More manga...My Love Story and Princess Jellyfish

Quote from: irishmoxie on April 13, 2016, 07:23:11 PM

Quote from: invisifan on April 13, 2016, 06:54:05 PM

Quote from: irishmoxie on April 13, 2016, 02:37:24 PM
How's gwenpool?

that's a hard question — it's definitely a strange book, self-referential mocking of the superhero genre; and that was the stated intent (more or less — do you know anything about it already?) ... I'd like it to succeed actually, but not sure if they're going to pull it off ...

Don't know anything about it or Marvel but the art looked cool.

Gwen Poole is a comic fan who got "displaced" during a multi-universe event ... her version of Earth is essentially ours, and she's read all sorts of Marvel comics so when she ends up on that earth she decides she's dreaming or part of a book/narrative and must be the hero — so she will win in the end and nothing horribly bad can happen ... and if she is the hero in a superhero world then she gets to be a superhero ... and starts living out her fantasies ... and things get ... weird ...

No reading for me again, I actually went out & went to the avenue.

I finished up Pep Digital Exclusive #5.

Quote from: irishmoxie on April 13, 2016, 07:24:12 PM

Quote from: invisifan on April 13, 2016, 07:06:08 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 13, 2016, 03:47:04 PM

QuoteHENCHGIRL #6 (Things take an interesting turn in this issue.)

Definitely — may you live in interesting times.

Just as I gave up on the series. Boo. Maybe I'll have to pick it up again. Too bad they don't do digital issues. I guess I'll slog through the web comic.

Webcomics are annoying to you to the point where you'd rather pay for a PDF (or whatever digital format it is you're used to reading) than to "slog" through it for FREE? Or you know, save a bunch of the webcomics as JPGs and put them in a file folder on your tablet where your comic reader app can access them? This I don't get. The fact that they're free is what keeps me reading webcomics. Other digital comics that are available in print, it's just easier to get the print copy. When they're not available (or hard to find) in print, then it's just annoying. Unless they're free webcomics.

The other thing I realized the other day when thinking about this is that I have absolutely NO sense of urgency about getting digital comics. They're not going to NOT be available next week, next month, or next year, or harder to find, or more expensive. (In fact, they occasionally are later on sale cheaper, for 99 cents or something, on ComiXology, or other places that have sales on digital comics.) That makes them a lot lower priority for me, because I need to find the stuff that won't be easy to find next week, next month, next year FIRST. So that stuff goes to the top of my list, while digital comics go to the bottom. A lot of the stuff I read and/or collect isn't available digitally anyway.

Quote from: invisifan on April 13, 2016, 07:49:28 PM

Quote from: irishmoxie on April 13, 2016, 07:23:11 PM

Quote from: invisifan on April 13, 2016, 06:54:05 PM

Quote from: irishmoxie on April 13, 2016, 02:37:24 PM
How's gwenpool?

that's a hard question — it's definitely a strange book, self-referential mocking of the superhero genre; and that was the stated intent (more or less — do you know anything about it already?) ... I'd like it to succeed actually, but not sure if they're going to pull it off ...

Don't know anything about it or Marvel but the art looked cool.

Gwen Poole is a comic fan who got "displaced" during a multi-universe event ... her version of Earth is essentially ours, and she's read all sorts of Marvel comics so when she ends up on that earth she decides she's dreaming or part of a book/narrative and must be the hero — so she will win in the end and nothing horribly bad can happen ... and if she is the hero in a superhero world then she gets to be a superhero ... and starts living out her fantasies ... and things get ... weird ...

Pretty much seems like Marvel's answer to Harley Quinn to me... the adventures of a dangerously loopy chick.

Quote from: invisifan on April 13, 2016, 07:06:08 PM

QuoteWow, I read a few pages into SPIDEY #4 and then just gave up. What a difference the art of Nick Bradshaw made on the first 3 issues of that book (which are slated to be reprinted in a one-shot deluxe Marvel Treasury Edition). Unless Bradshaw's just skipping an issue or two before coming back, I guess I'm done with it.

I wouldn't say the art made a real difference to me, but I don't blame you for giving up — I thought the first issue showed a lot of potential, but with #2 it just seemed ...  aimless?  pointless?  I'll probably keep watching where it goes a while longer, but ... 

I took 'the point' such as it is, to be approximately the same as that of Ultimate Spider-Man when that title started out, i.e. "What If Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man were just beginning his career today?" Come to think of it, that's pretty much what Kurt Busiek & Pat Oliffe's Untold Tales of Spider-Man was as well, except that they weren't concentrating so much on making a point of modernizing things, just telling modern-style stories "interstitially" dispersed between those classic adventures. SPIDEY wasn't doing a straight retelling of the original Lee/Ditko stories so much as a reinterpretation of Peter's first encounters with various foes in a modern context, which I think is perfectly valid. If you're going to sweat how it fits into "Spider-Man continuity", it's probably just going to be a burr in your saddle.

Is there a place in modern comics for a stripped-down, back-to-basics Spider-Man? I think there is; but then again, the execution is everything (Bradshaw's art made those stories dynamic and fun, whereas the art in #4 made it all look rather dull and pedestrian). I pretty much have zero interest in the continuity-heavy, complexly-interwoven adventures of the current Spider-Man. Marvel Universe Spider-Man fans obviously disagree vehemently with my opinion.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 14, 2016, 01:32:48 AM

Quote from: irishmoxie on April 13, 2016, 07:24:12 PM

Quote from: invisifan on April 13, 2016, 07:06:08 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 13, 2016, 03:47:04 PM

QuoteHENCHGIRL #6 (Things take an interesting turn in this issue.)

Definitely — may you live in interesting times.

Just as I gave up on the series. Boo. Maybe I'll have to pick it up again. Too bad they don't do digital issues. I guess I'll slog through the web comic.

Webcomics are annoying to you to the point where you'd rather pay for a PDF (or whatever digital format it is you're used to reading) than to "slog" through it for FREE? Or you know, save a bunch of the webcomics as JPGs and put them in a file folder on your tablet where your comic reader app can access them? This I don't get. The fact that they're free is what keeps me reading webcomics. Other digital comics that are available in print, it's just easier to get the print copy. When they're not available (or hard to find) in print, then it's just annoying. Unless they're free webcomics.

The other thing I realized the other day when thinking about this is that I have absolutely NO sense of urgency about getting digital comics. They're not going to NOT be available next week, next month, or next year, or harder to find, or more expensive. (In fact, they occasionally are later on sale cheaper, for 99 cents or something, on ComiXology, or other places that have sales on digital comics.) That makes them a lot lower priority for me, because I need to find the stuff that won't be easy to find next week, next month, next year FIRST. So that stuff goes to the top of my list, while digital comics go to the bottom. A lot of the stuff I read and/or collect isn't available digitally anyway.

I don't like webcomics because you have to click from page from page. And I read fast so it disrupts my enjoyment having to wait for each page to load. I have an ad blocker so that isn't the problem. To read them fluidly I have to beg my husband for some computer science trickery to download the images through a command line. And he hates my comic habit. I believe in supporting things monetarily if I like them otherwise they will stop publishing them.

To buy physical comics I have to pay shipping which makes the comics cost double and as you said if you wait long enough there will be a sale on Comixology. I also read a lot of Kindle books and download from iTunes and digital items do disappear from these stores over time especially if they are from indie companies. It must cost money to host these things on these big websites and small companies can't afford it over time. I've learned that the hard way when I've waited to buy things digitally.

I have a lot of those deluxe hardcovers and they hurt my hands to read them. Also they take up a lot of space and in my field I have to move around a lot.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 14, 2016, 02:03:00 AM

Quote from: invisifan on April 13, 2016, 07:49:28 PM
Gwen Poole is a comic fan who got "displaced" during a multi-universe event ... her version of Earth is essentially ours, and she's read all sorts of Marvel comics so when she ends up on that earth she decides she's dreaming or part of a book/narrative and must be the hero — so she will win in the end and nothing horribly bad can happen ... and if she is the hero in a superhero world then she gets to be a superhero ... and starts living out her fantasies ... and things get ... weird ...

Pretty much seems like Marvel's answer to Harley Quinn to me... the adventures of a dangerously loopy chick.

Quite possibly true — her  view of the world is that it's just a story or video game (her mind holding on to sanity in the wake of the events that brought her to her current place, by extreme rationalization, so definitely loopy) and since she views it as unreal and essential a (violent) game for her to play she is totally fearless and has no second thoughts about killing bad guys or blowing up unreal estate ... so also definitely dangerous ...

I read
Archie #1- Sanford Greene variant
Archie #2-Erica Henderson variant
Archie #3-Fiona Staples
Archie #4-Joe Quinones variant
Archie #7-Djibril Morissette -Phan

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 14, 2016, 05:20:10 AM
I took 'the point' such as it is, to be approximately the same as that of Ultimate Spider-Man when that title started out, i.e. "What If Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man were just beginning his career today?" Come to think of it, that's pretty much what Kurt Busiek & Pat Oliffe's Untold Tales of Spider-Man was as well, except that they weren't concentrating so much on making a point of modernizing things, just telling modern-style stories "interstitially" dispersed between those classic adventures. SPIDEY wasn't doing a straight retelling of the original Lee/Ditko stories so much as a reinterpretation of Peter's first encounters with various foes in a modern context, which I think is perfectly valid. If you're going to sweat how it fits into "Spider-Man continuity", it's probably just going to be a burr in your saddle.

On the one hand, they just went to a lot of trouble to get rid of the Ultimate Universe ... so why start a new one? Retelling in a modern style is no problem — this certainly isn't the main universe, so they can do what they want it's just that it's rushed and aimless ... They are changing fundamental things for no apparent reason and skipping over details (new and old) apparently rushing to get somewhere, with nowhere to go ... it's a new continuity, but they aren't giving us an actual story, just vignettes along the way, so — pointless and aimless. If they treated it as a new continuity (like Spider-Gwen) I'd be fine with that but it has no substance.

QuoteIs there a place in modern comics for a stripped-down, back-to-basics Spider-Man? I think there is; but then again, the execution is everything (Bradshaw's art made those stories dynamic and fun, whereas the art in #4 made it all look rather dull and pedestrian). I pretty much have zero interest in the continuity-heavy, complexly-interwoven adventures of the current Spider-Man. Marvel Universe Spider-Man fans obviously disagree vehemently with my opinion.

This is stripped down beyond the point of readable on my opinion — the art isn't the determining factor, the whole thing just falls flat ... and a sad part of it is that this is really all there is for Peter Parker — anywhere else he's just a big name cameo — including what should be his own book: "The Amazing Spider-man" which is now really "Parker Ind. Inc." with him pretending to be his own bodyguard/security force like Stark's original Iron Man deal ...

I'm reading Pep Digital Exclusive #6 Archie & Friends Mother Knows Best.

In my attempt to try superheroes again I read Mockingbird #1. It was interesting. The first issue didn't explain much.

Heart Throb #1

Quote from: irishmoxie on April 14, 2016, 04:47:36 PM
In my attempt to try superheroes again I read Mockingbird #1. It was interesting. The first issue didn't explain much.

She has a long history (which isn't totally necessary) — nothing like Patsy of course and she's always been in the superhero side of things, but about 50 years I'd say ... I could do a summary if you want, but I doubt it's essential ...