Flabyo wrote: ↑September 8th, 2019, 3:46 pm Started reading ‘Die’ today...

Sounds really interesting, I'll check that out thanks!

I have a Usagi Yojimbo toy on my desk at work, he’s appeared in recent versions of the ninja turtles cartoon, so he got a toy in their line.

Flabyo wrote: ↑September 8th, 2019, 9:47 pm I have a Usagi Yojimbo toy on my desk at work, he’s appeared in recent versions of the ninja turtles cartoon, so he got a toy in their line.

Same!

It's Batman Day!

To celebrate, my co-host and I interviewed Steve Englehart about his time writing Batman and his DC comics career.

I don't know if everyone has read Batman: Strange Apparitions, but it's aces. I wanted more of it as soon as I was done.

https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/inte ... -englehart

Nice one! No, I've not read (or even heard of) that one. I shall check it out.

I just read Weapon X: The Return by Frank Tieri. The first few stories, the Wolverine and Deadpool ones, were actually the first Wolverine and Deadpool comics I had ever read as a teenager and I had the original trade collected the two stories that I loved. The main Weapon X series from 2002 on, well, that wasn't great. But, Lord help me, I read all 28 issues and the Days of Future Now mini series. Even with all that glut, it was a quick read, albeit, a not great one. Lots of inconsistent characters, lots of plot threads that never get tied up. The last couple of issues of Weapon X and the Days mini were better but, yeah, for completest only.

I have read two issues of 303 by Garth Ennis. It is extremely rare for me to bail on a series (I read years worth of Grant Morrison's work on Batman while hating it), especially one so short as this (it's only six issues) but this is just doing nothing for me whatsoever. Disappointing, especially from Ennis.

It's basically about a Russian soldier in Afghanistan, and I believe consists of two story arcs, both three issues each. I might read the third issue just for closure on the first arc, but it's just... shite. Boring, gratuitous, no real plot. I expect better from Ennis, really.

Quick run down of some recent reads

Star Wars: Clone Wars - I've been reading this series on and off over the years but I finally set out to finish the last few volumes. Lots of great stuff in here. The art is always fantastic. Also, thank goodness for Wookipedia helping me figure out what's still canon!
Star Wars: Darth Vader - The Charles Soule series. It's actually pretty on par with Kieron Gillen's Vader series. The big difference is this one is much more about fitting or explaining some elements in the post-Legends canon. But, it lands a lot of the emotional beats. Poor, self-destructive Vader.
Inhumans vs. X-Men - Honestly, after an X-Men kick that lasted since the summer, this burnt me out and left me a bit angry. I'm taking a break from the X-titles for a bit after this train-wreck.
Batman Damned - Do I hate Brian Azzarello on Batman or what. I should have known what I was getting, considering how much I disliked his Joker and Luther books. This did not change my opinion.
Tom King's Batman (Vol. 8-10) - Caught up on my Batman a bit. Vol. 8, the one with Mr. Freeze was fun and I enjoyed seeing KGBeast again, and I liked King's Nightwing. Then Vol. 9 and 10 fell flat on their faces. Tom King is one inconsistent Batman writer.
Batman: Going Sane - I got to interview J.M. DeMatteis about this book! Also, I liked it. Joker thinks he won and has a mental breakdown, cause him to go...sane!
Paper Girls - Finished the series. I think I would have liked reading this all at once and not as the trades were coming out. I thought the ending was just okay and a bit too exposition heavy. It's still a series I would recommend.
Umbrella Academy Vol. 3 - Yeesh. Maybe it's not best to right your ongoing comic series with decades between each volume? I really enjoyed the first two but this recent volume was a mess and left me cold on the whole series.

Do you know whether the Rebirth series Tom King run on Batman has a planned end? I've still got the first two books I've not got round to reading yet. I really loved Snyders New 52 run (genuinely, I think it's the best Batman writing since the 80s) but I enjoyed the fact it was ten volumes and done. It seems like DC are just carrying on with Rebirth now - are the latter volumes still even under the Rebirth banner, or has it now become just 'Batman'? Sorry, I don't expect you have any more idea than me really, just wondered!

Alex79uk wrote: ↑November 26th, 2019, 5:41 pm Do you know whether the Rebirth series Tom King run on Batman has a planned end? I've still got the first two books I've not got round to reading yet. I really loved Snyders New 52 run (genuinely, I think it's the best Batman writing since the 80s) but I enjoyed the fact it was ten volumes and done. It seems like DC are just carrying on with Rebirth now - are the latter volumes still even under the Rebirth banner, or has it now become just 'Batman'? Sorry, I don't expect you have any more idea than me really, just wondered!

It's all the same run and Batman Vol. 11 in titled City of Bane: Part 1. I think the Rebirth label has dropped, but I can't remember when. But Batman, like the Flash and Green Arrow, has just kept chugging along without any real rebooting.

I stumbled across Chris Ware's latest book, Rusty Brown, earlier today and it was an immediate purchase. His Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth deserves its reputation as one of the supreme works of American cartooning. At first glance Rusty Brown looks almost identical in its art-style, landscape orientation and loner protagonist. However I doubt he's spent nearly 20 yeas telling the same story over again. I'm excited to start but I'm also saving it for a rainy day by the window.

I finished Watchmen for the first time ever the other day. Had the book over 20 years...

Erm, yeah it was OK. I guess you had to be there at the time to understand the impact it had on comics as a medium, but I thought it was alright.

Alex79uk wrote: ↑January 13th, 2020, 8:04 am I finished Watchmen for the first time ever the other day. Had the book over 20 years...

Erm, yeah it was OK. I guess you had to be there at the time to understand the impact it had on comics as a medium, but I thought it was alright.

I got it recently for cheap and am a bit tentative about it having read it originally. I think even then, a dispassionate observer was aware of its flaws to some extent. I wonder if it has less impact these days because the Cold War is just a history lesson for most readers.

I read it again in advance of the HBO series and I still think it's brilliant however it doesn't burn quite as brightly these days. Moore relies on large chunks of 'supplemental material' between the chapters to fill out his world and push his themes. But this is a comic and reams of text in a comic book are like audio-logs in a videogame. It's doing the heavy lifting that better writers/designers would have incorporated into the body of the work itself. I dread those sections and I didn't dread them before. Based on that extremely anecdotal evidence it's lost something.

I also think that Moore benefited from being the smartest kid in a very small room. Writing one of DC's greatest ever series, or one of the most important superhero stories of all time, sounds quite hollow when you take stock of the moribund dross that DC and the superhero genre have been puking out for decades. I'm by no means a comic snob and I love a good Batman story as much as anyone, but having ventured further afield into different areas of the medium, Moore now looks a lot less vital. Re-reading Swamp Thing, for example, is a frustrating experience. Moments of explosive creativity, god-tier panelling and purely non-verbal storytelling, jammed right up against honking exposition and silly enemy-of-the-week type jump scares.

I mentioned Chris Ware earlier. Admittedly he's a very different artist in his themes and execution (and he's also a cartoonist as well as a writer) but in my opinion he is aeons beyond Moore or the very best that DC, Marvel and that entire world has to offer. I'm told that Moore is at his best when he's at his most independent and that From Hell, particularly when re-read with the official reader's guide thingy (that unearths all of the lore and references) is fathoms deep and stands up to comparison with anything the medium has to offer. So I'll have to read that and soon. In fact it's sitting on my shelf right now. For shame.

Same. I've had From Hell for the best part of 15 years and never read past the first few pages. It's a beautiful book too. Huge and imposing, almost challenging the reader to pick it up. I will also read it at some point.

Funnily enough, I asked for and received the first two volumes of Saga Of The Swamp Thing for Christmas, having downloaded hooky copies of the comics before. I am actually really looking forward to reading them, but I'm coming towards the end of a full Sandman re-read at the moment, with two volumes at the end I've never read before (Endless Nights and Overture).

EDIT: For some reason I just remembered something Leon said ages ago too, and meant to ask him (if he reads this thread!) - did you ever get around to reading Y - The Last Man?

Hey, ThirdMan, great to see you!

Alex79uk wrote: ↑January 13th, 2020, 8:57 pmhaving downloaded hooky copies of the comics before

Me too.

Of all of the dodgy downloading I've done over the years, I feel zero guilt about the comics. Without those hooky copies I would have never developed a mature interest in the medium. Since then they've cost me a small fortune so I've restored the karmic balance and then some!

Stanshall wrote: ↑January 13th, 2020, 8:59 pm Hey, ThirdMan, great to see you!

Thank you, kind sir!

1. Got here late to the Watchmen talk.
To each their own, but I first read Watchmen in 2003/4, not the 80s, and I couldn't put it down. I think it still holds up and does a lot of things that have been imitated but not exceeded. However, I totally see why people might not like it these days, especially since a lot of what was new is old now. And if you read the stuff that came after first, than Watchmen might seem redundant. In regards to the book and the Cold War, I would love to read Watchmen and not be stressed out about stupid political powers threatening to destroy civilization as we know it. Let me know when that's reality.

2. I just finished Incorruptible by Mark Waid. For one, this whole series probably would have been better if it wasn't connected to the Irredeemable series and was it's own thing.
That connection also made the last volume a mess. And, the whole series just ends. A series that's more interesting as a journey than a destination, but the journey isn't very consistent.

duskvstweak wrote: ↑January 18th, 2020, 6:31 pm 1. Got here late to the Watchmen talk.
To each their own, but I first read Watchmen in 2003/4, not the 80s, and I couldn't put it down. I think it still holds up and does a lot of things that have been imitated but not exceeded. However, I totally see why people might not like it these days, especially since a lot of what was new is old now. And if you read the stuff that came after first, than Watchmen might seem redundant. In regards to the book and the Cold War, I would love to read Watchmen and not be stressed out about stupid political powers threatening to destroy civilization as we know it. Let me know when that's reality.

Interesting! Looking forward to revisiting it now.

Thanks for all the suggestions before, you guys - I have been slowly working my way through a fair few of them. I was going to post an update but my deep ignorance of the medium means that I have some harsh words to say about a lot of them, so I don't think I will.

The latest Humble Comics Bundle is Spawn 2020, issues 123 through 302. Anybody got any experience with these?

I have to admit I bought the Red Sonja bundle last time out. I really like it, bold artwork and entertaining writing, but at the end of the day the primary appeal is probably a statuesque redhead in a chainmail bikini.