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Post by berkley on Feb 1, 2023 19:10:04 GMT -5
Not a bad start to the year for me, though I'm disappointed I only got around half-way through Lemire's Essex County 2: Ghost Stories, which I started too close to the end of the month to finish. Still, I read around 100 pages of it, so along with Gilbert Hernandez's Psychodrama and the Scorpion that's an increase over my average for modern comics reading per month (counting anything from 2000 to now as 'modern').
Highlights were probably Dan Dare and Steve Canyon, but there were no disappointments from any of the others. I continue to feel some relief that I'm able to enjoy Sandman, as I've had such a negative attitude towards Gaiman for his Marvel work. And I'm liking this second Essex County story more than I did the first one, which I read a year or two back. The Scorpion is a fun swashbuckler, possibly my favourite thing I've read from Marini except for his current ongoing B-D series, Noir Burlesque, which I think suits his style as an artist even better.
Also "read" my first Franka volume - I put it in quotes, because the only edition I could find of the one I wanted to start with was in German and I had to look up so many words it took me as long as 10 minutes to get through a single page, sometimes. But I didn't mind, it was still a lot of fun, with beautiful artwork by Kuijpers. I think Tintin fans would like Franka - Kuijper's style is different from Hergé's, a little busier and more detailed, but it is ligne claire and he has the same penchant for putting in little sight gags in the background that add to the enjoyment for the reader. Looking forward to reading more of this series.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 2, 2023 8:24:46 GMT -5
I'm always a little jealous at you European folks having so many extra options to read  . While I do love our American shared Superhero universes, it's unfortunately that they BECAME comics, so that there's little room in the public consciousness for anything else. That has changed some over time, but still doesn't seem to extend to Europe, I guess we need a hit cartoon/TV show of something to bring them in the mainstream as what happened with Manga. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 2, 2023 20:43:34 GMT -5
That's quite a list!! What'd you think of Suicide Risk? I remember really being into that when it came out, but I don't really remember it now. Six Gun Gorilla is the book that sold me on Su Spurrier.. so fun! |
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Post by commond on Feb 3, 2023 8:45:23 GMT -5
That's quite a list!! What'd you think of Suicide Risk? I remember really being into that when it came out, but I don't really remember it now. Six Gun Gorilla is the book that sold me on Su Spurrier.. so fun! On my official scorecard it ranked low -- link But not because it's a bad book. I just wasn't hugely into superhero revisionism as a new 2013 series. |
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Post by berkley on Feb 6, 2023 12:17:58 GMT -5
I'm always a little jealous at you European folks having so many extra options to read . While I do love our American shared Superhero universes, it's unfortunately that they BECAME comics, so that there's little room in the public consciousness for anything else. That has changed some over time, but still doesn't seem to extend to Europe, I guess we need a hit cartoon/TV show of something to bring them in the mainstream as what happened with Manga.
In case it wasn't clear, I really don't read German at any level worthy of being called reading, that's why it took me so long to "read" the Franka volume. Anyone could do the same. I still have to use the dictionary a fair bit even with French, which I do read pretty regularly.
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Post by berkley on Feb 6, 2023 19:36:34 GMT -5
I read the equivalent of 122 comics in January, the best ones being 01/01/2023 Mooncop (Tom Gauld) Drawn & Quarterly Factory Summers (Guy Delisle) Drawn & Quarterly Blast (Manu Larcenet) #1-4 Dargaud Calfboy #1 La Pastèque The Alcoholic Vertigo Incidents in the Night (David B.)Uncivilized Books The Handmaid's Tale Nan A. Talese But yeah, Blast was amazing, higly recommended.
The Larcenet book looks interesting, and I keep meaning to try something by Delisle but never seem to some across anything at a decent price.
What's The Alcocholic Vertigo?
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Post by antoine on Feb 7, 2023 22:21:22 GMT -5
The Larcenet book looks interesting, and I keep meaning to try something by Delisle but never seem to some across anything at a decent price.
What's The Alcocholic Vertigo?
Written by Jonathan Ames. Art and cover by Dean Haspiel. Jonathan A. is a boozed-up, coked-out, sexually confused, hopelessly romantic and, of course, entirely fictional novelist who bears only a coincidental resemblance to real-life writer Jonathan Ames, critically acclaimed author of Wake Up, Sir!, The Extra Man and What's Not to Love? For the fictional Jonathan, writing and drinking come easy. The hard parts of life are love and hope. From a touching relationship between Jonathan and his aging great aunt, to an inebriated evening with an amorous, octogenarian dwarf, to the devastating aftermath of 9/11, Ames's first original graphic novel, with gritty, poignant art by Dean Haspiel (THE QUITTER), tells a story at once hilarious, excruciating, bizarre and universal, about how our lives fall to pieces and the enduring human struggle to put things back together again. ++++ Pretty conventional story but I thought the execution/script was pretty well done! I'm a big fan of everything I read from Larcenet (Ordinary Victory, Retour à la Terre, Donjon Parade, Le Rapport Brodeck,...) but Blast was really different. Dark, disturbing... I really liked it. As for Delisle, I would start with some of his trip chronicles (Jerusalem, Pyongyang, Burma or Shenzen). They are his best books in my opinion. I know that the hostage one was getting pretty good review when it came out but I didn't like it has much (it was also REALLY expensive, big book with a lot of moment of silence reflecting the hostage's solitude. Meh). |
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Post by berkley on Feb 8, 2023 2:36:30 GMT -5
The Larcenet book looks interesting, and I keep meaning to try something by Delisle but never seem to some across anything at a decent price.
What's The Alcocholic Vertigo?
Written by Jonathan Ames. Art and cover by Dean Haspiel. Jonathan A. is a boozed-up, coked-out, sexually confused, hopelessly romantic and, of course, entirely fictional novelist who bears only a coincidental resemblance to real-life writer Jonathan Ames, critically acclaimed author of Wake Up, Sir!, The Extra Man and What's Not to Love? For the fictional Jonathan, writing and drinking come easy. The hard parts of life are love and hope. From a touching relationship between Jonathan and his aging great aunt, to an inebriated evening with an amorous, octogenarian dwarf, to the devastating aftermath of 9/11, Ames's first original graphic novel, with gritty, poignant art by Dean Haspiel (THE QUITTER), tells a story at once hilarious, excruciating, bizarre and universal, about how our lives fall to pieces and the enduring human struggle to put things back together again. ++++ Pretty conventional story but I thought the execution/script was pretty well done! I'm a big fan of everything I read from Larcenet (Ordinary Victory, Retour à la Terre, Donjon Parade, Le Rapport Brodeck,...) but Blast was really different. Dark, disturbing... I really liked it. As for Delisle, I would start with some of his trip chronicles (Jerusalem, Pyongyang, Burma or Shenzen). They are his best books in my opinion. I know that the hostage one was getting pretty good review when it came out but I didn't like it has much (it was also REALLY expensive, big book with a lot of moment of silence reflecting the hostage's solitude. Meh).
Thanks for the Delisle tip. It might be that expensive one that I keep noticing whenever I come across one of his books in a bookstore, I'll make a point of looking for one of the others next time.
The Ames thing sounds interesting. After looking him up on wikipedia I might try one of his novels too. Larcenet is going on my list too, so that's three authors or books to look for.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2023 21:47:15 GMT -5
Ok, don't think I will get to more tonight, so time to wrap up February. Read the equivalent of a little over 100 or so comics, putting me at just shy of 275 for the year so far.
Highlights in February include...
Snow Glass, Snow Apples with Colleen Doran adapting a Neil Gaiman short story, Department of Truth by James Tynion, a little Ditko Dr. Strange, the Scooby Doo books, Dr. Strange Fall Sunrise, the Frazetta books from Opus, the new Scarlet Witch series.
Nothing really for lowlights, just a lot of decent if unspectacular stuff. Either strong stories with pedestrian art, or great art with pedestrian scripts or poor narrative choices. An example of the latter such was the Noah OGN which had amazing art but was based on the screenplay to the movie, which was shall we say lacking. An example of the former is the Fall of Cthulhu series from BOOM! which has rotating art teams some mediocre, some almost amateurish, but it's from before BOOM! hit is stride and became a major player in the industry that could draw a higher echelon of talent, but Nelson's story is an interesting Mythos tale.
Let's see what March brings.
-M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 28, 2023 21:53:53 GMT -5
Looks like February is over... I read a small bit of alot of things this month... knocking out some odds in ends from my 'to read' box that have just sat there for a long time from some grab bag or dollar bin in the past. I was a little disappointed in the 2nd volume of 'Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire'.. not that it was bad, just not as good. I did really enjoy some of the bits of my old DC Showcases I read... they are and excellent thing to have nearby on work at home days  For the current stuff, I definitely enjoyed Spy x Family, I'll probably pick up the next couple next time they have a sale. Dahlia in a Dark and Crashing have both been good, and Last Barbarians and Black Cloak both seem pretty promising. Moon Knight and Nightwing continue to be my favorite Marvel and DC comics going. I have a bit of hope for the new Iron Man series. My spreadsheet says I'm at 216 comics for the year... if I was going to have a goal it would be 100 a month, so making that nicely. (I also have read bits of a couple other trades I haven't listed yet since I haven't finished them). My only sadness is (perhaps) Cinebook not being on Hoopla anymore.. no more Thorgal and Lucky Luke for now. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 28, 2023 22:25:48 GMT -5
As best I can tell I read zero comics in February. Work has been hell, I’ve been under the weather for over a week and I’ve been more focused on prose stuff.
Maybe this next month things will settle down.
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 1, 2023 6:50:46 GMT -5
In February I got to 76 read for the month. Highlights were Starlin's Dreadstar, Stern/Buscema Avengers issues from around 270 and some early Image books from the he 90's.
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Post by commond on Mar 1, 2023 7:55:36 GMT -5
I had a quiet month by my standards. Work has been busy and my daughter was taking entrance exams for junior high school. I mostly carried on from where I left off last month.
I wasn't really enamored with any of the 2013 Eisner nominated limited series, but I continued to enjoy Sex Criminals, High Crimes and Afterlife with Archie from the Eisners-related reads.
Nexus is a bit rough now that Rude has left, but I've never actually read the post-Rude issues, so that's something. Elfquest has been surprisingly good considering Pini didn't pencil the stories I read.
My favorite overall book is probably Age of Bronze, though Lucifer gives it a close run for its money. I'm desperate to find out what happens in Strangers in Paradise, but Terry Moore keeps annoying me with his creative choices. Maybe that's a good thing, though?
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 2, 2023 13:12:32 GMT -5
The Elfquest stuff after they split into multiple books definitely still was pretty great.. Not something that happens too often with creator owned work.
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Post by antoine on Mar 3, 2023 19:29:02 GMT -5
I read the equivalent of 78 comics in February. Way less than January but my hockey team is doing great and the MLS is finally back so I've been watching a bit of sports! Just took a massive 7-800 pages book on the history of Drawn & Quarterly from the Library so not sure how many comics I'll read in March!
Best comics of February were
Hasib & the Queen of Serpents (Davib B.) NMB
Le Château des Animaux 1 Casterman
Le Château des Animaux 2 Casterman
Everything by David B. (that I've read) has been exceptional! This one was the best. Le Château des animaux is loosely based on Orson Well's Animal Farm, highly recommended.
I've been disappointed by Tom Gauld's collection of newspaper/magazine comics. I love Mooncop and his David and Goliath story but his one-page gags really don't do it for me. They are mostly about literature and science, so maybe I'm not bright enough to understand all of them, but that's really not for me (still managed to read 3 full collection. When I borrow a book from the library I have a hard time not reading it all).
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. While I do love our American shared Superhero universes, it's unfortunately that they BECAME comics, so that there's little room in the public consciousness for anything else.
