Yeah I figured that's what happened, plus his new name isn't even a clever birdname! "Emperor Penguin" that's a thing that actually exists, but "Emperor Blackgate" just sounds all KINDS of silly.
[Comics] What Comics are you Currently Reading Thread
- Thread starter Covar
- Start date
Yeah, he started using the new name when he was sent to Blackgate Penitentiary and killed the biggest crime boss there.
Sounds almost like a fusion name,"I use Polymorization with Blackgate and Emperor Penguin to summon:EMPEROR BLACKGATE!" If I were the writers I'd just call him "Boss Blackgate", takes out the Emperor name sure, but its a fitting name seeing as how he replaced the original boss, and its alliterative! Alliteration is fun.
ANOTHER QUESTION FOR READERS ON THE CURRENT-is there a worth-while reason why Simon Baz can't make energy constructs? If not just tell me.
Maybe he changes his name to Emperor So-and-So wherever he takes over.
Emperor Arkham!
Emperor Gotham!
Emperor Joker! (no wait, that's been done in am awesome Superman story)
Emperor Scarecrow!
Emperor Ivy!
Emperor Face!
Emperor... Moth?
Emperor Arkham!
Emperor Gotham!
Emperor Joker! (no wait, that's been done in am awesome Superman story)
Emperor Scarecrow!
Emperor Ivy!
Emperor Face!
Emperor... Moth?
In an effort to get out of the house more while being unemployed, I've been hitting up the library for comics. Been enjoying several books and series I haven't been able to check out before. Or even heard of until I saw them on the shelf.
Alex & Ada: Really good little sci-fi book about androids. There's a bit of an allegory about "coming out" and also hiding your true self. I read it a bit as a transexual allegory.
Archie vs. Predator: Just pure fun. I can't remember them now, but there were a few jokes that had me rolling.
Tranquility: I'd heard about this for a long time but never picked it up. It's okay. It's a murder mystery in a small town filled with retired superheroes. I kinda figured out the mystery early in.
Thief of Thieves: A world-class thief picking jobs while also cleaning up messes made by his fuck-up son. It's not bad, but wouldn't give it a big recommendation. The characters are mostly forgettable.
Empire: Been wanting to read this for a LONG time but never got around to it. Great comic about a Dr. Doom-like villain who conquers the world, then asks himself, "Okay, now what?" One shocking and heartbreaking scene near the end had my jaw dropped for several minutes.
Nailbiter: Really good horror/thriller book about a small Oregon town that has given birth to SIXTEEN serial killers in its time. I will definitely be picking this up when I have money again.
A Town Called Dragon: Flipping AWESOME. Seriously, it's like a small action flick, like Tremors, only with dragons. Major recommendations. I hope it gets made into a movie someday.
Alex & Ada: Really good little sci-fi book about androids. There's a bit of an allegory about "coming out" and also hiding your true self. I read it a bit as a transexual allegory.
Archie vs. Predator: Just pure fun. I can't remember them now, but there were a few jokes that had me rolling.
Tranquility: I'd heard about this for a long time but never picked it up. It's okay. It's a murder mystery in a small town filled with retired superheroes. I kinda figured out the mystery early in.
Thief of Thieves: A world-class thief picking jobs while also cleaning up messes made by his fuck-up son. It's not bad, but wouldn't give it a big recommendation. The characters are mostly forgettable.
Empire: Been wanting to read this for a LONG time but never got around to it. Great comic about a Dr. Doom-like villain who conquers the world, then asks himself, "Okay, now what?" One shocking and heartbreaking scene near the end had my jaw dropped for several minutes.
Nailbiter: Really good horror/thriller book about a small Oregon town that has given birth to SIXTEEN serial killers in its time. I will definitely be picking this up when I have money again.
A Town Called Dragon: Flipping AWESOME. Seriously, it's like a small action flick, like Tremors, only with dragons. Major recommendations. I hope it gets made into a movie someday.
Trying to see pre-new 52 DC stuff is kind of a mess, like when they reset all the comics, they wanted to bury everything that came before. Which makes sense, but DC, you are so annoying.
Starting Godzilla: The Half-Century War. Going to guess it goes quickly; it's thinner than the last graphic novel I read, which I finished in a morning commute.
Starting Godzilla: The Half-Century War. Going to guess it goes quickly; it's thinner than the last graphic novel I read, which I finished in a morning commute.
New blog entry, talking about all the comics I've been picking up at the library lately! A lot of this is repeated from my post above, but I go into a little more detail and there's a few more books added to the list.
http://nickpiers.com/2016/04/05/quickie-comic-book-reviews/
http://nickpiers.com/2016/04/05/quickie-comic-book-reviews/
Godzilla: The Half-Century War was probably a solid kaiju book, but just okay as a graphic novel. There were some neat ideas in the story, but the problem is that it didn't explore them because the book had already committed to the gimmick of following the main character's life, a day from each decade of his time following Godzilla, so instead of getting into the interesting stuff, it just gets glossed over for another time skip. I'm pretty sure there was a sub-plot with aliens that we see for two whole panels--never explored further, never explained or resolved. The reason it annoys me that the interesting stuff was ignored is because pretty much everything else in the book was lifted from various Godzilla movies and then mashed together, so it was more "spot the plot cameo" than its own story otherwise.
You know, I'm really starting to wonder if you consume any media that ISN'T Gozilla related.
Today on Halforums, Nick forgets that I read his booksYou know, I'm really starting to wonder if you consume any media that ISN'T Gozilla related.
.Thinking of checking out some Marvel Now stuff. As with many things, Marvel made the smart move of putting out new titles to draw in new readers instead of rebooting their old titles and pissing off old readers. So for those of us who want nothing to do with the latest cross-over shit show, there are options.
I finished reading The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 3 today. It collects issues 97-144. I love these Compendiums. They're the best bang for your buck, look nice on the shelf, and you can read through about 3 years worth of comics.
For Walking Dead, I find this especially helpful since there isn't enough content worth getting it monthly. Hell, I find even the trades aren't satisfying enough. Plus, these compendiums take up half as much space on the shelf, if not more.
And now I wait another three years or so for the next collection.
For Walking Dead, I find this especially helpful since there isn't enough content worth getting it monthly. Hell, I find even the trades aren't satisfying enough. Plus, these compendiums take up half as much space on the shelf, if not more.
And now I wait another three years or so for the next collection.
Yeah... I usually only pick up singles every 5-6 months at a time. It's just not worth it otherwise.
I mean, it's a good comic. But good lord can it drag. I remember giving up on it once, back around the prison period.
fade
Staff member
That's definitely something that carries into the TV show. I've lost interest in the show, but my wife watches it religiously. I watch it with her sometimes, and she says, "But you missed 8 episodes!" and I say, "Yeah, but...they're still in the same place doing the same thing!"
https://nickpiers.com/2016/04/18/regarding-the-punisher/
After reading the first volume of Garth Ennis' second run on Punisher (within the Marvel Max imprint), I had some thoughts on the character.
After reading the first volume of Garth Ennis' second run on Punisher (within the Marvel Max imprint), I had some thoughts on the character.
Dave
Staff member
Not sure whether to put this in the regular reading thread or this on, but I just got (and finished) the graphic novel "The White Donkey" by Maximilian Uriarte. Fucked my shit up. It's a graphic novel about the Marines from the guy who writes Terminal Lance. I never saw combat so I can't relate with a lot that's in here, but it delves fairly deeply into the whole "military brotherhood" thing that's just so fucking difficult to express to civilians. If you are prior military, pick this up. If you have never been military, pick it up if you want to see a glimpse of what it's like. Right now this has nearly 400 reviews and only 1 is not a 5-star. I'd put this right up there with Maus and The Watchmen.
Amazon product[DOUBLEPOST=1461539493,1461539376][/DOUBLEPOST]Huh. I thought Amazon links worked.
I guess I was blocking them on my own site. How embarrassing is that?
Amazon product[DOUBLEPOST=1461539493,1461539376][/DOUBLEPOST]Huh. I thought Amazon links worked.
I guess I was blocking them on my own site. How embarrassing is that?
As a long time fan of Terminal Lance (And someone with relatives both actively and previously serving in a multitude of conflicts and periods) I've been waiting to get a hold of this for awhile.
Batman Incorporated 0 and 1:
Um...these are weird comics artistically. The art in 0 just looks REALLY wonky, all sorts of weird shades and designs, that make confused as to what I was reading. And who the fuck okayed that design for the Batmobile in issue one? Does he think that look is intimidating? Well it ain't, its pretty stupid.
Onto the story, 0 is a good set-up, 1...kinda weird. See, when I get a book that is a "Number one" I a-SSUME it'll be a good start, but this was RATHER confusing. ALSO-way to force in a vegetarian message Morrison, he really hasn't shaken off his Animal Man days has he? Ah well, at least we got a Bat-cow out of this...needlessly depressing ending.
All in all I liked both, but similar to "Batman and Son" its not the beginning of a story but right in the middle of it. Kind-of annoying.
Batman Oddysey issue 1:
DAMN this series is clearly underrated, and a good showing of Batman using guns and NOT killing people. ALSO-I just realized the author of this...was at the last convention I went to. DAMMIT-why did I have to become a fan of his AFTER reading this?
Deadpool Classic volume 4
Damn Culloden, you cold.
Powerpuff Girls classics volumes 1 and 2:
It was ten bucks for two TPBs, shut up. STILL-pretty fun comics, and only one was legit bad due to it CLEARLY being made of copy-pasta. Also fun fact, some of the comic plots were adapted into episodes in the original series.
Um...these are weird comics artistically. The art in 0 just looks REALLY wonky, all sorts of weird shades and designs, that make confused as to what I was reading. And who the fuck okayed that design for the Batmobile in issue one? Does he think that look is intimidating? Well it ain't, its pretty stupid.
Onto the story, 0 is a good set-up, 1...kinda weird. See, when I get a book that is a "Number one" I a-SSUME it'll be a good start, but this was RATHER confusing. ALSO-way to force in a vegetarian message Morrison, he really hasn't shaken off his Animal Man days has he? Ah well, at least we got a Bat-cow out of this...needlessly depressing ending.
All in all I liked both, but similar to "Batman and Son" its not the beginning of a story but right in the middle of it. Kind-of annoying.
Batman Oddysey issue 1:
DAMN this series is clearly underrated, and a good showing of Batman using guns and NOT killing people. ALSO-I just realized the author of this...was at the last convention I went to. DAMMIT-why did I have to become a fan of his AFTER reading this?
Deadpool Classic volume 4
Damn Culloden, you cold.
Powerpuff Girls classics volumes 1 and 2:
It was ten bucks for two TPBs, shut up. STILL-pretty fun comics, and only one was legit bad due to it CLEARLY being made of copy-pasta. Also fun fact, some of the comic plots were adapted into episodes in the original series.
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A friend of mine gifted me a month of Marvel Unlimited. It's basically the vast majority of Marvel's library in digital form.
Right now, I'm going through Peter David's 12 year (!!!) run on Hulk. Because Marvel stupidly never finished collecting his run in trade paperbacks.
I just got past the stuff that crosses over with the Onslaught crossover event and uuuuuuuugh. It was going along great as this self-contained book with its own narrative and then suddenly it's "Oh, and Hulk is mind-controlled by Onslaught! Who's Onslaught? Fuck if we'll tell you! Read the crossover, asshole!"
It's crap like this (which is still going on today among DC & Marvel) that I mostly stick with creator-owned books these days.
Right now, I'm going through Peter David's 12 year (!!!) run on Hulk. Because Marvel stupidly never finished collecting his run in trade paperbacks.
I just got past the stuff that crosses over with the Onslaught crossover event and uuuuuuuugh. It was going along great as this self-contained book with its own narrative and then suddenly it's "Oh, and Hulk is mind-controlled by Onslaught! Who's Onslaught? Fuck if we'll tell you! Read the crossover, asshole!"
It's crap like this (which is still going on today among DC & Marvel) that I mostly stick with creator-owned books these days.
Heh. I got all the Marvel Now Deadpool books, because they're wonderful, but there's this big hunk where everyone fights over some island and all the X-Men become assholes and it ends with some kid moving in with Deadpool who was apparently kind of Apocalypse and...good lord. I just kind of went along with it, and it recovered, but man was that off-putting.
One nice thing about those compilations is that they gave a summary of what was going on in other books where there was a crossover. Did a great job with catching you up on the events of the story, and let the issue you were about to ready make a little more sense.
This is what gives me pause in getting into much of this stuff. "Okay, I want this trade, but how much of it is going to be shit intruding in on the rest of this book?" I thought the Marvel Now stuff was supposed to each be self-contained, easy to get into books that didn't suffer from this kind of crap.
99% of Deadpool by Duggan/Posehn is basically the best the character has ever been written. If you're remotely interested in Deadpool it should be required reading.
e: Also, over the last few years Fantastic Four and Mutants in general were written pretty badly, I had always assumed as a way to make them less popular since Marvel doesn't have the rights. It's also about the same time more and more Inhumans were being thrust into story spotlights.
e: Also, over the last few years Fantastic Four and Mutants in general were written pretty badly, I had always assumed as a way to make them less popular since Marvel doesn't have the rights. It's also about the same time more and more Inhumans were being thrust into story spotlights.
I mean yeah, it just seemed weird at the time coupled with the disappearance of the FF books, too.
If it helps, it's handled in the usual Deadpool manner, where he basically dedicates two pages to saying "a bunch of stuff happened you wouldn't know about because it was in another book, but I have to mention because some things changed here", and then it's back to Deadpool goodness.[DOUBLEPOST=1461934964,1461934880][/DOUBLEPOST]Oh, I'm also currently reading anything Ryan North (Adventure Time and Squirrel Girl, both of which should be required reading for anyone possessing a sense of humor), and I just started Scottie Young's Rocket Raccoon, which is similarly ridiculous.
Is this a trade yet?
Zappit
Staff member
Anybody reading any of the IDW Transformers books? I've been following the core books, and More Than Meets the Eye is friggin' phenomenal. But I did have to chuckle a bit at the reaction from part of the fandom because of what just happened with the Decepticon Justice Division. For those unfamiliar, the DJD is Megatron's elite police force that hunts down Decepticons that go off-mission, and brutally torture-murder them. in the latest issue...
DJD leader Tarn literally rips the head off one of his men because Overlord is emasculating him in front of his troops. There had been a few scenes where it looked like Tarn cared for his team like a little family, but if you look closer, you can pretty clearly see that those scenes happen while they're abandoning DJD members, or that Tarn is surprised he doesn't want to slaughter his entire squad to gain a powerful new ally. Those folks just completely missed the point.
I fell way behind awhile back, I really need to catch up.
I got them in four really nice hardcover collections. If you want the whole story though, you have to get a fifth: Dracula's Gauntlet. Still not sure why it wasn't part of the collection, but it's also great and somewhat useful in knowing what's going on. Just look for the hardcovers.
Deadpool Volume 1
Thank you.
Unrelated: It's killing me how much cheaper the digital books are compared to the physical ones. In some cases it's half the price, or less, to go digital. But I don't like the methods of reading them digitally. Kindle Fire's panel-by-panel thing doesn't work well with a lot of comic pages as images and speech bubbles hop panels. I can't imagine trying to read Promethea on there. The computer screen works well enough, but I can't take that on the bus with me and even two-page spreads are going to get cramped and fucked up sometimes. I wouldn't want comics to stop that dynamic stuff either.
I suppose it's still less than buying the monthly magazines, and lasts longer.
Unrelated: It's killing me how much cheaper the digital books are compared to the physical ones. In some cases it's half the price, or less, to go digital. But I don't like the methods of reading them digitally. Kindle Fire's panel-by-panel thing doesn't work well with a lot of comic pages as images and speech bubbles hop panels. I can't imagine trying to read Promethea on there. The computer screen works well enough, but I can't take that on the bus with me and even two-page spreads are going to get cramped and fucked up sometimes. I wouldn't want comics to stop that dynamic stuff either.
I suppose it's still less than buying the monthly magazines, and lasts longer.
I kinda wanted to try getting into Captain Marvel, but turns out that's a bit of a pain in the ass. They had a series going for a little bit, then they rebooted it for Marvel Now and that ran for a year or so, but then Secret Wars happened and they wanted to reboot again, but she's also in A-Force, and then the current run for the first TPB is ended in summer, except the last issue (according to the cover of #6) is getting swallowed up in this Civil War II bullshit, so that sounds like more headache than it's worth.
This is the kind of shit that made me quit comics in the first place.
EDIT: Sorry, this is the What Comics Are You Reading thread, and I'm treating it like a Let's Bitch About the Comics Industry thread.
This is the kind of shit that made me quit comics in the first place.
EDIT: Sorry, this is the What Comics Are You Reading thread, and I'm treating it like a Let's Bitch About the Comics Industry thread.
...yes...its...not......ONE SECOND PLEASE!
Finished the first trade of Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan version). It was fun, and I enjoyed the character interaction as well as the insights into Kamala's culture (and her clashing heads with it). Though it felt like I only got a taste, not much of a story. I'll have to get volume 2 soon.
New Teen Titans Archives Volume 2
Damn I love this series, hammy dialogue sure but still a great cast of characters...and makes me even more annoyed that a certain cartoon that shall not be named uses them OH so poorly.
Damn I love this series, hammy dialogue sure but still a great cast of characters...and makes me even more annoyed that a certain cartoon that shall not be named uses them OH so poorly.