Animal Man (was Re: Suggestions?)
Tom Galloway
>This book has been sliding since Morrison left. What is the state of
>Buddy's powers? Can he control them, or can't he? This crap about killing
>all of the animals in the San Diego zoo. What was the point? That Buddy
>can't control his powers? But then he finds he can an issue later!...
>A nonsensicial roller coaster ride with little meaning and lacklustre
>plotting.
Tom Veitch had a letter in CBG last week which pretty much clinched my
decision to drop the book, which I was on the brink of doing anyway due to
the same reasons as Derryl. In the letter, he basically said that Morrison
had only written fluff (but good fluff) in Animal Man, and what he was
trying to do was to write a single 18 issue or so story which didn't have
any well defined substory and would thus be the longest such comic story
ever done. Struck me as pretentious as all get out, and unjustifiably ignorant
to boot; It's rare now that a Cerebus story doesn't go at least 18 issues.
Not to mention that I find both Sim and Morrison (when he's on, as he was
with Animal Man) to be able to write rings around Veitch.
Unlike Sim, Veitch hasn't shown me he can pull together a long story, and
doesn't have a good enough track record for me to trust him to do it when
I don't like the first N parts. With Sim, I'll put up with the occasional
Melmoth (which still had good parts) since I know he can do it. Veitch doesn't
get that luxury.
>\|__|| D|| \\ "I just love deadlines. I enjoy the sound they make \
> \|__|| D | \ as they go flying by." Douglass Adams \
When I heard Adams speak, he said "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing
sound they make as they fly by". The "whooshing" bit really makes it for me.
"What'll it be next? Choice extracts from the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations?
Trotting out the Nietzsche and the Shelley and the Shakespeare to dignify some
old costumed claptrap?" --Grant Morrison
tyg t...@caen.engin.umich.edu
MSH...@psuvm.psu.edu
Swamp Thing....
'Tis only logical, so they probably won't do it.
Rebis
Ted
>MY opinion? Methinks they're turning Buddy into the Animal Elemental, a la
> Swamp Thing....
Vomit.
We definitely need some new ideas in the DC arena. I mean, come on
the revelation that Swamp Thing was an elemental was interesting
because it was a revalation. These days any joker who wants to
randomly power up some spandexed revenue source calls him an
Elemental.
Bleah.
Thank <insert your favorite universal force here> that they never
tried to say that Squiddy was a "Squid Elemental"
>
>Rebis
Ted, the Figment Elemental, signing off.
"I don't sing, I don't dance, and I don't like people who do." -- D. Letterman
--
Ted Faber fa...@loon.cs.wisc.edu
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The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit." -- Maugham
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Neil Asato
>
> Thank <insert your favorite universal force here> that they never
> tried to say that Squiddy was a "Squid Elemental"
Naah... SS is a watery elemental, specifically an ink elemental :) :)
Vincent J. Murphy
Since animals are not elements, I think this is unlikely.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phred Platypus (vjmu...@carina.unm.edu) |
| "Too tired to be witty or original" |
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Jim Cowling
>Tom Veitch had a letter in CBG last week which pretty much clinched my
>decision to drop the book, which I was on the brink of doing anyway due to
>the same reasons as Derryl. In the letter, he basically said that Morrison
>had only written fluff (but good fluff) in Animal Man, and what he was
>trying to do was to write a single 18 issue or so story which didn't have
>any well defined substory and would thus be the longest such comic story
>ever done. Struck me as pretentious as all get out, and unjustifiably ignorant
>to boot; It's rare now that a Cerebus story doesn't go at least 18 issues.
>Not to mention that I find both Sim and Morrison (when he's on, as he was
>with Animal Man) to be able to write rings around Veitch.
>
>Unlike Sim, Veitch hasn't shown me he can pull together a long story, and
>doesn't have a good enough track record for me to trust him to do it when
>I don't like the first N parts. With Sim, I'll put up with the occasional
>Melmoth (which still had good parts) since I know he can do it. Veitch doesn't
>get that luxury.
>
Yes, dammit, yes!
When I saw the letter in CBG, I sat agape, then wrote a response to the editors,
making mention of Sim. Then the latest Animal Man came out. Utter crap. So
I didn't buy it. I've dropped the title also.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Cowling | Aggressive Building Maintenance Company
Creative Writing Department | "You may not like the job we do but just try
University of Victoria | to do something about it."
Victoria, BC, Canada | from _Venereal Welding_ (C. Dewdney)
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Capt. Frank A. Lauro
>In article <91319.074...@psuvm.psu.edu> MSH...@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>>MY opinion? Methinks they're turning Buddy into the Animal Elemental, a la
>> Swamp Thing....
>>
>>'Tis only logical, so they probably won't do it.
>>
> Since animals are not elements, I think this is unlikely.
Can't argue that animals are not elements per se. However, the m-field energy
that Buddy taps is getting the same kind of treatment as air, earth, water,
and fire---Veitch keeps throwing in all these high-powered folks that tell
Buddy that he plays a far more significant role in the universe than he knows.
It seems that Buddy is indeed being "prepped" to become something at least
akin to an elemental---a talisman of life-energy, or something to that effect.
Witness his (weird) manipulation of energy in the "bear hunter" issue:
Buddy was controlling (with help) these red beams of light that seemed to tap
the well of the bears' very lifeforce. That, plus his apparent transformation
into a bear last issue suggests to me yet another "new look" at the true power
of Animal Man.
It just occurred to me that Veitch has been giving Marv Wolfman a run for his
money in the let's-drag-out-a-storyline department. I didn't actually pick
up ANIMAL MAN #42 due to a temporary lack of funds. Maybe I should leave it
at the store altogether.
===========================================================================
Captain Frank A. Lauro fal2...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Commanding Officer University of Illinois
USS ALEXA, NCC 1764-D at Champaign-Urbana
================QUOTE OF THE [INSERT TEMPORAL DESIGNATION]=================
"...And later on "Late Night with David Letterman," comedian Rich Hall
and---and we mean this in the best way---soap opera bitch Susan Lucci."
---NBC program spot, 13 Nov 1991