General omnibus & hardcover discussion vol. II

[WinterSoldier76]

OK, so it's no secret here that I can't stand Remender's work with Marvel (except for some of X-Force).
That said, I love his independent stuff.
So, I bought Tokyo Ghost as a blind buy even though a few folks here said it wasn't that great.
I should have listened.
I couldn't even finish the first issue. Seriously, WTF?
This is like a really bad Judge Dredd story that features the Bat Boys from the original Dark Knight trilogy.
Oh well. I'll still give his other independent stuff a shot.

This is concerning as I'm expecting an IST order to be delivered today with Tokyo Ghost as one of the items. Also a blind buy. Reminder has been hit or miss with me as well. I've enjoyed Fear Agent, Black Science, Last Days of American Crime, Deadly Class, Uncanny X-Force, etc...but REALLY hated some of his work on Secret Avengers, Captain America, Uncannny Avengers and more...at least I know the Sean Murphy art is worth having in the oversized format.

[JPAR]

This is concerning as I'm expecting an IST order to be delivered today with Tokyo Ghost as one of the items. Also a blind buy. Reminder has been hit or miss with me as well. I've enjoyed Fear Agent, Black Science, Last Days of American Crime, Deadly Class, Uncanny X-Force, etc...but REALLY hated some of his work on Secret Avengers, Captain America, Uncannny Avengers and more...at least I know the Sean Murphy art is worth having in the oversized format.

I liked Tokyo Ghost. But the beginning sucks. At first I thought it was a miss for me too, but when you go on the story evolves and it got to me.

[Balakin]

I posted about the apparent changes to the Valiant deluxes on another thread, but here are some comparison pics

https://imgur.com/a/Ouqll

Kinda torn on this. Of course I'm psyched about the proper sewn binding, but idk if at the expense of the glossy covers was worth it. Since I have oily fingers it's much more conducive to finger prints, and can't be wiped clean. #firstworldproblems

that cover material looks kinda similar to me to the DC black cardboard covers. Please tell me I'm wrong.

[awayne83]

that cover material looks kinda similar to me to the DC black cardboard covers. Please tell me I'm wrong.

I think its the same as previous without the gloss honestly. Not quite as bad as DC. Still a step in the wrong direction imo

[Balakin]

I think its the same as previous without the gloss honestly. Not quite as bad as DC. Still a step in the wrong direction imo

I will probably see it for myself when the new XO dlx arrives. hope it's not that bad.

[awayne83]

Amazon is listing it at 11 inches, wondering if someone can confirm/deny

Just saw this at the bookstore. It is indeed deluxe-sized

[VanWinkle]

I posted about the apparent changes to the Valiant deluxes on another thread, but here are some comparison pics

https://imgur.com/a/Ouqll

Kinda torn on this. Of course I'm psyched about the proper sewn binding, but idk if at the expense of the glossy covers was worth it. Since I have oily fingers it's much more conducive to finger prints, and can't be wiped clean. #firstworldproblems

I would much rather have the matte cover boards with a nice sewn binding than glossy cover boards with that crappy glued binding they've had. To me, this is a BIG upgrade. Looks great.

[ER Prest]

Just saw this at the bookstore. It is indeed deluxe-sized

Dannnng

Thanks

[Katatonia]

What I really want to see is the completion of Dreadstar's original series by Jim Starlin. I met him recently at a con, and he mentioned that he's going to do an all-new Dreadstar series as well. I'm super excited about that. Growing up, Dreadstar was one of my all time favorite series. If they had made that series into a movie, it would've possibly destroyed Star Wars, which is a series I complete despise. I never liked anything about Star Wars, nor do I care about it. If I want intergalactic warfare, I'd read Dreadstar. The only thing I did like from Star Wars was Mark Hamil cause he's the voice of Joker, and Harrison Ford for those Indiana Jones movies. Like, I did sit down through the first 3 movies, and I honestly didn't like any of them. They just bored me to death. I know people go crazy over that stuff, but I really don't feel it. As a Japanese manga/anime and videogame translator, as well as a French and Italian comic translator. I've translated a ton of intergalactic series that are waaaay ahead of their time. It's just that people either don't know about them yet or they never even heard of any of the series. It's funny though, some of the international comics are just as amazing as the ones from here in America.

As matter of fact, I'll open up about something that really got under my skin. I used to know guys who only would look at or read Japanese stuff. They were also translators and or fans, but they were purists. They would hate anything American and they would completely **** on it. As a fan of certain things, I would always try to get my friends I worked with into certain things. Stuff like Saga of the Swamp Thing, that's literally like classic literature in comics form. Alan Moore's run never gets old, and it's by far the greatest story of that entire characters existence, more so then the people that created him. Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender is also another great story. I would say, that's one of the most memorable comic stories I ever read in my entire life. It's an amazing love story as well as a story that defined Deadpool in the greatest depiction ever. You can tell Remender truly loved those characters and used them to the best degree he could've possibly used them to. It reminds me of a series I translated a few years back called "Hokuto no Ken" aka "Fist of the Northstar" by Tetsuo Hara and Buronson. Kenshiro is the savior and badass son of a bitch who kills anyone who's a villainous piece of ****. But it's also one of the greatest manga love stories of all time and it's heartfelt through out the deaths within it. And through that, it makes it one of the most memorable series ever. It can literally make you cry, that's how beautiful the story is. And, within Japan, it's known as the "Bible of Men", cause it's that deep and important, more so than Dragon Ball.

I know most people go crazy for certain things, but man, I love a good story. I recently re-read Strange Girl by Rick Remender and I loved it. Although the artwork isn't the best in places. The story grows on you. I always say Remender's stuff isn't for everyone. Same with Ed Brubaker, everything he makes I can say is great. Fatale was a perfect example of taking something to the extreme's and pushing it even further. The idea of having a femme fatale was just insane. Kill or be Killed is another great series by him, he builds really well on his characters and he keeps you gripped to the story. Not many people can even do that in comics today cause they're too scared to take risks. The only other person who did do that was Alan Moore and he stopped doing mainstream series to do whatever he's doing, which quite frankly sucks. Imagine if this guy touched any other DC or Marvel or Image stuff. Man, Imagine if he touched Ninja Turtles, that would be fucking mind-blowing. Like I get he's got sour-grapes over the industry. But man, don't be such a hard-headed dude to people who love your stuff. I tried to read his newer works, and I couldn't enjoy them cause they're not enjoyable. They lack every bit of creativity he once had. His 2 issues in Vigilante, which were amazing. Are way better than anything he's currently doing now. He's one of the few who hung up the towel instead of contest and challenge the system. He allowed the system to play him like a bitch. Then have sour-grapes for the rest of his life.

True, Marvel did let Ed Brubaker go, which was a terrible move. Cause Brubaker made Captain America significant when everyone else did him unjustifiably wrong. Brubaker wrote a lot of great stuff for them, even his X-Men was great. But Brubaker didn't have anything against them. He was basically huge commodity, so much Image gave this guy a contract for 5 years to write whatever he wanted to write and they had to produce it. They couldn't say no, even if it was straight porno, they still have to put it out. Which Fatale pretty much is extreme and he went balls to the wall with it, but it worked magnificent with the story. Instead of looking like cheap porn, it made the series work and better. Garth Ennis is another guy I like a lot, his Punisher and Max was great, important to the characters history and quite possibly the greatest run of Frank Castle's existence. Remender's run was great, but sci-fi crazy. Ennis's run was realistic and insane. Death, rape, incest, brutal murders and torture scenes as it would literally be if Punisher was a real life guy living through all this **** in the world. Man, that's deep. JMS's Thor was also really great, and it felt like you were reading a movie more than an actual comic. It's sad he had to give it up to do the first Thor movie, which the second movie was godawfully **** and didn't even continue after the events of the first one which is even more ****. But at least Kieron Gillen succeeded him as the writer and did a damn good job finishing his story to the point you didn't want it to end. That to me is real comics that you can enjoy.

[My Two Cents]

Katatonia,

Your post illustrates (in parts) why I finally gave up following on going series and just buy and read collected trades.
Following favorites in floppy form is what got me into comics and is what I wanted for years.
But with that came the many disappointments that have even grow worse these last few years.
I have only been off floppies since May, but each day I am liking it and have enjoyed searching and buying and now
reading so many stories I have read (at one time) or heard good things about or just want to try now that I have
more time and money.

[Katatonia]

Thanks for the reply, and yeah, comic collecting is pretty hardcore once you get into it. Me personally, I get what I'd think would be good to check out. I know there's a lot of people who collect comics just to collect them. And, to me, that's just being greedy just to say I have a bigger collection than you do. People like Riley on YouTube is one of those people. Another guy is Hardcover Reviews and Omnidog that entire trio. I get it's cool to talk about comics. But a real comic reviewer would literally go in depth and explain the story and break down the entire structure of everything being written and drawn. To me, those are just guys hyping people up to buy books, rather than really giving them the information they need. Like if they have bragging rights cause they got so much money to blow on books. It's cool to see the contents of each book. But also cooler to know what the hell is going on within it. Also, collecting comics is like, you enjoy what you have. You don't keep collecting just to own stuff. And have tons of **** on shelves collecting dust. I'll admit, most of the stuff I own is still sealed which is true. But everything I do own I've either read in single form, read the books at the comic shop I used to run. Since it is the digital age, I've re-read most of everything in digital and I loved it so much I wanted to own it.

I'll admit, I do live comfortable to buy almost anything I want. As long as all the bills are caught up and all. But I'm not the kinda person just to buy anything. I don't believe in wasting money I worked hard for just on random stuff. Like, hmmm... Here's a good example. As a kid I loved Swamp Thing, I used to watch the cartoon as well as see the live action show on USA before WWF would start with my father. I also had the comics of it as well in floppies. I had the super rare glow in the dark toy, which I still have that toy today. I also had a lot of Robocop toys and comics. I loved both properties and although I was a kid I was super careful with my stuff. My toys, comics everything was in mint. Anyways, growing up, when I heard Alan Moore's run was going to be collected in HC's I did in fact freak out. And I bought it cause it was something I grew up loving and reading it was super sentimental to me. Same thing with Green Lantern and the Flash. I have almost every single GL comic before Rebirth in single issue along with almost every single crossover, that's besides owning every single HC, besides a few from it. Talk about double dipping lol. But to me, those are what I grew up with. I've read them and I love those stories they never get old. And it's all worth owning. I even got my friends into comics that's big.

As a manga translator, a international comic translator as well as a huge comic fan. I've got an insane amount of knowledge in what I work on as well as comics from those respected places. So I would suggest certain things and they would be big hits. Back when I was heavy into fan-subbing/professional work I did series like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Kinnikuman, Tiger Mask, Devilman, Queen Emeraldus (Not, Emeraldas), Space Pirate Captain Herlock, Space Adventure Cobra, Takeru, Dokuro, Violence Jack. Man, I translated a lot of stuff. Then when I got into Italian stuff I was working heavily on Dylan Dog, Vampyre, and so fourth, I had such a big thing for great stories. And people would love my translations cause I'd go full steam with them. I even knew most of the series creators personally. And they even told me the translations I did for their series did them justice. Now, when you go to American comics, Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, etc. These are from here in America, most people are racist as **** and say that American stuff isn't anything compared to anything outside. And that's true, Japanese manga, French and Italian comics, normally have one set team all the way through. I'd say Italian comics are the closest to a Japanese manga. Cause they're both in black and white and are very noir styled.

But, with American comics, as there are comics all over the world that are flooded to the maximum. There's only a few good things to read. I can't imagine just reading anything, just for the sake of reading it. That's just stupid, or owning it for the sake of just owning it. That's even more stupid. Stuff like 100 Bullets is amazing, it's beautiful and it's so criminally gangster. Reading that reminds me of how I grew up, who would've though that of all people Azzarello knew such amazing slang-terminology to incorporate that into a series that was beyond anything imaginable. And the artwork by Risso drives it home. It makes you proud that people can produce such amazing stuff here. That's a perfect example of a great comic. Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon is another great example, a stellar cast of characters, black humor, everything that makes it funny. But also serious. And it keeps you hooked, cause it's so nice. Spawn is another series when I was a kid I loved it, I had and still have all my original toys and all the comics. Spawn as much as it has changed is still a series I read religiously when it comes out. Plus, David Hine, did a damn good job writing his part in it. That's comic diamonds right there and I'm not joking. If you never read his part in Spawn, I suggest you do. You won't be disappointed.

[Orion]

I don't believe Marvel "Let Brubaker go" as if they gave him a pink slip. Brubaker was never much into super heroes, didn't *really* want to write anything but Cap, and eventually got sick of it all and went back to the non-superhero crime stuff he prefers.

[Katatonia]

You know what would be a comic persons dream? If Marvel had released the Rom Omnibus. I would fanboy if they did that.

Regarding Brubaker, they did let him go, cause he refused to do any superhero stuff. And at that point he just didn't give a **** anymore. Everything he's touched for whoever he's done it for was good. But, me personally, I love his Catwoman, Cap, X-Men and all of his independent stuff on Image. It's all amazing stuff.

[The Whovian]

You know what would be a comic persons dream? If Marvel had released the Rom Omnibus. I would fanboy if they did that.

I would have been all over that. It's too bad they don't still have the rights to them. Since IDW started a new Rom series, I was hoping they would put out a nice omni or Deluxe format reprint of the first series, but they didn't.

[Katatonia]

I do own the entire series in single issue form in M-NM condition. But, it still would've been the **** if Marvel remastered the comic, all the colors and everything and put it out. IDW's new series is alright. It's nothing like the original. The closest thing I could compare Rom to is Dreadstar, it's old, it's awesome and Dynamite or Dynamic Forces as they were called hold the rights. But they're doing the series justice. I'm not a fan of soft-covers at all. I only collect in HC format. But, **** man. If the original Rom was collected in floppies I'd HC those myself just to have them in HC form, lol.