Diluted Dante wrote:

About to start on the AvX stuff, so hoping it turns out good. Agree that Wolverines lot have been the more interesting, though having said that, I did enjoy Generation Hope, shame it was cancelled. If you're reading Spider-Man, it's been pretty much all gold recently. Spider Island was fantastic, and this Ends of the Earth thing is amazing.

Have you read Uncanny X-Force? I genuinely think it's the best book on the shelves atm- the Apocalypse Solution and Dark Angel Saga are just so, so good. Just on a completely other level to pretty much anything else Marvel have produced in a long time. 

Agreed on Spider-Man too, it's been great. Not read Ends of the Earth yet but Spider-Island was one of the most exciting and fun stories I've read in a while. I thought it was by far the best of the three big event stories last year.

I always found the Judge Death etc stuff to be kind of dull. Dredd is at his best when he's a secondary character and the city and its inhabitants are allowed to take centre stage. The Midnight Surfer is probably one of the best Dredd tales out there and Dredd himself is pretty much in the background.

I'm slowly working my way through Garth Ennis' The Boys graphic novels, highly recommended and in extremely dubious taste on occasion, just finished the Herogasm volume, must get Volume 6 soon, I need my fix

Presentation doesn't bother me, I agree he's written better, but even Ennis coasting is better than most comics writers, each to their own

A chap at Kapow was telling me that Ennis's wife almost left him while he was writing Crossed. And that's the reason it's quite twisted.

Just finished Invincible ultimate collection vol 7.  Still a good read & just as brutal as vol 1, end of the day though its still a DBZ ripoff, just with more blood & guts.

Just started reading Secret Wars as the recent Avengers movie gave me a taste for some team up shiz.
  
In regards to House of M, do I need to read Civil War first?  Im a tad confused as Avengers disasemble needs to squeeze in somewhere & maybe another g.novel(not sure which), do I need all of the above to understand the Bendis plan/plot?

Ref Dredd, im up to vol13 of the complete case files & kow is on the money ref the city & its residents, old stoney face is good but its the perps that give the stories life.

Ahhhh, Marshal Law, alas rev I own it already.  Its ok, just not a patch on ML: Fear & loathing.  Infact, I feel Mills & O'neill never came close to fear & loathing with any of their law follow ups.  Fear & loathing KICKS ASS!

Well if you want a starting point Tempster, try Joe Sacco's Palestine.  Twas where I started & made me a fan straight away, with his art & interviews.  So much a fan that I own all that the man has published.

Haven't read Persepolis. But the film was great so i'm guessing likewise.

cindemon wrote:

Just finished Invincible ultimate collection vol 7.  Still a good read & just as brutal as vol 1, end of the day though its still a DBZ ripoff, just with more blood & guts. Just started reading Secret Wars as the recent Avengers movie gave me a taste for some team up shiz.    In regards to House of M, do I need to read Civil War first?  Im a tad confused as Avengers disasemble needs to squeeze in somewhere & maybe another g.novel(not sure which), do I need all of the above to understand the Bendis plan/plot? Ref Dredd, im up to vol13 of the complete case files & kow is on the money ref the city & its residents, old stoney face is good but its the perps that give the stories life.

tbh the big Marvel Events can be a bit hit and miss. You're better off just picking a series and jumping on. Spider-Man has been excellent since Big Time started, Iron Man has been superb since Five Nightmares and Avengers post Siege  is as good a start as any. Particularly the Avengers Academy branch. 

X-men land has just had a major change with Schism that's effectively replaced Prof X vs Magneto with Wolverine vs Cyclops as reps of two wildly different ideologies around mutant-dom (though probably needs some wiki hunting around house of M)

You'd definitely dig the Uncanny X-Force series then. It's largely a massive love in for 90s Apocalypse lore. 

X-Men generally is in an interesting place. They've been living on Utopia (Asteroid M floating off San Fran) for ages but Schism splits the remaining mutants in half. One group, lead by Cyclops, sees the means of survival as paramount as maintains the island as a kind of militarised nation, armed with Omega mutants instead of nukes. On the other side Wolverine has rebuilt the Westchester school and maintains a view that in order for mutants to have a future the children need to be taught in a school, not taught to fight.

It's okay, typing as no fan of costumedude comics. Gets better than okay in the oddball far-future epilogue.

Of the not many Marvel things I've yet tangled with, Ennis' Punisher MAX convinced the most. Proper hardboiler that one.

Brooks wrote:

Of the not many Marvel things I've yet tangled with, Ennis' Punisher MAX convinced the most. Proper hardboiler that one.

QFT. That was a fantastic series. Lost it slightly in the last volume, but it was hardcore as fuck.

The Dark Knight Returns was great. Loved seeing the ravages of time do its work on both Bats and his rogues gallery and the difference that develops between him, Supes and the general populace of Gotham made it an exciting read.

Now, is The Dark Knight Strikes Again really that bad?