Whats everyone reading?

[Dan Banks]

@radiator

I've been reading Miracleman for the first time too in floppies first (silly in hindsight I know) and the collections (much more enjoyable).

Something to keep in mind regarding book 2, it was released across two different comics ("Warrior" and then "Miracleman" from Eclipse) and over the course of maybe 2 or 3 years thanks to some pretty interesting legal troubles. The second also has maybe 3 different artists involved which certainly doesn't help. I highly recommend reading around the subject, the story of Miracleman the comic might actually be more interesting than Miracleman the character.

Having read 4 of the 6 issues of the third arc, I also highly recommend the next book. You'll see a much more accomplished Moore paired with the perfect artist. It still has some of the flaws that you mention but more good than bad.

[Link Prime]

Having read 4 of the 6 issues of the third arc, I also highly recommend the next book. You'll see a much more accomplished Moore paired with the perfect artist. It still has some of the flaws that you mention but more good than bad.

I have to agree Dan, I just read the latest issue last night- Act III is by far my favorite, and Totleben is astonishing.

[TordelBack]

Some great thinkifying in those posts, J.Smith and Radiator.  A good read in a a thread about same.

[J.Smith]

Thank ye kindly, TordelBack.

Well, that's me wrapped up all of 2008's Progs, which means I can now embark on 2009, which I'm going to be reading all of seeing as I didn't even finish the first run of thrills at the time. Taking a gander at this first line up, I can still remember why I ended up cancelling my subscription in the past. Only Strontium Dog: Blood Moon held my attention at the time, the rest - The Red Seas, Greysuit, Marauder and even Dredd - being decidedly mediocre in my younger mind, not entirely unfair if you keep in mind that I didn't have full context for the first of those, and didn't appreciate Paul Marshall's art style as I do now (amongst others, writers too). The other ones...well, I can remember Greysuit went a bit...mental, though I'm not sure how it'll read now; and I guess my problem with Marauder was that it was very superhero-y for a tale set in the Big Meg. Not sure how that'll read now either, but we shall see.

Won't actually be diving straight into 2009 however. Still need to catch up on early Low Life and that one story published in the Megazine, so I'm going to do that before getting started on D'Israeli's stuff a couple of months into this year. A lot to look forward to though. Some of it I've already read in trades - Backlash in Dredd, Zombo and of course Cradlegrave - but I'll gladly read them all again. Should be especially interesting to read them in the climate of weekly Progs and how readers responded to them (one thing I'm certain will be very interesting with Cradlegrave actually).

Especially looking forward to how Ian Edgington's various books pan out. Despite Steve Yeowell apparently getting a little bored with The Red Seas and putting far less effort into the art in Old Gods (nothing as bad as Ian Gibson mind, which was an even greater shock to see lost all interest this second time!), I am a bigger fan of that since reading the rather silly first book and understanding the context of later series' a bit more. Surprising even myself, after reading And Death Shall Have No Dumb Minions... I've also been enjoying Sinister Dexter's tales this year and am looking forward to how the move to Generica goes. And of course, the cream of the crop, how will Nikolai Dante end, I wonder? That was possibly my biggest regret of cancelling my subscription, so I'm really looking forward to watching that one come to what I can only imagine to be an amazing conclusion. Next to Dredd, I really think it has the greatest character development in the Prog at its time, spanning through years of amazing stories.

In fact, taking all of these Progs I've been reading as one great whole, one thing I've been doing as I've gone along has been to imagine how you could pick moments from various series' and have them join the hall of fame of the so-called "greatest moments in thrill-power" in the future, you know, those moments interpreted by different artists. There sure are a shit ton you could select and I'm not even on to 2009 (and beyond!), which to me looks like the most glorious of years so far for the comic in this large back read of mine. Bring it on, I say! Anyway, here's some thoughts on two wee tales that came towards the end of 2008:

Really wish they'd hurry up and reprint The Vort in a floppy because it really is a good 'un. Reading it again for the first time it's interesting to see the subtle hints that it's actually [spoiler]Lobster Random[/spoiler] in disguise, but if it were a standalone tale about some crazy future war without any surprise twist, it'd still be bloody good in my opinion, not least because of D'Israeli's superb art and colouring in this one. In fact, I'm having a hard time deciding if I like his coloured work on this more or on Ordinary. Leaning on this simply because of the wider variety of settings, lighting, weather and scenes that vary from battle sequences to gruesome torture, all of which he nails with ungodly skill. Gotta get this reprinted, so they do (my one and only letter in the Megazine even requested it specifically).

Have to also say I had more fun with the first series of Ampney Crucis Investigates upon reading it again, even if it's not perfect. Understand that I have several more series' waiting to be read so I hope they can be an improvement on this very decent start. Interestingly enough, I couldn't help but notice that, as well as sharing the world with other Edgington strips, The Red Seas and Stickleback (and I presume Leviathan, which I haven't read), the villain in this one actually repeats a very similar line to Odin in The Red Seas: Old Gods too, cursing the thought of "the meek inheriting the earth" and Christianity in general. Indeed, with the way the first series of Stickleback opens and ends with Gog and Magog, and these other two examples, a running theme in Edgington's work is certainly how the old and true gods have been forgotten in the present day of the story in question, diminishing their power, requiring others to do their bidding if they don't decide to exploit their power in their weakened state instead. Should be interesting to see if that continues to be of any significance and if there are more explicit ties connecting Edgington's stories.

Phew! Onwards and upwards then. Going to take me a lot longer to catch up to present day though, now that I'll be reading everything from this point on, skipping nothing...

[radiator]

Something to keep in mind regarding book 2, it was released across two different comics ("Warrior" and then "Miracleman" from Eclipse) and over the course of maybe 2 or 3 years thanks to some pretty interesting legal troubles. The second also has maybe 3 different artists involved which certainly doesn't help.

Yeah I'm aware of it's checkered publication history. I know a lot of comic readers find multiple artists working on the same story really jarring, but as I grew up reading 2000ad I barely even notice.

I definitely think that it suffers from a lack of characterisation. The main characters really are little more than sketches. There are occasional really inventive ideas though, and that's pretty much all you can ask of a 1982 comic aimed at teenagers. I doubt Moore thought anyone would be dissecting it thirty years later.

[Fungus]

Was Warrior "aimed at teenagers"? Remember as a bairn that V and Marvelman (sic) were clearly great, but I couldn't quite "get" why. A bit later I got it. Comics for adults, I always felt (and have definitely heard subsequently, I'm sure). The Morans, the govt. officials... they all seemed well-defined to me, which was the refreshing point.

The artists did change, but when Totleben got involved it became very special indeed.

[Dan Banks]

Generally changing artists doesn't affect me too much either but I do like a level of consistency involved. The artist involved with the Cream vs Steppenwolf episode (and a few others around?) was radically different I seem to remember. It might be the colouring that made it even more obvious but I'm no artist so I'll criticise no more!

[Bolt-01]

Some of the issue with the change of artists in Marvelman was that the Alan Davis art was all originally printed at the lush A4 (almost) size, so those pages would have had effectively a double reduction to work at US size.

When Chuck Beckum (possible SP) took over he was producing work specifically for the US sizing.

Also- 'any' artist would have had a hard time following on from Alan Davis on this.

[Dan Banks]

Also- 'any' artist would have had a hard time following on from Alan Davis on this.

That there is the truth.

Some nice perspective too. Having only read marvels reprints I would never have known about the change in paper size although in hindsight it seems completely obvious. Cheers.

[Dark Jimbo]

Been reading From Hell for the past few weeks. As per usual with an Alan Moore comic, this is not just a way to pass time but a book to live inside. My head is constantly swirling with Ripper facts on and off throughout the day, meditating on the characters, their fates and motives. Gull's only just killed Polly Nicholls (first of the five) and it's already hard not to be playing amateur detective, looking at old London maps, wondering if she was killed where she was found or dumped there later, whether the Ripper did/could have had a coach/accomplise, why PC Mizen was so damn sketchy, whether Charles Warren was deliberately muddying the waters...

It's actually hard to switch off!

[TordelBack]

So true.  I love From Hell, and it rewards repeated readings, but it's such a consuming experience I have to space them out.  By the time we get to that night Miller's Court, I'm usually totally freaked out, and by the time Druitt has bricks in his pockets I'm convinced by the whole premise (as opposed to the 'solution'). Stepping away from it all, in the cold light of day, it's rather silly and not a little hypocritical (can we really say that it doesn't exploit those human tragedies for entertainment and ideological shenanigans?), but while I'm reading it, it's far too real.

[Dark Jimbo]

I always meant to get around to it at some point (I'm a commited Moore fanboy) but I'm annoyed it took me so long. The annotations are fascinating, too, and prompt all sorts of other little unconnected avenues to start reading/researching around (that cursed Mummy case, for instance).

It's as horrible and troubling as I expected, but it's surprisingly funny when it wants to be, too -

'Did you buy her some token whereby we might recognise her?'
'Yes, sir - a black bonnet.'
'I see. A black bonnet. How very helpful. Tell me, Netley, do you know your most distinguishing characteristic?'
'Why, I - I can't think, sir.'
'Precisely.'

The creepy, off-kilter Netley/Gull bromance is brilliantly compelling.

[J.Smith]

Reading From Hell for the first time a few years ago really set off the renewed love of comics that I have as an adult today, much stronger than the interest I had as a kid. Putting the time aside to sit down and read it (and I really do believe it's one of those books you "plan" to read ahead of time, especially once you realise how good Moore's annotations are), I was amazed by the incredible amount of research poured into it, the structure of the book, Eddie Campbell's consistently excellent art and his bloody wondrous storytelling skills, etc. It truly is, in my book, one of the most perfect comics ever. Completely mad - I love the afterword, Dance of the Gull-Catchers, wherein Moore admits to becoming obsessed like many Ripperologists who have tried to solve the murders - but in my estimation, a masterpiece nonetheless. Don't forget to pick up Campbell's Companion when you're done, Jimbo - plenty of further fascinating insight into the making of the book there.

[The Adventurer]

ComiXology had a sale on translated foreign language comics, which included the whole run of Shotaro Ishinomori's seminal manga Cyborg 009.

This comic is the most radical Cold War techno thriller I've read this month. You can definitely see that Ishinomori was a student of Tezuka. If it's got one problem it's the rather horrible racist caratures he uses for his main cast, even if they're presonalities are handled well (the African and Native American characters are the most problematic, but God damn if they're not both team badasses).

[PreacherCain]

So true.  I love From Hell, and it rewards repeated readings, but it's such a consuming experience I have to space them out.  By the time we get to that night Miller's Court, I'm usually totally freaked out, and by the time Druitt has bricks in his pockets I'm convinced by the whole premise (as opposed to the 'solution'). Stepping away from it all, in the cold light of day, it's rather silly and not a little hypocritical (can we really say that it doesn't exploit those human tragedies for entertainment and ideological shenanigans?), but while I'm reading it, it's far too real.

From Hell absolutely has those elements but I always felt it was grounded in its respect for the victims of the Ripper. That humanism is at the very core of the book and is, for me, the thing that stays with you long after you've finished reading.

Moore did a similar thing in Lost Girls, where the erotia/pornographic element was the window dressing through which he could tell a profoundly human story about love, passion, war and the loss of innocence.