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Within Our Reach is one of those that has two covers. You flip it over and there's a front cover on either side. It means that half of the book is upside down compared to the other half. According to the comicvine link the other cover (I like to think the proper front, based on the way the spine reads) is by Paul Chadwick : linky
And there's a Concrete story inside too.

Oh interesting. I'm assuming I'll have that in reprint somewhere, but now need to know!

As for that X-Men that's a great cover from a wobbly but interesting period of the comic which I loved back in the day, have little time for these days.

[V for Vendetta]

So last chunk and then we can really get down to some reflections - it would be amazing to use this thread to hear how you get on with stuff as you read it... anyway.

V for Vendetta - I reckon you will have this in hand and its all you need for V.

World without End is worth it for the John Higgins art.

I've never read Kill your boyfriend and know nothing about it but with that creative team that's gotta be worth checkin' out. I know I will be!

I'm curious which issue of Uncanny X-Men you have. Not a fan of the comics particularly just with everything else here and the fact there's only one makes me really curious!

Also Within Reach isn't something I've ever heard of but that cover by Norm Breyfogle - wow. A Norm Breyfogle Spidey run is something I'd have loved to seen.

Yep Grendel is SO good. I do think the Batman / Grendel isn't the best of it but all Matt Wagner is good. He co wrote Sandman Mystery Theatre as well on a related note.

And yep the 1988 Black Orchid is entirely all you need to read and self contained and the art is astonishing.

[Chart run down 133 - 120]

Chart run down 133 - 120

For some reason I had the 90s TOTP music running in my head as I typed that not the 80s or even 70s chart rundown music... I blame BBC 4's repeats of TOTP for that!

Anyway I'm going to pop an occasional post of the list to date on here for easy reference ... cos I know folks will be returning to this as an essential comics reference for years to come... ahem... they will... honest...

ANYWAY.

133 - Copperhead

132 - Nexus

131 - Shade the Changing Man

130 - Orbital

129 - Nowhere Men

128 - Gotham Central

127 - Giant Days

126 - Avengers by Roger Stern and John Buscema (and Tom Palmer)

125 - Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev

124 - Lazarus

123 - Fatale

122 - Dan Dare by Garth Ennis

121 - Bat Lash by Nick Cardy and Sergio Argones

120 - The Li'l Depressed Boy

NOT ON THE LIST

Saga

Apparently this is big enough news to make the BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67753779

[Invisibles]

Right second to last chunk:

Damn you need more Stray Bullets. Not helpful I know but its so good I would still recommend trying those 6 issues and see how you get on with it.

I will note that I'm not a massive fan of the post Alan Moore Swamp Things either. There's some okay stuff.

Invisibles is a curious Grant Morrison blind spot for me. Again came out in my wilderness years and not got around to it. But its GMozz so has to be a worth a go surely.

Tick I'm going to guess those ones listed as 1993 are actually the 88 series by Ben Edlund - that's the link and as such these are all you need to read. Its a great series/ Chroma Tick is colour reprints of those comics and I think the Omnibus you have reprints all the ben Edlund stuff. So read that stuff in the format that works best for you, but well worth reading for a good chuckle. Alas anything that's not by Ben Edlund is not really worth the time. Just those original perfect 12 issues!

 This is the weakest chunk for me. Mainly as some of the best stuff you only have 1 or 2 issues of. So I'd suggest trying Strangers in paradise (not read this but meant to be really good), Tales of Beanworld, Strangeheaven (not read this but sounds really interesting), The Maxx, Usagi Yojimbo. When you burn through the other great stuff you have. But as said before you have quite enough to keep you busy without starting to buy stuff back... except Stray Bullets - so good!

I haven't read this since it was in the progs, but remember enjoying it.  I'm not normally a fan of pirate themed stories but Steve Yeowell's amazing art got me interested and invested in the story.  For me his art on Red Seas tops his art on Zenith. (Although it's been many years since I've read either so maybe it's time for a re-read of both).  Another vote for an artists hardcover edition!

Topping his art on Zenith is a BIG claim and really interesting. I might Books 2 and 3 are the zen... nah I can't do that... are the peak of his art but chunks of Red Seas certainly challenge it. Its incredible that even on Zenith there are 3 distinct phases (okay, okay I'll allow myself that one!) to his art. He's so distinct and yet so restless in the way he keeps reinvigouring his output.

... I never got around to reading those and so was delighted when the series ended up in the UC. And, sure enough, it was great, from start to end. One of those strips that heavily benefitted from being compiled.

So happy Red Seas is getting such a positive reception. It getting the re-evalution it deserves it seems... well at least in our small corner of fandom.

...I'm aware how widely regarded Alan Moore is in the comics world. I'm currently reading the Absolute editions of Swamp Thing (just started volume 3) which I picked up because they seemed like a decent price reduction from their retail price and I felt like treating myself ...

I found it weird that there was any Alan Moore Swamp Thing from what I could see, given there seems to be all the key Alan Moore stuff. Seems like you've picked it up anyway!

I second Colin's comment on Dark Horse Presents - a great (always reprint?) anthology comic.

I've read a few of these and so I'll do a few posts of some thoughts if no-one else does!

It'd be good to know more about specific issues, since I seem to have quite a few and no clue about them. Are they episodic anthologies? As in with stories that span across more than one issue, or does 1 issue always contain a whole story?

It was a bit of a mix. I think DHP was all new material that often went on to be reprinted. Unlike 2000ad there weren't loads of long ongoing series. Things were often stand alone or a few parts. To be honest its such a mixed page that you might as well just dive in and see what lands. BUT always read any Concrete or Eddie Campbell stuff as its all good!

comics.org (can't believe I've not mentioned this before!) has a cover  gallery that you can click on to see what's in each issue.

Cheval Noir is all reprint of stuff from the continent but again I'd say just dive in.

Oh that is brilliant. Of course they missed a trick with:

"Whats most valuable piece of advice you've been given."

The answer should of course be

"Wear boots a size too small."

But aside from that very well done. i wonder who provided the answers? I'm guessing someone in editorial at the time.

Here's one that I've read!
...
Also, picked up some Bat Lash and it looks good so far!

Well I am playing to the home crowd here! And Gulp - hope you enjoy it. I get a little nervous when folks pick things up based on what I say as different tastes and all that. Glad you are enjoying it so far.

I long for an artists hard cover edition ala Zenith or the Deviant Editions to really give the mighty Ye-Owl droids art the respect it deserves.

Amen to that. I mean it'll never happen but would be a thing of wonder.

This is one of my favorite 2000AD series.

Really reasuring that folks here are so far 3 for 3 in loving this one. By the end of its run it was getting such a hard time but I genuninely believe if people revisit it they will see it as the 2000ad classic I do.

[Lobo]

So onto the next chunk.

I'm not at all the biggest Lobo fan but that first mini from 1990 is notable for the Simon Bisley art (his first in US comics?). If you get on with that I think you pretty much have all the initial stuff covered that you need.

Straight after that you have Luther Arkwright and that is quite brilliant - bear with it the first issue or two can be a challenging read as the story comes together. The 1987 Valkyrie Press 9 issues is all you need to read for the first story. I believe the 1990 Dark Horse series just reprints that and Arkeology is nice back matter but not directly part of the story.

There are two subsequent stories worth getting if you get on with the first that you have but they are easy enough to pick up, see if you like the Valkyrie stuff and you're good to go.

Miracleman is for most premium Alan Moore and that Eclipse series is all you need and you should defo check them out. If you don't like them a nice run of Miracleman will get decent money (not retiring money but it will shift) in the aftermarket!

Next Men is a John Bynre creator owned that gets decent press. You have all you need there if it tickles your fancy I've not really read it but might be interesting.

Sandman goes without saying and as you have all the series replace Alan Moore with Neil Gaiman and just see what I said for Miracleman really!

Scarab is a John Smith comic I've not read for some reason - just get around to it - and I believe is well liked. If you like John Smith's stuff in 2000ad you should check that out, as I should!

Shade we've talked about elsehwere.

If those Sin City comics look interesting to you you have the 2nd and 3rd arcs, might be worth picking up The Hard Goodbye in trade as its the first story BUT you might have it in the Dark Horse Presents comics. It first appeared in the nice big 5th Anniverary issue and then issues 51-62 of the regular series. Very popular with some folks.

Lots of stuff i that again its a shame you haven't got more of. Mage, Madman, Murder me Dead all stand out but you have quite enough to keep you busy before tracking down more stuff!

[Number 119 - The Red Seas]

Number 119 - The Red Seas

Keywords: Pirates, 2000ad, stop-motion movie, adventure, black and white

Creators:
Writer - Ian Edginton
Art - The Mighty Yeowell
Colours - It's all in lovely black and white baby

Publisher: Rebellion

No. issues: 142 Prog episodes (doubling up for the numerous double length parts) which by my estimates is around 35 US size comics.
Date of Publication: 2002 - 2013

Last read: 2020

I love when two runs on my list sit next to each other but are so different. I do wonder if they'll be a better example of that than the quiet introspection of The Li'l Depressed Boy (last post) sitting right next to


Copyright - Rebellion

I mean come on just look at the title of that volume - the title of the first story arc for Red Seas 'Under the banner of King Death' probably the greatest every 'chapter' name for any 2000ad story which perfectly sets up the tone and feel of this series!

We all know Red Seas here right, we've all read it. Well maybe not, you gotta hope that 2000ad is pulling in new readers on a regular basis and since this finished 10 years ago (I can't believe I've just typed that!) some may not have read this classic series. Red Seas is 'Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger' (It's the thrill of the fight, Rising up to the challenge of our rival...), Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans. The very best Ray Harryhausen film you've ever read.

Jack Dancer and his pirate crew travel the seven seas becoming embroiled in conflicts with numerous mythical beasts and monsters, ultimately angering the Devil himself. Leading them into a final conflict with Ol' Nick and his horde of the damned. Along the way they befall a giant shark, meet Aladdin, recruit Erebus the two headed guardian of Hell and Issac Newton, journey into the Earth to fight dinosaur riding lizard people and challenge the diminished Norse Gods to name but a few of their adventures. Yes it's as rip roaring and exciting as that makes it sound.


Copyright - Rebellion

First and foremost then we need to salute Steve Yeowell, or the Mighty Yeowell as I've come to call him, who drew the entire series. He is able to draw all those fantastical creatures, those amazing worlds, the realms of wonder and mystery and never lose sight of the need of his characters to convey emotion and humanity. The action doesn't wipe out the importance of those characters, as the reader needs to engage with them, and their all to real reactions to the marvels they witness and so often fight.


Copyright - Rebellion

His stark black and white work, his use of contrasts brings to the fore the celluloid aspects of this series. This is an old time action, adventure, fantasy movie and the fact it's in black and white really brings that to the fore. It's not just any ol' black and white it's the Mighty Yeowell's Black and White (capitals deliberate), he is just so expert in his use of the contrasts. He got flack from some quarters in the latter story arcs for seemingly not putting in enough lines, there's not enough detail for some folks. For me this is a prime example of him using the lack of colour to have real impact.

The idea that he doesn't add enough detail misses a key element here. He never skips on the important things, he always shows character and emotion, even if with just a few pen strokes. The use of white to open up space, to give the story the epic scale it needs on the comic page. He draws entire oceans with a few lines to suggest waves, the vast amount white space provides the sense of enormity. They allow the waters to spread beyond the limits of the page and in doing that throw the small vessels and creatures that inhabit that space into a larger than life world to operate in.

When he draws the monsters that are so central to the series he makes them large, they have power and strength. He somehow manages to give metal and stone beasts a sense of the moments that is that of a Ray Harryhausen's stop motion creations. Whether that's me that projects onto his images doesn't matter his designs, his superb storytelling awareness means his panel layout and creature design realise the world in a way I'm able to project those motions. Similarly when he draws organic beasts I get the same sense of old movie motion, rubbery limbs flail around and twist and bounce. It's astonishing stuff.


Copyright - Rebellion

Mighty Yeowell's art across the Red Seas is consistent in its greatness, however the series ran over 11 years and as you might expect over that time there are changes in the details of his style. It always remains very distinctly The Mighty Yeowell's art, it never loses his core skills, his brilliant use of contrast, his ability to convey emotion and action, this fantastic design sense and storytelling. That is always there, but it's interesting to note the more subtle changes.

In the early stories he's using blocker, more solid blacks. It's closer in style to say Zenith Phases 2 and 3 as if he was leaning back into this earlier black and white work after a good few years having his work coloured most of the time. He was refinding that confidence in not leaving the spaces he'd learnt to open his work to colourists. During the middle stories he starts to add much more fine line detail. To my eye it looks almost as if he's being inked by Terry Austin (he's not) whose fine line work worked really well on say John Byrne's X-Men. Latterly he started to open things up and leave the white open spaces with the skills and confidence I mentioned above.

Across the series we are treated to a great example of an experienced and supremely talented artist still experimenting and developing his art style constantly. Restlessly trying new things, even though he has already mastered the form, grown into his fundamental stylistic choices and had a mature artistic voice. It's really an artistic masterclass.


Copyright - Rebellion

While I'd happily discuss The Mighty Yeowell's art all day, doing so would be a disservice to Ian Edginton and the fantastic story he crafts. Red Seas is on the surface a very straightforward tale. It's an adventure on the high seas, action, adventure, mystery with a smattering of romance and great barrels of good humour... and to be honest it's that below the surface as well! This isn't a deep comic. This won't change the way you think about yourself, your world or comics as a form. This is just what the individual story arc's magnificent titles suggest they will be:

Under the Banner of King Death
Twilight of the Idols
The Hollow Land
The Chimes at Midnight
Hell and High Water
Fire Across the Deep

And possibly most of all Gods and Monsters.

Ian Edginton seems to be having such great fun with it all and that crashes in waves through the pages to the reader. There are no holds barred on the imagination and with just plain fantastic and fantastical joyous yarn it weaves. Some folks claim it started to drift in the latter half, that it lost its way and needed to cut to the chase and get to its ending. I do not get that personally, I fully understand how the creators just didn't want to let this go and as I reader neither did I.

When it does get to that ending it wraps things up in perfect fashion. It's the climactic conflict between armies of good and evil. It resolves in a bombastic finale that the movies that it draws so much from could only dream of having been able to realise. It literally raises a glass to the reader to thank them for coming along on their breathless ride.


Copyright - Rebellion

For all this talk and Gods and Monsters it's possible to lose sight of the fact that the story is full of great characters. Jack Dancer, the captain of a brilliantly rich pirate crew is probably the least interesting of the lot. He's cheeky, charming, brave and suitably lost in the world of wonders he travels in. He acts as the perfect foil to emphasise quite how dazzling the world he is in is by being ... well frankly... a bit bland. Luckily his crew is anything but, Ginger Tom, Jim, Julius, Issac Newton and Jack's irascible brother Alexander all add something to the story, all have well crafted arcs of their own across the series. They all add to the humanity needed to ground the reader in a world that would otherwise wash them away. Best of all is Erebus the super intelligent, at times grumpy, but always endearing two headed canine guardian of the underworld. Without doubt the greatest bi-headed dog attached to a robotic body comics, or indeed any medium for imaginative literature has ever known.


Copyright - Rebellion

So there we have it, Red Seas, a story that came out a year before Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm always a little amazed by that as it is hard to shake the idea that this did that most 2000ad of tricks of taking something from popular culture and placing a thrilling spin on it. Apparently not, what it does do is Pirates of the Caribbean even better than that movie franchise can ever dream of. A story I've talked about here so much I really can't have much left to say about... oh... well... yeah, sorry about that.... A story of scale and otherworldly wonder and delight. It popped back in a special brilliantly crossing over with Ant Wars, its high seas adventures leaving plenty of space for fun returns when the creators want to, but is entirely satisfying in itself.


Copyright - Rebellion

Where to find it

Though this has never had a full trade collection from Tharg there are a couple of nice easy packages you can use to get the lot. Hachette Partworks has the entire series in 4 rather lovely hardcover volumes with some decent back matter. All seem to still be available (at the time of typing).

And if you fancy an even cheaper dollop of fun, and you do digital, there are two Rebellion Digital collections of the whole thing. I link to vol.1 but from there you can link to the second volume from there as well before you check out.

Other than that you can do a lot worse than track down the Progs the story appears in and if you want to know which one's there's a couple of great links below.

Learn more

Obligatory Wikipedia page

Though for all things 2000ad our own Funt Solo's 2000ad in Stages is a must see source...

... or to put it another way of course for all things 2000ad (well most we'll get to that down the road) Barney is your first go to port of call.

There is also, again will be for most 2000ad stories, a nice brief video summary as part of 2000ad's ABCs... although this one always bugged me as just as Molch-R is introducing the importance of The Mighty Yeowell the background image he talks to is a Cliff Robinson cover! Nothing against Cliff Robinson at he's he's aces, but come on!

Judge Tutor-Semple does a brief review of the two digital collections...

... and after that... well not much. I mean you can do a search on this board and there will be LOTS of insightful and since I've talked about this series a lot less insightful comments.

Funt Solo you remain a genius!

Andy Lambert that was so worth the wait. As brilliant as ever.

Dammit too much other amazing stuff to name.

Trooper McFad your efforts this year gave really, really paid off. The calendar hasn't been this vibrant in years and years.

[Justice League]

Yeah that Justice League stuff is just one lomng run with the title changing. If they have Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis of the cover its all one ruin. Most drawn by Kevin Maguire with Adam Hughes taking over after a bit. Their run ends with 60 and it becomes just standard superhero stuff again.

DeMatteis and Giffen also write the early Justice League Europe run that spins out of that series. I know less about that but figure if you like the JLI stuff you might as well check that out as well. Figure if you keep an eye on the editorial / letters pages you'll see when Justice League Europe starts in relation to the JLI run, I reckon it will be flagged pretty clearly in story too.

As for The Flash you have the complete Mike Baron run 1 - 14. Then Williams Messner-Loebs takes over 15-61 - my favourite run of this series. Mark Waid takes over and and you have most of his first stint (joined by Brian Augustyn) up to 129. I mean if you are still going at that point complete the gaps and keep going. It'll cost you bobbins to be honest.

If you want to sample just read issues 45-47. Its a Gorilla Grodd story I absolutely love. The art is pretty average but this is one of my absolute favourite long form Superhero runs (they whole 225ish issues of the 1987 series). We can talk about that more if you try and like it.

For Hellblazer you got the stuff I know. The Jamie Delano beginning of the run is very well regarded and I really enjoyed it back in the day. It spins out of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and has a similar tone. There's some fill in issues here and ther (all pretty good) after that and then with issue 41 Garth Ennis takes over for a brilliant run (as I remember it - I must get that run again) up to 83. I dropped out just before the end. Not cos it wasn't good, it was one of the last comics I got before my Wilderness Years when I was too busy having fun to afford comics.

I'd say all three of these are worth a go. If you enjoy Shade start with Hellblazer. But if you fancy something different shift to one of those two superhero titles.

I'll try to find time to look at the next chunk tomorrow. You have some great comics here though!