TPBs, HCs, Absolutes, Omnibuses… discuss them all here!
The Trades Thread: Collected Editions
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BRZRKR Deluxe Limited Edition Slipcase – Oct. 1st 2024
The complete collection of the comic book debut of universally beloved filmmaker Keanu Reeves, in a deluxe, special edition slipcase hardcover!
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Recent reads
Sandman Nightmare Country: Volume 2: The Glass House
Something about this second volume just doesn’t work for me. The art is the same but I’m not as hooked by it. There’s Thessaly, a character I am likely never seeing the appeal of, who occupies a good part of the story, but I care little for the others too.
The Night Eaters Volume 2
In contrast, this continuation is superb. The GN format allows the Monstress team of Liu-Sanada to vary the pacing neatly too. Art and lettering are excellent and it all flows perfectly.
Superman: The Chained
It isn’t the same without Campbell’s art but I’m liking Williamson’s take on Superman and his wider world, particularly the relationship with Luthor.
Avengers: The Impossible City
Been seeing Jed MacKay’s name for a while now but this Panini collection of the Timeless one-shot and first six issues is a lot of fun. For a tenner, it was a steal.
MacKay does a lot with the space available, uses both the characters and their histories well, to deliver an opening shot that sets the stage for a larger arc. Art is good too.
The Immortal Thor: All Weather Turns to Storm
Once more, Panini provide an edition I can buy without feeling ripped off by, as Marvel’s one is RRP £26.99! The title invokes Ewing’s prior epic, Immortal Hulk, so does raise expectations. Fortunately, Ewing knows what he is doing and supplies a suitably epic start.
A writer can’t always use narration boxes but they are very suited to a Thor story and Ewing knows it, he also knows where to place them and when not to. Art is also up to the task of depicting a clash of gods.
Big, smart, loud and epic – this was a great read.
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Recent reads:
Rogue Sun Volume 3
This was an OK continuation, art was all right, not sure if has me hooked enough for Volume 4 though.
Edenwood Volume 1
This is an odd writer-artist tale from Tony Daniel of an alternate, demon-invaded USA. It’s never that clear as to how that state of affairs came about, plus the story weaves in time skips that I’m not sure it needs.
Hexagon Bridge
This was the biggest surprise of the set – a smart, emotionally engaged and intricate narrative with art to match. It might be said that the story ends just as it gets going, but that can also seen as the point. We never get the full story, just a part of it.
I hope this isn’t the only series from Blake.
The Enfield Gang Massacre
A spin-off from the That Texas Blood series, this historical tale of Ambrose County is more one of unhinged vengeance than any kind if justice. Art is excellent and the text pieces at the end of each chapter act as a neat epilogue.
Transformers Volume 1
This a good book, art and writing are fine, but it didn’t land in the way its reputation suggested. I think the problems are that Johnson wants to amp up the jeopardy, which he does by killing off some characters, but that move is dependent on the nostalgia card being played.
So, Starscream executes Bumblebee. Thing is, if this were your first time reading of these characters, why would you care? You don’t know who Bumblebee is.
The nostalgia card is this is Johnson pretty much doing a re-telling of the story that started 40 years back. Complete with a crashed ark, bots and humans in the middle.
Deep Cuts
This is a brilliant series of six short stories, each about a jazz musician in the twentieth century. Each has a different artist, while Higgins weaves in subtle connections, both from story to story and the series as a whole.
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Nice selection Ben. I read a few of those in singles – Enfield Gang, Transformers and Deep Cuts – and enjoyed them.
I also picked up this trade:
Hexagon Bridge This was the biggest surprise of the set – a smart, emotionally engaged and intricate narrative with art to match. It might be said that the story ends just as it gets going, but that can also seen as the point. We never get the full story, just a part of it. I hope this isn’t the only series from Blake.
I agree that it was a smart, inventive and great-looking book, but I also agree that it didn’t feel like we got the full story – everything felt quite rushed and unresolved by the end, and quite a few aspects of the story were unexplained altogether. A bit of a frustrating ending after investing in the ideas up to that point.
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Recent reads:
Rogue Sun Volume 3
This was an OK continuation, art was all right, not sure if has me hooked enough for Volume 4 though.
Edenwood Volume 1
This is an odd writer-artist tale from Tony Daniel of an alternate, demon-invaded USA. It’s never that clear as to how that state of affairs came about, plus the story weaves in time skips that I’m not sure it needs.
Hexagon Bridge
This was the biggest surprise of the set – a smart, emotionally engaged and intricate narrative with art to match. It might be said that the story ends just as it gets going, but that can also seen as the point. We never get the full story, just a part of it.
I hope this isn’t the only series from Blake.
The Enfield Gang Massacre
A spin-off from the That Texas Blood series, this historical tale of Ambrose County is more one of unhinged vengeance than any kind if justice. Art is excellent and the text pieces at the end of each chapter act as a neat epilogue.
Transformers Volume 1
This a good book, art and writing are fine, but it didn’t land in the way its reputation suggested. I think the problems are that Johnson wants to amp up the jeopardy, which he does by killing off some characters, but that move is dependent on the nostalgia card being played.
So, Starscream executes Bumblebee. Thing is, if this were your first time reading of these characters, why would you care? You don’t know who Bumblebee is.
The nostalgia card is this is Johnson pretty much doing a re-telling of the story that started 40 years back. Complete with a crashed ark, bots and humans in the middle.
Deep Cuts
This is a brilliant series of six short stories, each about a jazz musician in the twentieth century. Each has a different artist, while Higgins weaves in subtle connections, both from story to story and the series as a whole.
I’ve read the first two or three issues of Skybound Transformers and I really don’t get the hype at all. Johnson’s art is nice in a breezy, kinetic way but the story is absolutely nothing new, just rehashing the 80s cartoon. Rather unambitious and yet getting lauded for being amazing and fresh, presumably largely by people who haven’t actually read a Transformers comic in ever.
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I’ve read the first two or three issues of Skybound Transformers and I really don’t get the hype at all. Johnson’s art is nice in a breezy, kinetic way but the story is absolutely nothing new, just rehashing the 80s cartoon. Rather unambitious and yet getting lauded for being amazing and fresh, presumably largely by people who haven’t actually read a Transformers comic in ever.
It’s entirely DWJ that’s the appeal for me, certainly. I think he’s one of the most talented creators in comics at the moment. Without him, you’re right, it would feel like a fairly generic Transformers story.
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I’ve read the first two or three issues of Skybound Transformers and I really don’t get the hype at all. Johnson’s art is nice in a breezy, kinetic way but the story is absolutely nothing new, just rehashing the 80s cartoon. Rather unambitious and yet getting lauded for being amazing and fresh, presumably largely by people who haven’t actually read a Transformers comic in ever.
It’s entirely DWJ that’s the appeal for me, certainly. I think he’s one of the most talented creators in comics at the moment. Without him, you’re right, it would feel like a fairly generic Transformers story.
He’s not doing the art on the second arc, is he?
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No, Jorge Corona is, whose work I really liked in Middlewest. He and Skottie Young work well together.
As to DJW, the wrestling moves are fun, makes a change to bots just shooting each other, but I think his art has been better on other works, like Do A Powerbomb.
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Nice selection Ben. I read a few of those in singles – Enfield Gang, Transformers and Deep Cuts – and enjoyed them.
I also picked up this trade:
Hexagon Bridge This was the biggest surprise of the set – a smart, emotionally engaged and intricate narrative with art to match. It might be said that the story ends just as it gets going, but that can also seen as the point. We never get the full story, just a part of it. I hope this isn’t the only series from Blake.
I agree that it was a smart, inventive and great-looking book, but I also agree that it didn’t feel like we got the full story – everything felt quite rushed and unresolved by the end, and quite a few aspects of the story were unexplained altogether. A bit of a frustrating ending after investing in the ideas up to that point.
Initially, I thought similar, it does end abruptly. Then I realised the main story, that of finding her parents, had concluded. The wider questions of how this works and where things go now is another story. Or stories.
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As someone who has read Transformers comics off and on as long as I’ve been reading comics (picking up Target: 2006 from the newsstands each week is a core memory for me), I recognise that this new iteration is not as inventive as others. Nor is it trying to be. It’s just creators having fun playing with action figures, and I think that comes across on the page. Which is why I find it so infectious and joyful.
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Taeget 2006 the story that traumatised a load of kids before Transformers The Movie did.
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Out in February next year.
I actually snagged a reasonably priced copy of the OHC off eBay a few weeks back, though I’m still waiting for it to turn up.
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It interweaves from around #8 or #9 in OHC 5.
Unworthy I think you’re right in where you’ve placed it as a parallel tale.
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Hmm. I just had a look and the cheapest one on eBay is £65. But as much as the price is an issue I just don’t think I care about event tie-ins enough any more to go for a full event collection. I can’t imagine War of the Realms: Giant Men, for instance, adds much to anything.
It interweaves from around #8 or #9 in OHC 5. Unworthy I think you’re right in where you’ve placed it as a parallel tale.
Cheers Ben!
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Recent reads.
1949
Dustin Weaver is an infrequently active but excellent artist, so whatever he gets up to gets my interest. This is an intrigiuing mystery tale where he does all of it, writing, art, letters, colouring. I’m not sure about the conclusion but that’s the only minor weakness in a good book. The switching between colour and monochrome is particularly well done.
The Dead Lucky: Volume 2
I had not expected this to be the end of the line for this Massive-verse book but it works well for it. By concluding it pays off the first trade and has good pacing.
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Newburn: Volume 2
Another book I did not know was ending but which goes out on a high. It all unravels but, as you might expect, there’s a good few twists and turns along the way, all cleverly executed by Zdarsky and Phillips.
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Phantom Road Volume 2
Lemire continues this creepy, off-kilter trucker horror, with more mysteries across dimensions. Where is it all going? No idea but I’ll trust this team know where it’s all leading.
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Wild’s End: Beyond the Sea
While this could be classed as volume 4, I’m not sure it’s accurate as this is a new story, with a new cast, in the same world and it doesn’t need you to have read the earlier stories.
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Abnett and Culbard conjure a deceptively scary alien invasion story, where the restrained and quiet depiction of it only amps the psychological unease. It’s very, very good and very, very smart.
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Great news, I think I’ll be picking that up
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A few recent reads:
Phantom Road v.1 TPB
I like Lemire, but this was only OK. It kind of feels like David Lynch directing a zombie movie. A lot of weirdness and mystery, and some quite effectively disturbing scenes, but only the barest skeleton of a story and you certainly don’t get any answers about what’s going on at this point. Visually it’s decent – Walta is a good artist – but I don’t know if there’s quite enough there to grab me and make me read volume 2.
Petrol Head v.1 TPB
I enjoyed this one a lot. It’s just such a colourful and vibrant comic – the unusually bright colour palette is one of the best things about it – with dynamic art from Pye Parr that feels exciting but also has a real sense of solidity and form and weight to it, with detail that sometimes approaches Darrow levels.
Writing-wise, Rob Williams reminds me here of Remender’s best qualities – no flab, a clear story, and with lots of active stuff happening that helps propel the plot forwards. Good stuff
Junkyard Joe v.1 TPB
This was good. Really good. I didn’t really know what to expect from it but there was far more heart and pathos than I thought there would be given the concept.
Geoff Johns writes a good story but I think a big part of the emotion comes from the art too – Gary Frank’s work is just gorgeous in general, but he’s particularly good at conveying emotion through human faces or even (in this case) just the silent body language of a robot. There were one or two moments that were quite heartbreaking. A great read.
Fantastic Four v.3 TPB: The Impossible Is Probable
This was really excellent again. The art is fine but it’s the ideas and writing that really make it sing, it’s everything an FF book should be in terms of being imaginative, smart and exciting. There’s a single issue in here about a disembodied computer system that’s one of the best single issues of a superhero comic I’ve read in years. It introduces these big ideas and explores them from every angle with such speed and density, and trusts readers to keep up. It’s great.
Radiant Black v.1 TPB: (Not So) Secret Origin
I picked this up after hearing quite a lot of hype over the past couple of years. It’s a fairly standard superhero story that felt a bit by-numbers to me, almost like someone trying to do a new Ultimate Spider-Man style book, but without quite getting there. It’s ok though. Maybe it would work better for a younger reader but for me it just felt a little bit bland.
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If anyone’s been waiting on a deal on the second volume of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, it’s half-off at Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Favorite-Thing-Monsters-Book-Two/dp/1683969278/
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Broke down and bought a copy of Absolute Watchmen.
Wow. Why did I ever hesitate? Absolutely gorgeous.Pulled out my TP (year? Unknown, says ‘third printing’) which looks bad on it’s own (faded newsprint and drab) and horrible when put beside my new love.
Absolute is the way to go for everything! Money schmoney! You’ll be glad you did!
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The colours look gorgeous in the Absolute. Plus all the additional material in the back is great.
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I’ve finally read all of Jason Aaron’s Thor run. It has ups and downs, really. I wasn’t as blown away by the initial Gorr story as a lot of people were and I think it got better after that, with the Roz Solomon/Roxxon focused stuff and then is actually at its best during the Jane-Thor era. That’s partially due to Russell Dauterman, who is fantastic, being on art. I vaguely remember being dismissive when the Jane as Thor thing was first announced (or just the mystery female Thor, more accurately) but it was a pretty good story. The Unworthy Thor was a bit of a waste of time though. Following that, I liked the set-up of Thor being Thor again but without Mjolnir and having a large arsenal of disposable hammers, but I’m really not keen on Mike Del Mondo’s art, so it didn’t entirely work for me.
Then there’s War of the Realms, which was a bit of a damp squib. They spent far too long hyping it up in the story (even though there was clearly already a war going on in the other realms – very American that the War of the Realms proper doesn’t start until Earth/New York is invaded). It tries very hard to be a big epic with lots of monumental things happening but… maybe I’m just jaded with event cross-overs (and I resolutely didn’t bother with the tie-ins for this), I don’t think it really had many particularly amazing “epic” moments and just felt like so many other big invasion of earth stories like Secret Invasion and Assault on New Olympus.
Thor itself is side-stories during that, which makes up half of the last OHC and that’s… fine, I guess. I think the resolution to Cul is pretty limp. I really liked Aaron’s melancholy take on (present) Loki, but it constantly felt like he was having to side-step around other people’s use of him, which is a bit silly for Loki in a Thor title, he should have had priority (also, having not really kept up with the general status quos of the MU since Secret Wars, it was disorientating at times when SHIELD would suddenly be out of business (yet again) or Dr Strange was a non-magical vet for a bit).
Everything wraps up with a mini of future Thor, which was a little disappointing, as I wasn’t that keen on those. I liked his granddaughters, but Old Man Thor vs the heat death of the universe was just too bleak for me. The young Thor stories were fun but a bit too shallow for as much repetition as they received.
So yeah, some good points and rarely, if ever, truly bad, but an underwhelming end (which seems par for the course with mainstream super-hero comic runs. I’m struggling to think of a truly strong end to one at the moment).
Also, Marvel really fucked up the contents of the OHCs. Absolutely no reason Unworthy Thor shouldn’t have been in OHC 3, with the back third of that moved to OHC 4, while the main War of the Realms event should have been put in OHC 5. Feels like they were intentionally leaving bits in paperback to push later Omnibus sales really.
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Couple of unrelated things:
Has anyone bought any of those DC Compendium paperbacks? Though I am very hesitant to invest any money in another supposed reprint program from DC, I would like to read all of Nightwing and Robin at some point. They seem decent value for money but a 1000 page paperback seems an unwieldy prospect and prone to get ruined on the binding. How are they in person?
Books Etc seems to have given up on its awful redesigned website that never worked properly. No banner pushing you to use it on the proper site any more and the address is dead. Huzzah!
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I’ve noticed various DC, 2000AD and Image books aren’t on BooksEtc.
Marvel, Panini, DHC are still there, it’s an odd split.
Good that their crap new site is dead though.
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Yeah, I had trouble finding the Enfield Gang Massacre on there when I was looking the other month, but it also wasn’t available other places when it was supposedly out. Maybe a distribution problem? I don’t know who is doing DC and Image’s trade distribution these days.
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Enfield Gang definitely had a specific delay of a few weeks in hitting UK bookshops, I saw Jacob Phillips talking about it.
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Oh forgot to mention, that cheap Kill Or Be Killed Deluxe I snagged on eBay never materialised. Rarewaves USA just didn’t communicate for a month and then refunded me without comment when I opened a claim. So that’s disappointing.
But I’m sure this other too good to be true deal I found last night will turn out alright.
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I know nothing of this. Thoughts? Yes, no, maybe? Black Kiss Omnibus by Howard Chaykin
Black Kiss is pretty wild but worth a read just for the craft, it’s some of Chaykin’s best. Not sure I’d blow huge amounts of money on an omnibus version though.
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Something else I know nothing of. Any thoughts and opinions are appreciated.
I read The Woods digitally a few years ago, as Tynion’s star was rising at DC. I enjoyed it a lot. It’s his first long form story, so not as polished as his current work, but it’s an accomplished piece of work for a relatively young and inexperienced writer. It’s a sci-fi piece so there are some plot points that didn’t quite make sense, from what I recall, but the structure, the pacing, the characters and characterisation? It’s all good.
Each 12 issues is more or less a season, with time jumps in between. There are shades of Lost throughout, given the similarities in subject matter. I’d recommend it, especially if you like Tynion’s work, but be warned. It’s a bit like reading early Morrison after reading latter day Morrison – still fun, but you’ll probably notice the recurring themes and patterns a lot clearer than if you read this first.
Chris was a big fan of this too, IIRC.
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Both of these are now up for pre-order at SpeedyHen:
Department of Truth: Wild Fictions OHC
Once and Future OHC2
There’s also Morrison and Adlard’s Heretic, but best to hold off as that’s been bumped to November.
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Your posts reminded me of the existence of Blackwell, Ben. I’ve been looking for Epic Collections a lot the past few days, really in a mood to get a stack to read, but on the cheap. Blackwells is really weird though. Going through their Marvel section, everything is full RRP, except one non-epic title (I forget which) that was 10% off or so and the Defenders epic collection v2, which only came out last month and is £22 off (taking it to £19). Bizarre. Jumped on it, even though I don’t have v1 yet.
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Yeah, there’s some very erratic bargains to be had but there seems little structure to them. I got the Panini trade of MacKay’s Avengers opener with 50% off.
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Best ways I’ve found is going by author or publisher.
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Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky omnibus v.1
This was a pretty good read. Especially the first few arcs included here, which feel like watching a great adult-oriented Daredevil TV series.
Zdarsky juggles all the vital DD ingredients – the gritty vigilante stuff, the legal drama, the Catholic guilt, Matt being a horndog – and also introduce some new characters and challenges that drive the overarching plot.
Plus there’s an absolutely fantastic subplot involving the Kingpin social climbing that turns him into almost an anti-hero type figure that I’d read an entire series about.
Checchetto’s art is nice too, and even when fill-ins are needed the quality is mostly pretty good.
The only real criticisms are that Soule’s fix to DD’s secret identity crisis from the Waid run causes some weird side-effects that are grating (characters like Elektra and Spidey now don’t know Matt is DD, which feels odd) and there’s an annoying Venom crossover that puts the main storyline on hold for a few issues.
But by and large, this is very solid Daredevil, and I’ll look forward to the second omnibus.
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My copy of The Bone Orchard: Tenement has despatched.
That is all.
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Just got the G.O.D.S. tpb collection. Haven’t read it, but it’s a nice looking book. It collects all 8 issues of the series along with the 10 single page stories that were sprinkled throughout various titles before the series’ launched. I love Hickman’s work, but Marvel’s entire launch strategy for this book was so off putting that I waited for the trade instead. Glad that gamble paid off. Hoping the book is worth the wait. Heard good things about it so have high hopes.
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Yeah, it’s a decent price given the RRP.
Where I can, I’ll go for Panini over Marvel as they tend to be a few quid cheaper and better quality.
But, they are not consistent, for Immortal Thor volume 2, there’s only the Marvel edition.
Also, on Immortal Thor Volume 1 Marvel messed up the price, it’s something like RRP £26.99 for a standard collection. In comparison, Panini’s was RRP £17.99
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Some other interesting bits in there:
Strikforce Morituri omnibus
Micronauts epic collection (not a huge surprise after Rom, but good to see)
they’re skipping ahead past the third Bendis modern DD epic to do the first Brubaker one, which is an odd choice
first Epic Collection of Heroes Return material, with Jurgen’s Dark Gods Thor era. Be interesting to see the numbering on that and whether it skips over Heroes Reborn (which Thor epics have gone up to).
The Trial Of Yellow-Jacket was one of the proto-epics Marvel did in around 2012 and is finally being reprinted as an epic but now called Court-Martial (I think possibly to make clear the contents are slightly different, compared to say the Captain America: The Captain one, which got a straight reskin). This bridges a gap in the Avengers line and makes a big uninterrupted run of at least 270 issues, I think.
epic collections also for The Ultimates and Ultimate FF, which is again understandable to go with Spidey and X-Men and that they’re reskins of old ultimate editions.
A modern era epic collection of Annihilation, which is also getting an omnibus reprint. Smells a little movie synergy driven.
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There’s DC stuff in the edelweiss catalogue too, including a weirdly high amount of Nightwing collections. And DC being DC that includes a second compendium of the Dixon run, finally and a reprint of… the first tpb they did of that run about eight years ago. Because that’s not going to confuse anyone, is it? Fucking DC, man.
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Which catalog is DC in Martin?
https://www.edelweiss.plus/#catalogID=5069369&page=1
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X-Factor by Peter David Omnibus 4 coming next July: https://www.edelweiss.plus/#sku=1302964259
I’d forgotten just how long that X-Factor run was, having not read most of it since it came out monthly. I read the other two omnibuses collecting it recently, and I didn’t realise until I was close to the end that there was still another 30 issues still to be collected (plus the All-New follow-up series).
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Strikforce Morituri omnibus
hmm tricky one. I have the three trades that where really hard to track down.
I think I might wait and bet on a deep discount after it goes on sale.
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Wolverine: Sabretooth War Omnibus
Fair warning, as per my review elsewhere, this isn’t great. It’s by no means bad, but it’s far from the perfect ending I would have liked to read.
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Buying collected editions shouldn’t be this confusing really, should it?
I think this is the official slogan of the Marvel collections department.
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I picked up the first trade last year (or ’22 – what even is time any more) when Zavvi had a quick flurry of remaindered trades and I really enjoyed it. Not been able to get the remaining ones yet. Hopefully people jumping on the omnibus will sell them off and lower the going rate.
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Two nice surprises.
My copy of
Once and Future OHC2 arrived early.
I also have a copy of Fire Power OHC2 on the way.
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I wasn’t going to pick up the Robin: Tim Drake Compendium Volume 1 because I still have all these comics, dog earred though they may be, stored in long boxes in my collection, and I have qualms about the selection of stories collected herein. Not including his first appearance in “A Lonely Place of Dying” seems crazy, along with Tim’s subsequent appearances in New Titans, Batman and Detective Comics. Okay, the resulting chronology might have been a bit mad, but we’re not talking about dozens of issues and to exclude those, but include a random Superman crossover (albeit a fun crossover) is a strange editorial choice. It also, more worryingly, didn’t include Detective Comics #644-649, which is effectively Robin Vol 2.5 by the same creative team as the three mini-series reprinted within, and also happens to include the first appearance of Spoiler. whose second appearance is reprinted. Like I said, it’s not a perfect book.
But, in a weird coincidence, FP had a recent sale on their website that included Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Vol 8 for a steep discount, which reprinted those Detective Comics issues and perfectly complements the Compendium. I took that as a sign from the universe and stumped up my cash.
The Compendium arrived this morning, and it’s a thing of beauty. I haven’t picked up any of DC’s compendium’s beforehand, but if this is their usual standard of printing I think that might change going forwards. It feels surprisingly robust. Lightweight, and flexible, yet with decent paper stock. I can imagine this being far easier to read lying down in bed than an Omnibus or other deluxe hardcover edition, or even the heavier Image compendium editions I have previously picked up (e.g. Spawn or Saga).
It’s impossible for me to be impartial about the comics reprinted within. These are “core memory” comics for me. I was literally the target demographic for these when they originally came out back in the 1990’s – the character and these stories spoke to me directly in ways that no other comic had before or frankly since. They left an indelible imprint on my psyche. I keep picking up the book and flipping through it to random pages and reliving the magic. So very cool to have these on my bookshelf.
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Recent reads:
The Blizzard
The latest trade from what has become the Ghost Machine titles, this is a neat little story of consequences amid a snowstorm. Art is excellent and Johns’ story is good.
Super-Massive 2024
The Massive-verse’s annual crossover event is another fun read with good art, all in a compact package.
2000AD Battle Action
This is an interesting experiment. Some of the riffs are less effective than others, like El Mestizo, others are inspired, Major Eazy as Indy.
The opener, Juves Rule OK, has some very neat satirical swipes in its block gang names, like Dave Cameron Oinkers.
The one flaw for me is they all end on a to be continued note. For some it would be good to have them continued but that’s probably not on the cards.
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I finally managed to get a copy of Kill Or Be Killed!
I didn’t realise the Hulk was in it, but I trust Brubaker and Philips to make it work.
Ok but seriously, I think this is only the second Hulk comic I’ve ever bought (the other being the first Masterwork).
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1949 HC
This first collection of Image’s Paklis by Dustin Weaver was an excellent read, and makes for a great self-contained graphic novel in its own right.
Mixing futuristic sci-fi and 1940s noir, black-and-white and colour, the story is told in an intriguing, dynamic way – getting better as it goes along, with lots of pennies dropping and connections made as the overall shape comes into focus.
In particular the art is really dazzling and beautiful while also telling the story really clearly and effectively, with lots of clever little visual echos between different sections of the story.
There’s also a nice section of extras at the back, with covers, sketches and art process stuff. When the book looks this good, backmatter like this is a real treat.
I’m now wishing I picked up Paklis in singles! Hopefully more collections are on the way.
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Yeah, it’s a great collection. Only oddity was its end felt a bit abrupt but it’s a clever bit of work.
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Some DSTLRY pre-orders:
The Big Burn – February 4th
The Missionary – March 4th
Time Waits – March 25th
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This is gloriously absurd and brilliant – new trade arrived today.
Usagi Yojimbo: Volume 39: Ice and Snow
Collects issues 270 to 274.
Those numbers are amazing. And I know it’ll be page after page of perfect yet deceptively difficult artistry.
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