What COMIC BOOKS have you been reading?

Michael Barnes wrote: You know, it all comes around full circle here...Andy's dad did some concept art for that picture.

Better than that, he was the Production Designer! I think that's the movie he's proudest of. And if you listen to the commentary track on the DVD during the Tarman scene, I'm the one he talks about getting scared shitless by Tarman.

Shellhead, you talk about Morrison losing you in issue #10 of All-Star Superman: did you finish the last two issues as well, or did you quit there? I'm tempted to say #10 is the best single issue of the series, but it's raced through because Superman is desperately trying to finish everything he wants to get done before he dies. The final two issues are more traditionally paced (though Morrison is always faster-paced than most writers; "decompression" is not for him).

That first-page origin story...I like it and all, but dang is it overrated. I feel like every discussion/review of the book always mentions it, and it was a tremendously ill-considered idea to include it verbatim in the cartoon adaptation (same words, and using still images, and taking an unbelievably slow 5 minute eternity, when the whole *point* was to be succinct). Actually, rethinking it: I think it could've been awesome at the beginning of the movie, but kept rapid fire, no stills, done in 30 seconds. And I think the tremendous double-page splash as pages 2 and 3 is also key to making the sequence work. Let me tell you, it looks gangbusters in the Absolute edition.

Seriously, if you have Netflix streaming, check that beginning out, it's embarrassing.

dragonstout wrote: Shellhead, you talk about Morrison losing you in issue #10 of All-Star Superman: did you finish the last two issues as well, or did you quit there? I'm tempted to say #10 is the best single issue of the series, but it's raced through because Superman is desperately trying to finish everything he wants to get done before he dies. The final two issues are more traditionally paced (though Morrison is always faster-paced than most writers; "decompression" is not for him).

That first-page origin story...I like it and all, but dang is it overrated. I feel like every discussion/review of the book always mentions it, and it was a tremendously ill-considered idea to include it verbatim in the cartoon adaptation (same words, and using still images, and taking an unbelievably slow 5 minute eternity, when the whole *point* was to be succinct). Actually, rethinking it: I think it could've been awesome at the beginning of the movie, but kept rapid fire, no stills, done in 30 seconds. And I think the tremendous double-page splash as pages 2 and 3 is also key to making the sequence work. Let me tell you, it looks gangbusters in the Absolute edition.

Seriously, if you have Netflix streaming, check that beginning out, it's embarrassing.

Yeah, I picked up the entire 12-issue run. My favorite issues are still #2 and #3, for nice done-in-one stories that were fun. At the time, I wasn't especially overwhelmed by that first page origin, but I later realized that most superhero movies might be better off with that approach, instead of wasting an entire movie on retelling the origin.

I've been reading Planetary from the late 90s.

Sagrilarus wrote: I've been reading Planetary from the late 90s.

You're lucky to be reading it now instead of back when it was coming out. IIRC, those 27 issues came out over the course of a decade. If you are thinking about the tie-ins, the Authority ones are forgettable and the JLA one is crappy. The Batman one is fun.

Tempted to get the Captain Britain Omnibus - a bit of Alan Moore and a lot of Alan Davis. I'm a big fan of Davis-era Excalibur so I'm looking forward to the more formative Omniverse stories. It's crazy expensive though. >_<

Stormcow wrote: Tempted to get the Captain Britain Omnibus - a bit of Alan Moore and a lot of Alan Davis. I'm a big fan of Davis-era Excalibur so I'm looking forward to the more formative Omniverse stories. It's crazy expensive though. >_<

Yea, it's fetching ridiculous prices online but check around brick & mortar stores if you can. It's OOP yet it didn't seem to actually be a big seller (at least not around here). All 3 of my indie comic shops around here had that particular Omnibus on their "50% or more, get this piece of crap out of here" shelf at one time or another within the last 18 months. I picked my copy up for $40 last summer and came across it twice subsequent to that purchase. I'll keep an eye out in case it crops up again around here

$40! And now it's $160+ on ebay. >_< Man, do I regret not being aware of it until recently. Unfortunately I live on an island so the FLCS's here don't carry too much stock. But hey, if you can find it at yours maybe we can work something out.

Quick rant: I can't believe the flack some of you guys gave Vaughan for his attempts at political commentary in his comics after having just read the first Guardian story in Seven Soldiers Vol. 2. Completely incomprehensible and rushed into about 12 panels. Trying to make a point about geopolitics, American consumerism, gun control and spousal abuse in half an issue is just a bad idea.

dragonstout wrote: That first-page origin story...I like it and all, but dang is it overrated. I feel like every discussion/review of the book always mentions it, and it was a tremendously ill-considered idea to include it verbatim in the cartoon adaptation (same words, and using still images, and taking an unbelievably slow 5 minute eternity, when the whole *point* was to be succinct). Actually, rethinking it: I think it could've been awesome at the beginning of the movie, but kept rapid fire, no stills, done in 30 seconds. And I think the tremendous double-page splash as pages 2 and 3 is also key to making the sequence work. Let me tell you, it looks gangbusters in the Absolute edition.

Seriously, if you have Netflix streaming, check that beginning out, it's embarrassing.

Think I'll avoid that. I hate adaptations as a general rule. I've never been involved in any kind of discussion about the comic in my life so I have no clue what the norm is for people mentioning that page. It seemed like a brilliant way to get the whole kit and kaboodle out of the way tout suite... at least to me. I think thousands of internet commentators have created a world where ever little thing someone says is racked over the coals a lot more. I've read enough origin story re-caps over the years (remember when they used to put one in every issue of a comic?) that I was happy he did it that way. It had a nice poetry too it as well in a William Carlos Williams kind of way... considering the subject matter that is.

My most recent notable purchases have been IDW Artists Editions of John Romita's Amazing Spider-man and Wally Wood's EC science fiction stories, and some Illustration Magazines, and the big Norman Saunders book. No actual comics, because I've found I'd rather save my money for the occasional big purchase (like the IDW Artists Editions). I've been reading Marvel: The Untold Story by Sean Howe, too.

If you're in Toronto, you can get the Norman Saunders book for $15 at BMV, which makes it a mandatory purchase. Pulps! Mars Attacks! Batman trading cards! Classics Illustrated! GI Joe! Wacky Packs!

www.normansaunders.com/
booksmagazinesvideos.com/

I'm told the Gil Kane Amazing Spider-man Artists Edition comes out today. I wish I had more time (and money) to spend with these things. Sigh.

Michael Barnes wrote: I hate CloudReader. The way it makes everything one gigantic scan SUCKS, the panning is terrible, the organization is non-existant.

Go balls out high roller and spend five bucks on Comic Zeal. It's a very well-supported app that is by far the best way to read scans on your iPad or iPhone. You can organize books into "long boxes", it shows you when you've finished reading something by putting a "bag" on it, and it's pretty easy to manipulate your collection. It interfaces directly with DropBox (which you absolutely have to have to do all of this). The only issue I have with it, and this may be because of something to do with my devices or what's on them, is that I sometimes can't get larger scans to import from DropBox over to Comic Zeal. They just hang up and spin on forever. So those have to go to accursed CloudReader.

If you want to buy comics on the iPad, Comixology is the only way to go. Great scans, great sales, and you can look at anything you buy on any device.

How do you get CZ to interface directly with Dropbox? In dropbox, I get a "launch in CZ" option, but in CZ I see nothing and have to leave the app, go to DBox, load in Dbox, wait for it to say it can't view, and then launch in CZ. What am I missing here?

Also, I thought I posted this already but can'tfind it. So, I'll apologize now if there's a random comic post cluttering up some unrelated thread.

Just finished reading the first 3 Crossed series published by Avatar. I'm a big Garth Ennis and Jamie Delano fan thanks to being a Hellblazer freak from the very beginning. Unfortunately, there's pretty much nothing--at all--to be said for Crossed. It's basically "zombie apocalypse if the zombies were cannibal rapists and, oh look, all people suck no matter what." Lacks any of the subtle (such as it was) commentary of Hellblazer or the weirdness of Preacher. It's just sort of cocks-and-gore publishing at its most crass--something, by the by, that seems to be a hallmark of Avatar Press on the whole (though I haven't read the new Lady Death series). I kind of wonder if this is an example of what you get when the target audience simply can't be shocked any more [which is actually one of the most intellectually interesting bits of the very first book--making a comparison to YouTube at the start of the nightmare...]

Dogmatix wrote: cocks-and-gore publishing at its most crass--something, by the by, that seems to be a hallmark of Avatar Press on the whole (though I haven't read the new Lady Death series)

When Lady Death is the series that's looking like it might be exception to the crassness rule, you know they've gone too far.

Did your reading include Crossed: Badlands? A comics reviewer I greatly enjoy reading and who usually takes the piss out of Crossed all the time put Crossed: Badlands #1-3 on his Best-of-2012 list and I was shocked.

Recently finished reading the Essential Amazing Spider-man, volumes 2&3. They covered most of the Lee/Romita run. I had already read nearly half of these comics as a kid, thanks to the '70s reprint series Marvel Tales. Reading them all together was nice, despite the lack of color. It was interesting to see the comic evolve away from the original formula [done-in-one stories featuring exactly two fights, with Spider-man always winning just the second fight]. Both Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson became major supporting characters, as well as Robbie Robertson, one of the first serious black supporting characters in comics. This run also introduced Kingpin.

These were okay comics, and pretty good compared to other comics of that time. There is a surprising amount of soapy melodrama with the supporting cast, and there were also times when the comic had a bit of an Archie vibe, with Mary Jane and Gwen standing in for Betty and Veronica. \

One other thing that was odd was that the villains were generally less powerful than Spider-man, but then plot elements would level the playing field. Man Mountain Marko and the Kangaroo didn't even seem to have any super-powers, just peak human physicality and decent fighting skills. Plot contrivances included: Spider-man has the flu, Spider-man has a broken arm, Spider-man can't hit the villain too hard or he might drop the cannister containing the biohazardous material. I find that interesting because DC was better known for that style of writing in the '60s, where the hero was more powerful but temporary plot contrivances gave the villain a chance. It was more common at Marvel for the heroes to be underdogs fighting against more powerful villains.

Never underestimate Man-Mountain Marko.

Justin, after Dropbox says "feh, I can't read this shit", touch the send icon in the bottom right corner. That should have any .CBR/.CBZ readers you have installed as send-to options. It'll say "exporting", then CZ will open automatically to complete the import.