Bits and Pieces 14: Stomping Grounds

AND WE'RE LIVE

One of the main reasons this blog of mine has seen less activity than a nerd's sex life is because I have a laptop that isn't worth a shit.  It's a nightmare piece of hardware that slowly drains the life out of anyone that uses it and for the most part I opt not to.

So I do everything from my phone nowadays.  Lucky for mr there's a blogger app that will allow me to update this thing without having to use that shitty laptop.

THE AGE CONUNDRUM

Since I've started reading a lot of comics lately on a regular basis, going from just Invincible and the regular Batman title to also reading seven X-Men titles (eventually eight) and a Spider-Man book making it eleven monthly titles come April, I've been noticing some quirky things regarding the ages of the characters.  In All-New X-Men young Scott is said to be 14 and now Scott is said to be 40.  That means out of the sixty years of publication for the X-Men Cyclops has only aged 27 years.  During Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men he has Emma say she's 27.  Is she still 27? Or does Scott like the younger ladies?  And for how long has Scott been 40?

I love this because it continues thr history of the universe and adds to it.  I love fictional history, not continuity mind you, but history.  All-New X-Men is my current favorite of the Marvel Now explosion -- followed closely by Cable and X-Force and Deadpool -- because it hits those nostalgia points for long time X-Men readers while providing a fresh take on the X-Men world of things.  Which is a lot of fun.  It seems that all the new X titles from Marvel a presenting fresh new spins on that corner of the Marvel Universe and it's more than enough to get me hooked.

SUPERIOR IS AS SUPERIOR DOES

Speaking of fresh new spins, Superior Spider-Man is just that.  Writer Dan Slott is having fun with the book, and you can tell by how he's writing it, and having fun with the readers.  All the stuff that seemed to be controversial before the series started is being undercut by awesome bait and switch moves that keep things interesting.  And the art is this hyper weird mix between Todd McFarlane and one of those more cartoony guys that's worked on Spider-Man since Todd's departure two decades ago.

SNYDE

Where did Scott Snyder come from?  Dude wasnt on my radar almost two yeara ago and now I adore anything and everything he writes.  My first experience with Mr. Snyder's work was with Batman # 1 from the New 52 launch and I didn't buy it because of his name.  I bought it because I'm a long time fan of Greg Capullo's art.  And I wasnt that impressed with the first issue and financial issues kept me from sticking with it past the first issue so I decided to wait for the trade.  Now Batman is a title I buy month in and month out, I buy the American Vampire hardcovers when hr become available and I've started going back and buying everything with Mr. Snyder's name attached to it beginning with Gates of Gotham and The Black Mirror.  He's really good at what he does.

THE BLOG IS COMING

Oh, shit!  Here it comes!

Now that I'm using my phone to write this stuff on, more content will be coming.  The 20 Year Anniversary stuff for Image Comics even though Image is now 21 years old, the Art of Todd McFarlane,  other comic book stuff and other video game stuff I've been meaning to write about but kept putting off because of that laptop. All relatively soon!

So, yep!

Welcome Home?

It's been slightly over two decades since I've been a regular reader of any kind of X-Men comics.   I stopped reading around 1991 and 1992 because the art took a huge leap backwards when Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio and Rob Liefeld left the books.

During that time I'd flirt with the titles here and there.  I read some of the Fatal Attractions issues where Magneto ripped the Adamantium from Wolverine's bones and I tries to read Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men as it was being published but lost track and eventually opted to wait foe the trades.  After Morrison left I had no interest in the X-Men world at all.

Then Marvel did their Civil War event which I'm a big fan of and things started to pique my interests.  The main book that piqued those interests was a book called Schism, which could be billed as a Civil War for the X-Men.  I bought kt and read it and though I was less than impressed with it at the time, the ideas of the book kept me interested for a while.  I bought the first issue of Wolverine and the X-Men and that was about it.  My interests went elsewhere.  Comic wise it went to Invincible -- my favorite superhero comic ever -- Savage Dragon and Batman, because Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are champions. I also spent a great deal of the past two years replenishing my lirbrary of books I had gotten rid of, damaged or lost over the years, and re-reading them.  And then there's video games.  Comics can't compete with them for my attentiom most of the time because vidro games give me much more bang for my buck.  And I play a lot of video games.  I did manage to read the Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire, which was okay and Second Coming, which I adored. I also tried to keep up with some of the books after Schism that followed Cable and Hope and X-Force, but couldnt keep getting to my local comic shop.

My interest in X-Men actually died last year or so when Marvel announced the Avengers vs. X-Men event.  It sounded weird, made little sense to me and I thought that if this was a fighting game being done by Capcom in the similar vein as Marvel vs. Capcom, I'd be all over it.  Time went on, the series was being published, and nothing was winning me over. At least nothing that I was hearing.

Then a truck driver that delivers gas to where I work began talking up the AvX story and I was mildly interested.  I decided to wait for the trade and was more than happy to see that an omnibus was coming.

When the omnibus arrived I sat down and devoured it.  It was essentially basic superhero comics stuff but the way it was presented was very interesting. And the aftermath that started coming in after the omnibus was published with the Marvel Now initiative, it just kept coming. The interest I mean.

So I bit the bullet and started trying some of the books beginning with Deadpool, then with the Uncanny Avengers 'causr it's hard to go wrong on a boom illustrated by John Cassaday.  Then more started coming.  Uncanny X-Force grabbed my attentiom because of the cast of characters that included Storm, Psylocke and Spiral. And then there's All-New X-Men which is reminiscent of Days of Future Past in that Beast goes back in time and brings the original five X-Men to the present to show them what's become of everything.  I've also added Wolverine and the X-Men and Cable and X-Force to the list, both of which are awesome in their own rights.  I'll also be reading Uncanny X-Men and X-Men omce they start as well.

The world of the X-Men has changed drastically in twenty years but in a very good, almost fresh and new sort of way and I'm once again happy to be an X-Men fan.