Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,186 
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Post by Confessor on Apr 19, 2023 8:53:24 GMT -5
Finishing up my re-read of Will Eisner's "A Contract with God" trilogy, with the third and final part, Dropsie Avenue...  The book returns us to Dropsie Avenue in New York City, which was also the setting of the previous books in the series ( A Contract with God and A Life Force). But rather than exclusively focusing on the poor, working-class Jewish residents of 55 Dropsie Avenue, like the previous books did, this comic traces the history of the whole neighbourhood from 1870 through to the late 1980s. At the start of the story the area is Dutch-owned farmland, which is subsequently extensively developed, becoming predominantly English, then Irish, then Italian, then Jewish, then Hispanic and Black along the way. As each wave of immigration enters the neighbourhood, the existing residents feel hostility towards the new arrivals and the changes to the architecture and character of the area that their presence brings. These changes represent the life cycle of Dropsie Avenue from its humble birth through to its death and subsequent rebirth. This cycle is told via a dizzying series of vignettes involving the folks who live on the block during the 100+ years that the book covers, as they either directly participate in changing the character of the neighbourhood or at least bear witness to the events that do. In its examination of the social history of the area, the book dwells on a number of different aspects of life in the Bronx neighbourhood, including racial and ethnic clashes, religious prejudice, racketeering, drug addition, prostitution, and urban decay. We see Dropsie Avenue gradually and inexorably decline throughout then early-to-mid 20th century, culminating with the neighbourhood literally being on fire in the 1970s. In this respect, Dropsie Avenue is by far the most depressing book in the series: never before has Eisner placed greed and malice at the forefront of a book's narrative in quite such an explicit way before. I mean, just when you think there might be a happy or at least redemptive ending, a new wave of immigration comes in, again causing the older residents to flee, and the neighbourhood lurches back into a downward spiral. As an aside, I do kinda wonder what Eisner would've made of 21st century neighbourhood gentrification. It would definitely have been interesting to see his examination of that addition to Dropsie Avenue's life cycle at the end of the book. All that said, this is still a pretty entertaining and thought-provoking read – particularly in how Eisner depicts landscape as a character itself (one that affects the people in a particular area as much as the other residents or various local events do). But the previous two books had more engaging characters and packed that little bit more of an emotional punch as a result. Still, the artwork here is fantastic throughout and, perhaps more than the two previous books, Eisner's mastery of subtle visual storytelling – particularly his being able to convey veiled emotion with facial expressions – is really to the fore. I was struck a number of times by just how clever and subtle his artistic technique can be. So, all in all, a decent, thought-provoking read, but still the weakest part of the "A Contract with God" trilogy for me. |
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Post by tartanphantom on Apr 19, 2023 9:30:40 GMT -5
Reading comics is an entirely personal experience, much like listening to music, etc. Sharing why something calls out to you, similar to how I mentioned my personal reference point and how that may have influenced my enjoyment of Krazy and Ignatz at a certain point in my life, tells others about your journey, but does not suggest that journey is for others. It is the diversity of roads we travel I think that sometimes makes sharing our experiences most interesting. It's not a "popularity poll" about a given book (and seems odd to me that it would be treated as such), it's more an opportunity to throw out experiences. Maybe you share in that connection, maybe you don't, but sometimes I think it's best to just vibe with the dialogue.
Go ahead and admit it... it's not about any of that... you just like throwing brickbats. 
So do I.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2023 9:33:36 GMT -5
Reading comics is an entirely personal experience, much like listening to music, etc. Sharing why something calls out to you, similar to how I mentioned my personal reference point and how that may have influenced my enjoyment of Krazy and Ignatz at a certain point in my life, tells others about your journey, but does not suggest that journey is for others. It is the diversity of roads we travel I think that sometimes makes sharing our experiences most interesting. It's not a "popularity poll" about a given book (and seems odd to me that it would be treated as such), it's more an opportunity to throw out experiences. Maybe you share in that connection, maybe you don't, but sometimes I think it's best to just vibe with the dialogue.
Go ahead and admit it... it's not about any of that... you just like throwing brickbats.
So do I.
Heck yeah I do. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 19, 2023 16:09:06 GMT -5
I did a re-read of the Adam Strange mini from 1990. I bought it when it came out but I'm not sure I've read it since. If I have it's only been once and it was a long damn time ago. This gets a lot of hate. And I get that. It has some pretty serious problems. But I'm not sure all of it is deserved. The art by Andy and Adam Kubert is just dandy. So there's that. Writer Richard Bruning was predominantly a designer, only writing a handful of stories for DC. I can see how old-school Adam Strange fans could be mad...both of them. But really the character wasn't very interesting. It was standard space opera stuff starting about 30 years after space opera had stopped having any relevance at all in prose SF. And I'm not going to say that the book doesn't suffer from post-Dark Knight/post-Watchmen syndrome. Because it absolutely does. But in the hands of a better writer Adam Strange could have been made in to interesting modern SF with space opera trappings. Alas...that didn't happen here.  |
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Post by Ozymandias on Apr 20, 2023 3:17:45 GMT -5
Just finished Preacher. The regular series, none of the specials or SoK mini. After watching the first season of the TV series, I always wanted to take a look, and now was the time. As with the adaptation, there are many things I like, and many I don't. Half recommendable.
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Post by kirby101 on Apr 20, 2023 7:41:29 GMT -5
Finishing up my re-read of Will Eisner's "A Contract with God" trilogy, with the third and final part, Dropsie Avenue... The book returns us to Dropsie Avenue in New York City, which was also the setting of the previous books in the series ( A Contract with God and A Life Force). But rather than exclusively focusing on the poor, working-class Jewish residents of 55 Dropsie Avenue, like the previous books did, this comic traces the history of the whole neighbourhood from 1870 through to the late 1980s. At the start of the story the area is Dutch-owned farmland, which is subsequently extensively developed, becoming predominantly English, then Irish, then Italian, then Jewish, then Hispanic and Black along the way. As each wave of immigration enters the neighbourhood, the existing residents feel hostility towards the new arrivals and the changes to the architecture and character of the area that their presence brings. These changes represent the life cycle of Dropsie Avenue from its humble birth through to its death and subsequent rebirth. This cycle is told via a dizzying series of vignettes involving the folks who live on the block during the 100+ years that the book covers, as they either directly participate in changing the character of the neighbourhood or at least bear witness to the events that do. In its examination of the social history of the area, the book dwells on a number of different aspects of life in the Bronx neighbourhood, including racial and ethnic clashes, religious prejudice, racketeering, drug addition, prostitution, and urban decay. We see Dropsie Avenue gradually and inexorably decline throughout then early-to-mid 20th century, culminating with the neighbourhood literally being on fire in the 1970s. In this respect, Dropsie Avenue is by far the most depressing book in the series: never before has Eisner placed greed and malice at the forefront of a book's narrative in quite such an explicit way before. I mean, just when you think there might be a happy or at least redemptive ending, a new wave of immigration comes in, again causing the older residents to flee, and the neighbourhood lurches back into a downward spiral. As an aside, I do kinda wonder what Eisner would've made of 21st century neighbourhood gentrification. It would definitely have been interesting to see his examination of that addition to Dropsie Avenue's life cycle at the end of the book. All that said, this is still a pretty entertaining and thought-provoking read – particularly in how Eisner depicts landscape as a character itself (one that affects the people in a particular area as much as the other residents or various local events do). But the previous two books had more engaging characters and packed that little bit more of an emotional punch as a result. Still, the artwork here is fantastic throughout and, perhaps more than the two previous books, Eisner's mastery of subtle visual storytelling – particularly his being able to convey veiled emotion with facial expressions – is really to the fore. I was struck a number of times by just how clever and subtle his artistic technique can be. So, all in all, a decent, thought-provoking read, but still the weakest part of the "A Contract with God" trilogy for me. I found Dropsie to be one of the strongest of his graphic novels. Different strokes...I thought it was a great telling of the immigration history of NY. And yes, if he had continued it into the 21st century we would have seen rejuvenation of that area of Brooklyn. |
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Post by MDG on Apr 20, 2023 9:57:30 GMT -5
I did a re-read of the Adam Strange mini from 1990. I bought it when it came out but I'm not sure I've read it since. If I have it's only been once and it was a long damn time ago. This gets a lot of hate. And I get that. It has some pretty serious problems. But I'm not sure all of it is deserved. The art by Andy and Adam Kubert is just dandy. So there's that. Writer Richard Bruning was predominantly a designer, only writing a handful of stories for DC. I can see how old-school Adam Strange fans could be mad...both of them. But really the character wasn't very interesting. It was standard space opera stuff starting about 30 years after space opera had stopped having any relevance at all in prose SF. And I'm not going to say that the book doesn't suffer from post-Dark Knight/post-Watchmen syndrome. Because it absolutely does. But in the hands of a better writer Adam Strange could have been made in to interesting modern SF with space opera trappings. Alas...that didn't happen here. IIRC, it picks up off cues from the Adam Strange appearance in Moore's Swamp Thing, right? Somewhere around here I have a print industry magazine that talks about some new color separation/printing process that it used. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 20, 2023 10:01:05 GMT -5
I did a re-read of the Adam Strange mini from 1990. I bought it when it came out but I'm not sure I've read it since. If I have it's only been once and it was a long damn time ago. This gets a lot of hate. And I get that. It has some pretty serious problems. But I'm not sure all of it is deserved. The art by Andy and Adam Kubert is just dandy. So there's that. Writer Richard Bruning was predominantly a designer, only writing a handful of stories for DC. I can see how old-school Adam Strange fans could be mad...both of them. But really the character wasn't very interesting. It was standard space opera stuff starting about 30 years after space opera had stopped having any relevance at all in prose SF. And I'm not going to say that the book doesn't suffer from post-Dark Knight/post-Watchmen syndrome. Because it absolutely does. But in the hands of a better writer Adam Strange could have been made in to interesting modern SF with space opera trappings. Alas...that didn't happen here. IIRC, it picks up off cues from the Adam Strange appearance in Moore's Swamp Thing, right? Somewhere around here I have a print industry magazine that talks about some new color separation/printing process that it used. Yeah it does. In fact Strange comes across a valley on Rann that has become a verdant swarth following Swampy being there. So the sterility of the planet certainly came out of Moore's look at Rann in Swamp Thing. |
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Post by badwolf on Apr 20, 2023 12:39:40 GMT -5
As much as I recall enjoying Simonson's work on the X-Books, on this re-reading the dropoff in writing quality is marked. The reading level seems lower. The kids become more similarly bratty and short-sighted, in contrast to the differing levels of maturity and diversity of personality under Claremont. This was exactly my impression when the books first came out. Bret Blevins (whose art I like elsewhere) didn't help as his style of drawing faces made them seem even brattier.
I think I dropped the series after Doug's death.
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 20, 2023 17:13:38 GMT -5
Blue Monday v1  Remember the Image re-release of it when it came out (mostly for the New Order song title) and it kind of peeked my interest, but not enough to read it all the way Basically it's kind of a slice of life set in the 90's featuring a pepsi fueled high schooler named Bleu and her gaggle of friends getting into various hijinks, with a through line of Bleu trying to get tickets to an Adam Ant concert
I thought it was cute, even if it wasn't my particular cup of tea |
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Post by spoon on Apr 20, 2023 17:58:59 GMT -5
As much as I recall enjoying Simonson's work on the X-Books, on this re-reading the dropoff in writing quality is marked. The reading level seems lower. The kids become more similarly bratty and short-sighted, in contrast to the differing levels of maturity and diversity of personality under Claremont. This was exactly my impression when the books first came out. Bret Blevins (whose art I like elsewhere) didn't help as his style of drawing faces made them seem even brattier.
I think I dropped the series after Doug's death.
Since my post, I've read a few issues further into the Spyder/Gossamyr/Lila story. Blevins inks himself, and it's actually a lot better than when Terry Austin inked Blevins at the start of his run. I'm starting to think I'm not much of an Austin fan. I still like the Byrne/Austin pairing, but I'm noticing I don't like paired up with other pencilers much. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2023 5:08:15 GMT -5
I read The Incredible Hulk #333 last night. I do enjoy Peter David’s run. While I never wish to see origins/super powers explained too pedantically, I do endorse this:  I feel that Peter David made that believable. |
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Post by badwolf on Apr 21, 2023 8:44:12 GMT -5
This was exactly my impression when the books first came out. Bret Blevins (whose art I like elsewhere) didn't help as his style of drawing faces made them seem even brattier.
I think I dropped the series after Doug's death.
Since my post, I've read a few issues further into the Spyder/Gossamyr/Lila story. Blevins inks himself, and it's actually a lot better than when Terry Austin inked Blevins at the start of his run. I'm starting to think I'm not much of an Austin fan. I still like the Byrne/Austin pairing, but I'm noticing I don't like paired up with other pencilers much. Gossamyr was hot.  Maybe I did read it for a bit longer... |
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Post by berkley on Apr 21, 2023 22:59:27 GMT -5
I've been doing the early 1990s the last week or so and thus tried the first issue of Enigma (1993) but found I wasn't in the mood for it. I have lots of other comics from that era to read or re-read so rather than forcing myself to continue I think I'll put it off for now and try it again some other time, a tactic that has worked for me in a few other cases.
So I went back to Gaiman's Sandman: #50, to be precise, which happens to be the only issue of the series I read when it came out: I remember that I bought it because I saw that Craig Russell was the artist but I can't really remember my reaction to it back then. However, since I liked it very much this time around and I don't think my tastes have changed all that much over the intervening years, I imagine I must have liked it then too - which makes me wonder, why didn't I continue with the series, at least for the next few issues? Perhaps I was disappointed upon finding that Russell wasn't the regular artist, or perhaps I just didn't happen to see the next few issues on the shelves, who knows. I'm curious to see if the any of the next few covers or contents will ring any bells when I get to them.
One thing about Sandman #50 that I think I probably resonated with me more this time around than when I read it back in 1993 was the Arabian Nights references. I'd read at least one or two versions of the Arabian Nights in my earlier yeasr - a childrens version and later a Penguin - but just around a year ago I read the "original" - that is, not the actual Arabic original (if there is such a thing) but the first English version, which was a quick translation of the French version that first brought these stories to Europe early in the 18th century. And I was impressed - again, with this re-read - that Gaiman referenced in an unobtrusive way a few stories, characters, etc that I think would be familiar only to someone who had read the Arabian Nights with close attention - IOW, going beyond the most obvious things like Ali Baba or Sinbad.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2023 8:09:27 GMT -5
Finished Dredd’s The Cursed Earth last night, worthy of every bit of praise and hype, it is. The Special Judicial Squad, the “Internal Affairs” division of the Justice Department, were mentioned several posts back. Look at this:   Anyway, The Day the Law Died story is next. Only read the first chapter. Seems Dredd doesn’t even take his helmet/uniform off in bed:  |
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Maybe I did read it for a bit longer...