Comic Book Thread

[Surf314]

I just saw Superman: Doomsday.  It was the worst movie ever.  It opened on superman trying to cure cancer.  Really trying to cure cancer.  It had the absolute worst, most cliche writing I have ever seen in a super hero story.  The only good part was the Kevin Smith in-joke.

[Surf314]

Just finished Local by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly.  I would mark it as a must read, especially if you are an indy hipster.  It's a lot like Love and Rockets but without the surprise tranny sex.

[KarthXLR]

Question: Are The Dark Knight Returns, or Batman: The Killing Joke, part of a series or are they stories on their own? Really interested in reading them, just as long as I understand what's going on.

[Surf314]

Question: Are The Dark Knight Returns, or Batman: The Killing Joke, part of a series or are they stories on their own? Really interested in reading them, just as long as I understand what's going on.

Most of the good Batman stories are pretty stand-alone.  The Long Halloween is another good one if you are interested, and Year One is where a lot of inspiration for Batman Begins came from.  Also if you are following from the movies, Gotham Central seems to have influenced The Dark Knight Returns a lot.

[Ianki]

[quote author=Ye Salty Karth link=topic=805.msg73418#msg73418 date=1238276088]
Question: Are The Dark Knight Returns, or Batman: The Killing Joke, part of a series or are they stories on their own? Really interested in reading them, just as long as I understand what's going on.

Most of the good Batman stories are pretty stand-alone.  The Long Halloween is another good one if you are interested, and Year One is where a lot of inspiration for Batman Begins came from.  Also if you are following from the movies, Gotham Central seems to have influenced The Dark Knight Returns a lot.
[/quote]

This, also long Halloween, gothic, and a few other non-bad legend of the dark knight story lines (all self-contained, taking place in the early years of his career so it doesn't deal with alot of the back story shit)

[K2]

Of all the great Batman graphic novels, the only one that isn't stand-alone is Dark Victory, which is a sequel to The Long Halloween.

[SBCrystal]

I completely agree with the books mentioned in this thread. Big props to those who said Fables, one of the most beautiful and original TPBs I've read in a long, long time.

Here are a few I thought you guys might like:

THE WALKING DEAD
Duh, zombies. What else is there to really say? The amazing Robert Kirkman (Battle Pope, Marvel Zombies) does a bit of a 180 from his other well-known project "Battle Pope" to do a sort of study on the question: what really happens after a zombie apocalypse? What I mean is, after a two hour movie you assume that the story is over, but Kirkman dares to bring characters from all over together and assumes obstacles that people would face. The characters themselves are all wonderfully different and complex, which I love. I love how people you assume to be evil turn out to be good people simply to ensure the survival of the human race – of course, there are opposite examples a plenty. Kirkman is not afraid to get people attached to characters, fall in love with them, want them to succeed and then suddenly fuck them up in the most gruesome ways. And yes, this isn’t for the feint of heart, it is very realistic and, I think, truthful to what might happen should the occasion arise.

BATTLE POPE
I seriously can’t mention TWD without mentioning Battle Pope. Every year for Annual Presents Day Luin and HeK get me one of the books. I love, love, love them. This is just the most hilarious and politically incorrect series ever, which suits me just fine. The religious apocalypse happens (think Left Behind) and who’s stuck in a world full of demons, sex, blasphemy, etc? The Pope, of course, who is actually a cigar smoking, womanizing asshole. Anyway, I get that this kind of story might rub people the wrong way, for example, Battle Pope’s sidekick is a dirty hippie named Jesus H. Christ who wears a shirt that says “What would I do?”. The more I think about this, the more I kind of understand the reason why Kirkman would be so controversial. I mean, if Jesus did exist, and came back, he might not really fit in with a modern day (not to mention apocalyptic) society. Anyway, picture enclosed, pick this book up, etcetera.


NEVERWHERE
This is one of my favourite Neil Gaiman TPBs ever. I really don’t know how he gets his ideas for his storylines or his characters but they’re all so original and beautiful that you can’t help but have your jaw drop a bit at imagining all the work he must have put in to create them.
Richard Mayhew is supposed to be your average Joe seeming with discontent. His fiancée has his balls in a vice and doesn’t let him make his own decisions (inb4 sexism ), his jobs is pointless and going nowhere and he has no real friends. I think that a lot of people can relate to him simply because we’ve all been there. We’ve all had to conform to some societal sense of obligation whether it’s to stay in a relationship for too long, work a shitty job after college, not know your place in this world, have a dream and then realize it’s not as easily attainable as you once thought, etc.
Erm, a bit of a tangent, sorry, anyway, Gaiman sets up the dual worlds of London Above (normality) and London Below (a crazy fairytale world). Richard helps a mysterious girl in trouble and finds himself in this crazy world of subway pirates, rat worshippers, etc, only to find that once you go below, you don’t exist for the above world. This doesn’t settle well with Richard who is at a crossroads of what his life means to him: should he go back to a world where he is unappreciated, unloved, trapped? Or should he stay in a magical world where, for whatever reason, he is a hero?
I could go on and on…and I did. Anyway, it’s not a big book, and it’s full of great art as well.

I was going to do more but…I realize I’ve sort of gotten a bit crazy.

[Surf314]

On neverwhere did you read the book?  The graphic novel was adapted from it by Mike Carey who is one of my favorite comic book authors (although now he is writing books which are also awesome).  And the book was adapted from a BBC mini-series they asked him to write, which he ended up liking so much he made it into a book etc.

Next up - Neverwhere the interpretive dance!

Also Jack of Fables gets better and better.  Extremely clever literature junky comedy and stories.  In this spin off from Fables they introduce the literals which are all based on literary principles.  Like there is Gary the pathetic fallacy.  He can bring any inanimate object to life by talking to is.  There is Mr. Revise who dedicates his life to making fairy tales less dark.  There is the bookburner who burns books and uses the ghostly characters created to suit his own purpose.  Then there is a Mrs. Wall with 3 identical older brothers and who talks directly to you the reader (took me forever to get that).  And there is Dex AKA Dues Ex Machina who will show up and tie up all loose ends unexpectedly.  Everyone hates him and he can't do it too often or he gets old (and he is too pretty to be old baby).

[SBCrystal]

On neverwhere did you read the book?

I read the book, own the TPB and also watched the BBC miniseries.

[Surf314]

On neverwhere did you read the book?

I read the book, own the TPB and also watched the BBC miniseries.

I liked the fox guy in the miniseries  ;D

[Surf314]

The "I Kill Giants" trade is out if anyone is interested.  I'm reading it now.  Basically it's about a girl in 5th grade that had some traumatic event happen to her and now she is obsessed with killing giants.  Also she is pretty awesome in the witty riposte department.  And she is a DM.

[fyre]

I forgot this thread existed. Anyway, I think I posted this in the other book thread, but I just read Incognegro. It's about an African-American reporter in the early twentieth century who has light skin and goes undercover as a white guy and writes about lynchings in the South. It's pretty good.

[Surf314]

I am now super curious about a comic called "The Dylan Dog" about some detective that fights zombies.  It's an italian comic that got good reviews from Umberto Eco.

[Ianki]

I forgot this thread existed. Anyway, I think I posted this in the other book thread, but I just read Incognegro. It's about an African-American reporter in the early twentieth century who has light skin and goes undercover as a white guy and writes about lynchings in the South. It's pretty good.

I read that, it was pretty good.

I recommend The Nightly News.  For serious.  Someone told me his next image trade came out, Transhuman, but i haven't read it yet.

[SBCrystal]

[quote author=fyre link=topic=805.msg87352#msg87352 date=1243866432]
I forgot this thread existed. Anyway, I think I posted this in the other book thread, but I just read Incognegro. It's about an African-American reporter in the early twentieth century who has light skin and goes undercover as a white guy and writes about lynchings in the South. It's pretty good.

I read that, it was pretty good.

I recommend The Nightly News.  For serious.  Someone told me his next image trade came out, Transhuman, but i haven't read it yet.
[/quote]

I'm reading Nightly News right now!

[Honest]

Read Marvel Zombies 3...eh. I liked MZ1 because I knew the characters and it had a genuinely good plot, 2 wasn't that good and I can see now the creativity of this isn't coming back. Ah well.

[Vongore]

i preordered Final Crisis with my birtday money (that i still don't get ;D) I'm waiting for it to come out and arrive

[Surf314]

Finished "I Kill Giants."  It was really really good and pretty sad at the end.  Also War at Ellsmere is another good comic a friend lent me that I liked.

[Valentine Wiggin]

i read black hole (graphic novel) last year and really enjoyed it.  also love the trial of colonel sweeto collection, my favorite:

[Ianki]

i read black hole (graphic novel) last year and really enjoyed it.  also love the trial of colonel sweeto collection, my favorite:

He has a new collection with even more comics, it should have been your first choice