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Post by Ricky Jackson on Aug 24, 2021 16:48:30 GMT -5
A friend gave me a copy of Monsters recently and flipping through it looks really good. I will get to it eventually, but my read next pile is almost stacked to the ceiling at the moment! (that's what I get for neglecting the hobby for the better part of 20 years)
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 30, 2021 10:56:18 GMT -5
La bombe by Bollée, Alcante and Rodier (of Superman fame).  (Excerpt here). It's a massive (400+ pages) documentary on the development of the atom bomb, from the fist notion of chain reactions to the aftermath of the Japan bombing (and the fate of the U.S.S. Indianapolis). This is exactly what a documentary comic should be, as far as I'm concerned. Because it has enough pages, it doesn't need to rely on expository and unnatural dialog or long pages of info dump. It can take its time to let us know the main actors as actual people, not as mere placeholders who spout technical terms. It shows the conflicting agendas that could have impeded the building and eventual use of the bomb, and the clash of personalities between certain scientists, politicians and military officers. It also shows the very human reality of all those caught in the whirlwind of history, from the victims of war to those of medical experiments meant to evaluate the risks posed by plutonium. I liked how it doesn't take sides, either; we can see the point of view of the Japanese as well as that of the Americans, and are not spared the ugliness of war (the efforts -eventually successful- to deprive Germany of its reserve of heavy water involved the willful sacrifice of innocent civilians). We can also see the points of view of those who wanted the bomb to be first used for a demonstration meant to scare Japan into surrendering, and those who weren't sure it would stop the war quickly enough; no judgement is passed by the authors. "Ambitious" is a term that often pops up when a book is that big, but here I think it is absolutely appropriate... and although the book can't cover everything, it does a great job at showing us many things that aren't usually discussed. (Not that they're secret per se, but they usually fly under the radar). The black and white art by Rodier is crisp and contrasted, with its characters accurately depicted; you don't need to be told that this guy is Molotov (and in fact, you're not!) or that this one is Truman and that one Fermi. Really nice work. An English version is supposed to be available later in 2021.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2021 13:09:19 GMT -5
 I recently finished a read through of Mignola and Golden's Baltimore series. I started with the prose novel, then read the first 4 trades (I won 1-3 as singles, had to use hoopla for vol. 4) and then the second omnibus volume (which collects trade vols. 5-8), which I picked up at the last con I went to. I enjoyed the series quite a bit. Perhaps not as much as the Hellboy/BPRD stuff-it is a different mythos though similar. The difference I think comes down to cast-I like the characters in Hellboy/BPRD more, but I really enjoyed delving into the world of Baltimore. While Hellboy pulls form a lot of pulp horror and adventure material with a heavy dose of folklore and mythology mixed in, Baltimore pulls more from Gothic and Victorian horror (Stoker, Poe, Chambers, et. al) they both fall in the same horror adventure broad genre label. I do feel the first half of Baltimore, focused on Lord Baltimore's quest for vengeance on the elder vampire he encountered on the battlefields of WWI was stronger than the second half, which dealt with the quest tot stop the King in Red, the entity behind the vampires and such, I did enjoy the second half. It was just a case of feeling the story could have ended at the culmination of the first half and stood just fine. The second part was very good, and Mignola and Golden did a good job of figuring out what happens next after the quest is completed, but a part of me still felt it was superfluous and wasn't needed to tell Baltimore's story itself. In a sense was the second half was a victim of Baltimore's success as it only happened because Baltimore had managed to establish an audience and demand for new material. In all a mixed blessing of sorts. But if you like the genre or Mignola stuff, well worth checking out if you haven't. -M |
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Post by The Cheat on Aug 31, 2021 13:18:22 GMT -5
I recently finished a read through of Mignola and Golden's Baltimore series. I started with the prose novel, then read the first 4 trades (I won 1-3 as singles, had to use hoopla for vol. 4) and then the second omnibus volume (which collects trade vols. 5-8), which I picked up at the last con I went to. I enjoyed the series quite a bit. Perhaps not as much as the Hellboy/BPRD stuff-it is a different mythos though similar. The difference I think comes down to cast-I like the characters in Hellboy/BPRD more, but I really enjoyed delving into the world of Baltimore. While Hellboy pulls form a lot of pulp horror and adventure material with a heavy dose of folklore and mythology mixed in, Baltimore pulls more from Gothic and Victorian horror (Stoker, Poe, Chambers, et. al) they both fall in the same horror adventure broad genre label. I do feel the first half of Baltimore, focused on Lord Baltimore's quest for vengeance on the elder vampire he encountered on the battlefields of WWI was stronger than the second half, which dealt with the quest tot stop the King in Red, the entity behind the vampires and such, I did enjoy the second half. It was just a case of feeling the story could have ended at the culmination of the first half and stood just fine. The second part was very good, and Mignola and Golden did a good job of figuring out what happens next after the quest is completed, but a part of me still felt it was superfluous and wasn't needed to tell Baltimore's story itself. In a sense was the second half was a victim of Baltimore's success as it only happened because Baltimore had managed to establish an audience and demand for new material. In all a mixed blessing of sorts. But if you like the genre or Mignola stuff, well worth checking out if you haven't. -M I felt the same. I didn't regret reading the second omnibus, but I can't imagine going back and re-reading it in the future, unlike the first which I put on the same shelf as his Hellboy stuff. |
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Post by commond on Sept 11, 2021 18:24:57 GMT -5
I read the final chapter of Berserk that Kentaro Miura worked on before passing away. It's still uncertain whether the series will continue, but if that is the last chapter then it ends with the most incredible cliffhanger. The artwork was as sublime as ever. I don't know how much work his assistants did to finish it, but we'll never see Miura's like again. There's an exhibition of his work happening this month that I may have to drag myself along to.
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Post by Dizzy D on Sept 13, 2021 9:53:42 GMT -5
Bought and read the first of Linda Šejić's Punderworld. Like most of her and her husband Stjepan recent work for Top Cow, it's published as a series of trades and first appeared as a webcomic.
It's generally a light-hearted comic, which is kinda suprising for a comic based on the myth "The Rape of Persephone". No forceful abduction in this version though; Persephone is more than glad to leave her overprotective mother after decades of eternal summer while Hades is still working up his courage to ask Demeter for her approval.
Also Charon quickly makes it clear to a recently deceased Oedipus (who is wondering why his actions are such a big deal, while the gods do similar things all the time) that the gods are not creatures of flesh and blood and therefore not bound by similar rules as humans (a bit quod licet Iovi non licet bovi, but best to address it right now, because Hades is about to date his niece.)
It does some interesting things with the gods art-wise: like usual the Greek gods are barefoot, but we also see some of them switching between human and divine aspects depending on who they are talking to and in what context. The most interesting thing is each of the main gods has a 'crown'; which can take many forms, but especially for Demeter and Persephone that crown take the forms of leaves, flowers or fruit and the form it takes betrays their inner thoughts, something which Demeter uses to figure out what her daughter is thinking.
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Post by wickedmountain on Sept 19, 2021 13:21:17 GMT -5
Elvira meets Vincent Price #1 and #2 ( 2021)
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Post by wickedmountain on Sept 19, 2021 23:38:04 GMT -5
Titans united issue #1 ( 2021 )
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 20, 2021 20:37:22 GMT -5
Titans united issue #1 ( 2021 ) Any good? I was ready to get this until I read it was mildly related to the TV show. |
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Post by wickedmountain on Sept 23, 2021 0:38:49 GMT -5
Titans united issue #1 ( 2021 ) Any good? I was ready to get this until I read it was mildly related to the TV show. It was okay so yea just ok . |
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Post by wickedmountain on Sept 23, 2021 0:39:23 GMT -5
Aquaman the becoming issue #1 (2021)
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Post by wickedmountain on Sept 23, 2021 1:52:44 GMT -5
Reptil #1 through #4 ( 2021 )
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Post by wickedmountain on Sept 23, 2021 23:27:37 GMT -5
X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY #1 through #4 ( 2021 )
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Post by wickedmountain on Oct 4, 2021 23:05:30 GMT -5
X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY #5 AND #6 ( 2021 )
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Post by berkley on Oct 5, 2021 3:29:47 GMT -5
La bombe by Bollée, Alcante and Rodier (of Superman fame). (Excerpt here). It's a massive (400+ pages) documentary on the development of the atom bomb, from the fist notion of chain reactions to the aftermath of the Japan bombing (and the fate of the U.S.S. Indianapolis). This is exactly what a documentary comic should be, as far as I'm concerned. Because it has enough pages, it doesn't need to rely on expository and unnatural dialog or long pages of info dump. It can take its time to let us know the main actors as actual people, not as mere placeholders who spout technical terms. It shows the conflicting agendas that could have impeded the building and eventual use of the bomb, and the clash of personalities between certain scientists, politicians and military officers. It also shows the very human reality of all those caught in the whirlwind of history, from the victims of war to those of medical experiments meant to evaluate the risks posed by plutonium. I liked how it doesn't take sides, either; we can see the point of view of the Japanese as well as that of the Americans, and are not spared the ugliness of war (the efforts -eventually successful- to deprive Germany of its reserve of heavy water involved the willful sacrifice of innocent civilians). We can also see the points of view of those who wanted the bomb to be first used for a demonstration meant to scare Japan into surrendering, and those who weren't sure it would stop the war quickly enough; no judgement is passed by the authors. "Ambitious" is a term that often pops up when a book is that big, but here I think it is absolutely appropriate... and although the book can't cover everything, it does a great job at showing us many things that aren't usually discussed. (Not that they're secret per se, but they usually fly under the radar). The black and white art by Rodier is crisp and contrasted, with its characters accurately depicted; you don't need to be told that this guy is Molotov (and in fact, you're not!) or that this one is Truman and that one Fermi. Really nice work. An English version is supposed to be available later in 2021.
I might try this. It's such a contentious subject that I usually avoid talking about it - and such a horrifying one that, like the Holocaust or colonial genocides, I usually avoid even thinking or reading too much about it - but it's also an important one and from the sampled pages in the link it does look lke it's really well done. Thanks for letting us know about it here.
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