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Post by hondobrode on May 15, 2014 22:14:23 GMT -5
I've heard good things about the Death: The High Cost of Living miniseries as well but haven't read it yet.  It's been 20 years since I read it, but I remember liking it. |
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Post by Dizzy D on May 16, 2014 3:12:42 GMT -5
If you like the regular Sandman series, you'll probably like Death: The High Cost of Living (and for that matter: Death: The Time of Your Life as well). It's Gaiman/Bachalo.
Secret Invasion: The series as a whole was rather disappointing, but there were some interesting tie-ins. The Incredible Hercules issues were pretty good (then again, that whole series is worth checking out).
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Post by impulse on May 16, 2014 10:25:08 GMT -5
Fables starts off very well. I feel like it loses focus about halfway through its run and treads water for a bit, but it has started moving back up. It was recently announced that it's ending, too, so it will at least be a completed story. It's worth reading through to the halfway point at least. Preacher - fantastic but extremely irreverent/offensive/sacrilegious/vulgar. Fair warning.  Starman: I remember reading some if it and liking it a lot, but I couldn't tell you anything about it. I've not read anything bad in the Sandman universe penned by Gaiman. |
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Post by Icctrombone on May 16, 2014 12:36:15 GMT -5
Secret Invasion was for me a decent idea poorly executed. The idea of a Skrul infiltration was intriguing to me, but I started a 5 year hiatus from new comics right before #1 came out. When I was getting back in, I snagged the trade of Secret Invasion from Half Price Books to read to see how it turned out. On my next trip back to Half Price Books, I sold it back knowing I would never pick it up again. Such a missed opportunity on Marvel's part. -M Thanks! Most of the stuff is up for a buck, buck twenty five so I may just get it all anyways. I recently started reading Ostrander's work, his Spectre stuff is solid I have to disagree with your estimation of Secret Invasion. There was a tremendous build up from the Avengers books and when you read the mini, It was such a rush seeing it unfold. It's the last event that I bought from Marvel. |
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Crimebuster
CCF Podcast Guru
Making comics!
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Post by Crimebuster on May 16, 2014 12:42:49 GMT -5
Thanks! Most of the stuff is up for a buck, buck twenty five so I may just get it all anyways. I recently started reading Ostrander's work, his Spectre stuff is solid I have to disagree with your estimation of Secret Invasion. There was a tremendous build up from the Avengers books and when you read the mini, It was such a rush seeing it unfold. It's the last event that I bought from Marvel. I will have to disagree with your disagreement. Secret Invasion was poo on a plate. |
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Post by Icctrombone on May 16, 2014 12:56:23 GMT -5
I have to disagree with your estimation of Secret Invasion. There was a tremendous build up from the Avengers books and when you read the mini, It was such a rush seeing it unfold. It's the last event that I bought from Marvel. I will have to disagree with your disagreement. Secret Invasion was poo on a plate. It was a total mystery who was real and who wasn't until the last chapter. Sorry. I enjoyed it. |
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Post by Jesse on May 16, 2014 21:28:11 GMT -5
Not a classic but has anyone read either of the Dexter mini series Marvel recently put out?   |
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2014 23:51:08 GMT -5
Yeah, I read four or five issues of the first Dexter series. It was garbage. I don't think I bought that last issue, but I might have. Only reason I stayed with it for as long as I did is I buy my new comics via mail order and by the time they arrived they were already on issue four. If I had paid closer attention and seen it was a Marvel comic I would have thought twice and waited for the trade pending reviews.
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Post by thebeastofyuccaflats on May 17, 2014 10:05:24 GMT -5
Re: Starman- Like Watchmen or Hitman, it's a classic case of, 'concept isn't particularly original, it's the execution that makes it work.' I.e., it's not so much Jack Knight being a young 'down-to-Earth' superhero who's never lost for a line blah blah blah wank wank wank, so much as it's that Jack uses a life of superheroics to-- among other things-- try & reconnect with his estranged father, the JSA's original Starman, after a near-lifetime of mutual disapproval & general bad feeling. Beneath James Robinson's usual clipped or melodramatic dialogue (though it does avoid David Goyer-level purple, even when Goyer himself actually stops by to help scripting for a spell in years 4 & 5) Jack Knight, for my money, has a level of personality/depth/whatever a certain web-slinging bore simply can't reach; from how his lack of a secret ID lets the 'weird stuff' leak into the rest of his life, his appreciation for kitsch/aesthetics that as one guy put it 'never feels like it was birthed in a boardroom or editor's office,' his general journey as a character, all of it. As for artwork: while Tony Harris is a clear master, it is sadly also clear that the monthly grind isn't for him. Thankfully though, Peter Snebjerg awaits after, and the art becomes more consistent toward the end (plus, there's also guest-shots by J.H. Williams, Teddy Kristiansen, Craig Hamilton, & Gene Ha etc. along the way).
Plus, if anyone ever wondered what Batman's favorite Woody Allen film is, wonder no more after #35.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on May 17, 2014 15:40:03 GMT -5
Conversely - Starman is my least favorite mainstream comic ever. It hangs out in latter Kim Deitch/Waldo territory, but does so with about .0001% of the insight, creator skill, or panache. Where the former is about the falsity of history and how the past looks better in hindsight, Starman is about.. .yay! Nostalgia!
Which is not a message I'm particularly receptive to. I thought the dialog was poor, the artist unable to define interesting physical locations as "characters" in their own right, and the plots fairly repetetive - he meets his dead brother every year!
Granted, I only read through about the first three trades. I will not read more if paid the sum of US 500$, because that is what it is worth to me to endure more of Starman level terribleness.
Everyone else seems to like it, though.
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 17, 2014 19:30:24 GMT -5
I'm up to #13 for Starman. So far I'm liking it OK, but not as much as most people do. I like Jack Knight as a character, but I don't think I know enough DC history to really appreciate it. The flashback issues are cool one shots, but I can tell if I was reading it as a monthly I'd be annoyed by them.
The best part so far is the setting... I'm really enjoying the set up and ambiance of Opal City, both the scenery and the minor characters. OTOH, Harris is terrible at actual people, IMO (perhaps he's better if it's not a monthly).. he's got the 'everyone has the same face' thing, and adds to it making everyone anorexic, thus aging all the characters quite a bit. I HATE his Solomon Grundy.
I think if I hadn't bought the whole series at once, it'd be on the borderline of me continuing to read it.
Shade has me intrigued though.. was he around as more than a vanilla bad guy before this series?
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 18, 2014 8:26:32 GMT -5
The replies to Sandman differing will defiantly get me to read again what I have before I buy more. No sense in wasting money if it doesn't again end up being my cup of tea.
Another question. This being more recent. I plan to finish the few remaining issues of GotG series that I hadn't finished before it ended. But there was also a big to do with Thanos thst came out in the last two years maybe? How did that stack up? What was necessairy reading out of all that was connected to it?
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Post by Icctrombone on May 18, 2014 8:48:09 GMT -5
The replies to Sandman differing will defiantly get me to read again what I have before I buy more. No sense in wasting money if it doesn't again end up being my cup of tea. Another question. This being more recent. I plan to finish the few remaining issues of GotG series that I hadn't finished before it ended. But there was also a big to do with Thanos thst came out in the last two years maybe? How did that stack up? What was necessairy reading out of all that was connected to it? I enjoyed the 6 part mini Thanos Rising. And The Infinity series started out bland but the last 3 issues were good. Those 2 minis brought him back as a major player. |
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Post by fanboystranger on May 18, 2014 10:44:53 GMT -5
The replies to Sandman differing will defiantly get me to read again what I have before I buy more. No sense in wasting money if it doesn't again end up being my cup of tea. Another question. This being more recent. I plan to finish the few remaining issues of GotG series that I hadn't finished before it ended. But there was also a big to do with Thanos thst came out in the last two years maybe? How did that stack up? What was necessairy reading out of all that was connected to it? The Thanos Imperative was solid. Not as good as Annihlation, but better than Annihlation: Conquest, in my opinion. Definitely worth checking out as it does put a cap on both the DnA GotG and Nova series. |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 18, 2014 13:18:09 GMT -5
Icc and fanboy thank you for the heads up. Are these series and stories just as good to read by release date or is there a special order?
Fanboy, did Nova carry on to the end as well as it started? I have through issue 19 and I was thinking about greeting the rest of it.
Wasn't there a Darkhawk tie in with Nova? I don't remember if it was a series if it's own or just him in Nova's book.
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