posted
Lots of good reviews Peebs! You've helped confirm for me my own feelings on Saucer County and Voodoo Child.
Unknown Soldier is definitely not an easy series on the reader. If you're not in the right mindset to deal with that type of all too real tragedy, it could be easy to want to pass.
Def looking forward to your review of New Deadwardians, Lardy!
I've never read any 100 Bullets at all but both your reviews have me curious. Glad to know that there is a little bit of 'getting through the first arc'.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: Also, anyone collecting Spaceman? I didn't continue after #1 because it just didn't seem like it was for me. I'm curious if anyone kept going and what their thoughts are.
I bought the first two issues and decided not to continue. The first didn't do much for me. The second almost hooked me, but I decided not enough. I think that if Azzarello didn't have that annoying feaux-futuristic dialogue in it, it'd be much better actually. Oh well. Reviewers aren't exactly lavishing praise on it at the websites I trust, so I don't think it's just me.
As for Unwritten, I've owned that first trade for almost 2 years and still haven't gotten to it! maybe soon-ish?
BTW, how caught up are you on Scalped, Cobie?
I'm waiting for the trade of Spaceman, I thought it was interesting but it moved slow for me so I think it might be a lot better as a trade ....
I've also been waiting on the edge of my seat for the softcover of American Vampire 2!! I check for it every time I go to the CBS!!!
From: Ninja Land | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Power Boy: I also picked up the first two trades of Unknown Soldier a while ago, I thought they were good enough to read but I think they were just too dark and depressing for me, the main character is a bit too conflicted to keep me interested ... and the book is really about dragging you into his mental illness and turmoil .... pretty well done just not my cup of tea right now.
It's def not for everyone, as Cobie says. If you like some escapism, Soldier's a little too real for comfort. I enjoyed it, though. Still gotta get those concluding trades....
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: I've never read any 100 Bullets at all but both your reviews have me curious. Glad to know that there is a little bit of 'getting through the first arc'.
I definitely intend to eventually complete the series in trades, Des. I think there's enough similar appeal to those great Brullips comics that you and I love that you'll like 100 Bullets as well. But it's no copycat. It's its own thing and has its own contemporary style, as opposed to Brullips' kinda throwback vibe present in all of their stuff (if you know what I mean).
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I posted earlier that I enjoyed the first issue of Saucer Country. I was even more impressed by issue #2. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is an incredibly original concept with some intelligent writing.
-------------------- No regrets, Coyote.
From: Missouri | Registered: Oct 2003
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I've been enjoying Saucer Country because it doesn't smell of a typical comic involving an alien invasion, and we're still left to wonder if there really are aliens or if it's just psychosis.
-------------------- I want to be hated by lies - Bring Back Lian Harper
quote:Originally posted by Jerry: I posted earlier that I enjoyed the first issue of Saucer Country. I was even more impressed by issue #2. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is an incredibly original concept with some intelligent writing.
quote:Originally posted by Sarcasm Kid: I've been enjoying Saucer Country because it doesn't smell of a typical comic involving an alien invasion, and we're still left to wonder if there really are aliens or if it's just psychosis.
Ya know what? I just read issue #1, and I think I may be in for at least the first arc! We have an interesting lead, a promising supporting cast and a premise which looks to be unpredictable. It kind of has an X-Files-type appeal to it except that we are the Scullys instead of the Mulders, if that makes any sense. I mean, we kind of see more in the first issue to be skeptical when what we saw on the X-Files tended to make us more believers.
I will say that there probably IS more going on here than just the obvious explanation of the characters being whack-jobs. I tend to believe, though, that the explanation is something LESS than full-scale alien invasion.
Like I said, I pretty much dug the issue, and if Jerry says it gets even better with number 2, that bodes very well!
P.S. I also liked the art. Maybe it wasn't anything that will light the internet ablaze, but it told the story well and made me relate to the characters. What more could you want?
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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I forgot to look for New Deadwardians when I returned to the CBS this past week. Hopefully, the one copy left was/still is there. My odds are decent since the feebs at the shop seem stuck on crap (imo) like AvX.
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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Damn! With only 3 more issues remaining, Scalped is just KILLING it! Honestly, it's shaping up to be, imo, potentially the very best Vertigo series EVER! And if you're the best Vertigo ever, well, there's a damn good argument that you might just be the best comic series ever!!!
Issue 57 is the second part of the very last 5-part arc of Scalped. Trying to be as spoiler-free as possible, I'll just say that the previous arc ended with a climactic moment that's been set up since the series began. Issue 56 picks up on the story several months later. starting there and picking up heavily in the current issue, the dominos from all the remaining plot danglers start to fall in unexpected and dramatic fashion.
Honestly, even as a second part of a final story, 57 is just an absolute masterpiece in its execution! Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera have grown together so much over their 5 years together on this book that it's just ridiculous how outstanding they are as storytellers. This issue has a series of suspenseful, tense scenes that just build and intertwine so perfectly. In the end you just feel the claustrophobia that some of the characters are feeling as a noose tightens around one's neck, another struggles with ending things on their own terms and another seeks fulfillment of their own twisted mission. Then, everything turns on its head and we head toward showdowns that we've seen coming but are left breathless waiting to see their outcomes.
I think you could read this issue cold, without ever having read anything of it prior and still get what's going on and potentially be able to really, really enjoy it, regardless. I think that even though Guera's art has a level of gritty-ugly stylization to it, that any fan of the medium who sees it can appreciate it and be entranced by it.
I can't say enough about Aaron & Guera's artistic collaboraters either. Colorist Guilia Brusco and letterer Sal Cipriano complement the story so perfectly. No flashy distractions from the story. They just aid and abet in such a way as to make the story as effective as possible.
If there is a moral to this issue, it is that the things you've done in the past will always return to bite you in the ass. That's true of a lot of fiction and, indeed, of other issues of this very comic, but is just true to the Nth degree here as master storytellers head down the homestretch toward a finale they've been building toward from the beginning.
Scalped is quite simply one of the best books ever produced, and it's great to see it ending on its own terms as relatively few are able to do. I will miss it like nobody's business, but I know I can always revisit it like an one would old veteran scarred by battle but whose tales never fail to fascinate.
I just can't recommend Scalped with enough superlatives to do it justice! Even though I say this and know that it is not everyone's cup of tea, I just want you guys to know how passionate I am about it. If you like tough, gritty, high-quality shows like The Sopranos or [u]The Shield[/i], well, just imagine something on 2 dimensions and four colors that could go toe-to-toe with those guys and possibly deliver a knockout punch! If there's any justice, some network like HBO or AMC will take a long, hard look at this book and adapt it for television in a manner that respects the source material.
Fifty seven down...three to go, Prairie Rose Indian Reservation. Hoka hey!
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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Scalped is awesome ... I'm in denial about it ending. The last and this final story arc have been two of my favorites so far.
From: Ninja Land | Registered: Nov 2004
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I can't wait to pick up where I left off on the trades--I may wait til the finale to read them in one big push.
Even without reading the last several story arcs, I can agree Scalped ranks among the best comic book series of all time. It has every element needed to qualify it for a master piece.
Going one step further, I'd say its one of the best noir stories of all time. Not noir in the oft-misused sense of 'black & white' or 'crime', but real noir; where characters fight against forces beyond their control to escape what's coming to them but simply cannot. And usually, as Lardy says, it's something they deserve.
The comparison to the Shield is very apt. I consider the Shield the best crime / cop / modern noir show of all time (and whoever is 2nd is a far distant 2nd). Scalped captures that same gritty, realistic, tragic, noir sensibility.
Sucks that it's ending...but man, how great that we get to see the proper end? I can't wait to read it!
Lardy recommending Scalped to me is one of the great recommendations EVER for me. It helped reinvigorate me for comics in general, and stop putting up with the mediocrity that is so in abundance. I can't thank you enough big guy!
[ April 23, 2012, 05:36 PM: Message edited by: Cobalt Kid ]
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Saucer Country has really stalled out and it's a shame, because it started out great. The last two issues have been an extended info dump on the history of UFOs (combining "real" stuff with things Cornell is adding to the world of the book). But it's literally been two full issues of NOTHING happening and just having two different lecturers describing alien encounters from first the mythological aspect, and then the physical aspect. It's great to see Cornell is so invested in his subject matter, but there's no indication as to what data is relevant and what isn't, and in the meantime he's inadvertanlty killed all momentum and interest. maybe it will read better collected, but a two month break in a story that's barely starting is perplexing to say the least.
From: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Just a few comments about the finale of Scalped
Could it have ended any other way? I thought maybe 4 issues back that the series was dragging but .. then Aaron crammed so much in (it could've gone a couple issues more in some ways) ... that this really feels like an ending! As much as I'd love to see them again, I think this story is finished.
and it didn't end exactly how I thought it would.
Every character is still the same but, different.
From: Ninja Land | Registered: Nov 2004
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