Chad’s Comments (group member since Mar 22, 2018)

Chad’s comments from the I Read Comic Books group.

Welcome Malcolm. The streaming services are the best way to catch up on comics. Marvel's app isn't the best but I love the service. I suggest you pick a character you like and run with it and then move onto another character. I've been reading comics since the 80's. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Today's trip to the LCS.

Predator #6
Savage Avengers #9
Something Is Killing the Children #28
Wolverine #29
X-Men #18
Batman & the Joker: The Deadly Duo #3
Lazarus Planet: Alpha

kaitlphere wrote: "Re:Chad: I love the variety of the books you read! I've added Miss Endicott, Ahiahia the Orphan, and Knee Deep to my to-read list!."

If you care enough to send me an ARC, I'm going to care enough to read it (even if I sometimes fall way behind.) I'm always happy any time I can cause someone's to-read list to grow. I hope you enjoy them.

Erin wrote: " ended up reading the whole series in a night, I really liked it! I think that there was definitely room for this to have been expanded. Some of the arcs in later volumes feel super rushed, where they may have been more satisfying if the whole series had some room to breathe over 5 or 6 volumes"

I think part of why it's so short if just the nature of Boom. They love to keep the series less than 12 issues and the volumes only to 4 issues.

Last week's adventures in comics.

Human★★★
A husband and wife put themselves into cryosleep for 500,000 years in order to return to Earth once it's inhabitable for humans again. They both arrive separately along with some androids to perform certain functions.

The Lions of Leningrad Volume 1: I am Chapayev★★★
4 Russian teens who are friends go through their experiences during World War II when the Germans invade Russia. This was a case where the art was better than the story.

Dead and Unburied★★
A zombie comic for preteens. It's about a teenager who is murdered while trying to save someone. For some reason he remains in his body alive but can't move for a year in his coffin. Eventually for reasons he can start moving and starts playing the trumpet left in his coffin until his friend hears him and digs him up.

The Man with the Bear Volume 1★★
50 years in the future, the world is covered in ice and those left are struggling to survive. A mercenary is hired to return a seedpod of soybeans that was recently found.

Captainz★★
Tries real hard to be a wacky superhero comic and mildly succeeds.

The World According to François - Volume 1 - The Writers' Secret★★
This story about a kid who loves to make up stories was really difficult to follow. The kids in his class and all the adults around him think his stories are terrible until he's met by a mysterious woman who tells him he's the next leader of the alphabet tree?

House of Monsters★★★
This is a fun setup for kids. Elena Potato moves into town and next door to the odd kid in town, Zick. Turns out he can see monsters and talk to ghosts.

Tegan and Sara: Junior High★★★
I am a fan of Tegan and Sara's music. If you haven't checked them out, you should. This is a somewhat fictional version of their childhood. It's been updated to take place now instead of 1991.

Elsewhere, Vol. 2★★
These one-note characters never lived up to their potential. It's the trope of a human trapped in another dimension trying to find her way home. The twist is that she's a real person who disappeared, Amelia Earhart.

Ahiahia the Orphan★★★
A brief version of a traditional Inuit folktale about a boy whose parents are murdered and his grandmother raises him.

Knee Deep Book One★★★★
A dystopian future YA comic set 200 years after an ecological collapse. The people left in this Handmaiden's Tale type society are working to mine phosphorous to grow crops. The main character, Cricket, discovers an underground world once she goes on the run.

Life Zero★★★
A solid zombie comic with some terrific art by Marco Checchetto.

Here's my review of the first volume. It's OK to air.

This reminded me if the cast of Giant Days graduated, moved to Montreal, and now were living through a nuclear winter. That's not a knock on this series. I love Giant Days. It just had a similar vibe and art but with mutants and everlasting winter thrown in as well.

Last week's (and last year's) adventures in comics. Most were a bunch of old European Comic arcs I'm trying to catch up on.

Gérard Five Years with Depardieu★★
For me, it was too much like reading a memoir from someone who hung out with Trump for five years.

Biotope - Volume 1★★★
It's about a team of investigators who go to see about a couple who committed a murder / suicide on a far planet to see if there's more to it.

Biotope - Volume 2★★★
Things go off the rails towards the end of volume 1. While you get answers about what happened, they aren't all that satisfying, especially since the remaining humans on the planet seem determined to get themselves all killed.

Lena Vol. 1: Lena’s Odyssey★★
Lena appears to be some kind of spy. She's visiting people across Europe and Asia giving them something before moving onto the next object.

The Mandelberg Circuit★★
The story of a star Turkish basketball player who won't cheat and an old billionaire looking to transplant his brain into the player's body. You know, that old trope.

Miss Endicott: Part 1★★★★★
I adored this story of a more capable version of Mary Poppins. Her mother has died and she takes over as a nanny to a boy by day and conciliator on the wrong side of London at nighttime working with or against things like underground gnomes that wish to overtake the city.

The Gold Eater (Undertaker #1)★★★
An undertaker in the Old West that may be more than he seems. He's hired to bring a man who is planning on killing himself to be buried in his goldmine. For some reason, he decided to eat two pounds of gold in order to take it with him as well.

Ira Dei 1: The Gold of the Qaids★★
There's some hints at larger plots and infighting but my big take away was some big fights where you couldn't tell which side was which so it's just random battle images.

Louisiana: The Color of Blood★★
I'm sure the author had good intentions but the characters are not written very realistically. The men are all pigs raping the women in their possession while the women on the plantation are the white saviors, even though while treating black Americans better by no means treat them like equals and there's no thought of setting their slaves free.

The Graphic Canon of Crime & Mystery Vol 2★★★
A bunch of classic crime and mystery stories put into short comic book form.

Daredevil by Frank Miller Omnibus Companion★★★★★
A hodge-podge of Frank Miller Daredevil stuff from after he'd left the comic the first time and then Born Again and The Man without Fear miniseries.

DC vs. Vampires (2021-) #1: Killers★★★
Harley Quinn is running the human criminal underground in a Gotham overtaken by vampires.

DC vs. Vampires (2021-) #1: Hunters★★★★
Damian Wayne, Vampire Hunter. A very good one-shot.

Bridget wrote: "Hi, everyone! My name is Bridget, and I'm in Peoria, Illinois. I've been reading comics regularly since 2016. My favorite comics are The Fantastic Four, Hellboy, pretty much anything written by Rya..."


Welcome Bridget. My Aunt and Uncle live in Peoria. I grew up in a small town a couple hours South. Mike Allred is one of my favorite artists. I just saw today Dark Horse put up an advance copy of the 4th volume of Madman Omnibus on Edelweiss. The Allreds are some of my favorite artists. I buy everything they make.

Today's trip to the LCS.

X-Men Red #10
Mosely #1
Marauders #10
Parker Girls #4
X-force #36
X-Men Legends #5
Dark Knights of Steel #9

Tasso wrote: "Starting January with Doomsday Clock by Geoff Johns. I fell in love with the Watchmen universe and story the second I read it and have been addicted to it since. I have been find some time for me t..."

I thought it was a solid follow-up. DC made a bunch of other Watchmen stuff for an event (Before Watchmen) that took place about 10 years ago. Most of it was pretty good.

Erin wrote: "Jessica wrote: "I nominate Nuclear Winter Vol. 1."

I'll second this - a snowy book sounds cute for January!"

Nuclear Winter is a lot of fun. I like to think of it as Giant Days with mutants.

Today's trip to the LCS.

Image! #9
Book of Slaughter
Midnight Suns #4
X-Treme X-Men #2
Timeless #1
DC Vs. Vampires #12
New Mutants #33
Strange Academy: Finals #3
We Only Find Them When They're Dead #15

Last week's adventures in comic books.

Decorum★★★
Two sci-fi stories that take too long to come together, especially since only one of them was interesting.

The Colony★★★
A story about a real French colony started in 1903 by libertarians as the future of man. From the beginning you know it's all a matter of time before it heads South as I've never heard of this place.

The Detection Club - Volume 1★
This was such a disappointment for such a great premise. Seven of the best mystery writers from the 1930's have formed a club to solve mysteries.

The Detection Club - Volume 2★★
A great idea but poor execution. The idea of a detective club filled with the biggest mystery writers of the 30's is a fantastic one. Too bad they just bumble around until the solution falls into their lap.

Magic 7, Vol. 1: Never Alone★★
A kids comic about (will be) 7 kids meeting who all have different powers. A ton of thefts are happening around the school and one kid is being blamed.

Modern Speed★★
I couldn't get into this strange story of a fevered night following a dancer and a woman who has decided to chronicle her life out of the blue.

Galaxy: The Prettiest Star★★★
This was alright. It's about an alien teenager and the aliens watching over them. They have been hiding on Earth for the last 6 years as a boy, but is in really a girl. It's filled with all kinds of trans-metaphors. I thought some of the impact was lost though by making them an alien instead of just a normal trans kid.

A Lapse in Judgement★★
Starts off strong with a judge looking back at his last case as an investigator before he became a judge. It's about a man who disappeared from a girlfriends house. The story gets very muddled though as it becomes more about the investigators private life and his breakup with a girlfriend.

Little Miss Cheery★★
An odd graphic novel about an ostrich farmer who murders his wife only to find her at home like nothing happened.

Welcome! (Mr. Ash Tuesday #1)★★★
Victor Tourtelle wakes up dead and a skeleton in a moon-like landscape. He eventually discovers everyone there is a skeleton and this may be purgatory.

Ozy and Millie★★★
Ozy and Millie is a cartoon strip about two nerdy fox kids going to school, doing chores and the like while commenting on society.

Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors - Rise Up!★★
A Godzilla story for children, I guess? It has a ton of the Toho stuff in it. Godzilla is setup as Earth's environmental protector. It's all told through a kid's Youtube channel and it's very boring.

The Beauty, Vol. 1★★★★★
Saw this as a Hoopla bonus borrow and decided to do a reread. It's just as good the second time around. Humans are obsessed with beauty. So if there was a new STD out there that made you beautiful would you seek it out?

Cliche Holiday★★
My first comic from Markovia Entertainment and it's about what I expected. It somewhat merges A Christmas Carol with a fantasy version of Bad Santa. The dialogue's bad and the plot doesn't make the most sense.

Shang-Chi vs. The Marvel Universe (Shang-Chi, #2)★★★★
Shang-Chi's father is dead and he's taken over his father's criminal organization. As we go through these 6 issues, the heroes lose trust in Shang-Chi, thinking he's turning shady while the many people he brings into the organization begin to think he's too honest and earnest.

Family of Origin (Shang-Chi, #3)★★★
The person behind Shang-Chi's betrayals is revealed and it's not great. There's a strong impetus to bring the comic inline with the movie so the book becomes all about Ta Lo and set up for a new Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings comic, the third Shang-Chi relaunch in two years.

The Long Shadow (Black Panther, #1)★★★★
A very nice change from Ta-Nahisi Coates impenetrable version of Black Panther. Wakanda is transitioning to a democracy slowly leaving T'Challa out in the cold. He also is still keeping secrets. (view spoiler)[Turns out he's had sleeper agents hidden around the world for years and now someone is out there murdering them. (hide spoiler)]

Daredevil: Born Again★★★★
One of Daredevil's quintessential stories, Born Again. Longtime daredevil girlfriend, Karen Page returns. She's at her rock bottom, doing porn and heroin in South America. The only thing she has left is Daredevil's secret identity...

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear★★★★★
An expanded version of Daredevil's origin or a Daredevil Year's 1 and 2 if you will, right up until he puts on the mask.

Today's trip to the LCS.

Junkyard Joe #3
Something Is Killing the Children #27
Wolverine #28
World's Finest #10
Dark Crisis #7
Nightwing #99
DC Vs. Vampires: All-Out War #6
X-Men Annual #1

kaitlphere wrote: "In.
I have seen some comic panels by Will McPail online so when I saw this at the library I grabbed it quickly. The story is about a man who realizes he never has an honest conversation with anyone and longs for real connection. The book is emotionally raw and occasionally hilarious. The art panels showing the feeling of connecting to someone was my favorite part."

This was my favorite comic I read last year. I know some people have trouble with the perfectly round eyeballs but I love how the book talks about connecting to people. And the scenes where the main character does make a connection are SO well done. It's at times heartbreaking, at others it really made me laugh.

Last week's adventures in comic books. Caught up on a lot of Mad Cave Studios comics on hoopla last week.

John Carpenter's Tales for a Halloween Night ★★★
I have to say that latter editions of this series have far better creepy tales in them. I found this initial volume lukewarm even though there are some bigger creators involved.

John Carpenter's Tales for a Halloween Night, Volume 2 ★★★★
12 tales of terror, some better than others. Most pretty great. I did skip the interstitials. It's the same art page with a little lead in that takes too long to read and doesn't really add anything to the story.

John Carpenter's Tales for a Halloween Night: Volume 3 ★★★★
There was some really good stories in this edition. Plus the interstituals actually belonged and were actually in comic book form for once. If you like horror comics, this annual Halloween anthology is a good time.

John Carpenter's Tales of Science Fiction: Surviving Nuclear Attack ★★
Some hunting buddies got lost in the woods and come across an underground bunker where a family from the 50's thought WWIII happened and lived and died in there. These hunting buddies get trapped as well when one of them breaks a leg.

Battlecats Vol.1: The Hunt for the Dire Beast ★★★
Thundercats in a generic D&D setting. The Battlecats are a group of peak warriors in service to their king on a quest to kill someone.

Battlecats Vol. 2: Fallen Legacy ★★★
There's a lot of unanswered questions in this slow decline of the king. This evil faction of darkats seems to have no motivation than evil for evil's sake and the love of a Lizard God instead of a Lion God. It's all just an OK D&D style story.

Battlecats Vol. 3: Hero of Legend ★★
The bad guys are just bad to be bad. It's all very simplistic storytelling and just doesn't really keep your attention. The art is very good though.

Battlecats: Tales of Valderia ★★
Some weak stories that don't have much to do with the rest of the series. The second half of the book is text pages and art setting up the world.

Bountiful Garden ★★★★
Someone else mentioned Alien meets The Ruins and I thought that was very appropriate.

Honor and Curse Vol.1: Torn ★★★★
I thought this was some solid Feudal Japan comics. It's about a man whose parents were murdered as a child. He's taken in by a fighting school but also has a tengu (Japanese demon) inside of him that he is also fighting.

Midnight Task Force Vol. 1: Hidden Voices ★★
This was rough. Nothing adds up or is explained (probably because a 2nd volume was promised but never happened.) It's about a crusty Detroit police detective 30 years in the future. He was originally part of an elite military team and almost died. Now he's on the track of a serial killer.

My Buddy, Killer Croc ★★★★
A solid and simple read for kids. Andy is the new kid in school. He just moved to Gotham to live with his Aunt after something unsaid happened to his father. Andy has a severe burn across one cheek from spilling scalding water on it. Andy meets Killer Croc and they become friends but Croc has Andy stealing for him.

Hollywood Trash ★★
A way too complicated story about rich and successful members of a cult being sent to kill two garbage men for accidentally offending their leader.

Hellfighter Quin ★★★
The Harlem Hellfighter is one of the Nameless. Part of one of the clans that determines who controls a power to gives superpowers. It's a Mortal Combat type of story.

Pantomime Vol. 1 ★★★★★
Easily the best thing Christopher Sebela has done. It's about a deaf sister and her mute brother. They are sent to a special needs school after their mother passes away. There they make some friends and start committing heists since no one would consider a group of deaf kids committing robberies.

Over the Ropes Vol. 1 ★★★
This is about as good as a straight-forward wrestling story from the 90's could get.

Rv9 Trade Paperback ★
I didn't know what was going on in this comic. It's about a group of assassins that's trying to cause some kind of revolution in Italy because they say "Por La Revolution" (Yes, I know this is Spanish, not Italian but I don't think the author did.) at least 15 times without explaining what is revolting.

Savage Bastards TPB ★★★
A Western about an immortal who has established his own little fiefdom out West. He prides himself on fathering tons of bastards who help him maintain power.

Marvel Classic Novels - Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours Omnibus ★★★★
Three prose novels from the J. Michael Straczynski era of Amazing Spider-Man
The Darkest Hours by Jim Butcher: ☆☆☆☆
Down These Mean Streets by Keith R.A. DeCandido: ☆☆☆☆
Drowned in Thunder by Christopher Bennett: ☆☆☆

The Mutts Autumn Diaries ★
A terrible comic strip that survives off people's warm fuzzies they receive from their pets.

This week's trip to the LCS.

Photon #1
Dark Crisis: Big Bang #1
Savage Avengers #8
Superman: Son of Kal-El #18
Batman / Spawn
Invincible Iron Man #1

Last week's adventures in comic books.

Sirens of the Norse Sea: Book 1 - The Waters of Skagerrak ★★★
It's sirens vs. Vikings with trolls somewhere in the middle.

100 Bullets, Vol. 1: First Shot, Last Call ★★★★★
What if someone completely screwed up your life irrevocably and someone came up to you and said here's an untraceable gun with a 100 bullets and irrefutable evidence that so and so is the culprit. Would you take revenge?

Aquamen Vol. 1 ★★★
This closes out what was started in Aquaman: The Becoming and Black Manta. Atlantean sleeper agents are blowing themselves up in strategic locations on the surface. Both Aquamen, Black Manta, Mera, Tempest and Tula are out to stop them.

Ham-Let: A Shakespearean Mash-Up ★
A "retelling" of Hamlet with anthropomorphic characters.

Show's End Trade Paperback ★★★
Pretty solid for an independent comic, although rough around the edges. It's about a girl with a monster inside who joins a circus in 1920's Georgia.

John Carpenter's Asylum, City of Angels, Hearts of Darkness ★★★
Very much an adult read. A defrocked priest and a cop go after a demonic spirit who possesses people.

John Carpenter's Tales of Science Fiction: Twitch ★★★
In 1977, we received what we thought was a signal from another star and sent a response. Four decades later we received a response, a response that turns people into homicidal maniacs.

John Carpenter's Tales of Science Fiction: The Standoff ★★★
Aliens crash land on a prison and start taking over humans while causing a prison break.

Ruta S. wrote: "It has not been completed yet. 27th volume will be published in the upcoming year."

That's a for sure sign to stay away IMO. Some of these Mangas take the creator's death to finish.

Today's trip to the LCS.

Much bigger than last week's 5th week. It feels like all of the mutant comics come out the same week now.

New Mutants #32
Marauders #9
Immortal X-Men #9
Dark Crisis: War Zone #1
Batman & the Joker: The Deadly Duo #2
X-Men Red #9
Predator #5
X-Force #35
Thor #29
Thanos: Death Notes
X-Treme X-Men #1