The All New Comics Thread 2023 + Edition

[Oh, Nobody]

Typical scene in the shop any given week:

CUSTOMER: "Can you recommend any Batman stories? I've heard Hush is good"

ME: "It's not, but this one is great (showing whatever good Batman we have in stock)"

and then they buy Hush.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I love Blade and the first 2 Batman films he was involved with but dislike him intensely. I remember reading that introduction to TLH in the Crewe WH Smiths and it really winding me up for the exact same reason you mention. Tim Burton says similar things in some of his Batman interviews - I don't understand the compulsion to take the risk and lie and let on you know more than you do, it seems like such a stupid human behaviour.

It really confuses me as well, at best I wonder if they do so many interviews they just end up talking nonsense without really thinking about it, but that's probably being way too generous.

Joel Schumacher on the other hand sounds reasonably well informed on his Batman commentaries, both of which are excellent talk tracks regardless of what you think of his films.

I once worked with an actor* who had a blink and you'll miss it role in Phantom Of The Opera where Schumaker apparently requested a close up of his clothed arse, but he said Schumaker was a really nice bloke and there wasn't anything urgh or creepy about it as he was on a big set with about one hundred other people.

When it came out I really didn't like Batman Forever but found Batman and Robin to be ridiculously daft and quite enjoyed it, I've never revisited either but I imagine I'd probably like both knowing that they're just silly nonsense, and I prefer that kind of thing to the Grim Dark Batman that Pattison played.



*A case of Nepo-nephew I guess as I was an assistant stage manager on a play he directed, though I did it for free as my uncle had let me stay at his place for six months when I first started working in London.

[bgmnts]

Being genuine when I say I prefer Schumacher's Batman to Nolan's, because at least it has some kind of artistic vision, is comic booky and is unpretentious.

They're very stupid at times but most superhero stuff is. Burton's Batman is by far the best though.

[Magnum Valentino]

Batman Forever is my favourite Batman film.

Mask of the Phantasm is the best, though.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Well now I've had to download them, and will give them a go soon!

[Magnum Valentino]

I'm here to ask about Bone.

I've always wanted to read it but never got round to it. Thinking about picking up a set - 9 volumes for £43 is a steal right?

Has anyone read it in colour? That seems to be harder to find. Buying Bone generally doesn't seem to be as easy as just paying a hundred quid for a Batman Omnibus basically.

[AngryGazelle]

Weapon XFantastic read this. The art is gorgeous, too. 4.5/5

Any other Wolverine books this good?

[Dayraven]

Price sounds good for Bone, the TPBs aren't unusually short or anything.

I read Bone in B&W and generally am anti-colourising, but what I've seen of the results for Bone look pretty good — helps that the comic has a clean, open artstyle.

[Magnum Valentino]

Weapon XFantastic read this. The art is gorgeous, too. 4.5/5

Any other Wolverine books this good?

A lot of the early stuff is brilliant. The one-off Spider-Man Vs. Wolverine is a classic. Not that you need me recommending any more Omnibuses, but the first Wolverine one is one of the best.

[Mister Six]

I'm here to ask about Bone.

I've always wanted to read it but never got round to it. Thinking about picking up a set - 9 volumes for £43 is a steal right?

Has anyone read it in colour? That seems to be harder to find. Buying Bone generally doesn't seem to be as easy as just paying a hundred quid for a Batman Omnibus basically.

Yep, I reread it this year and it's loads of fun (I have quibbles, but they're minor ones). 43 quid for all nine books is a bargain. Fantastic colour job, too - though it was originally drawn for B&W and looks great like that, a lot of thought has gone into the colours and design, and it works wonderfully. Unlike the colour on the similarly named but unrelated Boneyard, which was a bit ugly and overwhelmed the linework.

[madhair60]

do you mean the richard moore comic? that's a proustian rush. of blood. to my penis.

[Mister Six]

I do, and yes.

[AngryGazelle]

A lot of the early stuff is brilliant. The one-off Spider-Man Vs. Wolverine is a classic. Not that you need me recommending any more Omnibuses, but the first Wolverine one is one of the best.

I'll always take a good recommendation.

I haven't actually gotten around to buying any of the Spider-Man ones, yet. I will, though.

[holdover]

If any of you cunts blag a copy of Grant Morrison's Lovely Biscuits for sub $500, I'll shank the lot of you.

Anyway, can you sticky this, pretty please @Barry Admin?

Got my first copy for cover price when it came out. Then a second copy for £3 from Shelter in Edinburgh. Got GMoz to sign both and then punted one for hunners :)

[Mister Six]

Got my first copy for cover price when it came out. Then a second copy for £3 from Shelter in Edinburgh. Got GMoz to sign both and then punted one for hunners :)

Ok DM me your address and let me know if you have a preference for size and type of knife for your stabbing.

[13 schoolyards]

Got my first copy for cover price when it came out. Then a second copy for £3 from Shelter in Edinburgh. Got GMoz to sign both and then punted one for hunners :)

My only comic signing-related regret is not remembering to bring my copy of Lovely Biscuits (or anything else) with me to the Australian comic convention Morrison and Warren Ellis were at around the turn of the century. Though it was an exciting chance for me to discover that Morrison sounded *extremely* Scottish, which for some reason had never occurred to me (though to be fair, it was pre-internet video clips).

Years later I did pick up a copy of the Ellis "classic" Ruins in a local comic shop that had been signed, presumably at that convention. But I don't think I've ever seen anything with Morrison's scrawl on it around here - guess everyone who was at the convention is hanging on tight to their swag

[Small Man Big Horse]

My only comic signing-related regret is not remembering to bring my copy of Lovely Biscuits (or anything else) with me to the Australian comic convention Morrison and Warren Ellis were at around the turn of the century. Though it was an exciting chance for me to discover that Morrison sounded *extremely* Scottish, which for some reason had never occurred to me (though to be fair, it was pre-internet video clips).

Years later I did pick up a copy of the Ellis "classic" Ruins in a local comic shop that had been signed, presumably at that convention. But I don't think I've ever seen anything with Morrison's scrawl on it around here - guess everyone who was at the convention is hanging on tight to their swag

I have a couple of regrets but the number one is easily when I went to a signing in Croydon and had Neil Gaiman sign my copy Black Orchid No.1, but I was so shy that I then ran away from Dave McKean and didn't get his signature as well.

The second is when I went to the London Super Comic Con in 2013 and didn't get a sketch from David Lloyd for a tenner. I didn't have a lot of money at the time but I got Paul Cornell to sign two copies of Stormwatch which I still haven't read so I clearly had some cash on me.

[Small Man Big Horse]

The Immortal Iron Fist Vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and David Aja - This is one of the Hachette Marvel collections and includes the character's first ever appearance in Marvel Presents, and then the first six issues of Brubaker and Fraction's run. The Marvel Presents issue is quite fun if only because of the melodramatic nature of Danny's origin tale,

Spoiler alert

and I enjoyed seeing Danny's mum sacrifice herself by letting a whole bunch of wolves devour her

[close]

. I have to admit to previously not having a lot of time for the character (though that basically boils down to disliking the Netflix show) but Brubaker and Fraction have created a really impressive take on Rand. It's helped by some stunning art from David Aja (and Travel Foreman, and a few others), but the story is a mad one but just about grounded in reality, and I'll definitely seek out the second volume. 4/5

Initially I wasn't sure if this was a one and done mini-series or an ongoing run, and but the latter applies, though Brubaker leaves after issue 14 amd Fraction after 16, and someone I'd not heard of before called Duane Swierczynski takes over until it ends with issue 27. Has anyone read any of the rest of it, and is it any good post Fraction?

Also, why don't Hatchette put the fucking title on the spines? It's really annoying!

[bgmnts]

Neonomicon by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows.

Was pretty raw at times but found it an interesting take on the Lovecraft thing. I think interpreting Lovecraft's creations as real beings that influenced him in real life make a lot of sense after reading Mountain of Madness. Art was fine, standard modern comic fare but it did have these really cool looking bits when it goes into the mental higher mathematical existence Lengverse.

Intrigued on Providence next, as it is both a prequel and sequel, and this Neonomicon ended on a cliffhanger.

[bgmnts]

Oh and yes I can definitely understand why some would take issue with it; even K.Vaughan's positive quote on the back amounts to "I feel bad for liking this".

[13 schoolyards]

Keep forgetting to link to these annotations, but I found them (and the site in general) very handy when I was reading Providence: https://factsprovidence.wordpress.com/

[bgmnts]

Would be ace if the guys at that site could take all those pages and pages of hard to read, handwritten style text and maybe add panels with images in them to create a tableau vivant effect yet with a sense of movement that tells a story, like you'd get in a comic book or something.

Love Moore but fuck me what's that about? Providence? More like Prose-vidence AMIRITE??

Cheers for the link though, there is a lot of info on Lovecraft, including a quite incredible poem he wrote. It seems my initial impression that he might have been a man that struggled to come to terms with a changing world or explain it around him wasn't far off.

[madhair60]

i love neonom + provido

[bgmnts]

Even the novella's worth of cursive text?

[madhair60]

yeah it's great, just read it

just read the words and stop being a big baby

[bgmnts]

Nothing babyish about wanting to read picture books!

Anyway, outside of that daft decision, it's quite good so far. I like Robert's little gay flirtation with Malone, and want them to get together, but I assume it'll end with both getting raped to death by Cthulu tentacles.

[bgmnts]

Providence by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows.

Half brilliant, Half wank: Brilliwank.
I read online that he wrote Neonomicon and Providence as he needed the money, and I can see him having spunked his fortune on MDMA and mushrooms and wizard hats and occult paraphernalia and Glycon merch. I figured he hated comic books at this point, more interested in live performance art and real prose, and so in a fit of spite decided to go "Oh you like pictures with your words is it, you fat loser thick geek cunt? Enjoy the synergy of images and letters that create a sense of movement within a tableau vivant style is it? Want colours and shapes is it that's nice and lovely go on then eat your slop worthless pigman." The price I pay is pages and pages of cursed cursive that MUST be read. It's as if Moore somehow knew I struggle with prose - I need to stretch - but am obsessive enough to know this must be read in its entirety, and once you're in, you cannot leave, much like the cursed writings in this story.
It felt personal at some point: mocking me. Reading the same deliberately semi-obtuse squiggles, the same paragraph for 10 minutes. Re-reading, re-reading, re-reading: Jenkins Buick Roa- I had a moment where Jenk- gah - Actually, another thing: did that thu- Dr Wantage's departure-

Fucksake. Eyes floating in my sockets, my brain it's all chemistry all fucked up going "I HATE THIS I HATE DOING THIS I HATE YOU I HATE YOU NEED TO DO THIS I HATE YOU!" Making me fight against my own uselessness.
My chemistry goes and makes my brain drift on a sea of shit words. I can read, I love it. I fear (hate the fear) at its source it's perfunctory. Attempts to slow rot; a runner may find joy in a jog but mainly it delays the decay.
Weird, the book is about rot, succumbing to the rot, rot is good innit? The evil feasts on the rot. Made me hate myself, then made me hate myself for hating myself over a book.

On the other hand, rest of it was brilliant and art had some lovely stuff going on.

8 out of 10

From Hell is much better.

[madhair60]

i honestly think you can skip the prose and still get pretty much a great experience out of it!

the ending of Providence makes me emotional when i think about the implications, just some wildly creative shit. is it weird that it was the comic which made me love him?

i still haven't properly read From Hell. feels like a fucking commitment that i may not be mature enough to make.

[Magnum Valentino]

i honestly think you can skip the prose and still get pretty much a great experience out of it!

the ending of Providence makes me emotional when i think about the implications, just some wildly creative shit. is it weird that it was the comic which made me love him?

i still haven't properly read From Hell. feels like a fucking commitment that i may not be mature enough to make.

If you've the time take it an issue a day for the twelve days or whatever it is. It is so so worth it.

[bgmnts]

Truthfully I'm ill in the head so take my ramblings with a pinch of salt.

I would say, From Hell was the exact same for me - it had a very powerful ending. That's why I made the comparison; both were obviously incredibly researched and saying something quite deep. Strangely, at the end, I wasn't horrified in the slightest, and ended up in a state of grim acceptance much like the characters.

These are his epic works, they take place during a time of literary, social or cultural revolution/change or whatever, and they contain a sense of cosmological grandness of everything. Lost Girls tried to do something similar but didn't quite hit the mark.

In From Hell, the senseless Ripper murders give birth to a new evil that quite literally permeates throughout time, whereas in Providence, the character/story literally gives birth to a new universe or reality, or the 'real' one we've duped ourselves into believing isn't real. Moore probably does think if you imagine something whilst on mushrooms, it probably is tangible somewhere, I dunno, I do find that level of imagination quite wild as you say, and it leads to a very good comic book!

I'm a contrarian by nature, and so I found the human story of Robert probably just as compelling as the Lovecraftian cosmic horror aspect. Even though he comes across in the prose as a bit smug and elitist (he's city folk), there was always an unbearable sadness when he's abandoned on a bench or street corner because you can't be queer in public in 1919.