Let's Read Heroes Never End (LR: WildStorm)

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[oldmanpaco]

So he just lets them leave? Doesn't seem in character.

Also i am very disappointed that the fertile Kherans were not fertilized.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I assure you, there will be very much fertilization of fertile Kherans to come.

 

[oldmanpaco]

How many WS comics are you posting?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well, my intention is to stop once I've covered World's End, which will have at least WildCATs and The Authority series (possibly StormWatch, due to a degree of capefaggotry carrying over). I can also post this stuff on good conscience, because even though most WS universe comics were already a bitch to get due to DC assraping the imprint for several years, the World's End comics are *never* going to be collected following the initial albums they got out, since it'll probably take some 20 years or so before DC decides to "go retro" with the IP.

EDIT: Actually, the only stuff you can probably acquire with relative ease from now on will be the massively critically succesful series like Planetary or Sleeper.

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

I'm sorry, but that was just retarded.

I actually liked The Authority with all of its inane characters and deus ex machina, but I just lost it with the robot chick and her disciples. Just from what I have seen of her character, she makes Hawksmoor look interesting out and complex.

Thanks for posting though. I have enjoyed it overall.

 

[Sceptic]

Sceptic can rejoice for the next issue is one devoted entirely on Ladytron getting pissed off about whiny fleshbags and their drama and goes out to find some robots.

That issue was hilarious. I'm starting to like Ladytron.

Also, other issue has cemented my liking of Zealot. She might be a bitch, but she's a cool bitch.

Majestros's complete immunity to EVERYTHING is starting to annoy me, I have to say. I'm also surprised it took everyone else so long to realize he's completely batshit crazy.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Actually, they were convinced he was batshit insane from the start, but got to the point where they were starting to be willing to cut him some slack, and now got reminded of the batshit insanity again.

 

[Brother None]

Mr Majestic is kind of badly set up as a villain. He just seems like a harsh guy, but the kind of guy you need after the apocalypse. He created paradise, saved countless people. The worst thing he did was incest? Eh. They keep calling him insane but there is no evidence of insanity, he's just very pragmatic. And then they essentially betray him. How exactly are these idiots the heroes, instead of Majestic?

Rooted for him the entire arc.

Zealot similarly isn't so much bitchy as just a practical person.

btw, between Majestic, the High and Apollo, how many faux-Superman-ripoffs does this setting need? I'm not a big fan of overpowered superheroes anyway, they often have to really stretch the plot to get them out of the way, as they often did for Jenny and the Doc.

PPS: the robot chick is fucking annoying

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I for one thing Majestic went too far on many occasions here, and that he was out of touch with his humane ethics. And of course, he didn't do nearly as much as he could do because of obsessing over a single place and idea.

Anyway, uploading the next arc.


PS: There's also the StormWatch series for World's End that contains some stuff that will prove essential when almost everyone is fused into the WildCATs series and The Authority series (basically, due to DC WildStorm reached the apex of wtfisthisshit because at that point their own main universe had two running titles, and even when counting all their limited series cheap video game license comics were the vast majority of their publications). But anyway, some important stuff starts in Finland in StormWatch that is resolved when all heroes who stay on Earth are rolled into WildCATs. Post this stuff too? If so, I might need help finding the series.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[oldmanpaco]

He downloaded the creation code from the internet? Really?

BTW this is how all villains should roll:

And maybe some good guys too.

 

[Ulminati]

Feeling slightly nauseated now. They really went full retard in this one, didn't they?

 

[Brother None]

They dr Philled him to death? Well, that's pretty goddamn stupid. Especially when he relinquishes most of his powers for no reason

I for one thing Majestic went too far on many occasions here, and that he was out of touch with his humane ethics. And of course, he didn't do nearly as much as he could do because of obsessing over a single place and idea.

What a load. He did exactly what Max Faraday did: save who he could according to his own personal biases, use his powers to give people the best lives possible but essentially trap them. But he's the bad guy and Max is not? Nonsense.

Sure, now we know he was, uh, evil-whispered up, but his actions didn't show that. What did he actually do that was bad, except for the creepy stuff with his daughter?

That's just bad writing. When people have to *say* "he's insane" and "he's under the influence", but nothing in his actions actually shows he's evil.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well, personally I didn't like this TAO arc either, since it's a major departure from TAO's modus operandi. He's never engaged any of WildStorm's heroes directly, or drawn attention to himself, but rather just worked in the shadows, played people against each other and kept a low profile. The thing is, in a fight he's nothing more than a human with extensive martial arts knowledge, what made him dangerous was it takes him less than an hour to hack the I.O. network from a library computer, and talking (he can reprogram people by having a conversation with them, or put them in a coma).

See, when Alan Moore revealed he was a badguy, when Fuji cornered him to arrest him, TAO instead said "let us reason together." A conversation later, Fuji was catatonic. He also set up his escape in a way he didn't encounter anyone else after Maxine, and only left a decoy to throw people off.

Later on, when Ed Brubaker decided to write a comic focused around the organization TAO had built up during the years away from the spotlight, Sleeper, he had TAO operate in a fashion that he'd draw no heat from people like The Authority (due to knowing that even Apollo or Midnighter alone would demolish his whole set-up). Instead, he operated Illuminati-style and just nudged and whispered around, and made use of super-powered goons only few of which ever even saw him or knew anything important. Anyway, I warmly recommend Sleeper, it's a great double agent thriller (the set-up is that Lynch sent his protege Holden Carver to "go rogue" without telling anyone except the two of them, so TAO's crew would recruit him. Well, happens to be that TAO manipulates Grifter into shooting Lynch in the head and leaving him in a coma, so Holden is now really rogue to everyone's knowledge and is trapped in a supervillain organization).

EDIT: Oh yea, it also bears mention that Alan Moore's story's last twist was that Majestic hadn't killed TAO, but a shapeshifter decoy named Mister White he had "reasoned with" earlier. The only one who knew TAO was alive was Savant, who he had sent a letter and knew was too much in his thrall to tell Majestic about him being alive. Since he knew that being an old breed superhero with unimaginable power and intellect, Majestic WOULD find him and WOULD kill him without him even being able to react for what he did to Savant, Fuji and Maxine.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

An interesting thing about Alan Moore is that he spent the entire 90's and early 00's trying "redeem" his impact on superhero comics (as you know, he thought he was personally responsible for grim n gritty 90's comics due to Watchmen, Miracleman, Swamp Thing and so on). His run on the WildCATs was a lot of fun to read and I do recommend getting it, it's all collected in one big book nowadays (originally WildCATs: Homecoming and WildCATs: Gang War). Incidentally, it's what got me interested in WildStorm, alongside The Authority.

Here's my personal favourite, from the last issue of his run, where TAO has previously disconnected Maxine's coolant system after distracting her by bringing up the fact her father sexually abused her as a child (which she never told anyone about, TAO just deduced it from her behaviour). Anyway, the scene is great because in it Moore presents a perspective in which an Xtreme 90's superhero would see an old school hero ("You gotta do something SUPER and save me!" and the whole dad thing).

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Bump.

 

[Sceptic]

OK the TAO arc was completely retarded

I'm also reminded he was responsible for the events that led to The Authority's coup. Yet later on in that arc it turns out it was all Bendix's plan all along. Plot hole much?

AO instead said "let us reason together." A conversation later, Fuji was catatonic.

OK, this is retarded even for a superhero comic.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

The only power he has is to manipulate people in any way he wants by talking to them. I don't see how it's retarded that he couldn't use it to utterly break down Fuji's sense of self and leave him a babbling wreck when given the chance to reason with him (at that point no one even thought he had powers, just that he was really really smart).

Also, the Authority's coup wasn't Bendix's plan, he just orchestrated their downfall. TAO just wanted to cause global chaos and draw possible attention away from him.