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Post by defiant1 on Dec 20, 2010 19:11:57 GMT -5
Having dated someone who was traumatized by being raped, I have no interest in reading fiction referencing it. I think to many people it's just a word people toss around because it sounds really bad and it warrants justice. I connect it more to an actual horror that permanently disrupts someone's life and changes the way they view everyone they meet for the rest of their life. I have no doubt the art and the rest of the book looks bad. Who is the western theme trying to appeal to? That was popular in the 1950's. The story would have to be pretty riveting to make any waves in the market. It also alienates a younger readership. Really brilliant (sacrcasm) in a market where a comic needs any readers they can get. You were very kind to give this comic a shot. If you moved your reviews over to your web page, you could probably write these small publishers and get complimentary comics in exchange for posting reviews. Of course you might have to take a crappy comic and give your review a positive spin somehow, but it's still something to think about. df1 I think that Westerns are making a comeback you had 3 movies Jonah Hex, The Warrior's Way, and the remake of True Grit this year that are westerns (or have elements of the Westerns in them) and Cowboys and Aliens (based on the comic of the same name) is coming out next year, there is supposedly a new Lone Ranger movie in the works with Johnny Depp slated to play Tonto. There are also rumors that Paramount is supposed to be thinking about bring back classic TV westerns Have Gun-Will Travel and Gunsmoke as movies. In comics The Lone Ranger has just finished a 25 issue run at Dynamite and has an upcoming "crossover" book called The Lone Ranger: The Death of Zorro coming out next year and IIRC Jonah Hex is still going strong at DC despite the lackluster movie, and Marvel's Max Comics has just published a second series with The Rawhide Kid by Howard Chaykin. Westerns typically appeal to people my dad's age. It was a romanticized time period while people were transitioning into the structure we have today in our lives. Obviously there will always be stories from a previous time (I can't stand Victorian dramas -- scream!), but Westerns are just a novelty and I don't believe they will ever resume the stronghold they had as a pop culture phenomenon. I think you will see some of these movies do poorly at the box office. Hollywood is faced with the dilemma of finding a way to produce low budget films that can attract high budget box office sales. Comedy movies can achieve that, but Hollywood want to expand into other types of movies that can do the same. I'm not shocked that there are some Western movies coming out, but I don't believe they will be the box office hits that Hollywood wants, nor will they achieve the rental success that Hollywood has come to expect. That's just my opinion. df1
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Post by cyberstrike on Dec 21, 2010 17:26:47 GMT -5
There is a video game called Red Dawn: Redemption that has been doing very well beating several other high-profile games in sales and is VERY popular with people younger than myself. I think one or two major blockbusters and the Westerns will be back just like musicals.
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Post by bigw1966 on Dec 22, 2010 18:02:26 GMT -5
The game is actually called RED DEAD: Redemption. It is an extremely fun game that puts you right into the old west. Lets also not forget that one of the best TV shows of the last 10 years was DEADWOOD. I just watched all 3 seasons and have to say that it was an incredibley well written and acted show. 3:10 to Yuma a couple of years ago was also really good.
There will never be a domination of entertainment like it was back in the 50's, but it will also never be going away.
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Post by cyberstrike on Jan 4, 2011 11:43:35 GMT -5
The game is actually called RED DEAD: Redemption. It is an extremely fun game that puts you right into the old west. I stand corrected. That is true but everyone keeps saying that it's dead and it's not. Here are a few Westerns/or hybrid-westerns movies, TV movies, TV shows, or direct-to-video (or DTV) movies that have been made since 1980: The Long Riders, Silverado, Young Guns, Young Guns II, Pale Rider, Wyatt Earp, Tombstone, Wild Bill, Unforgiven, Dances With Wolves, The Quick and the Dead, 3:10 to Yuma, True Grit, Jonah Hex, The Warrior's Way, Shanghai Noon, Shanghai Nights, Maverick, Wild Wild West, The Mask of Zorro, The Legend of Zorro, The Legend of the Lone Ranger, Back to the Future part III, The Gambler, The Gambler II, The Gambler III, The Gambler IV, The Gambler V, Gunsmoke: The Return to Dodge City, Gunsmoke: The Last Apache, Gunsmoke: The Long Ride, Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice, The Magnificent Seven, Dr. Quinn and Deadwood. And all of these have been made since 1980 and some are not true 100% westerns and some suck and some are really good. There are a LOT more out there, this off the top of my head.
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Post by cyberstrike on Jan 4, 2011 11:49:58 GMT -5
Back to the topic on hand:
Thunderstrike vol. 2 #1 Every since Tom DeFalco brought the character back in the MC2 Universe I always wondered when and if Kevin Masterson would fill his father's shoes in the Marvel Universe proper and finally he has. Kevin Masterson is a vicious bully and a punk (and that is what Sharon Carter says in the book) who hates superheroes and blames them for his father's death. His mother has remarried to a former sports star-turned-sports reporter and she owns a series of health clubs. When Kevin meets Sharon Carter who takes him to see Steve Rogers who gives Kevin his father's mace, when Kevin first grabs the mace and nothing happens he thinks that Rogers is playing a joke on him and Carter returns him to NYC.
Walking home with the mace Kevin sees the Rhino breaking outs of some Russian spies and flips a car over with a mother and a baby in the backseat a spark lights the gas leaking and as the fire comes closer Kevin uses the mace as a crowbar and then he becomes Thunderstrike and then Kevin battles the Rhino. When the Rhino knocks Kevin into a building and the Rhino then flees thinking that other superheroes will come. As Kevin is stumbling through the debris he sees his reflection in a piece of a glass and sees that the mace has transformed into the exact likeness of his dead father. News crews film Kevin's battle with the Rhino and his mother sees this and faints at her one of her health clubs at the sight of her dead husband and Rogers thinks that Eric Masterson has come back from the dead.
A mysterious man has detected the magical energy detected by Thunderstrike's return and states he wants the mace for his collection.
Meanwhile in Valhalla Sif tells a young Valkyrie Gunehelda the back story of Thunderstrike and then tells her to go to Earth to teach Kevin how to use the Thunderstrike and she does.
Tom DeFalco does a great job of setting up the new Thunderstrike and I like for once the angry teen has a legitimate reason to be angry. The only thing I don't like about the story is that Steve Rogers comes off as very dense, while I do understand his reasons for giving Kevin the mace, I think Sharon Carter is the one I would side with and his response to Kevin's transformation is one of the stupidest things I've read. The art by Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema isn't flashy but gets the job done. The back up story's art by Todd Nauck is OK but gets confusing in some areas.
Overall If you liked or love the MC2 line (like me) and/or if you like DeFalco's old school Silver Age style stories that doesn't insult your intelligence too much because this is about as old school as Marvel is going to get it seems. I give it a solid 4 out of 5.
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Post by bigw1966 on Jan 4, 2011 18:30:30 GMT -5
Well I won't need to buy Thunderstrike now.
And the Long Riders is a fucking Great Western. Sam Pekinpah destroys with that film. Great cast also.
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Post by G on Jan 5, 2011 16:41:17 GMT -5
Back to the topic on hand: Thunderstrike vol. 2 #1 Every since Tom DeFalco brought the character back in the MC2 Universe I always wondered when and if Kevin Masterson would fill his father's shoes in the Marvel Universe proper and finally he has. Kevin Masterson is a vicious bully and a punk (and that is what Sharon Carter says in the book) who hates superheroes and blames them for his father's death. His mother has remarried to a former sports star-turned-sports reporter and she owns a series of health clubs. When Kevin meets Sharon Carter who takes him to see Steve Rogers who gives Kevin his father's mace, when Kevin first grabs the mace and nothing happens he thinks that Rogers is playing a joke on him and Carter returns him to NYC. Walking home with the mace Kevin sees the Rhino breaking outs of some Russian spies and flips a car over with a mother and a baby in the backseat a spark lights the gas leaking and as the fire comes closer Kevin uses the mace as a crowbar and then he becomes Thunderstrike and then Kevin battles the Rhino. When the Rhino knocks Kevin into a building and the Rhino then flees thinking that other superheroes will come. As Kevin is stumbling through the debris he sees his reflection in a piece of a glass and sees that the mace has transformed into the exact likeness of his dead father. News crews film Kevin's battle with the Rhino and his mother sees this and faints at her one of her health clubs at the sight of her dead husband and Rogers thinks that Eric Masterson has come back from the dead. A mysterious man has detected the magical energy detected by Thunderstrike's return and states he wants the mace for his collection. Meanwhile in Valhalla Sif tells a young Valkyrie Gunehelda the back story of Thunderstrike and then tells her to go to Earth to teach Kevin how to use the Thunderstrike and she does. Tom DeFalco does a great job of setting up the new Thunderstrike and I like for once the angry teen has a legitimate reason to be angry. The only thing I don't like about the story is that Steve Rogers comes off as very dense, while I do understand his reasons for giving Kevin the mace, I think Sharon Carter is the one I would side with and his response to Kevin's transformation is one of the stupidest things I've read. The art by Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema isn't flashy but gets the job done. The back up story's art by Todd Nauck is OK but gets confusing in some areas. Overall If you liked or love the MC2 line (like me) and/or if you like DeFalco's old school Silver Age style stories that doesn't insult your intelligence too much because this is about as old school as Marvel is going to get it seems. I give it a solid 4 out of 5. I actually chuckled a bit as I read this because I've had this book laying by the side of my computer now for a couple of weeks as one I would eventually review, you just beat me to it. I must say, I felt much the same as you did reading this. I thought the story was kinda fun and was easy to get into and enjoy. I do agree that parts of it came off a little silly, oldschool and cheesy, but for the most part, it was an easy to read, follow along and enjoy story. The combo of Frenz/Buscema also was solid as they both kind of remind me of each other really. I've always enjoyed Frenz dynamic drawings and I almost feel sorry for Sal Buscema because he's always compared to his more talented late brother John. But I've always felt Sal stood just fine on his own and is a worthy contributor to comics. For these old style veterans to put out this book which still had an old school feel but was done well enough to appeal to the comic readers of today, I think the book deserved a nice round of kudos. With that being said, I find it unlikely I would continue buying this book but I'd have no trouble picking it up later on the cheap or reading it if I happened upon it in the future. The simplicity of this book works. I personally would have also given it around a 3.5 - 4.0.
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Post by cyberstrike on Jan 6, 2011 9:45:12 GMT -5
Thunderstrike vol. 2, is being solicited as a 5 issue mini-series.
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Post by G on Jan 7, 2011 9:51:23 GMT -5
Thunderstrike vol. 2, is being solicited as a 5 issue mini-series. Although you can't really see any potential for the book long term, I don't really see a need for this to exist as a self contained story either. If this is only meant to be a 5 issue mini, I'd have to knock my score down -.5 on this. It's still a fun comic, a decent read and nice visuals. But I'm personally getting tired of comics with no need to exist. I've bought too many of those lately.
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Post by cyberstrike on Jan 8, 2011 8:10:10 GMT -5
Thunderstrike vol. 2, is being solicited as a 5 issue mini-series. Although you can't really see any potential for the book long term, I don't really see a need for this to exist as a self contained story either. If this is only meant to be a 5 issue mini, I'd have to knock my score down -.5 on this. It's still a fun comic, a decent read and nice visuals. But I'm personally getting tired of comics with no need to exist. I've bought too many of those lately. Marvel is putting out a bunch of Thor related mini-series and spin-offs (which what Thunderstrike is) because of the upcoming movie which is strange because The Mighty Thor has always been one of Marvel's hardest books to sell. Also Thunderstrike has the unfortunate reputation of being "one of awful 90s that no one really likes except a few die hard fans" comics. Is it any wonder why Marvel would want to bring the series back as a mini-series? Now MAYBE[/u] if the sales are decent Marvel will bring the series back and try it again as an ongoing series.
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