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If anybody wants to read Airboy done right, check out the first volume of the Airboy Archives, collecting the earliest and best stories from the 1980s.

"We Stand of Guard" was a fun first issue. Not sure how all you Yanks will react, but I thought it was a blast (even if BKV did go overboard on a few of the Canadian stereotypes).

I'm willing to give it a chance (bought it earlier this week), but it better not be to pro-Canucklehead.

Eh?

Cobie, I'm juggling a few possibilities for my next In-Stock Trades order. Should I order the Descender Vol. 1 trade? Like you, I bought, read and liked issue number one, but I fell behind. Does the quality remain pretty steady for those first six issues?

^YES, order it!! Beautiful art and awesome universe building... one of my favorites!

edit to add- The trade is coming out in the 7 month "gap month" to give Dustin Nguyen a jump on the next arc.

I also say yes, and I feel reading it in trades will be better experience (which is what I've switched over to doing after the end of the first arc).

The art is amazing and the writing is great too--lots of great characters so far!

Okay, OKAY! I'll GET it!!!!

Driller is my favorite so far. Something else else about him appeals to the little kid in me.

Did anyone get Chrononaughts? A definite plus is that it has Sean Murphy art. The question is what kind of script did Millar give him.

The art is phenomenal, and the script lets Murphy showcase a variety of awesome eras and settings: high Middle Ages, roaring 20's, dinosaurs, WWII, etc.

But the writing is okay at best, pushing more towards outright weak. There's a lot of "bro" escapist fantasy that is so overboard that it's annoying. And the plot itself is so thin that even coming from Millar its a shock.

So a very mixed bag. Love Sean Murphy but this is the least effective thing he's ever done because of Millar's writing.

Ugh. Too bad. I'll pass.

I meant to reply to this weeks ago but kept forgetting. I'm collecting it and so far, I'm optimistically curious even if I haven't been totally wowed yet in the same way I was with Saga or Y: the Last Man.

Like most Americans, if I feel there is too much anti-USA sentiment going on, I'll angrily vote for Donald Trump and declare war on the rest of the world. (:P) But so far, Vaughn is showing his usual smart writing without doing what one might expect on a book about the USA invading Canada.

My favorite part of #1 was the Joe Simon monologue which ends with something along the lines of "Superman is fucking Canadian". I was literally smiling from ear to ear. Just brilliant.

BKV is a favorite of mine. So I'm going to at least give him until #6 but I fully expect by that time I'll be committed to reading this on the reg.

Tokyo Ghost #1-3 by Rick Remender and Sean Murphy.

It's total dystopian L.A. in 2089. Everyone is living a life of on-line entertainment distraction, ruled over by Flak Corp. One exception navigates this hell-hole: Debbie Decay, untouched by the tech consuming everyone else, since her detective father raised her to appreciate nature. Now she's a detective working for Flak Corp and trying to get her partner/boyfriend Teddy, much abused by the system and totally tech-addicted, out of the L.A. and into the last remaining natural refuge, Tokyo.

It's grim, hard-hitting, lots of action; it's Mad Max, Hunger Games, environmental disaster story and social commentary, wrapped up in a quest for Utopia.

By the third issue, Debbie and Teddy have gotten to the Garden of Tokyo, settled down and detoxed Teddy. Of course, it won't end as simply as that; there's a villain lurking in the weeds, seeking revenge.

The artwork is very detailed, which I always enjoy; it gives an in-depth and complex picture of life in this world, supporting the rather heavy-hitting message of what could happen if we let ourselves become lost in on-line, corporate-generated amusement.

With that, I should follow the book's advice, log out of LW and go walk the dog.

That Plutona series by Jeff Lemire and Emi Lennox is pretty good. I'm curious as to where it's all heading and how the super community will react to the titular character's disappearance.

Black Magick's another good book Image has right now. It's basically a police mystery drama involving witchcraft, and so far they've avoided the stereotypes of making the main character an outcast in her job and with her coven because of her responsibilities to both.

Lately, as I find more and more joy reading books than comics, it's felt like a chore to collect so many independents. Which is a shame. But something is missing from the joy I usually experience from comics, and I think it goes back to what Lardy has said again and again about how the story-telling structures and devices of yesteryear are just not used as much any more--and this new style of writing leaves me a little cold.

So I've scaled back my Image pull list to:

Walking Dead
Thief of Thieves
Saga
Morning Glories
Stray Bullets
Velvet
*whatever the next Brubaker / Phillips thing is
The Goddamned
Manifest Destiny

And two of them right on the bubble are:
Sex Criminals - I know, I know, it's been great. But why am I not loving it still? I don't know.
Nowhere Men

I also plan on getting Brian Wood's Black Road when it comes out because I'm loving his Rebels published by Dark Horse.

It may be that I can only handle so many independent comics at one time. Sometimes I think by collecting too much, it becomes harder to keep track of what I'm reading and enjoy it. By scaling it down, I'll be able to be more attentive to what I am collecting and enjoy it for what it is. I don't quite have that problem with superhero comics because I know the histories of the characters backwards and forwards.

Interesting....I thought you were getting Descender, too. Did you drop that one? I've got the first trade but haven't read it yet.

Looks like the Image books I get that you are not are Invincible (as long-established), Autumnlands and Paper Girls. I haven't yet read the first PG but trust in the BKV. I dropped Velvet and ToT a year ago and have never read the Goddamned. Is that a Millar or Morrison book?

Interesting that the returns of Nowhere Men and Sex Criminals have fallen flat for you. I'll admit SC isn't as fresh as it was, but it's still pretty easily in my Top Five. I mean the lettercol alone...!

I know Nowhere Men was a fave for you when it first came out. I've yet to read any of it, but it's not encouraging that it's fallen so hard with you.

I take it you saw my latest Pull List update from a couple of weeks ago?

The trade of Descender was much better than I expected. I picked it up since Cobie had recommended it a while ago. It's very reminiscent of the movie AI (little robot kid, people who hunt robots) but with a bigger, galaxy-spanning plot and more skulduggery.

The first issue of the new Nowhere Men arc was pretty flat, focus on the daughter of one of the scientists and not too much progress in the plot. I'll keep it on the list, though.

Another Image trade is Invisible Republic. It's a mystery/political story set in the future of our solar system, when planets and asteroids have been colonized. A fallen-from-grace reporter stumbles on the diary of a cousin of a fallen dictator, which reveals the dirty secrets behind his rise to power (are there ever any good secrets?). Different factions are after him now. It's a compelling story, switching between the cousin's life years ago and the reporter's present day tribulations.

I made the decision to continue Descender in trades, because I felt like I wasn't keeping track of it in my head enough month to month. I think that was a precursor of this recent decision--it was just too many "new" series to keep track of. But I liked it a lot and actually think it'll read better in trades.

I should have prequalified my post by saying that's just my monthly pull. I plan to continue with Descender and Lil Depressed Boy in TPB format. Can't remember if there was another?

I like Nowhere Men a lot but the wait was just so long. So I'm left questioning if I real love it.

The same goes for Sex Criminals. I was super enthusiastic at first. But lately, I just don't even feel like reading the latest issue and it's one of the last things I get to, almost like a chore. I'm not sure why, but I'm just not loving it.

Paper Girls had a lot to like but I ultimately dropped it. No real complaints, other than I'm currently going through some kind of comic book reading crisis where I'm having trouble finding joy in so much of the hobby. I dropped others too: Pretty Deadly is one that I liked quite a bit but when it came back I just couldn't muster up the energy to read it.

I actually have decided not to sample any more Millar or Morrison series. I will let other readers by the beta testers and if all appears good, I'll try a trade.

I never actually tried Autumnlands. Was that the Kurt Busiek one? I can't remember if it was too close to Fables so I passed. I didn't try Invisible Republic either but I recall I like one of the creators a lot (Gabriel Hardman?). FC's description sounds pretty great though!

I think the problem is I started to double down and even triple down on Image after I pulled way back on DC and Marvel, and it all became a bit too unwieldy. Coupled with the way comic book culture is incredibly annoying on social media, and how the Big 2 are horrendous, and it's hard to stay up hear about comics in general. So I'm hoping this retrenchment helps.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: The Goddamned is the new comic by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guerra, your beloved creative team from Scalped! So far, so awesome! Since you were the infamous poster who introduced Scalped into my life, I feel like you must already be getting this or certainly will be once you confirm it indeed exists and isn't something I hallucinated in a drunken stupor!

But seriously---FUCK!!!

Sometimes between a series being first announced at, say, Image Expo to it being solicited to it actually hitting the stands, I lose track of it or even forget about it! That ever happen to you?

I'll have to see if my comic book guy has copies available!

Good to know it wasn't lacking in quality, at least.



Have you tried the new issues at all?



I will say that in expanding the focus to include other sexual powers, conspiracies and stuff that maybe it's losing its more personal focus on the main characters which was always the series' super-power. Still, I feel that even with some fallback in quality, it is still a unique book that has much to offer.



Again I haven't read the first issue yet, but BKV's a "buy on sight" kinda writer. Plus, flipping thru the pages, it's absolutely gorgeous with the Cliff Chiang art.

Pretty Deadly was always a challenging read as far as keeping up from issue to issue with delays. Sounds like one to get in trades if at all.



Yeah, it would take a praise avalanche for me to sample either writer's work.



Yeah, it's Kurt. It's not the greatest thing ever, but I'm enjoying it well enough. the art is gorgeous, and Kurt is doing some of that world-building we love him to do. Check out the first trade some time.



I hear ya, pal. My latest pull list reflects pretty dramatically where I am with monthly books at this point compared to what was.

I do that all the time, and it feels more than ever lately! I think you'll definitely enjoy it so hopefully you can find a copy of #1. If not, let me know and I'll do some digging myself.

Until recently, Image had been overwhelming me with awesome-cool-sounding launches. I looked at my pull list one day and couldn't believe how many Image titles were on the list, and so... a culling (nothing to do with that horrible Harvest storyline from the beginning of the new 52 and the Legionnaires Lost).

My three favorites Image series right now are:
- Saga: addictive space saga with stunning visuals
- East of West: addictive political/apocalypse saga with stunning visuals
- Low: this one is my personal favorite, it speaks to me on many levels, the difficulty of staying optimistic when the world falls apart around you, the importance of never giving up hope... Remender can be so cruel to his characters, but it moves me deeply almost every issue, and sometimes I cry real tears. Also, it's beautiful to look at