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

[JunkMonkey]

A re-read of the 1994 adaptation of Clive Barker's "Rawhead Rex", drawn by the excellent Les Edwards. This tells the story of a pagan demon that, having been banished in the Middle Ages, awakes in the commuter belt in south-east England and goes on a crazed rampage.

My God, this is grisly. The gore is all over the place, and the monster looks like a cross between a starved troll, a mantrap and a toilet-wall drawing of a penis. Seriously. It's very much an adapted story, with a lot of text blocks, and perhaps isn't that good as a comic, but Edwards is a great artist (there's even a nod to Goya's Saturn Devours His Children as Rawhead does pretty much just that). The realism of the setting contrasts horribly with Rawhead himself. Like the Books of Blood, from which it's taken, it's very good and very, very gruesome.

Avoid the film. It's crap.

Currently I'm working my way through a big mixed bundle of French comics bought on eBay. A few each of Echoes des Savanes, Fluide Glacial, Spirous and A Suivre...s.

I think one of the things I really enjoy about these comics is the diversity within them. One multi-page story will be beautifully slickly world-built, storyboarded, pencilled, inked and coloured - some of the colouring in French books is amazingly beautiful - then the next will look like it was scrawled (and lettered) with a blunt Sharpie on the inside of a cereal packet. I love that.

 

[alexvss]

Rasputin the Patriot. A manga by Junji Ito. A Japanese diplomat is wrongly accused of treason and quickly nicknamed “Rasputin”, the mad monk who brought Russia to its downfall.

It’s not the kind of story that Master Ito usually writes, and it would be a bore in the hands of any other artist; but he manages to make it entertaining with his style. It’s very Kafkaesque; the process that the diplomat has to go through is very absurd and tiresome. There is no horror, but the suspense is high.

I read 5 chapters already, and so far I dig the story. I'm also learning a lot about the Japanese penal system. The weeb in me is very happy^^

 

[alexvss]

Vagabond. A fictional account of the life of the greatest samurai that ever lived: Myamoto Musashi.

It is written and illustrated by manga master Takehiko Inoue, author of Slam Dunk, another massive success. His art and graphic narrative is second-to-none. He’s especially good at drawing characters in moments of extreme emotion, and the battle scenes are very gritty (not to say realistic).

The story is also great. Musashi (who didn’t have that name yet) and a childhood friend are survivors on the losing side of the Battle of Sekigahara (1600). It doesn’t take long for his friend to betray him.

I’m 15 chapters in, and I think I’m in for a treat!

 

[Swank]

Vagabond. A fictional account of the life of the greatest samurai that ever lived: Myamoto Musashi.

It is written and illustrated by manga master Takehiko Inoue, author of Slam Dunk, another massive success. His art and graphic narrative is second-to-none. He’s especially good at drawing characters in moments of extreme emotion, and the battle scenes are very gritty (not to say realistic).

The story is also great. Musashi (who didn’t have that name yet) and a childhood friend are survivors on the losing side of the Battle of Sekigahara (1600). It doesn’t take long for his friend to betray him.

I’m 15 chapters in, and I think I’m in for a treat!

Great series!

 

[dask]

Finished 140 and starting 141.

 

[Yozh]

First volume of Delicious Dungeon by Ryoko Kui. A humorous manga that riffs on D&D and Zelda "Breath of the Wild." A small adverturing party learns to cook the monstrous creatures the encounter while on a quest to rescue their friend from the belly of a dragon. Recipes are adaptable to real life!

 

[Eversummer]

The Old Guard by Greg Rucka and drawn by Leandro Fernandez

 

[Venusian Broon]

Finished 140 and starting 141.
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Speaking as a physicist, with a little understanding of momentum, velocity etc...


That plane in the first comic shouldn't bother firing. It's going to hit the jeep in about 0.1 seconds killing everyone.

 

[Vladd67]

Finished 140 and starting 141.
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Why has Sergeant Rock got a lieutenant 's bar on his helmet in cover one?

 

[Dan Jones]

Vagabond. A fictional account of the life of the greatest samurai that ever lived: Myamoto Musashi.

It is written and illustrated by manga master Takehiko Inoue, author of Slam Dunk, another massive success. His art and graphic narrative is second-to-none. He’s especially good at drawing characters in moments of extreme emotion, and the battle scenes are very gritty (not to say realistic).

The story is also great. Musashi (who didn’t have that name yet) and a childhood friend are survivors on the losing side of the Battle of Sekigahara (1600). It doesn’t take long for his friend to betray him.

I’m 15 chapters in, and I think I’m in for a treat!

Sounds brilliant, I might look that up!

 

[Vladd67]

Amazon have the complete set for a mere £243.94

 

[Swank]

Why has Sergeant Rock got a lieutenant 's bar on his helmet in cover one?

Not only that, but he is referring to himself in the third person!

 

[HareBrain]

That plane in the first comic shouldn't bother firing. It's going to hit the jeep in about 0.1 seconds killing everyone.

Might just be perspective -- the scene could have been shot from a great distance with a very long lens.

I've grown wary of this since I saw a photo of an absolutely enormous moon behind Glastonbury Tor and ran to hide in my basement.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Might just be perspective -- the scene could have been shot from a great distance with a very long lens.

I've grown wary of this since I saw a photo of an absolutely enormous moon behind Glastonbury Tor and ran to hide in my basement.

A bit off topic, but there is that moment when the moon rises and is just coming over the horizon and it looks, for some reason, much bigger. Although it isn't.

 

[dask]

Why has Sergeant Rock got a lieutenant 's bar on his helmet in cover one?

He was promoted and spent the rest of the issue trying to get his stripes back.

 

[dask]

edited.

 

[dask]

Not only that, but he is referring to himself in the third person!

Are you referring to 140 or 141? I’m asking because from what I can tell in 141 Rock is speaking in the first person (if I’m wrong I apologize) and in 140 he isn’t speaking at all.

 

[Swank]

Are you referring to 140 or 141? I’m asking because from what I can tell in 141 Rock is speaking in the first person (if I’m wrong I apologize) and in 140 he isn’t speaking at all.

I was joking with Vlad. Rock is the passenger, the guy with the bars is his boss and is addressing him.

 

[alexvss]

Gigantis. A horde of rats that assimilate everything they eat invade the island of Tsushima, southwest of Japan, causing it to go on lockdown.

It’s a stylized zombie breakout. The rats eat everything that lives and assimilate them, fusing into monsters that resemble John Carpenter’s The Thing. Imagine a body with a horse face, antlers, branches and leaves, all covered in fur, with praying mantis’ legs throughout the body, and two or three human heads sprouting, crying and screaming like crazy, all of this mingled together in an asymmetrical way (the manga uses that word a lot). And there you have it. That’s the usual zombie in this world.

It’s made by the same illustrator from Terra Formars (the manga with the craziest synopsis ever made), and the resemblance is immediately seen. It’s very dark and gritty his previous work, and it may very well replace violent manga like Gantz and Jagaaan (and Terra Formars itself, which went on hiatus for seven years now).

The first chapter (66p) is a gorefest. It’s when the outbreak happens, and that’s always been my favorite part in zombie shows. The following chapter starts with a time skip, which is a little sad because I wish I’d seen more of the outbreak,

I’m expecting the protagonist to develop some kind of power to fight the monsters. He’s been injured, and will probably be able to control the virus (or whatever it is that’s causing all this craziness).

I stumbled upon this by chance, and now I’m very excited about reading it!

 

[dask]