I read the Friday The 13th one, which was flamingly stupid, but the same could be said for the movies.
I finsiehd Bizarro Comics today. If you guys have not read this book, I highly recommend you pick up a copy. Lots of short stories with various DC characters and various writers/artitsts. This book is worth the $20.
I read vol. 1 of Runaways digest I picked up a week ago. I wasn’t terribly impressed with it at first but it isn’t a bad book. I only like about 3-4 of the protagonists. That being said, the story is decent so I will pick up the Marvel Digest of Runaways vol. 2-3.
i know replying to something that was posted about 9 pages ago is pretty lame, but i’m doing it anyways because it’s about hulk. planet hulk was one of the stories that got me back into reading comics. one thing i really liked, was the way the planet (and each situation) he encountered forced him to evolve and come at things from a different perspective (w/help from his warbound). but yet, there were plenty of moments that hulk had to take it to the limits and just overpower certian situations that we all love to see. one of my fav stories marvel has put out recently, easily. another would of course be WWH.
wwh is good, but not as good as it should have been. of course when i say that, it’s probably just me wanting hulk to roll up, dunce everyone with ease, and maybe punch iron man’s face off. aside from that, i think the main thing that’s keeping WWH from achieving planet hulk status are the lameass tie-ins (example: gamma corps).
now that i think about it, planet hulk and WWH got pretty much everyone i work with to start reading comics. i get asked every wednesday if i have any new hulk books for them to peep out.
quick question regarding the planet hulk HC. i need to buy the HC for planet hulk, but i’m not sure it includes the few FF4 issues and that new avengers illuminati issue that led up to it. can anyone confirm if they are or aren’t included?
I just picked up Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm hardcover and all four Flight books.
If you like Mf Grimm/enjoy real life comics check out Sentences, it’s really good. It feels like he’s name dorpping at some points in the book, but for the most part, it’s crazy.
I really can’t big up Flight enough. For those of you not in the know, each book of Flight is composed of a bunch of short stories drawn by various artists. It may seem childish at first, but trust me, some serious/sad shit goes on in each book.
I have all four.
Same thing everytime, a bunch of indy people get together and make stories with ironic/cute endings.
They aren’t great, but they aren’t bad. Maybe I am just jaded.
Story I remember the best is the one with the kids and the tank, that was a good one.
After watching vol. 2 of Batman: TAS, I feel I MUST have the Batman: Harley & Ivy trade and the Batman: Detective trade. Paul Dini has written some of the best eps of BTAS so I’d love to read some of his comic stories. Man is too dope. I may even pick up some of those Batman Adventure comics from the '90s. The ones that Bruce Timm drew. Love his art style.
I’ve read all of the Flights except for volume four, which is still sitting in my pile of stuff I got to finish. It’s one of the best anthologies I can think of. It is tough to remember every single story in a series of anthologies, but overall, the quality is really high. There’s just something about a comics short story that I really like. There’s like a certain poetry or rhythm to them. When you read a good one, you just feel good. But yeah… reading hundreds of indie comics/short stories/whatever does get you jaded pretty fast. It’s tough sometimes, for your mind to separate the good stuff from the mediocre stuff.
I thought about getting the MF Grimm book. Maybe I’ll just get it as a paperback or something. I don’t really know his music too well beyond his role in King Geedorah. I hope MF Doom writes a comic for Marvel. Didn’t Grimm and Doom have beef or something? I think Doom kinda dissed him in that one DangerDoom song.
I still need to get Silverfish. A lot of those Vertigo OGNs are good stuff. The Originals by Dave Gibbons was a great read - I think that might’ve been the one that kickstarted the recent Vertigo OGN HC trend with the shorter paper height. That reminds me, I need a copy of that, too.
Yea that one was good.
The one with the robot dreaming broke my heart for a second.
I guess the appeal for me is that although the stories are simple, they still manage to have a big impact on me. I can see what you’re saying about the plots being a little monotonous though.
I’ve been reading my Spider-Man Family: Back in Black Digest. The first story with story with Sandman titled “Homesick” was OK, but I wasn’t really feeling it. I didn’t get much out of the side story “Cat Fight” either. “Undone,” however, was brilliant. An excellent story that shows that Spidey isn’t the only one Venom hates. The art was done by Kano with David Lafuente and it really meshed well with the story.
As Far as Grimms music goes, check out Scars and Memories…It’s easily his best album, and the title track will give you a little insight to what goes down in the comic.
I’d personally say don’t buy Silverfish. The arts pretty cool (has a black hole feel to it) but the story is just way too short for what the comic is trying to do. Lapham does a good job of creating suspense, but since the comics only 160 pages, any suspense/atmosphere that gets created is over pretty quick just due to the length limitations. Plus you’ll be so disappointed with the ending i don’t know where to start. That being said, it’s not a bad comic, I just personally feel my money could have been better spent on some thing else.
I think the ending to Silverfish is awesome - a really great moment. It is a quick read but that is because the pacing is so good - this is a hitchcock thriller in the classic sense with none of the fat we associate with more recent fare. I think there is a lot going on in this book that isn’t noticeably on first read, but I agree it may not be a buy for some people.
This weekend I finished Captain America Omnibus. I thought it was quite good, although I am no church of Bru member yet. I thought the Winter Soldier one-shot was good but not “best comic of the year” status like it seems to get. The House of M tie-in issue reminded me of what a bunch of crap that crossover was. I also felt that the move into the Civil War issues was a little jarring but I guess he handled it as best he could.
Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre - I liked the first two Will Pfeifer issues but after that it was just meh. Maybe it’s because I just dont care about the character The Spectre…at all. This one won’t be staying in the collection
Re-read Ion vol. 1. Love the art. The story is a bit unorthodox in terms of pacing and narrative. BOW DOWN TO THE GREATNESS OF RON MARZ ahem Hopefully his costume gets better in vol. 2. Still, these issues were certainly more interesting than anything in the first 3 GL trades.
Starting Fourth World Omnibus vol. 1 as my next omniboo…the first issue is crazy so far, especially the dialogue. The art is really great though.
Also a couple issues into Justice Society vol. 1 - are you telling me Johns killed Wesley Dodds at some point in the old series?! I may have to drop the book because of that.
I was in Boreders looking at some Batman TPBs and I came across some must-haves:
Batman: Hush
Batman: Black & White
Batman: Ego and Other Tails
I’m not sure whether I should get the Absolute Edition of Hush or just the HC. Book looks freaking delicious.
Batman: Black & White is a collection of stories that’s in, surprise, black & white. Its in 3 seperate vols but a ton of different writers and artits worked on it. I only flipped through vol. 3 but I was impressed enough to add it to my list.
Batman: Ego and other Tails. Turns out Daryn Cook did some work on this baby. I’d seen this book before but the only copy I’d seen was wrapped so I couldn’t look through it. This baby is now on my priority list.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Hush. If you must own it, I’d go with the paperbacks.
Ron Marz. That guy is awesome! He’s a poor man’s Jim Starlin, except that the Marz doesn’t draw.
COOKE’s Batman book is worth it, totally a must-have. Ego is a really good story, and it’s got the Selina’s Big Score OGN that led into the Bru’s Catwoman - straight up one of the top two Batbooks OF ALL TIME. (Alongside Gotham Central, baby.)
Black & White is a good anthology series, too. Some of the stories are whack, just like any anthology. I remember a John Byrne story in particular sucking hard, but maybe that’s just because I think Byrne is a complete loser.
Hush, you can probably live without. goody says go for the paperbacks but I say go read at the store. (And then drop the Absolute Edition on some manga-reading punkass’ head.)
You liked the ending eh? With out spoiling any thing, i felt really cheated by the whole “jump” thing because of all the build up that went into that last scene.
I did sit down and re-read it though, and I agree with you about the pacing. Extremely well done.
I’ll pass on Batman: Hush then. But Batman: Black & White, and Batman Ego & Other Tails are MUST-HAVES.
I’m thinking about having my comic shop order me a copy of Batman In The Seventies. I really want to read some of Denny O’ Neils stories.
I was recommended a Mr. Majestic TPB some pages ago. I was wondering which one to get. I saw one that featured a story arc where Superman was missing and Mr. Majestic was filling in for him.
That one is okay. Nothing too spectacular, but entertaining and there were some funny scenes in it. There were also a few throwbacks in there for people who read Alan Moore’s WildC.A.T.s run. The whole “replacing Superman” miniseries led up to the ongoing series, which is also in TPB. I never read any of that, though.
The TPB you gotta look for is just called “Mr. Majestic” and it’s written by Joe Casey and Brian Holguin, with art by Ed McGuinness. This TPB also includes a bonus short story by Moore. It might be out of print, but if you can find it, it’s one of the best Superman Silver Age tributes this side of Moore’s Supreme.
I finished Superman For All Seasons. To be honest, I really was not impressed with this trade. I’ve got no problem with more slower paced stories about character development, but I just wasn’t digging this story. I didn’t think it was bad. Just wasn’t my cup of coffee. I could have read it at the store. This coming from a huge fan of Loeb/Sale’s work. But then, every writer/artist, no matter how great has turned out a story I haven’t enjoyed. Nobody’s perfect. My next Loeb/Sale story is probably gonna be the regular edition of Batman: The Long Halloween.
I started reading my Essentianl Fantastic Four vol. 1 this evening. I have to say, I’m really enjoyed it. The first FF comic alone is great and I’ve always enjoyed Jack Kirby’s artwork.
The only real reason to get Hush is the art, which is fucking GORGEOUS (of course when Jim Lee is drawing Batman how can it be anything but?)
but Jim Lee has the unfortunate problem of being paired with a writer who can’t write, or writes poorly (No offense to Jeph Loeb, but Hush was only good because of Jim).
so, buy Hush and ASBAR for the art, but ONLY the art.
I own Hush, and I love it, because it looks great, I can’t remember much about the story.
RE: Silver Age reprints
I can only read so much from the 60s and 70s at a time (the 80s was slightly better), too many thought bubbles.
I don’t hate it, it’s just kinda cumbersome to read when you’re used to a certain style when you read modern comics, it’s hard to go back.
it’s usually WORTH IT, but it’s still not easy.
ASS BAR is great for Frank Miller, not Jim Lee. Jim Lee ruins the ASS BAR. And I, being a native San Franciscan, consider myself rather knowledgeable when it comes to my ASS BARs.