[Angie]

http://www.ryan-a.com/comics/sarahandtheseed01.htm

so awesome

[William_Duel]

Fear the mighty cuddliness of BATTLEPUG:
http://battlepug.com/

[(Pi)]

got Level Up on saturday, read through it twice. it's fantastic. it's heartfelt. it's funny. it's sincere.

i could go on, but i think you get the idea. maybe it doesn't resonate quite as deeply with me as American Born Chinese, but it still hits pretty close to home. i think any number of us could relate to this, by the virtue of what we do here.

[Kevin Birtcher]

Just finished American Vampire.



It's hella good

[Angie]

I really need to order that online! Every time I go to buy it at stores the only have volume 2

[Kevin Birtcher]

Received American Vampire vol. 2 and 3 today... and I've already finished vol. 2.



Gonna grab some food and start on book 3

[William_Duel]

Ookami no Kuchi: Wolfsmund
(Wolf's mouth: Wolfsmund)

I like this!  This is pretty cool!  Overall it's a pretty bleak story and has an overall dark tone to it but it's realistic historical fiction and takes place in the later middle ages.  Each chapter features a different set of protagonists but the villains remain the same, the oppressive Duke of Austria sets up a sadistic governor at a pass that leads to Italy.  And basically each chapter is the protagonists' attempts to get through the pass.  There's an overall subplot that builds up but the protagonists usually have different reasons and motivations for getting to the other side.  William Tell shows up at one point and he is a badass!

http://www.mangareader.net/ookami-no-kuchi-wolfsmund

[cultmasterflex]

sweet read Duel ill be checking back on that site for the next chapters

[William_Duel]

Now as some of you may notice from time to time or at least before the site changed over, we'd get spam in the incubator and some such.  And sometimes (before the mods would delete the thread) some people would turn the spam into authentic VOIDers.  It's how we got Casino Reasoning.  This webcomic is pretty much that and the results are hilarious:

http://horseecomics.tumblr.com/

[Orion]

Will, you are very right. These are hilarious.

[Angie]

After years of forgetting to do it, I finally bought Blacksad. It's a gorgeous book and is very entertaining. Reading it also made me glad that I've chosen to use animal people in my stories. Sure, furries have bastardized them for the most part, but stuff like Blacksad shows how really awesome they can be when done well.



I've also started reading Invincible. I've never been big on superhero comics, I grew up liking X-Men and Gen13 but that was about it. Invincible is pretty awesome, and very well done.

[Kevin Birtcher]

Nice.  I fully support both Invincible and Blacksad.

[Kevin Birtcher]

I recently finished Petrograd


It's "untold tale of the international conspiracy behind the murder of Gregorii Rasputin!"  Clearly fictionalized, though well researched, it's a well-told take of international politics, secrets, conspiracies, and revolution.  Recommended.

[Johnny Blaque]

After years of forgetting to do it, I finally bought Blacksad. It's a gorgeous book and is very entertaining. Reading it also made me glad that I've chosen to use animal people in my stories. Sure, furries have bastardized them for the most part, but stuff like Blacksad shows how really awesome they can be when done well.

I'm so glad Darkhorse is going to release the fourth book in July!  Can't wait!

I'm reading...

Just arrived in the mail today, I'm like halfway through it and it's so much of an improvement over the first in every way.  It was so worth the wait in my eyes.  Crazy too since if you've followed Reyyy's style changes over the years, you can see them in this book since it took forever to come out.  But it's not like a gradual change, you can tell he went back and redid or shuffled parts or whatever.  It's not jarring because it does fit with the tone of the chapters.  One thing I really dig is the anime bumper style chapter breaks.  They come just like commercial breaks would.

[Fed]

Lucky Luke. Every issue where Morris (Maurice De Bevere) contributed.

Lucky Luke, Astrix, Tin-Tin & the works of Franquin (Gaston Lagaffe, Spirou etc) were always a huge influence on my art and writing. If you've never read any of these, then SHAME ON YOU!

[Evil Eye]

I'm boring.  Mostly mainstream (or at least popular) things for me, though I'm looking to change that when I have some more time.

Thus far my most obvious comic reading consists of Watchmen, pretty much anything Batman, a dash of Superman, scattered Spiderman stories throughout the years (this was "the comic" growing up), and, well, I think this incredibly short list might have already ended on me.  Batman is a character in particular that I've come to love, for a smattering of both artistic and personal reasons, and I've read a large percentage of the essentials.  I plan to pick a point about as far back into the Golden Age as contains cheese that I can tolerate and just read everything from that point onward.  Probably sometime in the 70s, when they actually really tried to start writing good stories but weren't very good at it yet.

I've also read a couple of indy things you've probably never heard of (insert hipster scarf here but not really).  I've read all three volumes of Shadow Man, which I found enjoyable but other than the Garth Ennis run in volume two (cut all too short), found to be summed up as a lot of missed potential more often than not.  I've read the run of Global Frequency, which as far as pulp goes was very enjoyable, and at rare times clawed at the ceiling of dumb fun, trying madly to reach something truly good and meaningful.  I've read the Snake Plissken comics, entirely out of my love for the character and films, and more out of dutiful obligation than enjoyment, really.  The Snake Plissken Chronicles had their moments.  Read Miller's "The Hard Goodbye" a few years back as well, and I really enjoyed it.  Oh, and I read a bit of Kick-Ass, which was incredibly hot and cold for me.  I feel like Mark Millar has nuggets of greatness in his writing but gets bogged down in gimmick and shock jock tactics too much. Never was persuaded to finish or keep up with it.

Currently working on the KnightsEnd arc of Batman.  I must say, I was actually really beginning to enjoy Jean Paul Valley as Batman.  I felt he brought unique conflict and characterization to the role while also filling the mantle very deftly, and feel a bit like the writers went cheap and pandering in writing him away as a hardassed villain rather than the intriguing, struggling character he'd been beforehand.  I'm right around where Bruce starts training up to take him on, so that should be fun, anyway.

The best stuff I've read thus far would probably be Watchmen (it really is that good) and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, which feels a bit like David Lynch and Frank Miller were in some kind of cosmic explosion and merged into the same person.  Really brilliant exploration of Batman and one of the more tragic depictions of Harvey Dent.  "Joker" by Brian I-can't-spell-his-name-and-won't-try was probably about on the level of Serious House, but for Batsy's arch-enemy rather than the pointy-eared one himself. I'm a big fan of The Long Halloween as well, and admire it for taking time to develop its plot twists, and also Harvey Dent as a human being before he became Two-Face, rather than just a setup for as much.  And I do love my noir.

[squid]

You're so boring.

jk watchman is cool.

[William_Duel]

If you liked Azzarello's Joker, then you might like his Luthor too.  Though from your tastes you seem to like the dark, gritty 'Batman' side of things so it might not do it for you.  But in my opinion it's good too.

And since you've mentioned those names like Frank Miller, Garth Ennis, etc. then you should check out Warren Ellis (aside from Global Frequency).  Particularly his trilogy SuperGod, No Hero and Black Summer.  Those are particularly bleak titles that also deconstruct and rebuild the idea of a superpowered being running around.

[Evil Eye]

It's not so much that I only like grimdark kinda stuff.  It's more that darker themes and psychological complexity are what tend to resonate with me the most.  With that said, I fucking love Lex Luthor, and yeah, you're not the first to tell me to read LL: Man of Steel.  If I remember right it's even the same artist as "Joker".  I'll give that a look ASAP.

Ellis's trilogy sounds good as well.  Deconstructive angles tend to be interesting, and it was obvious from GF that Ellis knows his way around a story, even if most issues of GF didn't really stick with me for long.

[Field Marshal Lionel Forsythe W. Underwood XIII, GBE]

Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, Lil' Abner and Hagar.

[Kevin Birtcher]

Evil - some thoughts based on your longer post at the top...

Azzarello is one of my favorite writers.  If you enjoyed Joker, definitely check out 100 Bullets.  It's chock full of complex characters, plot twists, mystery, and some of the best dialogue I've read.  SKIP Azzarello's Superman.  It's utter horseshit.

Ellis used to be good, and sometimes still shines, but I really can't trust him anymore.  I HATED Supergod; such contrived bullshit.  But the final issues of Stormwatch, Hellblazer, early Authority, and Planetary are all fantastic.  All, if you can find them, Gravel or Strange Kiss books.  His Agents of Atlas (name?) is some of the most maniac fun comics I've ever read.

I also recommend old Image Bendis: Powers, Jinx, Goldfish, and Torso.  His Marvel non-Powers stuff just annoys me.

Finally, if you liked Long Halloween, I recommend the other Sale/Loeb books, both DC and Marvel.  Spiderman: Blue might be my favorite, but Daredevil: Yellow, Hulk: Gray, and each of the Batman books are all good.

[ShouldaCouldaCola]

Meathaus!
One of the best anthologies.

[William_Duel]

I HATED Supergod; such contrived bullshit.

Really?  Man, I was so hooked by the premise, I was really obsessed with the idea of it for awhile.  To me the weakness of the book is that the idea was not fully explored, that there was more that needed to be said.  And I think it reflects because it was meant to be a longer series but it got cut short.  Plus it's an idea that has persisted in the superhero books, of superhumans transcending the boundaries of humanity and becoming alien to us physically and mentally.  In that sense we have created our own gods.  The Flashpoint Project Superman, certain depictions of Hyperion from Squadron Supreme and of course, Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen are obvious examples of this idea so I was intrigued to see it being applied so broadly.

Oh and as for the color books, I guess Captain America: White is still being planned....so it'll happen....someday........

[Evil Eye]

Azzarello's Superman = LL: Man of Steel I assume?  That.  That's pretty disappointing.  Azzarello doing Lex Luthor was the most exciting thing I'd hard after reading Joker.  Probably the most exciting DC thing I could imagine other than Azzarello doing a run on Harvey Dent (oh god please do it).  You're not the first to tell me to read 100 Bullets either, though, haha.  I think I'll slip that in alongside my current Batmanning once I finish finals.

Surprised to catch bad wind of Bendis from you.  I've only heard good things about his Marvel runs.

Did Sale/Loeb have much Batman?  I only know of TLH, Dark Victory, and Catwoman: When in Rome, all of which I've read.  Didn't know they took a run at Spidey.  Love me some Spidey, I'll hit that up for sure.

[Kevin Birtcher]

• Superman: For Tomorrow is the Azzarello story I was trying to tell you to avoid.  I haven't actually read the Luthor stuff.  For Tomorrow involves Superman punching Mt. Rushmore, FYI.
• I think I'm the only person that doesn't like Bendis' Marvel stuff, but his Image stuff was/is still better
• There's another Loeb/Sale Batman called Haunted Knight, which I haven't read, and I've been looking forward to Cap: White for years.  Last I heard, it's being worked on and will come out once it's complete
• I could rant for a long time about Ellis, but I'll just say his new stuff seems like he's trying too hard to be his old self, or like he's trying too hard to be Mark Millar.  Supergod remains an interesting concept, but poorly executed in my opinion.  That, and I'm tired of him revising history to make Britian more awesome.

Why did this need to happen?