* The Comic Book and Graphic Novel thread *

Tazzfalcon

Tazzfalcon

Tazzfalcon

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Joined
8 Mar 2011
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812
Location
London
So comic books, relevant today? I certainly think so. I've always been a huge fan of the medium and as mentioned elsewhere ive recently got more into it thanks to DC and their New 52 relaunch.

Tazzfalcon said:
I'm currently reading:

Batman (AMAZING)
Action
Detective
JLA
JLA Dark
Swamp Thing (AMAZING)
Animal Man (AMAZING)
Aquaman (AMAZING considering)
The Flash
Suicide Squad
Green Lantern (AMAZING)
As well as a few interesting one offs, Spaceman by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso.

I'm currently also reading Grant Morrison's Supergods book about superheros, their origins and what they say about us. It's a great morning train read. If you've any interest in superheros or comic books, or writing, you should pick it up.
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I love how comic books and graphic novels, the best ones anyway, seem to come alive to the reader and you can really feel connected to the creators and the subject matters and charaters in a way that even the best novels struggle to match. My all time favorite books / series are: Preacher (ennis), Transmetropolitan (ellis) and Watchmen (moore).

How bout you fellow forum goers? You frequent your local comic book emporium? Do you like the medium or not and if not what gets you down on it? :D
 
I definitely find that re-reading a few weeks or months down the line adds a fresh perspective or things I've missed. I find it bit like listening to a piece of music multiple times I guess, and hearing all the different 'voices' come through.
 
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I finished reading Scott Snyder's pre-new 52 Detective Comics batman run HC 'The Black Mirror' last night.

Wow. I highly urge you to check it out.

You don't need to know the background arc to Dick Grayson 'being' Batman (or rather, that's all you need to know on the matter, and possibly a tiny bit of background on his (Dick's) origin story coming into the book).

It's a brilliant read set in a couple of pretty distinct parts that do somewhat come together by the end of it. If you like Batman tales as taught crime novels then this is definitely for you.

Hardly any of the rouges gallery of batvillains make an appearance but that helps it really, the one that does is handled superbly by Snyder as we see him react to the new 'batman'.

What really makes the book for me though is the art. Particularly the work of David Baron (colorist) is just beyond criticism. The way he casts shadows in eerie red shades really helps set a tone of menace and malice that just wouldn't exist otherwise - the way the colors seem inverted at times also casts the shadow of the metaphorical black mirror across every page.

Francavilla and Jock also shine in sharp lines. The way they draw Dick is so good it makes me sad that DC have chosen to seemingly drop his characterisation back a decade for the New 52.

Snyder's work on Batman and Swamp Thing in the New 52 is exceptional as well. I'm very tempted to go looking for more of his work.
 
Tom84 said:
How comes there was a battle for the cowl to begin with?

The new52 line is a god send for someone like me wanting to get into the DC universe from scratch but there's obviously a lot pre new52 that I dont have a clue about :o
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Amen to all of that!

I believe Bruce goes missing at the end of Grant Morrison's Batman R.I.P then there literally was a battle for the cowl.
 
Killing Joke is pretty dark as is Dark Knight returns. All of the ones mentioned by Shamikebab with the possible exception of Hush which is more of a greatest hits for the rouges actioner.

The Black Mirror is very dark but has Dick as batman so might be a bit weird (I just thought it was great though). Same same but different, as you might say in Thailand.
 
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