Mystery In Space one shot

[thwhtGuardian]

Man do I wish the title of this thread read Mystery In Space Ongoing! Seriously, I'd love an ongoing anthology title like this that featured some of the best talents out there writing fun and unsettling sci-fi short stories.

Dark Horse presents is fun but I'd kill for an anthology that focused purely on sci-fi like this one shot. It was just a blast to read from start to finish. I think my favorite feature was Asleesp to See You by Ming Doyal, I'm not one for romance stories but it was really well done and it really touched me. I could do with reading stories like that every month, stories that take you out of your reading comfort zone and expose you to things you'd never imagine you'd enjoy.

[Melfice]

Yeah I picked this up last night! I'm looking forward to reading it soon!

[Eris]

Man do I wish the title of this thread read Mystery In Space Ongoing! Seriously, I'd love an ongoing anthology title like this that featured some of the best talents out there writing fun and unsettling sci-fi short stories.

Absolutely agreed. My main thought when I finished reading this was how disappointing it was that there wouldn't be another one, because I loved it.
Unusual stories, an unusual degree of diversity, and unusually unobtrusive adverts ;)

"Asleep to see you" and "Transmission" were probably my favourites because the characters were so brilliant. Asleep showed so much, it was genuinely touching, and I think I did go "Aww" at the end. With Transmission spoilers:

the seeming flippancy of the statement in the opening, then the progression all the way through to the wince at twenty-seven billion, and the smirk on the Ambassador's face for "Not anymore. It's already too late for you"... the expressions won the story for me. I liked how Cortex's eye kept changing to emphasise it's mood too.

end of spoilers. Breeching came close for the same reason. I really felt for the guy and spoilers:

I felt gutted on Taran's behalf when Niyvat didn't go through with the pact :(

end of spoilers
The Elgort created a world within those pages, and it did it well. The artwork was brilliant and detailed, and if these people live in a place with spoilers:

killer walking-whale creatures and metal-eating plants I want to know why her hair scares them :p

end of spoilers. Contract high was interesting, but it's a shame Sandor's dialogue made me wince. Good art though - spoilers:

The "They Told me" panel... those are some crazy eyes (that image reminds me of someone though, but I can't think who. A musician maybe? :|). Then the next page with his 'city' and the looks Pavel and Sandor give him, and then each other in reaction - silent, simple, and yet they say so much

end of spoilers.
That Allred piece at the end was surreal, great framing story for the art though, and the "Is this beautiful? Is this good?" page most certainly was beautiful.
I think the only story I wasn't overly fond of was "The Dream Pool". Something about it irritated me, and the art for that story was... offputting (even more so than Here Nor There, where the creepy faces worked).

This was definitely my favourite of the books I picked up this week, and I'd love to see more stories like these.

[Desaad]

What is Sebastian Fuimara on?

Because his work is AMAZING. That is next level stuff, people. UNBELIEVABLY beautiful. I'm just flabberghasted.

[thwhtGuardian]

Yeah, I didn't care for the Dream Pool at all. I just didn't care for the art at all, so much so that it was a chore to slog through.

Sebastian Fuimara was on the Contact High story, it was sort of like Horton Hears a Who meets the Dark Side of the Moon.

[Desaad]

Sorry, by 'what is he on' I meant "what drugs is he taking?". I felt his work here was the stand out.

[FanboyStranger]

I flipped thought it in the store, but passed because they had a good deal on the three volumes of Jodo's Technopriests. I could have skipped Resurrection Man, I guess.

[thwhtGuardian]

Sorry, by 'what is he on' I meant "what drugs is he taking?". I felt his work here was the stand out.

Ah, I get you and I agree it was definitely one of the better stories in the book.

And you definitely should pick it up Fanboy Stranger, it was a blast to read.

[Pixie_Solanas]

Great installment. These Vertigo 7.99 anthologies are shaping up to be some of the best buys from the company in a looong time.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

I flipped thought it in the store, but passed because they had a good deal on the three volumes of Jodo's Technopriests. I could have skipped Resurrection Man, I guess.

Technopriests is one of those rare books where the art just kills it for me and I don't want to read it because of it.

EDIT: WAIT NEVERMIND! I'm confusing Technopriests with Megalex. It's Megalex whose artist I don't like but Technopriest's artist is the one who also did the Before The Incal stories and he's fuckin great.

[FanboyStranger]

Technopriests is one of those rare books where the art just kills it for me and I don't want to read it because of it.

EDIT: WAIT NEVERMIND! I'm confusing Technopriests with Megalex. It's Megalex whose artist I don't like but Technopriest's artist is the one who also did the Before The Incal stories and he's fuckin great.

Yeah, Beltran's work is just a little too plastic and perfect for me, but Janjetov is a master. He's slick, but his stuff still has a lot of life to it.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

That and I really hate the way he draws women especially dem breasts; bleh. Not my taste.

[Pixie_Solanas]

My favorites:

1. Nocenti's married strife with Schroedinger's cat (the expression the wife gives as she jauntily "flushes baby away" is priceless)
2. The anthropologist, with art by Kyle Baker
3. The threesome in space, art by Fiumara

My least favorites
1. Ming Doyle's love story (a little too treacly)
2. Wm Kaluta's whatever the hell that was (what was the payoff? Nothing)

[custodes]

Yes, this was a superior comic no matter how you look at it. More please DC. I see we all have different favorites but, you have to admit one thing....it makes you think and want to discuss it.

[Gellio]

I thought this was definitely worth $7.99.

Personal favorites: The Elgort (I'm a big fan of crazy sci-fi world-building; this one reminds me of old-fashioned sci-fi magazine shorts but with a cool African vibe). The gay-threesome, space-scow story was pretty good too (whoever DC's gay superhero turns out to be, it won't be as cool as this... unless it's Superman that comes out of the closet, which would rock my world). The last story, "Alpha Meets Omega", rounds out my top three (very cool philosophical speculation, cosmic and human all at once, with fantastic art).

The only one that made me angry was the submariner / creepy-faces one written by Ann Nocenti. It's even darkly funny, which I normally like, but something just wasn't right this time.

I started reading comics about a year ago (<New 52) and picked up The Unexpected on a whim, then made sure this one was on my pull list. Pretty consistently good, so I'll be looking forward to more of these anthologies.

Question for the more knowledgeable: do these come out on a regular basis (say, two per year), or is it just kind-of random?