The 2016 Reading Thread - February
Torchsong
Posts: 2,794
A Super Bowl with Teams I Actually Want to Watch?!? Who knew! :)
The "rules" are simple: Keep a post/log of everything you read and list it on here. At the end of each month pick a "winner" (ie. the book you enjoyed the most for that month) and post it in the next month's thread. Refer to the 2015 or 2014 versions creeping around here for a solid example. I tend to focus on trades, but if you want to log your single issues, go for it. Don't start a new post each time you want to add something - simply edit your existing post. I tend to bold the issues/books that really stood out each month.
New This Year: Just to mix things up...the list seems to focus on quantity, so let's add quality into the mix. If you read a book that really knocked your socks off - put a sentence or two out from it that clues the rest of us in that this might be a book worth checking out. You don't have to do it for every book, and it's probably a good idea just to keep it to a sentence or two, but I think this'll add some fun to it and maybe generate a discussion or three.
January Lists: http://thecomicforums.vanillaforums.com/discussion/3679/the-2016-reading-thread-january#latest
The "rules" are simple: Keep a post/log of everything you read and list it on here. At the end of each month pick a "winner" (ie. the book you enjoyed the most for that month) and post it in the next month's thread. Refer to the 2015 or 2014 versions creeping around here for a solid example. I tend to focus on trades, but if you want to log your single issues, go for it. Don't start a new post each time you want to add something - simply edit your existing post. I tend to bold the issues/books that really stood out each month.
New This Year: Just to mix things up...the list seems to focus on quantity, so let's add quality into the mix. If you read a book that really knocked your socks off - put a sentence or two out from it that clues the rest of us in that this might be a book worth checking out. You don't have to do it for every book, and it's probably a good idea just to keep it to a sentence or two, but I think this'll add some fun to it and maybe generate a discussion or three.
January Lists: http://thecomicforums.vanillaforums.com/discussion/3679/the-2016-reading-thread-january#latest
Comments
February Books:
Nisekoi Vol. 13 (Viz)
Lazarus Vol 4: Poison (Image)
Gakuen Hotai (School Judgement) Vol. 1 (Viz) - I work for the state judiciary, so I tend to find anything law-based to be a fun read. This book has to do with elementary schools where the kids are the lawyers. Done by the artist from Death Note, so top-notch rendering and fun storytelling as well.
My Love Story Vol. 7 (Viz)
My Neighbor Seki Vol. 6 (Vertical)
Giant Robot Maintenance Crew (Cosmic Times) - This one I picked up on a whim. Cute story but a bit rough in areas in terms of artwork and pacing. Still enjoyable, though.
Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga Vol. 3 (DC)
Lola XOXO (Aspen)
Scarlett Couture V1 (Titan) - Had the singles but this read so much better as a trade in one sitting. A rare moment of double dipping for me.
Blast Furnace: Recreational Thief! (Indie) - SEEK THIS BOOK OUT! Ryan Browne (God Hates Astronauts) did an experiment where he gave himself one hour each day to think out and draw one complete page of this epic. Rest of the day he refrained from even thinking about plotting anything. And what he churned out is nothing short of brilliant.
Swords of Sorrow TP (Dynamite) - I knew I was going to wait for the trade when I first heard of this. Story is a bit disjointed but had amazing artwork and some really fun writing on some of the individual books.
Crime and Punishment (Digital Manga) - Osamu Tezuka's take on Dostoyevsky's classic novel.
Harley Quinn: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang HC (DC)
MW (Vertical) / Swallowing the Earth (Digital Manga) - back to back Tezuka during his period where he tried to shed the image of being a "children's artist"...and created some damn near haunting work.
February Winner: Strange Fruit #1-2 - Has Mark Waid every written a stinker?
March Winner:
April Winner:
May Winner:
June Winner:
July Winner:
August Winner:
September Winner:
October Winner:
November Winner:
December Winner:
February List:
Single Issues/Digital:
Munchkin #13
Paper Girls #4
Saga #33
Birthright #13
I Hate Fairyland #4
Daredevil #3
The Amazing Spider-Man #1.2, 6
Star Wars #14-15
Darth Vader #15
Doctor Strange #4 - This has consistently been a solid book four issues in.
Strange Tales vol. 1 #1-3 (digital)
Strange Tales vol. 2 #1-3 (digital) - These were funny. Hit or miss really, but the hits were really good.
Extraordinary X-Men #5-6
Silver Surfer #1
Spidey #2
Spider-Man 2099 #5
Spider-Gwen #4
Behemoth #1-4 (digital)
Lazarus #16-19 (digital)
Strange Fruit #1-2 (digital) - This is a four issue mini-series that's been out since July of 2015. I believe issue 3 will be shipped in April. I really liked this story and when I was researching when #3 was shipping, I opened a can o' worms. Apparently, there is some huge controversy with Mark Waid and JG Jones writing this book. White guys writing about racism in the deep South. I get why people are upset, but I thought it was a well put together story--well, the first half anyway. I saw a comment on CBR about the book and someone said something along the lines of, "Harper Lee does it, and it's beautiful; Mark Waid does it, and everyone freaks out."
Collected HC/TPB/Digital
Uncanny X-Men, vol. 6: Storyville (digital)
Sumo TPB
February Books:
Doctor Strange #5
Get Real Ghostbuster tpb
JLA vol. 3 - Morrison run
Wrath of the Eternal Warrior #3
Justice League #47
All New All Different Avengers #3-4
DC Comics Bombshells #8
Saga #33
Paper Girls #4
Secret Wars #9
Bloodshot Reborn #10
Ninjak #11
Swamp Thing vol1: The Root of All Evil tpb first trade of the Millar run of Swampy. First few co-written with Grant Morrison. Preferred the stuff Millar done on his own here. Good stuff though, really enjoyed the Phil Hester art. Straight on to vol. 2.
Swamp Thing vol2: Darker Genesis
A+A: Boot Leg
Ghostbusters Annual 2015
JLA vol. 4
Nowhere Men vol.1 tpb
Armor Hunters tpb
Unity vol.3 tpb
X-O Manowar vol.5 tpb
Armorines #2-5
Unity vol.4 tpb Matt Kindt is knocking it out of the park with this Unity series. #14 is one of the best single issues I've read in a long time. Valiant really is where it's at at the moment.
Unity vol.5 tpb
Unity vol.6 tpb
Unity #23-25
The Manhattan Projects vol. 4
Harbinger #0
Timewalker #1
Gotham Central #16-22 (digital)
Cable & Deadpool #7-12 (Omnibus)
Suicide Squad vol 1 (tpb) - Ostrander was the best of the early post Crisis writers at DC. This first volume of Suicide Squad is amazing.
Deadshot Beginnings (tpb) - Ostrander writes another amazing Suicide Squad tale; this time he explored Deadshot. This series moves DS from the cool guy on the Squad to the most dangerous man on the Squad.
Blast Furnace: Recreational Thief! (digital) - Wow this was batstuff amazing. I loved this book.
Bitch Planet vol 1 (digital) - ohh boy where to start. I didn't like it; I'm glad other people did. I dont want to read a story about how women are enslaved by thier piggish male overlords, and the great thing about comics is that there are 15 other great books at image i do want to read monthly. I'm done trying Kelly Sue.
Devolution #1-2 (digital)
I Hate Fairyland #5 (digital)
Invader Zim #1-5 (digital)
Rick & Morty #1-5 (digital)- more on this series to come
Planetese Omnibus vol 1 - This great manga collection from Darkhorse about debris collectors in space. Right now this is my favorite thing I've read this year. I'm going to write a longer review of this and Rick & Morty later this week.
Spider-man #1
Batman & Robin Eternal #18 - really enjoying this series.
New on here, so hope to pick up some good suggestions from you all.
Did I miss him sending out the digital copies?Yep I missed him sending out the link.
February List:
Legend of Wonder Woman #1
Injustice Gods Among Us Y5 #2
New Teen Titan Omnibus vol 1
Fatale tpb book one
Tales of The Bizarro World tpb
DC Archives Golden Age Starman vol 1