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Psychlone posted:And, there's also the Invisibles, which has already been written about in great detail. There's not much I can add to it other than, read it! So seconding this. Read it. Now. Also going to have to add Grant Morrison's other (shorter) series for the imprint here. Vimanarama - A Bollywood-esque love story. Also, superheroes. WE3 - A touching tale of three runaway pets. In mechanical armor. Seaguy - One of Morrison's more surreal, absurd takes on the superhero genre. Featuring a version of Disneyland/world more suited for the world of Terry Gilliam's Brazil. Kill Your Boyfriend - A nihilistic romp through England with a band of ne'er-do-wells. Somewhat similar in tone to Tank Girl, I find; albeit more with a point. And here's the part I get sad about the lack of a Flex Mentallo TPB here or in the near future. In terms of other Vertigo titles, I'm kind of hoping for the first TPB of Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love to come soon. I haven't read much of the core series, but from what I hear this is a rather good one, and one you can jump into.
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Apr 20, 2010 00:07
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Gassire posted:You won't find one because it was made up entirely for the comic. Paradise Lost was written entirely after Milton went blind well after his traveling days were over. In fact the Villa Diodati wasn't built until over 50 years after Milton's death. It's weird that Carey would make a mistake like that, especially when you realize that the same competition that inspired Shelley to write Frankenstein also saw the creation of Polidori's The Vampyre. Which was the story that birthed the modern ideas of vampirism. Thanks for the info. It was one of those things that seemed just obscure enough that it could be true, but I couldn't find factual information confirming or debunking it.
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Apr 20, 2010 00:25
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Actually I broke down and picked up all the Unwritten issues and now that I'm caught up I wonder if Carey getting almost all of his facts wrong is intentional. Sort of like a play on how The Faction controls all stories even the ones we assume are historically true. I mean Wilde did not ink-block Kipling first arrive in London in 1905, mainly because Kipling actually came to London 15 years earlier, to instantaneous critical and financial success and in 1905 Wilde had already been dead for 5 years.
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Apr 20, 2010 13:52
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Vertigo is probably my favorite comic imprint of all time, and right now produces two of the books I look forward to most: Unwritten and Hellblazer. A book that I think deserves some love in this thread (although it is flawed) is DMZ by Brian Wood. It's set a New York of the future, at the point where the city is the demilitarized zone of a strange and distributed civil war. Matty Roth is a journalist who got dumped there almost by accident (he was photographer for another journalist whose helicopter crashed) and he's come to associate with the DMZ occupants more than with either side in the conflict. At points it's a little too cute for its own good (the issue about the, like, thriving subculture of the DMZ, man, is just loving pretentious), but at points it's brilliant and brutal political drama.
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Apr 20, 2010 15:04
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Does Vertigo have any digital comic distribution yet? I know they're not on the comixology iphone app. They already focus on trades, they're selling some issues at $1, and it seems like they have the most to gain from getting out of the comic shop. e: closest I've seen is I think you could download a pdf of Sweet Tooth #1 and a few others, but that's pretty limited.
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Apr 20, 2010 15:40
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they did a thing at one point where they put issue #1 of essentially every series they had done online for free.
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Apr 20, 2010 15:46
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Lamuella posted:they did a thing at one point where they put issue #1 of essentially every series they had done online for free.
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Apr 20, 2010 16:17
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Lamuella posted:
I've really felt that once they hit the Delgado Nation arc, the book fell apart. I'm really no longer interested in whats going on. Hopefully it picks back up, but over the past few months, this book has gone from the top of my read pile to the very bottom.
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Apr 20, 2010 17:20
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I like DMZ when the stories don't revolve around Matty too much. I feel like the city itself is a way more interesting character than he is. That's why I liked the Friendly Fire storyline so much and the collection of one-shots. Also, I seriously wish Kristian Donaldson was the main artist instead of just a guest artist.
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Apr 20, 2010 22:36
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I think I mentioned DMZ earlier. I haven't read the most recent issues, as I'm waiting for the next TPB that's supposed to be released in June. It was certainly starting to take a different turn during the Delgado thing, but I don't think it's a bad arc. I did think it was a bit lame how they killed off Kelly so soon during that character spotlight arc.
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Apr 22, 2010 01:05
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American Vampire #2 was pretty good. Again, I liked Snyder's stuff better than Kings (in fact, I think this book will start to really come into its own after King leaves). Skinner Sweet is far more interesting in the 20s story than he is in the backstory. But both stories had some holy-gently caress-what-the-hell-that-is-badass moments. All in all, this issue made me feel more confident about Snyder's writing. Like I said, when the backstory is over and King departs, I'm guessing the book will become more cohesive and Snyder will start to really shine.
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Apr 22, 2010 04:48
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UncleMonkey posted:American Vampire #2 was pretty good. Again, I liked Snyder's stuff better than Kings (in fact, I think this book will start to really come into its own after King leaves). Skinner Sweet is far more interesting in the 20s story than he is in the backstory. But both stories had some holy-gently caress-what-the-hell-that-is-badass moments. I'm a big fan of King, and I completely agree. Snyder is crafting an incredibly interesting story that outshines even King's. Loved the line where she says she can feel teeth coming in behind her teeth. The art works perfectly with the story also. One page made me gasp and say, "Holy poo poo." Really enjoyable series.
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Apr 22, 2010 17:37
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I just read the first two American Vampire one after the other and I think this could be a really fun series. I love the way that the style changes when the vampires show their, ahem, teeth... Joe the Barbarian 4 was also the best one yet. More succulent art, ever-more-comprehensible story developments, and a generally strong development of the "diabetic freakout/fantasy opus" schism.
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Apr 22, 2010 19:44
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Skinner Sweet is like the undead Agent Graves.
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Apr 24, 2010 03:43
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Jolo posted:I'm a big fan of King, and I completely agree. Snyder is crafting an incredibly interesting story that outshines even King's. Loved the line where she says she can feel teeth coming in behind her teeth. The art works perfectly with the story also. One page made me gasp and say, "Holy poo poo." Really enjoyable series. It's really not so much that King's writing isn't good-- his writing is fine. But Sweet's back story isn't interesting enough to drag out over five issues. Also, I think the book would have better served if, rather than dividing the book into two separate stories, Sweets backstory had been inserted as flashbacks within the main narrative somehow. That's the only reason I think the book will get better with King's departure after #5. Snyder clearly has an intriguing direction to go with this, and once the story no longer has to jump back and forth between two separate stories per issue, I think the book will really find its feet and take off. And agreed on Joe the Barbarian #4. I'm going to be so sad when this story ends. Jack is so awesome. I love that even in the "real" world, he's a constant companion; and even as just a rat, he's drawn in such a way that you get the feeling he's genuinely concerned. And of course, in the other world, he's very caring and protective of Joe. Really a phenomenal book. And just a few weeks until we get to see how the main narrative of The Unwritten continues after that major mindfuck at the end of #11.
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Apr 25, 2010 20:50
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So what do you guys think of the first issue of iZombie? I liked it, but I have to admit that even with the previews, I was caught completely off-guard with what kind of book this was going to be. I had the impression that this girl would end up eating brains of people that were murdered and then solve the crimes or something like that. But clearly things are far more complex: there are ghosts and vampires (and possibly werewolves?) thrown into the mix. So yeah. Wow. Also, I don't know how many of you are reading Hellblazer, but am I the only one that is hoping we get to catch at least a glimpse of Julian in prison? The prospect is far too tantalizing. Milligan would be one sadistic fucker to avoid at least touching on it. In fact, gently caress it! I want an entire spin-off of Julian wreaking havoc in prison. *note: not sure if spoiler tags about iZombie were really necessary, but I used them just in case.
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May 6, 2010 06:26
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I picked up I Zombie up today too. I didn't really know what to expect, I just liked Allred's art in the preview so I figured i'd give it ago. I think it made for a really strong first issue, and more than anything the book looks like it will be a really fun read.
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May 6, 2010 06:57
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Soonmot posted:I've really felt that once they hit the Delgado Nation arc, the book fell apart. I'm really no longer interested in whats going on. Hopefully it picks back up, but over the past few months, this book has gone from the top of my read pile to the very bottom. After the Delgado Nation arc is exactly when I stopped reading it. I haven't felt the need to check up on it since. It just didn't feel like the overall story was going anywhere anymore.
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May 6, 2010 07:06
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I went to the Vertigo presentation here at ECCC, they made it clear what sort of book I,Zombie was from the start. Cute  I like the art, and I think I'm gonna dig the story, too.
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May 6, 2010 07:12
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iZombie was pretty rad, looks good, feels fresh, I'll wait and see how the arc develops. It is certainly a semi-original take on the adventures through memories deal.
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May 7, 2010 00:48
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God, I love The Unwritten so much. There are a lot of great books being written right now, but this is the one that, every month, as soon as I get home, I go to as soon as I'm in the door and able to sit down. Poor Lizzie. That look on her face when she was looking at that poster...  Daytripper was great, too. I think I'm beginning to understand what's going on. This may be incredibly obvious to everyone else and I'm only just now realizing it, but I think the "Bras dies at the end of every issue" thing isn't so much literal as it is supposed to emphasize the importance of the moment. Going into this, we know that the book's aim is to explore the important moments of a person's life. And maybe that's literally what it is-- the important moments. Maybe Bras' multiple deaths don't have any other significance other than every significant moment in his life ends with his "death". After reading his conversation with Jorge, I started to think that maybe we're not supposed to think of Bras dying over and over; maybe we're just supposed to understand the message: any moment can be important. Live every moment as if it were your last, because you never know when that may come. The book is about not being afraid to take chances. It's about seizing the moment so that you don't die with regrets of missed opportunities. It's about enjoying every moment for how precious it is. Bras' deaths mean nothing more than that they highlight the significant moments-- much as he as an obituary writer tries to pick out from the many important moments from the lives he's forced to document. Again, I realize that's probably incredibly obvious to everyone else. But it took me this long to figure out that I was trying to figure out one little detail and not getting the big picture. And I don't know that I actually had to put any of that in spoilers; but I just wanted to be safe in case there are people that are waiting for the trade to pick this up and didn't want to know any details. UncleMonkey fucked around with this message at 02:02 on May 13, 2010 |
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May 13, 2010 01:59
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I used to read comics back in the 90's; when I got a bit older (16 or so) I stopped. Transmetropolitan brought me back to to comics, so I feel I owe Vertigo a lot. That said, I'm surprised that no one mentioned Lucifer. It's not as good as Sandman, but then again, it doesn't try to be Sandman; and while I feel Sandman is the better comic, somehow Lucifer resonated better with me. While I'm on Sandman spinoffs, I know there are several Death one-shots, but I've heard they vary wildly in quality. Which ones are worth it?
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May 14, 2010 04:24
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Death: The High Cost of Living was good. That collected includes Death Talks About Life, which is kind of hilarious. I haven't read the other two, mainly because I've heard they really aren't up to the same quality.
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May 14, 2010 05:36
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I would also highly recommend the Cost of Living.
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May 14, 2010 05:48
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Sick_Boy posted:That said, I'm surprised that no one mentioned Lucifer. It's not as good as Sandman, but then again, it doesn't try to be Sandman; and while I feel Sandman is the better comic, somehow Lucifer resonated better with me. Yeah it's not like Melvin the Jerk mentioned it on the first page or anything. Sorry I forgot, in BSS we don't read threads before we post in them.
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May 14, 2010 10:55
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Rhyno posted:Yeah it's not like Melvin the Jerk mentioned it on the first page or anything. Sorry Rhyno, I did read the thread but somehow I managed to miss that Boy I feel silly...
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May 14, 2010 13:34
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strangemusic posted:I would also highly recommend the Cost of Living. I thought both Cost of living and The Time of your Life were pretty good. Skip on At Death's Door. It's just a stupid excuse to draw the characters in kawaii manga style.
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May 14, 2010 19:42
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Sick_Boy posted:Sorry Rhyno, I did read the thread but somehow I managed to miss that Actually I apologize, that was unwarranted snark that you didn't deserve. I was just in a pissy mood earlier.
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May 14, 2010 22:22
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Rhyno posted:Actually I apologize, that was unwarranted snark that you didn't deserve. I was just in a pissy mood earlier. It's all good, I should have read more carefully. Also, thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll import The High Cost of Living next month (man importing comics to Uruguay is killing my economy)
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May 15, 2010 03:55
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Sick_Boy posted:Lucifer. It's not as good as Sandman This is debatable, and is almost solely based on how you're defining "good." Sandman is some great work, and there are lots of wonderful things about it, but it's more a collection of stories or poems that vaguely involve Dream/the Dreaming than a narrative. I seem to remember that, when getting into Lucifer, a decent number of the goons felt similarly. I think that Lucifer, though, does a far better job of giving you an interesting protagonist, while Sandman does a better job of giving you a decent number of interesting supporting characters.
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May 17, 2010 02:04
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bairfanx posted:This is debatable, and is almost solely based on how you're defining "good." Sandman is some great work, and there are lots of wonderful things about it, but it's more a collection of stories or poems that vaguely involve Dream/the Dreaming than a narrative. I seem to remember that, when getting into Lucifer, a decent number of the goons felt similarly. That is true. I spoke in absolutes when I was voicing my opinion. I agree that Lucifer is the stronger protagonist and I love the comic's take on him. I also agree that as a narrative Lucifer is more focused than Sandman, but I feel that the quality of writing in Sandman is higher. Let me make one thing clear: I think that both books are amazing, and the distinction I am making is between shades of greatness. Carey did a marvelous work; but I like Gaiman a little bit better specially in shorter forms. He is, for my money, one of the best current english language short story writers but his longer works don't reach that level in my eyes. I have no idea if Carey writes short stories or novels outside comics. I'd love to read his prose, but I understand he is very visual. I believe he sketched out panels when doing scripts for Lucifer because he felt he needed to. Then again, he was writing a comic book.
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May 17, 2010 03:10
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Carey writes a series of mystery/horror novels about an exorcist, named Felix Castor. I like them, but I haven't heard the opinions of anyone else on them really.
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May 17, 2010 07:18
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Just finished re-reading Shade again (bar about half of the first 20 issues, I only have it as singles and my collection is gappy). God I love that comic (the bits I have) so loving much, will be grabbing the trades to fill in the gaps soon. It's criminal that it's not spoken about with the same reverence as Sandman, Preacher or other early Vertigo, I guess it was a bit too loopy to have the mass appeal of those books. Has Pete Milligan done anything comparable since? his career seems to have gone towards more bits and pieces, minis, and writing runs on long-running books rather than decent full runs of his own stuff Any more recommendations for something similar? I have Sandman and Preacher, Hellblazer has always been tempting but there's so MUCH of it, Swamp Thing is one I've been meaning to read but it's a bit of an arse to find collected, Animal Man has been well spoken of
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May 17, 2010 11:37
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Fatkraken posted:Swamp Thing is one I've been meaning to read but it's a bit of an arse to find collected The Alan Moore run on Swamp Thing is being collected in a series of hardcovers. So far only the first two volumes have been released but both should be readily available. And I agree, Shade was so good.
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May 17, 2010 11:41
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Is it worth it getting all 3 trades of Crossing Midnight? I have the first one, but I'm kinda ambivalent about it. Does it wrap up well even though it got canceled?
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May 17, 2010 14:14
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Fatkraken posted:
Dunno if it's similar, but I really enjoyed Enigma recently. It's just 1 trade collected.
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May 17, 2010 16:09
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bairfanx posted:Carey writes a series of mystery/horror novels about an exorcist, named Felix Castor. I like them, but I haven't heard the opinions of anyone else on them really. I love the poo poo out of those books, but I'm not sure if it's because they are good or if I have a boner for Mike Carey. Like, it's standard "new" fantasy fluff, but it's god damned good fluff.
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May 17, 2010 16:19
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Bitchin Kitchen posted:I love the poo poo out of those books, but I'm not sure if it's because they are good or if I have a boner for Mike Carey. Like, it's standard "new" fantasy fluff, but it's god damned good fluff. See, that's what I'm worried about too. I like pretty much everything the guy does, but I get the feeling that the Felix Castor novels are a bit pulpy. SkellingTon Loc posted:Is it worth it getting all 3 trades of Crossing Midnight? I have the first one, but I'm kinda ambivalent about it. Does it wrap up well even though it got canceled? If you're ambivalent after the first trade, I'd probably stop. I like the series, and Carey was given enough notice to give some closure, but there's a lot left open. If you aren't a fan from the beginning, I get the feeling that you won't be later on either.
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May 17, 2010 17:13
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Was Taters posted:Dunno if it's similar, but I really enjoyed Enigma recently. It's just 1 trade collected. Definitely not similar, but it's pretty good. Toss my recommendation behind this too if you want more Milligan. It's... I don't know how to put it, if you want a similar "everyday horror" kind of thing like the bits of Shade currently in trade/that I recall (I read it ages ago give me a break), you might try looking for an old Vertigo mini called "Mnemovore". 6 issues, came out five years ago, I can find no evidence of a trade. I still keep copies of it around to this day, though, because it's a good chilling read. Young olympic snowboarder has an accident, ends up with large gaps in her memory after the concussion, and then the people around her start to forget things too. Good subtle work.
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May 18, 2010 01:02
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I remember a year or so ago having a conversation about Mike Carey where I said that while I liked him a lot, I didn't think he'd written his masterpiece yet. Seriously, Unwritten is his masterpiece. This book is Sandman-good right now, and that's something I never ever say.
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May 18, 2010 16:04
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