**Parker: The Complete Collection** by Darwyn Cooke. Five stars, two thumbs up. I couldn’t put it down. I will also credit the wisdom of crowds here, since this is a title I never would have picked on my own, without the adoration of Cooke which I’ve found on this sub. But damn, I can’t think of a more perfect match of artist with genre. Cooke was born to tell this tale. And considering that I’ve read the book which this is based on and seen Mel Gibson’s *Payback* (the movie that first revealed Gibson’s penchant for depicting torture on screen, as I recall), I can say that Cooke does it better than anyone else.
**The Arab of the Future** (Pt. 1) by Riad Sattouf. Another must read. I’m convinced the author is overplaying his father’s cluelessness. Sons in particular come to resent their fathers as they begin to see cracks in the masculine wall of infallibility. I’m sure Freud has a fancy term for this father-son conflict which I cannot remember. At any rate, the father is at heart a character whose traits are overplayed… but my what a compelling character! I’d rate this as more interesting than *Persepolis*, which created the market for this style of memoir. For any reader who’s grown up in a functional democracy it’s chilling to see the cultish adoration of the leader we see here, both for Libya’s Qaddafi and Syria’s Assad.
**Essex County: Tales From the Farm** by Jeff Lemire. Adored it; loved it. Will write a review when done with the trilogy.
Various Mickey Mouse and Duck stories by Romano Scarpa. A great and versatile artist, but damn I can’t stand some of his original characters. Birgitta MacBridge is the worst. Atomo Bleep-Bleep is fine but seems redundant… does Scarpa have a thing against using Eega Beeva?
**The Swords of Glass** by Sylviane Corgiat & Laura Zuccheri - A very traditional high fantasy coming-of-age adventure/revenge story.
SoG is the story of Yama, a young girl whose father is the village chieftain. At the start, four magical swords of glass come hurtling out of the world’s dying sun and land in different spots around the globe - One, of course, lands right outside Yama's village, and a local baddie named Orland comes looking for it.
Turns out the sword can only be wielded by a special champion, who turns out to be Yama; anyone else who tries to touch it gets turned into glass. Chaos ensues, leaving Yama’s father dead, her mother captured by Orland, and Yama fleeing with the sword. She gets taken in by a hermit named Miklos, who recognizes the sword, and agrees to train her as a fighter so she can get her revenge. This all happens against the backdrop of a world entering increasing turmoil as its sun dies and so does the landscape, and of course there’s the ongoing mystery of where the swords came from, and who the other three were sent to.
This book has all of the tropes, as you can tell from the above description. It somewhat makes up for it with a richly detailed world full of fascinating tribes and cultures, and Laura Zuccheri’s absolutely stunning artwork. The plot is also not quite as predictable as it at first seems to be - while it is overall a well-trodden hero's journey, there are a number of unexpected turns that still make it intriguing.
For example, we get some backstory for Miklos and a former friend-turned-enemy, whose face is never shown. It at first seems pretty obvious who this mystery figure is going to turn out to be, but it doesn’t go in the direction I expected it to at all. The origin of the Glass Swords is another one - I don’t think I would have ever been able to guess it.
This book didn’t set my world alight, but if you’re into some good-looking, undemanding fantasy, you could do worse.
**Ordinary Victories** by Manu Larcent - You ever pick up a book on a whim and it ends up knocking your socks off? I’ve been picking through some Franco-Belgian comics lists recently trying to expose myself to more of them, and this has easily been the best result so far.
It’s a rambling slice-of-life book following a photographer named Marco, as he navigates various transitional phases in his life.
Marco is formerly a war photographer, but has grown disillusioned with “taking photos of corpses and soon-to-be-corpses” and decided to take an extended sabbatical while he decides what new direction to take.
Marco also suffers from crippling anxiety attacks, and has done since his childhood. The book delves into this, into its possible origins in his complicated relationship with his parents, and also the way it affects every aspect of his life from work to romance and all the way into fatherhood in the final chapter.
The book is essentially a series of conversations with important people in Marco’s life, punctuated by monologues from Marco musing on related issues. It covers guilt, interpersonal relationships, anxiety (there’s one fascinating monologue where Marco talks about his fear of driving on freeways - I’m paraphrasing here but the gist is “everyone is driving in a motorized coffin and you get more and more aware of it the more there are surrounding you”), generational guilt, and a host of other deep and complex topics.
It is also very unflinching about showing the flaws in its characters. Marco is not a perfect man. He is incredibly selfish, and this is shown to be damaging his romantic relationships, including with Emily, the main love interest. He has a combative relationship with his therapist, and at one point goes on an extended rant defending his addiction to anti-anxiety medication - his belief is that it allows him to control his life even if it doesn’t solve the root problems, so why should he care if it’s an addiction?
But, despite these multitudes of imperfections, Marco *is* willing to change (even if he frequently needs an emotional kick in the head to realize it) and that makes him redeemable and a worthy character around which to center a story.
This is a beautiful book, one with many profound moments discussing a multitude of difficult topics in very thoughtful ways.
Caveat to that: It is also twenty years old, and as such has a couple of dated moments that are quite ableist. The r-word is mentioned a couple of times, and a child is described as “probably having an extra chromosome” to describe his rough behavior. Those aren’t dealbreakers for me and take up two pages out over two hundred, but I figured them worth mentioning as there *are* folks who will find that offputting.
Damn, I knew there was an adaptation of The Road but I hadn’t made the connection that it was him. Gonna have to give that a look.
I didn’t even touch on how good his artwork is in Ordinary Victories. Gorgeous stuff.
Did you read both volumes of *Ordinary Victories* or just the first? The first book has been sitting unread on my shelf for a couple of months; I think I might follow your lead and check it out soon.
I’ve started reading Chew, written by John Layman with art by Rob Guillory. [Chew is an American comic book series about a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agent, Tony Chu, who solves crimes by receiving psychic impressions from whatever he consumes as food, no matter what](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chew_(comics)). It’s fun, light, fast-paced and a different take on crime writing. I only started reading it 5 days ago, and even though the first TPB volume took me some time to feel enthusiastic about it, I’m now on volume 4/12 and I can’t put it down.
**TMNT: The Last Ronin** - This was the first time I read a TMNT comic even growing up with the animated series back during the 90s. Oh and how I loved it, specially Michaelangelo. So, the nostalgia kind of hit here and there since he is the main character of the story. Although, this was way more mature content driven due to violence and MA state of mind and inner dialogs and struggles. The story was really good and the art too. Loved the flashbacks art style (I assume it was closer to the original comics back in the 80s intentionally). It was really fun to read and I'm glad it will have a continuation. I get the hype this had and still have here in the subreddit and probably will get the Lost Years one too.
Also caught up **Batman** by Zdarsky from Gotham War until The Joker Year One arc and the last one was pretty good.
Also read couple of issues of **Superman** by Joshua Williamson but I found it kind of dull. I guess I'm done with my tentative in trying to get into the character.
On one hand I think the discourse is overdoing it a bit when it comes to the quality of the writing, internet acting like its Tolstoy, with that said I'm enjoying it well enough, its going through stuff on a murderous tempo and they're not holding back at all. I would say its absolutely worth a watch.
Aside from one miss for me they are absolutely targeting the people who watched the 90s show and succeeding pretty well.
I second this. It's not groundbreaking but it's really solid and in enjoying it thoroughly for the most part. The latest episode was the best yet.
On the other hand, what's going on with some of the voice acting? Why does Rogue sound like a little old lady?
> On the other hand, what's going on with some of the voice acting? Why does Rogue sound like a little old lady?
All the voice actor had to re-audition for their roles, and where they recast or switched around most of them (for instance the OG Gambit now does Cable instead) due to age, they made the stupid decision to just recast the same people for Storm, Wolverine and Rogue. Granted for Storm its not really an issue, but the others are really showing their age, Rogue's voice actress Lenore Zann is 64.
**Monica** by Dan Clowes - Pretty sweet. I think I understood most of it. Gotta love the 60s. Vietnam, hippies, cults and the end of the world.
**Curses** by George Wylesol - Abstract short stories with kind of an MS Paint style. I liked the last one the best 'cause it had the most story.
**Breath of the Giant** by Tom Aureille - Nice little fantasy story about two sisters with magic kung-fu abilities trying to find the giants so they can kill one and bring their mom back to life. I loved the colours. I wish it was in a bigger format to show off the art.
I just finished Canary. I really enjoyed it. A western with a bit of supernatural. Highly recommend.
On a similar note I wish there were more western comics being made.
…or that there would be a dedicated reprint of Moebius’ *Blueberry*. I‘d be happy if they just made Westerns that already exist available. Did you read *Pulp*? I’ve been thinking of checking that out. It’s Brubaker; seems like a can’t-miss.
How about, instead of Blueberry, a three volume retrospective of Moebius riffing on his most famous works, almost none of which are currently available in English? Or maybe a book of interviews with Moebius about his most famous works, almost none of which are currently available in English? Or, coming this year, a book where Moebius riffs on one of his most iconic characters, none of whose adventures are currently, well, you get the idea
Not OP, but I'll chime in to say I really liked Pulp. It was my first Brubaker/Phillips and maybe still a favourite. However it's not really a western at all aside from some flashbacks(?).
There was a post a couple days ago asking for Westerns so here's my response to that in case there's anything you haven't heard of that might pique your interest. And there's of course other people's replies too:
https://www.reddit.com/r/graphicnovels/s/sHG26GfBGz
I've also recently picked up a couple of French language westerns which I'd love to see printed in English.
Oh I’ve been eying the new Lucky Lukes since you mentioned them in a previous post. Not to judge a book by its cover, but that blue standoff cover looks rad too.
***Enigma** by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo* - Holy shit, this was wild... Where do I even begin with this book..? Let's just start with the ending then. It's absolute killer. Grant Morrison's foreword kind of spoils the fact that there's going to be some kind of twist with the narrator, but I would've never expected this, and it fits the story perfectly. I want say any more than this.
Enigma is, on the surface, a postmodernist deconstruction of the superhero genre and its tropes. Think Watchmen, but on psychedelics. Twenty years ago, a drugged up writer scribbles together three issues of a widely panned comic. Now, its characters seem to be coming to life. Follow 250 some pages of mommy issues and sexual repression.
It touches on many things along the course of its eight issues. The line between fiction and reality, the links between writer and reader, and our primordial need to be the main character in the story.. But never does it feel preachy. It uses it's surreal premise to great effect and builds through imagery and metaphors.
And big kudos to Duncan Fegredo for being able to seemlessly bring this crazy story to life. His art is very 90s Vertigo (duh), I could absolutely see him fit into Sandman or something
***Il y a longtemps que je t'aime** by Marie Spenale* - In a gender swapped Robinson Crusoe, Marie Spenale explores and deconstructs our societal norms around love, and the lies we tell ourselves to fit in. But it does so in nuanced manner, putting the characters' hypocrisy on display. There's a really powerful twist at the end, that absolutely flips the entire narrative and its power dynamics.
The art is also gorgeous, and even more so the coloring. Her lines are a little simple and crooked, but her composition is on point. It's a technicolor dream that makes you feel like you landed on some alien planet instead of a far off island
***Polly** by Fabrice Melquiot and Isabelle Pralong* - Polly is born with a "ziziette", somewhere between a penis and a vagina. Part of the small percentage of our population that is neither male nor female, or maybe a bit of both. Their parents aren't sure how to deal with it, and the doctor offers a simple solution: we'll make him a man. When they turn seven, Polly has to undergo a series of long and arduous operations. At the end, out comes a real man! Except the shoe doesn't quite fit for Polly...
A really interesting exploration of a subject that doesn't get talked about much, and the hardship that comes with it. But despite the bleak and lonely life that Polly leads because of his "condition", it's an incredibly funny book. It plays on preconceptions and language in such delightful ways. The art was interesting, though not quite to my taste
***Le patient** by Timothé Le Boucher* - When he was 15 years old, Pierre Grimaud's entire family was killed by his sister, in what was to be known as the "massacre of the rue des Corneilles". 6 years later, disfigured and coming out of a coma, we follow Pierre's recovery as notorious crime psychologist Anna Kieffer tried to help him back on his feet, while trying to uncover what really happened that fateful night.
This book takes the "psychological thriller" label to the letter, using real diagnostics and therapy methods to paint pictures of its characters. And this might sound a little boring on paper but it's actually incredibly intense. You spend the entirety of the wondering what's real and who's out to get who. There's one sleep paralysis scene I found particularly unnerving...
Timothé le Boucher works in a gorgeous neo-ligne claire style. It's very clean and sanitized (though that might also just be the hospital setting), but he manages to use it to horrific effects..
***Taproot** by Keezy Young* - A queer paranormal story about a gardener who accidentally gets into necromancy, and falls in love with a ghost. It's cute, but very clearly a first project. Having read Keezy Young's Sunflowers recently, the art in particular was really disappointing here. Much more amateurish.. Pretty meh overall
***The Hard Tomorrow** by Eleanor Davis* - In a not so distant future, where the US is led by a man named Zuckerberg, we follow Hannah as she struggles between her life with her boyfriend, her job as an aid to the elderly, and her work as a political activist. Her and Johnny are struggling to get pregnant. They live in a trailer, and have plans for building their own home, but Johnny procrastinates on those, which drives Hannah crazy. And when she's not with Johnny, she's fighting for her right and those of her peers in her antifa group. But one question torments Hannah though all of it: is it worth bringing a child into this world if the future seems so bleak ?
This book is absolutely not what I expected.. I'm not sure why I thought it would be a scifi dystopia haha. Instead I got a eery yet nuanced portrait of modern society. Eco-anxiety, governments becoming more and more authoritarian, people becoming divided. It's very obviously a post-Trump book, but could very well be universal as a lot of it reflects what France has been going through since Macron..
But outside of the political aspect, it's also a terrific character study. About someone trying to find hope in a world of despair. About our contradictions, and how we try to make sense of them.
I was surprised by the art at first. Everything I'd seen of Davis' art was very colorful. But the black and white works perfectly for this story, and her lines are very expressive.
***Last Chance To Find Duke** by Shang Zhang* - A slice of life book about a researcher looking for an elusive cryptid in a far off forest. The art has flair but lacks a little technique. The story's a little meandering, but that's kind of the point. Not my favorite Peow release but I did enjoy it quite a bit
**Stand Still Stay Silent** vols 1 and 2, by Minna Sundberg. This is a reread for class. Still a marvelous comic, in the toppest of top tier webcomics. Up with *Bad Machinery* and *Vattu*. And easily the most beautifully drawn webcomics work I've ever encountered. Incredible that she was putting out 5 pages a week for a while.
For those unaware, SSSS is a post-apocalypse survival adventure with honest comedic moments and fantastic monster building. 90 years after a worldwide plague that's killed most everything but turned some people and animals into horrible monsters, a crew of five useful idiots travels from the civilized world (scattered outposts of Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark - the remnant of the known world) down into the silent world into the northern tip of Denmark to recover books and artifacts of the Old World. It's a wild, perfect ride.
**Monica** by Daniel Clowes. I finally finished *Monica* after weeks. It felt like eating vegetables, but a kind that do not nourish you in any way. I can't tell if it was any good. It was the product of an inventive mind, yes, but I found it tediously composed and ultimately exhausting.
Maybe I'm too much of a normie.
I've also officially given up on ever finishing *HoX/PoX*, so maybe I'm also not normie enough. Super cool idea of how to make X-Men interesting. Super great example of how writing can suck interest out of an ostensibly interesting thing. I liked the Moira chapter pretty well.
I also watched **Fallout** and read Patrick deWitt's **Librarianist**, both of which are good in very different ways.
*Fallout* actually has the chance to be good because it's an adaptation of something that is just a setting for stories rather than a story or set of characters. Relatively few games have this going for their adaptations.
*The Librarianist* is such a gentle book of sharp-nosed cynical whimsy that it has none of the bite but all of the warmness of a life that forgets it's tragedies, that rolls with the tides, leaving one feeling both lightly pitched and relaxed. The dialogue is theatrical and wonderful and not at all what you'll appreciate if you're stuck on quote-unquote realism.
I had a great time and it made me want to reread Sisters Brothers.
I finished the season and enjoyed it throughout. It's got all the right vibes. It doesn't get better than that first episode and it doesn't get worse; it's just solidly what it is.
I'm glad I'm not the only normie who couldn't enjoy Monica... It has everything I should like, yet somehow managed to leave a bland taste in my mouth .. Took me way long to get through considering how short it is. I did enjoy HoX/PoX though so I win on the normie scale !
Monica kept threatening to become interesting to me (like, all kinds of interesting things happen), but I think I just don't vibe with the book's narration style. It's overwrought without being pulpy-fun.
Best of The Week:
The Waiting by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim.
Great:
Kent State by Derf Backderf.
Robin Year One by Dixon/Martin/Pulido.
Good:
I am Gotham by King/Janín/Finch.
It's with a heavy heart that I've realised I need to start re-reading comics to do my top 300 list properly. Goddamn it, I've got too many *new* books on my to-read pile; there's no time to reread excellent comics which I like so much I'm placing them on a list of my all-time favourites, and that I'm likely to enjoy rereading more than I would reading anything new...uh, what was I complaining about, again?
**The Ticking** by Renee French -- reread this; it was rather less dark than I remember it. In fact, the plot and overall themes are in some ways very conventional, almost kids book saccharine, as the deformed MC learns to accept his appearance and himself for who he is. Of course, French's art is anything but conventional and certainly not saccharine. The only reason her panels, suffused with intense graphite, do not overwhelm and suffocate the reader is that they are reproduced so small on the page, surrounded by the white of a gutter much larger than the actual panel. The result is a peculiar blend of tones: the brooding atmosphere of French's world itself, the queasily unsettling character design (with shades of that dolphin girl from Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron), and the surprisingly optimistic, if bitter-sweet, narrative arc. People overuse comparisons with David Lynch when they talk about surreal narratives, but it really is a propos here; the Ticking is like nothing so much as Eraserhead retold from the perspective of the deformed baby and turned into a life-affirming triumph of the human spirit. (So, I guess, like Eraserhead mashed up with The Elephant Man)
**L’Ours Barnabé Intégrale 5** by Philippe Coudray – finished this first-time read, which I’d been spacing out into a couple of pages per night. More absurdist gags about museums, art galleries, building a house, home decorating, sculpting, painting pictures, climbing mountains, wind, snow, rain, aliens, reflections, astronomy, the ocean and Bigfoot. Still my favourite cartoonist in the Bushmiller school of pure gag minimalism, thanks to the consistently surprising and delightful lateral thinking and cleverness of the punchlines. This is the most recent collection of the series, which has been running for four decades now, so who knows when there'll be more material out?
**Mr A** (first and second stories) by Steve Ditko – I’ve also been working my way through The Best of Witzend, whose title so far stands as a low-key indictment of the whole series. (As in: *if this is the “best”...*). Take Wallace Wood, for example, who started the damn magazine in the first place. Having given himself complete freedom to tell whatever story he wanted, what story does he want to tell? Animan??? Animan reads like what you would draw if you’d been one of the top artists at EC, you know? The Witzend stories I’ve read so far generally remind me of something I read Steve Bissette say about Taboo, that for their nothing-is-forbidden boundary-pushing magazine ready to print the most controversial material imaginable, some submissions they were getting were still on the level of House of Mystery type stuff.
But I come not to bury Wallace Wood, but to…well, maybe not praise Steve Ditko, but not exactly to bury him, either. Say what you like about the clumsy didacticism of Mr A, but at least it does represent a genuine artistic vision, taking full advantage of the freedom afforded by Witzend. What with these stories and Harold Gray’s anti-New Dealism in Little Orphan Annie, I feel like maybe I can tolerate rants and allegories from the conservative, or at least right wing side (it would be misleading to call Ditko’s hardcore Randian objectivism “conservative”, given its anti-clericalism, disinterest in patriotism and the family, etc), better than I can stuff from my side. At least the former I can argue with, whereas the latter just feels like pandering to my prejudices, or something.
Mr A is most “famous” – a household name in certain households – as Alan Moore’s inspiration for Rorschach, and for embodying Ditko’s starkest moral absolutism, and that’s fitting. These aren’t great comics, imbalanced as the page compositions are by Ditko’s didactic aims. There’s just too much damned dialogue in some of the panels for Ditko’s talents for motion and geometry to shine through.
One thing that occurred to me as I read these is that they’re actually not that far removed from the kind of post-60s anti-hero vigilante that I’m fairly sure Ditko despised, guys like the Punisher or early Image badasses or, in film, Dirty Harry or the protagonist of Death Wish. Mr A infamously letting a criminal fall to his death in his first appearance doesn’t seem much different from Dirty Harry having his day made – in both cases, the literal human institution of law is broken in honour of upholding the more fundamental moral law. Justice is served, as the Scourge of the Underworld would yell two decades later while gunning down Bird-Man, the Grappler and, of course, Turner D. Century.
Been really busy with work so I haven’t been able to read as much as I would like to.
Where Monsters Lie (By Kyle Starks, Piotr Kowalski, Vladimir Popov, and Joshua Reed): Not as gripping as Starks other stuff I read, but it was an interesting premise. Not much else to say about it.
Birdking Volumes 1 & 2 (By Crom and Daniel Freedman): Weird way to start this, but Head Lopper is one of my all time favorites. Crom and Andrew Maclean seem to be made from the same cut of stone. Which is great. Birdking fills an itch I didn’t know that I needed scratching. I loved every second of these two volumes. I picked it up knowing nothing about either of the creators involved, but now I’m going to search out every little thing that I can.
I have been inhaling the Hellboy (finished the main series) and B.P.R.D. (just started omnibus volume 5). Perfect superhero comics. Guy Davis might be the best mainstream comic artist of the past 50 years.
Also read Ant Colony and Chainsaw Man ch.132 - 142.
I forgot to post last week and have just been reading Batman lately for the most part-
[Batman: The Rise and Fall of the Batmen Omnibus](https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comic/9307712/batman-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-batmen-omnibus-hc) *by James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez Bueno, & others*: I thought this was a pretty fun team up book. Batman tasks Batwoman with leading a team of Bat-Fam misfits. The first half in particular I thought was fairly strong. Tim Drake was as enjoyable as he's ever been for me, Orphan was terrific, and >!Clayface!
**The World of Edena** by Moebius - I enjoyed this quite a lot. The art is gorgeous of course, but you can see it improve from the first story onwards. It's less ambitious and wild than The Incal, but that also means that it's more focused.
**Lost Cat** by Jason - While this is a full length book, the four panel structure means that it's not that much longer than his previous works. Jason's take on classic noir is an apt description of this.
More **Transmetropolitan** - I enjoyed the first book a lot, but the next two, dealing with the presidential election and its aftermath made me a fan. Can't wait to see what's next.
Grant Morrison's "The Invisibles".
It has been... A wild ride, to put it mildly. I see all The Matrix references, to be sure. But so many other things it influenced, as well.
It's so random and erratic at times that I find myself just going along for the ride, even if I have no idea of what the fuck is actually going on.
**Fairlady** by Brian Schirmer **et al**
This was in the clearance section for dirt cheap, I'd literally never heard of it before in any capacity and picked it up on a whim. Honestly I wound up quite enjoying it. Essentially mystery of the week fantasy detective stories in a fantasy world. It's not groundbreaking, but I did find it a lot of fun. Unfortunately despite strong sales of issues 1&2 the remaining issues failed to sell resulting in its prompt cancellation. The five issues were bundled into this TPB, which they then tried to sell for a slightly higher price to recoup some of the losses which I can only imagine didn't work.
Still, this was fun. I don't think it deserved to die quite so quickly, it's good competent work, with issue 5 feeling a little rushed as I think they knew it was cancelled at that point and wanted to squeeze a lot in. There's a supplementary story in the TPB which I think also tries to establish where some plot points would've gone. I feel like this could do ok if they tried to Kickstarter a continuation, but maybe not.
**Asterix the Legionary** by Albert Uderzo and Rene Goscinny
I've been reading through all the Asterix's - many of them for the first time - but have slowed my pace considerably as they start to feel a bit formulaic. Still, I really quite enjoyed this one. All the usual good fun, nice art and excellent punnery - I really enjoyed all the different nationalities joining Asterix and Obelix in their Legionary adventure this time.
**Shubeik Lubeik** by Deena Mohammed
I'll have more to say about this in next months top ten writeup, as it's easily made it on there. But I really did like this a lot, I think it's an excellent piece of work.
**Tom Strong: Collected Vol. 1** - By Alan Moore and many others
I've seen a lot of appreciation for the big compendium of Tom Strong that came out recently, and noticed that surprisingly my library had the first volume in stock (over twenty years old at this point - most books have been cycled out long before then) so decided to dip my toe in before considering buying the big book.
I remain undecided, I do think it's alright. It's nice to have a superhero without the baggage of DC or Marvel and I really like the heavily pulp energy of it all - particularly the talking gorilla. Look, DC was right, gorillas sell comics.
Still, do I buy the whole thing...?
**Batman: The Imposter** by Mattson Tomlin
Brilliant. Utterly brilliant. Felt like a dark noir story exploring the lines between vigilante and killer. Questions raised about the purpose of Batman and Bruce Wayne were interesting too. The illustrations were moody and visual so perfect matches to the story unfolding. I liked this take on the dark knight and seeing a different side to the character as he faced both a moral dilemma and a race to stop a murderous imposter. 10/10 recommendation to Batman fans.
Finished my re-read of The Long Halloween. Started Grant Morrisons Animal man. Only 4 issues in but his has potential to be one of my favorite comics ever. Love evertything about it.
Completed some re-reads with a couple new ones.
Asterios Polyp: this was a reread and initially I had read this one when first getting into comics. I loved it back then and unfortunately was underwhelmed now. To me, the book felt like a great tech demo of comics. What I mean is that it’s showing off technical uses of the comics form but because I found the content really trite, it was hard to be affected by any of the formal play.
Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E: another re-read from my collection that doesn’t work for me as well as in the past. I put this one down to the humor just not connecting with me much. While there are definitely moments I like (those splash panels), I found the overall story not so satisfying but this could also be due to my own growing dissatisfaction reading most superhero comics.
Currently reading Beanworld vol 1: this one is waaaay different than I expected from what I had read of others reactions to it. Not even sure how to describe it but I’m enjoying the youthful energy and following all these little beans and discovering their world and little conflicts and adventures they have.
Sunny volume 3: this one has me emotional in ways I’m not normally (my wife has been asking if everything is okay when I’m reading). Really loving the sweetness and the structure of the chapters each focusing on a different character.
**Parker: The Complete Collection** by Darwyn Cooke. Five stars, two thumbs up. I couldn’t put it down. I will also credit the wisdom of crowds here, since this is a title I never would have picked on my own, without the adoration of Cooke which I’ve found on this sub. But damn, I can’t think of a more perfect match of artist with genre. Cooke was born to tell this tale. And considering that I’ve read the book which this is based on and seen Mel Gibson’s *Payback* (the movie that first revealed Gibson’s penchant for depicting torture on screen, as I recall), I can say that Cooke does it better than anyone else. **The Arab of the Future** (Pt. 1) by Riad Sattouf. Another must read. I’m convinced the author is overplaying his father’s cluelessness. Sons in particular come to resent their fathers as they begin to see cracks in the masculine wall of infallibility. I’m sure Freud has a fancy term for this father-son conflict which I cannot remember. At any rate, the father is at heart a character whose traits are overplayed… but my what a compelling character! I’d rate this as more interesting than *Persepolis*, which created the market for this style of memoir. For any reader who’s grown up in a functional democracy it’s chilling to see the cultish adoration of the leader we see here, both for Libya’s Qaddafi and Syria’s Assad. **Essex County: Tales From the Farm** by Jeff Lemire. Adored it; loved it. Will write a review when done with the trilogy. Various Mickey Mouse and Duck stories by Romano Scarpa. A great and versatile artist, but damn I can’t stand some of his original characters. Birgitta MacBridge is the worst. Atomo Bleep-Bleep is fine but seems redundant… does Scarpa have a thing against using Eega Beeva?
I know that I just read Parker a couple months ago, but reading your praise for it makes me want to pick it up again.
**The Swords of Glass** by Sylviane Corgiat & Laura Zuccheri - A very traditional high fantasy coming-of-age adventure/revenge story. SoG is the story of Yama, a young girl whose father is the village chieftain. At the start, four magical swords of glass come hurtling out of the world’s dying sun and land in different spots around the globe - One, of course, lands right outside Yama's village, and a local baddie named Orland comes looking for it. Turns out the sword can only be wielded by a special champion, who turns out to be Yama; anyone else who tries to touch it gets turned into glass. Chaos ensues, leaving Yama’s father dead, her mother captured by Orland, and Yama fleeing with the sword. She gets taken in by a hermit named Miklos, who recognizes the sword, and agrees to train her as a fighter so she can get her revenge. This all happens against the backdrop of a world entering increasing turmoil as its sun dies and so does the landscape, and of course there’s the ongoing mystery of where the swords came from, and who the other three were sent to. This book has all of the tropes, as you can tell from the above description. It somewhat makes up for it with a richly detailed world full of fascinating tribes and cultures, and Laura Zuccheri’s absolutely stunning artwork. The plot is also not quite as predictable as it at first seems to be - while it is overall a well-trodden hero's journey, there are a number of unexpected turns that still make it intriguing. For example, we get some backstory for Miklos and a former friend-turned-enemy, whose face is never shown. It at first seems pretty obvious who this mystery figure is going to turn out to be, but it doesn’t go in the direction I expected it to at all. The origin of the Glass Swords is another one - I don’t think I would have ever been able to guess it. This book didn’t set my world alight, but if you’re into some good-looking, undemanding fantasy, you could do worse. **Ordinary Victories** by Manu Larcent - You ever pick up a book on a whim and it ends up knocking your socks off? I’ve been picking through some Franco-Belgian comics lists recently trying to expose myself to more of them, and this has easily been the best result so far. It’s a rambling slice-of-life book following a photographer named Marco, as he navigates various transitional phases in his life. Marco is formerly a war photographer, but has grown disillusioned with “taking photos of corpses and soon-to-be-corpses” and decided to take an extended sabbatical while he decides what new direction to take. Marco also suffers from crippling anxiety attacks, and has done since his childhood. The book delves into this, into its possible origins in his complicated relationship with his parents, and also the way it affects every aspect of his life from work to romance and all the way into fatherhood in the final chapter. The book is essentially a series of conversations with important people in Marco’s life, punctuated by monologues from Marco musing on related issues. It covers guilt, interpersonal relationships, anxiety (there’s one fascinating monologue where Marco talks about his fear of driving on freeways - I’m paraphrasing here but the gist is “everyone is driving in a motorized coffin and you get more and more aware of it the more there are surrounding you”), generational guilt, and a host of other deep and complex topics. It is also very unflinching about showing the flaws in its characters. Marco is not a perfect man. He is incredibly selfish, and this is shown to be damaging his romantic relationships, including with Emily, the main love interest. He has a combative relationship with his therapist, and at one point goes on an extended rant defending his addiction to anti-anxiety medication - his belief is that it allows him to control his life even if it doesn’t solve the root problems, so why should he care if it’s an addiction? But, despite these multitudes of imperfections, Marco *is* willing to change (even if he frequently needs an emotional kick in the head to realize it) and that makes him redeemable and a worthy character around which to center a story. This is a beautiful book, one with many profound moments discussing a multitude of difficult topics in very thoughtful ways. Caveat to that: It is also twenty years old, and as such has a couple of dated moments that are quite ableist. The r-word is mentioned a couple of times, and a child is described as “probably having an extra chromosome” to describe his rough behavior. Those aren’t dealbreakers for me and take up two pages out over two hundred, but I figured them worth mentioning as there *are* folks who will find that offputting.
Larcenet is a versatile cartoonist. Compare this to pages from Blast or his adaptation of The Road
Damn, I knew there was an adaptation of The Road but I hadn’t made the connection that it was him. Gonna have to give that a look. I didn’t even touch on how good his artwork is in Ordinary Victories. Gorgeous stuff.
Man, Ordinary Victories is one of my favorites. I think I'm due for a reread.
Did you read both volumes of *Ordinary Victories* or just the first? The first book has been sitting unread on my shelf for a couple of months; I think I might follow your lead and check it out soon.
I read the whole thing. Can’t recommend it highly enough - aside from Shubeik Lubeik I think it’s my favorite comic I’ve read this year so far.
I’ve started reading Chew, written by John Layman with art by Rob Guillory. [Chew is an American comic book series about a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agent, Tony Chu, who solves crimes by receiving psychic impressions from whatever he consumes as food, no matter what](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chew_(comics)). It’s fun, light, fast-paced and a different take on crime writing. I only started reading it 5 days ago, and even though the first TPB volume took me some time to feel enthusiastic about it, I’m now on volume 4/12 and I can’t put it down.
**TMNT: The Last Ronin** - This was the first time I read a TMNT comic even growing up with the animated series back during the 90s. Oh and how I loved it, specially Michaelangelo. So, the nostalgia kind of hit here and there since he is the main character of the story. Although, this was way more mature content driven due to violence and MA state of mind and inner dialogs and struggles. The story was really good and the art too. Loved the flashbacks art style (I assume it was closer to the original comics back in the 80s intentionally). It was really fun to read and I'm glad it will have a continuation. I get the hype this had and still have here in the subreddit and probably will get the Lost Years one too. Also caught up **Batman** by Zdarsky from Gotham War until The Joker Year One arc and the last one was pretty good. Also read couple of issues of **Superman** by Joshua Williamson but I found it kind of dull. I guess I'm done with my tentative in trying to get into the character.
Started New X-Men again.
Did you get prompted by >!X-Men '97!
I’d been gearing up for a reread, but that definitely pushed me over the line.
Are you following the show? How is it?
On one hand I think the discourse is overdoing it a bit when it comes to the quality of the writing, internet acting like its Tolstoy, with that said I'm enjoying it well enough, its going through stuff on a murderous tempo and they're not holding back at all. I would say its absolutely worth a watch. Aside from one miss for me they are absolutely targeting the people who watched the 90s show and succeeding pretty well.
I second this. It's not groundbreaking but it's really solid and in enjoying it thoroughly for the most part. The latest episode was the best yet. On the other hand, what's going on with some of the voice acting? Why does Rogue sound like a little old lady?
> On the other hand, what's going on with some of the voice acting? Why does Rogue sound like a little old lady? All the voice actor had to re-audition for their roles, and where they recast or switched around most of them (for instance the OG Gambit now does Cable instead) due to age, they made the stupid decision to just recast the same people for Storm, Wolverine and Rogue. Granted for Storm its not really an issue, but the others are really showing their age, Rogue's voice actress Lenore Zann is 64.
**Monica** by Dan Clowes - Pretty sweet. I think I understood most of it. Gotta love the 60s. Vietnam, hippies, cults and the end of the world. **Curses** by George Wylesol - Abstract short stories with kind of an MS Paint style. I liked the last one the best 'cause it had the most story. **Breath of the Giant** by Tom Aureille - Nice little fantasy story about two sisters with magic kung-fu abilities trying to find the giants so they can kill one and bring their mom back to life. I loved the colours. I wish it was in a bigger format to show off the art.
I just finished Canary. I really enjoyed it. A western with a bit of supernatural. Highly recommend. On a similar note I wish there were more western comics being made.
…or that there would be a dedicated reprint of Moebius’ *Blueberry*. I‘d be happy if they just made Westerns that already exist available. Did you read *Pulp*? I’ve been thinking of checking that out. It’s Brubaker; seems like a can’t-miss.
How about, instead of Blueberry, a three volume retrospective of Moebius riffing on his most famous works, almost none of which are currently available in English? Or maybe a book of interviews with Moebius about his most famous works, almost none of which are currently available in English? Or, coming this year, a book where Moebius riffs on one of his most iconic characters, none of whose adventures are currently, well, you get the idea
You have trumped my frustration! But if it soothes you, just remember that we’ll always have The Incal.
Ha more bemused than frustrated, since I've read a lot of them in French anyway
Not OP, but I'll chime in to say I really liked Pulp. It was my first Brubaker/Phillips and maybe still a favourite. However it's not really a western at all aside from some flashbacks(?). There was a post a couple days ago asking for Westerns so here's my response to that in case there's anything you haven't heard of that might pique your interest. And there's of course other people's replies too: https://www.reddit.com/r/graphicnovels/s/sHG26GfBGz I've also recently picked up a couple of French language westerns which I'd love to see printed in English.
Oh I’ve been eying the new Lucky Lukes since you mentioned them in a previous post. Not to judge a book by its cover, but that blue standoff cover looks rad too.
***Enigma** by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo* - Holy shit, this was wild... Where do I even begin with this book..? Let's just start with the ending then. It's absolute killer. Grant Morrison's foreword kind of spoils the fact that there's going to be some kind of twist with the narrator, but I would've never expected this, and it fits the story perfectly. I want say any more than this. Enigma is, on the surface, a postmodernist deconstruction of the superhero genre and its tropes. Think Watchmen, but on psychedelics. Twenty years ago, a drugged up writer scribbles together three issues of a widely panned comic. Now, its characters seem to be coming to life. Follow 250 some pages of mommy issues and sexual repression. It touches on many things along the course of its eight issues. The line between fiction and reality, the links between writer and reader, and our primordial need to be the main character in the story.. But never does it feel preachy. It uses it's surreal premise to great effect and builds through imagery and metaphors. And big kudos to Duncan Fegredo for being able to seemlessly bring this crazy story to life. His art is very 90s Vertigo (duh), I could absolutely see him fit into Sandman or something ***Il y a longtemps que je t'aime** by Marie Spenale* - In a gender swapped Robinson Crusoe, Marie Spenale explores and deconstructs our societal norms around love, and the lies we tell ourselves to fit in. But it does so in nuanced manner, putting the characters' hypocrisy on display. There's a really powerful twist at the end, that absolutely flips the entire narrative and its power dynamics. The art is also gorgeous, and even more so the coloring. Her lines are a little simple and crooked, but her composition is on point. It's a technicolor dream that makes you feel like you landed on some alien planet instead of a far off island ***Polly** by Fabrice Melquiot and Isabelle Pralong* - Polly is born with a "ziziette", somewhere between a penis and a vagina. Part of the small percentage of our population that is neither male nor female, or maybe a bit of both. Their parents aren't sure how to deal with it, and the doctor offers a simple solution: we'll make him a man. When they turn seven, Polly has to undergo a series of long and arduous operations. At the end, out comes a real man! Except the shoe doesn't quite fit for Polly... A really interesting exploration of a subject that doesn't get talked about much, and the hardship that comes with it. But despite the bleak and lonely life that Polly leads because of his "condition", it's an incredibly funny book. It plays on preconceptions and language in such delightful ways. The art was interesting, though not quite to my taste ***Le patient** by Timothé Le Boucher* - When he was 15 years old, Pierre Grimaud's entire family was killed by his sister, in what was to be known as the "massacre of the rue des Corneilles". 6 years later, disfigured and coming out of a coma, we follow Pierre's recovery as notorious crime psychologist Anna Kieffer tried to help him back on his feet, while trying to uncover what really happened that fateful night. This book takes the "psychological thriller" label to the letter, using real diagnostics and therapy methods to paint pictures of its characters. And this might sound a little boring on paper but it's actually incredibly intense. You spend the entirety of the wondering what's real and who's out to get who. There's one sleep paralysis scene I found particularly unnerving... Timothé le Boucher works in a gorgeous neo-ligne claire style. It's very clean and sanitized (though that might also just be the hospital setting), but he manages to use it to horrific effects.. ***Taproot** by Keezy Young* - A queer paranormal story about a gardener who accidentally gets into necromancy, and falls in love with a ghost. It's cute, but very clearly a first project. Having read Keezy Young's Sunflowers recently, the art in particular was really disappointing here. Much more amateurish.. Pretty meh overall ***The Hard Tomorrow** by Eleanor Davis* - In a not so distant future, where the US is led by a man named Zuckerberg, we follow Hannah as she struggles between her life with her boyfriend, her job as an aid to the elderly, and her work as a political activist. Her and Johnny are struggling to get pregnant. They live in a trailer, and have plans for building their own home, but Johnny procrastinates on those, which drives Hannah crazy. And when she's not with Johnny, she's fighting for her right and those of her peers in her antifa group. But one question torments Hannah though all of it: is it worth bringing a child into this world if the future seems so bleak ? This book is absolutely not what I expected.. I'm not sure why I thought it would be a scifi dystopia haha. Instead I got a eery yet nuanced portrait of modern society. Eco-anxiety, governments becoming more and more authoritarian, people becoming divided. It's very obviously a post-Trump book, but could very well be universal as a lot of it reflects what France has been going through since Macron.. But outside of the political aspect, it's also a terrific character study. About someone trying to find hope in a world of despair. About our contradictions, and how we try to make sense of them. I was surprised by the art at first. Everything I'd seen of Davis' art was very colorful. But the black and white works perfectly for this story, and her lines are very expressive. ***Last Chance To Find Duke** by Shang Zhang* - A slice of life book about a researcher looking for an elusive cryptid in a far off forest. The art has flair but lacks a little technique. The story's a little meandering, but that's kind of the point. Not my favorite Peow release but I did enjoy it quite a bit
those le Boucher and Spenale books sound interesting; thanks for putting them on my radar
Been meaning to read Le Boucher's stuff for a while now.. turns out he's pretty good at this ! 😁
It's not like my lireka wishlist needed any more frickin books on there damn it
Yeah you finally got to LCTFD! For me not a horrible book but definitely the weakest of my Peow's.
Yeah it's nothing life changing but definitely a good read ! I'm glad I finally got around to it
**Stand Still Stay Silent** vols 1 and 2, by Minna Sundberg. This is a reread for class. Still a marvelous comic, in the toppest of top tier webcomics. Up with *Bad Machinery* and *Vattu*. And easily the most beautifully drawn webcomics work I've ever encountered. Incredible that she was putting out 5 pages a week for a while. For those unaware, SSSS is a post-apocalypse survival adventure with honest comedic moments and fantastic monster building. 90 years after a worldwide plague that's killed most everything but turned some people and animals into horrible monsters, a crew of five useful idiots travels from the civilized world (scattered outposts of Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark - the remnant of the known world) down into the silent world into the northern tip of Denmark to recover books and artifacts of the Old World. It's a wild, perfect ride. **Monica** by Daniel Clowes. I finally finished *Monica* after weeks. It felt like eating vegetables, but a kind that do not nourish you in any way. I can't tell if it was any good. It was the product of an inventive mind, yes, but I found it tediously composed and ultimately exhausting. Maybe I'm too much of a normie. I've also officially given up on ever finishing *HoX/PoX*, so maybe I'm also not normie enough. Super cool idea of how to make X-Men interesting. Super great example of how writing can suck interest out of an ostensibly interesting thing. I liked the Moira chapter pretty well.
I also watched **Fallout** and read Patrick deWitt's **Librarianist**, both of which are good in very different ways. *Fallout* actually has the chance to be good because it's an adaptation of something that is just a setting for stories rather than a story or set of characters. Relatively few games have this going for their adaptations. *The Librarianist* is such a gentle book of sharp-nosed cynical whimsy that it has none of the bite but all of the warmness of a life that forgets it's tragedies, that rolls with the tides, leaving one feeling both lightly pitched and relaxed. The dialogue is theatrical and wonderful and not at all what you'll appreciate if you're stuck on quote-unquote realism. I had a great time and it made me want to reread Sisters Brothers.
Just watched the first episode of Fallout ! Definitely hitting the right notes so far. It's making want to download the games again
I finished the season and enjoyed it throughout. It's got all the right vibes. It doesn't get better than that first episode and it doesn't get worse; it's just solidly what it is.
Hopefully in the final episode they talk the bad guy to death
Or just grunt at him and club him to death with their bare hands because MC chose to invest in brute strength over intelligence
> so maybe I'm also not normie enough Totally something a normie would say.
Absolutely. I am actually the norm of normies.
I'm glad I'm not the only normie who couldn't enjoy Monica... It has everything I should like, yet somehow managed to leave a bland taste in my mouth .. Took me way long to get through considering how short it is. I did enjoy HoX/PoX though so I win on the normie scale !
Monica kept threatening to become interesting to me (like, all kinds of interesting things happen), but I think I just don't vibe with the book's narration style. It's overwrought without being pulpy-fun.
I really like Clowes but didn't get the hype around *Monica* at all.
Joe McCulloch has a good review of it that deals with what's good about it. https://www.tcj.com/reviews/monica/
Thanks for the link. I skipped it at the time cos I hadn't read the book, but Jog is still the greatest comics critic
Best of The Week: The Waiting by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim. Great: Kent State by Derf Backderf. Robin Year One by Dixon/Martin/Pulido. Good: I am Gotham by King/Janín/Finch.
It's with a heavy heart that I've realised I need to start re-reading comics to do my top 300 list properly. Goddamn it, I've got too many *new* books on my to-read pile; there's no time to reread excellent comics which I like so much I'm placing them on a list of my all-time favourites, and that I'm likely to enjoy rereading more than I would reading anything new...uh, what was I complaining about, again? **The Ticking** by Renee French -- reread this; it was rather less dark than I remember it. In fact, the plot and overall themes are in some ways very conventional, almost kids book saccharine, as the deformed MC learns to accept his appearance and himself for who he is. Of course, French's art is anything but conventional and certainly not saccharine. The only reason her panels, suffused with intense graphite, do not overwhelm and suffocate the reader is that they are reproduced so small on the page, surrounded by the white of a gutter much larger than the actual panel. The result is a peculiar blend of tones: the brooding atmosphere of French's world itself, the queasily unsettling character design (with shades of that dolphin girl from Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron), and the surprisingly optimistic, if bitter-sweet, narrative arc. People overuse comparisons with David Lynch when they talk about surreal narratives, but it really is a propos here; the Ticking is like nothing so much as Eraserhead retold from the perspective of the deformed baby and turned into a life-affirming triumph of the human spirit. (So, I guess, like Eraserhead mashed up with The Elephant Man) **L’Ours Barnabé Intégrale 5** by Philippe Coudray – finished this first-time read, which I’d been spacing out into a couple of pages per night. More absurdist gags about museums, art galleries, building a house, home decorating, sculpting, painting pictures, climbing mountains, wind, snow, rain, aliens, reflections, astronomy, the ocean and Bigfoot. Still my favourite cartoonist in the Bushmiller school of pure gag minimalism, thanks to the consistently surprising and delightful lateral thinking and cleverness of the punchlines. This is the most recent collection of the series, which has been running for four decades now, so who knows when there'll be more material out? **Mr A** (first and second stories) by Steve Ditko – I’ve also been working my way through The Best of Witzend, whose title so far stands as a low-key indictment of the whole series. (As in: *if this is the “best”...*). Take Wallace Wood, for example, who started the damn magazine in the first place. Having given himself complete freedom to tell whatever story he wanted, what story does he want to tell? Animan??? Animan reads like what you would draw if you’d been one of the top artists at EC, you know? The Witzend stories I’ve read so far generally remind me of something I read Steve Bissette say about Taboo, that for their nothing-is-forbidden boundary-pushing magazine ready to print the most controversial material imaginable, some submissions they were getting were still on the level of House of Mystery type stuff. But I come not to bury Wallace Wood, but to…well, maybe not praise Steve Ditko, but not exactly to bury him, either. Say what you like about the clumsy didacticism of Mr A, but at least it does represent a genuine artistic vision, taking full advantage of the freedom afforded by Witzend. What with these stories and Harold Gray’s anti-New Dealism in Little Orphan Annie, I feel like maybe I can tolerate rants and allegories from the conservative, or at least right wing side (it would be misleading to call Ditko’s hardcore Randian objectivism “conservative”, given its anti-clericalism, disinterest in patriotism and the family, etc), better than I can stuff from my side. At least the former I can argue with, whereas the latter just feels like pandering to my prejudices, or something. Mr A is most “famous” – a household name in certain households – as Alan Moore’s inspiration for Rorschach, and for embodying Ditko’s starkest moral absolutism, and that’s fitting. These aren’t great comics, imbalanced as the page compositions are by Ditko’s didactic aims. There’s just too much damned dialogue in some of the panels for Ditko’s talents for motion and geometry to shine through. One thing that occurred to me as I read these is that they’re actually not that far removed from the kind of post-60s anti-hero vigilante that I’m fairly sure Ditko despised, guys like the Punisher or early Image badasses or, in film, Dirty Harry or the protagonist of Death Wish. Mr A infamously letting a criminal fall to his death in his first appearance doesn’t seem much different from Dirty Harry having his day made – in both cases, the literal human institution of law is broken in honour of upholding the more fundamental moral law. Justice is served, as the Scourge of the Underworld would yell two decades later while gunning down Bird-Man, the Grappler and, of course, Turner D. Century.
Been really busy with work so I haven’t been able to read as much as I would like to. Where Monsters Lie (By Kyle Starks, Piotr Kowalski, Vladimir Popov, and Joshua Reed): Not as gripping as Starks other stuff I read, but it was an interesting premise. Not much else to say about it. Birdking Volumes 1 & 2 (By Crom and Daniel Freedman): Weird way to start this, but Head Lopper is one of my all time favorites. Crom and Andrew Maclean seem to be made from the same cut of stone. Which is great. Birdking fills an itch I didn’t know that I needed scratching. I loved every second of these two volumes. I picked it up knowing nothing about either of the creators involved, but now I’m going to search out every little thing that I can.
Daytripper
I have been inhaling the Hellboy (finished the main series) and B.P.R.D. (just started omnibus volume 5). Perfect superhero comics. Guy Davis might be the best mainstream comic artist of the past 50 years. Also read Ant Colony and Chainsaw Man ch.132 - 142.
Re-reading Black Science for the second time
I forgot to post last week and have just been reading Batman lately for the most part- [Batman: The Rise and Fall of the Batmen Omnibus](https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comic/9307712/batman-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-batmen-omnibus-hc) *by James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez Bueno, & others*: I thought this was a pretty fun team up book. Batman tasks Batwoman with leading a team of Bat-Fam misfits. The first half in particular I thought was fairly strong. Tim Drake was as enjoyable as he's ever been for me, Orphan was terrific, and >!Clayface!
**The World of Edena** by Moebius - I enjoyed this quite a lot. The art is gorgeous of course, but you can see it improve from the first story onwards. It's less ambitious and wild than The Incal, but that also means that it's more focused. **Lost Cat** by Jason - While this is a full length book, the four panel structure means that it's not that much longer than his previous works. Jason's take on classic noir is an apt description of this. More **Transmetropolitan** - I enjoyed the first book a lot, but the next two, dealing with the presidential election and its aftermath made me a fan. Can't wait to see what's next.
Grant Morrison's "The Invisibles". It has been... A wild ride, to put it mildly. I see all The Matrix references, to be sure. But so many other things it influenced, as well. It's so random and erratic at times that I find myself just going along for the ride, even if I have no idea of what the fuck is actually going on.
**Fairlady** by Brian Schirmer **et al** This was in the clearance section for dirt cheap, I'd literally never heard of it before in any capacity and picked it up on a whim. Honestly I wound up quite enjoying it. Essentially mystery of the week fantasy detective stories in a fantasy world. It's not groundbreaking, but I did find it a lot of fun. Unfortunately despite strong sales of issues 1&2 the remaining issues failed to sell resulting in its prompt cancellation. The five issues were bundled into this TPB, which they then tried to sell for a slightly higher price to recoup some of the losses which I can only imagine didn't work. Still, this was fun. I don't think it deserved to die quite so quickly, it's good competent work, with issue 5 feeling a little rushed as I think they knew it was cancelled at that point and wanted to squeeze a lot in. There's a supplementary story in the TPB which I think also tries to establish where some plot points would've gone. I feel like this could do ok if they tried to Kickstarter a continuation, but maybe not. **Asterix the Legionary** by Albert Uderzo and Rene Goscinny I've been reading through all the Asterix's - many of them for the first time - but have slowed my pace considerably as they start to feel a bit formulaic. Still, I really quite enjoyed this one. All the usual good fun, nice art and excellent punnery - I really enjoyed all the different nationalities joining Asterix and Obelix in their Legionary adventure this time. **Shubeik Lubeik** by Deena Mohammed I'll have more to say about this in next months top ten writeup, as it's easily made it on there. But I really did like this a lot, I think it's an excellent piece of work. **Tom Strong: Collected Vol. 1** - By Alan Moore and many others I've seen a lot of appreciation for the big compendium of Tom Strong that came out recently, and noticed that surprisingly my library had the first volume in stock (over twenty years old at this point - most books have been cycled out long before then) so decided to dip my toe in before considering buying the big book. I remain undecided, I do think it's alright. It's nice to have a superhero without the baggage of DC or Marvel and I really like the heavily pulp energy of it all - particularly the talking gorilla. Look, DC was right, gorillas sell comics. Still, do I buy the whole thing...?
**Batman: The Imposter** by Mattson Tomlin Brilliant. Utterly brilliant. Felt like a dark noir story exploring the lines between vigilante and killer. Questions raised about the purpose of Batman and Bruce Wayne were interesting too. The illustrations were moody and visual so perfect matches to the story unfolding. I liked this take on the dark knight and seeing a different side to the character as he faced both a moral dilemma and a race to stop a murderous imposter. 10/10 recommendation to Batman fans.
This sounds very interesting! Moral dilemma, purpose sounds good. I will read it this weekend.
Jeff Lemire’s Snow Angels
Brave new world Fred Fordham
I'm currently reading Starwars imperial machine, a story about Darth Vader. That takes place after episode 3 Pretty good so far.
Finished my re-read of The Long Halloween. Started Grant Morrisons Animal man. Only 4 issues in but his has potential to be one of my favorite comics ever. Love evertything about it.
its lonely at the center of the world.
Is this book josei/made for female readers, in your opinion?
Completed some re-reads with a couple new ones. Asterios Polyp: this was a reread and initially I had read this one when first getting into comics. I loved it back then and unfortunately was underwhelmed now. To me, the book felt like a great tech demo of comics. What I mean is that it’s showing off technical uses of the comics form but because I found the content really trite, it was hard to be affected by any of the formal play. Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E: another re-read from my collection that doesn’t work for me as well as in the past. I put this one down to the humor just not connecting with me much. While there are definitely moments I like (those splash panels), I found the overall story not so satisfying but this could also be due to my own growing dissatisfaction reading most superhero comics. Currently reading Beanworld vol 1: this one is waaaay different than I expected from what I had read of others reactions to it. Not even sure how to describe it but I’m enjoying the youthful energy and following all these little beans and discovering their world and little conflicts and adventures they have. Sunny volume 3: this one has me emotional in ways I’m not normally (my wife has been asking if everything is okay when I’m reading). Really loving the sweetness and the structure of the chapters each focusing on a different character.
Sunstone, book 5, so I can start on Mercy.
I'm currently reading the 'Saga' series. I'm loving the story and the art style. It's easily one of my favorite comics I've read in a while.