What comic are you reading at the moment.

mrcheez

Aye grabbed the Dredd bundle at around €15 since I got the items in the top tier last September in the 2000AD bundle.

The full package is a bargain for anyone who missed it last year.

Nice to have the full set. Brings back so many memories of reading these in the 90s :)

Xofpod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117718043#Comment_117718043

Yeah, read that the artist had health issues and the series wouldn't conclude until he was back

Xofpod

Went old school with Captain Britain: A Crooked World, some of Alan Moore's earliest work. I actually read a lot of this back in the day when it cam out in the Marvel UK weekly Daredevils and it left a definite mark on my very young mind. Doesn't quite hold up but you can clearly see how Moore was developing into the writer he (very quickly) became.

Fysh

I read some small press stuff earlier in the week.

Crescent Loop by Lando from Decadence Press was a very nice, if somewhat slight at 16 pages, fever-dream horror story in the vein of The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone. Prismatik Man by Tsemberlidis from Decadence Press was a(nother) mind-expanding and trippy science fiction story with the distinctive art that makes Tsember's stories so memorable.

Beleleu #1 is a Brazilian small press magazine, with an interesting mix of cartoons in it. I don't speak Portuguese but can muddle through simple written bits based on my knowledge of Spanish, which means I almost certainly missed some finer details in the jokes.

Misadventures of the Egg Thief is an odd, whimsical story about an egg-stealing creature whose theft of an odd, dodgy-looking egg does not work out as planned. The art is interesting, in that it's quite carefully put together and yet the style is chosen to evoke how children draw.

Next up, I reckon I'll be digging into some of the Dredd bundle. I noticed it has almost all of the Dredd movie-verse sequel comics so I will likely start with those. It also marks a good opportunity for me to finally read both Zenith and The Ballad of Halo Jones. Hopefully Morrison being Morrison won't get in the way of me enjoying the former too much...

mrcheez

If reading Missionary Man put on U2's The Wanderer in the background for the perfect complementary atmosphere

Fysh

That sounds like a good excuse to re-read Missionary Man, I'm a big fan - particularly the Quitely stories :D

CastorTroy

Was reading the latest Runaways and looks like it's been cancelled again with cliffhangers.

It'll probably come back at some point but don't know now where those cliffhangers will be resolved. Will it be in a future volume or will we see characters turn up in other comics?

Fysh

I read the two Hondo City collections from the 2000AD bundle. There are some elements, particularly in the first story, that feel clunky and haven't aged well (leaning a bit heavily on chop-socky writing for the captions), but the mixture of cyberpunk and yakuza elements along with the vaguely feudal elements does make for an interestingly distinct setting from Mega City One.

Inaba is the more interesting of the two, because Shimura doesn't get enough distinctive attributes to separate him from the tropes he's based on. I liked the stories written by Robbie Morrison the most, and (as usual) Frank Quitely's artwork sets a high bar for other artists. Having said that, the first collection (Hondo City Law) was the stronger for me as the writing in the second volume's stories was weaker, and some of the story setups felt like fairly basic "homages" to well-known aspects of anime and manga (and a fairly lazy Godzilla-type story).

I'm now halfway through Zenith for the first time, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit (to be expected really, given that it's a mix of uk 80s superhero deconstruction and lovecraftian horror from beyond wossname). Hopefully it sticks the landing...

Maxxx17

I love the Marvel Universe. And I mostly read comics about them. Is anyone a fan of that?

mrcheez

What do you guys use for reading your comics?

I'm heading away on hols soon and was thinking of picking up a reader for the beach. I have a gen 1 Kindle (about 10 years old!) that probably won't be up to scratch... plus an iPad version 1 (which I haven't charged in about 3 years!)

I might give the iPad a whirl... but if not I'm looking at something else.

Kindle Paperwhite sounds interesting as it's robust and waterproof, but it's only black and white, so would be good for the early 2000AD stuff I guess (I don't read Manga).

Am I looking at a Android tablet? I guess I can wrap it in a zip lock bag to keep it sand-free

Fysh

I have a Dell tablet running Windows 8.1 with the Comix app. It's ok but not great (8" screen size is a mite small for comics, 11" is supposed to be the best size).

Assuming your iPad still works, it's worth trying as I have heard that they are the best devices overall. Android tablets can definitely do the trick otherwise but I've no idea what the state of play is with them or what brands/models are particularly good.

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117776730#Comment_117776730

Yeah gonna give the ipad a shot this eve, though it's so old the App Store no longer works, plus it's not HD so not sure how great it will be in this day and age.

Spotted the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 on Amazon going quite reasonable so might be worth an upgrade

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B08FMWY2QZ/

mrcheez

lol well that failed miserably.. for one thing you can't drag and drop files onto an iPad so I tried to mail it to myself, and then it wasn't downloadable as it didn't recognise the file type (it was PDF).

Not to mention YouTube and other apps no longer work on it.. I think it's pretty clear Apple are telling me something.

So...ehh... I'll grab the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 😎

CastorTroy

I use the Tab A10 which is great for it. Before that I had the Nexus 7 which was grand as well but double pages weren't great.

mrcheez

Astonishing Comic Reader is one I used on my phone before, recommend any other app on Play Store paid or free?

JayRoc

Em. To read my comics...I just use...you know..

..

Comics

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117782791#Comment_117782791

Ya but I'd have difficulty stuffing 30 or so graphic novels into my carry on luggage

Fysh

Not only that but your average single issue comic has absolutely dire file format support for digital comics, and don't even talk about battery life. The anti-glare coating on the screen is pretty decent though ;)

Fysh

I finally got a copy of the 2nd volume of Spurrier's Hellblazer run, so I am re-reading the first trade. It's a really good take, and it's such a pity DC didn't give it more room to breathe, but then again I get the feeling that after Levitz left, Didio and co at Dc had no idea how to do anything much other than keep trying to sell rebadged versions of the same superhero comics to the same (dwindling) audience...

Fysh

I finished the second trade of Spurrier's Hellblazer run. That was an excellent, if frustratingly cut short, set of stories that did a really good job of telling a longform story through a series of shorter stories. Hopefully Spurrier gets to revisit the character in future.

I'm now reading the first volume of Spurrier's Sandman Universe: The Dreaming series. It's good stuff so far, with absolutely breathtaking cover art from Jae Lee.

mrcheez

Starting into Descender vol 1 as the inaugural comic for my new tablet... if I get sunburn from being engrossed in the story I'll blame Jeff

mrcheez

Damned good story.. surprised they haven't made a movie out of it. Rather than going straight into volume 2 I thought to get going on Annihilator by Legendary Comics...great artwork on this too. Not sure how good story is yet.

Fysh

Annihilator is pretty good, I reckon - as someone who has often been annoyed with Morrison's stories for having a really good setup and then disappearing up their own fundament towards the end, I thought it was one of the rare exceptions where the setup provided cover for the gaps in the story. Frazer Irving's art on it is absolutely phenomenal as well, which helps.

Speaking of Morrison, I finished reading Zenith and am very pleasantly surprise to say that it remained an enjoyable and solid read all the way through. I really like how Phase 4 was handled, making a lot of space to explore what a future of being effectively subjugated by supervillains might really look like. And Yeowell's artwork was quite the sight - between the superhero battles in this (particularly Phase 3 and 4, I think) and Miracleman, there's a real sense of how terrifying superheroes gone bad would be in real life that, for me, never really comes through in later mainstream superhero comics (Millar can through around terms like "Person of Mass Destruction", but even with the Hulk going on a rampage and killing 800 people in The Ultimates, it never really comes close to the existential horror of things like Miracleman #15 or the battles against the Lloigor in Phase 3).

I've read a whole bunch of other stuff recently as well:

(New) Sandman Volume 1: Pathways & Emanations - this is pretty good stuff overall; I never really liked the character of Merv Pumpkinhead in the original Sandman run so he's a tad grating here, but it makes sense and works in the context of the story. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous and worth the price of admission alone, and the writing is strong as well. I reckon I'll pick up the rest of this series. Not sure if I'll bother with the rest of the Sandman Universe titles apart from Hellblazer, though I'm open to suggestions...

Vision (2015 Limited series) - I have heard many good things about this, so I went into it expecting something great...and was fairly disappointed. Like, it's not awful or anything and the art is quite nice - but it has the distinct hum of a mediocre urban fantasy/sci-fi spin on mediocre suburban drama, given a superhero facelift. I read and watch a fair bit of sci-fi and am sick to my back teeth of latter-half-of-20th-Century-American-suburbia-as-contemporary-story-setting, so looking at it now this was never going to do much for me. Oh well, you live and learn.

Porcelain: A Gothic Fairy Tale - Years ago (like, properly almost a decade back) I remember picking up an aschan or b&w single issue of this comic called Porcelain because it looked promising. Somehow I missed out on the finished thing until now, and I'm really glad I corrected that because it's fantastic. A properly creepy gothic fairy tale (in the Brothers Grimm sense - none of yer Hans Christian Andersen guff here!) with stunning art and colouring, this is great stuff all round. Best of all, there are another two volumes for me to pick up.

I also picked up some single issues but they can wait for another day...

Ridley

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra 1 (HC) - Aphra's father is Sean Connery and they go to Grail-Temple-from-Last-Crusade planet. If you're going to lean into Indiana Jones that much just make Indiana Jones comics already! Mixed bag of artists. At least aesthetically, I don't normally mind Larroca's swipes but the volume has some more overt cases of photos slapped onto backgrounds then another artist does something like this which makes it more incongruous. On the writing side are names which are Ktath'atn that just read as "Look, sci-fi!" while actually not fitting the rhythms of that universe.

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles 1: The Curse of the Jackal

Bill & Ted Are Doomed - As ideas go, I like Bill and Ted having to go up against a band acting the gatekeepers of death metal when Wyld Stallyns has the Grim Reaper as a member. Story kinda cranks to a halt to accommodate being a prequel to Face the Music, and there's a roadie character who seems way too prominent when they're not connected to the film in any way.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection V2 - Still be good. Rare example of a book with one-shot tie-ins which have information that is worthwhile knowing and yet don't detract from the story of the ongoing series if they haven't been read. Plus the book has sentimental value as its stupidly expensive spine turned out to be perfect for a teething young dog. 😉

Assassin's Creed Origins 1

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Song of Glory - Meh, I reckon I would have liked it less if I'd read it before finishing the game.

Assassin's Creed: Conspiracies - The Complete Collection

Assassin's Creed: Bloodstone Book 1

Assassin's Creed: Bloodstone Book 2

Man, the French Assassin's Creed comics are weird. They have such a cavalier attitude to the continuity of the games but do more than most to bring the movie in as part of the rest of that world.

Superman: The Man of Steel 4* - I simply don't care about the Legion of Super-Heroes and if I'm remembering correctly this is the book where I noticed creators may avoid Superman killing, they have no problem with polyamory as long as the character is going by different names at the time. (Which is to say I'm finger-wagging the cheating rather than anyone whose bag is multiple consenting partners.)

Superman & Batman: Generations Omnibus - Had this on my radar for a while since I was curious about it being an uninterrupted Byrne Superman run compared to the Man of Steel volumes but the TPBs were out of print and digital versions didn't exist (which should have been a clue) but this place kept mentioning Superman so I found out this had been released in an idle search hit. Generations and Generations 2 had their highs and lows - why "Joker Jr." and not the Joke Heir? Is "Dick and B.J." a deliberate seduction of the innocent™? - and Byrne firing on all cylinders for the final issue of the latter but Generations 3 took forever to get through. (I don't care about the Legion of Super-Heroes!)

Would have been glad to see the back of the book with the eyebrow-raising issue alone wherein a character that permanently looks like a child doesn't understand why a fifty year old member of the Green Lantern Corps can't get past that small detail (though her decision to embrace mortality and age normally with the removal of their powers being what ensures the guy's life can't be saved was kinda neat). And that whole thread where Parademons-aren't-really-people so Superman can kill them not being resolved can get tae [flip].

But the icing on the horrendous cake is centuries old Superman kissing a 14-year-old Lana Lang in front half a dozen witnesses. Byrne has commented on it but conveniently misses out the bit being where its acknowledged to be wrong in the text before Supes be all "Oh go on then. you're getting mind wiped soon." But Byrne seems to think it's an issue of consent. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"Lois Lane, Superman's 20th Century Wife" *look to camera*

*Digital version

mrcheez

That post was more entertaining than some comics I've read recently ;)

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117834341#Comment_117834341

So I completed Annihilator (finally). Was a chore. I honestly only kept reading to the end in order to see all the stunning artwork.

Apart from that I couldn't make head or tail of the plot...until I got to the Appendix where it was all helpfully explained.

Closed off Bog Bodies too. Thought it was going to be a lot longer. Really just a short story, but enjoyable for what it was.

Going to get back into Descender vol 2 next but first reading Judge Death: Boyhood of a superfiend which is sort of like an origin story...it's actually really enjoyable. The youngster is evil incarnate (which is to be expected)

mrcheez

Descender vol 2 finished. Keeps getting better...the pacing, story and characters are brilliant. Loving the watercolor art style too.

Fysh

On a whim I grabbed the first Elephantmen collection off the shelf as I've been meaning to read it for ages. I don't know what I expected it to be, but it wasn't that - in a good way. The art is lovely (although I find the "all adult female protagonists look like a cheesecake pinup" thing mildly irritating) and the stories are varied and have a lot of character depth to them. I don't know if I'd necessarily want physical copies, but I'd definitely read more of this (and I think I have some digital collections somewhere, for that matter...)

Next post, I'll write up my most recent small press reading, including a comic called BumStorm, which is simultaneously about exactly what you'd think from the title - and yet not...

Fysh

It's time for some small press comics reviews!

TKO Shorts: Dame From The Dark is a pretty neat short story, one of those that is done so wrll that you just assume it's a spin-off from an existing series. As it stands it's a slick one-shot about an odd-couple team of detectives (one of them being the ghost of a woman who died in the 1920s) looking for a runaway, but the setup and characters is so deftly handled here that I'd happily read more stories following on from this.

Crowsong is an anthology type issue with a single writer and multiple art teams. It's consistently good fantasy/sci-fi with a nice variety of art styles and tones and good production values across the board. The only slight criticism I have is that I've been spoiled by the folks at Decadence, whose comics set a very high bar for small-press/indie SF&F, and whose stories tend to be a bit more distinctive. Not being quite as good as probably my favourite small press publisher still leaves plenty of space for being damn good, though, and I'd gladly read more comics by the teams involved in this.

And now, we come to Bumstorm: Blustery Beginnings (the cover also helpfully has the phrase "the comic about farting" under the title, in case you weren't already certain of this). I confess, I am the sort of idiot who, when confronted with a comic called something like "Bumstorm", will feel compelled to at least have a quick look. And in this case, I'm glad I did - because, yes, it's partly a puerile excuse for fart jokes, but it's also a genuinely funny take - essentially "IBS as a superpower" is the setup, with the story being a sort of "what if Dragon Ball, only all of Goku's fighting prowess is fart-based?" This issue turns out to collect the original issues 1 & 2, and I'll be picking up issues 3 and 4 in due course.

In other comic-reading news, I remembered that I picked up a copy of Tetris: The Games People Play last year, and finally got around to reading it. This was a great read about not only how Tetris was created, but also how its appeal led to a lot of corporate rivalry and even a lawsuit between Nintendo and Atari. I like games, I like Nintendo, and I like Tetris, so it was going to be difficult for me not to to enjoy this book tbh. Definitely worth a look.

Xofpod

Dan Dare: The Man from Nowhere, the OLD Frank Hampton stuff. The plot is that weird time-specific blend of Hooray for the British Empire IN SPACE!/Star Trek optimism/Thunderbirds technical nerdery, but the art is so gorgeous....

Also read Neal Adam's The Coming of the Supermen. Pretty incoherent muck. And yet....strangely compelled....to read.... Batman Odyssey.....