At 7/24/16 01:31 PM, aviewaskewed wrote:

At 7/23/16 08:37 AM, TheMaster wrote: Here was the damage in the end.

Interesting mix there. I myself just got the last two volumes of Cerebus to complete the series for my collection. Great stuff there and I've decided I'm going to start again from the beginning before reading the last two.

Made a start on them over the weekend.

Batgirl is okay, don't think I'll stick with it unless I spot vol 2 for cheap.

Paper Girls is great, will definitely pick up the next volume when it's out. I have no idea what's going on yet, and I love it. Great sci-fi mystery shenanigans.

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow wasn't actually as great as I remembered, but it's still good, and the inclusion of a Moore Swamp Thing/Superman crossover I didn't know existed is nice.

Ms Marvel is also great and I've already ordered the next volume. I don't usually go for standard superhero stuff, but I'm definitely into a hipster Muslim girl beating up robots made of garbage. Anything to shake up the usual formula a bit.

I LOVED Gotham Academy, though, which might be a bit concerning since I think it's aimed at teenage girls even moreso than Ms Marvel or Batgirl. Huge Buffy vibes from it, which is like crack to me. Already anticipating withdrawal as there's only one more volume out at the minute.

It keeps happening.

Also that Killing Joke adaptation was a bit rubbish, wasn't it?

At 7/27/16 06:45 PM, TheMaster wrote: It keeps happening.

Long Halloween and Gotham Central are both great.

Also that Killing Joke adaptation was a bit rubbish, wasn't it?

Didn't see it, but really, the original one is a bit bare bones to begin with.

At 7/31/16 11:23 AM, aviewaskewed wrote: Didn't see it, but really, the original one is a bit bare bones to begin with.

They literally just stuck an unrelated Batgirl short on the front. 30 minutes of original content, then into the actual book for the remaining 45.

Then they added a few fight scenes, since characters just talking is too boring I guess, so Joker is delivering these monologues while Batman has a fist fight with some midgets and a bearded woman, then delivering them in between dodging blows and hitting Batman with chairs.

It's not good.

Went to the shop to try and buy the TPBs of Grant Morrison's New X-Men run.

They didn't have it, but I had a little browse while I was there.

Long story short, I'm down £120.

At 8/20/16 01:52 PM, TheMaster wrote: Went to the shop to try and buy the TPBs of Grant Morrison's New X-Men run.

Ah New X-Men....starts so strong, falls apart so hard by the end. Nu Marvel for the most part I think was great until the corporate parent started to pay a little more attention again and went "whoa! What the hell are you fuckers doing to our potential movie licenses?!"

At 8/20/16 05:16 PM, aviewaskewed wrote:

At 8/20/16 01:52 PM, TheMaster wrote: Went to the shop to try and buy the TPBs of Grant Morrison's New X-Men run.

Ah New X-Men....starts so strong, falls apart so hard by the end. Nu Marvel for the most part I think was great until the corporate parent started to pay a little more attention again and went "whoa! What the hell are you fuckers doing to our potential movie licenses?!"

I've never actually read it. I just like everything else I've ever read from Morrison, and fancied giving X-Men a go since it's not a franchise I've ever really looked at beyond the first two films.

I did manage to grab 3 Academy X books from eBay today after someone recommended them. Super pleased since they're all out of print, and I got the lot for £10.

At 8/21/16 02:16 PM, TheMaster wrote: I've never actually read it. I just like everything else I've ever read from Morrison, and fancied giving X-Men a go since it's not a franchise I've ever really looked at beyond the first two films.

I do recommend it. I won't lie, it does fall apart bad by the end, but the ride up until that is still so so worth it.

I did manage to grab 3 Academy X books from eBay today after someone recommended them. Super pleased since they're all out of print, and I got the lot for £10.

That I had not read. I grew up comics wise on The X-Men for the most part, and the cartoon in the 90's, but that franchise has definitely been a victim of it's own success for years now.

This "All-New" Wolverine is a bit different to the one I remember.

The 2000th issue of 2000 AD fell through my letterbox this morning. I started reading 2000 AD at issue 1913, which was nearly 2 years ago now. Still to read this issue, but if the recent issues have been anything to go by, it should be a good one.

This is the only comic book that I've stuck with for more than a few issues, although it mabe has an advantage in that it's an anthology comic book, so it varies quite a lot. I picked a good time to get into it too, because back then they also started releasing 2 hardback editions of classic Dredd stories each month and I'm up to 46 volumes of those now out of the planned 80.

I'm not sure how easy it is to get hold of 2000 AD issues outside of the UK, but if anyone hasn't tried these out it's well worth a go. £2.55 for an issue and there's also the monthly Judge Dredd Megazines which are about £6 an issue.

Love me some 2000 AD

At 9/24/16 06:31 AM, Dean wrote: Love me some 2000 AD

It's something I've always meant to give a go.

The ongoings I'm reading at the minute, either as floppies or as the trades come out, are:
Batgirl
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey
Supergirl
Raven
Doom Patrol
Spider-Gwen
Gotham Academy
Southern Cross
Paper Girls
Ms Marvel
All-New Wolverine

And I'll be picking up Teen Titans, Mother Panic, Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye and Shade, The Changing Girl once they start.

Writing it all down it's super teen/female heavy. I'd better pick up some manly shit like Dredd to balance it out.

Sad news, Steve Dillon has passed away.

A talented creator, artist, and from all reports genuinely nice and generous guy. Preacher is one of my favorite stories, I really enjoyed his Hellblazer, and Punisher runs (also with Garth Ennis). 54 is too young and I really feel for his friends, family, and other fans.

Some more lovely things arrived.

Gotten mad into the X-Men lately. Read Morrison's run and some of the more dodgy recent stuff with Jubilee becoming a vampire and that, and now I'm ready to dive into Claremont's run.

Also hyped for Motor Crush next week, the new book from the team that did the recent Batgirl reboot. Really enjoying the new Doom Patrol and Shade series at the minute too.

At 11/12/16 05:17 PM, TheMaster wrote: Gotten mad into the X-Men lately. Read Morrison's run and some of the more dodgy recent stuff with Jubilee becoming a vampire and that, and now I'm ready to dive into Claremont's run.

Some of those must be reprints right? Especially that Giant Sized X-Men I see there....otherwise you have obscene amounts of money for this hobby that I never shall :)

At 11/13/16 09:29 PM, aviewaskewed wrote: Some of those must be reprints right? Especially that Giant Sized X-Men I see there....otherwise you have obscene amounts of money for this hobby that I never shall :)

They're omnibuses, not singles. Hard to tell from the angle, but they're massive books.

At 11/13/16 09:57 PM, TheMaster wrote: They're omnibuses, not singles. Hard to tell from the angle, but they're massive books.

Oh, well that makes a LOT more sense then. Hope you got a good deal, Marvel has been liquidating a lot of Ombinuses (Omnibi?) lately

Since the Doctor Strange film did well, are they going to change his comic? I remember they did something similar when the Avengers film came out.

Got a £50 voucher with my new phone contract so bought a cheap-ish 10.1" tablet so I can read digitally and hopefully prevent my floor collapsing from the weight of comics.

That Marvel Unlimited is pretty great value, isn't it? Shame DC doesn't do something similar.

Don't think I've ever bought (western) comics before, so I chose these three to start off. Definitely excited to finally read Watchmen.

At 12/24/16 11:41 AM, Jackho wrote: Definitely excited to finally read Watchmen.

Have you seen the film? Great comic and the film is really good too!

I actually picked something up recently myself; Realm of the Damned. This was being run in the Judge Dredd Megazine and was always the highlight of each issue for me, so when I saw that they'd released it as a standalone I had to get it. Also got a big maxi sized poster of this which is hanging above my monitor. Unsure how well known this is outside of the 2000AD circles, but it must be doing alright because I read somewhere they're planning on creating an animated movie version of the comic too.

Basic premis is these death metal guys bring back a vampire and Van Helsing has to save the day. It's bloody, they swear a lot and it also features an apperance from The Damned (iconic British punk band). What's not to like?

At 12/24/16 11:41 AM, Jackho wrote: Don't think I've ever bought (western) comics before, so I chose these three to start off. Definitely excited to finally read Watchmen.

If you enjoy the two Moore books, I can't recommend his run on Swamp Thing enough. Without a doubt my favourite comic of all time.

You'd want to read a little pre-Moore Swamp Thing to get the full impact, but even just the original Len Wein run which is the first 13 issues would do it, and that's really good as well.

At 12/24/16 02:18 PM, Absurd-Ditties wrote: If you enjoy the two Moore books, I can't recommend his run on Swamp Thing enough. Without a doubt my favourite comic of all time.

You'd want to read a little pre-Moore Swamp Thing to get the full impact, but even just the original Len Wein run which is the first 13 issues would do it, and that's really good as well.

Recommend both of those, if you like Moore, you should also give Neil Gaiman's Sandman a try. Probably the best comic ever written as it is rich and layered (though you won't find that in the first few stories, they are good, but don't really hint at the promise to come. "The Sound of Her Wings" is the first real taste of that). I've recently been picking up Lucifer and enjoying that as I'm super late to that party and getting a bit disillusioned with the current mainstream.

If you want to try something with super heroes, but a little more high brow, I'd recommend Starman by James Robinson as it's more a story of Fathers and Sons (particularly fathers and sons who don't seem to have much in common), also following out of Civil War if you dig it, you should give the follow up run of Thunderbolts a try as that book was turned completely on it's head and became very "Suicide Squad" esque off of Civil War. Also I'd recommend picking up a collected edition of the original Suicide Squad by John Ostrander and Jerry Ordway (I think it was Ordway), I think there's a couple volumes out now, a lot of the newer runs I feel like miss what made that book and concept work. Can't go wrong with the original though.

At 12/25/16 11:24 AM, aviewaskewed wrote: you should also give Neil Gaiman's Sandman a try.

Speaking of Sandman, Christmas just happened.

With it being the Christmas holidays and all that I've been working through the small backlog of 2000AD and Dredd Megazine issues I've built up since November and it has me in the mood for evem more comics. One of the really cool things about the Judge Dredd Megazine is that every month it also includes a free mini trade, but because I'm usually already backlogged on issues I tend to skip over these. Now I have 25 of them that I can read through over the holidays (pic below, probably potato quality).

Basically, 2000AD and the Dredd Megazine are anthologies, so there's multiple different series going on in each issue. These mini trades are typically old series that were split across several issues; reprinted in one book. It's cool because now I've got a really varied pile of comics I can read through.

Also, just noticed the post about Marvel Unlimited @Absurd-Ditties (never going to get used to the new username) and that might be perfect for me! I've been wanting to get into Marvel recently, but had no idea where to start and the physical releases are pretty pricey. You can get a years membership for less than the price of 1 omnibus. That seems crazy. Although like you did, I'd probably need to get a tablet to go along with it. Think I'll look into that now!

At 12/29/16 01:52 PM, Dean wrote: Also, just noticed the post about Marvel Unlimited @Absurd-Ditties (never going to get used to the new username) and that might be perfect for me!

Had to unify my brand. This was the only site I ever used TheMaster on, and Doctor Who is a bit shit these days anyway.

I've been wanting to get into Marvel recently, but had no idea where to start and the physical releases are pretty pricey. You can get a years membership for less than the price of 1 omnibus. That seems crazy. Although like you did, I'd probably need to get a tablet to go along with it. Think I'll look into that now!

I found Marvel way harder to get into than DC. They don't have reboots like Crisis or Flashpoint where they abandoned continuity (which makes them great jumping off points for new readers), so it's technically all still canon.

For example, I read New X-Men from the mid 2000s, and there's stuff in there which is a direct continuation of a story arc started in Claremont's X-Men run in the early 80s. They give you enough flashbacks and recap to know what's going on, but it still seems mental to me to be tying in so closely to stories from over 20 years ago. Probably amazing if you've been following for years, but really off putting to a new reader.

At 12/29/16 02:34 PM, Absurd-Ditties wrote: Had to unify my brand. This was the only site I ever used TheMaster on, and Doctor Who is a bit shit these days anyway.

Toy Dolls > Doctor Who

I found Marvel way harder to get into than DC.

I feel like Marvel Unlimited will sort of negate the issue for me. The big thing that always put me off wanting to get into Marvel (and DC) was the sheer amount of stuff and not knowing where to start. Combine that with the cost of physical books and it felt like too much of a gamble for me to be adventurous with it. I'd spend so much time trying to research the best books to buy that I'd get fed up with it. Now I can pick and choose at will without hoping I've not made a bad decision.

Also pleasantly surprised by the smart view on the app. It makes reading comics on my phone possible, so now I'll finally have something to do during my lunch hour at work other than aimlessly browse the web! Although I bet the next big decision for me will be whether or not I should get a 10inch tablet like you did...

At 12/29/16 04:13 PM, Dean wrote: I'd spend so much time trying to research the best books to buy that I'd get fed up with it. Now I can pick and choose at will without hoping I've not made a bad decision.

Image is actually a really good shout if you want something easy to jump in to. Series are standalone, not bogged down in a larger universe, and the trade paperbacks are dirt cheap compared to the big two. Paper Girls and Monstress are probably my favourite two books going at the minute.

At 12/30/16 12:20 PM, Absurd-Ditties wrote: Image is actually a really good shout if you want something easy to jump in to. Series are standalone, not bogged down in a larger universe, and the trade paperbacks are dirt cheap compared to the big two. Paper Girls and Monstress are probably my favourite two books going at the minute.

Another nice thing about Image is the money goes directly to the creator (unless it's something like Spawn). They pay a flat fee (the same for everyone) to get the book published and get the Image marketing and press coverage and push behind the book....but anything they make after that goes all back to the creator(s).

At 12/30/16 07:24 PM, aviewaskewed wrote: Another nice thing about Image is the money goes directly to the creator (unless it's something like Spawn). They pay a flat fee (the same for everyone) to get the book published and get the Image marketing and press coverage and push behind the book....but anything they make after that goes all back to the creator(s).

Neat, didn't know that. Probably why their output is a lot more varied and unique than others too

At 12/30/16 12:20 PM, Absurd-Ditties wrote: Image is actually a really good shout if you want something easy to jump in to.

Not to become a 2000AD sales rep, but when it comes to that sort of stuff they've got me covered. Each issue (or prog, as they call them) usually has 4/5 different strips on the go. One of those will always be Dredd related, but the other 3/4 could be anything. It's extremely varied. A lot of them aren't even in the Dredd universe. Every once in a while, all strips running in the issue will be at part 1 and they usually advertise these as jumping on issues, because you're not picking up an issue that's already half way through multiple stories.

The Judge Dredd Megazine is in the same format, only it's monthly instead of weekly, has more pages and is considered more adult rated than 2000AD. Real of the Damned, which I posted about recently, was originally run in the Megazine and I'm still seeing people write in to complain about it in the letters section. Some people seem to think it was too graphic and used too much bad language, but I thought it was great.

Anyway, the main reason I'm taking an interest in Marvel (and to a lesser extent DC) is because as varied as 2000AD is, they never seem to do superhero stuff. At least not in the traditional sense. I saw the first Thor and Captain America movies the other week on TV, and while they weren't anything amazing I did enjoy them and it made me want to take more of a look into the Marvel universe. I'm currently considering getting all of the MCU films on blu-ray and watching through them, but I know that'll leave me wanting more. I'm nearly done with my 2000AD backlog and after that I'm going to check out Marvel Unlimited while they've got a 2 month for the price of 1 offer on.

Semi-related, but I've also been playing Lego Marvel Super Heroes on PC and been enjoying it. Fun game in it's own right, but it's also proving kinda useful for introducing me to characters and giving me a basic understanding of their powers. There's a lot of them (think there's 180 featured in the game) and I'm assuming some of these are more obscure, but it's interesting.

And that turned into a much longer post than intended.