What COMIC BOOKS have you been reading?

I finished Jason Lutes' BERLIN trades last night--great stuff. Jason? You still out there? Where's 19-24 man?

Anyone want these paid forward? Send me a PM.

Does anyone remember MACHINE MAN's limited series in the...80s? I think? I am having some intense nostalgia for it, but remember almost nothing. Cool lingo. Bernie Wrightson covers perhaps? I should track those down and see if they held up.

I just read Maus. Now I think that I will move on to From Hell.

jeb wrote: Does anyone remember MACHINE MAN's limited series in the...80s? I think? I am having some intense nostalgia for it, but remember almost nothing. Cool lingo. Bernie Wrightson covers perhaps? I should track those down and see if they held up.

I vaguely remember it. Barry Windsor-Smith covers, IIRC. The story was very lite cyberpunk, and nothing remarkable. I never bothered to re-read those issues, and I re-read damn near everything, even the backs of cereal boxes. Sold that mini off during a huge purge of my collection after a lengthy period of unemployment.

jeb wrote: I finished Jason Lutes' BERLIN trades last night--great stuff. Jason? You still out there? Where's 19-24 man?

Check out Jar of Fools too, which is nice because, unlike Berlin, it's actually finished.

The first Berlin book came out...over a decade ago? Lutes was the talk of the town around then, but new Berlin issues have slowed to an *insanely* slow crawl. Lutes just seems to have other stuff going on; working on a single book for a decade and a half has got to be draining on your enthusiasm for said book. Yesterday there was a pretty great article posted at tcj.com by R. Fiore which in part speculated about the genesis of Chris Ware's Building Stories, suggesting that the reason it is the strange object it currently is was because Ware realized that finishing the book in a conventional sense would require the remainder of his creative life, just like Rusty Brown probably will, so he just threw it in a box and said "done, you figure it out".

I found a relatively cheap copy of the Hellboy Hardcover L.E. Vol 1 (jesus, that's a long name) which has Seeds of Destruction and Wake the Devil... haven't read it yet, but looking forward to it. I'm also happy because it was a bitch to find. All the copies I saw around were generally in the $100 range.

Now I'm sure I'll procrastinate on purchasing the other 4-5 until they are also out of stock everywhere. Because that's what I generally do.

I'd suggest skipping the first story (the John Byrne scripted one) to start with. Hellboy is better when words aren't getting too much in the way.

My comic shop tells me that a reprint of the Hellboy LE vol. 1 is coming at some point.

I thankfully grabbed it for under retail, regardless of the temporary scarcity, but it's good to know those prices will be coming down. They ramped up rather quickly after Christmas.

Space Ghost wrote: I just read Maus. Now I think that I will move on to From Hell.

Enjoy! From Hell is one of my favorite books of all time. I remember being excited to find indivual issues in back issue bins to piece it together. The trade was a godsend. I highly recommend reading the footnotes as you go with the story. They are very detailed and interesting.

jeb wrote: I finished Jason Lutes' BERLIN trades last night--great stuff. Jason? You still out there? Where's 19-24 man?

Glad to hear you liked it. #19 is on my drawing table right now. And after several rewrites of the final chapters, it looks like there will only be 22 chapters instead of 24.

Having two kids and teaching to pay the bills has slowed my productivity to a crawl over the past 6 years. But I am committed to finishing, and my life has stabilized enough now where I can put in about 8 drawing hours per week on a regular basis. I'm still completely invested in the story and characters, but it is weird to be making something that feels like it's unfolding in super slow motion compared to the rest of my life.

Just last night my wife sat me down to talk about how we can prioritize getting the book done. I may be able to take a sabbatical soon so I can just focus on Berlin.

And, Dragonstout, the first issue of Berlin came out in 1996! I am painfully aware of how many years have passed.

Hi Jason,

I hope I didn't come off as critical; as I said, you've got other stuff going on (I knew about teaching and TToA, but not the kids, yikes), and comics takes forever. I'd kind of assumed that you just had more passion left for those things now than making comics, and I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that you're still completely invested in the story and characters!

Dair wrote: From Hell is one of my favorite books of all time. I highly recommend reading the footnotes as you go with the story. They are very detailed and interesting.

I recommend reading the footnotes too, BUT definitely NOT while you're in the middle of a chapter; let the chapter flow. As to whether to read them in between chapters (which is probably what Dair is suggesting) or at the very end, either's fine.

And yeah, From Hell's one of my absolute faves. There's a chapter early on that some people find it tough to get through, though; don't worry, not every chapter is like that, and upon rereading it's now a favorite anyway.

I recommend Jimmy Corrigan (or Building Stories) next, since with Maus and From Hell it sounds like you're racking up the big comics-lit hits. No thoughts to share on Maus?

BTW, this week's Comics of the Weak picks on Geoff Johns and Bendis, and it's always fun to pick on those two:
www.tcj.com/i-totally-forgot-to-get-mad-...ake-of-total-recall/

dragonstout wrote: Hi Jason,

I hope I didn't come off as critical; as I said, you've got other stuff going on (I knew about teaching and TToA, but not the kids, yikes), and comics takes forever. I'd kind of assumed that you just had more passion left for those things now than making comics, and I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that you're still completely invested in the story and characters!

I deserve pretty much any criticism of my poor output, but don't worry, I didn't think you were being harsh. I wouldn't say I have more passion for the other things that now demand my attention, but raising a family and teaching real people face to face is certainly more compelling and immediately rewarding on a day-to-day basis than working alone for hours on end in my studio.

Short Grant Morrison interview, talking about Wonder Woman in particular, which has me intrigued:

popwatch.ew.com/2013/03/19/action-comics-18-grant-morrison/

Okay, this isn't about a comic that I've been reading, just an amusing rant by a serious Flash fan:

The Motherfucking Flash

Comixology is have a sale on all Hellblazer issues, and I mean all of them. $.99 each from number 1 to 300 (at least I think that is the last issue). I think I am going to pick up the Garth Ennis issues to free up some space in my collection. I've read the first couple trades of Delano's stuff. Anybody read the stuff after that up to Ennis? I don't know if it is worth picking up the 30 or so issues that I haven't read.

I just started in on my b-day present of Building Stories by Chris Ware. There is no order per say to the myriad of booklets, newspaper and leaflet formats, so I just grabbed one of the smaller leaflets before bed.

I was near to tears when i finished. Ware's ability to capture minute, seemingly inconsequential details in everyday happenings and elevate them into heart-achingly accurate tableaus astounds me to no end.

It's the stories about parenthood that get me every time.