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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2018 15:53:01 GMT -5
Ultimates 2 Mighty Thor Old Man Logan Southern Bastards Spider Woman Dr Strange (the end of Aaron's run, not so much the follow-ons) Dr Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme um... really struggling to think of much else that engaged me. Astro City was OK, Mage book 3 was pretty meh, most everything else I read was pretty poor - certainly pretty much all the big name Marvel books varied from mediocre to awful. Looking forward to in 2018: ....  At the moment, I am pretty close to dropping out of comics again - there's pretty much nothing I've heard so far for this year that interests me at all |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 9, 2018 16:10:24 GMT -5
I can't say I was super enthused about 2017, as I've decided to stop my pull for a while things I liked:
Star Wars at Marvel
Ms. Marvel
Usagi
Astro City
Superbooks
Nameless City/Stone Heart
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 9, 2018 17:52:48 GMT -5
Looking forward to in 2018: .... At the moment, I am pretty close to dropping out of comics again - there's pretty much nothing I've heard so far for this year that interests me at all The first issue of Exit Stage Left was incredibly strong. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2018 22:34:04 GMT -5
Batman, Mister Miracle, Saga, Dark Nights: Metal and Batman ‘66 Meets Wonder Woman ‘77.
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 15, 2018 9:20:16 GMT -5
Cross-posted from another board: Here's a mixed list of my 2017 comics (not including non-American comics) in no particular order. (Some are 2016 comics that released in trade in 2017) Doom Patrol (DC comics) Everything I liked about Morrison’s Doom Patrol minus everything I disliked about Morrison’s Doom Patrol and with better art. Flintstones (DC comics) Take a 50s comedy, turn it into a 60s cartoon by adding dinosaurs and puns, leave it overnight for 50 years, add some social satire, reheat with some genuine human warmth. Best served with a nice dark whiskey. Descender (Image Comics) Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s story of a little robot boy who may hold the key to finally end the war between humans and robots. Beautifully illustrated by Nguyen. Started 2 years ago, but it keeps getting better and better. Black Monday Murders (Image Comics) Technically came out in 2016, but I’m reading this in trades, so 2017 it is for me. For the ones among us who have been missing Hickman’s spreadsheets, tables and graphs. (Also contains generations of hermetic mages controlling the global economy at high risks to themselves.) Black Panther (Marvel Comics) This post started out as a Top10 of Marvel comics of 2017 (with similar lists for Image and DC), but I had a lot to say about Black Panther and little about most other titles, even the ones I loved as much (Hawkeye, The Ultimates, the entry below this one) Black Panther started last year, but this year was when things really started rolling.
My problem with Wakanda has always been the same as with Atlantis, Latveria and many other fictional countries; they usually are a bunch of stereotypes with a single gimmick and never feel like a real country. Priest tried to change this a little, but Coates is doing some real worldbuilding here. Most advanced nation in the world and isolationist don’t go together as history has shown again and again. The man who meditates at the top of a mountain for 10 year to find the meaning of life, will find that he was better served by finding another human being to exchange ideas with. So Wakanda is highly advanced and appears to be isolationist, but that advancement came at a cost to neighbouring nations and Wakanda’s traditions are not as immutable as the Wakandan conservatives pretend it is. This is the lesson T’Challa learns (with some help from his sister): study the past, learn its lessons, but don’t be beholden to it. Moon Knight (Marvel Comics) 2017 saw Jeff Lemire’s run on Moon Knight wrapping up. Supported by a veritable army of top-rated artists (first and foremost Greg Smallwood), this run was the opposite of Warren Ellis’ run of standalone issues: one long story about Marc Spector and his many alter egos. The art was my main draw, but there is so much more here. A new Moon Knight series has come out since then, but I haven't read it, the style and solicit didn't speak to me. Sunstone (Image Comics) Another series wrapped up. Stjepan Sejic’s part romance, part comedy, part erotica, part drama about two women finding each other through bondage. This series just clicked with me on a level few other comics ever done. The characters all act like human beings, flawed in many ways, but their flaws make them only more endearing to me. Over 4 graphic novels Lisa and Ally have grown together and apart, will there be a happy ever after? (Well the series is told by Lisa in flashback, so that question is answered in the first 3 pages of the first GN.) No superheroes here, no villains either. No conquering aliens and killer robots. The only dragons and mages are in the MMORPG Ally plays. The real villains are fear and distrust. Can’t wait for Mercy. The Wildstorm (DC Comics) I’m a big, big fan of late 90s/early 2000s Wildstorm. Ellis, Casey, Brubaker and others turned a military obsessed superhero universe into a post-superhero universe. So Ellis revived the universe I loved while recreating it. At the center is an uneasy truce between Internation Operations (spies and BlackOps, controlling the world from the shadows) and Skywatch (space exploration and supertechnology, looking down on Earth and looking to expand into the universe). In the middle there are the ones they don’t know about. The aliens and the special beings. Familiar faces at different places, familiar names with new faces. It’s a big puzzle and I really enjoy figuring out where all the pieces fit. Seven to Eternity (Image Comics) It’s on a break now (back in Spring), but Remender and Opeña have created a fantasy universe that reminds me for some reason of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. I want to state the premise, but the status quo seems to change every single issue so far. A weird and beautiful world and we’re dropped in the middle of it. Mage: The Hero Denied (Image Comics) (this feels weird, I want to say Comico even though it's been 30 years) I’ve been waiting for years for this, maybe even decades. Matt Wagner’s Kevin Matchstick is in many ways Wagner himself, each series a phase in Wagner’s life told as a mythical battle between good and evil. After finding himself and finding love, in the final chapter of Mage, Kevin now has to leave his family to protect them, while the evil forces he has fought before have reformed. I hope Wagner sticks the landing (the title promises nothing but DOOOOM), but I’m happy to get this series anyway.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 15, 2018 9:41:45 GMT -5
Spectacular year as far as I'm concerned. Here's my top 5, plus 10, in order : - Sticks Angelica Folk Hero from Michael DeForge  - Mouth Baby from James Harvey  - Ralph Azham vol.10 from Trondheim  - Happiness vol.1 from Shūzō Oshimi  - Spy Seal from Rich Tommaso  - My Favorite Thing Is Monsters from Emil Ferris - Shadows on the Grave from Corben - Lazarus de Greg Rucka - Love and Rocket vol. 4 - Cinema Purgatorio from Alan Moore and co - Providence from Alan Moore (only ine issue in 2017, but I waited for it to read it all) - Kaijumax from Zander Cannon - Kill Or Be Killed from Bru & Sean Philips - Paper Girls from Vaughn & Chiang - Mister Miracle from Tom King |
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 15, 2018 9:50:47 GMT -5
Doom Patrol (DC comics) Flintstones (DC comics) Descender (Image Comics) Black Monday Murders (Image Comics) Moon Knight (Marvel Comics) Seven to Eternity (Image Comics) I really enjoyed most of those. Most were real close to my top 15 (Doom Patrol because of the James Harvey back-up, Flinstones and Black Monday Murders (gorgeous!)). Seven To Eternity is pure eye candy, but I thought the story wasn't anything special, PC Heavy Metal stuff. I wanted to try The Wildstorm but passed, in fear of traditionnal Ellis decompression, and price point (I don't think it's fair for DC or Marvel to charge $4 for 20 pages). I will probably get it though, cheap on an ebay auction or something. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 15, 2018 10:56:03 GMT -5
Non-American stuff, I have to think hard to bring it back to 10. I'm back into manga and got some of my backlog on European stuff (especially with stuff taking some time to get in translation over here, so titles I'd name could have been out in France or Belgium for months to years now).
The Wildstorm is made for me, so I fully get nobody else being interested in it.
I think the writing on Seven to Eternity is quite good, especially the worldbuilding, but it needs to move along now and go deeper into the characters if it should be on this list next year.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 15, 2018 11:20:18 GMT -5
Non-American stuff, I have to think hard to bring it back to 10. I'm back into manga and got some of my backlog on European stuff (especially with stuff taking some time to get in translation over here, so titles I'd name could have been out in France or Belgium for months to years now). The Wildstorm is made for me, so I fully get nobody else being interested in it. I think the writing on Seven to Eternity is quite good, especially the worldbuilding, but it needs to move along now and go deeper into the characters if it should be on this list next year. Comics are comics, whether they are from the US, Japan or France, why compartementize? I had a weekly FM radioshow for almost 20 years. It was a music show, and I took wover it after as the third generation host. It started out in the 80ies as a rock/punk rock show. Over time, it grew an interest in electronic music, rap, etc... But it kept genres compartementized. When I was alone in charge, I changed that, mixed everything as much as possible, as i realized that sections of my audience waited for the part that covered the style they were into and left when it was over. As a music lover, that was extremely disheartening, hence the change, and an audience that was at first resistant, but in the end better for it, more open minded a therfore richer. The Wildstorm also seems custom made for me, just not the price point. But don't worry about publication dates of Euro stuff : if you enjoyed it in its anglo saxon edition and it's more or less 5 years old, by all means share  |
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 15, 2018 11:51:40 GMT -5
Non-American stuff, I have to think hard to bring it back to 10. I'm back into manga and got some of my backlog on European stuff (especially with stuff taking some time to get in translation over here, so titles I'd name could have been out in France or Belgium for months to years now). The Wildstorm is made for me, so I fully get nobody else being interested in it. I think the writing on Seven to Eternity is quite good, especially the worldbuilding, but it needs to move along now and go deeper into the characters if it should be on this list next year. Comics are comics, whether they are from the US, Japan or France, why compartementize? I had a weekly FM radioshow for almost 20 years. It was a music show, and I took wover it after as the third generation host. It started out in the 80ies as a rock/punk rock show. Over time, it grew an interest in electronic music, rap, etc... But it kept genres compartementized. When I was alone in charge, I changed that, mixed everything as much as possible, as i realized that sections of my audience waited for the part that covered the style they were into and left when it was over. As a music lover, that was extremely disheartening, hence the change, and an audience that was at first resistant, but in the end better for it, more open minded a therfore richer. The Wildstorm also seems custom made for me, just not the price point. But don't worry about publication dates of Euro stuff : if you enjoyed it in its anglo saxon edition and it's more or less 5 years old, by all means share The compartementizing was mostly for the other forum I was on, the rest of the people are Americans/into American comics, so listing a bunch of non-American comics would be pretty much useless as the rest of the thread would not have access to it. Also, thanks to Previews website, I have a better list of when I bought what compared to European stuff which just comes out whenever. Anyway, I have to be home to make a list. I know Kolk's Spirou is definitely on the list (googling... there was a live-action Petite Spirou movie last year? Doesn't look good, but still... why haven't seen anything about it on any website). Cognac probably. Part 4 of Les Vieux Fourneaux. Hibakusha definitely. |
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Post by rberman on Feb 15, 2018 11:55:22 GMT -5
X-Men Gold was much nicer to look at after Mike Mayhew took over art from Luke Ross with issue #13. I'm still not engaged with Marc Guggenheim's writing, which seems mired in repeating the past for the most part, but without Claremont's character development, Morrison's wacky concepts, or Whedon's quippy dialogue. So not really a "favorite title," but one I tried out as a lifelong Kitty Pryde fan.
Better was Mark Millar's whole Jupiter's Legacy and Jupiter's Circle collections, published between 2013-2017. Engaging stuff! I love Quitely's art, which is simultaneously realistic and stylized. And apparently dreadfully slow, resulting in the snail's pace of this publication. Sienkiewicz did some great covers for the second half of Jupiter's Circle. Millar's story, like Astro City, uses analogues of the Justice League who grow old, with three generations of heroes over the course of the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ages of comics. Jupiter's Circle concerns the Golden Age heroes, first as young adults engaging in various romantic intrigues, and then grappling with their role in the Silver Age. Are they keepers of the peace or just defenders of the status quo? Jupiter's Legacy focuses mainly on their children and grandchildren living under the unbearable weight of having Superman or Wonder Woman as your parent. Some obvious plot threads seemed to get dropped, but I'll withhold judgment until Millar releases the next series, Jupiter's Requiem, starting next year. He's certainly got me wanting to see the next chapter.
I've previously mentioned my appreciation for the family drama of G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel and Ryan North's Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 15, 2018 12:19:51 GMT -5
I was very close to add Squirrel Girl as well, which you might very well be the one who convince me to give it a fair go. I must say that the way you talk about X-Men gold though, that doesn't sound like this belongs in htis topic  |
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Post by rberman on Feb 15, 2018 13:02:59 GMT -5
I was very close to add Squirrel Girl as well, which you might very well be the one who convince me to give it a fair go. I must say that the way you talk about X-Men gold though, that doesn't sound like this belongs in htis topic Yes, the X-Men Gold art is (now) a good reason to look at the book, but the story is not. More Brotherhood, more Sentinels, more Mojo, more Phoenix. A creepy Kurt/Rachel romance that comes from nowhere and is not interesting. A Kitty/Colossus romance that’s apparently leading to marriage, so look for one of them to get killed again in a few years since nothing can ever change for real. I guess all the writers with new ideas are off doing creator owned properties. |
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 15, 2018 13:06:27 GMT -5
I guess all the writers with new ideas are off doing creator owned properties. Wait : they might make Ed Piskor's series ongoing and give Donny Cates 12 books to write a month  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2018 13:54:50 GMT -5
I was very close to add Squirrel Girl as well, which you might very well be the one who convince me to give it a fair go. I must say that the way you talk about X-Men gold though, that doesn't sound like this belongs in htis topic Yes, the X-Men Gold art is (now) a good reason to look at the book, but the story is not. More Brotherhood, more Sentinels, more Mojo, more Phoenix. A creepy Kurt/Rachel romance that comes from nowhere and is not interesting. A Kitty/Colossus romance that’s apparently leading to marriage, so look for one of them to get killed again in a few years since nothing can ever change for real. I guess all the writers with new ideas are off doing creator owned properties. The problem with new ideas at Marvel is they are doomed not to sell. All that is left is the hardcore fanboy base who want the same things they have always gotten. Diversity. Change. New ideas. These are what ruined comics according to them and put Marvel in the position it is. And Marvel being reactionary has started to listen and step back form a lot of stuff. People get the comics their buying patterns deserve. If new ideas sold at Marvel, we would get more new ideas, but they don't, so we don;t get much of it. Marvel has been a reactionary company chasing what sells since it was founded by Martin Goodman. Even the innovation of the 60s Marvel Age with Lee/Kirby/Ditko happened because Goodman wanted to chase super-hero sales DC was getting, and Marvel weird books of the 70s were mostly chasing horror, kung fu and sci fi fads that were selling in other media. They have always been a reactionary company. Sometime sit leads to good stuff, other times not but at this point you can't fault them for being who they always have been. -M |
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