So...Whatcha reading? [From comics to tea leaves and everything in between.]

[Redbolt]

Starting Unwritten vol.2

[JoeyN]

Finished last night. The wait to 2012 is gonna be a killer.

[BurlIves]

[Jon O]

No, I liked it.

Maybe I see everything as a commentary on making comics, but it seemed like a lot of the issues he talked about were similar. Trying to put life experience and observation into an artform that has very specific rules and expectations. The idea of working on something for a long time, then taking it to market and finding it difficult to sell, ending up selling it at a price far below its value. Contemplating quitting, seeing your artform as a gift and a curse. It seemed like a very accurate depiction of comics at the moment. The carpet-weaving metaphor probably is even more applicable to corporate comics, but all the other stuff was a pretty accurate snapshot of the life of a cartoonist at the moment.

I've heard other people make the weaver/comic artist connection before.  From what it sounds like there are no overt connections but a ton of direct parallels.

[Farrell]

No, I liked it.

I'm glad.  I loved it, but then I love pretty much everything James Sturm has done.

Maybe I see everything as a commentary on making comics, but it seemed like a lot of the issues he talked about were similar. Trying to put life experience and observation into an artform that has very specific rules and expectations. The idea of working on something for a long time, then taking it to market and finding it difficult to sell, ending up selling it at a price far below its value. Contemplating quitting, seeing your artform as a gift and a curse. It seemed like a very accurate depiction of comics at the moment. The carpet-weaving metaphor probably is even more applicable to corporate comics, but all the other stuff was a pretty accurate snapshot of the life of a cartoonist at the moment.

Yeah, I can definitely see the parallels to a creative endeavor like comics, I just thought you'd seen some specific parallels to comics making.  You'd know a lot better than I, but from where I sit as a know-nothing fan, comics' DIY aesthetic is still alive and well in some circles and it's a large part of the appeal for many creative people that comics can even still be made from beginning to end by one person.  Good luck to someone who wants to make their own television show and get it seen by anyone, much less an amateur chemist who wants to make and market Mepsi.  There are plenty of obstacles, and difficulties in finding a wide audience, but it's kinda cool that Joe Nobody, comics creator, even potentially has access to the same distribution network that the big boys do.

In that sense Market Day is hard for me to read as including comics directly, unless it was illuminating the uniqueness of comics as an art form compared to other art forms that have suffered more, but it's so downbeat and mournful that I can't imagine that was his point. 

[Jeff B.]

just read


I liked this.  A very simple tale but with real emotion.

about to start

[Dave Faust]

[Gabe Infinity Watch]

I just scored a Planetary Absolute Vol 1. Which was a huge trek, since I couldn't find one anywhere online that wasn't $160 plus. Luckily, one store in town still had one available and I ordered Vol 2 from work.   

[Derek G]

WHEW!!! We're at a high water point here:



Do yourself a favor are start reading the Milligan/Bisley/Camuncoli Hellblazer run. Get with it. Act like you know it.

I am always a big Hellblazer fan, but the last time the series was this fantastic was 17 years ago.

[Derek G]

First time?

[Dave Faust]

First time?

Nope. Just re-reading for certain key points.

[Jay Tomio]

Just caught up on G.I. Joe. I REALLY like the Origins books right now, the story is tight. G.I. Joe: Cobra is also still good, but feels like it's swimming in place. Speaking of which, the main title has just lost me by standing still. What the fuck is a Helix.

Art on all of it, especially the first two - and I like Fuso before - is subpar at best. The main title is serviceable (that's what people keep saying at least), but man something has to be done about this. I'm usually the guy - the way I read is that the first time around I don't even look at the art - who can deal with serviceable just fine and not notice but this is godawful.

The continuation of the Marvel run? Man, I don't think I would have liked in '86.

It's probably consistently the worst art I've seen on a semi-known property ever.

[Jeppe]

Do yourself a favor are start reading the Milligan/Bisley/Camuncoli Hellblazer run. Get with it. Act like you know it.

I am always a big Hellblazer fan, but the last time the series was this fantastic was 17 years ago.

Thanks for the heads up! Hellblazer has been pretty hit and miss with me over the years, but I'll check out Milligan's run now!

[Tom Scioli]

Last night I read Adastra in Africa and re-read the first two issues of Barry Windsor-Smith's Storyteller. It's such a great comic. If you've only read the Fantagraphics reprints you're missing the superb ParadoxMan, which has the best intro of a new character I've ever seen.

At the time it was considered too expensive, but looking at it now, it was 5 dollars, only 1 dollar more than most of the comics I've read in the last year, but it's a giant oversized book, 32 pages with no ads by one of the greatest talents in comics history. I wish it would've gone on longer.

[batcavejanitor]

Finally read...



...and I now understand the hype. EXCELLENT.

[The Questyen]

[Derek G]

Thanks for the heads up! Hellblazer has been pretty hit and miss with me over the years, but I'll check out Milligan's run now!

karma

[TurningAsher]

Just started Wildcats 3.0 - VERY COOL so far!

I do have a question though, am I to understand that Spartan and all his constituent personalities somehow absorbed the entity that was Void? Is that why he can now teleport, and why his suit is made of shiny?

[Jefferson]

Just finished The Simon & Kirby Superheroes. Classic stuff. I love the Kirby caricatures of this era.

[Matt H.O.W.L.]

A Treasury of XXth-Century Murders: The Lindbergh Child
28 Days Later, Vol. 1: London Calling