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Spoilers => Other Reviews => Topic started by: Magnetica on 20 August, 2018, 05:57:25 PM

Title: Last Comic Read
Post by: Magnetica on 20 August, 2018, 05:57:25 PM
Does any one else find it strange there isn't a "last comic read" thread in a similar vein to the last movie watched or box set obsession one? I.e. somewhere to witter on about what you have just read without having to start a whole thread dedicated to it.

Anyway I wanted to comment on The Last American without resurrecting the old threads on it. I finally got round to reading my special edition hardback, having owned it for over a year and having brought it on last year's summer holiday and not ever having read it before.

Given the creative team (Wagner, Grant and McMahon) and the comments on the old thread (" absolute classic" ) I had high expectations. But I have to same to say I was disappointed. The outcome was telegraphed from pretty early on i.e. [spoiler]it was obvious there was no-one else around[/spoiler] and McMahon's art was after what I view as his classic period.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Frank on 20 August, 2018, 07:05:26 PM
Quote from: Magnetica on 20 August, 2018, 05:57:25 PM
Given the creative team (Wagner, Grant and McMahon) and the comments on the old thread (" absolute classic" ) I had high expectations. But I have to same to say I was disappointed. The outcome was telegraphed from pretty early on i.e. [spoiler]it was obvious there was no-one else around[/spoiler] and McMahon's art was after what I view as his classic period.

Together with Chopper in Oz, it brought the crisis in John's and my partnership to a crescendo. We had radically different ideas on how to play it--or should I say, our overall idea was the same, we just couldn't agree on how to do it.  Eventually, John wrote Books 1 and 2, I wrote 3 and 4.

https://web.archive.org/web/20050414030202/http://www.2000adreview.co.uk:80/features/interviews/2005/grant/grant8.shtml


I think I remember Mick McMahon saying the comic was originally supposed to run for 8 or 9(?) issues, but was cut down to its current size because he was taking so long to draw it (and he was coming back from a long period of ill health).

It didn't grip me as an unfolding story at the time, but I like the characters and there are lots of sequences I enjoy. It might be a candidate for Grant Morrison's approach of treating comics as non-linear narratives that can be read in any order.


Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Professor Bear on 20 August, 2018, 09:21:23 PM
Just done the latest issue in my re-read of the kid version of 2000ad with Eagle 137, and where 2000ad of this vintage (late 1984) was starting to mature a little, Eagle was attending to the younger end of the sci-fi/adventure comics market, with a lacklustre post-Wagner/Mills Dan Dare only made interesting thanks to some great Ian Kennedy art, and Doomlord mixing the blackest of black humor with fantastic post-Scream! Eric Bradbury artwork as an Australian town suffers an ethnic cleansing at the hands of alien robots, prompting the completely proportionate exclamation "strike me down with a platypus!"
John Wagner and Carlos Cruz continue on good form in the second book of Blood Fang, following on from a great first series by Wagner and the late great Jim Baike by turning the series into a Flesh knock-off that has its moments, but I preferred the first arc's non sci-fi pseudo-documentary approach.  Blood Fang is no Satanus, but he sure eats a lot of people for a kids' comic dinosaur before moving onto "the beloved horse, Bess."
The Fists Of Danny Pike is a riff on the then-popular Rocky movie series and is about a scouse world boxing champion, and it's passable enough soap operatics elevated by John Burns' flawless draughtsmanship - though some of the visual depictions of African American boxers are a bit... uh... well it was a simpler time.
One-Eyed Jack lumbers along, with his cop partner Calucchi suddenly coming back from the dead and Jack returning to his old stomping ground of NYC.  I think this is a story from an earlier issue (when Jack was a cop) that they edited to bring into current continuity with Jack as a spy-hunting James Bond type, with the story tweaked a little bit here and there so now Jack is hunting for a traitor in an organisation in which there are only two named members, and Jack is one of them - I wonder who the traitor will turn out to be?!  This strip can actually be entertainingly daft and brutal at times, and this episode is no exception, with Jack asking directions from a guy wearing a flamethrower in the middle of a New York street who suddenly turns out to be an enemy agent and Jack looks surprised he isn't just an honest flamethrower-wielding citizen going about his business - I knew 1980s NYC was tough before Guilliani cleaned it up, but fuck me.
Monster continues its post-Scream! run with a slow episode in which Uncle Terry murders absolutely no-one.  If I was a kid, I would feel cheated at this, especially after the past few issues in which the hunchbacked homocidalist tried to strangle an entire Scotch village before rampaging through Blackpool in a chase sequence that involved him surfing a roller coaster into a waxwork museum where he had a one-sided fight with a Frankenstein mannequin that he tries to murder - I think you have a problem, Terry.  Great Redondo art.
Manix is Eagle's answer to 2000ad's MACH 1, being about spy robot type - think if MACH 1's computer was the only narrative voice in that strip and you wouldn't be too far off.  In this one he ends a romp behind the Iron Curtain in which he's posing as a premiership footballer, and it wraps up pretty quickly to the point I think this adventure was truncated to make room for the ROBO MACHINES strip that house ads have been threatening for the last few issues.
The issue rounds off with a jaunt to the Thirteenth Floor, wherein Max takes obvious pleasure in telling an innocent technician (whose crime is that he tried to do the right thing and repair potentially dangerous faulty wiring) that for his transgression he will never die, he will simply experience an eternity of agonising pain that will make him beg for death, and then Max crushes him with a giant boulder and then boils him in lava, entirely in keeping with the scene an issue or two back in which a gang of hapless thugs are skewered on the end of a trident wielded by Satan himself before being cooked over a giant fire like marshmallows, as little imps in bowler hats scream "into the ovens with them!" so yeah that all-ages thing is going well.
Really enjoying reading these.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 20 August, 2018, 09:55:07 PM
Quote from: Magnetica on 20 August, 2018, 05:57:25 PM
Does any one else find it strange there isn't a "last comic read" thread in a similar vein to the last movie watched or box set obsession one? I.e. somewhere to witter on about what you have just read without having to start a whole thread dedicated to it.

I use the 'Whats everyone reading' thread for this (or the 'New comic book day mega thread') but this is a cool idea.

I've just read Prog 842... its a pretty good Prog all in ... but with very significent problems. I'll get all self absorbed about it later...
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Magnetica on 20 August, 2018, 11:39:47 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 20 August, 2018, 09:55:07 PM
Quote from: Magnetica on 20 August, 2018, 05:57:25 PM
Does any one else find it strange there isn't a "last comic read" thread in a similar vein to the last movie watched or box set obsession one? I.e. somewhere to witter on about what you have just read without having to start a whole thread dedicated to it.

I use the 'Whats everyone reading' thread for this (or the 'New comic book day mega thread') but this is a cool idea.

I've just read Prog 842... its a pretty good Prog all in ... but with very significent problems. I'll get all self absorbed about it later...

Thanks Colin. I see "The New Comic Book Mega Thread" as different to this- that is more about new stuff, whereas  I see this more being primarily about old stuff one happens to have just read. It could also cover new stuff if people want to mention that too... which is what happens on the "Last Movie Watched" thread. For example people sometimes mention the latest Star Wars film there despite their being dedicated threads for that.

But really I wanted a thread to talk about trades of old stuff I am reading, like The Last American, or Meltdown Man or the Volgan War without having to start a new thread every time.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: JamesC on 21 August, 2018, 10:53:20 AM
I've just read the first few issues of Black Hammer which I enjoyed but can't really see what all the fuss is about. It may get better I suppose but even if it doesn't it's still an entertaining read.

Also read the latest issue of Doomsday Clock recently. I've been enjoying this series even though I think, ultimately, they should have left Watchmen alone (I feel the same about the upcoming TV series).
It's been handled quite well but the whole alternate reality thing is so tired. The most interesting characters in the story are The Mime and Marionette. I'd rather they just did something totally new with new characters.

The things I've enjoyed the most recently are straight up action comics - Freeway Fighter (just plain good fun) and some Gail Simone penned Red Sonja (which I thought really invoked a VHS era sword and sorcery feel).
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 21 August, 2018, 01:02:26 PM
Quote from: JamesC on 21 August, 2018, 10:53:20 AM
I've just read the first few issues of Black Hammer which I enjoyed but can't really see what all the fuss is about. It may get better I suppose but even if it doesn't it's still an entertaining read.

Well have to be honest I'm part of the fuss! Love this series and issue 1 was a blast as I recall. it does build from there and get better and better as the world its set in grows.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 21 August, 2018, 01:18:36 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 21 August, 2018, 01:02:26 PM
Well have to be honest I'm part of the fuss! Love this series and issue 1 was a blast as I recall. it does build from there and get better and better as the world its set in grows.

Yes... the early issues very much feel like a well-executed, affectionate homage but they're also carefully laying the groundwork for the story to develop and grow.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Fungus on 21 August, 2018, 01:54:52 PM
I like that What's Everyone Reading can widen things out into wordy-books, fine with a comic-only thread like this one.
FYI Black Hammer is fantastic, but I'm a bit comic-lite these days so the 2nd trade was my last look at it.
My Hachette library grows and so tackled Dante vol. 1 and Tales of Ordinary Madness recently. Looking forward to Dante's world expanding, but 'Madness' felt less charming than I hoped. Crazy Town looks a better bet with the great Otto Sump.
Also, read the Black Hole trade the other day. The Burns one, not the Bisley. Enjoyable - with occasionally dense and rewarding art - but about twice the length it needed to be. Meandered a bit, but the cast of characters maybe justified this. An acquired taste. Realised with horror that I was reading this exactly 5 years after picking it up. Ouch.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: JamesC on 23 August, 2018, 01:07:05 PM
I've finished the first collection of Black Hammer. Still enjoyable but still not really wowing me. I'm going to stick with it though.

I've also been having a leisurely re-read of Hellblzer. I've just finished part 7 of The Fear Machine which is a story I've been really enjoying after the slightly dull 'Devil You Know' arc. The Fear Machine has a really good Nigel Kneale vibe about it and feels very British. God knows what the American audience made of it at the time. The only downer is that Mark Buckingham seems to struggle making the characters look consistent.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: AlexF on 28 August, 2018, 10:20:07 AM
Brink book 2: AMAZING! Even more fun than the first, I reckon, although it wouldn't work as well without the background of the first, much denser, story.

Jinty collection: really enjoyed this, as did my 8-year-old daughter, which was pleasing to see. I wouldn't say it's quite the second coming of reprint comics, as perhaps implied by the recent Thrillcast on the 'Treasury' would have it, but it's bizarre and emotional in all the right ways.

But what I really want to talk about is Universe: A periodical of Cosmic Wonder by Albert Monteys. Just read a collection of 5 issues of this, all available from Panel Syndicate, and it's some of the best comics I've read in years. All VERY 2000ADish - it's like a collection of the best Future Shocks you've never read, with sumptuous art that reminds me of peak-period Belardinelli meets Ian Gibson.

If you don't know, Panel Syndicate is a website that hosts comics that you can choose what to pay for. Mostly comics by Brain K Vaughan and Marcos Martin (Private Eye - pretty good; Barrier - great first 2 issues, but doesn't really go anywhere after that). If you can cope with digital comics, super highly recommended.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 02 September, 2018, 04:56:14 PM
Just finished a re-read of Simon Oliver and Robbie Rod Rodriguez's FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics. It's really good read in one go (well over several sittings you understand). Physics starts to break down and in the US members of government agency charged with helping folks with there physics based emergencies start to investigate why, while teaching us all about family and fate. Its great stuff.

In the end it does get a little compacted and rushed which makes its a little pot boilery. I suspect that was a factor of DC making sure it filled enough trades to support an opinioned movie that never happened, but not wanting to sustain its rubbish sales anymore than that. Shame as with a little more room it could well have transcended from just really good to great.

That said its kinda fitting I guess that as it goes on it feels compressed and pulled by the outside forces that supported its existance!
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: CalHab on 07 September, 2018, 11:04:27 AM
I've just finished the Shadows West collection of the 90s Vertigo western/horror version of Jonah Hex. For some reason I wasn't taken with these at the time but, on reading them collected, I have to say they stand up with the best of Vertigo's 90s output. Joe R. Lansdale has a wonderful way with dialogue and Timothy Truman's art is outstanding. These are among the best Western comics I've read, and seem to have been overlooked (at least by me).
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 16 September, 2018, 06:55:45 PM
Has anybody else read Mark Waid's Irredeemable? Working my way through it now and just finished Volume 4? Its blooming superb.

Okay so the art isn't the best and the colouring is plain bad but the story. Wow. Everytime I think I've read enough superhero comics in my life something like this comes along and reminds you they are a fine, fine source of story potential.

Just superb.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Greg M. on 16 September, 2018, 07:10:59 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 16 September, 2018, 06:55:45 PM
Has anybody else read Mark Waid's Irredeemable?

I read it when it first came out (along with its companion comic, Incorruptible) but I never quite made it to the end of the series - I must have missed the last year of the title. I liked it a lot when it started - first 8 or so issues were great - but I wasn't sure Waid was able to sustain the initial excitement. It went off in some directions that, at the time, I felt lessened the doom-fuelled atmosphere of the early issues.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 16 September, 2018, 07:26:46 PM
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.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Frank on 16 September, 2018, 07:55:42 PM
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 (https://i.imgur.com/NdjePN2.png?1). 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.


Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 20 September, 2018, 09:31:12 PM
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.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Greg M. on 20 September, 2018, 09:53:42 PM
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.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Magnetica on 06 October, 2018, 12:23:32 PM
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.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Dandontdare on 06 October, 2018, 01:01:28 PM
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
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: CalHab on 10 October, 2018, 09:17:54 AM
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.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: 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...
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: CalHab on 10 October, 2018, 02:09:42 PM
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.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: 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.

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!
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: 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)
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 28 October, 2018, 10:36:02 AM
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/ (http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hibernia/)
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: broodblik on 28 October, 2018, 01:55:13 PM
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/ (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
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 02 December, 2018, 09:18:23 PM
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.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Mardroid on 23 December, 2018, 04:54:50 PM
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....
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: The Adventurer on 26 December, 2018, 03:35:55 AM
Stellar 3 & 4
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: The Adventurer on 26 December, 2018, 03:38:21 AM
Whoops, there was suppose to be more there...

Stellar 3 & 4 by Joe Keatinge and Bret Blevins from Skybound and Image Comics. It's pretty cool sci-fi/superhero thing, the art is great.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: The Adventurer on 06 January, 2019, 06:44:24 PM
Just finished, Batman White Knight. I don't read a lot of Batman comics, not a super fan of the character honestly, but I really liked Batman White Knight, I'm glad I took a chance on it. Sean Murphy's a pretty solid creator, Joe the Barbarian (w/ Morrison), and Punk Rock Jesus were pretty great series too. So its really no surprise his Batman elseworld wouldn't also be pretty impressive. I think its suppose to get a sequel at some point, featuring Azrael. So, that's something to look forward too.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 15 January, 2019, 09:39:56 PM
Damnit the comics industry and its readers is such a frustrating beast. So many great stories that we see start don't get the ending they deserve. Just look at the number of 'in hiatus' comics on my pull list. The reasons are many and varied but most common is almost certianly they haven't found their audience and thus have been let slip aside, or curtailed. It does more head in. Batman gets his junk out and the market does its nut and comics fly off the shelves. Wonderful creators produce enhanting work and 80% of the time it dies on its arse.

Case in point and origin of this ill informed rant is Hinterkind. Just done a re-read and by George does that reveal this comic by our own Ian Edginton and Francesco Trifogli as the glorious epic tale it should have been. And expose it as the curtailed frustration it became. It always remains good, but it could have been great. Its a cheap and easy comparison to say its Game of Thrones meets Walking Dead meets errr something will elves and goblins but its just that, but done very well. You alas also get the sense of where corners had to be cut and idea that could have happily filled six issues where condensed into one.

Such a shame this comic deserved an audience and while it tells its tale and remains entertaining to the last it could have and should have been so much more.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 07 February, 2019, 12:52:04 PM
Let's keep this thread going, so I'll put this here rather than the 'What's everyone reading' thread.

Just read the first 17 issues of Black Science by Rick Remender and Matteo Scalera. I've actually picked up the first 18 issues from various Image sales of Humble Bundle or whatever but 1-17 seem to tell one story - all be it with a mighty cliffhanger to pull you back for what happens next - so stopped there.

Unlike so many other stories I ranted about last time this one seems to have found the audience it deserves and is still going strong but these 17 issues tell the tale of a largely duplicitous bound of 'dimensionauts' cast out and lost hoping between dimensions and trying to survive while the search for what they call home. The issue is what that home and family is to them... well that and various members of the troupe keep dieing! This grim death toll means the series has that genuine tension and fear for the characters, a bit like The Walking Dead. And just as you assume certain characters are safe the story demands otherwise - even if its a bluff... or is it...

Anyway it gripping stuff helped by great, kinetic art. Even if Matteo Scalera does rather do the pointy nose thing that seems so in vogue in comic are these days... what is it with the sharp pointy noses... a minor point.

So yeah I'll defo be picking the rest of the issues of this up as the next Image sale comes around. Enjoyed it so much might even track down the physical copies. Great sci-fi action adventure with strong, characters and geniune emotional tension.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Fungus on 07 February, 2019, 02:12:52 PM
Terrific series, Black Science. Remender does have those family themes at the forefront of many of his books. For that reason, and the fact I've read less of it than others series, I'd plump for Deadly Class as favourite  though. Plan to resume his stuff in trade, paper, form in a bit.

And Scalera's art in the flesh is energetic, lovely stuff  :)
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 09 March, 2019, 09:03:37 PM
I've started to work my way through Stray Bullets David and Maria Lapham's tale of crime in Baltimore impacting on small town America, well it is up to issue 14 which I've just finished.

Man this is quite exceptional comics. I mean really really good. The way they weave seemingly unrelated stories together is masterful and the characters.... The characters are second to none. Just brilliant. Its compelling, as its grounded, as its fantastical, as its familar, as its original, as its beautiful, as its ugly, as its crazy funny, as its chilling.

Really this comic has it all and I can't recommend this series enough.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: AlexF on 12 March, 2019, 11:50:23 AM
Just finished the three volumes of Unfollow By Rob Williams and Mike Dowling (+ other artists). I love love loved the first volume, thought the second was pretty good, and, sad to say, found the finale quite a let down. I think it suffers from the problem of the premise being so contemporary and so interesting that the solution couldn't satisfy because we just don't know yet what it would be like if:

a billionaire gave his money away to random people - but told them to kill each other
a cult leader managed to become a worldwide sensation
someone successfully turned off the internet, even for a few days

So much stuff to speculate on, but I'm bored with greed/violence being the themes that get explored.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Fungus on 12 March, 2019, 12:31:00 PM
Quote from: AlexF on 12 March, 2019, 11:50:23 AM
Just finished the three volumes of Unfollow By Rob Williams and Mike Dowling (+ other artists). I love love loved the first volume, thought the second was pretty good, and, sad to say, found the finale quite a let down. I think it suffers from the problem of the premise being so contemporary and so interesting that the solution couldn't satisfy because we just don't know yet what it would be like if:

a billionaire gave his money away to random people - but told them to kill each other
a cult leader managed to become a worldwide sensation
someone successfully turned off the internet, even for a few days

So much stuff to speculate on, but I'm bored with greed/violence being the themes that get explored.

Agree completely on the strong start that fizzled out, but only slightly, mind. This is one to read in collected form I suspect, with more characters and story than usual. I know things went over my head reading this each month. A big factor in my dropping of monthlies in favour of trades these days.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 12 March, 2019, 02:41:36 PM
I did a re-read a wee while ago and while it did feel curtailed I think it holds up well. All be it a little compromised on it's ability to explore it's themes with the depth they deserved.

Mind looks fantastic throughout.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 17 March, 2019, 09:45:39 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 09 March, 2019, 09:03:37 PM
I've started to work my way through Stray Bullets David and Maria Lapham's tale of crime in Baltimore impacting on small town America, well it is up to issue 14 which I've just finished.

Man this is quite exceptional comics. I mean really really good. The way they weave seemingly unrelated stories together is masterful and the characters.... The characters are second to none. Just brilliant. Its compelling, as its grounded, as its fantastical, as its familar, as its original, as its beautiful, as its ugly, as its crazy funny, as its chilling.

Really this comic has it all and I can't recommend this series enough.

Read the complete first run up to 41 and it remains quite superb through out. I don't think I've been quite this blown away by a new to me read since Locke and Keye... and this might be even better than that. Just a brilliant, brilliant comic.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 01 April, 2019, 08:37:01 PM
I'll give this thread another go before slopping back off to the 'What's everyone reading' thread.

On my jollies at the moment and spent a relaxed last couple of evenings reading 'Paleo - The Complete Collection' by Jim Lawson and by heck its a delight... well delight might be the wrong word its a wonder. Hard and authentic, rendered so that while its all that its also easy on the eye.

Basically if you enjoy Ricardo Delgado's 'Age of Reptiles' you'll love this too.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 02 April, 2019, 01:46:16 PM
I DO love Age of Reptiles so this is being added to my wishlist.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 24 April, 2019, 09:13:20 PM
First half of Grant and Breyfoglye's Batman run, well up to Detective 614 when it starts to cross over with Bats main title where I'm giving it a little break to get back to my 'Prog Slog' before picking up the second half soon.

Its everything I remember it to be. It just brilliant superhero stuff. Some of the moralising can be simplistic, but its always powerful stuff even with that. Alan Grant's tales are as kinetic and dynamic as Norm Breyfogle's art. I always find it a little weird that in the early issues we still see Bats using payphones, or striding down the street. Its not long however before its all wrapped caps, swinging with speed and energy and lurking on gargoyles. So quickly they release what makes the Dark Knight work with such a lasting impact. Bats will never be the same again.

As I recall it tails off a little in the second half as crossovers and tie-ins kill some of the momentum, still has some really fantastic moments but may not be quite as good as these definitive Batman comics.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Colin YNWA on 05 May, 2019, 04:27:37 PM
Well I always think Grant and Breyfoglye's Batman run, goes off the boil a little in the second half - what absolute poppycock. Its just as strong. from the introduction of Tim Drake as Robin (3 I think) in a glorious study of fear using The Scarecrow. Development of Bats wider supporting cast with great ideas for Jom Gordon, nice Catwoman work, the movie inspired reintroduction of Vicki Vale and giving us Harold there's some great work. There some great 3 and 4 parters, some thrilling and moving one parters. Its just Batman done right.

I call this a Grant and Breyfogle re-read but its possible fairer to call it a Breyfogle re-read. While the wonderous Mr Grant does the vaste, vaste majority of the heavy lifting here BUT I've included 'The Idiot' by Pete Milligan - a four parter, 2 parts by Breyfogle, 2 by Jim Aparo and I'd forgotten what a blinder this one is. One of my favourites from this period and that's saying a lot given how well I regard Alan Grant's stuff - which reminds me I must re-buy 'Dark Knight, Dark City' Pete Milligan's Riddler story I've not read for an age.

Anyway 61 issues down and I'm taking a final break before soonish getting back to the last 14 or so issues, which are a little more sporadic - might also track done Anarchy which I've never read.

If you've not read these comics and like Bats you are doing yourself a great disservice.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Professor Bear on 05 May, 2019, 05:58:29 PM
From 1979 - the year everyone in the UK jinxed it by saying "thank God this decade is over, at least the next one can't get any worse" - comes The Crunch #1-9.
The Crunch is, I suppose, best described as a DC Thompson version of Tornado - not quite as brutal as Action or as blatantly sci-fi as 2000ad, it's still got its moments here and there, and even the letters pages are worth a gander for the well-meaning agony aunt advice which was likely progressive for the time but is nowadays probably referred to as pure "Yer Dad".  I especially liked the readers' opinions which were sometimes brutal in their appraisal of the work, like the kid who took the time to pen a rant against one of the strip artists' ability (or not) with likenesses, which is definitely very open and candid for a letters page, but just made me think that it was a dick move by the editor to publish it, and completely at odds with the warm, encouraging environment I've been led to believe DC Thompson was.
As a twooth fan of many years, I should naturally gravitate towards the Running Man trappings of ARENA*, a dystopian tale about a journalist fitted-up by the government and forced to fight to the death in televised gladiatorial matches - if only for the blatantly gratuitous multi-bear rampage through the terrified audience - but the sensationalist claptrap of the rest of the book is often far more entertaining, be it the not-as-racist-as-I-expected exploits of Native American bounty hunter Bear Paw Jay aka The Mantracker which reminded me a lot of the later One Eyed Jack stories, or the "IT WILL ALWAYS BE TOO SOON" approach of name-first-story-later fodder like Hitler Lives! (an ex-Nazi searches for Hitler through post-war Germany) or Who Killed Cassidy? (two journalists punch their way through an investigation into the conspiracy surrounding the assassination of US president Jack F Cassidy).  I can't say I'm a big fan of The Walking Bombs (an evil Irish scientist develops a device which turns people's hearts into nuclear bombs), and there's probably some Opinions to be expressed about the not-even-subtext of Clancy And The Man (a white cop gets a black partner who isn't allowed a gun - their first meeting has him kicking the (undercover) black guy in the face while exclaiming "have some "SOLE" music, Man!"), and the whole thing is rounded out with The Kyser Experiment (an evil British scientist creates footballing supermen, for not-yet apparent reasons), a footy story that flip-flops between genres and is just a sequence of daffy twists and its lead character thinking "Blimey!" a lot.  Lots of articles about cutting-edge science or adventurers of the day that I can look up on my phone and see if they ever amounted to much, and there were a surprising number of people who ended up getting decapitated in the course of doing something they arguably shouldn't, although some have ended up growing old and fat and inventing their own line of skis for use on sand.  Okay.
Mostly it's just old-school and I shall decline to infer bad intentions to the racial stuff and simply call it a bit cringe, but yeah, I quite enjoyed this and think I'll spring for a job lot of the full run the next time I see one on Ebay, as I'd quite like to see how a lot of this nonsense pans out.

* Bear Alley Books brought out a collected edition of the ARENA strips in the last few years, now sadly out of print but worth tracking down if you're a fan of 2000ad tales of a similar vintage.
Title: Re: Last Comic Read
Post by: Professor Bear on 05 May, 2019, 06:02:14 PM
Tch.  Should have done "The CRUNCH?  More like THE CRINGE."