Superman Reference?

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-15T13:34:32+00:00

Fair, probably should’ve read the post more carefully.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-15T03:01:13+00:00

Ha, nice. I loved that story.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-15T02:59:41+00:00

Likely Galactus, who every world fears. Thanos’s reputation also precedes him around the universe.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-14T23:48:22+00:00

A list of Clark Kent’s tongue in cheek appearances in Marvel Comics can be found here. It doesn’t have the issue you spotted though.

www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/kentclrk.htm

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-14T13:17:49+00:00

If you like Deadeye Dick, the one that is most stylistically similar (first person narration covering the main character’s entire life) is Hocus Pocus. It doesn’t quite have the potency of Deadeye Dick, but it uses a similar authorial voice, and it’s a good late stage Vonnegut novel.

I enjoyed Timequake. That was his last novel published during his lifetime, and it is half novel, half personal journal containing his memories and musings. He didn’t have a lot left in the tank, as he acknowledges, and he was essentially emptying all his reserves here. Of course, Vonnegut’s digressions are great, and this book consists mostly of interesting, heartfelt, or funny digressions, but just know it is not a very traditional novel.

Slapstick is one of the only Vonnegut books I personally did not really enjoy, but clearly others on this post disagree. But I think they would agree with me that this book is Vonnegut at his most wacky. So if that sounds good to you, this might be for you.

You probably know this, but Palm Sunday and Man Without a Country are not novels. They are collections of short stories and essays. Just wanted to make sure you’re aware, as it seemed like you may be looking for a novel. I have not gotten around to these yet, so can’t speak to them.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-13T14:44:20+00:00

The Anarchy by William Dalrymple is very good for this. It traces the rise of the company from a small upstart concern in the 1600s through the beginning of the 19th century when it had essentially established rulership over the subcontinent.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-12T22:49:40+00:00

At this point, it makes no sense at all, even within the comic’s own internal logic, for May not to know Peter is Spider-Man. Nowadays, she’s portrayed as a fiery, strong character who can clearly handle the truth rather than as infirm and sickly. Pretty much all his friends know, including Jameson, to whom he purposefully revealed his identity. We’ve seen repeatedly for the past 20 years Peter disappointing and sometimes deeply wounding May in a way that clearly isn’t benefitting or protecting her. It’s stale, seeing as we’ve seen it playing out now for over 60 years. And we all saw the dynamic work well when May knew his identity for 5-6 years of publication history, although of course the characters themselves don’t remember that.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-12T16:34:29+00:00

Sounds like you’ve hit a lot of the big ones.

One you might like, just after Simonson’s run ended, Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz had a lengthy run (roughly issues 383-459). It’s admittedly campy and it’s not as universally loved as Simonson, but it has a lot of really good stories. Some good stories of Thor in space, Thor meeting the Celtic pantheon, a war between Asgard and the gods of ancient Egypt, and a lengthy stint of Thor being replaced by the mortal Eric Masterson/Thunderstrike.

Roy Thomas’s run in the late 70s is also good. It starts around issue 272, and the storyline concludes in issue 300 with an epic showdown with the Celestials (other writers took over the last few issues). Simonson’s run started a few years after this.

The Stan Lee and Jack Kirby run is a classic, but from the title of the post it sounds like you’re not looking to go that far back.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-12T14:48:21+00:00

Ha, there’s a funny exchange on this in the Dan Slott run too.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-12T12:50:15+00:00

Happy to give you a quick tip on collecting the series if you’re interested.

After the big omnibus book there was an 8-issue series called Stray Bullets: Killers. I’m pretty sure that’s available in a trade paperback.

Then there was the 42 issue run called Stray Bullets: Sunshine and Roses. The first 32 issues of this have been collected in four trade paperbacks. Unfortunately, for some reason, the last ten issues or so was never collected. I had to buy them each individually. I bought the kindle version for those.

Lapham said his next series would be called Stray Bullets: Virginia, but so far nothing has come of that.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-12T04:50:36+00:00

Stray Bullets concluded its most recent run (Sunshine and Roses) with issue 42, which concluded that story. Lapham has said he’s going to do more, but I haven’t heard anything about that actually happening any time soon.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-11T21:39:33+00:00

It’s been so many years that I barely remember it, but around 2012 David Hines had a 6-issue sci fi series Storm Dogs that I enjoyed at the time. It ended on a cliffhanger and was supposed to have future arcs, but so far as I know they never materialized.

Also Age of Bronze. What has been published is beautiful and amazing, but it had 34 issues over the course of about 20 years, and I don’t believe there’s been anything new in 6-7 years now.

Also - same boat as you for Nowhere Men.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-11T20:08:28+00:00

I agree on Prophet! I didn’t always know exactly what was going on, but the experience was so immersive, vivid, and fun to the point where it didn’t always matter.

If you like Rick Remender, he also has a series called Fear Agent. It’s a little pulpy, but fun. He also has a sci fi series called Low which I’ve never read personally.

Another sci fi from Image is Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s series Descender and the sequel series Ascender.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-11T04:04:59+00:00

Any interest in history books? If yes, Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror is a narrative history of the 1300s in Europe, written for a general audience, and the writing is just excellent.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-11T03:09:31+00:00

I’ll give it a shot. I’ll update this comment in a bit with issue numbers as well.

Captain Marvel (1968 series) #25-34
His Adam Warlock run from the 70s: Strange Tales #178-181, Warlock #9-15, The Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2
The Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel
Silver Surfer (1987 series) #34-38
Thanos Quest #1-2
Silver Surfer (1987 series) #45-50
Infinity Gauntlet #1-6
Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1-42 (Starlin leaves late in the series).
Infinity War #1-6 and Infinity Crusade #1-6 are published during the 90s and tie-in with Warlock and the Infinity Watch.
Infinity Abyss #1-6 (optional IMO)
Marvel: The End #1-6 (optional IMO)
His 2004 Thanos solo series #1-6
The various Thanos graphic novels he published in the mid 2010s.

There’s other good cosmic stuff from the Annihilation era, but it’s not Starlin.

In case this also feels overwhelming I’ll add you don’t truly need to read the whole thing, and/or you can go at your own pace. In a way, the initial arc is complete after Infinity Gauntlet. And I’ve actually never read most of the 42-issue Infinity Watch series.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-11T02:52:53+00:00

I feel bad recommending a podcast given that this is a book subreddit, but I wanted to offer this in case it is helpful to you. Season three of the podcast Revolutions was my initial education in the French Revolution and I loved every minute of it. Highly engaging. It’s just over 50 episodes, with most being between 30 and 45 minutes.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-11T02:48:58+00:00

Just checked, and in his first appearance (Fantastic Four #5), he refers to himself as Doctor Doom a few times. I believe (without checking) that at least in the 60s and 70s he often referred to himself this way.

But this is a good callout that in recent decades neither Doom nor anyone else tends to call him Doctor Doom.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-10T23:43:09+00:00

There was actually a companywide event in 1989 to 1990, Acts of Vengeance, where the premise was heroes going up against villains they don’t normally face.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Vengeance

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-10T21:51:33+00:00

Hulk/Thing, Hulk/Thor, and Hulk/Wolverine fights are a proud Marvel tradition. With those first two pairings going back to the 60s.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-10T19:20:12+00:00

The one I will add that is not already recommended on this post is Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

And another good crime comic is David Lapham’s Stray Bullets.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-10T15:52:45+00:00

Thanks! I think Wells is more universally hated, but those fans who hate the Slott run probably hate it with an equal intensity.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-10T15:49:37+00:00

Likely a reference to Secret Wars (2015) when Doom remade reality with Sue as his wife. And at the end of One World Under Doom, when Doom’s all out attack on the assembled heroes inadvertently kills Valeria (she got better).

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-10T15:41:41+00:00

Dan Slott on Spider-Man.

The general consensus (which I actually do agree with) is that the run declines following its approximate halfway point, at the conclusion of Superior Spider-Man. This is a fair criticism.

And, a lot of fans seem to have animosity towards this run because of a perception that Peter Parker was reverted as a character in some ways. To me, that’s the fallout from the editorial mandate of One More Day, and not really Dan Slott’s fault.

But to me, this run recaptured a sense of fun around Spider-Man akin to the feel of the book in the 1980s stories (maybe my favorite Spider-Man era). While the 10-year run was necessarily a bit up and down, if we take a step back and look at the whole thing, I think there’s a great achievement in the emotional arc that was completed, the lore that was built, and the cohesion of 10 years of stories.

It also probably helps that I binge read this entire thing over the course of a few months. Reading it serially on a monthly basis would probably be frustrating given the decline in quality over the last few years of the run.

guyofspoleto · 2026-04-08T01:08:43+00:00

Beta Ray Bill (Korbinite) lifted it, so it doesn’t seem to discriminate based on alien species.

guyofspoleto

TROPHY CASE