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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 19, 2023 10:31:34 GMT -5
 Finished up a partial re-read/partial first read of The Good Asian by Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefenkgi. I read the first four or five issues when they were coming out and then got side-tracked on to other things and never finished it up. Eidson Hark is a Chinese-American detective looking for a missing girl in 1936 Chinatown. In the course of that investigation he also ends up looking for a killer who appears to be a tong hatchet-man. Hark isn't just any P.I. He's a member of the Honolulu Police Department, the only department in the U.S. (though Hawaii was a territory at the time) that had any Asian-American detectives. And really the most interesting part about the book is the history lesson that Pichetshote and Tefenkgi give to us about the history of Chinese in America. In 1936 the Chinese Exclusion Act was still in effect in the U.S. and had been for fifty years. Racism against Chinese and Chinese-Americans was rampant, particularly in California. And it wasn't just Chinese. There was a very nasty period of racism against Filipinos, again, particularly in California that is frequently glossed over in our history. The Good Asian does a great job of pointing this history out in a compelling and organic way. I really loved the first half of the series. I just think that Pichetshote got a little lost about where he was going part of the way through. And reading through the back matter I think he acknowledges that he changed the story and that the book went an issue longer than planned. Which isn't to say it's bad, but he absolutely didn't stick the landing and the third act is very weak. Still I would highly recommend it. The setting is something we just don't see almost at all in comics and very damn seldom in prose. And it is frequently compelling. I also recommend the individual issues if you can get them. There is a lot of interesting historical stuff in the back pages that I'm not sure made it in to the collected editions. |
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Post by majestic on Jul 20, 2023 16:06:34 GMT -5
Skipping DC's current Knight Terrors 2 month event. Picked up the Convergence issues from 2015. This week I read the Blue Beetle and Plastic Man/Freedom Fighters issues. Both were enjoyable.
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Post by majestic on Jul 26, 2023 18:52:24 GMT -5
Radiant Black Vol I (#1-6). I usually buy Image titles in trade form. Been reading some good reviews on this title so I picked up the first volume. It has influences from multiple sources. I like the swerve at the end of #4. Didn't expect that. Overall it has grabbed my attention. I will getting the rest of the series over the next few months.
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Post by Batflunkie on Aug 4, 2023 8:55:19 GMT -5
Read MacKay's Moon Night #1-#11, Adams' Green Lantern #1-#2 and the respective Knight Terrors issue, and Porter's Superboy: The Man Of Tomorrow #1-#2
I read the first couple of issues of MacKay's Moon Knight when they first came out and going back and binge reading them was great. All of the Moon Knight series have been good since Ellis' revamp, but MacKay has really knocked it out of the park.
Adams has been on a hot streak since his tenure on Flash and his Green Lantern so far has not disappointed. Same intense action and character drama
Superboy: The Man Of Tomorrow though? I originally wanted to read it because it's been the only thing in literal ages to feature Connor. It feels like a slow burn comic to me with Connor feeling like Earth is pretty much taken care of with all the superheroes protecting it, so he travels to outer space to protect a planet from Dominator clones
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Post by Trevor on Aug 25, 2023 15:13:07 GMT -5
Finally read the hardcover of Wonder Woman: Dead Earth by Daniel Warren Johnson and wow, it was beautiful in every way. Makes me excited to dive into his creator owned stuff like Murder Falcon and then the forthcoming Transformers stuff.
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The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,916 
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Post by The Captain on Aug 29, 2023 13:02:19 GMT -5
I wasn’t sure where else to put this, as it’s a question about a modern comic that I DIDN’T read that is connected to a modern book that I DID read.
I’m reading the new Incredible Hulk series, which I’m really enjoying, but as I didn’t read Al Ewing’s Immortal Hulk series, can someone explain what “The Green Door” is all about?
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Post by majestic on Aug 29, 2023 15:08:02 GMT -5
The green door is the entrance into where gamma mutated creatures go when they die. For some they can pass back thru it to be alive again.
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Post by Ricky Jackson on Aug 30, 2023 9:30:51 GMT -5
The Green Door basically connects Earth with a dimension that is essentially Hell. Exposure to gamma radiation allows the door to be opened and for the person exposed to be merged with part of the Hell dimension. This of course then causes a transformation, sometimes/often monstrous (Hulk) but not always (Leader). Or something
(I'm up to issue 40 of Immortal Hulk, so there may be more to it that I haven't got to yet)
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 4, 2023 19:34:54 GMT -5
read the 1st trade of Waid and Mora's World's Finest...I definitely didn't like it as much as most seem to. Mora is amazing, and Waid's character beats are pretty fun, but the story was decidedly meh. Nezha seemed to be completely unstoppable.. until he wasn't. I hate that.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 17, 2023 12:53:55 GMT -5
Arrowsmith: Behind Enemy Linesby Kurt Busiek, Carlos Pacheco and Jose Rafael Fonteriz, 2022  Just got through reading the long-awaited follow-up to the first Arrowsmith mini-series from 2003 over the weekend. It’s set in the spring of 1916, and at this point airman Fletcher Arrowsmith is a somewhat more hardened veteran of many battles – although he still hasn’t lost his basic decency and humanity even if he has shed the idealism that led him to run away from home in the United States of Columbia and join the war effort in far-off Europe. In the first chapter he gets shot down in aerial combat and becomes a POW. However, we learn that this was a bit of subterfuge: he’s actually on a secret mission and his capture was deliberate, because Albionese (i.e., British) intelligence wants him to make contact with another spy in the camp. Once he does, their real task can finally begin. Like the first one, this is a very engrossing and beautifully drawn story. It does a great job of fleshing out the world Arrowsmith lives in, and is again an often an excellent commentary on the brutality of war. However, I have to admit that I liked the first one better for several reasons; a minor quibble is I liked the art a bit more in that one, because I think Jesus Merino’s inks really take Pacheco’s already beautiful art to the next level. A more serious criticism would be the fact that this one ends in a cliffhanger, i.e., it’s very much the middle part of a bigger story – uniike the first series, which obviously left open the possibility of more but can nonetheless be appreciated as a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. I hope Busiek won’t need another almost two decades to write the continuation, although in any case any further installments will unfortunately no longer have Pacheco’s art.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 17, 2023 14:50:12 GMT -5
I agree with your thoughts on Arrowsmith... it's sad it seems unlikely Busiek will ever be a prolific writer again.
A couple of the non-superhero series I've been reading ended this pile...
Hunt. Kill. repeat (Mad Cave) - The final showdown was pretty satisfying and had an unexpected twist, but the end was extremely abrupt... you'd think when the guy that runs the publishing company is the writer he'd have as much space as needed, so I can only assume that's on purpose. I'd say it's worth reading if you're a Greek Mythology fan, but maybe not necessarily otherwise.
Barnstormers (Dark Horse) - I WOULD recommend to anyone, great book, and I'm not usually a Scott Snyder fan. It's a period piece where a down on his luck pilot ends up crashing a wedding of a local big shot and end up on the run. The art is painted (or maybe it's just effects, hard to say these days) and is perfect for the story. I'm sure it'll make a great trade.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 19, 2023 9:31:56 GMT -5
I’m reading the Astro City arc with Crackerjack and Quarrel, #18 to #21, from 2015. One of my favorite Astro City stories. It’s also my favorite Green Arrow and Black Canary story. I love Black Canary but I don’t think her long-term relationship with Oliver makes any sense at all.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 19, 2023 12:41:25 GMT -5
read the 1st trade of Waid and Mora's World's Finest...I definitely didn't like it as much as most seem to. Mora is amazing, and Waid's character beats are pretty fun, but the story was decidedly meh. Nezha seemed to be completely unstoppable.. until he wasn't. I hate that. Nezha definitely wasn't a great villain but I loved the tone an energy of the book. |
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Nov 28, 2023 17:28:30 GMT -5
One of my favorite things I bought and read over the last 5-6 months was the OGN Shadows over Thule from Humanoids (it's a translated version)  A sword & sorcery tale set in Ancient Rome (which seems to be a common trend based on how many S&S stories set in Rome I have wound up reading as I explored the handful of modern S&S anthologies I picked up over the last 6 months) and dealing with the Celts/Picts/Druidism and a Lovecraftian Eldritch horror lurking behind it all. Great S&S stuff, incredible art and a roller coaster ride of a story. -M |
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Nov 28, 2023 17:44:26 GMT -5
What new stuff have I been reading & enjoying?
Marvel-the only 2 Marvel books I have kept buying are Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch. I fell into one of those not-in-a-Marvel-mood phases just before I left in June and I've not been keeping up with a lot of Marvel stuff like I had been via Unlimited. It will still be there for me to read when the mood changes though.
DC-aside from the Scooby Doo & Looney Tunes stuff, I've actually been picking up and reading more DC stuff recently. I'm getting Batman/Superman World's Finest, Batman: Brave & the Bold, Titans, World's Finest Teen Titans, Birds of Prey, Shazam and Wonder Woman. I almost dropped all of it during the Knight Terrors event which interrupted Shazam and Titans stories though. I've been picking up Danger Street as well. Hawkgirl has been abysmal though.
Indy-The Titan Conan book is perhaps my favorite thing coming out, followed in a close second by the Usagi Yojimbo stuff. The new Red Sonja series by Gronbekk and Geovani has been vary good as well, and Savage Red Sonja written by Dan Panosian had a solid start. Black Cloak is delightful (though its on hiatus between arcs), and The Hunger and the Dusk (written by G. Willow Wilson) has been amazing as well. I've been getting a bunch of other stuff as well-The Crusader, Dead Romans, Count Dante, Blue Book, the DVLSTRY stuff (got the sampler and Gone so far, Somna is on my pull as are some of the other forthcoming stuff), The Frazetta stuff from Opus & the Sanjulian Lost Queens book, the D&D related stuff from IDW, Harriet Tubman: Demon Slayer, Newburn, whatever Brubaker/Phillips projects get released (NightFever was very good and I am looking forward to Where The Body Was), and various and sundry OGN that catch my eye.
My pull is probably bigger than it has been in a while, but a lot of my Marvel/DC pulls have been various facsimile and reprint editions not current stuff, though my DC pulls have been growing recently.
-M
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