Comic Book & Graphic Novel talk

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MarcoPolo

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I’d like to have this ongoing talk about comic books or graphic novels. Please share what you are reading, what you recommend…especially if you read a book with some pro-Catholic themes in it.
 
From the recommendation of (name removed by moderator) and some others, I read Daredevil: Born Again. I really liked probably the first 85% of the story, it was pro-Catholic. There was some mystery with the nun a little bit. If anyone knows in which issues I can find out more about her, let me know.

I also recently finished the 1st Wolverine: Origin. I thought it was a good story. Lots of passion in this story, and I plan to buy the next installment.

Okay, in the last year, I know there has been a lot of hulabaloo about Spider-man: Civil War and especially Spider-man: One More Day. Ok, so who’s read this and is keeping up with it? Did OMD ruin Spider-man for you? I did not like it in the least when I read it…but since the story never ends, there is a chance to salvage it (kind of like how I think Cloverfield could be better in a sequel).

Coming up on my list: Hellboy, Swamp Thing, Ultimate Spider-man, and more!
 
I’ll keep an eye on some of your recommendations. Keep us posted on what you’re reading and if you thought it was any good. For Spider-man, I hear what you are saying about the reset. A lot of people also disgruntled are recommending moving over to the **Ultimate Spider-man **series instead of the Amazing series.

The Swamp Thing I am going to read is the Alan Moore one. I read a preview of it over at DC’s preview page and thought it good enough to order. I’m not that big of a Moore fan, but the science was intriguing enough.

The first encounter I had of Jonah Hex was in a comic shop just after I saw The Dark Knight earlier this year. I thought Jonah looked an awful like a certain character in the Dark Knight…! What’s Jonah’s MO? And what’s the Dracula one about?
 
My goodness! Sorry I haven’t checked in here yet - and I had almost forgotten about Kabuki! Such potential there, ahwell.

Yeah, this is a low-content post, but I’ll get myself worked up for a textwall sometime here soon - things have been totally madness around here, guys! ^^
 
I want to find a good copy of The Tale of the Body Thief. I tried our local comic store and they know they don’t have it. There are a few early Sandman comics I’d like too. But I don’t have that kind of money.
Something I like hardly ever comes along. It has to have brilliant artwork, if based on a text novel it must stay close to the original, and it must have something else special, something beyond meeting a standard.
On a related note, children’s cartoons are worse every year, aren’t they? The art is so drab and flat, and the stories go nowhere.
 
MarcoPolo said:
This one? You can get it new as low as $4.65 + 3.99 shipping over at Amazon.
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No, the graphic version. It’s easy to find the paperback – I see it all the time for a buck or so at second-hand stores, no shipping, but the comic is elusive unless you have money and time.
 
strngrnrth said:
No, the graphic version. It’s easy to find the paperback – I see it all the time for a buck or so at second-hand stores, no shipping, but the comic is elusive unless you have money and time.
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Is this it? Looks like you can get issues 1-4 for a couple bucks apiece. LINK HERE.
 
Ok, I just finished reading the first TPB (trade paperback) of the Saga of the Swamp Thing. There was an interesting Catholic reference when the Swamp Thing was dreaming about a man burning and he likened it to burning like “a Catholic martyr”.

It also incorporates the devil into the story, who I felt was portrayed decent, although a little campy when he turned into “costume devil.” But as a man, he was charismatic and creepy. It looks like the story will continue with some demon themes.

I’ve also started the more recent **Planet Hulk **storyline…so far, so good! 👍
 
Here’s something I don’t get, maybe you or someone has an opinion. I listen to comic podcasts and more than once do I hear about the likes of Alan Moore especially and some of his contemporaries and how “groundbreaking” they were for comics. I don’t get this. What did they do to shake up the industry? I have heard that it was the whole heroes who aren’t “superheroes” but to me that just likens them to the old, old comics like DickTracy or some of the newspaper serials, or even Batman who is human. I can see Moore being heavy on sex maybe. In fact, I hear he wrote a pornographic work recently. I mean his stuff from the 80s is fine for what it is, I just don’t see it standing out from anything else.
 
I like Girl Genius. It’s an online comic, but they bind all the issues every few months.

Also like Ah! My Goddess graphic novels.

Lords of Avalon series was good. PS238, PVP, Dork Tower all favorites of mine.
I loved the CrossGen stuff when it was being published, it makes me sad when small name publishers go under 😦
 
AmberDale said:
I like Girl Genius. It’s an online comic, but they bind all the issues every few months.

Also like Ah! My Goddess graphic novels.

Lords of Avalon series was good. PS238, PVP, Dork Tower all favorites of mine.
I loved the CrossGen stuff when it was being published, it makes me sad when small name publishers go under 😦
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Is there really a comic called Dork Tower or is that Dark Tower??
 
Eisner’s name came up in one of those podcasts too…if I remember which, I’ll post it.
 
MarcoPolo said:
Is there really a comic called Dork Tower or is that Dark Tower??
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No Dark Tower is based off a Stephen King thing! A “serious” comic or whatever.

Dork Tower is hilarious. here dorktower.com/ The comic will collect all the web comics to make it a comic book, every few months or so. 😃 You should start at the beginning.
 
Ok, the Iron Man movie. Finally saw it. Did anybody else think Gwenyth Paltrow looked an awful lot like Kirsten Dunst from Spider-man in this movie? Is Marvel trying to go for a certain look.
 
Maus and Maus II by Art Siegelman is absolutely amazing!!! It is the story of the author’s father, Vladek, a Holocaust survivor.
 
Hm…I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised that nobody has mentioned Los Bros Hernandez (Jaime and Gilberto), since this is a pretty conservative Catholic forum…but Love and Rockets is, and remains, truly wonderful and groundbreaking. The brothers actually have a harder time writing male characters than they do female ones, and their insights into sex, gender, culture and personal/social perceptions are frankly eerie, and often very beautiful.

Jaime has a slicker, ‘cleaner’ graphic style, and Beto’s work is more confessional and stream-of-consciousness at times (they’ve been jokingly compared to Paul McCartney and John Lennon), and yes, there are many elements that people with scrupulosity problems or simply being too young may have a problem with (nudity, homosexuality, oh all kinds of stuff), but as both art and literature, very few come close, either as art, or as literature. When people talk about ‘Latin American Magic Realism’ this is perhaps the best body of work produced from the yanqui side of the border, and it’s powerful stuff.

There is an element of science fiction and the surreal at times, but more often, both Jaime’s main storyline (which mostly takes place in a mostly Latino neighborhood in California) and Beto’s (mostly taking place in a small Mexican town - and yes, the two towns DO have subtle overlapping) are gritty, honest, tragicomic and stunning. I remember discovering them myself oh, a little over 20 years ago, and I still love their current work now that the characters are older - Jaime’s main characters have always been about my age, and it’s pretty neat to watch them grow up along with me. Beto’s work is more generational/local historical, with many older people and children as well.

I recommend Love and Rockets very highly - there actually are deeply Catholic themes in the subtext, but when reading, it’s important to remember these characters are very human indeed, and fallible, and have powerful imaginations and internal lives of their own.

Heck, if Allan Moore doesn’t squick you out, neither should this. Los Bros really do glory in the human experience, with all it’s failings and wonder, dreams and folly. So yeah, check it out. 🙂

PS: I did promise a textwall eventually, sorry been so busy. I do have more for later too most likely. Oh, and these guys are pretty indie, publishing with Fantagraphics, a small, but very high-quality bunch.
 
Well since the OP invited those who were viewing the Deep Anime and Manga thread, I guess it’s all right to ask here.

I’ve read some of the manga mentioned in the past thread but the problem with those was that their design was just not something I could swallow. I hate to admit this but I am a huge sucker for the Moe-style (the style with the cute big-eyed girls with round faces + cool bishounen :o ). Are there any serious/deep titles that uses such a style? :confused:
 
It’s great to see some fellow four-color fantasy fanatics here on the Catholic Answers site. I am an old-time fan, started reading comics in 1975 and by 1984 had pretty much quit buying new comics and turned to buying silver-age Marvels, so a lot of what I read on here by previous posters was new to me, though I am familiar with the work of Art Spiegelman and Los Bros. Hernandez. And of course Will Eisner, who transcends the ages with his work on The spirit through the graphic novels he was producing right up to his death.

Two quick questions:
(1) have any of you read the Frank Miller “Born Again” *Daredevil *saga from the '80s? If so, what did you think? That had some pretty overt Catholic themes if I remember right, with one cover even featuring a nun.

And (2) has anyone heard of a comic book series called Treasure Chest? It looks like a weekly comic made during the 1950s through early ‘70s especially for Catholic kids with stories (both text and traditional comic style) with religious themes, but also humor and adventure yarns. Joltin’ Joe Sinnott did some pencils and inks in an issue I have that appears to have been done at the same time he was inking Kirby on the Fantastic Four.

Glad I found this thread and looking forward to poking my head in here now and again. – Gary
 
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