[Comics] What Comics are you Currently Reading Thread
- Thread starter Covar
- Start date
I think I read somewhere it was heavily inspired by Hunter S. Thompson. A friend of mine who's a big fan of Thompson's work told me that as well after reading Transmet.
That's pretty self-evident in it. The story basically follows a futuristic Hunter S. Thompson-esque character named Spider Jerusalem investigating stories and eventually battling political corruption.
Kind of comicy news (well, very much is comics news) but apparently Marvel is cancelling all Fantastic Four related comics to spite Fox.
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/05/29/would-marvel-really-cancel-fantastic-four-to-snub-fox/
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/05/29/would-marvel-really-cancel-fantastic-four-to-snub-fox/
Wow, if that's really happening, that's fucking huge.
Since starting a new job, I can afford comics again! Huzzah!
Adventures of Superman Vol. 1
This is the online-first comic that features a series of short stories by some of the best in the biz. And by god, THIS is the kind of Superman I miss. You know, the ones where he's not some Image Comics reject in unnecessary armour. And the stories are pretty good. More hit than miss. The art for most of them are fantastic, too. Highly recommended.
Saga Vol. 3
How the hell does this series continue to just get better and better?!
Picked up a hardcover copy of Daytripper. I've read it before and it's fantastic, but I lent it to a friend a few years ago and never got it back. Can't wait to re-read it. At work, I also found a copy of Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang, known best for American Born Chinese and the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics. I haven't read it yet, but if it's even half as good as his other work, I'm sure it'll be great.
The comic store also gave me a free copy of the first issue of Sex Criminals. I've only flipped through it so far, but what I've seen of it is enough to convince me to pick up the trade. Probably next week.
Adventures of Superman Vol. 1
This is the online-first comic that features a series of short stories by some of the best in the biz. And by god, THIS is the kind of Superman I miss. You know, the ones where he's not some Image Comics reject in unnecessary armour. And the stories are pretty good. More hit than miss. The art for most of them are fantastic, too. Highly recommended.
Saga Vol. 3
How the hell does this series continue to just get better and better?!
Picked up a hardcover copy of Daytripper. I've read it before and it's fantastic, but I lent it to a friend a few years ago and never got it back. Can't wait to re-read it. At work, I also found a copy of Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang, known best for American Born Chinese and the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics. I haven't read it yet, but if it's even half as good as his other work, I'm sure it'll be great.
The comic store also gave me a free copy of the first issue of Sex Criminals. I've only flipped through it so far, but what I've seen of it is enough to convince me to pick up the trade. Probably next week.
I'm pretty much the opposite. I've loved almost anything he's written. Runaways, Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina. Saga, though, just seems to hit new heights altogether and I'm not sure if it's the writing, the art, or the combination. Probably both.
If it helps, they've recently started re-publishing Ex Machina, with new softcovers. Basically softcovers of the previous hardcover collections, which collect 12 issues a piece in the series. First volume is out so far. I sold my original trades in order to eventually buy them (see also: Preacher). I liked it. It was a different series for me because I'm not normally drawn into political stuff. I've called it "West Wing but with some superheroics" in the past and I think that description holds well. Since the main character is retired from the superhero business and is New York's mayor, there are usually flashbacks in every issue to his time as The Great Machine.
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I'd say with the exception of most Vertigo series. In fact, some of the best rarely made it to #75 or #100 in their run. Sweet Tooth, Preacher, Sandman (excluding self-contained mini-series like Death or spin-offs like Lucifer), DMZ, 100 Bullets. All of them had a general set conclusion in mind from the beginning. Even some current series like Saga and Chew have gone on record to say they have a conclusion in mind and a rough idea of what the last issue's number is.
And as I've said on multiple occasions, that's the way I like my comics the best. Aside from one-volume graphic novels. The series doesn't overstay its welcome (most times) and from a narrative perspective, it's incredibly satisfying to see things fall into place that were set up many issues ago. Best of all, the creative teams is usually consistently the same throughout the series, creating this fantastic consistent tone from beginning to end.
I should have said outside of Vertigo.
BananaHands
Staff member
Have we talked about All-New Ghost Rider yet? That and the new Miss Marvel have given me some small degree of hope in Marvel Comics. I just got my subscription to ANGR because goddamn the art is amazing.
I heard the writing itself isn't all that great in Ghost Rider, but that's only from one or two sources. I THINK it was Chris Sims that said it was terribly written. From what I've seen, the art looks amaze-balls.
BananaHands
Staff member
Yeah, the writing isn't perfect - but the art is absolutely amazing. One thing that sets it a bit higher than Miss Marvel is the pacing. Three issues in and there has been plenty of action fitting of a Ghost Rider comic.
Plus, the new GR has a bigass muscle car instead of a motorcycle, which is pretty neat.
I've actually enjoyed the Posehn/Duggan Deadpool run, even moreso now that DP's married and on his "honeymoon." Also, the first issue of Cyclops is fun. After the younger X-Men were brought to the present by Beast, the young Cyclops ends up leaving Earth with Corsair (his dad) for some space adventures. Corsair's wife is helping Scott learn how to use his Blasts to navigate in zero-g on the first few pages, it's a good time.
I've actually enjoyed the Posehn/Duggan Deadpool run, even moreso now that DP's married and on his "honeymoon." Also, the first issue of Cyclops is fun. After the younger X-Men were brought to the present by Beast, the young Cyclops ends up leaving Earth with Corsair (his dad) for some space adventures. Corsair's wife is helping Scott learn how to use his Blasts to navigate in zero-g on the first few pages, it's a good time.
BananaHands
Staff member
Oh yeah! I enjoy that too! Much better than I enjoy ANXM
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Anonymous
Anonymous
Sex Criminals
Holy shit, this book is amazing. I am SO sorry I didn't read it sooner.
You. You reading this right now. You need to go buy Volume 1 immediately.
Holy shit, this book is amazing. I am SO sorry I didn't read it sooner.
You. You reading this right now. You need to go buy Volume 1 immediately.
Oh shoot, that was me.
Hell no. I was trying to write it while my 4-year old niece was bugging me and accidentally hit the anonymous thing before I hit reply. It's a DAMN great comic. The two main characters are incredibly well-written and well-rounded. Like, I feel that many stories (movies, books, comics) portray criminals as unlikeable or unrelatable. Here, that's not the case. The two main characters are written with a great natural chemistry and likeable personalities that you want to see them succeed, even if they're ripping off banks.
There are a lot of gags (no pun intended) and it's definitely not a safe comic to read around children or if you're worried what someone would say if they suddenly read it over your shoulder. But it's still a very funny book. My favourite scene is where one of the main characters starts belting out a Freddie Mercury song. Except the creators couldn't afford to put the lyrics in the book, so it's a long rant about that pasted over where she'd be singing.
My only complaint?
The Sex Police. I was honestly enjoying the comic much more when it didn't include stupid looking superheroes. I was thinking "This would make a great movie," and then all of a sudden, you have these "heroes" dressed in glowing white. I wish it'd focused on the personal relationships more, because that's the absolute best part of the comic. I don't normally wish comics I'm reading are less weird, but in this case, it was a noticeable downturn. At least they didn't appear much in the story (so far).
I haven't read X-Men recently. I thought Corsair died in War of Kings?
Yeah I thought he was too, and I think it was explained before Cyclops' ongoing (maybe in All-New X-Men). So I'm not sure myself.
I don't think it's quite as good as Saga, but then again, Saga is just on a totally different level in terms of comics. So goddamn good.
Picked up two more comics this week: Sex Criminals Vol. 1 and East of West Vol. 1.
Sex Criminals is seriously deserving of all the praise it received last year as the best new comic. It's fantastic.
East of West is an interesting one that I hadn't considered until someone recommended it to me. It's basically a sci-fi western with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as main characters. Written by Jonathan Hickman, which I think makes the first time I've ever sat down and read any of his work. It's quite good, though it's high on "cool" and low on deep characterization. It's still well-written, but the characters so far aren't very well developed. Really cool concept, though, which I think is enough for me to pick up Volume 2 when I'm downtown next week.
Hickman's big strength is the high concept stuff and he plays to it, especially with his creator owned stuff.
Other fun things:
New Warriors. Anything with Kaine is a win, and as per usual he's ridiculously fun to read.
Invincible. Goddamn, things went from kind of okay to holy shit Invincible's life sucks so bad. Great series but man be ready for SUFFERING.
New Warriors. Anything with Kaine is a win, and as per usual he's ridiculously fun to read.
Invincible. Goddamn, things went from kind of okay to holy shit Invincible's life sucks so bad. Great series but man be ready for SUFFERING.
As horrific as that scene was, I can't deny it wasn't done well. It depicted the growing horror of the situation and drew it out in such a way to show that made it absolutely clear that this was not a good thing. In some ways, I think it at least did open the discussion for male rape, which many ignore. And to be fair, the whole situation was well-suited for the character that raped him. She has always came across as unwilling to listen to others and very bull-headed. It didn't surprise me at all that she did this, especially with the build up of her staring at Mark all the time.
That said, I can understand why you couldn't keep reading after that. My only complaint is the next issue just jumps to the stuff with Robot and doesn't tackle the rape aside from Mark grabbing some clothes and flying off. I'm sure it'll be tackled in the future because that's always how Invincible worked.
That said, I can understand why you couldn't keep reading after that. My only complaint is the next issue just jumps to the stuff with Robot and doesn't tackle the rape aside from Mark grabbing some clothes and flying off. I'm sure it'll be tackled in the future because that's always how Invincible worked.
I have no issues with how it was presented and it isn't the only reason I'm going to stop reading it. The whole tone in general has been so miserable for so long that I wonder why I've kept with it so long.
BananaHands
Staff member
Aracely is ADORABLE.
Yeah exactly this. Kirkman has kept hammering on Mark and Eve for so long now I'm not sure how anything can go right for them from now on. Also,
Robot has become the definition of the Batman/preptime jokes at this point, making him practically...and I apologize for this...Invincible.
Yes. Also I think there might be a little something-something developing between Kaine and Watersnake.