General Comicbook Talk, Reviews, etc.

[Scott Intellectual Carrot Find all posts View Profile Close Scott]

THE SHADOW OF A MAN
THE OBSCURE CITIES
Writer: Benoit Peeters, Artist: Francois Schuiten

A newlywed man is having terrible nightmares. He sees a doctor who gives him an experimental drug. The nightmares go away but now his shadow is in color! It drives him mad. He loses his wife, his job and his home. Down on his luck a women gives him hope that he can turn his colorful shadow into something good.

IDW's next Obscure Cities translation arrives into my eager grubby hands with high expectations and meets them all. A reto-futistic noir tale of the everyman, this one feel a bit subtler and softer than the previous works. Schuiten having produced the color first then the linework gives it a kind of an ethereal dreamy quality compared the other Obscure Cities stories. At least the handful I've read. The architecture still remains jaw dropping and awe inspiring. IDW's reproduction on all these books is flawless. I only wish they were hardcovers. And I'm not a hardcover snob, I usually don't care. But the Obscure Cities books and the Corto Maltese books deserve it.

There's an afterward with a handful of pages reproduced from an earlier edition included here. Apparently the creators weren't happy with certain aspects of the story and felt like they could do it better, this was about ten years later. This was my first time reading the story and I thought it was just wonderful. I didn't notice any seams or difference of quality. I was totally engrossed the whole time.

There are two more Obscure Cities books as fish on Amazon. I think the next one is scheduled for later in the year. I'll keep my fingers crossed. With Corto Maltese wrapped up these are my most wanted books. The reproduction is sharp and the stories are beautiful and amazing. As far as the IDW released book in this series go I'd rate this one as my least favorite but that's really splitting hairs, on the whole they are some of the best comics I've ever read. I absolutely can't wait for the next volume!

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Newt, THE ONE by Rick Veitch is pretty damn good, I need to pick up a copy of it some day. When I first started collecting I remember picking up a few issues and was blown away and confused by it. It changed the way I thought about comics at the time when I all I wanted was X-Men.

I grabbed a few of the IDW reprints a couple of months back as well as an almost complete fun of Rare Bit Fiends for $0.50 a piece. Rick Veitch is awesome.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Speaking of Jeff Lemire, from the earlier SWEET TOOTH thread, I was rummaging through my books this weekend and was reminded of his GREEN ARROW run, which is awful! I'm not sure if I've ever read a more poorly written and plotted book. The art by Andrea Sorrentino is amazing but not worth the price of admission, IMO. I had read Andy Diggle and Jock's GREEN ARROW: YEAR ONE right before it and figured they would have a similar feel. Boy was I wrong! YEAR ONE is great! I love Grell's Arrow and this seemed like a good enough fit. Maybe it was because Lemire's run was part of the Nu52 and they dumbed everything down but I don't think I've ever been so disappointed in a book. I even bought all the trades at once in excited anticipation, something I rarely do and for good reason. I'd love to pick Lemire's brain about it.

The only Green Arrow stuff I read on a regular basis was Grell's Run. I think Long Bow Hunters is every bit as good as Dark Knight Returns and the regular series that came after it was also excellent. I was a bit young for it at the time and as it was a 'mature readers book' my mom had a sign a permission slip that my LCS kept on file allowing me to buy it. She would read it too and she was also a pretty big fan of it.

I think after that was Kevin Smith's run. I remember a few of them had nice covers and the story was so-so.

So Diggle and Jock's Year One is worth getting? I haven't paid much attention at all to any post-2000 Green Arrow books.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

Newt, THE ONE by Rick Veitch is pretty damn good, I need to pick up a copy of it some day. When I first started collecting I remember picking up a few issues and was blown away and confused by it. It changed the way I thought about comics at the time when I all I wanted was X-Men.

I was sure I had it in issue form years ago,didn't Epic put it out at one time? But remember nothing about it and Veitch so far hasn't wrote a bad comic.

[Scott Intellectual Carrot Find all posts View Profile Close Scott]

The only Green Arrow stuff I read on a regular basis was Grell's Run. I think Long Bow Hunters is every bit as good as Dark Knight Returns and the regular series that came after it was also excellent. I was a bit young for it at the time and as it was a 'mature readers book' my mom had a sign a permission slip that my LCS kept on file allowing me to buy it. She would read it too and she was also a pretty big fan of it.

I think after that was Kevin Smith's run. I remember a few of them had nice covers and the story was so-so.

So Diggle and Jock's Year One is worth getting? I haven't paid much attention at all to any post-2000 Green Arrow books.

LONGBOW HUNTERS is one of my favorite stories and I agree its every bit as good as DKR. I have the first 3 or 4 trades of the ongoing, I wish I got more they're oop and pricey now although I think they released an omnibus too.

I'd recommend Year One. It's no Longbow Hunters or DKR but it's solid with incredible art.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

LONGBOW HUNTERS is one of my favorite stories and I agree its every bit as good as DKR. I have the first 3 or 4 trades of the ongoing, I wish I got more they're oop and pricey now although I think they released an omnibus too.

I'd recommend Year One. It's no Longbow Hunters or DKR but it's solid with incredible art.

Love LBH. The Grell run was good too on the monthly series. I got most of it in issue form. All dug out of cheap bins over the past 20 years.

Would love to see a Green Arrow movie made out of Longbow Hunters.

I'm reading a tpb collecting a 4 issue Wolverine/Punisher team up mini. Pat Lee worked on this. It is Angel Powered Punisher era. But I paid 2 bucks at most for it and know I can get 5 for it from some local Punisher and/or Wolverine fan.

[Spaghetti Monkey Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Spaghetti Monkey]

The only Green Arrow stuff I read on a regular basis was Grell's Run. I think Long Bow Hunters is every bit as good as Dark Knight Returns and the regular series that came after it was also excellent.

Good to know, recently picked up the three Long Bow Hunters books and the first three Grell/GA trades pretty cheap. Never did catch up with these back then.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Good to know, recently picked up the three Long Bow Hunters books and the first three Grell/GA trades pretty cheap. Never did catch up with these back then.

I'd be curious what you think when you get to them. My mind might be tinted by nostalgia but for me, they really hold up.

[Spaghetti Monkey Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Spaghetti Monkey]

Will definitely check back in when i get to them, they're near the front of the box..

[Gary Banks Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gary Banks]

My only problem with most of the Grell run was the fact the two parters could have been done in one issue. Having said that, the two part adventure with the Warlord was a hoot and a half.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

Wasn't the Warlord crossover the one where someone thought Warlord was really Oliver Queen?

IIRC wasn't there a crossover with the Question in at least 1 of the annuals?

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

IIRC wasn't there a crossover with the Question in at least 1 of the annuals?

Yes, and it was a crossover between the GA annual and The Question annual that year I think. I remember it being pretty solid. I still have those issues somewhere.

I was, and still am, a big fan of The Question.

In fact, I used part of my stimulus check to buy a Blue Beetle #1 from 1967 with The Question's first appearance. I have all 5 of those issues now and the Mysterious Suspense #1, which completes the Charlton/Ditko question run.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

I was, and still am, a big fan of The Question.

In fact, I used part of my stimulus check to buy a Blue Beetle #1 from 1967 with The Question's first appearance. I have all 5 of those issues now and the Mysterious Suspense #1, which completes the Charlton/Ditko question run.

That's pretty damn cool.

I read LBH back then but I later sold them and haven't revisited so I have only vague memories of it, though I know I dug it. Had a LBH Graphitti Designs t-shirt that I wore til it fell apart.

I actually really liked the Connor Hawke Green Arrow a lot as well (he was Ollie's son for those that don't know), created by Kelley Puckett and Jim Aparo. That 1990's series was pretty solid for the most part. Although I don't watch the show, I believe he is featured in DC's LEGENDS OF TOMORROW.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

Yes, and it was a crossover between the GA annual and The Question annual that year I think. I remember it being pretty solid. I still have those issues somewhere.

I was, and still am, a big fan of The Question.

In fact, I used part of my stimulus check to buy a Blue Beetle #1 from 1967 with The Question's first appearance. I have all 5 of those issues now and the Mysterious Suspense #1, which completes the Charlton/Ditko question run.

I got a PD TPB reprinting all the Charlton QUestion appearances.

Huge Question fan. Got the entire DC run between TPBs and issues. Got the uncommon prose novel that kinda retells the first story from the DC run.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

I'm curious how Gwandaland does what they do, because I don't think that Question stuff is public domain.

Either way, a good way to get expensive and hard to find back issues.

I don't have the complete run of the DC series but a good chunk of it and am working on finishing it.

The recent Black Label mini-series that DC did a year or two back (The Deaths Of Vic Sage) I thought was really good.