[stone monkey]

I'm not really feeling Blackest Night. For some reason it's not working for me. Bear in mind that I'm one of the few people here who really enjoyed Final Crisis, so that might give you some hint as to my tastes in such matters...

[Illuyankas]

Apt, read Green Lantern: Rebirth, Green Lantern: Recharge, then the Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps ongoings, and add in Sinestro Corps War and its tieins as well as the Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns tie-in when they get reached. Then you'll be good to go for the Black Lantern stuff.

As for Final Crisis, SM, looking back on it the whole thing just seems like a confusing pointless mess. FC: Legion of 3 Worlds was pretty awesome though.

[stone monkey]

Each to their own I suppose. The hypercompressed nature of FC is what made it so much fun for me. I liked the way it seemed to give you glimpses of a million stories being told at once and left the reader to fill in the blanks. Given the whole point of the exercise was imo to meditate on the nature of story (and superhero stories in particular) I found that approach very effective.

This was a stark contrast to the ultra-decompressed Secret Invasion which left me cold. Most of that series seemed to take place over a period of about 20 minutes. I'd find myself picking up each new issue and thinking "Is that fight still going on?"

I guess it's like Marmite, either you love it or you hate it. And never the twain shall meet.

This post has been edited by stone monkey: 07 September 2009 - 09:41 PM

[Illuyankas]

Well, I didn't like Secret Invasion either, to be fair. I guess FC fell on the 'tell' side of the show versus tell divide for me.

[QuickTidal]

See, now my background lore on the Lanterns is sketchy at best, and I've been having my best friend (who has been hardcore DC all his life) fill me in on bits that I'm not sure about, but the planning that's gone into Blackest Night started two years ago and I actually feel that you don't need to be schooled in the lore to get what's going on and to enjoy it. I know enough to not try to get who everyone is who is coming back, because Geoff Johns is ressurecting some DC heroes who have been dead since the sixties. I think it is awesome how the Black Lanterns are adressing how everyone in comics is never really dead and can come back. The more I learn about the Lanterns, the more I like them.

As far as Marvel being better....I find that when one company waxes with their big projects (currently DC Blackest Night titles are outselling all the major Marvel titles), the other wanes and right now Marvel is sucking bigtime...and don't even get me started on "House Of M". Oh my god that was a tedious goddamn mess. It also seems like every time I get involved reading an X-Men title these days, there is too much politics in them. World War Hulk was....passable at best.

As far as the Lantern mythos,

Spoiler

I am LOVING that the Guardians on Oa are rotting from the inside out from Black Lantern Scar. Very cool. Also, I can't wait to see the Indigo Lanterns show up....seeing as no one knows if they even exist.

Bruce Wayne's Batman is dead, Dick Grayson is filling the cowl now and upstart ten-year old nasty prodigy Damian Wayne is the new, uncontrollable Robin, and Cassandra Cain's badass Batgirl has left the mantle behind and it's been picked up by Stephanie Brown's Spoiler.

Topsy turvy stuff.

...but then I follow Geoff John's writing around titles like I do with Grant Morrison or Warren Ellis, so I'm likely biased.

Please Note: the current Morrison/Quietly run on Batman and Robin is simple amazing BTW.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 07 September 2009 - 09:54 PM

[Barack of Onearms Host not Obama]

So, currently I'm reading:

Walking Dead - not optional if you're into zombies
Unknown Soldier - really fucking good shit
the Dark Tower series - adding to the Canon. This is essential if you're a fan of the series
Incognito
No Hero
Chew - This will be the next really popular book
just picked up the first 28 Days Later (surprisingly good)
Marvels Project
I like the Marvel Noir stuff. They are doing Luke Cage right now, and it's amazing.

All time favorite stuff:

Watchmen - the best graphic novel ever written, hands down.
Sin City - Probably my favorite comic series ever
Preacher
Y the Last Man
From Hell
Sandman

[mxlm]

Final Crisis - it was decent. Except I didn't give a damn about a single one of the characters, the vast majority of whom I had nothing invested in. Actually, most characters I didn't recognize. Who's that guy? Why should I care? Oh, you're not going to tell me, so I shouldn't. Not for the casual reader, okay, message received. I suspect that if I were substantially more conversant with the DCU I would have enjoyed it quite a bit (to die on the job is to die for Darkseid!).

Secret Invasion, on the other hand, verged on 'so bad it's good'. Behold the grandeur of Abhay's reviews of the series, which are far more entertaining than the series itself.

Abyss, on 07 September 2009 - 05:00 PM, said:

I keep half an eye on DC out of curiousity tho' i don't buy anything except the odd trade. That said, it's a wee bit intimidating that Blackest Night builds on pretty much every crossover event they've had since Identity Crisis.... universe wide as well as GL-centric. But it's getting good commentary on the internuts.

Which parts of the internuts? The folks I read have been unfuckingthrilled.

ETA: oh, and so there's this very, very brief webcomic that's ostensibly about Dracula, which you all should read.

This post has been edited by mxlm: 08 September 2009 - 01:47 PM

[Illuyankas]

PLANETARY 27 IS OUT

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUCK YES

[stone monkey]

Not in the UK, it's not. Not until tomorrow
And I'll be at work all day...So I won't be even able to actually buy the bugger until Saturday. That's if either of my local comics shops have any of them left by that time. Which is annoying, as I have all bar one of the others....

Saturday may see a Sad Monkey...

This post has been edited by stone monkey: 07 October 2009 - 10:55 PM

[wolf_2099]

Illuyankas, on 07 October 2009 - 06:14 PM, said:

PLANETARY 27 IS OUT

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUCK YES

And War Heroes! Hell froze over!

Humor for the rest of you all who aren't reading Planetary.

http://www.comicsall...ebook-status-u/

[RodeoRanch]

Nice finale for Planetary.

[stone monkey]

Bloody Hell! I had thought you were joking about War Heroes...

Anyone see that bit in the back of Planetary about them finally finishing Grant Morrison's Authority story? Surely this means the end times are now upon us...

[RodeoRanch]

I just started getting into "Fables." Read the first five issues. I like it so far.

[wolf_2099]

RodeoRanch, on 15 October 2009 - 11:31 PM, said:

I just started getting into "Fables." Read the first five issues. I like it so far.

Fables is great, although some people find it starts to drag around issue 50 or 60.

[wolf_2099]

Planetary Question for you folks who have read the series about William Leather, spoilers to say the least.

Spoiler

In issue 22, Snow is torturing William Leather.

When did he get to William Leather? Did this happen off screen? I just re-read the entire series and cannot remember when he grabbed him.

[RodeoRanch]

I'm 15 issues shy of being caught up with "Fables."

Fucking brilliant stuff. One of my favorite series now.

[Cougar]

The hulk has always got on my tits a bit, but I just read Planet Hulk and I really enjoyed it. World War Hulk next.

[RodeoRanch]

Cougar, on 22 October 2009 - 09:02 PM, said:

The hulk has always got on my tits a bit,

That sounds exceedingly filthy.

[Illuyankas]

wolf_2099, on 22 October 2009 - 07:18 PM, said:

Planetary Question for you folks who have read the series about William Leather, spoilers to say the least.

Spoiler

In issue 22, Snow is torturing William Leather.

When did he get to William Leather? Did this happen off screen? I just re-read the entire series and cannot remember when he grabbed him.

Spoiler

In the moonshot issue, Snow filled a helicopter with explosives after the sphere returned to Earth, then when Leather was stunned Jakita ran up and stuck a syringe in his head.

[wolf_2099]

Illuyankas, on 22 October 2009 - 09:28 PM, said:

wolf_2099, on 22 October 2009 - 07:18 PM, said:

Planetary Question for you folks who have read the series about William Leather, spoilers to say the least.

Spoiler

In issue 22, Snow is torturing William Leather.

When did he get to William Leather? Did this happen off screen? I just re-read the entire series and cannot remember when he grabbed him.

Spoiler

In the moonshot issue, Snow filled a helicopter with explosives after the sphere returned to Earth, then when Leather was stunned Jakita ran up and stuck a syringe in his head.

Wonderful! Thank you very much, I remember the exact panels now. Brain fart on my part.

Has anyone read Stray Bullets by David Lapham? I have an option to buy the series for a decent price, but am hearing mixed reviews.