f13.net

So I'm through a good bit of Watchmen. All I have to say is: Thank You. You fuckers have turned me back onto comics in a big way. I will now accept recommendations from any/all of you. Please be reasonable though:

1. Must be available in 1-4 VOLUMES (a la Bone). I refuse to buy flimsy  monthly editions. I hate waiting for releases.

2. I really, really like hardback stuff.

Oh, and I've finished Marvel 1602. Quite a fantastic story really. Not being a huge fan of Gaiman outside of Sandman, it caught me by surprise. Bring on the recommendations.

(http://members.shaw.ca/vcofell2/myweb5/groo_the_wanderer_8.jpg)

It's out of print, but it's the only comic I've ever been a fanatic of.

The last comic I enjoyed was the hardcover combo of "Batman: Year One" and "The Dark Knight Returns" I got back in the early 90's.  If you haven't read them I reccommend it.

  Other than that I'm just tagging this thread so I can review it later if anything interesting pops up.

Hrmmmm...

V for Vendetta
Any of the Sin City books
Most of the Preacher trade peperbacks
My Faith in Frankie should be in trade paperback by now
Supeman: Red Son should be too
Dark Knight Returns was good too, though I didn't care for Year One.
The Killing Joke was good, but short.
Wow, most of the really good stuff came out in the 80's...

Hmmm....

Almost any of the stuff Kyle Baker does/did is good if you can find it. Why I hate Saturn was funny in a fucked up sort of way, so was the Cowboy Wally Show.

Evan Dorkin is good too. Milk & Cheese probably isn't waht you're looking for, but the Pirate Corp$/Hectic planet stuff is good, though a bit early 20's angsty. Even though it's a flimsy one-shot, find do whatever it takes to find a copy of Figh-Man, it's worth it's weight in gold. Some goes for the short story he did for one of the Justice League annuals called "The O Squad". It's a really fucked up story about every villian in the DC universe who's name ends with an "o" form a group to destroy the Justice League, but then turn on each other over whether T.O Morrow belongs since his name ends with an "o" sound instead of an actual "o"

Did anyone read any of the newer X-Men, like Runaways or Snikt? I loved the art direction, but heard nothing about them.

Edit: Had the name wrong. Runaways had promo photos that reminded me of Maxx.

Sorry, haven't read an X-book since storm got a mohawk...

V for Vendetta (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0930289528/qid=1106678425/sr=8-4/ref=pd_csp_4/104-0221984-4325556?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)

Batman: The Killing Joke (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0930289455/ref=pd_sim_b_2/104-0221984-4325556?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance)

The Adventures of Luther Arkwright (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1569712557/qid=1106679162/sr=8-6/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i6_xgl14/104-0221984-4325556?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)

Yuggoth Cultures (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1592910270/ref=lpr_g_1/104-0221984-4325556?v=glance&s=books)

Sandman (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/29R0K7OCZ4TCO/ref=cm_lm_lists/104-0221984-4325556)

Marvels (Events in the old Marvel universe as seen by the public)

Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl?

Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes (just to see if you like it - then buy the rest when you find that you do)

The Infinity Gauntlet story line that was bound into one big edition a while back was great. All your Marvel favorites trying to beat down a near god in the form of Draxx. Good stuff.

The Tick (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1569248281/qid=1106681824/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-8396900-1382253?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)

SPOON!

Transmetropolitan.  by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson.  DC Vertigo.

http://transmetropolitan.com/gimme.html

Its done (60 issues), and available in trade paperback from the usual places.

Transmetropolitan sounds superb.

Righ, I'll be picking up Arkwright if they have it locally.

I already love Sandman, that's on the list, just giving it some time since I read a good deal of it.

Batman: The Killing Joke - I meant to pick it up a LONG time ago. Completely forgot about it. Thanks.

The Tick is a no brainer :). But it deserves it's place in this thread.

AO, Marvels sounds great.

I'm sure you'll laugh at this one, but one of my favorite post-silver age comics was Howard the Duck (early 1970's Marvel).  I collected these at a time when the sarcasm was lost on most collectors.  Recently, these books were rereleased (issues 1-27) in Essentials: Howard the Duck.  

The reviews were mostly positive (so I'm not a complete whack job) and an example can be found   here. (http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/reviews/102072692512632.htm)

The Astonishing X-men (http://www.marvel.com/catalog/showcomic.htm?id=660&format=comic)

Last comic I read that was as good, hell, the last I bought that was anywhere near as good was The Crow.

Aside from the fact I am a Josh Whedon fan, both the art and the writing make this comic a stand out.

Well, if you don't turn your nose up at manga, Lone Wolf and Cub is fantastic.   It's quite a few volumes, though...

Something similar, Blade of the Immortal, is also very good, and unless I am mistaken each volume is essentially a self contained story.

As others have mentioned, pretty much everything Frank Miller was involved with is a good bet, with the standouts being the Batman stuff.

I'm just starting to read some comics again (Co-worker keeps bringing them so I of course have to read them).

Two Batman trades I really liked were:

Batman: Dark Victory (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1563898683/qid=1106693424/sr=1-8/ref=sr_1_8/002-3877187-1835244?v=glance&s=books)

and

Gotham Central: In the Line of Duty (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1401201997/qid=1106693496/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_7/002-3877187-1835244?v=glance&s=books)

I really like Gotham Central as Batman just has cameo appearances. It's basically the story of the Gotham PD and how much they hate relying on Batman to get the "big baddies", especially when said baddie brutally murders one of their own.

I'm of the opinion that Preacher is one of the greatest things written in the last 10 years. Comics or otherwise. 10 (?) volumes though, but well worth it.

Top Ten Book 1 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1563896680/qid=1106699317/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-1936474-9920011?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) and Book 2 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1563899663/qid=1106699410/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-1936474-9920011?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)  by Alan Moore.

Dark Horse's Conan (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1593070160/qid=1106699497/sr=2-3/ref=pd_ka_b_2_3/002-1936474-9920011) reprints of the old Marvel series.

The Astro City series by Kurt Busiek, especially Confession (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1563895501/qid=1106699677/sr=5-3/ref=cm_lm_asin/002-1936474-9920011?v=glance).

The Walking Dead (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1582403589/qid=1106700137/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/002-1936474-9920011) by Robert Kirkman.

Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0871356910/qid=1106700362/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-1936474-9920011?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by by J.M. Dematteis.

I can come up with a lot more but that's a start.

Batman: Digital Justice is pretty cool for computer people to look at - not great by any means, but pretty interesting. (The first major comic book to be all computer created artwork)

I took up your suggestion on Astro City a while back, and thought it great as well. Though after that, I picked up Busiek's Marvels (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0785100490/qid=1106700689/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-0978488-7896037?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) and found it better, by virtue of being set in the Marvel universe. I just thought the idea worked better with more familiar characters. Too bad that's all he wrote for it.

I read most of the Preacher stuff....  it really kind of wore on me after a while.  Ennis seems to like to recycle his own stuff a fair amount too.  Basically,  it was good but didn't tie things up quickly enough.

That being said....  I read most of Ennis' new take on the Punisher.  Definitely check out Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank.  The Punisher does some bad, bad things to Daredevil and Spider-man....  and he turns Wolverine into a running joke.  Heh, my big comic book phase was late 80s/early 90s,  so seeing Wolverine get abused is nice come-uppance for having to deal with the 8 million series he appeared in.

Gaiman's Sandman is excellent.  Hell,  Gaiman's novels are pretty damn good.

Check out the League of Extra-ordinary Gentlemen 1 & 2....  unlike the movie,  damn good stuff.

Overall,  the graphic novels are a new favorite of mine to browse for 15 or 20 minutes while on lunch break.

I got back big into comics about a year ago now. Few really good books I've read are Superman : Secret Identity and the Y: The Last Man trade paperbacks, 4 of them out so far so now I'm up to reading the individual issues.

I would say too, if you stopped reading X-Books to pick up some of the Astonishing issues, great stuff.

Lastly, even though he is kind of oversaturated in Marvel's books, Wolverine's solo book right now is alot of fun. Lots of action from a brainwashed Wolverine. Should be out in graphic novel soon.

For the sake of keeping this organized, here's the list you all have created (things with a *, I've already bought or read):

Groo The Wanderer
Batman: Year One
The Dark Knight Returns
V for Vendetta
Sin City
Pracher
My Faith in Frankie
Superman: Red Son
Dark Knight Returns
Batman: Killing Joke*
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright (1)
Yuggoth Cultures
Sandman*
Marvels
Powers; Who Killed Retro Girl
The Tick
Transmetropolitan
Howard the Duck
Astonishing X-Men
Batman: Dark Victory
Gotham Central: In the Line of Duty
Top Ten (Book 1)
Top Ten (Book 2)
Conan
The Astro City: Confession
The Walking Dead
SpiderMan: Kraven's Last Hunt
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Superman: Secret Identity
Y: The Last Man
Bone

1. Luther Arkwright apparently came out as a trade. It's near impossible to find. The local comic book shop is looking into special orders. Anyone know better than those people?

2. Ahoy, already read Lone Wolf and Cub. I've pretty much read every Manga up until 2003. I worked in an anime shop and blew threw about 3-4 books a day.

Almost done with Watchmen now. It's absolutely genius. Marvel 1602 has been finished, and it's genuinely interesting. Turned me back onto the X-Men at least. Killing Joke was as good as I remembered.

If I missed anything, ya know, inform me. Also, keep the recommendations coming. I read quickly and a lot of this stuff isn't that costly.

If you liked Watchmen (and it looks like you've got a few Alan Moore titles on that list already), then try From Hell too.

It's not the quickest read, and even if you've seen the film already, it's well worth it. As far as comics go, it's an absolute masterpiece.

You missed Batman:Digital Justice. Arkham Asylum is similar - both books you can buy mostly for the art. (Digital Justic is just plain cheesy and Arkham doesn't cover any new ground but the artwork on both is historic)

You can get a bound copy called Frank Miller's Complete Batman that has Year One and The Dark Knight returns in it, as well as a really bad other story. (Sadly, the "complete" is no longer complete)

Also, if you are going to be buying graphic novels, you should buy The Death of Captain Marvel.

Another vote for Red Son (http://theages.superman.ws/History/redson/).

Just finished Watchmen.

Thank you.

 Edit: In return, my gift back to you (http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2311).

I just looked at the prices of some comic books.  Holey Moley!  They're expensive!  Even the mundane looking Marvel ones.  Comics aren't for kids, anymore, are they?

Stuff i've enjoyed recently, most available in Trades/HC :-

Powers
Fables
Ultimates V1

Depends how highbrow you want to be but I would recommend the Ultimate Spider-man HC available from Barnes & Noble, 30 of your yankee dollars. Includes the first 50 issues but as its written by Bendis then thats just long enough for 2 characters to have a conversation :)

While it's really short and arguably not worth the money, I recently picked up Powerless.  I liked what it had to say.

Since you are looking for the collected/anthology bound books I highly recommend this storyline...

Earth X (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0613921372/qid=1106757678/sr=8-4/ref=pd_bbs_4/104-4633656-4862336?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)

The premise is innovative. What would the Marvel universe be like if a failed experiment made everyone on Earth a mutant. The series starts in the book "Earth X" and continues for I believe 5 more novels. I highly recommend it to all Marvel and comics fans alike. Not only is it a great read, but you get alot of insight on the nature of the characters. A++[/url]

DC's Kingdom Come (better than Marvels IMO)
Grant Morrison's Invisibles (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index%3Dblended%26field-keywords%3DInvisibles%26store-name%3Dall-product-search/103-3940681-4650214) - I don't think this one is available as one big book, but it's goddamn great.
Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men - Shittons better than most stuff Claremont ever thought of doing on X-Men, especially if you consider Claremont's new stuff, which is godawful
Astonishing X-Men - Whedon's stuff is the only good X-Men book being done these days
Robert Kirkman's Invincible - Ongoing series right now, with 18 or 19 issues in the can, I think it's been collected in 2 or 3 books so far

Don't let anyone convince you to read Identity Crisis... god that book started so well, was so well written right up to the big reveal. Turned the whole series to complete shit. Also, the latest Avengers reboot is fucking atrocious; Bendis should be ashamed.

Bendis's Jinx and AKA: Goldfish are both awesome film noir type black and white books worth reading.

If you can find any issues of Rubber Blanket, by David Mazzuchelli, you'd like it. But finding it may be difficult. He only put out 1 issue every year for a few years, and I'm not sure he's even working in comics anymore.

Frank Miller's 300 is good. Also, "Through the Habittrails" is a great little indy thing that may be out of print.

But seriously, after Watchmen, most of it will be a let down.

Your forgot to include Normalman on the list, which I heartily recommend.

Most of the other good trade paperbacks I can think of are collections of stories from specific team books like Legion of Super-Heroes, which aren't nearly as enjoyable if you aren't steeped in the mythos.

Secret Wars was the first mega-crossover series (not counting Contest of Champions, which was only a 3-issue mini), and still one of the best, although it's been a long time since I've read it.  Many of the annual JLA-JSA crossover multiparts had their moments, and I think there's a series of books that collect those tales as well.

Oh, I suppose it is worth mentioning Camelot 3000, which was the first 12-issue "maxi-series".  I did not particularly like the story, but it is famous for having the first lesbian sex scene in mainstream comic book history.

Bruce

Some more good stuff:

Runaways (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0785113797/qid=1106773331/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-1936474-9920011?v=glance&s=books) by Brian K. Vaughan.

X-Force Volume 1: New Beginning (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/078510819X/qid=1106773679/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/002-1936474-9920011) by Peter Milligan (not to be confused with the original X-Force).

Johnny The Homicidal Maniac (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0943151163/qid=1106774192/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/002-1936474-9920011?v=glance&s=books) and Squee (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0943151244/qid=1106774247/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-1936474-9920011?v=glance&s=books) by Jhonen Vasquez

Ah, a Runaways recommendation. I was waiting for someone who had read it to comment.

It's good stuff.  Obviously not the same kind of read as something like Watchmen, but it's one of Marvel's few good comics that isn't about characters that have been around for 40 years.  Probably part of the reason why even though sales weren't all that great Marvel is bringing it back for Vol. 2 (http://newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26144) starting next month.

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and mostly anything else by Jhonen.
Cerebus is golden if you're in the mood for making fun of Conan.

I hate to come off as a pussy in front of all you (soccer?) hooligans, but Blankets (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1891830430/qid=1106900226/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-0867205-6363160?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) was the best coming of age story I've read since, well, Catcher in the Rye.

It really is quite the tale. It's long, but I finished it in about 90 minutes. Goes quickly. I paid $30 for it, but at Amazon it's only $20. I'd suggest it. I also think it's a great gateway comic for women.

Oh, also finished Marvels. Fucking awesome.

Next 2 I'm gonna go for is Bone (since I already read half), Volumes 2-4 of Runaways (which is great) and Transmetropolitan.

You're all bastards for getting me buying comics again.

BASTARDS.

Haemish mentioned it, but it needs a bump.

Kingdom Come. Best. Comic. Ever.

And another bump for Rising Stars. But only the first... I dunno... 20 issues. It started to suck, and then Straczynski got lazy and stopped doing it.

And seriously, buy every Sandman TPB. The whole series was only 100 issues, so it's relatively easy to just read the whole thing over the weekend or something. Dream Country is great because it's some of the better "one-off" stories. But do like I said, just buy them all.


Oooo. Forgot some fun ones I read recently. Neat art styles, one is just silly fun. The other is like a Max Payne/White Wolf crossover. Fun stuff.

Invicible Ed (http://darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=13-267)

Criminal Macabre (http://darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=12-402)

Much better.

Grendel, Mage, and Kingdom Come.  Kingdom come is a standalone, the first two are series, but collected in TPB.

Bang for the buck award goes to Cerebus, but I wouldn't buy anything after Church and State II.

Frank Miller's 300, if it hasn't been mentioned before.

Kingdom Come is good, but best comic ever is pushing it a little.  If anyone other than Alex Ross did the art, I don't think it would have worked.

As for Rising Stars the final issues are coing out now (it wasn't a matter of laziness but some sort of dispute between JMS and Top Cow/Image that held the issues up), but really I'd say the first tpb is worth buying but the rest isn't all that great.  I think if the story had just focused on 100+ super-powered kids going to school together it would have been better.  As a 24 part story where it's known since the beginning that they're all going to die except for Poet the series seemed to degenerate into a "who's going to die this issue" thing.  Midnight Nation was a lot better.  JMS is a bit of a prick though so I don't really read his stuff anymore.

I own a copy of Watchmen.  I've read it a few times.  I enjoyed it a fair bit.

Transmetropolitan is just plain better, in my opinion.  It is likely the best series I've read.  Sometimes it's just really painful to see how decadent this future is... when you pay attention to details.  There's something very disturbing about a billboard in the background showing a smiling lady... chowing down on cloned human meat.  They think cannibalism is okay as long as it's not a "real" person, just a clone who was specifically created to be used as livestock.

Runaways gets a thumbs-up from me as well.  It's not world-altering or anything, but you start to care about the characters and want to know what happens to them.

But Transmet takes the highest priority.

(http://www.transmetropolitan.com/images/glasses.jpg)

Actually, he got into a dispute with the publisher over royalties (I think) and stopped doing it. He's just started it up again, and will be finishing the series up in a few months. I'd also recommend his "Supreme Power" series, which is a more "adult" retelling of the Squadran Supreme story. The two are very similar in tone.

EDIT: I never got into Grendel. Mage, however, especially the first series, is goddamn amazing. Matt Wagner's style is the shiznit. I think my favorite issue of the first series was the 14th (next to last) which was nothing more than two characters talking in an alleyway. It was just drawn and paced so goddamn well. The second series is fun, but not as much as the first.

Little sidenote: I was just reading that Paul Greengrass (Bourne Supremecy) is directing a Watchmen film, slated for a summer 2006 release. The writing credits will go to Alan Moore, and David Hayter (also known as the voice of "Solid Snake" from the Metal Gear games...Wtf?)

The Watchmen movie has been in development hell forever. It led to Alan Moore commenting something along the lines that Hollywood was full of soulless cocksuckers who will do everything in their power to fuck you. Given the results of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie, I'd be inclined to agree with him. Hayter is a good scriptwriter... please don't let someone fuck up Watchmen. It's too good a story to LXG.

Ah, I didn't realize he was a scriptwriter. Of the X films no less. What I read at first made it sound like he only had experience as a voice actor. Imdb says he's the writer of Black Widow and Iron Man as well.

It's a powerful statement when a man can write on amazingly popular X-Men movies and still be first listed as "The voice of Solid Snake from the Metal Gear games".

I believe, actually, that for a long time Alan Moore was fairly happy with Hollywood. They made bad movies based on his work, he cashed the checks and never went to see the movies, and it all kinda worked out.

Then someone sued over LXG, claiming that it was plagiarized and that Alan Moore was hired to write the comic to cover the plagiarism, and Alan Moore decided it just wasn't worth it to even take the money. So V is for Vendetta, Watchmen, and all the other upcoming Moore movies won't even have Moore's name in the credits, and his share of the money will go to the artists.

As for comic reccomendations, Moore's Promethea is a total headtrip, yet strangely satisfying.

Also, check out Ex Machina. Just starting, the first six issues are already in trade, and it's one of the best things coming out right now. Very possibly the best first issue in the past decade.

Since my memory is obviously faulty, what Alan Moore Comics have been made into movies prior to LXG? The only one I can think of is "From Hell," which pretty thoroughly took a dump on the original story, while still managing to be a decent movie.

Wow, how did I miss this thread, heh.

I haven't really read comics since I got out of high school and let my FF/X-Men/Defenders subs lapse. But one of my favorite comics back then was the Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown miniseries, now available in a single volume. Great artwork, some of the best wolvy ever.

In fact, my concept of the 'real' wolverine is from that series. Just before he got silly popular.
(http://www.comicorange.gr/imgs/comics/kentwilliams/thumbkent/meltdown01.jpg)
(http://www.comicbookart.com/havwolv.gif)

 
Yep, I had that one. Well..At least the first issue. I'm gonna have to get the single volume, if only for memory's sake.

I wonder how much it's worth now. Just about all my good comics I had then got stolen one day's time (but that's another story).

From Hell was the only thing that got made. He had been raking in the options dollars for years before that, though.

Interview to this effect.

Danke.



He is a poet.

The stuff I'm thinking about (with his comments about Hollywood) is actually secondhand stuff, said many years ago by Gaiman. Gaiman sort of got the same kind of jerking around fucking with on the Sandman movie script that Moore must have gotten on the original Watchmen scripts. Just total Hollywood glitz shit thinking. He told Gaiman that Hollywood people were flat and soulless and Gaiman was pretty much agreeing with him after the fact. I think Gaiman's feelings were based on attempts to make both Sandman and "Good Omens" movies. Might have been a Comics Journal interview I'm thinking of. Early 90's.

Just started the Transmetropolitan. I can tell you right now (on the second book), this will be right under Watchman if it stays strong and may overtake it with a better payoff (the Watchman one was pitiful and obvious). Transmetropolitan also costs a lot for the full series. Easily worth it though.

Also reading Ex Machina, and enjoying it immensely.

It's been many years for me - but I was enthralled by Frank Miller's "Ronin" (80's?)

Ronin is the historical backdrop but otherwise the story takes place in the future in the mind of an amputee (arms and legs - bob) that controls a military complex.

After reading the first five volumes, I want those glasses. I think they're the perfect accesory for a certain convention in a few months.

Unfortunately, they seem to be extremely rare.  At least, I can't find them.  If I could, believe me, I'd own a pair.

So, so tempting (http://comickaze.com/rrellis.htm).

Yikes. $141.19 total.  Wonder if they have any actual quality as sunglasses.  Probably not, I'm thinking.

That's what I was wondering. The higher-res pic you posted up above really looks like shit. Like the kind of glasses you'd get from a machine. They'd be cooler rimless anyway. But, being that Warren Ellis is quite the counter-culture whore, there's no way they'll ever make them again.

Between this thread, and the prospect of actually getting my copies of the Transmet trades back from the people I loaned them to,  I'm getting a serious hankerin' to read the whole series again.

Whats really great about it, in my opinion, is how re-readable it is, too.  With the amount of detail DarickR put into it, you can literally spend five minutes looking at all the stuff going on in a single page.

Having just finished it :

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ 1602 YOU ARE MISSING A WONDERFUL TREAT.


That is all.

2 pr cheap sunglasses
1 reel solder
1 soldering gun

;)

If you want to make me a pair, that would rock.

On a COMPLETELY seperate note, I've recently finished volume 9 of Transmetropolitan. In the history of stories told, this will go down as one of the best ever. Period.

Looks like Bruce Campbell is going to take a stab at writing comics.  Having recently written one comic for Dark Horse, apparently next he's going to do a six-issue adaptation of the script he co-wrote for some upcoming movie called Man with the Screaming Brain.  More info can be found here (http://newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27211).  I'm not expecting one of the greatest comics ever written but at the very least I'm curious to see how it will turn out.

Garth Ennis' take on Punisher - which to read?

I just picked up Beginnings which he did for the MAX range. Pretty good. What should I get next? Is his ordinary run worth getting?
Bear in mind, that I don't really read superhero comics anymore - only when a decent writer does some twist on them (like 1602).

Picked up League of Extraordianry Gentlemen vol. 2 too - pretty good, but not amazing.

Hmm, I was wondering about the Max versions. I've read Born though...That was good. As for the older stuff, try Welcome Back Frank.

My suggestions:

- The Preacher - Garth Ennis, Vertigo - This is the most awesome EVER. A myth. All the serie from 1 to the last (66)
- American's Best Comics - All the stuff coming out, it's Alan Moore
- Authority (DC) - All the serie
- Invisibles (Vertigo) - Grant Morrison + acids
- The Filth (Vertigo) - Grant Morrison - Serie of 13
- Astro City - Kurt Busiek - All the serie

In general I love Sam Kieth - Dave McKean - J.M. DeMatteis - Matt Wagner - Neil Gaiman - Alan Moore - Grant Morrison - Warren Ellis - Garth Ennis - Chris Bachalo - Peter Milligan
Everything coming out from Vertigo is worth reading.

WHY still noone has thought about opening a colossal online store selling digital volumes? I'd make them RICH.

The only time most people want to read digital copies of comics is when they're downloading them for free.  Besides, with the shape the comics industry is in I don't think anybody is going to get rich from selling comics.

Heck, I'd buy 'em that way. I'm not really a collector so much as I am a reader. Part of the reason my renewed interest didn't last so long was because I was blowing way too much cash on TPB's. It's a ripoff. Buying them digitally would be much easier on my pocketbook.

That's assuming buying them digitally would be cheaper.  I was looking at amazon.com, comparing the costs of ebooks to paperbacks of the same book.  In some cases the e-book was slightly cheaper.  In the case of some Stephen King novels the ebooks actually cost a few dollars more than the paperback.  At most I'd say maybe you save a dollar or two, for a TPB you can't read in bed, on the couch, or wherever else you like to read them.

To be fair to e-comics, though, these are pretty cool. (http://www.playboy.com/darkhorse/baba-yaga/index.html)

(At playboy.com, but work safe unless they're tracking you and will see "playboy.com" in your history.)

So, I just started reading Planetary on recommendation from the local comic book store freak owner.

It rocks. And Spider Jerusalem makes an appearance. Before he's Spider Jerusalem. I won't tell you all what volume it's in. The first 2 trades are out and the third is out in hardback form.

You're going to DragonCon?

E3. I don't even know what Dragoncon is.

It's the GenCon of the South. Held in Atlanta every August(?) and is the largest sci-fantasy/geek/closet furry convention this side of the Mississippi. I think.

So we get our own little sub-forum?  Neat.

Apparently, although I've never gone. So far conventions have never held my interest.

Technically, GenCon is now on that side of the Mississippi, too. :)

Bruce

Didn't want to make a new topic just for this but it seems that Whedon and Cassaday have signed on for 24 more issues of Astonishing X-Men (http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=4838).

This is all sorts of good news. They've done the best X-Men since Grant Morrison, and this comes from a longtime old skool X-Men fan. Claremont's current run makes me and baby jesus weep in our beer.

The best way I could see e-comics working is if the big publishers like Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse offered a flat subscription fee to read all their new comics each month.  Right now a lot of people torrent new comics the day they come out.  While I don't have too much of a problem with people downloading them, reading them, and then buying the ones they want (since comics are usually around $3 now for 32 pages of story, making them expensive to just try out on a whim) if these companies offered this instead there would be a decent chunk of money coming and new series would be able to find a lot more support.

Aside from that, the current Conan series has showed that a 25 cent first issues goes a long way to building support for a new series (and it doesn't hurt that it's Conan, with Kurt Busiek writing of course).

Runaways Hardcover (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0785118764/qid=1121393998/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-2868919-5978217?v=glance&s=books) bitches!  Coming next month, all 18 issues of the first volume for about $23.

Ok, that I'll be buying.

A few more deals I wanted to give a heads up on:

Green Lantern:  Rebirth Hardcover (http://dcbservice.com/product.aspx?id=3e&h=s&b=58#84056) for $12.49 (50% off).  Ships October 12th.  I'm not really into Green Lantern too much, nor do I particularly care about Hal Jordan coming back, or getting into all the continuity.  Still, this is a pretty entertaining story with some great art, and at a really good price for a hardcover.

Runaways Vol. 4:  True Believers digest (http://dcbservice.com/product.aspx?id=5h&h=s&b=73#85753) for $3.99 (also 50% off).  Shipping Sept. 28th, collecting the first 6 issues of the second volume.

Also available at dcbservice.com (http://dcbservice.com) which I can't get links to (so just do a search):

Rising Stars Hardcover for $34.99 (orig. $69.99).  Collects all 24 issues (not sure if it has the 0 or 1/2 issues).  I didn't think the story lived up to the expectations set by the first story arc, but still decent stuff and maybe a better read for those who didn't wait years for the last 3 issues.

Walking Dead Vol. 1:  Days Gone Bye for $6.47 (orig. $9.95).  Collects the first 6 issues.  Already talked about how good it was in another topic.

I didn't read the whole thread but I'd add Kabuki  to that list.  It's obvious in his earlier stuff that he's a big Moore/Miller/Claremont fanboy, but eventually IMO he found his own voice.

Looks like dcbservice.com also has INVINCIBLE VOL 1 ULTIMATE COLLECTION Hardcover on sale for 50% at $17.47.  Collects the first 13 issues.  I'll try and review this one soon.