Comics

[Moelman]

Ok. I'll seriously consider buying the first trade today (I'm heading to the shop anyway, later on...) What went wrong with the Ultimates? and what would you suggest instead for spiderman TPBs?

Has anyone read any of The Phantom?

Also: This Exists: http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/comics.htm

I'm an Amazing fan over Ultimate for Spider-Man, but I used to get the comics monthly until they went 3 times a month when I dropped it. So I'm not sure which trades they've made of it recently aside from Civil War (which had some good parts), but I'd recommend looking into it.

[Garple]

Yeah, so, since I've quickly found myself becoming a complete Marvel fanboy...I've subscribed to their digital comics collection. I'm starting to make my way through the Incredible Hulk, starting all the way back with the first issue in 1962. These old comics crack me up. I like the habit they have of explaining, with the dialogue, things that should be apparent in the pictures:

"I've just shot you in the shoulder, and yet, you keep advancing. You must be impervious to bullets."

"The Missile is destroyed, but I have landed at my destination safely."

[Psych]

I noticed something similar when I read though the first volume of Essential Silver Surfer. Except most of the dialog was the Surfer reciting how much better he is than everyone else on the planet.

"Like all others of your bestial race, in your abysmal ignorance, you mistake compassion... for weakness!"

"Some there are might think me mad... because I do not choose to walk among them! ...But, would the eagle shed his wings... that he might dwell with ants?"

"Must I always protect you in spite of yourselves? are you so steeped in evil that it is all you see?"

He constantly laments mankind's fear and hatred for him, yet it never occurs to him that it might be lines like this:

"The female shall live-- as shall you-- and all mankind Yes! You will live long enough to rue this day-- to taste the vengeance of the Silver Surfer!"

[vimes]

"Like all others of your bestial race, in your abysmal ignorance, you mistake compassion... for weakness!"

"Some there are might think me mad... because I do not choose to walk among them! ...But, would the eagle shed his wings... that he might dwell with ants?"

"Must I always protect you in spite of yourselves? are you so steeped in evil that it is all you see?"

He constantly laments mankind's fear and hatred for him, yet it never occurs to him that it might be lines like this:

"The female shall live-- as shall you-- and all mankind Yes! You will live long enough to rue this day-- to taste the vengeance of the Silver Surfer!"

Here's something I've always wondered about comics : what's up with the weird use of bold words. From time to time, they do make sense in terms of speech emphasis, but most of the time they don't make any sense. What kind of rambling lunatic speaks like this.

"You will live long enough to rue this day-- to taste the vengeance of the Silver Surfer!"

[toblix]

What kind of rambling lunatic speaks like this.

"You will live long enough to rue this day-- to taste the vengeance of the Silver Surfer!"

Yeah, I think it's the same thing going on here:

[shammack]

Heh, that was one of my favorite things about that game. "I could FIX them with STICKY TAPE!"

[Psych]

What kind of rambling lunatic speaks like this.

"You will live long enough to rue this day-- to taste the vengeance of the Silver Surfer!"

Well it was written by Stan Lee.

[Scrobbs]

Anyone get into the short run 'Sleeze Brothers' from Lee? Blues Brothers parody - around late 80s. I really enjoyed them as a teenager.

[mkenyon]

My top 5's as of late:

Superman: Red Son. Imagine Superman landed 12 hours later than he really did. No big deal you say? He lands in Ukraine. Superman is a commie! It's written by Mark Millar, and he doesn't take the subject in a black and white manner as one would expect. There's a lot of gray area. It's freaking fantastic. (and its my avatar)

The Ultimates 1+2. Another Millar book. This is an Avengers reboot. They form the Ultimates under Nick Fury during the presidency of George W. Bush. It takes a very modern and adult look at what a supergroup would have to go through in today's day and age. Public Relations, questions of using them as a preemptive force against rogue nations, etc. . Freaking awesome.

Thor. Straczynski did this reboot. Art is amazing, and its very adult in content. Not as in boobies and blood, but as in complex relationships and concepts. Very well written, and great ideas throughout the book in a post civil-war Marvel universe.

Locke and Key. A horror/terror book done in a Lovecraftian world. The book is really freaking creepy, amazingly well written. It doesn't take the Lovecraft IP and sensationalize it. I think it does a really good job of capturing that "this is just the surface.... what is coming" creepy feel that Lovecraft did so well.

Invincible. Great popcorn superhero book in the Image universe. Kirkman (of Walking Dead fame) is the writer behind this. It's about the son of a great superhero coming of age and having to come to grips with serious issues. High school one day, saving the world the next.

[Garple]

I read a one-shot comic Marvel did where the Punisher teamed up with Eminem (yes...the one you're thinking of). It was made because he has a new album coming out. Would you believe it was fucking terrible?

[DanJW]

I'm surprised a comic-recommendation thread has got this far without anyone mentioning Sandman. One of the definite must-read series in the comics world; genuinely grown-up and emotionally moving stories.

Fans of Neil Gaiman and/or Marvel should also check out 1602. The ending is typical Marvel schlock but I enjoyed the treatment of stock Marvel heroes in this new setting. I'll be picking up the sequels when I can.

[syntheticgerbil]

I'm surprised a comic-recommendation thread has got this far without anyone mentioning Sandman. One of the definite must-read series in the comics world; genuinely grown-up and emotionally moving stories.

I would like to read Sandman, but taking on collecting Neil Gaiman works seems like a huge chore, because it seems like he's always involved with tons of new things every year. My girlfriend has a couple of his novels and seems to really like them.

But what I've read of him in comes with Dave McKean drawing was nice, Good Omens was a great book, as well as he seems to appear in many anthology comics I buy. So maybe someday...

I'm also interested in seeing Sam Kieth's early artwork on the beginning issues of Sandman.

[DanJW]

Well the Sandman series is completed for good, along with its various spin-off mini-series. There are 10 trade paperbacks in the main run, and I collected them at about one a month. Then some of the spin-offs including the Death books

Sam Keith has some lovely moments in the first book, but overall I think Mike Dringenberg is my favourite Sandman artist.

[syntheticgerbil]

I thought the Sandman series was still going, but that Neil Gaiman's run and supervision on it ended years ago. I remember a few years back trying to figure out where I would stop, but I got really confused on what was "canon" and what was DC keeping a series going without the creator for the money.

[DanJW]

A lot of the spin-offs were done without Gaiman, although he still has authorial control and signs off on that stuff. But the only recent thing I can find mention of is a comic adaptation of the Dream Hunters illustrated novel.

Strange actually since Dream Hunters was my introduction to Sandman. The original is illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano, box cover artist for the Final Fantasy games. Oh, and that book will make you cry.

If you start at the first trade paperback, Preludes and Nocturnes, the inside back cover lists all the books you need to worry about, and divides them neatly between central and spin-offs.

But Preludes is really just.. well a prelude to the main series. It relies a lot more on existing DC characters, and as Gaiman himself admits in the introduction, doesn't really find its feet until the final chapter. So don't judge the entire series on that one book - part 2, THe Doll's House is much more representative and engrossing.

[ThunderPeel2001]

But Preludes is really just.. well a prelude to the main series. It relies a lot more on existing DC characters, and as Gaiman himself admits in the introduction, doesn't really find its feet until the final chapter. So don't judge the entire series on that one book - part 2, THe Doll's House is much more representative and engrossing.

Damn, that's good to know. I read Preludes and Nocturns and wasn't really drawn in. I should have kept going. I think there's 10 TPBs in total, with plenty of spin-offs for those interested in more.

Wasn't a fan of 1602, though.

[Ben X]

Yayyyy, I just got a load of comics from the library: Red Son, Superman For All Seasons, LXG 1910 and Black Dossier (with special glasses!), Identity Crisis, Marvel Zombies, Daredevil: Man Without Fear and Batman: Strange Apparitions. I'll report back later!

I also bought the first Scott Pilgrim - I want to read all the comics before the film comes out - and it was really good, I recommend it.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Just remember: The Black Dossier is more of a sourcebook than a normal "adventure". Very good, though!

[Patters]

Just picked up Spider-Man Noir and Daredevil Noir, the art is brilliant. I'll post proper impressions when I have read them.

[Moelman]

I just finished All-Star Superman volume 1 and will definitely be getting volume 2 at some point, a great story and I love how it is not contained to the Superman continuity (also I have never read Superman before). Now I am just starting The Sandman which is supposed to be amazing but I had never heard of it before a few weeks ago, I did not even finish the first chapter but so far it's interesting.

[Patters]

OK so I'm half way through Spider-Man Noir. Damn it's good, there's some quite dark topics, and the 1930's setting is fantastic. The suit is utterly fantastic too.

[bwdiederich]

I just recently let myself buy comics again. None of these are super hero comics per se, but all are really great.

Northlanders, there's two trades out I think, written by Brian Wood (Demo and DMZ), each trade collects a single contained story about vikings in one way or another. It's really really good. The art is beautiful and the writing is super great. The first trade is probably one of my favorites ever.

The Programme, two trades out as well I believe. Don't remember the author or artist. I've only read the first trade. It's set in the modern day and is about weird cold war era experiments to create super mutant fighters. Kind of weird, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Losers, it's done now. From a few years ago. There's like 5 books I think? A black ops team is killed off by the government but, whoops!, they survive and spend the rest of the series trying to exact justice. Not smart exactly, but a lot of fun. The writing is quick and clever, and when the main artist, Jock, is drawing the art is really amazing. Oh and they're turning it into a movie, but I have no idea if it looks any good.

[Slayeric]

I'm bit of a super hero guy and have been disappointed by most of Marvels main line continuity offerings lately. Crazy universe spanning even after another since Civil War started. No down time. Got on my nerves, and I just wasn't fond of how it was playing out as a whole. So I looked into reading some DC stuff after 52 and Final Crisis ended. I decided to jump into Geoff John's highly acclaimed run on Green Lantern, and I've gotta say, that's some kick ass stuff. I suggest starting with Green Lantern: Secret Origin and Green Lantern: Rebirth. A lot of stuff in Rebirth went over my head too, but if you roll with it, you'll eventually understand what's up with it. And usually John's does a great job of summing up whatever craziness you're looking at if you need help.

I'm not gonna lie, I was never a big Green Lantern fan before I read Secret Origins and Rebirth, but now I'm hooked, and have read everything GL related from Rebirth to Blackest Night. It's quite an epic build up. The pay off has been skirting between being great to mild, but last issue of Blackest Night is next month. I have faith in Johns to bring it back around.

And if anyone hasn't read The Walking Dead yet, get cracking. That's a great character driven story. Probably the best comic Image has ever put out, and will ever put out. The zombies? Yeah. Okay. Whatever. They're neat too. But the crazy twists and turns that the story takes is the real attraction. The trade paper backs are pretty cheap too. You can get them off of Amazon for a reasonable price.

Also: first post. Glad to be a member of the Idle Thumbs forums. A friend got me listening to the podcast just 2 days ago, listened to tonights podcast, heard that there were forums full of friendly folk and thought "Why not? I'll go ahead and join."

[ThunderPeel2001]

Well, I'm looking forward to reading the continuation of the Buffy-verse in Angel: After the Fall and Spike: After the Fall, and also in Buffy: Season 8.

As for the comics I've been reading at the moment, they've been Buffy related, too

Joss Whedon did a story with a character called Fray, set in the future but in the same universe. Very good. He also put together two anthologies of stories written by the Buffy staff, Tales of the Slayers and Tales of the Vampires, too. Both were excellent, but the latter was better.

Yes. I know. I will eventually come out my Buffy isolation, but right now I'm having a ball

[bakka bakka bakka]

i second the chris ware recommendations. his acme novelty library series can't be given enough praise. if you see any of his work you should pick it up.