The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

[Keb]

Is Sandman something that you would recommend reading all at one time or is it something that could be spread out and read at your leisure?

Either or. I usually read it all in one sitting but this time around I took breaks between volumes.

If you don't want to buy it all at once, you'll be okay reading bits here and there. You don't even really have to read it in order.

[misac]

I got the Mutant Massacre tpb a while back have since wanted to read as many x-overs as possible. I'm glad they're releasing them in tpb format.

I started getting the hardcovers, I’d have waited if I knew they were doing trades afterwards.

I think Fatal Attractions is next.

[Keb]

Yeah, they did HCs and now they're doing paperbacks. I think the time spread between editions is usually about six months to a year for Marvel, depending on how well the sales are.

I did pick up the second Fall of the Mutants tpb today.

Waiting for them to do Inferno. I've always wanted to read that.

[Keb]

Strange Tales & Strange Tales II - I love these! I'm always a fan of anthologies that are done well. I liked the Flight anthologies and loved the Popgun anthologies. The Strange Tales comics were no different. What I really love about these books is that you can tell that every artist contributing to these anthologies has an appreciation for the character he or she is using. The funny strips definitely stand out (James Kolchaka's Hulk strips were my favs) but even the more action/serious ones were well done. Was really happy to see a Fight or Run strip with Marvel characters in the Strange Tales II book. I would love to see a one-shot of Fight or Run done with Marvel characters. I kind of wish they did something like this more regularly.

[Victorian Squid]

Back when I hadn't started paying any attention to mainstream comics again, Marvel published a weird homage to the Lee & Kirby FF by a lot of different people, Erik Larsen, Eric Stephenson, Kurt Busiek, Bruce Timm, the list goes on and on. Supposedly all taking place between FF 101 and FF 102. Crazy faux-Silver Age roller coaster ride.

A lot like Strange Tales in a weird way.

[Keb]

I saw that at the store yesterday. I wondered what it was.

Started reading the X-Statix omnibus last night. Was really hard to get comfortable and read it.

[Victorian Squid]

I saw that at the store yesterday. I wondered what it was.

Yup, we're all seeing the same cheap stuff Marvel up-ended out of some big warehouse and sold off at remainder prices. The dude at my shop took a big load of it to C2E2 but didn't really sell much of it despite the low prices because so many other vendors had the same stuff discounted too.

Of course, the funny thing there is that then some of the books will start going out of print and for higher resale values and some won't--I've already flipped a couple things selling for 2x or 3x that I didn't want to hang on to.

[Keb]

Yeah, the guy at the used book store told me they're going to have some dirt cheap Marvel HCs on Saturday. I figured it'd be all that remained warehouse clearance stuff.

[Arion]

Yeah, the guy at the used book store told me they're going to have some dirt cheap Marvel HCs on Saturday. I figured it'd be all that remained warehouse clearance stuff.

I want to get some of that!

[Keb]

I want to get some of that!

Orly?

Maybe if there's anything you're looking for, I can pick it up and ship it to you and you can send me some of that pickled peppers so my mom will stop bugging me about it.

[Arion]

Orly?

Maybe if there's anything you're looking for, I can pick it up and ship it to you and you can send me some of that pickled peppers so my mom will stop bugging me about it.

Sounds like a perfect deal except that customs would probably consider this a suspicious trade...

[Keb]

Sounds like a perfect deal except that customs would probably consider this a suspicious trade...

Maybe. I doubt it though.

[Keb]

Joe the Barbarian by Grant Morrison & Sean Murphy

It took me forever to get around to reading this but I did it in a couple hours. I kind of saw it as quite possibly the last Morrison work I'd read before calling it quits with him. I really haven't enjoyed much since Seven Soldiers. So anyway, procrastination aside, I really went into this with expectations that were set very low. Unfortunately, those expectations weren't met until about the 4th issue/chapter. I found the story really dragged on and on and nothing significant happened. By the time Jack disappeared, I started to lose interest. While I'm usually a sucker for symbolism and this book is ripe with it, I found it kind of strange that I had no idea to really go and pull the symbols. In many ways, maybe because I felt sorry for Joe as he existed in the real world, I wanted some resolve (as in, please don't die). As a result, I sped through the richness of the fantasy world. I picked up on the major pieces and did pick up on the overarching theme of patriarchal death. The one thing I did not appreciate and thought was very stale about the story was the prototypical bullying by the bigger "punk rock" kids. It just felt like an old fashioned plot device that was cookie-cuttered into the story. Had the real life story pushed boundaries the way the fantasy story did, I might have really enjoyed this. The fantasy story is what saves it. I believe Sean Murphy is a very talented artist and he does a fantastic job with the book and we get some creative greatness from him (and Grant). However, the art felt a bit restrained. In other Morrison works where the artist is allowed to get "bizarre" (like Doom Patrol), we see some very fantastic things drawn but I didn't feel that was the case with Joe the Barbarian. The colors, while remaining in line with the darkness of the story, don't do the artwork any favors and there's something about Murphy's line work that sometimes bothers me. It just makes me uneasy. Add that to the pacing of the story, which could have used some work, I really had trouble getting into this. Maybe another read some time down the line might help. However, even with all these criticisms, I'd still give Joe the Barbarian to someone looking to get into non-superhero comics.

[misac]

Strange Tales & Strange Tales II - I love these! I'm always a fan of anthologies that are done well. I liked the Flight anthologies and loved the Popgun anthologies. The Strange Tales comics were no different. What I really love about these books is that you can tell that every artist contributing to these anthologies has an appreciation for the character he or she is using. The funny strips definitely stand out (James Kolchaka's Hulk strips were my favs) but even the more action/serious ones were well done. Was really happy to see a Fight or Run strip with Marvel characters in the Strange Tales II book. I would love to see a one-shot of Fight or Run done with Marvel characters. I kind of wish they did something like this more regularly.

I saw Image is doing a new anthology, at least new to me. Outlaw Territory, all western! They’re up to the third volume but I preordered the first one on my last order.

[misac]

Batman: The Black Mirror – Wish the new series was more like this, three issue arcs telling a bigger story. Really liked it up until the climax, bad guy just talked forever and there were huge leaps I wasn’t buying into. Not that it ruins the story, it’s still great!

Books starts with Batman’s captions and I thought it was weird cause it sounded like Dick and it was. I’d forgotten this took place when he was Batman. It really made me wish both Bruce and Dick were Batman, he was a really good Batman. His conversations with Red Robin were my favorite part of the book, it’s a fun relationship.

Art was great! Jock’s art was just ok on the normal stuff but when he’s drawing Batman it’s super exciting. Francesca Francavilla was amazing! I’d like to see him on Daredevil or Hawkeye for an issue or two at least.