5/14/16

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of ROM The Space Knight #0:

ROM's "mitten-hands" were a defining aesthetic characteristic.
Taking those away is like giving Spider-Man organic web-shooters, or giving Iron Man a nose, or Optimus Prime some sweet (re: lame) flame decals, Wolverine some retcon'd bone claws, Captain America a non-round shield  
(I know- his original shield was not round; but round is his iconic one. All those who chose to oppose his shield must yield!)...
I can go on: It's like taking away Superman's trunks, or Wonder Woman's origin story, or casting Keanu Reeves as John Constantine- it's just a bad decision. And in my opinion- no real fan of the character would ever even dream of doing something like that.
And no, this is not me being nitpicky either- they can make ROM as sleek, and skinny, and non-boxy, and Evangelion-looking as they want- whatever- it's a reboot: I understand that.  But when I saw the first picture of the redesign on the cover to issue #0 and it had fingers?: That was a HUGE red-flag for me.
"They're not going to get this character." -I thought.  And after reading issue zero it looks like I was right to worry.  -Because they do not.
And they should be embarrassed to call themselves fans. -Not because they gave him fingers... you're missing the bigger picture if you think that's all that's wrong here. But the fingers are a symptom of a much larger illness.
You know when you're not sick yet- but you can feel a cold coming on? That's what the fingers were for me. -I was hoping I wasn't going to be sick; but I just knew it was coming- and none of the IDW medicine they were Tweeting-out could stave it off.

So, let's go over The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of IDW's Free Comic Book Day offering:

ROM The Space Knight #0

Firstly: I'm not a negative person. And I fucking love comics- I've been reading them on a weekly basis since I was old enough to read- and I'm 36 now! So we'll kick things off with...

The Good:


1.)  It is the year 2016 and I am holding a brand-spanking new ROM: Spaceknight comic in my hands!
 Let's not balk at that- just because it might not be what we wanted exactly. It's still a NEW ROM COMIC!  
Holy shit!!!
I never thought I'd see the day- just the fact that it exists is fucking amazing! I figured Marvel would hold on to, and do nothing with, the character for the rest of my natural life. So this comic's very existence is a positive in my book!


2.)  The weapons. I love the weapon redesigns! Of course non-boxy Neon Genesis-ROM can't have a giant box for a weapon. That would just look silly.  

Boom!:


-The Neutralizer.


BOOM!:
 

-The Energy Analyzer!

I like it the most: That. Looks. AWESOME! Two big red eyes/censors on the back of his hands! -The pose he makes... it's fantastic looking! That was a really cool moment for me (that was quickly ruined- see way further down below).

2.5)  I also liked when the facade of the Dire Wraith's was fading- and you could see their rifles were really these weird bio-mechanical guns... It's a nice little touch I wish there was more of:



3.)  I'm going to put this panel in the positives, even though I did not like the overall design of the "Wraith Hawk"- I liked the gross, moving, pulsating, organic feel to it in this single panel. Reminded me of the Lexx ship from the science-fiction show of the same name...
Again, more of this- less of just about everything else:



4.) I'm really reaching for nice things to say... in an attempt to be as fair as possible. The over-all redesign (although I'm not a big fan) CAN look pretty damn awesome with a better artist at the helm, as this ad for issue #1 in the back of the book proves:


-That looks fucking amazing! Why couldn't he look like this on the inside of the book?!?
In fact; just about EVERY variant cover I have seen has a better looking ROM on it then we get here, or are going to get in issue #1, (still) by David Messina.



The Bad:

Now, one thing I am NOT going to do is pull up images from the original Marvel run and compare them to this- because that would not be fair to this AT ALL.   It will stand or fall on it's own merits.

1.)  That being said: anyone else notice the writing on this is...... not so great?

ROM's dialogue is horribly groan-worthy and jarring...




The writing's not consistent with it's own continuity either- look at the text block preamble here:


-Okay, that's perfect! Right?
So why is it that the Dire Wraiths are not only not scared of ROM at all when they see him; but act like his order is the one that has already been defeated, and not theirs?



-They show no fear, no hesitation- they attack him head on!  Like he's not a big deal at all- and certainly not the one who "alone could wipe them off the face of creation."
There's not one line of  'Oh, no! It's HIM!' or 'What are we going to do?' or a scene of one Wraith who maybe panics and tries to run away... Nothing. They basically just say 'fuck you, ROM!' and rush him like he's the last guy they need to take out to win the war!


-Where was ANY of that in the book itself?   I know it was only 13 pages- but come on.
That's  some inconsistent storytelling.
That's like if the preamble block of text in a current Spider-Man comic talked about him being married to Mary Jane. Is it so hard to pay attention to what's happening in your own story???
It just makes it more obvious there are two separate writers (Christos Gage and Chris Ryall) and one came up with the over-all story bible, and the other is writing the individual issues- but they are not communicating well, or at all.


2.)  Shouldn't the Analyzer expose the Dire Wraiths in their true forms?  -Especially in ROM's own damn point-of-view shot???

"It is him." is just a factual statement- there is no fear or worry behind it: so point #1 still stands.

 Ohhhh... this different color circle means they are Dire Wraiths... that's... that's...... lazy art.


3.)  So... How big, exactly, is the re-ROM? In the first shot of him- he seems towering! As he should be! ROM always seemed to be a good seven or eight feet tall in the original books. And he was built like a tank. A fucking war-machine.
But there is only one, ONE, panel in this entire book that shows ROM in proportional frame with an average human... and he's in a weird hunched over position:


Why? Again, a bad (or lazy) decision by the artist- here was your ONE CHANCE to show his relative height. "-Behind me human!" -as the massive alien knight stands in front of the indigenous life-from to shield him from harm! What an impressive shot that could have been!
But no... he looks feeble instead.
The only other shot where people (Wraiths in disguise) are in frame with ROM makes him look like he's just slightly taller than an average male. -From a story-telling perspective: If ROM was shown to have a good two and a half foot height differential on the cops/soldiers/Wraiths in disguise- then when you saw the first Wraith(Wolf) attack ROM and it was hulking over him; it sure would have been a lot more impressive.
It's like Mr. Plinkett says "You may not have noticed it… but your brain did."



The Ugly:

1.)  What's with the altered striations on the back of ROM's head? I know I used this panel in The Good segment- but this part of ROM's re-design is just ugly...


That panel takes place after ROM in knocked back by Earth's "crude weapons."  So my initial reaction to it was: "Holy shit, he got all dented up when he fell back on his head" but no, no... that's not battle-damage; just bad art on a weird design choice. Usually you can't see it- but look:


 -The art here makes it look like a brain.

And this?:


That just looks awful. The entire panel is terrible- but his head looks especially bad.

I think they are going for the face-plate being able to be lifted up- like on an actual knight's helmet? Like it would hinge at the ear... But that makes no sense.

I miss the toaster-head. I know it technically had them too- but not like this.

...not like this.


2.) The Wraith Hawk is our first look at a brand new Dire Wraith design... and it is terrible:


It looks like what you'd get if you told a little kid to draw a monster with his crayons- and then you took what he drew and applied whatever artistic skill you had to make it look slightly better...

I know there will be other designs for different Wraiths- but they lead with this one?
-That does not inspire confidence.


3.)  This art, in general, is just not good art. It's stiff, not fluid or conducive to storytelling- I often could not tell what was going on, or where people were in relation to one-another.
ROM was drawn first by the amazing Sal Buscema, then later on by (how you may feel about his current work notwithstanding) The Legend: Steve Ditko. So you WOULD THINK IDW would try and pull a top-name artist to do the book, or a fantastic new up-and-comer. Someone's art you would look at and go: "WOW! This is continuing the legacy!"  Especially for the first, and free, issue that's being used to promote the ongoing book! They should have went ALL OUT.  -This is ROM's return to comics! It's a celebration!  Right?

This... this is not "all out." This is generic, middle of the road, standard indy-title fare.

Some people are comparing this comic's art to the art in the much maligned Spaceknights mini-series Marvel put out in 2000, but...
...no, just no. Like that series or not- and the art may suffer from the same kind of stiffness; but it's award-winning compared to this. I would MUCH rather have that artist on this book. -I mean, if the DeviantArt-anime-style is the look they were going for anyways for this reboot- Chris Batista did it better:




The comic ends with a display of some armor variations- because I guess it can morph to be adaptable to different situations, which is a cool idea...


...but honestly; the differences are negligible to the point of "why bother..."
And it's yet another failed opportunity- to have his most armored form resemble his classic design. Seems like that would be a no-brainer.


3.)  The cash-grab.

*sigh*

12 variant covers (and counting) to books ROM has nothing to do with. -And you couldn't even put out a decent "first" issue? This is pathetic.
And ROM The Space Knight #1 is going to have 12+ variant covers as well. IDW seems more concerned with banking off of legacy and nostalgia then they are at putting out a decent product. And that is both obvious, and sad.
If they would have put half the energy into the writing and art that they did with Tweeting shit about it- this could have been a pretty great book.



In conclusion: The entire thing seems like it was slap-dashed together over a weekend.
I'm getting NO sense of love or care going into this- despite their MANY Tweets to the contrary...
I will check out issue one- in spite of issue zero, not because of it- in that regard they failed big.
But I want to see what a full issue will look like. This was just 13 pages. -And it feels last-minute and rushed as fuck. I'll read a full issue- but chances are it will be more of the same... And that's SUCH a shame.

Shame.


SHAME!



SHAME!!



SHAME!!!



SHAME!!!!!!



SHAME!!!!!!




SHAME!!!!!!




SHAME!!!!!!

40 comments:

  1. Sweet, you did a full review of ROM #0! And articulated a number of things that I felt about it as well. In particular what you said about the mitten-hands, exactly how I wanted to say it but couldn't. You pointed out the weird crown of the helmet in the Analyzer-eyes panel...my first thought about it was "a dollop of whipped cream is great on a milkshake...not ROM's head!"

    Your review seems to be the most extensive/well-thought-out one I've come across; there's a site that is supposed to aggregate online reviews (http://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/idw-publishing/rom-%28fcbd-2016%29) but I also found these (1 is in French!) {Some guy named Shlomo something-or-other gave a few of them a piece of his mind in their comments sections}:

    http://www.sidekickcast.com/fcbd-rom-0-idw-review/

    http://www.firebreathingonion.com/home/fcbd-rom-0-review

    http://dangermart.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/fcbd-rom-0-review.html

    http://www.weirdsciencedccomics.com/2016/05/rom-0-free-comic-book-day-review.html

    http://www.floridageekscene.com/review/rom-0-fcbd-edition/

    http://www.comicbox.com/index.php/news/avant-premiere-vo-review-rom-0/

    TRANSLATED (as good as google translate can do anyway) - https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbox.com%2Findex.php%2Fnews%2Favant-premiere-vo-review-rom-0%2F&edit-text=&act=url

    There were also a few podcasts that talked about FCBD but I didn't keep links to them because they were very brief or bland in their mentions of ROM #0.

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    1. "A dollop of whipped cream is great on a milkshake..." -That is going to have me laughing all night. Oh, man...
      Yeah, the top/back of his head- easily the worst part of the redesign- but it's weird how sometimes it does not show up when it should, perspective wise- but then it does and it's like: NO! Bad! -You stop that ROM! NO!!!
      Again- I think it's just the artist. Others working from the same design seem to be doing much better with it.

      Thanks for stopping by! Thanks for commenting. And thanks for those links... I will check them all out. For sure.

      I think I've heard of this Shlomo guy... he's alright.

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    2. Wow... those "reviews" are fellating the HELL out of this book. Only one of them even dared to say anything negative. 5 out of 5?
      8.5 out of 10? -Come on!
      It's a 2.5 out of 5, 4 out of 10 at best. This was not a good offering, even if you are unfamiliar with the character and are coming in fresh- this was just not that well written and illustrated of a book. Let's be honest here.
      It had a few good ideas, and a nice panel or two... But if you had to pay money for this; it would not be worth it!

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    3. thanks for those extra links i enjoyed leaving more obnoxious comments about that crappy zero issue. especially the one i left for the french. you didn't reply to my email i take it you knew about the ROM mention in the dazzler issue?

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    4. Erm look again, I did reply within like a half hour, uncharacteristically. It was heavy with a lot of image attachments so might've gotten borked.

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    5. And I don't see your reply on either of the French blogs, so the internet is at it again I guess. ;-)

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    6. "I enjoyed leaving more obnoxious comments about that crappy zero issue." Oh, Shlomo... -Never change.

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  2. Just tracked down a few more, another mixed bag:

    http://blog.tfaw.com/2016/05/02/new-comic-book-day-review-of-rom-0/

    http://www.examiner.com/review/separate-the-wheat-from-the-chaff-for-free-comic-book-day-2016

    http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2016/05/triple-shot-free-comic-book-day-2016.html

    https://comicspectrum.wordpress.com/2016/05/06/fcbd-2016-gold-books/

    http://section244.blogspot.com/2016/05/free-comic-book-day-2016-roundup.html

    ANOTHER FRENCH ONE - http://fun-en-bulle-castbd.blogspot.com/2016/05/evenement-free-comic-book-day-2016.html

    TRANSLATED - https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Ffun-en-bulle-castbd.blogspot.com%2F2016%2F05%2Fevenement-free-comic-book-day-2016.html&edit-text=&act=url

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    1. Those French really love their Spaceknight!

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    2. The one guy said something I like- he said he had no interest in "Ultimate ROM." And I can agree with the comparison!
      Spider-Man was/is/will always be my favorite character- since I was a kid in feety-pajamas, with a bowl of Captain Crunch, in front of a fat TV, watching Amazing Friends... But I despised EVERYTHING about Ultimate Spider-Man.

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    3. Oui, ROM was big in France, an integral part of their comics history thanks to his stories being translated into an anthology series called "Strange". Their kid-friendly publisher Lug would often edit out some of the scarier violence, and stopped altogether with ROM #46 before the Wraith Witches kicked it up a notch. What's really cool to me is Lug produced a LOT of exclusive-to-France art like painted covers & collectible inserts inside comics like fold-out posters, word puzzles, & board games (you gotta see ROM Vs. Dr. Doom or Fatalis as he's known en francais).

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    4. Well, damn... ya learn something new every day!
      -That's pretty cool.

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  3. first of every comic book fan boy from every corner of the globe loved Civil War but you just had to be "that guy" huh? don't even want to get into all that beyond my opening comment so let's move on to ROM...or RINO as it were. you did so much more of a detailed analysis of this issue then i ever could have. to me there was so much about it that was awful that i didn't even care to delve into it that deep because quite frankly the more obvious stuff was so shitty there was no point in getting into the more nuance stuff about it that sucked. on top of everything else ROM looks like he's got a mullet in some of those panels.
    the more i think about it the more i hate IDW with their misleading cover art so often giving the reader a very false impression about how things are suppose to look like on the inside. i noticed the same problem with The Micronauts. it all gets even more annoying when you start getting into all these stupid variants. it truly feels like a cheap marketing gimmick. and you're right disappointed fans should send the kind of message a company will respond to which is dwindling sales as opposed to angry letters. but i fear it'll be like the star wars pre-quels where fan boys will keep buying it just because the brand regardless of the quality.
    the rounder head and fingers were all things i could have gotten used to i never had a huge issue with that shit. notice how ROM actually doesn't look bad in that full page ad? it's because like my sketch he doesn't look all that much different from the original but at the same time there are some obvious updates to the design. so why the fuck couldn't IDW make him look like that on the inside? i do however hate his new neutralizer and analyzer i would have much preferred updated designs that still resembled the originals. fuck marvel fro all their shitty ROM related continuity and bullshit responses like that latest one from the Venom letter column. Fuck DC for their shitty reboot which fucked up The Suicide Squad and now fuck IDW for fucking up the greatest of the spaceknights. unlike you K.o.T i think the cinematic universe for DC and Marvel have a lot to look forward to but fuck all their comics that shit might as well be printed on toilet paper. actually i take that back it as actually worth buying sometimes if you find it in a quarter comics box.

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    1. Hahaha! What can I say? -Civil War just wasn't made for me. Most of these Marvel movies aren't anymore. Not to say it was a bad film, I suppose- I just did not enjoy it... I liked roughly 1/5th of it: From when the Queens title-card popped up to when Iron Man said "You're done, go home."
      -It's like he was talking directly to me- 'This is the only portion of the movie you won't find horribly boring, the only portion that even resembles an actual comic-book. Time for you to leave now!'
      I don't give a fuck if "everyone else on the globe" loved it- I did not. -That's all that matters to me. I'll just stick to my comics. And the odd Ant Man, or Guardians of The Galaxy flick. -Besides the very first Iron Man and Cap movies- those are the only other two I ever really liked anyhow. The first Avengers was okay... Nothing that great beyond it's gimmick of bringing the characters together. And it was not that big of a deal to me anyways because it happens in comics ALL THE TIME.

      ANYWAYS!:

      RINO? ROM is a Republican In Name Only??? I never knew...
      Well- at least we can agree that this ROM is not for either of us! Man, these other online reviews are sucking this things dick, though!!! So now we're both "that guy." Hahaha!
      "To me there was so much about it that was awful that I didn't even care to delve into it that deep because, quite frankly, the more obvious stuff was so shitty there was no point in getting into the more nuanced stuff about it that sucked." -is EXACTLY how I felt about Civil War. I started to write a blog about it after I saw it on opening day... but I decided against it. Could not bring myself to care enough to argue with anyone. -You can have it... I enjoy the good comics out there.

      But, yeah- IDW is pulling a horribly cheap marketing gimmick... It's sad. But you're right- EVERYTHING has its fan-boys who will latch-on no matter what. At least I won't buy issue #1. I'll torrent it out of curiosity. Beyond that my interest has already weaned.

      Yeah- that ad on the inside was amazing looking! Where is THAT guy in the comic??? I mean- the writing is still pretty bad, but... fuck...

      Nawww- DC and Marvel are still putting out some amazing books. Sure some suck- but that has ALWAYS been the case- for as long as I can remember. Not everything is for everyone. Some titles work, some don't. I've had some favorites get canceled, and then rebooted as total shit. I've seen stuff I hated go on and be popular as fuck for some reason. Whatever. Such is the way of things. That does not make ALL of titles suck just because some are crap.
      I quit reading Venom *cough* "Spaceknight" after issue #2 when I realized it was fucking retarded. That does not make The Vision series any less awesome.

      To each their own.

      The Suicide Squad movie looks pretty fun. Killer Croc is kind of small looking... And I don't care for Will Smith playing Deadshot because it means he'll hardly ever have his awesome-looking mask on. Joker... well, we'll see how that pans out.

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    2. Okay- now I'm laughing at the idea of ROM with a mullet! He's the new Captain Atom!!!

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    3. well you don't like the comic cinematic stuff but still like the published stuff and me vice versa, but at least we can both agree on the IDW ROM sucking goat balls. one of the ROM fan pages on farcebook has some of the most pathetic IDW ass sucking clowns out their comments are actually quite nauseating to read. by the way Gary wants your email address i guess he wants to send you something.

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    4. ....also man you were right about FCBD sucking it's no wonder i haven't bothered to go to it for years the free shit is mostly . . .shit. DC was even offering a reprint of Suicide Squad #1. WTF? couldn't they have offered something new for FCBD?

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    5. Do you still have my email? -If so, you can give it to him for me.
      Hey- be both thought Deadpool was great!
      What do you think about the new X-flick? I've enjoyed the last couple X-Men movies, but Apocalypse looks right shit. I don't know if I'll enjoy this one- even though is has Psylocke in it!

      I saw that DC did that- they have really fallen a long way down from their former glory-days... A majority of their comics are really bad still, I probably only read four or five titles? And DC used to be MY BRAND! I used to enjoy almost every single title they put out back pre-Nu52.

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  4. King, I told Shlomo that I'd email you guys the French ROM Vs. Dr. Doom board game but I couldn't find your address. If you want, you can message me a@rom@curator@gmail.com but replace the first 2 @ symbols with periods. ;-)

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  5. I miss the mitten hands. Thanks for this review.

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    1. Right? Every time I see a detailed shot of the fingers (and I think they threw in extra shots just to troll fans...) I involuntarily whence. But those awful head-shot's make me wanna puke!

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  6. This review was the most detailed I have ever read and summed up everything that bothers me about this book. I too felt the same way but could not articulate it is well as you did.

    From ROM's design to his size, he just came off weak and ineffectual. This is inconsistent with him being the Greatest of the Spaceknights!

    I found the storytelling and art flat and uninspiring. You are right, they should have went all out, after all, this is the return of a much loved character that hasn't seen print in 30 years!

    Cash-grab. I think you are right. They put way too much energy into the vaiants, hoping us old schoolers will goble them up. Instead of appealing to us with a well thought out story and high quality art. It is odd that they said that they could not be stuck in the past, but are relying on that same nestalgia to hook us in this way.

    The disappointment for many of us cuts deep because we had high hopes for our favorite comic book character.

    But as it is, to wait and hope for so long-for this?!?

    Thank you for this review. Thank you for your raw honesty.

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    1. Glad I'm not alone. So many of the reviews on this thing go out out their way to praise every single aspect of it. (I only found this out AFTER I posted this blog) And honestly, it kinda makes me hate it even more.

      And you have expanded even more on my points!
      No, thank you for stopping by, reading, and commenting!!!
      You might have to change your name to 'ROM's exFriend.' -Hahaha!

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    2. especially on farcebook. there's this ROM fan page and it's so typical why i hate farcebook it's all this IDW ass sucking non-stop. it's really nauseating.

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    3. I noticed This too. I cannot fathom how people are fawning all over that book. Just wow.

      I think it is cognitive dissonance. Having waited for so long and anticipated so much, only to get this. It was/is just too much,so they praise it because it has ROM in it. I think they fear that it would be canceled before it even got off the ground if they were honest about how crappy it was/is.

      The writer claims he is an avid fan of ROM. You would think he would know ROM the CHARACTER through and through, but the story does not indicate this at all, from the way ROM looks to the way he acts and speaks. I know this is a reboot, but we should still be able to recognize our favorite comic book character at first glance.

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    4. Well put especially in that last sentence. As for the cognitive dissonance matter we saw the same thing with the Star Wars pre-quels it took many fans years to come to terms with how much they sucked especially the phantom menace.

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    5. Ha! I walked out of the theater opening day at The Phantom Menace... I was disillusioned. I looked at another (obvious) Star Wars fan; I did not even know- who looked confused as well- and asked: "Dude, did that just... suck?"
      He looked at me, shook his head, and said: "I think it did... Because I fucking hated it!"
      "ME TOO!" -I said with relief.

      Also- I never got a Facebook account. I always knew it was lame.

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    6. "Cognitive dissonance" ='s nail-on-the-HEAD.

      The writing was not good. I would honestly be okay with the art if the writing hit it out of the park. Because to me; writing is/was always more important than art in comics... But when the writing fails- the art becomes the main focus. -And that was NOT good for this book.

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  7. You nailed all of what I thought was WRONG with issue zero. That head...that head in the last page wtf is he wearing a beanie? God that was just awful. The wraith hawk another wtf. I saw civil war the day after new ROM day. Like ROM it was almost as underwhelming. Very boring for the most part. I did like seeing Zemo but why no mask?

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    1. Looks like that weekend was a complete wash out for you Joseph. We'll certainly hope you were able to sleep in at least.

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    2. I'll go one further, Joseph: Why even make that Baron Zemo?
      There was ZERO reason.
      He could have been called Joe Smith- his arc would be EXACTLY the same. He has nothing in common with his comic counterpart, but the name... Do they think they are throwing us comic-fans a bone when they do shit like that? Like we'll be SO happy we recognize something we won't get mad when it's completely mishandled???
      How about Crossbones for all of, what? -Six minutes of actual screen-time?
      These Marvel movies SUCK at setting up villains!
      Zemo was probably one of the most interesting ones they've had and it's completely off-set by the fact that he's called Zemo!
      Other them him- the villains are either: "I'm an evil business man- and because of greed- I want your shit!" (The first Iron-Man and Ant-Man basically have THE EXACT same bad-guy.) or "I want to take over/destroy the world because: EVIL... and my plan is horribly convoluted." (I'm still trying to figure out whose plan was more retarded- Malekith's or Ultron's?)
      People always cite Loki (mostly just because they think the actor is hot), but he kinda sucked too- if THAT'S your golden example of a good villain... ufffff. Zemo's plan even had similarities to Loki's in Avengers. These are all just the same fucking movie!
      I remember back when Avengers was FIRST announced- I was like: Oh shit! They're bringing together all the heroes from their own movies- so the threat that brings them together MUST be: Loki from Thor, Red Skull- back from The Cosmic Cube somehow- from Captain America, Leader- because they set him up in Hulk, and Mandarin because they had clues to The 10 Rings in the 2 Iron-Man films... But NO- It's JUST Loki. Again. But this time he has a faceless CGI army! ANOTHER problem these movies have... Army of aliens, army of robots, army of Extermis-people vs. and army of suits... army of Hydra, army of dark elfs... That's part of what makes these so boring to me- you never care about who they are fighting! Nameless, faceless, often CGI, EXCUSES for an over-blown battle scene.
      The best part of Civil War was the airport battle! Why? Because we gave a fuck about who they were fighting! -It's not rocket science! -DEVELOP BETTER CINEMATIC VILLAINS! UGH!

      ...okay rant over.

      And thanks for stopping by Joseph. Yes, beanie-ROM. He's a TOTAL Bro, dude!

      Delete
    3. Quite right he was mishandled. I was also pissed off about no follow up on Leader and how they handled the rings and the Mandarin. All bullshit . Marvel movies seem to be getting worse not better they more they make or reboot.

      Delete
    4. They call it "Marvel-fatigue" and it IS real.

      http://whatculture.com/film/10-reasons-youre-getting-tired-of-marvel-movies

      It's a shit site... but the points it makes are correct.

      Delete
  8. Thank you for the thoughtful review. Regarding the mitten hands, toaster head and ROM's general rectilinear form, if I were doing the redesign, I have to admit that I would be really tempted to get rid of those things as well. Especially if I were doing a redesign for film, like a ROM cameo in the next GotG movie. There's a real artistic temptation to emphasis plausible industrial design and combat functionality, and that often goes directly against the, frankly, campy things that die hard ROM fans have nostalgia for. Fingers would obviously be superior to mittens for dexterity. This is a character that's genesis is a clunky-looking plastic toy. He probably had mitten hands because it was easier to manufacture and less likely to break when a kid played with it. Why shackle redesigns to a toy manufacturing limitation from 30 years ago? I'm asking in earnest. I really want to hear your perspective on this.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Since issue 1 to 3 has dropped, I would like to see your review
    on those.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Since issue 1 to 3 has dropped, I would like to see your review
    on those.

    ReplyDelete
  11. https://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-mystery-of-w77-trucks.html?showComment=1550324403336#c5933894240058448142

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
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