I have a print edition of it. It’s pretty great.
Comixology submit sale until 1/3/16. Use code INDIE at checkout for 50% off.
Notable because it includes nine Atomic Robo collections for $5 each.
Image holiday sale until 1/3/16. Use code IMAGE at checkout for 50% off. Includes pretty much everything released before 11/10/15.
Notables:
God Hates Astronauts, I loved this magnificently batshit insane book.
Monstress, an intricately drawn fantasy world with races at the edge of war and hidden magic abounding. Liked this A LOT.
We Stand On Guard, the US invades Canada, inspiring a violent and determined resistance. Brian K. Vaughan and Steve Skrose.
Epic Kill, a girl allows herself to become a weapon of unbeatable stabby kung-fu revenge. A quick & entertaining 8-issue story.
Sex, a sprawling and complex story of a retired superhero, the city whose defense he abandoned, and the titular obsessions of the characters.
Along with upthread recommendations (in roughly descending order): Saga, The Wicked + The Divine, Rat Queens, Bitch Planet, Autumnlands, Copperhead, They’re Not Like Us, Wayward, Sex Criminals, Velvet, Low, The Fuse, Morning Glories, and the Luther Strode books (Strange Talent, Legend, Legacy).
There’s also an IDW “discovery sale” until 1/21/16. A lot of first volumes of IDW’s bread-and-butter licensed books, but also includes Alex Robinson’s Box Office Poison for $5. A nice long B&W indie gem with some heart.
I’ll second We Stand On Guard. Brian K Vaughan can do no wrong, it would seem.
Anyone know if Fables goes on sale on Comixology? They have a compete set price of $237. My daughter likes this series but that is a bit high. Hoping they have a sale every so often.
Did anyone pickup Calvin & Hobbes for $1.99 in amazon Kindle yesterday? I saw it in the last 5 minutes and managed to snag a couple of the compendium, ugh!
Also, thanks for the tips on Atomic Robo, which should I start first, having heard a lot about this series but have not tried it.
edit: found in wiki
Volume 1: Atomic Robo and the Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne (180 pages, June 2008, ISBN 0-9809302-0-0)
Volume 2: Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War (160 pages, March 2009, ISBN 0-9809302-2-7)
Volume 3: Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time (152 pages, January 2010, ISBN 0-9809302-5-1)
Volume 4: Atomic Robo and Other Strangeness (140 pages, September 2010, ISBN 0-9809302-8-6)
Volume 5: Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science (152 pages, July 2011, ISBN 0-9809302-4-3)
Volume 6: Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X (152 pages, June 2012, ISBN 0-9868985-0-3)
Volume 7: Atomic Robo and the Flying She-Devils of the Pacific (152 Pages, February 2013, ISBN 0-9868985-2-X)
Volume 8: Atomic Robo and the Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur (152 Pages, June 2014, ISBN 0-9868985-6-2)
Volume 9: Atomic Robo and the Knights of the Golden Circle (152 Pages, January 2015)
Um, volume 1? Though to be honest it’s not a series which is heavy on continuity. The stories are relatively self contained.
Yeah, after a quick Google search on the Wikipedia, it’s pretty obvious which is Volume 1.
I have finished Vol 1 and like it. Love the WW 2 settings. It gives a very Tintin like vibe which I like. And not too heavy in dialogue and plot. I think I’m going to enjoy this series.
It’s a shame I can’t use the gift credit in my amazon account to pay for it.
For me the main attraction is the dialogue. It’s very Joss Whedony.
BTW, it seems you can now subscribe to series on Comixology, but they haven’t integrated it with Pull List for some insane reason.
Not Chris Claremont-long type of dialogue for sure :)
This weekend I finally read the last ~10 issues each of Hickman’s Avengers and New Avengers, and then all of the main Secret Wars title. I’d been buying them all along but hadn’t been current for over a year at least. Secret Wars was pretty good from that perspective, as someone who wasn’t really following much Marvel month-to-month so I wasn’t bothered by delays or the problems those delays caused for other titles.
Now that I’m caught up, what’s worth following in this post-Secret Wars Marvel landscape? I just want three or four titles to keep up with.
So I’ve avoided the new Vader comic because I’m not a fan of all the Star Wars extended universe stuff, and for that matter I’m sick of all the Star Wars hype in general at the moment. But this particular comic got so much praise, and is also written by Kieron Gillen, whose writing I generally love, so I picked up the first TPB the other day. And, what do you know, it’s really, really good.
The only Marvel book I make a point of reading ASAP lately is Dan Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man, which hasn’t changed all that much from the pre-SW run with the exception of Peter Parker being even more Stark-ified. Deadpool is still amusing, the Squadron Supreme book is trying to be grim & gritty with little appeal. I have a hard time believing that they really allowed this book to kill off the long-standing character that they did, and suspect a reset button around the corner.
I’m pretty much letting everything else sort itself out and catch up with it once more than a handful of issues are out. I consider the X-books hopelessly broken as a matter of editorial policy, the multiple Inhuman books to be unjustified by market demand for the characters, and the rebooted Avengers books unproven.
There are a heck of a lot of no-name writers putting out Marvel’s product right now, with a few emerging writers like Charles Soule and Cullen Bunn picking up several books as well. I see Nick Spencer (Superior Foes of Spider-Man) is doing Ant-Man and Sam Wilson’s Cap, Dennis Hopeless (Avengers Arena) is doing Spider-Woman and one of the X-books, Aaron and Bachalo are doing Dr Strange, and Bendis is down to only 2 books, so it’s not a total loss. But a lot of talent walked out the door with the not-a-reboot. I’m expecting stuff like Black Knight, Howling Commandos of SHIELD, Red Wolf, Patsy Walker, a.k.a. Hellcat, Starbrand and Nightmask (what a terrible #1 cover), Venom: Space Knight, and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur to fade quickly. Odd solo books like Scarlet Witch, Carnage, Karnak, and Vision probably won’t outlast their initial creative teams and concepts by much.
The new Star Wars comics are pretty good, though.
No, I think it has more to do with the fact that the movie license for that character is in limbo and Marvel wants it back so, as they’ve done with the FF, Marvel has essentially removed the character from the board on the grounds that they’re not going to continue to generate IP for a character they no longer “own” (since Disney only cares about the movies, not the comics, at least for revenue).
I’m a couple of years behind on reading Marvel books, even though I continue collecting through habit, but I need to reevaluate by at least reading what I have, as the company really seems to have lost a lot of writing talent and its way in general. It’s hard not to blame Disney too.
I hope they get him back and have Max Greenfield play him in a movie.
I’ve only read few comic books in my life and the finest were The Fables.
Highly Recommended:
Suicide Risk (BOOM Studios, 25-issue series): A terrible title for an excellent book. I won’t spoil, since there are reveals that happen after the first trade (sorry, Brad), but it’s a fun scifi book with some really interesting twists and maintains its energy through the finish. I love it when a book can stick the landing.
Princess Ugg (Oni Press, 8 issues): I didn’t care for the art in Ted Naifeh’s Courtney Crumrin books (especially the noseless shpere-headed lead character), but the style is dramatically different in this book and the story is great fun. A rough-edged warrior princess from the boonies goes to princess finishing school in another land and takes on the mean girls.
The Life After (Oni Press, 10 issues): What if Heaven and Hell weren’t as well-managed as we thought, and someone was glitching the system? A novel concept with lots of big kinda-religious kinda-bureaucratic ideas kicking around and an afterlife version of Ernest Hemmingway. New and different ideas are good.
Death Sentence and Death Sentence: London (Titan, two 6-issue minis): A well-told “powers in the real world” book with bold concepts and believable storytelling. The follow-up London series feels like all middle, so there must be a third series in the works.
Brass Sun (2000AD, 6-issue mini): An apprentice comes of age in a broken world that might just be saved. Masterful world-building, solid pacing, engaging characters. I want more from this world.
Echo (30 issue series): Terry Moore’s follow-up to Strangers In Paradise was a sci-fi chase book. My only complaint is that we never got told what was in the box. Note: the book is B&W for those that care.
Recommended:
Thomas Alsop (BOOM Studios, 6-issue mini): Manhattan has had a family of protector magicians since before the founding of the US, but this latest one is different. Magic in the era of reality TV, social media, and terrorism. Fresh and unpredictable.
Protocol: Orphans (BOOM Studios, 4-issue mini): A twisty-turny spy organization story with engaging characters. Looking forward to more.
The Midas Flesh (BOOM Studios, 8-issue mini): What if King Midas was weaponized by a space pirate? Clever, colorful art and an engaging story.
Tyson Hesse’s Diesel (BOOM Studios, 4-issue mini: This one rises above neutral thanks to some interesting world-building, solid characterization, and a decent payoff for what is obviously only part one of a story.
Wild’s End (BOOM Studios, 6-issue mini): What if War of the Worlds was played out in a world of talking animals? Works better than I thought it could.
Lady Killer (Dark Horse, 5-issue mini): Not the first “assassin living a secret life” story but it stands out thanks to Joelle Jones’ sharp period-piece art, with brutal action and '50s style.
Watson and Holmes (6-issue series): A kickstarted book with the titular characters recast as “urban.” Hooray for the public domain (NOT sarcasm). It’s well-told but don’t expect a storyline spanning all six issues. Since the most recent issue was released in 2013, I think the makers may have run out of gas.
Neutral (not crap, but not recommended, either):
Lunita (Amigo Comics, 4-issue mini): As best as I can tell, Amigo exists to bring Spanish (as in Spain) comics to English-speaking markets. Lunita is about a mystery girl, supernatural conspiracies, and a rogue American agent getting to the bottom of things. I liked the art, especially the unconventional style and character design choices, but the story didn’t stay with me, and I have no real desire to revisit the characters.
Rogues (Amigo Comics, 6-issue mini): I like Juan Jose Ryp’s art a lot, which is what persuaded me to read a swords & sorcery book, something I ususally pass on. But it ultimately reminded my why I usually pass on them, felt like a lot of running in place.
Butterfly (Archaia, 4-issue mini): A spy story with art in the Alex Maleev style. Felt like a recycled movie script.
Feathers (Archaia, 6-issue mini): A mysterious boy coverered in feathers, a walled city, the slums outside the city, the city’s birdlike patron saint. How do these relate? Jorge Corona’s art style is lively and engaging, but the storytelling didn’t deliver enough to make me feel like the 6-issue investment fully paid off. Still, just short of recommended based on the art alone. I’d like to see this guy draw a Psychonauts comic.
Idolized (Aspen, 5-issue mini): A competent take on the American-Idol superteam idea.
Dan The Unharmable (Avatar, 12-issue series): A really neat idea about a man with no memory who cannot be hurt and the orphaned kids he starts to take care of against his better judgment. Written by David Lapham (Stray Bullets) who appeared to be indulging his inner Garth Ennis. The ending is nihilistic, under-foreshadowed, and didn’t feel fitting to the situation, which dropped it out of recommended. Chock full of the standard Avatar sex & violence, so be warned.
Unfunnies (Avatar, 4-issue mini): This is probably Mark Millar’s darkest work, as well as his deepest. A cartoon world finds itself infiltrated with real-world sleaze in what plays out as a Seduction of The Innocent analogy/allegory. Disturbing and true to its title. It made an impression, but I wouldn’t put it into anyone’s hands and tell them to read it, reading it should be your own decision.
Broken World (BOOM Studios, 4-issue mini): The world is ending, who gets to leave on the rockets? And what happens when the world doesn’t end? A neat premise, but it ultimately had no real point or journey for the characters.
Deep State (BOOM Studios, 8-issue mini): This one is tough to describe without spoilers. A list of themes: a deeply covert organization, the lives of its operatives, the question of identity, the nature of betrayal. Might have finished higher but should have been at least 2 issues shorter.
Eternal (BOOM Studios, 4-issue mini): What if you could live forever? Well, not YOU, but the people who could afford it? Might spur some resentment among the have-nots.
Fiction Squad (BOOM Studios, 6-issue mini): Solving crimes in a fairy tale word is, oddly enough, well trod ground at this point. Still, it’s decent work from Paul Jenkins, who has written some real junk for the Big 2. And the art is colorful, dynamic and a good read.
Hit (BOOM Studios, 4-issue mini): A 1950s LA crime story, no more and no less than that.
Memetic (BOOM Studios, 3-issue mini): Social media causes the end of the world, but was there a point to this?
Father’s Day (Dark Horse, 4-issue mini): What if your dad had a really really good reason to abandon you as a child? A mob-related reason. A straight-line story that feels like an adapted movie script.
Bad Ass (Dynamite, 4-issue mini): A super-villain’s story, crazy enough to be fun, but won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.
Ex-Con (Dynamite, 5-issue mini): A con man with a bit of a super-power deals with parole, the guy who put him in prison, and the inevitable double-crosses.
Men of Wrath (Icon, 5-issue mini): A crime parable, reasonably well told but like Bad Ass above, not universally recommendable.
Doberman (IDW, 5-issue mini): Feels like an adaptation of a comedy cop script. Did not 100% work.
Half Past Danger (IDW, 6-issue mini): A WWII story with super-science themes. Well-told, middle of the road stuff.
Judge Dredd Year One (IDW, 4-issue mini): A sort-of origin story for a character that didn’t really need one. An OK JD story for what it’s worth.
Long Distance (IDW, 4-issue mini): Thom Zahler does romance stories with a unique cartoony art style and minimal coloring. He’s done one with superheroes before (Love and Capes), but this one is strictly earthbound. Both main characters are basically Mary Sues, so the only conflict comes from their living in different places.
Not Recommended:
Lola XOXO (Aspen, 6-issue mini): A post-apocalyptic tale about an orphaned girl and the stupid decisions she keeps making. Couldn’t finish it.
Black Market (BOOM Studios, 4-issue mini): I complained earlier about a mini feeling like a recycled movie script, and a lot of BOOM’s minis have this feel. This one’s a crime story about the underground acquisition of superhero biological samples. The art appears Oeming-inspired, but it’s pretty uneven.
Curb Stomp (BOOM Studios, 4-issue mini): A violent act (what’s the title again?) has brutal consequenses for an all-girl gang with only 4 members. Unbelievable characters do stupid things for poorly connected outcomes. If the last issue of your book has me saying the word “bullshit” out loud . . .
X (Dark Horse, 24-issue series): Starts out on a solid Batman-esque premise - a mystery vigilante fighting the criminials controlling the city. Slides off the rails after the first year’s worth of issues, as the character loses focus and the story wanders around in search of a point.
** rest moved to later post, who knew there was a 10k word limit?**
Just started diving into the Valiant Comics universe and I’m really liking it. A super hero universe featuring a Visigoths warlord as one of it’s heroes? I’m down. I’ve only gotten tot he first cross over event but I’m really liking how they have integrated their various stories. About to start the Rick and Morty comic, I’ve heard good things.
** continued from last post **
Damsels (Dynamite, 13-issue series, 5-issue mini): A bit of a see-what-I-did-there book, with the traditional damels in distress as the hidden, ass-kicking heroes of the fairy tales (the writer basically pats herself on the back in a column in one of the issues). Could have been clever, but the story meanders and doesn’t come to much of a finish, only to focus on a side story in a following mini. Would have been neutral if it had ended up somewhere.
Legenderry (Dynamite): Could barely finish the first issue, guess it’s not for me.
Borderlands (IDW, 8 issues): Basically a re-telling of the game’s story. But I already played it.
Star Mage (IDW, 6-issue mini): Harry Potter in space! Not good. Might be the worst of this bunch.
Yes, I’m recycling a bit from upthread.
Highly Recommended:
Saga: Least surprising recommendation ever. But Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples are still making a top-notch book.
The Wicked + The Divine: What if all of those pagan gods visited the Earth every 90 years, and their current visit was right now? Damn good, both the art and the story.
Bitch Planet: Women in prison IN SPACE! They aren’t going to put up with that. Clever story by Kelly Sue Deconnick, and much better than her recent Marvel work, which felt a bit by the numbers and needlessly yanked around by EVENT COMICS.
Wayward: A girl leaves her Irish father to live with her Japanese mother in Tokyo, discovers mystic abilities and a band of outsiders with the same connections. An American take on manga-style themes by Jim Zub (Skullkickers).
Rat Queens: Fun fantasy featuring fighting females. Basically the only swords & sorcery book I’ve liked since Skullkickers.
God Hates Astronauts: I loved this magnificently batshit insane book. If you don’t want to read a book with a character named Admiral Tiger Eating A Cheeseburger, then I don’t know how else to entice you.
Descender: In a galaxy devastated by a robot uprising, a little boy’s companion robot is discovered. If he wasn’t the key to everything, we wouldn’t have much of a book. Some really nice, thought-provoking writing from Jeff Lemire.
East of West: Jonathan Hickman’s verge-of-apocalypse tale in a US devastated and divided by war and the Four Horsemen, who have seen themselves divided over how things should play out. This stuff is what Hickman is best at.
Huck: Millar does yet another take on the Superman story, but this is some of his least cynical work.
Low: The story of a family torn apart by external and internal conflicts in a world where mankind has been forced below sea level. Elevated by the art and world-building.
Monstress: I like to let a book get at least 6 issues old before recommending it, but this one is so pleasingly complex and pretty I can’t resist. Magic and warring races currently at peace, but our main character will likely change all of that.
Velvet: Brubaker and Epting, a story about a Ms. Moneypenny who turns out to be a 00 operative.
Recommended:
Copperhead: A space western with a new sherrif in town, er, planet. She’s managing the residents of this podunk world, a jealous deputy who didn’t get the job, the safety of her son, and the consequenses of her past decisions as a law enforcer.
Manifest Destiny: What if Lewis & Clark’s real mission was to clear out the monsters in the unexplored lands of North America between the Mississippi and the Pacific? Well-written and genuinely creepy monsterstuff.
We Stand On Guard: The future US has invaded Canada, and some Canadians really don’t appreciate that. Solid story by BKV and great art from Steve Skroce.
The Fuse: Detectives policing a space station that wasn’t originally meant to be a living space and ended up being a new “country.”
They’re Not Like Us: Yet another “superpowers in the real world” idea, this time with mental powers so that the metaphorical alienation of people who can’t tell who you really are is nicely depicted. Started strong, but has been meandering and sidelining its more interesting characters.
Autumnlands: A world of magic using talking animals summon one of those old “humans,” thinking he was one of the ancient ones. He doesn’t necessarily agree.
Rebels: A ground-level story of the American revolution. Not what we usually get out of Brian Wood, feels genuine instead of snarky.
Sex: A sprawling and complex story of a retired superhero, the city whose defense he abandoned, and the titular obsessions of the characters. Not as much sex as you might think. Has done a good job of reaching the mid-20s without losing its focus.
Paper Girls: I don’t think this BKV book is the best of the year like some are saying, but it’s a good comic. It might have benefited from a bit more character development before the weirdness started.
Jupiter’s Legacy: I love Frank Quitely’s art, and if he draws it. I’m buying. Millar’s story is a take on the aging supers giving way to their less-principled children. This is a part one, don’t expect full resolution just yet.
Kaijumax: A prison story in a prison for giant Godzilla-level monsters. It’s played mostly straight, and it works surprisingly well.
No Mercy: A brutal story of a charity-working trip to Mexico gone really, really bad. Body count bad.
Rocket Girl: A fun time-traveling teenage police story, but nobody would blame you for waiting for the story to get finished. They put out issues very slowly.
Sex Criminals: What if orgasms stopped time for you? What if it did for other people, too? After 10 issues, it’s had to do a lot of world-building to set up the conflicts (both external and internal, with an interesting handling of mental illness) but was also running the risk of spinning its wheels and going nowhere. I’m letting some more issues build up before picking up the story again. Still, a funny, clever and nicely drawn book with an unconventional premise.
A Voice In The Dark: An intriguing book about a conflicted serial killer.
Planetoid: A 5-issue mini about a space traveler stranded on a world where you can land but not take off.
Starlight: A Buck-Rogers style hero abadons the world that has always questioned his stories and returns to the world he saved to save it again. I think this one might have actually got Millar a movie deal.
Neutral:
The Humans: What if Planet of The Apes was mashed up with a '70s version of Sons of Anarchy, minus Charlton Heston and plus Vietnam PTSD? Neat idea, but it’s not rising above its concept, which it’s trying to play straight rather than jokey. So it’s a period piece with apes in the lead roles and humans treated as stupid animals.
America’s Got Powers: Brian Hitch does the same art thing he’s been doing since The Ultimates, this time in the services of an American Idol-style superhero TV show. Unexceptional but not bad.
Codename Baboushka: I generally like Antony Johnson’s writing (such as The Fuse), but this book’s art was surprisingly rough for an Image book. That said, it’s a decent enough spy romp.
Deadly Class: Rick Remender’s writing can be all over the place, and so is this book. I’m not sure if it can pick a tone and stick with it. So far, it’s a revenge story versus an academy for super-assassins versus teen romance versus menacing hillbillies book. But I’ve only read the first 11 issues. If it can pull it together, it might finish higher with me. Note: the coloring really stands out in this book.
The Empty: Jimmie Robinson doing a sincere story nothing like his Bomb Queen work. A dying world gets a visitor cast out of her verdant world for reasons that explain just about everything. Neat, but not quite compelling.
Big Man Plans: A “little person” Vietman vet’s revenge story. Rough stuff.
Imperial: A legendary super hero chooses a hesitant successor.
MPH: One of Millar’s books that feels like a movie pitch. It’s about super-fast criminials! A perfectly average story about super-fast criminals.
Oddly Normal: The daugher of a witch who gave up witching to marry her father in the real world accidentally wishes her parents away. Sure, she hated our world, but her mother’s world might be worse. Cute, but low key. After 10 issues, the creator has discontinued individual issues in favor of making trades.
Peter Panzerfaust: A take on Peter Pan as a leader of Lost Boys in WWII. A neat concept, but I coudn’t maintain interest for the entire run.
Not Recommended:
Burn The Orphanage - Born To Lose: I’ve come to expect better from Image. This book’s disjointed and nonsensical storytelling overwhelmed whatever point it was trying to make, or characters it was trying to build.
Clone: Another book that started off strong, but got wobbly in its teens. On hiatus as of issue 20 with no ultimate resolution in sight.
Great Pacific: A book that started strong, with the concept of creating a new nation out of garbage, but didn’t ultimately know where to take the story after that.
Zero: Started out as an intriguing book about an assassin, ended up a weird book about sentinent moss. No, really.