What COMIC BOOKS have you been reading?

They could have an animation if you click on the 2 inch wide strip to see it unfold. Anything's possible.

You could but it wouldn't be the same. Once you're in the process of reading it you start to see how the different size formats and tactility of the "books" does matter. If I didn't have to fold out the boardgame mat or carefully open the giant newspaper it wouldn't be the same. The goal of the series.. in some ways, is to have a thing to hold and touch. This is even explicitly mentioned in the box cover.

Really people will need to see it for themselves to get it, it's a pretty complex package and the different mediums being used (because they aren't just books) really do matter. I think a lot of people will be resistant to this notion in particular. But it's important to consider... the medium is the message and all that. Ware is trying to show us a little McLuhan style philosophy in some ways but is doing it very gently and is highly aware that he's working in what is considered by many to be a dead medium.

I feel a sense of sadness and loss from him towards the "end of paper" because he is obviously a very tactile guy. As is witnessed by his love of cutouts.

Columbob wrote:

dragonstout wrote: One of the "books" is a 2 inch wide strip of paper folded into quarters, another of the books is large enough to have a life-sized drawing of a newborn, and another is on a folded board like a board game. Interestingly, one of the stories in here actually *was* originally created for iPad: the one with the sci-fi part with people doing archaeology (and sending "u wnt fk me?" texts).

They could have an animation if you click on the 2 inch wide strip to see it unfold. Anything's possible.

It's relevant that that strip, about small moments with the protagonist's daughter as she ages, feels very fragile and thin, as opposed to the rigid sturdiness of the folded board strip, which is about the building they live in.

Beyond what JonJacob's saying, "life-sized drawing of a newborn" is flat-out *not* possible, especially not when that drawing is actually less than half of the whole double-page spread. Sure, you can have your reader scroll around the page, but never the entire page at its full-size. As Jeb, who wants my Nemo books, agrees, size matters; it's why I spent $240 on those two Little Nemo books even though I've got a significantly more complete Nemo book already, and if forced to decide, would pick the two incomplete big Nemo books over the complete Nemo book in a heartbeat. Those Nemo books swallow you up; you lose yourself in the pages because you can't *see* anything outside of them!

Edit: there's a video here that demonstrates what each of these books looks like, as well as how they compare in size:
www.avclub.com/articles/delving-into-chr...ilayered-comi,86612/

And I'd like to reiterate what I was saying earlier: definitely WAY less bleak than Jimmy Corrigan. There are the Branford the Bee books which are goofy and sometimes have slapstick (if also trying to tackle the meaning of life), the Little Golden Book is in the end the story of a day the protagonist just *had* to write about because she was so happy, *most* of the wordless comic is happy...so it's possible to think it's a downer if you've only read half, especially the more downer half.

I've actually read the DD story back when it was first published and I remember being blown away, especially by the end of the interaction with the baddie. Even the wording was awesome.

I agree about tactility. That's the first thing lost with e-readers.

Big sale today on Comixology. A couple hundred Superman books. Included are a couple of my favorites, Kingdom Come (not really just a Supes book, but one of my favorite superhero stories) and Superman for all Seasons.

Also, a couple hundred Marvel books on sale. Lots of dreck, but I was a big fan of Marvels when it came out. I haven't read it in ages, so I can't speak to how it holds up now.

Dair wrote: Big sale today on Comixology. A couple hundred Superman books. Included are a couple of my favorites, Kingdom Come (not really just a Supes book, but one of my favorite superhero stories) and Superman for all Seasons.

Also, a couple hundred Marvel books on sale. Lots of dreck, but I was a big fan of Marvels when it came out. I haven't read it in ages, so I can't speak to how it holds up now.

I liked Marvels. It's a lot of similar stuff to Astro City, but with Marvel characters. A lot of attempts have been made at what a realistic world full of super heroes would be like. I think Busiek does a pretty good job with his eye on the ground characters witness super hero battles from afar and then in fear when they get close.

In spite of that, I don't think anyone has really done a good job of what a world with super villains would really be like. Just look at the post-9/11 world and imagine what the response would be if it had been masterminded and accomplished by a single super villain.

metalface13 wrote:

Dair wrote: Big sale today on Comixology. A couple hundred Superman books. Included are a couple of my favorites, Kingdom Come (not really just a Supes book, but one of my favorite superhero stories) and Superman for all Seasons.

Also, a couple hundred Marvel books on sale. Lots of dreck, but I was a big fan of Marvels when it came out. I haven't read it in ages, so I can't speak to how it holds up now.

I liked Marvels. It's a lot of similar stuff to Astro City, but with Marvel characters. A lot of attempts have been made at what a realistic world full of super heroes would be like. I think Busiek does a pretty good job with his eye on the ground characters witness super hero battles from afar and then in fear when they get close.

In spite of that, I don't think anyone has really done a good job of what a world with super villains would really be like. Just look at the post-9/11 world and imagine what the response would be if it had been masterminded and accomplished by a single super villain.

For me, what Busiek does is not present what the real world would look like if Super Heroes existed but instead the subtly different what the super hero world would look like if we could exist there briefly. I think he does a fantastic job of that too. No one has really touched him on that front. There are a few issues:

Eagle and the Mountain (a Samaritan Special that focuses more on his villain than him in some ways)
Show Em' All (a villan focused book)
The Beauty Special and then Confession and Tarnished Angel.

Those two trades and the three singles are among the best super hero stuff I've ever read and make me rank Busiek up there with my favorite authors of all time. Astro City isn't always that great but every once in a while Busiek puts out a book that just blows my mind. The whole Dark Age run is pretty mediocre (although I love the Silver Agent story in there) but then the specials that happened in between... well two of them were brilliant. Astro City continues to be worth my time because of that. Just when you think he's sunk to being not worthwhile he puts out an issue that makes it all worth your time again. He's surprisingly minimal, funny, and let's you do a lot of the work.

I can't introduce people to comics with Astro City though because he demands that the reader is familiar with the work before hand. A lot of the stories are implied and some single issues will have huge complex overlapping continuities in them that as a comics reader you clearly identify but for someone not well versed in the field would just seem weird. He expects a lot from his readers... I like that.

As far as anyone doing that bit with Villains well Mark Miller tried with Wanted. A ridiculously juvenile and sensationalistic work if ever I read one but with at least three or four really great ideas. Unfortunately it's underdeveloped and comes across as a coles notes shitty anti-Watchmen book. Still worth reading in some ways but also really silly. I recommend a library borrow. Incidentally the movie and the book share almost nothing.

ebayed two mouse guard comics and the role playing game. I've only read the Autumn 1152 so far. Its pretty good. Its furies i suppose and is definitely selling as much on its cuteness concept as its narrative. Its well drawn and coloured, and despite all looking rather similar the characters are well distinguished in personality. It has a classic tale feel to it.

I didnt' do my usual comics recap on the front page so I'll do it here.

Read all the Valiant stuff, right up to this week's books. All of them are great, just fun reads.X-O Manowar is probably my favorite of the lot, and I didn't like Harbinger as much at first but the story is getting good.

BIG Marvel week. Hickman Avengers #2 came out and I'll be damned if he didn't put Shang Chi on the team. Thor: God of Thunder just gets awesomer and awesomer. Totally bad ass story and fantastic art. New X-Men is getting pretty interesting and Bendis hasn't fucked it up yet. Have the Waid Indestructable Hulk but I haven't looked at it yet, I didn't really like the first one.

But the big winner from the House of Ideas is Hawkeye #6...this has become a must-read book. Matt Fraction is very hit or miss, but I think he's right on it in this book. Much like the Waid Daredevil, it's very loose, off-the-cuff, and funny. He's writing Clint Barton like a pretty regular dude, dealing with pretty regular dude stuff. The David Aja art is great- very "indie". In this new one, there's a big fight scene with Spider-Man and Wolverine versus some AIM guys and instead of the usual widescreen supers imagery, it's like one panel drawn like a scene from a beat-em up video game. Brilliant. Clint calls up Tony Stark to get him to hook up his DVR so he can watch Dog Cops. Funny stuff. The last storyline was really good, Hawkeye is shown on this tape assassinating a terrorist leader and there's all this intrigue and such that goes on around it. This is definitely worth your time.

Other than that, barreling through the Bendis Daredevil again, at a good clip. Read through "Lowlife" and "Hardcore", both of which were pretty awesome The beat-down of Bullseye was just fucking nuts.

On the trash pile- Dial H, the New 52 book written by China Mieville. Boring.

The way "Hardcore" just slams on the accelerator at the end after dozens of issues of slow-paced, decompressed stories just killed.

Bendis made some major status quo changes, but with a plan and a story behind all of them. He stuck around for years to explore them and when he left it, the new status quo opened up LOTS of story potential. Kevin SMITH's fucking Daredevil run, referenced earlier, just came in like a fucking hit-and-run, "I want to do the death of Karen Page!", in the service of a MYSTERIO story that did nothing, *nothing* for Daredevil but eliminate one of his most important supporting cast members.

I dunno how realistically this is going to affect anything or what, but it's worth the 30 seconds to "like" it, and I REALLY REALLY want some nice Moebius editions in print in English:

www.facebook.com/MoebiusUsaPetition

i spoke to someone from cinebooks ( a french comics outfit) about moebius rights at a comic convention a few weeks ago and he said something similar to what Humanoidz are saying on that face book page. Essentially moebius wives are mega slags and for some reason don't want the english speaking world to have access to his works. Hopefully they'll die soon and someone reasonable will get the rights.

Whoever was asking about the Mickey books: this is that famous Mickey suicide sequence I referred to:
i.imgur.com/6ya2C.jpg

I got some really old Star Trek comics for xmas. DS9 #1 and some super old TNG one as well as some super weird unprofessional unauthorized biographies of the original series crew and TNG as well.

Still... I found myself flipping the pages like crazy (especially in the TNG one where they go to the alternate universe where the Borg have taken over).

Caught up somewhat on some Batman work by Snyder. Black Mirror was very good, though not quite Morrison level. Then I read his first story arc for the DCnU Batman, and was disappointed. The Court of Owls was a neat idea, but I hate it when a writer feels the need to make Batman look like a clumsy amateur just to make a new villain look good. And then it's almost unbearable when the same writer suddenly lets Batman shrug all kinds of recent injury and humiliation and abruptly defeat the opposition with ease. It's bad writing. I have my doubts about Snyder now. American Vampire also started well and then muddled through some disappointing writing in the second trade. Maybe Snyder is a good guy to just use for an arc and then he needs to move on to a different project quickly.