Comic Books, part 2

[Sci-2]

MUCH more. I think Image are easily putting out 30-something series at the moment, about four or so of which are Liefeld-created/inspired and maybe one or two more are from that era, but largely they've moved beyond that aspect.

Now it's the home of Morning Glories, The Walking Dead, Revival, Peter Panzerfaust, Epic Kill, Harvest, Black Kiss (II), Whispers, Mind the Gap, Saga, Fatale, Thief of Thieves, The Activity, most of Top Cow's stuff (Witchblade, The Darkness, Cyberforce, etc), Super Dinosaur, Manhattan Projects and many many more.

It's to the comics market now what Vertigo was ten/twenty years ago.

Thanks for listing all those titles, I'll have to look out for them. Never read much Image save for a book here and there.

[delete this account pls]

It would be bizarre if good writers took over all of Liefeld's creations and turned them into something good. It osrt of misses the point of Kirkman's "come to Image to write creator owned comics" but maybe Liefeld is being generous and giving Brandon creator rights for the story he's currently writing?

Nope, it's straight work-for-hire. Nobody can accuse Rob of not being a hypocrite. It IS really good though and like Nephrite says, it completely ignores past continuity (the story itself has past continuity, but it's nothing that was ever published, it's all original) And outside of the Extreme books, Image is doing a ton of great creator owned stuff right now. Hickman's two new books are both really good, for example.

I heard Brandon Graham had an excellent Graphic Novel out too.

King City. Highly reccomended! It was the reason I picked up Prophet in the first place.

[Sci-2]

What about older comic stories you'd recommend?

For example, for the JG Jones art and the crazy concept porn I'd rec Marvel Boy written by Grant Morrison. Definitely don't pay top dollar though.

Same thing for the Jae Lee art on GM's Fantastic Four 1234. Cool story, but nothing mindblowing.

Another one I think is worth reading is Peter Milligan's Extremist. Milligan is definitely underrated, given (as I've said before) Enigma.

Also, his Hellblazer runs are good from what I've picked at but I haven't read much.

[red snow]

Paul Jenkin's and Jae Lee's "inhumans" is very good too, if you're looking for oldish marvel trades. Actually. I'm hard pressed to think of another Marvel trade as self-contained as that one, maybe some of the Max titles.

Pride of Baghdad by Brian K Vaughn is very good.

Morrison is usually a safe bet especially for the crazy ideas - I still love his animal man run.

[Little Valkyrie]

What about older comic stories you'd recommend?

James Robinson's Starman. You don't have to know any real details about other parts of the DC Universe or Golden Age comics, but you may find yourself going back and digging into them later with a new appreciation after it. It's pretty self-contained, even when he had to do issues dealing with company-wide events and the like.

GM's Fantastic Four 1234 has some neat ideas but I was pretty mmmmeh on it all together. I found the art too murky, but some of that is what I'm looking for in an F4 story, etc.

ETA: oh, and for the general amusement of the board, have some John C. Wright talking (AT GREAT LENGTH) on the aesthetics of comic book superheroes:

http://www.scifiwright.com/2010/11/superman-and-dehumanity-part-vi-on-heroics/

I'm sure everyone will appreciate his insights. :D

[Sci-2]

Fucking Wright, even in the comment section he's writing dissertations.

Reread the Filth before sleeping. God now that's a good fucking comic.

Might be my favorite trade paperback.

[red snow]

Fucking Wright, even in the comment section he's writing dissertations.

Reread the Filth before sleeping. God now that's a good fucking comic.

Might be my favorite trade paperback.

I read it as a monthly and it was pretty insane (I recall giant killer sperm) but I've heard it actually works a lot better when read in a short sitting. I should maybe dig the old issues from out my grandparents loft. Speaking of which where do the rest of you store your comics? I still find it hard to throw them away (especially given the cost) but it's a nightmare finding storage space. Problem is worse as i live in flats without a ton of storage space. It's one of the things that draws me towards digital.

[Loerwyn]

I keep mine largely bagged in an Avon delivery box, but that's largely because I haven't got a huge amount of comics to store. I prefer to buy trades and they fit nicely on shelves.

[Sci-2]

All I've got left is trades. I basically give my comics away every so often.

[Morpheus]

Morrison is usually a safe bet especially for the crazy ideas - I still love his animal man run.

Morrison's Doom Patrol run is also ace.

[Sci-2]

Morrison's Doom Patrol run is also ace.

The issue where the Negative Spirit gives birth to itself is one of my all time favorite comics.

"I am the invisible fire that works in secret."

[Ouroboros]

Really digging the new Hawkeye book. Marvel is really starting to bring out some quality stuff.

[red snow]

Disappointed that Remender is leaving uncanny X-force. Although it does mean wolverine is on one less team. X-force will be back.

I've only ever heard good things about morrison's doom patrol - I should check for some bargain trades.

I keep promising to sort through my comics collection to sort the wheat from the chaff - it should eliminate 90% of my collection. I'd kind of hoped I'd have some nephews to dump some of the x-men stuff on,

[dornish prince]

I read it as a monthly and it was pretty insane (I recall giant killer sperm) but I've heard it actually works a lot better when read in a short sitting. I should maybe dig the old issues from out my grandparents loft. Speaking of which where do the rest of you store your comics? I still find it hard to throw them away (especially given the cost) but it's a nightmare finding storage space. Problem is worse as i live in flats without a ton of storage space. It's one of the things that draws me towards digital.

i don't do anything particularly special for storage. all of my comics are bagged in mylar? and boarded. then, abc'd by company and then title, i put them in the standard long white boxes.

[red snow]

i don't do anything particularly special for storage. all of my comics are bagged in mylar? and boarded. then, abc'd by company and then title, i put them in the standard long white boxes.

Yeah, this is my usual attempt although i don't board them all. which is bad but I'm hoping they are packed enough to be ok,

[Lady Octarina]

So, I finally found the time to read the first issues of some of Marvel's new series. I didn't expect to love "Hawkeye", and now I think it's one of the best things Marvel has published in a long time, from the art to the story. "Gambit" is weaker, but I fangirl so badly over it that I don't even care about the quality (but what is that perfect art?!). "Captain Marvel" is interesting; she's one of my favorite Avengers and the comic itself is going through an unexpected path; I also like how it tries to establish her in a more central position in the Marvel U, she deserves that. But "X-Treme X-Men"... I never thought I wouldn't like a story that takes place in several universes, but they managed it. And who the hell cares about Dazzler anyway?

Oh and my complaint about multiple heroes being on multiple teams is even worse than I thought. Wolverine, Captain America AND Thor are on both the Avengers and Uncanny Avengers Line-up. Redundant or what?

In a sense, I agree with you that it's annoying and entirely unrealistic that characters like Thor, Wolverine and Cap are on so many teams, but I'm willing to forget my problems with this if their presence ensures that Uncanny Avengers will not be canceled in its first year, I mean, it's an interesting idea. And they are good characters, it's not like they threw Deadpool into the team! (though Remender does have the ability to make him a less unbearable character) Besides, as far as I know everyone else will appear solely in that title.

Btw, has anyone read the rumor that Magneto and Vision will be among the new members of the team by issue 7 or so? It does seem likely, considering Magneto's relationship with three of the current members, and the fact that the Vision doesn't appear in that Avengers cover they showed. I'm not much of a Vision fan, but I'm always up for some Maximoff drama. :laugh:

[red snow]

It's good to hear that Magneto is remaining a hero if he's joining the ranks of uncanny avengers. I thought they'd have reset that trick by now but maybe he's safe until he turns up as a truly villainous character in the films.

I've been bad in ignoring the new marvel series largely because the Marvel Now thing is about to kick off and i only have so much cash.

I wonder if Marvel still does the online subscription thing? MArvel Now would be an excellent opportunity for them to do "the next week" release of digital. It would be great if i could pay a flat fee per month to read as many of their current titles as i want. I doubt they'd do it as they probably fear it would damage sales. I'd probably pay $30 dollars a month to read all their current stuff online, It'd solve my storage problems too :)

[red snow]

Marvel has managed to spoil a death again by letting the media spill it. In terms of who dies it's

Xavier. Yawn - the amount of times he's almost died/been sidelined at the end of a storyline is a bit tedious. At least he'll be dead for a while. It just seems a dull death as the character has been rendered pretty pointless ever since Cyclops grew a pair and Wolverine started his own school. Maybe they've built him up a bit more in the AvX series but he feels a little like the most expendable character of note. At least they aren't killing Cyclops and I hope this doesn't stop Scott from being the hard-ass dick he's been of late.

[haLobEnder]

I actually hope that it isn't true about Mags becoming an Avenger. I want to see him and Emma go back to being villains and I want to see them take Scott down that path as well.

Who exactly is in the X-Men's rogues gallery these days? Mr. Sinister? Gillen has certainly gone out of his way to make him an even greater joke of a character than he was before.

The X-Men need stronger villains, and in Cyclops' case it would be nice to see a good guy turn bad for a change instead of vice versa.

Marvel has managed to spoil a death again by letting the media spill it. In terms of who dies it's

Xavier. Yawn - the amount of times he's almost died/been sidelined at the end of a storyline is a bit tedious. At least he'll be dead for a while. It just seems a dull death as the character has been rendered pretty pointless ever since Cyclops grew a pair and Wolverine started his own school. Maybe they've built him up a bit more in the AvX series but he feels a little like the most expendable character of note. At least they aren't killing Cyclops and I hope this doesn't stop Scott from being the hard-ass dick he's been of late.

Really? That's so underwhelming. He's been impotent in the Marvel U for the last decade at least.

They're really becoming a one trick pony; They either need to take a risk and allow one (or more) of their higher profile characters to exit the stage, or stop ending these big events with someone dying.

[red snow]

I agree, they need to realise that ending an event with a death is absolutely meaningless thanks to the revolving door of death. I mean, the amount of times marvel/dc characters have died I'm surprised they even get upset or bother having a funeral. Jean Grey has had the longest stint of being dead which is kind of ironic given her character is supposed to resurrect. I think Cable was announced in a new series before he even died a few years back, there was so short a distance. I guess Nightcrawler has done well so far but then the point is still wasted as I didn't care less when they killed him as I knew he'd be back, If he doesn't return then it's a shame as I was unaffected by the death of a character I liked,

There are plenty of other ways to have an impact at the end of a big story.