What Are You Reading?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Just read through Spider-Man: Life Story. This is definitely worthy of the praise it has gotten. Makes me want to read a lot more Spider-Man to better appreciate it's homage and commentary of the character's extensive history. However, it also works incredibly well as a stand-alone elseworld story.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Read a little of the BTAS comic Burnett and Dini have been doing lately. It's fine, but redundant in places. There's no reason to bring in Jason Todd when Return of the Joker already did the "Bruce fails one of his Robins and they come back as a mentally broken villain" story in this universe.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just finished finished Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. Well, technically I still have the short stories collection volume "Endless Nights" left to read, but I've finished the main story's run. I don't know that another work of fiction in this medium has ever put me through such a wide spectrum of emotions reading through it. Granted, not every story worked out to the same level of quality, and there were more than a few bits that went completely over my head due to my poor background of very little experience with classic English literature, but that's all the more reason it's impressive that this series still resonated with me all the same. I'm glad that I paced myself at one volume a week rather than trying to binge it all in one go, as this is definitely a series that it's better to take your time with.

As it stands I don't know where I would rank The Sandman among my favorite comics, but it's definitely up there, and I'd say that it's easily the best Vertigo title that I've read (though Animal man just slightly wins out as my personal favorite). I'll take a short break between this and Lucifer, but needless to say that I'm glad to have finally gotten around to this series. I think the search for Destruction arc (I'm not sure what the official title would be if there is one) is my personal favorite of the entire series. Dream and Delirium's chemistry is just priceless, all of the side characters are memorable (this is really where characters like Matthew and Mervyn came into their own), and the ending is beautifully melancholic in the best way possible. The Kindly Ones arc is a close second, though I fully admit to not quite understanding parts of it's ending. I'll definitely be glad to re-read it at some point, though.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Some of The Sandman cast show up again in a few other DC Comics. Lex meets Death in an Action Comics issue, Dream pops up once in a while, and there are some recent comics showing what happened after. I haven't read any of them except a handful of The Dreaming issues though, so I don't know about their quality.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm aware that there is newer stuff, but just like you I know nothing about them. I may check it out eventually, though.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Well, Sinestro had sex with Hal's clone in the new Green Lantern. That's one step closer to a canon ship.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Was expecting little from Three Jokers, but my God, that ending reveal was dumb.

Spoiler

So you know how the Joker had a pregnant wife in The Killing Joke? Turns out she faked her death to get away from him, and he really was just an asshole even before being forced into crime.

[close]

[Dr. Insomniac]

For all my gripes about King's run, his new Batman/Catwoman issue hit the spot I've been missing in Batman comics lately. I don't dislike Tynion's run at all and he has plenty of fun moments, but I found it doesn't do much to push Batman into new territory. And the new territory we do get is Bruce and Lucius committing tax evasion that will eventually culminate in Lucius' son becoming Batman.

[Markness]

I checked out and read the first four volumes of the Twilight Princess manga from one of the libraries in my area. I want to play the game if my younger brother still has it and will let me borrow his Wii if he still has that as well but the manga will do for now.

I haven't read Terra Formars for a long spell now and ordered volumes 18 through 22. I'll read those and see if I still like the series.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I've started reading Chip Zdarsky's Daredevil run after all of the positive word of mouth that it has gotten and yeah, it's been really solid so far. In many ways it feels like a spiritual follow-up of sorts to the Netflix series in terms of it's tone and story-telling. I also like how it showcases the more methodical side of Wilson Fisk compared to his more violent thug side. It has the right amount of street-level grit without overdoing it (at least as far as the first few issues are concerned).

I checked out and read the first four volumes of the Twilight Princess manga from one of the libraries in my area. I want to play the game if my younger brother still has it and will let me borrow his Wii if he still has that as well but the manga will do for now.

I've been curious to check out some of the Zelda manga adaptations just to see how they translate into that kind of format given how basic most of their stories are (a few notable exceptions aside). Twilight Princess in particular seems to have gotten the best treatment in that regard given how it's story is stretched over multiple volumes instead of just one or two. That said, I imagine quite a few creative liberties must have been taken in that regard given that the story of the game is still pretty simple, all things considered, and the manga must have more original material to fill up those volumes with.

[Markness]

I checked out and read the first four volumes of the Twilight Princess manga from one of the libraries in my area. I want to play the game if my younger brother still has it and will let me borrow his Wii if he still has that as well but the manga will do for now.

I've been curious to check out some of the Zelda manga adaptations just to see how they translate into that kind of format given how basic most of their stories are (a few notable exceptions aside). Twilight Princess in particular seems to have gotten the best treatment in that regard given how it's story is stretched over multiple volumes instead of just one or two. That said, I imagine quite a few creative liberties must have been taken in that regard given that the story of the game is still pretty simple, all things considered, and the manga must have more original material to fill up those volumes with.

I came across this list and Twilight Princess came in first: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbr.com/zelda-every-manga-adaptation-ranked/amp/

As I said before, I haven't played the game (I finally became a Zelda fan near the end of last year and currently playing BotW. I hope to still play Twilight Princess if my younger brother still has it.) but from what I remember seeing of the gameplay, the manga looks consistent with the game. It's well drawn and nothing so far feels tacked on or like filler for the sake of taking up space.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, that's good to know. When I was referring to padding the story out with extra content, though, I wasn't really criticizing it as meaningless filler, just noting that it would have to add more stuff for it to last as long as it has. Twilight Princess does have a fair amount of story as a Zelda game, but not quite enough to last more than maybe three volumes if it were a direct adaptation. In this case, I hear that the manga gives Link an origin story, so that right there is added content which is not found in the actual game, as an example.

Anyways, as far as games go it's pretty good, if a bit safe and predictable by Zelda standards. That said, despite being more linear, I prefer it's dungeons to BOTW's Divine Beasts and shrines, but conversely find the overworld to be rather barren in comparison. Still, it's a solid enough example of why the formula established by ALttP and OoT still works so well.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I've started reading Chip Zdarsky's Daredevil run after all of the positive word of mouth that it has gotten and yeah, it's been really solid so far. In many ways it feels like a spiritual follow-up of sorts to the Netflix series in terms of it's tone and story-telling. I also like how it showcases the more methodical side of Wilson Fisk compared to his more violent thug side. It has the right amount of street-level grit without overdoing it (at least as far as the first few issues are concerned).

I should get to reading that. I loved what Zdarsky did with Spider-Man so much in Life Story and Spectacular that I think it's not an exaggeration to call him the best Spider-Man writer in the last decade or two.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I forgot that he wrote Life Story. I loved that as well, and should check out more of his work.

I'm 23-issues into his Daredevil run and it's legit the best take on the character and his mythos that I've read since Frank Miller's original run. I think Zdarsky does a pretty great job with long-term serialized story-telling in how he keeps the beat-to-beat pacing of the story feeling constantly engaging in a way that very few writers can. Most comics I read these days, even ones that I really like, I tend to read a couple of issues at a time. With this one I've binged nearly 5 volumes in two separate sittings which is rare for me these days.

I think part of what works is that the Stromwyns are the most interesting comic book villains that I've seen in a while. Zdarsky does a good job of making them threatening not through any superpowers but rather what they can do to people with their endless corrupt political influence, while also making you want to see them get taken down hard. It's also great in how Matt Murdock, Detective North, and Wilson Fisk have three ongoing character arcs throughout this run that constantly play off each other in interesting ways. All three play into the central theme of this ongoing story arc which I essentially interpret as the difference between morality and legality. Murdock has placed much of his faith in the concept of the legal justice system working, but is realizing that the system is far from fool-proof and can be taken advantage of to the point of being immoral (again, the Stromwyns). Cole North is just as against vigilantes as he is against criminals of any kind, but is learning about the gray area to the way that the justice system works and that his ideals don't always hold true. And Fisk is obsessed with trying to leave his criminal past behind and go completely legitimate, but quickly gets the up-and-up about how the political system is just as shady and back-stabby as his criminal empire ever was, just under the guise of not technically being against the law.

There's a lot more to it than that, of course, but this core thesis really works for me and helps the story that Zdarsky is trying to tell stand out all the more.

[Markness]

Well, that's good to know. When I was referring to padding the story out with extra content, though, I wasn't really criticizing it as meaningless filler, just noting that it would have to add more stuff for it to last as long as it has. Twilight Princess does have a fair amount of story as a Zelda game, but not quite enough to last more than maybe three volumes if it were a direct adaptation. In this case, I hear that the manga gives Link an origin story, so that right there is added content which is not found in the actual game, as an example.

Anyways, as far as games go it's pretty good, if a bit safe and predictable by Zelda standards. That said, despite being more linear, I prefer it's dungeons to BOTW's Divine Beasts and shrines, but conversely find the overworld to be rather barren in comparison. Still, it's a solid enough example of why the formula established by ALttP and OoT still works so well.

I didn't think you were criticizing it. I was just stating how I felt about it and I wish more video game to manga adaptations were like it. The Guilty Gear manga posted on Guilty Gear's official site is really good from what I've read of it so far and I would happily buy it if it came out in physical form, especially if more content is produced. I haven't read the recent KOF manga but since it's five or six volumes long, it's probably a good adaptation.

I like BotW so far but it can be overwhelming due to it being an open world game and I am not really climatized to that genre. I feel the same about Final Fantasy XV and the remake of VII made me put it aside for a good long while.