CBR: When Words Collide - May 2, 2011

[CBR News]

Tim concludes his look at Jonathan Hickman's "Secret Warriors" by actually talking about what he thinks of the series, its literalism, its plot reversals and how it relates to Hickman's Image work.


Full article here.

[rev sully]

"Even if it doesn't rely on what most superhero comics rely on: a central metaphor for the human condition, visualized in costume."

Holy $#!t and HUZZAH!

Tim...astounding article with your most personal story yet.
Keep 'em coming, I'll keep reading them.

Eric O'Sullivan
Boston, MA

[Imraith Nimphais]

"Even if it doesn't rely on what most superhero comics rely on: a central metaphor for the human condition, visualized in costume."

Brilliant article.

Now, if only other superhero comics (and writers) would rely less on their need to expound and illustrate their perception of a central metaphor for the human condition and just tell a bloody good story. We would be thusly entertained.

[Sijo]

But this isn't a review, and I'm not interested in encouraging you to buy the comic or dissuading you from reading it. I'm interested only in exploring my own reactions to the series,

Sorry but you lost me there. All that rambling over Aspergers and whatnot for this?

Maybe you should reconsider your own writing style.

[ghostplanet]

Actually, your Aspergers analogy makes perfect sense to me.

But sadly, I just can't bring myself to care about Secret Warriors. I got the first 14 issues - because the first one (and it's cliff hanger) made me crazy excited for the story.

But the characters never felt fleshed out, the story felt disjointed, and I ultimately realized that the momentum was gone. (For me at least.)

I love that Hickman plays a 'long game' - but both with SW and Fantastic Four, I struggle to stay on board through his tendency to run several story lines in a row that turn out to be incomplete. If you want to 'set up' a story line you plan to do two years from now, fine. But do that within a story that ultimately feels rewarding in and of itself.

As it is, I've left all of his books. Maybe next year I'll buy the issues that will essentially be "Part 3 of 3" to the stories I bought a year ago.

But I doubt it.

[TimothyCallahan]

Sijo -- I'm not sure what you mean. How did those clear and direct sentences "lose you"?

[Gorgeousaur]

Sijo -- I'm not sure what you mean. How did those clear and direct sentences "lose you"?

Maybe he doesn't like the fact that you're not making a sales pitch? And that's how you lost him?

[Loose Nucleus]

Tim concludes his look at Jonathan Hickman's "Secret Warriors" by actually talking about what he thinks of the series, its literalism, its plot reversals and how it relates to Hickman's Image work.


Full article here.

Fun article about one of my favourite series happening right now--why couldn't this fella wait the three issues or whatnot that remain to "conclude his look" at the series? Where's the fire?

[Leocomix]

This title isn't so direct. For instance I believed that Secret Warriors was the latest superhero team. But they're not superheroes, they're operatives with super-powers and the book isn't about them but about Nick Fury.
The title of the first arc pointed the way but I didn't pay attention to it: Nicjk Fury agent of nothing.
It's a book about Nick Fury but with a superhero coating. Few people mention the characters by their codenames. Eventually we find out this team isn't even called Secret Warriors, they're the White Team.
And that makes us think: who are the secret warriors then? Well, they're the SHIELD and Hydra agents.
"secret warriors" isn't the name of a team, it's not a team book. Thats a good trick from Hickman, to subvert the name like that.

[ian33407]

A book like T.H.U.N.D.E.R AGENTS seems to contain the kind of weighted -purpose I expect from comics today and I'm glad that my wait for the "right book" to me ended onto something that I'm very glad to read. I don't know what I'm missing certainly, but I can't allow me to buy too much soap. Even if I've been waiting for a Nick Fury book since a big while. I like the concept, I hope somebody else will take the relay after this serie ends, there are a lots of things to tell with S.H.I.E.L.D..