Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga

[haLobEnder]

Anyone read anything good lately?

For my own part the best thing I've read recently has been Minetaro Mochizuki's Dragon Head. I'm currently on volume 8 (of 10) and am eagerly looking forward to the resolution of the story.

It's very much along the lines of a Battle Royale, 28 Days Later or Lord of the Flies. The general premise being that it follows two schoolkids and those they encounter right after an unknown event causes the destruction of much of Japan (and possibly the world).

So long as the last two volumes don't disappoint, I'd say it's up there with Blade of the Immortal as one of the best manga I've read so far.

In terms of more Western stuff I recently finished the first volumes of both Bill Willinham and Mathew Sturge's House of Mystery and Brian Wood's Northlanders, both from Vertigo. Though I did find HoM somewhat enjoyable I wouldn't consider either series among the bast that Vertigo has to offer.

Northlanders was something of an incoherent mess in my opinion. The narrative often jumped forward in time but left the reader to determine how much time had past only through visual cues. As I'm a big fan of Wood's other works such as Local and Demo the overall quality of Northlanders was quite disappointing to me.

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

Phonogram is pretty amazing.

[polishgenius]

I did like Phonogram, but I didn't think it was amazing - and I think that it (or at least the first story arc, Rue Britannia, because that's all I've read) should come with a warning that it'll be nigh incomprehensible to anyone not at least decently familiar with Britpop.

[delete this account pls]

I've recently 'discovered' Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina, both by Brian Vaughan. I'm only 5 years late or so. Good stuff, smart, well executed high concept sci-fi that doesn't short change character development. I'm completely up to date with Ex Machina (as far as the trades go), but with Y, I'm waiting on the deluxe hardcovers, so I'm only about a third of the way through.

[Galactus]

I've been reading a lot of crappy high school manga (okay, I'm a sucker, I admit it) a lot of it good for a laugh, but not much else.

For western stuff, Abnett & Lanning continues to kick ass with War of Kings. Which is just awesometastic.

[Procrastimancer]

Not been reading much. Went through the entirety of Transmetropolitan not so long ago and had I not already been in love with Warren Ellis' work I would have fallen for it then. One of the most enjoyable things I have read no matter the medium. Since then, not much, reading some sixty issues in the span of a day kind of burns you out. Rereading Fell a bit (also by Warren Ellis) and have to give those a thumbs up.

I still have the Sandman series waiting to be read.

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

Young Liars v1&2: most fucked up thing I've read in ages. Yes, more fucked up than Ellis' Crooked Little Vein. Seriously. Of course, that means it's awesome.

Empowered v5: Huh. Didn't really see this coming. This title, which previously had been a super-cheesecakey, somewhat one-note (but totally hilarious) comedy, is now one of the best ongoing superhero titles. Mind you, if you start with v1, which you should, you won't think so; because at that point it isn't. Even by v4, still not. But this? Yeah, this is pretty epic. Although there's also a twenty page story in which the Caged Demongoat narrates a sexual encounter between two of the protagonists, so, y'know, it's not completely abandoning its roots or anything. Your reaction to this should be a pretty good indication of whether the series is for you.

Patsy Walker: Hellcat: Almost as demented and fucked up as Young Liars or Crooked Little Vein, but unlike those it's fucked up in a wholesome sort of way. No, really. The opening strips from Marvel Comics Presents or whatever didn't do much for me, but the miniseries itself? I'm in love. Can't wait to read Immonen's Runaways.

should come with a warning that it'll be nigh incomprehensible to anyone not at least decently familiar with Britpop.

I'm totally unfamiliar with Britpop. I didn't find it incomprehensible. Now, there were a number of references that went over my head, but, well, they didn't matter. At least in the sense of detracting from my enjoyment.

[Galactus]

Patsy Walker: Hellcat: Almost as demented and fucked up as Young Liars or Crooked Little Vein, but unlike those it's fucked up in a wholesome sort of way.

It has a yeti riding rocket-powered spruce. I'm not making this up.

And she calls Tony Stark "Irene".

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

Oh! I've been meaning to ask; downloading reading Red Sonja and Witchblade has made want to read some good fantasy comics. Ran suggested Artesia a while back, which is indeed uber, but aside from that?

I'm assuming Busiek's Conan is solid, but otherwise I've no ideas. Suggestions, anyone?

[Fenryng]

Oh! I've been meaning to ask; downloading reading Red Sonja and Witchblade has made want to read some good fantasy comics. Ran suggested Artesia a while back, which is indeed uber, but aside from that?

I'm assuming Busiek's Conan is solid, but otherwise I've no ideas. Suggestions, anyone?

I have been meaning to explore the numerous Conan stories that have been coming out for a few years now. I have nothing specific yet, but I will at some point.

I do not know if Lone Wolf and Cub counts as Manga, per se, but I never get tired of reading that series. When I can get pleasure out of just looking at a wordless picture of a landscape in a comic, someone certainly did something right. I cannot praise the artist of that series enough.

Kurt Busiek did a six issue limited series some years ago called Arrowsmith, which was a combination of fantasy creatures and WWI alternative history Europe. I re-read it recently, and it was better than I remembered it being. He was really excited about the project, and he wanted to do more, but just never got around to it, which disappointed me.

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

Oh, yes, I have Arrowsmith. It's quite good. Will definitely look into Lone Wolf.

[Jaxom 1974]

Kurt Busiek did a six issue limited series some years ago called Arrowsmith, which was a combination of fantasy creatures and WWI alternative history Europe. I re-read it recently, and it was better than I remembered it being. He was really excited about the project, and he wanted to do more, but just never got around to it, which disappointed me.

Wasn't there issues with this series as it was around the tie Busiek was having some health issues? I don't remember ever seeing the whole thing and then I had to stop collecting...would have liked to have completed it...

[Ran]

Pretty sure Arrowsmith was completed. Artesia is indeed amazing -- one can buy the first three collections from Drivethru Comics, I believe. And he finally got the 3rd issue of the fourth series out (haven't read it yet). Busiek's run on Conan is indeed quite solid. In other fantasy ... well, Fables is pretty good for a good part of its run; I have grown less fond of Willingham and his storytelling of late, however. I would, OTOH, avoid Jack of Fables like the plague.

[Vrana]

The most recent thing I've read that is worthy of praise, has got to be Vinland Saga, I know I am probably way behind on this but I found it to be absurdly well written. It reminds me slightly of ASOIAF, as it has the same twisted characters and you never know what is going to happen next. It is also drawn beautifully. It reminds me a tad of Johnny Hicklenton, which reminds me I have to get to reading Bedlam, and 2000 AD.

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

Yeah, Arrowsmith is complete, and should still be in print as a TPB--I bought it new off Amazon less than a year ago. Artesia is indeed available through Drive-Thru comics, but I got the pdfs off Wowio back before it went all implodey. I've been meaning to get the hardcovers of the first three volumes, but keep putting off the purchase in order to get some comics I haven't already read. Also because I keep hoping Amazon will drop the price back down to $16/volume, rather than the $19 it's at currently.

Fables, duh, don't know how I forgot about that. Jack of, well, I've heard enough negative things about it that I'll probably download the first trade's worth of issues to determine whether or not it's worth purchasing.

[Red Sun]

The manga I follow regularly are Vinland Saga, 7 Seeds, Skip Beat, Nodame Cantabile and Ookiku Furikabutte. A Manga I have read partly, but want to read more some day is Black Lagoon.

Vinland Saga was mentioned in the post above mine, and I also find the writing very good and the characters pretty fascinating. Askeladd is one of the best characters I have read in manga. I also have to say that even though, the artist takes some artistical freedom, he has researched history, architecture, ships and clothes of the Viking times rather well. There are a few anachronistical objects, but they don't take you out of the story.

7 Seeds is a survivor story in a post-apocalyptic Japan. Even though, it's shoujo, it's basically an adventure story with only slight focus on romance. The main subject is the survival of several groups of youths (consisting of 7 people) in a completely changed environment with all sorts of monsters and weird animals and a risen sea level.

Skip Beat and Nodame Cantabile are more typical shoujo manga and in both the main characters learn and perfects herself in an artistical skill. In Skip beat, it's acting. In Nodame Cantabile, it's music. A part from the story, I like Nodame cantabile for the graphical representation of the music. The artist really tries to pin down key elements of instrumentation, rhythm and atmosphere.

Ookiku Furikabutte is a shonen manga about baseball. Like most shonen, it focuses on becoming better and stronger and being friends, but it's also a pretty good introduction to baseball for people like me who have no idea. In 2006, the manga has won the Creative Award of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Price.

Vinland Saga, 7 Seeds and Ookiku Furikabutte are not licensed, but can be read as scanlations.

[Dr Adder]

Moon Knight: The Bottom is pretty good, David Finch's gritty art is damn fine and complements the atmosphere that Huston is trying to develop in the book.

[Ran]

Oh, Age of Bronze is wonderful, but it's black and white art which I know some people don't care for. I was reminded of it by the references to Vinland Saga and the research that went into it, because Eric Shanower's done quite a lot of research (including a trip to the Troy archaeological site) on Bronze Age Greece and Troy. There's no magic, exactly, it's a "realistic" take on the events of the Trojan War, but still close enough to count.

As far as Northlanders goes, I'm following it, but I agree that the use of time is pretty shaky. It seems to be done for fairly cheap dramatic tension rather than as a really integral part of the storytelling. Still, the art's been great, as one would expect given the team; and there's been some strong issues here and there.

For more in the way of science fiction, Warren Ellis is offering it in spades with Ignition City, Anna Mercury, the webcomic Freakangels, and Doktor Sleepless.

[Nearly Headless Ned]

Huge Garth Ennis fan. If you can cope with the smut and gratuitous violence then I highly recomend The Boys, Preacher and his run on Hellblazer.

[polishgenius]

Warren Ellis is offering it in spades with Ignition City, Anna Mercury, the webcomic Freakangels, and Doktor Sleepless.

I love Warren Ellis, he's probably my favourite comic writer, but I am oh so wary of starting anything new by him that's supposed to be long-term. FreakAngels is going fairly good guns atm although skip weeks are getting more frequent, but the man's got such a scattershot mind it's unreal.