I normally wait for trades as well, but as I've said before, this is one of the only 2 comics I've ever bought issues for. The other one was MLP, but I honestly am ok with not reading anymore of those.
I normally wait for trades as well, but as I've said before, this is one of the only 2 comics I've ever bought issues for. The other one was MLP, but I honestly am ok with not reading anymore of those.
Also having comics on your tablet is so nice.
Well, that's kind of what I meant, the TPB for my tablet, as much as I prefer the actual book, when you compare price+customs+shipping, digital allows me more comics for my moolah.
Too bad there isn't 1 app from which you can access all the comics.
This can be said pretty much for any sort of digital content. I don't disagree. I honestly wish I could trade in all my manga for a discounted digital version of them, so I can have more space on my shelves.
OK, I bought the first Saga TPB and I must say I am seriously underwhelmed. The writing, the artwork, the general setup; all are meh (the artwork a bit less but oh gawd is the writing bad). If you like Saga you should consider reading some Moebius & Jodorowsky and/or Christin & Bilal, to see how weird galactic scale sci-fi drama is done right.
I am reading "Superman for All Season", it is pretty great. I like it almost as much as "Superman All Star". Just finished Volume 3 ("The End") of "Green Lantern". If you like redeeming stories and endings of eras this might be your cup of tea. I am currently reading Volume 3 ("Death of The Family") of "Batman". Damn Joker, you scary!
I am reading "Superman for All Season", it is pretty great. I like it almost as much as "Superman All Star". Just finished Volume 3 ("The End") of "Green Lantern". If you like redeeming stories and endings of eras this might be your cup of tea. I am currently reading Volume 3 ("Death of The Family") of "Batman". Damn Joker, you scary!
I preferred the Quietley and Morrison rendition of "All Star Superman" over Loeb and Sale's "Superman for All Seasons", they are both worth a read but I've reread the former multiple times.
I was quite satisfied with the finding out. Really enjoyed the design work that went into the big you-know-what, and the visuals of how that worked. Felt like it fit right in with the established series canon like it had been part of the series all along.
Also very happy that a new story will be starting up after this. Sounds like it's going to work more towards bridging the gap between A:TLA and Korra, and bringing in more Toph again, which is always welcome.
It was an alright story. I didn't expect that, but enjoyed seeing more of a certain aspect of the universe. Definitely looking forward to the next set of stories.
After a few years of having it, I've finally taken it upon myself to read Tezuka's Message to Adolf Part I (that's the only one I have at present). So far...It's looking to be up there as one of my favorite works of his alongside Apollo's Song, Phoenix, and Ode to Kirihito. It's gripping, exciting, and amongst Tezuka's most explicitly political works. I would classify it as a political espionage thriller. It is nominally about a man named Sohei Toge, whose brother is killed by Nazis after discovering a secret that could topple them. Toge now spends his life protecting said secret despite being on the run by various parties who want the secret for various reasons.
On the side, however, there is also a story about two German boys named Adolf who grow up in Japan together (one being a Jew and the other being a boy whose family are of the Nazi Party) until their paths diverge quite suddenly.
If you want to read this, I feel the urge to warn something about it which may dissuade people from continuing forward (I was dissuaded by it when I tried to read it years ago). Quite early on, Toge does something to someone that is really repugnant and may cause some to lose all sympathy for him. If you can simply accept it by means of a moment of temporary insanity on his part (nothing of the sort occurs again as far as I know), then you'll be fine. If not, then I can't blame you for not wanting to continue reading further, all things considered. More to come once I complete it...
Today I got to read the short graphic novel Numbercruncher, and it was pretty cool. Not a masterpiece of all time ohmagad, but a very strong B/B+ type comic. Very enjoyable, and it has the sort of protagonist that I could see being played by Jason Statham in a live action movie, so that gives you an idea of the tone there. It's also very smart - mostly clever-smart (this book is allllll about the clever plot, which is indeed very clever), but there's also a bit of "thinkin' bout the universe" smart in there too, which I appreciated. And of course it's probably total catnip if you're a math nerd, too.
The art is probably the weakest aspect, but still pretty decent (some of the later bits even approach gorgeousness). The pencils are simple and clean, if a bit stiff sometimes, and the colouring is neat in that the afterlife is in greyscale and the living world is in colour, ala Wings of Desire. It's hard to show the overall effect in just a couple examples, but here are some samplepages if you're curious.
Anyway, yeah, not perfect, but it's very short (only ran 4 issues in floppies), so for the content you get at that length, it's totally worth it. I already want to re-read it, just to see all the clues that you can recognize after finishing the story once. I think comic shops have the hardcover in stock already (at least ours does), and it'll be available through Amazon and whatnot in January, looks like.
So I recently read Maus and it's an excellent comic that puts the holocaust into a much more human perspective than I've usually seen. It's excellent if you can stomach the events and the fact that this shit actually happened. Like Grave of the Fireflies, I think everybody should read it at least once, though I can understand if you never want to read it again afterward so you don't turn suicidal.
I also read Days of Future past today. It's is okay I guess, but the two issues really focus way too much on a distracting fight between the Brotherhood rather than the actual plot point, which is resolved in a rather trivial manner. The writing itself also seems to meander and jump around quite a bit, and there's super-expository dialog and inner-monologue, but I guess that's how comics were in 1980. I can see the potential in the set-up, but I can't really call it one of the major achievements in comics as I've heard it described before.
What annoyed me more is that I got it in a big book with several issues of that X-Men run before and one issue after the story arc. Now I can understand that the first issue in that book is somewhat relevant (Jean Grey is dead and Cyclops leaves the X-Men while Kitty Pride joins, the issue itself being essentially a full-on retrospective of the story of the X-Men so far) but the other issues are essentially completely irrelevant to Days of Future Past. I actually skipped a couple because after getting through a really dumb annual involving Doctor Strange I couldn't take it any more.
So I recently read Maus and it's an excellent comic that puts the holocaust into a much more human perspective than I've usually seen. It's excellent if you can stomach the events and the fact that this shit actually happened. Like Grave of the Fireflies, I think everybody should read it at least once, though I can understand if you never want to read it again afterward so you don't turn suicidal.
I also read Days of Future past today. It's is okay I guess, but the two issues really focus way too much on a distracting fight between the Brotherhood rather than the actual plot point, which is resolved in a rather trivial manner. The writing itself also seems to meander and jump around quite a bit, and there's super-expository dialog and inner-monologue, but I guess that's how comics were in 1980. I can see the potential in the set-up, but I can't really call it one of the major achievements in comics as I've heard it described before.
What annoyed me more is that I got it in a big book with several issues of that X-Men run before and one issue after the story arc. Now I can understand that the first issue in that book is somewhat relevant (Jean Grey is dead and Cyclops leaves the X-Men while Kitty Pride joins, the issue itself being essentially a full-on retrospective of the story of the X-Men so far) but the other issues are essentially completely irrelevant to Days of Future Past. I actually skipped a couple because after getting through a really dumb annual involving Doctor Strange I couldn't take it any more.
I agree with both sentiments I reread Maus earlier in the year, it's great.
However shouldn't you have known better with Days of Future Past? It's goign to have that 90's mass market, team comic book vibe in there. I can't complain too much as I bought these issues when I was a kid ;^)
Well, I'm not super-familiar with comic books before about 1985. I knew about all this exposition and these crazy WTF plotlines before, but I never really read any of it and I didn't the frame of reference to tell when comics stop using it and focus more on "show, don't tell". At the same time, I heard "Days of Future Past" reference as a very important comic story and maybe after having read things like Watchmen or The Dark Knight returns I may have gotten my hopes up too much. On the other hand, I guess having read this I now actually have more of a context to tell how much those two works changed the world of comic books, and how they are written, only a couple of years later.
In the meantime I'm reading Daredevil: Yellow, which is very good. I also picked up Gotham Central again after leaving it a bit by the wayside due to other interests, and it's still excellent if you like those sorts of police procedural stories.
One of the better X-men stories is God Loves Man kills. Days of Future Past was significant back then just because it was a pretty cool idea, but since then it's been done a billion times. Kinda like Robert Heinlein Science fiction, it all looks basic and dull until you realize it was the first time anyone thought about it.
I finished reading the entire DMZ series by Brian Wood. Overall, I thought it was good, but the unlikability of the main character made it hard for me to really get into. Maybe it actually would have been better to read it monthly instead of in trades, because reading it volume after volume, I just didn't buy the maturation of the main character as shown in the series. Maybe monthly, the time between issues would have somehow made his character arc more realistic. I don't know.
Now, I'm trying to decide if I should read/buy Northlanders, Scalped, or Sweet Tooth. Anyone have opinions?
I finished reading the entire DMZ series by Brian Wood. Overall, I thought it was good, but the unlikability of the main character made it hard for me to really get into. Maybe it actually would have been better to read it monthly instead of in trades, because reading it volume after volume, I just didn't buy the maturation of the main character as shown in the series. Maybe monthly, the time between issues would have somehow made his character arc more realistic. I don't know.
Now, I'm trying to decide if I should read/buy Northlanders, Scalped, or Sweet Tooth. Anyone have opinions?
Scalped is amazing my favourite series since Preacher. I have also read Sweet Tooth, Northlanders and DMZ. They are all good.
Don't know if it has ever been mentioned here, but I came across a nice surprise at a new comic shop in my area. DC Comics apparently collected the core books of the "Marshal Law" series. This takes the term I believe Apreche coined "underwear perverts" to a new level. The entire genre is de-constructed and parodied.
So I read the first trade of Sex Criminals recently. That series is great. Some fantastic art (particularly the covers) and the writing is also great. Will keep reading.
Anyone try Lumberjanes? It's had a great, energetic start with some girl campers in a Gravity Falls type of environment. I can't wait till the next issue.
Comments
Also having comics on your tablet is so nice.
Just finished Volume 3 ("The End") of "Green Lantern". If you like redeeming stories and endings of eras this might be your cup of tea.
I am currently reading Volume 3 ("Death of The Family") of "Batman". Damn Joker, you scary!
Also very happy that a new story will be starting up after this. Sounds like it's going to work more towards bridging the gap between A:TLA and Korra, and bringing in more Toph again, which is always welcome.
I'm not surprised at all with that ending, but I'm not happy either. I don't think it will be absolute.
On the side, however, there is also a story about two German boys named Adolf who grow up in Japan together (one being a Jew and the other being a boy whose family are of the Nazi Party) until their paths diverge quite suddenly.
If you want to read this, I feel the urge to warn something about it which may dissuade people from continuing forward (I was dissuaded by it when I tried to read it years ago). Quite early on, Toge does something to someone that is really repugnant and may cause some to lose all sympathy for him. If you can simply accept it by means of a moment of temporary insanity on his part (nothing of the sort occurs again as far as I know), then you'll be fine. If not, then I can't blame you for not wanting to continue reading further, all things considered. More to come once I complete it...
The art is probably the weakest aspect, but still pretty decent (some of the later bits even approach gorgeousness). The pencils are simple and clean, if a bit stiff sometimes, and the colouring is neat in that the afterlife is in greyscale and the living world is in colour, ala Wings of Desire. It's hard to show the overall effect in just a couple examples, but here are some sample pages if you're curious.
Anyway, yeah, not perfect, but it's very short (only ran 4 issues in floppies), so for the content you get at that length, it's totally worth it. I already want to re-read it, just to see all the clues that you can recognize after finishing the story once. I think comic shops have the hardcover in stock already (at least ours does), and it'll be available through Amazon and whatnot in January, looks like.
I also read Days of Future past today. It's is okay I guess, but the two issues really focus way too much on a distracting fight between the Brotherhood rather than the actual plot point, which is resolved in a rather trivial manner. The writing itself also seems to meander and jump around quite a bit, and there's super-expository dialog and inner-monologue, but I guess that's how comics were in 1980. I can see the potential in the set-up, but I can't really call it one of the major achievements in comics as I've heard it described before.
What annoyed me more is that I got it in a big book with several issues of that X-Men run before and one issue after the story arc. Now I can understand that the first issue in that book is somewhat relevant (Jean Grey is dead and Cyclops leaves the X-Men while Kitty Pride joins, the issue itself being essentially a full-on retrospective of the story of the X-Men so far) but the other issues are essentially completely irrelevant to Days of Future Past. I actually skipped a couple because after getting through a really dumb annual involving Doctor Strange I couldn't take it any more.
However shouldn't you have known better with Days of Future Past? It's goign to have that 90's mass market, team comic book vibe in there. I can't complain too much as I bought these issues when I was a kid ;^)
In the meantime I'm reading Daredevil: Yellow, which is very good. I also picked up Gotham Central again after leaving it a bit by the wayside due to other interests, and it's still excellent if you like those sorts of police procedural stories.
Now, I'm trying to decide if I should read/buy Northlanders, Scalped, or Sweet Tooth. Anyone have opinions?
I have also read Sweet Tooth, Northlanders and DMZ.
They are all good.
Trillium