Author Topic: The Comic Book Thread  (Read 38150 times)

Flashback2012

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #180 on: August 24, 2017, 08:47:51 pm »

Don't read many comics these days, but came across an interesting sounding book which is just a short 6 issue series from the guy who did Saga and Y: The Last Man.  I generally dug it, I like this fictional setting of America invading Canada and set in the future so there is some cool tech.  It's short so I don't want to spoil anything, but it's got pretty good art, violent, and its very Canadian.  One of the characters speaks in French most of the time so you don't understand what he is saying and they don't translate it in a sidebar lol

I'd love for them to return to this world as it has interesting possibilities beyond it's Canadian setting.

We Stand On Guard from Image Comics for the curious.  ;)

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #181 on: August 24, 2017, 09:01:56 pm »

Don't read many comics these days, but came across an interesting sounding book which is just a short 6 issue series from the guy who did Saga and Y: The Last Man.  I generally dug it, I like this fictional setting of America invading Canada and set in the future so there is some cool tech.  It's short so I don't want to spoil anything, but it's got pretty good art, violent, and its very Canadian.  One of the characters speaks in French most of the time so you don't understand what he is saying and they don't translate it in a sidebar lol

I'd love for them to return to this world as it has interesting possibilities beyond it's Canadian setting.

We Stand On Guard from Image Comics for the curious.  ;)

Ack, realized that I forgot to put the title in because I usually just use a picture with it in it lol

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #182 on: March 14, 2018, 02:01:08 am »


Star Wars Infinities Omnibus is a collection of all the Infinities series comics which are essentially the retelling of each of the three original trilogy movies if something major went differently during the course of the story. For A New Hope that big event is the Death Star not getting destroyed, for Empire Strikes Back it is Luke dying on Hoth, and Return of the Jedi it starts with the negotiations between Leia disguised as a bounty hunter and Jabba going south fast due to C-3PO being put out of commission due to Jabba hitting him harder than he did in the movie which results in him being unable to continue translating the deal.

I wont spoil what transpires after these changes to the story, but in the case of A New Hope it is by far the most believable, well written, and interesting of the three stories. There is a part during the climax at the end which seems very uncharacteristic of one of the characters, but it is really cool nonetheless. The events following Luke's death in Empire Strikes back are interesting and by far the funniest of the three stories, but was not nearly as well written as the story told in A New Hope, and the ending just felt very anticlimactic and rushed. The retelling of Return of the Jedi is the worst of the three stories, with the writer trying and failing at convincing the reader that certain events would have had a way bigger outcome then they actually did. Not only that, but it didn't have the same logical flow the other two stories had, and the ending left a lot to be desired while also having a moment that literally made me face palm.

Because this omnibus starts with episode IV, then V, and finally VI, the quality of the content goes down hill the more you read which is never something you want in a book or comic. Despite this, overall, this was a very interesting, fun read despite it being completely irrelevant to both the old EU canon and especially the new Disney Canon. In the end it is a collection of "what if" scenarios that are fun to read and ponder on while you read, if nothing else.

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #183 on: March 18, 2018, 11:08:29 pm »


The Tales of the Jedi comics which chronicle various tales of high profile Jedi and Sith from the Old Republic era of Star Wars are among the most revered and sought after of the old Star Wars EU stories. However, upon reading the various comics included in this Omnibus, I am left wondering why they are so highly spoken of. This is coming from someone who has mostly enjoyed Old Republic source material, mainly the two KOTOR games and the Darth Bane trilogy of books. I will go over each of the included stories in the Omnibus individually.

The Golden Age of the Sith: This comic does a good job of introducing people to Sith Culture and the power struggles that drove their society and eventually the succession of a dead Sith leader Marka Ragnos. The plot revolves around an EU event known as the Great Hyperspace War, which is given its name by it taking place as a result of a hyper space lane discovered by the two main characters, Dav and Jori, who find a route from the Republic to the Sith homeworld of Korriban. From there, Naga Sadow, a powerful Sith Lord, attacks the Republic, starting the conflict.

In summary this all sounds awesome, but I found nearly everything about this story uninteresting and uninspiring. The characters, the art, the writing, and the way the plot is executed never rise above mediocre. The only thing that I really took away from this story was a greater appreciation of life during the pioneering days of hyperspace travel and how dangerous it was, and also a better understanding of who the Sith are. Other than that I was mostly bored the entire time I read through this.

The Fall of the Sith Empire: Taking place during the Great Hyperspace War, this story made even less sense than the previous one, which includes all the characters from the Golden Age of the Sith. Particularly Dav and Jori, whom we are told are force sensitive, but they are never really shown to be that competent or skilled in any way related to the force. This is made even more confusing when they best other characters that are skilled and proven in the force. On top of that various plot points fall flat and others just feel rushed. If you haven't picked up that I am even less a fan of this story than the last you'd be correct.

Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon: This was definitely the best story in this omnibus, although I never found it to be amazing in any way, just above average mostly. It is about three young jedi who are sent by their master to war torn planet Onderon where they are instructed to facilitate peace between the established government and civilization of Onderon and the tribes of wild beast riders that ride massive dragon-like aliens they use as mounts in attacking the much more advanced Onderon civilization.

There were several twists throughout this story as well as its analysis of political and philosophical topics that are applicable beyond the Star Wars Universe. These aspects made the story interesting mostly, as well as the various characters who all felt distinct in their own way and important to the plot throughout. However, one very disappointing part of this comic was the main antagonist and them being more of an annoyance than an actual threat at any point. There is also another character that I fell was vastly under utilized who could have remedied this problem. The art was also okay, but definitely the narrative is what drove this story to be the best in this collection.

The Saga of Nomi Sunrider: The final story of this omnibus is about a force sensitive woman, Nomi who is married to a jedi, whom is killed by a group of criminals who are trying to steal some rare crystals in their possession. The crystals are sought after because they are used to construct lightsabers and they were meant as a gift by Nomi's fallen husband to be given to a Jedi master, Thon, as a sort of offering to have him train her husband. His dying words to his wife is to have her complete his quest and train as a Jedi herself since she herself is force sensitive, albeit untrained in the ways of the force. The story is about her and her infant daughter as they travel to train under the Jedi master while being pursued by the group of criminals who are trying to steal the crystals.

I found this one more entertaining than Golden Age of the Sith and Fall of the Sith Empire, but not by much. Nomi is a fairly bland character, her daughter while being told is important is never actually shown to be important, and the plot about the criminals pursuing her is an uninteresting plot device which doesn't inspire to continue reading. The story was not all bad though as there were a few surprises, but nothing that saves this comic from being below average at best.

My overall thoughts on this Omnibus are not favorable; I feel like none of the stories were that great, although Beast Wars of Onderon was a decent entry among three other very bland tales. I know the price on this Omnibus are up there with the more expensive entries in Dark Horse's OOP Star Wars Omnibus series, mostly because outside the individual paperback copies, there is no other way to read these, yet. I'd either wait for Marvel to republish these under their Epic Collection Legends Omnibuses or pick up the trade paperbacks which are cheaper overall and allow to to skip over the more lackluster stories in this collection.

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #184 on: March 21, 2018, 02:11:23 am »


THIS IS WHAT STAR WARS SHOULD HAVE BECOME!!

Following The Last Jedi and its certain destruction of the new, sequel trilogy and its attempted destruction of the original trilogy, I have firmly rejected the new cannon that Disney has created. Given Disney's obvious misunderstanding of the Star Wars Universe and its even more obvious motivation to put marketability and profits before the quality of the content itself, I have flocked to the old, now non-cannon EU for my source of quality Star wars matieral. For me, the rich EU established for over 30-years prior to Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm is the true cannon. Spanning millennia of story fleshed out by a ton of novels, comics, video games, movies and other media there is so much to absorb and enjoy about the old EU. It is so fleshed out that you could spend the rest of your life focusing on it and completely ignore the fact that Disney is quickly destroying this franchise, but I digress. I've read a lot of Old Republic EU stuff and a decent about of empire and post empire material, but a lot of what happens decades and beyond in the storyline is somewhat of an enigma to me. That is why I decided to start reading this very well received series, Star Wars Legacy.

Since starting Legacy yesterday I have barely been able to put it down; the more I read, the better it gets. The best way I can describe this and how amazing it is, is to say if Star Wars and Cowboy Bebop had a baby, it would be this series! Not only that, but there are a ton of Jedi, Sith, criminals, bounty hunters, and quarky alien characters, all crammed in a story that stays very true to the Star Wars mythos while offering a ton of new ideas and takes on the Star Wars universe.

I certainly do not want to spoil anything that happens in this series thus far, but the story revolves around wayward, former Jedi Padawan, Cade Skywalker as he comes to grips with his own problems and desires while also grappling with his legacy as a Skywalker, and the importance he plays in the giant galactic conflict taking place around him. Cade is a very different and conflicted character within the Star Wars universe, unlike anything else we've seen. His interactions and chemistry with many of the other characters is excellent and he is an incredibly likable, interesting, and believable protagonist. Similarly, the main bad guy, Darth Krayt is an excellent, flawed villain thus far. And all around them are other great characters, all feeling important and necessary to everything going on around them. In terms of the story there has barely been a dull or uninteresting moment the whole series. Everything has been wonderfully written with no plot holes I've noticed thus far, and the narrative has been consistent with the old EU.

I honestly do not have a bad thing to say about this series so far. Book 1 encompasses the first 19-issues of Legacy of which there are 50 total broken up into 3 hardcover books. There are also trade paperbacks that are broken up into more volumes, but this is the one I've been reading. With me only being a little over a third into the series there is still a lot of room for things to go bad in terms of plot and writing, but hopefully this series remains the follow up to the original trilogy that I never knew I wanted. I know there is a ton of material that takes place chronologically before it in the old EU, but luckily this series, which takes place a whopping 125-years after the events of Return of the Jedi, does a good job of explaining a lot that happens in the incredible amount of material that takes place before it in the timeline. While I do have a fairly good idea of what takes place before Legacy in the old EU, there is a ton I have not read, but I have yet to get lost or confused while reading this.

Whether you enjoy Disney's new cannon or you hate it and want to read something a lot more mature and less PC, this is a series worth checking out. I am going to be hitting Book 2 hard tomorrow and will probably have a review up for it by the end of the week. I hope I have just as positive things to say about it as I did with book 1 as this series is shaping up to be one of my favorites, if not my absolute favorite piece of pre-Disney Star Wars EU material.

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #185 on: March 23, 2018, 10:45:17 pm »


Just finished the 2nd book for Star Wars Legacy which included vol. 20 through 36 and the series is still going very strong. While not as entertaining overall as the first book, this one for better or worse helped establish more of the subplots going on which are definitely relevant to the overall story, but just aren't as interesting as the main plot involving Cade Skywalker, his companions, and the Sith they are fighting against. There have also been a lot more references to past expanded universe material, specifically content introduced or exclusive to the comics. While both are pretty well explained in Legacy, I couldn['t help but think I'd enjoyed the references made if I was more aware of the expanded universe within the comics before Legacy. Specifically there is one character that makes an appearance who has been in various comics whom I thought was incredibly interesting and awesome, but I felt like I would have appreciated her more had I read the content before Legacy that she appeared in. There have been few dull moments in the 16 volumes this book includes and I am dying to know how this series concludes with the third and final book!

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #186 on: April 09, 2018, 11:53:20 pm »


The third and final book of Legacy and the concluding series Legacy: War, this one was pretty good, however it was the weakest of all three books due to some questionable and rushed writing, new aspects introduced that weren't very well explained, and various plot conveniences that just seemed lazy. Despite this the general story was good and had some interesting twists along the way, as well as an ending that had a bit of ambiguity which balanced out an otherwise happy ending. On top of that various character arks came full circle which I really enjoyed as well as other characters redeeming themselves which added to the satisfying ending.

One overall gripe I have with this book, but Legacy in general is the artists depiction of action in the frames which really forced the reader to imagine quite a bit about what was happening during lightsaber duels, space battles and the various other action sequences which seemed grossly under developed and realized in the book. Despite this, the story and what was happening was still mostly entertaining and as I said in my review on Book 1, this is the direction I wish Star Wars would have taken rather than Disney rebooting the entire series, ignoring 30-years of a rich expanded universe including the events of Legacy.

People who defend The Last Jedi often site the massive fan backlash as a result of people just wanting more of the same while shirking at anything that is different. The Legacy series is very different than anything else in the Star Wars universe, even within the expanded universe content. Cade Skywalker is almost an antihero who constantly straddles the line between light and dark, as do various other characters throughout this series. Not only that, but Legacy is the first realized piece of Star Wars fiction to really develop gray jedi, or neutral force users that do not embrace either the light or the dark, but a balance between the two. Going back to Cade, he is also a wreckless drug addict throughout most of the series which is explained very convincingly and makes sense with his character. Mix this in with themes concerning genocide, chemical warfare, shaky alliances, blending the old republic with the current era, sex, and madness and you have something vastly different that also stays true to the source material and overall theme of the content it is based off of.

If I had to give Legacy an overall rating I'd give it a solid 8/10; the series drags on a bit too long at certain parts, the writing can be spotty at times, and the action sequences are a bit underwhelming/under developed at times, but beyond on that you have one of the best pieces of old expanded universe canon even put to paper. This was an excellent read and one that I'd highly recommend to anyone wanting to see Star Wars done differently, but correctly.

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #187 on: February 07, 2019, 11:40:15 pm »



It's been a while since I read some Star Wars comics, and this one, Star Wars Omnibus: Rise of the Sith, was the last one I left off on, probably about 6-months ago. The comics in this collection all concern events that take place leading up to Star Wars Episode 1, introducing various major and minor characters from that film and given them some back story. Since these are individual comics I will review each of them briefly.


Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan: The Aurorient Express and Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan: Last Stand on Ord Mandell: These are actually two separate comics, but I am reviewing them together because they both revolve around the relationship between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, several years before the events of Star Wars Episode 1. Also, both stories are fairly uninteresting and do little to establish either character anymore than the films do, and also contribute little to building their relationship as it exists in Episode 1. Essentially both stories are about assignments that master and padowan are given by the Jedi Council, one involving a barge with an explosive on it and the other involves a dispute with an alien species on Ord Mandell. Both are fairly boring, and honestly unless you are just aching to hear more about what Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were up to in the earlier years of their relationship as master and padowan, then I'd really give these ones a pass.


Jedi Council: Acts of War: This one is somewhat similar to the the previous two; Jedi are alerted to a serious situation in a Republic system and have to go and resolve it. However, this time it's decided that a bunch of Jedi masters on the Jedi Council have to get involved as well, leading to sort of an all star crew of Jedi badasses investigating issues with a war-like species attacking another group within the same system. It turns out that Darth Sidious is behind the whole thing, and his motives for causing the crisis was to remove the tyrannical species from the system so they would not be a potential threat to his bigger plan that play out in the prequel films. You get introduced to a lot of the members of the Jedi Council, including some that you never see in the films due to them dying in this comic, with one in particular being somewhat of a bummer since he ends up being really cool. And also like the previous two comics, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are part of this important mission. I don't know, this one is okay, bordering below average, but it's at least better than the previous two comics in this omnibus.


Prelude to Rebellion: This is actually the first part in the Republic series which chronicles the events leading up to and during the clone wars. This portion of the story revolves around one of the Jedi Council members Ki Adi Mundi, the old human-looking guy with the long lumpy looking head, and his life right before joining the Jedi Council which takes place on his home world where he serves as an ambassador for the Jedi on the planet while living his day to day life. Essentially the plot of this one involves a movement of pro Republic, pro technology activists who are using the planet's youth to push their agenda that has more sinister agenda behind the scenes. One of Ki's daughters is a supporter of these activists and ends up getting mixed up with a bad crowd which is further complicated by one of these friend's killing an innocent activist at one of the activist rallies. This ends up becoming Ki trying to get to the bottom of the activist leader's real motives as well as a bunch of illegal shit he's also involved in, while also trying to find and save his daughter. My favorite part about this story is how it really develops Ki's character which prior to reading this I knew nothing about; he is truly a cool, yet very flawed character which makes him very likable and interesting. You get some of his back story as well during his training under Master Yoda when he was younger as well. This one is pretty good, although parts of it are a bit boring. The writing is definitely good and it really explores a lot of different themes well. Definitely recommend checking this one out.


Vow of Justice: This comic also follows Ki Adi Mundi, but this time it takes place while he is a young, cocky, headstrong man fresh out of the Jedi Academy and back on his home planet in order to get revenge on an infamous raider that terrorized innocent farmers during Ki's childhood right before he was taken to be trained as a Jedi. Obviously revenge is not a Jedi trait, and it really shows how different of a character he was from the previous story, which I highly recommend reading before this one since it allows you to better appreciate Ki's character growth from where he is right before Episode 1 as an older, wiser Jedi compared to how he was as a padowan in his young adulthood. He eventually catches up with the raider, but he is not greeted by the same man he knew as a child. This one is pretty short, but still explores some complex themes and also develops Ki more, making him even more likable and interesting. There's no reason to not read this one and serves as a great companion to the previous story.


Darth Maul: This is by far the best story in this entire omnibus. As its title suggests, this one is about everyone's favorite double bladed lightsaber Sith, Darth Maul. While it doesn't go into who Maul is or any sort of origin story, it does establish his character as an insanely powerful warrior that single handedly takes down an entire crime syndicate by himself at the order of Darth Sidious. After reading this one, saying Darth Maul is a total badass is a huge understatement; the guy is practically a force of nature and just destroys anyone that gets in his way, including a really cool force sensitive witch that he does combat with. This comic was extremely good and very entertaining, and does nothing but make the already cool Darth Maul even cooler. It also clearly shows how he was able to take on two experienced Jedi at once in the Phantom Menace.

wartoy

PRO Supporter

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #188 on: March 10, 2019, 08:47:19 pm »
Been thinking about getting back into comics for some time now not quite sure where to start haven't collected in about 20 years.Still have all my old stuff though about 12,000 books from late 70s to late 90s mostly Marvel and DC
My Favorites were Avengers,spider man,Silver Surfer,Quasar,Captain America,Green Lantern,Fantastic four,
New Mutants. So much has changed since then I'm kinda lost.


turf

PRO Supporter

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #189 on: July 24, 2020, 10:58:37 am »
Rise From Your Grave!!

I recently started dabbling in the comic world. I’m not too into the mainstream comic collecting, but I’m loving old 80’s toy/cartoon comics. Star Comics (an imprint of Marvel) did some really cool stuff like He-Man and Thundercats. I’m loving it.
I’m looking hard at the Indiana Jones stuff from Marvel. It’s cheap and I’m a big Dr Jones fan.


Flashback2012

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #190 on: July 24, 2020, 12:03:30 pm »
Rise From Your Grave!!

I recently started dabbling in the comic world. I’m not too into the mainstream comic collecting, but I’m loving old 80’s toy/cartoon comics. Star Comics (an imprint of Marvel) did some really cool stuff like He-Man and Thundercats. I’m loving it.
I’m looking hard at the Indiana Jones stuff from Marvel. It’s cheap and I’m a big Dr Jones fan.

If you're into older stuff, Dark Horse had the Indiana Jones license for years and there's a bunch of stories they've done. I don't believe there's anything collected into a trade or omnibus though so you might have to track down floppies.

Wildstorm/DC had the rights to Thundercats for a while and I do know there are some collected editions of those but they're out of print so you might have go on eBay or scour used book stores. Also, since you mentioned He-Man, did you know that MoTU and Thundercats crossed over?  ;)

https://www.amazon.com/He-Man-Thundercats-Masters-Universe/dp/140126915X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=masters+of+the+universe+thundercats+crossover&qid=1595606133&sr=8-1

Pretty affordable trade paperback of the mini-series.

Inter-company crossovers have always been my favorite thing. Some of the ones I've picked up recently include...

Medieval Spawn/Witchblade (2nd series)
Rick and Morty VS. Dungeons & Dragons
Transformers/Ghostbusters

I saw just recently that they announced Transformers/Back to the Future so we'll see how that goes. There's also a Transformers/My Little Pony crossover due out at the end of the year.  :P
 

turf

PRO Supporter

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #191 on: July 25, 2020, 11:02:18 pm »
Rise From Your Grave!!

I recently started dabbling in the comic world. I’m not too into the mainstream comic collecting, but I’m loving old 80’s toy/cartoon comics. Star Comics (an imprint of Marvel) did some really cool stuff like He-Man and Thundercats. I’m loving it.
I’m looking hard at the Indiana Jones stuff from Marvel. It’s cheap and I’m a big Dr Jones fan.

If you're into older stuff, Dark Horse had the Indiana Jones license for years and there's a bunch of stories they've done. I don't believe there's anything collected into a trade or omnibus though so you might have to track down floppies.

Wildstorm/DC had the rights to Thundercats for a while and I do know there are some collected editions of those but they're out of print so you might have go on eBay or scour used book stores. Also, since you mentioned He-Man, did you know that MoTU and Thundercats crossed over?  ;)

https://www.amazon.com/He-Man-Thundercats-Masters-Universe/dp/140126915X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=masters+of+the+universe+thundercats+crossover&qid=1595606133&sr=8-1

Pretty affordable trade paperback of the mini-series.

Inter-company crossovers have always been my favorite thing. Some of the ones I've picked up recently include...

Medieval Spawn/Witchblade (2nd series)
Rick and Morty VS. Dungeons & Dragons
Transformers/Ghostbusters

I saw just recently that they announced Transformers/Back to the Future so we'll see how that goes. There's also a Transformers/My Little Pony crossover due out at the end of the year.  :P

I like like the trades to read  I don’t have to feel like I’m about to break something. I have the He-Man/Thundercats trade. To be perfectly honest, it’s kinda dumb.
I really like the MOTU stuff DC has done since 2012. I’d recommend any of it to a friend.


turf

PRO Supporter

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #192 on: July 28, 2020, 05:50:41 pm »
What app do y’all use to keep up with your collection? 
I tried Comic Geeks, but it didn’t have everything.


burningdoom

PRO Supporter

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #193 on: July 28, 2020, 06:06:12 pm »
What app do y’all use to keep up with your collection? 
I tried Comic Geeks, but it didn’t have everything.

www.stashmycomics.com

A website used to catalog your collection. All you need is an email to sign-up, doesn't cost a penny. You can keep multiple lists and wishlists. And you can export those lists. Includes details like issue numbers, release dates, writers and artists, cover images, etc. And it even includes a rough estimate for each issue and your whole collection.

turf

PRO Supporter

Re: The Comic Book Thread
« Reply #194 on: July 31, 2020, 09:11:09 pm »
What app do y’all use to keep up with your collection? 
I tried Comic Geeks, but it didn’t have everything.

www.stashmycomics.com

A website used to catalog your collection. All you need is an email to sign-up, doesn't cost a penny. You can keep multiple lists and wishlists. And you can export those lists. Includes details like issue numbers, release dates, writers and artists, cover images, etc. And it even includes a rough estimate for each issue and your whole collection.

Ive got all 32 books listed on StashmyComics.com. I wish it was just a little more mobile friendly.