What comic are you reading at the moment.

Saruwatari

I picked up the Goal Anthology as well, halfway through it at this stage, some really good stuff!
Also finished reading The Boards Zine and Paddy Lynch's Right On (#16th copy, sweet), both awesome. Oh, and issue 2 of Three Cheers For Mute Ingloriousness. Does that guy actually live in Japan right now?

MarkHall

Just read a whole load of Grant Morrisons Stuff.
The invisables and Some Doom Patrol. Man when he gets going off on one. He just goes. Still not sure what the invisables is about. Will have to get the last 2 books in the hopes of clearing some stuff up.

Also just finsihed reading American Virgin:Around the world.
Very enjoyable read. This book has grown on me more than I would have expected. Some OTT moments but on the whole it's been a very grounded tale of a Boys Journey to acceptance.
The last chapther

kinda threw me for a loop. It has left so much up in the air. Real same we went through this journey with him only to see him stumble at the last jump.

.

Fysh

Saruwatari wrote: »

Oh, and issue 2 of Three Cheers For Mute Ingloriousness. Does that guy actually live in Japan right now?

Yep - I met him in Cork a few years back and he was planning to head over for six months, then ended up staying there. I asked him about printing up some copies of his comics for the freebie day, and he was OK about it. He's on Facebook, but I don't think he has too much of an online presence for his comics though.

(Also, if you didn't get a copy of issue 1 let me know, I can send you a digital copy...)

Saruwatari

Fysh wrote: »

Yep - I met him in Cork a few years back and he was planning to head over for six months, then ended up staying there. I asked him about printing up some copies of his comics for the freebie day, and he was OK about it. He's on Facebook, but I don't think he has too much of an online presence for his comics though.

(Also, if you didn't get a copy of issue 1 let me know, I can send you a digital copy...)

Huh, lucky guy. Yeah, send it on over man, thanks. I quite liked the second issue (didn't realize there was another one beneath the issue two's)

Richv1

Title: The Bomb (tradepaper back)
Publisher: Asylum Press
Writer: Steve Mannion
Artist: Steve Mannion
Price: $ 14.95 US
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Comments: This is a huge collection of # 1 - 4 of The Bomb and the Swimsuit edition. The art is sexy and weird. Captain Brownhole Jones and crew encounter Mannion's dead cartoon ideas. You might expect a fight to break out and it does until they all get drunk and its a party in this the first story "Zombie Island Party".
"Fearless Dawn" one muscle bound freak and one sexy tough edged woman. She reaccounts how she became so tough. Prissy has a bully who inspires her. She uses her new strength and toughness to become what else but a superhero.
"Jungle Chick" a dinosaur keeps trying to attack Jungle Chick and meets with some unexpected perils. Very cute art.
"Fearless Dawn" shows Prissy getting to fight the Nazis. Not only nazis but nazi zombie robots. They also get to see action dressed in only their undies. Prissy and Betty the high school ex-bully both are sexy looking.
"Brownhole Jones" with Sea Goin' Lil looks sexy as one pirate almost falling out of her cloths. Lils intended husband has created a Brit-Mega-Man basicly his answer to Frankenstein's monster. IT is one hulking beast. It takes another giant robot to deal with him. A giant robot of Lil. The two live happily ever after with lots of robot babies its cute.
"Fearless Dawn vs. The Monster" Fearless Dawn our hero certainly is weird. Her moose antler mask is unique. Now a fight of fish vs salami is strange.
"Jungle Chick Goes Completely Berserl!" and a dinosaur makes a nice dinner while reading comics. Jungle Chick is cute while going berzerk.
"Chicks on Bombs" the Chicks on Bombs visit the Guys with Planes. Than the Chicks grow unhappy cause the Guys don't do everything they want. So just like women they destroy everything.
"Dead, Men Don't Lose" or maybe they do. Amusing little tale about plans that backfire. The art is fun and cute.
"Fearless Dawn: Breakout!" the General is one fearsome looking villian. He is after Prissy Jones aka Fearless Dawn. Prissy and Betty look hot in their night time costumes. The two girls get some unexpected help. Nice art that fits the story perfectly.
"The Bombs Swimsuit" the girls of The Bomb comic are all posing on the beach but not in conventional poses they are unique onto themselves.
"Fearless Dawn Dailies" its Fearless Dawn meets Helga Van Krause. Prissy has one cute little jet cycle for riding the airwaves.
The whole comic is fun. Beautiful girls, dinosaurs and plenty of action in a unique style that you are unlikely to ever have seen before.


Title: Cyblade # 1
Publisher: Top Cow
Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkov
Penciler: Rick Mays
Inker: Sal Regla
Price: $ 2.99 US/Can
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Comments: Cyberdata is a evil corporation that controls people with brain boxes. Dominique is one of their agents aka Cyblade she is used in wetwork meaning to kill people for them. Cyblade is drawn as one sexy woman even unconscous.
Cyberdata's field operatives, their police force for their criminal activities are a sleek looking bunch. As most Cyberdata operatives are trained killers that obey orders.
As Cyblade showers it becomes intense. Dominique is beautiful and illustrated as such. She is also shown as one deadly lady. Trying to control her is definitely going to be a job not easily done if it can be. The illustrations of her power as she manifests it are exciting and maybe even a little scary.
Cyblade is an exciting character and it will be interesting to delve more into who she is. How she got to where she is now.



Richard Vasseur
www.jazmaonline.com

Fysh

This week I've picked up:

Criminal vol. 2 #6

Yet more greatness, both in writing and art, and still the only series where I'll happily buy the singles and the trades. While I may have a look at the upcoming Incognito project and I'm considering checking out Sleeper before the film hits, Criminal is very much where it's at for me when it comes to Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips.

Stormwatch Post Earth Division #13

Playing catch-up here, I decided to jump on the monthly series for the first six issues of Ian Edgington's run to see where it goes, what with Wildstorm having the balls to actually go through with a cataclysmic event rather than do the usual "save it at the last minute and restore status quo". Solid material but not amazing, although this seems to have more of the Warren Ellis Stormwatch to it than most bits and pieces I've seen since he finished his run.

Aetheric Mechanics

More graphic novella goodness from Warren Ellis, and a particularly wonderful iteration of it this time round. I'm not averse to a bit of steampunk now and again, and this is a great example - solid, internally consistent, with a wonderful conceit at its core. More of this please.

I also picked up but have not yet read Declan Shalvey's Frankenstein. That sits in the company of Metronome, Joe Sacco's Palestine, the Classical Comics adaptation of Macbeth, and Amor Y Cohetes in my "Not yet read" pile. Which is great, since I've got the Nothing Nice To Say collection, the Hellblazer: Family Man TPB and Volume 3 of Absolute Sandman to pick up shortly. And I haven't finished the complete Calvin And Hobbes yet...

Richv1

Title: The Stand: Captain Trips # 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Artist: Mike Perkins
Price: $ 3.99 US, $ 4.05 Can
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Comments: Charlie and Sally and baby are leaving town. As they talk you know something bad has happened. Something really bad. And Charlie coughs.
Right away we are introduced to the main characters. all of them are eye catching people. They may be just your average normal people but you can tell their is something about them.
The graphic drawings of the effect of this plague, this super plague are the reason this comic comes with a parental advisory. The art certainly does show the effects in all their sickly nature. The mood is set and everyone knows its bad.
The story isn't so much about the plague as it is about the people.
It starts with a sneeze and where it ends well. Thats to be seen. This is a slow building of terror as you realize what is happening. Captain Trips is on the loose and no one is safe.

Title: The Stand: Captain Trips # 2
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Artist: Mike Perkins
Price: $ 3.99 US, $ 4.05 Can
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Comments: Charlie Campion and his family ran from Project Blue just not fast enough. They were caught and infected and now its spreading. With a 99.4% death rate A-Prime, captain Trips, the super flu is death in a cough or even a touch. The germs spread. Soon it is all over the Inited States.
Stuart Redman is unaffected by this super flu and the government want to know why. He is one stubburn man. He is just an ordinary guy though.
Stuart, Frannie, Nick, Larry all these people are what makes this story so engrossing. They are all ordinary people caught up in an unordinary event. Nick a deaf and mute man will end up being a leader among them. He hears and speaks no evil. He has an inner strength.
Now the man with no face is seen here in a dream. He is pure evil. His impact will bring out the evil in others.
It all starts with a cough and may lead to the end of the world as we know it. This is an epic tale of good vs evil.


Richard Vasseur
www.jazmaonline.com

Fysh

More stuff I've bought recently:

Hellblazer: The Family Man

A fairly decent collection, this, to go with the recent Fear Machine collection that I was so happy to pick up. This means, as far as I know, that all of
Jamie Delano and Garth Ennis's work on Hellblazer has now been collected. Which is nice, given that the series appears to have sadly meandered its way into irrelevance by now despite Vertigo's apparent desire to keep it going no matter what. The Family Man is an odd fit of a story for Hellblazer, considering that a lot of the material so far has been supernatural in nature - but it's a very good one. Barring the Jamie Delano/Jock 21st century commemorative story due out next year, this could well be the last Hellblazer material I buy. At least it'll be a case of ending on a high note, as it were.

Freakangels Volume 1

I've already read this since I've been following the webcomic since day one, but it's good enough that I'll support it by buying the trades. Duffield's artwork looks luscious on the printed page from what I've read so far, which makes it worth the price of admission.

Nothing Nice To Say

Another webcomic collection, this time of Mitch Clem's punker-than-thou "Nothing Nice To Say". Some great stuff in here, although if you're not interested in or familiar with punk rock a lot of it may well go over your head...

Kill Your Boyfriend

I figured early Morrison seems to appeal to me more than recent Morrison, so why not? Plus, Philip Bond and D'israeli on art? Sadly, this is like a bad version of St. Swithin's Day filtered through textbook brainless rebellion and all the characterisation of a squashed jam doughnut. The art is inconsistent too, flitting between the look of Deadenders and Bad Blood and something more realistic in an altogether random fashion. Not the worst thing I've ever read, but on the other hand it hasn't gotten me any closer to understanding what it is about Grant Morrison's writing that people find so appealing...

No Hero #2

This is a very talky issue, and to be honest not a great one. It works fine within the premise of the question the series asks ("How badly do you want to be a superhuman?"), but I'm losing interest because not a lot has happened. Part of the conversation in this issue is supposed to suggest just how far from the normal man superpowered beings would actually be (Someone talks about never having flown before - referring to a plane - and the superhero assumes he's talking about never having flown under his own power), but like Black Summer before it, this feels like it's got the balance wrong between plot, character and ideas. Issue 2 closes on a good setup -

a straight-edge superhero wannabe who gets inducted into the Front Line, only to find that having ingested Masterson's FX7 pill is causing horrenous hallucinations

- so I'll stick with it for another issue or two, but this is moving very slowly for my liking.

Invincible Iron Man #7

I was concerned by the solicit for this issue describing it as having Spider-man as a guest star, but I was worried needlessly. This is actually an epilogue to the first storyline "The Five Nightmares", and Fraction does a really good job of using Spider-man (barring one of those horrendously clunky "jokes" where someone asks Peter Parker what he's been up to since he worked for Stark and he replies "nothing really spectacular or amazing" - geddit? *sigh*). The issue doesn't get bogged down in trying to pacify those freaks who are still up in arms about the whole Brand New Day thing while still reading Spider-man, and is almost a template for how guest-stars in comics should be handled. Given Fraction's announcement that he's on-board for the next year or so, I'll be following this for the foreseeable future.

Iron Man: The End

I picked this up because, well, why not? Punisher: The End was a great little one-shot, for example. This, though, is not so much. It's written by David Michelinie, the writer responsible for what are usually described as some of the best Iron Man stories ever (chiefly the Demon In A Bottle storyline, I think) but this is just plain rubbish. Had this been released 15 years ago, it wouldn't be so bad - the artwork is quite nice, but the writing is a huge let-down. For a character who has become considerably more sophisticated both in his technology and his overall presentation, this gives us the kind of story where Stark will be really stupid to serve the plot despite also being a genius (we're talking "switching his armour to a non-airtight configuration while underwater" kind of stupid). It also gives us the likes of Russian villains that speak in broken English ("because future is not future enough for Russians to learn mastery of English language, yes?") and a fairly disappointing approach to the whole scenario. It's not all bad - the idea for the new Iron Man armour for the replacement Iron Man is quite nice, and Tony's fixation with the Big Jump project works well - but this is nowhere near as good as it could have been, and that's because the writing is like something from 20 years ago and the general standard of writing for Iron Man has become significantly more sophisticated since then, thanks to the likes of Ellis and Fraction amongst others.

Chas: The Knowledge #5

I've been a bit disappointed with this series, because the opening issue was pretty strong and the subsequent issues didn't maintain the strength of authorial voice. This issue wraps up the plot quite nicely while also making space for some really nice character moments. The only fault I could find with this issue is that Constantine is once again being a cranky tosser in it; while there's a possible in-issue explanation for why Chas might put up with this (his explanation of why he and Renee stick with their marriage even though it's not particularly easy or romantic in the usual sense), it makes considerably less sense in the context of a friendship than it would in a relationship. I must re-read this to see how it works as a complete story, but my general impression is that it's been a better and less exploitative spin-off than anything that's gone before it.

Ubu Bubu #3

I missed this when it first came out because I'm stupid sometimes, but I'm glad I got my hands on it. More manic glee from That Guy Wot Did Bear, this time featuring a demon that kills people via their deepest darkest sexual desire - horribly funny stuff here, and definitely worthy of your time. The only bad thing? There's only one more issue, and that won't arrive until early next year. Still, it's great fun while it lasts.

Richv1

Title: Shadow Chronicles # 1
Publisher: Studio 407
Writers: Robert Heske, Chad Jones & Neal Marshal Stevens
Artists: Diego Yapura, R.V. Silva & Rafael Ortiz
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Comments: "the Night Projectionist" is written by Robert Heske with art by Diego Yapura. The setting is Hungary 1709 on St. George's Day, the witches' Sabbath. It is an ominous atmosphere. It is a dark and brooding night. The Red Plague strikes and people want a solution.
A priest uses this situation to rile the masses. This priest loves to have control. One of the local military though has the guts to stand up, a Lieutenant.
Than we shift to the present Crosston Falls, Massachusetts, October 30. Here people behave as people so lots of crime from one teen and also some mysterious things starting to happen. The town actually has an honest sheriff.
The vampire scenes are subtile at first and continue to grow in intensity. Dragos the Night Projectionist has come to town and things will never be the same again. The build up is done great.
How though do the two different storylines tie in together? Is Dragos from 1709?
The tension and build up is beautifully done. It will have you on the edge of your seat. It has the feel of an old time horror movie. One of those ones that you just cannot take yours eyes away from. You know its not real. But still.
"Nether World" is written by Chad Jones with art by R.V. Silva. The visuals starting out here are stunning. This sci-fi story grabs your attention right from the start. An alien world is suddenly, inexplicably filled with thousands dead. So a team is sent to find out what happened. Dr. Voss & Ernest her assistant are drafted. Dr. Voss will lead this mission. This is one intense story.
"Demon Squad" is written by Neal Marshal Stevens with art by Rafael Ortiz. A team of experts hunt down supernatural creatures. The art is elongated on the people. The creature drawings though stand out having a horrorific effect.

Richard Vasseur

Richv1

Title: Dead Men Tell No Tales (trade paperback)
Publisher: Arcana
Writer: Dwight L. MacPherson
Pencilers: Mike Fiorentino, Fernando Acosta, Jeff Austin
Inkers: Tony Devito, Edgar Midian
Price: $ 14.95 US
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Comments: The setting and atmosphere is perfect for this tale of pirates. The skull moon has to be seen to be believed. It is beautifully drawn with an eerie touch.
Captain Kidd is a blood thirsty pirate. He is evil. A killer for sure. His raids on ships leave none alive. Mrr. Kibble his first mate may be even more of a scoundral them him.
The art is dark with lots of black coloring. The pirates do look authentic. The rough seas scenes are wonderfully illustrated.
Captain Blackbeard with his first mate Mister Klump is also a man of evil ways. The most famous of pirates all seem to be within the pages of this comic.
A map of untold treasure seems to be the center theme. It drives men mad questing for its riches.
Than we see the Holy Grail. Men want to posses it and will kill to do so.
There is lots of treachery among these pirates. Most takes place with Captain and First Mate. Though the Captains do seem to foolishly trust them. The intrigue is fun and entertaining to watch unfold.
All want the Treasure of Christ. The chalice, the spear, the ark and more. It calls to them. A siren song of death and corruption.
Blackbeard's ghost and ship are a haunting image. The ghostly blue glow that surrounds the ship and crew does make for some eerie scenes. As this undead crew make land fall it is a scene from Hell itself.
We see what greed can do to anyone who lets its evil seep into their hearts. The death and destruction it can cause.
Lots of high seas action in this haunting tale of pirates after the ultimate prize.

Richard Vasseur

Fysh

A relatively light week for me this time around:

Stormwatch PED #16

I started picking this up with #13 because Ian Edgington was writing it and I've enjoyed most of what I've read by him and D'israeli. So far it's been good but not exactly breathtaking. I don't know about the rest of the Wildstorm line, but Stormwatch to me certainly seems to have been flailing around looking for a new angle ever since Warren Ellis used the team as a launchpoint for The Authority. This issue is another example of a decent enough comic that evidently wears its Ellis influence quite proudly, but doesn't know how to move beyond it. I'll give this another couple of issues to get a sense of direction, but if a bigger story doesn't become apparent I'll be dropping it.

Also, the back-up stories are a cute sort of idea, except for the part where I'd need to be reading the other Wildstorm books to get the full back-up story. So instead I feel kind of gypped by having a 6-8 page story at the end of each issue that could instead have been used for the main comic I paid for and am actually interested in reading.

Transhuman #4

The only thing wrong with this comic is that it's the last issue of the series, and even then it's a forgivable thing when you see just how it wraps up the series. A few reviewers have complained about the harsh perspective presented in this comic, and laughably called it misanthropy - they're misguided at best, idiots at worst. This issue provides the context for the documentary that has been the underpinning of the series, and what a great context it is. Hickman's message is simple yet savage : free market industry will not bring about the next stage in human development and evolution, nor will it do anything to significantly improve the human condition.

Welcome to Hoxford #4

Another end-of-miniseries, although this one's merely good. I like Ben Templesmith's artwork rather a lot, and will consider buying almost anything he works on just to see what it looks like. This has been a decent enough horror series, but unfortunately this issue confirms that it's basically 30 Days Of Night only with werewolves. There's nothing wrong with it as such, but it doesn't exactly do anything spectacular either and for a series where each issue is $4, that's not really good enough.

Bedsit Journal #3

I've bought a few small press things recently but this is the one I've read first so I'll review it first. This is an anthology rather than a single story, and it works quite nicely. There's a good mixture of humour and human drama stories, with the standout being a wonderful satire on both 50's romance comics and the glut of semi-autobiographical indie comics about spineless young men.

Richv1

Title: Cold Blooded Chillers # 2
Publisher: Heske Horror
Writer: Robert Heske
Artists: Zeu, Alain Norte, Monty Borror
Price: $ 3.00 US
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Comments: "Dead Dog" is written by Robert Heske and drawn by Zeu. A serial killer in the making. Joe may seem like your next door neighbor. Though his hidden secrets could destroy a neighborhood. The art is vivid in its depiction of violence and gore.
This story does keep you guessing. It has some build up of tension though since it is a short story it can't have to much. Joe the on his way to being a serial killer well he isn't shown as totally evil but he is on his way.
"Misnomer" is written by Robert Heske and drawn by Alain Norte. A couple kids just fooling around when things take a turn for the unexpected. Nice twist to the story. The art is cute to, with a nice horror aspect to it.
"Her First Day Alone" is written by Robert Heske and Monty Borror. This is one strange story that at times does not make any sense. A mother's twisted love that goes to far.
So you do get some thrills and chills this issue. A little spine tingling terror even. Three very different evil monsters await within these pages. So beware as you enter least they get you to.

Richard Vasseur

Richv1

Title: Sheena Queen of the Jungle: Dark Rising # 1
Publisher: Devil's Due
Writer: Todd Livingston & Steven E. De Souza
Artist: Lee Ferguson
Price: $ 3.50 US
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Comments: Sheena or Rachel, she lives in two worlds now the jungle and the concrete jungle. A savage beauty in both. She is just enjoying a nice cruise outsmarting her fellow socialites. When a relatively harmless evening turns deadly. Highjackers board the ship. Sheena springs into action when threatened she is a thing of savage beauty. Her panties look cute to, very sexy.
Sheena is pure poetry in motion. A beauty beyond compare who can really kick major butt. This savage jungle goddess will steal your heart. She is not only beautiful but intelligent to.
Crocodiles, jungle warriors, highjackers and as if that isn't enough now who could make this any worse for Sheena? How about Nazis!
If you love jungle action at its best this is a must read.

Title: Jungle Girl: Season 2 # 1
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Writer: Doug Murray
Artist: Adriano Batista
Price: $ 3.50 US
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Comments: The prehistoric art is gorgeous. Jana with her savage beauty and dangerous side make her a woman not to be crossed. The butt shots are sexy. Her almost nothing loin cloth fits her perfectly.
The action starts right away. This is a savage land so our savage beauty goes into action. The art on the creatures shows us the nature of them as they roam free. These big beasts would give anyone pause. The art is that good. Now when the prehistoric sloths meet the sabretooths its claws and teeth in this beastial land. Jana fits right in with spear, knife and brute strength.
Jana you may think is just another copy cat jungle girl though she has one main difference from the others her attitude. She looks out for herself first and foremost. Although in this newset installment of her adventures she seems to have mellowed. She now cares about others and works with them.
Frank Cho nolonger illustrates the comic. The art though is just as good. Jana's body is shown off nicely and there are lots of butt shots. So for lots of hot jungle and fierce battle action this is where you want to be. Jana is one savage beauty who will rip your throst out.

Richard Vasseur

Delirium

Just finished books 7 of Y the last man. Was a pretty good read. Also picked up the best of the Spirit. One of those comics I've heard mentioned every so often with regards to the development of comics. So decided to have a look.

Richv1

Title: Batgirl # 5
Publisher: DC
Writer: Adam Beechem
Penciler: J. Calafiore
Inker: Mark McKenna
Price: $ 2.99 US/Can
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Comments: Gorgeous art Nightwing, Batgirl, the Batwing and backgrounds all are wonderfully drawn. Batman looks serious.
Batgirl's plan is falling into place. She has Cain doing exactly as she wants.
Marque is here as well she is Batgirl's real sister by blood.
The story and art flow along so smoothly your done the comic almost before you start. There are a few good action scenes as Batgirl makes her way to Oracle. Batgirl is using Oracle as bait. It works.
Batgirlis a young beautiful girl. She has had a hard life. Now that life is forcing her to make some hard choices. The only question is are her choices the right ones.
Will Batgirl destroy everything she has worked so hard for? Will she turn her back on all her family and friends? Is revenge worth losing everything?

Fysh

Slim-ish pickings for me this week, and I haven't had a chance to read them all yet:

Criminal v2 #7

Another good issue and solid conclusion to the story, let down only by Brubaker's reliance on an over-used plot device (

the twist where the villain was an alternate personality of the main character

). Even so, it's still good and the backmatter makes it a great read. I'm slightly disappointed that it's going on hiatus to allow for Incognito (a project that sounds, frankly, less adventurous and more tailored to appeal to the kind of numpty who says things like "I'll read any story so long as it has superheroes in it"). Still, I can always re-read the existing material...

Hellblazer #249

I actually picked this up by mistake; I'd been reading about the plans for issue 250 which will have various short stories and generally sounds pretty cool. By virtue of not paying attention, I picked up #249 instead. Interestingly, for the last part in a 3-part story which is also the closing story in Andy Diggle's run, it was quite coherent and pretty good. Diggle has done a sterling job of tying his run into the established history of the character, which is nice, and this issue cements that and closes with the kind of change that could, if the next writer has good enough ideas and is allowed to run with them by their editor, genuinely give rise to an interesting new direction for the character. (Something sorely needed since the whole "John's a bastard and gets his friends killed while saving the world" shtick has been old for quite some time now). Anyway, I may relent and go back to pick up Diggle's run in TPBs, despite my earlier decision to stop buying any of it after The Red Right Hand. Bonus points go to any comic that uses the phrase "I'm a f***ing numpty" because it's such a great word

2000AD

I mention this only because the latest issue has one of Bob Byrne's Twisted Tales in it and it's a feckin' doozy. Tight artwork (at least one page uses a 16 panel grid, and there aren't that many people that can make a 16 panel grid work well without using talking heads all the way through, and Bob being a fan of silent comics...) and a cutely twisted story. Buy it, read it, and join the Cult of Bob.

Also picked up Space Raoul by Jamie Smart (another thing you should just go out and buy Because I Say So) and some small press comic whose name I forget. More on those when I've had a chance to read them.

Edited to add: Just remembered "11 Commandments" issue 1 is out now, as is "Tim Skinner: Total Scumbag" (illustrated by Dec Shalvey). You are honour bound to at least look at them, lest Brian Lenihan accuse you of being an "unpatriotic comics buyer" or something...

Richv1

Title: Jingle Belle: Santa Claus vs Frankenstein
Publisher: Top Cow
Writer: Paul Dini
Artist: Stephanie Gladden
Price: $ 2.99 US/Can
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Comments: Thelma Peaks wants Santa Claus banned! Her reasons are something you have to read. Thelma is oner head strong lady. Of course she is totally misguided.
The art is cartoonie and has a style all its own. Jingle Belle well she is Jingle Belle. Full of enthusiasm and fun loving. She embodies the Christmas spirit. You can't help but fall in love with her. The exaggerated facial expressions are cute.
Frankenstein's monster is a nice guy. Just misunderstood because of his looks. It is nice to see Jingle Belle does not judge people by looks alone. So the story delivers a morality lession to. You won't believe what Jingle Belle does with Frankie. It certainly is imaginative and entertaining. Frankie also has the coolest hotrod sleigh your ever likely to gaze apon.
This is one cute story. Its full of happiness and good cheer. It is a perfect comic for Christmas time and any other time to.

Richard Vasseur

Kold

Just finished Y: The Last Man and have just started Secret Identity.

Richv1

Title: Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion # 1
Publisher: DC
Writer: Billy Tucci
Writer: Billy Tucci
Price: $ 2.99 US/Can
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Comments: The hardships of war are illustrated here. Its not easy being in the army and even less so in a war. These soldiers under Sgt. Rock's command in Easy Company are fearless. The Sgt. himself is a leader in the field. He isn't a superhero, he is just a man one who lives up to his potential and beyond.
This story is about the common soldier. They are the ones who win and lose wars. The grunts that do all the hard life threatening work. The ones who die in the trenches. These are the fathers, brothers and sons willing to die for their country and beliefs.
The story and art really do show the soldiers in their every day life. What they do when not in combat. The attention to detail is amazing.
War is not glamorous. Its not about being a hero although many soldiers are. Its about surviving.
This comic gives you a realistic portrayal of the hardships soldiers go through and how they try to relax. It also shows how a Sgt. will stick up for his men even if he knows they are wrong. There is a loyalty among men who fight and die together. They know at any time their life could depend on the soldier next to them.
The men of the armed forces are portrayed here in a realistic way. War is not pretty or glamorous. Both the art and writting are amazing. Billy Tucci has created a masterpiece.

Richard Vasseur

Title: Custom: Triple A Baseball Heroes # 2
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Marc Sumerak
Artist: Mario Gully
Price: $ .00
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Comments: Attacks are going on against the Triple A Baseball teams as they play ball. At the latest game Mr. Fantastic, Iron Man and Mrs. Marvel stand guard. They are there just in case.
Iron Man is drawn to look as a knight in shining armor. He presents hope. The Mole Man is drawn as a dirty revenge seeking creep.
Mrs. Marvel calls in more superheroes to help protect all the Triple A Ballparks. Superheroes and baseball whats says American patroitism morethan that, nothing. The heroes turn out to lend a hand. They show their support.
The art is beautifully done showing off the heroes and monsters.
The story is a nice friendly one. The Mole Man is defeated not so much with fists but with understanding. Triple A Baseball is a game that can be enjoyed by anyone. Even a Mole Man and his monsters who like everyone else just want to enjoy a great ball game. This is a fun exciting comic for the whole family, enjoy.


Richard Vasseur

galactus

Alan Moore's Future Shocks

"darkly funny and deliriously twisted tales of sci-fi terror"

Richv1

Title: Cyblade # 2
Publisher: Top Cow
Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkov
Artist: Rick Mays
Price: $ 2.99 US/Can
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Comments: Watching Dominque fighting completely nude is a turn on. She is gorgeous. The way certain parts of her are kept concealed is well done. It is a PG comic still. The glowing colors as she uses her powers really stand out, the bits of electrical power are all well illustrated. Jacelyn, Dominques handler for Cyberdata knows just what buttons to push on her. This is one hot little catfight.
The art though at times is to cartoonish. It tries to work both sexy and funny and it doesn't work. What exactly is Dom doing? Maybe even she doesn't know. But she does act. She is a woman of action.
Dominque's supporting characters need more to them. We need to know more about them to care about them.
The nude cat fight though is something you do not want to miss!

Richard Vasseur
www.jazmaonline.com

spooydermot

Umbrella Academy: Dallas 1: Really nice to pick this up again. I re-read the original series to remind myself of what was going on and the new installment does a great job of diving back into the weirdness as well as picking up a few threads from the last series.


Transformers: All Hail Megatron 6: After 6 issues with 6 to go, one really gets the feeling this is being drawn out more than needs be. There was a nice scene that leads back into a scene from the Double Dealer spotlight. I'm assuming that the story of Kups recovery (from the state he was in in the Kup Spotlight) and rebuilding will be dealt with in another story.

Fysh

I've not mentioned a few things I've read recently, mainly because there's not been that much on any given Thursday, but now I have a few things piled up that I should mention:

Singles:
Doktor Sleepless #10
Another solid (although a touch unsettling) issue in this series, introducing a new character in the form of a female homicide cop in Heavenside. As is often the case with Ellis, Detective Singer is a cranky and mouthy individual but also a good cop. I get the feeling that this issue by itself might not satisfy someone unfamiliar with Ellis' work; however, given that I generally find his work interesting and enjoy reading the ideas he throws about I'll stick with this for the long term.

Knuckles The Malevolent Nun

Now, I'll be honest - I picked this up as soon as I saw the Hotel Fred Production banner across the top of the cover, because I picked up all of Roger Langridge's issues of Fred The Clown earlier in the year at Bristol and loved them. This is good stuff, although due to the mixture of contributors it's a tad uneven. (This is also a special from October 2007, apparently, but never mind). Worth a look though, if you've liked any of his Fred The Clown stuff.

Lucky Heather by Andy Riley

Another small press thing which I picked up without really looking at it, only to discover that:
a) it's by Andy Riley, aka That Guy Wot Done The Bunny Suicides Books, the Great Lies To Tell Small Kids Books, and a bunch of TV scriptwriting, and
b) apparently there's only a couple of dozen copies of it as he printed them up at home.
Neither of which are hugely relevant to me, but which would help me sell this on at a profit if I wanted to. I don't want to though, because this was inordinately funny and well worth reading. And re-reading.

Hellblazer #250

Having picked up Diggle's last issue by mistake as mentioned in my earlier post, I managed to pick this issue up and was happy to have done so. Though none of the stories in it are exceptional, there's some decent material in here. Oddly enough the Dave Gibbons/Sean Phillips opener is probably the weakest story here - the next story (by Jamie Delano and David Lloyd) is considerably better, as well as being a nice reminder of the Hellblazer of old. Brian Azzarello contributes a story in verse (illustrated by Rafael Grampá, who clearly has one of the most awesome surnames in comics), Peter Milligan and Eddie Campbell have a very good (although too short) story, and the final story by China Miéville, Guiseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini is unadulterated greatness. While it might not be particularly accessible if you've never read a Hellblazer comic, it's definitely worth reading if you've ever enjoyed any of John Constantine's antics.

Phonogram volume 2 #1

Quite possibly my favourite single issue of 2008, this is a great example of how to make a single-issue comic desirable to people like me who would generally much prefer to buy the trade. The main story is 17 pages long (arguably 18 if you include the title page but that has no artwork) and now in full colour, and everything else is relevant material. It's a standard 32-page comic, and there's not one page of advertising in it.

A huge amount of effort has gone into this in terms of design work, to the extent that the front cover works as a Jonathan-Hickman-style infodump page as well as a cover, the back cover features an 8-panel comic that serves as a sort of blurb/advert for the rest of the comic while also working as an introduction of two background characters, and there are 5 pages of text-based backmatter and 7 pages of "B-side" comics included supplements to the main story. In fact, this is basically the current textbook for how "comics-as-artifacts" should be done. If you have ever been in any way nerdy about music, or if you found Phonogram Volume 1 interesting, you should do yourself a favour and pick this up.

The Umbrella Academy: Dallas #1

I'll admit, this was a "why not" purchase in a week where there wasn't much of interest on the shelves. I enjoyed the original Umbrella Academy series but waited for the trade on it; while this first issue suggests that the sequel will be every bit as good, I'll be tradewaiting it as well because, good as it is, I just don't have sufficient interest in it to want to read the story in monthly chapters.


Trades:

"I never liked you" by Chester Brown

This is actually a collection of issues of Yummy Fur as far as I remember, but for whatever reason is collected as a standalone book. (I can't check this as I'd borrowed it from my local library and have since returned it). Anyway, this actually works quite well as a standalone story, being essentially a story about unrequited teenage affection and social awkwardness. I enjoyed it chiefly because it's neither overly wordy nor preachy - Brown's narrator character is a bit odd and occasionally rude to people, and there's no real explanation for this behaviour. There are lots of awkward exchanges and ponderous silences that give some sense of depth to the characters involved.

Scalped volumes 1 & 2

Long after all the cool kids did it, I finally got around to checking out Scalped, having previously enjoyed Jason Aaron's work on "The Other Side" and his two-parter on Hellblazer. What I've read so far has been solid, grounded crime fiction not unlike Criminal in its texture and realism. While I won't jump on board the monthly series, I will be following the series in trades. I think the high point of what I've read so far was the issue in the second trade detailing Chief Red Crow's life and struggles; it's rare to see such a well-handled and sympathetic treatment of a character who is, as far as we can tell, the villain of the piece.

The Question: Zen and Violence

Another book I borrowed from the local library, this is a collection of the 80's series by Denny O'Neill that I've seen plenty of praise for. I was quite impressed with this, in the sense that the writing was a pleasant contrast to what you see so often these days in terms of decompression. Each issue in this six-issue collection works as its own standalone story, and they're all good stories that mix character development and thematic progression with some well-choreographed action sequences.

Having said all that, though, I don't think I'd re-read these stories. There's nothing wrong with them as such, but at the same time they're not particularly amazing. The central character is intriguing in his adoption of eastern philosophies and his connections to the Fourth Estate (with its own rich tradition of holding those in power accountable for their actions); the problem is that while he's interesting, I'm not necessarily convinced there's going to be an interesting overall story told with him. Oh well.

pfishfood

At the moment i am mostly finished reading kingdom come. And the new exiles (which claremount screwed up:mad:) and is getting cancelled soon.

Delirium

Currently reading The Boys volume 3.

shenanigans1982

Just picked up Volume 1 of The Boys and its the usual from Garth Ennis but thats enjoyable. My only problem is he seems to be going to Mark Millar route and writing it with the movie adaptation in mind.

Also picked up Judge Dredd the complete casefiles Vol1 after the 2000 A.D discussion on here got me realising how much I liked Dredd. Probably not the best place to start reading if you are more familiar with the later more recognised version of the character as this is still a work in progress and the four pages per story is very stop/start.

Delirium

Just after receiving my copy of Freakangels volume 1, so I'll be starting into that shortly:D

halite

Current singles I am reading are American Virgin (very Good), Punisher War Journal (Getting better as it goes along) and Elektra (Very good) ( I know these are all old, but I tend to buy the back issues and then start reading, as opposed to picking up a new issue every month)

Just about to start Fables Vol 2 TPB, loved the first trade.

spinandscribble

just finished Black Hole by Charles Burns (Good) and finally getting around to reading Preacher.

galactus

shenanigans1982 wrote: »

Just picked up Volume 1 of The Boys and its the usual from Garth Ennis but thats enjoyable. My only problem is he seems to be going to Mark Millar route and writing it with the movie adaptation in mind.

Also picked up Judge Dredd the complete casefiles Vol1 after the 2000 A.D discussion on here got me realising how much I liked Dredd. Probably not the best place to start reading if you are more familiar with the later more recognised version of the character as this is still a work in progress and the four pages per story is very stop/start.

Persevere and make sure you read the banned stories that we can't talk about (in Progs 70 and 71).