Whats everyone reading?

[Dark Jimbo]

Finished From Hell, and my only regret is that it took me so long to get around to it.

The fevered speculation the work prompts dies away before the end of the book, as you realise there simply isn't much point. There are too many loose ends, too many questions, too much time between then and now. Someone kiled five prostitutes in the autumn of 1888, but whoever it was is now entirely distinct from Jack the Ripper. The murderer was simply a human being; the Ripper has become something else entirely over the course of a century and more, taken on a fictional life of its own that completely dwarfs the actual crimes. The discovery of the killer would in no way diminish Jack by this point - that image of the top-hatted, cloaked shadow stalking benighted Whitechapel streets is just too powerful for us to let go of. As Moore says in the Gullcatchers appendix, Jack's not Druitt or Gull or Sickert or the Prince of Wales; he's all of them at once and more besides, a Superposition.

William Gull (as fictionalised by Moore and Campbell) is an utterly wonderful creation. His madness and conviction is totally compelling, and you find yourself drawn completely into his dark aura. That final chapter (Gull, ascending) is so bonkers it shouldn't work at all, but it really does put a cap on the whole narrative. All in all a cracking work that really took a hold of my imagination - and I'm just sad that I have increasingly little 'new Moore' left to read!

[Link Prime]

I'm currently near the end of NOS4R2 by Joe Hill.

Rather good. And had a minor geek-gasm seeing the connections between his other books and his Dad's.

Apart from this, I think I've only read the Locke and Key comics (very good) and Horns (pretty good too, although I had some issues with it)  by this author. Think I might check out his other stuff.

You'll definitely like NOS4R2 spin off Wraith: Welcome to Christmasland too...http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wraith-Welcome-Christmasland-Joe-Hill-ebook/dp/B00M8JBZQY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424693434&sr=1-1&keywords=welcome+to+christmasland

And Hill's collection of short stories, 20th Century Ghosts,  is up there with Gaiman's Fragile Things.

[J.Smith]

Yeah, I'd have to say that William Gull is one of my favourite characters in anything ever, a truly terrifying piece of work on whose madness the reader is completely sold. The point where he's finished mutilating the fifth victim and experiences a splash page vision of future London and an office, followed by the image of him hugging the corpse in thanks is just jaw dropping. A brilliant character, evil bastard that he may be.

You point out that the last chapter's mental and yet somehow works; but that's basically the whole book summed up. Thematically, the book could have been overstuffed in the hands of another writer, but somehow Moore pulls it together into a cohesive, well paced story. When I read it a couple of years ago I really couldn't put the thing down. Consider picking up Campbell's Companion book, Jimbo.

Unrelated, but I remember thinking that the video game Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs felt quite similar to From Hell. Set in the Victorian age on New Year's Eve of 1889, the narrator of that game (or part of him anyway), if I remember correctly, also believes that he's saving the new century after experiencing terrifying visions of the future, of rumblings started in his age that finally take place (like From Hell, the birth of the atomic bomb is given reference), and more horrors besides, especially WW1. Just an interesting little comparison.

[Dark Jimbo]

When I read it a couple of years ago I really couldn't put the thing down. Consider picking up Campbell's Companion book, Jimbo.

Definately on my radar! I'm not sure what more can be left to be said, given how comprehensive Moore's notes at the back seem, but I'm just grateful that I'll get a chance to dive back into that world at some point.

[von Boom]

I'm the same DJ. I only read From Hell this past autumn. Amazing book and near impossible to put down.

[Jacqusie]

I've had From Hell sat on the book-shelf for two years now slightly nervous about it after seeing the film a few times.

I now have much more confidence in reading it as a Stand-alone Moore peice of fiction - thanks guys, look forward to it!



Si

[PreacherCain]

I've had From Hell sat on the book-shelf for two years now slightly nervous about it after seeing the film a few times.

I now have much more confidence in reading it as a Stand-alone Moore peice of fiction - thanks guys, look forward to it!



Si

The film and comic share subject matter and title but pretty much nothing else.

I remember seeing an interview with Johnny Depp at the time. The interviewer asked him if he could remake any movie from his career, which one would it be and he replied "this one"

So there's that 

[Dark Jimbo]

I've had From Hell sat on the book-shelf for two years now slightly nervous about it after seeing the film a few times.

I now have much more confidence in reading it as a Stand-alone Moore peice of fiction - thanks guys, look forward to it!

I saw the film some years ago. It shares the 'solution' with the book i.e. the identity of the killer and the reason for the killings. Virtually everything else is different. Unlike the film, which plays things a bit fast and loose, the book is careful to adhere to known historical facts - so Abberline is a solid, married, career policeman in his forties, for instance, rather than a troubled loner haunted by the deaths of his family who solves crimes by having psychic visions for some reason(!).

The book's got a whole wealth of musings on psycho-geography, serial killings, the fourth-dimensional nature of time,  and all sorts of interesting stuff that the film completely ignores, and the story in the book doesn't stop as soon as the murders do - it goes on to explore the aftermath.

Also worth noting that the reader knows who/what/why is doing the killings from the outset - think an episode of Columbo - so you don't have to worry about the film having spoiled the ending!

[J.Smith]

Finished Scott McCloud's Reinventing Comics, the one some people suggest skipping. And true, compared to Understanding Comics, it is pretty dated (though UC itself is a wee bit out of date, although I can't imagine the same can be said of Making Comics) with an entire half of the book focused on digital comics' emergence but written in 2000. And times have changed since many of the arguments he put forth in the first half of the book too, of course.

In the case of the former, although some of what he said made me cringe, especially many of his theories on how digital comics could surpass print (due to a little bias on my part because I hate reading comics digitally, but also because much of what he says is utter nonsense), I had fun with it anyway for the pure nostalgia trip of old computers, and moreso because my own computer has been broke until today and I've been barely using the one downstairs. Not entirely well written, these three chapters, but fun to be had in my opinion.

As to the latter and first half of the book, that was definitely interesting because times have significantly changed and yet further progress could and should still be made on most matters, such as creator-ownership, gender and sexual diversity and public perception. As someone who doesn't entirely know their comics history, Scott's basic outline of some essentials certainly made it an interesting comparison to present day.

But yeah, I can see why some people skip this one. It gets my recommendation on the basis of an insightful and thought-provoking first half and because I personally found fun to be had with the second but I suppose if neither of those things sound interesting in the slightest, you might as well not bother. Don't know if I'll immediately make a start on the third of his instructional book but I can see that that's going to be the biggest read yet but perhaps also the best, as I've noticed from skipping through it that it has the absolute best art of all three and extensive additional notes and exercises to expand each chapter. Great stuff.

[Jacqusie]

Also worth noting that the reader knows who/what/why is doing the killings from the outset - think an episode of Columbo - so you don't have to worry about the film having spoiled the ending!
[/quote]


Cheers for that chaps, that's my loins well and truly girded now! 

[Colin YNWA]

Big fan of all three Scott McCloud 'theory' books all have very useful insights. That said haven't read them for some time and so J.Smith's post has inspired me to stick um on my reading list so I can get around to them again.

[Mardroid]

I just finished the Mega Collection issue of The Apocalypse War.

Sometimes I find epics, even the good ones, tend to drag.

This though, was a great read. The pace kept up and didn't drag at all.

My first time reading this story as well, although I knew what happened in the end, although not HOW it happened.

Just a couple of query/nitpicks though:

Query 1: early in the story it was established that East Meg One had some kind of Warp force field which causes incoming missiles to be translocated to another dimension.

[spoiler]Yet when Dredd launched the tads at the end there was no mention of that force field. They did state that the weapons were launched too close to operate their defence system effectively, but that was the conventional laser system which Mega City One had too. I guess if it was too close for the lasers, it was too close for the warp field too (in fact they might have been within the perimieter of that too) but it would have been nice if it was at least mentioned.[/spoiler]

Query 2: I[spoiler]t seems the laser system was pretty successful in wiping out most of the missiles, as only 3 got through, but that was enough to wipe out the city. I seem to remember a few getting through Mega City 1's defence earlier on, but that only wiped out half. Is Mega City One that much bigger? I guess it could be argued that the East Meggers never intended to wipe out the entire city, so the payloads, were less or the targets more peripheral.[/spoiler] A minor nitpick anyway. I just wonder.

Only other thing I'd say is that [spoiler]with the defeat of the city, its seemed to me that the tide turned in the Meg rather too quicily and easily. (I.e disheartened the East Meggers were driven out despite having control of much of the city before then.) Sure, being discouraged would be a major fact there, but it could have so easily gone the other way, driving them to fight harder for revenge. In fact it seems a subsequent story dealt with just that... with ONE East Meg Judge. Hmmm.[/spoiler]

Don't get me wrong, it was a cracking read, and these are minor issues. In fact 'issue' is probably too strong a word. More 'questions that occurred', while more wordy would also be more accurate. [spoiler][spoiler]If the final battle for the Meg had been longer and harder the story might have dragged, so it's probably just as well it ended the way it did.[/spoiler][/spoiler]

Possibly one of the best Dredd mega-epics I've read. Although I haven't read all that much being a relative newbie and I only bought a few case files, so most of my reading has been modern Dredd.

[TordelBack]

The Apocalypse Warp needed an unspecified lead-in time to activate - it required the entire power generation capacity of East Meg 1 to operate and blacked out all external communications when on. From the ineffectively scrambled East Mag laser defense response we can deduce that the captured silo was only minutes from the city at most. It was also finite in duration - this is why it was essential that all MC-1's launch capacity be eliminated while it was on. If the Diktatorat could just flip a switch every time they saw a missile, MC-1's silos wouldn't have mattered at all.  It may even have been a one-time deal, its reusability a colossal bluff against MC-2 and TC - although Kazan's aside about their turn suggests otherwise.  This is also probably the main impetus for the war itself - the first power to develop the technolology needed to use it while it was still a surprise.

The TADs were orders of magnitude more powerful than the 'conventional' warheads of the war - as the name suggests Total Annihilation Devices.  Just one could wipe out either city, or in the case of the hippie dimension, a few dozen could fragment the planet itself.

[Mardroid]

Thanks Tordelback! That all made sense, and just shows what a sieve my mind can often be...

I thought 'tad' was familiar... and now remember, that was the name of the missiles launched in retaliation from Mega City One. That's what kinda threw, as, I figured those as Mega City 1 tech.... but it makes sense that in a cold war scenareo both sides would have the same type of thing.

I forgot about the power draining thing of the warp field.

[Lady Warp Spasm]

In my efforts to read more 2000 AD, I just ordered the original collection of the early Nikolai Dante run (the Romanov Dynasty) and the three prose novels used.

I liked Indigo Prime Anthropocalypse (the whole thing with Spacesick Steve was terrific), I'll read future stories when they're published.  Ampney Crucis was a blast.

Book-wise: I am a good way into Toby Venables' The Hunter of Sherwood The Red Hand. I hope he does a third book in the series.

American Comics-wise - also catch up.

Brubaker and Phillips "Savage" issue of Criminal was one I could get into (largely because of the sword and sorcery pulp and how that fit into the main plot), lots of fun.

Moon Knight 12 was a good ending to Wood's run, but I much prefer the supernatural angle for MK, so I am looking forward to Cullen Bunn.

Dropped Rasputin, some great art by Riley but the last 2 issues seemed very lackluster (that's all he does with the Romanovs?) and the teaser for the next series is not my cuppa.

Also dropped Thor with this annual. Lady Thor is also not my cuppa.

Eagerly awaiting Slaine Primordial launch and I hope to find another 2000 AD story I enjoy while reading that every week.  You can teach a not yet old wolfhound some new tricks; I've been very impressed by the imagination and sheer gonzoid chops of some of the other 2000 AD things I've read recently. It's such a breath of fresh air and most welcome to this gal. But you all know that