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Comics. (Not the comedians)

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In anticipation for 'X-men: First Class' I've started reading the X-men comics and in the process realized how much I love them. Back when I avidly read comics I remember liking Watchmen, The walking dead, Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, Spider-man, and Captain America.

Does anyone else read comic books? Which do you recommend?

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I gravitate towards independents:  and at this point i'm only remembering b/w titles... odd

 

'Cursed Pirate Girl' by Jeremy Bastian

Review: http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2009/09/gorillas-riding-dinosaurs-cursed-pirate-girl-1-2/

(view the below image at full resolution: awesome http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/cpg_3omerta.jpg )

Publisher website: http://www.olympianpublishing.com/store/index.php

 

Paul Pope's THB should be returning in some form, hopefully really soon.  Anything by the guy is great.

 

'Breathers' by Justin Madson (http://www.justmadbooks.com/)

after being self published in an odd size/format.  the series has been put out ina  collected volume.

 

If you haven't read anything by Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell) worth a try.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masamune_Shirow

 

If you want a weird experiential book, anything by Tsutomu Nihei.  Biomega is currently getting an english translation and Blame! is already done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Nihei

'Eden - It's an Endless World' by Hiroki Endo

political theater, the world is plagued by a new crystalline virus.  nations dissolve and reform, new organizations spring up.  Story follows the son of a major player. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden:_It%27s_an_Endless_World!

 

'Nightly News' by Jonathan Hickman

A cassette tape (the Voice) is telling people to kill news reporters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightly_News

 

 

Then there's more humorous stuff, josei manga, korean manwha.  lots to chose from.

 

Comics are finally getting digital releases too, so when you find a title you like see if the author is directly selling it.

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Flaming Carrot for just pennies a day.

Poor Sponge Boy and on his birthday too!

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BingoWings wrote: Flaming Carrot for just pennies a day.

Missed that comic, got a taste from the Cerebus cross over.

 

wHen  braaaain uff:

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I loved Inferno (X-Men storyline) when I first read it several years ago.  In fact, everything from the Phoenix Storyline through Inferno is quite a good read.

In my mind, Inferno would make one mind-blowingly good film, but its so steeped in continuity (which the exists moives are so far off from) that you couldn't expect the uninitiated to really go for it.  It would be like, oh I don't know, starting Star Wars at Episode IV or something...

I've been reading the Fables and Jack of Fables books recently.  Those are pretty entertaining. 

Now that Star Wars Legacy War issue 6 just came out, I can go read those.  I am still sad that this series was cancelled.

I really loved Planet Hulk and was mildly disappointed with World War Hulk.  I didn't keep up with Hulk after that, but semi-recently I decided to get caught up.  The first 12 issues or so of "HULK" (starring Red Hulk) seemed pretty silly, but they actually led up to some stuff that was pretty great in Fall of the Hulks and World War Hulks.

I catch Deadpool from time to time.  He's always good for a laugh.

I'm way behind in Spider-Man.

I also recently read the first 20 or so issues of the latest Cable series.  I really quite enjoyed that.  I'm reading X-Men Second Coming right now.

I'm still really sad/mad that the latest Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova series were cancelled.  I'm hoping they don't stay away long.  Marvel's recent cosmic stuff starting with Annihilation has been really good.

I was really enjoying Green Lantern from Reborn -> the start of Blackest Night.  Can't say I really enjoyed Blackest Night, though I did read almost all of it.  I read Brightest Day 0-8 and determined to give up on it.

I bought a Captain Marvel and Thanos pack of Super Hero Squad guys at Target the other day for $1.  They're on my bookcase at work.  They're pretty sweet.

/END

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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I'm currently reading the phoenix arc. which is what 'Last Stand' sort of took from a little, I guess. then I'm planning on skipping to uncanny number 475. I hear that's a decent spot to start.

Those indy comics look interesting. and Jhonen Vasquez is awesome. I loved Invader Zim when it came out.

Also, I forgot to mention Scott Pilgrim. Sure I read it because of the film hype but it's real close to my sense of humor. I recommend that too.

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This book is a classic:

Longshot Comics : The Long and Unlearned Life of Roland Gethers

Eyestrain Productions : http://www.shanesimmons.com/es/longshot.php

This book is epic in story and execution.  Each frame is rendered in esquisite detail then viewed from very very very far away (so it fits in a .5" x .5" frame).  The story follows from birth to death, the life of Roland Gethers, a Welsh coalminer in the British empire.  Very humorous and with 3,840 panels, we'll it's great.  and there's a second issue!  "The Failed Promise of Bradley Gethers"

He also does movie reviews in Longshot form:

 

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I read comics religiously when I was a kid back in the 90s, but I drifted away from the whole scene in the last ten years or so. I don't collect comics anymore, though I do take graphic novels out from the library and I have some cbr files on my computer.

It sucks, though, that I don't have many of my old comics anymore. I probably had at least a hundred of them, but I didn't take very good care of them and let them fall apart before finally cutting them apart for collages. God, what I would give to have my collection back again ... >:-(

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I have most of my old comics in good condition. But of course my oldest that I've purchased is maybe 6 years old. But, My grandpa used to collect comics as well way back when and has them in good condition. He gave me his whole collection of doctor strange from the nineties. I think he said he has the old batmans. Not sure how old but since I'm the only other one in the family who has any interest in them I'm pretty sure he'll hand 'em over eventually.

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Really enjoy The Walking Dead. Hope they don't screw the up the tv series too badly. (Well, more so than already).

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xhonzi said:

I was really enjoying Green Lantern from Reborn -> the start of Blackest Night.  Can't say I really enjoyed Blackest Night, though I did read almost all of it.  I read Brightest Day 0-8 and determined to give up on it.

Do you mean Green Lantern: Rebirth?  Cause if so I've read it too and I thought it was awesome.  I read it from the Death of Superman storyline, which I can't recommend highly enough.  The Death of Superman graphic novel is pretty good, but The Return of Superman/Reign of the Supermen is one of my favorite graphic Novels of all time, and it's the beginning of the whole Emerald Twilight > Rebirh storyline with Green Lantern (which is probably something worth reading right before the movie comes out this summer).

Of course, if you're reading DC, you should definitely read Crisis on Infinite Earths.  In the late 80's DC decided to clean up their convoluted, confusing comics history with one huge, overarching storyline.  They were the first to do this, and they did it right.  The art was amazing, some of my favorite.  Of course, they ruined their cleaned up universe very shortly, and now there are Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis crossovers as well.  Infinite Crisis was actually pretty good though, I read that a few years back when it came out.

But if you're interested in X-Men, then do I have a comic for you.  Astonishing X-Men.  It came out shortly after the second film so as long as you've seen them you don't really need much other X-Men history in order to read it.  But it's brilliant, won some Eisner awards even.   Read Whedon's run, #1-24, if you get the chance.

Another great series to start at #1 with is Brian K. Vaughn's Runaways.  It's about a group of kids who find out that their parents are villains, and part of a crime syndicate, so they decide to run away and start their own lives as heroes.  Vaughn is one of the best writers in comics right now, and this was his baby.  I've read the first two volumes (#1-#18 & #1-#30) and loved them.

I'll write about more later.... I love comics (even the comedians).


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Yeah, I was wondering if Astonishing X-men was any good. I'll definately check that out eventually. I read the first issue of the runaways a while ago and then I think I forgot about it. maybe I'll revisit it.

(I love comedy too. I like more unknown comedians from Chicago.)

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Read a little bit of The Walking Dead earlier in the year. Kind of fun, but a lot of the same sort of thing over and over again. Kept waiting for it to mix things up a bit, then it did... and I stopped reading. Maybe I'll go back to it sometime.

I have Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight Returns in my trunk along with some medical and philosophy text books, as well an as espresso maker. Started on Year One a while back, but never finished it. I don't have a very good attention span for comic books; have a really hard time getting into them.

 

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RedFive said:

xhonzi said:

I was really enjoying Green Lantern from Reborn -> the start of Blackest Night.  Can't say I really enjoyed Blackest Night, though I did read almost all of it.  I read Brightest Day 0-8 and determined to give up on it.

Do you mean Green Lantern: Rebirth?

Probably.

 Cause if so I've read it too and I thought it was awesome. 

I enjoyed Rebirth.  As far as Green Lantern goes, I think I enjoyed the stuff betwixt the events moreso than the events themselves.  Sinestro War was pretty good, but the stuff (Rage of the Red, Agent Orange, etc. storylines) that came between that and Blackest Night was most enjoyable to me.

I read it from the Death of Superman storyline, which I can't recommend highly enough.  The Death of Superman graphic novel is pretty good, but The Return of Superman/Reign of the Supermen is one of my favorite graphic Novels of all time,

I quite enjoy this event myself.  I didn't read any Superman for a long time after the event was over... so it didn't really make me a long time reader, but I collected some of the issues as they came out and have the trades.

and it's the beginning of the whole Emerald Twilight > Rebirh storyline with Green Lantern

Really?  I never knew that.  How does Death/Rebirth of Superman tie into Emerald Twilight?

Of course, if you're reading DC, you should definitely read Crisis on Infinite Earths.  In the late 80's DC decided to clean up their convoluted, confusing comics history with one huge, overarching storyline.

Just to offer a differing opinion: I read this a couple years back and found it pretty unwieldly for a casual DC fan.  I'm not sure how convoluted and confusing DC universe was before this came out, but I found this product to be convoluted and confusing all on its own.

Of course, they ruined their cleaned up universe very shortly,

Aint that the truth.  Supergirl is dead.  Long live Supergirl!  And Comet, her Superhorse!  (That she made out with) 

On a positive not, I forgot though that Barry Allen was dead from CoIE until recently.  That's got to go down in the books as one of the longest sabbaticals for a major name like that.  However, there doesn't seem to have been any Flash shortages in that time, so I'm not sure how much it really counts.

They were the first to do this, and they did it right.  The art was amazing, some of my favorite. 

Who else has done anything like it?  The closest comparison (company wide event in the mid 80s) that I can think of is Marvel's Secret Wars, but that wasn't a retcon of any parallel universes or alternate histories.  And I've often seen it go unchallenged that Secret Wars was a pale imitation of CoIE, but Secret Wars started in May 1984 and CoIE didn't start until April 1985.  So... huh?

Marvel recently retconned a huge chunk of stuff in the Spider-Man books.  Is that what you mean?  Or when the original Avengers series ended and was replaced with New Avengers... but those don't quite seem like the same thing.  ?

But if you're interested in X-Men, then do I have a comic for you.  Astonishing X-Men. [snip] it's brilliant, won some Eisner awards even.   Read Whedon's run, #1-24, if you get the chance.

 

This I can agree on.  Whedon's X-Men are really fun and aren't steeped in that much continuity- usually the barrier to reading any X-books.  Parts of this run were used for the basis for X-Men 3 as well.

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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BloodnoseThePirate said:

I'm currently reading the phoenix arc. which is what 'Last Stand' sort of took from a little, I guess. then I'm planning on skipping to uncanny number 475. I hear that's a decent spot to start. 

Do us both a favour and make sure you read from the beginning of the Phoenix storyline (issue ~100 or so) through Inferno.  And also X-Factor from the beginning until about 68 or so.  For best enjoyment, you can read New Mutants where it intersects with those stories, and make sure you read Magik and X-terminators minis too.

I like a lot of the stories after that (X-Tinction Agenda, X-Cutioner's Song, Summer's Wedding, Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix) but there's a lot of crap in there too, so you have to cherry pick.

If you do pick up at 475, make sure you've read Deadly Genesis.  475 and on are really a sequel to that mini.  And then that all continues/colides with Annihilation... so be prepared for that.  As I mentioned before, Annihilation, its sequel, and the resulting Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy series are some of my favourites from the past couple years.

I've found Marvel's 7 or so years of summer events to be pretty good, if somewhat fatiguing.  Start with Avengers Disassembled and start reading New Avengers.  Then get into House of M, then Decimation, (Annihilation and Planet Hulk) then Civil War, (World War Hulk) then Secret Invasion, then Dark Reign, then Siege, and now Fear Itself (which I haven't read).  It's nice to see a constantly changing baseline in the Marvel Universe as opposed to the "every issue ends on the bridge of the Enterprise" model that's been status quo for so long.  But each event has been marketed as "The one it's all been leading to!"  You can only hear that so many times before it's run its course.

And finally- comicvine.com is my favourite source comics info.  It's not the first comics database I've used, but it's the best/one that's still up.

*whew* Did I write all of that?

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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That seems like a good map for what I should do. Not gonna finish all of it by tomorrow but I feel like it will definitely get me back into comics in general.

Btw I just got back from my local comic shop and couldn't help picking up the latest Uncanny X-men.



Something compelled me to buy it. Can't quite put my finger upon it.

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xhonzi said:

and it's the beginning of the whole Emerald Twilight > Rebirh storyline with Green Lantern

Really?  I never knew that.  How does Death/Rebirth of Superman tie into Emerald Twilight?

Coast City was destroyed by the Mongul and the Cyborg Superman, and afterwards, while trying to rebuild the city with his ring, he had a mental breakdown that lead to that storyline.  I always thought it was awesome that two great storylines came together like that. 

In fact, I think part of the collected edition of The Return of Superman has part of a Green Lantern book in it.  Yep, part of Green Lantern #46, where Hal fights Mongul, is in there.  Right after that is where the breakdown starts.

They were the first to do this, and they did it right.  The art was amazing, some of my favorite. 

Who else has done anything like it?  The closest comparison (company wide event in the mid 80s) that I can think of is Marvel's Secret Wars, but that wasn't a retcon of any parallel universes or alternate histories.  And I've often seen it go unchallenged that Secret Wars was a pale imitation of CoIE, but Secret Wars started in May 1984 and CoIE didn't start until April 1985.  So... huh?

Marvel recently retconned a huge chunk of stuff in the Spider-Man books.  Is that what you mean?  Or when the original Avengers series ended and was replaced with New Avengers... but those don't quite seem like the same thing.  ?

I was just thinking of a big, crossover comic event in general, not necesarily rewriting comic history.  But now that you mention it, I guess Secret Wars did come first.  I've just always been a DC man myself.  Mostly I was thinking how nowadays it seems like everything that happens in comics is a huge event and you have to buy like 4 books every week that all tie in to each other somehow.  I'm not saying they're not good, I'm just saying it's a lot of work to keep up with what's going on, and it wasn't until the mid 80's that that trend really caught on. 

Another book I forgot about (that was also one of those 'big events') is Identity Crisis.  This is one of my absolute favorite storylines in all of the comics I've read - the mystery!  True, it's probably better if you know all the players, but nothing a quick googling can't help.

 

CP3S said:

I have Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight Returns in my trunk along with some medical and philosophy text books, as well an as espresso maker. Started on Year One a while back, but never finished it. I don't have a very good attention span for comic books; have a really hard time getting into them.

The Dark Knight Strikes Again is awesome too, and really different from his first two.  The art is something else.  If you're attention span lasts, read all three, they're great!


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Another favorite of mine is Fray.  It's a standalone graphic novel about a vampire slayer in the future, written by Joss (Yes, I know).  He's a great writer though, so trust me when I say it's a good read.

Anyone interested in more independent, stranger titles needs to check out
Sandman
by Niel Gaiman............                             and Preacher by Garth Ennis. 

 


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Okay, now that I've read a bit of the x-men I thought I'd give a few words about what I thought of the story arcs.

I've found myself reading more of the newer issues maybe just because of the faster pace and they're just quicker reads in general.

First of all, Deadly Genesis. I really enjoyed it. Good writing. I especially liked reading the mini origin stories of each of the new mutants at the end of each issue. It was a decent enough starting point. I was fuzzy on a couple of things but they were cleared up eventually.

Then, The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire. I just finished it and I have mixed feelings.  Has the X-men always been this... Spacey? I mean it was a fun ride but it felt like a little too much Star Trek in my X-men. I guess its just me.

Overall I'm really liking these stories.

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BloodnoseThePirate said:


Then, The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire. I just finished it and I have mixed feelings.  Has the X-men always been this... Spacey? I mean it was a fun ride but it felt like a little too much Star Trek in my X-men. I guess its just me.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b8/Star_trek_xmen_1.jpg/250px-Star_trek_xmen_1.jpg

Star Wars Revisited Wordpress

Star Wars Visual Comparisons WordPress

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RedFive said:But if you're interested in X-Men, then do I have a comic for you.  Astonishing X-Men.  It came out shortly after the second film so as long as you've seen them you don't really need much other X-Men history in order to read it.  But it's brilliant, won some Eisner awards even.   Read Whedon's run, #1-24, if you get the chance.

Another great series to start at #1 with is Brian K. Vaughn's Runaways.  It's about a group of kids who find out that their parents are villains, and part of a crime syndicate, so they decide to run away and start their own lives as heroes.  Vaughn is one of the best writers in comics right now, and this was his baby.  I've read the first two volumes (#1-#18 & #1-#30) and loved them.

 

 I really enjoyed both these books. In fact, when they changed/stopped I stopped reading Marvel at all.

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BloodnoseThePirate said:

Okay, now that I've read a bit of the x-men I thought I'd give a few words about what I thought of the story arcs.

I've found myself reading more of the newer issues maybe just because of the faster pace and they're just quicker reads in general.

There's a lot less text in modern comics.  And a lot more splash pages.  Depending on the kind of reader you are, they can be much quicker reads.  I tend to read the text and let my eyes sort of pick up the pictures in periphery.  Actually, I'm sure when I turn a new page, my eyes do a quick one-over of the pictures and then I read the text.  The less text there is, the less time I spend on that page.

Then there are people (I've heard of them) that will stop and look at the pictures for several minutes.  And read the text as an afterthought.  These are the people that know the pencilers better than the writers.  The amount of action, detail or pure awesome in a picture is what lenghtens their visit to each page.  Potentially their reading time has gone up, what with modern comic art being much more sophisticated than it used to be.

Then, The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire. I just finished it and I have mixed feelings.  Has the X-men always been this... Spacey? I mean it was a fun ride but it felt like a little too much Star Trek in my X-men. I guess its just me.

X-Men is almost never that Spacey.  That storyline eventually gets picked up by the Annihilation Crossover and the X-books more or less completely ignore it.

As I keep mentioning, the Cosmic (spacey) stuff at Marvel is some of my favourite.  So I really enjoyed Rise/Fall.  But it sort of goes nowhere if you don't start reading Annihilation.  It's kind of odd that they ran that story through Uncanny X-Men for a year.  The sequel to Rise/Fall is, if I'm remembering correctly, Emperor Vulcan. 

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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Read through 'The Extremists' arc

This is the kind of stuff I liked from the X-men films. Seeing how the rest of the world looks at the mutants and that kind of stuff. It got me really excited for 'Messiah Complex'. I'll probably start that tomorrow. But now I need some sleep.