Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006) (1 Viewer)

[Greg_S_H]

Check out American Vampire (I already mentioned this, though). I've been recommended Sweet Tooth, so I'm going to check that out soon.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Travis, you should probably try a new book called The Strange Talent of Luther Strode that came out last week. It's been compared to Kick-Ass, and that seems to be pretty accurate. It's got what looks like a supernatural element in it, but it's basically about a high school nerd bringing massive amounts of violence to the bad guys. The first scene basically rivals what Hit-Girl did in her first appearance.

 

[TravisR]

I'll see if my local shop has it on the shelf. They're a pretty small place but if they can't reorder, there's always eBay.
I have to check out American Vampire at some point. I'm usually into any Vertigo title. The only Vertigo book that I tried and didn't like was The Unwritten (although people seem to love that book and I think it's been nominated for Eisners or Harveys).

 

[Greg_S_H]

I think I just read that Luther is headed to reprint if you want to try that. It's an Image title from a new writer, so I doubt your shop got too many of them.
Forgot to mention that Chew is probably the best book on the stands. Guillory's art is awesome--funny Easter eggs in almost every panel. If you haven't checked it out, there are all kinds of methods: paperback trades, hardback trades, and an upcoming omnibus.
Edit: Order codes included:

A second printing of THE STRANGE TALENT OF LUTHER STRODE #1 (AUG118206), a 32-page full color comic book that will appeal to fans of Kick-Ass and INVINCIBLE, is available for order now and will be back in stores on November 2nd for $2.99, alongside THE STRANGE TALENT OF LUTHER STRODE #2 (SEP110483). For more information about this increasingly gruesome comic, THE STRANGE TALENTS OF LUTHER STRODE, and its creators, visit www.thestrangetalentoflutherstrode.com.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Does anyone else have a habit of falling into and out of comic books? I started out reading just GIJoe in the early '80s and drifted away for a while, before hitting my longest (untl now) period from about '86 to '89, where I was reading as much Marvel as I could afford every week. Throughout the '90s, I would come back for a while and then drift away, only reading Spider-Man at that point. Then, Spider-Man got his titles rebooted during one of my off periods, and I didn't want to catch up, so I just came back to comics for the then-new Devil's Due GI Joe. Then, in 2006, I came back and first went all out catching up with all the Spider-Man issues I had missed and just stuck around through Civil War and beyond. I guess that's five years without sliding back out of the hobby, though I'm much more diverse with my reading this time. I think reading something other than superhero books keeps up the interest.

 

[WaveCrest]

Have not much interest in the superhero comics (Batman, Superman etc.). Prefer the horror titles for example.

 

[TravisR]

Over time, the number of titles that I buy has wildly fluctuated (when I was younger, I'd buy alot more than I buy today) but the only time that I was sorta out of the game was when my local store closed up. I was in college at the time and had no other retailer to turn to so I started buying Star Wars comics online which, in the late 1990's or early 2000's, was a new thing to me. I long for those days since I spent less money and didn't have to leave the house to get comics

 

[WaveCrest]

Another comic book series I'd recommend is Salem's Daughter (from Zenescope Comics). Also, what is the status on title The Straw Men?

 

[Ruz-El]

I picked up Stitched #1 by Garth Ennis this week, a nice horror/war hybrid. I'll be sticking with it.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Travis, check out Sweet Tooth. It's a little Walking Dead, maybe a little The Road, with some Mad Max thrown in, with a sweet, innocent little boy at the center. I'm doing like I did with American Vampire, limiting myself to one issue a night. I look forward to it every day. Great stuff.
Next up, I have a good run of iZombie coming in the mail. Looks good, though I am turned off by a page I've seen online that is an utter plagiarization of Chew.

 

[Ruz-El]

I've not read Chew, but I've been on iZombie since issue one and have been really liking it. I've always been a sucker for Allred though. That said, he's getting a little stiff.

 

[Greg_S_H]

You ought to read Chew. It's freaking hilarious. There are little Easter eggs tucked into every panel. The artist loves Lost (he wants Miles and Sawyer to play the leads in the upcoming TV show) and Fringe, so there are a ton of things related to that stuck here and there.

 

[TravisR]

Travis, check out Sweet Tooth. It's a little Walking Dead, maybe a little The Road, with some Mad Max thrown in, with a sweet, innocent little boy at the center. I'm doing like I did with American Vampire, limiting myself to one issue a night. I look forward to it every day. Great stuff.

I usually check out Vertigo titles when they start but Sweet Tooth and American Vampire were two of the titles that I didn't pick up when they started. I should check out the trades sometime.
Speaking of Vertigo, the final Absolute Edition of Sandman comes out this week or next.

 

[Greg_S_H]

See, and I've never read any of that. The guys at my shop were shocked when I said I hadn't read Y: The Last Man. Much as I like singles, those are titles I need to check out in trade rather than start selling blood/organs for the money.

 

[WaveCrest]

Chew I've heard excellent things about. Need to start reading it, along with Sweet Tooth.

Is the Y: The Last Man film still happening, or will it be a TV project?

 

[TravisR]

See, and I've never read any of that. The guys at my shop were shocked when I said I hadn't read Y: The Last Man. Much as I like singles, those are titles I need to check out in trade rather than start selling blood/organs for the money.

I'm not a fan of magic and fantasy stuff but The Sandman hit all the right notes for me. And while Brian K. Vaughan's Ex Machina is probably the better book, Y: The Last Man is my favorite of his work. With the goofy & youthful protagonist and the 'road trip' aspect of the book, there's a sense of fun and adventure that the darker and more serious Ex Machina can't have.

 

[Greg_S_H]

This is the cover that kind of got me into reading this book, and I finally got to it tonight. The whole thing was printed in the same orientation as the cover and it reads like a childrens' book, providing an "our story to date" recap while still advancing the story. Really awesome issue--the kind where you're reading it thinking, "That deserves an Eisner."

 

[TravisR]

Really awesome issue--the kind where you're reading it thinking, "That deserves an Eisner."

The last time I remember thinking that was with Ex Machina 40. Vaughan wrote himself into the book as interviewing to get the job to write Mayor Hundred's biography in comic book form. He tells Hundred his experience of being in New York during and after the September 11 attacks. It was dramatic, touching and had funny jabs at himself and Tony Harris.

 

[Greg_S_H]

That makes me think I may be building it up too much.
I'm a little worried about this series. Sales are pretty low (according to the latest chart analysis, it's the lowest-selling Vertigo ongoing that hasn't been canceled), and I read an interview with Lemire that suggested he has trouble focusing on more than one project at one time. That may have changed with his increased experience, but Animal Man and Frankenstein may end up having an impact on his ability to continue Sweet Tooth. I never read Stray Bullets, but I read that it was stopped in the middle of a storyline because the author got offers from the Big Two. He said, "I love Stray Bullets, but it doesn't pay the bills." I'd rather see Lemire's mainstream stuff go away than his creator-owned, but they probably pay the bills better.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I've been reading iZombie (up through issue 8) and I can say that the comparisons to Chew have been greatly exaggerated. What happened was, someone posted a page from Chew 1 and some issue of iZ that I haven't gotten to yet, and iZ was unmistakably a takeoff on Chew. Out of context, the artist was a little put off by it. I'm thinking that in context, it must have been an intentional tip of the hat. Obviously, Allred doesn't have to rip off anybody in terms of composition or anything else. I'm going with homage and will know better when I get to it, but the books couldn't be more dissimilar. I wasn't that enthused with it with the first issue, but I've gotten into it now. The funniest thing is

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

when Spot the Were-terrier's grandfather--who voiced a cartoon chimp on TV--dies and inhabits the body of a real chimp. And then, he and Spot have their same old arguments, only gramps is now a smoking, drinking chimp! I about lost it when gramps chimp flipped Scott off.

It looks like Ellie the ghost girl--who looks a heck of a lot like regular Marvel Gwen Stacy--can take physical form. I'd like to get her in my proton stream.