What comic books/graphic novels are you reading at the moment?

Well that was quick:

Yep. Children and grand-children from the 1930 crew. So by the time we reach the modern era there's over a hundred super-humans on the planet. Some of whom are traditional villains who couldn't make ends meet and turned to crime.

Directly from Mark Miller himself!

And on a completely different line, I've just this moment finished reading the wonderful The World of Edena which last year was finally made available in English in a single volume of the five parts by Dark Horse. I've been waiting for this ever since I found a copy of The Goddess for pennies at jumble sale years and years ago... As most of you probably know, his work is easy to get hold of in French (which I can "read", but not good enough to get the subtleties) but very costly to get in English.

Beautiful artwork, as one would expect from Moebius, but for me the story got a little too weird at the end and I wonder if Moebius let it get away from him. I'm not going to review it here as it's far too complicated - and any attempt to explain it would require some severe spoilers - but can certainly recommend it.

Matteo said:

Well that was quick:

Directly from Mark Miller himself!

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Ah! Good to know, thank you!
Mystery Solved, and from the most reputable source you could get it, too!

I suppose it was obvious really. At the time of reading, I didn't think anything of it - probably because I'm used to reading comics books which are populated with many super-powered beings. It was only after I was done and was thinking back I suddenly thought, "wait a minute"...

Looking forward to part 2 (out May).

Oh, and I just realised my mistake; it's Mark Millar.

I have just acquired Alan Moore's Supreme take which was published here in Brazil in 4 volumes:
Golden Age
Silver Age
Bronze Age
Modern Age

This past weekend I read volume 2 of Saga which was as fantastic as the first one.
Wish I'd had volume 3 on hand though due to the cliffhanger!
Also just did a re-read on The Batman Adventures: Mad Love. It had been a bit since I last read it and I wanted to write up a review of it for a Valentine's Day post on my blog.
Probably going to finish volume 0 of Spider-Gwen some time this week when I can get around to it, too.

Still waiting for Izuna 3 to be translated into english!
Also Delcourt has a sale on now - Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga on Sale - Comics by comiXology: Web UK well worth checking out if you like elves or dwarves/dwarfs. They are lightly connected comics, but each is essentialy its own selfcontained story with some really good artwork!


As for reading I've been reading Clamour, not too far into it so the series is still copying the anime (ok the anime copied the series); but its great to relive it through the manga; looking forward to going further than the epic battles and anime!


And yes SAGA is a fantastic read!

The Sandman - Overture

Now I hesitated with this one. And I say that despite the fact that, for me, The Sandman series is one of the finest examples of the art I have ever read. That's become a bit of cliché - everyone says that...but there's good reason for it. I never read it as a comic book, buying and issue every month, but (like most people I suspect) in the Titan paperback books that collected the series. And it's superb.

So why the hesitation? I was worried. Worried that Gaiman would "phone it in". I didn't think he was the sort of guy to do that, but I was still sceptical as to why he would return to the character after his story was done. I was also a little wary of the glowing reviews. He tends to attract a "fanboy" fan base and there was a risk of hagiography.

Anyway, although I'm not usually bothered with getting "special editions" of comic collections or graphic novels (hardback is nice to have but often the extra material is superfluous so the cheaper paperback version does for me), the deluxe version was selling for about the same price as the paperback and so a couple of weeks back I bought it.

First off, it's a beautiful thing; the artwork is gorgeous. Second, the story and dialogue is also wonderful (what happened before the opening of issue one of the regular series). Some knowledge of the original series helps in one or two places but is by no means essential (it can be read as a stand-alone) and in fact a few questions are opened. So, my fears were unfounded; Gaiman did not "phone it in".

Buy it. Read it. Love it.

Next up, Machine Man or The Filth. Now there's a contrast!

I'm just waiting for the next graphic novel installments of Saga and American Vampire.

I like Saga for the engaging characters and the foul-mouthed randomness of it all.

AV I like for the endless stream of new Vampire/monster types, which is somehow fascinating to me. Also for the snippets of history, though I think that they could put more details into that, (not sure precisely how mind you). Plus I love the idea of a story involving immortals running through different time periods because that informs my own work.

The World of Edena by Moebius

Just recently read volume 1 of Giant Days. It was really cute and fun to read.

The Filth

I suppose the title should have warned me, and I'm all for comics pushing boundaries, but this was a collection of 13 issues that Grant Morrison wrote in 2002 when he obviously just "let rip". There's a fine line between weird and "what the...?!" and on this occasion GM didn't just step over it, he took a running jump. There were many times when I simply had no clue what was going on - and frankly I was not that much wiser at the end. The situations depicted were often extreme - which is fine ("pushing boundaries" and all that) - but I wondered if they needed to quite so extreme. Or quite so incoherent.

I'm a fan of his work and have read most of it but if you're of a nervous disposition, and/or like to understand a story, don't bother.

Now I need to wash my mind and try something a little simpler. Where did I put Machine Man?

Messrs Kirby and Ditko will have to wait, since the postman has just delivered the latest batch of comics sent over by Terry (Negative Zone (Newport)) my long-standing comic dealer.

I now have the full run of Civil War II to read. I don't usually go in for these "events" but if Terry recommends it then that's good enough for me. Also there is a couple (actually three - come on Marvel, two is enough!) Dr. Strange titles. I'm a long time fan of Dr. Strange and have all his issues from around Strange Tales #150 up, and quite like what they've done with the new issues.

And then there is...Silver Surfer.

Now, I have to be careful here. If I were to express my honest and true feelings about what has been done to this character; this noble, soul tortured, powerful, sky-rider of the space waves, using language appropriate to express those feelings...I'd be banned for life here.

And I don't want that.

I don't know why I've stuck with this new "incarnation", I really don't. I suppose I'm hoping it will all change and everything will be back to normal. Hell, I'd even settle for him waking up and finding Shalla Bal in the shower...The story line is bad enough but the art...well, actually the art is weirdly appropriate actually considering how comedic the Surfer has become, but why did they do it? Argghhhh...

I should probably stop there.

I am currently reading Low by Rick Remender.

Matteo said:

The Filth

I suppose the title should have warned me, and I'm all for comics pushing boundaries, but this was a collection of 13 issues that Grant Morrison wrote in 2002 when he obviously just "let rip". There's a fine line between weird and "what the...?!" and on this occasion GM didn't just step over it, he took a running jump. There were many times when I simply had no clue what was going on - and frankly I was not that much wiser at the end. The situations depicted were often extreme - which is fine ("pushing boundaries" and all that) - but I wondered if they needed to quite so extreme. Or quite so incoherent.

I'm a fan of his work and have read most of it but if you're of a nervous disposition, and/or like to understand a story, don't bother.

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I reread this over the last couple of days, and it seems I didn't understand it as much the first time round as I'd thought. Interesting, but left me feeling a bit queasy. There's a companion book, but from the reviews of that it doesn't provide any solid answers either. I think it's deliberately left for the reader to interpret.

I will paraphrase Robert Fripp when he was asked about Rolling Stones and he said " In my area when I was a kid there were two types of people Beatles fans and Stones fans and I was a Beatles fan." Alan Moore is "my Beatles" and Morrison "is my stones".

I've been so busy lately that I haven't gotten to read much of this winter's comic haul, BUT I finally got around to finishing two of them.
Spider-Gwen, Volume 0: Most Wanted? and Rat Queens, Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery.
I was kind of on the fence about volume 0 of Spider-Gwen. I wound up liking the art and color scheme more than the actual story, but I've already got Volume 1 on hand so we'll see if it improves. I hope so.
Rat Queens was so good though. Such a strong start to the series. I loved it and will definitely continue reading.

Transmetropolitan at the moment, started off great, but after binge reading the excitement is wearing thin.

Ignited Moth said:

I've been so busy lately that I haven't gotten to read much of this winter's comic haul, BUT I finally got around to finishing two of them.
Spider-Gwen, Volume 0: Most Wanted? and Rat Queens, Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery.
I was kind of on the fence about volume 0 of Spider-Gwen. I wound up liking the art and color scheme more than the actual story, but I've already got Volume 1 on hand so we'll see if it improves. I hope so.
Rat Queens was so good though. Such a strong start to the series. I loved it and will definitely continue reading.

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I glanced at a copy of Rat Queens a while back and wasn't impressed by the title or the cover.

But I just went on Wikipedia and read through the premise and it actually sounds pretty fun. I might just buy the first volume now. Thanks for mentioning it Ignited Moth.

Rat Queens has had some problems. Their first full season went nearly all the way through but appears to have lost the last two or three issues (at least on comixology I've no idea if they got paper releases). It's recently restarted now again as a continuation; a bit of a pain but the missing bit of story is easy to guess your way through.

It's certainly a sassy adult DnD style adventure romp story affair. Light hearted but with some serious edge to the stories.