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(+) Yeah! (+)

Finished Death's End. (a day later than I'd have liked. I wanted to finish it within a month but i got lazy lol)

Holy Toledo what a ride that was. On one hand, I'm disappointed that the optimistic tone of Dark Forest's ending was abandoned in favor of the bittersweet direction this one went for. Would have preferred to see more interaction between different civilizations and seeing some level of overcoming the cynical dark forest philosophy, even if it was just a few worlds. Some civilizations like this were vaguely alluded to towards the ending but still >_>

I also felt like Cheng Xin was far less interesting of a character than Luo Ji and...whoever the guy from the first one was lol. I liked her in the beginning with the Staircase Project, but by the time she became the Swordholder it felt like she lost all agency and was just being pushed around by the narrative. Both of her big contributions after that felt weak as well. Her fear of triggering Dark Forest deterrence and her shutting down Wade's secession attempt made sense for her and lead to interesting things, but the writing made her feel weirdly detached from consequences so I just couldn't feel invested in her as much as I wanted to.

With all that said I actually did greatly enjoy it. I liked the escalation of existential threats to humanity's existence and civilization's response to them, spread out long enough to make it all seem pointless. Even if the solar system had thwarted the 2D attack, by the period of the books last chapters it would've all been gone anyway. And some humans had found a way to survive and (seemingly) even thrive in the cosmos. Overall it was a very interesting look at the conflict between life and death on a universal scale.

Wonderful series. Absolutely zero idea how this could possibly get adapted for tv lol.

Hitman omnibus v1 arrived yesterday. Great new slipcover art by McCrea and new intros by both him and Ennis. Textless art for issues on the interior. I probably won't re-read it again until v2 comes out...
https://i.vgy.me/kKzU4q.jpg

After seeing Age of Apocalypse Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine, I decided to reread Legion Quest and AOA.
That was an amazing alternate history event. Great art too.
I think there's a storyline in the 1990s X-Men cartoon that was the inspiration for AOA.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/68ffc51e.jpg

mazingetter posted...

I think there's a storyline in the 1990s X-Men cartoon that was the inspiration for AOA.

Either that or the comic was planned first, but the episode came out beforehand.

But yeah, that is why when I started collecting comics that AoA as well as Secret Wars, Secret Wars II and tie ins were of interest. Also the Armor Wars story from Iron Man which had a two part adaptation in the IM animated series.

Also, yes. My screen name is partially a reference to The Beyonder, as well as DC's Anti-Monitor. Basically a slight nod to Amalgam Comics too.

Since I've been on that Lovecraft kick I started looking for other authors with similar work. Saw someone recommend "The Fisherman" by John Langan.

I really like this passage from the first chapter:

That tale about the building of the Reservoir and whoand whatwas covered by its waters, prowls my brain. Even had we heeded Howards advice and avoided the creek that dayHell, had we turned around and headed back home as fast as I could drive, which is what we should have doneIm convinced what we heard would still have branded itself on my memory. Can a story haunt you? Possess you? There are times I think recounting the events of that Saturday in June is just an excuse for those more distant events to make their way out into the world once more.

Antiyonder posted...

Either that or the comic was planned first, but the episode came out beforehand.

It was confirmed in an interview with the show's creators that "One Man's Worth" directly inspired AOA.

Started reading A Pickle for the Knowing Ones.

mazingetter posted...

After seeing Age of Apocalypse Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine, I decided to reread Legion Quest and AOA.
That was an amazing alternate history event. Great art too.

I have fond memories of AoA; a lot of fresh character re-designs, alternate histories/different timelines/multiverses hadn't been played out yet, and like you said, great art on the various titles. Bachalo's art on Generation Next stands out in my mind.

A Pickle for the Knowing Ones was tough to read but had some interesting thoughts amidst all the spelling errors and lack of punctuation.
Also FINALLY started and finished Godzilla; very quick read, I think it took me less than an hour total. Very similar to the film, some notable highlights from the book:
>Goji glows with radiation, especially at night
>Dr. Yamane was a bit more fleshed out; on top of being a paleontologist, the novel frequently reinforced his belief that Godzilla could be used to further humanity, by studying his incredible durability and vitality.
>There was a "Tokyo Godzilla Society" that tried to use his appearance as a doomsday/cult type thing, turned out to just be one guy with a criminal record stirring the pot

Juhanor posted...

>There was a "Tokyo Godzilla Society" that tried to use his appearance as a doomsday/cult type thing, turned out to just be one guy with a criminal record stirring the pot

That sounds such a cool premise to be resolved so anti-climactically. We need more kaiju stories that involve religious kookery. >_>

Kim_Seong-a posted...

That sounds such a cool premise to be resolved so anti-climactically. We need more kaiju stories that involve religious kookery. >_>

I know, right? It seems so obvious, you just know that there would be people ready to worship 'em if they started appearing.

cuh posted...

Omg this? I love looking up the books you read
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4360b0a2.jpg
Its so funny, it reminds me of Tristram Shandy too

Yup, that's the pickle. He has some really nice sentiments at points and at others its just like bro what are you saying
Nice sentiment:
If you can bare the trouth I will tell the trouth man is the best Annemel and the worst
Oh wow that's kinda deep, man is the best and worst animal.
Immediately followed by:
all men are more or less the Divel but there is sit of ods sum halfe sum three qurters the other part beast of Difrent kind of beasts sum one thing and sum a Nother sum Like a Dog sum Lik horses sum bare sum Cat sum Lion sum lik ouls sum a monkey sum wild Cat sum Lam sum A Dove sum a hogg sum a oxe sum a snake
....ok
Tristram sounds great, I'm adding that to the list.

Continuing my plodding re-read of Frankenstein. Absolutely love this exchange. Mary Shelley can write some damn good shit-talking

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/2a23831f.jpg

That's pretty bad ass!

One of the local(ish) libraries is having a book sale tomorrow; my friend who moved to Japan ten years ago, is back visiting with his family, so we're gonna meet up and look at books together.

Speaking of libraries, another checkout:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/311f71a1.jpg

cuh posted...

Sounds really fun! Have you ever been to Japan, Juhanor? :0

Nope! I've only been out of NYS once, to Canada in my youth. We're tight friends though, I think we've been texting every day for going on twenty years--started on AOL Instant Messenger, currently on LINE app.
Not sure what I'll look for today, maybe some Navy or paleontology books, old comic strip collections are always a must.

My friend was good and I got a nice stack; some old Navy books, some about America and Mexico.

@cuh

I havent been to a library in a long timethis is making me want to go visit again! Looks like some comfy reading

Yep and had to put some comic store trips on hold due to the heat, so the nearby library is a good alternative.

Switched back to European comics and started reading Torpedo 1936 by Abul and (currently) Bernet; it actually started with Alex Toth as artist but he left over creative differences. Which I can totally see...the main character is a hitman, who under Toth I would see having an honorable streak, but under Abul is just a total sleazeball. Killing your old friend for money? Check. Not just double-crossing your partner, but doing so with the intention of gunning them down? Check. This character does it all (and more).
One hand it's kinda too bad that Toth left, he was such a great artist.
https://i.vgy.me/21X3iC.jpg

Other hand, Bernet is nothing to turn one's nose up at
https://i.vgy.me/OZbzXW.jpg

cuh posted...

Its 19 short vignettes (each like 1-4 pages long) following different people in the same hour of the day across Dublin. But the people appear and reappear in each others storiestheyre all slightly connected, and youll get glimpses of a character (who is that man by the chessboard) before learning more about them in another vignette. Its like that episode of the Simpsons/Malcolm in the Middle (and the Persona 4 Anime did this too I think lol) where the plot repeats three times, but told through three different perspectives.

Oh wow I love this kinda set up, that's really awesome!!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3d295b02.jpg

Small object to the left of the Wonder Woman trade is Scrooge's Number One Dime.

Finished Torpedo, very easy read. Mixed opinions on the story--at times it had some depth and some comedy, at others it was like reading something from a raunchy men's magazine. The art was fantastic however, and I liked the stories with references to real world events; one story opened up with Torpedo and his friend Rascal watching the 1931 film adaptation of Frankenstein, with actual images from the film, for example.

Read "Emperor Joker"

Really fun story that's like 8 issues too long. The high concept cosmic-shenanigans are pretty much all in the final act. While everything leading up to it is just a surrealist comedy that's not very funny. (Perhaps there's a meta brilliance in making the Joker's universe grating and unfunny, but I wish I didn't have to sit through it for as long as I did lol)

But those last few chapters are really good, and the "punchline" actually made me chuckle.

I will say though, the story making a point to say "it was the right decision not to kill the Joker" is just...REALLY not working for me considering he commits fucking cannibalistic genocide in the same goddamn story Jesus christ lol

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4e488fe8.jpg

WTF Joker^^^

Started reading Charley's War, British strip by Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun, set during WWI. Pretty good so far.
https://i.vgy.me/0jidAq.jpg

https://i.vgy.me/7uqBp4.jpg

Didn't read anything today, though not for a lack of books lol

I ended up finishing the Fire and Blood Book.

I don't have Sky Atlantic so I can't watch series 2 of House of the Dragon and I didn't want to find out about things in the story by getting spoilered so I just read the book instead.

Anyway, picked up this today and will be reading through it soon-

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/caef20b1.jpg

Nice, I read a lot of Crichton in my youth. Actually watched the film adaptation of The Andromeda Strain somewhat recently; much like Jurassic Park it's interesting to see the similarities and differences between the two formats.

Juhanor posted...

Nice, I read a lot of Crichton in my youth. Actually watched the film adaptation of The Andromeda Strain somewhat recently; much like Jurassic Park it's interesting to see the similarities and differences between the two formats.

The Lost World book is very different from the film, though it's been a while since I read the book.

The scene with the tree hideout is very different in the books. It gets attacked by raptors.

Still plugging away at Charley's War, I'm almost done with the first volume. Here's a look at Folklore Series by Ishinomori, which I read awhile ago and can't remember if I posted about, lol
https://i.vgy.me/NQ7JLM.png
Interestingly enough it was all 2 page spreads, I think might have been marketed in a children's book style due to the content? Very cool regardless.

I sense that Mills is going to say in the notes, "Editorial wrote in the speech balloon, you can ignore it"

https://i.vgy.me/ETCd53.jpg

That's some really nice shadows/contrast. Looks beautiful.

Oh forgot to say, first volume of Flash Gordon sundays arrived a couple days ago; much like the Prince Valiant reprints from Fantagraphics, the cover art is actually printed on the cover, no annoying dust jacket to deal with. It seems really HQ.

Kim_Seong-a posted...

That's some really nice shadows/contrast. Looks beautiful.

Agreed, UK black and whites are very striking.

Nice panel from the last volume: a train of injured troops heading back, a fresh group of soldiers marching in, and a lone body left on the platform.
https://i.vgy.me/4wDw8c.jpg

Done with the main body of volume 2, working through the commentary.
https://i.vgy.me/3tczLM.png
This made me chuckle because yeah, the "full" phrasing stuck out like a nail begging to be hammered back down lol

Finished Charley's War; I do think Mills is a bit too anti-authority to see clearly at times based on his commentary but overall it was an interesting read, Colquhoun's art was fantastic. Definitely want to read more of his stuff.

cuh posted...

the whatness of our whoness hath fetched his whenceness ok Mr. Joyce

I love alliteration, that's the peak right there.

Started reading the post-apocalyptic Axa by Romero and Avenell, and boy howdy is it dumb. Just dumb, dumb, dumb, I don't even know where to start. Like obviously the strip exists so the title character can get nekkid but they aren't even trying with the sci fi stuff.

>Axa is given the mission of securing healthy humans across the sea for her former home, a dome in which the inhabitants are strictly regulated emotionally and physically
>she herself had broken out of this dome, determined to live as a free woman in the post-apocalyptic world
>"living free" means throwing herself into the arms of any strapping young man she comes across
>such as Matt, one of those that worshipped "the old ways" (a television) and professed his love for her at every opportunity, to which she of course answered positively
>despite the fact that he SOLD HER OUT TO HIS MAY-OR (get it? They don't know how to spell Mayor!) MULTIPLE TIMES, trying to imprison her, take her sword away, etc etc
But I digress
>so despite (superficially) hating her former dome community and everything they stand for, Axa agrees to help them and condemn others to this life of drudgery
>crosses the sea with the aid of a Boatman and his Father, after being betrayed by her former dome partner MULTIPLE TIMES (his name is forgettable)
Axa: why yes, I'd love to help these people, they have such great values! /s
But I digress
>ends up crashed on the private island of former millionaire Arkady (Axa knows about the old world in perfect detail except money for some reason)
>the elder Arkady and his aged servants are the only people on the island, except for his strapping YOUNG grandson Jason Arkady
>this is after shooting Boatman, who is dragged off
>Axa has literally zero care in the world about Boatman
>she's too busy riding Jason's motorcycle and dune buggy, until they literally fall apart with the rest of the island's facilities due to age
>elder Arkady wants her and Jason to make babies, ensuring the Arkady line lasts another generation
>she escapes into the night, horrified by both Jason and Grandpa Arkady
>runs into the Boatman
>actually, he is still alive...that YOUNG man protected him from the others, with a hiding place and food
>Axa leaves him to prevent his discovery
>is caught and shoved into a cellar until she is willing to have sex with Jason
>Jason arrives
>Axa refuses to go with him, surely he is as despicable as his Grandpa
>Jason, Axa, and the Boatman rendezvous
>Boatman thanks Jason for helping him
>Axa: "I forgot about you (the Boatman)!! And Jason is the YOUNG man who helped you??"
............
.............
..............
Yes, the only YOUNG man on the island was the one who helped the (apparently forgettable) guy that saved you from drowning in a boat crash.
Only 7 more volumes of this, at least its an easy read...
And to be fair, some of the post apocalyptic concepts/societies ARE interesting. That's probably why I'm so bowed up about the dialogue, lol.

Finished John Langan's The Fisherman, which is essentially two stories mashed together.

The first and last acts of the book concern two friends, both widowers, getting caught up in a fishing trip to a mysterious creek that everyone who's heard of it tells them not to fuck with.

The middle of the book is a flashback tale to the origin story of that creek, following a 19th Century German immigrant family working at an American work camp that's clearing a large valley so a reservoir can be built.

This middle section I absolutely loved. Weird occult shit; evil pacts with forces the contractee can't possibly comprehend and don't grasp the consequences of; glimpses of horror that can never be fully explained, but gives enough for your imagination to play with; a monster quietly stalking the town so that you never know when it'll appear, or what it will specifically want when it does. This middle section (given its own title and chapter numbering) could work perfectly as-is as a standalone story and basically hits every note I love. >_>

The beginning and end sections, again, following two men in the modern day, aren't nearly as exciting in comparison, but still pretty good, and further flesh out the mythology set up in the middle chapters. They're much more personal and emotional stories, which I like, and the two characters have about as narratively-satisfying resolutions to their arcs as you could hope for.

My only real issue with the book is that the ending is a bit anti-climactic when compared to the amount of build-up it had.

Also at one point there's a sex scene between a man and a half-human fish monster that doesn't end nearly as terribly as you'd expect lmao

Third volume of Axa had robots shooting dinosaurs and a foreward from C.C. Beck of all people. Axa also kept her clothes on for a noticeably longer amount of time; maaybe the dialogue/plotting is improving...or maybe I'm just a sucker for robots and dinosaurs...

Juhanor posted...

Third volume of Axa had robots shooting dinosaurs and a foreward from C.C. Beck of all people. Axa also kept her clothes on for a noticeably longer amount of time; maaybe the dialogue/plotting is improving...or maybe I'm just a sucker for robots and dinosaurs...

This whole thing sounds absolutely wild lol. Like something that'd get riffed on MST3K.

Continuing Frankenstein. I am not a mature person

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1c05ac43.jpg