Comic Books / Graphic Novels thread

  On 5/5/2019 at 6:52 AM, Braintree said:

I think that's the version with the appendix that details what is historically accurate in every panel. Reading through that was amazing. He really put a lot of effort into that story.

Yeah, it is. I've been flipping through that as I progress as well, really impressive the amount of research that was done, super interesting stuff.

Oh another cool grab I forgot to mention, one of the shops had a handful of old Heavy Metal issues from 1978-1981, grabbed some of the cooler looking covers, the magazines themselves are basically collections of short horror/sci-fi comics and stories, featuring a TON of well known comic artists throughout the decades:

nice find!

I'm mostly into crime comics and this new Vertigo series - America Carnage - is pretty great so far. Reminds me a lot of 100 Bullets without some of the fantastical elements.

I saw Brubaker's Criminal has come back with a new volume. Will check that out for sure.

I am really enjoying this at the moment

  On 5/28/2019 at 10:52 PM, zero said:

I'm mostly into crime comics and this new Vertigo series - America Carnage - is pretty great so far. Reminds me a lot of 100 Bullets without some of the fantastical elements.

I saw Brubaker's Criminal has come back with a new volume. Will check that out for sure.

I've picked up the various issues for the new run, but have yet to read them, plan to get to it when I finish some other stuff.

Also went back and grabbed some more of the old Heavy Metal issues from the shop I found them, including the very first issue. Also been reading the newer ones since Grant Morrison took over as editor in chief, they've actually been pretty decent. Some pretty cool serials going.

Anyone reading Marvel's War of the Realms?  I'm usually down for any Thor or Norse-centric storylines.  Just haven't kept up in a while.

Getting back into Neil Gaiman's Eternals TPB to finish it, also recommend his Norse Mythology book.

Picked up From Hell because of this thread.

Because I didn't want to leave the store empty handed I picked up a copy of the Jack Davis volume of the Mad's Original Idiots series (three volumes of 1950s material from Mad magazine, each dedicated to one specific author, none of which I - having been born well after the 1950s - had ever heard of).

It's surprisingly good. The artwork is very expertly done - classic high skilled American brushwork stuff, only it's distorted like crazy to make it funny - and the stories are ... pretty entertaining.

Risqué, too, at least, if you consider this stuff was aimed at children in the 1950s. In one story, for example, a girl has to choose between a wholesome but boring boyfriend and an attractive but evil one. The evil one forces her to *gasp* sell reefers to kids. The wholesome one, of course, comes to rescue her but in the end she chooses to stay with the evil one because she likes the money she can earn by selling reefers to little children.

Made me chuckle, anyway.

Ana Galvañ - Press Enter To Continue

Weird short stories, vaguely sci-fi, vaguely screwed up stuff either inside someone’s head or maybe it’s actually real - hard to determine. Also hard to determine where this falls on the scale that runs from interesting  to pretentious. Difficult to follow, too, but the last story was quite good and I also liked the one about the circus featuring a romance (maybe) between a trapeze artist and something called “the human doll”. Has an unsettled dream-like quality I like.

Intriguing.

The last new physical issue of Mad Magazine released today.  End of an era.

Walt Simonson returning to do another run on Thor.  Made my day.

https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/the-8-best-stories-of-walt-simonson-s-legendary-thor?linkId=76328525&fbclid=IwAR2-mOuU0BGEMoQWdryp79XVjjsZVNz2_5ROvnuCnzWOFmh6cCQa991vcpw

Amusing premise: immigrant mothers all across Europe are giving birth to blonde, blue-eyed children.

The story, unfortunately, sticks rather closely to tried and true Hollywood thriller formulas, with virus outbreaks, brave  journalists and evil mega corps, and the art is a bit bland, but there’s enough odd quirks to keep this interesting.

Blurb here: http://www.europecomics.com/album/the-danes/

Preview here: https://bdi.dlpdomain.com/player/dqdzuIxryB6Cj6n1To1Whmw16ye5FCMj.html

Pim Bos - Tremen

No words, just gray paintings telling a story about ... dunno. Some guy moves around on some ... thing, in some ... desert?

Nice and mysterious and probably ultimately just a load of nonsense in that 1970s Moebius (Arzach) vein.

Y'all know dis?

Longshot Comics

Just dots and speech bubbles, p. cool.

Been reading a lot of Wrightson's Swamp Thing lately, and also managed to snag this book pretty cheap

  On 3/29/2020 at 10:12 PM, IDEM said:

Y'all know dis?

Longshot Comics

Just dots and speech bubbles, p. cool.

 

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Interesting. Nice find.

Just got an email from the local comic shop that the printers have shut down and no more comics are being made in the US.

http://theconversation.com/comics-vs-coronavirus-comics-industry-shut-down-for-the-first-time-in-almost-a-century-134971

  Quote

 

On March 23, Steve Geppi, CEO of Diamond Comic Distributors, announced the closing of the distribution system that holds a near-monopoly on the circulation of comic books in North America. He cited a number of problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic: comic retailers can’t service customers, publishing partners are having supply chain issues and shipping is delayed. He wrote his “only logical conclusion is to cease the distribution of new weekly product until there is greater clarity on the progress made toward stemming the spread of this disease.”

New Comics Day has occurred every Wednesday since the creation of the direct market in the 1970s, as die-hard fans rush to buy new books before spoilers pop up online.

But no longer: This week, for the first time in more than 80 years, no new comic books will ship to shops, and production is on hold into the foreseeable future. No previous global event — not the Second World War, not 9/11 — has previously shuttered the comic book industry.

 

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  On 4/1/2020 at 3:44 AM, Braintree said:

Just got an email from the local comic shop that the printers have shut down and no more comics are being made in the US.

http://theconversation.com/comics-vs-coronavirus-comics-industry-shut-down-for-the-first-time-in-almost-a-century-134971

 

Wow ... truly the end of an era. 

I highly doubt they will start up the printers again after this is over, seeing as that so many of these comics were already distributed electronically even before this decision was made.

This is terrible for comic book stores. Even my local comic book store in the Netherlands has up until now managed to stay afloat mainly because of the people buying American superhero comics every week. They expect to be out of business soon, which is really really  for me as well, even though I don't read American superhero comics myself.

I also wonder what this will mean for smaller "indie" publishers such as Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly. I imagine they've always benefited from having the superhero comic infrastructure in place. If stores selling mainly superhero comics close, I doubt the indie book stores in big cities can make up for them.

Wow.  I put an order in from Forbidden Planet just last week - in fact, I need to check they are still shipping it,...

I'm looking for some kind of graphic novel that's cartoony but some mature content I'm thinking kinda like The Maxx or Scud... Any ideas?

  On 6/25/2020 at 1:02 AM, yekker said:

I'm looking for some kind of graphic novel that's cartoony but some mature content I'm thinking kinda like The Maxx or Scud... Any ideas?

I used to love both of those and also liked Johnny the Homicidal Maniac from the same era, but I haven't reread it since, so no idea how it holds up.

Garth Ennis's run on Demon was fun as well. Lobo if you're into mindless violence for a laugh.

Calvin & Hobbes is supposed to be good too. 

  On 6/26/2020 at 12:03 AM, IDEM said:

I used to love both of those and also liked Johnny the Homicidal Maniac from the same era, but I haven't reread it since, so no idea how it holds up.

Garth Ennis's run on Demon was fun as well. Lobo if you're into mindless violence for a laugh.

Calvin & Hobbes is supposed to be good too. 

Thanks I D M. I ordered the Johnny THM. I'm loving my 90s comics that I have. 90s were just a great time for everything.