Just s reminder we have a thread to talk about older comics you have read and liked. Also if you are interested @Torchsong posts a monthly thread to track/admit what you have read. Note: Space Riders (look it up on comixology) was rad as alll get out.
Thanks to Marvel Unlimited I'm catching up on everything I missed in the 80s. Reading Walt Simonson's Thor run now. I really enjoy the Asgard stuff, I hope to see more of it in the next Thor movie. I'm guessing Ragnarok will have to do with Surtur, it will be interesting to see how much they pull from this series. Curious how Hulk will fit into it too, they can't really use him to fill the Beta Ray Bill role
Just read the first four issues of I Hate Fairyland. I wouldn't say it's a must-buy or anything, but it's a fun read and the art, of course, is fantastic. Think The Wizard of Oz as written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, and you're in the ballpark.
I don't see this working as a long-running series—two or three years would probably be all I could take of it before getting bored with it. I'd compare it to Groo in that regard, where you pretty much know what’s coming, and it's still pretty funny, and the artwork and storytelling is fun, but after a while you don't feel the need to read it every single month. But maybe Skottie has some twists and turns up his sleeve that will evolve the title into something more, as Adam Warren did with Empowered. Either way, I'm along for the ride for a while at least.
Just read the first four issues of I Hate Fairyland. I wouldn't say it's a must-buy or anything, but it's a fun read and the art, of course, is fantastic. Think The Wizard of Oz as written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, and you're in the ballpark.
I don't see this working as a long-running series—two or three years would probably be all I could take of it before getting bored with it. I'd compare it to Groo in that regard, where you pretty much know what’s coming, and it's still pretty funny, and the artwork and storytelling is fun, but after a while you don't feel the need to read it every single month. But maybe Skottie has some twists and turns up his sleeve that will evolve the title into something more, as Adam Warren did with Empowered. Either way, I'm along for the ride for a while at least.
That is a really good review of Fairyland. I agree with you about the series.
I caught up on the last six or seven issues of Rachel Rising. When I left off, the series had come to an obvious transition point—the end of Part 1, even though it wasn't designated as such. For a few months prior to that, I'd been considering dropping the book. After a strong start, I felt it was just treading water and that the story wasn't really going anywhere. And I know that was kind of the M.O. for Strangers in Paradise for many years, but SiP was a different kind of story. It was a character-driven story, and until the last year or so of the series, Moore seemed to just let the characters decide which way the story would go—and it worked (for the most part) for SiP. Rachel Rising is a plot-driven story, but Moore still tends to fall back to letting the characters dictate the pace, often (I feel) to the detriment of this particular story. Moore is top-notch when it comes to writing and drawing scenes, the more emotional the better. And that's great, but I feel his editing skills are lacking in this series.
Having now read the first half-dozen or so issues of “Part 2,” I'm hoping the story has turned a corner. I can't decide if it's a case of “I told you that story (Part 1), so I could tell you this story (Part 2),” or if Moore just needed to get comfortable with the characters before settling down and figuring out exactly how the story needs to proceed, or what, but I've given the book a reprieve, and I'm much happier with it on the whole (despite one rather exposition-heavy issue).
Interesting premise. Old Man Logan, although transported back to the 2016 Marvel Universe, has complete memory of his life and goes on a quest to kill those responsible for what happened to the superheros in the future, as well as his family. No explanation given as to how or why he is now in the present though. In the Secret Wars story line he was able to successfully leave his individual domain. Wonder if that's the reason why he is now in present day?
Might be a bit behind on getting this out there, but Eve: Valkyrie was fantastic! I am not a gamer, but I really enjoyed the story line, and the art. I can't really talk about much surrounding it, as it will give in too many spoilers, so I will say this: It takes place in space, and focuses on a female fighter pilot. She has climbed the ranks to be a respected team leader. Her history starts as an entitled child, but gets ripped away. There are political contexts, scientific issues, and fantastic futuristic concerns about animating/re-generating. Regardless if you are a gamer or not, do yourself a favor and pick this 4 issue series up (it's Brian Wood, for Pete's sake)!
Detective Comics #742-746 (2000), Greg Rucka's post-No Man's Land work. Jim Gordon's back on the job and Whisper A'Daire is introduced. Good stuff and the art by Shawn C. Martinbrough is awesome.
I just read two graphic novels that came with one of my more recent DCBS deliveries.
The first is a reprinting of Sara Varon's 2007 graphic novel, Robot Dreams. This new softcover printing comes to us from Square Fish, which appears to be an imprint of Macmillan's Children Publishing Group. The imprint republishes material with a young audience in mind and Robot Dreams' original publisher, Roaring Brook Press, seems to be one of those whose backlist Square Fish has acquired the rights to. The story centers around a dog who buys and builds a robot to be his friend. The two go to the beach and the robot rusts after swimming with the dog. Not knowing how to help his friend, the dog abandons the robot on the beach. As the seasons pass the robot dreams of being rescued by and reunited with the dog while the dog at first makes attempts to rescue the robot but fails. The dog then attempts to make new friends and move on with his life. The themes of betrayal, loss, guilt, forgiveness and redemption are all explored in a very relatable story that is completely wordless and relies on body language and facial expressions to convey the characters' thoughts and emotions. The visualizations of the robot's dreams are simultaneously surreal yet familiar enough to comprehend. There is also an interview with Sara Varon included with this reprinting as well as the original short story that eventually would become the full-length graphic novel. Robot Dreams is a heart-breaking tale that teaches some very valuable lessons regardless of age. The bright side is that, like all well-written stories that break one's heart, the final pages offer the glue necessary to put that heart back together. It will just take some time for the glue to harden.
The second book I read is a hardcover from St. Martin's Press called Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir. It is written and drawn by Tom Hart. The story follows the writer and his wife on their journey of coping with the sudden death of their two-year old daughter, Rosalie. I've never experienced a loss like this myself and since this is based on true events I don't feel that I'm qualified to critique the story itself. What I will say about it is that I feel that it is an important story on many levels. The most important lesson I took away from reading Rosalie Lightning is that while we live in a world that is indifferent to our suffering as we complete the mundane tasks necessary to continue our own existence, what elevates us to a higher status than any other creature on this planet is our intelligence and capacity for compassion. Death is final but it's power over us is finite. All of us possess the necessary tools to cope with it and, more importantly, to help our fellow passengers on this spinning, uncaring globe to find their way back into the sunlight after death leads us through the darkness.
In closing, I highly recommend both of these books to anyone looking for thought-provoking and moving stories. More importantly, though, I simply recommend just telling somebody that you love them and meaning it. As has been illustrated by these stories and countless others before them, we don't always have as much time as we'd like to believe.
Over the past week I've read three titles I've really enjoyed: 1. We Stand On Guard - all 6 issues. I really enjoyed this and was disappointed to see it end 2. Invincible - I'm through the 1st 8 issues and have the next 4. Good stuff. 3. Southern Basterds - Finish Vol 1 of the trade and the second should be in my mailbox today.
Might be a bit behind on getting this out there, but Eve: Valkyrie was fantastic! I am not a gamer, but I really enjoyed the story line, and the art. I can't really talk about much surrounding it, as it will give in too many spoilers, so I will say this: It takes place in space, and focuses on a female fighter pilot. She has climbed the ranks to be a respected team leader. Her history starts as an entitled child, but gets ripped away. There are political contexts, scientific issues, and fantastic futuristic concerns about animating/re-generating. Regardless if you are a gamer or not, do yourself a favor and pick this 4 issue series up (it's Brian Wood, for Pete's sake)!
Better than I expected but not as good as I have heard others claim it to be.
The Pros: *The art was very good - especially when you consider the timeframe *The stories were long narratives that would last for several months. The dailies had a story and the Sunday strip had a different story.
The Cons: *Popeye starting out is not really very likeable, especially in the dailies. By the end of the vol with the Sunday strips, the character starts to get more fleshed out and turns a corner. *Reading this in collected form means you get a lot of repetitive jokes and situations. Popeye gets mad and knocks someone out is great if you see it once a day or once a week. When you see it on every Sunday strip for 50 pages in a row...well...
Just nitpicks: *Popeye is just Popeye. He survives 32 gun shot wounds and no explanation. It just is. *I have never understood why Popeye or any of the various guys she teased, kept chasing after Olive Oyl.
I have all six volumes, and my failing eyesight has precluded me enjoying them as much as I would like. Those strips, while presented as large as they possibly could, suffer from the inexplicably low quality lettering common among older strips. But when I do buckle down and read them , they're hilarious, overall. I am currently in mid-second volume.
I think Olive's sway over Popeye and Brutus is intentionally ludicrous. She's hideous, but in true man fashion, they are each jealous of her affections of the other.
Actually, they're all hideous, now that I think about it. :)
My love for Popeye stems from the Robin Williams movie, and it's clear to see how they were inspired by the strips. It may be the most faithful adaptation of a comic strip to date... which was probably its downfall, as well.
Klaus #1 - For those who enjoy Morrison's more grounded work this first issue delivers a fairly straight-forward origin story of Santa Claus...with only one psychedelic freak-out toward the end.
Scooby-Doo Team-Up #13 - I've never been the biggest Scooby-Doo fan but considering Deadman and The Phantom Stranger are two of my favorite DC characters and they appear in this issue alongside The Spectre and the Scooby Gang this was a must-buy for me when I saw it solicited in Previews.
This issue is a lot of fun and remains faithful in spirit to the Scooby cartoons I watched as a kid while also including a plethora ("Jefe, what is a plethora?") of nods to the mystical side of the DC Universe.
The icing on the cake is a scene about two thirds of the way through the story in which The Spectre finds a new host to help Deadman, Phantom Stranger and the Gang battle Tannarak. "Rengeance!"
"Are gringos falling from the sky?" "Yes, El Guapo."
Better than I expected but not as good as I have heard others claim it to be.
The Pros: *The art was very good - especially when you consider the timeframe *The stories were long narratives that would last for several months. The dailies had a story and the Sunday strip had a different story.
The Cons: *Popeye starting out is not really very likeable, especially in the dailies. By the end of the vol with the Sunday strips, the character starts to get more fleshed out and turns a corner. *Reading this in collected form means you get a lot of repetitive jokes and situations. Popeye gets mad and knocks someone out is great if you see it once a day or once a week. When you see it on every Sunday strip for 50 pages in a row...well...
Just nitpicks: *Popeye is just Popeye. He survives 32 gun shot wounds and no explanation. It just is. *I have never understood why Popeye or any of the various guys she teased, kept chasing after Olive Oyl.
I have all six volumes, and my failing eyesight has precluded me enjoying them as much as I would like. Those strips, while presented as large as they possibly could, suffer from the inexplicably low quality lettering common among older strips. But when I do buckle down and read them , they're hilarious, overall. I am currently in mid-second volume.
I think Olive's sway over Popeye and Brutus is intentionally ludicrous. She's hideous, but in true man fashion, they are each jealous of her affections of the other.
Actually, they're all hideous, now that I think about it. :)
My love for Popeye stems from the Robin Williams movie, and it's clear to see how they were inspired by the strips. It may be the most faithful adaptation of a comic strip to date... which was probably its downfall, as well.
I just watched the second half of Popeye Tuesday night. Well, half-watched it while I worked anyway.
Better than I expected but not as good as I have heard others claim it to be.
The Pros: *The art was very good - especially when you consider the timeframe *The stories were long narratives that would last for several months. The dailies had a story and the Sunday strip had a different story.
The Cons: *Popeye starting out is not really very likeable, especially in the dailies. By the end of the vol with the Sunday strips, the character starts to get more fleshed out and turns a corner. *Reading this in collected form means you get a lot of repetitive jokes and situations. Popeye gets mad and knocks someone out is great if you see it once a day or once a week. When you see it on every Sunday strip for 50 pages in a row...well...
Just nitpicks: *Popeye is just Popeye. He survives 32 gun shot wounds and no explanation. It just is. *I have never understood why Popeye or any of the various guys she teased, kept chasing after Olive Oyl.
I have all six volumes, and my failing eyesight has precluded me enjoying them as much as I would like. Those strips, while presented as large as they possibly could, suffer from the inexplicably low quality lettering common among older strips. But when I do buckle down and read them , they're hilarious, overall. I am currently in mid-second volume.
I think Olive's sway over Popeye and Brutus is intentionally ludicrous. She's hideous, but in true man fashion, they are each jealous of her affections of the other.
Actually, they're all hideous, now that I think about it. :)
My love for Popeye stems from the Robin Williams movie, and it's clear to see how they were inspired by the strips. It may be the most faithful adaptation of a comic strip to date... which was probably its downfall, as well.
I have all six volumes as well. Not sure when I will get around to reading the next volume. I started a reading project in Oct 2014 to read everything in my collection. The collection is divided up by character or theme (Batman, Event comics, etc) and I use a random number generator to pick the next book. I have over 1000 trades and I am currently on book 85.
I read Battling Boy a couple of months ago. Just finished Rise of Aurora West and Fall of the House of West. Beautiful work all around. So happy I found this series.
I had to give it a day in court, having been raised on the whole Bill Mantlo/Mike Golden era Micronauts series. You can tell these guys played with the toys and are trying to stay true to that while building something new. I honestly didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did.
Civil War #0 was very good. Interesting set-up with a whole "Minority Report" vibe to things. Stunning artwork doesn't hurt either. Definitely has me excited for the series.
Comments
Also if you are interested @Torchsong posts a monthly thread to track/admit what you have read.
Note: Space Riders (look it up on comixology) was rad as alll get out.
I don't see this working as a long-running series—two or three years would probably be all I could take of it before getting bored with it. I'd compare it to Groo in that regard, where you pretty much know what’s coming, and it's still pretty funny, and the artwork and storytelling is fun, but after a while you don't feel the need to read it every single month. But maybe Skottie has some twists and turns up his sleeve that will evolve the title into something more, as Adam Warren did with Empowered. Either way, I'm along for the ride for a while at least.
Having now read the first half-dozen or so issues of “Part 2,” I'm hoping the story has turned a corner. I can't decide if it's a case of “I told you that story (Part 1), so I could tell you this story (Part 2),” or if Moore just needed to get comfortable with the characters before settling down and figuring out exactly how the story needs to proceed, or what, but I've given the book a reprieve, and I'm much happier with it on the whole (despite one rather exposition-heavy issue).
Interesting premise. Old Man Logan, although transported back to the 2016 Marvel Universe, has complete memory of his life and goes on a quest to kill those responsible for what happened to the superheros in the future, as well as his family. No explanation given as to how or why he is now in the present though. In the Secret Wars story line he was able to successfully leave his individual domain. Wonder if that's the reason why he is now in present day?
The first is a reprinting of Sara Varon's 2007 graphic novel, Robot Dreams. This new softcover printing comes to us from Square Fish, which appears to be an imprint of Macmillan's Children Publishing Group. The imprint republishes material with a young audience in mind and Robot Dreams' original publisher, Roaring Brook Press, seems to be one of those whose backlist Square Fish has acquired the rights to.
The story centers around a dog who buys and builds a robot to be his friend. The two go to the beach and the robot rusts after swimming with the dog. Not knowing how to help his friend, the dog abandons the robot on the beach. As the seasons pass the robot dreams of being rescued by and reunited with the dog while the dog at first makes attempts to rescue the robot but fails. The dog then attempts to make new friends and move on with his life.
The themes of betrayal, loss, guilt, forgiveness and redemption are all explored in a very relatable story that is completely wordless and relies on body language and facial expressions to convey the characters' thoughts and emotions. The visualizations of the robot's dreams are simultaneously surreal yet familiar enough to comprehend.
There is also an interview with Sara Varon included with this reprinting as well as the original short story that eventually would become the full-length graphic novel.
Robot Dreams is a heart-breaking tale that teaches some very valuable lessons regardless of age. The bright side is that, like all well-written stories that break one's heart, the final pages offer the glue necessary to put that heart back together. It will just take some time for the glue to harden.
The second book I read is a hardcover from St. Martin's Press called Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir. It is written and drawn by Tom Hart.
The story follows the writer and his wife on their journey of coping with the sudden death of their two-year old daughter, Rosalie. I've never experienced a loss like this myself and since this is based on true events I don't feel that I'm qualified to critique the story itself. What I will say about it is that I feel that it is an important story on many levels.
The most important lesson I took away from reading Rosalie Lightning is that while we live in a world that is indifferent to our suffering as we complete the mundane tasks necessary to continue our own existence, what elevates us to a higher status than any other creature on this planet is our intelligence and capacity for compassion. Death is final but it's power over us is finite. All of us possess the necessary tools to cope with it and, more importantly, to help our fellow passengers on this spinning, uncaring globe to find their way back into the sunlight after death leads us through the darkness.
In closing, I highly recommend both of these books to anyone looking for thought-provoking and moving stories. More importantly, though, I simply recommend just telling somebody that you love them and meaning it. As has been illustrated by these stories and countless others before them, we don't always have as much time as we'd like to believe.
1. We Stand On Guard - all 6 issues. I really enjoyed this and was disappointed to see it end
2. Invincible - I'm through the 1st 8 issues and have the next 4. Good stuff.
3. Southern Basterds - Finish Vol 1 of the trade and the second should be in my mailbox today.
I think Olive's sway over Popeye and Brutus is intentionally ludicrous. She's hideous, but in true man fashion, they are each jealous of her affections of the other.
Actually, they're all hideous, now that I think about it. :)
My love for Popeye stems from the Robin Williams movie, and it's clear to see how they were inspired by the strips. It may be the most faithful adaptation of a comic strip to date... which was probably its downfall, as well.
"Yes, El Guapo."
Very good 1st issue. Great subject for a horror book.
Beautiful work all around. So happy I found this series.
One of Millar's better creator-owned comics in a while. Exciting story. Beautiful art.