Whats everyone reading?

[JohnW]

I've never got in to Love and Rockets as there seems to be so much of it,

There is so much of it, but the recent Fantagraphics reprints arrange them nicely.
I started with Locas by Jaime Hernandez and read them in order. The art in the first volume (Maggie the Mechanic) is beautiful but the story is all over the place. Happily I was in the right frame of mind for it and kept right on.
Subsequent volumes ditch the magical realism for the most part and are all the better for it, even as the art becomes streamlined and simplified. My feeling (subjective and sentimental as it is) is that The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S and Perla La Loca are as good as comics get.

I've enjoyed spending time with these characters so much

That's me with Love & Rockets.
The stories run in real time, so we see the characters age, and such is Hernandez's talent that they're as recognisable at fifteen as they are at fifty. They come and they go and we drop in on them from time to time over the years and find out what they've been doing.

I didn't really feel that it was majorly influenced by the nineties

That's not the case here. Once the 'Rockets' thing is shoved aside early on, it's set very much in its time and place, starting with the early '80s punk scene on the unfashionable edge of greater Los Angeles.
 
After reading all of Locas I had a go at the Palomar stories written by Gilbert Hernandez. None other than Alan Moore prefers them, and that should be more than enough of a recommendation for anyone, but I just didn't like them as much. As the Bearded Master says, the storytelling is better, but while I appreciate it, and like it very much in places, I never quite warmed to it. There's a steady undertone of tragedy and ugliness, and Gilbert's art certainly doesn't do it for me like Jaime's.
Still, like it or not, I can't deny that the first two volumes – Heartbreak Soup and Human Diastrophism – are excellent.

Do what I did and buy a big stack all at once so you have little choice but to immerse yourself.
Why not? Otherwise you'll just be spending your Amazon vouchers on sweet liqueurs and Pokemon cards (not – I swear – that that's what I'd do).

[Blue Cactus]

Love and Rockets is my favourite comic alongside 2000ad. It's wonderful. I prefer Jaime's stuff too, Gilbert's is wilder and more difficult in places, although I still love all the Palomar stuff. Some of the stories are absolutely brilliant. I've found his more recent output much trickier to get into, and even to categorise, but at this point he can do what he likes really. Jaime's Locas stories, still ongoing, probably constitutes my favourite work of fiction in any medium. I've had friends who couldn't get into the earliest stuff and it's definitely all over the place to start with but I started at the beginning and seeing in develop and continue developing is a fantastic journey.

By contrast I tried Strangers in Paradise book 1, years ago now, but found it really annoying. I'd never thought of contrasting it with L&R and don't want to put anyone off trying it, people love it, I just found the tone of it quite irritating.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

I've never got in to Love and Rockets as there seems to be so much of it,

Do what I did and buy a big stack all at once so you have little choice but to immerse yourself.
Why not? Otherwise you'll just be spending your Amazon vouchers on sweet liqueurs and Pokemon cards (not – I swear – that that's what I'd do).

I'm definitely going get the first volume and see how I get on with it before splurging, but I'm pretty good with Amazon vouchers and tend to either use them on books I either can't normally afford (or I could afford them, but if they turned out terrible I'd be really frustrated!) or volumes of an ongoing series one at a time. It's been what I've given for years, and have only ever spent it on Trade paperbacks in the past.

Right now my backlog is ridiculous as well, including Moore's Top 10, Dredd Case Files 4 - 9, Strontium Dog 1, Grant Morrisons' Batman run (I'm up tp RIP at the moment), Thor volumes 2, 4 and 5 in Jason Aaron's Thor run, and a whole host of first volumes, so I plan to get Love and Rockets, but it might be a while before I read it!

By contrast I tried Strangers in Paradise book 1, years ago now, but found it really annoying. I'd never thought of contrasting it with L&R and don't want to put anyone off trying it, people love it, I just found the tone of it quite irritating.

I get that and it's one of those comics that I love but I have good friends who probably would hate it, but it just worked for really well for me.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

Thor by Jason Aaron The Complete Collection Vol. 2 - Before Vol.1 I don't think I'd read any Thor comics before, and when he popped up as an Avenger he never seemed that interesting. But I love Jason Aaron's take on the character, and the series in general, the first volume took a little too long to get going and The God Butcher is slightly repetitive as Aaron keeps on reminding us just how awful everything is and how evil your Butcher fella is too. But after that story ends it became a lot more enjoyable, while Volume 2 is an absolute delight. I love the first story as Dario Agger is being an absolute s*** on Earth, and the fight between old Thor and Galactus was even more entertaining, but the best part of the volume was Thor losing his worthiness (off pafe, admittedly, but I do have the Original Sin graphic novel to read after this) and the new Thor taking over, and the reveal of who it is was beautifully done. And then there's "Thors" which is very silly, but very enjoyable too. 4.5/5

[Tjm86]

My guiltiest pleasure in comics has always been Claremont's run on X-men.  Probably because it was about this time that I became aware of / interested in American comics courtesy of the Eagle Comic reprints of Dredd.

I've just finished the latest Omnibus running through to Issue 209 with fantastic John Romita Jr artwork.  The storylines running into the Mutant Massacre crossover (probably the only decent one Marvel really did) are for me some of the strongest Claremont did.  There is a darkness and brutality but also a frankness to them.  Romita Jr's artwork matches the scripts perfectly.

There is a real sense of struggle that is often missing in other stories.  The team appear both vulnerable and traumatised by their experiences, struggling to come to terms with growing challenges.  This is so different to many other titles in which the characters just seem to shrug off whatever happens to them.

This is before the X-men grew into the insane behemoth they were to become.  Over time they lost everything that made them interesting and engaging.  Marvel sucked the life out of them.  The most recent attempt to reboot the title is a soulless piece of work, a far cry from these issues.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

My guiltiest pleasure in comics has always been Claremont's run on X-men.  Probably because it was about this time that I became aware of / interested in American comics courtesy of the Eagle Comic reprints of Dredd.

I've just finished the latest Omnibus running through to Issue 209 with fantastic John Romita Jr artwork.  The storylines running into the Mutant Massacre crossover (probably the only decent one Marvel really did) are for me some of the strongest Claremont did.  There is a darkness and brutality but also a frankness to them.  Romita Jr's artwork matches the scripts perfectly.

There is a real sense of struggle that is often missing in other stories.  The team appear both vulnerable and traumatised by their experiences, struggling to come to terms with growing challenges.  This is so different to many other titles in which the characters just seem to shrug off whatever happens to them.

This is before the X-men grew into the insane behemoth they were to become.  Over time they lost everything that made them interesting and engaging.  Marvel sucked the life out of them.  The most recent attempt to reboot the title is a soulless piece of work, a far cry from these issues.

It's the curse of any long running comic a lot of the time though, as writers try to bring something new to the table despite the series having run for sixty years plus. Sometimes the occasional writer manages it, which I guess is what makes people keep reading it, but I have to admit that right now I'm happy to wait until someone's run ends, and if the reviews are positive then I'll pick it up, but if not then I'll happily ignore it.

Manhattan Projects Volumes 1 - 4 by Jonathan Hickman - Man I love this, I'm actually really annoyed as I ordered the final two volumes from Amazon on Thursday and they've not arrived yet, and I know it's not that long a time but that's the effect the series has had on me, I'm addicted to it and dying to know how it ends!

[Tjm86]

... and probably the weirdest for this forum.  I've had the Oxford History of England on my bookshelf for years.  Dipped into t from time to time but that's about it.  With my eldest doing A level history last year I found myself revisiting the volumes relating to the period she was studying but then asking myself serious questions about what came before.

Long story short, working my way through from the start.  Currently on the post-Norman invasion stuff.  It is actually quite interesting when you consider a lot of the debates kicking around at the moment.  The period between the Romans and the Normans was incredibly chaotic what with the regular 'visits' from Scandinavian friends.  The idea of a coherent 'England' just doesn't work.

I'm still trying to make up my mind about the implications of the Norman conquest.  On the one level it did bring about a bit more stability until William carked it.  The everything seems to go wahoonie shaped.  Now you've got the bastard Norman lords picking fights with each other and not much in the way of order.  At the same time though it feels like a lot of the seeds of the crap we deal with today are lain around this time.

The one good thing about TOHE is that it cycles around themes.  Not just the political stuff or the religious shenanigans (on a par with some of the political crap).  It lays out how society, industry, economy and the arts developed during each period.  So overall you get a fairly complete picture of what things were like. [reading through the Anglo Saxon period stuff kept putting me in mind of Black Shuck, a series that never completely clicked with me but that I might have to revisit now ...]

The writing can be a bit dated at times, hardly surprising for books that were written over 50 years ago.  Personally I'm finding them quite lightweight and engaging.  There are probably better and more up-to-date books covering each of these periods.  Certainly I know there is a completely new series now.  That said, there is plenty to commend this set.

[JohnW]

Currently on the post-Norman invasion stuff.  It is actually quite interesting when you consider a lot of the debates kicking around at the moment. 

You've reminded me of something I feel I have to tell my students when I'm teaching them about the long long-ago:
You might be able to trace a thread of continuity from the then to the now, but you can't demonstrate a convincing chain of cause and effect stretching over a thousand years.
There are just too many variables at work over that length of time.
The practical upshot of that? History is not a justification for anything. (Like for instance, just because the people who built Kyiv back in the 10th century called themselves Russians doesn't mean that Putin has a claim on the place now.)

Anyway, this came to mind last week when I accompanied a group of students on a tour of the home of an Anglo-Norman family who landed in Ireland in the 12th century.
The traditional history is all about invasion and dispossession, and here we were being shown round the house of one of the conquerors. (More than eight hundred years after they hit the beach they're still at the same postal address.) It occurred to me though, while I was ruminating on my own ancestors who had fought for the republic, that the owner's family had been in Ireland a good three and a half centuries longer than my own forebears, who blew in from Hertfordshire or somewhere in the reign of Bloody Mary.
So there was no point starting a fight as to who had a more rightful claim to the land of Ireland – especially since his lordship provided us with some really nice sandwiches.

But what am I reading?
Charles M. Schulz, The Complete Peanuts, 1960 to 1961.
A delight. Puts me right in my happy place.

[Tjm86]

Aye.  It's amazing how often we hear comments about so many of our great institutions and how old they are.  never mind how much it figures in debates ...

"we need to stop this invasion of small boats..."

er ... Romans, Vikings, Normans, Danes ...

I mean, I can't talk.  Turns out my old man was a GI baby.  Grandpappy buggered off back to the states after Normandy.  Oh, and his family came from Germany ...  What can I say, eh?

Complete Peanuts eh?  That collection takes pride of place.  The Fantagraphics run in box sets.  An outstanding collection from an amazing creator.  The only one that comes anywhere near it is Calvin and Hobbes.

[Funt Solo]

The writing can be a bit dated at times, hardly surprising for books that were written over 50 years ago.

You may be interested in The Anglo-Saxons (Morris 2021) - which covers Britain's history from when the Romans buggered off to pretty much the day before the Battle of Hastings.

---

I'm reading Light Perpetual (Sapkowski 2022) - a historical fantasy set during the Hussite Wars of Bohemia in the 1400s. As you might expect from The Witcher's author, he manages to ground things like gnomes in a solid reality, liven up some dusty history and tell a story of to blave*. Sometimes in latin, the fiend.

For comics, I'm mostly re-reading old Dredd-verse stuff as part of my Dreddworld mapping project.


*The Princess Bride

[JohnW]

You may be interested in The Anglo-Saxons (Morris 2021) - which covers Britain's history from when the Romans buggered off to pretty much the day before the Battle of Hastings.

I've been studying or teaching Anglo-Saxon England since 1989, so I feel that any new findings in the field should be suppressed lest I be expected to spend time reading them or – heaven forbid – revise long-held suppositions.
For fiction set in that world, I still think it's hard to beat Julian Rathbone, The Last English King. Just plain clever, that one – and entertaining with it.

Complete Peanuts eh?  That collection takes pride of place.  The Fantagraphics run in box sets.  An outstanding collection from an amazing creator.  The only one that comes anywhere near it is Calvin and Hobbes.

There's a coincidence.
I'm having something of an employment windfall at the moment so I forked out a hundred euro for the complete Calvin & Hobbes. It nearly ruptured the postman when it arrived on Tuesday, and is so grand a production that I haven't yet had the courage to remove the cellophane.

The past few years, whenever I come into any money, I put a chunk of it toward my fast-approaching old age and then I buy comics with whatever's left over.
I''m not sure I've got this maturity thing quite figured out.

[Blue Cactus]

You may be interested in The Anglo-Saxons (Morris 2021) - which covers Britain's history from when the Romans buggered off to pretty much the day before the Battle of Hastings.

I've been studying or teaching Anglo-Saxon England since 1989, so I feel that any new findings in the field should be suppressed lest I be expected to spend time reading them or – heaven forbid – revise long-held suppositions.
For fiction set in that world, I still think it's hard to beat Julian Rathbone, The Last English King. Just plain clever, that one – and entertaining with it.

Complete Peanuts eh?  That collection takes pride of place.  The Fantagraphics run in box sets.  An outstanding collection from an amazing creator.  The only one that comes anywhere near it is Calvin and Hobbes.

There's a coincidence.
I'm having something of an employment windfall at the moment so I forked out a hundred euro for the complete Calvin & Hobbes. It nearly ruptured the postman when it arrived on Tuesday, and is so grand a production that I haven't yet had the courage to remove the cellophane.

The past few years, whenever I come into any money, I put a chunk of it toward my fast-approaching old age and then I buy comics with whatever's left over.
I''m not sure I've got this maturity thing quite figured out.

I was working in a bookshop when this was published and somehow ended up getting a free copy from the publishers. I still haven't taken the shrink wrap off. Must have been in 20007!

[Tjm86]

... somehow ended up getting a free copy from the publishers. I still haven't taken the shrink wrap off. Must have been in 20007!

so only a couple of centuries to go then? 

[Blue Cactus]

... somehow ended up getting a free copy from the publishers. I still haven't taken the shrink wrap off. Must have been in 20007!

so only a couple of centuries to go then? 

Nothing like building anticipation.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

Manhattan Projects Volumes 1 - 4 by Jonathan Hickman - Man I love this, I'm actually really annoyed as I ordered the final two volumes from Amazon on Thursday and they've not arrived yet, and I know it's not that long a time but that's the effect the series has had on me, I'm addicted to it and dying to know how it ends!

Manhattan Projects Volumes 5, 6 by Jonathan Hickman - After adoring the first four volumes the fifth felt like it didn't really know where it was going, and the sixth was fine until the last issue and an ending I hate so much there aren't words, and I really regret reading it now, or these last two volumes at least. 1/5