Rolling 2015 Reading Funnybooks Thread

I've been reading Jiro Taniguchi's "The Walking Man" which is a bit like if John Porcellino was Japanese and had impeccable drafting skills.

Caught up with Sex Criminals - I'm loving this one a lot but god do I hate waiting from month to month (or longer with the Image titles sometimes).
Started Transmetropolitan

been catching up on a bunch of great stuff: the mercenary sea, flash gordon, afterlife with archie, and lazarus

have we talked about bitch planet yet?

bitch planet!!

Gonna get that

so good

I've been getting caught up with The Sixth Gun, which has continued to be a real good comicbook. I hope they stick the conclusion, so far it's been a consistently good series. Other than that I'm working through Judge Dredd Case Files v.5, just finished the 4th book of The Incal, re-read a couple issues of Dreadstar and a couple issues of Black Science.

I got the first volume through one of those comic book Humble Bundles. Not bad, but at the end I was like.. this keeps going? Aw man... wonder what the TV series would've been like.

Just knocked out Concrete: Human Dilemma; had no idea Chadwick had done this and was surprised to find a collection.
Major new material for all the characters. It's a shame he seems to have stopped.

Yeah, IIRC Human Dilemma ends with some major plot points left unresolved, and there hasn't been any continuation for years. On the other hand, I think there was almost a decade between Human Dilemma and the previous long Concrete story, so maybe there's still hope?

there was a concrete story just last year (ok, 2012), at least i saw floppies for something when i was in the comic shop (it was after hours and the till was closed so i couldn't buy it)

might've been this:
Concrete: Three Uneasy Pieces (One-Shot) collects the Concrete stories from Dark Horse Presents v.2 #1–#3, January 2012

(um, would that make it reprints?)

Yeah, I noticed that after making my previous post. I haven't read them, but usually the Concrete short stories are just vignettes, and the longer mini-series are the ones that advance the main story. Human Dilemma changes the whole status quo of Concrete in a major way, so it feels like there should be a proper continuation.

finishing up Godland, waiting for local store to get in a copy of Fukitor

TELL ME ABOUT BITCH PLANET.

Meanwhile: http://instagram.com/p/xfC_MCt8rB/

bitch planet is super cool - only one issue so far. dystopian cyberpunky w/ obv political subtext that doesn't beat you over the head. tbh not the kind of thing i'd imagine liking (i was reading the author's after note and was like -gag-) but the story and art are fantastic and i really like it.

thanks, that looks really good.

I have those Herbie archives they are GRATE

highly underrated stuff imo

i don't know if i'm gonna read a book with the tagline, "MAKE WAY FOR FAT FURY!"

+1 for the Herbie archives, great stuff. Alan Moore has claimed they're his favourite ever comics.

I mentioned somewhere that Herbie appeared in a new comic last year, but I can't forth life of me remember which one.

it's THE Fat Fury

xp

Really love Bitch Planet, have also been getting caught up on Copperhead which tickles my sci-fi-grand-Western fancy a little like Lethem's "Girl in Landscape" did.

The Humans accelerated into Born on the Fourth of July-plus-boobs-and-drugs for the second issue, which was unexpectedly serious.

Punks #3 didn't really make me laugh like the first two did, I was pretty bummed.

The Guardians Annual was surprisingly fun!

Near-Current Marvel comix I've come to appreciate because of a Marvel Unlimited Subscription:
Charles Soule's She Hulk
Mark Waid's Daredevil
Kieron Gillen's Iron Man
Jason Aaron's Thor
Peter David's X-Factor
Nathan Edmondson's Punisher and Black Widow
Bendis' Uncanny X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy and Ultimate Spider Man
G Willow Wilson's Ms Marvel
Warren Ellis' Moon Knight
Felipe Smith's Ghost Rider
Rick Remender's Captain America (though basically everything else he does in this universe leaves me cold)
Cullen Bunn's Magneto

for the life of me, i can't imagine buying those as floppies though. At three bucks apiece? I read through a set of twenty or thirty of those in one night, easily and then i'd have no place to store them. digital all the way with capes and tights.

You should check out Superior Foes of Spider-Man

Oh yeah, that's on the list as well.

About ten issues into Scalped and really enjoying it, even though the lead character is probably the least compelling thing in it (so far). I was wavering, but a hilarious and pointlessly elaborate setup-joke about Merle Haggard's tour bus persuaded me to carry on.

Scalped retains its quality to the end, though IMO the eventual revelation of who killed Gina Bad Horse was pretty stupid. (I would've preferred she'd survived, as she was easily the most interesting supporting character, especially compared to the other women in the comic.) And you're right that Dash isn't the most compelling of leads, I guess Aaron himself figured that out too, since Lincoln Red Crow gets a lot of story space for himself, essentially becoming the second protagonist.

It's a pity HBO or some other channel hasn't opted to do a series based on Scalped, you'd have four seasons or already plotted out for you, and I'm sure people who watched stuff like Breaking Bad would appreciate Scalped too. Though I guess issues of cultural sensitivity would become more pressing when adapting the comic for a larger audience... I'm not sure if there has been much Native American criticism of Scalped, the whole premise might invite it, but IMO Aaron keeps his writing respectful enough, even though his depiction of life on the reservation obviously tends to focus on the negative stuff.

WGN America are developing a live action Scalped TV series with Doug Jung writing and executive producing the series.[8]

Scalped might be the bleakest comic I've ever read. It's great, but it makes Walking Dead look like Tiny Titans.

this idea that Dash not being the most interesting character being a flaw (stated plainly here http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/04/01/comics-you-should-own-scalped/ )is kind of ridic. You could say the same of Seinfeld, Silver Age Superman comics (probably not a coincidence), Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer series (Macdonald once said Archer as a character was so thin that if he turned sideways he'd disappear). Some eras of Batman belong on that list. I think there's a lot of benefit to having your main character be dull. It's almost a First-Person-Shooter effect.
http://photos-a.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t51.2885-15/10919549_997276330289744_1401810027_n.jpg

I'm aware with this sort of "everyman" theory, the idea protagonist being more like the reader's eyes to the universe than an fully fleshed person (Tintin is probably the most famous example in the comics, Tintin is a cypher and the comics are all about his supporting cast)... But I don't think Scalped is an example of that, Aaron doesn't just use Dash as an observer character, he gives Dash a detailed personal history and inner demons, plenty of pages are devoted to his personal dramas, it's just that they aren't as interesting as, say, Red Crow's dramas.

Hmm - there are a lot of well-written cyphers and straight men. Dash doesn't seem like one of them yet, but then again I'm only ten issues in. Either way -- it's super enjoyable. It's certainly bleak, but it doesn't seem quite as bad as Waking Dead to me - the violence isn't quite so awful, and Aaron appears to able to tell jokes - I think he might be my favourite mainstream comics writer working now outside of Grant Morrison.

Walking Dead quickly became torture porn. Scalped never does, even when the violence ramps and gets very, very, personal.

Here is my current comic reading overview:

Black Science - I'm up to #10. While I like some elements of the series, it's not working for me. The action is relentless, it's pretty much been one long action scene. The artist has some interesting elements to his style, but I find often confusing to look at and follow. None of the characters are likable at all. In theory, I like the madcap alternate Earth time travel angle, but at least at this point the series hasn't gelled for me. The colors on the comic are really cool, it's probably the most impressive part of the book. I got #11 and probably will go one more. It's on the pull list chopping block.

Southern Bastards - I got the first trade over the holidays and read it two sittings. The comic issome pulpy cartoonish fun. I like the idea you could do such a comic with a couple of characters in their 60s getting into a street fight outside a BBQ restaurant. Nick Nolte's voice is what I hear out of my head for the lead character.

Judge Dredd Case File 5 - Dredd was really on a roll. The series gets much darker, pushing further out than anything Marvel or DC was doing at the time. I think the artwork is uniformly very good. I'm a couple of progs shy of Block War in the book. I have read some of these back in the 80s and in reprints, but not all of the progs.

Dreadstar - It's one of my favorite comics. I got that hardcover that had the first part from Epic Magazine which lead me to re-reading the series again. Starlin eventually kind of loses it after issue 12, but I love the early stuff and the first few issues of the series.

i didn't really like southern bastards it seemed a little Walking Tall

Southern Bastards has gone some interesting places since the first coupla issues, but It's still finding its voice. Entertaining, though.

I've never heard of Dreadstar before and want to try out some Starlic cosmic - that a good place to start?

Dredd so good

I think with Dreadstar, you want to start with the original stories that were put out in Epic Magazine and the early Marvel Graphic Novel. It's all one long story, but the first part is a finished piece. The regular series is a s sequel. I think the Warlock/Captain Marvel/Thanos story is probably better, but Dreadstar is a riff on the same zip code. To me, I think Starlin's cosmic comics are a pretty noticeable influence on Grant Morrison.

I'd say Southern Bastards really gets cooking in #4. It's kind of crackerxploitation in a way, kind of reminds me of some old 70s Burt Reynolds movies like Gator or White Lightning although the whole bat thing is definitely a nod to Walking Tall. Thing is that the dude with the bat died in '72, which I thought was kind of appropriate. Its a pretty weird genre for US comics, so I say to the creators go for it and godspeed get weird.

With Dredd, I'm reading a second in Vol. 5 which is all about "case files" getting into the weird crime of Mega City One. Damn that story with basically hackers in the big truck circling the building to tap into networks is pretty prophetic. The episode where the lost Angel family member with his pet rat kidnaps Hershey and they end up at that factory that recycles dead bodies is hardcore as fuk for the day. Bleak genius! Bolland's Judge Death sequel is about one of the most perfectly drawn comics, it's amazing.

I was wondering how far I got with the Dredd reprints before I stopped and according to the comic collection thread it was vol 8. I think that might roughly coincide with when I stopped reading 200ad for the first time.

the grim bleakness I found in Scalped maybe doesn't deserve comparison to Walking Dead (which seems to operate purely from the same "OH YEAH, WE WENT THERE" smugness as Family Guy, only with gore/trauma instead of crude jokes). The way every character in Scalped is compromised and doomed (even unto themselves) is probably why I didn't get farther than vol. 4. It's an unpleasant world to spend time in, though once you're actually in there, so fascinating.
I was just spitballin' on Dash's value anyway, probably muddied the water with the First-Person-Shooter comment. My other examples (maybe Richie Cunningham is a more apt notion) are not exactly ciphers, but not entirely removed from that tradition either. I haven't read Scalped in a few years so I'm mostly talking out my ass here.

i had a meeting with some folks at valiant and they gave me a pile of their current books in trade: Rai, Armor Hunters, Unity, Bloodshot, xo manowar, harbinger, eternal warrior, archer and armstrong, harbinger wars, quantum and woody... these arent' bad! Primary world building architects are Matt Kindt, Jeff Lemire, Robert Vendetti, Joshua Dysart and Greg Pak... Peter Milligan just came on board.

New Humble Bundle Comic bundle is Image based and has Saga, Walking Dead, Cowl, Deadly Class, Alex and Ada, Minimum Wage, Genius, East of West, Elephantman, Cowl, Manhattan Projects, Fuse and a lot more for $18
https://www.humblebundle.com/books

Heh, I just came here to post that. Looks good.

lol i wish i hadn't already bought all of those

i think i asked this in the 2014 thread but is anybody else uncomfortable with the way Fingerman writes/draws people of color in Minimum Wage? it really takes me out of the book with dismay, i had to drop it off my list, but i've never seen anyone else say anything out of the ordinary about it.

in current minimum wage or old school? i've always given him a pass as he seems to be working in a specific MAD bigfoot style that hinges on super carnival cartoonish style for all the characters.

The current one particularly--he's definitely going for cartoony caricature style, right, it just seems like way too often with non-white characters that slides into outright stereotype

Her graphic novel 'This One Summer' with her sister, Mariko Tamaki, is just a lovely piece of work.

(Cousin.)

Skim, their other collaboration, is great too.

whoops, cousin

i'll stan for Skim, i need to read more of her stuff

Read Supermutant Magic Academy on your rec, pretty good. Like you said, it was an ongoing webcomic and the effort varies wildly, but overall very charming

someone compared s1ocki's new film to Tamaki's Sex Coven on twooter the other day #toomuchtimeonilx

aw yeah
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.207954002578217.59091.207950722578545&type=3

that link requires a facebook account

How odd - I don't have a facebook account, this computer has never been used by anyone with a facebook account, but I can see the page.

That's rad. I'd be more psyched if it was Marvel, but still rad.

maybe a zing issue?

If you can't open it, it's Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez's 1982 DC Comics Style Guide, page by page.

http://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/525448_547992328574381_625728319_n.jpg%3Foh%3Da4bd92e3496611d9adb252908be328bf%26oe%3D56F66685

bah.

The Divine by Boaz Lavie, Asaf and Tomer Hanuka. Great linework and color, arresting magical violence.
Personal interest specifically that two Israelis would draw a story with Southeast Asian roots, and they did a decent job!

The hanukas are really talented, would love to read that

I have new comics to read! A friend loaned me tpbs for Saga (book 1), Gotham Central, and Ex Machina. Beyond knowing who Vaughn and Brubaker are idk anything about these. (Well, I flipped through an issue of Saga at the shop once and it looked promising)

All good stuff!

oh, saga is ~very~ promising...

I love saga, gotta get the latest one. Hoping Christmas will bring wicked & divine, bitch planet, and hip hop family tree

i guess i haven't discussed this anywhere on ilx but i have gotten on a few private trackers and the amount, complexity and range of what's out there in the wild has inspired me to get rid of a big chunk of my 14 bookshelves worth of stuff and go digital. I have less and less affinity to paper these days; reading the books on a big screen imac or on the run on a tablet feels, after three or so years of indoctrination, natural. and i am SO TIRED of lugging these literal tons of paper pulp from apartment to apartment. so maybe i'll start selling the trades and hardbacks on amazon and start farming out the floppies to ebay.
I keep running into files that even a few years ago would've made my ears pop and they're still kinda hard to believe. Last night someone posted a complete Uncle Scrooge run. I don't even know how to respond to that.

I don't think Don Rosa or Carl Barks are going to be threatened by your piracy, so have at it!

Don has some opinions iirc.
tbh, at this point i have to have paid well into the six figures for the collection i have and, like a new car now used, it's probably worth ten grand total. I sleep soundly.

he's younger than I thought!

in the early days of the internet, he left his phone number up on his published articles and i foolishly called him to discuss philosophy and comics at odd hours and he was strangely up for it!
he's a real character and one of the great cartoonists.

This seems to be the most recent last word from him:
http://career-end.donrosa.de/

I still have my childhood collections. An entire “vault”, like a Money Bin, filled with 40,000 comics. All the Barks comics, but also most every American comic book 1945-1970. My old MAD magazines. My monster movie magazines. My full set of “TV GUIDE” magazine. Plus a room full of DVDs of my favorite movies, another two or three rooms filled with books by my favorite authors, a room of books about old movies and newspaper comics. When I finally learn to relax, I plan on just sitting and rereading and rewatching all of these favorite entertainments. That’s my new fondest dream.

I thank Carl Barks for creating the comics that I loved so much that I serendipitously fell into the blessed work of paying homage to those great comics for over 20 years. And I thank you for receiving that work so graciously and making me feel very special… until they broke my spirit.

dude looks like larry david and talks like him too!
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/01-Aug-2011/973829-rosa.jpg

The other “curse” of popularity was the amount of fanmail I started to receive. Now, normally when someone is as “successful” and popular as these characters had made me, they would be able to afford to hire assistants to help with the work and the correspondence. But my pay was not even quite enough for one person much less several. And again, as a fan myself, I certainly could not allow myself to simply ignore the loads of fanmail as I am told the more sane authors or artists can do. So I always answered 100% of my fanmail myself with personal replies. I would send free drawings if the fan requested one, and I would only hope that the fan would not request a full-color drawing, because then I would send a full-color drawing. I was taking perhaps a day off per week, or a week off between story projects, just to answer fanmail. Any of you who wrote to me in those days can attest to the truth of this.

tbh, at this point i have to have paid well into the six figures for the collection i have

I hear you.

28 vols of The Spirit Archives
14 vols of Dick Tracy
12 vols of Prince Valiant
Complete Trigan Empire
Complete Storm
...

I'm stopping before that gets too depressing

I don't have anywhere near a six-figure collection - or even a "collection" really, as I give most of my comics to charity shops when I'm done with them.

But - I have gone digital only too - at least for weekly floppies. Same here for me - it's totally natural. And I think some comics are actually improved by the frame-by-frame thing on Comixology - it's given me a new appreciation for artists who bother to get the storytelling right. (Marquez, the guy on the new Iron Man series, is fantastic read that way. I imagine it would be great for, like Cameron Stewart or the Hernandez bros too.)

Also! Rosa sounds like a mensch.

the idea of saying Xaime would be improved by not having his panel-to-panel storytelling available to the reader is horrifying

Ha, okay, let's substitute improved for "inferior but more interesting and delightful than you might think". Sanctity of the page and etcetera. What I like about it, though, is that it forces me (ymmv) to study individual panels more closely in a way I don't over a whole page - the wit of a specific set of panel choices and transitions over a sequence becomes clearer. Not a substitute - just interesting.

Oh man I just read that don Rosa farewell ;_;

Comics break people. They break people!

Annie Mok and Sophia Foster-Dimino's wordless and frameless comic about trauma and processing, "Swim Thru Fire," is pretty devastating and can now be read in full: http://hazlitt.net/authors/sophia-foster-dimino

(Well, wordless in the later installments at least.)

Also, on a VIDA-ish note, Kim O'Connor on the gender dynamics of alternative presses:

The numbers are pretty abysmal. As recently as 2011, D&Q’s list was just 7 percent women—two of the 27 titles they published that year. For an 11-year stretch from 1996 to 2006, they published no more than four women per year. For five of those years (2000-2004), they published just one woman. In 2005, they published zero.
Sadly, in the landscape of comics publishing, that’s enough to put D&Q ahead of pretty much everyone else, at least among publishers of similar or larger size. To return to my pal's original finding: at Drawn & Quarterly, one cartoonist in every four is a woman. That's certainly a far better showing than we get from the Big Two, where that number is something like one in six or seven (a ratio that becomes way worse if you consider their catalogs holistically instead of as a present-day snapshot). And if I may hazard a guess, it is also a much better showing than D&Q’s alt-comics counterpart, Fantagraphics. By a lot.
On the other hand, one in four is still very poor—and it's hardly a "list that tends to be 50-50, male-female." That anyone would perceive an average of 25 percent as a history of equality speaks to the extent of the problem of gender disparity in comics.

http://www.comicsandcola.com/2015/12/on-drawn-quarterlys-feminist-legacy.html

Somebody needs to make the 2016 thread and I'm not brave enough

Rolling SERIOUS GRAPHIC LITERATURE Thread for Comics in 2016