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Last Comic Read

Started by Magnetica, 20 August, 2018, 05:57:25 PM

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Colin YNWA

Interesting. I've just read issue 14 (and there's been a fun special).

Its so relentless up to now. It almost feels like the thrilling finale of a modern, hardboiled superhero epic, like Ex-Machina. The heroes and villains all in place (or dispatched) and all the elements that have been building up over the course of the series, through twists and turns are all aligned. Yeah it feels like that. ALL THE TIME!

I kinda hope it drifts off the pace a bit and we get to see the impact on the world a little more. The economics, politics and lives of regular folks allowed a bit of space. If anything just to pull back the on the consent charge forward a little and ground things.

Don't think Incorruptible was part of the bundle (Humble) I got this with but I'm defo going to be checking it out now.

Frank

Quote from: Greg M. on 16 September, 2018, 07:10:59 PM
its companion comic, Incorruptible ...

... is on the desk of Sam Rockwell's racist cop character in Three Billboards. Never sure if that's supposed to demonstrate he's an immature idiot or to prefigure his [spoiler]potential for duality and (deeply ambiguous) redemption[/spoiler] in the final movement of the film.



Colin YNWA

Well I've been enjoying Irredeemable so much that I've actually held off reading Meg 400 (which I'm very excited about) so I can read it undistracted by wanting to get back to this Waid masterpiece... well almost masterpiece...

I mean it certainly does spin off into some very interesting places, but certainly never lets up the pace. I mean we get deals with Aliens, a cosmic Arkham and then glorious Kirbyesque lineage...

All of this worked immensely for me. It certainly moved the comic into places I didn't expect... and somehow it keep the pace flying. I do really see why it could put folks off, it really did spin things in ways that felt uneasy with what had been set up at the start of the series. It didn't head down the routes it seemed to set for itself and while I found that unsettling at times it kept me on my toes. It also tested the boundaries of themes it was playing with. Tested them but never broke them.

A couple of things did urk though.

SPOILERS

First and foremost Tony's mother, the fact that she was so damaged and this in turn was the origin of Tony's weakness totally undermined the premise that the comic was exploring that simply having that kinda of power was source of a breakdown in almost any person. That had been front and centre and by giving Tony an easy excuse really, really didn't work.

The other thing was the ending it was all a bit convoluted and overly complex without being as interesting as so many of the other ways Tony could be dealt with. That said it did use the Kirbyesque ideas that so cosmically elevated the find third of the series so I think I can forgive it that. Even if those last few page with Jerry and Joe were a little too twee.

Overall though its an absolute trimpuh and I'd recommend it whole heartedly.

Greg M.

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 20 September, 2018, 09:31:12 PM
I do really see why it could put folks off, it really did spin things in ways that felt uneasy with what had been set up at the start of the series. It didn't head down the routes it seemed to set for itself and while I found that unsettling at times it kept me on my toes.

This is, from what I remember, why I stopped reading it - Waid just seemed to be diverging too far from the direction early episodes seemed to promise. By the time we got to the alien prison, I'd lost interest.

Magnetica

On  a complete whim* I bought a couple of Strontium Dog volumes from the Ultimate Collection yesterday.

So far I have read the Bad Boys Bust and started Portrait of a Mutant.

I had forgotten how great they are.

The Bad Bays Bust is just pure old school 2000AD - great fun and really easy to follow. It is actually a very simple story but it is just so entertaining.

I had forgotten just what I great writer Alan Grant is (I know it was in conjunction with Mr Wagner).

* well actually it was probably in part to get easy access to some classic Ezquerra art.


BTW I got one at Orbital Comics, where completely unbeknown to me there was an Arthur Ranson signing going on.

Dandontdare

Quote from: Magnetica on 06 October, 2018, 12:23:32 PMBTW I got one at Orbital Comics, where completely unbeknown to me there was an Arthur Ranson signing going on.

yeah, very time I'm in That London for a few days I go to Orbital and usually find I've just missed a signing - last time I was a day late for Brian Talbot signing the last Grandville book

CalHab

I picked up a copy of Tom King's Omega Men reboot in a digital sale a while back and only just got round to reading it. It's a thought-provoking read. The Omega Men are effectively terrorists and there are quite a few uncomfortable moral questions posed. Tom King goes out of his way to give all sides of the conflict believable motivations. Well worth a read, particularly if you have enjoyed King's work in the past.

To keep on the Green Lantern theme, my other weekend read was Hardman and Bechko's Green Lantern: Earth One which effectively brings the low-fi science fiction of their brilliant Invisible Republic to a mainstream superhero comic, and it works surprisingly well. It does suffer from being a bit rushed in comparison to the very slow burning Invisible Republic. It is hard to see how this series would be incorporated into the mainstream DC Universe, but maybe these Earth One books are meant to be stand-alone? I haven't read any of the others.

Colin YNWA

Man I miss Invisible Republic that was a great comic. I hope they get around to graphic novels they planned to continue the story with... or was that Sex?... or both...

CalHab

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 10 October, 2018, 01:27:11 PM
Man I miss Invisible Republic that was a great comic. I hope they get around to graphic novels they planned to continue the story with... or was that Sex?... or both...

I hope so too, it was brilliant. It's a rare example of believable politics in a science-fiction comic (or in science-fiction in general) and you get the impression that they've spent an enormous amount of time figuring out exactly how this world works. The incredible artwork helps as well, of course.

Colin YNWA

Just read Doomlord - Deathlords of Nox from Hibernia and our very own MaryandDavid - I seriously love this comic, its just superb. Wagner and Grant at their very best with lovely art by Heinzl.

Comics with a villianous protagonist are normally really interesting and here we see that being th case once again. Admittedly during the course of this comic Servitor Vek becomes more and more a hero as he fights to save himself from the three Deathlords of Nox and by doing so humanity. The real delight it seeing how Vek converts, his glorious alien perspective wrestling with the moral dilemmas that would be so straightforward to a traditional hero. Rather here these questions are put to an alien who at the start of the story has no problem killing folks in cold blood to aid his investigation into human kind. All be it in the firm knowledge its for the greater good.

So its a thrilling kids comic with a very fascinatating spin all glorious executed by both writers and art team... oh and the half dog half alien sequence is one of the true comicbook classics!

broodblik

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 28 October, 2018, 08:55:52 AM
Just read Doomlord - Deathlords of Nox from Hibernia and our very own MaryandDavid - I seriously love this comic, its just superb. Wagner and Grant at their very best with lovely art by Heinzl.

You are bringing back some great memories. Doomlord was one of my favorite strips growing up. I still wish that we can get a Rebellion reprint (but yes I know it all is wishful thinking)
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: broodblik on 28 October, 2018, 09:42:00 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 28 October, 2018, 08:55:52 AM
Just read Doomlord - Deathlords of Nox from Hibernia and our very own MaryandDavid - I seriously love this comic, its just superb. Wagner and Grant at their very best with lovely art by Heinzl.

You are bringing back some great memories. Doomlord was one of my favorite strips growing up. I still wish that we can get a Rebellion reprint (but yes I know it all is wishful thinking)

Yep any Treasury of British Comics can't be considered complete without this absolute classic. Come on Dan Dare Corp hand it over if your doing nowt with it!

As I recall Hibernia still have issues of this wonder for the ridiculously decent price of £5

http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hibernia/

broodblik

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 28 October, 2018, 10:36:02 AM

Yep any Treasury of British Comics can't be considered complete without this absolute classic. Come on Dan Dare Corp hand it over if your doing nowt with it!

As I recall Hibernia still have issues of this wonder for the ridiculously decent price of £5

http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hibernia/

Yes DDC has some real classics that will never see a proper reprint.

Since I choose due to space limitations to go completely digital and due to our poor postal services (and expensive delivery) getting the Hibernia edition of Doomlord is for me just a dream
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Colin YNWA

Just finished a re-read of Spurrioso's frankly wonderful X-Men Legacy run, issues 1-24 with a variety if artists. Its essentially a David Haller (he really doesn't like being called Legion) solo title. I really enjoyed it back when it came out and I read it monthly but suspected then I'd get more from it read as one ... and I was right.

It really hangs together well as a whole. There's a bit just after the half way mark where I suspected that the second half wasn't going to hold onto the brilliance of the first 12 issues, as if Si Spurrier thought it was only going to get the first year and on getting a second kinda had to rev things up again and in doing so seemed to be rambling around over the ground previously covered. I need not have worried as it continues to develop and build on what went before and head towards the end it always promised.

It deals with big issues of mental health and self doubt and worth, the impact of fathers (and father figures) and family (and family figures) in our sense of self and that old gem what it is to be our own story and 'just a story'. Its quite brilliantly hung together and if you've not read it I whole heartedly recommend it.

Mardroid

I've been reading Batman:The Long Halloween. I bought the volumes as part of Eaglemoss's DC collection*, and I'm on the second volume now.

Very enjoyable noirish Batman. Possibly the best Batman I've read.. although I haven't read all that much. There are times where it seems to drift a bit from the main storyline, but it makes sense in developing the world and the bizarre villains who are coming into play.

I can see the influence on Nolan's second Batman movie. A film deservedly in much acclaim, although I never completely took to it. Not due to these story elements though. This is good stuff.

*im not collecting them. More picking up here and there....