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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 16, 2023 23:12:35 GMT -5
So since Hoopla sadly removed Cinebook I decided to try to buy some...buying directly is prohibitively expensive after shipping (14 Euros + 4 per book!) After seemingly much longer than it was supposed to be a got a couple of their new releases from my regular shop (they do sell on Diamond, but seemingly just new releases).
The one I read today was Outlaws by Slyvain Runeberg and amazing art by Eric Chabbert. It's apparently a spin off (maybe it'll be on my list in 10 years) of a Orbital It features a semi-distant future where Earth was let into the Federation (not actually called that, but it's the same idea), but humans are considered ugly and dumb as the newest member. The focus is on a human that is being transported by space coyotes (the human smuggler kind, not the Wily ones) to a new planet for a new start, but of course it doesn't go well.
It's a pretty basic story, but the characters are good and the ships, alien cityscapes, and the aliens themselves are great.. tons of variety and great backgrounds. The main series seems to have a different artist but looks pretty similar, so hoping ebay comes through for me to pick it up.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 19, 2023 22:05:46 GMT -5
Danger Street #3 and #4 came in the mail today, and I already have #5, so I read all three of them when I got home from work.
I’m still really liking the series. I’m a big fan of Lady Cop, and it looks like Tom King is taking great care to stay true to the character and give her some good scenes. I really like all the Lady Cop scenes.
My only gripe is that there’s a few scenes where I’m a bit confused about what’s going on. Like, what’s up with the glass arm? And why did Manhunter stop himself from killing one of the Green Team characters, and then go back and do it later? There’s a few things like that. I figure when I reach #6, I’ll start over and read it a little more slowly.
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Post by Batflunkie on Dec 22, 2023 14:30:58 GMT -5
Read Wesley Dodds: The Sandman #1 thru #3 yesterday. I like Vendetti's writing in most cases, but sometimes his ambition for a book makes it both too ambitious and under/overwhelming. It was interesting seeing him pen a book that wasn't in his usual repertoire of space escapades (Green Lantern/X-O Manowar) and the art by Riley Rossmo is a curious mix of cartoony and realistic (almost kind of reminded me of the artwork for Wagner's Sandman Mystery Theatre). Plot wise, somebody has stolen Wesley's journal containing his formula for his sleep gas after he tried and failed to sell it to a military contractor
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 24, 2023 10:19:34 GMT -5
Danger Street #6 and #7 came in the mail yesterday. So I read them before going to bed. I already have #8, and I’ll probably get to it in the next couple of hours.
I still like the series, but I am finding the fairytalesque framing to be getting rather tedious. Five more issues with that? I am really glad I am reading this spread out over several weeks. I think it would be quite a chore if I was trying to read all 12 issues over the weekend.
But I have to say, it was pretty neat to see Mighty Mary show up. I read First Issue Special #10 last week, and ever since then I’ve been thinking, what is the deal with Mighty Mary? I still don’t know what the deal is, but it was still pretty cool to see the Outsiders.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 24, 2023 11:55:14 GMT -5
I just read Danger Street #8. That scene with Lady Cop and the Creeper made me laugh out loud.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 27, 2023 14:54:43 GMT -5
Climate Crisis Chronicleswriter: Ethan Sacks, artist: Dalibor Talajic, colors: Lee Loughridge (AWA, 2022)  This collects the web comic of the same name that can be found at this link, which was launched sometime in the spring of 2022; it’s done in the same format as the earlier COVID Chronicles. As one would suspect t from the subject matter, this is not necessarily an easy or pleasant read, but it is informative and very worthwhile. A personal highlight for me is that my article on this book at the Atomic Junk Shop got blurbed on the back cover: 
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 28, 2023 9:51:17 GMT -5
I’ve now got every issue of Danger Street but I’ve been kind of busy and haven’t been able to get to all of them yet. I read #9 on Tuesday night. It doesn’t skip around from one character to another. It focuses only on a fight between Manhunter and Codename: Assassin. They talk a lot during the fight. It is ludicrous. I was rolling my eyes a lot until it hit me that it’s a parody of a comic-book super-hero fight. It must be. Once I realized that, I started the issue over again at the beginning and was laughing out loud most of the way through.
Also, this issue doesn’t have that fairytale narration that was driving me batty.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2023 22:51:19 GMT -5
Is anyone reading 'Kill Your Darlings'? I'm curious about it....
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Dec 29, 2023 4:19:40 GMT -5
 Latest read: Finally got to Bone More Tall Tales by Jeff Smith, Tom Sniegoski, Stan Sakai, Matt Smith, Katie Cook, Scott Brown & Tom Gaadt. Absolutely delightful collection of short stories. Wonderful to see Stan Sakai and Matt Smith unleashed in the world of the Bone cousins. -M |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 30, 2023 6:08:55 GMT -5
Hotell v2(tpb collecting Hotell Volume 2 #1-5; AWA 2022)  This second volume reunites the same creative team, i.e., writer John Lees, artist Dalibor Talajić and colorist Lee Loughridge, who again take us through some truly unsettling tales of terror at the Pierrot Courts Hotel somewhere on Route 66. Not much I can add here that I didn’t say in my review of the first volume upthread; we again see various wayward, emotionally troubled travelers stop over and get their world turned upside down. In this volume in particular, the fourth chapter really resonated with me, as it involves a guy travelling cross-country with his aging, ailing dog to check out the possibility of some kind of experimental treatment. Also, in this newer series, we learn a little more about the nature of the hotel itself. You’ll probably really like this you like horror, esp. psychological but also body horror – which I don’t necessarily, but can appreciate it when it’s well done. My main criticisms are really minor peeves, including one I noted in my review of the first volume, i.e., that the Pierrot Courts is actually a motel (I just can’t seem to let that one go…). Also, I really think that whoever did the cover logo design at AWA really missed the ball: instead of what they ended up using, they should have used the lettering on the roadside sign that often appears in the story: 
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 31, 2023 4:52:57 GMT -5
Black Tape(tpb collecting Black Tape #1-4, AWA, 2023) writer: Dan Panosian, artist: Dalibor Talajić, colors: Ive Svorcina  Another supernatural horror story; this one is set in Los Angeles in 1973, and is centered on a character named Cindy, the young recent bride of Jack King, the charismatic and wildly popular frontman of a hard-rock (proto-metal) band who incorporated Satanic themes into his lyrics. After Jack’s mysterious death on stage (that happens in the first pages of the story), Cindy tries to cope with being a young widow. Jack’s manager, the head of his record label, and even an ex-groupie all seem to want to help her, but it turns out that all have ulterior motives and what turns out to be a dark agenda – because it would appear that all of the Satanic stuff is more than just for show, and the missing the master tapes to Jack’s final album seem to be crucial to that agenda… Satanism, rock music and the early ‘70s are a perennially ideal combination for good stories, and set-up is pretty well done, but ultimately I was disappointed with the follow-through here. Panosian, who’s better known as an artist, probably should have collaborated with another writer to polish his script a bit. The art by Talajić (as well as the colors by countryman Svorcina) is quite lovely throughout. I’d say it deserves a better story. The tpb, by the way, has some nice extras, like all of the variant covers (including a lovely one by Walt Simonson) and promotional materials like this faux rock magazine cover and concert poster: 
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 31, 2023 11:34:36 GMT -5
I finished Danger Street a couple of days ago. It’s really good! One of the best things I read this year. Maybe the best!
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Jan 7, 2024 23:34:59 GMT -5
 Not sure when the first issue dropped, but I read it via hoopla, and I know the second issue isn't out yet, so I am mentioning it here rather than one of the Off the Racks threads. Ministry of Compliance #1 by John Ridley and Steffano Raffaele. A sci-fi thriller centered on a covert alien invasion of earth where the invaders try to "devolve" the earth's civilization to destabilize it to prepare it for absorption. The invaders are organized into a number of ministries, and the protagonist is the head of the Ministry of Compliance in the title, the section whose job it is to keep everyone in line. Except everything hits the fan, the Prime Minister is recalled just before the start of the absorption was to be announced throwing the alien operation on earth into chaos, and it seems there is an earther faction aware fo their presence and leading some kind of underground resistance to them. And it falls on the shoulders of our minister of compliance to try to hold it all together. It's an interesting premise by Ridley, and his choice to have the protagonist be the alien's chief enforcer is different form most takes I have seen on this scenario. Lots of twists and turns in the first issue, which was well executed, but a bit heavy on plot and a little spare on character development, but still very good and enough to get me to want to read issue #2. I remember Raffaelle's art from early in his career doing stuff for DC in the 90s but haven't seen a lot of it since. It's very good. Not sure I'm in for the long haul yet, but I'm in to see where it goes for a few issues before deciding. I'm not sure if this is intended as an ongoing or has a set number of issues planned. -M |
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Post by wickedmountain on Jan 8, 2024 0:46:20 GMT -5
Pickhead #1
Pickhead #2
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Jan 8, 2024 1:32:22 GMT -5
Been catching up on the Tom Taylor Nightwing run via hoopla. I've read the 1st three trades now. This is some very good modern super-hero comics. Great cast, good characterization, and a story that hooks your interest, all well told visually. Still have more to catch up on, but good on the folks who have been talking this up here and got me to try it. Really enjoyed the read so far.
-M
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