What comic books/graphic novels are you reading at the moment?

[ratsy]

Finally reading Saga volume two, and TMNT volume 4. Both really good.

 

[Rafellin]

Enjoying East of West immensely.

Copperhead is well worth your time, if you like your sci-fi with a cowboy frontier edge that doesn't entirely reek of Firefly.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Finally reading Saga volume two, and TMNT volume 4. Both really good.

Saga's great, it just gets better and better

 

[WaylanderToo]

Nice thread here... I have to be honest and say that a lot of the Marvel/DC stuff doesn't do it for me on paper (loving the various films though) I'm currently getting my way though a lot of European stuff quite possibly culled/influenced by Heavy Metal magazine... to that end recent and current faves:

Lanefaust of Troy series
Ythaq series
Rat Queens series
Forests of Opal series
various Legenderry & Lady Mechanika issues

I've got waiting to be read
Grimm Fairy Tales
numerous 2000AD

I'll post up more suggestions/faves as I get to/remember them

 

[JunkMonkey]

When I'm not struggling to improve my French by reading Valerian and Adèle Blanc-Sec, I'm currently enjoying the vast quantities of ancient out-of-copyright American trash over at http://digitalcomicmuseum.com

I can heartily recommend this story as one of the most surreal, pointless, little, fever dreams of a comic story I have ever read. (And I've read the complete works of Fletcher Hanks.) I love it:

http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/preview/index.php?did=5064&page=11

 

[ratsy]

I'm reading the revamped TMNT micro-series with four seperate turtle stories. It's pretty entertaining. Also reading Saga volume 2 still because I forgot about it

 

[WaylanderToo]

Sillage (or Wake or Armarda) is a cracking read

as is The Mercenary (I think that there were 10 of these...)

 

[WaylanderToo]

just started reading "The Collected Dork Tower" and it's got me in stitches - I suspect that if you've never rpg'd you may not find it as funny but if you have go find it

 

[Anushka Mokosh]

I've mostly been reading manga comics lately and that is quite a list of ongoing stuff so I'll just stick to western comics. I've been reading Death Vigil, Sunstone, and Blood Stain. I've finally gotten around to reading Old Man Logan and it is every bit as good as I was told. I've been planning to start Injustice since it came highly recommended by a friend, but I've never really been much of a DC fan.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Vertigo has often been the place of choice for high quality mature reader output. One of the biggest reasons for this is the fact that they allow a tale to be told and finished and do not seem to push for more and more, with creative teams coming and going, except in the case of its. (Hellblazer and that has now gone.)

From the days of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman this has been the case and it is something it has thrived on, through The Invisibles, Preacher, Y The Last Man and more. It has almost become customary for a final issue to offer something a little special, and why not the conclusion of a full story spanning over five or six years deserves a celebration. Normally this extends to a double-sized issue, sometimes a few full page spreads by artist fans…

So what do you do when your longest running series, popular and successful comes to an end?

Fables has run longer than any other ‘complete story’ series. 150 issues.

That’s thirteen years and does not include any of the offshoots – one off specials, Jack of Fables series, the Cinderella limited series, Fairest novels and graphic novels.

Like many other such series Fables has lent itself to being an overall story made up of smaller stories told over a number of issues. Each smaller story is gathered as a graphic novel, so you can collect series of said novels. As far back as Sandman these things have sold well. (People still feel better buying GN’s to comic books!)

Fables has been no exception so how did it go out?

Issue 150, the final issue is a graphic novel. So it is also Graphic novel 22 in the Fables series.

Is this a fitting way to end a series, I’m not so sure. As someone who has read Fables since the offset and have every issue in original form, it seems a bit odd to see a graphic novel sitting there. I had to pay a full GN price for it too. It was also not very well publicised, the local comic shop guy had to order it specially after we realised what was going on.

Could it not have been a special issue?

What is in it?

It is not a single sized story.

It has about an average length story that ties up Fables, then a number of short strips drawn by various artists, telling the ‘last’ story of various characters from the 149 issues of Fables that have gone before.

So I’m not too keen on the method of publication and would have preferred another issue or two of the regular series that could have been combined into a graphic novel in the normal fashion.

That being said the story is superb.

For those not in the know Fables is the story of all our favourite characters from fairy tales and nursery rhymes, even some characters from fiction that have grown into popular culture. They have been hiding amongst us for years, having escaped to our world when a tyrannically ruler conquered the multi-dimensional homelands and forced them to flee to our mundane world.

Hidden though they are by magic and misdirection the time is coming when they will have to face the tyrant once more…

This is the way the series starts and soon surpasses that. There are those who could rightly draw comparison between this and the tv show Once Upon A Time, but this is done with more depth and detail, with more love and care, a good eight years before the show was even considered and without the financial constraints that a TV show faces.

Created by writer Bill Willingham the series has been almost consistently drawn (unusually) by Mark Buckingham, not only making is a beautiful looking series, but also one of the most consistent.

The finale is a worthy end to the series, bringing together the last few threads that really need addressing, the duel between Flycatcher and Prince Brandish, the coming war between Snow White and Rose Red, the missing piece of Bigby’s soul and the confrontation between near all-powerful witch Totenkinder and super-secret agent Cinderella.

There is one major surprise, but everything ends in a manner that is fitting and satisfactory to someone who has read the series from the get-go.

If there is any little thread left dangling it was done to feed our imaginations, or so we are told. Willingham says that like all stories he has reached the end of what he has tell and is now letting it free to fly in the realms of the imagination, for all the readers to enjoy again as they take it in whatever direction they desire.

The extra run of stories – the last stories are like epilogues and I’d almost argue that they are not needed. Especially the one about Gepetto…

But that’s just me.

There have been far too many series that have ended and don’t quite feel as though the end has been as good as the build up.

Fables has side-stepped this well, giving a finish it deserved and the readers deserved, while the readers although given a resolution are left to feel that their favourite characters are out there still, living their lives passing through worlds.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Good piece thanks Tim, I've often considered Fables but never done anything about it and you've got me considering again!

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Next up for me is Saga Vol 5, delivered today

 

[JunkMonkey]

Currently giggling myself stupid over the first Dr McNinja Omnibus

http://drmcninja.com/newreaders.php

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Just had Postal by Matt Hawkins delivered, after reading very good reviews and seeing some of the artwork I decided to give it a go. Here's a detailed review I found:

http://www.tuffgnarl.com/comic-book-review-postal-tpb-vol-1/

I've just read the first few pages and it has me gripped so hopefully looks like its going to be a good read

 

[Overread]

https://www.comixology.co.uk/Requiem-Vampire-Knight/comics-series/27517

Reading Requiem Vampire Knight - I have to say the artwork in this is really outstanding. A very dark gothic feel to it with immense detail. If I were to liken it to another I would say that it draws inspiration from the gothic Warhammer style artwork of skulls and suchlike ;but with enough talent to have its own distinct style.
The story is well paced and interesting with a dark edge to it with a very anti-hero in the lead position living in the undead world that operates almost in reverse.
Well worth reading I would say even if just to see the artwork alone.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Just had The Tithe delivered by Matt Hawkins, read the first 15 pages and it's excellent. It's a heist story with a twist, more info here:

https://imagecomics.com/content/view/the-tithea-heist-story-unlike-any-before

 

[JonLaidlow]

Mike Mignola's Hellboy in Hell, for me. Wonderful stuff, though the last few "big" Hellboy stories have all been very dense and allusive. If you're feeling flush, the "Hellboy Library" hardback editions are amazing - oversize, beautifully bound, and containing two of the regular paperbacks. The most recent collect the three part story drawn by Britain's Duncan Fegredo, whose Hellboy is as rich and impressive as Mignola's own art.

 

[Overread]

So whilst there's a huge number of comics easy to get this month (new thread on that just above) I have to say the read of the month goes to Soulfire
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Soulfi...uZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC9pdGVtU2xpZGVy

With an artistic style and story structure that makes me think this is what you get if you cross western 80-90s animation with anime. Futuristic setting with a heavy injection of magic which results in massive flying dragons of metal and winged dragonfly-like people and more.
Honestly well worth checking out - there's a free first issue that gets you some idea (and thankfully doesn't spoil the story at all). I've only read through volume 1 (linked) but there's several more volumes and spin-off/short story series out for it. Well worth checking out!

 

[WaylanderToo]

just stumbled across this and am really enjoying it

 

[Overread]

Just made my way through Child of the Storm https://www.comixology.co.uk/Child-...V4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC9zZXJpZXNTbGlkZXI

I'd heartily recommend it! Great artwork that fits to the story and quite a saga of events which twists and turns and covers quite a considerable amount of time within the world despite being quite a "short" comic series. It makes use of time-jumps so there might be months or sometimes years between panels; whilst this can seen "rushed" in some peoples eyes in this series it works. The events are setup that we can see the natural progression of events and the time between can be imagined by the reader quite readily and without difficulty; whilst at the same time presenting enough tid-bits and key plot points that we want time to advance because we want to find out what happens.
A bittersweet tale in the end but one I'd recommend strongly.


I've also finished Death Vigil https://www.comixology.co.uk/Death-Vigil-Vol-1/digital-comic/297269 which I also (even more strongly) recommend reading. It's a modern twist on the whole "Death wears a cape and carries a scythe" angle, although in this one she also carries an mp3 player. The series is rather unique in that by the end not only does it wrap up the main plot-line but it also presents a very key sub-plot that is not resolved at all. Most series like to wrap it all up; this one leaves you hanging and waiting for the next series of comics. It's got some upbeat humour mixed with some dark characters and some twisted individuals. A lot of fun to read!