House to Astonish Episode 118
With one thing and another, we’re a little behind, so apologies for the slight delay in getting this episode to you. This time round, we’re discussing Marvel’s announcements, including a variety of new series, the relaunch of the Ultimate books, and… something to do with Spider-Man? We’re also looking at Lex Luthor taking the reins of the Justice League, DC’s second Aquaman series, and the Vertigo anthology CMYK, and whizzing through all of the announcements coming out of the Image Expo. We’re also reviewing Black Widow, Black Dynamite and EGOs (in the context of which we fail to notice that the artist and colourist are the same person), and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil. All this plus Prisoner: Deep Space 9, What If: Essex and Rich Johnston’s gang of comics gossip urchins.
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I know the Ultimate books probably won’t make it, but I think they actually have a strong chance of being good.
I think at least one of you has Stuart Moore confused with Steve Moore. At least I don’t think Stuart Moore wrote any ABC books.
You make EGOS sound interesting. I’ll have to remember to check it out. Though the concept of it being too much like HYPERNATURALS is amusing. I get the mental picture of HYPERNATURALS going to EGOS, to paraphrase Krusty the Clown, “If this is anyone but the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, you’re stealing my bit!”
The big part of the Brubaker Phillips deal to me was that Criminal was moving to Image. My only criticism of these two creators is the fact that I feel Fatale has meandered on too long, possibly something it wouldn’t be allowed to do with more editorial guidance.
I wish that they would just give Bendis the Ultimate universe and that’s all. I feel his best work is in this playground and I’m less annoyed by his quirks.
Phil Noto needs to be recognized as one of the best artists that works today. He does great work and lots of it. I think he has really grow as a storyteller.
I said this before, but I can’t see the Ultimate relaunch as anything other than a Hail Mary pass – or alternatively a what the hell, let’s give these a try. The interesting question is what Marvel will do when (not if) they don’t make it.
Funny that you mention Higgins being on Nightwing for so long and now it’s been announced that he’s leaving the book in a couple issues.
What they ought to do with the Ultimate universe is have some cosmic loopty-loo restart everything – but different. A big part of the attraction of the line was seeing how they’d portray such-and-such a character. And there were some really good ideas in there. Once everything was established, it was all less interesting. So, shake the snow-globe again. re-reinvent all the characters. Except Spider-Man of course.
Don’t knock the Earth X trilogy, guys. The latter two weren’t that great, but Earth X was, and the latter did have some high points.
The series did get to finish, but it was cut short by two issues, and a planned prequel series was shelved.
The Ultimate Universe is futzed. I’m done with Ultimate Spider-Man – which hasn’t been a solo title by any means since before Ultimatum – and have no interest in reading the child soldier version of Young Avengers.
…hm. Okay. Thinking about it, I have no interest in reading *this* child soldier version of Young Avengers.
//\Oo/\\
I always assumed Aquaman and the Others was a working title. Because seriously, that’s a terrible title.
What’s next ? The Flash and those other guys you don’t care about ?
Surely in Marvelmatics, one point NOW! comes before one point ten?
As I recall, the hook of the Others in their Aquaman appearances was that they had been doing this since before Superman’s debut, and didn’t consider themselves “superheroes” so much as “people who get the job done”. (But they’re not run by weird shadow-people, so that distinguishes them from Stormwatch.)
(That’s also why they’re called the Others, because they’re seperate from the heroic community, and kudos to DC for not deciding “the Outsiders” would convey the same thing.)
I always appreciated Terry Pratchett’s take on “an infinite number of realities means there’s one in which anything that could happen does happen”. A philosopher tries this on Death, and Death asks him if there is any possibility he might suddenly get up and kill his wife. When he replies with a horrifed no, Death points out that therefore that universe doesn’t exist.
In Demon Knights, Etrigan basically rhymed when he remembered and could be bothered.
I would say some stuff about the Watcher’s potential death, but it would involve discussing the end of Fraction’s FF run and i don’t want to spoil anything for Al (again). 🙂
Aquaman and the Others = JL Detroit?
All those gags about Droog and no clockwork orange references?
Earth X was great. Universe X and Paradise X were pretty good but they tried to shove too much into each issue.
I’d love to see more of it.
@BobH You know, not only have I confused Steve and Stuart Moore, I’ve been confusing them for Stuart Moore’s entire career.
@Jamie Hey, no knocking here – I’ve got all five volumes, and the companion book! 🙂 I enjoy it a lot, though it is definitely an overblown prog rock concept album.
@Matt You can have my digi codes if you like.
@Alex Try googling the phrase in the post that relates to the OHOTOHOTMU…
Whoops. Dinna read the intro. 🙂
Oh, and with the solicits I see that not only is Higgins leaving with #29, but #30 is the final issue of Nightwing.
So it seems another example of DC editorial forcing things, as I can only assume that Higgins is pissed off. Why else would he leave one issue before the book ends?
@Si
Ultimate Crisis?
Make the whole line a temporary setting, with a line-wide reboot every 5-10 years. A decade long multi-creator massive Elseworlds story with an end. (The end doesn’t have to be world destroying. And Marvel can let it sit around floating like any other alternate universe, but the Ultimate line itself will start a new story in a new universe.)
Creators could go wild because what they write won’t matter in the long run. Weird re-imaginings might not be so bad, either, because readers would know that they wouldn’t be permanent.
Of course even if the idea would work, Marvel would never go through with what it required.
For shame!
Bill Sienkiewicz was the artist on “Elektra: Assassin” while Frank Miller was just the writer.
Higgins probably resolves his run in Nightwing #29. Nightwing #30 looks like an epilogue to Forever Evil rather than Higgin’s run. Until I hear otherwise, I don’t see any reason to assume DC has frustrated a creative team this time at least.
Also, James Tynion is one of the writers of Batman Eternal, so his involvement in Nightwing’s final issue may just be a matter of bridging the gap.
For once, DC looks like they’re relatively working within the real of sanity on this one.
My theory is the Watcher finally saw one too many homeless peoples’ bums and killed himself.
Uatu tried to watch Wolverine continuously for one full month and his eyes exploded from following the amount of stories he was involved with across his 8 gabillion comics.
After Cataclysm I’m done with the Ultimate universe. It’s been getting increasingly bad with using “see, THIS is the Ultimate version of ______, what a twist, eh?” in place of compelling origins or character development. I steadily lost interest in the New 52 for the same reason.
Maybe it’s fun for someone less jaded to get excited about tracking how Hercules and Ultimate Hercules are different, or how THIS time around SOMEONE ELSE is Machine Man. I’ve just seen too many characters dropped in with nothing to signify who they are other than “they roughly correspond to a character in the main/previous continuity.”
@Kreniigh- So true! So true, so true. Most alt. continuities are not very different from the original. And they wonder why they don’t get the numbers…
Just for the record, while there are smaller and bigger infinities, the even numbers isn’t technically a smaller infinity than the odd and even numbers together. (This is because you can just have a one-to-one relation between 2n and n, meaning there’s one even number for ever odd/even number.)
I’ve just finished a PhD which does go for about ten pages into discursions on different sizes of infinity, and so all of this bothers me a lot more than it rationally should anyone. But it’s really interesting. And I feel duty-bound to explain it. Which is really bad when non-mathematical friends ask me about it in the pub…