I Read Comic Books discussion
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What are you reading right now?
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What are you reading right now? (December 2023)
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planning to read w0rldtr33 by James Tynion
Mod
Last week's adventures in comics. I finally finished Spawnsgiving just in time to avoid a Spawnmas in December.MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios ★★★★★
Not a comic but a must read for any fan of the MCU. It's packed full of stories about how the MCU came about, what could have beens (like Tom Hidldleston originally auditioned for Thor, John Krasinski as Captain America, etc.), fun tidbits and then the stories you've heard before like how Ike Perlmutter didn't want to make a Black Widow movie because female action figures don't sell. (Those are Ike's words, not mine.)
Big Game ★★★★
Mark Millar puts all of his comics in the same universe and does it way more successfully than I would have ever imagined. I'm actually impressed he pulled this off. By themselves, they feel so disparate but Millar gives characters from most of his books a chance to shine.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Armageddon Game ★★
I felt let down by this. TMNT is pretty consistently good. Anytime we head to Dimension Z though, things get real boring and this big event spends way too much time there and way too little time with the other prongs of Rat King's plan.
Breath of Shadows ★★
This one was boring. It's about a rockstar in the 60's who is strung out on heroin. He hears about a lost city in Mexico where he can get right. There's a lot of drug induced hallucinating centipedes crawling over everything until they eventually become real. Yawn. I'm over random body horror for body horror sake.
Void Rivals, Volume 1 ★★★★
There's a huge reveal at the end of the first issue. You've probably heard about it by now but in case you haven't I'll put some spoiler tags in. (view spoiler)
This is about two warring races who are on opposite sides of this ring built around a black hole. The war has been going on for generations, to the point where no one even knows why they are fighting at this point. They both wear full armor and have never seen what the other race looks like. A pilot from each race crash lands on a remote planet and they have to work together to get off it. It reminded me quite a bit of Enemy Mine.
Titans Vol. 1: Out of the Shadows ★★★★★
Yeah baby yeah! The Titans are back. This book has all the feel of the old Wolfman and Perez era. Tom Taylor is doing his typical Taylor magic. Nicola Scott is one of those artists that evokes Perez similar to Phil Jimenez.
Crypt Of Shadows (2023) #1 ★★★
Some good short stories featuring the darker corners of the Marvel universe.
The Incredible Hulk, Vol. 1 ★★★★
I'm digging this new Hulk book. It reminds me a ton of Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk run with its own flavor. Less body horror and more traditional horror. It does reference the Green Door and there's this new big bad, the Mother of Horrors. She's sending all of these old horrors after the Hulk and here he goes up against zombies and some kind of river monster.
Carriers: Season One ★★
This is better than I expected for such a dumb concept. It's about these pigeons protecting New York City from other animals like rats and hawks. They play it completely seriously. So you have a pigeon looking at a radar screen in their roost while the rest of the team flies through the city looking for rats or seagulls and the like causing mischief.
Invincible Iron Man by Gerry Duggan Vol. 2: The Wedding Of Tony Stark And Emma Frost ★★★★
This actually dovetails nicely with the Fall of X which isn't a natural fit. But with Feilong and Orchis as the villains, it works. I like seeing Iron Man without all of his money and gadgets.
Doctor Who: Doom's Day. A Doctor In The House? ★★★
Part of this Doom's Day event that is really hard to read and expects fans to enjoy reading or listening to a variety of formats. I think that's stupid. This is fine as a stand alone. It's fun to have Missy acting like she's the Doctor, but it will never be more than just OK due to the pain in the ass nature of trying to track down the various pieces of this story from all over the place.
Alien, Vol. 1: Thaw ★★
This was a bit of a mess. Shalvey tried to have his cake and eat it too, packing way too many elements into this one story. You don't care about the majority of these characters dying as most don't even get names. They are just there to add to the body count. The family at the heart of the story doesn't get much actually explained until the last issue.
There are a lot of oddities to this as well. I read this in single issues and it started as a 6 part story that went down to 5 by issue two. There's also curse words that are bleeped out in later issues. I guess editorial changes were made mid stream. It was just strange. I also hate how every Marvel Alien miniseries is just called Alien. How are you supposed to tell them apart, especially when there are multiple miniseries in a single year?
Machine Girl: Just a Girl in the World ★★
A sci-fi comic about a girl who doesn't know her past. She lives with her father on an alien planet fighting in a ring and is some kind of cybernetic. While she has no memory of her past, her father is hiding it from her as mercenaries come looking for her. This thing really gets bogged down with infodumps. Infodumps that conflict with each other so that you're not even sure what the truth is and not in a good way.
Sam and Twitch B&W, Book 1: Udaku ★★★★
Bendis wrote this fucked up noir and it's really good.
Hellspawn: Complete Collection ★★
Bendis also wrote this and it sucks. Plus Ashley Wood looks like he gave his kids some crayons and let them do the art.
King Spawn, Volume 1 ★★★
No, I can't tell you the difference between this title and regular Spawn. Pretty much, the bad guys just want to make him wear a crown.
King Spawn, Volume 2 ★★★
Spawn and the Spawnettes fight bad guys.
King Spawn, Volume 3 ★★★
...and some other bad guys.
Gunslinger Spawn, Volume 1 ★★★
Old West Spawn gets shocked by indoor plumbing. This is seriously the best part of volume one.
Gunslinger Spawn, Volume 2 ★★★
Cowboy Spawn and his ridiculous hat ride a steel horse.
The Scorched, Volume 1 ★★★
A team full of all the Spawns even though they are in all of the other books too. Very little of this expanded universe is actually interesting. As you'd expect.
The Scorched, Volume 2 ★★★
More scorching happens abroad.
Today's trip to the LCS.Invincible Iron Man #13
Shazam #6
X-Men #29
Birds of Prey #4
Transformers #3
Silent Knight #1
Avengers #8
Fire and Ice #2
Mod
Here's what folks read:
- Mike: Factory Summers, The Hard Switch
- Paul: Monica, Batman: City of Madness (2023-) #1
- Brubaker: Watership Down: The Graphic Novel (https://store.rabbitroom.com/products...)
Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.simplecast.com/ep...
Find Where the Body Was wherever you get comics.
You can follow Brubaker's newsletter at https://eepurl.us13.list-manage.com/s...
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I prep for this week's Brubaker episode I read a few titles he worked on.
Pulp ★★★★★The cover of this comic led me to expect a purely Western story but what I found instead was a reflective old man in NYC who still had dreams. I really enjoyed the combination of familiar parts of US/world history combined into one character and story.
Where the Body Was ★★★★Heads up, this book has some sexually explicit scenes. This story worked like an anthology of interconnecting stories about people in one town all linked together by a death. I really liked the retrospective points-of-view to bring clarity to the characters. As always, I suggest reading the rear matter.
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Re: Chad: Thanks for the review of MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios. Somehow I had not heard about this book and it sounds really interesting.
The books that I'm either currently reading or read pretty recently-Marvel Knights Punisher by Garth Ennis
-Pulp by Ed Brubaker
-Hellblazer by Jamie Delano
-Peacemaker Tries Hard
-Superboy Man of Tomorrow
-Midnighter and Apollo by Steve Orlando
-Invincible Compendium 2
Currently flying through
Last week's adventures in comics. Spider-Man, Vol. 1: End of the Spider-Verse ★★★
I was excited to see Dan Slott and Mark Bagley back on Spider-Man. This Spider-Verse story was just OK though. There's definitely some fun moments and new characters. The back half of this gets bogged down in a What If? story about Peter Parker though that dragged on too long.
Legacy of Mandrake the Magician ★★★
A solid next generation story of Mandrake the Magician. Don't worry, you don't need to know anything about Mandrake.
Bad Dreams ★★★
From the cocreator of Lucasfilm's video game Maniac Mansion. Mary is lost in a dream world sent on a quest with some friends she meets. It's all your standard stuff for this kind of story.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Vol. 1: Trial by Spider ★★
I was glad to see Miles back in his old suit. I hated the one from the last series with the stupid turtleneck look that didn't cover his face. The villain seemed kind of stupid. She hated Miles because he won a random lottery along with a bunch of other kids and she didn't.
Shang-Chi and the Quest for Immortality ★★★
A fluffy graphic novel for kids set in more of the Shang-Chi movie timeline. Shang-Chi goes on the hunt for the immortal peaches from Chinese lore while his father is away.
Angela Della Morte: Unleash the Beast ★★★
This is some cool sci-fi where you never get a complete hang of what's going on. I'm guessing some of that explanation was lost in translation to English. The art is top notch. These pages are beautiful.
Season of the Bruja Vol. 1 ★★★
I quite liked this. It's a cool world. It's about a girl and her abuela who is teaching her to be bruja or a witch. The problem with the story is that it feels like you've started on volume 6 of an ongoing story. All of these different elements are introduced without any explanation of what they are or mean. Even just some footnotes would have helped.
The Dark Age ★★★
A pretty good dystopian future comic where one day all metal dissolved to dust. It's now 15 years later. The cities are filled with cannibals and the U.S. has broken down into smaller territories.
Riptide ★★★★
Completely ridiculous but fun and over the top. It's a disaster movie turned up to 11. A meteor going by the Earth affects the tides and causes the seas in the Western hemisphere to retreat 100 miles from shore. The story follows a group of people who survived their cruise ship tipping over as they try and outrun the tsunami that's coming when the waters return.
Riptide: Draken ★★★
The stars of the first volume of Riptide meet again after college. Alex now works as an engineer on an oil platform while Hannah films documentaries all over the oceans. The story is absolutely ridiculous where they not only discover Nessie but it attacks Inverness. Still it's a lot of fun, just not to be taken seriously.
Shazam! Vol. 1: Meet the Captain ★★★★★
This is the kind of fun comic that Mark Waid excels at. He breaks Captain Marvel down to his core by examining each of the Gods that give him his powers. Along with having the Gods manipulate Billy, there's goofy fun stuff in it like space dinosaurs who require tons of paperwork. It's a nice balancing act that looks amazing due to the 8th Wonder of the World, Dan Mora, who draws two Mark Waid books each month for DC
X-Men, Vol. 5 ★★★★★
These were great. You do want to make sure and read this year's Hellfire Gala first. The X-Men are in bad shape. Almost all mutants are missing, scattered to parts unknown. Orchis has won. Enter Kitty Pryde and she's taking no prisoners, killing humans left and right to keep her secrets as she attempts to bring about a resistance to stop the genocide of mutants and eventually anyone with powers.
Ghost Rider, Vol. 1: Unchained ★★★
Ghost Rider gets a new comic where you don't need to really know Johnny Blaze's history because Blaze doesn't really remember it either. He's had some kind of head injury with something growing out of it. Meanwhile he's hoboing it around the country like David Banner in the old Incredible Hulk TV show.
Ghost Rider, Vol. 2: Shadow Country ★★★
The story seems to be coming together in vol. 2. I liked this quite a bit better. It's got something of a Vertigo feel to it, right down to very graphic and disgusting horror scenes.
Ghost Rider, Vol. 3: Dragged Out of Hell ★★★
Danny Ketch is finally back. He's Blaze's brother along with being the Ghost Rider of the 90's. These issues feel almost like an introduction to what will happen after the crossover with Wolverine, which the last issue leads into.
Ghost Rider/Wolverine: Weapons of Vengeance ★★★
It makes sense to cross over Ghost Rider and Wolverine since Percy writes both of them. This felt kind of bare bones though. The two of them are teaming up to go after a demon who possessed a kid years ago and is now killing mutants just because it's Fall of X season I guess.
Shy Ninja ★★★
A fun read for kids. The main character is a girl with severe anxiety. As part of her therapy, she starts a ninja class, one that's for real ninjas and not just a martial artist class. She is told she is the one as she continues her training. You can see where it goes from here.
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Vol. 2: The Invader ★★★
This whole conspiracy thing is too complicated. It's just a conspiracy to be a conspiracy without really making sense other than the rich getting richer I guess. It's really just a game for the idle rich. Anyway, Bucky has went over to the other side to try and bring them down from the inside. MODOK captures Manhattan. Cap and his team have to get it back.
The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 5: Dead Language, Part 1 ★★
Joe Kelly and the Dodsons step in for two issues as Pete and Felicity head upstate for the weekend and get involved with some evil tech bros? It's pretty stupid. Then Wells and JRJR return for the beginning of the story of what happened before the first issue of this run. We find out some of why everyone's pissed off at Spider-Man. It's told so confusingly that it's difficult to tell what is happening now and what happened a year ago. The villian is back from the Brand New Day era and I can't even remember him even though I read all of it. It's weird. The bad guy basically just spouts gibberish and is looking to make some king of sacrifice to a Mayan God. I like Wells as a writer. How is this title this bad?
The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol 6: Dead Language, Part 2 ★★
We finally see why Pete's lost all his friends and been an ass since this series began. It's all because he couldn't spend 5 minutes to tell his superhero buddies why he was taking their stuff. So he spent even more time fighting them for it. It's all just stupid. Then a character dies for like half a second only to be resurrected before they even throw dirt over their grave so they can be part of the next Marvel event. It takes any kind of emotion out of what should be a cathartic Fallen Friend one shot. The nonstop editorial mandates on this book are killing Spider-Man. I feel bad for Wells and JRJR because if they were just left alone to make Spider-Man comics I think it'd be pretty great.
H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, Volume 1 ★★★
Lovecraft can be an obtuse read for people. The original story is filled with long passages of very detailed prose describing everything and giving you that feeling of existential dread. Tanabe has turned this into a faithful adaptation while reordering some things and turning things around so that the story is mostly told through the art and dialogue. (There's not much dialogue in the original version.) There are times where there are too many panels. I don't know if we really need 20 two-page spreads of the black mountains. This probably could have been shortened enough to fit in one volume, but who knows, I haven't read the latter half of this yet.
Mod
Here's what folks read:
- Mike: Swan Songs #5, Wolvendaughter
-Danny: BRZRKR: Fallen Empire #1, The Sentry #1, Batman - Santa Claus: Silent Knight (2023) #1
- Brian: Life is Strange: Forget-Me-Not #1, Godzilla: Aftershock
Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.simplecast.com/ep...
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American Gods, Vol. 1: Shadows ★★★★I've always like the concept of American Gods (from the book and TV series) but it's an unsettling enough story that I haven't been able to really get into it. I like the different artists used for the "Coming to America" stories. I'm going to try to finish this series.
The Best We Could Do ★★★★★This book was simultaneously a memoir, a reflection on parenting and generational trauma, and a history lesson. It definitely deserves a close, slow read.
Aquaman: Andromeda ★★★★This is the last book I needed to read for the specific books in the reading challenge! I liked the spooky otherworldly tone to this story, and the designs for the ships and for Aquaman were very cool. I'm not big on narration in comics and this had quite a bit of it.
Today's trip to the LCS.Dark X-Men #5
X-Men Red #18
Batman #428 <--- This is the version that was never released where Jason Todd lives instead of being killed by the Joker.
The Bloody Dozen #1 <--- A new comic from Charles Soule
House of Slaughter #20
Immortal Thor #5
Worlds Finest: Teen Titans #6
Captain America #4
Silent Knight #2
Punisher #2
Titans: Beast World #2
Irredeemable volume 7. Which poses the question, who would win in a fight, Homelander or The Plutonian???
Spawn, Compendium 1 I'm enjoying my romp through Spawn, but know I didn't get past issue 98 before so we'll see how far I get.Crisis On Infinite Earths Not enjoying this one, put ploughing through. It may be the industry changing story of the 80's but it's a hot mess of erratic plot, characters I've never heard of or care about and mediocre art.
Mike wrote: "Spawn, Compendium 1 I'm enjoying my romp through Spawn, but know I didn't get past issue 98 before so we'll see how far I get."I just did a read through of Spawn of the first 300+ issues the last 2 months, plus all of the ancillary spinoffs I could find at the library. Overall, it's alright. It certainly has its highs and lows, with a real low coming after issue #100. Angel Medina's art is so freaking bad and it lasts for 50 issues.
I am surprised you'd say George Perez's art is mediocre. I can get not liking the story. It was written almost 40 years ago and comics were written a lot differently then. But George Perez is one of the greatest artists of the era. But to each their own.
If you at all read digital comics, check out www.humblebundle.com. I got all of Spawn through 2 Humble Bundles digitally for $30. I'd never pay full price for Spawn, but $30 was about the right price for all of Spawn and Savage Dragon. Get on their mailing list and they'll notify you when they have a new comic book bundle available. It's usually every couple of weeks.
Last week's adventures in comics.H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth ★★★
Tanabe continues his Lovecraft adaptations with the only full length book of Lovecraft's that was published in his lifetime. This is long, really long. 450 pages long which is extremely long for a graphic novel. Lovecraft wasn't the best writer and this is a faithful adaptation so it takes a LONG time to get going. It's about a man travelling through Massachusetts. He hears word of a town, that is turning into a ghost town. The only way to reach it is by a daily bus. Many of the inhabitants there are mutating. When he finally finds out what happened there, he learns he has to spend the night and that's where the book really picks up.
The World After the Fall, Vol. 1 ★★
In the near future these towers spring up around the Earth killing off much of the population and challenging people to get to the top. This whole thing uses a lot of video game logic instead of common sense so a lot of this won't make sense. As people climb the tower, items pop up like video games and about half way through the crux of the story changes. That's when it really lost me. At that point, I was thinking "Well, this is kind of stupid." It did not get better after that.
Villains Are Destined to Die, Vol. 1 ★
This was so stupid. It's about a girl who is basically a modern day Cinderella who then gets sucked into a video game where she has to try and get the best catch in the Victorian age while being labeled a villain. You know what's not interesting? Comics about video games. You know how to make them even less interesting. Set them 150 years ago and make them about trying to get boys to like you.
Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 7 ★★★★
This series continues to be excellent even with these larger 15 issue arcs. The 2nd major story winds up as Erica, Cutter and the Duplicyte are on a collision course.
Captain America: Cold War ★★★
This was fine. Kind of lackluster though for an event. Both Captains and the gang head to Dimension Z to fight the White Wolf and Bucky. The White Wolf is especially lame in this and lacking all of his smarts he had in the Christopher Priest Black Panther series.
Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings ★★★
Gene Luen Yang finishes up his Shang-Chi run with this last miniseries. Shang-Chi is reluctant to use the Ten Rings now that he has them because of their corrupting influence. Everyone else wants them though.
Dead Company, Volume 1 ★★
This was very flat and uninteresting. It's about a guy who is completely unqualified to join a video game company but gets the job because he survived a real life battle royale three years ago where he was the only survivor. The company makes survival horror games and would like his input. I bet you can instantly guess where this is headed. The dialogue is stilted and feels like it was written by AI. The art is manga standard. I couldn't pick it out of a lineup.
Weeaboo ★
This was a complete dud. It's about 3 friends in their senior year in high school. They are all in their own stories as they prepare to go to a comicon at the end of the year. The story is all over the place. I often had no idea what was going on. There were long passages of an anime show in this and a play, neither of which added anything to the story and completely take you out of what is going on.
Elfquest: Stargazer's Hunt Volume 1 ★★
Elfquest is apparently not a series for the uninitiated. I've always heard about it and decided to check this out when it popped up as a bonus borrow on Hoopla. I felt like I was reading a comic in a foreign language. I had no idea what was going on or even what some of the words meant as they have their own words for certain things. Apparently, you need to be undaunted enough to start at the beginning if you have interest in this series even if this is a number one. For me, I'll go back to being oblivious of this series.
X-Men Red, Vol. 4 ★★★★
Apocalypse's wife, Genesis, has returned to Arrako bringing Civil War with her with Storm's forces in opposition. There's some cool stuff here as we close out X-Men Red. Storm shows just why she may be the most powerful mutant of them all. If a perfect world, this title would go one for several more years but Marvel has other plans.
Deadbox: The Complete Series ★★★
An anthology of weird stories taking place in this small town. They revolve around a Redbox filled with unreleased movies. This was OK. But Mark Russell has done far better.
Star Wars: The High Republic, Vol. 1: There Is No Fear ★★★
After sticking to the prose side of the High Republic, I finally decided to venture into the graphic novel side. It's fine, which is what you can mostly say about the High Republic era in general. It's written from the perspective of a new jedi knight. She goes to help a remote colony where they meet the Drengir. I believe this is their first appearance.
Dark X-Men ★★
After the Fall of X, Some random X-Men go to Madelaine Pryor, now that there is a Limbo Embassy in NYC after the events of Dark Web. There's not a lot of story here and most of the characters other than Madelaine don't get much screen time. I'm honestly not sure why they made this series given the lack of direction here. This could have been much more interesting. I do like Jonas Scharf's art.
World's Finest: Teen Titans ★★★★
Mark Waid extends his little jaunts to DC's past with this World's Finest spin off mini series. It's mainly one and done stories set when the Titans were all sidekicks to DC's superheroes.
House of Slaughter, Vol. 4: Alabaster ★★★
Boy, I don't know how some of these characters can talk so much without saying anything. This is about a mute boy who is missing his arms called Bait. He has a penchant for getting through impossible situations. He's sent undercover to a group home in a small town that has had an inordinate amount of deaths in it. At this point, I just think Sam Johns isn't a very good writer. It may be time to drop this companion series if it's not going to be more consistent.
Book of Slaughter #1 ★★★★
This square bound one shot contextualizes a lot of the worldbuilding in the Something Is Killing the Children / House of Slaughter universe. The middle of it is text explaining how the Houses work and the like. The story surrounding it introduces a couple of new characters which will probably show up in the main books in the future.
IMMORTAL THOR VOL. 1: ALL WEATHER TURNS TO STORM ★★★★
Al Ewing takes over Thor and brings him back to his Kirbyian roots (at least in appearance) while maintaining that Thor is the ruler of Asgard. There's a new threat out there, with some Elder Gods in the vein of the Titans versus the Greek Gods. I really like what Ewing is doing with Loki, reminding us again that Loki should be androgynous shifting back and forth between his male and female versions while having their own agenda which will ultimately probably end up helping Thor. I also like that this version of Thor has learned to use his brain instead of just throwing a punch (or in Thor's case, a hammer.)
I've used humble bundle to collect a mountain of computing and programming books for work, but usually because someone else has pointed it out to me. I'll definitely subscribe and keep my eye out, thanks.Perhaps Crisis isn't the best example of Perez's work. With such a ridiculous roster of superheroes trying to cram into every frame, the detail is sparse and inconsistent. I may also have been spoiled by the great background work of Gerrard and Capullo and set my expectations too high.
Mod
Here's what folks read:
- Mike: Try Not to Die #1, I Am Stan: A Graphic Biography of the Legendary Stan Lee
- Kate: Gideon Falls, Vol. 1: The Black Barn
- Nick: Giant Robot Hellboy #2, Our Bones Dust #1
Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.simplecast.com/ep...
Today's trip to the LCS. It was a big week.Incredible Hulk #7
Original X-Men #1
Batman - Superman / World's Finest #22
Doctor Strange #10
Uncanny Avengers #5
Nightwing #109
The Plot Holes #5
Wolverine #40
Geiger: Ground Zero #2
The Deviant #2
Justice League Vs Godzilla Vs Kong #3
Snow White Zombie Apocalypse #5
Batman - Santa Claus: Silent Knight #3
Uncanny Spider-Man #5
Animal Pound #1 <--- New Boom mini from Tom King and Peter Gross
G.O.D.S. #3
The Devil That Wears My Face #3
Today's trip to the LCS.Duke #1 <--- G.I. Joe's return to Image
Timeless #1 <--- This year's Marvel one-shot to setup 2024
The Penguin #5
Book of Butcher <--- A Something Is Killing the Children squarebound one shot
Predator Versus Wolverine #3
Predator Versus Wolverine #4
Titans #6
Titans: Beast World #3
Batman - Santa: Silent Knight #4
Immortal X-Men #18
X-Force #47
Mod
Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.simplecast.com/ep...
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H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, Volume 2 ★★★I finished the duology of this Lovecraft adaptation. I'm glad I read it in order to gain familiarity with Lovecraft's stories, but the story was just about people dying or finding really spooky stuff.
Bubble ★★★★★This is an adaptation of a narrative podcast. I loved the humor, random asides, and mix of characters in this. There were some unique things done with the dialogue boxes. Some worked and others didn't.
Last week's adventures in comics.The Fox Maidens ★★★
Based on some of the Korean folklore about fox demons. This could almost be split up into three books. The first third is about a girl in Korea's past who's father lets her train in the martial arts with the other men and her brothers in the household. Then it shifts gears completely into the fox demon's story after not having any supernatural elements at all. The last third is a love story of redemption. It's fine but probably should have been edited down some.
Superman Vol. 1: Supercorp ★★★★
Joshua Williamson takes over Superman. The book has more of an irreverent tone that Williamson and Campbell make work. Actually Campbell is a great choice for this kind of storytelling. Luthor is in jail but wants to help Superman for some reason. He's even given LexCorp over to Superman, hence SuperCorp. Perry White is on sabbatical leaving Lois as the new Editor-in-Chief while Jimmy is in love, with someone very surprising. It's all a whole lot of fun which I believe we can never have enough of in comics. The only thing I can say I don't like so far is the character designs for the new main bad guys, Dr. Pharm and Graft. Shirtless but with shoulder length gloves is quite the fashion statement, just not a good one.
The Great British Bump-Off ★★
The creative team behind Giant Days reteams for this combination of Agatha Christie and The Great British Bake Off. This is so over the top as to be a farce.
Hawkeye: Bishop Takes King ★★★★
Set in the comic Marvel universe, not the movie one. The story is about Kate Bishop getting in the middle of a search against the Kingpin for some books that can provide untold power. America Chavez is also in it as Kate's best friend. Poston writes Hawkeye in a way that fits in perfectly with her comics. It's got the mentor / mentee thing going on with the other Hawkeye, Clint Barton. There's a few other cameos. This is much better than a novel set in the Marvel universe has a right to be.
Stranger Things: Tales from Hawkins ★★★
These are some pretty inconsequential little side stories. They are made better by Jody Houser writing them. However, it doesn't remove the fact that Dark Horse has picked the Stranger Things carcass clean.
Young Hellboy: Assault on Castle Death ★★★
Kid Hellboy is hallucinating from a fever. He's jetting around the BPRD, thinking he's fighting monsters with Lobster Johnson while in reality he really is being pursued by a monk who is trying to kill him.
After: The Graphic Novel ★
Oh my god, this was terrible. This may be the most unrealistic version of college life I've ever read. This girl breaks up with her long term boyfriend for a severely toxic guy covered in tattoos and piercings. She goes from a virgin to living with this guy in less than two months. It's all so terribly stupid. Then the big ending made me want to throw my tablet across the room. Give me a goddamn break. How is this so popular that they turned this series of novels into graphic novels? It's like bad fan fiction. Who knows, maybe it'll be the next Fifty Shades of Gray except even worse.
Avengers: Unleashed, Vol. 1: Kang War One ★★★★
Spider-Man is a welcome addition to the book. When good writers get a hold of Spidey, he works wonderfully in the Avengers. His quips keep the book fun, his leaping and bounding gives the book a real sense of motion, and he can fill the Iron Man role of science whiz. The dialogue on the book is snappy and witty and the book is just fun.
Call Me Iggy ★★★★★
Iggy (Ignacio) is entering his Freshman year of high school in Columbus, OH. He's the child of first generation immigrants from Columbia. He's what they call a Gringo Latino as he doesn't speak Spanish and knows little of his parents' culture. He takes Spanish in order to meet a girl and is having difficulty until one day he knocks over his Abuelito's urn in the basement. From that moment on, he can talk with his grandfather's ghost. The book is really well done. You really get a look at different view points from different families and how they think of themselves. I had a very interesting time with this.
Uncanny Avengers (2023): The Resistance. ★★★
Captain America creates a new Avengers Unity squad to track down Captain Krakoa and find out who this guy posing as Cyclops really is. It's exactly who you expect unfortunately. I think that character is dumb. For some reason, issue #5 ends with Rogue back in her evil Rogue costume she first appeared in in Avengers Annual #10 with that awful haircut. Hope that doesn't stick.
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures, Vol. 2 ★★★
I was excited to see Maz Tanaka and Dexter Jettster in this, even if it's just barely. I guess both species live for an extremely long time. It's about a new Padawan who has went undercover with a pirate gang that Maz is running. She's been captured and these guys are trying to get her back. It's mostly fighting across Jedha and Takodana but has a lighter tone for younger readers with the main character having some self doubt. It's honestly better than any of the Phase II novels I've read.
Hunt. Kill. Repeat. Vol. 1 ★★★
The Greek gods return taking over the Earth and ruling through fear. Artemis has found love and secretly pregnant. But Zeus will have none of it when he finds out. Ten years later Artemis returns out for revenge and starts taking out the other Gods.
Kang: The Saga of the Once and Future Conqueror ★★★★
As random collections of Kang comics go, this had some pretty good stories in it.
Timeless (2021) #1 ★★★★
Kang gathers a travelling companion to show how great he is. A pirate timeline tries to hijack the main timeline leaving Kang to fight a version of Doom.
Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black ★★★
Set back in the day when Peter Parker was wearing the black suit after Secret Wars. Because it's set so long ago, the King in Black tie in seems nebulous, but Peter David makes it work. Still it's Spider-Man teaming up with a ton of characters (The Black Knight, Rocket Raccoon, Kang, Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau edition), the Watcher, Ulik and more) to fight symbiotes so it's entertaining.
Order and Outrage Volume 1 ★★
This was alright. It's got that old school sci-fi comic vibe you'd expect from Jim Starlin. It's just that very little is explained. A woman walks into a temple, it blows up and she gets powers and starts taking down the Order. The back and forth between two different time periods every time you flipped the page got old real quick as well.
Wolverine, Vol. 7 ★★★
Wolverine tours the planet going on little missions against Orchis while hiding in the shadows. He teams up with the Hulk, Captain America, Black Panther and Spider-Man along the way.
Death Sparkles and the Sacred Golden Cupcake: Book 2 ★★★★
A fun comic for kids. The art is soft and sweet like ice cream. Sparkles the unicorn and Death are best friends. Sparkles is the only unicorn left but in the past, unicorns were awful to some moles and now the moles are out for revenge. They are all after the Sacred Golden Cupcake. The moles in order to remove a curse, Sparkles because he thinks it has magical powers. The story is irreverent and fun.
Panya: The Mummy's Curse ★★
Panya's history centuries ago in Egypt. It's all very lackluster. I think Mignola needs someone else to partner up with besides Chris Roberson. He's been phoning these Hellboy related stories in for years now.
Uncanny Spider-Man: Fall of X ★★★
This was alright but I feel like it could have been better in other hands than Spurrier's. The through story's not that coherent. Nightcrawler has returned to some of his fun roots but still seems out of character given he was a priest. He curses and leaps into bed at the drop of a hat. There is a difference between character growth and ignoring the past.
Hide: The Graphic Novel ★★★★
I haven't read the novel this is adapted from yet, but I think this stands well on its own. It follows some tropes but is done well. It's part Hunger Games, part And Then There Were None. It's about 14 twenty somethings invited to a defunct amusement park. They are playing Hide and Seek and then the winner collects 50 grand. Of course, that's not the real story at all.
A Visit to Moscow ★★★★
In 1965, a rabbi went with a group of rabbis to Russia on a speaking tour and to see if they could learn if reports they'd heard about conditions for the Jews there were true. What he told no one is that he'd been contacted by the sister of a Jewish man who lived in Russia. She hadn't heard from him in over 10 years and wanted to make sure he was OK. So one day of the trip in Leningrad, he pretends to be sick and wanders off to find this man. He finds more than he could have imagined.
X-Men Blue: Origins (2023) #1 ★★
This was packed with stupid retconning along with one of the dumbest panels I've ever seen of a woman giving birth.
The Plot Holes ★★★★
This is a real high concept book. It's about characters from different books that are entering other books before they are published and editing them to make them better in order to keep them from getting trashed. Yeah, I know it doesn't sound like it would work, but Murphy gives it his all and it does. Sean Murphy's art is just as terrific as it always is.
Takio ★★★
Bendis and Oeming make a comic for their kids. There's not a whole lot to this. It's a real basic story about two sisters who get super powers and have to fight off the mad scientist who accidentally gave them to them and his daughter who happens to be Taki's best friend. This is a Bendis book you can safely let your kids read.
Doctor Strange by Jed MacKay Vol.. 2: the War-Hound of Vishanti ★★★★
The Vishanti forced Doctor Strange to fight in a war for 5,000 years and then split off his General self leaving him with no memory of those events. General Strange was warped after 5,000 years of fighting losing his humanity. Now he's broke free of his prison and plans on taking control. It's a heady idea, one that MacKay makes work. I really like what he's doing here. Ferry's work on the series is really good too. He's giving the book a classic Steve Ditko look that I think looks really cool for these alien dimensions.
just got my hands on Postal the Complete Collection. got through the first story arc, a shit load more to go
Red wrote: "just got my hands on Postal the Complete Collection. got through the first story arc, a shit load more to go"Read that a few years ago. I thought it was pretty good.
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I Read Comic Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Bubble (other topics)H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, Volume 2 (other topics)
Giant Robot Hellboy #2 (other topics)
I Am Stan: A Graphic Biography of the Legendary Stan Lee (other topics)
Gideon Falls, Vol. 1: The Black Barn (other topics)
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