Whats everyone reading?

[Mikey]

I find it fascinating to see him explore things from different angles (geddit) and in different media, but reading these two otherwise different works at the same time really hammers it home.

Oh, I get it. Up until the rug gets pulled and you're off somewhere entirely from where you thought you were.

I'm only several hundred pages in but by jingo, it's just magnificent. Incredibly well written of course, but so engaging I find it hard to put down despite its weight. I found the opening prologue managed to hit my nostalgia buttons hard despite it not involving me in the slightest.  I've also enjoyed how resolutely working class it is if that makes sense.

It's going to take some time to read, nevermind how long it will take to process afterward. Brilliant.

[Colin YNWA]

Well been wading through a load of Hellboys over the last month and ... I know he has big fans here... and it looks quite beautiful Mignola really is a stunningly good artist ... but I'm not getting on with it. There's enough there to make me go back and read it again one day, but to be honest given the praise it had heaped on it when I asked for some advice were to start when the stuff was on sale digitally a couple years ago I was really excited to read this... its just not clicking however.

Mignola seems to have a wonderfully complex, intregrate story to tell... its just the way he tells it I'm finding a bit grating. Basically:

1. Hellboy/Hellboy colleagues/some omnious character feels a bit dower and grim,
2. Hellboy goes to an anicent castle/house/temple
3. Hellboy falls through a floor*/wall/ocean
4. He ends up on his knees (option to chain him here for variety) before some wizard/demigod (type thing)/nazi who explains his own masterplan/Hellboys fate as a totem of man's doom/how they will release Ygan-Paln-dingdong the 7 rocks of chaos-thingie and all this tentacles.
5. Hellboy and/or one of his companions/some foreshadowed helper/some random factor says something pithy and starts the fight back
6. Hellboy hits things
7. Some stuff explodes, Hellboy looses another trench coat and gets a good kicking but the day is won, rarely due to him
8. Repeat 1 but with the new level of omnious we have learnt from todays story.

Now there is clearly more to it than that but that's kinda how it all felt. BUT I want to try it again as I think there's a gem of a story in there, just not digging it out first time around. Yet still I know I'm going to try again down the road. Still have the first 12 (ish) issues of BRDP to read so hope to get on with those a little better.

As of this point though disappointing.

*Some one really needs to be checking those castle floors, they all seem to break at the point above some long lost temple to Snagy-Yak-Tallyo.

[Smith]

Well,not every story goes like that,but it does sound pretty familiar.

[Dandontdare]

you missed out the WWII flashback

[Dark Jimbo]

It's lost something in the last few years, but BPRD (volume 2 excepted) generally beats Hellboy hands down. A great ensemble cast who spark off each other wonderfully and whose personas and histories often drive the narrative, and a clearer sense of onward progression. Too often Hellboy (which I do love) amounts to the lad himself bimbling about on his lonesome through picturesque ruins.

[Smith]

No love for Lobster Johnson?Anyone?

[Mardroid]

I like the character of Hellboy, but I never really took to the earlier comics. I haven't read all that much of the later ones mind, so there might have been really good stuff to come. I do like the films.

The BRPD books I got from the library, I largely enjoyed however.

At the moment on the pure text front I'm working through the Darkbow Collection by Ty Johnson. I picked it up on my Kindle (of which I actually use the app now on my phone as I no longer have an actual Kindle device. A few months ago I had two. Long story.) because it was going really cheap a year or two ago, but it took me a while to actually start it.

I've just finished the second novel in the collection. Verdict: good stories, decent characters... not so keen on the narration. I guess it's not too bad, it just kind of clunks for me.

On the comics front I've been reading through the  Black Science by Rick Remeder, Matteo Scalera and Dean White. The premise is a bit Sliders: a group of people (actually it was just 3 in Sliders. Not sure that qualifies as a group, but you get what I mean) using a device to hop dimensions, who no longer have the coordinates to the original dimension and the amount of time they can spend in each dimension is different each time.

Although that concept doesn't come across particularly original, the tone and what they do with it does provide something different. It's pretty good so far. Nice art. A bit of mystery and plenty of action thrown in. Good stuff.

Incidentally I was introduced to the volume on this forum due to a good review. I didn't really go out of my way to look for it, but happened to be looking through the Graphic Novels section at Waterstones and there it was, going very cheap. (Kind of unusual for Waterstones. I would rarely buy my GNs there.) Remembering the positive review, I thought, why not? Glad I did. Keep the reviews coming everyone, I would likely not have bothered if I hadn't read that review.

[Theblazeuk]

BPRD is sublime. I love Hellboy more for the folklore, tone and overarching plot (which leads into BPRD and develops a world where the Apocalypse slowly-slowly-then-suddenly comes about), rather than the individual stories. It gets better as Hellboy works with a larger cast, then he buggers off and repeats the familiar cycle of mystery-collapsing floor-resolution. However he does do it in more varied surroundings at that point , and meanwhile BPRD is continuing on strong without him as the Plague of Frog Men begins to erupt across the globe.

[Dark Jimbo]

I assume you (Colin) haven't got as far as the three Duncan Fegredo-drawn Hellboy books, as that's just next-level comics. Proper, proper good stuff, and the trilogy addresses a lot of the weaknesses of some Hellboy material (lack of supporting cast, no overarcing narrative, etc).

Don't rush ahead to read them, though - ideally you want to be at least 6 TPBs into BPRD by the time you're at the Fegredo Hellboy stuff. And to be honest reading the two series in synch (as events in one influence events in the other) is so much more rewarding than reading Hellboy alone.

[Mute77]

I enjoyed the hellboy books and i actually prefered the Fegredo drawn chapters-there was just more detail in the drawings. I've started reading BPRD hardcovers and love the mix of horror and humour. Can't wait for the hell on earth set..would recommend both series!

[dweezil2]

Last Of The Giants: The True Story Of Guns N' Roses.

A pretty debauched account, as one might expect, of one of the 80's most controversial rock bands but a compelling reac and a fascinating document of their rise to the top, ultimate self-destruction and rise again.



https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Giants-True-Story-Roses/dp/1409167216/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483018937&sr=1-1&keywords=guns+n+roses

[Zarjazzer]

Cyberforce Artifacts an anthology with one story written by pauul on these here boards. pretty good stuff, some James Bond-ish elements and cyborgs rather than traditional capes. Enjoyed it, art was very smooth and clear.

[sheridan]

I second that emotion.Fun Fact: Earth 616 designation(for Marvels primary universe and setting),first showed up here.Because Earth 1 would be too mainstream. :-)

Interesting fact about the number 616 - it's the original number of the beast (with 666 possibly being a mistranslation).  Word is that the Marvel 616 was named after it as Thorpe wasn't a fan of the contemporary Marvel superhero comics, and gave it that name to express his feelings.

[Smith]

I can believe that.Certanly fits these days.

[Tjm86]

Just finished KSR's Aurora.  Had it on the shelf for a while.  Interesting piece of work.  Bit bleak considering its subject matter, plus it kind of fizzles out rather than concludes.  No onto the second in Macleod's Corporation Wars, plus Moebius' World of Edena and Bentley's Complete UFO.  The latter finally arrived after I refused to back down from Amazon's £6.99 offering.  It is a thing of beauty for the hardcore fan with some interesting background info on Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (a nice little underrated film) and how that linked in.  Edena is stunning as well.  Touted as the first volume in the Moebius Library but nothing on what is coming next.  Well worth the money.