Just reminding everyone that the June round of the challenge is around the corner, so please let me know if you're in and what book(s) you're planning to pick up. Also, this time around we're going to do things slightly differently. If you currently buy one or more non-DC/Marvel/licensed property titles in singles or trades, let me know what they are.
Anyway, this month I'm down for two titles: Barack the Barbarian (DDP) and Drafted: One Hundred Days. My ongoing titles are The Unwritten, Atomic Robo: Shadow From Beyond Time, Incognito, and Irredeemable.
sportzboytjwsqueeeeeezzeeeesome more tax breaks outRegistered Userregular
edited May 2009
I'm sticking with Irredeemable for now. I know it's not strictly the way the challenge is set up, but I do one run at a time . Might get something else though, we'll see.
sportzboytjw on
Walkerdog on MTGO
TylerJ on League of Legends (it's free and fun!)
Just reminding everyone that the June round of the challenge is around the corner, so please let me know if you're in and what book(s) you're planning to pick up. Also, this time around we're going to do things slightly differently. If you currently buy one or more non-DC/Marvel/licensed property titles in singles or trades, let me know what they are.
Anyway, this month I'm down for two titles: Barack the Barbarian (DDP) and Drafted: One Hundred Days. My ongoing titles are The Unwritten, Atomic Robo: Shadow From Beyond Time, Incognito, and Irredeemable.
I suppose I'm in, although I have no ide what I'll be picking up this month(whatever looks interesting off the rack I suppose). As for ongoing titles(I suppose Vertigo stuff is okay since you listed The Unwritten) I get: Fables, Jack of Fables, The Literals, Air, Madame Xanadu, The Unwritten, Incognito, Irredeemable, The Unknown, Locke&Key, Proof, The Sword, Ignition City, Anna Mercury, Hotwire: Requiem for the Dead, Ninja High School. Those are all I can think of off the top of my head.
For anyone looking for something to read in June, you might try Chew. It's a crime book about Tony Chu, a federal agent who gets psychic impressions from the things he eats. He lives in a world where a massive outbreak of bird flu has turned the FDA into the most powerful government agency in the USA, and poultry products are banned.
"You’re going to meet a big mixture of characters, and all of them have a very different and distinct relationship with food. Tony’s abrasive partner John Colby is a nonstop caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, sugar and junk food fiend, and will eat just about any crap he gets near, much to his partner’s dismay—because Tony’s can tell you exactly what’s in that 7-11 hot dog or the old pot of three-day old coffee. Tony’s brother is a TV celebrity chef, and a very vocal critic of the government’s Poultry Prohibition, and he has no great love for Tony, so they butt heads a lot."
But not every character in the book will arrive only to torture Tony as everyday adversaries. A few key allies emerge early in the story as well. "When Tony joins up with the Feds in the first story arc of 'Chew,' he meets a mentor figure in Mason Savoy, who also has the power of Cibopathy,†Layman revealed. “Mason has been doing the job for a while, and doesn’t have the same resistance to it that Tony does.
"And of course there is the love interest. Her name is Amelia Mintz. She is newspaper food critic, and a Saboscrivner, which means she writes about food so accurately, so vividly and with such detail, you can actually taste the food as you read her reviews. Unfortunately, she’s pretty down on the culinary world every since the institution of Prohibition, so she only reviews restaurants that get 'D' health ratings or worse. One of Tony’s first assignments is to bring her in after half the city reads her latest restaurant review and gets food poisoning – and sets off an epidemic of projectile vomiting!
while that's a pretty interesting idea, it really sounds like it could get up its own ass with having every character intimately involved with food in some way.
while that's a pretty interesting idea, it really sounds like it could get up its own ass with having every character intimately involved with food in some way.
Next issue!: Can Tony Chu catch the hot dog vendor that's been psychically face-raping his customers?
Well, I picked up three indie comics with this weeks books.
Rotten #1 (from Moonstone)
The old west and zombies, as agents of the government look into what's happening in a mining town, and have to deal with the suspicious locals
Dead Run #1 (Boom!)
It's like Mad Max or Damnation Alley(the book, not the movie) meets The Transporter. Nick Masters in the best courier around, delivering packages in the post-apocalyptic US. His sister is kidnapped by a drug lord that Nick has 'lost' a package he was supposed to deliver, so that Nick will deliver another package to San Francisco without 'losing' it. The only safe way to do this is the Dead Run, which only one person has ever survived(and he's not telling how he did it). Now, with the daughter of the previous runner in tow, Nick attempts his own Dead Run.
It seems interesting so far, but it depends on how fond you are of the post-apocalyptic road race.
Chew #1
It's already been described in the thread, but I enjoyed it. I'll have to give it a few more issues to see.
Just finished reading The Unwritten #2, and it was great. You all should be reading this book.
100% agree. It's only 2 issues in, and I already love it. Seriously- everyone should just pick up #1. You'll be hooked by the end of the first issue. I'm trying to think of last time a book grabbed me so instantly, and I'm having trouble coming up with something. Ultimate Spider-Man and Y: The last Man were both pretty much instantaneous for me, so I guess that would be it.
Ended up dropping Northlanders around issue 13 or so- it wasn't bad, but once the novelty wore off it didn't really do anything for me anymore. I'm thinking of giving Incognito a shot too...
Won Ton Soup is published by Oni, King Cit was published by TokyoPop and is being re-issued--in big magazine sized issues by Image. Image is also going to publish King City Volume 2, which was in limbo when Tokyopop imploded.
It's time for the July round of the challenge. Anyone who wants to participate, please let me know what indie book (singles or trades) you're buying this month. My books for the month are Atomic Robo, Incognito, Drafted: One Hundred Days, and Irredeemable.
Oh, and a quick review of Barack The Barbarian #1: an amusing concept that had a lot of potential that it sadly could not live up to. I had high hopes for it, but I really can't justify spending money on it.
Far Arden by Kevin Cannon. A cartoony high-seas adventure featuring rugged seaman Army Shanks.
Johnny Hiro, by Fred Chao (weird, the AdHouse books site seems to be having trouble right now). Young Asian couple tries to make it in the big city, is threatened by gigantic girlfriend-napping lizard, vengeful samurai armies, threatening fishmongers, etc. I can't recommend this highly enough if you like comedy, art, or awesomeness.
T-Minus by Jim Ottaviani, Zander Cannon, and Kevin Cannon. The latest in a series of comics about science and scientists, covering the race to put a man on the moon.
I think I got a few other indy books, but these are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.
Quick review of Drafted: One Hundred Days
First off, if you're annoyed with shameless exploitation of President Obama in comics (the so-called Obama comic industry stimulus), you'll be pleasantly surprised by what this book has to offer. This comic is a pretty hefty one shot that takes place in a Chicago that's in ruins after a planetwide battle with alien invaders. If you're not familiar with the premise of Drafted, the book gets you up to speed; basically that humans have been pressed into military service by another race of aliens to fight a common foe that is headed towards earth. In this new world, class distinctions go out the window and everyone is equal in the eyes of the alien military. This is the framing for Obama's character arc in this book. He and a large group of his fellow humans are dispatched to Chicago to begin rebuilding efforts. When a group of scavengers, led by a militant Objectivist named Galt (a thinly veiled Atlas Shrugged reference), strands the group in harsh weather and with limited supplies, he is forced into leadership and making hard choices, all without the benefit of his persuasive speaking abilities. It's surprisingly even-handed in presenting the philosophical and practical differences between the groups and has a satisfying ending. It was good enough that I'm very interested in reading the Drafted series to see how this one shot relates to it. Definitely check it out if you have the chance.
we need a goddamned chat thread up in here. I'm tired of having to scroll through months old threads to find the most recent one that's moderately applicable when I wanna discuss something.
So, I got the Fletcher Hanks collection, I Shall Destroy all the Civilized Planets today.
That shit is intense and totally fucking awesome. Someone come discuss it with me.
Manon, you gotta get You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation.
Even more Fletcher Hanks goodness.
Despite, or perhaps because, Hanks was, by all accounts, a worthless, abusive, alcoholic, the dude could create some seriously trippy, entertaining stuff. It's interesting to see him gaining some notoriety decades after his creations lapsed into the public domain.
I keep waiting for Stardust to show up in Project Superpowers as some power mad, God-like manchild that turns gangsters into rats, and makes people's heads grow too large for their tiny bodies.
Yeah, I read the comic in the back about the interview with the compiler of the book and Fletcher Jr. Dude sound like a total asshole almost on a Sin City-villain level.
but goddamn, do I like these comics.
when Fantomah's face changed into the skull, I was all " SHIT!"
Yeah I'm gonna spoil something so old its in the PD.
Not sure if you're aware, or if you'd even be interested, but Stardust reappeared recently in a story written and drawn by Mike Allred, for Image's Next Issue Project, aka Fantastic Comics #24. He also showed up in the text story in the back of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century.
While it's on my mind, has anyone read David Mazzuchelli's Asterios Polyp? I've been meaning to make a thread about it forever, but I'm waiting until I have the time to do it right. For those who have never heard of it, or who have been meaning to buy it, let me just impress upon you that it is one of the single greatest comics I've ever read. The art is fucking amazing, the writing is incredible, the lettering is fantastic, the characters are likable without always being sympathetic, the plot is engrossing as all Hell, and the thing is laden with so much subtext and thematic imagery that you'll be turning it over in your head for days. And it's not even the least bit pretentious.
I'm serious when I say that, if you consider yourself a fan of the comic book medium, you must read Asterios Polyp. Here's a review that may help sell you on the book.
While it's on my mind, has anyone read David Mazzuchelli's Asterios Polyp? I've been meaning to make a thread about it forever, but I'm waiting until I have the time to do it right. For those who have never heard of it, or who have been meaning to buy it, let me just impress upon you that it is one of the single greatest comics I've ever read. The art is fucking amazing, the writing is incredible, the lettering is fantastic, the characters are likable without always being sympathetic, the plot is engrossing as all Hell, and the thing is laden with so much subtext and thematic imagery that you'll be turning it over in your head for days. And it's not even the least bit pretentious.
I'm serious when I say that, if you consider yourself a fan of the comic book medium, you must read Asterios Polyp. Here's a review that may help sell you on the book.
I've been thinking about reading it for a while, but I haven't heard a whole lot about it. Seeing someone praising it passionately does more than enough to turn me around though. I'll probaly buy it tonight if it's still at my local comic book store.
While it's on my mind, has anyone read David Mazzuchelli's Asterios Polyp? I've been meaning to make a thread about it forever, but I'm waiting until I have the time to do it right. For those who have never heard of it, or who have been meaning to buy it, let me just impress upon you that it is one of the single greatest comics I've ever read. The art is fucking amazing, the writing is incredible, the lettering is fantastic, the characters are likable without always being sympathetic, the plot is engrossing as all Hell, and the thing is laden with so much subtext and thematic imagery that you'll be turning it over in your head for days. And it's not even the least bit pretentious.
I'm serious when I say that, if you consider yourself a fan of the comic book medium, you must read Asterios Polyp. Here's a review that may help sell you on the book.
Yes.
I read the entire thing straight through in a sitting. It has a fantastic cast of well-rounded characters, and absolutely brilliant iconography which is both visually striking and simple to decode. Asterios Polyp is the most emphatically graphic (but in the literal, not the lurid sense) graphic novel I've seen. If you love comics as an art form, this book belongs on your shelf.
Has anyone else been reading Matt Fraction's "Casanova"? I've gotten the first 4 issues, and I have enjoyed each story on its own. Its got some crazy ideas. But I also have no idea what the hell this story is about. Like seriously. This story is on drugs. I think Matt Fraction is on drugs.
Here's a synopsis with a few minor spoilers. I honestly can't spoil anything big because as I'm reading it, I rarely have any idea what I'm reading. But I like it.
So Casanova Quinn is what you might call an "anti-hero." He's not really a good guy, but he's definitely not the bad guy. He's a professional at something. However, I'm not really sure at what.
There's one issue where some guy who is a David Blaine knockoff decides to achieve ultimate Zen Buddha state godhood or something as a publicity stunt. Casanova has to kidnap him. Or something.
There's another issue with a tribe of indigenous people living on an island who pretend to be super low tech and savage, but really they are like mega high tech and way ahead of the rest of the world.
The general plot, as best as I can tell, is that Casanova gets kidnapped from his timeline and transported to an alternate timeline. In his real timeline, his sister is dead, but in the other one where he ends up, she's alive. She died in his timeline because she was investigating the rift in the time/space continuum or something?...
Its all pretty crazy, and like I say, I honestly have no idea what its about. But some of the crazy stuff that Fraction has come up with in this series has been highly entertaining.
I'm pretty much only buying trades of DMZ and The Unwritten right now with the occasional Secret Warriors hardcover, as the endless stream of events had pretty much driven me away from current Marvel and DC mainstream titles.
Maybe I'll go back when comics are comics again instead of "SUPER AWESOME STATUS-QUO CHANGING (BUT NOT REALLY) EVENT #19: THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL".
I read Casanova when it was three-color. It is one of the best things. I am going to re-buy it when the new color printing is collected. Casanova is so nuts and out there, it is amazing. The singles had crazy back matter, including several fictitious histories of things in the book, like the history of the company that made the candy bar in the one issue, or the fictitious biography/critique of the one villain, who moon lighted as Mary Sue pulp writer.
Has anyone else been reading Matt Fraction's "Casanova"? I've gotten the first 4 issues, and I have enjoyed each story on its own. Its got some crazy ideas. But I also have no idea what the hell this story is about. Like seriously. This story is on drugs. I think Matt Fraction is on drugs.
Here's a synopsis with a few minor spoilers. I honestly can't spoil anything big because as I'm reading it, I rarely have any idea what I'm reading. But I like it.
So Casanova Quinn is what you might call an "anti-hero." He's not really a good guy, but he's definitely not the bad guy. He's a professional at something. However, I'm not really sure at what.
There's one issue where some guy who is a David Blaine knockoff decides to achieve ultimate Zen Buddha state godhood or something as a publicity stunt. Casanova has to kidnap him. Or something.
There's another issue with a tribe of indigenous people living on an island who pretend to be super low tech and savage, but really they are like mega high tech and way ahead of the rest of the world.
The general plot, as best as I can tell, is that Casanova gets kidnapped from his timeline and transported to an alternate timeline. In his real timeline, his sister is dead, but in the other one where he ends up, she's alive. She died in his timeline because she was investigating the rift in the time/space continuum or something?...
Its all pretty crazy, and like I say, I honestly have no idea what its about. But some of the crazy stuff that Fraction has come up with in this series has been highly entertaining.
I don't have any idea what's going on in Casanova either, but I am also loving it nonetheless.
Thanks for Munch for suggesting Chew. It is a great series. Interesting concept, neat characters, great writing, awesome art. And the Omnivore Edition is an over-sized hardcover, with the art right on the cover, no silly flimsy dustjacket to get lost. It also has some extras, including some sketches and the original pitch for the series. It is very cool. I imagine the next hardcover is at least a year away though, since volume 3's trade just came out.
I think Paul Pope's Inhumans story is my favorite in Strange Tales, but there is a lot of great stuff in there.
Glad you liked Chew, Douglas. I've said it before, but it's really one of my favorite comics going right now. Everything about it just works for me, even though I have a hard time describing why I like it so much.
-The characters, even the minor ones, are all really dynamic and interesting. Nobody does anything because they're good guys or bad guys, but because it's a natural extension of their goals.
And Layman and Guillory are able to do more to make me care about a character in one issue, than a lot of writers can do with a whole series. Whether it's USDA Agent Lin Sae Woo and her cyborg rat Jellybean, the conniving leader of Yamapalu Island, or the chef who communicates through his cooking, they all feel like real characters, with their own lives and goals.
-The ideas come fast and furious. Not just the host of food-based powers, but stuff like a club of wealthy socialites that dine on extinct animals, a mysterious fruit that seems to have origins in the stars, or the romantic relationship between a man that can't eat without suffering disturbing visions, and a food critic that can impart the taste of food through her writing, Layman's not a guy that likes to tread over old ground.
-Guillory's art is a perfect complement to Layman's writing. Under another artist, the subject matter could come off way too dark or serious. But with Guillory's lively cartooning, Chew never seems to take itself too seriously. In another comic, a woman freezing to death in the tundra, or an obese man leaping through a wall and creating a gory dent in the street below, would be a horrific occurrence. In Chew's world, it's just another crazy thing, to be mined for humor.
Which isn't to say that the team can't do drama. There's a moment between Tony Chu, and his partner and friend John Colby, that's really understated, but perfectly sells the connection and friendship between the two.
I honestly think, assuming it doesn't go totally off the rails, that Chew's on its way to becoming the next Preacher. Layman's already said he has a planned ending for the book, so there's no fear of it getting dragged out for way too long. Still, the knowledge that it should have a satisfying ending, is somewhat tempered by the knowledge that there will be a time when I don't have a new issue of Chew to look forward to every month.
Even when the book ends, I really hope we get another collaboration between Guillory and Layman. Those dudes are just too good together.
Chew is probably the best comic I've read all year, and I say this having just read the first volume of Absolute Sandman. If it hasn't been optioned for TV or movies yet, Hollywood is fucking up. The series is a goldmine of ideas that could be easily translated to the screen.
Hey guys, if you want to directly support somebody you know who is super tiny and underground, give us a try. We self publish and have two comic books for sale. One is called Brimstone, which is about a pizza delivery boy and a systems admin try and stop a demonic apocalypse in thirteen issues. We're on issue three right now.
The other is a 24 hour comic we did called Road Trip! Where two friends go on a vacation and pick up a hitchhiker, who happens to be the angel of death. Those we made with special covers that are hand lettered by our calligrapher.
The stories themselves are online, you can read them and not pay a dime, but if you want a hard copy and give us some financial support to print more copies, you can do so on the site as well.
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited January 2011
Infinite Vacation #1 is a very good read, and a rather interesting premise for the story.
There exists this virtual hub where you can pay money to switch places with yourself in an infinite number of situations. So you want to switch places with a version of you that became President? No problem, you just pay them $500k. You can even switch out with something as trivial as a version of you waiting in line who is closer to the front. You can do all this from an app on your phone, and you have eBay seller ratings to boot. If straight up swapping lives isn't affordable, you can always just go visit a you that took a different path in life.
The story revolves around a guy named Mark who's other versions of himself are dying in their worlds, and they are all ones he himself has had contact with. He also runs into a girl he likes who is a deadender, someone who doesn't use the infinite vacation system (only 3% of the world), and also running into a crazy version of himself at the very end.
There's also an interesting angle here with how in this world, if you go to a therapist, you go to a version of you that is a therapist, as "no one knows you better than you," along with dealing with the infinite vacation IT support, you talk with a you that works for the company, since you would never be rude to yourself. It plays up the idea of instant satisfaction tied into the notion that people are becoming increasingly isolated and secluded/passive when given incredible new technology.
Good hook for a story, nice art, Spencer is so far 3 for 3 with his current output.
I really love Trondheim's work, and he only seems popular in french speaking countries, though it probably wont be hard to find french versions (some of his work doesnt even have speech bubbles)
I suggest La mouche, Dungeon zenith (or any comic part of the Dungeon series, really), and Mister O. Check them out!
Bigfoot I not dead is also a really funny and lighthearted comic about an overly sentimental (and a bit slow) bigfoot. Great artstyle!
I've only read what NBM has available of Dungeon (I think it's like five or six volumes), but yeah, those are some good comics. If you like Sergio Aragones or Stan Sakai, you'll probably like Dungeon.
The scene in Dungeon: Twilight, where Marvin the dragon, now old and blind, confronts his former friend Herbert the Duck, who's become this dark, imposing Dr. Doom kind of guy, was really pretty heartbreaking, without being maudlin. After seeing those two go through so much together, only for them to eventually wind up at odds, was really affecting.
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited January 2011
Morning Glories #6 ended in a pretty weird place, with a time-jump. To be honest, it seems like Spencer is now being too clever with the whole Academy and their plans, and should dial it back a bit and focus on giving a few answers. In terms of pacing for the trade, the ending to #6 doesn't end in a way that says "I need to pick up the singles now," it makes you go ".....wait, how did I end up here?"
This is the third issue that ends in such a way that doesn't even connect with the issue prior to it.
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Anyway, this month I'm down for two titles: Barack the Barbarian (DDP) and Drafted: One Hundred Days. My ongoing titles are The Unwritten, Atomic Robo: Shadow From Beyond Time, Incognito, and Irredeemable.
TylerJ on League of Legends (it's free and fun!)
I suppose I'm in, although I have no ide what I'll be picking up this month(whatever looks interesting off the rack I suppose). As for ongoing titles(I suppose Vertigo stuff is okay since you listed The Unwritten) I get: Fables, Jack of Fables, The Literals, Air, Madame Xanadu, The Unwritten, Incognito, Irredeemable, The Unknown, Locke&Key, Proof, The Sword, Ignition City, Anna Mercury, Hotwire: Requiem for the Dead, Ninja High School. Those are all I can think of off the top of my head.
Here's a pretty good interview about the book.
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Next issue!: Can Tony Chu catch the hot dog vendor that's been psychically face-raping his customers?
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Rotten #1 (from Moonstone)
Dead Run #1 (Boom!)
It seems interesting so far, but it depends on how fond you are of the post-apocalyptic road race.
Chew #1
It's already been described in the thread, but I enjoyed it. I'll have to give it a few more issues to see.
100% agree. It's only 2 issues in, and I already love it. Seriously- everyone should just pick up #1. You'll be hooked by the end of the first issue. I'm trying to think of last time a book grabbed me so instantly, and I'm having trouble coming up with something. Ultimate Spider-Man and Y: The last Man were both pretty much instantaneous for me, so I guess that would be it.
Ended up dropping Northlanders around issue 13 or so- it wasn't bad, but once the novelty wore off it didn't really do anything for me anymore. I'm thinking of giving Incognito a shot too...
Incognito is good. It is one of my favorite comics as of late.
Who publishes Won Ton Soup and King City?
Oh, and a quick review of Barack The Barbarian #1: an amusing concept that had a lot of potential that it sadly could not live up to. I had high hopes for it, but I really can't justify spending money on it.
Far Arden by Kevin Cannon. A cartoony high-seas adventure featuring rugged seaman Army Shanks.
Johnny Hiro, by Fred Chao (weird, the AdHouse books site seems to be having trouble right now). Young Asian couple tries to make it in the big city, is threatened by gigantic girlfriend-napping lizard, vengeful samurai armies, threatening fishmongers, etc. I can't recommend this highly enough if you like comedy, art, or awesomeness.
T-Minus by Jim Ottaviani, Zander Cannon, and Kevin Cannon. The latest in a series of comics about science and scientists, covering the race to put a man on the moon.
I think I got a few other indy books, but these are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.
First off, if you're annoyed with shameless exploitation of President Obama in comics (the so-called Obama comic industry stimulus), you'll be pleasantly surprised by what this book has to offer. This comic is a pretty hefty one shot that takes place in a Chicago that's in ruins after a planetwide battle with alien invaders. If you're not familiar with the premise of Drafted, the book gets you up to speed; basically that humans have been pressed into military service by another race of aliens to fight a common foe that is headed towards earth. In this new world, class distinctions go out the window and everyone is equal in the eyes of the alien military. This is the framing for Obama's character arc in this book. He and a large group of his fellow humans are dispatched to Chicago to begin rebuilding efforts. When a group of scavengers, led by a militant Objectivist named Galt (a thinly veiled Atlas Shrugged reference), strands the group in harsh weather and with limited supplies, he is forced into leadership and making hard choices, all without the benefit of his persuasive speaking abilities. It's surprisingly even-handed in presenting the philosophical and practical differences between the groups and has a satisfying ending. It was good enough that I'm very interested in reading the Drafted series to see how this one shot relates to it. Definitely check it out if you have the chance.
So, I got the Fletcher Hanks collection, I Shall Destroy all the Civilized Planets today.
That shit is intense and totally fucking awesome. Someone come discuss it with me.
Even more Fletcher Hanks goodness.
Despite, or perhaps because, Hanks was, by all accounts, a worthless, abusive, alcoholic, the dude could create some seriously trippy, entertaining stuff. It's interesting to see him gaining some notoriety decades after his creations lapsed into the public domain.
I keep waiting for Stardust to show up in Project Superpowers as some power mad, God-like manchild that turns gangsters into rats, and makes people's heads grow too large for their tiny bodies.
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but goddamn, do I like these comics.
Yeah I'm gonna spoil something so old its in the PD.
While it's on my mind, has anyone read David Mazzuchelli's Asterios Polyp? I've been meaning to make a thread about it forever, but I'm waiting until I have the time to do it right. For those who have never heard of it, or who have been meaning to buy it, let me just impress upon you that it is one of the single greatest comics I've ever read. The art is fucking amazing, the writing is incredible, the lettering is fantastic, the characters are likable without always being sympathetic, the plot is engrossing as all Hell, and the thing is laden with so much subtext and thematic imagery that you'll be turning it over in your head for days. And it's not even the least bit pretentious.
I'm serious when I say that, if you consider yourself a fan of the comic book medium, you must read Asterios Polyp. Here's a review that may help sell you on the book.
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I've been thinking about reading it for a while, but I haven't heard a whole lot about it. Seeing someone praising it passionately does more than enough to turn me around though. I'll probaly buy it tonight if it's still at my local comic book store.
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Yes.
I read the entire thing straight through in a sitting. It has a fantastic cast of well-rounded characters, and absolutely brilliant iconography which is both visually striking and simple to decode. Asterios Polyp is the most emphatically graphic (but in the literal, not the lurid sense) graphic novel I've seen. If you love comics as an art form, this book belongs on your shelf.
Here's a synopsis with a few minor spoilers. I honestly can't spoil anything big because as I'm reading it, I rarely have any idea what I'm reading. But I like it.
There's one issue where some guy who is a David Blaine knockoff decides to achieve ultimate Zen Buddha state godhood or something as a publicity stunt. Casanova has to kidnap him. Or something.
There's another issue with a tribe of indigenous people living on an island who pretend to be super low tech and savage, but really they are like mega high tech and way ahead of the rest of the world.
The general plot, as best as I can tell, is that Casanova gets kidnapped from his timeline and transported to an alternate timeline. In his real timeline, his sister is dead, but in the other one where he ends up, she's alive. She died in his timeline because she was investigating the rift in the time/space continuum or something?...
Its all pretty crazy, and like I say, I honestly have no idea what its about. But some of the crazy stuff that Fraction has come up with in this series has been highly entertaining.
Maybe I'll go back when comics are comics again instead of "SUPER AWESOME STATUS-QUO CHANGING (BUT NOT REALLY) EVENT #19: THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL".
I don't have any idea what's going on in Casanova either, but I am also loving it nonetheless.
So yeah drugs I guess
Yessssss
Thanks for Munch for suggesting Chew. It is a great series. Interesting concept, neat characters, great writing, awesome art. And the Omnivore Edition is an over-sized hardcover, with the art right on the cover, no silly flimsy dustjacket to get lost. It also has some extras, including some sketches and the original pitch for the series. It is very cool. I imagine the next hardcover is at least a year away though, since volume 3's trade just came out.
I think Paul Pope's Inhumans story is my favorite in Strange Tales, but there is a lot of great stuff in there.
Glad you liked Chew, Douglas. I've said it before, but it's really one of my favorite comics going right now. Everything about it just works for me, even though I have a hard time describing why I like it so much.
-The characters, even the minor ones, are all really dynamic and interesting. Nobody does anything because they're good guys or bad guys, but because it's a natural extension of their goals.
And Layman and Guillory are able to do more to make me care about a character in one issue, than a lot of writers can do with a whole series. Whether it's USDA Agent Lin Sae Woo and her cyborg rat Jellybean, the conniving leader of Yamapalu Island, or the chef who communicates through his cooking, they all feel like real characters, with their own lives and goals.
-The ideas come fast and furious. Not just the host of food-based powers, but stuff like a club of wealthy socialites that dine on extinct animals, a mysterious fruit that seems to have origins in the stars, or the romantic relationship between a man that can't eat without suffering disturbing visions, and a food critic that can impart the taste of food through her writing, Layman's not a guy that likes to tread over old ground.
-Guillory's art is a perfect complement to Layman's writing. Under another artist, the subject matter could come off way too dark or serious. But with Guillory's lively cartooning, Chew never seems to take itself too seriously. In another comic, a woman freezing to death in the tundra, or an obese man leaping through a wall and creating a gory dent in the street below, would be a horrific occurrence. In Chew's world, it's just another crazy thing, to be mined for humor.
Which isn't to say that the team can't do drama. There's a moment between Tony Chu, and his partner and friend John Colby, that's really understated, but perfectly sells the connection and friendship between the two.
I honestly think, assuming it doesn't go totally off the rails, that Chew's on its way to becoming the next Preacher. Layman's already said he has a planned ending for the book, so there's no fear of it getting dragged out for way too long. Still, the knowledge that it should have a satisfying ending, is somewhat tempered by the knowledge that there will be a time when I don't have a new issue of Chew to look forward to every month.
Even when the book ends, I really hope we get another collaboration between Guillory and Layman. Those dudes are just too good together.
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The other is a 24 hour comic we did called Road Trip! Where two friends go on a vacation and pick up a hitchhiker, who happens to be the angel of death. Those we made with special covers that are hand lettered by our calligrapher.
The stories themselves are online, you can read them and not pay a dime, but if you want a hard copy and give us some financial support to print more copies, you can do so on the site as well.
here's the link
There exists this virtual hub where you can pay money to switch places with yourself in an infinite number of situations. So you want to switch places with a version of you that became President? No problem, you just pay them $500k. You can even switch out with something as trivial as a version of you waiting in line who is closer to the front. You can do all this from an app on your phone, and you have eBay seller ratings to boot. If straight up swapping lives isn't affordable, you can always just go visit a you that took a different path in life.
There's also an interesting angle here with how in this world, if you go to a therapist, you go to a version of you that is a therapist, as "no one knows you better than you," along with dealing with the infinite vacation IT support, you talk with a you that works for the company, since you would never be rude to yourself. It plays up the idea of instant satisfaction tied into the notion that people are becoming increasingly isolated and secluded/passive when given incredible new technology.
Good hook for a story, nice art, Spencer is so far 3 for 3 with his current output.
I suggest La mouche, Dungeon zenith (or any comic part of the Dungeon series, really), and Mister O. Check them out!
Bigfoot I not dead is also a really funny and lighthearted comic about an overly sentimental (and a bit slow) bigfoot. Great artstyle!
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This is the third issue that ends in such a way that doesn't even connect with the issue prior to it.