Whats everyone reading?

[Colin YNWA]

Murder me Dead

I'm going to be writing a review in the movie thread about a film I'm half way through that will almost certainly just say - what a bunch of hacked out cliche boiled up and spat out into a half entertaining piece of nonsense (I mean fair to say the second half could be astonishing and flip that... but I doubt it... anyway..).

And David Lapham's Murder Me Dead is the same and yet opposite. Its ever crime noir trope and cliche under the sun. It really is as cliche as it gets. Yet here the cliche is exquistly crafted, deftly rolled out and laid before you so as you read you don't even really notice. You absorb it, lap it up and wallow its so well done. Its such an entertaining page turner, such a well drawn, written and paced delight you barely notice its hardly got an original bone in its glorious body. So much so you know where its going, it twists and turns laid straight before you and frankly I didn't care one bit.

Its Stray Bullets as 80s noir and its brilliant... even if, or maybe because, you've seen it all before, but never done this well.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

The War Of The Realms: Spiderman / Daredevil, The War of The Realms: Journey Into Mystery - I picked up both as they were cheap and I'd not actually read the main series at the time, and it's a mixed bag. The 3 Spiderman issues were the biggest disappointment, as they're very poorly written, the action's bland and the dialogues weak. Daredevil is much more fun as the poor bugger is now "The God Without Fear" and even more lifeforms are trying to kill him than usual, but surprisingly Journey Into Mystery is the stand out of the three, which I didn't expect as I'd not heard of the writers The McElroys (who apparently host a popular podcast) and this is a brightly lit road movie as Miles Morales, Kate Bishop, Death Locket, Wonder Man, Sebastian Druid, Thor's brother Baldur and Thor's dog Thori have to protect Thor's baby sister. Which might sound ridiculous, and it is, but the dialogue's really strong, and it's a playful affair, and a pleasant diversion from all of the relentless fight scenes in the main series.

[Section Six Lawman]

currently Judge Dredd "The Day the Law Died"

[JohnW]

currently Judge Dredd "The Day the Law Died"

I first read this in Titan reprint during my teenage born-again phase.
The art is uneven and the story veers too often into silliness, but I won't hear a word said against it.
(I still have those Titans – lush.)

For myself, I'm rereading The Fall of Deadworld from the start.
An unexpectedly good thing about my ageing attention span is that I quickly forget what I read in the weekly prog. (A digital download isn't something that lies around all week waiting to be idly leafed through.) So anyway, I'm reading this with only the slightest recollection of what's going to happen next, and I have to say that I'm appreciating the hell out of it.  I never could get into The Order, but Kek-W is exhibiting some pretty damn big cylinders here and they are all firing mightily.
Plotting, pacing, dialogue – I'm somewhat in awe. Both in overall picture and in fine detail it's the perfect nightmarish twist on the Dreddverse.
And Kendall's art? I just couldn't imagine anyone doing better.
I haven't read the latest instalment in this week's prog yet, so please don't anyone tell me that it's all heading downhill.

[Le Fink]

currently Judge Dredd "The Day the Law Died"

I first read this in Titan reprint during my teenage born-again phase.
The art is uneven and the story veers too often into silliness, but I won't hear a word said against it.
(I still have those Titans – lush.)

It's not one I go back to, for the reasons you mention! I've just re-read the Apocalypse War because I bought the Essential version, because it's in full colour. I know, sacrilege! But it really worked. And the story is relentless. Just a superb action / war tale. I've got the Uncensored Cursed Earth to go through next.

For myself, I'm rereading The Fall of Deadworld from the start.
...
I'm appreciating the hell out of it.  I never could get into The Order
...
I haven't read the latest instalment in this week's prog yet, so please don't anyone tell me that it's all heading downhill.

I really enjoyed the initial Deadworld run which was collected in a Hachette volume. It was a bit of a road movie with a small set of characters. The Order started in a similar way. The Order lost me a bit when many more characters were added and it moved away from the core set. Deadworld did the something similar with the introduction of the Sov invasion which brought in another cast. All still very enjoyable, pacey stuff and wonderfully rendered by John Burns and Dave Kendall respectively. Just a bit hard to keep up with. Looks like we're back with the initial group again and this week was a reminder/catch-up episode.

An unexpectedly good thing about my ageing attention span is that I quickly forget what I read in the weekly prog.

I know what you mean, I find it's worse with Megazine though. Who can remember what happened a month ago?

[JohnW]

Murder me Dead

Despite my love for Stray Bullets, I just couldn't for the life of me get into this.
I think it was because – unlike the variety of fascinating fuck-ups in Stray Bullets – there wasn't a single character I cared for. That's Lapham sometimes: giving us stories devoid of sympathetic figures.
I may well be misremembering, but this seemed comparatively devoid of humour too.
I did try to give this a second chance not so long ago but I ditched it after the first chapter. Oh well. Sunshine and Roses still beckons.

[Colin YNWA]

Murder me Dead

...That's Lapham sometimes: giving us stories devoid of sympathetic figures.
I may well be misremembering, but this seemed comparatively devoid of humour too.
I did try to give this a second chance not so long ago but I ditched it after the first chapter. Oh well.

That is undenibly the case. Everyone is a bit of a twat. Yet its a noir so that's so often the case and her the doomed romance, if not the people in it, had me routing for it. The desperate broken love that was destined to fail had a crazy, horrible purity to it... its does lack the obvious charm of Stray Bullets, but has an oblique, twisted charm of its own for me.

Sunshine and Roses still beckons.

And speaking of "...variety of fascinating fuck-ups" I'm already jealous of you getting to spend so long with Beth, Orson and co again!

[JohnW]

Sunshine and Roses still beckons.

I'm already jealous of you getting to spend so long with Beth, Orson and co again!

I read it when it was first collected, and then your recent review prompted me to go back to it. I quickly realised, though, that I'd forgotten so much that I wanted to go all the way back to the earliest Beth-Orson-Harry-Nina-big-suitcase-of coke-story, so I did.
Anyway, that leaves four volumes of Sunshine & Roses awaiting rediscovery.
Now if I could only stop piling up new comics for just one sodding minute.

[Le Fink]

I've not come across Stray Bullets before... I've found a "Stray Bullets Uber Alles" collection. Over 1000 pages...! But recommended?

[Colin YNWA]

Personally not a fan of the massive format but the series. YES absolutely. If you do digital defo got for that. Looking some of the trades seem to becoming tricky to get so Uber Alles may be the best way to go for the time being.

As for now good the original series is, just look online for praise, ita manyfold. Or read some of my whittering on a different thread .

Genuninely in my top 5 comics of all time and in with a very good shout at the number 1 spot.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

Blacksad 2: Arctic Nation by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido - I really loved the first Blacksad but I found this slightly less endearing, the art's still beautiful and it has a commendable anti-racism plot, but it felt, I don't know, a little message heavy perhaps, and could have benefitted from being a little more subtle. I feel slightly churlish complaining about it too, but I hope future stories lean less on film noir tropes, or at least try and make it more unpredictable as to which characters are obviously awful and which aren't. And I do sometimes wonder if anything is lost in translation, as occasional bits of dialogue are quite clunky, but I guess I'll never know... 3.75/5

Blacksad 3: Red Soulby Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido- This time around John's meeting up with an old pal, but events become extremely complicated and involve the "Red Panic" of the 1950's, a character's murky past during the second world war, and how horrendous those in authority are. I admire this so much, the art is incredible and it tackles some very big themes, but I'm just not convinced it manages to do anything with them other than illustrate our bleak past and suggest that even the worst of us can change, but the latter idea feels very rushed and unconvincing. Gah, it's annoying, as I love the main character, and the art is gorgeous, but I really think it needs to give the ideas breathing space and explore them in a little more detail. 3.75/5

[Le Fink]

Personally not a fan of the massive format but the series. YES absolutely. If you do digital defo got for that. Looking some of the trades seem to becoming tricky to get so Uber Alles may be the best way to go for the time being.

As for now good the original series is, just look online for praise, ita manyfold. Or read some of my whittering on a different thread .

Genuninely in my top 5 comics of all time and in with a very good shout at the number 1 spot.

OK - cheers Colin thanks. I don't really do digital, I don't feel like I have a portable device big enough to do the page justice. Sounds like the mega-tome is worth a look though. I've got a couple of bigger omnibuses - Planetary was pretty big, and that was OK to work through, format-wise.

[Barrington Boots]

Blacksad 2: Arctic Nation by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido - I really loved the first Blacksad but I found this slightly less endearing, the art's still beautiful and it has a commendable anti-racism plot, but it felt, I don't know, a little message heavy perhaps, and could have benefitted from being a little more subtle. I feel slightly churlish complaining about it too, but I hope future stories lean less on film noir tropes, or at least try and make it more unpredictable as to which characters are obviously awful and which aren't. And I do sometimes wonder if anything is lost in translation, as occasional bits of dialogue are quite clunky, but I guess I'll never know... 3.75/5

Blacksad 3: Red Soulby Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido- This time around John's meeting up with an old pal, but events become extremely complicated and involve the "Red Panic" of the 1950's, a character's murky past during the second world war, and how horrendous those in authority are. I admire this so much, the art is incredible and it tackles some very big themes, but I'm just not convinced it manages to do anything with them other than illustrate our bleak past and suggest that even the worst of us can change, but the latter idea feels very rushed and unconvincing. Gah, it's annoying, as I love the main character, and the art is gorgeous, but I really think it needs to give the ideas breathing space and explore them in a little more detail. 3.75/5

Blacksad is terrific and more people need to read it!
Very good review / comments on the above. I agree that Arctic Nation in particular isn't quite as good as the initial effort but Red Soul was, for me, a very powerful read. And it looks incredible.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

Blacksad is terrific and more people need to read it!
Very good review / comments on the above. I agree that Arctic Nation in particular isn't quite as good as the initial effort but Red Soul was, for me, a very powerful read. And it looks incredible.

Red Soul has stayed with me in the last few days and I feel I underrated it, and really my main complaint is that I just wish it was longer, that the story could have spent more time with Lieber and John discussing his past, but it is undoubtedly a very special series. I will definitely be reading more of it too, but my graphic novel backlog is ridiculous at the moment, I'm very, very lucky to live close to four pretty great charity shops but it's meant that if I like everything I've bought it'll take well over a year to read all of them.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

Top Ten Compendium by Alan Moore, Gene Ha, Zander Zannon - Absolutely loved the majority of this, the first twelve issues are sublime, the Smax mini-series caught me off guard as it wasn't what I was expecting but I quickly fell in love with this mad planet, and the Forty-Niners was a beautiful insight in to Jet Lad trying to find his place in the world. 5/5, truly brilliant stuff. And then came the "Farthest Precinct" and "Season 2" issues, which weren't written by Moore, and were fairly awful. There was some nice ideas in the former but both seemed to concentrate on characters I either didn't like much or knew at all, and I know the latter series was cancelled due to low sales but the way it ends was incredibly disappointing. 1/5, and if I'd known it was this bad I'd have quit at the same time Moore did.