Comic Book Geeks

[Mr W Phallus]

I read the All Star Superman comics after Kenshi recommended them in the movie thread, and I have to say I really hate all the Bizzaro crap. I've hardly read any Superman stuff, but between All Star and Superman/Batman it comes across like it's a regular staple of Superman comics despite it being unfunny, pretty much nonsensical and generally so corny it justifies why comics are considered lowbrow by many people.

 

The overall arc was alright, though some bits were much better than others. Truth be told, I was a little bit disappointed, but maybe I'm just not a Superman guy.

[SomTervo]

I can't see that leg anywhere!

 

I read an intro blog post somewere about Lantern, and it's actually a great, great story. I'd love to start reading the comics.

 

What Batman and Superman have you read, man? Batman's my forte, but I'm getting into some serious Superman now, too. Small-label comics are my actual forte, but Batman's my mainstream forte.

[toxicitizen]

I can't see that leg anywhere!

 

I read an intro blog post somewere about Lantern, and it's actually a great, great story. I'd love to start reading the comics.

 

What Batman and Superman have you read, man? Batman's my forte, but I'm getting into some serious Superman now, too. Small-label comics are my actual forte, but Batman's my mainstream forte.

 

Here

 

 

The small circled area on the right is where the big leg connects.

The other, larger, circle on the left is where the "missing" leg is.

 

 

Like I said in my second post, the Rebirth miniseries is a great jumping on point for Green Lantern, if you're interested.

It gives you just enough background to understand how everything got to where it is, and it sets you up perfectly to get into the current series (v4).

Plus, issues 29 to 35 of the series actually re-tell the origin of Hal Jordan and how he first became a Green Lantern. So that's really nice.

 

Green Lantern Rebirth and the v4 series are written by Geoff Johns, and so far the guy is pretty damn good.

He also wrote a Secret Origin miniseries for Superman and another Rebirth for The Flash, both of which I'm planning on reading soon.

 

As for Bats and Supes. I haven't read a whole lot of Superman yet. Only the Man of Steel origin from the 80s.

 

I've been getting more seriously into Batman, though. Started at Year One and am currently reading through some of the more important story arcs and one-offs.

I read A Death in The Family, the Vengeance of Bane special and KnightFall. Though the part where Azrael takes over for Bats bored me a bit, so I skipped ahead and I'm now at the part where Dick Grayson is wearing the cowl.

 

Other than that, I read The Killing Joke, The Man Who Laughs and started The Long Halloween last night.

[SomTervo]

I'm pretty sure we're talking about that huge mother who's flying out of his body just below center of the screen! There's only one of them!

 

Nice! Will def check it out. Reckon Reynolds is a good call for Hal?

 

For Superman I'm just getting started, but AllStar Superman is amazing for anyone. That and Superman for All Seasons are meant to be the best, though I haven't read the latter.

 

Batman: you ain't read The Dark Knight Returns? You pretty much have to. It's ridiculously great, I don't rank it with other mainstream superhero stories, but with Watchmen and V for Vendetta for how important and masterful it is.

 

The Killing Joke's pretty good, and Batman & Robin (with Grayson and Damien) is shaping up really good, too! Grant Morrison is an incredible writer, he did B&R, and Allstar Superman, along with other older classics like The Invisibles. I love Year One, and I'm currently reading Gotham Central; a Batman story without Batman in it. It's about Gotham City Police Department, and is more like The Wire but set in Gotham- they're all at odds with Batman, and have a day-to-day struggle with the worst criminals, and supercriminals, the world has to offer. It's great.

 

For more indy, great superhero stories I'd recommend Morrison's breakthrough run on Animal Man which is touching, hilarious, and entertaining. And I'd recommend Robert Kirkman (of Walking Dead fame's) Invincible- like a coming-of-age superhero story. Mix between teen comedy/drama and a galactic superhero story. It's hilarious and absolutely brilliant, though seemingly losing steam now (around the 70-80 issue mark).

Edited May 6, 2011 by kenshi_ryden

[toxicitizen]

I'm pretty sure we're talking about that huge mother who's flying out of his body just below center of the screen! There's only one of them!

 

Yeah, that's what I was trying to explain. That huge leg at the bottom, it looks like it's connected to the body right there, but the perspective is weird. It's actually connected at the very end of its body, where I made the small white circle.

 

Nice! Will def check it out. Reckon Reynolds is a good call for Hal?

I think so. Then again, I'm a fan of Reynolds. I'm sure there are die-hard GL fans who think he's a terrible pick.

 

For Superman I'm just getting started, but AllStar Superman is amazing for anyone. That and Superman for All Seasons are meant to be the best, though I haven't read the latter.

 

I'd forgotten about it, but yeah I have All-Star Superman on my HDD. I also have the animated movie, so I'm not sure if I should read it before watching or what.

The thing with Superman is I'm never sure which series I should focus on. I've read mostly the origin stuff so far.

There's a series called simply "The Man of Steel" (not to be confused with the origin miniseries from 1986) that ran for a little over a hundred issues.

That seems manageable, but I've heard complaints about it.

 

Batman: you ain't read The Dark Knight Returns? You pretty much have to. It's ridiculously great, I don't rank it with other mainstream superhero stories, but with Watchmen and V for Vendetta for how important and masterful it is.

 

I actually started reading The Dark Knight Returns a few year ago (around the time The Dark Knight had just come out in theaters, I think) but I never finished it. Couldn't get into it, for some reason.

Now that I'm more familiar with the comics universe, I'm planning on giving it another shot.

It's sitting on my HDD at the moment. I just finished The Long Halloween and I think I'll read it next, actually!

 

Other than that, I started collecting all the new related series that have started to come out last year.

The new Batman and Robin with Dick and Damian, Batman Inc., Gotham City Sirens, Red Robin and Batgirl.

I'm not going to start reading any of them until I catch up with the Final Crisis/Return of Bruce Wayne/Battle for the Cowl story arcs, though.

 

I also have Gotham City Central, though I wasn't yet sure whether or not I would read it. It just came with a big pack of comics I downloaded.

If you say it's that good, though, I'll have to give it a shot.

Edited May 6, 2011 by FLD

[SomTervo]

Yeah I'd recommend Gotham Central, though it's more a unique story, not entirely Batman or DC.

 

I'd recommend reading AllStar Superman before watching the flick. The film's good, but doesn't flesh it out anywhere near enough and feels a little too fast/ badly paced. The book is the true version.

 

Dark Knight Returns has one of the most jarring openings of any comic I've ever read- but when you start to see where it's going and it sucks you in, it's incredible.

 

Yeah, I like Reynolds but loads of people hate him. I look forward to reading the comics! If you finish your load of comics and want any suggestions, gees a call any time. The Bruce Wayne through history, onwards, arc is pretty great.

[toxicitizen]

Well I read Geoff's Superman: Secret Origin tonight and it was excellent.

Definitely my favorite take on the origin story so far.

 

I wonder if he'll follow it up with a new series or if it was just a one-time deal.

 

Oh, and this thread quickly turned into "Talk about any comics"...

Edited May 6, 2011 by FLD

[toxicitizen]

I read the All Star Superman comics after Kenshi recommended them in the movie thread, and I have to say I really hate all the Bizzaro crap. I've hardly read any Superman stuff, but between All Star and Superman/Batman it comes across like it's a regular staple of Superman comics despite it being unfunny, pretty much nonsensical and generally so corny it justifies why comics are considered lowbrow by many people.

 

The overall arc was alright, though some bits were much better than others. Truth be told, I was a little bit disappointed, but maybe I'm just not a Superman guy.

I can't comment on All-Star Superman since I haven't read it yet. But I read Geoff Johns' Superman: Secret Origin tonight, and it was pretty good.

My favorite take on the character's origin by far.

[Mr W Phallus]

FLD you have to read Hush. It was the first proper Batman story I ever read and it remains one of my favourites.

 

And have you read RIP? Also brilliant, all though it might help to read up a bit on the events preceding it since Morrison spent a long time building up to it.

 

As for me, I read the main Battle For The Cowl stuff last (little bit disappointing, felt too short), so I'm looking forwards to starting on the Batman and Robin series. I'm a bit hampered though, because I decided to only buy Batman comics so first I have to wait for the collected editions and then I have to sum up the courage to fork out the cash for them.

 

Edit: It would probably make sense for a mod to move our un-Lantern related posts to the proper comics thread.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Mr W Phallus

[toxicitizen]

I haven't read Hush or RIP, but it's on the list.

 

I'm working my way through the big arcs selectively but chronologically. So that stuff is still way ahead.

To give you an idea, right now I'm reading the Prodigal arc, with Dick Grayson as Batman. That's from '94.

 

And yeah, Dean might as well either move some posts or merge the threads.

I had forgotten about the comics thread, and this hasn't exactly been about Green Lantern exclusively

[Mr W Phallus]

Oh duh, when you said Dick as Batman I thought you were referring to Battle for the Cowl events, I haven't read a lot of earlier stuff. Where are you getting your information about the different story arcs and chronology btw? It's sometimes hard to piece stuff together from Wikipedia.

[Hot Heart]

And have you read RIP? Also brilliant, all though it might help to read up a bit on the events preceding it since Morrison spent a long time building up to it.

 

RIP, really? I guess it was OK but I could probably think of a dozen Batman collections to read before that. I felt all his stuff before it was pretty terrible too.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Hot Heart

[Mr W Phallus]

And have you read RIP? Also brilliant, all though it might help to read up a bit on the events preceding it since Morrison spent a long time building up to it.

 

RIP, really? I guess it was OK but I could probably think of a dozen Batman collections to read before that. I felt all his stuff before it was pretty terrible too.

I wouldn't put it up there with the seminal works like The Long Halloween, The Dark Knight Returns and so on, but I did really enjoy it.

 

Also after having my doubts about some of the more 'unrealistic' elements of Morrison's run (although I didn't read that much of it, just the ones included in Batman & Son) it made me so happy to read the line 'Don't you know, imagination is the 5th dimension'.

[Hot Heart]

Morrison's run before RIP was pretty much just Batman & Son (with the three ghosts stuff mixed in), wasn't it?

 

The fact that RIP didn't even resolve that storyline anyway did not help, considering I was so fed up with all the crossover bullshit Marvel were doing at the time. I actually stopped regularly reading comics around that time.

 

The only stuff I've been buying recently has been collections and not many. Only really Invincible and Y: The Last Man; and the former has not been great as of late but Ottley's artwork is brilliant.

 

 

This is an aside but if you've not read Warren Ellis' Fell then you must.

[Mr W Phallus]

There was also The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul storyline (or part of it anyway) which I don't know much about and most of the three ghosts stuff I had to look up on Wikipedia because the last part of the Batman & Son collected edition makes absolutely no sense on its own.

 

Morrison's Batman work is pretty messy in many ways, but I still find it quite enjoyable, and there are quite a lot of - for want of a better word - 'cool' moments. It's sort of a superficial enjoyment I guess.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Mr W Phallus

[Hot Heart]

Oh, yeah, I vaguely remember that.

 

I only recall one thing I really liked and that was the fight at the pop art exhibit/museum which made use of the scenery. That was pretty cool.

[toxicitizen]

Oh duh, when you said Dick as Batman I thought you were referring to Battle for the Cowl events, I haven't read a lot of earlier stuff. Where are you getting your information about the different story arcs and chronology btw? It's sometimes hard to piece stuff together from Wikipedia.

 

Well I got lucky in that I found a large torrent pack that included only the most important arcs, and it was already organized by arcs and chronology.

So it was as simple as working my way through the pack and sometimes skipping over stuff that seems either uninteresting or unimportant.

 

But I found these two websites to be kind of helpful to organize stuff

 

http://therealbatmanchronoproject.blogspot.com/

 

http://www.comicbookdb.com/

Edited May 6, 2011 by FLD

[TheFlyingGerbil]

free comic books tomorrow (saturday) in UK and US

 

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/comics.asp

[SomTervo]

Hot Heart's right, Ellis' Fell is amazing. The only Templesmith work I've really loved, too, though 30 Days of Night was pretty good.

 

 

 

Sorry Phallus I somehow missed your 'bizzaro' sucks post! Even though it was right before one of mine!

 

I can understand the bizarro hate. I don't like bizarro. However I thought AllStar's take was funny and original- the Underverse planetary organism imitating earth and coming to get it, the Bizarro Justice League (that was hilarious, Flash who moves at two inches an hour, Green Lantern who can't do anything but can think of anything to do with it), and the tragically brilliant character that was Zibarro. Also it put Superman in a goddamn dire situation, which is always good.

 

I love all the stories in AllStar. Sometimes the characters are a bit dodgey (I didn't like that P.R.O.J.E.C.T guy much), and the pace is a tad fast and loose, but that's just how comics go. I'd suggest re-reading AllStar Superman, it seriously gets better the more you look at it. Frank Quitely's art as well... Uhhh.

 

 

How are you finding Y, Hottie? Amazing comic. Got a classec Brian K. Vaughan oddball ending though.

Edited May 11, 2011 by kenshi_ryden

[Hot Heart]

How are you finding Y, Hottie? Amazing comic. Got a classec Brian K. Vaughan oddball ending though.

 

I am really enjoying it. It has its odd moments but it's pretty cool. What I do like is that it feels like quite a journey (beyond having to wait for each collected book to come out ) and that I haven't had an ending spoiled for me, so I'm not quite sure what to expect.

 

I thought I was nearing the end with the 4th book but apparently that's a little over halfway.

[Mr W Phallus]

Yeh after HH's suggestion I downloaded Fell and whilst they are great short & sweet detective stories, I have to say the thing I like most about it is the back matter. It's nice to see the whole writing process exposed, from the writer's thought process to comparing bits of the script to the finished panel.

[SomTervo]

Yeah, K Vaughan's good at making the moment to moment plot great, but having a very veiled overall story that you only really find out about in the last few issues.

 

I'm obviously not going to spoil anything, but Y's ending is weird. I think a lot of people are divided in opinion about it, same with Vaughan's other comics. Still the stories are great. Ex Machina's like West Wing meets... I dunno, the superhero part's unique- but it's like political chat and character development, each arc being a political issue versus a character issue from Mitchel Hundred's background. But like Y, overall there's a really sinister semi-sci-fi (no spoiler, Y isn't sci-fi like EM) background plot that always culminates in disturbing and weird shit.

 

Y ran to about 70 issues? Give or take a few, may have been 75. So Trade #4 is probably around issue 44, going by the '10-12 issues a book' deal. I love the theme of drama =D it's got that travelling thespian group straight out of Shakespeare right? And he's called Yorick, natch.

 

 

EDIT: @Phallus: Yeah I loved that in Fell. I specifically recall the bit when Fell's approaching a maniac who's in a flat, and Ellis did this whole crazy diagram thing about Fell visualising the movements of the madman inside the flat, projected onto the closed door and wall from the outside...

Edited May 11, 2011 by kenshi_ryden

[Hot Heart]

Yeah, your estimation sounds about right, Kenshi. I probably should just get the regular trades rather than the big hardback collections, but I didn't realise they weren't all published when I started buying them and now I have started...

 

Also, there's something I like about sitting down with a thick book and a cup of tea.

 

 

It's been a long time and I think I need to reread Fell again, especially if Ellis is doing more (said a computer crash lost a load of scripts and he was rewriting them).

 

Chances are I've posted this before, but it's still probably my favourite opening panel to a comic.

Obviously, the couple straight after are great too.

Edited May 11, 2011 by Hot Heart

[SomTervo]

Yeah. Introduces absolutely everything you need to know in an interesting and efficient manner. So quirky. Love Ellis, even if he's quite a nut IRL. But then again, all these great comic writers are. Morrison, jesus. Moore, fuck. All so mad.

 

Also, yeah I love reading from Trade's. They're the best. Is, indeed, like a proper book.

 

I was gonna say, FLD, Phallus et al., reading comics on computers is good for the story and speed, but you miss out on 75% of the experience. It's so tactile and tangible on paper. Just amazing. AllStar Superman I recommend in trades. It's just gobsmacking how beautiful it is on glossy paper.

 

Also, Hottie, you can get Ex Machina in 5 Deluxe Volumes. It's big, and beautiful, and I don't doubt you'd love it. (Weirdly on that page it displays the back cover as the front.)

Edited May 11, 2011 by kenshi_ryden

[Hot Heart]

Sounds pretty interesting, might just have to make that my next read. Thanks!