What comic are you reading at the moment.

Picked up Warren Ellis' Apparat books the other day, and they're all good as single-issue standalone stories. Oddly, the one reminiscent of Transmet is probably the weakest one, partly because the character is a tiny bit too close to Spider Jerusalem, and partly because the artist has a tendency to avoid making a distinction between foreground and background, giving a few panels that don't really grab you. Definitely worth a look.

Also got Hellblazer : Rare cuts. Handy for more recent fans (like myself) who mainly know the character through the trades and don't have much access to earlier material (well, unless you want to download them - which I have done in many cases, but it's not the same). This includes the Newcastle incident, the Grant Morrison 2-episode story with David Lloyd doing the art (fantastic story and definitely one every fan should read), the dead boy's heart story, one of Garth Ennis' better non-main-story-art stories, and "In another part of Hell", Jamie Delano's issue exploring the roots of the friendship between John and Chas. Now I'm just waiting for Vertigo to realise that they should collect the Fear Machine storyline and release it as a trade, along with a few other storylines...

Wandered in to Other Realms yesterday, but the only thing I saw that really caught my eye was "Spaztic Colon" #1, from Angry Drunk Graphics. I have to admit, it was exactly what I've been wanting - not big, not clever, and not even amazing art. But it made me laugh like a drain and had a visual style that appealed to me. I have a big soft spot for amateur and indie comics, which made me like this a lot.

Waiting for a few things to come out : the Seaguy trade, Technopriests second trade, next issue of Ocean and Iron Man, and the first issue of Papa Midnite.

Draco wrote:

I thought Seaguy was rather poor. It didn't gel at all for me. I am looking forward to Ocean and Iron Man though. Although I believe there is another stupidly long wait between issues for Iron Man. bah and Humbug.

Got it today, and I have to say I sort of agree. What I've seen of Morrison's writing hasn't exactly been straightforward, but this felt a bit too much like it was just sluiced from his brain with no quality filter. I mean, yeah, it looked quite nice, but...I dunno, it's left me with a profound sense of "meh", which is never a good reaction to cause.

Yeah, Iron Man is apparently being spaced at 6 weeks an issue; apparently down to how long Granov is taking to produce each issue's artwork

Also picked up "Army Of Darkness : Shop Till You Drop Dead" and was pleasantly impressed with it. For whatever reason,the Ashes to Ashes comic didn't really spur me on to spend money on it (although I may reconsider if I see the trade...) but this was fun and gorey - same reason I liked the movie

Papa Midnite #1 was in after all ; picked it up because I felt a bit self-conscious trying to read the whole thing in Other Realms...can't say I'm impressed, really. Artwork's ok, story is a bit blah. It's as if Midnite is some sort of Constantine-by-proxy, pulling scams and screwing people over, only he's doing it to slave traders so it's ok. But he's also doing it to other people, because he's A Bastard With A Capital B. So radically unlike Constantine :rolleyes:. Plus the fact that the whole story is basically a prequel to "midnite kills cedella and whores her out to demon kings". I don't think I'll be buying issue 2, tbh. I know it's a cash-in, but it feels far too much like one, which isn't a good thing.

Was in the big smoke at the weekend, and got to spend a bit of time browsing both Forbidden Planet and Sub City (didn't get to check out 3rd place tho). And I bought a bunch of stuff, mostly Irish comics (wow, I'm such a patriot ):

Havoc 21 #3 - much the same as the other issues, only the artwork (especially the cover) is stronger. Definitely worth a look if you like weird fiction that doesn't necessarily revolve around superheroes. This issue actually reminded me of Heavy Metal to an extent.

In Dublin City #2 (bit of an old one this) - much the same as the first one, it's an illustrated poem set mainly in Dublin. Worth a look, although the fact that it's a poem might put some people off...

Metal Hurlant #13 - Technically this is the issue before last, but I missed it when it first came out and I'm glad I picked it up - the artwork on the first story alone is worth it; Beltran's art is every bit as breathtaking as it is on Technopriests (no small praise, for those who haven't seen it). A couple of ongoing (and very different) zombie stories, a very good horror short from David Lloyd (illustrator for V for Vendetta) and a silly but fun story about mexican wrestlers who believe they are reincarnated aztec gods all combine to make this a particularly good issue.

Richard Matheson's Hell House vol 1 - annoyingly, this is the first of a 3 part series but is not marked as such. But it's a fairly good horror story with strong art and a good suspenseful build up. It seems to be going more for the psychological horror than the guts & gore approach, but that's a nice change. I hope the rest of the series keeps the quality as high.

Sancho's Last Case (website currently unavailable, apparently) - another irish comic, with a story that at times seems daft as a broom. But with artwork this solid and a trio of demon-fighting priests as its heroes, what's not to like? It reads like Father Ted crossed with the Exorcist. If it was written by Gary Larson. And yes, that is a good thing.

Freakshow #4 - Another fine edition of what is probably the flagship Irish comic at the moment, showing exactly why Diamond have picked this up for distribution. Strong art and another example of non-superhero weird fiction that has everything I ever liked about superheroes, minus pretty much everything I don't like about them. Everyone should at least check this out.

Naked Lunch - apparently an older offering from Atomic Diner (the label Robert Curley is publishing Freakshow under), this seems to be going for the same idea as Havoc 21 (Although as far as I can tell, Naked Lunch came much earlier and sadly seems to have died a death). Three short stories, each with very much its own flavour and style. They may be "amateur" comics, but aside from the lack of colour, the work on show here competes with some of the stuff I've seen in Metal Hurlant and other monthly anthology-type comics.

Louie's Speak Easy - another older Atomic Diner comic, this is short but sweet. Fun art and a simple but entertaining story, this seems to be an issue 0 for a series that never took off. Given that it's only a euro, I thought it was worth it. It's prohibition-era america, & Louie and his boys are trying to figure out what to do after a heist that went wrong...

And, lastly, the truly amateur comic - as in, photocopied on A4 paper and stapled together. I picked it up partly because I figured "what the hell" and partly because I recognised it- it's Darrk/Light, by that guy Darkk who posted on here a while ago. Given the medium, I didn't have overly high expectations. The art could use a bit more work, although it may have been a case of "it's gonna be photocopied, so it's hardly worth killing myself over". The story is ok, in a clearly-meant-to-be-part-of-a-larger-story kind of way. And there were a few laughs in there. In fact, my only gripe is that the art could have been a bit tighter. but on the strength of it, and given the scarcity of irish people doing their own, I'd be interested to see what else this guy does.

Yes, ok, I'll shut up now...I also saw the 1602 TPB in Sub city but didn't have cash for it - will be getting that sometime soon though. Been looking forward to it for a while, in fact...

Picked up a few things last week, including a couple of second hand books : Sinister Dexter : Murder 101 and Andi Watson's Little Star #1. Sinister Dexter I saw and picked up after having enjoyed my recent Missionary Man purchase, and looks like being equally fun in an even more demented way. Little Star is pretty much the other end of the spectrum - it's about a father whose daughter is 2-3 years old and has developed a strange obsession with gender leading her to apparently reject him, and his efforts to try and be a proper dad. If you like Daniel Clowes or Chris Ware's work, you might enjoy this. I've only read Samurai Jam of Watson's other work, so I can't really comment on the artwork other than to say that it works for the story and has an elegant simplicity.

Frustrated after not being able to get Ocean #4 this week (seems some clever bunny in Other Realms decided to cut their order to one issue - one bloody issue! - which promptly vanished before even hitting the shelves) and the disappointing realisation that Warren Ellis' Iron Man #3 isn't due until April, I went rummaging in the second hand comics section of Vibes & scribes, a local book shop. I was quite impressed, really - for 12 euro I picked up issues 1 & 2 of Bill Willingham's Coventry (an early kind-of-predecessor to Fables) as well as a 128page British anthology book from the late 80s called A1 - a great collection of short stories, with a few names I already know and a bunch more that I'm now interested in. Best thing was the inclusion of a Mister X section called "Windows" - I've never read it, but saw the announcement late last year in the CSN newsletter that this is supposed to be collected and released as a trade. I'll definitely be looking out for it now, having seen an example of what it's like.

On a different note, I have also finished watching the Constantine movie, and have only this to say :

If you have ever read and enjoyed a single issue of Hellblazer, and have any affinity whatsoever for the character of John Constantine and company, avoid this film. In terms of character butchery, it's on a par with League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Sorry for going on at such length, but this is one comic adaptation that really could have been good if the producers hadn't been adamant about making it teen-friendly (even though it's a bloody Mature Readers book anyway, meaning that Timmy Preteeen shouldn't be reading it and therefore should not be the target audience). Aaaaaaaaargh.

I have a scarily big pile of recent comics, because it was my birthday recently and so I had a load of money to spend and a few very well chosen presents. So, in no particular order:

True Faith - Garth Ennis's second professional writing gig. There's echoes of ideas that'd come up later in Preacher (not least the character who declares that he's going to kill God), but I liked this. I find it hard to go back and re-read Preacher because it feels too much like it's targeted at an American audience and therefore has to feature lots of commentary about how great america is; True Faith has none of that, instead feeling distinctly British and benefiting from it. The artwork suits it as well. Unlike some of Ennis's more recent work, this had me wanting more. Worth a look if you like Preacher.

Richard Matheson's Hell House #2 - Part 2 of 3, the artwork continues in the same vein. The overall tone is maintained, which is good to see, and there's still a focus on psychological aspects over guts & gore. Not to mention the interesting face-off between the psychic and the scientist...(speaking of which, is anyone reading this who has read the novel? If so, how do they compare?)

The Playboy - by Chester Brown (the guy behind Yummy Fur) this is decidedly an Indie Graphic Novel. An open and honest discussion of his use of porn during his teenage years and its subsequent effects on his personality, this is an interesting read. The art is similar to Yummy Fur's, which is still different to most artists around today. I'd certainly pick up more of the guy's stuff, based on this.

Ghost World - I'd already read it a couple of times, but it was going cheap in Vibes & Scribes (4 euro and they have a few more copies left, if anyone's looking for it). As ever, a great read - artwork that's far more expressive than you might expect of two-colour pages and a storyline that manages to showcase individual seemingly superficial incidents and string them into a cohesive whole. (I particularly liked the bit where Clowes inserted himself into the story and had one of the girls comment on how he's an old perv). Everyone should take a look at this.

St Swithins Day - a one-shot I picked up second hand, this is an odd little short story written by Grant Morrison. It's far more straightforward than most of Morrison's stuff (ie you can actually work out what's going on without resorting to hallucinogens :P) and has an interesting "counting down to zero" approach that reminded me of Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor (that's a novel, not a comic). Interesting glance at his earlier days, particularly for the focus on the frustration that's part of being a teenager.

Summer Blonde - again, I'd read this before but had wanted a copy of my own. Re-reading it, I was glad to see that the stories don't lose any of their strength through familiarity. I haven't read anything else by Tomine, and I really should - there's something about his writing that really strikes a chord with me. His artwork complements the writing perfectly; his expressions show the character's emotions with an uncanny detail. Again, everyone should read this.

The Extended Dream Of Mr D - I must admit, I was given this. I'd never heard of it, or its author (some guy called Max), but I'm very glad I did read it. Another indie graphic novel, the premise of this is that the titular Mr D falls into an extended dreamsleep and awakes in hospital 40 days later, and writes down his entire dream immediately on awaking. It's a journey through the subconscious, which allows for playful visual aspects and an interesting story. Aspects of this are reminiscent of Moore's A Small Killing, and Clowes' David Boring - however, it's interesting to see such themes dealt with in a more continental style.

Skizz - I seem to be buying quite a lot of the stuff that 2000AD are collecting in trades these days (considering I'm in no way a regular Judge Dredd/2000AD reader), but I won't complain because so far it's been consistently good. Another example of fairly early work, Skizz deals with an alien who lands in 80's Birmingham and its adventures as Roxy and a couple of her dad's mates try to protect it from a paranoid government agent. It feels very much like Moore taking the piss out of ET, but it's a fun read and the art is strong (although, like a lot of 2000AD artwork, it's very much focused on telling the story - not that there's anything wrong with this, but it's nice to have a bit of flair now and then).

Yet to read :

Robert Crumb's "Waiting for Food number 3"
Stephen Appleby's "Normal Life"

On my list of things to buy:
1602 TPB
Fables : Mean Seasons
Iron Man #3
Ocean #4 if i can find it anywhere
100% (after seeing pope's work in Solo #3, I'm looking forward to this)