Comic Book Chatter

[DomsBeard]

Getting caught up on my reading and Batman 51-53 was up there with the best so far. I was not a fan of how the wedding storyline went but this was superb. I won't say much more for spoiling it but I would recommend

[duskvstweak]

As a life long comic fan, I feel there has been a gaping hole in my awareness and knowledge of the medium for far too long. A hole that should have been filled many years ago, but I've neglected, and with every passing year has only got bigger.

And that's why I'm reading Spider-Man.

From the start.

Yes, never one to do things by half, I'm of the opinion it's all or nothing. I'm like it with movies, games, books, and comics. I've started with issue 1 (well, actually Amazing Fantasy 15, which was the anthology comic he made his first appearance in) and well, I'm loving it!

I read two Spidey books about 20 years ago and didn't like them. So I decided I didn't like Spider-Man, and never went back. But these stories are good! I'm about 15 issues in and loving it. The art is kind of old fashioned, and the dialogue is of its time, but they're totally charming and winning me over.

Good call. I've even put my New 52 Nightwing read through on hold to get a few more issues of the web-slinger's adventures under my belt. Can't believe I avoided him all these years!

Stan Lee's Spider-Man run is fantastic. They were the first Spider-Man comics I read as well, back in 2000-2001 and I loved them. Glad you're enjoying them!

[DomsBeard]

Finally picked up and immediately read Volume 9 of Saga last night.

Still the best non Superhero read in my opinion

[Alex79]

Still have volumes 1 and 2 and never even opened them!

[duskvstweak]

Finally picked up and immediately read Volume 9 of Saga last night.

Still the best non Superhero read in my opinion

I need to get my copy! Gah!
And Vaughan tends to end things with a tenth volume...

[Alex79]

I'm about half way through the New 52 Nightwing run. It's fantastic. Enjoying the way it ties in with the Batman run, which I read as it was released. I know ongoing titles nearly always do this, but this is probably the first time I've ever actually read books that crossover. I usually tend to just read Batman and ignore the rest of the Bat family titles. I may even check out Batgirl and a couple of others after.

[DomsBeard]

I'm about half way through the New 52 Nightwing run. It's fantastic. Enjoying the way it ties in with the Batman run, which I read as it was released. I know ongoing titles nearly always do this, but this is probably the first time I've ever actually read books that crossover. I usually tend to just read Batman and ignore the rest of the Bat family titles. I may even check out Batgirl and a couple of others after.

I have only read the Batgirl/Batwoman New 52 run completely and enjoyed it immensely. I am up to Volume 3 of Batman. Think I picked up Volume 1 of Grayson/Nightwing so have them to read

[duskvstweak]

Oh! I totally forgot to mention, I just read Batman: White Knight! It was a bit messy and got a big too big for it's own story at the end, but I really liked it. It tugged my heartstrings once or twice, even. Probably helps that it references the 90s animated series one or twice. Either way, a great addition to the Bat-mythos.

[Alex79]

Oh yeah I was taking notice of that earlier in the year, and meant to read it when it was finished. I'll check that out.

[duskvstweak]

Oh yeah I was taking notice of that earlier in the year, and meant to read it when it was finished. I'll check that out.

Yeah, the trade just came out a few weeks ago. And they just announced a sequel.

[Craig]

Starting to get through Akira for the first time despite owning the first volume for around 5 years now. It's amazing - wonderful cityscapes and technology you can just kind of feel clicking together satisfyingly. But also kind of dirty and lived in, which is nice. This is more a backdrop to everything else going on and while the central plot is very much scifi based, the way the characters interact with their surroundings doesn't really draw attention to it.

It's also a very different story to the film. The film looks and sounds amazing, though is somewhat muddled in it's storytelling. The manga involves a lot of the same themes, plot points and characters, but they happen in pretty different ways and a lot of it is expanded on.

Just finished volume 2, and will hopefully be picking up volume 3 (of 6) tomorrow!

[Alex79]

Do you have to read it backwards? I bought a couple of volumes of the Death Note manga and really struggled adjusting!

[Craig]

After you read a few manga, you get used to it! I’m trying my hand at the Japanese but according to Amazon reviews at least one of the English editions has been flipped which is either a nice compromise to help western audiences or a shameful betrayal of the original intent of the author and his fine eye for composition depending on who you listen to on the internet!

[duskvstweak]

Yeah, if you have any interest in reading manga on the regular, best to find your way around the books backwards. Otherwise, you'll try a few flipped series and then be lost with everything else. I'll say, even after years of reading them, I still stumble over some pages trying to figure out which panel to follow next.

[Suits]

Japanese car part catalogues used to read flipped too, which was a cool novelty until you really needed to find something.

Fascinating culture.

[Alex79]

So (and I appreciate I could find this information easily online, but I'm here now), when reading a traditionally formatted manga, do I read the pages as 'normal', just in reverse order, or do I read (using an example of a page with four equally sized panels), top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left?

[KSubzero1000]

when reading a traditionally formatted manga, do I read the pages as 'normal', just in reverse order, or do I read (using an example of a page with four equally sized panels), top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left?

The latter. Like this:



From right to left, and from top to bottom. In that priority.

Also, you start the book at the right end and turn the pages from left to right.

Basically, the horizontal axis is reversed while the vertical axis isn't.

[Stanshall]

Starting to get through Akira for the first time despite owning the first volume for around 5 years now. It's amazing - wonderful cityscapes and technology you can just kind of feel clicking together satisfyingly. But also kind of dirty and lived in, which is nice. This is more a backdrop to everything else going on and while the central plot is very much scifi based, the way the characters interact with their surroundings doesn't really draw attention to it.

It's also a very different story to the film. The film looks and sounds amazing, though is somewhat muddled in it's storytelling. The manga involves a lot of the same themes, plot points and characters, but they happen in pretty different ways and a lot of it is expanded on.

Just finished volume 2, and will hopefully be picking up volume 3 (of 6) tomorrow!

Was coming to this thread to specifically say that I've started Akira, finally. It has such a tremendous sense of place and the colour palette is magnificent. The anime is obviously wonderful but this is something else. I'm genuinely thrilled.

[Alex79]

Ha, that's funny, I've got that ready to read after my re-read of Batman Inc, which I'm hoping makes more sense a second time through!

[Alex79]

when reading a traditionally formatted manga, do I read the pages as 'normal', just in reverse order, or do I read (using an example of a page with four equally sized panels), top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left?

The latter. Like this:



From right to left, and from top to bottom. In that priority.

Also, you start the book at the right end and turn the pages from left to right.

Basically, the horizontal axis is reversed while the vertical axis isn't.

Thanks!