I went to my LCS yesterday looking for the books I wrote about. I didn't walk away empty-handed but I didn't buy any collections from any of the three series I wrote about, even though they had some of them.
Today, reading through CSBG's Top 100 Comic Book Storylines thread.It occurs to me that I haven't read much in the way of Spider-Man comics books. He is one of the best known superheroes. I really need to read some.
There are two story lines that stand out:
Kraven's Last Hunt - wikipedia - isbn.nu
The Death of Gwen Stacy - wikipedia - isbn.nu
I think I read the Death of Gwen Stacy back in the day, before there were trade paperbacks. I know that there's more Spider-man stories worth reading. Somehow, someday I want to read Steve Ditko's run on the book.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Stuff I Wanna Read (Dec 2009)
Sometimes you feel an itch and you should scratch it. There are certain books that I read about, hear about, from time to time, and think about trying but have yet to take the plunge on. Here are three from DC that have been on my mind from time to time. I may have even mentioned them in this blog before. I really need to get my LCS to order me v1 of each of these series if they don't have them in stock.
Jonah Hex - I listened to the recently John Siuntres' re-released interview of Jonah Hex writer Jimmy Palmiotti. He talked about more than Hex in the interview but that irrelevant. What matters is that it got me thinking about reading this series again.
Secret Six - This looks like one of those offbeat series that kinda breaks the mold or at least doesn't conform to the typical superhero team script. I want to at least try it.
Booster Gold - Time travel. I don't have to say anything else. Time Travel is more than enough to get me interested. But maybe I'll press my luck and say that the little blurb's that DC puts out when it solicits each issue also has be salivating. It sounds like a really cool little book. I could be way off base and way wrong here but my gut is talking and I think I should listen.
Jonah Hex - I listened to the recently John Siuntres' re-released interview of Jonah Hex writer Jimmy Palmiotti. He talked about more than Hex in the interview but that irrelevant. What matters is that it got me thinking about reading this series again.
Secret Six - This looks like one of those offbeat series that kinda breaks the mold or at least doesn't conform to the typical superhero team script. I want to at least try it.
Booster Gold - Time travel. I don't have to say anything else. Time Travel is more than enough to get me interested. But maybe I'll press my luck and say that the little blurb's that DC puts out when it solicits each issue also has be salivating. It sounds like a really cool little book. I could be way off base and way wrong here but my gut is talking and I think I should listen.
Friday, November 27, 2009
What I Bought - Nov 27, 2009
I went to a Black Friday comic book sale today at Cards Comics & Collectibles in Reisterstown, MD. It was a bit of a drive. It took me an hour to get there and another hour to get back, but the traffic wasn't bad at all and the discounts made it worth my while, even if I didn't spend as much as some of the other customers; the guy in line in front of me spent about $240. Me? I spent just $28.60.
The Good - I found some manga volumes that I've been wanting to read but that they don't carry at Barbarian. The discount on manga, trades, and hardcovers (for this weekend) is 50%.
The Bad - The selection of back issues wasn't bad but the prices seemed high. Even with a 70% discount it wasn't like you could get many comics for $10 or $20. There were no quarter, fifty-cent, or dollar bins. I wasn't too wild about the layout of the store. It is very boxy, spartan, utilitarian and didn't seem to have much character.
What I bought...
Ooku v1 - link - been wanting to try this for a while. I asked the guys at Barbarian to order it for me but they seem to have trouble getting manga after it is initially released. They told me to try elsewhere so I was very happy to find it today.
What's it about? From what I understand the series in set in Japan 400 years in the past, but an alternate past. A plague has wiped out 75% of the men in Japan. Women have taken over the leadership roles. That's about all I know at this point. I think the main character is a man who is part of the ooku, or the shogun's harem.
Ikigami v2 - link - I liked the first volume enough (it wasn't perfect) but there was enough there for me to give the second one a try.
What's it about? In order to instill fear in the population the Japanese government institute a policy of randomly killing off a very small number of people. The chosen ones are killed by a time-released poison which the victims were injected with when they were much younger. All citizens receive the injections but only a select few contain the poison. Sometime between the ages of 18 and 25 the people who have received the poisons will die. The process is regulated to the degree that the government knows exactly when people will succumb to the poison (which stops the heart instantaneously) and provide them with 24 hours notice. Each volume in this series contains two stories, each one about a victim both before and after they learn they are about to die. I'm not sure how exactly to classify the series but it certainly has elements of sciece fiction and psychological horror.
Oishinbo: Ramen & Gyoza - link - first food manga I've bought in a long while. I don't think that they are planning on translating the entirety of this series. It began in 1983 and is still running today. It also looks like they aren't going to try to number the volumes that they are translating. I couldn't tell which was the first one so I just grabbed this one since I am interested in learning more about ramen.
What's it about? According to the blurb on the jacket it is about the quest for the ultimate meal. Cooks going all out to perfect their craft, I guess.
Pax Romana - link - This mini-series has a cool sounding premise. I'm eager to see how it pans out. This book doesn't look or feel like most comic books but the idea behind it (which involves time travel) is something that one often finds in comic books.
What's it about? The Pope and/or the Vatican send(s) troops back in time (312 CE) to change the present.
The Good - I found some manga volumes that I've been wanting to read but that they don't carry at Barbarian. The discount on manga, trades, and hardcovers (for this weekend) is 50%.
The Bad - The selection of back issues wasn't bad but the prices seemed high. Even with a 70% discount it wasn't like you could get many comics for $10 or $20. There were no quarter, fifty-cent, or dollar bins. I wasn't too wild about the layout of the store. It is very boxy, spartan, utilitarian and didn't seem to have much character.
What I bought...
Ooku v1 - link - been wanting to try this for a while. I asked the guys at Barbarian to order it for me but they seem to have trouble getting manga after it is initially released. They told me to try elsewhere so I was very happy to find it today.
What's it about? From what I understand the series in set in Japan 400 years in the past, but an alternate past. A plague has wiped out 75% of the men in Japan. Women have taken over the leadership roles. That's about all I know at this point. I think the main character is a man who is part of the ooku, or the shogun's harem.
Ikigami v2 - link - I liked the first volume enough (it wasn't perfect) but there was enough there for me to give the second one a try.
What's it about? In order to instill fear in the population the Japanese government institute a policy of randomly killing off a very small number of people. The chosen ones are killed by a time-released poison which the victims were injected with when they were much younger. All citizens receive the injections but only a select few contain the poison. Sometime between the ages of 18 and 25 the people who have received the poisons will die. The process is regulated to the degree that the government knows exactly when people will succumb to the poison (which stops the heart instantaneously) and provide them with 24 hours notice. Each volume in this series contains two stories, each one about a victim both before and after they learn they are about to die. I'm not sure how exactly to classify the series but it certainly has elements of sciece fiction and psychological horror.
Oishinbo: Ramen & Gyoza - link - first food manga I've bought in a long while. I don't think that they are planning on translating the entirety of this series. It began in 1983 and is still running today. It also looks like they aren't going to try to number the volumes that they are translating. I couldn't tell which was the first one so I just grabbed this one since I am interested in learning more about ramen.
What's it about? According to the blurb on the jacket it is about the quest for the ultimate meal. Cooks going all out to perfect their craft, I guess.
Pax Romana - link - This mini-series has a cool sounding premise. I'm eager to see how it pans out. This book doesn't look or feel like most comic books but the idea behind it (which involves time travel) is something that one often finds in comic books.
What's it about? The Pope and/or the Vatican send(s) troops back in time (312 CE) to change the present.
Monday, October 26, 2009
What I Read - October 26, 2009
Its been a little too long since I last wrote about what I've been reading and I don't have the time to go into details right now.
I'd love to write about Watchmen (by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons) which I think was brilliant, even if the ending was a bit underwhelming. The combination of the words and pictures was just amazing. Things that I thought were going to be predictable weren't. Some of the scenes were quite moving and had me blinking back tears as I read it in public. I have no interest in seeing the movie but I do want to get the absolute edition.
I'd also like to write about The Spectre v1 (by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake) which was unsurprisingly (to me) a very good read; unsurprising to me because I enjoyed their work on Grimjack and Firestorm back in the late 80s and early 90s. I hoped for the best but I was worried, before reading it, that it wouldn't measure up to my memories of those other series. Best thing I ever read? No, but it had some choice moments and artwork that really pulled me and made me want more. Sadly, this is the only collection of Ostrander and Mandrake's 60-issue run on the title.
I'd love to write about Watchmen (by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons) which I think was brilliant, even if the ending was a bit underwhelming. The combination of the words and pictures was just amazing. Things that I thought were going to be predictable weren't. Some of the scenes were quite moving and had me blinking back tears as I read it in public. I have no interest in seeing the movie but I do want to get the absolute edition.
I'd also like to write about The Spectre v1 (by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake) which was unsurprisingly (to me) a very good read; unsurprising to me because I enjoyed their work on Grimjack and Firestorm back in the late 80s and early 90s. I hoped for the best but I was worried, before reading it, that it wouldn't measure up to my memories of those other series. Best thing I ever read? No, but it had some choice moments and artwork that really pulled me and made me want more. Sadly, this is the only collection of Ostrander and Mandrake's 60-issue run on the title.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
What I Bought - September 26, 2009
The first stop on my end-of-September comic book buying spree was Barbarian. I was there to pick up three items that I had asked them to order for me a couple weeks earlier. Two of the three had arrived:
My next stop was the Wheaton Library Book Sale. I was there primarily to look for books but I also browsed the two or three shelves that they have dedicated to cartoons and comic books. I found a couple items of interest, each of which only cost me $1:
It was $10 to get in but that's nothing compared to what you pay to get into some of the big shows, like the Baltimore Comicon.
I meant to sit in on a panel or two but I ended up spending all my time at the expo browsing the exhibitor booths looking for things to buy. I originally intended to buy stuff from a couple of creators that I know from their web comics, Diesel Sweeties and Octopus Pie. Business seemed to be brisk for them, besides which for the most part all they had for sale were collections of their web comics. There was lots of other creators with other stuff for sale, some of which I had heard of on various comic book podcasts.
I made my first purchases at the Oni Press booth based on recommendations that I heard on the Dollar Bin podcast:
I like Oni quite a bit. They've published a number of series I've read including Queen & Country, Blue Monday, and Love Fights.
I did a lot of walking around. At first I moved quickly to get a feel for what was there. The floor was fairly crowded. Some booths had more people crowded around them than others.
The Fantagraphics booth had some very beautiful looking reprints of old work that certainly caught my eye (Prince Valiant v1: 1937-38; Blazing Combat) even though I decided not to buy either of them just yet.
The guys on 11 O'Clock Comics have talked about Jeff Lemire's comics lately and I stopped by the Top Shelf booth to get an idea of what it is the 11 O'Clockers see in his work. I flipped through Essex County Tales. I wanted to flip through The Nobody but they had that wrapped in plastic. I wasn't ready to buy a 500 page book by a creator that I am unfamiliar with so I kept my $30 and kept looking elsewhere.
One of my goals in going to SPX was to find new comic books by people that I had not heard of before. The books at Just Mad Books' booth caught my eye the first time I walked past. On my 2nd, 3rd, or possibly 4th time around the floor I finally stopped to take a closer work. I couldn't figure out what it was (until just now) but something felt familiar about the look of creator Justin Madson's artwork. I'm thinking now that his artwork reminds me of Guy Davis work, at least on Nevermen.
I asked him about the books he had on display, Breathers # 1 - 4. I was really liking the artwork and wanted to know what kind of story there was to back it up. What he pitched to me was a story about a world in which the air is no longer breathable. People have to wear gas masks most of the time, at least when they are outdoors. It made me think dystopian future which in turn made me think of Y: The Last Man and Walking Dead. I bought the first two issues, which cost $5 each. He said he was planning to wrap up the series with # 5.
Walking around the con floor I saw a number of things that didn't appeal to me. I wanted to spend my money on books and stories. I wasn't interested in buying artwork, no matter how pretty, if it didn't have a story attached to it. There were also a few tables/booths that seemed to showcase topics (farts, politics) that just did not appeal to me.
After leaving the Just Mad Books table and walking around a little more I had yet to buy any mini-comics even though I wanted to. I finally stopped in front of the Last Dollar Comics table. I took a quick flip through some of creator Jim8Ball's comics. I liked what I saw. He was asking for $1 per mini-comic. I was trying to decided which ones to buy when I noticed that he also had a box full of mini-comics available: 25 mini-comics for $10. Seemed like a pretty good deal, given the price per comic and the fact that I liked the look of his work.
I made my final purchase at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) booth. They had a number of very good looking books (including some by Will Eisner) available at very reasonable prices. I was tempted to pick up a book or two by Eisner but bought something else instead. I bought a non-comic book which only cost me $10:
Altogether I spent about $190 yesterday. It blows my mind. I now have a fairly large stack of books to read. I need to lay off buying more comics until I have made a significant dent in my current pile.
- Daredevil: Lady Bullseye - next-to-last collection of Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark's run.
- Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit v1
- The X-Men Omnibus v1 - collects X-Men # 1 - 31
My next stop was the Wheaton Library Book Sale. I was there primarily to look for books but I also browsed the two or three shelves that they have dedicated to cartoons and comic books. I found a couple items of interest, each of which only cost me $1:
- Blue Monday v4 - link - I'm in the midst of reading v3 and I don't usually buy ahead like this but it was inexpensive and I think there's a reasonably good chance that I will want to read it after I finish v3.
- Rex Libris: I, Librarian - link - This series has caught my eye a number of times over the years in the Previews catalogs. The price was right so I decided to take a chance on it.
It was $10 to get in but that's nothing compared to what you pay to get into some of the big shows, like the Baltimore Comicon.
I meant to sit in on a panel or two but I ended up spending all my time at the expo browsing the exhibitor booths looking for things to buy. I originally intended to buy stuff from a couple of creators that I know from their web comics, Diesel Sweeties and Octopus Pie. Business seemed to be brisk for them, besides which for the most part all they had for sale were collections of their web comics. There was lots of other creators with other stuff for sale, some of which I had heard of on various comic book podcasts.
I made my first purchases at the Oni Press booth based on recommendations that I heard on the Dollar Bin podcast:
I like Oni quite a bit. They've published a number of series I've read including Queen & Country, Blue Monday, and Love Fights.
I did a lot of walking around. At first I moved quickly to get a feel for what was there. The floor was fairly crowded. Some booths had more people crowded around them than others.
The Fantagraphics booth had some very beautiful looking reprints of old work that certainly caught my eye (Prince Valiant v1: 1937-38; Blazing Combat) even though I decided not to buy either of them just yet.
The guys on 11 O'Clock Comics have talked about Jeff Lemire's comics lately and I stopped by the Top Shelf booth to get an idea of what it is the 11 O'Clockers see in his work. I flipped through Essex County Tales. I wanted to flip through The Nobody but they had that wrapped in plastic. I wasn't ready to buy a 500 page book by a creator that I am unfamiliar with so I kept my $30 and kept looking elsewhere.
One of my goals in going to SPX was to find new comic books by people that I had not heard of before. The books at Just Mad Books' booth caught my eye the first time I walked past. On my 2nd, 3rd, or possibly 4th time around the floor I finally stopped to take a closer work. I couldn't figure out what it was (until just now) but something felt familiar about the look of creator Justin Madson's artwork. I'm thinking now that his artwork reminds me of Guy Davis work, at least on Nevermen.
I asked him about the books he had on display, Breathers # 1 - 4. I was really liking the artwork and wanted to know what kind of story there was to back it up. What he pitched to me was a story about a world in which the air is no longer breathable. People have to wear gas masks most of the time, at least when they are outdoors. It made me think dystopian future which in turn made me think of Y: The Last Man and Walking Dead. I bought the first two issues, which cost $5 each. He said he was planning to wrap up the series with # 5.
Walking around the con floor I saw a number of things that didn't appeal to me. I wanted to spend my money on books and stories. I wasn't interested in buying artwork, no matter how pretty, if it didn't have a story attached to it. There were also a few tables/booths that seemed to showcase topics (farts, politics) that just did not appeal to me.
After leaving the Just Mad Books table and walking around a little more I had yet to buy any mini-comics even though I wanted to. I finally stopped in front of the Last Dollar Comics table. I took a quick flip through some of creator Jim8Ball's comics. I liked what I saw. He was asking for $1 per mini-comic. I was trying to decided which ones to buy when I noticed that he also had a box full of mini-comics available: 25 mini-comics for $10. Seemed like a pretty good deal, given the price per comic and the fact that I liked the look of his work.
I made my final purchase at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) booth. They had a number of very good looking books (including some by Will Eisner) available at very reasonable prices. I was tempted to pick up a book or two by Eisner but bought something else instead. I bought a non-comic book which only cost me $10:
- Reading Comics by Douglas Wolk
Altogether I spent about $190 yesterday. It blows my mind. I now have a fairly large stack of books to read. I need to lay off buying more comics until I have made a significant dent in my current pile.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Cons
Next weekend is SPX, the Small Press Expo. I'm going to try to go for at least a couple hours. Two of my favorite web cartoonists are going to be there, R Stevens (Diesel Sweeties) and Meredith Gran (Octopus Pie). Its been a few years since I last went to SPX. I might even stay for a panel or two.
The following weekend I'm hoping to have time to stop by the Capital Associates Convention in Dunn Loring on Oct 4. I still haven't finished reading all the comic books that I bought at the last Capicon but it was fun browsing through the back issue bins. Who knows what I might find.
The following weekend I'm hoping to have time to stop by the Capital Associates Convention in Dunn Loring on Oct 4. I still haven't finished reading all the comic books that I bought at the last Capicon but it was fun browsing through the back issue bins. Who knows what I might find.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
What I Read - September 12, 2009
Watchmen continues to amaze me. I've now read 9 of 12 chapters. I'm tempted to call it the best comic book I've ever read; tempted. It definitely makes the short list. It works on so many different levels. I love how the text pieces at the end of each chapter help to fill in the back story. I also like how each chapter tells a story. Some are better than others. There have been some chapters that have left less excited to read on than others. Chapter 8 was like that. It was a little more diffuse than other chapters like 7 and 9, for instance.
As I get closer to the ending I'm hoping it will live up to the what I've read so far. I've heard mixed things about the ending. Regardless, I think this is one book that I will be re-reading in the next year or two.
As I get closer to the ending I'm hoping it will live up to the what I've read so far. I've heard mixed things about the ending. Regardless, I think this is one book that I will be re-reading in the next year or two.
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