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Post by fanboystranger on Mar 24, 2015 9:12:16 GMT -5
Sta Rhunters triggered a need for some Eternal Champion material Moorcock style, so I broke out and finally read Michael Moorcock's Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer (it's sort of qualifies as a classic, it started in 2004 but took until 2006 for the final (4th issue) to appear) by Michael Moorcock and Walt Simonson. The Simonson art is gorgeous. The structure of he series is excellent as well. Young Elric must prove his worthiness to inherit the throne of Melnibone to his father and undergoes four dream quests (one each issue) opposed at every turn by Yrkoon who seeks to be named heir instead of the weakling Elric. Each dream takes young Elric to an era of Melnibone's past revealing how the empire was forged, the nature of the struggle between Law and Chaos, a history of the black blade, etc. etc. all rendered with style and aplomb by Simonson. This is original material adding tot he Elric saga by Moorcock, not an adaptation of previous prose stories as many of the other Elric comics were. Fans of Elric, Moorcock, Simonson, swor dand sorcery, or just great fantasy adventure comics should check this out. -M It's really great. If you're in it for the Simonson, I'd also recommend Michael Moorcock's Multiverse, which has Walt illustrating the "Second Ether" universe until there's a major collision of Moorcock characters in the last few issues. If you're in it for the Elric, then I'd recommend Elric: The Balance Lost from BOOM! Moorcock plotted this with his friend Chris Robeson, who scripted the series, and it has major implications for the Eternal Champion mythos.
Oh, and Titan's been translating the Julian Blondel Elric adaptations, which Moorcock says are the best visual depiction of Melnibone and Elric's world. The first volume came out last autumn, and the second volume will come out at the end of the month. Gorgeous and brutal at the same time.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2015 10:40:39 GMT -5
I have the first couple of issues of the Multiverse series and they are on my list of things to track down. I have the BOOM series, but only read the first couple of issues before deciding to wait and read it all at once, but haven't gotten around to it. I have read (and reviewed in the From the Sorcerer's Scroll thread) the Ruby Throne volume form Titan. Review hereAll great suggestions though. -M
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Post by Rob Allen on Mar 24, 2015 11:12:11 GMT -5
As far as classic material, I'm still focused solely on reading Hal Foster's Prince Valiant (currently almost done with Vol.4) and Carl Bark's Duck comics (I finished the first three Donald Duck volumes and the first Uncle Scrooge. About to start on the next Uncle Scrooge.) I'm still in awe at home good Prince Valiant is. Its been a long time since something exceeded my expectations. Ditto for Carl Barks. At this point I want to move on to other works by the great masters. I'm thinking Milton Caniff might be next. Agreed on both Foster and Barks. Quite by coincidence, I acquired four Prince Valiant comic books at a local mini-con last fall. Two have Foster reprints - King Reading Library #R-08, which also has some Flash Gordon by Raymond, and Pioneer's Official Prince Valiant #1. The other two were from Marvel's four-issue 1994 miniseries. The Foster material was as beautiful as you'd expect, given the necessity of re-formatting it for the comic book page. The King book was made for schools and added some intrusive definitions of a few of the words used in the text. I was really impressed by the Marvel books and am planning to look for the other two issues. Charles Vess' story does a good job of transitioning out of Foster's status quo and setting up an interesting new environment with a lot of story possibilities. And the art is gorgeous - Kaluta covers, John Ridgway pencils and inks on the stories, and full-page illustrations by Vess, Paul Chadwick, and others. And I acquired my first Barks comics at an estate sale last summer. All I can say is, I want more.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2015 11:15:26 GMT -5
As far as classic material, I'm still focused solely on reading Hal Foster's Prince Valiant (currently almost done with Vol.4) and Carl Bark's Duck comics (I finished the first three Donald Duck volumes and the first Uncle Scrooge. About to start on the next Uncle Scrooge.) I'm still in awe at home good Prince Valiant is. Its been a long time since something exceeded my expectations. Ditto for Carl Barks. At this point I want to move on to other works by the great masters. I'm thinking Milton Caniff might be next. Agreed on both Foster and Barks. Quite by coincidence, I acquired four Prince Valiant comic books at a local mini-con last fall. Two have Foster reprints - King Reading Library #R-08, which also has some Flash Gordon by Raymond, and Pioneer's Official Prince Valiant #1. The other two were from Marvel's four-issue 1994 miniseries. The Foster material was as beautiful as you'd expect, given the necessity of re-formatting it for the comic book page. The King book was made for schools and added some intrusive definitions of a few of the words used in the text. I was really impressed by the Marvel books and am planning to look for the other two issues. Charles Vess' story does a good job of transitioning out of Foster's status quo and setting up an interesting new environment with a lot of story possibilities. And the art is gorgeous - Kaluta covers, John Ridgway pencils and inks on the stories, and full-page illustrations by Vess, Paul Chadwick, and others. And I acquired my first Barks comics at an estate sale last summer. All I can say is, I want more. I have that King Reader issue too (or another in the series that has Valiant/Flash Gordon content). Never knew about the Vess helmed Valiant stuff, have to chekc that out. The was also a Foster Valiant sampler that Fantagraphics put out for FCBD either last year or the year before that reprinted a couple of storylines form their Valiant library they are releasing. -M
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Post by Rob Allen on Mar 24, 2015 11:43:55 GMT -5
I have that King Reader issue too (or another in the series that has Valiant/Flash Gordon content). Never knew about the Vess helmed Valiant stuff, have to chekc that out. The was also a Foster Valiant sampler that Fantagraphics put out for FCBD either last year or the year before that reprinted a couple of storylines form their Valiant library they are releasing. There was only the one King Reader issue with Valiant; there was one with Flash Gordon and Mandrake the Magician, and two issues with the Phantom; the rest were humor strips. Here's the series: www.comics.org/series/2144/covers/I have that FCBD issue too; I'd forgotten about that one. Now I have to decide whether to file it next to my other PV comics or with its FCBD brethren.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 24, 2015 13:12:22 GMT -5
I have that King Reader issue too (or another in the series that has Valiant/Flash Gordon content). Never knew about the Vess helmed Valiant stuff, have to chekc that out. The was also a Foster Valiant sampler that Fantagraphics put out for FCBD either last year or the year before that reprinted a couple of storylines form their Valiant library they are releasing. There was only the one King Reader issue with Valiant; there was one with Flash Gordon and Mandrake the Magician, and two issues with the Phantom; the rest were humor strips. Here's the series: www.comics.org/series/2144/covers/I have that FCBD issue too; I'd forgotten about that one. Now I have to decide whether to file it next to my other PV comics or with its FCBD brethren. Based on this and the handy dandy link Rob provided, I've just bought the King Prince Valiant issue on eBay. I need some Hal Foster Prince Valiant in my life, dammit! Cheers for the inspiration, guys.
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Post by Rob Allen on Mar 24, 2015 13:20:42 GMT -5
Based on this and the handy dandy link Rob provided, I've just bought the King Prince Valiant issue on eBay. I need some Hal Foster Prince Valiant in my life, dammit! Cheers for the inspiration, guys. That's great, I hope you like it!
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Post by Nowhere Man on Mar 24, 2015 18:47:01 GMT -5
Thanks for mentioning Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon. That might actually be my next stop. I also never knew that Marvel reprinted Prince Valiant. I have to say that Fantagraphic's might have reached the apex of how to reproduce classic material with the Prince Valiant collections.
Does anyone still read the modern Prince Valiant strips? I haven't read a newspaper in years and the only place I know of to get it regularly online is comicskingdom.com.
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Post by Rob Allen on Mar 24, 2015 18:56:45 GMT -5
Thanks for mentioning Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon. That might actually be my next stop. I also never knew that Marvel reprinted Prince Valiant. I have to say that Fantagraphic's might have reached the apex of how to reproduce classic material with the Prince Valiant collections. Does anyone still read the modern Prince Valiant strips? I haven't read a newspaper in years and the only place I know of to get it regularly online is comicskingdom.com. The 1994 Marvel miniseries is new material, not reprints. And yes, I read the current Prince Valiant strip in my Sunday newspaper, the Oregonian. They print it twice the size of other strips, so you can really see the art.
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Post by berkley on Mar 24, 2015 22:31:39 GMT -5
I read Marvel Treasury Edition #3 over the weekend. It reprints Thor #125-130. Sure it has flaws (Hercules didn't recognize Pluto because he was wearing sunglasses? The mixing of Greek and Roman names for the gods, Pluto gave up kinda easy at the end) but overall, it was pretty awesome having a 100 page Lee/Kirby Thor tale in glorious oversized format! I love Marvel Treasury Edition #3! I had a bunch of the Treasury Editions in the 1970s but I wasn't that much into Thor so I missed this one. But I bought one in the 1990s and it's become my favorite Thor epic! I never knew about this one, for some reason. Must have a look for it. I have the Thor issues, but it would be nice to see the artwork in Treasury-size.
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Post by dbutler69 on Mar 25, 2015 13:46:00 GMT -5
I love Marvel Treasury Edition #3! I had a bunch of the Treasury Editions in the 1970s but I wasn't that much into Thor so I missed this one. But I bought one in the 1990s and it's become my favorite Thor epic! I never knew about this one, for some reason. Must have a look for it. I have the Thor issues, but it would be nice to see the artwork in Treasury-size. Yes, it's pretty awesome in Treasury-size.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 25, 2015 16:14:53 GMT -5
Last time I was at the library, I checked out:
The Essential Fantastic Four, Volume Four, reprinting FF #64 to #83 and Annuals #5 and #6. I used to have all these issues (mid- to lower-grade copies were reasonably priced in the 1990s) but I sold them for my master's degree. So I haven't read them in a long time. And some of these issues I probably haven't read since the time that I bought them because there's a few stores mixed in there that I wasn't too fond of.
I read #66 and #67 over the last two nights, and that's the famed Him story. He's the character that became Adam Warlock. As much as I enjoyed Adam Warlock in the 1970s, I was never impressed with the original storyline, so I don't think I ever read it again after I bought it and packed it away in the 1990s. Which makes it a lot more fun to read now because it's almost brand new! I had fun reading it over the last two nights. Goofy Silver Age plotting, the Thing is a non-stop whinger and Johnny and Crystal almost make you want to puke because they're so adorable! And the scientists of the Beehive - Morlak, Shinski, Zota and Hamilton (what the heck kind of a name is Hamilton!?!?!) - are a bunch of nuts!
Flipping through the volume, I was reminded of one of the main reasons I don't like some of the stories in this era of FF - Psycho-Man! He's terrible! But there's also a lot of great stories here and tonight I'll be starting a multi-part story featuring the Mad Thinker which I remember as being pretty good.
Catwoman Dies, featuring several issues from the Catwoman comic of the 2000s. Catwoman comics can be a bit of a crap shoot, but as a rule of thumb I try to stay away from anything written by Jeph Loeb. Catwoman Dies is written by Will Pfeifer, so I'm safe there. The art's pretty good and the story is not bad, not bad at all.
X-Men: Age of Apocalypse: The Complete Epic: Book Two - I'm having trouble reading more than ten pages at a time. I don't feel comfortable criticizing this book because I don't know what's going on. Worse, I'm having trouble caring. However, I have a feeling it might grow on me in a "so bad it's good" way, the comic book equivalent of the cinema of Edward D. Wood Jr.
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Post by Rob Allen on Mar 25, 2015 18:27:01 GMT -5
It has been written that Stan's script for these issues drastically changed the story that Jack had in mind when he drew it. This was supposedly Jack's reaction to Ayn Rand's Objectivism, which had recently captured the attention of Steve Ditko. In Jack's version, the scientists were quasi-Objectivists who were building the perfect man to show that they were right, not to conquer the world. And their creation spurned them because they'd built him with self-interest paramount, like a good Objectivist. And Stan turned that into the story that you see. The details are here: twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/24compare.htmlHaving read it recently, did you notice a disconnect between the words and the pictures?
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 25, 2015 19:15:50 GMT -5
It has been written that Stan's script for these issues drastically changed the story that Jack had in mind when he drew it. This was supposedly Jack's reaction to Ayn Rand's Objectivism, which had recently captured the attention of Steve Ditko. In Jack's version, the scientists were quasi-Objectivists who were building the perfect man to show that they were right, not to conquer the world. And their creation spurned them because they'd built him with self-interest paramount, like a good Objectivist. And Stan turned that into the story that you see. The details are here: twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/24compare.htmlHaving read it recently, did you notice a disconnect between the words and the pictures? Thanks for that link! I'll take a look at it shortly.
I'm not a big fan of this storyline. It's OK, I guess. But it doesn't really make sense why the scientists have to kidnap Alicia (I'm not going to try to explain it), so maybe Kirby had something else in mind that Lee changed while scripting. But I'm having a hard time coming up with any way in which it made sense. And it takes FOREVER for Reed to figure out a way to get to Alicia. So in a two-issue story, the FF don't even ride to the rescue until the last three pages. So it's very anti-climatic.
I doubt there was any way this story would have made sense, even if Lee had stuck to Kirby's original idea. Regardless of any disconnect involved in Lee ignoring Kirby's critique of Objectivism.
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Post by berkley on Mar 25, 2015 21:28:39 GMT -5
I was OK with the Alicia thing - as far as I remember, they wanted to make use of her artistic talents as a sculptor in their quest to design the perfect man or something? Yeah, doesn't make a huge amount of sense according to real-world logic, but it's the kind of that happened in comics back then all the time, so I just accept it.
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