What Are You Reading?

Started by Dr. Insomniac, December 27, 2010, 04:55:59 PM

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Avaitor

That reminds me, a local used bookstore has Elektra: Assassin for a decent price, and I'm thinking of picking it up soon. I haven't read it in a while, but I recall enjoying it.
Life is not about the second chances. It's about a little mouse and his voyage to an exciting new land. That, my friend, is what life is.

Sir, do you have any Warrants?
I got their first CD, but you can't have it, motherfucker!

New blog!
http://avaitorsblog.blogspot.com/

Dr. Insomniac

QuoteSomehow, it's hard to believe that the guy who wrote works like The Man Without Fear and The Dark Knight Returns is the same person as the one who wrote the things that he has in the 2000's.
I heard a combination of health problems (look at some recent pictures of him alongside Stan Lee, and remember that he's over 3 decades younger than Stan) and his reaction to 9/11 really screwed up his thought process in the last two decades.

Anyway, I've been reading Hitman by Garth Ennis. Pretty funny, even if it can be bipolar in its subject matter. Sometimes, Ennis mercilessly mocks Green Lantern and conservative values. Other times, he shows an almost saccharine adoration for American military soldiers and Superman.

Markness

I've read the second volume of Superman and Justice League America as well as the first volume of Wonder Woman and Justice League America. I'm starting the Geoff Johns run of Teen Titans. I bought the latest TPB of it called Book One and it's a good read so far. I'd say it's a good start for those who want to give DC a shot.

Avaitor

I'm really enjoying the visuals of Berserk. The story itself is good, too, but some of the designs get downright Lovecraftian, and looks incredible. Volume 3 only gets to the first chapter of The Golden Age, so I need to get more volumes soon.

I also got around to finding my copy of the first volume of Nausicaa. I read it all before years ago, but it's still a treat to go through. Miyazaki's artwork is enchanting, and helps to bring you into his world. The worldbuilding is also fantastic, and just like Berserk, has me pumped to buy more of it.

But now, I'm going to read the original Alien vs Predator story, and then Dark Horse's original Aliens sequel comic. I was able to get Loot Crate's anniversary edition of the latter for cheap, which retains Hicks and Newt's roles. Hey, ignoring Alien 3 is fine by me, :awesome:
Life is not about the second chances. It's about a little mouse and his voyage to an exciting new land. That, my friend, is what life is.

Sir, do you have any Warrants?
I got their first CD, but you can't have it, motherfucker!

New blog!
http://avaitorsblog.blogspot.com/

Foggle

Berserk starts out neat and keeps getting better but then starts to gradually decrease in quality and the newest storylines feel like filler arcs from a Shounen Jump manga. I gave up before they got off the boat (did they ever get off the boat?) but it's one of the sharpest declines I've ever seen in a long-running comic series. :(

Avaitor

That's something I'm curious about then- is there a good stopping point, or should I just continue through with it?
Life is not about the second chances. It's about a little mouse and his voyage to an exciting new land. That, my friend, is what life is.

Sir, do you have any Warrants?
I got their first CD, but you can't have it, motherfucker!

New blog!
http://avaitorsblog.blogspot.com/

Dr. Ensatsu-ken

Quote from: Foggle on August 28, 2017, 03:27:09 PMthe newest storylines feel like filler arcs from a Shounen Jump manga.

Since when do manga have filler arcs? :sly:

LumRanmaYasha

I personally disagree that Berserk suffers that bad a decline. The arc on the boat was incredibly frustrating because Miura's inconsistent schedule meant it dragged on for years, and that arc didn't add much to the story outside of some character development for Farnese and Shierke and a mermaid joining Gut's band. But ultimately it's just three volumes worth of content, and everything since then has been very interesting - from that short arc where Rickert reunites with Griffith in Falconia, to Guts and co. finally reaching the Fairies' island and starting to cure Casca's trauma. I think Berserk is still worth reading and am sticking with it to the end. However, I've stopped keeping up with the chapters as they come out and am just waiting for when they're compiled in volumes. It's really much more enjoyable to digest the series in a large chunk than trying to keep pace with it's irregular release schedule.

But in terms of a stopping point, there's two good ones. The first is at the end of the Golden Age, which ends in the middle of volume 14. The second would be after the Falcon of the Millennium Empire arc, which ends in volume 34. For reference, the infamous "boat" arc is volumes 35-37.

Foggle

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 28, 2017, 03:56:43 PM
Quote from: Foggle on August 28, 2017, 03:27:09 PMthe newest storylines feel like filler arcs from a Shounen Jump manga.

Since when do manga have filler arcs? :sly:
I seem to recall people complaining about Naruto and Bleach having arcs in the manga that served no purpose other than to fill space until the authors were inspired to move the story forward. But, I meant to say "manga adaptation." :sweat:

Quote from: LumRanmaYasha on August 28, 2017, 04:09:31 PM
I personally disagree that Berserk suffers that bad a decline.
I just remember the last volume I found particularly engaging was in the early 20s or sonething. The story has barely progressed over the past decade and, like Black Lagoon, will probably never see anything resembling a satisfying conclusion.

Dr. Ensatsu-ken

#1449
I still really need to get around to reading Berserk, but one thing that has always stopped me is that Dark Horse has the manga ridiculously over-priced at $15 per single volume and haven't even bothered to collect it into much more reasonably priced omnibi like they have for stuff like Astro Boy and Blade of the Immortal. On the other hand, the fan translations and scans that I have found online are borderline unreadable, at least for the first several volumes. So just the act of trying to read this manga is a pain for me.

Quote from: Foggle on August 28, 2017, 04:20:53 PMI seem to recall people complaining about Naruto and Bleach having arcs in the manga that served no purpose other than to fill space until the authors were inspired to move the story forward. But, I meant to say "manga adaptation." :sweat:

Well, I call BS on that because saying that Bleach has bad filler arcs implies that it actually had any good material to begin with. :>

Avaitor

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 28, 2017, 04:28:38 PM
I still really need to get around to reading Berserk, but one thing that has always stopped me is that Dark Horse has the manga ridiculously over-priced at $15 per single volume and haven't even bothered to collect it into much more reasonably priced omnibi like they have for stuff like Astro Boy and Blade of the Immortal. On the other hand, the fan translations and scans that I have found online are borderline unreadable, at least for the first several volumes. So just the act of trying to read this manga is a pain for me.
Yeah, that's been my problem for a while. I've only been able to read Berserk since the local used bookstore I lurk had the first few volumes for $5 or $6 a pop. I'll check Amazon later if the next volumes are on there for cheap, but I can't really spend more than $10 for a GN.
Life is not about the second chances. It's about a little mouse and his voyage to an exciting new land. That, my friend, is what life is.

Sir, do you have any Warrants?
I got their first CD, but you can't have it, motherfucker!

New blog!
http://avaitorsblog.blogspot.com/

LumRanmaYasha

Quote from: Foggle on August 28, 2017, 04:20:53 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 28, 2017, 03:56:43 PM
Quote from: Foggle on August 28, 2017, 03:27:09 PMthe newest storylines feel like filler arcs from a Shounen Jump manga.

Since when do manga have filler arcs? :sly:
I seem to recall people complaining about Naruto and Bleach having arcs in the manga that served no purpose other than to fill space until the authors were inspired to move the story forward. But, I meant to say "manga adaptation." :sweat:

You're not wrong. The Fullbringer arc in Bleach and pretty much most of the Ninja War in Naruto were basically filler.  :humhumhum:

Quote from: Foggle on August 28, 2017, 04:20:53 PM
I just remember the last volume I found particularly engaging was in the early 20s or sonething. The story has barely progressed over the past decade and, like Black Lagoon, will probably never see anything resembling a satisfying conclusion.

I agree that the story has progressed at a snail's pace these last ten years. But personally I still feel engaged with Berserk's story and think that where it is now is finally making headways on stuff that's been long overdue. It probably helps that I only caught up around when the boat arc was ending so I didn't have to suffer through it over the course of years.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 28, 2017, 04:28:38 PM
I still really need to get around to reading Berserk, but one thing that has always stopped me is that Dark Horse has the manga ridiculously over-priced at $15 per single volume and haven't even bothered to collect it into much more reasonably priced omnibi like they have for stuff like Astro Boy and Blade of the Immortal. On the other hand, the fan translations and scans that I have found online are borderline unreadable, at least for the first several volumes. So just the act of trying to read this manga is a pain for me.

They're still pricier than a volume of most series, but Berserk volumes go for around $11.25 on Rightstuf, and you can grab digital copies for most volumes on Kindle for about $9.

Dr. Insomniac



So this was published in the letters page for a Marvel comic.

Dr. Ensatsu-ken

Just finished volume 2 of Doom Patrol. I won't lie, some of those later issues got so out there in metaphysical techno-jargon that it became a bit hard to follow at times. I'll need to find the third volume online since my local BAM doesn't carry it, but it'll be some time before I can open a private mailbox for myself. It's just as well though as I may want to revisit some of these issues to try and make more sense of what's going on before moving on to more stuff.

I'm of two minds about Morrison's run on it so far. On the one hand, it's undeniably an intriguing read that really stimulates your mind to think outside the realms of normal story-telling conventions. On the other hand it can, at times, be so dense Morrison's own personal lingo that the mere act of trying to discern what he's even trying to say with any particular given story can feel like homework.

Or, you know, maybe I'm just too stupid to get it all. There's always that possibility as well. ;)

Avaitor

The original Alien vs. Predator comic is pretty good. The artwork's solid, and it gives us a better protagonist in the middle of the conflict than the actual film does. I do plan to check out the other stories here later, but the one AVP I'm primarily interested in checking out right now is AVP: Booty, which is in the second omnibus. The book store does have that, so I'll get it soon.

I'm really impressed by Aliens: Outbreak, though. It's a shame that Alien 3 deemed this as non-canon, since it's a much better sequel than that was, even without Ripley. Still though, getting Hicks and Newt to take on a newly-found Queen. Doesn't that sound great?
Life is not about the second chances. It's about a little mouse and his voyage to an exciting new land. That, my friend, is what life is.

Sir, do you have any Warrants?
I got their first CD, but you can't have it, motherfucker!

New blog!
http://avaitorsblog.blogspot.com/