TPBs, HCs, Absolutes, Omnibuses… discuss them all here!
The Trades Thread: Collected Editions
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I picked up the Peacemaker Tries Hard HC on recommendation from a friend. From the very first pages I was laughing more than I’ve laughed at a comic in a long time, and I found it so fun I read the whole thing in one sitting.
It’s very much the TV show version of Peacemaker done as a comic – very silly and comedic, often quite juvenile, frequently violent, but tons of fun. The art is also really nice – quite consistent and detailed, but also not afraid to embrace the cartoonish silliness of the story.
A fun read.
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One post in and the latest Trades thread is already selling me a book! Nice that some things don’t change.
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One post in and the latest Trades thread is already selling me a book! Nice that some things don’t change.
I got it from Booksetc, they have it for a decent price (£13.09) if you’re looking for a deal!
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Dealer Alert
This is going for £63.88 at BooksEtc:
Peter David X-Factor Omnibus 3
https://www.booksetc.co.uk/books/view/-9781302953300
There might be one more to finish the run but this has emphasised I need to exit buying these things, which is happening. Next one to get is the X-Men: X-Tinction Agenda Omnibus, due end of October.
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The Bill Ward book showed up today, absolutely mammoth.
Took pictures with Absolute Dark Knight, and Smoking Aces blu-ray for scale.Of course phone has too nuch inf9, can’t post pics.
But it’s a beautiful looking bo9k, velvet cover fits the 70’s motif.
Biggest book I own, just took left side (showcase display)
Maybe new pics okay.
(Put Klaus for scale…)
Nope, not that pic
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Children of the Vault
I’m a bit behind on the X-books, still need to read Judgment Day and Sins of Sinister, but decided to jump ahead to this mini. Few reasons – it involves Cable, I enjoyed Camp’s 20th Century Men epic and it is unlikely to feature in a future Omnibus (The last one may not age well.)
This story does a lot with the four issues it has. It examines Cable and Bishop’s histories well, it uses their abilities smartly, it is adept at tapping into the X-Men continuity.
The story is built on the ideas of old versus what is claimed to be new, in the wake of ORCHIS’ war on mutants taking out the X-Men. For the Children of the Vault, it is an opportunity.
What unfurls is a brilliant little miniseries, with big ambitions, and it achieves them. The writing is sharp, the art is good, the only area where it falters is the trade itself. The trade is your usual no-longer-cheap but still nasty standard issue from Marvel. It deserves better.
Still, despite that, dive into this. It has excellent recaps that very quickly get you up to speed on what has gone on. After that, you’re in for a good time. It also really shows why the X-books continue, why and how the Krakoan era has been such a smart mirror to our world.
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still need to read Judgment Day and Sins of Sinister
I found Sins of Sinister a bit of a chore, Ben. Much like X Lives/ X Deaths before it, it feels inconsequential and a needless distraction from the main narrative thrust of the books. Some important stuff happens in it so it should be read, but I found it far less enjoyable than the rest of Gillen’s Krakoa era work.
I really liked Judgment Day, although if you haven’t already I would strongly recommend reading Gillen’s run on Eternals beforehand (I think it’s a crime that this hasn’t been put out in an OHC so far). A lot of Judgment Day builds off the back of that run and, I think, will resonate far less strongly without reading that first.
I also only read the Gillen written issues (and the tie-in issues of my ongoing titles). I can’t vouch for the quality of everything else, but suspect that it will be variable as these things tend to be. I’m hoping that at some point there will be an Immortal X-Men Omnibus put out with just the Gillen written issues of Judgment Day included. I’d definitely pick that up.
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Batman: No Man’s Land
I kept meaning to post about these four trades as I read them and kept forgetting. I finished them a week or so ago even and keep forgetting to write about them as a whole. Probably because they were a bit of a disappointment.
They start out great. That opening to v1, by Bob Gale of all people, does really well at selling the new normal of Gotham City, two months after the US government declares it a No Man’s Land. It shows the dwindling resources, the changing priorities and values of item, partially through a street mugger, trying to use a gun to get things off people, but continually failing because they know he can’t possibly have any ammo left, or certainly wouldn’t waste it. Batteries are more valuable than gold, people are having to come up with new ways of living and makeshift defensive items, while spray paint tagging has become the new language of the streets. The GCPD is just another gang, the Blue Boys, and they’re resorting to making boomerangs to replace guns. It’s excellent.
Batman has also been absent for these two months and it isn’t explained why, even when he finally shows up. He’s depicted trying to understand the new Gotham and how it works, having missed its decline. This coincides with him discovering there’s a new Batgirl on the streets, who he ends up teaming up with, in lieu of his usual allies. Again, really solid.
Unfortunately, none of this really gets delivered on long term and these are due to NML’s biggest issues: bloat, too many writers and too lax an editorial hand.
If the event had been kept to just a couple of writers – Greg Rucka, Devin Grayson and Bob Gale (who I think just does that one issue initially) I think it could have been ok. But instead it spreads to cover all the four main Bat books, all the secondary characters’ books and specials and anthologies too and that’s where it falls apart. Too many writers focus on telling the same kinds of stories – there’s a stash of canned goods that have been found! – without thinking about whether it’s been done elsewhere and whether it makes sense. That people are still scavenging for canned goods by the final months of NML doesn’t quite make sense compared to turf wars over gardens or something. There’s no cohesion of concepts. After the first few stories, some of which focus on caches of ammo being fought over, it’s like ammo scarcity is forgotten about and by the final volume, everyone from the cops to the criminals have guns and ammo aplenty, with no sign of the improvised weapons etc. It just undermines the point.
Batman’s reluctance to use his usual allies is suddenly pivoted away from – I guess to get their titles to tie in – but it’s never satisfactorily explained. Nor why he was absent for two months. When that is finally covered, it’s stupid (Bruce was in Monaco sulking for a month) and contradictory (he spent a month or so lurking not doing anything, learning how to city works, despite this being what he was doing when he makes his first appearance). The stuff with Batgirl also doesn’t really go anywhere. The event that breaks her apart from Batman is questionable (she just gives up against overwhelming odds), I’d have to double check, but I don’t think the reveal of her being Huntress actually tallies with stories where they both appear (not with each other simultaneously, admittedly). The introduction of Cass also falls really flat. They had all this time in which to set her up as a background or supporting character, but it’s literally in the space of two issues she goes from “hey, here’s this weird mute kid” to “oh she’s Batgirl now”.
The most egregious thing about the tie in books is that they don’t work time-wise. Nighwing does a couple of issues of Dick taking control of Blackgate. This is set up in volume 2, which is around month 3 or 4 of NML. It’s still being referenced as happening in late v3 or possibly v4, even though those are now months later into NML. The Nightwing story itself takes places across like three days tops.
The Catwoman tie-in is pretty bad too, because it has Bruce sending her to steal some data discs “crucial to ending the NML” from Wayne Enterprises in New York. Which in itself doesn’t really make sense as a plan, but the idea that Bruce is just sitting on information that could end the NML is a bit of a lazy way out (it turns out to be… proof of real estate fraud by Luthor, I think, which he couldn’t have known would be important when he asks her to get it).
Another example of the poor editorial oversight is with Renee Montoya. She’s kidnapped by Two-Face at one point. This isn’t really followed up on specifically for what feels like ages and then suddenly she’s back, appearing with the GCPD. There’s some off-hand mention from Bullock about him being glad she’s back, but I’m still not sure if that’s just covering for an art mistake or not. The story of her return appears afterwards, in which there’s a whole thing with Two-Face holding a mock trial. We’re told here that she’s been held for five months, but there’s no way that amount of time has passed in the other stories that have been told. On top of this, Two-Face has been deposed from his territory before this. It’s a mess.
Other events are shown by never followed up. A chunk of the GCPD break away from Gordon to form their own authoritarian territory. But once this happens, we don’t really see anything of it until near the end of everything, when it all falls apart.
The Nicholas Scratch stuff from Azrael doesn’t really go anywhere. On the one hand, I do kinda like the idea that some rando with charisma powers fucks over the entire city as part of an ultimately pointless scheme that he isn’t able to make anything of, but it’s narratively unsatisfying. That things pivot round to an opportunistic scheme by Luthor (which I’m not entirely convinced by – why would he want to own a city, really?) also doesn’t really feel right, not least because the end to that is incredibly limp.
Ultimately No Man’s Land is a nice idea that just isn’t well executed. It needed to be much more tightly plotted and controlled to actually work.
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The NML tie ins were completely unnecessary. None of those added anything to the story. Although I did like the Dixon/ McDaniel Nightwing issues, just because I enjoyed their run tremendously.
Bob Gale wrote the whole of the first arc with Maleev on art, and (I think) maybe one or two other issues a bit later on.
The main 52 part run in the “core 4” Bat-books were great, although some of the creative teams were less up to snuff than others. I remember it starting well, sagging in the middle, and ending pretty awesomely. Rucka and Grayson definitely were the MVPs.
I read it in singles rather than the TPBs, so I think that may have compounded the timeline issues you notice somewhat. I don’t remember them being that messy at the time. Although there were a few instances of stories being told “out of order” as they were revealed in the Batman Chronicles books or what have you.
If they had done an Omnibus splitting the core story from the irrelevant tie ins I’d have definitely considered double dipping.
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Trade find:
Something is Killing the Children OHC2
July 2024
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Thank you!
Collects Something is Killing the Children #21-35.
Just pre-ordered, but over here it’s for May 21st.
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Bone Orchard: Starseed – Oct. 1st 2024
Far from Earth on Mars, seven members of a rescue team are looking for missing colleagues when they find darkness in the stars beyond scientific comprehension.
JEFF LEMIRE and ANDREA SORRENTINO bring their terrifying supernatural vision beyond our planet and share the BONE ORCHARD MYTHOS outside Earthly gravity for a tale of extraterrestrial horror and thrills.
96 pgs. HC
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Children of the Vault
I’m a bit behind on the X-books, still need to read Judgment Day and Sins of Sinister, but decided to jump ahead to this mini. Few reasons – it involves Cable, I enjoyed Camp’s 20th Century Men epic and it is unlikely to feature in a future Omnibus (The last one may not age well.)
This story does a lot with the four issues it has. It examines Cable and Bishop’s histories well, it uses their abilities smartly, it is adept at tapping into the X-Men continuity.
The story is built on the ideas of old versus what is claimed to be new, in the wake of ORCHIS’ war on mutants taking out the X-Men. For the Children of the Vault, it is an opportunity.
What unfurls is a brilliant little miniseries, with big ambitions, and it achieves them. The writing is sharp, the art is good, the only area where it falters is the trade itself. The trade is your usual no-longer-cheap but still nasty standard issue from Marvel. It deserves better.
Still, despite that, dive into this. It has excellent recaps that very quickly get you up to speed on what has gone on. After that, you’re in for a good time. It also really shows why the X-books continue, why and how the Krakoan era has been such a smart mirror to our world.
Yeah, I also got this one, because it’s Deniz. And I agree absolutely, it was well worth reading. And I’m very much not up to speed with the X-Men.
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I’ve been reading Jeff Parker’s Thunderbolts run lately. Another series that I had most of for a while but have only just finished off (although in this case, I had first half and the tail end but was missing one between that) and another one that’s been disappointing as it’s gone on.
To start with it’s fine. Not as good as I remember it being, but a solid 3 star series throughout. Nice art by Kev Walker, decent support art by Declan Shalvey and a good premise from Parker. Is that premise just Suicide Squad? Well, yeah, pretty much. But it’s a fit for the Thunderbolts and the addition of Luke Cage as the head of the programme, alongside Songbird, Fixer and Mach-V running it, is a nice idea.
Unfortunately, the problem with that is that Cage is also in New Avengers at the same time, which this book has to play second fiddle too, so you never feel like he’s a permanent member of the cast. But that’s ok, because the Thunderbolts themselves – Moonstone, Juggernaut, Ghost and the rest – are interesting and carry the book.
Then it gets complicated. Parker adds in a secondary team of ‘Bolts, understudies, essentially. And that works initially. But very quickly they’re thrown in with the first team and off into the timestream for time travel adventures. That works, but it means Cage, Songbird, Mach V are stuck spinning their wheels in the present with not much to do. The Raft, the prison the series is set in, is destroyed around this time too, as part of Fear Itself, and the series never recovers from that. Partially because it’s too busy doing this long ass time travel stuff.
And then the book gets soft-rebooted. Renamed as Dark Avengers, another team entirely is thrown into it. Made up of Hawkeye’s brother, Thor’s cyborg clone and a couple other losers, these are apparently Osborn’s Dark Avengers, though from what little I remember of Dark Reign, that was just Moonstone, Venom etc. Anyway, it means the book now Cage off with a bunch of characters no-one cares about, following up a plot from, I think, Parker’s on Red Hulk series, about some middle eastern country that’s lead by some guy with magic alien powers; Songbird, Mach V and John Walker completely spinning their wheels at the remains of the Raft and then a very large cast of T-Bolts still time-travelling, but now in some dreadful Judge Dredd pastiche. Parker struggles to juggle those strands, let alone coherently tie them together through cause and effect.
On top of this, the art really dives off a cliff around here. Neil Edwards ends up the book’s main artist. I’ve seen his work before and liked it, but it’s not good here, not helped by some weird production errors (there’s a pair of panels I tweeted late last night where that’s a generic explosion in the sky, which is supposed to be Songbird attacked an energy barrier with her solid sound powers. Luke sees it, because it’s pink, recognises it as being Songbird. Except it’s not even pink, let alone visually anything like her powers. It’s just a smoky orange explosion.
I suspect the rebranding/soft rebooting was an attempt to chase sales and prop up the title, but it absolutely tanks it. Parker paradoxically becomes more self-indulgent by focusing so much on his pet villain and the bad Judge Dredd stuff, the art is a downgrade, I can’t imagine anyone gives enough of a damn about Toxie Doxie (??) to be buying the book because of her and ultimately it just feels like even the people making it can’t be arsed any more.
The first volume of Dark Avengers ties up the T-Bolts’ arcs with a whimper. There is, incredibly, still another volume to go, which I’ll probably read tonight, but I’m not holding my breath about it being good.
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I enjoyed it at first but when it went and did Jack The Ripper and King Arthur, I found myself wavering. Went back on track a bit by visiting Not-1997, the early days of the original T-Bolts team, but yeah, it ultimately went on WAY too long and didn’t go anywhere worthwhile.
Oh, that reminds me of the other thing Parker did that I found fell completely flat. He did a whole story about Songbird being kidnapped by a Namor villain and experimented on to return her original powers (I would guess from when she’s Screaming Mimi), which… don’t at any point afterwards seem to be any different from the powers she’s had as Songbird.
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The Jamie Delano Hellblazer one is 1584 pages?
The Garth Ennis one is 1328 pages, and it’s massive.
Hope the quality is good, and stays that way for a long time.
The Ennis one is huge.
The quality might be fantastic, but RRP $150 is where I’m priced out. I’m even feeling that way on the upcoming Astro City Opus Edition.
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Sex Lives of Superheroes: Wolverine’s Immortal Sperm, Superman’s Porn Career, the Thing’s Thing, and Other Super-Sexual Matters Explained – Nov. 19th 2024
256 pgs. – Softcover – Smart Pop
Is sex with The Hulk technically a threesome? Does The Flash do everything faster? Has Wonder Woman really never faked an orgasm?
Drawing from biology, physics, psychology, and more to play out (wild, fictional) scenarios about superheroes’ sex lives, this in-depth analysis will definitively answer your burning questions, including:
How does sex ed from the 1930s and 1940s stack up to today’s (and what does that mean for Captain America’s love life)?
Can Spider-Man do whatever a spider can . . . in bed?
Do factors like radiation, psychological stress, and tight spandex affect Batman’s sperm count?
Does Green Lantern prove that sex is better in space?
Would Wolverine’s healing factor make his sperm immortal?
What would sex be like with Daredevil’s enhanced senses?
Why did Dr. Strange’s girlfriend cheat on him with Benjamin Franklin?
Wait, Superman made a porno?____________________I’m holding out for the Absolute Edition!
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Junkyard Joe, by Johns, Frank and Anderson, was a great read. It’s notionally part of the whole Unnamed universe that Johns is building in his Ghost Machine books like Geiger, but this first volume pretty much stands alone except for a couple of pages in the epilogue. It features some of Frank’s best artwork in a long while and Johns’ tells a strong story that isn’t afraid to pluck on your heartstrings. I would say it’s very much an “all ages” book, but there’s some gruesome violence at times and a few of the character’s struggle with PTSD so I’m not sure it would be suitable for a younger audience. Which is a shame because there’s a lot of potential here for wider appeal. I enjoyed this more than I was expecting to.
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It’s notionally part of the whole Unnamed universe that Johns is building in his Ghost Machine books like Geiger
It’s worth noting that three new books in that shared universe (REDCOAT, ROOK: EXODUS, and a new GEIGER series) will be in shops next Wednesday (April 3) for those who don’t trade-wait.
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Point of dispatch, normally – when they have the items in stock.
P&P isn’t free but neither is it exorbitant. It’s £5.95 on an Omnibus if I recall correctly.
It does eat into the discount on cheaper books but they have a far higher hit rate of actually getting those books in on time, I find.
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Yep. Also, because I’m usually ordering single issues from them at the same time, the combined postage usually evens out OK for me.
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Thanks, decided to give them a go with a combo of:
- Sandman: Nightmare Country: Volume 2: The Glass House
- Rogue Sun: Volume 3
- Adventureman Volume 3
- Damn Them All Volume 2
- The Enfield Gang Massacre
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World’s Finest Volume 3
This was such a great read.
It starts off with the story of how Robin and Supergirl’s date went off the rails. It then follows that up with a story that starts off with Metamorpho then becomes far, far more
It also is a very effective showcase for the wider DC world, bringing in characters from all over the place but the story never becomes unwieldy. A large part of the reason for that is the superb art from Mora, it is page after page of excellent visuals.
Oh and it sets things up nicely for the next volume due in September.
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The Enfield Gang Massacre TPB
The collected version of the best comic of the last year was published this week, and it’s a great collection.
They’ve done a great job keeping the vibe of the original issues in this TPB, with that newsprint feel (and smell!) to the pages that is such an important part of the book.
Plus there’s a brand new short story in here! A nice little reward for people like me who are double-dipping with the trade.
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Transformers has a Compendium coming too (issues 1 – 44) on Sept. 24th
Might just pre-order both that and the GI Joe one (Oct. 15th) and try to remember to decide the week before.
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Here’s hoping for a Transformers UK Compendium down the line too
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Did a major catch-up on the read pile:
Time Before Time Volume 5
And this is the end of the line for the main story, though there is a sixth volume, due September, covering what sounds like a side story.
In the end, the problem for me with this is that, even for a time travel story, it gets a bit too complicated for me to keep track of. Add in the gap between volumes and it gets hazy.
It’s also a shame the art has to vary across the run. It is a new take on time travel, so in that respect, still worth a look.
The Lonesome Hunters: Volume 2: The Wolf Child
This is a good continuation of Crook’s horror tale, with art to match. Given what he weaves into the ongoing plot here, I hope there’ll be another volume.
Panya
This is an OK Mignolaverse tale but it’s a fair question as to if it is time to wind it down.
Judge Dredd: A Penitent Man
The collection of stories in this really shows up the importance of a consistent pairing of writer and artist. It’s good to see with Marvel and DC pretty much treating artists as interchangeable.
The examination of what happens to an ex-Titan offender, along with both the Judges and Mega-City 1’s view of them, makes for fertile ground. Add in the ongoing effects of Chaos Day, plus judges who are operating very differently to Dredd and it’s a volatile mix.
Was it ever going to end well? Probably not, but it’s superbly executed, with excellent art. Foster’s afterword is also a neat extra there is well worth reading.
Murder Inc: Volume 3: Jagger Rose
Another good volume in the series, with a good few twists along the way. There’s a good few sharp observations on the nature of the US and current tech trends woven through this too.
Whistleblowers
This is a quartet of stories, covering four individuals who sought to get the world to notice and act against the Holocaust. Each one is excellently told while also being infuriating to read. They also act as an uncanny mirror to current real world events.
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In the end, the problem for me with this is that, even for a time travel story, it gets a bit too complicated for me to keep track of. Add in the gap between volumes and it gets hazy.
To be fair to the Time Before Time team, they had one of the most consistent shipping schedules for an Image series I can recall. In the 2.5 years it was running, there were only two months in which they didn’t release an issue. https://imagecomics.com/comics/list/series/time-before-time/releases
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Blackwell’s fishing:
Zdarsky Daredevil Omnibus 2 now listed:
Plus, Get Fury:
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product?isbn=9781302912543
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So out of the blue I decide to check for “Fatale Deluxe Edition”, but alas, no re-issue there.
I did, however, find a “Fatale Compendium” to release on July 30th 2024.
The best-selling, award-winning team of ED BRUBAKER and SEAN PHILLIPS finally collect their hit book FATALE under one cover in this gorgeous compendium edition.
Hopefully Kill Or Be Killed will get the same. I know The Fade Out did. I assume these compendiums aren’t on newsprint like the GI Joe one will be.
Actually, when I looked into compendiums the other day, I was reminded that DC started using the term and that they’ve started reprinting some of their cult 90s series (Nightwing, Robin, Sandman Mystery Theatre) yet again in that format. Volume 1 of SMT, which collects the same material as the two thick trades they did a few years back, came out spring last year. Still no sign of v2. Oh DC.
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“The Fade Out”
Yes, thank you. Forget I was looking for that. Arrived yesterday. Good looking TP.
Glossy paper is nice.
Size is perfect for an all in one TP.Never read, so wasn’t wanting to miss out while waiting for a deluxe that might never happen.
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I’m gonna maybe spoil my secret shopping place but https://onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/fatale-deluxe-edition-volume-1/product/HD_301970108
I get first dibs on Kill or get Killed HCs right?
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Major clearance of the read pile.
Homicide Volumes 1-2
This adaptation of David Simon’s Homicide, an account of a year in Baltimore’s homicide department in 1988, by Squarzoni is excellent.
The way he keeps the dense narrative flowing, flitting from theme to theme across the chapters, is superb. Images and text boxes and speech bubbles working together in perfect combinations. The use of a subdued colour palette, it’s never monochrome, but there’s always a washed out feel to them.
This isn’t a reassuring murder mystery or crime procedural of clear cut good and evil, all neatly resolved at the end. It’s a story of the people working in the system and the nature of that system. If the story was not coolly dispassionate in its telling, then it’d be an emotional wreck.
Simon’s text, Squarzoni’s inspired adaptation of it, the balance is got just right. It is never blind to the horrors it covers, it doesn’t disrespect them, but neither does it dwell on them too much.
Perhaps the sharpest part of the account is, save for knowing it is set in 1988, technology limits, the lacking diversity of the detectives, much of it could likely transfer to 2024 easily.
Both hardbacks have excellent production values: Quality paper, binding to match.
Where The Body Was
This is an odd little tale from the ever-reliable Brubaker-Phillips partnership.
It would be easy to see this as a murder mystery from the title, but it’s not really that. It’s far more an examination of a neighbourhood, at a point in time, from multiple angles and time.
Does it work? I think it does.
Battle Action Volume 2
A successor to the first volume, with the same format of a set of short stories, each using a Battle character, this is a good collection. Not every story is a total banger, but the quality overall is very high.
The Forged Volume 2
If there is a series that can be described as peak Rucka, it would be this one. (It also helps on the far too long wait for more Lazarus OHCs too.)
Not that that’s a bad thing. This can best be summed up as a future matriarchy empire, with Rucka placing a squad of women super-soldiers in the lead role. They go where they’re told and kill whatever they need to, yet Rucka makes each a distinct character. He also departs far enough away from the stereotype starting point for each of them.
Henderson’s art helps on that too. There’s a clean, clear style to his imagery, with a bold use of colour.
The only flaw for the collected editions is I’m not convinced the oversized page works in paperback, hardback tends to be better. The paperback is that bit too floppy. (Ennis’ The Lion and the Eagle has similad flaws.)
Still, if you’re after a bonkers and ambitious SF epic, this is a good one.
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On an entirely different point I’ve had three FP orders arrive in the last week or two. The latest was the Panini editions of Ultimate Invasion and Immortal Thor Volume 1.
One thing all the volumes have emphasised to me is how much I’ve missed having comic trades arrive that aren’t warped to crap by bad storage and packing.
Sure, I’m paying for postage now, but due to how well they get packed, which impacts how well they arrive, it’s good seeing a positive result from that.
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Homicide is nowhere near The Corner, it’s no walk in the park but nowhere near as harsh.
I tried The Corner but found the TV drama far too harsh.
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A few recent reads:
Batman: The Brave And The Bold: The Winning Card TPB
I enjoyed this one a lot. Tom King tells a Year One-era story of the first encounter between Batman and Joker, with a nicely creepy, almost slasher-movie vibe and an enjoyably human take on Bruce.
Also there are some stunning visuals – Mitch Gerads is just great and does some amazing stuff here with negative space, as well as some great tricks that capture the silent-movie vibe that the Joker has in this book.
Well worth a look.
The Seasons Have Teeth TPB
It’s easy as a longtime comics fan to feel like there’s nothing new out there, but The Seasons Have Teeth has a neat original concept – the four seasons have come to life as wild monsters that stalk the earth – attached to a solid character-driven story with some wistful reflections on life (with the seasons as a metaphor for different stages of our lives).
And the art is very nice, mixing realism and wild fantasy, particularly the key shots of the seasons themselves, which we don’t see very often due to the nature of the story.
My only real criticism is that the ending fizzles out a bit, when a more definite conclusion might have been more satisfying – although this is partially the point.
Worth a read.
Swan Songs TPB
Swan Songs is an inventive, unusual and often quite moving collection of short comics stories themed around the idea of endings.
I enjoyed all of them, but special mention for issue #2 (with art by Caspar Wijngaard) which provides a wonderfully creative look at relationship breakdown.
All Against All TPB
I picked this up on the strength of Wijngaard’s tremendous art, after enjoying his issue of Swan Songs, and found it to be an interesting sci-fi tale by Alex Paknadel that explores human (and animal) nature as seen through the eyes of an extraterrestrial intelligence.
It’s a little thin story-wise – across five issues, it doesn’t have that much to say, and the alien characters aren’t clearly defined enough to feel really distinct – but the beautiful and vibrant art carries it to some extent. A decent read but not something I’ll ever come back to.
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The Winning Card is great. I read it on DCU Infinite and ended up buying the TPB anyway because it was so good. An actual scary Joker story. If you liked this creative team’s work on the Riddler “One Bad Day” special previously this is more of the same, if not quite as tight or lean a story.
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If anyone was interested in the story I posted in the ‘Independent’ thread about IDW’s “Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees”, the TP comes out Sept. 17th
Don’t. Murder. The locals.
This is small-town serial killer, upstanding citizen, and adorable brown bear Samantha Strong’s cardinal rule. After all, there’s a sea of perfectly ripe potential victims in the big city just beyond the forest, and when you’ve worked as hard as Sam to build a cozy life and a thriving business in a community surrounded by friendly fellow animal folk, warm decor, and the aroma of cedar trees and freshly baked apple pie…the last thing you want is to disturb the peace.
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My copy of The Enfield Gang Massacre has arrived. It’s a good looking, chunky trade.
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My copy of The Enfield Gang Massacre has arrived. It’s a good looking, chunky trade.
And like the individual issues, that lovely newsprint paper makes all the difference to how it reads. The colours in particular look great.
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I’ve struggled to find that available online anywhere. It’s not even listed on Books Etc as far as I can see.
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I’ve struggled to find that available online anywhere. It’s not even listed on Books Etc as far as I can see.
Blackwells have it: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781534397903
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I’ve struggled to find that available online anywhere. It’s not even listed on Books Etc as far as I can see.
I’ve started ordering Image trades from Forbidden Planet, given the difficulties around supply.
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Batman: The Winning Card
A complete story, this is what I’m most drawn to from DC now. This covers how Batman meets the Joker, in effect following up on the ending of Year One.
Overall, it’s a good stort boosted by Gerads art and colours. While I find King’s short Batman stories far better than his long ones, this does share a weakness with Riddler: One Bad Day. By amping up the villains in the way he does, King undercuts their continued survival. The more vicious they get, the harder it us to buy that no one shoots then twice in the head.
Still, this is a good story and the way Joker’s lines are rendered as bleak playing cards is a neat design touch.
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I’m not a big Valiant reader but Liam Sharp on X-O Manowar: Unconquered was quite the draw so I picked up that series as it came out over the course of the last year and a half. I recently read all 6 issues, and the hardcover collection comes out imminently.
To my mind, Sharp’s painted artwork was the main attraction of the book. It’s very muscular, intense and bold. Very heavy metal.
Given my lack of familiarity with the title, I don’t know how Cloonan and Conrad’s story stacks up, but I enjoyed it well enough. It wasn’t anything revolutionary but fairly self contained.
There’s a sequel coming up soon that I’m tempted to get so I can see what happens next. Although Sharp isn’t continuing on art so I may wait a while for a cheaper TPB or digital collection for that.
Talking of Sharp, has anyone heard anything about a potential Morrison & Sharp Green Lantern Omnibus? I’d definitely buy that.
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I’d like to think it would be on the cheaper side if it materialises, given that it’s less than 30 issues, but who knows.
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SpeedyHen have suddenly got the Enfield Gang Massacre in stock. Unlike Books Etc, they actually had a product page for it but showing as out of stock since before it was released and the same on Friday or whenever it was I checked. But it doesn’t even show up on the price comparison site I use, so it’s presumably some kind of cataloguing issue.
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Copies going into the bookseller market have been slow coming into the UK, and only arrived about a week ago I think, a good few weeks after the direct market. That probably explains the delay in online sellers getting them in stock.
Another reason why ordering from FP is so reliable, I think my copy turned up on the day of release or just after.
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Upon further inspection it would appear the price comparison site I’ve been using has just broken generally and isn’t finding anything.
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Astro City: Metrobook One
Oof, this was a disappointment. I’ve been interested in reading Astro City for a while and these new Metrobook editions seemed like the best way to get into them. All the various volumes reprinted together in the correct order etc. You know the deal aka the bare minimum for collecting comics in the modern day.
And Image pulls that off. Mostly. The biggest issue I have with this is that issues 1, 2 and 4 (maybe 5) are riddled across every page with stonking great moire patterns. Every page of those issues, top to bottom: moire. Fucking amateur hour, frankly. How does a professional publishing company let this go to press? Not quite as bad as when Marvel did it in a Masterworks hardcover, but still, really bad.
So that didn’t put in the best frame of mind to start with. And then the series didn’t win me over.
Astro City seems to mainly be a vehicle for Busiek to do street level style stories like Marvels. I don’t know if Marvel or DC weren’t interested in doing more of those or if Busiek just wanted me editorial control, but he went and made his own world in which to tell them. But it doesn’t work. The world of Astro City is quite hollow. Busiek does a fair bit of world building, but it’s all sketched in – off-hand mentions of far-flung heroes that you will never see again – and heavily cribbed from Marvel and DC.
Because most of these stories are man on the street type pieces, they work, they’re perfectly functional, but it does nothing to actually give any substance to Astro City and its heroes. They’re all just passing names. But even when Busiek does do stories focusing on them he never manages to make them more than ciphers. They all exist primarily, and most exclusively, in relation to what DC or Marvel character they’re an analogue to. There’s a two parter focusing on the First Family and instead of fleshing them out in any way to make them distinct, it just piles on the Fantastic Four parallels. “Oh, this sort-of-Thing is their son-in-law and kinda like Namor. Oh and the not-Torch and Not-Sue’s father is also kinda Namor but maybe a little bit Doom.” Nothing about them feels distinct or impressive or compelling.
And really, that describes the stories too. Ok, a story about a normal guy moving to Astro City and worrying that he’s made a bad choice for his kids, given all the super-hero battles. That works. But it doesn’t work because of Astro City. It would work just as well, if not better, as a Marvel or DC story. Astro City itself is bringing nothing to the table here.
The opening story about Samaritan – Busiek’s Superman stand-in – is just a standard Superman style story, a very basic fill-in or inventory story, with the fine details changed.
My over-riding thought through most of this was “there’s nothing here I couldn’t get from a Marvel or DC super-hero story”. Busiek doesn’t do anything novel or clever or interesting enough with Astro City to justify how broadly it just cribs its influences. It’s like if Watchmen had just been 12 issues of not-the-JLA fighting standard DC-style villains (or I guess more accurately the Charlton characters) instead of actually doing something with them that comments on the originals or genre in a way you can’t with those originals.
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Astro City: Metrobook One
Oof, this was a disappointment.
I’m sorry to read that you’re not impressed with the series. I loved the book when it first debuted and thought it gave Busiek the opportunity to tell the Marvel/DC stories that he wouldn’t be able to tell at those companies. One thing that I’ve always loved about the series is that, for the most part, the stories aren’t about heroes fighting villains; in fact, quite often those battles are shown in one panel rather than dragged out over an entire issue or more. Instead, Astro City often focused on the impact on the average citizen of living in a city filled with superpowers (like the story you enjoyed about the newcomer who worries if he’s putting his kids in danger by moving to AC). I have a hard time imagining that the powers-that-be at the Big Two would encourage that type of story on an ongoing basis.
My all-time favorite comic book story EVER (and I’ve been reading them since 1967) is “The Nearness of You”, originally published as Astro City #1/2 (which was reprinted in the Metrobook #1, I believe). It’s the only time I read a comic book story that brought tears to my eyes and haunted me for days after. Without spoiling it here, the story provides one poignant and painful example of the human fallout from a battle of superpowers. I can’t imagine this story ever being published at the Big Two as part of an ongoing series.
Darn it, now I’m going to have to go back and read that story again!
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Yeah, you can boil it down to “well, these are all just Marvel / DC analogued”, except they’d not do these type of stories for long.
The idea Busiek was running with was flipping the, often cynical, notion of what if superheroes were real, to how would a world used to them be? Which Marvel and DC don’t give a crap about.
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The biggest issue I have with this is that issues 1, 2 and 4 (maybe 5) are riddled across every page with stonking great moire patterns. Every page of those issues, top to bottom: moire.
When they’ve given no thought
To how colours distort
That’s a moire!
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Hmm, would that story have worked better for me if was Batnan? I’m not so sure it would have, as Jack’s meant to be this demon to the point-of-view character it follows.
Although, when I was reading AC, I didn’t have much knowledge of established superheroes. Knew of them in passing but that was about it. If you do have that background then it may read differently.
None of it is that unique, but a whole lot of stories will fail that requirement. Astro City is Busiek riffing on superhero conventions, but without the subversion or deconstruction that might be expected.
One thing is certain – I wouldn’t stick with it in the belief it’ll change because it won’t. In that respect Metrobook 1 represents the series accurately,
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I see a Superman: The Definitive History on Amazon.
400 page HC (Oct. 1st 2024) that’s way over pricedI could be interested (sight unseen, remember) but when you are outpricing 1000 + page overpriced Omni’s, well, now you’re just treating me like dirt.
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Transformers: Robots In Disguise TPB
This is one of my favourite new series of the past year, and everything good I said about it in the New Comics thread still stands – but unfortunately this TPB is a bit of a disappointment.
That’s largely because all six issues are smooshed together into a single story here – none of the covers are included and there are no chapter breaks, which is always annoying as it means that the final page of one issue pushes up against the opening of the next, often in a way that serves neither of them well.
There’s also no additional sketch/commentary material at all here, not even the stuff that was already included in the single issues. Although they did make room for a few ads for other Energon Universe TPBs and Skybound books! I guess that’s a more valuable use of the page space.
I’m guessing Image must have an eye to an eventual deluxe HC, so we’ll get that stuff eventually, but this is about as bare-bones a TPB as you can get. It’s not like I was expecting a comprehensive gallery of all the variants or tons of process stuff in an affordable softback like this, but even just the original DWJ covers would have been nice.
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Thanks for the heads up on that.
I’ll just commit to waiting for a Deluxe HC.——————-
So every now and then something pops into my head, and I’ll search for something I missed out on the first time around (hoping for a re-issue).
Today was WE3.
How nice to see there is a 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition for Sept. 24th.
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