One of my friends tried to read Watchmen but gave up after the second issue. “Too many words,” he said. “I don’t want to think when I read comics,” he said. “It’s too much for me,” he said.
So I just punched him in the face, and it was all good and gravy. We can still be friends.
I did a good amount of reading this week and I have a lot of new tpb’s to get through so the thoughts will be rolling in.
Punisher MAX vol. 3 HC - collects The Slavers which I had previously read, as well as Barracuda. Like almost every MAX story The Slavers gets better the second reading, although to me the ending still seems a little meh. I know people rave about it but I don’t think the old guy got it any worse than the guy who pissed on his family’s graves. One thing I like about this arc is that it is very compact, very focused and in the end, very emotional, maybe the most emotional arc yet. Barracuda on the other hand is just plain fun - I love the change in artwork and it suits the story well. Barracuda himself was a pretty fun guy…more likeable than any other MAX “villain” so far. The “fucky?” scene was priceless.
Superman: Camelot Falls - Thought this was very good, better than Busiek’s previous arc Back in Action. The artwork is really nice and the story promises to have some fun stuff. The Days of Future Present scenes worked pretty well I thought because they were very contained. Jimmy as last man on earth was pretty funny
Runaways vol. 3 HC - about 3/4 of the way through this…good stuff…I will not be continuing with whedon
Punisher MAX is just so consistent. Every TPB is great. I think The Slavers is maybe my favorite so far, but I don’t know. I like ‘em all. One of the things about Punisher MAX is the art is always really great. Fernandez’ art has progressed and evolved since the first arc he drew, and it just looks really nice.
I was listening to this interview with Ennis a while ago, and he was talking about how The Slavers was a key storyline for him. I think that’s why it’s probably the most emotional of all the arcs so far. He said before he wrote it, he read an article about human trafficking, and learning about that stuff just pissed him off enough to write the story. He basically said that if there could ever be a force like Frank Castle existing in the real world, he would really want him to be unleashed on slavers.
What’s been awesome about seeing Ennis write Punny is just the fact that we’re getting to see him kill all these people in new and interesting ways. It’s not just how he kills them, either; it’s also whom he kills. I used to wonder if Punny would kill a woman. I used to wonder if Punny would kill a Wall Street shark. I used to wonder if he’d kill an old man who was no longer a threat to anyone. I used to wonder if he would kill a prostitute. I don’t have to wonder about all that stuff anymore. I think the only thing I want to see answered is if Punisher would kill a child.
Probably.
I actually don’t recommend Watchmen to people who are just dipping their toes into comics, because it helps to have a decent foundation in the realm of classic superheroes before digging into what Moore and Gibbons have to offer. Deconstructionism is much more effective when you understand the things that are being deconstructed.
Also, introduce him to Eisner. Many of his short form comics had no words at all, save the titles. I can see your friend’s reaction from here, and it is hilarious.
My folks mentioned giving me some cash for my birthday so I think I’m gonna use some of it to buy a $20 copy of Watchmen. I’m sure the hardback is nice but it cost to many dead presidents.
Heard Sandman was good so maybe I’ll pick that up sometime.
Essentail Spider-Man vol. 8 is out and I need to cop a copy of that sometime. Took Marvel forever to get that baby out. I also need to pick up Essential Peter Parker, Spider-Man vols. 2-3. Roger Stern wrote some stories in those books and he’s one of my fav writers to have ever worked on Spider-Man.
Garney is a solid artist and not flashy. His stuff on Hulk & a few DC comics were pretty good.
The pre-Heroes Return/Reborn Waid stories were fun. Man Without a Country and Project Rebirth got me hooked. Waid Cap stories after Heroes Return were “eh” at best. The afformentioned Cap not killing Skull because of his moral code (which is bs… because Cap has killed many times before) and the really wack laser shield. The idea of Cap’s shield breaking was actually a neat idea… but wasn’t handled well in my opinion and the how the shield came back together was insanely bad.
TRUTH!!!
Pick up any and all “The Spirit” trades by Eisner. Interesting short stories of the same main character, but the storytelling is second to none for a lot of them.
“A Contract with God” is good too, but more emotional than anything else. Don’t expect any action sequences here. More of a slice of life, pondering meaning of life type stuff.
I think Watchmen is a must-read even if you’re not really into superheroes. The thing that makes Watchmen challenging to read is the fact that it’s so dense, not because it is about superheroes. It definitely takes patience to read the book. It’s not like a Wolverine comic where you can just blast through it. The art in Watchmen is as vital as the actual text.
I feel that Watchmen isn’t so notable for how it deconstructs the superhero genre as it is for how it impacted and showed off a wide range of the comics medium’s ability to tell a story. Maybe to appreciate that, a reader might need a little understanding of comic strips, but even that is simple enough to obtain.
Yeah, there’s always weird stuff going on with Cap comics. Although I don’t remember much of Waid’s run, I do remember that it entertained me for the most part. All that stuff you mentioned, like not killing the Skull because of a moral code, was a cop out. And the photon shield, man, I almost forgot about that. Seeing that photon shield show up in Avengers comics was like seeing Electric Blue Superman in JLA comics.
I think we all can agree that Brubaker is writing the definitive portrayal of Captain America.
The Spirit by Eisner is just crazy good. Decades ahead of its time. Those hardcovers are so pricey. I wish they’d make more affordable paperbacks. They made one “Best of the Spirit” TPB but I think that’s it so far. And A Contract with God is just classic. Too many great comics!
Stuff I’ve read lately:
Daredevil: Frank Miller Visionaries v. 1-3 - This is classic stuff. I had already read volume 2 (with the Elektra saga) but I reread it when I got my hands on volumes 1 and 3. Miller only drew the stuff in volume 1, so the stories were only okay in those. But you can really see how he progressed as an artist and writer as time went on. The stuff with Elektra was awesome. People always talk about what a great death she had, but the issue after her death was amazing, too. It was about DD still thinking she was alive, because how many times have people come back from the dead in comics? When Miller finally got around to her resurrection in volume 3, it was very ambiguous. And the final issue featuring Bullseye… All that stuff Miller did with Bullseye was intense. DD has had a lot of top tier runs. This is one of them. Essential for superhero fans.
Black Hole - This is pretty much the first Charles Burns comic I’ve read (other than those Altoid commercials he drew). It’s really good. Lives up to all the hype and acclaim. His artwork is fascinating. The story didn’t have as much sex as I thought it would (or perhaps I am merely a desensitized and overly depraved), and the character beats were really engrossing. This is something you can read over and over just to pick out all the little nuances. And you can just get lost in the art.
Green Lantern: Willworld - By DeMatteis and Seth Fisher, this is a great Hal Jordan story. Taichi needs to read this to understand how cool Hal is.
Soulwind - Scott Morse is one of my favorite dudes. His Barefoot Serpent is one of my absolute FAVORITE graphic novels of all time. Soulwind was an earlier work, all in black and white, but it seems even more ambitious. The story spans thousands of years and has a pretty large cast. It starts with a legendary samurai sword and ends with an explanation of universal history. It’s mind-boggling at certain points, but it’s definitely worth reading again. His art is amazing. Morse is just so versatile, switching styles even on the same page in service to his story.
gabe did you finish annihilation yet? what did you think?
I’m on the last set of issues (ronan) in the second hardcover. I’m still waiting on a shipment of books with the third hardcover to arrive in the mail.
Does anyone know when the next Astonishing X-Men trade is coming out?
I just finished re-reading Bendis’ run on Daredevil and it still stands as my favorite run by any creator on any character. I still think Daredevil is one of the most under-rated characters in comics.
I also read Daredevil: Father, and I was actually suprised how much I enjoyed it. I thought it was cool Quesada changed up his style some, and the images he did that you saw from Matt’s own eyes were really pretty stunning. The thing that shocked the fuck out of me was the ending. It really showed that no good deed goes unpunished, and that encapsulates one of the things I like the most about the character; this guy is god damned selfless. He really is. And he’s fucking crazy. No matter how close Matt gets to happiness, something ALWAYS happens. Always. Poor bastard.
Probably won’t be out for a while. The current arc still has another 2 or 3 issues to go, and it got delayed a bit because Cassaday took a month to draw an issue of Fallen Son. Assuming the book stays on its bi-monthly schedule, it’ll probably be at least another 4 or 5 months until the serialization finishes, and then maybe another month until the TPB.
I keep hearing that Whedon/Cassaday are planning to cap off their run with a giant-size annual, though, so if they include that in the TPB, it’ll probably add another 2 or 3 months.
I agree, it is definitely up there, along with his ult. spider-man run as well. I look forward to reading through the hardcovers again to see what I missed the first time.
from this weekend:
Walking Dead vol. 2 Hardcover - this is probably ancient history to most of you as this collects the third and fourth tpb which came out a long time ago but they are just getting collected in this format and as such are my first exposure to the material. I have never been part of the vocal crowd gushing over Walking Dead - I think volume 1 is good but not great, and volume 2 didn’t really do a lot to raise my opinion. I feel as though the prison set piece was mostly wasted and could have been exploited much more. I still don’t like practically any of the cast of characters and after volume 2 I especially don’t like our main guy (his kid and the young girl are probably the two I like the most). Maybe it’s because I’ve been into the zombie thing for a long time and have had different variations of Dawn of the Dead play out in my head for years that nothing here seems fresh out that creative - mostly stuff up to this point I have seen before. I want the zombie story to end all zombie stories - not another vignettes piece on survivors. The black girl with the sword seems lame too.
Annihilation vol. 2 - I found Silver Surfer to be fun, especially all of the cameos by the guys I grew up with (AirWalker, Terrax, Morg) but something about it seems very far-removed from those series’ of old. And what is up with Firelord’s redesign? The twist in issue #3 is cool and I will be interested in how it plays out, even though after all that has come before I still don’t see how Surfer just decided to become herald again like that. Super Skrull was alright but a little lame in places and not as good as Drax, whereas Ronan was very cool, with incredible artwork. He is definitely the character I want to see more of most. Did I mention the art rocked?
Green Lantern Corps vol. 1: To Be A Lantern - Truthfully I was disappointed by this one. I loved GLC: Recharge - it introduced us to 3 dark new lanterns while giving us some good Guy and Kyle action but vol. 1 loses much of the characterization that made that work and the plots are mostly pretty terrible. Hopefully this one will get better. I find the concept of Mogo very cool and hope it is exploited.
Jonah Hex vol. 2 - more of the same one-and-dones. I am thinking about dropping this after the next tpb which collects his origin story. I like the art a lot and it is nice change of pace buying a western but the stories are too decompressed and it doesnt feel worth my money
Batman and the Mad Monk - pure awesomeness. Thank god they at least reprinted the covers full page this time. I hope they will collect both arcs in a hardcover. Dini and Wagner are basically the only people who need to write batman ever.
52 vol. 1 - really enjoyed this one (even though the covers arent reprinted full page), the extras after each issue are brilliant and the story is rocking. too bad its taking dc so long to get these tpb’s out.
Currently reading: Ultimate Galactus Trilogy
On deck: Exterminators vol. 2
On the horizon: Amazing Spider-Man omnibus baby!
That’s interesting that you feel that way. I don’t really agree, but I can see what you mean. To me, Walking Dead is more of an ongoing soap opera than a series of vignettes, though. I don’t watch many zombie movies and I never really got into all the other popular zombie comics other than this one. The zombies are hardly key to most of the plots. Most of the time they are just obstacles in the way of the survivors. But I think this book has more heart and real emotion than just about anything else Kirkman has written. And I am truly big on Adlard’s artwork. He is way too underrated.
I have read a few Palmiotti/Gray comics and I never really got into them. But I also find myself attracted to the Western genre in comics. You try Loveless yet? I only got v.1 so far, but I think it is shaping up to be probably the best Vertigo title of its generation. The Lone Ranger TPB from Dynamic Forces came out recently as well. I haven’t read it but I hear it’s good. I know the art is excellent. The Long Haul from Oni (by Antony Johnston and Eduardo Barreto) is also a nice Western/heist story.
Ha, yeah I love the combo of the modern with the retro in the Wagner Batman. The best was Batman falling into a room where the spiked walls started closing in on him.
What I’ve read lately:
Conan (Dark Horse series) v. 1 - This is the motherfargin’ truth. I can’t really think of too many good fantasy comics (outside of Bone, and Sandman if you count that as a fantasy), and Conan is really more part of the swords ‘n’ sorcery subgenre, but this is still awesome stuff. The artwork is seriously jaw-droppingly gorgeous and Busiek’s writing here is better than almost anything he’s ever done outside of Astro City/Secret Identity/Shock Rockets. It’s impressive how each chapter/issue serves as a satisfying tale in and of itself while everything as a whole builds up to an epic sense of adventure storytelling. It took me forever to finally read this and now I desperately need more.
Ghost In The Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface - Holy crap, I think this book out-Filths the Filth! Well, maybe not exactly, but I hardly understood anything in Ghost in the Shell 2. The story had all this science fictiony stuff about robotic consciousness, electronic brains, neural realities, and the human experience. The plot seemed like an afterthought to all the intense ideas. I own the original Ghost in the Shell manga, and even when that one got heavy into the science fiction philosophy, there was still a coherent plot. This one, I really have no idea what happened. I just know that I liked it and that the art was incredible.
Buja’s Diary - http://www.amazon.com/Bujas-Diary-Se-yong-O/dp/1561634484/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-7964370-8273505?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184044901&sr=8-1
Yeah, everyone needs to check this out. As you can see from the link, it’s a Korean comic. It’s a book of short stories. Most of them are good and the rest are great. The title story alone is straight cash. There is a very strong lyrical content to the pieces and it’s pretty obvious the creator really understands the “poetry” (so to speak) of the comics medium.
Brownsville - http://www.amazon.com/Brownsville-Neil-Kleid/dp/156163459X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-7964370-8273505?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184045109&sr=1-2
This is a story about Jewish gangsters in the '30s. I love crime stories so I figured I had to get this from the library. It was a solid read. I might like it more if I read it multiple times. At times the story was tough to follow because there were lots of names and I had trouble figuring out who was who. It wasn’t the best crime story I ever read, but it’s certainly a very strong comic book crime story.
jackpot!
hey Zeph, Dark Horse also announced they will be reprinting the old Savage Sword of Conan series in Essentials-style format
That’s right, I saw that on the solicitations. That sounds like a great purchase. I never read any of those old-school Conans, but for that price, it can’t be much of a waste of money. At least the art for sure is going to be good.
goddam… Exterminators #6 was sooo good. This is now officially one of my favorite series. Terry Moore is serviceable on Walking Dead but here he is bloody brilliant. This plus DMZ are head and shoulders above most everything right now
My DD:Father just got here today in HC. I’m a bit more then half way through and its already too freakin good. <3 DD