I Read Comic Books discussion

What did you think of The Spire? How did it compare to other sci-fi and fantasy comics you've read? Would you recommend it to a friend?

Tune in to the IRCB Podcast on Wednesday, May 3rd to hear our discussion of this book. If it's ok to read your comments on the show, please include "OK TO AIR" in your post!

This book has been sitting on my to-read list for ages. I've heard from friends that it's fantastic, and I'm so glad to finally have an excuse to pick it up!

Going to my Linsey today to try and get it. This'll be my first book of the month. Excited.


Oh and anything I EVER say is okay to air

This book is one of my favorites (I think Spurrier is just one of my favorite writers...). Super duper excited to talk about this on the show.

Wow! Ok, I binge read this in one day - absolutely loved it. Sha is a compelling, complex character, and the mystery sucked me in more and more until the very end.

Spurrier is an expert world builder, and The Spire showcases his talent beautifully. Stokely's art brings it to life with incredible character design and detail. The vibrant color work makes it all feel alive and humming with energy.

The character development also set it apart from similar fantasy books for me. It often took less than a page to feel like I really knew a character, thanks to Spurrier's dialogue and Stokely's expressive art. I adored Pug and the scene were he receives the real badge was my favorite.

The themes in The Spire reminded me of those in X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills. You can dress it up in economics, politics, or religion, but bigotry is still bigotry, and people do horrific things to those they consider "other."

Okay to Air
So where to start with this book. I finished it a few days ago, but let it gestate in my mind before I wrote anything. The truth is, weirdly enough, I don't know if I liked it in total. There were moments that I loved it, there were moments I thought were lame, and there were moments that I was apathetic about.

For beginners, I slogged through this book. It felt excessively long and slow to get the real meat. The book desperately needed a prologue to explain the details between the characters. I feel as if I had that knowledge throughout the book I would have been more invested in the situations. There were all these themes of race, status, and class that were lost until the very end.

The artwork was a major loser with the lack of the prologue. All of these buildings, landscapes, and dark places felt naked without context. Why was it built that way? Is there a particular reason it looked so shoddily put together? It seemed like the author and artist had two different views. One example of this was Sha’s tentacles (I think they had a term, but I forgot what it is) were almost non existent on paper. They were lines. I don’t mind if you are going to hide them, but when they are out, they need to be OUT or it just looks like movement lines. They were a major character issue for Sha and were completely underrepresented.

The story itself was pretty interesting, but like I said it never kept me wanting more which is probably not good for a crime drama. Sha was a good character that was easily the best thing about the book. Her full circle transformation in confidence, sexuality, and personality really was fun to watch. The rest of the characters were more or less extensions of a one headed blob. The exception of this was the farty messenger who was the Dobby of the book. A character that I initially hated, but learned to tolerate and begin to feel sympathy.

I know it seems as if I hated this book, hell I’ve spent the entire time complaining about it. But, it’s not a bad book. It’s just not my book. Generally I enjoy these types of world building storylines and don’t have any trouble jumping right in. The Spire just felt like a chore for me. I really had to push myself to finish the book, and sincerely wonder that if it weren’t for my new found addiction to this group if I would have finished it.

Alex wrote: "Okay to Air
So where to start with this book. I finished it a few days ago, but let it gestate in my mind before I wrote anything. The truth is, weirdly enough, I don't know if I liked it in total...."

Oh no! Thank you for finishing it and sharing your thoughts. I had a hard time getting into it at first too. It was probably around issue 4 that I became really interested, which I doubt I would have reached had I not been committed to finishing it for this discussion.

I confused Sha's thread-like appendages with motion lines at first too! I thought they were cool though and an interesting take on tentacles. They reminded me of spider's silk.

You're right that a prologue at the beginning would have been helpful. It wouldn't be hard to explain some of the basics (like that humans can't breath the air, and The Spire has filtered air for them) while maintaining the mysteries that are part of the story. Even just character pages at the beginning like Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery had would have been helpful.

Do you usually like fantasy books?

I do. I loved Rat Queens. Ran out and finished the whole series. But, something you mentioned helped me think through what was bothering me. You said it was around issue 4 that you really became interested and I felt that way too. I believe the reason for this is that it felt like two books. Around issue 4 it stopped with all of the untransparent sludge and really focused on what it was trying to do.

Again, I just want to say that it wasn't like I disliked the book. I liked it. It's just not a book I'll pick up again or enthusiastically suggest to others.

Looking forward to talking about this with Brian and Kate tomorrow! :D

Make sure to check out the episode on Wednesday!

And by Brian and Kate, I mean Brian and our newest regular: Rene!

Can't wait for the next episode.

Mike wrote: "And by Brian and Kate, I mean Brian and our newest regular: Rene!"

I definitely had a moment of panic there lol!