Inhumans99

Charismagic Volume 1 (Comixology)

Inhumans99

Charismagic Volume 2, Charismagic: The Death Princess (Comixology)

rocket1312

Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon & John Cassaday

I re-read Whedon and Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men run over the last week or so. A lot of people really love this run and point to it as one of the real high-water marks in the franchise's history. I don't enjoy it as much as Grant Morrison's run, but it is a really enjoyable (and very direct) follow up. Whedon does have a knack for writing ensemble characters and he clearly has a great love for the Claremont era X-Men. In fact I was surprised upon re-reading just how many references there were to those 70's/80's stories that I didn't pick up on the first time through. John Cassaday also draws really pretty pictures. I don't love him as much as some others do (look at that cover of issue #6 and tell me there isn't something weird going with Colossus's proportions), but it's definitely an improvement over Morrison's run which had constant fill-ins due to Frank Quitely's inability to keep up month to month.

I do have three specific problems with the run. I'll list them in order of magnitude from biggest to smallest. The first problem I had was by the time it reaches the big finale, the narrative starts to fall apart. We're supposed to be invested in the fate of this alien world and it's people that no one had heard about until two minutes ago and suddenly the entire Marvel Universe is on hand to try and stop a major attack on the earth. There's nothing wrong with those things in principle, but it feels like Whedon was rushing to tie things up and the X-Men themselves get kind of lost in the shuffle. There's also one HUGE plot point in the last issue that is never really addressed. From what I can tell, the vague explanation is "magic." This run really did seem like it needed another issue or two.

The second is that unlike Morrison's New X-Men, which radically redefined the franchise and left it's mark on all of the related titles, Astonishing X-Men feels like it was hermetically sealed in some far corner of the Marvel Universe and exists almost in a vacuum. Normally I would praise a run like this for standing alone on its own two feet without the need to read 100 other series (that's how I felt about Morrison's), but something about this feels off. I know Whedon and Cassaday were given a new title that they could work on sort of outside the mainstream because there was no way they could keep up a regular monthly schedule. The problem was that this was the de-facto X-Men flagship series and was really the only one of the three that mattered during it's run, but it doesn't feel like it exists in the greater X-Men world. It's almost as though the lead characters here go into a time warp for 3 years and the series neither references what's going on outside Astonishing nor is it really referenced in any of the other series from that time. I have a hard time describing it, and this may be a plus to other readers who don't really care about the overall franchise, but I don't know. I guess I just liked the way Morrison's run integrated better.

The final problem I had was that by the end of the run I had grown a little tired of Whedon's humor. Reading monthly it doesn't stick out as much, but reading it all in one big gulp it started to wear on me. At a certain point the stakes get to be so high that the jokes just kind of diffuse any of the tension that has been built up. Whedon acolytes (which I am not one, even if I do enjoy most of his work) woould probably love it though.

All in all it's a pretty great run of stories even if I don't think they live up to the massive hype. If you liked Morrison's take, then this is pretty much the direct follow-up even if the style is quite different. I know some say that this is that last time the x-titles have been relevant. I can't say for sure because I haven't read much past this point, but if you're a lapsed fan who has never read this, I do think it's worth a shot.



X-Men: Phoenix Endsong & Warsong

I had read Endsong before, but this was my first time reading Warsong. I'm not really sure what to feel about them. My initial reaction to Endsong was that I liked it, but I'm an unabashed Jean Grey fanboy and despite being a big joke to many, I'm kind of enamored with the idea of her constantly dying and being resurrected. Warsong was less interesting to me, but that's probably just because there was no Jean! It's much more about Emma and the Stepford Cuckoos. Both series are pretty directly tied to Morrison's X-Men (which as I mentioned above, I love), so I like them for that. However, both series are ultimately kind of pointless. While Warsong answered some questions that I always had about the Cuckoos, by the time it's all said and done, everything was just reset back to the status quo. It's really just an excuse to do what I lovingly like to call "Phoenix-porn."

Greg Land does the art for Endsong and while he is capable of creating an iconic image or two, he is not really able to hide his tendency to reference photos constantly. Everything just looks very rigid and posed like he just assembled his panels from magazine cut-outs. The art in Warsong is also problematic in that it's done by Marc Silvestri's Top Cow team (I can't even remember the name of the penciller) and just looks like someone trying to draw like Marc Silvestri. It's a very dated style (as in early/mid 90's style) that isn't bad in and of itself, but just seems stuck in time warp.

Overall, I would say that any casual X-Men fan could easily skip these two series. If you're a New X-Men and/or Phoenix nut then they do hold some interest, but don't expect Morrison quality. It's a reasonable diversion for an hour or two, but they'll be quickly forgotten.

terrycloth

I decided to look for a new book to read and got the New Mutant v1 from my brother in law. for whatever reason i remember having a lot of these books that i bought in discount bins growing up i dont remember anything about it outside of some of my favorite covers.

I read issues 1-6 today and really enjoyed it. only real downfall so far is the whiny lead characters but feel they will get fleshed out a few issues in

PhantomStranger

I am reading the first Geoff Johns Flash Omnibus these days. It's kind of small by omnibus standards. The artwork holds up surprisingly well.

rocket1312

I love that Scott Kolins artwork and an original page from that run would be a personal holy grail.

Mike86

Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt. I hadn't read it before and finally got around to it. Thought it was a pretty good story overall and was sort of surprised at

Trevor

I'm finally reading Darwyn Cooke's Parker. Wow, some gritty good stuff.
I re-read that recently and was surprised at how well it held up for me. And yes, I remember being quite shocked at that spoiler.

hanshotfirst1138

I'm slightly lukewarm on some of his views about the industry and particularly fandom, but Darwyn Cooke's art hardly ever fails to delight me. He says the newest Parker book is going to be delayed until probably next year. If only he'd do them all over the course of his life, that'd be OK with me!

rocket1312

Uncanny X-Men: The New Age vols. 1-5, House of M: Uncanny X-Men

I've been working my way through the last decade of Marvel and after reading Ed Brubaker's Uncanny X-Men: The Rise and Fall of the Shiar Empire, I realized that I had never read all of Chris Claremont's preceeding 32 issue (including 1 annual) run on the title. I was still buying comics weekly at that point, but must have only picked up Uncanny sporadically after Claremont's first couple of arcs because there were some gaps in my collection. I remembered being down on the run in general at the time (which would explain why I stopped buying every issue), but could barely remember a thing about it, so I went back to the beginning.

Without getting into all of the specifics, I will say that this run was both better and worse than I had remembered. Some of it I enjoyed quite a bit, but some of it was just plain bad. And not just bad as in corny dialogue or boring characters/storylines, but bad as in really sup-par storytelling. Some of it seems to fall on the writer and some of it perhaps on editorial. Either way there were a few times when I was scratching my head with no clue as to what was supposed to be going on. Characters inexplicably disappear, plot threads are dropped sometimes as soon as they begin and if you're not familiar with the mythos of Excalibur or (ugh) X-Treme X-Men then good luck. The focus is also pretty much squarley on the characters Psylocke and Rachel-Grey-Summers-Phoenix-Marvel-Girl-whatever. I don't really care much for Rachel, so that was a bit of a drag for me as well.

I will say that the run does seem to improve as it goes, which is funny because the issues I skipped initially back when they were being published ended up being some of the better ones. The House of M tie-in in particular was a fun one. The Hell-Fire club story was another I mostly liked. I also continue to believe that Claremont writes the best Wolverine. He's not in a lot of this run (he's the worst example of a character just flat out disappearing), but when he is, he just feels "right" to me. Storm is another example. A lot of the art is also really nice.

All in all if you're a Claremont fan, then you'll probably find something to like about this even if it is far from his best work. If you're someone used to a more modern style of comic book, then you'll probably hate this with a fiery passion. I get the sense that this run doesn't mean much in the broader sense of the X-Men, but is pretty integral in the ongoing tale that is 21st century Claremont. You just have to be willing to follow the threads through whatever book he happened to be writing at the time whether it be X-Treme, Uncanny, Excalibur (both old and new) or Exiles. The last thing I'll say is that whatever its faults, it's still better than the garbage that Peter Milligan was churning out over in X-Men at the same time this was going. I re-read some of that as well and let's just say that it had me pining for the days of Chuck Austen!

fujishig

Before that last sentence, I was going to ask if you skipped over the Chuck Austen stuff or if you had to re-read that too. I liked this Claremont run (well, what I read of it) better than the goggled Beast/Xtreme Claremont stuff, but then, I'm a sucker for Alan Davis too.

What was Milligan doing with X-men? I always get my eras confused.

rocket1312

I plan on revisiting Austen's Uncanny run at some point. Mostly out of morbid curiosity, but I did recently read the brief run he did on X-Men after Claremont replaced him on Uncanny and it wasn't that bad. I actually kind of liked what he was doing with Juggernaut.

Milligan took over X-Men when Austen left. I only re-read a little bit of it, but most of his focus was on the Havok/Polaris/Iceman love triangle and the never ending Gambit/Rogue relationship. It was all pretty insufferable as I recall. The Blood of Apocalypse arc was probably the most notable thing he did. That's the one where Sunfire, Gambit and Polaris all become horsemen. That was the part I did re-read and it was just as bad as I remembered it being. There was just no purpose to any of it. It was like Marvel just needed someone to do something with all of the leftover X-Men not featured in the Whedon or Claremont series. Austen may have made some really bad story choices, but his run at least seemed to have some life to it. It seemed like he was trying. I don't know what Milligam was doing.

fujishig

I remember picking up part of Austen's run, despite not having followed the X-men for a while, mainly because of the novelty of Kia Asamiya doing the art... but I think I have more fun reading the synopsis and various write ups than the actual books.

PhantomStranger

I haven't completely finished it yet but I am greatly impressed with Futures End (DC) Volume 1 about halfway through it. I think this volume covers issues 0-17.

It's been a neat, self-contained adventure with Batman Beyond traveling back in time to prevent Brother Eye from taking over the world. Touches on a wide set of DC heroes, from S.H.A.D.E. to Firestorm to Grifter. I really haven't had this much fun with a new series in several years. It's a good ensemble concept with a lot of converging storylines.

Trevor

That's good to hear. I blind bought the entire digital run thinking it would hit me the same way.

terrycloth

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

Lord Zarak

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.

rocket1312

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.

slop101

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...

PhantomStranger

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.

fujishig

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)

PhantomStranger

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.

Trevor

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.

PhantomStranger

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.

slop101

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.