[Abyss]

Abyss, on 28 January 2025 - 04:33 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 27 January 2025 - 04:31 PM, said:

Abyss, on 27 January 2025 - 03:44 PM, said:

BEASTS OF BURDEN Evan Dworkin writes, Jill Thompson art. Where has this comic been all my life?

Animal wizards, sometimes with human partners, sometimes in loose packs or groups, fight the forces of darkness. The stories are well paced, the characters are wonderful (there's a cowardly doberman, an english sheepdog who's basically Gandalf only more badass, a husky who's faced a werewolf, a cat who's a satan worshipper's ex-familiar...). They face a haunted doghouse, free ranging vampire heads, demons, giant spiders. The art is glorious, able to keep the animals cute but show them in full bloody gory combat with a tribe of goblins.
Four good sized collections, all worthwhile.

Say less. This sounds awesome!

Just Finished the last collection, and yeah, absolutely worth a look. It's definitely an adult book (zombie dogs ew) but it hits all the best notes of an aged up childhood story, friends backing each other up, evil villains, cowards overcoming their fears, enemies become friends, apprentices learning magic, and the art is just perfect... the cats and dogs are all distinct characters with distinct expressions and movement. I may have to look into a hardcover set for this.

sigh... despite my visceral annoyance with Dark Horse shafting their digital customers magnificently, I note that they're releasing a BEASTS OF BURDEN omnibus....


https://www.darkhors...den-Omnibus-TPB

....that is probably exceptional and worthwhile.

[Hammerhead88]

Abyss, on 27 February 2025 - 05:36 PM, said:

Abyss, on 28 January 2025 - 04:33 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 27 January 2025 - 04:31 PM, said:

Abyss, on 27 January 2025 - 03:44 PM, said:

BEASTS OF BURDEN Evan Dworkin writes, Jill Thompson art. Where has this comic been all my life?

Animal wizards, sometimes with human partners, sometimes in loose packs or groups, fight the forces of darkness. The stories are well paced, the characters are wonderful (there's a cowardly doberman, an english sheepdog who's basically Gandalf only more badass, a husky who's faced a werewolf, a cat who's a satan worshipper's ex-familiar...). They face a haunted doghouse, free ranging vampire heads, demons, giant spiders. The art is glorious, able to keep the animals cute but show them in full bloody gory combat with a tribe of goblins.
Four good sized collections, all worthwhile.

Say less. This sounds awesome!

Just Finished the last collection, and yeah, absolutely worth a look. It's definitely an adult book (zombie dogs ew) but it hits all the best notes of an aged up childhood story, friends backing each other up, evil villains, cowards overcoming their fears, enemies become friends, apprentices learning magic, and the art is just perfect... the cats and dogs are all distinct characters with distinct expressions and movement. I may have to look into a hardcover set for this.

sigh... despite my visceral annoyance with Dark Horse shafting their digital customers magnificently, I note that they're releasing a BEASTS OF BURDEN omnibus....


https://www.darkhors...den-Omnibus-TPB

....that is probably exceptional and worthwhile.

Sold

[Hammerhead88]

Abyss, on 26 February 2025 - 03:37 PM, said:

Hammerhead88, on 26 February 2025 - 07:54 AM, said:

...Also have a Nightwing deep dive on my list - do you have a reading order you are going to follow?

No, i picked a fairly random point... i like Tom Taylor so i picked his run that starts with NIGHTWING (2016) #105. I read a couple of issues just to confirm i wanted to continue, it has a fun action vibe with a WAYNE FAMILY ADVENTURES undertone. I plan to read up to present or close, then backtrack to the Waid and Morrison BAT/'TEC runs. i REALLY hate how much crossover stuff DC works in tho, it is annoying and mostly just bad comics dragging down good. If you have an order you're following pls share.



I'll go deep, i think, once i finish (semi hate read) the End of Krakoa/Fall of the House of X Xbooks, then will revisit this. The xbooks are all over the place for this phase... little glimmers of good writing with a pile of blunt 'we're phoning this in and we know it' work i'm mostly skimming.

I don't have an order and haven't started yet, but was probably going to use the comic book herald order which I have used for other runs in the past.

[polishgenius]

Read the first volume (the first five issues) of Kerian Gillen's The Power Fantasy. Really good. Basic premise is that there are six people with world-ending capabilities on the planet, and the knife-edge that places everyone including them on. So, superheroes as WMDs, not a new concept, but Gillen executes it brilliantly. The art by Caspar Wijngaard is excellent too, I've wanted to see more from him since his work on Limbo (the limited series by Dan Watters, which is also wicked).


I really should read The Wicked + The Divine finally. Got it sitting around in downloadable form since a humble bundle ages ago. Been a fan of Gillen since Phonogram.

[Abyss]

polishgenius, on 10 March 2025 - 05:08 PM, said:

Read the first volume (the first five issues) of Kerian Gillen's The Power Fantasy. Really good. Basic premise is that there are six people with world-ending capabilities on the planet, and the knife-edge that places everyone including them on. So, superheroes as WMDs, not a new concept, but Gillen executes it brilliantly. The art by Caspar Wijngaard is excellent too, I've wanted to see more from him since his work on Limbo (the limited series by Dan Watters, which is also wicked).


I really should read The Wicked + The Divine finally. Got it sitting around in downloadable form since a humble bundle ages ago. Been a fan of Gillen since Phonogram.

Gillen's an automatic read for me now but i so thoroughly enjoy having a complete run that i'm going to wait on POWER FANTASY for at least a year. If i can.
Maybe.
Probably.
...ish?

You really REALLY should hit WikDiv, it's complete and gloriously insane brilliant.

[polishgenius]

Read my last pickup from my trip to the comic shop the other day, Tom King's Strange Adventures, which is more-or-less the Adam Strange equivalent of what he's previously done with Wanda and Vision and Mr Terrific. I say more-or-less coz realistically it's darker than either of those.


It probably is his best work I've read so far, though. Of the three, it's got both the most going on under the hood and the cleanest A-to-B throughline bringing it all together. Also, while I had no great attachment to Adam Strange going in, I'm a fan of Mr Terrific, and... well, he is. Great depiction of him in this.



eta: actually scratch that, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is obviously his best, I keep forgetting that's by him since it's so unlike most of the rest of his stuff. Even if it has some of those undercurrents.

I haven't read Grayson, Batman, or Rorsarch though.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 12 March 2025 - 11:44 PM

[Abyss]

Xbooks Hate Read interrupted for the AVENGERS TWILIGHT LS, which was actually a lot of fun Zdarksy writing w some near flawless Alex Ross art. Classic story, hero-pocalypse sends surviving heroes into hiding, years later old guard have to return to save the world from corrupt gov, but done very well w some fun twists. It's a short satisfying dose of why i like Marvel comics.

Now... deep breath, almost finished this Xnonsense... just a few scattered issues and the Weapon X-Men LS left....

[Hammerhead88]

Started and caught up with Waid's batman/superman worlds finest, some of the arcs were really fun.

Now embarking on road to no mans land and no mans land saga.

[Hammerhead88]

Also read Final cut by Charles burns. Nowhere near as good as Black hole but still well worth a read.

[Hammerhead88]

Abyss, on 10 March 2025 - 05:26 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 10 March 2025 - 05:08 PM, said:

Read the first volume (the first five issues) of Kerian Gillen's The Power Fantasy. Really good. Basic premise is that there are six people with world-ending capabilities on the planet, and the knife-edge that places everyone including them on. So, superheroes as WMDs, not a new concept, but Gillen executes it brilliantly. The art by Caspar Wijngaard is excellent too, I've wanted to see more from him since his work on Limbo (the limited series by Dan Watters, which is also wicked).


I really should read The Wicked + The Divine finally. Got it sitting around in downloadable form since a humble bundle ages ago. Been a fan of Gillen since Phonogram.

Gillen's an automatic read for me now but i so thoroughly enjoy having a complete run that i'm going to wait on POWER FANTASY for at least a year. If i can.
Maybe.
Probably.
...ish?

You really REALLY should hit WikDiv, it's complete and gloriously insane brilliant.

I have had the first deluxe edition of wicked and divine on my shelves for years, should really get around to it!

[Abyss]

polishgenius, on 10 March 2025 - 05:08 PM, said:

...I really should read The Wicked + The Divine finally. Got it sitting around in downloadable form since a humble bundle ages ago. Been a fan of Gillen since Phonogram.

Hammerhead88, on 20 March 2025 - 09:35 AM, said:

I have had the first deluxe edition of wicked and divine on my shelves for years, should really get around to it!

people....

PEOPLE!

[Hammerhead88]

Just started 'Om' by Andy Barron. It must be the strangest thing I've ever read but I absolutely love it. Very surreal, similar to the "Frank" books by Jim woodring.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 26 February 2025 - 03:37 PM, said:

...once i finish (semi hate read) the End of Krakoa/Fall of the House of X Xbooks, then will revisit this. The xbooks are all over the place for this phase... little glimmers of good writing with a pile of blunt 'we're phoning this in and we know it' work i'm mostly skimming.

Abyss, on 18 March 2025 - 05:40 PM, said:

Xbooks Hate Read interrupted ...

Now... deep breath, almost finished this Xnonsense... just a few scattered issues and the Weapon X-Men LS left....

Gods that was bad.

And frustrating... Krakoa was such a great idea that opened the door to so many great stories and end was just a mess and the little clever bits were just drowned in crap... Iron Man fake marrying Emma Frost lost in yet another Tony-loses-his-company story while Emma says brave stuff, Sync leading an Xmen team doing nothing in particular, Shadowcat hunting enemies oh wait no she's mostly moping around feeling bad about it, Nightcrawler borrowing a Spiderman costume so he can spend four issues a giamnt size special and most of a whole other 4 issue series issues whining about his relationship with his mother(s), Phoenix not dead but mostly just going thru an identity crisis til they can send her in the finish the damn thing, dead Xmen brought back to bop around alternate realities HOW THE FUCK DID THEY DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING USEFUL WITH THAT??? Meh. Might be time to take another decade off the xbooks.

On a brighter note is CONQUEST 2099. The writer Steve Orlando obviously read the same Marvel 2099 comics i did back in the 90s because he's having a blast with a perfectly absurd Dracula in Space vs Spider-Aliens plot involving Spidey 2099, new Xmen 2099 characters, and Wolverine who also happens to be Nova. It's delightful comics.

[polishgenius]

Steve Orlando rocks. I need to give his Supergirl a proper shot, I remember reading the first volume and enjoying it but I didn't have the means to get into the run at the time. His Midnighter run is superb comics and deserved more love.

[Abyss]

polishgenius, on 30 March 2025 - 05:40 AM, said:

Steve Orlando rocks. I need to give his Supergirl a proper shot, I remember reading the first volume and enjoying it but I didn't have the means to get into the run at the time. His Midnighter run is superb comics and deserved more love.

did not know he wrote a Midnighter run, will have to read that.

[polishgenius]

It's wicked good. Twelve issues (or two volumes) of Midnighter solo, then a Midnighter and Apollo miniseries to cap it off.

The first cover is the most Midnighter thing you've ever seen in your life.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 30 March 2025 - 08:41 PM