Whats everyone reading?

[TordelBack]

Sorry* to bang on about this, but I'm currently reading Mezolith again, this time with my son.  He is absolutely captivated, with an intensity I don't think I've ever seen in him with a comic. 

The Swan Girl episode, which ends so tragically, led us to my little library, where we spent time reading about the Bøgebakken cemetery at Vedbaek in Denmark, where Grave 8 is quite obviously the swan girl's final resting place.  How fascinating to read the (fictional) folklore of a mesolithic people, then be able to look on the actual skeleton (ca. 4500BC) of one of the folkloric characters.  There's a power there that's hard to communicate in writing a post like this, but it's one that only the best art has. 

Seriously, this comic is incredible.   



*not really.

[Gonk]

Just read Death Planet that came with MEG 321. It's refreshing to read one as unintentionally funny as this. I enjoyed it as a nostalgia piece and as a stark contrast to present day sophisticated strips. It really is a jolt to read stuff as crudely constructed as this is, yet it's interesting to recognise familiar action, scenes and characters that seem out of place due to rough handling by the script. Just when you think the story couldn't become any more basic, part two of the floppy springs "Angel" onto the reader. This is like anything goes, as long as it keeps the plot moving forward type of story. Reading it you become aware of the step by step formulaic construction of the story, almost from one panel to the next, which more sophisticated strips conceal as a naturally flowing and unfolding of adventure. It was fun to read. 

[Colin YNWA]

Just finished reading Walt Simonson's 2000 Orion series based on Jack Kirby's New Gods. I'm a big Kirby fan (well his 70s stuff in particular) and so was really chuffed with quite how tasty this stuff was. It seems to perfectly capture the feel and tone of The King's masterpiece, without being slavish in terms of style. Big world's mixed in equal measure with big ideas, a pleasant dosh of melodrama, so as not to over power, all baked in some glorious art. Now that's makin' some damned fine comics and I'd heartily recommend it to all fans of the originals.

[HOO-HAA]

I'm almost about to wrap on David Moody's AUTUMN: AFTERMATH. It's the last in the series and features some very cool ideas on how zombies may deteriorate over time. I'll have a full review for you once I'm done but safe to say it's pretty awesome.

[Mardroid]

Not a novel, but today I read The Night Owls on my PSP*.

A very amusing quirky supernatural comedy comic set in the 20s. Very different from anything on 2000 AD or the Meg does, but highly recommended.

*Actually this could be one for the What do you do on the Throne thread. Heh.

[Professor Bear]

Been delving into eurocomics of late: Aldebaran is great tale undone by the pages falling out of the fucking book as I read it.  Nice production values, Europe - this is why people stick to Batman.  It's little more than the tale of two teens on a journey after their fishing village is destroyed by an unseen sea beast and gets a bit silly in the odd moment but remains largely enjoyable nonetheless.  It's set on another planet but has a nice human face to it, though as with many foreign comics where certain archetypes don't translate to English very well, I felt that the story suffered because not enough "quirky" characters got a slap in the gob.
I feel bad saying that I think Valerian: City of Shifting Waters sucks, but it kind of does.  A great high concept of a flooded NYC and the adventure therein gives way to some running about in a park and some caves later, and spectacle takes precedence over sense, pacing, or a decent story.  It looks nice and it's knockabout stuff for the most part, but it also has the main character's female partner from the future show up to help and she's immediately told to make dinner.  Not really for me, this one.

[Tombo]

Been delving into eurocomics of late: Aldebaran is great tale undone by the pages falling out of the fucking book as I read it. 

Yeah this happened to me (and a few other people going by the reviews on Amazon) it hasn't happened to any other volumes though.  The latest book in the series, Antares Vol.2, is out in a couple of months

[SmallBlueThing]

Couple of things on the go- 'report from planet three, and speculations on the future' (title may not be accurate, im at the bus stop) by arthur c clarke- A collection of essays and talks by clarke about the immediate future of mankind, from the years before the moon landings, which is both scarily accurate and hugely entertaining, proving that old arthur knew his stuff.

And Swamp Thing. I found about ten years of these in a recent attic attack, so have started from the top with the issues i have from the original run, early ones pre-moore, and then on to moore himself. Now the early ones have been somewhat erased from history following moore's barnstorming run on the title- but a reread shows this to be mostly unfair. The marty pasko issues, especially, are audacious, and highlights include a carribbean island populated by paranormally-active vietnam vets, a serial killer of black children who is revealed to be a demon, a town of punk vampire teenagers deep in the bayou who are running out of food (cont)

[SmallBlueThing]

(cont) and best of all, a lovecraftian octopoid sea creature from space, who was once a bacteria and who merged with an 'experimental herpes virus', grew to giant size, infects people turning them into sea demons, and attacks shipping so he can cannibalise the parts to build a spaceship. There's so much fun to be had in the first nineteen issues of volume two, that it's a kicker to realise that dc havent reprinted them, preferring instead to start their collected editions with the moore run.

My own collection jumps about a bit until issue 30, so im coming in to moore this time a bit late- i guess i sold the earlier ones at some point, as i bought them all from 'the anatomy lesson' onward, yet they've gone. Going over them again, its clear that moore was in class of his own back then, and while they are no longer as fresh as they once were, issues like 'the nukeface papers pt 2' and 'growing pains' are still very powerful.

Ahead of me i have a complete run to the end of volume two- all through the (cont)

[SmallBlueThing]

(cont) Moore issues, and into veitch, wheeler, collins, morrison, and millar' under whose authorship the series died. I cant remember enjoying it past veitch, to be honest, but i bought til almost the end and have since picked up the last six issues from ebay, while simultaneously filling in some earlier gaps and trying stuff from later volumes. At about three issues a night, it's going to take me a while to get through them, but it's already surprising me and my thirty years distance is revealing some hidden gold.

SBT

[Gonk]

I'd love to know who sbt is calling a cont.

I'm reading Titus Groan, first in the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake. This is a great metaphor for English society today, with a totally barmy royal family and worn out tradition and rituals. I love Mervyn Peake's caracitures and the pervasive gloom of this epic. So brilliantly and poetically written Peake is a strange case by continuing to remain fairly unknown and yet influencing so many other works (the Termite Empire comes to mind).

                                         

[mygrimmbrother]

Been delving into eurocomics of late: Aldebaran is great tale undone by the pages falling out of the fucking book as I read it. 

Yeah this happened to me (and a few other people going by the reviews on Amazon) it hasn't happened to any other volumes though.  The latest book in the series, Antares Vol.2, is out in a couple of months

Me too - Chimpanzee Complex Vol 2 or 3 it was, the whole binding just came away from the cover. Still, it's a great read, a real sense of loss and tragedy with a hint of transcendentalism too. Also loved Long John Silver - will we get a fourth volume I wonder? Orbital's pretty entertaining too.

Have to agree with Byah about Valerian - I got that one for Christmas and I've only read the first few pages, not had any real desire to go back and finish it.

[Ghastly McNasty]

I'm reading Titus Groan, first in the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake.

Amazingly descriptive writing. He really builds a beautiful world and transports you in to it. Only read the first, should try the others really.

Just read trades 2, 3+4 of Locke & Key. I was stunned by the quality of the writing and the ideas within the comic. In fact, it's my new favourite series (along with Sweet Tooth)

[Davek]

Re-read issue 1 of Manhattan Projects this morning.  Wast too impressed after the first read but seemed a bit better second time around.  Good character twist to get the series started.

[HOO-HAA]

Just about to wrap on John Skipp & Craig Spector's THE LIGHT AT THE END.

It's a vamp novel but don't let that put you off: this is awesome stuff and as far from Stephanie Meyer or Anne Rice as England was to France back in the bad old days.

Set in 80s New York, and mostly night time, this book has a real Noir feel to it. The characters are as hard boiled as you like; our  unlikely heroes being the D&D obsessed employees of a delivery company, our main vamp a grumpy old goth with more in common with Iggy Pop than the Vampire Lestat.

In short, I'm loving it.