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  1. #1
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    Default Second Coming (possible spoilers)

    I've been looking forward to this with some trepidation. Mark Russell is brilliat and has a firm grasp of current issues. He also gets comics and the continuity issues involved. I'm reasonable sure Russell leans left. No big deal, that's OK, plenty of comics creators do. But the fear of this being a bashing of the Christian faith made me nervous. I went into this thinking either awesome or pile of ****. Overall it really didn't hit an extreme, but it was pretty good.

    God was a cartoon character. It seems like a joke, but the thought that it could be an interpretation of Old Testament God can be a justification.. The Abraham and his son story fits into this. And who knows, should any of us truly understand God? I suspect the characterization of God may piss people off. I remain cautiously optimistic.

    The bringing up of mysterious questions like why put that tree in the Garden and say "don't eat this" in the first place. Christianity is filled with bizarre stuff like this and IMHO, a literal interpretation of it can be a cluster***k.

    Jesus wasn't the incompetent slacker early reports had him being. I'd say naive to the context of his surroundings, but in line with the seperation of Jesus the God, and Jesus, the man which Catechism teachers in the Catholic Church tried to get me to understand way back. I'm happier with the son's characterization than the father's but both could grow on me.

    Sunstar. We know who Sunstar is "supposed" to be and he was pretty well done especially with the relationship with "not Lois". Both Jesus and Sunstar have doubts, but believe in their missions, which is good. I like the mild sense of humor in here, as a dry academic comparison of Jesus and Superman is "meh".

    Pretty good. I'm around for a few more issues anyway.

  2. #2
    Spectacular Member DavidRA's Avatar
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    I enjoyed it too.
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  3. #3
    small press afficionado matt levin's Avatar
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    Wasn't as concise as I'd like, seemed a bit meandering, nor as challenging, but over all, enough goodness that I'm happy to be getting next couple of issues.
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  4. #4
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by matt levin View Post
    Wasn't as concise as I'd like, seemed a bit meandering, nor as challenging, but over all, enough goodness that I'm happy to be getting next couple of issues.
    I'm not sure I get what you mean by concise. As to it not being challenging, I'm willing to cut some slack for an introductory issue setting up the situation. Overall, it's an Old Testament God and a New Testament Jesus dealing with father and son issues. I hope more people see that in the story, provided, of course, I'm getting it right.

  5. #5
    Hold your machete tight! Personamanx's Avatar
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    Read it today, liked it well enough. Had a few laughs, and it made me think a little. I don't usually read Russel's work in single issues, but very much enjoy the collected versions. I may wait for that to finish reading it, get it all read in a single sitting.
    Continuity, even in a "shared" comics universe is often insignificant if not largely detrimental to the quality of a comic.

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  6. #6
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    Great comic. Read it last week. Funny as all heck.

  7. #7
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Personamanx View Post
    Read it today, liked it well enough. Had a few laughs, and it made me think a little. I don't usually read Russel's work in single issues, but very much enjoy the collected versions. I may wait for that to finish reading it, get it all read in a single sitting.
    That's a point I hadn't considered. It's no secret many books read well in single issue format while others read much better in collected format. I haven't read that much of Russell's work so I'll take your word on the "better collected" recommendation. The limited six issue format also backs up your assessment. It's usually not my style to trade wait, but I should give Snagglepuss a collected read to see about Russell's work.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by CaptCleghorn View Post
    It's usually not my style to trade wait, but I should give Snagglepuss a collected read to see about Russell's work.
    Definitely. You might also want to check out his 12-issue Flintstones run, since it has a lot about religion, racism, war, the class system, government corruption, and other themes that Russell is likely to revisit in Second Coming.

  9. #9
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by seismic-2 View Post
    Definitely. You might also want to check out his 12-issue Flintstones run, since it has a lot about religion, racism, war, the class system, government corruption, and other themes that Russell is likely to revisit in Second Coming.
    A collected Flintstones is on my short list. But as to the collected vs single issue reading preference, I think Flintstones was more a single issue read, but that's only my speculation.

  10. #10
    Hold your machete tight! Personamanx's Avatar
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    The Flintstones was very episodic. Each issue being more or less stand-alone, but building on the previous ones. I didn't however read it in single issues, but in collected editions which I still generally find preferable. I'm not much of a binge-consumer, but I think the issues read well in succession during a single sitting. With the previous events always being fresh in your mind without having a month in-between to dwell on things.

    I'm waiting on the collected editions of Wonder Twins, and Snagglepuss is currently on the to-read pile (single issues that I bought from Mike Feehan at a show).
    Continuity, even in a "shared" comics universe is often insignificant if not largely detrimental to the quality of a comic.

    Immortal X-Men - Once & Future- X-Cellent - X-Men: Red

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  11. #11
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    I read the second issue and it seemed watered down to me. The controversy wasn't there in my opinion. I guess that was due to the reliance on Sunman as opposed to Jesus. We're far more accepting of seeing comic book superheroes deconstructed and parodied than we are of religious figures.

    That could be a big part of the series I missed. Seeing Jesus and Superman compared with a sense of humor is a different story than seeing a Jesus analysis. Perhaps there is something to be said for tradewaiting this.

  12. #12
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    Halfway through and this is building up nicely. The introduction of Satan adds a lot to the character interactions. It's Jesus Christ and a Superman knockoff dealing with each other and the idiosyncrasies of each of them, making the joke obviously, but somehow making the characters true to themselves.

    As to issue three, Sunman's journey back to Littleton (I spent wayyyy to long imagining this as Littleton, MA without getting the joke, darn). Seeing a home from your childhood so drastically changed is dramatic. I can certainly relate to that. Now there may be critism that Jesus is naive, and yes, he seems to be in parts, but when he's on, he stands by his beliefs and has strength in his delivery.

    Now, if this was any other kind of "Odd Couple" relationship, we might expect the two protagonists to gain some qualities from the other and both grow as characters. But somehow Jesus getting a little kick-ass seems to be against his nature (the money changers scene not withstanding). II trusted Mark Russell from day one, but went into this with a bit of trepidation. The last three issues have shown me that there's a degree of respect even if jokes aren't ignored.

    Seriously, who's reading this? I want to see comments!

  13. #13
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    I just finished #3. I liked the first 2 issues OK, but the first one seemed a bit forced, as it tried to set up the distinction between Jesus and Sunstar, and I thought the second one didn't really move things along very much. I feel the miniseries really hit its stride with #3, which was spot-on. Jesus' dismissing the church worked who tried to preach to him about the writing of Paul was the sort of thing I expected from this series, and I also loved the superhero-can't-be-a-hero-at-home scenario about Sunstar' problems with keeping his Mom in a senior home. The action seems to be picking up now that Satan has showed up, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

  14. #14
    small press afficionado matt levin's Avatar
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    Thank you, seismic-2! You capture my feelings about this series near spot-on. #1, forced, 2, slow, but 3 actually caught my attention, citing the same instances you did. Had thought to drop this after next issue (the last I've pre-ordered), but this past issue has me rethinking my haste.
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  15. #15
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    Could there be well-thought out negative criticism of this book? It appears so. Because I like hearing myself talk, I will go into my feelings about this.

    It's possible (probable?) Russell is writing for the trade which would make his first couple of issues more of a setup. I personally was paying more attention to his style and social commentary than I was any actual plot. That's on me. But I'm still leaning on the emphasis being put on detail as opposed to overall plot. But that's my opinion. I am happy to see dissenting opinions, though. They make threads far more interesting.

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