Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Any recommendations

You know, I keep meaning to get the Lone Ranger series. I'm going to try again this Sunday and hopefully it'll still be there.

110 Percent by Tony Consiglio. A GN about three middle-aged women who are huge fans of a boy band, 110 Percent - they are even members of a fan club that meets regularly. It's really funny, but realistic too. Consiglio captures three very different personalities with charm and insight, women of such ordinary lives. One is quite isolated, one neglects her family terribly, the third lives with a real pain-in-the-ass husband. It's a moral fable as well: when the big concert comes to town and there aren't enough tickets for all three to attend, the backstabbing begins.

You can download a 12-page pdf preview here.
(Scroll down to Tuesday, April 04, 2006.)

All in TPBs

Y: The Last Man (onging)

Ex Machina (ongoing)

Invincible (ongoing), plus there's a who's who issue currently out.

Empire (short run in TPB now -- unless we can get Barry and Mark to start it up again without having any consequences for SLSH)

Pride of Baghdad Graphic Novel by Brian K. Vaughan.

Whether you believe the Iraq war to be wrong or right, this will remind you who's really bearing the burden of the fighting and the chaos.

The story is a little predictable but moving nonetheless. The art is stunning and taken together they show what the medium is capable of conveying.

I'm going to give Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer from Image a chance. First issue comes out April 11.

Four issues in and I'm totally sold on "The Immortal Iron Fist". It's got superheroing, eastern mysticism, international corporate machinations, the revitalization of a decades old character (without totally screwing him up) and *gun fu*. It's fun without being nostalgic or simplistic.

I thought some of ya'll might enjoy this, just posted at another site...



"mechanikat" wrote:
"Given my displeasure with the current state of superhero comics (a
reason I've mostly just lurked here, given the discussions centering
on "52"/"Infinite Crisis"/"Civil War"/etc.)"

To paraphrase the words of comic actor Rupert Crosse: "Who READS that
stuff???"


"no mainstream DC Universe"

Well, that lets out GREEN LANTERN and GREEN LANTERN CORPS, 2
surprisingly good books (and I'd boycotted GL for 13 years after
you-know-what).


"the 90's/early 2000s version of Batman and what I saw of the "Justice
League" cartoon come to mind...)"

And Batman USED to be my #1 favorite costumed hero. I got sick of
what they were doing with him by the LATE 80's!! Seriously! The 1989
Tim Burton movie was actually a "relief" by comparison, I was
susprised by how comparitively "nice" Keaton & Gough's portrayals of
Bruce & Alfred were. After all the hype about how Dc was planning to
"fix" things with their "Infinite" mini-series, I was dismayed to see
they did NOT in fact reboot the current universe... so, no matter WHAT
they do with that BASTARD who's impersonating Batman, I won't be
reading it.


"major storylines *not* being built on stuff like: characters' wives
being raped/killed"

A good friend asked me, "Would YOU write a story like this?" And he
was surprised to find I had. Except, the way i did it, it was
enjoyable. Because nobody really got hurt except the bad guys. And
they were BEGGING for it! As another person I know once said, "What's
the point of being a writer if you can't play God?"


"no manga (never cared for manga or anime)"

Well, that lets out GUNSMITH CATS and CANNON GOD EXAXXION, both by
Kenichi Sonada, 2 of the best comics of any kind I have ever read.
CGE was part of SUPER MANGA BLAST for awhile. Sonada was so good, the
other guys-- though their art was nice-- clearly, by comparison, had
NO F****** idea what they were doing, in the "storytelling"
department. Some of these guys should just study Belgian comics, like
TINTIN. I did!


"All-Star Superman"

There's one on my list!


"Krypto the Superdog"

There's a COMIC, too? For all the extremes they went to 20+ years ago
to stupidly eliminate all traces of there ever having been an Earth-1
or Earth-2 (don't let anybody fool you, the "new DCU" seen since 1986
is NOT and NEVER HAS BEEN Earth-1!!!), it's hilarious that one of the
best cartoons on the air right now is based (loosely) on such an
essentially "Earth-1" concept-- Superboy's POOCH! I love it.


"Various comic strips"

LIBERTY MEADOWS (the only thing Frank Cho SHOULD be spending all his
time doing, if it paid as well as all those DAMNED jobs he's doing for
Marvel must be-- GORGEOUS ladies and WB-cartoon-style funny animals.
what a combo! The funniest thing I've seen on paper in the last 15 years.

JANES'S WORLD (which keeps reminding me of a cross between DOONSEBURY
and ELLEN, but with better writing than either).

PEANUTS (the earliest stuff was the FUNNIEST!!)


"any suggestions?"

MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS (Mike Allred finally decided to revive his
signature character, after virtually wasting years of his life and his
fans' time on that viscious, brutally-violent, sick excuse for a
"superhero" comic, X-STATIX). This is fun-- imaginative-- and funky!
(And I haven't even seen the 1st new issue yet.)

BIG BANG COMICS (Gary Carlson's tribute to the best of many different
comics, styles, and genres of the past, with an ever-rotating set of
features and creators. BIG BANG PRESENTS #5 just came out, featuring
TeenRex, a tribute to both KAMANDI and DEVIL DINOSAUR rolled into one.
See the listings at the GCD site to get an idea of the range of
material that BB has done over the last decade or so.


Henry

The trade collecting the classic 3-part Batman storyarc Blind Justice will become available again on July 5th. It's quite possibly my favorite Batman story, authored by Sam Hamm, who wrote the original (and best) draft of Tim Burton's first Batman movie. And the art by Denys Cowan and Dick Giordano is outstanding.

I've recently been informed that I passed up an excellent chance by Scooter to check out the Walking Dead I think perhaps I should revisit this offer...

(Scott, I'll reply to your PM shortly...been busy at work in Baltimore )

(Oh yeah, Stealth, will post to the All Avengers Thread hopefully tomorrow...been busy at work in Baltimore )

MR STUFFINS was a fun read from BOOM Studios. A teddy ruxpin type teddy bear gets a Green Beret type upgrade. The first issue is funny, but I can see this getting too dark for the kids.

Well, currently the best Batman story in ages is being done by Grant Morrison in 'Batman', and I highly reccomend it to readers who'd like a strong Batman story.

Also, let me give my reccomendation for 'Faker' by Vertigo, written by Mike Carey. Its been very enjoyable so far, with the right mix of characterization and innate creepiness.

Potters Field by Mark Waid & Paul Azaceta - a 3 issue series from Boom Studios; the first issue is out now.

John Doe is a mystery man who is dedicated to finding names for all the unmarked graves in Potters Field. He has a network of specialists in New York City on whom he calls for help with the task. Doe is not official, we don't know anything about him - but he solves the mystery, extracts some justice for the unsolved/unknown crime and marks the gravesite with the name of the dead person.

The network of specialists reminds me of Global Frequency, but the mysteries are more along the lines of Will Eisner's tenement stories, involving everyday people and forgotten victims.

Scalped is the best Vertigo comic in a long time. Highly recommended.

Also, I assume you're buying Casanova, right?

On my blog , I have short reviews for this week's haul, including the following:

Booster Gold #8 (C+)
The weakest issue of the series thus far.

Countdown to Final Crisis #3 (D)
God, I hate this book.

Echo #2 (B+)
Even though there's not a lot of the plot movement here that I might demand in a super-hero comic, I'm okay with that. I just wish I could do it for less than $3.50 a pop.

Fantastic Four #556 (B)
Left me feeling a bit cheated in a plot that pretty much boils down to: Villain appears, heroes engage. Still, there are some good character moments, and Bryan Hitch's art is, as always, a wonder to behold.

The Goon #23 (B-)
I think Eric Powell better give up on the monthly schedule, or else take on some assistants. This book looked and felt terribly rushed.

Justice Society of America #14 (A-)
This story seems like it's been going on forever, and yet, I'm loving each issue.

Number of the Beast #1 (of 8) (B-)
It's okay to drop the reader in the middle of the action, but at some point, preferably early on, the author must lay down the rules of his or her fictional world.

Serenity: Better Days #2 (of 3) (C+)
I may be the biggest Firefly fan ever, but this book left me a little disappointed.

Wonder Woman #19 (C)
Largely predictable. I saw every beat coming, almost as if this were an ABC After School Special. This book is Legion A/R though, being as it features Khunds.

Marvel's Max comic "Flight of the Phantom Eagle" by Garth Ennis and Howard Chaykin is superb.

A great war comic set in WWI that really conveys the danger and tension of fighter pilots during this new age of war. Amazing Chaykin art. Excellent Ennis humor at all the right moments. Only 2 issues in and I think it'll really be picking up next issue (its a 5 issue mini). A great Marvel character long forgotten getting some much needed treatment.

Vertigo's new "House of Mystery". I picked up the first issue. A good mix of Sandman and the classic House of Mystery style.

My positive review of House of Mystery #1 right here! I thought the second issue was also great!

I recommend the recently released trade Iron Man: War Machine. Back in the early 90s, I followed Iron Man off and on when the team of Len Kaminski & Kevin Hopgood were on the book. This may be the most underrated run on Iron Man to date -- they introduced promising new technology, new villains, new status quo...the early 90s had a lot of good stuff that fell through the cracks. In fact, I don't think it got really bad until the mid 90s -- and I also think that a lot of well-received stuff from the late 90s is nostalgic piffle, the comic book equivalent of a rock and roll oldies revue. I'm hoping that if Iron Man: War Machine sells well enough, they'll reprint the rest of Kaminski & Hopgood's run, or at least up to # 300.

House of Mystery #1 I thought was disgusting, which immediately made me skip the book.

A really great read I can only recommend to anyone: The Graphic Novel "Box Office Poison" by Alex Robinson. Great coming of age story including a very critical view at the comic book industry... it's some years old but stands the test of time

[repost from "Immortal Iron Fist" thread, in case anyone skips that one, but checks out this one]

I just got caught up on Immortal Iron Fist with the second HC and 15-17. And you know what? This may be the single very best title Marvel is currently putting out, possibly better than any of DC's stuff as well!

One thing I absolutely love about it is that so far, Marvel's allowing the title to be self-contained, no crossovers or suped-up hype. I love the sense of history the title has to it. I love the mysticsm. I love the martial arts. I loooove the characters!

And you know what else? Having read #17 with the new creative team, I don't think it's gonna miss a beat! Unknown talents Duane Swierczynski and Travel Foreman are very wisely building on the storylines and narrative flow that superstars Brubaker, Fraction and Aja established instead of tearing it down as so many others have. Example: the flashbacks to previous Iron Fists are apparently here to stay!

So if you've never tried this excellent comic or dropped it because Brubaker and Fraction left sight unseen--SHAME ON YOU!!! (Cobester, I'm lookin' at you since this title's never appeared on your pull-list! )

So pick up the first trade, at least. And if ya like what you saw here, I GUARANT-DAMN-TEE ya, you'll like everything that comes after!! (An' if the new creative team jumps the shark, I'll tell ya!)

Well, I picked up the first several issues of Iron Fist and ultimately decided to drop it when I hacked and slashed a lot of Marvel titles off our list. Even though Bru is by far my favorite writer at Marvel right now, it just wasn’t really grabbing me. It wasn’t bad, but at the end of the day, I’d often forget about adding to my pile more weeks than not and when I got around to finally doing so, it wasn’t giving me any really big reason to want to add another issue. But hey, maybe it picked up steam and I’d enjoy it more if I read several issues in a row. It is Brubaker, after all, and he writes what I consider to be Marvel’s (2) best comics: Daredevil & Captain America (which is the best comic on the market IMO besides Fables, even more so than JSA).

I like Iron Fist, and he has a striking visual, but I don’t *love* the character or have a long-standing attachment to him like I do Iron Man, Thor, Daredevil, the Falcon etc. Still, I don’t dislike him either, but it doesn’t work in his favor.

BTW, are YOU reading Daredevil or Cap? Because you may end up missing a title you’ll love!

If by YOU, you mean ME, of COURSE I read Cap and DD! Don't be ridiculous!

I was always more of a casual Iron Fist fan like you, but they've deepened his mythos so much that the title is definitely a must-read. I will say that the comic is more story-centric than character-centric. In a way Cap & DD are more story-centric too, so that's probably not a problem for Bru-fans of his Marvel work.

BTW, anyone who enjoys Brubaker's work and hasn't checked out Sleeper-- Sleeper, IMO, is still Brubaker's very best work, even considering Cap.

I loved Box Office Poison when I read the individual issues in the late '90s. Robinson's art style is on the cartoony side, but his characters and the situations they experience are very much slice-of-life, and will resonate with many twentysomethings -- especially ones who live or have lived in NYC.

One of my favorite recent graphic novels is Night Fisher, by R. Kikuo Johnson. It's set in small-town Hawaii, and follows a teenager in the waning days of high school, dealing with his father, friends, and various temptations.

The black-and-white artwork is painterly, and the pace easygoing -- a good break from the cape-and-cowl stuff.

A recent favorite TPB is Star Wars Tales Vol. 5. It has tons of great stories for both die-hard and casual Star Wars fans, and a lot of unique contributions from artists of a more indie bent -- such as Peter Bagge, Gilbert Hernandez, Tony Millionaire, Chris Eliopoulos, Jim Campbell, and Rick Geary. Sno Cone did the color and lettering for a number of the stories.

Lots of quirky, far-out, and funny stuff, and more than worth the cover price (although you can get it for significantly cheaper on Amazon).