Isom#1 Rippaverse 1 1

[thegiftedone45]

On 9/21/2022 at 11:03 AM, shadroch said:

What part of the concept appeals to you? Perhaps I'm missing something, so help a brother out.  

It's not DC or Marvel and it's a whole new universe.

[Dave2739]

On 9/21/2022 at 11:11 AM, thegiftedone45 said:

It's not DC or Marvel and it's a whole new universe.

To be fair, creating a whole new universe in comics isn't exactly a novel concept. It happens on a regular basis actually.

[Lord Gemini]

On 9/21/2022 at 9:31 AM, thegiftedone45 said:

Just did the same. I'm interested in the concept and willing to at least try it out. It's interesting how so many people on here are against it and it hasn't even came out yet.

We've explained why we're against it...multiple times.

Edited September 21, 2022 by Lord Gemini

[thegiftedone45]

On 9/21/2022 at 11:23 AM, Dave2739 said:

To be fair, creating a whole new universe in comics isn't exactly a novel concept. It happens on a regular basis actually.

Yeah I know I've be reading comics for over 30 years....It's weird the hate some things get before it even comes out but it's the times that we are in. Yall have a good one.

[Dave2739]

On 9/22/2022 at 8:18 AM, thegiftedone45 said:

Yeah I know I've be reading comics for over 30 years....It's weird the hate some things get before it even comes out but it's the times that we are in. Yall have a good one.

Hating things before they come out is also not a novel concept with us comic nerds. Has nothing to do with "the times that we are in". See ya later and thanks for stopping by.

[awakeintheashes]

On 9/21/2022 at 11:23 AM, Dave2739 said:

To be fair, creating a whole new universe in comics isn't exactly a novel concept. It happens on a regular basis actually.

True. Image rolled out what has essentially become the "Massiveverse" about two years ago. It's not bad. Might be worth checking out for anyone looking for something different. 

[BuraddoRun]

I got my shipping notification! After I read it, I'll come post my opinion.

[Prince Namor]

On 9/22/2022 at 8:22 AM, Dave2739 said:

Hating things before they come out is also not a novel concept with us comic nerds. Has nothing to do with "the times that we are in". See ya later and thanks for stopping by.

Exactly. I remember all of the hate for the 'new' New Warriors before it ever came out. Guess it's ok when it fits their agenda - not so much when its the same way against them. 

[Dave2739]

On 9/29/2022 at 2:00 PM, Prince Namor said:

Exactly. I remember all of the hate for the 'new' New Warriors before it ever came out. Guess it's ok when it fits their agenda - not so much when its the same way against them. 

Right. Remember when Michael Keaton was cast as Batman? Everyone flipped out that Mr. Mom didn't look like Batman even before any photos of him in the costume were revealed.

[BuraddoRun]

I got my book yesterday, and I've read it. here is my review:

The physical quality of the book is very good. It is professionally done, and feels like a normal graphic novel you'd get from any of the big companies, though there is no bar code or even price printed on the books anywhere. But it is solid, has a thick, glossy exterior and nice stock for the interior pages. No complaints in this department.

Regarding what the book represents and the various concerns about it being political or anti-political or whatever other social concerns, it's pretty straightforward. Eric July has a 1-page Forward at the beginning of the book where he thanks everyone and mentions his feelings that the legacy comic characters we all know and love have been mishandled in modern times. It's not a deep discussion, just a couple of sentences before segueing into why that inspired the creation of the Rippaverse. At the end of the book, there's the printed "Rippaverse Ethic," where he again mentions, in one sentence, "the unfortunate state of the industry." He then promises readers that he knows customers deserve respect and without customers the book won't exist. He also talks about how each book will matter and continuity and the timeline are important. There's a single page pinup that serves as a separator between the main story and an epilogue or intro to another story that shows Eric (I believe it's Eric, but I suppose it could be a character) wearing a hat that says "taxation is theft." Finally there's another 1-page pinup where Eric is holding up a sign that says, "Respect the source material." Besides those things that might be controversial to some, everything else in the book, including the story itself, is just a story. There are no political discussions, no mentions of anything that's a hot political or social topic these days. It's a straightforward story about a guy, a former hero apparently, who comes back from hiding to help an acquaintance. There are some discussions between characters about hard work, family, and community, just your standard everybody-can-agree stuff. One character has one line where he talks about seeing someone in service (church). A couple of cops talk "locker room talk" about what they'd let a certain female superhero do to them (not a graphic discussion) before the chief angrily kicks them out of the office. The point is, this story does what he promises. It isn't far-right propaganda and it isn't left-wing erasure. It's just a story about a flawed guy trying to do good in a world of super-powered folk that can be good or bad.

On to the art. It's good! I honestly don't love it personally, but the artist is talented, certainly better than a lot of other books on the shelves. One thing I do really like a lot, though, are the action sequences. The choreography, so to speak, is great. I love the fight scenes! The lettering and coloring were both professionally done as well, though, to be fair, those are aspects I don't usually pay much attention to. The point is, everything looks and feels professional here aesthetically.

Now on to the meat of it: the story. Honestly, I thought it was...OK. I won't lie. I wanted it to be great. Jumping on at the beginning of something new that has been a financial success and where the creator is excited to unveil his dream was exciting for me, too. But the book itself wasn't super exciting for me. The characters aren't all that interesting to me. There was nothing that really drew me in to them. I just don't know them enough to care right now. There's some mystery to Isom's past, and while I find myself wanting to know the answers, I also kind of feel that it isn't very important. The point is that he stopped being a hero, and now he's back. The person he's trying to save, or the bad guy he's trying to beat, isn't all that interesting either, nor are the supporting characters we meet. I mentioned it above, but when a fight scene occurred, I really enjoyed it. It was illustrated very well in those parts, but almost everything in-between, all the character and world-building parts were not very interesting in my opinion. Also, the dialogue felt uneven. Sometimes characters spoke very formally, and other times they switched to informal, without rhyme or reason. It felt inconsistent.The epilogue/preview at the end seemed interesting enough, but that felt more like a teaser than anything, which I suppose is fine. Overall, unfortunately, I have to say I'm not super-impressed with the actual story thus far.

So overall, I think the book is just OK. I'm interested to see where it goes, and I'd love to see the Rippaverse make an impact in the market. Healthy competition is a good thing. I also think what Eric says he wants to do with this book is a good thing, and appeals to people that may be disgruntled with the Big 2. But I don't think this will ever be a Marvel or DC killer. Honestly, I don't know if it will be successful in the end. It's a start, but it has a long way to go, despite its initial resounding success. $47 (after shipping and tax) was a big asking price for a single, 96-or-so page book. I'm not giving up on Rippaverse yet, but the next book will need to really grab me to keep my attention.

And that's my honest opinion. I've attached some pics.

Edited October 1, 2022 by BuraddoRun

[D84]

Mine finally showed up yesterday and I took the opportunity to read it during a lull with the family.

The story was enjoyable and I liked the characters so far. The relationships between them were fleshed out enough to make me want to know more of backstory.

The dialogue was a little awkward at times, but nothing too egregious. I've read worse out of recent DC.

It's interesting enough to get issue 2 and see where it goes.

8/10

 

[Lord Gemini]

 

On 10/1/2022 at 5:47 PM, BuraddoRun said:

I got my book yesterday, and I've read it. here is my review:

The physical quality of the book is very good. It is professionally done, and feels like a normal graphic novel you'd get from any of the big companies, though there is no bar code or even price printed on the books anywhere. But it is solid, has a thick, glossy exterior and nice stock for the interior pages. No complaints in this department.

Regarding what the book represents and the various concerns about it being political or anti-political or whatever other social concerns, it's pretty straightforward. Eric July has a 1-page Forward at the beginning of the book where he thanks everyone and mentions his feelings that the legacy comic characters we all know and love have been mishandled in modern times. It's not a deep discussion, just a couple of sentences before segueing into why that inspired the creation of the Rippaverse. At the end of the book, there's the printed "Rippaverse Ethic," where he again mentions, in one sentence, "the unfortunate state of the industry." He then promises readers that he knows customers deserve respect and without customers the book won't exist. He also talks about how each book will matter and continuity and the timeline are important. There's a single page pinup that serves as a separator between the main story and an epilogue or intro to another story that shows Eric (I believe it's Eric, but I suppose it could be a character) wearing a hat that says "taxation is theft." Finally there's another 1-page pinup where Eric is holding up a sign that says, "Respect the source material." Besides those things that might be controversial to some, everything else in the book, including the story itself, is just a story. There are no political discussions, no mentions of anything that's a hot political or social topic these days. It's a straightforward story about a guy, a former hero apparently, who comes back from hiding to help an acquaintance. There are some discussions between characters about hard work, family, and community, just your standard everybody-can-agree stuff. One character has one line where he talks about seeing someone in service (church). A couple of cops talk "locker room talk" about what they'd let a certain female superhero do to them (not a graphic discussion) before the chief angrily kicks them out of the office. The point is, this story does what he promises. It isn't far-right propaganda and it isn't left-wing erasure. It's just a story about a flawed guy trying to do good in a world of super-powered folk that can be good or bad.

On to the art. It's good! I honestly don't love it personally, but the artist is talented, certainly better than a lot of other books on the shelves. One thing I do really like a lot, though, are the action sequences. The choreography, so to speak, is great. I love the fight scenes! The lettering and coloring were both professionally done as well, though, to be fair, those are aspects I don't usually pay much attention to. The point is, everything looks and feels professional here aesthetically.

Now on to the meat of it: the story. Honestly, I thought it was...OK. I won't lie. I wanted it to be great. Jumping on at the beginning of something new that has been a financial success and where the creator is excited to unveil his dream was exciting for me, too. But the book itself wasn't super exciting for me. The characters aren't all that interesting to me. There was nothing that really drew me in to them. I just don't know them enough to care right now. There's some mystery to Isom's past, and while I find myself wanting to know the answers, I also kind of feel that it isn't very important. The point is that he stopped being a hero, and now he's back. The person he's trying to save, or the bad guy he's trying to beat, isn't all that interesting either, nor are the supporting characters we meet. I mentioned it above, but when a fight scene occurred, I really enjoyed it. It was illustrated very well in those parts, but almost everything in-between, all the character and world-building parts were not very interesting in my opinion. Also, the dialogue felt uneven. Sometimes characters spoke very formally, and other times they switched to informal, without rhyme or reason. It felt inconsistent.The epilogue/preview at the end seemed interesting enough, but that felt more like a teaser than anything, which I suppose is fine. Overall, unfortunately, I have to say I'm not super-impressed with the actual story thus far.

So overall, I think the book is just OK. I'm interested to see where it goes, and I'd love to see the Rippaverse make an impact in the market. Healthy competition is a good thing. I also think what Eric says he wants to do with this book is a good thing, and appeals to people that may be disgruntled with the Big 2. But I don't think this will ever be a Marvel or DC killer. Honestly, I don't know if it will be successful in the end. It's a start, but it has a long way to go, despite its initial resounding success. $47 (after shipping and tax) was a big asking price for a single, 96-or-so page book. I'm not giving up on Rippaverse yet, but the next book will need to really grab me to keep my attention.

And that's my honest opinion. I've attached some pics.

The forward is enough to make me not want to read it. Sounds like the same garbage from the video. Pass.

[Pittsburgh]

On 10/14/2022 at 12:12 PM, Lord Gemini said:

 

The forward is enough to make me not want to read it. Sounds like the same garbage from the video. Pass.

Can't believe that you wouldn't read this comic after all of your previous comments on it.  We are all shocked at this revelation

[shadroch]

Is issue #2 also going to be $47?

[nines]

On 9/9/2022 at 11:41 PM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

I read a good run of Claremont's run on X-Men many years ago, around the time when I was in college. 2 takeways from that:

* When you binge read a monthly book in a short period of time, you get the impression that the X-Men were a bunch of serious whiners, as in pretty much every issue, someone (in my memory, Rogue played this role more than the others) decries the fact that they're a group that the world "hates and fears." But of course, in those times, before collections were a regular thing, *every* issue was someone's first, and Claremont was just outlining what the book was about for the new readers.

• Yes, it was all about prejudice. And that SO MANY PEOPLE do not understand that explains why some writers have chosen to make the message more explicit in their books. But I guess there are some people that are never going to be open to the message in the books that they claim to enjoy.

Conflating fear and animosity towards mutants that possess immense power and world ending capability, with social nuances. That's a bit of a stretch.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 11/1/2022 at 4:33 PM, nines said:

Conflating fear and animosity towards mutants that possess immense power and world ending capability, with social nuances. That's a bit of a stretch.

Tell that to Stan Lee. He's explicitly said that's what inspired the book.

[thegiftedone45]

On 10/14/2022 at 10:47 AM, D84 said:

Mine finally showed up yesterday and I took the opportunity to read it during a lull with the family.

The story was enjoyable and I liked the characters so far. The relationships between them were fleshed out enough to make me want to know more of backstory.

The dialogue was a little awkward at times, but nothing too egregious. I've read worse out of recent DC.

It's interesting enough to get issue 2 and see where it goes.

8/10

 

I pretty much felt the same exact way (Got mine last week).  It's enough to keep me interested and wanting to see more. I also think the dialogue was definitely awkward some times with someone speaking slang then using a SAT type word.  I liked the truthfulness on why Isom stated he was coming back (his ego with the bad guy talking down to him).

[nines]

On 11/1/2022 at 4:19 PM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

Tell that to Stan Lee. He's explicitly said that's what inspired the book.

I thought the Cold War was the inspiration for the book. Magneto's origin, 'hom superior' etc 

Edited November 2, 2022 by nines

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 11/1/2022 at 8:45 PM, nines said:

I thought the Cold War was the inspiration for the book. Magneto's origin, 'hom superior' etc 

https://www.history.com/news/stan-lee-x-men-civil-rights-inspiration

[Prince Namor]

On 11/1/2022 at 9:11 PM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

https://www.history.com/news/stan-lee-x-men-civil-rights-inspiration

That's some revisionist history there. The X-Men came out in July of 1963 - the Civil Rights protests really didn't start until about a year later. 

And it's weird to equate some parallel with it, while having an all-white team.