read all of my comics

Recently reread all of the Hellboy (I tell a lie, there was one cross-over I couldn’t force myself back into) that GG dug out for me. This is all the major stories from Seed of Destruction_up to _Makoma (though GG has the most recent one’s somewhere).

Um, seriously, that’s some messed up stuff. You see why people wanted to make it into a movie and why they failed to capture what it’s actually about. Those movies: not scary, not creepy, not disturbing. The disturbing sacrifice in the iron maiden, the horror of the attack in Wolves of Saint August, the tragedy of The Third Wish – where was that? Hellboy is classic horror – like Lovecraft or Poe, but with humor and sadness as well.

Seems like Mignola’s kind of lost his way since Hellboy’s gone rogue. Or fallen into his own navel, like Moore in Promethea. And honestly, he’s not drawing anymore? WTF!

But, wow, what stories.

Manga short stories. Funny and cute but nothing stunning or amazing.

Ah, I remember the days when I would just buy books on impulse based on catalog descriptions… the 4+ shelves of TBR books have stopped that!

The two trade paperbacks I had of the early Nexus weren’t sequential. (Huh?) I had the first few issues and then somewhere in the 50s. Which was fine.

A well written book. Much more serious in these early days than the more wacky God Con and so on that I had read before.

I enjoyed it a lot but don’t feel an overwhelming urge to seek out the rest of it.

There are times I question how much I limit what I expose myself too, how many movies or shows I just say “No way” too based on what I think they may contain. Am I overreacting?

And then something too disturbing for me gets through and the strength, the overpowering reaction, and the duration of the damage it does makes me say again, “No. I’m right to avoid this.”

This comic had some things in it that were too disturbing and too horrible for me. And, since it’s very well written, and very well done over all, it’s sticking with me in a painful way. That always seems to be the way of it, the better made it is, the harder it is to dismiss it. Why do I still carry the scars of AI and Pulp Fiction? Because they engaged me enough that they crossed the line where I couldn’t just dismiss it as fiction. Ah, art.

Anyway, This arc of League was more upsetting than the first and also a more predictable plot. I can’t think how there could be anymore after this.

Here’s the thing – the comic is great, if you aren’t bothered by things. But I am. So I wish I’d never read it.

New all ages graphic novel from Chynna Clugston. Got if for my birthday and read it in about 2 seconds

I love her art style and her point of view, but this is pretty derivative. It’s Mean Girls with psychokinesis. Great for tweens, but not so much for me.

I read Top Ten way way a long time ago and immediately put it on my mental list of favorite comics ever.

Smax is a spin-off miniseries and makes me want to reread Top Ten before I read it’s sequel. Because Smax is also really really good. Tragic and funny and scary in bits. Incredibly well drawn and well written.

• Moonshadow – 13 issues
• Electra Assasin – 6 issues
• Electra: Root of All Evil – 6 issues
• Interview with the Vampire – 12 issues, but I think I’m missing 1 or 2
• Dark Knight 2- 4 issues
• Top 10 Part 2 – 6 issues
• Smax – 5 issues
• League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Part 2 – 6 issues
• Promethea – last few issues
• Batman Thrillkiller and Thrillkiller ‘62
• A handful of America’s Best Comics non-series
• and the real mountain to climb – Strangers in Paradise – not sure how far back I stopped reading but I’m sure I have over 50 issues to read and I think it may be more.

• Astro City – Life in the Big City
• Astro City – Confessions
• Electra Lives Again
• Rumic World Trilogy – Volume 1
• Rumic World Trilogy – Volume 2
• Black Orchid

Pretty awesome yet confusing.

In doing a bit of research before posting this, much became clear about these heroes and their origins. They are all based on some hero series from the 40’s with a lapsed copyright. That cleared up why I had the same feeling I had when reading a few issues of Fourth World – that I would never figure out the back stories, no matter how hard I tried.

Good stories though – bizarre and cool, just as one expects from Alan Moore. Sexy too, in places. Which I’m always in favor of.

Such a great hero comic. Alan Moore really did make “America’s Best Comics” when he set out to write all these hero books.

I love the Tom Strong stories – consistently well written, well drawn, surprising, and true to it’s characters. Plus a lot of moer challenging stuff thrown in.

Not sure if it’s still being published. Will have to get to the comic store before New Year’s and see.

My god, what a dirty and snarky teenage book.

Someone said it was like Archie on crack – but I’m not sure I’d agree with that – it’s more like the whole teen hormone lust and anger frenzy but to some exponential degree.

Add to that the fact that it’s a one woman show (very real-girl oriented), very cool manga inspired art, and filled with pop culture references for all those of us who took the anglophile road to outcastdom in the 80’s (Adam Ant, The Cure, The Kinks, The Who! Scooters!) and it’s a must read for me. Now if there were only some more…