tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250269071385467004.post2716413136155240004..comments2024-01-23T19:26:48.882-05:00Comments on Julian Perez Conquers the Universe!: Comics Review - John Byrne's Superman/Batman: GenerationsJulian Perezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16276143599750947248noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250269071385467004.post-88350004470020268212019-03-08T07:34:00.610-05:002019-03-08T07:34:00.610-05:00I love G1, G2 is just like you said, unfocused and...I love G1, G2 is just like you said, unfocused and to me the 11 year jumps also start to feel jarring for some reason. The 1920 chapter is kind of terrible in its implications. G3 started out good, but completely lost track of the through-line in its second half and had a very disappointing ending. Also, it had some awful implications, such as the reveal that the Lazarus Pit had been „fixed“ and no longer causes madness, yet they don’t share its immense medical benefits with the world. <br /><br />To anyone who hasn’t read this: start with G1, if you liked it and want to see more about this world, continue G2. If you are a completionist or a huge Byrne fan or just loved G1 and G2 so much, you NEED more of this world, then track down G3. Remember, it has never been collected.<br />For me, I love G1, but the overall trilogy is a guilty pleasure of mine despite some of the really dumb stuff in G2 and G3.Lee O.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18306701587425499559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250269071385467004.post-16825314528140177552017-01-08T17:05:09.951-05:002017-01-08T17:05:09.951-05:00The Metal Men are just robots and not real people....The Metal Men are just robots and not real people. True fact. Doc Savagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08783244633195233970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250269071385467004.post-34120621512214480462015-09-15T06:46:38.536-04:002015-09-15T06:46:38.536-04:00Silver St Cloud was Batman's wife. Catwoman r...Silver St Cloud was Batman's wife. Catwoman retired in Generations 2, it was referenced in that way.<br /><br />I know this post is really old but I just finished Generations 2 last night and I liked it. It was entertaining and the artwork was terrific. <br />Julian, your comparison for Lex to Bernie Madoff is spot on. I would have thought of Steve Jobs as another, brilliant inventor and philanthropist but a real tyrant away from public view.Jess Nukemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02943526546018024116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250269071385467004.post-9730859667142986872015-02-01T07:04:26.008-05:002015-02-01T07:04:26.008-05:00Batman's wife was Catwoman..Batman's wife was Catwoman..Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09408074878000779731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250269071385467004.post-90238557081368516662014-12-11T19:12:49.119-05:002014-12-11T19:12:49.119-05:00To avoid this sounding like one massive rant let m...To avoid this sounding like one massive rant let me first say this: this was a good review (of Generations I in particular) and I enjoyed reading it, but I do have some major objections:<br /><br />I don't think you understand the concept of Elseworlds. It is not supposed to be alternative history and continuity-masturbation/enforcement. The point is to allow authors to write stories with DC's characters and concepts outside the confines of continuity. Complaining that they don't have a single point of divergence from the canon DCU makes as little sense to me as complaining the the entire DCU doesn't have the same to our history. It was never meant to be alternative history to begin with, in some ways it is more like the exact opposite.<br /><br />A good example is one you brought up: Red Son. In it Krypton is revealed to be earth in the far future, this is flat-out impossible in the main DCU, but makes perfect sense within the confines of Red Son's story. <br /><br />But what do I know, I actually like reading poetry and hate writing it.<br /><br />"But, okay, let's agree for now it's important to keep a promise even if it's to a lowlife like Luthor and the Joker in a circumstance where he has your pregnant wife prisoner. Fine. Even if that's the case, how does that jibe with the "aha, you forgot to say I couldn't…" petty legalism Superman uses to "outsmart" bad guys?"<br /><br />Am I forgetting something major here or is this not what happened at all? He wasn't limited by a promise he made to them (I don't even remember him making any such promises). He was limited because they had kryptonite. And he did actually lie to them; by having Batman and Robin pretend to be him until he got a chance to neutralize the gold kryptonite from a safe distance.<br /><br />"Like all terrible stories DC did in the 2000s, it involves the New Gods in a central role."<br /><br />Are you talking about Simonson's Orion, Morrison's Final Crisis or both? And this is a Byrne comic. It is something of an unwritten rule by now that anything DC he is allowed to work on for a extended amount of time will eventually include the New Gods.<br /><br />"but it ends with an enraging "it was all a dream" finale that meant the entire series didn't matter."<br />It is the end of a non-canon series. Ultimately nothing matters after this anyways. None of this is real and none of it will effect continuity. I fail to see the problem, or how this delegitimizes the entire story. No Elseworlds nor What-ifs "actually" happens anyways.<br /><br />I do agree that a lot of tings that happen don't ultimately have much effect on the overarching storyline, but that is a complaint that can be raised against the first two Generations just as much as the third.vargurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14972717740079563685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250269071385467004.post-85721121747531525322014-03-11T01:12:23.510-04:002014-03-11T01:12:23.510-04:00Hi
Thanks for sharing these article marketing tip...Hi<br />Thanks for sharing these article marketing tips with people. This is very important information that you share. Article marketing tips are very useful for peopledanielhttp://www.snappingturtlecomics.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250269071385467004.post-11078680064009266962013-08-06T15:20:18.047-04:002013-08-06T15:20:18.047-04:00It was more than frustrating to see Lex never puni...It was more than frustrating to see Lex never punished. As a storytelling rule, once you create a certain level of animosity towards an antagonist, the reader's going to want some kind of release eventually, some reassurance that justice, or at least karma, will catch up. Even Doom had set-backs, and was now and then demonstrably outwitted and out-fought by Reed and the gang (even if he did slip away in the end), but for the life of me I can't remember even a temporary victory for Superman. Eventually you have to ask who the star of the book really is, and which world view is being endorsed.<br /><br />The problem with the Byrne/Wolfman Lex is that he had to remain "clean" to the outside world, which meant he always had to "win" (to the extent "winning" is never being held accountable). Eventually they broke that cycle, but only after he'd been President of the United States, a development so insanely over-the-top I still can't believe they went there.<br /><br />Jane Foster got what she always wanted; a Blake-lookalike doctor husband and the white picket fence. So don't weep for her. I only wish they'd write her off in the next film for the much hotter Sif, but I know that won't happen. She may not be any more interesting than her comic book counterpart, but comic book Jane didn't have Natalie Portman's box office clout to back her up (plus Natalie's eye candy while comic Jane was...well...a Kirby female).<br /><br />I agree people will never accept multiple actors playing the same character, and so does Peter Capaldi.David Morefieldhttp://davidmorefield.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250269071385467004.post-54246666910201293492013-08-06T12:27:36.606-04:002013-08-06T12:27:36.606-04:00So, you mean he was such an evil heel it was frust...So, you mean he was such an evil heel it was frustrating to never see Luthor get his comeuppance? I guess that makes sense. <br /><br />There was one moment in one of Roger Stern's issues of Death of Superman where Lex, aware Superman was dead, decided to straight up choke to death his personal trainer...for no reason, just because Superman was dead and he could do whatever he likes. <br /><br />As for Jane, I didn't like her, but I didn't like how she left, either. I like to joke about how Wesley Crusher should have been thrown out an airlock, but <i>if they actually did that,</i> that'd be mean and disturbing.<br /><br />I once asked the screenwriter on the Thor movie (the very fan-approachable Zack Stentz, who rumor has it will write Star Trek 3 in a disastrous course correction) why there was no Don Blake in the movie, and he told me, "people don't accept two actors playing the same character." I have trouble remembering a time where that's true, actually!Julian Perezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16276143599750947248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250269071385467004.post-63096834104624655512013-08-06T08:38:53.794-04:002013-08-06T08:38:53.794-04:00The great thing about Nick Fury in space (at least...The great thing about Nick Fury in space (at least on the cover) is that he smoked his cigar inside his space helmet! :-)<br /><br />I don't know that "Madoff Lex" was "damaging to the long-term health of Superman," but he was certainly a major factor in my deciding to stop collecting. I wouldn't compare him to Dr Doom, who had his own warped sense of honor and was in a twisted way even noble. Modern Lex has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and the take-away of 90s DC in general always seemed to be "pure evil wins against wishy-washy good every time." If I want to see rotten people screw the world over while nice guys stand around wringing their hands impotently, I'll just watch the news, thanks much.<br /><br />I LOVED how they got rid of Jane Foster. As big a relief as it was for me to be rid of her, I can only imagine how wonderful it must have been for readers of the time, who'd had to put up with her much longer (I'm lucky enough to be able to devour this material in big lumps). As far as I'm concerned, the whole "human guise" angle of Thor was ill-advised from day one, and even by Stan Lee standards the "tortured romance" subplot in THOR was unbearably inane. Simonson ditched Blake, that Freddy Freeman wannabe, in his very first issue, which was our first sign we were in for something awesome.<br /><br />The only thing that would've been cooler than Jane's exit would have been if Betty Brant had been hit by a falling bus.<br /><br /> David Morefieldhttp://davidmorefield.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250269071385467004.post-43525721972542969952013-08-05T23:44:05.687-04:002013-08-05T23:44:05.687-04:00People say Byrne's Lex Luthor was based on the...People say Byrne's Lex Luthor was based on the Kingpin, but I find them subtly different. The Kingpin was John Gotti: everyone knows he's a crook, but he couldn't be touched. Lex Luthor was Bernie Madoff: he seemed like a genius and squeaky clean humanitarian, but under the surface, everything was was rotten.<br /><br />I don't know if I agree that this take on Lex probably was damaging to the long-term health of Superman, because he couldn't put his archenemy behind bars. In 50 years of Marvel Comics, Doctor Doom has never been captured.<br /><br />I missed Lex Luthor having robots and secret underground lairs, and taunting Superman by hologram when he lures the Man of Steel into traps. I'm very glad they eventually brought back that characterization. <br /><br />Mark Waid in Birthright had a great hodgepodge of both, and how one lends to the other. I think he created a workable composite (it stands to reason an evil superscientist with high tech WOULD be the world's richest man).<br /><br />But what do you want to bet the creators of Man of Steel will go with the evil Bernie Madoff, and not the guy in purple with robots outsmarting Superman with holograms and traps?<br /><br />(I've been meaning to write a Man of Steel review, but I haven't quite felt like sitting down to pop a vein, yet.)<br /><br /><i>"What If" was a brilliant concept -- appeal to Marvel zombies' obsession with continuity -- but it usually fell flat in execution, and degenerated into a predictable formula: everything ends in tragedy. </i><br /><br />One of my favorite games to play with What-If is the "Least Valuable Player" award. Who is it that's the first to die, meaninglessly? It almost might be renamed the Hawkeye award, since it's nearly always him. In fact, Hawkeye dying in Elseworlds is a sign things are getting serious. <br /><br />I don't know, I kind of liked the upbeat ending of "What if Jane Foster had the Power of Thor?" issue. She was such an unpopular character, that the way she left that comic in normal continuity was incredibly mean spirited, with Stan and Jack going out of their way to show she's not worthy of the gods of Asgard. In this one, she got to live in Asgard and found love (not with Thor). <br /><br />Also, I hope I don't spoil the ending of "What if Nick Fury Fought World War II in Outer Space?" (<i>"Quit yer goldbrickin', we got us a space-war to win!"</i>) if I say the good guys won!Julian Perezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16276143599750947248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250269071385467004.post-6800599262788887702013-08-05T23:18:18.599-04:002013-08-05T23:18:18.599-04:00I enjoyed the first couple issues of the first ser...I enjoyed the first couple issues of the first series, but I'm not a fan of "monster Lex", or more accurately of post-Crisis (or Generations) Superman's total inability to defeat him in any way, so by the 'Nam issue I'd lost interest, and the tacked-on fairy-tale ending seemed goofy to me. Never even looked at he sequels.<br /><br />My favorite "Elseworlds" Byrne project was the Batman-Captain America crossover, which was just wonderful (and had a cool twist ending that probably inspired Generations.)<br /><br />"What If" was a brilliant concept -- appeal to Marvel zombies' obsession with continuity -- but it usually fell flat in execution, and degenerated into a predictable formula: everything ends in tragedy. It's like Marvel was saying, "you want to know what it would have been like if things had happened differently? It would've been TERRIBLE, that's what! Now shut up and trust us to tell our stories the right way the first time, because any second-guessing can only end in disaster!"David Morefieldhttp://davidmorefield.comnoreply@blogger.com