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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 18, 2017 16:36:16 GMT -5
I got US Avengers, Captain Marvel, Descender and Sunstone (they didn't have Curse Words, so I might wait and see on that title). Also got the Image Humble Bundle that came out today, so I'll be busy reading for the next few weeks.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 18, 2017 16:32:02 GMT -5
Just bought the Humble Bundle for this week (in addition to my usual comics). I can recommend it, it has a lot of good stuff in it, so even if I got several titles I already had, there is enough in there to make it worthwhile.
Complete list if you pay $20 or more: Birthright Vol. 1 Bitch Planet Vol. 1 Black Road #1 Cannibal #1 Casanova Vol. 1 Chew Vol. 1 Demonic #1 Descender Vol. 1 Descender Vol. 2 Drifter Vol. 1 East of West Vol. 1 East of West Vol. 2 Horizon #1 I Hate Fairyland Vol. 1 Injection Vol. 1 Island #1 Kaptara Vol. 1 Kill Or Be Killed #1 Lazarus Vol. 1 Limbo Vol. 1 Mirror Vol. 1 Moonshine #1 Morning Glories Vol. 1 Nailbiter Vol. 1 (#1-5) Nowhere Men Vol. 1 ODY-C Vol. 1 Outcast By Kirkman & Azaceta Vol. 1 Plutona #1 Pretty Deadly Vol. 1 Prophet Vol. 1 Rat Queens Vol. 1 Revival Vol. 1 Roche Limit Vol. 1 Rockstars #1 Romulus #1 Rumble Vol. 1 Saga Book One (#1-18) Sex Criminals Vol. 1 (#1-5) She Wolf #1 Shutter Vol. 1 (#1-6) Sons of the Devil #1 Southern Bastards Vol. 1 (#1-4) Southern Cross #1 Spawn Origins Collection Vol. 1 Spread Vol. 1 Strange Talent of Luther Strode Vol. 1 Surgeon X #1 The Beauty #1 The Black Monday Murders #1 The Discipline #1 The Fade Out Vol. 1 The Fix #1 The Fix Vol. 1 The Wicked + The Divine Book One Throwaways #1 Free Issue Shutter #1
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 17, 2017 4:19:29 GMT -5
Depends on the floor beneath it, in case of regular ice, you'd keep water between slate and hole, which is asking for fungi. (I'm thinking too much about this, am I?)
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 16, 2017 14:47:13 GMT -5
Personally I would make small supports of dry ice, put them in the hole and put the slate on it, letting the dry ice slowly evaporate. But I have access to dry ice and most people don't.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 12, 2017 9:56:30 GMT -5
Quiet week for me, only Deathstroke and Sorcerers Supreme. Maybe God Country, don't know anything about the series, but always willing to give new Image series a look.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 10, 2017 12:22:20 GMT -5
More mini-reviews: Monstress #9: Hard series to review in singles, artwork is still great. Writing is still waiting for it getting to a point. A series I'm buying for the art mostly. 7/10
Seven to Eternity #4: If Remender keeps this pace, by issue 10 we will have no cast left. So our (nominal) heroes have taken the Mud King captive, his son is in pursuit to save his father, his subjects are trying to figure out whether they want him back or not. He turns out to be quite dangerous even without his powers and there seems to be little love among the group of heroes. Next issue will be two months from now, cause Opena is Opena, I guess? Overall worldbuilding is still fascinating, art is great, story is intriguing, I'm all-in on this ride. 9/10
Black panther #9: Really enjoyed this issue; Shuri's new role as Wakanda's keeper of histories and stories gives Coates a chance to develop Wakanda more than just "the place in Africa that has locations named after animals, worships a panther and has some super-metal." Shuri telling the court that the revolutionary ideas are not new and Wakanda has been through these changes time and again. Art is great again (nothing against Chris, but I enjoy Brian much more especially on this title). This issue scratched an itch for me, your mileage may vary. 9/10
Sorcerers Supreme #3: Another enjoyable, if not remarkable issue. Issue after issue, one of the team-members get a little development, this time it's Demon-Rider's turn, a Native American woman who is both a sorceress and a Ghost Rider. Also one of my nitpicks gets addressed (if not answered yet, but at least the writer is aware of it, so it might be a future plotpoint): Strange is depowered in the present because magic has been severly limited, but this story takes place in the distant past, so Strange should be as powerful as the others, but somehow isn't. Artwise we get another Escher-like two-page spread, this time showing Merlin's lab and I love these. 8/10
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 10, 2017 12:22:03 GMT -5
Mini-reviews, because I just didn't get any time lately to do more than a quick read of comics:
Hawkeye #2: Pretty much continues where we left last issue. After the down-to-earth issue last time, the fantastic starts to creep in. I do hope that Kate's sidekick, the computer student she roped into helping her, doesn't turn out to be a bad guy. 8/10
Moonknight #10: The army of artists that has been gracing this title this arc is gone, but Smallwood stands strong on his own. We flashback to Marc's youth, while Mr. Knight moves against his opponent. We still don't know what's real and what's not, but that's not a problem for me on this title. 9/10.
US Avengers #1: Continued from the previous New Avengers, but that was plagued with Ewing's curse (brilliant writer gets paired with terrible artists). Paco Medina is not on my list of favourite artists, but his work is good enough that I'm not turned off by it. By not following the previous series, I've missed a lot I guess. Sunspot has become an American citizen? And he has taken the mantle of Citizen V as well (though he dislikes his new codename). I like Sunspot and Cannonball a lot and they are my main draw for this series. Also the idea of Roberto grabbing control of AIM in a hostile takeover and turning it into a force of good is one I like (especially as he already tried that with the Hellfire Club before). I'm not that familiar with the rest of the team. Squirrel Girl, I know, but Enigma, Iron Patriot (no longer Osborn or James Rhodes, but somebody related to a person in Stark's past) and this Captain America are all new characters to me and I don't think I've read an issue with Red Hulk in it before (maybe as a background character during Aaron's Wolverine and the X-Men issues? I remember his face on a cover.) The last page shows what we can expect of this series in the coming year and I'm interested enough to follow it. Overall I don't like it as much as Ultimates (which has great art that helps it a lot and a concept which appeals to me), but I enjoyed it well enough. 7/10
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 4, 2017 10:45:34 GMT -5
Have to agree, I like Aphra, but the original series draw was Aphra having to do anything to avoid disappointing Vader. Without the looming thread of Vader at all points, I'm not sure this series will work.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 3, 2017 7:24:56 GMT -5
2016:
Honestly, I'm getting old and the years are kinda flowing together for me, so it's likely that several points I'll make will be 2015 rather than 2016.
Dark Horse: I've not been reading much Dark Horse this year, there's been a little Hellboy and I'm still getting Buffy for my sister, but that's mostly it. I don't think this year had an issue of Empowered? I did get the Dark Horse Humble Bundle, which had some interesting stuff, but nothing that made me pick up back issues. The loss of the Star Wars license doesn't seemed to have influenced them much, DH just keeps on publishing their combo of licensed comics and smaller indie titles.
DC: DC managed to bring me back this year after they had driven me off a few years ago. Pre-Rebirth Grayson and Midnighter were solid titles and after Rebirth I gave several titles a shot; even if I'm not liking them, DC looks much better than a few years ago when the books were riddled with editorial interference and creative teams being switched out every second. Vertigo is sadly nearly dead, but the Young Animals line does give some much needed fresh blood. Doom Patrol has been great and the DC title I'm most excited for at the moment.
Image: If I'm harsh, this was a weaker year for Image, mostly because previous years were so strong and this year most of the new titles did little for me or were continuations of creative teams doing pretty much the same thing they were already doing. But even with that, Image remains my favourite American publishers, the one I'm most likely to try out new titles just because and the one most likely to pleasantly surprise me with new titles. The Fix is doing what Superior Foes did, but still a very enjoyable title. Seven to Eternity is just brimming with potential. Phonogram vol 3 was mostly published in 2015, but I'm counting it for 2016 because the trade came out this year. I'm tradewaiting for Black Monday Murders, but it was looking very interesting. East of West, Wicked and Divine, Saga, Sunstone, Casanova, Brubaker/Philips works, Injection, Sex Criminals and many others are still going strong for me. Only bitter point was the way Rat Queens ended.
Marvel: A weak year for Marvel, many interesting and good titles were cancelled or were drawn into the Civil War II crossover which was terrible. The X-Men franchise, which was my gateway to Marvel once many, many years ago, is going through a rough patch even when they have writers that can do good work, but are sadled with fall out from various events and the future is not looking that bright to me either, only Generation X interests me of the announced upcoming titles. I was kinda disappointed by Coates' Black Panther. It's still a good comic that I enjoy, but I was expecting so much more. There are still good titles though: Lemire's Moon Knight which has a great selection of artists, Ewing's Ultimates. Various fringe titles have the freedom and creative teams to do interesting things. I enjoyed the first issue of the new Hawkeye.
Others: I read relatively few indies this year. (Can hardly count a Disney comic published by IDW and written by Trondheim). Most of it was pre-2016 anyway.
European: Spirou had some strong entries this year in both the main and subseries. Lucky Luke had its birthday which delivered a comic which was not great but certainly not bad. The Meta-Baron returned but lacked the craziness of the earlier entries. Romano Molenaar is pumping out Storm spin-offs, this time without Roy Thomas, but I'm more interested in the main series, so I haven't read them. Eagles of Rome returned with an issue (see more above for that one). Silas Corey had a new entry which I didn't get a chance to check out yet. Thorgal had a new writer which seamlessly took over the current storyline, a storyline that is losing my interest sadly. My avatar returned for its 2nd issue, which was enjoyable enough but not reached the heights of the first issue. We got a half-completed issue of Ambrosius, its creator Gideon Brugman died a few years ago while working on it and for the fans this half issue was released. Franka's 1948 finally came out after several delays, but was still worth it. Cutting Edge started out very strong, but had a weak ending. Lanfeust and Ythaq kept on trucking. Overal: Like always European titles are diverse, but this year I saw many reprints of classic material and modern takes on classic. The reprints are welcome, but I still have the originals (though sometime in a terrible condition) and the modern takes so far are 50/50 on things that work for me and not. Also a lot of new series that go for a nostalgic look and feel. Original new series look mostly to be aimed at a younger audience, or are fantasy orientated titles that have great art, but often feel sparse on story.
Manga: I don't think I've read any manga this year. Completely lost touch with manga when my long-running series all ended or in the case of Berserk, suffer from long, long delays so I just check every 3-4 years now.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 1, 2017 14:31:46 GMT -5
First, I have to apologize for not saying this sooner, but I really appreciate these riddles, Rob.
Second: I'm not figuring this one yet. I get the feeling that it's related to it being a Saturday, the teacher never using the car on Saturdays and it being sold a week ago, but I don't think he meant exactly 7 days ago when he said that she came in last week to sell the car.
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Post by Dizzy D on Dec 30, 2016 5:02:02 GMT -5
I got the American version of Trondheim's Mickey Mouse because apparently getting a translation over here will be bogged down in rights issues. Not had a chance to read it yet though.
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Post by Dizzy D on Dec 30, 2016 4:51:28 GMT -5
No comics this week for me as there will be no shipments between Christmas and New Year.
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Post by Dizzy D on Dec 30, 2016 4:44:14 GMT -5
Regarding 2: For convenience I'll number the guys: from front to back 1, 2 and 3. If the last fellow (3) saw two black hats in front of him, he knew that he was wearing a white hat. He didn't see 2 black hats, so he stayed silent. Number 2 knows that if the 3 saw 2 black hats, he would know that if number 1 in front of him is wearing a black hat, he himself would have to be wearing a white hat, otherwise number 3 would have figured it out. Number 1 is not wearing a black hat, then the option can be that 2 is wearing a black or a white hat, so he stays silent. Number 1 then figures out that he can't be wearing a black hat, otherwise one of the others would have spoken up, so he must be wearing white.
Regarding 1: Would have to need a bit more time for that one, sounds like basic math.
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Post by Dizzy D on Dec 28, 2016 11:42:15 GMT -5
I noticed this a month ago, but the Image Title is called Monstress not Monstrous.
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Post by Dizzy D on Dec 27, 2016 13:34:49 GMT -5
Ultimates volume 2 and I hate Fairyland 2
Ultimates: Al Ewing is still the "new" Marvel talent I like the most and we still get a guest issue by Ward, but Civil War II raises its ugly head (I get that Ewing has to touch upon it, cause CWII has Captain Marvel front and center and Captain Marvel is an important part of the Ultimates). So another strike for crosscompany crossovers interfering with good titles. Luckily the CWII nonsense remains limited and has more to do with these specific characters reacting to the concept and the choices.
I Hate Fairyland: I'm wondering how long Young can keep this up. (*Looks at 25 billion Marvel Babies covers* All right, that long, I guess). I'm still enjoying the title, but it's not suited for any longform storytelling and Gert is not the character to grow in any way (even not including the fact that she literally can't grow).
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