Comics and Graphic Novel General Discussion!

[Chaosmaster8753]

Just to let SOUP know, I did finish reading this:



I'm also continuing reading Geoff Johns' run on Green Lantern after finishing this:

[SOUP]

@Chaosmaster:

What did you think of the Iron Fist book? I really know nothing of the character.

I've got those issues of Green Lantern kicking around. It's a good run for sure. I've got the individual issues up to around the Secret Origin stuff, but then I got out of comics for a few years. I'm jumping back in with this relaunch though.

I finally finished reading The X-Men Omnibus volume 1.
It's the first 31 issues of the original series from the 1960s.  Next up is the second omnibus covering the remainder of the original issues (up to 66), before the title was cancelled. My goal is to read the entire Uncanny X-Men series from issue 1, to today.

I've got about a few gaps to fill in yet. I think around 1980 to 1988 on Uncanny (#132-234), and 1995 to 2001 (49-113) in adjectiveless X-Men.

[max_cady]

I recentely finished reading Jonah Hex: Only the Good die Young.

Somehow I was very dissapointed. I had read another novel from 2007, Guns of Vengeance, which was way better than this.

Like before, it's another collection of stories, standard-issue stuff for westerns. But, I have some gripes, they really went overboard with Jonah Hex's mumbling accent, to the point where they literally write in his accent in the dialogue bubbles. Granted that having half of your face brutally mangled will not help you speak clearly, but I thought it was just too much. The artwork on two of the stories were horrendous. And there is one bizarre story involving Thomas Edison and Tesla that doesn't go anywhere, literally. Not to give too much away, but Hex takes a job and the story ends without actually coming to an actual conclusion.

[SOUP]

@max_cady: It's definitely a fine line to walk when portraying an accent in a comic. A couple characters that pop into mind right away for me would be Gambit and Rogue. Some writers go a bit overboard, and some just seem to forget the accents alltogether.

[SOUP]

I've read a few more issues of the New 52 DC titles.

I kind of stopped reading Green Lantern around the time of the Secret Origin stuff. It was getting a bit much with all the cross-overs and one-shots, so I just stopped picking it up altogether. I figured I'd try jumping back in with this new relaunch. So far, I'm really digging Sinestro as the headlining character.  The dynamic between him and Hal is the big highlight so far. Not a ton of things happening in the issues so far, but it seems to be a steady ramp up to something big.

Batman's another title I stopped reading around the same time. When Bruce Wayne "died" and they launched a few new books, and dumped out a bunch of one-shots, I just tuned out.  I still think they have too many Batman books out now, but after reading Scott Snyder's run on Detective Comics leading up to this new title, I couldn't really pass it up.  He doesn't disappoint with these new issues either.  He's one of the few comic book writers today that can write compelling single issues that hold up on their own, but still build towards something larger.  With most other books, it's almost better to hold off on reading them until you've got 4 or 5 issues set to read.

[max_cady]

I haven't jumped on a video game comic book in a while. Though I'm glad to say that Udon comic's Street Fighter series is pretty damn good.

I bought the SF Legends: Sakura Vol.1 GN and loved it. It's a true expanded universe of characters and their own mythology. The stories are pretty straighfoward. Sakura IMing Ryu over tips on how to become a better fighter, Dan attempting to get a rematch with her. Karin also wanting to fight Sakura once again and most of her daily life with friends, including some notable characters from the Rival Schools series, one of Capcom's... well more obscure fighting games. At one point, Sakura decides to go to a wrestling match to see Rainbow Mika square off with Zangief. Only for the giant russian to have a fit and actually challenge her for real, ergo breaking kayfabe, to which apparentely Sakura is completely ignorant of.

The fight is awesome and there's even an awkward lol moment when Zangief aciddentaly slaps Mika in an embarrasing place and she goes beserk. Dan also gets involved and suffers through a piledrive.

Loved it, loved it, loved it. I haven't gone back to SF in a while, but this comic was excellent!

[SOUP]

After reading the latest issues of the Green Lantern relaunch, I remembered just how much I enjoyed this book in the past. I stopped reading it around issue 31 (before all the Blackest Night stuff went down), mostly due to budgetary concerns and whatnot.
I think I'll see if I can snag the issues that I'm missing.  I started reading from the beginning of Geoff Johns' run (Green Lantern: Rebirth) last night. We'll see if I can track down the 30 or so issues that I'm missing in the meantime.

[Chaosmaster8753]

Two stories I recently finished:

[SOUP]

I've managed to track down most of the issues of Green Lantern that I missed out on (except for a couple of Blackest Night issues, and some War of the Green Lanterns cross-over stuff). It'll be a while before they show up, but in the meantime I made a decent amount reading issues this weekend. I'm up to issue 13 (around the point where the 3rd TPB would pick up). I forgot how great this series is.  I can't wait for Sinestro to show up again.

[SOUP]

I'm all caught up on X-Factor. The next issue's the last one before some roster changes on the book. It comes out on Wednesday, so I should have it about 2 weeks after that. With the recent cancellations at Marvel, I really hope they don't touch this one. A writer working on a single title for this long is pretty rare nowadays (nevermind the fact that it's been consistently great for that amount of time), I'd like to see the run keep on going.

Speaking of long runs though, I've made it up to the Sinestro Corps War crossover in Geoff Jons' Green Lantern run.  The missing issues that I ordered should be showing up in the next few weeks, so I'll finally be able to read Blackest Night.

Whenever I get caught up on Green Lantern, I think I'll start back up with Grant Morrison's Batman run. I'll probably just get the hardcovers for all the stuff that I'm missing (Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, Batman & Robin volume 3, and Batman, Inc volume 1).

[nuckles87]

I'm rather surprised I haven't started posting here yet.

I'm saddened by the lack of Image Comics love in the last few pages I've read. I've recently started reading Image's stuff this summer, starting with a massive compilation of Invincible comics.

Invincible is probably the best super  hero comic I've ever read. The drama can get fucking intense, and the plotline throws loads of curve balls you don't see coming. Perhaps most importantly, the status quo is ALWAYS in flux. The series very rarely ever follows a "monster of the month" formula and instead is constantly developing the plot.

Since this I've started reading Astonishing Wolf-Man, Savage Dragon, Witch Doctor, Chew, really just any Image comic that looks creative or is written by Robert Kirkman.

On the DC52 front, I've been following Action Comics, Justice League International, and Blue Beetle. I loved the last Blue Beetle and Booster Gold series, and so far these titles at least haven't offended me yet. Though it is a little depressing knowing the old series won't be continued anymore, especially Blue Beetle. After three issues the new series hasn't quite lived up to its predecessor, but the last series took a little while to really get going so I won't render judgment yet. I'm enjoying JLI a lot more, probably my favorite DC52 series at the moment, though I haven't read the core JL book yet. Action Comics has been....okay. Its beginning to get more interesting now, I'm beginning to like Superman a bit more.

Also been reading Atomic Robo. I'll let one of the FCBD issues speak for me:

http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/07/24/free-comic-book-day-2009/

[Chaosmaster8753]

On my reading of Geoff Johns' Green Lantern run, I just finished #20 and am about to start the Sinestro Corps War once my library hold gets in. What are everyone's thoughts on the DC52 current run on Green Lantern with Sinestro being re-recruited into the Green Lantern Corps?

[SOUP]

@nuckles87:  I'll definitely be jumping into Image comics once Saga launches next year.  I've never read anything else from the studio though :-/.
I'm right there with you on Action Comics.  I have faith in Grant Morrison building an impressive ongoing tale though.

@Chaosmaster8753:  The new Green Lantern issues are what convinced me to pick up all the issues between Sinestro Corps War and now.   The idea of Sinestro as a GL again seemed a bit odd to me, but after reading the new issues, it doesn't really seem all that weird anymore.  The dynamic between Sinestro and Hal in the new issues is really interesting. I'm mostly intrigued to see read everything that lead up to this point, and where things are going to go from here.

In the meantime, I'm going to read some more Sinestro Corps War :D.

[Chaosmaster8753]

Recently finished this:

[SOUP]

@Chaosmaster8753:
How was the JLA book?