999 Reading Challenge Review and Discussion Tread

[evaD]

Murder Mysteries: I guess you could say this is the story about the invention of murder. It was fairly quick read and if there were hidden nuances, I missed them. That wouldn't be the first time that happened though. The story is told by an aging angel stuck on earth. The murder takes place in heaven prior to Lucifer's fall. It was based on a Neil Gaiman story and adapted and arted by B. Clay Moore. It made for a great read on a lazy afternoon.

[RickV]

Haven't posted anything here in a while mostly because I have been alternating reading parts of a whole lot of things and not finishing anything but that changed.

Seven Soldier's of Victory

So close to a perfect series (if only Ferry could have drawn those other 3 issues of Mr. Miracle). My favorite DCU book. Each of the series working as individual segments and as part of the woven coat when organized in the hardcovers. Pitch perfect artists for each one, spanning all genres, all character types and seeding so much back story and history between them all, man I love this thing.

Something kinda perverse I did notice from this latest read, it seems to me that this being a comic book universe that s being harrowed that the Sheeda are a representation of Morrison himself and the mainstream comic industry. Zor is a renegade because he wanted to change the pattern or the constant narrative woven by the Seven Unknown Men, who are culpable with the Sheeda who in tern is a group that strip mines the past for inspiration and achievement to profit on in the present/future. That sounds a lot like Big Two comics have been operating for a long time to me.

[evaD]

Alan Moore's Writing for Comics.  It was fairly straightforward with some really good advice, both in the original text and in the afterword. I always get the sense from his writing that he is not exactly the guy seen in interviews and portrayed in popular thought. I don't know how much of his advice I will ever use because I am an artist who tells stories rather than a writer. I don't think I ever would have made that distinction without reading Moore's book though. I work by creating everything in pictures first. Then I do some more drawing. I come to the words at the end of everything. If forced to write a script, I suspect I would have to draw everything first and then write a description of what I had drawn. I think the thing I liked most was in the afterword. Moore tells the reader to forget everything he's said and just do it. He advises writers to avoid repeating anything, to constantly seek new ways of telling a story. Avoid a recognizable style. I think this is good advice for any creative endeavor. I hope to achieve that.

[whirlwindx]

22, 23, 24 in the challenge.

Red Hulk: Planet Red Hulk

This was really enjoyable as the Red Hulk's world is built up and explored. It had its fun elements for the category I put it in for the challenge but also gets more serious when new threats rise to the surface. Between Red Hulks own army general to chase him around, a group of new characters with Zero/One, and Omegex there's a lot of characters running around without even considering Planet Red Hulk. The lmds are interesting to see as is the conditions of the Hulk's situation especially when he runs into some nasty weather. Excited to read the next volume as some stories as just continuing on.

Justice League: Generation Lost Vol.1
Enjoyable series so far. Good team of characters even thought they wander and wonder what to do a bit too much.

Northlanders Vol.5: Metal and other stories
Always enjoyable a good variety of artists in this volume. Didn't expect this volume to get so supernatural.

[Night (Travis) Nurse]

22, 23, 24 in the challenge.

Red Hulk: Planet Red Hulk

This was really enjoyable as the Red Hulk's world is built up and explored. It had its fun elements for the category I put it in for the challenge but also gets more serious when new threats rise to the surface. Between Red Hulks own army general to chase him around, a group of new characters with Zero/One, and Omegex there's a lot of characters running around without even considering Planet Red Hulk. The lmds are interesting to see as is the conditions of the Hulk's situation especially when he runs into some nasty weather. Excited to read the next volume as some stories as just continuing on.

Justice League: Generation Lost Vol.1
Enjoyable series so far. Good team of characters even thought they wander and wonder what to do a bit too much.
Northlanders Vol.5: Metal and other stories
Always enjoyable a good variety of artists in this volume. Didn't expect this volume to get so supernatural.

That was one of my favorite series during the year it was comming out.

Travis

[whirlwindx]

That was one of my favorite series during the year it was comming out.

Travis

Wasn't it coming out bi-weekly? It was being recapped like it wasn't coming out that often in the issues. Ah well it was still good stuff and I could see why some fans said they were enjoying this series more than the regular Justice League series at the time.

[Night (Travis) Nurse]

Wasn't it coming out bi-weekly? It was being recapped like it wasn't coming out that often in the issues. Ah well it was still good stuff and I could see why some fans said they were enjoying this series more than the regular Justice League series at the time.

It was bi weekly and I enjoyed it a thousand times more the JLA proper.

Travis

[Jon O]

I loved Generation Lost.

I'm sad to see JLI and Captain Atom cut in the latest sweep of new 52 cuts.

[evaD]

I loved Generation Lost.

I'm sad to see JLI and Captain Atom cut in the latest sweep of new 52 cuts.

That is sad.

[Jon O]

JLI was pretty inconsistent for me personally, but Captain Atom was one of my favorite books out of DC month in, month out.

[Ryan 'gobo' C.]

Satiristas “by” Paul Provenza and Dan Dion

This is a collection of interviews between Provenza and dozens of “Comedians, Contrarians, Raconteurs & Vulgarians” (as the cover says) and it’s absolutely brilliant. These are the people thinking the most important thoughts of our time and using them to make us laugh. That is an art of the highest order. It has everyone from Lewis Black to Jello Biafra to Henry Rollins to George Carlin. An absolute must read for any fan of comedy and satire.

(Crossed the halfway point with this one)

[RickV]

I worked one of my choices into something else I was doing.

MW by Osamu Tezuka
http://www.spandexless.com/2012/06/spandexless-reads-06-14-2012/

[whirlwindx]

25-27!

Punisher:In the Blood

Punisher is back on the streets after Frankencastle killing criminals. I thought this was going to be more standard but it actually turned out to be a good finish to the stories that Fraction and Remender had been building for the Punisher. Plays nicely into Frank's history with having people help him as well. There's also a moment in here where I was like are they really going to do that? Still get a kick out of Punisher labelling the things he uses.

Dark Reign: The Sinister Spider-Man

An off-kilter Spider-Man story as it takes place during Dark Reign and has Mac Gargan as Spider -Man. Loved the Bachalo art. There's some weird villains in here that not exactly this Spider-Man's rogue's gallery (More like a Legion of Losers) but follow a guy with a different kind of motivation of Redemption. Along with playing on old Spider-Man tropes with a sinister Spider-Man keeps this interesting.

The Unwritten Vol.4:Leviathan
Always enjoyable but I think the the literary stories in other book world's has become the Watchmen's Pirate story to me. I can either skip or skim parts of it and just don't feel like read the whole thing.

[Night (Travis) Nurse]

Finally got around to finishing the giant Wednesday Comics HC. This series has been such a hurdle to get over. I loved how it was originally released in the newsprint form. But when it was coming out my daughter was just learning to walk and every time I tried to open the thing she was on it like it was mommas tit. Needless to say I never was able to read the entire series. When the HC was released I picked it up and I started it with the intention of reading it on hot days, with a beer on the my deck. It was going to be my summer deck book but the summer it came out I was so busy that I hardly ever had a change to smell the roses. So after that it sat on the shelf. I finally conquered this white whale this month and it was awesome. Like most anthologies there were some that I just didnt care for but most of them were great. Allred owned that thing with massive two page spreads that looked great in the HC. Garcia Lopez, Kubert, Risso all explored the space and took advantage of these monster sized pages. Truly a pleasure and I would love for them to go another round with this series.

Travis

[whirlwindx]

28-30!

Orc Stain
What can I say? Stokoe produces an imaginatively detailed, awesome, and enjoyable comic.

Proof Vol.6: Endangered
Good stuff. A lot seems to come to a head in this volume. I don't know whether to believe those Atomic Roboish/Tin Tin allusions to other volumes or not. Fun either way.

The Unwritten Vol.5: On to Genesis

Enjoyed this a lot more than Vol.5 which funny enough ties in with superheroes. This volume breaks the one-shot story format and instead inserts part of it into each issue, which was perfectly fine. It was such an interesting focus on golden age of comic books and a woman uses someone else's identity to get her work out there from a publisher and the way that the main characters can see these past events happening. On top of that more ongoing story drama as things are further escalating.

[evaD]

EOC Anthology 2: Eclectic Boogaloo. Wow. First thing, congratulations to everyone who contributed. What an awesome collection! There were a wide variety of genres represented as well as a variety of art and writing styles. I also really enjoyed the fact that it included work from beginners to pros and everyone in between. Actually, I think that's what made it so cool. It felt like a level playing field where every voice was heard. Some stories stood out more than others, and it wasn't always the most polished that hit the hardest.

[evaD]

Bandthology- I've never been in a band. I can't carry a tune, to the point where it drives my children nuts when I do sing. Dogs howl. None of that prevented me from enjoying this book. As much as I enjoyed the EOC anthology, I felt that this one was better. It stayed focused on the general music/band theme but each story went in it's own direction, touched on different experiences and thoughts. I should probably have the book in front of me to do this, but I have to mention some of the stories that really stood out to me. There was an incredibly interesting one about the "monster" that gets inside musicians. It did not go where I thought it might and left me with a smile because I think the same thing about creating comics. In another story a band decides to kill their singer so they can become famous. I won't spoil the story, but if I recall the outcome correctly I think John should change his forum name to Mr. One-Eye. There wasn't a single bad story in the bunch and I don't want to slight any of the contributors, it's just that those two stories stuck with me.
The most amazing thing to me was that every one of the people in the anthology did a great job telling their stories. So they not only have enough talent musically to be able to perform in a band - many of them probably creating and performing their own music, but they are talented writers, artists, and storytellers. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous.

[whirlwindx]

31-33!

Morning Glories Vol.2
I enjoy this on some level but each issue seems to just bring more mysteries on top of mysterious out of context scenes. There's flashbacks to show who these characters were before they got to the school but I don't think it's enough for me. I'm not going to hurry to get  another volume.

Revolver
Reminds me of the Awake TV series even though this came out a couple years ago. When the lead character goes to sleep he ends up in another world. Enjoyed how distinct the worlds were but mirrored each other in certain ascepts. The news reports running across the bottom of most pages as extra information was neat. Don't know if I'm just buzzing coming off of reading this by Matt Kindt this made me think about things I've been reading over the last few years and comparing them. Seeing that Kindt runs in similiar circles with Lemire I'm thinking I'm starting to like Kindt more. I think his sensibilties line up more with my own tastes and this was a fun time.

Sammy the Mouse
What a wild, wonderful, and wacky ride. What does it all mean? Interesing entry from Vince's selection for the EOC Hosts category.

[RickV]

I should not have waited to re-read this.

The Winter Men
I don't quite know how to talk about this series because it is PERFECTION. Jean Paul Leon(one of the most underrated artists in the industry) doing the BEST work of his career, Brett Lewis writing snappy dialogue that is funny, heartfelt, distinct and not overly quippy or quick. An atheistic that is rarely explored with Superheroes, a culture rarely explored in Superheroes, action, intrigue, twists, laughs, EVERYTHING.

This comic took the gauntlet thrown down by Watchmen and told a story that exists distinctly Post-Watchmen. This is the best Superhero comic of the past 20 years, if you have not read it because it is mid-late WildStorm it is not quite the easiest thing to track down but READ THIS BOOK.

[TurningAsher]

I should not have waited to re-read this.

The Winter Men
I don't quite know how to talk about this series because it is PERFECTION. Jean Paul Leon(one of the most underrated artists in the industry) doing the BEST work of his career, Brett Lewis writing snappy dialogue that is funny, heartfelt, distinct and not overly quippy or quick. An atheistic that is rarely explored with Superheroes, a culture rarely explored in Superheroes, action, intrigue, twists, laughs, EVERYTHING.

This comic took the gauntlet thrown down by Watchmen and told a story that exists distinctly Post-Watchmen. This is the best Superhero comic of the past 20 years, if you have not read it because it is mid-late WildStorm it is not quite the easiest thing to track down but READ THIS BOOK.

With a review like that, purchased!