The All New Comics Thread 2017+ Edition

[Small Man Big Horse]

Batman 78 and 79 - In which Batman and Catwoman flirt for ages. It's kind of fun, but eh, a bit drawn out.

Spider-Man 1 - Written by J.J. Abrams and his son K.K., this is set in an alternative universe where MJ is murdered, Peter Parker loses an arm and gives up being Spider-Man. Skip forward 12 years later and their son Ben is starting to develop powers, much to his confusion as he had no idea his mostly absent dad was a superhero. Can't say I liked it much, killing MJ (and having her blood soaked body turn up in flashbacks) was tiresome stuff, and Ben Parker isn't as interesting as his dear old papa.

Black Hammer: Age Of Doom 11 & 12 - In which another chapter of the Black Hammer saga comes to a close. Everyone finally has their memories back but the Anti-God is returning, so does that mean every single person will die? Actually, no, and boy did I fucking hate the ending to this. It's a series I've liked even if it has been a bit repetitive with the main characters memories conveniently wiped a second time, but for it to end with them all back on the farm, meaning the whole thing was pointless (and completely unsatisfying) well, this is the first time I've actively disliked something by Jeff Lemire and I really do dislike it a hell of a lot. There's going to be other Black Hammer series, presumably featuring other characters, but I'm not going to bother until they've finished and the reviews suggest they're worth reading.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Just finished reading Marvel Comics The Untold Story by Sean Howe which was a fascinating read, an extremely detailed insight in to how the company was run over sixty plus years. My mine take away was that Stan Lee deserves some credit for creating the characters but the artists should just get as much, and that from about 1980 onwards he fucked about trying (and mainly failing) to get movies made and regretting the career he didn't have in script and novel writing. Also Jim Shooter is a colossal prick who was responsible for a lot of terrible crossover stories, and that it's amazing the company survived the late 90s / early 2000s.

[Mister Six]

Wasn't Shooter the guy who said there were no gays in Marvel comics? Hence Byrne and co having to make characters like Northstar closeted until after Shooter left?

[Small Man Big Horse]

Wasn't Shooter the guy who said there were no gays in Marvel comics? Hence Byrne and co having to make characters like Northstar closeted until after Shooter left?

It doesn't go in to detail about that, just mentioning that after Shooter left there was some resistance to making Northstar gay but they managed to talk the new boss round.

[Gulftastic]

Buying the last 'Paper Girls' trade paperback has completed my latest OK Comics loyalty card. I can now choose a free book up to the value of £25. If I want to go over that I can add money.

Does anyone have recommendations?

[Artie Fufkin]

Buying the last 'Paper Girls' trade paperback has completed my latest OK Comics loyalty card. I can now choose a free book up to the value of £25. If I want to go over that I can add money.

Does anyone have recommendations?

Just been in a 'From Hell' discussion on another thread. That's cracking. Alan Moore's Jack The Ripper story, if you didn't know.

[Artie Fufkin]

Buying the last 'Paper Girls' trade paperback has completed my latest OK Comics loyalty card. I can now choose a free book up to the value of £25. If I want to go over that I can add money.

Does anyone have recommendations?

This is brilliant, too :
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13590693-the-killer-omnibus-volume-1?from_search=true

[Gulftastic]

Just been in a 'From Hell' discussion on another thread. That's cracking. Alan Moore's Jack The Ripper story, if you didn't know.

Yes, I might try that. It's about the only Alan Moore thing I've not read. Not sure why I never got round to it.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Yes, I might try that. It's about the only Alan Moore thing I've not read. Not sure why I never got round to it.

The same applies with me (though I only got about 20 pages in to Lost Girls before giving up on it), for me it's that I'm not a huge fan of Eddie Campbell's art but I really should give it a second go considering how beloved it is.

[Glebe]

Read Catwoman: When in Rome. It's alright, I wish it had just been about Catwoman and not throw the Riddler, etc. in.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Blasted through Before the Incal, After the Incal and Final Incal in a couple of days. Gotta say that none of them quite match up with the original work, but of this crop I enjoyed 'Before the Incal' the most probably because of the increased focus on character and worldbuilding. John DiFool is a less thorny and annoying presence in that book as well, which doesn't necessarily make it better thematically but it does make it all easier to take in. The symbolism of a formerly dynamic and heroic person being dulled by conventional aspirations and debauchery is quite obvious but works well nonetheless.

'After the Incal' is fine, would have to agree with some of the stuff I've read that Moebius's art is inexplicably below par, although the colouring is the really unattractive thing about the book in that regard. Jodorowsky clearly wasn't at his best either, with some plot elements being a bit slapdash and disappointing. Probably for the best that they chucked it in, although it's worth a read because these two on an off day is better than etc. etc. It's difficult to describe what feels off about it, but I guess that it feels tonally underconfident, which is obviously a rarity for Jodorowsky.

'Final Incal' is good, if a little formally conventional. There's a big battle near the end which is slightly tedious. I enjoyed it and the way the various plot strands and characters are brought back was certainly satisfying enough, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed. The problems of having to meet a high standard, I guess. But there was a bit of a feeling of "is that it?" that I couldn't quite shake.

[Gulftastic]

Settled on From Hell. Wish I hadn't done a heavy shop before buying it mind. Weighed a bloody ton.

[Mister Six]

Going in for my umpteenth reading of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles, largely because I've found out about a rather fun podcast called The King Mobcast, in which a bunch of Americans, some familiar with the story and some not, deconstruct the series panel by panel, reference by reference. I'm only halfway through the first episode and it's not said much that I didn't already know, but I am absurdly nerdy about this kind of thing. But it is engaging, I'm enjoying seeing other perspectives on this beloved work, and I'm looking forward to hearing how they react to the series when it goes properly loopy. Also they played a bit from Luke Haines' album Baader Meinhof, which impressed me.

Finally finished off Garth Ennis' A Walk Through Hell too, and it's really made me worry for his mental health. He's always been a cynic, but in this he sounds outright nihilistic, and clearly has very little hope for the future of humanity. I'll let you decide how much you agree with his final point, but it rang true to me. I do hope he's still able to have a laugh though. Oh, the plot? A couple of FBI agents enter a spooky warehouse that drove a SWAT team mad, and things get rapidly worse from there. The title is not metaphorical.

Finally, I soaked up first volume of Alan Moore's Promethea. It didn't quite get me at the time and I still feel a little cold to it now, largely because I find the supporting cast quite tedious, but JH Williams' art is absurdly glorious and Moore was obviously having fun. I do want to see how things unfold, and while some people complained about it getting too metaphysical by the end, that's exactly what interests me about the comic, so I'm quite happy to roll with it.

[madhair60]

If you've not read Garth's Jimmy's Bastards, I recommend that as a... erm... palate cleanser.

His Dastardly and Muttley series, too.

[Custard]

Just started on Jason Aaron's Southern Bastards. The first volume, oof. Visceral, bleak, lovely stuff. His Scalped is one of my all-time favourite series. That was brilliant. He always has fantastic art in his books, too

Trying out the original series of Tank Girl, too. Only two issues in, and I'm really liking it. No wonder they struggle to make films out if it, though. It's pure comic, in all the best ways

Also reading the first Prison Pit book. Lovely, ridiculously over the top violence, and very funny

[Small Man Big Horse]

I'm rereading Marvels by Kurt Busiek at the moment after picking it up for £1.99 at a charity shop, it really is something I'm very fond of and while perhaps it's not quite as groundbreaking as it was upon release it's still a fun read and the art is stunning.

[Artie Fufkin]

I'm rereading Marvels by Kurt Busiek at the moment after picking it up for £1.99 at a charity shop, it really is something I'm very fond of and while perhaps it's not quite as groundbreaking as it was upon release it's still a fun read and the art is stunning.

Loved that series. Alex Ross is amazing.

[Mister Six]

If you've not read Garth's Jimmy's Bastards, I recommend that as a... erm... palate cleanser.

His Dastardly and Muttley series, too.

Cheers - I saw D&M at the library so I might pick that up soon!

[madhair60]

Don't read any spoilers. I found it absolutely joyous.

[Mister Six]

Cheers!

I really am enjoying that Invisibles podcast, by the way. They spot a lot of references that passed me by, despite my earlier bravado, had missed.

They also get some stuff (usually details of British life) wrong, which is super annoying, but hey ho.

[Mister Six]

Picked up the first trade of Sink, a nicely grimy horror/crime comic set in a blasted Glasgow estate called Sinkhill, where would-be gangsters film their atrocities as auditions for the local crime boss, a troupe of deranged clowns haul people off in the back of a blue van and haunting dreams of a sinister staircase plague the locals.

That sounds a bit derivative, maybe, but the execution is superb (I'm bored to death of spooky clowns, but these mad cunts are genuinely terrifying) and seeing all these separate stories - each issue is self-contained, more or less - slowly interweave is really satisfying.

Looks like it's only on issue 10 despite having started in 2016 so clearly not got the fastest production schedule, but I'd rather the quality stay high, to be honest.

[Pinckle Wicker]

Just started on Jason Aaron's Southern Bastards. The first volume, oof. Visceral, bleak, lovely stuff. His Scalped is one of my all-time favourite series. That was brilliant. He always has fantastic art in his books, too

Also reading the first Prison Pit book. Lovely, ridiculously over the top violence, and very funny

Love both of these series.
I don't think much has been happening on SB for a while now. It has been on a bit of a cliffhanger for well over a year now, I think.
Jonny Ryan's Prison Pit is excellent. Very, very OTT (more so than American Barbarian but similar). I think it's up to book six now, as just restarted last year. Cannibal Fuck Face was my avatar for a while there. Also, an animated series started but don't think it progressed beyond ep 1, which is a shame as was really good and in line with the book perfectly.

[Spiteface]

Go Go Power Rangers this month was a Bulk & Skull-centric issue.

Good to know that even in Boom's continuity, the plot grinds to a screeching halt whenever those two show up.

[madhair60]

Go Go Power Rangers this month was a Bulk & Skull-centric issue.

Good to know that even in Boom's continuity, the plot grinds to a screeching halt whenever those two show up.

Did their incredible music play in your head at least?

[Small Man Big Horse]

Finished off Warren Ellis's The Wild Storm, which built and built nicely and then in the final issue it felt a bit of a disappointment, with everything ending pretty much the way I thought it would. It was supposed to continue in a new series called WildCATS but that seems to have been either cancelled or delayed, which is frustrating and then some.

[Spiteface]

Did their incredible music play in your head at least?

Nope, I was just wondering why this doesn't tie into "Necessary Evil" even though the cover has that banner on it. I hate it when comics do that. Unless they're important in a way that has yet to be revealed.


They're actually more bearable in the comics than they ever were in the show. They're now YouTubers trying to document the Power Rangers' fights in Angel Grove. Which is better than the equivalent period in the show where they try to figure out the Rangers' identities only to give up on that and join the police.

[madhair60]

Where should I start with the comics? I watched the show until Turbo and then I stopped, but I quite like the idea of a ridiculously overwrought Power Rangers comic.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Batman 81 - The story's finally gotten good and Tom King is racing towards the end of his run on the series, only for the art to be absolutely abysmal, and some of the worst I've seen in years, which is incredibly annoying.

[Spiteface]

Where should I start with the comics? I watched the show until Turbo and then I stopped, but I quite like the idea of a ridiculously overwrought Power Rangers comic.

Like you, I stopped for a while with Turbo, didn't go back until "Lost Galaxy" and am on and off, depending on the show. Hasn't been good since RPM, though.

My honest answer is Kyle Higgin's entire run on the main "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" book, from issue 1 up to the end of "Shattered Grid" (imagine if Power Rangers did a weird Crisis-type event) - the early issues are set just after Green With Evil and as such, Tommy is very much the new guy, and there's a lot of processing the aftermath of his brainwashing and whether the team can actually trust him.

There have been other miniseries and one-shots as well.

"Pink" is the first of these, following Kimberly, the original Pink Ranger after she left the team in series 3 of the show, and her becoming a Ranger and leading her own team.

Then there's a crossover with the Justice League that's a load of fun, seeing the two teams come together to take on Lord Zedd & Brainiac. A Ninja Turtles crossover is happening too, but some of us remember the last one.

Not long after the main comic launched, came another ongoing called "Go Go Power Rangers" which started out being set much earlier, a little more focus on the Rangers juggling school with saving the world, then had some tie-ins to the main book when Shattered Grid was ongoing. Now the book is part of the newer arc, but set in the period after Tommy's green powers go away, but before he returns to the team (they actually explain why he goes away in this time, which is more than the show did).

Then there's a couple of One-Shot graphic novels, "Soul of the Dragon" is written by Higgins and is basically "Old Man Tommy" and more recently, "The Psycho Path" which is set after "in Space" and "Lost Galaxy" with the Psycho Rangers making a return.

[madhair60]

Cheers I'll have a look, I love the idea of this ridiculous universe being given some measure of complexity/meaningful serialisation.