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Comics Read This Week?

 
  

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Krug
06:42 / 06.10.03
Why isn't there such a thread here?
 
 
sleazenation
08:40 / 06.10.03
Because people seem to have prefered having dedicated threads for each issue or title - the alternative could get full of thread rot very quickly.

However, it could increase the variety of comics talked about - what do people think?...
 
 
The Falcon
13:34 / 06.10.03
I'm into it, but only 'cos I'm curious to see what other people are reading. My own list will reveal what a mainstream comics whore I am, and then I'll be mocked by the 'cool' indie fraternity.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
13:39 / 06.10.03
Sleazenation is right. There are good reasons why we don't have this sort of thing here. Also, it is notable that a lot of us don't buy comics on a weekly basis. Some of us don't read many series that come out on a monthly frequency, too.

To humor you, I bought New X-Men #147 and Human Target #2 this weekend, and they both ruled.
 
 
Aertho
14:19 / 06.10.03
I like this idea.

I can't remember what I bought last, but I'll list what I do have swimming in my head.

Promethea 27
End of the World FUN! Everybody probably knows how much I love this series, but I'm left a little put off by the way this issue unfolded. It was a guarantee that Sophie was gonna start the Apocalypse, but it felt less like a story as much as a sweeping of little elements(Desrault's song, the Smee, everybody seeing "mom", sexual rapture) all colliding together. That's the point I guess. But America's Best is coming back and I'm gonna want Dennis and Bill to kiss by the time this series is done.

The Planetary Reader
Got the Planetary softcovers, and this issue encapsules the issues I missed between them and 16. I liked it. Adventures of Young Snow versus Dracula, the Lizard Men, and Sherlock Holmes was fun. I like this series, but there's such a individualistic righteous tone in Snow that I thought should've died with poor Sparks.

Reign of the Zodiac 1 and Reign of the Zodiac 2
Weird. I had no idea what the kcuf was going on until I read through them both together for the fourth time. Geffen does things to language similar to what Casey was doing in Steampunk. Everything is olde and mythic, and the art looks good. I'm intrigued to see what Sagitarrian architecture and fashion looks like. I have a feeling it's gonna be bogus eventually, but it might yet prove fun.

New X-Men 147
Yeah, it ruled. Esme is a little Emma. She wants a strong father figure too. And what the hell happened to telepathy culture? I'd love for Xavier to make good on his threat that his mind is the strongest weapon on the planet, but I have a feeling this devastation is all really happening. I think Tom Coates is right. Wolverine might die, Phoenix ressurrests him, and dies -goes conceptual- herself.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
14:25 / 06.10.03
Hmm. I feel NXM #147 rocked, but did not rule.

Human Target #2 definitely ruled.

Nah, I don't really feel the need for these threads either. We're better served by threads that discuss either individual issues, or series as they go along.
 
 
bencher
15:28 / 06.10.03
Picked up a few recent issues of Finder, #31 and #32. Really nice, have been thinking of picking up early stuff, I think I had a peek at it a while back, and Carla's art has really developed a lot. It's really funny, especially liked #30, which is a great stand-alone issue I think.

Endless Nights. Yeah, as did everybody else, I know. The Death, Delirium, Despair, Desire stories were all great stuff. Dream's story was a nice treat, but no buzz. Destiny's was a graphic delicacy. Destruction's story I have to read again...

La Perdida #3. The story continues to develop, and I cannot emphasize enough how well Jessica Abel handles her main character, Carla, as she continues on her journey of self-exploration in Mexico. Is anyone else reading this?

Monkeysuit #1. Have the fourth volume, the first one's a bit old, but really good. Can't remember the exact named from the book, Rex Steele(which also appears in #4) is very entertaining, and the story where the girl marries a boogeyman was hilarious(wait till you see what the baby looks like).


Hmmm... not sure if this thread is as useful... but, as mentioned, it's good to introduce new stuff... I wouldn't have started a tread on Monkeysuit...
 
 
Murray Hamhandler
16:04 / 06.10.03
Yeah, the thread will probably die a quick death and then sink into the mire. But we'll have fun w/it while it lasts.

Longshot #1 (which I actually just mistyped as "Longshit", which would have been an infinitely funnier character name...): Read as part of my project to chronologically read through Claremont's original X-Men run, including related titles and in trying to put off Secret Wars II as long as possible. Eh. It was okay. Something about Ann Nocenti's writing really appeals to me insofar as it almost always reads as if it were written under the influence of mental illness or drugs or both...but in a good way. It's just so off and disjointed. But she's been an editor for years and the more "essayish" stuff I've read of hers is very straightforward, so I don't think that she's majorly damaged or wasted or anything. It's probably just a strange affectation or some postmodern stylee that's zipping right over my head.

Schizo #1: Good god, Brunetti. Lighten up already. There's some funny stuff here, but it's dark. I like Ivan Brunetti's stuff for the most part, based on his anthology work that I've read, but the "way-sick humor" trope (as currently perpetuated by Brunetti, Johnny Ryan, et al.) definitely has a limited shelf-life.

NXM #147: Again, it was okay. It seemed very filler-ish. I can appreciate this title on the basis of its soap-operatic, month-to-month hyper-rushed style, but I honestly think it works much better as one long story. And this was a chapter where not a whole lot happened. Which is cool. So: Sophie is answering to a higher power (or at least has Magxorno in her pocket). Cool. Question: what are those metallic spire-things that Magxorno keeps wrenching out of the ground? Did I miss something?

Mostly I'm too busy to read a whole lot of stuff right now. I've got about 3 months worth of comics piled up and awaiting my perusal come Christmas-break time.
 
 
Persephone
16:12 / 06.10.03
Why can't we have both? I think surveys are interesting.

I got NXM #147, which I thought was only okay. Why does Charles have to be so easy to take advantage of? It makes me mad.

I also got the two American Splendor anthologies that came out after the movie. They both rock and rule.
 
 
Mr Tricks
16:20 / 06.10.03
These threds have appeared here before... usually with a date associated with 'em...

SO What I've read:

New X meN 147

Reign of the Zodiac:
curious read... great art but I fear it won't last a year... anyone remember Giffen's VEXT

Formally known as the Justic League:
I used to love this series.. but I fear it's time has past... whilr the art is gorgous I'm just finding it boring... I barely got through this latest issue.

Wonder Woman:
Well I couldn't help but check it out... with Greg Rucka as the new writer... I like where it's going... I may pick it up again.

Promethea:
WoW!!!

Y the Last Man:
I first picked this book up out of curousity and continued reading it with that same curiousity that one slows down to check out a car accident. I'm soo glad I stayed as the book keep getting better and better. The Art is Fab... perfect for the story.
 
 
Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo
16:56 / 06.10.03
I like the idea...do we need to have a different thread each week, tho? I could see this one getting HUGE and unwieldly.

Of course, we could do it like the Late Night thread is Conversation where when it gets to a certain size, we just start a new one.

I read Alias this week, and if this is the way the series is ending, I don't know if I like it. I have LOVED Jessica as a character, but the fact that she is running scared now makes me think the series will end with her facing down The Purple Man and ending her fears...which is OK and all, but so much less that I would expect from this book.

Treehouse of Horror was great, as always, and I am just amazed that there isn't more discussion about the Simspons comics. They are better than then TV show for the past year or two.

I also picked up 4 of the issues of Jack Kirby's OMAC series from the mid 70's. It's GREAT weird fun with kajillions of weird concepts on each page. I can't believe DC published it, let alone kept it going for 8 issues.
 
 
Persephone
17:19 / 06.10.03
(I don't think that a huge thread would be cluttery. It could be like the "What are you currently reading" thread in Books.)
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
17:25 / 06.10.03
I'm starting to get the impression that I'm the only one around here who really loved the new New X-Men. Seriously, I think it's one of the best issues of the series!
 
 
MojoJojo
17:50 / 06.10.03
For me:

New X-Men #147

I liked it, but wished that more happened in the issue. I miss "Xorn" already.

Promethea #27

Fell asleep halfway through the book yesterday. Wasn't boring or anything, just dead tired.

Wolverine: Snikt #4

99.99% action, but I didn't mind it. The artwork was enough for me (partly manga but done in violent sketchy/grimy lines.
 
 
bio k9
20:44 / 06.10.03
New X Men 147 is so three weeks agos.

Maybe we should have a Comics no one talks about thread. People could post about whatever series/issue they want and if there is enough interest someone can go off and give it a thread of its own. It would be a nice little catch-all for series that not a lot of people seem to be reading.
 
 
sleazenation
21:11 / 06.10.03
La Perdida has been discussed here and there's plenty of room for more debate in there...


What did i pick up this week?

Comics international

cerebus 294

crimson dynamo 2

and the latest new x men

none of them really excited me.

I'm hoping that the end of morrison's run isn't going to be as dull as it appears to be at the moment.
 
 
Panic
22:19 / 06.10.03
Since I wasn't expecting it, I was elated when a big, new THB turned up in my box thursday. I'm going to sit down later with the previous issues cuz I don't remember what's happened in the past several months since he did 100%

Also, CAIN by Barreiro and Eduardo Risso. A bleak, violent nearfuture revenge tale with Risso's brilliant b&w art.

Scott Morse's SOUTHPAW from AdHouse. Format's similar to a Big Little book with one panel per page, beautiful two color art. The story of a little tiger who boxes robots, continued from the PROJECT: TELSTAR anthology.

And of course, Wildcats, Y, Fables and Human Target singles. Bueno excellente.
 
 
Mr Tricks
22:36 / 06.10.03
Wildcats v3:
Yeah... I'm liking this read... Great art and a nice blend of action, ideas and comedy. I think the TPB just came out as well... worth picking up if you have't been following the series...

also in terms of this thred... maybe listing it per month... Comics you this month or some such...
 
 
sleazenation
22:44 / 06.10.03
southpaw was fun - the panel that reads(and i paraphrase)

"i hear that boxing tiger has a robot for a coach"

tells you all you need to know about the story...
 
 
Krug
05:58 / 07.10.03
Well I'd say something but Persephone said it for me.
I read very few new singles anyway and save my limited cash resources for trades.

I'll be on later to discuss what I read this week.
 
 
Spaniel
08:26 / 07.10.03
My juvenile taste

NXM: Dull and slight with some nice art, imo.

Alias: Worst episode in the Purple storyline so far - what was all that self referential bollocks? Still entertaining however.

Ultimate Spiderman: Yep, I've the entire run. Love its earnest, back to the eighties vibe. Oh yeah, that it comes out twice a month is a bonus.

Ultimate 6: Bendis does the Ultimates and shows Millar up for the Twat he is. Hey, the Sinister 6 actually manage to be sinister.
 
 
Sax
08:33 / 07.10.03
Human Target 2! Rapidly becoming my favourite comic and could well be the only one I buy once Grant's run finishes on NXM (despite my local Comic Shop Guy's veiled and mysterious warnings that "the new writer will make your jaw drop to the floor. I can say no more.")
 
 
fluid_state
15:19 / 07.10.03
Yeah, this is a good thread. Some comics need referrals, and some need warnings.

Ultimate Six : wholeheartedly concur with Bobossboy. Comic designed for trades, and yet it doesn't suffer from the atrifically drawn pacing that plagues comics of it's ilk. It actually thrives on it. (and about the Ultimate line in general, Six in particular: the "Boss" good guys are plotting, scheming bastards, just like the villains.)

Amazing Spider-Man 499: I love this book. I've seen a few complaints about the current storylines and characterizations, but as far as I'm concerned it's just about the perfect adult Spidey.

Lone Wolf and Cub Volume 5: why didn't anyone ever tell me how good this stuff was? Got volume 4 on a whim last week, and now its a staple. I think Frank Miller saw this, talked to Claremont, and loaded Wolverine into his catapault to popularityville.

NXM 147: kind of subtle; New York's destroyed, humans are being hunted like animals, the heroes are so absent they're lost, and my only reaction was: "Yeah, and?"... just like all of Magneto's subjects. jaded, careless, and looking for expensive, fleeting rushes. Much like my comic purchasing habits, actually.
 
 
Jack Fear
16:47 / 07.10.03
solid state saith: Lone Wolf and Cub Volume 5: why didn't anyone ever tell me how good this stuff was?

Dude.

Dude.

No, seriously, DUDE.
 
 
Krug
18:36 / 07.10.03
Last of the Independents: Matt Fraction seems like an intelligent and funny enough man, which is why I thought I'd buy his book.
And it was a mistake. Not my cup of tea this and am selling it.

NXM 147: Blah. A junkie magneto is the last thing I needed. This is all turning into a retread of making your villains idiots at a point where you hate them, as seen Riot at Xavier's. QQ, the coolest character was only doing it for the girl and to be, like, famous. I might be the only one but Grant's run has more often than not, disappointed me. I did like how the twist was executed last issue, but I'm not entirely pleased with the idea of Magneto coming back. As shocked as I was last issue, I feel a bit cheated thinking how the series was nothing like pre-Morrison and won't be post-Morrison. Can't say when there are still seven issues left, but I've already stopped missing the book and can't wait for his DC work.

Ultimate Spiderman 47: 3 years into the thing, I'm not sure why I read this, because it's not the best comic and it's a Spiderman comic.
Maybe because it's a very good comic. It reads the same every month but without boring me.

Y the Last Man 15: All right, this is still interesting but Vaughan should get off his arse and put in a little more effort to his "to be continued"s.

Persepolis: Slightly irritated at the comparisons to Maus, it was still a very good read. Satrapi's unbiased look at the Islamic Revolution kept me interested. Am looking forward to the next one whenever it gets published.
 
 
sleazenation
20:46 / 07.10.03
ON Persepolis - comparisons with Maus are at the same time both understandable and utterly unfair - they both tell massive stories in tiny pictures - they both have autobiographical elements and have historical backdrop. But Satrapi's book lacks the complicated funny animal metaphor that underpins Maus and despite its often bleak subject matter Persepolis is a far warmer, funnier book.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
20:58 / 07.10.03
Blah. A junkie magneto is the last thing I needed. This is all turning into a retread of making your villains idiots at a point where you hate them, as seen Riot at Xavier's. QQ, the coolest character was only doing it for the girl and to be, like, famous.

This is such nonsense. It just seems like you're missing the point - it's not about making them idiots, it's about making them human. I think the issue was really about figuring out what would happen if Magneto was actually real, and was allowed to run rampant. It's a story about his flaws as a person, and serves to counteract years of "but Magneto's really a good noble guy, really" bullshit. This is what he really is, a vain, narcissistic, megalomaniac bent on genocide, but with no real plan for what comes next. He's a child, emotionally. I'm glad that Morrison foregrounded the obvious rather than clinging to Claremont's old romantic tragic figure.

Quentin Quire, on the other hand, was just an angry kid with a mind clouded by drugs, who wanted to fit in and had a crush on a girl and that made him do stupid things. He's a pretty typical teenager, really. It was very true to life.

Quentin and Magneto are the antagonists, they aren't meant to be Cool (though they seem that way at first), but with both stories, we're being shown what happens when you take their aggressive radical ideas and put them out in the world. They fail, and it becomes clear that it's not been about changing the world at all, it's always been about their fragile egos.
 
 
Krug
00:02 / 08.10.03
I'm not missing the point Flux, I just don't like how it's done.

You can make them human without making them look like sad scum who can't even engender sympathy. Quite a changeover I think and not very well done.

But that's my opinion.
 
 
Spaniel
07:53 / 08.10.03
Ultimate Spiderman 47: 3 years into the thing, I'm not sure why I read this

Because it has verve, because it is fun, because it's wonderfully trashy, because it comes out so frequently you never have to consider whether it's worth pursuing.

Sorry, you sounded like you were apologising for your taste.
 
 
Krug
09:10 / 08.10.03
Nah it's good fun mate.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
10:47 / 08.10.03
Yeah, I guess there's no agreeing when my position on Magneto is that he is "sad scum who can't even engender sympathy." Well, he is sympathetic, but only because he's such a pathetic old man.

Say, wasn't there recently an entire issue of Ultimate Spider-Man where Spider-Man wasn't really in it, and it was just a full issue of Aunt May talking to her psychiatrist? Talk about losing the plot entirely! Isn't this supposed to be a kid's comic?
 
 
Krug
11:37 / 08.10.03
All ages yeah.
 
 
Spaniel
11:46 / 08.10.03
TBH, Flux, I think you're being a little unfair. Yes, there was an issue devoted entirely to May's counselling, but, looking at the run as a whole, it was an aberration.

If anything Bendis has been piling more action and soap-operatics (an essential component in any spider-childhood) into the comic of late. Yes, I admit that the book can drag occasionally, but its frequency almost always guarantees that there will be at least one episode on the racks packed full of spider justice.

Anyway, who's to say that Peter's problems don't engage the kids. Speaking for myself, from age 11 I had huge hang-ups about school, girlfriends, my social life and over-bearing authority figures.

Sure, some of this stuff won't appeal to the little ones, but then you can always grab them the Spidey-dukes-it-out-with-Sand-Man issue.

Besides, it's not really for the kids. It's for big babies like me.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
11:59 / 08.10.03
Peter Parker's problems are one thing. He's Spider-Man.

Aunt May's are another. She's Spider-Man's aunt.

Having an issue without Spider-Man, but rather his elderly aunt talking to her therapist, yet still having an action shot of Spidey on the cover is a rather vile bait and switch, and it's exactly what's wrong with mainstream superhero comics now. It's like they don't want kids to like them.

If you're going to write a Spider-Man comic, write a fucking Spider-Man comic. But if you want to explore Aunt May, maybe you should try to find a better venue for that sort of thing. It just seems like entirely too many writers are trying to do stories than have only a tangental relationship to what the comic is about - see also the past few years of The Hulk, in which the Hulk almost never appears and it's about Bruce Banner and his efforts to deal with his troubled psyche. These may be interesting stories, but they really shouldn't be Hulk and Spider-Man stories.
 
 
Spaniel
12:38 / 08.10.03
One of the reasons I like Ultimate Spiderman is that it usually does involve plenty of Spiderman.

Whilst I enjoyed the May issue, it did feel like wasted space, and perhaps a little disingenuous.
That's not to say, as I'm sure you'll agree, that the book shouldn't explore May's psychology up to a point. Kids are used to ensemble entertainment; they will have an interest in the supporting characters. The question is, how far should a creative team go in exploring that interest - at what point does it become boring, unfocussed and superfluous?

In fact I would argue that kids' comics should promote sympathy, understanding, and empathy with almost, if not every, character in the book. I believe that Bendis has gone further than most hacks in that direction.

I'd be the first to admit that he does lose it from time to time, however.
 
  

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