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Posts Tagged ‘ store ’

Trade waiting

April 28, 2009 by

I know that I put up the pull list weekly, but I thought I’d just mention things that I follow/followed in trades as well…

Preacher – Yes, I know it’s done, and I finished it up pretty much at the time the last trade first hit, but it was a great series. Sure, there are moments where it’s bugfuck-crazy over the top (see: Arseface, Herr Starr’s continual degradation), but there’s a lot of good story there.

And personally I’m rooting for a Spike/Cassidy throwdown.

Punisher MAX – The Punisher doesn’t always work for me in the mainstream MU, but Ennis’ take on him off in his own separate continuity blows me away. From the Born mini that told of Frank’s time in Vietnam through the final story, Valley Forge, Valley Forge which revisited it, it’s about five years of the best hard-bitten crime and punishment stories you can hope for. It’s also the only real time I’ve seen Frank get any character development.

In fact it’s so good, I don’t think I’ll read it now Ennis is gone – I don’t think there’s anything left to do with the character.

Fables – I resisted Fables for the longest time for no good reason – and damn, I’m sorry I did. A great (and simple) premise with exiled fairytale characters living in New York becomes so much more as the reasons for their exile become clear, and war looms. On the down side, I missed out on years of this. On the plus side, I don’t have to wait between trades!

There are a few slow trades in the group, but none that make me regret buying them.

Starman – I missed the first few years of Starman back when it first came out, and then somehow, I missed the last six months. Sure, it’d be cheaper to go back and find the single issues, but I love these hardcover collections. There’ll be six in all, and they’ll look good on the shelf.

And the sheer depth of storytelling here will have me revisiting them time and again. Great stuff.

The Walking Dead – I love zombie movies. Love them. And this book just keeps on getting better and better. There really aren’t any more words to express how good this book is. Yes, it’s gory, bloody and full of strong language…

…but it’s fantastic.

Invincible – And at the other end of Kirkman’s spectrum is Invincible. Straight forward superheroics, the book is probably the heir to early Spider-Man in terms of balancing super-heroics and soap opera antics.

I’m a few books behind, but there’s plenty to catch up on.

I pick up other stuff too – I especially love the small format Boom! trades (check out 10, Talent, Hero Squared and Tag) and the Marvel Digest sized trades – but they’re the main ones I get the trades for regularly (or semi-regularly). I’ve also fairly recently got the first trades for Swamp Thing, Ex Machina (good) and House of Mystery (also good), so I expect I’ll be following along with them soon enough…

I’ve always wanted to get into Hellblazer, but I have no idea where to start. Any suggestions?

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The Art of Frank Cho

April 21, 2009 by

WANT.

I don’t really have anything else to say except WANT.

Frank Cho, for my money, is one of the better artists in comics today. Yes, the man draws improbably perfect people and anatomically unlikely women in particular, but…


…they’re so pretty.

And he draws men in proportions also unlikely to be found outside of the Greek gods, so at least he’s an equal opportunity cheesecake artist – and he can really put a page together, separating him from other so-called ‘bad girl’ artists.

Plus, he likes monkeys. And I like to think that if Frank Cho created a cyborg monkey, he wouldn’t be unlike Mecha Simian. So there.

There’s more previews over at Newsarama.

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Lee Child’s Jack Reacher – Free Book Online!

April 11, 2009 by

I don’t generally talk too much about books I read on the blog, other than to post them down over on the right on a widget, but when I found this I had to.

One of the few authors that I always pick up on the first week of release is Lee Child. He writes the Jack Reacher series of novels, essentially action-thrillers driven by Reacher, an ex-army MP who wanders America getting into trouble.

Reacher’s one of those hard-bitten types with a strong sense of justice, an impressive array of combat skills and an inability to back down in a fight – but Child’s developed him into much more than a caricature; Reacher is so convinced that his nomadic lifestyle is right that he can’t see just how damaged he is – and maybe he never will.

The next novel in the Reacher series, Gone Tomorrow is out in the US in hardcover on May 19 – but up until that date, US residents can read the entire novel Persuader below! (And here in other formats)

Enjoy!