Books / Lit Graphic Novels - What Are You Reading and General Discussion

[Crazy Jamie]

Vash saying he's reading Dr Strange in the other thread prompted me to make this one. So what does everyone read generally/what are you reading now?

I got into reading graphic novels only a few years ago, and typically have a reasonable sized collection that I've read very little of. I'm slowly changing that, though. I started reading the main stories and crossovers from Disassembled to get an idea of the general state of things on the Marvel side. I've done Avengers vs X-Men, and am now hitting the main stories and arcs from there to Secret Wars before I read Secret Wars itself, both on the 616 and Ultimate side of things. I've just finished the entire Ultimate Spiderman run, and will move onto Miles next.

I want to get into DC as well, and have got both DC Infinite and Marvel Unlimited subscriptions. I only found out recently that they've made it easy to read comics on your phone now through those apps, which is a massive game changer for how much I'll be reading. I've found a few decent lists of essential DC comics, and I'm going to start with No Man's Land (nothing like staring with something simple!) and work my way through from there, hitting the main 2000s arcs.

Away from both of those, I've read the entirety of the Walking Dead, but have quite a few other full series, including Invincible, Chew, Paper Girls, East of West, Y The Last Man, Saga, Sandman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So yeah, the backlog is real.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

This is most of my physical collection, for reference. But I’m not planning on increasing it much more now that I’ve got the online subscriptions. I don’t value these physical copies in the same way I do with video games, so happy to switch to digital for the most part.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

They’re here and they’re so pretty. @VashTheStampede

 

[Ben]

Wife got me the first few volumes of the One Piece manga, which I'm about half way through. It may be the beginning of a (very big) collection .



She also bought a Seven Deadly Sins manga for my 12 year old son, but when I told her it was kind of raunchy we decided not to give it to him. So I guess that's mine now too.

 

[Ben]

I realize "manga" isn't quite the same as "graphic novel" though, so perhaps I've committed a Jamie faux pas.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

I realize "manga" isn't quite the same as "graphic novel" though, so perhaps I've committed a Jamie faux pas.

It isn't, but I'm just happy that people are reading this stuff, whether graphic novels or manga. No judgement from me.

 

[Nae'blis]

I backed the kickstarter for the Good Omens (Pratchett/Gaiman story) graphic novel, which I have high hopes for! Pretty much the first graphic novel for me! I just waiting for it to arrive, hopefully this Spring!

 

[VashTheStampede]

Need to merge the two comics/graphic novels threads we ended up with but that's a pain in the ass on mobile

 

[VashTheStampede]

Wife got me the first few volumes of the One Piece manga, which I'm about half way through. It may be the beginning of a (very big) collection .

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She also bought a Seven Deadly Sins manga for my 12 year old son, but when I told her it was kind of raunchy we decided not to give it to him. So I guess that's mine now too.

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Ooh when I get home I need to post an updated look at my Trigun collection, as they've been re-releasing it in omnibus format.

 

[VashTheStampede]

This is my current setup. Its my happy place.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

Absolutely love it, and makes me think I need to reverse course on just reading digital rather than buying more physical stuff.

So now that I've finished Rhythm of War it's given me brain space to pick up a graphic novel as well as shorter books (thankfully, basically every book is shorter than that). So I've started No Man's Land on DC Infinite, as the first step on what is hopefully quite a lengthy DC reading journey. It's the omnibus collection so a nice, round one hundred issues. Read the first five last night and it is nice and gritty, which I'm led to believe DC generally is compared to Marvel. But looking forward to discovering the differences between the brands myself.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

I am half way through No Man's Land, and I have to say I'm really enjoying it. Elements of the storylines are definitely dated and feel very 1999ish, but there are other elements that are much more gritty and mature than pretty much anything I've come across in Marvel so far, and I really like that. I also like that it's less an event and more a backdrop for a lot of different stories, so I'm reading about a lot of DC characters, both Batman related and otherwise, and that feels like a very good introduction to DC.

 

[VashTheStampede]

I am half way through No Man's Land, and I have to say I'm really enjoying it. Elements of the storylines are definitely dated and feel very 1999ish, but there are other elements that are much more gritty and mature than pretty much anything I've come across in Marvel so far, and I really like that. I also like that it's less an event and more a backdrop for a lot of different stories, so I'm reading about a lot of DC characters, both Batman related and otherwise, and that feels like a very good introduction to DC.

I'm excited to finally check this out, it's a massive Batman blindspot for me. I've got the Road To and the first omni, still chasing Part 2.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

I'm excited to finally check this out, it's a massive Batman blindspot for me. I've got the Road To and the first omni, still chasing Part 2.

I'd be interested to hear how your experience is as someone who has more experience reading DC, as opposed to someone who is using it as a jumping on point like I am. If anything, if you don't enjoy it as much as I have that'll make me more keen to read into DC and Batman specifically in more detail.

 

[VashTheStampede]

As I continue to make my way through the initial Claremont run of X-Men, I have arrived at the famous God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel.

Its a definite game changer. Because it was produced as a graphic novel and not a monthly floppy, they were able to be a bit more mature and also avoid most of the strict rules put in place by then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter. And maybe duck the Comics Code Authority? Not sure on that point.

This shift in tone is IMMEDIATELY apparent, as there's no way a typical monthly Marvel would start with a hate crime murder of children.

Claremont really starts to go HARD into the racism allegory with Mutants here. While it's never been a perfect comparison, it feels much different than the previous tone of distrust of mutantkind, and is a much appreciated grounding of the content, especially coming off the heels of the ridiculous Brood War story. And this story still feels extremely timely with how the right wing of today treats most in the LGBTQ+ groups.

And even though it's especially infamous, Kitty Pryde dropping the N-word on Stevie Hunter is still shocking and incredibly inappropriate. Glad that Claremont has said that he regrets that move and would do it differently in a rewrite.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

Finished No Man's Land. I'm just about to go on holiday so can't type extensive thoughts. There are quite a few elements of it that are dated, including entire arcs, but as an introduction to DC (and Batman in particular) I really enjoyed this. As I said before, the storylines are much more mature than Marvel, with some of the twists and action being far more explicit. The ending to this involves the Joker, and again, I felt like it gave me a really good insight into him as a villain. Even though I don't recall this being mentioned in his most notable story arcs, the ending hit really hard for me. It's a 4/5 overall, with me acknowledging that my inexperience in being new to DC and me actively forgiving some of the dated arcs as a result probably bump that up by a mark or so compared to those who are more familiar with DC. But it has very much left me wanting more.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

So I went on holiday and didn't read anything when I was away due to starting Wind and Truth, which obviously is quite a commitment in book terms. Want to get back into graphic novels now that I'm nearish to the end of that though. I'm eyeing up Birthright next to give me a Superman introduction. Not sure on the Marvel side. So much to choose from.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

Finally got back to reading some graphic novels, and I should have done it sooner. I am reading Birthright, but I also just read the first arc of Bendis' Ultimate Comics Spiderman last night (so, the Miles Morales origin story). It's really good. I've got that entire run in the Ultimate Marvel universe, so I'm going to go straight through that on the Marvel side of things.

 

[VashTheStampede]

I finished up the first Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman omnibus a week ago.

Came out the gates REAL strong with the Dark Reign tie-in (setting up the Council of Reeds story) I wasn't reading comics at all during this time period, but this 4 issue mini was absolutely great and got me very excited for the rest of the run.

Then it slows down tremendously as Hickman starts setting the table and putting pieces in place. I had a feeling it was coming, but it was still a drag for the whole middle of the omni.

But once you hit the back half it's Hickman operating at his full capacity. I really love his take on Susan. The bit where she's making sandwiches and explaining to Spider-Man why she's not afraid of a gathering of all their biggest foes (and in fact, why they should fear HER) was one of my favorite FF moments of all time.

I'm super excited to read volume 2, but my ADHD has instead convinced me to jump over to New Mutants vol.1 and give myself something to look forward to later.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

I finished up the first Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman omnibus a week ago.

Came out the gates REAL strong with the Dark Reign tie-in (setting up the Council of Reeds story) I wasn't reading comics at all during this time period, but this 4 issue mini was absolutely great and got me very excited for the rest of the run.

Then it slows down tremendously as Hickman starts setting the table and putting pieces in place. I had a feeling it was coming, but it was still a drag for the whole middle of the omni.

But once you hit the back half it's Hickman operating at his full capacity. I really love his take on Susan. The bit where she's making sandwiches and explaining to Spider-Man why she's not afraid of a gathering of all their biggest foes (and in fact, why they should fear HER) was one of my favorite FF moments of all time.

I'm super excited to read volume 2, but my ADHD has instead convinced me to jump over to New Mutants vol.1 and give myself something to look forward to later.

Really interesting to read this. I've been thinking about the direction I want my Marvel reading to go in, and I think I need to get momentum back again to move towards Secret Wars. I've finished the second arc of the first Miles run and it's really quality stuff. We're all familiar with the typical Spiderman origin stories, and those familiar pieces are there, but it most certainly had me hooked. I'm going to finish this run, including the tie ins like Spider Men, and then probably move on to Hickman's FF next. I have a few books that pre date secret wars after that, but I'll need to check how many and whether I need to read them all. I've done Aaron's first Thor book, which is all I need before Secret Wars, and I've then got Indestructible Hulk, Fraction's Hawkeye run, Remender's Cap run bringing Sam in as Cap, and Bendis' X-Men runs post Avengers vs X-Men. I've also got Slott's Spiderman run but I don't think I need to read that pre Secret Wars.

 

[VashTheStampede]

Oh I didn't consider needing to read Aaron's first Thor before Secret Wars. Gonna have to add that to the agenda, as it's sitting there on the shelf.

 

[VashTheStampede]

Fraction's Hawkeye is one of my top 10 favorite comic runs of all time. Absolute best run for 2 of my favorite characters.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

Fraction's Hawkeye is one of my top 10 favorite comic runs of all time. Absolute best run for 2 of my favorite characters.

Yeah it's universally praised as one of the best Marvel runs. Looking forward to it.

Spider Men is fun. Basically a story about 616 Peter Parker getting sucked into the Ultimate universe and having some shenanigans with Miles Morales and the Ultimates. It's pretty well done and has some heartfelt moments in it.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

Finished the second complete collection volume of Miles. I didn't like the Hydra war arc at all. It may be it's better from the Ultimates' perspective, but it was too much too fast for Miles in my view. The next two arcs, which are Venom and when he gives up being Spiderman, things fast forward a year and he comes back, were much better. Particularly the latter. Felt like a genuine character development arc.

I wanted to move into the third volume, but it starts with Cataclysm, so realistically I'm going to read that event in full including the Miles issues. I'd wanted to read that event anyway because I quite like Galactus, but this seems the right time. I've read the Hunger arc, which is a bit of a precursor to Cataclysm, but I'm moving on to the main Cataclysm arc now.

I didn't realise that Cataclysm happens because of how Age of Ultron ends, but by all accounts I don't need to read Age of Ultron, so I've just skipped to the end of my copy of AoU to see the opening of Cataclysm, but otherwise I'm leaving that event alone for now. It's not supposed to be very good, but I do want to read it at some point.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

Alright, I’ve been reading a bit. I read Cataclysm in full, and really quite liked it. That left three runs to go before I was fully caught up with the Ultimate universe pre Secret Wars.

Ultimate Future Foundation was not good. Just a mess with bad art and bad storytelling. Miles Morales The Ultimate Spider-Man (so volume 3 of the first Bendis run on Miles) was good. I’ve seen some criticism of the fact that this just rehashes Ultimate Spider-Man characters, and that’s fair, but I enjoyed it. All New Ultimates was also not good. I actually really wanted to like this because I like the individual characters, but tried to do too much far too fast. The art was inconsistent, and the plot was a mess. Far too much going on.

So a couple of poor runs, and honestly the first runs I’ve read where I actively didn’t get into them. But that’s going to come with the territory when I have Marvel Unlimited. Glad I read them though, because I can now move to the 616 side of the Secret Wars pre reading.

 

[Nae'blis]

Just read that Discworld will be getting graphic novels! So excited!

Announcing the Discworld Graphic Novel Universe | Terry Pratchett

Announcing the launch of the Discworld graphic novel universe, bringing the work of Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld to new readers.

terrypratchett.com