Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

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Thad
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Sun Aug 09, 2015 3:37 pm

The first volume of the complete Priest run of Black Panther is out soon (Priest's blog says it'll be this coming Wednesday; Amazon has it listed for August 25). This is one of my all-time favorite comics series, following on the heels of Priest and Bright's success with Quantum and Woody, and tonally and structurally it's very similar to that series.

Volume 1 starts with narrator/POV character Everett K Ross (the Panther's US State Department attache and self-proclaimed Emperor of All Useless White Guys) announcing that he is wearing the Devil's pants. See, Mephisto showed up to the Panther's hotel room to lie in wait for him, Ross had no pants, and he accidentally made a deal with the devil to get some new pants.

And then the story goes from there to explain just how exactly we got here.

The first arc is a great introduction to the Panther (and Priest's vision for the character), features the Avengers in a supporting role, and has some great painted art by Mark Texeira; later arcs have more conventional (but still solid) art by Sal Velluto and Bob Almond (and some occasional work from the aforementioned Doc Bright).

This first collection includes the first 17 issues, so it doesn't get as far as my favorite arc of the series, Sturm and Drang, which features Wakanda in the middle of an international incident that drags in Namor's Atlantis, Doom's Latveria, and Magneto's Genosha. But it's a damn fine start to the series and highly recommended.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Thu Aug 13, 2015 2:26 pm

It's been at least a month since I mentioned that Squirrel Girl is possibly the best comic book currently being published. So I am mentioning it again.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Büge » Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:24 pm

Relax, I'm already a subscriber.
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Mothra
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Mothra » Fri Aug 14, 2015 12:09 pm

If any of you haven't read volume 2 of Rat Queens, get on that shit immediately. It is fantastic.

The new artist does a spectacular job, much to my relief. I knew they had to replace the last one with somebody, but I had my concerns.

Also picked up Godzilla in Hell, issue 1, and it so far delivers on its fucking awesome concept. Watching Big G plow through a hurricane of every human soul he has ever killed to battle a living nightmare out of a demon nuclear smokestack is just as batshit incredible as you'd expect. It goes without saying that James Stokoe's art is unbelievably good.

I have heard that every issue has a different artist, which is... worrying. I'm definitely picking up the next issue I see, but for a series like this, the artwork is absolutely everything.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Mongrel » Fri Aug 14, 2015 12:41 pm

Mothra wrote:If any of you haven't read volume 2 of Rat Queens, get on that shit immediately. It is fantastic.

I should go buy them myself, but I keep expecting Buge to wander in the door with copies some day, so I keep putting it off hoping I can mooch instead >:3
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Büge » Fri Aug 14, 2015 2:23 pm

Mothra wrote:If any of you haven't read volume 2 of Rat Queens, get on that santorum immediately. It is fantastic.

The new artist does a spectacular job, much to my relief. I knew they had to replace the last one with somebody, but I had my concerns.


Isn't the new artist this guy?

Mongrel wrote:I should go buy them myself, but I keep expecting Buge to wander in the door with copies some day, so I keep putting it off hoping I can mooch instead >:3


How come you never want to read any of my other comics? :I
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Mongrel » Fri Aug 14, 2015 2:25 pm

'Cause you almost never show me what you buy! I don't even know what you have!

I think I read a couple when you weren't looking, like your League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books. I have a natural aversion to taking other people's single issues out of their bags & boards though, unless told this is cool. Which I'm sure wouldn't have been a problem considering our comic loaning is mutual, but that comes back to me having no idea what you've been buying. :nyoro~n:

Büge wrote:Isn't the new artist this guy?


Goddammit, now we are getting these for sure.
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Mothra » Fri Aug 14, 2015 3:47 pm

?

What else has he done? Anything I would know?

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Mongrel » Fri Aug 14, 2015 3:57 pm

>__>

*tugs collar*
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Büge » Sun Aug 16, 2015 7:59 pm

Sunstone. It's a, uh, romantic comedy about two lesbians into BDSM.
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Mongrel » Sun Aug 16, 2015 8:40 pm

Top Cow's highest selling book ever!
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Mothra » Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:15 pm

O-oh my (nsfw)

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Mongrel » Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:35 pm

You can read the whole thing on Deviant Art, which is where he originally published it, under the name Shiniez.

Uh, I mean, in theory.
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Thad
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Tue Sep 01, 2015 1:01 pm

Also, I was in the shop the other day and noticed that volume 1 of the original Priest/Bright Quantum and Woody is back in print (following the recent $100 omnibus of the complete series).

Quantum and Woody remains one of my all-time favorite comics. It's a buddy-cop comedy that mocks superhero tropes even as it manages to be a great superhero book in its own right; its writing is sharp (if a little too twisty) and peppered with social commentary on race relations. ("Noogie" -- a story hinging on editor Fabian Nicieza's refusal to let Priest pepper the N-word throughout the story (he got away with using it once in issue #1) -- is an all-time favorite.)

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Mon Nov 09, 2015 2:15 am

Warren Ellis and Jason Masters's new James Bond comic is out. It starts with a chase scene, which is completely wordless until the bottom of page 8; on page 10 you finally get a good look at Bond's face, and damned if a comic book doesn't make you hear the theme song.

Chris Sims has a bit more on it. Anyway, it's off to a pretty good start.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Mon Nov 30, 2015 1:27 pm

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is pretty fun and has the potential to be the next Squirrel Girl.

But it totally whiffs it on explaining why the Theory of Evolution is called a theory, which bugs me a lot more than it probably should.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Fri Feb 12, 2016 4:44 pm

Thad wrote:Dark Horse to publish complete Masters of the Universe minicomic collection, more than 1200 pages, hardcover, $30. Enlarged to 6x9.

There's some good shit in there. Early work from Bruce Timm and Mark Texeira.


My wife got me this. It is currently $20.25 on Amazon (affiliate link).

This thing is amazing. It is a brick (Amazon says it weighs about 5 pounds but it feels heavier than that to me); it collects around 50 original MotU comics, about a dozen She-Ra, four New Adventures, and a couple each He-Man '02 and MotU Classics.

And it's not just reproductions of the comics; this thing was put together by people who give a fuck. It's got footnotes explaining stuff like early designs, sections detailing variant and foreign editions of comics, and interviews with people like Mark Texeira and Stan Sakai.

If I have a complaint, it's that, in a 1200-page book, they couldn't include stuff like the early designs that some of the comics were based on -- you'll have to get a different book for that.

It's interesting to see how this stuff evolved -- the first story (which isn't a comic, it's a picture book) has He-Man as even more of a straight-up Conan knockoff; there's no Prince Adam or "By the power of Grayskull!", he's just a warrior who leaves his tribe, and then meets the Sorceress (who has green skin and a costume that looks like a cobra), who gives him a costume that grants him super-strength and invulnerability.

But some elements of the mythology are there (He-Man and Skeletor each get one half of the Sword of Power; both halves are needed to open Grayskull -- this part of the story never made it into the cartoons but I remember it being a big recurring hook in the comics, and it's got the added bonus of explaining why the toys' swords are flat on one side). And it's interesting to observe some other details, too, like how the '02 version of Teela actually looks a lot more like the original 1981 design than the '83 version does.

That's as far as I've gotten -- I've thumbed through the thing and read the intro and the first story -- but it's really impressive. A lot of work went into this thing, which is really something considering it's a bunch of little comics that were created as pack-in bonuses that came with toys.

There's also a digital version on Comixology if you don't mind the whole DRM thing; I bet this would look great on a tablet, and not be so damn heavy.

Anyway, if you dig He-Man and want to see some stuff that's different from the cartoons (and usually better-drawn), and don't mind spending $20-$30, this is a really cool book. Even if you're more of a Thundercats guy.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:08 pm

Leah Garrett interviews Al Jaffee on the Jewish roots of Mad.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Thu Mar 17, 2016 2:28 pm

We've got some Roger Langridge fans, right?

His latest is Baker Street Peculiars; he wrote it and Andy Hirsch drew it. As the title implies, it's a take on the Sherlock Holmes universe, focusing on three 1930's-era street urchins.

I don't think I've seen Hirsch's work before but I think it's great; very well-suited to Langridge's script, with an expressive cartoony style.

The first issue's out; there are going to be three more. Johanna Draper-Carlson has a pretty good interview with Langridge and Hirsch about the series.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Healy » Sat Mar 19, 2016 10:42 pm

Oh, very interesting! I hope my library gets a copy.
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