bookgazing (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bookgazing) wrote2014-02-05 06:19 pm
bookgazing) wrote2014-02-05 06:19 pm
Capitalist Comforts (Or Buying Things Is Pretty Sweet)
I haven't taken my gift cards to Waterstones yet, but last night I got a comics craving and totally caved to it.
I never really feel like I will "get" comics, so I'm always a bit wary to try them, but I read the first volume of "Hawkeye" at the weekend on the recommendation of Jenny at "Reading the End" and had an overall good time with it. Thanks Jenny!
Since taking recommendations about comics from friends worked out so well once, I decided to keep pursuing friend recommendations to see if they could get me more into comics and before my fingers knew what they were doing I'd added a Wonder Woman volume to my internet basket. I chose to start with "The Circle" by Gail Simone since chalia has been deep into Wonder Woman for a while now and provided useful background to this collection.
I also found out I could have the second volume of "Hawkeye", so *ping* in it went. And I topped off my basket with the first collected volume of the now sadly cancelled "Young Avengers" because:
a.) #6 was excerpted in "Hawkeye" and it kind of captivated me
b.) I hate myself and so must watch all the cancelled series (see "Sarah Connor Chronicles")
Sadly I can't get "The Deep" by Tom Taylor until April, which is after Hugos close but I have pre-ordered it anyway because it looks like good fun. Get all the comics!
I have a couple of comics follow up questions if any of my comics knowledgeable friends would like to help out:
1.) Do I want to read "Birds of Prey" and if yes can I just start with the recent volumes?
2.) Do I want to read "Captain Marvel - In Pursuit of Flight"? It was advertised in the "Hawkeye" volume and looked cool, but online reviews are mixed.
3.) Do I want to watch "Justice League Unlimited"? It looks like it might be a fun cartoon but I haven't yet met anyone who has watched it.
4.) Got recommendations for more comics by female writers?
Yeah, I don't want much >.>
In other buying news I'm considering adding a few titles to my Hugo reading list. A non-fic work called "Afrofuturism: The World of Black SF and Fantasy Culture", Nnedi Okofar's short story collection "Kabu, Kabu" and another collection called "Let's All Go to the Science Fiction Disco". Has anyone read any of these and were you impressed?
I never really feel like I will "get" comics, so I'm always a bit wary to try them, but I read the first volume of "Hawkeye" at the weekend on the recommendation of Jenny at "Reading the End" and had an overall good time with it. Thanks Jenny!
Since taking recommendations about comics from friends worked out so well once, I decided to keep pursuing friend recommendations to see if they could get me more into comics and before my fingers knew what they were doing I'd added a Wonder Woman volume to my internet basket. I chose to start with "The Circle" by Gail Simone since chalia has been deep into Wonder Woman for a while now and provided useful background to this collection.
I also found out I could have the second volume of "Hawkeye", so *ping* in it went. And I topped off my basket with the first collected volume of the now sadly cancelled "Young Avengers" because:
a.) #6 was excerpted in "Hawkeye" and it kind of captivated me
b.) I hate myself and so must watch all the cancelled series (see "Sarah Connor Chronicles")
Sadly I can't get "The Deep" by Tom Taylor until April, which is after Hugos close but I have pre-ordered it anyway because it looks like good fun. Get all the comics!
I have a couple of comics follow up questions if any of my comics knowledgeable friends would like to help out:
1.) Do I want to read "Birds of Prey" and if yes can I just start with the recent volumes?
2.) Do I want to read "Captain Marvel - In Pursuit of Flight"? It was advertised in the "Hawkeye" volume and looked cool, but online reviews are mixed.
3.) Do I want to watch "Justice League Unlimited"? It looks like it might be a fun cartoon but I haven't yet met anyone who has watched it.
4.) Got recommendations for more comics by female writers?
Yeah, I don't want much >.>
In other buying news I'm considering adding a few titles to my Hugo reading list. A non-fic work called "Afrofuturism: The World of Black SF and Fantasy Culture", Nnedi Okofar's short story collection "Kabu, Kabu" and another collection called "Let's All Go to the Science Fiction Disco". Has anyone read any of these and were you impressed?
no subject
no subject
no subject
I know absolutely nothing about other comics because I'm useless! :D I do hear that Birds of Prey is good and has lots of awesome ladies with relationships with each other, but I haven't read any of it. However I do know that Gail Simone, who wrote The Circle, wrote a run of Birds of Prey, which is generally considered to be great (by which I mean, my friends really love it). I didn't actually even know there were recent volumes of Birds of Prey, but you should probably know that most people look at everything DC has published after 2011 with a skeptical eye. :/ So idk if it's good to start there or not...
Justice League Unlimited is actually a continuation of another Justice League cartoon, which I think was just called Justice League. It goes Justice League seasons 1 & 2, and then Justice League Unlimited is basically seasons 3-5 of that cartoon. The cartoon in general is fun? I haven't seen anything like all of it; I skip around to eps that had lots of Diana or lots of the other female characters, and skipped certain eps that focused on some of the other characters I cared less about. It's got a lot of teamy hi-jinks and punching of bad guys. It won't challenge your brain or get too heavy on character stuff but I like it. (But it has Diana, so my brain is not objective, really. She's pretty badass! And flirts with Batman lololol).
no subject
no subject
no subject
I decided to order the first volume of Birds of Prey by Simone. I don't see why I shouldn't be able to pick it up - I swear I never used to be this woman obsessed with stating everything at the beginning.
And eh I think I'll pass on Justice League for now then. I saw a lot of stills used during Tansy R Roberts Wonder Women series and thought it might be super special but if it's just ok then maybe save it for another time.
no subject
I feel kind of guilty, because people have recced me so many comics that sound really amazing, but I haven't gotten to any of them, because Diana. /o\
It's IMPOSSIBLE to start comics at the beginning, in my experience. The "beginning", especially for DC Comics, is often like decades ago, and there have been so many changes and reboots and retellings that it's just impossible trace it back to any definitive beginning. So jumping in where you want to and can and have heard good things seems like a good choice! There will always be plot points and things that are confusing, which hopefully you can either pick up from context or Google if it's really important/confusing?
Yeah the Justice League cartoon is okay, but at heart it really is a kid's cartoon. Like a lot of people love it because they watched it as a child and remember it from that, but as an adult it's cute and not faily but it's no Avatar. There are also a ton of DC animated movies, that I actually like way more than I thought I would. I haven't seen most of them, because most of them are about Batman, but I really enjoyed Wonder Woman (it has some FAIL, but it has some great things too, argh so conflicted); Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (this title is a misnomer; it's hugely about Supergirl!); and Justice League: Doom. Justice League: War is also coming out soon (or might be out now? I should find it). It turns out that I actually do enjoy a lot of the Justice League superhero dynamics, though mileage will probably vary!
GRAIN OF SALT as always, particularly since my saying "I liked this" about a comics/Justice League thing meant "It had a fair bit of Diana and I liked her in it!"
no subject
I think wikipedia is going to be my go to resource for working out plot points. It at least lets you see where the re-boot breaks are.
Oh and I will check into the DC animated world. Are you going to watch the second Man of Steel because Diana?
no subject
Are you going to watch the second Man of Steel because Diana?
Yesss, and I'm already hopelessly caught between IT WILL PROBABLY BE AWFUL and WHAT IF IT'S GOOD. I will have to properly prepare myself for the likelihood that she won't have anything to do in it. :/ I should probably watch the first one at some point too, we'll see.
no subject
I haven't read Captain Marvel, but I hear good things about it and about Kelly Sue DeConnick generally. You know she's Matt Fraction's wife? (Author of Hawkeye.) I imagine them at home gossiping cheerfully about the Marvel universe and their mutually awesome writing.
no subject
And yay for Hawkeye again. I'm excited about the second volume.
no subject
no subject
I am now being THAT GUY who has found THEIR TOPIC, I'm so sorry
1) Greg Rucka. Specialises in writing GOOD female characters, because he is one of those comic writers who understands that Strong Female Character is not necessarily the ideal. Notable works:
Whiteout (US Marshall (female) solves crime on an Antarctic base. Also passes the Bechdel Test IN ANTARCTICA. Art tends towards realism.),
Queen and Country (Realistic spy drama focusing on Tara Chase and her PTSD. Art can vary but is usually cartoony.)
Lazarus. (Currently on-going; not-too-distant post-economic-apocalyptic setting starring Forever Carlyle as the mostly-immortal enforcer for the Carlyle family, part of the 1% and owners of a significant chunk of America.)
2) Alison Bechdel. Possibly the most famous woman on the internet? Or at least in our corner of it. Very cartoony art style, but you can actually SEE it change and improve over time. Notable works:
Fun Home (An autobiography in comic book form, focusing on her dad, her childhood, and their respective sexualities.)
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For (Possibly her most famous work, which is essentially a MASSIVE SOAP OPERA in the lives of a group of friends, most of whom are some flavour of queer and not stereotypes. I... May have binged on this in one eight-hour sitting, it was amazing.)
3) Marjane Satrapi. Notable works: Persepolis (Another autobiography in comic format, this one about her childhood in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution.)
ALSO: RUNAWAYS. The original story arcs are really fun, and it's a superhero(ish) team where girls outnumber the boys! :D The children of an organisation of supervillains discover their parents' EVIL PLANS and sort-of-ish form a superhero team to fight crime! :D
(If you are ever in Nottingham, there is a comics shop called Page 45 and they do personalised recommendations. They've managed to not actually steer me wrong yet, so it is worth checking them out if you ever end up in this part of the country!)
(One of the titles they steered me to is Solanin and I don't know how you feel about manga but this is about getting out of uni and everyone expecting you to know exactly what you want to do and be an adult before you're ready, and it was EXACTLY what I needed at the time. It's a bit more realistic and sensible than a lot of manga out there, so it might be a good place to start/come back to?)
(... If you like manga/want some decent starting points, I CAN DO THAT.)
no subject
no subject
As for manga it just seems so huge. Kind of like superhero comics all over again - no idea where to start. So any entry points you can give me would be fab. Sailor Moon is manga right?
no subject
(Anonymous) 2014-02-21 10:18 pm (UTC)(link)Sailor Moon is indeed manga, and it's pretty great. I find the art-style really wispy and bubbly, and it apparently involves the other Sailor Scouts less than the anime does (disclaimer: I have not seen the anime), but I enjoyed it a lot! If you want to check out the art style and see if it's for you,
(They've just been re-released btw! There are shiny, bigger, editions! Also the side story about Sailor V pre-Sailor Moon has been released as well.)
In general, I would recommend Full Metal Alchemist as FUCKING AWESOME IN EVERY SINGLE WAY. It is a 27 volume series that Viz is releasing it in 3-in-1 volumes, so it's pretty easy to collect and get hold of! :D It is very action-filled, with drama and heart-breaking characters and such wonderful world building! The main two characters are brothers, but there are SO MANY badass female characters, who are badass in DIFFERENT WAYS. *flailing* I love things that say that there's no wrong way to be a girl, and being a housewife doesn't mean you can't be badass, and FMA does that perfectly. (The art is kinda the opposite to Sailor Moon - it's generally very clean and flat.)
Oh, what else... (The problem is that I've read a LOT of shite manga in my time, and a lot of what I HAVE read is out of print.)
Kaoru Mori created A Bride's Story and Emma, which are certainly historical - as I recall the former is set on the Silk Roads and the latter in the Victorian period, but don't quote me on that. The art is amazingly detailed, it's beautiful! (Disclaimer: I've not read Emma.)
no subject
no subject
(Also, I may have been jotting down some of these recs for myself.)
no subject
(Anonymous) 2014-02-23 10:17 am (UTC)(link)no subject
no subject
(My main problem is "Hey, what was that thing that had the really unusual and cool setting! ... Oh, it was TERRIBLE DUBCON GAY PORN, I remember." *facepalm*)
Young Avengers
The issue in the back of Hawkeye is from the first or second volume of Young Avengers. The various Young Avengers series to check out are:
This is the original run and includes the introduction of Kate Bishop.
This is the real follow-up to the first (or first two) Young Avengers books. It is really good until the last issue, which I hate for spoilery reasons.