2012 what are you reading thread

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!

Worst Ann Nocenti Asides/Monologues/Dialogue

will shortly be re-reading Cerebus' Jaka's Story and Melmoth

a glimmer of hope that it will be allowed to avoid, if not disregard, nu-52 contintuity

oh well

This will be fully entrenched in the New 52, and we'll continue plot threads that Grant has been developing since he came onto the Batman books, but we'll also be introducing plenty of new material. So, it's a lot of fun.

If it was me and since you get to hit the big reset button, I'd bring back Ted Kord as Owlman and play off the Watchman angle a bit with him and leave the Blue Beetle as the kid.

is everybody as excited about the new DC logo as I am

what it look like

Peel slowly and C

hah, so many image search results for 'new dc logo' are for the last new dc logo

last new dc logo was fucking horrible, can't wait to see how they fucked it up now.

BEHOLD

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2012/01/4226bbb335b5f725c7a0ff182a6a16cf.jpg

yes one is actually a Watchmen ref

that's one of the two i get

Problem, Alan?

/trollface

the other two I get are Green Lantern and the Flash, the three grey ones are uh... uh

Secret Avengers #20 was a really good single issue story featuring Black Widow by Warren Ellis and Alex Maleev. Ellis can be really good at packing in story into a single comic book and this one is no exception.

Yeah, I enthused about that one over in the Sandbox while ilx was down -- one of my favorite time travel stories ever. Was #21 the end of Ellis' run? I seem to remember reading that he was on for a six issue run, and next issue is a "Point One" jumping-on point.

That's the end, and the end of Ellis in comics for a while. I will totally buy that trade when it comes out - pure, classic thrillpower, one issue at a time.

Catwoman (whip), Batman (gunmetal grey and blue) and i guess the misty one is just general horror/mystery? My guess is that they affix these where they think they're appropriate as an explanation of the style of the comic?

bro forwarded this to me - MUST SHARE

digging dudes' s.clay wilson vibe... could see buying those.

Carny Tramp!

okay, i bought three issues. will report back.

Art of Ramon Fradon, YES PLEASE
http://www.comicsbeat.com/2012/02/07/the-art-of-ramona-fradon-announced-from-dynamite/

Already pre-ordered from Amazon. I love her stuff so much.

The Jerome Opena issues of Uncanny X-Force are unstoppable. The rest varies wildly, but... wow.

I've read that's a good title. Worth a punt? Is there a good starting point?

The first trade ("The Apocalypse Solution") is definitely worth a grab.

I just finished the first two trades of The Unwritten. It's a really interesting concept with some less than stellar art. I think I glossed over it when it started because the art was so poor.

The Unwritten is great, probably the best thing Vertigo has released in the Sandman/Books of Magic vein since, well, Books of Magic. And I can't see how'd anyone think Peter Gross's art is "poor"... He has a nice, clean and round line, good eye for composition, and the ability to change his style the way the story requires... Maybe the first story arc isn't best showcase for him, but there's some awesome art in the later issues: the Jüd Süss issue, the Leviathan arc, etc. Also, Carey's writing has managed to stay interesting so far. Just as one of the main mysteries in the story was solved and it looked like the story might get a bit stagnant, Carey flipped the perspective and did a really good period piece on 1940s superhero comic artists. It looks like the series is heading for the endgame now, though, I'd definitely recommend reading all of it.

the new finder omnibus

i'm not enjoying it as much as i'd like to, though

Nemesis The Warlock pretty much from the beginning though I skipped that Rock In Comics strip cos I'd read it.
So far up to book 4 where they're on the pseudo Victorian planet and Ro-jaws and Hammerstein have reappeared. I think these ABC warrior types just popped up again after a several year gap in their appearance in the comic.
This was foreshadowed by a different bodied Mekquake appearing in the previous book.

c.s. mcneil is more interesting when she's doing the 'aboriginal sci fi' line than when she's doing the 'here is a metaphor for the inner life of the artist' stuff, i think

"Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America's Favorite Movies." A bit dry, but an interesting explication of the role of leftist (commie) politics in the film industry and community, primarily from the 30s to 50s.

they made a comic book about that??

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