I like the new one better, but with reservations. I think the art's better, the writing's better, although -- like some of you - I wish the story had taken us into the character flaws of the Surviving Eight a little more slowly.
It's weird, though, that I already have an impression of some of the personalities from the Dev statements on the boards, and they don't quite fit with the characters in the story. For instance, NOT ONCE did the Statesman in the comic say 'It's coming soon,' or 'We're looking into it,' or even 'The powers are working as intended.' It makes me wonder how closely Waid is paying attention to character motivation.
I think the new comic is MUCH better than the old one. It might not be perfect, but it's interesting, at least. The old comic was just boring, in my opinion.
It did a good job of making a comic out of the game we play every day, but I don't want to read a comic that just features the game I play every day. This game isn't fun because it's got a deep story or narrative, it's just fun to play, and that doesn't translate well into a comic.
The art in the new one might be slightly generic, but I still think it's much better than the old one, which came off as cheap and juvenile.
I love that we're getting to know the Freedom Phalanx. They're the most interesting thing in the game, in my opinion, and it's nice to learn more about them.
"She started dancin' to that fine, fine music,
Y'know, her life was saved by rock 'n' roll."
--The Velvet Underground
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I love that we're getting to know the Freedom Phalanx. They're the most interesting thing in the game, in my opinion, and it's nice to learn more about them.
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Nonsense. *I* am the most interesting thing in the game.
Scrapper Jack (SJ/WP Brute), Sky Commando (WP/SJ Tanker), Curveball (Rad/DP Defender), and a bunch more.
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I like the art but the story doesn't make any sense.
There's a spell on the city that "suppresses super powers". It evidently doesn't do anything to the war walls (some pretty elite tech there), the guns wielded by the thugs, or cars. This means that it's very, very selective. And what about natural origin MA/SR scrappers who just know kung fu? Why would they be at anything less than full effectiveness? If guns work, why can't AR blasters just keep shooting? What about heroes whose powers are inextricably linked to their existence, like magical entities or androids like Bastadel (ok, they're probably just dead)? Why is Positron still generating anti-matter if that was his superpower?
Then we're told that 6 weeks later, the city is happy and peaceful and being cleaned up by "Arachnos drones". Life for the civilians is completely back to normal, but the only heroes in the city are hiding in fear of their lives. Super powers work everywhere else in the world but not in Paragon.
What?
Exactly what kind of drugs are the government and the civilians smoking? If I lived in that city, I'd be RUNNING for the exits. There's an unknown spell on the city - does that affect my cancer treatments, my cell phone, or any of the reverse-engineered Ritki tech being integrated into commercial products? If I was the president, I would scrounge up whatever military I had left from the war and send it to secure the place and get everyone out. If I lived anywhere else in the world I would drop everything and figure out how to make sure what happened to Paragon doesn't happen to me next. Superpowers get suppressed, a bunch of people die, some Arachnos guy sends in robots to control the place...and it's business as usual?
I don't buy it.
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Yep, holes in that storyline you can drive a truck through.
Yay, now that I finally got my issue I can join in saying how much I like it. *two thumbs up*
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I like the art but the story doesn't make any sense.
There's a spell on the city that "suppresses super powers". It evidently doesn't do anything to the war walls (some pretty elite tech there), the guns wielded by the thugs, or cars. This means that it's very, very selective. And what about natural origin MA/SR scrappers who just know kung fu? Why would they be at anything less than full effectiveness? If guns work, why can't AR blasters just keep shooting? What about heroes whose powers are inextricably linked to their existence, like magical entities or androids like Bastadel (ok, they're probably just dead)? Why is Positron still generating anti-matter if that was his superpower?
Then we're told that 6 weeks later, the city is happy and peaceful and being cleaned up by "Arachnos drones". Life for the civilians is completely back to normal, but the only heroes in the city are hiding in fear of their lives. Super powers work everywhere else in the world but not in Paragon.
What?
Exactly what kind of drugs are the government and the civilians smoking? If I lived in that city, I'd be RUNNING for the exits. There's an unknown spell on the city - does that affect my cancer treatments, my cell phone, or any of the reverse-engineered Ritki tech being integrated into commercial products? If I was the president, I would scrounge up whatever military I had left from the war and send it to secure the place and get everyone out. If I lived anywhere else in the world I would drop everything and figure out how to make sure what happened to Paragon doesn't happen to me next. Superpowers get suppressed, a bunch of people die, some Arachnos guy sends in robots to control the place...and it's business as usual?
I don't buy it.
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Yep, holes in that storyline you can drive a truck through.
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Yep. To add to that list: Are the Kheldians affected since their abilities are natural? Shouldn't the Council be making moves all over the place? There's nothing like some real robot on robot action. (Tk automatons don't count).
Ugh, I just hate the "steal the powers" stories. It seems like everytime you want to get the heroes over a barrel someone steals their powers. It's been happening in XBooks for nearly 20 years and it's a mainstay in Powers. (Grrr, I just have bad memories of those plots...and a bad GURPS experience with a GM villian named "Hero Killer.")
Oh, and I aaaaalmost forgot: Can we nickname Manticore "Bat Arrow" now?
Hmm.. seeing as how, with the old comic, I was a member of the 'Every-Other-Month Club', you know, that club I joined where they only sent me every other comic. I am not joking. So I have absolutely no idea how any of the stories in the original actually worked out.
I am hoping that with this move to Top Cow, I will somehow be magically transported into the 'Every Actual Month Club' of, you know, ACTUALLY GETTING THE DANG COMIC EVERY MONTH.
Ahem. Pardon me. This is a bit of a sore spot with me.
As far as the old ones that I actually got to see, I didn't really care for them. Always seemd a bit amateurish to me, the body proportions were always way off (especially Apex), and there never any 'sound effects', if that makes any sense. All the action always seemed to develop in silence, because there was never any sense of the sounds that other comics add to the action.
Meh, just my own petty expectations I guess.
They just better actually SEND the new ones this time, fer cryin out loud.
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Does anyone seem to respect our iconic heroes a little less now? Sister Psyche is a real b****, States has a bit of a superiority complex, and Synapse is a bum. But yeah, this isn't the golden age, I guess they need to be a little more real.
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I wanna know who Manticore paid off in the development of the comic to get the lead role with the nice car and the fancy clothes and good looks while all the rest are bums and down on their luck.
Good comic though, but yeah I agree, when I read the comic I was trying to figure out how, when they actually had their powers, they were able to keep their clothes all nice and pretty and had something, but now that they don't have their powers they wear tattered clothes and live as bums.
I'm looking forward to the next comic just to see if the storyline improves the personalities of the characters.
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Good comic though, but yeah I agree, when I read the comic I was trying to figure out how, when they actually had their powers, they were able to keep their clothes all nice and pretty and had something, but now that they don't have their powers they wear tattered clothes and live as bums.
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Yeah, it would make sense if their superhero identities were tied to their income, or something, but isn't the whole idea of a secret identity that you can keep those kinds of things separated?
Despite all the complaining that went on, I kind of liked the old comic. The stories could have been better, but the characters were so likeable I could tolerate it. I thought the forced and surprisingly darkish, bloody ending was a little incongruous but whatcha gonna do (shrug).
That said, I'm a reader and a good well written story means alot to me. In this respect the new comic just crushes the old. Darkity Dark or no. I'll admit that there are some character inconsistancies between the different CoH media offerings. The abrupt difference between the eager and clean cut Synapse of the CoV trailer who was "All over it , Manticore !" and the sloppy bum who reads porn led to kind of a feeling of disappointment for me and I think MaWeiTao was right on the money when he said [ QUOTE ]
It's the first time seeing these icons on the page and already we see the character flaws. I think it's a bit jarring mainly because they've all been regarded so highly up until now. Although, in some ways I like it because they're more human but it's something I would have worked in more slowly.
[/ QUOTE ] I don't mind character flaws. This is the first time I've heard or seen anything about Manticore really, so his being a bratty, overconfident, rich, bored playboy was totally acceptable as just the person his character was. Although I am a bit diapointed that the "heroes" seem to be dealing with adversity so poorly, I can see how they all feel their entire identity has been ripped out from under them and might have some trouble dealing w/ it so it works. What was surprising to me was how little the members of the phlanax, who presumably have been working together for awhile, seemed to be personally involved with one another. Really, they seemed almost like strangers. Secret identity or no, battle camraderie should have helped them develop something in the way of friendship. Does anybody else think that's kind of weird?
Cameraderie is a lot easier to pull off when you always win. 
The fact that none of them really have their powers (except maybe Manticore, I guess, and Positron insofar as he hasn't left a huge smoking crater where their HQ used to be) is forcing them to deal with life sans crutches. So I guess Manticore is most like he was before, because he's also the least changed by it.
Or some kind of psychobabble like that.
Scrapper Jack (SJ/WP Brute), Sky Commando (WP/SJ Tanker), Curveball (Rad/DP Defender), and a bunch more.
Personally, I liked both comics thus far. The graphics and story seem more complex with the new Top Cow magazine. However, as others have pointed out, the King comic heroes seem more like "us joes" playing the game, and were easier to identify with. Plus, the guest apperances were kind of nice for the players.
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I like the art but the story doesn't make any sense.
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Well, it's only been one issue. I'd give it a few more issues to fill in storyline that may not make sense now. A good story keeps the reader interested during it's duration, and doesn't give it all away up front.
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There's a spell on the city that "suppresses super powers". It evidently doesn't do anything to the war walls (some pretty elite tech there), the guns wielded by the thugs, or cars. This means that it's very, very selective.
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Or, things like guns and cars aren't consider 'super powers'. Those are straight chemical combustions, and require no super powers to activate. Just like boiling water produces steam. I wouldn't say it's 'very, very selective' but rather a finely focused attack/suppression system. I'll go into part of my belief on why Lord Recluse would do that in a bit....
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And what about natural origin MA/SR scrappers who just know kung fu? Why would they be at anything less than full effectiveness? If guns work, why can't AR blasters just keep shooting?
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My guess would be that the basics of it work, but the 'super' part of them are suppressed. For example, an AR blaster's guns might still work, but they may no longer have the enhanced abilities of aiming it, skills to use it, etc. My guess would be that they're suppressed to the levels of an ordinary human would have with skilled training. Good, but not 'super' in their levels.
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What about heroes whose powers are inextricably linked to their existence, like magical entities or androids like Bastadel (ok, they're probably just dead)? Why is Positron still generating anti-matter if that was his superpower?
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This may be a case of it being a suppression system rather then an outright disconnet. As demonstrated in the comic, limited abilities still remain with the super heroes, and it's not a total cut from them. At least with the main characters. Who knows what a 'lesser' hero is like. Perhaps it's also linked to how long, or advanced a hero is, and how 'bonded' they've become with their super powers, on how well they've retained them during this suppression.
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Then we're told that 6 weeks later, the city is happy and peaceful and being cleaned up by "Arachnos drones". Life for the civilians is completely back to normal, but the only heroes in the city are hiding in fear of their lives. Super powers work everywhere else in the world but not in Paragon.
What?
Exactly what kind of drugs are the government and the civilians smoking? If I lived in that city, I'd be RUNNING for the exits. There's an unknown spell on the city - does that affect my cancer treatments, my cell phone, or any of the reverse-engineered Ritki tech being integrated into commercial products? If I was the president, I would scrounge up whatever military I had left from the war and send it to secure the place and get everyone out. If I lived anywhere else in the world I would drop everything and figure out how to make sure what happened to Paragon doesn't happen to me next. Superpowers get suppressed, a bunch of people die, some Arachnos guy sends in robots to control the place...and it's business as usual?
I don't buy it.
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First, never underestimate the power of stupidity with group-think. As pointed out in the comic, the city is cleaned up and the citizens are living in perceived safety. Massive hero versus villian fights appear to be done away with. And other then Lord Recluse, at this point we don't know what's up with the villians either. We know the Clockwork were impacted by it, but not of the other groups. If the super heroes had their powers taken away, but so do the villians, I'm certain there would be people living there that would be in favor of that.
I think of it more as an ingenious plan by Lord Recluse, using PR against the heroes to establish his beach head. The heroes were there to protect the public and citizens, but yet were creating risks and general destruction. In comes Lord Recluse, and suddenly all that stops. Order is brought back, and the city is repaired and cleaned up. What are the heroes going to immediately argue? Bring back the city block devastation from their combat with the villians again? Bring back the graffiti and trash littering entire sections?
Of course it's only the first issue, so I'm certain more of the story will unfold as it progresses. Like what really is the motivation behind Lord Recluse. What happened to the other heroes? Sure we know they're said to have left, but perhaps that's some official story cooked up by Lord Recluse. And, what happen to all of the super powered villain groups once Lord Recluse came to town? Did they go in league with him? Did they get pushed aside? The latter could make for some interesting alliances as the heroes struggle to restore the city against Lord Recluse.
maybe nobody lost their powers... just Manticore had less Hamidon than everybody else and when the Hamidon enhances were removed people thought that all of their powers had been completely removed. couple that with an interruption of the medical transport system and the Clockwork King's psionics and what's missing?
as for character flaws... 6 weeks for actual depression is completely valid, heck people with actual depression can have boughts with it for 6 MONTHS of not wanting to step outside or deal with anybody at all
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I was thinking along that line also. Maybe they are trap in some kind of "Portal" Dimension or something. All part of Lord Recluse's plan. I guess we have been reading to many comics or watching to much Sci-Fi.
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I like the art but the story doesn't make any sense.
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Has anyone considered the possibility that the surviving eight are trapped inside some kind of holodeck?
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Hehe, yeah me too.