Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

i ready the first 15 issues or so too and really liked it but my ocd kicked in and felt i should learn more about the characters i was reading

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

This past week, I've read through the first three volumes of the most recent Illuminati version of New Avengers. Outside of the Infinity tie-in stuff, the series is really well done. I'm fascinated with the end-of-the-universe setup and looking forward to reading the fourth volume: A Perfect World, which should arrive today. Time Runs Out apparently does not get published in TPB for a few months unfortunately, so I have to wait a while to catch up how it all plays out leading into Secret Wars.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

I haven't posted to this thread in a while, but I've been reading quite a bit. Here are some of the highlights from the last few months:

She-Hulk by Dan Slott: The Complete Collection vols. 1&2
This series is just a lot of fun. The premise is that She-Hulk goes to work for a new law firm, but the deal is that the firm hired Jennifer Walters, not She-Hulk. The problem with that is She-Hulk doesn't like being just Jennifer Walters. Life as She-Hulk is much more fun and exciting. It's almost treated like an addiction. If that sounds morose, it's really not. It's a compelling idea, but it's mostly played for laughs. Slott is able to whip up a pretty great supporting cast in very little time and only a few issues in you really start to care about these characters, some of whom are new, and some of whom are obscure Marvel d-listers who have been given new purpose. These two volumes represent the entirety of his run and it mostly tells a complete story from beginning to end. A story, I should add, that goes places I never would have expected in a million years going into the series. The conclusion is a bit rushed and Slott really could have used a couple of more issues to finish it up, but most of the loose ends are tied up nicely. Highly recommended.

Strangers in Paradise vols. 1-6
I picked up the first 6 vols in the recent Comixology sale. I had never read this well regarded series before and now I really wish I had just splurged for the entire 19 vol. run while it was on sale. I knew almost nothing about it before diving in and couldn't have enjoyed it more. The series does have sort of a split personality. It's one half relationship dramedy and one half crime/conspiracy thriller. The respective threads don't always seem congruent, but the whole thing works out in the end because when the tension is ratcheted up, there's an extra level of investment thanks to all of the time spent devoted to making us get to know (and love) the characters. I can't wait to see where it all goes. Highly recommended.

Saga vols. 1-4
Another series which I didn't know much about going in other than that it's one of the most popular series of the last couple of years and that it is written by Brian K. Vaughan. I've enjoyed just about everything Vaughan has written and knew this series probably wouldn't be any different, so I never really did any research. I just dove in. I'm not sure I was really ready for what I found. It's definitely a compelling read and I was sucked into the story immediately. I can't wait for the next volume. What I was not prepared for was the tone. Even after 4 volumes I'm still not quite sure what to make of it. On one hand, it's a whole lot of fun and I'm glad it's not too self serious (even if it does get pretty intense at times). On the other hand, the opening splash page of one of the issues in vol.4 is a relatively detailed close-up of a robot princess's vagina as she gives birth. Robot princess vagina is really all you need to know about how weird Saga can get. It's also probably the most sexually graphic mainstream comic I've ever seen. None of these things are bad. Just not what I was expecting. Highly recommended unless you're squeamish when it comes to graphic violence and robot vaginas.

Scott Pilgrim vols. 1&2
I had seen the movie, but never read the comics. While I think Bryan O'Malley's visual story-telling can be a little sloppy at times, it's worthy of all of the praise it has gotten over the years. Just a fun, fun book with a great premise and a loveable collection of characters. I will say though that I was surprised at just how much Edgar Wright advanced some of the concepts in the movie adaptation. The comic isn't nearly as outlandish as I expected. The action is played quite a bit straighter and matter-of-fact. It will be interesting to see if that changes in the later volumes. I'll check back in when I've finished the series, but for now, highly recommended.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

I have the floppies - I didn't know there was a collection. It's a great run!
I wonder if they'll give it an Omnibus treatment...

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

I enjoyed the first volume so much I ran out and immediately bought volume 2 of Futures End, covering issues 18-30 of this mostly standalone series.

While I enjoyed volume 1 a great deal, there were indications nearing its end that the writers had run out of ideas and were beginning to stretch story arcs out for no reason except the series couldn't end so quickly. My fear has largely come to pass in volume 2, as several different arcs have slowed considerably down in horribly drawn-out storytelling. I have also grown bored of the "Fifty Sue" character, which the writers obviously love or have been told to make a major star by DC editorial.

I would guess the reveals played better if you read this series in its original serialized monthly format. In a trade, the "shocking" reveals read as terribly predictable and obvious.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

It was a weekly series, right? And I think that's part of the problem of why it doesn't read as well collected, and why it runs out of steam. I thought their original weekly series, 52, was great, but it's been all downhill from there (well, the nadir was Countdown, but I don't think anything's really gotten back up to the level of 52)

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

It's an example of decompressed storytelling hurting the story. They only had so much plot and it feels like this volume 2 is merely stalling things until the end. I still like the series but it's losing steam.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

We should start a thread about decompressed storytelling or whatever it's called.

I swear that most comics in the 80s and 90s took me at least 15 minutes to read, while some of today's books take 90 seconds.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

I've been switching back and forth between Futures End and the occasional older comic of late. The differences are pretty stark in terms of dialogue.

Writers in the 80s and 90s would fill up panel after panel with lengthy word balloons. Modern mainstream comics rarely give internal thought balloons anymore to characters or expository information by an ever-present external narrator. Today's dialogue is much more conversational in tone. Today's comics feel like the comic writer is trying to write a movie script, sparse and with as few words as possible to give the art more breathing room. Comics in the 80s were written much closer in style to short stories. The art wasn't as big a focus in those days. I don't know if that is the lasting impact of the Image revolution or not.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Yeah, Days of Futures Past was 2 self contained issues. Today, it would be 12 issues, with just as many cross-overs into other books, without really improving on the story either.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Days of Future Past would be a year-long event today.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

I've been reading Superman for All Seasons by Loeb and Sale. I was pretty disappointed in Loeb's take on Clark's years in Smallville and I'll be honest in saying that Sale's rendition of Superman does very little for me. This is my first time reading it, I guess this artistic style for Supes heavily influenced Quitely's depiction of the character in All-Star Superman. Clark is portrayed as a very confused, lost teenager as a senior in high school. He's barely given any dialogue to work with, practically turning him dim-witted and aloof. It's the Norman Rockwell version of an emo teen, years before we got an actual emo version of Clark in Superman: Earth One.

DC really needs to put a moratorium on any more re-tellings of Superman's origin and formative years.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

I read the first collection of Ennis' The Boys. It was good, I think, but I feel so dirty now.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

We were discussing this in the purchase thread a while back, but I did buy the Iron Fist Epic Collection as a replacement for my Essentials and read most of it on a plane trip. I really like the series, and the later issues were new to me, but it's Claremont and Byrne so I enjoyed it.

It's funny how strongly I associate the series with Gil Kane (who I respect but am not a big fan of) when he just did the first issue.

http://img2.imagesbn.com/p/978078519...1_s260x420.JPG

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

I don't think it was because of the Image revolution; if you remember, a lot of those artists who fancied themselves writers were actually overly wordy in a lot of their series, explaining every little nuance (sometimes because they couldn't put panels together to tell a story, so they put words on splash pages).

I always thought it was the Quesada/Jemas era, where they were trying to do more mature books and thought it was more movie-like if the audience heard what the characters did (and to be honest, a lot of early comics had way too much explanation in order to cram things in, with people speaking in ways that they never would in real life). And I think Bendis kinda perfected this "real world speech" thing with the 'ums' and swearing and whatnot, even though his dialogue isn't always necessarily what people would really say.

If you want a really lengthy discussion with a panel of pros talking about the death of thought balloons, read this:

http://www.balloontales.com/articles/thoughts/

Sometimes, I long for the old days, but then I read stuff like old school Claremont and even though I still love it, man it's hard to go back. And when I do re-read old issues, I always think stuff like the Kree-Skrull War and other 'big' events seem super short when I read it collected.

One thing Claremont did really well was introduce overarching stories, and have plotlines running in the background for years and years. This eventually turned itself into unmanageable crossovers on the corporate level, but I think it's one of the things that made his Uncanny run so great, this feeling that they're not all just one and done stories and maybe the villain shows up later, but it's a continuing narrative.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Gotham Academy

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

The Dark Knight

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Effigy: Idol Worship

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Just read

The Dark Knight Returns for the first time

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Had the week off, and in-between cleaning and sorting my porn collection, I read the following:

Atomic Robo vol 1. It's pretty much just Hellboy in sci-fi drag, isn't it?

Princess Leia by Waid and Dodson. Nice little story that adds depth to Leia's character as she deals with the loss of Alderaan and her family.

Daredevil Vol. 3: The Daredevil You Know. Waid really turns the screws on poor Matt in this one. I need to grab the next volume to see how this works out.

Kanan - The Last Padawan: Gripping tale that's a lot darker than the cartoon. Like the Dark Times series from Dark Horse, it really sells just how grim things were for the Jedi after Order 66.

Sensation Comics vol 2: Really digging this series, where a variety of creators can cut loose and/or examine the iconic nature of the character (although the first story in this volume was too long by half). I love being able to jump into some superhero goodness without having to worry about continuity and crossovers, and I wish they would do minis for other heroes - Green Lantern seems like a natural for such a project.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Wow, what'd you think?

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Read the first chunk of Miles Morales Ultimate Spider-Man. First 12 issues and Spider-Men collected in one of those Ultimate Edition Marvel collections. This book is pretty goddamn fantastic. It reminds me a lot of the Batgirl run before the New 52.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Star Wars: Princess Leia- wasn't too sure about it and haven't read any of the Marvel Star Wars books before this but I found this miniseries pretty enjoyable. Fun story that fills in what Leia was up to after A New Hope and her dealing with the destruction of Alderaan. I'd say it's worth reading and will probably get to the other Star Wars books at some point.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

When was that published?

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Came out this year.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

I had picked up all the minis, but my dcbs bundles didn't include the main Convergence series, and I didn't realize that until too late. Since the tpb that was coming out was cheaper than the singles (even on clearance), I went with that, and finally read it.

I shouldn't have bothered. What a waste of an event. Basically just an Earth 2 tale.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

I am skipping reading Convergence. Pretty much everyone has said it's not worth reading.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Currently reading Graphic Ink Darwin Cooke and enjoyed the Jonah Hex stuff, which I hadn't read before.

Thanks--never can tell with Star Wars.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Guardians Of The Galaxy & X-Men The Black Vortex HC

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

I heard this was terrible, but as I've collected the first few issues of both books, I'm curious what you thought.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

It was okay at best...for an event storyline that is supposed to be consequential I felt it was lacking in the gravitas department. I probably picked it up for 50% off from IST. The problem is that nothing was memorable.

You may have figured out that I suck when it comes to comic reviews (despite having a B.A. in English and being a 25+ year comic reader)...I provide no details as to why you should hate or love a book, but yes...the short of it is that you could take a pass on this storyline and not end up with a nagging feeling that you missed something important that happened in the Marvel Universe.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Spider-Verse HC. I actually enjoyed it (although it took forever for me to finish it up), but yeah...odd that the story is printed out of order, so basically the final few pages in the hardcover end up leaving you hanging (again, odd that you basically end up reading the conclusion to the story maybe nearly 2/3rds of the way through the book).

I got it for probably 52% off, and I know some of you grabbed it from amazon when they had it for 20 something dollars, worth a read if you have not even removed the shrinkwrap.

I am currently working on The Sculptor by Scott McCloud...wonderul book, and I have less than 150 pages to go (out of nearly 500 pages). This book is also taking me a long time to finish, but this is due to my bad time management skills.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

There are a few problems with the Spiderverse book. Yeah, it's out of order, and commits the cardinal sin of making the ending stories inconsequential because you already knew what was going to happen. They give a reading order in the beginning of the book but they don't have page numbers so it's impossible to flip back and forth without a bunch of bookmarks. Plus they completely removed the Edge of Spiderverse from the collection, if only to milk the Spider Gwen connection (and having bought the trade, it's not really worth getting separately). "Hopeless" is misspelled on the spine.

But it has Leapordon so all is forgiven.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

- Finished The Sculptor...again, it was a great read.
- War Goddess V1 HC - I actually enjoyed the heck out of this, and lucked out when I picked up the signed edition for 70% off (now worth a lot more than I paid).
- At least two thirds through Grimm Tales Of Terror HC.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

http://i.imgur.com/gFOROoW.jpg
[Hawkeye Omnibus by Fraction & Aja]

I liked it, but I feel sorry for anyone who had to read this through monthly floppies - this was the very epitome of "writing for the trade". It makes for a nice graphic novel, but if I had to read this monthly, I would've given up less than halfway through.

And like I said, I liked it, but it's not as great as the praise it's gotten.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...4,203,200_.jpg

I haven't read any 1970's Thor in ages and now I remember why. Len Wein kills me with his dialogue that describes the illustration.

In one panel a robot is falling over and Wein has him saying "Balance disrupted...Falling!" No shit, Sherlock.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

I read the first HC volume, and this was my impression as well.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

That's why I struggle reading anything by Stan Lee.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

Read Civil War in preparation for the upcoming film. Thought it was pretty good but seems like there's much more to it with all the various tie in collections. Not sure if those are worth getting too and if I want to commit to that much of the story.

Re: What's the last TPB/Graphic Novel you read?
 

I did exactly what you did not too long ago. After finishing Civil War I ended up checking out the Amazing Spiderman Civil War books. I found them to be a lot more compelling a story than the actual Civil War books. Since it focused on only one character, it was able to tell more story about that character. One could also argue that Spidermans story in Civil War was one of, if not, the most important stories among all the characters involved.