1st issue Challenge

abysslord · Post by **abysslord** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:22 pm

BobBretall wrote:
abysslord wrote: Crossed: Psychopath #1 - I thought Family Values was pretty good, but already I think I'll like this one better. What a great first issue and a great concept. There's still the 'shocking-to-be-shocking' aspect, but it doesn't take anything away.
I have a different view on this series. I think Lapham went totally overboard with the 'shocking-to-be-shocking' AND I found nothing particularly appealing about the non-Crossed protagonists that makes me want to read any more.

The Crossed are already mega-psychopathic, do we really need to see a non-Crossed psycho thrown into the mix too?? I can see that maybe it would be interesting to see the normals caught between the Crossed and the "regular" psycho, but for me to care about that, I'd have to care about the normals, which I do not.

Crossed: Psychopath #1 - I'm dropping this series.

I agree the 'normals' were super cliche, but maybe this series is more about the psychopath than the others. So in essence it's another version of what you said .... it's a psychopath in the middle of normal and crossed people, rather than normals in the middle of a psycho and crossed. Or I could be wrong, I'll keep reading to find out though.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:27 pm

abysslord wrote: I agree the 'normals' were super cliche, but maybe this series is more about the psychopath than the others. So in essence it's another version of what you said .... it's a psychopath in the middle of normal and crossed people, rather than normals in the middle of a psycho and crossed. Or I could be wrong, I'll keep reading to find out though.

That was my problem, with no one to "root for", I just can't read this stuff.

abysslord · Post by **abysslord** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:30 pm

BobBretall wrote:
abysslord wrote: I agree the 'normals' were super cliche, but maybe this series is more about the psychopath than the others. So in essence it's another version of what you said .... it's a psychopath in the middle of normal and crossed people, rather than normals in the middle of a psycho and crossed. Or I could be wrong, I'll keep reading to find out though.
That was my problem, with no one to "root for", I just can't read this stuff.

I see your point. Hopefully if and when the monthly starts they'll take a different approach, although with Walking Dead and 28 Days Later (not to mention others I don't know about) how many of these titles can we read?

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:37 pm

Carbon Grey #1 (Image) - Visually stunning book, the 1st issue was a bit lacking in story "oomph" (mostly setup), but I'm interested in the world & mythology, I'm going to stick around and see what happens with the sisters Grey.

Wulf #1 (Atlas) - Another #1 that was a bit light on story, but I surely loved Nat Jones' art. I'm going to stick around & see where Steve Niles goes with the story. (Also, I liked the inclusion of Lomax, who was star of the Atlas series "Police Action")

Wolverine/Hercules #1 (Marvel) - This was surprisingly good (I went into it with relatively low expectations). Some good humorous moments, nice history/flashbacks.....

dbm · Post by **dbm** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:12 pm

Who Is Jake Ellis #1 (Image) - Hah! I love the art in this book. Shrug. Tozo! Story was light, but well told. Loved it.

Intrepids #1 - I really didn't get anything out of this. The art was OK, but the storytelling didn't really go anywhere. Maybe others will like it more. Pass.

Sherlock Holmes Year One #1 (Dynamite) - I'm not an uber Holmes fan either, more from laziness than lack of interest. I loved this. Great art, and interesting story.

abysslord · Post by **abysslord** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:54 pm

Venom (2011) (Marvel) - Pretty solid issue. I can't help but think this series is basically "Haunt" + "Solider Zero", but that doesn't make it bad. The art is really good too.

My only concerns: Fighting with Betty because of his secret, that can get old quick. And I don't know if I like the limitations on Venom so far ... the time limit, anger issues, and number of missions. But we'll see how that progresses.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 12:56 am

dbm wrote: Intrepids #1 - I really didn't get anything out of this. The art was OK, but the storytelling didn't really go anywhere. Maybe others will like it more. Pass.

I have to (unfortunately) agree. As much as I like to support creator owned books, neither the story nor the art were doing it for me here.

abysslord · Post by **abysslord** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:46 pm

BobBretall wrote:
dbm wrote: Intrepids #1 - I really didn't get anything out of this. The art was OK, but the storytelling didn't really go anywhere. Maybe others will like it more. Pass.
I have to (unfortunately) agree. As much as I like to support creator owned books, neither the story nor the art were doing it for me here.

I normally would probably have passed on this story but I bought it just in case I liked it. I didn't think it was too bad. The art fit the comic style for me and I'm interested enough to at least give it a few more issues. I wouldn't say I'm dying to read more, and it's certainly at the bottom of my list, but I'll stick around for a few issues. A comic would have to be really boring/bad for me to drop after the first issue alone.

spid · Post by **spid** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:54 pm

BobBretall wrote:Carbon Grey #1 (Image) - Visually stunning book, the 1st issue was a bit lacking in story "oomph" (mostly setup), but I'm interested in the world & mythology, I'm going to stick around and see what happens with the sisters Grey.

Agreed. The book sort of reminded me of a steam punk Three Musketeers.

abysslord · Post by **abysslord** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:58 pm

Sigil #1: I loved the look of this book, bright colors and nice art. I think it did a great job as a first issue too, making you want to read more and asking questions.

I'm curious if it bore any resemblance to the original CrossGen. I know the main character in that was a guy, but did this emblem give him powers to transport through time or anything? Or is this Marvel book a complete new take?

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:21 pm

abysslord wrote:A comic would have to be really boring/bad for me to drop after the first issue alone.

But you don't buy very many comics (compared to me), so can probably afford to have some mediocre stuff on the pile. I tend to cut stuff that does not "grab" me in at least some way where I say "Yeah, I want to read #2".

In this case I was more "Gee, I don't care if I read any more or not."

abysslord · Post by **abysslord** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:34 pm

spid wrote:
BobBretall wrote:Carbon Grey #1 (Image) - Visually stunning book, the 1st issue was a bit lacking in story "oomph" (mostly setup), but I'm interested in the world & mythology, I'm going to stick around and see what happens with the sisters Grey.

Agreed. The book sort of reminded me of a steam punk Three Musketeers.

I'm interested in the story, but confused as hell. I guess I get the basic idea but it's only 3 issues .... that seems like most of our questions will not be answered, so hopefully this will become more than just a 3 issue mini.

dbm · Post by **dbm** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:45 pm

abysslord wrote:
spid wrote:
BobBretall wrote:Carbon Grey #1 (Image) - Visually stunning book, the 1st issue was a bit lacking in story "oomph" (mostly setup), but I'm interested in the world & mythology, I'm going to stick around and see what happens with the sisters Grey.

Agreed. The book sort of reminded me of a steam punk Three Musketeers.
I'm interested in the story, but confused as hell. I guess I get the basic idea but it's only 3 issues .... that seems like most of our questions will not be answered, so hopefully this will become more than just a 3 issue mini.

I agree: beautiful art, interesting premise, but half the time I didn't know what was going on. I think I need to read it again. Three issues does seem light given the setup.

Ah ha:

The first story arc will be a three issue mini-series. It will take 13 issues to tell the tale of Carbon Grey. If the series proves to be well-liked we're hoping to give more insight into the secondary characters in a series of one-shot stories.

from http://www.newsarama.com/comics/image-c ... 10127.html

abysslord · Post by **abysslord** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:36 pm

dbm wrote: I agree: beautiful art, interesting premise, but half the time I didn't know what was going on. I think I need to read it again. Three issues does seem light given the setup.

Ah ha:

The first story arc will be a three issue mini-series. It will take 13 issues to tell the tale of Carbon Grey. If the series proves to be well-liked we're hoping to give more insight into the secondary characters in a series of one-shot stories.
from http://www.newsarama.com/comics/image-c ... 10127.html

Ok, thanks for finding that. And reading that article I feel like one more read through and I may get what's going on better. I think I knew everything except I wasn't sure if the sisters were all acting together, and I didn't know what the hell happened in the first few pages. They show a sister with her gun and the Kaiser with his head blown apart .... but that article seems to say maybe she's not really the killer?

I don't know ... I'll just keep reading until things click

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 8:28 pm

Grim Ghost #1 (Atlas) - Tony Isabella writing & Kelley Jones on art, 2 creators I like a lot. We got a lot of explanation about the status quo, which was somewhat necessary given the nature of this series set in "the fringe". Last page left me with a "Huh?", so we'll have to see how that resolves in #2.

Insurrection v3.6 #1 (Boom!) - Standard sci-fi story that looks to be about a specific robot (or android) called "Auts" who (it seems) will decide he's sick of being ordered around and start an Insurrection. Nothing here really grabbed me.

Soulfire #0 (Aspen) - Nice art, though the coloring was a bit too dark. Nothing in this issue made me really want to come back for the #1 issue. Did anyone else check this out? How did it work for you on making you want to read more?

Venom #1 (Marvel) - OK story (though I liked the previous 2 by Dan Slott more). Tony Moore did a great job on the art (but I generally like his art). Overall this #1 didn't live up to all the hype, but I'll stick with the series for a while.