Look, I’m not saying I’d go gay for Joss Whedon or anything, but I’m not exactly saying I wouldn’t either...

I do believe he stole that quote from me...

I have to agree with him on the comic books are soap operas comment. I checked out on comics back when Marvel ran that whole Peter Parker clone saga thing that totally broke my already thin teenage sanity and never managed to get back into it.

I'll read AXM but only because my buddy has a subscription...

[ edited by sTalking_Goat on 2005-02-04 10:37 ]

sTalking_Goat | February 04, 12:31 CET

Thank god for the TPBs. It definitely cuts up the cost and the soap operaness. Which is why they have TPBs reprinting issues from the 70's. They've pretty much been soap operas since then.

I can't say I really like that site though. Definitely not a place I'll visit more than for this article.

But some of those comments are correct. X-Men is a comic. So is everything in an episodic (issue-by-issue) sense. When they're collected is when they become a graphic novel.

And while we're on the subject: Angel season 3 and 4, hello?

Gouki | February 04, 13:01 CET

sTalking_Goat, i honestly don't know why the whole Clone Saga is so badly thought of. I actually enjoyed it. Poor old Ben Reilly is severely underappreciated! ;)

I haven't been reading AXM if i'm truthful. Despite being a massive fan of Marvel i decided to stop collecting comics a few years ago, mainly for financial reasons (it was costing me well over £100 every month towards the end of my "comicbook habit"), and i know that if i start buying this series it won't be long until i'm hooked again and buying everything Marvel puts out.

I'm already struggling as it is. I accidentily caught a glimpse of some cover art from the new Runaways series featuring a new team called Excelsior. Chamber, Turbo, Ricochet, Darkhawk and Julie Power (not sure if she is still using the Lightspeed codename though). Talk about your 1990's fanboy dream team!!! :)

The cover art is here at ComixFan for anyone who wants a look at a really cool superteam! ;)

Buffysmglover | February 04, 14:26 CET

I’d honestly watch a show about the habitual spin-cycle imbalance of a particularly sullen washing machine if Whedon were involved

The next project for Joss - Sulky the Vampire Washer?

catalyst2 | February 04, 18:08 CET

um. Buffy was a soap opera. So was Angel. In fact, as Jane Espenson said, almost any show running long enough will become a soap opera.

biki | February 05, 08:27 CET

biki, that's demeaning and reductionist. You know damn well it wasn't a "soap opera". It was the finest drama/comedy/action/ - and whatever other category you can think of - ever written.

Don't even.

Willowy | February 05, 08:39 CET

I've just started reading AXM for the same reason as this guy. I like it quite a bit, mostly because of the shared tone with Joss's television shows. (That bit where Colossus throws Wolverine is pretty cool, though, and apparently important for the history of those characters.)
Anyway, has anyone heard when #8 is hitting stores? Seems like they keep pushing the date back.

Biff Turkle | February 05, 08:42 CET

All ongoing storylines become soap operas. X-Men has been around for 40 years (with high and low points) so yeah, some soap opera elements are in there. What bugs me though, is that this guy, although honest and quite right in his 'geekdom-ladder' points, talks about comics as if they are a GENRE. They're not. They're a MEDIUM. And you can find all kinds of genres in there. This is like saying you once watched 'general hospital' and therefore all TV ever made must be crap like that. Or that you once saw 'Ishtar' and know therefore that 'The Shawshank Redemption' can only be nonsense too.

Hardly the first time someone makes that mistake in this topic but it never gets old in terms of bugging the %$(@# out of me.

And really, for a non-Buffy watcher, some S7 episodes would be as confusing as these comics were to him. If you're not familiar with 7 years of Buffy/Angel backstory, you're gonna be a little confused too. But in watching Buffy it's suddenly not an obstacle for him at all.

Also his remark about not really having a lot to say about the art because he's 'in it for the words' rings a little false. If that were true, he'd just read novels. He shouldn't be interested in the visuals, the direction, or the choice of actors in a TV show then either.

And another thing: Every graphic novel is some form of comic, but not every comic is a graphic novel. (And two pamphlet issues certainly aren't one).

EdDantes | February 05, 11:01 CET

EdDantes - And what exactly was wrong with Ishtar, my favourite movie? Just kidding because I could write all night about what was wrong with Ishtar (1.script, 2.casting ........ 373.Isabelle Adjani etc). I was also doubly traumatised by this movie beause I was flying from X to Y (can't even remember where now) and was a looooong flight because they showed Ishtar THREE times on the flight - talk about nowhere to run!

I too have only just begun to discover this medium (well, rediscover technically , because I did read The Dandy and The Beano in the sixties!) and only because of Joss and Fray. Currently trying to make my way through the X-men morass and, I have to say, other than AXM, nothing has quite struck a chord yet.

catalyst2 | February 05, 18:23 CET