Comic Book Chatter

This is the place where you can conflab about all the other stuff besides videogames
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Alex79
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Alex79 »

Inspired by this thread I joined my local library today (it's open on a Sunday!) They had a very small section of graphic novels (it's only a tiny community library) but I took home the first two volumes of Bryan Talbot's Granville (I think its called) which looks interesting, and I've always enjoyed his work. They have a few Batman and Marvel books, as well as Maus which I may check out next time having only read it once many years ago.

Best thing though, is my library card will let me access 8 other libraries in the Walsall area, including the city library which I'm sure will have a much larger section of comics. I also picked up a leaflet for some sort of digital comic library lending scheme as well which sounds great, it boasts over 17'000 titles!

Good call on libraries, lads!

EDIT: Oh yeah, the comics are labelled teen/mature, but there is another smaller section in the kids area for really junior comics, which rather funnily I found a Dark Souls trade in, haha. I popped it back in the mature section!
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Flabyo
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Flabyo »

I read all of Saga by borrowing it for my local library.

Surrey County ones are cool in that the card works in every library in the county, and you can return books to any of them as well. Which is handy because while Guildford’s is good the Woking one has a far larger sci if and fantasy section.

I can also do reservations online from any branch and have it dropped into my local one to pick up for only a quid.
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Craig
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Craig »

Blimey. Managed to finish all 6 volumes of Akira and that was a journey and a half. Stunning stuff.

The first 3 volumes follow a lot of the themes and setting of the movie but with a lot of differences in the story beats.

The latter 3 volumes though - it works almost as a sequel to the film. What happens after Neo Tokyo gets levelled?

It’s a really interesting take on a dystopian future and explores a lot of interesting themes. Although set in the future, it’s absolutely a product of 80s Japan and Hollywood talks of divorcing the two would end up changing things up significantly.

I don’t really want another Akira movie, but I wouldn’t say no to a series so they have the time to dive into the whole world.
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Alex79
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Alex79 »

They've been mumbling about making a series for a few years now, but I don't believe it's ever got as far as starting production. I still need to read this, but have gone through a bit of a dry spell with comics so far this year. Still got books I got for Christmas unread, and ended up having to renew the library books I borrow because of not reading them too. Can't seem to get in the reading headspace at the moment or focus on anything in general really, not sure why.
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Alex79
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Alex79 »

I borrowed Gordon Of Gotham from the library the other day and just finished it.

It's brilliant.

It's a collection of three 4-issue miniseries, all featuring Jim Gordon. The stories really are fantastic, and focus entirely on the GCPD and barely feature the Bat at all. It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite series, Gotham Central.

It's really made me wish there was still a GCPD series ongoing, because there is precious little in the world of Batman comics which really focus on the police procedural side of things. Anyway, highly recommend this collection, one of the best things I've read in years.
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Pitwar
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Pitwar »

Are any of you guys old school like me and still regularly buy single issues? If so, what currently on your pull list?

Mine is:

DC

Action Comics
Superman
Supergirl
Super Sons
Lois Lane (coming soon)
Jimmy Olsen (coming soon)
Batman Superman (coming soon)
Young Justice
Teen Tians
Naomi
Wonder Twins
Dial H for Hero
Flash
Martian Manhunter
Heroes in Crisis
Doomsday Clock
DCeased

Abstract Studios

Five Years

I also read Saga and Paper Girls, but buy these in hardcover so am behind to where the single issues are.

I'd be interested to hear what you're reading monthly.
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by duskvstweak »

No, I haven't bought single issues since college (though, I'll still buy X-Men comics I don't own when I see them).
Now, I'm Marvel Unlimited, sometimes Comixology and my library's collection.
But, I just visited my hometown this weekend and stopped in my old comic shop and was flooded with memories. The place hasn't changed a bit and still smells like it did when I was a teenager. I didn't by anything for myself, but they had packets of complete runs in single issues so I got some X-Men and the Matt Fraction Hawkeye run for my sister, along with volume one of Paper Girls.
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Flabyo
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Flabyo »

All I’m picking up in singles at the moment is The Wicked and the Divine (2 more issues to go on that) and Die (which I might well switch to tradewaiting on).

It costs me something like 20 quid to get to the nearest comic shop, so I’m not really into singles buying much at the moment.
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Alex79
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

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No, I only own one single issue in my entire collection! A Batman issue from the early 00's signed by the artist. I don't even remember who it was, but it wasn't a big name. He was giving them away at a comicon I went to years back.

The trouble is the format of superhero comics means you can't just follow one series, you have to pick up issues from all different series here and there to follow one storyline. It's always irritated me, and the main reason I always just pick up the trades.
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Stanshall
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Stanshall »

Craig wrote: April 14th, 2019, 3:46 am Blimey. Managed to finish all 6 volumes of Akira and that was a journey and a half. Stunning stuff.

The first 3 volumes follow a lot of the themes and setting of the movie but with a lot of differences in the story beats.

The latter 3 volumes though - it works almost as a sequel to the film. What happens after Neo Tokyo gets levelled?

It’s a really interesting take on a dystopian future and explores a lot of interesting themes. Although set in the future, it’s absolutely a product of 80s Japan and Hollywood talks of divorcing the two would end up changing things up significantly.

I don’t really want another Akira movie, but I wouldn’t say no to a series so they have the time to dive into the whole world.
I'm still only just getting to the final third (Tetsuo has just been on a little trip and left a visible mark...) but I have absolutely adored Akira. I know we spoke about it months ago when we'd both only recently started but wow. Again, the anime is stunning but the manga is something else, almost up there with Berserk for me. Can't wait to see where it goes.

I also rattled through Gantz a while back and while it's quite fan servicey in terms of big tits and beheadings and the like, it actually had some really interesting themes and superb action sequences and the plot hurtled and spiralled and expanded at some serious pace. It started so small scale and ended up being something far beyond the initial premise. Arguably it suffered for that, too, but it managed to be both intelligent and dumb, lofty and grubby. That's a tricky achievement.
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Pitwar
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Pitwar »

Alex79uk wrote: April 30th, 2019, 7:11 pmThe trouble is the format of superhero comics means you can't just follow one series, you have to pick up issues from all different series here and there to follow one storyline. It's always irritated me, and the main reason I always just pick up the trades.
That's not really the case these days. A few books cross over when there's a big event but generally titles just do their own thing.

Back in the 90's for example you had to collect every Superman title to follow the story, but now Superman and Action Comics are very much their own stories, even though both are written by Bendis, there's no crossover between the two titles.

Since TPB's took off and many people read in that format, Marvel and DC try to keep the stories contained to one title so it's easier to reprint in trade.

Saying that, if I started reading comics today I'm sure I'd go the trade route or even go digital. However, I own every Superman comic and related title in their first print comic form from the relaunch back in 1986, so I can't stop now :D
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Alex79
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Alex79 »

Wow that's pretty impressive! I must admit I've never managed to really get in to Superman. I've read a few I enjoyed though - I can't remember what it was called but the last one was an origin story where Kent went to work in Africa at one point. That was a good one. I've also got The Death Of Superman or whatever its called to read at some point.
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Pitwar
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Pitwar »

That was Birthright, one of the many retellings of his origin and was pretty decent.

The comic I always recommend to people who don't get Superman is Action Comics #775. It's a one and done story that shows why Supes still means something in this day and age. Well worth a read.
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Chopper
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Chopper »

Hey folks, I haven't read any comics for a long time, are there any recommendations (for graphic novels really, complete story or story-arcs preferred) you can give for best-in-class?

I have downloaded Action Comics #775 mentioned by Pitwar above :D

Also, I've just bought Fables Vol 1 and the Jinx collection. I've read the 'classics' like Watchmen, Swamp Thing and Killing Joke etc before. Surprised to see they still feature prominently on the digital comics sites.

Any recommendations are welcome, thanks!
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Pitwar »

Saga is a must read. Probably the best comic being printed at the moment.
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Alex79
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Alex79 »

Preacher, Y The Last Man, American Gods, Gotham Central, Sandman...

Fables is good, too.
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by duskvstweak »

Outside of what's been mentioned,

Kill or Be Killed
Scott Snyder's Batman run (Court of Owls, Death of the Family, Zero Year)
Matt Fraction's Hawkeye run
Irredeemable
Uncanny X-Force and Uncanny Avengers by Rick Remender
Mister Miracle by Tom King
Superior by Mark Millar
Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman run

I'm sure everyone of us could go on for days.
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Alex79
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Alex79 »

Oh yeah, Snyders Batman run on the New 52 is some of my favorite Batman. It's brilliant. Also, the Nightwing series in New 52 was really fun too.
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Chopper
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Chopper »

Thanks for the suggestions folks, much appreciated.

I read a bit of Fables last night and it was great; really like it. The humour, the framing, the story: all excellent. It really brought home how great a job TellTale did on the Wolf Among Us, really cementing its place as the #1 Telltale game (for me of course).

I struggled a bit with Superman and Action Comics #775. I think it was to do with comic literacy, if that makes sense. I'm not up to date with the idea of universes full of all the superheroes and all the villains, for example (I don't really know anything about superhero stuff), and I found the lettering to be a bit crazy - for example the bolded words are meant to be emphasised in speech, yes? The emphasis seemed to be all over the place here, almost random, and contributed to my disorientation.

I liked the underlying themes and nods to the issues we are having with populism, and will read again when I've mulled it over a bit.
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Re: Comic Book Chatter

Post by Pitwar »

The bold words are probably just a printing thing from back when the issue was published, and not in any way meant to be emphasised when reading.

DC and Marvel still used actual letterers back then rather than relying on computers, so that's why some text can standout more than others.

If you read an Image book like Saga for example, it's very apparent that the lettering is done via a computer compared to by hand.

As far as other good comics that are currently coming out, Naomi from DC is a real sleeper hit and a great read. My review of issue 1 is below if you want an idea of what it's about:

https://youtu.be/jsgR7c87fEI

Mister Miracle by Tom King and Mitch Gerads was recently released in trade and it's one of the best things I've read from the past couple of years. Can't believe I forgot about it when recommending things.
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