Books.

[dsrtao]

Finished: _Invincible: Eight is Enough_ and _Tech Jacket_ by Robert Kirkman. More good tales of Invincible (Elizabear liked the first volume, too) and what appears to be the complete run of _Tech Jacket_, the story of an alien cyborg symbiont and its pet teen human. (Not really, but close enough.) Sample monologue: "Stupid Geldarians. I wouldn't even BE looking for my parents if they hadn't needed me to save their entire stupid civilization." I will continue to look for Kirkman.

Comments

[hungrytiger]

Have you tried his "Walking Dead" trades yet. It's his take on the Zombie genre. I'm not usually a fan of that kind of thing, but I find that I'm always rushing to get the next issue becasue his characters are just so compelling that I need to know what happens to them next. Of course, given the genre, many of them keep getting killed... for which I say, Damn you Kirkman!

Skip his Marvel Team Up stuff though, it's pretty generic Marvel comics fluff. Although the issue where Invicible gets thrown into the Marvel U and meets Spider-Man is pretty funny.

[dsrtao]

Thanks, I've just ordered _Walking Dead_.

So -- a previous anonymous poster opined that I was spoiled by only reading Good Stuff, and that not grovelling through years of Marvel mush and DC dregs ruins my potential appreciation for the merely mediocre. (I suspect that Mr. Anonymous, traced to a NYC cable modem address, might work in the comics industry.) As one of the two most voracious comics-readers I know (the other being jducoeur, of course) -- would you say that's true?

[hungrytiger]

Possibly true, but I don't think it's a bad thing. Are we supposed to have an appetite for the mediocre? If a book is worth reading, it's worth reading. If it's not, it's not. There's enough good material out there to make reading bad stuff a waste of time and money.

It's probably important to differentiate between "mediocre" and "worth reading" though. Just like movies, there are plenty of "quality" comic books that critics might like, but aren't much fun to read. OTOH, there are "mediocre" books that can be lots of fun. If you refused to read any Marvel/DC stuff out of hand and only read indy books that were lauded by the critics, I'd be concerned. But since I suspect that you probably get a kick out of fun and well-written "popcorn" comics, I wouldn't worry.

Here's a mental test: If I offered you a cheesy comic that I said was disposable fluff, but was amusing enough to be worth checking out, would you be interested or pass. If you were unwilling to read the fluff then you might be turning into a snob, if you give it a read to see if it's any good, then your fine.

And while we're on the topic, here's a light-weight but fun recommendation for you. Runners by Sean Wang - http://www.seanwang.com/ It's a genre space-opera story about a group of alien smugglers being chased by a variety of people (think Firefly meets Star Wars). It's a good example of a fun throwaway comic - fun to read and well done, but nothing to sing songs about.

[dsrtao]

Here's a mental test: If I offered you a cheesy comic that I said was disposable fluff, but was amusing enough to be worth checking out, would you be interested or pass.

I mostly operate on recommendations, so I'd certainly take a look at it.

Incidentally, I think I have a fair grip on the classic Marvel (FF, Hulk, Spiderman, Daredevil, X-Men, Avengers) origin stories and early adventures, and a lesser grip on DC (Superman, some JLA, Batman, Crisis on Infinite Earths). But I don't bother looking for any of those except when someone says "Hey, Kevin Smith wrote a year of Daredevil, here's the collection." Watching Nothing At All Happen (Peter Parker fights Green Goblin. Peter Parker fights Doc Ock. Peter Parker is worried about Aunt May's health. Peter Parker has a fight with Mary-Jane. Everything is resolved at the end of this six-issue arc.) is boring.

[hungrytiger]

Sounds right to me. One of the nice things about the industry today is that most things that fall into the "worth reading" category are usually collected into trades. Makes it a lot easier to wait until you know that something is likely to be worth your time. And even with good writers, they tend to get repetitive after doing it for a couple of years - JMS's Spider-Man comics were pretty creative at first, but I stopped buying it when it felt like he was starting to phone it in.

On the DC front, I'm a big fan of good writers doing interesting takes on the history of the DCU. Some strong recommendations would be:

DC New Frontiers by Darwyn Cooke (a two volume set) - It's a sweeping epic of a story set in the 1960s just as the big heroes are coming onto the scene (but before the JLA). Much of it focuses on a young fighter pilot named Hal Jordan before he becomes Green Lantern and the martian J'ohn J'onzz trying to figure out how to fit in with human society. Some very nice work about what heroes mean to people and one of the best things I read last year

The Golden Age by James Robinson - Another DC history, this one deals with the 1950s and the House Unamerican Affairs Committee shutting down the older generation of masked heroes and how those heroes deal with it.

Starman by James Robinson (10 volumes) - Sort of a followup to Golden Age, this is a great comic about the son of the original Starman being thrust into the family business despite having no interest in being a superhero (he's an antiques dealer by trade). A reluctant hero story that's much more about the dynamic between fathers and sons than it is about superheros. In terms of history, there have been 9 DC characters that used the name Starman since the original character was introduced in the 1940s (plus a Starwoman and a Stargirl), Robinson works them all into the story at one point or another, along with lots of other use of older characters. Plus, like Sandman or Babylon 5, the comic was planned out with a closed arc from the beginning. It's my all-time favorite comic book (and I can led you the set of trades if you want as 10 trades is a lot to pickup).

The current JSA series (9 trades so far) - Started during the Starman run, this a a new comic that has older heroes teamed with 2nd generation heroes (some are the kids of older characters, some are people using the names of older heros in tribute). One of the best team dynamic books I've read. There's a scene in one book where they're having a team meeting about current threats and it felt just like the superhero version of my office's weekly status report meeting - with most characters being more concerned about what food should be ordered than the information being presented. (again, I can loan these to you if interested)

[dsrtao]

I've ordered the New Frontiers -- I would be very pleased if you would loan me the Starman books. Thanks!

[jducoeur]

Yep, I'd echo all of those recommendations; JSA is one of my current top DC books. (The other being Legion of Super-Heroes, which is a longtime favorite of mine that has gotten to be fun again in its latest reboot.)

That's just DC Universe, mind: my *real* favorites are all over at Vertigo, which is probably my single favorite imprint nowadays. No real clunkers, and they publish several of the best books out there, including "Fables", which is probably my favorite book from any of the majors. I'm also quite fond of "Lucifer" and "Books of Magic", but both of those have such elaborate continuities by now that I don't know that I'd throw someone into them. And of course "Y -- The Last Man", which, while not my favorite by style, is a very intriguing exploration of a peculiar scenario...

[jducoeur]

It's his take on the Zombie genre.

Speaking of Kirkman and Zombies, I'm just getting up to his latest piece of high weirdness: Marvel Zombies. It's a delightfully warped miniseries that asks the question, "What if there was a zombie plague among the superheroes?" Utterly bleak and totally demented -- I think I'm going to wind up rooting for Galactus to end up eating this, perhaps the most failed version of the Marvel universe ever...

[hungrytiger]

I took a look at it, but decided that skimming it in the store was preferable to actually buying it and reading it through (it having failed my personal "worth reading" yardstick).

BTW, not having been following the Marvel Ultimate titles (see previous yardstick), I only just found out that the whole "Marvel Zombie" world actually spun out of an alternate universe storyline in Ultimate FF. I have to admit, finding this out actually made me less interested in picking it up.

FYI on the Ultimates, I did recently pick up the trades for "The Ultimates" (the new version Avengers). It's pretty fun and I do like the way they're messing with Avengers history.

[jducoeur]

Yeah, I've been trying to avoid getting too sucked into the Ultimates myself -- I have enough to read already. I have let myself buy the Warren Ellis stuff (since I'm always fond of his writing style); that's kept me slightly informed about the structure of that universe, which is enough for the time being...