What comic are you reading at the moment.

Fysh

I finished Uzumaki, which was great - really interesting to see a longer form story from Ito, while still recognisably the same type of storytelling and ideas.

I also got diverted from Ice Cream Man towards the 4th and 5th volumes of Brink which is one of my favourite Lovecraftian series, in no small part because it - for my money - kicks the pants off of most of Lovecraft's actual stories, and manages to do it without having to be mired in racist or gynophobic nonsense to boot. Book 5 in particular adds some really interesting context and nuance to the setting, and I very much hope we get more volumes of this series.

Next up, now that I've converted the EPUB to a CBZ file so that my comics app will read it, will most likely be Ice Cream Man. Although there is that Digger collection taunting me. And the entirety of that Sláine bundle from a while back...

Fysh

I'm going to need to re-read Nextwave again soon, because I saw something in passing about Say Anything, the John Cusack film (you know, the one that spawned the picture of Cusack's character holding a boombox over his head), and something went click in my brain and I realised "Oh, right. The Captain's look is clearly based on that idiot".

So now I've got stupid things like "my robot brain needs beer" and the Running Away Song stuck in my brain.

Fysh

Ice Cream Man volume 7 did not disappoint - simply some of the best psychological horror being published today, whether in comics form or not. I must pick up Art Brut and check out Prince's new series Swan Songs too.

I've also been dipping into some Humble Bundle backlogs - having enjoyed the three volumes of Absalom a while back I thought I should see where that world and character started out, so I blitzed through Cabbalistics, Inc, which was a really enjoyable read (although I can't help feel the digital copy might not be high-enough resolution to show the art at its best). On the one hand I'm a bit disappointed there are no more stories set in this world, but on the other hand what we got was done well and didn't feel dragged out, so perhaps that's for the best.

After that I've read a couple of issues of Metabarons and a couple of issues of the Collected Metal Hurlant, which if I remember right is when DC and Humanoids teamed up and released translated versions of Metal Hurlant in standard US comic format. I suspect I'll need to look up a reading order for the Metabarons/Technopriests material at some point, but it's early days yet...

Fysh

Another Humanoids bundle read for me - the 3 volumes of EXO written by Jerry Frissen (whose Lucha Librea and Zombies That Ate The World I have previously enjoyed), which was an enjoyable science-fiction story.

I've just started into The Comic Book History of Beer, which I'm expecting to be an easy if perhaps not revolutionary read.

Xofpod

Read Sweet Tooth:The Return, which was grand but not exactly essential.

American Ronin Vol 1 - not great tbh, which was disappointing because I have a soft spot for Peter Milligan.

Currently reading Inside Moebius Vol 2, dipping into the Captain Britain (Alan Davis) Omnibus, and have all of Jeff Lemire's Descender sitting on my shelf to be tackled next.

Fysh

That's a pity re: Sweet Tooth: The Return - although tbh I suspected as much, particularly when it came out around the same time as the Netflix series. I remember liking the original series, though I don't remember much about the latter half of it other than the ending was a bit underwhelming in that way that quite a few latter-day Vertigo series fell foul of. Like, I understand the reasoning around having a trapdoor in your story so that you can wrap it up within 12 issues if the sales aren't good enough (but still keep going if the series has legs) but with a lot of them it was too easy to tell where the trapdoor was, and by extension where the story started to move from "this has been planned quite meticulously" to "I'm figuring this out as I go".

I have digital copies of both Descender and Ascender in my backlog, I should check out at least the first volume sometime soon. And get the rest of Gideon Falls, for that matter - I quite liked the first two trades, and since it seems like Hickman is never going to give us the last volume of The Black Monday Murders, this might be the next best thing...

mrcheez

Descender was great... got hooked and had to keep going till I completed all volumes

I'm gradually getting through Saga at the moment

Fysh

Haha, Saga is another one on my backlog. On the one hand everything I hear about it is consistently good, and Staples' art looks great to me. On the other hand, I find Vaughan's writing frustrating often enough to be wary of spending money without doing some review-checking first...

Still, I've got volumes 1-10 in my digital backlog so I will get round to it eventually. Not sure I'll stump up for 11-20, whenever they're done, unless I hear good things about sticking the landing. I learned that the hard way from Y: The Last Man, which IMO had a great epilogue but got there via an absolute two-flusher of an ending, compounded by the earlier "have cake and eat it" storyline about the possible causes of the event that starts the entire plot.

Xofpod

Something is killing the Children Vol 2 is class. I'm definitely ploughing on with this series.

Fysh

Agreed on Something Is Killing The Children, it's a cracking read. I need to get the next tpb and resume reading that.

I decided to have a nose through some of the 2000AD Bundles for my next read, and fogured I'd try Judge Dredd: Origins. I got about half way through before realising it was just ... Boring (nice enough art, though). So I skipped that and moved on to the first trade of the Day of Chaos event, which - given the extensive mention of Apocalypse Wars as inspiration - is much better, and combines good art with interesting stories weaving together to tell a bigger tale.

CastorTroy

So is Kamala's length of being dead the shortest in comics history?

As for what I'm reading, I've been keeping up with the Knight Terrors comics and have to say they're not great with the consistency and they seem to have 2 core comics which don't even seem to be consistent with each other.

Fysh

I finished up Day of Chaos, which somehow ended up feeling a bit anti-climactic. I can't put my finger on why, but I suspect that part of it is the way the story is set up - because we also follow some of the conspirators, the result of their actions is less of a shock and more of an inevitability. (One particular development managed to be both a figurative and literal "we'll just put that back in the bottle, shall we?" outcome, which made me wonder why they'd bothered with it at all).

CastorTroy

Since they announced a sequel to it, I've started reading Spider-Man Reign.

Don't think it's even trying to hide that it's inspired by The Dark Knight Returns.

Xofpod

Black Hammer '45. Meh. Plot from the leftover pile of Battle or Victor, art (Matt Kindt?) is absolute muck.

Was tempted at one point to check out the expanded Black Hammer stuff but I reckon this has killed that notion for me.

Still, Something is Killing.. Vol 4 to look forward to next.

Fysh

Since my last post I read the Day of Chaos aftermath book, which actually bumped my estimation of the story back up. Seeing what sort of stories the change in setting enabled made me appreciate it a bit more, not least because of the contrast with cape event "Nothing Will Ever Be The Same!!!" type changes, which have too often amounted to "Someone got a new haircut and a leather jacket".

The first Cold Dead War book, written by George Romero, is one of those "ah, when budget for effects isn't a constraint you've actually got some fun ideas for weird zombie stories" concepts. Not exactly mind-blowing but a fun little surprise included in one or other of the Heavy Metal bundles I've picked up.

Random Acts of Violence was a pretty disappointing and derivative horror comic, which didn't even bother trying to be internally consistent. The art wasn't bad but the story was woeful, really predictable minimum-effort stuff.

Stumptown Volume 1 was a reasonable read; I mostly liked the art, but it has a very static quality which makes some panels attempting to imply movement somewhat difficult to read. The story is a fairly low-stakes private investigator story, and nails the tone. Despite this, unlike some other Rucka stuff I've read, I don't feel any real urge to seek out more of it. I suspect the bad taste left by what he did towards the end of Queen & Country may be part of that.

Strange Skies Over East Berlin was a pleasant surprise; a mix of Cold War espionage in the vein of The Coldest City and full-on Invasion Of The Body Snatchers sci-fi, with appealing distinctive art.

The Black Metal Omnibus from Chuck BB and Rick Spears was an entertaining ride - "metal" in its most tongue-in-cheek form, but very much having fun with rather than making fun of the music and associated ideas & aesthetic.

Xofpod

The collected Essex County, by Jeff Lemire. It's taking me a while to get a handle on his writing here, which is very different to his mainstream stuff, but for once I think his own art fits perfectly with the story.

Ridley

Trigun 1 - Re-read

The Complete The Killer - Terrible name for a collection. Read several months ahead of the Fincher movie as a curiosity; typing this now as it's due out on Netflix *checks watch* today. Tintin the Professional.

Star Wars Hyperspace Stories: Rebels and Resistance - Just glad to see Lucas Marangon and Dark Horse's names on a Star Wars book again. Primarily an anthology of one-shots from different creators bouncing around different eras of the timeline but connected through a Wookiee doll which keeps popping up.

Secret Invasion* - 'Tis fine, read it as a palate cleanser from the TV version.

Fantastic Four by Dan Slott 1 (HC)

Fantastic Four by Dan Slott 2 (HC)

The Immortal Hulk Omnibus - Genuinely great. My first experience with "Devil Hulk" was in the Slott FF run - the above being re-reads of the TPB volumes to, uh, accommodate a shelf - where I think the character was hard done by as there he just comes across as a lethal version of the Hulk where it's really his being driven by a righteous anger at the injustice of it all. Back when I read the Bruce Jones' run, I thought the focus on Banner and limiting the appearances of Hulk was the strongest approach but Ewing does the opposite with Hulk front and centre. Admittedly, my Hulk reading is limited yet the book clearly draws on the main beats of the character's history. Plus, for a cynical, body-horror meditation on religion, it's darn entertaining. Props for Banner just happening to be wearing a "Young Guns (Go for It)" for a panel with his talk with Doc Samson. And there's a Shakin' Stevens joke that has to be in there purely for the writer. Hope the more optimistic Immortal Thor follow-up works just as well.

Marvel Knights by Joe Quesada Omnibus - "I have AIDS because of that baby!" is the stupidest line of dialogue in comics. Personally, Quesada shouldn't be inked, just colour his pencils.

Daredevil by Charles Soule Omnibus - Another strong run. Lawyer writes a lawyer. Daredevil gets a Nightwing for a while. Muse be a strong villain waiting for another to utilise one day though Google fu suggests no-one has yet *eyes Born Again TV series*. Let down slightly by the final arc pulling an "Or IS it..?" which feels like it comes about from an attempt to put the toys back in the box for the next writer only for a last minute heads up from Zdarsky to run with it.

Wonder Woman Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 1

Superman Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 1

Batman: The Killing Joke

Batman: One Bad Day (The Riddler/Two-Face/The Penguin/Mr. Freeze/Catwoman/Bane/Clayface/Ra's al Ghul)

Got the Batmenz as part of that One Bad Day box set which was largely paying for the cost of materials as was but it's only really the Riddler story that does something worthwhile with The Killing Joke premise eye em oh (which in and of itself I'm likely too far removed from its original release to appreciate). The Two-Face one had nothing to say to the point that it acknowledges it in the text. The others are fine with Freeze and Clayface on the stronger end of the set for my tastes. Catwoman too, maybe, though it doesn't quite stick the landing.

*Digital version

mrcheez

I've got a ton of Batman (physical) I need to get around to reading, including The Killing Joke... they are just sitting looking pretty on my bookshelf at the minute. Wish I had more time tbh

Fysh

I've an absolute wagonload of digital stuff I've yet to get round to (Sláine from one of the 2000AD bundles, Metabarons/Incal/Technopriests stuff from Humanoids bundles etc) as well as some print comics I picked up in the Drawn & Quarterly shop in Montreal a ways back.

So of course I'm seriously considering a re-read of Dragon Ball (16 volumes) and 20th Century Boys (22 volumes IIRC). And that's without moving on to Dragon Ball Z, which I've never read (but have seen the anime)...

Ridley

Dragon Ball altogether is just 14 volumes if you go by the 3-in-1 editions.😉

(Though the paper quality is reputedly not great.)

Xofpod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121349345#Comment_121349345

How many volumes are there to the Immortal Hulk TPBs? I read the first few and loved them but never followed it up after that.

Ridley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121350707#Comment_121350707

My copy's the individual hardcover but Internet says eleven: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K6VP34V?binding=paperback&ref=dbs_dp_sirpi

Though Panini, who no longer bind their books with cardboard safe for babies to chew on, has them as a set of four Omnibus TPBs. Marvel has them in five hardcovers.

Xofpod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121351523#Comment_121351523

Brilliant, thanks. Think it was the first two Panini omnibus collections I read. I hadn't heard about the Immortal Thor but that sounds interesting.

Xofpod

The world of Edena, Moebius. Wow.

Xofpod

Read the first collected volume of The Department of Truth. Not blown away, tbh. Think I'll stick with Something is Killing the Children from this guy.

Fysh

Tbh I'm a bit miffed with Department of Truth because it seems to have ended/"gone on hiatus" on a cliffhanger.

Having said that, I think if it was going to work for you, you'd know from the first trade.

That said, if you like SIKtC and haven't yet read The Nice House By The Lake, you want to do something about that. It's a closed maxiseries, 2 trades, and I reckon you'll know by the end of the first issue whether you're onboard with what it's doing.

Xofpod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121405573#Comment_121405573

Yeah, have heard that mentioned by a few people. Will definitely pick up the first issue anyway.

CastorTroy

I liked the first volume of The Department of Truth enough to keep going, though haven't read more yet.

In between reading the weeklies, I was reading some of Millar's stuff since I had started Big Game. Had read stuff like Kick Ass and Nemesis already. So was reading The Magic Order vol 1 and Night Club.

I'm surprised at the fact that There's Something Killing the Children was successful enough so far to have a spinoff with House of Slaughter and their guide book issue explaining the houses and masks and all.

Fysh

I ended up breezing through the 12 volumes of Rick & Morty that came up in the recent Humble Bundle - overall I think they were a pretty good read if you enjoy the show, some plots were better than others. For some reason the use of Mr Poopy Butthole as a very chatty "see previous issues" mechanism grated really badly, in a way that didn't happen in those bits of the show where he addresses the audience. Rick's "voice" occasionally felt off, too, like someone was trying to lean too hard into vernacular. Still, for the £20 or whatever I paid for the bundle they were an entertaining read.

Ridley

Ooowee, Fysh