New Comic Book Day Megathread

[Chris Tresson]

It was definitely better than I was expecting after DK2, haha... Looking forward to seeing where it goes!

[Colin YNWA]

I had a recent change in circumstances (I bought into a comic shop, haha) so I'm reading about a 100 books a month nowadays...

Will you be my Dad? (Sorry Hippynumber 1, I feel disloyal but building a FANTASTIC Millennium Falcon is pretty sweet, but this is whole different level!)

[Hawkmumbler]

Heh, love it when comic shop owners pop up on the forum. Gives a somewhat different perspective on comics than yon average reader (though few of us can be considered 'average')...

I had a recent change in circumstances (I bought into a comic shop, haha) so I'm reading about a 100 books a month nowadays...

Will you be my Dad? (Sorry Hippynumber 1, I feel disloyal but building a FANTASTIC Millennium Falcon is pretty sweet, but this is whole different level!)

I will fight your for this privilege!

[Hawkmumbler]

My comics bring all the boys to the yard. They can piss off, they are mine!

Weekly Shonen Jump #52 indicates next weeks issue is to be the last of the year. Oops! Anyway, My Hero Academia blows everything out of the water again, even when comparatively little happend this chapter. This got me wondering, what is MHA doing rigt that others are doing wrong or less effectively? Timing, character clout and like ability, art and tonal shift are all factors I think, as it's just thumpingly good fun, swinging from grim and dark horror to delightfully funny at the drop of a pin, it proven itself to be a hit of the year. When can we open a thread discussing out favourite comics of the year, BTW?

Wild End The Enemy Within #2 knocks it out of the park again as with another perfect issue. Squaxx should be all over this with it's unity between Dabnett and INJC in order to serve us some of the finest science fiction comics has seen in years, with suitably large dollops of intruige and some of the most well fleshed out characters in comics right now, superb art and story telling make this a firm favourite of my current pull list. The Spirit #5 is drool inducingly good, oh good grief how good is this comic?! Wagner has written another bellter, and with Colt back in harness he's ready to take on The Octopus and the rest of his rogues gallery once more. Good gosh this is just so much fun I could scream about it for hours, about how excellently fitting the art is and how brilliant the script is, but their isn't enough time under the sun. Just buy this book kids, it's better than any Batman trollop you might be reading.

Then came the real surprise, Empowered Special #7, AKA PEWPEWPEWPEW!!!! by Adam Warren. Only found out about this the other day and it's here already, damn it I love me some Empowered. Full of cheese (and cake, but of the best varieties) slapstick humour and insane character's it's just a great big spoon full of fun and whimsey, and these self contained comedy specials are nothing different. Which is not to say they are any poorer than the regular quarterly volumes, but the main series is just so much fun that they almost pale in comparison.

Elsewhere Groo Friends and Foes #11 trundles towards it's imebitable conclusion next month with great aplomb and silly action sequences. It will be missed but it's served to continue my search for the older Groo material. Saga returns with #31. Oh Saga, as angry as you might make me at times like a bad case of morphine addiction I just can't give you up. Switch #2 is delightful....but not quite as engaging as the first issue, not until the final revelations anyway. Let's hope the third issue can sway me to keep ahold of it rather than trade wait. I'm also kind of intruiged by Spawn #258 as Erik Larsen has jumped on for art duties for the forseable future. Maybe.... Art Ops #2 is just ace. I know it's not to everyones taste but it's just such a bar,y cluster fuck of sillyness and bright colours. Top marks to the Allred.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

Klaus didn't quite live up to its billing either, this Santa origin was pretty straight forward and un Morrison, still we'll see where it goes.

Did anybody else feel that this read like an inversion of that first issue of Joe the Barbarian, this time around with ye olde time consensus fantasy dialogue?

[Hawkmumbler]

My comics are better than your comics, my comics are twice the size that your's are!

And their is no better Johnny Red #2 blasts out of the gate a 10/10. Ennis is onto a winner here, as it incorperates everything that was great about Battle and other british war comics and brings them into the modern day. No unnescesary plot threads, just good clean action scenes and thrills. Top notch art as well from Burns.

Weekly Shonen Jump #53 is a blast as always. Finding World Trigger a bit of a slog right now but this weeks cliffhanger was a doozy and it looks on the up. Nisekoi is still awful but rumour has it it's heading towards end game, about time as well! My Hero Academia has an at once action sparce and action packed instalment. Damn, Kohai knows how to make creepy splash panels. I also got Assassination Classroom vol. 7, great fun.

The Maxx #26 hits the spot as it always does and seem's to have it's finale in it's sights but one does wonder how well this current arc compares to the previous, as Maxx is not quite the same himself and Sarah, though a fascinating character lacks the grimey oomph of Julie Winters. Savage Dragon #209 was a delightful change of pace after seeing [spoiler]Rex get his head punched in[/spoiler] from last month, but those last few pages where painful to read, poor [spoiler]Tierra[/spoiler], she was an awful person but she didn't desserve THAT as brilliantly disgusting a way to go out it may be.

Out of nowhere, Rocket Girl #7 appears. It's been too long since the last issue and a reread is on the cards. Fellow fan's should enjoy this while it lasts. Unfollow #2 has something intruiging about it's cover. It's a tripy psychedelic affair akin movie posters for Vamp or Frankenhooker, but behind it is a heart of gold. Rob Williams has crafted another masterpiece, just great comics. Speaking of comic masters, Jodorowsky has a new series localised called Showman Killer. Looks a lot of fun, and actually looks quite close to how Jodo envisioned Dune. A must for some, I think, i'm deffinetly looking forward to reading it so expect more!

[BPP]

Anyone know if Wild's End TPB has appeared in the wild yet? Varying sites seem to be giving different dates for it and its looking like its pushed back to 2016?

Was hoping to give several copies as Xmas gifts as its a pretty ideal mix of kid and adult friendly. And ace, obviously.

[Link Prime]

Anyone know if Wild's End TPB has appeared in the wild yet? Varying sites seem to be giving different dates for it and its looking like its pushed back to 2016?

It is, I picked up a copy in Big Bang Comics Dublin about a month ago, €20.
Haven't had a chance to read it yet though.

[Hawkmumbler]

Lucky bugger, mine's not been dispatched by amazon yet. Ah well, money saved I suppose.

[BPP]

Cheers... seems to be stock issues or something.. maybe a massive hit (hurrah!) - FP saying its been in stock but not atm, Amazon saying its released 22nd dec, other sites saying 12 Jan 2016.

A toot around the book shops is in order then..

[Colin YNWA]

Daddy's got a brand new bag (of comics).

So where to start, well at the bottom and that's Doctor Who 12th 14 I'll stick with this series until the end of this 'season' (what the chuff is all that about) then I think I'm out. Since David Taylor passed on to Nowhere the art has been inconsistant and the story, much to my suprise given my love of Robbie Morrison, has been uninspiring.

They're Not like Us 10 is a little bit twisty, turny try to surprise you, which makes it feel like an average great comic. This is so much more normally and so this issue was a little disappointing. Rocket Girl 7 returns a series I've loved but now need to re-read to keep up with. It'll deserve it as its been great but this was all a bit lost on me, delays I blame you! So Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur 1 by the same partnership is a pretty damned good start to a series, not excellent but enough to give me complete confidence yet. Paper Girls 3 has certainly shot along, so much has happened from its coming of age start (or so I thought) its blasted past the 3 issue test but still wonder how long it will have me I'm not quite sure for some reason. A lot to decide cos there's so much still to learn. Fade Out 11 was FANTASTIC but this will really need to be read as one to be appreciated, saddly not long to wait for that! Its strange I almost loved the Spirit (5) more when he wasn't in it, not cos he's not one of the all time great comic characters, he most certainly is, but it had more to it, more zest, more intrigue, more to grip you. As it stands now he's back its just a great Spirit comics, which is no bad thing, no bad thing at all, just an adjustment and not quite as unique as there's a heck of a lot of great Spirit comics out there, after all he is one of the greatest comic characters of all time.

Invisible Republic 7 just shows why this is the book i fear for most, its bloody brilliant so why isn't every bugger reading it. Christ I hope this doesn't got the way of so many comics I've loved. Prez 6 has already, not cancelled and it meant to come back for another 6 issue run. I really hope it does as this as been a blast and I kinda think from a different company with a different set of expectations I think would have done much better than being lost in DCs mix as it is.

So from a very good crop we get to the cream, and given how good the crop is that is some cream James Bond 2 is just so very James Bond, but the James Bond you have no doubts about liking. Maybe I'm about to learn what all the fuss about Warren Ellis is about? Johnny Red 2 isn't quite as air punchingly good as the first issue but by heck it settles into a quite glorious 'norm' bloody brilliant stuff. The double page spread The Falcon' striking the German air field and the devastation left it their wake is quite, quite brilliant. Another number 2 and another absolute winner. Unfollow 2 is quite an accomplishment, it does all the things I feared throwing new characters at us in what by defination must be a massive cast and by introducing them still push the story forward and keep you engaged in all the vast cast we are meeting. Its going to be a bit special this series I suspect.

I've know what the fuss is about the next series for a long time, there's nothing left to wonder at its brilliance but Maxx 26 does something a bit special, it manages to explain so much of what we've been building in our minds with the series and tell an absolutely heart wrenching story of a bad man the make you feel for him in a quite stunningly good way. Its really just special comics and that's why it gets book of the haul in such a fine, fine haul, it was going to take something special to do that.

[Hawkmumbler]

I've know what the fuss is about the next series for a long time, there's nothing left to wonder at its brilliance but Maxx 26 does something a bit special, it manages to explain so much of what we've been building in our minds with the series and tell an absolutely heart wrenching story of a bad man the make you feel for him in a quite stunningly good way.

It reall is astonishingly good comics, isn't it? A rarified oddity, an art house type series with roots in superheroics that doesn't descend into pretentious prattling and overbearing tripe ala Sandman. I've been picking the HC's up as they come out and can't wait to see how the whole thing reads in one go.

My comics haul this week is somewhat sparse. Headlopper #2 is glorious sword and sorcery fare, with some ingenious set pieces and delightful art, fans of Thrud the Barbarian and Groo are in for a treat as it's very much in the same vein (with an added squeeze of Adventure Time humour). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Batman #1 also hit's the stands and is pure madness incarnate. Though the art isn't 100% to my liking the story is a right blast, if you can throw caution to the wind and excuse the over used crossover tropes (the plot is similar to TMNT #8, guest starring Cerebus). Good fun, if somewhat waffer thin.

Death Sentence London #6 and 11th Doctor Who S.2 #3 (heerm, not shortened it much) are both solid issues of series that have seen greater heights. Despite being ever so slightly genius Death Sentence seem's to have lost some of it's innitial punkish oomph for me, but hopefully it regains this soon as i'd loath to see this bumped iff as a trade wait.

Weekly Shonen Jump #1 (eh? Oh, yeah. 2016 #1) kicks the new year off with a YuYu Hakusho reprint, which I nice. Some pretty great world building in My Hero Academia, pure craziness in One Piece and more food porn than you can ask for in Food Wars! all for a lovely little price.

[Link Prime]

It reall is astonishingly good comics, isn't it? A rarified oddity, an art house type series with roots in superheroics that doesn't descend into pretentious prattling and overbearing tripe ala Sandman.

The Sandman, co-created by Sam Keith, The Sandman? 

You're making this sound very appealing boys, thinking about starting the IDW hardback collections.

[Fungus]

The Maxx is tremendous, and yes, the Sandman is a very odd target given Mr Keith's contribution...

[Hawkmumbler]

For me The Sandman WAS tremendous but went on far too long and kind of got consumed in it's own cleverness.