What comic are you reading at the moment.

Fysh

spooydermot wrote:

Superman: Red Son


I read the third part of this recently and I have to say I quite liked the ending, but I think perhaps I'm just a sucker for alternate endings and the like...really loved the cover art of the three issues aswell.

Haven't read this in a while, but it's one of only 2 superman books I own (I am not, by any strain of the imagination, a big superman fan). I wasn't hugely keen on the ending - I liked the general premise of the ending and the insight into Lex Luthor, but at the same time it felt hollow compared to the more ideological discussions that preceded it. I personally felt the story peaked with the russian Batman's emergence - once that story thread was complete, it seemed to lose momentum for me.

spookydermot wrote:

office ninja

I picked this up on holidays its absoloutely hilarious! If you see this pick it up!

Is this anything to do with "corporate ninja"? I've not read it but I have seen it in Other Realms and I'm vaguely tempted by the name alone...may give it a look when I go to get my next fix

spooydermot

Fysh wrote:

Is this anything to do with "corporate ninja"? I've not read it but I have seen it in Other Realms and I'm vaguely tempted by the name alone...may give it a look when I go to get my next fix

yep thats the one I mean, pick it up you won't b dissappointed!:D

Draco

spooydermot wrote:

Superman: Red Son


I read the third part of this recently and I have to say I quite liked the ending, but I think perhaps I'm just a sucker for alternate endings and the like...really loved the cover art of the three issues aswell.

The very, very end was grand, it was the defeat of Superman that got me. Something all too easy about it all.

Fysh

Last week's reading:

Down #1:

Hadn't heard much about this but I saw a preview of it online and picked it up. Warren Ellis writing crime, which sounds a bit too close to what he was doing in Jack Cross (which I thought was so-so rather than the quality I usually enjoy from Ellis) but the first issue of this makes it seem similar to Matador, only much more interestingly done.

Penny Arcade #1:

I read the webcomic regularly but figured I'd check it out, since I couldn't remember if I'd ever waded through all the archives - plus I like supporting smaller comics I enjoy. Worth a look especially if you haven't read that much PA. Plus it's dirt cheap.

Seven Soldiers : Mister Miracle #2:

A better issue than the last one partly because there's enough action to stop Shilo Norman from feeling like a cold and soulless person, plus there's some story development not unlike what happened around Guardian #2/3 and Klarion #2/3. A definite improvement, even if only because of the shift in focus to a more action-based storyline. I really liked the closing pages too.

Marvel Zombies #1:

As a horror fan, I could hardly not buy this. Apparently this stems from an Ultimate Fantastic Four storyline, but I don't really care. The Marvel Universe as a zombie story in which the majority of marvel heroes are zombies craving human flesh, able to think rationally only for a while after eating. An interesting idea, though we'll see if it works out as an interesting story over the 5 issues or runs out of steam by the end of issue 2...

A History Of Violence:

Figured I'd pick it up as it seemed interesting and I haven't read anything particularly indie-ish lately. A good read; Tom McKenna runs a diner in the arse of nowhere in the US, but is projected into a media spotlight after fighting off armed robbers, and the sudden fame means that his murky past catches up with him. Interestingly scratchy artwork, though nothing too far from the beaten track for indie comics - it's more the strong writing that held my interest here. Worth a look for the 10 euro it cost me.

simu

Black Hole by Charles Burns

Cutie18Ireland

CSI:NY "Bloody Murder"

:Keith:

Just after reading "V for Vendetta", I like it. Hopefully the film will be half as good.

Fysh

This week's admittedly small haul:

Lee Ferguson's "Freak":

Initially I thought this was a one-off, but it seems to be the first book of an attempt at a series. The central theme of the comic is "Who would you be if everything you take for granted was suddenly taken away from you?", and the story centres around Alex, whose life falls apart after a violent incident in which his friend is killed and he somehow kills two of the three assailants. He is locked up in an asylum and struggles to deny what he has discovered about himself, as shadowy agents of greater powers attempt to manipulate him. There's some nice artwork here and a couple of interesting narrative tricks, but Alex comes off a bit too angsty for my liking and the story flags a bit into a "to be continued" ending in the last few pages. If it turns out there's more to this I may look into it, but I can't help feeling it would've been better as a self-contained story in the space it already uses.

Atomika #5

After a long delay this finally surfaced in Other Realms - just as I was concluding that they must have stopped ordering it. Delays aside, this continues the vein of the series so far - lush artwork and curious storylines. Atomika travels to an ancient forest to meet his grandfather and discover more about his origins and his nature, as well as the history of the gods. There's some interesting and gloomy foreshadowing toward the end, setting the tone for what's to come, as well as a stunning centre-page spread that I want to use as a desktop image. I'll be sticking with this one for the duration, I think.

Sea Of Red #7

Further development of Marco's character as he struggles to unlock his memory and find out his true past. Blackthroat shows an unexpectedly lenient side in committing to looking after the humans that have been caught in Marco's destructive wake, but just as things start to settle down Marco has a confrontation with his ex-wife...I'm still digging this muchly, and Remender is keeping the story going at a nice pace. The artwork continues to match the story perfectly, though it may put some people off.

Bone Rest #6

The priest and his colleague reveal that Bone & Co have been caught up in the build-up to the apocalypse as all the central players congregate in the Dead Point Club. Bone's true nature is revealed, as well as the motivations of the agents who appeared in previous issues.

This is kicking ass as a horror/mythology story. Fresh ideas and damn fine artwork, as well as a great collection of varied characters all combine to make this well worth reading if you want a different blend of horror to what the mainstream seems to be offering at the moment.

Down #2

Second issue of four, and this is doing well. Treading the same murky extra-legal territory as Jack Cross, Deanna finds herself going under deep cover to get close enough to Nick River to bring him down. The key question here is "how far will she go to get him, and how hard will she take him down?" Deanna still seems a more engaging character than Jack Cross as we get to see more of her outside of the job's context, but there's still that slippery feeling of Ellis focusing too much on the aspect of someone willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done and not enough on what made them that way. Still, Ellis being Ellis I'll follow this through to the end anyway.

blu_sonic

cover shot
The Ultimates 2 #9

A shockingly good comic, i've read and re-read over and over. i'm not even going to go into the plot you need to read it if your into ANY ultimate time line comic

Uncle Spunk

Yeah one of the best from 2005, the whole scale and pace of the action is amazing.

---

www.clamnuts.com

The Lamb

Maus by Art Spiegelman.

ReallyDeadThing

Lenore: Noogies (Issues 1-4)
by Roman Dirge

spooydermot

ultimate hulk vs. wolverine

I've never really taken much of an interest in the Ultimate universe (in fact was put off it by reading 'the ultimates' which I found to be a smug and self involved affair)

But any comic that opens with 3 pages as cool as this one is worth a look, I won't spoil it.....

Batman and the monster men 1-3
i think the covers on this series are fantastic, theres also a nice pulp/noir feel to the artwork/inside


Supreme Power: Nighthawk
So far this title has not disappointed, the batman/joker paralells remain obvious (they're meant to be) but are definatly more disturbing and graphic.

Spiderman: The Other part 9 of 12
Fantastic issue, especially the 'spider conversation' ,which is just the type of great out there writing I'd expect from Straczynski. One thing this series has brought to my attention is how little I like Pat Lee's artwork, he's only good for robots - he doesn't draw this issue but drew a few others and the jump from style to style is a bit disconverting.
the other thing I like about this series is how well it grew out of concepts that Straczynski explored in his Amazing Spiderman series.

X-Men: the 198
Was looking foward to this but its kind of treading the same story line as the other relevant X-titles at the mo - hanging around the Xavier manion looking at big sentinals - hopefully the next issue will see a bit more movement in the story and the action.

Ghost Rider 5

I've said it before I'll say it again, the artwork in this series is unsurpassed, judging from how the story line is going however, it may well end up being tied up to quickly in the next issue, it'd be a shame to see such a great title rushed.

Mythos:X-men
Mythos is basically marvel telling the story of the origins of some of its heros again, but the darker tone and fantastic artwork (by Paolo Riverera - on a par with the likes of Alex Ross if this issue is anything to go by) in this issue make it worth a look, if the other issues are handled in a similar fashion then i'd say its worth the money.

Wolverine:Origin
great stuff!

edibility

M. Hatter : The Looking Glass Wars

First issue just out, picked it up because I'm a rather big fan of Alice, looks good so far but too early to tell.

Night Mary

Just started this, bit weird but cool artwork.

Transmetropolitian

....again. All time favourite comic :P

constitutionus

planatary no 24
good book and ive been hooked since the beginin but the wait between issues is starting to detract from the story, hell i can barely remember what happened last time. still the art from cassidy is as lush as ever and it all seems to be tying up to a finish. making me wonder for the first time if the book will end after this arc or go on

ghost rider no 5 of 6
kinda weird, the art is undeniably the best thats EVER been on ghost rider. it still feels a bit over produced and a little difficult to make out but these are minor complaints. my only problem is not much seems to happen leaving them an awfull lot to tie up next issue. also its fairly obvious garths mailing this in. still garth mailing it in is better than most hacks best efforts so its still worth getting.:)

transformers :infiltration no1

ok i have to say this first, ive been waiting for this for months and am a huge transformers fan ,especially where furmans involved:D so forgive me if this is biased.
I LOVED this book. i was kinda worried what IDW was gonna do considering how much i loved the DREAMWAVE stuff , what with their plot threads just starting to come together when the axe fell,not to mention working in all the movie stuff. so a reboot from the beginning had me conscerned but getting back to the whole "robots in disguise" idea REALLY worked, hell you only see 3 transformers in robot mode in the whole comic and thats mostly at the end:eek: .the human characters are really quite likable (particularly verity) and theres a nice air of mystery. the road fight between ratchet and the decepticon battlechargers was very cool, nice to see some of the autobots built in weaponry comming into play and a nice display of differing weapons instead of the generic blaster. plus its good to see the deceps acting like an army with a chain of command instead of just roaming all over the place.
EJ SUs art is comming along quite nicely, certainly better than the zero issue and the redesigns are very well done. so unsurprisingly this is my fav of the week.
if youve never read TF before check it out, i think you might be surprised. furman definately seems to be on a high with this reinvention:D

Draco

constitutionus wrote:

planatary no 24
good book and ive been hooked since the beginin but the wait between issues is starting to detract from the story, hell i can barely remember what happened last time. still the art from cassidy is as lush as ever and it all seems to be tying up to a finish. making me wonder for the first time if the book will end after this arc or go on

Ends at issue 26 or 27. I'm in the same boat as you, compounded by the fact that I'm terrible at remembering names. When it's all finished I'll just read it in one sitting.

constitutionus

Draco wrote:

Ends at issue 26 or 27. I'm in the same boat as you, compounded by the fact that I'm terrible at remembering names. When it's all finished I'll just read it in one sitting.

ah bollocks, there goes another regular title.i didnt think it was ending that soon, at this stage i'll be lucky to pick up one book a month

incidently, did just that recently and the book holds up quite well (STILL love the story about the dead cop in hong kong ) so along with the authority this is ellis's best stuff

P. S - just realised my "soon" is probably going to be the guts of a year

Fysh

Well, I haven't posted on here in a while so I went through the heap of "as yet unsorted" comics and, an hour later, had managed to come up with the following....

Single Issues

Little Star #6

I didn't realise this was the last issue of this series, and I'm disappointed because I thought it would be ongoing, or at least longer than this. Still, it's been a fun run of a pleasant, funny and unexpectedly tender comic.

Iron Ghost #5

The plot starts to become clear and the net closes in on the Ghost as he comes closer to killing his last victims. Somewhat disappointed at the way this looks like it will pan out in the last issue, I must admit. Still, not bad for something a bit different.

Strange Girl #7

Going in an interesting direction with this first chapter of a multipart story, I still find myself tiring of this somewhat. There's not quite enough to hold my interest, and I get the impression it's going to drag on for ages without anything much of real interest taking place.

Iron Man : Extremis #5

An interesting issue, in which Ellis overlaps his version of Iron Man's origin (faithful to the original story in its salient points, but featuring a more Ellis-like kidnapped doctor) with Stark's reaction to the Extremis dose he's taken. Looking forward to the last issue of this, whenever it finally makes it out.

Desolation Jones #5

Mostly plot as Jones figures out the "not what it seems" aspect of the whole case so far and prepares for a final showdown. Quite a good opening in which we see part of the Desolation Test Jones took and what happens to him on the odd occasion he dreams...another 5th issue that makes me want the 6th issue already.

Bone Rest : A World's End #7

Quite a lot is explained in this issue, from Adam Boon's origin & nature through to some of the finer religious points of the plot so far and including some clues as to the identities of various characters involved. So far this is keeping a perfect mix of familiar notions and completely original ideas, and I'm hooked.

Solo #8

I thought I'd like this more than I do. I've enjoyed most of the Solo series for the spotlight it has put on the artwork of a variety artists that I'd either never heard of or already been a fan of. After reading It's A Bird... I was itching to see more of Kristiansen's work. And yet, the first story didnt grab me at all...something too drab about it. The second and third stories drew me in a lot more, but then the fourth story and to a lesser extent the fifth seemed to go cold again and I was left feeling like he'd just been going the motions.

Down #3

More action building toward a big final gunfight, as Deanna (who looks rather like her namesake in Star Trek : Next Generation, at least to my mind) finds out about a planned hit on her new boss...

Marvel Zombies #2

More zombie heroes appear, the Silver Surfer returns to explain his presence, and Hank Pym provides the only really interesting bit of this issue as we find out that T'Challa is still alive (for the time being at least). I'm starting to think that Marvel should have just commissioned Kirkman to do something independent instead of going for what seemed like a fun idea at the first issue, but is now getting boring.

Seven Soldiers:

Mister Miracle #3

Without a doubt the most unexpectedly vicious issue in the 7 Soldiers series yet. I winced at a certain panel when Shilo was been beaten/tortured. Shilo is confronted with a rival who seems even more daring than himself. When he discovers his rival's secret, he is captured and exposed to the Anti-Life Equation...

Bulleteer #2

One of the first issues to deal in any real depth with the events in the opening book of the Seven Soldiers series, this sees the Bulleteer and the special agent from Guardian #4 team up to find out about what happened to the Vigilante's attempted reformation of the 7 Soldiers as well as explore some of the original group's history. Quite a nice self-contained story as well as some interesting background material.

Frankenstein #2

Not quite as good as the first issue of Frankenstein!, this ties in rather neatly with the Mr Melmoth storyline from Klarion The Witchboy, and expands on Mr Melmoth's character as well as revealing Frankenstein's true origin. The next issue of this should be interesting, but of the remaining 3 Seven Soldiers series, only Mister Miracle feels like the series has its own story arc rather than being a series of single issues expanding on the wider storyline.


Books/Trades

Hellblazer : Black Flowers

A strange trade, this. Mike Carey was obviously trying to build an overarching storyline as soon as he started his run on the book, but this feels as if, although there are several stories in here which each indicate this wider storyline, nothing much actually happens. Sure, there's some neat moments and an interesting variety in the artist involved, but I recall someone saying that Carey's run seemed like "a bunch of 6-part storylines that didn'g go anywhere", and I get that exact feeling from this collection. Frankly, I hope DC relent and put out "All His Engines" as a TPB sometime soon, because I'm not sure that more of Carey's run will be interesting enough to merit following. (That said, I'd love to see a TPB collection of the "Fear Machine" storyline, which considering that I wasn't fond of the artwork much is saying something.)

The Vesuvius Club

Random purchase of the (insert time fram here), I found this in a bookshop in Kilkenny of all places. It's a steampunk-type affair, detailing the story of Lucifer Box (the Empire's premiere portraitist and dashing secret agent) as he tries to find out why a series of scientiests studying volcanoes have been turning up dead, battles the so-called "Purple Zombies", meets a variety of men & women he attempts to bed, and avoids death by margins so narrow even goats wouldn't walk along the edge of them. No, not even mountain goats. As you might gather by that description it's fun and silly, somewhat like if Garth Ennis in "Dicks" mode were to write a short League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen series. (Speaking of Leagues and Gentlemen, this was written by Mark Gatiss of the "League Of Gentlemen" tv series.)

Masters Of American Comics

I'm quite happy with this purchase, though I haven't finished to it. It's a compilation of the work of various high-profile American artists including Chris Ware, R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Will Eisner, Charles Schulz, and Will Eisner. It covers a great range of work, from the early days of newspaper-oriented strips through superheroes & the indie comics scene of the 60's to more intricate and introspective comics becoming more popular today. It's a hefty hardback tome with thick glossy paper and will likely serve as a reference for years to come, both in terms of odd bits of trivia and for visual styles. Well worth a look if you see it anywhere.

spooydermot

V for Vendetta

Can't believe I left it this long to read this one, absolooutely fantastic.
A chilling vision of the er... past.

bombidol

Garth ellis is writing Iron man now?


Currently reading:
The Forever People - Jack Kirby
Fantastic, fantatic fantastic, not enough good stuff to say about this.


The Creech
Good idea, bad execution

Serenity

Pretty good so far

JLA VS The Avengers

Damn good. A decent cross over. Anything with Galactus is sweet. throw Darkseid in there are everyones happy.

Just got my hands on a load of Graphic novels tonight so im sorted on the reading side for a few days. Got Kingdom come and some more Ellis Punisher stuff, looking forward to that.

AngryBadger

All the comics I ordered from midtown Comics finally arrived in the psot this morning *glee*

Also has anyone else picke dup "The American Way" #1?

I actually thought it was something else when I saw it, but was glad i picked it up, really like the premise.

spooydermot

AngryBadger wrote:

All the comics I ordered from midtown Comics finally arrived in the psot this morning *glee*

Also has anyone else picke dup "The American Way" #1?

I actually thought it was something else when I saw it, but was glad i picked it up, really like the premise.

whats a quick breakdown of the premise? I was gonna pick this up, but I then I was thinking "is this another superhero de-construction story? Do I need to read another one?"

:Keith:

It starts off as a typical superhero story from the perspective of a normal guy but then gets alot different from any comic I've read. Its worth the money though.

AngryBadger

spooydermot wrote:

whats a quick breakdown of the premise? I was gonna pick this up, but I then I was thinking "is this another superhero de-construction story? Do I need to read another one?"

If this were a movie it'd be a thriller, there is the "deconstruction" aspect to it, but there's the promise of a really good story in here. I can't be more specific without spoiling it

Fysh

Well, here we go with the last 2 month's (relatively slim) pickings...

Seven Soldiers Of Victory

Bulleteer #3

The Bulleteer takes a job as a bodyguard for a Hollywood star at a superhero convention, and explores the world of the x-list superhero while unwittingly being targeted by I, Spyder for assassination. This seems to be in no small measure a pisstake of the world that comic artists/writers live in, with tips on how to speed up lines of fanboys and Q&A sessions involving long rambling questions that nobody seems to be able to understand. Not a bad issue, as such, but rather blah in a sense.

Frankenstein #3

Frankenstein vs the cute and cuddly animal population, aided by his now 4-armed wife - what's not to like? This issue is an improvement on #2, with a story that works much more as a standalone issue. The story strikes the right chord of horror and weirdness for a character like Frankenstein, and the image of flesh eating zombie cows alone makes this worth reading.

Mister Miracle #4

A fourth issue that makes sense of the whole mini-series, this took me a couple of reads to get the hang of. In a sense it's the most Morrisonesque story so far in the 7 Soldiers Of Victory storyline - Shilo Norman finds himself fighting Darkseid's Life Trap in a quest to find Metron and become free. While the ending can be interpreted as cheap in one sense (

an "It was all in his head"-type view

) I quite liked the closing page and the optimism it hints at. Looking forward to the conclusion of the series now.

Single Issues

Matador #6 of 6

The delay on this has been something daft (at least 6 months, I think) and as a result I had to re-read the preceding issues again to refresh myself on the story. I must admit I was quite pleased with the conclusion to this because it was grittier and more pessimistic than might otherwise have been expected; Isabel Cardona finds that there really isn't much that she can do to fight corruption that goes all the way up, and has to choose her course of action accordingly. I've really liked the colour and the visual style of this series, but there were one or two inconsistencies in that aspect which I couldn't quite gloss over. Overall, not a bad series for crime fans. A more basic younger brother to 100 Bullets, maybe, although it's more similar to Bite Club in tone really.

Down #4 of 4

A suitably violent conclusion to this series, Deanna races to save Nick from a hit and along the way finds herself with nobody to trust and too far down to even hope to go back to her earlier life. I must admit I'm faintly disappointed by this issue, if only because I expected Warren Ellis to do something a little more unexpected plotwise. On the other hand, if nothing else I got to pore over Cully Hamner's artwork for four issue, which is more than worth it.

Fell #4

Another Warren Ellis story, with a general tone and setting that's brought out perfectly by Ben Templesmith's artwork. Rich Fell finds himself investigating a "floater" (a body dumped at the docks, then recovered several days later) and tries to find a culprit. I'm digging this series because everything about it seems to just work effortlessly, and the backmatter pages are the first letters-type pages I've seen in any comic inyears that I don't just skip automatically. Plus, it's cheap and a self-contained story (even if it is part of an ongoing series). Check it out if you haven't already.

Marvel Zombies #3 & #4

As with 1602 : A New World, the latter issues of this series show that, while a fun idea, this probably shouldn't have been allowed past the idea stage. Issue 3 sees the zombies take on (and eventually defeat) the Silver Surfer. Using this as a distraction, T'Challa escapes with The Wasp's still-speaking head and is rescued by a ground crew from Asteroid M. In issue 4, the zombies take on Galactus using cosmic powers they gained by eating the Surfer, but retreat to restrategize when they realise they aren't strong enough. Issue 5, frankly, will have to do a lot to make this look like anything other than a stupid idea for a Marvel-Universe Robert Kirkman story.

Bone Rest : A World's End #8

The last issue of season 1, this is mostly plot exposition. A few more hints as to the identities of some of the main players, a few more expansions on the various religious connotations of the events of the looming apocalypse, and some nice artwork. I'm enjoying this series inmensely so far because it's a genuinely different horror series, the kind of thing I'd hoped to find more often on Vertigo. Hopefully Season 2 won't be too long in appearing.

Atomika #6

After an 8-year period of hiding from his people, Atomika is once again summoned to battle, this time to fight the plague witch Baba Yaga. He fights her, struggles to overcome her and somehow, in doing so, becomes a father. The delays on this series (due in no small part to the mess that was being a Speakeasy-published comic) are denting my enjoyment of it somewhat, but the combination of surreal artwork and a story that grabs ideas from anywhere and everywhere will keep me coming back for a while yet.

The Flying Friar

A strange little one-off, this - it reads like an Elseworlds tale of Superman set in Inquisition-era Italy, but is in fact based on the story of St Joseph Of Cupertino. (Although having said that I find it hard to believe that he just "happened" to have a bald friend called Lux Luthor). It took me a while to warm to the art style, but the story itself is engaging enough. Although anyone who knows anything much about Superman will probably find it hard to ignore the parallels in the characters and story arc...

Batman : Year 100 #1

A sci-fi future version of the future in which Batman is a forgotten myth and privacy has been jettisoned for the greater good of the population. Already being sold on Paul Pope's art, I decided to pick this up not because it's a Batman story but because the world he's created so far is appealing - somewhere between the grim horror of 1984 and the bureaucratic obssesiveness of Terry Gilliam's Brazil. I'm curious to see where the next issue takes the story.

Trades

The Ultimates : Superhuman & The Ultimates : Homeland Security

I rarely read superheroes, if you average it out over my comic input overall. The Ultimates seems, so far, to be the kind of book that could change that. Maybe it's because, as far as I can tell, each season has a full storyline worked out for a set number of issues, instead of having to be an ongoing series trying not to screw up its continuity and keep readers interest. Maybe it's because there's not a single 2-dimensional character in here. Maybe it's because the story is intelligently plotted and every aspect of superheroes I've ever been annoyed by is addressed in some way here. Or maybe it's just because it features a great version of Iron Man, one of the only superheroes I really have a soft spot for.

Whatever the reason, I'm glad I found it. Popcorn action comics it is, but unlike many other comics fitting that same description, The Ultimates is damned good popcorn action comics. (Now, that said, there's only so many times Millar can get away with making Captain America come out with a line like "Surrender? Do you think this A on my head stands for France?!" without someone trying to set fire to him. God, how I cringed when I saw that line - although in fairness to him, the Captain America character he has fleshed out is exactly the sort of person who'd say something like that. So in a sense it's authentic...)

(Note : I've linked to the only listing I can find for the trade on marvel.com, but I'm pretty sure the softcover trades with volume 1 & 2 as separate books are still available...I also wasted half an hour of my life trying to find a listing for the Ultimate Secret trade on there, before realising that apparently Marvel don't want people to know what's available to buy from them. *sigh*)

Ultimate Galactus Book 2 : Ultimate Secret

After borrowing enough issues of Ultimate Nightmare to figure out the story, I figured I'd take a chance on this pretty much because I was bored of waiting for the last issue of Warren Ellis's Iron Man : Extremis series, and figured that Ellis writing the Ultimates wouldn't be far off the same tone. It's pretty much an Ellis romp all the way - action, pseudo-science all over the place, and more smart-assed comments than you could shake a stick at. I'm only waiting for Ultimate Extinction to come out in trade form now.

(Jesus. That took the guts of 2 hours to type up. I should really do this more regularly...)

Edited to fix links

simu

Got Twentieth Century Eightball by Daniel Clowes yesterday. It should be good - I really like his stuff.

DoctorEdgeWild

Whoa Fysh, thats a lotta info - Nice one, thanks!

Was driving past Forbidden Planet and figured I'd drop in for a minute, 20 minutes later I came out with the following;

SPIDERMAN & BLACK CAT - The Evil that men do issues 5 & 6;

Excellent previously unfinished work from Kevin Smith - It's been a long long wait but it's been worth it.

DEFF SQWADRON:

From the bargain bin, no idea what it'll be like or what it's about!

TERMINATOR - REWIRED:

Another Bargain shelf buy - could be good, could be terrible?!

THE WALKING DEAD - Volumes 1 & 3:

Excellent story about the breakdown of society, zombies and that other wholesome stuff. Why do global scale catastrophies bring out the best in comic writers? Well, I don't care once the product is as good as this or Y: The Last Man.

DOC FRANKENSTEIN - Issues 3 & 4:

Awesome series from the Wachowski brothers who previously brought us The Matrix comics. Great stuff from Burlyman Entertainment who don't take themselves too seriously as attested to by the fact that they have the banner across the top of the comic - 2005 Eisner Award Loser.

MORTAL COILS by David Lewis:

Not a clue about this one but it was E2.99 and interested me enough to get my vote.

spooydermot

Frankenstein 3

Pretty good issue, Frankenstein (along with Mr.Miracle) is definatly one of the more interesting of the 'second half' of the 7 Soldiers story.

Zombie cows , what more can you ask for?


Mister Miracle 4:

Tempted to go and get hold of a copy of Kirbys 'New Gods' story after reading this,not completely sure if I ot how ths worked into the story, were the last couple of issues just an illusion while he wasn in the black hole?


American Way: 1

I didn't really get onboard this story until it was about three quaters way through, it definatly does have that 'superhero deconstruction' vibe going on, but it depending on how the second issue goes, it could also borrow some cred from 'Watchmen'

You gotta love a superhero called 'The East coast Intellectual'


Transformers: Infiltration 3

The storyline has finally taken some shape and there are some nice touches, like waiting until the last possible minute to bring in Optimus Prime and Megatron (who still haven't appeared).
Also a plus is the fact that the two factions actually act like armies, not just good vs. evil. Also the idea that the Decepticons do not just turn up and blow things up,rather they are infiltration specialists who de-stabilise geo-political structures and encourage globabl anarchy.

Artist EJ Su has paid real attention to the robots and how they might transform if they were real.

Transformers vs Gi Joe: The Art of War 1

The Devils Due TF vs GiJoe have always been rather poor, this is the third volume, and so far it shows promise, using Joe Ng (ex-dreamwave) as penciler does wonders for the artwork. There is also a glimpse of history/future-history that leads me to believe that Devils Due may carry the story a little further into the transformers mythos than usual, which could be interesting.


Mouse Guard: Belly of the Beast
Very original idea, nice artwork. The story of a military guard made up of mice who were involved in a struggle against a Weasel Warlord, but now act as escorts, guards and pathfinders for the mice population.


Batman: Secrets 1

Artwork here reminds me of some of the 2000AD comics, its basically the old story of Batman vs. Joker but this time the joker has the media on his side.

Fysh

Small haul for me this week:

Bulleteer #4 of 4
An interesting conclusion to the series, looping back to the original superteen/porn idea that was in issue #1. Sally Sonic's story is interesting and sad in equal measure, and certain aspects of it reminded me of Desolation Jones #3 (the one where Jones talks to the porn star about the industry). The conclusion to this as its own series seems fitting, but by now I'm just chomping at the bit to see how things wrap up.

Batman : Year 100 #2 of 4
A good continuation of the story, including some nice nods to the history of Batman as a whole - I'm looking forward to finding out how Pope wraps up the whole continuity issue. Particularly liked the closing pages and the line "he can't speak too well when he's got the teeth in".

Mister X : Volume 2

I've been meaning to pick this up for ages, and I'm really glad I finally did. I'd seen a tiny amount of Mister X in an issue of A-1 I picked up second hand ages ago, but didn't really know what it was about. Everything about this comic has enthralled me; the plot, the themes, some of the secondary ideas, the artwork, but most of all the sheer amount of work that has gone into the design. It reminds me in a way of Lazarus Churchyard, both for the dream/nightmare future idea and for some of the colours and layouts used. Definitely worth a look, although I'd have been rather happier if I could have found Volume 1 first.

Draco

Fysh wrote:

Bulleteer #4 of 4
An interesting conclusion to the series, looping back to the original superteen/porn idea that was in issue #1. Sally Sonic's story is interesting and sad in equal measure, and certain aspects of it reminded me of Desolation Jones #3 (the one where Jones talks to the porn star about the industry). The conclusion to this as its own series seems fitting, but by now I'm just chomping at the bit to see how things wrap up.

Yeah, it probably was one of the better endings to the solider stories. As a whole though, I don't think it's really working. Maybe the closing issue will pull all the threads together nicely.

Fysh wrote:

Batman : Year 100 #2 of 4
A good continuation of the story, including some nice nods to the history of Batman as a whole - I'm looking forward to finding out how Pope wraps up the whole continuity issue. Particularly liked the closing pages and the line "he can't speak too well when he's got the teeth in".

Heh, the teeth were great. I'm worried that it's going to be some sort of cop out in the end as to who the current batman is.

DMZ #5
Hmmm. This isn't really living up to my expectations. The issue feels like a filler, which is bad for only the 5th. Its primary purpose seems to be a quick exposition of some more of the war-torn New York. We'll see how it goes next month.