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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 20, 2017 8:52:21 GMT -5
Top Humble Bundle Continued:
Rest by Mark Powers, Shawn McManus, Marco Castiello and Abhishek Malsuni:
Not bad, it's at least more what I wanted from this bundle than the previous things I discussed (barring Hine's Darkness). Apparently this started out at Devil's Due, a publisher I've had little contact with, but then moved to Top Cow. The setup is pretty simple: John's in a high-stress telemarketer job with no real prospects and his college friend Teddy shows up after they lost touch for years. Teddy is rich, succesful and a lot more healthier than before and reveals that he's part of a drug experiment for a drug that eliminates the need for sleep. An implant in their neck gives them the right dosage to eliminate all need for sleep while preventing any side-effects. Without having to sleep, John suddenly has far more time to do other things: he has more time for his job so he quickly rises in the ranks, studies languages, works out.
Of course things go wrong, but I have to give Powers credit for at least pointing out that even if the drug worked perfectly, it would have serious consequences: one of the FDA inspectors points out that should the drug work, the demands for energy and food would drastically increase. I also appreciate that the artstyle is not the usual Top Cow housestyle (though Top Cow has become a bit more diverse than they used to be).
Downsides: The way things go wrong are a bit too extreme for my taste; I wanted more time to explore the concept itself and the downsides of it, without the side-effects overwhelming the story.
Swing and Sugar: Not a trade, but two previews for upcoming Top Cow titles. Swing is a title by Hawkins, Jenni Chueng and Linda Sejic, Sugar by Hawkins, Jenni Cheung and Yishan Li. Sunstone must have done very well if Top Cow is releasing two romance comics that both seem to be inspired by it.
Swing is about a girl going to college and falling in love with a teaching assistant. The icon for the series indicates a lot more romantical complexity than that.
Sugar's preview is image only, no-text and seems to deal with a single waitress who is trying to find love.
Interesting to see that Hawkins (who usually is very into science and sci-fi on his other titles) is writing both series together with his wife (Jenni). I'm not that big a fan of Hawkins (being from a science background, the flaws in his science pieces are probably more obvious to me), so I don't think this will hit the heights that Sunstone did for me (then again, Sejic's writing on Ravine was not spectacular either). I'm happy to see Top Cow (and mainstream comics in general) widening their scope again.
Symmetry by Matt Hawkins and Raffaele Ienco. Hawkins is a busy man, see all these titles he's written and he's also running Top Cow. Another hard sci-fi series and a concept that I find quite interesting: Artificial Intelligence has come so far, that humanity has decided to hand the reigns of the world to it so that human conflict can be eliminated. Each human receives an AI co-pilot to help guide their actions for the better of humanity. I'm a big fan of Iain Banks Culture-books, this is a more cynical take on such a society. Big difference is of course that in the Culture, humans are left free to do what they want as long as they don't endanger those around them (and the tech levels are quite a bit higher as well), so the point becomes more what do you do when you can do anything. The AI here has decided that things like love, diversity and creativity are a danger to peace and harmony, so from the start we already see that this is more a Brave New World (or similar titles) than the Culture.
The story hits several expected points, but overal is different enough to be interesting. I said above I'm not a fan of Hawkins writing, but I enjoyed this one. I'm still deciding whether I liked the ending, but the points it makes are well made (it helps that Hawkins has his usual bits of information and sources at the end. For all my criticism of Hawkins, he's one of the few comic writers I know that accurately sources his comics.) Also he avoids going for easy answers, which I always appreciate.
Last, minor comment: by contract I'm obligated to make a certain Monty Python joke whenever it occurs in comics, movies or TV: in the Serengeti, the main characters are attacked by a tiger, so ... "A tiger? in Africa?"
Overall: I recommend it, it's two trades for the complete story. A sci-fi story inspired by several classics, but with enough twists that makes it relevant to our current world.
Upcoming: Think Tank, Wildfire, Witchblade Manga and the Generation IXth oneshots.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 20, 2017 10:29:27 GMT -5
Catching up on stuff I picked up at the LCS recently, so read the following Half Past Danger 2 #2 & 3 Mister Miracle #4 Bug: The Adventures of Forager #5 Manhunter Oversize Special #1 The Black Racer & Shilo Norman Oversize Special #1 Sandman Oversize Special #1 and continued on with BPRD Hell on Earth, reading Volume 2, Gods & Monsters. Also read the first 2 issues of the Mark Waid/Chris Samnee Black Widow series on Marvel Unlimited. I quite enjoyed all of them. -M Bug is so much fun. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 20:31:34 GMT -5
The new issue of Doctor Strange showed up in my mailbox this afternooen, #381, the start of the Loki: Sorcerer Supreme storyline, and the first of the Legacy numbering for the title. It was also the start of a new creative team of Donny Cates, Gabriel Hernandez Walta with colors by Jodie Bellaire. Walta and Bellaire doa fantastic job and I liked what Cates was doing well enough to see where it goes.
As a side note, Doc and Loki both mentioned that there wa sa contest where the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme was lost by Doc and gained by Loki, it didn't happen in the ongoing Doc Strange series, anyone know where it did take place?
-M
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 21:40:22 GMT -5
Just read the Doc Macabre Treasury edition...  it collects the 2010 three-issue mini form Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson is glorious oversized b&w format. Wrightson's work is gorgeous as usual and the big format in b&w let's you linger over the art and soak in the details. Niles tells a bit of a tongue-in-cheel detective noir supernatural adventure that is a fun ride. -M |
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 22, 2017 4:21:00 GMT -5
The new issue of Doctor Strange showed up in my mailbox this afternooen, #381, the start of the Loki: Sorcerer Supreme storyline, and the first of the Legacy numbering for the title. It was also the start of a new creative team of Donny Cates, Gabriel Hernandez Walta with colors by Jodie Bellaire. Walta and Bellaire doa fantastic job and I liked what Cates was doing well enough to see where it goes. As a side note, Doc and Loki both mentioned that there wa sa contest where the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme was lost by Doc and gained by Loki, it didn't happen in the ongoing Doc Strange series, anyone know where it did take place? -M As far as I know the battle between Loki and Strange has not been shown yet and will probably be told in a flashback within the title itself. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2017 20:26:10 GMT -5
Read the first volume of Black Canary by Brandon Fletcher, Annie Wu, Pia Guerra and others, part of the DCYOu publishing initiative (collects 1-7 plus preview material DC released).  I was curious about this but I wasn't buying new comics when it came out, so I checked out a copy from the local library. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Very different take on Dinah and her origins (tied to the new52 Team 7 borrowed form Wildstorm), it nonetheless was a solid read and the rock band aspects of it gave it a somewhat unique voice and tone. -M |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2017 22:21:17 GMT -5
via Hoopla, read BPRD Hell on Earth Vol. 3: Russia by Mignola, Arcudi, Crook, Fregado and Stewart.  I like Tyler Crook's art (I first encountered it on Harrow County I think), but he doesn't make me forget about Guy Davis, whose storytelling was always superb. Still a well told story and it is interesting to see the BPRD dealing with an apocalypse as it happens. -M |
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 27, 2017 13:16:04 GMT -5
And the final bit of the Humble Bundle:
Think Tank by Matt Hawkins and Rashan Ekedal: The first 3 trades are in B&W, the last 2 are coloured. This seems to be Matt Hawkins most personal project, he keeps returning to it and he has more plans with it. It's knee-deep in science references, which are his thing.
Dr. David Loren is a genius, he works for the U.S. military to develop weapons and they make sure that Loren is kept under their control. Loren has had enough of his inventions killing people though and tries to escape. I liked the series more and more as it went on. Supergenius vs. military is a story we've seen before, but it's only the plot of the first story arc. Loren's intelligence comes with arrogance, sexism and a disregard for the feelings of the people around him and the story starts focusing on Loren's flaws and how his behaviour is absolutely not OK. The characters around him become more developed: for instance, at the start of the story, Dr. Manish Pavi, is shown as Loren's friend and only at the project because he can influence Loren, who usually is too stubborn to listen to others. As the story develops, Manish gets chances to prove his own intelligence and Loren starts to realise how smart his friend actually is, he just is intimidated by Loren's intelligence. On the other hand, Pavi can actually have normale human relationships and is far more reliable.
Overal I like it, I don't love it.
Wildfire: Another Matt Hawkins, this time with Linda Sejic. While working on a genetically modified plant that can cure worldhunger, the experiment is not properly contained and the plant spreads and even cross-polinates other plants around it. The modification allows plants to grow at an accelerated speed and the new plants quicky overrun the city. The plot quickly turns to a disaster movie.
Now full disclosure: I've studied Biotechnology (didn't went for the PhD afterwards), so I know quite a bit about the science behind this. Hawkins, as usual, did his research and a lot of the points he makes are correct. In the plot though, the consequences are massively accelerated and for me, you run into the same problem as movies like The Day After Tomorrow do (among others): you are trying to make warn about a valid risk, but by exaggerating the form the risk takes, you undermine the threat and how insidious the problem actually would be. May be a case of being too close to the source material to appreciate the fictionalized version. A realistic take would probably be very, very boring for somebody who is not wired to appreciate those (ie me).
A Wildfire vol 2. is advertised at the end of the story, but I don't think it was published?
IX oneshots: These are a few, we have Cyberforce/Aphrodite IX, Artemis IX, Poseidon IX, Athena IX and Apollo IX (Hephaestos, Ares, Hermes and Hades are out of luck. Hephaestos, Ares and Hades at least get some development in IXth Generation, but poor Hermes is left out in the cold. And she is hinted to be actually pretty important according to IXth Generation).
Cyberforce/Aphrodite IX link the Cyberforce stories to the Aphrodite IX stories (both in the Rebirth version of the Top Cow universe) and I like that Matt Hawkins, in a far more kinder way than I ever could, basically has the same problems with the original Aphrodite IX series as I have (it is "complex".) Hawkins also very kindly offers readers of Cyberforce/Aphrodite IX crossover to contact him if they don't get this crossover for some free Cyberforce and Aphrodite IX issues to make things readable. I had the opposite problems, I read Aphrodite IX and its sequel IXth Generation, but this issue here actually explains the link between both series. Not much of a story here in this crossover, it fills in the links between Cyberforce, Aphrodite IX and IXth Generation and is a lot of plotdump.
The other oneshots are each about one of the IXth Generation and how they rule their respective kingdoms around the events of IXth Generation. Non-spoiler warning: They are all terrible people in their own way.
Not recommended unless you are enjoying Cyberforce Rebirth and the Aphrodite IX/IXth Generation series for more than just Sejic's art and want a big more background.
Witchblade Manga: C'mon Top Cow. This was published in 2008. At that time Marz and Sejic were doing their best to change Witchblade from the title that was known as "that title with the half-naked woman on the cover" to one that had actual writing and give Sara a better look. So Top Cow publishes a manga with the main character whose outfit is 98% gloves and boots. As a manga, it's basically all the worst preconceptions people have about manga: blood, extreme violence, tentacles, sexualized teenagers, short skirts and low camera angles.
Storywise there are some weird things as well: The Witchblade here is the hand of a demon, cut off by Japanese demon hunters. It's found abroad by the mother of the protagonist (but the hand was kept for ages in the temple in Japan the story takes place in) who warns that it should be kept away from her daughter. (Granma later realises that keeping it in the same temple the girl works in, might not have been smart.)
Upside: they published this version (coloured, US comic format and method of reading) and traditional manga version (B&W, manga format, right-to-left reading). Multiple publishing options always get a plus.
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Post by lobsterjohnson on Nov 27, 2017 14:11:50 GMT -5
Yesterday I read Punisher: The Platoon #1-3 and Lobster Johnson: Mangekyo through Comixology.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2017 1:52:13 GMT -5
Catching up on The Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates. I have a print subscription through Marvel for this, and I read the first 6 issue as they came out, but health issues and house projects led to issues piling up unread in my to read pile (same thing happened with Aaron's Doctor Strange and heavy Metal which I have subs too, not a reflection of my interest in any of the books, just life getting int he way of stuff), and I am trying to catch up. I reread 1-6 and finished the first long arc (The World Beneath our Feet) which ran through issue 11. Art is by Brian Stelfreeze and Chris Sprouse throughout the arc (Stelfreeze does the first part, then Sprouse does the next, and then they alternate issues or do jam issues for the rest once Stelfreeze returns).
It took a couple of issues for Coates to get his feet under him, the early issues weren't bad by any means, but you could feel Coates trying to find his way in the comic format, but he was telling an interesting story with a very compelling voice, so I stuck with it and was rewarded. The story is thematically driven but is not short on dynamic action and compelling characters.
I liked McGregor's run, adored Kirby's for what it was, but I loved Priest's run above all others (and never warmed to Hudlin's-mostly because it felt so different form Priest's which I had taken to so much- and hadn't read much after that), each has a different take and offered something different, and Coates is no exception. It's it's own thing, and stands on the shoulders of what came before, but isn't derivative of them, but also isn't beholden to them either. Having taught a lot of African history in my previous career, there was something which resonated of that in this take, and this Wakanda to me felt the most genuinely African of all the takes I have seen, without losing the super-science Vibranium driven gestalt that defines Wakanda in the Marvel Universe. There were a lot of layers to peel away in this take for me, and each one revealed something new. I still have 12-18 plus the 2 issues after the reversion to legacy numbering to get through, and I look forward to diving in to see what else is there. I did also pick up the first volume of the companion book, World of Wakanda form the library while I was there this afternoon, and will check that out too.
-M
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 29, 2017 7:08:48 GMT -5
Catching up on The Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates. I have a print subscription through Marvel for this, and I read the first 6 issue as they came out, but health issues and house projects led to issues piling up unread in my to read pile (same thing happened with Aaron's Doctor Strange and heavy Metal which I have subs too, not a reflection of my interest in any of the books, just life getting int he way of stuff), and I am trying to catch up. I reread 1-6 and finished the first long arc (The World Beneath our Feet) which ran through issue 11. Art is by Brian Stelfreeze and Chris Sprouse throughout the arc (Stelfreeze does the first part, then Sprouse does the next, and then they alternate issues or do jam issues for the rest once Stelfreeze returns). It took a couple of issues for Coates to get his feet under him, the early issues weren't bad by any means, but you could feel Coates trying to find his way in the comic format, but he was telling an interesting story with a very compelling voice, so I stuck with it and was rewarded. The story is thematically driven but is not short on dynamic action and compelling characters. I liked McGregor's run, adored Kirby's for what it was, but I loved Priest's run above all others (and never warmed to Hudlin's-mostly because it felt so different form Priest's which I had taken to so much- and hadn't read much after that), each has a different take and offered something different, and Coates is no exception. It's it's own thing, and stands on the shoulders of what came before, but isn't derivative of them, but also isn't beholden to them either. Having taught a lot of African history in my previous career, there was something which resonated of that in this take, and this Wakanda to me felt the most genuinely African of all the takes I have seen, without losing the super-science Vibranium driven gestalt that defines Wakanda in the Marvel Universe. There were a lot of layers to peel away in this take for me, and each one revealed something new. I still have 12-18 plus the 2 issues after the reversion to legacy numbering to get through, and I look forward to diving in to see what else is there. I did also pick up the first volume of the companion book, World of Wakanda form the library while I was there this afternoon, and will check that out too. -M I'm loving Coates Black Panther. I had the first issue of World of Wakanda, but dropped that as it didn't seem to add anything substantial to Black Panther. I generally dislike fictionalised countries because they never feel real (because creators usually don't think about history, culture, influences from neighbouring countries etc. that actually form a country). Coates is putting in the work with myths and bits of history between Wakanda and its neighbouring countries and gives us some different answers than just "Vibranium!" or "Panther God" when it comes to explaining why Wakanda is the way it is. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2017 3:16:04 GMT -5
After reading the first volume of Warren Ellis' Wildstorm, I kind of got a bug to check out some more Wildstorm stuff, but wasn't sure if I wanted to revisit stuff I already read like Sleeper or try something new, but then I saw something interesting on Hoopla- a trade collection called Wildstorm: A Celebration of 25 Years-basically a review of Wildstorm's publishing history along with a collection of new stories featuring the characters by creative teams most associated with them, plus a few unused stories, concept art, etc. and a b&w reprint of WildCATS #1 (a book I had never read before). I enjoyed some of the stories (it was nice revisiting Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch on Authority for example) and disliked others (unused Mark Millar Authority stories for example), but it was a good sampler to scratch the particular Wildstorm itch I had.
-M
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 30, 2017 11:19:23 GMT -5
After reading the first volume of Warren Ellis' Wildstorm, I kind of got a bug to check out some more Wildstorm stuff, but wasn't sure if I wanted to revisit stuff I already read like Sleeper or try something new, but then I saw something interesting on Hoopla- a trade collection called Wildstorm: A Celebration of 25 Years-basically a review of Wildstorm's publishing history along with a collection of new stories featuring the characters by creative teams most associated with them, plus a few unused stories, concept art, etc. and a b&w reprint of WildCATS #1 (a book I had never read before). I enjoyed some of the stories (it was nice revisiting Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch on Authority for example) and disliked others (unused Mark Millar Authority stories for example), but it was a good sampler to scratch the particular Wildstorm itch I had. -M I was interested in it, but I didn't know how much would be reprints. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2017 13:03:44 GMT -5
After reading the first volume of Warren Ellis' Wildstorm, I kind of got a bug to check out some more Wildstorm stuff, but wasn't sure if I wanted to revisit stuff I already read like Sleeper or try something new, but then I saw something interesting on Hoopla- a trade collection called Wildstorm: A Celebration of 25 Years-basically a review of Wildstorm's publishing history along with a collection of new stories featuring the characters by creative teams most associated with them, plus a few unused stories, concept art, etc. and a b&w reprint of WildCATS #1 (a book I had never read before). I enjoyed some of the stories (it was nice revisiting Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch on Authority for example) and disliked others (unused Mark Millar Authority stories for example), but it was a good sampler to scratch the particular Wildstorm itch I had. -M I was interested in it, but I didn't know how much would be reprints. The only pure reprint I think is a B&W version of WildCATS #1. A lot of pages are simply pin-ups of Wildstorm characters with caption boxes giving an overview of the character/series and first appearance info. There is a lot of unused covers and a 2 part Millar/Quitely Authority story (well 2 of projected 4) that pits them against Avengers analogues that are the director's cut so to speak, I guess editorial scrapped the story or imposed significant changes, not sure I never read the Millar stuff and generally avoid anything he's associated with. They also present (not sure if it was published) the first issue of the Grant Morrison/Jim Lee WildCATS revival that never saw a second issue, but do present Morrison's first draft of the script for #2. The rest is new short stories by returning creators-Campbell on Gen13, Ellis/Hitch on Authority, a couple of Deathblow stories by different creators, etc. It was an interesting read, but I am not sure I would have been satisfied if I had paid to read it. Maybe if I was a hardcore Wildstorm fan and wanted to relive a lot of it, but that's not me. -M |
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Post by Dizzy D on Dec 1, 2017 10:54:07 GMT -5
Debating between posting this here or in the European comics thread (cross-posted from other board I visit):
Finally got around to reading Marini's Batman (The Dark Prince Charming, part 1 of 2). Definitely something you read for the art and not the writing. Marini is usually not a bad writer (once he had some experience), but his best series draw a lot on historical sources (one of the things that always draws me in) and in case of a fictional character like Batman, there are not many opportunities to do that (though you could use some of the lesser known villains perhaps). The writing is not bad, but it hits a lot of the usual notes: basically another Batman/Joker with Harley Quin and Catwoman playing parts.
I do like several things about this comic including the writing though (keep in mind, I'm reading this in dutch translation. I usually want the original language for comics, but I don't speak Italian. Translations can make a big difference.):
Spoiler
The good:
- the sideplot with a woman claiming that Bruce Wayne is the father of her child works for me, because it's clear that Bruce wants to help the child without giving money to somebody that tries to con him. Joker kidnapping the kid gives him the chance to do something for the kid, but I'm interested if how they wrap up the sideplot.
- The Joker's goal this time is to steal a necklace for Harley's birthday. I'm always happy when it's not the Joker's goal to kill everybody in Gotham *again*. He does kill a lot of people (usually henchmen.. the Joker kills more criminals than the Punisher the way he's usually written.) Also happy that their relationship is not the abusive relationship it is in some versions; Harley is pissed off at Joker for his failure, Joker wants to make it up for her.
- Archie, Joker's henchman. Basically Marvin the Paranoid Android as Joker's henchman. I like this guy a lot.
- The art.
The bad:
- Not a fan of this Joker's design. Or Harley's for that matter.
- So far a bit too much Batman vs Joker by numbers.
- Gordon vaping instead of smoking and the resulting comments by Batman.
The confused:
So
a) Selina Kyle is dating Bruce Wayne (and they are actually dating as in she's staying the night over at Wayne Manor in the same bed, not the old school dumping-the-love-interest-at-the-end-of-the-date-to-fight-crime).
b) Catwoman is still a criminal, she's trying to steal the same jewelry as the Joker.
c) Catwoman knows Batman is Bruce Wayne.
So... does Bruce in this version *not* know that she is Catwoman? Even when she is making catpuns right next to him as Selina? Or is he ok with her stealing jewelry as long as she does not hurt people on the way?
Either way would have a lot of problems in my mind.
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