2014 what are you reading thread

Isn't some of his graphic novels coming out for the first time? I better decide whether I like him soon because every reissue shoots up in price quickly.

the Incal's been collected and reprinted in weird ways so I'm not sure... I have the recent Humanoids hardcover reprint, a gorgeous thing

Just looked up a list of his output and most of his comics have been translated or will be soon. But none of his fiction novels, short stories or poetry has been translated, of which there is quite a lot. I'd like to see his vision when he doesn't rely on anyone else.

http://comicbook.com/blog/2014/04/27/gerry-conway-the-comixology-outrage/

re-reading my old issues of Frank Miller's Ronin. this is actually better than I remembered it, such a weird synthesis of Japanese and European comics

ie primarily Lone Wolf and Cub and Moebius

New Dungeon in English in November
Preorder
very stoked

!!!

Thanks for that link, two new Kerascoet books!

Just bought the Jodorowsky/Moebius Madwoman book. Like, the last reasonably priced copy on amazon, I can't believe comics still get rare and expensive like that so fast. Until recently I never had to worry about things becoming rare within months.

Humanoids print less than a thousand copies of some of those big hardcovers

Ronin also hangs in pretty well along side the whole 80s cyberpunk fiction too. Back in the 80s there was just boodles of those things except the last issue or so in quarter boxes as it was kind of a sales bust. I think in hindsight, it's one of the best things Frank Miller ever did.

"I thought that the Epic/Moebius stuff had never been reprinted because of a dispute over ownership of the translations, but the may be to underestimate Marvel's haphazard approach to keeping stuff in print."

I would have figured that was a straight licensing job, which Marvel used to do left and right back in the old days.

You add it up, Archie Goodwin did quite a few pretty cool things at Marvel back in those days as an editor. It's pretty sad that the company pretty much gave up on doing anything interesting like that anymore.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA NEW DUNGEON FINALLY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

aaaaaaaaaaa it's in november fuck that shit aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

new sfar tho!
http://www.uncivilizedbooks.com/comics/pascin.html

Gy

making up for a ho hum reg season
--kidd-gilchrist-douglas-roberts- (Spottie)

Terry: Skip the first (IDW) book, where Caniff is still developing the premise and his art. Books two thru four are solid adventure yarns, the best of their kind but samey after a while. Towards the end of book four is where it starts to get really interesting, with the war taking over the story. The last two books, with Terry in the Air Force, are the essential stuff.
--sleepingsignal

I see that Kerascoet's Beauty is the full collection. I really hope it includes the cover art for the original books and the deluxe version. Editors who don't include all cover art in collected editions are pure evil.

I mean just get a load of the deluxe cover art...

http://www.bdfugue.com/beaute-coffret-beaute
http://www.kerascoet.fr/index.php?2013/11/25/332-les-trois-tomes-de-beaute-reunis-dans-un-coffret-avec-un-poster

I think in hindsight, it's one of the best things Frank Miller ever did.

I'd go as far as to say it IS the best thing he ever did, certainly my favorite.

Thanks for hipping me to the Kerascoet, had never heard of - preordering the NBM now

miss don't touch me is A+ stuff

I'll snag that too when NBM represses it (they say they are) - vol. 1 is in $$ ebay hell right now

Kerascoet's Beautiful Darkness came out a while ago and it is gorgeous.

More people should check out Cecil's Quest by Skala, as you can see I hipped McCulloch to it...
http://www.tcj.com/this-week-in-comics-8713-real-dolls/

Hi all. A friend of mine just launched a kickstarter surrounding the second issue of his self-published comic book Bright Spiral. I haven't read the first issue yet, but have been checking in occasionally on his tumblr (http://brightspiral.tumblr.com) and have always loved his art. I'll probably back this too so I'm just throwing this out at y'all in case it piques your interest.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1094383965/bright-spiral-issue-1-and-issue-2-printing

Just found out Al Feldstein died recently. I'm quite a fan of his art, in fact I think it's a shame he didn't produce more horror and crime stories throughout his life, there was something compelling about that stiff style, a cold stillness or something. There was a book dedicated to him not long ago.

http://imgur.com/a/EeNpT

^def one of the greatest comic strips ever

whoah!

Reading quite a few of the Feldstein articles on Comics Journal site, a bit of talk about trends that come and go, how teen humour was not a safe bet for very long sales wise. Then it struck me: how has Archie survived to this day?
I occasionally see a few copies in the comics shops, I once saw two teen girls asking a shop keeper for Archie comics a few years ago but I never knew anyone who ever read them. I guess in America the franchise seems like a bigger phenomenon (still sold in newsagents?), but how has it stayed alive? It doesn't seem like something that would appeal to most young people and it doesn't seem like it has the sort of geeky canonical worship that supports Superman. I've never seen it in Diamond's top 100 sales.
I'm sure there is a logical explanation but right now I'm enjoying the idea that some supernatural power has kept something alive that seems like it should have ended in the early fifties.

I actually never knew that Feldstein worked an important role at Mad for so long. Mad is another thing that seems to be a way bigger phenomenon in America than it is with the worldwide fandom of American comics. I think I've read maybe one or two issues of it.

Archie doesn't sell much through Diamond. MAD was huge in many other countries.

3/4 of the way through the flamethrowers. i don't know if i like it or not yet. i think the stuff about the italian futurist motorcycle gang and The Motherfuckers are great but reno is just such a cipher. i can't help but feeling i'd rather read a book narrated by ronnie.

I should maybe point out that I didn't intend to compare Mad to Archie in terms of its success being a mystery. That sort of parody has never died down in fashion (understandably), the constant new parodies keep it connected to the wider culture. Mad has had loads of great artists, many of the early ones worked in all sorts of genres and are considered giants of the medium.

Yeah, Feldstein was justifiably irked that Kurtzman gets the credit for Mad, when the magazine as it's best known was all Feldstein's doing. It's pretty clear that without Feldstein's work as both writer and editor EC would not have thrived as it did, nor would Mad had survived, Kurtzman or not.

I've been thinking about Wally Wood recently because of that recent Cannon reprint. I quite like Wood, but like most people I find his early work way better. I heard good things about his work like Wizard King but as with a lot of his later work, I found it kind of lifeless looking. If only he had done fantasy epics in the more lavish manner of his fifties work.

http://wallywood.tumblr.com/post/51656754836

This looks like a parody.

afaict Archie sort of sits apart from the rest of the comics industry in terms of distro/audience

Archie's one of those comics I read hungrily as a child, but am amazed that kids still read it these days

well there's been some developments
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=52012

my daughter's been interested enough to buy a few issues

ugh guys the new bendis miles morales spiderman #1 is so lovely

For a few seconds I thought that was a joke article, then I saw the artwork. With all those superhero artists doing covers it looks like a typical example of making a cartoon character way more serious than they probably should.

Another thing about Archie comics that interests me is the number of titles and number of pages for much cheaper than most thick comics.

Archie has gone super mainstream lately and gotten great press for it. I certainly can't imagine reading the comics but they're not aiming at me anyway.
http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/03/04/lena-dunham-archie-comics/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/archies-afterlife-ties-up-emotional-701717
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/business/media/archie-comic-picks-film-and-tv-writer-for-top-creative-post.html
http://www.vulture.com/2013/10/afterlife-with-archie-comic-Roberto-Aguirre-Sacasa-interview.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpz8KWpbEA0

xp some of the archie titles are digest sized and it's in that form that you'll see them in non-comics stores. more pages but less content per page. also, they have much lower quality paper than regular comics these days.

it's kind of amazing that archie have been publishing a sonic the hedgehog comic (and spinoffs) regularly since 1992.

i won't rep for archie these days but at its best it produced some of the best kids' comics ever -- the '60s era jughead comics in particular are great.

At CBBD the other week they had an "autopsy" of Canicule by Baru. Effectively a 'making of' deconstruction over the whole mezzanine floor, I couldn't help buying it despite not having that much French. But DAMN is it good.

xp i wish that stuff was getting reprinted in "essentials" style books... the collections archie puts out are crappy and scattershot and at the other extreme dark horse are publishing $50 glossy archive collections.

Finished Richard Reeves' good 2007 bio of John Stuart Mill and am almost finished w/Thurston Clarke's JFK's Last Hundred Days.

yes but how is the artwork

an archie dbl digest, w/ plenty of Dan DeCarlo a/work, is always a v relaxing and pleasurable reading experience imho

when i was in florida five or six years ago i was impressed by the way that i would often see archie comics racked next to the check-outs in big chain supermarkets - much better distribution than marvel or dc