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The Graphic Violence comic book reading club: Marvels; Read Book 2

deadonthestreetdeadonthestreet Registered User regular
edited February 2008 in Graphic Violence
Keith's thread got me excited when I read the title, because I thought a book club was a really good idea. Turns out, it wasn't for the kind of book club I was thinking of.

What I'm thinking is more along the lines of a traditional book club. That is, we pick a graphic novel, or a story arc, or a TPB, and we all read it together, and discuss it. We will set dates by which certain chapters or pages or issues will be read. And we will discuss it. Yeah, it is kinda like homework

Really, it's that simple. The goal here is to get a little more of an in depth discussion than we usually get here. The other goal is to get us to read books that we may not otherwise read, or to get us to reread stuff that we haven't read in a while.

Yeah, this may require a bit of an investment. You may have to buy a book, if you can't find it at a library or otherwise borrow it. But we promise, every book we pick will be good.

Our first book has been selected and it is Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross's Marvels. Marvels is the story of an everyman in the world of superheros. It is a really solid book. Don't worry, you don't need to know any of the Marvel mythology to understand or appreciate it.

Try to get yourself a copy by the middle of next week, so we can start reading.

It looks like Kingdom Come has the early lead for our second book.

deadonthestreet on
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Posts

  • Garlic BreadGarlic Bread i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a Registered User, Disagreeable regular
    edited January 2008
    yeah sorry, i didn't want to call it the book club because of this reason, but i did anyway

    i edited the title for you

    this is a good idea, too

    Garlic Bread on
  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    edited January 2008
    oh god I got super confused for a second

    don't do this to me

    DJ Eebs on
  • Calamity JaneCalamity Jane That Wrong Love Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Keith's thread got me excited when I read the title, because I thought a book club was a really good idea. Turns out, it wasn't for the kind of book club I was thinking of.

    What I'm thinking is more along the lines of a traditional book club. That is, we pick a graphic novel, or a story arc, or a TPB, and we all read it together, and discuss it. We will set dates by which certain chapters or pages or issues will be read. And we will discuss it. Yeah, it is kinda like homework

    Really, it's that simple. The goal here is to get a little more of an in depth discussion than we usually get here. The other goal is to get us to read books that we may not otherwise read, or to get us to reread stuff that we haven't read in a while.

    Yeah, this may require a bit of an investment. You may have to buy a book, if you can't find it at a library or otherwise borrow it. But we promise, every book we pick will be good.

    Our first task, then, is to pick what our first book to read will be. Any ideas?

    At first I thought Amazing Spider-Man post One More Day would be a keen suggestion since it's being bought across the board but goddamn that sounds like a bad idea.

    Kingdom Come?

    Calamity Jane on
    twitter https://twitter.com/mperezwritesirl michelle patreon https://www.patreon.com/thatwronglove michelle's comic book from IMAGE COMICS you can order http://a.co/dn5YeUD
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    How about Marvels.

    DarkPrimus on
  • Calamity JaneCalamity Jane That Wrong Love Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Marvels? Marvels I can do.

    Calamity Jane on
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  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Marvels is better than Kingdom Come.

    It's a proven fact.

    Balefuego on
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  • Calamity JaneCalamity Jane That Wrong Love Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Balefuego wrote: »
    Marvels is better than Kingdom Come.

    It's a proven fact.

    Whoa whoa hey now.

    Calamity Jane on
    twitter https://twitter.com/mperezwritesirl michelle patreon https://www.patreon.com/thatwronglove michelle's comic book from IMAGE COMICS you can order http://a.co/dn5YeUD
  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    edited January 2008
    I love Marvels.

    DJ Eebs on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Marvels is certainly more accessible than Kingdom Come, from a reader standpoint.

    DarkPrimus on
  • Calamity JaneCalamity Jane That Wrong Love Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Marvels is certainly more accessible than Kingdom Come, from a reader standpoint.

    Fair enough.

    Calamity Jane on
    twitter https://twitter.com/mperezwritesirl michelle patreon https://www.patreon.com/thatwronglove michelle's comic book from IMAGE COMICS you can order http://a.co/dn5YeUD
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    DarkPrimus - Forum Mediator.

    *dramatic music*

    DarkPrimus on
  • Devlin_DragonusDevlin_Dragonus Gorgeous Dallas, TXRegistered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I could do some marvels

    Devlin_Dragonus on
    I got nothing for you now. Try again later.

  • DoodmannDoodmann Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    This sounds like a great idea. I'm not as big a fan of capes, hopefully we'll pick some alternative books every once in a while, but I'm still interested.

    Doodmann on
    Whippy wrote: »
    nope nope nope nope abort abort talk about anime
    Sometimes I sell my stuff on Ebay
  • arcatharcath Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    How about one of the new Conan TPBs ?

    arcath on
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  • Calamity JaneCalamity Jane That Wrong Love Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    arcath wrote: »
    How about one of the new Conan TPBs ?

    Conan seems pretty open and shut.

    Man fights giant beast. Fucks exotic women, who in turn become reptile monsters he kills post-fucking.

    And he is a crafty one.

    Calamity Jane on
    twitter https://twitter.com/mperezwritesirl michelle patreon https://www.patreon.com/thatwronglove michelle's comic book from IMAGE COMICS you can order http://a.co/dn5YeUD
  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    How about Girls.

    Malkor on
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  • Calamity JaneCalamity Jane That Wrong Love Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Oh man I do not know about that series. Never read it.

    Giant sperm monsters, yes?

    Calamity Jane on
    twitter https://twitter.com/mperezwritesirl michelle patreon https://www.patreon.com/thatwronglove michelle's comic book from IMAGE COMICS you can order http://a.co/dn5YeUD
  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Yeah, I thought it was solid. I actually avoided it for months because I thought I could judge the story by the cover.

    Malkor on
    14271f3c-c765-4e74-92b1-49d7612675f2.jpg
  • FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Marvels. Or, for a more depressing turn, Ruins.

    Fencingsax on
  • SalmonOfDoubtSalmonOfDoubt Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Fencingsax wrote: »
    Marvels. Or, for a more depressing turn, Ruins.

    Was there a Ruins tpb?

    SalmonOfDoubt on
    heavensidesig80.jpg
    PiptheFair wrote: »
    killing children would be hilarious
    Olivaw wrote: »
    HELLO AND WELCOME TO THE PENNY ARCADE FORUMS

    PLEASE ENJOY YOUR STAY

    AND THIS PENIS
    Man, I don't want to read about this lady's broken vagina.
    NotACrook wrote: »
    I am sitting here trying to come up with a tiered system for rating child molesters.
    cock vore is fuckin hilarious
  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Anjin-San wrote: »
    Oh man I do not know about [Girls]. Never read it.

    Giant sperm monsters, yes?

    "Girls" follows the formula of taking everyday, normal, mundane life, injecting an element of the fantastic into it, and then watching how people's deal with it and how their relationships change in the process. It's not awful or anything like that, but at the end of the series I felt like the things whose resolution I didn't care about (because how they'd resolve was obvious) were resolved, and the things I was very curious about (the fantastical element) was not really addressed. The closest thing is the last couple of pages, where it feels like the creative team is saying "HAI GUYS LOOK AT HOW DEEP WE ARE!". That said, it was still pretty well-written, and there definitely were some "oh shit" moments.

    For the first book to read-and-discuss, I'm down with either Kingdom Come or Marvels. I think both were really good, and in some sense they can be said to embody the extreme of their respective company's overall philosophy (DC: superheroes are god-like beings; Marvel: everyone is a Regular Joe).

    Delduwath on
  • NogsNogs Crap, crap, mega crap. Crap, crap, mega crap.Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I think marvels is a good idea.

    However, I'm not sure if we will want to pick a super-popular book. If only because there will probably be a handful of people that will spoil the rest of the book or a person's motives before we are scheduled to have it finished. Like reading the first trade of Invincible wouldn't go over too well, because of what will happen in the second trade.

    To avoid that, we would have to skip the "read it in chapters" part. And just pick a date for the entire run/book to be finished.

    This also looks like it will only really work with elseworld/non-canonical stuff, mainly because of the continuity issues that we will all be upset about.

    Maybe a non-tights book somewhere down the line would be cool too.

    Nogs on
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  • arcatharcath Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    identity crisis.

    there seems to be a lot of love/hate with this book. but there is plenty of complex threads going on with this book that should be interesting in a discussion/debate topic.

    arcath on
    camo_sig.png
  • KVWKVW Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Anjin-San wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Marvels is certainly more accessible than Kingdom Come, from a reader standpoint.

    Fair enough.

    Both have their faults, but I'd say Marvels is better as well. Kingdom Come relies a lot on senseless killing and the "Holy shit, everyone's killing each other! Was that a fucking nuke!" to carry the load of the story's connection with the reader. Even with a relatively large knowledge of DC, I still found it to be filled with Alex Ross Sivler Age wankery and self gratification of his love of the heroes from that time period.

    Marvels, on the otherhand, relies heavily on fan nostalgia to provide the emotional connection and let's that pull on the heart strings a bit. However, I find Busiek, who was at his best in this Astro City era of his writing, to do a much better job that Waid on KC. Ross' art is cleaner and less muddy looking as well. KC also felt like it was simply aping the man on the street character from Marvels and he's pretty much identical to the one in KC.

    Now, saying one is better is an opinion and with two books as good as these, calling either better than the other doesn't really detract from the quality of the books. It's like asking if Captain America is better than Iron Fist right now. Both rock and the debates are more or less fan obsession to justify their purchases or favourite characters.


    Oh, and I'd be up for anything. I haven't read Marvels in a while, so that would be neat for a start and most should be able to find it / already have it. We could do KC afterwards as a counterpart to it.

    KVW on
  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Quick question: Are we going to limit ourselves to graphic novels/elseworlds style books, or are we also going to consider storyarcs within larger series, as well? Some arcs are pretty stand-alone, and provide tremendous food for thought. For example, I thought The Sandman's A Game of You storyline was amazing, and doesn't really require reading the rest of Sandman to understand and enjoy (although the rest of Sandman should be read by everyone).

    Delduwath on
  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    edited January 2008
    Fencingsax wrote: »
    Marvels. Or, for a more depressing turn, Ruins.

    Ruins doesn't really meet the criteria of being good, though.

    DJ Eebs on
  • FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Fencingsax wrote: »
    Marvels. Or, for a more depressing turn, Ruins.

    Ruins doesn't really meet the criteria of being good, though.
    At least I didn't suggest something like the Amazons Attack TPB.

    Fencingsax on
  • deadonthestreetdeadonthestreet Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Delduwath wrote: »
    Quick question: Are we going to limit ourselves to graphic novels/elseworlds style books, or are we also going to consider storyarcs within larger series, as well? Some arcs are pretty stand-alone, and provide tremendous food for thought. For example, I thought The Sandman's A Game of You storyline was amazing, and doesn't really require reading the rest of Sandman to understand and enjoy (although the rest of Sandman should be read by everyone).
    It is perfectly fine to suggest a story arc of a larger series, so long as you can generally understand what is going on in it.

    deadonthestreet on
  • SageinaRageSageinaRage Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    As long as it's relatively easy to find in a tpb, I'm fine with whatever.

    SageinaRage on
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  • Bad KarmaBad Karma Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    How about some Golden Age, or New Frontier, or even JSA: Strange Adventures?

    Anyone? Anyone? After Marvels?

    Bad Karma on
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  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    We should go Marvel, DC, DC, Marvel, DC, Image, Random, DC, DC, Marvel, Marvel.

    Malkor on
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  • deadonthestreetdeadonthestreet Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    No, actually, I just figured it out. We aren't voting for what the next book will be. We will vote for the person to pick it.

    Basically, once we establish who is reading the current book, those reading it will pick a person from within the group to pick the next book. That way we'll be sure to get some slightly more obscure works. No one will reveal what book they will chose until they have been chosen to pick a book.

    Of course, we will have veto power if we think the person has chosen a shitty book.

    deadonthestreet on
  • Garlic BreadGarlic Bread i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a Registered User, Disagreeable regular
    edited January 2008
    way to steal the thunder from my thread

    Garlic Bread on
  • arcatharcath Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Awesome idea about the vote for the person to pick the book.

    arcath on
    camo_sig.png
  • Bloods EndBloods End Blade of Tyshalle Punch dimensionRegistered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Malkor wrote: »
    We should go Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Indy, DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, DC, Image, Random, Dark Horse, Indy, Dark Horse, DC, DC, Marvel, Marvel.


    Fixed that for yah

    Bloods End on
  • deadonthestreetdeadonthestreet Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    So, who do we have so far that actually has the book to read?

    deadonthestreet on
  • jkylefultonjkylefulton Squid...or Kid? NNID - majpellRegistered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I'll probably get in on this.

    jkylefulton on
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  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    So, who do we have so far that actually has the book to read?

    I have it. I am so ready.

    Delduwath on
  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    edited January 2008
    I'll see if I can't talk my brother into picking Marvels up for me because at the moment, I'm broke.

    DJ Eebs on
  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    you don't own Marvels already Geebs? I find that surprising.

    Anyway, I have a copy too so I'll participate

    Balefuego on
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