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Post by paulie on Jun 16, 2014 14:00:25 GMT -5
What other runs in that series are worth reading? I only have the middle of delano's run (and morrison's) - is milligan's worth a go? my vertigo "collection" is a mess and I need to sort it out because those late 80s dc into vertigo book are just such a sweet spot for me. What else is worth a go? - i have doom patrol, the first 25 issues of shade, black orchid, enigma, extremist - couldnt quite get into Sandman - and magic books like Hellblazer are a bit of a turn off although I did read a story called "how i learned to love the bomb" and enjoyed that one. Milligan's run is absolutely worth it. It's as good as Morrison's, in my opinion.
Tom Veitch's run started out well, but it just limped home to its climax. I think Tom and his editor Tom Peyer were more interesting in writing their Punisher knock-off "The Penalizer" than Animal Man, which Ellen was illustrating in story at the time. Overall, I'd say it was better than most superhero comics at the time, but not in the league of the best of Animal Man. It is also Steve Dillon's first ongoing work in the N American medium, and he was paired with an inker that really made his stuff look great. Worth reading, especially as it has now been collected in full. (The first volume actually includes Milligan's run.)
From early Vertigo, I'd recommend Sandman Mystery Theatre above all for the launch books. Kid Eternity was a bit inpenetrable at first, but found its way after a few issues and had some early Sean Phillips art. Swamp Thing under Nancy Collins was solid, but Mark Millar's run is actually very good. (He could write with some depth back then.) Peter Milligan's "E" books: Enigma, The Extremist, and Egypt, although Egypt is definitely the least of them. John Smith's Scarab is an interesting book-- it was supposed to be a Dr Fate revamp, but eventually became it's own thing. JM DeMatteis had a few interesting books. Obviously, there were the long running books like Sandman, Hellblazer, and Shade, the Changing Man. Morrison's Invisibles.
Hmmmm, I have the entire series except like 84, 86 and it is Milligan's run that I find unreadable.
Animal Man is actually on the docket for later summer but I might bump it up on your suggestion. Maybe I'll just start with Milligan's run on your rec'.
The Veitch run is easy to get through but I found it lacking in substance. Delano's run is excellent all the way through.
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Post by Cei-U! on Jun 17, 2014 19:02:49 GMT -5
Yay! 1966 issues are done! Sooooo hard to plow through the "high camp" crap DC was spewing in the heat of the Batmania craze!
Cei-U!
I mark the progress!
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 17, 2014 23:38:49 GMT -5
Yay! 1966 issues are done! Sooooo hard to plow through the "high camp" crap DC was spewing in the heat of the Batmania craze! Cei-U! I mark the progress! Is this the go-go checks era?
I haven't read every issue of Detective Comics, but I've read them all from #500 on and I bet I've read a third of the issues from #300 to #499. And there's one issue that stands out as being the worst issue of Detective Comics that I've ever seen. And that's #364. It's just so awful. I can hardly stand it. I don't know how fans can make fun of the Jack Schiff era when an issue like #364 exists. (It's the one where some mysterious criminal is baffling them at every turn. And Alfred is really, really tired all the time. Could there be a connection?!?!?)
Is that 1966? If it isn't, it should be.
Ugh!!
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 17, 2014 23:48:52 GMT -5
With Batman, I find that you can read 1939-1949 (basically the Golden Age) skip the Silver Age almost entirely (perhaps reading the Infantino issues of Batman/Detective) and go right to O'Neil/Adams/Aparo era. The Golden Age laid down all the essential ground work, while the Bronze Age perfected the formula; Silver Age Batman mostly gave us extraneous crap that's best left discarded.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 18, 2014 0:09:00 GMT -5
If you skip Silver Age Batman entirely, you are missing a lot of good stories.
Like "Prisoners of Three Worlds." And "The Clayface/Joker Feud." And the first appearance of Catman.
And Bat-Baby!
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,874
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Post by shaxper on Jun 18, 2014 8:29:26 GMT -5
I've been reading the X-Tinction Agenda for the first time since I was 12.
It has not held up.
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Post by paulie on Jun 18, 2014 8:37:20 GMT -5
I've been reading the X-Tinction Agenda for the first time since I was 12. It has not held up. Said 93.7% of people who have re-read X-Tinction Agenda in the last decade.
And the way it's X-Tinction instead of Extinction is silly.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2014 8:42:43 GMT -5
I've been reading the X-Tinction Agenda for the first time since I was 12. It has not held up. I had trouble getting through it the first time I read it, as it was released, and never had a desire to reread it. My wife however, has it in trade as well as the original issues, but her only period of comic "fandom" was the X-books while the animated series was on. She went back and read the entire run from #1 ('63) to present that a friend in college lent her over one summer break, and then collected as much as she could for a few years buying any and everything X. Then financial realities of life after college set in and she stopped cold turkey and now only follows the characters in other media, though she has become a big anime/manga fan the past few years. She's never gone back to reread them, but refuses to part with her X-books, even though I keep trying to get her to sell off the NM New Mutants 98 since neither of us will ever read it again. -M |
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Post by hondobrode on Jun 18, 2014 10:02:12 GMT -5
The X books were good with Morrison, but other than that have been unreadable since Claremont left.
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Post by thebeastofyuccaflats on Jun 18, 2014 14:34:33 GMT -5
The X books were good with Morrison, but other than that have been unreadable since Claremont left. I think Morrison kinda ruined 'em for me, in a "I've seen how all this ends, I don't need more Act 2!"-kinda way. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2014 14:40:37 GMT -5
The X books were good with Morrison, but other than that have been unreadable since Claremont left. I think Morrison kinda ruined 'em for me, in a "I've seen how all this ends, I don't need more Act 2!"-kinda way. Morrison kind of ruined them for my wife as well, but in a "who are these people and what did they do with the real X-Men" kind of way. She read the first read on my recommendation while we were still dating and utterly loathed it. As a result she recommended one of the worst, sappiest romance novels for me to read in return...I'm still scarred and it's all Grant Morrison's fault  -M |
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Post by fanboystranger on Jun 18, 2014 18:25:05 GMT -5
The X books were good with Morrison, but other than that have been unreadable since Claremont left. There was usually one that was so marginal that it could actually tell stories rather than tread water between events. David's X-Factor (both runs), Davis' Excalibur, Casey's Cable, JF Moore's X-Force... Of course, Milligan/Allred's X-Force/ X-Statix is the best X-book of the past 25 years by a wide margin. |
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Post by The Captain on Jun 18, 2014 18:36:31 GMT -5
There was usually one that was so marginal that it could actually tell stories rather than tread water between events. David's X-Factor (both runs), Davis' Excalibur, Casey's Cable, JF Moore's X-Force... Of course, Milligan/Allred's X-Force/ X-Statix is the best X-book of the past 25 years by a wide margin. I was with you all the way until you brought up X-Force/X-Statix as the best X-book of the past 25 years. Milligan is a decent writer, but Allred's "art" makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a rusty grapefruit spoon. |
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Post by fanboystranger on Jun 18, 2014 19:16:48 GMT -5
There was usually one that was so marginal that it could actually tell stories rather than tread water between events. David's X-Factor (both runs), Davis' Excalibur, Casey's Cable, JF Moore's X-Force... Of course, Milligan/Allred's X-Force/ X-Statix is the best X-book of the past 25 years by a wide margin. I was with you all the way until you brought up X-Force/X-Statix as the best X-book of the past 25 years. Milligan is a decent writer, but Allred's "art" makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a rusty grapefruit spoon. We're just not going to see eye to eye on Allred's art... with or without the rusty spoon. I love it. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 18, 2014 19:33:00 GMT -5
Allred is one of the few artists working now who is worth following no matter what book he's on.
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