The Comic Book Thread
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noiseredux
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Re: The Comic Book Thread
Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe is on sale for $3.50 on the Google Play Store, and I've got enough in credit to cover that. How is that book?
Re: The Comic Book Thread
I have never been much of a comic book guy, but after buying Emerald City Comic Con tickets early this year, only to find out that it was going to be pretty thin on celebrity guests, I decided I would devote some time to comics this year, since I'm normally one of those guys who goes to Comic Con for everything but the comics. I picked up a few comic bundles through Groupees and Humble Bundle, and this has been a very comic-filled year for me. Here's what I've read with a few thoughts:
Akira, Vol. 1-6
I got these as birthday presents from various members of my family. I couldn't put them down. I'm not sure where to put them all because they require a big block of shelf space, but they deserve it. I've always wanted to read these because I loved the anime, and the mangas certainly didn't dissapoint. They helped fill in a lot of the gaps that exist in the movie. I plowed through this series in a couple of weeks. There is so much action and detail on every single page, there are great characters, interesting politics, and tons of crazy apocalyptic action sequences.
Alice in Wonderland (complete)
I love Lewis Carroll's story, and this was basically unabridged and even included the stuff about the wasp that was omitted from the original press of the story. I was also reading an interesting book at the same time called The Zen of Alice, which made it more fun to revisit this classic tale. That being said, I found the artwork to be rather unremarkable. Not bad, but not good enough that I felt it really improved on the written word.
Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Vol. 1
I read a lot of Battle Angel in the 90s. It's one of my few forays into comics/manga, so it was fun to revisit this character that I've always loved. There's a cool slickness to the art style that I've always liked about Battle Angel. A lot of manga have a tepid half drawn aesthetic, or their too cute, or too silly, or too over the top. Battle Angel is always in that sweet spot of being beautiful and brutal.
Bitch Planet, Vol. 1
This was a pleasant surprise of intersectional feminism in the comics world. The nod to '70s style blacksploitation placed in a sci-fi femalesploitation context made this series a swift kick in the nuts to the patriarchy. I had fun hating men while reading this, and I'm a man!
The Damnation of Charlie Wormwood, Vol. 1
This is kind of a Breaking Bad story, and while it was enjoyable with a cool indie flavor to the artwork, I found I couldn't help comparing the story to Breaking Bad, which made the experience suffer and ultimately isn't fair because Breaking Bad is impossible to compete against.
Darth Vader, Vol. 1
Finally! Someone who understands Vader! Kieron Gillen's story, which takes place between A New Hope and Empire, recognizes that Lord Vader earned that title by being a total bad ass. If you've ever spent time in the extended universe of Star Wars, you'll know that too many stories outside the main movies make Vader seem a bit tepid and weak. This series does no such thing. Right from his first appearance, Vader is clearly his menacing powerful self. Loved it, though to complete the story you have to pick up some random issues of Vader Down and Star Wars, which I found to be annoying.
Dracula, Issue 1
Boring.
Frankenstein (Dean Koontz), Issue 1
Cool artwork, but ultimately seemed to hokey to continue.
Alan Moore's From Hell (still reading)
I love the writing. The artwork leaves me confused though. I'm often struggling to figure out who is who, and who is talking. It's all black and white and I find myself getting fatigued by this, but I'm pushing through it still because it really is well written attempt at telling one theory of the Jack the Ripper mystery.
Grumpy Cat and Pokey, Issue 1
I felt dumb for reading this, but it was kind of cute.
I Hate Fairyland, Issue 1
I loved the artwork, but the characters were annoying.
Jennifer Blood: Born Again, Issues 1-5
Kind of bland action/vengeance story.
Ketsueki (complete)
This was a martial arts story, which was enjoyable told, if a little cliche.
Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 1
I really liked the TV anime series, but I found the comic hard to follow without thinking back to the animated sequences to figure out what was happening with the action sequences. Watch the anime. Nevertheless, as a source for all of these cool ideas like a 3rd gender, immortals, strange creatures called gauna, someone who is a part-robot-part-bear and nobody seems to find that strange, this is a cool sci-fi story.
Mercy Thompson, Vol. 1
I regretted this one. It's put together well, but it's kind of Twilight style werewolf story. I think I am just not the intended audience for this one.
Monstress, Issues 1-2
The story is a bit bleak, and I'm not sure if I like it yet. However, the art style looks like Alphonse Mucha's art nouveau and every panel is a pleasure to look at.
Nowhere Men, Vol. 1
I wanted to like this. The idea of scientists as the new rock stars appealled to me, but ultimately it doesn't have enough science, nor does it rock very hard. I got bored and stopped reading before I finished.
ODY-C, Vol. 1 and 2
Wow! The flowing psychedlic neon trippy flesh and juice! The art just squirts all of the pages in manic brilliance. I love how this thing looks! It's a strange retelling of Homer's Odyssey set in a acid-induced sci-fi fever dream. I fell in love with the first volume, but then it changed direction in the second and lost its stride.
Red Sonja (classic remastered)
Red Sonja, Vol. 2
I was afraid this would be sexist garbage given her skimpy armor and sexy body, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that Sonja is a boss. She's butch, she gets stinky, she's horny, and she sits at the table with the barbarian boys whether they want her there or not. It probably helps that a woman penned the story.
Saga, Vol. 1
What appears on the surface to be a quirked out sci-fi series turns out to really be a tale of family, told with an almost embarassing level of honesty and candor. The art style is very cool, and hits more for the Fi than the Sci of Sci-Fi. Robots have TVs for heads not because that is a likely scientific outcome, but it just looks cool, damnit.
Sex Criminals, Issue 1
People with orgasms that have super powers, like stopping time. Hahaha. It was a fun read, though I blushed while reading it since the premise is so silly. It might be worth following past this first issue, but I feel unsure about it.
Soulfire, Vol. 1 (still reading)
Sci-Fi and magic with a bit of a Neverending Story vibe to it about a boy who is chosen to save magic. I love the artwork, which sits somewhere between American comics and Japanese manga. I'm finding the story to be fun, though it plays on a lot of now familiar tropes.
Sunstone, Vol. 1
Come for the lesbian bondage sex, stay for the quirky heartwarming romance. I was really surprised by this. The artist is fantastic and he has an uncanny ability for capturing the nuance of facial expressions in a way that many lesser comic artists are unable to do. It really helps capture the anxiousness and playfulness of the two female characters who are hooking up for BDSM, but wind up falling for each other.
Tokyo Ghost, Vol. 1
This comic kicks so much ass! It's a cyberpunk tale of an overtechnofied society rampant with corruption, pornography, and always online distraction. Rick Remender writes a tragic sci-fi love tale that kicks in plenty of social commentary about how we consume and hide in our tech bubbles. Sean Murphy's drawings leap off every panel with an amazing kinetic energy that makes you forget this whole thing isn't actually animated. It gives up a slick cyber-cool feel of something along the lines of Ghost in the Shell.
Trees, Vol. 1
I don't remember much about reading this, so I'll just have to say it wasn't very memorable.
The Wicked + The Divine, issue 1
Another by Kieron Gillen (he did the new Vader series, and was formerly a videogame writer for Rock Paper Shotgun). It's hard to say much about this based on just the first issue, but there appears to be some David Bowie influence, so that's always a good thing.
The Witcher: Reasons of State
Surprisingly dense. I played through The Witcher 2, and part of The Witcher 1, and I still had difficulty in following all of the folklore and understanding the political and geographic contexts that this comic expected you to be familiar with. I really need to read the books.
Vampirella, Vol. 2
Fun, but nothing of great substance. Though if you bought this for the big boobied pictures, substance probably isn't your biggest concern.
The X-Files: Season 1
I watched the first season of the X-Files TV show not long before reading this. I enjoyed this because I was familiar with the source material, but the artwork was really chunky and it was difficult to tell who was who and who was talking. I wouldn't recommend this unless you are already familiar with this season of X-Files and want to just walk down memory lane a bit without rewatching all the episodes.
Akira, Vol. 1-6
I got these as birthday presents from various members of my family. I couldn't put them down. I'm not sure where to put them all because they require a big block of shelf space, but they deserve it. I've always wanted to read these because I loved the anime, and the mangas certainly didn't dissapoint. They helped fill in a lot of the gaps that exist in the movie. I plowed through this series in a couple of weeks. There is so much action and detail on every single page, there are great characters, interesting politics, and tons of crazy apocalyptic action sequences.
Alice in Wonderland (complete)
I love Lewis Carroll's story, and this was basically unabridged and even included the stuff about the wasp that was omitted from the original press of the story. I was also reading an interesting book at the same time called The Zen of Alice, which made it more fun to revisit this classic tale. That being said, I found the artwork to be rather unremarkable. Not bad, but not good enough that I felt it really improved on the written word.
Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Vol. 1
I read a lot of Battle Angel in the 90s. It's one of my few forays into comics/manga, so it was fun to revisit this character that I've always loved. There's a cool slickness to the art style that I've always liked about Battle Angel. A lot of manga have a tepid half drawn aesthetic, or their too cute, or too silly, or too over the top. Battle Angel is always in that sweet spot of being beautiful and brutal.
Bitch Planet, Vol. 1
This was a pleasant surprise of intersectional feminism in the comics world. The nod to '70s style blacksploitation placed in a sci-fi femalesploitation context made this series a swift kick in the nuts to the patriarchy. I had fun hating men while reading this, and I'm a man!
The Damnation of Charlie Wormwood, Vol. 1
This is kind of a Breaking Bad story, and while it was enjoyable with a cool indie flavor to the artwork, I found I couldn't help comparing the story to Breaking Bad, which made the experience suffer and ultimately isn't fair because Breaking Bad is impossible to compete against.
Darth Vader, Vol. 1
Finally! Someone who understands Vader! Kieron Gillen's story, which takes place between A New Hope and Empire, recognizes that Lord Vader earned that title by being a total bad ass. If you've ever spent time in the extended universe of Star Wars, you'll know that too many stories outside the main movies make Vader seem a bit tepid and weak. This series does no such thing. Right from his first appearance, Vader is clearly his menacing powerful self. Loved it, though to complete the story you have to pick up some random issues of Vader Down and Star Wars, which I found to be annoying.
Dracula, Issue 1
Boring.
Frankenstein (Dean Koontz), Issue 1
Cool artwork, but ultimately seemed to hokey to continue.
Alan Moore's From Hell (still reading)
I love the writing. The artwork leaves me confused though. I'm often struggling to figure out who is who, and who is talking. It's all black and white and I find myself getting fatigued by this, but I'm pushing through it still because it really is well written attempt at telling one theory of the Jack the Ripper mystery.
Grumpy Cat and Pokey, Issue 1
I felt dumb for reading this, but it was kind of cute.
I Hate Fairyland, Issue 1
I loved the artwork, but the characters were annoying.
Jennifer Blood: Born Again, Issues 1-5
Kind of bland action/vengeance story.
Ketsueki (complete)
This was a martial arts story, which was enjoyable told, if a little cliche.
Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 1
I really liked the TV anime series, but I found the comic hard to follow without thinking back to the animated sequences to figure out what was happening with the action sequences. Watch the anime. Nevertheless, as a source for all of these cool ideas like a 3rd gender, immortals, strange creatures called gauna, someone who is a part-robot-part-bear and nobody seems to find that strange, this is a cool sci-fi story.
Mercy Thompson, Vol. 1
I regretted this one. It's put together well, but it's kind of Twilight style werewolf story. I think I am just not the intended audience for this one.
Monstress, Issues 1-2
The story is a bit bleak, and I'm not sure if I like it yet. However, the art style looks like Alphonse Mucha's art nouveau and every panel is a pleasure to look at.
Nowhere Men, Vol. 1
I wanted to like this. The idea of scientists as the new rock stars appealled to me, but ultimately it doesn't have enough science, nor does it rock very hard. I got bored and stopped reading before I finished.
ODY-C, Vol. 1 and 2
Wow! The flowing psychedlic neon trippy flesh and juice! The art just squirts all of the pages in manic brilliance. I love how this thing looks! It's a strange retelling of Homer's Odyssey set in a acid-induced sci-fi fever dream. I fell in love with the first volume, but then it changed direction in the second and lost its stride.
Red Sonja (classic remastered)
Red Sonja, Vol. 2
I was afraid this would be sexist garbage given her skimpy armor and sexy body, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that Sonja is a boss. She's butch, she gets stinky, she's horny, and she sits at the table with the barbarian boys whether they want her there or not. It probably helps that a woman penned the story.
Saga, Vol. 1
What appears on the surface to be a quirked out sci-fi series turns out to really be a tale of family, told with an almost embarassing level of honesty and candor. The art style is very cool, and hits more for the Fi than the Sci of Sci-Fi. Robots have TVs for heads not because that is a likely scientific outcome, but it just looks cool, damnit.
Sex Criminals, Issue 1
People with orgasms that have super powers, like stopping time. Hahaha. It was a fun read, though I blushed while reading it since the premise is so silly. It might be worth following past this first issue, but I feel unsure about it.
Soulfire, Vol. 1 (still reading)
Sci-Fi and magic with a bit of a Neverending Story vibe to it about a boy who is chosen to save magic. I love the artwork, which sits somewhere between American comics and Japanese manga. I'm finding the story to be fun, though it plays on a lot of now familiar tropes.
Sunstone, Vol. 1
Come for the lesbian bondage sex, stay for the quirky heartwarming romance. I was really surprised by this. The artist is fantastic and he has an uncanny ability for capturing the nuance of facial expressions in a way that many lesser comic artists are unable to do. It really helps capture the anxiousness and playfulness of the two female characters who are hooking up for BDSM, but wind up falling for each other.
Tokyo Ghost, Vol. 1
This comic kicks so much ass! It's a cyberpunk tale of an overtechnofied society rampant with corruption, pornography, and always online distraction. Rick Remender writes a tragic sci-fi love tale that kicks in plenty of social commentary about how we consume and hide in our tech bubbles. Sean Murphy's drawings leap off every panel with an amazing kinetic energy that makes you forget this whole thing isn't actually animated. It gives up a slick cyber-cool feel of something along the lines of Ghost in the Shell.
Trees, Vol. 1
I don't remember much about reading this, so I'll just have to say it wasn't very memorable.
The Wicked + The Divine, issue 1
Another by Kieron Gillen (he did the new Vader series, and was formerly a videogame writer for Rock Paper Shotgun). It's hard to say much about this based on just the first issue, but there appears to be some David Bowie influence, so that's always a good thing.
The Witcher: Reasons of State
Surprisingly dense. I played through The Witcher 2, and part of The Witcher 1, and I still had difficulty in following all of the folklore and understanding the political and geographic contexts that this comic expected you to be familiar with. I really need to read the books.
Vampirella, Vol. 2
Fun, but nothing of great substance. Though if you bought this for the big boobied pictures, substance probably isn't your biggest concern.
The X-Files: Season 1
I watched the first season of the X-Files TV show not long before reading this. I enjoyed this because I was familiar with the source material, but the artwork was really chunky and it was difficult to tell who was who and who was talking. I wouldn't recommend this unless you are already familiar with this season of X-Files and want to just walk down memory lane a bit without rewatching all the episodes.
Last edited by J T on Tue May 31, 2016 8:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: The Comic Book Thread
My strongest recommendations from all that would be: Akira, Tokyo Ghost, ODY-C, Sunstone, and Bitch Planet.
Next up for me, I saw that William Gibson, the father of cyberpunk, has a new comic series now called Archangel, so I'm going to check that out!
Next up for me, I saw that William Gibson, the father of cyberpunk, has a new comic series now called Archangel, so I'm going to check that out!
My contributions to the Racketboy site:
Browser Games ... Free PC Games ... Mixtapes ... Doujin Games ... SotC Poetry
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Re: The Comic Book Thread
Meh. At best.noiseredux wrote:Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe is on sale for $3.50 on the Google Play Store, and I've got enough in credit to cover that. How is that book?
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noiseredux
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- Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:09 pm
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Re: The Comic Book Thread
really? I read the sample which was only like I don't know... 10 pages maybe? But it showed Mr. Fantastic killed and it was pretty brutal. Seems like an interesting concept for a book, or does it get too silly?marurun wrote:Meh. At best.noiseredux wrote:Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe is on sale for $3.50 on the Google Play Store, and I've got enough in credit to cover that. How is that book?
Re: The Comic Book Thread
I just thought it was pointless, mostly. There's not a good reason, really, for him to go spastic on the Marvel universe (the one given is meh), and no good-enough explanation for why he's powerful and cunning enough to do it, and there are so many characters involved that there's no real quality time with any of them. Deadpool is mostly going through the motions. I dunno, maybe I'm too picky. I've been reading a lot of stuff lately, picking and choosing, and I just wasn't amused, but your tastes may be different.noiseredux wrote:really? I read the sample which was only like I don't know... 10 pages maybe? But it showed Mr. Fantastic killed and it was pretty brutal. Seems like an interesting concept for a book, or does it get too silly?marurun wrote:Meh. At best.noiseredux wrote:Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe is on sale for $3.50 on the Google Play Store, and I've got enough in credit to cover that. How is that book?
Re: The Comic Book Thread
Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe was better.
And Akira is awesome, JT. All six volumes dominate my main shelf for graphic novels, and I also have an imported volume six in Japanese for the aesthetic value. I highly recommend the manga to everyone.
And Akira is awesome, JT. All six volumes dominate my main shelf for graphic novels, and I also have an imported volume six in Japanese for the aesthetic value. I highly recommend the manga to everyone.
Re: The Comic Book Thread
He has a pretty extensive Deviantart account as well. Does a fair bit of fanart for other comics, and the occasional video game, if you look at the different galleries.J T wrote: Sunstone, Vol. 1
Come for the lesbian bondage sex, stay for the quirky heartwarming romance. I was really surprised by this. The artist is fantastic and he has an uncanny ability for capturing the nuance of facial expressions in a way that many lesser comic artists are unable to do.
Nice collection of impressions though
I mostly read not-superhero comics as well, but I also tend to wait for trade paperbacks (so haven't read Monstress yet, for instance, looks interesting though).Re: The Comic Book Thread
Actually, I remember you saying you really liked the manga in a discussion about Akira from long ago. It stuck in my head and for years I have been saying, I gotta read the Akira mangas because Ack said they were great. Well, I finally took your advice!Ack wrote:
And Akira is awesome, JT. All six volumes dominate my main shelf for graphic novels, and I also have an imported volume six in Japanese for the aesthetic value. I highly recommend the manga to everyone.
My contributions to the Racketboy site:
Browser Games ... Free PC Games ... Mixtapes ... Doujin Games ... SotC Poetry
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Re: The Comic Book Thread
Yeah, his deviantart page has tons great drawings. A lot of them are just fun little one-off pictures of his characters in funny situations. He actually released the first chapter of Sunstone in a pdf there for anyone interested in a taste:isiolia wrote:He has a pretty extensive Deviantart account as well. Does a fair bit of fanart for other comics, and the occasional video game, if you look at the different galleries.J T wrote: Sunstone, Vol. 1
Come for the lesbian bondage sex, stay for the quirky heartwarming romance. I was really surprised by this. The artist is fantastic and he has an uncanny ability for capturing the nuance of facial expressions in a way that many lesser comic artists are unable to do.
http://shiniez.deviantart.com/art/Sunstone1-326473043
My contributions to the Racketboy site:
Browser Games ... Free PC Games ... Mixtapes ... Doujin Games ... SotC Poetry
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