Well yesterday I found a copy of Checkmate #8 in the $1 bins at one of the comic shops I frequent. I'm afraid of the loot of $1 comics I went home with this was the only one from DC. The first Checkmate series was pretty graphic as far as mainstream DC titles went. Which was part of it's appeal aside from the whole secret service and political back drop for the series. In this issue Waller ties a major internal security breach to a freelance mercenary by the name of Black Thorn.
Waller uses the word bitch exactly three times with a "Goddamn" thrown in toward the end for good measure. Also in the last scene of the issue another character tells a fellow agent at Checkmate "If you ever compromise security like that again I'll kick your ass". Pretty wild stuff for the late 80s you can see more clip art from the issue
http://suicidesquadtaskforcex.blogspot.com/2012/05/checkmate-volume-1.html
I gotta tell ya folks. This was one of five back issues I picked up yesterday and I also took the time to browse at some new stuff on the shelves. I've just felt so detached from new comics in recent months. I'm happy to check out some of it online in reviews and what not but when it comes to doling out my money nothing makes me happier then to spend it on stuff like this. I guess I'm just kinda old fashioned that way.
your not by yourself, I feel detached as well as let down by the mediocre material that I'm getting. That's why I don't totally disagree with Liefield. Selling a Batman book is no real feat of excellence. But if you can't sell one something is seriously wrong.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a lot of truely new happenings going on at DC. And if it is Somebody please tell me where to look.
yeah the Team 7 and Suicide Squad zero issues are good examples of what i'm talking about. the Suicide Squad issue seemed to serve the purpose as a origin issue fairly well based on what the new series so far and the art work was great. the Team 7 issue was largely from what i could see and introduction to all the team members. the art work was also really good and it had lot's of dialogue which i like. but when it came down to what i could spend my 5 or 6 bucks on it was a no brainer. it's not to say that all of this new stuff including the SS relaunch is bad per se. it's just that i'm not interested enough in it to the point where i wanna spend money on it and have it taking up space in my home there after. i'm pretty content to just read about the stuff in online reviews and previews and leave it at that.
DeleteYour right again. Your comment could be a whole post write up, because this is exactly what both books are, good art work.
DeleteThe origin issue of Amanda Waller is such a let down. Amanda is gorgeous with commanding presence. Then halfway thru; it all falls down. Regulus seems to have been a member of Team7 and the heavy set mother that does the spitting (cliche) is her dead soldier friend's mother. Guaranteed to be the same lady that Black Spider has the knife to. Which kills the intresting twist of her being the real Waller and the new sex symbol being Havannah.
Team7, in a word... BLAND. Deathstroke is a joe blow bodyguard? Come on. Amanda did steal the show in her introduction but for a 0 issue that literally have four first round draft picks and an artist of this calibur, it should have been explosive. But it's nothing doing.
@Shlomo: Your a SS collector, it's really a must that you have the new origin of Amanda Waller in the collection. As well as her first appearance in Team7. Compadre, it's the right thing to do.
Long Live the Squad.
if you knew about some of the SS stuff i used to have that i ditched years ago you'd probably want to have me put into a straight jacket. i think in my earlier years as a collector i was my inclined to pick up most anything tied in to the Suicide Squad. but as i get older i've developed more discriminating taste about what i want to own.
Deletetake the Kieth Giffen series for example. i mean i have it because i was curious about it and bought it on the cheap on ebay. but all those are tucked away along with some other random comics i have that i just wanted to have as some lite reading at the time. i could give em to the neighbor's kids with out a second thought.
(continued at Dale's comment)
Actualy OA1 I read some issues of stormwhatch this weekend, and I was impressed. Probably because I never read anything about it in the olf DCU. it is hard to deal with the diferences, but I also read the ravagers and (Started with #0) and it might became something good.
DeleteThat is pretty racy in terms of language for the eighties. Nowadays they throw it out there all the time, but back then it really shocked you to see a curse word in print. Gave it more punch.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I'm just a sunny side of the street person or not, but I have hope for the future of comics. Sure, DC is seriously screwing around with us now...but they've done that periodically throughout the years. I like to believe it'll come around again. And in the meantime all the good writers will gravitate to unconventional titles that tickle their interests, which I think can only strengthen the industry in the long run. Bring in fresh characters, and fresh concepts. So yeah, it might suck for a bit. But there could be light at the end of the tunnel.
Or maybe I'm just kidding myself and it's really a train barreling down on me at full speed, but hey. That's life.
I'm riding wit ya Random even though it's hurting my pockets and my feelings.
DeleteIt's okay, Agent O. I brought along a cooler. We can at least be pleasantly buzzed through the pain.
DeleteI want to be in that party too ^_^
DeleteAliera, we could never have a party without you!
DeleteIt's the curse of the industry right now, and the "hip" trend to reboot and restart the hell out of shit, even when it makes no sense at all to do it. The only real innovative books are done by the indies, books that new potential franchises that don't have a 30 or 40-year history's worth of continuity shackled to it.
ReplyDeleteJust keep hitting the quarter and dollar bins folks; that's where the good stuff's at.
Cool Gil Kane cover though. Never seen this one before.
i think for me it's that history that makes all the difference about why i can't get into the SS reboot. i had a short lived honey moon with it for the first 6 or 7 months but it just didn't stick for long much like a relationship of convenience.
Deletethe reboot is really for a new generation of readers i think. for me the reboot is kinda like going back to school to take remedial classes? i've got too much of that Ostrander Squad in my blood to start from some kind of new beginning. that's why i said before i might consider this series again if it starts to look something closer to the old DCU. having Boomerang back is a good step in the right direction they've got some ways to go still for me.
I had a conversation with an older gentleman about this recently. He was actually pretty sanguine about it, but then I get the feeling that he'd seen his favorite characters messed with so many times it had become part of the business. He told me that every so often they screw it up, but once in a blue moon you get that creative team that just gets your book. And that makes keeping an eye on them worth it. I can't even imagine the amount of adjustment it must have taken for him to have started reading comics in the silver age and continue through the present day. But he seemed a nice old guy. And he gave me all my comics at half price.
DeleteYeah, it's the nature of the business, and the necessary evil/hazard that all comic book fans(especially us older one) have to deal with. I doubt, no I know, this won't be the last reboot DC ever does. They seem to get stuck, then use the CRISIS excuse/reset button and then do it all over again several years later when they hit a wall creatively and can't break through or something. And instead of trying new things, they just "reboot it and forget it". It's Bullshit.
ReplyDeleteThat's why the older back issues don't tend to disappoint as much; if they're bad, well you already knew that going in, but love 'em anyways, and they also tend(depending on the era) to make more sense. well at least to me they do.
It's like what was I talking to Googum about this weekend, DC really(outside of maybe the whole Superman's rights dispute issue) had no legitimate reason to reboot their continuity. None. They could have done most of the things they wanted to story-wise, and even put out the amount of titles they wanted, just not the new fucked-up origins they're trying to pass off.
Okay, I'm done bitching, I promise....for now;)
Aww. But I enjoy it! ;) And you're right. You really are. My Dad actually makes this exact point about all the movie franchise reboots. I don't think it really started to annoy him until they did Spider-Man, but that one struck him as inane. There wasn't a good reason to reboot that. None. Much as DC had no good reason to reboot its entire line. He calls it lazy story writing, and I'm inclined to agree. If you want to create a new origin, have the guts to create your own character. Now, I realize that most of these decisions are not made by writers, and most writers would have to be completely brain numb not to be entranced with the idea of writing for D.C. or Marvel. Because haven't we all dreamed of that at some point? But you would like to think, that at some point, someone, somewhere, INSIDE the industry would look at the work with the same love that they looked at it when they were little. I don't know. Maybe the view is different from a spreadsheet.
DeleteI agree. And that's a damn good point Random; if they claim, and some cases swear up and down, how much they love and respect these characters, then why for the love of God mess/screw with what made them so appealing to these "creators" in the first place, and write these god-awful origins/reboots then? It baffles me to no end, and I'm a longtime reader as much as they claim to be as well....Damnit, you got me started again:(
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with you on that they should grow a pair and make up their own characters to saddle these out of place, shitty origins with. They don't because they're lazy and scared that any new characters they "grace" us with, wouldn't sell as well, as the established stars whose coat-tails they've long lived off of. And yes, new characters won't automatically have the same amount of name recognition, but that doesn't you don't try. If the creators of old used that logic, there'd be no Silver Age, no Wolverine, No Spider-Man, no Deadpool, no any of those characters. It takes time, patience, and smart and careful writing and nurturing to build a brand. Aww but I forget; this is the "Instant gratification age", and thus patience is a considered a dirty word. Hey, I'll cop to being impatient at times too, but nowhere near that scale or level.
Hopefully when a new editorial comes into power, the characters we all love won't be too badly damaged. And that extends to Marvel's gross mis-use of Cyclops as well:(
Dale, Cyclops is a completely different rant. Well, not different. Just...longer. And involving lots of words not suitable for tender ears such as yours. ;)
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