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[Part 2 - Not on the list Uncanny X-Men]

I'll say for me, just another take,

Part 2 - Not on the list Uncanny X-Men

I accept I'm very much an outlier on this and folks either see past the cracks that I perceive to glory in the great plotting. Or the stories have such a foundational part in their reading they don't care. OR they see the craft as so good they don't even notice what I perceive as forced characters I don't trust. I mean none of us can ignore the countless dangling plot threads, but they never really mattered, they were part of the fun wondering when some long forgotten idea would spring back to life. 

My not liking Claremont's Uncanny run is another case of the reader bringing different desires to the table and therefore getting a different reaction to what they read. I do completely get what folks see in them, but they are just not for me these days. And for me this one is a case of not just thinking these comics are good, just not that good. Rather I just don't get on with them anymore at all, wonderful art aside.

I can dig! I'll say, just on the for the time and foundational in your reading thing, there are new fans of this run all the time today too. Myself I'm in the 170s of the run for the first time currently, and I've read it in pieces starting maybe 10-12 years ago. So I've read about 80 issues, plus started New Mutants recently.

I do agree the extra novelistic narration instead of letting the pictures do more of the talking, this does slow down a lot of comics of that time. But I still enjoy the style, and I think the dialogue is good, it gets a bit better as it goes at least so far as well. But I can appreciate it's not on your list, for me I love it.

That said, I'm guessing I might be less into the crossover heavy 1990 end of the run when I get there one day, but that sounds fun in its own way as well.

I can explain! When I mentioned I got Zeta Gundam with the DVD box, I mean when it came out in 2004! ZZ was not released in English officially until I wanna say 15 years or so later, though there were fansubs, and fan opinion at the time was ZZ was ok/cool but you could skip it. It has risen in status as a fan fav. I've always meant to watch it though, so for sure I'll give it a go on my latest Tomino go. Happy to hear you're digging it!

So much Gundam to watch for sure, and other Tomino shows like Dunbine etc I've meant to see.

Now I am looking forward to it. watch out Claremont!

Cool read, I'll have to check out some Power Pack now! I've been enjoying Claremont X-Men, I'm in the 170s, and Power Pack #27 is coming up in a crossover there. And Louise Simonson sounds cool on podcasts, seems like the 80s was a real high point for Marvel.

Keeping the Universal Century wagon rolling (sorry folks, this shits too good) with a first time viewing of Gundam ZZ.

At the a little over the half way point and the 'antagonists' just killed 1/3 of the Earths population by dropping a colony (for the uninitiated (most people reading this) colonies are huge in Gundam and usually home to several million people in their own right) on 'checks notes'...Dublin.
As fucking hilariously specific as that is ZZ is some of the most fun I've had watching a longer form show in years, this shit rocks.

Awesome! Love Tomino and all that Gundam good times. I haven't seen ZZ yet been meaning to, at the time I got the Zeta Gundam box and then watched Char's Counterattack etc. Did a Mobile Suit Gundam rewatch in the past couple years, gonna do Zeta again then ZZ sometime. So many cool series.

Uncanny X-Men: From the Ashes (starts with issue 168), great stuff! What a run. Taking me years, but fun chipping away at this epic saga.

Also reading Archie Mega Man, Kelly Deadpool, Usagi Yojimbo, Mirage TMNT, lots of stuff to get back to.

For the record, when I said "Wagner rules" I meant like "Wagner is awesome", I'm American so our slang is sometimes different in contexts etc. 

I don't like it when these upstarts say stuff like that, I get you want to run wild, but Wagner rules. And he seems like such a cool guy too. Play nice! 

Nobody has a beef with John, but writers get understandably pissed off with the section of fandom that declares it's not 'canon' if Wagner didn't write it. To be fair, now that John writes so little Dredd they've largely fallen silent, but it was a definite thing back when he wrote Dredd stories on a more regular basis.

At say DC, so many writers enjoy writing stories that are "non-canon", say Elseworlds or self contained series etc with Batman. So it seems a bit silly either way that professional writers at 2000AD would be "pissed off" by some fans saying this. Plus like you say it's pretty rare to hear today anyway.

It's cool that we have different opinions, they don't like fans saying some stuff apparently. And I don't like writers saying some stuff, particularly them complaining about the situation with John Wagner. I think it's lame.

I know John is hands off like you're saying, my suggestion wasn't that he needs to rule, my suggestion is the writers complaining about how much respect the fans give John with Dredd is silly and wrongheaded. But I do also think Wagner is the best writer ever, so I don't like people finding some excuse to complain about him or his fans. Just a pet peeve, they have theirs I have mine. The circle of comic net opinions.

I also heard something vaguely like that from Williams if I recall correctly. I don't like it when these upstarts say stuff like that, I get you want to run wild, but Wagner rules. And he seems like such a cool guy too. Play nice! 

Cool read, always good to see talk about Dredd droids, especially touching on so many in one post. What an excellent history and run, naturally one of the best comics ever.

Cool write up, I've been meaning to try Liberty Meadows sometime. In general I've just gotten back into reading newspaper comic strips after decades, trying some 80s Bloom County etc.

I'll say, the thing you mentioned about the possibility of the early stuff not appealing to you as much, I get that. Because I didn't end up liking it myself, I had the first 3 trade paperbacks of Mad Man maybe 10 or 15 years ago, just read the first one, didn't like it. Perused the rest, sold them. Granted as mentioned above, people do love it.

I do think it's cool to be able to enjoy a thing even if not completist about it. If there's a chunk of something that reaches out to you to try it instead of the beginning, why not, sounds good.

Cool to see some Chandler talk! The Big Sleep rules for sure, incredible book. The movie is cool, love Bogart, but the book is for sure a lot better naturally. And you lose that cool narration in the movie.

Murder My Sweet (Farewell My Lovely) 1944 is a cool movie that keeps narration in there so we get some of those classic zingers. The Long Goodbye (the 70s Elliot Gould film) is awesome, though I hear very different from the book naturally.

I've got the other ones on the shelf, but The Big Sleep is the only one I've read so far.

I heard his last one Playback is a big drop off, did you find that? And any fav few out of the bunch?

Cool stuff! Also, rock and roll is younger than comics are which is something.

Maybe I'm weird because my parents didn't like the Beatles. They were more into 70s rock bands etc.  I do like that Live and Let Die song. I've heard some songs and the White album, just haven't really become a fan. I'll give it another try though. I think Beatles is more comparable to those 60s comics people have mentioned. And with music maybe even more so than comics, it's all personal taste, how influential and important it is won't make you connect with it and love it. It does or it doesn't you know?