What did you read? 11/2006

[pmpknface]

The last one if these was getting old, so I thought I'd start fresh! ;) Here the recently read list:


THOR: Eternals - finally finished it
Rick Geary's Asassination of Abraham Lincoln - excellent! As were these 2..
RG's CRAVAN
RG's Mystery of Mary Rogers
BATTLE POPE vol. 1 - Wow... this is out there...
STRANGE KILLINGS: Necromancer - Still need 1 more vol of this series.
Will Eisner's THE PLOT - almost done
LADY SNOWBLOOD vol 4 - last vol.
SPIDER-GIRL VOL 7 BETRAYED DIGEST TP - I'm sooo hooked on this.
FANTASTIC FOUR FIRST FAMILY TP - Good.


And then there's the issues:

WARREN ELLIS BLACK GAS 2 WRAPAROUND CVR #1
CIVIL WAR YOUNG AVENGERS & RUNAWAYS #4
AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #2
ANNIHILATION #4 - ALL MUST BUY THIS BOOK!!! :eek:
BULLET POINTS #1
DOCTOR STRANGE OATH #2
MARVEL LEGACY 1980S HANDBOOK
WOLVERINE ORIGINS #8
FAMILY GUY VOL 3 GN (OF 3)
SHE-HULK 2 #13
LADY DEATH BLACKLANDS WRAPAROUND CVR #1
LADY DEATH DARK HORIZONS ACTION CVR
AGENTS OF ATLAS #4 - ANOTHER GEM!
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #27
IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #2
BEYOND #5
FANTASTIC FOUR THE END #1

[goman]

Not too much reading done this week.

Read the first few chapters of Hiroaki Samura's OHIKKOSHI on your recomendation. Very different from his BotI stuff, but still good.

Hellcity, I guess you could call it an OGN but it's just the first part of a series from Gigantic Press. I guess the best way to describe it would be a supernatual detective story about the residents of Hell if it was New York City mixed with a prison and run by Satan, which I guess is a good description of New York City already. Not bad, certainly worth checking out if you can find it. Between this, Rotting in Dirtville and Dead West Gigantic is becoming a nice niche publisher. They had a nice write up in this weeks Publishers Weekly comic book email.

Reread Civil War to keep the series fresh in my mind, and continued a bit more into Cerebus vol. 15. Then whatever I bought last week. I wish I could remember all the books I read.

[pmpknface]

Not too much reading done this week.

Read the first few chapters of Hiroaki Samura's OHIKKOSHI on your recomendation. Very different from his BotI stuff, but still good.

Glad you liked it! Actually, I just finished that too. I thought it was pretty funny, but I liked the stories at the end better than the 1st, longest one.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

I started OHIKKOSHI the other night. It's nice to see that style of art applied to a different genre. The Japanese romantic comedy is always a bit loopy to my Westernized tastes, but it's still fun.

-Augie

[pmpknface]

OHIKKOSHI - The 4th wall breakages always caught me off guard. I actually still have to read the footnotes in this....

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

The footnotes would be a lot easier to deal with if every page had a page number on it. I don't believe they did. ARGH

But it does clear up a couple of things.

-Augie

[goman]

At least the footnotes aren't as numerous as they are in Ghost in the Shell, but at least they're on the same page in that one. I think I found it easiest to read the footnotes after each chapter in OHIKKOSHI.

[dancj]

Ohikkosshi eh? I don't know that. I just looked at the cover on Amazon and it reminds me of Seth Fisher's art - which is a million miles removed form BoTI. That's another addition to my "wants" list.

The main reason I hadn't started this thread myself is that I've read so little recently, still here's what I've got....

Promethea book 1 - Read for the Pipeline Book Club. I loved the art and liked the superhero stuff, but some of the lecturing on magic bored me a bit - and I know that side gets worse in later volumes.... The best bit is still Weeping Gorilla!
Rocketo v1: Journey to the Hidden Sea - This was good. The art reminded me of those old Russian posters of Lenin and the like. Very nice and expressive with an enjoyable story. For some reason even though this was fast paced it took me an age to read. I think placing it in such a different world slows down my reading somehow. I'll definitely be back for more of this
The Flash 1-3 - This wasn't nearly as bad as you'd think from looking at message boards. The art is pretty mediocre (with the the exception of Karl Kerschl's fill-in in issue 3 - That guy should be made the regular artist) and the story isn't outstanding, but I'm still interested.
Girls v1: Conception - This was enjoyable. My biggest problem is little things like the title and covers and the fact that the women are naked. I don't have a problem with that per-se. The nakedness adds to the creepiness and the way they "arrive" it wouldn't make sense for them to have clothes, but really I'll feel embarassed trying to explain it if anyone sees it on my bookshelf. "No it's not tittilation - it's a zombie story where the zombies are all naked women..."

[torippu]

I read everything that I bought this week:

Civil War #5 - Loved it!
Astonishing X-Men #18
Invincible #36 - another fun issue. Starting to love the Shapesmith character.
Catwoman #61
Birds of Prey #100 - it's going to take a while to get used to the new agents. New artist Nicola Scott was decent, but I'm a little disappointed as I was starting to warm up to the Sequira(sp?)/Riggs art team.
Ms. Marvel #9
Gen 13 #1 - blah, one and done for me. Sorry Gail!
52 Weeks 27 & 28
Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #4 - art looked a little rough in spots, but I may finish up this mini as opposed to dropping cold turkey like I had planned.

[pmpknface]

Dan - I LOVED Rocketo!!! I asked Erik Larson, and there IS a 2nd vol coming. I think the whole series is set to go 36 issues, 3 12-issue arcs. So hang around!

And GIRLS is very cool. It's ending wth #24, which is about 6 months away and we have 3 tpb's already. I think #3 arrives this/next week. And screw being embarrassed! Female nudity = a :) pmpknface! Hey.. It's all for the sake of art, right?

[torippu]

It's still November so here is what I read over the Thanksgiving holiday:

Amazing Spider-man #536 - this was an OK issue. I was a little distracted that the fight between Tony & Peter from CW#5 didn't match up with the fight in this issue. And then mid-way through the issue, there is a time jump into events after CW#6. I was really hoping to see a resolution to the ending of CW#5 in this book.

Ultimate Spider-man #102 - another Clone saga issue. I haven't checked online yet - were the complaints as loud about this issue as the previous ones? I thought that this issue was better than the last couple. I also think that Andrew Hennessey's inks are a good fit with Bagley's pencils.

The Walking Dead #32 - Good stuff from Kirkman & Adlard. It finally looks like we are getting a resolution to the current arc.

Wonder Woman #3 - It's too bad that Heinberg is so busy with TV these days because this book is really good for non-WW readers like me.

52 Week 29

Ultimate Spider-man Vol. 7 & Vol. 8 - Read these yesterday. The Geldof issues still are pretty bad. I do love the issues in the Cats & Kings book. I've always liked the Kingpin and Black Cat issues of USM. One other thing that I'm convinced about, of all the inkers that have been used for Bagley, Art Thibert's work has been my favorite.

[goman]

I read Blade of the Immortal Vol 15: Trickster yesterday, so I'm all caught up now. The last two trades were really good, with a lot of fighting. Now I just need to catch up with my pile and start BotI from the beginning again.

[torippu]

After scarfing down the last of my green bean casserole at lunch today, I read:

Punisher War Journal #1 - eh, this was OK. I didn't like the Ariel Olivetti art as much as I thought that I would. It's a bit strange hearing Frank Castle make pop culture references in his journal.

Secret War #1 ~ 5 - Got these off of eBay for $5.00 a couple of weeks ago. I think that they are all first prints as well! Does anybody know if there is an easy way to figure this out by looking at the covers (I don't see anything listing them as second prints in the blurbs as the bottom of the credits pages). This was a fun read, although I'm glad that I waited until the mini-series was completed before reading. The wait between issues would have killed me. Now some of the New Avengers plot threads make a bit of sense to me (Fury in hiding, Daisy Johnson).

[dancj]

Are we doing a whole month in one thread now? Okay...

The Flash 4 and 5 - It's really not all that bad. Nothing special, but I'll carry on reading
Grey vol 1 and 2 - These are a fun couple of Manga books. I think I'm not made for reading manga action sequences. I tend to see loads of explosions and people jumping and then try to work out who's still alive afterwards.
Alan Moore's Twisted Times (bathroom book) - This is a good selection of old Alan Moore 6 pagers. The standard was generally not as good as Greyshirt or Jack B Quick, but a lot better than Splash Brannigan and The First American.
Teen Titans v2: Family Lost - This one didn't grab ne nearly as much as the first volume. Maybe if I was more familiar with Raven, Jericho and Deathstroke I'd have cared more, but I'm not and I didn't

Dan

[pmpknface]

Got in a new DCBS box last night. Gave the new Previews a quick look. You know, reasearch. ;)

I readPunisher War Journal #1 - Pretty cool! I like how he fits into all the CW stuff.

Also flipped through the new Handbook to the MU. I'd have read more but HEROES and STUDIO 60 were on.

[goman]

Grey vol 1 and 2 - These are a fun couple of Manga books. I think I'm not made for reading manga action sequences. I tend to see loads of explosions and people jumping and then try to work out who's still alive afterwards.


I need to break out my copies of Grey and read them again, haven't read them in years. I always liked that series, espcially the designs of the robots, with the creepy Easter Island heads floating around, blowing crap up. Sometimes it's hard to follow manga action, especially when the images have been flipped. It could also just be the style of the artist. Sometimes I have to do what you do while reading US comics.

Got a bit further into my stack from last week. Punisher War Zone was decent, I liked the art. The writing was very Fraction, especially when you read Cassanova in the same night, which was decent, but that book really confuses me sometimes. It's one of those books where I'm not sure if I'm confused because of myself and my reading habits, or if I'm confused because the writer/artist is not explaining as well as he could. it's still a cool book, and I'd like to see them experiment more with different colors. Dead@17 #2 was meh, probably soon to be dropped, and Frontline was okay, and had a fairly big Civil War plot-point in what may have caused the whole big thing, and it doesn't bode well for people who like Iron Man. The Atlantis stuff will probably be important once Civil War #6 comes out.

[torippu]

The Flash 4 and 5 - It's really not all that bad. Nothing special, but I'll carry on reading
Dan
You are a brave man, Dan. After investing so much time and emotion (and money) into Wally West as the Flash, I found the first three issues of this relaunch to be terrible. Having a more consistent art team (Karl Kerschl would have been an excellent choice as the regular artist) would have helped. But when it comes down to it, the story just wasn't there.

At least DC has acknowledged that they effed up this relaunch. With Marc Guggenheim coming on as regular writer with #9, I may give this series a looksie again in a couple of months.

[dancj]

Sometimes I have to do what you do while reading US comics.

Me too - but (on average) it's worse with Manga. The worst offender so far for me has been Ragnarok, which I think is Manwa (or something like that - It's Korean)

Dan

[dancj]

Having a more consistent art team (Karl Kerschl would have been an excellent choice as the regular artist) would have helped.

Karl Kerschl's art was very good. He's not an artist I've heard of before, but I'll notice his name from now on

Dan

[goman]

I read a few books from my stack last night and I have to make one recommendation, Nextwave #10. The story was decent, but the standout was the art. Immonen uses no less than 4 completly different art styles. I had to check the end of the book to see if it was all him or if it was guest artists, but he's the only one listed. If you're buying it in trade, and have a few extra bucks, go out and buy issues 9 and 10 (9 so you can understand 10.) It was awesome.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

I had to triple check the credits on NEXTWAVE. I thought Paul Pope had drawn that first Forbush-sequence. Immonen is amazing.

-Augie

[pmpknface]

FORBUSH MAN, check out a MB I'll be getting soon:

http://statueforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10110&d=1120967528

[goman]

FORBUSH MAN, check out a MB I'll be getting soon:

http://statueforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10110&d=1120967528

What's the picture? I can't see it. I want to see 3D Forbush Man.

[pmpknface]

Then let's try this...

(see attachment) ;)

[pmpknface]

CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #8 - Damn good! Osborn is nuts.
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #1 - Liked it!
X-FACTOR #13 - Wish it was 60 pgs!
ALL NEW OFF HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE A TO Z #11 - Excellent!
HEROES FOR HIRE #4 - Not bad...

NEW AVENGERS #25 - Cool. Had no idea who the guy was tho.
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #36 - This is soooooo cool
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #536 - Didn't like the time jump, but ok...
DAREDEVIL #91 - Went by too fast!
RUNAWAYS #22 - Ok...
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #102 - YES!
WOLVERINE #48 - This was way cool. Looking forward to the next few issues. This title has been so friggin good the past few years, now looking back on it. The lead in to the ORIGIN arc was 3 issues too long, but other than that since Rucka/Robinson left this book has been non-stop awesome!

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

OK, the Forbush Man statue is REALLY COOL!

I may need to add that to next year's Christmas list or something.

-Augie

[pmpknface]

OK, the Forbush Man statue is REALLY COOL!

I may need to add that to next year's Christmas list or something.

-Augie

Well... the think is that this isn't being mass produced by a company. I figured I'd get into this eventually with all the talking about statues and stuff.

This is a custom bust. If you want, I can give you the guy's name who's making them and if there's room you can get in on it. After that you can pay to have it "built up" (that's put togather it there are pieces) and then painted. I have 1 custom piece getting made right now, 1 getting painted, and I'm "in on" a few others. I can post pics of them too if ya like (I'll put them over in the statue thread).

This is a whole other aspect of collecting statues that I'm just getting into and would be happy to answer questions about. For a sample of what some people are capable of, check out this thread:

http://statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=12335&highlight=forbush

[De Carabas]

A smattering of trades that I've read in the last month:

The Losers vol. 1: Ante Up--I liked it alot
The Losers vol. 2: Double Down--Very good, but not as strong as volume 1 IMO
The Losers vol. 3: Trifecta--My favorite of the five, I thought the flashback issues were the highlight of the series
The Losers vol. 4: Close Quarters--Again, very good, but not as strong as the volume preceding it
The Loseres vl. 5: Endgame--Hated it. Hands down, the worst of the series, IMO. It even taints my memory of the overall series. It's hard to elaborate without massive spoilers unfortunately, but I would have been happier stopping after vol. 4 and imagining my own ending to the series.

Throughout the whole series, Jock's issues are terrific. He has a very dynamic style that makes the action scenes exciting to read. The fill-in issues by various artists were too hit-and-miss. The second it became apparent that Jock wasn't a twelve-issues-a-year kinda guy, they should have picked a steady artist to rotate with him, ala Epting and Perkins on Cap.

Girls vol. 1: Conception--I wasn't crazy about this one. Maybe I had higher expectations because I enjoyed Ultra immensely, but I did feel it was a bit bizarre for the sake of being bizarre. So, not bad, but I have difficulty recommending. The art is awfully nice though.
Girls vol. 2: Emergence--Is this the same series? I loved it. I decided to give the series one more chance, and I am so glad I did. The reactions of the townfolk range from priceless to scary. That is what sold me, and I guess what was missing from volume 1. The broad stroke characterization of everyone in volume 1 (aside from Ethan and Taylor), came to life in this volume. Volume 1 is required reading to understand this one, but this volume is the reason to read volume 1.
Girls vol. 3: Survival--Just more of what I loved about volume 2. It is getting grimmer and scarier.

Overall, I'm glad I gave the Luna Bros. a second chance. This is a series I highly recommend. I just have one pet peeve: splash pages as the last page for EVERY ISSUE. Some of them have been fantastic, no argument, but it starts to ruin the effect when it becomes so predictable. However, any book that makes me afraid of naked women is not run-of-the-mill. ;)

Invincible vol. 6: Different World--Wow. Sooo did not see that coming. I mean, that is such an obvious and redundant statement when discussing this series, but still...wow.
Invincible vol. 7: Three's Company--Wow. Sooo did not see that coming. See what I mean?

I reread everything before reading volume seven. Not an unheard of practice, to be sure, but the crucial difference this time was I really wanted to reread them. How many series can we say that about? Of course, I caught at least four continuity jokes I had missed before, but that just made the reread that much more fun. "Fun", not critical. If anyone is not following this series, I gotta ask "Why not?"

Justice vol. 1 HC--The art is stunning. I'm an Alex Ross fan, so this is totally satisfying that itch. It is the story that hasn't grabbed me. I spent my entire childhood reading Marvel, so I feel very disconnected from what is going on. I'm not abandoning it. Krueger has written a few things I have really enjoyed, so there is hope for me, but the art is guaranteeing that I'll stick around. And I never make that kind of call.

EM, making up for not posting much with one massive post at a time

[pmpknface]

EM - goad you have you back in the fold! ;)

I also re-read GIRLS 1-2 and then 3 over the long weekend. Vol 1 is kinda setup, to the point where a MAJOR plot point is the last page of the book! But each chapter really gets you. I couldn't believe the end of 3. HOW COULD SHE DO THAT?!?!?! :eek:

Also read Sgt. Fury: Peacemaker - which was pretty damn cool. Ennis just gets it, ya know?

[De Carabas]

I also re-read GIRLS 1-2 and then 3 over the long weekend. Vol 1 is kinda setup, to the point where a MAJOR plot point is the last page of the book! But each chapter really gets you. I couldn't believe the end of 3. HOW COULD SHE DO THAT?!?!?! :eek:
OMG! Shotgun or no shotgun, I'd smack that bi--... um, this is that whole gender subtext thing the writers are going for coming out, isn't it? ;)

See, it's the stuff like the ending to three that has me hooked. Volume 1 left me mumbling "WTF.....?". With only having read volume 1, I could not begin to tell someone what the series is about. Couldn't do it. But after the second issue of volume 2, I was "Oh! It's one of those horror stories where the pressure gets everyone to crack. But with naked girls. F***ing brilliant!"

EM

[pmpknface]

I was reading GIRLS around my parents. Try telling your mother, after she sees the covers, what the story is about. That's a look you won't soon forget. :p