New Comic Book Day Megathread

[Colin YNWA]

Its all gone quiet over here
Its all gone quiet over here
all gone quiet
all gone quiet
Well it would be quiet if I'd not got and read me comic... over here...

And alas we have to start with bad news. Future Quest 5 marks the end of my time with this comic. The only title I was interested in from DCs Hanna Barbera line, due to a wonderful creative team, has got to go. A re-read of the first 4 issues and this months title just show this is far to fragmented a title to hold my interest. Such a shame and a great example of the situation of a fantastic first issue quickly falling out of grace.

So I'm very happy that a Hanna Barbera comic I have no interest in Flintstones 4 continues to one of the most bizarre off the wall and fun comics out there. I owe a thanks to you lot here for turning me onto it.

Hellblazer 2 sees this comic, another one I've only got due to a fantastic creative team floundering. It not bad, in fact its quiet good, but in this age of a plunging pound and sky high comic prices is that enough. This comic is on a final warning.

Elsewhere all is well in the world of Colin's comics. Given the quiet here I'll not labour the point too much but. James Bond 10 is 00thrilling. Ragnarok 10 is so good it justifies its eye watering $4.99 (ouch) price tag. Paper Girls 10 (what a lot of 10s this month!) ends the arc in fine style. Autumnlands 13 is barkin' brill, Lazarus 25 has rollocking revalations for it led and Sex 32 continues to thrust its characters into intriguing places. Resident Alien 2 builds this series quiet wonder, while pushing things towards impending excitment. Cinema Purgatorio is still 4/5, almost like a good Prog in fact. Kill or be Killed 3 just proves little is as good as Brubaker and Phillips, they just keep hitting it out the park, time after time and this series is no exception.

I could have given book of the haul to any of those and it probably should go to Flintstones 4, but its so off centre there's still a bit of me that thinks it could be rubbish and I'm too dazzled by its oddness. So this haul I going with the explosive Unfollow 12, cos man this series is something and this one does rather blow things out the wat.... air.

Talk about comics people. Its why we're here and as I keep telling ya there's so many worth talking about here.

[Hawkmumbler]

Ayyeee well it's about time I brushed off my pull list synopsis. It's a bloody long list so, here goes...'Cough, crinkling of paper'

I believe Colin best summed up my views on both Maxx #35 and Hillbilly #3, what absolute cracking comics both by two of the masters if the genre. And though I shall miss Maxx terribley, it's quircky and utterly fearless attitude to genre trope bunking and sumptous art work i'm eagerly latching onto Hillbilly as my new The Goon funny book. Brilliant stuff!

Crossover time! Todd Mcfarlone and Erik Larsen bring Savage Dragon #216 and Spawn #266 together as two halfs of a story. Well, two quarters actually. The crossover event started in Spawn #265 and will cocnlude in Savage Dragon #217, which i'm eagerly awaiting right now. Sadly #266 marks the end of Larsens run on Spawn and so I bow out of this particular title, as fun as my all too short time with it has been. But damn does Mcfarlone like his text boxes...

Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy #4 wnds the series on a bit of a fizzle rather than a bang, but maybe it'll work better on a reread as it was very charming on the whole. Unfollow #11 and #12 continue to be just about the pick of the bunch. Best comic on the stands right now, go pick them up kids! Dept H #6 continues the martime Dagon adventure series in fine form and is brilliant pop corn enteainment with wonderful, murky art. Good stuff!

Doom Patrol #1 and #2 are the best DC books i've read in years! Utterly wonderful renditions of the classic characters, brilliantly rendered and utterly unique. If the rest of the DC/Vertigo line is like this I might have to check out some more...And it's not often I disagree with Colin, but Future Quest #4 and #5 are really doing it for me. Classic adventure comics in the mould of Johnny Quest, wonderful! Cinema Purgatorio #5 and #6 continue to be some of the best anthologies on the market, as is Weekly Shonen Jump #43 to #46, as two new series join the line up.

[Colin YNWA]

Doom Patrol #1 and #2 are the best DC books i've read in years! Utterly wonderful renditions of the classic characters, brilliantly rendered and utterly unique. If the rest of the DC/Vertigo line is like this I might have to check out some more...

Hearing so many good things about this title and for some reason still not interested. Read so many interations and to be honest the only one I can see myself returning to is the original run by Arnold Drake. I even didn't get on with the Morrison run, which I know is hailed. Put the Giffen run up for sale after a re-read, other version haven't even got that far. Think I'm just burnt out on the characters... which is a shame as it sounds like I'm missing out here!

[Hawkmumbler]

#2 has Flex Mentallo in it. If that doesn't get you to read I don't know what will!

[Fungus]

Doom Patrol 1 was fantastic, yet to pick up #2. Like everything about it, the charm, quirkiness, pristine art, good vibes of it all. With less surety I gave Shade The Changing Girl 1 a try. Didn't really get on with Milligan's run (yet to finish those, you'll be horrified to know), but this has me hooked for the time being at least. It's slippery to contend with at the outset then ends with a flourish that pulls things together nicely. I'll be trying the other Young Animal titles at this rate.

Otherwise, yet to pick up Maxx 35 and continuing to love Sheriff of Babylon and The Vision. Off the top of my head, Hadrian's Wall 1 is on the pile and looking forward to that. Lots of new titles knocking about currently.

[I, Cosh]

A whopping four titles make this a very big week for me. Weavers #6 finishes in a very similar fashion to Spurrier's other series from this year. With some unguessable twists based on the logic of the story world itself which just about make sense on that level.

I've been hot and cold on the series but  Unfollow #12 wraps up this second arc in fine style and invites a reread of the story so far. We have a pretty big shake-up to the status quo and various parties striking out in new directions in the aftermath. The magic realist elements (but mostly the invisible, talking leopard) are a pretty neat way of making some of the more unlikely developments, such as Dave's new status as mafia boss, seem less jarring.

After loving the first issue so much, Doom Patrol #2 was a crushing disappointment. Joyful lunacy replaced with leaden box-ticking. I think I still owe it to the team to keep on reading this first story but I'm a lot less enthusiastic about the prospect now.

Pick of the bunch would have to be Britannia #2. More shady goings on in Roman Britain.

With less surety I gave Shade The Changing Girl 1 a try. Didn't really get on with Milligan's run (yet to finish those, you'll be horrified to know)

Wasn't sure whether to pick this up of not. To be honest, if Milligan's Shade had finished with #50 it would be the best comic ever published by an American company.

[CalHab]

Doom Patrol 1 was fantastic, yet to pick up #2. Like everything about it, the charm, quirkiness, pristine art, good vibes of it all.

I was a bit sceptical about this, since post-Morrison Doom Patrol comics have been "patchy" to be polite, but was sucked in by the wonderful Velvet Underground & Nico-esque cover. A good first issue!

[sheridan]

They're not newly released, but I've put 'em here anyway.

I spent my birthday money today.  Should have spent it last week, but I completely failed to take my money to the comic shop with me, so it was delayed by one week.

Thanks in part to recommendations previously posted on this very forum, I'm now the proud owner of:

   
• Grandville Bête Noire by Bryan Talbot
• Paper Girls Volume 1
• Rat Queens Volume One: Sass and Sorcery
• The Graveyard Book Volume 2 by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell

I was on the lookout for Lumber Janes, but they didn't have the first volume so I went for the Graveyard Book instead.  Only when I got home that I found out there was more than one volume of that as well, and I'd just bought volume 2.  Oh, well, there's always christmas money!

[Theblazeuk]

Caught up on my BPRD over the weekend. Good grud, the end of the world seems like it will never end. I miss Abe and Hellboy... feels like the team should be together here at the last. But never mind that, every issue is still great. Dark, wonderful stuff.

[Hawkmumbler]

Well, err, I will be updating the threat later with this weeks haul but I just want to take a brief moment to state the obvious.

Naoki Urasawa's PLUTO is a bit fucking brilliant, ain't it?! Like really, really stupendously "How does he think of this stuff?" brilliant. Just...wow. Urasawa man.

[Jim_Campbell]

A whopping four titles make this a very big week for me. Weavers #6 finishes in a very similar fashion to Spurrier's other series from this year. With some unguessable twists based on the logic of the story world itself which just about make sense on that level.

Can I belatedly ask how you got on with the lettering in Weavers? I'm not fishing for a compliment — a number of reviews have specifically said that they found the lettering hard to read (the various devices/styles are all in Si's script, BTW) and I'm just trying to get some sense of the reaction from 'normal' readers so I know whether to push back if I'm asked to do something like this again...

[Colin YNWA]

Two new(ish) Deerhoof records and the chance to read my latest comics haul. Its been a long time since Saturday mornings have been this good!

And what a comic haul its been. Now where to start. Well how about the ever controvesial Judge Dredd-Mega City Zero 11, a comics I still enjoy immensely on its own terms. This issue provides a fantastic insight into the origins of our mystery. Wacky Raceland 5 also gets us to an understanding just as we hurtal towards an all too soon conclusion. Shame this issue shows how given time and space this comic could have been something a little special. Doctor Who 11th 2nd 14 (oh my gosh) also starts to give its secrets away, alas there's a LOT of technobabble in this one. I suspect it will hold up a lot better on re-read but as it starts it does what the telly show so often has in its weaker moment, still a strong thread of a good story here to make me want to go back and re-read when the chance presents itself.

Elsewhere the only problems we have in the haul are art related. in War Stories 20 Thomas Aira seems to be trying hard to do a great story justice. Alas he's still a long way from there. While Kong of Skull Island 4 is great except for some poor storytelling which keep pulling me out to check what was what. We're a well served by great apes and dinosaurs stories at the moment as the MAGNIFICENT Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes 2 continues to defly the odds against it to be a simply fantastic comic that makes its disparate parts make sense. Superb and would be comic of the haul except for... well the comic of the haul, which we'll come to. Lake of Fire 3 could also have been comic of the haul in many a haul. This comic continues to be devine and my only beef as I think I said last time is Brother Arnaud is such a bloody cliche. I do wish (hope) they do something a little more creative with him. Small beans in a comic with an army of maruading positives. If you aren't you really should be buying this gem of a comic.

While our two number 12s are quite as good as those last two they are still bloody good. I still delight that Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur 12 continues beyond its crazy fun second arcs conclusion. While Invisible Republic 12 continues this grim exploration of a murky political history.

So we have many great comics this time, many of them would storm a normal haul and romp trimuphant at the hauly peak. Alas for them then that this haul they come up against Black Hammer 4. Oh my oh my Black Hammer has been a great series to date but this time it finds a way to get even better. Dean Ormston's glorious art perfectly pitches this incredibly grim and hilarious look at our led family. Smartly balancing character, world building, origins, mystery creating and frankly one of the funniest dinners comics will surely ever see. If there's a better comic out there I'd be amazed. And while if you should be reasding Lake of Fire if your not you should be poking out your eyes with dull spoons if you aren't reading this one as they are not being used for there true purpose which has surely seen us go thought billions of years of evolution to develop our optic ability simply so we can read a comic this good. BUY THIS YOU CRAZY DELIGHTFUL FOOLS!

I'm out of here to find a quiet place to rub this beautiful comic all over my nakes oiled body... well yeah okay maybe that's going a little too far...

[Hawkmumbler]

Funny little thing about Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #12, Colin, according to a friend of mine (who works for a certain chain comic book shop) said issue features a cameo from the Marvelverse iteration of Godzilla.

Something or nothing i'm sure but still...heh.

[Colin YNWA]

Funny little thing about Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #12, Colin, according to a friend of mine (who works for a certain chain comic book shop) said issue features a cameo from the Marvelverse iteration of Godzilla.

Something or nothing i'm sure but still...heh.

If there is I didn't spot it? Had a quick nosey and can't see anything?

[Hawkmumbler]

All the more reason for me to pick up the trades and play a game of Wheres Gojira?...

I have to say as adverse as i've become to Marvel's practices as a company, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur grows on me as a concept with the more I read of it. Utterly bonkers stuff.