Comics!

[Vilden]

Have you read much of the Star Wars comic books?

I picked this up the other day on a whim, never read any Star Wars stuff before.

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I've read ALOT (of not most?) Star Wars comics and,

While the old Marvel Star Wars comics (like the one you bought) are not bad, they suffer from being too much superhero influenced. It's often like reading Spider Man in space, which isn't what Star Wars is for me.

I think the earlier Dark Horse books are probably the best. The Thrawn Trilogy that Krigloch linked is probably my all time favorite Star Wars comic. It has the classic feel of the original movies and with alot of the classic characters but with lots of new characters and a story that doesn't just feel like a side story to the movies but a continuation of them. The art also captures the rugged Star Wars feel too which is always nice.

Speaking of Star Wars, anyone like the Valerian and Laurieline comics by Mézières? Any fan of comics and Star Wars should read them, George Lucas certainly did. He actually borrowed ALOT from them.

I love this panel Mézières did after watching the orginal movies for the first time:

 

[requiem]

The new lot of Star Wars comics have put Marvel firmly at the top of the charts. People are mad for them, and I guess Star Wars pretty much lends itself to the comic book form. I've never read one though, and quite frankly I'm not sure I want to open that can of worms...

 

[TageRyche]

I read the original Marvel series, then I read the Dark Horse Star Wars series that was being published right before that company lost the license back to Marvel/Disney. I am currently reading the Star Wars and Darth Vader series Marvel is putting out. I read their Princess Leia mini series but skipped the Lando and Chewbacca minis.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

I still need the new Star Wars trade. Takes place after A New Hope, I think.

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

The godmother of manga sex in Japan.

Very interesting piece centering around Keiko Takemiya and her book Kaze to Kino Uta but also details the UN's targeting of manga and the differing opinions regarding what constitutes artistic expression, exploitation, porno, ect...

 

[TageRyche]

You can check out my report on my 2016 Free Comic Book Day activities HERE!

 

[CiG]

It's pretty annoying yeah, but if it's done interestingly I can handle it. Not that I've encountered it yet actually.

 

[CiG]

Good writers can make anything interesting.

 

[CiG]

Like I said, I've not personally come across anything PC, or that I've noticed anyway. But I'm sure it could be peppered in and done well.
I wouldn't be against a vague feminist arc for example.

 

[Vilden]

I agree that DC is shoehorning in alot of political views in their series (Marvel is doing the same thing though so it isn't DC unique) but I don't really disagree with them so I guess I don't mind. I can see why others do though, but even beyond that the series are generally pretty bad. Just bland washed out stories where nothing ever happens. Even Snyders Batman starts to feel boring after awhile.

I don't think Frank Miller would do a better job though, he is pretty overrated imo. I have a hard time stomaching his DC stories. His characters are alot of times really unlikeable in a bad way. My favourites by him is probably Martha Washington or his Daredevil and Elektra stories.

I think the best superhero writer nowdays is Grant Morrison, All Star Superman is super epic and his Batman stories about Robin is also really good. I also think that his run on Action Comics was maybe the best of the New 52.

 

[CiG]

I've never cared if something I enjoy has political biases, what's imperative is that it's done well and perhaps that it's more on the subtle/makes you think/reconsider personal views side and not the here is a gender swap and a bunch of brown people for no reason oh yeah and all the men will be dumb and incompetent because grrl power rawr side.

Right now I really like Geoff Johns and Garth Ennis.

 

[Vilden]

I agree, but both Marvel and DC have done quite abit of the "here is a gender swap and a bunch of brown people for no reason oh yeah and all the men will be dumb and incompetent because grrl power rawr side".

I don't really like Garth Ennis either (feels like I don't like any writers x) ), but his Hellblazer run is pretty good if you haven't checked it out yet.

 

[Einherjar86]

Is anyone else into Hickman's East of West? I'm way behind, but I read the first five or six issues, and I think it's awesome.

 

[CiG]

Is anyone else into Hickman's East of West? I'm way behind, but I read the first five or six issues, and I think it's awesome.

No, but I just googled it and I think I'm going to order book one. It looks really good.

I just want a good comic book, not a retarded sermon. It'd be just as bad if some conservative comic writer started vicariously yacking about the glory of the free market using my favorite characters as his mouthpiece.

Did you like Watchmen?

I agree, but both Marvel and DC have done quite abit of the "here is a gender swap and a bunch of brown people for no reason oh yeah and all the men will be dumb and incompetent because grrl power rawr side".

Luckily for me I haven't experienced this yet.

I don't really like Garth Ennis either (feels like I don't like any writers x) ), but his Hellblazer run is pretty good if you haven't checked it out yet.

I enjoyed Hellblazer, but his run of The Punisher is what truly impressed me.

 

[CiG]

I liked that it was anti-Reagan from more than one angle.

 

[no country for old wainds]

WATCHMEN is a little too cute in places, too many overcalculated ironies for my liking, but it's also kinda masterful the way it sweeps you into these flowing rhythms and moods while jumping all over the place temporally. it's never gonna be a top tier favourite of mine, but i don't dispute its classic status. i think it's pretty open-minded for something so overtly political, like CiG says it approaches its themes from multiple angles and never really fully shows its hand aside from a kind of overarching cynicism.

i'd like recommendations of any comics/graphic novels with a really strong emotional undercurrent, bleak atmosphere, etc. any genre. don't assume i've read obvious shit either, i'm a layman.

 

[Vilden]

Watchmen is definitely a classic, but Dave Gibbons and John Higgins art and colors are just as much reason for it, setting the whole foreboding, apocalyptic world ending tone.

@no country for old wainds : One of the more emotional comics I've read is probably Nausicaä: of the Valley of the Wind. As you like anime (the story of the manga is vastly different from the anime tho) you probably know it already though, post apocalyptic fantasy with great art, great story, great characters, etc. Definitely both bleak and emotional.

Another great, also japanese, comic is Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths it's a half biography half fiction about a soldier in the japanese army in WWII, participating in the pacific war against the allies. It really pictures the culture at the time with the no surrender attitude, miserable conditions, etc.

 

[Vilden]

Alan Moore is pretty tasteless when it comes to alot of stuff. He is VERY pushy about his ideas about politics, sexuality, magic, religion, etc. For example, V for Vendetta, Promethea, and later stories like Neonomicon. But this can be said about alot of comic book writers, like the earlier mentioned Frank Miller or Jamie Delano.

I actually think Watchmen is one of his better works and the political viewpoint works very will there imo. The atmosphere and tone in the whole book is great.

Speaking of comics that infuses political views, @no country for old wainds : Read Jamie Delanos Hellblazer-run (I know I've talked about it alot in this thread but w/e). It paints a really bleak picture of 80s-90s Britain combining demons and dark rituals with drugs, yuppies, failing political leaders, angry youth culture, working class problems, etc. Topped with a great anti-hero as protagonist. One of my absolut favorite american comics.

 

[CiG]

I'm not denying Watchmen was great, it was. I just find injecting your own personal political biases into a comic book pretty tasteless. I despise Reagan, but I simply think it's contrived and stupid to masturbate to how much you don't like him in something like a comic book.

Yeah no, I think you're either miss-remembering Watchmen or certain things went over your head.

You're making it seem as if the book was a left-wing critique of Ronald Reagan. That might be insufferable as a concept, but it also contained right-wing criticism of the man. It was quite well-rounded and actually I think the whole Reagan thing you're referring to is overstated itself.

 

[CiG]

It fit in perfectly with the overall context and plot of the book.