Any comic book fans here??

[Brad]

Just thought I'd take a break from the main forums for a little bit So I was sitting there reading my newest issue of X-Men and thought "wow, this comic's actually cool again!" I really like how there's finnally getting back to focusing on real issues like rascism, drug use, and other the average person can relate with, while not being "oreachy" about everything. I was getting tired of seeing them deal more with aliens than the normal US population. So what are your favorite comics? And just to make this kungfu related... are there any good martial arts themed comics in the English language?

And has anyone seen the preview of the new X-men artist Kia Asamiya? Seeing the X-Men mangafied took a little getting used to, but overall I think the look is pretty slick

[Chang Style Novice]

I love comic books, but can just barely stand superheroes.

some Favorites:

Jim, Eightball, Hate, Berlin, American Splendor, Palestine, Acme Novelty Library, Love and Rockets, Maakies, Cerebus, Bacchus,

Yeah, I'm a snooty fu(ker alright.

[Marshdrifter]

I like comics, but like Mr. Novice, I don't really care for most
superhero comics. Far too many of my comics are related to
gaming (Knights of the Dinner Table and **** Tower). I also
appreciate the occasional Vertigo title, such as Transmetropolitan
and Sandman. For martial art genre books, the only ones I can
really tolerate are Usagi Yojimbo and Way of the Rat (and Way
of the Rat is pushing it sometimes). I also enjoy Girl Genius and
anything that Phil Foglio has done as well as the books that
Johnen Vasquez has done (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Squee!--
my personal favorite, and I feel Sick).

Unlike Mr. Novice, I live in a rural area and have trouble getting
a lot of the independant books, although I picked up a good one
in Chicago called "My Fighting Technique is Unstoppable." It's
way too much fun and has made the rounds at my kwoon.

I used to read the x-men back in the mid-eighties before the
"Fall of the Mutants" happened. I happened to read a friend's
copy of a recent one (with the Alpha Flight guy and exploding
kid). It was pretty much back to old form. I was impressed. OTOH,
I'm still not going to start reading it again.

[Chang Style Novice]

marshdrifter:

www.mftisu.com

Get your War on!

[@PLUGO]

Even had a comic strip running in the back pages of Kungfu-Qigong Magazine for like 3-4 years... Tiger's Tale
. . . for any of you long time readers...

Attepts to develop it as an online cartoon have been long & slow going... but Yeah I'm a reader for sure... we've even chatted about it here

Way of the Rat is pretty good in terms of Hong Kong style fun... Far better than Vertigo's Fight for tomorrow or Marvel's new Master of Kung-Fu.... But for a real kungfu Comic treat .... find Ultimate Marvel Teamup #15 &16.... where Spiderman meets Shang Chi, Master of Kungfu for the first time... again. Great art & fight choreography.

New X-Men is where it's at for me... very edgy almost Post-superhero... resembling the Movie more than the superhero genre...Written by Grant Morrison of Animal Man, Doom Patrol & The Invisibles, he also writesTHE FILTH...for the not so squemish..

Haven't been enjoying Uncanny X-men though... but Ultimate X-men is kind of fun...

Other titles of note...
100 bullets:
Vertigo's crime noir meet's spys...

Wildcats V3.0:
Post superhero's rated R.

JLA:
100% superhero's, Superfriends for the 21st century.

The Ultimates:
Remember the Avengers? here's the wide screen version...

Hellboy:
Indiana Jones meet Cathullu...GREAT ART.

Lucifer:
Vertigo's most successful spinoff from The SANDMAN.

there's ALOT of fresh new stuff out there. Comic Publishing is currently undergoing a new breath of vitality what with the recent successes of Spiderman and the growing interest in The HULK , Daredevil & the upcomming X-men sequel...

I suggest any of you that have stopped reading comics drop by your local comic shop & have a look around. You might find something worth reading...

[Qi dup]

Originally posted by Design Sifu

I suggest any of you that have stopped reading comics drop by your local comic shop & have a look around. You might find something worth reading...

Hey that's me!


I have a hard time going back into Comic shops. It's pretty hard to jump into the middle of a story, so I don't know what to get.


Great post DS, lost of good links.

[Marshdrifter]

CSN: I can't get that link to work.

DS: I actually like "Fighting for Tomorrow" but not really as a
martial art book. I think the martial art aspect is really
unimportant to the, imo, relatively interesting character
development going on. Good pathos. OTOH, I can't stand the
new Master of Kung Fu.

What is post-superhero?

I felt the x-men movie followed the feeling of the books pretty
well, at least when I read it.

As for Lucifer, I never really cared for any of the Sandman spinoffs.
The Dreaming had some excellent potential and good individual
issues, but the overall series had problems. I did read the Lucifer
mini-series and didn't like how it was treating the character.

QD: A good way to go is start up on some limited run mini-series
sort of things. Or graphic novels. I'm working on the backlog for
Usagi Yojimbo. Also, talk to other people and, if possible, borrow
their comics. A friend is getting me hooked on the Scud books in
this way. What can I say, I like Drywall. :-)

[Chang Style Novice]

Marshdrifter:

and no wonder! I left out the 'n'

http://www.mnftiu.com

[Marshdrifter]

Originally posted by Chang Style Novice
http://www.mnftiu.com

Rock on! If they only had a Circulatory System Mother****er
t-shirt.

Thanks!

[HuangKaiVun]

My favorite of all time are the old "Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu" books.

I have been collecting that series, and I have about 40-50 of the mags so far. Not a single issue has disappointed me.

However, Marvel Team Up featured a very juvenile Shang Chi as a restaurant coolie. That was NOT COOL.

[quiet man]

Any comic book fans here??

Is the Pope a Catholic? (wait, don't answer that ...)

I like these:

F. Miller: "Sin City"
A. Spiegelman: "Maus"
B. Watterson: "Calvin & Hobbes"
J. Smith: "Bone"
A. Moore: "Watchmen"
N. Gaiman: "Sandman"
G. Ennis: "Preacher"

... and more

[@PLUGO]

Quiet man: F.A.B.J.A.N.G. right on....

Couldn't get into "Sin City" myself... TOOO MUCH NOIR I suppose, His 300 rocked though... BUT Dark Knight Strikes Agian Sucked @$$... what a waste.

Tragicly I've yet to read "Maus"... I know I know, ... it's ne of books I just must buy when I got the extra bucks & a week off to read it...

Have you ever checked out Joe Sacco? Amazing journalist comics... Palistine is a must read these days. First person narritive of his real life adventures there. No proposed answers or political stance... just straight up acounts of his days nights with the locals...

I Miss "Calvin & Hobbes"... newspaper strips seem soo thin now with out them.

Never got into "Bone" either... read the spin off series ROSE with art by the AMAZING C.Vess.

What's there to say about "Watchmen" that hasen't been said before... If you're into Alan Moore's work you should REALLY check out his ABC line of comics...
America's Best Comics is a standard setter, I'm shocked I didn't mention them in my eariler post...

• Promethia:
  Beyond WonderWoman... it's the ultimate Meta Magical Mystery Tour in comic form... the ART has been perfect since the very first issue. Probably the only successful C-cup superheroin... or as Moore terms them ScienceHero. Magic, Myths, Monsters & a New York City where the Cops fly around in Flying saucers...
• Tom STRONG:
  This is superman without the super... Probably the most accessable comic out there these days. Great for youngsters and yet smart enough for us older kids...
• Top Ten:
  While the series is no longer running it's a mind blower... Hill street Blues meets every super hero universe. Neopolis is the city where EVERYONE has Superpowers... Imagine what the Police must deal with...
• League of Extra Ordinary Gentelmen:
  The Heros of the Victorian Age saving the world from Victorian evils.... Captian Nemo, Alan Quartermain, Dr. Jeckle (& Mr. Hyde), The Invisible Man, and Mina (Dracula's Ex) unite to Save the Brittish Empire... Long may she reign...

All of these series are regularly collected in hard and soft cover Books. AND SOOOO worth it...

Of course then there's From HELL the comic that inspired the recient movie (And by far scarier)

"Sandman" was great for it's time... and yeah while the Dreaming had some high points it ultimately failed IMO...
Still, I think Lucifer is the most successful spinoff to date
"Preacher" was another great read... though I have to say that G.Ennis seems to have lost his touch and hasn't really come out with anything I'll read.
Ocassionally flip through his PUNISHER series just to see how creative he gets in Killing Mobsters... but beyond that I won't spend $$ on it...

Marvel Team Up featured a very juvenile Shang Chi as a restaurant coolie. That was NOT COOL.

I can totally see what you mean. The Whole ULTIMATE LINE of Marvel comics is a sort of revisionist treatment. So oldskool fans may tend to be put off... Still you gotta admit there was some excellent Kung-fu translation in the art. Something that doen't happen very often... anyone remember the Black & White Kabuki comics?

What is post-superhero?

well if you've read WATCHMEN you know of the whole deconstrucion of the superhero genre... which lead to comics' "Darkage" that whole Mid '80's early '90's period.
Since then "superhero's" have made their comeback to a much more classic form, bright colors crazy concepts etc...

Post Superhero to me are those comics that, while are still, essentially superhero books have matured a bit beyond the "kid stuff" the Spandex has either been hung-up or become secondary to the charactors who may even question the reasons behind wareing it.
The stories are written more for those who grew up with comics than for the kid. Though I'm sure there are plenty of younger readers who'll find it cool. Perhaps they're more violent or cynical in their approch.
WILDSTORM's
Wildcats & The AUTHORITY May be good examples of this... though I would Put New X-Men & STARMAN in the mix as well...

Jeeze.... talk about GEEK-FU!!

PS: Qi dup...what where you into reading when you split? Perhaps I could make a recomendation...

[Qi dup]

Wow, you guys are hardcore!!!!!

The comics I used to collect were pretty basic. I liked

Uncanny X-Men (I love the artest that used to do that comic! I can't remember his name but I remember he gave everyone sharp nuckles and ponty noses, sort of manga like),

Gen: 13 (No comment.)

Spider-man (Before all the freaky scarlet spider stuff)

Dead Pool

and a few other. Those were the ones I read every month. I'm open to all kinds of idea, just so long as it doesn't have to much offensive language or gore.

I would deffinatly barrow from my friends but I don't think any of them are into comics, at least not anymore. I'll try to stop by to one of the shops and look around.

You guys are awsome!

[quiet man]

Design Sifu - no, not familiar with Sacco, but I'll look him up. And you really should check "Bone" out - you won't regret it.

You guys are awsome!

That's a moot question. Mostly I get "You're soo geeky!", or "When will you grow up?"

But you shouldn't dismiss superhero comics. Surely, they are often immature and stupid, but every once in a while you come across "DKR", "Red Rain", "Death in the Family" (all Batman), Spiderman's black costume issues (they rock!), Frank Miller's version of Daredevil... however, if you like your superheroes with a twist (I know I do ), try Sam Kieth's "The Maxx".

[Chang Style Novice]

quiet man -

Seeing as you're in Croatia, perhaps the first Joe Sacco you should read is Safe Area Goradzje (probably misspelled)