Whats everyone reading?

[Professor Bear]

Hourman was spun out of Grant Morrison's JLA, though owed an equal debt to James "before he was shit" Robinson's work on the early-90s legacy version of Starman, two comics that defined themselves by being a reaction to the grim-and-gritty trends of the decade and directly inspired by Alan Moore's Supreme and Mark Waid's Flash.

[shaolin_monkey]

I'm reading Simon Pegg's 'Nerd Do Well', which is surprisingly entertaining.  Lots of references to Star Wars, which is always good. 

[Mabs]

Thanks to the recommendation of Mark Taylor i ordered Judge Dredd vs Aliens: Incubus, and had it delivered early this morning. I've no doubt that the story (judging by the reviews i've read) is great but my main intention was so i could indulge myself in Henry Flint's magnificent artwork. And looking at it, it looks oh so good!

I also bought The Dead Man (formerly known as 'Tale of the..'). This will be my first reading but unfortunately i know about the twist already because being the numpty i am, i read case files 14/ Necropolis before The Dead Man, so quite possibly ruined one of the best twists in 2000ad history. 

Ah hell, at least i can read it now, the b&w artwork looks freaking amazing by the way.

Oh one thing, a lot of the reviews stated that the story ended abruptly (and you had to read case files 14 to see the ending), but the copy i'm holding in my hands right now has the ending as an extra (taken from the case files). I wonder if this is an updated version?

[Basilisk]

Received it yesterday, at a very late hour, but on delivery date: The First Trade of the Mind The Gap series. I've just begun to read it. Looks nice so far, and intriguing, and i'm only in the beginning.

Beautifully drawn and coloured. When i'll finish it, i will post a review.

[I, Cosh]

Just read the first Prophet trade and not sure about it. I bought this because I really liked the first issue and there's a lot of daft sci-fi ideas getting knocked around. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how it's going to engage long term, although the last issue in the collection does point at some more conventional storytelling to come. Might buy the next one if it's cheap.

Also been reading Hitman over the past few months and now only have the last trade to get. It took a couple of volumes for me to get into it but it's pretty good and DCs policy of reprinting their older stuff in big chunky volumes has been a godsend. It's always amusing to see the lengths Ennis will go to in order to shoehorn a war story into his comics but I did find his fetishisation of the SAS in this a bit hard to stomach.

[qtwerk]

I am wallowing about in my Deep South Misery phase, reading about white trash hillbillies inflicting terrible atrocities upon eachother (and themselves), interspersed with the occasional moment of obsidian-black comedy and lashings of crystal meth.

And it's been GREAT.

The Devil All The Time - Donald Ray Pollock
Knockemstiff - Donald Ray Pollock
Crimes In Southern Indiana - Frank Bill
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned - Wells Tower
A Feast Of Snakes - Harry Crews

[Basilisk]

I agree with the Prophet Trade. It's very hard-core sci-fi, oniric, abstract... more like the 2001 movie... it's not bad at all but it's not for everyone.

Well, i've ended reading the first Mind The Gap Trade. My review: buy it.

It's a nicely done thriller, with supernatural theme. It's not a police story, it's not a mistery story, it's not a ghost story... it's a bit of everything. I won't spoil more. My veridict is: i'm counting the days until the 2nd trade is out. Very good content.

Definately fresh air into the comic world room. Image has quite a few good series running... at least in US comics. The Activity, Mind The Gap, Prophet, Manhattan Projects...

[TordelBack]

Well, i've ended reading the first Mind The Gap Trade. My review: buy it.

Really don't get Mind The Gap, which I've seen all sorts of sensible folk recommending.  I tried the first four issues, and I found the writing to be incredibly clunky, and the plot felt like it was someone's first attempt at Ghost Whisperer fan fiction.  Given that the visuals are pretty much functional (AFAIC), I kept asking myself: "Would I read this if it was a novel? Would I watch it if it was a TV series?".  You can guess the answers.

[PreacherCain]

I wasn't a big fan of Mind the Gap either. I did love Prophet, Glory, The Manhattan Projects, The Activity (criminally underrated and underread), Peter Panzerfaust, Saga etc. however

Image are a bit like a US 2000AD. They're making a lot of diverse comics with very distinctive art but not everything is for everyone. Which is a the sign of a healthy publisher, if you ask me 

[Basilisk]

That's the magic of singularity: everyone has his/her opinion. I thought it was cool, othe rpeople don't, etc.

Well, well... it's time to continue reading the Dred CCF1. I read some pages/thrills every day, but i have a lot of  backlog. I bought the first five trades at once.

And i have the Hellboy Companion, Atomic Robo real Science adventures trade and the fifth trade of Marvel's secret warriors on its way from the Bookdepository. That's not counting what i'll get on Amazon.es soon... then Battler Britton... and i have yet to buy the 2nd Ennis's Battlefields HC. I have the first(and the ol' War Stories from DC, in a nice spanish edition HC omnibus), and i liked it a lot. Not everyone can write war comics like Garth Ennis. And if you put a competent penciller, let's say Carlos Ezquerra, or some of the other artists from WS or BFs ... veery good stuff.

[Basilisk]

Just out of their parcels:



The Hellboy Companion, to start diggin' in this supernatural world, and the Atomic Robo real science adventures trade, the compilation of short stories of robo. And the other is the Black Knight Manga, by Motofumi Kobayashi. GREAT war comic. Full of Panthers, T-34s, IS-2, Panzers IV, King Tigers... and the attention to detail is just insane. I have every work of him that has been released her: Cat Shit One(Apocalypse Meow), Omega 7(altough only the firs tome), Operation Barbarossa, Kampfguppe ZBV, Vietnam War and now this one. Let's see if they release more stuff from him this year.

[Daveycandlish]

Just finished Porcelain - a gothic fairy tale.

http://www.improperbooks.com/projects/porcelain/

Really, really good. I recommend it!

[Mabs]

Just finished Porcelain - a gothic fairy tale.

http://www.improperbooks.com/projects/porcelain/

Really, really good. I recommend it!

That looks superb, Daveycandlish! I definitely must add it to my must reads. Cheers 

Hey our very own Jim is on lettering duties! 

[monsterx]

On prog 1776 day of chaos, pretty good so far but where is judge Anderson and judge giant?

[Colin YNWA]

Well now there's a thing.

Over the last couple of nights I've read two mini-series (well three, but 2 are the same title), Seaguy 1 and 2 and Bulletproof Coffin. Now I'm a massive Grant Morrison fan and I'd heard good things about Seaguy, so was really looking forward to these comics. They are chock full of great ideas, no surprise there, its just it didn't hang together at all for me and while there was the odd moment here and there I really liked, it was a struggle to get through as it all felt so disjointed and self indulgent.

Bulletproof Coffin by Dave Hine and Shaky Kane, I was likewise looking forward too very much and these didn't disappoint, not one jot. Quite wonderful. While Grant Morrison's Seaguy I've seen described as surreal, or more to the point with Mr Morrison hyper-real, it just wasn't for me, it was flabby, Bulletproof Coffin was likewise hyper-real, it was likewise chock full of great idea. It though hung together beautifully, really quite superbly, for all its incredible, wonderful flights of fancy it was always grounded and felt so fantastically constructed. It was, at least superficially, self referential, but unlike Seaguy it never felt self indulgent.

What a very interesting couple of nights reading and if anybody like Grant Morrison's stuff as much as I do I can't do more than recommend Dave Hines and Shaky Kane's quite brilliant Bulletproof Coffin.