2013 what are you reading thread

the Mindless Ones have good notes on most of the run of Batman Inc.

my v dear and talented friend martin hand gets a well-deserved write-up for his SkADAMo (Sketch A Day A Month) project:

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/11/martin-hands-sketch-a-day-challenge-unleashes-mash-up-mayhem/

technically not comix but the hyperbole and a half lady just printed a book and it's predictable awesome

yeah, really enjoyed this.

Sadly, STILL waiting for my Top Shelf sale stuff to arrive.

I sat down last weekend and read the second volume of Batman Incorporated and read #11 along with the last two again tonight. Wow that was one crazy run and I thought a pretty great ending to Grant Morrison's Batman run.

I'm confused as to what volume comes after the one I have (which ends w the talia reveal...? Did the new 52 one start right after that?

Second volume starts after the last page Talia reveal which came out in a special called "Leviathan Strikes". I read it in the issues, but looking it up the first trade of the new series is called "Demon Star". Cool thing is that the whole New 52 really doesn't change Morrison's story, if you read the second volume of Batman Inc. on it's own, even though it ties into the current series.

I would imagine down the line the whole run of Batman Inc. will end up in one of those big huge hardcovers at some point.

i just finished reading up to that point too (end of Leviathan Strikes). Is Morrison's Batman run over yet?

Yes, about six months ago.

gotcha, cool. will get a hold of the (last) trade soon

read Sledgehammer 44 and Rover Red Charlie this week
S44 is a new Mike Mignola series, beautiful art, supposed to be in the vein of war comics as much as his Hellboy/supernatural stuff. I liked it and I'll stick to it (it helps that I pay $1.39 an issue!) but it's kind of frustrating that with series like this each issue doesn't read like a whole story - this was more like the first fifteen minutes of an hourlong drama. Which is cool, once they're collected but I'm finding I prefer comics in issue format.

Rover Red Charlie - three dogs surviving the apocalypse is my wheelhouse. Love the painted art - the dogs are expressive, there are some funny language gags, a few spots of 'oof' brutality. Unlike S44, it was a satisfying issue.

The three volumes of Herbie: The Fat Fury and the Ditko horror comix Vol 4 will see out 2013 for me.

I've been diving into Lone Wolf & Cub. It's damn good.

didn't know where else to put this but omg i want this
http://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/2-original-winsor-mccay-production-drawings-fro-1-c-8c6359f08a

like i am restraining myself from bidding

Buy me one, please.

LW&C is classic. I only got about 9 volumes in but it's on my "i will finish this someday in the post-apocalypse" list

they are currently reprinting it in books twice as thick as the 28 volume dark horse edition

(i found the bit with the poisoner dragged a bit but the end picked up again)

Glyn Dillon's 'The Nao Of Brown' was lovely btw. as a read and as an object.

good god, just realized those DH editions came out ten years ago. i stopped buying before they completed the series. maybe after these reprints are done i'll try again

are the new reprints in the same small size as the original dh ones?

according to amazon:
new: Product Dimensions: 6 x 12.8 x 18 cm
old: Product Dimensions: 2.6 x 10.4 x 15 cm

They looked roughly the same size to me when I saw them at B&N (except, y'know, way thicker...I think they actually comprise 3 of the old volumes). The spines were pretty much destroyed, though, but I don't know if that was an actual book design issue or if it was from overuse by the B&N mangaheads.

those little big book ones are more or less unreadable

that suggests an inch wider and taller and thicker

i think the 28 DH volumes are going to be 12 volumes in the new series. amz says "720 pages" vs roughly 300 in the old ones.

28 * 300 / 720 = 11.66, so, yeah, about that.

nicest way to read LW&C is the in the 1980s First Comics printings - twice the size of those needlessly dinky Dark Horse eds

i have been reading grant morrison's cutely curated anthology of mad old batman stories, and the first volume of slott's superior spider-man (ingenious and funny)

The First edition doesn't finish the story iirc though? (As well as being less readily available than an in-print version)

The new ones are definitely bigger than the early c21 edition.

i think you're right abt the comics not finishing the story - they just LOOK better at the larger size, to my tired old eyes. i'm guessing that the subsequent paperback reprints use the same translations/lettering/'film' as the first comics? do these new editions have the old frank miller covers?

the small books put me off ever going back to this. not the best representation of the excellent artwork.

the first edition did not finish the story. the new ones use same miller covers.

dh website says the new "omnibus" ones are 5 x 7". the older ones 4 1/2 x 6 1/2". so, much the same size.

what was the excuse? didn't they say something like the artwork was originally published in the tiny size?

the original japanese books were small. i used to have one of them (or maybe a reprint) but i don't remember it being quite as small as the dark horse editions.

the dark horse books do reprint the books as they appeared in japan, in 28 volumes, unlike the first comics which broke them up.