What Did You Read? May 23, 2006

[pmpknface]

Just thought I'd start another one of these. Here's what I cranked out reecently:

BATMAN: Year 100 - Very cool. Damn cool. Nice to see Paul Pope donein color too. Man, that guy has some style! 4 prestige format books and not 1 ad. If this is collected look for it.

Lady Snowblood Vol. 1 - Not bad! I kind of like the change of art style and the sexy violence is right up my alley. I'll stick with this series!

Samurai Executioner Vol. 9 - Man, this is good stuff. Most of these stories were self contained, but then there was one with "the kappa" that was good too. :) I think this series is almost over, and I haven't decided to get Crying Freeman yet or not.

This weekend I also bought 3 new long boxes and did a little re-org in the comic room. As far as I can tell, I think I've got:


41 long boxes
28 cubes full of comics
and about 40 feet of trades


I couldn't think of another way to judge how many trades I have except in feet! :D

So, what'd you all read?

[torippu]

It's been a busy week, but here is what I have been reading:

52 Week 2 - still need to read the History of the DCU back-up. I've decided that I'm going to wait until I've read 2~3 months worth of issues before passing judgement. Right now, it's slow going and I find that I'm most interested in the Booster Gold & Steel storylines.

Fear Agent #4 - I'm hoping that the shipping delays aren't killing interest in this book as I absolutely love it! The only thing I wonder about is why this book is so late when I think that it was announced at SDCC 2004 and didn't start shipping until Sept/Oct/Nov 2005. Did Tony Moore bite off more than he could chew by agreeing to pencil a Vertigo series as well? Also, what the heck happened to that B. Clay Moore/Tony Moore western that was announced at the same time as FA??

Superman/Batman #25 - What a disappointing end to the Loeb run that I think started out with a whole lot of promise. Nice Ed McGuiness art - especially the page with all of the Supergirls flying into the Source Wall. In the end, I really do think that the shipping delays really hurt my interest in this book. I'm on board for the next couple of issues (especially the one with Kevin Maguire art) and will then reassess my pull list when issue #28 ships.

100 Bullets Vol. 6~9 - Technically, I'm only half-way through Volume 9 - but anticipate finishing it tonight (unless watching the ALIAS finale gets in the way). That's an absolutely great website (http://www.100bullets.sevenpennynightmare.co.uk/index.htm) that Jaime found last week - I've been referring back to it all week! Next to Hang Up on the Hang Low, Wylie Runs the Voodoo Down/Coda Smoke run a close second as my favorite arc through the first 60 issues. Is there any other artist out there that could convey the mood/feeling/atmostphere of a story set in New Orleans/Lousiana (or anywhere else in America or Paris for that matter) better than Eduardo Risso? How does he pull that off? He's Brazilian, right? I wonder what type of reference he uses for the art on this book? You don't see many interviews with them, but I'd love to hear a wordballoon interview with Azzareallo & Risso sometime before this series ends! I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to wait until December before the next collection is released.

Trip

[dancj]

The Authority: Revolution books 1 and 2 - Good fun. Not Brubaker's best by a long shot, but still enjoyable.

Batman: Hush vols 1 and 2 - Passable art and a barely passable story. Not really worthy of the love or the hate that surrounds it.

Thessaly: Witch for Hire - I enjoyed this. Of all of the people who tread in Neil Gaiman's footsteps at Vertigo, Bill Willingham seems to be the only one who doesn't want to be Neil Gaiman. Instead he churns out light-hearted stories without all the pretensions.

Swamp Thing: Love in Vain - The first four issue arc was a confusing mess of a story. The two parter that followed was better, but not much. Nice art though. The main artist reminds me a bit of Philip Druilet. I've already got the trade that follows this, but if it's not a huge improvement that's me done with Swamp Thing. No one else seems to be able to come close to the standard set by Moore, Veitch and Millar

Dan

[pmpknface]

Glad you liked that site Trip. It's chock-full of info, but if you arent' caught up to date there is a possibility of spoilers for you.

Dan - Glad you liked Thessaly. I finished all the Sandman vol's, the Dream Hunters, Endless Nights, and both Death tpb's a few months ago. I didn't want to get into any of the related Sandman stuff until that was done.

Got any recommendations on any of the other items? I've heard good things about Lucifer. Maybe I'll get into that?

Oh - I think I actually did get the Merv Pumpkinhead 1-shot when it came out. I had no idea it was Sandman related at the time, I just loved the cover. :D
http://www.marsimport.com/images/SANMT14A.jpg

[dancj]

Got any recommendations on any of the other items? I've heard good things about Lucifer. Maybe I'll get into that?

Lucifer is decent. The firsts TPB isn't that great, but from the second one onwards it's much better. It has been flagging a bit recently though (IMO). It's very much in the vein of Gaiman's Sandman - but probably the best (ie only decent) book that is.

Destiny: A Chronical of Deaths Foretold is arty farty Gaiman wannabe rubbish.

One book I do recommend is Sandman Presents: Taller Tales, which collects the Merv Pumpkinhead one-shot, the Thessaliad (4 issue mini which Thessally: Witch for Hire is the sequel to) and some issues of The Dreaming, all of which are written by Bill Willingham.

I haven't read the other Dreaming TPBs, but I haven't heard great things about them

Dan

[pmpknface]

Cool. Thanks!