Man, I didn’t even know he wrote for Acclaim. That must have come out during the era when I had given up on comics. Which issues did he write? I might have to track it down one day.
I still gotta track down the stuff he (and Ellis) did for Avatar. Their comics are more expensive than average so I have been putting them off, but I’m sure I would enjoy those Ennis comics.
You should give Concrete another chance. I bet you’re older, more mature, and smarter now than the last time you tried it.
Yeah it was Shadowman vol. 3 - somewhere between 3 and 9 issues
Finished the X-Men: Supernovas OHC. Loved it. Great art, great covers. Rogue is actually cool, Cable is back to being a badass, sabretooth was handled just right (I thought they were going to make him go soft ala venom or juggy)
Another thing about Concrete - there was a segment in Dark Horse Presents that I just loved that chadwick wrote about Concrete going to this rich guy’s house who was a big collector and had a comic book room and had commisioned a painting of concrete that showed the main inside breaking out. It was very cool and understated.
Next up I think I am tackling the first Johns Green Lantern trade (post-rebirth)
Batman Archives Vol. 1 is good stuff. The old Bob Kane/Bill Finger stories are actually enjoyable to read. But man, Batman just mercs fools left and right! Batman didn’t take any crap back in the day. He wasn’t even opposed to using a piece of heat on criminals! I shudder to think of what Bats would be like today if he was still killing.
Still reading and enjoying Watchmen. I finished up chapter 8 a few days ago. This really is a sweet, book. Not at all what I was expecting but its good. And Rorschach is that gangasta! “None of you understand. I’M not locked up in here with YOU. YOU’RE locked up in here with ME.” One of the greatest lines ever!
There’s a hardcover of Kraven’s Last Hunt I need to pick up. I’ve yet to read that entire story.
The issue in which Rorschach is seeing the prison psychologist is one of the most genuinely disturbing things I’ve ever read in a comic.
goddamn, SILVERFISH was freaking Awesome! 100x better than Murder Me Dead. Everything about it was spot on point. I could totally turn this into an awesome $12 mil or so movie. The two-page spread at the end of the climax was perfect. A quick read, but in the best possible way.
i got man of stone and widowmaker today. so far i have read man of stone. it was a great story as usual. gabe can you give me an answer on the signed joe q ad? i called you a few weeks back and left a message with my number on it. let me know.
It’s not really worth anything to me…pm me your address and I will send…eventually
Got some quality reading time in this weekend:
Green Lantern: No Fear and Revenge of the Green Lanterns - Summary would be that No Fear was pretty meh while Revenge of the GL’s was slightly better. Revenge was helped by a bigger focus on the GL Corps and some of the members Hal “killed” during Emerald Twilight. No Fear on the other hand was all Hal all the time which spells booooooooooooring. On top of that his whole backstory is now so weird and convoluted that none of the personal beats really feel believable. How is it I am supposed to relate to a guy trying to be a test pilot…what is this, the rocketeer? Not to mention a metropolis (coast city) being rebuilt but people not coming to live there. Maybe it’s because I’ve learned a lot about urban planning over the summer but all of that is so ridiculous. Hopefully Wanted will be better. And for those who havent read it, the first GL Corps tpb (Recharge…not To Be A Lantern) kicks both of these asses.
Silverfish - see above
X-Factor visionaries vol. 2 - Half of the issues in here are actually from PAD’s HULK run. This is still stuff I collected originally when it came out. I think people who rag on Bachalo need to check themselves and remember the awesome ugliness of Larry Stroman. There were some cool Rick Jones moments in this one (reminds me of Jones getting all the best moments in Avengers O:GS) although Havok was basically a tool throughout.
Currently reading: 52 vol. 2, Amazing Spidey Omnibus (Im up to the issue after Jonah commands the original spider slayer)
On deck: GL Wanted, MCP: Wolverine vol. 2
flipped through marvel comics presents wolverine vol. 3 and the first half of the book is some rob liefeld awesomeness
Green Lantern: Wanted - best of the bunch so far. Abin Sur storyline was interesting (although ending was a cop-out) and hal at least was somewhat less boring with this added dimension to his history. the whole POW storyline is pretty crappy though and cowgirl being captured again was just laughable. I just don’t think a superhero comic book is the correct place to deal with these kind of issues front and center - it is way too glossed over and unrealistic. The scene with the sinestro corps ring going to Batman was awesome though
Batman and Son - first half of this book I liked a lot. I remember people bitching about Damion and how spoiled/whiny he is…but isn’t that the point?? The art was great although I feel like panel to panel the story continuity wasn’t as strong as it could be. I skipped over the joker story (come on now) and then the final 3 issues seemed a little unfocused, like Morrison kinda lost interest. I don’t think the 666 issue was as cool as it could have been.
Uncanny X-Men Rise and Fall of Shi’ar - this was a pretty damn good book. Vulcan is my new favorite character. Korvus was beastly too. Great story. Character and team dynamic got a little lost in the shuffle I thought but hopefully the next arc will flesh them out a bit. Darwin has to be the biggest Deus ex Machina ever, although thankfully Bru didn’t really abuse this aspect of him too much in the conclusion. It’s really cool to have two x-books of such high quality that handle the material so differently. Also interesting how (for the first time ever?) Wolverine is on neither team, doesn’t make an appearance at all in Uncanny and is only in adjectiveless for a little bit.
I just got the first two volumes of Concrete and this Last Call by Vasilis Lolos.
Concrete has been great so far. I’m almost done with volume 2. He just climbed Mount Everest.
The Last Call is a quick read about a magical train ride. In the recommendation I found for it, it was described as a heavy metal miyazaki movie. Which it basically was.
Good work, Slashy. Keep up with the Concrete-reading.
Most of the stuff I have been reading lately was just old stuff that I felt like re-reading.
I was at the store and I actually found copies of the Johns’ Flash TPBs of Blood Will Run and Crossfire. So I reread those two books, Rogues, Blitz, and Ignition. I still like that Johns run. Great straight-up superhero action with really nice artwork.
What else… I found Ultimate X-Men: Return of the King at the library. Reread that for the first time in a couple years. It didn’t age too well. Some of it was all right but overall it was just average, with inconsistent artwork.
I have also been rereading my Amelia Rules! books - just one of my all-time favorite indie series that no one else knows or cares about. http://www.ameliarules.com/home.html It’s got a lot of wit, and the various plots are engaging. It’s got the sensibilities of a daily strip, except with full-length stories. Really nice stuff.
The one new thing that I remember reading recently is Gray Horses by Hope Larson. (She’s Bryan Lee O’Malley’s wife.) The comic got a good amount of critical respect but I personally didn’t think too much of it. It wasn’t bad or even below average or anything; it just didn’t resonate with me on any particular level. It’s a good piece of work but the story just didn’t grab me.
I got a chance to flip through Batman: The Long Halloween. I didn’t know Loeb and Sale worked on this book. They’ve got to be one of my fav duoes in all of comics. I’ll pick it up when I have the chance.
I also looked through Alan Moore’s DC Universe. This is a collection of some of Moore’s stories from the DC universe like Superman Annual #11, For the Man Who Has Everything. It even has Batman: The Killing Joke. I read a bit of Suerman Annunal 11 and I was really surprised by how much the Justice Leage Unlimited ep of the same name matched that comic. Good stuff.
zephy, dude…buy them and I will paypal you
Whoops, my bad. I meant to say that I found them at the store and bought them for myself…
fucker
Alan Moore Wildcats is a strange read. The art is hilarious…half the time the artist doesnt bother drawing any backgrounds at all…even for covers. I keep wondering what Moore’s scripts looked like for this series, whether it was the super-detailed structure of his usual work like LOEG or Watchmen or whether he just paired it down. I could see him handing in one his his super-complex scripts and some douche like Travis Charest going “Aw man I aint doing this shit” and then just crossing out half of it.
He probably could have written four real pages and sandwiched a phone book in between them, and they wouldn’t have known the difference.
Anyway.
Today, I broke down and purchased “The Sweeter Side Of R. Crumb,” which I’ve been lusting after for weeks. I probably don’t need to say this, but the artwork is jaw-dropping. Crumb is one of the few artists who can do really dense, liney drawings and actually make it work. He does more than make it work; it looks like DaVinci with a Sharpie, in the best possible way.
Spent a about $70 that I shouldn’t have today and picked these up:
-Superman For All Seasons
-Superman: Birthright
-All-Star Superman vol. 1
-Kingdom Come (as actually free since I’d already bought graphic novels)
-Essential Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Since Birthright is the “official” origin of Supes now, I figured I should scope it out. Plus, from the feedback I’ve heard and the stuff I read about it on wiki, it sounds like it was really good.
I Loeb and Sale and one of my fav duoes and I’d heard Superman For All Seasons was top tier.
Kingdom Come. I heard lots of my fellow comic fans creamed their jeans over this book. And Alex Ross = THE TRUTH! This will be my first time reading any of Mark Waid’s material.
Everyone and their dog told me I should check out this All-Star Superman. I’ve never checked any of Grant Morssison’s stuff so his work will all be new to me. This series has gotten a lot of well-deserved praise it seems. I’ve heard some fellow forumites say its the best version of Supes in years. And since DC can’t seem to decide what the eff they want to do with their characters (reboots and recons. Ugh, my head hurts) I figure I may as well just read about any version or take of The Man of Steel and forget all about continuity.
Bill Mantlo and Roger Stern are behind most of the tales in PP, Spectacular Spidey vol. 2. I really enjoyed Roger Stern’s run on Amazing Spider-Man back in the '80s and Bill Mantlo did some good stories on Spectacular back in the day.
Looks like you got yourself some good picks.
I like this book a lot. The artwork is really superb, and the storytelling actually features Superman as a character, rather than as just one of many ridiculously powerful strongmen in tights.
I enjoyed this. It has its flaws, and the art isn’t my favorite, but I think it is a major improvement over Byrne’s Man Of Steel series.
Worth trading your firstborn child for.
A decent book. I’m not a huge fan of Ross’s art here–it looks great, but the hyper-realism actually works against the story a lot of the time. On the other hand, Waid’s story presents the characters with a problem that’s too complex to be solved by powers alone, so he should be commended for that.
F
D
A
C+
B
LOL, P.Gabby’s just in a crabby mood because I’m keeping those Flash TPBs for myself…
If I ever come across any other copies, I will buy them for you.
Right around Charest’s WildC.A.T.s work with Moore was when he started getting obsessively detailed. But he was still trying to meet deadlines at the time, which he obviously failed at as you can see by the sparse backgrounds and many fill-in artists. Some of the issues look really nice and even when the pages look all rushed, at least the figures of the characters themselves still look good.
But he had a few issues, right before Moore’s run, that looked superb. That was when James Robinson wrote 5 or 6 issues, and the title actually started getting decent.
If Charest had no real deadline, his comics would look so much more consistent. Now that he’s returned to U.S. comics, he seems to be finding a niche as a cover artist - I could sort of imagine him being to Marvel what Bolland is to DC.