The Comics Thread

[Alex]

Glad you're enjoying Fables so much, it's one of my favourite books around at the moment. Without giving too much away, there's a rather epic storyline ahead of you, but I think it's just as strong now as it was at the beginning. And for more light hearted material, the spin-off Jack of Fables is incredibly entertaining.

And I raced through Y The Last Man, it was one of those series that I found incredibly addictive, and knowing that there was a definite ending made me want to get through it all even more quickly than usual. As for Powers, I know what you mean about the art, I'm not a big fan of it, but the storyline kept me reading it and it's definitely worth sticking with.

I'm just going through Sandman again at the moment, as Paul was lovely enough to get me The Sandman Companion for Christmas and I wanted to refresh my memory of the series before reading all of it. I was surprised at how long it takes to find it's feet this time around - but from issue 7 onwards it's all great stuff, if you're interested I'll send it up to you.

After that, I'm planning on making a start on some of the stuff you lent and can't wait to do so, from a brief look there's an incredible amount of superb stuff on there.

[MacNimon]

I've actually got a copy of the Sandman stuff, Alex, and I've had it for quite some time. I've never quite got round to reading it though, I just never seem to be in the mood...thanks for the offer all the same!

It's the same with Watchmen...I first bought this back in the 90s, never read it, eventually threw it out for some reason, bought it again several years later...and I still haven't read it!

I probably should move these two series up my to-read list...maybe once I finish with Y-The Last Man I'll try out these two.

[Alex]

I love Sandman, but it's an acquired taste - and sometimes Gaiman's a bit too ambitious for his own good - but when it's on form, it's one of the best comics ever made.

Watchmen is essential reading though, for me it's one of Alan Moore's greatest works (and pretty much everything he's created is amazing stuff) so I'd definitely recommend reading it asap!

I'm almost about to start on the discs you sent, but I got sidetracked by Booster Gold - it's just such a fun series, I raced through it, and can't wait to get hold of more of it.

[Paul Monk]

but I got sidetracked by Booster Gold

Good isn't it? Have you read them all? The interesting news is that in a couple of issues time its going to be written be Keith Giffen and JM DeMateis

[Paul Monk]

Could be interesting

http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/12/24...eance-in-2010/

[MacNimon]

I've made a start on Sandman recently; I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the first installment. I mistakenly thought that this was going to be a period piece at first (which appealed to me) before I realised it was a story which took place over decades ending in the present day. I have absolutely no idea where the story goes from here, but I'm looking forward to finding out. And I reckon that, if like Alex says, the story doesn't really get going for seven or eight issues then I've got a treat in store.

Another series I've added to my list is John Byrne's take on Namor, the Submariner from 1990, in which Namor takes control of a huge conglomorate with tales of boardroom intrigue. A new direction for the character for me, and it's well done...it's hard to believe I'm 20 years behind the times in discovering this one! Scary!!!

And even scarier is what I'm going to ask next...can anyone give me a reading order for Captain Britain stories from the past 25 years or so? I've got a little bit of catching up to do with this character, who has always been one of my favourites...I'm currently reading CB stories from 2 different eras...I'm reading the early issues from the start (and feeling really nostalgic...Herb Trimpe's art is a bit on the wooden side, and the stories aren't as good as what we got from Alan Moore & co a decade later, but they're fun nevertheless...i'm really enjoying reliving my childhood here!) Hurricane, Doctor Synne, Mastermind...now the Red Skull and Captain America; I'm planning on working my way through the remainder in order including The Black Knight strip which I've got fond memories of, then the 'new' original stuff by Jamie Delano, Alan Moore and Alan Davies from the 80s which was an excellent run.

Alongside that, I'm midway through the recent Captain Britain & MI13, which I'm now finding to be an excellent series. My only problem was that at the beginning I felt that it was in the middle of an ongoing storyline which I knew nothing about (which it was!) and so it took me a couple of issues to find my feet. Which brings me back to my question...what do I need to read to fill in the gaps in the characters history while I was away from comics? I've got The Knights Of Pendragon and some Excalibur, but haven't read any of them...what comes first, and are there any other series worth searching for to bring me up to date?

[Paul Monk]

Captain was such a badly treated character, shunted around from comic to comic that its quite hard to work out the reading order.
It starts of with Captain Britain Weekly, then there's his appearance in the Black Knight strip which was a back up to the Marvel Uk Hulk comic. There was a load of Spiderman crossovers and a back up strip in the Marvel UK Spiderman comic.
Then I think its Captain Britain Monthly which includes Alan Moore's run, followed by Jamie Delano's. Then after that its Excalibur then I get more lost after that point.


I'm reading and can heartily recommed Grant Morrison's Joe the Barbarian. We've had two issues so far and they've been gorgeous and I'm really looking forward to reading the entire run.

[Rob McCow]

Hasn't Paul Cornell had a lot of involvement with Captain Britain lately? I'm sure he's mentioned it on his blog.

[Paul Monk]

Yes and no. He wrote the Captain Britain and MI:13 monthly for Marvel, which was excellent but it got cancelled after 15 issues. Very unfairly.

[MacNimon]

Captain Britain reading order:

Captain Britain Vol 1 1-39 (1976-77) Where it all began. After it's cancellation, the remainder of the US-produced strips were published in
Super Spiderman And Captain Britain 231-253 (1977-78)
Hulk 1-63 (1979-80) Marvel's first attempt at using a UK creative team on the character, where he guest-starred in a major supporting role in The Black Knight serial
Marvel Superheroes 377-388 (1981-82) Alan Davis Debut with first appearance of the new CB; the character then moved around various titles over the next few years...
The Daredevils 1-11 (1983-84)
The Mighty World Of Marvel 7-16 (1984) finally returning to his own title Jan 1985...
Captain Britain Vol 2 1-14 (1985-86) Cancellation once again. It seemed that the character struggled to sell as a title character, regardless of the quality. It was after this point that I lost track of his movements...

I have recently (well, last year!) acquired The Knights Of Pendragon and Excalibur; I'll probably read them in that order. It looks as if Excalibur contains most of his appearances in the intervening years before Paul Cornell's recent CB & MI13 series (where cancellation struck for a third time! And once again, it came regardless of the quality of the series...)

[Paul Monk]

If I had enough money I'd be buying this!

http://itcamefromdarkmoor.blogspot.c...n-britain.html

[MacNimon]

If I had enough money I'd be buying this!

http://itcamefromdarkmoor.blogspot.c...n-britain.html

That's pretty expensive, isn't it?! While I enjoy the stories I think I'll wait until they're released in TPB format! The next volume should finish the Black Knight saga and move onto the redesigned version of the character from the 80s. I wonder though, will these stories be printed in colour or in their original b&w format? And speaking of b&w/colour versions, I always wondered if those John Buscema and Ron Wilson drawn issues (those which appeared in the glossy covered b&w issues of CB weekly in 1977) were originally done in colour, like the Herb Trimpe issues, but were eventually printed in b&w due to production costs. It would be nice to see a colour version of these stories one day.

As for the reading order post-1986, a little bit of investigating has revealed the following:

Captain Britain and his sister Betsy's first 'real' introduction to the US Marvel universe appeared in an X-Men Annual and a New Mutants Annual (I forget which issues/years as I've lost the link!)
This was followed by a one-off special introducing Excalibur, called The Sword Is Drawn.
The regular Excalibur series followed shortly afterwards.
A few years later, The Knights Of Pendragon series (18 issues) appeared, running alongside Excalibur but apparently giving us a 'darker' take on the character.
New Excalibur appeared in 2005 and ran for a couple of years, and that brings us pretty much up to date with the recent CB & MI13. Speaking of whom, I see there will be 4 appearances this year (of either the character, the group or both!)

The character has also guest-starred in other Marvel titles, but this seems to be the important stuff!

[Paul Monk]

Excalibur is quite good fun although Brian is protayed as a bit of musclebound clod. He disappears from the title at around 70 issues in quite an unceremonious way.
I've read most of New Excalibur and its enjoyable enough stuff but doesn't really add anything to the Captain's character.

[Paul Monk]

There were a couple of people here that used to use the HTML Comics site to catch up on older stuff. Well not any more as its been closed down by the FBI.

Full story here on the Comic Book Resources site.

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com...-down-pirates/

Its a shame really as it was quite useful in reading older stuff which was no longer available to buy, unless you paid extortionate second hand prices on ebay. But there was a lot of current stuff on there which can't have helped its argument.

[Paul Monk]

It seems the site had a lot of support and it seems a shame that the publishers aren't jumping at the chance to create something similar of their own. If the pricing was sensible I think people would even pay for the use of it.

[MacNimon]

This thread has been too quiet recently. Has anyone been reading anything interesting?

[Alex]

I've read a few cool bits and pieces. My favourite new comic is Sweet Tooth, about a boy with antlers (he's some kind of mutant-y thing) living in the near future after a disaster has struck humanity. It's a weird mix of quite genres, and has been described as "Bambi meets Mad Max" which vaguely gives you an idea of the flavour. Anyway, it's very good, and definitely worth seekingo ut.

I'm also reading the 28 Days Later semi-sequel comic, which follows Selena from the original movie as she returns to London with a journalist to find out the real story of what actually happened. It's pretty good, but nothing that special.

And Grant Morrison's recent run on Batman and Robin has proven to be quite fun, and the new Robin, Bruce Wayne's biological son Damon, is fairly feisty and a lot more interesting than previous Robin's, bar perhaps Dick Grayson (who's taken on the Batman role at the moment in the series).. And The Return of Bruce Wayne isn't bad stuff either, though it's been quite predictable so far and I'm more interested as to how they'll handle his actual return to Gotham City.

So what about you Kenny, have you read anything good of late?

[Paul Monk]

I was enjoying Morrison's Batman and Robin too. I like Damien a lot as Robin but not everyone in the comics community agrees. I like Grayson as Batman too (There spoiled it) and its such a shame that he's not going to get more room to develop in the role.
Haven't read any of the return of Bruce Wayne though.
I've heard a lot about Sweet Tooth and it was one of the titles I thought about reading but money was a issue so I didn't.
I've mainly stopped buying comics now as I'm a bit cash strapped but the last things I read were Justice League: Generation Lost which reunited some of the Leaguers from Giffen and DeMatteis' era as they fight to remind the world that Maxwell Lord is evil. It wasn't anything special. Also after being my favourite title for ages, I've not been enjoying Giffen & DeMatteis's run on Booster Gold, which is weird because it should have been brilliant.
I have been reading the entire run of Black Knight/Captain Britain strips from Marvels Uk's Hulk Weekly recently. They're rather fun and interesting in that they take the characters away from the superhero-y Marvel Universe and places them in a much more Tolkien-esque mythological world which works brilliantly. Panini have been collecting the whole run of Captain Britain strips in graphic novel form and they're well worth it. They're currently up to Vol 4 whcih covers the revamped Cap in Daredevils monthly comic, with the Mad Jim Jaspers storyline and the start of Alan Moore's run.

[MacNimon]

To tell the truth Alex, I've actually been reading very little in recent months. Between babysitting my baby granddaughter (you wouldn't believe how much of my time that lassie takes up even when her mum and dad are around, she just constantly demands attention!) and a number of jobs around the house and garden all of which I've started, none of which I've finished (much to Mary's annoyance!), I just haven't had a lot of spare time. That which I do have I'm trying to split between reading, catching up with some tv and film, and online a bit (but not much!) Hopefully come the autumn I'll be all done and have loads of relaxation time on my hands!

The few things I've read have been Marvel's 70s adaptations of Planet Of The Apes and Logan's Run. Both series I found to be very enjoyable, but in the case of Logan's Run it was disappointing that the series got cancelled almost immediately, well 2 issues to be exact, after the conclusion of the excellent film adaptation. The great George Perez artwork certainly helped as well! POTA was a great read as well, written by Doug Moench who is one of my favourite writers, although in this case it was despite the artwork...not that it was bad as such, just very 'old school' and workman-like by George Tuska. Better artwork coming up though on 'Beneath...'

I'm also closing in on the end of 'Y - The Last Man' I've been loving this series, I've only got about 8 issues left. I'm glad that they bring the series to a conclusion but I'm really going to miss reading the continuing adventures of Yorick once I've finished it.

And I didn't realise that vol 4 of Captain Britain had been published, so thanks for that Paul. I'll have to get myself a copy. That Black Knight serial is great, isn't it? I remember being gripped by it way back in 1979/80 when it hadn't even been advertised as featuring the return of Captain Britain, we only found out gradually as the weeks went on (although I remembered guessing correctly who the stranger was in the first installment)

[Paul Monk]

And I didn't realise that vol 4 of Captain Britain had been published, so thanks for that Paul. I'll have to get myself a copy. That Black Knight serial is great, isn't it? I remember being gripped by it way back in 1979/80 when it hadn't even been advertised as featuring the return of Captain Britain, we only found out gradually as the weeks went on (although I remembered guessing correctly who the stranger was in the first installment)

There was some debate as to whether the the 4th vol would come out and whether it would have the Alan Moore stuff in. I'm glad it has because this is Captain Britain as I remember him.
The Black Knight serial is brilliant and very important is re-establishing Captain Britain as a mystical hero rather than a carbon copy of the US Marvel heroes. It its a bit serious though but I love all the cod-medieval speeches that the characters spout off. I definitely need to read more Black Knight stuff though.

[MacNimon]

I just finished Y-The Last Man yesterday. I've been reading it at a steady pace over the past 8 or 9 months and was both looking forward to, and dreading, the final issue. While I'm sorry to such a great series end, it was great to see it going out on such a high note, bringing all the storylines to a satisfactory conclusion.

There are plenty of big screen and television influences to be seen, such as the ending of the 007 film OHMSS, and the conclusion echoed that of Babylon 5 (ie being set many years after the main storyline). I loved the final issue, which was set 60 years later with an 86-year old Yorick letting us know what became of the other characters in a series of flashbacks. It was rather sad to see that there weren't many happy endings for any of the main characters (with the possible exceptions of Hero and Beth) but when you've got a storyline dealing with the end of the world that really should be expected. The highlight of the issue simply had to be the scene with Ampersand in the woods, which was really sad and touching . I've got to admit to having a lump in my throat while reading that, although it was nice how it let you see that he had lived a long life and died a natural death.

And the ending was great, wasn't it? Ending on an uplifting note after the rather depressing tone of most of the issue there's one final flashback to the happiest time of Yorick's life...after the plague on his travels with 355 and Alison Mann when trying to save the world and find Beth. After which Yorick pulls off one final escape act...

What an absolutely fabulous series this has been. An excellent apocalyptic storyline filled with likeable, believable characters who you really cared about. Never before has the end of the world been so much fun! It's a must-read title for anyone who hasn't yet had the pleasure, I honestly can't recommend this highly enough. 10/10.

Here's hoping that the proposed film (or trilogy) can do the series justice....

[MacNimon]

Has anyone been reading anything good recently?

I've not been reading very much, simply because I can't make up my mind what to choose from to read next! I've started on Alan Moore's Promethea which looks promising, but for the most part I always just end up browsing through endless old 70s comics reading letters pages, Bullpen Bulletins and generally enjoying (or not!) the artwork and nostalgic ads without actually reading the stories!

I've made a New Year's resolution though, to make the effort to read more. There's loads of great looking stuff to pick from, but like I said it's just so hard to pick something and stick with it when there's so much to pick from. I'm going to stick with Promethea for the moment, and attempt to do a Time Team effort with some of those old Marvels instead of just looking at them. I've picked 1974 for the moment, and I'm intending to (attempt to) read all titles released in the first 3 months of that year, in alphabetical order and as they were released. It'll be interesting to see how the quality varies from title to title, and to see things in context of the wider release schedule of the time rather than just as part of an individual ongoing series.

Wish me luck as things aren't getting off to the most exciting of starts though, so I might falter along the way...I'll report back with my thoughts on the first several issues soon!

[Alex]

I've been reading the new IDW Who series, after a slightly shaky start it's been a lot of fun, with the Doctor meeting some old foes and friends along the way. There's a lot of nice references to old and new Who, but most importantly it's captured the spirit of the series, at least the more upbeat episodes. It's taking a break at the moment, but returning soon with the 11th Doctor in the lead role, and I'm really looking forward to it.

There's quite a few other things I've liked too, but I'm short on time right now, but will come back to this thread later to ramble more!

[Paul Monk]

I've been working my way through the various incarnations of the The Doom Patrol. I'm halfway through the original Arnold Drake issues which are brilliant fun and actually a bit more weird and sophisticated than any 60's comic should be. I've read the Paul Kupperberg revival of the series which is very average, turning the group into more of a coventional super hero team and I've also been re-reading the most recent Keith Giffen run, which after a slow start has turned out to be something quite special. He gets what Doom Patrol is about and also makes a valiant attempt to draw on aspects of all the previous versions of the Patrol, including Grant Morrison's, which is brave. Not read an awful lot else though.

[Alex]

I started reading Giffen's run on Doom Patrol last night and I'm really enjoying it, like Paul says, he gets what the group is supposed to be about, and what makes them so different from normal superhero teams.

I'm also reading Batman Inc. - well, just starting to as it's only just begun, and it's a really nice idea - I love what Morrison's done with Batman in general, he's invigorated the character so well, and I'd love to see him on scripting duties for a Batman film. Though that's sadly never going to happen...