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? (January 2025)
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Today's trip to my LCS where the thermostat was stuck on high and it was 86.Cable: Love and Chrome #1
Absolute Superman #3
Avengers #22
Birds of Prey #17
Flash Gordon #5
Spectaculat Spider-Men #11
Ultimates #8
X-Factor #6
The Atom Project #1
Sam Wilson Captain America #1
Deadpool / Wolverine #1
BTW, Diamond's books still hadn't made it to the store yet so they still don't have the logistics worked out on their consolidation of their distribution sites. This has been going on for multiple months now. Thankfully they had a transition plan to do this without disrupting comic book stores. Oh, wait a minute!
Mod
This week we read:
- Friday, Book One: The First Day of Christmas
- Friday, Book Two: On a Cold Winter's Night
- Friday, Book Three: Christmas Time is Here Again
FYI, the publisher, Panel Syndicate, doesn't distribute digital comics, but the issues are available directly on their website for purchase: http://panelsyndicate.com/comics/friday
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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Northranger ★★★★★
This is a queer YA story set on a Texas ranch that is based on Northhanger Abbey. I really enjoyed a subplot where one of the characters spooks himself with his interest in horror movies in a way that impacts the plot. I didn't realize that subplot is from Northhanger Abbey, so I will probably read that now. The rest of the plot is a little predictable and sometimes rough (with judgemental comments) but I enjoyed the read quite a bit.
Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu, Volume 7 ★★★★★
This might be my favorite volume. There are a few short plotlines that are wrapped up in this volume and it ends with a party that includes most (all?) of the regulars. The restaurant feels like an established part of the community now, and the world building has expanded enough to also give the town a place in the larger world. This feels like a final excellent book in the series, but there are thankfully more volumes.
Chew, Vol. 1: Taster's Choice ★★★★
Chew, Vol. 2: International Flavor ★★★★
This series is a bit dated with some rough terminology and female character design. Otherwise this is an easily bingable series so far. The panel transitions and cliffhangers can be brilliant and occasionally humorous. The series has a good pace for new food-related abilities being added to the story.
A-Force, Vol. 0: Warzones! ★★★★
This book has been on my to-read list forever. I finally read it on hoopla and plan to finish the three-volume series. This is set during the Battleworlds event, which I am otherwise mostly unfamiliar with. didn't know who some of the characters were. The story provides all the relevant information for the characters so that didn't deter me at all. I really enjoyed seeing Nico from Runaways on this team of Marvel ladies.
Last week's (and technically last year's) adventures in comics.Hope It All Works Out!: A Poorly Drawn Lines Collection ★★★
A bunch of absurd and sarcastic short strips. Maybe not quite as funny as some of the previous collections. Still worth a quick spin through with Mouse, Bird, Turtle and Snail.
Luminous Beings ★★★★
A last night before going off to college story set in a world full of zombie squirrels causing everyone to wear hazmat suits when outside. Other than that the world is more or less like ours. Two best friends want to be indie film makers but one of them is going off to college and hasn't told the other. Meanwhile, they along with two others are after a $20,000 reward for a missing adult. It becomes one long, crazy night. (You know, what I'm talking about. You've more or less seen this movie before.) The story is good. So is the art. I like the pink and blue color palette as well. Good stuff.
Death Comes For The Toymaker, Vol 1 ★★★
An alternative version of Santa Claus based on Mesopotamian mythology combining him with Gilgamesh. Even though the setup is that he's Santa, this isn't really a Christmas story. After the initial setup, it goes full in on Gilgamesh's story instead. This version of Santa has made a deal with Death for his immortality. He takes over for Death on Christmas while Death takes the day off. So while Santa has a naughty and nice list, there's also a third death list. After those initial revelations, this swerves into Gilgamesh's history of how he got there and how he tries to get out of the deal he's made. It's interesting and definitely original.
Shaolin Cowboy: Cruel to Be Kin--Silent but Deadly Edition ★★★
Works well as an art book. Geof Darrow's art skill is unparalleled. There's so much detail packed on each page. Telling the story without any lettering though just makes this a 200 page slobberknocker where you don't know why anything is happening. Our Shaolin cowboy is just having hyperviolent fights with men and kaiju nonstop. So I don't know why you'd get this instead of the original unless you really hate text boxes. There is a script at the end which seems kind of stupid when the whole point is to enjoy the exquisite artwork.
Assassin's Apprentice, Volume 2 ★★★★
A very good adaptation of the Robin Hobb novel. My only complaint is how long it takes for these to come out. Good art. Interesting story of the bastard son of a noble learning his place in the keep while secretly training to be an assassin.
Batman: City of Madness ★★
A cool start that didn't really go anywhere. Batman has a nemesis from below Gotham. An eldritch horror version of Batman that scares his rogues gallery. That's about as far as Ward got with the plot though. The rest is just stops and starts to disguise the lack of a story with spooky looking visuals. Sadly, this was a dud.
Oba Electroplating Factory ★★★
Some works of autofiction from a classic manga artist written in the 70s. The stories are bleak and often risque. The artwork could be strange. Backgrounds were very detailed while faces were often cartoonish and elongated. I thought this was fine.
Wingbearer ★★
Others seem to really like this book but I thought it was kind of stupid. This girl lives in a tree where birds' souls are reincarnated as leaves on the trees. Then one day the leaves no longer are in the leaves and she has to leave to find out what is happening. Such a disappointment, especially considering how good Liu's other series, Monstress and The Night Eaters are.
Frank Miller's Pandora ★★
An OK, fairies mix with humans story. The storytelling isn't as bad as some of MIller's other recent works, but it's not great either. At least he didn't try to draw this as his art has devolved dramatically. Emma Kubert's art is solid, not as dynamic as her dad's or uncle's yet though. It's all a bit generic though and ends on a cliffhanger. We'll see if it ever gets an ending.
Hawkeye ★★★★
Who knew Mark Gruenwald could draw too? I only knew him as a writer and editor for Marvel. His art is pretty good too. This Hawkeye miniseries is surprisingly good. It has Hawkeye and Mockingbird's first team-up. It also shows what happened to Hawkeye's hearing which really gets played up during his appearances in the 2000s.
Mod
This week folks read:
- Hexagon Bridge
- When I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee #1
- John Constantine: Hellblazer: Dead in America #1 through #4
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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Off Menu: A Graphic Novel ★★★★
This is a queer YA OGN about a cook who has to out-cook her nefarious boss in order to save her town. I really like the idea of this story and many of the details about it but I had a hard time finishing it. The villain is almost too nefarious and the resolution is a little too convenient.
Today's trip to my LCS.Detective Comics #1092
Absolute Batman #4
Geiger #10
transformers #16
Ultimate Black Panther #12
Uncanny X-Men #8
Aquaman #1
New Champions #1
Magik #1
Radiant Black: The Story So Far <--- Free catch-up comic.
Last week's adventures in comics.Hawkeye Epic Collection, Vol. 1: The Avenging Archer ★★★★
If you ever wondered about Hawkeye's history, this is probably the book to get. It took 19 years for Hawkeye to get his own comic (which is included here). He bounced around in all kinds of weird, hard to find comics along with Iron Man and the Avengers. His first appearances as a villain in Iron Man are here being spurred along by a Black Widow still working for the Russians. Then we get when he joins the Avengers and when he becomes Goliath for awhile. Two comics in the middle don't even have Hawkeye in them, but his future wife Mockingbird. You get to see her as a SHIELD agent before becoming Mockingbird. The two finally meet in the Hawkeye miniseries which is surprisingly good with the rare pencils by Mark Gruenwald. I can't recall him drawing anything else even though he wrote a ton for Marvel. You also see how Hawkeye loses some of his hearing which plagues him a lot in his series in the 2000s.
The Sensational She-Hulk, Vol. 1 ★★★★★
I'm a sucker for 80's John Byrne. I think this is just so much fun. She-Hulk knows she's in a comic book and is able to cross panels while fighting the goofiest villains of the Marvel universe. I had a ball with it. Byrne is one of my favorite artists too and he justifies it with this.
Quests Aside Vol. 1: Adventurers Anonymous ★★★★★
Once in a while you take a stab in the dark on something on Hoopla and are pleasantly surprised. I loved this. It's a light-hearted book about a retired adventurer running a bar. One day the king shows up and tells him he's commandeering the bar in a month for his new barracks. The book follows the lives of the people working at the bar as they get in and out of trouble. Nothing earthshaking but sometimes all you need is well-written and fun.
The Pale Queen ★★★★★
A delightful story about a young tutor in a small valley who wants more but her family can't afford to send her off to university. She comes across the fae who offer her a boon in return for a favor. She slowly begins to be pulled in their world while at the same time the niece of the rich man she tutors for has come to town for the summer and there could be a spark between the two. While intended for that middle school age group, there's enough to like here for all ages. And the art is wonderful. It really draws you into the pastoral setting that can sometimes be slightly sinister.
Freedom Was in Sight: A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C., Region ★★★★★
Delves into personal accounts of African Americans mainly during Reconstruction. I think this is an important reminder of history and the struggles this country has dealt with throughout its history. For every two steps forward we take, there always seems to be one step backward. Its amazing, some of the progress we made as a society immediately following the Civil War while at the same time still managing to be very racist at the same time. It's a struggle we have to continue to fight for every day so that everyone in this country can truly be equal. These true stories were inspiring.
The Book of Elsewhere ★★
This was not good. I know others here enjoyed it but the way it was written made it a slog to get through. If I hadn't already read the not good comics as well as the fact that I really like Keanu Reeves, I wouldn't have kept at this like a scab that you feel you need to rip off again and again, always too soon.
To be honest, I don't remember if this dovetails with the comics or this is the same story in a new medium. I can tell you the comics did not have an 80,000 year old boar in them that continuously sought out B for no good reason other than "There can be only one!". That was SO dumb. Because I'm a sucker for punishment, I know I'll wind up reading those stupid comics again just to put together how they connect even though it ultimately doesn't matter. Chances are the Netflix show will change up B's story again anyway other than he's an immortal John Wick who goes into BRZRKR rages.
The chapters are broken up into 3 separate areas told in first, second and third person to differentiate them. This infuriated me to no end. Sections often did strange grammatical things like combining words and abandoning punctuation completely that drove me batty. Sorry, I must have been a proof reader in a past life. The current story and the only one that matters is told in third person. B in the past was told in second person while stories in the past from random people who knew B / Unute were in first person. The latter two were all pretty much pointless and I guess added to get to 300 pages. That's the only reason I can see they exist.
The story is mainly about how some people see B as a god while others see him as a devil or death versus life if you will. This entire book inspired a lot of eyerolling from me as I was constantly counting pages until the end of each chapter so I could force myself to finish this in chunks because I certainly wasn't digging it.
The Interceptor ★★★
In the far future vampires have taken over the earth leaving humanity to escape to another planet. When two vampires show up on this new planet, a scout is sent back to earth where she finds out humanity is still alive. She teams up with some crazy girl to fight them. It's all fine. You can tell this is one of Donny Cates earlier works. It's just OK. There are some goofy things like a president who looks like he's 12, smoking cigars for some reason.
No One's Rose ★★★
This was alright. It's a dystopian future comics where the last dregs of humanity live under a dome with a giant tree that fills the whole thing. (Yeah, I don't know how that'd work either.) There's a brother and sister who are the main characters. The sister works for the haves as an engineer. The brother is working for the underground which is trying to burn it all down. Both sides are pretty awful. There's just way too much going on in this for 5 issues.
Gannibal Vol 2 ★★
I've been trying with this series. Everyone else seems to love it but it moves so slowly. We do find out what happened with the main character's family before he moved to this village. The mystery about this zombie or whatever it is completely takes a back seat though. It's just not well-written enough for me to care about all these feints and tangents.
Guardians of the Galaxy Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Earth Shall Overcome ★★★
This isn't the Guardians of the Galaxy that most of you are use to today from the movies. These are the original Guardians that lived in the 31st century. They were all from Earth colonies that had evolved to their environments giving them powers. The Badoon had killed the rest of the colonies off leaving them the lone survivors of each planet. The Badoon had also conquered the Earth which was the focus of their first several appearances. Eventually they got their own title for about 10 issues in the 70s. Steve Gerber wrote it giving the book a Star Trek feel to it. Even their spaceship looked like the Enterprise. It honestly wasn't all that good and the stories got better in the last few issues once Roger Stern took over. The book ends with the team fighting Korvak who became their main villain for awhile with a major story in the Avengers with the Korvak Saga. That gets collected in the 2nd volume.
Shepherdess Warriors Vol 1 ★★★★
It's been 10 years since the men of the village left for war leaving the women to defend themselves. Hence, they started the Shepherdess Warriors, a group of women riding rams while defending their lands. A new group of girls are apprenticing when a monster enters their territory threatening the village. Now it'll be up to these girls to drive it off. This was a quite good all-ages story, full of danger and excitement.
Deadpool Epic Collection, Vol. 4: Dead Reckoning ★★★
And so the first ongoing series for Deadpool ends with this last of 3 Epic Collections. It's the culmination of the Landau, Luckman, and Lake plotline that's been going on since the beginning of the book. That's Wade's slated to stop the end of the world by Tiamat to usher in an era of bliss with the entrance of the Messiah. It's honestly not the best story as you can see exactly where this is headed. Then of course, T-Ray returns one last time to get his revenge on Deadpool. The revelations in the last issue of the series are a bit dumb and if any writers pursued them things would be quite different with the character. All in all just an OK set of comics here from Joe Kelly with Pete Woods and Walter McDaniel as the main artists.
Today's trip to my LCS.Behemoth #1
Exceptional X-Men #5
Feral #9
GI Joe #3
Immortal Thor #19
Incredible Hulk #21
Ultimate Wolverine #1
Storm #4
New Gods #2
Challengers of the Unknown #2
Mod
I've read a couple of interesting adaptations:The Giver: Graphic Novel. Very faithful to the book. Nice images, but very wordy! And sometimes the words are hard to read because they are put onto a dark background. (I'm a 3/5 for the original and the adaptation.)
The Road: A Graphic Novel Adaptation. By contrast, this has very few words. Not much really happens, so if the original novel is worth reading it must be because of some great words. (I'm a 3 for the adaptation, and have no interest in the original.)
H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness for beginning Readers. Much fewer words than the original. Plus it is now in rhyming anapestic tetrameter with cute pictures! Just like Dr. Seuss made famous. (5 stars for the adaptation. Everyone should own this. The original story is a 3.)
Mod
This week folks read:
- FML #1 and #2
- Off Menu: A Graphic Novel
- Laura Kinney: Wolverine (2024-) #1
- Lampblack #1-4
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...
Check out The Order of The Nun-Ya on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
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Re: Chad: I appreciate how you'll try just about anything. I like the number of younger reader books you read this week and I added a few to my own to-read list!
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Guardian of Fukushima ★★★★
This non-fiction story focuses on Naoto Matsumura, the man who famously still lives in the Fukushima devastation zone to care for the animals there. This could have benefited from a more detailed or realistic art style. The creators tried to incorporate Japanese mythology, which only works to an extent. I enjoyed the story of Naoto himself.
Torchwood: The Selkie ★★★★
I rewatched the Doctor Who spin-off show Torchwood over winter break and have been digging up the novels and comics. I mostly enjoyed The Selkie, but it felt like it ended abruptly. I feel like the show has more compassion than in this story for the aliens. I liked the art in this story, particularly on the faces. I would have liked to see a wider variety of faces close-up in this art style. This is a first issue and also contains the beginning of a longer story arc at the end, and that art style is so different and jarring that I haven't continued reading that story yet.
Houses with a Story: A Dragon’s Den, a Ghostly Mansion, a Library of Lost Books, and 30 More Amazing Places to Explore ★★★★★
This was a delight. It's an anthology of very short profiles of homes. Each home has a beautiful full page illustration, an architectural layout model, some information about the way the space is used, and a doodle of the inhabitant. There is a wide variety of realistic and fantastical houses. I appreciated the reference and process notes on the back. I tried to keep track of which profiles were my favorite and it ended up being about half of them.
Walking Your Octopus: A Guidebook to the Domesticated Cephalopod ★★★★★
A delightful, whimsical, goofy art book with captions that comment on living with an octopus very matter-of-factly. The book is physically very long and bound on the short edge. The size contributes to the whimsy of the book, but it makes it rather difficult to read without endangering the long pages.
Last week's adventures in comics.Gannibal Vol. 3 ★★★
The mystery of cannibalism is this small Japanese town deepens as the police officer investigates what's going on secretly. We actually get a bit of progress in this volume with 2 weeks left until the festival where they supposedly kill a child happens. Somehow, it hasn't occurred to this officer that he has a child of his own that could be in danger though.
High on Life ★★
I decided to check this out because Alec Robbins also created Mr. Boop, this strange comic strip where he was married to Betty Boop. This was kind of terrible though. Apparently, it's an extension of a video game I've never heard of. The premise is basically the Mad Balls toy from the 80s with guns instead of balls. None of it made a lick of sense really. Kit Wallis's art was pretty good though.
Zerocalcare's The Armadillo Prophecy ★★★
Zerocalcare's first dip into humorous self-differential comics. This one isn't as focused as his later comics which I dig quite a bit. It's fine. It's supposed to be about finding out an old friend has died (that he hadn't talked to in years.) but he keeps getting distracted by other minutia and very little is actually about that.
The Second Chance of Darius Logan ★★★★★
I had a great time with this. It's from a very good writer of comics and now you can say a very good writer of novels. It's about a teenager whose family died 10 years ago in a huge tragedy involving super heroes. He's been struggling ever since, barely surviving as he is thrown into worse and worse situations in the system. When he really screws up, he's given the choice of prison or joining the Second Change program at Super Justice Force where he'll grow to become part of the support system supporting the superheroes of this world. This book has a lot of heart and hits all the beats I wanted to see as this kid grows into his own. I really hope Walker gives us a follow-up. Great stuff.
Ms. Tree Vol. 6: Fallen Tree ★★★★
More noirish tales of the badass female private detective, Ms. Tree. This starts off real strong with a tale that we've seen in recent headlines. A disgruntled person wants revenge on the president of an insurance firm for denying his wife's coverage and hijacks a New Years party. Then Ms. Tree's police detective father is killed and framed leaving her to find out who murdered him. The case on the cruise ship with Mike Mist wasn't as thrilling as most of her cases. Then there's a couple other smaller stories. I'm going to be sorry to see this series go now that Titan has reprinted all of it. Thankfully, I still have the prose Ms. Tree novel Collins wrote sitting here to read.
Sleep, Little Batman ★★★★★
I'm not typically one to read picture books but when I saw the title I knew I needed to give this a whirl. I love how the dad is dressed like Superman and Little Batman is fighting going to bed like every kid does. I also love how the kid refuses to take off his Batman mask even in the tub. Great idea for a book as I think a whole lot of us have lived this book at one point in their life or maybe even more than once, as both Little Batman and Superdad.
Rompepistas ★★★★
A very good graphic novel adaptation of a coming of age novel about a young punk in the 80's. He's returning to his hometown for the first time in decades and reflecting back to when he was 17.
Doctor Strange Epic Collection, Vol. 8: Triumph and Torment ★★★
The shining star in this collection is the graphic novel, Dr. Strange and Dr. Doom:Triumph and Torment. Roger Stern and Mike Mignola are both at the top of their game with the two doctors teaming up to try and save Doom's mom from Hell.
The regular series is not very good. Peter Gillis has some good ideas at the start of this new series. Strange's powers have been lowered and he's missing an eye. Dormammu takes over his body leaving Strange in the body of a rat. It all sounds cool but it's so overwritten that it bored me to tears. Then Roy and Dann Thomas take over the book with the fifth issue. The writing is a little better but the plots aren't great. Jackson Guice's art is terrific though. We get the return of Baron Mordu and then some Acts of Vengeance issues. There's a dumb subplot about a tell all book coming out about Dr. Strange being a sorcerer that all gets hand waved away.
Spider-Man/Doctor Strange: The Way To Dusty Death ★★★★
A barely clothed woman appears on a bridge trying to kill herself and Spidey saves her. When demons show up trying to kill her, Dr. Strange gets involved. Her magician boyfriend gets involved and its a whole ordeal as everyone winds up in the Death Dimension. There's a larger collection that contains this story along with Xandu's previous 3 appearances and I think that collection works better so that you know more of what's going on.
Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment ★★★★
Back in the 80's, Marvel used to create the occasional stand alone graphic novel. This one is from 1988 and still holds up pretty well today. Doctors Strange and Doom are summoned to a mystic temple to battle it out for the title of Sorcerer Supreme along with a bunch of other magicians. The battle is a bit cheesy but out of it Dr. Strange owes Doom a boon. Each year Doom battles Mephisto for his mother's soul on Midsummer's Eve. So after a training montage complete with an 80's soundtrack, Strange and Doom descend into Hell to rescue the soul of Doom's mommy. This is where the book gets really good. Mignola was made to draw hellish creatures. (Four years later, he'd create Hellboy and start his own cottage industry of comics.) Mephisto looks menacing and evil. You can feel the heat of Hell come off the pages. All in all it's just great stuff as Strange and Doom battle and attempt to outwit Mephisto.
The Unbelievable Unteens ★★★
Jeff Lemire does his riff on X-Men and Teen Titans by reusing the plot for Black Hammer. The team members have all forgotten who they were until they are woken one by one 10 years later. Snapdragon is in trouble and needs the team to save her. It's a little to by the numbers for me. Tyler Crook's art remains great though. I really like his stuff.
Skulldigger + Skeleton Boy ★★★★★
Puts a new spin on the Batman / Robin / Joker dynamic by putting a Punisher spin on Batman. Skulldigger comes across a kid whose parents have just been murdered and takes the Joe Chill character out permanently. You'll need to read the rest yourself to see where the story heads. One of the best of the Black Hammer spin offs.
Marvel Her-oes ★
Oof. Marvel heroines reimagined as teenagers worrying about boys and the like. Come on Marvel. You're better than this.
Spider-Man Invasion of the Spider-Slayers ★★
This summer event when Marvel books went bi-weekly wasn't even that good back in the 90's. The Spider-Slayer is a weak villain. The subplot with Pete's parents ultimately gets pretty goofy later on and they already couldn't figure out what to go with MJ back then. Her subplot is she's so stressed out that Peter is going to die that she starts smoking. I'm one of the few people that doesn't like Pete and MJ together. (Mainly because of how weakly she was portrayed in the 90's, always at home worried about Peter. MJ should be stronger than that.) Oh, and the Black Cat gets a new costume that belongs more in porn than a comic book. I've always liked Mark Bagley's Spider-Man art though.
Kalevala: The Graphic Novel ★★
I finally gave up on this turkey halfway through. It's kind of the Finnish version of Beowulf with a bunch of poems put together to form this conglomerate. The art reminds me of something Dave McKean would draw but with way more nude women in there for no good reason. For spells, the font switches to some kind of Ye Olde English type lettering that I couldn't read one word of. I finally gave up before I went cross-eyed. This was a nice idea that just didn't pan out. I can't imagine anyone but maybe scholars who have read the original text would like this.
The Awl Vol 2 ★★
The comic about trying to start a union in a grocery store in South Korea continues. It's not a bad idea, but having this as a comic is SO boring. It's also difficult to follow all of the characters. I think it would work a lot better as a TV show or even prose than it does as a comic.
The Prism Vol. 1: Burn ★★
The visuals in this are really cool. I just had no idea what was going on. It starts off with some part of the world being completely inhabitable. Then it cuts away to a concert with a rock star entering from space to the show. Then to save the Earth, 5 rock stars head to space in a giant guitar ship to make music that will save the world. Even though I had no idea why things were happening I was intrigued enough to kind of like it. It just felt like someone had removed some very important exposition from the final cut.
The World of Black Hammer, Vol. 4 ★★★★
Skullkicker + Skeleton Boy rocks. The Unbelievable Unteens does not.
Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection, Vol. 24: Invasion of the Spider-Slayers ★★★
This was alright. It's mainly about the return of Peter's parents after being locked away in a Russian prison for 20 years while everyone thought they were dead. It's not in this volume, but their ultimate story is pretty dumb. There's a bad subplot about Mary Jane starting to smoke. This is the era where MJ becomes a nonstop worry wort who can't stand the stress of Peter being Spider-Man. It's a story that gets old real fast and runs for a decade or so. It's the whole reason I don't like the two of them together. Then there's the Black Cat. She gets a new costume that belongs more in a porno than a comic.
Man's Best ★★
We3 if it was terrible. A cat and two dogs get some mech suits in a space ship and are trained to work together. They crash land on some space ship full of different environments. A large part of the problem is Jesse Lonergan's art. There's too many panels, the art is often weak and the panels don't flow together to tell the story. By halfway through, I just wanted it to end. I'm a dog lover but even he couldn't make me love this. It stinks.
Leviathan Volume 2 ★★★
Battle Royale in space. That is ALL this second volume is, kids fighting to the death on a doomed spaceship.
Manhole Volume 2 ★★★
A comic about some crazy, unseen guy who's trying to start a pandemic with infected mosquitoes for unknown reasons. They carry infected worms that crawl under the skin up into the right eye driving the person into a zombie.
I'm also giving a try to Kalevala: The Graphic Novel. Seems like a nice complement to the book of the month about Tolkein and Lewis. (They both liked the old northern stories.)Holy smokes, though! That Fraktur font, using only bold capital letters, is pretty damn hard to read! Luckily, it is used sparingly.
Example, how fast can you read these words:
𝕮𝕬𝕲𝕰𝕾. 𝕼𝖀𝕴𝕮𝕶. 𝕶𝕹𝕴𝕲𝕳𝕿.
My eyes are bad enough already, without straining to deal with that.
Spoiler (view spoiler)
Yeah, I can't read that at all. I can barely even recognize they are actual letters. I eventually gave up even trying and just skipped those word balloons.
Today's trip to my LCS. Big week this week.Absolute Wonder Woman #4
Detective Comics #1091
Detective Comics #1093
Gatchaman #6
Hyde Street #3 <-- Complete with a cover just in time for Christmas. Oh wait!
Justice League Unlimited #3
Ultimate Spider-Man #13
Uncanny X-Men #9
Void Rivals #16
Space Ghost #9
Mystique #4
Wolverine: Revenge: Red Band #4
X-Men: Xavier's Secret #1
Doctor Doom & Rocket Raccoon #1
Bear Pirate Viking Queen ★★★★I'm always looking for some psychedelic, Bill Sienkiewicz type art and this scratches that itch.
The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 8: Sins Past ★
Guys…I don’t think this Joe Quesada guy knows what’s best for Spider-Man.
The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 1 - Vol. 7 ★★★★
There’s a lot of care put into Peter, MJ and Aunt May. Some of the wittiest dialogue in comics. I wouldn’t call it the definitive Spider-Man run though. It’s missing most of the villains and supporting cast. Also, this is best John Romita Jr art I’ve seen yet.
Destro, Duke, Scarlett and Cobra Commander ★★★
These are fun, but I wish they were longer. I don't like to spend Hoopla borrows on them until the end of them month.
Hunter x Hunter Chapter 340 - 410
When I heard there was new chapters coming out, I wanted to push through to get to them. The good. Ging gets some focus and it great to see this character we’ve building up for 350 chapters. Also, Kurapika is back. Hisoka and Chrollo’s fight is one of the best in the series.
The bad. There’s so much info dumping and most of it isn’t immediately necessary. There’s so many new characters. Around chapter 360 I want to say Togashi wrangles it in, and stuff starts happening again.
I strongly recommend physical release over the Shonen Jump app b/c Togashi (and his team) go back to rework the artwork and add images to break up exposition.
Lastly, Chapter 395 - 397 is the origin of Phantom Troupe and if you want to only check that out, there's no real spoilers for the rest of the arc.
Mod
This week folks read:
- Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theatre #1 and #2
- Princeless, Vol. 1: Save Yourself
- Plastic Man No More!
- The Great British Bump-Off
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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A-Force, Vol. 2: Rage Against the Dying of the Light ★★★
I enjoyed the two alternative versions of Dazzler in this volume. In general I enjoy seeing this team together. There were elements of team building and character arcs in this volume but it was mostly a series of big fights and some in-fighting, which is not what I'm here for.
Princeless, Vol. 1: Save Yourself ★★★★
This is a chaotic goofy parody of the traditional princess story. It goes off the rails in a fun way. I'm not sure the young readers this is targeted at would get all the references to Sonya, Diana, and Xena. The chaos was a lot at once so I read this short book over multiple sitting, but I would like to read more of this series to see where it goes.
First Test Graphic Novel ★★★★★
I love that a Tortall novel got a graphic novel adaptation! I hope this series continues. This might be a bit boring for a reader not familiar with the novels though.
Mooncop ★★★★
A chill melancholy book about a person who finds connection with one person at the same time that he loses connection to his community. The art style is very simple but it works well for the simple terrain of the moon. It also lends an industrial vibe to the buildings and robots, which informs the feeling of loss throughout the story.
Kiss Him, Not Me #1 ★★★
I enjoy reading manga about protagonists who are huge nerds and I was looking forward to that in this book. The focus was taken off the main characters' passion fairly quickly though and this turned more into a high school dating story. I did enjoy that the boys ended up being accepting dorks (so far).
Neurocomic: A Comic About the Brain ★★★
A very brief introduction to the processes of the brain. The main character briefly meets scientists and goes through a bunch of hijinks. The last section of the book is about memory. Ironically I don't think I'm going to remember much of what I learned in this book without some kind of deeper study or repeated reading.
Last week's adventures in comics.Gone ★★
Jock's second foray into writing as well as drawing his own comics goes OK. It's about a really poor girl on a planet that is attempting to steal food from a space liner. She gets trapped there and due to a FTL drive, years will have passed for her while only months pass back at home. She's hiding away on the ship but so are a bunch of rebels. The captain is also her dad who left or someone who knocked up her mom. It's very unclear and that's part of the problem here and what I've seen as DSTLRY's biggest problem. These books need editors, really badly.
Captain America: Winter Soldier, Vol. 1 ★★★★★
This run on Captain America is one of the reasons why Ed Brubaker is Ed Brubaker. (Yes, I know there are other terrific runs by Brubaker before this but this is both one of his best and most iconic.) It starts off with the Red Skull planning something big. Then that first issue ends with a record scratch that completely sets up something new. I love how Brubaker both pays homage to Cap's past and yet spins things in a wholly different direction. And then there's Steve Epting's art. It's just perfect. So detailed and yet both classic and gritty. This run should be handed out to anyone in art school as how to do comics.
Captain America: Winter Soldier, Vol. 2 ★★★★★
These Modern Era collections are out for Brubaker's Cap run so any excuse to reread it is OK by me. Just lights out. This hits Cap so hard, that Bucky could be alive and was working for the Russians. It really knocks him off his game. Lukin really messes with him with this. It's all so freaking great and all of these arcs up to Civil War are the basis for Captain America: Winter Soldier maybe the best of the MCU movies.
Captain America: Red Menace, Vol. 1 ★★★★
Crossbones and the Red Skull's daughter go all Mickey and Mallory across the country. Cap and Sharon Carter go looking for Bucky and discover an AIM project that could be a problem down the road. Then we get a special WWII untold story for the 65th anniversary that's a lot of fun and ties into the ongoing story.
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures Phase III Volume 1 ★★★
Phase III of the High Republic begins. It's a year after Starlight Beacon has fallen. Most of the Jedi are scattered or dead. The Nihil have taken over a large portion of this part of the galaxy and they are the only one who can move through it. These five issues are mainly about getting some of the Jedi back into play and finding out what happened to them over the last year.
Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection, Vol. 10: Big Apple Battleground ★★★
Some solid Spidey stories from the 70s. There's lots of villains you don't see much of these days like Rocket Racer, Will-O'-the-Wisp, Big Wheel (Yes, this was a real villain who drove around in a giant wheel.) Stegron, the Molten Man, Silvermane (before he became a cyborg) and classics like the Lizard and the Green Goblin. I really like the pairing of Len Wein and Ross Andru. Their stuff is a lot of fun.
Alley ★★
A weaker collection of Junji Ito stories. Most of these are just quirky more than scary. Even the creepier ones don't make a lot of sense like the longest story in the collection about a girl whose family starts spying on her. She decides to go to her Aunt's and for some reason the town she lives in has turned into one endless house where they have to let everyone walk through and people wear masks to hide their identity.
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer: The Night I Died ★★★
MIke Hammer gets a comic, It's a story from Mickey Spillane translated into a comic from Max Allan Collins who I love. However, this isn't as good as Ms. Tree or Nathan Heller. The story's kind of basic, probably why Spillane never released it.
Bramble Vol. 1: Electric Roots ★★★★
I wasn't completely sure what was going on here but I liked it. It's about this giant of a man who worships nature. He heads to this steampunk city where people are being murdered. A cop that lets everyone walk all over him is investigating. I quite liked the art. All of the panels are from odd points of view giving the book an off-kilter look.
Naked City ★★
Almost a slice of life comic about New York City if it was more realistic. It's about 3 different people struggling to make it in New York. The main character is a girl who comes to the city with only her guitar to make it big. She makes it pretty quickly with very little struggle which is not the real NY experience. My other quibble is how much she smokes. Yes, I know it looks cool on the page but having lived here very few people smoke. It's banned everywhere. You can barely even smoke outside buildings. Not to mention that cigarettes are over $14 a pack and have been for over 20 years. Not someone who is really struggling to get by can easily afford.
X-Men: A Skinning of Souls ★★★★
An X-Men book between events. X-Cutioner's Song had just ended with Fatal Attractions immediately following. In the first story, Colossus heads to Russia with the X-Men to visit his family and more tragedy strikes. The Soul Skinner is kind of a dumb villain so at least Omega Red pops in. Then Revanche shows up claiming to be the real Psylocke and we head back to Japan to figure the whole thing out. Lurking in the background are the Upstarts who I found kind of stupid, killing people for points. The Legacy virus is beginning to rear its head too, a goodbye present from Stryfe that kicks around for a LONG time. The art by Andy Kubert and Brandon Peterson still holds up.
Vincent: A Graphic Biography ★★★★
Not a true graphic novel, but more of an illustrated text. It's Van Gogh's life from the perspective of his sister-in-law. It's through her eyes we see not only Vincent's mental struggles but how much it affects her husband and Vincent's brother, Theodore. The two were extremely close with Theodore looking after Vincent for most of his adult life. After she's left with a house full of Vincent's paintings, we also see how she and her son (also named Vincent) spent their lives promoting his work, getting it into the public consciousness, and eventually creating the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.
Quick Stops Volume 2 ★★★
Instead of 4 one-issue stories this go around, we get a complete story about how Mooby was created. Given that it's Kevin Smith, there's lots of sex involved and then it gets crazy. It's really over the top by the end.
X-Men Epic Collection, Vol. 22: Legacies ★★★★
Bridges the gap between X-Tinction Agenda and Fatal Attractions. Stryfe has unleashed the Legacy virus after X-Tinction Agenda and that slowly begins to rear its ugly head for what felt like years at the time. Then you also have the rise of the Upstarts. They are stupid, powerful mutants who kill other mutants for points in some game. Then we get more tragedy for Colossus in Russia with the Soul Skinner. Colossus couldn't catch a break in this era. The Acolytes return just in time for issue #300 of Uncanny. Then Revanche pops in for her confusing story with Psylocke. We also get the first appearance of X-Cutioner. That was the year Marvel polybagged all its annuals with a trading card of a new character to try to suck you into buying two copies.
Four Gathered on Christmas Eve ★★★★
Following a long time Victorian tradition of telling spooky stories on Christmas Eve, four terrific creators tell us theirs. I love the setup for this. Eric Powell draws the four of them in Victorian England as cantankerous storytellers meeting to tell their stories. It's a lot of fun and probably more fun than the stories even. I'll not go into the stories themselves as they are all only 10-15 pages except to say that Becky Cloonan won an Eisner for hers.
Superior Spider-Man, Vol. 1: Supernova ★★★
Dan Slott's time on the original Superior Spider-Man was one of the best time's to read Spider-Man. It was an original take that dealt with a lot of my frustrations with Peter Parker not living up to his potential for over 40 years. Slott had to jump through a whole lot of hoops to make this happen though. I read his explanation and it had so much Spider-Verse stuff in it that I could barely follow. The basic thing I got from it is this Doc Ock is from an earlier point in his timeline and he's still an asshole. Anyway the gist is that due to an unseen time from when Doc Ock had taken over Peter Parker's body, he created a new menace with the powers of a Supernova. Now she's back and out for Spider-Man's blood. Also back is Anna Maria who Supernova kidnaps leaving Spider-Man and Dr. Octopus to team up to save her. Of course, this short volume ends midstory, leaving one to pick up volume 2 to finish this thing out because Marvel is sometimes infuriating in how they collect stories.
Superman Vs. Meshi 1 ★
Superman loves Japanese food and heads over to Japan everyday to eat lunch. That's the whole plot. How are there 3 volumes of this?
Erased: A Black Actor's Journey Through the Glory Days of Hollywood ★★
A look at racism in Hollywood in the mid 20th century through the eyes of a fictional actor of color. He was light enough skinned to portray almost any race. This would have worked better if it had been a real story instead. Not sure why you'd even need a fictional one when there's so many real ones. The conversations in this sound like preaching at times instead of real conversation.
The Lonesome Hunters Library Edition ★★★★
I really hope Crook continues this story. It's about an old man with a sword that makes him immortal and a young girl who has lost her family. The old man is a coward in hiding until the girl in the apartment next door gets in trouble with some magical magpies. Meanwhile they are also being pursued by the crazy church the old man used to be apart of. Crook's art is great. So is the story. This is my second time reading through the first 2 miniseries and it was just as good this go around.
Batman: Justice Buster, Vol. 2 ★★★
An alternate Batman story where someone else was identified as the murderer of Bruce's parents. Jason Todd is a private eye and Dick is his kid assistant. And the big one, the Joker is working with Batman.
Last week's graphic novels continued. There's not much else to do this time of year other than read.The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 10: Breathe ★★
Jeebus, Marvel can no longer seem to get any kind of handle on Spider-Man. This is all over the place. First is a 2 issue story where we fix Aunt Anna after the Krakoa tainted drugs made her a psycho. This was actually the best story in this. Then Chasm and Hallows Eve return and they are apparently a couple of idiots to trust the Goblin Queen. The last issue is a Blood Hunt tie-in. It's actually not bad until it ends with go check out Spider-Man:Blood Hunt for the rest of the story. Then there's some real tacked on BS with some small stories from the Web of Spider-Man and FCBD issues that make little sense out of context. I hope Joe Kelly can assert more control when he takes over.
Lumine, Vol. 2 ★★
Nothing at all happens in this for the first half of this book. I get that this witch kid is unliked in his school. You've beaten me over the head with this fact. I need about 5 pages to pick that up, not 125. This school is normal except witches and werecreatures go there. The second half picks up but it's just page after page of werecreatures tossling around. It's so damn repetitive. I just didn't like this at all.
Avengers: Beyond ★★
Marvel in its infinite wisdom called the sequel to All-Out Avengers, Avengers Beyond. I swear to God, you need a road map to figure out how to read half their comics. They brought back the Beyonder and gave him some stupid bigger story of infinite Beyonders. This thing is almost incomprehensible. I liked All-Out Avengers but this was just a muddled mess of a story.
Ultimate Galactus Trilogy ★★★★
I read this before over a decade ago when the original trades came out and decided to give it another whirl with the whole thing collected together. The first thing I'll say is that you also get Vision #0 in here which isn't in the individual trades. It's a cool take on Galactus. The three miniseries work very well on their own building up the story and the threat, along with bringing in the Ultimates, Fantastic Four and The X-Men as the story calls for it. We also get new and very different Ultimate versions of characters like the Silver Surfer and Moon Dragon. Also Galactus is completely different other than being a planet destroyer. It's good stuff but then all of the early days of the original Ultimate universe is.
Today's trip to the comic book store. Diamond books lag by a week for me because I'm not waiting until later in the week when they maybe come in.TMNT #6
Hornsby & Halo #3
Redcoat #9
House of Slaughter #29
X-Men #10
West Coast Avengers #3
Ultimate X-Men #11
I also noticed the Daredevil comics with Muse on the cover are all on the wall now with the release of the Daredevil: Born Again trailer.
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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If I Could Reach You, Vol. 1 ★★
This manga is about a high school girl who's in love with her older brother's wife. This story was mostly just sad. The characters are likable enough but this volume was all pining and no hope or growth.
Restaurant to Another World, Vol. 3 ★★★★★
This manga is about a restaurant that has portal doors open to all sorts of places. The customers are a mix of humans and fantasy species and can magically all understand one another. I love how the enjoyment of good food brings people together in this series. In this volume the regulars share their favorite dishes with others.
The Scarf and the Butterfly: A graphic memoir of hope and healing ★★★★★
It's difficult to rate a book like this. It's about an Inuit woman who was forced into a residential school. The author is very vulnerable in this book. She speaks about the trauma she experienced as a child, what she lost because of it, and how it still impacts her in her later years. I appreciate the letter from her at the end of the book as well as the glossary of Inuit terms that she uses through the story. This is more of an adult picture book, with a fair amount of text and full page images.
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I Read Comic Books
Books mentioned in this topic
If I Could Reach You, Vol. 1 (other topics)The Scarf and the Butterfly: A graphic memoir of hope and healing (other topics)
Restaurant to Another World, Vol. 3 (Volume 3) (other topics)
A-Force, Vol. 2: Rage Against the Dying of the Light (other topics)
The Great British Bump-Off (other topics)
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