Comic Books Comic Book • Page 483

Just a lame joke about how anime tends to take a premise and iterate it with every possible permutation. I mean, villainess anime seems to be taking off as a genre...

 

New Gotham City Sirens run is fun, I like it more than last year's. It's nice having them team up for an annual romp

 

After enjoying the new FF movie, I started reading some of their comics for the first time. Started with the 2022 run and I'm loving it. It's really well written, and tbh, I knew nothing about Alicia prior to this and I love that the writers give her so much to do for a character who doesn't have super powers. She feels like a real member of the team. Also really like that every storyline is just 1 or 2 issues.

I know I could have started from the beginning but TBH I'm not the biggest fan of the art style in older comic books and some of the corniness that comes along with it. If anyone has suggestions of other good, more modern FF comics I'd love to hear them!

 

My two favorite FF runs are probably the Waid run and the Hickman run.

Both are fairly accessible.

 

Hickman’s is definitely the best modern run, imo. Really cool and epic and heartfelt, and has subplots/themes that then get carried into Hickman’s New Avengers run & culminates in the 2015 Secret Wars.

You could also go a little further back and read the Waid & Wieringo run, which is a bit more bombastic. There’s a case to be made that it’s the best modern gateway for a certain kinda reader.

Going another decade back, I also like shouting out the early 90s work by Walt Simonson. Underrated run by the guy who had previously done the best Thor run. That Mobius guy from the TVA comes from there, and there’s also dinosaurs at one point.

I know you said what you said about old comics, but like… I do think it’s worth trying to read some 60s Jack Kirby comics and develop a taste for that. It’s brilliant stuff that’s so foundational for superheroes and comics of today. (I would say Kirby was the biggest influence on the movie, followed by Hickman.)

 

JMS also had a moderately fun run, as I recall it, though I admit that it’s been a while since I’ve revisited it.

 

Already caught up with the North run heh. A few issues into the Hickman run. I'm enjoying it, but I definitely preferred the North run so far. I'm gonna stick with it, though!

 

...eh, decided Hickman's run isn't for me right now anyways. Not a great beginner's run imho. Lots of characters I know nothing about, and the story kinda bounces around all over the place, with an issue often ending with me saying to myself "huh? what was the point of that?". I do enjoy his work with Ultimate Spider-Man, though.

I've been reading Waid's all night and I cannot put it down. I'm really enjoying it. Just got to Reed taking over Latveria after leaving Doom in Hell

 

I’m a little dismayed by the state of weekly online reviews of new comics.

It used to be that IGN, Newsarama, and other big outlets would have stuff up every Wednesday.

Comicbook.com had been doing something similar under Chase Magnett. But it looks like he is no longer active there and the weekly reviews are sporadic at best.

And even going to a place like comicbookroundup, the most reviews for a book on any given week is like 9 or 10. And most are niche outlets.

Anyone know of any sites doing weekly reviews of the new comics from DC, Marvel, and the big indies?

 

IGN is still a thing? I used to go on there constantly for news

 

Not anymore. I was referring to the 2010s era.

 

IGN is absolutely still a thing, emphasis on the thing part.

 

No, that's Ebon Moss-Bachrach now

 

I’m of the opinion that none of the regular review sites are good as a whole. Lots of mediocre writing that’s usually boring compliments, or sometimes boring criticisms. And, some of them have started doing a roundtable approach, which isn’t a terrible idea… except some of those have dull takes, too.

That being said, ComicsXF has a few people in the mix who are cool. Whenever Jude Jones chimes in on something, his pieces are really good. (Most often about X-Men or Black Panther.) And, they have a newer contributor named Margot Waldman who’s done some rad pieces (I may have shared her Legion 2-parter here?), who’s doing reviews for new issues of Captain America.

 

Admittedly, I don’t think that even back in the 2000s and 2010s that the big website reviews were particularly thoughtful. But it was always nice to have some quick thoughts about all the books released each week. Similar to the majority of reviews for new films released each week.

And more than anything, it just bums me out that people’s interest in picking books up weekly is thinning. Or maybe those reviews just moved to YouTube or something? And it’s just that I’m looking for the “old” model of doing things and the world has moved beyond that.

 

i only read reviews on completed runs, and only when looking at trades in used book stores. i use the term review broadly bc usually it's just stuff ppl are saying on goodreads or reddit.

there's this trend going around on tiktok where ppl post their hauls every week for new comic book day, so i've been kinda keeping track of ongoings through those. i think i'm gonna slow down on looking for new series, though. recently bag-and-boarded all my single issues and even bought a second box for them, shit's getting outta hand

 

I really liked Shadecraft. I also have Skyward but I haven't read it yet and didn't know it was the same creative team. They said they have plans for future arcs of Shadecraft but I guess they haven't gotten to it yet. a Netflix adaptation is supposedly in development as well

 

Poison Ivy book five is really good, as always. Doing a lot of resetting after the previous book concluded a lot of plot threads. I love the lore/worldbuilding and the art is gorgeous. I think the writing at both the micro and macro level is wonderful, Pam's narration is so fleshed out and the overall story is continually engaging.

 

Clementine Book Three was really good. The way the first book jumped off from the games was a bit jarring but now that I've read all three I can say I absolutely adore what Tillie Walden has done with this character. I should've never once doubted that Clem was placed in good hands

 

Chris Condon’s first seven issues of Green Arrow were solid.

And Ollie’s monologue in the last issue had me nodding my head.

Still wish the vibe was a liiiiiitle more left leaning. But it’s closer than it has been recently.

 

I met Mariko Tamaki, Nicole Goux, and ND Stevenson at an event and got some of their books signed

 

I’m on issue 33 of Batman/Superman: World’s Finest and it continues to be just top notch superhero entertainment. The Bat-Mite arc was so much fun.

 

i flipped through one of the books at B&N, i didn't realize it was set in the past (yet still within the mainline continuity). Dick was still Robin and afaik Barbara wasn't paralyzed. looked fun

 

lemme start out by saying idk anything about Archie, and of Tom King's work i've only read Woman of Tomorrow and I love Woman of Tomorrow. most of this info i've gathered from this very thread or from tiktok. (also, since this is only DC, i wanted to bring this discussion away from the Spidey thread)

Tom King's work is very hit or miss. Woman of Tomorrow and Mister Miracle are widely considered great, but Heroes in Crisis and his current Wonder Woman run are considered bad. his Batman stuff and Batman/Catwoman are just okay

pretty recently, he was writing for Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Jenny Sparks, three female characters. at the time, DC only had four female writers.

I think it's pretty ridiculous that he killed off Steve Trevor to create Trinity just so Diana could have a daughter to play with the Super Sons. story issues aside, i think we've reached a point in time where the ongoing for DC's most recognizable female character should have a female writer. Absolute Wonder Woman, which is written by a woman, seems to be way more popular.

ppl have also brought up that he used to be in the cia, and how that plays into his writing, tho personally idk how that alone is enough of a reason to be wary of his work