I Read Comic Books discussion
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What are you reading right now?
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What are you reading right now? (April 2023)
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I'm also really excited that Dinosaur Sanctuary Vol. 2 is out, so I think it will be a dino-heavy comics month at my house! :)
Ice Cream Man, Volume 4: Tiny Lives ★★★★★
All four of these issues are really good. Palindrome and Crossword were my favorite. Ice Cream Man is becoming one of my favorite series.
Hulk, Vol. 1: Smashtronaut! ★★
This has the skeleton of a good story, but not the meat. Banner has built a mind palace where he can torture Hulk to use their powers(and be a spaceship). By the end Banner isn't that different from when I started the book. Ryan Ottley does the artwork and he stops this from being a one star. Although, if there wasn't so much action, there might have been enough room to tell a better story.
Fairy Tail: Ice Trail Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 ★★★
I watched a ton of Fairy Tail in high school. This a fun spin off that reminds me of the earlier episodes. Child Gray goes on adventures that last a couple chapters. There's major spoilers here up to chapter 46 of the original manga.
HUNTER×HUNTER 35 ★★★★
A battle royal between 14 princes to decide the next ruler. Each of them have a "nen guardian," which is like a stand from JoJo but look like they came out of the Ars Goetia. Kurapika becomes the protagonist and its nice to have him back.
Last week's adventures in comics.Einstein ★★
A very detailed look into Einstein's life at a 300 page graphic novel. The majority of it focuses on his advances in physics. They are certainly remarkable. They are also very dry and sometimes require repeat reading to understand. Depending on your interest level, they may go completely over your head. I was already familiar with most of them and have a background in science and engineering so I was OK. The book seems to be written for those in advanced sciences.
Breath of the Giant ★★★
A middling story about two sisters striving to make it all the way North to defeat a giant whose breath can restore their mother to life. It's a common story trope, a struggle to bring a loved one back only to find out they no longer belong in this world.
Barbaric Vol. 1: Murderable Offenses ★★★★
A twist on Conan the Barbarian. Owen was the baddest barbarian around until he was cursed to only do good and to aid anyone who asked for his help. Now he and his magic axe that only he can hear are forced to help those in need whether he likes it or not.
Camp Pock-a-Wocknee and the Dynomite Summer of '77 ★★★
A graphic memoir about the author's senior year in a Jewish summer camp in 1977. Yes, it's raunchy. There's talk of scoring, poop, farts and jerking off. It's about teenage boys after all. But it can also be fun. It reminds me a ton of the movie Meatballs which is also about a summer camp in the 70's, although it never achieves that level of humor.
GremoryLand Volume 1 ★★
This isn't very original or even very well done. It's about a group of friends who go to a new amusement park as influencers or something and have to get through all the rides without dying. It has a lot of the same elements as Five Nights at Freddy's and the Nic Cage movie Willy's Wonderland.
ZVRC: Zombies Vs Robots Complete, Volume 1 ★
This was awful. It didn't even make any sense. Zombies have taken over the world leaving not just robots but dumb robots as the only ones left to stop them. At some point after nuclear bombs have destroyed the world but not robots or zombies, Amazons show up. Presumably so they can run around naked before being eaten.
Bruce Wayne: Not Super ★★★★
A middle school graphic novel where Bruce goes to a school full of what will be DC's superheroes and villains. He's the only kid with no powers (other than being rich.)
Tank Girl: King Tank Girl ★★
This is one of those things where if you'd always enjoyed Tank GIrl, you'll probably like this. If you haven't, you probably won't get this at all. I fall in the latter category.
Rorschach ★★
First of all this is not a book about Rorschach. It's about an unnamed private investigator who is investigating the assassination attempt on a presidential candidate. It's 35 years after the original Watchmen but one of the shooters was wearing a Rorschach mask. It's basically its own story and outside of a couple of cameos you don't even need to have read the original Watchmen really. You'll just miss out on some nuance. But this thing is REALLY tedious to read at 12 issues. It should have probably been 6 because at least half of this is unnecessary and pointless. It was really issue 9 before this began to head anywhere.
Batman: Gotham Knights - Gilded City ★★★
An OK prequel to the Gotham Knights video game. It takes place now and 150 years ago with both eras fighting a manmade virus plaguing Gotham.
DC Horror Presents: Sgt. Rock vs. The Army of the Dead ★★★
It's a quick read. As you could expect from the star of theEvil Dead movies, Campbell puts the action first. BTW, these aren't your typical zombies. These Nazis are undead but still retain their brains and memories, they are just extremely hard to kill.
Superman: Son of Kal-El, Vol. 2: The Rising ★★★★
I thought this was much better than the first volume. There's less focus on Jon's relationship with uninteresting Jay and more about how Jon tries to deal with being Superman.
Superman: Son of Kal-El, Vol. 3: Battle for Gamorra ★★★
Jon and the Henry Bendix storyline wraps up just in time for the crossover with his Dad to start next. I really like that Taylor brought back the Revolutionaries from his Suicide Squad run back.
X-Cellent Vol. 1: New Blood, New World ★★★
This was really weak. It couldn't even be saved by the Allreds' timeless art. This just rehashes a bunch of the stuff from X-Static. The focus though is on this new team of bad guys, The X-Cellent, as they try and build followers.
Nightwing, Vol. 2: Get Grayson ★★★★★
We return to our regular scheduled programming after the Fear State interruption with Bruno Redondo. Dick has a price on his head after publicly declaring he'd be giving billions to the less privileged of Bludhaven. The first issue is all two page spreads with Dick jumping across them. It really invoked David Aja's time on Hawkeye. I loved it.
Legion of X, Vol. 1 ★★
Si Spurrier might as well be writing gibberish. Most of this doesn't make much sense. It takes a big whiff at some high-concept stuff (which I feel is pretty common with Spurrier.)
WHAT IF...? MILES MORALES ★★
Just bad. Labeled What If?, it's alternate realities where Miles becomes a different hero but Uncle Aaron is still a douche. All of these alternate origins all share a sameness that doesn't make sense. Nor is there much story in any of these.
Wolverine, Vol. 5 ★★★
Beast has went full on evil during the Krakoa era. It's like Marvel is trying to assassinate Beast's character. Here he gets one over on Wolverine and uses Wolvie as his own personal hitman in the shadows while Logan is basically a vegetable.
Harley Quinn Vol 2: Keepsake ★★
Riley Rossmo continues to be the worst artist in comics outside of Erika Henderson. Actually it's a tossup.
Miles Morales Vol. 8: Empire Of The Spider ★★★
Miles and Shift get transported to another universe where he lost the fight with his clone Selim and was killed. Selim has siloed Brooklyn off with some kind of rift and taken over. Ganke is an old war General leading the rebel forces. This has been done so many times before that it all seems a bit generic now.
So far, I've read the first volume of March (March: Book One) and I'm going on with book 2. It's a really interesting read (and it fits the monthly theme of B&W comics).On the other hand, I also started a new (to me) manga series Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 1 which so far is pretty entertaining. Should feel my need for food manga for the while being.
I also plan to read The He-Man Effect: How American Toymakers Sold You Your Childhood when I'm done with March.
Amazing Spider-Man by Wells and Romita Jr., volumes 1 and 2. Gun Honey and Batman/Spawn: The Classic Collection next week.
Mod
- Mike: Faster, Last Day in Vietnam
- Tia: All Against All #1 and #2
- Nick: BRZRKR #9 through #12, I Hate This Place #1 through #6, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds—The Illyrian Enigma #1 through #4
Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...
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Always Never ★★★★★The art in this book is beautiful, and the story is beautiful if you don't look at it too closely. It tells a story of two people deeply in love but separated by life events, and the chapters are presented in reverse order. There's a theme of stepping back in time that felt like it didn't quite hit the mark, and I was left with a lot of questions about one character's family, but I immediately wanted to read this book again.
Run on Your New Legs, Vol. 1★★★★I'm not really into track or sports manga, but I picked this book up because it looked uplifting and I was right. This tells the story of a young man who loses a leg and gives up on his physical hobbies but then is approached by a man who is making prosthetics for athletes. I want to read more of this series.
Onion Skin★★★★This story starts with the trope of a man who is tired of his life and steps away from it to do something entirely random. He meets a woman and they run away together (not romantically) and travel from town to town running a food truck. They get in trouble with a rival food truck gang. I can't say this was a deep story, but it was a fun ride. I really don't know what the title has to do with this story.
Today's trip to the LCS.Batman and the Joker:The Deadly Duo #6
Fables #158
Immoral X-Men #3
Wolverine #32
Night Club #4 <-- How can you not support a comic that's only $2?
Planet of the Apes #1
Currently ReadingThe Flash (2016) Vol. 12: Death and the Speed Force by Joshua Williamson.
I also plan on reading Vol 13,14 and 15 of This Flash Series as well. I’m planning to also read Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal
Bri wrote: "I also plan on reading Vol 13,14 and 15 of This Flash Series as well. I’m planning to also read Ms. Ma..."I'd keep going even past this with the Flash. I really like what I've read of Jeremy Adams's current Flash run even more than I liked Williamson's.
Gonna be my digital issues of death in the family soon, I don’t know where else to brag, completed that set: I own all four issues in paper now…
Last week's adventures in comics.Tank Girl: King Tank Girl ★★
This is one of those things where if you'd always enjoyed Tank GIrl, you'll probably like this. If you haven't, you probably won't get this at all.
Mage and the Endless Unknown ★★★★
An almost wordless comic about a mage wondering through a dark and dangerous world. At first glance it may seem this is for younger readers, but it becomes more dark and violent as it goes along.
The Talk ★★★★★
Wow! What a powerful graphic memoir. Darrin Bell and I are of a similar age. The difference between us is I'm white and grew up in a small Midwestern town. He's of mixed heritage and grew up in L.A. He discusses the times throughout his life we was made to feel less than, the times he was frightened or threatened by the police or others in authority from the time he was 6 until now.
Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft--Orphan of Agony Isle ★★
A mediocre return to Ravenloft with a Frankenstein motif. The only difference is the roles are gender swapped.
Sapiens Imperium ★★
Some generic, old-school sci-fi about an oppressed group of people and a stereotypically evil emperor's son.
Robyn Hood: Outlaw ★★★
Robyn Hood is a female version of Green Arrow with a harder edge. She's been framed and discovers the Underground, a place under New York City for those with powers.
Tim Drake: Robin, Vol. 1 ★
Oof, this was awful. The story grew more and more incoherent as it went along. I like the idea of Gotham's marina being a hipster / LGBTQ+ area of Gotham. That was about the only thing I liked though. Rossmo's art is so bad. It's not just the out of proportion body parts though where Robin looks like a balloon being blown up in some panels. The panels don't flow at all. I had no idea what was happening in any of the action sequences. It looked like random, unconnected panels regurgitated onto a page
X-Force, Vol. 6 ★★★
Beast's character assassination continues as he creates a hidden prison in space. Then we find out who the man behind the peacock tattoo is which I thought was actually kind of cool.
The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 1: World Without Love ★★★
Six Months have went by since the end of Spencer's craptastic run on ASM. Something traumatic happened to Pete in Pennsylvania causing him to burn all his bridges with his friends, Both Peter's and Spider-Man's. MJ has moved onto some new relationship. Pete has no job and lots of bills piling up from being in the hospital. There's zero answers in this first arc, so I guess we'll need to wait to find out all the dirt. Tombstone gets into a turf war with the Rose with Spider-Man in the middle due to Robbie Robertson and his girlfriend, Janice, AKA the Beetle.
Shazam! Thundercrack ★★
This was really weak. It takes place during the beginning of the Shazam movie when Billy is first learning his powers. He joins the football team for the last game of the season and is instantly elevated to be the star player of the team. (I don't think Mercado has ever actually played sports because that's not how they work.) The whole thing is about the rival football team getting turned into robots or something stupid like that.
Tales from the Dark Multiverse II ★★
These weren't nearly as good as the first go-around. I think mainly due to the creators involved. Outside of Phillip Kennedy Johnson this is a murderer's row of overhyped writers who just aren't very good.
Quick Stops ★★★
Kevin Smith returns to tell 4 solo tales set in the Askewniverse. It answers questions like where Holden came up with the idea of Bluntman and Chronic and why Elias thought there was a troll in girls' pants.
A Legacy of Violence Vol. 1 ★★★
A guy in a Great Value Punisher logo mask is torturing and killing people in a village in Honduras. Enter a team of doctors from Doctors without Borders. One of the doctors had some kind of tragedy happen with his grandfather when he was a kid. (This is only the first four issues of a 12 issue maxiseries.) Now the killer seems to be focusing on him while murdering others for some reason and he keeps hearing the words Unit 731 (which is a unit of the Japanese military that experimented on prisoners in World War II).
Frontera ★★★
Mateo is a Dreamer. He was brought to the U.S. by his parents at the age of 3 without his knowledge. While in high school his family was discovered and deported back to Mexico. Now all he thinks about is getting back to Phoenix in time for his senior year to live with his grandmother. So he crosses the border on his own where he comes across a ghost who attempted the same trip 70 years before. Guillermo now does his best to help those making the trip across to keep from dying. Even with a ghost, the book felt pretty realistic until the jaguar showed up.
Silver Sable: Payback: A Marvel: Heroines Novel★★★★
Fresh off her excellent prose book about Black Cat, Cath Lauria shows us what she can do with Silver Sable. It's about Silver going after a gambler who has the Clairvoyant, a device that allows you see possible futures.
The Kill Lock: The Artisan Wraith ★★★
A pretty good successor to a terrific first volume. I would suggest rereading the first volume before tackling this one. I'd forgotten a lot about this universe full of killer robots that act more human than you'd think.
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Vol. 1: Revolution ★★★
There's a new conspiracy (seems to happen with every new run) and this one goes back to when the shield was created. After a Captain America #0 that kicks off both new Captain America titles, we switch over to the regular creative team and this OK conspiracy. What is more than OK is Carmen Carnero's art.
Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Vol. 7 ★★★
Some solid Batman stories but going back and reading these again now I can't believe how few villains there are. It's typically a hitman or a crazy person in one of these. The only member of Batman's Rogues to appear is Ra's al Ghul in the annual that was part of Armageddon 2001.
John Constantine: Hellblazer Vol. 2: The Best Version of You ★★★
Spurrier gets Constantine. it's nice to have a writer on the series that evokes the original series. I don't think either artist on the book though is that great.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Reborn, Volume 6 – Game Changers ★★★
A bit of a filler volume with only two regular issues as we wait for The Armageddon Game to finally begin.
King in Black: Thunderbolts ★★★
One of the better King in Black off shoots. Doesn't do much for the overall King in Black story but who cares? It's fun. Mayor Kingpin gathers a bunch of D-level Marvel villains and sends them off to kill Knull.
X-Men, Vol. 3 ★★★
A couple of Judgement Day issues then a return to the Children of the Vault story. It was fine but didn't feel as finely tuned as past volumes.
Skybound X 1-5, 25 ★★★
An anthology series to celebrate 10 years of Skybound at Image.
King in Black Gwenom Vs. Carnage ★★★
The main event of Gwenom vs. Carnage was just one lame prolonged fight.
King in Black: Atlantis Attacks ★★
First of all, this has nothing to do with King in Black, this was one of those casualties of the Pandemic that got this reshuffled to a miniseries and two King in Black pages tacked onto the last two pages of the miniseries. It's a continuation of Agents of Atlas with the New Agents of Atlas confronting the old ones and everyone trying to stop a war from breaking out between Atlantis and Pan. It's OK.
I just started reading Marvel comics for the first time in my life and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed 😅 and now I'm starting with The Amazing Spider-man #6. It didn't age so well imho.
Antonio wrote: "I just started reading Marvel comics for the first time in my life and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed 😅 and now I'm starting with The Amazing Spider-man #6. It didn't age so well imho."From the original run in the 60's? I wouldn't recommend that as a good place to start. Comics were written very differently back then. I think you're better off picking a current or celebrated run and checking that out. Then if you enjoy it you can work back picking and choosing what you want to read.
Comics really started to change this century in how they were written trusting more and more to tell them visually rather than through exposition. Even reading something from the 80's and 90's can be a chore to get through and that's when I started reading comics regularly back in the mid-80's. One of the things you'll quickly learn is that no matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to read all the comics being produced. You just have to find some you're interested in and dive in.
If there are certain characters you're interested in, you can list them and I (and probably others) will give you some suggestions on good places to start. I will say that if you don't have Marvel Unlimited, you should check and see if it's available in Spain. It costs $70 in the U.S. a year to get access to pretty much all of Marvel's back catalog digitally. It runs about 3 months behind on new comics and has tens of thousands of Marvel comics. That's one of the ways I supplement my comic book reading without growing broke. I then just buy the Marvel comics I really want to own or don't want to wait 3 months on to read from my local comic book store (LCS).
Chad wrote: "Antonio wrote: "I just started reading Marvel comics for the first time in my life and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed 😅 and now I'm starting with The Amazing Spider-man #6. It didn't age so well imh...""Even reading something from the 80's and 90's can be a chore to get through and that's when I started reading comics regularly back in the mid-80's"
I feel like such a bad comic fan sometimes for thinking this, but I do enjoy the streamlined stories more in general.
Sometimes the wordier stories are, in fact, necessary imo, but often times they're bloated, especially when they were just starting out. Growing pains, though, and I do enjoy the modern comics so much.
I'm currently still reading Spawn and I'm seeing how the exposition slowly dies down and I've got to admit, I'm enjoying that. Luckily, there was enough in Spawn to keep me going, despite the unnecessary exposition that McFarlane relied on a lot - so much - at the beginning, but again, growing pains and it turns out enough people enjoyed Spawn enough to keep it going all these years despite that, so luckily I have the run to read through where it gets better on that side.
Grimlock wrote: "I feel like such a bad comic fan sometimes for thinking this, but I do enjoy the streamlined stories more in general."There's no reason to feel bad about it. They were a product of another time. You're allowed to like what you like. No judgement.
Ha! I don't think McFarlane even cares if he makes money with Spawn anymore. He's already got so much money he can make it each month just for fun. I think it's the only comic that hasn't raised the cover price above $2.99 too because again, he doesn't need the money and he likes to keep it affordable. I quit reading it regularly 20+ years ago but there's still some things to admire about the guy. I have bought some of the Spawn Humble Bundles even though I haven't ever gotten around to reading them.
Don't know how to do a quote in this app, sorry.My idea is to have a general overview of the main characters for knowing the minimum to start reading the important arches, but don't know where to start... Don't know if I'm saying something silly 🤔
Antonio wrote: "Don't know how to do a quote in this app, sorry.."
Yeah, I don't ever use the app so I can't help you there. (I think the GR app sucks and use my desktop.) No worries. If you just want a general overview I'd just start reading the current comics. When you find something you like ask about it. Then you can choose what characters you want to do a deeper dive on. First I'd mention how you are reading your comics, through Marvel Unlimited? Buying physical comics? Buying digitally? The library? That'll help us help you.
I subscribed to Marvel Unlimited about a week ago (it's surprisingly cheap!) and started reading Spiderman because I think that character could serve as a nexus between different arches/characters. Maybe some guidance about what Spiderman comics to read or avoid could be a good start 🤔This series, maybe?
Ultimate Spider-Man is exactly what I was going to suggest for Spider-Man. It's my favorite run of Spider-Man. It does take place on an alternate earth that eventually gets merged into the regular 616 earth but it ultimately doesn't matter. The whole purpose of the Ultimate line was to give new readers a fresh entry point without 50 years of baggage. The universes do differ at times but at their cores the characters are the same. The Ultimates (The Avengers) on that earth and the Fantastic Four comics are really good too.
kaitlphere wrote: "Here's what the IRCB folks read this week for Episode 367 | Mike Is On Thin Ice- Mike: Faster, Last Day in Vietnam
- Tia: All Against All #1 and #2
-..."
I felt the same way about Always Never- the woman's husband was ok with her affair?
Chad wrote: "Ultimate Spider-Man is exactly what I was going to suggest for Spider-Man. It's my favorite run of Spider-Man. It does take place on an alternate earth that eventually gets merged into the regular ..."Great. I'm gonna start with that then. Thank you so much for your help!
Mod
- Mike: Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, Indigo Children #1, Night Fisher
- Paul: Unstoppable Doom Patrol (2023) #1, Clobberin' Time (2023-) #1
- Danny: Star Wars: Hidden Empire (2022-) #1 through #5, Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes #1, Disney Villains: Scar #1
- Kevin: He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #298
Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...
Kevin is a comic creator, illustrator, and logo designer. His website is https://kevinmaherdesign.com/ and his current project is Toxic Man, which can be found at https://globalcomix.com/c/toxic-man
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Eve ★★★★★For being a miniseries, this book contained a lot of worldbuilding. I would have been happy with a few more issues to round out some emotional beats and the implied physical travel, but as-is, this book is a quick read with efficient storytelling. I like how the foreshadowing and backstory wrap back around to be relevant in the end.
Now Let Me Fly: A Portrait of Eugene Bullard ★★★★I really enjoyed the yellow and black two-color art and Eugene's story. I had a hard time telling his war buddies apart. There wasn't as much information about his experience flying as the title and cover suggests.
Chad wrote: "Grimlock wrote: "I feel like such a bad comic fan sometimes for thinking this, but I do enjoy the streamlined stories more in general."There's no reason to feel bad about it. They were a product ..."
I just finished Spawn Origins 1-20 via Humble Bundle and 21-24 via Hoopla, gotta catch up to the issue 202 I got in the latest Image bundle. True, I noticed the price hadn't gone up when I subscribed to new issues, I'm loving it right now.
And yeah, I just... I don't really like comparing, or more accurately complaining, because products of their time, and even out of Marvel/DC - like in newer companies, I wouldn't have the new stuff I like more without the older stuff. Anyway, heartening to know I'm not the only one!
kaitlphere wrote: "Here's what the IRCB folks read this week for Episode 368 | Giant Robots: The Easiest Sale (featuring Kevin Maher)- Mike: Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, [book:Indigo Children ..."
Eve and Now Let Me Fly are high up on my tbr list. There also is a sequel series to Eve as well (if you didn't already know) that you should check out if
Last week's adventures in comics.BRZRKR Vol. 3★
This thing made absolutely no sense. Yet, it's getting turned into a Netflix series (likely due to Keanu's involvement). If you were expecting answers, "Good luck!"
The Union: The Britannia Project★★
Due to Covid, this thing was butchered. It was originally supposed to be an ongoing series about a British superhero team. Changing it to a 5 issue miniseries and then also having a half-assed King in Black tie-in just made this a mess.
Savage Avengers, Vol. 1: Time is the Sharpest Edge★★★
This serves as Conan's exit from the Marvel universe. A bunch of Marvel heroes get transported back to the Hyborian age with Conan where they are pursued by Deathlok and the cult of Set as Thulsa Doom looks to kill Conan. So you get some classic Conan as he moves on to Titan comics.
Savage Avengers, Vol. 2: Escape from Nueva York★★★
Now that the Savage Avengers sent Conan packing off to Titan Comics, they have been transported from the Hybarian Age to 2099 where they teamup with Punisher 2099 and Doom 2099 to tackle Ultron. He's turned most of the world into Deathloks which he controls.
Harley Quinn 30th Anniversary Special (2022) #1★★★★
This was better than I expected. All of the big creative teams of Harley's past return to do new stories for Harley's 30th anniversary.
Maw★★
Two sisters go to a remote commune for women. One of the sisters was brutally raped years ago and understandably never got over it. Now the first night there she goes out and is raped again. Afterwards she begins to change...
Dune: House Atreides, Volume Three★★★
This is OK but it reads so dryly. I'm afraid if you want to read about Dune, you need to venture into the thicker novels for more enjoyment.
King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes★★★
Marvel puts together a little King in Black anthology together for characters on the scrap heap. The stories aren't bad at all (nor is the art), they are about characters no one cares about, nor are any of them essential to the storyline.
Fairest: In All the Land★★★★
A tag team of artists illustrate this story of revenge as someone is out to kill the most popular women of Fables. This is pretty good. I prefer the regular Fables series but this is a solid one-off.
Malignant Man★★★
Yes, that James Wan wrote some comics. The creator of Saw and The Conjuring along with the director of the Aquaman movies. This is about a guy who is about to die from cancer when he discovers it's not cancer but an alien parasite in his body.
Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, Vol. 1★★★★
A Mouseguard anthology series centered around a fantasy trope. The mice are all in an inn and whoever tells the best story has their bar tab wiped.
Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, Vol. 2★★★★
Follows the exact same format of volume one. Guests at an inn compete to tell the best story to have their tab forgiven.
Mouse Guard: Fall 1152★★★★★
I've been meaning to read this for years and I'm glad I finally got around to it. It's a medieval story of mice living in hidden towns in the forest hidden away from all of the dangers tiny mice would find in the woods (like snakes and even crabs on the shoreline.) The mice are protected by the Mouse Guard, the knights of this age.
Mouse Guard: Winter 1152★★★★★
David Petersen is such a talented artist. He makes the lives of little mice struggling to survive in the woods in the middle of winter completely believable. Everything about the artwork is superb. Not just the linework, but the paneling and storytelling as well. It all serves to pull you into this story of the Mouse Guard as they struggle to survive the severe winter while carrying messages and items between the outposts.
Dune: The Waters of Kanly★★★
A pretty good side story about Gurney Halleck and what he was doing while House Atreides was in hiding.
New World★★
Began as a story about European colonialism before devolving into monsters masquerading as humans and lightning bows.
NOLA★★★★
A story of a woman left for dead right before Hurricane Katrina. The person who did it attempts to use the hurricane to cover up his crime while she goes to track down all those involved now that she has been declared dead.
Persephone★
It's not really a retelling of the Greek mythology of Hades and Persephone. It's more of a completely unrelated story using some of the same names. It's about Persephone, the adopted daughter of the witch Dementer. She secretly has no magic of her own and gets used as a bargaining chip after a war to open up the losing side. The storytelling is terrible. The art is extremely loose and dull.
Protocol: Orphans★★
Oof, this was not good. A generic group of secret government agents stop random things from happening. There's zero characterization. There's no story.
Poe★★★
Poe is known as the father of the modern mystery story. So it's only fitting he solves a mystery in this comic. It's in the days after he has lost his wife when he goes to a murder with his brother who is a police officer. They discover someone is murdering people for 5 rare coins.
North Wind★★
Your standard postapocalyptic story of an Earth 200 years into a new Ice Age.
Chad wrote: "Last week's adventures in comics."I'm glad you enjoyed Mouse Guard, that's such a good staple for me when recommending comics.
Adam wrote: "Chad wrote: "Last week's adventures in comics."I'm glad you enjoyed Mouse Guard, that's such a good staple for me when recommending comics."
How can you not? I've still got one more to read this week.
Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Book Four ★★★★★
I'm typing this before I go to work, so if I remember to edit this I will.
Green Lantern Corps, Volume 3: Ring Quest ★★★★
Mongul is trying to take over the Sinestro Corps. More importantly, we see the Green Lantern return to daily life after the Sinestro Corps War.
Batman Black and White, Vol. 1 ★★
I shouldn't have picked this one for Monochromatic month.
Ice Cream Man, Volume 5: Other Confections ★★★★
Ice Cream Man is still good. Still experimental.
Theseus and the Minotaur ★★★
I needed to go some research on Theseus for a D&D campaign I'm building. This wasn't particularly helpful. The art is good tho.
The Dead Lucky, Vol. 1: The Good Die Young ★★★★
More Cyberpunk than superhero. Looking forward to the second volume.
One Piece, Volume 65: To Nothing ★★★
The Fishman island arc isn't as tedious as in the anime, but the side characters lack the charm of previous arcs.
Batman: Black and White aren't backup stories. It's a commissioned anthology from bigger creators. That's why the stories are shorter so they can get bigger creators to commit. DC has done these three different times now. They did a new one just a couple of years ago plus Superman, Wonder Woman, and Harley Quinn ones. The Superman one used a red and blue palette while the WW one was black, white, and gold and the Harley Quinn was black, white and red.
Chad wrote: "Batman: Black and White aren't backup stories. It's a commissioned anthology from bigger creators. That's why the stories are shorter so they can get bigger creators to commit. DC has done these th..."Sorry about that. My new job has left me scatterbrained and possibly sunburned. I don't know where I got the backups thing.
No worries. I've just been reading comics for a very long time. I still have my original Batman: Black and White's from the 90's.
Mod
- Mike: Black Cloak #1 through #4, Danger and Other Unknown Risks
- Nick: Phantom Road #2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Volume 18: Trial of Krang
- Paloma: ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 1 Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou 1 , Insomniacs After School, Vol. 1
Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...
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Re: Veronika: What is the sequel series to Eve? Goodreads is not helping me find it.
Re: Chad: I have had Mouseguard on my tbr forever. Maybe I'll finally get around to reading it after your reviews! Thanks for the reminder!
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I put a hold on a whole bunch of comics from the library, but then I got pretty fixated on the prose book Six of Crows and that entire universe of media, so my comic reading has fallen off a bit.
We'll Soon Be Home Again ★★★★★This is an anthology of stories from survivors of the holocaust. All the stories were tough to read, but the comic creators did a great job at making the art understandable without making it unpalatable, and each story felt like you were sitting down to listen to someone's story. I really liked that each story ends with a blurb about what the person did with their life afterward.
The Ancient Magus' Bride, Vol. 17 ★★★★★I fell behind on this series because I was tired of a long school arc. I'm happy to say that this volume largely took place outside of the school. I haven't read very many series that are this long, and this volume did a good job at pulling in characters and plotlines that hadn't been touched on in awhile.
kaitlphere wrote: "Re: Veronika: What is the sequel series to Eve? Goodreads is not helping me find it."The Eve sequel is Eve: Children of the Moon. Only the single issues seem to be on GR so far. Looks like the trade hits in August. https://www.simonandschuster.com/book... I may just read it in singles now off Hoopla. The first one was really good.
kaitlphere wrote: "Re: Chad: I have had Mouseguard on my tbr forever. Maybe I'll finally get around to reading it after your reviews! Thanks for the reminder!"
Just finished the last Mouse Guard this morning. It's well worth checking out. Great stuff!
Today's trip to the LCS.Bishop: War College #3
X-treme X-Men #5
X-Force #39
Nightwing #103
Nightcrawlers #3
House of Slaughter #14
World's Finest #14
The X-Cellent #2
The Forged #2
Last week's late trip to the LCS.
Predator #2
Storm and the Brotherhood of Mutants #3
X-Men #21
Guardians of the Galaxy #1
Picked up guardians last week, gonna pick up x-force next week but I’m out of the country this week, looking to pick up Suicide squad: get joker in French, though.
Grimlock wrote: "Picked up guardians last week, gonna pick up x-force next week but I’m out of the country this week, looking to pick up Suicide squad: get joker in French, though."Get Joker isn't great. I'd only pick it up on the cheap.
Chad wrote: "Grimlock wrote: "Picked up guardians last week, gonna pick up x-force next week but I’m out of the country this week, looking to pick up Suicide squad: get joker in French, though."Get Joker isn'..."
I liked it, far more than Suicide squad: blaze and I have it in English so I can open those up if I need a translation. Too late anyway, picked it up and I’m happy with it!
Last week's adventures in comics.Regarding the Matter of Oswald's Body ★★★
Oliver Stone did it better with JFK. At least he gave you a reason for why it happened.
The Reason for Dragons ★★★
A nice little story about a nerdy kid and his mechanic stepfather. They don't understand one another and get in a fight. The boy, Wendell, wanders across an abandoned renaissance fair where he meets a knight who thinks he's in medieval times and being pursued by a dragon. The story proceeds from there.
The Remnant ★★★
This had the feeling of a TV pilot. Unfortunately, no other episodes were ever made. It was surprisingly really good up until that shit ending. The mystery is just getting started as it ends. It's about a former CIA agent and his newlywed wife. They are initially blamed when a federal building they just left is bombed. The government is looking to blame them while they are also being hunted by the true culprits.
Primordia ★
Billed as a new mythology, this was more of an excuse to show scantily clad women and men. It's about two babies left behind in some kind of fantasy wood. They grow up as rivals, both in love with the same green fairy woman. One is of the light, the other the dark. Then it gets into some god pantheon stuff. It reads like antiquated sci-fi.
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Return of Effie Kolb and Others ★★★★
A bunch of very good Hellboy one-offs. There's some bigger artists drawing Hellboy like Adam Hughes this go around.
Prism Stalker: The Weeping Star ★★
This was alright. It's a continuation of the Prism Stalker series that Image published in 2019. It's about a woman going through some kind of training to be a space police officer with other aliens.
Past Tense ★★★★
I really liked this. It's about some technology in the near future that allows us to see anything in the past. The woman running the session realizes her client is a serial killer that no one knows about. Then we get a game of cat and mouse as the two try and take the other one out.
Mariko Between Worlds★★★
Mariko and her alien boyfriend Rem are breaking up because Mariko has lost her Visa to the Portal of Worlds or whatever it's called. They have one last day to spend together before Mariko needs to leave. What follows is something of a stream of consciousness adventure through dimensions because it can be difficult to connect the dots between story elements.
Naji and the Mystery of the Dig, Graphic Novel ★★
This story for young children didn't do much for me. It's about a little girl in Iran whose family needs a new well dug for their house. She's afraid of monsters being everywhere until she realizes they aren't real. Then the diggers find some underground bazaar where the story ends feeling unfinished.
Hansel and Gretel ★★★
For this version of the Hansel and Gretel story, the illustrator drew all of the drawings first for an art event. Then Gaiman came along and basically gave the traditional telling of the short story with the darker spin on it. Gaiman never likes to lighten up the original Grimm versions. So the book alternates between two pages of prose and a two page illustration. The illustrations are terrible. It's just black on black and then add some more black. I thought they were a waste of time. Gaiman's prose, of course, is delightful in his own demented way.
Clive Barker's Nightbreed Archive Vol. 1 ★★★
Even though the first 4 issues are a faithful adaptation of the movie, I suggest watching the movie if you haven't seen it. It just conveys more emotion than the comic. Then the next 6 issues are the original ongoing Nightbreed comic from Epic Comics, Marvel's adult line and attempt of making their own version of Vertigo. I really liked the ongoing back in the day as Boone was given a mission to find a new version of Mideon for the Nightbreed to live in. The arc here is about a new group of Nightbreed who are breaking the laws against eating humans with Boone and his friends out to stop them. The final two issues are the crossover between Hellraiser and Nightbreed.
The Returning ★★
Started off interesting but then didn't bother to answer any questions. It's about a teenage girl who has a near death experience. People across the country have been having them and then returning and killing people. But why doesn't this girl want to kill people? Why are so many people having near death experiences?
Nightwing, Vol. 3: The Battle for Blüdhaven's Heart ★★★★★
Taylor and Redondo continue to impress with DC's best book. It's all out war between Nightwing and Blockbuster.
Mouse Guard: The Black Axe ★★★★★
For the 3rd volume of Mouse Guard, we actually flash back to the history of the Black Axe and how Celanawe obtained it.
Milestone 30th Anniversary (2023) #1 ★★★
This is such a strange special. I know it's in honor of the 30th anniversary but it would have been a lot less confusing if this had come out before the Milestone reboot. The two different versions are really close to one another and having them cross over got really confusing.
X-Treme X-Men: A New Beginning ★★★
An untold X-Men story from the X-Treme days with the original creative team of Chris Claremont and Salvador Larroca. It's about Ogun's spirit returning to try and repossess Kitty Pryde. Some other new mutants and Purity are thrown in there as well. I gotta say, it's strange to read a Claremont X-Men story without any inner monologue or narration.
Thor, Vol. 5: The Legacy of Thanos ★★★
I know this mentions Donny Cates but this is when he leaves the book due to personal issues. Nuff said about that. Al Ewing writes the 2 issues with Venom. It's OK. Then the stuff with Thanos very slowly begins to happen.
Avengers, Vol. 10: The Death Hunters ★★★
Aaron's Avengers run has been uneven to put it mildly. Now we return to solid ground with the Multiversal Masters of Evil finally coming to Earth-616 in the pursuit of Deathloks who are trying to alert the Avengers.
Superman: Kal-El Returns ★★★
This crossover isn't really a crossover per se. It's a bunch of little stories centered around Superman's return to Earth and a lot of spinning wheels while waiting for Action Comics #1050.
Batman: Urban Legends, Vol. 4 ★★★★
Some of these stories are only very tangentially related to Batman but as long as they are good, who cares? There's 17 different stories in these issues as there's lots of leftovers in this anthology volume.
Captain America: Symbol of Truth, Vol. 1: Homeland ★★★
Of the two Captain America titles right now, I think this is the stronger one. Sam and Joaquin (the new Falcon) are on the trail of what they think is someone trying to make more Super Soldier serum. The White Wolf (of Black Panther fame) is using Crossbones to lead them into a confrontation with Wakanda.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Vol. 1: Fortune and Fate ★★★
It seems like we're playing the greatest hits with this new edition of Doctor Aphra. She's got a new crew that's pretty dull and uninteresting. She's after some new artifact and there's lots of double crossing. It's a duller version of the last iteration and the villain of the piece is stupid. Some rich guy wants to be the last person to touch one of a kind objects before destroying them. He's like some kind of James Bond villain but dumb.
Nightwing, Vol. 4 ★★★★★
This title never fails to make me smile each month. Taylor just absolutely gets Dick Grayson. I love what Taylor is doing here by attempting to raise Nightwing's profile to the tops of DC's pantheon. I'm really looking forward to see what he does with the Titans as well.
Mod
Crumbs - ★★★★★
The cutest little webcomic about witches and romance - if you liked Mooncakes this will be a 5/5 for you and you will also cry a lot!
Ink Brick No.1 - ★★★★
An interesting creation, a comics poetry journal. Not everything in here was my thing, and it's sadly now defunct, but I plan to go in and purchase all the back issues to check them out in the future.
The Nice House on the Lake, Vol. 1 - ★★★★★
A re-read for me, but I loved this just as much the second time around! It really builds and I was excited to dig into Vol. 2
The Nice House on the Lake, Vol. 2 - ★★★★★
Is this the end of the series? I couldn't tell if more would be coming in the future or not, but I loved what we got! I would absolutely watch the HBO show of this.
A Fire Story - ★★★★★
I'm a sucker for a sad memoir comic and this one did it for me, I was crying the whole way through!
Glitterbomb, Vol. 1: Red Carpet - ★★★
This was...ok? Interesting premise but it got old pretty quick for me.
The Fame Game - ★★
This is Glitterbomb Vol. 2 but the GR naming is weird. It's a comic, and I read it, and that's about all there is to say about it. I rarely give out two star ratings, this was disappointing.
Haikyu!!, Vol. 1 - ★★★★
I hate how much I love sports manga - once I wrap up my giant pile of library holds, I will be tucking back into this one for more!
Tokyo Mew Mew Omnibus, Vol. 2 - ★★★★
Honestly a 3 star with a bonus star for nostalgia. Shocker, these aren't as good as a 30 year old as they were when I was 10. But I still love the girls and their cute outfits, so I'll be finishing the series eventually!
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands - ★★★★★
Another brutal memoir GN about Kate Beaton's time working in the Alberta oil sands. TW for SA, this book was incredible!
Crisis Zone - ★★★
I didn't find this as enjoyable as the other Megg & Mogg books - maybe a little bit too bleak for me.
Star Wars: Princess Leia - ★★★
I liked Mark Waid's Archie books but this one didn't do for me - I'm not a huge Star Wars person (other than baby yoda) so I wasn't that invested in the story. Probably a me problem!
Mod
- Mike: The Great British Bump-Off #1, My Boyfriend Has a Talking Dog (https://artroan.itch.io/mbhatg)
- Kara: Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies 1932-1935: Starring Bucky Bug and Donald Duck
- Brian: Venom (2021-) #13, The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #14
Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...
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Re: Erin: Wow you've been busy reading. I also loved Crumbs!
Re: Chad: Thanks for the name of the Eve sequel! I added #1 to my to-read list as a placeholder but I'm sure I'll end up reading it as a volume.
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I somehow read almost exclusively horror recently.
Demon in the Wood★★★★★This is a prequel story to the Grishaverse novels by Leigh Bardugo, which I have been quickly devouring. This story makes the main bad guy of the Shadow and Bone series a sympathetic character, which felt weird but also I liked seeing how his experiences shaped into becoming so single-minded. I liked the art by Dani Pendergast and I hope to see more from them.
The Me You Love in the Dark: Books 1-5★★★★I had read the first issue of this a long time ago and loved the combination of a gothic horror setting with a love story. But the tone of the story gets dark, which was a bummer. CW for abuse.
Dracula, Motherf**ker! ★★★★★This is Tia's pick for the reading challenge. I had no knowledge about this going in and had a good time reading it. I highly recommend reading the rear matter, as the creators discuss how they considered the history of the genre, the comics medium, and Dracula when creating this story.
Stray Dogs ★★★★This was Matt's pick for the reading challenge. For being from the POV of forgetful dogs, this is a pretty dark story. I still enjoyed it for the characters and their sleuthing. CW for implied dog death and abuse.
Grim Vol. 1: Don't Fear The Reaper ★★★★★I loved this! The colors were enchanting, with every setting a different color and great use of black as a contrasting color. I enjoyed all the influences of punk in the fashions in this book.
Today's trip to the LCS.By the Horns: Dark Earth #8
Alien #1
Sins of Sinister: Dominion
Invincible Iron Man #5
Image! 30th Anniversary #12
Thor #33
Strange Academy: Finals #6
Finishing up Fantastic Four omnibus by Byrne
Mod
Heartstopper: Volume One ★★★★★This one was so so cute! I get the hype now. Will definitely be adding the rest of the series to my TBR.
Embodied: An Intersectional Feminist Comics Poetry Anthology ★★★Like all anthologies, some hits and misses. I think a lot of these kind of missed the point of poetry comics, and merely illustrated exactly what was said, or in some cases even took away from the poetry itself. Ink Brick Vol. 1 from earlier in the month is a much more successful vision of poetry comics, IMO.
Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China ★★★I know this book is well over 20 years old at this point, but like other Delisle works I've read I just don't vibe with the way he describes people. He acts like he wants to have all these experiences abroad, but most of the book is spent complaining and making fun of the people he encounters. And yet, I still keep reading his books. IDK!
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I Read Comic Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China (other topics)Embodied: An Intersectional Feminist Comics Poetry Anthology (other topics)
Heartstopper: Volume One (other topics)
Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies 1932-1935: Starring Bucky Bug and Donald Duck (other topics)
Demon in the Wood (other topics)
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