On one hand, the art is amazing. And certain aspects it explores about Bill's backstory and his feelings after it are compelling. But so much of the writing in it is trying really hard to be GOTG le-so self aware reddit-tier slop. Skuttlebutt gets turned into a robowaifu and becomes less interesting. Bill in general is written as some sniveling little beta who suddenly cares about "Living in Thor's shadow," whatever that means, when stuff like that never mattered to him before. Pretty much no book in the past twenty years has ever used the "Using Stormbreaker reverts Bill back to his normal form" thing and now it's suddenly a major plot point? And then there's the removal of Stormbreaker. I don't care about some new le-epic sword weapon or techno axe. I want Stormbreaker because it's unique to Bill. The character has always managed to exist comfortably with and apart from Thor, sure he's considered part of the latter's supporting cast but his stories didn't revolve completely around Thor up until now.
Overall the art is great and there's some intriguing character work here, but for the most part I miss Bill's old characterization, and feel like this mini will only negatively impact him in the future.
A character whose original purpose has been fulfilled and whose new purpose only exists in relation to another, similar but "better" character feeling the chafe isn't being a sniveling beta, that's just having a sense of self-worth. Just because you have no ambition doesn't mean that people who feel the urge to actually accomplish things instead of living on handouts are somehow inferior.
Agree on the Scuttlebutt thing though, that was just moronic.
>Just because you have no ambition doesn't mean that people who feel the urge to actually accomplish things instead of living on handouts are somehow inferior.
Woah buddy, slow down there on the assumptions. And my point is that Bill coming to this new low point in his life where he's hounding after Thor's glory feels artificial compared to how he's been written in the past. The character has always angsted over his people and not being able to save them in recent years but he still felt self-assured and heroic. His conflict over his appearance in this book is compelling, but there are points where it slips into OOC self-absorption to me personally.
The whole bit with Sif not being willing to frick him felt especially egregious. She's a Norse Goddess who's probably seen and fricked all manner of mythological creature and now she's not gonna frick the ripped orange guy because he has a horse face? Again it felt artificial
yeah its pretty much forced drama that ruins a char that seemes pretty above such pettiness, and make ir double with siff, same exact fricking commet 10/10 art, 3/10 chacter writing.
the kind you only hate the art for being so good and feeling so wasted in something you will never read again.
I was invested in the sif/bill romance and I legit wanted to see where it could go. felt like a lazy cop out to do Jocasta Skuttlebutt
It's some Mass Effect 3-tier shit. Skuttlebutt's been Bill's ride or die since the character's conception but now that they've got an ass and breasts their interactions become romantic. Would've been more zaney and comic bookey if he just fricked the ship
Krakoa-era really should've been its own separate continuity. It would've solved so many problems. Namely you wouldn't have all the manchildren crying about muh morals and the story would be free to actually effect the change it wanted to from the get-go. Everyone could've been happy
Wrong thread.
DWJ isn't a good writer. Nothing you can do about that. Excellent artist tho.
No, he's a good writer, but he only has one story: loss
NO, not the meme. But every last one of his stories is about characters overcoming the tragedy of some loss in their past.
Extremity is about an artist in a world of warriors dealing with the loss of her hand, her life's purpose, and her mother.
Do A Powerbomb is about a father and daughter dealing with the loss of their wife and mother.
Murder Falcon is about a guy dealing with the loss of his own life as he's got terminal cancer and isolated from everyone important in his life.
Wonder Woman Dead Earth is about Diana dealing with the loss of the world, the Amazons, and all of her hero friends.
And so on.
This BRB book was about Bill dealing with the loss of his weapon, and with it, his confidence, purpose in life, and self-image.
And he does it really well, the best of his stories are genuinely touching; but you can't do that with every character. By putting him into this box, he made Bill seem like a pretty vain character, worried about appearance and the opinions of others about him, which is something Bill's previous characterization doesn't really have (to my knowledge).
He’s a terrible writer anon, you may like a few of his stuffy, ugly ass comics (I don’t like his art either frankly but I get that some of you losers salivate over it) but it doesn’t change this fact. He can barely construct a story, doesn’t understand nuance or character in general and he largely just goes by the seat of his pants.
I didn't like the story but would not go as far to say that he sucks at writing. Artis/writers like him need a solid editor or another writer to collaborate and make the story more cohesive
There's plenty others that are worse at this in current comics, at the very worst he's just unimaginative. Have heard do a Powerbomb is his best but I'm not a fan of wresting to think it's mostly that as the draw
>Artis/writers like him need a solid editor or another writer
You know why? Because he isn’t a good writer. In fact, he’s a terrible writer.
I haven't read all the other stories you mentioned but after bringing up Tom King earlier, it really is a type of TK syndrome. Just repeating the same concept as the main plot point
Using the same theme does NOT make one a good or bad writer.
>Murder Falcon
Was a fricking joke. Didn't even focus on Jake and his cancer story. Instead they wasted time on the shitty side characters to the point where his cancer struggle and arc hold little meaning.
But you need to feel bad for the shitty bandmates who tried to kick him out of his own band.
You have to feel bad for his wife cause she's the real victim here.
Naw, he just sucks.
I thought this comic is more projections from the creator to make a cool story but falls flat from how the characters are mishandled. It's like a mild case of the Tom King syndrome were there's a story first and the characters are added later. I think BRB has already been well defined even when he first appeared that it would be odd to do such an out of the norm take when that's usually for characters that are not that popular and undefined.
I also disliked the 80s nostalgia because it felt to me that DWJ was just trying to project nostalgia into the story much like how Ragnarok did. Or at least to me with the Surtur connection, reads like a fanfic continuation of that movie than anything else.
The one good thing I liked was keeping in line with the dynamic BRB has with Sif, I think exploring their relationship, romantic or just friends, is interesting for both.
by the Tom King syndrome, I also forgot to mention that this is DWJ's Marvel equivalent to what he did with Wonder Woman Dead Earth. I think that WW is one of those characters that is similar to BRB that is well defined and under utilized but just happens to be popular. Both this comic and Dead Earth tho are more in doing cool stories with awesome scenarios but don't feel true to the character.
Makes sense why he jumped to the Transformers comics for everything he is famous for. At least doing better than a similar creator like Tradd Moore.
These guys need a good writer or editor to reign in and make their ideas cohesive and actually interesting
>I think BRB has already been well defined even when he first appeared that it would be odd to do such an out of the norm take when that's usually for characters that are not that popular and undefined.
Hit the nail on the head right there. Beta Ray Bill didn't need to be "reinvented," he was already a strong character on his own
Johnson is one of the worst writers of the current “cartoonist” group
>But so much of the writing in it is trying really hard to be GOTG le-so self aware reddit-tier slop.
So the same as every other post MCU book then
Just glad to see lady sif didn't actually get horsed
It's not a good comic, but the art is alright.
Yet another monkey paw. I got what I wished for and it's the opposite of what I wanted.