1000 books in 2023 2 2

[rlextherobot]

The Black Lamb (1996-1997) #1-6 by Timothy Truman

Picked this up out of general curiosity and interest in DC's ill-fated Helix imprint. The setting is definitely reminiscent of Grimjack, and it has Truman's baroque sensibility around it. Storywise it's a solid "okay", I like the premise of the titular vampire serving as protector for the city's monsters in hiding, although so much of it seems like world building and setup for stuff that never gets explored or paid off - presumably because Truman expected to do more in the future. Still, his art looks good and there's a lot of fun designs and page layouts. It's enjoyable for what it is.

[srezvan]

It's been quite a couple of weeks. I read each night with my 6 year old son, then my 9 year old daughter.

I thought he'd enjoy Super Mario Adventures because he loved the recent movie and all the Switch games. He really enjoyed it! Then I mentioned to him that I have Battle Beasts comics because he loves my complete collection of original Battle Beasts. Book was nothing special, but we'll read the original series from the 80s next, hopefully starting today.

Super Mario Adventures: The book is a compilation of comics originally published in Nintendo Power in the early 1990s. It was a fun read. My son loved the recent movie, so he enjoyed seeing a lot of the same characters in these stories. I laughed a few times at the traveling salesman.

 

Battle Beasts TPB: A bit of a letdown and quite a departure from the original Battle Beasts. The story was decent, but not spectacular. It sets up a sequel that never came.

 

I'm continuing my run through Tintin. Steadily getting better, but still not what I was hoping for. Just jumping from one scene to the next with half the time his dumb luck saving him. I'm not giving up yet.

 

My daughter and I are continuing our journey through Uncanny X-Men. She loves it, and I'm so happy to be reading these again and sharing the stories with my kids. Our current issue is the return of Magneto, and he was just transformed from a baby. My daughter has asked me to get copies of Defenders 15 and 16 so we can read the story of how Magneto turned into a baby. It's crazy to imagine a period in the X-Men where there just wasn't a Magneto.

 

228 comics so far this year!

[Djedi]

Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Oz 1-2

In the book and movie, the death of the Wicked Witch of the East is very sudden. She still dies early in this version but there is enough time to get a sense of her character, so her death has some substance. Having Dorothy use magic to fight her fits into the book where Glinda called her a sorceress. I think the change of Toto from being a small dog to a wolf was a smart choice to set this Dorothy apart. It's too early to decide how I feel about the other differences, like the Lion and Munchkins being warriors.

[Djedi]

Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Oz 3-6

The Lion is probably the most developed character in the series other than Dorothy. He grew on me more and more as it progressed. The "cowardly lion" aspect does play into things at a certain point. I do wish the Munchkins were more colorful like the movie, but other characters bring a lot of color, so it's still a vibrant series.

In the book the Tin Man was going to marry a young woman. She lived with an old woman who didn't want her to leave because she did all the work, so she had the Tin Man cursed by the Witch. In this adaptation the Witch's servant, Thora, is one of the woman in the Tin Man's story, not sure which lol. I think it was a clever way to add another witch. Overall I enjoyed this Oz series and would read more. It's adventurous and has serious moments but it retains that Oz optimism and brightness that I was hoping to see.

[Ken Aldred]

BPRD Omnibus 1

Hollow Earth 1 to 3

Hellboy Box Full of Evil 1

Abe Sapien Drums of the Dead 1

BPRD Soul of Venice one-shot

BPRD Dark Waters one-shot

BPRD Night Train one-shot

BPRD There's Something Under My Bed one-shot

BPRD Plague of Frogs 1 to 5

14 comics

Stories by a number of big name creators, some work better than others, but if you like dark, mystery / horror comics there'll be something for you here.  Generally good stuff.  Especially liked the main Plague of Frogs storyline.

2023 total = 311

 

[Ken Aldred]

Frostbite 1 to 6

Post-apocalyptic story from Joshua Williamson and Jason Shawn Alexander, set in a new Ice Age.

Nothing much that you haven't seen before.  Police corruption in a city controlled by the local crime cartels, colourful gangs as in Mad Max or The Warriors, chasing after the protagonists and their object of interest . 

It was okay.

2023 total = 317

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by Ken Aldred

[rlextherobot]

A couple of reads this morning while waiting to check out of my hotel.

Hellblazer (1988) #27 by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

Haven't read this one in about twenty years, but happy to find it held up to my memory of it. McKean's inky style compliments Gaiman's more minimal storytelling in this ghost story with a soupcon of urban alienation and self-pity. Really a shame thus team didn't do more Constantine stories, they hit the exact right slowburn horror vibe and do more with their 26 odd pages then most get out of 3 or 4 issues. A well regarded classic for a reason.

Spawn (1992) #10 by Dave Sim and Todd McFarlane 

I Know I read this when it came out, but I was like 13 years old and I'm quite sure I didn't know what to make of it. As an adult I think I have a solid handle on it: two guys who saw themselves as champions of creators rights patting themselves on the back for their success. At one point a slightly veiled Superman asks "Spawn" (who is quite literally a McFarlane stand in) to take the torch from him and save him from creative bondage. Just a masterpiece of masturbatory nonsense from two guys with no apparent self-awareness. It's bad, but also fascinating.

Edited September 4, 2023 by rlextherobot

[ttfitz]

Previous total: 728 for the year.

On 8/21/2023 at 2:07 AM, ttfitz said:

Next up - I move from 1000 years in the future to 90 years in the past (a Maybe-Prize to anyone who figures out what my next book is!)

 

Well, no one tried to guess, so I guess I keep all the Maybe-Prizes to myself. Here's Week 4 of the 100 Back Issues a Week Challenge:

Sandman Mystery Theatre 1-70
Sandman Midnight Theatre 1

Yep, Golden Age Sandman was the answer to the previous teaser. Some of these I had previously read, but figured I would start at the beginning. A fun read, I enjoyed the tie-in with his connection to Dream of the Endless.

The Twelve 0-12

Talking with my LCS manager, I realized I had missed one of my JMS titles earlier, so I came back to this one. I enjoyed it, although I can see how it would be very annoying if you read it at the point in came out, what with the very long break that happened in the middle of the series.

Invincible 70-74
Invincible Returns 1
Invincible Presents Atom Eve 1-2
Invincible Presents Atom Eve and Rex Splode 1-3

Been reading Invincible for a while now along with my daughter, and we continue to enjoy this title quite a bit. Lots happening during this portion of the book, woah boy.

Hellblazer 10-13 

This one I've been reading with my son, and have been enjoying it quite a bit, although I was joking with him that I might need to set a macro with "was a bit confused at times" in order to save time. After issue 13 he responded that I might need to add "pretty weird" to my macro.

So that gets me to 827 for the year, and leads into the final week of the Challenge. See you back here on Friday (if I remember).

[Djedi]

Garfield Vacation Time Blues #1

Despite the cover showing a campfire in the woods, the comic features two beach stories. In the first one Garfield and Odie play a game of pretending they are stranded in the desert. Meanwhile Jon meets an attractive woman at the beach and Liz talks to the muscular lifeguard. The comic is better than it might sound. I liked the friendship between Odie and Garfield. Second story has the return of the Lasagna Monster. Garfield uses a robot suit to battle him and his new accomplice. For me, the first story was better, but the second adds some variety.

[ttfitz]

Last week 827

The Challenge has been met! Here is the final week update for Troy's 100 Back Issue a Week Challenge:

Arrowsmith (2003) 1-6
Arrowsmith Behind Enemy Lines 1-6

Kurt Busiek never fails to deliver. As seems to be his specialty, he takes something you know and twists it around a bit. This time, it's World War I in a world where magic not only exists, but permeates every aspect of society. A good read, and I'm looking forward to more.

Lansdale and Truman's Dead Folk 1-3

It's Lansdale and Truman, does anything more need to be said? Okay, it's an adaptation of a Lansdale short story, with the kind of over-the-top action that you come to expect from these two. Not quite up to the earliest Jonah Hex stuff, but still worth a read.

Reload (2003) 1-3
No Hero (2008) 0-8

These two are from Warren Ellis, and they are both very Warren Ellis, so if you like that sort of thing, you should check them out.

Triple Helix (2013) 1-4

This John Byrne book is supposedly the first (and maybe last?) appearance of Triple Helix, but it very much feels like you are thrown in the middle of the story, without having the beginning OR the ending provided. Possibly the least satisfying Byrne work I've read - and given that the unfinished Last Galactus Story exists, that's saying a lot.

Fallen Angel (2003) 1-20
Fallen Angel Vol 2 1-33
Fallen Angel Reborn 1-4
Fallen Angel Return of the Son 1-4

Peter David's tale of the Fallen Angel/Lee/Liandra. Some of this was a reread (I think all of the original DC run and part of the IDW one), some of it new. While I enjoyed it all, it didn't seem as good as I remembered it - I think part of the attraction of the book when it came out was the whole "Is this PAD bringing back his Supergirl character?" thing, and without that the book suffers. I also thought it declined in quality as time went on. But, it being Peter David, even at its worse it wasn't really bad.

Invincible 75-79
Maze Agency (1988) 1-3

The two titles for this week that I'm reading with my daughter April. Nothing new to say about Invincible, it just continues to deliver. Maze Agency is a favorite of mine from back-in-the-day, a fair-play whodunit which is a great deal of fun. When I ran across someone selling a complete run a while back I couldn't resist buying it and gifting it to my girl, with the added bonus of giving me a good reason to reread the title Hopefully she will be liking it as much as I did/do, and we will continue on with this going forward. And hey, some early Adam Hughes art, how can you go wrong?

Well that's it, 500 comics read in 5 weeks. Whew.

So that gets me to 927 for the year.

[chromium]

49 comics read in July and 88 comics read in August  for a total of 682 comics read in 2023. Have been really slacking this Summer, bring on the cold Winter nights so I can get back to my regular 100+ comics a month.

 

July 49
Alien 2
Almighty 5
Avengers (2023) 2
Black Panther 01 (2023) 
Blood Tree 5-6
Blue Book 5
Captain America - Sentinel of Liberty 13
Captain America - Symbol of truth 14
Captain America 750 (counts as 3 comics)
Captain Marvel Dark Tempest 1
Dr Who Doom's Day 01
Hey Kids Comics V3 2-4
Hey Kids Comics V2 1-6
My Heart in Braille (counts as 3 comics)
Spa (counts as 14 comics)
Swamp A Summer in the Bayou (counts as 7 comics)
The Walking Dead Deluxe 61-66

August 88

A righteous thirst for Vengeance 1-11
Antartica 1
Avengers (2023) 3
Big Game 1
Black Panther 02
Blade 1
Blade Runner 2039 05
City Boy 2
Daredevil & Echo 2-3
Daredevil 12-13
Dark Spaces - Good Deeds 2
Dead Romans 4-5
Deep Cuts 3
Don't spit in the wind 2-4
End after End 8
Exorcists Never die 3-4
Fallen Friend 1
Fantastic Four 8-9
Newburn 6-9
The Ambassadors 3-6
Fantastic Four 8-9
Frank Frazetta's Mothman 1
Godfell 4
Green Arrow 2-3
Guardians of the Galaxy 3-4
Grim 11
Hallows Eve 3-5
Haunt you to the End 1
Harrower 4
Hellboy in Love 5
Hellboy & the BPRD 1957 fearful symmetry
Hellcat 4-5
Hunt Kill Repeat 5
I am Iron Man 4-5
Immortal Sergeant 6-7
Incredible Hulk (2023) 1-2
Indigo Children 4-5
Invincible Iron Man 7-8
James Bond - 007, For King and Country 03
Loki 1-2
Local Man 5
Miss Truesdale and the fall of Hyperborea 2-3
Monarch 5
Monica Rambeau Photon 5
Moon Knight - City of the Dead 01
Moon Knight 23-25
Moriarty - The Clockwork Empire 1-3

[cbalroman]

712-714. TMNT Vol 1 #1-3

715. Raphael #1 Micro Series

716-719. TMNT Vol 1 #4-7

720. Michaelangelo #1 Micro Series

721. TMNT Vol 1 #8

722. Donatello #1 Micro Series

723. TMNT Vol 1 #9

724. Leonardo #1 Micro Series

725-736 TMNT Vol 1 #10-21

[Ken Aldred]

On 8/28/2023 at 11:18 PM, rlextherobot said:

Hellblazer (1988) #27 by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

Haven't read this one in about twenty years, but happy to find it held up to my memory of it. McKean's inky style compliments Gaiman's more minimal storytelling in this ghost story with a soupcon of urban alienation and self-pity. Really a shame thus team didn't do more Constantine stories, they hit the exact right slowburn horror vibe and do more with their 26 odd pages then most get out of 3 or 4 issues. A well regarded classic for a reason.

Yup. That’s a great comic.

[Ken Aldred]

On 9/2/2023 at 4:21 AM, ttfitz said:

Maze Agency (1988) 1-3

The two titles for this week that I'm reading with my daughter April. Nothing new to say about Invincible, it just continues to deliver. Maze Agency is a favorite of mine from back-in-the-day, a fair-play whodunit which is a great deal of fun. When I ran across someone selling a complete run a while back I couldn't resist buying it and gifting it to my girl, with the added bonus of giving me a good reason to reread the title Hopefully she will be liking it as much as I did/do, and we will continue on with this going forward. And hey, some early Adam Hughes art, how can you go wrong?

I did much the same. Found someone at a comic mart in the 90s with a complete NM run for 50p a copy.

Great bargain bin read.

[srezvan]

Adventures of Tintin: the Broken Ear - the best book of the series so far. More mystery/investigative focuses, less blackface (but not zero).

 

Battle Beasts #1 - #4 (1988 series) - I read these with my son after reading the lackluster newer series. I always assumed this was a mini series...because there are 4 issues. After reading the letters in issue 2, it was clear that they intended to make more issues, and I got really annoyed that the series would end on a cliffhanger. It did. It was a fun read, however, and was like reading about the actual toys, even with the toy vehicles incorporated. Not the best book I've ever read, but we enjoyed it and it was a decent attempt to give the toys a layered story. My son realized at the end of 4th book that the story would end on a cliffhanger. I was able to redirect his frustration into writing his own continuation, and he starting making new Battle Beasts.

[cbalroman]

737-762 TMNT Vol 1 #22-47

[Djedi]

Betty and Veronica 1# - Comedy is highly subjective. To me, the writing felt mean spirited rather than funny. There is a part where they say no one likes Jughead, not even his dog. I didn't like how most characters were written and Veronica doesn't do much until the ending. On the other hand, I think this is a great cover. Really captures the characters and their friendship, with Veronica supporting Betty by sitting close to her and taking selfies lol. Makes me want more Jenn Stonge covers.

Brave Chef Brianna #1 - This is one of those comics you might find for cheap at an Ollie's. I'm really glad I picked it up. The main character is handled so well. It portrays her struggle with self-doubt very effectively and has you rooting for her. The monster characters are fun too. It balances seriousness and humor almost perfectly. Definitely want to read the rest of this series.

Union 1# (1993) - Union is another series I tried. It's about a hero who winds up in an alternate universe and his enemies follow him. The best part is the romantic relationship with Jill. She has a fun personality, and I liked this exchange where he's bewildered at her painting style. I'm interesting to read more and see where it all goes.

[ConcreteMob181]

I read 454 in all of 2022. As of today I hit 461 for 2023 so already ahead of my 2022 total but with 3.5 months to go. Highlights this year are Death Rattle, Xenozoic Tales, Twisted Tales, Alien Worlds, DnA Cosmic, John Byrne’s Fantastic Four, Fatale, and 2001 Space Odyssey. And tonight I just started Ostrander’s Suicide Squad.

[srezvan]

Catching up on my list. 259 comics so far this year.

Investing in Each Other #1 - got this for free from Navy Federal Credit Union. Not a particularly great comic. Got it autographed by Jim Zub at a show recently.

 

Adventures of Tintin: the Black Island - the best of the series so far. These are definitely getting better, but not what hoped for.

 

Mega Man TPB #1 and #2 - a fun read overall. I'm reading these aloud to my 6 year old son, so could read most of the stories on his own. He really enjoys the series and we laugh at how easy the fights are for Mega Man. The game was never that easy for me. The story was a little simplistic, but it was enjoyable. These are really hard to find, and I don't have the rest of the run. I'll keep an eye out for it, but we've started another series in the meantime.

 

 

Conan the Barbarian TPB By Jim Zub #2 (Land of Lotus) - while I enjoyed the series overall, I was disappointed with the ending of the series. I'm looking forward to the next (new) Conan series by Zub, and I'll read it when the TPB comes out.

 

My daughter and I are still reading X-Men together. It took me quite a while to describe the reason for the fill in issue. She was confused, and I think annoyed, that the story progression stopped. She prefers Cockrum over Byrne. I think most stories hold up well, but Claremont's narrative style is a bit too much for me sometimes. It's been quite a while since I read these. My daughter is showing no sign of losing interest in the books.

[Ken Aldred]

Martian Manhunter : Identity 1 to 12

by Steve Orlando and Riley Rossmo

Thought this one was really good. The art gets suitably bizarre in the Mars sequences, conveying the fluid, shape-shifting nature of his species, the writer comes up with an interesting reason as to why the Manhunter is humanoid from his first appearance despite that, the telepathic communication of his society, and a new, more flawed and redemptive characterisation for him.

2023 total = 329