The Comic Book Thread

[mr.negativity]

[lhb412]

Usagi Yojimbo is one of the greatest comic books series ever made - but putting out brilliant art consistently (writing, penciling, inking, and lettering a average of 9-10 issues of Usagi a year since the '80s) doesn't necessarily mean complete financial security. With the Sakai family having to deal with continuing illness you can contribute a little by buying an upcoming art book with contributions by a metric ton of comics masters. Proceeds will go to the Sakais.

http://comicsalliance.com/the-sakai-pro ... se-comics/

... and in case you're not familiar with the Usagi: stop reading this, go to amazon.com, and order some Usagi tpbs. They're all great, order any of them. Samurai action, drama, mystery, comedy, supernatural horror, and even a storyline that's a tribute to kaiju films!

[mr.negativity]

[mr.negativity]

[mr.negativity]

[mr.negativity]

Arriving in March from Humanoids is the latest installment in the ongoing and highly successful Metabarons series, Metabarons Genesis: Castaka.

[MekaGojira3k]

The new Winter Soldier book got off to a cool start. Nick Fury/Winter Soldier in the 1960s, feels kind of From Russia With Love-ish (especially since I think there's a train sequence in the next issue )

[mr.negativity]

[MekaGojira3k]

I know I'm late to the party but I just read Saga Issue 1, and I really liked it.

[klen7]

The art and typography in "Saga" are fantastic. I would prefer less genitals for accessibility, but the character design is stellar as well. Really looking forward to Vol 3.

I just finished vol 4 of Brubaker & Phillips "Fatale". Still loving this series (its Horror-Noir, so think a hard boiled detective story with elements of Lovecraft violently seeping in) but Vol 4 has an amnesia subplot, which normally annoys me, but in this case it gave us a chance to see Josephine "discover" herself since we missed out on that with where the story began. Also since each volume seems to be 20 years apart i am guessing that they will probably be finishing the story in the next volume.

[lhb412]

Fresh off his terrific work on the Wizard of Oz comics Skottie Young is doing a Rocket Raccoon and Groot book.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=51147

Looks totally awesome, and after seeing that Guardians trailer I'm pretty interested.

There's not much going on in the big-2 (DC and Marvel) that I follow. When DC did their big relaunch a few years ago I thought I'd trade wait for Swamp Thing and Animal Man - but not long after their exciting launches people began complaining of fizzling storylines and a squandering of good will and I was out of it by the time the trades actually did show up. Marvel's Daredevil and Hawkeye have much critical praise and the art in both is terrific (much more in the style of cartooning that I prefer) so I'm thinking I may have to look into those. Batman '66 I'm totally sold on and trade waiting for (first volume in April!).

[mr.negativity]

[klen7]

[lhb412]

^I thought Animal Man's book actually ended and the character got folded into one of DC various team books?

[klen7]

doh! that's frustrating.... One more reason why i normally stay away from the big 2... at least there is a volume 4 coming out

::edit:: looks like its still a monthly title.. i do dislike the tie ins to other team type events enough that i would drop it if that becomes a thing

[lhb412]

... read a lot of comics lately.

- Fantagraphics' collection of Harvey Kurtzman's war comics for EC (same company and time period as Tales From the Crypt). Pretty powerful stuff, portraying war as a collection of ironies and horrors instead of, you know, typical 'rah! rah! rah!' pro-War stuff you might expect from war comics of the 1950s.
- Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack is becoming one of my favorites. Love it.
- Loved Darwyn Cooke's first Parker graphic novel. I'll seek out the rest of his adaptations, but I don't know if I'd go for the original books on which they're based. I can handle this kind of stark amorality for a comic that takes an hour and a half to read, but a novel that would consume many hours? Not sure I'd have the stomach for it.
- After reading Chris Sim's neat article on the Metal Men over at comicsalliance

http://comicsalliance.com/ask-chris-184 ... metal-men/

... I decided to check out this obscure, '60s superhero team - and I love them! They're so silly and great! They join Plastic Man among my all-time favorite superheroes, and unfortunately they're even more obscure (but Barry Sonnenfeld does really want to make them into a movie).


Oh, one more thing: my local library has rather awesomely expanded its graphic novel collection and put it in a more prominent location. Last week was actually Will Eisner Week, so the had his books on a special rack of their own and put out some info about Eisner to go with it. How cool is that?

[klen7]

[lhb412]

^I read somewhere that the reason Cooke did that fourth book was because he needed to adapt that one in order to get to the story he wants for his fifth (final?) adaptation. Plot points in Slayground are important for it? I dunno. I know nothing about Richard Stark's Parker novels.


Speaking of noir, I see that Dark Horse is going get the new Blacksad comic out in the U.S. by the end of the year! Love Blacksad!

.... Ooh, and they're putting out omnibus editions of Tezuka's Astro Boy! Yay!

[klen7]

[lhb412]

^ Blacksad, besides being cool detective stories in the Chandler mode, is the most sumptuously drawn comic I've ever seen. Each page is an incredible watercolor painting. The first four books are available in English, with the first three bundled together as a single hardcover.

[Dr Kain]

After six months of reading, I have finally completed Jack Kirby's "Fourth Worlds" saga and it was truly epic. However, to say it was nothing but sheer perfection would be a lie, as it did have its moments of mediocrity.

First off, I really loved the fact that Kirby was able to create an entirely new universe of characters within the confines of the DC universe. We have ultimately seen where this has led to in the modern world, but I bet it was something truly unique to behold back in the 70s. Kirby's work gave us some of my favorite DC characters of all time, and I have even found favorites that were never prominently featured in the Animated series and movies (Which is where my original introduction to most of these characters lie). Mr Miracle being a prime example of this. He was a cool character in concept, but it was not until I read these stories that I really grew into liking his character as he has a very complex history and is just a down right fun character. Unfortunately, I must say his series got a little rocky in the middle as the stories for issues 11-14 were rather bland and uninspiring as it seemed like Kirby was unsure what to do with his character. Things really turned upward when Shilo was introduced. The best part is, I was expecting him to just be a pointless character who was brought in to up the sales of the comic, but Kirby did quite a bit with the character to make him feel like he belonged there before the series' abrupt end. The only unfortunate part is that Mr Miracle's series really seems to have very little impact on anything that is going on between New Genesis and Apokolips, as they don't even make an appearance during "The Hunger Dogs" story.

Unfortunately, the Jimmy Olsen series is where the books were kind of uneven. There was nothing ultimately wrong with the Olsen stuff, except they were convoluted and felt out of place at times. For example, Superman is with Jimmy during the nonsensical DNAliens plot, but at the same time, Superman is there to greet the Forever People when they first appear on Earth. That does not make sense since both events are supposed to occur at the exact same time. Nevertheless, the whole clone story arc with the Newsboy Legion that does not work for me. Everyone seems way too happy to learn they have been cloned and there is never any real explanation on what is going on at all. The stories in Scotland were interesting, but then the one with the shrinking horror movie watchers made very little sense. There was also never any pay off with the Morgan Edge subplot.

Thankfully, the majority of the stories found in "The Forever People" were well written, but even that had its dull stories. The issues that dealt with the gang being captured by Desaad and placed in an amusement park made little sense and it felt like there was more to the story that was missing than explained. On the other hand, the gang being separated and traveling through time was well done even if it should have been longer. Once again though, the series took a turn for the worst when Dead Man was brought in and like the Morgan Edge subplot in "Jimmy Olsen," it was just dropped for a final issue that still had no true conclusion.

The highlight of the series truly comes from "The New Gods" series. Outside of one confusing issue, everything found in this series was fun, energetic, action packed, and well written. It featured a new side of Orion never seen in other mediums before along with a great deal of focus on Lightray. The grand battles between Kalibak and Orion were nothing short of fantastic. Every issue seemed to out do the one before it, but the masterpiece of the series, and of the entire "Fourth Worlds Saga" is the issue titled "The Pact." Not only did it shed light on the grand origins of New Genesis and Apokolips, but it also featured seeing Darkseid before he was the cruel dictator we all know and love (or hate) along with the young man who was destined to become High Father. Add on top the trading of children and Kirby gave us one of the most detailed tragic origins in the history of comics. It also was amazing to read this issue just a few weeks after reading DC's origin of the New 52 version of Darkseid, which feels like an insult to Kirby's vision. It is unfortunate that Kirby never had the chance to really conclude his saga until a decade later, as the finale issues feel off.

I'm not sure if it is because of the time period they were written in, the fact that he had to take more than ten years to finish his story, or if it is the horrible art work, but the final two stories, "Even Gods Must Die" and "The Hunger Dogs" just feel wrong on many levels. The biggest issue is how everyone just feels out of character. Orion is out for blood on Apokolips and wants his mother freed. The people of Apokolips are suddenly uprising against Darkseid. The Furies are working for Darkseid again. Darkseid now wants to rule with an army of machines AND has the ability to bring all of his soldiers back from the dead (who only appear for like two pages as it is). Finally, we know next to nothing of what happened with Mr. Miracle, Big Barda, the Forever People, etc. It is just a mess and feels like Kirby was just laying down the cliff notes version of his finale in a book just to get his inconclusive conclusion out of his head instead of making sure it was well written and made sense. Not to mention Orion just suddenly loses his desire to kill his father because he found love (off-screen and from a character who just shows up out of the blue in "The Hunger Dogs").

Overall, despite its negatives, Kirby's "The Fourth Worlds" series was well worth finally reading and is one of the best things to come out of the traditional world of comic books. Kirby not only gave us iconic characters, but also ones that go beyond a simple "His world was blown up as a baby" or "His parents were killed when he was a child" origin story. Many of the characters found within this universe have gone through hell and beyond go get where they were, and still have to go through more hell even afterwards. Darkseid may be a ruthless maniacal tyrant, but he also showed sides of compassion and honor in unexpected places, making him more than just a one dimensional villain. The interesting aspects of The Forever People were getting to see essentially children entering a new world for the first time and getting to see their views of life different from their own. Mr. Miracle was a man programmed to be a killing machine and wanted more with his life. Finally, reading Orion's struggles as Darkseid's son with the impulses for war, but wanting to know peace instead defined his character as well. Even the negatives found in Jimmy Olsen's storyline had different aspects and gave us a different side to Olsen's character that you normally would not see. What Jack Kirby gave us was a grandiose world with complex characters and stories and as time has shown, they continue to live on to this day. I give the entire series an 8/10 stars.

[lhb412]

^Thanks for the overview, Kain! The Fourth World omnibi are on my 'to buy' list, and I love all the '70s Kirby stuff I've seen so far. People say his stuff wasn't as good when he stopped collaborating with Stan Lee, but I totally disagree. Sure, his dialog is a bit clunky, but his creativity was never more vibrant.

[lhb412]

[Garasharp K7]

That's never been a dilemma for me, since I haven't bought individual issues for many years. Just trades, archives and omnibus collections for me. There's only one downside to that approach, though - I'd spot a single comic on the shelf, like an issue of Cthulhu Tales or that Sledge Hammer '44 series, leave it alone and then I'd forget about it months later when the collection comes out. I've passed on many a book that way.
I've got that Rocket Raccoon book somewhere in the backlog pile. I remember seeing that one years ago when it turned up as a back-up feature in the UK Transformers comic back in '86 or so. Still haven't read the collection yet.
Anyway, I've been reading a lot of stuff lately but as I've just been jumping from one book to the other, I tend not to finish one before moving on to the next. In the last couple of months I've read a few Deadpool books, Hellboy and Fear Agent library editions, and Metal Men archives. Right now I'm reading Godland. I reckon you'd like it, lhb - it's like a love letter to Jack Kirby's ''60s and '70s Marvel books, or just cosmic Marvel stuff in general. I see a bit of Jim Starlin's influence in there too. It's about an astronaut who gets cosmic powers and has to come to terms with being a sort of demigod while defending the Earth from invading aliens and crazy supervillains. The art is extremely Kirby-esque too. I'll probably finish that one before moving on the rest of the plethora of books I've got to read.

[MekaGojira3k]

Man Jim Starlin is great. Going through the Infinity Gauntlet stuff in its entirety (all the tie in issues).