Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities My Big-Ass Pile o'Trades Waiting To Be Read At My Whim

Pov, Manhattan Projects and Peter Panzerfaust v. 4 were both fantastic! PP gets better and better, while MP just gets crazier and batshit crazier!

Yeah, definitely looking forward to reading those especially. I got the A-NX trade because of the buzz here on LW about the series, and I got the Deathlok trade out of Bronze Age sentimentality.

I think you'll be delighted by how awesome ANX is. I've said it before: who new that the characters Bendis was born to write were the 5 original X-Men as teens? He and Immonen deliver ever issue, and recall a better era of X-Men comics where fun was included in the angst and tragedy.

I just shortened my TPPoT (Tiny Patootie Pile O'Trades) by half by finishing Batman: The Black Mirror. I've never been much of a Batman fan, but man, this book was excellent!

Added She-Hulk: Law and Disorder to the pile, on Cobie's recommendation.

I have a lot of catching up to do, having spent the past few days too sick to do much reading.

UPDATE.....

Currently Reading
Torso by Bendis and Andreyko

Recently Read
Batman: Tales of the Demon
Mage Vol. 1: The Hero Discovered

To-Read Pile
Tales of the Batman: Don Newton
Tales of the Batman: Gene Colan
Huntress: Darknight Daughter
Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Vols. 1 thru 4
Marvel Masterworks: Dr. Strange Vol. 5 (featuring Englehart scripts)
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 5 (collects FF 41-50 & Ann. 3)
Grendel Omnibus Vol. 2: The Legacy
Mage Vol. 2: The Hero Defined
Bandette Vol. 1
Legion Archives Vol. 8 (for the Re-reading project)
Man-Thing Omnibus
West Coast Avengers Omnibus Vol. 1
Jinx
Goldfish
From Hell
Captain America: War & Remembrance
New Teen Titans Vol. 1

On the Way from eBay
Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus Vol. 1

Current Heavy eBay Stalks
Scout
Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks Vols 3 & 6 (recently acquired Vols. 4 & 5--already own 1 & 2--but aren't in the pile just yet)


So I'll try to have reviews of Tales of the Demon, Mage and Torso soon. I'll say that all are really good reads, and Torso, especially, is fucking GREAT so far!

I think Defender Vol. 1 is likely next for me. I'm known to change my mind, though...

Ooh, I love Batman: Tales of the Demon! Can't wait to read your review!

I'll update my list in a little while.

Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 4 (for the Archives Re-Read)
Essential Avengers Vols. 4-5 (for research purposes for my Black Widow Avengers memoir fanfic project)
Black Widow Deadly Origin (see above)
Supreme Power Vols. 1-2
She-Hulk: Law and Disorder
Green Arrow: Quiver
Showcase Presents: Batman and the Outsiders Vol. 1
JLA: The Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 (strictly for JLA fanfic research purposes; as everyone knows, I think Morrison's is the most overrated era of the JLA.)
DC's Greatest Imaginary Stories
Star Wars: A Long Time Ago Vols. 4-7
Astro City: The Dark Age Vols. 1-2
Marvels: Eye of the Camera
Captain Britain (the late 80s trade reprinting the Alan Davis/Jamie Delano stories)

On their way from the library:

Essential Daredevil Vols. 4-5 (more Black Widow research)
Green Arrow: Year One (never read this before, despite my love for both Ollie Queen and Andy Diggle)
Hellblazer: Lady Constantine (Ah, for the days before Diggle got into a crime drama rut)

...That sounds like it would be an awesome story... All of those poor eaten or flushed guppies, rising to exact their revenge...

UPDATE (10/27/14).....

Currently Reading
Man-Thing Omnibus

Recently Read
Batman: Tales of the Demon
torso by Bendis & Andreyko
Marvel Masterworks: Defenders Vol. 1

To-Read Pile
Tales of the Batman: Don Newton
Tales of the Batman: Gene Colan
Huntress: Darknight Daughter
Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Vols. 2 thru 4
Marvel Masterworks: Dr. Strange Vol. 5
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 5 (collects FF 41-50 & Ann. 3)
Grendel Omnibus Vol. 2: The Legacy
Mage Vol. 2: The Hero Defined
Bandette Vol. 1
Legion Archives Vol. 8 (for the Re-reading project)
West Coast Avengers Omnibus Vol. 1
Jinx
Goldfish
From Hell
Captain America: War & Remembrance
New Teen Titans Vol. 1
Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus Vol. 1
Scout Vols. 1 & 2

On the Way from eBay
Marvel Masterworks Vol. 6

Current Heavy eBay Stalks
Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks Vols 3, 7 & 8 and possibly beyond (the three mentioned are available cheap--Vol. 6 was harder to get--just looking for the best deal for what will eventually be a huge ASM reading project)


Still owe you guys reviews of Tales of the Demon, torso and now Defenders Vol. 1. (I reviewed Mage Vol. 1 today in the '80s indies thread, at least.) Viva la Pile!!!

My pile hasn't changed much beyond returning a few of the library books and adding my own copies of the Six from Sirius trade and the first two Meridian trades.

I reviewed the first three issues of the ten collected in Green Arrow Quiver and am hoping to review the next two issues later tonight.

I reviewed Astro City The Dark Age in the Astro City thread, and added to that review my thoughts on Marvels Eye of the Camera.

I also Lady Constantine in the Random Review Corner thread, but there were no comments on that one, which surprised me.

Still planning to review Captain Britain, Supreme Power, Green Arrow Year One, and, of course, the Adventure era Legion.

Looking forward to them, Fickles!

Re: Lady Constantine...It was certainly an interesting review. But I couldn't think of anything to say other than "interesting review", so I refrained. The only time I've really enjoyed Hellblazer was when Garth Ennis wrote it, so the character and his universe are usually off my radar. Admittedly, I haven't had the biggest sampling of all the different writers. I thought I'd collect Peter Milligan's run in TPBs, but I only ever read the first one, even though it was pretty decent. If I run across a cheap copy of Lady C, I'll give it a try.

That would be great. Thanks, Lardy.

Andy Diggle's all-too-brief run on Hellblazer proper is definitely worth reading, as are the early arcs of Mike Carey's Hellblazer run, with 200 as my personal cut-off point.

torso by Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko

As I alluded to in an earlier comment, I absolutely LOVED this story! It's been so long since I read a good, much less GREAT story involving Bendis that it took me by surprise. But I'd always heard how he made his bones writing AND drawing (!) crime thrillers before he landed on Ultimate Spidey and clearly began to eventually let all the praise inflate his ego and mostly produce dreck. I'd always meant to go read the earlier stuff, but I understandably wasn't in a hurry after I began to sour on him.

Back in the day, Bendis actually illustrated his own stories, and he was actually pretty good at it! I would stop waaaay short of saying his stuff was comparable to any of the greats because it isn't. But the art is definitely competent though a bit stiff and photo-referenced. I'd say it has some similarities to the rough style of his collaborator on Alias, Michael Gaydos. His layouts are actually fairly inventive. In many cases his occasional integration of actual case photography alongside his art works really well. Occasionally, he takes maybe too many liberties, like when the panels drift into a right angle for a while at particular story turns. But it's competent and works for the story very well, overall.

The story itself, credited as a Bendis and Andreyko collaboration, is the biggest draw. Billed as a "true crime" novel, torso dramatizes the true story of the Cleveland "torso" murderer case from the 1930s. Aside from being one of the earliest modern serial killer cases, it's also significant for the involvement of Eliot Ness, the legendary figure behind the Untouchables and their taking down Al Capone in Chicago. This case takes place a few years after Capone's fall as Ness takes on the position of "safety officer" in Cleveland. As Ness tries to clean up Cleveland's corrupt police force, his efforts are derailed as the city's attention turns to the grisly murders in which severed body parts allow for few clues and very few victims identified.

It's a really riveting and engrossing in its account and execution. In addition to Ness, we get to know the pair of investigating officers and see the birth of modern forensics as the science is practically invented right before our eyes. The paranoia and fear of the public at large is palpable. And it turns out that much of the facts of the story are well researched and accurate.

But as the last quarter of the story unfolds, it becomes pretty clear that this account has been fictionalized. It has kind of a horror movie confrontation at the end that you just know didn't really happen or else it would have been the most famous serial killer case there's ever been--and it's clearly not. But that's okay--it fits in with the tradition of how Ness and his Untouchables adventures have been bloated and warped beyond barely any semblance of truth over the decades since they happened. My guess is the real story would make for much more boring movies, TV shows and the like.

But my internet research into the case (no, not just Wikipedia) shows that the events of the first three-quarters of the book are fairly spot-on accurate with some of the timelines fudged and the characters dramatized or fictional. And the killer as revealed is clearly based on one of the major suspects with a different name but with some similar compelling salient details kept intact. The true case and fictionalized case both declare the murders officially "unsolved", but this book decides to give more of a payoff for the purpose of a satisfying read.

So I highly recommend this ones for fans of the true crime genre and hold it up as a terrific, exciting read in that vein. It's gory and unpleasant subject matter are definitely not for everyone, of course. Just don't expect this one to be the one Eliot Ness story not fictionalized for your entertainment--though it's closer than most!

Great review of Torso! This one has been on my radar since it came out, long before I recognized Bendis' name. I love true crime stories, and I especially love the idea of Elliot Ness investigating an early 20th century serial killer. I'm glad to hear it lived up to the hype!

As for me, I'm currently reading the From Hell Companion, an enormous 300 page book about the creation of the OGN. Only a story like From Hell would have me remotely interested in such an inside look at the making of a comic book. But when you've got Alan Moore + Jack the Ripper, even this is fascinating.

I vaguely recall not being a huge fan of it. But, I'd tabled a response until I've read some other Constantine bits and bobs.[/quote]



Having learned from my enthusiasm over Astro City, only to find out those issues weren;t being reviewed I'll ask which Captain Britain run had you in mind?

I agree about the Torso* review Lardy. Thanks for that. I've seen it advertised down the years, but it just never popped up on my radar when I was actually buying things.



Didn't the From Hell floppies come with bags of notes too?


*I actually typed "Toros" which is the gritty crime story about the charred fragments of victims linked to the Human Torch's sidekick.

Thoth, I'm planning to review Captain Britain from the first Alan Moore/Alan Davis installment through the Jamie Delano/Alan Davis installments and ending with the two Alan Davis writer/artist installments.

And I can assure you that I'll eventually read and review all the Astro City stories.

Awwww thanks Fickles.

I'll add Captain Britain to the review list/pile/teetering paper tower of doom

Yes, the "From Hell" auxiliary material is almost as fascinating as the work itself. I haven't read the companion, just the reams and reams of footnotes in the original as well as "Dance of the Gull-Catchers". I even had a copy of Steven Knight's "JTR: the Final Solution" (the main inspiration for "From Hell", discredited midway through Moore writing it), but really, it's not as great a read as reading Moore writing about it, if you follow.

Yeah, some say that the case dramatized in "torso" pretty much derailed Ness's career in law enforcement. Ness actually wasn't the investigator on the case at the outset but a detective who is another lead character in the book. Political pressure forced Ness to get more involved. As the case was never solved, that failure fell on Ness. It was certainly a monumental task for what was a novelty back then with forensic science and profiling virtually non-existent.

This certainly makes me eager to eventually read Goldfish and Jinx. If Bendis (with Andreyko) can do this well with a non-fictional adaptation, I can only imagine how good his work might be on crime stories without any boundaries. Since I have them, I'll read them soonish--when the moment feels right. I like having the option of switching material every read with the benefit of such a large variety at hand!

BTW, I"m loving the hell out of the Man-Thing Omnibus, so far! I've read the first couple of hundred pages (through the feature's run on Fear), and it is just awesome! Steve Gerber was such a gifted writer, and his stories are entertaining, imaginative and topical! This may hasten my getting to his volumes on Defenders Masterworks, and I might just HAVE to pick up the Howard the Duck Omnibus some time!

A couple of weeks ago, I put down the Man-Thing Omnibus after getting about 3/4 through it. The stopping point was the end of Steve Gerber's long run on the character which encompassed all but the first two issues of the Adventure Into Fear run, all 22 issues of the first volume of the Man-Thing ongoing and five Giant Size editions. (Preceding Gerber's entrance was the character's first appearance, a 2-issue guest appearance in Ka-Zar and the prior fear issues, all also read.) I decided to stop there because it was such a mammoth, time-consuming read already in those 850-odd pages, and I knew Gerber would be a difficult act to follow.

Gerber truly did a magnificent job during his long run on the book. For a title featuring essentially a mindless creature as its star, Gerber made it a truly compelling read. The book was graced with Gerber's rich evocative narration and a number of gifted illustrators, including Val Mayerik, Mike Ploog, John Buscema and even Jim Mooney among others. Gerber wove in a lot of political commentary, social issues and allegory as well as some sword and sorcery, satire and of course a heaping amount of horror. We got lots of interesting supporting characters weaving their way in and out of the book, including Jennifer Kale and hard-luck radio DJ Richard Rory.

In its own way Gerber's run on Man-Thing offered as much entertainment and food for thought as Alan Moore's better-known Swamp Thing run. It'll never get the renown of the latter, but I'll always hold both in high regard. I'm not saying Gerber's run was just as good, but he certainly made what was initially a knock-off character into something significant on its own.

I was very pleased to discover Stever Gerber's work here. I believe that just about the only thing I'd read of his before was his quirky Vertigo book Nevada, which I had enjoyed a lot. This makes me eager to get to as much of Gerber's other work as I can get my hands on. I've already got the early part of his Defenders run awaiting me in those Masterworks editions in the Pile. I'm also severely tempted to pick up that Howard the Duck Omnibus in the near future. Over the past year, it certainly seems that as I obsess and discover the '70s at Marvel that 2 of the best writers of the era shared the same first name...Steve, as in Gerber and Englehart. As I rediscover my love of the late, lamented art of narrated comics, the Steves were masters of the form. Honestly, as great as the storytelling of their artists was, when I try to imagine their stories with just dialogue, I can't imagine them being nearly as satisfying without those rich, artfully-worded captions that made the stories so much deeper.

I will eventually read the rest of the Omnibus (which includes one more Gerber-scripted story that appeared in Rampaging Hulk, incidentally) as I've heard good things about the second series, particularly Chris Claremont's work. I can definitely highly recommend what I've read so far. I love the Omnibus, the color and the production values, but Gerber's run on Man-Thing also exists in the much cheaper B&W Marvel Essentials line in its entirety.

Been a good while since the last one, so:

Pile UPDATE (1/8/15).....

Recently Read
Tales of the Batman: Don Newton
Marvel Masterworks: Dr. Strange Vol. 5
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 5 (collects FF 41-50 & Ann. 3)
Bandette Vol. 1: Presto!

To-Read Pile (new stuff since last time in bold)
Tales of the Batman: Gene Colan
Huntress: Darknight Daughter
Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Vols. 2 thru 4
Grendel Omnibus Vol. 2: The Legacy
Mage Vol. 2: The Hero Defined
Legion Archives Vol. 8 (for the Re-reading project--I'm behind everyone, sadly)
West Coast Avengers Omnibus Vol. 1
Jinx
Goldfish
From Hell
Captain America: War & Remembrance
New Teen Titans Vol. 1
Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus Vol. 1
Scout Vols. 1 & 2
Frank Miller's Ronin Deluxe Edition
Marvel Masterworks: Iron Fist Vol. 1
Spider-Man by Roger Stern Omnibus
Marvel Masterworks: Silver Surfer Vol. 1
Silver Surfer (current Slott/Allred series) Vol. 1: New Dawn
Iron Man by Michelinie, Layton & Romita, Jr. Omnibus

On the Way from eBay
Tales of the Batman: Len Wein
Murder Me Dead (David Lapham)

Current Heavy eBay Stalks
Howard the Duck Omnibus
Marvel Masterworks: Iron Fist Vol. 2
Marvel Masterworks: Dr. Strange Vol. 6

Rather than full, lengthy reviews, I thought I'd share some impressions of these.....

Tales of the Batman: Don Newton was beautifully illustrated by the titular artist, but the stories by the likes of Denny O'Neil and Cary Burkett were largely forgettable. However, it was nice reading several stories I remembered fondly from my childhood, especially the conclusion of a story featuring the aftermath of Batgirl being shot (no, not the Killing Joke--years earlier), another featuring a villain called the Crime Doctor and a caper with the Riddler. There were some good O'Neil Ra's al Ghul stories as well (including the death of Kathy Kane), but those were also present in my recent Tales of the Demon trade.

I'd say the book isn't worth the $40 cover price but an absolute steal at the $10 I paid for it. Newton's art is very clean but also dynamic. I truly hope DC does a Volume 2 with more Newton stories because I think, looking ahead, that the best stories he worked on came after these. I'm really glad DC published this, though, because I'd had little exposure to Newton's artwork prior to this. His was a great talent that should live on and be appreciated.

Marvel Masterworks: Dr. Strange Vol. 5 WOW! This volume collects the first half of Steve Englehart's run on Doc, reprinting the end of the character's feature on Marvel Premiere and the first 9 issues of Doc's first solo series. I'm finding increasingly that Englehart of the '70s could do NO wrong, and his work with artists Frank Brunner and Gene Colan ranks way up with his best!

This volume contains 4 sweeping, multi-part epics: Shuma Gorath! Sise-Neg! Doc Vs. Death! The secret of Clea! All are just mind-blowingly awesome and almost like what Doc might've been like if Alan Moore took the character on. And these issues feature pretty much everyone and everything you'd ever want to read in Doc Strange stories. i can't belive this run isn't talked about more!!! Gotta get the rest of Englehart's run SOON!!!

Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 5 was, sadly, disappointing. It seems like I've been waiting all my life to finally read these stories, especially the original Galactus trilogy, but they didn't really live up to the hype. It's hard to explain, I suppose, but I can point to a few things:

1) the Galactus "trilogy" is really more like about 2 issues. Part one starts off half its pages concluding the Inhumans saga, and part 3 wraps up well before the issue is over, using the balance of the pages to set up a Johnny Storm in college storyline.

2) I don't know if the coloring faithfully reproduces the originals, but Galactus is colored differently in every issue. In part 2, he has bare arms and legs! It looks ridiculous!

3) The Kirby art. Not horrible by any stretch, but it was underwhelming most of the time. It's the most consecutive work I've ever read of his, and I see very little to make me a fan. Thing, for example, is rendered very inconsistently and fuzzily.

4) Lack of compelling sub-plots. Part of the downfall of the characters having public identities is that the adventures are the whole thing. Marvel did soap opera like nobody's business in the '60s to the point where it was why you read the books more than anything, and there's almost none of that here. Yeah, they try to inject some angst here and there, but it falls flat without the tension present, say, in Amzing Spider-Man.

Overall, I was disappointed in what should have been an ideal classic FF primer for me--what with the other stories featuring the Frightful Four, the wedding of Reed and Sue*** and the original Inhumans epic--having never read any Lee/Kirby FF before. Not bad, but not GREAT, as I expected. I guess I'm just spoiled by what Byrne did with the characters as my gateway to the concept. I could honestly read his FF ANY time!

***This annual was the best part of the volume, BY FAR! It was quite a hoot seeing a kitchen sink's worth of baddies thrown at the FF to foil the wedding!

Bandette Vol. 1: Presto! by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover was a refreshingly upbeat read. This light but imaginative tale of a young lady who is both thief and hero is the cure for the grim-and-gritty blues. I don't want to give away the whole plot, but I love that the story takes place in France with characters who are themselves French. It lends a certain sense of romance and cultural diversity in a reading business where every story seems to be set in Manhattan or some other American urban equivalent. A very rich, fun story to read with lots of memorable characters.

If there's a drawback it's that this printing of a digital-first series offers an incomplete story. The main story ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger with the main threat imminent and unresolved. So it can be frustrating either waiting a year between printed volumes, or you may feel compelled to seek out the digital version if you can't wait that long. I'm not ready for digital comics, so that's disappointing.