Whats everyone reading?

[Apestrife]

In violent agreement, though this is from memory and the re-reads will be when I get round to it...
Doom Patrol & Animal Man were tremendous.
Invisibles felt very laboured and smacked of someone trying too hard. Not enjoyable.

I'v given Animal man a spin. Really liked that one too (not as much as doom patrol, but still). I really liked that it (as Flex Mentallo also does) is questioning why "realism" must be achieved through pessism and similar negativity.

While Brian Azzarello is my fav. when it comes to comics with meta qualities, Grant Morrison has definitely done some really really good stuff. Especially with Doom Patrol and Flex Mentallo, closely followed by Animal Man and WE3.

Anyone a fan of his Batman run?

[Colin YNWA]

Grant Morrison ...

Anyone a fan of his Batman run?

Very much so. It has its ups and down but there's certain sections, in particular the post Final Crisis stuff, so Batman and Robin and Batman Inc (both runs) that challenge the Grant + Breyfogle run for my all time favourite Batman stories.

They way he played with the whole nature of a long form comic book character, everything has happened and will happen again is quite superb. His handling of the transition between Bruce and Dick was wonderful and the whole Damien story beginning to end just fantastic. Great character work, wonderfully meta and innovative and most importantly damned good fun. 

[Hawkmumbler]

Bone: Out from Boneville via the local library. Bloody good it is to. I mean genuinely funny and heartfelt. Really enjoying it so far. Fone is a likeable main character, but the two dim witted Rat Creatures are the main pull at the moment. Some hilarious dialogue coming from them.

Seriously considering getting the complete volume now.

[TordelBack]

Seriously considering getting the complete volume now.

I have the big book myself, but I do find its size puts me off regular re-reading (although saying that I re-read it only last year - it was great).  I often wish I had the individual volumes instead, and certainly from the point of view of sharing it with the kids.

[Skullmo]

Bone: Out from Boneville via the local library. Bloody good it is to. I mean genuinely funny and heartfelt. Really enjoying it so far. Fone is a likeable main character, but the two dim witted Rat Creatures are the main pull at the moment. Some hilarious dialogue coming from them.

Seriously considering getting the complete volume now.

I loved books 1 - 3 of Bone and then it just became less funny as it got successful

[Colin YNWA]

Yeah I have the collected edition and while I normally don't get on with these omnibus type collection due to the size this one I can just about work with.

That said as I'm working my way through it with my daughter who is loving it I am buying the individual books.

I know the commonly held option is that it gets less fun as it goes on I tend to disagree. It changes for sure becoming darker in tone and more like a fantasy epic but it still holds up really well across the piece.

[Apestrife]

Grant Morrison ...

Anyone a fan of his Batman run?

Very much so. It has its ups and down but there's certain sections, in particular the post Final Crisis stuff, so Batman and Robin and Batman Inc (both runs) that challenge the Grant + Breyfogle run for my all time favourite Batman stories.

They way he played with the whole nature of a long form comic book character, everything has happened and will happen again is quite superb. His handling of the transition between Bruce and Dick was wonderful and the whole Damien story beginning to end just fantastic. Great character work, wonderfully meta and innovative and most importantly damned good fun.

Since I'v gotten a good in on Morrison's superhero stuff (thanks to Animal Man, Doom Patrol and Flex Mentallo) maybe I'll give the Batman a go. It and Allstar Superman (whom I'v tried to like, but Sups as a character makes it hard outside Azzarello's Luthor book).

Is it possible to read his Batman just through reading the inc? Then I'm thinking this http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2014/03/absolute-batman-incorporated-to-feature-new-chris-burnham-art/ could be interesting one day, when it's released as a Deluxe ed. size instead of abs.

[Colin YNWA]

I'd say it one of those situations were any given title works fine on its own, but you get more from reading the whole bunch.

So you could defo read his 'Batman and Robin' stuff on their own, you could defo read all the 'Batman Inc' stuff on its own, but it does all also read as a complete story.

I suppose the biggest problem with reading all as one is that the start of his run in Batman is for me by far the weakest part (the first arc Batman and Son) and so might be off putting? That's not to say its bad, far from it, just not as good as the rest. I started reading it with Batman and Robin and then eventually went back and bought the trades of his Batman stuff as it goes and that worked a treat for me.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

Casefiles 20 -- It was the best of casefiles (Roadkill, Book of the Dead, Bury My Knee at Wounded Hill, Howler...) it was the worst of casefiles (Frankenstein Division, Sugar Beat, It's a Dreddful Life...)

[Tiplodocus]

CRECY
by Warren Ellis and Raulo Caceres (cover by Felipe Massafera)

An enjoyable enough little tale - not sure how historically accurate it is - about one of the most famous battles between England and France. 

It's told from an English longbowman's POV and that is literally all you get "told". There's no story or characters as such, just a retelling of the battle and a little of the political landscape leading up to it (I love the bit where it says that back in that time, it was the English army who would be seen as "parsnip eating, surrender monkeys".

The language is lovely and fruity and the art is lovely and detailed in places (but lacking flair). Much as I enjoy the asides to the reader, I did feel a bit cheated that there was no attempt to make a proper story of it.

Oh and short - 48 pages just whizzes by.

[Theblazeuk]

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. Fun reading to accompany playthroughs of FTL.

[Colin YNWA]

CRECY
by Warren Ellis and Raulo Caceres (cover by Felipe Massafera)

Yeah I really enjoyed this when I read it recently. I thought it had a really nice honest perspective about the events and the men who were at the forefront of it all.

[Goaty]

Aliens: Labyrinth

Re-read old graphic novel I found in cupboard. That gotta be one of fuck-up comic graphic stories, but brilliant! Wish they film version of that!

[Ancient Otter]

CRECY
by Warren Ellis and Raulo Caceres (cover by Felipe Massafera)

An enjoyable enough little tale - not sure how historically accurate it is - about one of the most famous battles between England and France. 

...

The language is lovely and fruity and the art is lovely and detailed in places (but lacking flair). Much as I enjoy the asides to the reader, I did feel a bit cheated that there was no attempt to make a proper story of it.

Oh and short - 48 pages just whizzes by.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this but I always thought of this as a riposte to 300 (particularly the linking of it to the War on Terror at the time of Crechy's release). 300 - they lose the battle, they win the war, total victory for American democracy according to some fans of the film. Crecy - huge victory at the battle (ala America's crushing of Iraq*) but they still lose** the 100 Years War, England lose their territory on the continent and France as we know it now starts to form.

*I remember one character in Black Summer (a Avatar superhero comic by Warren Ellis) calling the invasion of Iraq a mugging.

**Please correct me if I am woefully wrong on the history here.

[mogzilla]

mars attacks judge dredd