What are you reading in March 2011?

New month, new comics :)

So as mentioned in the previous thread, Yay for cataloging comics. Doing that I realised that I had not read some new-ish issues that I had forgotten.

First Echo 28. How awesome is that series? It started very slowly (but was still very good) but now it's getting so exciting. I really want the next issue now. If you are not reading Echo there are quite a few trades out and it's definitely worth getting :)

I've also read G.I. Joe Cobra 12 and 13. Don't want to go into details but two things about #12.
1. Wow! That splash page totally caught me by surprise.
2. How did I manage not get spoil for that considering it came out quite a few weeks ago...

Any other G.I. Joe readers on here?

I still need to update the old thread with my last readings.

As for cataloging... *sigh* I hate incomplete series and cataloging pulls them at the front.

PS: And I don't read either of these two... guess I can try them

>2 AnnieMod: After verifications, I'm able to get issues 2 to 6 of Sparta USA :)

If possible, I would love if you could help me get #1.

Adding it into the order.:)

Anything else you need from this side of the border? :)

Today I read ACME Novelty Library Number 18 and I'm going to start All-Star Superman Volume 1 shortly. Got a whole big stack of things from the library to read, very excited.

>4 AnnieMod: Thank you so much! That's all I can think of :)

>5 lampbane: All-Star Superman is great! (I just bought the animated movie) Big stacks of books are the best.

Just read the trade paperback collection of Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D., and it seemed to be one fight scene after another. The afterward explained that the series was originally designed as a "motion comic", which maybe accounts for that. Gorgeous painterly artwork by Alex Maleev, but not Bendis' best plotting or dialog. I'd recommend it only for fans of Marvel "events" (this dealt with the Skrull invasion) or hardcore Bendis/Maleev fans (that's me :-).

I'm an All-Star Superman fan, too. Hope you enjoy it.

I just finished Fray by Joss Whedon. Good Buffy-esque story.

Now I'm reading Okko: Cycle of Water. So far, so good.

Add one more All-Star Superman fan :)

jnwelch,
Fray is fun :) Had you read Tales of the Slayers - not the 4 volumes text one but the graphics one? And its kinda companion one Tales of the Vampires? You might want to check them if you like Buffy ;)

Thanks, AnnieMod! I haven't read either of them - I will look for them. I do enjoy Buffy.

:) Buffy is my guilty pleasure (together with Stargate and Star Trek)...

Both Tales books are collections - so you do not have one full story but a lot of short sweet ones. Which I loved.

PS: And now I feel like rereading some of the old Buffy stuff and my Omnibuses are in Bulgaria :(

PS: And as it looks like, they collected both of the Tales volumes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales so you might as well look for that one

I think I'll read the last 5 issues of Daytripper this evening after dinner. It's the kind of thing I think is better to read when it's dark.

I loved all of of Daytripper but the last two issues were really brilliant. It is a better read when it's dark. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

>13 DaynaRT:

I have the first TPB (somewhere in one of those piles of books I haven't shelved yet). Probably reading it this week :)

>14 Gendy:
I just put the last issue back into its bag.

Wow.

I don't know how to say more than that.

>>6 Gendy:

I actually had never read the comic, but I saw the movie at the Paley Center two weeks ago. I can say a lot of scenes play much better in a comic than they do in a movie--a lot of stuff that felt cheesy on screen felt more "right" on the page. There's also a little more space for character development.

Also, DC One Million references, whee.

>16 DaynaRT: That was pretty much my reaction when I finished reading it. It was a really beautiful series.

>17 lampbane: I liked the movie but I think having read the comic helped me like it. You are right about a lot of scenes working much better on the page. In the end it's not my favourite DC Animated Movie but not the worse either. Let's just say that as amazing as the comic is, it's a lot to put in a short animated movie.

>15 AnnieMod: The TPB of Daytripper looks really good!

All caught up with Jack of Fables now. Maybe I should do the same for Fables this weekend.

>1 Gendy:

OK - I have a stupid question. I am doing my pre-orders for May and I am seeing the following G.I Joe Cobra related comics:
Cobra 1
Snake Eyes 1
GI Joe VOL 2 1

And I am seeing the following in April:
GI JOE COBRA CIVIL WAR 0
GI JOE COBRA COMMANDER TRIBUTE 100 PG SPECTACULAR 0

So I suspect something is happening in that line... I do not have my previews for March so cannot see what is lined up...

So do I need all 13 issues from the current series before getting these? :) And the 4 from the miniseries before that?

PS: In case someone ever wondered how I end up with so many monthly titles, I guess it is clearer now... :)

Yay I can answer that :)

I would recommend getting the 4 issue miniserie by Christos Gage because it's awesome and introduces the whole thing.

To know what's going on right now the 13 issue series is pretty much a must read.

These two lead to the GI Joe Cobra Civil War and Cobra.

The rests are pretty much extra stories and not essential.

Thought that you might :)

Not essential as in "We probably won't hear from them in the main series" or as in "They are separate stories until the next big G.I Joe event when you will need all of these plus 10 more to get the whole story and then you will need to go buy all old issue to understand what the genius writer is trying to say"? :)

OK, then I am getting the mini, the series, the Civil war one and Cobra 1. What about GI Joe VOL 2 1?

The sad thing is that I don't even remember which of these I'm getting...

As for G.I. Joe Vol 2 1. Well it depends.
Originally when IDW launch it's G.I Joe line they had 3 main series
G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe Origin
G.I. Joe Cobra (that was the four issue mini-series)

With the recent events of G.I. Cobra all of these are ending.
Both G.I Joe and G.I. Joe Cobra are getting new ongoing series starting with new #1s. The vol 2 one is the one replacing the general G.I. Joe series. Now it used to be that you could read any series without reading the other ones. They would be connected but you could still understand one of them without reading the others. I hope that's still going to be the case.

I think if you just want to get the Cobra stuff you should be fine.

As a side note, I should also mention that they regurlarly do mini-series and have at least 1 ongoing alternate universe story.

It's sad that I actually had to write all of this down to make sense of it.

Actually it makes a lot more sense than the usual mess that DC and Marvel manage to create (and are creating just now as always for the summer events in both companies) :)

I've never read G.i. Joe (ever...) so I am not sure what I want to get :) I like miniseries (most of the time anyway).

Oh well - have a few weeks to decide. Thanks for the help :)

As my regular public library doesn't have hours on Sundays, I went to a different branch today that has far more comics/graphic novels and picked up:

- 52 Volumes 1-4 and the companion
- V for Vendetta
- The tale of one bad rat
- The best of the Spirit - appropriate as today would be Will Eisner's 94th birthday
and
- Batman: The Killing Joke

So that should keep me busy for a while :)

Oh, nice! And Sunday library hours? Even nicer!

I just read through the first ten issues of iZombie. Quirky, fun story about a girl who solves mysteries, and eats brains.

>27 sweetiegherkin: You picked up some good things. I hope you enjoy them :)

Video games have been distracting me from comics these last few days. I've recently been reading manga Happy! vol 5 by Urasawa being the most recent one. It was awesome! (but sadly not available in English)

>27 sweetiegherkin:
The best of the Spirit - appropriate as today would be Will Eisner's 94th birthday

I was happy to see Google take notice today on their home page.

That's pretty awesome. I hadn't noticed.

Yep - although they might have asked someone that can draw the mask properly to do it...

> 30 Yep, that's the only reason I knew that factoid!

Wrapping up Feb reading:
Gantz, Volume 1 by Hiroya Oku

Time for some manga. I am not sure how I feel about that series - the idea is great, the execution... something is off. I will still pick up the second volume - and I hope that either what bothered me is missing there or that I am able to pinpoint it. There are some very disturbing images but they do not bother me - I knew they are there; they are part of the story.

Black Butler, Volume 1 by Yana Toboso

More manga. That's one is a lot more toned down. Sebastian reminds me of Jeeves somewhat - always finding a solution, always there to help. Except that he is not exactly human :) And his master is a child. The other servants are really pissing me off though - silly, stupid, no good for anything - you name it. And they are not even amusing. I am keeping up the series :)

MPD-Psycho, Volume 1 by Eiji Otsuka

More manga. Dark. Disturbing. Very disturbing. If you cannot stomach images of tortured people (really bad tortured), stay away from the book. However - if you can, you might want to try it. I actually like the story, even if all these psychopaths are a bit too much. And I want to know what was all that with the Eye Bank so... getting next volume... as soon as I get TBR mountain to stop rivaling Everest. :)

And first comics reading for March

Sense and Sensibility - the Graphic novel -review here

Could not resist and I am happy I read it. Faithful to the novel, translating well words to pictures, it was a nice read - of course it had its strange errors but overall, quite a nice introduction to Austen for a new reader... or a new meeting with her for an old fan.

I've totally caught up with Sweet Tooth now.

I'm getting close to the bottom of my backlog pile now; starting to feel the dread of having to wait a whole month for new issues.

Still working my way through my Sandman reread. Since last mention, I've read Doll's House, Dream Country, and Season of Mist. I'm greatly enjoying it. I have seen several people say they don't think it holds up especially well but I disagree. There are few things that say 90's to me (and I don't just mean fashion and hair!) but they don't really distract from the story.

True to my memory, it's really in its stride now - especially with the last two collections. The horror elements last further into the series than I recalled. Gaiman once said the the issue "24 hours" from the first story arc was the only truly horrific thing he ever wrote but I found the first story in Dream Country brutal. It's an important story for Dream's character so it shouldn't be missed but it's not pleasant. Of course, that's the script DC includes to pad out the volume. This is even over Gaiman's choice of the script for the Midsummer's Night Dream issue which I would be happy to pour over.

I'm also still enjoying the Sandman Companion as I read along.

Why should not a book show the time it was written in and since be holding up? Noone thinks that Austen's novels are set in the 21st century but they hold up...

Actualluy DC did not pad the volumes - the printed all the issues. Gaiman simply did a few fillers here and there.:)

>34 AnnieMod: I used to read both Gantz and MPD Psycho. I stopped Gantz because I couldn't get into the story. I did like MPD Psycho but at the time I needed to cut on my comic spending and I never caught up since. It does get pretty interesting.

>35 DaynaRT: Did you like Sweet Tooth? I'm really curious to see where the story is going.

I keep meaning to pick up some of those novel adaptation from Marvel but never do....

>38 Gendy:

Do you like Austen? If you do, it is worth picking up. It is Austen- with some small changes and a couple of missteps, but you can hear the novel in the background :)

PS: As for comics spending... I think I will be posting a help thread in a while... I am doing my May pre-orders and I am into the 3-digits number of comics I am getting.... I need to start cutting series. :)

Since my last post, I've put away:

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less
Smile
20th Century Boys Vol 5
20th Century Boys Vol 6

And my stack is still barely touched. Sigh.

>39 AnnieMod: I do, I think it's going on the ever increasing list of things that I need (maybe want is a better word...) to buy.

Maybe we should have a "help my pull list is getting out of control" thread. Or maybe better "Is this comic worth getting" thread.

>41 lampbane: How was How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less? I've been wondering about it.

>38 Gendy:
I love Sweet Tooth. I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic stories.

@ 40

Wow! Is the triple digit order from getting a lot of variants or do you actually collect that many titles?

>42 Gendy:

I'm going to write a full review for Friday or next Friday, but for now I can say that I thought it was very good, but the protagonist can be a tad annoying sometimes, the book doesn't really attempt to give you answers (as it shouldn't) and it is a good launching point for political discussion.

Working my way through:
Classic Dan Dare: Trip to Trouble
Rébétiko
An Elegy for Amelia Johnson
Lewis & Clark
Sweet Tooth #19
Lenore, Vol. 2 #02

>44 JGKC:

That many titles I am afraid - some of these traditionally are issue #1 (which usually will make me continue to get that series at least for a while... so it gets out of control). If I decide to get variants, I will wait for a few months and get them at reasonable prices - as much as I like some of them, I am not paying full price just for some new cover art.

>45 lampbane: I'll look forward to your review of How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less; I've been curious about that one, too.

Okko: The Cycle of Water was a fun read. Liked the art a lot; the story got a bit muddled in places, but I'll definitely read the sequel.

Now I'm a ways into Asterios Polyp and Daytripper.

>37 AnnieMod:
Why should not a book show the time it was written in and since be holding up?
I don’t mean it in regards to setting details. I think some works can feel very dated either thematically or stylistically and that can make them more difficult for a modern reader to connect with. Take superheroes as an example. Works like Watchmen and The Dark Night Returns ushered a whole range of imitators that tried to be darker and "grittier" than each other. I think, while some of those imitators were still doing interesting things, the fad ran its course and their excesses feel very much of their time. It is elements like those excesses that would “say” 90s to me. While such works could be striking to the audience at the time they were written, a reader whose has seen a lot of works that have come later doesn't get that same sensation. They can be appreciated from a historical point of view of course, but I don't think that's quite the same.

The truly excellent works like Watchmen (or Austen) have a lot more meat to them besides any innovation or novelty. Additionally, by the time something is, say Pride and Prejudice's age, the way it captures some aspects of another time is part of the appeal for me - one I don't personally feel as strongly for works as recent as The Sandman.

Also I read them originally when I was fairly young. There was a lot of stuff I thought was cool back then that I'd be pretty pained to sit through today!

>49 lucien:

I've always found that the first books in a certain thing never get dated. Watchmen, the Dark Knight Returns, Batman Year One -- yes, there are tones and tones of books that are done in a similar way after that and these do feel dated (pretty dated) but the originals are still good and even if you can sense the time, they feel ok. That might partly be because I am trying to put them in a perspective -- even if they are not the first books I read from the whole list of similar ones, I know which ones started the trends and which one followed...

It's like the SF of the 50s (and before) -all those ideas have much better implementations these days (most of them anyway) and all these books sounds naive and almost as if someone is trying to use an idea that they cannot fully realize. Except that it is the opposite - these are the ideas...

Does it sounds old? Yep. Dated? Maybe. Dated to the point not be readable? I don't think so

Not sure if I explain that properly :) And I suspect we are on the same side in that conversation ;)

>50 AnnieMod:.
Yes 50s science fiction is good example. I've read and enjoyed many of them despite any dated elements and despite the fact that I had already seen many of those ideas executed better.

>48 jnwelch:.
I loved the artwork in Asterios Polyp. So different from Mazzucchelli's (also very good) work in Batman: Year One.

>43 DaynaRT: Sweet Tooth is one of those titles I'm always looking forward to :) I really like your taste in comics.

>45 lampbane: I also look forward to the review.

>52 Gendy:
*blush* I'm just a beginner, but I feel like I found my niche with the stuff Vertigo's putting out.

Not sure if this effects any of you but there may be a comic book delay on the east coast of the US: http://www.ifanboy.com/content/articles/ALERT__Your_East_Coast_Comics_Might_Be_D...

>53 DaynaRT:

So what? :) The opinion of a beginner is as important as the opinion of someone that had been reading comics for years (and decades)

Some reading from last night:

Gotham City Sirens #20 - starting a new storyline ("Hell Hath No Fury"), solo Harley story. When you have someone trying to kill the Joker, it gets interesting. And when that someone manages to break into Arkham, it's becoming a very interesting read. A lot of back stories (Harley's, one of the guards, the director of Arkham Alice Sinner, Clayface (Basil)). Nice art (and the pages for the back stories are specially designed for each character... which was interesting). A good start but considering that the story has a dead end in front of itself (Harley cannot really kill the Joker - not it this series... it just will be a waste and if they pull that and then retcon, that will be even worse so I am pretty sure he won't be killed), it will be interesting to see what will be done.

Enigma 1-8 - The 1993 miniseries from Milligan (for Vertigo). The art is not my style but it kinda works for the story (although I wish Fegredo had chosen a different style). When a 20 years old faces the characters of his favorite comics in the real life, things very fast get a nasty turn. People get killed (and the killers are as much victims as the killed ones), our hero Enigma saves the day a few times -- except that things are not how they look like. I am not entirely sure that I like the end -- or the way the "how" was handled - although it makes sense in a comic about a comic. And overall I actually enjoyed the whole series - it is weird, quirky and gruesome in places but the whole combination worked pretty well for me. Although I was ready to give it up before the end of issues 1 and 2 -- it was way too weird - I am happy I stayed with it. And the revelation of the narrator at the end kinda explains a lot of the weirdness in the way the story is told -- because sometimes the narrator talks to the reader directly. Or so it seems at the time :). Warnings: language, love story (and implied sex scenes) between male characters, gruesome details about deaths -- it is labeled Mature Audience and there is a reason for it.

Some more reading - some are from last week releases, some are a few months old generally current ones... (no spoilers below)

Lady Death 0-2 (Boundless Comics (which is Avatar Press division))
I got these almost by chance - I liked the first cover (despite the almost naked woman on it) and the story sounded interesting. It is 1351, the Kingdom of Aragon. Meet Illandra. She has no idea who she is and where she came from but for the last years she is helping a group of warriors. At the same time the Death Queen in Hell is reigning in hell (and trying to deal with a rebellion). A messenger from hell shows up and tells Illandra that she is actually Lady Death and she is the last hope and so on and so on - you get the drill and for the next 3 issues (0, 1 and 2) she start searching anything that will show her who she is... and what she is. Of course there is a witch, there are slave girls, a lot of battles and gross creatures... and a lot of unknowns. The art is good although very brutal in places - human parts are flying around occasionally...(if only they could give her some more clothes - which normal person will fight in these clothes... but then... that's almost the norm), the story is moving along and is enjoyable enough so I am sticking with the series for now.

PS: I knew that there had been previous comics for her... but I did not check them before I started reading that. Now I have a problem - there had been quite a lot of miniseries.... and I kinda like the character enough to try to pick them up.

Daomu 2 (Image) -Ending with a clifhanger - again. This time there was a lot of backstory and the things make a bit more sense. As it turns out a lot of things are not what they look like and Sean need to learn who he is and to decide if he wants to take over the family 'business'. So far so good. Let's see how the next issue goes.

Carbon Grey 1 (of 3)(Image) In every generation there were 3 Grey sisters. Until tiwns are born and now there are 4. That's the main premise. In a world where there is a war, the women wear very little clothes (see the note for Lady Death above...)and there is either magic or something similar to it. The issue was mainly setting up the stage but it was good enough - good art (gross at moments - heads are flying around... really flying), nicely flowing story. As long as they do not screw up issue #2, I plan on getting the whole miniseries,

The Bodysnatchers 1 (GG Studio - haven't even heard of them before seeing that one...)
Welcome to Utopolis - where things look normal... except that something very strange is happening... and the things are not that normal. Add to this family secrets, fathers, a few deaths, kidnapping and a son that need to make choices and the story kinda works. It is a bit too chaotic - there is a lot of setup to be done and the authors kinda rush it occasionally. And the art while clean, misses that additional sparkle that makes it a really good one. But it is still enjoyable enough and I am interested where the story is going so I will be getting issue #2. After that - will see.

Wulf 1 (Atlas)
Even though this is a continuation (of a kind) of the series of Atlas (the '70s one (known more as Atlas/Seaboard), not the '50s one that was bought from Marvel), it is a fresh start so you do not need the old series ( not that they published that many issues... a bit over 50 in a total of 23 series (or thereabouts) with the few longest series having 4 issues each).

Off to the comic
Good things:
- The art is nice and decent. Some of the images are good, some are just missing the sparkle but on the whole - nice art
- Nice story - Wulf is dealing with the end of the world, Detective Lomax is dealing with his family and with saving the city. It is too early in the story to get a real idea of how they will interconnect (see the list of bad things for one of the reasons) but so far it moves slowly... but at least the introductions are done (I hope)

The bad things:
- This is the first issue in the first series that Atlas publishes in this century (not counting a few 0 issues they did - still need to find them) . And guess what? We have 2 double-page splashes (and no, they did not utilize them to advance the story - they are there for the visual only) and 3 pages with 1 panel on each (and a few more pages with 2-3 panels where the big panel really does not bring you anything besides a big image). I know that comics is a visual art, I don't oppose splashes but in a 22 pages story where you are trying to setup a background for 2 interconnecting stories, it is a bit too much... I hope they either start doing a bit more story-moving in these splashes (or in the smaller panels) or get rid of them in the future - as it is, it is wasted potential and the issue is almost too thinly spread to keep someone's interest. I am stubborn, I will get issue 2 but...
- That's issue #1 in the first series that Atlas launches. And guess what you have in the centerfold pages? An advertisement for the first ever company crossover this September. Come on - the series had not started yet and you already talk for a crossover? Cannot we have one company that does not do that for a change)?

The Cape 1 (IDW - writer Ciaramella based on the story from Joe Hill) Technically it is a one-shot but there are planned either other oneshots or miniseries for 2011. The story of 2 brothers, a little magic... and what envy does to people. I did not see the end coming - so Hill managed to pull his usual trick (and I had not read the story - but planning to). The art is good; the story goes fine - nothing spectacular besides the build-up for the end but I liked it.

Uncle Scrooge 401 - the whole issue is one story from Don Rosa. Scrooge, Donald and the kids need to go to the center of the world... because of an invention that Gyro did... and because Scrooge wanted to make more money. The usual fun if you like the Ducks.

Darkwing Duck Annual 1 2 stories and an (non)explanation in 4 pages of text) of how Darkwing Duck started. The stories are the usual mix of knows elements from different comics but they are the usual fun as well :) I still like Donald, Scrooge and company more though :)

I picked up a bunch of TPBs and graphic novels from the library yesterday:

The Unwritten: Inside Man - oops, didn't realize this was volume two until after I started reading it. Lucky, the library has the first volume so I can go back and get that one too.

Essex County, Volume 1: Tales from the Farm - I like Sweet Tooth, might as well try more Lemire.

Zombie Tales and Zombie Tales: Oblivion - these appear to be short story anthologies....about zombies. Man do I love zombies.

and finally Watchmen - Yes, I know...I have never read Watchmen. Will rectify that soon!

Have fun with Unwritten - it is one of my favorite ongoing series these days

The Unwritten is awesome :)

Last night I read the lastest Marvel Adventure Super-Heroes book. What a disappointment. Paul Tobin created this great Avengers team. A few issues ago that storyline ended (sort-of). This one had a new writer and it must have been the most un-original boring hulk story I've read in a while...

In better comics news I also got a lot of good stuff including the latest hardcover of Gotham Central.

PS: if anyone was ever interested in the technical details in creating a cover, http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=31197 is a very informative article :)

Today I got (but didn't read yet) The Vesha Valentine Story by Des Taylor. The blurb describes it: "Follow the wondrous career of imaginary (Hollywood) star Vesha Valentine, in a story/comicbook packed with amazing visuals which harken back to the Golden Age of the silver screen." I'm a big fan of movies from the 1940s and 50s so this sounded appealing to me .... we'll see how it goes.

(No luck in getting Touchstones to work on this one.)

Last night's reading:

Essex County, Volume 1: Tales from the Farm - just great. I really wish my library had the other 2 volumes.

Zombie Tales is exactly what the title says it is, short stories about the undead. Some of the stories were surprisingly good too.

>63 DaynaRT: Glad you're liking Essex County, DaynaRT. There's a collected volume that has all of it and some extras that this touchstone should connect with. I thought the whole thing was surprisingly great.

Asterios Polyp was very good. >51 lucien: lucien, you're right, great artwork, and it was an interesting story.

>48 jnwelch:, 52

Review went up on Friday, while I was out so I couldn't post the link sooner:

http://www.nonfictioncomics.net/2011/03/how-to-understand-israel-in-208-pages-or...

>66 lampbane: Thank you for the link. I am curious about it and it did make me want to read it but I guess I won't read it with too high expectations.

Yes, thank you for the link. My daughter will be going on a birthright trip, and I'm thinking I might get this for her before she goes - seems more thought-provoking than a guidebook!

I am back in time in the Silver Age with Showcase Presents Adam Strange and Showcase Presents Strange Adventures. Both of them are fun in a different way but I don't mind comics in B&W, I like the Silver era storytelling and I like SF from the 50s. So... having fun :)

Since I last posted, I read another zombie anthology - Zombie Tales: Oblivion. I thought this one was better than the first. Now I'm reading Watchmen.

Well, Watchmen was merely meh. Happy to get back to more interesting things, like Essex County and Zombie Tales: Good Eatin'.

>71 DaynaRT: :D That was my reaction when I read Watchmen the first time.

I eventually read it a second time a few years later and liked it more then. While I can appreciate what it did and I respect the work a lot it will never be one of my favourite comics. In a way, even that second time, while it impressed me it's hard to say I really had fun reading it. (And now I'm not making any sense....)

Also, yay more Essex County!

I've been reading a few things lately but nothing especially awesome.

I did get the latest issue of the Guild comic (no thouchstone for it so have a link to a random Guild issue). This one focusing on Tinkerbella. It was fun

Daytripper by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon, was different and very good. A look at life, death, family, success, failure, etc., from a lot of different angles. Glad it was recommended here.

Now reading The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec: Pterror over Paris by Jacques Tardi. In some ways old-fashioned adventure, in some ways bizarre.

I cannot believe how much I love The Unwritten. I've been recommending it to everyone I know. Also read the last two volumes of Essex County. I was pleased with how Lemire tied all the stories together and I really like his art style.

>73 jnwelch: I loved Daytrippper. The last issue was beautiful.

>74 DaynaRT: The Unwritten is one of my favourite comics coming out right now. I keep buying the first trade as a gift for friends :)

I just dipped my toe in the DCU by reading the collected Identity Crisis. As a Marvel dabbler, I think I got to the DC party about 30 years too late. Nice to take a peek, but I have zero desire to get to know these characters, with their accreted decades of relationships & back-stories. Without that desire, this was just kind of a lame murder mystery.

I enjoyed the graphic novel Brownsville, a reality-based story of Jewish gangsters in 1930s New York.

I'm reading Vol. 2 of the Daredevil Visionaries - Frank Miller collection. I haven't read these stories since they came out in the early 1980s, and they are still quite good.

>76 edgewood:

That's as bad start as you can get for DCU... :)
And don't get me started on the last issue in Identity Crisis. :)

I'm all caught up with my comics now. Last night I finished all the American Vampire (honestly, I think the story gets better after the Stephen King arc is over) and Victorian Undead that I have here. I have nothing to read until my next shipment. :(

Just took a leap of faith and started reading Luke Cage Noir. Very impressive. Certainly makes me want to try some of Marvel's other Noir titles. Anybody else read any of these? Any recommendations? :-)

Mind you, not sure why the price is the same as normal graphic novels when it's physically smaller in size and is on cheaper paper.

I liked Daredevil Noir, but haven't read any of the others.

We have a local comic shop in Berkeley again! The Escapist opened last week, replacing the late, lamented Comic Relief. (Michael Chabon approved use of the name The Escapist, who was a comic book character in his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.)

I bought Zatanna #10 and Memoir #2, which were good as I expected.

Also tried a mini-comic, Estrus Comics, Issue Five: "Kiss & Tell", a humorous episodic memoir of the author's early love life, from awkward adolescent crushes through first sexual experiences. I see some of her minis have been collected into a graphic novel--info at http://www.marinaomi.com/.

Yay for new local comic shops :)

Speaking of The Unwritten. Just got the last trade. So far it's awesome. I also got the Finder Library. I'm really looking forward to that one.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-sec by Jacques Tardi was disappointing. (Touchstones won't work).

The drawings of Paris were good, but the story seemed dopey to me.

Next is Okko: The Cycle of Earth.

Okko has been on my to read list for a while. Let me know how it is :)

Also, I'm really amused that one of the issues in the latest Unwritten trade is a "choose you're own adventure".

>84 Gendy: Gendy Okko: The Cycle of Water was quite good, although the story got a little muddled in parts for me. Okko: The Cycle of Earth is the sequel, and also is quite good so far. Great Japan-based artwork.

>80 edgewood: I love Daredevil books and I'll probably have a look at Daredevil Noir, but it didn't seem like much of a leap from regular DD to me. :-)

>86 Echobrain:

It's almost impossible to make DD darker than what he ended up being in the standard series...

Wrapping up the month (almost)...

- Finished Showcase Presents Adam Strange which was fun. The stories are predictable and somewhat cheesy in places but I ended up liking them quite a lot. He even get whisked out from Rann in the middle of a crisis at least once :) There are worse stories of course but overall it was a nice book to return to pretty much daily this month. The few times they tried for real continuity between separate adventures, they kinda screwed it up (jets appearing where they were clearly not there and so on) but they at least tried. And it was actually amusing how often they needed to change the rules of the travel for a story and then to negate what they did. One thing that changed was the time between the travels - from a fixed period to a calculated one. Oh well.

And I should say that I like the Showcase Presents format more and more - they are B&W but that does not mean that they took the colored versions and printed them BW. It's just the pencil and ink versions -- which show the art nicely and at least in some cases is better than the colored versions (not all colorists are great colorists and all that). It also shows some details that get lost in the coloring... but if you have bad art, it is a lot more visible this way.

- Invincible Ultimate Collection 1 - the first 13 issues. OK - it was entertaining. A bit too simplistic in places... but that's something I got used to by the end of the volume. The so-called parody of the JLA was a rip-off and not a parody but oh well... The truth though is that I want to know what happens next so I guess it worked

Lucifer: Devil in the Gateway - the first volume in the collected series. I've read some of Lucifer through the years but never actually read the whole thing in order. So figured out it is about time. 3 separate stories (the one from the miniseries, the first arc in the ongoing and a single issue story from issue #4 of the ongoing). In case someone is not familiar with Sandman, Lucifer resigned from his position in Hell and moved to Earth. It was a good start for the series - the two arcs are weird but enjoyable (and I cringed from the way Meleos was punished); the single story is... strange. Lucifer has a marginal appearance and it is essentially a ghost thriller - and probably my least favorite of the 3 stories in the book.

Punisher MAX: Born - Ennis's take on the Punisher's origin story as a Vietnam war captain. Nice art. Nice story. Frank Castle is starting on a thorny part.

Punisher Noir - ok - that was not intentional - it just happened to have both Punisher books next to each other. :) The WWI veteran that does not want to pay to the boys that run the neighborhood. Yes - that's Frank. The son that will avenge for the murder of the father. Yep - that's a different Frank. One of them is the Punisher. The other one could have been.

It's in the Noir line and there is a reason for that although Punisher is a darker character than most anyway. I liked it though. I need more Noir titles (and more Punisher ones but that's another story).

Just back from visiting my local comic shop, I enjoyed 3 comics:

Dollhouse one-shot
The Guild: Tink one-shot
Zatanna 11

and looking forward to reading 2 bound books:

Chew vol. 2
Mome vol. 21

(I knew it will be almost...)
iZombie, Vol. 1: Dead to the World - light and entertaining read. Undead people, wereterrier and a nice buildup for the future. Will see where this one goes.

Not sure what's next but I need to catch up with some of those single issues that keep arriving :)

New thread for April here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/113292