More shake ups at Marvel

[Calhoun07]

Quesada has certainly shaken things up for the better at Marvel since becoming EIC, giving us more than we could have ever hoped for. Spider Man and X Men are both enjoyable again, Daredevil is still on track as a great title, Marvel Knights is chugging along as great as ever, Max comics is breaking out with alot of promise, but where could we go from here?

What other titles would you like to see get shaken up? For the better, that is. I am currently reading Fantastic Four, and it's good, better than Claremont's run, but not as good as it could be, so I'd like to see that title shaken up a bit more. And I'd love to see Thor and Captain America shaken up as well. Right now, Captain America is in another lost shield story line. YAWN. While I don't know who I'd pick for creative teams on this book (well, I would like to see Byrne back on FF, but I am sure there is a good writer out there who could turn that title upside down), I just know that the current teams on these books are not doing them justice.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Avengers is a consistently good old-school read. It sneaks under the radar most of the times, but it delivers solid super-hero fare without trying to be more important than it is.

[James Harvey]

Byrne won't be back at Marvel anytime soon. As for FF, Pacheco is leaving as artist to concentrate on co-writing with Loeb. A new artist will be named soon. I'm guessing Alan Davis.

[Calhoun07]

I thought Byrne's beef with Marvel was with the previous EIC. Does he also have something against Quesada?

[James Harvey]

Yup. Quesada called Byrne's X-Men: The Hidden Years title "useless" and cancelled it. Byrne (again) vowed never to come back to Marvel.

[Calhoun07]

Well, it was useless. Oh, well. Byrne is back to doing useless comics for DC. A follow up to Generations? Who needs it?

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Alan Davis wants to go back to working on his own projects after Avengers, which he finished a few months ago. So he probably won't be a contender for FF.

[The Mad Hatter]

He's following up Generations? Really?

(shocked pause)

For the love of all that is holy, someone needs to stop Byrne from making any more comics.

[Calhoun07]

Yeah, I was wondering myself why we need a sequel to the Batman and Superman Generations mini series. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I certainly didn't want a sequel to arise out of it. I ordered issue two by mistake, but don't know if I want to cancel it from my order or go and keep it the same and just get it and hunt down a back issue #1 if I like it. That's the problem when you order your comics basically blind three months in advance. Either you find a title you missed that you like, or you buy a title that you think you might like but wind up hating it and are stuck with two or more three issues.

[Calhoun07]

I mentioned that I recently started reading FF again. Issue 44 made little sense to me, as it was the final part of a longer story, but it was good, and issue 45 struck me as lame, mostly. I never cared for the Puppet Master, ever. Not even under the capable hands of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would I like his stories. And this issue did not win me over.

But I just got done reading the annual, and I am really impressed. Now this is the Fantastic Four I want to see...with adventures of cosmic porportions that threaten the very balance of Earth's survival! The issue began with a skull of Galactus falling from the sky, opening up a bizzare and wonderfully twisted mystery for our heroes to solve, and I have to say the issue did not disappoint. It is continued in issue 46 so I know a great story line is coming up for the Fantastic Four now. Maybe the team does have the right writer on it after all.

[Frozen]

This is a genuine question, and not an acidic attack, but what happened to the john Byrne who gifted us such lovely comics as his runs on X-Men, FF, Alpha Flight, and he Avengers? When did he suddenly just drop the ball? I used to worship his stuff, and now I just feel so sad when I see the trash he is turning out...

OK, the comic series I would like to see the most is Steranko back on Nick Fury. Ever since I discovered Nick Fury as a young teen he, and Black Widow, have been my favourite Marvel characters, and I look forward to every new Fury series, each time hoping it will be as wild and innovative as Steranko's run. I know Ennis is doing a new Fury series, but I'm afraid I have quite a delicate taste, and I find Ennis' work a little too... abrasive, shall we say, for my tastes. That's not to rubbish what he achieved with Preacher and the like, but he's just not my cup of tea...

Thanks for listening.

[Calhoun07]

I personally think Byrne has allowed too many personal politics cloud the efforts of his work. That guy is so quick to quit a company when the going gets tough (he seems to me that he really throws a fit when they cancel one of his titles, or remove him from a book. I don't know, but he certainly hits the door quickly when they shake his books up) and I just think he doesn't care anymore about what he's doing, he's turned into another hack.