I just finished reading Black Adam’s Recent TPB.
black adam
Spoiler
why the fuck did they make him a darker version of Ralph Dibny? That was pretty lame. The book was decent but come on!! And the word to transform is chocolate egg cream? :lol:
I liked 52 quite a lot. All the stories were top notch and different.
I read the Madrox mini and the first X Factor tpb…love this series. PAD is the man
I just read Wolverine Origins: Born N Blood. And well it was decent but does logan need another book just to tell his revenge story? Could it been done in the main wolverine book?
I liked the Eternals TPB alot. I know they showed up in Incredible Herc and I may get it just because
I’ve been neglecting this thread way too long. Why? Because I’ve decided to give up on reading comics in favor of being an elitist indie film critic. Nah, I’ve just been lazy as hell to post brief write-ups on the stuff I’ve been reading.
Here’s the stuff I’ve read over the past week.
Max Hamm: Fairy Tale Detective - I remember this indie comic when the first chapter came out a couple years ago. Found the TRADE, BABY at the library. In all honesty, while the cartooning and storytelling were above average, I felt the actual contents of the story itself were kind of plain. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t stand out. Maybe it’s because the whole “fairy tale” theme forces this book to sit in the shadow of FAAAAAAAAAABLES!!!1, but that’s how I felt. Also, the writer’s attempt at having fun with the hard-boiled narration seemed a little too forced, as though he were trying too hard to come up with bad puns just for the sake of having bad puns to remind readers of the fairy tale world.
Clubbing - This was by Andi Watson and Josh Howard (haha, but not the pot-smoking, drag-racing Dallas Maverick). This was one of the earlier Minx books from last year, and this is a great read. It’s a fast-paced story about a teenage British girl who spends the summer with her grandparents in the boonies. A mystery unravels and mystical hijinks ensue.
Livewires: Clockwork Thugs, Yo! - This Marvel kicks ass. I read the first issue when it came out but they never made a TRADE, BABY of it. So my waiting was in vain. But then I found it as a Marvel Digest at the library. Adam Warren wrote and did character designs and Rick Mays penciled it. The thing that sucks is that the format did not serve as a quality presentation. The paper quality was crap and made the art look too dark and muddled, which was compounded by the smaller dimensions of the pages. But the actual story is pure awesomeness, which is no surprise why this is didn’t last beyond a six issue miniseries. (It’s probably too imaginative, well-written, and well-drawn for the average Marvel reader.) I am not really down with Marvel Premiere HCs, but I wish they would make Livewires a Premiere Edition like they did with The Hood and Marvel Boy. Now I’m jonesing to check out Iron Man: Hypervelocity 'cause Adam Warren wrote that, too. And his Dark Horse book, Empowered.
Incognegro - This is a Vertigo OGN by Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece. It’s about a light-skinned African American guy who goes undercover as a white man to investigate lynchings in the early 1900s South. Fantastic read. Totally gripping. Pleece’s art looks very sharp in black and white.
Hurrm… I think that’s all I can remember for now.
i get a bunch of “reward points” at my job and we can order all kinds of shit on there in exchange for the points. They didn’t have shit i was interested in until I stumbled through the books section of the website and found some absolute editions of DC trades. I picked up Absolute Watchmen, Hush, Long Haloween, Dark Knight Returns, Kingdom Come, and the first volume of Sandman. Out of all of them, Absolute Sandman is by far the best looking, and packaged the best. The first volume looks like the book that Destiny Carries around. Hush looks good, even though it isn’t a very strong story, and Long Haloween looks really amazing in the oversized format. Not much of a change for Watchmen, but they redid the colors and it looks quite a bit better. Kingdom Come looks the least different in a larger format, and I haven’t gotten through Absolute Dark Knight yet, but so for it works much better in this format.
All of them are high quality, but I’d recommend the Sandman editions above all else. They really are amazing.
send me absolute watchmen leigh
absolute COIE is where its at. Oversized format is perfect for Perez’s artwork because of all the shit he crams in and the companion volume is full of great stuff. Same for the JLA/Avengers absolute
im up to chapter six in watchmen. its great especially the recent chapter loved the autobiography parts it seemed so real.
Other stuff I have read lately:
Thessaly by Bill Willingham and Shawn McManus - This was pretty decent. It’s probably the best non-FAAAAAAAAABLES!!!11 comic by Willingham I’ve ever read. Wasn’t completely amazing but it wasn’t a bad way to spend half an hour or so. It’s about that witch girl from Sandman.
Good-Bye by Yoshihiro Tatsumi - This book definitely gets my highest recommendation. It’s the third anthology collecting Tatsumi’s short stories. (He’s a key figure in the underground Japanese comics scene from way back in the '60s.) I’ve read his first anthology, The Push Man and Other Stories, but didn’t get a chance to read his second. I liked the first collection very much. There were many offbeat and unusual stories, illustrated clearly and deftly. However, I think Good-Bye is even better than the first book. The depth of the various stories is much deeper, and although there are offbeat and bizarre moments, they all work better in context, and aren’t just thrown in just for the sake of random shock. The stories in Good-Bye are mostly about post-WWII Japan and the emotions and situations of various people living in those times. This is definitely something to read if you want to check out a manga (or gekiga, technically) that will blow you away. Will Eisner fans will probably dig it, too. Adrian Tomine edited this translation, and Drawn & Quarterly published it.
Mr. Punch - Gaiman and McKean. Always do good work together. First time I’ve read this book, which originally came out in the early days of Vertigo. It’s an examination of childhood memories, and how different it is to look back on the past. The art’s completely amazing, of course. I think I’d need to read this one at least one or two more times to really get it, but this is great stuff.
Leave It To Chance, volume 1 - This was an Image book that probably got lost in the '90s. It’s by James Robinson and Paul Smith, though, so it kicks ass. (They also did The Golden Age together for DC.) Leave It To Chance is an all-ages mystical investigator kind of story, with dragons and such. Sort of like… Nancy Drew crossed over with John Constantine by way of Steve Rude. I really liked this. I don’t think this series lasted in the hostile climate of the late '90s, but I hope I can track down the rest of it. Paul Smith’s an amazing artist.
Trades ive read
Superman: Doomsday
It is was a solid read. Doomsday from krypton huh that was an eugenetics experiment gone awry :rolleyes: Superman journeys to Apokolips and Calaton to find Doomsday’s body. Assisted by Waverider, he confronts Darkseid and Hank Henshaw, and finds that his killer is still alive and discovers the details of Doomsday’s origin. In Superman: The Doomsday War (1998), Doomsday’s mind is under the influence of Brainiac and Superman fights two of his most powerful enemies, in order to rescue Lana Lang’s newborn child (this one was stupid how he got in control of doomsday) After the Imperiex War, Doomsday has evolved intelligence, and intends to kill Lex Luthor. That imperiex guy was like he didnt even try against doomsday. Superman defeats the doomsday on the anniversary of his original defeat of the creature at Washington DC. Wow luthor was so orignial :rolleyes:
Method Man
Yes he has his own comic trade. It is basically about a guy named Peerless Poe who was PI however his concealed past catches up with his calm enjoyment of civilian life when old cohorts from the Order of the Secret Method call on him for help. Formerly a top agent of the Order, a deeply religious assembly of elite “murder priests,” and descendents from the from the first murderer the Biblical Cain. They were called the Method Men going after these bibical evils. What makes this odd is that the bible was retconned in a way. Adam was actually with a woman named lilith before eve. 
Lilith didnt like this perfect world and she left him for one of the fallen angels. The method men were supposed to practice abstinence. Of course his character didnt and he fucked the daughter of the Grand Arch Occisor d’Arc, head honcho to the Order, which caused Peerless to stray from his loyalty to the organization. well that was the back story.
It starts where he is investigating a murder of some kids and he was confronted by some of the lilith spawn. His teacher comes in to save the day. After a while he fights with his teacher and some guy who is a virgin. At times this peerless guy would tease him other student/priest. He eventually runs into this chick that lost his virginity to. He needs the spear of destiny to go after this lilith chick. he uses the spear to kill lilith but later on his girl jumped in front of a rock that was aimed at him and she was beheaded. Peerless got pissed and of course kills the last of the lilith spawn.
Just read the first and second Immortal Iron Fist trades by Brubaker last week. Amazing stuff, they really made the Iron Fist an interesting character. It sucks that Bru is leaving the book, but i’ve heard good things about the new team that’s taking over. I’m interested to see what they do with Ironfist since Brubaker has layed a good foundation for them to work off of.
Alright, I need a little help from you guys: I’m trying to see if there’s any TPB or other series out there that focuses on The Question/Vic Sage. After watching JLU and reading 52, he’s become one of my favorite characters.
The thing is, I hate 52 with a passion, so I’m not going to waste any money on that. And I’m a bit hesitant to buy the recent TPBs “Zen and Violence” and “Poisoned Ground” because I’m not a fan of 80’s artwork. That, and every time I think of 80’s comics, I think of “Batman: Year Two” which was so awful that I have the distinct urge to puke.
So, any suggestions? And if anyone’s read Zen and Violence/Poisoned Ground, is it really worth the money?
The '80s The Question series by Denny O’Neill and Denys Cowan is actually a very good read. It’s definitely a highlight of its era. It’s also the foundation for most of what we all know about the Question. The original Ditko character was a bit different, and the '80s series kind of takes Ditko’s version and completely revamps him - and it just so happens that the O’Neill interpretation of the character is the one that has the most relevance for the Question as we know (er, knew) him today. Greg Rucka was a huge fan of the O’Neill and Cowan run.
I mean, as far as '80s comics go, the O’Neill/Cowan series has its share of silliness. There are a couple of silly plot twists that just don’t hold up under scrutiny. However, I think it overcomes its weaknesses. Its aged very well because the actual storytelling still has more meat to it, more depth, and is more ambitious than the average superhero comic on the stands today.
O’Neill’s writing evolved with this series and there aren’t an overwhelming amount of unnecessary captions with tons of exposition (unlike ‘80s Uncanny X-Men). Fight scenes aren’t overwritten with needless dialogue (similar to Miller’s Daredevil). The stories generally tend to be gritty and philosophical (hence the title of the first TRADE, BABY), and for the most part, it’s an approach that works, partly because it’s so different from everything else and partly because you can tell the creators’ efforts were executed with sincerity and passion.
Also, I think you should give the art another chance. The penciling and inking are outstanding. I know the coloring clearly looks dated, but you can’t really hold that against them. Maybe it’s just because I’ve read a buttload of '80s comics, but I feel like I have acquired a taste for '80s style coloring. I think the art still looks good despite a garish color here or there. The actual craft and storytelling involved in the art is top notch. I certainly feel like it’s one of Denys Cowan’s finest works - it definitely looks better than that recent Batman/Joker arc he drew in Batman Confidential, with its fancy schmancy computer coloring.
Batman: Year Two sucks more ass than a homosexual vacuum cleaner, so it’s not fair to mention it in the same breadth as The Question. It’d be like trying to compare, dunno, Spawn with Sandman or a Daniel Way comic with a Grant Morrison comic.
Another comic with the Question you might wanna check out is the Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood TPB. That’s by Greg Rucka, and he definitely gives Vic Sage plenty of love in that miniseries, and Rucka pays respect to the '80s series as well. Rick Burchett drew the hell out of it and I think it looks exceptional. It’s got that sort of Cameron Stewart-ish “cartoonish realism” vibe.
My favorite Question series of all time, though, is the miniseries from a couple years ago. It was by Rick “Swamp Thing” Veitch and Tommy Lee Edwards. This interpretation is a bit truer to Ditko’s Question, but there are still elements of the O’Neill/Cowan run. The writing is fantastic, as it’s about The Question tracking down a criminal to Metropolis and subsequently raising his awareness to the point where he becomes kind of an urban shaman. The artwork is amazing, too, and the colors are vibrant and trippy.
This story came out the same year that Identity Crisis did, however. As a result, it got lost in the shuffle and no one’s ever followed up on its themes and ideas. And it sucks that it was never collected into TRADE, BABY. Total injustice. This mini was superior to Identity Crisis in every way. But I guess I probably hate Crisis about as much as you hate '80s artwork. Also, I’m hella biased 'cause I love the Question.
the best Question series is Watchmen
Oh man, thanks Zephyranthes, that actually helped quite a bit. First chance I get, I’m going to head to my comic book store/bookstore and see if they have the Batman/Huntress TPB. That one sounds pretty interesting.
And lol at P. Gorath. When I read the prison break part with Rorschach, I kinda geeked out. That was just too good. But yeah, after I read that Moore based Rorschach on the Question, I did notice quite a bit of similarities.
I also happened to read Stormwatch PHD Vol. 1 today. . .and that was the first time in a long time I walked out of the library grinning because of a graphic novel. It was great writing, pretty compelling characters, and surprisingly good art. The last time I felt this way was when I read Y: The Last Man.
But yeah, Stormwatch PHD 1 is something I’d recommend for those who haven’t picked it up yet. It was just really, really good.
There’s an amusing issue of The Question by O’Neill and Cowan (#17 I think, but I’d have to double-check to be certain) where Vic Sage rides a commercial flight and goes across the country to hunt down a bad guy. For reading material, he buys a copy of the Watchmen TRADE, BABY at the airport bookshop, and reads it on his flight. He really digs the comic, of course, and enjoys all the philosophical points it raises.
Most of all, he’s inspired by Rorschach. I mean, the Question’s mind is totally blown by Rorschach, and by the time he lands in Seattle, he decides to adopt Rorschach’s hardcore methods of crimebusting. Eventually the Question gets his ass kicked because he was too gung-ho, and as he’s falling into unconsciousness, his last thought is, Rorschach sucks.
I slapped my knee when I read that issue.
I read StormWatch PHD v.1 a couple months ago, and I really enjoyed it, too. I think Christos Gage is a good writer. So far, all of his comics have entertained me quite a bit.
It’s just a shame that DC doesn’t support WildStorm enough. Every year it seems like they feel obligated to have a universe-shaking crisis crossover to revamp the entire imprint. As a result, I keep getting this general sense of upheaval whenever I read a WildStorm book… Like you never know, you could turn the page and suddenly there’ll be an armaggedon crossover and the entire universe is never the same again until next month when there’s another crisis crossover.
here is some shizzle i am currently reading or read, that i HIGHLY recommend…
100 bullets
y the last man
whiteout
blame! (this shit is amazing)
blade of the immortal
im outi
Roberth
bunch of books dropped yesterday so I finally put in an order for a new shipment. I feel like both marvel and dc have been raising their tpb/hardcover prices. Marvel OHC’s used to be $24.99 - $29.99 but now they all seem to be $39.99. I picked up the first X-Men Legacy mpe…I liked Mike Carey’s X-Men stuff more than Bru’s but I’m worried because one of the things I liked was the completely unconventional team he assembled, while Legacy is apparently the exact opossite.
I also picked up the dark horse Barb Wire omnibus because…well…?
Yup… Comics are just getting more and more expensive. There are times when waiting for the TRADE, BABY is actually more expensive than buying the actual issues. Straight garbage, bub.
Because the movie was so supremely awesome that you had to read the original source material?
ok, so because of the watchmen gn, i’ve become quite interested in the medium, so i have a few basic questions:
if i never read any of the comic, will it detract from my enjoyment of batman year one or the killing joke?
being a fan of the watchmen, should i branch out to other moore works first, or try some other writers?
from hell, v, and the killing joke are on my “moore must read” list, is there any others i should pick up?
finally, any other recommendations (keep in mind i never read comics)?