Please consider adding your quick impressions and your rating to the game entry in our Board Game Directory after you post your thoughts so others can find them!
Please start new threads in the appropriate category for mini-session reports, discussions of specific games or other discussion starting posts.
Since you mentioned Conan, I preordered the four volume set of The Cimmerian graphic novels. Also a French comic, these books are collections of the REH stories, with each story accompanied by a comic version. So you get both the written original and then a drawn version. I think the stories are done by different artists.
I have the first four full-color, softcover reprint trades of the Marvel Comics version of Conan from the early '70s. Lovely artwork from Barry Smith on quality paper, and fine adaptations of the Howard stories by Roy Thomas. Even though these were Marvel issues, these reprints were published by Dark Horse Comics while they held the Conan license. One of these volumes includes a two-part team-up between Conan and Elric. Now Titan Comics has the Conan license.
Brian Clevinger’s Atomic Robo is just fun. There are shades of humor from his classic webcomic 8-Bit Theater, but Robo has a light touch that makes fighting Lovecraftian horrors and Nazi genetic monstrosities and super tanks fun without fully losing their threat. Cameos by Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking are fun. Would make a great series on any streaming service.
Vanish is my first miss by Donny Cates. There’s a hint of something interesting in a Harry Potter-type chosen one living a dissolute life years after killing the great villain and trying to get his mojo back when the henchmen return, but it gets lost in the Image Comics ultra violence.
Juni Ba’s Djeliya was a surprise delight, especially for a first release. With a gorgeous and expressive art reminiscent of woodblock prints, Djeliya draws on west African folklore in a cyberpunk setting where no one blinks at the warthog wizard and the royal storyteller is a DJ. Storytelling and themes are more subtle and interesting thanI expected, too. Absolute winner I’d recommend to anyone, and a writer I’ll be watching out for.
I am reading the original Iron Man run, mostly for the first time. I first became a fan in the mid-'70s, but Iron Man has been around since 1963. I skipped over his early run in Tales of Suspense for now, because I usually don't enjoy Marvel comics written before the late '60s. There was a time in the late '70s and early '80s where I was making steady money from a paper route and some part-time gigs, and I spent a fair amount of that money on back issues. At the time, new comics cost maybe $0.30 an issue, and some pretty good back issues were selling for just $0.75 or $1.00. But I wasn't buying back issues of Iron Man, because so many of the covers depicted weird or lame villains that never appeared again. So I was surprised at the quality of the writing by Archie Goodwin on these early issues. Decent melodrama and action, good character development, and relevant issues of the day, including pollution and violent protests.
I just finished a large Joker collection called Death of the Family. Joker attempts to kill all of Batman's sidekicks, helpers, etc.
It took me forever, mainly because it is dull. It also has shockingly little Batman in it. Joker had, at a point before this book started, cut his own face off, and then stapled it back on, so he looks horrific through the whole book.
mezike wrote: Rebellion currently have a Humble Bundle deal on - complete arcs for Slaine, Brink, Niklai Dante, Devlin Waugh, Caballistics/Absalom, along with a sprinkling of Dredd.
Humble Bundle - Rebellion
The deal is worth it alone for all five books of Brink ("true detective in space") which is one of the best things I've read in a long time and gets the highest recommendation from me, so the cheaper $10 bundle with Caballistics, Absalom and Waugh is an absolute steal.
I started Brink and it is quite good!
The following user(s) said Thank You: mezike, sornars
I'm reading Invincible Compendium One. I'm about 3/4 of the way through, and it's light fun, but it feels sort of like a diluted Planetary. I don't know that I'm going to read the other compendia.
I am still reading old Iron Man comics, and am currently right in the middle of the highly-regarded Demon in a Bottle storyline. As far as I know, this remains the single best Iron Man story arc in his entire history. Sad to think that the character may have peaked in 1979. The writing is excellent compared to other comics of that era, smoothly and steadily foreshadowing Stark's alcoholism. Unfortunately, subsequent writers became obsessed with the topic, leading to several years of stories with Stark repeatedly hitting rock bottom while his friend takes over the Iron Man mantle.
I’m not sure what to think of Alan Moore’s Miracleman. It’s not as good as Watchmen or most of his later works. The storytelling isn’t as tight and a few characters are introduced to do nothing. But it’s also so much darker than anything in Watchmen. I’m not even talking the obvious stuff, the battle in London or the rape. All awful, of course, but not cutting to the core of humanity like Michael Moran’s arc. Reading Miracleman is to read Dr. Manhattan’s disassociation with humanity over two hundred pages instead of a single chapter. And then he wins, completely and totally.
On the other end of the spectrum Ryan North’s Squirrel Girl is straight fun. Sometimes she wins with punches and sometimes she wins with conversation, but she always wins. And you want her to win. An easy character to cheer for. Erica Henderson’s art is gorgeous and energetic and a great fit for the stories.