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GrandpaPants posted:Does anyone have any opinions on The Red Star? I noticed that it was recently reprinted in HC, so I was wondering if it was worth picking up. I've heard good things about it, but that is the extent of my knowledge. It's somewhat "of its time". I read the first large-size collection back in 2001 or whenever, and liked it, but in my opinion it now seems more like novelty than anything else. IIRC it had a decent setup but then kinda goes nowhere for the sake of pretty pictures (which, again, seemed novel at the time) and I could be mistaken but I thought the story never actually finished. It's probably not terrible or anything but if I had to rebuy my collection it would probably get repurchased sometime around when I started rebuying Ultimate X-Men trades.
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Nov 29, 2014 19:53
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Has anyone read RASL by Jeff Smith? Given the pedigree I'm a little surprised I don't recall any discussion when it came out. Frankly I thought it was kinda poor (good art, though). The ending leaves a lot of stuff dangling, and not in a good way. The negative reviews I've seen online are kinda worthless because they either complain that the maker of Bone has a book with swearing and brief tittums or lazily/badly complain about the poor characterization of women in the book (which is poor).
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Nov 29, 2014 20:00
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I read RASL. It was neat, but I don't end up recommending it to folks. It's been a while, but I remember thinking that the main character never felt real, and the situation he was in seemed neat but not particularly compelling. Lot of words for me to just say Meh.
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Nov 30, 2014 00:17
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I'm getting back into comics in a massive way. Here's a chunk of the stuff I'm really enjoying. Can anyone recommend a good series-starter trade paperback I might like, that I could ask for for Christmas? SF: Saga Prophet Storm Dogs Copperhead Manhattan Projects Watchmen Mass Effect (mainly just because I love the games — the comics aren't amazing) Fantasy/weird: Rat Queens Locke & Key The Unwritten (Tommy Taylor series) Orc Stain Sex Criminals Bone Animal stuff: Blacksad Pride of Baghdad Mouse Guard Serious poo poo: Maus Persepolis edit: Also I bought a bunch of Hellboy hardbacks I've yet to read; I'm borrowing Sandman one volume at a time from a friend; and I got that Image Comics Humble Bundle a while back which has Chew, East of West, Fatale, Invincible, Lazarus, Morning Glories and Revival. Still need to read those, but as far as asking for presents go those things are out. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Nov 30, 2014 |
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Nov 30, 2014 02:10
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I'd recommend checking out Sweet Tooth and MIND MGMT.
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Nov 30, 2014 02:33
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Blacksad is good because they are all self contained stories. And also it's great to look at. Of the other comics you've got up there, I'd say give Manhattan Projects a try if you like dark humor and crazy sci-fi. Sex Criminals is hilarious. The Unwritten is a really tight story if you're into stories about stories. e) I just realized that I'm an idiot and completely misinterpreted that. Dr. Hurt fucked around with this message at 04:41 on Nov 30, 2014 |
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Nov 30, 2014 03:17
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How about the complete initial run of Stray Bullets? That'd be a hell of a present. http://www.amazon.com/Stray-Bullets-Uber-Alles-TP/dp/1607069474/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417314146&sr=8-1&keywords=stray+bullets+alles http://www.instocktrades.com/TP/Image/STRAY-BULLETS-UBER-ALLES-ED-TP-%28MR%29/JAN140530 $33 here
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Nov 30, 2014 03:22
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Hedrigall posted:I'm getting back into comics in a massive way. Here's a chunk of the stuff I'm really enjoying. Can anyone recommend a good series-starter trade paperback I might like, that I could ask for for Christmas? You seem to have pretty similar taste to me, so I'll suggest things that I like that aren't on your list: Y: The Last Man Fables Anything by Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth is a great rec)
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Nov 30, 2014 03:30
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If you dig Brandon Graham's Prophet stuff, maybe read Multiple Warheads? Everyone should. Next level comics.
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Nov 30, 2014 04:18
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I still put King City above Multiple Warheads, at least because King City is completed. Chew is good for comedy. Sex Criminals is all kinds of awesome. Both books are way better than their synopsis would imply, so just check them out. Deadly Class is great if the idea of Hogwarts for assassins is appealing. I've also been loving Gillen and McKelvie's Wicked and Divine. It's about gods as pop musicians, and I'm not normally interested in either. If you like Rat Queens, maybe give Skull Kickers a shot. It has the same D&D comedy thing.
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Nov 30, 2014 04:31
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Nevermind
Mars4523 fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Nov 30, 2014 |
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Nov 30, 2014 05:05
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Hedrigall posted:I'm getting back into comics in a massive way. Here's a chunk of the stuff I'm really enjoying. Can anyone recommend a good series-starter trade paperback I might like, that I could ask for for Christmas? I like your books and I'm going to second the Y: The Last Man recommendation. So good! Also check out Private Eye if you haven't. For more serious poo poo, I would recommend Fun Home, My Friend Dahmer, and From Hell. fozzy fosbourne fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Nov 30, 2014 |
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Nov 30, 2014 05:08
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I'd also add the whole Brubaker/Phillips canon to any reading list.
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Nov 30, 2014 05:16
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pugnax posted:I'd also add the whole Brubaker/Phillips canon to any reading list. Sleeper, Criminal, Incognito, and Fatale, he means, which are all excellent. Sleeper is still my far-and-away favorite, though (and you would also have to read the prequel, Point Blank, which was not drawn by Phillips).
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Nov 30, 2014 05:18
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Seconding Chew, King City, and Prophet, as well as anything James Stokoe has made, like Orc Stain(whenever he gets around to making more) and Godzilla: The Half Century War. As far as more self contained graphic novels, Asterios Polyp was super good, and I really enjoy anything by Guy Delisle(Pyongyang, Jerusalem, et al).
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Nov 30, 2014 05:55
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Teenage Fansub posted:Is Jeff Parker's Flash Gordon over already? I'm way behind, but the two issues I read were great. http://docshaner.tumblr.com/post/103947147771/based-on-a-question-you-were-just-asked-am-i-to quote:Anonymous asked: Based on a question you were just asked, am I to believe you're leaving FLASH GORDON? quite liked this tbh
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Nov 30, 2014 07:10
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Hedrigall posted:I'm getting back into comics in a massive way. Here's a chunk of the stuff I'm really enjoying. Can anyone recommend a good series-starter trade paperback I might like, that I could ask for for Christmas? Keep reading Lazarus and anything else by Greg Rucka. Check out Rucka's Queen & Country about a british spy that's more police procedural than James Bond superspy bullshit. His White Out series about a US marshall in Antartica is a wonderful murder mystery and a semi-prequel. Never, ever watch the movie. Rick Remender has a SCI-Fi book out that's only a few issues deep called Low. Earth is hosed up, people live in giant underwater cities and resources are just about used up. They need to find a new planet or humanity is extinct. Princess Ugg is a fantasy series about a barbarian princess who goes to a princess finishing school and has the typical misadventures you'd expect. Southern Bastards just finished its first arc and should have a trade out, grizzled hardass returns to his small southern, football worshipping town after his father's death and slams head first into corruption. Great, great series by Jason Arron. Check out his previous "things can always get worse" series Scalped about an native american FBI agent who goes under cover in his old reservation.
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Nov 30, 2014 11:46
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Just Offscreen posted:As far as more self contained graphic novels, Asterios Polyp was super good Asterios Polyp is great. The story is pretty much just a guy going through a tough time and learning lesions, but it is well done and pushes the comics medium further than any book since Watchmen.
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Nov 30, 2014 17:15
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StumblyWumbly posted:Asterios Polyp is great. The story is pretty much just a guy going through a tough time and learning lesions, but it is well done and pushes the comics medium further than any book since Watchmen. Well said- it's just a shame that more people haven't read it. The first few pages make it seem like a dense read, but it really just blows right by. Also how is that yellow?
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Nov 30, 2014 18:28
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Just read through Southern Bastards. Man, that epilogue was a punch in the gut. Good stuff. I'm desperate for someone to make a short film based on it with Tommy Lee Jones as Coach Boss. I couldn't read his lines without hearing Jones.
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Nov 30, 2014 19:59
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Just Offscreen posted:
If you're asking me something, I don't understand the question.
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Nov 30, 2014 21:59
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I just blazed through Southern Bastards and my only complaint about the series is that issue six isn't out yet. I have no idea why I waited this long to get on the Southern Bastard train.
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Nov 30, 2014 22:58
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GrandpaPants posted:Does anyone have any opinions on The Red Star? I noticed that it was recently reprinted in HC, so I was wondering if it was worth picking up. I've heard good things about it, but that is the extent of my knowledge. I have the four original paperbacks and some assorted memorabilia. I liked the setting and the depiction of industrialized ersatz-socialist magic, but I found that the central conceit - a high-fantasy retelling of the collapse of the Soviet Union - didn't really work for me. For me, the period is the epitome of little people making petty decisions that spiral into chaos, and that's not something epic fantasy is equipped to depict. For example, the equivalent of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan is presented in terms reminiscent of the Battle of Helm's Deep, rather than as the prolonged, pointless, lovely colonial war it was. The imagery is enough for me to recommend it, but someone without a background in the period would probably enjoy it more than I did.
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Nov 30, 2014 23:22
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StumblyWumbly posted:If you're asking me something, I don't understand the question. Oh I don't get quoted often, and forgot that I see my own quoted text in a yellow bubble.
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Dec 1, 2014 03:41
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Hedrigall posted:I'm getting back into comics in a massive way. Here's a chunk of the stuff I'm really enjoying. Can anyone recommend a good series-starter trade paperback I might like, that I could ask for for Christmas? Yeah, I'm with all the people who generally dig the books you have on your list. I'll second the recommendation for Chew--one of the comics that got me back into comics, and still one of my favorites. The main things your list seems to be missing are the Vertigo classics (so, in addition to Sandman, that would include--imo--Transmetropolitan, Lucifer, Scalped, and Y: the Last Man. Sweet Tooth was also great and would fit your taste, I think. I liked Preacher, too, but it might not have aged that well.) You might like Warren Ellis's 12-issue run of The Authority, available in one trade paperback -- I really loved it, and it bridged superhero-style and non-superhero comics pretty well. Also, potentially Brian Vaughan's Runaways, generally considered in the top tier of his works along with Saga and Y:tLM. Also, not a series starter, but be sure to read WE3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely.
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Dec 1, 2014 04:22
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Wow thanks everyone for all the suggestions! I'm going to research all the titles mentioned so far (although some I've heard of before or even read and just forgot to list, like Transmetropolitan) and look for reviews and blurbs, and check out the artstyles of them all. I think I'll be favouring ones that promise to give me warm fuzzies character-wise, like Saga, Blacksad and Rat Queens did — over ones with cold unlikeable characters like Manhattan Projects and Orc Stain. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Dec 1, 2014 |
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Dec 1, 2014 04:36
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Ok I'm starting to read Chew (it's one of the ones I got in that Humble Bundle) and just finished the first issue. That was bizarre. The double-page spread where Chu tastes the soup is some hosed up poo poo!
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Dec 1, 2014 13:34
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One of my best friends, and the only one of my friends who reads comics extensively, just sent me an early Christmas package with The Wicked + The Divine and Rat Queens, along with Ms. Marvel volume 1 and Slott and Allred's Silver Surfer New Dawn. How awesome are the first two? I haven't cracked them yet but I really dig Roc Upchurch's art. Dr. Hurt posted:Oh man you're only up to Garden of Souls? You have some really, really good stuff to come from BPRD. Basically it's all uphill from here. I'm on Hell on Earth: Gods and Monsters right now. I let myself get behind for some reason, but after Christmas I think I'll buy the rest of Hell on Earth trades as a getting out of the active Army present to myself. I've heard some negative things about Russia and on. What are your thoughts? And yeah, I love that Hellboy in Hell is just Mignola loving around and drawing crazy poo poo. I don't even care where the story is going at this point, I just want to see more insane hell architecture and geography. Martello fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Dec 1, 2014 |
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Dec 1, 2014 17:49
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I'm surprisingly not enamored with WicDiv, but it gets better through the whole first arc. Can't comment on Rat Queens, but a lot of people here seem to enjoy it, though the artist turned out to be a terrible person (he's off now).
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Dec 1, 2014 18:00
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Can you elaborate on the terrible person part? I generally don't care about that kind of thing but I'm curious. I mean if the artist is a practicing murder-rapist or something then I probably wouldn't buy his stuff. edit: Never mind, I used that Google thing. Holy gently caress. There are a lot of "terrible person in the opinion of SA" things I can ignore, but wife-beating is not one of them. Really sucks that I like his art so much. Martello fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Dec 1, 2014 |
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Dec 1, 2014 18:11
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http://kurtiswiebe.com/2014/11/21/my-statement-on-the-rat-queens-news/ http://www.newsarama.com/22804-roc-upchurch-off-rat-queens-after-domestic-violence-arrest.html Pretty sad, and I hope that both Roc Upchurch can be rehabilitated and that his mistakes don't seriously impact the work of the others involved in Rat Queens. Re: My take on the book, I like it but I'm not quite as hyped as many others are here. I have a hunch that the novel premise is probably a little more refreshing for comic readers that have read an order of magnitude more of the typical capes, sci-fi/spec fic, horror, and slice of life genres than I have. Related to that, it's pretty puzzling how Orcs and Elves fantasy seems to be much less popular in comics than other geeky mediums. It seems to be more prevalent in European and Japanese comics than Western comics, too. fozzy fosbourne fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Dec 1, 2014 |
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Dec 1, 2014 18:18
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I am torn on rat Queens. I like the plot and the ideas. The unique twists on the standard DnD premises are excellent and I like the characters. The writing is top notch. The art is the only thing I don't care for. I think the characters are supposed to be in their twenties but they are depicted much younger, to the point that it makes me feel a little awkward to recommend it. I am getting the same '1000 year old witch depicted as an eight year old' vibes that I get from a bunch of anime with the Goblin character in particular. I really don't like those vibes. If you can get around that, and the fact that the artist is a terrible person, it is highly recommended.
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Dec 1, 2014 22:02
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Oh man, just read the first issue of Tooth & Claw. Love it! Art is super cool, the writing is weird as hell, it's got animal people, what's not to like? Also read Birthright, and I'm sort of torn. I love Gene Wolfe and the Wizard Knight, but I feel like I lost interest in Birthright on the last page of the first issue. Ugh.
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Dec 1, 2014 22:14
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Rusty Kettle posted:I am torn on rat Queens. The artist leaving should solve both those problems, the writing really is great, and it would be a shame to miss it.
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Dec 1, 2014 23:21
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RIP ZEEZ
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Rusty Kettle posted:I am torn on rat Queens. .... I guess I can see that with Betty since she's a halfling, but nowhere else do the characters come across as teenagers or animie pedophile bullshit. Plus, as foutre said, Roc Upchurch is leaving, so there'll be a new artist.
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Dec 2, 2014 09:29
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Soonmot posted:.... I guess I can see that with Betty since she's a halfling, but nowhere else do the characters come across as teenagers or animie pedophile bullshit. Plus, as foutre said, Roc Upchurch is leaving, so there'll be a new artist. Yeah I've only flipped through it so far (saving it as an airplane read this afternoon) and Betty's the only one who looks vaguely childish but it makes sense given she's a halfling. Upchurch's personal issues notwithstanding, he's a fantastic artist and it's really unfortunate that he won't be working on the book anymore. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he should have stayed on, it just sucks that we won't get to see his art on the book anymore. If anywhere ever.
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Dec 2, 2014 15:43
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Martello posted:Yeah I've only flipped through it so far (saving it as an airplane read this afternoon) and Betty's the only one who looks vaguely childish but it makes sense given she's a halfling. I had a similar feeling about Justiniano. He should be in jail/treatment, but drat if I don't miss his artwork.
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Dec 2, 2014 20:37
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I had never heard of him before I read your post, so I looked him up. Child porn, got it. He is a good artist but to me his style is fairly standard, so it's not like anyone's losing anything by him not producing. Upchurch, on the other hand, is pretty unique. I really like how he draws women that could actually live next to you or be married to you or something. I mean, Violet is built pretty drat close to my wife. Probably shorter than 5'5", but I'm not sure. Similarly violent personality, too. I read The Wicked + The Divine volume 1 and it wasn't bad. Not sure how much I really like the conceit - there's something seems cliche and kinda dumb about gods being snotty teenagers - but the art is great and the story is interesting enough that I want to keep reading. McKelvie can draw people great, and he can also draw guns, which is sadly pretty rare in comics. Though that whole "sniper with a laser sight" trope really needs to loving die.
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Dec 4, 2014 05:20
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I actually liked the "Gods as teenagers" and visa versa thing. I feel like Kieron Gillen, judging from Phonogram, will take it in a pretty interesting direction and that there's a bit more depth to it than the usual cliches. But that hasn't quite been borne out yet, so who knows. Semi-related, I'm here to ask for some comic recommendations for Christmas gifts for my girlfriend. So far she's liked the following, with favorites at the top: Locke and Key (she read all the trades in one night...) Revival The Wicked and the Divine Saga Uzumaki Nailbiter Sex Criminals Hawkeye (I think she maybe only liked it because it had a cute dog...) I think she really likes intelligent horror, Lovecraftian themes, clever detective stories and comics that aren't sexist, as well as books that are just good (see: Sage/The Wicked and The Divine). Her love of horror aside, I don't think she's really into mindless gore/violence. She also doesn't really read traditional superhero comics, but liked the serial Warm that treats superpowers in a kind of interesting, "what's it like for a regular person" kind of thing. I think the one comic that seems pretty obvious to include is Hellboy, but I'm not sure what run would best fit in with the above preferences. Beyond that, I've gone through a bunch of different stuff but at this point am really just over-thinking it. What would y'all recommend? e: Oh, I think I'm also going to get her Chew. She really likes the TV show Hannibal, and maybe it's a stretch, but it seems like there's some parallels there.
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Dec 4, 2014 10:25
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You really can't go wrong with starting her on the first Hellboy Library Edition. Even if she doesn't end up loving the story, if she has any appreciation for good art, she will like the book for that alone. You could also get her the first BPRD Omnibus. I think Hellboy is slightly more accessible at the beginning.
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Dec 4, 2014 13:33
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