Anyone currently reading comics?

[ATenderLad]

Yeah, I've been keeping up with each comic as it comes out. It's been killing me having to wait about a month for each issue .

Martian Manhunter #2 in particular has me dying, because so much of the art in the issues we have (especially "the shot" in issue 2) are exactly what I was wanting from the concept of that book, and I'm very interested to see how they're going to take the story they're building up going forward. The way they've been visualizing the Martian is also really fun, too.​

I love that I know *exactly* what shot you're talking about.

 

[popckorn]

I am revisiting my collection of "The Invisibles" by Grant Morrison.

I had an anotated guide by Morrison to the series, and never read them together.So now I am checking the collection with the Anotated Guide just to uncover some curiosities.

 

[ATenderLad]

Yeah, the second thing there is really what drives me crazy man. I think if I had a dollar for every comic that's been put out that seems to "reform" or "change" Red Hood and his violent tendencies, only for it to be reset like a month later, I'd have more money the WB lost on their games division. I'm still kinda mad that nothing from the Blue Hood storyline in Batman: Urban Legends just didn't stick like at all outside of the new costume.​

It's the true nemesis of any comic book character; editorial department mandates where nothing can actually change for more than a month before getting reverted so the next writer can still use the character. Sad. Was the Urban Legends where he had the sub-zero costume?

Okay, back home with my funny books. (Now, to download everything I didn't buy, sorry Ghost of Stan Lee!) Wrote this out in that JFK thread initially, but really it belongs here.

---

This kind of dynamic is exactly what made Kieron Gillen's Journey Into Mystery run centered on the "new" Loki so good back in...I want to say 2012? They have Loki scheme a way to avoid dying for real, he comes back as a child and gets a fresh start. There isn't *really* an evil agenda, he's just desperate to do something new; "What good is a trickster god when everyone already knows you're a liar?", that sort of thing. In the meta sense, the whole run is asking if such an established character can genuinely change, or if the status quo reset is inevitable, for "lore" and "market expectations".

It helps that the whole thing is a lot funnier than it sounds, Gillen is such a fun writer. Loki is still a trickster, but even when he lies for good reasons, they keep blowing up on him. Eventually, he's closed in by all the deceptions and con's he ran throughout the series, and it wraps up with the kid forced to die if he wants to save everyone he's come to give a shit about. Not a physical death, but the death of this version of himself; it's the death of a point of view, as they said at the end of The Sandman.

The final page is a glaring accusation at the reader/audience for demanding the status quo, and it was such a bittersweet goodbye at the time.....buuuuuuut it was also SO FUCKING GOOD, and influenced Tom Hiddleston's character in the movies and the comics going forward, that Loki has *genuinely* changed in the canon of Marvel Comics. The next writer of an ongoing for the character and that narrative, Al Ewing, has an issue where Loki and Dr. Doom agree that magic is "telling a story SO good, the universe believes it." I'd like to think he was referencing the previous run when he wrote that, because Gillen accomplished that oh-so-rare achievement of changing established comics. For the better, I think!

---

I know I've already praised this one before, but I haven't written anything on here in awhile and I didn't want to suppress the urge while it was there, you know?

 

[Octopus]

Kieron Gillen's Journey Into Mystery run

Sounds pretty rad, honestly. I like the tasteful meta elements thrown in there, and I am also of course not a fan of the whole 'no character in an on-going series can ever have meaningful character development' so it's definitely appealing to my idiosyncrasy. Of all the Marvel villains to get attempts at a redemption arc, Loki is also one of the most believable. Yeah he's kind of a jerk, but he's also just a trickster and sometimes you gotta keep them guessing to be a trickster. It makes more sense than Magneto to me at least, the actual racial extremist terrorist.

 

[ATenderLad]

Sounds pretty rad, honestly. I like the tasteful meta elements thrown in there, and I am also of course not a fan of the whole 'no character in an on-going series can ever have meaningful character development' so it's definitely appealing to my idiosyncrasy. Of all the Marvel villains to get attempts at a redemption arc, Loki is also one of the most believable. Yeah he's kind of a jerk, but he's also just a trickster and sometimes you gotta keep them guessing to be a trickster.

It's been a pretty interesting decade of Loki stories, the Al Ewing books after this run continued the idea and it's become their primary narrative in each series since. (Loki in the current Immortal Thor book is a really interesting take on the concept of the Skald, the Storyteller in Norse tradition. The narration is understood to be Loki, but it's a lot more nuanced than just "they're telling the story". It's a cliche to say "modern day mythology", but no one's doing it better).

It makes more sense than Magneto to me at least, the actual racial extremist terrorist.

You have to assume if Marvel ever committed to a Crisis-style reboot, Magnetos' decades of straight up murder would be one of the first and biggest changes. The movies didn't do much well, but Ian McKellan was great, and the focus on his origin in the camps give you such a clear idea of why he would be this person.

(Also Hank Pym, for you-know-what).

 

[Deleted member 563203]

Not currently .

 

[Spyrone]

Recently finished Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees. Loved it. Also recently finished re-reading the Lackadaisy Vol. 2 collection and Vol. 5 (No Mans Land) of the Marvel adaptation of The Stand. Next on the list is probably Ferals, or re-reading the DMZ Vol. 3 collection if I can find a physical copy of it.

 

[Cuestionador]

I'm in the half of the second Essential Punisher, the crossover with daredevil is simply perfect. One of the best jobs of John Romita Jr, that's for sure:

Daredevil 257 page 18, in John Lewis's Original artwork Comic Art Gallery Room

Original Comic Art titled Daredevil 257 page 18, located in John's Original artwork Comic Art Gallery (1299321)

www.comicartfans.com

 

[Octopus]

I'm in the half of the second Essential Punisher, the crossover with daredevil is simply perfect. One of the best jobs of John Romita Jr, that's for sure:
View attachment 72468

Daredevil 257 page 18, in John Lewis's Original artwork Comic Art Gallery Room

Original Comic Art titled Daredevil 257 page 18, located in John's Original artwork Comic Art Gallery (1299321)

www.comicartfans.com

Ah, a fellow man of taste I see.

 

[tryrushdeppy3]

I finished the Squadron Supreme Omnibus awhile back.

The Gruenwald stuff is as engrossing as ever, but I started to tune out during the "Ultimate Power" 2008 era comics. I think the omnibus would be stronger overall if those issues were left out (usually I am all for more content). Definitely worth reading for the pre-Gruenwald Squadron Supreme origin works and then of course the Gruenwald era. Some of the '90s stuff in here is pretty interesting (particularly to see George Perez and Carlos Pacheco renditions of the Squadron), though not essential.

 

[Cuestionador]

I finished the Squadron Supreme Omnibus awhile back.
View attachment 73055
The Gruenwald stuff is as engrossing as ever, but I started to tune out during the "Ultimate Power" 2008 era comics. I think the omnibus would be stronger overall if those issues were left out (usually I am all for more content). Definitely worth reading for the pre-Gruenwald Squadron Supreme origin works and then of course the Gruenwald era. Some of the '90s stuff in here is pretty interesting (particularly to see George Perez and Carlos Pacheco renditions of the Squadron), though not essential.

I have the two TPB's, i hope to obtain Death of a Universe in the original Marvel Graphic Novel edition someday, but it's a little expensive in my country. If you like to check more of Gruenwald works, i suggest you the first 25 issues of Quasar, a worthy sucessor of the original Captain Marvel. There are some great moments, like this issue:

Ah, a fellow man of taste I see.
View attachment 72503

I have the third one too!!! I'll take a pic of it in this week.

 

[tryrushdeppy3]

I have the two TPB's, i hope to obtain Death of a Universe in the original Marvel Graphic Novel edition someday, but it's a little expensive in my country. If you like to check more of Gruenwald works, i suggest you the first 25 issues of Quasar, a worthy sucessor of the original Captain Marvel. There are some great moments, like this issue:
View attachment 73869

I have the third one too!!! I'll take a pic of it in this week.

Actually, Quasar is my favorite superhero comic of all time haha. Love especially the Capullo era. Cosmos in Collision is pinnacle for me.

Last year I commissioned Michel Fiffe of Copra for a Skeletron art (from the Starblast story):

 

[Lisreal3399]

It's been a couple of months since I last read comics, but when I was reading, I was going through a lot of the popular FF runs (Byrne, Waid, and Hickman). I also read a decent amount of the new FF run by Ryan North, and I was a fan of that as well. Besides that, I was mainly reading Chris Claremont's X-Men, and I left off a few issues after the first life death which was great.

 

[Yousef]

Got into the millionth “Superman sux” convo with someone and just hit ‘em with this. They won’t recover.

 

[DEH]

As a train driver I often have to wait before I can drive I thought I'd always take something to read with me I am currently reading this

I always have something to laugh about .

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

Got the Lovecraft itch again. So I finally got my hands on the three comics related with the now 30 yo game "Prisoner of Ice" (thanks Anna). Three small pulp stories, "La Geôle de Pandore", "Le Glaive du Crépuscule" et "La Cité des Abimes", 50-70 pages each, closely inspired by this and that from the Cthulhu mythos.

Published here by the infamous Infogrames and their cult leader Bruno Bonnell, the necromancer behind the Atari Group. I guess it was all part of an early transmedia plot involving Chaosium and the Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG franchise. The three comics were bundled with the PC CD-ROM of the game in a special edition of "PCSoluce", a french gaming magazine. They were really out for our hard-earned money, though times to be a nerd during the 90s satanic panic, so many fhtagns to buy...

I'm also playing the game, who got a Japan PSX port patched with both text and audio dialogs for English, French, Russian and Spanish. It's a meh point and click with nice graphics and good ambience, and the PSX mouse is supported. The port suffers from PSX's downscaled resolution, tho, so I play the PC version in RetroArch DOSBox pure with Gravis US sound settings.

Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice (English Patched) PSX ISO – RGT Repository

Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice (English Patched) PSX ISO Download. Game ID: SLPS-01129. Languages: English Patched, French Patched, Japanese, Russian Patched, Spanish Patched. For Sony Playstation.

retrogametalk.com

 

[Octopus]

Prisoner of Ice

I remember playing that game, it was pretty decent enough. Had no idea there was a comic though. There's a surprising lack of major Lovecraft comic adaptations now that I think about it. Only other ones I can think of off the top of my head is Dynamite's various Reanimator appearances, and even then it's more based on the movie version of Herbert West.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

I remember playing that game, it was pretty decent enough. Had no idea there was a comic though. There's a surprising lack of major Lovecraft comic adaptations now that I think about it. Only other ones I can think of off the top of my head is Dynamite's various Reanimator appearances, and even then it's more based on the movie version of Herbert West.

View attachment 74578

Oh my. Vampirella <3

Seems Prisoner of Ice is the sequel of DOS game Shadow of the Comet, and part of the Alone in the Dark franchise Infogrames got running back in the days when they were holding the "IP". It seems complicated, I dont know if all the Lovecraft stuff is public domain, or if it was specifically related with the old tabletop RPG "Call of Cthulhu", which may be closer to pulp stuff like Indiana Jones, than true horror. Maybe that's the same thing with Reanimator.

 

[ATenderLad]

I finished the Squadron Supreme Omnibus awhile back.

The Gruenwald stuff is as engrossing as ever, but I started to tune out during the "Ultimate Power" 2008 era comics. I think the omnibus would be stronger overall if those issues were left out (usually I am all for more content). Definitely worth reading for the pre-Gruenwald Squadron Supreme origin works and then of course the Gruenwald era. Some of the '90s stuff in here is pretty interesting (particularly to see George Perez and Carlos Pacheco renditions of the Squadron), though not essential.

I think that Busiek/Perez Avengers run was the first time I actually saw the Squadron in print, up till then I knew about them from the entry for Hyperion (Squadron Sinister) and Nighthawk in the Marvel Handbook of the Dead.



Y'all wanna know how the Melter died

It's been a couple of months since I last read comics, but when I was reading, I was going through a lot of the popular FF runs (Byrne, Waid, and Hickman). I also read a decent amount of the new FF run by Ryan North, and I was a fan of that as well. Besides that, I was mainly reading Chris Claremont's X-Men, and I left off a few issues after the first life death which was great.

The Hickman FF run was so good, and the Millar run is pretty great too. (It's probably the least cynical comic he ever wrote).

Got the Lovecraft itch again. So I finally got my hands on the three comics related with the now 30 yo game "Prisoner of Ice" (thanks Anna). Three small pulp stories, "La Geôle de Pandore", "Le Glaive du Crépuscule" et "La Cité des Abimes", 50-70 pages each, closely inspired by this and that from the Cthulhu mythos.

View attachment 74561

Published here by the infamous Infogrames and their cult leader Bruno Bonnell, the necromancer behind the Atari Group. I guess it was all part of an early transmedia plot involving Chaosium and the Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG franchise. The three comics were bundled with the PC CD-ROM of the game in a special edition of "PCSoluce", a french gaming magazine. They were really out for our hard-earned money, though times to be a nerd during the 90s satanic panic, so many fhtagns to buy...

I'm also playing the game, who got a Japan PSX port patched with both text and audio dialogs for English, French, Russian and Spanish. It's a meh point and click with nice graphics and good ambience, and the PSX mouse is supported. The port suffers from PSX's downscaled resolution, tho, so I play the PC version in RetroArch DOSBox pure with Gravis US sound settings.

Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice (English Patched) PSX ISO – RGT Repository

Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice (English Patched) PSX ISO Download. Game ID: SLPS-01129. Languages: English Patched, French Patched, Japanese, Russian Patched, Spanish Patched. For Sony Playstation.

retrogametalk.com

Oooo, I have the PSX game all set to go sometime, but I've never heard of all this. I think I know the same Anna, gonna have to look into it!

I remember playing that game, it was pretty decent enough. Had no idea there was a comic though. There's a surprising lack of major Lovecraft comic adaptations now that I think about it. Only other ones I can think of off the top of my head is Dynamite's various Reanimator appearances, and even then it's more based on the movie version of Herbert West.

View attachment 74578

That is odd, considering how many things are "Lovecraftian" in comics, like Hellboy for example. Now that I think about it, Alan Moore has actually played around with his own stories in Lovecraft's setting, like The Courtyard and Neonomicon. (Although, the latter is heavy on rape, it's....a lot, and the rest is pretty forgettable).


Does anyone have a favorite Vampirella story, by the way? I've been reading random issues for decades now, they've always been so different from each other I have no sense of that character.

 

[Cosmiken]

I just got done reading the entire main series of Invincible. Not gonna lie, i was a newfan who newfanned their way over from the Amazon show, but boy howdy that's a good book. Of course it was written by Robert Kirkman, the guy who built a media empire off The Walking Dead. Speaking of empires, did you know that the average man thinks about the Viltrimite empire 40 times a day? It's true.

 

[Octopus]

Shadow of the Comet

Hell yeah, I love that game. It's one of my favourite lesser known point and clicks. I had no idea it was the precursor to Prisoner of Ice, makes sense now that I think about it.

That is odd, considering how many things are "Lovecraftian" in comics

Truly. I just would have figured someone like Dynamite would have fully adapted one of the stories by now into a graphic novel. Whisperer in Darkness and At The Mountains of Madness would make for great comics I think, a huge part of both of those is the visual side of them.

Alan Moore

Alan "Chaos Snake Magician, Been-Astrally-Battling Morrison-For-Years" Moore, one of the weirdest career trajectories. I will never not be confused and amazed at how his most prolific work in the last little bit is pornographic parodies of fairy tales.

 

[Cuestionador]

Actually, Quasar is my favorite superhero comic of all time haha. Love especially the Capullo era. Cosmos in Collision is pinnacle for me.

Last year I commissioned Michel Fiffe of Copra for a Skeletron art (from the Starblast story):

View attachment 73875

Man, that's excellent! Fiffe is a great artist, i hope to read Copra in physical form someday. I found some comics that the recently deceased Peter David signed for me in his visit to Argentina Comic-Con many years ago, i remember asking him a question about if the current state of the mainstream comic industry and opportunities were better in this time or in the eighties (this was in 2016). He congratulate me about the question, and his answer was someone like in the current day, there are more resources and job opportunities than seemed impossible in the eighties. He was very excited about a Sach & Violens TV series that never got made...it's sad to see creators die in poverty.

 

[ATenderLad]

Man, that's excellent! Fiffe is a great artist, i hope to read Copra in physical form someday. I found some comics that the recently deceased Peter David signed for me in his visit to Argentina Comic-Con many years ago, i remember asking him a question about if the current state of the mainstream comic industry and opportunities were better in this time or in the eighties (this was in 2016). He congratulate me about the question, and his answer was someone like in the current day, there are more resources and job opportunities than seemed impossible in the eighties. He was very excited about a Sach & Violens TV series that never got made...it's sad to see creators die in poverty.View attachment 74814View attachment 74815

I just saw the news last night, may he rest in peace.

 

[Octopus]

Man, that's excellent! Fiffe is a great artist, i hope to read Copra in physical form someday. I found some comics that the recently deceased Peter David signed for me in his visit to Argentina Comic-Con many years ago, i remember asking him a question about if the current state of the mainstream comic industry and opportunities were better in this time or in the eighties (this was in 2016). He congratulate me about the question, and his answer was someone like in the current day, there are more resources and job opportunities than seemed impossible in the eighties. He was very excited about a Sach & Violens TV series that never got made...it's sad to see creators die in poverty.View attachment 74814View attachment 74815

I just found out a few minutes ago actually, I'm late for the news apparently. Goes without saying how influential his decade long Hulk run was, or his 90s run in X-Factor was, or his Spider-Man work was, or his Young Justice work was, or that he was the first guy to give Aquaman the bitchin' hook hand
...and the guy co-created Spider-Man 2099; hell yeah. RIP, king. It really does make you think how the Big Two treat their talent after their retirement what with him having to start a GoFundMe a few years ago. Sad.

 

[Zerohour2k12]

Can't say I have been recently, last I remember reading was a few Godzilla ones, Udon Street Fighter and some Deadpool.