[Comics] What Comics are you Currently Reading Thread

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Finished the first Rebirth trade for Red Hood and the Outlaws.

DC is just killing it these days. For almost the past year, really. This isn't something I expected to like, and instead I found it one of the more engaging first arcs for Rebirth. There is not a wasted issue in this volume and it even bookends nicely. Jason Todd has really shaped up while still being himself. I love the smaller developments through the story, that while Red Hood has to coax Artemis into his plan, she ends up going more toward his intent without him even asking her to. Less attack, more defense, as needed. More like Wonder Woman than she'd care to admit.

I picked up the issues I missed, so I'll be caught up soon. And then this summer:



And I laugh from this even knowing that it's gonna tug my heartstrings because this is easily the most I've ever liked Bizarro.
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

Part of me is kinda HOPING Lex turns evil again, as just ALL of these damn heavy hitters all together its fucking in-SANE! Even got the new guy Blanque, he's pretty spooky! Part of me likes to think he's secretly Snowflame who changed his identity and quit the junk.
 
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Staff member
So I read JLA Tower of Babel from 1997. This is the now-famous (thanks to the animated series) arc where it's revealed that Bats has contingency plans for the whole JLA. I laughed out loud when I ran across the source image for the "I LIEK CHOCOLATE MILK" meme.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Dardevil: A Touch of Typhoid (Ann Nocenti, John Romita Jr)

It's funny. Daredevil is my second favourite superhero. I have runs from several creative teams: Frank Miller, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Mark Waid. Even Kevin Smith's Guardian Devil. Yet I'd never read any of Ann Nocenti's well-received run. It's not generally as well-regarded as the other runs, but it's still often mentioned in Daredevil creative team runs. Especially for her introduction of now mainstay Daredevil villain, Typhoid Mary.

So this Epic Collection covers the first 17 issues of her run. And...it's okay? It's not bad, it just feels very unfocused at times. There's little flow from issue-to-issue, like they're trying to mimic Miller's connected storytelling. But it falls flat as each issue attempts to also be a self-contained story, but it's not balanced well with the attempt to tell multi-issue stories. Characters are introduced, like some of Murdock's clients, like we're supposed to already know them. But I'm talking 10+ issues in and then suddenly he's defending someone in court with mentions of something that sounds like it occurred previously.

Typhoid Mary herself is a fascinating character, though, and is definitely the star of this run. In fact, I'd say she's a better femme fatale than Elektra was. The build up with her and her split personality is great. One side (Mary) is in love with Matt. The other side (Typhoid) wants to kill him. It makes for some great moments and all culminates in a great double-sized issue which leaves Daredevil battered and clinging to life. Really good stuff.

So it's a shame that the whole story goes completely off the rails following this. Because then the title suddenly crosses over with a crossover event at the time: Inferno. Which means suddenly demons from Hell have invaded, possessing people and machines and basically turning Earth into a new Hell. So suddenly, Typhoid Mary all but disappears, her story is dropped, and Daredevil is fighting demons for several issues. Then he goes on a road trip to get away from everything he's lost. I don't know if the Typhoid Mary story picks up again in the next collection (coming out later this year, I think), but for just this one book? It's incredibly disappointing.

EDIT: So I looked up some more info on Nocenti's run. Her run started at #238. This book picks up at #253. So I missed a considerable chunk. This is why you need to number these volumes, Marvel! And after looking a bit more, it turns out there IS no collection of the beginning of her run. For fucks sake.
 
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Covar

Covar

Daredevil.

The Epic Collections are intended to be archive formats, but printed out of order. Which I'm thankful for because I don't feel like buying the first 2 years of Marvel yet again. The way they're printing is also why they don't put the number on the spine.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Covar said:
Daredevil.

The Epic Collections are intended to be archive formats, but printed out of order. Which I'm thankful for because I don't feel like buying the first 2 years of Marvel yet again. The way they're printing is also why they don't put the number on the spine.
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Why would they print the middle of her run, though, without first printing the first volume? That doesn't make any sense. There's a whole year's worth of story uncollected. Looking at Amazon, the next collection (Volume 14, I assume) continues on from this. What about someone like me who's never read any of of her run before? How long do I have to wait to read the stuff that came BEFORE the books that have been published? It's fucking backwards logic.

Not printing the volume numbers on the spine is ridiculous, too. Why not do like the Ultimate Collections? Those are great. Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3. Boom. They just finished one for Punisher Max and Christopher Priest's Black Panther run. Bendis and Brubaker's Daredevil are collected like that, too.
 
Covar

Covar

I think the idea is that this way there's no visible "holes" in the numbering when they're on the shelf and can still easily put them in chronological order. Whether thats for if you're buying all the epic collections for a series and don't want massive gaps you can't do anything about, only want 1 or 2 of the Epic Collections based on the story or time period, or even if/when they give up on the Epic Collections.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Having recently acquired the rest of Hickman's Avengers stuff, I figured it was a good time to tackle Infinity. A week or so later, I have finished it. And it didn't feel like I was being leisurely about it; it's just a hefty hardcover without being an omnibus level thickness.

This is not a great event. I don't want to call it stupid, because a lot of interesting, important ideas are introduced, but at the same time it's unavoidable how this was kind of a cash-grab, and I know later parts of Hickman's Avengers will unfortunately have to stomach Original Sin. Well, crossing that bridge when I come to it. There's a lot of working parts that don't exactly create the kind of high-functioning plot machine that Hickman is almost always good at crafting. Having three different stories going on didn't help.

... And yet, having it all as one big volume, it was still a page-turner. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next, even when certain situations were resolved in convenience rather than intelligence or strategy. I think that goes more to Hickman's skill than any merit of the story itself, that even on a bad day, he's still a great writer. That said, unless one was aiming to own the whole run, it's not really a necessary book.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

The Flash #22, The Button part 4

Good issue, and would be better if its highlights hadn't been spoiled by things outside the book, such as recent announcements, or the comic's own cover.

But those final couple pages really feel like a big bang of implications. Hoping Jay Garrick will find his way sometime.

Thawne made a lot of threats. Looking at what's coming soon in The Flash, I have a feeling they're legit somehow, despite his apparent deadness.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Batman #23 was probably the best single issue that's going to be released this month. That was much in line with Tom King at his best, and if he wasn't so busy, I'd love for him to do a 12-issue of Swamp Thing.

Which reminds me, I still need to read Snyder's run.
 
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Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

GasBandit said:
Batman: The Button, part 4.

Man. Talk about going out with a whimper. But, I guess a copout ending is kind of better than another flashpoint, or something.
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I thought this was gonna be the week's big deal, but it seemed more for setting up Doomsday Clock and the next Flash arc ... which I will be reading because Thawne's got plans.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Yoshimickster said:
Superman 23

HOLY SHIT that was a twist!
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I don't think anyone saw that coming.

Aside: There's a theory going around that maybe Dr. Manhattan isn't the antagonist of Rebirth, because Dr. Manhattan isn't evil, but could perhaps be manipulated by someone from outside the main DC universe, someone who would want to hurt all the heroes with by trapping them in something as vile as the New 52 :p. It doesn't take a lot to manipulate Dr. Manhattan, just a nudge of scientific "do it to see what happens."

So who hates the DC universe that bad?

Superboy Prime. That said, rumors so far have pinned that other Clark Kent, the Revenge Squad whisperer, and the shit in Hamilton County on Superboy Prime and obviously that hasn't been the case. I think fans are just desperate to blame things on that asshole.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Batwoman Rebirth: This book is just okay. It's not really that interesting and the best part about it is Kate Kane's one-woman support team Julia Pennyworth.

Batman and Robin (New 52): Local shop was having a clearance sale, so I grabbed volume 2 of this on a whim. This book is really well-written once past the weird #0 and the City of Owls tie-in. For the most part I enjoyed it. I think the major problem is that it takes place in the New 52, so everything has to be colored darker, drawn more grotesque, and background stuff just has this atmosphere of meanness to it. I'm waffling over whether to pursue reading more of this run in the future because of that. It is good overall, but the New 52's style of things leaves a bad taste.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Thor: God of Thunder - God Butcher & God Bomb (Jason Aaron, Esad Ribic)

Holy shit, you guys. This series is AWESOME. It's exactly the kind of badass Thor comic I'd want to read. I'd heard it was good from a few sources before, but wow.

I'll definitely buy this should they ever re-publish the run in some Complete Collections.

Now I'm curious to see how Aaron's current Thor book is, with the female Thor. I've heard lots of good things about it.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

ThatNickGuy said:
Thor: God of Thunder - God Butcher & God Bomb (Jason Aaron, Esad Ribic)

Holy shit, you guys. This series is AWESOME. It's exactly the kind of badass Thor comic I'd want to read. I'd heard it was good from a few sources before, but wow.

I'll definitely buy this should they ever re-publish the run in some Complete Collections.

Now I'm curious to see how Aaron's current Thor book is, with the female Thor. I've heard lots of good things about it.
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I haven't read past Godbomb, but my wife recommended more than once that I continue from there and into female Thor past that. So now I pass that recc onto you!
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

OKAY-whose the idiot who okayed the covers for Action comics 980? You don't make a cover of Harley Quinn fighting Cyborg Superman or General Zod-IF SHE DOESN'T APPEAR IN THE FUCKING COMIC! Seriously, her and the suicide squad are BARELY mentioned in this issue. Still like this arc, but I'm pretty sure they made those covers to trick Harley Quinn/Suicide Squad fans into buying.

Justice League 7

Dear lord, how many love interests is Killer Frost going to HAVE?!
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #21

The cover says someone's gotta die, and I was a little worried it'd be

Sorakin or Kyle, but then it's just the villain.

Not that it's all that much better. I would've settled for Guy.

I will say, I appreciate that this story arc didn't pull any bullshit. A plan was made pretty clear, and rather than introduce some nonsense to make the resolution crazier, the writer went along with it regardless of predictability, because it made sense and was what would happen next logically. The two, sorta three narratives at work were enough to engage the reader, and he trusted the reader on that.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Only two issues left of Rucka's Wonder Woman Rebirth run (three if you count the annual). #23 put the main present day conflict to rest in a very Wonder Woman-y way, for lack of a better term. Its sense of deescalating conflict hit close to home of how much I'm going to miss Rucka writing this, at least for the time ahead. #24 should meet the past stuff with the beginning of the present day arc last year, and then #25 will be the big finale. There's a fine balance of the grandiose and the intimately personal that's difficult to manage

I'm not super-confident about the next writer, but I'm not going to drop the title over it, at least not without giving her a chance.

And then in past stuff, Hickman's Avengers #25 was one of the most intense Hulk scenes I've read, and it didn't even really have the Hulk on the page.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Silver Surfer, Vol. 1: New Dawn (Dan Slott, Mike Alred)

Oh my god, I love this series so much. I think @Zero Esc was high on it for awhile. I can see why it's deserving all the high praise. It's charming, it's witty, and incredibly fun. Dawn is an instantly likeable character and I think this is the first time I actually gave a crap about Silver Surfer. Even his role in Annihilation wasn't this interesting (and I liked him well enough in that).

I lent out the next two volumes from the library. Lent out all three in the same go, really, because I've wanted to read this for a long time. I'll definitely plow through the next two volumes in a short time span.

On a related note, I love my library's huge selection of comics and graphic novels. It's helped me keep up with current series like I Hate Fairyland or Velvet. It's allowed me to try out new stuff I might not plop down the money to try, like Nailbiter, Birthright, This One Summer, or Mark Waid's Archie. Seriously, there's so much stuff I never even thought to read and suddenly they're some of my new favourite books. Basically any Image by Josh Williamson, for one. Or even Marvel stuff that I'm curious about but didn't want to spend the money on, like Jason Aaron's Thor or the current Daredevil series. I've read 45 graphic novels or collected editions so far this year and 80-90% of that is library books. I can even get them to put books aside or have them sent from other libraries in the Halifax area. I have like a dozen books in my queue, waiting for others to return it.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

ThatNickGuy said:
Silver Surfer, Vol. 1: New Dawn (Dan Slott, Mike Alred)

Oh my god, I love this series so much. I think @Zero Esc was high on it for awhile. I can see why it's deserving all the high praise. It's charming, it's witty, and incredibly fun. Dawn is an instantly likeable character and I think this is the first time I actually gave a crap about Silver Surfer. Even his role in Annihilation wasn't this interesting (and I liked him well enough in that).

I lent out the next two volumes from the library. Lent out all three in the same go, really, because I've wanted to read this for a long time. I'll definitely plow through the next two volumes in a short time span.

On a related note, I love my library's huge selection of comics and graphic novels. It's helped me keep up with current series like I Hate Fairyland or Velvet. It's allowed me to try out new stuff I might not plop down the money to try, like Nailbiter, Birthright, This One Summer, or Mark Waid's Archie. Seriously, there's so much stuff I never even thought to read and suddenly they're some of my new favourite books. Basically any Image by Josh Williamson, for one. Or even Marvel stuff that I'm curious about but didn't want to spend the money on, like Jason Aaron's Thor or the current Daredevil series. I've read 45 graphic novels or collected editions so far this year and 80-90% of that is library books. I can even get them to put books aside or have them sent from other libraries in the Halifax area. I have like a dozen books in my queue, waiting for others to return it.
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You read more of Silver Surfer than I did; I kinda forgot to keep going after volume 1. Just think, you'll be able to catch up on Superman you've been avoiding! :awesome:

Though for real, when the final trade comes out later this year, check out Lemire's recent run of Moon Knight. And seeing you mention it, I need to get around to checking out Soule's Daredevil.
 
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