Whats everyone reading?

[Colin YNWA]

Well just finished reading Y the Last Man and man it doesn't change does it... well it does a little but I'll get there soon enough...as a whole its endlessly compelling and thrilling read. It has some wonderful characters and some absolutely superb ideas. It opens some interesting ideas. It does however require massive willingness to engage with the fiction and suspend belief. On time it boarders on the ridiculous but you are turning the pages so fast to find out what happens next you don't allow yourself to stop and examine things too closely. Afterwards I'm too enamored with what I've delved onto to go too far back to spoil what I've read.

Its great stuff. After issue 50 I'd suggest it goes off the boil a little and the end I didn't find quite as compelling as the rest and so some of the stretches get a little hard to stomach but it keeps enough heavy emotional punches in reserves to keep you in dizzy expectation and delight. Alas like Ex-Machinia I'm not sure it has the final knock out punch to entirely floor you but it wins by a unanimous decision and  I have to say if a little weak I really liked Yorick's 'end'... just maybe the timing sucked a little.

Still entirely enjoyable and heartily recommended for anyone who like Vaughn's other stuff and hasn't read this (it wasn't just me right?)

[positronic]

For some reason I've never been able to engage with anything Vaughn's written. It mystifies me trying to figure out the appeal. I'm sure there are probably other popular writers whose work I don't care for, but I can usually point to some specific reasons why. With Vaughn I'm just not caring about anything that's going on, that's about the size of it. We're on completely different wavelengths, I guess.

[The Adventurer]

For some reason I've never been able to engage with anything Vaughn's written. It mystifies me trying to figure out the appeal. I'm sure there are probably other popular writers whose work I don't care for, but I can usually point to some specific reasons why. With Vaughn I'm just not caring about anything that's going on, that's about the size of it. We're on completely different wavelengths, I guess.

I didn't care for any of BKV's titles for years. Y-The Last Man lost me with Safeword arc so I dropped it. Ex Machina started strong, but its second arc just did nothing for me, so I droped it. I never did bother with Runaways, which was getting a lot of press during its run.

I will say I liked Pride of Baghdad. As an OGN its shortness may have helped. But... Saga is consistently excellent, and I liked The Private Eye a lot (even if I disagreed with its hypocritical message about the dangers of the Internet). So.... I guess 'hit and miss' might describe my enjoyment of BKV overall.

[positronic]

Saga's probably a good example, then. I read the first issue after being urged on by others. Got to the middle, about the part where characters with TV heads are having sex, and just put it down, realizing that the entirety of what had happened up until that point was a complete non-sequitur to me.

[Smith]

Saga's probably a good example, then. I read the first issue after being urged on by others. Got to the middle, about the part where characters with TV heads are having sex, and just put it down, realizing that the entirety of what had happened up until that point was a complete non-sequitur to me.

I feel you there.I got to the ghost babysitter part.

[positronic]

That's the general pattern of my response to Vaughn's work. I read one or two issues of one of his series based on "Oh, you haven't? You've got to try it!" and the end result always leaves me shrugging my shoulders and thinking something like "Well, I'm not really sure what all that was about. I guess I could try to stick around for a few more issues and try to suss it out, but there really isn't anything engaging me enough to motivate the effort here."

[positronic]

I think the one I got furthest on was Runaways, only because I was trying to work out what his ultimate purpose was in retrofitting these older supervillains (parents of the Runaways) into the Marvel Universe's back history. I had some idea that he was going to reveal some previously-unknown connections with past events that would cause the reader to completely overhaul some ideas about how certain (up-til-then) past events had unfolded. The longer it went on however, the more apparent it became that there was no real purpose in inventing new characters to retcon into the MU's backhistory. He could just as well made those same characters some fairly obscure forgotten villains with minor actual appearances, but instead he just makes them up out of whole cloth, in effect a conspiracy of matchstick men to make their offspring look better by comparison. So why would I care about the conflict between their aims & goals and those of their children? Exited sometime right around the appearance of the raptor.

[Smith]

I actually gave up once Whedon took over.Vaughns series was okay,but definitely not as good as its hyped up to be.
Good thing you didn't bother with his Swamp Thing.

[positronic]

I actually gave up once Whedon took over.Vaughns series was okay,but definitely not as good as its hyped up to be.
Good thing you didn't bother with his Swamp Thing.

Yeah, there was just a whole long stretch where I couldn't be bothered with Swamp Thing. After Rick Veitch's run, and until Charles Soule's remarkably good New 52 ST just a couple of years back (didn't really care for the run preceding his). There may have been a thing or two I missed in there. I know Andy Diggle's brief run with "Bad Seed" seemed like it might have made it worthwhile reading again, but it was too short. I've heard the Morrison run is good, so I'll probably check that out in trade.

[Colin YNWA]

I have a curious relationship with BVP. I like almost all his stuff but to differing degrees and the things that grate seem to be consistent across the piece which prevent me thinking of him as a great writer even though I love his stuff in the main. He's a fun writer, an engaging writer but his stuff is page turner stuff built on good ideas. Its not stunning and well written by and large. He's a good storyteller I guess.

I loved Ex-Machina, which I think is his best work.

I really enjoyed Y the last man but it had its problems

I enjoy Saga but its not the glory many see it as and it too has considerable problems.

The consistant issues I have are his dialogue. He'd write a great Doctor Who companion cos his constant sassy chat, his quick banter and lively fun filled exchanges become exhausting. He does it with all his main characters and I think its meant to be realistic. Lacking range however it can get really grating and strips his characters of balance. Saga is the biggest victim of this. In Ex-Machina he gets away with it more because of the environment he's portraying it seems a better fit.

All his stroies also seem to stretch creditability almost to breaking point. Its fine, they are fun enough but again its a big weakness.

So yeah BKV a good not great writer (well except Ex-Machina which I did really love, but I do worry whether it will hold up on re-read!)

[Smith]

I actually gave up once Whedon took over.Vaughns series was okay,but definitely not as good as its hyped up to be.
Good thing you didn't bother with his Swamp Thing.

Yeah, there was just a whole long stretch where I couldn't be bothered with Swamp Thing. After Rick Veitch's run, and until Charles Soule's remarkably good New 52 ST just a couple of years back (didn't really care for the run preceding his). There may have been a thing or two I missed in there. I know Andy Diggle's brief run with "Bad Seed" seemed like it might have made it worthwhile reading again, but it was too short. I've heard the Morrison run is good, so I'll probably check that out in trade.

Morrison co-wrote four issues with Mark Millar,the rest is all Millar.And its pretty freaking good.DC finally got around to collecting his run,so I do recommend that you pick that up if you haven't already.
I heard some good things about the Nu52 series,but the New 52 part really kills my interest in it.

[Fungus]

Yeah, never Morrison solo and I really liked the M & M take on Swamp Thing. I think this came after a dull patch and my stagnant "90's unread pile" is in the middle of that, somewhere.

Just checked... I'm at 155, so halfway through right'nuff.

[positronic]

I actually gave up once Whedon took over.Vaughns series was okay,but definitely not as good as its hyped up to be.
Good thing you didn't bother with his Swamp Thing.

Yeah, there was just a whole long stretch where I couldn't be bothered with Swamp Thing. After Rick Veitch's run, and until Charles Soule's remarkably good New 52 ST just a couple of years back (didn't really care for the run preceding his). There may have been a thing or two I missed in there. I know Andy Diggle's brief run with "Bad Seed" seemed like it might have made it worthwhile reading again, but it was too short. I've heard the Morrison run is good, so I'll probably check that out in trade.

Morrison co-wrote four issues with Mark Millar,the rest is all Millar.And its pretty freaking good.DC finally got around to collecting his run,so I do recommend that you pick that up if you haven't already.
I heard some good things about the Nu52 series,but the New 52 part really kills my interest in it.

That was the only thing worth reading out of most of it. Apart from a few things that carried over fairly directly from the pre-New 52 DC (like Levitz' LSH and Johns' & Tomasi's GL titles), the only ones worth reading were the "Dark" titles. J.M. DeMatteis did some decent writing on some of them like JL Dark (yes, the title IS completely stupid, but nevertheless it's a good comic), but Soule's Swamp Thing was the best of that group, and I would rate it as the Swamp Thing that most closely approaches Moore & Veitch's run on the title. Some nice art there too by Jesus Saiz.

You can just skip the first 3 trade collections by Scott Snyder (he's over-rated, AFAIC) and start with Vol. 4: Seeder. The thing is I'm not really some huge fan of Soule's either. Tried some of his other stuff for Marvel, and some of it's better than average, some not so much. Swamp Thing was the only series of his I read that really impressed me. It really does hew fairly close to the feel of the Moore series.

[Smith]

@Fungus IIRC that means your just about to read Chester Williams:American Cop. 
@Positronic We got the tail end of Morrisons Batman,and Court of Owls was great;but IMO for anyone who isn't Batman(and often for him,too),N52 was a toxic wasteland.
Personally,one DC writer I find terribly overrated(from the current lineup) is Tom King.

[Fungus]

Personally,one DC writer I find terribly overrated(from the current lineup) is Tom King.

Can't agree there. King's Batman is OK (and an improvement on Snyder's overlong run), but his non-Batman series have been tremendous. I wonder if you've read those.