The Comic Book Thread

[SouthtownKid]

There's an option to read the comic panel-by-panel and I think that really is the best way to read a comic book, anyone else agree?

No, I hate the guided view. I understand it for reading on a phone, but not a tablet. A big part of comics is the layout of an entire page as a whole, the flow from panel to panel, not to mention the conscious choice of panel size for storytelling effect, all of which is lost when you only see one panel at a time, scaled to fit the screen.

Usually, I turn the tablet sideways and zoom a bit to read half a comics page at a time, so the panels are a little larger than they would be in print, but I can still see how the panels relate to each other.

I'm pretty disappointed that it turns out all the comics I bought were during the holiday sale promotion and were heavily discounted and not the normal prices...I think the normal prices are too extravagant for comics made nearly 30 years ago and in digital form. Oh well.

Don't worry. You'll be amazed at how often sales come up. There are constantly sales going on, and the Vertigo books have been on sale at those prices at least 2 or 3 times just within the past year. If you missed something, the sale will come back.

In the meantime, one of the currently running sales going on at comixology is the Image Crime sale. I'd recommend checking out one of the Brubaker/Phillips collaborations: Kill Or Be Killed, The Fade Out, Criminal, Fatale (which is more horror) etc. All excellent.

Kill Or Be Killed -- a modern day story of a guy struggling with mental illness and the Russian mob:

The Fade Out -- a murder mystery set in McCarthy era Hollywood:

 

[Taiso]

I've been pleased with Marvel's return to Conan the Barbarian. I find it a little bizarre that Marvel even went back and obtained the license for it. Makes me wish I was in the room for the conversation, as I'm curious as to who and what motivated the re-acquisition.

I'm not a very big Jason Aaron fan but he seems like a legit fantasy and sword-and-sorcery buff. Mahmud Asrar's artwork is really great, too.

 

[godzilla43]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn7zbVwbEvI

Comic book artist's Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg talk about comics and review old Wizard Magazines. Good stuff.

 

[@M]

Read Alison Bechdel's autobiographical graphic novel "Fun Home" last night (the title refers to the family's name for the funeral home her dad worked at part-time). It has some nudity, lesbian sex, and profanity in it, so, it's definitely not for kids, but, it was an interesting read and mainly deals with her relationship with her father (who was also a closet homosexual) growing up. I've got the sequel, "Are You My Mother?", which deals with her relationship with said other parent, coming too, but, it hasn't arrived yet.

Also finally got around to reading the Kazu Kibuishi "Copper" comic strip collection (pretty good) that I bought maybe a year ago and the first part of Dark Horse Comics adaptation of Peter Jackson's King Kong film (okay, but, it's a film I've already seen, so, no surprises).

 

[-SD-]

Read the collected hard cover of Tsutomu Nihei‘s Abara this evening... awesome art, but quite confusing. I’m definitely going to have to give this a re-read very soon. Also read the first two volumes of Aposimz yesterday evening, which his his latest work. Interesting story about battling robots on an artificial hollow planet.

Also ended up getting the rest of Shirow’s Intron Depot art books which are fantastic, shame they stopped doing dual-language after the first five.

 

[kuze]

I recommend checking out "The Weatherman", first six issue volume came out this last fall and is really good if you like stuff similar to Cowboy Bebop in theme.

 

[Late]

I recently read something called Terminal City, a kind of "What American pulp writers of the 30's thought life would be like in the 90's" sci-fi, you know, Zeppelins, gigantic flying wing propeller passenger planes, household robots, flying cars, etc... It's about a washed-out daredevil working as a skyscraper window cleaner, who is trying to get his life back together. Art is very Moebius-inspired imo, 2,5/5

 

[NeuroticMoose]

I recently read something called Terminal City, a kind of "What American pulp writers of the 30's thought life would be like in the 90's" sci-fi, you know, Zeppelins, gigantic flying wing propeller passenger planes, household robots, flying cars, etc... It's about a washed-out daredevil working as a skyscraper window cleaner, who is trying to get his life back together. Art is very Moebius-inspired imo, 2,5/5

Had to look up the creative team, but yeah Michael Lark has always been a superb artist, his collaborations with Brubaker and Rucka were tops, I'm particularly fond of his work on Gotham Central

 

[HellioN]

I've always enjoyed comics yet never steadily followed them.
I did just pick this up, I'm a sucker for the 1950's look.

 

[-SD-]

This vast tome arrived today...

Although I’m quite liking the artwork under the slipcover

 

[LoneSage]

Read through Preacher in a week, thanks Kid for the heads up on Vertigo sales on iPad a long time ago.

Every arc follows a similar formula of new friends not being what they seem, and then everyone ending up at the same place and all hell breaking loose, but it's fine. The characters and writing shine through. There is definitely an influence from Natural Born Killers and Melrose Place here. I think what I liked the most is

Spoiler:

Cassidy turning from lovable alcoholic party bud to drug-enabling rapist of Jesse's girlfriend for 6 months.

There was a build up to it but it still surprised me. Good final fight.

I can only imagine how wildly popular this was in the late 90s. I read a summary of the TV series and have no interest in watching it. Makes me wonder why they even bothered adapting it for TV when it changed so much.

 

[oliverclaude]

A good friend of mine discovered graphic novels anew, which made me dust off my own modest library. I started off with some classic francophones and finished... Le Monde d'Edena (Sternenwanderer in German) and other short stories done by Moebius. Then some Adventures of TinTin and The Quest for the Time-bird by Loisel, both series are still great. Bilal's Nikopol Trilogy and his works with Christin, especially The Hunting Party were excellent, too.

What can I say, I'm totally hooked. Looking forward to browse this thread in depth and read Miller, Moore, Morrison and Ellis again. Next purchasing King's Mister Miracle and Batman: The Dark Prince Charming - Marini's work looks really stunning - to check out something less than a decade old .

 

[Arcademan]

Don't you hate it when you're looking up something and you find out this happened last week:

Martin Pasko dies at 65

Martin Pasko, a writer best known for working on DC properties in both comic books and television, died Sunday night of natural causes. He was 65.

Former DC publisher Paul Levitz, a friend of Pasko, announced the writer’s death through a Facebook post on Monday.

“The odds are you’ve read his work, credited or not, or enjoyed a comic or cartoon or TV show or even a theme park event he made better, even as he relentlessly complained about the difficulties of making it as good as it ‘should’ be,” Levitz wrote. “Marty didn’t have a genius for making anything easy (especially for him), but he had a real genius for making creative magic.”

Pasko was born Jean-Claude Rochefort in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on Aug. 4, 1954. After attending Northwestern University and New York University, he began publishing comics in 1972.

Pasko began working at DC Comics in 1973. His first Superman-related story “Private Life of Clark Kent” was published in July 1974, beginning his life-long association with the character. Throughout his time at the publisher, Pasko also wrote for “Justice League of America,” “Wonder Woman” and “Saga of the Swamp Thing.”

 

[Arcademan]

Was going to write about Denny O'Neal's passing but there's a separate thread on it. Still...RIP to one of the premiere Batman writers

 

[famicommander]

The comic book industry is having a #metoo moment right now.

Warren Ellis
Cameron Scott
Scott Lobdell
Max Landis
Hope Nicholson
Harlen Ellison
Andy Burkholder
Jaime S. Rich
Tim Doyle
Kevin Church
Gary Groth
Nick Gazin
Eddie Berganza
Scott Allie
Dirk Manning
Brian Wood
Eric Esquivel
Brandon Graham
Jai Nitz
Roc Upchurch
Gerard Jones
Dave Sim
Yale Stewart
Nathan Edmundson
Max Bemis
Paul Pope
Julius Schwartz
Charles Brownstein
Ulises Farinas
James Harvey
Bob Harras
Rick Basaldua

All being accused of assault or harassment by women and/or underage girls. Many of them have multiple accusers.

Additionally, Marc Guggenheim (the #2 in charge of the Arrowverse behind megaproducer Greg Berlanti) has been accused of dragging his feet in doing something about Andrew Kreisberg, who was eventually fired from The Flash/Arrow/Supergirl for continued harassment.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Wait, what was Paul Pope accused of?! I hadn't heard anything about him.

 

[famicommander]

Wait, what was Paul Pope accused of?! I hadn't heard anything about him.

Consistently getting drunk and forcibly kissing/hitting on female fans, coworkers, and the girlfriends of coworkers then threatening to fight people who call him on it according to this:
https://destroycomics.tumblr.com/po...mer-i-have-nothing-to-gain-in-publicizing#_=_

I didn't investigate every person on the list myself, that's just the list of names floating around.

I had previously heard shit about Scott Lobdell and Scott Allie but the rest are news to me. Warren Ellis seems to be the worst offender so far (most of his victims were ~16)

 

[Dr Shroom]

Max Landis being a creep is nothing new. What has Warren Ellis done now? Anything concrete?

 

[famicommander]

Max Landis being a creep is nothing new. What has Warren Ellis done now? Anything concrete?

Pattern of befriending and mentoring 16-19 year old girls (usually interns or aspiring writers), turning it sexual, then discarding them. Going all the way back to the early 2000s.

A few women on twitter have screen shots of him saying creepy shit

 

[famicommander]

The accusations against Tim Doyle and Marc Guggenheim seem to have been unfounded and the person who started circulating their names as part of the above list has apologized

 

[Dr Shroom]

Pattern of befriending and mentoring 16-19 year old girls (usually interns or aspiring writers), turning it sexual, then discarding them. Going all the way back to the early 2000s.

A few women on twitter have screen shots of him saying creepy shit

Taking some lessons from John K. it seems like.

 

[LoneSage]

Alucard fucking his students in season 3 Castlevania makes sense now.

 

[Taiso]

Alucard fucking his students in season 3 Castlevania makes sense now.

Deep cut.

I wonder who will write the 4th season now.

 

[FilthyRear]

RIP, Joe Sinnott

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ho...nott-dead-veteran-marvel-inker-was-93-1300395

 

[SouthtownKid]

Yikes, I honestly thought Sinnott was already gone. Like 10 years ago or something. If any inker deserves to be on the Marvel Mt. Rushmore, it's him. I bought his biography some years back. He had an interesting career even before he got to Marvel. RIP.