Genius vs. Genius: Bishie hair, two PhDs, one hot MESS

[kali921]

Look, this is just a hot mess.

Everyone has bishie hair, the inks are heavy, Jocasta's pose is awkward, Cassie's looking a bit...more mature, as we shall say.

But I can't decide if this is completely batshit awesome or horrible. I am literally in no man's land about this, deeply buried in a philosophical and existential conundrum

Comments

[megatexas]

Do not like that art at all. Gratuitous reuse of inks bothers me on the best of days, but the Liefeldian faces sink the ship at the exact same moment that the awkward poses break the camel's back.

I love the phrase "how dare you," because it is such an asshole thing to say.

[kali921]

Art on which? The MA or SS? I dislike the MA art, although I admit to kind of liking Herc and Hank's bishie straggling hair on an aesthetic level - it looks like they just wandered in the door after a sweaty and prolonged deathmatch with Ultron and haven't had time to grab a comb (like Herc even bothers). Except for the fact that Hank looks only about sixteen years old with hair like that.

Edit: How DARE you! "How dare you" is NOT always an asshole thing to say! Umbrage is taken! (Seriously, I think of it as an expression of outrage, a clear semiotic demarcation when boundaries have been transgressed, and sometimes it's totally not an asshole thing to say.)

[megatexas]

First one. No prob with the second, good house style, third panel lacks in readability but that's natural, there are a lot of drawings in any given comic and it's tough to make them all perfect.

Repeated panels just fundamentally do not work for conversation. I think it's a sign of a deep-down lazy artist, because you can see their thought process -- "Oh, it's just people talking, how boring." For people who find conversation more compelling than fight scenes, it is anathema...

[kali921]

Utterly and completely agreed on the repeated panels thing, although sometimes it's funny when used as a technique to decompress time or show people frozen in a certain reaction. But Marvel's gotten lazy that way, and I blame Michael Gaydos and Alias for making it more acceptable and au courant.

[thehefner]

The Scandal/Bane scene was absolutely wonderful. I've liked the book already (better than VILLAINS UNITED and the previous SECRET SIX minis... Nicola Scott's art really wins me over in ways Eaglesham and whatshisbucket never did) but that scene alone will ensure that I'll be buying the trades.

One of the many things I miss about the old scans_daily were the posts of the handful of classic (and never-reprinted) Bane material that showed how nuanced and awesome a character he could be. Far more complex and cerebral than I'd ever expected from one of the living icons of 90's excess, or so he seemed to me for years and years. I'd love to find those issues for myself, especially as most readers and writers alike have forgotten the kind of character he could be.

Gail, thankfully, has not, and has developed him beautifully. Throw in the fact that I'm rather crushing on Scandal myself, and you have the makings of one of the best comic pairings I've seen in recent memory.

Not to mention a brilliant addition to the little-explored idea of

YOU. YOU OWE ME AN ANSWER.

[kali921]

Not to mention a brilliant addition to the little-explored idea of platonic relationships, much like Rucka did for Renee with Harvey and Vic. I love that sort of thing, it just doesn't happen often enough.

Yeah, Heffie, I actually was thinking of you when I wrote this post because I knew that SS #10 would probably remind you of Renee and Harvey. Bane and Scandal are a less totally-fucked-up-on-opposite-sides-of-the-law-and-doomed-to-end-in-tears-and/or-rage version of Harvey and Renee, aren't they?

I'm not crushing on Scandal, and I didn't really care for the "Scandal decides that being (temporarily) attracted to the stripper that doubles for Knockout is okay" scene - that read as a little too cloyingly sweet for me, and I like the Secret Six better when sweetness is tempered with their trademark bitter - but Ragdoll, Thomas, Floyd, and platonic!Scandal/Bane will pull me in every single month.

You never responded to my comment and question to you regarding the Thor film!

Re: YOU. YOU OWE ME AN ANSWER.

[thehefner]

Ha, you know me too well! Damn my predictable obsession

Re: YOU. YOU OWE ME AN ANSWER.

[kali921]

Oh, we BETTER have a Balder. AND a goddamn rainbow bridge with Heimdall at the gates of Asgard looking ALL FUCKING BUSINESS. I know that you've never read PAD's Captain Marvel run, but there are only a handful of times that I can remember where Heimdall is actually used for comic relief, and when Genis-Vell comes to Asgard one day in search of godhood, strolls up the rainbow bridge and starts taunting Heimdall (this is when Genis was in Ultra-Insane mode, and Rick Jones is FREAKING OUT in this sequence because Genis almost kills Heimdall), oh my GOD, I hurt from laughing so hard.

[gillan]

I think my favorite thing is using the phrase "passed on" to describe a man beaten to death with one of his own limbs.

[kali921]

SUCH a classic Deadshot moment! It's almost as good as Armadillo's priceless reaction of disgust in that issue of She-Hulk when Hercules slams Constrictor's face into his fist and knocks out...well, actually, FLATTENS his face to a pulp. OUCH.

[filbypott]

Like I said on the S_D post, I never thought I'd ever like Bane this much. The guy's pretty much synonymous with GRIMDARK '90s comics, and yet here he is, sympathetic as hell.

[kali921]

And SMART again!

[outlawpoet]

Here's hoping it sticks this time.

[uncanny_rman]

Secret Six is indeed made of win. It's nice to finally see Bane cut loose and start breaking people too.