Great Unified Comics Thread

[jimmy olsen]

Guess that ride was an emotional roller coaster.

[Eddie Teach]

Guess that ride was an emotional roller coaster.

[Syt]

http://www.geek.com/news/all-new-all-different-marvel-will-have-a-new-hulk-and-a-lady-wolverine-1624539/

All-New All-Different Marvel will have a new Hulk and a lady Wolverine



Currently running in Marvel comics is the summer crossover event "Secret Wars." At the end of Secret Wars, the existing Marvel Comics Universe and all the twisted continuity that came with it will be shaken up and rearranged.

The new initiative being launched this fall is called "All-New All-Different," and will introduce somewhere between 55 to 60 new titles to the Marvel line-up of comics after Secret Wars mucks around with everything for the summer. The All-New All-Different characters will mostly be updated versions of fan classics, and some are well-liked characters from spin-offs and alternate universes that will now share an inter-connected world with legacy characters like Steve Rogers and Doctor Strange.

The comics themselves are still concerned with Secret Wars, but Marvel has begun rolling out the teasers for All-New All-Different and along with those teaser images some drastic reveals.

The first teaser image released is basically the collection of popular Marvel characters of the comics and the current season of Disney live-action movies.
There are three Spider-People: a classic Spider-Man, because you don't mess with what works.

The white and pink hooded Spider-Woman is Gwen Stacy, or as she's affectionately been named by the fandom, Spider-Gwen. This Spider is from an alternate universe where Gwen Stacy was bitten by the radioactive spider, not Peter Parker. She debuted in the Spider-Man event called "Spider-Verse" and has been buoyed through into All-New All-Different by positive sales and fan reaction. The black suited Spider-Man is Miles Morales, the younger Brooklynite from the Ultimate line of Marvel comics where Peter Parker died as a teenager and Miles took on the Spider-Man mantle after he was bitten by a second Oscorp spider.

To the left of Iron Man is Phil Coulson, a character played by Clark Gregg on screen but also adapted into the comics as fans latched on to his character in the movies. Spider-Woman is in the back there, but in her new costume that isn't all about putting her boobs front and center (also reminiscent of the great Batgirl redesign from DC's New 52 a few years back). Kneeling in front is The Black Panther, and next to him are Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers. Wilson used to be the Falcon, but became Captain America after Steve Rogers' super soldier serum started wearing off and Rogers rapidly aged. These two characters look similar to their pre-Secret Wars portrayals, but its nice to see them back considering Old Steve Rogers recently died in the comics fighting Tony Stark.

Speaking of Tony Stark: you have to be paranoid of anything claiming to be "All-New" and "Different" while still keeping characters masked. Is that Tony in the Iron Man suit? Is that T'Challa in the Black Panther costume? Is that Peter Parker under the Spider-Man mask? It's too early to tell.

To the right of Iron Man, in the air, is The Vision: the best thing about Avengers: Age of Ultron. On the ground, being tiny, is Ant-Man who looks much more like the Paul Rudd movie version than Ant-Man has looked before. Jane Foster's Thor spins her hammer. Yeah, the character Natalie Portman plays in the movies has become the Norse God. Not only that, but her comic book sales are better than Man Thor's ever were. Kamala Kahn, the new Muslim Ms. Marvel is another high-selling character getting featured status and...

...wait, is that Red Hawk? From the Apache Kid?

Marvel released a SECOND image, this one even debuts the "new Wolverine:" actually two Wolverines!



Starting with the characters in the air: in the top left is Doctor Spectrum, Great Society version. He's a hero from an alternate universe that Doctor Strange killed during Jonathan Hickman's New Avengers run. Hyperion, also made important in Hickman's long road to Secret Wars, but only there (this is not, like, King Hyperion or any of the old characters who went by that name). A black-suited Daredevil, which we haven't seen for awhile in the comics, but looks very dynamic. Top right is Doctor Strange who...usually doesn't wield an axe, so that's All-New All-Different.

The middle row has some deep cuts, so bear with me. On the left is Citizen V, or Captain America villain Baron Zemo's alter ego when he was working for the Thunderbolts (Marvel's version of the Suicide Squad). The Thing from the Fantastic Four is wearing a Guardians of the Galaxy uniform and Rocket Raccoon is standing on his shoulders, indicating The Thing might be a Guardian now (in the comics only, obviously). The guy with his hood up is a redesigned Karnack, a member of the Inhumans royal family. The guy that's on fire is NOT the Human Torch, but is the Inhuman called Inferno.

The red-haired lady to the right of Iron Man is Medusa, an Inhuman and the favorite bride of Black Bolt, King of the Inhumans. The lady Wolverine is X-23, a female clone of Wolverine that was introduced in the X-Men: Evolution animated series and has since become a presence in the comic books. This is the first time she's taken on a costume that's unmistakably Wolverine though. The dude rubbing the back of his head is what Star Lord from the Guardians of the Galaxy looks like. At the far right – your eyes aren't deceiving you – is Old Man Logan, and old Wolverine. The character was created by Mark Millar for a mini-series called Old Man Logan that took place in an post-apocalyptic Avengers America. It looks like he's going to be ported over from his alternate universe as well.

That's a lot to take in, but it looks like the All-New, All-Different rollout is going to continue, because there are still characters Marvel's Editor and Chief Axel Alonso has hinted at that we haven't seen. The all-new Hulk ... this character is certain to cause debate," he told Mashable. "The same people who went crazy with female Thor will have a field day with this one."

I have no idea what that means.

Rainbow Hulk smash?

Gay Hulk confirmed? 

[Neil]

Well, it was a good run.  But I guess Marvel is finally coming to an end.  When you're taking DC as a model for the direction your company should be taking, you have problems.

Still, I suppose the issue is now Marvel is taking directions from corporate headquarters, the way DC always had to with Warner Brothers.  It makes sense that they would follow the same path, since people with MBAs aren't very good at managing IP, and don't have much in the way of creativity.

[jimmy olsen]

 

[Syt]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Holy_Terror

In a world where Oliver Cromwell lived ten years longer than he did in our world, the United States of America is a commonwealth nation run by a corrupt theocratic government.

Twenty-two years after the death of his parents, Bruce Wayne has moved on and is planning to join the clergy, when he is visited by his friend James Gordon. Gordon was the inquisitor who was investigating Thomas and Martha Wayne's murder, and has come to tell Bruce the truth about what happened. Their deaths were not a random mugging, but a state-planned execution. Despite Thomas' position as physician to the Privy Council, both were anti-government radicals who ran a clinic for the many victims of the government's brutality and brainwashing. Those they treated were men and women who were subjects of experiments to alter their sexual orientation, women who tried to perform abortions on themselves, and prostitutes psychologically scarred by aversion therapy. Bruce consults a former friend of his parents, Dr. Charles McNider, who confirms the truth about his parents, and that of many others who were killed by the state. McNider, a broken man who lost both his wife and his eyesight, tells Bruce about a government conspiracy called "the Green Man", but warns Bruce that nothing good has come of fighting the system.

Bruce, unsatisfied, starts a crusade to hunt down those who killed his parents. After his ordination as a priest, Bruce unearths a costume his father once wore in a passion play, a garb shaped like a bat. Hacking into government files, he hunts down one of the Privy Council members for information, and learns that the ones who arranged the death sentence were actually the Star Chamber, the highest court in the government.

Doing more detective work, Bruce finally finds out the Star Chamber's location, and in the process finds a government testing facility filled with human guinea pigs. He helps free a man with super-speed named Barry Allen, and Bruce learns more about what the government is capable of. There are men and women who were put through the same process that gave Barry his speed abilities, but none of the results were successful. There are victims of gene-splicing and people exposed to radiation. The two are then attacked by a witch converted to the state, a woman who pronounces spells backwards. The fight costs the life of one of the experimentees, and Barry is killed by the head scientist, Dr. Saul Erdel, Erdel having developed a means of negating the protective aura that allowed Barry to run at superspeed without being destroyed by the friction. Erdel has another of his agents, a man named Matthew with clay-like abilities, capture Bruce and bring him to see "Project Green Man". Project Green Man was an extraterrestrial child found in a rocket ship by a couple in Kansas, who was raised by the state and studied. The older he became, the stronger and more difficult to control he became, until they had to kill him with an irradiated rock they found in the rocket ship. Bruce is filled with an overwhelming sense of sadness when he sees this dead alien, as if the world's greatest hope was destroyed. Enraged, Bruce breaks free and attacks Erdel. Erdel tries to shoot at Bruce, but the bullets bounce off the alien's corpse and kills Erdel.

Bruce, at long last, finds the Star Chamber, and confronts one of its members about his parents. But the chamberman tells him that everyone ever sentenced to death by the Chamber were put to death by nameless vote. Bruce no longer finds a reason to kill the chamberman, because it was the system that was responsible for the deaths of his parents. He vows to bring it down once and for all, no matter how long it will take.

With a new cause, and motivated by God, Bruce continues to fight against the government as the Batman, but wonders if everything might have been different if his parents had truly been the victims of a random mugging, all those years ago.

Characters[edit]
Batman: Reverend Bruce Wayne of Gotham, who becomes the Batman to take down the government responsible for murdering his parents.[1]
James Gordon: An Inquisitor who was the investigator for the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne. James learned who was responsible, but was threatened by his superiors to overlook it. Twenty years later, James finally told Bruce the truth to ease his guilty conscience.
Joseph Chill: A convict who was released by the government to kill Thomas and Martha Wayne and make it look like a mugging. He dies in a prison fight after James Gordon finally identifies him.
Thomas and Martha Wayne: Parents of Bruce Wayne. Thomas worked as personal physician to the Privy Council, but both he and his wife worked against the government in secret.
Barry Allen: A former forensics expert who gained super-speed abilities in a freak lab accident over a year ago. He is turned over to Dr. Saul Erdel as an experiment.
Dr. Saul Erdel: A Jewish scientist who oversaw "Project Green Man", who is portrayed as amoral and mildy sadistic character within this story line.
The Green Man: An alien man who was a ward of the state for many years, until they finally had to kill him for being too difficult to handle.
The Witch: An unnamed witch who spoke spells backwards. She was converted to the state and tried to kill Barry Allen and Bruce.
Charles McNider: A blind old man who was friends with Thomas and Martha Wayne. Charles was blinded by an agent of the state, and later lost his wife, Myra.
Alan Scott: A former friend of Charles McNider. Alan was executed for running an underground radio station.
Carter and Shiera Hall: Former friends of Charles McNider. They were archaeologists who tried to smuggle weapons into the country and were executed for it.
Rex Tyler: Former friend of Charles McNider. Tyler was executed for manufacturing drugs for the Waynes' clinic.
Alfred Pennyworth: Former butler to the Waynes. Leaves when Bruce sells Wayne Manor to join the clergy.
Lemuel Brown: Former member of the Privy Council which Thomas Wayne worked for. After Bruce interrogates him, he dresses Lemuel in a maid's uniform to discredit any testimony he might give regarding the Batman's existence.
Judson Caspian: A bishop who Bruce works with in the clergy. Bruce refers to him as a good and honorable man, and hates having to betray his trust to get information on the state.
Arthur: One of the many human guinea pigs belonging to the state. Arthur could breathe underwater and had limited telepathic abilities. They succeeded in breaking him, just not in the way they wanted. They even tried mating him with another merwoman named Lori.
Matthew: Dr. Erdel's mindless servant. Was once a smuggler who was exposed to a weird protoplasam which turned him into a malleable clayface.
Victoria Vale: An anchorwoman for Newsbreak.
Oliver Queen: An industrialist who was hanged for treason.

[Valmy]

Poor Oliver Cromwell.

[jimmy olsen]

 

Poor Oliver Cromwell.

He lived ten more years and founded a lasting government,  seems like he did okay.

[Korea]

I just discovered Marvel Unlimited so I started reading comics again. I love Kamala Khan. She is adorable. But boy is there a lot to fucking catch up on.

[jimmy olsen]

I just discovered Marvel Unlimited so I started reading comics again. I love Kamala Khan. She is adorable. But boy is there a lot to fucking catch up on.

Korea? Or Ide..?

[Korea]

I just discovered Marvel Unlimited so I started reading comics again. I love Kamala Khan. She is adorable. But boy is there a lot to fucking catch up on.

Korea? Or Ide..?

Lol, why would it be Ide???

[Syt]

I just discovered Marvel Unlimited

It's pretty great, but creates a huge amount of archive panic in me.

I'm currently reading Ultimate X-Men and Star Wars comics.

[Korea]

Yeah, I got a bit overwhelmed with it. Currently trying to get caught up on Avengers stuff but I keep seeing references to shit I don't understand so I have to go back and read comics from different story lines...I'm just all over the place with Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, New Avengers, Secret Wars...etc etc etc...It's a bit much.

I wish I could find more Dr. Strange comics or comics with magicky shit though.

[Syt]

What you can do is read the comic events (they're under "browse"). They contain the main series and any tie ins (so Civil War is ca. 100 comics). The events are not in chronological order, but you can look it up on Wikipedia.

Myself, I try not to get hung up on continuity too much. E.g. I loved X-Men in the 80s. However, later on there was like a dozen of concurrent X-Something series that overlapped and what not. Screw that.

It's like a soap opera where you come in after a couple hundred/thousand episodes. You don't start watching all the old episodes to get up to speed (though in the case of comics, checking out some events that interest you might be worth it).

Alternatively, look at their weekly releases (which are usually ~6 months old) and pick running series you like and read up on them.

But yeah, some series are a bit incomplete. Punisher chronology is pretty patchy. Not sure what other magic comics there are in Marvel, though.

[Syt]

Btw, SF Debris is currently running a series about the comics business since the 80s: http://sfdebris.com/videos/special.php