elvaq Posted May 15, 2015 Archie is childhood nostalgia for me as well and while I'm glad I grew up with them I don't know if I'd recommend it now. The weird new stuff is really interesting though especially considering what a huge shift in tone it is and that it's not-totally-embarrassing. The one that seemed the most promising to me was the new Sabrina from last Halloween which seemed like a new ongoing but hasn't come out with a new issue since. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheLastBaron Posted May 15, 2015 Archie is childhood nostalgia for me as well and while I'm glad I grew up with them I don't know if I'd recommend it now. The weird new stuff is really interesting though especially considering what a huge shift in tone it is and that it's not-totally-embarrassing. The one that seemed the most promising to me was the new Sabrina from last Halloween which seemed like a new ongoing but hasn't come out with a new issue since. Issue #2 actually came out last month, but yeah. While I'm fine reading Afterlife as a quarterly release, I didn't care enough about Sabrina to wait that long between issues. I might check it out in a few years when there's a trade. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted May 15, 2015 There's also Archie vs Predator and the upcoming Archie vs Sharknado, which are just all kinds of weird. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted May 30, 2015 Man, the ending to the newest volume of Wandering Son is a real gut punch. Really can't wait to see how it pays off in the next volume. I'm trying to avoid spoilers online and the next volume is probably going to take forever to come out again, which is a pain. I don't usually think about chapter titles too much, but I love the choice of "The Dam" for a chapter about Nitorin building up confidence and "The Dam Bursts" for a chapter where that confidence is shattered all in one go. It's a great abstraction. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
seamus2389 Posted May 31, 2015 Man, the ending to the newest volume of Wandering Son is a real gut punch. Really can't wait to see how it pays off in the next volume. I'm trying to avoid spoilers online and the next volume is probably going to take forever to come out again, which is a pain. I don't usually think about chapter titles too much, but I love the choice of "The Dam" for a chapter about Nitorin building up confidence and "The Dam Breaks" for a chapter where that confidence is shattered all in one go. It's a great abstraction. Literally just finished reading that volume and the final panel with Maiko hugging his knees on the ground saying Nitorin was taken home early by his mom was so sad particularly since Maiko and Nitorin are so close. Never even noticed the chapter titles. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted May 31, 2015 You mean Mako? Maiko is the idol that Maho and Anna work with. Having another bad coming out experience so soon after reading this made it hurt so much worse. I hope things at least work out okay for Nitorin. There's a lot of terrible shit that could happen in the next volume and I don't want to see any of it happen to that poor kid. An aside, the ending gave some nice development for Sarashina too. She's been pretty flat until now, it's nice to see her supplement the fact that she pretty much likes everyone by having her actually giving good advice and support. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elvaq Posted June 2, 2015 I finally got and read Pretty Deadly and gosh dang that is a really good book. It was really hard to follow in the beginning but once I adapted to the rhythms and knew the characters, it really drew me in. So dang fresh and different from everything else out there Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tberton Posted June 4, 2015 Hooooooolllyyyyy fuck, The Wicked + The Divine #11. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ewokskick Posted June 6, 2015 I finally got and read Pretty Deadly and gosh dang that is a really good book. It was really hard to follow in the beginning but once I adapted to the rhythms and knew the characters, it really drew me in. So dang fresh and different from everything else out there That book is so beautifully written and illustrated. I love it. Hooooooolllyyyyy fuck, The Wicked + The Divine #11. Seriously. I don't even know what to believe. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted June 6, 2015 I read Seconds the other day, by Bryan Lee O'Malley. I personally liked Scott Pilgrim but felt like I outgrew it as I got older, and Seconds really feels like a much more mature and cohesive work overall, to the point that I actually kind of resented the few small nods to Scott Pilgrim in there. Seconds perfectly captures this sort of frustrating "successful but not successful, happy but not happy" period after the indestructibility of being a teenager or early twenty-something wears off. It's from a much darker place, too. The book cost O'Malley his marriage, he lost the use of his drawing hand for several months, and he worked sixteen-hour days for most of the book's four-year development; and all of that pain ends up showing. Really great stuff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mangela Lansbury Posted June 6, 2015 I've been re-reading what I own of the Ignatz series put out by Fantagraphics. They Found The Car is good. It's basically a short story based on that phrase, but it's fun in its construction and the art is good. The End is really good, but it's by Anders Nilsen so of course it is. Same for Ganges -- it's by Kevin Huizenga, so of course it's good. Reflections is not very good, and neither is Delphine. The exercise basically reminded me how much I like Kevin Huizenga. I was kind of hoping that I'd been not paying attention long enough for him to have something new out, and he has a book out with Tom Kaczynski! I really like Kaczynski. Has anyone read Trans Terra? I expect it's probably great, but I'm curious what anyone who's read it thinks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheLastBaron Posted June 6, 2015 Humble has a Top Shelf/IDW Bundle going on and it has a ton of good stuff. The stuff I've read in it is Locke & Key, the Parker books by Darwyn Cooke, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen/Nemo books by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, the March books by Nate Powell, and Lost Dogs by Jeff Lemire. I would unreservedly recommend all of them, in fact I physically own all of them and for the most part these days I get most things digital unless I really like them. I even have the Parker books in the normal hardcovers and also the Martini (absolute) Edition. I normally hate absolute editions because I find them really annoying to read, but Darwyn Cooke's art is just so fantastic that it deserves being super-sized. It'd be nice if they had had something by Alex Robinson like Box Office Poison or Too Cool to be Forgotten, but with what's already in the bundle it's hard to fault them for not having more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
malkav11 Posted June 6, 2015 Humble has a Top Shelf/IDW Bundle going on and it has a ton of good stuff. The stuff I've read in it is Locke & Key, the Parker books by Darwyn Cooke, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen/Nemo books by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, the March books by Nate Powell, and Lost Dogs by Jeff Lemire. I would unreservedly recommend all of them, in fact I physically own all of them and for the most part these days I get most things digital unless I really like them. I even have the Parker books in the normal hardcovers and also the Martini (absolute) Edition. I normally hate absolute editions because I find them really annoying to read, but Darwyn Cooke's art is just so fantastic that it deserves being super-sized. It'd be nice if they had had something by Alex Robinson like Box Office Poison or Too Cool to be Forgotten, but with what's already in the bundle it's hard to fault them for not having more. Note that the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen stuff does not include the brilliant first two volumes, only volume 3 and the Nemo spinoff titles. Can't speak to Nemo but I really felt like the League series proper went way downhill starting with volume 3. In fact, in general Alan Moore seems to have gone on the decline. Not as badly as Frank Miller, thankfully. But then, he was starting from a much higher level to begin with. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheLastBaron Posted June 6, 2015 Good call, I just quickly looked through the list of books and didn't see that it was just volume 3. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted June 7, 2015 Moore has commonality with Miller in that he didn't so much go downhill as it became increasingly apparent that he was maybe already at the bottom. That dude was always a crazy wizard. Remember how Watchmen just casually drops the idea that psychic powers are Totally A Real Thing? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheLastBaron Posted June 8, 2015 I don't think Alan Moore being crazy means he isn't incredibly good at what he does. I mean Steve Ditko is crazy too and he still did amazing work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
malkav11 Posted June 9, 2015 I don't think Alan Moore being crazy means he isn't incredibly good at what he does. I mean Steve Ditko is crazy too and he still did amazing work. Yeah. Grant Morrison literally practices magic, as in ritual spellcasting, and is brilliant. It's just that Moore used to be crazy but brilliant and now maybe he's just crazy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheLastBaron Posted June 9, 2015 Fun Home won 5 Tony Awards which is super rad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tberton Posted June 9, 2015 I wish I lived somewhere I could see that. Fun Home is the book that really made me appreciate comics. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
seamus2389 Posted June 10, 2015 Finished reading Onwards towards our noble deaths by Shigeru Mizuki and while I knew about how important it for the Japanese army to never be captured and better to die in a suicidal charge as a matter of hounour reading a mostly autobiographical account of what it is like to be a soldier in that kind of army drove home how fucked up the whole thing was. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheLastBaron Posted June 10, 2015 Finished reading Onwards towards our noble deaths by Shigeru Mizuki and while I knew about how important it for the Japanese army to never be captured and better to die in a suicidal charge as a matter of hounour reading a mostly autobiographical account of what it is like to be a soldier in that kind of army drove home how fucked up the whole thing was. Yeah, his Showa series is also super good, I'm really looking forward to the final volume which I believe comes out in a couple months. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
namman siggins Posted June 11, 2015 Alan Moore as crazy is a tiring thing that's said by people who have no idea what they're talking about. A simple look at his philosophy and how he views magic: it's logical. Logical, because he views art as a way to change society and people's consciousness and give voice to those who are disenfranchised and oppressed; and it is magical because it changes the very being of the viewer or reader and the artist. Also, it's an act too. A lot of it is an act because of people like here see a surface level CRRRRRRRAZY WIZARD and he has fun and plays with them because he knows they will never delve into what he really believes in. Also, no one talks about how Moore has always been a social justice warrior (especially for this hometown Northampton) and has fought tooth-and-nail for creator rights and has shone a light to the injustices of DC/Marvel contacts on creators. Moore has used his comics to shine a light on environmentalism, sexual and gender issues and those who are disenfranchised. He, with a whole list of other creators, pushed the comic medium, so it could be respected. I think League wavers with every volume, but it sure as hell isn't bad. Black Dossier gets a lot of shit, but that's the best League book. Miller started off great, but fell hard; Morrison is just a superstar now and a lot of what he stood for, I think, he has abandoned. He used to be a great comic writer, now he's a pale shadow of himself. One of my favorite interviews with him Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
namman siggins Posted June 11, 2015 Also, stop using fucking crazy. Y'all don't understand what crazy is: as someone who's had psychotic breaks, has to with manic and depressive and paranoia episodes, and has friends and associates that are considered "crazy" that shit is damaging to those who have actual mental issues. Moore and Ditko aren't crazy, They're peculiar or idiosyncratic or interesting or offbeat or odd or weird or a whole list of other words you can use to describe someone that isn't part of the "norm." Fucking hell. Yeah, I mad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ben X Posted June 12, 2015 To hear Moore tell it, Morrison copied the whole magic thing off him anyway. And has Moore's quality of work really dipped that much? Maybe LoG Vol3 wasn't as good as the first two, but Promethea, Tom Strong and all that were brilliant. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted June 12, 2015 Sorry, Sigg. So I read Fun Home the other day. Daunting read. I especially liked the way that each chapter is filled with comparisons to a specific book and what it meant to Bechdel and her father. EDIT: holy shit, there's going to be a Nimona animated film. This is right after Lumberjanes got picked up for a live-action movie. It is a good time to be Noelle Stevenson. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
