State the Last Comic Book You Read and Rate It

[Foxy]

So I read Lovecraft by Culbard and it's really a great book. I was not immediately as hooked as I had expected but during the first story it grew on me and from the second story it started to get really good. Mountains of Madness was probably my favourite. The book is very nicely made as well. Good binding and it comes with a bookmark ribbon. Highly recommended, well worth the money (currently 23 dollars at Amazon for the hardcover).

Started The Wicked and the Divine Deluxe Vol 1. Haven't read much so far but what I have read was intriguing.

[Foxy]

Finished The Wicked and the Divine Deluxe Vol 1 yesterday. Had a lot of fun and am very curious to see where this goes. Immediately started to read Volume 2.

[Scott Taylor]

Savage Sword of Conan #4

Duggan continues to channel the 1970s feel in an unabashed way. The result is kind of a good story but there is just not enough story development packed into each issue to really be satisfying. Its weird to say, but I think this Conan comic could use a little less ... Conan. We need to have more time focused on the characters and settings around him and less on his own musings and actions every issue. There are two ways to handle Conan stories - one where he goes on a mental or physical journey and another where he acts as a kind of hammer of retribution. We haven't had enough of the latter in this series.

[Foxy]

In the meantime, I have finished all three deluxe editions released so far of The Wicked and the Divine. The premise of the gods being reborn every 90 years is intriguing. The execution is far from perfect as it starts out quite confusing but as it goes on, it becomes clearer. Also, it would have been nice to learn more about the individual gods' prior incarnations to understand them better. As it is, the reader just has to accept everything at face value. Overall I liked the series and am very curious how it will all end but I'll probably have to wait quite a while for the last deluxe HC to come out.

After that, I read the Wonder Woman by George Perez Omnibus Volume 2, which was excellent as expected. Maybe not as strong as the first volume, possibly due to less focus on the Greek mythology. And of course the art, while generally good, could not live up to Perez' art in the first volume. This became especially apparent because Perez was still doing the covers. I really like how grown-up his stories feel. WW faces all kinds of prejudice and sexism and this is handled a bit heavy-handedly at the start but improves a lot later on. The stories with the Cheetah and the other Amazon race were great. Also, during the first volume I had apparently become quite attached to the most important support characters (Professor Kapatelis and her daughter) and found their stories to be very engaging also in the second volume.

Following that, I took a break with Harrow County Library Edition volume 2. I felt that this flowed much better and really left me wanting to continue. But I'll have to wait until August. Again the same creepy atmosphere is created as in the first book, but the world seems to get bigger.

Now it's time for Wonder Woman by George Perez Omnibus Volume 3. So far, I have only read the first story which deals with suicide. I thought that this story was told very well and was quite engaging and moving. There wasn't even any superhero stuff in there, which served the story in my opinion. The way that Perez deals with such issues seems very grown up for a comic book, especially one that's 30 years old. Without having finished this last omnibus, I would definitely recommend this run to anyone.

[dancj]

Mister Miracle 4.25/5 - Really good stuff. I knocked off a quarter of a star because it's a bit up itself. Lightray seemed very out of character. I like the ambiguous ending.

Adventures of Superman v1 4/5 - Some great art in here. The stories are generally good, though none blew me away.

Ody-C v1: Off to Far Ithacaa 1/5 - Wow, this is unreadable. I gave up very early because I just couldn't take in a thing that was going on. No idea why Fraction chose to write it that way, but I hate it.

Batman v2: City of Owls - 3.5/5 - Decent end to a decent story. Not really what I want from Batman though,.

Batman and Robin v1: Born to Kill 3/5 - Decent enough - Though I really think Peter Tomasi has Bruce's voice wrong.

Batman and Robin v2: Pearl - 3/5 - Ditto

Batman v3: Death of the Family 3.5/5 - Seriously, Joker's face is an inanimate bit of skin stapled on. How has that guy not got a speech impediment with no usable lips? Story was decent. Nothing wowed me - Though I think Greg Capulo is improving.

Batman and Robin v3: Death of the Family 3/5 - Mm... okay.

The Joker: Death of the Family 3/5 - Here I skipped the stuff I've read in the two previous books and just read the new stuff:
Batman (technically Detective I think) 4/5 - Good story here that I won't spoil. The best thing out of all of the Batman I've read in this batch.
Catwoman 2/5 - The Joker's plan is to find different ways to get Catwoman to strip. Seriously! Just bad.
Harley Quinn 2/5/5 - Not very good.
Batgirl 3/5 - Decent
Red Robin/Red Hood 2.5/5 - The stuff which focused on Red Hood was terrible. The Red Robin stuff was better, but not much.
Nightwing 3/5 - Too quick to have any meat, but it read fine and the art was very good.

[Foxy]

So I finally had time to read and I finished Wonder Woman by George Perez Omnibus Volume 3 yesterday. Overall, this run is excellent and I can only repeat my recommendation. Obviously it's from the 80s to early 90s but it holds up very well.

Started on the Star Wars by Jason Aaron omnibus and 5 issues in it's a lot of fun.

[Foxy]

Star Wars by Jason Aaron Omnibus was good fun up until the very end. However, the art by Larocca really started to annoy me. This line tracing of starships and faces became very old very fast. Especially as the faces of non-major characters were really not up to par. That was a bit distracting.

After that, I started reading Absolute Preacher and I'm currently 200 pages into the third volume. I have never considered anything to be a 10/10, not even my favourite thus-far (Planetary), but if the run stays as strong until the end, Preacher may end up taking top-spot. The praise this gets is - until now anyways - really deserved. Unlike other books, I cannot pinpoint exactly all the characteristics that make it so great for me, but if my wife has to remind me every night that I should go to sleep that's saying something. This series reads so effortlessly, regardless of which character is currently in focus. I've had fun with runs like Darth Vader, which I've almost read in one sitting, but by now I've forgotten most of it. With Preacher I have the idea that a lot of it will stay with me.

Another reason why I find it's so great is the following: usually I break up long runs by reading something else in between. In between volumes 1 and 2 of Preacher, I read the Mister Miracle HC. It was a great read, if somewhat depressing. But to me not the be all end all it's made out to be. Maybe it didn't live up to the massive hype for me. However, while I was reading it, I frequently thought that I couldn't wait to continue with Preacher. So I immediately continued from volume 2 to 3 without anything to break it up.

[Deathstroke]

Star Wars Annual #4 - Eh, I wasn't really into the story all that much. It was a flashback tale set before Issue #8 of the current series and as much as it pains me to say this, I'm really becoming bored with the whole story. I think I'm kind of reading this whole thing by rote these days.

[WillieMorgan]

Superman Vol. 6: Imperius Lex (Rebirth) - 6/10

I had the same problem with this that I had with the earlier 'Multiplicity' run from the same title. The main story line here is only 4 issues long and therefore underdeveloped. Peter Tomasi may have been better served here by stretching things out and developing all his ideas further. This was a good idea for a story that was over too quickly. The tie-in issues here are fine enough but I'd rather have seen the main plot given more length and substance.

[Foxy]

Ok so I finished Absolute Preacher and all I can say is WOW. This series rightfully receives a lot of praise. Not only did it keep me engaged the entire run without any slow-down, Ennis stuck the landing as well. Awesome series.

No I'm on to the Immortal Iron Fist Omnibus. About halfway through, quite entertaining so far. Much better than the TV show, that's for sure.

[Foxy]

Ok so I finished the Immortal Iron Fist Omnibus. It was good but it doesn't contain the whole story. Now waiting to receive the complete collection that covers the rest of the story.

Started Saga Deluxe Edition 1 on Saturday evening and finished it last night. Very entertaining, I can see why it gets praised. But I'll reserve judgment until I have read the entire run (at least the run so far). Will read the next two volumes directly after this to see if it really is an all-time great or just another modern comic that reads easily

It's certainly cleverly written and fun - and quite depraved haha. But just coming off Preacher, this isn't very shocking

[dancj]

Hawkeye v2: Little Hits, v3 LA Woman and v4 Rio Bravo 4/5 - Fantastic art in vols 2 and 4 by David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth - Decent art in v3. My god, these two have to be the most incompetent superheroes in comics. Enjoyable read though. It's nice that it doesn't just stick to the standard formula.

The Beauty 3.5/5 - Decent idea, but the pace is too fast to be properly convincing. I'm still interested though.

Cave Carson has a Cybernetic Eye 3/5 - This was okay, but not great. Love the title though.

Luna Park 2.5/5 - Starts off as a decent enough story about a Gangster in New York. Ends up getting a bit silly. I do like Daniel Zezelj's art though. Very striking, if not always totally clear for the storytelling.

[WillieMorgan]

Batman Vol. 6: Bride Or Burglar? (Rebirth) - 8/10

This entire book is composed of filler issues essentially. Issues that do little more than lay more groundwork for the, ahem, 'wedding' in #50 of the series. Very high quality filler issues though. The Poison Ivy story was particularly well done, if a little improbable in places. There's nothing here as flat-out sensational as Batman Annual #2 (Some Of These Days) which was included with Volume 5, one of the best and most heartfelt single issues from DC in recent years, but it's still of a very high standard.

[Scott Taylor]

War of the Realms #6 - 5/10 Nice art, story was predictable from issue #1. I continue to dislike the direction Thor has been taken with this whole "Thorverse" thing. Odin bowing to Thor was almost the stupidest thing I've ever seen in a Thor comic.

[Spike-X]

Fantastic Four #650

This one has a few stories kinda interwoven together, covering the lead-up to, and actual marriage of, Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters. All written by Dan Slott, with various artists. The standout story for me was 'Change Partners', with art by Michael and Laura Allred. This is a beautiful retelling of the FF's origin story, mixing the original story and dialogue with new material that wonderfully expands on, and adds to, Lee and Kirby's original work as Susan Storm-Richards remembers the events of that fateful day. We even get a Beach Boys cameo in one panel!

Ratings (ratings!):

4/4.