What's your favorite alternate timeline/dark future in comics?

What's your favorite alternate timeline/dark future in comics?

Alternatively, which is your favorite story that involves a "future gone wrong" element?

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>starting to read x-men for the first time this year
>reading uncanny x-men starting from the beginning
>so hyped to finally get to much-lauded days of future past story
> most hyped xmen story of all time lasts a mere 2 fucking issues
> fucking dropped

>>reading uncanny x-men starting from the beginning

Why would you do that though?
That's something you should do after you've gone through some of the better stories and go looking for some background. Of course you're going to be frustrated if you read 100+ issues just for a single 2-issue storyline.

If you really want to start way back, just start at Claremont's Giant Size X-Men and read until the end of his run.

Days of Future Past isn't lauded because it's a huge sprawling story, but because it originated the whole "compromised future that needs to be prevented" trope that is now really common in cape comics.

...

Yeah, it's what TV Tropes calls the Seinfeld is Unfunny syndrome. The originator has been copied so many times it's no longer fresh and original.

>If you really want to start way back, just start at Claremont's Giant Size X-Men and read until the end of his run.
I did this and was bored until Byrne joined the team.

Yeah, it only it dragged on and on and on for seven issues like modern comics, THEN it would be good!

Totally agree with this post.
Days of Future Past is not the story, it's everything that was set with that story.
And still, those are two good issues.

Pretty much, yeah. You have to understand that back then X-Men was super popular because it feature a lot of soap-opera drama with high concept superhero adventure; it was incredibly more serialized than most comics at the time, and had a lot of character development subplots that were kinda novel for those types of stories.

We take this shit for granted now, but back in the late 70s and early 80s it was pretty fucking cool. Imagine then, after following this team for six years, seeing them grow and evolve, you're suddenly thrown into this dark future where they're all dead, or dying, and all this crazy post-apocalyptic shit is going down. Imagine seeing Wolverine get fucking roasted alive by a Sentinel. It was pretty ground breaking stuff, a couple of years ahead of what comics would eventually become in the mid to late 80s.

i don't like to miss things. seemed easier to just read it all in the right order the first time? I guess it's kind of silly.

eh, well in that case i feel like kind of a dick

point well taken.

>i don't like to miss things

That's the thing, comics aren't manga. You're not missing anything by skipping early issues. Just pick a well praised writer and read his run, it will usually be pretty self explanatory.

For example, if you're looking for more X-Men stuff, I'd say skip a couple decades ahead and start at Morrison's New X-Men run, then Whedon's Astonishing run. They're pretty self contained, don't require any background, and you'll be able to follow up with the events by just reading up recommendation lists and such afterwards.

Basically, start at "Pre-Modern" in pic related and make your way down.

>a comic that came out in 2001 is considered "pre-modern"
Jesus Christ

Weird because I was reading through X-men the first time around a year ago and really enjoyed this.
Maybe its because I didn't know it was coming so I didn't have any real hype for it.

People born after that comic came out can legally drive now

Shangri-la
snowpiercer

I was born in '94. I don't consider comics written in 1993 to be pre-modern. That word has an actual meaning in comics.

My local store has a pretty decent sale on hardcovers at the moment. Is Stan Lee's X-Men worth reading?

The 90s are ABSOLUTELY pre-modern, early 2000s too, arguably.

You could easily pass off a comic written in 2001 as being written today. Hell, a lot of the same creators are still big names in the industry. The same is not true for bronze age comics.

I'll probably get shat on for this, but one of my favourite "future gone wrong" stories lately is Injustice. I just wish the comics did a better job of establishing how the world was actually worse off under Superman's rule.

The Dark Age ended in the early aughties.

No.

Another classic "future gone wrong" that deserves to be mentioned of course is the Terminator. Are the Terminator comics worth reading?

>The Dark Age
Stop this meme. This is just something some people on Sup Forums made up and is in no way recognized by the comic industry as a whole. The style of comic writing we know today started in the late 80s. The famous comics from that era like Watchmen are easily read by people today without complaints about it feeling dated.

A straight up "no"? I thought there'd be some merit in the early stuff at least? Like, does Magneto get a good intro? Is the early X-Men actually awful?

I actually prefer Cokcrum to Byrne, especially Cockrum's second tour.

I dig DoFP, but AoA is probably my favorite.

everything pre-claremont is complete trash

It's worth a read from a historical point of view but that's really it. There aren't really any memorable stories and the writing is extremely dated. X-Men was on the verge of being cancelled before Claremont took over and there was a reason for that.

It's got some comedic moments, but Lee doesn't really do anything with them. Magneto is comically evil, like that Electric Company Doctor Doom levels of evil. They all kind of fuck around with little character development or anything interesting going on. The easiest way to really explain it is it has all the characters people like, but none of the reasons people like them exist during this run.

Neal Adams takes over the book later on and it actually improves a shitload, but then it got canned.

>eh, well in that case i feel like kind of a dick
No need for that. as say the hype of DoFP is understood when you read it with the 80's in your mind.
The setting, an awesome setting, even if underexplored in those issues will get revisited a few more times, will add more characters and sets the precedent for more characters from the future and such.
Gotta add, the cover is also iconic in its own right.

Is good for context, but it's a complete slog to get throught.
Still, you get the introduction of every member, Magneto and the brotherhood, banshee, sunfire, sauron, mimic, savage land, sentinels.
I would read the issues where Magneto is introduced as well as the introduction of the Sentinels, Havok and Polaris.

For some of that, you're confusing Lee with Adams.

I'm just talking about pre-Claremont without going into detail, because I honestly don't remember when Adams took over.
But the OP was talking about Lee's so I apologize.

Ok, sorry to go off-topic... how is Stan Lee's Daredevil, Iron Man, Captain America, Incredible Hulk, Avengers? I've heard Thor and Strange are good, picked them up already.

Polaris, Havok, etc. is definitely Adams. It's around the time the book actually starts improving and the characters become characters.
Daredevil's fun.

Many years ago it was Flashpoint for me. I liked most of the tie ins and some of the new characters seemed to be entertaining and refreshing but then I discovered this place and now I can't feel but see Flashpoint as a disappointment.

It is something good that back then it was possible to create classic stories in 2 issues

and think that Terminator pretty much ripped off that story. it has been hugely influential.

And then X-Men ripped off Terminator with the Rachel/Nimrod subplot. Funny how life works.

Cap and Hulk are good.

my favorite one is age of Apocalypse because it does 2 things very well

-some evil characters are now heroes, some heroes are now evil

-some A list characters are now C, D, F list characters. Some C,D,F list characters are now A list characters

and it's scope was massive, it replaced the whole marvel universe during its duration

Yeah, it was pretty damn cool.

It makes me ultra mad that Marvel Heroic Roleplaying got canned right when they were about to release an AoA splat book.

Anybody here likes Old Man Logan?

in the 616 universe the mind static black guy is depowered since M Day, and the other died crucified along with the Gen X Skin guy.

frank franks the marvel universe

yes, but it has a couple of issues. too many dead characters, and very unrealistic with regards to Wolverine's power level, he shouldnt have been able to kill so many characters even if brainwashed, he fucking killed Polaris. as its name says, it's made for wolverine wanking.

But I am interested in the new Old Man Hawkeye book that will also feature Madrox (dont know if heroic or villain)

It's retarded as fuck.