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ROBOTECH: the Titan Comics reboot
Dec. 13th, 2018 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taicharaRobotech's got itself quite a bit of history, being a new story and back history written to be fitted onto the footage from three originally-unrelated anime series back in the first half of the 80s.
Since then, it's had comic book adaptations of the original run, comics for the uncompleted Sentinels sequel, other comics filling in bits of back history (or sometimes just wildly making up crazy stories that barely fit into the Robotech universe, but why not) ... all sorts of bits and bobs and adaptations and sequels and prequels and inter-quels and I'm not sure what some of the later Third Gen-set stuff thought it was, lol. But that's okay, because we're not here to talk about those :Db
No sir, we're here for the Robotech reboot currently being published by Titan Comics (#15 just hit this week, even)! And boy howdy, this series is definitely overturning some apple carts in the name of changing things up. While still recognizable as "Robotech", there are changes to characters, changes to characters' fates, tinkerings with the back story -- such that has been revealed so far -- and events are definitely careening towards something that's radically different from the original, and I feel like, as a Robotech veteran, I am legit excited to see where all these swerves are going to lead.
A fresh off the presses interview with Simon Furman on the series can be read here:
Ramping Up Robotech
And hey, if you just want to see some scifi antics happening on the funny pages, it's still not a bad choice, says I ;3 It has Mysterious Technology, giant aliens, and mecha dogfights in it ~
Publication History:
Since then, it's had comic book adaptations of the original run, comics for the uncompleted Sentinels sequel, other comics filling in bits of back history (or sometimes just wildly making up crazy stories that barely fit into the Robotech universe, but why not) ... all sorts of bits and bobs and adaptations and sequels and prequels and inter-quels and I'm not sure what some of the later Third Gen-set stuff thought it was, lol. But that's okay, because we're not here to talk about those :Db
No sir, we're here for the Robotech reboot currently being published by Titan Comics (#15 just hit this week, even)! And boy howdy, this series is definitely overturning some apple carts in the name of changing things up. While still recognizable as "Robotech", there are changes to characters, changes to characters' fates, tinkerings with the back story -- such that has been revealed so far -- and events are definitely careening towards something that's radically different from the original, and I feel like, as a Robotech veteran, I am legit excited to see where all these swerves are going to lead.
A fresh off the presses interview with Simon Furman on the series can be read here:
Ramping Up Robotech
And hey, if you just want to see some scifi antics happening on the funny pages, it's still not a bad choice, says I ;3 It has Mysterious Technology, giant aliens, and mecha dogfights in it ~
Publication History:
- Robotech (2017-ongoing): #01-15
MARVEL CHRONOLOGY PROJECT
Dec. 10th, 2018 03:16 amjasongraceThe marvel chronology project is a website listing every single appearance of every single marvel character, which I'm sure you can imagine, is very useful if you're wanting to start reading marvel. Can be a bit confusing, seeing as the titles are all acronyms and you have to use the key to figure out what theyre talking about, but that's still easier than going in blind and just hoping you're reading everything in the right order!
One caveat, though. If you're looking for a character like, say, Captain America or Wolverine, who've been around for ages, you're going to be better off trying to hunt down some recommended reading rather than just tackling everything they've ever been in through this because there's some long lists on here. This site is best if you're looking to get into lesser-known characters who don't have as many gratuitous cameos
One caveat, though. If you're looking for a character like, say, Captain America or Wolverine, who've been around for ages, you're going to be better off trying to hunt down some recommended reading rather than just tackling everything they've ever been in through this because there's some long lists on here. This site is best if you're looking to get into lesser-known characters who don't have as many gratuitous cameos
delphiTeam Fortress 2 is a video game that was released by Valve in 2007. It's a team-based first-person shooter that became free to play in 2011 and remains one of the most popular online action games of all time. Jokingly referred to as America's #1 war-themed hat simulator, the game doesn't take itself seriously in the least. You play as one of nine classes of mercenary hired to fight over a New Mexico gravel mine in an alternative version of the late 1960s/early 1970s in which Australia has long ruled as the world's technological superpower thanks to its deposits of wonder-element Australium. Mostly, you strategize with your team, shoot at the opposing side, and collect funny hats.
The game is a hoot, but it didn't spawn such a passionate fandom on its own. As staff at Valve put it:
This labyrinthine story includes century-long revenge plots, secret parentage, wizard roommates, Welsh crooner Tom Jones, corporate takeovers, classic comic homages, friendship, romance, loyalty, cross-species male pregnancy, and a whole lot of naked mercenaries (occasionally slathered in honey).
Along with a series of several official animated shorts, the online comics have gone beyond supplementary material and proved to be a hit with readers who have never played the game. Because, as team handler Miss Pauling discovers while trying to get the mercenaries on board with Dungeons & Dragons one Hallowe'en, games just aren't everybody's thing.
The comics are all available for free at TeamFortress.com, and the webpage handily separates the collection into two categories. There's TF Comics, which is a plotty seven-issue miniseries (six issues published to date) in which a usurper has taken over the mercenaries' company and Miss Pauling needs to get the team back together to save the day. The other category is Update Comics, which are short one-shots released to accompany new items or events in the game.
( Nothing But Plot: The TF Comics Miniseries )
( The Scenic Route: Selected Game Update Comics )
Once again, the full collection of comics can be found online for free here, and I'm happy to field any questions about the series if your interest has been piqued or your fancy tickled.
The game is a hoot, but it didn't spawn such a passionate fandom on its own. As staff at Valve put it:
TF2 didn't start with a lot of story. There wasn't room for one. But as the updates got more ambitious, we found the perfect way to explore the mercs' world: comics. Over the years, the comics have spawned ancillary characters, then assistants to the ancillary characters. Companies mentioned in passing became global empires three generations old. The game that started as a handful of guys in a desert shooting at each other slowly blossomed into the most labyrinthine story in Valve history.
This labyrinthine story includes century-long revenge plots, secret parentage, wizard roommates, Welsh crooner Tom Jones, corporate takeovers, classic comic homages, friendship, romance, loyalty, cross-species male pregnancy, and a whole lot of naked mercenaries (occasionally slathered in honey).
Along with a series of several official animated shorts, the online comics have gone beyond supplementary material and proved to be a hit with readers who have never played the game. Because, as team handler Miss Pauling discovers while trying to get the mercenaries on board with Dungeons & Dragons one Hallowe'en, games just aren't everybody's thing.
The comics are all available for free at TeamFortress.com, and the webpage handily separates the collection into two categories. There's TF Comics, which is a plotty seven-issue miniseries (six issues published to date) in which a usurper has taken over the mercenaries' company and Miss Pauling needs to get the team back together to save the day. The other category is Update Comics, which are short one-shots released to accompany new items or events in the game.
( Nothing But Plot: The TF Comics Miniseries )
( The Scenic Route: Selected Game Update Comics )
Once again, the full collection of comics can be found online for free here, and I'm happy to field any questions about the series if your interest has been piqued or your fancy tickled.
[Series Rec] THE MAXX
Dec. 7th, 2018 05:07 pmanarchicq*Violently hammers fist into palm with each word* I will take every chance I get to recommend Sam Kieth's THE MAXX to anyone who will listen!
WARNING: This comic deals with triggering subjects and delves into violence quite a bit! Animal death is a plot-point. You have been warned!
You might remember a late 90's cartoon on MTV (Or YTV here in Canada) called THE MAXX, about a big purple homeless guy who lived in a box in the alley and traveled between the real world and the subconscious.
What you may not know is that it was adapted pretty darn faithfully from a comic book series that ran for about 35 issues. The cartoon pulled from the first dozen episodes, and changed the ending, and a few crossovers were changed, but otherwise the animated mini-series was spot on.
THE MAXX is the creation of Sam Kieth, the original artist of Neal Gaiman's SANDMAN and character designer of Morpheus. It was co-written by Bill Messner-Loebs and it was helped along by Alan Moore for one issue.
( THE MAXX is a subversion of the super-hero genre )
If you want something more surreal and thoughtful, subversive and satirical that wasn't seen a lot in the 90's, I urge you to hunt down THE MAXX and give it a try. The art is beautiful, the story's intriguing and the run is short so you can't get lost.
Recommended Reading
WARNING: This comic deals with triggering subjects and delves into violence quite a bit! Animal death is a plot-point. You have been warned!
You might remember a late 90's cartoon on MTV (Or YTV here in Canada) called THE MAXX, about a big purple homeless guy who lived in a box in the alley and traveled between the real world and the subconscious.
What you may not know is that it was adapted pretty darn faithfully from a comic book series that ran for about 35 issues. The cartoon pulled from the first dozen episodes, and changed the ending, and a few crossovers were changed, but otherwise the animated mini-series was spot on.
THE MAXX is the creation of Sam Kieth, the original artist of Neal Gaiman's SANDMAN and character designer of Morpheus. It was co-written by Bill Messner-Loebs and it was helped along by Alan Moore for one issue.
( THE MAXX is a subversion of the super-hero genre )
If you want something more surreal and thoughtful, subversive and satirical that wasn't seen a lot in the 90's, I urge you to hunt down THE MAXX and give it a try. The art is beautiful, the story's intriguing and the run is short so you can't get lost.
Recommended Reading
- Darker Image (First real appearance)
- The Maxx #1-35
- Gen 13/The Maxx #1 (one shot)
- Batman/The Maxx: Arkham Dreams (5 part mini-series)
UNCANNY X-FORCE
Dec. 7th, 2018 09:31 amsnickficI'm excited to have found this comm! I hope it's cool if I link to this post I just made on my journal: Why I love Remender's Uncanny X-Force. I would love to talk another person or two into reading it. :D
LAR GAND: recommended reading list
Dec. 7th, 2018 10:45 amtaicharaLar Gand -- as Mon-El, Valor, M'onel, and so on -- has always been one of my favorite Superman- and LSH-associated characters. Regardless of the exact form of his background and just how he winds up in the straits he's in prior to Legion membership, his personality stays steady, and it's that personality I find appealing: as selfless as Superman, but with a push to explore and a peculiar combination of naivety and snark. Some of that gives way to a -- not darker, but more shadowed -- undertone that deepens after his stint in the Phantom Zone (or equivalent). Lar is more solitary than Clark by his LSH years, and he's marked by what he's experienced. All one thousand years of it.
The character can also be a bit tricky to nail down in suggested reads for earlier material, because he's always been very much a secondary character in the mythos despite his importance to Superboy/man. After the post-COIE order from editorial to remove all Superman mythos from the Legion, Lar gets more development as the replacement goldfish inspiration of the LSH, and as Valor, Seeder of Worlds, is the foundation for the United Planets (and in post-Zero Hour continuity, worshiped).
Since (especially as pre-v4 Mon-El) Lar pops up anywhere and everywhere, gets a scene or two and then wanders off, this is just a sampler and, yes, it skirts around the pre-v4/pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths version because there's just so much of it and all scattered around. That, and of two prominent stories off the top of my head, one was so out of character Mon-El was later retconned to have been possessed at the the time, and the other? Well, the other is listed here.
Hope these are helpful, and I'm happy to field any questions including "what is up with all these other weirdos" X3~
( some sample recommendations )
These are just samples, of course -- Mon-El has several smaller stints of story in post-IC Legion of Super-Heroes v5, for example -- but it's a decent working overview, I think ~
The character can also be a bit tricky to nail down in suggested reads for earlier material, because he's always been very much a secondary character in the mythos despite his importance to Superboy/man. After the post-COIE order from editorial to remove all Superman mythos from the Legion, Lar gets more development as the replacement goldfish inspiration of the LSH, and as Valor, Seeder of Worlds, is the foundation for the United Planets (and in post-Zero Hour continuity, worshiped).
Since (especially as pre-v4 Mon-El) Lar pops up anywhere and everywhere, gets a scene or two and then wanders off, this is just a sampler and, yes, it skirts around the pre-v4/pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths version because there's just so much of it and all scattered around. That, and of two prominent stories off the top of my head, one was so out of character Mon-El was later retconned to have been possessed at the the time, and the other? Well, the other is listed here.
Hope these are helpful, and I'm happy to field any questions including "what is up with all these other weirdos" X3~
( some sample recommendations )
These are just samples, of course -- Mon-El has several smaller stints of story in post-IC Legion of Super-Heroes v5, for example -- but it's a decent working overview, I think ~
taicharaThis is going about things a bit backwards, maybe, but the moment anyone comments on how complicated it can be getting started with comics, I look at my longest running comics fandom and just sigh. ;3
Because oh, yes, the Legion of Super-Heroes can be a right mess for someone just getting interested -- or even just curious about a character or characters -- not just because of how long it's existed, but because of the sheer number of sometimes radically different versions (soft reboots, hard reboots, burned-to-the-ground-and-restarted incarnations, actual Elseworlds, bits and bobs DC has never really explained ...) out there. It gets hard to guess what goes where and what's going on when you don't already have a foot in the door.
So I thought I'd offer to be that foot :D
I've been reading L* for a loooong time, and I have decent-to-excellent familiarity with just about all takes. Even the "threeboot" (the 2003 Waid/Kitson rebooted continuity that we didn't know where it fit into the DCU until it was basically over -- see what I mean about a mess?), though not my cuppa, I have access to and can recognize.
Have questions about the Legion, or a specific incarnation of it? Looking for a certain flavour of superhero team and would like to know if there's a Legion to fit? Just happened to come across a scan, or a panel, or a cameo in another book (or elsewhere!) and want to know more, or just who this character is, or where you can find more of them? Hit me up and I'll do my best to point you in the right direction --
Because oh, yes, the Legion of Super-Heroes can be a right mess for someone just getting interested -- or even just curious about a character or characters -- not just because of how long it's existed, but because of the sheer number of sometimes radically different versions (soft reboots, hard reboots, burned-to-the-ground-and-restarted incarnations, actual Elseworlds, bits and bobs DC has never really explained ...) out there. It gets hard to guess what goes where and what's going on when you don't already have a foot in the door.
So I thought I'd offer to be that foot :D
I've been reading L* for a loooong time, and I have decent-to-excellent familiarity with just about all takes. Even the "threeboot" (the 2003 Waid/Kitson rebooted continuity that we didn't know where it fit into the DCU until it was basically over -- see what I mean about a mess?), though not my cuppa, I have access to and can recognize.
Have questions about the Legion, or a specific incarnation of it? Looking for a certain flavour of superhero team and would like to know if there's a Legion to fit? Just happened to come across a scan, or a panel, or a cameo in another book (or elsewhere!) and want to know more, or just who this character is, or where you can find more of them? Hit me up and I'll do my best to point you in the right direction --
posting & tagging guidelines
Dec. 6th, 2018 06:02 amkyleraynerhere are some guidelines for formatting and tagging different types of posts! this will be edited & added to as time goes on!
( PLEASE CLICK TO EXPAND THIS CUT AND READ BEFORE POSTING! )
( PLEASE CLICK TO EXPAND THIS CUT AND READ BEFORE POSTING! )
tentative intro post
Dec. 5th, 2018 04:19 amkylerayner welcome to the pull list!
i couldn't find anything quite like this on this site, so i figured i'd make it! this is a community intended to help people looking to get into comic books! it's intended to be a collection of resources and recommendations. (mainly reading lists/guides for various comic characters, of which i havent posted any yet but am going to be posting quite a few in the near future) please feel free to make a request for recommendations for any character you're interested in! i
and, while this is primarily meant to help people get started & share reading lists and resources and such, i'd also like for it to be a place for people to just be able to talk about comics in general, so feel free to post anything so long as its comic or comic character related: tell us your favorite character/ship & why they're your favorite, recommend an issue or a run or a fic, etc etc.
i may add guidelines or posting formats for different types of posts or something to that effect for easier sorting later on (guidelines or formats or something to that effect here) if that becomes necessary, but i'd rather gauge interest in this and see where it goes for a while, first! for now, i only ask that you don't get explicit or hateful. if things get out of hand, i'll clarify more concrete rules, but i doubt i'll need to
i couldn't find anything quite like this on this site, so i figured i'd make it! this is a community intended to help people looking to get into comic books! it's intended to be a collection of resources and recommendations. (mainly reading lists/guides for various comic characters, of which i havent posted any yet but am going to be posting quite a few in the near future) please feel free to make a request for recommendations for any character you're interested in! i
and, while this is primarily meant to help people get started & share reading lists and resources and such, i'd also like for it to be a place for people to just be able to talk about comics in general, so feel free to post anything so long as its comic or comic character related: tell us your favorite character/ship & why they're your favorite, recommend an issue or a run or a fic, etc etc.
obviously still very much a work in progress, so please be patient with me! i'm very new at this!