State the Last Comic Book You Read and Rate It

[Foxy]

Been a while, but read quite a bit in the meantime:

The Incal (coffee table size editions 1-6)
This is a classic for a reason. Wonderfully weird, with grand ideas and absolutely amazing art. This should be read by everyone at least once.

Black Science Deluxe Hardcovers 1 and 2
Like watching a blockbuster movie that has actual character development in it. fantastic. Cannot wait to read more from this world.

American Vampire Omnibus
Bought this upon recommendation and was very pleasantly surprised. I finished the entire quite thick) omnibus in a very short while. Liked that the story branches out to include characters that started out as supporting cast and jumped through different time periods. very entertaining. Also, you cannot go wrong with a story arc written by Stephen King

Before the Incal Slipcase Edition
Was a bit hesitant as I thought a story preceding the universe saving Incal could only pale in comparison because of lower stakes but this story was engaging just because of the more personal struggles. Also a lot more adult / sexually explicit as well as downright brutal / cruel in nature. Definitely only for adults. Enjoyed it a lot. Janjetov, the artist, did a good job mimicking Moebius.

Castle in the Stars Hardcover volume 2
The first volume had a bit of trouble finding its footing, as it was a bit difficult to follow at the start but thengot really engaging and raced towards the finish line. The second volume, freed from teh need of introductions / scene setting, immediately picks off and was more enjoyable as a result. Very nice book with great art. Unfortunately, the next English hardcover release is only in September...

Currently halfway through the second Knightfall Omnibus. It's interesting but so far I can say that I liked the first one more.

[dancj]

Evil Empire v1 4/5 - I enjoyed this. It's unrealistic, completely lack's subtlety, and jumps around like mad, but it never gets boring.

Stumptown v3 4/5 - Another good volume. I didn't like the new artist as much, but the story is still good.

Storm Dogs v1 4/5 - David Hine is always worth a read. The art was perfectly good, but not really to my tastes.

Asterix and Obelix's Birthday 1/5 - The worst Asterix book by far. The only redeeming feature is a homage to the classic Madness One Step Beyond album cover.

Zenith Phase Two 4.5/5 - Morrison and Yeowell are both warming up nicely with Zenith. IIRC, Phase Three is the best one, so I look forward to that. Notably, this ages really well - possibly due to Morrison's (then) relatively decompressed writing style, which makes it all flow nicely.

Miracleman v1: A Dream of Flying 4.5/5 - Also a classic. It's interesting reading it (by chance) straight after Zenith, which is widely believed to owe a lot to Miracleman (or Marvelman as it was then). Miracleman doesn't age nearly as well. There's just too much flowery prose around everything for a story that really doesn't need that amount of unnecessary text. It hurts the pacing a bit. Still, the story is still great. I love Big Ben - largely because of his costume. Good art throughout.

[Timothy Hunter]

The Puma Blues 1/5
I picked the 23 issues of this comic up for the Michael Zuli art, and as always he never fails to impress. His wildlife illustrations truly are breathtaking. However, from a narrative standpoint, this **** has to be one of the worst comics ever put to print. The comic commences in a proficient enough manner, with issue two easily being the highlight of the entire series, with Neo-Nazis killing the president, Jack Kemp, and nuking the Bronx. However, after that point, the story just devolves into a decompressed, naval gazing farce. Crucial plot points are abandoned for purple prose and social commentary served with the subtly of a sledgehammer. Purely abysmal.

Junji Ito's Frankenstein 3/5
The Frankenstein adaptation must have been made earlier in Ito's career because the artwork from that story is generally less competent, and more amateurish than his most recent comics. With the exception of Frankenstein himself, whose portrayal is truly inspired.

[numberthirty]

Criminal #1(Most Recent "Ongoing" Run/Released Today): 3/5

Solid "Day In The Life..." single issue story based on one of the universe's existing characters. If anything, the "How?/Why?" behind this particular run from Brubaker was almost as interesting as the story that was in the issue.

Solid, if not something that I think was certain to hook new readers.

[Spike-X]

Black Science Deluxe Hardcovers 1 and 2
Like watching a blockbuster movie that has actual character development in it. fantastic. Cannot wait to read more from this world.

I devoured the first tpb of this when it came out, and was exhausted afterwards. It continues to be amazing.

[babyblob]

Jsa Liberty File 4/5

Superman/Batman Generations vol 1 5/5. I really loved this book.

[Deathstroke]

Sword Daughter #5 - Visually great, story taking so damn long to get ANYWHERE! Not sure how much longer I will stick with the series.

[theBellrhino]

Doom Patrol vol 2: Nada - 7.5 / 10
DC/Young Animal: Milk Wars - 8.0 / 10

I love the meta commentary in both of these books, and was surprised that I could easily follow the non-Doom Patrol chapters (considering I don't read any of the other Young Animal books), but feel like it wasn't worth the extended wait.

[Foxy]

OK since last time I have not read much.

Read some Humanoids with Sanctum by Xavier Dorison. Not as strong as his collaboration with Lauffrey on Book of Chaos but still an interesting story, with good art - generally I liked it because it creates a creepy atmosphere. But two things bothered me:

1. The faces of a lot of the persons looked similar and the characters were not distinguishable enough so it was hard to root for individuals other than certain easily identifiable ones.
2. I do not understand the ending. I have an idea what they were going for but it was very rushed and I don't know what it all means.

Read more Humanoids with the Metabarons Ultimate Collection in the oversized Slipcase version and that was all kinds of crazy. Great ideas, great art and it had everything, sex, (ultra)violence etc.
Two things I found annoying:
1. the narration by these two bickering robots - in the end, they served a purpose for the story but their bickering was childish and detracted from the experience.
2. Jodorowsky's tendency to use prefixes like techno- / paleo- / etc. on EVERYTHING. Every object, character trait or even behaviour is either techno-something or paleo-something etc.

Now I'm reading the third Knightfall Omnibus and it's much better than the second volume. In the second volume I was so relieved when we finally got Bruce Wayne back. The third omnibus starts strong, with Bruce cleaning up after Azrael and finally confronting him. This is followed by a number of stories where Nightwing stands in as Batman. At first I was annoyed because Bruce had left once again. But this was more enjoyable than a lot of the Azrael solo outings in the second volume. Currently on the last 120 pages or so, waiting on hopefully some sort of final showdown with Bane.

[dancj]

It's been a while...

The Sheriff of Babylon Deluxe Edition 4.25/5 - Very good stuff - both writing and art. It just falls short of The Vision for me. Hopefully I'll be getting the Mister Miracle tpb for my birthday in March.

Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses v1: Kretchmeyer 4.5/5 - I wasn't sure I wanted it to go back and fill in the blanks on old stories, but this is great. The next volume is also on my Birthday list

Ghosted v1: Haunted Heist 3.4/5 and v2: Books of the Dead 3/5 - Ocean's 11 meets Ghosts. Okay, but not up there with other Joshua Williamson books I've read. A bit too cheesy

Wonder Woman Earth One v1 3/5 - There's just not a whole lot to this. Grant Morrison is usually better than this.

Batman: Cacophony 3/5 - Decent, but very slight story. Art isn't very good, but the guy does draw a decent Joker.

Batman: The Widening Gyre 3/5 - The art is slightly worse than in Cacophony. The story isn't as bad as I'd heard - though it is very unfinished. Ultimately though, it wasn't quite convincing. I never really believed that Batman would behave the way he did.

[Foxy]

Haven't read much since the last post, only:

Absolute Kingdom Come: totally deserves the praise it gets. Great story and great art by Alex Ross.

Metabarons Genesis: Castaka: more Jodorowsky craziness. But that was to be expected. Not bad though. Will follow up soon with the Technopriests and then Final Incal.

Nemo Trilogy by Alan Moore: The art was nice enough and the stories were entertaining but I expected something a bit more special. I guess because it's Alan Moore I had very high and difficult to meet expectations.

Currently reading Lee & Kirby's Fantastic Four Omnibus volume 2. As expected tons of silver age silliness, but I just arrived at issue 48, which is the first appearance of Galactus and it suddenly becomes engaging. The issues leading up to this featured the Inhumans and they were also good. Overall a big improvement over Volume 1 so far.

[Valcrist]

Web Of Venom - Carnage Born 8/10

[Foxy]

Lee & Kirby's Fantastic Four Omnibus volume 2: better than the first volume but still lots of Silver Age silliness. Actually I've put off reading this for more than a year after the first omnibus. Especially the whole depiction of women is jarring ("Silence, woman!" - "I need to better control my feminine side" - "She's only a female" etc.). Of course these are a product of their times but it's still annoying. The book starts slow-ish but towards the middle it picks up and gets really good towards the end as soon as the Inhumans arc starts, followed by Galactus / Silver Surfer and some more Inhumans and Doctor Doom stories. So this time around, I was actually keen on seeing what happens next.

Will read something modern first as a palate cleanser.

[Spike-X]

Incredible Hulk #132. 2nd appearance of Jim Wilson.

In my quest to read Every Marvel Comic Ever, I'd been struggling through the early Herb Trimpe issues (this is the guy who everyone raves about?). But once John Severin comes on as inker, the art shows a noticeable improvement, and the stories seem to have more energy to them.

[Spike-X]

Not the most recent, but still pretty recent: Avengers #82. Written by Roy Thomas, art by John Buscema and Tom Palmer.

My goodness, what a comic! The story hits the ground running, with an invasion of New York City already in progress, and doesn't let up until the final page. Pulse-pounding action in the Mighty Marvel Manner! Excelsior!