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Post by Action Ace on Dec 17, 2014 18:00:27 GMT -5
Amazing Spider-Man #229
Why this one? Because Spidey wouldn't give up. This was one of the first back issues I ever picked up when I started collecting Amazing Spider-Man, because I was intrigued by the idea of him facing off against the Juggernaut, who outmatched him in every way, shape, and form. As I read the book, I couldn't believe that Peter just kept going, refusing to back down, refusing to acknowledge that his chances of winning were slim, and refusing to quit. It was one of those "I can't believe I'm reading this" moments for me, but it was really believable in terms of the character. Guess what tomorrow's book is... I was wrong. I guessed this one...   |
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 18, 2014 16:29:44 GMT -5
9. The Fallby Ed Brubaker and Jason Lutes 2001 (Drawn & Quarterly)  Those of you who read my Day 3 post (you know who you are) heard the story of how I decided to add montly bat-titles to my pull list. There was a bit more to the story. When I made the decision, the bat titles were stuck in the middle of No Man's Land, so I waited until the end when all that series got fresh new directions. And there was some excellent work being done at the time. My favorite was Detective Comics by Greg Rucka and Shawn Martinborough. My favorite issue of their run was a great single issue story in Detective #747, where Montoya tracks down the mystery of who sent her flowers. Check out the nifty Dave Johnson cover:  Meanwhile, Devin Grayson's Gotham Knights delivered solid character work, Dixon was doing fine work on the titles of all the side characters, and there were some good Legends of the Dark Knight stories going on. The only title I wasn't loving was Batman itself, by Ed Brubaker and Scott McDaniel. However, my boss was loving it. He kept singing Brubaker's praises, while slipping in that Brubaker lived in the area and occasionally popped by the store. An important side note is that I was also loving the work of Brian Michael Bendis on Ultimate Spider-Man at this time. We'll learn more about Spider-Man on a later day. This is all the story of how I discovered crime noir comics: I followed the writers I liked from superhero comics to their other works. My love of Rucka's work led me to Whiteout, the story of the sheriff of Antarctica investigating a murder. (Which perhaps inspired the excellent modern crime thriller HIgh Crimes about a murder on Mt. Everest) Following Bendis took me to Goldfish, the story of a small time con man in a battle of wills with a major crimelord to rescue his son. And, at the urging of my boss, I picked up a Brubaker work, Scene of the Crime, with Michael Lark and Sean Philips. To this day, Scene of the Crime has defined crime noir comics for me. All are judged against it. My love of noir comics has been unabated for 15 years. It has led me to Road to Perdition, A History of Vioence. Murder Me Dead, and countless others. And I still hold a fondness for Brubaker, Rucka, and Bendis, my first crime noir writers. Even though all of them have written plenty of crap in the superhero genre. Bendis convinced me to stop reading Avengers. Brubaker's X-Men were unreadable. Rucka has a litany of DC superhero sins. But at their best, I still love them all. To this day. I just recently read Velvet, Brubaker's new spy thriller with Steve Epting. Rucka's Lazarus, about a post-apocalyptic crime family, remains intriguing. I wish Bendis would let go of superheroes and get back to what he's good at. But I guess there are bills to pay. My noir representative chosen for this list is Brubaker's The Fall, with the legendary Jason Lutes. A 48 page comic I was lucky enough to snag on the newsstand. I hear it can be tricky to track down these days. I learned in the making of this list that it reprints material originally in Dark Horse Presents. The Fall begins with a crime, and the type of crime that intrigues me, because it seems so innocuous. Not so far removed from possibility for people you know. A guy finds a credit card and decides to buy a couple things with it. It almost seems a victimless crime given credit card fraud protection most people have. It's almost easy to rationalize as not to different than finding cash on the street. But the comic is about the path sins lead you down. And what seems mundane and simple leads the perpetrator down a path, with old secrets to uncover. By the end, he'll wish he'd returned the credit card. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 18, 2014 19:31:53 GMT -5
9. The Fallby Ed Brubaker and Jason Lutes 2001 (Drawn & Quarterly) Those of you who read my Day 3 post (you know who you are) heard the story of how I decided to add montly bat-titles to my pull list. There was a bit more to the story. When I made the decision, the bat titles were stuck in the middle of No Man's Land, so I waited until the end when all that series got fresh new directions. And there was some excellent work being done at the time. My favorite was Detective Comics by Greg Rucka and Shawn Martinborough. My favorite issue of their run was a great single issue story in Detective #747, where Montoya tracks down the mystery of who sent her flowers. Check out the nifty Dave Johnson cover: Meanwhile, Devin Grayson's Gotham Knights delivered solid character work, Dixon was doing fine work on the titles of all the side characters, and there were some good Legends of the Dark Knight stories going on. The only title I wasn't loving was Batman itself, by Ed Brubaker and Scott McDaniel. However, my boss was loving it. He kept singing Brubaker's praises, while slipping in that Brubaker lived in the area and occasionally popped by the store. An important side note is that I was also loving the work of Brian Michael Bendis on Ultimate Spider-Man at this time. We'll learn more about Spider-Man on a later day. This is all the story of how I discovered crime noir comics: I followed the writers I liked from superhero comics to their other works. My love of Rucka's work led me to Whiteout, the story of the sheriff of Antarctica investigating a murder. (Which perhaps inspired the excellent modern crime thriller HIgh Crimes about a murder on Mt. Everest) Following Bendis took me to Goldfish, the story of a small time con man in a battle of wills with a major crimelord to rescue his son. And, at the urging of my boss, I picked up a Brubaker work, Scene of the Crime, with Michael Lark and Sean Philips. To this day, Scene of the Crime has defined crime noir comics for me. All are judged against it. My love of noir comics has been unabated for 15 years. It has led me to Road to Perdition, A History of Vioence. Murder Me Dead, and countless others. And I still hold a fondness for Brubaker, Rucka, and Bendis, my first crime noir writers. Even though all of them have written plenty of crap in the superhero genre. Bendis convinced me to stop reading Avengers. Brubaker's X-Men were unreadable. Rucka has a litany of DC superhero sins. But at their best, I still love them all. To this day. I just recently read Velvet, Brubaker's new spy thriller with Steve Epting. Rucka's Lazarus, about a post-apocalyptic crime family, remains intriguing. I wish Bendis would let go of superheroes and get back to what he's good at. But I guess there are bills to pay. My noir representative chosen for this list is Brubaker's The Fall, with the legendary Jason Lutes. A 48 page comic I was lucky enough to snag on the newsstand. I hear it can be tricky to track down these days. I learned in the making of this list that it reprints material originally in Dark Horse Presents. The Fall begins with a crime, and the type of crime that intrigues me, because it seems so innocuous. Not so far removed from possibility for people you know. A guy finds a credit card and decides to buy a couple things with it. It almost seems a victimless crime given credit card fraud protection most people have. It's almost easy to rationalize as not to different than finding cash on the street. But the comic is about the path sins lead you down. And what seems mundane and simple leads the perpetrator down a path, with old secrets to uncover. By the end, he'll wish he'd returned the credit card. Man, you're really ballooning my budget here! I've never heard of this one, but now I need it in my life! |
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Post by cattysquaw on Dec 18, 2014 23:16:22 GMT -5
Superman #76 The Death of Superman
When I first heard the rumbling of killing off Superman, I was surprised and did not believe it. I was doing card shows with my parents and that was the big topic, when I read the comic, I found myself actually liking the story, I was moved and drawn into it. I was pleased with the storyline and artwork. |
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Post by hondobrode on Dec 18, 2014 23:17:12 GMT -5
9. The Fallby Ed Brubaker and Jason Lutes 2001 (Drawn & Quarterly) Those of you who read my Day 3 post (you know who you are) heard the story of how I decided to add montly bat-titles to my pull list. There was a bit more to the story. When I made the decision, the bat titles were stuck in the middle of No Man's Land, so I waited until the end when all that series got fresh new directions. And there was some excellent work being done at the time. My favorite was Detective Comics by Greg Rucka and Shawn Martinborough. My favorite issue of their run was a great single issue story in Detective #747, where Montoya tracks down the mystery of who sent her flowers. Check out the nifty Dave Johnson cover: Meanwhile, Devin Grayson's Gotham Knights delivered solid character work, Dixon was doing fine work on the titles of all the side characters, and there were some good Legends of the Dark Knight stories going on. The only title I wasn't loving was Batman itself, by Ed Brubaker and Scott McDaniel. However, my boss was loving it. He kept singing Brubaker's praises, while slipping in that Brubaker lived in the area and occasionally popped by the store. An important side note is that I was also loving the work of Brian Michael Bendis on Ultimate Spider-Man at this time. We'll learn more about Spider-Man on a later day. This is all the story of how I discovered crime noir comics: I followed the writers I liked from superhero comics to their other works. My love of Rucka's work led me to Whiteout, the story of the sheriff of Antarctica investigating a murder. (Which perhaps inspired the excellent modern crime thriller HIgh Crimes about a murder on Mt. Everest) Following Bendis took me to Goldfish, the story of a small time con man in a battle of wills with a major crimelord to rescue his son. And, at the urging of my boss, I picked up a Brubaker work, Scene of the Crime, with Michael Lark and Sean Philips. To this day, Scene of the Crime has defined crime noir comics for me. All are judged against it. My love of noir comics has been unabated for 15 years. It has led me to Road to Perdition, A History of Vioence. Murder Me Dead, and countless others. And I still hold a fondness for Brubaker, Rucka, and Bendis, my first crime noir writers. Even though all of them have written plenty of crap in the superhero genre. Bendis convinced me to stop reading Avengers. Brubaker's X-Men were unreadable. Rucka has a litany of DC superhero sins. But at their best, I still love them all. To this day. I just recently read Velvet, Brubaker's new spy thriller with Steve Epting. Rucka's Lazarus, about a post-apocalyptic crime family, remains intriguing. I wish Bendis would let go of superheroes and get back to what he's good at. But I guess there are bills to pay. My noir representative chosen for this list is Brubaker's The Fall, with the legendary Jason Lutes. A 48 page comic I was lucky enough to snag on the newsstand. I hear it can be tricky to track down these days. I learned in the making of this list that it reprints material originally in Dark Horse Presents. The Fall begins with a crime, and the type of crime that intrigues me, because it seems so innocuous. Not so far removed from possibility for people you know. A guy finds a credit card and decides to buy a couple things with it. It almost seems a victimless crime given credit card fraud protection most people have. It's almost easy to rationalize as not to different than finding cash on the street. But the comic is about the path sins lead you down. And what seems mundane and simple leads the perpetrator down a path, with old secrets to uncover. By the end, he'll wish he'd returned the credit card. Man, you're really ballooning my budget here! I've never heard of this one, but now I need it in my life! Ditto ! I'd never even heard of this one. |
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Polar Bear
Full Member
Married, father of six
Posts: 107 
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Post by Polar Bear on Dec 19, 2014 17:28:40 GMT -5
 Sojourn #25 (no story title), Ian Edginton & Greg Land Ian Edginton had always been one of my favorite second-wave British writers, so when I heard he was coming to CrossGen, my favorite publisher, I was thrilled. I had no idea he was going to be THIS good. In this promotional $1 issue, he knocked out a story about humans & trolls that actually made one feel sympathy and respect for the formerly one-dimensional villains, especially their leader. Extraordinarily compelling storytelling--I wish he'd had the opportunity to continue his story. Honorable mention: Crossgen's Negation, probably issue #4 or something like that. I mourned that publisher's demise for years. |
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Post by Calamas on Dec 19, 2014 19:08:00 GMT -5
 Silver Surfer #28 Oct 1989 “Neanderthals!” Steve Englehart Ron Lim Tom Christopher This comic just came along. It is not remembered fondly by most. Perhaps it is because Englehart was exploring a second Kree/Skrull war, which is sacred territory to some Marvel devotees. Perhaps it is because of the too-emotional personality assigned the Super-Skrull. Perhaps some other reason unavailable to someone not steeped in Marvel lore. All I know is this story came along at a time when I had trouble find any kind of satisfaction from a single issue. Not that this issue was self contained. Englehart did his best work drawing from character history, and by building forward momentum. What came before fed into this story, and this led to things that followed. But this single story had impact. What the Super Skrull was willing to risk for love, and how the aftermath effected (or failed to effect) the object of his affection added a degree of poignancy absent from most single issues during that period. For me: right place, right time. |
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 19, 2014 19:51:41 GMT -5
Silver Surfer #28 Oct 1989 “Neanderthals!” Steve Englehart Ron Lim Tom Christopher This comic just came along. It is not remembered fondly by most. Perhaps it is because Englehart was exploring a second Kree/Skrull war, which is sacred territory to some Marvel devotees. Perhaps it is because of the too-emotional personality assigned the Super-Skrull. Perhaps some other reason unavailable to someone not steeped in Marvel lore. All I know is this story came along at a time when I had trouble find any kind of satisfaction from a single issue. Not that this issue was self contained. Englehart did his best work drawing from character history, and by building forward momentum. What came before fed into this story, and this led to things that followed. But this single story had impact. What the Super Skrull was willing to risk for love, and how the aftermath effected (or failed to effect) the object of his affection added a degree of poignancy absent from most single issues during that period. For me: right place, right time. Shortly after picking up my first comic from Walgreens, it was Christmas time and Santa gave me a handful of comics for Christmas, which included this very issue! I forget what comic from that stack I read first, but it could have been this one. So it may well be the second comic I ever read. Ron Lim's take on the Surfer was forever burned in my mind as "the" take and I have been a Silver Surfer devotee ever since. About 20 years later, I think the treatment of Super Skrull in Annihilation would draw from his characterization here. |
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Post by Paradox on Dec 20, 2014 4:19:38 GMT -5
9. Giant-Size Defenders #3 (Marvel, January 1975) I was a huge Defenders fan in this era. I loved Gerber, of course, but I loved the very idea of them, and the "non-team". Even more, I liked how the idea translated into "so you're going to see a LOT of 'guest-stars' in this series". Already, Hawkeye and Luke Cage had wandered through the regular book, and the previous Giant-Size had Son of Satan (The Thing, Yellowjacket and the whole original Guardians of the Galaxy would soon follow). And this issue had Daredevil, a decidedly NOT "team player". Right off the bat I was enthralled. My nascent "art spotter" skills managed to notice that the guy doing the art here was the same one doing all that cool stuff over in Captain Marvel, Jim Starlin! It was very difficult to miss those lean limbs and hips, so different from the other hero artists. I had never heard of the Grandmaster, but his "gladiatorial combat" shtick was right up this 14-year-old's alley. Let's pit our heroes against some bad guys and see what happens. I saw. About halfway through I was SHOCKED! Not only did DD and Namor die in the contest, they died horribly gruesome deaths! Daredevil's opponent, some protoplasmic blobby thing, held him over an open volcanic vent and burned him to death! And Namor got dehydrated and then beaten to death with the tail of his reptile-man foe, blood splattering all over. I liked it, but it was very much NOT what I was used to or expected. Granted, the Grandmaster made it "all better" in the end, but I was enthralled that they'd actually do that, so graphically, even temporarily. Great stuff! And, apologies to my favorite, Hawkeye, but DD cheated the Grandmaster for the win first. 
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,197
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Post by Confessor on Dec 20, 2014 8:41:57 GMT -5
Sojourn #25 (no story title), Ian Edginton & Greg Land Ian Edginton had always been one of my favorite second-wave British writers, so when I heard he was coming to CrossGen, my favorite publisher, I was thrilled. I had no idea he was going to be THIS good. In this promotional $1 issue, he knocked out a story about humans & trolls that actually made one feel sympathy and respect for the formerly one-dimensional villains, especially their leader. Extraordinarily compelling storytelling--I wish he'd had the opportunity to continue his story. Honorable mention: Crossgen's Negation, probably issue #4 or something like that. I mourned that publisher's demise for years. Nice cover! Looks very reminiscent of Larry Elmore's fantasy work. |
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Post by hondobrode on Dec 20, 2014 16:20:18 GMT -5
I bought very little CrossGen then, but did get this issue at the time to try it and was pretty impressed.
They really did have some good stuff cooking.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Dec 20, 2014 23:44:22 GMT -5
Brave and the Bold # 112, May 1974
Let's take a minute to praise the man with the most difficult job in comics - The artist on Bob Haney's Brave and the Bold. While most superhero comics fall into a comfortable rut with a standard setting and characters repeating issue after issue, Bob Haney cheerfully veers from supernatural horror to dessert globe-trotting to war comic about Satanic possesion to a freaking medical drama where the Atom spends most of his time in Batman's brain.... And Jim Aparo had to draw all that!
In B & B # 111 we get Jim Aparo's Egypt, full of deadly taps, miraculous escapes, and beautiful but deadly Egyptologists.... And it's a hoot. Mister Miracle is along for the ride with Batman as they dodge lightning, sandstorms, cursed helmets of possesion and (because Haney is rarely content with just ONE genre in his stories) alien spacecrafts! It's 100 pages worth of story in just 20, and it's only one feature in this hundred page issue. You've also got a beautifully drawn Hawkman/Aquaman reprint (by Howard Purcell, who I know nothing about) and an uncharacteristically weak Ramona Fradon drawn Batman/Green Lantern story, plus the Silent Knight (I really like the Silent Knight) a gallery of Batman's past B & B guest stars, two pages of letters... I always loved big, fat, comics, chock full 'o reprinted comics history, and this is my very favorite.
Plus, I can't swear to it, but I believe the first discussion I ever had on the Classic Comics forum involved this book, causing to change my primary CBR "home" away from the Rumbles and Music Boards. So there's some history there, too.
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Post by Paste Pot Paul on Dec 21, 2014 4:43:12 GMT -5
I was wrong. I guessed this one... Along with Amazing 39 my favourite Spidey covers, both messed my head up as a kid, how could they, what will happen, oh no!!! 9. Giant-Size Defenders #3 (Marvel, January 1975)And, apologies to my favorite, Hawkeye, but DD cheated the Grandmaster for the win first. This is one of my favourite random comics, a last minute fatality, though the debate raged for weeks, the damsels were distressed, and casualties were epic. Nice cover! Looks very reminiscent of Larry Elmore's fantasy work. Look folks someone praised Greg Land, man am I gonna tell on you...Mom, look what Confessor said on the webby thing. |
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Post by Paradox on Dec 21, 2014 7:52:41 GMT -5
I liked Greg Land before his motto became "light-box or die!" Those Birds of Prey are very good, and if he was light-boxing, he wasn't anything close to being as obvious about it as he is now.
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Polar Bear
Full Member
Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Dec 21, 2014 12:57:28 GMT -5
I liked Greg Land before his motto became "light-box or die!" Those Birds of Prey are very good, and if he was light-boxing, he wasn't anything close to being as obvious about it as he is now. Ditto. It helped that his model for the Sojourn book looked =exactly= like my wife. |
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