Prophecy #3

[Guest]

Been to the comic shop yesterday, am in comment mode
Ehm, Prophecy is still in the Exposition phase, right? More interaction, dudes, more interaction!
And I don't mean the "SOCK! KAPOW! Oops, you're actually an ally" type
At the moment it looks a bit like someone directly copypasted from the big Eerie crossover of good old Warren times. Which is no bad thing, quite the contrary , but as I said: interaction.

[brickbutler]

Are the prophesy books good, in your opinion? Most crossover comics suck! Just recently, witchblade and my old favorite Ta-tas McGee (red sonja) had a team-up mini series. The art was good, but the story was not.
So how would you rate Prophesy?

[positronic]

the big Eerie crossover of good old Warren times.

Please elaborate.

[rlvaugh]

Prophecy is 'meh' so far. The only good cross-over I have ever seen was the giant (and I mean GIANT) Superman vs Spiderman from around 1978, and I probably only think that was good because I was a kid at the time. I would now consider a crossover "good" if only the protagonists didn't initially fight each other only to realize that they are on the same side. Considering most comics writers these days grew up reading this device, you would think they would want to steer miles clear of it. I would blame it on editors but we all know they don't do squat anymore.

[positronic]

No, blame it on the fans. Ever since Stan Lee first had the Thing duke it out with the Hulk, fans have asked the eternal question, "Who would win in a fight?". No, it doesn't really make a difference whether it makes any sense in terms of the story or not (Superman vs. Spider-Man? Yeah right, get real); comic book fans just want to see "Let's you and him fight". Don't even try to apply logic to the question -- you might as well ask why comic book fans like bulgey muscles (or T&A) and skin-tight costumes.

[rlvaugh]

Good answer.

[Guest]

Please elaborate.

I'm too lazy to look up the details, but the great magician (!) Hau Mi Blau or whussname conjured up a load of recurrent Eerie characters to fight it out with a load of recurrent Vampirella
characters. This was actually well done, since the characters were in character and even the fighting was specific to that. Aaaaand although I never read Eerie, the characters and abilities of the unknown-to-me figures were clear rather fast. I.e., something that todays writers use to botch up by default. I don't know if these Goddudes are Red Sonja canons, I rather fear their abilities are exactly determined by the plot needs.

So another "meh" from here - still has potential for better or worse.

[positronic]

Good answer.

Having said that, though, some "vs." fights are better than others. It helps if the characters are fairly evenly matched, and works much better in story terms if at least one of the two combatants could easily be perceived as a bad guy. The Hulk (because of his monsterish appearance and generally surly attitude) is probably the perfect choice for most "vs." types crossovers. One of my very favorite crossovers is the Roger Stern & Steve Rude THE INCREDIBLE HULK VS. SUPERMAN. Supposedly set very early in each character's career, we get the Hulk at his surliest (and most Kirbyesque) vs. an earlier, less all-powerful (and very Shusteresque) Superman. A perfect match-up that could easily be justified in terms of story.

[brickbutler]

The Spiderman vs Wolverine comic from the 1980's was good as well. The story was that Logan was tracking down an old enemy from his war days(vietnam perhaps) and had every intention of killing the guy. Meanwhile, peter parker was in the area on assignment from the daily bugle, partnered up with Ned Leeds of all people(Leeds ended up being the first Hobgoblin, the one that kicked ass) so anyway instead of just having spidey and Wolvie fight it out for no reason, Instead, What was presented to the reader was that BOTH spidey and Wolvie were in 2 SEPERATE adventures in the exact same area. And, Ned Leeds was somehow connected to the guy that Logan was looking for. Of course, the two superheros eventually cross pathes, and they fight only because Spidey is determined not to allow Wolverine to kill. Unfortunitely for Spidey fans, he just barely looses. YES, one of the two superheros in a battle against each other actually LOOSES. Just Barely. As a kid, all my friends and I thought it was a landmark in superhero comics, because everything else we had ever read followed the "lets fight each other for no reason and then discover a villian behind it and team-up formula(which i hated even as a kid)
Oh, and Ned Leeds(the 1st Hobgoblin) gets shot to death at the very end by a group of nameless assassins. Spider-man's MAIN bad guy at the time gets killed in a crossover event. As a kid, this blew my mind.

[Day Walker]

Please elaborate.

Vampirella and the Time Force:


http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/warre...ime_force.html


- Daywalker