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Faceplams: Two more of those McFarlane Incredible Hulks arrived today... just 3 more to go of those.
I've decided I want the '88 UK Death's Head series now too...
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Two more of those McFarlane Incredible Hulks arrived today... just 3 more to go of those.
I've decided I want the '88 UK Death's Head series now too...
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First issue isn’t out until July 21, but still worth talking to your shop to see if they can reserve a copy for you.Originally Posted by allegate
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it's not out for another month and a half?!
damn you Ryan!
but thank you, that will make it easier to find a copy I hope.
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Started reading Planetary while waiting at hospital and I'm through the first two books. It seems disjointed at times and also that there's a bigger story coming. I guess the one bad thing of long-form comic books is that it's harder to seed ideas in the art because the artist changes so that even if something was hidden in the background of one of the books then it's impossible to know that it was important because your eye is focused on the words. Easier to do that in a moving picture like a tv show because you can look around while you listen.
The book with Superman/Wonder Woman/Green Lantern was weird. It was a lot like the rest: here's a microcosm of a story that doesn't have a beginning or end, just a middle and then it's over.
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Read both volumes of Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. and I only finished the second volume for completion's sake. The "oh I'm a secret agent monster look at me I'm just keeping secrets from everyone!" is on full display here. No one cares when it happens, and there are no consequences to anyone afterwards. Well I guess one person quits but she's barely in it anyway so oh well.
The monster keeps getting called Frankenstein and it isn't until the second volume you get the whole "I'm not actually called Frankenstein" thing except instead of "call me Spartacus" or whatever you just get moody emo Frank and "I'm a monster!" with different thesaurus entries related to monster.
Just the worst kind of comic writing. and the art! it changes from "ok I'll accept this" to "four arms plus BOOBS".
I just wanted a break from the Annotated Sandman (halfway through the four volumes, that's a lot of story. not so many annotations though...very disappointing) and I should have picked something else.
FATUM NOS IUNGET
DC has announced two new halloween themed series, one a 12 issue maxi-series and another ongoing... Task Force Z, which makes sense...they needed a way to bring Bane, Arkham Knight, et al back from the dead after A-Day. And DC vs Zombies which is basically a next phase of DCeased. Pumped!
FATUM NOS IUNGET
Oh also, anyone into horror comics? Highly recommend the new DC Black Label series 'The Nice House on The Lake'. Only two issues into it and it's already just so fuckin' good. The ending of issue #1 blew my mind.
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DCeased was so strange. They had two stories being told concurrently: one where Supes was bitten and one where he wasn't. There were other differences but that was the big one. Well that and the fact that one story ended and the other did the 2nd act thing of 'ending' but also seeding things to potentially continue the story. And yes I know that 'officially' the stories happen at different times but they released them together.
Also the speed with which people turned varied depending on what the writer wanted to happen. Black Adam turns in a split second whereas Supes is able to hold it off because of his metabolism? sure. Lady Shiva has time for a heart-felt monologue AND rip her own heart out? oh why not.
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Good to hear! I have the first two issues sitting in my enormous pile of unread comics.
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those What If X-Men storylines look awesome!
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I mainly picked them up for fill up the order to make the shipping worth it for that Hulk comic (it was cheap, but shipping was not...). There are a few more of the X-Men related What If...'s from that era I wouldn't mind having but not a priority. Just some fun stuff.
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Matador de Froot Loops
I love Comic Tropes, one of the best comics channels on youtube right now.
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Read all of these yesterday. I'm all for alt-history but this went off the rails so many different times that I just lost track of everything. I guess I should have been taking notes? The constant one-sheet of blank pages - like six in a row at times - was just too much pretentiousness. It's a collection, you can get rid of those things? I guess they wanted to preserve the original intent but fuck if I know what that intent was.
The theme of "losing every time you think you're close to winning" was very prevalent, as was the theme of "winning because why not the universe is fucking chaos man". There was one character I really liked and I'm sad at how dirty they played him.
There is a lot of minor references to things that exist in the real world (I particularly liked the Demon Core reference) but it was just a little too alt for an alt-history story. entire storylines that took place in someone's head - many pages were devoted to this! - and then the whole "losing every time you think you're close to winning" happened as soon as it was resolved. what the jiminy cricket hell was up with that.
edit:
I guess I'm glad that even Patrick Rothfuss thought the same thing?also, lol at this last bit:I'm really uncertain what sort of ranking I should give these books in terms of 1-5 stars.
Because the truth is, this volume is very well written, well-plotted, there's good tension and character development. Good action. It's funny and odd and suprising in turns.
But I've read all six volumes of this comic, and I know at the end of the series, *none* of the plots that are being spooled out so carefully here come to satisfying fruition. There's no closure.
Now if this was just a story in progress, this wouldn't be much of an issue. My series *will* have an ending, for example. So will Jim Bucher's. Those aren't stories lacking closure. Those are stories where the closure is yet to come.
If there was more to come in this series, I'd trust them to bring this around to a good ending. Hickman is obviously a skilled writer. (Sandman, for example, took a lot of turns that must have seemed like pointless digressions partway through, but Gaiman *nailed* the ending of that series.)
But after doing some research, it seems like this comic initially stopped at the end of Volume 4. Later, they rebooted it for volumes 5&6 (which were *hugely* different) and then it stopped again in 2016.
This seems to be a particular issue with comics I read. How should I rank stories that are brilliant beginnings to stories that will never have an end? Stories that are kinda like Firefly?
It almost seems like I should start another category for them here on goodreads. Things like Fell, Ignition City, Dr. Sleepless. Or Zelazny's Merlin books that are missing the 5th and final volume?(Fair warning: Responding with snark or bitchiness about my third book in the comments will be happily met with me blocking you.)
Last edited by allegate; 10-21-2021 at 11:35 AM.
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A while ago I a documentary for fun about the comic-book shop in the face of the digital revolution:
I have a son now and can't wait to introduce him to this stuff.
Last edited by acoz; 12-08-2021 at 09:14 AM.
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As I go through these, I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying The Incredible Hulk (330 - 346) run and Grey Hulk in general. And then I think to myself, this is kinda like Fight Club and then I'm like... Edward Norton as Grey Hulk.
I'm also never going to watch a Venom movie that doesn't follow the McFarlane origins... I mean, get Peter the alien suit, have him reject it with force (and how it hides) and pick up Brock's newspaper disgrace and the his subsequent fall into despair and how they find each other and the hatred for Peter... none of this other bullshit.
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I actually recall the first time I read a Hulk book as a kid, it was Grey Hulk. That was the era...probably the very early 90's. a couple issues later he was green again and it made my 5 year old self upset. the Hulk was supposed to be Grey damnit! (of course, I didn't know he was actually Green lol)
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Well, you had Rick Jones as Green Hulk as the same time as the emergence of Grey Hulk, until Bruce cured Rick and then no more Green Hulk until the Grey Hulk is done (and then... pink fuzzy bunny slippers)
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Got the comic itch again so ordered a bunch of Essential X-Men collections from ebay. I used to have them years ago but sold them, sigh. Looking forward to their arrival. Love the Claremont/Byrne era in particular. I have volumes 1-5, 7 & 8 coming. Tracking down vols 6, 9, 10, and 11. Apparently, 9, 10 and 11 are quite pricey and harder to find. Same with 6 it seems, but not as bad...
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Re-read the Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special... I don't need to keep that one.
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Same here. I got me most of Astro City, having heard great things about it. I also ordered the "Century" collection of The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen and received the first Hellboy compendium as a gift for X-Mas. So, as soon as I'll finish this first volume of The Department Of Truth, I know what to do...
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itch grew....downloaded Marvel Unlimited and loving reading books on my Pixelbook in tablet mode. I was always a fan of 80's/90's art, but thought I didn't like the art in newer comics....well, I'm dead wrong. Loving it!! I'm reading two:
Hawkeye (2012 series) since I recently finished the show and holy crap is this great. Loving the dialogue and humor. 8 issues in and like it wayyyyy more than the show
Marauders- 7 issues in and am so hooked. I've always been an X-Men guy and having not read any arcs since the mid 90's this has been a very welcome treat. Used to really dislike Kitty (excuse me, Kate) but she has now become a favorite thanks to this series!
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Stubby Member
is there an actual reason for banning Maus? it's such a great work and one of my favorite graphic novels i've ever read! I took a graphic novels and comics literary course in college and was assigned Maus to do a read and report on. still to this day it's one of the best assignments I ever had to do!
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I read that one school district objected to Maus because of naked images among other things. They said that they weren't against teaching history, like the holocaust, but that they wanted to do so in a more "age appropriate" way. It's all bullshit.
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