slop101

I know he's highly regarded, but I find Pope's art to be very unappealing.

fujishig

Finally read the second volume of Superman: The Black Ring (Paul Cornell's post Blackest Night run in Action comics with Luthor as the focus; I had to re-read volume 1 as well). Takes a lot of liberties with the character, but just as good as I'd heard, even if it is no longer in continuity.

Inhumans99

Great Pacific V2 Nation Building

exharrison

Finished this Saturday. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Starts out a little slower than I expected and then progressively faster and faster with less chatter.


Read this yesterday. Testing the waters of the Incredible Hercules run. Not great, but some good moments and enough to keep me coming back for more later.


Finished reading this morning before work. I actually liked it better than the first volume. The first was an interesting premise, but it just didn't quite get it done for me. I almost didn't buy the second, but I liked where it could go and really enjoyed this one. Will check out the next volume and hopefully it doesn't start to get repetitive or they end it at a good time.

davidh777

Thanks for the recaps. What series is this?

exharrison

Clone from Image. The first two volumes are out. Volume 3 is due out in April. Both of the volumes out move pretty quickly. The first one is basically a man dealing with being confronted by a dying clone and trying to find out if he is a clone or an original. I can't really tell you anything about volume 2 without some volume 1 spoilers. Apparently they are trying to put it on TV.

V. 01:
http://www.instocktrades.com/TP/Imag...L-01/MAR130493
V. 02:
http://www.instocktrades.com/TP/Imag...L-02/SEP130523

slop101

Working my way through this bad boy right now:



This Omnibus collects about 30 issues, or the first half, of Hickman's FF run (with a 2nd volume coming soon to wrap it up. It's really good stuff; a nice modern take on FF, that pays homage to the past while treading new, interesting ground. And unlike most modern comic book writers (like Bendis), Hickman's writing is really dense and a lot happens in each issue, as opposed to the trend of taking a story that used to take an issue or two and dragging it out to 10 issues.

fujishig

I finished that Hickman FF vol. 1 up a month or so ago. Great read. I had earlier gotten a lot of the individual issues from Comixology, but I didn't realize how much it dovetails into the separate Future Foundation book, which is also included here, so it's nice to have it all in one volume (soon to be two).

Speaking of Hickman, whatever happened to his take on SHIELD?

exharrison

Really very interesting. Will I read it again? I don't know. But it was definitely worth one read. Pretty cool book.


This is what I've kept in my car for those afternoons I beat my gf to her apartment for an evening together. Should little strips, probably 10-20 panels long each of goofy parenting moments. Very light, fun, and entertaining. Definitely going to hold onto this one.

PhantomStranger

I'm working my way through the new Planetary Omnibus, though I've read the series before. I really should have picked it up in Absolute form.

Inhumans99

Vampirella Vs. Dracula

davidh777

From the "purchase" thread:

I did really enjoy the "Avengers" volume, even if the title was indeed merely marketing. Big clue: No '70s-era Avengers on the cover! I'd read a few of the issues back in the day, but missed a lot of pieces of this run. It's really part Captain Marvel (including the Daredevil run I mentioned, but I reread it because that was an Essentials and this was in color ) and part Warlock. I love Starlin but back in the day didn't really read a lot of this cosmic-themed stuff. The appearance of Spider-Man on the cover was an acknowledgment of a Marvel Team-Up Annual at the end, and even that seemed to be marketing, as Spidey was in it but they seemed to be looking for things for him to do on this cosmic scale.

That had me jonesing to read The (spoiler alert!) Death of Captain Marvel. I remember picking up the original graphic novel in a comic shop, and I was pleased to find this TPB already on my shelf (and sorted by Marvel>character for easy retrieval! ). It's interesting, though, because the "life" part appears to be the same story as much of what I just read, but retold. I'm going to have to research this.

JasonF

That Life & Death TPB is over ten years old at this point and long out of print. There is a lot of overlap between that volume and the Avengers vs. Thanos volume.

Life & Death collects Captain Marvel #25-34, Iron Man #55, Marvel Feature #12, and the Death of GN.

Avengers vs. Thanos collects Iron Man #55, Captain Marvel #25-33, Marvel Feature #12, Daredevil #105-107, Avengers #125, Warlock #9-11 and #15, Avengers Annual #7, Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2, and a Thanos story from Logan's Run #6.

So if you've read Avengers vs. Thanos , what you get in Life & Death is Captain Marvel 34 (Marv vs. Nitro, in a storyline where Marv gets exposed to a ruptured cannister of nerve gas) and the Death of Captain Marvel GN (where Marv dies of cancer as a result of that exposure). Those two stories are also collected in a book called The Death of Captain Marvel that is still in print (but does not include all the CM stuff from the Avengers vs. Thanos book).

For completeness sake, if you've got Life & Death, I'd recommend picking up the Warlock by Jim Starlin Complete Collection that just came out, which collects Strange Tales #178-181, Warlock #9-15, Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2. That's got all the Starlin stuff -- the Avengers vs. volume omits a couple of one-off tales (Pip's origin and the Star Thief two-parter) and, more egregiously, omits the opening chapters of the Magus saga, instead picking that up when Thanos enters the story.

What Avengers vs. Thanos has that's not in either of the other volumes is a 3-part Daredevil story (written by Steve Gerber, it features Moondragon but it really has little Thanos content and even less impact on the broader Thanos cosmology), Avengers 125 (a nice tie-in to the Captain Marvel-Thanos storyline, but not really necessary), and Logan's Run #6 (a short story involving Thanos that's pretty good, but doesn't make up for the loss of those Warlock stories). Also, if you like Starlin and his take on Thanos, you get Logan's Run #6 in the Rebirth of Thanos TPB that includes all the stuff leading up to the Infinity Gauntlet.

So, my recommendation is, if you can find it, get your hands on Life & Death and couple that with the Complete Starlin Warlock. Since you've already got Life & Death, that's the way I would go, maybe even ignoring the Complete Starlin Warlock since you've already got Avengers vs. Thanos -- unless you really dug what you saw and want more Starlin Warlock awesomeness.

Otherwise (i.e., for people who don't already have Life & Death and can't find a copy) go with the Avengers vs. Thanos volume and Death of Captain Marvel, and again, if you really like Starlin, supplement with the Complete Starlin Warlock to get those half-dozen or so issues that aren't included in Avengers vs. Thanos.

PhantomStranger

Starlin is easily the best cosmic writer in comics, his stuff in both DC and Marvel runs circles around other takes.

Mike86

I just received my copy of JLA: Tower of Babel last week and read it. I know it's an older story and was adapted into the DC Animated film Justice League: Doom but I had always wanted to read it. I thought the story was pretty decent overall and all but the one thing that kind of disappointed me was it seemed like there was a missed opportunity at seeing the fallout between Batman and the other Justice League members. Unless something more happens in a later story or trade that I'm not aware of. Overall I liked it though.

davidh777

And when I say "research," I really mean "let JasonF explain everything to me."

Seriously, thanks for the great breakdown, which I'm only responding to now because I just read through the volume. I'm not sure what I was thinking saying that the story was retold because it's exactly the same as in the other volume--I'm thinking of something else, clearly. And it's great that you laid out the new stuff in Death because I had skipped through everything I'd just read but had to go back to find the Nitro storyline because I'd missed it, and even better I never read it back in the day.

For whatever reason, I remember Death having more impact on me, but I think it was partly freshness, partly the novel concept of a superhero dying, and partly the reproduction. This TPB is not the greatest printing, and I think it's a little smaller than the original. I still enjoyed revisiting the story, however.

I really like the look of that Starlin Warlock collection so I'm going to add that to my wish list.

Thanks again for the great info--I appreciate it.

Trevor

I've recently finished up two new 52 trades, volumes one of Birds of Prey and Red Hood and the Outlaws. I wanted to hate them, as the DC completest in me can't afford to like too much of this new 52, but I enjoyed both.

JasonF

Glad to do it! I'm such a nerd that I enjoy explaining stuff like that and most people don't want to hear about it. So when I get a chance, I jump on it.

You're right about Death of Captain Marvel. The original graphic novel was magazine-sized and the trade reprints the story at comic book size.

fujishig

Did they not show Batman leaving the league after they were deadlocked in a vote, with Superman being the deciding vote (which was never cast)? Also I remember them not trusting him, which led to Young Justice being wary of Tim Drake as well. Batman's big database of superheroes led to him creating Brother Eye (I'm still not clear if this is because of Babel, or if Babel was itself because of the whole Identity Crisis mindwipe of Batman), which led to the OMAC invasion, Superman being taken over by Maxwell Lord, Wonder Woman doing her thing, Infinite Crisis and then 52.

Mike86

Well admittedly some stuff from that era I wasn't reading as much of so I guess I'm not entirely familiar with what happened after the story itself. It just felt like within the story more could have happened than what did. Maybe there's more stories in other trades that follow that touch on more of what happened in this book. There were a couple short epilogue pieces at the end that kind of touch on Tim and Dick not being trusted.

Inhumans99

Suicide Squad Volume 3 Death Is For Suckers

terrycloth

This week I read

The Walking Dead vol 1 thru 8
BatGirl vol 1
Catwoman vol 1 and 2

I dont know why I took so long to get into twd loving it so far.

Trevor

Just read this and loved it, will check the library for his other books. Hopefully my daughter will enjoy it, but she's 12 now and thinks Scholastic books are too kiddie for her.

davidh777

I decided this week to spend more of my bus time reading than playing on my phone. After Lazarus, I finally read this (took me two trips, whereas Lazarus took one). Loved it and need vol. 2.

sinned

I was just about to post this too. Just read Vol. 1 this weekend & it is quite possibly the best series (so far) that i've ever read! I can't imagine anyone, even non-comic book fans, not falling in love with this series after reading the first TPB. I'm just waiting til March 25 when the 3rd TPB comes out so that I can order the 2nd and 3rd TPBs from IST. I'll begin getting the single issues beginning with #19.