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Post by angilasman on Dec 26, 2009 14:58:39 GMT -5
^The movie was actually pretty true to the book, but I think the director didn't understand some of the headier elements of the story and as such delivered a flawed adaptation.
Speaking of Alan Moore, I got his entire run on Swamp Thing for Christmas (minus the first volume which I bought this summer).
Also got some Usagi Yojimbo trade paperbacks and all of the comics my local shop has been holding for me this past month (The Goon, Usagi, BPRD, and a really wonderful new Hellboy issue).
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Post by Mighty Jack on Dec 27, 2009 1:24:08 GMT -5
Watchmen had a lot of impact when it was first released. There was a definite sense in that era that we were reading comics that were changing the genre as we knew it. I'm not sure if it can have the same effect for new readers today. I also remember Groo. I brought the first couple of issues but didn't stick with it long (maybe 6 to 10 issues). I might have those in a box somewhere. Anyway I picked up the new Power Girl, which is full of light irreverent comedy (and much sexual innuendo) This issue is riffing on the movie "Zardoz" and that's cracking me up. And I love Amanda Conner's cartoony art (she's the one who drew Trace's "Here Come the Big People")
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Post by angilasman on Jan 1, 2010 22:16:02 GMT -5
Reading Swamp Thing Book 2 by Alan Moore.
I like it. I like it alot.
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Post by Joker on Jan 2, 2010 23:24:02 GMT -5
Read The Dark Tower: Treachery by Stephen King, adapted by Robin Furth where an aspiring female gunslinger winds up being nothing more than a novelty character as a conspiracy destroys Roland's city in a cool comic.
Read The Goon: Calamity of Conscience by Eric Powell which was hilarious until I realized that it was the ninth book in the series so I'll have to go back and find the books before this.
Read John Constantine, Hellblazer: The Fear Machine by Jamie Delano which was trippy and cool, but was a bit too wordy for a comic.
Now reading Jonah Hex: Guns of Vengeance by Jimmy Palmiotti
Reading Green Arrow, Vol. 9: Road to Jericho by Judd Winick
Reading Green Arrow: Year One by Andy Diggle
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Post by angilasman on Jan 6, 2010 14:23:20 GMT -5
Read Books 3,4,5, and 6 of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, finishing that series.
Excellent, my only complaint is that the final volume feels more like an epilogue with Book 5 feeling like a finale. I'm sure it read differently as a monthly series, though.
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Post by Ratso on Jan 7, 2010 2:04:52 GMT -5
The final volume is the weakest but I still like it mostly for that awesome Adam Strange story it had.
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Post by angilasman on Jan 7, 2010 10:41:05 GMT -5
^I don't want to say the last volume is perfunctory, but it feels like a wrap up with a few one-off experimental tales. I really liked the sentient plant life and "loving the alien" stories and the very last story gives as good a send-off to the series as possible - but it lacks the dramatic thrust the entire series had beforehand.
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joike
Nanite
Can't we have one more sacrifice before we go?
Posts: 39
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Post by joike on Jan 8, 2010 8:33:54 GMT -5
Hey! I'm new and a girl (2 strikes) but just wanted to throw it out there that I'm currently subscribed to Deadpool, Deadpool Merc With a Mouth, The Stand, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. I'm a Batman fan but I usually stick to the graphic novels of him (except the issue Neil Gaiman wrote last year that I had to get). Definitely a Neil Gaiman fan- have all the Sandmans and doing my best to get his other works. Also really liked Watchmen (novel and the movie). I even have the Labyrinth comic adaptation! Did I mention I'm a girl? I got into comics as a kid. Loved the X-Men cartoon when it was on. Was just collecting single issues of things here and there. Then I moved to CA and my roommate got me into Sandman. Eventually ended up working in a used book store that didn't take comics but I offered to buy some off of people on the side. Ended up with an autographed copy of the Death of Superman that way. Anyway, even though I'm more of a casual comic reader, just thought I'd say hey!
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Post by Joker on Jan 27, 2010 0:16:47 GMT -5
Read Jonah Hex: Guns of Vengeance by Jimmy Palmiotti where Hex faces off against worse and worse criminals in the Old West in this nightmarishly gritty and awesome.
Read Superman and Batman Vs. Vampires and Werewolves by Kevin VanHook where the Dark Knight tracks down a vampire who was transformed along with a guy who's a werewolf along with many, many other victims by an evil doctor named Herbert Combs who has tapped into another dimension filled with Lovcraftian horrors. Then Superman, Green Arrow, and Jason Blood/Etrigan get caught up in stopping a plague of undead (werewolves are counted as undead in this book). A fun read as heroes who never kill have no beef with slaughtering the undead and has a cool introduction by John Landis.
Read Green Arrow, Vol. 9: Road to Jericho by Judd Winick. For those of you who don't know Judd Winick was on the early seasons of MTV's The Real World (back when it was real), that season with AIDS victim Pedro. He writes very liberal stuff and so Green Arrow became a much more liberal superhero. And in this collection GA, his son Connor, and HIV-positive Speedy must train extremely hard against the best martial arts experts on Earth, including the master assassin Natas. Then they have to take back their ruined Star City from the criminals who drove them out. Explosive and cool stuff.
Read Green Arrow: Year One by Andy Diggle at the beginning of GA's crimefighting career he was just a superficial wealthy young man who was betrayed by a friend and wound up marooned on what he thinks is a deserted island. Forced to hone his archery skills to survive, then his new skills are put to the test as the island is actually a massive heroin operation and an opportunity for vengeance becomes a mission for justice to liberate the enslaved natives there and get home. A very neat survival story.
Read Batman: Haunted Gotham by Doug Moench which is an Elseworlds comic, meaning you don't have to remember all of Batman's continuity to enjoy it. Bruce Wayne's parents are killed by a werewolf assassin and he dons the costume to hunt down the people responsible in Gotham City, now a hopelessly haunted place where no one can leave and ghosts and creatures lurk everywhere. A face off with a Frankenstein's monster-type "Jigsaw Joker" with Thomas Wayne's head sewn on and a snakeman's deadly cult leads to the final confrontation with the demonic forces that hold the city in their dark grip. Zombie, ghosts, and creatures pretty much negate Bats' "One Rule" and make this a very cool comic.
Reading Y: The Last Man - Book 2: Cycles by Brian K. Vaughan. In the first book of Y: The Last Man a sudden plague suddenly kills off the entire male population of the Earth. Some women may find that a cool idea until you realize that power plant technicians, pilots, and almost every major aspect of life in the U.S. is run and controlled by men. Once they're gone things break down in a devastating way and only one man and his male pet monkey have mysteriously survived. He somehow has to get to Australia to reunite with his fiance, but first has to get there through a country filled with emptiness, no power, and deadly bands of militant amazon feminists who want him dead. He manages to find a town full of women with the help of a female doctor and secret agent until the cult of amazons, their charismatic leader, and his own sister show up for his blood. Very cool stuff.
Read The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks by Max Brooks. I love a comic with more art than dialogue because it's an easy read. This one has recorded zombie attacks from across world history with human forces managing to stave off a zombie apocalypse again and again with whatever tactics and weapons they have at hand.
Read Wrath of the Titans by Darin G. Davis and Scott Davis is the graphic novel sequel to Clash of the Titans (1981) where Harry Hamlin-looking King Perseus of Argos must stop a conspiracy against him and his family by petty gods and that satyr guy back for more evil deeds. Along the way he must fight a bunch of giant Ray Harryhausen inspired mosters. A fun adventure romp.
Now reading Last Train to Deadsville by Steve Niles
Reading I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, graphic adaptation by Steve Niles and Elman Brown
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jan 29, 2010 7:41:15 GMT -5
Woo Hoo - There's going to be a new ongoing Black Widow Series in April. They've are publishing 2 mini series currently, no doubt due to her appearance in the new Iron Man film. Always loved the Widow so I'm looking forward to this, and Marvel's announcement that they are starting a new age in May. More uplifting positive stories (thanks goodness - all this dark crap they've released has become oppressive) And today I read Supergirl #49 - this is my favorite comic currently. Can't wait for issue #50! Also read the #50th issue of Green Lantern, which sets up next issues big battle between Parallax and the Black Lantern Spectre. Cool beans!
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Post by Joker on Feb 13, 2010 20:05:52 GMT -5
Read Last Train to Deadsville by Steve Niles which is the second book in the Cal McDonald series. Cal is an alcoholic burnout private detective with a ghoul sidekick who hunts down monsters. When a possessed kid is dropped off at his home he has to track down the place where the loser summoned up a succubus that transformed his twon into a pack of demons. The Tom Jane-looking Cal (Jane wrote an introduction to the book) is an unlikable loser and the story seems lame after a while.
Read Batman: Night Cries by Archie Goodwin where a serial killer is brutally killing child abusing parents in Gotham City and Batman desperately tries to hunt down the murderer as Commissioner James Gordon must confront his own abusive childhood for the good of his family. A very dark and disturbing tale where a superhero is confronted with a real life problem.
Read Gotham by Gaslight: A Tale of the Batman by Brian Augustyn. There's only one man who can stop a relocated Jack the Ripper in Gotham City and it's Batman. But how can Bats uncover the identity of a killer that eluded even Scotland Yard? That's only half of the story here as Bats has to then take on a psychotic criminal bent on destroying a fair full of people in Gotham. One of the better Elseworlds alternate universe stories from DC.
Read Daredevil Vs. Punisher: Means and Ends by David Lapham where the two vigilantes clash when a crime boss continues to run his empire from behind bars at a supervillain prison. Daredevil and the Punisher seem pretty ineffective against the growing crime wave and a young kid decides to get a gun to defend his family and brings nothing but trouble on everyone he cares about. A very dark and violent comic that is cool in it's gritty realism.
Reading Containment by Eric Red
Reading Batman: Haunted Knight by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
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Post by Mighty Jack on Feb 21, 2010 17:24:00 GMT -5
I ordered the two (and only) volumes of Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. - read the first trade paperback, thinking of doing a blog review when I finish the second.
This was Geoff John's first work for DC (now he's the big buz at the publisher) and Stars (Stargirl, Star Spangled Kid) was based on his sister who died in that tragic TWA Flight 800 explosion over the Atlantic in 1996.
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Post by Joker on Feb 27, 2010 15:12:07 GMT -5
Read Containment by Eric Red where a group of astronauts going to Saturn aboard a NASA spaceship are awoken out of their cryostasis only to face the rest of their crew on their rusty ship turned into zombies because of a computer malfunction. An introduction by Wes Craven tries to make this seem terrifying, but weird gore and one scummy character make this become silly near the end.
Read Batman: Haunted Knight by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale where Batman faces off against the Mad Hatter in a story that has a very impactful ending and another story that's like A Christmas Carol, but at Halloween where Bruce Wayne faces his own past, present, and future and has to confront his own problems. A well written series of Batman Halloween comics.
Read Batman: Gotham After Midnight by Steve Niles where a deadly villain called Midnight, who looks like Lon Chaney in the lost film London After Midnight, is tearing the hearts out of different criminals in Gotham City and manipulating supervillains to aid in his dirty work. The Joker winds up having a good Halloween issue of his own, but the ending is very "after the fact." Still well done.
Read Superman Vs. Aliens by Dan Jurgens and Kevin Nolan where The Man of Steel goes out into space to find what he thinks could be survivors from Krypton, but instead finds a bunch of unconscious survivors he sends back to a space station above Earth - who all wind up being impregnated with xenomorphs. While that crisis unfolds, Supes has to help a young woman named Kara survive against the onslaught of an Alien hive even as his powers dwindle. Then he gets impregnated with a Queen Alien and this comic really gets harrowing.
Reading Swamp Thing: The Saga of the Swamp Thing by Alan Moore
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Post by strangefate on Feb 27, 2010 21:46:11 GMT -5
Recently Read:
Love & Rockets, New Stories, Vol. 1 - I bought this because two of the stories are by Jaime Hernandez and I’m a big fan of his Locas stories. (Not so much of Gilbert Hernandez’s Palomar tales). This is also one of Jaime’s rare forays into the superhero genre and…well, really, it’s not that good unfortunately. Fair at best and I think even that requires you be as a big a fan of his artwork as I am. Even then, his line work here is not nearly as detailed as it is in many of his earlier works.
Batman: The Brave & the Bold - I’m really enjoying the cartoon but unfortunately this didn’t feel as if it was quite in the same league. Weak storytelling and, with the exception of Carlos Barberi’s issue, rather average art. Bleh. The Marvel Adventures line (particularly Jeff Parker’s MA: Avengers) is a far better bet as far as All Ages titles go IMO.
Currently Reading:
Final Crisis - I’m not quite halfway through but I’m like it alright so far.
To Read:
Asterios Polyp, All Star Superman Vol. 2, Invisibles Vol. 3, Empowered Vol. 5
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Post by Mighty Jack on Feb 28, 2010 14:39:39 GMT -5
For the curious, I did do a blog review for Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.And now have moved onto to the JSA trade paperbacks, co-written by Geoff Johns and David Goyer (screnwriter of many a superhero movie).
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