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Graphic Novels & Comic Books

elbarto1

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Dethklok from Cartoon Networks Adult Swim show "Metalocalypse" has a one shot issue w/ Dark Horse's 'the Goon' this month
if you like the show its worth a look:
http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/16-368/Dethklok-vs-The-Goon-Eric-Powell-cover

A few other notables I grabbed today:
28 days later - issue 1 (Boom! comics - same company that is producing the Do Androids Dream.. run I am so gaga over)
Predator [2009]- issue 2
Dark Xmen - issues 1-3
Batman: the widening gyre (new series written by Kevin Smith) - issue 1
Batman Reborn - issues 1-3
Dark Horse 'Creepy' - like a 'tales from the crypt' style issue, 48 pages!
 

Ghostcut

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Been reading the late 90's run of Deadpool.

Yay, Deadpool. :)
 

Gaith

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messenjah14 said:
I've now read the first 14 issues of Y - The Last Man. Now, unlike you may think from the title, this comic doesn't deal with a world where only one human survives. But instead in the first issue every single creature with a dick dies. Aside from the main character and his pet monkey. The artwork is magnifico, and the writing is highly original despite the relatively cliched set-up. The whole comic is just incredibly intriguing, and the dialogue is some of the best I've ever read in a GN.
I LOVE Y: The Last Man. I'm not a big comics guy at all (though I grew up with Tintin), and discovered that series by chance in '04.

I totally agree that its artwork is fantastic. I've read a few other comics (mainly Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns), and while I respected their art styles, they didn't engage me like ligne claire artwork does. Take this Tintin panel:

240px-General_alcazar.jpg

No shading, lots of delineating black lines, and expert drawing. While Y has some shading and such tricks Herge avoided, it's still pretty clean-looking:

88.jpg


The weirdly-dimensioned and inconsistently colored art styles such as those in The Dark Knight Returns have their purpose and place, but I don't like 'em much:

batman-dark-knight-returns.jpg


And I hate shiny-looking, digitally-shaded artwork. That's Uncanny Valley territory to me:

barack_obama_spiderman_comic_1.jpg

This should be awesome. Instead, it's just gross.

So, with that said, any recommendations of good graphic novels with relatively clean art styles would be much appreciated! :)
 

Gaith

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Hm. That style's a bit too impressionistic for my tastes (I'm picky, I know), but I might check it out sometime regardless. :)
 

theslime

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I second El Barto's suggestion. David Lloyd's artwork is amazing, in my opinion. Total control of timed movement, and most importantly: what's not shown. He was also the one who suggested Alan Moore do away with thought bubbles and every kind of explanation except dates/time and location. And it turned out to be one of the most subtly styled comics ever.

This was my introduction to comics apart from Disney comics (I hadn't even read any superhero stuff), and 90 percent of what I read nowadays is utterly horrid in comparison. New superhero comics usually give me a headache.

Another superb, subtle draughtsman: David Mazzucchelli. He's not that clean because he uses a lot of detail, but his sense of quiet drama is second to none. Everyone even remotely into superhero comics should read Batman: Year One and Daredevil: Born Again (both with Frank Miller) if they haven't already.

Actually, come to think of it, Carl Barks' Donald and Uncle Scrooge stories are pretty clean if you wanna go down that road. :)
 

Gaith

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Just read Superman: Secret Identity, my first Supes comic outside of The Dark Knight Returns. And... wow.

superman-20060620050212417.jpg


I love the idea of Superman, but am not much interested in seeing him fight green martians, zombie supermen or purely evil aliens. That's part of what makes this book work so well: it's set in the real world, and though it has some action and some futuristic stuff, it's believable, due in large part to the genius gag of having everyone know about the Superman mythos.

As much as I mistrust shading in comics, I've gotta say that it works wonderfully here, and for an excellent reason: instead of being flashy or "realistic", the shading gives the art a painterly aspect that encourages you to slow down, and lose yourself in the atmosphere. Given the bittersweet tone of the book as a whole, it's a perfect fit:

secret-identity-14.jpg


Incredibly moving, very smart and dazzlingly inventive, this is every bit as great a work of art as Y: The Last Man. I can't recommend it highly enough.
 

theslime

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Sounds cool. I've read a lot of Superman comics the last year - you have a lot of greatness to look forward to if this is your first! - but I haven't tried this one.

If you want to read more Superman stories in what might be the same vein, I would recommend "Superman: Kryptonite" by Darwyn Cooke. Wonderful re-imagining of Superman's first encounter with the only thing that can kill him. The new release of "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" by Alan Moore and Curt Swan (THE classical Superman artist) is required reading too, and it also includes the terrific "For the Man Who Has Everything" by Moore and Dave Gibbons. And one of the greatest Superman stories ever is Grant Morrison's new All-Star Superman. Astonishingly good, although Morrison is more into evil aliens than you might like.

Both Moore and Morrison are heavily into the distinctly LARGER THAN LIFE Superman of the Silver Age in very different ways. I actually love the Silver Age Superman. There's nothing quite like reading a story about Jimmy Olsen accidentally turning into a monster turtle-man. But it's probably not for everyone.

EDIT: I found the cover to that wonderful Jimmy Olsen story here: http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.co ... ormations/
I love that!
 

voodl

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I was on shopping last weekend I bought xmas presents for my family and btw I bought this for myself:

aldebaran.jpg

betelgeza.jpg


AWESOME comics!
 

Heinrich

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those books look a lot like moebius stuff. i always loved his wide imagination...


although i always was a batman dude...

Batman_alignment.jpg
 

zeppelinrox

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Heinrich said:
those books look a lot like moebius stuff. i always loved his wide imagination...
although i always was a batman dude...
About the chaotic evil and kicking a guy for eating ice cream... well...
That's because he's the goddamn Batman!
gd-batman.jpg
:twisted:
 

Heinrich

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zeppelinrox said:
That's because he's goddamn Batman!

yes.
good point.
although we prefer to refer to him as ´Batman´ not ´the Batman´.
that ´the´ sounds gay. sorry i had to alter the quote...

:smile:

and i bet the ice dude made some very bad moves right before he decided to have some ice cream...
 

theslime

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He is THE Batman, whether you think it's gay or not. Personally I prefer The Batman since it sounds more intimidating - with the THE it sounds like more like a phenomenon that's out there, something you can't control (like The Weather), and less like a first name.

Speaking of DC comics, I've read a lot of Superman recently. Sadly, most of it was crap. The 1993 Reign of the Supermen/The Return of Superman story was kinda cool, but way overlong and really silly at times. The new Legion of Super-Heroes story by Geoff Johns was half a good story, the other half bludgeoning-you-with-ham-fisted-allusions CRAP. I do like Johns' takes on Brainiac and Bizarro, though. Those are some good stories right there.
 

Gaith

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I kept hearing good stuff about Superman for All Seasons, so I decided to check it out. I then saw the absolutely atrocious artwork:

Superman_Seasons3.jpg


That's Kal-El? A huge, hulking figure whose default expression is moronitude? :shock:

Can't do it. I'm sorry. Won't read it. Blech.
 

theslime

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I haven't read that story, but I'd wager that the biggest problem with it would be the glaring ineptitude of Jeph Loeb. He can't write a decent story if his mother's life depended on it. I have genuinely NO FREAKIN' IDEA why his stories are well regarded by DC comics readers. The only story of his I would touch with a ten-foot pole is Hush, and even that is quite frankly trash (although it's entertaining trash). Tim Sale's style is an acquired taste. I like his Clark Kent a lot in the great "Kryptonite" (written by the great Darwyn Cooke; a real writer). He looks slightly less moronic in that story, but still pretty similar. Didn't bother me that much. But the fact that Darwyn Cooke is a lot smarter than Loeb probably helped.

Personally, I kinda enjoy the idea from a lot of recent Superman stories that Clark Kent isn't a disguise. He really is that oafish guy. Why wouldn't he be? He is that person pretty much 24/7 and he didn't grow up as the last son of Krypton, but as a guy from Smallville. He can still be Kal-El. And Superman. Grant Morrison probably wrote this duality best in All-Star Superman - which is, btw, not only the greatest Superman story ever, but also probably the best superhero story ever, and a contender for best graphic novel ever (and I've read pretty much every Alan Moore story published).
 

Gaith

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^^ Well, I read All Star Superman a while ago, in the two hardback collections. And I admit, it's not at all bad. It's pretty good, even, though I wasn't into Superman's world being full of extremely weird aliens and tech going in, and that hasn't changed. When you've got such wild elements as mythical gods, eccentric scientists who can write stuff on the moon and bizzaro universes, I tend to lose interest. One thing that the Donner and Singer Supes movies did right, IMO, was keep Superman the most "out-there" element of their stories.

Which isn't to say that I wouldn't go for, say, Supes fighting Tranformers-like robots built by humans harnessing Kryptonian tech from a Smallville-esque meteor shower. You can have big stuff, I say, but keep it in proportion.

All Star Superman also features the sort of digitally-shaded artwork I inveigh against, and while it didn't win me over to that technique by a long shot, I do admit that it's done about as well as can be done:

review-all-star-superman-12.jpg


Still not as good as ligne claire, I say, but could be a lot worse.

-----------

And on another note... ! :p

500x_custom_1265903396779_silverageyorick.jpg
 

theslime

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Haha, that blog had me fooled for about ten seconds. After all, Silver Age comics pretty much tried EVERYTHING, so it wouldn't be that much of a leap. (I read parts of Omega The Unknown recently, and that's some pretty strange stuff. Although that might technically be Bronze Age, I was never that clear on the distinctions there.)

And btw, proportion bores Grant Morrison, as just a cursory glance at his (relatively) new Final Crisis book will tell you. It is quite simply INSANE.
 

elbarto1

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Last Days Of American Crime

From Rick Remender, the critically acclaimed writer of Punisher and Fear Agent.

In the not-too-distant future, as a final response to terrorism and crime, the U.S. government plans in secret to broadcast a signal making it impossible for anyone to knowingly commit unlawful acts. To keep this from the public, the government creates a distraction, installing a new currency system using digital charge cards.

Enter Graham Brick, a career criminal never quite able to hit the big score. In a grand scheme, Graham intends to steal one of the charging stations, skip the country and live off unlimited funds for the rest of his life. But the media has leaked news of the anti-crime signal one week before it was to go live... and now Graham and his team have just a few days to turn the heist of the century into the last crime in American history.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=3476&disp=table

this one is a real page turner
 

Heinrich

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that sounds very interesting. i think i pick that up.

now confirm boon´s answer in the pop quiz!!!

:)
 
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