2012 what are you reading thread

inundated with comics lately:

Moebius/Jodorowsky - Incal Humanoids reprint
DC Archives Flash Volume 5
Marvel Masterworks Thor Vol 7 (Mangog! Galactus vs. Ego!)

also reading my daughter various issues of kiddie version of Brave and the Bold lol

also hopefully reading Cerebus' Jaka's Story + Melmoth soon....

Should be reading Popeye Vol 6, but it's been delayed to March (or maybe April). I am making up for it with Charley's War Vol 8, Pogo Vol 1 and Walt & Skeezix Vol 5 all in the post.

And of course I am still unfortunately reading all the DC New 52.

Reading New Teen Titans Omnibus Vol. 1. Very happy to have it in this format after all these years of spotty (or absurdly pricey) reprints.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7Q-tD8eW2rE/SoGRm4RlWoI/AAAAAAAAC-I/fk9EUiwS1iM/s400/despair+comics.jpg

copy of this showed up at work after i'd used it as an online avatar somewhere for years

it's, well, it's crumb

this thread could do with a 'comics' in the title

it's on "I Love Comics"; isn't that enough?

I also bought Pogo but saving it for after Marv & George. Want to savor it.

Bought the first bunch of 'Morning Glories' issues after hearing various people raving... but didn't really like it :(

Journey Into Mystery starring 'Kid' Loki is a real fun comic book. In the last issue he had to give away a box of puppies born in hell.

Journey Into Mystery and Uncanny X-Force are probably my two favorite ongoings right now. Both loads of fun for entirely different reasons.

The first two, translated volumes of the Valerian and Laureline series by Christin and Mezieres - charming, inventive juvenile science fiction stories.

Oh, they've started translating them into English again? That's great, it's one of the finest sci-fi comics there is. Did they start tranlations from the beginning of the series (from Bad Dreams)? IMO the first three books are already good, but the series really finds its voice around World Without Stars or Welcome to Alflolol. Sadly, though, Mézières and Christin kept on doing the series for too long... The quality starts to drop after The Rage of Hypsis, and the final six books are marred by stupid parody characters (for example, the antagonists include space alien Mafiosos who speak Italian) and nonsensical plots. But the run from World Without Stars to The Rage of Hypsis is one of the best comic book runs of all time.

- re-reading the run of Measles one a day
- finally got the final issue of Milligan's X-Force by Fegredo
- about to read Seth Fisher's Flash prestige one-shot, the cover looks promisingly Big In Japan-ish and it can't be more painful than Willworld
- printed out the big Steve Bissette interview from Spurge's site today

x-post

These are the volumes that Cinebooks have produced so far, with a third volume ("The Land Without Stars") promised for April

http://www.cinebook.co.uk/index.php?cPath=184

iirc, some of the Valerian stories were translated/serialised in Heavy Metal magazine back in the 1980s - there may have even been an album or two from Dargaud's brief American foray - but I don't know which stories they reprinted.

Ah, okay, looks like they haven't published the first Valerian & Laureline story, Bad Dreams. It's not a big oversight, it's not essential in any way, except that it explains Laureline's backstory. It's kind of anomalous story, it involves Valerian time traveling to the Middle Ages, where he encounters wizards and magic and stuff like that! In then end Laureline travels to Valerian's era with him, and becomes an agent of Galaxity. BD really feels kinda disjointed compared to the sci-fi adventures that follow, and most of this stuff is never mentioned. There are a couple of important moments in the later books, though, where Laureline reminds Valerian that he isn't from Galaxity, nor its era, which is why she doesn't feel the same loyalty towards it as Valerian does.

Thanks Tuomas, this is useful input (I take it you mean "SHE isn't from Galaxity" in your final sentence)

Yeah, "she".

It's been ages since I read Bad Dreams, but IIRC Laureline was originally an unicorn that Valerian met in the Middle Ages, who then turned into woman. Or maybe she was just a woman who was cursed to turn into a unicorn, and then turned back? Anyway, you can see why Mézières and Christin don't really want to mention these events in the later books. Even in France, BD wasn't reprinted until 16 years after it originally came out.

Speaking of Christin, have his collaborations with Bilal ever been translated to English? Those are some fine comics too, though they are very different from V & L, being realistic political thrillers. (Christin actually used to work as a professor of political sciences.)

Yeah, the major Christin/Bilal albums have been published in English in at least two different different translations, though I think they're currently out of print. The Hunting Party is one of my favourite comics.

Fat Freddy's Cat
Modesty Blaise

I've got that big 'ol Toth book sitting on a shelf waiting to be read. Just read the new BATMAN INC and while I liked it, I got the feeling that I've read the "hero and proxy villain fight it out with wits outside the normal scope of space/time" once too many times. New Cameron Stewart art is always lovely, though.

Still need to get that third TORPEDO album sometime too.

Yeah, I didn't really feel the Batman Inc tidy-up book that much.

Just ordered the TPB of the latest Criminal volume

DAYBREAK - Brian Ralph
Issues of SCARAB by John Smith et al.
BIG QUESTIONS - Anders Nilsen
Some nice back issues of THE CRUSADERS by Chick & co.
1-800-MICE by Matthew Thurber
stuff and so forth

The Angie Wang piece in the most recent BEST AMERICAN COMICS, i.e. the giant florae robots, is excellent. More like that.

Plane
t Hulk at the moment.

Learning to use my new fancy phone, apologies for that last post. It meant to say, planet Hulk at the moment, which is just brilliant.

shaky i'm getting that cerebus to the post. sorry i'm running late. holiday hangover

no worries - many thanks!

just got the new comics journal. Interesting printing choices.

Pogo Vol 1. Taking it slow and savouring it, but an absolute joy.

lol "new" @ forks

what choices dym tho?

honestly didn't know this came out before now!
just the layout and density and breadth

Only thing I've read since, um, October has been the first two issues of Murderbook by Ed Brisson. I think they might be webcomics too, but I'm just that lazy. Really good stuff. Short stories in a similar vein to the Criminal stuff.
I also got Rucka's Stumptown HC recently. Was great. Gave it away already.
Been thinking about rereading the first two Kirby Fourth World omnibus volumes so I can get the last two.
Looking forward to reading current runs on Daredevil and the Flash at some point.
Matt, vol 3 of Torpedo is the sickest, most sadistic yet. Brilliant!

I have some of those in color from the Catalan Communications editions that were put out in the 80s but would like the whole shebang. I take it the whole thing is b/w still?

i thought the catalan editions were black and white, too?

I found this book called The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel in my lobby. Leftist critique of free market thinking -- not much entirely new to me so far but very readable and chooses nice illustrative examples. Some inaccuracy about specifics and overgeneralization but the broader points seem largely right so far.

Vols 5, 6 and 7 are all in color. Just checked the shelf. Granted, it's pretty minimal by today's standards, but looks good. Fairly sure that the first couple of volumes were b/w (the Toth stuff for sure.)

yeah, it's the Toth stuff i was thinking of esp. 7 vols tho', didn't realise that Catalan got that far w/ it - must've been their most successful series. if only they'd done seven munoz and sampayo vols *sigh*

You and me both, man. I've got DEEP CITY and I don't even know if they put out another one.

I just found Brian Talbot's Brainstorm, the complete Chester P Hackenbush in a charity shop. I really like it, any recommendations for more stuff like that?

Might check out Nocenti's Green Arrow. Missed all her Marvel work, but from all I've read about her lately (hilobrow!) sounds like a writer who brings something other than the usual points of reference to comics.

"Nocenti's Green Arrow." -- can't imagine any of these poor fuckers coming in on post-launch titles having a better chance of getting any authorial presence on the book than their predecessors.

v. excited that the retitling of Batman: Leviathan to Batman Inc, and the ed note in Leviathan Strikes, give a glimmer of hope that it will be allowed to avoid, if not disregard, nu-52 contintuity

Fair enough. But sooner or later someone's going to manage to write something good despite or within the constraints. If anyone can find a way to do something worthwhile--or at least interesting--in this tightly controlled climate, it might as well be someone with Nocenti's bona fides.
Pop culture is full of great work done despite & within corporate meddling. Though, yeah, superhero comics has definitely pushed the authorial voice to the realm of creator-owned. Writers with larger creative ambitions can probably find more rewarding work elsewhere.

Though, yeah, superhero comics has definitely pushed the authorial voice to the realm of creator-owned.

This is totally not true (or what I'm saying)! But in the nu-52 business enivironment, where ppl are fired after two issues, told that DC wanted the story to go in a different direction without being told what that is, and everyone is eventually replaced with Rob Liefeld or Dan Didio, I can't see it happening. Sooner or later? Maybe. But on a book that's had literally six creative teams in eight issues, I don't see Nocenti having a chance.

(NB: I have never read anything by Nocenti that I thought was any good, so ymmv)

Well, I have never read anything by Nocenti at all, so there I am. I actually haven't even read any new52 books since Action and Justice League #s 1. I used to really enjoy Green Arrow, I used to really enjoy DC Comics, and I'm looking for a reason to give them another chance.

Over-generalize, me? I actually very recently praised Marvel on Twitter for hiring creators to be creative (w/r/t Daredevil, Deadpool MAX & Hulk Season One), so that's on me.

it was only when i read ppl on ilx raving abt nocenti's run on daredevil that i realised she had any kind of rep beyond "author of some mildly quirky marvel comics in the 1980s". didn't hurt that she had jr jr (inked by al williamson!) as artist for most of that run, or ralph macchio as her editor, someone who was known to be fairly sympathetic/supportive of talent: once tried to read her longshot miniseries (the one (over)drawn by arthur adams) and found it p unreadable tbh. i guess she's interesting because she didn't come from an especially comicsy background, so wasn't a slave to continuity or standard marvel/comic bk situations/characters. but as sic sez, it's twenty years later, corporate comic bks are even more tightly controlled/edited and the whole new52 setup seems like a horrorshow. so gd luck, dr superman!

I haven't really reread Nocenti's comics as an adult, maybe they'd feel pretentious now, but I used to love them as a teen exactly because she did stuff no other superhero comic writer was doing. The Longshot mini is only nominally in the Marvel Universe (you have cameos by Spider-Man, She-Hulk, and Dr. Strange, and that's about it) and it's all about pondering stuff like identity and commercialism. (For example, Mojo is essentially a superpowered movie studio executive who's become a dictator of a planet; IMO Chris Claremont never properly understood Nocenti's vision of him, or Longshot, when he integrated them to X-Men.) Her Daredevil run had stuff like Daredevil and Inhumans battling Ultron, who isn't thinking about conquering the world, rather than what is left of "Ultron" after having copied himself so many times. That shit was different both from the classic superhero stories, and from the grim & gritty Miller-influenced deconstructions that were so popular at the time, so I think Nocenti at least deserves credit for her idiosyncracy.

Hrm. Consider my enthusiasm... dampened. I still think of Green Arrow as old man Ollie, but I gather he's something fairly different now. Some kind of Steve Jobs analog? Does that make Ted Kord Bill Gates? Or was there ever even a Ted Kord in this new DCU? Giant sigh.
Well, that Tom Fowler Hulk book is going to look great!

Thanks again re: Dungeon. Just bought (and received) the whole set via Amazon and Gosh.

Some volumes are going fer craaaazy prices on Amazon, thanks to Amazon's crazy robot pricers:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1561634778/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

so silly.

London ILCers (do they exist?) take note -- Sfar is doing a talk at the Inst Francais this Saturday.

just picked up anya's ghost, sailor twain, unterzakhn, and right state on recommendation of salon.com and not the israel my parents promised me on recommendation of amazon.com's if you liked X you'll like this harvey pekar book about israel

I haven't read it yet, or been reading it, but the spoiler I've just read for Amazing Spider-Man 699 has made me want to pick up the recent issues. Then rinse my mind out with bleach.

what's that then?

Ok, needless to say SPOILERS SO DON'T COMPLAIN

Peter was thought to be dead but it turns out to have been mind transplanted into Doctor Octopus' body. This (somehow) gives him access to Doc Ock's memories and he is experiencing them as if he is there.

Like when Aunt May and Doc Ock had sex that time before they got married.

aaaaaghh nooooooooooo

ewww WHAT? He better be praying for another Mephisto mindwipe.

I thought that is the opposite of what was happening?

ah, I misread, that is pretty much it. Peter in Doc Ock's head, and vice versa, and they can remember each others lives.

lol, so glad i don't follow marvel's current lines these days; had no idea he was dead.

yeah today's posts are making me feel pretty morbs-y about current superhero comics

Only one line, in fairness - Marvel still def. have the advantage over DC.

uh don't Marvel have 616 and Ultimate and Zombie and kid-friendly lines? While DC under Nelson are so desperately ramming everything into one line that Vertigo has been bleeding out for three years, and Voodoo and Deathblow: Byblows are now in The DC Universe Stories Of Alan Moore TPB? (Are there any Johnny DC titles left past "whatever Art Baltazar has going"?)

because they have the worst editorial staff on the planet

TBF, 616 Spider-Man has been varying shades of terrible since the early '90s. I think it's safe to say that his story has run its course and then some.

eh, they did a fairly decent run in recent years, including a great Lizard story someone clued me into. I won't universally defend it by any means, but they wiped away all the angsty Spider-Man garbage of the 90s pretty effectively

The Waid stuff in Brand New Day was ok. I tried Spider Island but was kind of undreadable.

I've read everything from the beginning of Straczynski's run up until just before the Gauntlet stuff and I was pretty uniformly unimpressed. I guess there's a window between where I left off and the point when Slott (one of the most puzzlingly overrated mainstream writers these days, imo) took over full-time that's somewhat more lauded but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

I'd be a much bigger fan if the whole line were a loosely-connected series of Tangled Web-esque minis and one-shots.

Spider Island was such crap. I've had Slott's run pushed on me by several people but everything I've read is meh.

I liked the Dr. Strange/Spiderman book that McCarthy did. that was also the only time I have read a Spiderman comic since the 80s tho lol

yeah it's 90% crap but at least he's not raging at stuff all the time now

I like Spider-Man in the Avengers and FF books, lol

I still harbor a dark and secret desire to buy all of the clone-era trades (I already have two). I don't know where this masochistic streak comes from. It's at least partially related to the fascinating backstory, but that certainly doesn't explain it completely away.

Yeah when I said "only one line", I meant don't blame the rest of the Marvel U for the spider-books. The thing is, he's still a great character in a team book!

I really haven't minded him in the Avengers books, it's true.

fuck marvel in the fucking eyehole, by the way:

http://srbissette.com/?p=16292

that's so wrong.

Well, fuck Disney, more accurately.

yes, true.

wau

nah, fuck Marvel too, and many times

fuck em all let the lawyers sort it out

Tales of the Bizarro World

is what I'm reading (with my daughter) that is

There's a DC B&W phone book of Weird War coming out next month. Gonna get it.

Hawkeye remains excellent, predictably. Aja aping a scrolling coin-op in the Avengers bit = swell.

I can't read that book. But then I can't really read any Fraction book anymore. "Yeah, I know it's a terrible idea, but still it's THE BEST IDEA I AM SO CLEVER." #gah

"Getting Dead" by David Collier - definitely a "wow" moment reading this. Gotta let my thoughts gell.

"Getting Dead" by David Collier - definitely a "wow" moment reading this. Gotta let my thoughts gell.

― HOLY MOPEDS (R Baez)

What's this and how do I get it? I tried searching online, but couldn't find it. Is it maybe a story in one of his collections or something forthcoming?

It's a bio piece on Collier's grandfather. Collier's typically very straight-forward but his narrative voice takes a backseat - the story is just a torrent of anecdotes and memory that ceaselessly hopscotches backward and forward in time. Like I said - wow.

It's in his Portraits From Life collection, which, according to the book, was published in 2001 by D&Q.

ALSO:

Dustin Harbin's Boxes is pretty amazing as well.

It's in his Portraits From Life collection, which, according to the book, was published in 2001 by D&Q.

― HOLY MOPEDS (R Baez)

Thanks, I ordered this today - I'm a bit behind on the Collier books! I see he has at least three more that are more recent.

I'm a bit behind on the Collier books! I see he has at least three more that are more recent.

Is Chimo among them? If so, I kinda envy you your first reading of that.

Hawkeye remains excellent, predictably. Aja aping a scrolling coin-op in the Avengers bit = swell.

I tuned in to Hawkeye after all the recommendations ... and I gotta say, I'm genuinely shocked at how much of a ripoff of Year One and Born Again it is (I've only read the first issue). Are they just figuring people have forgotten those books, or haven't read them? Or is it some sort of ultimate fanboy homage? This is a bit like Giffen aping Munoz ... but worse, because every last detail is being stolen of story as well as art (the Hawkeye series is played much more for laughs and is not nearly as brutal and harrowing as Born Again, in fairness though).

prophet continues to be excellent

I like a lot of what Fraction does, the Iron Man run was great in patches. If I hadn't devoured the Miller/Mazzucchelli stuff when it came out, maybe I wouldn't have this visceral reaction. It's like having somebody ring your doorbell dressed as your dead sister.

I kind of see that but I don't think the comparison stands past first issue? Hawkeye is pretty goody and comedic

It grows out of that? Ok, yeah, I'll check out the rest of the run.

In other WAYR news am digging the Dredd Case Files reprints, I haven't read this stuff in years so it's a total nostalgia blast

2013 what are you reading thread