Board 8 > Board 8 Comic Book Club #1

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm enjoying Trinity, but definitely think it's nowhere near the other two stories in terms of quality. I also agree with Han about something about the narration feeling off. I haven't read too many solo Superman stories, so I'm not very experienced with his inner-monologue, but it doesn't feel right here.

I was pretty surprised to see the invisible jet in the first issue. This is the first time I've ever actually seen it be used in a comic!
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Where did the invisible jet come from anyway?
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Pretty sure it shows up in her solo run almost right off the bat. Sometimes it's even a living being!
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The problem with Trinity is that, sometimes it was Superman's inner monologue, sometimes it was other characters, sometimes it was third person omniscient, or seemed to be.

It was very inconsistent and felt overbearing, while also... I dunno, a little condescending?
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Yeah I've only gone through the first issue of Trinity so far, but I def feel like the narration boxes don't do a good enough job of making it clear who they're coming from
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HanOfTheNekos posted...

a little condescending?

That's... kind of how Superman is.
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I felt Superman's narration was fine and not really condescending. I felt he was just honestly talking from a superior beings thoughts. I mean, he is better than them. It's not condescending to say that outright when it's true.
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Corrik posted...

I felt Superman's narration was fine and not really condescending. I felt he was just honestly talking from a superior beings thoughts. I mean, he is better than them. It's not condescending to say that outright when it's true.

Yeah, I agree with this completely. I think it's natural to sometimes read it as condescending or patronizing, but I guess, in a certain definition of these words, it's not inherently negative to think of Superman in that way. I'm looking forward to Superman Week in this group because the dichotomy of Superman as a god and Superman as a man is a really pervasive aspect of the character.
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Also, as people finish up this week's reading, I wanted to get a bit of a temperature read on the material so I know how to best serve everyone going forward. Please fill out this short questionnaire if you have time:

1) Would you prefer more or less material per packet than the eight issue amount from this first week?

2) Were there any characters, writers, or artists from whom you'd like to see more material in future weeks?

3) Overall, did you enjoy the material this week?

4) Having experienced this first week, is there any change I could make to enhance your reading experience for the better?

I also just wanted to say thank you so much for participating. I know we still have a couple days until Tuesday, but I the response so far has been great, and I'm really happy everyone is following along.
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1) Slightly less.

2) I wouldn't mind seeing more WW, she's thet one I know the least about.

3) Yes.

4) I can't think of anything significant.
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1) I think this is the perfect amount.

2) Punisher, Wonder Woman, Fantastic Four, Doom Patrol, Swamp Thing, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Greg Rucka, Will Eisner, Alex Ross, Becky Cloonan, George Perez.

3) Absolutely, Year One is a solidified classic, Trinity is the pure distillation of the three big heroes of DC, and Slayride shows not every story needs to be grand and universe-spanning to be great.

4) I'm not sure if it would be against TOS but maybe you could link to official buying sources to help the people who want to go that route instead of the Discord way.
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Anagram posted...

1) Slightly less.

Be forewarned, "Slightly less" means that I'll never be able to do, well, 50% of classic stories since so many involve more than 8 issues.
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1) Would you prefer more or less material per packet than the eight issue amount from this first week?

8 felt just about perfect to me. If there's arcs that are longer that we want to read (Maximum Carnage is 14 I know off hand) maybe give us two weeks? I don't want to exclude long arcs.

2) Were there any characters, writers, or artists from whom you'd like to see more material in future weeks?

I trust you to give us a good variety!

3) Overall, did you enjoy the material this week?

Yeah. Year One was my least favorite but it was still like a 7.

4) Having experienced this first week, is there any change I could make to enhance your reading experience for the better?

Something weird on my end that only happened for Year One is that swiping didn't switch to the next page, it jumped randomly through the book and I had to manually open each page on my phone. The other files all swiped properly. I don't know if Year One was loaded differently or if this was an issue on my end.
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I read them all on my phone and also had issues with the Year One pages not being in order. Everything else was fine.
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Oh addendum to 2

I think it would be cool if weeks could be themed off of releases

Like if this started last month we could have done some Titans reading to correspond to Titans releasing in DC Universe.

We could read about Carol Danvers when Captain Marvel comes out in March.

Things like that.
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Okay, let me know if that issue happens again this week, I'll try to make adjustments. There's not a shuffle option enabled for how you're viewing on phone, right?
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TotallyNotMI posted...

Oh addendum to 2

I think it would be cool if weeks could be themed off of releases

Like if this started last month we could have done some Titans reading to correspond to Titans releasing in DC Universe.

We could read about Carol Danvers when Captain Marvel comes out in March.

Things like that.

Definitely plan on this when we get to some major releases. I didn't want to do a Venom one to start out, but glad that people are already okay with this.
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1) Would you prefer more or less material per packet than the eight issue amount from this first week?

I think around 8 is a perfect amount. If we're reading one long arc that ends up being longer than 8 issues, that's fine too.

2) Were there any characters, writers, or artists from whom you'd like to see more material in future weeks?

Morrison's Batman run was fantastic, but I haven't read anything else from him. Punisher is also high on my list.

3) Overall, did you enjoy the material this week?

Yes.

4) Having experienced this first week, is there any change I could make to enhance your reading experience for the better?

Nothing that I can think of, no.
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I really liked the narration in Trinity. I mentioned earlier how it added to Superman's character a lot, but it was good for all of them. I wish they had made it a little more distinct who's thoughts we were seeing, perhaps but colouring the borders or something so you could tell easily when a transition happened, but overall it was fun.

It wasn't until the very end when it showed all three's thoughts on what happened that I even realized Batman's was the only one in third person... Which I thought worked out well.
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1) 8 should be fine, sometimes I'd like more, but people have work weeks and I doubt applying too much will work too well with some of those, can check with them what the upward limits can be.

2) I'll definitely like to see Ra's on an eventual Batman week again, but no rush, you've got many others to showcase first. Other Batman villains, and other heroes to have showcases.

3) Overall, yes. I thought Slayride was funny and Trinity was entertaining, and like CoolCly said, narration was pretty good.

4) I'm not sure yet, see what it looks like after a couple weeks.
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scarletspeed7 posted...

Also, as people finish up this week's reading, I wanted to get a bit of a temperature read on the material so I know how to best serve everyone going forward. Please fill out this short questionnaire if you have time:

1) Would you prefer more or less material per packet than the eight issue amount from this first week?

2) Were there any characters, writers, or artists from whom you'd like to see more material in future weeks?

3) Overall, did you enjoy the material this week?

4) Having experienced this first week, is there any change I could make to enhance your reading experience for the better?

I also just wanted to say thank you so much for participating. I know we still have a couple days until Tuesday, but I the response so far has been great, and I'm really happy everyone is following along.

1. This was an alright amount. Trinity was a bit long, but it wasn't really that bad. No problems with the length.

2. Sin City, Star Wars, Daredevil, Flash, Deadpool, etc.

3. Yes. I enjoyed it.

4. Don't think there is anything you need to change. Maybe have some questions set up to spur conversation points / arguments about the material? I dunno. Feel like we could have discussed the comics more here.
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davidponte posted...

I read them all on my phone and also had issues with the Year One pages not being in order. Everything else was fine.

This. Trinity was but Year One kept trying to skip around so I had to keep manually going out and in to go to the next page.
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I will try to fuel more conservation next time.

As for conversation on this particular topic, I'm surprised people didn't talk about how this Gotham compares to the TV show Gotham. I think, given that FOX is a regular TV network, you can still see a significant amount of Miller's vision for Gotham in the show.

More obviously, I think the Gotham of Batman Begins plays heavily off of Year One. Gordon also feels a lot more like Miller's interpretation of Gordon.

There's also the entire sequence of the sonar in Batman's costume attracting the bats of Gotham's cave system to his location cribbed straight out of the comic and placed into the movie.
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I've never seen the Gotham show, so I can't really compare there.
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I really wish the Gotham show wasn't an elseworlds story because I absolutely love the atmosphere of that show and the Gotham portrayed there. I just can't push myself to care about any of it, unfortunately. Gordon was the best part of that show for me.

Of course, having it not be an elseworlds story probably means changing a lot of things, which could then change the show's representation of Gotham, so I'm not exactly sure what I'd do there.

There was a moment when reading Year One where I was reminded of the show, though! It was the first thing I thought of when trying to think of other examples of the Gotham from that story.
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Finished Year One

I had no issues with the art. I thought the bat sonar bit was a little off tonally with the rest. Is that something that can actually be done, even on a smaller level? For such a grounded story, it seemed silly. I can suspend my disbelief for all the other superhuman things Batman does because each action individually seems feasible, and then youre just being asked to believe that one man is so badass that he can pull them all off and tank all the damage and not just collapse into a heap.

I want to call special attention to issue #406s cover from a composition standpoint. I loved how its laid out. Your eye is naturally drawn to the flashlights, so you take in the police search first, and then you come across Batman stalking them in the background. Its a great example of how a single image, if composed well enough, can still tell a kinetic story.
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scarletspeed7 posted...

I will try to fuel more conservation next time.

As for conversation on this particular topic, I'm surprised people didn't talk about how this Gotham compares to the TV show Gotham. I think, given that FOX is a regular TV network, you can still see a significant amount of Miller's vision for Gotham in the show.

More obviously, I think the Gotham of Batman Begins plays heavily off of Year One. Gordon also feels a lot more like Miller's interpretation of Gordon.

There's also the entire sequence of the sonar in Batman's costume attracting the bats of Gotham's cave system to his location cribbed straight out of the comic and placed into the movie.

I'm not finished Year One yet but I was gearing up to make a post about this. Fox Gotham is pretty much exactly like Year One.... except that Bruce is much younger and going to take awhile to show up and help Gordon clean up this cursed city. I really see the influence. I honestly didn't think the show made sense as a concept before it aired but it's drawing from a really strong source, so no wonder it turned out so well. Gordon himself isn't really exactly like the Gordon of Year One but he's in the same situation.

And the entire Dark Knight trilogy seems to draw from this. Dent's public image as the sole person trying to clean up the city, Selina Kyle protecting young street women, the state of Gotham PD. Maybe these are all found in many different versions of Batman comics but I feel like the impact is felt in all three Nolan movies.
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Jakyl25 posted...

I want to call special attention to issue #406s cover from a composition standpoint. I loved how its laid out. Your eye is naturally drawn to the flashlights, so you take in the police search first, and then you come across Batman stalking them in the background. Its a great example of how a single image, if composed well enough, can still tell a kinetic story.

I used to like this cover the least of the four, but man, you really changed my mind on it.
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CoolCly posted...

scarletspeed7 posted...

I will try to fuel more conservation next time.

As for conversation on this particular topic, I'm surprised people didn't talk about how this Gotham compares to the TV show Gotham. I think, given that FOX is a regular TV network, you can still see a significant amount of Miller's vision for Gotham in the show.

More obviously, I think the Gotham of Batman Begins plays heavily off of Year One. Gordon also feels a lot more like Miller's interpretation of Gordon.

There's also the entire sequence of the sonar in Batman's costume attracting the bats of Gotham's cave system to his location cribbed straight out of the comic and placed into the movie.

I'm not finished Year One yet but I was gearing up to make a post about this. Fox Gotham is pretty much exactly like Year One.... except that Bruce is much younger and going to take awhile to show up and help Gordon clean up this cursed city. I really see the influence. I honestly didn't think the show made sense as a concept before it aired but it's drawing from a really strong source, so no wonder it turned out so well. Gordon himself isn't really exactly like the Gordon of Year One but he's in the same situation.

And the entire Dark Knight trilogy seems to draw from this. Dent's public image as the sole person trying to clean up the city, Selina Kyle protecting young street women, the state of Gotham PD. Maybe these are all found in many different versions of Batman comics but I feel like the impact is felt in all three Nolan movies.

I honestly wasn't even sure if Dent was actually a good guy in this. The basic only thing we see from him is letting the guy out who eventually spills on Flass.
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The fact that Dent plays fast and loose with the rules in order to achieve theoretically greater means is one of those great little additions that Year One made to the mythos that I really, really like. Two-Face is interesting, but Harvey Dent might actually be more interesting, knowing what he eventually becomes.
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scarletspeed7 posted...

Jakyl25 posted...

I want to call special attention to issue #406s cover from a composition standpoint. I loved how its laid out. Your eye is naturally drawn to the flashlights, so you take in the police search first, and then you come across Batman stalking them in the background. Its a great example of how a single image, if composed well enough, can still tell a kinetic story.

I used to like this cover the least of the four, but man, you really changed my mind on it.

Well its hard to top #404 to be fair
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Corrik posted...

I honestly wasn't even sure if Dent was actually a good guy in this. The basic only thing we see from him is letting the guy out who eventually spills on Flass.

He clearly did that on purpose to let Batman go to work. You see Dent and Batman working together earlier in the story.
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Started Trinity

Im a little miffed that BATMAN of all people would be so loose lipped to almost admit his relationship with Talia to Superman

I did not buy that at all.
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They have a friendship already at this point, and eventually they confide almost everything in one another. For me, I thought it was a little too clunky, dialogue-wise, but I did like that Batman is about to open up but still isn't quite ready for it.
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Just read the bats scene

https://preview.redd.it/6ed6fcw1jady.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=d938fe325269e69d68391af9b03a2831015391bd

Batman can now do this with absolute credibility backing him up
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Finished Year One

I love how even in this, the question of "who is Batman???" comes up and Gordon is just immediately like "Is it Bruce Wayne?". And then never gets disproven or shown a reason not to believe it. I guess it he just decides to stop pushing. Is he even actually "practically blind" without his glasses? Missed opportunity to say "blind as a bat" there IMO.

I really enjoy these comics. Slayride is a perfect one shot slice of adventure. Trinity was a pretty good barebones introduction to the Trinity and just show each person in their element. Year One works pretty well as a starting point for Batman,seeing him reacting to early failures and how hard he is on himself is pretty neat. But the real highlight is the city of Gotham itself, primarily focusing on the police department. Gordon made this story really something special.
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Listen, lady! Dont like it? Well, tough!

Batman at his most eloquent
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Speaking of missed opportunities, in Trinity, Superman laments that he was not actually faster than a speeding bullet in the same scene in which he literally failed to be more powerful than a locomotive.
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CoolCly posted...

I really enjoy these comics. Slayride is a perfect one shot slice of adventure. Trinity was a pretty good barebones introduction to the Trinity and just show each person in their element. Year One works pretty well as a starting point for Batman,seeing him reacting to early failures and how hard he is on himself is pretty neat. But the real highlight is the city of Gotham itself, primarily focusing on the police department. Gordon made this story really something special.

I'm really glad that this was a great primer for you on Batman. Hopefully, you'll feel the same about Spider-Man Week when Tuesday rolls around.
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Spider Man!
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Even in this vacuum, a residual sound reaches my sensitive ears

Thats not how that works, Superman
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I guess one thing I should mention is that each issue of Trinity was triple the normal length of a comic, so it was actually more like we read 11 comics this week.
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This is a really cool idea and I might start following along because my five year old son just started getting interested in comics and weve been reading some age appropriate ones together.

This however:

This is the third time I'm posting this topic. Some uniquely gifted mod thought that I was going to mail self-printed copies of comics to the readers. I am not. I don't have an industrial strength printer, nor am I spending more money on the ink than it costs to buy comics and send them.

Made me laugh so hard my wife woke up. I wish someone had a plot this convoluted to scam a multi million dollar industry out of like twenty bucks.
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Finished Trinity

What is the significance of Bizarros severed hand still being present in the ocean?

I like how the good Trinity was constantly contrasted to the bad Trinity. It was subtle but it showed why one group functions and one was doomed to fail
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Tag, downloaded it, may not get to it by monday but should at the very least post an opinion by tuesday
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CoolCly posted...

Missed opportunity to say "blind as a bat" there IMO.

Argh you're right.
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One thing I want to mention about the hard copies of the single issues of Trinity is that they are thick enough that each of them has the title on their spine. But they're not thick enough that you can read it. It's in like size 3 font. I don't know why DC felt the need to treat them like larger collected editions or graphic novels.
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I found it odd on the DC app that each individual issue of Trinity was $2 but the collected edition was $12
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Finished Trinity.

Liked it overall, but it really could have used different text color or something to make it more explicit who the narration was from imo
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scarletspeed7 posted...

1) Would you prefer more or less material per packet than the eight issue amount from this first week?

I can handle as much as you can dish out

2) Were there any characters, writers, or artists from whom you'd like to see more material in future weeks?

Id like to toss in a special request for any Mirage or IDW TMNT stuff that you know is quality

3) Overall, did you enjoy the material this week?

Yes, particularly Year One

4) Having experienced this first week, is there any change I could make to enhance your reading experience for the better

Not really
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