Anyone currently reading comics?

[ATenderLad]

Just curious if there's anything folks are reading and enjoying right now, DC's All In...initiative, I guess you call it, has been pretty decent. The standouts of course being the Absolute Batman/Wonder Woman/Superman books, and The Question: All Along the Watchtower had a really interesting debut.

Dark Horse just had a title wrap up called Helen of Wnydhorn, by the creative team from Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. The artwork is achingly gorgeous, and fits perfectly with a book telling a story that alternates between gothic and pulp fantasy.

There's also a new Star Trek: Lower Decks ongoing series from Ryan North, of Squirrel Girl fame. It was a funny first issue, and should help fill the void when the series ends in a couple weeks, best modern Star Trek and it's not even close.

There's an Image ongoing called The Power Fantasy, and it's so far shaping up to be another fantastic series by Kieron Gillen (along with Caspar Wijngaard, who I believe was his partner on the Doctor Aphra series, one of the best additions to Star Wars). I've never read anything of Gillen's I haven't fallen in love with. I was recently gifted the first trade paperback for his "D&D Jumanji" series, DIE, and ran out to buy the rest the second I finished.

Marvel's post Krakoa X-Men launch has been pretty mild, with the exception of Gail Simone's Uncanny X-Men. Marvel's most interesting right now though is probably The Immortal Thor by Al Ewing, the best Thor book since Jason Aaron's Thor: God of Thunder run.

That's all I got off the top of my head, anyone reading? (Comics, I mean read books too, the library will just give them to you.)

 

[Waffles]

Currently re-reading The Walking Dead, and I'm about to get started with The Runaways.

 

[VampireLord1024]

I'm not reading any books or comic books, but I do read manga.

 

[ATenderLad]

Currently re-reading The Walking Dead, and I'm about to get started with The Runaways.

The initial Brian K. Vaughan Runaways volumes are so good, if this is the first you've read them you're in for a treat.

I'm not reading any books or comic books, but I do read manga.

Not as much my domain, but I do read some ongoing series whenever I can, like One Piece, Sakamoto Days, SpyxFamily, Dandadan, Star: Strike it Rich, and Witch Hat Atelier.

​

 

[VampireLord1024]

Not as much my domain, but I do read some ongoing series whenever I can, like One Piece, Sakamoto Days, SpyxFamily, Dandadan, Star: Strike it Rich, and Witch Hat Atelier.

I don't really read a lot of the more well known manga, as I like a lot of lesser known ones, since they're just as good.

 

[ATenderLad]

I don't really read a lot of the more well known manga, as I like a lot of lesser known ones, since they're just as good.

I sure hope they are, if popularity equates to quality then I might be killed for what I've said about The DaVinci Code.

 

[VampireLord1024]

I sure hope they are, if popularity equates to quality then I might be killed for what I've said about The DaVinci Code.

Well good in the eyes of people reading the lesser known mangas and I'm not sure how to respond to the last part of your reply to me.

 

[Yousef]

Yes and no. I’m not the avid reader I once was. Especially not with Marvel or dc, or heck even image comics. I do however keep track of idw.

 

[ATenderLad]

Well good in the eyes of people reading the lesser known mangas and I'm not sure how to respond to the last part of your reply to me.

Just a joke on a popular book I wasn't a fan of, no worries.

Yes and no. I’m not the avid reader I once was. Especially not with Marvel or dc, or heck even image comics. I do however keep track of idw.

I really like IDW's Star Trek line, and there's a series I'm champing at the bit to read for the name alone, Godzilla: Skate or Die!

 

[goldman2786]

I've been on and off lately. I'm currently reading some "older" stuff. Like some Image comics when Image was really big. Everyone knows TWD, but I really feel Chew could have been bigger. I also love Scalped. It's Vertigo, and was written by Jason Aaron before he did anything Marvel. Really good story that doesn't beat around the bush on Reservations in the USA.

 

[Br0tha5]

I've been reading the new ultimates stuff and it's been better than the main 616 stuff imo. I'm also trying to get caught up on something's killing the children and beneath the trees where nobody sees. I'm also working through a tremendous backlog.

 

[ATenderLad]

I've been on and off lately. I'm currently reading some "older" stuff. Like some Image comics when Image was really big. Everyone knows TWD, but I really feel Chew could have been bigger. I also love Scalped. It's Vertigo, and was written by Jason Aaron before he did anything Marvel. Really good story that doesn't beat around the bush on Reservations in the USA.

I'd seen Jason Aaron wrote Scalped, good to hear it's solid, I need to pick that up.

I've been reading the new ultimates stuff and it's been better than the main 616 stuff imo. I'm also trying to get caught up on something's killing the children and beneath the trees where nobody sees. I'm also working through a tremendous backlog.

Somehow reading comics is always a tremendous backlog! I finally read Alan Moore's Tom Strong series after saying I would for the last four years or so. (Really good, though, I shouldn't have put it off.)

I wish I liked the premise for the new Ultimates universe better, smacks to me of too much "destiny", but credit where it's due, the last couple issues of The Ultimates have been terrific. The Incredible Hulk as...well I shouldn't spoil it just in case, but I don't think anyone saw how fun that would be coming.

 

[RetroLaw]

From time to time.

I go back to Chew and Blake Science every now and then.

I also really like the original Superior Spider-man arc. Yes.

 

[Gorse]

I’ve got the first trade paperback of Skybound’s new (well, year-old) Transformers series on the way from Amazon now. (Of course, I ordered it just before Canada Post went on strike. ) I’ve heard excellent things about it, and I really hope it’s good!

The Transformers comics don’t have a good track record with me (I’m personally of the opinion that everything after the original Marvel run was a big lot of poo) and I also felt that the IDW series was horrible, but I’ve got my fingers crossed for this latest series. Image is far and away my favorite publisher — I think the their business model is the best in the industry — and it looks like this latest TF run is gearing up to be a bit more mature (for a comic book about giant cartoon robots from the 80s punching each other), which I think is a good thing. We’ve had lots of silly goofball TF series, lately… let’s get back to the wargames!

IDW’s book, despite a promising start, turned into absolute uninteresting dreck towards the end, so hopefully this new set of writers is at least slightly more competent. (I hear IDW’s Sonic series has started sucking the big one, too, so I think I’m good to write off the whole company.) The one thing I’m a little worried about is how much Skybound is tying this book into their greater “Void Rivals” crossover universe, because I really only care about the Transformers stuff… it’s still early days, but if they make me buy other books to get the full story, I’m dropping this slop ASAP. Here’s hoping, though! Ro-bots in disguise!

 

[ATenderLad]

@RetroLaw Hey I'm not judging, I loved what they let Dan Slott get away with. More wild changes to established characters, please, just tell a good story and it's all gravy.

@Gorse You know I read this, and thought "Didn't I read the original Marvel run of Transformers back in the 90's?"

Nope.

Still sitting in a bin in my closet. 90's comics were working through some things.

 

[Gorse]

90's comics were working through some things.

Now, see, if every new TF comic were like G2, I'd never complain.

 

[Cu-Neo]

For now I am Reading the Energon Universe

 

[ATenderLad]

For now I am Reading the Energon Universe View attachment 2881

Oooo, by Daniel Warren Johnson, I just read his Wonder Woman: Dead Earth. Might need to start reading this too.

 

[Cu-Neo]

Oooo, by Daniel Warren Johnson, I just read his Wonder Woman: Dead Earth. Might need to start reading this too.

I recomend starting with Void Rivals. It was the first comic that they launched in this new universe

 

[RetroLaw]

@ATenderLad

Hey I'm not judging, I loved what they let Dan Slott get away with.

I'm more amazed at all the thing they let Straczynski get away with.

Gwen being a cheater ?
Spider-Man being some king of Spider-Totem ?

Well at least that last bit ended up being a huge thing.

Post automatically merged: Dec 5, 2024

Now, see, if every new TF comic were like G2, I'd never complain.

Yeah 90's comics were EDGY

I mean, the ninja turtles were NOT kidding around. The Image series was... something else. A bit too morbid for my taste but quite interesting.

 

[ATenderLad]

Lord, but I'd forgotten about some of that. I kind of liked the way Straczynski explained the totem angle via Ezekiel, something like "If your uncle says he can do magic and pulls a quarter from your ear, you don't have to believe him, but you can still spend the codger's quarter, right?"

One the other hand, an 18-20 year old taking off with her friends dad to Paris and having his kids was a sordid ass choice, pure Jerry Springer. About five years or so before, I was reading Maximum Clonage with the Jackal, *another* middle aged scientist with the hots for Gwen, only he created people with her by cloning without her knowledge. Maybe the guys who were writing around that time all had breeding kinks and age gap fetishes, I dunno.

 

[RetroLaw]

Lord, but I'd forgotten about some of that. I kind of liked the way Straczynski explained the totem angle via Ezekiel, something like "If your uncle says he can do magic and pulls a quarter from your ear, you don't have to believe him, but you can still spend the codger's quarter, right?"

I like the way you put it

One the other hand, an 18-20 year old taking off with her friends dad to Paris and having his kids was a sordid ass choice, pure Jerry Springer. About five years or so before, I was reading Maximum Clonage with the Jackal, *another* middle aged scientist with the hots for Gwen, only he created people with her by cloning without her knowledge. Maybe the guys who were writing around that time all had breeding kinks and age gap fetishes, I dunno.

Yeah that was definitively weird

 

[Gorse]

Gwen being a cheater ?

Isn't this a thing in the newest Spiderman series, too? I've seen a lot of talk about this "Paul" fellow – does anyone know what that's all about?

 

[ATenderLad]

Isn't this a thing in the newest Spiderman series, too? I've seen a lot of talk about this "Paul" fellow – does anyone know what that's all about?

Thorny topic, but to start, technically no one's cheated on Peter in the main ongoing series...well maybe Johnny Storm, but neither of them want to fess up I'm sure.

With "Sins Past", Gwen was out of the country for like a year with Osborn, and then came back and started dating Peter if I remember right. (It's been like 20 years though, so if anyone's read it more recently please correct me.)

The recent thing with Paul is....weird? Basically MJ and some others were in a compressed pocket of time or alt dimension or something, and lives a good bit of life thinking she's never getting home. Life happens and she falls for another person there, Paul, and has children.

...to be honest, this sort of thing happens in comics A LOT. Major life changes, alternate histories, whatever you call the "sim-life" thing they did in Star Trek "The Inner Light", where Picard experienced a lifetime on an alien world. It's just that they always get walked back, or erased, or someone tearfully returns to their reality in a bittersweet goodbye. This one simply stuck, and boy did that make folks angry.

If we consider the story thematically, I guess it's a bit like experiencing a sweetheart living a life apart from you and coming back changed....but it's not exactly Umbrellas over Cherbourg, MJ didn't go off to war of her own volition. They didn't grow apart as they grew up, she was waylaid by comic-book science like John Carter. There's a nuanced conversation to be had about it, but you can imagine how a lot of folks felt Peter was cheated out of his relationship, and given how beloved him and MJ tend to be, there were always going to be folks upset.

For my part, I've never met anyone who liked the Devil undoing their marriage to make Peter single again back in..I think it was 2007. I enjoy married Spider-man! (I think the major motivation to undo that is usually to let him flirt with Black Cat guilt-free.) Just like audiences who adored Nick and Nora in the Thin Man films back in the 30's and 40's, it's pleasant to see lovers who are also each other's best friends.

 

[Gorse]

@ATenderLad Excellent write-up! This is why I just read comics about giant robots punching each other.

I really do feel for Spider-Man fans, because I know One More Day was a massive, controversial thing, too. From the standpoint of Marvel's editorial team, though, I'm sure the idea of "happily married, responsible adult Peter Parker" doesn't seem too appealing as a selling point for their children's comic book.

I'm not really familiar enough with the character to understand whether or not this makes sense narratively, but I hope the current team is able to resolve things in a way that doesn't drive their fanbase too nuts. Peter's Spider-Man seems to be getting the shaft a lot, nowadays...