The Comic Book Tab

style over substance

03-31-09

Here are a couple pages from a new manga that I bought last weekend -- 'Ito Junji's Cat Diary'

Junji Ito is best known for his horror manga such as Uzumaki, Gyo, Tomie and Flesh-Colored Horror. This is the first non-horror comic that I've read by him but then, he's always had one foot planted firmly in absurd humor. 'Cat Diary' is about Ito, his wife, and his pet cats Yon and Mu.

In this sequence we see the author fighting (and almost losing to) Yon for a fish. It's a good sequence to show because you don't need to be able to read Japanese to get what's going on.

{note that you're supposed to start reading it from the top right-hand corner of the right page}.

The Killing Joke

calm as hindu cows.

03-31-09

Anyone else keeping up with Dark Reign? I can't wait for Dark Avengers 4, Marvel did the first three issues very well.

Lennon

Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?

03-31-09

Look at page 4, I'd love to chat some Dark Avengers stuff with ya.

__________________
I used to be addicted to crystal meth, now I'm just addicted to Breaking Bad.

Originally Posted by Yoda

If I were buying a laser gun I'd definitely take the XF-3800 before I took the "Pew Pew Pew Fun Gun."

The Killing Joke

calm as hindu cows.

04-01-09

Originally Posted by Lennon

Look at page 4, I'd love to chat some Dark Avengers stuff with ya.

Any favorite moments thus far? I highly enjoyed Norman telling Bob that The Sentry doesn't really exist, sharing his similar experience as Green Goblin. I also loved the battle between Doom/Avengers and Morgana.

You wouldn't happen to be reading Battle for the Cowl, would you?

Originally Posted by Iroquois

Superman: Red Son by Mark Millar et al

The basic plot of Red Son is an alternative history of Superman comics (and by extension the world at large) by having young Kal-El crash-land in the Soviet Union instead of in Smallville, U.S.A. (as per the character's actual continuity). I have to say, I really enjoyed it a lot - all the little details and references, not to mention a strong plotline and an ending that was so shockingly well-done it sent shivers down my spine.

Highly recommended.

Excellent novel. I really loved Batman in it. I never get tired of him whooping Superman with under-handed tactics.

Last edited by The Killing Joke; 04-01-09 at 04:46 AM.

Lennon

Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?

04-04-09

Originally Posted by The Killing Joke

My favorite moment, definatly when they first encounter Morgana, it went a little something like that.

IRON PATRIOT (AKA NORMAN OSBOURNE)
My name is Norman Osbourne, leader of the Avengers Miss Fay! We're here to ask you go back to where you came or face us head-on!

MORGANA LE FAY
I've battled Avengers before Noble Knight.

IRON PATRIOT
Not like u, you haven't. Surrender or Leave

MORGANA LE FAY
Or what?

IRON PATRIOT
Bob, you have my permission..Don't hold back.

(Senty flys down and rips her f!@#in head off!)

And sadly, I'm not really into Battle for the Cowl. I love Batman, he's one of my all-time favorites. I just don't like Grant Morrison so never got into R.I.P, so I think I'd be lost in BFTC. I have however, been reading Batman Confidential.

Lennon

Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?

04-05-09

The Boys �We Gotta Go Now� (Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, Oct. 2008 � April 2009)

So where do I start? I guess sometime in late September when I overheard a few people talking about The Boys being made into a movie, and how it would have to be Nc-17. I said something about how I should pick up an issue and my comic book guy saying something like, �I�ll probably never sell The Boys to you, your mom would kill me.� Being younger I translated that into, �Woah dude, this is awesome. Steal it if you have to!� So I picked up issue Twenty-Three and read it.

Finished it before the car even got home, actually. I liked it, but thought that the plot went into like 4 directions, so I just bought the issues as they came out and waited to read the story arc all at once. Which is the way I think most comics should be read. Because the books come out once every month, and sometimes you just can�t remember who did what, and having to re-read stuff over and over again can get kind of annoying.

It�s actually really good, better than I expected. And that�s saying something, because I love most things Garth Ennis puts out (PUNISHER!!!!) I even like �supes� being parodied (X-Men shall never be the same.) I even liked some characters that turn out, rather, unlikeable. They seemed like guys you just want to party with. I liked how the characters seemingly went all different directions with the plot each getting a good 5 pages per issue, but towards the end they get back together. Right after that, you get not one, but two �HOLY SHIZNIT! I MIGHT NEED THERAPY AFTER SEEING THIS!� moment from Ennis, which is one of the best HSIMNTAST moments, one because of what we don�t see, and another because of how short it was.

The art�s not to shabby either. Darick Robertson is pretty good. I really did like BORN, which he also did with Mr. Ennis. He drew some VERY awesome explosions, which trust me, come in handy towards the balls-to-the-wall ending. My only problem with his art is the lighting. I mean people are REALLY shiny in this. Eh well, once you get into the darker lit places, it�s less noticeable.

All in all, combining action, comedy, and even a bit of romance makes for one awesome adult read. I�ll be sure to add #1-22 to my collection soon.

The Boys: We Gotta Go Now is collected from issues #23 - #29, or in Trade paperback coming sometime in July �09. And be sure to check out HEROGASM #1 sometime in May.

Avixion

BANNED

04-05-09

Lennon

Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?

04-05-09

So, any thoughts on that?

Sleezy

Msg

In the Beginning...

04-17-09

Random question...

Does anyone own The Tick: Omnibus?

Lennon

Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?

04-24-09

MARVEL'S CIVIL WAR (MARK MILLAR, STEVEN MCNIVEN #1-7, July '06 - Jan. '07)

I always start with why I actually decided to read whatever book I'm reviewing. I mean what seperates this from something say, New Avengers vol. 5? Well I started by reading that and just told my comic book guy "Okay, wasn't Captain America and Iron Man friends, ya know, last issue? What happened?" He answered in two words: Civil War. I had read The Road to Civil War beforehand, but didn't care for it much. Some things just didn't add up there, but my ultra-hatred for Spider-Man might have blinded me a bit on that. It's just, I dislike that character so much, the only good thing about his book is that one of my favorite villians, Green Goblin (Norman Osbourne) and my favorite anti-hero, The Punisher both got their starts there.

But back to CW, the premise is interesting. After a devastating accident involving masked heroes killing hundereds, Congress decides to pass the Superhero Registration Act with Iron Man being one of the first to sign and the head of their cause. Spider-Man still stuck so far up hit a$$ you can probably see him starting to come out the other side. As you can imagine some are opposed, mainly Captain America, heading an opposition with unseen help from Nick Fury.

Mark Millar does have talent for coming up with ideas. He starts off huge and never really lets up, plot wise. We go from nearly-leveling a city, to, oh wait, nearly-leveling a different city. But still, I liked where it started, where it took us, and what it's leading into. We even get heroes that I dislike (Fantastic Four) and taking them in interesting directions, mainly Sue and Johnny against the act, Reed and the Thing staying for it.

I like how the event ties in the whole Marvel U and everyone from Captain America, Iron Man, and Spider-Douche to Speedball, Hercules, and The Punisher are all tied in, it's just that can be to much to handle. Luckily, they pair up as two teams beautifully so it's easier to keep track. Even if you still get the, what-seems-to-easy-writing-off of hard to take down characters like Daredevil, I can't complain much.

Millar's main flaw here is the dialouge. Some of it is just comes off unnatural. Like the Punisher, he doesn't make sarcastic witty comments like "Jeez. You two wanna get a room?" he doesn't talk much at all. That's what made Ennis' MAX so great. No talking, all ass kicking. Especially later, when our two teams meet, the whole "spy situation" was horribly written and didn't seem like it mattered in the long run. I wanted more betrayals then I actually got.

Steve's also a very talented person though. You can see some great moments of artwork (my favorite being Punisher's introduction) with great character designs, even if I do prefer the more realistic look. Even the fight scenes look great, another thing I can't complain about. Only problem, Iron Man looks actually kind of dirty, like he's never even washed the thing before, but that might be the colorist's fault, Captain America looks like he just smelled something horrible contantly, and Spider-D's new costume makes him look like something straight out of a kid's drug induced nightmare.

More or less, this is a really good book and I liked what it accomplished and what happened.

P.S. if you ask what side I'm on, I'm on the fence. I think that training Superheroes is a very good idea before they're able to get out there. But shooting, killing, arresting them? Bad idea.

Lennon

Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?

04-25-09

Pure greatness.

linespalsy

style over substance

05-06-09

I've been reacquainting myself with some manga lately, andd the teen drama/comedy/sports titles by Mitsuru Adachi are my favorites right now, particularly his baseball classics, Touch and H2.

Here are a couple pages from Touch, which is about twins Kazuya and Tatsuya Uesugi (one's the school baseball star the other's an archetypal slacker-who-could-be-more) and their childhood friend/potential love-interest Minami Asakura. Pretty charming characters but it's Adachi's sense of visual rhythm and irony that brings it all together. Touch is pretty canonical if you're interested in getting into manga, too. I don't really care about sports at all, so you don't really need to be a baseball dork to get into it.

Lennon

Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?

05-08-09

I love the serious take on Punisher. Pure greatness.

Lennon

Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?

05-16-09

As we all know, I friggin’ LOVE the Punisher MAX series. I’m slowly trying to get all the single issues, which with the way my holds lookin’, I’ll get there somewhere between when pigs fly, and hell freezing over. Garth Ennis was seriously born to write the Punisher, and all his story arcs were pretty good (lowest rating is a B-.) And I’ll be the first to admit, the book hasn’t been the same (Girls in White Dresses was pretty bad,) but this is actually really good.

P.s. Dave Johnson draws some good covers. (Especially #70)

TONGO

Unregistered User

05-19-09

Wow Sedai I'd no idea this thread existed! Please if you could merge the "Favorite Comic Story" thread with this one Id appreciate it. Sorry again guys.

Originally Posted by Lennon

Pure greatness.

Funny bit on the original Punisher limited series. Mike Zeck the awesome artist you see on these covers was a slow artist. Though his artwork was jawdropping Marvel was fed up with his work being submitted late, and had someone else draw the last issue. Im pretty sure they got someone else to write the last issue too as the artwork and story took a sudden noticable decline in the last issue. A great big FFS for what would have been a flawless limited run...like the original Wolverine limited series by Frank Miller.

Frank Miller actually got the Punisher noticed before this limited series. He did a one shot writing drawing stint on an Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15 where Spidey fought Punny and Doc Ock, and Doc Ock fought both. Then Miller had Punisher in his Daredevil run for a few issues. If you havent read these find a reprint cause theyre exceptional.

Last edited by TONGO; 05-19-09 at 08:38 AM.

Lennon

Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?

05-19-09

But the threads aren't too similair. It's like how we have a Movie Tab thread, and a My Favorite Movie thread.

Iroquois

Welcome to the human race...

05-23-09

The Crow by James O'Barr

__________________

Originally Posted by Yoda

I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.

Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Lennon

Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?

05-24-09

Justice Society of America: Between a Rock and a Hard Place (2009, Geoff Johns, Jerry Ordway, #23-25,)

Ah, Justice Society of America, a pretty damn awesome book. Like one of my favorites probably. Geoff Johns being the only writer to JSA I’ve ever known. With this story arc (and one issue) he’ll be gone and Jerry Ordway’ll be doing pretty much a one man show of writing, and drawing.

This was a good arc though, for being as short as it was. I mean we’re coming off the 24 issue (that’s two YEARS, our time) Thy Kingdom Come, and the eleven issue One World Under Gog, so anything’s going to seem really short, but what I loved about Geoff John’s writing, was that he essentially introduced Black Adam during OWUG, and TKC, making for less of an introduction needed.

The story behind this, is that the once so nice f’in-flowers-would-bloom-behind-her Isis, is now corrupted after being kidnapped, and put under a a spell. Black Adam finds her, and she is now as evil as Adam is, they also corrupt Mary Marvel (Captain Marvel’s sister.) They get the Rock of Enternity, which Capt. Marvel’s protecting, and want to start the world anew, with them being the Adam and Eve.

To be honest, these 3 issues kind of scared me. Not as in, holy **** Black Adam’s about to pop someone in the jaw, scary, but it makes me fear for the future (until August) of JSA. I mean you can tell there’s a sudden jump in quality from this story arc, from the past arcs, and only one thing’s changed since then. Jerry Ordway. It says he “helped” write the issues, which pretty much means he wrote them and Geoff Johns just had his name on it or something, at least I’d like to think that. But the main thing was his art, now I’m not saying he was bad he just drew people like they were on a drug binge.

All in all, I liked it, but it’s not an OMFGYOUMUSTREADNOW book.

Rating:

Lennon

Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?

05-24-09

Oh and Tongo, didn't see you edited it, and yup the artist/writer did change in Punisher #5, it went to Jo Duffy, but Steve Grant is credited with the plot. I think Mike Zeck was going to turn it in late, but Mike Vossburg is credited with "finishes" so, take that as you will.

Ps I have Spider Man Annual #15 drawn by Frank Miller, and Daredevil #182-184. And did you see the cover to Punisher #5 this month? Look familier?

They've been doing this for the whole run.

Last edited by Lennon; 05-24-09 at 12:26 PM.

Lennon