Donnie Van

I still don't understand why they broke the series into 3 different series, instead of just continuing the one numbering system the whole way through.

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I was wondering that a little while ago as well, so I did a bit of research on it.

Sequential Art had some nice thoughts on it.

That's a toughie. So many things I'd want to recommend ...

(For the sake of being interesting, I'm going to exclude The Sandman and Hellblazer)

Well, I'm gonna have to do four. It really does depend on the person I'm trying to convert, so you'll just have to allow me this bit of leeway

01. Starman: Sins of the Father (For the aforementioned reasons, and the additional plus that it's just the beginning of a long-running story, showing that any particular series can go on for years and remain fresh and interesting.)

02. Sock Monkey: Uncle Gabby (very interesting little book here. Definitely softer and more poetic than anything else I'd wind up recommending someone. I think it really shows that even something as ridiculous as a comic book about a sock monkey can be art in the right hands.)

03. Bone: One Volume edition (Nobody can hate this. It might not convert everyone, but I imagine the medium of comic books intriguing the majority of people who finish this book.)

04. Shade, The Changing Man: The American Scream (It doesn't seem to get much praise or credit anywhere, but this was probably THE series that opened up my eyes to the idea that not all comic characters were super-beings with rigid moral fibers and a secret plan in their back pocket at all times. I love the book, and the few people I've been able to force it on have loved it as well. It's bizarre, it's stylish, and it's very, very human.)

Shit, now I'm wanting to put Sandman Mystery Theatre in there somewhere. Maybe in place of Sock Monkey, since it and Bone would sort of hit the same demographic.

What I love about this cover is how tiny little Robin is forced to stand in the back and try to help Santa out with the load while Batman strides alongside, trying to look menacing while smiling his heart out.

That's true, I suppose.

Something about it's just not setting right with me still. Wish I could put my finger on it, exactly.

Yes, nice work, Adrian :D

Not too sure what I think about all this. I'll probably sound like an asshole for saying it, but there was an astounding amount of "everything is wonderful!" being put out in that.

01. Since I was five (so somewhere around fourteen years).

02. I remember getting a couple bags of comics from my Uncle Doug. There was some Heathcliffe, some Richie Rich, Top Dog, Sad Sad Sack, and so on. Those were my first comics.

03. Not particularly. I still read and enjoy some (JSA, Aquaman, so on and so on), but for the most part, I can't really seem to get into them.

And you can't forget she was basically the focus for the entire twenty-issue run of v.3.

Though I'd skip that. (What am I saying? I did skip it.)

It was Swamp Thing [v.2] #90, indeed a Doug Wheeler issue and therefore not collected.

Should be a cheap find in any comic shop with back-issues, though.

And double "ugh" to that.

Ugh. Why even try?

The last volume, pretty covers not included, was kind of shit.

"Silence of the Lambs" - Never read the novel, so I had no clash with it and the source material.

"Spider-Man" - Never been much of a Spider-Man fan, so I couldn't complain at much of it. I thought both movies were wonderfully mediocre. Still, the general gist is the same: nerd gets powers, fucks up, uncle gets killed, best friend's dad becomes crazy goblin-man. It's not like they moved him to Japan and gave him an enchanted Spider-Sword or anything. Or turned Harry into his cheesy kid sidekick.

"Superman" and "Superman II" - Sure. They were fun, in a hokey sort of way. Not an entirely inaccurate adaptation, either. New-ish storyline, sure, but that there was pretty much Pre-Crisis Superman in a nutshell.

"Lord of the Rings" - Read the books long, long ago. Saw all three movies consecutively a little while ago. Wasn't bothered by the adaptation.

A better pick would have been "Spider," which, sans the excellent Ralph Fiennes stuff, I hated (and yeah, I read that novel).

I'm not singling "Constantine" out as the only adaptation I'm disappointed with; just the only one that's relevant on a "Constantine"-devoted board.

Yeah it does.

I'll be seeing it. And picking up the Sin City books I'm missing.

Well, there's always the Doom Patrol Archives, if you're interested in pre-Morrison Doom Patrol.

Looks great to me. Definitely on my to-buy list.

The "Candlemaker" saga towards the end wasn't that great....but the rest of it is SO GOOD!

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Yeah, but "The Empire of Chairs" more than makes up for it :D

Well, shit. There's only the one Shade trade, I do believe.

The Invisibles, then. Great re-reading value in that.

Wow, tough call. Well, I'll discount Hellblazer for myself, because what fun would that be?

Can I keep my entire Milligan-Shade, The Changing Man? If so, that's my pick.

I can't imagine paying money to see/own something I'm predisposed to dislike. I shouldn't have to pretend I've never indulged in the source material to stomach an adaptation. Ever. So it looks like I will most likely never see "Constantine."

... Well, actually, I do have a few of these free rental cards for Blockbuster. Looks like you just got your chance to dazzle me, Keanu Reeves.

Will do. Probably won't be getting around to Marvel Boy for awhile, though. A good lot of other works are still on my to-read list.

Looks like something that'd be right up my alley, but we'll see ...

Like Lou said, Grant can take shite concepts and characters and make them into entertaining, intelligent, mature reads. I love the DC universe, because they have all these stupid character lying around that no one wants to touch, but DC doesn't take itself as seriously as Marvel, so when a talented writer comes along with a love of comic history; DC allows them to play with the characters, and they make the readers actually care about those stupid ideas.

It's the sign of a great writer! I mean, anyone with a modicum of talent can write a good Batman story. Everyone knows the character, he's not that hard to write, because everyone loves him! But, take someone like Monsieur Mallah & the Brain...that's when the test of a good writer happens!

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Oh, I definitely agree. I mean, some of my favorite ongoing comic series of all-time were merely updated concepts on old characters (Shade, The Changing Man comes into mind immediately, as do Animal Man and Swamp Thing).

And I'd consider myself a fan of Grant Morrison. Probably not to your degree, Christian, but a fan all the same. Loved The Invisibles and JLA, and, of course, Doom Patrol and Animal Man, and have Marvel Boy and Kill Your Boyfriend sitting on my desk waiting to be read.

That's why it seems so strange that I'm not "feeling" this project (so to speak). I don't know what my problem is. Maybe because Zatanna's the only one of them I actually care about ... although I suppose the whole point of the book is to change that, huh?

OH! So there really was a Frankenstein's monster in the DCU also? I remember the Marvel character.....

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Got it. "Spawn of Frankenstein," the title of the stories was. Though from what I'm looking at, they never actually call him that. (And I'm sure won't anytime soon, lest a certain Image founder throw a fit over the use of a particular word)

Well ... fuck. I might just pick it up, too. I wasn't going to, but you lot seem so confident about it, I might just have to check it out.

Or wait for the trade(s), more likely.

I honestly don't know how to feel about this.

You mean the mega-company that threw a conniption fit over the name Marvelman and waved their lawyers around until the title was changed to Miracleman? Well, that's lovely -_-

Sadly, I recognize them all with the exception of Guardian. I think it was Frankenstein (or, "Frankenstein's Monster," as they called him) that had secondary stories in those ye olden Phaantom Stranger comics. Feel like I should dig them up and doublecheck, but I don't feel like it.

The "Goth fetish Zatanna" comment bothers me. Reading a bit too into the fishnets, maybe?

And Shining Knight. He's the connection, being the only member of the original Seven Soldiers of Victory here. If we're going to think there's some correlation between this and the old story, then one of these seven is going to betray the rest. The easy bet is Klarion, naturally. That little fucker is nothing but trouble. Of course, since when has anything Grant's written been "easy"?

Really not my thing, I'm thinking. I mean, I like Grant Morrison, and I like obscure characters getting some shining light ... but this just isn't hitting me. Really, if it were my Seven Soldiers of Victory, it'd probably look something like Uncle Sam, Jonah Hex, Dr. Mist, Splitter (formerly known as, I swear to God, Arm-Fall-Off Boy), Halo, Penny Dreadful, and a G.I. Robot (let's say ... JAKE-6). Yeah, that's something I could get into.

... Don't mind me, I'm just swimming in fanboy dreams.

anyway, isn't 15 million an awful lot of money to hand out for a comic that can't have been read by more than half a million people (I'm guessing the sales figures here, the early 90s were the Image Golden Age after all)?

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It's the American legal system and it's insanity at work once again. If you're interested, Internet comedy writer Seanbaby did a whole series of articles on the same subject for The Wave Magazine.

Mr. Twist is obviously just trying to suck money out of the first jugular that presented itself.