I get to read it for free, but that's no longer enough for me to continue with this awful, awful series..
This issue, Red Hulk is given a list of people to recruit for a team, by a guy who should be dead, that appears to have been chosen based solely on their color scheme.
Elektra (ninja in a in red costume)
Crimson Dynamo (guy in red armor)
Thundra (strong person in a red costume)
Deadpool (gun-toting ninja in a red costume)
Punisher (gun-toting guy in costume that answers the question, "What's black and white and red all over?")
Facing off against them next issue? X-Force (bunch of killer mutants all in black and gray costumes)
And what line does the book end with? Wolverine saying, "X-Force -- kill whoever you want. But Big Red is mine." (emphasis as appears in the comics)
Which big red is that, bub?
And what's it all about? Domino accidentally saw someone-I-still-think-even-Jeph-Loeb-doesn't-know-who turn into the Red Hulk, even though he was standing in the dark and wearing a hat that obscured Domino's view of his/her face. Red Hulk, using his "Someone saw me change!" sense, goes after her. She gets away. Hulk recruits team he doesn't need instead of just following her. Domino gets X-Force to back her up in the fight against the team she doesn't know Red Hulk is putting together instead of oh, Tweeting the Red Hulk's identity to the whole world.
Bleh and bleh and bleh.
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Maybe the Red Hulk's identity is more than 140 characters.
You mean, he could be Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfernschplendenschlittecrasscrenbonfrieddiggerdingledangledongledunglebursteinvonknackerthrasherapplebangerhorowitzticolensicgranderknottyspelltinklegrandlichgrumblemeyerspelterwasserkurstlichhimbleeisenbahnwagengutenabendbitteeinnürnburgerbratwurstlegerspurtenmitzweimacheluberhundsfutgumberabershönedankerkalbsfleischmittleraucher von Hautkopft of Ulm?
I think Loeb's strength is identical to his weakness.
I haven't read any of his Hulk stuff, but I reread his whole Superman/Batman-Supergirl sequence in order recently.
He belongs to a fine old pulp tradition of just throwing everything down on the page, dredging up ideas and themes without thinking them through.
Lots of it is good fun - Here's Darkseid!, now Wonder Woman (and she's pissed!), here's Doomsday! No! an army of Doomsdays! But they're not really alive, so Superman can burn and mutilate them to his heart's content. Here's the Avengers! and now Batzarro! and so on. The writer's imagination was the only bar on what might happen next.
Which is not a bad thing. Its certainly not po-faced 'serious' comics.
But in the frenetic forward motion to the next wild pulpy idea, not a lot of thought was given to how these things would tie into the wider continuity. For instance Superman and Batman, both lived whole alternative lives as blood-drenched fascist dictators of Earth, which they remember still! But they will never mention it again...
Even worse, Supergirl's introduction was a rattling good yarn starring everybody, so long as you turned your brain off. It's only when the dust settled that we realised he had fundamentally flawed this standard-bearing character at her inception. She is half-evil, tortured and conflicted almost at the level of her DNA. No writer will ever be able to get away from her origin as long as it is the same Supergirl.
The pulpy stream of ideas always gives a fascinating insight into a writer's (and societies) unspoken preoccupations. In the case of Supergirl, Loeb (and Society) has huge suspicions and reservations about the upcoming generation. Those young folk look set to turn on us at any moment without warning. Its just who they are...
I don't know how much about his Hulk run, or if the same things are going on, but that's my take on his DC work just before it.
Figs, that's as cogent an analysis of Loeb's comic writing as I think I've ever seen.
I guess it makes sense that that "throw it at the wall and see what sticks"-ness isn't as present in his miniseries (Long Halloween, Daredevil: Yellow & etc.) by the very virtue of them being finite and so having to be more closely planned out.
It's hard to believe it's the same writer as Superman for all Seasons too.
I guess we get Jeff the 'movie' writer or Jeff the 'TV' writer. The TV writer just worries about this particular episode and may or may not tie things up later on.
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[snortlaugh]
To both!
"You've got the brain of a four-year-old boy, and I'll bet he was glad to get rid of it." -Groucho Marx
Check out the Secret Headquarters (my store) website! It's a pretty lame website, but I did it myself, so tough noogies
Listen to WOXY.com, it's the future of rock-n-roll!
You mean, he could be Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfernschplendenschlittecrasscrenbonfrieddiggerdingledangledongledunglebursteinvonknackerthrasherapplebangerhorowitzticolensicgranderknottyspelltinklegrandlichgrumblemeyerspelterwasserkurstlichhimbleeisenbahnwagengutenabendbitteeinnürnburgerbratwurstlegerspurtenmitzweimacheluberhundsfutgumberabershönedankerkalbsfleischmittleraucher von Hautkopft of Ulm?
I haven't read any of his Hulk stuff, but I reread his whole Superman/Batman-Supergirl sequence in order recently.
He belongs to a fine old pulp tradition of just throwing everything down on the page, dredging up ideas and themes without thinking them through.
Lots of it is good fun - Here's Darkseid!, now Wonder Woman (and she's pissed!), here's Doomsday! No! an army of Doomsdays! But they're not really alive, so Superman can burn and mutilate them to his heart's content. Here's the Avengers! and now Batzarro! and so on. The writer's imagination was the only bar on what might happen next.
Which is not a bad thing. Its certainly not po-faced 'serious' comics.
But in the frenetic forward motion to the next wild pulpy idea, not a lot of thought was given to how these things would tie into the wider continuity. For instance Superman and Batman, both lived whole alternative lives as blood-drenched fascist dictators of Earth, which they remember still! But they will never mention it again...
Even worse, Supergirl's introduction was a rattling good yarn starring everybody, so long as you turned your brain off. It's only when the dust settled that we realised he had fundamentally flawed this standard-bearing character at her inception. She is half-evil, tortured and conflicted almost at the level of her DNA. No writer will ever be able to get away from her origin as long as it is the same Supergirl.
The pulpy stream of ideas always gives a fascinating insight into a writer's (and societies) unspoken preoccupations. In the case of Supergirl, Loeb (and Society) has huge suspicions and reservations about the upcoming generation. Those young folk look set to turn on us at any moment without warning. Its just who they are...
I don't know how much about his Hulk run, or if the same things are going on, but that's my take on his DC work just before it.
I guess it makes sense that that "throw it at the wall and see what sticks"-ness isn't as present in his miniseries (Long Halloween, Daredevil: Yellow & etc.) by the very virtue of them being finite and so having to be more closely planned out.
But his monthly work? I think that's dead-on.
I guess we get Jeff the 'movie' writer or Jeff the 'TV' writer. The TV writer just worries about this particular episode and may or may not tie things up later on.
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