What comics are you all reading? What do you think?

I am currently reading "The Complete Peanuts" 1960-61.

I plan to get EVERY book, now they are reprinting all the strips-including the ones that didn't reprinted in earlier collections.

Reading Peanuts as an Adult, my views on the characters have evolved in interesting ways (IE I used to feel sorry for Charlie Brown when I was younger, I read the strips now, and I see how much he really brings on himself, and it's harder to feel bad for him-where as I REALLY appreciate Lucy's cynicism now, and I see the paradoxes of Linus-really fascinating stuff :))
 
Finished Hellboy volume 2 last night.

Not bad, but whilst I like it, I'm never sure if I want to keep reading. It always feels like I'm getting half the story.
 
Cheerwell said:
Finished Hellboy volume 2 last night.

Not bad, but whilst I like it, I'm never sure if I want to keep reading. It always feels like I'm getting half the story.
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That's pretty much the way the stories are written, there's an awful lot "unsaid" or minimal reference.

I sometimes think the Hellboy stories (which i enjoy)were more about "oh, let's take this somewhat obscure legend/myth and connect it to Hellboy."
 
You forgot 'Let's make half of the panels use some language we've pulled out of our backside', Sonja.

That's the thing with Hellboy. I like it, but I also don't. There's references, even in Vol 2, to comics that I've not read yet. Why put that reference in there? It seemed so pointless.
 
At the moment I only follow manga (Japanese comics) and manhwa (Korean comics) and I follow a lot of them. Main ones I've been reading as of late are:

Berserk
Vinland Saga
Beelzebub
Hajime no Ippo
Full Metal Panic
Fullmetal Alchemist
One Piece
Veritas
Unbalance X Unbalance
Last Inning
Gamaran
Zetman
Black Lagoon
Until Death Do Us Part
Taboo Tattoo
Aflame Inferno
Akumetsu
Arago
Ares
Blade of the Immortal
Claymore
Fairy Tail
Giant Killing
Holyland
Hunter X Hunter
Kekkaishi
Nephilim John
Nurarihyon no Mago
Peace Maker
Psyren
Pumpkin Scissors
Sengoku Youko
Teppu
The Breaker
Wolf Guy
 
Cheerwell said:
You forgot 'Let's make half of the panels use some language we've pulled out of our backside', Sonja.

That's the thing with Hellboy. I like it, but I also don't. There's references, even in Vol 2, to comics that I've not read yet. Why put that reference in there? It seemed so pointless.
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I enjoy Hellboy, I haven't read newer stuff, but it seems sometimes they're catering to the "geek" audience who knows every comic off by heart, or the mythology, than trying to capture a "less knowing" audience.

The one thing I didn't care for (personal taste) between the comic and movies-the movies were so obvious in the relations between Hellboy and the Firestarter. The comics really downplay it, it's very subtle IMO-and Hellboy is just of the "whatever" type of personality-compared to the movies where they did more of the whole angst thing.
 
Firestarter? Liz Sherman?

They completely ruined that, I think. In the comics and the animated films, you can tell they're good friends - That's it. Hellboy is interested in that blonde woman (Whose name I forgot), and not Liz.
 
Actually, now that I think about it, I'd like a graphic novel recommendation or two.

Basically, I like my superheroines or female leads. I quite enjoyed the Sojourn (Crossgen) comics I read and I'm a bit goo-goo over Mercury from X-Men, so really I just want more comics along those lines, i.e. strong female protagonists, good plot lines and so forth. I'm a bit sick of this doom-and-gloom theme Marvel seem to be going down, and I've found myself more attracted to the brighter colours of DC, although I've not read much (If any) DC.

I've been looking at Wonder Woman, Gen 13 and Birds of Prey from the DC stable, but I'm not sure where to start. I'm guessing a good place with Wonder Woman would be the first trade starting with #600, i.e. the reboot? I think Gen 13's a shorter series with less off-shoots, so I should be able to find my way with that.

Also, I'm not averse to getting non-superheroine graphics as long as they fit what I mean. Again, Sojourn is an example of what I mean

It doesn't have to be from DC or Marvel, though. IDW, Dark Horse, Wildstorm - Fine with 'em all.

I'm ordering Grimm's Fairy Tales #1, I hope, so that'll keep me going too.

Thanks! :D
 
I'd avoid new Wonder Woman like the plague, it's rubbish and Straczynski has left anyway so there doesn't seem like a point to the reboot, plus the new writer will have to clean up the mess left by Strac before being able to improve it again. Save your money seriously.

DC recs:
The Batwoman run of Detective Comics drawn insanely by JH Willams III, good storyline and stunning art.

You're better off with new Batgirl than BOP, BOP is going nowhere slowly.

The entire run of Air by Vertigo is recommended, pretty book with very unique storyline and 'real' female protagonist.

Marvel are doing comic versions of the Anita Blake novels which are suprisingly quite good, a little cheesey but decent.

Not a collection but Bendis' Scarlet is three issues old and looks like being fun if you can stand Bendis' stupidly long dialogue. Also Bendis' Alias run (not the TV show) is superb and highly recommended.

The Buffy comics if you followed the TV series are good, solid entertainment.

There's a new series called Morning Glories from Image by Nick Spencer, who looks like being THE breakout writer of 2011, with a curious theme and female lead.

Warren Ellis' Anna Mercury is typical sf Ellis with fascinating idea and teak tough woman leading the way.

That's off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more if you need.
 
The Batwoman one is Elegy, right? It looks like I might have to wait for a reprint :(

Batgirl and Air seem interesting, will keep an eye on 'em (Might actually order Air). Alias, too, looks like it could be good - and I can get it over and done with in two releases. Excellent! :D Just looked up Morning Glories and the trade's out in March (For a very reasonable price), so I'll keep my eye on it, even if the 'center' female does look a bit like Matt Lucas. The Anna Mercury cover put me off, but I looked her up on Wiki and changed my mind.

Not really interested in Anita Blake (Vampires, right?), nor was I a Buffy fan. Shame about Wonder Woman, though! Seemed like they could have really gone places with her new costume.

Thanks for the list, though Kater, it's appreciated.

Oh, yeah. What about Michael Turner stuff? Witchblade? Aspen? Any of that worth reading?
 
If you're looking for something VERY different:

The Sandman reprints :)



Yea, Liz Sherman, I had forgotten her name. I was disappointed they messed that up, but EVERY Hollywood film has to have a love interest right?:rolleyes:

I'm definitely into older stuff-if you're willing to try some stuff from when *I* was younger lol.

Usagi Yojimbo is SURPRISINGLY good, not a TMNT rip off at all.

The (Jack?) Knight version of Starman (he of the welder goggles and massive staff) is actually a pretty good run with some good writing.

Also, FLIGHT is a series of comic short anthologies, some really interesting and unusual stuff-definitely different! :)
 
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Cheerwell said:
The Batwoman one is Elegy, right? It looks like I might have to wait for a reprint :(

Batgirl and Air seem interesting, will keep an eye on 'em (Might actually order Air). Alias, too, looks like it could be good - and I can get it over and done with in two releases. Excellent! :D Just looked up Morning Glories and the trade's out in March (For a very reasonable price), so I'll keep my eye on it, even if the 'center' female does look a bit like Matt Lucas. The Anna Mercury cover put me off, but I looked her up on Wiki and changed my mind.

Not really interested in Anita Blake (Vampires, right?), nor was I a Buffy fan. Shame about Wonder Woman, though! Seemed like they could have really gone places with her new costume.

Thanks for the list, though Kater, it's appreciated.

Oh, yeah. What about Michael Turner stuff? Witchblade? Aspen? Any of that worth reading?
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Wow, DC seem to have dropped the ball with Elegy. My bad, figured that being a popular run an'all they'd have piles of them.

I think the whole Witchblade/Darkness has just got progressively worse the longer it's been strung out. There are lots of female protagonists - Magdalena, Witchblade, Angelus etc but it's just above T'n'A for me.

Air is fantastic and tragically cut off early though she did get to finish with the ending she wanted. Alias is superb - I have the four original trades and it's strong storytelling.

Add to the list The Sword which I think you'll probably like the most of all the recommendations, Ultra: Seven Days and Y the Last Man. Yeah I know it's called 'man' but if you ignore Yorick the entirety of the cast otherwise is women :)
 
So it's my fault for not looking hard enough :p

Will look into the other three you mentioned, Kater. Thanks again!
 
AmethystOrator said:
Is it really DC's fault? Elegy is readily available at major sites in the U.S. & Canada (such as both Amazon's) and is available at some UK sellers, such as Forbidden Planet:

http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&products_id=57274

Perhaps the problem lies less with DC and more with the chain of supply?
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I'm not convinced to be honest, given the downturn in the singles market you'd think all companies would be pushing their distributors to fill every available space with their hottest collections. For Amazon and Book Depository to not have it seems a little lazy, unless it has actually sold so many it's being re-printed.
 
Cheerwell, I've never read it, but I've heard good things about Terry Moore's Echo.

For fairy tales with a feminist twist, you might check out Castle Waiting by Linda Medley. I just finished the first, rather hefty, trade the other day and enjoyed it quite a lot.
 
kater said:
I'm not convinced to be honest, given the downturn in the singles market you'd think all companies would be pushing their distributors to fill every available space with their hottest collections. For Amazon and Book Depository to not have it seems a little lazy, unless it has actually sold so many it's being re-printed.
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It does strike me as a bit odd, but there can be other explanations. The Earth-One HC was out of stock several times, and for over a week on some big sites like the US Amazon, strictly because, as you say, it proved to be massively more popular than estimated and needed to be re-printed. It could be something really stupid, like a shipment was loaded onto the wrong boat, or that the boat was delayed. I hear more often then one would think that certain comics don't make the trip to the UK on time, and are then released the Thursday (now Wednesday I guess) after they are supposed to be. I can imagine something similar here. It might be DC's fault, or the fault of one employee or department, but imo DC has supported Batwoman fairly strongly since they launched her in Detective Comics, and I would be surprised if they weren't trying to do so here.
 
Corporal Blues said:
Cheerwell, I've never read it, but I've heard good things about Terry Moore's Echo.
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I've read all of Echo so far. It starts a bit slowly, but imo it's a fairly enjoyable series as it goes along. Between the Black & White format and the focus on characterization and pacing, it's different from the regular Marvel/DC titles. One factor that might make a difference is whether or not one has read Moore's previous series, Strangers in Paradise before beginning Echo.

SIP started out rough, due to the fact that it was Moore's first ever comics work, but by it's end it became one of the more significant achievements in the history of the medium (up there with titles like Sandman imo). For any who aren't familiar with it, two of the three main characters, and the majority of the supporting cast, are all female. It runs for just over 100 issues and has been reprinted in a variety of formats. The skill with which Moore portays his characters is among the best of any comic I've ever read (and I've read far too many) and that's especially valuable in a story that's ultimately about love, friendship and the triumph of the human spirit. And by that I mean it's better than many highly acclaimed award filming films. Compared to that, Echo strikes some people as a bit of a let-down, though that wouldn't be a problem if Echo is read first.

Speaking of Black & White, female-centric, Independent comics, has anyone mentioned Queen & Country yet? Imo, this is easily Greg Rucka's finest comic work ever, a gritty, gripping, spy thriller focusing on the British Special Operations Section: SIS, it's missions in the field, the politics at home, and the emotional and psychological demands that it places on it's agents and personnel.
 
Cheerwell said:
So it's my fault for not looking hard enough :p
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No, no. That's one of the reasons that I addressed kater, so that you'd see the link, but it wouldn't sound like that. Definitely didn't mean anything by that, but it sounds like you understand that. Thanks. :)
 
Thanks again, guys.

C. Blues; I'll give those a look. Not really into feminist-themed things but it doesn't tend to put me off.

Amethyst; *cough* Sorry, thought you meant Alan Moore then. Whoops.
 
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