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we do this in like every other forum, so it makes sense

 

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Mouse Guard

 

Wizard highlight this one recently, and Pacnh mentioned it in the same breath as Bone, so i had to check it out. Where as Bone starts out as this light, fantasy/comedy that evolves into an epic book over time, this one starts our pretty serious, showing the rough life of the mice's (sp?) warrior elite, responsible for keeping them alive amongst their many, many predators. I'm only 2 issues into the current 5 (of 6; wiki says the trade's out in april with bonuses, vol 2 should start this year as well) and its some of the most exciting new material ive read in a bit. The art and storytelling are both great, I cant wait to see where it goes.

 

Official site & previews here.

 

 

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Uzumaki

 

This one came recommended to fans of japanese horror, as writer Junji Ito is acclaimed to be good at, between this one and Tomie. Its, uh, heavily fixated on spirals, and as the above pic illustrates, definitely has its horrific moments - only, a better sell would be making it more akin to The Twilight Zone than, say, Ringu. Most stories are disturbing in the way they deform the human system, or simply darkly ironic, but only a few (ive read 2 of the 3 volumes) have been outright horrific; the one that comes to mind being the 2-parter of the "Locust women" in volume 2. For the most part, its plot can be weirder than scary, and I must say, if there's not another one like the locust one in volume 3 its not something id overly recommend.

 

Anyway, given that i have a crapload of books in queve ill try to post some of the more obscure/lesser known ones in this thread as I go, and recommend others to do the same if there's a book that you're not yet enough into/isnt large enough to merit its own thread.

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Went to the comic shop for the first time in months yesterday, and discovered that my free subscriptions had been kinda canceled, once the build-up started to fuck the system up.

 

Anyway, I picked up the most recent Daredevil (#91), and was left completely unimpressed. The opening monologue was great, but then the issue just became a waste... and a return of the recap page would've been nice.

 

I miss Bendis already.

 

The best new comic I read in '06 was Fell, from Ellis & Templesmith. Ellis is such an amazing writer, and I really like that he bases a lot of the real fucked-up shit on actual events, mainly stuff he reads online and in the papers.

 

In case you haven't read it, Fell is about a detective who leaves the big city to work in a smaller, neighboring town (Snowtown), where the police are totally under-manned and the cases are really bizarre... everything from knife-brandishing psychos dressed as nuns wearing Nixon masks to pregnant women being murdered for their fetuses... it can be twisted sometimes.

 

Anyway, it's a great book, so pick it up if you can find it. I'm hoping Image will put out a trade sometime soon.

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Anyway, I picked up the most recent Daredevil (#91), and was left completely unimpressed. The opening monologue was great, but then the issue just became a waste... and a return of the recap page would've been nice.

 

I miss Bendis already.

 

There's no recap page? fuck, that sucks. I assure you, if you read Bru's first arc as a whole - The Devil in Cell Block D - you might miss Bendis, but not nearly as long as you'd think, man. That shit was crazy awesome.

 

As for Fell, i did a thread here, but i coudlnt force people to post there.

 

Another good book:

 

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X-Factor is a good book, if you're a homo.

 

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

 

I kinda dug Peter David's Madrox series, as i was never into X-Factor before, and a noir take on Multiple Man was fun. The series' end launched this one, but I just wanst excited about a team consisting of him, Rhane, Strong Guy, Siryn, M, a de-powered Rictor and others...it was like castaway island with X-Factor, X-Force, Gen-X, and a reject from the House of Meh for good measure.

 

Yet, David got them together, showed them for their flaws (props on the revisiting jumbie's old favorite issue, with them all seeing a shrink) and these characters got depth they never had. Throw in an interesting, almost Angel-esque villian/corporation, Real Word-like notions of them all sharing a small place (with sex, violence & hijinx ensuing), and stances on both Decimation & the Civil War deal, and you somehow have a team that seems to make the regular x-team look like sellout chumps. It was really cool to see, i wasnt nearly expecting all of that from this book.

 

Really lookin forward to where it goes from here. Stupid Peter David...i havent really been a fan since uh, Hulk: The End or that time you told off Larsen at newsarama. Now you got me caring about Layla fucking Miller and Strong Guy.

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Again, i 100% agreed with you on this current arc falling off the momentum/interest level of Cell Block D, but trust me, i think the last issue (# 92) ties it all back up, even going back to Bendis' work. My faith in Bru was restored. Stay the course, itll pay off, m'man.

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  • 2 months later...

Now that I'm a working man, I've been spending much more on comics. Here's a selection of what I've been devouring last few months:

 

100 Bullets

 

Crazy organised crime/noir tale of the real people who run America

 

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Walking Dead

 

Best zombie story available - bar none

 

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Invincible

 

Not a superhero comics fan, but loving this twist on the genre.

 

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DMZ

 

Second American civil war, seen through the eyes of a rookie journalist and his frineds in manhattan. Essential.

 

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Y: The Last Man

 

Last Man on earth. Looking for girlfriend. Great.

 

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Dark Tower

 

Comic adaptation of the best epic novel series ever. 'Nuff said.

 

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Shit, MLB, its good to see you man. One thing to have you finally stop off, another to see youre still reading some of the best on the market! I remember you pimping Clowes like he was going out of style. I'm a fan of all your recommendations, except Dark Tower, which again i gotta get on soon.

 

Skeet - ive had to re-read a few of his too, i think i picked up From Hell like 3 times before i really got it. Odd.

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Irish - thanks very much. Loads of great comics out at the mo. Biggest disappointment recently has been 30 Days of Night - picked up the first trade on someones recommendation and I was pretty let down. The pacing in it is horrible, the great art aside. Daniel Clowes needs to hurry up and release another Eightball, the latest one about Death-Ray was my favourite thing he's written.

 

Can't say I liked From Hell, although I did only read it the once, so perhaps should go for it again. As for Watchmen, I agree. Read it twice and the second time enjoyed it that much more. Similarly, Daniel Clowes work, and Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest Kid on Earth benefit from multiple readings.

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So I just read the solicitation on the back of my bog-standard Watchmen trade and it says "yaddayaddayadda. If you've never read a graphic novel, then WATCHMEN is the one to start with."

 

Am I the only person that thinks this is the world's worst idea? If you want to get someone into the medium, most folks'd need to start off with something a little more palatable, or at least not as content-heavy. Discuss.

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I partially agree. I don't think it'd be a good intro either, not because of its complexity but because a lot of the impact it has is based on its interpretation of the superhero mythos. Watchmen has a great "this is how they'd really be" feel to its superheroes and it takes well-known archetypes and pushes them to the extreme (in the simplest of terms, Rorschach is Batman gone psychotic and Dr. Manhattan is Superman unchecked). There's a lot to admire about Watchmen from the point of view from a non-reader of comics, but I think a lot of its themes would be better appreciated by someone who has already read quite a bit of the medium.

 

I don't think its complexity is a hindrance since it doesn't really harm the story, but I suppose that depends on exactly what about comics you're trying to introduce someone to. I know that for me, usually when I'm trying to get someone into comics I'm trying to convince them of its viability as an art and literary form (as opposed to a genre about men in tights) so complexity is a plus. If I was trying to use Moore to get someone into comics, I'd probably give them V For Vendetta (I think the complexity of From Hell does hurt the story so I wouldn't dump that on anyone right away).

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Well It's good to see I wasn't the only one lost by From Hell, but I find that sense of missing something bigger than I can get my head around with most of his work. LOEG was camp & fun, but Watchmen, FH & the few bits of Swamp Thing I read(admittedly fuck-all) I felt like they went over my head on one reading. I agree with your validation point though, and without trying to to that, I generally pimp Preacher to near-anyone I talk to based strictly on it being such a solid story & one of my personal favourites. From there a lotta people come to me after & ask me for more.

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For me, it was more eddie campbell's art, that took some getting used to, personally. But soemhwere beyond Jack's crazy mysoginistic rants and the 4th dimension and all, i came off really thinking it was a great book, but again, that was like several reads later. I never felt that way about, say, Miller's Ronin, personally.

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It was a good book. Maybe a great book. But it could have been a superb book if Moore had applied some judicious editing. I mean, do I really have to read 30 pages of "Jack" guiding a tour of London's famous phallic symbols before I understand the point he's making? Surely 20 pages would have been sufficient :wacko:

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 years later...

logan's right, mebbe i should merge this with comics journal?

 

I was thinking more along the lines of moving certain posts from there to here. But now that you mention it, do we really need both?

I figure (in hindsight) Comics Journal is more of a "New shit" thread, but I would be cool with taking the word "weekly" out of the description and merging this into it.

 

Just a place to talk about shit you're currently reading.

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