

Punctuation, much? I couldn't make head nor tail of some of that.

 

Keith "or perhaps an ee cummings fan?" Curtis

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

civil war isn't bad.

its an intreasting cocncept but the execution has been just silly really they could have built it up over a couple of years and not crammed it in with 5 other huge events in 10 months. but long term planning isn't a comic book industry concept

 

For a concept like Civil War to be truly effective, the characters on both sides need to be sympathetic, so the reader can empathize with both sides' viewpoint. The Registration Act supporters have quickly become characterized as fascists, so there's only a sense of "how can these guys not see how WRONG this is", rather than being able to empathize with their position, as well as Cap's side. For me, that's robbed the storyline of most of its potential.

 

Marvel's complete inability to complete and ship books on time is rapidly taking care of any remaining impact.

[freakboy6117]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

and that's why i should post at 5 am i actually couldn't see anything wrong with that post

 

that's what really annoyed me about the whole prelude to crisis story.

beetle rocked, it showed just how capable skillful and cool he could be when well written.

 

Of course then they snuffed him like a punk and replaced him with an ill defined cosmic powered(magical outer space artifact bonded with his spine gah) newbie.

 

i could quiet happily ditch the whole house of M.

 

hey lets devote all our titles to a bunch of pointless what if stories for months at a time.

 

actually all of the marvel big event stuff lately has been stupid and pointless.

 

civil war isn't bad, it's an interesting concept but the execution has been just silly.

they could have built it up over a couple of years and not crammed it in with 5 other huge events in 10 months.

but long term planning isn't a comic book industry concept

 

i think that a bit better sorry Keith

 

anyway the problem I have with civil war is that the pro-registration side seem like complete morons.

 

"Its the law now! you have to do it." seems to be the main argument coming from tony starks camp ( its almost as if tony stark never committed a crime like assaulting everyone who might be using his technology or fleeing justice so he could clear his name).

 

meanwhile they are condoning the violent arrest and forcible deportation( unless the negative zone is now American soil) of people they called friends.

 

oh yes and a compulsory draft of all super-humans to a covert espionage agency with limited government oversight.

 

not to mention the enforced internment on private property no less of the entire American mutant population. the fact that there releasing violent criminals onto the streets to hunt down dissidents and creating cloned super humans as weapons.

 

oh yeah and they allowed the foot soldiers to actively refer to them selves as cape killers. the whole thing has to be a PR nightmare.

[Narratio]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

Blue Beetle had a very long history in... Charlton comics? I forget, but it was one of those DC bought. I think Ditko did artwork on some of the 60's issues I read as a kid. His death is definitely the winner here for me, it sucks. DC just don't give a rats @ss about it's history. And the JLI/JLE era? Still got 'em, still drag them out for a re-read. The best!

 

Hang on, thinking of Blue Beetles bullet to the head... Didn't DC then destroy the "Rock of Eternity" (from the Shazam stories) that Beetle left the scarab in? How can you destroy something called "The Rock of Eternity"? Wouldn't it be called "The Rock with Rather a Limited Life Span in relationship to the History of the Universe". Or something similar?

[freakboy6117]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

yeah they did but it was pieced back together by the combined might of DCs magical heroes which is OK.

 

the magical side was in my opinion probably the best part of the whole infinite crisis thing.( apart that is from crazy jean loring eclipso spectre weirdness)

 

there where actually some really good story lines related too that whole period the creation of the shadowpact in days of vengeance and there continuing series In particular.

 

Gotham central had an excellent issue based under the collapse of the rock of eternity featuring a battle ween normals and D grade villains showing why even they where something to be feared for a non super. Gotham central also had the death of crispus Allen which lead to him becoming the spectres new host more interesting i think than Hal Jordon.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

Has the "Gray Goblin" and his sister been heard of since Sins Past and its offshoot? I think that Gwen ever sleeping with Norman is being mopeed by about 90% of the fans if not Marvel itself.

 

You know, in the recent Stan Lee meets Doctor Strange they touch on that. In a backup story Impossible Man shows up in the current Marvel-verse and is shocked at everything he hears. "Wolverine and Spider-Man are in the Avengers? Thor was cloned? The FF lost the Baxter Building and broke up? Reed (CENSORED) Richards and Iron Man are trying to enslave all the heroes? AHHHHH! PETER QUESADA, YOU MONSTER! YOU'RE RAPING MY CHILDHOOD!"

 

Impy goes looking for Stan at the Marvel Offices and is told, "If you want to find Stan, look out in Hollywood. That's where all the real Marvel business is today." He goes and announces his desire to talk with Stan. Impy gets told to 'wait in line' (along with Thor, Black Bolt, Fin Fang Foom, Black Goliath with a giant smoking hole through his chest...) and at the end of the line, an angry Gwen Stacy. She rants at him for five hours with, "And so, just because I cheated on my boyfriend, slept with his worst enemy, and ran off to Europe to have twins, I'm now, like, the biggest whore of the Marvel Universe!" Impy can't take it and sneaks away.

 

Then Impy finally meets Stan and is told that change is the only good thing and someday everyone will love CIVIL WAR. (Maybe because the stuff getting produced then is even worse?)

[Mike W]

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards!

 

This is why comic buy list contains nothing but back issues from the 1970s and 1980s. By the time I finish reading all my old stuff, it will be a few years and I'll just go through and re-read it all again and again and again...