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What comic are you reading at the moment.

  • 20-06-2004 1:32pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,730 ✭✭✭✭simu


    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.


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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,251 ✭✭✭AngryBadger


    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?)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,730 ✭✭✭✭simu


    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.

    invisibles_say_you_want_a_revolution.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 519 ✭✭✭ThenComesDudley


    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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 73 ✭✭monkeymagic


    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.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 10,999 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    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...


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  • Registered Users Posts: 7,090 ✭✭✭jill_valentine


    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...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 62 ✭✭moggie


    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:( )


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,418 ✭✭✭Steveire


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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 947 ✭✭✭neXus9


    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.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 10,999 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    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).


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 73 ✭✭monkeymagic


    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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 427 ✭✭Epitaph


    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:


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,148 ✭✭✭✭Lemming


    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.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 10,999 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    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...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 62 ✭✭moggie


    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;)


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,090 ✭✭✭jill_valentine


    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?


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 10,999 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,090 ✭✭✭jill_valentine


    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?


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 10,999 Mod ✭✭✭✭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.

    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.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 62 ✭✭moggie


    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 :D:D


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 947 ✭✭✭neXus9


    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:


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 10,999 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,090 ✭✭✭jill_valentine


    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...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 947 ✭✭✭neXus9


    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.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 10,999 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    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.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 947 ✭✭✭neXus9


    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.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 10,999 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    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.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 947 ✭✭✭neXus9


    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.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 10,999 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    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...


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 947 ✭✭✭neXus9


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


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