It’s been a little while since I got caught up with my various published work. So I thought I’d provide a thread for you folks to comment.
“Election Day,” in case you’re wondering, is a newly released novel from Pocket Books that’s gotten pretty much no publicity, so don’t feel badly if you haven’t heard of it.
Whad’ja think?
PAD
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I loved the Layla one-shot. It was great to see her in a book again, especially one that well written. I miss her terribly in X-Factor. Can we expect her back anytime soon?
X-Factor and She-Hulk have been great reads. The art for X-Factor #34 was a bit better. Maybe you’ll do us a favor and go and bring in the real Longshot now. 🙂
And I wish I had time for the original Marvel novels, but I’m already so far behind on the other stuff I read. 😛
What do I think? I think that I wish Pocket had bothered to negotiate for ebook rights to the Marvel titles; I haven’t read Election Day nor your original FF novel yet because of it. <_<
The crossover with X-Factor and She-Hulk was very good and I’m looking foward to see what you do with X-factor in Detroit.
The one shot with Layla Miller was great but it left me frustrated at the end because it raises more questions about how (and more importantly WHEN) she’ll return to the current timeline.
Please make it soon!
Love the Layla Miller character–easily my favorite new character in years, and really only since she hit the pages of X-Factor. That said, I thought the issue ended too fast–mostly, I’m sure, because I wanted to keep reading for three or four more issues. A really good job. And Ruby–yeah, we better see more of her.
Fallen Angel–are we going to see a form of transportation that /doesn’t/ get trashed on the journey? This is almost like “Planes, Trains & Automobiles”, but with an ášš-kicking foul-mouthed celestial, her fallen priest of a son and touch-me-and-you-die (literally) best friend who kinda-sorta-still hates her. So, yeah, this issue rocked.
Oh, wait, a space shuttle. Is it too late for a space shuttle? 🙂
The comics were all good. Didn’t know you had written a Wolverine novel, which is really interesting. I’m interested to see how you’d explore that character in a novel format, since it’s been years since you wrote for him in the comics. I don’t recall much about \i{Rahne of Terra} or “The Gehenna Stone Affair”, but “Bloodhunt” is a favorite of mine, both for the writing, the introduction of Cyber, and the beautiful Sam Keith art, so a return to the character is long overdue. 🙂
I’ll pick up a copy at Midtown Comics signing Tuesday.
I don’t post enough here.
But I absolutely loved the Layla Miller one shot. You did more for Layla Miller’s personality and character in two pages, where she broke down with Scott, than most characters get in years. I could actually feel myself starting to get emotional over it. I now totally get her. She’s gone from being a fun annoyance and plot device, to being a real person in my head.
And Ruby Summers is one of my favourite new characters. She’s a thrilling blend of Scott and presumably Emma, both in looks, powers, and personality, making for a wholly unique character, with some familiar concepts in her make up. I am definitely looking forward to see more with her in it. She’s too good of a character to just have the one appearance.
Thanks for signing my copy of the issue at Dragon*Con. =)
J
I liked X-Factor #34. The artwork was fortunately somewhat less distracting this time, and my interest is piqued from Monet being the one to give Darwin something to believe in. That was, really, the emotional center of the issue, and it worked. It’s pleasing, also, to see Darwin return to his normal appearance.
But I really, really loved the Layla Miller special. Layla is so much ♥ ♥ ♥ Sorry, I’m not quite so articulate about this one, but it made me very happy. Am I to understand that Layla was the one to tell Scott and Emma to name their daughter Ruby?
Also, I’m sure I’m not the first one to ask you this, but I’ll put the question out there anyway: Can you give us a ballpark estimate of when Layla will return to X-Factor? Like, will it be before or after the baby arrives? If after, will it be closer to the birth, or closer to the first birthday?
With X-Factor in Detroit, perhaps they should fight a fire based character who has been setting abandoned houses on fire.
There’s a reason October 30 was called Devil’s Night in Detroit.
I guess I’m with you until the end concerning Fallen Angel, whether that means my end or the end of the story. (If it continues on for 500 issues, I don’t think I’m gonna be there.)
I say “I guess” because I thought I was done a couple times. One because of the cost; the other because of the frustration with the constant artist changes. But the art is now consistent, and I’ve apparently gotten over the sticker shock.
My only complaint about the book is that the coloring is so dark. I realize this is a dark, violent story, so moody art and coloring is appropriate, but it’s just a tad too dark at times.
Enjoying the tale so far. Loved the crossover with Shi.
Here’s part of what I posted at CBR about X-Factor #34 when it came out:
“Stroman’s art has gotten more tolerable in my view. And besides, I buy these books primarily for the story, not the art. If a book has crappy art but good writing I’ll usually tough it out and try not to examine the pictures too closely.
“Good issue overall and I do like the addition of Darwin along with, hopefully, Longshot soon…
“Now for the questions (most of which are rhetorical unless PAD cares to make an appearance again). With the Talisman out of commission, does that mean that the Skrull invaders’ morale is suddenly going to go into a nosedive as I believe Jazinda said in the She-Hulk issue? If so, will we see that happening in the main SI book (which I don’t read anyway, so I won’t know)?
“Is ‘Mando’s skin colour changed long-term?
“Is Monet going to become less insufferable and more sufferable in the future? When she was encouraging Darwin it was probably the first time I actually liked her.
“Can somebody ask Nikki Sixx if dying really gives you the munchies afterward? (Maybe it’s just a Skrull thing.)
“Is whatever’s wrong with She-Hulk going to be explored in her title? She surprised me some more here by actually threatening to rip Madrox in half. So there’s something screwing with her head and I hope to learn exactly what it is soon.”
I found X-Factor 34 to be pretty dull. I think all the cross-overs it has been recently have done the title no favors.
The Layla one-shot, however, whoa! Everything awesome I come to expect from you. X-Men mythos exploring the Summers Revolution mentioned for so many years now and in a way that contradict nothing that came before, plus Layla goodness? Hëll yeah.
The Layla Miller is what X-Factor should have been for the last 6 months. X-Factor is languishing and I’m less and less interested in this incarnation – art is very mediocre. She-Hulk was fun, but fluffy and I’m still not sure I see where the series or character is going – art is beautiful though. DId not read the others.
Fallen Angel #29 was another great issue after a not as great #28. Love the banter between Lee and Mariah. I remembered Lin appeared during the battle with Moloch. Where did she go?
I loved the Layla Miller one-shot. That book made me not only greatly miss her presence in X-Factor, but now I eagerly await her return. Well done.
I’m loving the current Fallen Angel storyline. Looks like Wally the God Boy is appearing as Shirley the God Girl. Well, her last name is Temple…
(I thought I posted this and I guessed not.)
I have always wondered why Marvel doesn’t market their novel lines. I used to have to check out Diamond’s cataloge to see if there were any Marvel (or DC) novels in book section, but I don’t get it any more, so it is just happenstance when I find a copy at Borders.
I plan to get the latest Wolverine novel.
Like others here and elsewhere, I thought XFS: LM was a champion effort. Stroman’s work on the regular title, however, continues to disappoint–it has forced me to seriously consider my loyalty to the book, and I’ve already stopped advocating it to others. Finally, I enjoyed this last She-Hulk a great deal. It contained a great mix of fun and gravity.
I just finished reading the X-Factor book and since I don’t read She-Hulk I have to ask this because I don’t know the answer. When did She-Hulk become a bìŧçh? I’m not asking this to be snarky, I really want to know.
Loved the Layla one shot. With Wolfsbane gone Layla is by far my favorite X-Factor character. I hope she returns to the book soon.
When did She-Hulk become a bìŧçh? I’m not asking this to be snarky, I really want to know.
She-Hulk’s life had been going about as well as could be expected (given what happened to her cousin and her disillusionment with Tony Stark and so forth) before she got disbarred.
She got disbarred because she ended up with a client named Arthur Moore, a guy who’d gained super powers from collecting magical artifacts and who was accused of killing a lot of children. She managed to win and Moore was free to go. That’s when Moore told her that he really was guilty, and used his magic to show her horrifying images of the crimes.
This caused her to go not only green, but Savage. She attacked Moore, and then when she finally gained control of herself she told everybody who was watching (which was a lot of people, because hey, it’s She-Hulk fighting with some wizard-guy) that he was guilty and what he had done, which was privileged information.
So she was disbarred, and sometime between then and now she met Jazinda and the two of them got work as bounty hunters.
That doesn’t in itself answer the question of why she’s a bìŧçh, but it let’s you know about one of the people who may have caused her to become a bìŧçh. You see, later on Arthur Moore was shown talking to another baddie about how he had successfully manipulated She-Hulk and provoked her into doing something that’d result in the loss of her job–just like his employers wanted him to do. He also said something about how his employers were people who were interested in remaking She-Hulk into a different person or something like that.
So, my guess? The “remaking” process has been started somehow without Jennifer knowing about it. That’s why she’s acting the way she is.
Oh yeah, one more thing: Moore never actually committed the crimes he was accused of. He just told Jennifer he’d done it, and used his magic to show her images that he knew would set her off.
It worked. Your crossover got me to finally pick up she-hulk. The crossover I didn’t like much. The next issue, though, with the cliffhanger ending, means I will pick up one more. Oh well. Another $3 to PAD — and who knows what percentage of that goes to the Democratic party. 😉
I still don’t like the art of X-Factor. The story was ok. I did like the change for Darwin at the end.
The Layla one-shot was pretty good. It has been a while since I read it and I can’t remember whey I didn’t think it was great. One part just didn’t click right. But it didn’t ruin the whole book, just left me puzzled.
I don’t really like Darwin, but with what PAD has done with Layla, I am not too worried about it.
Peter,
Just because you got your jacket stolen in Portland does not mean that you have to announce to the world that you “really hate Portland.” C’mon. Now you are just being mean!
Other than that, loved the book.
Having also read the She-Hulk issue, sometime after I originally posted the above comments about the X-Factor story, I now know that just defeating the Talisman wasn’t enough. They need to use him as leverage, threatening to kill him from a secure location to get the Skrulls to back down.
But first they have to survive their encounter with Kl’rt and avoid a collision with a big ol’ jet airliner.
My only question about this issue: does Kl’rt’s neck always stretch when he takes a shot to the head? And when is he going to bother reeling it back in? Doesn’t he care how stupid he looks on that last page? 😉
I was at the united fancon last year when you mentioned the Wolverine book so I knew to be looking for it. Im 120 pages in.Its awesome so far.
I really liked Layla Miller one shot, but the artwork for X-Factor 34 has made it nearly unreadable to me. I dislike it so much it is X-Factor is now at the bottom of the read pile. I know that crtisim can be blow out of perportion on the internet, but I think almost everyone would like a different artist.
– A rare poster but avid reader, Wade Tripp
just finished the Wolverine book and as with all your work i loved it. While normally i think Wolverine is overated you make me like him. You make me like everbody even most of the villains in your stuff. Just one question for Andrew T……why can’t you pick up a book with a cover and pages like the rest of us?
Posted by: Wade Tripp at September 8, 2008 09:40 AM
I really liked Layla Miller one shot, but the artwork for X-Factor 34 has made it nearly unreadable to me. I dislike it so much it is X-Factor is now at the bottom of the read pile. I know that crtisim can be blow out of perportion on the internet, but I think almost everyone would like a different artist.
Stroman used to be better. Have a look:
http://www.alexsanchez.net/host/x-factor81.jpg
Grabbed “Election Day,” might be a while before I read it (also comes back to the ebook thing…I do most of my novel-reading on my PDA anymore, except on rare airplane flights).
That Layla Miller one shot was snatched up by my buddies who can’t stand anything post House of M (except Moon Knight) and was adored.
I fear I will never see it again, and must now buy a second one.
Kudos!
Loved the Layla Miller one shot, it was everything we (my girlfriend and I) hoped it would be. Great story, great art, took us back to the X-Factor days of old.
Ah, but what has happened to X-Factor? A book that started out as noir, with shadowy characters has gradually moved further and further away from that point. No, it’s cartoony looking characters stuck in forced crossovers for mega events.
I’m already spending $20 a week on comics, so there’s plenty of selection out there. This book is looking less like an original series, and more like below average filler.
The only complaint I have about the Lyla Miller one shot was that it was a one shot. A great read, I want more.
I’m with Orlando T – I miss Layla Miller! One-shot was a definite breath of fresh air…not that X-Factor isn’t good or anything, it’s just that the team doesn’t know stuff anymore.
Finished Election Day last nite. AWESOME BOOK! It reminded me of how much I loved the Wolverine 6 parter you wrote back in the late 80s. Now I have to reread that.
Apologies for not copying and pasting these comments all at once. Here’s the last set of comments, which I wrote on CBR when the Layla one-shot came out….
This was a good issue, however as seems to be human nature (or mine anyway) I’m going to first write about the bad.
Actually, there wasn’t any bad in here. Just a few things which struck me as odd.
For one, the President saying “war is peace, hatred is acceptance” was just a little bit too blatant a reference to Orwell’s 1984. I can’t imagine anybody in any time period telling citizens that and expecting them to buy it. So if anything it was a taunt, and what purpose does that serve? You don’t taunt people whom you are trying to con into believing what you’d like them to believe, because they will be less inclined to trust you.
Granted, having a Sentinel-thingy blast one of the uncooperative demonstrators doesn’t engender trust either, but the President could have whitewashed that act by saying that everybody who cooperates instead of taking up arms against the government will be treated fairly. Half of the people would believe it because let’s face it, the electorate is pretty stupid and the electorate of 80 years in the future is also spectacularly ignorant about history.
It would have been better, in my view, if he said something like “war will lead to peace.” We already know that this future is Orwellian, so we don’t need to be hit over the head with a 1984 quote. On the other hand, “war will lead to peace” is not only the sort of thing that a politician might say if he were going to war, but it would also get people who know the famous quote to say “hey, that sounds a lot like 1984. I see what PAD’s doing here.”
Second thing: I originally didn’t realize that the collision was cop car vs. cop car, because the one car was black and only had a very small flashing light on top. So for a little while I thought that the cops chasing Linqon had originally responded to the call about some crazy girl breaking a store window, and I wondered why Layla would put Linqon in danger only to save her. A few pages later, I figured out that she didn’t summon THOSE cops, she summoned MORE cops to crash into the first set of cops.
Finally, the thing at the end with the Rumsfeld quote about rioting seemed like a non-sequitur to me. The only similarity seems to be that there was a riot, but it was on U.S. soil instead of Iraqi soil, and people were rioting to revolt against their own government rather than because a foreign nation had just invaded them and thrown everything into chaos.
Now for what I liked:
-Layla reaching her breaking point and getting all emotional when talking to Scott. If not for scenes like this, we might get the impression that she is never bothered by anything. Because of scenes like this we know that she is and she just hides it very well, and that makes her more sympathetic and relatable.
-The aforementioned collision, because even if I didn’t immediately realize that both cars were cops it was still pretty cool to arrange that. It’s sort of like she arranged the four car pileup with the pizza delivery vans, but there’s enough difference in the situation here that it’s not just idea-recyclying.
-The “space stuff” and Layla’s commentary about it, and about how the focus on mutants blinded the nation to something that they should have been paying attention to (the parallel to the real world situation is pretty clear). Layla’s casual comment about “if you weren’t too busy dying…” while she stood around in the middle of the falling debris while everybody else was panicking and running for their lives. Also how she probably was standing there because she knew where all of it would come down and she wanted to draw the guards out and get them standing right where they’d get squashed.
-I don’t really care whether she’s the spawn of Emma, I like Ruby.
-Oh yeah, I also liked the Alchemax sign and how the guard used “shock” as an expletive, both of which are from the 2099 era. PAD, of course, wrote Spider-Man 2099, and I for one like the idea that instead of being a totally alternate universe, certain things about the 2099 world will really come to pass on 616 eventually.
I hope I’m not alone in saying that I really love Larry Stroman on X-Factor. It wasn’t a change I expected to like, and at first I was skeptical–even after reading the first issue–but in the month between the two issues, I really grew to appreciate it, and I’m more excited for the book than I’ve been in awhile. Which is a great thing.
But please, bring in the real Longshot? Well. Actually, now I’m a bit torn, because I want Longshot to be appearing, but I don’t want him taken away from Dazzler so soon after they were reunited. But Dazzler’s got a home in Uncanny and maybe Astonishing now, so…
Well, anyway. Fallen Angel remains consistent, and the She-Hulk tie-ins have been surprisingly enjoyable for me. Not that I expected to dislike them, but because I hadn’t been all that interested in the first place. I admit that I’ll still drop the book again after the Secret Invasion tie-ins end, but I’ll then turn around and start ordering the trades. Fair deal, right?
Fallen Angel is the best work of yours that I’ve read in years. Layla Miller is excellent, X-Factor is fun, but having gracefully cleared the hurdle of a cross-over and event story needs to re-establish its own place in the mutant universe. She-Hulk.. sorry, but I’ve now dropped that title… I’m just not engaged enough by the characters or the plotline to care enough about what happens next that I’ll put my money down for it. The Wolverine book I hadn’t heard of.
Cheers.
Sooo late to the party, but I can’t NOT say something about how much I loved the Layla one shot, for two reasons: 1) Layla. LAYLA. LAAAAAAAYLAAAAAAAAAA. 2)The Summers Rebellion.
Point the first, expounded upon: Layla is the most interesting, real, dynamic character to come out of the Marvel universe in ages. She is pure, distilled awesome in your hands. I have adored her since the first issue of X-Factor after merely liking her kind of during House of M, and she just gets better and better. The way her mind works, the lines she will and won’t cross and, oh my God, that break down- I love her. I love you for making her so totally whole. It’s brilliant. The issue was amazing. She needs her own monthly. Actually, I take that back. She DESERVES her own monthly, but the instant a character gets one, it totally kills their mystique and my ability to enjoy them. Also, please don’t let anyone else write her, ever. If you ever need someone ‘taken care of’, you just let us know, okay?
Point the second: The Summers Rebellion. It was always touted as a mutant rebellion- the day the mutants decided ‘eff this noise’ and fought back. But what you made it was MILES better, and incomparably more effective. You took it from being an uprising to being a revolution- not just mutants standing up and saying ‘no more’, but everyone. It has more magnitude this way, and becomes a real turning point for history, instead of just one more time the mutants fought the government so they’d stop the genocide, plzthnx.
X-factor was enjoyable. I’m always more a fan of exploring the characters that are there instead of introducing new ones, and the crossovers can detract from my favorite part of your writing, which is honest, emotional interaction between characters, but you made me give a flip about Darwin, which is neat. More, please!
Thank you, PAD!