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? (February 2021)
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Last week's comic reading.
Paris 2119 ★★★The dark side of teleportation. Brilliant art.
The Preacher's Trail: Lonesome ★★★A complex Western set in Kansas shortly before the Civil War.
Gamayun Tales II ★★★★★I love these retellings of Russian fairy tales by Alexander Utkin.
Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Vol. 3 ★★★A ho-hum collection of Batman stories.
Batman: Blind Justice ★★★This had some interesting elements like the introduction of Henri Ducard as Batman's former mentor and now his opposite number.
Batman: The Caped Crusader Vol. 5 ★★★The Peter Milligan story was terrible but the rest was pretty good.
Fantastic Four: The Prodigal Sun ★★★An egotistical jerk floating around space with elemental powers. He randomly encounters the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, and the Guardians of the Galaxy across his journeys.
Coffin Bound, Vol. 1: Happy Ashes ★★A woman tries to erase herself from existence before a hitman catches up with her. It's all very existential. Reminds me of a Vertigo book from the 90s.
Doctor Strange by Mark Waid, Vol. 4: The Choice ★★★★Mainly a lead in to the new Dr. Strange series Surgeon Supreme.
Fantastic Four by Dan Slott, Vol. 3: The Herald of Doom ★★★★Dr. Doom lures Galactus to Latveria so, of course, the FF head to Latveria as well to keep Doom from screwing up.
Fantastic Four by Dan Slott, Vol. 4: Thing vs. Immortal Hulk ★★★★The Thing and Alicia go on their Honeymoon when things immediately go wrong.
Rocket Raccoon & Groot: Tall Tails ★★★The Skottie Young half of this, surprisingly, isn't very good. It's full of bad art and boring stories. Once Nick Kocher comes on board things turn around tremendously.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-Series, Volume 2 ★★★Four one shots featuring Splinter, Casey Jones, April, and the Fugitoid.
Mountainhead ★★A boy is taken away from his family and returned 10 years later. Somehow, this turns into a ripoff of The Thing at a certain point. The art is terrible.
Batman: The Chalice ★★Collects Batman: The Chalice and Batman: The Ankh. Both by Chuck Dixon and John Van Fleet. Nighter the writing or the art is very good in both.
Magnificent Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: Destined ★★★★Saladin Ahmed and Minkyu Jung take over as the new creative team on Ms. Marvel and quickly show they have the chops to replace G. Willow Wilson.
Magnificent Ms. Marvel, Vol. 2: Stormranger ★★★★Ahmed continues to ripoff Venom's origin with this Stormranger storyline but I like the family drama angle.
Mod
- Mike: Lonely Receiver #1-5, Kaiju No. 8 chapter 24
- Kate: Comics for a Strange World: A Book of Poorly Drawn Lines
- Kara: Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix, Vol. 1-2, Disney Manga: Miriya and Marie
Check out the episode to hear what we thought!
This week's trip to the LCS.Swamp Thing: Future State #2
Fire Power #8
Hellions #9
Marauders: King in Black #1
Strange Academy #8
Venom #33
X-Factor #7
Hellblazer: Rise and Fall #3
Most of my recent reads are courtesy of a lot of great folks who nominate great books in this group :) - Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff - really fun YA read! I wish this was around when I was growing up. Thank you Chad for nominating it for a BOTM last fall!
The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars, Part 3 by DiMartino & Koh - I love Korra and Asami finally be a couple but it's hard to see what very thin page numbers and rushed art is doing to a world I love a lot.
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen - Thank you Mike who nominated this for a BotM. It is an absolutely stunning and moving book. Definitely will be one of my favorite reads of the year (and I hope it becomes a BotM this year too)!
Lenny wrote: "Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff - really fun YA read! I wish this was around when I was growing up. Thank you Chad for nominating it for a BOTM last fall!"You're welcome. The Delilah Dirk books are so much fun. I wish Tony Cliff would make another one. The Pillars of Hercules came out in 2018.
Lenny wrote: "Most of my recent reads are courtesy of a lot of great folks who nominate great books in this group :) - Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff - really fun YA read! I wish this wa..."
Oh The Magic Fish looks really good.
I'm still trying to catch up on DC Infinite. In the last week I've read:
Wonder Woman Vol. 4: The Four Horsewomen ★★
Nightwing, Vol. 1: The Gray Son Legacy ★
Batman, Vol. 1: Their Dark Designs ★★★ (Not sure why the search isn't picking this up)
Martian Manhunter #1 ★★★★ (The 12 issue series)
Batman/Superman, Vol. 1: Who are the Secret Six? ★★★★
Batgirl, Vol. 7: Oracle Rising ★★
And to kick off the IRCB 2021 Goodreads challenge I read my selection: American Elf 1999. It was honestly both more weird and more enjoyable than the first time I read it several years ago! It's probably not going to be for everyone but I hope some like it. I think it's spurred me to revisit the rest of the series this year.
Last week's comic book reading material. Work has really put a crimp in my reading the last few weeks.
Candy Hearts ★★★★A series of one panel comics centering on relationships using conversation hearts to tell inner thoughts.
Venom by Donny Cates, Vol. 4: Venom Island ★★★★When Eddie Brock absorbed Carnage at the end of Absolute Carnage, he also absorbed its personality. Now it's a battle for control.
Venom by Donny Cates, Vol. 5: Venom Beyond ★★★Venom goes to an alternate future where the symbiotes have taken over Earth.
Captain Marvel: Carol Danvers - The Ms. Marvel Years Vol. 1 ★★★It's amazing how dated this feels given it was only written 12 or so years ago. Attitudes towards female superheroes and particularly Captain Marvel have changed drastically over the intervening years.
Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Vol. 4 ★★★Both the current Clayface and Anarchy make their first appearances in this book.
Young Justice: Warriors and Warlords Vol. 3 ★★Eight pointless issues as this series goes nowhere until DC mercifully canceled it.
Once & Future, Vol. 2: Old English ★★★★★If you aren't reading this series, you should be. It has a Granny chainsawing beasties. 'Nuff said.
My reading week:-Elfen Lied Omnibus 2
-Genshiken Omnibus 2
-My Love Story, vols. 1-3
-Nozoki Ana vol. 8
Whitney wrote: "My reading week:-Elfen Lied Omnibus 2
-Genshiken Omnibus 2
-My Love Story, vols. 1-3
-Nozoki Ana vol. 8"
Genshiken and My Love Story are both strange and fantastic!
Mod
Mod
- Mike: Abbott: 1973 #1, Seven Secrets #1-6
- Kara: Immortal Iron Fist Vol. 1: The Last Iron Fist Story (Immortal Iron Fist, Garfield Dishes It Out
- Paul: Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 10, DCeased: Dead Planet (2020-2021) #7 (DCeased: Dead Planet
Check out the episode to see what we thought!
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I've also been tearing through Hikaru no Go and trying to read some of the Kickstarter comics I've been sitting on for a short while... I'll report back once I've read more haha
Kyle wrote: "Whitney wrote: "My reading week:-Elfen Lied Omnibus 2
-Genshiken Omnibus 2
-My Love Story, vols. 1-3
-Nozoki Ana vol. 8"
Genshiken and My Love Story are both strange and fantastic!"
Yah, they are pretty unique in the manga world. I'm really enjoying the change of tropes!
This week's trip to the LCS.Wolverine: Black, White and Red #3
American Vampire: 1976 #5
Rorschach #5
Eternals #2
Scout's Honor #2
Excalibur #18
X-Force #17
Sweet Tooth: the Return #4
Thunderbolts: King in Black #2
DC Love Is a Battlefield #1
Finished up - Die. Vol. 3: The Great Game
Now onto -
Spider-Man: Blue
Here's my reading list for the past week:Green Arrow By Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino
The Old Guard, Book One: Opening Fire
By Chance or Providence
Bang!
Fear Case #1
Undiscovered Country #12
Radiant Black #1
Home Sick Pilots #3
Scouts Honor #2
Scarentood 3 & 4
Red Atlantis 3 & 4
Happy Hour #4
Enjoyed them all but really loved the Lemire Green Arrow run. Radiant Black was probably my least favorite but I'll stick with it for another issue or two.
Kat wrote: "Finished up - Die. Vol. 3: The Great Game
Now onto - Spider-Man: Blue"
Kat, what did you think of Die vol 3? Good luck with Blue, I had some issues with it, but I hope you like it!
I've been reading
Fluidum on Webtoon
Ironheart, Vol. 2: Ten Rings - So great, even with the rushed ending, a huge shame this was cancelled
X-Men: Marauders, vol. 1 and vol 2 - as a big Kate Pryde fan, loved the heck out of it
My reading week:-Elfen Lied Omni vol. 3
-My Love Story, vol. 4
-Fire Power #8
-Kick-Ass vs Hit-Girl #4
-Mercy #6 --totally missed that this came out!
-Plunderer Omni, vol. 6
-Stillwater #4
-You Got Me, Sempai, vols. 1-3
-The Walking Dead D #8
Last week's adventures in comics.
The Sword of Surtur: A Marvel Legends of Asgard Novel ★★★★A prose Marvel novel. The Norse God of War, Tyr, attempts to steal the sword of Surtur in order to keep Surtur from one day killing Odin with it.
Courtney Crumrin: Tales of a Warlock ★★★★This is a prequel to the Courtney Crumrin graphic novels, giving Uncle Aloysius an origin story.
Justice Society of America: The Demise of Justice ★★★Set in 1950, when living constellations come to Earth to absorb our power sources, the JSA must band together to stop them.
Punisher: Nightmare ★★The Punisher meets another soldier who has went through the same thing he did with his family. Then this devolves into some weird Nuke / Captain America gone wrong type story.
Untold Tales of Punisher Max ★★★The first 3 tales should have stayed untold. They barely had the Punisher in them. Crappy art, crappy stories. The last 2 were solid though.
Usagi Yojimbo/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Collection ★★★★Collects all of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles appearances in Usagi Yojimbo. Good stuff.
Captain Marvel: Carol Danvers - The Ms. Marvel Years Vol. 2 ★★★Ms. Marvel runs around like a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model fighting skrulls and other villains while showing lots of side boob. It's amazing how dated this feels in 10 years.
Captain Marvel: Carol Danvers - The Ms. Marvel Years Vol. 3 ★★★Nothing great here. Reed has an ADHD style of rating. He'll bring up multiple subplots that he never revisits. The title changes direction every few issues.
Rom: Dire Wraiths ★★This should have been good. Humans first encountered Dire Wraiths during the moon landing? Sign me up. Unfortunately, it sucks.
Peepland ★★★★Some great neo-noir set in the seedy Times Square area of the 1980's. This is a very adult book.
Deceivers ★★★Two con men become embroiled with the CIA when a plot between spies of various agencies comes about. Tries its hardest to be Mission Impossible.
I.R.$.: Volume 1 - Taxing Trails ★★★Larry Max is an accountant for the IRS. But he's not just any accountant, he's part accountant, part James Bond. This wasn't a bad start to this Belgian comic.
The Absolute Sandman, Volume Five ★★★★★These Absolute editions are gorgeous with their oversized pages and blown up art.
Mod
- Mike: Harley Quinn Black + White + Red (2020-) #7-14
- Paul: Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band, Crimson Flower #1
- Nick: Savage #1, That Texas Blood, Vol. 1
Check out the episode to see what we thought!
Tonight's trip to the LCS before yet more snow tomorrow.X-Men Legends #1
Young Hellboy #1
Batman / Catwoman #3
Abbott 1973 #2
Barbarlien: Red Planet #4
Black Widow #5
Cable #8
King in Black #4
Marauders #18
Miskatonic #4
Once and Future #16
Spider-Woman #9
Thor #12
We Live #5
TMNT: The Last Ronin #2
Chad wrote: "Tonight's trip to the LCS before yet more snow tomorrow.X-Men Legends #1
Young Hellboy #1
Batman / Catwoman #3
Abbott 1973 #2
Barbarlien: Red Planet #4
Black Widow #5
Cable #8
King in Black #4
Ma..."
I'm excited for Young Hellboy.
I've been reading:
Sabrina: Something Wicked ★★★★★
Psychodrama Illustrated #4 ★★★★
The Green Lantern: Season Two, Vol. 1 ★★★★
Hikaru no Go Vol. 11-12 for the Discord read-along
Basketful of Heads ★★★★
Daphne Byrne ★★
Birds of Prey ★★★
This weeks haul: I made some progress on reading them tonight....
Thor ***
King in Black ****
Miles Morales Spider-Man
Last Ronin
Black Widow
Planet of the Symbiotes ***
Stillwater ***
Immortal Hulk Flatline ***1/2
Champions
Walking Dead Deluxe
Haha ** (May give up on this one)
We Live
American Ronin
The Picture of Everything Else ***1/2 Great read
Miskatonic
Stranger Things D&D
Abbott
Hollow Heart ** Not sure about this one
The Recount *** Uncomfortable read, may be too timely but good
Black Friday ***
Aria
Strange Academy tpb (Picked up to get my wife hooked on this one)
Last week's adventures in comics. I got on a Shadow kick before binging the latest Punisher books yesterday.
Hellblazer, Vol. 8: Rake at the Gates of Hell ★★★★★The culmination of Garth Ennis's and Steve Dillon's epic run on Hellblazer. They remain my favorite creative team to ever be on this book.
Michael Jackson in Comics! ★★Michael Jackson's life story told in prose and comics.
In Love & Pajamas: A Collection of Comics about Being Yourself Together ★★★Super sweet, cutesy comic observations on a healthy relationship.
Titans: Burning Rage ★★The Teen Titans get an all-ages remix. This collects all of the new material from the Teen Titans Giant comics made for Wal-Mart.
Static Shock: Trial by Fire ★★★★Static was the Spider-Man of Milestone Comics. The smart nerdy kid who gets picked on all the time while secretly saving everyone.
Sherlock Holmes vs. Harry Houdini ★★★Sherlock Holmes and Harry Houdini bicker like children for 4 issues while the murderer continues to thwart them because they can't get past their own egos.
The Shadow/Green Hornet: Dark Nights ★★★This was alright but didn't live up to it's full potential due to trying to do too much in the story.
The Shadow: The Last Illusion ★★★★A group of magicians are after a secret reportedly passed on to Houdini's wife after he died. They are willing to kill to unleash it.
The Shadow Now ★★Bringing The Shadow to modern times was a mistake. The many references about him being an out of touch old fogey got tedious real quick.
The Shadow: The Death of Margo Lane ★★★★★Matt Wagner remains one of my favorite creators since I first discovered Grendel and Mage back in the early 90's.
The Shadow: Year One ★★★★Matt Wagner doesn't break much new ground with this Year One story but then again he doesn't really need to. The Shadow's origins had been told before and didn't need any fixing.
The Hangman, Vol. 1 ★★★Same basic premise as Spawn. A hitman is killed and makes a deal with the devil to return to Earth to save his family.
Angel & Spike, Vol. 1: All the Devils Are Here ★★★Bringing Spike into the book instantly makes it better. Angel and Spike together make for an interesting dynamic.
Cutting Edge: The Siren's Song #2 ★★It's about a team of adventurers who find cryptids. But the story was too convoluted and confusing. I often found myself lost as to why things were happening.
Huntress: Origins ★★★Collects all of the early appearances of the Bronze era Huntress as the backup story in Wonder Woman.
Transformers vs. the Terminator ★★★A solid Elseworlds type story where the Transformers fight the Terminators in the future and come back to 1984 to try and take out the Transformers before they awaken.
The Punisher, Vol. 1: On the Road ★★★★Steve Dillon's final work.
The Punisher, Vol. 2: End of the Line ★★★Steve Dillon unexpectedly died while writing issue #7. Matt Horak steps in to fill in and tries his best to mimic Dillon's art and it doesn't work at all.
The Punisher, Vol. 3: King of the New York Streets ★★★The Punisher returns to New York for some one-off stories before a final faceoff with Face, literally.
The Punisher: War Machine Vol. 1 ★★★★Nick Fury gives The Punisher a War Machine suit and sicks him on the despot of a Baltic state.
The Punisher: War Machine Vol. 2 ★★★★The Punisher returns to NYC after overthrowing a foreign government. Needless to say, the heroes of NYC are pissed and after Frank. There's also the little matter that Frank joined Hydra during Secret Empire.
The Punisher, Vol. 1: World War Frank ★★★★Baron Zemo is now running Hydra and The Punisher has declared war on them.
The Punisher, Vol. 2: War in Bagalia ★★★The Punisher gets sent to a Hydra prison in Bagalia, the country run by Baron Zemo. Time for a prison break story.
The Punisher, Vol. 3: Street by Street, Block by Block ★★★Both Baron Zemo and the Punisher return to New York for a final showdown. Some of this got to be just ridiculous.
My reading week:-Birthright #46
-Buffy #20-22
-Industrial Revolution & World War
-My Love Story, vol. 5
-Serial #1
-Something is Killing the Children #14
-Stillwater #5-6
-The Walking Dead D #9
Mod
- Mike: Immortal Hulk: Flatline #1, Hollow Heart #1
- René: Magus of the Library, Vol. 1, Horimiya, Vol. 1-14
- Simon The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 7: The Book of Ezekiel, Batman/Catwoman (2020-)
Check out the episode to see what we thought!
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And I read Blue in Green last night and really enjoyed it!
I also enjoyed Blue in Green. It is very text-heavy, though, and requires close reading to catch some details.Some members of my IRL group were confused about the locations. At the start we see him flying somewhere, but his flight back is never mentioned. And he goes into two separate jazz clubs in different cities both called "Beckers". (The fact that it is a chain is mentioned early on, but is easy to miss.)
The art, colors, and lettering are great.
Ed wrote: "I also enjoyed Blue in Green. It is very text-heavy, though, and requires close reading to catch some details.Some members of my IRL group were confused about the locations. At the start we see h..."
You have an IRL group? That's so cool!
I just started Starsight from my man, Brandon Sanderson.
Mod
I also read the Old Guard Vol. 1: Opening Fire for the reading challenge (and then immediately bought Vol. 2) - I really liked this one, I'm excited to see where it goes. Perhaps this will finally prompt me to watch the movie!
Whitney wrote: "You have an IRL group? That's so cool! .."Yes, it is! These days we meet online by zoom. We've even expanded into having some meetings that are not about comics.
My February Reads: Venus in the Blindspot by Junji Ito- excellent manga short stories similar to his classic Uzumaki with lots of body horror.
Flamer by Mike Curato- YA coming-of-age story in which a teen at summer camp struggles with the growing realization that he is gay.
Middlewest V2 & V3 by Skottie Young- I finished the trilogy about toxic masculinity and generational rage. It was an interesting mashup up of the classic hero’s journey, steampunk and The Wizard of Oz.
Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics- A mixed bag of short stories by various authors & illustrators. Some gems, but also some clunkers.
This week's trip to the comic book store.Generations: Shattered #1
Generations: Forged #1 - We'll see what DC's new Linearverse concept is all about. Sounds like it's just comic book characters don't age. Get over it.
Namor: King in Black #4
Kaiju Scaore #4
Nuclear Family #1
Stray Dogs #1
By the Horns #1
Two Moons #1
Crossover #4
New Mutants #16
Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy #6 - Finally!
Something Is Killing the Children #15
MODOK: Head Games #3
SWORD #3
Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black #4
Wolverine #10
X-Men #18
Year Zero Vol. 2 #4
Legion of Super-Heroes: Future State #2
Batman: White Knight presents Harley Quinn #5
Batman: Black and White #3
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I Read Comic Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Opening Fire (other topics)Magus of the Library, Vol. 1 (other topics)
Horimiya, Vol. 1 (other topics)
Hollow Heart #1 (other topics)
Immortal Hulk: Flatline #1 (other topics)
More...
In other exciting news, the IRCB 2021 Reading Challenge is now live! There are 17 books to get through this year (a little more than one a month) spanning the gamut from manga to TMNT to indie books about ballet!
Check out the challenge here and set your challenge shelf: Challenge Main Page
To get info, ask questions, and discuss the books: Master Thread
To track your progress: Progress Thread
As always, you can check out what the IRCB crew is reading on the weekly Top of My Pile posts on Patreon!