What comic are you reading at the moment.

Fysh

Draco wrote:

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.

I know what you mean; for all the alleged emphasis on how each soldier's story could stand on its own two feet, most of them have felt far too dependent on the greater story being told, and I'd imagine that if I wasn't following all the stories anyway, an individual 4 issue series wouldn't make much sense by itself...

Still, it's the nature of the Big Event comic, I suppose...

Draco

Strangely, The Bulleteer is problably the one which stands the best on it's own. While there are references to the other comics, there is nothing really there that needs massive explaination.

I somehow expected more from this event due to Morrison writing the lot. Looks like it'll be a let down overall.

bombidol

The walking dead is amazing

Draco

Nextwave #3
This is great fun - doesn't take itself seriously at all, loads of jokes and banter and some semblance of a plot in the background to support the fights. Any comic that usings 'colonial' as an insult gets my automatic thumbs up.

Fysh

Yeah, I'm hoping to get this issue. Other Realms seemed to either miss out on #2 or hideously under-order it, which was faintly vexing considering that Ellis specifically sent messages out to all retailers on the Bad Signal list giving them time to increase their orders for #2 from Diamond...

kelvin

Sin city and Y the last man. Great mature comics. I was never much into comics but I just downloaded a ton of the afforementioned and legends of the dark knight off seedler. I think I'm getting a new interest...

DoctorEdgeWild

Y: The Last Man is awesome. Probably the best comic currently running. Can't wait for it's conclusion.

I don't download though myself, nothing beats the real deal in your hand comic book experience!

BlueSpiral

the super scary monster show featuring little gloomy

and The Bad Art Collection ( it's so sadistic).

I feels so childish with these types of comics

Wacker

This morning I picked up the Watchmen again. It totally went over my head the first time, and it blew me away the seond time. Third time will hopefully continue this trend.

Xavier77

As much Deadpool I can get my hands on really. Man I love Deadpool.

Fysh

I forgot to even post in this thread. The only things I've bought for a couple of weeks have been Nextwave #2 and #3 - ridiculously fun and silly, featuring such stupid lines as "My robot brain needs beer. Also, I want to die." and notions like giant lizards in purple underpants.

Waiting for Desolation Jones #6, the next issue of Fell, and the last couple of issues of the 7 Soldiers saga. Oh, and the closing Marvel Zombies issue, more out of curiosity than anything else.

After that, I think I'll go back to focusing on trades for a while. There's not that much going on in the monthly market that interests me at the moment.

bombidol

"Y" is so feckin good. As is The Walking Dead. Nothing happening in the world of Superheros really is there?

Draco

Continuing the 'I love Warren Ellis' theme, PLANETARY #25 was out last week. We find out how the four became super beings as well as why they are doing it. Too long between issues means my addled brain can't remember when the guy explaining it last appeared. Boo. Also there was BLACKGAS #1, Ellis' zombie story for Avatar. A few hints along the way of a past event lead to the first encounter at the very end of the episode. A bit 'meh' I thought over all - too slow for my liking.
While I do like Y THE LAST MAN #44, I would like it to actually come to a resulotion at some stage rather than just meander along like a drawn out TV show.

bombidol

nope it needs to keep going

spooydermot

batman secrets #2

really enjoying this, the art is imaginative and different, explores the idea of the media attacking batman as well as another one of the Jokers abusive relationships......
I've ended up putting down 'Journey into Knight' as well as 'batman vsthe monster men' becuase they just aren't grabbing me in terms of story or art.


supermarket #1-2

yakuza vs. porn star assassins....why not?
well paced story with a social conscience set in the future with good art, nice presentation (i.e really high qulity paper not normally used in comics)


Avengers:Illuminati

Something about this really grabbed me and I've read in a few times..will be interesting to see if Civil War progresses into something interersting like 'House of M' or a bit of a non-event like 'Decimation' which just isn't coming up with the goods (i.e answers)

Marvel Zombies
not awful by any means, but to be honest this whole thing could have been done in one 'what if' issue


Trade paperback
x-men the end #1 - dreamers and demons

The main point of this was that it continues on some of the story points from Grant Morrisons New X-men, that said it didn't blow me away..does anyone know if the second book is worth picking up?

constitutionus

planetary 25

as mentioned already conscerns the origins of the four and why they're up to it. pretty good read but thats a given with ellis, john cassaday on the other hand continues to amaze. truely beautiful art, glad the astonishing stuff isnt causing the art on this to suffer. only bad thing is it cant be long now till it ends

new avengers ; breakout(trade)

got this on play when i realised it was half the price of collecting it single issue style. always liked the look of it but moneys tight now so i cant afford to just pick up a new title on a monthy basis unless its something i cant live without. finches art is a little off but nice nonetheless thought its hard to make out sometimes. bendis's story flows nicely and the characters interact well. some lovely little references to stuff like weapon x and its nice to see the comments between wolvering and sauron on said organisation. some good sub plots set up and over all a better read than i thought it'd be. cant wait to get the sequels!

Brother To God

The books of magic by Vertigo (Dc Comics)
its great kinda sad though when you get up to date,this series has been going so long it feels you have grown up with the character as strange as it sounds!Great series esp for fans of The sandman,and The Dreaming!

Rogue Trooper (2000AD)
Just been rereading alot of the "Trooper" as I saw the new game and it brought back memories! Great stuff

Draco

Nextwave #4 Still amusing me and wraped up the two issue arc nicely. The backstory of how the Captain got his powers got a right giggle out of me

Ex Machina: The first Hundred Days and Ex Machina: Tag
I've been meaning to pick up these for a while and I had a bit of spare cash this week so I grabbed them. They're not bad, but the first volume feels much weaker than the second. The story is about Mitchell Hundred who becomes the first super hero after encountering an alien artifact. He tires of the super heroing because he's not really getting much done and switches to politics. The comic deals with the political problems he encounters in the foreground and the more murky goings on with the NSA and FBI because of his superpowered past.
Art wise, it's nice, with the occassional panel looking too stilled and posed. The first trade has a little section at the start compairing some reference photos to the artwork which really doesn't help with this.
Overall, not a bad little impuse purchase.

nohshow

We need a new Frank Miller. But until we get one, I'll keep reading and re-reading Dark Knight Returns and Strikes Back (for the complete picture). The last NEW comic I read (new to me) was Long Halloween, which wasn't what I'd hoped it would be, but it had some nice touches (though in Strikes Back, the Roman is in prison - huh!) and a couple of missed opportunities (the Harvey Dent-to-Two Face transformation was no more than we've seen before; Dent's characterisation seemed to me largely unsympathetic rendering the tragedy moot - see what Miller did with the character in DKR when Bats visited him after surgery - moving!). I liked the Eisner references because I spotted them and was able to pat myself on the back when I did, but I didn't quite see what they were doing there, except to remind us of the era the story was depicting, which only makes sense if you were around at the time, in my view.

Of the current crop of stuff, I find it hard to get into continuing series these days. It's why I tend to get the book versions of a series. I really wish they'd just finish a story once in a while and stop dropping tasters for what's to come all over the place. It's like soaps: I just can't be bothered worrying about these people any more, but I'm probably missing a lot of good stuff as a result.

Ah, well, poor me.

Majinlex

I been reading a lot of Garth Ennis stuff lately.

Read Preacher last year, then start getting into his Punisher series (both regular and MAX), and just recently got Just A Pilgrim and Pride And Joy (both also worth a read if you like Ennis)

Besides that, like a lot of other people here I'm reading Y: the Last Man and 100 Bullets and also trading with friends to get as many different titles as I can.

Fysh

Having failed to find anything to interest me in this week's releases, I figured I'd type up my recent reading list:

Nextwave #4

Stupidly fun and one of about 3 ongoing series I'd quite happily buy indefinitely as singles rather than waiting for trades. Artwork and writing both mesh perfectly into the kind of silliness that used to make me get up for saturday morning cartoons like the Samurai Cats.

Marvel Zombies #5 of 5

What a rubbish conclusion to a ridiculously over-extended story. The final twist was crap; the sort of thing I'd expect from bad fanfic, no less. Maybe the rabid fanboy brigade enjoyed this, I don't know; I'm inclined to agree with Adam from Drastic Comics' opinion - Marvel should have just let Kirkman write something original, rather than tying him down as this obviously did. Don't waste your money. (At most this should have been a 3-issue series, though there's no reason it couldn't be done as a 48/64 page prestige format one-shot with a tighter script).

Desolation Jones #6

A fitting conclusion to the storyline with an additional unexpected little twist at the end. I'm gutted that there's going to be an artist changeover here soon; it's honestly hard to imagine another author pinning down a visual style that'll work for this as well as J. H. Williams III's did. (Overall, the starting arc of this felt like a proper version of what something like Jack Cross hinted at but never delivered.)

Blackgas #2

An interesting enough issue, although I get the feeling that Ellis isn't going to get the chance to properly get his teeth into the aspect of zombies that he said got him started on the series (namely, the notion of the zombies being able to talk about what was happening to them as they turned).

Frankenstein #4 of #4

Another nice concluding number wrapping up what is probably my favourite series from the 7 Soldiers Of Victory series. The backstory of the Sheeda is neatly explained, and the battle between Frankenstein and Neh-Buh-Loh the Huntsman was well-scripted. Overall though, I'm still very disappointed in the overall project - as with many Greater Storyline ideas, it's failed to deliver as much as it should have especially with a writer like Morrison behind it. Still, the closing issue may yet make things interesting, so long as the nonsensical hype surrounding it doesn't get in the way (a soldier must die! - though we're not told a reason for this; a soldier will turn traitor - again, no reason; two soldiers will meet- the significance of this being largely lost without context; a soldier will, I don't know, go for coffee and complain about it. Who knows. I don't know who they think gets excited by this kind of advertising, but it's not me...)

Edit : I went looking on the DC comics site for info on when the second bookend special would be out and found this page - I'm annoyed that the bookend has been further delayed to late June, but amused at the extra hype-building questions:

"Which of the Seven Soldiers will betray the others? Which two will cross paths? Who will find love at the end of the world? Who will change forever? Who will face the ultimate villain? And which Soldier will die?"

*sigh*

"Who will mess their underpants and get away with it?" is about the only question unasked, and I'd rather not know...

Solo #10 (Damion Scott)

An interesting issue in that the focus was purely artistic. I don't think I've ever read anything illustrated by Damion Scott and given the books he seems to work on I doubt I ever would have if not for this. I quite like his graffiti-influenced take on cartoony styles because it's refreshingly different to most of what I normally read. That said, I can see how it might become tiresome on an ongoing series; the layouts aren't always as clear as they might be. Definitely worth a look as an introduction to Scott's distinctive style.

Scars

Having failed to get to Other Realms in time to pick up the one copy of Strychnine Lives on the shelves, I saw this and figured I might as well buy it. Considering the amount of hype about this book around various forums, I have to admit to being vaguely disappointed. The central storyline is admittedly dark & horrific, but the central character's development somehow feels like it's predetermined, which makes it feel like an overly-drawn-out and unsatisfying story. That said, the various introduction-type columns scattered throughout do lend a bit of extra depth to the story. A good read, but not as good as some reviews would have you believe (although this might be because I'm already fairly familiar with Ellis's work).

Dark Blue

I've been meaning to pick this up ever since I saw a 4-page preview from an Avatar promo book I picked up on my first ever Free Comic Book Day (so about 3 years ago!). It didn't disappoint; the storyline has an elegant twist and the idea is not unlike the sort of mindtrip that Grant Morrison might write about. The only thing I'm not impressed with about this, in fact, is the fact that my copy of it promptly fell to bits after I finished it due to rotted glue in the spine of the book - hardly a complaint about the comic itself though.

(Good god, its vaguely worrying that there's only three items above that weren't written by Warren Ellis...)

Draco

No great shakes this week:

ALBION #5
The Moore's (Leah and Alan) celebration of old English comics plods along. It has momentary flashes of brilliance, but it's not working for me. maybe it's cause I'm not familiar with the referenced characters.
Oh, and well done to the DC site in spoiling part of the end of the issue.

AMERICAN VIRGIN #3
Bleugh. I don't think I'll be bothering with the rest of this. Uptight American preachy kid looking for his girlfriends killer and (he assumes) rapist shocked at naked Africans, has a ****, hates himself. Artwork is awful, with people's faces changing between panels. The story is rather dull and lifeless.

WOLFSKIN #1
Hmmmm. I don't like this. I don't like the story (which seems to be going towards a Yojimbo rip-off), I don't like the dialogue, I don't like the art and I don't even like the paper it's printed on.

I'll mention as well last week's terrible Ultimate Fantastic Four issue, with a poxy, dull ending. Bad Millar. BAD! The less said about it the better.

Fysh

Slim pickings this week; I've been trying to cut down my number of monthlies and frankly, it's been too easy. Sevel Soldiers is drawing to a close, Desolation Jones won't be up to much any time soon, Atomika seems to be on an odd schedule since moving to Mercury Comics, Bone Rest is pending on the next season starting, and both Strange Girl and Sea of Red have just lost their attraction to me. *sigh* Still, I did get a couple of things....

100 Bullets : Strychnine Lives

As with every 100 Bullets trade, I got home and read this straight away, then dug out the entire collection and re-read the whole story so far. Risso's art continues to make me alternately drool in admiration and snarl with envy, and Azzarello's story is as twisty as making your way round a corkscrew in a hurricane without touching the edges. I was shocked at the ending of this trade. I know a lot of people have gotten bored of this series once the first act was closed and the greater story became apparent, but I can't wait for the next trade.

Atomika #7

It's been a while since I read the last issue of this, but I was glad to come back to it. The story in this issue is relatively simple, as Atomika raises his son Chernobyl, only to leave his side in order to defend his realm against Kharkov, another ancient power. Meanwhile, Arohnir has a plan for the boy that Atomika doesn't know about. This series is saved from dropping to superhero melodramatics by the artwork and the setting of the storyline; by drawing on russian history & mythology it's much more original than you might expect.

Shadowplay

A trade I'd never heard of, this; but the art was all Ben Templesmith, whose work I'm growing more and more keen on. This is two vampire stories, essentially - but both are original enough to hold the readers interest, quite aside from some of the fantastic panels presented along the way. More than one of them made me just stop reading and stare for several minutes. One story deals with a runaway who finds himself corralled by a gang of young vampires in the service of a sinister Fagin-like character; the other shows a psychologist's exploration of an underground vampire gang mutilating women for sale as slaves. Well worth a read if you're looking for something a bit off the beaten track with gorgeous artwork.

Next up, Batman Year 100 #4, and volume 7 of Y: The Last Man, assuming Diamond ships it to Other Realms on time. (I've given up hope of being able to get a full set of Fables any time soon, as the only volumes OR have in at the moment are 4 & 5, both of which I have - I need to get 1, 2 & 6, as well as 7 when it comes out. I still haven't seen the Hellblazer : Staring At The Wall trade yet, either, and I'll likely get the paperback of All His Engines and Stations Of The Cross before I find that somewhere too. GAH.)

amp

I recently got a few 2000ad collections. Great to see them when virtually every comic store I go into is pure US stuff.

constitutionus

amp wrote:

I recently got a few 2000ad collections. Great to see them when virtually every comic store I go into is pure US stuff.

yeah the titan reprints are a godsend. i have most of the classic stuff back home in the attic but im tempted to get the classic rogue trooper stuff in trade because the originals have got so delicate. may get some abc warriors and strontium dog too if i can get it:D

Fysh

Not a lot in this week, and I managed to miss picking up the next book of Y : The Last man, so....

Batman : Year 100 #4 of 4

What a disappointing conclusion to a series that could, and should, have been much better. The central mystery - how could Batman have a crime-fighting career spanning an entire century? - is never really explained, outside of

a lame suggestion that his sidekicks take over, although that's more a lead-up to a joke based on his sidekick's actual name being Robin and him commenting that if he wanted to fight crime he would forge his own identity, but didn't know what name he'd use.

. Pope's artwork is lush, as always, but the lack of commitment to having a real idea behind the whole series lets it down entirely. Should have been much, much better.

Fell #5

Another damn fine issue, Ellis proves his skills as a writer by managing to script a 16 page story about 2 men in an interrogation room without it ever getting dull (this is, as ever, complemented perfectly by Ben Templesmith's art). This series seems to be Ellis describing and exploring a variety of different characters, all of them engaging because of their disfunctions and "broken-ness". Between the nuanced writing and the artwork, I'll be buying this for as long as it's published.

Kinetic (TPB)

I remember seeing this when DC started up the Focus line a while back but opted to follow Hard Time instead because the first issue grabbed me. As it turned out, that was a mistake. Hard Time didn't really do much for me (which hasn't stopped it from reaching a second "season"). The trade of Kinetic, on the other hand, gave me a chance to see that it was quite interestingly written. The muted aspect of the superhero angle (a teenager suffering from a variety of neurodegenerative syndromes finds he has superstrength after he dreams he is hit by an articulated lorry) means that the character's personality and interactions with his peers are under the spotlight, and it's quite well done. It has odd moments that reminded me of independent comics like "the extended dream of Mr D" or "Epileptic", which was quite nice. Definitely worth a look.

bombidol

Yeah Batman Y100 was pretty weak i thought personally. The artwork is very Mignola too

BrenC

Nothing at the moment because of exams

But Im going to start on Preacher and Dark Knight returns when I finish

bombidol

Preacher will blow your mind. As will the upcoming HBO Series. yeah boyyee

Draco

Fysh wrote:

Batman : Year 100 #4 of 4

Should have been much, much better.

Yup, very much so. It seemed to be building up to something and then collapses in a rather dull heap.

Appart form 2000AD, the only comic I picked up this week was Nextwave #5, which continues to deilver with its funny aside and ultraviolence.

Fysh

Nothing much this week; still no sign of the 7th trade of Y : The Last Man in Other Realms, so...

Nextwave #5:

There's a lot of excitement in places like the scans_daily community over the sheer over-the-top idiocy in this issue, which managed to make it even funnier than usual. Dirk Anger's orgasmic relationship to deploying weapons like the drop-bears ("Cute cuddly bears...of death?!") or Samuriod Batch #23 made it for me, as well as the little insight into the Captain's childhood. Funny asides and ultraviolence all the way

Squee's Wonderful Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors:

I've been meaning to pick this up since I read Johnny The Homicidal Maniac. I like Vasquez's artwork, and it is more refined here than in JTHM. Its particular brand of humour is funny (I particularly liked the incompetent aliens ) but I was vaguely let down as I'd been led to believe by a few friends that it was better overall than JTHM. I'd rank them roughly equally as the humour is more fine-tuned in Squee, but I like the overall story in JTHM. Maybe it's because only half the book is about Squee, and the other half is the "Meanwhile" material from the original serialisation from JTHM. Still, it's good stuff. Now I'll probably have to go and buy that Bear TPB if I can find it. (Damnit, I thought I'd kicked that nagging addiction to Slave Labor's minigoth-friendly material! )

Edited to add:
Also, on a Seven Soldiers note (since we're still waiting for the closing issue)...I think DC have inadvertently screwed up in their information leak about the whole "Who will die?" thing by having 6 of the seven soldiers appear in the big reunion at the start of 52 (see here if you want a peek). Ah well, not like I care enough to follow any ongoing books that might appear involving the characters anyway...

DoctorEdgeWild

Finally got around to buying Watchmen so expect that to take up my time for a while! Also picked up DMZ and some other random bits and pieces.

Have been intending to get Watchmen for quite some time and having started it last night, it's already sucked me in!

Fysh

Recent spoils for me:

Bear - Immortal

Picked this up after having glanced at it for ages. At first I thought it was going to be just another SLG Squee-style book with not a great deal to make it stand out, but I was very wrong. The humour in this is fantastic, or at least it is to me. There's a very English feel to it which I liked (partly because it made it easier to get into, given that I lived there for 3 years, and partly because it's a change from american/canadian-set comics) and it's so utterly surreal that I've read it about 5 times since I picked it up. Looshkin the utterly insane cat is Bear's eternal tormentor, and their owner is a complete jessie who tries to just avoid getting involved. It's daft ideas like a story about Looshkin getting control of a black hole and being able to control space time - which is played out first one way and then backwards, so that you can figure out everything that's happened which make this book good. Definitely the funniest book I've seen from SLG's stable.


Y : The Last Man : Paper Dolls

A good read, but it had been so long since my last fix that I had to go back and read the entire series again to properly appreciate this. There's some interesting plot developments here and it seems like the series is about half-way through act 2 in terms of traditional story arc pacing of action/plot/character development. Still a damn fine read, and I look forward to more of it whenever it's available.


Buddha vol 1 : Kapilavastu

The first manga I've read in years, I picked this up on a whim. Book 1 of a series of 8 detailing the life and story of Siddhartha, the original Buddha. The style is much what I expected from manga, but the story is great - an excellent balance of plotline, action, characters and humour. It seems a little simplistic so far, but then again I don't exactly expect War and Peace from what seems to be a commercially-popular manga book. Still, its another interesting series to read.


The Fate Of The Artist

Another random purchase, I picked this up because I was curious about Eddie Campbell's experimentation with design in the story. However, interesting as it is to see him play with different formats for comics (including strips in the style of old newspaper funnies, photo-comics, and illustrated text stories) the whole that they go to make up is frankly disappointing. The idea of stitching together a bunch of differently-styled small comics is a good one, but the individual snippets they deal with don't intersect coherently enough to feel like a satisfying whole by the end of the book; oddly enough, I got the feeling that were there not a heavy sensation of an overarching story, I would have enjoyed the individual snippets more, because Campbell does havea good eye for characters and what makes them tick.

Worth a look only if you're interested in layout and design/style experimentation. I haven't read anything else by him, but from my reading around a few sites it seems that there are better books to read as your introduction to Campbell as a writer.

BrenC

Maus and Transmetropolitan #1

the Shades

On a recommendation from a friend I've picked up the first two Ex Machina trades. Interesting stuff, Vaughan is becoming an intriguing writer for taking different slants on superhero books.

BrenC

Im now on Transmetropolitan #5, This series is brilliant, probably the best I've ever read.

Draco

Nextwave #5:
'No good will come of a robot in a bra'

That is all I have to say. If you don't like Nextwave you're dead inside. Do you hear me? DEAD.

Fysh

Draco wrote:

Nextwave #5:
'No good will come of a robot in a bra'

"Lick my blinky diodes".

Hehehehe, that and the Sergio Aragones issue of Solo are the only thing I've picked up in Other Realms in 2 weeks. Both worthwhile, but I think that I'll be leaving the place alone for a while. Especially when I got the following for 60 euro on play.com:

Sharknife vol 1:

Yeah yeah, I know, I'm ages late to the party. Still. Entertainingly daft (though not quite as inspiredly stupid and funny as Nextwave), some great fight scenes and brilliant artwork, and a wonderfully daft concept. Not sure how many volumes I'd be arsed following this for, but the first volume is definitely worth a look.

24 Hour Comics:

A surprisingly good compilation of 24-page comics, given the whole "made in 24 hours" aspect. I particularly liked Neil Gaiman's entry for the bits where he didnt know how to draw something in particular (I think it was a horse at first) so he drew something else and included a short paragraph defending his right to do so. Repeatedly. Overall, very very good. Though it sets the bar pretty high for anyone (like me) thinking of going along with the idea come october...

Will Eisner's Comics & Sequential Art :

I've been meaning to pick this up since I heard about it. It's very interesting from a drawing and design perspective, and the fact that it was written ages ago just goes to highlight what a visionary Eisner was. It's also a handy introduction of sorts to the spirit, which I might have to start reading just to study Eisner's work more.

Scott Mccloud's Understanding Comics :

I've already read it, but it's another one of those books that's a good reference for design ideas as well as a general history of comics. Whatever you think of Mccloud's ideas, it's an interesting read.

Krazy & Ignazt 31-32:

A compilation of the Krazy Kat strips from 1931-1932 by George Herriman. I don't really know much about Herriman's work, but I first heard about him in the 10th anniversary edition Calvin And Hobbes book since he's one of Bill Watterson's favourite cartoonists. (He's also mentioned in "Masters Of American Comics", where a few fantastic strips were included). It's amazing to read these cartoons, and even more amazing to realise that it's only in the last decade or so that any serious efforts have been made to collect them in books - the artwork is brilliant, the designs are ingenious, and the dialogue just sparkles. Not to mention that the whole series is predicated on a simple premise (the mouse, Ignatz, has a penchant for hitting the cat, Krazy, upside the head with a brick, but Officer Pupp tries to stop Ignatz from getting away with it) which Herriman somehow manages to keep fresh all the time. Even South Park had to stop killing Kenny after about 60 odd episodes, so keeping that going for 15 odd years is pretty impressive.

I'm also growing steadily older waiting for Seven Soldiers of Victory #1 to actually hit the shelves and tie up the whole sorry series, though I'm not confident that it'll arrive before I die of old age. What a non-event that whole miniseries was...

Longshadow

New here, first post. Been reading comics a while now though, and here's some of what I got this week.

Batman Detective Comics
DC
W: Paul Dini
A: JH Williams III
(noteworthy cover by Simone Bianchi)
Was very much looking forward to this, as it's JH Williams' first issue on the series. As upset as I was that he left Desolation Jones, a series to which I felt his art was integral, it's good to see him on a high profile title. It's a self-contained story, something that's becoming more common again, and I couldn't be happier about that. God bless Warren Ellis for blazing that trail with the likes of Fell, Global Frequency and Planetary.
But back to the story. Self contained though it is, it's just a touch dissapointing. The compression of the story to one issue shows terribly in the second scene, where Batman and Gordon simply stand around and spout expositionary dialoge at each other for a few pages. After this though, the story moves nicely, but the real highlight is Williams' art, which, while not given the freedom it was on Jones, still shines, delivering some of the best layouts and action sequences you'll find on the shelves. Great colour too (John Kalisz).


Midnight Sun
Slave Labor
W/A Ben Towle
I mostly pick up new titles based on their creators, or recommendations, but knowing that there's gems to be occasionally found in the untested waters of them thar indie titles, one has to try new names too, and Midnight Sun was one of these times. I simply liked the look of it in Previews, and so ordered it. And I wasn't dissapointed. Not yet. It's not what I'd call a strong first issue. With 32 whole pages at it's disposal for story, it doesn't manage to pack the kind of punch that a good first issue should, but it was good enough to warrant hanging on until the second issue at least. (Good thing too, I think I've already ordered it)
The art style is wonderful and Ben Towle makes great use of grayscale, so that it doesn't limit, but genuinely adds to the depth of his pages, and the story is interesting, but I felt it blatantly missed the opportunity to be outright intrigueing (interestingly, I could find no credit of an editor on the book..) It's the story of a reporter sent to investigate an airship (it's set when zeppelin meant a balloon, not Stairway) that went missing on an expedition to the North Pole. Outside of this being set-up, Towle mostly spends time establishing his main characters, with the result of the issue seeming a just a little slow.
If in a few issues his writing tightens, this could be a very worthwhile read, completely outside of the usual realm of mainstream (soo-per-hero) comics. Not that there's anything entirely wrong with them, but it's good to see something different.
(Final point to note that just clicked with me now; it seems to have been written for a different size format, as the art leaves a rather wasteful 5 cm horizontal 'gutter' on the page, if you add up the white space on top and bottom of the artwork. Between this and the issues' pacing, I imagine it was originally written as a digest sized OGN.)


Waiting eagerly for:
The Boys Garth Ennis/Darrick Robertson
Pride of Baghdad HC Brian K. Vaughan/Can't remember

(edited to erase shameful examples of poor spelling)

hughsy23

i'm currently reading the marvel civil war series and the related tie-ins

Draco

Let's see, recently there has been:

30 Days of Night
Not a bad vampire story at all, if a little short. The story is of a cadre of vampire descending on a small town in Alaska. Violent, gory and poignant. Templesmiths artwork is great.

Batman #655
I picked this up as Grant Morrisson wrote it. Either he's completely ****ing with my head of I got a misprinted issue that is just the first half repeated twice. If he is, well done as my head is completely melted trying to spot what the **** the difference is between the two sections.

Casanova #2
I'm not sure about this. It's in the same format as Ellis' Fell i.e. comic, backmatter and no ads, which is nice. The story itself is a bizarre super agent type of thing that doesn't quiet gel for me, but I'm not sure why. sure it's cheap enough to try a few more issues of.

Man Called Kev #1
I absolutely LOVE these mini-series. They just appeal to my inner yobbo.

Y The Last Man #48
Now, would anyone care to explain the picture the Israeli wan holds up on the last page? Another back-story issue with a minor twist to it but overall not actually all that interesting.

Fysh

Not a lot for me recently; reckon I'll be doing more online shopping given what's in Other Realms at present...

30 Days Of Night:

After putting it off for ages (and becoming a Templesmith fan in the interval) I finally picked this up. It's a decent vampire story, with a nice premise, but I would've liked to read more - it seemed shorter than I expected somehow. There are sequels out there which I'll have to consider picking up now, but certainly the most interesting story featuring vampires that I've read in quite some time.

The Spectre : Dead Again #1-#3

Picked up out of sheer boredom, this isn't a bad story as such. Covering the period between the Infinite Crisis and One Year Later, it's the story of how the Spectre finds its newest human host. It felt rather hollow, unfortunately - for such an interesting character, there seem to be very few questions asked by the new host, considering this is supposed to be a lead-up to a new ongoing series. Then again, I get the feeling from reading about The Spectre that the character's full potential has never really been explored. Not a bad read by any means, but more forgettable than I'd like.

Draco

Draco wrote:

Batman #655
Either he's completely ****ing with my head of I got a misprinted issue that is just the first half repeated twice.

It was a misprint - which is also most a shame as I wouldn't have put it past Morrison to do it to confuse everyone.

constitutionus

just got the last two trades of "the new avengers". really good read, i wanted to buy this comic when it came out but couldnt afford it cause of the mortgage. great to get it in trade for half the price (not to mention the next trade isnt out till october, plenty of time to save for the book) sentry was a good read but the spiderwoman arc was far more interesting. cant wait to see where this goes

The Freeman

hven't read anycomicssince i've been a kid til a mate threw me watchmen last week(i never read it)its fcuking class!:D

he's gonna throw me a few frank miller and,dark night returns shortly too

can't wait!

Fysh

I picked up The Originals (softcover) and Fables Volume 6 : Homelands at long last over the weekend, and will probably pick up Can't Get No during the week.

The Originals:

I liked this, the whole futuristic/retro thing worked well for me. Gibbons' artwork worked perfectly for the story, which makes up for its generic nature by showing the gang and characters involved in just the right amount of detail. Have to say that I'm glad I didnt shell out for it in hardback though.

Fables Vol 6:

I've been waiting about a year to get a copy of this, courtesy of the apparent mix 'n' match approach to orders and renewals in Other Realms. It didn't disappoint at all; from the story of what Jack gets up to in Hollywood, through the story of Boy Blue's mission in the homelands and the true identity of the Adversary, it's all as engaging and well-written as ever. It's nice to have another ongoing series to follow that matches the quality of 100 Bullets while being a completely different kind of story.

spooydermot

right haven't posted in ages so heres my last month or so's reading:



Superman for all seasons
Just a really nice, well presented story, theres nothing revisionist or anything like that, and I love the way Clarke Kent just looks like an over grown farm boy in it.



Wolverine Origins (the ongoing series)
Really beginning to wonder if this is going anywhere at all





Wormwood: Gentleman corpse issues 0 and 1

very nicely digitall painted, looking foward to seeing how this progresses

The Boys #1
Not a lot happening in the first issue apart from introducing the main character as basically a bit of an 'ard b@stard, but seeing as it's written by Garth Ennis I have no doubt that it impress.


Preacher: War in the Sun

my on-going (and very enjoyable) quest to finish the prescher series, the temptation is to go out and buy the whole lot....hold me back


Transmetropoliton: New Scum

See above (o:


Corporate Ninja #2 - #3

Neither are as good as the first issue , but still quite original and worth a look. Pity about the unpredictable release dates...



Transformers: Infiltration #6



Ghost Rider #1 and #2
Reading this off the cast of Garth Ennis's GR series.

Fysh

Nextwave #7:

Presumably you know the score by now. READ THIS, IT'S GREAT! I love the multiple pervy jokes Ellis somehow got away with sneaking into this issue. And the Captain's little chat about choosing his name...

Can't Get No:

Picked this up on a whim, and really enjoyed it. The absence of dialogue and sound effects makes the visual story a lot more compelling, and the whole story is weird enough to sustain multiple readings.

Tree

Bear vol 2: full of little gems like "it is believed that happiness was a by product of the invention of butter"

about to start Singularity 7: shiny shiny shiny scifi where most of the world has been affected by nanites and only seven ppl appear to remain unaffected

bombidol

Young Avengers - Pretty good so far, hard to get into the avengers in anyway after reading The ultimates which was amazing.

Man called Kev - savage so far. Ennis is king

Wanted - Mark Millar is god (slightly above king)

Aztek - This is pretty disapointing. I was thinking that Grant Morrison and Mark Millar would be a combo made in heaven. but its just not working at the moment.

Wolverine Origins. This is pretty poor in fairness. I love Dillions art usually but this seems pretty bad. I dont think hes cut out for superhero stuff.