Yes, comic books. There is a great collection at Page One in 101, and more at the Breeze Center.
I had 800 or so comics when I was a kid, it is great that the stories have improved so much since then. That Frank Miller’s 300 is on film now, as is V is for Vendetta and Sin City, make me hope that The Dark Knight Returns might one day make it to the silver screen. A very very dark Sandman movie would be nice too, please, Santa.
So, anyway, what I am reading now, or have read recently:
The Watchmen
Swampthing
Transmetropolitan (by far the best book out there)
Hellboy
The Sandman (by far the second best book out there)
The Living and The Dead (A stand alone book about Dr Frankenstein, after the fall. EXCELLENT!)
Black Mane (Stand alone book examining racism/sexism and other isms)
Green Lantern Rebirth
Moon Knight (which is great as a rewrite with new stories and fandamntastic art; I was a BIG MK fan in the 70s; very dark)
What I’m reading in comic book form:
The Punisher War Journal…also very VERY dark…Marvel is killing off the B-level badguys in a big way, and using the Punisher to do the dirty work.
My lovely tai tai got me The Sandman : Endless Nights hardcover at Breeze Saturday.
Yep I also love the Sandman “Season of Mists” being a favorite as a youth. I’ve read stupid amounts of comics over the years, but not really done so much since I got here (something I really should get back into).
Something which got my attention recently was en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Zombies which I haven’t seen anywhere here.
JdSmith what do you think of the news that Captain America has been apparently shot dead?
anyway stuff I have enjoyed that spring to mind
any work by Kazuo Koike (Lone Wolf and Cub, the graphic novel of Lady Snowblood etc)
Uzumaki (exceptionally dark and twisted story by Junji Ito)
too many to mention XMen or spiderman and Batman arcs
An Easter special where Lobo killed the Easter Bunny… and so on
The Marvel Civil War is getting serious I guess. Like I said, The Punisher just killed 30 so-so badguys in WJ #4. Rhino, Armadillo Man, Kraven and some more. The stories today are just so much better than the 70s and 80s, and I’m glad. And the art is just amazing in some of these new works and reworks.
That Cap down is ok with me. He had a good run, and he never enjoyed working in S.H.I.E.L.D. anyway.
Spidey is the new Cap.
There is a GN in Breeze now, like a precursor to the Civil War. I might grab it next time I’m there.
Did ya’ll read The Ultimates? I thought it was pretty cool, basically a modern day seriuos version of the Avengers. I heard they are changing the writer and artist soon so it will probably start sucking.
I used to be really into comics back home from about…erm…1995-2003ish.
I’ve seen the graphic novels they’ve got here, but I probably wouldn’t buy them because I’m anal about the condition of my books.
Most of the ones I’ve seen were pretty beat up, and still top dollar prices.
I have a few copies of the Ultimates. Pretty cool stuff. Once again, they are setting Spiderman apart, as the “kid” who beat the crap out of every supervillian they are looking for “with his bare hands.”
[quote]
Most of the ones I’ve seen were pretty beat up, and still top dollar prices.[/quote]
Yes, and I complain about that to the staff at Breeze too. I HAVE to pay 180NT for one Punisher comic…or I don’t get to read it. But when they plastic wrap it so tightly that it bends and put their GODDAMNED price scanner stickers all over it…GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
However, the condition of the GN in Breeze and in Page One are mint, my friend. Mint. but they are pricey…a night out drinking most likely for the good ones.
There are huge B3 paper sized collections of The Sandman and Sin City for like 3000NT too. They are SAWEEET looking.
Have you been to Banana comics yet? banana.com.tw/
It’s the closet thing to a “real” comic store that I know of in Taiwan.
Current comics, back issues, graphic novels, toys, etc.
[quote=“Josefus”]Have you been to Banana comics yet? banana.com.tw/
It’s the closet thing to a “real” comic store that I know of in Taiwan.
Current comics, back issues, graphic novels, toys, etc.[/quote]
Oh, you are so my new best friend.
So, anyway, what I am reading now, or have read recently:
The Watchmen[/quote]
It’s “Watchmen” not “[i]The[i] Watchmen.”
I can’t wait for that Spidey movie to come out. However I doubt it can top number two. With all of the villains and characters they put into it it looks like the script may be a little too busy.[/i]
“Persepolis”–really good. Iranian girl’s autobiography. Bush should read this.
“The Exterminators.” About guys who kill bugs. No, not giant ones (though they show signs of intelligence.) The writer really was a bug guy. The people are scarier. (One of them shoots up with insecticide. Apparently this was from life.)
“Johnny Jihad.” I liked it, but it’s just a little too (morally) black and white for my tastes. The real guy (Reid) is a much more sympathetic character than this fictional version. And I found some mistakes about Islam. But it’s a really good try.
“5 Fists of Science.” Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla vs. Edison. The style is “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” but halfway historical. I thought the characters interesting but the plot forced / difficult to tease out.
“Lost Girls.” Pornographic versions of Alice in Wonderland / Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz / Peter Pan’s friend Wendy meet and have various sexual encounters. Interesting, but not worth the high price tag unless it’s a present for VD. (Um, Valentines Day, that is.)
“Testament,” by Douglas Rushkoff (marketing guru / Judaism writer). Strange but cool, kind of like Jack Chick meets the Matrix. Various characters relive Old Testament stories and archetypes–including the really wicked stuff like angel rape–amidst the social upheaval of the near future.
Speaking of comic book movies, does anybody have an opinion of the Watchmen movie that I hear is coming out next year ? I hear the team that did The Matrix is doing it. In my opinion it is un-filmable and should be untouched. :no-no:
I never read it but I know it won the hugo ward or something. I think a lot of comics make good movies, and a lot would make totally suck ass movies. I guess I need to read that one…
Yes, many comic book movies are good and others are suck ass movies. Until Batman Begins the Batman movies sucked because they had no character development in them. The Spider-man movies have done much better in that area.
Alan Moore has asked to have his name removed from movies that have been made from his comics. Watchmen is considered by many to be the Holy Grail of his comics. The gold standard by which others are compared. I imagine that he has probably distanced himself from the Watchmen movie as well.
Although, if they really are making a movie, I suggest Patrick Stewart as Dr. Manhattan and Robert Deniro or Harvey Keitel as Rorshach.
Hi JD,
If you like “Sandman”, once you have finished the series, you may like to go on and read “Lucifer” written by Mike Carey. If you have read Sandman volume 4 “Season of Mists” then you’ll know that it begins with Lucifer resigning as ruler of Hell. The Lucifer series then tells goes on to tell what he does as a free agent.
In my book Lucifer surpasses Sandman for sheer reading pleasure.
Since you read Watchmen, I’d also suggest V for Vendetta, by the same writer, Alan Moore. It is better than the movie BTW. As is his series the “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”.
A last suggestion for now is to check out the English language manga section in Page One for “Usagi Yojimbo” by Stan Sakai. It is about a ronin in ancient Japan, but is actually written by a Japanese-American, and is probably for my money the best ongoing series out there. It is consistently of a very high quality. You don’t have to read the collected volumes in order either.
? I hear the team that did The Matrix is doing it. In my opinion it is un-filmable and should be untouched. :no-no: