Roguepool!
[Comics] What Comics are you Currently Reading Thread
- Thread starter Covar
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It happened. That's why Wade was handsome for a while last year. Not sure if he's reverted or not since.
I do recall a mention of it in Uncanny Avengers or something along that line.[DOUBLEPOST=1515113257,1515113223][/DOUBLEPOST]
Reverted.
My apologies to anyone who had a lot of affection for Sam Humphries's run on Green Lanterns.
I'm catching up on Seeley's issues now and under his hand, this comic went from just decent to damn awesome.
I'm catching up on Seeley's issues now and under his hand, this comic went from just decent to damn awesome.
It is REALLY good, and that's from someone who LOVED the Humphries run!
Poor Simon though, will he EVER find someone nice?
Poor Simon though, will he EVER find someone nice?
So for my own curiosity, I started compiling my reading list for both books and comics over the year. I started this in 2016 and the tradition continued this year.
Last year, I read 106 comics (an easier way to say instead of "graphic novels, collected editions, etc...).
This year, I read 147. Not too bad. Some were series I read for the first time, like Sixth Gun and Morning Glories, where I NEEDED to read the next volume immediately.
Last year, I read 106 comics (an easier way to say instead of "graphic novels, collected editions, etc...).
This year, I read 147. Not too bad. Some were series I read for the first time, like Sixth Gun and Morning Glories, where I NEEDED to read the next volume immediately.
Maybe if he gets a real home.
I'm almost caught up. I read all but the new issue that came out Wednesday. I thought of taking it along to work to read after. I love this form Seeley is doing. It's technically a six-issue arc, but made up of two-parters. More comic writers should do this.
Adding it to my pull this coming Wednesday. Guess I should thank Marvel for cancelling so many books I was reading; now I can afford more DC titles
.Dang man, I thought I read lots of comics... Gonna have to up my game... right after I finish this stack of novels, and those books on the kindle... and finish playing through Zelda and Mario on the Switch... ya know, I'll get to it some day.
Impressive, very impressive.
I'm reading Final Crisis and just got done with the Superman Beyond parts.
I feel like there have been diminishing returns on Grant Morrison situations where "this is the neo-ultimate battle for all comics hyper-reality continuity!" except with several more technobabble words. It was cool in Animal Man just to touch on the fourth wall stuff and felt strong because it was a character's personal journey. Flex Mentallo, less so. This even less than that. And I have a feeling I'm not going to like much of Multiversity once I get back to that (stopped on issue #2). I've seen people struggle with the concepts and those aren't a problem for me to grasp at all, so what I come away with after examining those concepts is that some of them are interesting, but a conflict does not feel big just because some character we've never seen before tells us so. If the narrative has to say "These are the ultimate stakes, they can be no higher!", which is paraphrasing something Superman says about halfway through Superman Beyond #2 ... well, that's a storytelling problem. Because even with Lois Lane's life on the line, the stakes are so abstract that I feel like there's more at risk in Leslie's election day in Parks & Rec than here, where the fate of the multiverse is at stake.
I don't know how the rest of Final Crisis goes, especially since there's three more non-event issues sprinkled through the paperback (Submit and a couple Batman issues), so I don't know if I'll be rereading it someday, but if I do, I'm probably going to skip this part. It's like Neil Gaiman and the Beowulf myth; some writers seem to get hooked on a thing and keep going back to it, even though the writer has done greater things, executed with much more talent, and should really let it go.
I feel like there have been diminishing returns on Grant Morrison situations where "this is the neo-ultimate battle for all comics hyper-reality continuity!" except with several more technobabble words. It was cool in Animal Man just to touch on the fourth wall stuff and felt strong because it was a character's personal journey. Flex Mentallo, less so. This even less than that. And I have a feeling I'm not going to like much of Multiversity once I get back to that (stopped on issue #2). I've seen people struggle with the concepts and those aren't a problem for me to grasp at all, so what I come away with after examining those concepts is that some of them are interesting, but a conflict does not feel big just because some character we've never seen before tells us so. If the narrative has to say "These are the ultimate stakes, they can be no higher!", which is paraphrasing something Superman says about halfway through Superman Beyond #2 ... well, that's a storytelling problem. Because even with Lois Lane's life on the line, the stakes are so abstract that I feel like there's more at risk in Leslie's election day in Parks & Rec than here, where the fate of the multiverse is at stake.
I don't know how the rest of Final Crisis goes, especially since there's three more non-event issues sprinkled through the paperback (Submit and a couple Batman issues), so I don't know if I'll be rereading it someday, but if I do, I'm probably going to skip this part. It's like Neil Gaiman and the Beowulf myth; some writers seem to get hooked on a thing and keep going back to it, even though the writer has done greater things, executed with much more talent, and should really let it go.
My biggest problem with Final Crisis is that the 2 issue 3D glasses gimmick spinoff is 100% crucial to the overall plot. The ending is dumb and deus ex machina as hell if you didn’t read Superman Beyond. More so than Legion of 3 Worlds.
Multiversity is a much more meta and abstract than Final Crisis I think. It’s more like a collection of Grant Morrison’s musings on fiction than a cohesive narrative.
Multiversity is a much more meta and abstract than Final Crisis I think. It’s more like a collection of Grant Morrison’s musings on fiction than a cohesive narrative.
Oh great.
I really love some of Morrison's stuff, but that good stuff lures me into a false sense of security, thinking everything he does is going to be magic.
Yeah, Final Crisis, my like much of Morrison's work, has some amazing ideas, some good moments, but overall doesn't make a lick of sense upon close examination. I also hated how the final issue suddenly changes the main villain from Darkseid to evil Monitor vampire thing that only makes sense if you read Superman Beyond. Which is included in the trade, as Zero Esc says, but that's not a thing that should be required if you're doing a #1-7 series.
Speaking of confusing things...
Legionnaires Volume 1
This was the post-Zero Hour reboot for The Legion of Superheroes. As Mark Waid's introduction describes, The Legion of Superheroes' continuity was a huge mess after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Their entire concept started as a one-off story with Superboy, eventually getting their own series, with Superboy and Supergirl being part of its core membership. Unfortunately, Crisis undid the existence of Supergirl entirely, and Clark Kent was never Superboy.
I'll be honest, Legion of Superheroes is one of the few DC or Marvel properties I've never gotten into. And I think the several reboots (it's had two or three after this one) made it confusing to try. Especially with a huge roster of unfamiliar characters. I've always liked the idea, though.
Fortunately, this particular reboot is great. I picked it up at the library and now I want to own it and future volumes. I'm also interested in reading more Legion stuff. I think I read the highly acclaimed Great Darkness Saga (a pre-Crisis story), but I remember not liking that much at the time. Might give it a second chance.
Anyone ever watched the animated series? It only lasted two seasons. I remember seeing bits of it, but never watched it.
Speaking of confusing things...
Legionnaires Volume 1
This was the post-Zero Hour reboot for The Legion of Superheroes. As Mark Waid's introduction describes, The Legion of Superheroes' continuity was a huge mess after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Their entire concept started as a one-off story with Superboy, eventually getting their own series, with Superboy and Supergirl being part of its core membership. Unfortunately, Crisis undid the existence of Supergirl entirely, and Clark Kent was never Superboy.
I'll be honest, Legion of Superheroes is one of the few DC or Marvel properties I've never gotten into. And I think the several reboots (it's had two or three after this one) made it confusing to try. Especially with a huge roster of unfamiliar characters. I've always liked the idea, though.
Fortunately, this particular reboot is great. I picked it up at the library and now I want to own it and future volumes. I'm also interested in reading more Legion stuff. I think I read the highly acclaimed Great Darkness Saga (a pre-Crisis story), but I remember not liking that much at the time. Might give it a second chance.
Anyone ever watched the animated series? It only lasted two seasons. I remember seeing bits of it, but never watched it.
Big LOSH fan here. The show was great for what it was. It came out at a weird time, but was closer to the Diniverse than Teen Titans. They also made a good number of deep cuts for the fans which surprised me considering the art style. The first season is available for free streaming on Amazon Prime video.
It's also narratively vexing.
Because the stupid thing is, I had come around. The Batman issues, Hal Jordan being exonerated and leading the Lanterns to Earth, the re-emergence of Darkseid, all of it was coming together and I thought Morrison had pulled it off.
Then the final issue happens and what the fuck. Like really, what the fuck. Darkseid not only crunches time and space around Earth, but is essentially creating a black hole of a reality storm that will swallow the universe. And suddenly we're supposed to give a shit about Mandrakk? While that whole plotline had neat ideas and moments, especially what Superman carves on the headstone and its implications toward the whole symbolic narrative, it should've been its own miniseries, instead of hijacking Final Crisis.
Suddenly we have all the Superman counterparts, and Braniac 5 with the fix-it machine and ... every person is preserved as ice cubes? It feels like Morrison really lost his way there and was too busy with Batman to care. It's shit like this that turns me off from even trying The Invisibles or Doom Patrol.
I get the feeling some of it was editorial interference. I recall hearing Morrison wasn't writing it as DC had wanted, to the point that Dan Didio actually visited Morrison in person to hash it out. Because it really does fall apart by the end.
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Much as I dislike Didio, I don't want to lay all the blame at his doorstep even then. Morrison most of the time has interesting things going on. Sometimes those interesting things are happening in a good story. And then sometimes he's telling that story well. Even when Final Crisis is at its best, it's still being told in a really obtuse way.
Oh, no arguments there at all. And I'm not putting ALL blame on Didio. But he did steer the ship towards Final Crisis. He's quoted for saying Countdown was "52 done right." Which is hilarious because Countdown was a giant, steaming pile of poo. Even The Dark Knight Returns 2 looked at it and went, "Jesus dude, you suck."
And yeah, Morrison has always been hit and miss with me. When he hits, it's AMAZING. All-Star Superman, WE3, most of Seven Soldiers (some stories were meh, but still overall solid). Arguably Animal Man, which is good, but sometimes a little too weird. When he misses, though, it leaves me confused where the other guy went. Multiplicity, Invisibles, most of his Batman run. Some would say Arkham Asylum is another hit for him, but I thought it was only okay.
His JLA and X-Men runs are good examples, too. Some in each were fantastic. I loved the first 12 issues or so of his X-Men, but then it kind of dwindled from there. JLA's stories were mostly hit, but there were times he threw so many crazy concepts into one story that each of them could've been a single issue or story arc themselves. Like the crazy Kyle discovered when he was lost during Rock of Ages.
I keep forgetting about Countdown. I never read any of it, but it was one of those moments in comics that I became aware of it long before I got back into comics, without trying to pay attention, because everyone I knew who was reading comics at the time absolutely hated it. And everything I've heard about it supports that.
My wife got me Morrison's JLA run for Christmas, which I haven't started yet, so I'll have to see. I had the opposite feeling with his New X-Men; I felt the first chunk of it wasn't too interesting, but as it went on I got more into it, and the final two arcs were probably my favorites.
The Terrifics Preview
WILL THEY JUST LET HIM OUT OF THE GOD DAMNED EGG PLEASE?! SHEESH!
Justice League of America
Oh Caitlin...
Ragman
DAMN-this is a good action series.
Action Comics
Mister Miracle
I.Fucking.Love.This.COMIC! Big Barda and Scott Free are the greatest action couple of ALL time!
WILL THEY JUST LET HIM OUT OF THE GOD DAMNED EGG PLEASE?! SHEESH!
Justice League of America
Oh Caitlin...
Ragman
DAMN-this is a good action series.
Action Comics
Supes learns not to be so mother-fucking judgemental of Booster Gold-HUZZAH! Seriously Big Blue, you almost broke time, you're in no place to judge.
Mister Miracle
I.Fucking.Love.This.COMIC! Big Barda and Scott Free are the greatest action couple of ALL time!
His JLA run is so good. Easily my favorite thing by Morrison. Like Nick said it’s packed full of big, huge ideas, but told in a very straightforward style.
Definitely. There's a reason why it's one of the few Justice League runs I own. DC just released the first omnibus of Justice Leauge International, so I'll jump on the inevitable trades for those.
That said, while I love Morrison's run, it's not without its faults. Some of the conclusions were disappointing. Prometheus' pathetic defeat in his debut. The build-up for Maggeddon and teasing that it would turn Leaguer against Leaguer, only for that not to happen. The WAY too crowded story in the JLA/JSA crossover (that's my main point when I mention ideas that could've been their own story; that story was way too packed or "overbooked" to use a wrestling term). And Morrison being responsible for creating the "Bat-God," where Batman is better than everyone else in the League.
But believe me, those criticisms don't come even close to killing my love for his run.
Bat-God was from the 90s? I though Scott Snyder invented that for Dark Nights Metal.
Not literal god.
It's more a shorthand term people started throwing around to refer to "OMG BATMAN COULD BEAT ANYONE WITH ENOUGH PLANNING!"[DOUBLEPOST=1515695186,1515694817][/DOUBLEPOST]Jessica Jones, Volume 1This is the new series Marvel published after the success of the Netflix show. And thankfully, Brian Michael Bendis and Michal Gaydos are back and they bring the goods. I was worried this wouldn't be reader friendly because the last time I read anything with Jessica Jones, it was her original series. But no, while there were some things I still don't understand (why did Jessica run away with her and Cage's child?), the whole comic was too engrossing.
Of course, Bendis being Bendis, the ending is a bit disappointing. The main antagonist is kind of an idiot because the ruse Jessica and Carol put on is BLATANTLY obvious to be a ruse. I was reading it thinking, "How are you actually buying this?"
Still, good Bendis writing and fantastic Gaydos art is always a win.
I always found it amusing that even Morrison himself poked fun at that in his books. Not to mention that every character in JLA was the most over the top archetypal versions of themselves.Not literal god.
I find myself not loving Gaydos' art. I'm glad they went with a more "noir" style instead of the usual superhero look, but there's something about the shadowing he uses in a lot of his panels. It almost feels like he's not entirely sure where the shadows should go, and it tends to look a bit muddled to me.
I definitely need to read the current Jessica Jones arc once it's in trade. The panel I saw
had such horrible implications that I have to see what happened at some point.
The Purple Man mind-controlling baby Danielle
had such horrible implications that I have to see what happened at some point.
I mean Bats just straight up OWNS a bunch of White Martians all by himself, its safe to see the emergence of Batgod.
Alters (Paul Jenkins, Leila Leiz)
Mostly another generic superhero book. Its big selling point is that the main character, Chalice, is transgender. And while the crux of her personal life drama is whether to come out to her family or not, it doesn't really play a large role in the narrative. There's one reveal when she's captured and the enemy removes her wig, but it winds up not being a big deal. They're like, "Eh, we don't care who you are because we're bad guys who want to kill you."
I didn't appreciate the book as much until after, when writer Paul Jenkins admits he might not be the right person to write a trans character. BUT, not only does he mention that he has several people in the trans community to discuss the matter, he has some proofread and edit the book so it's a respectable portrayal (which, to be fair, it is as far as I can tell). AND the book includes interviews with trans people talking about how they came out and how they dealt with it or continue to deal with it. So while the book itself isn't the best comic I've read, I have to applaud what it's trying to represent.
Mostly another generic superhero book. Its big selling point is that the main character, Chalice, is transgender. And while the crux of her personal life drama is whether to come out to her family or not, it doesn't really play a large role in the narrative. There's one reveal when she's captured and the enemy removes her wig, but it winds up not being a big deal. They're like, "Eh, we don't care who you are because we're bad guys who want to kill you."
I didn't appreciate the book as much until after, when writer Paul Jenkins admits he might not be the right person to write a trans character. BUT, not only does he mention that he has several people in the trans community to discuss the matter, he has some proofread and edit the book so it's a respectable portrayal (which, to be fair, it is as far as I can tell). AND the book includes interviews with trans people talking about how they came out and how they dealt with it or continue to deal with it. So while the book itself isn't the best comic I've read, I have to applaud what it's trying to represent.
Teen Titans Rebirth(the Issue, not the Series)
Sweet suffering satanic succotash, they somehow found a way to make Beast Boy MORE depressing than his Wolfman/Perez incarnation! Dude throws a Hollywood party with his unnamed uncle's money(also Gar has an UNCLE now that we've never known about), all to drink away his problems of losing Tim...and after that issue its COMPLETELY IGNORED for supposedly the rest of the run! Can...can someone tell Percy that not all the drama has to center around Robin? Possibly address how Beast Boy hosted a party that DEFINITELY had underaged drinking?
Sweet suffering satanic succotash, they somehow found a way to make Beast Boy MORE depressing than his Wolfman/Perez incarnation! Dude throws a Hollywood party with his unnamed uncle's money(also Gar has an UNCLE now that we've never known about), all to drink away his problems of losing Tim...and after that issue its COMPLETELY IGNORED for supposedly the rest of the run! Can...can someone tell Percy that not all the drama has to center around Robin? Possibly address how Beast Boy hosted a party that DEFINITELY had underaged drinking?
In case anyone is curious, the start to the big Avengers team mix weekly series in Avengers #675, Avengers: No Surrender, was really good. I'm conflicted over keeping going, as a weekly series is expensive and it could all turn into a tree later, but the writing team deserves the support and a weekly Avengers book is preferable to four separate Avengers books a month.
This was not a happy comics week for me.
Priest's Justice League just isn't grabbing me like Deathstroke.
If the cover of Superman didn't say Tomasi and Gleason, I'd swear it was a guest issue. I think I'm ready to drop this one again.
Aquaman set the stakes for the end of this arc and the start of Mera's miniseries next month by ... reiterating things we already knew, both in plot and character. Maybe Dan Abnett somehow knew a lot of people would be jumping on in December, as seems to be the case, but for me, it was the first weak issue in nine months. Not a big deal at all, but in an already not great week, it bore mention, I guess?
Batman ... oh boyyyy Tom King, you are playing with fire.
Green Lanterns was the knockout from my DC stuff this week. A finale that delivered on every aspect of this arc in plot, character, theme, and had some good action too. I don't care about that a lot of the time, but it added here. Hoping Seeley keeps it up for the next arc. I just loved these last seven issues so much.
Priest's Justice League just isn't grabbing me like Deathstroke.
If the cover of Superman didn't say Tomasi and Gleason, I'd swear it was a guest issue. I think I'm ready to drop this one again.
Aquaman set the stakes for the end of this arc and the start of Mera's miniseries next month by ... reiterating things we already knew, both in plot and character. Maybe Dan Abnett somehow knew a lot of people would be jumping on in December, as seems to be the case, but for me, it was the first weak issue in nine months. Not a big deal at all, but in an already not great week, it bore mention, I guess?
Batman ... oh boyyyy Tom King, you are playing with fire.
Green Lanterns was the knockout from my DC stuff this week. A finale that delivered on every aspect of this arc in plot, character, theme, and had some good action too. I don't care about that a lot of the time, but it added here. Hoping Seeley keeps it up for the next arc. I just loved these last seven issues so much.
The newest Teen Titans was written by NONE OTHER-than classic mac-daddy Teen Titans writer himself-MARV WOLFMAN! Where Starfire has some god damned character focus, and the story FINALLY addresses the age difference between Koriand'r and the rest of them.
Sooooooooooooo, Peter Tomasi, and Marv Wolfman, BOTH are better at Teen Titans stories than Ben Percy.
EDIT: Okay he's ALSO taking over Cyborg's series...WELL-I'm buying the shit out of that now!
Also he's got a new Raven mini-series as well, MAN he's doing a lot!
Sooooooooooooo, Peter Tomasi, and Marv Wolfman, BOTH are better at Teen Titans stories than Ben Percy.
EDIT: Okay he's ALSO taking over Cyborg's series...WELL-I'm buying the shit out of that now!
Also he's got a new Raven mini-series as well, MAN he's doing a lot!
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Metals
J'ONN J'ONNZ IS BACK BITCHES!