RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books What are you guys reading these days?

I've been on such the Marvel trip lately. Like, I can't get enough of it. I used to be a DC fanboy through and through, but Marvel has now overtaken my DC pulls (32 DC/36 Marvel books).

Uncanny Avengers is far and away my favorite book on the market. The wait between issues is full pain. I fucking LOVE this book! It's pulling themes and style from Marvel circa the late 80's/early 90's, and I can't get enough.

X-men Legacy is another pure winner for me. This time last year, if you'd said that a book about Legion would be amazing....I'd have laughed it off. Brilliant stuff, this.

But really, there are just far too many great books coming out of the House of Ideas these days. Thunderbolts is the weakest of all of my pulls, but even that is great with the new team.

So, you kids: what's got your fancy lately?

Rob's Blog.

I don't like the illustrator on Rob's blog these days. Chicken scratch, that shit. And I'm sure as fuck not paying the 3.99$ cover to read about homosexual adventures when I can get Young Avengers for only 2.99$...with better art.

Nicely played.

P.S. Bring back karla.

But what are you reading JLA?

I gave up on comics years ago.

All of the EPIC MEGA CROSSOVER SOMEBUDDAH DIES IN THIS ISSUE BUT THEY WILL BE BACK IN SIX MONTHS GREATEST EVENT EVAR stunts pushed me away.

Fair enough. I come and I go with comics. I'm on a bit of a high right now, loving a large swath of what both DC and Marvel are putting out.

There are some great indie titles going on atm. I'm loving Clive Barker's Next Testament and Superbia at BOOM and Revival at Image. Morning Glories is improving again too, after a bit of a lull where he was just heaping on the confusing bullshit.

The new run of LEGION by Giffen has some pretty wild and bizarre stuff, such as crash-landing on a planet of primitive aliens, and Sun Boy is beheaded in the crash. Then the aliens cook and eat his body!

Reading stuff from the adult section, I guess.


In all seriousness, I went through a period where I was reading the adult material from Last Gasp, Rip Off Press and the like. Particularly the Corben and Jaxon material, that was almost impossible to complete a run of, prior to ebay.
Although these are not new material.
Stuff like DEN, FANTAGOR, SLOW DEATH, COMANCHE MOON, LOS TEJANOS, GRIM WIT, SKULL COMICS (the last two with an EC pre-code horror feel, with a lot of H.P. Lovecraft adaptations)

Along with a lot of back issues of Warren's CREEPY and EERIE.
about a year ago, I hyped a Dark Horse hardcover that collected all Wrightson's work on the Warren titles, including about 35 pages of introductory splash pages, many of which are masterworks suitable for framing.
Dark Horse more recently published a hardcover collecting most of Corben's work for Warren. I already have the Heavy Metal hardcover of that material, so I haven't rushed to pick it up, but the reviews I've seen have been good. And the material itself is good beyond question.

snyder batman!
batman inc!

and digital only stuffs, like lil gotham and adventures of superman

all via comixology

How is Comixology? Is it cheaper than buying print comics? Is it easy to work with?

I got all the Adventures of Superman digital comics recently and they're great! It probably helps that he's wearing the real costume and not that ugly fucking armor. Then I checked out the latest Justice League and armor Superman lasers off Doctor Light's head, so fuck that.

I'm not going to fuck Doctor Light's head.

again.

I'll do it.

-Sue Dibney

too soon, Lothar.

God damn it, Lothar.

Trinity War has actually been surprisingly good so far. Throne of Atlantis was bullshit, so I wasn't expecting much here. I'm impressed so far.

I kinda like how they played it so that it has ended up not being the three teams, but the 'DC Trinity' in fact.

And, yeah, Adventures of Superman is good reading. The one by Lemire, with the two kids playing 'Superman' has been my favorite so far. :D

The Batman stuff bores me to tears. Even Incorporated - which I was loving up through the Gorgon one shot - leaves me cold.

I still read it all (although, I dropped Dark Knight around issue 16 or so), as Batman can't seem to stop crossing over with books I am enjoying. Death of the Family was pure rot though.

i'm a big fan. i originally got involved just for space issues; lotsa books fit on your wee tiny lil phone, rather than in dusty boxes that are now filled with ... i dunno, other things. or murder evidence. or whatever.

i've rebought so much stuff on comixology, just so i could sell (or sadly throw away) the physical copy. in terms of older comics, its much cheaper -- no collectible or rarity value in a digital form, so a hard-to-find batman book from 30 years ago is selling at cover price. for new comics, its the same price as it is in stores.

but there's also digital exclusives, like the lil gotham and adventures of superman book that (i dont think) exist in a printed form, at all.



that book, as well as the lil gotham book, are as close as possible to the animated style books of the 90s, like BTAS and gotham adventures. very simple, very nice, typically one-and-done arcs that just tell good stories; continuity be damned.



the bulk of the batman books in the new 52 have really been poo. detective, dark knight, etc. batman inc is enjoyable, as is batman and robin -- but largely because i like morrison and really grew to love damian. post damian, batman and robin, not so much. and i'm glad morrison is taking some time off now, cuz batman inc (and every other morrison adventure) just starts confusing the crap outta me after too long.

snyder batman, however, i've really enjoyed. death of the family, especially the court of owls... he and capullo are doing some great stuff. definitely my favorite regular-run in years, at like 25 issues in (and i think they mighta signed on through 50, which is great, cuz i love when teams stick together).

what didn't you like about it?

Why?

Inverse question for Klinton: why did you not like it?

I haven't read it at all, but I'm hearing interesting things about what Snyder is doing, so I'm curious?

Oh yeah. Aside from a few fringe TPBs here and there, I haven't read much of anything. The disease of mediocrity has just taken hold of everything, and it's all too painful to try and get into.

When the urge to 'go geek' really overtakes me, I've tended to resort to....*sigh* writing fanfiction.

well, the reasons i like snyder and capullo's batman run are possibly the reasons you won't. i believe the only bat-stuff we have in common is the occasional portrayal where batman is a lil nutty (and where he's ok with that) and that's not here.

snyder's batman is similar to morrison's in that he's a badass. he's a brick. he'll dive head first into anything, save a kid while he's on fire, punch a face with a face, etc. even past the point where he's way over matched, he'll keep on keeping on. after bane broke his back, snyder's batman would slap bane in the shins.

there's a great mix of detective work. some scifi-level gear. some fun ultra-spy-bond kinda scenes. some "he can't do that ... wait, he's batman!" type moments.

there's also an amazing portrayal of everyone else. from alfred to gordon to the entire batfamily. noting bruce as a separate persona, snyder's bruce wayne is just as much a badass as his batman. with the extended robin group, i grew to quite like the incredible complexity of a world that has dick grayson, tim, jason, and damian in a single room. they're all so different and all so important to bruce in their own regard, and though its very much a solo batman book, snyder got to each in different ways. and, my other favorite attribute whenever there's an element of "family" to the bat world, they're all so clearly second rank - there's only one batman.

that's the summation of character and such. storywise, there have been a few main arcs so far: death of the family, court of owls, the start of year zero and a bit more. "death" is the joker story (the tie-ins are great compliments, but unnecessary) which was not just a great tale, but one of those extra great stories that left a lil bit of uneasiness post-mortum, killing joke style. court of owls might have been my favorite arc in a decade or more of comics. its this amazing tie-in to bruce and gotham and such a cool villain, with all this amazing built-in history that could be expanded upon for years.

i don't want to discuss either arc in too much detail cuz there honestly is a great deal of "oh shit!" moments to each. both of those two big arcs are like "stand-alone book" good, where its a bit surprising they're part of a regular series. i strongly recommend giving them a shot, especially if you can find a cheaper TPB or something.

Who skinned the Joker?

That has, annoyingly, not been revealed. My understanding, at this point, is that it was self induced.

But the Snyder Batman stuff isn't doing it for me at all. I'm not even sure why, to be honest. I was loving Court of Owls, until the 'big reveal'.

I think my biggest issue with it is that it feels like he's employing really lazy 'detective story' themes...where he's writing glaring clues, to the point where you're able to sort it as soon as he drops it. It feels formulaic now.

That said, the Zero Year story so far has been fun. I'm liking it so far.

My primary enjoyment from Bat books is coming from Red Hood and Batgirl right now though. Simone is laying on the morality plays thick, and I'm loving it! Jason, and his new 'Dark Crystal' origins have been a full treat to read since day one. I kinda hope he stays where he is right now. The current arc is brilliant!

the dollmaker removed joker's face, in detective comics #1. the reasoning or logic hasn't really been detailed yet. but the skinned-face-attached-to-real-face artwork capullo put out during the death in the family run was friggin awesome. joker looked a whole new level of awesome.

that's creepy.

What makes you say that?

my keyboard!

What issue was this in? Clearly, I missed something.

you even missed... where i posted the issue!

its in the last few pages of new 52 detective comics #1. the logic and reasoning of said decision isn't entirely made clear (nor has it been) but that's where he was de-faced.

They ever bother to explain how someone can live with his face removed and why the skin hasn't rotted while it's hanging there?

And don't say "it's comics." They ought to have at least some explanation, even if it were that it was a side effect of the chemicals he fell into as the Red Hood/Jack Napier. Of course, either way they've now basically given Mr. J a superpower.

the skin has been rotting. through out the "death" story arc (which is about 6 issues i think?) it gets grosser and grosser. again, capullo does some great shit here in the design. really makes the joker look creepy.

Haahah. Okay. I'd read the issue, but I didn't recall it identifying the, um, aestheticien....thus I didn't make the connection in your comment.

I liked the human canvas in the last issue there. It was a nice touch.

The story itself was a wash though. It was all build up, with no pay off. The worst thing that happened was Jason getting burned, but even he was back to being pretty in a couple issues.

...and everything was completely overshadowed by Damien's departure in Incorporated a month later. We're still feeling the rammifications from that.

But why is that awesome?