boyajian@akov68.DEC (Jerry Boyajian) (07/27/84)
> Well after all the interesting articles that we have had with people discussing > THE SPIRIT, I thought that I would try and see if any of you are familiar with > the Asterix series? > > OZ To be honest, Asterix doesn't do much for me. While staying at a friend's place in Minneapolis once, I read through his collection of Asterix books (I don't re- call how many he had at the time). While they were entertaining, they didn't strike my fancy enough for me to want to buy the books myself. > As someone who just reread all of Ronin in one gulp > (i.e. the previous correspondent), maybe you > can answer this: Was the whole Ronin thing, the > story from ancient Japan, the demon, the reincarnation, > totally a story made up by the computer? > That seems to be what the computer admits at the end, > but then how does Billy acquire all his powers? > Just endowed by the computer with superhuman fighting > skill? It seems like a cop-out to me, like > saying, "And then I woke up, and it was all a dream!" > > Mike Ciaraldi Actually, I didn't get the impression at all that Virgo made the whole thing up. She (it) seemed to be up to something, but it wasn't clear what (I admit that this was one of the weaker points in the series). It was my impression that the whole Ronin/Agat conflict in medieval Japan actually did happen, and that it carried on into the future. > It is my understanding that Karma was asked (blackmailed, actually) to serve > her evil uncle for a year, but then everyone thought she was killed, so the > New Mutants aren't looking for her. > > Mike Ciaraldi Oh, wasn't that what I said recently? I suspected that Shan brother, Tran, whose soul was absorbed by Shan back in MARVEL TEAM-UP #100, was the "evil, psychic voice" that she heard just before she "died", and that he "took over" and took off to serve their evil uncle. I think it's about time that Claremont did some- thing about this. > I was also wondering where Darkseid came from this time. > > Plus, I wonder where he came from the first time. Especially since we will > now see the definitive end of the New Gods saga when Kirby's series finishes > in the next few months, was Big D's first appearance in the Legion book just > a continuation of his long career, a resurrection, or a time trip he made in > the middle of his other series. > > Mike Ciaraldi Gee, I thought it was pretty clear in LSH #287, or whenever the damn thing started, that Darkseid was in some sort of suspended animation state, and was "recently" revived. Presumably, he won't actually be killed-for-good-honest-to- God-dead when Kirby wraps up the series. On the other hand, it was understood when Kirby took on the task of finishing the New Gods story that he was ignoring all other uses of the characters. Whether the LSH appearances of Darkseid are affected by this, seeing as how they take place centuries in the future, remains to be seen. I hope they aren't, seeing as how I think that Levitz & Giffen's use of Darkseid is the best since Kirby's work a decade ago. > The Elementals debuted in Texas Comics' Justice Machine Annual > #1, and they now have their own comic at ComicCo. IT IS GREAT! > I absolutely recommend it. Willingam's art is good, if > distinctive. > > The characterization of the villains is excellent, but the heroes > and extras are well-handled too. This just shot to the top of my > list. > > uokvax!lmaher I really liked their appearance in the JM Annual, too, and was looking forward to their new comic. I think I was a touch disappointed by it. It was good, mind you, but I don't think it earth-shaking, let alone one of the top books out. I don't think Willingham's art is quite as good as the stuff he's been doing for First Comics (by the by, have you noticed that whathisname looks *exactly* like the Outrider? > Before Issue #125, the Defenders included the Hulk, Dr. Strange, > Submariner, and the Silver Surfer - HARDLY second-stringers. > Besides, I rather like variety in my groups. Captain America, > Iron Man, Thor, and the Wasp (the Wasp?) are a good lineup, > but they need the occasional Hawkeye or Tigra. The > interaction between characters is what makes the book for me, not > raw power or character popularity. > > uokvax!lmaher Let's see, well yes, THE DEFENDERS featured the Hulk, Sub-Mariner, Dr. Strange, and the Silver Surfer. BUT.... the Surfer left around issue #4, and Subby short- ly thereafter, and while Hulk and Strange hung around for a while, their roles were very diminished, as Nighthawk, Valkyrie, and Hellcat took center-stage. The whole "non-group" concept was that the Defenders would be anybody who happened to be around. Personally, I never felt that Hulk, Subby, Strange, *or* the Surf- er worked well as team members. As far as Hawkeye, Tigra, etc. go, I'm not say- ing that they shouldn't be in a group, I just feel that it shouldn't be The Avengers. As I said before, the Avengers were created to be a teaming up of the first-string heroes, and that's just what they were for the first 15 or so is- sues. They should have remained that way. The same holds true of the JLA. It wasn't formed because readers wanted to see a group of random heroes. It's that they wanted to see a team comprised of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, etc. If Conway wanted to have a whole brand-new team, why didn't he just have Aquaman quit the JLA and start a brand-new team? Superficially, it's because DC wants a team with heroes that don't have their own books. Fine, so again, why don't they start a whole different team? I don't know why I'm bothering with all this. I don't read the comic anyway. It's just the principle of the thing that gets to me, I guess. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA