disc@houxz.UUCP (S.BERRY) (01/16/84)
Secret Wars??? 'Nuff Said! (Actually, the less said, the better). Just thought I'd throw in my two cents worth on the "let's beat up on Marvel" dialogue. I agree that most of Marvel sucks these days--even the "sacred" X-Men. Someone said that X-Men never recovered from Byrne's departure, and I agree to a point--I don't think the loss of his artwork is the cause, however. Romita's art is beginning to grow on me, surprisingly, and I loved Smith's work. I've always considered Cockrum's art on the Legion to be far superior to anything he did on X-Men (Did he ink his own pencils for DC?), although he's still not bad. The real reason for the quality decline on this book in the absense of Byrne is that his co-plotting is sorely missed. Without him, Claremont's writing dissolves in a miasma (to use one of CC's favorite words) of characterization--in fact, that's about all the book offers these days. Millions of subplots (some foreshadowed for a year or so) and strong characterization (admittedly, some of the best in the business) alone do not a good book make. I think Claremont has been patting himself on the back for too long now. I do still buy the book, although I no longer find myself agonizing in anticipation of next month's release. Byrne's plotting is the main reason I enjoy FF and AF--he seems to get the most out of a situation. I don't feel this way about the Thing, primarily because the character of Ben Grimm has come to tire me the same way Green Arrow did (by the way, where did DC dig up this Joey Cavelieri that's been doing the GA strip in Detective? His writing's as bad as the art--no mean feat!). DC has, in my opinion, moved up a little on Marvel recently (it's may be truer to say Marvel has moved down). I really enjoy TT, Camelot, LSH, and the Batman books--I think Thriller is terrible; if I could follow the art, the story would be understandable. Von Eden has been much better than this. On the Marvel side, I love Thor (I can believe comic shops here asking $5 to $10 for these Simonson issues; what I can't believe is that people are PAYING it!), Alpha Flight, FF, and Iron Man. Daredevil has been OK up until recently--with this Micah Sinn storyline, I think O'Neil has sunk to new lows. SJBerry