quote:Originally posted by CJ Taylor: I didn't mean for this to linger unloved for so long...
While doing some bathroom remodeling, it has occurred to me there is no reading material in my bathroom. There's a reason for that- I'm not one for reading in there. But I know many people that do. There's even a series of books- The Bathroom Reader- aimed at providing leisure time reading in the lavatory.
So I'm thinking of stocking up some older comics to put in there for folks to read. Something that would provide them with a complete story preferrably. What would you recommend as a great single issue story?
Though I don't leave comics in the bathroom, I must admit I take them with me quite often when I know I'm gonna be...sitting in there for a while!
As for what to leave in there for others? Damn, I don't know! But if I were to choose, I'd put Adventure Comics #0 or some other reprints of classic comics. Those issues of Marvel Tales that reprinted classic Stan Lee Spidey would be prefect as would any Free Comic Book Day offerings. And didn't DC recently do some cheap reprints of good Vertigo/mature first issues to give prospectors who saw Watchmen some cool, inexpensive entry points? If so, those would be great, too!
If nothing else, all those'd pass the time really well while they had a righteous b.m.!
(Nice to know someone missed the Roundtable, btw!)
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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One of my favorite single-issue stories is Avengers # 264, by Roger Stern and John Buscema, showcasing the Wasp and introducing Rita DeMara, the female Yellowjacket, a character with great potential that was sadly never realized. The Wasp's personality was often ill-defined, but here, she's the most likeable she ever was, and thanks to John Buscema, she never looked lovelier.
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Swamp Thing #32 - "Pog" - Linguistic craziness, Walt Kelly meets Alan Moore, funny and sad, what's not to love?
The Sandman # 18 - "A Dream of a Thousand Cats" - Great story and the only time I've loved Jones' art (probably because he's not drawing humans).
JLA #42 - "Half A Mind To Save A World" - The JLA struggles to remove a microscopic civilisation that is growing on the brain tumour of a sick child. It was pretty standard until the end when you realise it's an analogue for Krypton and the emotional impact on Superman is really powerful.
Suicide Squad - Any of the "Personnel Files" issues. These happened once a year or so and were "Down time" between missions. Each one had just tremendous character examinations and set up the next years stories perfectly.
Swamp Thing #59 - "Reunion" - Abby gets to say goodbye to her Dad. That page where they embrace after all they've suffered is still beautiful.
G.I.Joe #21 - "Silent Interlude" - Perhaps the only use of the "Silent" comic gimmick I've loved, and I wasn't even a huge Joe fan. Hamma not only tells a great story, but his reveal at the end not only changes the course of the Joe Comic, but really transformed the entire franchise.
Detective Comics #500 - "To Kill A Legend" - The Phantom Stranger takes Bruce and Dick to an Earth where Bruce's parent are about to be killed. Dick wrestles with whether they can and should stop the events from happening and deny the world without heroes a Batman, and Bruce tries to get the closure he's sought his whole life. Great story with a great ending.
From: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada | Registered: Sep 2004
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Issues of Jonah Hex or Dawyn Cooke's issues of the Spirit.
Amazing Spider-Man #22 (I know, you wouldn't want that one lying around your bathroom but seriously its such a fun, upbeat, action-filled, great single issue story).
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Pretty much anything by Carl Barks: the Duck Man RULES!!
-------------------- "Gee, Brainy, what do you want to do tonight?" "The same thing we do every night, Bouncing Boy: try to take over the United Planets!!" They're B.B. and The Brain ...
From: Monty Python's Flying Circus | Registered: Aug 2003
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The only David stuff I've read is the Tail end of the DC series of "Fallen Angel". It was for a reader exchange program on another board (I started picking this up and the other guy agreed to try Human Target, it didn't save either title).
It was OK, but not great.
I do have the complete run of Hulk DVD they released a few years back and look forward to the day I get up to his run on the book though. I've heard good things.
From: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada | Registered: Sep 2004
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AQUAMAN - wow Aquaman can be cool. His take seemed similar to Busiek's, that of Tarzan underwater. PAD mentions DC wanting him to be a king and a loner at the same time, and he made it work. Less super-hero and more adventure, he started a great run that Larsen and Jurgens kept going.
YOUNG JUSTICE - this was a FUN book. And it was that mythical all-ages book that wasn't overly childish or too melodramatic. PAD brought in some great new characters - Empress, Lil Lobo, Arrowette. This book made John's TT run possible.
X-FACTOR - the current run. I started reading for Siryn and Rictor, but PAD has me actually liking Monet and Maddrox. Some folks have lost their love for it, but PAD does his best to make this a reader's book.
FALLEN ANGEL - PAD's best work- his characters unleashed, his stories unfettered. Morality is gray and bloody, life is uncertain, and not always happy. It's a revolutionary look at super-heroes.
From: Denver, CO | Registered: May 2004
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
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When Peter David is on, he's really on. He always seems to go that one extra step into thinking about how a characters powers would affect their personality (or how their personality would shape their attitude towards and expressions of their powers).
Like some of my other favorite authors, he's got a knack for dusting off abandoned 'third tier' characters and making them all shiny and new.
It's when he's working with pre-established characters with lots of baggage, like Spiderman, that I'm not so impressed. I don't know if that's him having to fight many other writers pre-conceptions, or my just often being less than interested in characters I've had 20 years or so to read my fill of.
Registered: Aug 2006
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I remember discovering PAD as he began writing Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man. He came out of nowhere to give that title a real shot in the arm! He only stayed for a year or two, but that was a solid run of stories. If he'd stayed longer I believe PAD could've become one of the definitive Spider-man writers. Who can argue with the quality of "The Death of Jean DeWolf"? But his run was just as defined by some great two-parters and especially some good done-in-ones.
It's a shame that when he finally returned on Friendly, that his hands were tied so badly by editorial dictates. I've heard he did the best with what he had, but it could've been SO much better without the handcuffs!
Then there's Hulk! Wow! The definitive run on the character, bar none. What was cool was how he kept reinventing the character to keep him fresh. I especially loved the period where Bruce went back to being gray Hulk and then to alternating between becoming green or grey. The era with smart Hulk and the Pantheon was really goo, too.
In fact it was consistently good until the Onslaught debacle tied his storytelling up. I actually dropped the book at that time because the stories were so dreadful. I came back for the final arc, though, and it was a poignant, heartbreaking way for PAD to close out his run.
At DC I loved his work on Aquaman and Supergirl. He breathed some much need life into Aquaman, a character who never seemed to find the right hook (natch) for him.
And Supergirl was a masterpiece for him, right up there with his Hulk, I think. It always felt so personal, and the religious themes were almost unheard of in mainstream comics. It had a few lulls, true, but it always found a way to bounce back. And that last arc was one of the best ever to close out a series. It's too bad Linda Danvers appears to have been wiped out of continuity for all intents and purposes--but I think we all know where the character went next at least spiritually in a new home where PAD didn't have to worry about editorial constraints.
Lots of honorable mentions, including some solid work on Star Trek, some brilliant moments on X-Factor and a book I have a soft spot for, Justice from Marvel's short-lived New Universe line.
As for Fallen Angel, it's definitely on my to-buy list at some point. I did buy the first DC trade back-when and enjoyed it a lot. One barrier for me has always been the lack of trades completing the entire DC series. I'd prefer to read all the DC stories before starting the IDW trades. I can hardly believe that IDW hasn't obtained the rights to reprint the DC series. Does anyone know why this is?!?! Other comapnies do this all the time!
Anyhow, I'd feel negligent if I didn't mention PAD's terrific work in novels. Howling Mad is one of the funniest books I've ever read! And his Star Trek: TNG novels are among the best licensed books I've ever read, right up there with Timothy Zahn's Star Wars work. If you love TNG and haven't read "Vendetta" and "Imzadi" I and II, you're really missing out!
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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I’ve always felt I have an interesting POV/history with PAD’s work throughout my comic book reading experience. When I first started reading comics religiously, it was around age 11-12, and as many of you know, my father had been collecting comics since 1960 and already had an enormous collection, so I had a very different roadmap. But also at that time of my first really getting into them, my father had been getting the CBG (Comics Buyers Guide) delivered weekly for several years. It was an awesome newspaper format back then, and so I started reading that each week too. I distinctly remember using CBG to catch myself up on decades of history, where Silver Age characters I loved were doing now, and really getting a better feel for comics as a whole. Of course, not everything in there was suitable for an 11 year old, but hey, I read the Sin City comics when I was like 14 or younger. Anyway, PAD has had a column in CBG for almost (or over?) two decades, in the back of the newspaper/magazine (as it is now), called “But I Digress…”
It was “But I Digress…” that I really started to get to know PAD, and understand his point of view. I really feel like I grew up with PAD as a major influence on my comic book reading experience—more so with that than his actual comics. But one day I eventually put two and two together and realized Peter David wrote comics that my Dad was collecting, so I started to read his comics as they came out; I also hunted backwards and read all his old Marvel work. But it is because of this that I see his work in two ways: (A) I usually love it; and because I’ve loved it for so long, I’m usually pretty excited about his projects; (B) I feel very comfortable being very critical of his work that I think is flawed. And there is a portion of his work that I think hasn’t been the greatest stuff. He’s obviously a controversial writer on the internet, which means some people don’t like him outright without reading his stuff, but so many of his fans just plain like everything he writes, and its that latter group that I find extremely annoying.
Anyway, some thoughts:
Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man – I actually read this before I knew PAD wrote these issues, and Lardy is dead-on; he gave the title a real shot in the arm, and stepped it up to being an A-quality Spider-Man title. His “Death of Jean DeWolf” story stands the test of time and is better and better every time I’ve reread it (which is probably like 20 times). His other issues, including his very first introducing Blaze, are also very good. During this era, when Spidey had a black costume, there was an added sense of angst across all three titles. You can almost pinpoint it to the moment when Sin-Eater fires at Spidey, he jumps out of the way and the crowd behind him is hit. Henceforth for a good year, it was angst the like that hasn’t been seen since ASM #17. Sometimes it got annoying (re: Web of Spider-Man); sometimes it was done perfectly. PAD’s was the latter.
Incredible Hulk – in my mind, the greatest Hulk run of all time, and one of the greatest comic book runs of all-time. It is what got me to love the Hulk. Either the summer of 1992 or 1993 I read the entire run of the Hulk (usually at the beach) and remember being completely blown away by PAD’s portion of the run. Most of it is brilliant, but my favorite era is the Pantheon, #400, Rick & Marlo’s wedding but also Rick’s Bachelor Party, and so much more. It was the first time I ever saw such perfectly done humor mix with some of the most poignant emotional moments.
Aquaman – And then PAD came to Aquaman and completely blew my mind. His is my definitive Aquaman as well, including every little tidbit he did. He made him badass, ill-tempered, finally reflective of the tragedies that befell him in the 70’s (dead son? Almost impossible to recover from.), and he roped in the various far-reaching charactres of DC’s underwater world and them all together. Dolphin! Hook hand! Beard! New Costume! Koryak! Garth becomes Tempest, gets a cool costume and at last becomes cool! Battles the JLA and cheats—awesome! Sea Devils, Tsunami, Neptune Perkins and then Deep Blue! PAD had everything. And the history with Atlan and the more in depth origins of Atlantis and Aquaman were perhaps the best part, which leads me too…
The Atlantis Chronicles – which I read sometime in the middle of PAD’s run, since it came to my attention that many of his themes were continuations of what he had done here. And wow, it really threw me for a loop. What a damn fine mini-series, one of the classic yet unsung greats of the 1980’s.
Supergirl – A completely unique and intriguing book at the time, which combined the Superman mythos with a mood reminiscent of Twin Peaks. This was incredible, and I remember being blown away the first few years.
With Supergirl, Aquaman and Hulk going at the same time, PAD was peaking in the 1990’s. And then IMO, they all took a nosedive in quality and seemed to wander seamlessly for a few years. And only through his CBG articles did I later learn why: he was in the midst of a divorce and having a hard time finding his motivations for each of the three. And looking back on it, its evident that PAD himself was likely similar to Aquaman wandering alone in the water, the Hulk reverting back to a mindless loner, etc. So I don’t really blame him, because like I said, I feel like I kind of know him.
Yet, he had several other great runs since then:
Young Justice – one of the great comics of the last 20 years, and it’s a damn shame it ended. One of the most fun comics ever.
Fallen Angel – truly his masterpiece, which continues to be a wonderful read that is full of so much that it will undoubtedly take future rereads to pick up on some pieces.
Dark Tower series – having PAD onboard has no doubt ensured the transition from gigantic novels to comic books has been a creatively successful one.
Spyboy – one of the coolest Dark Horse / PAD series that no one apparently bought but me.
X-Factor (current) – I think its one of his best efforts in this decade outside Fallen Angel. I know some people are down on it because of recent issues, but I don’t think the quality of the writing has been that horrible; the art definitely has but its not PAD’s fault. I’m definitely willing to wait a good amount longer to see what PAD has in mind.
But I’d be wrong to not include what I think have been some poor showings:
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man – despite some worthy tries to bring in some great moments (Betty Brant, Flash, etc.), for the most part, I found this to be one of PAD’s most unenjoyable runs on anything ever.
She-Hulk – another I really disliked, which I felt slow and boring. I just expect better from Peter David, and I have no great love of She-Hulk to keep me intrigued.
Of these last two, perhaps Lardy is right and the larger Marvel editorial hampered what he was trying to do. But knowing PAD like I think I do, I know he’s often complained about crossovers before but is always the first to try to use them to give his titles a sales bump. So the fault is most definitely his.
Random PAD material I’ve never read (1) First X-Factor run – my father had no use for X-Factor the first time around and so we never owned it and I never read it. (2) Star Trek stuff – just not my thing (3) Spider-Man 2099 – at the time I was a young teenager and since it wasn’t “the real Spider-Man”, I refused to read it. Ever since, I’ve just had no desire to do anything than glance through some back-issues.
[ June 30, 2009, 08:37 AM: Message edited by: Cobalt Kid ]
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: Random PAD material I've never read (1)First X-Factor run (3) Spider-Man 2099
I'm fairly certain I have most of (1) and a large chunk of (3) if you ever wanna stop by and dig through a couple of longboxes. I enjoyed both but don't consider them part of "my collection".
-------------------- "Anytime a good book like this is cancelled, I hope another Teen Titan is murdered." --Cobalt
"Anytime an awesome book like S6 is cancelled, I hope EVERY Titan is murdered." --Me
From: Up a Gumtree | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man – I actually read this before I knew PAD wrote these issues, and Lardy is dead-on; he gave the title a real shot in the arm, and stepped it up to being an A-quality Spider-Man title.[/qb
I never understood why PAD didn't stay on Spidey longer. Do you remember anything from those "But I Digress..." columns? My best guess there is that he left because he was hired to write Spidey 2099 and didn't want to write 2 versions of the character. Total guess though.
PAD's penchant for balancing humor with drama was just so perfect for Spidey. What could've been...*sigh*
(2099, btw, had its moments but kinda ran out of gas after the second year, IMO.)
quote:[qb]Incredible Hulk – in my mind, the greatest Hulk run of all time, and one of the greatest comic book runs of all-time.
Y'know, other than the slump near the end that I mentioned it's definitely worthy of the praise, though I had one quibble with the Pantheon era that I've never been satisfied with: Marlo's resurrection. It just seemed a little too easy, and I kept expecting the other shoe to drop because of this. But it never did. I know we've seen many, many of these in comics, but this one never worked for me at all. For me it's a "jump the shark" moment. Anyone else have some thoughts there?
quote:The Atlantis Chronicles – which I read sometime in the middle of PAD’s run, since it came to my attention that many of his themes were continuations of what he had done here. And wow, it really threw me for a loop. What a damn fine mini-series, one of the classic yet unsung greats of the 1980’s.
Fully agree! This had a grand, mythic quality to it, coupled with some absolutely gorgeous artwork!
quote:Young Justice – one of the great comics of the last 20 years, and it’s a damn shame it ended. One of the most fun comics ever.
I never picked this up for some reason. The first couple of issues just didn't do anything for me. I've heard good things, though.
quote:Dark Tower series – having PAD onboard has no doubt ensured the transition from gigantic novels to comic books has been a creatively successful one.
Having just gotten halfway thru "Gunslinger Born" so far, I'd have to agree. It's a little slow but very rich storytelling. And, oh my GOD, Jae Lee's art and the total presentation are just breathtaking!
quote:Spyboy – one of the coolest Dark Horse / PAD series that no one apparently bought but me.
Bought this and enjoyed it at the beginning but shipping delays absolutely murdered this book for me.
quote:X-Factor (current) – I think its one of his best efforts in this decade outside Fallen Angel. I know some people are down on it because of recent issues, but I don’t think the quality of the writing has been that horrible; the art definitely has but its not PAD’s fault. I’m definitely willing to wait a good amount longer to see what PAD has in mind.
Artistic inconsistency has hurt this one badly. They seem, though, to have a string of issues featuring a competent, consistent art team going now. I have the first three collections of the current series and recently picked it back up with the (in?)famous birth issue and plan to give it until issue 50 to hook me in for the long haul. I love what he does with Jamie Madrox above all else.
quote:Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man – despite some worthy tries to bring in some great moments (Betty Brant, Flash, etc.), for the most part, I found this to be one of PAD’s most unenjoyable runs on anything ever.
I haven't read any of it really, but I give him a free pass because of how the first few issues were tied up in that dreadful "The Other" storyline and most of the rest was bound by the curveball stunt of Spidey's unmasking to the public. Hard to really riff on Peter and Spidey properly under that constraint.
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man – I actually read this before I knew PAD wrote these issues, and Lardy is dead-on; he gave the title a real shot in the arm, and stepped it up to being an A-quality Spider-Man title.
I never understood why PAD didn't stay on Spidey longer. Do you remember anything from those "But I Digress..." columns? My best guess there is that he left because he was hired to write Spidey 2099 and didn't want to write 2 versions of the character. Total guess though.
PAD's penchant for balancing humor with drama was just so perfect for Spidey. What could've been...*sigh*
(2099, btw, had its moments but kinda ran out of gas after the second year, IMO.)
You know, I’ve read hundreds (thousands?) of PAD columns where he’s talked about his time writing Spider-Man, but I can’t remember him giving a reason for leaving PPTSS? I don’t think any particularly memorable creators came on after him, so I don’t think he was pushed out. He does love Spider-Man though, and has said so several times. One character he created, the Foreigner, was a great example of some of the new, interesting foes Spidey was battling in the 80’s.
I do think there was a large gap of time between his run on PPTSS and S2009 though, like a couple of years. But I’m too lazy to really check that out
quote:Originally posted by LardLad:
quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: Spyboy – one of the coolest Dark Horse / PAD series that no one apparently bought but me.
Bought this and enjoyed it at the beginning but shipping delays absolutely murdered this book for me.
Yeah, same here. After awhile when I stopped seeing it on the racks, I simply stopped looking for it. Same thing has happened with Young Avengers. I basically don’t care if that concept lives or dies anymore.
quote:Originally posted by LardLad:
quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: [QUOTE][qb]Incredible Hulk – in my mind, the greatest Hulk run of all time, and one of the greatest comic book runs of all-time.
Y'know, other than the slump near the end that I mentioned it's definitely worthy of the praise, though I had one quibble with the Pantheon era that I've never been satisfied with: Marlo's resurrection. It just seemed a little too easy, and I kept expecting the other shoe to drop because of this. But it never did. I know we've seen many, many of these in comics, but this one never worked for me at all. For me it's a "jump the shark" moment. Anyone else have some thoughts there?
Aw, I loved when Marlo came back! It felt so right for Rick to be happy—for all of them to be happy really, after all they’d been through. PAD always had a way of keeping the Hulk’s entire 30+ year history fresh in the readers minds: not in a way where it felt hampering, but in a way where you knew they’d just all been through hell for a long time. So it felt like a brief happy ending for them. But I can see where you’re coming from. Still, you gotta admit the wedding was probably the best wedding in comics ever besides FF Annual #3 (wedding of Reed and Sue).
quote:Originally posted by LardLad:
quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: [QUOTE][qb]Young Justice – one of the great comics of the last 20 years, and it’s a damn shame it ended. One of the most fun comics ever.
I never picked this up for some reason. The first couple of issues just didn't do anything for me. I've heard good things, though.
IMO, it doesn’t really get really good until about 7-8 issues in. Around this time Impulse and Superboy had been fun and cool for awhile but had both begun to get a little dry IMO. It wasn’t until he brought in the girls and then really starting showing them interact with one another that the series took off. I also think PAD revitalized both Impulse and Superboy too. He really grew Cassie up very gradually and realistically. And Arrowette was my favorite character of the entire series. Even later, when he brought in the a clone teenage version of Lobo it worked; the Ray was even more awesome, but he only had the briefest time using him. I’d give the issues a chance if you ever get the opportunity. It had a sense of fun that so few comics have, yet it didn’t feel like a kids book.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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I'm much more of a follower of characters than creators, but there a few writers whose work I'll always at least try, even if I'm otherwise uninterested in whatever property/subject they're writing.
Peter David's one of them.
I came late to the HULK party, but loved the Pantheon issues. I'd like to see them show up again, but pretty much only if PAD's the writer.
I know what Lardlad means about Marlo's resurrection. I think from many other writers, the lack of a further twist would've gone unnoticed, but with PAD, it sort of *did* leave the reader unfulfilled. I know I, too, always expected some other shoe to drop.
I guess sometimes a resurrection is just a resurrection.
I enjoyed all the usual suspects-- SUPERGIRL, AQUAMAN, YOUNG JUSTICE (which did take a few issues to grow some heart beneath the chuckles), etc.
About the first X-FACTOR-- if nothing else, the issue where Doc Samson has sessions with each member is worth seeking out. It's a classic, in it's own way.
I agree that a wild variety of artists and worse, artistic styles, have hampered the second X-FACTOR. The stories have mostly been worth reading, particularly if, like me, you have some amount of fondness for the characters. I'm pretty tired of the current alternative future storyline, but it's balanced by a mysterious villain and the return of Shatterstar, both of which I'm enjoying.
I think Jamie Madrox joins Linda Danvers, the Pantheon and a select group of other characters that PAD has placed his stamp upon. Not a stamp of ownership, but of true characterization.
I had mixed feelings about his SHE-HULK run, too. Losing the vivid supporting cast was a misfire, I think. However, there was some gold-- namely the Lady Liberators issues. The story they were involved in wasn't all that earth-shaking (but it was provocative in a subtle sort of way), but the way PAD wrote the women, particulary Valkyrie, was incredibly entertaining. I think if he got the chance to pen a Val series, she could join that select group of characters I mentioned earlier.
Did anyone read the Marvel Pets Handbook that came out a couple of weeks ago? Apparently, someone at Marvel thinks that the Valkyrie in SHE-HULK was the Samantha Parrington one. I don't see how that could fit with the way PAD wrote her.
I haven't read the ST:TNG novels listed above, but I did read and can recommend the FINAL FRONTIER sub-series of Trek books. At least the early ones-- somehow I lost track of Trek for awhile there.
I like that it's sort of off to the side from the usual Star Trek universe-- and especially like that PAD brought back the characters of M'ress and Arex from the animated series that gets woefully overlooked.
From: Knoxville, TN | Registered: Jul 2003
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