What comics are you reading now?

[ian_house]

Project SuperPowers TPB of the entire series.

Better than anything the big 2 are doing. period.

I don't know...DC does Fables, via Vertigo...and I'd argue it is the best series on the market these days.

I thought Project Superpowers was pretty poor.

[xodacia81]

Green Lantern 108-114. Nice run. Effigy is an idiot. The Controllers...well, I guess Larfleez took care of them, recently. Am I crazy or is Ron Marz a pretty damn good GL writer?

[Elveen]

I just read Batman Dracula Red Rain. A very dark Batman story. Some graphic parts to be sure. The book has some real drama to it.

Good stuff marvin. Up next is Bloodstorm and Crimson Mist.

[400yrs]

Deadpool Max #1. I kind of liked how it didn't focus on Deadpool. Not something I will buy going forward though.



I'm still very slowly working through Bone. The first 700 pages flew by. Then it started getting more adventury and my reading kind of grinded to a slow idle speed. I think I'm almost 1000 pages in. The ghost circle thing and old man's cave vs atheia isn't as interesting to me as the character stuff in the beginning.

After this, I'm definitely ready to go back to a super hero run.

[xodacia81]

I just read Batman Dracula Red Rain. A very dark Batman story. Some graphic parts to be sure. The book has some real drama to it.

Good stuff marvin. Up next is Bloodstorm and Crimson Mist.

I can't find my copy of Bloodstorm, but I've read that and Red Rain and I agree, excellent but dark and very graphic. Even more violent is Batman/Dark Joker-The Wild. Why? The Joker eats people.

[Elveen]

I just read Batman Dracula Red Rain. A very dark Batman story. Some graphic parts to be sure. The book has some real drama to it.

Good stuff marvin. Up next is Bloodstorm and Crimson Mist.

I can't find my copy of Bloodstorm, but I've read that and Red Rain and I agree, excellent but dark and very graphic. Even more violent is Batman/Dark Joker-The Wild. Why? The Joker eats people.

WOW.

[xodacia81]

I just read Batman Dracula Red Rain. A very dark Batman story. Some graphic parts to be sure. The book has some real drama to it.

Good stuff marvin. Up next is Bloodstorm and Crimson Mist.

I can't find my copy of Bloodstorm, but I've read that and Red Rain and I agree, excellent but dark and very graphic. Even more violent is Batman/Dark Joker-The Wild. Why? The Joker eats people.

WOW.

Yeah. They show it, too. Sipping brains like soup from a spoon after scooping them right out of a skull. Nasty stuff. Moench & Jones, so it is well written and excellently drawn but still...an unsettling story with imagery to match.

[xodacia81]

Green Lantern 114-125. The end of the (1st) Ron Marz run on Green Lantern and a rather odd choice of a swan song. Ok, so Kyle attracted the attention of the Controllers...who decided he had to be taken care of...by...the most obvious sort of mind control. Ho Hum. Some great character moments were weakened by cheap tricks. Marz run on GL worked best when he was telling "honest" tales of daring do or when Kyle was interacting with the women in his life. This just felt wrong.

[OmenSpirits.com]

Project SuperPowers TPB of the entire series.

Better than anything the big 2 are doing. period.

I don't know...DC does Fables, via Vertigo...and I'd argue it is the best series on the market these days.

I thought Project Superpowers was pretty poor.

In what way?

I know the art had to be changed up, but the very ideas that sprang forth where great!

All those comicbook characters that where in public domain were made into really interesting stories.

[ian_house]

Project SuperPowers TPB of the entire series.

Better than anything the big 2 are doing. period.

I don't know...DC does Fables, via Vertigo...and I'd argue it is the best series on the market these days.

I thought Project Superpowers was pretty poor.

In what way?

I know the art had to be changed up, but the very ideas that sprang forth where great!

All those comicbook characters that where in public domain were made into really interesting stories.

Art was cool by me and I thought bringing back public domain characters was a great idea. I read v.1 and a bit of v.2 but the characters never got any deeper or well rounded in my eyes. The books were filled with way too many characters and no way near enough character building. Just couldn't get into it at all.

[400yrs]

The books were filled with way too many characters and no way near enough character building. Just couldn't get into it at all.

I don't like books like that either. Top 10 comes to mind with too many characters and not enough building. Astro City (at the beginning) did that genre the best.

[Heath]

I'm with ian_house on Project Superpowers. I was excited about the revival of all those golden age public domain characters at first. But, I thought the writing was pretty poor. It was quite boring and lacked any depth at all.

[ian_house]

Just read the first four issues of Sandman. I'm really glad I went back to this. The first four issues have been a real pleasure to read as I've been reading some utter crap as of late. Only problem is I'm going to finish this trade in another 2 issues... and then no more! Drat, drat and double drat.

[The Spider]

Project SuperPowers TPB of the entire series.

Better than anything the big 2 are doing. period.

I don't know...DC does Fables, via Vertigo...and I'd argue it is the best series on the market these days.

I thought Project Superpowers was pretty poor.

In what way?

I know the art had to be changed up, but the very ideas that sprang forth where great!

All those comicbook characters that where in public domain were made into really interesting stories.

Art was cool by me and I thought bringing back public domain characters was a great idea. I read v.1 and a bit of v.2 but the characters never got any deeper or well rounded in my eyes. The books were filled with way too many characters and no way near enough character building. Just couldn't get into it at all.

v1 I thought had a fairly good idea/story going, even if they introduced too many characters all at once.

But with v2, the number of characters increased and it became very distracting.

With something like Earth X, Ross and Krueger had the Marvel universe to work with, so people would be familiar enough with decades of characterization to see what they're drawing from. The Golden Age characters, many of them lasted for a decade or less, and the vast majority of them barely had any characterization at the beginning--lots of them were created mainly to cash in on the success of Superman, Captain Marvel, and the like.

[xodacia81]

Just read the first four issues of Sandman. I'm really glad I went back to this. The first four issues have been a real pleasure to read as I've been reading some utter crap as of late. Only problem is I'm going to finish this trade in another 2 issues... and then no more! Drat, drat and double drat.

DC/Vertigo just released a new edition of Sandman, volume 2: The Doll's House. You should pick it up. That story, my friend, is where Sandman becomes Sandman. A serial killer convention, connections to the past, some excellent character introductions and development and hints towards the future.

[Elveen]

So I just finished Batman Bloodstorm, the second part of Red Rain.

Another good story and, again, VERY graphic, VERY.

Good writing, the art is middle, the concept is outstanding.

So looking froward to part III.

[xodacia81]

Green Lantern/Sentinel: Heart of Darkness. A nice little story in terms of interaction between Alan Scott, Kyle Rayner and Jade but otherwise a bit of a "big battle" book. The art was excellent, with dark, moody colors. I do not mean "dark and gloomy, trying to pass for edgy" but honestly moody colors. Some very nice work there. I wanted a little more to the story than a big battle, which is what the last half of # 2 was and all but a page or two of # 3. I think the story could have been stretched to 4 issues or they could have condensed the battle and made it more internal, shortening the book to a 48 or 54 page one-shot. Not bad, but aside from my appreciation to see Alan Scott acting all bad *SQUEE*-which is only early on-there isn't a whole lot to recommend the book except for its place in GL history as the time where the Starheart was defeated, Obsidian began to face his true nature and Jade was depowered.

[OmenSpirits.com]

I'm with ian_house on Project Superpowers. I was excited about the revival of all those golden age public domain characters at first. But, I thought the writing was pretty poor. It was quite boring and lacked any depth at all.

If you look at it like the avengers (Pre-crap of today), the more character studies were done in the individual books, like black terror or the devil.

They're still rather new, and more solo books would add the depth you may feel them lacking.

IMO.

[xodacia81]

Green Lantern 176-181. Nice ending to the volume. Loved the "end" to Major Force. Sadly, his attitude reminds me of some people I've known. I got a kick out of Kyle giving him the General Zod treatement. Ok, ok, his HEAD got the treatement. After the ridiculousness of Raab's work on the series, it was nice to see somebody with half a grip on the characters get things going again. My one gripe is that there were too many dangling questions that just never got answered.

Now, for some grades for the writers of the series:

Gerard Jones: (Emerald Dawn v. 1 & 2, GL 1-47) B+

Ron Marz: (50-114/117-125 & 176-181) A & A-

Dan Jurgens: (115&116) C+

Jay Faerber: (126-128) B+

Judd Winnick: (129-164)A-

Ben Raab: (165-175) C+

Waaaaaaaaaay too many artists to mention. Very few were "bad". Some were simply uninspired. Pelletier, Banks, Bright, Eagelsham and Ross were probably the most dynamic of all the guys who worked on the book. All in all, a very good volume that shows just how true it is that every character and series will have its ups and downs. Final Verdict? A-

[The Spider]

I'm with ian_house on Project Superpowers. I was excited about the revival of all those golden age public domain characters at first. But, I thought the writing was pretty poor. It was quite boring and lacked any depth at all.

If you look at it like the avengers (Pre-crap of today), the more character studies were done in the individual books, like black terror or the devil.

They're still rather new, and more solo books would add the depth you may feel them lacking.

IMO.

I've read them. They do flesh out some things (the new American Crusader was introduced in the Black Terror series, so if you haven't read that, you don't really get much of his character in the main Project Superpowers), but there's lots and lots of characters being introduced that I still have no idea what they're like.

In the first series, there was The Arrow. His one action is integral to the first mini-series, but there's very little about him. He has a completely diminished role in the second series. Then there's other characters like The Owl, Domino, and others that just feel like they're there to fill up space.

Now, I still have some interest in this, primarily because I'd been going through the public domain Golden Age stuff online and could see what things they were deriving from. Plus, the series is not completely bad--there are some good ideas in there.

But I'm hoping they do a much better job of developing things instead of bringing in more and more groups of characters.

[ian_house]

Just read the first four issues of Sandman. I'm really glad I went back to this. The first four issues have been a real pleasure to read as I've been reading some utter crap as of late. Only problem is I'm going to finish this trade in another 2 issues... and then no more! Drat, drat and double drat.

DC/Vertigo just released a new edition of Sandman, volume 2: The Doll's House. You should pick it up. That story, my friend, is where Sandman becomes Sandman. A serial killer convention, connections to the past, some excellent character introductions and development and hints towards the future.

Definitely be looking out for this or a cheap 2nd hand copy. Vol 1 was pretty special.

[xodacia81]

Just read the first four issues of Sandman. I'm really glad I went back to this. The first four issues have been a real pleasure to read as I've been reading some utter crap as of late. Only problem is I'm going to finish this trade in another 2 issues... and then no more! Drat, drat and double drat.

DC/Vertigo just released a new edition of Sandman, volume 2: The Doll's House. You should pick it up. That story, my friend, is where Sandman becomes Sandman. A serial killer convention, connections to the past, some excellent character introductions and development and hints towards the future.

Definitely be looking out for this or a cheap 2nd hand copy. Vol 1 was pretty special.

Indeed. Volume 1 contains one of the most touching moments in all comics, for me. It is in "The sound of Her wings". I think you know the scene. It's where the question "That's all I get?" is asked, and Death replies "I'm afraid so". Just...damn. I will say this, however. As the series develops, the connections to the DCU get less and less, to the point where entire volumes pass by without a single nod or appearance by anyone else except those characters within the Sandman universe.

[Brother J]

finished off Micronauts: The New Voyages #1-20, the books had their enjoyable moments, but the overall story was a confusing mess. You could tell by the end of the run they were getting desperate for sales, as they kept putting Baron Karza on the cover as a sales draw, even though he never really came back as he was dead.

The artwork was mainly by Kelley Jones, so it was pretty good, although it was nowhere near as good as the Batman stuff Jones did later.

[superman-prime]

starting gi joe real American hero

[ian_house]

Just read the first four issues of Sandman. I'm really glad I went back to this. The first four issues have been a real pleasure to read as I've been reading some utter crap as of late. Only problem is I'm going to finish this trade in another 2 issues... and then no more! Drat, drat and double drat.

DC/Vertigo just released a new edition of Sandman, volume 2: The Doll's House. You should pick it up. That story, my friend, is where Sandman becomes Sandman. A serial killer convention, connections to the past, some excellent character introductions and development and hints towards the future.

Definitely be looking out for this or a cheap 2nd hand copy. Vol 1 was pretty special.

Indeed. Volume 1 contains one of the most touching moments in all comics, for me. It is in "The sound of Her wings". I think you know the scene. It's where the question "That's all I get?" is asked, and Death replies "I'm afraid so". Just...damn. I will say this, however. As the series develops, the connections to the DCU get less and less, to the point where entire volumes pass by without a single nod or appearance by anyone else except those characters within the Sandman universe.

Yeah that was pretty touching.

I think the 1st volume really needed those DC references. To show you that the Sandman's world was that of the DCU (at least to start), I think it stops it from seeming pretentious or too 'out there'.