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The All New Comics Thread 2017+ Edition

Started by Small Man Big Horse, October 13, 2017, 05:58:40 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

willbo

I kind of like that, I like the "is this a different version or just regular Batman being his most dickish self" question I keep asking myself while trying to figure out what's going on

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on May 17, 2022, 07:12:00 PMRat Queens Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 by Kurtis J. Wiebe - More tongue in cheek and very knowing fantasy shenanigans with the four female assassins for hire, except the art changes in vol.3 as it turns out the guy who painted the first two volumes was arrested for beating his wife up, which was bleak to find out. I'm glad he was replaced of course but the art's more cartoonish in the third volume, and for a pro-feminism comic there's one piece of full frontal nudity which made me feel really uncomfortable and I don't think there was any need for it. Still, ignoring those aspects this is still a fun, fast read, and it's surprising how quickly writer Kurtis J. Wiebe got me to really care about these characters. 3.75/5

Rat Queens Vol.4 - I started to read the first issue of the latest collection only to find that it had absolutely nothing to do with the preceding storyline. Over the first 16 issues (though 16 wasn't included in the trade paperback and I had to find it online) Wiebe had been building up a number of ideas / plots concerning the four lead female characters, with the main one including Hannah falling out with the other women and seemingly turning evil, her father was killed off, while suddenly there was a two year time jump and the other Queens had been travelling around the world on a boat without her, and when they return Violet kills the love of her life for apparently no reason.

Normally I'd put all of the above in spoiler tags, but there's no reason too as none of it was resolved, apparently this was all due to Wiebe falling out with artist Tess Fowler, deciding the series needed a soft reboot with a new one, and he didn't know how to end the storyline so just decided to pretend it never happened. Which has fucked me off no end, if it was just a two parter I'd be more forgiving, but the whole series had been building to this, and then he ignores it, and it goes back to being a much more light-hearted fantasy spoof again and all of the character work seemingly undone. So yeah, I'm not impressed at all with it and no longer recommend people seek it out.

samadriel

Peeked back into recent Valiant history with Harbinger Wars 2, which is commonly said to be a damp squib. I thought Matt Kindt did a good job; not as good as a lot of other stuff he did for Valiant, but I revelled in the crossover excitement of Livewire, Peter Stanchek, Ninjak, the Geomancer, Bloodshot,  XO Manowar and much more facing off.  And no boring Shadowman for a change! Now I'll probably get back into the 2018 issues of XO Manowar, which straddles the Dinesh S. (good) and DMG (bad) eras of Valiant. Now that XOM is planet hopping, it's become more unpredictable and potentially exciting - I'd longed to see him return to Earth and leave his dull war planet behind. Hope he doesn't go back.

Artie Fufkin

I had 2 piles of comics on the floor last night, ready to put on eBay.
Our cat used them as a litter tray.
The little furry fucker.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Artie Fufkin on May 19, 2022, 01:10:00 PMI had 2 piles of comics on the floor last night, ready to put on eBay.
Our cat used them as a litter tray.
The little furry fucker.

Aw man, that's not good. Are they all ruined, or was it just the issues on top?

Small Man Big Horse

Casanova Acedia Vol.1 and Vol.2 - In which Casanova's story takes a completely different direction after the events of Avaritia, and the breakneck pace of the series slows as well, and for the first time a story arc is spread over eight issues and two trade paperbacks. Problem is that we've only been given half the story, apparently another 8 issues are being worked on, but this was published over five years ago now, and the last piece of news was that 3 issues had been drawn back in 2020. I didn't realise that Fraction had a history of doing this and that the series had started in 2006 but only 26 issues have been released so far, but it fucks me off no end, given how expensive comics / graphic novels are I think it shows a real disrespect to the audience to take so long to produce something like this.

Artie Fufkin

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on May 19, 2022, 02:23:16 PMAw man, that's not good. Are they all ruined, or was it just the issues on top?
Most of them. He dug around with them too, trying to cover up the shit. So loads of the covers are creased/covered in shit. It was a dirty protest I'm sure, as he's been to vets a lot recently.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Artie Fufkin on May 20, 2022, 12:03:32 PMMost of them. He dug around with them too, trying to cover up the shit. So loads of the covers are creased/covered in shit. It was a dirty protest I'm sure, as he's been to vets a lot recently.

Ah, man, that's harsh, I'm really sorry to hear that, I'd be gutted if it happened to me, and fully understand if your next step is to castrate the bugger if you haven't already!

Artie Fufkin

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on May 20, 2022, 01:10:04 PMAh, man, that's harsh, I'm really sorry to hear that, I'd be gutted if it happened to me, and fully understand if your next step is to castrate the bugger if you haven't already!
He is. Probably why he shat all over my comics!

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Artie Fufkin on May 20, 2022, 02:49:49 PMHe is. Probably why he shat all over my comics!

In that case I think the only thing you can do is castrate another cat, attach it's genitals to yours, and then remove them once it's got used to having sex again.

Artie Fufkin

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on May 20, 2022, 03:51:58 PMIn that case I think the only thing you can do is castrate another cat, attach it's genitals to yours, and then remove them once it's got used to having sex again.
My cat not gay. My catstraight.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Artie Fufkin on May 20, 2022, 04:01:50 PMMy cat not gay. My catstraight.

Have you tried wearing a wig? Or maybe just some lipstick and eyeliner?

Artie Fufkin

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on May 20, 2022, 04:29:23 PMHave you tried wearing a wig? Or maybe just some lipstick and eyeliner?
'Oo d'ya think I am? Bryan bloody Ferry?

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Artie Fufkin on May 20, 2022, 04:58:06 PM'Oo d'ya think I am? Bryan bloody Ferry?

I think we both know the answer to that question Bryan.

She-Hulk - I thought I'd read all of the various She-Hulk series (having been a big fan since the John Byrne run back in the eighties/early nineties) but this 2014 version by Charles Soule and Javier Pulido somehow passed me by until a random charity shop discovery. I really like it too, it's prior to Marvel making Jen all miserable for a while (though I'm glad the new 2022 has remedied that), and the art's great too, reminding me of how Mike Allred drew her in FF, and though I've only read the first couple of issues so far I already feel it's a big shame that this got cancelled after only 12 issues.

13 schoolyards

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on May 20, 2022, 10:12:56 AMCasanova Acedia Vol.1 and Vol.2 - In which Casanova's story takes a completely different direction after the events of Avaritia, and the breakneck pace of the series slows as well, and for the first time a story arc is spread over eight issues and two trade paperbacks. Problem is that we've only been given half the story, apparently another 8 issues are being worked on, but this was published over five years ago now, and the last piece of news was that 3 issues had been drawn back in 2020. I didn't realise that Fraction had a history of doing this and that the series had started in 2006 but only 26 issues have been released so far, but it fucks me off no end, given how expensive comics / graphic novels are I think it shows a real disrespect to the audience to take so long to produce something like this.

Worse, Acedia was the big return after a previous long break. Maybe Fraction will get back to finishing up Casanova one day but at this point I seriously doubt it - and even if he did, any new issues would mostly likely read like a completely different series anyway.

It seems to have been one of his numerous thinly disguised (well, more disguised than usual) autobiographies / a series written to reflect where he is in life, and I suspect he's moved too far away personally from the character and scenario to be able to figure out how to continue.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: 13 schoolyards on May 21, 2022, 07:45:00 AMWorse, Acedia was the big return after a previous long break. Maybe Fraction will get back to finishing up Casanova one day but at this point I seriously doubt it - and even if he did, any new issues would mostly likely read like a completely different series anyway.

It seems to have been one of his numerous thinly disguised (well, more disguised than usual) autobiographies / a series written to reflect where he is in life, and I suspect he's moved too far away personally from the character and scenario to be able to figure out how to continue.

That's really frustrating to hear, more and more now I think I'm just going to invest in series that have actually finished, because the amount of writers who are now taking long hiatuses, or just lose interest in a project completely, feels a bit ridiculous.

samadriel

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on May 20, 2022, 08:05:05 PMI think we both know the answer to that question Bryan.

She-Hulk - I thought I'd read all of the various She-Hulk series (having been a big fan since the John Byrne run back in the eighties/early nineties) but this 2014 version by Charles Soule and Javier Pulido somehow passed me by until a random charity shop discovery. I really like it too, it's prior to Marvel making Jen all miserable for a while (though I'm glad the new 2022 has remedied that), and the art's great too, reminding me of how Mike Allred drew her in FF, and though I've only read the first couple of issues so far I already feel it's a big shame that this got cancelled after only 12 issues.

Yep,  Soule's She Hulk is great. I feel guilty having seemingly not attempted to push it on you earlier!

I recently bought Soule's Daredevil comics so as to get more superhero lawyer goodness from him, but I haven't read them yet.

Magnum Valentino

Quote from: samadriel on May 21, 2022, 07:43:36 PMYep,  Soule's She Hulk is great. I feel guilty having seemingly not attempted to push it on you earlier!

I recently bought Soule's Daredevil comics so as to get more superhero lawyer goodness from him, but I haven't read them yet.

I read his Daredevil run at Christmas, it's excellent. Sped through it.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: samadriel on May 21, 2022, 07:43:36 PMYep,  Soule's She Hulk is great. I feel guilty having seemingly not attempted to push it on you earlier!

I recently bought Soule's Daredevil comics so as to get more superhero lawyer goodness from him, but I haven't read them yet.

No need to feel guilty in the slightest, my graphic novel backlog is ridiculous at the moment, though this jumped right up to the top of it after a cursory glance of the artwork and the storyline made me want to read it asap.

Quote from: Magnum Valentino on May 21, 2022, 08:15:32 PMI read his Daredevil run at Christmas, it's excellent. Sped through it.

I'll have to track that down at some point very soon, though I'm not allowing myself to buy anything new now until I get paid in June as it's getting a bit silly as to how much I'm spending!

Dayraven

People who are happy reading digital comics (I know that's not everyone) might like to know that DC Infinite, which is their equivalent of Marvel Unlimited, is now available in the UK. The catalogue's very big, and seems fairly comprehensive for 21st-century series, though a bit more random before that. Less Vertigo than I'd like — even setting aside the creator-owned series, some major books aren't there (though others are).

Magnum Valentino

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on May 22, 2022, 11:49:00 AMNo need to feel guilty in the slightest, my graphic novel backlog is ridiculous at the moment, though this jumped right up to the top of it after a cursory glance of the artwork and the storyline made me want to read it asap.

I'll have to track that down at some point very soon, though I'm not allowing myself to buy anything new now until I get paid in June as it's getting a bit silly as to how much I'm spending!

Omnibus is still in print and collects everything in a single volume, otherwise I think it's 8 paperbacks. Yes, add that to the list for future!

I've just started reading Jason Aaron's Thor (which the new film's based on), and which I never finished originally as I stopped reading comics altogether. The first few issues alone introduce some amazing concepts (such as Thor being able to hear when he's prayed to, and act accordingly) and the artwork is gorgeous.

Sandman next!

Mister Six

#1611
I got a little way into the first Grant Morrison Batman Omnibus, but a mention of "The Black Casebook" made me put it down to read Batman: The Black Casebook first. It's a collection of the silver-age stories that inspired the weirder parts of Morrison's run, and sure enough it features Bat-Mite, a Rainbow Monster, the Rainbow Batman (no relation), The Batman of Zurr-en-arrh and others besides.

Being that this is the silver age, most of these stories are basically shite for kids (rather than shite for thirtysomething incels like modern superhero comics), but there are a few decent little yarns - the explanation for Batman's rainbow costumes is surprisingly reasonable, and an epic story in which Batman, Robin, Batwoman and Batgirl all find themselves on an alien planet is pleasingly bonkers.

Mostly, though, these are just middling B-stories featuring generic besuited criminals that are notable only because Morrison grabbed a few ideas from them here and there.

Irritatingly, the Omnibus story that actually made me want to read the book is about three mysterious anti-Batmen, and they don't turn up at all in the Black Casebook.

Anyway, if you get it for free online it's an intermittently amusing distraction, but I wouldn't spend any cash on the thing.

I'm also re-reading Morrison's The Filth, and I'd forgotten how weird, fucked up and transgressive it actually is. Hard to imagine DC putting out something like this today, even through whatever its crappy Vertigo replacement label is called. A lot of the humour is intentionally queasy, especially the stuff involving Sharon Jones, a woman kidnapped off a subway and turned into a remote controlled sex slave, but it never feels mean-spirited in the way that Mark Millar (say) would write it - the primary reaction from the audience is supposed to be horror and empathy, not edgy yuks. The art is wonderfully detailed in its dayglo Cronenberg organic technology stylings, and the way Chris Weston and Gary Erskine are only occasionally held back by Vertigo house rules - no visible genitalia, softcore sex scenes only - actually serves to make it feel a bit more wrong, somehow.

I'm not expecting to understand the ending any more than I did the first five times I read it (ie. not at all), but the journey is always worthwhile.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Magnum Valentino on May 22, 2022, 12:37:34 PMOmnibus is still in print and collects everything in a single volume, otherwise I think it's 8 paperbacks. Yes, add that to the list for future!

Cool, I've added the omnibus to my Amazon wish-list, thanks for the info.

QuoteI've just started reading Jason Aaron's Thor (which the new film's based on), and which I never finished originally as I stopped reading comics altogether. The first few issues alone introduce some amazing concepts (such as Thor being able to hear when he's prayed to, and act accordingly) and the artwork is gorgeous.

I really like Aaron's work on Thor though I've only read bits of it, and not in chronological order, I will at some point start buying it from the beginning but again that's going to be a really expensive ride.

Quote from: Mister Six on May 22, 2022, 06:06:09 PMI'm also re-reading Morrison's The Filth, and I'd forgotten how weird, fucked up and transgressive it actually is. Hard to imagine DC putting out something like this today, even through whatever its crappy Vertigo replacement label is called. A lot of the humour is intentionally queasy, especially the stuff involving Sharon Jones, a woman kidnapped off a subway and turned into a remote controlled sex slave, but it never feels mean-spirited in the way that Mark Millar (say) would write it - the primary reaction from the audience is supposed to be horror and empathy, not edgy yuks. The art is wonderfully detailed in its dayglo Cronenberg organic technology stylings, and the way Chris Weston and Gary Erskine are only occasionally held back by Vertigo house rules - no visible genitalia, softcore sex scenes only - actually serves to make it feel a bit more wrong, somehow.

I'm not expecting to understand the ending any more than I did the first five times I read it (ie. not at all), but the journey is always worthwhile.

I know I've read Filth but oddly remember nothing about it. Though that was back in the days that I smoked a lot of weed, so I'll have to revisit it at some point.

On the Morrison front I picked up the first volume of The Invisibles for £4.50 today, which is more than I like to pay in a charity shop but I remember loving it first time around so am looking forward to re-reading it. They also had The Best of Curse of the Spawn which I was tempted to get as I've never read anything Spawn related, but they wanted £8.50 for it so it went back on the shelf the moment I noticed that.

Magnum Valentino

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on May 22, 2022, 07:57:08 PMCool, I've added the omnibus to my Amazon wish-list, thanks for the info.

I really like Aaron's work on Thor though I've only read bits of it, and not in chronological order, I will at some point start buying it from the beginning but again that's going to be a really expensive ride.

I know I've read Filth but oddly remember nothing about it. Though that was back in the days that I smoked a lot of weed, so I'll have to revisit it at some point.

On the Morrison front I picked up the first volume of The Invisibles for £4.50 today, which is more than I like to pay in a charity shop but I remember loving it first time around so am looking forward to re-reading it. They also had The Best of Curse of the Spawn which I was tempted to get as I've never read anything Spawn related, but they wanted £8.50 for it so it went back on the shelf the moment I noticed that.

General advice for me on buying omnibuses (for everyone!), check Speedyhen first as if it's in stock, they're almost always the cheapest by some margin and the discount code ENJOY seems to permanently be active and knocks a fiver off anything over a certain price, 40 quid maybe.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Magnum Valentino on May 22, 2022, 09:27:15 PMGeneral advice for me on buying omnibuses (for everyone!), check Speedyhen first as if it's in stock, they're almost always the cheapest by some margin and the discount code ENJOY seems to permanently be active and knocks a fiver off anything over a certain price, 40 quid maybe.

Cool, thanks for that, I'd never heard of that site before but will check it out once I'm paid in June!

Small Man Big Horse

She Hulk Vol. 2 - She Hulk and Patsy Walker get shrunk down to tiny versions of themselves in the hope of finding a missing scientist, and beat up some cats in a brutal manner. Sounds horrible I know, and I personally love cats, but the story is a really amusing one that made me laugh in a good few places, especially what happened to poor old Ant Man early on. 4/5

Small Man Big Horse

Picked up Elektra: Assassin and The Complete Nemesis The Warlock Volume One for four quid each today, as I HAVE AN ADDICTION AND NEED HELP, I'm really looking forward to the latter as I haven't read it since my teenage years, but I looked online to see how much Volume 2 is and annoyingly it seems to be going for silly money everywhere (£150+ on both Ebay and Amazon) while Volume 3 is a fairly normal £12-ish, does anyone know why that is? I've tried to find an answer online but haven't come up with anything yet.

Mister Six

If stores selling on Amazon run out of a particular book and can't get more copies (typically if it's out of print), they'll jack up the prices to ridiculous amounts so they can keep the listing (and its associated reviews) open while dissuading anyone from placing an order.

If someone does place an order at a ridiculous price, they can put in the effort needed to buy it for, say, £100 from a dealer and still make £50 profit.

eBay I don't know about - could be that the sellers are basing their prices on Amazon's.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Mister Six on May 25, 2022, 05:48:18 PMIf stores selling on Amazon run out of a particular book and can't get more copies (typically if it's out of print), they'll jack up the prices to ridiculous amounts so they can keep the listing (and its associated reviews) open while dissuading anyone from placing an order.

If someone does place an order at a ridiculous price, they can put in the effort needed to buy it for, say, £100 from a dealer and still make £50 profit.

eBay I don't know about - could be that the sellers are basing their prices on Amazon's.

I get the Amazon thing, and have seen ridiculously overpriced things on there all too often, but it seems strange to me that it's the second volume that is so expensive (and not just on Amazon/Ebay, but every other site I could find it listed on) whereas the first and third volumes sell for around their RRP, if not slightly lower.

I know Rebellion reprinted the series recently under the titles The Early Heresies, The Later Heresies and The Final Heresies, but they were all limited editions and so go for even more insane prices.

Mister Six

Could just be that there was a recent print run of the first volume, so they're more accessible, and they haven't got around to the second yet. And there are more copies of the third knocking around because it didn't sell as much as the first...