2012 what are you reading thread

the example that thomp gives above is a uk edition, which were condensed versions of the (yes, v. nice-looking) american originals. i don't know abt the us editions, but those little britishes paperbacks had to print the panels vertically rather than horizontally to fit the page format - so, not an especially effective way to follow schulz' storytelling.

I thought I remembered as a child them being 6 panels to a page therefore 2 days and it being 1-2/3-1/2-3 in setup. Then again, I had the Peanuts Festival which was 3 panels across.

I read the Peanuts reprints avidly until about 1970, when I suddenly stopped liking them. This has not happened with Dick Tracy, Walt & Skeezix, Krazy Kat, Popeye...

In fact, I finished Popeye the other day. Some of the panels in this edition are the funniest of the lot, but as a whole the series has been one of the finest things I have ever read.

i actually prefer the second version, because on the evidence of the first cover, bechdel isn't much of a colouris

I have no interest in reading this in general but the original one is fucking hideous, would never pick that up. the second one is just a superior design.

Also the older Peanuts paperbacks (1960s ones iirc) are not a world away from the Seth design sensibility.
― Hierophantiasis (Jon Lewis), Friday, May 11, 2012

2/3 of the way through JUDGE DREDD COMPLETE CASE FILES, VOL. 2. McMahon's got a lot of energy, but his main purpose seems to be to bum we out that I'm not, at that moment, looking at Bolland or Ewins.

yeah, but vladek is a dick too!

sure but 2/3 of the book is about WHY he's such a dick as an old man, Artie's mostly just a brat

Some comic artists are good at graphic design, some aren't, and it doesn't really matter on floppies but having a nice graphic designer stamp-of-approval on covers that puts them on the same footing as prose books makes for a nice mixed bookshelf, imo.

the original Dykes were never in floppies nor sold to a "comic book" audience - they were in Kliban-format TPBs and probably sold 55% in gay bookshops, 40% in other independent bookshops, and 4.9% in US chains, with .1% in a handful of comic shops that ordered them direct from Firebrand

anyway that first one is fun and gives an idea of the tone of the strip and is inviting due to being by the author's hand - the second one is stiff and awful and looks like a textbook. (And due to the designer obviously taking ten minutes flat to knock it up on computer, makes one not feel like investing one's own time into it.)


The earliest Dick Tracy volumes were a DIRECT copy of Seth's Peanuts covers, to the point where it's mindboggling they could even credit, and bothered to pay, Ashley Wood (!). When Dean Mullaney came on board at IDW he changed it up as much as possible while keeping the same vibe, presumably out of sheer embarrassment.

As a comic book fan I obviously prefer the first, more cartoonish cover, but you can see how the newer covers were designed to make the the books more "respectable" and easier for non-comic book types to buy.

― Tuomas, Friday, May 11, 2012 8:58 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

jeez louise, as fan of half-decent design (and comic books, obviously), i prefer the recent edition. the fact that something is a comic book is no excuse for bad coloring, cramped layouts and gross lettering.

also, maus is fn awful

― thomp, Friday, May 11, 2012 8:31 AM (9 hours ago)

thank god for crazy people. more mice for the rest of us.

i don't read many comics anymore. this is about it at present:

1) was optimistically following several of DC's new 52 titles, but now i'm down to, well, to none. not even morrisson's action comics, and i'm a card-carrying g-moz fanboy. have heard good things about mieville's dial H, so i might give that a shot...

2) i kind of love graham's prophet, esp w dalrymple on board. need more of this kind of non-continuity bound, wildly inventive, galaxy-spanning, psychedelic sci-fi.

3) ADVENTURE TIME!

4) brian churilla's the secret history of DB cooper is awesome so far. worried that it's gonna bog down in "serious espionage" shit.

5) always up for more orc stain, when and if it comes out.

6) jon lewis apparently has true swamp out in paper again. want, but have't seen a copy yet.

7) was excited by the vaguely moebius-like art and colors of the first issues of azzurello's spaceman, but the story got boring quick and the patois killed it for me.

that's it, i guess. would buy basically anything drawn by graham, pope, quitely, andy clarke or frazier irving, but i don't know what they're up to at the moment. not to mention brendan mccarthy, perpetually MIA.

psyched to have king city in a nice bound volume, flex mentallo, too. recoloring doesn't bother me. kate beaton's hark! a vagrant is probably my single favorite comics-type purchase of 2012 though. want the fantagraphics joost swarte book, but can't afford it at the mo. wonder if we'll ever see a second volume of x'ed out. and if we do, whether it'll come to us via pantheon.

but now i'm down to, well, to none. not even morrisson's action comics, and i'm a card-carrying g-moz fanboy.

I'm reasonably certain the coming issues will continue the problems I (and presumably you) have had with the series thus far, but the most recent issue, #9, might be one to return to (assuming you haven't already read it).

i kind of love graham's prophet, esp w dalrymple on board.

YES. Looking forward to the upcoming Graham w/a issue.

always up for more orc stain, when and if it comes out.

May be a while considering GODZILLA...

wonder if we'll ever see a second volume of x'ed out.

I'm pretty sure it is - saw something the other day, the second cover, I think.

Here's a link for the Burns x'ed out sequel!

feel like i'm alone in way preferring 'fun home' to 'dykes to watch out for,' which really only got really good in the last couple of years -- i read the collected (tho not 'complete,' frustratingly) DTWOF last year and bechdel's sudden maturity as an artist, after like 200+ pages of kinda-engaging soap opera stuff with iffy drawing, was kinda breathtaking.

neither is comparable to 'maus,' tho, which is all-time top 5 material IMO.

kinda agree, felt like a huge leap from DTWOF to Fun Home, but it could seem that way because we read Fun Home first

read dykes first, fun home is way better overall

lacks dykes' charm and easy/immediate/offhand appeal tho

feel like i'm alone in way preferring 'fun home' to 'dykes to watch out for,' which really only got really good in the last couple of years

Me too! I actually gave up on Dykes before it got good. Wading through the early, iffy stuff got too boring. But then that's also why I've never really got to grips with the Hernandezes either, so feel free to shoot me.

xaime's been completely solid and on top of his art and storytelling for a loooong time, don't get the comparison

gilbert comes and goes

yeah, wld say that jamie was p much great right frm the start (especially drawing-wise), gilbert started heartbreak soup in issue 3? of L&R? cerebus might be a better comparison?

i get impatient with the early L&R stuff but art-wise it's always been really strong -- definitely way ahead of early bechdel, which is just really incompetent cartooning.

honestly, i think JH is one of the finest american long-form comix artists & writers ever, period, with very little competition

Don't know if we have a Rolling General Comics Industry News thread, but Filipino artist Tony DeZuniga has died.

http://www.newsfromme.com/2012/05/10/tony-dezuniga-r-i-p/

reading Batman Inc. pretty fun.

aw, i liked dezuniga

No judgment on these particular designs, but another point for the "comics collections should have good graphic design" pile: http://blog.newsarama.com/2012/05/22/why-cant-more-comics-look-like-this/

I do wish more series had solid spine designs.

Read Joe the Barbarian. Artwork was phenomenal. I don't think I quite understood what Morrison was going for in this story, beyond the kind of stuff he's did in Flex Mentallo, Final Crisis, Batman RIP, etc.

Yeah - its... too ambitious? It hints at duelling realities, but just meanders about. It's a nifty six issue series that doesn't need the bloat.

Eh? I didn't notice anything ambitious about it, if anything the it felt there was too little ambition. The division between the real and fantasy world was straightforward right from the beginning, and (unlike in Flex Mentallo), there were no further twists or ambiguities that would've made it more interesting. Plus the ending (the way Joe manages to save the house) was a deus-ex-machina ass pull, nothing in the story even hinted at that direction.

it was kinda set up early that he would be rewarded by hearing his father somehow by saving the world, so it kinda made sense - the deeds being in the "tomb of the iron knight"/basement

Xaime's made a few huge jumps forward in excellence in his time - he was rly rly good by the mid-80s, but then Death Of Speedy is a quantum leap into greatest alive territory. and coming after the major misfire (for a bookstore-formatted reboot) of the Ti-Girls two parter, Love Bunglers / Browntown is like a hibernating god stretched, shook off his winter coat and went "oh what? yeah I guess I can still show up everyone in my own and all younger generations, nbd"

I did find it way easier to get into Beto as a teenager bcz his writing was stronger earlier. And the underlying drawing was there from the start, but the pen/feathering style (combined with italicised lettering) isn't as immediately welcoming as his later brus/spotted black work.

I liked that Joe The Barbarian didn't feel the need to throw in a twist, once the division between realms was set up, but that consistency would have felt more rewarding in a single graphic novel than over something like a year or more's serialisation

Re Hernandezes, I bought the first few books of the old collections, and couldn't get past the not very good sci-fi/cavewomen in space stuff the series begins with. I know it changes later on, but I lost my interest before getting there.

pen/feathering style (combined with italicised lettering) isn't as immediately welcoming as his later brush/spotted black work

yeah this was re Jaime's Rockets period btw

I love that "major misfire" story. Doesn't compare to what follows it, but still.

Re Hernandezes, I bought the first few books of the old collections, and couldn't get past the not very good sci-fi/cavewomen in space stuff the series begins with. I know it changes later on, but I lost my interest before getting there.

This is just hugely, hugely tragic and why I'd recommend newbies skip that stuff altogether on a first readthrough. I would strongly suggest that you do yourself a favor and try again at some point where the rocketships and dinosaurs stop showing up.

I love the early Xaime stories, but if that's what it takes to get to the masterpieces like Death of Speedy and beyond, then ^^^^ otm.

Yeah, y'know, come back to that early stuff when you wanna see the first appearances of characters and, like, figure out what the deal is with Rena Titañon or whatever, but don't let it be the impediment that keeps you from enjoying some of the finest comics ever.

Those early stories are especially great to go back to now that the characters have reached middle age. Knowing what's to come, the pathos is overwhelming.

deric and WMC otm

OK, so where _is_ a good starting point? Which book should I buy first?

The most economical method would probably be to get The Locas Collection directly from Fantagraphics -- 1320 pages in 5 volumes, all the Locas stories from vols. 1 and 2 for $65. But if you want to go one volume at a time, I'd say start with vol. 2, The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S.

So, uh, I'm not hallucinating the extended Mountain Goats reference in the new Mighty Thor, am I?

Nope. Fraction said Marvel goofed and forgot to put in the title - "the best ever death metal band out of Broxton".

deets!

There's a Jeff, a mention of his buddy Cyrus and the band they were in, and a few "Hail Satans". How those are integrated to a larger story you have to read for yourself.

ok i'm never gonna understand it then

now reading: old Berni Wrightson horror comics

I just finished reading Dan Slott's run on She-Hulk. Surprisingly fun. Maybe I should read his Spider-Man stuff next.

She-Hulk went so off the boil by the end that I no longer felt like following Slott's work anywhere

His Spider-Man/Human Torch mini is terrific fun, though - drawn (and ghost-co-written) by Ty Templeton. The collection was a digest, so mildly annoyingly tiny and difficult to read, but appealingly only eight bucks or so.