Comics: what are you currently reading?

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by japes

@Ronin ...I am about to start the Deathstroke series really soon. Mostly based on your recommendation and our ongoing discussion.

Awesome! It's a good series to read in chunks; it has a lot going on because all the characters are plotting against each other all the time. Really eager to get your impressions.

[johnny139]

I'm behind on Deathstroke (I read most of my DC stuff via Hoopla, which only lets me take out right trades a month - and I spend a lot of those on older stories) but it's absolutely solid. Priest never disappoints.

I actually picked up the first issue of his Justice League run yesterday just to check it out, and I'm digging it so far. The basic premise is that Batman makes a bad call on mission priority, some people die, a massive tsunami is narrowly avoided, and he has to deal with the fallout of making a major tactical mistake.

Like, it's weird how fresh a premise that is for a Batman story, you know?

[Lazy Orang]

Originally Posted by johnny139

I'm behind on Deathstroke (I read most of my DC stuff via Hoopla, which only lets me take out right trades a month - and I spend a lot of those on older stories) but it's absolutely solid. Priest never disappoints.

I actually picked up the first issue of his Justice League run yesterday just to check it out, and I'm digging it so far. The basic premise is that Batman makes a bad call on mission priority, some people die, a massive tsunami is narrowly avoided, and he has to deal with the fallout of making a major tactical mistake.

Like, it's weird how fresh a premise that is for a Batman story, you know?

Wait, wait, wait.... a story in which Batman is fallible? That's so... refreshing! I can almost feel the fan-boy rage!

[Tornado]

What?

Bats did not have his Bat Tsunami Stopper on his utility belt?

That will be a total retcon or revealed as a weird coma dream at some point.

[Ronin]

Yeah, I thought it was a really solid first issue for his Justice League run. Really eager to follow that book and see where it goes.

One small thing worth noting: I thought Batman's mistake was handled really well, in that it was serious enough that it would believably cause Batman to question his place on the team, but not so serious that you, as a reader, turn against him, or there are major continuity ramifications.

I feel like that's a balance a lot of writers have a hard time finding when they have to write these kinds of stories where heroes disagree or someone messes up.

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Just finished reading the main run of the Hydra-Cap Secret Empire story. Can't recommend this enough, it is hilariously pathetic. Laughed out loud so many times. Between the the art made by a crack team of four year olds that occasionally replaces people with lumpy potato men, the scripting that runs out of ideas so fast they had to throw in pages on pages reminding us that this time hope is even more not there than the last time they said so, and just how stupid the whole idea is, it's a perfect storm of garbage.

[Tornado]

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by Soundwarp SG-1

Just finished reading the main run of the Hydra-Cap Secret Empire story. Can't recommend this enough, it is hilariously pathetic. Laughed out loud so many times. Between the the art made by a crack team of four year olds that occasionally replaces people with lumpy potato men, the scripting that runs out of ideas so fast they had to throw in pages on pages reminding us that this time hope is even more not there than the last time they said so, and just how stupid the whole idea is, it's a perfect storm of garbage.

Pretty much any event comic from Marvel is gonna be hot garbage. They're way too editorially micro-managed to possibly be creatively successful. More than one creator has completely burned out and left Marvel after working on one.

I liked Hickman and Ribic's Secret Wars alright; it wasn't anything outstanding, plot-wise, but it had good artwork and some neat ideas. I think that's the only one I've enjoyed in the whole run of non-stop event comics since that started with Civil War.

[chas]

Yin and Yang! Its ironic that now that Disney and others are taking over with enough money to 'prevent their products from failure,' the stifling of creativity leads to junk product rather than creative fun! Back a bit, it was Disney that strangled the John Carter of Mars film franchise in its cradle, which we fans were awaiting for a hundred years; the granddaddy of the pulp adventure genre! Sick.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Anyone reading Copra? I learned of the independent comic through a YT channel. Apparently, the series is a bit like Suicide Squad with a Frank Miller and Matt Howarth style of artwork, but in an independent vein. Violent, but with solid and creative storytelling. I'd buy the four collected volumes in one big purchase, but shipping puts me off.

Anyone here read the series and have an opinion?

It's definitely a weird bird. For something so unique and small press, I look at the characters and I see Deadshot, Doctor Strange, The Ghost and Shade the Changing Man.

[chas]

Never heard of it. Thanks for the illustrations!

[johnny139]

So, The Snagglepuss Chronicles #1 came out today, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in the premise.



For anyone unaware, it's a recasting of Snagglepuss (and other Hanna-Barbera characters) in the world of 1950s New York City, under the shadow of McCarthyism, and Snagglepuss in particular as a closeted gay southern playwright. It's by Mark Russell, who wrote the recent Flintstones comic (which I'd also highly recommend), if you know the tone of that series.

It's vaguely ludicrous and you can never tell if it's taking itself seriously or not. Like, it's elevating itself and tearing itself down at the same time. It never winks at the audience or calls attention to the fact that this is a serious drama about a pink cartoon cat, and reading his dialogue as "weary southern aristocrat" or "goofy lisping cartoon" completely changes the taste of the book.



I like it.