[Abyss]

Hammerhead88, on 13 April 2025 - 07:46 AM, said:

Another mignolaverse humble bundle is available with some additional extras that weren't in the last one (and you can just buy the extras if you bought the last one)

yes, oh yes it is!

[JPK]

So much Mignolaverse, so little time. I'm now through BPRD Omni 4 and HELLBOY OMNI 3. Where does one even start to admit how unbelievably awesome these two are?

What continues to impress me about this universe, and HELLBOY specifically, is how it borrows from so much and manages to spin it all into such a unique web that things that really shouldn't work together all slot so perfectly.

Spoiler

I didn't foresee the new Queen being fucking Nimue and it makes so much sense, but wrapping her into the Fae plotline and having that being the natural conclusion of the Baba Yaga and Hecate storylines!? Just perfect.

I think I'm going to take a break from this since I've been going hard on these for a few months now but per the amazing Mignolaverse reading order you all provided I've got both WEIRD TALES and WITCHFINDER VOL 1 on deck to return to shortly.

Next I think I'm going to take a rare stroll into DC territory with the Batman No Man's Land story arc.

[QuickTidal]

JPK, on 28 April 2025 - 05:14 PM, said:

What continues to impress me about this universe, and HELLBOY specifically, is how it borrows from so much and manages to spin it all into such a unique web that things that really shouldn't work together all slot so perfectly.

Spoiler

I didn't foresee the new Queen being fucking Nimue and it makes so much sense, but wrapping her into the Fae plotline and having that being the natural conclusion of the Baba Yaga and Hecate storylines!? Just perfect.

And now you will understand how much of a dropped ball the HELLBOY (2019) film is compared to Del Toro's films...while the Del Toro flicks were loose goosey with the whole thing...the 2019 one (with David Harbor) took

Spoiler

the Nimue plot line, rushed it and annihilated it from the nuanced story it is in the comics into a batshit insane, overly course and almost slapstick/cartoonish levels (think Deadpool) of blood and gore, and a soundtrack that would not be amiss at a 1982 Airshow, and did ACTUALLY include Rock You Like a Hurricane unironically...I've never seen a comic plot line so completely eviscerated in a movie adaptation ever...

Sidebar: Director Neil Marshall's films are not usually bad, and his film CENTURION is actually one of my fave Roman era films...so the aftermath of that is interesting: Marshall has since disowned the film, criticizing the script and calling the job "the worst professional experience of my life." Marshall only accepted the film due to not making a feature film in nine years and also being initially intrigued by the horror pitch.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 28 April 2025 - 05:43 PM

[JPK]

QuickTidal, on 28 April 2025 - 05:22 PM, said:

JPK, on 28 April 2025 - 05:14 PM, said:

What continues to impress me about this universe, and HELLBOY specifically, is how it borrows from so much and manages to spin it all into such a unique web that things that really shouldn't work together all slot so perfectly.

Spoiler

I didn't foresee the new Queen being fucking Nimue and it makes so much sense, but wrapping her into the Fae plotline and having that being the natural conclusion of the Baba Yaga and Hecate storylines!? Just perfect.

And now you will understand how much of a dropped ball the HELLBOY (2019) film is compared to Del Toro's films...while the Del Toro flicks were loose goosey with the whole thing...the 2019 one (with David Harbor) took

Spoiler

the Nimue plot line, rushed it and annihilated it from the nuanced story it is in the comics into a batshit insane, overly course and almost slapstick/cartoonish levels (think Deadpool) of blood and gore, and a soundtrack that would not be amiss at a 1982 Airshow, and did ACTUALLY include Rock You Like a Hurricane unironically...I've never seen a comic plot line so completely eviscerated in a movie adaptation ever...

Sidebar: Director Neil Marshall's films are not usually bad, and his film CENTURION is actually one of my fave Roman era films...so the aftermath of that is interesting: Marshall has since disowned the film, criticizing the script and calling the job "the worst professional experience of my life." Marshall only accepted the film due to not making a feature film in nine years and also being initially intrigued by the horror pitch.

I had skipped that one because I loved the Del Toro films and just couldn't picture Harbour being as good as Hellboy. That description makes me even happier I skipped that.

[Hammerhead88]

Witchfinder is AWESOME!

So many great callbacks to BPRD and HELLBOY

JPK, on 28 April 2025 - 05:14 PM, said:

So much Mignolaverse, so little time. I'm now through BPRD Omni 4 and HELLBOY OMNI 3. Where does one even start to admit how unbelievably awesome these two are?

What continues to impress me about this universe, and HELLBOY specifically, is how it borrows from so much and manages to spin it all into such a unique web that things that really shouldn't work together all slot so perfectly.

Spoiler

I didn't foresee the new Queen being fucking Nimue and it makes so much sense, but wrapping her into the Fae plotline and having that being the natural conclusion of the Baba Yaga and Hecate storylines!? Just perfect.

I think I'm going to take a break from this since I've been going hard on these for a few months now but per the amazing Mignolaverse reading order you all provided I've got both WEIRD TALES and WITCHFINDER VOL 1 on deck to return to shortly.

Next I think I'm going to take a rare stroll into DC territory with the Batman No Man's Land story arc.

This post has been edited by Hammerhead88: 29 April 2025 - 07:09 AM

[JPK]

I started No Man's Land last night but I feel like I'm missing some context. Can any of you that are better versed hook me up with a simple explanation as to how Gotham got like this? I'd Google but don't want spoilers. I saw something about an earthquake in the first issue but I feel like it has to be more than that to get to this level of cluster

[Abyss]

JPK, on 29 April 2025 - 07:34 PM, said:

I started No Man's Land last night but I feel like I'm missing some context. Can any of you that are better versed hook me up with a simple explanation as to how Gotham got like this? I'd Google but don't want spoilers. I saw something about an earthquake in the first issue but I feel like it has to be more than that to get to this level of cluster

Yah, you may want to back up and read the Cataclysm, Aftershock, and Road to No Man's Land Bat-crossover stories first. Those lead up to the quake, quake, and consequences that set up NML.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 05 April 2025 - 07:28 PM, said:

Abyss, on 04 April 2025 - 02:31 PM, said:

Had to hop on Hoopla to find some non-fiction, tripped over Gillen and Hans' DIE in the reco box.

Glanced at it out of curiousity, bcs Gillen is a comic writing god... three pages, that's all it took to hook line and sinker me. The base storyline is nothing that original, teens trapped in a DnD game as their characters, they escape, have to go back as adults, but the bits Gillen does with this... wow. The way he slides the characters into 'roles' and then flips them dark, the little DnD nods he messes with, the fact that the name of the series is the singular form of 'dice'... yeah this one grabs me where i prefer to live. Background tells me Gillen was inspired by the old DnD cartoon, and yeah, that fits.

Stephanie Hans is new to me, her art a bit more vague than i usually like but in the context of a fantasy world that is a game but isn't it works well.

ETA OH DEAR GODS THERE'S A GAME???!?!??!!!!

polishgenius, on 05 April 2025 - 03:11 PM, said:

Got that (well, two volumes) undread too lol. Got the big Gillen Humble Bundle a while ago. I don't usually really read comics on the computer but I might as well get to these at some point...

Bought same, quite forgot about them til Hoopla reminded me. Another two chapters into vol 1, this is goooood comics.

Just Finished Gillen and Hans' DIE. It's brilliant, a very clever well planned and executed mash up of RPGs, fantasy lit, and getting over childhood trauma.Gillen did a LOT of research on this and the collected edition ends w 20 pages of essays he included in each indiv floppy, it's a deep dive into the psychology and history and just thought behind RPGs and that alone was worth the price (which was free on Hoopla but i digress).

I am VERY tempted to buy the game set, possibly just the pdfs at $55 but the hardback rules/softcover supps are so tempting even at double the price because Hans' art is just that good. And that's even before they got a stellar cast of additional fiction and comics writers and artists to create monsters for the bestiary. I will likely never ever play the game, but Gillen created the game as he wrote the comic and it's kind of the other half of the worldbuilding and well how do I not want to know more about a world where hackers fight zombies, rogues survive as long as they don't take anything seriously, a character class called 'Godbinder' negotiates with gods for favours, and a certain historically significant author's drowned body is also a dungeon full of monsters?

An aside: I went through this phase during the pandemic of scoooping up RPG humble bundles, partly thinking i might play them (ha, funny), partly out of curiousity after being out of RPGs for so long. I recently read through a couple along with a just acquired DnD5e set. Recently started reading one called Grimwild and while i appreciate that the creators were going for a 'cinematic, players and GM create the story' effect, i kind of hate how to work you need so much buy in from the entire table. DnD is work to learn, but once you've got it there's a basic A->B->C->D(ragon) to it that introduces the table to an adventure whatever their experience or interest, and lets things happen. A decent DM can walk some completely new players through the whole experience in a relatively short time. GrimWild 'requires' (obvs you don't have to but it's kind of the core of what they're going for) the table to spend like an hour discussing character relationships/goals/feels before anyone smashes a goblin in the face with a longsword... i do not love this. It feels very forced. DIE is an RPG story that works entirely around the characters' relationships - and apparently the game is like this too, it seems as tho players have to play two characters, a 'real world' player and the rpg character they're playing... my curiousity around how the hell that's supposed to work is a big chunk of my temptation to buy the set... it's either top tier rpg for sophisticated players or an incredibly bad idea or DIY therapy masking as an incredibly bad idea thinly disguised as a top tier rpg.


Next up, NIGHTWING deep dive or an INVINCIBLE part-reread-then-marathon

[JPK]

Abyss, on 30 April 2025 - 01:46 PM, said:

JPK, on 29 April 2025 - 07:34 PM, said:

I started No Man's Land last night but I feel like I'm missing some context. Can any of you that are better versed hook me up with a simple explanation as to how Gotham got like this? I'd Google but don't want spoilers. I saw something about an earthquake in the first issue but I feel like it has to be more than that to get to this level of cluster

Yah, you may want to back up and read the Cataclysm, Aftershock, and Road to No Man's Land Bat-crossover stories first. Those lead up to the quake, quake, and consequences that set up NML.

Thank you. It's hard to find pathways for this sometimes without running straight into spoilers.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 30 April 2025 - 01:46 PM, said:

JPK, on 29 April 2025 - 07:34 PM, said:

I started No Man's Land last night but I feel like I'm missing some context. Can any of you that are better versed hook me up with a simple explanation as to how Gotham got like this? I'd Google but don't want spoilers. I saw something about an earthquake in the first issue but I feel like it has to be more than that to get to this level of cluster

Yah, you may want to back up and read the Cataclysm, Aftershock, and Road to No Man's Land Bat-crossover stories first. Those lead up to the quake, quake, and consequences that set up NML.

Yep, all of this.

Also after you’re done read Puckett’s excellent run on BATGIRL, as it stars Cassandra Cain who IIRC is introduced during No Man’s Land. That and the following Stephanie Brown BATGIRL (Brian Q Miller) run are probably my fave nougties Batman-associated comics.

[JPK]

QuickTidal, on 30 April 2025 - 11:15 PM, said:

Abyss, on 30 April 2025 - 01:46 PM, said:

JPK, on 29 April 2025 - 07:34 PM, said:

I started No Man's Land last night but I feel like I'm missing some context. Can any of you that are better versed hook me up with a simple explanation as to how Gotham got like this? I'd Google but don't want spoilers. I saw something about an earthquake in the first issue but I feel like it has to be more than that to get to this level of cluster

Yah, you may want to back up and read the Cataclysm, Aftershock, and Road to No Man's Land Bat-crossover stories first. Those lead up to the quake, quake, and consequences that set up NML.

Yep, all of this.

Also after you’re done read Puckett’s excellent run on BATGIRL, as it stars Cassandra Cain who IIRC is introduced during No Man’s Land. That and the following Stephanie Brown BATGIRL (Brian Q Miller) run are probably my fave nougties Batman-associated comics.

I thought this might be the intro of Cassandra Cain as Batgirl. Barbara is definitely Oracle at this point, and I knew that Cassandra takes up that mantle at some point. I think I'll go for a month of the DC app and push through it.

This post has been edited by JPK: 30 April 2025 - 11:58 PM

[Abyss]

JPK, on 30 April 2025 - 11:51 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 30 April 2025 - 11:15 PM, said:

Abyss, on 30 April 2025 - 01:46 PM, said:

JPK, on 29 April 2025 - 07:34 PM, said:

I started No Man's Land last night but I feel like I'm missing some context. Can any of you that are better versed hook me up with a simple explanation as to how Gotham got like this? I'd Google but don't want spoilers. I saw something about an earthquake in the first issue but I feel like it has to be more than that to get to this level of cluster

Yah, you may want to back up and read the Cataclysm, Aftershock, and Road to No Man's Land Bat-crossover stories first. Those lead up to the quake, quake, and consequences that set up NML.

Yep, all of this.

Also after you're done read Puckett's excellent run on BATGIRL, as it stars Cassandra Cain who IIRC is introduced during No Man's Land. That and the following Stephanie Brown BATGIRL (Brian Q Miller) run are probably my fave nougties Batman-associated comics.

I thought this might be the intro of Cassandra Cain as Batgirl. Barbara is definitely Oracle at this point, and I knew that Cassandra takes up that mantle at some point. I think I'll go for a month of the DC app and push through it.

Along w my eventual NIGHTWING read i may include some Cass and Steph runs, the characters have really grown on me in WAYNE FAM ADVENTURES.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 01 May 2025 - 01:22 PM, said:

...
Along w my eventual NIGHTWING read i may include some Cass and Steph runs, the characters have really grown on me in WAYNE FAM ADVENTURES.

DC really does just suck at the crossover thing don't they?
Maybe six issues into Taylor's NIGHTWING, the character is all about Bludhaven, protect Bludhaven, people of Bludhaven deserve, etc etc etc then fucks off to Gotham for three issues to fight generic armored soldier robots with bad art.... like, it's not just bad story it's genuinely BAD comics, throws me right out... He has a two page interaction w Batman who send him off to some useless side story of no consequence... i don't WANT to read more. I'm actively thinking about other comics to read... and this happens roughly every six to twelve months. And so many people seriously want/buy this stuff that DC can fiscally justify just churning this out again and again? ...i guess so because this run is almost a decade old and they're still doing it... i was reading the current JLU run which flows from the Absolute Power crossover, so i naturally backtracked and started to read the crossover... oh look someone sent soldier robots after the heroes... fuck that. My DCU subscription just renewed but i am seriously on the fence whether it's worthwhile.

[Abyss]

Peter Alan David - known among comics circles for the revamped XFactor and Spider-man 2099 - died. He'd been sick for a while. Sad loss, the man created some truly great comics.

Coincidental aside on my brain, i was at a comics show this past weekend, a very 'pure' comics thing, no cosplay, no cartoons, no toys, just comics vendors with tables full of long boxes and huge displays of grail floppies. It was fun, i had some interesting chats, picked up some good stuff super-cheap from dollar boxes and 3-for-$5 deals... a bunch of old MICRONAUTS vol 1 i owned as a kid, a 30 floppy set of the early Perez n Wolfman TEEN TITANS, a complete run of Marvel's perfectly ridiculous 80s toy tie-in TEAM AMERICA i simply could not resist, a couple of old UXM Claremont Run classic issues i found in a dollar box and know for a fact routinely resell for $10+. But at one point I had a slabbed XFactor #71 in my hands... that's the floppy where PAD takes over, replaces the original 05 Xmen with a new team led by Havok and Polaris and pretty much reshapes what xbook spinoffs look like for the 90s.... signed by PAD and Milgrom... pricey but surprisingly reasonable... i had already spent more than planned but was tempted, remembered how much younger me loved that comic and that it would be neat to own this... then 'nah, i have one i can read any time i like'. Didn't buy it. and he died a day later. Now i kind of wish i had, not because the price will rocket now, but because like George Perez these creators die and I realizing how much their work meant to me and that it would have been nice to own something like that.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 22 May 2025 - 03:19 PM, said:

Abyss, on 01 May 2025 - 01:22 PM, said:

...
Along w my eventual NIGHTWING read i may include some Cass and Steph runs, the characters have really grown on me in WAYNE FAM ADVENTURES.

DC really does just suck at the crossover thing don't they?...

so i jumped right over the crossover and back to the ongoing which was the right move because the 'Battle for the Heart of Bludhaven' story was EXACTLY the comics i was looking for... Nightwing trying to save 'everybody', getting backup from Superman jr, the Titans, and the batfam, rallying the community against the Big Bad, multiple great fights / action sequences, and Bitewing, the greatest superhero pet in the history of comics.

[polishgenius]

My bi-anual comic run into London was a bit smaller this year, but I did get a few:

Jenny Sparks, by Tom King and Jeff Spokes. This one was a bit disappointing, to be honest- in that it's a perfectly fine story, but a rubbish Jenny Sparks showcase. Like, in these Black Label books King does quite often fuck with the personality or whatever of one hero or another, but it's usually either to in some way subvert that character to use them to say something, or to bring out something in another hero.

Here, there's almost nothing about the story that in any way needed Jenny. It's not that she's out of character, her behaviour is fine, but very little about her powerset or mythos/background makes her a sensible fit for this story, and in fact King has to do some awkward squeezing to even have her there. Captain Atom meanwhile is out of character in both personality and powers. It's a lot more forgiveable coz he's a lot closer to a mad Doctor Manhattan and those characters are obviously linked conceptually in any case, but since Jenny is already out of whack and Jenny and Captain Atom have no connection either, it makes for an odd feel to the story.


Still, taken for what it is outside of that context it's a fun story (basically something like 24 Hours in a Diner if it was, well, Doctor Manhattan demanding to be acknowledged as God). And the art is incredible, I hope to see more from Spokes because on this basis he should be a comic superstar. Given the nature of the story he has to do a lot with low-key scenes and it would not have worked at all with a lesser artist. Honestly recommend giving it a look on that basis alone, despite my annoyance with it.



The latest trade volume of Tom King's Wonder Woman run. Continues to be very interesting, and King really nails Diana and what makes her special. Does have a tendency to overcomplicate that might end up biting this run in the bum, but so far it's just the right side of that line.



The final trade of that Nightwing run by Taylor and Redondo. Good, solid, satisfying run. My only real gripe is that across both this and his Superman Taylor isn't amazing at writing villains, but, you know, they're fine, just not special. The rest- superhero action, fun dialogue, character dynamics, great art- are top notch. Good run.


And also a blind pickup of a little indie cyberpunk space opera western, Deathslinger by Shane Berryhill and Ben Perkins. It's fun. Not a secret classic or anything, but a good bite of very, very pulpy space shooty action. The art is a lot, it's very loud, ut it works.