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I like it! To quote RoboCop. Also Larry Hama is continuing his series there at issue 301.
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Jun 16, 2023 15:25
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I have Corto Maltese in Siberia on my shelf, will read it one day. I've watched the first animated special and intend to watch a couple more, those seem kind of ok. On indie comics, anybody read Void Rivals, any good? Haven't heard takes on it other than the Transformers connection, which I assume is incidental to the main story. Arcade Kings also looks cool.
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Sep 2, 2023 01:45
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Classic stuff! Always cool to see 70/80s comic appreciation, and I always love 2000AD. There's so much of it, and I'm not the most prestigious reader, so I'm gonna be busy forever. John Wagner alone has enough awesome writing for decades of reading.
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Sep 28, 2023 04:30
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Alrighty, I've read a bunch of the Marvel and DC threads tonight, lotta interesting talk about the decades of comics and trends and stuff. Now, can we get some passionate takes going about indie comics, that's the question. I guess we like 'em, we read 'em, that's about it. Are there some angles to generate some more glorious thread content here. Anyways, I enjoy reading folks wax comic philosophical. For example, there was talk on the quality of Marvel comics 20 years ago versus now etc. I think for Indie comics the early 2000s is really underrated, even the late 90s Image books etc are underrated. But it seems pretty unanimous we mostly agree the great titles were fewer, and there are more notable indies to choose from now. Right now we have a good thing going at Image where there are lots of mash-up drama/sci-fi/fantasy/action/violent crime thing with serialized and cinematic TV ready pitches. And they tend to last like 40 issues tops sometimes. There's a really wide variety of them, but it also feels like some of the scope can have a uniformity or a limit, almost like a house style. Sort of like Vertigo had, Image is like a quasi-Vertigo or something in a way. With the 20% that are more like meme wacky concepts mixed in like what if a Hot Rod granted wishes and you had to eat some weird stuff to see the future or something. And there's a dark evil Sherlock Holmes in modern day who's stalking the neighborhood kids. Just as an example. So I love Image, and the other indie publishers, but when I look through the solicits and preview pages over the years I wonder if there's something akin to a rut, even with all the cool titles we get anyway. And the talk of how manga has a wider variety of stuff still, and more slice of life, sports, various topics people find fun and romance etc etc. Not 1 to 1 like that, but I do think we could see more variety in some of these kind of ways in American indie comics too. I'll say in general, to me, even as somebody who enjoys like Fist of the North Star and Nightmare on Elm Street, I'm mostly turning down pitches that are super grim and gory or featuring gross-out and horror elements. I even like those very elements in comics sometimes, but it feels like the default setting in some Image comics is graphic nightmare of some kind. And the main reprieve from that is if it's one of the really irreverent books about a Donkey who farts dreams you go into or something. Just a kooky example, but it reminds me a little of the gross-out trends that were popular in the 90s or something. And it's always a fantasy or sci-fi book, or a really high concept wild setting involving gods and stuff. Let me wet my beek a bit here with a seemingly less convoluted world or vibe. Here's what I want, here's what everyone (maybe) wants from a first issue. Cowboy Bebop, Lupin the Third (the anime versions), just give me fun cool characters I want to get to know. And they're doing something cool, or fun, and it seems grounded enough yet stylish that it doesn't feel like hodgepodgy madness. Usually when I'm reading a couple 6 pages previews or flipping through a book at a store, it's to see if there's anything enticing or relatable like that for example. And that's just one example, it could also introduce me to one or two characters who are riveting like a good novel would, and maybe some romance, etc etc. Just to throw a few rambling general ideas out there in the spirit of comic rambling outside of Marvel/DC. Just feel we could have a wider variety of stuff and some things that grab me more in some ways, even though we have great titles. Heavy Metal fucked around with this message at 11:20 on Oct 9, 2023 |
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Oct 9, 2023 11:10
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Jedit posted:Difficult to make a passionate statement about indie comics when my eyes glazed over about one paragraph into that rant. It's a ramble. Let me ask you this Jedit. We both like say Discworld, 2000AD, and posting on SA. Why be insulting to another fine poster? Like I mentioned, I just read and enjoyed many pages of posts here, I didn't insult any of them, if I found somebody's ramble too long or unrelatable or something I didn't feel a need to tell them such. It's just fodder to work with or not work with, be nice. Also, I've been cooped up from COVID for a week, and I'm thinking about the many possibilities of comics, call me crazy. And I'm articulating some trends I've seen across the many many Image titles etc, not that every title is like that. There are of course successful books in different styles too. But I think what's funny, is the idea is to get more people throwing out their takes and rambles I guess is my idea, like we see in Marvel/DC in a way. The main mode ideally not being to see a post and say hey it's boring and dumb, that's not really the point. Throw out your own wild rambles too, that's a challenge. Heavy Metal fucked around with this message at 12:09 on Oct 9, 2023 |
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Oct 9, 2023 12:03
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Right on, good luck over there!
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Oct 9, 2023 12:48
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Powers was hip for a minute.uggy posted:you're writing like the sea lion Uh huh, well at least you enjoy what you're doing, whatever it is. It's pretty lovely though. It also seems like you didn't really read the post, which is fine. I pointed out I agree indie comics are overall better now, and just roasted some stylistic trends and tropes as one part of a few random topics I threw out there. Heavy Metal fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Oct 9, 2023 |
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Oct 9, 2023 21:29
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Llamadeus posted:Isn't the problem here that you're mainly talking about Image and the direct market in general? If you zoom out a bit to western comics as a whole you can surely find "slice of life, sports, various topics people find fun and romance etc", the most popular western comic of recent years is the romance comic Heartstopper for instance. That's a good point for sure. There's just always room for more variety in all areas, myself I haven't found web or vertical scrolling comics to be my thing for example. But it is cool to see. So it'd be rad to see more stuff like that in other formats too. I know the direct market is definitely an issue and a physical indie comic is considered risky business wise. I've found a couple interesting looking comics online too though for sure, and sometimes they use a bigger page format I like more as well.
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Oct 10, 2023 00:33
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Happy to hear! Definitely a fun time and vibe for comics.
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Oct 30, 2023 21:50
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Frog Act posted:some whole runs of classic manga, etc but the weird British midcentury stuff is increasingly my favorite. I gotta rearrange all of these into some nice coherent thing on a shelf Now I'm curious what classic manga titles you like? I've been getting Fist of the North Star lately.
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Oct 31, 2023 20:16
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Right on, happy to read! The Lupin manga is wild for sure, and I'm glad it happened, though I prefer the anime a lot. Monkey Punch is a hero, and I appreciate his work's insanity anyway. My fav anime franchise for sure. Ranma ½ and Gunsmith Cats were cool reads. Blade of the Immortal is good, only ever read around 10 vols back when, did buy it all. Bastard!! is something. Slam Dunk anime and manga is great.
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Oct 31, 2023 22:46
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Excellent! Man comics are good.
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Nov 1, 2023 00:12
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There sure is a lot of 2000AD stuff to read, I don't know how much I'll get to in my lifetime. I've been into it since 2006, and I'm on Dredd Case Files 26 (around 1997) for example. I've got stacks of so many cool looking 2000AD titles I've barely read. When I first got into it nearly 20 years ago it was scans, so I'd read Dredd and flip through the rest to get a feel for what was in there. So I vaguely remember flipping through Harlem Heroes and all the other 70s-80s titles. My thought is, do you have the same big backlog of stuff to check out (say Strontium Dog, Wagner in general, Nikolai Dante, Abnett stuff, Mills series), etc? And if you've got that epic 2000AD backlog as well, what drew you to say the misfits of the bunch and even more obscure stuff from that scene at the time? Especially stuff you're expecting to be a bit lame or messed up in some way anyway, though I get it would still be a curiosity with charm. I think it's great you're enjoying any comic, just an excuse to talk 2000AD and share my experience with it. And in general, outside of 2000AD, the backlog thing is wild. For example lately I've been setting a goal to try and read 300 or 400 comics in a year. Since I've had some light years where I fell off and only read like 30 or 40 comics. (Also for the 2000AD thing or any shorter comic, I combine them to around 20 pages to count as a comic for this metric, so 4 of the 6 page Dredds etc.) So even if I did read 400 comics a year, roughly 8000 pages, I don't know how many decades it would take to really make a dent in the backlog of awesome comics I'm interested in. Just wild. Heavy Metal fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Nov 15, 2023 |
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Nov 15, 2023 22:50
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Good answer! Well said, cool stuff. And I should mix it up more with less top of my list stuff too. On American comics, since you mentioned, I'll throw out some favs just for fun: Savage Dragon and Invincible, superhero books but they have creator owned integrity and a freewheeling wildness that appeals to me (as a 2000AD fan). Plus Science Dog could go near Strontium Dog on your shelf. And on those wild and possibly flawed but historically awesome things etc, Frank Miller's hits if you haven't, naturally. Like Sin City, Dark Knight Returns, Batman Year One, and his Daredevil stuff. And for more retro epic and weird great stuff, Chris Claremont's 1970s-1990 X-Men run is excellent. And indie classics like the 80s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Eastman/Laird) and Usagi Yojimbo. And there's always some cool noir stuff like Cobra: The Last Laugh by Costa/Gage and Criminal or Reckless etc by Brubaker and Phillips. I've gotta read more comics yes indeed, so much cool stuff. Heavy Metal fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Nov 17, 2023 |
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Nov 17, 2023 23:07
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Very cool, I've gotta read that for sure. I haven't read most of his stuff yet but I've got a bunch of it, quite prolific those guys.
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Nov 18, 2023 14:40
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Right on, that's rad. Gotta love comics 
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Nov 19, 2023 00:30
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A new year, a new comic book indie jonesing yes indeed. That new Conan stuff and GI Joe stuff looks cool. Nice that Usagi Yojimbo is back and kicking rear end (I am in the 80s on that title but collecting the trades). Savage Dragon's super sized wedding issue hits this month, that's good stuff. Judge Dredd is cool, John Wagner is the best I wonder what he'll put out this year. He's had this sci-fi detective story Spector going again lately.
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Jan 6, 2024 02:17
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One thing I find interesting, a lot of kinda cool looking comics completely fly under the radar. Even by big creators. Jimmy Palmiotti and co. had a humblebundle I just missed that got me curious, apparently he's done over a dozen kickstarter titles. One of them called Pop Kill about a soda war or something with Dave Johnson looks great, 4 issues. Doesn't have a goodreads page or amazon version or anything. Just kinda funny since it looks like one of his more entertaining high quality books, but it's not sold in many forms. Could buy it from his website digital, though 6.99 an issue is a bit y'know (though double length). But I am picking up this sci-fi comic Denver they did on the site. And in general, any kickstarter exclusive-ish comics that you've found really good?
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Jan 21, 2024 23:58
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Cool, I noticed Kindt is the writer on that Keanu book Brzrkr oddly enough. Also, I've been re-looking into some comics I was interested in 20 years ago for nostalgia and whatnot. Noble Causes, Firebreather, Jack Staff, lot of early 00s Image stuff and whatnot. And any takes on Powers, does it fall off or anything? I see issue 7 guest stars Warren Ellis which is a bit awkward. Thinking I'll read at least the first couple trades even if I don't stick with it. I liked the first issue or two at the time. Also I was thinking I'd read a little Crossgen, have about 16 issues of Sigil and Scion to check out each. Looks like writers change a couple times and they don't get an ending, but look kind of cool anyway.
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Jan 23, 2024 02:24
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Right on, thanks! I see on comicvine Firebreather is in a couple recent-ish books probably as a background cameo, Local Man: Gold and Johnny Raygun/Savage Dragon, Jack Staff is in that second one too.
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Jan 23, 2024 06:42
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My glass half full thing, sometimes these indie comics that never get an ending, it makes me feel like I could just read two or three volumes to try it with no pressure. Like I've had the first volume of Morning Glories forever, still kinda curious what it's like so thinking I'll read a few, but if it goes downhill it doesn't matter to me so much since it didn't conclude anyway. So many things never have an ending, or have a bad one, being unfinished is kind of not a dealbreaker for me. At least, for trying a title. If it was one of my top favs, I'd be annoyed it never ended. But being into say anime from back in the day, not having an ending is practically the expected situation. Though they often have a manga that maybe got fan translated or something.
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Feb 28, 2024 05:12
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 01:11 |
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It is cool that every 80s-90s cartoon can have a home in comics. Where is our The Critic comic?
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Mar 15, 2024 22:47
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