I agree with everything you wrote above. Completely.
I just think a lot of the talent Joe Q lured in, or back to, Marvel has been drifting away - Millar, Brubaker, Yost and Hickman, for instance, and older talent has largely stepped down or certainly isn’t producing at the same quality level they once did - and while Fraction keeps getting better and I love Bendis (although he’s a far better with scripts than narratives) & Dan Slott (although Spidey is too damaged a book to stick with), maybe Rick Remender is good too (haven’t read enough). But I think the bench strength is the weakest it has been since the early 90s, although overall better than then, and some of the main writers like Jason Aaron are so bad that I don’t really understand how he’s even employed as a writer, let alone being given control over major characters. In fairness I haven’t read much stuff from the past 3 years though, so maybe that impression is dated.
I’m having a problem with sustaining this. I really hate shows that go on-and-on-and-on-and-on with no resolution. FWIW We just finished Ep 6, and I think I’m done. I could have read two books easily by now with two completely different stories and this is so LOOOOONG with no resolution. Oh look Kilgrave is bad, and he is after me and I need to do something to get him. EVERY.SINGLE.EPISODE.
It’s a shame really because the characters are interesting & gritty. I just can’t stand repetition.
Tman - We are at the same point, and I felt a little bit like you did, and I do certainly not have a short or quick attention span, as Hark is quick to try to point out.
There are several things that need to move forward, and thankfully did in this episode - Others have noted in , that it was a bit too long, and I can easily imagine its here, halfway through, that people feel its stalling a bit.
It’s hard for me to say because I’m certainly not reading a comprehensive slate of Marvel’s titles and I’ve been largely avoiding the big crossovers as impossible to keep track of. But I’ve been pretty impressed with Remender’s Image books (Black Science, Deadly Class, etc), so I’d assume his Marvel stuff is at least decent. I don’t think I’ve read much Aaron has done for Marvel, his Vertigo book Scalped and his Image book Southern Bastards are both incredible, so I’d say that’d be why. And I don’t think it’s accurate to describe Hickman as “drifting away” when he ran the latest crossover event, Secret Wars and has been in charge of the various Avengers books leading up to that.
Plus I am becoming more aware of other talent they’ve got going now like G. Willow Wilson on Ms. Marvel (which is great), Al Ewing on Loki, Agent of Asgard (likewise), and Kelly Sue DeConnick on Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps (haven’t read yet but Bitch Planet is great and so were the couple of other things I’ve read of hers so I assume her Captain Marvel is good).
Remender’s out of Marvel for the foreseeable future too, switched entirely to creator-owned I believe. Which is a shame, because it didn’t quite feel like a fit when he had the spotlight (Uncanny Avengers, Axis), but when he was doing his own thing with Uncanny X-Force and Venom, it was my favorite Marvel stuff by far.
For certain values of shame. I am all for talented creators doing superhero books because it is a thing they love but creator owned is a better deal for them and usually a better read, too.
Oh yeah, I don’t begrudge them doing what they want and getting (hopefully) a better deal for it. I guess big picture it’s a shame these creators and Marvel can’t reach a sustainable relationship; they all seem to burn out for what I assume are a variety of different but related reasons.
I don’t even want to know how jobbed everyone but the absolute top-tier writers and artists get at Marvel and DC. Literally, I don’t want to know, because the answer will surely depress me.
I’m through Ep 5 as well, and I don’t feel the “dragging” criticisms so much as the “I get it, she’s miserable, everyone is miserable, everything sucks, let’s move on” criticism. Which maybe is another side of the same coin, I dunno.
Also, Remender’s Fear Agent was pretty fun. I liked it at a solid B level, similar to my enjoyment of maybe Y the Last Man but not up to Sandman or Transmetropolitan.
And that paragraph probably tells you everything you need to know about my minimal comic-book reading and taste for it, heh.
Through ep 9 myself. It and 8 have been two of my absolute favorites so far, due in no small part to the absolutely riveting performances Ritter and Tennant are putting on. I’m almost ashamed that I’m getting this content for “free” (year of Netflix sub from my Note 4 purchase in January). Damn, son.
I’m also 6 episodes in now, and while I can understand the pace and story focus causing some people to lose interest, I think the primary focus on a single threat and all the character implications given the history between Jessica/Killgrave creates additional thematic depth that spreads through some of the peripheral stories and characters as well (for instance, the manner Jessica (and Carrie Ann Moss) treat people is similar, at times, to how Killgrave does, and Trish’s struggle to avoid being a victim, desire of various characters for increased agency & control, etc.).
But if nothing at all was moving forward I’d also be more frustrated - but by the end of this episode, there was some good advancement on threads that would have been increasingly tedious if they were further prolonged.
He has said it’s his last Marvel work, at least for the foreseeable future. So has Rick Remender. So has Kieron Gillen, who I didn’t mention above. All part of the trend I mentioned.
I’m really enjoying the show a lot, love how it’s using super powers to heighten themes that aren’t power fantasy. Dislike every time I see some connection to the rest of the Marvel Universe, as I’m already burnt out on that. There’s also a few nit picky practical measures I wish people would try against the main villain.
How do you test things like that when if they don’t work you are comprehensively fucked? Also, if anyone is around who isn’t using them he can use them against you.
Simple then, walk around with a boombox cranked to max volume. Sure, you’ll probably piss a few people off, but if he can’t be heard, do his powers still work?
Excellent question. Desslock or anyone else who reads comics, can you answer? I’d assume the target has to comprehend you, but that’s really nothing more than how I would intuit it.
I can answer it, but I’m only on episode 7 and suspect there’s a good chance it’s answered in the series so I don’t want to spoil that if it’s the case, but there is a very clear answer to all of these questions.
