Anyone currently reading comics?

[AceOfAces]

Fake would love this. (Personally I've read like two issues recently and mostly felt confused, the cast is enormous and I don't know a one of 'em).

As is kind of traditional for IDW it's very serialized - probably not to the extent of e.g. 2005 Transformers (yet) but in addition to peppering in some original characters or semi-original characters (e.g. Whisper, who is essentially a stand-in for the custom character in Sonic Forces) it also has what is arguably a bad habit of assuming that you're only reading the comic if you're a Sonic fan, which is a fair assumption, but makes the comic prone to just plopping in Sonic characters with no real preamble because you're expected to know who they are.

Post automatically merged: Apr 4, 2025

Fake would love this. (Personally I've read like two issues recently and mostly felt confused, the cast is enormous and I don't know a one of 'em).

As is kind of traditional for IDW it's very serialized - probably not to the extent of e.g. 2005 Transformers (yet) but in addition to peppering in some original characters or semi-original characters (e.g. Whisper, who is essentially a stand-in for the custom character in Sonic Forces) it also has what is arguably a bad habit of assuming that you're only reading the comic if you're a Sonic fan, which is a fair assumption, but makes the comic prone to just plopping in Sonic characters with no real preamble because you're expected to know who they are.

 

[ATenderLad]

Welp, it's been another couple weeks, and I feel like rambling about the comics I've read since last time. I'm gonna mix it up a little, and try to cover several books in bite-sized chunks this time. Here goes!

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DC COMICS​

Aquaman #4 (Writer Jeremy Adams, Artist John Timms, Colorist Rek Lokus) Spinning out of the event Absolute Power, where several characters lost or swapped powers, they've taken the opportunity to give Mera's "hydrokinesis" to Aquaman. (Honestly, it is the cooler power). King Arthur of Atlantis also has a shiny magic sword that extends into a trident. The current story revolves around "The Blue", a watery paralell to Swamp Things' "The Green". That's one way to jazz up a guy who talks to fish, I guess!

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Absolute Green Lantern #1 (Writer Al Ewing, Artist Jahnoy Lindsay) The latest Absolute re-imagining, and unsurprisingly it's another strong debut issue. Set in a fictional Nevada border town, the titular Green Lantern brings cosmic horror to a very mundane setting. It looks like Hal Jordan got dealt a particularly bad hand (pun intended, read the book to groan properly), and we'll be following the adventures of Jo Mullein from the *amazing* Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin. I'm champing at the bit for the next issue.

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All Star Western Vol. 1 - Guns and Gotham (Writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, Artist Moritat, Colors Gabriel Bautista) Not a new book, but I've been meaning to catch up on it for years now. Bounty hunter, gunslinger, and all-around ornery cuss Jonah Hex mosies into Gotham on the trail of some wanted idiots. Hex hates cities (and most everything else) but finds himself looped into constant misadventures that keep him stuck in town, working far too closely with Jeremiah Arkham. (The psychologist who founds the famous asylum). Arkham is a nebbish academic, but he's absolutely fascinated by this violent, maladjusted sociopath who keeps solving problems. I'm a huge fan of westerns, but I think anyone could have a blast here.. There's six volumes collection the whole series, and while it loses steam eventually, the first three installments are great.

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Batgirl #3 (Writer Tate Brombal, Artist Takeshi Miyazawa, Colors Mike Spicer)

I've struggled a bit catching up to the current continuity of Gotham characters, but the new Cassandra Cain/Batgirl ongoing has been a delight. The first arc is entirely centered on her and the thorny relationship she has with her mother, Lady Shiva. Being a comic book, they work through that amidst a million murder attempts by mystically enhanced assassins.​

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MARVEL COMICS​

Incredible Hulk #19 (Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Artists Nic Klein and Danny Earls, Colors Matthew Wilson) A few years ago, Al Ewing wrapped up his Immortal Hulk series, a smash hit that will likely define the character the same way Planet Hulk did a decade prior. It brought some profound horror to the Hulk, layered in Biblical musings and modern social anxieties. While the next few writers aimed to be different, the latest series by is embracing Immortal Hulk instead. If Ewing's book was psychological horror, this baby is going full 70's grindhouse, like a movie called "Scream Slaughter! Till the Devil Knows You're Dead!" It reminds me of some of the older Ghost Rider books in that way, and the artwork is incredible.

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The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Writer Joe Kelly, Artist Pepe Larraz, Colors Marte Gracia) That's right, it's a new re-launch of the main Peter Parker book....and y'all, I think it's a Hush. I think we're doing Spider-Man: Hush. We're about to have a gauntlet of revamped old rogue's, some shadowy new guys are pulling the strings, and a childhood friend of Peter's that we've never met got introduced right here in the first issue. (I'm not saying that guy will turn out to be a villain, but yes I fucking am saying that). Fingers crossed!

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All-New Venom #4 (Writer Al Ewing, Artist Carlos Gomez, Colors Frank D'armata) So, that's a page of Venom being shot in the face with a miniaturized M.O.D.O.K., who then rapidly expands, resulting in the Funko Pop-themed nightmare on the bottom right panel. (Venom's head pops on the next page, but don't worry; it's comics, they get better!) The setup here is that after the recent Venom War event, Eddie Brock is stuck with Carnage, and Venom has a new mystery host. The debut issue presented it as a mystery, and at least four potential suspects. Their identity was revealed in this latest issue, and I won't spoil it except to say "I did not see that coming, and I love it!" Venom in general has had a *lot* going on the last few years, enough to perhaps be unwelcoming to a new reader. If that's you, I still think this book might be worth reading a few wiki articles.

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Eddie Brock: Carnage #1 (Writer Charles Soule, Artist Jesús Saíz, Colors Matt Hollingsworth) Speaking of Eddie Brock and Carnage, this "Parental Advisory" book is kind of old hat. Eddie Brock doing the "Lethal Protector" thing is nothing new, but the detail in the art really grabs your attention. The page I posted here features Eddie using tendrils to "taste" the minds of all his fellow passengers, and nearly all of the 60 or so faces and heads are unique. That must have taken forever!

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DYNAMITE​

The Shadow 1941: Hitler's Astrologist
(Writer Denny O'Neil, Artist Micheal Kaluta, Colors Russ Heath)
​

Thanks to Cuestionador for suggesting this one! I watch enough old movies to have known where this book was going from the start, but it captures the feeling of WWII-era B-movies perfectly. It makes sense for the character, and more importantly it's *fucking gorgeous*. I'm approaching the image limit for the post, or I'd flood this thing with pages from the book.


....okay, maybe a couple more! ("MAGGOTS! Night has fallen on your twisted dream!" is such a dope-ass thing to shout before mowing down Nazi's).

​

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I was thinking about making these a bit more "digestible", so most of the images are thumbnails. Hopefully this layout looks neat and tidy? Anyhow, there's other good books coming out monthly, like Birds of Prey, The Immortal Thor, and Uncanny X-Men, but I've mentioned them all before. I also re-read Batman: Hush the other day, since the "sequel" is coming out.

...I think Jim Lee's artwork did most of the heavy lifting, but there's something interesting to the Jason Todd red herring. The identity of Hush is pretty obvious from the start, since it requires setting up a brand new character to "reveal" as the villain later. Teasing the return of one of the most famously dead characters in comics went a long way to masking that, though; "Bucky, Uncle Ben, and Jason Todd stay dead!", they used to say. The excitement over breaking one of the "rules", while pushing the Bat & Cat romance further than they ever had in post-Crisis comics made the whole thing feel more momentous.

Anyhow, there's always more comics! Till next time.

​

 

[Mr. Daddy]

I've still mostly been reading old comics while keeping up with the Absolute line as it releases. I was actually kinda sad to see that Absolute Flash didn't come out this week and seems to have had its schedule moved to be released the week between Absolute Batman and Absolute Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter. I'm really dying to know what happens next in, well, really all of them at this point actually. Batman's the only one that even started to have the initial excitement die down a little until I read issue 7 and it left on the cliffhanger that it does. I'm loving the horror angle that that whole line seems to be taking actually.

I've also been reading some more 30s comics, most recently from the Marvel side of things. Pre-Silver Age marvel is actually something I'm woefully unfamiliar with outside of Captain America, and I've been thoroughly entertained so far by the likes of The Masked Raider, original Human Torch, and Amazing Man. Still can't say I'm particularly fond of Namor, but I think it might be the permanent bedroom eyes he's got going on that are putting me off. Either that or the fact that it doesn't feel like the writer really knew what he wanted to do with him back then, either.​

 

[ATenderLad]

I've still mostly been reading old comics while keeping up with the Absolute line as it releases. I was actually kinda sad to see that Absolute Flash didn't come out this week and seems to have had its schedule moved to be released the week between Absolute Batman and Absolute Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter. I'm really dying to know what happens next in, well, really all of them at this point actually. Batman's the only one that even started to have the initial excitement die down a little until I read issue 7 and it left on the cliffhanger that it does. I'm loving the horror angle that that whole line seems to be taking actually.​

The freedom to mix up the genre a bit is something they’ve all pretty well embraced. It feels a lot less “business as usual”, and I think that’s done wonders for the stakes of each book.

By the way, how would you rank them so far?

I've also been reading some more 30s comics, most recently from the Marvel side of things. Pre-Silver Age marvel is actually something I'm woefully unfamiliar with outside of Captain America, and I've been thoroughly entertained so far by the likes of The Masked Raider, original Human Torch, and Amazing Man. Still can't say I'm particularly fond of Namor, but I think it might be the permanent bedroom eyes he's got going on that are putting me off. Either that or the fact that it doesn't feel like the writer really knew what he wanted to do with him back then, either.​

The Avenging Son is unmoved by your pleas. The Smolder will continue, unabated!

Actually I’ve been reading All Star Comics lately, the original Justice Society anthology book from 1940. The first issue has a Flash Gordon knockoff named Ultra-Man, Lord High Moderator of America, and he more or less single-handedly punches out World War III. ( Wacky bullshit aside, it also has an interesting tone of resentment towards a hypothetical European conflict dragging America into their problems. Given the year it was written, it’s safe to guess how the writer felt about getting involved in WWII).

 

[Mr. Daddy]

By the way, how would you rank them so far?​

It's a little difficult for me to rank Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern to Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman since they've really only just gotten started, but I think I've had enough time to sit with them to at least rank them comparatively on general hype and intrigue.

I'd say so far Absolute Batman is probably my least favorite. It's definitely fun, and I can see some potential for it to start going in a more substantial direction, but it does kinda feel like it
s the one that's doing what it can to take its time. Not that that's a bad thing or anything, but it's giving me a little less to be immediately excited or into when compared to the other books (though I must admit, this was certainly an interesting introduction to Black Mask for me.). So far despite probably having some of the most changes on paper, he feels the least immediately different in terms of what he does or how he functions, not to mention just who he is. I can see the potential though, especially in his friend group.

Girl Berserk- Excuse me, Absolute Wonder Woman would probably be next, but I think that's because if anything it's easily the slowest moving of the books so far. There's just not a lot of stuff that's happened despite having six issues, though that last cliffhanger has me very curious to see what's next. I love the way the mythology has been handled so far, and I'm really hoping they keep on Mattia de Iulis from issue 6, because I felt it was a massive upgrade personally. It's been fun getting to see Diana in a world not used to her again, and even more since she's got the hell powers going on, and I'm not gonna complain about more characters like Magik being around.

I'd probably put Absolute Flash next, but that comes with the caveat that it has potential for me to jump up this list depending on how the book proceeds, because a lot of what we know from what writers have said combined with the delivery of that first issue has me very intrigued, and Wally is a big plus.

Out of the original three, Absolute Superman has been my favorite so far. I'll admit that Jason Aaron's work is fairly hit-and-miss for me, but so far this is looking to be more hit than miss, which is great because when I do like something he does, I particularly enjoy it. I'm liking the direction of how a lot of things he's been setting up look like they may be going. Doing a mix of telling current events and Superman's backstory has also been doing a lot to keep me hooked, and I gotta say that so far I think I'm the most intrigued about this line's villains, especially with the most recent reveal.

Absolute Green Lantern had me curious when all we knew about it was the concept, but after the delivery, I'm dying to know what happens next. Cosmic horror is one of my favorite subgenres of horror, and the Green Lantern side of DC has always been something I've really liked, so this book is holding a lot of potential for me right in the palm of Hal's foreshadowing hand.

Martian Manhunter was my original favorite DC character, and he'd still be pretty high on my list, so I was already excited when we heard that he was getting an Absolute line. Then I heard that it was psychological horror, probably my favorite subgenre of horror, and that was all I needed to be hooked before an issue released. Then it did, and I absolute-ly loved everything about it. The art in particular I think is phenomenally well done, and is nailing what it wants to go for. I'd never really thought about the idea of using acid art to complement horror, but it was a great choice on the part of this team.
​

The first issue has a Flash Gordon knockoff named Ultra-Man, Lord High Moderator of America, and he more or less single-handedly punches out World War III. ( Wacky bullshit aside, it also has an interesting tone of resentment towards a hypothetical European conflict dragging America into their problems. Given the year it was written, it’s safe to guess how the writer felt about getting involved in WWII).​

Funnily enough there's a story in Marvel Mystery Comics that I got a similar feeling from. Issue 2, which was released October 1939, features an American Ace story that's the first part of his origin, where two fictional European countries go to war with each other over the death of a Duke, potentially threatening to go to an even greater scale. Definitely made me do a double take as I was reading it, and did it again when it featured on-panel child death.​

 

[ATenderLad]

It's a little difficult for me to rank Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern to Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman since they've really only just gotten started, but I think I've had enough time to sit with them to at least rank them comparatively on general hype and intrigue.​

Yeah, half of them only have one issue, but thanks for speculating with me!

I'd say so far Absolute Batman is probably my least favorite. It's definitely fun, and I can see some potential for it to start going in a more substantial direction, but it does kinda feel like it
s the one that's doing what it can to take its time. Not that that's a bad thing or anything, but it's giving me a little less to be immediately excited or into when compared to the other books (though I must admit, this was certainly an interesting introduction to Black Mask for me.). So far despite probably having some of the most changes on paper, he feels the least immediately different in terms of what he does or how he functions, not to mention just who he is. I can see the potential though, especially in his friend group.​

I feel the same, here. I think the first issue was a real whiz-bang action comic, but the changes feel a bit underwhelming. Batman goes through phases of losing his money/mansion/endless resources fairly often over the last twenty years; Absolute also borrows heavily from the blockbuster movies at times, which is a really common touchstone for the comics of the last decade as well.

I still think it's a really *good* example of what it is, but it's less a bold re-imagining and more a modernization a la Marvel's Ultimate line. There's some good changes in that sense, like Alfred not being a butler, and the friend group as you mentioned. (Possibly the Joker, though all we've got is a brief teaser so far).

Girl Berserk- Excuse me, Absolute Wonder Woman would probably be next, but I think that's because if anything it's easily the slowest moving of the books so far. There's just not a lot of stuff that's happened despite having six issues, though that last cliffhanger has me very curious to see what's next. I love the way the mythology has been handled so far, and I'm really hoping they keep on Mattia de Iulis from issue 6, because I felt it was a massive upgrade personally. It's been fun getting to see Diana in a world not used to her again, and even more since she's got the hell powers going on, and I'm not gonna complain about more characters like Magik being around.​

I love her new origin story, and the fact that she's still *Diana* but in a radically different circumstance makes the best parts of her character stand out more, in my opinion. She definitely got the coolest visual redesign!

I like Mattia de Iulis on the latest issue, but I'll admit I'm a little disappointed to see Sterling gone; their style - and inventive page layouts - were some of my favorite art in any ongoing book right now.

I'd probably put Absolute Flash next, but that comes with the caveat that it has potential for me to jump up this list depending on how the book proceeds, because a lot of what we know from what writers have said combined with the delivery of that first issue has me very intrigued, and Wally is a big plus.​

Yeah, the first issue didn't give a ton to go on. Fingers crossed, Mark Waids 90's run with Wally West was my introduction to The Flash, and still maybe my favorite version of the character. (Nostalgia, I know).

Out of the original three, Absolute Superman has been my favorite so far. I'll admit that Jason Aaron's work is fairly hit-and-miss for me, but so far this is looking to be more hit than miss, which is great because when I do like something he does, I particularly enjoy it. I'm liking the direction of how a lot of things he's been setting up look like they may be going. Doing a mix of telling current events and Superman's backstory has also been doing a lot to keep me hooked, and I gotta say that so far I think I'm the most intrigued about this line's villains, especially with the most recent reveal.​

Jason Aaron has spent years writing big "comic-booky" Marvel stories, with wacky cross-temporal Avengers teams and such. Absolute Superman feels like he has a *lot* to get off his chest, and he's biting with some real teeth. (That bit with Kal-El in school, being punished for not using the mandatory AI to help write his paper? Damn).

The nano-storm cape and outfit is a really fun visual, and while I never watched Smallville personally, "Young Hot Superman" seems to be a formula that works for people.

Absolute Green Lantern had me curious when all we knew about it was the concept, but after the delivery, I'm dying to know what happens next. Cosmic horror is one of my favorite subgenres of horror, and the Green Lantern side of DC has always been something I've really liked, so this book is holding a lot of potential for me right in the palm of Hal's foreshadowing hand.​

​

That transition from cut off mid-sentence to wide angle of disaster from outside is chilling, I'm so excited for the next issue.

Martian Manhunter was my original favorite DC character, and he'd still be pretty high on my list, so I was already excited when we heard that he was getting an Absolute line. Then I heard that it was psychological horror, probably my favorite subgenre of horror, and that was all I needed to be hooked before an issue released. Then it did, and I absolute-ly loved everything about it. The art in particular I think is phenomenally well done, and is nailing what it wants to go for. I'd never really thought about the idea of using acid art to complement horror, but it was a great choice on the part of this team.​

Hard agree, I'm almost dreading the point where this inevitably crosses over with the other books.

Funnily enough there's a story in Marvel Mystery Comics that I got a similar feeling from. Issue 2, which was released October 1939, features an American Ace story that's the first part of his origin, where two fictional European countries go to war with each other over the death of a Duke, potentially threatening to go to an even greater scale. Definitely made me do a double take as I was reading it, and did it again when it featured on-panel child death.​

Given that most of those writers (or their parents) had just gone through a Great War, there must have a been pretty constant anxiety over "It's happening again!" It's strange to see referred to so pointedly in children's books, but I suppose reports about the European war probably dominated the radio, and the news segments before a movie or serial would play in theaters. The kids were probably all talking about it too!

 

[fake-kun]

God, reading Archie Mega Man is like a slow torture that you can stop at any time, but won't because you're in too deep now.

 

[Swagmata]

Should I get/read The Death of Superman and The Long Halloween?


I'm preparing V for Vendetta and I would like to read 300 and Sin City but they're not a single volume.

The long Halloween for my money is probably the best Batman story. It’s like a Batman versus the god father fanfic it rules

Post automatically merged: Sunday at 9:50 PM

Been collecting and reading a mix of usagi jojimbo and lone wolf and cub lately. Stan Sakai may be my American comics goat

 

[Pseudo64]

Am reading the boys comic from time to time, though all my attention at this moment is on reading fullmetal alchemist