Blogathon 13: Favourite Peter David Star Trek Novels (Part 2)

It looks like Graeme and I share a similar sensibility when it comes to Star Trek and its novels. That feeling of 'fun' is exactly what I love about Peter David's novels. That sense where I can read one in an afternoon and just enjoy myself. That's going to be a fun, entertaining afternoon! They're the sort of books you read in between others...

Just like I've long wondered why Q-Squared wasn't made into a movie, I've wondered why New Frontier wasn't made into a TV series. When Enterprise debuted, I was pissed that they would make THAT and not New Frontier. It seems like a no-brainer. How do you not want to put Mackenzie Calhoun on screen as the newest Star Trek captain? It would settle that old Kirk/Picard debate pretty damn quickly -- the answer is Calhoun, dammit!

Those first four New Frontier books are slight, quick reads. Slimmer than normal books, they're really just one big books divided up into bite-size chunks. And Calhoun is a complete badass. I never tire of retelling the part with the hostages and the quantum torpedos. It's something you've never seen on Star Trek and that felt important to me. New Frontier is funny and touching and adult. More than anything else from that franchise, it seems like it takes itself seriously as adult fare. Not in the way Graeme talks about towards the end of the book series. It just doesn't shy away from adult subjects like sex, death, and intimacy the way the rest of the franchise seemed to. Star Trek always seemed content to spend its time with kids playing as adults to a degree. Very high-minded and serious with no room for the messy subjects of life except in the odd moment. David put those subjects at the forefront and it was much more engaging. It didn't seem like utopia in space, it seemed like people in the future. What humanity would become. The few moments when Star Trek shows would cast off the limitations imposed on them by narrow-minded creator and strive for more.

It's also a book series that's a bit of a treat for longtime fans as David never passes up an opportunity to bring back old character. Half of the cast are pre-existing characters that showed up in the background or for a couple of episodes in a guest role. Calhoun has a feud with Admiral Jelicho that mirrors how everyone else hates that guy. It's a book series that isn't afraid to embrace where it comes from while being completely open. Part of that is that David takes such minor characters that their previous appearances don't really matter. Part of that is that he is so good at developing characters and making them seem more than they are that, again, their previous appearances don't matter. They become his as he created them himself.

Unlike Graeme, I've never really gotten into David's comic writing. I've enjoyed what I've read -- it's just never grabbed me too tightly. I've always preferred his novels -- like the Star Trek stuff or his Babylon 5 ones. I like his prose style. Graeme was entirely right. It's light, 'throwaway' stuff and that's not an insult. You don't want everything to be heavy and Important and all of that. Sometimes, you want to spend an afternoon reading something that seems to turn its own pages, because it's just so much fun. I'm told that's what reading should be like and Peter David is a master of it.

In 30 minutes, we jump to Graeme's Wait, What? co-host Jeff Lester as I kick off our discussion of Dreadstar #1-12.

The 'best of 2012' has continued over at Comics Should be Good!

As well, we're now up to $694.95!

[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative (Details in this post)! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]

Blogathon 12: Favourite Peter David Star Trek Novels (Graeme McMillan Guest Post)

To all intents and purposes, the Star Trek: New Frontier series are the most "Peter David-y" of all of Peter David's Star Trek novels. That only makes sense, when you think about it; he created the majority of the characters, he's the dominant writer of the series - He's written the entire series, outside of some short stories for an anthology… that he edited - and the stories take place off in their own corner of the Trek universe (Specifically, the Next Generation-era Trek universe). The format of the series - controlled by one writer, with characters and situations that have the ability to evolve through the series, but taking place in a shared universe - is pretty close to a comic book set-up, and that's part of what attracted me to the books in the first place, when I was dipping my toes back into the murky and socially-shameful world of Trek novels. Well, that and Peter David.

I have this ridiculous belief, you see, that Peter David's Trek novels are somehow "better" than anyone else's. I know that it's irrational, because it's not based on a comprehensive reading of every single Trek novel ever, nor are David's Trek novels even necessarily outstanding works in and of themselves. And yet, it's still there in my head, an opinion that I hold even though I don't even agree with it half the time. But Peter David was what brought me to Star Trek prose, when I was a teenager and a massive fan of his Incredible Hulk run, and Peter David wrote all of the Trek books that I liked best back then; that kind of thing sticks with you, no matter how much logic and facts stand in opposition.

There was something about his Next Generation novels in particular that worked for me even more than the show did, at the time; I'm tempted to put it down to the sense of humor that was on display in David's books, which humanized the characters in a way that the series itself - which never passed up a chance to be self-important and po-faced whenever possible, as if to reinforce the idea that this show was serious science fiction - could never quite manage. The me I was then thought that David "got" Trek on some level that others didn't, although, looking back, I recognize my own prejudices in that; David's Trek, in whatever incarnation he wrote it, in whatever medium, always felt to be primarily influenced by the dynamic of the original series: a belief that the science fiction and social commentary being offered should always be balanced with lighter moments and some kind of reminder that these people were friends as well as colleagues, and I found myself appreciating that a lot at the time. Hence my excitement for the New Frontier books when they were announced. Finally, I thought, Peter David Trek unbound!*

And for, what, maybe just over two thirds of the series, it completely lived up to my expectations. The books were as funny as I wanted them to be, and as… "thrilling" feels curiously old-fashioned a term, but one that still feels appropriate. From House of Cards through Stone and Anvil, there's a really enjoyable, very throwaway pulpy feel to the series; each novel was a self-aware (but not overly-so, with the exception of David's tendency to always go one pun or joke too far at one point each novel) smart-enough read that was completely entertaining, but not too troubling, if that makes sense. You could read and enjoy them for what they were, but also put them down and walk away without too many questions weighing on your mind afterwards. Perfect popcorn literature, if you will.

Then, something happened. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it's what happened to David on X-Factor, too, as well as his Hulk run way back when. It's as if he gets bored of his own formula, or decides that it's time that he took the whole thing more seriously, and suddenly there's a tonal shift and - for New Frontier, at least - a time jump, and the series is noticeably not what it was before. For New Frontier, it was the beginning of the end. As the novels became more irregular - and the scale of each one grew, as if David felt the compulsion to make the stories "count" more - everything falls out of balance, somehow, and the books became less fun to read: Characters died, went insane and had to be dealt with. Everything became less fun.

I'm kind of embarrassed to write that, to be honest; I feel as if I'm whining or something similar, complaining that I don't want to read something because it's not "fun." But… that was always the selling point for me on Peter David's Star Trek, and maybe even Star Trek in general. I want it to be enjoyable, I want it to be fun. I'm uncertain about whether there's enough heft to the concept/series in general for it to be "dark" or heavy in any real way, and just as I get bored of people trying to find "meaning" and "depth" in kids' comic characters that was never really supposed to be there because they don't want to deal with them any other way, attempts to turn Star Trek into something dark and troubled and full of grimacing just feel false and unnecessary to me. (Which means, yes, I'm desperately hoping that the new movie isn't going to be the dark thing that everyone keeps talking about. Please have a swerve in there, JJ!)

It sounds like damning with faint praise to say that the strength of Peter David's Trek - And, I'd argue, his writing in general - is the throwaway, pop quality of it, the "fun." It's not meant to be; I think it's far more difficult than it seems to get that kind of thing right, and far more valuable a skill to have than just being able to write sturm-und-drang all the time. Despite how New Frontier has ended up - and the series does appear to have ended, with the last book a couple of years old and nothing new on the horizon - David's Trek, when he's on, when he's firing on all cylinders, still feels like Star Trek at its best to me. But maybe I just like popcorn a little too much.

[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative (Details in this post)! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]

Blogathon 11: Favourite Peter David Star Trek Novels (Part 1)

We depart from comics for 90 minutes to talk about Peter David's Star Trek novels. Originally, Graeme McMillan and I were going to discuss why we take superhero comics so seriously, but the Hero Initiative raising money for David after he suffered a stroke was something I wanted to include. And both Graeme and I are fans of his Trek novels...

My favourite Peter David Star Trek novel is Q-Squared. I like it even more than the entire run of New Frontier (which I am woefully behind on...). Before they stopped making Next Generation movies, I always wondered why they didn't simply adapt Q-Squared. It's got the series' first villain (Q), alternate timelines, Jack Crusher, ties to the original series, a story that's big as big gets, and it ends with a solution to the "Data problem" (how to get around Brent Spiner aging and makeup not covering that as well anymore). It seemed like the perfect Star Trek: The Next Generation movie.

For those unaware, Q-Squared is based around the idea that Trelane (a one-episode bad guy from the original series) is actually a Q -- and the Q we know is his godfather. He begins messing around with alternate realities, going to the lone alternate reality where Jack Crusher did not die (Wesley died instead) and begins manipulating things to the point where realities begin crashing into each other, things get mixed up, and the whole thing ends with him and Picard fencing (with Q as Picard epee!). There are three realities shown: the regular one, the 'at war with the Klingons' one from Yesterday's Enterprise, and the Jack Crusher one.

For a fan of alternate realities, this was right up my alley. The new reality that David creates is really engaging with the twists he has on characters. My favourite is that Data is a human with a positronic brain (and he's involved in a secret affair with Tasha Yar). At the end of the novel, he's left stranded in another reality and that always seemed like a way to get around Brent Spiner's makeup issues: simply switch our Data for that one. Boom. Done. Problem solved, make more movies. Beyond that, the story is just entertaining as hell. The Jack/Beverly/Jean-Luc love triangle in that reality is engaging and another way of 'having your cake and eating it too' that David engages in.

David (co-)wrote two other Q novels that I really liked. One was Q-in-Law where he brings together Q and Lwaxana Troi... I can't remember the 'main plot' of that one. Just that you don't need a main plot when you're bringing together two characters like that. Of course, they become romantically involved! Of course, Q gives her Q powers! Of course, she kicks his ass! Awesome.

The other is I, Q, which he co-wrote with John de Lancie, the actor who plays Q. It's an unusual novel (unusual for Star Trek novels, because it's written in the first-person) and one of the few audiobooks I really enjoyed, because de Lancie does that, too. Plus, it's got Data and Picard fishing.

What always impresses me about David's prose is how light and engaging it is. He keeps it very simple and lively. He can do big time drama and mix it with moments of very funny humour with seeming ease. Beyond these books, his Star Trek novels were always my favourite. Hell, they may be my favourite Star Trek stuff period.

I need to reread these books, I think. It's been too long...

In 30 minutes, Graeme McMillan shares his views on the subject.

[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative (Details in this post)! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]

Marketing Failure 101 - Avengers: Season One

Yes, I bought the combo giftpack of The Avengers at Wal-Mart, partly just to get the Avengers: Season One graphic novel included. I was curious about the sort of book Marvel would put out to tie-in with the movie and to win over the casual fans who may go "Oh, what the hell, I'll get a comic, too!" when buying their Blu-Ray/DVD combo. Michelle was intrigued by the idea of the comic until she saw it and remember that she doesn't really want to read any comics. To say that I was biased heading in wouldn't be inaccurate. I knew that Marvel had taken the wrong approach pretty much from when it was announced (or, rather, 'discovered' by Bleeding Cool... because why would you want to promote something like this?) by doing the same dumb shit they usually do when there's a chance to actually reach new eyeballs. I was genuinely surprised when Peter David revealed himself as the writer of this, because he's a lot higher on the talent scale than I was expecting. But, it's still disappointing to a degree that he was who they tapped. I look at a project like this and wonder why Marvel doesn't hire their top writer and top artistic team. Why not give people their absolute best? After all, this comic isn't really meant to be 'good' or a 'work of art' like others may be: it's a marketing tool. It's part 'bonus feature' and part 'first taste' of what someone could expect from Marvel.

So, really, there are three things that Marvel is 'selling' readers on here to get them to buy more comics from them:

1. The characters.

2. The writer.

3. The artist.

Those are the three things that Marvel can use to say "If you enjoyed this, here are some other books you'd like..." Three things that could be used to promote their comics and they fuck it up. They absolutely fuck it up in an amateurish display of idiocy that only seems to exist in comics. There are exactly two pages promoting other Marvel comics and what are they? The other 'season one' comics. You might see the logic in promoting those books, but you'd be wrong. You're thinking "Oh, it's a line of books, so it makes sense to promote those," and that's wrong. That's typical dumb comics thinking. Who cares about those other books? They have zero connection to what I just read (aside from Hulk: Season One), because they don't feature the same characters, writer, or artist. Instead, this should have been a book with the top writer, the top artist, and three pages of recommendations: one for the Avengers, one for the writer, and one for the artist. All to easy to find, in-print books that, if someone went onto Amazon right now, they could buy with as little hassle as possible.

But, we get Peter David and four art teams, each blander and more mediocre than the one that came before it. This is an ugly, uninspired-looking comic. This is fill-in quality art clearly produced on a tight deadline, because no one thought to plan ahead at all. This is a book that didn't make me want to read another comic. David's writing is workmanlike with a story that (as the plot provided at the back of the book shows) was clearly designed with the limitation that the three Avengers spotlighted (Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man) must split up to allow for the different art teams. The story has the trio of Avengers go after the Hulk at the behest of General Ross and get stuck in a trap by Loki to make them not trust one another. The pages are full of bright, shiny characters that lack any substance and I found it hard to keep my focus as I went along.

Normally, I don't care about comics looking or seeming like the movies, but the utter lack of any attempt to make this fit in with the movie at all seems like a bad call, too. Why include a comic that's one concession to the movie is leaving Giant-Man and Wasp out? Why not try to bridge the gap between The Avengers and the Marvel Universe a bit more?

Hell, normally, I don't care about the 'right' approach to bringing in new readers so long as the comics are good. Unfortunately, this comic is both bad marketing and a bad comic. It really does seem like something thrown together because someone had the idea of putting a comic in with the Blu-Ray/DVD without actually thinking through what the right approach would be. I mean, I assume part of the goal here was to get people to buy more Avengers (and Marvel) comics, right? If not, what was the goal?

CBR Review: X-Factor #207

I recently reviewed X-Factor #207 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "With 'Second Coming' out of the way, X-Factor can return to its regularly scheduled plots and style without worrying about what’s going on in the rest of the X-universe. That means, of course, a new case for Madrox: a woman named Halja (who we all recognize with a different name) comes walking through the door, wanting a necklace to be retrieved from a man named Gofern. That seems simple enough, but, in this busy comic, it’s almost forgotten after the other ongoing plots of the title are addressed."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: Breaking into Comics the Marvel Way #2

I recently reviewed Breaking into Comics the Marvel Way #2 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "I liked the first issue of Breaking into Comics the Marvel Way. Now the second issue contains six more eight-page stories written by mainstay Marvel writers and drawn by newly-discovered talent by C.B. Cebulski, some novice and some quite experienced in Europe or South America. The preview pages offer a good look at each artist’s work, but this collection is solid and interesting.

You can read the rest HERE!

Pinned Together, Falling Apart: Ruins and The Last Avengers Story

Marvels had an odd, often forgotten effect on Marvel after its publication: the painted prestige-format books. Now, none quite lived up to Marvels (no duh), but some were quite good. I never actually read the Tales to Astonish one or whatever other quick one-offs they put out, but two of my favourites are, and continue to be, Ruins and The Last Avengers Story, both of which fall under the "Marvel Alterniverse," basically what they were calling What If...? stories at the time. One book is a look at "what might have been," while the other is "what might yet happen," but both are very much of their time and, in their own ways, are dark comedies. Actually, they were basically published back-to-back with a cover date of August/September 1995 for Ruins and November/December 1995 for The Last Avengers Story. What I find odd is that one work is of the newcomer, the shit-disturber, while the other is by the seasoned professional--you would almost expected Ellis's story be the one about the future, while David's is the look back at what might have been... but it actually works better this way.

Most of us are familiar with Ruins, which could really be described as "Warren Ellis fucks the Marvel universe," and it was recently relreased in one book, possibly killing the demand for the actual issues. I kind of wish I knew that would happen, because I will say that I fucking hate, hate, hate the way both of these books are put together. Both Ruins and The Last Avengers story have mostly-clear thin plastic surrounding the thick cardstock covers, and it's not a very good package. It looks nice, don't get me wrong, but it's not suited for reading. That it hasn't really appeared since these books isn't a surprise. Ruins especially gets it bad, because it is put together like a traditional comic with stapes, while The Last Avengers Story is square-bound, which works a little bit better. But, that was a totally uninteresting tangent...

Ruins is the dark evil twin of Marvels. Phil Sheldon rambles through a twisted version of the Marvel universe where the Avengers are a revolutionary cell who are killed at the beginning of the first book; the remnants of a Kree invasion fleet die slowly in a radioactive concentration camp; President X lets the country rot. Really, it's pretty messed up--but in that funny sort of way.

One of the biggest complaints I've read with reference to Ruins is that it's a bunch of scenes with little or no connection to one another strung together--and that's true, but that never really bothered me. In fact, reading this complaint made me think back to Marvels and wonder about its structure. Yes, whole issues were devoted to a singular idea, for the most part, but wasn't it just as unfocussed and rambling in its own way? My hardcover of that series is in a box in a closet in my old room at my parents' house, so I can't do a better comparison. But, if anything, isn't Ruins a fast-forward version of Marvels, except about a fucked up world? Instead of going through the years, we get several days at the end--we get the recap of this dark Marvel universe... we show up in time for the death rattle... we don't bask in the glory, in the majesty... we just get the left-overs before it falls apart with Sheldon's death at the end.

One point I find very interesting is the point of divergence: the Fantastic Four's origin. In Ruins, it's revealed that Ben Grimm never flew the shuttle and things went bad from there. Fantastic Four #1 is the true beginning of the Marvel universe, but Marvels actually began earlier with the creation of the Human Torch for the little prelude/prologue story... and, then, issue one dealt with the Invaders in World War II. But, while those comics were published by the company that became Marvel, they were retroactively made part of the Marvel universe (albeit very early by Lee and Kirby), and, thus, not the place where it could go wrong. I mean, there's a conscious choice there to ignore the first issue of Marvels as a place to diverge and it points to Ellis's understanding of how the Marvel universe really is rather than how we like to make it out to be. It really began with an insane idea about four people stealing a space shuttle and being turned into freaks as a result--an idea that could have easily been a twisted sci-fi horror comic instead of the genesis of a superhero universe. Really, that's what Ellis explores here: what if the Marvel universe was a sci-fi horror line instead of a superhero line? What if the Comics Code hadn't neutered EC? What happens if you combine what happened and what could have happened?

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's what I see in Ruins... a twisted, fucked up vision of the Marvel universe that could have easily happened had things gone a little bit differently--in a world where making a comic about four people tuned into hideous freaks by cosmic rays made more business sense than making them heroes. And, let's be honest, it could have went that way.

The Last Avengers Story is a bit of a different beast as it seems less a response to Marvels, but more a project in the similar vein. It's a celebration of the glory of the Marvel universe and a critique of the '90s darkness. The premise is quite simple: at some point in the future, the Avengers went on a tear and captured every supervillain for the government, which turned around and killed them. This caused a lot of heroes to quit, but spurred on Captain America to run for, and be elected, president. He was assassinated. Now, the Avengers are a bunch of bored, younger heroes that spend most of their time milling around their HQ--until someone blows it up. Now, Ultron 59 has challenged his father, Henry Pym to a final battle of good and evil. Ultron 59 and his Masters of Evil will fight against whatever forces Pym can gather.

David really plays into the generational nature of the story by giving us various children of heroes: Jessie, the daughter of She-Hulk and Wyatt Wingfoot is a one-woman SWAT team; the Human Torch and Alicia Masters's daughter wants nothing to do with fighting; Bombshell, the supposed daughter of Hercules; Tommy and Billy, the sons of the Vision and Scarlet Witch... one the new Grim Reaper, the other the next Sorceror Supreme. But, there are also the aging heroes: a blind Hawkeye still married to a bitter Mockingbird; a shrinking Wasp; and then, Cannonball, Pym, and Johnny Storm. Reed Richards looks after a brain-damaged Victor Von Doom. Thor, Hercules and the Thing apparently died in some apocalyptic event, while the Hulk survived only to turn evil, kill Tigra (in the infamous "Make a wish" scene) and then die with Wonder Man after punching through him. The Vision is a giant, intangible ghost, floating in the sky... and has been since a horrific event that occurred at Hank and Jan's second wedding where Wanda was killed in a run-in with Quicksilver, who then committed suicide. Peter Parker is happy, married and has a son named Ben. Susan Storm and She-Hulk "took off," but we're never given any more specifics. We don't really see any other heroes--Dr. Strange makes a brief appearance, meditating, although possibly in a vegetative state, it's hard to tell. The Masters of Evil consist of Ultron 59, Kang the Conqueror, the Grim Reaper, and Oddball, a friend and ally of the Grim Reaper. The first issue consists of Pym gathering heroes with little recaps of what's happened in the past thrown in, while the second issue is the battle.

At its heart, this is a family story--and only one family at that. David really plays up the connections between Pym, Ultron 59 and the Vision, which then brings in Billy and Tommy... really, it's about the patriarch of the Avengers, Hank Pym and his screwed up family. It's an odd way to look at the Avengers, but viewing Pym and Janet Van Dye as the father and mother of this large family oddly works. They're married, Pym created Ultron, Ultron created the Vision, the Vision married the Scarlet Witch and had two kids, the Scarlet Witch is the sister of Quicksilver--you then continue on to include the Inhumans through his marriage to Crystal, who once dated Johnny Storm, who was in the Fantastic Four at one point with She-Hulk, who is the mother of Jessie... and Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were mutants, which is where Cannonball comes in. Really, the Avengers team we get here is all connected to the real fight: Ultron 59 versus his dad. That's what this story is all about: father issues.

Ultron 59 hates his father, the Vision hates his father and is an absentee father, Billy and Tommy are screwed up because of their father, Bombshell never knew her father, Johnny Storm is a father struggling to make a connection with his daughter...

The key event of this story is the death of Wanda. At Hank and Jan's second wedding, Pietro's issues with the Vision, particularly jealousy, came to a head and the Vision's patience with Pietro's constant dickish behaviour was exhausted. So, they got into it, which involved Pietro running at the Vision as fast as he could, hoping his speed would prevail against the Vision's super-density. Except, Wanda stepped in front of the Vision and used her hex powers to make Pietro miss, hoping to save him--except, he saw Wanda and tried to avoid the Vision... only to slam right into Wanda, because of her hex powers, which made him run straight for her. She died, Pietro threw himself off a cliff and the Vision floated up to the clouds, leaving his two sons to their separate paths.

At the end of the fight, the Vision returns and fuses with Ultron 59 to contain the threat, but we never get any resolution concerning Billy and Tommy, last seen fighting one another. Well, actually, we see their silhouettes, watching the giant Vision/Ultron creature die, but still--their story isn't resolved. It's a lingering thread that actually bothers me quite a bit. We could assume that Billy continues as the Grim Reaper, while Tommy returns to his mystic studies, but wouldn't you imagine something more substantial? A tearful Billy ripping off his mask (made of human skin), tears streaming, finally confronting his issues with his father? The lack of resolution is problematic.

This is called The Last Avengers Story, which is referenced twice in the actual story, at the beginning and the end. At the beginning, two years before everything else, Ultron 59 leaves a book called "The Last Avengers Story" in a time capsule that contains relics of every Marvel superhero--this book is later found by Kang, which details the battle we witness and assures his victory. Throughout the story, Ultron 59 plays the underling to Kang despite using him as a puppet in his confrontation with Pym. Where things turn is when Kang deviates from the book and kills Pym, causing Ultron 59 and the Wasp to join together to kill Kang. It's a really odd shift in Ultron 59 to go from wanting to kill Pym to avenging his death. He remarks that he never thought Kang would be arrogant enough to actually go off-script.

The title appears also at the end when it's revealed that Hawkeye and Mockingbird joined the fight only after receiving a call from Captain America, who is alive with the help of machines and has been watching, waiting. We get him at the very end, recording these events and saving them in a file titled "The Last Avengers Story."

As well, there's a small suggestion at the beginning of the story that really plays with the name "The Avengers," as Ultron 59 narrates, before blowing up the Avengers' HQ:

BEING AN AVENGERS HAS BEEN COMPARED TO BEING A MOVIE ACTOR: MOSTLY SITTING AROUND AND WAITING, PUNCTUATED BY OCCASIONAL ACTION.

THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH HEROES, REALLY. THEIR ONLY PURPOSE IN LIFE IS TO THWART OTHERS. THEY MAKE NO PLANS, DEVELOP NO STRATEGIES. THEY REACT INSTEAD OF ACT.

WITHOUT VILLAINS, HEROES WOULD STAGNATE. WITHOUT HEROES, VILLAINS WOULD BE RUNNING THE WORLD.

HEROES HAVE MORALS. VILLAINS HAVE WORK ETHIC.

[...]

VILLAINS HIDE.

HEROES DON'T.

VILLAINS SCHEME.

HEROES WAIT.

He then follows this up by providing Pym with a chance to avenge the deaths of all of those heroes. If Ultron 59 hadn't shown up at Pym's house, there would be no clue as to who killed the Avengers. Ultron 59's attack is an indictment of superheroes.

What ties these books together is their critique of the times, of how things could go wrong. Warren Ellis' Ruins demonstrates an alternate past and present, while Peter David's The Last Avengers Story gives us an alternate future, mostly based on the tone of 1990s comics where having the Hulk grab Tigra by the arms and legs and pull isn't out of line. Where a confrontation between Quicksilver and the Vision killing the Scarlet Witch would be a "collector's issue with foil cover." I find it rather cool, though, that while both books were published as a result of Marvels, The Last Avengers Story is very much a precursor to Kingdom Come, telling a very similar story. Hmm.

[Both Ruins and The Last Avengers story can be purchased in easy-to-find collections. Ruins in a recent book that compiles both issues, while The Last Avengers Story is available in the hardcover Avengers: First to Last, which collects the two-issue story as well as the back-up stories from Avengers Classic #1-12.]

The Sunday Open: Fourth Week of April 2008

I didn't know that the shop I go to here in Windsor doesn't open until noon... until this past Thursday when I arrived via bus shortly after eleven. Shits. Thankfully, there's a lovely little cafe nearby, so I was able to kill an hour by finishing South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami (my second time reading it--and if you haven't read anything by Murakami, you should). That has little to do with this week's comics, but I think an anecdote is a nice way to begin.

The Death of the New Gods #8

Since I haven't been reading Countdown at all, I have no idea how this relates to it. I've been reading this series because it's Jim Starlin and the New Gods will play a big role in Final Crisis. What I love about this issue is that the cover has Superman kneeling, looking like he's been trying to take a shit for three days, the New Gods in the background, and shouting "NO! / IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS!"... a feeling shared by many, no doubt.

Myself included, because this series provides little closure. Apparently Darkseid died in Countdown, killed by Orion (or was it Orion's soul as it appears in this issue?), which you'd think would happen in a book called The Death of the New Gods. Ah well. New Genesis and Apokolips collide to form a new planet that's half of each. Superman is powerless to do anything. Darkseid escapes after nearly beating down the Source.

I enjoyed this mini-series, because I like Starlin's work, but it works only on that level. Reading this book for any other reason than to appreciate Starlin would be worthless, I think.

That said, bring on Holy War. Starlin. Lim. Hells yes.

Mighty Avengers #12

See, this is the type of tie-in issue I can get behind despite the fact that the Skrull take on Avengers #4's cover has nothing to do with the comic itself. We get a glimpse at what Nick Fury has been doing since Secret War and how he's made it his mission to stop the Skrull invasion. It's a solid issue that fills in some blanks and raises more questions than answers--particularly those final two pages. I know Bendis must have giggled himself silly with those pages. What do the red and blue circles mean exactly? Is that who is a Skrull, or just how Fury thinks is a Skrull? Wolverine and Spider-Man are circled in different colours... Alex Maleev's art is its typical loveliness.

Star Trek: New Frontier #2

Goddamn, I love Peter David's Trek stuff. Seriously, he is probably one of the top five writers to ever touch the property. Here, he kicks off the second issue with a few laughs, which is always nice. However, I'm not sure the pacing for this series is completely down. Since I'm used to the novels, this is moving much slower than I want--it seems like where we are at the end of issue two would be only 30 or 40 pages into a 200-plus-page novel. That said, I'm enjoying the crap out of this series and find myself wanting the next issue immediately.

Thor #8

A decent issue with some nice moments between Thor and Odin--as well as shedding new light on why Odin adopted Loki. We're eight issues in and now the main story can begin, it seems. Finally. This book has been a little too decompressed for my tastes. Djurdjevic's art continues to impress--hopefully, he'll get more interior work soon.

Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits

And, so, I finally get into Ennis's Hellblazer run. It took me long enough. I've gotten into the habit of buying a trade each week with my comics and keep looking at Ennis's Hellblazer stuff and it hit me: why am I not buying these? So, here we go.

At this point, you could argue that John Constantine is the one character that I will follow with any real devotion. Thankfully, I've yet to read anything too horrible involving him--mostly because Vertigo seems to do its best to protect the character.

Ennis's run kicks off with its most famous story about John dying of lung cancer. The Ennis here is one we don't see too often now, but we get glimpses of. His focus is so specific, so narrow on one character that it's almost surprising as Ennis tends to focus on ensembles now--even Punisher is more about the criminals than Frank a lot of the time. Not here: it's just Constantine. And it's a leisurely stroll through the Valley of Death that ends in a typical Constantine way: him pulling it all together to save himself and then realising that he nearly killed us all and feeling like a piece of shit.

I'm looking forward to the next trade.

Scalped: Indian Country and Scalped: Casino Boogie

I mentioned last week that I picked up these two trades while in London--well, finally finished the second one this week. And, yeah, it's a good book. I forgot while in the shop on Thursday, but, if I remember this week, I'll try to track down the singles that have come out since the end of the second book, and then begin buying this monthly. Will that make people happy? Good.

Regular posting will not resume this week, because I'm taking the next few days easy in preparation for my thesis defence on Thursday.

The Sunday Open: Last Week of March

Do you know what today is? Yes, that's right, it's Wrestlemania. That has nothing to do with comics, really, but it's still awesome.

All-Star Superman #10

Things begin to wrap up here as Superman prepares for his death and Morrison revisits old ideas. Now, writers often revisit the same ideas over and over again, but they do it in different ways, which I don't see from Morrison here. The metafictional aspects of the issue are not much different from anything he's done before, which is rather boring. An enjoyable issue that didn't really wow me, which is pretty standard for this book (aside from that second Bizarro issue that everyone else--except Jog--seemed to hate). One of the problems is that this is the book that Morrison has been gearing up for his entire career... resulting in a lot of the same ideas and concepts being used here in much the same ways. You could call his book "Grant Morrison's Greatest Hits" and not be too far off the mark. Which is fine, I guess.

Gravel #2

This may be my favourite comic of the week. It's nothing that special or that different from what we've gotten with the character before--but I do enjoy seeing the different types of magic Ellis and Wolfer give us. As well, the weird politics of the major seven and minor seven is very interesting, as Gravel is looked down upon/feared for things the other members are more than willing to do. There are suggestions that because he's working class that he doesn't belong--that he's just a thug--but he also continually out-thinks his fellow magicians because of his thug-like qualities. The fight being fought isn't one of skill or power, it's of the ability to kill other people and William Gravel does that for a living, making him much better at it. I really enjoyed how he turned the horses against the woman here. Not a brilliant book, but very solid with no major flaws.

Star Trek: New Frontier #1

I have never understood why Paramount hasn't given Peter David a lot of money and had him head up a TV series with these characters. I've been reading this series for years (although missed a few books during the past few since I read library copies--I really should go back and buy the ones I don't have) and it's always impressed me and seemed like the next logical step for the franchise to take. Enterprise was a stupid idea, because who wants a series about the future's past? You can do that for an episode every once in a while, but as a series? Who gives a fuck? New Frontier is a mix of new characters and minor characters like Robin Lefler, Elizabeth Shelby or that female Vulcan doctor that would occasionally show up on Next Generation. The basic concept was that the Thallon empire has collapsed and the Federation is sending a ship in to make sure things don't get too out of hand. The captain is Mackenzie Calhoun, probably the best captain of any series--the guy is fucking crazy at times. For example, in the first story, the ship comes across a broken ship and takes on the passengers with the intention of dropping them at a Starbase or something later. They come across a planet that offers to take on these refugees and Calhoun has a bad feeling, tells them not to go. They refuse and go to the planet, at which point the government tells Calhoun that if he doesn't turn over some lovely Starfleet weaponry, they will kill the refugees. He tells them to go fuck themselves because he told the refugees not to go down, they didn't listen, so fuck them, too. In fact, fuck everyone, fire quantum torpedos at the planet--the government official says go ahead, because the rulers are deep underground and Calhoun will only be killing civillians. A few hundred feet before impact, he blows up the torpedos, seemingly giving in to the government... but then broadcasts the entire exchange, causing the civillian population to rise up and overthrow the government. He always seemed like the sort of captain Warren Ellis would write.

A dozen books later, we arrive here at the second comic series (well, Wildstorm did a graphic novel) featuring the characters. The issue begins with Admiral Jellico stealing a new experimental time-ship and the Excalibur being tasked with having to find it. Not much happens beyond that, but it's a good set-up issue and catches everyone up to speed on where the characters are. It's weird to see some of these characters drawn, though, since I'm so used to just reading about them. Damn, I really need to complete my collection of New Frontier books and go on a reading-spree. Even if you're not familiar with the series, maybe check it out as it's the best Star Trek stuff I've ever encountered... seriously, New Frontier is better than anything Trek-related I've seen.

Oh, and the art is by a guy named Stephen Thompson, who does good work. His style is kind of sketchy at times, but in a really good way. I'm particularly impressed with how he handles characters that were played by actors as they resemble those actors enough, but aren't photorealistic. Robin Lefler, for example, was played by Ashley Judd and there's only one panel that really looks like Ashley Judd, the rest just look like someone similar to Judd--which I prefer. I look forward to seeing how he does on future issues.

Transhuman #1

Jonathan Hickman's third series features him on art only. Like the other books, it's more about ideas than characters. There is a lovely two pages mocking the X-Men a little here. The form is mockumentary. The art is alright. I will continue to read.

Ultimate Human #3

An engaging issue that tells the story of Ultimate Pete Wisdom, secret agent man. I am a staunch opposer of all things military, but I felt for Ultimate Wisdom here. Wonder how the series will end next month.

Global Frequency: Planet Ablaze

Read this when it came out via my dad. Six self-contained stories in this issue tied together by the Global Frequency, 1001 people dedicated to making the world a better place by stopping bad thingsfrom happening. All good done-in-one stories that explore pet themes of Ellis with great art by the likes of Garry Leach, Steve Dillon, Jon J Muth and David Lloyd. I need to get the second trade.

JLA: Kid Amazo

Holy shit, Peter Milligan has produced an amazing Justice League story here on the nature of man and machine while deconstructing the League. Now, it wouldn't be out of line to say that some of the characters seem out of character, but that's not the point. Milligan is operating with a set group of characters that he uses to explore themes and ideas, while critiquing the concept of the group. Kid Amazo thought he was a normal college student until he learned that, no, he's a weird combination of human and... Amazo. The JLA observes him in the hopes that he will not become villainous, but the interference of the group is what turns him "evil." As the group has no real leadership and no hierarchy, each member acts alone on their instincts, which is how things get bad for the group. I mean, the only way to defeat Kid Amazo (who has the added power of being able to put himself into the mindset of each League member, down to every part of each's pscyhe) is to fight amongst themselves and, basically, beat up a schizophrenic man. The JLA are bad, bad people. This book is an answer to Morrison's run on JLA that explores why the team can't work and why superpeople have adverse effects on the world. Very, very good. Except for the art, which is done by Carlos D'anda... I am not a fan.

Sorry for being so brief in places.

Lesser Known Joe Casey Comics: The Incredible Hulk #467

[Beginning my look at Joe Casey's little-known run on The Incredible Hulk, which he wrote between Peter David's departure and the relaunch by John Byrne. New posts Monday, Wednesday and Friday.]

This issue actually only contains two pages by Joe Casey as an epilogue for David's run/prologue for his own run. The rest of the issue is actually Peter David's last issue on the book and delivers a conclusion that doesn't actually happen. At the end of his run, Bruce Banner's wife, Betty died, from radiation poisoning--supposedly from him--and her dad blamed him--and he blamed himself. This issue has a future version of Rick Jones discussing what happened next with Bruce dropping out of sight, going a little insane and trying his best to die without any success. The issue is a nice mix of traditional comic panels and pics with text in the gutters. It tells a story that could never happen as it actually changes things in a big way, particularly how Bruce acts--and the future of the Hulk. At the end of the issue, David admits that it's an alternate future. But, still, it's a decent story. I never read David's run really, never being a big Hulk fan, but this issue seem a good way to end such a long run.

Bruce, in a way, acts as David's stand-in, especially at the end of the issue where he speaks about how sometimes you just need to move on.

Casey's two pages set-up General Ross keeping Betty's body in a cryogenic-type tank so she can be brought back at some future point--while swearing revenge against Bruce and, in a way, thanking her for giving his life purpose again.

Sorry for this cheat of a post, but it worked out well as today has been very busy and I'm not in the mood for something longer.

Tomorrow, I begin looking at an entirely different Joe Casey run... what will it be?

Chad's Jackass Comic Creator Interviews from 2001: Peter David

[Concluding our trip into the past where I was 18 and apparently had an odd obsession with comic book creator underwear. And "chicks." Again, I would like to apologise to all those involved--and thank those who had no tolerance for my jackassery.]

Interview With . . . Peter David!
If you know me, then odds are you’ve heard me talk about Peter David. To put it mildly, I love his novels. I think the first book I read of his was his Hulk novel, and that was because it was comic related. Eventually, my love of Star Trek led me to start picking up some of those novels. I recognized David’s name from comics and such, so I read Q-Sqaured (the fact that I like Q didn’t hurt). It blew me away. It was a work of genius, so I quickly read everything else the library had to offer me of his, and I have been since.

Me: Tell us a little about yourself.

David: Peter David is a prolific author whose career, and continued popularity, spans nearly two decades. He has worked in every conceivable media: Television, film, books (fiction, non-fiction and audio), short stories, and comic books, and acquired followings in all of them. In the literary field, Peter has had over fifty novels published, including numerous appearances on the New York Times Bestsellers List. His novels include Sir Apropos of Nothing (A “fast, fun, heroic fantasy satire”--Publishers Weekly), Knight Life, Howling Mad, and the Psi-Man adventure series. He is the co-creator and author of the bestselling Star Trek: New Frontier series for Pocket Books, and has also written such Trek novels as Q-Squared, The Siege, Q-in-Law, Vendetta, I, Q (with John de Lancie), A Rock and a Hard Place and Imzadi. He produced the three Babylon 5 Centauri Prime novels, and has also had his short fiction published in such collections as Shock Rock, Shock Rock II, and Otherwere, as well as Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine and the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Peter’s comic book resume includes an award-winning twelve-year run on The Incredible Hulk, and he has also worked on such varied and popular titles as Supergirl, Young Justice, Soulsearchers and Company, Aquaman, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, X-Factor, Star Trek, Wolverine, The Phantom, Sachs & Violens, and many others. He has also written comic book related novels, such as The Hulk: What Savage Beast, and co-edited The Ultimate Hulk short story collection. Furthermore, his opinion column But I Digress has been running in the industry trade newspaper The Comic Buyers’ Guide for nearly a decade, and in that time has been the paper's consistently most popular feature and was also collected into a trade paperback edition.

Peter is the co-creator, with popular science fiction icon Bill Mumy (of Lost in Space and Babylon 5 fame) of the Cable Ace Award-nominated science fiction series Space Cases, which ran for two seasons on Nickelodeon. He has written several scripts for the Hugo Award winning TV series Babylon 5, and the sequel series, Crusade. He has also written several films for Full Moon Entertainment and co-produced two of them, including two instalments in the popular Trancers series as well as the science fiction western spoof Oblivion, which won the Gold Award at the 1994 Houston International Film Festival for best Theatrical Feature Film, Fantasy/Horror category.

Peter's awards and citations include: the Haxtur Award 1996 (Spain), Best Comic script; OZCon 1995 award (Australia), Favourite International Writer; Comic Buyers Guide 1995 Fan Awards, Favourite writer; Wizard Fan Award Winner 1993; Golden Duck Award for Young Adult Series (Starfleet Academy), 1994; UK Comic Art Award, 1993; Will Eisner Comic Industry Award, 1993. He lives in New York with his wife, Kathleen, and his three children, Shana, Gwen and Ariel.

Me: What was your first big break of sorts in the writing field?

David: Writing Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man.

Me: What have you written? And try to keep it under a 1000 words ;)

David: See #1.

Me: What are you currently writing?

David: Responses to this interview.

Me: What do you think of Enterprise so far?

David: Could be better, could be worse.

Me: You ever notice how the ending to Q-Squared could be modified slightly so that all the problems with Brent Spiner and make-up not covering his age would no longer be an issue?

David: Hadn't really given it much thought.

Me: Boxers or briefs?

David: Depends if you're fighting a pugilist or an attorney.

Me: Summer or winter?

David: Summer. Less clothing on women.

Me: Cats or dogs?

David: Cats.

Me: Any cool stories involving a chick?

David: I once stood at an incubator and watched a whole bunch hatch. That was cool.

Me: I just gave you a 100 untraceable bullets, who or what do you use them on?

David: The guy who thought of this question.

Me: Who are some of your favourite writers?

David: Neil Gaiman, Harlan Ellison, Robert Crais, David McCullough.

Me: Who is your hero?

David: My wife.

Me: Who are some of the artists that you really want to work with?

David: Alex Ross. That'd be cool. Dave McKean. Adam Hughes.

Me: Did you design New Frontier as a possible TV series or was the use of pre-existing characters just because you thought them to be interesting? Not to mention the little one-liners about Morgan Lefler looking like Majel Barret Roddenbery . . .

David: No, it was always designed to be a book series. Using some pre-existing characters was suggested by John Ordover.

Me: Are you going to be doing any more B5 work? For novels, TV, movies, comics, anything?

David: Dunno.

Me: You've written numerous Q novels, do you find the way he's been portrayed to be contrary to the way that you view the character?

David: Sometimes. Wasn't wild about any of his Voyager appearances.

Me: Can you tell people, who won't listen to me, why they should read New Frontier?

David: Nah. If they won't listen to you, who has no vested interest, why would they listen to me?

Me: Who do you love?

David: My wife and children.

Me: Any final words?

David: Well, no, what with not dying anytime soon.

Random reading: Random books!

Another trip to the shop here and another pile of books chosen at random. Well, let's dive in!

Blade #5

Actually bought earlier this week at the bookstore because I thought "What the hell, I'll give the book another shot!" based entirely on the badass cover of Wolverine's claws running through Blade's head--and Blade smiling because he fucking loves it.

Yeah, the comic sucked compared to that cover. Too much space wasted on a cliched flashback subplot and not enough space devoted to a badass fight where Wolverine runs Blade through and then Blade is all "Motherfucker, that's the way I like it!" and then it's REALLY fucking on.

Teen Titans #43

"Hey, let's do a story where it's like an evil Teen Titans!"

"You mean like an Injustice League, but with the Titans?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!"

So, yeah, the real Titans get their asses handed to them by the evil Titans and I'm sure this matters to people who read this title and care about these characters.

Green Lantern #16

Green Lantern is an idiot.

That sums up this issue.

Apparently, to keep things separate, Hal Jordan, while flying in the air force, is dumb enough to NOT WEAR HIS MAGICAL RING THAT WILL MAKE SURE HE DOESN'T DIE! And the he got caught by terrorists and put the woman he loves in danger and caused an international incident and is being pursued by alien bounty hunters because the kid of that alien who died and made him Green Lantern now wants his daddy's ring. And if this idiot had just worn his ring to begin with, this would have all been solved rather quickly, but he's an idiot and we're supposed to feel sorry for him, except he's such an idiot we don't.

The Creeper #6

Yeah, I didn't see that this was issue six of six until I got to the end and it was the end.

I bet if I had read the previous five issues, I might have enjoyed this issue more. Except there's fun bits of dialogue like:

"BACKSTAB ME, WILL YA?"

Said by the Creeper after punching Batman in the face.

Yeesh.

Fantastic Four #542

I rather liked this comic. It reminded me of that episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine where Dr. Bashir and the group of genetically-enhanced people figure out using math that the Federation WILL lose the war with the Dominion no matter what. No hope. No chance. So why not surrender now and save billions of lives?

I always agreed with that choice and I find myself agreeing with Reed here. He's figured out the way to save the planet is to do shit like the Registration Act and he's going to make damn sure it happens no matter the cost.

I only hope that Marvel has the balls to see the story through where Reed is right. THAT would be impressive, I think.

But, they'll probably puss out in favour of the whole "siding with good will beat the odds" bullshit eventually.

Civil War: The Return

Oh, shut up, it wasn't that bad.

First off, it doesn't negate the death of Captain Marvel. He doesn't even come back from the dead really.

Second off, the Sentry story was kind of interesting--at least if you're a fan of the Sentry. It did more to explain his joining up with Iron Man more than Bendis' spotlight issue did.

Third off, it wasn't that great either, but I read worse comics THIS WEEK let alone in the past few years.

Fourth off, I do think that the Mar-Vell story could have worked better as a full-issue story. It was a little too compressed, especially when he returns, for my taste. Everyone seems to accept what's happened a little too quickly--they don't even ask WHERE he came from, they just go "Oh, you're here, run the prison!" Seems kind of stupid.

X-Factor #15

I'd heard good things and this issue was good. I've never been a big fan of Peter David's comic stuff--his prose has always done it for me--but this was good. Interesting characters, snappy dialogue and the funniest way of taking down terrorists I've ever seen--while being disturbing at the same time. I'm tempted to hunt down all the previous stuff for this series. (And I just checked with Amazon.ca and I could get the Madrox trade and two X-Factor collections for a decent price, so maybe I will sometime soon.)

The Spirit #2

So, the Spirit gets his ass kicked and then later kicks the asses of those who kicked his ass plus a few more people without much effort? I can't stand it when shit like that happens. It's something that happens in shit like this and it takes me right out of the story. It's one thing if the hero comes up with a sneaky way of overcoming the difficulty, but when there is literally no difference in the two situations I just don't get it. (You COULD argue he does it so he can find out later what the real plan is, but I don't see why he couldn't have, I don't know, kicked a little ass since doing that and then leaving wouldn't have affected anything except how much pain he'd be in.)

But, this book is steeped heavily in such conventions and it adheres to them well. Not my thing.

Captain America: Winter Soldier Vols. 1&2 and Winter Soldier: Winter Kills

Well-drawn, well-written, well-conceived. They brought Bucky back and did it in a way that adds to the character. Never thought I'd see that coming. I do think had I read this without that knowledge, it would have been better. So sorry, I just spoiled it for you, but I figure everyone knows it by now. I don't know what to say. As is obvious, I'm not great at praising stuff, I'm much more of a "tear shit down" guy.

I did think the Jack Monroe interlude issue killed the pacing of the story a bit without adding a whole lot.

The Winter Soldier special had some touching moments, especially at the end. Am confused about how the trio of Young Avengers say they won't kill anyone, but then they knock out all the Hydra members before burning the warehouse down--did they carry them all out?

Come to think of it, Hydra has been popping up a lot lately in the MU. In that Spider-Woman issue of New Avengers, in Iron Fist, in X-Factor, in Fantastic Four, here. And in nearly every case (Iron Fist is the odd one out), they are getting their asses handed to them and losing large numbers of people and equipment. Kind of makes Iron Fist look like a little pussy, doesn't it? I'm going to have to think about that.

Random Reading: The Last Avengers Story

Ah, a classic from the "Marvel Alterniverse" line spawned by Marvels, The Last Avengers Story is a two-issue prestige format series written by Peter David with painted art by Ariel Olivetti that has a certain Kevin O'Neill feel to it.

The basic plot: sometime in the future, superheroes don't do much except sit around and shoot the shit. Years ago, the government had the superheroes do a country-wide search and capture to eliminate the supervillain population. The catch was the heroes thought the villains were going to prison, while the government turned around and killed them all. That pretty much made most of the heroes we know and love quit the game right then and there.

Until Ultron shows up and blows up the current Avengers and then visits Hank Pym to challenge him to a final Avengers/Masters of Evil showdown. Ultron has Kang, the Grim Reaper and Oddball, while Pym must try and gather what heroes he can, because if he doesn't, Ultron is just going to go around and kill them anyway.

Most of the appeal to this series lies in that glimpse into a possible future where Peter Parker and Mary Jane have a teenage son or Wyatt Wingfoot and She-Hulk had a daughter who took after her mom. Or how Thor, Hercules and the Thing all died in some sort of god-related battle, while the Hulk somehow survived but not unchanged.

Or, the horrible final fates of Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and the Vision--and the effect it had on Tommy and Billy, their sons.

It's a good read with some interesting bits. I figure that one of my favourite ideas, "superheroes react, while villains ACT" was actually stolen from here (although, David probably didn't come up with it either, but I read this when I was younger and it probably got stuck in my brain).

In a way, this is a good cross between Marvels and Ruins. It is very loyal to what came before, but also has a rather fucked up realistic bent. It almost seems to be a warning to writers tempted to push the group down these paths. It was published in late 1995, still very much in the midst of all the darker 1980s/90s bullshit. Of course, since then, various storylines have occurred that could produce such a depressing, bleak fucking future as presented here--although, it isn't all bad, as Pym notes: Peter Parker has found peace. Who would have thought that? The only hero to find true peace in the Marvel universe is Spider-Man. Gotta love PAD's sense of humour, eh?