ClayKavalier
Banned
It's been awhile, but around 2008 when I got my first job I was spending a decent chunk of my spare money on comics. A few years later I left to go to school and didn't have money to spend on stuff like that and I never got back into them. I've been hearing good things about a few series recently though and bought a few books last week. I'm curious what else is out there that I may have missed.
I've read the following books that all seem pretty widely loved:
Black Panther: This is the one that really got me back into comics, seems like it's really hyped. I have a few friends who are reading it despite not being into comics at all due to the author, and the Atlantic did an interview with him about it that made it seem interesting. It was alright I guess, this is actually the first time I've ever bought a single issue comic rather than a trade and $5 felt like a bit much for something so short, but it was interesting. I thought it was going to be a total reboot where people who know nothing about the character can easily jump in and I'm not sure if that's the case or not. Like am I supposed to know what the deal is with his sister at the end of the first issue or is everyone in the dark about that? Nothing really happened in the issue but the stage it set seems pretty interesting. Think I might wait for the first trade to come out to continue reading it though since the issues seem to be a bit pricey.
Ms. Marvel: Everything else I bought I found by just Googling "best comics." I'm not really into superhero stuff in general but this one came up a lot and the premise seemed really cool so I decided to give it a chance. I'm not really feeling it, there's a lot of really cheesy dialogue ("Something smells fishy, and it's not the Circle Q BLTs") and ridiculous writing. The main character wakes up with crazy superpowers and the first thing she thinks of is how the popular girl at school makes her feel. It's not bad, but feels like it's written for a younger audience, like it'd be cool if I had kids that were into it but it's just not for me.
Bitch Planet: I hesitated to get this one because it's often described as "exploitation" and "grind house." I thought it was going to be a bunch of mindless, over-the-top violence based on descriptions, but it was on sale on Comixology and was on a bunch of Best Of lists so I decided to give it a shot. It's really great, feels like it's based on Orange is the New Black with the prison settings and flashbacks to characters' early lives, but the setting is cool and the fake ads and stuff are awesome. I was really disappointed to see that there's only a few issues out so far that aren't in the trade I bought, really excited to read more of this.
Southern Bastards: I like this one a lot too. The tone reminds me a little of Preacher, and it's a really cool mix of a grounded setting with occasional over-the-top violence and stylized pages. The once-an-issue pages with a ton of small panels are really cool. It does a great job of capturing the frustration of being unable to prevent corrupt rule-makers from having their way. Can't wait to read more of this as well, especially after the twist at the end of the first volume.
The Wicked + The Divine: This was the opposite of Bitch Planet for me, thought I'd love it because the premise sounds awesome but it ended up being pretty boring. Does a lot of telling with no showing. For example it seems like very page has one of the gods casually talking about having sex with other gods, but all you see is them kind of hanging out. I don't need the book to revolve around watching people have sex, but as it is it comes across the same way as someone who is constantly bragging about having sex to seem cool. Who cares? The plot seems lazy too. These gods are famous and adored by everyone yet this one girl is the single person who visits Lucifer in jail? A lot of scenes just didn't make a ton of sense to me as well. The whole underground scene felt like they wanted a cool confrontation between two gods and worked backward from there to make it happen. The whole thing feels forced. Sort of curious to continue with it for at least one more volume to see if they turn it around and do something interesting with the awesome concept, but I wasn't impressed with the first volume.
Saga: This is awesome, the art is amazing and you never know what's going to happen on the next page. Just really fun and imaginative.
Scott Pilgrim: Picked up the first color volume of this, I really liked the movie but have never read the comic. No surprise, I like the comic quite a bit too. It follows the movie really closely so far, curious to see where it deviates more going forward.
Sex Criminals: This is pretty awesome. So many great moments like when the guy reveals his name for when time freezes, or the scene with the woman in the diner. Curious to see how they keep it interesting going forward and I'm kind of worried it'll escalate into something "epic" and lose the charm of being about a woman trying to save her library branch, but I really liked the first volume.
Transmetropolitan: This one's older but I've heard good things and have always meant to try it. I liked it quite a bit, feels a little try-hard at times when Spider going into his rants, but I liked it enough to stick with it. The main character feels a little like a Mary Sue, like the author created a badass character to deliver his own rants about how fake people are, and some of the humor falls flat for me like when Spider uses a rocket launcher to blow up the diner at the beginning of the book, but sort of like Saga it's fun to see what crazy shit will happen next.
That's it so far. Anything else currently in production that's worth checking out?
I've read the following books that all seem pretty widely loved:
Black Panther: This is the one that really got me back into comics, seems like it's really hyped. I have a few friends who are reading it despite not being into comics at all due to the author, and the Atlantic did an interview with him about it that made it seem interesting. It was alright I guess, this is actually the first time I've ever bought a single issue comic rather than a trade and $5 felt like a bit much for something so short, but it was interesting. I thought it was going to be a total reboot where people who know nothing about the character can easily jump in and I'm not sure if that's the case or not. Like am I supposed to know what the deal is with his sister at the end of the first issue or is everyone in the dark about that? Nothing really happened in the issue but the stage it set seems pretty interesting. Think I might wait for the first trade to come out to continue reading it though since the issues seem to be a bit pricey.
Ms. Marvel: Everything else I bought I found by just Googling "best comics." I'm not really into superhero stuff in general but this one came up a lot and the premise seemed really cool so I decided to give it a chance. I'm not really feeling it, there's a lot of really cheesy dialogue ("Something smells fishy, and it's not the Circle Q BLTs") and ridiculous writing. The main character wakes up with crazy superpowers and the first thing she thinks of is how the popular girl at school makes her feel. It's not bad, but feels like it's written for a younger audience, like it'd be cool if I had kids that were into it but it's just not for me.
Bitch Planet: I hesitated to get this one because it's often described as "exploitation" and "grind house." I thought it was going to be a bunch of mindless, over-the-top violence based on descriptions, but it was on sale on Comixology and was on a bunch of Best Of lists so I decided to give it a shot. It's really great, feels like it's based on Orange is the New Black with the prison settings and flashbacks to characters' early lives, but the setting is cool and the fake ads and stuff are awesome. I was really disappointed to see that there's only a few issues out so far that aren't in the trade I bought, really excited to read more of this.
Southern Bastards: I like this one a lot too. The tone reminds me a little of Preacher, and it's a really cool mix of a grounded setting with occasional over-the-top violence and stylized pages. The once-an-issue pages with a ton of small panels are really cool. It does a great job of capturing the frustration of being unable to prevent corrupt rule-makers from having their way. Can't wait to read more of this as well, especially after the twist at the end of the first volume.
The Wicked + The Divine: This was the opposite of Bitch Planet for me, thought I'd love it because the premise sounds awesome but it ended up being pretty boring. Does a lot of telling with no showing. For example it seems like very page has one of the gods casually talking about having sex with other gods, but all you see is them kind of hanging out. I don't need the book to revolve around watching people have sex, but as it is it comes across the same way as someone who is constantly bragging about having sex to seem cool. Who cares? The plot seems lazy too. These gods are famous and adored by everyone yet this one girl is the single person who visits Lucifer in jail? A lot of scenes just didn't make a ton of sense to me as well. The whole underground scene felt like they wanted a cool confrontation between two gods and worked backward from there to make it happen. The whole thing feels forced. Sort of curious to continue with it for at least one more volume to see if they turn it around and do something interesting with the awesome concept, but I wasn't impressed with the first volume.
Saga: This is awesome, the art is amazing and you never know what's going to happen on the next page. Just really fun and imaginative.
Scott Pilgrim: Picked up the first color volume of this, I really liked the movie but have never read the comic. No surprise, I like the comic quite a bit too. It follows the movie really closely so far, curious to see where it deviates more going forward.
Sex Criminals: This is pretty awesome. So many great moments like when the guy reveals his name for when time freezes, or the scene with the woman in the diner. Curious to see how they keep it interesting going forward and I'm kind of worried it'll escalate into something "epic" and lose the charm of being about a woman trying to save her library branch, but I really liked the first volume.
Transmetropolitan: This one's older but I've heard good things and have always meant to try it. I liked it quite a bit, feels a little try-hard at times when Spider going into his rants, but I liked it enough to stick with it. The main character feels a little like a Mary Sue, like the author created a badass character to deliver his own rants about how fake people are, and some of the humor falls flat for me like when Spider uses a rocket launcher to blow up the diner at the beginning of the book, but sort of like Saga it's fun to see what crazy shit will happen next.
That's it so far. Anything else currently in production that's worth checking out?
