What are you reading/collecting at the moment?

[Chris T]

i thought love and rockets was one of those serious black and white comics about cool peoples relationships that indie comics seem to churn out so often, would give it a try though.

L&R has been many wonderful things down the years, but if you're going to it looking for SF you might come away a bit disappointed - there were a few pulpy trappings round some of the stories for the first few years, but they faded away to focus on the more mainstream aspects of the stories.

Yeah I could see that happening in the first volume. But the SFish trappings are well done and a great hook. The art and writing are so charming; it just great comics.

It might be interesting to compare it (or at least the one volume I've read so far) with Scott McCloud's Zot! which has SF/super-hero trappings but becomes more interested in the relationship of the leads--towards the end, also, it kinda feels as though he's painted himself/the story in a corner.

Anyway I finished the first volume and Hearbreak Soup is up next.

Speaking of the New Mutants, I also read my old copies of the first 40 or so issues of the original run, basically up to where Kyle Baker stops inking. The art on that series was the best thing about it. Bill Sienkiewicz's departure leaves a big hole which is never really filled afterwards IMHO although there's one issue drawn Jon J Muth which was beautiful. Comics are full of these brilliant moments and short bursts where things just work as if by accident or in spite of the corporate shenanigans (i.e. Bill Sienkiewicz's run on NM generally and the Simonson's Thor).

Anyway the best thing I bought since the last time I logged in has to be the new Kamandi Omnibus. Solid gold.

[Pebble]

Kamandi was definitely under rated at the time. Those superb flash pages 2-3 in most of Kirby's issues. One to look out for.

[David Mosley]

Off the back of DC's The New 52, my current pull list looks like:

• The Unwritten
• Hellblazer
• glamourpuss (when my LCS remembers to order it )
• Batwoman
• Red Lanterns
• Justice League Dark
• Animal Man
• Red Hood and the Outlaws
• Avengers: 1959
  
• Elric: The Balance Lost
• Jennifer Blood
• 2000AD
• Judge Dredd Megazine

[Pebble]

Bought Showcase presents The Phantom Stranger volumes one and two.

It has been a long time since I bought PS and these are some fascinating stories from the long lost days of comics. Also some interesting artwork from top name artists.

[Tom Murphy]

Here's my current pull-list (inflated at the moment as I dip my toes into the New 52)

• The Unwritten
• DMZ
• Hellblazer
• Sweet Tooth
• Infinite Vacation
• Powers (on the rare occasions it's published)
• Casanova

• Swamp Thing
• Animal Man
• Justice League Dark
• Stormwatch
• Demon Knights
• Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE
• Action Comics

(I did a bit of a catch-up on Sweet Tooth last week: it really is the strongest book I'm reading at the moment. Jeff Lemire packs a real emotional wallop and uses the form magnificently. I hope his DCU writing duties don't detract from his 'real' work.)

[Pebble]

Seem to be going through a phase of getting hold of comics that I might have briefly seen in one off issues or seen the covers for in old fanzines.

Finished reading Essential Hulk one and bought volume two, just to see where it would go.

Having watched the film Captain America picked up Kirby's run on Essential Volumes 1 and 2 with the bonus of Strenako's Madame Hydra issuses.

Just spotted that this year, there will be Essential Warlock - Marvel Premier issues, all Warlock title with strange tales including the Gem stone- Starlin run
and the Black Panther - Jungle Action series and Kirby's run - King Solomon's Frog, any one?

[flutegirlrockz]

Uncanny X-Men
Wolverine And The X-Men
Justice Leauge
Action Comics
FF
Fantastic Four
Planetery
Lucifer
Universe X
Avengers Sanction
The Mighty Thor
New Mutants
Journey Into Mystery
Secret Wars 2
Incredible Hercules
New Avengers
JLA
Warlock Original Series
Mighty Aveners
Legion Lost

[Octo Seven]

I just started re-reading Promethea again. I loved it first time but second time it's even more enjoyable, now that I have read everything from ABC, the backstories of the other Prometheas are really familiar to me, little Margie and Grace Brannagh etc. I will probably re-read all of the ABC comics again this year.

[Brian]

I'm a fickle collector these days, with a tepid interest in the combination of modern prices with mostly mediocre artwork*. In general, however, I find the writing to be above-average*. I have over 1,000 comic books in my closet (all "readers copies"), and the vast majority of them were created before 1985. I guess that makes me an "old school" collector?

At the moment, there are only three titles that I'm following:

Elric: The Balance Lost (naturally)
Crimson Empire III (Paul Gulacy)
and
The Outlaw Prince (Outlaw of Torn) graphic novel.

I should note that TOP last came out in April, 2011. They appear to be taking their sweet time finishing the series.

There are other series that I pick up off and on, but whenever I find one that grabs my attention, they always seem to change the artist/writer and it all goes to hell.

*it should go without saying, but these are merely my opinions. Also, I should point out that I'm not sure if the * goes before the qualified statement, or after.

[Kamelion]

I'm getting the Balance Lost trades, but for some reason, Amazon UK isn't releasing the first one until next month! Also getting the new Hellraiser trades from Boom. Was also collecting the Gunslinger and The Stand but sort of let those slide. Still, mostly all still available on eBay...

(Would love to get all the old Elric graphic novels, but they're a bugger to find and don't look like they're being reprinted any time soon. Have MMM, MoaS and Stormbringer but none of the earlier ones.)

[Guzzlecrank]

Anyone who likes sword & sorcery comics might want to check out Dark Horse's new Conan the Barbarian series, which is "Queen of the Black Coast." I think it's going to run for a year. The second issue comes out this Wednesday, and the first was quite good. The interior artist is Becky Cloonan, and I wonder if she might be the first female artist to work on a Conan title since the Margaret Brundage era with Weird Tales...anyway, here 'tis:

[J-Sun]

Marvel:
Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers - TBolts is turning into the Dark Avengers but keeping the numbering. I'm not thrilled by this, but as Paler is a great writer, I'm certainly going to stick with it. It's a great series, and I suspect that if anybody wanted to jump on, Dark Avengers 175 would be a good place.
New Mutants - a really great "team" comic in a day when there just aren't a whole lot of those, when it seems chic to have every team falling apart at the seams. Abnett and Lanning are writing it, and it's really well done.
X-Men Legacy - After Carey's staggeringly long and magnificent run, Gage has big shoes to fill, but he's off to a good start. Now we just gotta get past this AvX stuff.
X-Factor - I'll be honest, I like the characters, but not the writing. And for heaven's sake, a team of 15 is too big. Time to cut some people.
Captain America & Hawkeye - I'm curious. 2 good characters if someone would just write them well. Let's see what happens. This lineup just started.

DC
Justice League Dark - By Peter Milligan (Hellblazer). I'm groovin' on it, but I like Milligan's bizarre style.
Aquaman - Geoff Johns knows how to write a great story. It's worth the read just because Johns is writing it.
Green Lantern: New Guardians - I'm sticking with it, but have yet to be impressed.
Justice League International - Not impressed. They killed off Rocket Red and replaced him with Omac. This one is on my chopping block most likely.

IDW
Doctor Who - It's hard to write a good spin-off of a current show, since you cannot do much that changes things. But on the whole, the DW comic has been pretty good. It captures the feel of the show. He had a Tyrannosaurus named Kevin for a companion for a bit, and I thought that was well written.

[Tom Murphy]

I don't think I've seen it mentioned on here, but one series that might appeal to Miscellanists is Manhattan Projects (Image) by Jonathan Hickman & Nick Pitarra.

It's got Big Ideas, clear and gripping storytelling and a very nice sense of design.

Here's the Image pitch...

What if the research and development department created to produce the first atomic bomb was a front for a series of other, more unusual, programs? What if the union of a generation's brightest minds was not a signal for optimism, but foreboding? What if everything... went wrong?

...and there's a closer look and an interview with Hickman in Wired

It's currently at issue 3 but has been selling out, so you might be as well to wait for the first collection

[Tom Murphy]

While we're at it, here's my current pull-list:

• Animal Man
• Swamp Thing
• 2000AD
• Powers
• Manhattan Projects
• The Unwritten
• Sweet Tooth
• Spaceman
• Hellblazer
• The Secret Service (Millar/Gibbons)
• Secret (Hickman/Bodenheim)
• Fatale
• Saucer County
• New Deadwardians
• Justice League Dark
• Mind MGMT

(Yikes - I didn't think I was buying *that* much...)

[David Mosley]

I'm enjoying Garth Ennis' new Nick Fury comic - Fury: My War Gone By - with Govan Parlov on art chores:



I hadn't actually realised that this isn't Ennis' first time writing Fury Max - apparently there's been two previous mini-series - but I prefer Parlov's slightly rawer art to Derrick Robertson's super-clean, hyper-realistic style, which he also uses on Ennis' The Boys (which I don't read). Have to say Nick's current squeeze, Shirley Defabio, is one super-smokin' hot woman.