Jump to content

Comics Phase Fourteen


Teng Ai Hui
 Share

Recommended Posts

On 6/25/2020 at 12:25 PM, Nictarion said:

I read the first couple issues of Hickman’s new sci-fi book Decorum. Kind of confusing at first (similar to his POX), but definitely interesting. Gorgeous art, too. 

Is that the one that appears to be sort of wild west but not east of west?

Coronavirus has almost shifted me entirely over to digital. Between kindle unlimited and some really good offers on comixology, marvel (who gave away about 20 graphic novels away for free between their lock-down and BLM promotions) and Humble bundle Image (which I think might still be on) I've pretty much given up on graphic novels (besides the insane Zavvi DC masterworks offer last month where a hardback was £2.50). It works quite well for me too as I can happily read comics on my phone via the panel per page function which actually makes a lot of the artwork better in the sense it's larger than in print.

I read "kraven's last hunt" for the first time today and I can see why it gains so much praise. The artwork is excellent and the fact Kraven wins seems almost unheard of for marvel comics. The only downside for me is that Spidey doesn't ring true for me. He's far too batman like but I guess that was the phase he was going through in the late 80s early 90s. It reminds me how good a job Slott did of bringing the character back to being a bit of a loser but fun and how despite hating "one more day" I can see why they sort of needed it to get back to the character's core and start brand new day. I recall enjoying JMS Spider-man run but thinking back he was "old and serious" there as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/28/2020 at 8:40 PM, Teng Ai Hui said:

I'm curious to try Gaiman's Sandman books.  Should I just follow the publication order?  Or should I try the chronological order?  The latter seems interesting but also impractical as one must find 4 different graphic novels in order to read the first 6 items.

The board wisely advised me to stick with the publication order, yet I couldn't resist trying the oddball way.  I read the first four items on that chronological list, and they felt pretentious and disconnected.   Recently, I tried again, starting with volume 1, Preludes and Nocturnes.  Now I see why Sandman is so highly praised.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, Teng Ai Hui said:

The board wisely advised me to stick with the publication order, yet I couldn't resist trying the oddball way.  I read the first four items on that chronological list, and they felt pretentious and disconnected. 

Would those be the prologues? "A Dream of Thousand Cats" is wonderful, but yeah, starting out with that without any grounding in the Sandman universe would be weird.

25 minutes ago, Teng Ai Hui said:

 Recently, I tried again, starting with volume 1, Preludes and Nocturnes.  Now I see why Sandman is so highly praised.

Definitely the right way to do it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/23/2020 at 4:44 PM, Ran said:

Would those be the prologues? "A Dream of Thousand Cats" is wonderful, but yeah, starting out with that without any grounding in the Sandman universe would be weird.

Definitely the right way to do it.

Publication order is the way to go - although I could maybe argue starting with book 2 as that's where the series becomes its own thing and much more reflective of the series as a whole. I still like the first volume as i find it quite quirky how he interacts with DC characters like Batman. People complain about Sandman being incorporated into the DC universe but he was actually there from the start.

I read the first volume of "the unwritten" and it seems a good book for fans of Sandman and "fables"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have now read the first two volumes of The Sandman. It’s an amazing work to read and to look at. I wish it had its own thread.

Also, I had assumed that it was in the fantasy genre. I wasn’t expecting such a large amount of horror along with it. I don’t think that I will forget the entirety of “24 Hours” (issue #6) or The Corinthian’s eyes anytime soon.

 

19 hours ago, red snow said:

I still like the first volume as i find it quite quirky how he interacts with DC characters like Batman. People complain about Sandman being incorporated into the DC universe but he was actually there from the start.

I actually like those crossovers.

Edited by Teng Ai Hui
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Teng Ai Hui said:

I have now read the first two volumes of The Sandman. It’s an amazing work to read and to look at. I wish it had its own thread.

Also, I had assumed that it was in the fantasy genre. I wasn’t expecting such a large amount of horror along with it. I don’t think that I will forget the entirety of “24 Hours” (issue #6) or The Corinthian’s eyes anytime soon.

 

I actually like those crossovers.

Pretty sure that no one will forget 24 Hours or the Corinthian's eyes.  That is one of the first things I think of when someone brings up Sandman.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Over the holidays I read through my collection of Don Rosa's Disney Duck comics again. Rosa really put a lot of work into his stories, and they are an absolute joy to read. However, I think he was a tad too firm in his principles, by only sticking to the mythos Carl Barks created and setting a firm timeline (despite Carl Barks himself insisting that each story should be self-contained). Barks wrote stories that took part in his present (between 1947 and 1967), while Rosa stuck to the past by letting all his stories happen in that same time span. I think it caused a bit of stagnation which he would have had to address had he not retired in 2006. 

That retirement marked the end of an era for the Disney Duck comics, I think. While there were always many writers and artists working on them, and still are, Barks laid the definite ground work that Rosa continued to build on, but he had to fight executive meddling to get there. Disney pays its comic artists a fixed sum per page, and no royalties, which isn't conducive to elaborately crafted stories - you'll get more for a rush job than a Rosa-style masterpiece. Meanwhile, the editors of the comic magazines want short stories that were easier to fit into the fixed page limit of the weekly publications. Rosa was allowed a bit of leeway because of his obvious skill and great popularity. 

But after Rosa, things have gone sour in my opinion. While short stories may be the bread and butter of the Disney Duck comics, it's the long adventure-style comics of Barks and Rosa that are considered the fine meat, and nobody seems to be making any more of those nowadays. Whenever the comics have a "special issue", or for those long-print Christmas publications, they are re-printing the works of Barks and Rosa. Hardcover collection books? Barks and Rosa again. The editors have failed to foster new talents, and the strict limitations imposed on the artists means even those who have the talent can't climb to the same heights. 

And so, to my great sadness, this cornerstone of culture is eroding. Comics fail to capture the imagination of today's youth, and while the classics are popular and appreciated, there's a limited supply of them, so long-term fans gradually come to realize they've already read what's worth reading and end their subscriptions. Myself, I've collected the Disney Duck comics since I was five, back in 1996, and it seems like the collection will reach its end some time within the next few years. I've grown up with Donald Duck, as have literally millions of people in Norway since the magazine was first published in 1948, but it doesn't seem to stick around for the next generation. It's in a death spiral, with lower sales every year and editors (possibly reined in by Disney's executives) that refuse to take any chances. The Disney Duck comics died in the US a long time ago, but they've been staying strong in Scandinavia until now. But I don't see them stick around for much longer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/5/2020 at 12:14 PM, Nictarion said:

I just read Pulp by Brubaker and Phillips. Highly recommend it if you’re a fan of their collaborations. Kind of like Criminal with some old west stuff mixed in. 

I haven't heard of that one (I need to reread catch up on criminal since it crossed over to Image) but they are a creator combo that usually guarantees quality

I'm somewhat foolishly reading the Knightfall story as part of my mission to read through the big storylines in Batman between then and the Jim Lee Hush storyline (which is when I started reading Batman on a regular basis). I've only read prelude so far and halfway through the Azrael series pre-knightfall. One thing that struck me was just how good Joe Quesade was at that time. His work looked modern back then and compared to the artwork occurring in concurrent Batman titles the difference in quality is stark. The colouring is also much better but I don't know if that's because it's been digitally remastered or because Joe picked his colorist. Anyhow, it reminds me that it's a shame he has relatively little output beyond covers as he was/is a real talent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I have to recommend everyone check out VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE the comic by Tim Seeley and published by Vault comics. This is a really solid comic book and really true to the World of Darkness with its politics, moral dilemmas, and struggles by the protagonists to not be as evil as their society tries to make them. There's only two issues out but I've already preordered the rest of them.

I hope this becomes an ongoing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...