Spiderman vs master of KungFu

[@PLUGO]

Well... Shang-Chi, is about to get a make over in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #15


just thought some of you would be interested!!!

[Leonidas]

He looks kinda gay. It also looks like they just drew Bruce Lees body onto his head

That's not Shang Chi in that drawing with Spiderman.

That's Mark Dacascos.

[@PLUGO]

Well at least there's hope... The penciler is usually pretty good at depicting "martial" combat...

[Shaolindynasty]

I stoped reading new comics around the time of the "spiderman clone saga" so I probally get anything. I read old stuff now. SApidey deffinatlly rules though. Hey maybe they'll put that "ninja spidey" in that book!

[David Jamieson]

man,... I am losing touch. hahahaha

Marvel Rocks!

peace

[@PLUGO]

Mostly seriously overpriced, but there are gems to be found...

Marvel is producing it's Ultimate line of comics as an upscale retelling of it's own original stories... Sort of like a comic version of a movie remake, take Planet of the apes for instance...

So if you like Spiderman but hate where the past 10+ years has brought the charactor, then you can read Ultimate Spiderman to have a taste of what spiderman would be like if he first got his powers in the 90's intead of the 60's...

Still I would recomend picking up current issues of Amazing Spiderman as the new writer has sort of returned to it's roots & is doing so quite well.

In the mean time Ultimate marvel team-up is functioning to reintroduce classic heroes in a much more modern sence... I would speculate that rather than a Shang Chi influenced by the popularity of Bruce Lee, we may see him as influenced by the modern spectial of martial arts... Jet Li, the matrix, etc... we'll have to see eh?

On the state of comics in general:

Marvel has been agressively seeking to regain a reputation for quality...

New X men has reciently taken the comic beyond the movie, great stuff.

Daredevil returning to a more crime-noir grit...

their MARVEL KNIGHTS line of comics (look for the MK) is closer to PG13 or perhaps R ratings in movies...
...actually marvel is starting to "rate" their comics ina similar manor... PG, G, etc...

They've developed a MAX line which functions as much more of an R rated ADULT themed book...

To varying successes...

Meanwhile IMAGE is moving to a more "independant" stance with the stuff they put out...

And DC is now the Giant producing tons of stuff in every direction... they have subdivisions Like WILDSTROM & AMERICA's BEST COMICS/ ABC that are truely publishing some gems...

[@PLUGO]

for More...

[Leonidas]

I used to be a hardcore Marvel-head but they ****ed me off with all the different super-powered mutants every month. It seemed like every mutant had the capability to destroy the world which took away from the real important characters. If you put everyone on a pedestal then no one is really special. Then you have to keep up with 1000's of old characters. My main problem with the mutant X gene excuse is the unbelievable powers most mutants developed. When i think of a mutant i'm thinking of Wolverine, Toad, Sabertooth, Beast, Angel, etc. Something with an extra limb, even alittle fur and a fang or two. Even telepaths are excusable, but people like Magneto??. I'm not thinking of someone who could blast a HOLE into Earth. They still have an edge over regular humans but not to the point of absurdity. Wolverine and Spiderman are still the coolest characters and atleast they have reasons for being that way.

[Shaolindynasty]

Actually Magneto was the first enemy the x men ever fought. Personally I prefer the x men of the 80's with Nightcrawler, collosus, wolverine, cyclops(somtimes), with storm as the leader. I also liked the Mark bagley spiderman era but they got to ridiculous with the clone stuff, it was just to confusing. Comics cost to much these days, I think they should do without the high gloss pages and return to news print, much better feel for me. Maybe I am just to nostalgic.....wait that can't be I was born in 1980. I guess I just like old stuff. The essential series is great!

[dwid]

But I've recently come back to them. It seemed like for a while, comic art became so important that nobody cared to write a decent story, especially when all the new companies splintered off of Marvel and DC. Anyway, I find it bothersome to keep up with a continuous series, but I'm really getting into graphic novels lately. I recently discovered the re-issues of Lone Wolf and Cub, and all of Frank Miller's stuff that I've seen is awesome.

Anyway, just my 2 cents.

[Jimbo]

I still have the old mid-1970's special issue where Spiderman fights then teams up with Shang-Chi. I was a big Marvel Comics fan all throughout the '70s but lost interst in the early '80s. I have looked at various comics now and then in recent years and feel underwhelmed. All the Marvel Comics (the only ones I liked, though I read a lot of Japanese Mangas in Taiwan in the early '90s) look the same, it seems almost everyone is built about 10 times more muscular than the biggest WWF superstars, and have evil, monster-like faces.

Well, that's the impression i got from the bit I've bothered to try to read. I liked the old stories that seemed to be more interesting and go deeper. Just my opinion.
Jim

[Shaolindynasty]

It seems to me that even though alot of the "stories" (if you'd call em that) have alot of mass destruction and the world hangs in the balance, they just don't seem as epic as some of the older stuff. I don't think the old stories went very deep but they were alot grander then. Remeber when spidey had to balance being a superhero, going to college, helping aunt may and having girl trouble? Those were the good old days. Even the early 90's were good, they still maintained some of the elements that made stories classic. In my opinon things took a turn for the worse when they made gory, violent, over exagerated artwork. Soon that beame more important than a good story. That is just my opinon though I mean I prefer heros like Spidey, Hulk, Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four, Avengers and even Captin America. X men were ok but I think wolverine is highly over rated. DC I never cared for much and it seems like marvel went down the same path with the unbeleiveable(even for superheros) type stories.

The old Marvels were still rooted in reality and the characters had more depth.

Today, the characters are either Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Keanu Reeves from Matrix types.

For example, the old Thors had all sorts of matchups against "real" characters in mythology. I have a "Giant-Sized Annual" in which Thor gets beaten to a pulp by the Greek mythology god Zeus.

What I liked most about Shang Chi is that for the most part, he was a BELIEVABLE superhero.

[Jimbo]

I agree the older Marvels had more story depth. In the '70s several of the superheroes had serious self-doubts (Thor, Captain America, Spiderman, etc.); or alcohol problems (Iron Man). There were drug issues (Peter Parker trying to help his friend Harry Osborne with a drub problem), race issues, a Satanic church (Tomb of Dracula), etc. They seemed to mix the social reality of the times and everyday life in a believeable way the modern comics cannot.

As for Thor, there was a period of time where Hercules was a regular in the comic. In one of my old Thor's from '74 there is a man who becomes possessed by the spirit of the first human, becoming a superhuman Neanderthal who beats Hercules easily, and gives Thor a good fight...very unusual one-time story.
Jim