Here’s some stuff I picked up through that TFAW sale a few weeks back.
Iron Man: The Inevitable - Okay. Thought it was gonna be better than it it actually was. Irving’s art was good but at times it didn’t look good at all. Writing was alright nothing breakthrough for ol’ Tony.
Young Avengers: Sidekick- Great. Writing was top notch. Art was great. Fresh and refreshing book. Awesome
Fantastic Four: The Resurrection of Nicolas Scratch - Shuma Gorath comes out for 10 pages and gets handled off panel. Should of skipped this book.
The Order: The Next Right Thing- Oh man Kitson’s art was amazing. The real star of the book. Interesting characters and premise.
Daredevil: Love Labors Lost- Picked it up for Mazzucchelli’s art. Stories were solid though. Not amazing but yeah Mazzucchelli was born to draw Daredevil.
Awesome. Nice to see I wasn’t the only one to jump on that TFAW sale. I got a few things from them, too. Haven’t read most of them.
Magnus, Robot Fighter Vol. 3 HC - This was an awesome read… Partly because it’s a 50 buck book I got for 10. The art was great and the dialogue wasn’t as expository as I’d expect from a Silver Age book. Russ Manning did a fantastic job creating a vision of the future, with crazy cityscapes, flying cars, and weird robots. I dig the old-school pulp science fiction serial feel of this.
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man v. 1 - Picked this up because I loved issue 5, “Web Log.” The other stories were really good, too, although it’s a shame Wieringo didn’t draw all of the issues.
Madman Boogaloo - Nexus and Madman team up and have a dance off against the King of Pop! Hilarious. Two of my favorite indie characters AND MJ in the same comic. Comic book gold.
Stuff I haven’t read: Sergio Aragones’ Boogeyman; Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four: Silver Rage; Conan: Book of Thoth; Hedge Knight (actually, I’ve read this several years ago); Red Prophet: Tales of Alvin Maker v. 1 and 2 HCs; Territory by Jamie Delano and David Lloyd HC.
I also picked up Paul Chadwick’s Concrete Portfolio from the late '80s, which is a collection of wonderful story-based artwork on large, quality paper. And I got The Gear: Son of Red Rocket 7, which is Mike Allred’s band’s album that he made during the Red Rocket 7 era. (It’s kinda groovy, but definitely not poppy… It’s kinda spacey and not all too easy to listen to unless you invest yourself into it… The only way I could explain it is to compare its sensibility with Stardust-era Bowie crossed over with, like, Grandaddy or the Flaming Lips, with a hint of New Pornographers and a lead singer who can’t sing.)
I really like The Inevitable. That’s one of my top three Iron Man stories. I’m totally a Joe Casey whore, though, so I probably read more into it.
Yeah all of the Russ Manning Magnus archives are gold. Really solid sci-fi that is not the traditional exposition-heavy silver age material. So much of this stuff was mined for the original Valiant series, even many of the enemy robots he fought.
I just bought all of Y the Last Man for 100 dollars. That’s priced to own. Two deluxe editions and the rest regular.
It better be !!!111!! worthy.
I need a pick me up.
Fables
Spoiler
Boy Blue DIED! AHHHHHHH!
I also missed two two issue chunks on my Fables single issue purchasing binge so I have a good idea of the plot, but have missed out on some details that were probably important and very entertaining.
I still have like 5 more big fables crossover issues too.
Also, Sano, see! I buy comics! I bought both volumes of All Star Superman too. You need to give me the opposite of a infraction for this post.
Superman New Krypton vol. 1 - Pretty good stuff, some of the forshadowing feels a little heavy-handed. Good art, somewhat Mobius-like. I still don’t feel Johns writes Clark Kent very well.
Ghost Rider: Hell Bound and Heaven Sent (or something like that) (vol. 5) - This is the first Ghost Rider tpb written by Jason Aaron and it is pretty freaking sweet. I picked this up mainly on a whim, as I havent read any of the prior Ghost Riders but I decided to get this along with the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider tpb that just came out. The story is really great wacky grindhouse stuff and the art is good and different. Characterization is pretty thin so far but that’s ok for now.
Green Lantern Corps: Sins of the Star Sapphire - another solid GLC entry. Kryb must be the most disturbing Sinestro Corps member yet. Would have liked more Kyle Rayner and less Sodam Yat (the new Ion).
just got done reading astonishing x-men vol 2 : dangerous, and absolute long halloween. i remember hating dangerous. i thought the villain was too lame. but since i read THE TRADE BABY!! it makes everything better. now i just dislike it.
I wish I had those Y deluxe HCs. One day I might sell my paperbacks to get cash for the hardcovers. I am excited for you, V-Slashy.
As the years go by, I think my love for The Long Halloween diminishes. I am not convinced the story holds up to close scrutiny. There are problems in the narrative and (after Ultimates 3 and various other crap Loeb’s written in recent years) I am convinced that Loeb tossed in the “twist” ending because he thought it would be “awesome” and not because he had actually planted clues. There’s an artform to crafting a fair mystery that I think completely escapes Loeb. He’s just lucky that Tim Sale drew the hell out of all those issues. I think P.Gabby is correct about how The Long Halloween is one of the most overrated Bat-stories ever. Two or three years ago, I might’ve disagreed; now, I can only throw up my arms in exasperation at Loeb’s writing tactics.
Torso is really good. All of those black-and-white Bendis crime comics kick ass. (Fortune and Glory is a great read, too.) Marc Andreyko helped out on Torso, and I think that’s probably Andreyko’s best work. Torso is probably why I find Manhunter so disappointing. Just remember, Painy, if you read Bendis’ other books, read Goldfish before you read Jinx.
I really liked the Dangerous story in Astonishing. I forget where I read it, but I remember BKV once said that was his favorite Whedon X-Men story because it features an old bald dude kicking ass. One day I am gonna be an old bald dude, possibly in a wheelchair, and I would like to read a story where someone like me gets to kick ass.
Finished reading the 1985 TPB since I missed out on every issue except the first one. Was pretty cool and fairly close to what the year 1985 was actually like for me, I was 10 years old back then. Marvel characters coming to this world was nice but it was also neat to see people from our world enter the Marvel Universe. Millar did a really good job with the story. I can take or leave the pencils but they work fairly well for this tale. Didn’t finish reading all the bonus material in the back of the book. It’s not a heck of a lot of new stuff really.
I have the Magneto Testament TPB which I’ll start reading next. I did read Magneto Testament in single issues but the TPB has lots of liner notes about all of the historical facts regarding World War II concentration camps that they used in the story. One of my favorite X-Men minis as of late.
I wanna read Jason Aaron’s Ghost Rider but I just haven’t been able to find 'em for cheap. At this point, I am probably gonna wait until I can find them in the 50% off bin at the next convention I hit. (And knowing my luck, after I’ve tracked down the last TRADE, BABY, Marvel will announce a Jason Aaron Ghost Rider Omnibus.)
I recently read 1985 as well and I really liked it. I love Tommy Lee Edwards’ art. The story was pretty fun and I thought the characters were thought out quite well. There was some good emotional content in there between the kid and his father and mother. The pacing of the ending seemed kinda strange, but it wasn’t anything major that disrupted my general enjoyment of it.
War of Kings: Road to War of Kings - this was a fun tpb that collects x-men: kingbreaker 1-4 , road to war of kings saga, and a few other random bits. I think I enjoyed Kingbreaker more than Emperor Vulcan. Definitely for me hyped for the event (and DARKHAWK!!)
Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch - Addict - this was an interesting tpb collecting the danny ketch mini as well as Ghost Rider vol. 3 (the classic 90s series we all loved) #93 and 94 aka the final two issues. The Ketch mini had its problems but was pretty interesting. I am more looking forward to Ketch’s further inclusion in the main Jason Aaron-penned series. I didnt read #93 and 94 because I plan on reading that whole run off the gitcorp dvd when time allows.
Longshot: Marvel Premiere Classics edition - This was spine # 14 of the MPC editions (they are up to 24 now) that I have been reading in order. I have a long history with this Longshot trade as it is one of the first tpb’s (along with Iron Man: Armor Wars) that I ever read (I was around 8 years old). Great Art Adams art and the writing isnt really like much else in comics. It’s pretty amazing how much Nocenti invented for this mini. Still holds up pretty well, and the MPC edition is good and includes some good extras and sewn binding.
I just finished re-reading the brunt of AS Superman I had already read and finished reading the remaining issues.
Oh what a grand 12 issues that was. It was easily the most entertaining Superman story I’ve ever read. I think I might have ruined Superman comics by finishing it. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to read a 18 page issue of Superman fighting with Toyman ever again.
That was such a great, right at the heart of the character interpretation. Superman doing things only Superman can do. It reminds me of that first Silver Surfer run where he was flying around not fighting villains or anything, but abstracts of things. Like time and space.
The Bizarro and Prison issues are still my favorites. I so love that Prison issue. It didn’t even have Superman in it and it destroys everything else DC has put out in the longest time with the character actually in it.
THE SUNNNNNNNNN. HE IS MAKING AN EARTHQUAKE LEX!
Sometimes Quietly’s art looks strange and ugly, but here he’s at his very most best. Everything is amazing. There are no weird ugly emma lips, people look like people, the action is great, the emotions are great, it’s all just great.
I have no bad things to say about All Star Superman. It is spectacular. It makes me further believe in my idea of mainstream comics just taking a year and forgetting continuity. Just to see what the creators could do.
Now it’s time to begin reading Y the last MAN!!!111!!
