|
Mr Wind Up Bird posted:Title:: Beasts of Burden There was a new short story for this in this most recent issue of Dark Horse Presents and it was just fantastic. I enjoyed the short stories a lot more than the miniseries, though I probably should go back and re-read the mini. It may be better the second time around. Title: Essex County Publisher: Top Shelf Brief Description: The intertwining lives and personalities of the residents of Essex County, Ontario are followed throughout the years. Essex County is a fictionalized version of author/artist Jeff Lemire's hometown and the comic is a love letter to the region and it's hearty folk. Why I Like It: I was introduced to the work of Jeff Lemire by his Vertigo series "Sweet Tooth" which quickly became one of my favorites. I saw Essex County which was just heaped with critical praise and I'm a sucker for heartfelt, personal stories from people with a weird perspective so I snagged it. It has turned into one of my favorite stories ever, not just comics. The way the different story threads interact with and intersect each other is perfect. The characters all feel completely real. It manages to be sweet without being sappy, hearbreaking without being maudlin, and funny without turning the characters into caricatures. Lemire's artwork is perfect, stark and cold while simultaneously familiar and friendly. He gets a lot of detail and emotion out of some very sparse lines. Issue that is a good jumping on point: It was released as three large Graphic Novels originally and has been collected (along with some bonus materials) into one huge 500 page tome of awesome. You can get it on Amazon for  or Comixology for just  . There is a free 10 page preview on Comixology, and there are dozens of preview pages on Amazon if you want to find out what you're getting into.If you're familiar at all with Lemire's Sweet Tooth, imagine the same artistic/narrative sensibilities applied to a smaller, personal character-study-type story instead of an Apocalyptic one.
|
#
¿
Feb 2, 2012 22:58
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 19, 2024 23:46 |
|
|
Gavok posted:Issue that is a good jumping on point: It's worth starting from the beginning, but if you need to start later, I guess go with #31. Goon's issues are mostly done-in-ones, but the 20's mostly dealt with a major story arc. It goes back to normal by #31 and there's a really good issue co-written by Evan Dorkin, but the last few issues have been mostly Powell using the comic as his soapbox. #36 is easily the worst issue of the series, as it's Powell writing a crossover between Goon and some burlesque dancer he knows. Just went back and re-read it and yeah, 36 was one of the weakest in the entire series. I enjoyed 37 a lot though, despite its soapboxiness... Using the Triangle Shirtwaist FIre to tell a pretty cool ghost story was clever, but the pro-union tone might put some people off.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 5, 2012 22:24
|
|
|
They do a pretty good job of explaining the backstory in Baltimore, but anyone interested in it should really check out the illustrated novel Mignola did with Christopher Golden because it's friggin awesome! If you're cheap/poor you may be able to get it at you're local library like I did. I had read BPRD Hollow Earth (which was good) and the various oneshots that Mignola wasn't directly involved in (which were ok at best) but they didn't measure up to Hellboy. From Plague of Frogs on (which Mignola was directly involved in) though, it has been just as good and occasionally better than HB. choobs fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Feb 14, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Feb 7, 2012 01:20
|
|
|
Lurdiak posted:Just wanna say that I love the Goon more than I can describe in words. If you're not reading it you're doing yourself a disservice. I hope we get new issues on something like a regular schedule again. It's been bi-monthly again recently. Yay!
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2012 03:37
|
|
|
I had a whole post done up for RASL but then my loving browser decided to dump the tab with the whole post into the aether so if someone else wants to do it proper, go for it or I'll try and do it when it's not past my bedtime. Also, to everyone who recommended Orc Stain, thanks. It is amazing!
|
|
#
¿
Feb 13, 2012 04:52
|
|
|
Let's try this again: Title: RASL Publisher: Cartoon Books Brief Description: Jeff Smith, of Bone fame, weaves a complex tale of love, death, parallel dimensions, government conspiracies and a heaping helping Nikola Tesla mixed in. Wiki describes it thusly: The series follows the art thief RASL, who jumps to parallel universes in attempts to steal parallel paintings, but soon runs into dangerous scenarios as he is pursued by the government. Why I Like It: Jeff Smith proved himself a master storyteller with Bone and he continues to create master-class stories with RASL. He keeps just enough of the mystery hidden while revealing enough hints and backstory to keep you from getting frustrated. The art, despite being sparse and black-and-white, is dynamic and powerful. It's one of my favorite books running. Good jumping on point: Despite running since 2008, RASL is only on issue twelve, due to being published quarterly. Smith has stated that the series will be ending this year or early next year with issue 15 or 16. I highly recommend starting from the beginning, as it's hyper-serialized and is really one big story. So far there have been three 10x12 oversized TPBs collecting 1-11 and a Digest Sized "pocket edition" collecting 1-7.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 14, 2012 03:44
|
|
|
Just found out Dark Horse is collecting Grendel in an omnibus due in July. This is fantastic, as I read my roommate's collection in college and have been wanting to get the whole series. Looks like the first volume collects all the Hunter Rose material.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2012 01:03
|
|
|
Anyone who frequents this forum and doesn't like Robo should be ashamed of themselves.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 17, 2012 18:42
|
|
|
al-azad posted:Title:: Hilda and the Midnight Giant This sounds pretty amazing, though they are a tad expensive for how short they are. Would they be appropriate for a 7 year old girl? I love finding stuff to read with my daughter.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2012 19:39
|
|
|
Prophet has been awesome despite knowing nothing of the character or reading anything he's ever been in. Is Glory similarly awesome even if I've never read anything with her or know anything about her?
|
|
#
¿
May 25, 2012 12:11
|
|
|
Soonmot posted:I love Fatale but, for some reason, I never want to read it. It always sits, unread, for about a week. I'm totally engrossed everytime I finally read the book and have never put it down unsatisfied, but there's just something about it that makes me not want to read it.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 18, 2012 01:24
|
|
|
I second the previous two comments, though I'll add that the first Lobster Johnson arc, the Iron Prometheus, ties heavily into the later pre-Hell on Earth BPRD stories. If you decide to skip all the other stuff, I highly recommend reading it to get some more insight into Memnan Saa. They are all worth your time though, with the possible exception of the Witchfinder books. Mignola hasn't seemed to be able to figure out what to do with those yet.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2012 13:04
|
|
|
moot the hopple posted:I swear we had a Hellboy/BPRD thread not too long ago and it seemed to quickly drop into the archives despite all the love it gets and the multiple releases per month. On that note, I'm way behind on BPRD and Hellboy. How has Hellboy in Hell been so far?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 21, 2013 13:54
|
|
|
No one should ever buy their comics from within the iPad or iPhone app because (I believe) Apple gets a cut from every sale on their devices. All that money should be going to Comixology and the publishers, not friggin Apple. I say this as someone who owns two iPhones, an iPad, an AppleTV and a Mac.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 10, 2013 00:44
|
|
|
Oh no doubt. Every story written by Allie has been mediocre with very few exceptions. I don't think I've read anything by him that rose above that level.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 15, 2013 02:23
|
|
|
IUG posted:This is basically me. I have the first three library editions and now I'm spoiled by their quality. I'm hoping they use that format for the spinoffs, but I know it's not likely. They are releasing the spinoffs in Omnibuses, but not the fancy hardcover library ones. If you’re looking for reading order this guide is about a year old but it covers 95% of the series. They seem to update it every year or so so I’d expect an updated one later this year: http://www.multiversitycomics.com/annotations/hellboy-reading-order-2017/
|
|
#
¿
May 18, 2018 11:45
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 19, 2024 23:46 |
|
|
Unfortunately, The Devil You Know was a major disappointment in a lot of ways. There were a lot of cool story moments that could have been great, but it just felt like "WE GOTTA GET TO PLOT POINT A AND THEN B AND THEN C SO WE CAN FINISH THIS THING". I lay the blame squarely with Scott Allie, almost everything he wrote for the BPRD was only ever middling to bad. The only one I remember fondly is The Abyss of Time and maybe the Transformation of JH O'Donnell. I read somewhere that Allie's writing tends to be either insanely decompressed, like his work in Abe Sapien, or rushing from plot point to plot point with no room for character moments, like The Devil You Know. That's true, but I also noticed a lot of the same issues between the two, particularly where something would happen and it would be unclear why or how it was happening, o rthings would happen and then be dropped for a dozen or more issues and then suddenly come back with no re-introduction which really can hamper the story telling. It also doesn't help that Allie is a problematic assaulter that Mignola should have cut ties with years ago... That being said, it's worth reading because it's the ending for not just BPRD, but also the Hellboy story as a whole really. The final issue is mostly Mignola for both story and art and it ties into the earlier stories really well. I was a little mystified the first time I read it until I went back and re-read a lot of the Osiris Club bits in the earlier comics and the last issue of King of Fear, which has a lot of connections to the finale.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 25, 2019 00:29
|
|