Comics and mushrooms
So far, I've had 5 people tell me about Disney/Marvel and ask my opinion.
In a nutshell? Marvel has had repeated universal resets in the last 5 years. Astonishing is an AU title and it's the only one that's had any sort of consistency. As one reset doesn't work, they do something new, and this started with House of M which was a story line I kind of liked. That was a few resets ago. Don't get me wrong, big universal events have been pretty common in comics since the original Crisis back in the 80s. What's making me nuts with Marvel is that they aren't finishing out stories before they decide "Oh whoops, this isn't working, how do we fix this?" (and don't get me started about Spiderman. I'll rant for an hour or so)
At this point, the ONLY Marvel comic I read consistently is Deadpool.
People keep talking about the new darker Marvel universe, it's not really, Marvel has had a very dark story lines, but.. they brought back the Skrull for heaven's sake. I mean.. Skrull are cooler then Starro (which DC brought back, I have no idea why, little starfish shaped mind control aliens are a lot of kinds of stupid) but they are still a very dated idea. How can skrull be scary to people who grew up with Bush, Bush, and Reagan as president? Nope. Let aliens take over the world, they might do a better job with it.
If Disney can introduce an element of stability to Marvel comics, yay. If it's gone too far for that, then I'm just hoping they don't mess up Deadpool or decide to cancel the comic because it's not doing well enough. And Marvel Zombies were just silly.
Speaking of zombies though, the Blackest Night story line? Full of win. They are bringing back very twisted versions of heroes who have passed, it is more than a sideline, it's universal. Now, if you don't follow comics, J'onn J'onzz, Ralph and Sue Dibny, Arthur Curry are the big names, and Bruce's grave has been looted. I liked Aquaman as they developed his character, and MM was always the heart of the JLA, but for me, it's zombie Ralph and Sue that have my attention. Yeah, Ralph started as a weaker version of Plastic Man, but they made him a great character and a detective almost as good as The Detective (who only ever means one thing in the DCU), and poor Sue. All the ways they picked on Sue who was a kindness and bit of normalcy to the cape community. Their marriage and love for each other way always just as a support to the rest of the team, minor characters brought into focus to create reasons for big things to happen in the DCU. After they died, (edits out long story) they used the pair as the hosts of the Halloween issue last year, and it worked out well. Now they bring back the June and Ward of the Superhero set as zombies. It works for me.
Batman!!! I knew when the Battle for the Cowl started there could be only one,and who that one would be. I was worried of course. Would they turn my precious Dick into another Bruce? But they haven't. I've found I like the way Dick handles the role, how he refuses to do things the way Bruce did and maintains his own identity with the help of Alfred who doesn't want to see Dick wind up as lonely and dark as Bruce. It's wonderful. I still hate Damien as Robin though. Really truly, but at the same time, I don't think Tim would have been appropriate either since Tim is almost like a brother to Dick. Not crazy about what they are doing with Tim, but.. I can excuse it, because they aren't ruining Dick.
In indie news, still love Buffy and Angel. Also loving Hex, Witchblade, and Executive Assistant Iris.
Still spending about 200 dollars a month on comics, but in the last couple of years, about 20-30 of it is Marvel compared to 90 during House of M.
At Don't Eat the Paste, Cupcake box sized to hold one standard sized cupcake, and pictures of a magpie and mushrooms