Whats everyone reading?

[Professor Bear]

Prophet, the first trade collection of the relaunch of Rob "the" Liefeld's Wolverine knock-off, in which the superhero trappings of the previous 20 issues are discarded in favor of a Nausicaa-meets-Fallout 3-meets-Iain M Banks style travelogue that's initially ambitious, but soon becomes mired in the kind of illogical story progression and muddled visuals that sank most anime for me once my balls dropped and I started taking an interest in stories and character instead of defining my cultural intake by the level of excess it could indulge.  Brandon Graham is clearly a fan of the same anime shows as I am, because there are plenty of story elements that will seem familiar to viewers of Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed, but Prophet is still probably the closest US comics have yet got to non-English sprawling epics of the like of Betelgeuse, but it's ruined in the final pages by yet another Wolverine analogue showing up and killing everyone in a badass way, jarring it from interesting and ambiguous science fiction to something that ultimately feels like an overly-decompressed superhero origin story and in retrospect gives the impression that it wasn't even trying at all.  For the first four chapters' worth of book, mind, it was pretty great.
There's also an Emma Rios short at the back that I couldn't make heads nor tails of.  Literally could not understand what was going on or what I was even looking at, so I imagine that it was "inventive and ambitious" or something.

[Davek]

Prophet, the first trade collection of the relaunch of Rob "the" Liefeld's Wolverine knock-off, in which the superhero trappings of the previous 20 issues are discarded in favor of a Nausicaa-meets-Fallout 3-meets-Iain M Banks style travelogue that's initially ambitious, but soon becomes mired in the kind of illogical story progression and muddled visuals that sank most anime for me once my balls dropped and I started taking an interest in stories and character instead of defining my cultural intake by the level of excess it could indulge.  Brandon Graham is clearly a fan of the same anime shows as I am, because there are plenty of story elements that will seem familiar to viewers of Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed, but Prophet is still probably the closest US comics have yet got to non-English sprawling epics of the like of Betelgeuse, but it's ruined in the final pages by yet another Wolverine analogue showing up and killing everyone in a badass way, jarring it from interesting and ambiguous science fiction to something that ultimately feels like an overly-decompressed superhero origin story and in retrospect gives the impression that it wasn't even trying at all.  For the first four chapters' worth of book, mind, it was pretty great.
There's also an Emma Rios short at the back that I couldn't make heads nor tails of.  Literally could not understand what was going on or what I was even looking at, so I imagine that it was "inventive and ambitious" or something.

Which illogical storylines do you feel Prophet is getting mired in? I find some aspects challenging but all seems to make sense to me.

[Colin YNWA]

Just finished a re-read of Zot! and its as magnificent as I remember, bloody love it. Even at the times, in the later issues when some of the 'issues' are handled with a lack of subtly the wonderful characters shine through. Zot! was and still is such a breathe of fresh air and the end to 33 is still of the all time great endings. 9-Jack-9 is one of the all time great villains. Zot! himself is one of the all time great leads in a comic strip. If you've never read it I can't recommend it highly enough. Reading it in one go you can almost sense Scott McCloud working out the ideas for his equally brilliant 'Understanding Comics'

I bloody love this series.

[Professor Bear]

Which illogical storylines do you feel Prophet is getting mired in? I find some aspects challenging but all seems to make sense to me.

As I said, from issue 4 onwards (once the setup is established), the visuals become cluttered and how the eye is supposed to progress around some pages (the Appleseed homage sequences especially) is unclear without stopping and deciphering what is in the end just messy rather than intricate.  Complex layouts that reward repeated viewings are good when done well - see JH Williams' work in general - but it shouldn't be a chore to tell what's supposed to be going on, that's just sloppy work - there were pages I did not even know what I was looking at in some panels beyond that whatever was going on, it was happening in mud.

[radiator]

I must confess that I've recently read book one of Graham's Prophet, and had quite a lot of trouble following it.

I was told that no prior knowledge of the character was required, but felt like I was really missing something towards the end.

I'm now reading King City, and frankly I'm even more baffled. If it doesn't get good (or at least coherent) soon it's going straight on eBay.

A friend recommended me Graham's work as I really liked Orc Stain, but I can't really see the similarity to Stokoe - I thought Orc Stain was much more accessible and to my taste.

[Charlie boy]

As I said, from issue 4 onwards (once the setup is established), the visuals become cluttered and how the eye is supposed to progress around some pages (the Appleseed homage sequences especially) is unclear without stopping and deciphering what is in the end just messy rather than intricate.  Complex layouts that reward repeated viewings are good when done well - see JH Williams' work in general - but it shouldn't be a chore to tell what's supposed to be going on, that's just sloppy work - there were pages I did not even know what I was looking at in some panels beyond that whatever was going on, it was happening in mud.

I remember "Rub the Blood" Liefeld's Prophet; I remember somebody else from the Image crowd eventually took over the storytelling and it was supposed to have improved the title but I can't remember the guy's name. I think he was largely an illustrator beforehand and he had a brief title named Hell Child or something along those lines.

[zombemybabynow]

reading the whole song of ice and fire again - inbetween kindle new downloads

just about to read the new colin bateman mystery man novel - the prisoner of brenda

very funny and well written enough to like the main protagonist who's a right get!

no. 4 of the books - check out the first; mystery man - you'll laugh every 3 pages and chapters are short which is perfect for commuting:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mystery-Man-ebook/dp/B004XCGLAY/ref=sr_1_9?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1351162220&sr=1-9#reader_B004XCGLAY

[Mabs]

 

Comics I'm currently enjoying include John Arcudi's excellent The Creep from Dark Horse, and in the continuing spirit of singing Image's praises, post-zombie-incident 'rural noir' Revival.

BPRD continues to tick all of my boxes and I look forward to it more than any other comic out there by miles.

The Saga trade is en route as we speak and I'm positively champing at the bit for it now 

BPRD is absolutely awesome! I bought the Plage of Frogs hardback book 1 a while ago and its really superb. The actual Plage of Frogs story begins in volume 3, and the artwork by Guy Davis is really something special indeed. Having said that, I need to get Book 2 soon, I think theres 4 in total.

And Saga - just wait until you read it! : )

[Dark-Flux]

My current pull consists of:

DC
Action Comics
Wonder Woman
Batman
Detective Comics
Swamp Thing
Animal Man
Frankenstein Agent of SHADE
Stormwatch
Talon
Team 7

Marvel
Daredevil
Hawkeye

Image
Saga
Manhattan Projects
Prophet
Glory
Bloodstrike
Supreme
Witchblade
Darkness
Artifacts
Cyberforce
Spawn
Haunt
Hell Yeah
Danger Club
Shinku
Savage Dragon

Valiant
X-O Manowar
Harbinger
Bloodshot
Archer & Armstrong

Plus Jennifer Blood, TMNT and 2000Ad.

Need more moneyz...

[Zarjazzer]

Heavy Metal MAgazine Monster massacre special only a glimpse so far but very good indeed. Pariah a -wh40k Imperial Inquistion (who no one ever expects)  book and I can start it when i've finished Fear to Tread from the Horus Heresy series.

[Mabs]

Sorry thats supposed to be 'plague' not plage, bloody phone keys.

[Mabs]

By the way, I'm reading Strontium Dog agency files 02 right now...

[The Bissler]

By the way, I'm reading Strontium Dog agency files 02 right now...

Really interested to see what you make of it, whether you agree with the favourable reports myself and many others gave it...

[SmallBlueThing]

A medley of several recent ebay purchases, including
Wildcat Winter Special 1989
Eagle #1, #2 and Best of Eagle Monthly #1
Crisis Presents XPRESSO special (Manara cover)
Eagle presents Robo Hunter #1-#5 (yes, there are subtle art changes in #1 that ive noticed- including one baffling substitution of a close up of sam's face)
Space Voyager magazine #12 (favourite, and first 'grown-up'magazine of my youth, all mysteriously lost)
and Legends of the Law #11, #12 and #13- a fairly good 'vampires in mega-city one' tale, pencilled by nigel dobbyn, which despite being as wrong as these american attempts always are, is the best of them, i think. I especially like the cultured 'good' vampire's attempt to seduce dredd. It's why the book fails, but also why it's such fun. Despite dredd's harshly-spat "deviant!" referring to his bloodsucking, it's hard not to see it as an uncharacteristic bit of homophobia on joe's part. Has he ever commented on different sexualities before? I find it hard to believe we (cont)

[COMMANDO FORCES]

I bought the latest issue of 2000 AD today!