Comic Book Thread

[LucasM]

Alan Moore did a couple short Dr. Who comics too, early in his career, though I have no idea if they've been reprinted.

Wow.  I would love to see those.

For you, and anyone else interested, I just put these up in response to this post.  This is a link for all of the Alan Moore Dr. Who stories: http://www.sendspace.com/file/elga2q

First, unRAR the uploaded file.  There are '.cbz' files inside (each is a separate story).  Either you can read them with this great little program: http://download.cnet.com/CDisplay-Image-Display/3000-18488_4-10162238.html  or else you can change the extensions from '.cbz' to '.zip' and unZIP them and look at the contents in any program that views JPGs.  [CDisplay actually is designed for this type of thing, so might be preferable.]

The three files that start with numbers "01" "02" and "03" are parts of a three-part story, the others are stand-alones.  But each is only about four pages.

Enjoy!

[Doctor Who?]

Alan Moore did a couple short Dr. Who comics too, early in his career, though I have no idea if they've been reprinted.

Wow.  I would love to see those.

For you, and anyone else interested, I just put these up in response to this post.  This is a link for all of the Alan Moore Dr. Who stories: http://www.sendspace.com/file/elga2q

First, unRAR the uploaded file.  There are '.cbz' files inside (each is a separate story).  Either you can read them with this great little program: http://download.cnet.com/CDisplay-Image-Display/3000-18488_4-10162238.html  or else you can change the extensions from '.cbz' to '.zip' and unZIP them and look at the contents in any program that views JPGs.  [CDisplay actually is designed for this type of thing, so might be preferable.]

The three files that start with numbers "01" "02" and "03" are parts of a three-part story, the others are stand-alones.  But each is only about four pages.

Enjoy!

COOL!  Thanks,I can't wait to read them.

[LucasM]

COOL!  Thanks,I can't wait to read them.

You're welcome.  Glad I could help out.  Odd, actually... I'd never seen this thread until early today, and it just happened to be just a couple days after you and Johnny Unusual had posted those comments. 

[Johnny Unusual]

Very cool.  Definitely going to check them out.  I rarely read non-Japanese comics on the computer, but comics that are harder to find are always an exception (re: Marvelman).  Thanks Lucas.

[Tripe]

Thanks Lucas, good stuff, as far as DWM can be good.

[LucasM]

You're all welcome.  Glad I could help out.

Oh, and Johnny Unusual: I think Marvelman - the Moore issues - were some of the most revolutionary comics I've read; great stuff!  Luckily I bought all the issues as well as the hardcover collections when they came out, but I have 'electronic' copies so I can re-read them (so the now-pricey originals don't get worn).  I love how Moore writes, even altering a common phrase to make it special (and creepy, in the circumstances they were found):

     "All the cats were now out of the bag, the worms at last freed from their tin.
     "I knew in all the world that there existed no can large enough for us to ever cram them all back in."
                     - Alan Moore (Miracleman # 15, pp.19-20)

[Johnny Unusual]

The Gaiman issues were really good too, a really nice extension of where Moore left off.  I think it was really smart of him to draw attention away from the character of Marvelman himself and switch to the people in this world.  I love the idea of a cities of spies trying to unravel a conspiracy that doesn't exist (which itself is the conspiracy... OR ID I JUST BLOW YOUR MIND).

Right now, I'm reading Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron by Dan Clowes.  I'm not a bit Clowes fan (loved Ghost World but I generally don't like his straight forward humour stuff), but I am enjoying this so far.  Very David Lynch inspired looks like it will be an unpredictable read.

[Edward J Grug III]

I just finished reading:



Even better than the first volume! I never thought I would enjoy this strip, but it's really fantastic. The racism is awful, of course, but if you can get past that, it's a lot of fun. The series is going out of print so I've been snatching up the last couple of books - can't wait to get into them.

[RoninFox]

Last night I started reading the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics for the first time.  I've been curious for awhile, since I was a major turtle fan growing up.  Loved the old cartoon series, still love the first two movies (and even have a fondness for the 2007 TMNT movie, despite it's flaws).  I never followed the more recent cartoon, but what I saw of it I was actually impressed by.  I tried getting into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures back in the day (the comic that's more closely based on the cartoon's style) but as with so many other comics I got tired of waiting for the next issue and just fell out of it.  That's why I mainly only read collections today, I want to get through the story and put it down, not read a few pages and wait a month or more.



Anyway, I've loved what I've been reading so far.  I'm about 7 issues in, and it took some time to adjust, but it's been a good ride.  Strange to see these four being so serious.  There's practically no wisecracking or anything like that, even from Michelangelo.  It's a lot darker and more violent than any other version of the story, the four fight and kill when necessary.  This is before they turned the Foot Clan into robots for the cartoon so they could be mowed down like Star Wars battledroids without offending the parents.  The Foot Clan is made up of real living and often bleeding humans.  There've been some real shocks here and there.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Like the Shredder, who after this comic was always viewed as the ultimate villain to the turtles, yet was killed by Leonardo's katana and a fall off the roof at the end of ISSUE 1!  Of course it is a comic book, he's a supervillain of sorts, and it never showed the dead body so for all I know he'll be back...but damn.  They probably didn't know that the comic would be any kind of success, and thus didn't know they were going to continue it for so long, and thus probably didn't think that killing off a villain like that would be a big deal in the long run.  Maybe if they could see the future a little bit they would have kept him around longer...then again if they could see into the future they also probably wouldn't have had Baxter Stockman in his first appearance threatening to use his mousers to bring down one tower of the World Trade Center.  That was just bizarre to read.

[Johnny Unusual]

I'm almost finished reading what is now one of my fav series in a long while, Young Liars.





It's created by David Lapham, who created the acclaimed Stray Bullets (never read, but after this I really want to) and is an ode to rock and roll.  In fact, the whole thing feels a lot likea rock opera, especailly starting with volume 2, although the narrative takes so many hairpin turns that it probably wouldn't work as one.  Generally I don't like rock operas, but I like the idea of rock operas.  An epic narrative told through songs.

Basically the story seems to be about Danny Noonan, a rock fan whose best friend is an already crazy girl who gets even crazier after a bullet in the brain leaves her without inhibitions.  But that's only the beginning.  The characters are well-written and sympathetic, but really horrible, in the sense that they are generally selfish, screwed up or dangerous.  Even the main character seems to be the worst of the cast (apart from the out and out villains) who does horrible things, but sort of knows it.  It's sort of like how in Spider-Man comics, Peter always has moments where he wants to do the wrong thing or take the easy way out or shirk responsibilities.  Parker doesn't but Danny Noonan makes those selfish choices and even though he often regrets them, you still feel equal parts contempt and sympathy for him.

But that's just the beginning.  Vol. 1 is strange and exciting but Vol. 2 things just get crazy and you realize no one, not even the story teller, can be trusted.  After all, they're all liars.  I'm 2 issues in the third and final volume and I'm interested to see where it ends.  As a bonus, each issue comes with two Danny Duoshade song recommendations.  My recommendation is play the songs while reading the book.

[Edward J Grug III]

I love David Lapham's work -Young Liars was coming along great but then got canceled. I haven't read the third book, but I hear the ending suffered for it.

Stray Bullets isn't the easiest series to track down, but some of his other work is easy to find like Murder Me Dead, Silverfish and Marvel's Terror Inc (This first book is fantastic, the second is awful).

I am excited about his forthcoming Sparta USA.

[Johnny Unusual]

Mmm... I finished it today and I think I like it overall, but it twists and turns a little too much.  I think it is very good overall, but there's too much going on in the last volume.  That said, that might have been partially intentional.  That said, I liked the way it ended, but it might have ended better if things leading up to it happened at a more digestable pace.  It's sort of like Mulholland Drive.  I think that it's unhappy unclear ending isn't as much the problem is that there was supposed to be more leading up to the frustrating enigma.  Next up for me:



Then

[Johnny Unusual]

Finally started on this book I got in April for my birthday:



This stuff is still some of the best comics of all time.  There are some books that stand the test of time and some that don't.  Though it doesn't use some of today's splashier techniques EC books are friggin' amazing with a lot of fun art (I can definitely see Darwyn Cooke's style being influenced by the great Johnny Craig, who may be my favourite artist of all time.







Has anyone else been picking up the EC collections?  I only have this and Vault of Horror Vol. 1 but these are fantastic collections.  They even include some old adds and letters pages (which is great in the GhouLunatics' books since it has goading letters from each of the books hosts.  Marvel gets a lot of credit for building up appreciation for creators and building up a sense of community through their letters pages, but it's clear that EC was well ahead of the game here.

BTW, if you haven't voted yet, might I suggest you vote for Top 50 comics in list of crap?  Today is the last day to vote.  Shameless, I know, but it doesn't hurt to try.
http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php/topic,18333.0.html

[Tripe]

Just as weird as reading the chapters and verse themselves, but that weirdness is made all the more obvious thanks to Crumb sticking to the text as a source for the drawings.

[Johnny Unusual]

I've never been a Crumb fan (not denying his talent, just a matter of personal taste, though his unique style looks similar to some of my favourite authors) but I do want to read that.  From my understanding, it's a pretty straight retelling, which sounds interesting because I never really read the Bible.

I also recommend this:



Which is mostly a straight retelling with some Looney Toons-style humour mixed in (not so much the splat and squish stuff but the comic timing and dialogue), though the ending is very powerful.