What comic are you reading at the moment.

Xofpod · 09-08-2022 12:25pm

4 kids walk into a bank, Boss, Mauer & Rosenberg.

Just started but very funny and I love the art.

Thargor · 16-08-2022 6:01pm

Im about 25 chapters into Berserk, no idea why it took this long to get around to it because its fecking brilliant, completely mad and often hilarious, the humour really comes through compared to other Japanese stuff. Really genuinely shocking in places aswell.

Xofpod · 23-08-2022 2:59pm

Just read Heroes in Crisis from DC. Have to say I'm not sure about Tom King. Liked the Omega Men and Mister Miracle but not sure about the other bits and pieces I picked up. And he seems to be writing absolutely everything at the moment....

Ridley · 31-08-2022 2:48pm

When I said ComiXology should allow for a comics roulette approach to its library last *check notes* year, I didn't mean Amazon should put a bullet through it. So that may stop my on-again off-again attempts to get through all the DC Rebirth first volumes. None of which will be listed here!

Daredevil by Frank Miller Omnibus Companion - Not as a strong as the first volume - can't say I've ever thought about Murdock's mother at all until the Netflix series brought it up and that attempts do to something weighty with it. As gimmick issues go, I liked the one that was dominated by black panels for Daredevil's POV.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Amazing Grace - Big fat meh that reeks of writer embellishing a story they had as a kid set in their home town. Which, unless New York, probably never works. Oh, hey, another atheist character being "What if God was reeeeal though? Make u think". Goody. How about a twist where the Earth is a flat vertical disc cause a comic is near incapable of depicting a globe. No, no, don't worry about the pesky science.

Captain America Lives! Omnibus - Optimism! Hooray! Strong set of Brubaker stories let down, I think, by that WW2 flashback issue of a Belgian village beset by vampires which has a horribly misjudged moment where someone says that the attacks are worse than when the 'Germans' rounded up and took away the local Jewish and Roma population by train. I mean, sure, that might be the character's perspective in the moment but someone still chose to write it in. Plus, the twist

that the monsters are the product of a Nazi vampire preying on a child during that event

is perhaps metaphor enough.

Thunderbolts Omnibus 1 - Best part about the MCU announcement is that I can get the early stuff in a full set - which I had partly made my way through with the Thunderbolts Classic books - and can now get rid of my Hawkeye & the Thunderbolts volumes as the positioning of that ampersand makes my teeth itch. Sceptical that the movie can do the premise justice with a (presumed) different set of villains and without the weight of the publishing history behind it. Assuming that They're even going with the original premise as Marvel doesn't need to be chasing anything with the stank of DCEU let alone the Suicides Squad. Gimme three-dimensional Songbird and Moonstone, basically.

Batman: The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 3 -I never quite buy Batman and Superman's friendship but Tom King does an admirable job of selling it, I found. Enjoyed Catwoman's catsnarkasm around the Batmythos too. And I appreciate the gag of her briefly struggling to suggest who could be flower girl in a world where Poison Ivy controls near everyone.

Asterix and the Chieftain's Daughter

Alien 1: Bloodlines - The franchise really needs to find a hook that isn't doing stuff from Aliens - Marines! Bishop! Newt! Capitalist shenanigans! - when the spin-offs struggle to cast a female lead. Possibly seeding for later anyway but I find the threat of androids exchanging notes through a hive mind more interesting than Xenomorphs communicating across vast distances off-world. In Space You Can't Hear Yourself Think.

I was gonna type something sneery about the main character's shocked face and apologise to whoever Larroca swiped for him but:

https://twitter.com/Engineer_LV426/status/1408973459330269184

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01 - Lost interest as soon as the answer to "What would Judge Dredd do if he was outlawed?" was to just be a hypocrite when surely the drama is in the manoeuvring of The Law as it exists currently for Dredd? Not that familiar with the character but isn't his thing that the law is correct at all times, not the previous set of rules was more convenient and thus must be returned to? A story pulled out surprisingly early too. I did laugh at the exchange between Dredd and anti-human, robo-supremacist Call-Me-Kenneth: "There was a human just like you back in the twentieth century. His name was ADOLF HITLER!" "Yes! I'm a BIG FAN of Adolf Hitler."

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Forgotten Myths #1 to #3* - I liked it though I can't imagine who would engage with it outside of those who haven't played the DLC for which this is a prequel, which is a sequel to part of a largely optional storyline in the main game that's better off being finished to understand. And centres around a character who is background info. Still it's a very nice way of making sure Loki doesn't get away with his crimes but provides a path to atonement.

The Old Guard 1: Opening Fire - The Netflix movie is said to be adapted from the first book so would have to have a lot added to it to carry a film as this is mostly an introduction. Not enough there to like or dislike so far but having immortality as an unknown number of redoes at living until death sticks is a fresh take for me. And things like the digital age being too quick for someone hundreds of years old so the arrival of a new generation of phone leave no time to get used to one.

*Digital version

mrcheez · 03-09-2022 3:52pm

Another holiday, another chance to get through my comic backlog 😎

Started into another Ed Brubaker, this time The Fade Out (partly because they kept ramming it down my throat to read it in the Appendices of Criminal!!)

Just completed Act 1 but so far it's great, classic art style complemented by a solid script

Also want to get through some of the Dredd novellas I purchased in a Humble Bundle earlier in the year, like Mandroid etc

CastorTroy · 10-09-2022 10:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119548280#Comment_119548280

Are the Judge Dredd Case Files done the way they were printed or in completed stories? Like would they have story 1 part 1 followed by part 2 or would they move on to story 2 part 1, story 3 part 1, story 4 part 1 before getting back to story 1 part 2?

Think I was going to try it before but saw somewhere they were in the original print order which put me off.

And that's coming from someone who reads a few DC where characters have multiple stories running at the same time. "Oh, look, Harley's a fun quirky solo character, while also being a member of a violent Suicide Squad" or Superman's stuck on Warworld while Dark crisis is also happening.

Ridley · 10-09-2022 10:38pm

Internet says https://2000ad.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Judge_Dredd_stories_in_Case_Files

Couldn't say to be honest, it was a first time read. Can't say I noticed them bouncing around though.

Fysh · 11-09-2022 2:48pm

I think I have a copy of Case Files 5 somewhere (I wanted to read the Apocalypse War storyline) and from what I remember it was organised by story, rather than pure "as originally published in the progs".

Most recent reading for me was:

A random issue of 2000AD I picked up that, to be honest, was all middles and ends of stories and so not really much to enjoy
A Paninicollection of Dan Slott's 2004 She Hulk run spanning issues 7-12, which I found a bit disappointing because it was less "4th-wall breaking anarchic comedy" and more "competent but unremarkable superhero melodrama", and I have a very low level of interest in the latter at the best of times.

Mind you, I've been working my way through some small press & indie stuff I picked up in Montreal a while back, and have a backlog of GNs to get through, so it's my own fault for blind buying something new rather than reading something already in my backlog...

CastorTroy · 11-09-2022 6:17pm

Still making my way through Crossed.

Finished the original series, started Badlands and moved over to Wish You Were Here as it was released during Badlands.

Thargor · 12-09-2022 12:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119604306#Comment_119604306

Can't beat a bit of Crossed, wish it was still going.

CastorTroy · 12-09-2022 10:36pm

Dunno what they're doing with Flashpoint Beyond but they just decided to do their own thing in the latest issue and "spoil" a couple things. I put it in quotes as was pretty obvious the events would happen. Like they showed shot of the end of Dark Crisis then revealed a character

who is returning from the dead before Dark Crisis ends.

And since Geoff Johns is involved with it, then it's very likely canon.

Oh and they also seemingly revealed Joker's real name.

Xofpod · 13-09-2022 12:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119607191#Comment_119607191

Never read any. Didn't alan moore do a run on it at some stage?

CastorTroy · 13-09-2022 1:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119607191#Comment_119607191

Have you seen the Taiwanese film, The Sadness? Think it's safe to say Crossed was an inspiration.

DoctorEdgeWild · 13-09-2022 1:22pm

Recommendation from me: SHIFT - British comic anthology. Very much in the mold of 2000ad and sharing some of the same creators. Superbly high quality in both form and content, feels like an 'adult' comic (not that kind of 'Ooh Matron' adult). I'm a subscriber and when this and 2000ad/Megazine drop in my letterbox at the same time, I pick this up first. A lot of the other offerings on the market feel like auditions to get into the Prog but this stands out as its own thing, really enjoying it.

Would particularly recommend it to someone who has only read 'big' American comics, you will feel the higher quality in story and greater diversity in art right away.

Fysh · 13-09-2022 2:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119611627#Comment_119611627

He did Crossed: 100 IIRC - I haven't read it so no idea if it's any good. Si Spurrier did Crossed: Wish You Were Here as one of the Avatar webcomics that were serialised free then published in print, and it was a pretty solid read, managing to find some humour and pathos in there that countered the horror (but also made it that much more gruesome at times). By contrast, I found Ennis' original stuff tedious, like "I did a bunch of research into war crimes and turned it into an edgelord mix of crass jokes and poking fun at preppers and nerds".

Thargor · 13-09-2022 4:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119611627#Comment_119611627

Yeah he did and it was good but definitely start from the start, its all some of the best post-apocalyptic horror you'll ever read, avoid spoilers if you can.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119611948#Comment_119611948

Its on the pile but haven't seen it yet, looking forward to it though.

Xofpod · 22-09-2022 12:13pm

Read and loved the collected SweetTooth. Brilliant stuff, really love Jeff Lemire as a writer at the moment (but i can't shake that nagging feeling that I would have loved to see someone else on the art....)

Also reading the collected Marshal Law, with some of the most Kevin O'Neill-y artwork of all time. Read an interview with Mills recently where he was denouncing The Boys (tv show mainly I think) as an uncredited rip-off of Marshal Law. Disagreed completely at the time based on my memory of it but he might actually have a point, especially with the "..does Manhattan" issues...

Then it will be onto Brass Sun, which I think was a 2000AD strip from the mid 2010s, which passed me by completely but looks like it couyld be worth a read.

bad2thebone · 22-09-2022 12:17pm

Reading a Comic called Crannóg at the moment.

I remember a comic from year's ago call Scream from the early 80's the 13th floor was my favorite story.

Xofpod · 22-09-2022 3:23pm

Both Scream and the 13th Floor were great. 13th Floor continued over in the Eagle after they cancelled Scream, ran for quite a while if I remember correctly

Fysh · 22-09-2022 7:48pm

Speaking of Sweet Tooth, has anyone read any of the Sweet Tooth Returns (or whatever it was called) series? I liked the original well enough but wasn't interested in going back to it. Curious to hear opinions from anyone who actually read any of it.

As for myself, I'm apparently on a bit of a Greg Rucka kick at the minute, courtesy of an Oni Press bundle from a while back - I read The Coldest City because I liked the Atomic Blonde movie (comic was good but quite different in tone to the film, and honestly I preferred the film), and that made me have a look at Whiteout (whose reportedly bad film adaptation I haven't seen). I enjoyed Whiteout well enough to dip into the first of the Queen & Country collections, and it turns out that is exactly my speed - I'm speculating here but I feel like military/espionage series like The Activity (which I really liked) were significantly influenced by the likes of Q&C. Hopefully the rest of it is as enjoyable as the first collection!

Fysh · 04-10-2022 10:23am

Finishing up volume 4 of the Definitive Queen & Country collections. The first two volumes were really good, but sadly volume 3 was a bit of a let-down.

There's a bit of a narrative-flailing "where is this goin?" feel to Chace's character arc by this point, and the final story in it, Red Panda, reads like bad fanfiction - at first I thought I'd missed a story somehow as there's what feels like a spoiler in the opening intro/cast page, then I looked it up and it turns up that no, we're just going with "a truly ludicrous amount of plot has happened between stories and we'll catch you up as we go". Except some of it introduces dynamics between core characters that we've never seen before, and the plot relies on some straight-out-of-Eastenders soap-opera guff, and some far-too-obvious thematic callback stuff. It's more frustrating because the earlier stuff was much more deftly handled.

Volume 4 pulls it back a bit by shifting focus to other characters and their backgrounds, but tbh I think Rucka would've been better not using Chace as the sole protag from the start if he wanted to tell more ongoing stories in the setting.

I also read a graphic novel about the history of Pinball which was pretty interesting - accessible and readable, with an appealing art style, although I found that some of the visual attempts to describe what it feels like to play pinball kind of over-egged the pudding. But then I already like the game and don't need to be convinced of its merits...

Brief_Lives · 20-10-2022 9:29am

Hey folks, can any of ye recommend some Doctro Fate comics graphic novels. I don't know much about him or the JSA and I want to do a bit of reading before i go to see Black Adam.

thanks.

gmisk · 20-10-2022 9:31am

Y the last man...massively better than the TV show

Fysh · 20-10-2022 10:59am

Got a chance to hit a decent comic shop recently so have been wading my way through my picks there.

Trades:

The Closet - this was a great, queasy horror read from James Tynion IV. I say "queasy" because it's psychological horror - no gore or immortal killers here, just a kid with night terrors and an absolute binfire of a father failing to do anything to help.

Phonogram volume 3 - I have read this on release and still have the singles, but for some reason forgot to get the trade (and also missed the omnibus that included the b-sides, so I'll be keeping the singles for the foreseeable). It's a nice excuse to see Kohl, Indie Dave, Kid With Knives etc again, but re-reading it after WicDiv I think its best insight is one that a secondary character has about knowing when to move forward to the next part of their life. Although the single-issue Scott Pilgrim homage is just phenomenal and justifies the price of entry alone (IMO).

Sink Volume 2 - I've written before about liking the horror work of John Lees; both Hotell and Sink are great (albeit quite different) settings, but there's a common sense of what horror can be about that makes both of them grear. Sink, in particular, plays with tonal shifts between horror and comedy, and does so with aplomb. Long may it last.

Glass City Volume 1 - an ambitious first volume of a longer-form sci-fi/noir story, the opening of this does a good job of setting a scene and then upending it. I enjoyed this, though I wish it had been longer as it felt like the story had just gotten going when I reached the end.

Still to read - Dept of Truth volume 3, Ice Cream Man volume 1 (I've already read up to vol 6 on digital), Delicates.

Small press:

Lang Walk Hame - a gloriously daft comic/poem about the trials of walking home from the pub and needing a wee, all written in what is described by the author as 'Scotswegian'. Exactly the sort of specific character and identity that makes indie and small press stuff great.

Dr. Acula & Space Plumber - a couple of 1-page gag comics, done really well and with really nice artwork.

Hidden Lives - An interesting anthology format using an almost flash-fiction approach, i.e. testing how short a story can be while still telling you something interesting about its protagonists. Some stories were stronger than others, as is often the case, but overall I enjoyed this and am glad I took a punt on it.

Xofpod · 20-10-2022 12:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119650085#Comment_119650085

Finished what I thought was the collected Brass Sun but it turns out there's a couple more chapters. Does anyone know if these were ever published in a collected edition? T'internet not proving much help.

Fysh · 20-10-2022 1:34pm

There's a list of the stories that have been published in the series that might help.

JayRoc · 20-10-2022 8:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119769336#Comment_119769336

JM DeMatteis did a well-received Dr Fate series in the late 80s. Wasn't my cup of tea though.

Tbh my introduction to the character and his backstory was the Grey Man arc in a few of the first ten issues of Justice League (International); I'd imagine you can find a trade paperback of them easy enough

Brief_Lives · 20-10-2022 8:12pm

I also downloaded some JSA stuff... again, not too familiar with DC outside of the the big 3 and the flash...

JayRoc · 20-10-2022 9:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119769738#Comment_119769738

Which shop?

Fysh · 20-10-2022 10:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119772581#Comment_119772581

Forbidden Planet in Glasgow, on Sauchiehall Street. There are a few comic shops in Glasgow alright but as an infrequent visitor I've found the FP there to be best for what I'm looking for (a good spread of indie and mainstream stuff, plenty of trades, and a decent showing of local small press and alternative comic). Although if it were closer I'd gladly make Little Shop of Heroes over in Dunfermline my local, they have been really good for online orders and are also a good match for my finicky tastes :D

My comment about "a decent comic shop" is mainly me being a bit mean about how Edinburgh has 2 comic shops (Forbidden Planet and Dead Head), but neither of them are very good, and definitely not by the standard of "comic shops in a capital city with a significant student population". The Forbidden Planet is one of those ones that seems more interested in selling Funkos than comics, and despite not being a small shop feels small because the management have crammed too many rows of shelves in. And all you need to know about Dead Head is that it was set up by someone allegd to be the inspiration for Bernard Black from Black Books....

JayRoc · 20-10-2022 10:39pm

"The Forbidden Planet is one of those ones that seems more interested in selling Funkos than comics"

sounds like Dublin. They wouldn't know a back issue if it bit them on the arse :)

Xofpod · 25-10-2022 2:13pm

Read the lovely little Piero by Edmond Baudoin.

On now to Trees, Warren Ellis. Starting the collected vol I. had this on my radar for a long time but not sure it's going to do it for me..

CastorTroy · 07-11-2022 11:47pm

Finished Crossed Wish You Were Here and Badlands so took a break and finally read all of Sin City.

Now back to Crossed with Crossed + 100. Not a fan so far because they're doing the future thing of having changed the language. Beginning to follow it, but it just feels like more of a chore to read when trying to figure out what they're saying each time. Then having people's names as if they were celebrity baby names like Feature and Future. So having those kinds of names mixed in doesn't help in following it. Like they use the word "brown" instead of "s#!t" and use "skull" instead of "think" or "knew"

Xofpod · 10-11-2022 4:39pm

Read Trees, Warren Ellis, collected volume 1. Meh. Sometimes forget why it is exactly I rate him. Must go back and read Planetary again...

Fysh · 11-11-2022 2:25pm

I liked Trees mainly for the art and the wider idea, but the stories themselves were definitely Minor Ellis, and as a series the whole thing pales when compared to Injection (which I really hope gets a conclusion at some point).

CastorTroy · 27-11-2022 12:19am

And crossed finally completely finished.

Moved onto Deadly Class. Was keeping up monthly but with the long breaks between some issues I lost track and gave up about issue 40 something. Now that it's finished, I'm starting from the beginning again.

Xofpod · 19-12-2022 4:41pm

Old, old school; reading Judge Dredd: the (collected) cursed earth.

Mad to think that they got away with that psycho Ronald McDonald v Burgerking stuff only a couple of years before McDonalds went nuclear with litigation, the McLibel case, etc.

Could have easily wiped out 2000AD and a whole chunk of the related British comics scene at the time.

CastorTroy · 22-12-2022 6:34pm

Finished Deadly Class. Plan on watching the cancelled tv series son as well.

Started Die now. Only 20 issues so short enough.

CastorTroy · 29-12-2022 8:21pm

Finding recent Spider-Man kind of annoying. With Peter, there are now 3 ongoing stories with Spiderverse, Darkweb and now Murderworld. I think Darkweb is the canon one since it takes place in the main Spidey and X-Men comics, but it doesn't make itself clear. I never bothered with the Murderworld one.

I know we have multiple X-Men and Batman comics as well but it just seems worse with Spider-Man.

Miles seems to have gone back to his old style costume in his new comic. Prefer it over the hoodie look.

But apart from the Spidey comics, I'm still keeping up with a number of weekly comics. Think only 1 or 2 other Marvel ones though.

Fysh · 13-01-2023 11:57pm

Ooh, been a while since I posted about my reading (partly as I've not been reading a massive amount). I got a new 11.5" tablet and it's proving to be much better suited for reading digital comics, so I'm going to spend 2023 making a proper dent in my sizeable digital backlog.

But first, print! I read Brenna Thummler's Sheets a while back and liked it, so it's perhaps unsurprising that I also enjoyed Delicates, the sequel. The sequel builds on the first book's characters and setup, with a nuanced look at how bullying can affect people and how you don't have to be the bully in order to be part of a bigger problem...

I also read It's Lonely At The Centre Of The Earth by Zoe Thorogood, which is a fantastic slab of autobio comics about dealing with suicidal depression and a global pandemic. I really liked the way that a variety of different art styles are mixed in a way that meshes very naturally throughout, and the writing mixes humour with a fairly blunt and self-aware tone to good effect.

On the digital front, I read Dottie's Inferno (which I think was part of the Humanoids bundle a while back) and enjoyed it - the art style made for some fun hellish grotesques, and the humour is fairly consistent.

mrcheez · 14-01-2023 4:26pm

Curious, what were you using before to read digital comics? Phone? I'd go blind :)

Fysh · 14-01-2023 5:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120107884#Comment_120107884

No, I can just about handle webcomics on my phone but for regular digital I'd find it infuriating. I have a fairly venerable 8" Dell tablet that's not really right for the job - 8" is still too small a screen to be comfortable, and to make it worse it's running Windows 8.1 so the options on comic-reading software for it that do touch input well are... limited. Can't complain about it too much though, while it was expensive enough it's still going 9 years on.

Actually, if anyone has any recs for Android comic readers I'd be happy to hear them :)

mrcheez · 14-01-2023 7:46pm

To be honest, I find Adobe Acrobat with PDF comics perfect. Just tap thumb right side to go to the next page, and vice versa for left.

Very easy to read comics lying flat on your back in bed with tablet held up with both hands and thumbs to navigate.

Other comic readers often require you to "swipe left" which is just too much effort compared to a tap :)

I forget the exact setting I use, I think it's the 1 page per screen view or something like that, rather than the continuous scroll view.

Fysh · 15-01-2023 12:17am

Quite a few of my (legit) digital comics are CBZ, but that's a thought - I'm so used to the desktop version of Acrobat being bloated I hadn't even thought of using it on Android :D I'll give it a go for the PDF ones, though ideally I'd like something where I can have a decent bookshelf view and manage my entire library easily...

Jayd0g · 15-01-2023 9:59am

I've been using Perfect Viewer on an android tablet to read cbz and cbr format.

The UI instructions are sparse, but it's very customisable to preferences like one tap to turn page, tap another area of screen to toggle between full page or 1/3 page view.

There's library function too, but I haven't really used that. I rely on having files in a single folder, and humble bundle file names allow me to sort A-Z and have them in reading order.

mrcheez · 15-01-2023 4:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120110036#Comment_120110036

Curious, is there much difference between CBZ and PDF when looking at a tablet screen? I'd say there's a quality difference if looking on a large monitor alright, but is it more around file size?

Fysh · 15-01-2023 7:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120111868#Comment_120111868

It's usually around compression (more because PDF compression for images was pretty poor unless you accepted a loss of quality), but I noticed that e.g. Humble shifted to PDF for the last few bundles I've gotten after some pretty terrible quality on some of the CBZ files. Not sure if they were supplied by publishers or generated in-house.

CastorTroy · 16-01-2023 9:06pm

I went from reading on a Nexus 7 to a Samsung Tab 10 so big improvement for me. I use Perfect Viewer as well. Handy using the volume buttons to navigate.

Currently reading Powers. Only about 6 issues in.

CastorTroy · 29-01-2023 3:01pm

Reading some of these new DC comics as part of the Lazarus rain story and makes me think of the Terrigen cloud from Marvel.

Xofpod · 31-01-2023 11:11pm

Read and enjoyed Tom Scioloi's Jack Kirby; epic life of the king of comics [graphic novel]. That, combined with the admittedly caustic view of the same period in Alan Moore's What we can know about Thunderman (the long novella in his Illuminations collection), is giving me a taste for a bit of golden and silver age comics goodness...

What comic are you reading at the moment.

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