New Comic Book Day Megathread

[Link Prime]

John Carpenter's Joker: Year of the Villain is... interesting.

SPOILER ALERT!

SPOILER ALERT!

SPOILER ALERT!

Adding an S&M kink to the Joker/Batman relationship just doesn't work for me. The idea that the Joker does what he does because it gets him off comes across as puerile rather than taking it to a dark new place.

I have that comic pre-ordered, will give it a read at the weekend.

Also; The Joker / Batman bromance peaked with "Only You" at the end of Arkham City.

[Apestrife]

Just finished reading Superman Year one #3 by Frank Miller and John Romita Jr, and as with the two before it doesn't go as all in as I wished it did. Has some fun ideas, but I wish it had a bit more crazy. Especially with last issue having Clark become a navy seal and loose his virginity to a mermaid. While Batman and Wonder Woman shows up it feels like 1 issue too late. Batman mostly becomes another authority figure Superman doesn't trust, Wonder Woman another woman he hopes to one day return to.

As for the art I think it has some of the best I've seen from Romita. As with Miller's writing, it has a certain charm to it. At times proportions are off, but I tend to enjoy it.

Tonally I think it feels like the first part of a trilogy together with Batman and Robin the boy wonder and Dark Knight Strikes again. Much due to Batman being weird, cruel and insane and young people using phrases like "slick as snot".

The ending feels like out of a radio series. Quite charming, but not fully earned. A bit like it's year one title. --for me it wouldv needed to be much more than just "okay" for that.

[Colin YNWA]

...Especially with last issue having Clark become a navy seal and loose his virginity to a mermaid...

I've had no desire to read this before now. Now I can't believe I'm not!

[Link Prime]

As for the art I think it has some of the best I've seen from Romita. As with Miller's writing, it has a certain charm to it. At times proportions are off, but I tend to enjoy it.

The key to the best of Romita Jnr's artwork is the inking - which is why his collaborations with Al Williamson will always be the creme de la creme to my eye.

Superman Year One was pretty fun stuff overall - I'm enjoying Millers recent output and have already pre-ordered The Golden Child.

[Dandontdare]

Speaking of of early-days Superman stories, I just re-read Superman: American Alien last night, and it's a terrific example of the genre. Seven standalone slices of life, from childhood to early superhero days - the final story (where he meets Lobo, the first person who's a match for him in a fight) is illustrated by Jock. As the back cover says, it isn't a Superman book, it's the story of a Kansas farmboy whio happens to be super. Recommneded

[Colin YNWA]

The key to the best of Romita Jnr's artwork is the inking - which is why his collaborations with Al Williamson will always be the creme de la creme to my eye.

Could not agree more, their work together on Daredevil was quite exception. The only thing that I can add is his work with Klaus Janson is also elevated.

[Link Prime]

I picked up the 1st issue of Batmans Grave there - it's a new 12 part series by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch.
The ingredients are in place for a tasty cake mix, but I didn't enjoy it, and I'm not sure why.
One pertinent question; did I ever really like Bryan Hitch's stuff, or did I just go along with the noughties cheering, like that bloke in the new Heineken advert?
The choice between spending a further 56 quid or not is pretty clean cut in this case, unfortunately.

A new comic series that I have been enjoying is Christopher Priest's Vampirella.
The framing sequence of the story takes place in a psychiatrist's office (with the shrink modeled after Priest himself), and the surrounding horror-drama is right in the vein of 2000AD.
Forum favourite Fay Dalton is producing some excellent covers for the series, although Artgerm's sublime cover for issue 2 will likely be an iconic image associated with the character for decades to come.
I'm on board with this, for the 12 issue Priest run at least.

[Bolt-01]

Just collected, ahem - 'Beast Hunting Battle Badgers' issues 03-05 from Steve Sims...

Link to ETSY store

and really looking forward to reading them.

I got the first two from Steve at Lawless and when I got round to them they were a revelation.
No spoilers, no nuffink, but if you like your Usagi then you will appreciate these.

[Jim_Campbell]

The ingredients are in place for a tasty cake mix, but I didn't enjoy it, and I'm not sure why.

I'm pretty sure that if you can't get through writing an issue of a Batman comic without delivering a 'hot take' like this...



...You probably shouldn't be writing a Batman comic. I mean, yes, intellectually that's true, but it's just another "who pumps the Batmobile's tyres" moment — in the context of a shared-universe pulp character, it's just wank.

[Link Prime]

I'm pretty sure that if you can't get through writing an issue of a Batman comic without delivering a 'hot take' like this...

"I'll tell you. I'll tell you what bothering me. Some nights all I see is an old nerd helping a very mean man to leave his gothic mansion at night on his expensive electric scooter to visit horrible beatings upon awful comic book scripts." 

Funnily enough, the awfulness of this scene didn't even register too strongly - I think I was already bored at that stage!

Some more recent NCBD purchases:

Everything issue 1 - Great art by INJ Culbard, but the 22 pages of story ironically contained next to nothing. Cut!
Spawn issue 300 - I hadn't a CLUE what was going on (haven't read an issue of this since - I believe - number 21, or whenever McFarlane was last providing the actual artwork), but it had a certain 90's charm and an excellent selection of OTT art. Have pre-ordered 301 & 302 on a fanboy whim.
Green Lantern 12 - Morrison, yes Grant Morrison, has failed to keep me on board for the next arc(s). All seemed a bit shallow. Cut!
Ragnarok 2 - Simonson continues to be the master of all he surveys. I'll buy 'em as long as he keep makin 'em.

[TordelBack]

I mean, yes, intellectually that's true, but it's just another "who pumps the Batmobile's tyres" moment — in the context of a shared-universe pulp character, it's just wank.

Oh brother that is awful. The term 'sophmoric' was never so apt.

[GordyM]

Tales From the Dark Multiverse: Knightfall is a really enjoyable read. It's based on the idea of what if Batman failed to take back the "Bat mantle" from Azrael.

[Frank]

Funnily enough, the awfulness of this scene didn't even register too strongly - I think I was already bored at that stage!

That lower-case lettering is a brave stylistic choice. Trying to keep with the Bat-related theme (i), I only just read Wagner & Ezquerra's Batmanator story in Legends Of The Dark Knight #101, which made an interesting companion piece to the former's current Dredd storyline (ii)

If TordelBack's identification of Time as the unifying theme in Alan Moore's corpus can be applied to John Wagner's writing, I'm saying Big W's central concern is Automata. Robots who think, act and/or think they are human and, even more interestingly, vice versa.

An actual new comic (iii) I've been reading is Coffin Bound (Image), by Dan Watters (iv) and Dani (v). Dani's the perfect midpoint between Sin City era Miller and Carol Swain, which means she handles the character work and dialogue scenes as well as the guns, boobs and vintage autos as wide as oil tankers barreling along desert highways.

What interests me is Watters' writing style. I remember Dawson's Creek supremo Kevin Williamson explaining the reason the characters didn't speak like real teenagers was because his When Harry Met Sally dialogue expressed how their hearts would speak (vi). Watters appears to be doing something similar, but for gimp-masked elemental spirits.

While the plot and visuals can be enjoyed as an action movie, everyone - from the sidekick with a birdcage for a head to self-skinning strippers - speaks in a heightened cod-Shakesperian register, making existential digressions while disgorging the contents of their TEC-9s, like Damon Runyan's mock-eloquent low life characters in a John Woo movie.

It's a really fun contrast - even if I'm not sure whether the cringey sixth-form philosophical digressions are deliberately comic or not - and a great way to put meat on the bones of straightforward action and plotting. It's an approach I could see working well in the context of action-oriented 2000ad stories like Andi Ewington's recent 3riller, which leave some readers feeling short-changed.


(i) ... but ignoring the 'new' descriptor in the thread title. The comic was new to me, at least.

(ii) ... and Spektor, now I come to think of it.

(iii) in the sense that it's not 20 years old

(iv) whose ancestors, presumably, were Glaswegian

(v) whose parents ran out of ink before they could complete her birth certificate

(vi) no, really

[Dandontdare]

If TordelBack's identification of Time as the unifying theme in Alan Moore's corpus can be applied to John Wagner's writing, I'm saying Big W's central concern is Automata. Robots who think, act and/or think they are human and, even more interestingly, vice versa.

One of the 'things that went over your head' moments that I got from the early Spacespinner podcasts (besides Dan Dare's genocidal tendencies) was that Dredd has been robo-racist since day one. Doesn't matter whether they're slaughtering cits or kissing his boots, his contempt has been open. I defy anyone to come up with an example that goes beyond 'grudging respect'!

[The Adventurer]

Green Lantern 12 - Morrison, yes Grant Morrison, has failed to keep me on board for the next arc(s). All seemed a bit shallow. Cut!

I really want to like this series, and I get what Morrison is going for. But it really is just a bunch of crazy ideas tossed at you in a rapid fire manner and if it wasn't for the incredible Liam Sharp I'd have probably dropped it a while back. And I'm not an 'art guy' by and large.

No Sharp on Darkstars means I'm also off. Oh well, there's more then enough amazing DC books to replace it with right now.