[Comics] What Comics are you Currently Reading Thread

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

I picked up most of the recent Action Comics and yeah, it was a lot of fun. I can't say it was intelligently written or that every character got as big a moment to shine, but it was so packed with a Saturday morning cartoon spirit, I couldn't help loving it.

My only big gripe is that Jurgens has no idea how to write Jon Kent. That's likely to be a problem for the foreseeable future--kid characters go through a lot and so their personalities are often less defined than adult counterparts--but read Jon in either of Tomasi's books and you see this thoughtful kid. I know he's not happy about moving to Metropolis, but the repeated "let's stay in Hamilton" felt out of character. Maybe because he's gone through a lot since Jurgens wrote the mini in 2015.
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

In Crisis on Infinite Earths, WHY was Calendarman fighting on the front-lines? THERE IS A REASON JEPH LOEB MADE YOU SCARY!

And on the latest Superman, MORE PATRIOTISM, as well as-
-superman finding the remains of a dead soldier, wrapping them up in an American Flag, and giving them to his next of kin...that is both patriotic AND creepy.

In WOJAR-
-Deathstroke make GLORIOUS murder-love to the city of Gotham to see whose the better Merc in a way that despite having no dialogue was still fucking intense.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND in Green Lanterns-
-turns out the original Green Lanterns weren't just...green, their original rings had NO limiters to them...and half of them seem kinda like dicks. I feel bad for that Kryptonian Green Lantern though, although I wander if that was why they never used one again.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Batman ended weirdly. I get the point it's making--

Batman almost killed Deadshot

--but it felt like King forgot to put the punctuation on that sentence. Like, maybe a silent panel at the end where Bruce in the present looks at Selina again, to kind of emphasize "This Is Important." Other than that, I was happy with this issue as it felt like there was forward momentum rather than just establishing status quo of the flashback. King's structure here seem to be less beginning/middle/end and more establishment/climax. Which is strange, but at least we're getting on with it.
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

After a conversation with someone online I looked up "The Kingdom:Nightstar"...oh sweet cupping cakes was it bad. For one, "Kingdom Come" is primarily a stand-alone story, it didn't need a prequel or sequel, or at least not one like this(the fact that Waid and Ross had a falling out on the project doesn't hel). Two, the art is DRASTICALLY different, the old series had a neat almost realistic look to their characters, this looked like just basic comic book art. And finally, NightStar date's Batman's illegitimate son and its creepy, and her saying "Its barely incest" didn't help. You didn't need to say that Mar'i, you could've just said you weren't raised with the guy, that he's not family. Maybe I'm just more skeeved as a fan of Damian whose been the little bro to Dick for years, and can't see Ibn as anything else. Its not DK2 bad, but it wasn't necessary.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

I read Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery today. On the one hand it was fascinating, on the other hand the "story" going on was kind of ... I don't want to say "shallow" because this is certainly a layered work, but what was going on underneath feels simplistic if you've read a lot of other stuff where the speculative side symbolizes a more true-to-life problem.

In a nutshell, Grant Morrison's The Neverending Story

I listened to some analysis to see if I was missing something, and yes, I was, sort of. There's a lot of meaning and messages to the comic eras and stage of adolescence, and I think I'm probably failing to appreciate it because A. I came to these conclusions about life myself years ago because that's what made sense to me, and B. whereas I think the right reaction should be "yes, this carries my message, it thinks the way I do, a kindred spirit!", instead I'm like "well, that's good." Which is an attitude not in-line with either how I genuinely feel or the message of the book, that pessimism is worthless and anything is better than nihilism. That is absolutely how I feel.

I think I was expecting a lot for a four-issue miniseries and that probably wasn't fair of me. There's also that Flex has a longer history than this book. I knew about the Charles Atlas stuff, but I wasn't aware of his place on the Doom Patrol, so there's a lot I'm missing there. But really Flex could've been almost any character since the themes and Morrison's spell are the principal elements here.[DOUBLEPOST=1501983189,1501983108][/DOUBLEPOST]@MindDetective I need you to be more specific on what part needs explaining because I went over a lot of stuff :p.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Zero Esc said:
I read Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery today. On the one hand it was fascinating, on the other hand the "story" going on was kind of ... I don't want to say "shallow" because this is certainly a layered work, but what was going on underneath feels simplistic if you've read a lot of other stuff where the speculative side symbolizes a more true-to-life problem.
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Hee-hee! I've read that. That moment (his origin recap) when you realize what that character is actually based on. Still not sure I 100% go with the deeper layer of explanation, that one was a bit much to swallow (even though I've seen it done before in stories with Superman and Rod Gallowglass).

--Patrick
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

Zero Esc said:
I read it. Was that real?
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No, no, no, it was an in-universe interview. I thought it was real at first, and I was like "Fucking what"?

Its weird because usually I ignore the forward, but somehow it...magically sucked me in without knowing what it was. Really makes the trade a stand-alone book in that regard and not just a collection.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Yoshimickster said:
No, no, no, it was an in-universe interview. I thought it was real at first, and I was like "Fucking what"?

Its weird because usually I ignore the forward, but somehow it...magically sucked me in without knowing what it was. Really makes the trade a stand-alone book in that regard and not just a collection.
Click to expand...
Okay, I figured. It had some real things in there, like mention of Doom Patrol, and it seemed as least plausible, if unlikely. The shit with publishing political comics at the wrong time was something else, but it would've made sense because the turn from golden to silver age was about comics code time, and I could see that WWII blunder about one character switching sides being a forgotten catalyst.
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

Action Comics 544: The Day Lex Luthor and Braniac became ridiculously hardcore

Supes even compares how Braniac used to just be a happy go lucky city-bottler, now he's blowing up planets with photon missiles via a betentacled skull-ship! This comic is the definition of going from 0 to a 100.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Catching up on this arc of Detective Comics and feeling like I made a big mistake dropping this earlier. Cassandra Cain has been getting great character development and the new arc starts with a wonderful, adorable scene.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Yoshimickster said:
FUCK-I gotta get into that when I can too.
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Hell, I'm only catching up on the current arc that ends this week. Tynion's apparently been weaving long stories for these characters. A lot went on for Orphan last arc, and supposedly soon, since Action Comics will be confronting Mr. Oz, an upcoming arc will be about

getting Tim back. Bruce is going to be so relieved to find out he's alive ... and then soooo pissed at Mr. Oz.

Right now I'm debating whether I should pick up the first two paperback trades or just hold out for the hardcover in November.

Are you picking up Mr. Miracle #1 this week? I've only read Tom King's 12-issues in collected form; it's going to be odd reading it monthly for a change.
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

Mister Miracle

...well...pretty sure my brain is scrambled after that. Seriously a BEAUTIFULLY surreal issue, Tom King is king.

Action Comics

Basically its a prologue to something REALLY awesome next week, one wishes we'd be in the olden days when comic books were 50 plus pages and the ads didn't suck ass.

Red Hood and The Outlaws

Prime Earth Lex Luthor is the ultimate tsundere AND I WILL PROTECT HIM ALWAYS! STAY GOOD LEX! THE PAST IS THE PAST!

Justice League of America

Shit's getting REAL in the microverse, lucky Ryan's girlfriend Killer Frost...and boyfriend Lobo are there to help him out! Don't lie, we all thought it.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

I get the feeling I should just trade wait on this, because it's going to be a frustrating monthly read if each issue only does this much. Feels less surreal and more abstract, but next month's issue could change that entirely seeing how this one plays into it. I can certainly see where Batman: WOJAR is getting it's vague non-narrative sense of it was being written at the same time. Here it'll probably pan out better, but I might just want to wait so I can read it all within a week instead of a year.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

I don't know; maybe I need to read it again, at home. I've been stressed and anxious all morning and so I probably wasn't in the right state of mind for Mister Miracle or Mister Miracle wasn't right for my state of mind. Should've read The Defenders or Supergirl, something more escapist.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Red Hood and the Outlaws #13

I loved last issue so much, and then this one comes along and kicks my heart in. Adorable opening in Bizarro's thoughts, and then so many friggin feelings between his inner world and Jason and Artemis's conversations. I appreciate each arc has focused on a member of the "dark trinity", a name that seems silly when applied to this sensitive, endearing trio.

And that last page:

Bizarro is now Professor Hulk! :D

This is easily one of my favorite titles each month.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

The Defenders is delightful junk food and so good at it. I'm nervous of when Bendis will get bored and this all turns shitty, but right now it's a fun comic. I appreciate that for the showdown in #4:

Bendis didn't feel a need to shoehorn all four of the group into the fight and have an Avengers-style posing moment. Danny and Jessica were the ones present, and they took care of shit.

And we're the others out doing important plot-relevant stuff for other narrative tracks? Nope! Luke was out for a walk pushing Danielle in her stroller. The B-plot importance was carried by Ben Urich. A+ supporting cast stuff for the first half of the issue.

Hulk: I've accepted Tamaki's glacier like pace at this point, but it's made it so I cannot recommend this book to anyone. I'm liking it, but when other readers say they're frustrated, I get it.
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

Zero Esc said:
Hulk: I've accepted Tamaki's glacier like pace at this point, but it's made it so I cannot recommend this book to anyone. I'm liking it, but when other readers say they're frustrated, I get it.
Click to expand...
Anyone else think he somehow meant Sun-Eater? Or the head of a certain host club?
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

Green Lanterns

I am now calling Simon Arm-lantern and NOONE CAN STOP ME!

Supersons

Super fun action scenes and multiverse shenanigans galore.

Superman

OH come ON- another comic that's a preview to an awesome Superman fight? I miss when comics were 40 pages.

Batman

Best dinner party EVER!

The American way

Still good, hoping for more super stuff later but the political strife is still really interesting. ALSO-for some reason it's dated ad October 17...either thats a miss print or it came out WAY early.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

I'm glad The War of Jokes and Riddles is at last acting like a story--in time for the climax to come, but still. What a clever issue. Framing it using a nine-course meal. I love when Tom King does stuff like that, as with the sixty seconds framing from The Button, part 1. Lots of great character stuff. Riddler felt more appropriate.

Alfred has infinite patience.

Aquaman: Not a super eventful issue, with Arthur being imprisoned, but the political underworkings are going somewhere.

A plot to create an Atlantean civil war and put Mera on the throne. Holy shit. I need to go back and read the coup issues, see how much the Silent people were involved. They might've subtly helped Corum Rath to power toward this end.

Getting pretty Game of Thrones-y. :D
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Super Sons: this is such a lovable comic. End of last issue, I though all the Teen Titans were turned old, but nope, just Damian. Which makes it hilarious.

Thor: I love this book. I love Aaron's while run. I love Jane Thor and this turn of War Thor.

What I don't love?

Heroes fighting heroes YET AGAIN. Especially when there's a child-murdering psychopath right there for them to team up on. :facepalm:
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Light week (though not as light as next week). I would've waited to pick up until next Wednesday, if not for Spectacular Spider-man, which continues to be hilarious. Starting to see some knockback from fans of Slott's run, which is almost expected since this was greenlit to give some Spidey to people who don't like what Slott is doing.

At least this way more people can get what they want.

I'll have to read Action/Detective Comics after work. Of course I resume pulling Action during a fuller before Mr. Oz arc.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

The Sixth Gun, by Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt

I'm only two volumes into this so far and I AM LOVING IT. It's a supernatural western and is so deliciously fun, I'm sorry I didn't read this series sooner.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Action Comics: Nice moments between Supes and Lex, but I think the next Superman arc will do more with this. Art was all over the place.

Detective Comics: Kinda tired of Steph's shtick. Looking forward to Lonely Place of Living.

These were both kinda duds this week.
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

Adam: Legends of the Blue Marvel

Oh man...this is bad.... this is a bad origin story. The Racism messages have been done better in a BILLION other comics, said origin story feels surprisingly more shoe-horned in than Sentry's or Venompool(GROAN), and the main character is a rip-off of the New American from "The American Way", a Wildstorm comic made years before: A black superhero in the 1960s who disguises himself with a metal mask, but during a battle with a villain is revealed to be a black man and then the ENTIRE country hates him-ALMOST WORD FOR FUCKING WORD! Also...upon his reveal black people from his home town riot against him as I QUOTE:"They saw him as their black messiah sent her to kill all white people". Um...couldn't you have said "rise up against the white man" writer? Something less....COMPLETELY fucking insane?! Point is this ain't a good origin or mini-series, I get WHY there's a need for a class 100 black superhero, but I feel they could've introduced him better. Probably an alternate universe, or a time warp from the 60s to now rather than say he's been a part of Marvel's history this WHOLE time, and only came out of retirement ONCE in the fucking 70s to fight some vampires before his original mini-series. Fucking seriously.
 
Covar

Covar

Marvel needed another Superman analogue like I need another hole in my head, but I can't deny that I love Al Ewing's characterization of Blue Marvel. Sorry to hear that his original story is hot garbage.
 
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