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COMICS! |OT| January 2013. "Read more comics"? Now that's a resolution I can keep!

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sazabirules

Unconfirmed Member
I can't wait for Talon #4. I liked this issues since it introduced more characters. Tynion has done a great job so far.
 

ghostmind

Member
All-New X-Men:

For some reason
this new Beast reminds me of the one from Mutant X, well minus the gills and green that is.

And doesn't Kitty have her hands full being headmistress to manage an entire time-lost X-Men team?
 
I am such a sucker for hickman's style of writing, it seems. Ugh. Just make the damn ff omnibuses already so i can have my "shut up and take my money" moment and get it over with.
 
I really should post here more often if my avatar wasn't obvious enough but now that the cat's (heh) out of the bag for issue 5 I'll spoiler some of my thoughts.

But first a kinda long-ish rant that I just have to get out about ANXM and the Original 5 so far:

I liked this first arc better than I thought I would. But I'm still super nervous for the rest of the series. Why nervous? The original 5 is my favorite superhero team. Beast is my favorite superhero ever since I went back to read his tenure with the Avengers. I want people to like the O5, but man it's been a tough road for that. People either think Scott is boring or (nowadays) an out-of-control radical, or defend his position but lash out at Beast or Cap or someone else. Beast has been a cat for about a decade now and I've hated most of it. I'm all for giving characters more drama in their lives but man, compared to the bouncing blue firecracker that he was? The character just isn't fun to read and care about anymore.

About the arc so far,
I do like the start of Kitty mentoring the O5. Even if it doesn't pan out well I think the concept of a former student (probably the most important student-turned-X-Man character in history) mentoring the O5 just awesome. Cyke building a rival school makes sense from his perspective I guess but as history has shown newly introduced x-kids generally don't fare well once their initial run is over. I love all the Bobby interactions with himself so far. Can't wait to see more of Warren's concern about how him and Drake aren't being talked about, which is all too true and I'm actually most excited to see some future Warren past and present interactions. People unfortunately only care about Angel when he's Archangel and people don't care about Iceman in general. Overall I'm more optimistic going into the second arc than I was with issue 1 and if nothing else this has opened the door for more original 5 conversations I've been having with my comic friends. As for Beast's new look? I like it better than 90% of the different Cat Beasts artists have drawn over the years at least.
 

ghostmind

Member
I know that Bendis is polarizing, but at least stuff is happening with the X-Men again, and I am more excited about each next issue than I have been in a long time.
 
Ok today's books:

All New X-Men #5: Good. They are really addressing everything you would expect:
Jean Grey finding out about her deaths, Angel wondering where the hell future-Angel is and why nobody is mentioning it. Where is he anyways? Isn't he on the campus?

New Avengers #1: Very, very Hickman-y.
It's basically all set up. Random new villains with all kinds of sci-fi mumbojumbo. Pretty boring tbh.

Ultimate Spider-Man #19: Why am I still reading this?

The Situation #1:
Ask Satch
 

sazabirules

Unconfirmed Member
It's certainly a sleeper hit, isn't it? I don't think anyone's talking about it, but Snyder and Tynion are turning in really good stuff.

No one talks about DC here. I don't read any of the other Bat titles besides Batman but I may be willing to check Red Hood out once Tynion starts writing it.
 
Talon is easily one of DC's best books. it just does so much cool stuff.

It's really fun and I am continually surprised by this. By all logic it should have been awful.

think about it:
-big author's name attached as co-author: could have just been a cash grab.
-coming out of a major crossover: could have just been a cash grab.
-the specific character used never even showed up in the book it spun out from- led me to expect generic nonsense
-batbooks are dc's cash cow- again, could have just been done for the money

But, shit, the court are entertaining villains, the random new dude has a believable place in their story, and Tynion/snyder are throwing him into interesting scenarios. Good comics.
 

tim1138

Member
Batman Inc

Poor Cyril and Beryl, they were my favorite members of Inc. It's gonna suck when Bruce chooses Gotham over Damian, but I don't think Damian is meant to survive this. I'm really gonna miss this book when it ends.
 

kswiston

Member
Comics GAF is pretty small, and can't really afford to have half the regulars skip the thread from Wed-Fri (or whenever they get their books) in fear of spoilers. I am in favour of a 24-48 hour spoiler tag "rule" on new releases.

That said, a few people take it too far. I have seen a few people complain about upcoming book covers being spoilers in previous threads. If you want that level of media black out, you shouldn't be on the internet.
 
Love the Bruce Timm Superman in the banner Spike, it's wonderful.

Not sure if I'll have time to get to the shop this week, but we'll see. I need my AXM fix soon, as I'm digging what Bendis is doing.
 

8bit

Knows the Score
A little discretion and consideration for peers would be nice. At the end of ANXM 4
Beast's life was in the balance, it's a bit annoying to now read about his new look and whole being alive thing before reading the comic. Also, new Beast looks like a vampire or something now, I think I preferred the cat look.
 

MC Safety

Member
A little discretion and consideration for peers would be nice. At the end of ANXM 4
Beast's life was in the balance, it's a bit annoying to now read about his new look and whole being alive thing before reading the comic. Also, new Beast looks like a vampire or something now, I think I preferred the cat look.

I like original beast best, then furry beast, then cat beast, then turd beast.
 
What do you guys think of:
Saga
Fatale
The Great Pacific
or another indy book

I pick up a lot of DC/Marvel, but I'm looking into getting one or two independents. Also thinking about getting into Sweet Tooth, because I read all of Lemire's DC stuff.
 

tim1138

Member
What do you guys think of:
Saga
Fatale
The Great Pacific
or another indy book

I pick up a lot of DC/Marvel, but I'm looking into getting one or two independents. Also thinking about getting into Sweet Tooth, because I read all of Lemire's DC stuff.

If it's not already out yet, Sweet Tooth only has one issue left.

I recommend Manhattan Projects, it's by Hickman and is a great sci fi book featuring alternate versions of the scientists behind the actual Manhattan Project.
 

frye

Member
What do you guys think of:
Saga
Fatale
The Great Pacific
or another indy book

I pick up a lot of DC/Marvel, but I'm looking into getting one or two independents. Also thinking about getting into Sweet Tooth, because I read all of Lemire's DC stuff.

Saga is cool, Fatale is okay but check out the other Bru/Phillips collabs if you haven't - Criminal and Sleeper in particular.
 

Viewt

Member
Saga is cool, Fatale is okay but check out the other Bru/Phillips collabs if you haven't - Criminal and Sleeper in particular.

Agreed. Sleeper is still the best thing that's come out of the Brubaker/Phillips teamup.

You can also read Point Blank if you want some added context for Sleeper. Sean Phillips wasn't the artist, but it was still pretty great.

point-blank.jpg


It was also my introduction to Grifter, and made me really love the character. Everything since has been a bit of a disappointment.

And Saga is way rad. Believe the hype.
 

Mr. Sam

Member
My comics buying dwindled last year until only Daredevil was left. Then I somehow missed issue #21 and am desperately trying to track it down. Maybe I'll try a few new titles this year.
 

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
It's really fun and I am continually surprised by this. By all logic it should have been awful.

think about it:
-big author's name attached as co-author: could have just been a cash grab.
-coming out of a major crossover: could have just been a cash grab.
-the specific character used never even showed up in the book it spun out from- led me to expect generic nonsense
-batbooks are dc's cash cow- again, could have just been done for the money

But, shit, the court are entertaining villains, the random new dude has a believable place in their story, and Tynion/snyder are throwing him into interesting scenarios. Good comics.

Tynion co-writes the back ups the the main Batman book too. It's not like they picked some random schulb who needed work.
 
Random top 25 favorite comics of the past decade list, alphabetical order:

-100 Bullets (Azzerello/Russo): Still don't like that ending. Still a bit too long. Still brilliant anyway.

-All-Star Superman (Morrison/Quitely): If aliens came down after hearing some belated radio waves about superhumans, and demanded they'd be shown what this "superhero" thing is about, I'd give them All-Star Superman. I feel like I could fight crime with this shit, or stop bullets. The only Superman story the world ever needed. Perfection in Red/Blue tights.

-Astonishing X-men (Whedon/Cassaday): Whenever anybody ask me about a good starting place for X-men, I always hand them Astonishing X-men, and it pretty much always works. Admittingly a regressive take on the X-men as superheroes after Morrison's ingenuity, these are DAMN fine superhero comics nonetheless. Cassaday/Martin's work takes the fashionable '00s decompression and turns it into smooth cinematic panels, suped-up Paul Smith's X-art. As slooow as the plot is, Whedon's dialog and sense of drama works like gangbusters, and the first and last big stories in this run are some of the best in X-history.

-Bone (Jeff Smith): America's best attempt at having a Miyazaki manga of our own. Accessible to all-ages, in every sense of that term.

-Batman (Grant Morrison/hundreds of artists): Grant Morrison's attempt at making the ultimate longform Batman story. I think he might just pull it off(even if Philip Tan/Tony Daniel drew a big part of it).

-Captain America (Brubaker/Epting/Guice/others): I was in a Books-a-Million one day, and I passed a shelf of big comic book collections. Now I hadn't really read them regularly since I was a kid, so I was well out of the loop, but I heard some GOOD things about that Ed Brubaker guy on Captain America, even though he supposedly killed Steve Rogers. I picked up the Omnibus of the first 25 issues, found a comfy chair, and thought, "What the hell, I read an issue or two of this"

Several hours and 20+ issues later, I'm still in that chair, absolutely riveted by what I'm reading. It was like some amazing combination of Fox's 24 and Jack Kirby sci-fi. Film noir in a cartoon world. Somehow they had taken a completely stupid concept of Bucky coming back to life as a cyborg brainwashed Soviet Union assassin, who then in turns becomes Captain America with a gun...and made it one of the most compelling reads I'd ever seen. This book flew right off the rails once Reborn happen, but those first 42/48/50 issues are something special, and got me back into reading these wacky things monthly.

-Casanova (Fraction/Ba/Moon): The rare comic book masterwork that manages to be innovative in it's storytelling, obviously personal to it's creator, and still hits all the satisfying genre adventure beats better than damn near anything else out there. Don't know what to make of Avatria, though.

-Criminal (Brubaker/Philips): Raymond Chandler's greatest hits if they were illustrated by one of the world's greatest crime artists. Actually gets BETTER as it goes along, and the first one was damn good.

-DC: The New Frontier (Darwyn Cooke): My very first Absolute Edition, and I treasure it dearly. It's one of those books I would grab off the shelf really quickly if my house caught fire and had to save something I couldn't do without. GodDAMN this thing is cool.

-Global Frequency (Ellis/a lot of really good artists): Straight up pop comic books, baby. 12-done-in-one action comics, zero fat, zero decompression.

-Gotham Central (Brubaker/Rucka/Lark/Guadino): One of DC's finest runs of the past decade. A superhero world by way of NYPD Blues. Brubaker/Rucka are like PB&J, Michael Lark continues to be da shit.

-Immortal Iron Fist (Brubaker/Fraction/Aja/etc): Pulp kung-fu magic in 22 page chunks. Immortal Iron Fist mythologizes Danny Rand and creates an entire kung-fu movie world in it's only little real estate. Brubaker's pulp roots gel perfectly with Fraction's wackiness, with David "da God" Aja bringing everything together. Everybody with good taste knew how good Fraction/Aja Hawkeye was gonna be, because they rightly adore this book.

-Marvel Boy (Morrison/Jones): If I was 14 when I read this, this book would be my personal Jesus. A teenage power fantasy wet dream, literally fighting capitalism run amuck, your hot girlfiend's evil dad who's a composite Fantastic Four in an Iron Man suit, and writing FUCK THE WORLD in sky high, neon-lit letters. Jim Steranko had sex with Bill Sienkieciz, and this is that rebel child, rocking an air guitar out of the space uterus of awesomeness. Fuck whoever was responsible for not getting a sequel to this.

-New X-men (Morrison/a small army of artists): Quite honestly, the only post-1991 X-men comic that matters. Taking the X-men comic kicking and screaming into the new millenium. Bye-bye purple prose filled thought bubbles! So long, unnecessary captions explaining what's already on the page. New X-men are pop mod adventures about the battle between the old and the new. A commentary on post-9/11 America, childhood, The Matrix, revolution, evolution, innovation, invention, and there's even Magneto smacking a kid yelling "Vegetable!". Super-intelligent, too-cool cape comics that still manage to hit all the Claremont stories people expected(Sentinels, Dark Phoenix, Magneto, Days of Future Past, Weapon X). Bold, clever, messy, ugly, beautiful, thrilling, and absolutely, positively, no ifs-and-or-buts about it, the pinnacle of long-form superhero comics from the past decade.

-Nextwave (Ellis/Immonen): Superhero comics distilled to their essence. Two-issue arcs, mad-cap adventures celebrating the wackiness of the Marvel universe. Immonen's artwork is part Steranko, part Tartakovsky, with the uncanny ability to change styles whenever the hell he wants. Doesn't have anything even approaching a "theme" or "subtext" or even much in the way of serious characterization. This is balls-to-the-wall, dial-to-11, shit blowing up real good comics. Kick. Splode. THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT.

-Parker: The Hunter (Darwyn Cooke): This shit grabs you right at the start with it's relentless march forward in silent opening sequence, and really never lets you go after that. DC: New Frontier is awesome, but this is Cooke's masterpiece. Just read it, damnit.

-Pluto (Urasawa): Equally successful commentary on war, identity, and what it means to be human as it is a heart-warming character drama. And a genuine thriller. AND there's robots beating the shit out of each other! It's like this book was made just for my sensibilities, but if you like ANY of the above elements, it's made for you as well.

-Scalped (Aaron/Guera/etc): Maybe the last of the great Veritgo runs, and maybe replaced Preacher as my "go-to non-superhero book to give out". This shit is the real deal, a comic masterwork by a writer and artist perfectly in-sync with one another. Whatever Guera draws next, I'm there.

-Scott Pilgrim (O'Malley): How can a book this visually inventive, this quirky-cool, this irreverent and indulgent in it's nerdiness, be so sophisticated and honest? How can a book that has a completely insane video game concept of battling evil exes feel so real and heartfelt? Best comic of the decade? Maybe. Quite possibly.

-Solo(a lot of people): Picture this: DC Comics give a bunch of super-talented artists the opportunity to do whatever the hell they want with their characters and universe in a single issue. No continuity problems, no censors, whatever. Now think about the artists on this book contain the likes of Tim Sale, Richard Corben, Paul Pope, Darwyn Cooke, Mike Allred, Brendan McCarthy, and Howard Chaykin. Now imagine that this book only lasted 12 issues, because it sold less copies than the worst issues of "Teen Titans Go". A dream turned into a nightmare.

We simply weren't good enough for Solo. May it rest in peace.

Top Ten(Moore/Ha): Alan Moore's best work this past decade. A wonderful combination of the bizarre with the mundane, a police procedural where everyone in the world has superpowers. One of Moore's most human works, with the perfect, detail-packing super-artist in Gene Ha to fill this wacky world with character. Great ending, too.

The Ultimates (Millar/Hitch): The Avengers in 21st century America. A Hollywood blockbuster with a cynical, ugly political undercurrent, all brought to life by Bryan Hitch back when the heir apparent to Alan Davis. Captain America straight up FLASHKICKS A TERRORIST SUPERVILLAIN, ya'll. And that's RIGHT after he fought him to a draw in a lightsaber battle.

We3 (Morrison/Quitely): Miyazaki movie storyboard drawn by Geoff Darrow. Hyperkinetic innovative action scenes mix with genuine heart-rendering emotion. Frank Quitely confirms that, yes, he IS the best comic book storyteller in the western world, if for whatever reason you were doubting that fact.

Winter Men (Lewis/John Paul Leon): David Brothers said it best, "It's like Watchmen if it was fun to read".

X-Statix/X-Force (Milligan/Allred/others): To give you an idea of how good this book is, the fill-in artists are Paul Pope, Philip Bond, and Darwyn Cooke. EVEN THE FILL-IN ART IS GODLIKE. Buy this Omnibus, people.
 

frye

Member
Agreed. Sleeper is still the best thing that's come out of the Brubaker/Phillips teamup.

You can also read Point Blank if you want some added context for Sleeper. Sean Phillips wasn't the artist, but it was still pretty great.

http://wednesdayshaul.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/point-blank.jpg

It was also my introduction to Grifter, and made me really love the character. Everything since has been a bit of a disappointment.

And Saga is way rad. Believe the hype.

The ending of Sleeper is easily the most fucked up thing Brubaker has ever written - and honestly one of the most fucked up endings I've seen in anything. It's so great.
 
i agree with most of what i've read on that list, viewtiful. but i can never understand astonishing xmen praise. i found it so boring and ugly :s
 
i agree with most of what i've read on that list, viewtiful. but i can never understand astonishing xmen praise. i found it so boring and ugly :s

I reread it over the break and I love it even more. VJC is spot on. Don't tell anyone but it's my favorite thing Whedon's ever written, including all of Buffy and Angel.
 

frye

Member
Post Of The Thread.

Best set of recs I've read on this forum.

Yeah, Viewtiful has Good Taste.

Disagree with Astonishing, Mozz Bats, and Scalped though. Also X-Force >>> New X-Men

e: also also can you imagine DC publishing something like Solo or Gotham Central today?
 
Astonishing weaker than a lot of the other books up there, but it's like the ultimate comfort food. There's really only two ways to follow up Morrisoin's run: attempt to keep up with him(lol), or go back and do it the old-fashioned way. In my mind, it's old-school thrills are executed at a high enough level to be considered a success. Witty, clever, beautiful, Claremontian fun.
 
I'm hoping Scalped is worth that recommendation. I just started it and am hoping for it to be great.

It is. It so is.

Astonishing weaker than a lot of the other books up there, but it's like the ultimate comfort food. There's really only two ways to follow up Morrisoin's run: attempt to keep up with him(lol), or go back and do it the old-fashioned way. In my mind, it's old-school thrills are executed at a high enough level to be considered a success. Witty, clever, beautiful, Claremontian fun.

Yup. And some of the best, jump out of your seat reveals in comics ever. Possibly the best paced comic of all time as far as that sort of thing goes.

"WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU BEEN LYING TO ME ABOUT?" is high on the list of all time favorite moments in comics. And it's not even the only one from that run.
 
Astonishing weaker than a lot of the other books up there, but it's like the ultimate comfort food. There's really only two ways to follow up Morrisoin's run: attempt to keep up with him(lol), or go back and do it the old-fashioned way. In my mind, it's old-school thrills are executed at a high enough level to be considered a success. Witty, clever, beautiful, Claremontian fun.

Despite my last post, I did enjoy the majority of Morrison's run and something I find that works is to give people interested in X-Men Whedon's Astonishing, then once they're finished with that direct them back to Morrison's run. Weird as it seems most people I've recommended that route to have enjoyed it as it gives them a nice cushy entry point then gives them something to invest in once they know if they're interested.
 

Viewt

Member
It is. It so is.



Yup. And some of the best, jump out of your seat reveals in comics ever. Possibly the best paced comic of all time as far as that sort of thing goes.

"WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU BEEN LYING TO ME ABOUT?" is high on the list of all time favorite moments in comics. And it's not even the only one from that run.

That's a great one. Personally, this claims it for me.

1990767-cyclops_4.jpg


Dat Scott.
 

Acid08

Banned
You should buy Punk Rock Jesus if you like good art and a story that treats you like an idiot by shoving its ideas down your throat in a very not subtle way.
 

Satch

Banned
so what the hell am i supposed to write about for this Situation review

like i didnt even know what was going on 90% of the time and could hardly tell the difference between Situation and his two brothers

i think the highlight of the book was when one of the girls he had in his bed had a sticker on her butt that said "USDA Approved"
 

Garryk

Member
so what the hell am i supposed to write about for this Situation review

like i didnt even know what was going on 90% of the time and could hardly tell the difference between Situation and his two brothers

i think the highlight of the book was when one of the girls he had in his bed had a sticker on her butt that said "USDA Approved"

Sounds like quality front-page material for your avatar.
 
so what the hell am i supposed to write about for this Situation review

like i didnt even know what was going on 90% of the time and could hardly tell the difference between Situation and his two brothers

i think the highlight of the book was when one of the girls he had in his bed had a sticker on her butt that said "USDA Approved"

"and his two brothers" might have just sold me this book.
 

Satch

Banned
and it's worth the 4 bucks because there was concept art and FAMILY PHOTOS OF SITUATION AND HIS TWO BROTHERS at the end
 
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