Sorry, I looked around and didn’t see any general discussion of comics, and I’ve never been a corporate shill - so why not have a spot to talk about what you’ve been reading?
I recently discovered the joy of Mateus Santolouco on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The guy draws the best damned Ninja Turtles ever. I’m currently reading the City Fall arc.
Finished off the Luther Strode trilogy as well, and have to admit I felt like the last two chapters of the series became weaker as the series progressed. What started as a series with some wonderful character development, ended up with a supporting character becoming a manic pixie homicide girl 'cuz reasons. It was a fun read, but like the Matrix movies - the two installments after the first just get less, and less impressive.
House of Penance has been pretty great so far. Sarah Winchester is a fascinating historical figure, and this demented comic is a fun exploration of the insanity that compelled her to construct the Winchester Mystery House.
I gave up on TMNT because of a couple of things that happen later on that I don’t want to spoil. It was fun until then. For me there’s a point where it jumps the shark. I still prefer the Mirage series.
I did enjoy the Batman and TMNT crossover. A bit too long and IDW has this weird notion of making their crossovers ‘canon’ so they had to use portals. They even used portals so TMNT could meet the Ghostbusters. O’RLY? I really hate portals, unless the universes are completely different like say, Sonic The Hedgehog and Mega Man’s worlds. Otherwise don’t use them. But Batman with the Turtles was fun.
Also enjoyed the storyline in Platinum’s video game that IDW worked on. The game had its issues because just like Transformers Activision made Platinum rush it out the door, but it’s a cool rental at best.
I’ve been enjoying the IDW TMNT series. Haven’t read the crossovers, but I might check them out at the library one day. The ongoing series is entertaining, and a nice amalgamation of all of the TMNT lore. I’ve only read up to volume 11.
I am a Marvel fan boy, nearly anything 1980-1993. I’m almost finished collecting the original Punisher series. I’ve read up to about issue 45 and I’m missing an issue in the 50’s so I’d like to find that before I read further.
I have heard great things about the TMNT series and I will check it out soon.
A couple months ago, I was digging through some quarter bins and I found that Punisher story from the '90s where he gets plastic surgery to disguise himself as a black man.
Hot Damn is fucking amazing. Heaven and Hell in an interpretation as shitty corporations. God is a Steve Jobs type dude with his own head up his ass, while Satan is basically the boss from Office Space. Hell has mandatory therapy where demons force you to do dumb exercises. Heaven is basically a drab, shitty circlejerk where you always have to sing the praises of your jackass egomaniac boss. It’s a lot of fun if you don’t mind a lot of the jokes being kind of juvenile.
Also, I’ve been re-reading the New 52 run on Animal Man. I think Animal Man is kind of like Daredevil in that his series is almost always good to great. I still prefer the Grant Morrison run, but the New 52 run is still among the best modern DC runs in my opinion, easily up there with 52, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. Even the dumb crossover shit works because the team sat down and found ways to have it make sense. Too bad it ended with a bit of a cliffhanger or dropped plotline or whatever you want to call it.
I read some of that Animal Man. I’m a big fan of Jeff Lemire. His Animal Man wasn’t too bad. Maybe a bit derivative of Jamie Delano’s run, but still enjoyable for what it was. It was definitely one of the better New 52 comics.
Finished reading the first Spider-Man / Deadpool TPB. Millionaire Spider-Man is still hard to get through. But the fact that they had Mephisto reference One More Day and Joe Kelly is not hiding from it like everybody else is endeared me to it. It also surprisingly has a lot of heart.
The TPB skips issues 6 and 7 because Joe Kelly didn’t write those issues. I still recommend getting the TPB because at least for me, if I read it in single issues millionaire Spider-Man would have made me run for the hills after issue 2. It takes a couple of issues to see how Joe Kelly is using his current status to enhance the story.
I’ll be picking up issue 9 in stores this week and I’ll eventually track down 6 and 7. Ha, guess they finally got me to read one new 616 comic after Secret Wars. Go fig.
Currently not happy with the direction Marvel is taking. Between all of the politically correct identity swaps, pushing X-Men and Fantastic Four into a corner solely to stick it to Fox and catering to new readers as opposed to long time readers it’s just not for me.
The only other Marvel book I pick up is X-Men '92. It’s not even that great but it does remind me of a simpler time.
Looking forward to the Spider-Man Renew Your Vows ongoing, but Mary Jane wearing a costume is making me scratch my head. Conway famously doesn’t like the marriage so perhaps having MJ suit up is his way around it. Guess we’ll see.
For DC, I’m nervously looking forward to the He-Man and Thundercats crossover. Just nervous because the He-Man and DC crossover was terrible. Then again, I did just read the first issue. Maybe I should’ve read the TPB ha ha!
Street Fighter vs. Darkstalkers also seems like a lot of fun. The back up stories that have been running in the Street Fighter Legends Cammy series have been really cool. Surprised that the story is taking place after the SF3 series, because in and around the SF2 era is where everyone goes for crossover stories.
A lot of the stuff that Marvel and DC are doing right now aren’t too interesting. All sorts of character revamps and status quo shakeups - that’s all well and good, but it’s tough to shake the sense that they’re really just flinging poo at the ceiling to see what sticks. I still read a few random issues or TPBs of new Marvel and DC comics here and there, out of curiosity or just to see what the hype is all about (for certain books that seem to get a lot of love). I’ve been enjoying a lot of Image series. Some of the ones I read recently were Black Magick by Rucka and Scott, Trees by Ellis and Howard, and Kill or Be Killed by Brubaker and Phillips. I also finally got around to reading the print version of BKV’s and Marcos Martin’s The Private Eye. All of those are really good. Right now, I’m in the middle of reading volume 1 of Monstress. I’m also reading through Dark Horse’s Conan series, starting from Kurt Busiek’s run through Tim Truman’s. I’m about halfway through it.
I’ve heard nothing but bad things about Civil War 2, but still getting the TPB in February. For better or worse I like to keep track of the big Marvel events. Just not on a monthly basis so I TPB wait for a lot of stuff.
Bendis is hot and cold with me nowadays so we’ll see.
Respect and god speed.I liked bendis on ultimate spider-man and his jessica jones run right now is nice although it clashes with the ongoing iron fist and luke cage book.he is a hit or miss kinda writer for sure
I’m also not a fan of how Marvel feels like making 2 or 3 different versions of the same, already-established character should be something applied to all their books, but Marvel is still what’s holding my attention right now, particularly with the Foolkiller. The humor in it is smarter than what you’d find in Deadpool and it’s good to see the character get some love after all this time.
Other than that, I’ve been reading the Power Rangers comic. So far it’s waaaaay better than I thought it’d be, but we’ll see what happens with this upcoming Justice League crossover.
My collection of SF comics continues to grow but SF Unlimited suddenly went into a warp drive of stupid with Shin Ryu and the Shun Goku Satsu sending Gill into Makai. We’ll see what SF v Darkstalkers brings.
Two issues into Spider-Man Renew Your Vows and it’s really good. The first issue even outsold The Amazing Spider-Man, but it is a first issue and they offered a skillion variants.
Issue three comes out this week. Loved Spider-Man using drones to take pictures of him when he fought. Love smart updates like that. Like when Big Time started. ASM just went south for me in the middle of Spider-Verse and just never recovered. I think Slott’s burned out and needs to go personally. A fourth clone saga? Dude…
Here’s hoping RYV can keep the momentum going and a variant of this Spidey can eventually replace that millionaire Spidey thing. Joe Quesada is still with Marvel so I doubt that will ever happen.
There’s an interesting RUMOR going around that says PS4 Spider-Man will be close to Renew Your Vows Spider-Man. Married with a daughter. I will lose my mind if that happens lol! Hopefully Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite will do the same thing but there I would just like for his millionaire glowy Spidey suit to not be his default. The Homecoming suit would be alright.
Spider-Man / Deadpool is actually kind of terrible when Joe Kelly is not writing it. Stick to the TPBs because they skip those issues. JK has the best take on Deadpool and millionaire Spidey. Everyone else, not so much. Granted, it’s millionaire Spidey. Not an easy writing task.
I’m really intrigued by the rest of the rumor that the Green Goblin will be the primary villain of the story. Honestly Norman is flexible enough that you could slide him into any potential storylines that would involve the Kingpin (corporate crime lord) while still providing enough for an entertaining boss battle as the Green Goblin. GG is at the top of my wish list for MVCI along with Bison, it’s been long overdue that we have some Goblin love in a Mahvel game.
If anyone has Marvel comics (early 80’s to early 90’s) to sell or trade (I have many double from this era), let me know.
I have a horde of comics to read. I’ve been waiting to read them until I collected a nice string of issues so I didn’t miss anything and the time is here.
Currently reading
Punisher (started at #1, now on #19)
Punisher War Journal (started at #1, now on #3)
Silver Surfer (started at #1, now on #5)
Avengers (started at #245, now on #249)
Speaking of Silver Surfer, after reading a few issues, I think it would make a great TV series or cartoon. It would have great over-the-top battle scenes (almost like DBZ). Also, there aren’t too many series that are based in outer space, so it would have that unique aspect going for it.
I do the same. I’m at the point where I use a spreadsheet to keep track of all the stray issues I need to get in order to get a full run of consecutive issues. I like that late eighties/early nineties Silver Surfer, too. You wouldn’t happen to have any doubles, would you? There are a handful of issues I’m looking for. Is there anything you need?
Stray Bullets
Black Magick
Black Science
Deadly Class
Lazarus
Low
East of West
Injection
Invisible Republic
Trees
Velvet
Prophet
Saga
Walking Dead
Other books I’ve read lately:
Sunny vol. 1-6: Don’t read much manga but this was very good
Magneto by Cullen Bunn - Very good series out of nowhere, great artwork
Avengers/NA/Secret Wars by Hickman - one of the best Marvel epics of all time
Jupiter’s Circle & Legacy/Huck/Starlight - Millar has been doing some really good stuff lately
The Demon by Ennis - very good series, good to see precursor to Hitman
Batman by Morrison - It was a crazy ride.
