Official Recommendations Thread...Revived....

[Drz]

I added ratings.

Nemesis: The 3rd collabaration by Mark Millar and Steve Mcniven brings forth the super villain pitched as "what if Batman was the Joker?" or "what if Batman was the villain?" this 4 issue action packed story introduces a whole new Millarworld and the while this is Nemesis' story, i cannot call him as the protagonist as the hero of the story is the Police chieftain Blake Morrow, whom Nemesis wants to murder. Nemesis has billions of money and all the cool James Bond gadgets that you can suspect Batman aswell would have, but he comes off with a very potty mouth but ultimately when he gives his origin in #4 in a simple dialogue exchange it all makes sense, his entire motivation into murdering Blake Morrow is beatiful and simple, i love it when Millar writes a villain-centric story. The very last page twist is something i feel "eh" about, but i like the idea behind Nemesis as a whole and reserve my judgement on the last twist when the 2nd volume starts. Sadly the actual tradepack barely comes with anything exclusive, infact it doesn't even bring all the scripts that the 4 issues provided funnily enough. It's a thrillful pop corn rush with great action and explosions that you can except Millar and Mcniven to deliver, simply put.

Rating: Ultimately this is a rather casual comic that you give to your friends who tell you that Heath Ledger Joker, Jack Nicholson Joker and villains like Hannibal Lecter are the coolest villains out there and you'd love to see a "what if Batman was Joker" twist and show how the world would crumble beneath them, definatly also recommended for Batman fans who would like to see an Owlman comic, like James Woods' awesome portrayal as Owlman in Justice League: Crisis for Two Earths. The last page ending is questionable a silly plothole unless things work out in Volume 2, but yeah for casual people this might be the coolest thing since digital watches, but my rating for it shall be 75/100

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne: Reading this in a delicious oversized hardcover was a thing of joy. Each issue has a great artist (well granted i didn't find #4 art that great, but it wasn't awful or anything, just not as good as the other artists pulled off) and each issue delves onto Batman's ability to survive and escape traps of any kind while the Justice League is on his trail trying to save him from destroying the 21st century as Darkseid has booby-trapped him. The issue itself is a tribute to the idea of a man making himself a god, while also humbling Batman and facing reality that some writers have put Batman in denial and even it's fans: Batman asks for help, and he hasn't ever been alone. That is how the story concludes and delivers that message, and there is no shame in that!

I absolutely loved how much extra content this trade delivers in. Andy Kubert's character sketches, even the victorian era Batman design he made is there! The different artists show how they made the covers and some panels here and there along with their own character sketches. Simply put this is Batman escaping a death trap in a universally large scale, while the "escaping traps" template might have been done to death, the fresh and huge scale makes it all the better and enjoyable read.

Rating: The ending here and story is all perfectly done for people who simply wish to read this story alone, theres no major needs to read anything previous, but it enchances the read thru, but i think the ending is much weaker for Morrison fans because it's just one of the major chapters and really the "Bruce is Back!" awesome comes alive in Batman & Robin and the great new chapter for Bruce begins in "Batman Incorporated" but yeah the story itself, the art and the scale of things make this a really fun comic book and tributing Batman. 96/100

Batman: Haunted Gotham Doug Moench & Kelley Jones are known from the Vampire Batman story arc they did, but this is a lesser known elseworld they've done together. It's about Gotham literally being a cursed place of hell, where demons haunt the good guys and among other things. Bruce is 30 years old and has been trained by his Father into a secret weapon, but yeah ultimately the Wayne parents die at the first pages.

It's pretty much about Batman and this secret club going againts the demons of Gotham, with really cool new twists on Joker and Catwoman. 2/3 of the book was great, but i felt the last arc (like the last 30-45 pages) was abit too dragging. There was just *so* much going on! I still found it a fun story nonetheless.

Rating: It's a bit too long but the concept is cool and "trippy" i guess but hey c'mon it's a cursed Gotham with Batman and this secret cult slaughtering demons and protecting Gotham. Art is great and again: Concept is awesome! 80/100

Batman: Gotham After Midnight 30 days of Night writer Steve Niles and the artist Kelley Jones team up for a 12-arc story of all kinds of horror! New anti-hero Midnight appears in Gotham doing all kinds of havoc. You got a really horror-style take on Clayface, Joker on drugs (he's creepy!!!!) among many characters made perfectly work for the story. Tho it suffers the "obvious bad guy" syndrome since it's a new mystery character and well... You know it's pretty easy to guess these things.

It's still intriquing horror story with a good variety of villains from Man-Bat to Catwoman being a pure villain!

Rating: Steve Niles' story is pretty good and this tradepack can be received for a good price, Kelley Jones art is horrible when it comes to anatomy but he's just so great with the horror feeling he's achieving here like he's Da Vinci himself or something, but yeah the villain is rather obvious but it's still interesting to see Batman solve this case and all the villains out there written in such a great way, especially Clayface whos portrayal is so cool haha. Joker is as always awesome, but yeah i'll give this a solid 80/100

Captain America Lives! The 3rd Bru's Captain America omnibus keeps the great quality of story telling as Bucky continues his adventures as the Captain America, we got cool fight scenes againts Batroc, but i seriously enjoyed the chinese scientist story arc the most with Bucky's stuff on this trade. His guilt from the sins of his past craving him to redeem himself and make him worthy of wearing the mantle. I found #600 rather lackluster but i loved Crossbones and Sin's moment of kiss, and poor Sharon when she saw her scar! One thing that i was confuzzled was with after Reborn event, the trade shows me #601? Why didn't they just put that after #600? Baron Blood seems like he could make a really cool villain, but yeah i just felt underwhelmed after reading the main treat of the omnibus: Reborn.

I loved this, i mean it was obviously written like a good event comic. You had great amount of splash pages showcasing stunning action, you had Bryan Hitch deliver close face shots or one page shots of a hero and villain, i especially loved his shot of Baron Zemo, that was awesome! I also loved how it balanced around 3 sections, the heroes, the villains and Steve trapped in the time lock. The last 2 issues we're just stunning to look at, but whats up with Hank Pym? He's a Wasp now? Did he start missing Janet that much or something? Confuzzled! Again tho i feel abit bleh how much less these omnibuses carry extra material compared to the 1st Captain America omnibus, but all those Captain America Reborn covers we're great to gaze upon, especially Leinil Francis Yu's!

Rating: It's a good story in itself with lots of heart warming stuff like the Sharon Carter stuff and the Reborn Event itself was amazingly illusturated by Bryan Hitch and the story was highly action packed aswell! It's an conclusion to some chapters and the beginnings of some aswell with Steve's return and Bucky still carrying the Mantle and so on. I guess my rating would be 90/100 oh and i really liked the Bucky + Namor team up story at the start.

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

All Star Superman
Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: Frank Quitely

One of the best Superman stories imho, fun, entertaining, original and creative. Lex Luthor has finally found a way to kill Superman...and he's on death row about to be executed! This tale unfolds as Superman lives up to his name in every facet, don't fall for the Superman animated movie, it doesn't compare. This Eisner nominated story will keep you hooked throughout all 12 issues. You may have to forget, or remember, the history of Superman that has spanned decades and the liberties many writers took with his abilities. Morrison certainly runs with the original superhero and Frank Quitely's art seems to capture it perfectly.

If you haven't read this mini yet, what are you waiting for. Pick it up yesterday!

Rating: 90/100

Hulk: The End
Writer: Peter David
Art: Dale Keown

Along similar lines of Future Imperfect, this tale takes place in a far off distant Earth time line where nuclear holocaust appears to have been a reality. Of course the only left, is the Hulk...then again...there is puny Banner that seems to be a constant presence as well, one that Hulk doesn't seem to care for anymore than he ever has. The original book can be a little hard to come by but there are plenty of TPB reprints out there and is imho one of the best Hulk stories. It's much deeper than how strong the Hulk is and deals with both Banner and the Hulk. I did forget, there is one other living organism on the planet....cockroaches...I leave it at that.

Rating: 86/100

 

[Tron Bonne]

Title: Queen & Country
Writer: Greg Rucka with various artists
Publisher: Oni Press
Rating: 85-90/100

Both intriguing and relevant, Rucka shows why he's the best at what he does. Don't let the 'cartoony' art styles this book tended to have fool you either, this series is gritty and gets to the guts of the spy genre. The series looks at the British SIS, both the mission they endure, and the bureaucratic mess of modern politics. The main center is Tara Chase, and Greg Rucka shows why he's the best at writing female characters. The plots were pretty relevant to the time of their respective publication, but are general enough to be enjoyed in hindsight. Anyone who is a fan of the genre should pick this up ASAP, and especially so if you're a fan of British spy shows from the '60s-70s like Sandbaggers, which it takes a large influence from.

The series was originally published in 8 TPBs but was recently reprinted in 4 deluxe editions that collects the entire series:

Volume 1: http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Country...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304297703&sr=8-2
Volume 2: http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Country...=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304297703&sr=8-4
Volume 3: http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Country...=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304297703&sr=8-3
Volume 4: http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Country...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304297703&sr=8-1

 

[Watchman]

My ratings

Alec- 100/100
Casanova- 95/100
Tales Designed to Thrizzle- 90/100
Afrodisiac- 85/100

Cages by Dave McKean

Rating- 95/100

Cages is a marvelous showcase of McKean's artwork. Cages follows the lives of Leo, an artist, John, a troubled writer, and Angel, a mysterious jazz musician who all live in the same apartment complex. The plot is pretty sparse mostly concerning Leo's troubles and John dealing with some dangerous strangers. It is mostly a tool to move along McKean's themes. While what McKean discusses is interesting but it is definitely the art that is the highlight of the book. McKean takes us from dingy alleyways to high concept dream realities all rendered beautifully.

Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison and Richard Case

Rating- 98/100

If William Burroughs did the X-Men. Probably my favorite series by Morrison and one of his weirdest. Morrison's Doom Patrol follows the exploits of old standby Cliff Steele, hermaphroditic negative energy being Rebis, Sixty Four personalities and counting Crazy Jane, kind ape-faced girl Dorthy, normal Joshua, and the Chief. Oh! And the had Danny the Street...who was a living street....who was a transvestite Borrowing heavily from Dadaism an experimental writers Morrison crafted one of the most creative superheroes tales of all time. Morrison created odd and disturbing enemies like Brotherhood of Dada, Red Jack, and the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E to face the equally odd Doom Patrol. Collected in six trades the books are filled with insane ideas and yet doesn't lose it's heart in all the craziness.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Title: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Writer & Artist: Alison Bechdel
Publisher: Mariner Books
Rating: 90/100

One thing that will always distinguish comics from other mediums is the ability for writers and artists to unleash their imaginations that's either not possible in others, or not possible without a through the roof budget. But, like all mediums, it's become more varied than the science fiction and superhero roots it is known for. One such comic in that vain is this memoir by Alison Bechdel. Without spoiling too much of the plot, it deals with the interesting situation of a girl not only coming to terms with her own homosexuality, but also the fact she uncovers that her father was a closet homosexual himself. Bechdel is well-read, growing up in the home of a literature teacher, and her frankness in exploring her personal life with the literary allusions she draws puts this as one of the most interesting memoirs I've ever read regardless of medium. It's a mix of a coming to age story with a struggle of personal crisis and discovery that will keep you involved from the first page to the heart breaking last.

It's available in both softcover and hardcover:

http://www.amazon.com/Fun-Home-Trag...1713/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305525595&sr=8-1

 

[Drz]

The Mighty Thor, Walt Simonson Omnibus: This is the highly praised 80s run on Thor that was written and also mostly penciled by Walt Simonson. Sal Buscema pencils the later half of the series and some issues are done done by Simonson doing the layots and Sal doing the finishes, but the story is all Simonson and boy is it good! He draws inspiration from Jack Kirby's 4th World at the start by doing something huge, unexcepted and starts his saga from there, the story opens with the idea that there is someone worthy of possessing Mjölnir besides Odin and Thor, enter Beta Ray Bill! The story begins with Dr. Donald Blake who used to be this fray human alternate identity for Thor back in his creation days, but i'll spoil it now and tell that Simonson got rid of that aspect of the character very early here, so you don't really get to see any adventures of Donald Blake the doctor, we do however get to see Thor in civillian clothing, hiding his identity with glasses that even fool the newsreporter Clark. So anyhow the story at the very beginning is already teasing us with a bigger story as we see this shadowy demon forging a sword, infact thats one of my many praises on this entire Omnibus is that each issue has more than 1 story, really multiple character arcs range from arc to another and i was very satisfied how they all also come to an conclusion, so Simonson was allowed to wrap up everything before his final issue. So yeah the story begins with the introduction of Beta Ray Bill and thru & Thor we learn more about Asgard, Sif the battle maiden, Odin the All Father and the warriors three. Thor and Beta Ray Bill become quick friends and Beta Ray Bill is pretty much his own man these days thats part of sci-fi comics and whatnot, but enough about that. So the early part (lets say the Omnibus is in 3 parts) has Thor in random adventures that are very mythological, we got dragons, near ageless viking who seeks an honorable warrior's death, we have Sif fightning monsterious dwarves and Balder the Brave isn't quite the brave hero at the start of this book having dealt with personal horrors in the underworld where he had to escape the grasps of Hela and see all the faces he killed, we also get some Amora the Enchatress and the Executioner, oh and Lorelei the younger sister of Amora. Theres alot of good comedy on Thor's civillian clothing as he becomes a construction worker and his boss wonders if he's actually Spider-Man with his well build body and quick movements, it's really hilarious stuff, really the early parts do offer alot more comedy. 2nd part of the book is where the epic mythological war begins, with Malekith the elf making his return and finding the Casket of Ancient Winds, the dark elves are really badass despite their weakness on anything steel and we see the demon from the early books finally being ready for his goal: the Destruction of all reality with the death of Odin. The 2nd part of the book was really a huge highlight of the book as the Surtur the demon unleashes his wrath first upon Midgard and then on Asgard, we got this epic war of demons and Asgardians alongside the Fantastic Four and Avengers fightning demons and dark elves alike in the middle of New York, but ultimately it all comes down to Odin, Thor and the nefarious Loki to stop Surtur at the heart of Asgard. This was absoltuely fantastic work, you learna lot about Odin, the early days of all creation, you see Surtur's origin and really the whole Surtur story arc felt like a Modern day event book that was all self contained and well written, the conclusion is hugely satisfying and then we jump to the 3rd part of the book which is the build up for the finale. The stories shift for more personal story arcs where Balder the Brave becomes once again the Brave, we see developments of him and Thor here, Balder's adventures take him againts Frost Giants, wheres Thor gets into all kinds of crazyness such as Loki's curse that gives him quite the transformation. Thor and his Asgardian soldiers also adventure to Hel to save some innocent souls that Hela had claimed for herself that don't belong there, this starts the build up of Thor, Hela and Loki's family feud which stretches to the very end of the book, you see Thor becomes weaker and weaker at the end, and while these stories we're all nice character progressions, it just didn't feel like anything could top the Surtur story arc, but boy was i wrong when the Frost Giants want to see Thor defeated and unleash their plan that ties Loki and Thor himself with their wyrds (Destiny) as Thor faces his one enemy that could be more powerful than him, yeah i'm talking about the Mighty Thor #380 that is all kinds of Epic. I hate using the word epic too much as it's already an overused word, but that battle defines the word easily, you got very dynamic art that just screams of Jack Kirby, it's larger than life and the conclusion to the match just makes you fist pump, and then the story reaches it's end with the family feud between Thor, Hela and Loki and the book ends with with the reader very satisfied, but man i kinda didn't wanna finish reading the Omnibus because i couldn't see it end! it was that good for me! Oh and the book does contain all sorts of cameos from X-Factor to Iron Man to the Avengers, theres alot of character arcs going on that i haven't even mentioned and don't even wish to, i really don't wanna spoil too much but at it's core i do feel this was 3 massive arcs, you got the Beta Ray Bill, Surtur and then Thor, Loki and Hela sagas. The dialogue isn't outdated or anything that makes this feel jarring, i mean obviously some dialogue would be in narration boxes instead, and also i forgot to mention earlier but this is all remastered coloring and inking wise, so it actually feels like it was done by today's standards. I have nothing againts the older versions, but comparing this to the Thor Visionairies by Simonson, the Omnibus just looks a hundred times better.

The book comes with extra material such as opening introduction by Simonson, some letters from Simonson like how he got the job for Thor, we see extra pin-ups, character sketches and other cool art stuff. It does contain alot and for mere 50€ this was one amazing purchase i don't regret.

Rating: 98/100 -It's a very long book but it doesn't lose it's heart, imagination or interests, definatly a worthy purchase for those interested in Thor.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Okay people... recommend me.

I'd like to maybe try some stuff outside of the Marvel landscape, or even DC landscape. Moreso Independant I guess, though I've not read much DC prior to recent stuff so I'm up for that too.

Here's the thing though... I'm very much a PG-13 kind of guy. I don't like heavy gore or language or nudity. It turns me off on a book quicker than anything.

I've read and loved Umbrella Academy, Planetary, Sojourn, some Invincible, Project Superpowers, etc. and liked them a lot. But I'd like to find more outside of mainstream Marvel. On a very rare case I'll enjoy something more "R" rated, such as Y the Last Man, but it has to be absolutely phenominal for me to overlook the "R" factor, and the language/nudity/etc. that's in it has to make sense and not be thrown in

Any recommendations that seem to fit my tastes?

 

[Anubis]

It's three pages of recommendations. Look through there.

 

[JewishHobbit]

But seldom do people actually talk about the content (sex, gore, etc.) and that's the biggest thing I'm looking for.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Well, let me ask this, is it safe to assume you aren't too opposed to gore? I know you mention it as something you'd like to avoid, but two of the indie series you mentioned as liking (Umbrella Academy and Invincible) are fairly violent and gory series, especially Invincible.

 

[Drz]

Aquaman: Death of a Prince: This 330 pages of recolored story content packs alot for the Marine Marvels fans, for me despite the huge page count this story is made in 3 chapters, but they all pack alot of sub plots and goals, so let's begin with it's 1st chapter when Aquaman didn't have his own comic title but was guest starring in Adventure Comics, alot of these stories we're only about 9-15 pages long. The book begins with Aquaman having dilemmas with his dual life, he's not a mere news reporter during daytime, he's the King of his nation and because of his superhero career he has a hard time fulfilling both roles, his subjects aren't perfectly pleased and deem him being too much on the superheroics and even Aquaman doesn't feel worthy of the throne, luckily Mera his wife, Dr. Vulko his royal assistant and Arthur Junior (his son) are there for him, so the 1st chapter focuses on Aquaman being a hero and also a king, you got Black Manta raiding the coral farms and so forth, so Aquaman being already incredibly busy with superheroics, the villain Korshon has managed to convince the noblemen of Atlantis to throw Aquaman out of the throne and declare Korshon as their new King, Korshon has also managed to get villains such as Prince Orm (Aquaman's brother) the Ocean Master, Fisherman and the Black Manta to work under him, so you can see the Sea is pretty much the wild west for the Marine Marvel. One of the random panels that are my favourite in this book is when Aquaman needs to leap somewhere higher, he builds up speed, jumps out of the ocean and has controlled two Sea Eagles to carry him forward, this is such an absurd panel that makes no sense, because apparently Aquaman can control the Sea Eagles simply because of the name ascociated with them! It reminds me of Batman: The Brave & The Bold where Aquaman controls Silverfishes simply because "a Fish is a fish" it just shows what a total badass Aquaman is, he doens't care what you or i think, he makes his own rules! Theres also a very clever example of Aquaman getting water on land, back when this was written Aquaman still had that weird weakness of "i can be on land for 1 hour only withouth water" so he gets knocked out and has to escape a death trap, so while doing so he gets some steam pipes to leak steam, which give him water! I thought this was very cleverly written by Paul Levitz.

Chapter 1 concludes with the imposter king's demise and Aquaman deciding to focus full time on being a superhero, Mera and Arthur junior join him and the Aquacave debuts, this is also where we're nearing Aquaman receiving his own comic title where the story page count really improves helps to improve the quality, because sadly what really bothered me with the Adventure Comics was that Aquaman 90% of the time gets knocked out and has to escape a death trap, this really kept bothering me how constantly it happened, probably more than what happens to James Bond in a month, thats for sure. Chapter 2 is well, this is where the "Death of a Prince" happens, but the real hook here is how the story focuses on 3 characters: Aquaman, Mera & Aqualad, they all get damaged and all have to deal with their issues and it's really interesting to see each character's tale, i'll talk about that in a moment but 1st i must say i loved how bastardly vile Black Manta was here, just the way i love to read about him. 1st off his Headquarters was a freaking sunked Nazi Submarine, this book also contains the story where Black Manta reveals to be African American, but still his freaking headquarters was a Nazi submarine at the bottom of the ocean. He's also just perfectly aiming to murder Aquaman, he's torturing him with electricity, listing his flaws and weaknsesses while bastardly taunting him, this is all just made more pure villainy when you realize he has succeeded in murdering Aquaman's son. (Oh c'mon it's in the title!) Mera actually has a chance to save her son's life and embarks on a mission herself to find a devide that could save Arthur Curry, she is absolutely determined on her cause and what makes her unique from Aquaman is her ability to bend water into any shape she wants and make it solid like steel, she's also a good strategist and a fighter! She also morally supports Aquaman into doing the right thing in Chapter 1 which is being a vigilante and break the law because the end game is doing good. Aqualad's story is more of his own legacy and what defines a person, is it from the family he or she comes from or does a person define himself?

Chapter 3 is the aftermath to the Prince's death and i'll just say there is some real good arguments how Aquaman's pride caused Arthur Curry to ultimately demise, i mean obviously it is Black Manta's fault, but you know parents will always blame themselves "i could have done more" when something tragic like this happens, theres no wound healing here, just acceptence of reality and trying to move on with their lives. I will also add this that theres this really awesome one shot story with Batman, Green Lantern and Aquaman invading a hostile nation to stop a vile tyrant from destroying Portugal, it's really awesome because it comes off as this 3 superheroes from the Justice League just infiltrating the enemy base and being awesome, i really don't wanna spill the beans who the villain is! Oh and ofcourse the last issue has the Ocean Master appear, with Don Newton penciling an incredibly awesome Serpent monster.


Rating: A Solid 80/100 - I really don't wanna focus on all the various villains Aquaman faces, but this book is very new reader friendly, you get a origin story in Aquaman's own title, you get Jim Aparo's, Mike Grell's and Don Newton's beatiful penciling and superheroics from various writers.

The Flash Omnibus by Geoff Johns: The run opens in an unfamiliar place for Wally West as he's being prisoned in a Mirror world by the Mirror master, the protagonist of the book is shown helpless from the beginning as he tries to figure out where he is and what exactly has happened and whos behind it all. Captain Cold makes his chilling introduction to the readers by being a ruthless merciless bastard, and thats what you'll learn from this Omnibus from the beginning: Flash has some seriously cool villains, infact i'd argue that Captain Cold is the most fleshed out character in the book, you learn interesting stuff about him and you wish to learn more, for example he is a Ice Hockey fan and he goes to see practically every match, he always brings a ****e there as accompany, not because he desires sex but because he enjoys the company, so you learn some things about his past and he demonstrates his cunning ruthlessness and you just go: This makes Mr. Freeze look like a 2nd tier villain. Like i said the 1st arc deals within a Mirror world and you also learn more about Mirror Master, it's a intriquing arc and theres alot of science wackyness going around, but Geoff Johns weaves them well, Wally West explains them to the reader and you also see some clever ideas where Wally brainstorms some clever tactics thru his speed, the villain of the 1st arc is Brother Grimm who doesn't leave much of an impression, again i'm really focusing how you really get hooked into the Rogues.

The 2nd arc's villain is a crazy cultist named Cicada and he has some messed up motivations, but Flash's supporting cast now receives some expansion with a old time cop Fred who takes the law on his own hand, yeah thats right we're getting our own Dirty Harry in the Flash book, and i swear to god his appearence is modeled after Sin City's Marv, but man is this guy extreme, his old partner died and he promised to look after his daughter and the daughter dies too! Thats how edgy this old time bad ass cop is, good grief. Flash also receives a detective partner Jared whos your typical "i'm so much into my work my god darn wife is at times pissed at me, forgot our anniversity day gifts and everything!" So yeah you can see i'm finding these two rather walking clichés, especially when Fred is a tough cop with a good heart and Jared is your typical detective whos consumed by his job, but Jared does get this interesting subplot that will pay off later, it's not resolved in this volume so i can't tell yet is it going to be something exciting or not.

Now my focus shifts on to the Rogues again, because these next two stories seriously creeped me out, you got Weather Wizard whos this bright green colored criminal who waves his magic wand to cast weather spells, and what does he want? A Metahuman baby so he can amputate it and gain it's powers, i mean good grief i'm looking at this brighty colored wizard with my jaw open going "this aint my Weather Wizard! He's so creepy! I'm creeped out by a brighty colored wizard!" Thats all i'm gonna say about that arc, and i'll finish my ramblings with my favourite one-shot issue this Omnibus collected, which was Flash: Iron Heights. This is Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Scriver introducing the Flash's very own Black Gate Prison/Arkham Asylum and it is awesome! This is right there with a great creepy horror movie as Flash has to investigate what on earth is happening on Iron Heights Penitentiary and he gets to meet some incredibly disgusting villains that are sure to shock, awe and get you hooked on the characters. The Omnibus pretty much concludes with a cliff hanger as the new Rogues are ready to tear Flash and his beloved Keystone & Central city apart.

Final addition would be that Scott Kolins great penciling around the whole environment, he really brings the cities alive as Flash is speeding thru them, the action is as should be very fast paced.

Rating: 85/100 - It's 450ish pages of action packed stories that really sell you on the Rogue Gallery, but ultimately did i enjoy this read because of the Flash or because the villains overshadowed and just made a huge impression? One thing for sure, i'll be checking the 2nd volume coming April 3rd 2012.

 

[Marcdachamp]

G.I. Joe: Cobra vol. 1-4: In all honesty, I've fallen out of love with the G.I. Joe team through the years. Sure, I've had a couple things regain my interest, but nothing ever really held. That is, until IDW took over.

G.I. Joe: Cobra is a really fascinating book. It's completely self-contained, it's gorgeous and it pushes a licensed book to a degree that, quite frankly, I've never seen. Mike Costa and Christos Gage give us a reimagining of so many characters that have been considered B to D-List, but they not only make us care about them, they make us scared of them. I loved Serpentor as a kid, but even I knew Cobra-La was lame (and I liked everything!). But Costa and Gage's Cobra-La? Dark. And pretty brilliant, too.

Would I recommend G.I. Joe: Cobra to people who have never picked up anything G.I. Joe related? Absolutely. If you're looking for some mature, dark espionage action, this is the book for you.

Rating: 90/100

 

[Ipodman]

Well, let me ask this, is it safe to assume you aren't too opposed to gore? I know you mention it as something you'd like to avoid, but two of the indie series you mentioned as liking (Umbrella Academy and Invincible) are fairly violent and gory series, especially Invincible.

Is Umbrella Academy and Invincible really gory? Do they have strong language? I have been meaning to check those 2 out for the longest time, but always get caught back into the mainstream Marvel/DC stuff...

 

[Anubis]

Strong Language? No. Gory? Yes.

Well, Invincible is. But fun gory.

 

[Drz]

Scarlet by Bendis & Maleev:
1st off i have to comment how much Scarlet actually looks like a model friend of mine, what makes it even more creepy voodoo experience is how Scarlet's clothing sense can match with hers and even her personality and backstory, creepy, weird and exciting isn't it, huh? This book is about our modern generation, us people who we're born mid 80s or late 80s or early 90s. We're on our 20s with our young brash attitudes and we really think we can take over the world and defeat any impossible odd, even change physics i bet! So us modern young people, we know the world is messed up, we know politics are corrupt, the corporate executives are corrupt and our environment is receiving damage alongside the rich bastards putting their profits off shroe to taxhaven islands while causing us in return pay higher taxes as the interest rates grow up, but here we have Scarlet our protagonist say "Enough is enough!" to corrupt cops, this is what it all boils down: Cops abusing their power in Portland city of Oregon. This is where the rage againts the machine boils down from an simple act of revenge to higher sense of justice to culminating to America's 21th century revolution, fight the power! Rise up!

The book opens with murder, but the 2nd page already shows what is the hook on the book. Scarlet is talking to me! It all just adds up to this weird experience as she resembles my friend on this whole book, but we get a pretty good introduction on her and we learn her backstory in a very clever way of using single image panels showing moments of her life, what she likes and when she had her most romantic moment and her first love and her first beer and concert, it's like All Star Superman telling us what makes Superman a Superman in 4 wide panels easily.

Like i said the story starts with her getting her revenge, but she realizes this is more important then just her petty desire to get back at corruption, because the corruption still stands and someone has to stop this because well quite frankly noone is, so she does the iniative and the story shows how the cops react to this, how the mayor responds to this, how the american civillians react to this and even her close circle of people. Sadly it doesn't really show much of the American revolution, but more so introduces us to Scarlet's world as we the readers are pretty much her best friend, we're here for her and we will help her succeed, because when we look at our world, doesn't it just suck in this modern depression era that you got so many fat cats just offshroing their money and thus we have to pay more taxes? Fight the power god darnit!

Rating: 85/100 - The narrative style hooks you up from the very 2nd page of the story, the art is beatifully tuned to fit the story itself and the story really sets up Scarlet's personal story on how she becomes who she is, what she accomplishes, her acceptance of what she has done and what happens next, for 5 issues it's more of an big personal story and the 2nd story should really be about how Scarlet's revolution hits America in a big way, which i really craved to see. This hardcover is really cheap to purchse online for mere 10-14€, so highly recommendable to everyone.

WE3 the Deluxe Edition By Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely:
This is a story about a dog, a cat and a rabbit who are a squad of armored animal weapons, their desire is simple: Home, they don't wanna keep running away from the Government, they simple wish to lay their roots somewhere and start a life, the way the story is told really allows Quitely to go absolutely crazy in visuals giving us action sequences and motion movements we might not see in movies ever, atleast not in any recent times. I mean the book opens in a blockbuster way as we see WE3 completely destroy this crime house and Quitely draws this beatiful 2-page spread of a man getting his whole body shot to pieces and the bullets are just spreading so wide and close to that it feels like they're coming out of the comic book like magic! The whole book is filled with "3D Page Space".

Really this is the highlight of the book, you're drawn your attention by these cute fluffy animals that are the most dangerous bio weapons produced, the government is after them but can nothing truly stop them and can they ever truly settle down and find peace? The way the story is told will get you hooked up. The extras at the end are a nice added bonus as we look at the initial designs, how the "3D pages" we're drawn and so forth.

Rating: 92/100 - Straightforward story about morality and innocent in a blockbuster fashion that no live action movie could ever replicate, thats the power of Frank Quitely's art work and Morrison's scripting. This book will warm your heart.

 

[obin_gam]

I'm looking for comics that takes place in medieval Britain and such. King Arthur-times with knights and squires and stuff. I have tried Prince Valiant but I didnt get into it sadly.

Are there any ongoings that deal with that time period or theme?

Preferably in color as I have never really liked B/W comics.

 

[Anubis]

Would you be turned off by the characters all being talking mice?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_Guard

 

[obin_gam]

Mouse Guard I've alredy read, it is truly beautiful and epic. Love the art style. Great recommendation though, everyone shoud read it imo


What I'm looking for is more reality based (with human beings that is). Merlin and wizards like that can exist, but it should be fairly grounded.

 

[Anubis]

Hmmm, well, how about Northlanders?

No magic but definitely mid-evil stuff.

 

[obin_gam]

That one is mostly viking stuff right? Haha, I'm feeling a bit annoying now - I saw Excaibur (the one with Nicol Williamson) this weekend so I'm in the mood for the arthurian legend and tales that take place in that sort of world.

 

[Anubis]

Ah, well, I guess I got nothing really. Sorry.

 

[obin_gam]

I actually found a book today, a french-belgian comic thats about the origin and adventures of Merlin... called "MERLIN" written by one Jean Luc Istin

Really cool, only downside is that they are hard as hell to find and I dont know if all the volumes are translated to english. So if anyone here, like me, want an arthurian book, track down this one!

 

[Drz]

Ultimate Comics Avengers vs. New Ultimates: Death of Spider-Man by Mark Millar & Leinil Francis Yu
I first wanna talk about the cover and background of this hardcover and how it's promoted, because disappointedly it's being treated as some cross-over tie-in to Bendis' & Bagley's Death of Spider-Man arc, even the back cover text talks about how the most important superhero teams collide and Spider-Man pays the ultimate price, thats what this book is trying to sell as the story, not as Nick Fury's mission to get his old mission back, not as Avengers vs. Ultimates, but really as a story where Spider-Man bites the dust. The cover they choose for the hardcover is of #3 which shows Punisher shooting Spider-Man, not any of the multiple covers or variant covers they could have chosen of the Avengers fightning againts the Ultimates. I feel this is false promotion, but i'm not sure is it truly bad marketing per say because the Death of Spider-Man did sell better, but you'd think promoting this as "Mark Millar is back with the Ultimates" would gather more interest, i'd say thats debatable.

The book opens in true Ultimates fashion demonstrating how truly destructable force Thor's Mjölnir is, then switching to set up the political scheme of the story which involves the Triskelion having been beamed to the Middle-East, this is continuation from Avengers: Blade vs. The Avengers but the issue does give proper amount of exposition to explain how things happened and who caused them and why. We're also treated with very familiar Ultimates plot-point being the super-soldier arm race as USA, China & Russia are on a constant arms race who has the best possible super soldiers for the possible future wars. There is also a very minor subplot execution that spans all the way from Ultimates which is Tony Stark's brain tumor. It doesn't have a higher purpose in the story outside of Millar wanting to conclude a subplot he wrote.

Wheres #1 was an reintroduction to the Ultimates and the overall plot (more on that later) the 2nd issue introduces us to the Avengers, which is Nick Fury's Black Ops assembly consisting of the most badass characters of the Marvel characters! You have Hawkeye, Blade, War Machine & the Punisher all working under Nick Fury doing these nasty covert missions annihilating super villains, drug cartels and keeping the world save from threaths the common citizen shouldn't be aware of. Now onto the overall plot and the real premise of the book: The world's loved public heroes the Ultimates vs. the Black Ops Avengers, it's the classic superhero vs. superhero story with a mysterious villain in the background pulling everyones' strings, nearly achieving his goals until the heroes realize they've been fooled and team up together to save the day alongside forcing a cross-over with another story arc regarding Spider-Man's demise, which is poorly utilized and has minium impact on this story as a whole.

The real big premise of the book revolving around Avengers and Ultimates combating each other is rather minimalistic. It's the classic New York superhero brawl, but i feel i was overhyped because of the fantastic covers by Leinil Francis Yu & Bryan Hitch's variant covers that gave this feeling of epicness, here the fight scenes are shared panels and theres no huge amount of splash images, it's all hectic mouse and cat chase sequences with superheroes and assassins combating each other. It's great fight scenes, but i wish it had been longer.

The endgame of the story takes a full swing on the political threaths as the balance of the arms race hangs loose as invasions happen around the globe and it's up to the Ultimates and Avengers to stop all this madness and save the day as the heroes they are. The conclusion to the story also serves as a conclusion to Mark Millar's 24 issue-run with Nick Fury's mission to get what he wants, and boy does it end with Nick Fury and the reader grinning with glee. =)



Rating: 85/100: If you're looking for more Mark Millar titles with Captain America, Iron Man and Thor after presumebly reading the wonderful Ultimates & Ultimates 2, this is a book for you. Fans of Ultimate Avengers receive a mostly satisfactional, but not the perfect closure they might have asked, if this book would have been 7 issues long and not 6, i think the pacing would be much sweeter and the big promised battle much more satisfactional. People who consider this a "Death of Spider-Man" crossover should not be bothered with this, unless they also fill with the 2 example catagories mentioned above.

I will also finish this with just saying Leinil Francis Yu is at the top of his game with the art, the cinematographic style with the panel useage and the angles makes this feel like an A+ Action thriller that packs a punch!

 

[JewishHobbit]

Well, let me ask this, is it safe to assume you aren't too opposed to gore? I know you mention it as something you'd like to avoid, but two of the indie series you mentioned as liking (Umbrella Academy and Invincible) are fairly violent and gory series, especially Invincible.

Wow, I missed this reply. No, I don't mind gore as long as it's not too excessive. Invincible and Umbrella Academy were gory but in a cartoony way so it didn't bother me. Now if it's more realistic art and there's guts flying I'm not as into it but it's not a turn off like accessive language, nudity, and sex.

 

[Drz]

Here's my thoughts on Holy Terror, i think i go too deep into spoiler territory and alot of it, is me talking about how this works in the Dark Knight universe and so forth. Hope you like!

Frank Miller's Holy Terror
"Empire City will scream. In Agony. In Terror" never change Frank Miller. Never change.

I've read this book 3 times. The first time I read it and finished the story I had a hype backlash, I thought this book was going to about something else than I had in my mind, I loved the art and the dialogue was good, but I thought it would had been better than this. So I read it the 2nd time knowing what the story was, I no longer expected the story to go the way I thought and I came to appreciate it even further. I can see the easy Batman comparisons and how this book can perfectly fit within the Dark Knight universe, which is a shame it doesn't, but i am also very glad DC allowed this book to be released, because I'd assume it wouldn't be too hard to sue Legendary Pictures for copyright infringements. The 3rd time I read it I really came to appreciate the book for what it was. It's a standalone story about Terror with the Fixer being the hero who saves Empire City for doom, but it does dig deeper into the character and it does have its propaganda as well as Frank Miller is clearly a very angry man about this situation, but this is also a pretty typical comic book story, it's not a mysterious detective story, it's not about aliens invading the world, it's about a vigilante stopping an terrorist organization and it wouldn't make any big difference if it was Captain America against Nazis or Nick Fury against HYDRA or Batman against the League of Assassins, really the terrorist villain group can easily be compared with HYDRA, AIM, HAND, H.A.M.M.E.R, KOBRA, LEVIATHAN and the likes, in fact at the very end of the book the terrorists really looked like Hydra Agents to me.

This book is by far the best illustrated comic Frank Miller has done. 3rd of the book feels more like an beautiful art book, it's nasty, it's chaotic, it's Empire City during heavy rain with The Fixer and the Cat Burglar Natalie Stack having a play of mouse and cat due to Natalie stealing a diamond bracelet. Fans of the God Damn Batman can rejoice as Miller inserts a nice "the Fixer. God Damn" when the protagonist of the book gets introduced, but here's where i sort of want to disagree, i honestly believe Natalie Stack is the main protagonist and it really works here, in the book both Natalie and the Fixer share closely the same amount of narration, but the Fixer later in the book is shown to be a pretty messed up person and i'll get to that later, but what I want to bring up is the very wise narrative decision Miller did when choosing to have "Catwoman" in this book: She represents freedom, Catwoman after all is perhaps one of the most self-assured heroines there are, she isn't bound to a desire for justice or a religious cause, no she just does whatever she wants and not giving a damn what people think of her, while also obviously being interested in the only true man she's met: Batman. Very wise decision to use her as the main narrator and heroine of the story, because even if this had been a Batman story, fans of the Dark Knight universe know that Batman considers his mission as a crusade, a holy war and like Batman, the Fixer is a very messed up Dirty Harry person.

The terrorists, like any other great super villain organization has their roots deep, and Empire City like Miller's Gotham City is full of corruption. Captain Dan Donegal (Captain Jim Gordon) is the honest good cop who is an associate with the Fixer, but alas the Empire City police force gets scattered as the Commissionaire is corrupt and the terrorists also have teenagers such as exchange students up on their sleeve alongside international mercenaries who'll kill anyone for their love for money and of course the terrorists are full of extremists Zealots. The terrorists aren't shown as faceless villains as a scene where the Fixer keeps murdering wave after wave them, we actually see panels of what these people look like beneath the cowls and masks, thus giving them abit of humanity and not as some mutant monsters or faceless evil.

The 1st wave of attack is thru suicide bombers who explode full of nails scattering all around the city in multiple places, hitting people and thus impaling body parts, the 2nd wave of suicide bombers happens thru razor blades to cut people, and here comes my 1st favourite scene of the entire book. This beatiful story telling flow almost like it was an motion comic movie feature the Fixer saving Natalie, carrying her on his chest like she was weightless the Fixer swings to safety and we see Natalie asking "The bastards. How many of my neigbhours have they murdered?" in which Miller further shows his story telling ingenius where everything simply goes white, it's a very sad moment and just reflects how many people indeed die from these attacks.

Miller's political attacks begin right this instant we see people such as Michael Moore, Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Sarah Palin, Benjamin Netanyahu, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Kim Jong-il and so many other political figures i can't even name them all. Most of them are just all smiling amidst this chaos, perhaps reflecting how these said people talk about terrorism and world peace while not being an average joe such as Frank Miller who is an victim of the 9/11 terrorist attack so he has a lot of anger, you can feel the anger as he attacks politicians and he also attacks today's society of people in the form of a Michael Bay movie. Yes, the Michael Bay Transformer movies receive a cameo showcasing teenagers talking how epic, awesome and "kewl" it is, which might be either Frank Miller attacking how we simply don't care about what's happening in the real world as long as we have our mindless entertainment, it could be about how people endorse violence, since considering the latest Transformer movie had the protagonists rip the villains into little pieces with no mercy whatsoever. There are also attacks on the Islam religion, but i would say Miller does a big attack on Judaism as well, which i'll now dig into alongside the Fixer's motivations.

As we enter the 3rd Act of the story the Fixer takes Natalie to an old warehouse where the Fixer's associate David is. David is a mysterious man with a Star of David tattooed on his face, he has two Asian assassins as his pupils & bodyguards. Fixer remarks him as "the most dangerous man alive" if this was a Batman book, I'd swear this man was none other than Ras' al Ghul, it's like Frank Miller watched Batman Begins and liked the idea of Ras' al Ghul being an important part of Batman's adventures, we learn that the Fixer and David met in Yemen and that's where David had told him he was just waiting for an terrorist attack to come, this is where Natalia learns that the Fixer's entire motivation for being a vigilante was to stay in shape for a night like this, because he knew it was coming and now as he was entering a war his mind was at peace, this is my 2nd favorite scene as Natalia suggests and questions: What if David had just managed to suggest something to make Fixer so damn paranoid? The Fixer is more or less a pawn of some possible Jewish man who controls his own mercenary group and assassins, to me this really feels like the idea that Ras' al Ghul had wanted Batman as his heir and warned about how terrorists will attack Gotham city, and that's why I really wish this was part of the Dark Knight Universe.

Now i think i've already gone way too detailed about all the story details, but Act 3 is obviously the conclusion of the Fixer and Natalie doing their best to stop the terrorists from their final wave of attack, but i will say that the very last page of the book alongside all the propaganda and talks about terrorism is very emotional and you can one way or another really feel Miller's pain. I mean look at the world after 9/11 and you can see how terrorism has become a word used to control and scare people, so yes i did like the way the last page ends the book and the theme on Terror.

Rating: 85/100: I don't think this is anymore "offensive" as Frank Miller's Daredevil, The Dark Knight or his Sin City books. It's very beautifully illustrated and the dialogue is Miller's fun Sin City like extreme Noir, my favorite quote from the Fixer has to be the one he remarks when he starts murdering the terrorists is: "We engage in postmodern diplomacy" So as far as Frank Miller's work goes, it's a pretty fun entertaining action book that just sadly isn't part of the Dark Knight Universe, because i think alot of Batman fans would have loved how the romance and relationship between Batman and Catwoman is written, this takes after "Year One" but before Dark Knight: Boy Wonder, but yeah i don't believe i have anything else to add except this Holy Terror trailer Legendary entertainment did for the Graphic Novel.