What comics are you reading now?

1st Among Equals · Post by **1st Among Equals** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 4:12:14 am

I'm recently picked up the first deluxe hc of Y the Last Man, and had to instantly order the rest after completion. Great series, haven't read something that actually made me care for the characters in a while. Also read the first tpb of East of West and Manifest Destiny. Although I don't like stories that are overly simplified, I had to reread parts of East of West a few times and was still a bit lost. Manifest destiny was great, I'm a huge history buff, so to see a different take of history is always fun.

-Tony

The Dirt Gang · Post by **The Dirt Gang** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 7:53:30 am

1st Among Equals wrote:I'm recently picked up the first deluxe hc of Y the Last Man, and had to instantly order the rest after completion. Great series, haven't read something that actually made me care for the characters in a while.

Y The Last Man was a great series. I agree with you about the characters. I missed reading about them once I'd finished it.

grendeljd · Post by **grendeljd** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 8:03:58 am

lorddunlow wrote:
The Dirt Gang wrote:
lorddunlow wrote:More V for Vendetta. More awesome.
This one I've been meaning to check out for a long time now. I'll have to track it down.

Now that I'm reading it, I can't tell you how upset I am that it has taken me this long to read it.

Welcome to the rest of your life after reading one of the best comics ever written. Yet another one of Moore's top masterpieces, IMO. My wife loves this comic too, Evey is one of her favourite female characters in comics.

grendeljd · Post by **grendeljd** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 8:11:07 am

The Dirt Gang wrote:Appleseed Book 1 by Shirow - I love this book. There is some really great artwork here. Shirow and Otomo are two masters of cityscapes and Briareos is one of my all time favorite character designs. Shirow has some of the best mechs as well. I still remember the first time I found a copy of Appleseed as a kid. I was completely mesmerized, I'd never really seen anything like it and of course that was the only copy I could find at the time.

I love that book too!! And for all the same reasons you listed above. Awesome technical detail in the cityscapes & mecha, and Briarios is an amazing character design. I also had a hard time finding it as a kid, and when I did it usually couldn't afford it,

It totally sucked me in to the setting, & I still only have two issues of it, despite the fact I have always counted it amongst the bigger influences on my artistic inspirations.

I really should try to track more down now!

Have you watched any of the animated movies they've made over the last ten years or so?

The Dirt Gang · Post by **The Dirt Gang** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 8:40:19 am

grendeljd wrote:
The Dirt Gang wrote:Appleseed Book 1 by Shirow - I love this book. There is some really great artwork here. Shirow and Otomo are two masters of cityscapes and Briareos is one of my all time favorite character designs. Shirow has some of the best mechs as well. I still remember the first time I found a copy of Appleseed as a kid. I was completely mesmerized, I'd never really seen anything like it and of course that was the only copy I could find at the time.
I love that book too!! And for all the same reasons you listed above. Awesome technical detail in the cityscapes & mecha, and Briarios is an amazing character design. I also had a hard time finding it as a kid, and when I did it usually couldn't afford it, It totally sucked me in to the setting, & I still only have two issues of it, despite the fact I have always counted it amongst the bigger influences on my artistic inspirations.

I really should try to track more down now!

Have you watched any of the animated movies they've made over the last ten years or so?

I have not. I was just thinking about those. Have you seen them? Are they any good?

The only beef I have with the book is that the story can be hard to follow. I am on book 2 now and it's a lot of socio-political drama. I don't know if it's a fault of the original writing, translation or my feeble mind.

The gun platforms in book 2 are awesome looking, I can definitely see the influence on Paul Pope's work. Manga/Anime really have some of the best designed cities and machines. The Japanese really have a knack for that stuff.

kjjohanson · Post by **kjjohanson** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 1:17:05 pm

Has anyone read Wildfire from Top Cow? (Dunlow? I know you like Matt Hawkins's work.)

lorddunlow · Post by **lorddunlow** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 2:09:10 pm

kjjohanson wrote:Has anyone read Wildfire from Top Cow? (Dunlow? I know you like Matt Hawkins's work.)

I did read it. (I couldn't purchase it digitally for various reasons that I can get into after answering the actual question.)

I think my expectations were a little too high. I need to read it again to see what I think. Overall, it's a good read. There just wasn't much substance. Lots more decompression in this book than his other stuff that I've read. I do like the characters and the premise. It will be interesting to see where it goes, but overall the first issue read more like a preview than an actual #1.

I think a #1 should really deliver a solid tone and direction for the book and I don't think that was accomplished. I'm sure I'll read the rest of the title as it was an enjoyable read. I will say I really enjoy his "Science Class" section in the back of his books, but wasn't too enthralled by this one - and it's a subject with which I have much interest.

Also, it's only a 4 issue mini, so you might wait to see if it gets collected in a TPB.

Just skip the below if you don't want to hear my rant about the digital availability of this book

The digital thing. I don't understand what the deal is with this book. I actually conversed with Matt Hawkins on Twitter concerning the digital availability as I buy almost all of my Image books directly from them DRM free. However, Wildfire is not available on the Image site. You get directed to WOWIO's website where you can purchase a DRM-free PDF. You can also get it with DRM from Comixology (of course).

Matt Hawkins told me it was only available from WOWIO because they own it. I'm not exactly sure how that works since it's made by Top Cow and I thought all of Image's books were creator owned, but what do I know. I don't even know who the hell WOWIO is. There are a few problems I have with this:
1. PDF sucks. It just does. All of the PDF issues I have of anything look like crap. I believe this is due to poor formatting, but either the art or the lettering looks pixelated (and sometimes both) in PDF comics.

2. The main reason I like buying directly from Image is there no middle man taking a cut just for distributing something that is really not much work to distribute (I mean every single comic ever written is readily available from the hard drives of random people's computers around the globe). This is a pointless middle man. That just takes money out of the creator/publisher's pockets.

3. I don't want to give my personal information to another company just to buy a book that should be available from a service that I already gave my information to.

4. Matt Hawkins stated that WOWIO has exclusive rights to distribution (except Comixology because they are the Wal-Mart of comics) until October (as I recall). This ALWAYS bothers me. Exclusivity deals are annoying. I hate when video games are exclusive to one device. I hate when apps are on one device. At least in those cases, however, there is an actual logical reason in that it requires some extra work to make sure your game/app will run on the different devices and you have to be able to offer support and updates to each separate device. With media, it requires more effort to limit it to one service. iTunes exclusivity annoys me the most. If an artist releases an album that has "iTunes" exclusive tracks, I pirate those tracks because I disagree with that practice. Exclusivity agreements mean one thing: the owner of the media is more interested in a quick buck than making sure it is available to everyone. That's annoying.

Sorry about the rant. I went to purchase this book from Image the night it released and I tweeted Matt Hawkins all of these questions. It really riled me up.

chriskay99 · Post by **chriskay99** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 11:54:00 am

I got Velvet #2-5 over the weekend and just read through them all last night. Didn't think I would enjoy it that much since I tend to go for superhero comics but it was really good. Might have to add this one to pull list!

caxiotis · Post by **caxiotis** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 7:25:27 am

Read the following image books yesterday:

C.O.W.L #1- 2.5/5 - I did not think it was the best story. It was lacking somewhere. Don't plan on continuing with this series.

The Wicked + The Divine #1 - 3/5 - I am not sure about this story. It drew me in with the concept and monologue, but not sure it can keep up. I will probably buy the tpb when it come out.

Witchfinder The Mystery of Unland #1 - 3.5/5 - Good story and premise. Excited to read more.

kjjohanson · Post by **kjjohanson** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 11:24:00 am

I read Spread yesterday. Decent, but I think there are some obvious comparisons to TWD and Manifest Destiny. Could help it if readers want more of that sort of thing, or hurt if people think it's a knock off/riding on the coattails of the success of similar books. Will give it a few issues to see where it goes.

Cyberstrike · Post by **Cyberstrike** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 5:40:48 pm

The Twelve #6 in TPB.

The Dirt Gang · Post by **The Dirt Gang** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 11:02:51 am

I was browsing the comic shop yesterday and saw Tom Scioli's Transformers Vs GI Joe. What a great looking book. I am a big fan of Scioli's artwork and the coloring in Transformers Vs GI Joe is fantastic. I've never seen anything like it. I recall hearing him in an interview say he used crayons but I could be wrong. Since flipping through it, it's been stuck in my head, so I think I'll pick it up today after work.

lorddunlow · Post by **lorddunlow** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 1:32:38 am

kjjohanson wrote:I read Spread yesterday. Decent, but I think there are some obvious comparisons to TWD and Manifest Destiny. Could help it if readers want more of that sort of thing, or hurt if people think it's a knock off/riding on the coattails of the success of similar books. Will give it a few issues to see where it goes.

I read Spread just now (swung by my LCS finally todsy) and I'm loving it as much as one can with a first issue. Sci-fi/fantasy are derivative genres by nature so I don't mind at all. If you're going for that criticism TWD and Manifest Destiny weren't the first to do this kind of story either. Having Hope as the expositive narrator though is very reminiscent of Saga.

I'll be subscribing to this, I think. Methinks I'm a Justin Jordan fan. I plan to pick up Luther Strode.

Still reading V for Vendetta - still awesome.

Probably gonna re-read East of West. It's the #2 comic book ever. #1 shall be permanently held by V for Vendetta. Sandman is a very close #3. Chew is looking to be top 5 for me as well.

kjjohanson · Post by **kjjohanson** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 3:26:19 pm

lorddunlow wrote:TWD and Manifest Destiny weren't the first to do this kind of story either.

Understood, but they're what's getting attention now

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 4:12:13 pm

Spider-Man 2099. This was good, but felt like a light read. Something about the art bothered me though. I'm not sure if it's because it has that digital look or the coloring, but something was off.

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:59:31 pm

Everything I read is old, since I don't buy new comics.

Recent reads include Rising Stars, Proof, Grrl Scouts (Jim Mahfood) and currently reading the John Byrne run of Alpha Flight. Rising Stars is highly recommended, a very original concept, IMO. Proof is great, why have there not been any additional mini series after Endangered? The first issues of Alpha Flight have some great John Byrne art, much better than the sloppier stuff he put out in later years. The stories are nothing to write home about, though.

The Dirt Gang · Post by **The Dirt Gang** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 3:40:14 pm

lorddunlow wrote: Probably gonna re-read East of West. It's the #2 comic book ever. #1 shall be permanently held by V for Vendetta. Sandman is a very close #3. Chew is looking to be top 5 for me as well.

I just finished Chew Vol. 5. It is a great series. Very clever and unlike anything else I've read. The stories are very meaty (no pun intended) and I love all the visual humor. All the artwork gags probably help make it feel like a heartier read.

Sweet Tooth Vols. 4-6 - I really liked Vols. 1-3. Vols. 4-6 were good but not as good. I think it's the danger in post-apocalyptic settings. They all seem to go into familiar territory of trying to survive all the bad folks in the world. Cormac McCarthy's The Road handled this type of world the best. That being said, the final issue of Sweet Tooth was a great.

Appleseed Vol. 2 - Very good, albeit a bit confusing.

Transformers Vs. GI Joes FCBD - Didn't pick this up at FCBD but found a copy at a local library and it was a lot of fun. I love Scioli artwork and his use of color. The kids really enjoyed it as well.

Brother J wrote:Grrl Scouts (Jim Mahfood)

How is Grrl Scouts? Chew reminded me of Mahfood artwork. I loved his stuff we he first popped up on the scene but haven't heard anything about him in awhile.

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 4:05:09 pm

The Dirt Gang wrote:
Brother J wrote:Grrl Scouts (Jim Mahfood)
How is Grrl Scouts? Chew reminded me of Mahfood artwork. I loved his stuff we he first popped up on the scene but haven't heard anything about him in awhile.

Pretty off the wall stuff, the Grrl Scouts sell drugs door to door by disguising them in Girl Scout Cookies boxes. A large corporation called Nykee is mad because they feel they should be controlling all the drug trade in the city, so they send some assassins out to kill the girls. Not something I would typically seek out, but a friend of mine is a fan of Mahfood, so I gave them a shot.

grendeljd · Post by **grendeljd** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:50:13 pm

The Dirt Gang wrote:
grendeljd wrote:
The Dirt Gang wrote:Appleseed Book 1 by Shirow - I love this book. There is some really great artwork here. Shirow and Otomo are two masters of cityscapes and Briareos is one of my all time favorite character designs. Shirow has some of the best mechs as well. I still remember the first time I found a copy of Appleseed as a kid. I was completely mesmerized, I'd never really seen anything like it and of course that was the only copy I could find at the time.
I love that book too!! And for all the same reasons you listed above. Awesome technical detail in the cityscapes & mecha, and Briarios is an amazing character design. I also had a hard time finding it as a kid, and when I did it usually couldn't afford it, It totally sucked me in to the setting, & I still only have two issues of it, despite the fact I have always counted it amongst the bigger influences on my artistic inspirations.

I really should try to track more down now!

Have you watched any of the animated movies they've made over the last ten years or so?
I have not. I was just thinking about those. Have you seen them? Are they any good?

The only beef I have with the book is that the story can be hard to follow. I am on book 2 now and it's a lot of socio-political drama. I don't know if it's a fault of the original writing, translation or my feeble mind. The gun platforms in book 2 are awesome looking, I can definitely see the influence on Paul Pope's work. Manga/Anime really have some of the best designed cities and machines. The Japanese really have a knack for that stuff.

I've watched part of one of them, can't recall which off the top of my head. It was on Netflix - I started on it & had to stop, kind of forgot to get back to it. It was entertaining though, and I do want to take time to see them all at some point.

grendeljd · Post by **grendeljd** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:53:28 pm

The Dirt Gang wrote:I was browsing the comic shop yesterday and saw Tom Scioli's Transformers Vs GI Joe. What a great looking book. I am a big fan of Scioli's artwork and the coloring in Transformers Vs GI Joe is fantastic. I've never seen anything like it. I recall hearing him in an interview say he used crayons but I could be wrong. Since flipping through it, it's been stuck in my head, so I think I'll pick it up today after work.

Is this a new TF vs. GIJoe? My all time favourite is the world war 2(?) era mini series drawn by Jae Lee many years back.

And I have much love for the original Marvel one, primarily for nostalgic reasons.

grendeljd · Post by **grendeljd** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:55:04 pm

kjjohanson wrote:I read Spread yesterday. Decent, but I think there are some obvious comparisons to TWD and Manifest Destiny. Could help it if readers want more of that sort of thing, or hurt if people think it's a knock off/riding on the coattails of the success of similar books. Will give it a few issues to see where it goes.

Damn, I missed out on this - didn't get to the store last week, and no copies in there today. I was looking forward to checking it out.

dornwolf · Post by **dornwolf** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:31:18 pm

Only title I read on a continued basis

Edison Rex 16

The Dirt Gang · Post by **The Dirt Gang** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 3:40:43 pm

grendeljd wrote:
The Dirt Gang wrote:I was browsing the comic shop yesterday and saw Tom Scioli's Transformers Vs GI Joe. What a great looking book. I am a big fan of Scioli's artwork and the coloring in Transformers Vs GI Joe is fantastic. I've never seen anything like it. I recall hearing him in an interview say he used crayons but I could be wrong. Since flipping through it, it's been stuck in my head, so I think I'll pick it up today after work.
Is this a new TF vs. GIJoe? My all time favourite is the world war 2(?) era mini series drawn by Jae Lee many years back.

And I have much love for the original Marvel one, primarily for nostalgic reasons.

It is the new TF vs. GIJoe. Issue 1 just came out. If you're into TF and/or GI Joe, I recommend checking it out.

Guys like Tom Scioli, Benjamin Marra and Jim Rugg have really been talking up the original Larry Hama GI Joe. I remember enjoying the few issues I had as a kid, especially the Snake Eyes origin issue. I definitely want to check it out again.

Savant · Post by **Savant** » Fri Jul 18, 2014 7:02:33 am

lorddunlow wrote:
kjjohanson wrote:I read Spread yesterday. Decent, but I think there are some obvious comparisons to TWD and Manifest Destiny. Could help it if readers want more of that sort of thing, or hurt if people think it's a knock off/riding on the coattails of the success of similar books. Will give it a few issues to see where it goes.
I read Spread just now (swung by my LCS finally todsy) and I'm loving it as much as one can with a first issue. Sci-fi/fantasy are derivative genres by nature so I don't mind at all. If you're going for that criticism TWD and Manifest Destiny weren't the first to do this kind of story either. Having Hope as the expositive narrator though is very reminiscent of Saga.

I'll be subscribing to this, I think. Methinks I'm a Justin Jordan fan. I plan to pick up Luther Strode.

Still reading V for Vendetta - still awesome.

Probably gonna re-read East of West. It's the #2 comic book ever. #1 shall be permanently held by V for Vendetta. Sandman is a very close #3. Chew is looking to be top 5 for me as well.

Surprised it took you so long to read V for Vendetta......What's your #4 book?

My top 5 are:

V for Vendetta
Watchmen
Sandman
Supreme Power (Straczynski/Frank run, including the short-lived & unfinished Squadron Supreme section)
Planetary

East of West might crack that top 5, but it's far too soon to include the title, as great as it is so far.

Since you seem to have a somewhat similar top 5, I'll need to check Chew out. I'm going to dive right in with that huge deluxe hardcover which collects the first 20 issues.

grendeljd · Post by **grendeljd** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 9:24:38 pm

The Dirt Gang wrote:
grendeljd wrote:
The Dirt Gang wrote:I was browsing the comic shop yesterday and saw Tom Scioli's Transformers Vs GI Joe. What a great looking book. I am a big fan of Scioli's artwork and the coloring in Transformers Vs GI Joe is fantastic. I've never seen anything like it. I recall hearing him in an interview say he used crayons but I could be wrong. Since flipping through it, it's been stuck in my head, so I think I'll pick it up today after work.
Is this a new TF vs. GIJoe? My all time favourite is the world war 2(?) era mini series drawn by Jae Lee many years back.

And I have much love for the original Marvel one, primarily for nostalgic reasons.
It is the new TF vs. GIJoe. Issue 1 just came out. If you're into TF and/or GI Joe, I recommend checking it out.

Guys like Tom Scioli, Benjamin Marra and Jim Rugg have really been talking up the original Larry Hama GI Joe. I remember enjoying the few issues I had as a kid, especially the Snake Eyes origin issue. I definitely want to check it out again.

I see it is listed on this weeks releases at my LCS. Definitely going to take a look - I haven't bought into all the various GIJoe/TF crossovers throughout the years, but I'm always curious each time one comes along.

I'm also a big fan of the original Larry Hama Marvel run of GIJoe, collected it quite a bit back when it was being published & I have around 120 issues of it - so that's great to hear it's influencing the creative team. I like the sound of your recommendation.

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