Whats everyone reading?

[Theblazeuk]

Ocean was good - if it suddenly goes on a nosedive into action territory, that's not necessarily a bad thing despite bringing an abrupt end to the intrigue.

[Mabs]

Ocean was good - if it suddenly goes on a nosedive into action territory, that's not necessarily a bad thing despite bringing an abrupt end to the intrigue.

Ellis originally wrote Ocean as a film script, hence the action. It could also explain why the main character looks like Denzel Washington! Personally I would love to have seen the film version, but the comic is not bad at all. In fact I really like it,  it had a really intriguing premise with some fun facts/ theories to discover about our solar system.

[von Boom]

Ocean was good - if it suddenly goes on a nosedive into action territory, that's not necessarily a bad thing despite bringing an abrupt end to the intrigue.

Ellis originally wrote Ocean as a film script, hence the action. It could also explain why the main character looks like Denzel Washington! Personally I would love to have seen the film version, but the comic is not bad at all. In fact I really like it,  it had a really intriguing premise with some fun facts/ theories to discover about our solar system.

Cool. I'm looking forward to getting into this weekend.

[soggy]

They've already said that they're planning seven seasons total for the TV series, so yeah it does sound like they're going to do a hell of a lot of revision and cutting going forwards - apparently [spoiler]Theon's storyline will be going into A Dance With Dragons territory in season 4.[/spoiler]

But that will only leave 3 seasons to cover 4? books (provided George can actually rap up the story in 2 books). Admittedly there is plenty they could drop.

I wonder if they will "spoil" the next book by bringing forward the story of [spoiler]the youngest Stark child, whose name I forget[/spoiler] , a character who hasn't been seen since [spoiler]1998[/spoiler]

[Theblazeuk]

Rickon.

I would not be bothered if they cut out about massive swathes of the last two books. That was basically one book expanded into two for a lot of new characters to needlessly prolong things anyway.

[sheldipez]

I don't know what it is, but I just cannot stand Brian K Vaughn's writing...

Wish I could get into Saga, but I just hated it. Lovely art, though.

Nice to know I'm not the only one who doesn't get the overwhelming praise for Saga. I tried the first TPB, and while it was enjoyable I really didn't see what the fuss was about, or feel much of an urge to want to read more. As you say Radiator, I think it's the dialogue that annoyed me most - there's absolutely zero attempt to have the characters talk as if they come from alien cultures. None of the nuance of Kingdom, say, or the future slang of Dredd. Instead you've got characters talking about downloading apps to their smartphone (ugh!) and the like - they all sound like present-day Americans.

Yep. So many comics writers try and go for 'snarky' Whedon-esque dialogue, and it always reads stilted, forced and massively unconvincing to me. I even find with Whedon himself a little goes a long way. I couldn't stand Pride of Baghdad, so pretentious and patronising. It was like a really crap, unimaginitive take on We3 with all the animals speaking like American teenagers. It was utterly dire.

With Y the Last Man, I just never found the scenario or world-building remotely convincing, and agin the characters just grated on me. Vaughn seems like a writer who comes up with these great-sounding concepts, but the execution just stinks. Imo.

The whole thing with apps and smartphones in Saga just seemed silly and incongruous in that context, and there was a bit where the lead character says something like "You've never been so beautiful as you are now" to his girlfriend during childbirth. I mean, this is Sci Fi and all, but you still have to make dialogue at least vaguely ring true and sound like something someone would actually say. And it takes more than gratuitous nudity to make something 'mature' - Saga just seemed laughably juvenile and lightweight to me. It just made me cringe more than anything.

This is how I felt after an issue, read the first one thought "thats enough of that" and haven't touched any more.

[Apestrife]

Jeff Lemire's Essex county and Sweet tooth.

Essex is three different stories in a canadian commune. One about a lonely boy who feels he needs to dress up in a mask and cape, the second about a dying man who looks back at a life of hockey and loneliness and the third about a nurse with some story.

I really liked it, especially how it could make such small stories feel grand. And how everything connects towards the end. Great art and storytelling. Only thing I found a bit so'n'so was that some deaths where a bit too convient, felt like every character needed at least 1-2 deaths in the family. But it's not a biggie.

Sweet tooth plays out as if The road was about a tragic man who meets a boy with antlers on his head. Some plague is killing of mankind and children are being born with animal qualities (for example antlers, or a pig nose). And just as The road it's a very dark but still hearth warming story. And same as Lemire's Essex County it's him on art and the writing. Love it. Really hope it'll see some omnibus or hardcover treatment some day.

Can't recommend these two books enough. It's basically two stories about parenthood/childhood and how things easily repeats themselves, both good and bad.

[Colin YNWA]

I fall into middle ground with Saga. I enjoy it, pick up the trades because they offer good value, but don't think its the bees knees as others - many, many others - do. I do wonder if that affects my enjoyment of it, which would be daft, but I do wonder. The reason being whenever I'm reading it I ponder on what I'm missing to not think its the best thing since sliced bread and all that noise can be a distraction. Any aspect I don't particular enjoy and

As you say Radiator, I think it's the dialogue that annoyed me most - there's absolutely zero attempt to have the characters talk as if they come from alien cultures. None of the nuance of Kingdom, say, or the future slang of Dredd.

this is defo one of them as I've mentioned here before, there all this lovely world building but everyone just chats with the sharp sassy dialogue of a good US drama, no seeming distinction between the vast array of cultures... anyway whenever I find I have such a problem I end up thinking

'Why don't people who laud this see that as well?'

Which is silly as I should just enjoy it on my own terms and when I do I get on with it fine. Its a good comic, not a great comics and for me only worth getting while the trades offer the value they do.

[Tombo]

Changing to subject before I massacre all who criticise Saga  I've recently picked up the first omnibus of a Franco-Spanish series which I think may become quite popular, called Blacksad.  Not sure if anyone here has heard of it but it's quite an interesting read, destined for greatness I believe, and I'm glad I started reading it before it became too popular [Hipster mode off].  Good art as well.

(The above post may contain traces of sarcasm  )

[shaolin_monkey]

Rickon.

I would not be bothered if they cut out about massive swathes of the last two books. That was basically one book expanded into two for a lot of new characters to needlessly prolong things anyway.

Yeah, I was wondering what happened to him!!

[Professor Bear]

I do wonder if that affects my enjoyment of it, which would be daft, but I do wonder. The reason being whenever I'm reading it I ponder on what I'm missing to not think its the best thing since sliced bread and all that noise can be a distraction. 

I'm in the same boat there, as I was enjoying Vaughan's perfectly fun superhero series Runaways until I had the misfortune of encountering its evangelical, whining and entitled online fanbase who declare everything the poor bastard's ever done to be an unappreciated masterpiece devoid of any kind of flaw whatsoever.  It was kind of downhill from there, as Vaughn's a bit of a sacred cow among comics fans and balanced evaluation is pretty hard to come by.

[Mabs]

This is how I felt after an issue, read the first one thought "thats enough of that" and haven't touched any more.

That's a shame sheldipez. I'd at least read the first TPB, and if you don't like it then fine. It's really difficult to tell how a series might be just going on the first issue.

Changing to subject before I massacre all who criticise Saga  I've recently picked up the first omnibus of a Franco-Spanish series which I think may become quite popular, called Blacksad.  Not sure if anyone here has heard of it but it's quite an interesting read, destined for greatness I believe, and I'm glad I started reading it before it became too popular [Hipster mode off].  Good art as well.

(The above post may contain traces of sarcasm  )

I love Blacksad. One of the best anthropomorphic comics I have read alongside Maus and Grandville. If you like the first book, then I highly recommend you check out the more recent one entitled 'A Silent Hell'. With a superb New Orleans setting, and another mystery for our brooding protagonist to investigate.

[Recrewt]

I do wonder if that affects my enjoyment of it, which would be daft, but I do wonder. The reason being whenever I'm reading it I ponder on what I'm missing to not think its the best thing since sliced bread and all that noise can be a distraction. 

It doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks or says about a comic though does it?  The only person to worry about is yourself.  So, I like Saga, Radiator doesn't and you are somewhere in the middle.  You are not missing anything, you just don't like it to the extent that others do. 

[Tombo]

I'm planning on getting "A Silent Hell" next payday.  It was really a spur of the moment thing when I bought the first omnibus, I was just mooching around Amazon when it brought it up as one of those "People who bought "I love Trouble" also bought..." things and noticed it was only a couple of quid more expensive than one of the single volumes.

I'll wait for Amarillo to be translated rather than try to learn French though.

[Colin YNWA]

I do wonder if that affects my enjoyment of it, which would be daft, but I do wonder. The reason being whenever I'm reading it I ponder on what I'm missing to not think its the best thing since sliced bread and all that noise can be a distraction. 

It doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks or says about a comic though does it?  The only person to worry about is yourself.  So, I like Saga, Radiator doesn't and you are somewhere in the middle.  You are not missing anything, you just don't like it to the extent that others do.

Oh yeah defo agree, that's why I said it was daft, doesn't stop it being there alas but you are entirely right it really shouldn't be!