Comic Books

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A place to discuss comic books of all types, from old to new, Big 2 to indie, and everything in between.

Floppies, graphic novels, compilations, omnibusses (omnibusi?) are all fair game.

There is only one rule:*

Comic Books is a no judgement zone.

You can talk all you want about how Rob Liefeld is trash, Bob Kane is an asshole, or Frank Miller and Dave Sim’s politics have made them toxic, that’s all good.

If, however, another user is LEGITIMATELY a fan of something you don’t like, that does NOT make them a lesser person. Attack the art for being bad, not the person for being a fan of bad art.

* I lied. There are TWO rules... No piracy. Cover shots? That's good. Interior pages, in moderation? Sure. Full books? Links to pirate sites? That's how we get things shut down. :(

I'm not saying it's been a problem, because it hasn't been.

See our sister sites!

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https://lemmy.world/c/marvelstudios

For other cinematic content, hit up Movies! Aquaman is coming soon, followed by the big reboot!

https://lemmy.world/c/movies

And don't forget Movies and TV over at lemm.ee! A good place for discussing Marvel, DC and other film and television properties!

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Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay? Becoming Superman? John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood? That's the place!

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The law firm of Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg (RJLF) has announced a landmark victory in its trademark case against comics publishers Marvel and DC Comics. They have obtained an order from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office cancelling Marvel and DC Comics' joint trademark for the word "Super Hero" and thus allowing everyone to freely use the term.

This was granted after Marvel and DC failed to respond to court requests. RJLF represents their clients, S.J. Richold and Superbabies Limited, in the case.

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I'm reading the 2015 Howard the Duck and it looks like it had companion content available on a now defunct mobile app.

What the content ripped and archived anywhere?

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20239396

Full Article

The horror genre built itself into the foundation of sequential art just as vigorously as superheroes, romance or science fiction. When psychiatrist Frederic Wertham published the misguided comics-skewering Seduction of the Innocent in 1954, the moral crusade was in response to the glorious groundswell of murder, corpses and grotesquery on the comics rack. Despite the beating the genre took from the ensuing Comics Code Authority, horror has spent the following decades creeping out of the recesses around mainstream publishing, with Dark Horse, Vertigo, Image, Humanoids and various manga lines filling our nightmares with harrowing new atrocities. In honor of Halloween, this list proudly presents our favorite comic book chillers, thrillers, slow burns and monster mashes, guaranteed to terrify and provoke readers with all the gory gifts this niche offers.

titles mentioned in the article:

  • 30 Days of Night
  • Afterlife With Archie
  • Aliens: Dead Orbit
  • Aliens: Salvation
  • American Vampire
  • Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth
  • Babyteeth
  • Batman: Haunted Knight/The Long Halloween
  • Beasts of Burden
  • The Beauty
  • Beautiful Darkness
  • Black Hole
  • The Black Monday Murders
  • Bones of the Coast
  • B.P.R.D.
  • Cat Eyed Boy
  • Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
  • Creepy & Eerie
  • Winnebago Graveyard
  • Witch Doctor
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Whenever a crossover comic is launched, there’s a few set of rules that they usually stick to. Something will draw the two franchises together, whether it’s an incursion from one world to another or two foes joining forces. Characters will sometimes fight each other before joining forces. One or more characters will receive a costume upgrade of some sort. Turtles of Grayskull #1 is notable for how it manages to sidestep a lot of these tropes.

A key example? When the issue picks up, the meeting of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Masters of the Universe franchises has already happened. In a blisteringly brief page, Michelangelo recaps how the Turtles stumbled upon a deal being struck between Shredder, Krang and Skeletor…and how they got pulled into Grayskull to help Man-at-Arms and the rest of He-Man’s allies, especially since He-Man himself was missing!

That wasn’t what I was expecting, but it’s an approach that lets the creative team of Tim Seeley, Freddie E. Williams II and Andrew Dalhouse jump right into the action. This isn’t Williams II’s first crossover event; he previously worked on the trinity of Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series and Injustice vs. Masters of the Universe with Seeley. So when it comes to the big action sequences, he goes all out – whole pages are full of characters from the TMNT universe and the world of MOTU. The Turtles also get a Eternia-style makeover, with Raphael sporting a helmet similar to Ram-Man and Donatello sporting his own Man-at-Arms style armor. Michelangelo even has He-Man style hair!

...

But it’s Seeley who ties the whole thing together with his script, which goes in a truly unique direction. To say any more would be spoiling the surprise, but it’s clear that Seeley wants to set this apart from the usual crossover, which provides a fresh breath of air. It’s also the type of storytelling I’ve come to expect from him given his work on Local Man, and it’s an energy that these types of books can use. Overall, Turtles of Grayskull #1 is willing to zig where you might expect it to zag, and that’s what makes it fun.

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My Bad Escape From Peculiar Island #5 - Last one in this dumb ass series lol, why not.

Helen Of Wyndhorn #5 - This series has been good, I kinda hope it gets picked up.

Batman The Long Halloween The Last Halloween #1 - I guess I'm going to pick this up, but I haven't read the first series.

Lobo Cancellation Special #1 - Idk much about Lobo but this looks alright.

Creepshow Volume 3 #1 - It's here! The first two were so good! Need more. MORE!

Drawing Blood #6 - Tbh I've been slacking on this one but I'm still picking it up, I'll get to it.

Universal Monsters Frankenstein #2 - Really dug the first one, I'll keep picking this up.

Dick Tracy #5 - Dick Tracy rules! I need to buy a yellow trenchcoat for no reason.

Deadpool Team-Up #2 - Deadpool & Dragons™ I guess. Pretty weird but I'm giving it a shot. I'm not usually into marvel but I do like old Deadpool (and & Cable) and I think I'm gonna pick up whatever Deadpool Liefeld does, probably not any other stuff though (though I heard Scott Aukermann wrote one and I would like to find that lol).

Looks like that's it for me! Fucking hyped about Creepshow! What're you guys picking up?

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So this news may be a bit old, but DC has announced that the new Superman will be bisexual.

And just to clarify, The Riddler has stated he's always been down for whatever.

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The Boys comics co-creator Garth Ennis and former The Equalizer co-showrunner Adam Glass are among the co-founders of Ninth Circle, a new comic book publisher focused on the horror genre, which has set horror comedy Freddie The Fix as its first title.

Ninth Circle, whose co-founders also include writers Marguerite Bennett (DC’s Bombshells), Joe Pruett (Negative Burn) and Ram V (The Many Deaths of Laila Starr), launches as an imprint of Image Comics. Rounding out the leadership team is ABGO’s Michael Bogner and TFC Management’s David Stone. Ninth Circle’s lead investor Kimberly Steward (Manchester By The Sea, Suspiria), and her K Period Media production company will partner with Ninth Circle to produce select titles.

...

Its debut title, Ennis’ Freddie The Fix is billed as a darkly humorous and horrific series that follows Freddie, a fixer who cleans up the messes left behind by the monstrous stars of Hollywood: werewolves, vampires, zombies, aliens, bogeymen, predators, and…things. The series will be illustrated by Mike Perkins (Ed Brubaker’s Captain America run, Stephen King’s The Stand and Swamp Thing). Freddie the Fix is set for release Dec. 11.

...

Starting with Freddie the Fix, Ninth Circle aims to deliver double-shot books each month, with each issue containing a stand-alone tale of terror. Upcoming comics include works by Marguerite Bennett, illustrated by Jill Thompson (Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, the Scary Godmother series, Wonder Woman), Joe Pruett, illustrated by Butch Guice (The Flash, Winter Soldier, Birds of Prey), and Glass, illustrated by Bernard Chang (X-Men, Deadpool, Superman), as well as additional titles from Ennis, Ram V and others.

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I've read Absolute Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta, the launch of the Absolute Universe for DC Comics, a world formed in the battle with Darkseid, and infused with his energy, a harsher, crueller DC Universe, in which the stars have to shine a bit brighter. I first reported the existence of this comic and line a year ago, though it only came to fruition recently. So, what are my impressions? I am going to do my best to avoid spoilers, this is a book that is partially built with a twist or two that deviated from the standard Batman, but I am going to lead with the very first one, in the opening pages. So be warned, Batspoilers on.

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IDW has decided to become more focused as a company on publishing horror comics in terms of what they dub their co-creator originals, titles to follow up on their history of success with the likes of 30 Days of Night, Locke & Key, Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees and more.

Earlier this week, CEO and Publisher of IDW, Davidi Jonas took an investment call while in the car as as part of his duties of being a publically traded independent comic book publisher. He announced the switch in publishing focus for the publisher, and that IDW would be launching a new horror imprint soon and "partnering with one of the largest licensors to be able to exploit their largest horror titles" as comics, collections and graphic novels, and are "some very noteworthy and popular horror titles and having those as part of our imprint, we expect will attract interest." And then look to exploit their co-creator-owned properties as a result of increased interest. And he says that this is one of the things he has focused on, to go as far and wise as they can.

You know, there is Vertigo-sized gap in the market since DC Comics let that go, which Boom, Vault, Scout and others have attempted to fill, including IDW as well. Might this be a worthwhile endeavour on IDW's part?

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New list is up! Let's see what we got this week..

Graveyard Club #1 - R. L. Stein, let's go!

Batman Day 2024 - Batman Elmer Fudd Special Noir #1 - What in the fuck is this? I'll have to get it, it's too insane not to.

Batman Day 2024 Batman The Long Halloween #0 - Heard this Long Halloween series rules, I need to read it, hopefully it gets a reprint about nowish..

Batman Day 2024 Batman The Long Halloween #1 - Well we're part way to a reprint, but I need all of em!

Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees TP - Alright I'm probably not picking this up because I have both the A and B covers of all the singles (not my usual MO), but I'm adding it as an honorable mention because if you don't have it yet you should 100% check this out at least. It's basically cute Richard Scarry style art with anthropomorphic animals, but the lead character is a serial killer. Huge problems arise in her world, can she stop it or not? I won't say, you'll have to read it to find out. I hope this gets picked up for more issues more than anything else out right now.

Falling In Love On The Path To Hell #4 - This series rules so far! Glad it's an ongoing now.

Ice Cream Man #41 - The series responsible for getting me into comics in the first place. It's like a sad song you can't stop listening to, or a bruise that you can't stop poking, it's depressing but so good. I like how they play with the format, like the issue that was a crossword puzzle, and the one that was all palindromes and could be read both front to back and back to front. This one looks to be a James Bond parody.

Moon Is Following Us #1 - I know nothing about this but it looks interesting.

Tin Can Society #1 - Might pick this up, the cover is intriguing.

Epitaphs From The Abyss #3 - Well issue 2 was better, but it's still no Creepshow. I'll continue it for one more at least. Looks like there's two new EC titles coming out soon too, a new SuspenStories and a new Weird Fantasy, both called something else but similar, of course.

Looks like that's it for me, what're you pulling this week?

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Chaz Gower has written a new book called Stan Lee Lied. Full title, Stan Lee Lied: Your Handy Guide to Every Lie in The Origins of Marvel Comics. And it does exactly what it says on the tin. Dedicated to Bleeding Cool favourite Bob Beerbohm (Bleeding Cool gets itself a couple of mentions), it takes the Stan Lee-authored Origins Of Marvel Comics for its fiftieth anniversary, and systematically attempts to disprove as many of the statements in that book as possible, using recorded facts and archives, testimonies and memories of others. This is a case for the prosecution; there is no attempt to be even-handed, and anything that doesn't challenge the tenet that Stan Lee didn't co-create or write the comic books he claimed to have and was credited for is either not included or dismissed with a hand wave.

That 1974 volume Origins Of Marvel Comics is itself getting a deluxe hardcover printed from Gallery Editions next month for its fiftieth anniversary, so this is clearly well-timed. Maybe you could read them together? Here is just one small example to let you know where this is going…

"Stan Lee: "At the moment, the trend is monster stories… Jack and I were having a ball turning out monster stories with such imperishable titles as "Xom, the Creature Who Swallowed Earth", Grottu, the Giant Ant-Eater"… "Fin Fang Foom"…."

"Stan Lee signed almost everything he ever did from… at least 1950 on. Most likely from Day One, but for SURE from 1950 on. He signed pin-up pages if he wrote even the smallest of dialogue on it, and paper doll pages in Patsy Walker comics… he rarely if ever missed an opportunity to sign his name to something, to get the credit and of course, the PAY. BUT… He never signed a single Jack Kirby monster story from those presuperhero years at Marvel Comics. Which means he didn't write ANY of them. Not ONE SINGLE STORY. He signed NONE OF THEM. Which means he didn't write ANY of them."

What Chaz is doing here is not just aiming to show that Stan Lee lied about so much, but making that case that Stan Lee with a purpose, to increase his role, to gain plaudits, and even the small lies are used to build up a narrative that would justify his claim to create the Marvel Comics universe and profit from that reputation. And that without them, his claims would seem outlandishly false. That, basically, Stan Lee, was the Donald Trump of comic books.

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You stay true to the source material. He's still in the Marvel universe and all that.

But most Marvel movies are rated PG-13, or maybe even PG. I know deadpool is rated R, but it's not really because of gore and graphic scenes.

I'm thinking a movie more along the lines of the Saw movies in terms of gore. The movie wouldn't center around Spiderman, and it wouldn't center around Carnage. Carnage would be the main villain. You might even have Venom in there at some point.

But the movie really would center around some small town. The kind of place where everybody knows everybody. I'm thinking maybe somewhere in Alaska. Just because I think the brutal cold could in itself be part of the horror. The fact that they can't just go outside for long periods of time. Maybe their cars are all destroyed.

But the ever looming threat is Carnage. I'd treat it like a more graphic version of the first Jurassic Park. The dinosaurs were only actually on screen for 18 minutes or so. The rest of the movie was about building up the suspense of what they're capable of.

Or like how Jaws, you never saw the shark until the last scene.

Carnage would just always be out there. Leaving a trail of gore, and blood, and dead bodies. That's why it woud HAVE TO BE rated R.

And Carnage just appears when he wants, and they're trying to stop him. I don't really have a story in mind, just the idea of that slow suspenseful tone, followed immediately by Carnage killing and dismembering, and leaving a trail of corpses.

Thoughts?

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I'm so lost..... (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world to c/comicbooks@lemmy.world
 
 

So, over on (a pirate site) I see they have Venom Wars #2.

Hey, great! I like Venom. But I'm not a regular comic book reader. I'm very much a newbie. So I figure "Well, thats part 2, I should get part 1 first."

And that's where all the trouble began. There's like 10 different comic branches all called "Venom Wars 1" and they all have different covers. And they all have assumingly different stories!

I just want to read a Venom comic book, where he does the Venom things! And now I see the description "The symbiot has bonded with Eddie, and his son Derek"

WHO THE FUCK IS DEREK??? I thought Eddie was supposed to be a high schooler in Peter Parkers class! How does a 16 year old have a son???

So now I'm REALLY confused! I feel like I need a comic before the comic to get me caught up to the comic, but only if THATS the comic I'm supposed to read, because there's also 10 comics all named the same thing.....and I'm not experienced enough to know what the fuck I'm doing.

I assume I'M the probem, with my lack of knowledge on the subject, but also.........what the hell even is this? I thought "Venom Wars #1" would be enough in the search bar to get me the comic to read about Venom.

I'm not even sure what "Venom Wars" is, but I assume it's Venom, having some kind of war from Venom's perspective with Spiderman, or maybe Carnage. Or whomever. But I assume it's a story told through Venom/Eddies perspective. But where do I start? I assumed #1 would be the start of the story.

And now I'm overwhelmed, and don't know what is going on.

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