Rolling Comic Book thread 2017

Agree. He has the same effect on me as Warren Ellis. I dig the fruitiness but find reading him a struggle.

I'm undecided on Ales Kot. He's definitely heavily-referential wrt works/creators that are not often referenced in mainstream comics, which can be cool in moderation but which has limited mileage if you aren't bringing enough of yourself to the table to offset it (see also: Marguerite Bennett's Marvel work, which repeatedly pulls me out of the story with all the fourth wall-breaking 'guys, I just alluded to another work of classical literature!' on every other page).

I think Ellis does some good straightforward plot work now, not just the mad doctor giggling as he throws out *real truth* or things he finds intriguing at the page. I think he’s kind of deep into the stage where he wants to make things screen-worthy

Kot was kind of fun in a way where I didn’t mind the lack of plot coherence or point but now it’s a slog through having half an idea and throwing interesting things he’s read in a haphazard way on the page and what should be interesting is just a boring exercise. There’s not a “do you see?!?” point, even

I read the two Zero tpbs. There was some segments and parts that were really interesting but that comic is so all over the f-ing place, it turned into a big mess.

Warren Ellis has some projects where he is just trying stuff out, but he's got a pretty solid bibilography of good comic work over the years. I'm sure Kot probably is a fan of him or not... I'm probably a trade behind but The Trees and Injection were both pretty good reads, just hopefully Ellis FINISHES the darn story.

Prophet by Brandon Graham and quite a few artists is one of the better scifi books that Image has done. It's got just boodles of good weirdness compared to that Zero comic.

Drifter is also a strange scifi comic. I don't half know what is going on, but I have liked it enough to play along.

Problem that scifi comics have is similar to crime comics, it's kinda hard to compare to the bunches of crazy novels out there in those genres. You got to either have some serious visual flair or a really good story. The thing about many of these scifi comics is that they seem to often be a mash of other movies/manga etc.

i have disappeared into the endless forest of hajime no ippo which, only 25 of 118 tankōbon in, is clever and fun and beautifully drawn and compelling and thank god only occasionally despairingly racist/homobphobic/sexist
fanlation is VERY rough but the real joy is found in the epic one hundred page boxing matches.

in between though, I've found a few other things worth recommending:
- Steve Skroce's Maestros which reads like a lost alt-universe new x-men and boasts impressive quitely/darrow aping art
- Head Lopper wrapped up its second arc very welll
- Gaby Bell's Everything is Flammable is a great diary
- Paolo Bacilieri's Fun is a great story done in Matt Howarth style
- new Locas shorts in L+R are primo as per always
- Michel Fiffe's Zegas is good enough that i probably need to retry Copra; it never clicked for me

King has completely found his stride with Batman btw, the current Supes/Bats Lois/Catwoman storyline is excellent

I'm also enjoying King's Batman run, but can't tell if he's in a groove or just repeating pleasant shtick.

xp i concur. randomly read those two issues, loved it. need to catch up on the preceding storylines

definitely enjoy Brandon Graham, his stuff has always had an idea of what he’s going for, and you get some level of investment in all of it, the goofy cat/cheesecake stuff include pd

Kot ['s work] seemed up himself, smug for references, and poor reading when I looked at it four years ago

Latest Trondheim (reading in French) is his usual slice-of-life slacker stuff but with a sci-fi twist. Digging so far.

Image has put out some pretty wacky scifi comics over the past few years.

― earlnash, Friday, 29 December 2017 00:52

ODY-C looked really odd but I wasn't into the art enough.

I bought Arclight recently. Churchland is talented but there's something not working for me, maybe I'll know what when I have another look.

wouldn't mind hearing more about that trondheim. what's it called?

Also, it's my hobbyhorse, but anyone into fantasy sci-fi who hasn't read "Donjon"/"Dungeon" really should!

I got halfway and took a (too long) break, so I'm gonna have to start from the beggining again, which is not a tragedy. This years resolution is to finish Dungeon and 20th century boys finally.

wouldn't mind hearing more about that trondheim. what's it called?

It's a new Lapinot (McConey) album, called Un Monde Un Peu Meilleur. Main plot is Lapinot and his buddy make the acquaintance of a guy who works as a test subject for competing pharmaceutical companies (which is illegal) and as a result of taking too many different meds can see people's auras. I really enjoyed it, especially the beautiful Paris backgrounds - Trondheim has the mix of fanciness and dirt of that city down to a t. It's also very Paris 2017, as at some point in the plot there's a punch-up including some Arab characters and this immediatley gets misconstrued as a terrorist attack - cue shock attack troops, news crews reporting false rumours, leftist protesters jeering at said news crews and some bigoted idiot showing up w/ a plan to lure them out with bacon perfumes.

the mcconeys are good! wish fanta had kept up with releasing them.

Rolling comic book thread 2018