The All New Comics Thread 2017+ Edition

[samadriel]

It's an odd fit, character-wise, but Ryan North is quite a talent - like yardy said, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was damn good. Can't say I'm enough of a Constantine completist to be tempted though.

[madhair60]

I can't believe people liked Squirrel Girl. It was a hideous meme comic

Happy to accept it was one of the best Marvels though, that's a fucking low bar nowadays

[13 schoolyards]

I often forget Alan Moore co-created John Constantine - I guess because he did so under obvious work-for-hire conditions and so wasn't ripped off like he was with Watchmen, so there's no real news story there. DC really have done pretty well out of the relatively small amount of work he did for them.

[Mister Six]

You're right, but it was Jamie Delano's run on Hellblazer that established Constantine as he is now - the magic,[nb]In Moore's run, John uses the talents of other magic users, but doesn't use any himself.[/nb] the guilt, the inner life, the ever-present bad mojo...

[13 schoolyards]

Yeah, Delano really nailed down the character - without him I doubt he'd have lasted this long. Though I reckon there were definitely hints of that in Swamp Thing with the references to something going wrong in Newcastle, the seance going badly wrong.

Plus there was the time Moore actually met Constantine:

Constantine's creator, Alan Moore, believes that he has met John Constantine in real life. In 1993, he told Wizard Magazine:

"One day, I was in Westminster in London — this was after we had introduced the character — and I was sitting in a sandwich bar. All of a sudden, up the stairs came John Constantine. He was wearing the trenchcoat, a short cut. He looked — no, he didn't even look exactly like Sting. He looked exactly like John Constantine. He looked at me, stared me straight in the eyes, smiled, nodded almost conspiratorially, and then just walked off around the corner to the other part of the snack bar.

"I sat there and thought, should I go around that corner and see if he is really there, or should I just eat my sandwich and leave? I opted for the latter; I thought it was the safest. I'm not making any claims to anything. I'm just saying that it happened. Strange little story."

His second meeting with his creation was illustrated in 2001's Snakes and Ladders, an adaptation by Eddie Campbell of one of Moore's performance art pieces:

"Years later, in another place, he steps out of the dark and speaks to me. He whispers: 'I'll tell you the ultimate secret of magic. Any cunt could do it.'"

[bakabaka]

Constantine's creator, Alan Moore, believes that he has met John Constantine in real life. In 1993, he told Wizard Magazine:

"One day, I was in Westminster in London — this was after we had introduced the character — and I was sitting in a sandwich bar. All of a sudden, up the stairs came John Constantine. He was wearing the trenchcoat, a short cut. He looked — no, he didn't even look exactly like Sting. He looked exactly like John Constantine. He looked at me, stared me straight in the eyes, smiled, nodded almost conspiratorially, and then just walked off around the corner to the other part of the snack bar.

"I sat there and thought, should I go around that corner and see if he is really there, or should I just eat my sandwich and leave? I opted for the latter; I thought it was the safest. I'm not making any claims to anything. I'm just saying that it happened. Strange little story."

Wasn't that scene in one of the comics, with Moore sat in the background? Just to make it even more meta...

eta: Not quite that scene, but close:


Hellblazer 120

[Mister Six]

That whole issue is meta - IIRC the bar is populated by Swamp Thing/Hellblazer artists and writers, including Garth Ennis. The premise is that the "real" John Constantine is taking you on a pub crawl where you meet the inspirations for the characters in the comics, and what you're reading each month is just the writers' takes on the stories he's told them.

[Small Man Big Horse]

The Authority: Human on the Inside - Another charity shop find, this looks great and has some fun moments, but also some really awful ones, the characterisation is off when it comes to about half of our heroic bunch, that or it's done with extremely broad strokes, and it's definitely one of the poorer versions of The Authority (though I've deliberately not read any of Mark Millar's take on the series).

[13 schoolyards]

Millar's take on The Authority was / is definitely interesting, as he took the vague suggestion from Ellis that The Authority were the bad guys and really ran with it - he just made everyone else worse. It's a fun read, but you really have to distance yourself from the characters and realise that you're just watching a bunch of shits beat the crap out of some bigger shits. The Quietly art helps a lot too, without him it's not much.

It was definitely a dry run for (or the reason why he got) The Ultimates, as it doesn't take much at all to see those guys as a slightly softer take on the same superbastards

[Small Man Big Horse]

That's interesting, I guess if it turns up in a charity shop I might get it (and my local AgeUK and Oxfam are great on that front), though if I liked it it'd be the first thing by Miller that I was fond of.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Cancertown Volume One - Another charity shop find, and I think I'm going to have to try to be a little more discerning and not just buy something because it's cheap as I really didn't like this. The lead character is so much like John Constantine I'm surprised they got away with it, and though there's a slight difference in that he has a tumour and we're supposed to question if any of it is really happening, the poor dialogue and annoying plot made me struggle to care. To be fair there is the odd nice idea or visual, but it felt like such a Hellblazer rip off that I found myself wishing I was reading the real thing.

[Artie Fufkin]

Cancertown Volume One - Another charity shop find, and I think I'm going to have to try to be a little more discerning and not just buy something because it's cheap as I really didn't like this. The lead character is so much like John Constantine I'm surprised they got away with it, and though there's a slight difference in that he has a tumour and we're supposed to question if any of it is really happening, the poor dialogue and annoying plot made me struggle to care. To be fair there is the odd nice idea or visual, but it felt like such a Hellblazer rip off that I found myself wishing I was reading the real thing.

Oh, God. Yeah, I bought this, too. Awful. Just awful.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Oh, God. Yeah, I bought this, too. Awful. Just awful.

I'm glad I'm not alone on having been subjected to it, the weird thing is that I bought it because of the glowing quote and introduction from Bryan Talbot, and I'm surprised he loved it so much given how terrible it was. Most of the time I keep graphic novels even if I don't love them as I'm trying to build up a collection, but this will be going straight back to the charity shop.

[Artie Fufkin]

I'm glad I'm not alone on having been subjected to it, the weird thing is that I bought it because of the glowing quote and introduction from Bryan Talbot, and I'm surprised he loved it so much given how terrible it was. Most of the time I keep graphic novels even if I don't love them as I'm trying to build up a collection, but this will be going straight back to the charity shop.

I'd forgotten about the Talbot foreword.
I bought it after stumbling into my LCS, and Cy Dethan was in there signing copies.

[jimboslice]

A trusted friend of mine says it's fantastic, but I've also heard it's very faithful and doesn't offer up anything new, so I doubt I'll bother.

I wouldn't say it's too faithful. There's a lot more backstory being fleshed out and changed. Jepperd's story is slightly different, Dr Singh has a bigger role, etc. I guess you could argue that they're dragging it out a bit, but it's pretty good so far.

[SOMK]

X-Factor wrapped up yesterday after 10 issues, probably the best of the X books following the Hickman reboot. Shame it didn't get a longer run, felt like it had barely gotten warmed up.

[Artie Fufkin]

Memetic by James Tynion IV, artwork by Eryk Donovan.

A 3 issue comic.
Hmmmm.
I really wanted to like this.
Loved the artwork and colouring.
1st issue was great.
Ended well too, I guess.
Middle was a bit flabby.
I dunno.
Maybe I'll read it again.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Swamp Thing - The Alan Moore run - Originally this was published just after I got in to obsessively visiting comic shops as a teenager, and when I finally read the first couple of issues a few years back online I didn't click with it. But I picked up the first two volumes in a charity shop recently and have no idea whatsoever why I didn't like it, as it is of course pretty damn superb, very different from what I was expecting but absolutely gripping and the art is fantastic too.

[bakabaka]

Swamp Thing - The Alan Moore run - Originally this was published just after I got in to obsessively visiting comic shops as a teenager, and when I finally read the first couple of issues a few years back online I didn't click with it. But I picked up the first two volumes in a charity shop recently and have no idea whatsoever why I didn't like it, as it is of course pretty damn superb, very different from what I was expecting but absolutely gripping and the art is fantastic too.

As with so many concepts in the best of Moore, the idea that Swamp Thing is the equivalent of Gaia is only blindingly obvious after he's pointed it out.

[Magnum Valentino]

When I first started rebuilding my old collection of comics earlier this summer that was the first thing I bought. Looking forward to reading it again.

Currently working through the earliest issues of Spawn as an exercise in nostalgic endurance. Really has no idea where it's going at all, an extremely frustrating series.

Also recently finished Grant Morrison's Batman run (excellent but you'll need Internet access or access to a mate who remembers everything that was happening in DC comics at the time to keep you right).

[Custard]

Have started reading a new series called Time Before Time

"2140. To escape a world with no future, many turn to The Syndicate, a criminal organization who, for the right price, will smuggle you back in time to the promise of a better yesterday"

The opening bit of a boy and his mum being relocated to 1987, then being really disappointed when told there's no wi-fi for another ten years made me laff

It's good stuff. I like that there's (so far) no time altering going on, as they tell us early on that time cannot be changed, because whatever happened, happened. Makes it easier to follow and understand

Not sure how long it'll go for, but it's three issues in, and I'm really enjoying it so far

[bgmnts]

After being impressed with the first few episodes of Sweet Tooth on Netflix, I decided to get the full compendium and I'm excited to get into it.

They race swapped the protector guardian guy though for tv. Is that still okay?

[Small Man Big Horse]

Have started reading a new series called Time Before Time

"2140. To escape a world with no future, many turn to The Syndicate, a criminal organization who, for the right price, will smuggle you back in time to the promise of a better yesterday"

The opening bit of a boy and his mum being relocated to 1987, then being really disappointed when told there's no wi-fi for another ten years made me laff

It's good stuff. I like that there's (so far) no time altering going on, as they tell us early on that time cannot be changed, because whatever happened, happened. Makes it easier to follow and understand

Not sure how long it'll go for, but it's three issues in, and I'm really enjoying it so far

That sounds intriguing and I'll definitely check it out at some point.

I finished the first two volumes of Swamp Thing and just loved it more and more as it went on, my only very minor criticism might be that the Pog issue wasn't exactly subtle, and given the current state of the world it's far, far worse than suggested, but it was still an interesting read and everything else I've adored, to the extent that - and you might want to sit down for this - but I've now bought the third volume brand new as I want to carry on reading it in its physical form, and for some crazy reason thought it'd be nice if Moore got some of my hard earned cash, though I don't know if that's the case with the latest releases of the graphic novels and if it all just goes to DC....

[Mister Six]

I think that any money DC throws his way will be refused anyway. I imagine he'll tell them to give it to the artist, same way Dave Gibbons gets all the Watchmen wonga.

Most likely Moore sees sweet FA though, as it was a work-for-hire job.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I think that any money DC throws his way will be refused anyway. I imagine he'll tell them to give it to the artist, same way Dave Gibbons gets all the Watchmen wonga.

Most likely Moore sees sweet FA though, as it was a work-for-hire job.

Ah, that's disappointing to hear, and I guess I just hope the artist's get something for it instead then.

[Jim_MacLaine]

I don't know nuffink about comics but I've been clearing out all my books and found a first print (1988) of Batman The Killing Joke. Been using one of those ebay scanners to check prices and apparently this slim volume is worth more than 50p but prices really vary according to quality and I didn't watch enough of the Comic Book Men to know my arse from my elbow.

Is it worth taking to the local comic shop to ask about it's quality to give me an idea what price to list it at?

[holdover]

I sold mine of eBay recently. I had it listed originally for £50 and only had very low offers. I reduced it to £35 and after a further couple months it sold a couple of weeks ago.

So my advice would be £35.

Is it the DC or Titan version?

[Jim_MacLaine]

Great condition first print of the DC version. Might just go for £50.00 then.

[madhair60]

Thickest question ever. Is there any way to get OOP trades of populist comics (X-Men, etc) for remotely decent prices? eBay and the like take the fucking piss. It's X-Men, I don't know why they're so high. christ

[13 schoolyards]

Part of the problem is that Marvel's trade paperback program is amazingly shit - tiny runs, things priced amazingly high, early volumes in a series being out of print while new ones are still coming out so prices go through the roof. Also comic nerds love first appearances of characters and plot twists, so seemingly average collections can go for crazy prices for no apparent reason.

If you're looking within the UK then I'd say the various online secondhand bulk booksellers are always worth a look - World of Books, Awesome Books, and so on. Problem there is they do price-matching with eBay so if it's expensive there it's often expensive everywhere.

There are a couple of massive US comic stores that are also worth a look as their prices are often more realistic - My Comic Shop is probably your best bet, but Mile High Comics can also be good (so long as you remember to check the home page on their rubbish site - almost every month they run a 40% or 50% off deal, which explains why their "real" prices are so high). But postage tends to remove any savings there.

Otherwise maybe try Oxfam and any other online op shops?

Americans are always boasting about wandering into some small town comic shop and finding all these OOP collections at half price, but the rest of the world is shit out of luck as far as that goes.