Comics, etc.

lunchbox12682 wrote:
Mantid wrote:
lunchbox12682 wrote:
RawkGWJ wrote:

Sexual assault? I hate Alan Moore. Leave it to Alan Moore to ruin Lovecraft.

Didn't Lovecraft already have some problematic issues on its own, or am I confusing it with someone else?

Only if you consider racism and white supremency as issues.

So your answer should be "Yes. Lovecraft does have some problematic issues."

Thanks. I forgot if it was him or another older author like Well or something.

Also am I just a dumbass and missed the sarcasm in Rawk's quote?

I see what you mean. Moore took a surprising amount of glee delving into Lovecrtaft's racism, xenophobia, homophobia, anti-Semitism, etc. Definitely one of the authors where I wonder "wait, where are you going here?"

lunchbox12682 wrote:
Mantid wrote:
lunchbox12682 wrote:
RawkGWJ wrote:

Sexual assault? I hate Alan Moore. Leave it to Alan Moore to ruin Lovecraft.

Didn't Lovecraft already have some problematic issues on its own, or am I confusing it with someone else?

Only if you consider racism and white supremency as issues.

So your answer should be "Yes. Lovecraft does have some problematic issues."

Thanks. I forgot if it was him or another older author like Well or something.

Also am I just a dumbass and missed the sarcasm in Rawk's quote?

I’m torn on Lovecraft. On one hand I really love many of his stories. On the other, he was an outspoken white supremacist and that bleeds through in some aspects of his stories.

Alan Moore on the other hand. I genuinely dislike his writing. When I was a teenager I was impressed by his edgelord style, but at some point I realized that’s all he really had going for him.

These days I have more of a trigger reaction from things like assault, abuse, exploitation, etc. I simply won’t consume any media that triggers me in that way.

Thanks for ruining Lovecraft was only halfway sarcastic. None of Lovecraft’s stories that I can recall trigger me in that way.

Lovecraft seemed like the kind of man that would be furious at the idea of groups he hated enjoying and consuming his works. The thought that he would roll in his grave if he knew who the heroes of Lovecraft Country are makes me smile.

Alan Moore had his moments but his Lovecraft comics are not one of them.

I do recommend however his early 00’s series Promethea. It’s his best work in my opinion and is weird, experimental, and philosophical, without his normal dark contrarianism.

I think it's pretty clear that Lovecraft's absolutely abominable views were informed by mental and emotional illness (and possibly his physical illness). That's no excuse, just as the oft-used "those attitudes were just a product of the times" is no excuse - I find that one VERY lame, particularly used about someone who wrote many decades after thousands upon thousands gave up their lives fighting for, in part, freedom for all, regardless of race.

Anyway, my point is, Lovecraft was a crazy, frankly pathetic person. The only reason we know who he is is that he channeled his craziness into some fairly unique and very haunting horror stories.

Oh, also Comixology is having a sale on Image crime books right now, which are some of their best. I picked up some Brubaker/Philips stuff I was missing, and highly recommend anything they've done. Also grabbed Chu, the new spinoff of Chew, a book many here adored. Lastly, I grabbed the two volumes of Nailbiter Returns - I reread the original recently, and again enjoyed it quite a bit.

I also downloaded the free first issue of Gideon Falls since y'all are praising it so much. It is on sale as well.

Also on sale is The Fuse, which I loved, and Copperhead, which I enjoyed. Both are science fiction books about female leading characters who are in law enforcement.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Oh, also Comixology is having a sale on Image crime books right now, which are some of their best. I picked up some Brubaker/Philips stuff I was missing, and highly recommend anything they've done. Also grabbed Chu, the new spinoff of Chew, a book many here adored. Lastly, I grabbed the two volumes of Nailbiter Returns - I reread the original recently, and again enjoyed it quite a bit.

Also on sale is The Fuse, which I loved, and Copperhead, which I enjoyed. Both are science fiction books about female leading characters who are in law enforcement.

I appreciate the recommendations since I love some of Brubaker's work (Fatale) but find some of his other output uninspiring.

The Fuse looks neat!

Anyone that uses Marvel Unlimited, they did a UI update right? How is it?

Finally finished Scooby Apocalypse. I liked it, but the end seemed to wrap up really quick.
They had some good twists and I enjoyed some of the character choices but a few were hamfisted.

Time to reread and finish Invincible.

So I picked up Something is Killing the Children Volume 1 at my local library today. Liking it so far.

Funny side story, the area for picking up holds is in the children's section of the library because that's the only room on the first floor by the reception desk. My hold was not where it was supposed to be so upon inquiry I had to awkwardly stand there while a few folks working at the library called the title back and forth...while we stood in the children's section. I felt a little silly.

A couple of months ago, I told you about Omar Dogan's 5th Capsule:

Mario_Alba wrote:

And finally we get to 5th Capsule, by Omar Dogan. You might know him from his work for Udon Comics, particularly Street Fighter, but I’ve never read any of those books. I follow him on Instagram, and when he announced his creator-owned, labor-of-love series 5th Capsule was on sale on Gumroad I thought I’d give it a try and bought all six volumes sight unseen (it was like $5 total, so it wasn’t a big risk). And friends, what a great idea that turned out to be! 5th Capsule is a slice of life/romantic comedy series drawn in a very manga style (the first volume is black and white, but all the others are in full color), and it is an absolute blast. Now, if you hate slice of life/romantic comedies, this series is probably not for you; but if you only claim to hate those genres (because all your friends do) but love them secretly (like you should), then this is the book for you. Girl trouble, nice people, fast cars, cute drawings, and an interesting story that, despite the occasional and regrettable typo here and there, hooked me from the very beginning and made me smile all the way through, with a couple of sequences that made me laugh out loud (I will only say “pelicans”). Along with Always Never, the best book I’ve read this summer, and probably this year so far. So, so good!

The seventh volume just came out, and Dogan is letting people download the six previous volumes for free. If what I typed above sounds like something you might enjoy, go to his Gumroad page and get all six for the incredible price of zero dollars. You have to use the discount code "freebe," or at least that's what he said on Instagram. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

It’s been a while since my last update on what I was reading, and I’ve been reading a ton of comics, so be prepared for a lengthy post!

The Dream of the Butterfly, vol. 2
This volume by Richard Marazano and Luo Yin ends the story of the girl that goes to a different world and sort of starts a revolution. I liked it about as much as the first volume: an interesting story and nice art, but it didn’t blow me away.

Warship Jolly Roger, vol. 1
I loved the art by Miki Montllo, and the story by Sylvain Runberg was also pretty cool. It’s about a prisoner that escapes with a bunch of other inmates who become the crew of the space ship Jolly Roger and are hellbent on revenge. It looks like an animated movie, and I had lots of fun reading it. There is a second and final volume I might get at some point.

Stray Dogs
Written by Tony Fleecs and illustrated by Trish Forstner, this book tells the story of a group of dogs happily living together in a house until a new dog arrives with memories of her previous owner, which causes some of the other dogs to start remembering life before they got to their current home… and maybe they should be worried about their situation because... I won’t say anything else because I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say I enjoyed the book. Also, I heard somewhere it has been optioned to become and animated movie, so I’ll be curious to watch it if and when it is released.

Empowered, vol. 11
Written and drawn by the great Adam Warren, this is one of my favorite series. I’ve been following it for years, and each volume blows me away because the story, the dialogue, and the art are all exceptional, in my opinion. Actually, this was the second time I read this particular volume because it’s been a while since it came out, and I wanted some more Adam Warren goodness. In case you don’t know anything about Empowered, Adam Warren describes it as a “sexy superhero comedy, except for when it isn’t.” So, so good!

Un/sacred, vol. 1
Written and drawn by Mirka Andolfo, Un/sacred is a collection of short stories (they range from one to three pages long) that show us the relationship between what’s basically an angel and a demon who are dating. He wants to have sex, and she wants to wait until they are married. It is funny, but very repetitive, especially in a book that’s over 100 pages. Also, this is the fourth series written by Mirka Andolfo I’ve tried, and I have never been impressed with any of them, so this will be the last chance I give her. Entertaining, but probably reads better in small chunks.

Lady Mechanika hardcovers 1-5
Joe Benitez’s recent Kickstarter campaign for the first issue of the new Lady Mechanika miniseries made me want to go back and reread all the volumes published to date, and I had a blast doing so. Written by Marcia Chen and illustrated by Benitez and Marcos Montiel, Lady Mechanika combines steampunk and superheroes in a mystery/action-adventure story that never fails to delight me. Interestingly, the fifth volume, which is drawn by Brian Ching, left me a little cold when I first read it earlier this year, but this time around I absolutely loved it. What was I thinking the first time? Ching’s art is awesome!

Wonder Woman, vol. 1: Who Is Wonder Woman?
I wanted to read some Wonder Woman, and I decided to buy this book because it is illustrated by Terry and Rachel Dodson. The art is gorgeous (I mean, it is the Dodsons!), but the story by Allan Heinberg didn’t rock my world. The story is about Wonder Woman having stepped down after killing someone, and how everyone is looking for her while her sister Donna Troy takes the mantle and acts as Wonder Woman in Diana’s absence. All in all, it was an okay read.

Wraithborn Redux
Since I was on a Joe Benitez kick, I reread his Wraithborn miniseries, which I had last read when it first came out back in… 2007? Something like that. Instead of the steampunk he regales us with in Lady Mechanika, he does urban fantasy here, and once again it is gorgeous. I just love Benitez’s dynamic artwork, his page layouts and panel compositions. Plus, the story by Marcia Chen is very entertaining. In case you don’t know anything about it, there is some evil being wanting to seize some mystical artifact called the Wraithborn so that they can be super evil forever, but the bearer of the Wraithborn will, of course, fight the evil being and its demonic minions to prevent this from happening. Toss in some teenage angst, some New Orleans atmosphere, and one or two secret brotherhoods, and you have the perfect recipe for a super fun time. Another winner!

Velocity
I used to love Marc Silvestri’s Cyber Force back in the 90s, and I definitely love Ron Marz (his run on Witchblade is incredible), so I don’t quite understand how come I had never read the Velocity miniseries written by Marz and gorgeously, gorgeously illustrated by the great Kenneth Rocafort. The story is super fun and entertaining, and the art by Rocafort with colors by Sunny Gho are to die for. As for the story itself, Velocity has about an hour to save herself and her Cyber Force teammates from a virus they have been injected with, but they are spread out all over the world. Even for someone as fast as the Flash, this task seems quite impossible… but is it? I loved this book more than I can explain, so I urge you to check it out!

Madame Mirage
Since I wanted more Kenneth Rocafort, I reread the Madame Mirage miniseries written by Paul Dini and illustrated by Rocafort. While not as strong as his work on Velocity (I think he drew this one first, so it makes sense), Rocafort’s artwork is fantastic, and the story by Dini is fun, surprising, and moves at breakneck speed. So that I don’t spoil anything, I will just say this is a story about a mysterious woman on a journey to destroy an evil organization for unknown reasons. Then again, do you need a reason to destroy an evil organization other than the fact that it is evil? A supremely entertaining book.

Nocterra, vol. 1
Written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Tony S. Daniel, this book tells a post apocalyptic story in which Earth has been engulfed in darkness for over a decade following some mysterious event, and people and animals who are left in the dark without any light source for just a few hours mutate into horrible creatures that then proceed to murder everything in sight. It’s a good thing our plucky heroine meets someone that might just hold the key to bringing the world back to what it used to be, but can she do it before it’s too late? (Dum-dum-dum!) I was very excited about this book, but I must confess it didn’t quite connect with me and I was pretty bored most of the time. So sad.

Ultramega, vol. 1
Written and drawn by James Harren and colored by Dave Stewart, Ultramega came highly recommended by the 11 O’Clock Comics crew, just like Nocterra. And just like Nocterra, I wanted to quit halfway through. Maybe I’m lame, but this tale about an otherworldly force known as the Ultramega that chooses champions to fight the Kaiju infection all over the universe simply did not do it for me. It is surprisingly dark and full of unexpected twists, I’ll give you that, but I did not care about any of the characters and the artwork did not exactly leave me with my mouth open. You might like it, though!

Jules Verne’s Lighthouse
Adapted from Verne’s “The Lighthouse at the End of the World” by Brian Haberlin and David Hine, and illustrated by Haberlin, this book tells the story of a space station at the end of the universe and what happens to its crew when a pirate ship appears out of nowhere and hacks all the unhackable security measures to wreak havoc and obtain something I will not reveal here. I liked both art and story, but didn’t love either. “It was fine,” he said with a shrug.

And that’s it for now. Sorry about the wall of text! I will try to post again after the next three or four books so I don’t bore you to tears with my ramblings.

I don't know if any of you will be interested in this, but Top Cow has just launched a Kickstarter for a hardcover collection of the original Cyber Force for the 30th anniversary of the series. I figured this was coming but I thought it was going to cost twice as much, so I was delighted to pay only $45!

Read a few graphic novels lately. Some I like, a few I haven't finished.

Something is Killing the Children Vol 2 & 3: Really enjoying this series. Fun concept, love secret society stuff, and not too over the top reactions by the helpless villagers that I find comics/graphic novels are prone to use as a mechanic in the absence of thought bubbles.

Black Stars Above: This was fantastic. Eerie, woods, occult. I love the art especially the use and coloring of eyes. I get everything from my local library eitheras a physical book or through libby digitally delivered. I will definitely buy some sort of collector's edition of this in the future. My only complaint is there won't be more...at least I believe it is complete. If you have any recommendations that are similar to this (Gideon Falls would be one that I also enjoyed), please let me know!

Once and Future Vol 1: Eh, not for me. Love the concept and the world building but couldn't get past chapter 2. Not a fan of the "Super expert grandma who explains on a need to know basis to a 'what's going on Grandma, this can't be happening' every other frame grandson." It's a lazy trope to introduce the world. I don't have doubts folks will tell me this series gets better as the grandson finds his footing and becomes a hero. But to me, better means it might become readable without a groan on each page.

The Wicked + The Devine Vol 1: Really, really disappointed on this one. Also couldn't make it past chapter 2 or 3. The concept is so cool. I really, really want to like it. But when you realize every divinity is channeling a message board populated by 15 year olds with a very limited view on sex and how to interact with people...you get this comic.

Just started Department of Truth Vol 1 and enjoying the first chapter or so. I also have Here by Richard McGuire on my shelf and looking forward to that.

I've heard very good things about Something is Killing the Children and Department of Truth --I might have to read them myself! I did read the first volume of The Wicked & The Divine a while back, and thought it was okay, but I never continued with the series.

I read the first two volumes of The Dare Detectives, written and drawn by Ben Caldwell. I bought Caldwell's Dare Detectives Uberfolio sketchbook last month and loved all the sketches, character designs, and blurbs about this band of dumb detectives and their enemies, so when I found out he had actually put out a couple of books with their adventures I went ahead and bought them for pennies on Amazon. Now that I've read them, well... I like the sketchbook and the movies I saw in my head based on his ideas and descriptions much, much better than the actual adventures printed on the two comics. The art is nice: it's like a Saturday morning cartoon. The story and dialogue, however... read like a Saturday morning cartoon as well, which is not bad necessarily, but I think I'm about 35 years too old to really enjoy it. Overall, I found the story (it's one case split into two books) somewhat entertaining but would not recommend reading it unless you absolutely adore that type or cartoon... or unless you're six, which you probably are not.

Picked up Historia: The Amazons. The art is f*cking spectacular. Just glanced through it so far, but seriously its just incredible.

I've only seen some preview pages online, but it does look amazing!

Talking about that, I read Wonder Woman: War-Torn, the seventh volume of the series (or that particular series) that collects the first arc (of I think three... maybe) written by Meredith Finch and illustrated by her husband David. I liked it but didn't love it. Finch's art was, as usual, spectacular, and while I liked the story well enough, it seemed to be quite repetitive hitting the same ideas over and over, and at the same time it appeared to skip beats here and there, so it felt both like there was too much of some things and not enough of some others. But I liked it overall, so that's good.

Continuing with DC, I read Batman/Catwoman: The Wedding Album, and I absolutely loved it. I had never read any of Tom King's Batman run, and this deluxe hardcover collects material from three different books that show the road to Bat and Cat's wedding day. The main story was drawn by my fellow Spaniard Mikel Janín along with Joëlle Jones and Clay Mann, and they all knocked it out of the park. Then all the guest artists in issue 50 did an amazing job as well, and I loved them all (well, except for a couple of big-name artists whose style I've never cared for). But the way Tom King told the story was the standout for me. The narration, the symmetry in the action unfolding, the dialogue... I thought everything was great!

Finally, and to show Marvel some love, I bought the second volume of Strange Academy and so I re-read the first one to be able to enjoy the second one to the fullest. Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed the story by Skottie Young and the illustrations by Humberto Ramos, and I am excited to read the next volume whenever it comes out.

More reads:

Catwoman, vol. 1
This is the series written and drawn by Joëlle Jones, and I enjoyed this first volume a lot. I thought the story, which has Catwoman moving to a new city and finding herself in trouble over there, was interesting, and the artwork was really good, so the whole experience was a win for me. I hear Jones could not keep up with the monthly schedule and the next volumes are not drawn by her (or not completely), which is a drag, but I think I'll still check out the second volume, see how I feel about it.

5th Capsule, vol. 7
Omar Dogan writes and draws this slice-of-life, romantic comedy series I've already gushed about here on a couple of occasions, so I'll spare you the repetition. Suffice it to say that I re-read the previous six volumes before reading this seventh one, and every single page was a delight.

My Favorite Thing is Monsters
I'm about four years late to the party on this one, but everyone was right: this debut graphic novel by writer/artist Emil Ferris is nothing short of incredible. It is about love, friends, family, sexual identity, race relations, horror movies, the role of art in our lives, how creativity can help you survive in awful circumstances, keeping secrets to hurt/not hurt people... Plus, there's historical events unfolding, social commentary, surrealism galore, and even a murder mystery. I don't know how a book can be about everything, but this one is. Maybe the fact that it's over 300 pages has something to do with it. But that reminds me: I did not know this was supposed to be volume one of two, so I was very perplexed by the ending and thought I was a dummy who hadn't figured something out. But no! The second volume has apparently been delayed several times and it's supposed to come out this year (a happy coincidence), so keep that in mind if you still haven't read this book but are curious about it.

I just realized all three books are by writer/artist creators. Funny how that worked out!

Over the past couple of weeks I've read:

Wika. Written by Thomas Day and ilustrated by Olivier Ledroit, Wika was originally published in French in three volumes, but Titan Comics has collected all three and released them as a huge oversized hardcover collection in English. The story follows a fairy named Wika and the huge all-encompassing war she finds herself in for reasons I will not spoil. It is an engaging story, but the artwork is the selling point here because my goodness --each page is a work of art. Packed with impossible detail, dozens of characters, thousands of lines... I can't even imagine how long it took Ledroit to paint each one of these stunning pages. They are so detailed and ornate that it often becomes too much and you have to take a break to avoid sensory overload. If you've never seen this book, do an image search and you'll see what I'm talking about. And then go buy the book and enjoy it.

I had already read Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo's Court of Owls Batman story when I got the Unwrapped edition (just pencils) last year, but this past Christmas I got the Noir edition (oversized hardcover with just the black and white inks by Jonathan Glapion), so I read it again, and boy do I love this story. (Knowing that the upcoming Gotham Knights game will feature this storyline makes me want that game really bad!) So I followed up with the third paperback in the Snyder & Capullo run, Death of the Family, which I had never read, and I had a blast as well. So much so that I have the next three volumes in the mail coming soon. A great series so far!

Finally, I read volumes 5-7 of Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, and volume 8 of Hisato Murasaki's adaptation of Persona 5, but since that's manga (eeeeeewww!) you can read about that in the manga thread.

I need to read My Favorite Thing Is Monsters. I had started it when it came out years ago, bought a copy, and then never finished it. Definitely impressed with the first 10% though

I hope you enjoy the rest of the Snyder/Capullo run Mario_Alba. I started out really enjoying it and then somewhere around vol 5 or 6 I just completely lost interest. Can't even remember why, I just bounced off pretty hard (this was back in 2018, not during the original run). Sounds like you're starting at a higher high than I did, so hopefully you can go the distance!

Kyekye wrote:

I need to read My Favorite Thing Is Monsters. I had started it when it came out years ago, bought a copy, and then never finished it. Definitely impressed with the first 10% though

I hope you enjoy the rest of the Snyder/Capullo run Mario_Alba. I started out really enjoying it and then somewhere around vol 5 or 6 I just completely lost interest. Can't even remember why, I just bounced off pretty hard (this was back in 2018, not during the original run). Sounds like you're starting at a higher high than I did, so hopefully you can go the distance!

Capullo's penciling is amazing, Snyder's baroque plot less so. It just seemed to me to be a series of extremely contrived climaxes and I'm not sure what the point of it was. But gorgeous art.

Natus wrote:

Capullo's penciling is amazing, Snyder's baroque plot less so. It just seemed to me to be a series of extremely contrived climaxes and I'm not sure what the point of it was. But gorgeous art.

This was basically my impression as well. I think my original comment when it first came up here described the book as feeling like it was written with one hand while the author held out the other hand making grasping motions for an Eisner award.

I got a boxset with volumes 4-6 of the Snyder/Capullo Batman about two weeks ago, but it still hasn't shipped! I am looking forward to reading them and will report here, but I do hope I continue to enjoy the series. Capullo's art is fantastic, just like it's always been. (Which reminds me he's working on Creech III right now! Did anyone read the original miniseries back in the day? That was fun!) In any case, I am much more likely to enjoy an okay story with great artwork than a great story with just okay artwork, so maybe I will be fine? We'll see!

Heads up, if you use the Comixology iOS app, don’t download the most recent update. It completely revamps the interface, removes some useful features like the lists page, and is generally just hot garbage. It didn’t even carry over my reading progress so everything is marked unread now.

I ended up canceling my Comixology subscription because of all the updates and how unusable the app becomes. I'm sad to see it go, but I have plenty to read elsewhere.

That's a bummer about the app. I haven't been using it as regularly as I used to, so I haven't suffered it yet. Hopefully they'll fix it before I open it next.

Since my last update, I have read three books:

Starfire, vol. 2. Written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, and illustrated by Emanuela Lupacchino and Elsa Charretier, this second volume collects the second and last half of the Starfire series. I had a good time reading it, but I didn't like it anywhere near as much as the first volume for two reasons. One, the story wasn't as interesting even though it was still sweet and enjoyable. Starfire continued to be a little clueless about living amongst humans and there were plenty of comedic moments, but they didn't hit me like they did in volume one. And two, Lupacchino illustrated the first volume and I loved her art, but here she only does a couple of issues and the rest are drawn by Charretier, whose style I also liked but... I prefer Lupacchino's. All in all, it was fine, but nothing earth-shattering.

I Hate Fairyland: Book One. I have read (and adored) all of Skottie Young's I Hate Fairyland digitally before, but I got the oversized hardcover collecting the first half of the series for Christmas, so I'm reading it again, and just like I expected, it holds up. I just love this hilarious, demented book more than I can explain. If you want to see a cute little girl blow the moon's (and the sun's) brains out of their skulls with sundry and various weapons and then proceed to murder all the stars in the sky, this is your book.

Lightfall, Book One: The Girl and the Galdurian. Written and illustrated by Tim Probert, this all-ages fantasy book is a great read. A girl meets a strange creature (yes, a Galdurian) and they go on a quest to find a missing person. Nothing super original, I know, but the 240 pages of this hardcover are lavishly illustrated and the story and the characters are just super sweet and likable, including a white cat named Nimm. The second book is coming out in April, and I will make sure I get it!

I have also read a couple of art books: Icons: Jim Lee, an oversized hardcover which showcases Lee's work at WildStorm and DC, and The Art of Todd McFarlane, an oversized softcover which, you guessed it, showcases McFarlane's art from before he broke into comics until about ten years ago (the book came out in 2011 or 2012, I think). Both of them great reads if you like the artists, of course.

Finally, to update everyone on my love affair with Snyder & Capullo's Batman, I finally got my box from InStockTrades with volumes 4, 5, and 6 just a couple of hours ago (I placed the order a month ago!), so I haven't had a chance to continue with the series yet, but it will be happening very soon. I'll let you know what I think when I read them!

I didn’t realize this Comixology shift was going to be this awful. Gone are my currently reading and unread smart lists, my wishlist is missing comics that I assume didn’t make the transition and so are no longer available to purchase, and worst of all, the in-browser reading is worse than abysmal. I do a lot of browser comic reading at one of my jobs where personal devices are prohibited for security, but I can’t do that any more at all.

I can’t see myself buying more digital comics like this at all

Antichulius wrote:

I didn’t realize this Comixology shift was going to be this awful. Gone are my currently reading and unread smart lists, my wishlist is missing comics that I assume didn’t make the transition and so are no longer available to purchase, and worst of all, the in-browser reading is worse than abysmal. I do a lot of browser comic reading at one of my jobs where personal devices are prohibited for security, but I can’t do that any more at all.

I can’t see myself buying more digital comics like this at all :(

I haven't even gotten that deep into it and I've removed my bookmark for Comixology from my browser. What's the point? They clearly don't care anymore.

DC Infinite is 37.50 for a year and a free week. Just use the code FLASHSALE31

Here's my latest (and very DC-centric) update:

Future State: Batman: Dark Detective
This volume collects a bunch (maybe all?) of the Bat-family Future State miniseries from last year, and as such collections tend to be, it is a mixed bag. I thought the Dark Detective series by Mariko Tamaki and Dan Mora was great, both the story and the art, but the Red Hood backup left me cold, both in terms of art and story. The Superman/Batman story also left me indifferent, but the Catwoman mini by Ram V and Otto Schmidt was quite enjoyable (I had read it before, though, so I knew what was coming). Next was the Harley Quinn miniseries by Stephanie Phillips and (mostly) Simone Di Meo, which had cool artwork (if somewhat baffling storytelling) but I did not find the story very interesting. Finally, the last story, Robin Eternal, written by Meghan Fitzmartin, drawn by Eddy Barrows, and inked by Eber Ferreira was surprisingly enjoyable and pretty to look at. All in all, the collection has its ups and downs, but over all I found it to be a pleasant read.

TMNT: Shredder in Hell
This trade collects the miniseries (or perhaps story arc) "Shredder in Hell," and it was written and drawn by Mateus Santolouco. I thought the art was spectacular but I found the story only somewhat interesting and rather repetitive and a tad too long. An okay read, all things considered.

Snyder & Capullo's Batman, vols. 4 and 5
I finally got around to continuing with Snyder and Capullo's Batman, and I found these two "Year Zero" volumes to be super fun and I enjoyed them quite a bit. Not as much as the Court of Owls story arc, but a lot more than I thought I would based on some comments and the realization that it was a flashback story, something I didn't know coming in. I really enjoyed the nonstop action and crazy situations, and how Batman had a tough time on almost every page. Lots of fun!

Next in line is the sixth volume of S&C's Batman, and a couple other DC books since it seems I'm a DC boy now. Who would have thought?