Comic Books Comic Book • Page 384

Steg-Man and His Amazing Friends

About 25 min into the most recent episode, "The Keanu Story w/Donny Cates," Donny Cates tells a story about meeting Keanu Reeves, & it's great.

 

Man, so quarantine has got me back into comics big time. I read HoX/PoX and every title in the DoX in about a week and now I’m diving into the backlog of Image and other stuff I’ve put off reading for the longest time and a few new things. I’ve read Gideon Falls, Killadelphia, Die, Coffin Bound, and started Sex Criminals in the last week. Started Immortal Hulk too. Fuck there’s so much good stuff I’ve just put off for way too long.

 

I've definitely been reading alot of comics as well. Started my re-read of Snyder's Batman run and started The Walking Dead cuz why not.

 

I hated Heroes In Crisis so much and it unceremoniously killed off so many of my favorite little offbeat characters. King can hammer out some really good work, but man can he also just be a complete and total hack as well. Very little middle ground.

 

I’m trying not to re-read anything at the moment. Just trying to take in as many new stories as I can.

 

Tbf I never actually finished Snyder's Batman run, it had just been several years since I read it and needed a refresher.

I recently read Farmhand and The Outer Darkness if you are looking for more recs

 

Yeah to be fair, I don’t think I finished it myself. I was going to start King’s run but got a bit of it spoiler on me and the mixed reception is giving me pause. The only DC I’ve read in the past couple of weeks are Joker: Killer Smile and Harleen.

thanks, I’ll add them to the list!

going back to your first response, I’ve never actually read The Walking Dead, but the amount of issues and the fact I absolutely hate the tv show puts me off it.

 

How was Joker: Killer Smile? I have Harleen currently checked out through the library digitally so I'll get to that soon.

 

It's a good little story. I enjoyed it but I like Lemire's writing. It and Harleen touch on some of the same subjects, but I preferred Killer Smile.

 

Tom & his maxiseries, lol. Very interested in whatever he's cooking up w/ Jorge Fornés, whose recent work on Batman was really good but felt distractingly like a Year One-era Mazzucchelli clone. Though, if you gotta imitate someone, that's a pretty good source, lol. And, when he's not drawing Batman, it's less obvious.

 

This is exactly where I’m at with him.

His distinct style also gets tedious at times because all the characters tend to sound the same.

 

I read Goddess Mode today. Cyberpunk magical girls should be right up my alley but I think they just missed the landing. Tried to pack too much writing into 6 short issues.

 

Yeah, I'd agree w/ that. He's a lot like Bendis in that everyone he writes is basically just through his own voice, which either works for a character or doesn't, & either works for a reader or doesn't. Except, maybe to a greater extent than Bendis, 'cause he tends to base all of the story & themes around himself as well. He's always just 100% putting himself into these iconic superheroes, lol.

It's funny, the first thing of his where I kinda saw through it, was also what I'd consider my favorite thing he's done: Mister Miracle. The way King's storytelling & experiences collided w/ all that Kirby energy, & even more so the way Mitch Gerads handled the look of the thing, propelled it to being my favorite comic I read that year. But, it's also make me wonder how, for example, I'll respond to Strange Adventures when I finally read it, after it's all done. (Though, that one has Doc Shaner in the mix, which'll make me happier to play that same King song again, lol.)

 

Finally catching up on the last like decade of Marvel stuff that I’ve missed. Starting with Hickman’s Avengers run into Infinity and Secret Wars.

 

This looks really dope, whatever it is. (I think Donny teased a new ongoing Image series, so maybe this is that?) Maybe it'll be the Donny series I finally decide to get into at the beginning & follow monthly.

 

What has Donny written cuz I keep seeing his name around but not familiar with him?

 

Anything featuring Cosmic Ghost Rider lol

 

Thanos, God Country, Venom, a short run on Guardians of the Galaxy, Silver Surfer Black, Babyteeth, Redneck, Thor, and more, I'm sure. I've only read God Country, Thanos, and most of Venom, but he's pretty awesome and out there. His first Venom arc and Thanos Wins are especially terrific.

 

A bunch of Marvel & creator-owned stuff; really kinda blew up out of seemingly nowhere, lol.

His biggest mainstream thing is Venom, which has ruled since he took it over a couple years ago. A ton of miscellaneous Marvel cosmic stuff that's all interconnected, too, starting w/ a Thanos story where he created the "Cosmic Ghost Rider." And, recently took over Thor from Jason Aaron.

I somehow haven't read any of his creator owned stuff at Image & Aftershock yet, in spite of how much I've grown to really love the guy, lol. Wanna fix that before too long.

 

Cosmic Marvel doesn't interest me in the slightest but Venom sounds intriguing and long as I could go in blindly and still be alright.

I'll have to check out those Image books for sure

 

His Aftershock series is my favorite, Babyteeth. I think you'd love it.

 

Yeah, it's a really accessible jumping on point. If you just have, like, the vaguest idea of who Venom is in that general pop culture, "oh, hey, it's that guy w/ the teeth who's kinda tied to Spider-Man," you'll be fine, lol. I think anything significant gets explained as you go along.

So good. Balances a surprising amount of seemingly unrelated Marvel universe elements, like mythology, space, & the Vietnam War, while still staying anchored by Eddie & the stuff he's dealing with. Donny's talked in interviews about how his own experiences w/ addiction flavor how he writes Eddie as a fuck up just trying his best, & it works really well. Plus, the Ryan Stegman art in the first arc & the Absolute Carnage event is frickin' fantastic.

 

This sounds absolutely wild

 

Okay fine I'll read it!