Cosmic comics come back!

[Tor]

!I really enjoyed the Annihilation series Marvel put out. It's been awhile since Marvel pulled inward and started focusing more on Earth-bound heroes (Very little cosmic stuff, and Thor cancelled, no Dr. Strange except the excellent The Oath mini), and being able to look at the cosmic side of the house after a sabatical was really cool, and gave it all a "new" feel (though this was due not only to the writing, but also to Keith "I kick ass at everything" Giffen).
I continue to enjoy Nova every month. I really miss the kind of sci-fi-tech feeling there used to be, and I think that Nova pulls that off a bit better than most (I've really, REALLY tried to get into the stuff they're doing w/Adam Strange, because he was FANTASTIC with Buddy and Kori in 52, but whoever's writing him just makes me not care so much).
Because of all this, I'm actually finding myself excited that another cosmic title will be coming out, Guardians of the Galaxy.
I think that Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have a good grasp of the characters (since they've been working with them for a good while now), and they really did throw an interesting curve in their current Annihilation: Conquest series with the ending to issue #1 (though it really didn't make enough sense with the concurrent reveal in Mighty Avengers at the time).
Here's their interview on the upcoming Guardians:
http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=149237

What I'd like to know is this:
Anyone else out there enjoying the new cosmic slant going on in the Marvel Universe?
What about DC? Do you think that things are progressing well?
I can tell you I'm loving the Action Comics run w/the Legion. Damn good stuff, and the art is excellent as well. The Legion title's been good (though why they CONTINUE to fuck up the Supergirl title is beyond me, since she was so well written in Legion). Any thoughts?

[Hybrid2]

I've loved Annihilation since the start.It preaty much continue with this new serie.
It also made me love Nova.I just got the annual today.
Awsome.
I cant wait for GotG.It will got Cosmo!The russian psionic talking dog.

[ShaunN]

I've been enjoying the cosmic stuff as well, and I think that it makes the MU much bigger and more impressive. My one complaint with the both the DCU and the MU (particularly the DCU) is that they are too Earth-centric. The idea that, in the entire multiverse, Earth matters so much (indeed, in the DCU, reality itself seems to spin around Earth) seems to me both preposterous and extremely limiting.

My other complaint is that I wish more cosmic characters had more cosmic perspective. I mentioned this in another thread, but I've always found it extremely disconcerting that a character like Thanos could gain more power than Eternity/the Celestials/Galactus put together, yet still have no larger perspective on life and the universe then when he started out. It's such a pedestrian view of reality that its almost stifling.

I hope that Marvel continues to explore (while leaving mysterious) beings such as the Celestials and the numerous other cosmic entities it has introduced over the decades. As I said, it really makes the place a lot bigger and more interesting.

Also, I concur - Nova is great, and so is Cosmo. ;-)

Sincerely,

Shaun

[PatrickG]

I made the prediction elsewhere...

But I'm predicting:

SUPERMAN & THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES as a new ongoing which doubles as a second Legion title and a third Superman title, using the Lightning Saga team.

My crystal ball says JMS will write it and George Perez will alternate arcs with a variety of top artists, with this title being marketed as a thinking man's SUPERMAN/BATMAN. And I expect a Jim Lee arc at some point, whether or not WILDCATS is complete, because he's been dying to do LSH. Probably a Dan Jurgens arc too (he can draw two books in a month). Some sort of Liefeld involvement (a fill-in two parter or retailer covers) as he's a huge Legion buff.

And that around #25 or #30, Geoff Johns will take over.

[Tor]

I've been enjoying the cosmic stuff as well, and I think that it makes the MU much bigger and more impressive. My one complaint with the both the DCU and the MU (particularly the DCU) is that they are too Earth-centric. The idea that, in the entire multiverse, Earth matters so much (indeed, in the DCU, reality itself seems to spin around Earth) seems to me both preposterous and extremely limiting.

My other complaint is that I wish more cosmic characters had more cosmic perspective. I mentioned this in another thread, but I've always found it extremely disconcerting that a character like Thanos could gain more power than Eternity/the Celestials/Galactus put together, yet still have no larger perspective on life and the universe then when he started out. It's such a pedestrian view of reality that its almost stifling.

I hope that Marvel continues to explore (while leaving mysterious) beings such as the Celestials and the numerous other cosmic entities it has introduced over the decades. As I said, it really makes the place a lot bigger and more interesting.

Also, I concur - Nova is great, and so is Cosmo. ;-)

Sincerely,

Shaun

When I think about it, I find that I agree with your assessment: Earth is FAR too often the central rallying point of existance (especially in the DCU). I can assume that it's because it's easier to relate to humans (or aliens that look like humans) as a writer/artist/reader than it is to make someone really care about, say, the Martian Manhunter (though I really think he's been undervalued by the crap stories he's been written in to). I did like the route the Sinestro Corps went in demonstrating that not all their members were humanoids (the killer virus was a brilliant idea).

[Tor]

I made the prediction elsewhere...

But I'm predicting:

SUPERMAN & THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES as a new ongoing which doubles as a second Legion title and a third Superman title, using the Lightning Saga team.

My crystal ball says JMS will write it and George Perez will alternate arcs with a variety of top artists, with this title being marketed as a thinking man's SUPERMAN/BATMAN. And I expect a Jim Lee arc at some point, whether or not WILDCATS is complete, because he's been dying to do LSH. Probably a Dan Jurgens arc too (he can draw two books in a month). Some sort of Liefeld involvement (a fill-in two parter or retailer covers) as he's a huge Legion buff.

And that around #25 or #30, Geoff Johns will take over.

I can agree with your prediction, minus one factor:
with Johns setting up this current Action arc, and only really writing Green Lantern and Action, he's ready for another book to crack into, and since he's been in a "make Superman great again" mindset, he would probably (at least at the start) helm this SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION book himself.

[PatrickG]

I can agree with your prediction, minus one factor:
with Johns setting up this current Action arc, and only really writing Green Lantern and Action, he's ready for another book to crack into, and since he's been in a "make Superman great again" mindset, he would probably (at least at the start) helm this SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION book himself.

Then what Superman book is JMS going to write?

That's borderline obvious right now and I'm thinking that after the Spider-debacle, it'd be wise to get him in touch with his sci-fi Babylon 5 roots. (And he made a few Legion references in Babylon 5...)

[TCJohnson]

Then what Superman book is JMS going to write?



Who says he is?

[ninjapeps]

My one complaint with the both the DCU and the MU (particularly the DCU) is that they are too Earth-centric.

I don't really see that in Marvel. The times I can think of when other species attack Earth, the aliens were either invading that area of the galaxy anyway or searching for a specific group or individual. I can't think of many stories where aliens go after the Earth or humanity as a whole because it's so important/scary/dangerous.

In DC, everything is centered on the Earth. Forget Oa. Earth is the center of the universe and whatever Earth contains current continuity is the center of the multiverse.

[PatrickG]

Who says he is?

He said he wants to write Superman, Didio says JMS can write whatever he wants and that they'll create the book for him and Johns is hinting at a third Superman title.

[Cayman]

Nova and Green Lantern/GLC are all really good. I've switched to reading them in TPBs now. I'm planning to check out Shooter's LSH in TPB form as well. I'll probably buy at least the first arc of Guardians Of The Galaxy as it looks really promising.

JMS should save Supergirl or write Superman/Batman.

[PatrickG]

JMS should save Supergirl or write Superman/Batman.

I don't normally advocate new #1s...

But I've been saying for awhile that i think Supergirl either needs a new #1 or that they should put her book on hiatus for six months while they do a character defining miniseries.

[Tor]

I cannot TELL you how disappointed I am at what Superman/Batman has become. BUT, for all that disappointment, it remains dwarfed by the depths that Supergirl has plumbed. And not only have they draged Kara through copious amounts of mud, but they've also grabbed Wonder Girl with a similar "teen angst" treatment that just makes the character unpalletable.
I really hope that Gail will get Cassie back in WW, and make her better (like she was before Conner died from editorial mandate).
Look at Stargirl for a good female teenage character. Anyone else feel sad about the almost-relationship between Captain Marvel and her back in JSA?

[Tad Sivana]

I totally agree with the 'Annihilation' series. It's the most enjoyable cosmic tale in a long time and one with great scope.
DC has tried a few things along these lines with Captain Comet's latest outing and the Rann-Thanagar war, etc... but none of these really grabbed me.
The most enjoyable so far (IMHO) has been the Superman and the adult Legion story arc, so I'd love to see a continuing series based on that.
I am just starting to read the new Shooter Legion, so not enough evidence to say anything about that.
One thing that DC will have to work hard to match is the scope of the 'Annihilation' series, revisiting as it does so many older characters and concepts from the MU. Even the Crisis and Countdown series have been strangely earth-centric....and lacking (hard to believe in a dimension-hopping story) in scope! Green Lantern's Corps War was better, but not so grandiose as what Marvel has done.
I'd love to see DC do even better and with the character resources and concept history they have, they certainly have the tools!

[PatrickG]

The inclusion of the Bizarro World in Holy War interests me. It elevates it from being a potentially generic sci-fi story about an army of Buck Rogers people versus an army of bird people.

[ShaunN]

I will absolutely agree that Marvel has created a much less Earth-centred universe than DC. Indeed, one of the things that I liked about the recent Annihilation storyline was that a major cosmic event occurred and the people on Earth had no idea of what was going on - they were too wrapped up in their petty "civil war" (which could then lead to a discussion about how the Marvel U -and DC - are too US-focused, but let's leave that for another time).

Marvel has also tried to build in a certain kind of consistency to its placement of Earth in the Marvel U - Earth is important precisely because it gives birth to superhuman/mutant creatures of enormous power. In Earth X, all of this was neatly linked to the Celestials, but I expect that is not meant to apply in the 616 universe. In Byrne's "The Last Galactus Story" Galactus chows down on Earth about 100 million years in the future and finds it to be the absolute feast that he also thought it would be. By that time, however, all of the humans are gone (though Nova ends up saving a single city from Earth - does anyone know how that story ended or where I could find a copy of that ending?)

The one stumble Marvel has made in building its cosmic universe, I would argue, have been with the various Thanos miniseries that I mentioned earlier. I like Thanos, but making him God just does not work, not least because of how much it reduces everything else around him.

I'm hopeful that the Guardians of the Galaxy series rebuilds the sense of mystery. Having the Guardians based in Knowhere, in that floating, giant Celestial head should be fun. Though, I have to admit, the idea that a Celestial head would be like a floating robot head strikes me as odd. I've always seen the Celestial armor as like a containment suit, kind of like Kosh in "Babylon Five" - it contains something almost infinitely powerful. Indeed, this was the allusion way back in Thor #300 (if anyone remembers that). I'm also curious to see how they use the head - surely the head of something as powerful as a Celestial would have psychic resonance? Beyond that, I doubt that it's possible to kill a Celestial by cutting off its head, so maybe the owner will come back some day!

Take care,

Shaun