1000 books in 2020 1 1

[srezvan]

Finished these recently:

• Kid 'n' Play #9 - the most unnecessary comic of all time. I saw it in the forums here for the first time and hunted down a cheap copy. What was going on at Marvel that they thought the world needed a Kid 'n' Play comic series? A completely random dream sequence with Marvel characters. Ugh.
• Scott Pilgrim Odds and Ends - great addition to a fantastic series. It's been a while since I read the original series, but I laughed out loud a couple of times reading this.
• Lando TPB - great story. Same writer as the Vader 2nd series, and there are some connections between the two. The next Lando series is related to the Solo movie, so I'm hesitant to give it a read.

 

[cgcsketcherz]

40 minutes ago, srezvan said:

Lando TPB - great story. Same writer as the Vader 2nd series, and there are some connections between the two. The next Lando series is related to the Solo movie, so I'm hesitant to give it a read.

It was pretty good, not on the same level as the Star Wars series but I liked the plot. Most of my total so far has been Star Wars Trades. 

[DavidTheDavid]

On 4/8/2020 at 8:48 AM, DavidTheDavid said:

79-81

 

82-93

 

[Ken Aldred]

5 hours ago, DavidTheDavid said:

82-93

 

Excellent choice.  Great story.

[cgcsketcherz]

#'s 248-253

Star Wars Doctor Aphra A Rogue's End Volume 7

Collects Doctor Aphra issue #37-40, Doctor Aphra Annual #3, & Star Wars: Empire Ascendant #1.

This is the end of the Doctor Aphra series. One of my favorite ongoing series. In this last trade, Aphra finds her dad in a Jedi site while working for Vader, manages to get her father spared from death/torture by a newly enslaved torture droids that were once friends of Aphra's, tricks Vader into nearly dying while at the same time, manages to Hotwire Vader into giving a command to scramble empire files so the rebels have a few extra weeks time to escape from their current base or to at least get their shields operational. It ends with Vader once again vowing to destroy Aphra.

I'm hoping Disney + makes this into a miniseries!

Happy Mother's Day to any moms out there on the boards. (It can's just be all guys on here can it?)

747....... 

[cgcsketcherz]

#'s 254-259

Future Quest Volume 2 TPB

Collects Future Quest Issues #'s 7-12.

I was disappointed that a lot of the Hannah Barbara new DC reboots had short shelf life. Future Quest had Space Ghost, Johnny Quest, the Impossibles, Frankenstein Jr., Birdman, The Herculoids and even Dr. Quest teaming up with his arch nemesis Dr. Zin to take on an alien force destined to devour life on earth as we know it. One thing that sort of grated on me was that the art style changed between issues. I understand that each artist has their own look, but if you are doing a series, shouldn't you try and keep the art style similar? I don't know, just my two cents. 

741.......

[srezvan]

Finished two graphic novels:

• Andre the Giant: Life and Legend - I bought this from the author/artist in 2015. He had a booth at a convention and I happened to notice him on the way out. Andre the Giant? Sure, I'll give it a chance! I was inspired to finally read this after the Princess Bride came on Disney+ and our kids loved it. I thought the story was interesting. Lots of tidbits about Andre growing up and working in the wrestling business. Certainly some mixed feelings about him, but it also shows how his actions were at times shaped by how he was treated throughout his life. For a 200+ page comic, it's a very fast read.
• Orange - I don't remember how this got on my reading list - someone here recommended it, maybe? Anywho, not great, in my opinion. Benjamin's artwork is good, but the story is choppy and hard to follow at times.

Up next - Marvel Zombies Dead Days Hardcover and Marvel Zombies 1. Great so far, and I should be done soon.

 

[cgcsketcherz]

#'s 260-265

The Flintstones Volume 2 TPB:

Collects The Flintstones Issues #'s 7-12

Another one of the Hanna Barbara DC reboots that was cut short. Maybe it was due to issue sales.....in that case people like me that mostly buy trades really cut down the individual issue purchases but for storage the trades fit easier on the bookshelf and less long boxes. 

The Flintstones are seen as progressing as savages to civilization. Gazoo, saves planet earth from being destroyed by other similar aliens. They cover religion, war, art, movies, and the appliances in Fred's home go on a rescue mission and almost have an uprising. Poor Dino, gets hog tied when he overhears a rescue mission plan the animal appliances have to rescue the armadillo bowling ball from the recycle center where it will be turned into pet food when Fred is gifted a new bowling ball. 

735.........

[cgcsketcherz]

#'s 266-269

DC Meets Hanna Barbara Trade

Collects the following issues; Booster Gold/The Flintstones Special #1, Green Lantern/Space Ghost Special #1, Adam Strange/Future Quest Special #1, and Suicide Squad/Banana Splits Special #1

It also held a mini story of Top Cat lying to Batman to protect Catwoman, Judy Jetson watches her 124 year old grandmother enter a end of life facility where the rest of the family catch on and race to try and stop it only to realize they couldn't get there in time but George's mom uses Cogswell's company to become a robot and she asks them to call her....Rosie! 

Ruff 'n Reddy teaming up for comedy, as well as a story of Snagglepuss the lion talking to the Senate during the McCarthy Investigations.

I can see why Hanna Barbera told DC to stop printing the newer stories. Some of the content was getting darker, and made comments and references of a more adult nature. I can see that DC tried to make the characters more this century than their hey days of the 1950's and 1960's but come on, Banana Splits being forced to join the Suicide Squad!

The Booster Gold/The Flintstones Special #1 was good. Booster Gold inadvertently goes back in time to the Stone Age and kills a alien trying to offer the Flintstone generation a new age of peace and prosperity, which results in his own futuristic timeline the alien invasion to get back for the loss of their leader. Now at least, I know how they got the name of their god in the Flintstone 12 issue series, it was the alien that had gotten killed.

Green Lantern/Space Ghost was really good. Space Ghost and Green Lantern both answer a cry for help to a planet far away and the two mistake one another as enemies, get taken down by a little girl, become partners, accidentally switch up their power weapons, and save the planet.

Adam Strange/Future Quest was good. Always like reading stories about the valley of prehistoric creatures. The plot was pretty good too. 

731..........

Edited May 10, 2020 by cgcsketcherz
Forgot the Jetsons.

[Talapas1]

439-499

Sam and Twitch: Udaku

Almost half way there!

I forgot how much I used to like the old Bendis detective noir stuff. The dialogue is definitely from its time, but I really enjoyed revisiting it.  Story was interesting enough to keep my attention and now I want to dig out more of my Bendis era Spawn world stuff.   
 

[Talapas1]

7 hours ago, cgcsketcherz said:

#'s 266-269

DC Meets Hanna Barbara Trade

Collects the following issues; Booster Gold/The Flintstones Special #1, Green Lantern/Space Ghost Special #1, Adam Strange/Future Quest Special #1, and Suicide Squad/Banana Splits Special #1

It also held a mini story of Top Cat lying to Batman to protect Catwoman, Judy Jetson watches her 124 year old grandmother enter a end of life facility where the rest of the family catch on and race to try and stop it only to realize they couldn't get there in time but George's mom uses Cogswell's company to become a robot and she asks them to call her....Rosie! 

Ruff 'n Reddy teaming up for comedy, as well as a story of Snagglepuss the lion talking to the Senate during the McCarthy Investigations.

I can see why Hanna Barbera told DC to stop printing the newer stories. Some of the content was getting darker, and made comments and references of a more adult nature. I can see that DC tried to make the characters more this century than their hey days of the 1950's and 1960's but come on, Banana Splits being forced to join the Suicide Squad!

The Booster Gold/The Flintstones Special #1 was good. Booster Gold inadvertently goes back in time to the Stone Age and kills a alien trying to offer the Flintstone generation a new age of peace and prosperity, which results in his own futuristic timeline the alien invasion to get back for the loss of their leader. Now at least, I know how they got the name of their god in the Flintstone 12 issue series, it was the alien that had gotten killed.

Green Lantern/Space Ghost was really good. Space Ghost and Green Lantern both answer a cry for help to a planet far away and the two mistake one another as enemies, get taken down by a little girl, become partners, accidentally switch up their power weapons, and save the planet.

Adam Strange/Future Quest was good. Always like reading stories about the valley of prehistoric creatures. The plot was pretty good too. 

731..........

I really like this one too!   I think the Green Lantern and Space Ghost was my fav, but also really like Booster Gold.   Great read!

[theCapraAegagrus]

I've basically accepted my fate that I will not hit 1,000 comic books read this year...

[Ken Aldred]

99 to 128

From Marvel Masterworks : Doctor Strange

Clearly, Steve Englehart was on something at the time.  IIRC, he used to drop acid with Jim Starlin and they would wander around New York tripping.  It’s believable, as Englehart keeps this type of cosmic, high-concept storytelling going all the way through to the end of his excellent, classic run.  I didn’t re-read all of them, just my favourites.

To give you some idea of how out-there it gets, first let’s have look at…

 

Marvel Premiere 13, 14

Time travel story.  Chasing Baron Mordo into the past, trying to prevent him from changing history, Strange meets the medieval wizard Cagliostro, who is actually a 31st Century sorcerer called Sise-Neg, who wants to go back to the dawn of creation to gain control of all mystical energy and become the universe’s most powerful entity; that is, God.

There’s a chase back through different time periods to before the Big Bang, and from the blackness Sise-Neg triggers the expansion of the universal singularity and the creation of everything, once again, but losing his mind in the process, with Strange and Mordo pushed back into the present, unchanged.

 

Dr Strange 1, 2, 4, 5

(Issue 3 was a fill-in reprint)

He’s mortally wounded, but to save himself he withdraws into a realm of bizarre unreality within the Orb of Agamotto, and eventually has to battle through the zone, and out of it, to fight Death itself.

Great artwork all the way from Frank Brunner, but at this point Gene Colan takes over again,  with a different style but still very, very atmospheric and effective.

 

Dr Strange 6 to 9

The resurrection of Dormammu and his invasion of Earth, power plays with his sister Umar, the back story of Clea in the Dark Dimension.  Good stuff mostly, but spoiled by a very disjointed narrative that feels a bit rough around the edges and improvised, and a very weak, hippy, New Age ending.

 

Dr Strange 10 to 13

A Bronze Age classic.

The return of Eternity, who forces Strange to confront the way he’s developed over the years; arrogant surgeon, broken derelict, re-empowered magician, trapped in a mansion with a number of copies of himself from those different periods, also, the insanity of Mordo, and the complete obliteration of the Earth and everyone on it, apart from Strange himself, protected by magic.

Nightmare has the universal entity,  Eternity, imprisoned and comatose.   Strange frees and revives Eternity, and convinces him to undo the destruction of the Earth, but he / it can only recreate an exact copy of the world and everyone on it, with Strange the only living thing surviving and subsequently remaining aware of the extinction event.

One of the bleakest, darkest mainstream comic stories ever written.

 

Tomb of Dracula 44 and Dr Strange 14

Pretty much self-explanatory.  Good story

 

Doctor Strange 15, 16

Satan abducts Strange and Clea to Hell; mind games ensue.

 

There is one more Englehart story after this one, ‘The Occult History of America’, which I didn’t bother reading because the writer was removed from the title partway through, and the story was never completed.

The series goes through a bad patch here.  I recall getting really bored with it throughout the late 70s, and for me it only became worth reading again once Roger Stern took over in the early 80s, linked to very strong artwork from Marshall Rogers, Michael Golden and Paul Smith.

The problem for me is that I read these comics immediately after the Englehart run, and, although they’re very good, they’re a bit underwhelming when compared to the bat-dropping insane, trippy ideas and imagination shown in that Bronze Age material.

 

Marvel Fanfare 5 - average mage vs mage fight by Chris Claremont, saved by some brilliantly imaginative Marshall Rogers art, who would continue to show that same flair on the main title.  Along with Brunner and Colan, one of the greats.

 

Issue 47 - fairly standard Colan-illustrated story of a type seen many times before in this title.

 

Issue 48 - Okay story with Brother Voodoo, Rogers art begins.

 

Issue 49 to 51 - Time travel story involving Mordo, the Howling Commandos, and the resurrection of Dormammu (again) in a ritual during World War Two.  Nazis are involved, of course.

 

Issues 52, 53 - As a premise a bit ridiculous.  Nightmare has Strange chase a soul shard back through time, which must be captured because otherwise it will cause humanity to stop dreaming and Nightmare to die.  He visits the Inquisition, Mayan Mexico and manages to stop the shard in Ancient Egypt, at the time of Rama-Tut and The Fantastic Four’s adventure back in the early Silver Age in FF 19, which is the only particularly interesting part of the story, along with lots more inventive Rogers art.

His relationship with Clea has been disintegrating for a while, and at the end she leaves him to return to the Dark Dimension.  In subsequent stories he’s profoundly depressed by this breakup and develops performance issues with his spell-casting.

 

Issue 54 - fairly ordinary issue, moping about, ruminating on happier times with Clea.

 

Issue 55 - great Michael Golden art, psychological mind games with one of his enemies.

 

Issue 56 - first full issue by Paul Smith, part a recap of his history during a video interview, part a magic slugfest with three obscure opponents from an early issue of Strange Tales, one of whom, Kaecilius, has now become much better known thanks to the film.

 

Issue 57 - a fairly ordinary magic fight issue.

Edited May 13, 2020 by Ken Aldred

[Ken Aldred]

On 5/9/2020 at 2:44 AM, srezvan said:

Kid 'n' Play #9 - the most unnecessary comic of all time

I'll raise you Mr T and the T-Force 1 by Neal Adams.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Ken Aldred

[srezvan]

3 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

I'll raise you Mr T and the T-Force 1 by Neal Adams.

Well, T-Force #3 has a Dave Dorman cover. I think talent-wise, Mr. T pitties those fools in House Party.

[Ken Aldred]

1 minute ago, srezvan said:

Well, T-Force #3 has a Dave Dorman cover. I think talent-wise, Mr. T pitties those fools in House Party.

Maybe so.  I also went on GCD just now and noticed that the later issues have Norm Breyfogle art.

Adams' work was quite phoned in.

[cgcsketcherz]

11 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

I've basically accepted my fate that I will not hit 1,000 comic books read this year...

If you haven't started yet, you will only need to read 4 1/3rd books a day since there are 234 days left in the year. Even less if you already started reading!

[srezvan]

This is a fun thread, even if you don't get anywhere close to 1,000 books. I'm not going to get close, but it's still fun to read comics, regardless of how many you read. Pick something off your shelf and just enjoy yourself! I like getting new ideas of books to read.

I just finished the Marvel Zombies: Dead Days Hardcover and Marvel Zombies 1 TPB. I really enjoyed the first story arc in Ultimate Fantastic Four, so I picked up these compilations that take place before and after the first appearance. My thoughts below in the spoiler tag. But why does Kirkman keep saying that the Ralph Macchio Marvel Editor is the same as the actor? Am I crazy? Aren't these two different guys?

Spoiler

I thought Kirkman did a great job with the story and showing the savageness of the zombies. I liked the intro to the story arc and most of the story. I got a little annoyed with the ending - a very "comic book" ending with getting Galactus's powers and a new costume. Is Marvel Zombies 2 any good? I don't want to read it if it's all about galactic-powered zombies.

 

[cgcsketcherz]

#'s 270-275

The Flintstones TPB Volume 1

Collects the Flintstones #'s 1-6

Yes, sometimes I do read trades out of sequence. It gives flashbacks to when Fred and Barney were in the war against the tree people, when aliens invade bedrock, how Gazoo was called down to protect the people from another adolescent alien attack with disintegrator zappers during their spring break, and how Dino came to be part of the family. 

725.......

[F For Fake]

Haven't done as much quarantine reading as I'd like, but what reading i have done has been in service of BIG DC EVENT NOSTALGIA!
 

I finally finished up the Crisis Box Set. Some of it was fun, some of it was a chore. The secret of COIE is that it isn't a particularly good story, despite its significance to DC's culture and continuity. But the pretty Perez art and sheer number of characters, locations and action still make it a pretty fun read. As for the rest of the box set, there's some sweet nostalgia (the silver and bronze JLA/JSA crossovers) and a few fun stories here and there, but not much in the way of great comics. I enjoyed the Green Lantern volume, it hit that copper sweet spot with that Joe Staton art, and there were some bright spots for sure (always a sucker for copper LoSH stories, and there are a couple of Moore Swampy's in here as well. Plus some goodness like the surprisingly effective Losers Special, and random copper craziness like Blue Devil, Firestorm, and other childhood faves), but some of it was a real slog. For instance, any of the Roy Thomas stuff, like Infinity Inc and All Star Squardron...oof! I like the idea of all of those colorful golden age characters and their progeny starring in the books, but the writing was outdated even in the 80's. Some rough going, there. That being said, I was surprised that one of my favorite comics, The Last Days of the Justice Society, wasn't included in this enormous set. Seems like it would belong here. 

Next up I tackled the Zero Hour omnibus, which I only had vague recollections of from initial publication. This is definitely prime 90's superhero comix, with all of the visual horror that might imply. Some ugly, ugly art in here, but some serviceable stuff as well. Did they manage to fix Hawkman and Legion continuity with this? I can't even remember, and I just read this last week. Onto the shelf it goes, unlikely to be revisited any time soon.

Finally, last night I finished up the massive Infinite Crisis omni, and I gotta say, I liked this just as much as I did when it was originally published. Say what you will about DC editorial, but at that time, in that span between Identity Crisis, through Infinite Crisis and 52, they really had things humming over there. This is the rare "big event" omni where I felt like all of the tie-ins and spin-offs not only truly tied into the main story, but they are also presented correctly in the collection. This doorstop includes all of the prelude to IC mini series (OMAC Project, Day of Vengeance, Rann Thanagar War, Villains United) as well as their one-shot specials, the Sacrifice Storyline that ran through Superman and Wonder Woman, the Identity Crisis fallout story that wrapped up the then current run of Justice League, and the IC Secret Files. Just a ton of stuff, but it all works together so wondefully. I really, really enjoyed this one. This is contemporary big event superhero shenanigans done right. Not saying it's a tremendous work of literature or anything, but as a huge multi-part continuity correction, it was pretty entertaining and thoroughly executed. 

Up next on my DC Doorstop Hit Parade: 52 and then Blackest Night!

So, I believe previously my total was 66 books, this should bring it to around 241. I didn't count the final volume of the Crisis box, which was a collection of everything published about COIE, including internal memos, Amazing Heroes interviews, the COIE Indexes, all of the house ads, etc That was probably my favorite volume out of the whole box, as I'm a sucker for historical stuff like that. But I wasn't sure how to count it in the total, so I didn't.