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? (April 2021)
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First post! Here's what I've been up to, full reviews on book pages:
Storm Vol. 1: Make it Rain - not as great as a solo Storm title should be
Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack & Alex Maleev - sad it took me this long to read, a classic run for a reason!
Gwenpool Strikes Back - Disappointing rehash of Hastings' last Gwenpool volume
Truth: Red, White & Black - Incredible must read, especially if you're watching Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Avengers: The Children's Crusade - Again sad it took me this long as a Young Avengers fan. To me this was a near-perfect Marvel event.
Moon Knight - I'm clearly on a Bendis & Maleev kick. Probably my favorite MK run so far. Love Echo.
My reading week:-Dead Body Road: Bad Blood vol. 2
-Elfen Lied Omnibus 4
-Fire Power vol. 2
-Getting It Together vol. 1
-Haha #3
-H.P. Lovecraft's At The Mountain of Madness vol. 1
-H.P. Lovecraft's The Hound and Other Stories
-Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 2 vol. 4
-Jormungand vols. 1-4
-My Hero Academia vols. 1-2
-Stillwater vol. 1
-Superman Smashes the Klan
-The Walking Dead D. #11
Last week's journey in comic books.
Thirsty Mermaids ★★★Three mermaids run out of beer while they are drunk and get the bright idea to become human so they can go on dry land and get more beer. No they are trapped as humans and must learn how to support themselves.
Post York ★★A short story about a young man living in a New York City flooded by melting polar ice caps. The story is told how three minor alterations could cause the story to veer in drastically different directions.
Alien #1 ★★Marvel's first crack at the Alien license is a bit slow and Salvador Larroca's art is still weird.
Batgirl (2016-), Vol. 8: The Joker War ★★★A weird 2 part story with a girl who controls gold and then The Joker War tie ins where Barbara must confront the Joker and what he did to her again.
Avengers Academy: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1 ★★★★You can pretty much think of this as an extension of Avengers: The Initiative. Avengers train some at risk super powered teenagers. Good stuff.
Captain America Epic Collection Vol. 17: The Superia Stratagem ★★★The Mark Gruenwald issues of Captain America are pretty terrible. The saving grace here is the second half of this book. The Adventures of Captain America is a fantastic expansion of Cap's origin story.
Champions, Vol. 1: Beat the Devil ★★★★Mephisto makes a great appearance here. Giving some team members what they want, no strings attached, and of course, there is fallout from that choice.
Champions, Vol. 2: Give and Take ★★★Nova finally gets his helmet back which is good because I was tired of hearing Sam whine about not having powers. Then there's a rushed story with Blackheart as the title is cancelled.
Strikeforce, Vol. 1: Trust Me ★★A bunch of disparate Marvel characters band together after some Asgardian shapeshifters replaced them and then framed them for stealing viruses.
Strikeforce Vol. 2: Fight Me ★★I found the storytelling in this to be awful. Tini Howard doesn't explain why things are occurring, they just happen.
Conan the Barbarian: The Life and Death of Conan, Book One ★★★★Jason Aaron dishes out 6 solo issues of blood and dismemberment across Conan's life connected by an overarching story.
Conan the Barbarian: The Life and Death of Conan, Book Two ★★★Some more solo stories before the Crimson Witch storyline comes to fruition.
Red Hood: Outlaw, Vol. 4: Unspoken Truths ★★Oof. Scott Lobdell decided to go back to his Red Hood and the Outlaw roots bringing back the Untitled and All-Caste nonsense he started his New 52 run on.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Telltale Games ★★★Fred Van Lente's prequel to the Telltale Games story is pretty good.
Count ★★★★This sci-fi reimaging of The Count of Monte Cristo was a blast.
Nubia: Real One ★★★★Nubia has to deal with all the things a black teenager growing up in America does while also hiding that she has super strength. The art isn't very good.
Last night's journey to the LCS.King in Black #5
Venom #34
Marauders #19
Excalibur #20
Fire Power #10
Suicide Squad #2
Seven Secrets #7
Geiger #1 - New Image book by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank!
Swamp Thing #2
The Next Batman: Second Son #1
Last week's journey into comics.
Autobiographix (Second Edition) ★★★★True stories in black and white comics told by the creators themselves.
Otter Lagoon ★★★★A graphic novel for kids set on an island in the Pacific Northwest that is a magnet for strangeness.
Martian Ghost Centaur ★★★A story about growing up and finding your passion in life. Set in a small Northern CA town known for sasquatch sightings.
X-Men/Avengers: Onslaught Vol. 1 ★★★★This was surprisingly well done for a 90's X-Men event. I like how it's slowly built up over a couple of years, preceded by Onslaught's harbingers.
The Final Night ★★★This was an interesting event from the 90's in that there were no villains. The sun goes dark and Earth's heroes have to figure out how to save everyone while stopping people from looting and other end of the world type behavior.
Punisher: Shadowmasters ★★★The Shadowmasters miniseries was actually more interesting than the Punisher issues. The Shadowmasters are a family of ninjas from Japan.
Infinite Crisis Omnibus ★★★★★If you can get your hands on this backache inducing whopper of an omnibus, I think this is the best way to read this. It collects not only Infinite Crisis but the all the content leading up to it for the few preceding years.
Gwenpool Strikes Back ★★★Leah Williams embraces the meta nature of Gwenpool a little too much and it wore very thin by the end of this.
Avengers: Infinity Prose Novel ★★★★I thought this was a very good and faithful adaptation of the first half of Jonathan Hickman's Avengers run of comics.
XIII Vol. 2: Where the Indian Walks ★★★XIII has amnesia and apparently done some bad things in his previous life including faking his own death and then assassinating the President.
Immortal Hulk, Vol. 6: We Believe In Bruce Banner ★★★★Hulk declares war on entities harming the Earth. First up, Roxxon and Dario Agger from Jason Aaron's Thor run.
Justice League Dark, Vol. 4: A Costly Trick of Magic ★★★★★Ram V. capably closes out what James Tynion started in Justice League Dark with a conclusion to the conflict with the Upside-Down Man.
Captain America Epic Collection Vol. 18: Blood and Glory ★★Contains the infamous CapWolf story where Captain America gets turned into a werewolf. I think this fallow era of Captain America was directly responsible for Marvel giving this character to Rob Liefeld during Heroes Reborn.
Harley Quinn & the Birds of Prey: The Hunt for Harley ★★★This is just a continuation of Conner and Palmiotti's Harley Quinn run, but with Amanda Conner providing the art as well. Oh, and since this is Black Label the swear words aren't bleeped out.
Just picked up the manga adaption of the Wes Anderson film, “Isle of Dogs”. Very quick read but makes a cool coffee table book. And next on my list is Adrian Tomine’s “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist” and the newest Umbrella Academy story, “You Look Like Death”
Today's trip to the LCS.Serial #3
Batman: The Detective #1 <-- Tom Taylor and Andy Kubert on Batman
Young Hellboy #3
Namor: King in Black #5
Wolverine #11
Thor #14
Scout's Honor #4
Resident Alien #5
Locke & Key / The Sandman: Hell and Gone #1
Rorschach #7
American Family 1976 #7
Autumnal #6
Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow #1
Sweet Tooth: The Return #6
Children of the Atom #2
The Joker #2
Grendel: Devil's Odyssey #5 <--- Finally! #4 came out over a year ago.
My reading week:-7 Billion Needles, vols. 1-4
-Crying Freeman, vol. 2
-Golden Kamuy, vols. 1-6
-H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountain of Madness, vol. 2
-Jormungand, vol. 5
-The Summit of the Gods, vols. 1-5
Mod
-7 Billion Needles, vols. 1-4
-Crying Freeman, vol. 2
-Golden Kamuy, vols. 1-6
-H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountain of Madness, vol. 2
-Jormungand, vol. 5
-The Summit of the Gods, vo..."
WHOA. 7 Billion Needles sounds insane!!
Mod
- Paul: The Department of Truth #7, The Book Tour
- Kate: King of Thorn, Vol. 1
- Nick: Young Hellboy #1
Check out the episode to hear what we thought.
I started Spider-Gwen by Jason Latour but not totally convinced yet.I’m quite behind with everything, especially now the prices are over £3 for most comics so I try to wait for the sales!!
Ria wrote: "I started Spider-Gwen by Jason Latour but not totally convinced yet.I’m quite behind with everything, especially now the prices are over £3 for most comics so I try to wait for the sales!!"
I feel Spider-Gwen never lived up to its potential and always hated the garish color palette.
Chad wrote: "Today's trip to the LCS.Serial #3
Batman: The Detective #1 <-- Tom Taylor and Andy Kubert on Batman
Young Hellboy #3
Namor: King in Black #5
Wolverine #11
Thor #14
Scout's Honor #4
Resident Alien..."
I really want to read Serial, are you liking it?
I found Black Hammer - visions on sale today so starting that :)
Ria wrote: "I really want to read Serial, are you liking it?."Yes, if you liked Rachel Rising, you are going to like this.
I've been all over the place this week:-Once & Future, Vol. 2: Old English
-Lone Wolf and Cub, Vol. 17: The Will of the Fang
-Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 3
-Savage Avengers, Vol. 3: Enter the Dragon
-Ex-Enthusiasts: MotoKare Mania Vol. 5 (I was the first rating! Not sure why I'm still reading this but it's weird and sometimes good.)
-Batman, Vol. 2: The Joker War
-Ultraman Vol. 1: The Rise Of Ultraman
-Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection
Also knocked out a few books for the 2021 IRCB Goodreads challenge:
-Heartbeat
-Waves
-God and Science: Return of the Ti-Girls
Here's what I've been reading this month comic-wise so far. I started the month off with some comics that I received from NetGalley and then I continued reading through my pile of DC and Marvel comics that I have had at home for a couple of years now but never got to reading them until now. 
And you can find my reviews here:
Hal Jordan and The Green Lantern Corps, Vol. 2: Bottled Light
X-O Manowar Book 1
Noble, Vol. 1: God Shots
The Flash: Year One
The Flash, Vol. 12: Death and the Speed Force
The Flash, Vol. 13: Rogues Reign
The Flash Vol. 14: The Flash Age
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 3: Crushed
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 4: Last Days
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 5: Super Famous
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 6: Civil War II
Currently reading Ms. Marvel Vol 1, the original Kamala Kahn run. Been wanting to read that a while!Otherwise want to check out Justice League vs Power Rangers which I've heard is good. I also recently read Harleen which was excellent to!
Last week's adventures in comics.
Geiger #1 ★★I gotta say, I was a bit underwhelmed given the pedigree of the creative team. It was OK. Seems a lot like the video game Fallout.
Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection ★★★Lovesickness is about a town obsessed with having its fortunes told. The local lore is that you stand at an intersection and ask the first person you meet for your fortune. Fortunes begin to go horribly wrong when a teenage boy starts giving bad fortunes.
Gert and the Sacred Stones ★★★A solid fantasy adventure for kids.
Curtiss Hill ★★★Gorgeous sepia-toned artwork in this story about two race car drivers in pre-war America.
The Orville Season 2.5: Launch Day ★★★★Missing Star Trek: the Next Generation? Well then you should really check out The Orville. It's continuing what ST:TNG did best, but adding in more social commentary and a few jokes along the way.
Tales From The Umbrella Academy : You Look Like Death ★★★Klaus gets his own miniseries with an introduction by the actor who plays him.
Everything Volume 1 ★★A slow burning, Twin Peaks like story about a department store moving into Holland, MI in 1980.
Everything, Vol. 2: Black Friday ★★★I did like this graphic novel that closes out the series better than its predecessor miniseries. We get the big answers about what is going on.
Cyberpunk 2077, Vol. 1: Trauma Team ★★★Reminded me of The Raid set in a cyperpunk world. There are these trauma teams that are part extraction groups, part EMTs.
Bill & Ted are Doomed ★★★Evan Dorkin returns to Bill & Ted in a series that bridges the gap from Bogus Journey to Face the Music.
Freaks of the Heartland ★★★Trevor looks after his little brother Will who is treated like a dog by his father. Will is some kind of hulking mutant. When his father decides to take care of Will once and for all, the boys go on the run.
Bandette, Volume 2: Stealers Keepers! ★★★★★I adore Bandette. Full of 6o's kitsch, Bandette is clearly inspired by Audrey Hepburn. This book is so much playful fun.
Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky, Vol. 5: Truth/Dare ★★★★★Zdarsky continues to make this one of the best books Marvel publishes. Daredevil finally decides to turn himself in and face justice for accidentally killing someone with his billy club.
Marvel's Spider-Man: The Black Cat Strikes ★★★A solid entry into the Gamerverse. This adapts Spider-Man and Black Cat's relationship from the 80's and weaves it into the DLC for the game which revolves around the Black Cat.
Avengers by Jason Aaron, Vol. 7: The Age of Khonshu ★★Jason Aaron's Avengers run is officially getting kind of stupid. Moon Knight takes out all of the Avengers one by one with some god like powers because only he can defeat Mephisto... or so he thinks.
Teen Titans Vol. 4: Robin No More ★★★Robbie Thompson takes over and the story revolves around Robin and his decision to start murdering criminals after what happened to Alfred.
Concrete Park, Vol. 1: You Send Me ★★★Concrete Park is something of an Escape from New York set on another planet.
Hellblazer, Volume 9: Critical Mass ★★★★This is a bit of a mixed bag of stories due to three different writers in this one. Once Paul Jenkins and Sean Phillips take over, the book gets good very quickly.
XIII Vol. 3: All the Tears of Hell ★★★★XIII has been framed for the murder of his father and sentenced to an insane asylum.
My recent reads include:
Catboy ★★★ Cute.
Fuck Off Squad ★★★ Nice illustrations. Not much story. (They list the illustrator as first author. Totally appropriate in this case.)
Your Black Friend and Other Strangers ★★★ The title story is the best. The rest is all over the place, and gets a bit sexually graphic.All of those 3 came from indie publisher Silver Sprocket. All publications from Silver Sprocket are available on Hoopla if you want to try them out and have access to Hoopla.
Be More Chill: The Graphic Novel ★★★ A graphic novel adapted from a Broadway SF Musical adapted from a YA novel. I'd never heard of the source material, but it was pretty good.
Dragman ★★★ A guy becomes a superhero when he puts on women's clothes. (Written by a cross-dressing straight cis male, btw.) Cute, but the story didn't really work for me. The bad guy was literally stealing souls and selling them to the devil. Very nice hardcover edition.
Spider-Ham: Aporkalypse Now ★★ Too! Many! Puns! But, well done. If puns and multiverse stories work for you, give it a try.And finally, and not leastly:
Red Sonja, Vol. 1: Scorched Earth ★★★★ This is my first time reading a Red Sonja. I generally like Mark Russell, and this is no exception. His satirical humor is in evidence, but there is some real meat to the story, too, and tons of violence.
My reading week:-Biomega, vols. 1-6
-Bokurano, vols. 1-4
-Crying Freeman, vols. 3-5
-Go with the Clouds, North by Northwest, vol. 1
-Jormungand, vol. 6
-That Wolf Boy is Mine, vols. 1-4
-Wandering Island, vols. 1-2
Mod
Brian: Spider-Man: The Spider's Shadow (2021-) #1
Paloma: Bug Boys vol. 1-2
Mike: BL Metamorphosis, Vol. 4, Strange Academy #1-6
Check out the episode to hear what we thought.
Today's trip to the LCS.Justice League #60
Way of X #1
Carnage: Black, White, and Red #2
Superman: Red and Blue #2
Alien #2
Eternals #4
Spider-Woman #11
SWORD #5
X-Force #19
Nightwing #79
Lady Baltimore: the Witch Queens #2
Things have been nuts so not as much comic book reading as I'd like, here's what I've been working on - full reviews on book pages.
DC Comics: Bombshells, Vol. 1: Enlisted - love the premise but Bennett tries to do too much, and a fantasy villain during WWII felt trite. Also, Sauvage should have illustrated the whole thing.
By Chance or Providence - for the IRCB Goodreads challenge. Absolutely loved this - perfect for fall.
Moon Knight, by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev, Volume 2 - Enjoyment became disappointment when Echo was fridged, Nefaria remained blah, and even though Bendis is Jewish, Marc Spector's Jewishness wasn't addressed at all.
Thor: God of Thunder, Volume 3: The Accursed - I want to read through all of Aaron's Thor run mostly for Jane Foster, and this one was tough to get through. 
The Thing: Idol of Millions: Currently in progress. As much as I love the blue eyed ever lovin' Thing, the pacing was mismanaged. A pointless murder-island story takes four issues, which should have been the one-issue arc on Yancy Street.
Last week's adventures in comics.
Kill Whitey Donovan ★★★A revenge story set during the Civil War that takes its sweet time to reveal why these girls are looking for revenge.
The Hunt Is On (Seekers of the Aweto, #1) ★★★★The colored pencil art in this is just gorgeous. Bright, vibrant but subtle colors with a great use of white as negative space. This reads like traditional Chinese folklore.
Earth Boy ★★★An uneven story about the first human accepted into Galactic Rangers school.
Youth Season One ★Good lord, the art is terrible in this and the story is hardly any better.
Natan Sharansky: Freedom Fighter for Soviet Jews ★★★★★Natan Sharansky was not someone I was familiar with. I was a child while he was a prisoner in a Russian gulag, basically for nothing more than being Jewish and protesting their treatment in Russia.
Black Heroes of the Wild West ★★★★A short graphic novel perfect for kids focusing on three people proving it wasn't only white men who tamed the Wild West.
The Black Ghost Season One ★★A terribly uneven story about a alcoholic journalist who becomes an awful, drunk vigilante.
XIII Vol 4: Spads ★★★XIII is an long running European comic about an assassin with amnesia. In this one, we finally find out the true identity of XIII through an incredible amount of exposition.
XIII Vol 5: Full Red ★★★★This story of XIII comes to a close as the conspirators' coup attempt comes to fruition.
XIII Vol 6: The Jason Fly Case ★★★★XIII goes in search of his past, uncovering that his father was murdered when he was a teenager.
XIII Vol 7: The Night of August Third ★★★★★This arc about the death of XIII’s father concludes.
XIII Vol 8: Thirteen to One ★★★★The identity of I (The person behind the attempted assassination of the President) is finally revealed. It’s a bit crazy so don’t think about it too much.
XIII Vol 9: For Maria ★★★XIII gets embroiled with some rebels in a made up Latin American country when someone tells him a story about his missing 6 years of his life.
XIII Vol 10: El Cascador ★★★★XIII is captured and put on trial by the new government of Costa Verde where he finds out once and for all if he was El Cascador.
XIII Vol 11: Three Silver Watches ★★★XIII learns the true history of his family. (At least for now. He's thought his father was 3 different people now.)
XIII Vol 12: The Trial ★★★★★Van Hamme brings the series full circle as General Carrington kidnaps the President and puts him on trial for the murder of the former President.
XIII Vol 13: Top Secret ★★★★Van Hamme's version of The Most Dangerous Game
X-Men/Avengers: Onslaught Vol. 2 ★★★This middle volume of the event is mostly filler. If you enjoy the New York based heroes fighting Sentinels, then this may be your thing.
Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer, Vol. 9: Sins Rising ★★Ugh, I'm so sick of this Kindred story that has literally went nowhere for 47 issues and counting now. He just gives Pete some bad dreams while bugs crawl around the page. Then he resurrects the Sin Eater in a dumb story where he shoots people and eats their sins along with their powers. This also ends mid-story instead of collecting it with the next volume.
My reading week:-Bokurano, vols. 5-11
-Buffy#23
-Day of the Flying Head
-Dorohedoro, vol. 7
-Buffy: Faith #1
-Firestorm #55
-Jormungand, vols. 7-9
-Oblivion Song #30
Mod
- Mike: Way of X #1, The Many Deaths of Laila Starr #1
- Brian: Life is Strange Vol. 4: Partners In Time: Tracks
- Kait: Eoin Colfer Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel
Check out the episode to hear what we thought.
This week's trip to the LCS.Nuclear Family #3
Robin #1
Crossover #6
Abbott 1973 #4
Black Widow #6
Cable #10
MODOK: Head Games #4
New Mutants #17
Once and Future #18
Shadow Service #7
X-Men Legends #3
Batman: Black & White #5
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I Read Comic Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Many Deaths of Laila Starr #1 (other topics)Eoin Colfer: Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel (other topics)
Life Is Strange Vol. 4: Partners in Time - Tracks (other topics)
Way of X #1 (other topics)
Natan Sharansky: Freedom Fighter for Soviet Jews (other topics)
More...
Don't forget to check in on the Goodreads Reading Challenge! This year's list is absolutely incredible.
And if you need even more recommendations, you can check out what the IRCB crew is reading on the weekly Top of My Pile posts on Patreon! (Post go public after a week)