RexMundi

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

Have either of you read Captain Marvel#1? Or do you just hear about changes and immediately gripe? Because the book is pretty good and it addressed all of the complaints that you have about the changes.

Bought it (Since Ms. Marvel is one of my Uninterrupted lines of books, been a fan of the characters (both) since I was a little kid....). Read it. Gave it some good points in the other thread. The Art will throw some folks off, as well as the trouncing of the Absorbing Man with a fashion accessory. I don't mind the art even if there were panels where you could hold them up next to Secret Invasion and go "Is Captain America a Skrull?", and the writing isn't horrible. The costume and name change though is a bad Idea, especially in light of past continuity and a dozen other things I could mention. Agree or disagree, comics are something I know more then a bit about, and this Idea for Captain Marvel ranks right up there with Jeph Loeb and Thunderbolt Ross being the Red Hulk, and Joe Quesada and One More Day and that's before I get into the Bendis Pile but you need a shovel for that.

~Rex

Re: Cassandra's Corner

Everyone seems to come back. I didn't mind Sharon Carter coming back but when Bucky came back I stopped believing in Marvel.

Really? I hated it at first then dove into the story and the reasoning and it won me over. Add to that Winter Soldier is now one of Marvel's best books and one of the few I'll buy now, it's a win win for me.

~Rex....

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

Bad about Marvel

 

Changing Ms. Marvel's costume and calling her Captain Marvel. First of all they have a perfectly good Captain Marvel, the son of Mar-Vell Second, her costume is fantastic and doesn't need changing.

Very much agreed. But, the Marvel Unholy Cabal already wrecked Genis Vell, and then the inane Avengers vs X-Men wrecks Mar-Vell, and they still can't seem to recall that Captain Marvel only really works for two characters, and ones in a different company.

Ms. Marvel's last look was perfect. The Warbird look was not so good (lotsa pads. Knees elbows shoulders etc) but the 2006 look forward was perfect. This Captain Marvel/Miracle Man love child look is just lazy and bad. So Bad Marvel and Bad DC for these last few intertwined unnecessary and unwanted changes.

~Rex

Re: Cassandra's Corner

Its my fault. I liked her.

She was back the last time they were allowed to grace a comic...... circa 2009 or so give or take a month....

~Rex

Re: Dirty Laundry

Makes me annoyed we didn't get the Sequel that's supposed to be part of. Now we should demand the sequel AND a 6e Dark Champions to go with it.

~Rex

Re: Anyone have pre-made star ships???

Working on some "Class" SFB style ships at the moment (Frigate, Destroy, Cruise, Heavy Cruiser, Battle Cruiser, Dreadnaught etc etc etc). Fiddling around with a few builds along the lines of the Event Horizon movie, though I'm doing that more for BRP right now as opposed to HERO but I planned on converting over to HERO as well so I could add them to my SF setting stuff......

~Rex

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

•sigh• DC will get it right eventually. Some day.

~Rex

Re: Help me grok HERO!

Study the Environment in the Book. Knowing how tough a wall is, what level of Defense is "Bullet Proof" and what a lot of those stats equate to in the real world help a lot. Comparative Scale. Little things like knowing that a guy with a 40 STR in Hero can palm a full 55 gallon Oil Drum and smash someone in the face with it then toss it a block down the road, helps a lot with the builds.

~Rex

Re: Angels on Earth - plot ideas needed

Well, there is the Engel RPG, as well as In Nomine and Armageddon, Seventh Seal and the old Demon the Fallen game ..... Few others out there as well and some not bad supplements from back in the day. Still looking for my Angel setting stuff. Stuffed it in a box back when all that other material popped up, heh.

~Rex

Re: How to build: Star Trek Style Pain Rays

Yep. Entangle.

~Rex

Re: Perils of the warp!!!

I've gotten some foundation stuff done for it but haven't really had the time to do much more this week or the last couple. Extra Hot at the Job makes everything else go that much slower after a full shift plus in a 120 plus. Methinks I should spend some XP on Life Support.....

It's rolling though just slower then I want it to. Should have some postable stuff soon.

~Rex

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

Naive it may be' date=' but I remain optimistic that at some point (probably for an anniversary issue) they will go back to the original numbering for those books.[/quote']

 

At least for Action and Detective. The Rest they can renumber.......

 

~Rex

Re: Angels on Earth - plot ideas needed

Hmm..... Hmmm...... I know I got some stuff in a box here somewhere that I started when the "Rage of Angels" project still stood a chance of getting on TV.... Lemme dig around.

~Rex

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

I note none of your "Goods" have a publishing history of generations (few have the 75 issues Cassandra Cain managed - Nightwing beats that number)

Oh I could post that but that's Easy, and removes a lot of the good "Bad" posts I could go on with ad infinium. I don't why people want to stick to the most literal interpretation unless it's for some need to "win". I've got PILES of books I loved, and companies, that crashed and burned, pretty sure there are things I found to be awesome that others Despised as well. Different Strokes, I can accept that without having to go after the individual that disagreed with me. Besides, more interesting to go after the Product, like Batgirl, All 75 Issues plus variant covers that I own in the Long Box with the rest of the unbroken line of Every Bat-Book written since 1975, when I started buying them with my own money, and a few older then that..... Hated that book, but I picked it up because I Love the Franchise. Kinda like football. Love my Team, can't stand a few players here or there....

SO, that being said.... Topic.....

Marvel Good (Generations): Daredevil, Captain America, The Amazing Spider-Man (specifically that book)

Marvel Bad: The Constant Relaunches of the Above Three Titles and the Unnecessary Imprint Shifts and or Soft Retcon's....

DC Good (Generations): Detective Comics. Action Comics.

DC Bad: Forgetting the sheer depth of stories in those two titles and "recreating" something which was already done a few times over the decades.

~Rex

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

I'm not familiar with a lot of those ladies. If she'd been a bit younger at the time' date=' I would have said Pam Grier. Mind you, I've only seen her in Jackie Brown. She seemed like the kind of woman who could pull off that mix of regal and beautiful.[/quote']

 

Very much so Pam Grier was a striking woman. Seen pretty much everything she's been in.

 

~Rex

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

Fair enough. Who would have been better? Jaida Pinkett?

Hmm, back in the day, I would have preferred Angela Basset. A bit later, someone like Salli Richardson-Whitfield. Nowadays, I'd lean towards someone like Yaya DaCosta, or Garcelle Beauvais. Especially Garcelle Beauvais that woman is insanely good looking.....

~Rex

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

I'm not going to disagree with you about Cassandra Cain, since I never cared for her. However, I am going disagree about the standard of success. Characters that title their own books for decades/generations are extremely rare. Making them the standard of success is like saying that all actors that don't make at least 20 million dollars a picture are failures just because some do.

 

By your criteria of success

Shang Chi - Failure

GrimJack - Failure

Jon Sable - Garbage not worth talking about

The Micronauts - Who?

Rom SpaceKnight - Failure

Nexus - Failure

Badger - Junk

The Human Fly - Dog poop

The New Mutants - Failure

Whisper - Junk

etcetera

 

Personally, I consider any book that makes it to its fiftieth issue in the brutal world of comic book publishing to be a success. Heck, even managing to publish 12 issues of a title is something to be proud of.

Oh very true, and I more then agree and could add to that list. My point though is simply an Apples to Apples, Raw Numbers comparison in a generalist sense of the Industry (pretty much how their own trade material puts it). It's not meant to be taken at 100% Literal. Not all Stories can be stretched for Decades upon Decade. In fact the golden rule of a good story is a Beginning, a Middle, and an Ending. Many of my favorite books and characters and companies have Failed. Doesn't mean I don't like or support them but it does mean I don't put That one up against one of the Titles that's been a power house for generations and say they are Equal. There may be elements that are, or aspects that are even superior but at the base level with these companies, success is measured in Money, and if it's making money it stays around. If it's Gone, but yet still sparks real interest (Jon Sable for example another of my favorites), then now it's a Collectible, and starts earning a different type of value. That's all before getting into things that are only meant to go so far on purpose, and or other formats like the graphic novel format.....

I'd say with the current environment anything that hits 25 Issues is doing good. You used to be able to follow the same sort of law that "success" in TV is Measured by. "X" amount of seasons etc etc but now there are so many books, heh. Some of these new books are making some pretty impressive drives yet there is still a lot of "John Cena, LIKE HIM!" going on with a few titles (Blue Beetle (though the Young Justice Cartoon has nailed the part perfect), Firestorm, any Wildstorm product, X-Book product, Wolverine is Here etc etc) but that's typical in periodicals. Throw it all against the wall and see what sticks.

You can flop horribly in the Industry and make a huge comeback if there is an interest and a fanbase. Valiant has shown that, and so have a few other companies as well. Either way, topic.....

Marvel Good: A "fixed up" Hank Pym ...

Marvel Bad: Brian Bendis making Moon Knight have the multiple personalities of Captain America, Spider-Man and Wolverine ....

DC Good: Adding to the background of existing characters in a way that doesn't destroy Continuity......

DC Bad: Flipping the reset on their Continuity every 5-10 Years in a badly written manner......

~Rex

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

Really? Cassandra Cain was just a gender swapped Damien Wayne? The character who never killed anybody during the entire run of her comic? The character who was good friends with Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown (both of whom you might recall, Damien Wayne cannot stand) is just a genderswapped Damian Wayne? Really?

 

Oh and while you're blabbering about generations and decades of marketability, I'd like to remind you that Barbara Gordon spent most of those decades as a backup character in somebody else's comic when she was Batgirl. In fact prior to The Killing Joke she'd been languishing in comicbook limbo for years and nobody really gave a toss. She only became marketable when somebody turned her into Oracle and made her more then just Batman's distaff counterpart. It was only when she became Oracle that Barbara Gordon could carry her own comicbook, prior to that she was C-list fodder.

 

Oh and allow me to point and laugh at you claiming the comic that ran 75 issues was losing money (how pray tell did it run 75 issues if that was the case I wonder?) while the comic that you claim wasn't making money was removed from existence without a second thought. Not that I'm happy that Steph had the Batgirl mantle removed from her, she was more successful as Batgirl as well.

 

Clearly however, you're not going to listen to anything I have to say on the subject so I'll just put you back on my ignore list and hope that other people might actually want to debate.

I've posted the numbers before in numerous threads, and no, I said Damien Wayne was just a gender swapped Cassandra Cain. Since you seem far more interested in trying to pick a fight with me personally as opposed to a back and forth over comics, well, we can agree to disagree. Feel free to use the ignore if you wish, I've yet to use it myself for anyone regardless of how snarky and such folks feel like being towards me. ......

Either way, Numbers are Numbers. Cassandra Cain's book if I recall (may have missed a year while digging through the boxes and the site), Never in the Top 100 for the Year, and Never in the top 30 for a month (still verifying that though possible to have missed one)... C-List Fodder Girl, is in the Top 100 for the relaunch, And Every Issue has been in the Top 30 (though a few are dipping pretty low.... still an almost unheard of feat for a character not Superman or Batman) That's a good sign.

In the Mean time to get back on topic.....

Marvel Good: Guardians of the Galaxy .....

Marvel Bad: Canceling the Original X-Title to keep one of the spin offs yet making that spin off the Story that was covered under the original title and numbers.

DC Good: Krypto coming back (in some form) ....

DC Bad: Mucking around with Adam Blake.. (Apparently....though the story unfolds....)

~Rex

Re: Cassandra's Corner

Yeah, but that was just the Doom Patrol. Not like they did anything important.

 

Except maybe leave Beast Boy alive to join the Titans.

 

That's like saying, The Defenders never did anything important over in Marvel land.... The Doom Patrol is epic. EPIC I say.

~Rex

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

I'll agree with you on Damian Wayne. In fact I've put my distaste of that little monster in print here more then once.....Much as I have Cassandra Cain. But then, all Damian really is is Cassandra Cain with a chromosome shift and a bit more of a vocabulary. 75 Issues btw is considered a Failure in the Comic Book Industry. Success is measured in Generations, and Decades of Marketable Characters and Cassandra Cain wasn't anything more then DC's entry into the fad of Waif Fu "HAWTGURLZ!" in Skintight Leather. Her comic was a loss leader (Unlike the Stephanie Brown Batgirl comic) and even Etrigan had more likeable qualities then the 80 pound (All of it up top) Hot Asian Assassin Chick sporting a gimp suit with a bat motif.

DC has MANY, stand out and strong Female characters in it's library. Cassandra Cain Batgirl is not one of them though given the right set of writers like the crew currently handling the Bat Books, there may be a chance to fit her back in somewhere though they will have to inflate he background to something beyond that of Unstoppable Assassin Offspring of an Unstoppable Assassin. *shrug* Either way, I don't miss her.

Marvel Good: Agents of Atlas, Jimmy Woo, and the Avengers: 1950's arc.....

Marvel Bad: One More Day. Civil War. Fear Itself. Changing Ms. Marvel into Captain Marvel.

DC Good: Nightwing back in his own book (Even if Dick Grayson still blows up the DC timeline), The Earth One Graphic Novels. The JSA.

DC BAD: Dropping the JSA, CHANGING CAPTAIN MARVEL'S NAME and POWERS to make him more.... AWESOME. (Note to DC. The Big Red Cheese is Beyond Awesome.) Not using the relaunch to give us back Val Armorr.

~Rex

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

DC Good. Babs back as Batgirl. Aquaman. Jonah Hex. Justice League Dark. The Owls...need more Owls More later....

DC Bad. Hiring Rob Liefeld. Thinking more failed Wildstorm is a GOOD thing. Dropping the ball on the Red Circle characters. Giving the Ravagers their own book, while ignoring the Doom Patrol and wasting the potential of The Others. Cassandra Cain being both a Bat Girl, AND getting the Black Bat legacy scrungy with her iron age waif fu fanfic ickiness. Not having Simon Dark as a member of Justice League Dark.....

~Rex

Re: Cassandra's Corner

*Runs into the room with all his Doom Patrol comics.....* Doom Patrol?! I have cookies and Beer as Well!

~Rex

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

Marvel Good: Ed Brubaker, Greg Pak, Abnett and Lanning

Marvel Bad: Joe Quesada, Jeph Loeb, Brian Bendis

DC Good: Geoff Johns, Jeff Lemire, Justin Gray, Jim Palmiotti

DC BAD: Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Eric Wallace, Geoff Johns

More later.....desperately need sleep....

~Rex....getting old....

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

Lemme find my list.....this can get complicated.

~Rex

Re: Curious about your view on the current state of CO. (Anybody still play regularly

I assure you I'm still hanging in there. I just don't have the time -- or I confess, the inclination -- to involve myself in the game, or for that matter the community discussion. As a contributing factor to the latter, I'm no longer keeping up with the latest developments in CO continuity, and so don't feel I can provide up-to-date "lore" input. Speaking of that continuity:

 

 

 

Champions 4E and earlier had "Questonite," a super-strong plastic invented by Dr. Quest, father of the founder of the super-agent security firm, StarGuard International. With the 5E CU Steve Long introduced "Questionite," a super-strong metal that takes an uncannily keen edge.

 

Which reminds me of one of the most recent developments in CO continuity that really annoyed me: a widespread "Questionite meteor shower" that's spread the previously-rare mineral all over the world. To me that smacks of the devs coming up with a cheap in-game rationale for Questionite being collected by the ton by players for crafting, rather than just changing an IMO ill-conceived game element. And now declaring that Questionite can also be used as a power source just adds insult to injury.

 

 

 

Well, to be fair, as originally presented in Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks, and as many folks here noted and complained about, Gravitar in large measure was Paris Hilton with superpowers. Arrogant, spoiled, shallow, petulant, an attention-hound, and full of a sense of entitlement. As time has passed in the PnP Champions Universe she's described as having matured somewhat, but I don't blame Cryptic for hewing to her original description.

 

Besides, who hasn't wanted to b!tchslap Paris Hilton at some point?

True, I suppose it's more me wanting something more akin to Cruella Deville with a cape and less Paris Hilton in a Hellfire Club outfit...

She's kind of a wuss in the fight anyway.

~Rex.... Misses a lot of that old cool 4th ed and older stuff