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The Indie Comics Thread: ♪Let's Get Digital, Let's Get Into Digital!♪

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  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    Odd approach. If demand is high they should meet that demand. More money and more customers! But then maybe they know what they're doing and are planning to hype it and make more money on the trade?

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  • KingofMadCowsKingofMadCows Registered User regular
    I wonder if Gillen has the guts to eventually turn the Americans into the bad guys.

  • AtomicTofuAtomicTofu She's a straight-up supervillain, yo Registered User regular
    Excited to see what this is all about:

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    SATELLITE SAM #1 – GEM OF THE MONTH
    story MATT FRACTION
    art / cover HOWARD CHAYKIN
    JULY 3
    32 PAGES / BW / M
    $3.50
    SEX • DEATH • LIVE TV!
    NEW YORK CITY, 1951: The star of beloved daily television serial “Satellite Sam” turns up dead in a flophouse filled with dirty secrets. The police think it was death by natural causes but his son knows there was something more… if only he could sober up long enoguh to do something about it. This noir mystery shot through with sex and violence exposes the seedy underbelly of the golden age of television.
    By MATT FRACTION (CASANOVA, Hawkeye, FF) and HOWARD CHAYKIN (BLACK KISS I & II, AMERICAN FLAGG!).

  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    I picked up Jupiter's Legacy just to see which Millar it was, since it will take five years for the book to be finished anyway, but it was very grounded and enjoyable.

    I saw a quote in the bitching thread from some site about a scene that tried to highlight misogyny, but that really was the point of the scene, showing how some of the kids of the first generation of heroes care nothing about helping, just freeloading on their notoriety and showing how quickly people will give up their ideals for a shot at even a part of the spotlight.

    It's a solid first issue and the Superman stand-in is Superman in his ideals, although you can see a clear path where he's going to pull some Red Son into the series of where do heroes draw the line and stop protecting the world and start leading it. It's heavy handed with regards to the economic stuff and would be better off with Millar just having one panel where he says "I don't like austerity," but there's something decent here, we just won't care because by the time the story is finished it will all be dated.

  • glithertglithert Registered User regular
    edited May 2013
    Is Absolution any good?

    glithert on
  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    From Avatar? By Christos Gage?

    I liked it quite a lot, despite some misgivings about the ultimate message behind the story. The art's a little rough at the beginning, too.

  • Man of the WavesMan of the Waves Registered User regular
    wirehead26 wrote: »
    My LCS had the first volume of Matt Kindt's Mind MGMT available at 20 retail. Worth it? I'll be reading his Age of Ultron tie-in next week.

    The story and art is really good, but I'm not sure how well it works in a volume format. I haven't seen the book, but I imagine that it would still be worth it.

    There are a lot of little touches to the book that make it a solid argument for the continued release of single monthly issue comic books. I don't know if a collected volume of the book would capture the in-universe ads that have secret messages, the short stories placed inside the covers, all the stuff that Kindt puts in the margins of the pages or even the paper that the comic is printed on. Also, it's the best smelling comic book on the market.

    Not that the omission of any of that stuff downgrades the title from "buy it right now" to a "pass". Both the story and the loose watercolor art are experiences that you won't really find any where else (to my knowledge). So, definitely get the first volume to catch up and then pick it up monthly. At the very least, you should find the first issue re-release that Dark Horse put out for a buck and get a taste to see if you like it.

  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    I sometimes wish comics collections aka trades came exactly the same as the singles/issues/monthlies, just bound together. MIND MGMT may well do it, I don't know. Singles are a pain to deal with, but they do offer a unique experience. I guess you could mimic that sort of kind of maybe with comixology.

  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    I wish more trades came with "DVD extras" are you really going to blow the budget by chucking in an interview and some story boards guys? The 52 trades did a really good job of that.

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  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    I just read the first issue of The Massive. I can't believe I've been sleeping on this book!

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  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    I need to drop some knowledge on you guys.

    read Ant Comic

    It follows a bunch of black ants through their life in the colony. That doesn't really do it justice though. It's a far step from say Ants or a Bug's Life. Michael DeForge has taken some pretty big liberties with how ants, spiders and earthworms work so the characters and life forms in the strip only vaguely fit the idea of their real world counterparts.

    The queen for example is a giant languid entity which harvests the subordinate ants sperm.

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    It's kind of this bleak dystopia that mirrors a certain aspect of our modern lives where we feel like we're part of something vast and uncaring but can't quite put our finger on what is bugging us. But it's not Orwellian, despite the hierarchy there's a certain lack of control. Nobody really knows what's going on or why.

    It's like nothing I've read before. Go check it out. You'd be doing yourselves a massive disservice if you didn't because it's all free and online!

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  • AtomicTofuAtomicTofu She's a straight-up supervillain, yo Registered User regular
  • Man of the WavesMan of the Waves Registered User regular
    Wild Blue Yonder from last week was a really good opening issue.

    It's sort of a gritty, alternate history, aerial adventure. It invokes all the right notes and I'm already looking forward to the next issue.


    Mara, the mini series from Brian Wood, Ming Doyle and Jordie Bellaire just ended with a serious gut punch. That was a great series from some excellent creators.

  • AtomicTofuAtomicTofu She's a straight-up supervillain, yo Registered User regular
    Ughhh, I really wish I were going to SDCC. Nick Pitarra is bringing some custom Manhattan Projects minifigs to sell:

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    Mara, the mini series from Brian Wood, Ming Doyle and Jordie Bellaire just ended with a serious gut punch. That was a great series from some excellent creators.

    There's one more issue left!

  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    AtomicTofu wrote: »

    And soooo good.

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    (Seriously Henchman #2, you're the worst.)

  • AtomicTofuAtomicTofu She's a straight-up supervillain, yo Registered User regular
    Lots and lots of announcements from Image today: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=46396

    New titles:
    Velvet by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting - an espionage comic about a Moneypenny-type character who has to go back into the field
    Ody-C by Matt Fraction and Christian Ward - an adaptation of The Odyseey, set in space
    Black Science by Rick Remender and Matteo Scalera, colors by Dean White - "inspired by the writer's love of Frank Frazetta paintings and Al Williamson illustrations. It's about a member of the Anarchist League of Science – a group experimenting with dark sciences"
    Deadly Class by Rick Remender and Wesley Craig - comic set in the 80s in a high school for assassins
    Southern Bastards by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour - crime book described by Latour as "'The Untouchables versus Boss Hog' or 'The Dukes of Hazzard by the Coen Bros on meth.'"

    Other stuff:
    J. Michael Straczynski is reviving The Book of Lost Souls and Dream Police.
    Mark Millar is launching an entire line of books that he describes as his idea of a "Marvel Universe for the 21st Century" (comparatively, he says Jupiter's Legacy is his Watchmen)

    Image is also now selling digital comics on its revamped website - DRM-free, in your choice of PDF, ePub, CBR, or CBZ.


    Holy shit!

  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    AtomicTofu wrote: »
    Image is also now selling digital comics on its revamped website - DRM-free, in your choice of PDF, ePub, CBR, or CBZ.

    Holy-moly. DRM-free CBR/Z files?

    Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

    Also, one interesting wrinkle for "Ody-C": all the major characters are gender-swapped from the traditional Odyssey.

  • AtomicTofuAtomicTofu She's a straight-up supervillain, yo Registered User regular
    Velvet looks GREAT:

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  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    I love Steve Epting.

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • AtomicTofuAtomicTofu She's a straight-up supervillain, yo Registered User regular
    And here's Black Science, which Image has apparently dubbed the spiritual sequel to Fear Agent:

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  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    Oh my god yes.

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • JyrenBJyrenB St. AugustineRegistered User regular
    Black Science looks absolutely amazing. In every way.

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    XBL: JyrenB ; Steam: Jyren ; Twitter
  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    Yeah that looks GREAT

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  • Caveman PawsCaveman Paws Registered User regular
    JyrenB wrote: »
    Black Science looks absolutely amazing. In every way.

    It had me at giant lizard woman t&a.

  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    edited July 2013
    Blood Brothers, from Dark Horse, looks fun. Surprised I haven't heard about it before now, as I make a point of keeping up on what Doc Shaner's doing.

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    I've actually been reading a lot of indie stuff digitally, lately.

    I'm digging Mike Carey and Elena Casagrande's Suicide Risk, about a cop who decides to purchase black market superpowers, in the wake of a supervillain attack. I've only read the first two issues, but I'm digging it so far. Carey's always been a really solid writer,and Casagrande's art is in that sweet spot, where it can do the quiet, human moments, as well as the big superhero stuff.

    Jimmie Robinson's Five Weapons continues to be an unexpected treat. A book about teenage assassins living in a boarding school, written and drawn by the guy who does Bomb Queen, doesn't seem like it'd be up my alley. But, it's a really fun book. Starring a protagonist that's a pacifist, whose greatest weapon is his mind, there's not any of the gore and viscera I was expecting. Instead, it's like a wacky Saturday morning cartoon, with a line of intrigue and mystery running through the whole thing.

    Seriously, try the first issue, and see how it strikes you.

    I bought DeWayne Feenstra and Ray-Anthony Height's Midnight Tiger on a whim, and found it to be a solid little indie superhero story. The art's very Todd Nauck-ish, and the story has shades of Static Shock. It also does that thing I like, where the superhero dresses up in a costume, and the villains just wear street clothes, because really, why would any but the most ostentatious want to draw attention to themselves?

    Jay Faerber and Paul Little's Anti-Hero hasn't really sold me, yet. It's a neat enough idea, about a criminal who discovers a superhero's identity, and decides to extort him. I think there's a lot of interesting directions it could go in, but also a lot of really bad, lazy ones.

    That said, I thought the first issue was alright, if a little generic. It felt like I'd read the same plot beats and dialogue elsewhere. But, I've been a fan of Faerber's Image work for a long time, so I'll keep up with it, and see where it goes.

    Sex, by Joe Casey and Piotr Kowalski, remains a slow-burn, but thoroughly enjoyable comic. Imagine if Batman gave up crime-fighting, left his city, and then returned years later. The art really sells the glitzy, grimy feel of the book, with Brad Simpson's garish colors really evoking the comics I grew up on, stuff like Grimjack and American Flagg. And Rus Wooton does some neat stuff with the lettering.

    That said, the book does a lot of meandering, and I think it'd probably read better in a TPB. But for now, I'm really digging it. I can't tell if it's in spite of, or because of, the flaws.

    And finally, Class War by Rob Williams, Trevor Hairsine, and Travel Foreman, was something I stumbled across, and liked more than I expected to. It's very much one of those cynical, post-911 comics, where the superheroes are all government stooges with emotional problems. Then, the Superman of the group decides it's time to part ways with the corrupt administration, and things go to Hell.

    It's a big, dumb, punch-'em-up, carried largely by the cinematic pacing and art, but it's not a bad way to spend five bucks. Unfortunately, it ends in a way that was meant to lead into another series, which seems pretty unlikely to happen, at this point. That means leaving a lot of characters in an unsatisfying place.

    Munch on
  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    SEX really lost me after like issue two. It's so slow an nothing happens. I know that's what he's going for but I'm also just not sure whether I'm sold on the story he's trying to sell. I think the scene that killed it for me was where that mafia boss kills a woman mid sex. It was just really confronting but at the same time it didn't really have any bearing to the plot beyond 'this guy is evil! No really! Look!'

    I guess the high concept is: what happens if you bring te sexual subtext of superhero comics to the forefront? But at least as of issue two the actual execution of that just seemed to be a very traditional exploitive heterosexual male focused angle with nothing new to tell. I did like when the Catwoman analogue showed the main guy the door though that was quite funny. I also think the art looks fantastic.

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  • CrimsondudeCrimsondude Registered User regular
    Underground by Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber is awesome, and they're offering it DRM-free on a pay-what-you-like-or-not-at-all model.

    http://www.undergroundthecomic.com/download-it-free/

  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    So I'm digging Catalyst Comix #1 which is weir because I haven't really been feeling any of Joe Casey's other work. It's a story that follows three different plots each issue with the primary plot rotating every three issues and the heros are all Dark Horse IPs from the 90s. I've been waiting for Dark Horse's hero line to deliver and I think this might be it!

    I think the art does a lot to make it rad. The second story featuring a genius girl called Amazing Grace was probably my favorite.

    It's not perfect, at times it's a little poorly written and Joe Casey's typical "I'm reinventing Super Heros 'cause they just ain't what they used to be" rant in the afterword can probably be skipped but othe than that check it out!

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  • UnbrokenEvaUnbrokenEva HIGH ON THE WIRE BUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered User regular
    Coming in October, from Archie Comics: Afterlife with Archie
    by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla

    ...it's a real thing.

    Afterlife011.jpg

  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    I've never read any Archie because... Well it just kind of looked lame? What's it even about? And is this a good jump on point?

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  • CrimsondudeCrimsondude Registered User regular
    I used to watch the cartoon.

    It's about high school. I hated high school. I hate almost everyone from high school.

    I'm sure it's perfectly fine for what it is, but it's not for me.

  • UnbrokenEvaUnbrokenEva HIGH ON THE WIRE BUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered User regular
    Amigu wrote: »
    I've never read any Archie because... Well it just kind of looked lame? What's it even about? And is this a good jump on point?

    it's... fuck. it's Archie.

    it's 50s teenagers funnycomix that ran to the present and I haven't looked at one in years but I'm assuming they're still teenagers or maybe 20somethings but more likely just in aging stasis?

    It's the sort of thing that you'd expect to be as safe and wholesome and boring as possible but then they do stuff like having their first openly gay character spin off into his own title, and do a special flash-forward issue around him getting married to another guy he meets at a military hospital and I don't even know.

    It's good wholesome family fun comics with a surprisingly forward-thinking take on what constitutes "family" which is pretty great. I saw something recently about a major what if? style mixed-race family arc that sees Archie marrying one of the Pussycats from Josie & The Pussycats and them raising a daughter together.

    and apparently they're also doing a zombie storyline illustrated by one of my favourite artists going right now, whose style definitely screams "pulp horror" but not so much "Archie Comics"

  • UnbrokenEvaUnbrokenEva HIGH ON THE WIRE BUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered User regular
    This has been Fearghaill's stream of consciousness take on what he thinks Archie is because he hasn't actually looked between the covers of an Archie comic in probably two decades.

  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    I think I'll just have to go read some.

    On another note. EVERYONE needs to go buy a copy of Gamma right now!

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  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    Guys guys. Trillium. And te reading there of.

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  • ackack Registered User regular
    my girlfriend says her favorite comic is archie how many archies are there, its like the most popular comic that nobody on the internet gives a fuck about

    you can buy it in like every grocery store what the fuck is archie

  • PhillisherePhillishere Registered User regular
    edited August 2013
    Did some Googling and (from 2011 figures), the Archie digest book sells about 70k copies a month with other titles moving about around 50k to 60k. The single issue Archie book sells around 20k-30k and the rest of line sells in the 7k to 11k range.

    That would easily put the main book in the Top 25 comics sold, and the rest of the line matches the sales of mid-tier Marvel and DC books. Damn.

    Phillishere on
  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    Amazing. I feel like I should read it just to know what people are into.

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  • UnbrokenEvaUnbrokenEva HIGH ON THE WIRE BUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered User regular
    edited August 2013
    Just added Kelly Sue DeConnick & Emma Rios' Pretty Deadly, Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky's Sex Criminals (almost certainly NSFW, and probably not a good idea to google either unless you like being on watch lists), and Kieron Gillen & Ryan Kelly's Three to my pull list.

    so excited for late September/October

    UnbrokenEva on
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