What comic are you reading at the moment.

simu · 20-06-2004 2:32pm #1

I thought it would be cool to do a thread where people post about what comic they're reading at the moment, what it's about and how they find it. Plus, it would give people a chance to find out about new comics they might enjoy.
So, here goes:

I'm reading the first collected volume of Kabuki - it's called "Circle of Blood" - by David Mack. It's about a woman called Kabuki who works as a secret agent fot the Noh, an covert organisation that tries to keep a balance between criminal gangs and the world of politics in a Japan of the future. I'm about half-way through and I'm really enjoying it so far. The art work is cool, it's black and white, really detailed and is a kind of fusion between traditional Japanese drawing and a futuristic cyberpunk style. The story is cool as well - interesting characters with strange pasts, scheming and intrigue, lots of action and twists and a sort of sci-fi tone.

AngryBadger · 21-06-2004 10:17am

An easier question might have been "What is AngryBadger NOT reading at the moment".

so I'll just list one or two of the titles I'm really enjoying.

Classwar, only have issues # 4,5 but I think it's stunning stuff. With all the cookie cutter conspiracy stories that've been doen up to now it would be reasonable to write this off as so much production garbage but it's actually really good.

Coomon Grounds. Interesting little indie number. Superheros deal with real-life situations like talking to your magical friend while taking a dump. SOme of the stoies are a bit lame, but some of them are excellent, in a real down-to-earth kind of way. Like the one where a former super villain named Captain Power takes has alzheimers or something so he takes home a super hero opponent who's life fell apart after he accidentally killed some other hero.

And finally, Wanted...dam you Mark Millar. Youa re a master scribe, but **** my ass if you can't keep to any kind of schedule. I want this every month, and yet it's just not happening. Fantastic story, sharp dialogue as Wesley learns to be the ultimate badass in a world where the super villain fraternity rules everything from the shadows. Kickass

finally this is just a snapshot of what I'm reading, but i'm not reading any of the regular continuity x-men titles becuse I think they're all ****e, (AoA anyone?)

simu · 24-06-2004 1:03am

Just read the first collected Invisibles book - Say you want a revolution - recently. I'd already read one of the later collected books of this comic - Entropy in the UK - but the first volume was good as an explanation of the ideas behind the series even if it didn't seem quite as amazing as Entropy. The story of Dane, the young guy whom the Invisibles, (or one cell of the secret organisation known as the Invisibles whose purpose is to prevent aliens from taking over the minds of humans), are trying to recruit was pretty cool, reminded me of some of the Hellblazer comics. Lots of trippy goings-on, time travel (they went back in time and met the Marquis de Sade who turned out to be a pleasant, tubby guy!), weird creatures from other dimensions and funky human characters - even though you get the impression the writer (Grant Morrison) was trying to set the scenario for future story developments quite a bit in this book, I'm looking forward to reading more of his stuff.

ThenComesDudley · 25-06-2004 8:46pm

yup those kabuki are really good just finised the fourth book.

I recomened the Authority (More Kev) story line which is out at the moment. Its very funny i think anywway. Seaguy is pretty good also.

Hellboy just read wake the devil graphic last night, good also.

Also Ex machina is lookin like it could be good, just read the first part today.

Maybe check those out if you have time

monkeymagic · 26-06-2004 3:09am

Superman - Brian Azzarello is an intriguing writer and Jim Lee can draw anything.

Robin- Been reading it for the past 9 years or so lol justw aiting for Spoiler to die so Tim can get back in costume.

100 Bullets - Brian Azzarello's regular spot of mastery joined by the excellent Eduardo Risso, it would be a crime not to be reading it.

Gotham Central - The BEST Batman book written by two of the best writers in the industry and Batman only serves as a haunting presence it's a must read too.

Sleeper - About to start into it's second season and Agent Carver is so deep undercover that he probably still can't get out of the criminal world he's submersed in. If this was on tv 24 and the Sopranos would be taking a back seat in critical praise.

Fysh · 26-06-2004 2:31pm

Just finished the collected book of Industriacide by Sean Dietrich - very very weird comic, but very good. Johnny The Homicidal Maniac is the nearest thing I can think of for comparison - the art is similar, although more "scratchy". Storyline is, well....weird.Dealing with three kids and how they've been screwed up by 'Cide Inc, a factory near the city where they live, it has very little dialogue as such - most of the comic consists of internal voices, which works to enhance the claustrophic feeling the art creates.

Anyway, read it.

I'm now waiting for Heaven's Devils #4, Hellblazer : Highwater, and the next collected 100 Bullets to arrive in my local store. Does anyone know if Mark Millar is still doing the Unfunnies, or how many issues it lasted for? I picked up the first one a few months back but haven't seen or heard anything since...

jill_valentine · 30-06-2004 4:45pm

Just finally read Watchmen. Whoa. Sort of like a much more depressing version of The Tick, deconstructing Superheroes away goodo. Very, very dark...almost relentlessly depressing and I find myself disturbed at how much I liked Rorschach... I very much liked the old-styley horror comic woven into it. So yeah, it lives up to its hype, it may just be the greatest comic ever. But its by no means a fun read. I think I'll just go and read Fray again to cheer myself up. And considering how much that used to bleak me up, thats a big turnaround...

moggie · 30-06-2004 5:07pm

Hauled out the old Preachers there recently
still class, few touch them fer sheer style

was very impressed with the ww2Transformers/GiJoe crossover 6 issue run
some crumy lines but the artwork!!:eek: :eek:

been meaning to get on board the Transmoplitan and Last Man kicks
any pointers on where to start?
(don't say the first issue:( )

Steveire · 30-06-2004 5:17pm

i know its retro, but i'm still reading my calvin and hobbes comic books. They're just that good.

neXus9 · 30-06-2004 5:53pm

Originally posted by moggie
Hauled out the old Preachers there recently
still class, few touch them fer sheer style

Yeah, I love the preacher comics. Pity the film is going to be made with the director of tank girl:(, although I saw a picture of what ar*e face is going to look like and he looks pretty good and the story and script is by Garth himself. From what I heard though he doesn't show much of a romance between Jesse and Tulip compared to his comics.

Fysh · 30-06-2004 6:04pm

Originally posted by moggie
been meaning to get on board the Transmoplitan and Last Man kicks
any pointers on where to start?
(don't say the first issue:( )

Dunno bout Y : The last man, but for transmet I'd recommend starting on the second collected book, Lust For Life. It's the biggest of the books (9 issues total) and serves as a good introduction to the series because it has a few self-contained stories in it, whereas the first book is only 3 issues long (a three part story, no less) which, well, is too concerned with telling its story to properly set the background in which the story plays out.

Have you read Sandman? If not, you should also check out Preludes and Nocturnes, the collected first book. It'll give you a good idea of whether you'll like the rest of the books (although I'd avoid the crappy spinoffs if I was you - most of them aren't worth it).

monkeymagic · 01-07-2004 1:46am

Only place to start with Y:The Last Man is the first trade Unmanned, it's a series you're really better off reading in the right order, that said it's well worth it as it's very very well written and beautifully drawn.

Epitaph · 01-07-2004 10:33am

Originally posted by moggie
was very impressed with the ww2Transformers/GiJoe crossover 6 issue run
some crumy lines but the artwork!!:eek: :eek:

I'll second that, the art was fantastic. Extremely detailed but rarely showed us all of any Transformer, which IMO just added to the mystery of ginormous robots in the 40s.

Any idea if there's a trade planned?

/still waiting on that Ultimates hardcover - effin' August!

Isn't that stain on cinema James Madsen gonna be Jesse? :rolleyes:

Lemming · 01-07-2004 10:37am

I'm reading the current crop of DreamWave Transformers & GI Joe comics, along with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Robotech, the StarWars comics, & Liberty Meadows (which I *highly* recommend - t'is feckin' hysterical) in between bouts of getting other random stuff.

Fysh · 01-07-2004 11:01am

Originally posted by Epitaph
Isn't that stain on cinema James Madsen gonna be Jesse? :rolleyes:

That's what IMDB says, sadly. God knows that's going to doom the film already...

moggie · 01-07-2004 11:36am

Originally posted by Fysh

Have you read Sandman? If not, you should also check out Preludes and Nocturnes, the collected first book. It'll give you a good idea of whether you'll like the rest of the books (although I'd avoid the crappy spinoffs if I was you - most of them aren't worth it).

yep
done the sandman thing, shade, books of magic, swamp thing now and again, invisibles, animal man ....yep, I know my vintage vertigo .... looking for something different yet similar now tho'
keep hearing that Spider J is a cool character, and the Y -last man is solid....

And as for JMadsen and the preacher movie

lads
ye know it gets worse
ye do know
about Canoe* Reeves
staring as Constantine....

now that!! is gonna be painful

*hollow, wooden and can't act;)

jill_valentine · 01-07-2004 11:51am

I had low expectations about the Constantine movie, but early word is that its not half bad...

EDIT: Actually, while I'm here.... I might get to Forbidden Planet this evening and I'm in the mood for a new trade paperback. Something akin to either Watchmen or Fray...any recommendations?

Fysh · 01-07-2004 1:05pm

Nonononononononono. I've known about Keanu as Constantine for a couple of months now, and the movie has been on my boycott list since then. What hte HELL is wrong with people that they honestly think a dimwitted surferdude lookalike can play someone as enigmatic, charming, manipulative and generally complicated as Constantine? Never mind the fact that he's meant to have a Liverpool/London background, instead of this California ****e.

That movie will not be viewed by me, thanks very much.

As for other stuff after vertigo....hmmm. Can't really think of much after what you've listed. Of the currently on-going stuff I'm reading... 100 bullets is class (but on vertigo, so you prolly already know about it), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is class as well, then there's Johnny the Homicidal Maniac (yeah, I know, usually the starting point for minimoshers to go off on their little "gothic" tangent, but it's still good) and Industriacide. If you like Hellblazer (and everyone should, damnit) you might like the "strange kiss" books by Warren ellis on avatar press. Oh, and check out Garth Ennis's "Dicks" (also on Avatar). Comedy rather than action, but hilarious.

jill_valentine · 01-07-2004 1:38pm

Originally posted by jill_valentine

Brimstone was great. From what (admittedly little) I know about Constantine/ Hellblazer, it always sort of reminded me of it. Peter Horton would have been a better fit than Keanu, thats for sure.

So I'll confess, I've never really gotten into Hellblazer. If I was to give it a shot, any suggestions for a starting point?

Fysh · 01-07-2004 2:09pm

For hellblazer, probably the best start would be the first collected book, "Original Sins". At first you get the feeling that there's books before it that you haven't read, but this is just his mysterious background which we never really find out that much about.

After this book, there's about six collected books of Garth Ennis's run on the title (Dangerous Habits, Tainted Love, Fear And Loathing, Damnations Flame, Rake At The Gates Of Hell, and Son Of Man) the first five of which tie together into one big storyarc and thus only make sense properly if they're read in chronological order (although each collected book has its own self-contained storyline within the greater storyarc).

After that there's one collected book of Warren Ellis writing the character (Haunted), and then it goes on to Brian Azzarello's run (four books in total : Hard time, Good Intentions, Freezes over and Highwater, which I haven't read yet).

Oddly, Warren Ellis's best storyline was never published (owing to the storyling and current events at the time, namely the Columbine high school shootings). It's available on the web (more info about this issue over here) and while I won't directly link to it, googling for "Warren Ellis Hellblazer 141 Shoot" should find you somewhere hosting the final artwork, probably as the first hit.

moggie · 01-07-2004 2:35pm

Originally posted by jill_valentine
So I'll confess, I've never really gotten into Hellblazer. If I was to give it a shot, any suggestions for a starting point?

ok
1 issue
if I could only recommend 1 issue
just to 'meet' john,
#40 - i think,
it's a one off,
revolves around john's 40th birthday
now I know it has loads of cameos by vertigo/dc ....entities....
and many ref's to past stories, which may be unsuitable for a starting point...

but it really is a great issue to meet john

that and or the three issue crossover with Shade, or books of magic 1 - 4

okay, so toilet bowls and puke figure heavily, as do cigs, booze, maggie thatcher and drugs
but hey, whadaya 'spect? a school for wizards with invisible train platforms and magic wands:D

neXus9 · 01-07-2004 11:41pm

Originally posted by moggie
ye know it gets worse
ye do know
about Canoe* Reeves
staring as Constantine....

now that!! is gonna be painful

*hollow, wooden and can't act;)

I heard the the film was good and Keanu gave a good performance!!:eek:

Fysh · 02-07-2004 12:10am

Well, someone's talking out of their bum, given that it's not out until october-ish this year...
Never mind the fact that it is just not possible for someone with Reeves's limited acting ability to accurately play a character as complex as Constantine. Unless he's been butchered down to some crappy collection of clichés wearing a trenchcoat and smoking incessantly. Never mind the fact that it's not going to be an 18, and with Garth Ennis at the hull I can't imagine a decent story being told under a 12 rating (to quote someone else, Garth Ennis couldn't write a shopping list with a 12 rating, never mind a decent Constantine storyline).

Not watching it, end of story. There's no reason for me to believe this'll be any good, and I'd much rather just remember the hellblazer comics than have to constantly try and forget a bad film version.

jill_valentine · 02-07-2004 1:03am

I'd much rather just remember the hellblazer comics than have to constantly try and forget a bad film version.

Well...given early shots of Resident Evil: Apocalypse, I guess I understand...

neXus9 · 02-07-2004 8:58pm

Originally posted by Fysh
Well, someone's talking out of their bum, given that it's not out until october-ish this year...

There are special previews being shown. There are some reviews on aintitcool.com.

Originally posted by Fysh

Never mind the fact that it's not going to be an 18, and with Garth Ennis at the hull I can't imagine a decent story being told under a 12 rating (to quote someone else, Garth Ennis couldn't write a shopping list with a 12 rating, never mind a decent Constantine storyline).

Hitman was quite restrained and people went crazy over that.

Fysh · 04-07-2004 8:05pm

Originally posted by neXus9
There are special previews being shown. There are some reviews on aintitcool.com.[/qb]

I presume you're talking about this piece right here. Which I admit I hadn't read until you mentioned it. Reading it, I find an admission to having not read any of the original books. As has pretty much every positive comment about this film I've heard. If you read the piece and its depiction not only of constantine, but of the world he's in and the storyline and then try and relate them in anything other than the most rudimentary way, you will fail.

It sounds like Garth's grabbed a bunch of bits from his many storylines in Hellblazer (which, as I've posted elsewhere, he seems to have already refined and re-written as Preacher) and cobbled together what sounds like a sub-par "supernatural" film. If you've never read any Hellblazer or know nothing about John Constantine, it might even be possible to enjoy the film (although I maintain that Keanu was a crap choice of actor) - but then again, it was just about possible to enjoy League of Extraordinary Gentlemen under those conditions. A subsequent look at the original comic then leaves you baying for spilt directorial blood.

[qb]Hitman was quite restrained and people went crazy over that.

That's very possible - I've not read it so I can't comment. However, given the pitch I originally read for Hitman ("a sniper who can't miss, who by virtue of his telepathy will never kill anyone who doesn't deserve it"), I can't say I was particularly interested.

Perhaps I should refine my earlier comment - Garth Ennis couldn't write a worthwhile Hellblazer storyline to save his life, if he's constrained by a 12 rating. It's meant to be horror, fer chrissakes, and none of this "implied horror" nonsense - gritty, visceral, gory to the armpits horror. Not some crap about "halfbreed demons" with some banal plan to do something boring to California (as if anyone there'd notice). If they wanted Constantine in America, it should have been Azzarello writing it, I reckon.

neXus9 · 05-07-2004 2:40am

Originally posted by Fysh
For hellblazer, probably the best start would be the first collected book, "Original Sins". At first you get the feeling that there's books before it that you haven't read, but this is just his mysterious background which we never really find out that much about.

Iv'e been meaning to start reading them since Iv'e heard that they're pretty good and I like Garth Ennis. I was reading that Constantine was featured in swamp thing before hellblazer and gives some info on his life.

Fysh · 05-07-2004 11:58am

Yeah, Constantine's first real appearance was in Swamp thing #37, apparently (can be picked up in Swamp Thing : The Curse, 3rd collected book of Swamp thing stories).

I've not read it myself, because I'm not hugely into the Swamp thing (read four issues of the new series with Andy Diggle and got bored of it) - but it's one of those things I'm still vaguely interested in, purely because I like the kind of stories that tend to get told when Constantine's involved.

neXus9 · 05-07-2004 8:43pm

Garth Ennis couldn't write a worthwhile Hellblazer storyline to save his life, if he's constrained by a 12 rating

In most cases for something like this, the decision for a 12 cert would be done after the script (remember spawn). A lot of violent scenes would be left out of the film, or the usually film editing tricks would be used to avoid the gore.

Fysh · 05-07-2004 11:36pm

Yeah, but for something as visceral as Hellblazer (where, among other things, we've seen John have his lungs torn out by Satan, watched someone have their face cut apart with a razorknife, and witnessed up close the victims of riot police) that sort of implied horror or cgi-fakery (like that used in the original Blade, where it worked quite well) just doesn't fit. If it was going to have any of the comics original merits it has to be gritty and in-your-face horrible, not "here's a nasty idea, but you have to imagine it happening". I expect the same thing applies to Spawn, if the cartoon series was anything to go by...

neXus9 · 06-07-2004 7:23pm

I'm just saying that if it is extremely watered down, it could be the fault of the producers rather than Garth Ennis.

dubhthach · 07-07-2004 12:13am

At the moment, i'm reading "Blade of the Immortal" and rereading Akira
Other then that well i have the vast majority of Preacher comics from edition 4 (well i think that's the earliest one i have)

That and plus over 500 editions of 2000AD

Fysh · 07-07-2004 12:25am

Originally posted by neXus9
I'm just saying that if it is extremely watered down, it could be the fault of the producers rather than Garth Ennis.

I see where you're coming from, but given the last five years of movie adaptations, it's not like he can claim he didn't know they might be targeting a younger audience than the comic does. It is ultimately very probably the fault of some combination of people in the accounting department and someone in the production team saying "we can get a lot more people to watch this if we drop it to a 12 rating".

jill_valentine · 07-07-2004 2:15pm

Original Sins was good, but wildly inconsistent. Constantine has a completely different look and attitude from story to story, and his much vaunted Englishness boils down to saying "Chum" a lot. Having said that, I liked it a lot, and I might just follow the adventures of Mr Constantine. Any suggestions where to go from here?

Fysh · 07-07-2004 3:05pm

It is a bit wobbly, I admit - as to the different appearances, they vary from artist to artist and in the early days the artists were, as far as I know, continuously rotating.

I would recommend reading the Garth Ennis arc next, because although I found it to have too many overtones of what he later did in Preacher (which I read before hellblazer), they're some damn good stories. The Ennis books don't have to be read in order, but Rake at the gates of hell makes no sense and feels like an anticlimax outside of the context presented in the preceding four books. If you want a standalone and fully self-contained taste of ennis's writing, you could try Son Of Man. A weird little story, but interesting enough. And a few good laughs in there as well, which is nice.

Personally, I'm curious as to what's happened since Brian Azzarello stepped down from the writing - of the two major story arcs so far in the series, I actually preferred Azzarello's, partly because the stories felt fresher than Ennis's and partly because I prefer Marcelo Frusin's take on Constantine to Steve Dillon's. Richard Corben's stint was interesting too, although I can't quite make my mind up on it.

neXus9 · 07-07-2004 4:11pm

Originally posted by dubhthach

That and plus over 500 editions of 2000AD

Got about 10 2000 ad comics, dated 82/83 for one euro each!!!!:D

simu · 09-07-2004 2:37am

I came upon McSweeny's Quarterly Concern Issue 13 by chance in a bookstore recently and very glad I am of this too. Looking at the information on Amazon there, it appears to be a regular publication - must find out more about that - but I'll just stick to describing this book. It's an anthology of articles about the history of North-American comic creators plus short comics from many contemporary "alternative" comics creators from that same region. So far, I've read stuff from Robert Crumb, Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware, to name only those comicers with whom I was familiar before I got this book.

There's a huge variety of stuff in here, more importantly, of weird stuff - the kind of comics that draw you into weird surreal worlds and make you want to go and start making your own (I must get around to that!). There are also articles about how some of the greats went about making their comics which are very insightful. From an aesthetic point of view, this book is a pure pleasure to read. It's in hard cover and the paper over the hard cover is a poster you can unfold with comics on one side and bios of all the contributors plus some cool doodlings on the other. Plus, within this folded cover are hidden two further miniature comics - how cool is that?

jill_valentine · 13-07-2004 12:20pm

Just finished Sin City, and god damn that was bleak. Sheesh.

simu · 13-07-2004 12:35pm

Originally posted by jill_valentine
Just finished Sin City, and god damn that was bleak. Sheesh.

Was it good, tho? Would you recommend it?

jill_valentine · 13-07-2004 12:54pm

It was good. Very film noir, if it were a film noir directed by Tobe Hooper. The scratchy artwork was very cool, pretty unique, and the lead character is quite engaging..but...

Quite a few of the pages are splashes of a character just standing and looking shady, so for your 20.48, you aren't getting an awful lot of plot. It's also probably the darkest (tone wise) comic I've read, and the violence, much as I'm a big fan of comic violence, is often gratuitous. I know the whole point is to show us how nasty the guys world is, but some of the plot actually just feels like an excuse for more graphic torture.

Basically, the plot is this: This guy called Marv is a thug in Sin City, a big festering sleazehole of a town. Marv is big and ugly, and he's not a people person. So when the only person who was ever nice to him wakes up dead beside him (See? I can do noirish gangster speak....) he sets out to find her killer.

I liked it, but I dunno will I read it again anytime soon, and its a better borrow than a buy. I know a few folks who grooved with it though, and really love it...but I just liked it.

moggie · 13-07-2004 1:10pm

sin city really compliments James Elroy and Elmore Leonard
great stuff
but you wouldn't have it everyday

neXus9 · 13-07-2004 8:43pm

Originally posted by jill_valentine
It was good. Very film noir, if it were a film noir directed by Tobe Hooper.

Robert Rodriquez is going to direct a film of sin city. He's going to have Quentin Tarintino as a guest director of one of the stories.

I flicked through the book. Quite bulky, but as you said, seems to be that a lot of the pages have just artwork.

jill_valentine · 14-07-2004 10:29am

seems to be that a lot of the pages have just artwork.

Yeah, and while the art is very cool and fits the tone to a T, you can't really sit back and enjoy it or anything, because its not exactly easy on the eye.

neXus9 · 14-07-2004 5:30pm

I read transmetropolitan book 1, and fysh was right about it being too concerned with the setting of the city, it's quite boring (I wanted to start from the start).

I'm about half way through book 2 though, and it's pretty damn good!!!

Shiminay · 14-07-2004 7:08pm

Just finished 2 Ultimate Spider-Man books (vols 7 & 9) which tie in with X-men and Ultimates. Quite good - must get more Ultimate Spider-Man. Actually, no, must get my brother to get more - he makes all the purchases in the house

Over halfway through From Hell (never read it before). Very good so far - harsh in places, but that's all part of the charm

jill_valentine · 14-07-2004 7:22pm

Over halfway through From Hell (never read it before). Very good so far - harsh in places, but that's all part of the charm

Would you say it justifies the hefty price tag?

neXus9 · 14-07-2004 11:23pm

From hell is quite a big book, so it probably explains the price. Havn't read the comic, only seen the film, which I didn't really like.

Is the film a proper representation of the book?? I know the comic has a relationship between jack the ripper and the elephant man (missing from the film) but apart from that I don't know much about the comic orther than the artwork.

Fysh · 15-07-2004 1:26pm

General concensus that I'm aware of is that the film butchered (har har) the comic. I'd love to get the comic, but I'm still unsure about paying 40 euro for something I might not read more than once...

neXus9 · 15-07-2004 7:45pm

Yeah 40 euros is quite steep. I don't like the artwork in it so I'll probably go for one of Alan Moore's other books like watchmen.

galactus · 17-07-2004 12:27pm

Conan (Dark Horse)

Contemplate this on the tree of woe

simu · 17-07-2004 4:57pm

I bought "Summer Blonde" by Adrian Tomine yesterday. It's pretty cool - similar to Daniel Clowes' stuff.

What comic are you reading at the moment.

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