Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Lardy's Roundtable (Gym'll's Ed.): Grant Morrison

Hiya! And welcome to the Dr. Gym'lls' edition of Lardy's Roundtable!

What's Lardy's Roundtable you ask? It's a roundrobin discussion of appropriate forum topics with a rotating, evolving focus! The original roundtable was here in the LSH forum and ran a whopping 68 pages last summer and discussed various Legion-related topics before finally running out of steam. The topics in the Roundtable weren't necessarily unique to other topics but had more of a conversational style that built on itself.

After thinking about it, I decided to revive the concept for Gym'll's, especially since in my opinion this forum could maybe use a little more juice. So we'll let things start rolling with a topic and see if the idea catches fire again!

First up.......

Alright, here's the sitch:

The economy has hit you really, REALLY hard in the wallet. You've crunched the numbers and you can only afford to buy as many as five titles a month. What are your five must-haves? (no fudging, please--no more than five!!)

The rules:

1) No Legion! If you're registered here, odds are Legion's gonna make the cut. But consider the current title is ending, L3W is published irregularly and only has 3 issues remaining and we don't know exactly what we're going to get yet with Adventure, so I think it's fair.

2) Minis are okay, so long as they have at least four issues left in them.

3) Please don't include titles already announced as cancelled, and if you choose Amazing Spider-man, that one counts as three titles. Upcoming titles already solicited are eligible, but make sure you feel strongly about them and can say why

4) No OGNs, trades, etc...just monthlies.

5) Finally, tell us why they are so awesome that they can't be missed in as many or as few words as you want!

Clear enough? Let's hear it!

My list:

*Green Lantern: My most traditional superhero pick on the list. What can I say? Geoff Johns is THE MAN, and GL is the title where he's clicking on all cylinders! I've always liked Hal Jordan, and Geoff literally brought him back from the dead. Awesome, awesome comic with no signs of letdown forthcoming.

*Scalped: Wow! Vertigo lives again for me! I'd been in a Vertigo recession since Y: The Last Man ended, but I read a column in Brubaker's Criminal about this title about Indian mob bosses, a kickass nunchuk-slingin', hard livin' main character with loads of secrets and enough eye-opening relevance about life on a Reservation--and I haven't looked back since! It's gritty, brilliant, full of shocks and very different from anything you'd normally expect from Vertigo! I'm hooked for the duration!

*Daredevil: I knew I had to pick an Ed Brubaker title for this list. Criminal would've made the cut, but it's currently on hiatus while Ed and Sean Philips fire up Incognito. In any case while Ed's Captain America is in a slight slump, DD is really beginning to fire on all cylinders! Ed spent much of his first two years trying to tie up the Bendis era, but he's really starting to rock out on the title! This title is evolving more and more and is starting to feel like a huge epic that harkens back to the salad days with Frank Miller.

*Walking Dead: The single title I'm most addicted to currently! The zombie apocalypse has arrived, and it's not over in two hours! With no end in sight, we follow an ever-evolving core of characters (because many, many die as we go along--even hugely popular ones!) as they struggle to survive not only zombies but each other! Not for the faint of heart but really, really satisfying horror because of the human element.

*The fifth was surprisingly hard to narrow down, but I'll go with The Immortal Iron Fist for the moment. This is a character who'd been the butt of jokes forever until Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction finally realized the character's potential when the started his new ongoing last year. I was always fond of Danny Rand, and those guys showed me why. I love the mysticism, the legacy and the overall coolness this title has. Best of all, it hasn't dropped off at all since Duane Swierczynski took over this year--one story arc under his belt, and I'm sold! How often does that happen when a lower tier character is revived and the hot creators leave? Not very often.

Other than GL, all of these have in common a more nontraditional gritty, realistic or stylized artistic take. I've become quite enamored of art that is less traditionally "pretty" in recent years, but they are all very well crafted and appropriate to their subject matter. (That said, I think Ivan Reis's more traditional Neal Adams-esque art style is absolutely gorgeous!)

So, anyway, that's what I would pare it down to out of the twenty or so titles I pick up each month--at the moment at least!

- GREEN LANTERN I concur for the most part with Lardy on this title, although I'm only cautiously optimistic about its future storylines. The Red Lanterns special was a huge disappointment to me, and it actually gets worse from re-reads (the layouts are utterly incoherent). I really think Geoff Johns is burning out in general -- it happens to a lot of talented writers who take on a lot of books at once. Blackest Night no longer seems like a sure thing -- besides Johns' burnout, there's also the factor that Ethan Van Sciver, who was originally supposed to draw that arc, will now be doing the Flash relaunch and Ivan Reis is taking his place; I love Ivan Reis, but I don't think he has the necessary atmospherics to be 100% right for Blackest Night. So why am I sticking with this book? Well, for one thing I'm hoping Johns proves me wrong -- after the dodgy Alpha Lanterns arc (which seems to have been done mostly as a favor to Grant Morrison), Johns came back in high style with Secret Origin, so maybe he'll find his third wind. And for another thing, I love Hal Jordan and I learned the hard way not to take him for granted, so I will be buying this title as long as Hal stars in it. I also have to mention that Green Lantern Corps almost made the cut, and it's an excellent book, but in a scenario like this one, I'd take Hal's book.

- THUNDERBOLTS If you've read the Adam Strange mini from a few years back, or the underrated and much-missed The Losers, you know that Andy Diggle delivers rip-roaring action like nobody else. But he's also great at characterization and dialogue (Moonstone: "Really, Songbird...that's no way to treat Prada.") It appears that this book is going to stray from its roots, but I don't mind because I was never a Thunderbolts fan in the first place. I'm just happy to have a great talent like Diggle playing around with the Marvel Universe toy chest.

- GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY A few years ago, DC was the place to be for space opera, with the Adam Strange and Rann-Thanagar War minis. These days, DC entrusts all their space opera stuff to that burned-out has-been Jim Starlin, while over at Marvel, DnA are, through this book, redefining the cosmos like no one since...well, Starlin back when he was good.

- WAR OF KINGS (Mini) And speaking of DnA, they're pitting the Shi'ar against the Inhumans, and for someone who loves The Imperial Guard and Crystal as much as I do, there's just no question I'll be picking this up. Having DnA's GotG artist, the phenomenal Paul Pelletier, on visuals is the icing on the cake.

- R.E.B.E.L.S. (Upcoming) While I wish it wasn't just Dox and Strata from the old team (no points for guessing which character I'd especially like to see come back), Tony Bedard's sincere love for L.E.G.I.O.N., and his commitment to this project makes it a no-brainer for me. I eagerly await the first issue.

Great question Lardy! And a hella-tough one for me to answer. As you know, I’ve traditionally collected most of the Marvel & DC output with my father, so this is very hard. But I will try to answer your question per your strict guidelines, since in general, I’m a fan of questions with strict guidelines

I will say this though: I would always collect Amazing Spider-Man, no matter what. So if it meant not eating breakfast in the morning three days a month to pick up the latest issue of ASM I would do that, even if the new creative team of Chuck Austen and Rob Liefield took over (I’m not saying I wouldn’t take the train into NYC and find Quesada at his local brewery and punch him out, but you get my drift). That all being said, I’m NOT going to include it on my list right now.

So:

Green Lantern – I echo everyone’s thoughts here. This is DC’s best comic book, and I think its been utterly fantastic since the rebirth of Hal. I like the way Geoff treats all the characters with respect, I like how he has made major parts of the GL mythos serious and interesting again (Sinestro, Hector Hammond, etc.). I like how Geoff has taken the overall GL mythos and expanded it exponentially in so many ways. Things like the yellow weakness being further explored and explained, and the more in depth and frankly better explanation of Parallax was brilliant. Geoff Johns IMO is a phenomenal talent and is definitely worthy of all the praise he gets—posters who don’t think so are just plain wrong . And this is the best comic he’s ever done.

Fables – At this point, Fables not only ranks up there with Sandman and Preacher, it ranks up there with Moore’s Swamp Thing and other of the greatest runs of all time in comics history. Its so good and yet every time I open up an issue I’m surprised by just how damn good it is. It continues to be a possible, and probable, pick for single best ongoing series in comic books, as it has for the last several years.

Captain America – Its been extremely tough to decide which of Bru’s best Marvel books IMO I would keep, or if I would just keep both: Captain America and Daredevil. Both are excellent beyond words and I can’t recommend them enough. (Lardy, I’ll still try to give Iron Fist a try soon, I just need to find my ‘entry’ to it). But at the end of the day, the comic book I probably have enjoyed the most in the last year has been Captain America. Everything about it just clicks on all cylinders: art, pacing, dialogue, characters, story, the ‘building’ sense to every issue. I absolutely love it. Its not only Marvel’s best comic, but its also a contender for best comic book in the industry. I trust Brubaker so much at the head of Cap’s title that anything he does from this point on I will be on board: keep Cap dead, bring Cap back, kill Bucky again, Sharon turns out to be a skrull (well, maybe there are some limits).

Guardians of the Galaxy – DnA showed signs of genius during their tenure on the Legion but they had many flaws. Likewise, so many of the GotG characters are just so great but have had so many poor storylines. Bringing them all together? Pure magic. THIS is the DnA comic book I’ve always wanted. THIS is the best science-fiction comic book on the market, hands down. I can see Edmond Hamilton, John Broome and Otto Binder picking this up off the rack and enjoying it, while at the same time I can see Jack Kirby doing the same. That latter is because beyond a science-fiction comic, this is action packed, filled with drama, and with a heightened sense of character-driven tensions between the Guardians and the various other characters. Paul Pelletier’s art is spectacular, reminding everyone that he is indeed the underrated premier artist that has been consistently been rocking my face off for over ten years. You don’t like or buy GotG? Ha! I always thought you were stupid, all of you, stupid!

The Umbrella Academy – There are several independent comics that have been immense surprises to me this past year like the Walking Dead, Mice Templar, Four Eyes (even one issue in), and of course Fallen Angel remains excellent. But one in particular blew me away so much that if it came down to it, I’d keep this over the large majority of the Marvel and DC’s I’ve always loved and collected, and that’s the Umbrella Academy. Gerard Way has come in with such an enthusiasm for being fun, being bizarre, being dramatic, being action-packed, and creating a mythology and history to characters that makes me beg to learn as much as I possibly can. Approaching each issue like an old Silver Age tale, he packs in soooo much information that I feel like not only did I get my money’s worth, I kind of made out on the deal.

SECRET SIX: This is a book geared towards my kind of morality. These characters define the word gray- they live their own code, they don’t want to be “evil” but have no desire to conform to society’s standards. From the original Villains United mini through now, they’ve shown to have a core of humanity inside them rivaling the Rogues. Gail tests them, and while they are flawed, they do a right thing, as best they know how. And they aren’t opposed to living it up a bit too.

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY: You want kids with powers? Check. You like your X-drama, we got it. Love those wild Silver Age adventures? Here’s a few more for you. Gerard Way brings an energy to comics, the same Geoff Johns brought 10 years ago. He meshes the frivolity of days gone with the maturity of modern books, giving us the bright heroism we first loved. This book is everything everyone has been asking for in their comics for the last few years.

JONAH HEX: See Secret Six. And I’m not a westerns guy. But something about this bounty hunter and his gray uniform appeals to me. He’s cantankerous at best, mercenary to the core, and intriguing to read about. GrayPal give us realistic stories of the wild west, showing how morality has evolved as civilization grows. And stories are told in one issue, for most of the run. This is a fine example of what monthly books can be. It’s a little gritty for younger readers, but there’s always a sense of justice in Hex’s world, if not in the story proper.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS: Not pronounced “Corpse.” Kyle is my Green Lantern, this is where I find him each month. Peter Tomasi is providing a good outlet for him, but still room to improve. It is a good ensemble book, bringing a number of characters with various personalities in a non-team fashion. Take Kyle out and I can’t guarantee I will stay, but it is a good book, worthy companion to the main GL title (which should be Hal and Kyle!)

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: If Kyle is my GL, DnA are my writers. I follow them wherever they go, and they don’t displease. This book might just be the perfect fit for them. Abnett is a sci-fi writer by day, so he’s at home here. They bring an earthy feel to the space opera. It’s action and comedy. Like Cobie said, the cast haven’t had the greatest success or longevity, but here they all work.


I struggled with the list because you mentioned keeping out books I know are cancelled- Birds of Prey and Nightwing. And I collect a lot of higher selling books (like TWD) in trade for cost effectiveness. Looking at my list (and my Buy Pile post) it surprised me to see books under the #50 mark.

I kind of surprised myself too. I was surprised that I included the Umbrella Academy because I don't go as crazy about as some others, but I realized that I just really have so much fun reading that comic, you know? I get "that feeling" when I read Umbrella Academy...that same feeling I get when I read the Englehart Avengers stories, the Silver Age Spideys, Crisis on Infinite Earths...where I feel like I'm 12 years old, its 1:00 AM on a late Saturday night and everyone has fallen asleep but I've somehow tricked my way into staying up to read comics and drink soda and eat pretzels or something and the world is exactly how I want it to be. I've been chasing that feeling ever since I turned 14.

GREEN LANTERN: I waited over ten years for this title! Hal's return to greatness with a great writer and artist who understand why Hal's awesome!

JUSTICE LEAGUE (upcoming): Hal and Ollie start their own League -- 'nuff said!!

DAREDEVIL: Better than Bendis' run, the best thing on DD since Miller that wasn't just dusting off Miller's toys.

THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST: This title figured out how to make a kung fu guy relevant in the Marvel Universe and deepens the mythology without shoe-horning in aliens or other weirdness just to be unexpected.

AGENTS OF ATLAS (upcoming): Secret Agent, Gorilla-Man, Killer Robot, Man from Space, Woman from Atlantis. What else could you want??

Fables is one of those Vertigo titles I missed the boat on when it first started up, but you can bet I'll be TPBing it like crazy soon enough. In fact I may start with my next In-Stock Trades order after the holidays. (if you're not ordering TPBs thru IST, you're missing out on some terrific deals!)

Des knows I also love Bru's Cap, but I'd say DD has the edge over Cap in the intensity level at this exact moment. Cap's currently kind of finding a status quo, which is something it hasn't done previously in its whole run! It's still excellent, but hold me to one Bru title at this moment and DD's got the edge.

And what entry point do you NEED for Iron Fist exactly, Des? Volume One trade "The Last Iron Fist" ain't easy enough? Don't force me to give you a Scalped-style talkin' to again!!!

I've recently acquired issues 1-7 and intend to rip thru them in the next coupla weeks. GotG, Nova and Incredible Hercules are three Marvel titles I've bought the entire runs of recently based largely on their LW buzz! I eagerly anticipate catching up on them all!

This is also on probably my very next IST order. I don't know how in the hell the guy behind the atrocity that is My Chemical Romance could make ANYTHING worth reading, but I'm trusting that dozens of LWers and professional reviewers alike aren't conspiring to pull a huge joke on me!

Drake, do you concur with my assessment that Iron Fist has maintained the momentum very well since the creative team changed with #17?

Ceej, I was definitely surprised that no Kirkman titles made your list! Do you collect all of them in trades? Do you buy everything with his name on it (including Brit which he doesn't actually write)?

I never put this in the rules, but I'd thought about trade collectors and wondered if this limitation I set would force trade collectors to get their favorite trade books as monthlies instead. The theory being that if you can only afford five titles, then trades are definitely out of the question. (Just a thought, anyway--not moodifying the rules)

I collect TWD in trade. By the time Scott sunk his teeth in me, issues were in the 30's. It would be a monthly book if it weren't so popular; most of my trade collections are like that.

I do read Kirkman's Astonishing Wolfman monthly, but it's not in the top five. It's a fun title, just waiting for the real hook to grab me.

Thanks for the tip on In-Stock Trades! I'm trying to catch up on Walking Dead both ways: I'm working backwards to get all single issues to about #28/29 or whatever issue at that point is where a trade ends, and then I'll work upwards with trades from #1 on. I'm lax with ordering trades though so while I'm getting those back-issues more and more each time I go to the CBR, I really need to get the trades so I can finally catch up.

The Daredevil vs. Cap thing (about which is better) is the kind of arguement I enjoy profiting from . Both are just so damn good! Iron Fist is on my list of things to pick up immediately, along with Madman, which I think i will finally after all these years give a chance to (and possibly Hellboy). I also bought several Skaar: Son of Hulk recently but have yet to read them.

My list is being whittled down, even if LSH books haven't been ending left, right and center, because I'm expecting a big geographical move this summer (in fact, I'll be getting rid of a lot of comics, late 70s to late 80s DCs (only sporadically thereafter), 80s/90s indies, and Vertigo in particular. PM me any gap lists and I may be able to help out, or keep an eye out for a link to my list, once its compiled).

I prefer trades anyway, and series like Fables and Starman are to me preferable that way. Hoped Scalped becomes one of those collected series. Even old favorites like Sandman, AM's Swamp Thing and others where I have both original issues and Trades, I'm keeping the TPBs and unloading the issues.

I'm probably axing JSA with Johns' departure. I've been getting a bunch of indies that only come out 1ce or 2ce a year if I'm lucky, and they're all getting axed.

1. The Boys and
2. Hellblazer
might be the only books on my list in the near future. I've been following John Constantine/Hellblazer continuously since his 1st appearance, and even have a lot of AR apperances. And it's been decent lately as well.

The Boys is a hoot, a very black humor look at a geopolitical world of superheroes as part of the defence-contractor industrial complex. That it pokes fun at all the major SHs of both Marvel and DC doesn't hurt.

INCREDIBLE HERCULES: an exciting blend of superheroics, Greco-Marvel mythology (surprisingly the Greek part isn't so overshadowed by the Marvel part) and a buddy movie. Sort of like Route 66 on the river Styx. And humor's allowed.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA: Yeah, I know Johns is off the book soon- but I'm still hooked on these characters. I hope there's a lot more personal stuff ahead for them.

KINGBREAKER/WAR OF KINGS: Inhumans, big roles for Crystal and Medusa, Havok and Polaris, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Imperial Guard in one storyline? Written by DNA (the first time a former LSH writer's written the Guard?) I gotta see if this lives up to its potential.

WONDER WOMAN: Teenage talking gorillas. I don't need to type anything else.

TEEN TITANS: This is here due to the future involvement of Kid Eternity. If he ends up as a guest star, or the book sucks anyway, this slot'll go to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY-- or better yet a LADY LIBERATORS series, if Marvel gets some guts and gives that a try.

They don't come out regularly enough to warrant space on the list, but I'd always find moolah for AGE OF BRONZE and A DISTANT SOIL.

My List:

JLA - This is the premiere team book
JSA - Being well-written right now
Flash - My favorite character


Can't think of any other that would constitute a must have.

I don't hit the shops as regularly as I used to so I don't really have a "must have" right away list that doesn't include all things Legion.

Still though...I always get Liberty Meadows in a stack of about five or six issues at a time. LM is one of the very best light reading comics I've read in years and years and Brandy is ULTRA hot.

Any and all Astro City one shots and specials since the (so called) ongoing series seems to have been lost to the time wasting nonsense of "regular work".

JSA for the time being. Whether or not I buy it in the futire is up in the air, we'll see what it's quality is like with the creative team switch but until then I just gotta have it.

Those Annoying Post Brothers by Matt Howarth. I'm a huge Howarth fan since the Bros. appeared in Heavy Metal back in the stone<strike>ed</strike> age. I get all the spin opffs and specials that show up too. He's uber weird and writes excellent sci-fi.

[plug] The Keif Llama - Xenotech series (by the same Matt Howarth) is fantastic! Last year 3 issues plus a new filler story were published as a trade called Particle Dreams and priced at 9.99 it's more than worth it to get it if you can find it anywhere.[/plug]

Hmm..looks like the only thing I buy that isn't in danger of cancellation or intermittent publishing breaks is JSA.

Interesting how much Green Lantern love there is. I haven't read a Green Lantern book since before Hal died. I'm afraid if I started buying it now, it would go bad.

Fables is a must have. I love the way the fairy tale characters are adapted and updated, but often keeping their old fairy tale ethics. Characters I'd forgotten about appear (like Rose Red). Willingham manages to get me interested in characters I thought would be boring, like Boy Blue and Flycatcher. The addition of the Arabian and India-based stories show how much scope Willingham has to continue this series.

Criminal/Incognito I'll put these down as one, since Brubaker is doing Incognito while on taking a break from Criminal. I'm not generally a hard-boiled detective/crime fan, but Brubaker won me with Sleeper - so I tried Criminal. The series has great stories, contained in arcs of several issues, with meaty interviews and essays at the end of each issue. I haven't even read Incognito yet, but since Brubaker describes it as a reverse Sleeper (bad buy pretending to be a good guy), I'm pre-hooked. (I'm surprised you didn't list this one, Lardy.)

Guardians of the Galaxy - space opera, but with small enough a core of characters that I don't get lost, since these are all new to me. Interesting background concepts, lots of strange secondary aliens and probably the best animal characters I've read (outside of a strictly animal book like We3).

Top Ten - I'll take a flyer on this, since I've only read the first issue, but I loved the complexity and easter egginess of the original Top Ten and it looks like it's continuing with this second series.

The last one's a tough call, between Ambush Bug and Umbrella Academy. I'll go with Ambush Bug for the guaranteed cheap laughs.

I approached Fables with an open mind. Watching Fractured Fairy Tales was one of the highlights of my childhood, and reading the un-sanitized Brothers Grimm was one of the highlights of my tweens, so I thought I might like it. I read the first trade and I thought it was pretty good, but it didn't excite me enough to keep going with it.

I think Fables' sister Vertigo title Madame Xanadu (which narrowly missed my Top Five only because I've only read one issue so far) might be the flip-side of Fables. Both are adult-oriented approaches to well-known and well-sanitized folk tales, but where Fables is ironic and irreverent, Madame Xanadu plays it completely straight and, to my taste, works better.

Tough Choices...

Green Lantern/Green Lantern Corps - I consider them to be a single book much like LSH/Legionnaires were. (To me at least)

JSA... For now...

Dynamo Five - If you're not reading this one you should be.

Jack of Fables - Gets beter with each issue

Noble Causes - Think Dallas with Capes

ok....

The Walking Dead - I don't think I can add anything to whats been already said about this one. Excellent read, superb characterization, stellar art.

Fables - Once again a title that seems muched loved here. I like it because its a fanastic story.

GI Joe - Theres actually several Joe titles being released over the next few months. I was a huge fan of GI Joe as a kid (both the toys and comics), and am willing to give this a shot.

Lenore - This one isn't on anything resembling a regular schedule but when it comes out I get it. Very funny, in a twisted kind of way.

Can't really decide on a fifth title.

The Walking Dead

Justice Society of America

The Flash

Ambush Bug - I wish this was an ongoing)

Legion of Three Worlds (Then the new Legion book, whatever the name may be)

THE WALKING DEAD

GAURDIANS OF THE GALAXY

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

SECRET SIX

A fifth must-have? Hmm... AMBUSH BUG only has 2 issues left... or it would make the cut for certain. MARVEL ZOMBIES is a series of miniseries and the current one only has 1 issue left... hmm. I think I'll give the last slot to a quarterly:

FRANKLIN RICHARDS

Ditto. I was a huge Hal fan, until Owsley.

It was tempting to list Incognito instead of Iron Fist or Daredevil, but I went with comics that I've actually had in my hands. Make no mistake, I'm picking up Incognito (out this week, I think?)...but I never annoint anything before I've actually read it as being one of the very best comics!

Yeah, I know it probably will be based on my love for Ed and Sean's work together, but there's no guarantee it'll capture lightning in a bottle like Sleeper did. (Man, I loved Sleeper!)

So I'm sure it'll be awesome, but let me read at least an issue first, 'kay?