I read comics, so you don't have to! Fun fact- I paid exactly $0 for any of this stuff, thanks to university libraries, public libraries, friends loaning and giving me comics, show-rooming at retail stores, and buying a handful of comics that I resold on eBay.
A cash-neutral hobby!
Anyway, here's a sample of some of the interesting stuff I read over the past few months.
Grizzlyshark by Ryan Ottley
Half shark, half grizzly bear, all mayhem! Demented and off-the-wall three-issue comic series written and drawn by a Mormon. As it should be.
Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Return by Brian Lynch
Not a total letdown! Commendable, for a resurrection of a 25-years-dormant franchise.
Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft by Richard Corben
Decent enough Lovecraft story adaptations.
Chew v.11 by John Layman
The cibopath detective is back! He solves crimes by eating the bodies of crime victims. Also there are aliens and endless varieties of mutants and mayhem. Gets weirder with every issue. Good for Chew.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 by "Joss Whedon"
Buffy should have been left well enough alone. It's nice to see the characters again, but their welcome wears out pretty quick and the plot goes wonky for wonkiness' sake. Made me glad that the show ended when it did.
Deadpool Classic v.1 by Various Writers
Turns out Deadpool wasn't funny in the 90s. They played him straight most of the time. Boo.
The Star Wars by J.W. Winzler
Comic adaptation of George Lucas' original rough-draft script for Star Wars. Because we're out of ideas. Pretty wild, though. Remarkable to see how different it all was from what ended up on screen.
Walking Dead v.25: No Turning Back by Robert Kirkman
Like the Energizer bunny, this series is still going. Getting mighty repetitive and cyclical. Our heroes settle somewhere, big bad guy challenges them, they fight, they start over settling somewhere else, big bad guy challenges them, wash, rinse, repeat. Been that way for a while, but it gets more obvious with every issue. Also there are zombies here and there.
Hawkeye v.4: Rio Bravo by Matt Fraction
This surprisingly clever minimalist art take on the character is still going strong.
Drax: The Galaxy's Best Detective by CM Punk
The green guy from Guardians of the Galaxy didn't strike me as someone in need of his own spin-off series. But this is the first comic I've seen that's written by a UFC fighter. So it's interesting for that.
Fables, v.3: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham
Super-mega-gritty take on fairy tales is still super-mega-gritty. Was probably pretty novel back when it was first published in 2002.
Batman, Inc. v.2 by Grant Morrison
Batman's still trying to get his worldwide Batman franchise off the ground. Some neat psychedelic imagery.
Cage: Max by Brian Azzarello
Nasty stuff, man. I hope the Netflix show about Luke Cage isn't this nasty. Netflix did a good job watering down the hideous Alias comics for its still-hard-hitting adaptation- Jessica Jones- so I'm hopeful.
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl v.2: Squirrel You Know It's True by Ryan North
Stupendously awesome and silly comic aimed at girls. Great stuff.
Punisher v.3: Last Days by Nathan Edmondson
These new Punisher comics are okay. Better than the recent series where Punisher was pretty much mute. But I miss Garth Ennis. His Marvel Knights and Max runs on the character were Earth-shatteringly awesome.
Saga v.6 by Brian K. Vaughan
It's still going. Started as a unique, one-of-a-kind adults-only bizarro sf/fantasy family drama. But it's starting to feel like random nonsense.
Captain America v.1: Hydra Ascendant by Rick Remender
I just realized I don't care about this character anymore. His movies are great, but his comics are just wheel-spinning McFights and McChases.
Two-Fisted Science by Jim Ottaviani
Fun realistic tales of real scientists.
Guardians of the Galaxy: The Black Vortex by Brian Michael Bendis
I really dug the 2008 Guardians comic series that inspired the 2014 film. But this new incarnation of the characters is trying too hard to be like the movie and it's devolved into generic space opera. What happened to the fire of Realm of Kings, with the cancer-verse and all that insane mind-blowing, messed-up stuff for the Guardians to face???
Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery Archives by Various Writers
Nice classical horror comic series. Nothing too amazingly original, but fun.
Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt by J.M. DeMatteis
Supposed to be the most controversial Spider-Man comic ever. Has some ooky imagery but pretty tame by modern standards.
Spike: After the Fall by Brian Lynch
Angel's season 5 open ending is now closed. Some neat jolts and twists in this follow-up.
Spike Vs. Dracula by Peter David
Random riff on the characters. Lots of laughs and cool bits.
East of West v.1-4 by Jonathan Hickman
Post-apocalyptic sludgy fantastical mystical gritty gory gopher guts. I dunno. It's there.
Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story by Mat Johnson
Moving and superbly-crafted tale of true crime during a national tragedy.
Marvel Team-Up v.1 by Robert Kirkman
I thought it would be neat to read a superhero comic by the Walking Dead author. Thing is- he wasn't really that guy yet. In 2005, Kirkman was still known as the guy who'd written a handful of X-Men and Captain America comics. And thus- this is pretty bland.
Invincible Iron Man: Reboot by Brian Michael Bendis
Why is this called "Reboot"? There are no boots in here, re- or otherwise. But seriously. Why? Stark teams up with Doctor Doom. Hilarity ensues. But no rebooting.
A cash-neutral hobby!
Anyway, here's a sample of some of the interesting stuff I read over the past few months.
Half shark, half grizzly bear, all mayhem! Demented and off-the-wall three-issue comic series written and drawn by a Mormon. As it should be.
Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Return by Brian Lynch
Not a total letdown! Commendable, for a resurrection of a 25-years-dormant franchise.
Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft by Richard Corben
Decent enough Lovecraft story adaptations.
Chew v.11 by John Layman
The cibopath detective is back! He solves crimes by eating the bodies of crime victims. Also there are aliens and endless varieties of mutants and mayhem. Gets weirder with every issue. Good for Chew.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 by "Joss Whedon"
Buffy should have been left well enough alone. It's nice to see the characters again, but their welcome wears out pretty quick and the plot goes wonky for wonkiness' sake. Made me glad that the show ended when it did.
Turns out Deadpool wasn't funny in the 90s. They played him straight most of the time. Boo.
Comic adaptation of George Lucas' original rough-draft script for Star Wars. Because we're out of ideas. Pretty wild, though. Remarkable to see how different it all was from what ended up on screen.
Walking Dead v.25: No Turning Back by Robert Kirkman
Like the Energizer bunny, this series is still going. Getting mighty repetitive and cyclical. Our heroes settle somewhere, big bad guy challenges them, they fight, they start over settling somewhere else, big bad guy challenges them, wash, rinse, repeat. Been that way for a while, but it gets more obvious with every issue. Also there are zombies here and there.
Hawkeye v.4: Rio Bravo by Matt Fraction
This surprisingly clever minimalist art take on the character is still going strong.
Drax: The Galaxy's Best Detective by CM Punk
The green guy from Guardians of the Galaxy didn't strike me as someone in need of his own spin-off series. But this is the first comic I've seen that's written by a UFC fighter. So it's interesting for that.
Fables, v.3: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham
Super-mega-gritty take on fairy tales is still super-mega-gritty. Was probably pretty novel back when it was first published in 2002.
Batman, Inc. v.2 by Grant Morrison
Batman's still trying to get his worldwide Batman franchise off the ground. Some neat psychedelic imagery.
Cage: Max by Brian Azzarello
Nasty stuff, man. I hope the Netflix show about Luke Cage isn't this nasty. Netflix did a good job watering down the hideous Alias comics for its still-hard-hitting adaptation- Jessica Jones- so I'm hopeful.
Stupendously awesome and silly comic aimed at girls. Great stuff.
Punisher v.3: Last Days by Nathan Edmondson
These new Punisher comics are okay. Better than the recent series where Punisher was pretty much mute. But I miss Garth Ennis. His Marvel Knights and Max runs on the character were Earth-shatteringly awesome.
Saga v.6 by Brian K. Vaughan
It's still going. Started as a unique, one-of-a-kind adults-only bizarro sf/fantasy family drama. But it's starting to feel like random nonsense.
Captain America v.1: Hydra Ascendant by Rick Remender
I just realized I don't care about this character anymore. His movies are great, but his comics are just wheel-spinning McFights and McChases.
Two-Fisted Science by Jim Ottaviani
Fun realistic tales of real scientists.
Guardians of the Galaxy: The Black Vortex by Brian Michael Bendis
I really dug the 2008 Guardians comic series that inspired the 2014 film. But this new incarnation of the characters is trying too hard to be like the movie and it's devolved into generic space opera. What happened to the fire of Realm of Kings, with the cancer-verse and all that insane mind-blowing, messed-up stuff for the Guardians to face???
Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery Archives by Various Writers
Nice classical horror comic series. Nothing too amazingly original, but fun.
Batman '66 Vs. Green Hornet by Kevin Smith
Comic version of the Adam West Batman. Brilliant and funny idea, well-executed.Supposed to be the most controversial Spider-Man comic ever. Has some ooky imagery but pretty tame by modern standards.
Spike: After the Fall by Brian Lynch
Angel's season 5 open ending is now closed. Some neat jolts and twists in this follow-up.
Spike Vs. Dracula by Peter David
Random riff on the characters. Lots of laughs and cool bits.
East of West v.1-4 by Jonathan Hickman
Post-apocalyptic sludgy fantastical mystical gritty gory gopher guts. I dunno. It's there.
Moving and superbly-crafted tale of true crime during a national tragedy.
Marvel Team-Up v.1 by Robert Kirkman
I thought it would be neat to read a superhero comic by the Walking Dead author. Thing is- he wasn't really that guy yet. In 2005, Kirkman was still known as the guy who'd written a handful of X-Men and Captain America comics. And thus- this is pretty bland.
Invincible Iron Man: Reboot by Brian Michael Bendis
Why is this called "Reboot"? There are no boots in here, re- or otherwise. But seriously. Why? Stark teams up with Doctor Doom. Hilarity ensues. But no rebooting.
Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three: Lady of Shadows by Peter David
Mediocre art and mediocre writing in this Stephen King adaptation. Odetta/Detta's backstory is tragic, but not interesting enough to sustain this entire volume. It feels like treading water, delaying narrative progress. Also the artwork is sloppy and bland:
Avengers: Time Runs Out by Jonathan Hickman
This made me stop following Avengers comics. Too many big Earth-shattering/Earth-threatening events. Makes me want to give up comics forever and just read Jane Austen for the rest of my life.
The Saga of Solomon Kane by Various Writers
Black and white collection of 70's Solomon Kane comics. This guy is Robert E. Howard's "other" major creation. (Howard is mostly known for creating Conan.)
Batman by Ed Brubaker
Boring. I didn't care about the bad guy with the weird glasses. Brubaker- though a great writer- doesn't add much to the Bat-mythos.
Crossed 100 v.2 by Simon Spurrier
Eww. But not as eww as usual. When Garth Ennis dropped Crossed on this poor, unsuspecting world in 2009, we were all traumatized by the most brutal and depressing zombie apocalypse of all time. The cruelty was just jaw-dropping. It left every torture-porn film ever made in the dust. And it worked. We were terrified for the characters because we didn't want the terrible, terrible things to happen to them. But it should have ended there. It's been SEVEN YEARS now and they're STILL cranking out stories in this world. Every bloody month. To no effect. But then Alan Moore came along last year and finally did something different with the concept by writing Crossed 100. It jumped 100 years into the future and showed what happens to the world and how language devolved and- most important- what we humans become. Neat idea. But as this pointless wheel-spinning follow-up proves- it should have ended there. Again.
Black Widow v.3: Last Days by Nathan Edmondson
Cool character. She should get her own movie!
Invincible v.22: Reboot? by Robert Kirkman
This remarkable series is finally starting to bounce back from its flirtation with uber-grittiness. It had such a good heart for 100 issues or so but it's been rough going for a while now. I welcome its return to form. Despite some missteps over the years, it's probably my favorite superhero comic. Ever.
Battleworld Comics (Marvel Zombies, etc.) by Various Writers
I read a few in this new Marvel series. Basically- it's a bunch of Marvel worlds broken down and reassembled Frankenstein-style. Kid-shaking-the-ant-farm nonsense. I don't care.
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn (Source text)
Mediocre art and mediocre writing in this Stephen King adaptation. Odetta/Detta's backstory is tragic, but not interesting enough to sustain this entire volume. It feels like treading water, delaying narrative progress. Also the artwork is sloppy and bland:
This made me stop following Avengers comics. Too many big Earth-shattering/Earth-threatening events. Makes me want to give up comics forever and just read Jane Austen for the rest of my life.
The Saga of Solomon Kane by Various Writers
Black and white collection of 70's Solomon Kane comics. This guy is Robert E. Howard's "other" major creation. (Howard is mostly known for creating Conan.)
Batman by Ed Brubaker
Boring. I didn't care about the bad guy with the weird glasses. Brubaker- though a great writer- doesn't add much to the Bat-mythos.
Crossed 100 v.2 by Simon Spurrier
Eww. But not as eww as usual. When Garth Ennis dropped Crossed on this poor, unsuspecting world in 2009, we were all traumatized by the most brutal and depressing zombie apocalypse of all time. The cruelty was just jaw-dropping. It left every torture-porn film ever made in the dust. And it worked. We were terrified for the characters because we didn't want the terrible, terrible things to happen to them. But it should have ended there. It's been SEVEN YEARS now and they're STILL cranking out stories in this world. Every bloody month. To no effect. But then Alan Moore came along last year and finally did something different with the concept by writing Crossed 100. It jumped 100 years into the future and showed what happens to the world and how language devolved and- most important- what we humans become. Neat idea. But as this pointless wheel-spinning follow-up proves- it should have ended there. Again.
Black Widow v.3: Last Days by Nathan Edmondson
Cool character. She should get her own movie!
This remarkable series is finally starting to bounce back from its flirtation with uber-grittiness. It had such a good heart for 100 issues or so but it's been rough going for a while now. I welcome its return to form. Despite some missteps over the years, it's probably my favorite superhero comic. Ever.
Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson
Was it mandatory that 90's indie comics have horrible, unlikable characters? I lived through the 90's. I distinctly remember not everyone being horrible and unlikable.
Battleworld Comics (Marvel Zombies, etc.) by Various Writers
I read a few in this new Marvel series. Basically- it's a bunch of Marvel worlds broken down and reassembled Frankenstein-style. Kid-shaking-the-ant-farm nonsense. I don't care.
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn (Source text)
I remember the book this was based on was a big deal. Most famous piece of Star Wars franchise fiction in history. Revitalized interest. Sold a ton of copies. Maybe it was good. (I was exclusively reading horror at the time it hit.) But the comic based on it sucks. Nothing in here is interesting. Nothing much happens. It's the first story in a trilogy, but still. Something should have happened. The Force Awakens and A New Hope were first entries in trilogies and stuff happened in both of them. It can be done.
Thanos: The Infinity Revelation by Jim Starlin
I don't remember anything about it. Infinity Gauntlet was pretty cool, but I could give or take this one. Because I don't remember it. Why do people find Thanos interesting? I know the next two Avengers films are gonna be about the guy, so get used to him.
Howard the Duck v.0: What the Duck by Chip Zdarsky
Lame. Previous incarnations of the character were super-vulgar (the Max series) or super-stupid (the George Lucas movie) or just okay (the original comics). This one is lame, as I said in the first sentence.
Tomb of Dracula Omnibus by Marv Wolfman
The character Blade first appeared in this surprisingly solid 70s horror comic series. Dracula's back and he gets into shenanigans. Nice art, solid writing.
Batman v.7: Endgame by Scott Snyder.
Hardcore. Joker mutilates a bunch of people and he and Batman maim each other horribly. As fun as a Zach Snyder movie.
Ex Machina v.2 by Brian K. Vaughan
Hero with powers runs for office and fights for gay marriage.
Daredevil v.4: Autobiography of Matt Murdock by Mark Waid
Mark Waid's run on this series has been relentlessly interesting and cool. This one's a solid entry in the saga of the now-unmasked hero. Keep up the good work, Waid.
Batman in the 70's by Various Writers
Thing I just learned- Frank Miller didn't actually invent the "Gritty Batman" concept with his 1986 classic Dark Knight Returns. Batman was already pretty darned gritty in his 1970s comics! It feels like a pushback against the Adam West goofiness of the 60's.
Big Trouble in Little China v.2 by John Carpenter/ Eric Powell
Original Big Trouble director John Carpenter had some creative input into this series, so it's fun and feels legit.Thanos: The Infinity Revelation by Jim Starlin
I don't remember anything about it. Infinity Gauntlet was pretty cool, but I could give or take this one. Because I don't remember it. Why do people find Thanos interesting? I know the next two Avengers films are gonna be about the guy, so get used to him.
Howard the Duck v.0: What the Duck by Chip Zdarsky
Lame. Previous incarnations of the character were super-vulgar (the Max series) or super-stupid (the George Lucas movie) or just okay (the original comics). This one is lame, as I said in the first sentence.
Tomb of Dracula Omnibus by Marv Wolfman
The character Blade first appeared in this surprisingly solid 70s horror comic series. Dracula's back and he gets into shenanigans. Nice art, solid writing.
Batman v.7: Endgame by Scott Snyder.
Hardcore. Joker mutilates a bunch of people and he and Batman maim each other horribly. As fun as a Zach Snyder movie.
Ex Machina v.2 by Brian K. Vaughan
Hero with powers runs for office and fights for gay marriage.
Mark Waid's run on this series has been relentlessly interesting and cool. This one's a solid entry in the saga of the now-unmasked hero. Keep up the good work, Waid.
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