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Post by EdoBosnar on Jan 5, 2021 9:26:22 GMT -5
Hotell(tpb collecting Hotell #1-4, AWA, 2020)  Written by John Lees, with art by Dalibor Talajić (colors by Lee Loughridge). Here's the back-cover blurb summary: "You won't find it on any map, but if you happen to be driving down Route 66 late at night and you're truly desperate for shelter, sanctuary or secrecy, you might see a battered sign on the side of the road: The Pierrot Courts Hotel - where many check in but few check out." The titular hotel (actually a motel, but o.k.) only has four units, and there's a story for each one here, although they're sort of interconnected as the various guests briefly interact with one another. These are quite creepy and sometimes quite unsettling horror tale, which like any good horror, is always about more than just what it seems to be on the surface. In this case, it's an uncomfortable look into dysfunctional relationships among other things. I may be a little biased here, since I know him personally, but man, the art by Talajic really helps sell this. You wouldn't think his sort of almost unassuming, cartoony style would be suited to horror, but man it really works here. 
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jan 5, 2021 10:13:30 GMT -5
For Christmas, my girlfriend got me IDW's Transformers vs. Star Trek. I fully expected this to be a shameless crossover (and it was), but it was actually really fun. Absurd and tacky fun.
For Hanukkah, my daughter got me Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil. I'm halfway through that and really enjoying it too. I know nothing about Black Hammer and his universe, but now I'm interested in seeking out more.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 5, 2021 10:20:12 GMT -5
For Hanukkah, my daughter got me Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil. I'm halfway through that and really enjoying it too. I know nothing about Black Hammer and his universe, but now I'm interested in seeking out more. Black Hammer is amazing. The only superhero books I'm still remotely interested in reading. Great meta-commentary on the history of superheroes. |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
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Post by shaxper on Jan 5, 2021 10:31:17 GMT -5
For Hanukkah, my daughter got me Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil. I'm halfway through that and really enjoying it too. I know nothing about Black Hammer and his universe, but now I'm interested in seeking out more. Black Hammer is amazing. The only superhero books I'm still remotely interested in reading. Great meta-commentary on the history of superheroes. Tell me more about it. I'm all ears. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 5, 2021 11:07:25 GMT -5
Black Hammer is amazing. The only superhero books I'm still remotely interested in reading. Great meta-commentary on the history of superheroes. Tell me more about it. I'm all ears. Essentially the Black Hammer universe is a pastiche of the Big Two super-hero universes (more DC than Marvel though). The initial series starts with a group of heroes who are thrown into an alternate universe following their defeat of the Anti-God in a Crisis-like event. While the plot generally involves their attempts to get back home, the gravamen of the book is an exploration of what it means to be a superhero and sideways history of superhero comics. The main cast are Abraham Stone, a mash-up of Capt. America and the G.A. Atom; Golden Gail, a Captain Marvel analog who is stuck in her child body with an adult mind; Barbalien, a Martian Manhunter analog; Madame Dragonfly, a mystic who also acts a bit like a horror comic host; and Col. Weird, Adam Strange on LSD. Along the way there are spin-off mini's and one-shots, including Sherlock Frankenstein that explore the history and the wider world. Think Astro City but less reverent. Quantum Age is a Legion book and Dr. Star takes on Green Lantern via Robinson's Starman. It's really great stuff as Lemire clearly loves comics history but isn't afraid to show how weird it was. And here is a reading order. Somehow I missed an entire mini-series, Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 5, 2021 11:44:39 GMT -5
Tell me more about it. I'm all ears. Essentially the Black Hammer universe is a pastiche of the Big Two super-hero universes (more DC than Marvel though). The initial series starts with a group of heroes who are thrown into an alternate universe following their defeat of the Anti-God in a Crisis-like event. While the plot generally involves their attempts to get back home, the gravamen of the book is an exploration of what it means to be a superhero and sideways history of superhero comics. The main cast are Abraham Stone, a mash-up of Capt. America and the G.A. Atom; Golden Gail, a Captain Marvel analog who is stuck in her child body with an adult mind; Barbalien, a Martian Manhunter analog; Madame Dragonfly, a mystic who also acts a bit like a horror comic host; and Col. Weird, Adam Strange on LSD. Along the way there are spin-off mini's and one-shots, including Sherlock Frankenstein that explore the history and the wider world. Think Astro City but less reverent. Quantum Age is a Legion book and Dr. Star takes on Green Lantern via Robinson's Starman. It's really great stuff as Lemire clearly loves comics history but isn't afraid to show how weird it was. And here is a reading order. Somehow I missed an entire mini-series, Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy. I missed Skulldigger too, I had no idea it existed until I saw it on someones best of 2020 list over at CBR. I'll definitely be tracking it down to rectify my blind spot post haste. |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
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Post by shaxper on Jan 5, 2021 12:34:34 GMT -5
Tell me more about it. I'm all ears. Essentially the Black Hammer universe is a pastiche of the Big Two super-hero universes (more DC than Marvel though). The initial series starts with a group of heroes who are thrown into an alternate universe following their defeat of the Anti-God in a Crisis-like event. While the plot generally involves their attempts to get back home, the gravamen of the book is an exploration of what it means to be a superhero and sideways history of superhero comics. The main cast are Abraham Stone, a mash-up of Capt. America and the G.A. Atom; Golden Gail, a Captain Marvel analog who is stuck in her child body with an adult mind; Barbalien, a Martian Manhunter analog; Madame Dragonfly, a mystic who also acts a bit like a horror comic host; and Col. Weird, Adam Strange on LSD. Along the way there are spin-off mini's and one-shots, including Sherlock Frankenstein that explore the history and the wider world. Think Astro City but less reverent. Quantum Age is a Legion book and Dr. Star takes on Green Lantern via Robinson's Starman. It's really great stuff as Lemire clearly loves comics history but isn't afraid to show how weird it was. And here is a reading order. Somehow I missed an entire mini-series, Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy. This sounds amazing. Thank you! And I'm thrilled that Cthu-Louise got a one-shot. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 5, 2021 12:50:36 GMT -5
Essentially the Black Hammer universe is a pastiche of the Big Two super-hero universes (more DC than Marvel though). The initial series starts with a group of heroes who are thrown into an alternate universe following their defeat of the Anti-God in a Crisis-like event. While the plot generally involves their attempts to get back home, the gravamen of the book is an exploration of what it means to be a superhero and sideways history of superhero comics. The main cast are Abraham Stone, a mash-up of Capt. America and the G.A. Atom; Golden Gail, a Captain Marvel analog who is stuck in her child body with an adult mind; Barbalien, a Martian Manhunter analog; Madame Dragonfly, a mystic who also acts a bit like a horror comic host; and Col. Weird, Adam Strange on LSD. Along the way there are spin-off mini's and one-shots, including Sherlock Frankenstein that explore the history and the wider world. Think Astro City but less reverent. Quantum Age is a Legion book and Dr. Star takes on Green Lantern via Robinson's Starman. It's really great stuff as Lemire clearly loves comics history but isn't afraid to show how weird it was. And here is a reading order. Somehow I missed an entire mini-series, Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy. This sounds amazing. Thank you! And I'm thrilled that Cthu-Louise got a one-shot. That issue was actually one of my favorites |
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Post by The Cheat on Jan 5, 2021 14:02:20 GMT -5
Just finished the third Criminal Deluxe hardcover. Brubaker's writing is strong as always, but the art disappointed me quite a bit. The colouring was awful. Not sure if it was some new digital technique or what, but it was very distracting and didn't suit the tone of the stories at all. I found Phillip's art a bit lazy in places too. Not sure if it's just because I've read so much of his stuff now, but a lot of the panels looked overly familiar and re-used. A few even gave me a strong Greg Land vibe. Oh well. Overall, would probably still recommend to fans of the previous volumes.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2021 15:41:18 GMT -5
One of my favorites from the Black Hammer books was Black Hammer '45, a sort of Blawkhawk analogue with dual stories set in the present and flashbacks to their past exploits. But then I love Matt Kindt's quirky art.
-M
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2021 17:37:05 GMT -5
I finally started reading the most recent Hawkman series. I’ve only finished the first arc, but I love it so far. I really like the twist/expansion of the Hawkman mythos. At least, I think it’s an expansion. I know that’s vague, but I’m not very familiar with the character and don’t want to spoil anything.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2021 21:42:31 GMT -5
Just got my copy of the Wonder Woman Dead Earth OHC and read it. Really cool post-apocalyptic story, with great art and some really cool moments. The last page of the third issue is extremely sick. I’ve never really read much Wonder Woman, before but all the stuff I’ve read/seen with her lately has made me a huge fan.
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Post by commond on Jan 9, 2021 6:58:02 GMT -5
I finally caught up with David Lapham's most recent work on Stray Bullets. Stray Bullets was one of the comics I bought when I was still collecting comics. I'm glad he's still producing it after all these years. His art and storytelling have improved immensely from the early issues. The most recent arc was bloated compared to the original series, especially given it was a prequel, and the obligatory Amy Racecar issues grated after a while, but when it was good, it was really, really good.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jan 9, 2021 13:21:04 GMT -5
Impossible Jones! Volume 1: Grin & Gritty!Created, written and illustrated by Karl Kesel and David Hahn, 2020  This is the fruit of a successful Kickstarter campaign held in the summer of 2019, but the whole project was only finalized this fall, and the actual physical books were only sent out pretty recently - sometime in late December I think. I only pledged for the pdf version, which was made available in November. Finally read it today and quite thoroughly enjoyed it. The titular character is a thief who gets double-crossed by one of her partners during a heist in a high-tech laboratory. She gets locked in a testing room for some new experimental tech, comic-book science happens, and a few days later she's kind of like Plastic Man or E-man. She initially wants to get revenge on whichever of her former partners was responsible (she's initially not sure who did it), but along the way she unintentionally gets mistaken for a hero, and so begins her rather ambiguous career. I won't say any more, as I'm assuming there's a few members here who also pledged and may be waiting to read their physical books and I don't want to spoil anything. I'll just say that these are fun comics. I've always liked Plastic Man/E-man-type characters, and this one has a nice hook. Also - and this is something Gail Simone notes in her introduction to the book - Kesel and Hahn created a whole little universe populated by other colorful heroes and villains which makes you want more once you get done with this. They have announced a volume 2, and hopefully we won't have to wait too long for it.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 9, 2021 22:22:41 GMT -5
Impossible Jones! Volume 1: Grin & Gritty!Created, written and illustrated by Karl Kesel and David Hahn, 2020 This is the fruit of a successful Kickstarter campaign held in the summer of 2019, but the whole project was only finalized this fall, and the actual physical books were only sent out pretty recently - sometime in late December I think. I only pledged for the pdf version, which was made available in November. Finally read it today and quite thoroughly enjoyed it. The titular character is a thief who gets double-crossed by one of her partners during a heist in a high-tech laboratory. She gets locked in a testing room for some new experimental tech, comic-book science happens, and a few days later she's kind of like Plastic Man or E-man. She initially wants to get revenge on whichever of her former partners was responsible (she's initially not sure who did it), but along the way she unintentionally gets mistaken for a hero, and so begins her rather ambiguous career. I won't say any more, as I'm assuming there's a few members here who also pledged and may be waiting to read their physical books and I don't want to spoil anything. I'll just say that these are fun comics. I've always liked Plastic Man/E-man-type characters, and this one has a nice hook. Also - and this is something Gail Simone notes in her introduction to the book - Kesel and Hahn created a whole little universe populated by other colorful heroes and villains which makes you want more once you get done with this. They have announced a volume 2, and hopefully we won't have to wait too long for it. There’s a decent chance I’ll get to this tonight. |
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