Sperg about comic books here

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High Society through Melmoth is amazing shit. Loved it. Somewhere in Mothers and Daughters it becomes clear that you're watching a mad genius go fully round the twist in real time. Sim's still one of the greatest draftsmen and letterers to ever live, but IIRC I got out of the boat in the middle of Guys, and I never got the impression that I missed a hell of a lot.
 
Frankly, Cerebus the Aardvark is one of the greatest achievements in comics, imo. An insane mix of talent and willpower. So... anyone else read these?
I haven't read it but I've known about it since forever and I wouldn't be surprised if some of it was published in Galago, a local comicbook. Trying to find out if that was the case I instead found this on an old Swedish blog from 2004 and it might be of interest to you, it's Sims answering fan questions right after the series ended. I have no context for it so I won't read it.

One thing I remember about Cerebus and Sims is that he rubbed some people the wrong way, wrong-think of some form after the series ended I think, so there was another comicbook writer that bitterly kept plugging away at his book so that Sims couldn't have the record of "most issues written by" or a "longest run" of some sort.
 
Im looking for Scans of that series in good quality for ages.
Well, you wont get substantial scans from me, I'm afraid, as I don't want to damage the spine on my books. Also, Dave Sim above most artists ought to get recompense for his work given how much he staked on it selling. But I might scan in an issue I have in traditional comic format. Frankly, I'm of the opinion that if there were just a little bit more available online for people to see it would probably stimulate a few more sales. They're occasionally reprinted last I checked.
I read the first volume and High Society a long time ago. I've been meaning to get to the other volumes. I remember Elrond's line "As the only last member of a dying race in this temple, I demand you arrest the kid in the bunny suit."

Ha, ha ha. You know, thinking back, I'm not sure Elrond ever did work out that Cerebus wasn't a kid in a bunny suit. I think my favourite Elrond scenes have to be either where he's forced by the roach to dress up as Death from the Sandman comics; or where his fans want him to "teach Cerebus a lesson" in a swordfight and he's trying to think of any way to get out of it.

I haven't read it but I've known about it since forever and I wouldn't be surprised if some of it was published in Galago, a local comicbook. Trying to find out if that was the case I instead found this on an old Swedish blog from 2004 and it might be of interest to you, it's Sims answering fan questions right after the series ended. I have no context for it so I won't read it.

One thing I remember about Cerebus and Sims is that he rubbed some people the wrong way, wrong-think of some form after the series ended I think, so there was another comicbook writer that bitterly kept plugging away at his book so that Sims couldn't have the record of "most issues written by" or a "longest run" of some sort.

Thanks for that. Interesting reading through those. I have to laugh at this question someone asked:
"/hal: Did you always know all along that #300 would include a fart joke?!"

I don't know what you might be referring to but I can 100% believe it. His opinions would have rubbed someone up the wrong way even back then. Now they'd practically get him drawn and quartered.
 
One thing I remember about Cerebus and Sims is that he rubbed some people the wrong way, wrong-think of some form after the series ended I think, so there was another comicbook writer that bitterly kept plugging away at his book so that Sims couldn't have the record of "most issues written by" or a "longest run" of some sort.
Todd McFarlane loudly claimed to have broken Sim's record (longest running independent comic) when Spawn hit #301, but it's hardly a fair comparison given that Sim wrote and drew his entire run.
 
Recently went through my unread Alan Grant Shadow of the Bat, on a kick of "older" Bat books because the current ones are in a boring and milquetoast place. For the most part they were hit or miss with a handful gems and one or two exceptional lowlights but pretty enjoyable especially since I was able to pick most of them up for 1.50 CAD or under. But one story stood out to me above all others, I have not been reading comics for as many decades as some people but I have read a lot in my time and I don't think I have ever seen something quite like this...

There are tales of bad inkers and colourists going overboard and covering up the finer line work or detail of a lot of pencillers/their inks etc. I don't think I have seen something this egregious produced by a DC or Marvel especially so recently. This is vomit not colouring, you can't even see the pencils, This is by far not the worst of it but just as far as I could make it.
RCO003 (3).jpg RCO004 (3).jpg RCO005 (2).jpg

Shadow of Bat 43-44

To be honest it's much more readable on a screen rather than the glossier paper but I was hoping for a fun Batman/Catwoman/Catman vs. Ratcatcher story with dope Barry Kitson art but instead it's ruined :(. Big step down from the last time he appeared in this series and Tim Sale drew him. Sucks that this story could not have come out in the previous TWO YEARS of consecutive cross overs. By the time they were over the classic feel the art had is gone because the industry style has shifted.

Todd McFarlane loudly claimed to have broken Sim's record (longest running independent comic) when Spawn hit #301, but it's hardly a fair comparison given that Sim wrote and drew his entire run.
It's crazy how quickly Todd speed ran becoming the exact corporate asshole he claimed to hate, barely a 50 issue run of JUST writing if you include later issues and half that for art while he just sat on his ass and green lit the most derivative shit.

Speaking of which does anyone know if Spawn: The Dark Ages is good I saw that the first half of the run was done by Liam Sharp and it looked neat but considering the quality of writing in some of the Spawn spin offs the art might not be able to save it.
 
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Recently went through my unread Alan Grant Shadow of the Bat, on a kick of "older" Bat books because the current ones are in a boring and milquetoast place. For the most part they were hit or miss with a handful gems and one or two exceptional lowlights but pretty enjoyable especially since I was able to pick most of them up for 1.50 CAD or under.
Yeah, I mostly enjoyed his Shadow of the Bat but it's obvious he was burning out throughout that series. Alan Grant definitely peaked with Batman when working on Detective Comics with Norm Breyfogle. It's amazing that he put out at least one issue of a Batman story a month for 12 months for nearly 10 years while keeping up a decent quality.
 
Yeah, I mostly enjoyed his Shadow of the Bat but it's obvious he was burning out throughout that series. Alan Grant definitely peaked with Batman when working on Detective Comics with Norm Breyfogle. It's amazing that he put out at least one issue of a Batman story a month for 12 months for nearly 10 years while keeping up a decent quality.

More impressive was the number or OCs in that run. Anarky, Victor Zsaz, Ventriloquist, Jeremiah Arkham, and countless others.

Todd McFarlane loudly claimed to have broken Sim's record (longest running independent comic) when Spawn hit #301, but it's hardly a fair comparison given that Sim wrote and drew his entire run.

True. And unlike Sims run the majority of Todd's Spawn is shit that no one talks about their favorite arcs.
 
Sometimes I wonder why Spawn is even a thing (and still rather popular!) currently, is it entirely on the cool design?

Spawn has followed a pattern.

It took a ton of criticism when he launched it so he got Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Dave Sim, and Neil Gaiman to write four issues with each taking one in Year One. In Year Two he had Grant Morrison write three issues and Gaiman, Moore, and Miller all did Spawn side projects. Alan Moore has done as much Spawn as anything else.

By Year Three McFarlane was back at the helm and the book was unreadable but looked pretty with his art. He started to have Capullo take over pencilling by Year Four.

This all took place over five or six years in the speculator boom with that helping the book. In addition, there were countless really good side books that Todd had little to nothing to do with.

Beginning around the collapse of the speculator boom the book actually got much better. In the 00s Brian Holguin took over the book with Angel Medina doing the art. It was okay with highlights being the introduction of Nyx going for 50 issues. David Hine took over with highlight being the cool run by Brian Haberlin from 166 to 184.

He did it again after Hine's run with bringing in Whilce Portacio and Greg Capullo for a year. Pretty art, shit story. 185-200.


Then he takes a year and half off putting the thing on auto pilot before coming back full time as writer and cover artist. After that, Erik Larsen takes up art duties for a year.

By now I think the pattern is clear. The book will do something big every three to four years with Todd getting some big talent and shaking it up. That's what he did recently, coming back and getting Greg Capullo to draw the book. It's not right to say Spawn has surpassed Sim's Cerebus because McFarlane stopped doing meaningful artwork on the book back in the 90s! He's taking long stretches off. The bad of Spawn faaaarrrr outweighs the good.
 
Yeah, I mostly enjoyed his Shadow of the Bat but it's obvious he was burning out throughout that series. Alan Grant definitely peaked with Batman when working on Detective Comics with Norm Breyfogle. It's amazing that he put out at least one issue of a Batman story a month for 12 months for nearly 10 years while keeping up a decent quality.
No doubt, the first 16 issues before Knightfall are pretty great. It's also amazing that even after getting burnt out he still produced content that is no worse than most generic superhero punch ups that we get now except they are 1/5 the price and don't flounder for 5+ issues for a trade, not a high bar, just a observation.

Also it's been a while but I picked up the singles for Dark Moon Rising a while ago and they were pretty great, thanks for the recommend.
Sometimes I wonder why Spawn is even a thing (and still rather popular!) currently, is it entirely on the cool design?
Almost entirely. Everybody and their mother loves that Big Red Boot. I have been thinking a lot about this recently as I have been reading New Earth Red Hood appearances and it's shocking for a character that has such a big fan base they have next to no good stories and is solely saved by their admittedly cool premise and design. IIRC people went nuts for BWL and Punchline when promo art got released and well before the issues they would be in were even finished and the redditors got so excited they started a little speculation bubble each time.
 
Almost entirely. Everybody and their mother loves that Big Red Boot. I have been thinking a lot about this recently as I have been reading New Earth Red Hood appearances and it's shocking for a character that has such a big fan base they have next to no good stories and is solely saved by their admittedly cool premise and design. IIRC people went nuts for BWL and Punchline when promo art got released and well before the issues they would be in were even finished and the redditors got so excited they started a little speculation bubble each time.
The furor over Year of the Villain #3 when that turned out to be the debut of Punchline was hilarious. People went APESHIT when they couldn't get it at retail (because it was a book no one had given a shit about and didn't pre-order). Lasted for all of like a month but it was nutso.

In re: Spawn, I remember reading the Endgame storyline because it was billed as some kind of reboot and I thought it might be interesting to see where the series was at. May as well have been written in Sanskrit. Total gibberish. Nowadays I think the book might be Image's single biggest unit seller now that Walking Dead and Saga are gone (especially given sales of variant covers), and I have no idea why.
 
The furor over Year of the Villain #3 when that turned out to be the debut of Punchline was hilarious. People went APESHIT when they couldn't get it at retail (because it was a book no one had given a shit about and didn't pre-order). Lasted for all of like a month but it was nutso.
Was picking up JL at the time because the artists and was one of a handful that ordered the book on a lark. The fervor in my store was insane and few others in my city where pretty hot as well. And all over a character that did nothing and won't because Tiny Onion is leaving :story: (Thank god)

The only good thing about that series is how it fucked with speculators and try hard collectors, wish DC would do it more.
 
That sound you hear is thousands of fat rainbow-haired chicks squirting in unison.
 
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