...but now I really do. I mean, as much as you can really care about a comic book character, anyway...
1. Phantomex: Rick Remender has turned this creation of Grant Morrison's into a very unique character in the Marvel U who fits into a perfect niche. Uncanny X-Force is really his group when it comes down to it.I love his unique powers, and the way he was willing to do something that everyone knew was technically the right thing to do in killing young Apokolips. And then he goes one more and takes it upon himself to raise him up right himself. (You have to read the book to really make sense of that...)
2. Red Hulk: I love what Jeff Parker has done for this formerly one-note character. He's turned him into a human being. He's an old veteran who has real and valid concerns for the well-being of the country, as well as having become what he has always hated the most. Very good characterization!
3. OMAC: Giffen and Didio have turned a character of whom I knew nothing (save the Batman version from Infinite Crisis) into a character I can't get enough of. Because of this, I have gone back and looked into the Jack Kirby version (which has, in turn, caused me to buy a whole lot of Jack Kirby material).
4. Wonder Woman: Brian Azzarello (plus Cliff Chiang) have taken Wonder Woman and pretty much set up a woman who is very strong, assuring, and who is willing to kick your butt because she was raised by a very dysfunctional family to be a warrior. And that's exactly what she is now. In my opinion, she is finally interesting.
5. Daredevil: Mark Waid, you did it! Finally, we have a Daredevil who is back from the darkness of what was his life for so long. He is brought back not into a wise-cracking funny guy like Spider-Man, but somewhere toward the middle. I hate to use the term "swashbuckling" when talking about this character, because it's overused, but he is less of a gloomy boy and more of, well, a daredevil.
Okay, now who are yours?
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I really like this thread, Jeff. Been meaning to get to it for a few days, now.
1) OMAC. Like you, I'm loving this book. What I've seen of Kevin Kho I really like -- he's underestimated by his girlfriend and his workplace, and on the other end of it is being completely used by the mysterious A.I. entity, Brother Eye. He's one of my new faves.
2) Al Jabr. In Demon Knights, he's a man of science in a world of magic. And yet (IIRC) he's also the person who takes greatest umbrage at the death of the priest because of his association with the Demon. A counterpoint to modern tensions between science and religion, Al Jabr recognizes that, at the time, there was a lot of scientific knowledge held by the church and few others. Interesting stuff. Not that the other Demon Knights are slouches, either. Particularly...
3) Vandal Savage. He's Immortal. He's fun-loving! On the surface, he seems nothing like the centuries-old despot we've seen in DC comics for decades. In Demon Knights, he's six centuries younger, and much more impulsive. But -- as revealed in the most recent issue -- he's still out for Number One.
4) Arsenal. Historically, my least favorite Titan. With or without a daughter or a drug problem, he's pretty much always been a heel. But in Red Hood and the Outlaws, I'm finally gaining a much more empathetic view of Roy Harper... and I like what I see quite a bit. He's my favorite of the trio.
5) Firestorm. Wait, sorry. Still don't care.
5) Starling. I wasn't sure whether I'd like Birds of Prey, and picked it up mostly out of a sense of Fair Play. And yet Starling, with her ponytail, her guns, and her rockabilly tattoos, his become one of my favorites of the New 52. I can't wait to meet her Uncle Earl who taught her spycraft. I'm sorry Oracle's not still around, but I love the life and energy of this incarnation of Birds of Prey, and Starling's the biggest reason why.
I presume they fixed the Red Hulk?
In his first few appearances his behaviour was stomach-turning, especially his treatment of She-Hulk. He seemed to take particular delight in physically dominating a female and beating her around. His dialogue was much more personal with her. (Which is weird considering Ross never had much to do with the She-Hulk.)
If there was no story purpose to his special treatment of She-Hulk then it looks uncomfortably like the writer putting the nastier levels of his own unconscious, and his feelings about women, on show.
Has Red-Hulk's disgusting, violently expressed mysogyny been addressed at all?
It was this aspect of Loeb's depiction of Red Hulk that just stopped me reading Hulk comics after having read every issue from Byrne's Hulk comics all the way to World War Hulk.
I think I heard that in the early days of the Red Hulk, they weren't 100% nailed down on who it would turn out to be.
So they were trying to make the readers think it was some violent sex offender?
I have no idea; didn't read 'em. I'm not thinking about the misogyny so much as the implied personal history with She-Hulk.
I didn't read any Jeph Loeb Red Hulk comics because, well, Jeph Loeb wrote them. The Red Hulk of my Marvel Universe first appeared when Jeff Parker started writing him. And he's awesome!
(I love the way my mind works...)
JeffCarter said:
Selective disbelief is the key to sanity.
Oh, man, Rob, I'm with you on this one! Who would have thought that a Birds of Prey title, which I felt was unheard of without Babs at the steering wheel in her chair, would somehow be even more fun? This is by far the most interesting and cool the Birds have ever been. Duane Swyzcerscki (okay, I'm not even going to try and pretend I can spell or pronounce his last name...hope he's good with that because I'm a huge fan) is an incredibly underrated writer. He makes each issue flow like honey. You don't even realize you're reading. You just experience it, and it's awesome! And yes, I totally agree that Starling somehow feels like a totally fleshed out character despite the fact that we don't know jack about her.
Rob Staeger said:
I spelled it a few times yesterday, and tried to commit it to memory. Here goes:
Sweircyzinski!
Dang! I'm sure that's wrong.
But Birds had two strikes against it for me -- no Oracle, and Poison Ivy. And yet it swept me along, and has even warmed me up to miss Isley! I loved the train set-piece in issues 3 and 4, and can't wait to see what happens next.
Once again, it's like we share a brain. Both of these strikes are exactly the same as mine. But somehow Canary having taking a harder control in this new DCU and plus the inclusion of Starling have made the leadership of this team all the stronger, plus the fact that they're downplaying the over-sexed-up Ivy and playing up her plant-based powers have also made me not mind Poison Ivy so much. I think I'm behind an issue, but I can't wait to read it.
Rob Staeger said:
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