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Post by newt5996 on Oct 10, 2022 13:38:35 GMT
Flashpoint: The second big let’s reboot the DC universe story and honestly it doesn’t feel like it. Johns writes the story to focus in on Barry Allen as a character which is a great decision and it moves at a really fast pace so it’s easy to read and enjoy but there really could have been a sixth issue to flesh out some of the world that’s necessary for understanding the major conflicts of the event itself. Yes, there’s a ton of tie ins but you don’t get those tie ins when you just buy flashpoint as a single book and they really shouldn’t have crucial information in them. Overall a great story that kind of needed one more issue and maybe another page to really establish the new universe
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Post by Digi on Oct 10, 2022 16:05:19 GMT
Hoorah, caught up on Star Wars comics up to right before all the current (ie not yet finished) story arcs in each book! Been a ride, I've been quite enjoying it. Flashpoint: The second big let’s reboot the DC universe story and honestly it doesn’t feel like it. Johns writes the story to focus in on Barry Allen as a character which is a great decision and it moves at a really fast pace so it’s easy to read and enjoy but there really could have been a sixth issue to flesh out some of the world that’s necessary for understanding the major conflicts of the event itself. Yes, there’s a ton of tie ins but you don’t get those tie ins when you just buy flashpoint as a single book and they really shouldn’t have crucial information in them. Overall a great story that kind of needed one more issue and maybe another page to really establish the new universe Pretty normal for crossover events...
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Post by newt5996 on Oct 10, 2022 16:29:13 GMT
Hoorah, caught up on Star Wars comics up to right before all the current (ie not yet finished) story arcs in each book! Been a ride, I've been quite enjoying it. Flashpoint: The second big let’s reboot the DC universe story and honestly it doesn’t feel like it. Johns writes the story to focus in on Barry Allen as a character which is a great decision and it moves at a really fast pace so it’s easy to read and enjoy but there really could have been a sixth issue to flesh out some of the world that’s necessary for understanding the major conflicts of the event itself. Yes, there’s a ton of tie ins but you don’t get those tie ins when you just buy flashpoint as a single book and they really shouldn’t have crucial information in them. Overall a great story that kind of needed one more issue and maybe another page to really establish the new universe Pretty normal for crossover events... Normal sure, but not necessarily the best for storytelling when not all the tie ins necessarily remain in print or can even be longer than the event (the podcast has my thoughts on this phenomenon in regards to this story).
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Post by newt5996 on Oct 27, 2022 18:17:12 GMT
The Flash: Move Forward - The first volume of the New 52 Flash run and one that honestly has a lot of potential for adaptations that just haven’t happened, like at all. I mean I know Flashpoint is the more popular story and quality wise it’s better, but this volume is one I enjoyed almost equally and the ideas it deals with are almost more compelling.
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Post by newt5996 on Nov 7, 2022 14:38:18 GMT
Catwoman: When in Rome - My third miniseries from Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale and perhaps the weakest. Still brilliant, especially with some of Sale’s best art in the mix while Dave Stewart’s colors are just gorgeous, but there is the slight issue of this being a midquel so we know where it’s going (though you could read it as a stand-alone and be perfectly fine)
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Post by Digi on Nov 13, 2022 18:15:33 GMT
Blew through a bunch more Star Wars comics the last couple days. This should, I think, bring me up to date on all the current-era titles to right before the next big crossover event kicks off next week and I have to pause again for a few months.
(I don't tackle big pre-planned publishing initiative / crossover-type events until they're finished, or else I'd never remember what happened at the start by the time it finishes publishing)
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Post by newt5996 on Nov 21, 2022 19:24:17 GMT
Batman: Under the Red Hood - A massive 13 issue arc that brought back Jason Todd after his decade dead and in a grave. Judd Winick does some amazing character work and analysis as to how death has changed both Bruce and Jason as people, with the context of Stephanie Brown also being dead leading to Bruce’s depressive spiral is brilliant. Sadly it isn’t perfect, the middle of the story goes off the rails in places and the annual just isn’t very good (it has no consistent characterization which is a shame)
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Post by newt5996 on Dec 5, 2022 14:32:22 GMT
The Dark Knight Strikes Again: Terrible. A contender for one of the worst pieces of media I’ve consumed. Miller doesn’t understand or like many of his characters and the thesis of the book is that Superman needs to become a fascist god king to save humanity.
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Post by newt5996 on Dec 19, 2022 16:44:52 GMT
Batman: Endgame: The other big Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo Joker story and honestly I think this one is better than Death of the Family. Over the course of six issues is this brilliant tragedy that deconstructs Batman as a character and really takes the time to ask questions about why the Joker would do what he’s doing while structuring everything like a Greek tragedy. This is also an arc that feels like the ending despite three volumes being after it. I also read Graveyard Shift but that’s some really nice individual issues that feel like the background connective tissue of this run.
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Post by Sir Wearer of Hats on Jan 5, 2023 8:43:10 GMT
Been reading DCeased…. Obviously with a zombie story you worry that the characters you care about might get turned (and WOW so so many characters get turned) but when you read characters saying things like “what’s that noise?l or “what’s thar in the distance?” you just know everyone in that room is very dead (and not just undead) because… {Spoiler} Zombie Wonder Woman is coming. She is legitimately the scariest thing in the book.
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Post by newt5996 on Jan 16, 2023 14:38:15 GMT
Forgot to mention what I’ve read in the last few weeks:
Suicide Squad: Trial by Blood - Not exactly what I was expecting but all the better for it. Doing a team book made up of basically all C list villains is honestly a stroke of genius and John Ostrander really gives a sense of purpose to all the characters he uses (and they’re honestly all really interesting). Issue 4 in particular resonates as a timeless story and this run really should be put in the same category as 1980s comics that forever changed the medium like Watchmen and The Sandman.
Suicide Squad: The Nightshade Odyssey - The second volume’s a slight step down, mainly because the titular story goes to some really weird places that just make me uncomfortable (hi issue 15). This one also features a Doom Patrol crossover where the Doom Patrol is played as basically normal superheroes and honestly I don’t like that as a concept at all. Still Ostrander is a great writer and the rest of the collection has some amazing moments and set pieces.
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Post by grinch on Jan 18, 2023 11:36:45 GMT
Stargirl: The Lost Children #3
The central mystery of this series continues to intrigue me and I must say, I’m still a sucker for Golden Age material. Even if a lot of these characters have been newly introduced.
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Post by Kestrel on Jan 19, 2023 9:44:14 GMT
I don't really read many comics, so I can't really say much about it, but tonight I finished reading Far Sector. I really liked it.
Some of the larger panels -- especially the action scenes -- were kinda hard to make out. Maybe I'm just not used to full-color comics? They're just... too busy. But the story was really interesting. Would love it if this wound up expanding into a series, with each book exploring a different world in this "frontier" region. (A conceit I found very welcome because I know next to nothing about all that Green Lantern stuff.)
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Post by newt5996 on Jan 30, 2023 14:46:45 GMT
All-Star Superman - This is honestly the perfect Superman story and has so many interesting ideas packed into its 12 issues that gushing about it on the podcast for three hours feels like we’ve only scratched the surface of what Morrison has done with the character.
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Post by grinch on Feb 3, 2023 23:52:44 GMT
Giving Radiant Black a look. In this overstayers market, it is admittedly hard to make superheroes unique but I’m really enjoying this so far.
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Post by newt5996 on Feb 13, 2023 15:46:11 GMT
Shazam! By Geoff Johns aka From the Pages of Justice League, Shazam! - This is a bunch of backup stories but somehow they actually tell a really nice story about family. Billy Batson as a character is also just the perfect little sh*t as Johns examines the idea of what it should mean to be pure of heart. Black Adam as a villain is also great and the conclusion is especially great that it’s a genuine shame that this wasn’t an ongoing story.
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Post by newt5996 on Feb 27, 2023 14:40:05 GMT
Justice League: The Grid and Trinity War - Again by Geoff Johns and this is perhaps the weakest portion of his Justice League run. This is supposed to be what the New 52 was building to (at least initially) and Pandora is built up as a villain when she really isn’t. The issues that focus on her are great and interesting but everything else kind of falls by the wayside. And of course it doesn’t help that it doesn’t actually end with a conclusion
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Post by newt5996 on Mar 13, 2023 14:35:03 GMT
Batman: Knightfall - This is a classic story arc and a classic story arc for a reason. The back half of the first arc slightly falls flat in places since it ends on a note that genuinely feels like it’s wrapping up which does not work when you realize that there’s Knightquest coming which is just as long. Bane as a character is utterly fascinating and the way he beats Bruce is something that’s not really been adapted at all well, plus you see Bane without the mask which is also just fascinating. Also Tim Drake as Robin has clearly not fallen into the Jason Todd problem of writers not knowing how to develop him which led to Death in the Family. Obviously 1/3 of the writing staff leaves a weird feeling since he’s well Chuck Dixon.
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Post by newt5996 on Apr 2, 2023 21:57:42 GMT
Batman: Knightquest - The second leg of the Knightfall saga is the weak one. It fails in a very interesting way, mainly getting the character development of Azrael basically past the point of no return at the end of Knightfall so his Crusade is actually really boring and the storytelling is circular. But the podcast episode we did was way too fun.
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Post by newt5996 on Apr 10, 2023 13:35:31 GMT
Batman: Knightsend - The end of the arc manages to salvage some things about the whole thing, though Knightsend itself has a lot of issues due to the fact that Knightquest was so spread out and had so many diversions that just didn’t need to be there. The Prodigal arc is more interesting though not quite living up to its full potential of having Dick Grayson as Batman in the premise.
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