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Currently reading 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, IDW publishing. Also Alan Moore's Judgment Day collected edition.
30 Days is alright. The plot seems a little ripped off from The Thing in some places and I recognise elements of it from other things but the whole seems to hang together originally enough. An interesting little tale, also shows nice ways to handle potentially gory scenes well in the comic medium. Art is brilliant, characters well drawn in both senses, dialogue good. Huge segment of the story skipped by its very nature but apparently soon to be made into a film so will be interesting to see.
Y'all probably know Judgment Day already but it was new to me. Alan seems to be writing at his loosest as far as really using the medium goes in this one and although a good read (one or two references a bit outside my scope, admittedly) it almost seems to be the logical conclusion of the standard superhero genre, leaving it nowhere else- at least in terms of exploring its limits- to go, even if individual titles soldier on. I did like it, though, and certainly connected with most of the past styles and ages of comic characters represented. The clever changes of artistic style to show this was a particular source of delight.
It says 30 Days is going to be a film in the GN I've got and there's an entry for it on the IMDB with a mooted release of 2007. I'm not sure how it'll translate though, what with the story having to miss out about 25 of those days. Of course, the GN suffers from that problem too.
Seems everyone on the IMDB reckons Criminal Macabre would make a better conversion but I can't comment on this since I'm not familiar with it. Does this mean anything to those present?
Heh, well I'm no expert- I just pick up whatever my local library has in from time to time so I've never heard of this stuff before either until I read it!
Well, I've been busy, but I've also been reading. Having done the other Heroes Reborn titles recently, I started on Iron Man, but couldn't be bothered to go on. FF is the best of these titles, partly because of Jim Lee's artwork - he's never my favourite, but when he's not rushing or blatantly imitating he can be okay - and partly because it contains the most of the overall story, but still, Heroes Reborn was rubbish.
I liked the Jonah Hex reprint: good, non-superhero stories, a mixture of mythically-timeless Western vignettes and historical references, and generally fine artwork.
I also read Showcase Superman 2 - more of the same, cute little adventures without pretention, and still striking how many lasting Superman ingredients (Brainiac, Kandor, Supergirl, Titano, Metallo, the return to Krypton) were introduced in these few years in the Fifties - and Jimmy Olsen, like Happy Days on weed.
Brave New World: dislike the look and tone of Martian Manhunter's new direction, found Howard Porter's art on Shazam a startling progression from his lumpy drawing on JLA, loved the artwork on Uncle Sam (first issue now out) despite the over-familiar and dreary story (and why is Happy Terrill now a sexed-up self-regarding playboy?), don't care if the Monitor's back... and The Atom. To me, this is the most important Brave New World title, because it's the return of one of the Big Guns. I don't know why Ray Palmer has to go, except that the industry lately seems to prefer dumping a character to making him work, and the new costume takes a classic and original Kane design and makes it pedestrian... but I like the bright tone, and like Green Lantern, it feels the way a mainstream superhero comic ought to feel. On the downside, Byrne - whose drawing here is about as loose and cartoony as it's ever been - is only aboard for three issues. Seems a bit half-hearted for the relaunching of a major character.
This week I reread Byrne's Dark Horse work, Next Men, Danger Unlimited and Babe, from the early '90s. Enjoyable sketchy artwork, and the long-form storytelling he does well. Blood of the Demon just finished, with the same rushed final issue as Doom Patrol and too many of his other recent projects. Byrne's better than most of the other writers and artists working, and he's best when he works on characters he respects: he should be given one of the icons to play with, and left alone. It's weird that he's almost out of the industry just when titles like Superman, GL and so on are rediscovering the formula he never lost track of.
What else? Three issues in, I might drop Hawkgirl. What I like in Chaykin is his distinctive voice and his design sense, and neither is much in evidence here.
Just picked up the new Astro City, though, and THAT I'm excited about.
IMP. _________________ RIVER: skin on the outside. First chapter FREE from www.ianmpalmer.com
Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:12 pm Post subject: Re: Current Reading.
I haven't picked up this week but I thought Heroes Reborn was utter garbage. I like the look of Uncle Sam and think I will get that for a bit. I have never known the Atom very well so that doesn't do much, though I am wondering what happened to Ray Plamer. Hawkgirl is lacking for me for some reason as well. I need to get the Astro City thing since I have always liked that book and I do like Green Lantern still. Even though I was never a huge fan before for some reason.
This latest Astro City wouldn't necessarily recruit anyone. It's a bit of a postmodern version of a Silver Age Superman story. Some Astro City stories have been classics.
I forgot The Eternals, the only new Marvel I've bought for quite a while. Adequate if slow storytelling, typically-fine JRjr art, so far lacking in the scale you expect from these characters - but seems about to wake up.
Just started reading Arrowsmith, which I'd never got around to even though it's Busiek and Pacheco and therefore guaranteed good. It's good.
IMP. _________________ RIVER: skin on the outside. First chapter FREE from www.ianmpalmer.com
Don't know. I picked up the first TPB. It reminds me of ShockRockets, which did manage to complete a storyline before cancellation. In terms of content, I don't think Kurt Busiek or Carlos Pacheco have ever disappointed.
IMP. _________________ RIVER: skin on the outside. First chapter FREE from www.ianmpalmer.com
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2006 12:07 pm Post subject: Re: Current Reading.
I wasn't sure if Shock Rockets managed a complete run either but I will try and pick that up too. I liked the ones I read. I will grab up the trade of Arrowsmith since I did like it all.
Essential Werewolf-By-Night is a drag, so I dipped back into Iron Man and just read the first few issues of Vol. 4. Not for kids, but well-written by Warren Ellis, and beautifully-painted by Adi Granov. I remember Continuity's fuss about the first fully-painted monthly comic, Megalith painted by Mark Texeira: lasted about two issues. Iron Man is notoriously far behind schedule. But it does look amazing.
IMP. _________________ RIVER: skin on the outside. First chapter FREE from www.ianmpalmer.com
Okay, me again. Just finished Ellis's run on Iron Man. Beautiful art, and a story which, although I'm not sure it's Iron Man - it's almost the origin story of a new character - is well-told, stirring, post-X-Files superhero comics. Damn good stuff.
Also Essential Avengers 5. These are my favourite comics ever, Roy Thomas Avengers. It's amazing how the soap-opera elements are experienced in the course of non-stop action, and muscular art by John Buscema and Rich Buckler just delivers.
Showcase Presents The Elongated Man: more quirky early-'60s DC, more charming and surprisingly-sophisticated (after the first few issues) Carmine Infantino art.
And next, today's big purchase: the JSA book reprinting the first issues of the '70s series. I've read several of these, but I'm looking forward to re-reading those and reading the others, all in one run.
IMP. _________________ RIVER: skin on the outside. First chapter FREE from www.ianmpalmer.com
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