honestly, haven't read any since I was a kid. But I am planning to pick up the one-shot next month.

anyone else used to read Groo the Wanderer? As a Robert E Howard Conan fanatic, Groo was hilarious. he hated being called a mendicant, even though he did not know the meaning of the word.

Just finished reading this, I didn't have high expectations but it turned out to be a fun read

Never heard of Groo but as a massive Conan fan I'll definitely look out for it. What is it, a Conan parody or something.

Do you know the Slaine stuff? As a Conan fan I reckon you'd love it.

I've got two new releases on my list this week.



Batman #25

"The War Of Jokes And Riddles" part 1... I mean, Jokes? Riddles? Exciting!




Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #1

I'll be the first to admit there's too many Spider-books right now. But really the only one I'm currently enjoying is Renew Your Vows. The main Amazing Spider-Man book doesn't really do it for me. (Spider-Man/Deadpool has its moments...). But I'm interested in this new one because it sounds like a bit of a throwback to the Spidey of yesteryear. We'll see.

It is, and was drawn and written by famous cartoonist Sergio Aragones who worked for MAD magazine. it began in the 70's.

Rocket was a great pick for the Nevermind ode.

agreed.

You getting Batman #25?

What's good with Batman #25? Isn't it an epilogue to all the Bane stuff you missed? Or is it a Button epilogue? I dunno. My ancient iPad (my personal one, not my work one) is shitting out on me big time, and my local bookstore just decided to stop stocking all non-Doctor Who comics, so I have very little access just now. I suppose I could read on my phone. Hmm.

I usually love all things Doctor Who, but the comics have yet to really grab me. They seem flimsy. Like they're missing the distinctly human element of the show that each of the actors manages to capture in their delivery. In other words, yeah, I'm upset that the comic books are too cartoony. #whitepersonproblems

I wanna dive into Secret Wars really bad right now.

Oh, I wanna start reading Judge Dredd again too. I miss the Judge. And so much has happened since I last read him with any regularity. He's in his 70s now!

25 starts a new arc with Joker and Riddler supposedly. Was sold out the first store I went to. Got the last copy at the second store. Haven't read it yet.

ok I read Batman #25. And wow. You should get it Sev. It's part 1 of an 8-part story.

Oh yeah, you mentioned it already.

Hmm. I dunno. I guess it depends on what else I'm reading. I'm usually up for a good Joker story. Why don't you read it and let me know what you think? If you have a positive report, I'll buy it on my phone.

I'm not sure how well the current creative team will be able to handle the Joker AND Riddler simultaneously. Just going Joker right is hard enough. But let me know! I really enjoyed the little Swamp Thing one-shot crossover. That was kind of a glorious little story.

Should take you no more than 10 minutes to read a standard comic book. That's with time for oogling the cool pictures :D

Ok maybe I'll go grab it on ComiXology right now.

I got ComiXology even though I barely know what it is so I could read the new Saga on my phone. Now I have it and I'm not sure what the fuck it's even for, so maybe now's the time to find out.

Couldn't figure ComiXology out and I got impatient so I bought Batman #25 on iTunes just now.

I think you need to have all the individual publisher apps (Marvel, DC, Image) to make it work. That's how it was with Saga. I looked it up in ComiXology, couldn't find a way to buy the fucked, then downloaded Image, found it, and was promoted to purchase it with ComiXology. Shrug. Somehow it ended with my having read the goddamn motherfucking comic, but I'm not about to fuck with that shit all the time.

Anyway, the review said "In the spirit of YEAR ONE and THE LONG HALLOWEEN" and I was like, "Ok, fuck, I'm buying it. Whatever.

Will let you know my thoughts.

I don't get Comixology either. I have a Marvel and a DC app right now. But I barely read any comics digitally. Mostly I have those to use the free codes that come w/ physical issues.

Oh and I bought Saga #43 today because it was only 25 cents. Haha.

ok. :|

Fucker! Start with Saga #1! It's a continuous arc! The volumes are cheap as fuck, so just buy them or rent them from the library. You can't just wade into the middle of freaking Saga!

Ok so I read Batman #25 and it is indeed promising. This is not the "type" of Joker I usually prefer, but I still liked it. Also, Riddler was a bit too brutish. I don't like how they've started drawing him as ripped... thanks, Arkham Asylum.

Anyway, I liked it but I don't like this Batman/Catwoman business. Wishing that a speedy death.

Also, I had some issues with the write-up at the end.

"What happened when the Joker's chaos clashes with the logic and reason of the Riddler?"

Uhh... I'll tell you what happens... Riddler fucking dies. Or would, in reality. Riddler is a slave to logic and reason, so they're just as likely to be liabilities as strengths. Show him something he doesn't understand, and you've beaten him. In that sense, his own gimmick is his kryptonite. Yeah, he tells riddles, has no patience for those who can't solve them, but tell HIM a riddle he can't solve -- or, hell, just make one up that has no answer! -- and he'll crumble.

Riddler is bound and gagged by his schtick. Joker's schtick is chaos, so he can theoretically roll with just about anything. What happens when weak logic clashes with an impenetrable wall of chaos? "Logic" gets shot in the fucking head.

Still, I will be reading this arc, for sure.

lol. I knew it would bug you.

Here are you options:

A) I can start with the issue that cost me 25 cents to see if I like it.

or

B) I can tell you that someday when I find my piles of backlogged comics is magically gone, and I have money to burn, and not a single other comic in my mind as what I should buy next, then I'll go all the way back to Saga #1 to see if I like it.

It seems like this Batman arc is coming now to delay really fleshing out what's going on w/ Selena now anyway. I mean, this is 8 issues that put off continuing THAT story.

I don't mind that this story is being told to her though. It's actually kind of a neat segue, no?

oh ! And sev... go to marvel.com/redeem and put in the code ICEMAN

You will receive all the #1's for the Resurrxion event for free.

Put in the code where?

I don't think I've ever been to Marvel.com. Also, I don't know what Resurrxion is, but I'm guessing it has something to do with.... X-Men?

I haven't been keeping up with any of that stuff. I know Cyclops went rogue (no pun intended, because I have no idea if Rogue even exists anymore), and that he became a terrorist and a villain and a murderer, in addition to being a shitty boyfriend to Emma Frost and, like, five different versions of Jean Grey. And I know that the Inhumans, specifically Black Bolt and Medusa, I guess, want to kill him or whatever... but that's it. No clue what the details are.

I do know, however, that this outfit is so badass that if he'd always dressed like this he probably would have been my favorite X-Man, even back when he was literally nobody's favorite X-Man.



^^ that is just too fucking badass.

You, sir, are a fool. And you will regret this. I promise you, you will regret not being a part of Saga as it plays out. It's going to go down in history. It's going to change the game:

It's a massive interconnected space opera love story and every event directly affects everything that follows. I do not recommend just picking up an issue. I read 43, and it's cool to me, but if I didn't know the characters, I'd wonder what the fuck all the fuss was about.

Jesus Christ man. If we knew each other in "real life" I'd buy you all 7 volumes of Saga on Amazon. Probably wouldn't cost more than $50 total, even if I was buying brand new. I'd totally do that for you. But we don't really know each other, so you're gonna have to learn by yourself I guess. I just hope you make the right decision.

Funnily though, I accidentally ordered a hardbound copy of book 2 of the collected volumes, thinking it was stuff I hadn't read. So I have a $50, 500-page book sitting here that I don't even want and I'm going to have to return to Amazon. If it was Book 1, and not Book 2, I'd put it in the mail to your ass right now, and I'd eat the $50. But you NEED to start at the beginning.

(Note: Saga comes in single issues once a month for about 6 months at a time between breaks. There are paperback volumes that contain like 7 issues each, and there are currently 7 of those out. There are two hardcover "books," each containing 3-4 volumes. Important to understand the difference... Amazon incorrectly listed the contents of Book 2, which is why I ended up paying $50 for something I'd already read.)

Marvel.com/REDEEM

dude, it's not the $50 it would cost me to buy 7 volumes. It's the time it would take me to read them.

You must know me well enough by now to see that I don't make plans on how I consume media. I let the wind blow me where ever it wants me to go. I don't listen to the big new release by the big artist that I love... if my ears aren't in the mood for that genre.

I know myself and my habits. I have limited time to read comics each week. And enjoy buying issues each week. Even if the 7 volumes of Saga were free, the chance of me just stopping those reading habits which make me happy and going and reading 7 volumes of something that - sure everyone says is great, but I don't even know if I'm in the mood to read right now - is beyond unlikely.

SO this is what I do. I make a list each week of the new comics I want. If it doesn't seem like enough for the week, then I'll grab a few other things of lesser interest. This week Saga 43 happened to be a quarter and you were JUST hyping the series. So I grabbed it.

Again, knowing me and my tastes and my habits - I grabbed it out of respect for your suggestion. The chance of me even attempting to read Saga* just went up because of this issue.

*The chance was a lot lower before. I know everyone talks about how great it is. And I'm sure it is. But you must have also noticed that my taste in comics is decidedly heavy on superheroes right? It may well be this game-changing epic and all, but again going back to just following whatever my brain tells me I'm in the mood for and not really worrying about how epic or important something is...

And I'm not even saying that I think Saga won't appeal to me. Just that part of the fun of this hobby for me is not quite knowing what I'll be in the mood for week to week. Who knows. I might pick up a new book I wasn't interested in before. I might stop reading one that I thought I used to like.

I totally get you. I went though the same thing recently. I found Saga at the library and I didn't think I'd even read it but I checked it out because they didn't have the Unworthy Thor I was looking for.

Then I read the first volume in like 20 minutes.
Within about 2 weeks I'd read all seven volumes. The only thing that made t take that long was waiting for the things to be available at the library. I would have likely read it all in two days if I'd had it all I front of me.

I get what you're saying. Trust me. I'm a superhero guy too. BIG time. I almost never read any non-superhero comics. But Saga just blew me away. It's not that it's deeply profound or anything. It's just brazen as fuck, super adult, hilarious, and politically and socially relevant... BRUTALLY so. It reads like a novel. And the art is just glorious.

So, I've said my piece. I just think you'd have a similar reaction if you sat down with it. That's all.

I'm not writing it off. And you're not the first to insist I read it. So it's always in my "yep, once I need something different to read" list.

Hopefully I'll have some time to catch up on the rest of the stuff I bought this week over the weekend. I've got the "2.0" release of X-Men: Mutant Genesis that I've been meaning to plow through soon.

Ok, ok, ok. But I want to go on record as saying that I think you're missing out, and you will eventually regret your decision to not put it at the top of your list. The rest of your pile isn't going anywhere. But Saga may well be winding down.

Just sayin.

But it'll still be there just like the others.

I'm the same as noise. I have god knows how many comic books/books/films sat waiting to be read/watched but it has to be at the right time for me to read it. Hell, there have been times where my mind has wandered into wanting tor read something else halfway through a book. And not cos I wasn't enjoying the book but cos I'm no longer in the mood.

Chill. He's got the rec and he'll read it.

Yeah, I feel you.

It took me damn near 3 months to read a volume of Walt Simonson's The Mighty Thor... not because I didn't like it, because I totally do, but because I could only make it through a few pages before I wanted to read something completely different.

I shouldn't be so pushy I guess. I just had a really good experience with Saga, and I want other people to have the same experience. But yeah, NR, you do you buddy. Glad you bought #43.

Love the passion in this thread right now guys.

Normally I think I'm a pretty well adjusted guy when it comes to my relationships with people, both on-line and in the "real world," but I think pushiness might be one of my biggest character flaws.

Like, NR -- remember when TLOP came out, and you wouldn't listen to it because it wasn't finalized and stuff? That drove me fucking crazy even though I totally get the reasoning at work there. But I just really wanted you to hear the thing, and I knew it was two clicks away, and you just wouldn't do it and goddammit I could have reached through the internet and strangled you like Homer Simpson strangles his son for basically no reason whatsoever (pretty fucked up, that... always kinda turned me off... just blatantly making light of child abuse, but oh well).

Anyway, I'm sure I acted like a total asshole, or at least a really pushy and insensitive semi-asshole. I am sorry about both that and this, and I will work on being more conscious of my behavior...

... if you read Saga right now. ;)

Just kidding.

It's cool sev. It doesn't bother me really. But I just know my habits so stay stubborn haha.

Btw took me years to watch Dark Knight. When I was finally ready I loved it hard. I'm glad I didn't rush and watch it when I wasn't in the mood y'know?

...

You waited years to watch the fucking Dark Knight?

I'm so glad we weren't friends back then, because that might have ruined our friendship.

I kinda wish you'd kept that to yourself. ;)

A wise dude once said: Everything I'm not made me everything I am.

Fucking !!!

You know how to win me over, Noise Redux. I'll bloody well give you that, my friend. :D