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Kevin Klemme
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Mycelia Board Game Review

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River Wild Board Game Review

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Outback Crossing Review

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What COMIC BOOKS have you been reading?

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28 Nov 2012 07:30 #138526 by dragonstout
Finished BATWOMAN: ELEGY. I take back my wishy-washiness earlier, the writing is flat-out good, whether that's due to the extra writing the artist is doing or due to Rucka is irrelevant (there was a completely idiotic exchange, however, where Kate asks her dad, understandably, why her boots have high heels, to which he explains "they were the only boots available in red": are you kidding me, THAT's your justification from a soldier for a TERRIBLE combat decision?). Complaining that it's a lesbian being written by a straight man is ridiculous; if we need every gay character to be written by gay authors, there will be *even fewer* gay characters than there already are. There are plenty of great characters with a different gender than their writer, so fuck that.

There was a completely fantastic and moving scene at the end of the 6th chapter made moving almost purely through art style, the what-has-been-established-as-"superhero" art style clashing with the "Year One" art style. That blew me away.

The ultimate reason it's not necessarily one to buy for the collection for me, though, is that it's very NOT done-in-one. It's an origin story, not that satisfying, and it'll depend heavily on whether the follow-ups continued to be good (and eventually satisfying).
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04 Dec 2012 20:55 - 04 Dec 2012 20:57 #138927 by dragonstout
I'm halfway through Grant Morrison's JOE THE BARBARIAN. Has anyone else here read this? I almost always finish what I start, and Morrison is one of my favorites, but I care *so little* about what's going on that I'm definitely just dropping it unless someone here convinces me not to. The problem so far is that there is nothing at all surprising: we know that the main character is hallucinating while having a hypo attack, which makes it so I'm much more interested in what's going to actually happen to him in the real world than what's happening in what we *know* to be a figment of his imagination. I'm sure the lines between reality and fantasy will be blurred as we get closer to the conclusion, but the fantasy story is so standard and uninteresting, and even the world, action, and signature Morrison "crazy ideas" fail to interest me (once again, probably because I have zero investment in whether the imaginary pirates die or whatever). There also just *aren't* any genuine crazy ideas.

Read a few short HELLBOY stories: liked them a lot more than expected! I get so much enjoyment just out of the art, the action, the color, and the folklore, that I don't care that they're completely insubstantial stories.

I think I'm just gonna say "screw it" to all this library checkout chaff and read BUILDING STORIES, the mainstream crap feels like work.
Last edit: 04 Dec 2012 20:57 by dragonstout.

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04 Dec 2012 20:59 #138928 by metalface13

dragonstout wrote: Read a few short HELLBOY stories: liked them a lot more than expected! I get so much enjoyment just out of the art, the action, the color, and the folklore, that I don't care that they're completely insubstantial stories.


Hellboy was best when Mignola was drawing it.
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04 Dec 2012 22:32 #138933 by Michael Barnes
Marshal Law. Never read it. Fucking rules.

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04 Dec 2012 23:17 #138935 by SleightOfHand12
Just want to express that I am so grateful to have a Comics post here. I'm still playing catch-up from the other big comics thread, but I've read a ton of great stuff on y'all's recommendations, and I'm happy to see the discussion continued here.

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04 Dec 2012 23:26 - 04 Dec 2012 23:28 #138937 by dragonstout

Michael Barnes wrote: Marshal Law. Never read it. Fucking rules.

Dang, that's one I've always meant to read...looks like a nice fat hardcover comes out early next year, I'll pick it up. It holds up, apparently? I'm always a little skeptical of the bajillions of 80s "satire" comics. Does American Flagg hold up?

Speaking of hardcovers of European sci-fi comics: Metabarons, Technopriests, or Incal, what's the best out of those?

And where in the hell does one start with Judge Dredd, if at all? Talk about overwhelming...
Last edit: 04 Dec 2012 23:28 by dragonstout.

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05 Dec 2012 00:48 #138940 by OldHippy

Michael Barnes wrote: Marshal Law. Never read it. Fucking rules.


The first trade is great. The series gets weaker after that and seems a little over the top at times, like it's trying too hard to be shocking and deconstruct the super hero. But it has Kevin O'Neill so that is a huge plus and the main reason I bought all three trades and I do enjoy the whole series regardless.

On Hellboy, I love those stories. The first trade is weaker but once Mignola gets on board with writing it himself it's fantastic up until the point where he stops drawing. The art is at least half of the enjoyment and the book is just stunning to look at.

I just finished reading through the last few Invincible trades. I really enjoy that series even though I know it's crap. It makes me feel like I'm 9 years old sneaking a flashlight under the covers to read for a few more minutes. That's magic right there. For my money it's Kirkmans best work.

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05 Dec 2012 01:23 #138944 by dragonstout

JonJacob wrote: I just finished reading through the last few Invincible trades. I really enjoy that series even though I know it's crap. It makes me feel like I'm 9 years old sneaking a flashlight under the covers to read for a few more minutes. That's magic right there. For my money it's Kirkmans best work.

We feel similarly (except I'm pretty sure you like it better)! Definitely better than Walking Dead. I enjoyed sitting in bookstores and reading their Invincible trades, just as much as I knew I had zero interest in ever buying one, though it would have been a major highlight for me in junior high & high school. Some great, unpredictable twists, and the shocking violence works incredibly well with the cartoonier art style.

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05 Dec 2012 19:50 #138977 by Dair
dragonstout, I thought Joe the Barbarian was very average. I'm probably not as big a Morrison fan as many around here, but I just never felt sucked in. I also thought the art was very difficult to follow. It seemed overly detailed and cluttered. I had borrowed the trade from a friend and he asked if I wanted to keep it. I declined and he seemed sad to take it back. That says it all right there.

On another note, I just finished reading both Bulletproof Coffin minis. I really enjoyed the first one, and would highly recommend it. The second trade was decidely uneven. I might give it a re-read to see if it gets any better (I definitely want to re-read the "84" issue with the jumbled up images as the concept intrigues me), but at this point, I would steer people away from it.

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05 Dec 2012 20:04 #138978 by dragonstout

Dair wrote: dragonstout, I thought Joe the Barbarian was very average...I had borrowed the trade from a friend and he asked if I wanted to keep it. I declined and he seemed sad to take it back. That says it all right there.

Ouch. I decided halfway through was enough and gave it back to the library. I've started Building Stories, I think I'm about 7 pages into the little golden book and I've already been blown away twice, once by a powerful formal trick and once (well, honestly, constantly) by Ware's incredible skill at observation, which pulls me into the book and makes it feel real like nothing I've read in years and years.
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05 Dec 2012 20:18 #138979 by DukeofChutney
my copy of the new hard back two volume edition of Nausicaa just came through so i've started that.

Also read a few comics i picked up at thought bubble (leeds comic con) last month including; Moon (a comic about a special agent, who happens to be the moon spirit), Orbital ( a french sci fi comic about two UN peace negotiators in a interracial space confederation), and Saga.

Saga is surprisingly mint. Its essentially a romeo and juliet story but if the later conceived and had a child. Its funny and has a cool setting. I've only read the 1st volume so i have no idea if it maintains its quality. Dragonstout, do you have it all in your imporium? If so i might be interested in taking it off you.

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05 Dec 2012 20:23 #138980 by Dair
Duke, Saga only has one volume so far. I've been digging it too; glad to see not everyone is a Brian K Vaughn hater around here.

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05 Dec 2012 21:12 #138983 by dragonstout
Just decided to put a hold on Saga at the library, I'll probably have finished Building Stories by then and will be able to tell from the first issue whether it'll drive me crazy or not.

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05 Dec 2012 21:46 #138985 by OldHippy

dragonstout wrote: I've started Building Stories, I think I'm about 7 pages into the little golden book and I've already been blown away twice, once by a powerful formal trick and once (well, honestly, constantly) by Ware's incredible skill at observation, which pulls me into the book and makes it feel real like nothing I've read in years and years.


I'm reading it right now too. I'm not going to say anything until I'm done but based on past books I've always loved the way Ware's comics look and thought his writing was forced and awkward. I'm hoping he convinces me otherwise by the end of this one.

Still, I always buy what he writes so my problems can't be that bad.

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05 Dec 2012 22:13 #138987 by Michael Barnes
Speaking of hardcovers of European sci-fi comics: Metabarons, Technopriests, or Incal, what's the best out of those?

Most would probably say (and probably rightly) Incal. But it's now apparently out of print again, at least the ORIGINAL book. I actually emailed Humanoids to see when it's going to be available again, no response.

Try Metabarons. It's REALLY cool. Jodorowsky used some of his ideas from the scrapped Dino De Laurentis version of Dune that was in preproduction in the 70s, and it shows. It feels very Dune...but it makes some CRAZY departures. There is some totally bad ass sci-fi stuff in it, but there's this almost folky, mythic quality to it. The art is obnoxiously great, too...some of the best space battle images I've seen in a while.

I want the Technopriests book that comes out like...today, I think?


And where in the hell does one start with Judge Dredd, if at all? Talk about overwhelming...

Ah, christ...what are there, like 16 volumes of Complete Case Files now?

It's hard to say. I started sort of at random around '86-'87 with the old Fleetway issues, some imported 2000AD weeklys, and the ancient Titan Books trades. But it was actually easier to get involved then.

I would say start with either Complete Case Files 3, 4, or 5. Those contain most of the really great Pat Mills/John Wagner/Carlos Ezquerra/Brian Bolland material. 4 is really good, but the first story in it is the Judge Child Quest, which isn't really represntative of the typical Dredd saga- it's a space journey thing, not much Mega City crime or anything like that. That said, the remainder of the book gets Dredd back on the street in some iconic stories. Like the one about the Ugly Clinics.

Book five puts you into the Apocalypse War, which is one of the biggest, most ambitious stories. VERY 1980s.

I think three has the first Judge Death stuff, which is awesome.

I really haven't read any of the later books...but IDW just put out a new reboot #1 that looks pretty good.
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