there’s already some threads about comics, but moreso about comics for beginners, comic hauls, etc, so i wanted to make a thread to talk about comics in general! feel free to delete this thread if this feels like a repeat of any others.
ive personally been reading the Polar comics by Victor Santos (superb artist) and they’re really good. simple stories, but FANTASTIC artwork that moves the story along really well.
i started off with the webcomics for “season 1” (the webcomic is published online by “seasons” and has 3), and the webcomics have no dialogue, but i ended up reading the dark horse published comics, which have dialogue. the dialogue for the first quarter of book 1/season 1 is kinda ass and ruins the atmosphere, but after the phone call scene it gets real good. book 2/season 2 is a major stepup from the first also! i really, really liked that one. book 3 (unsure of which season) is fun, has the best art in the series, but story-wise is just kinda okay. it wants to be big and awesome but i think polar works best when it’s contained within a smaller cast.
personally, if you want to read it, i suggest reading the webcomic up to the scene where Black Kaiser gets a phone call, and then moving to the dark horse comics! you can find pdfs of such easily. there are 5 published books and 3 seasons of the webcomic, also.
i just wanted an excuse to ramble about polar here.
Not heard of Polar but the art does look really nice. Bito f a Frank Miller Sin City vibe. Maybe have to track some down.
I recently started re-reading Jeff Smith’s Bone. It’s just so unbelievably good. It feels very Hobbit-like to me in that it starts of as a simple, almost children’s story and slowly builds up into this epic fantasy adventure. It so wonderful done, and Smith’s visual storytelling is second to none. There’s a reason it’s considered an absolute classic.
ive seen Polar being compared to Sin City, which is on my reading list! it looks really, really cool.
i LOVE LOVE LOVED Bone when i was younger! my memories of the comic are very vague however i do know it impacted me heavily and served as the basis for my artstyle (alongside some other comics and animation meme creators from 2017). i should revisit it too…
This is a very controversial opinion, but I don’t actually like Frank Miller’s work all that much. I think Sin City is the best thing he’s done, and I’ve read most of it, but personally I don’t find it that great. His art on the series is amazing, but outside of that I’m not a huge fan. I read his Batman: Year One and thought it was pretty average. So much so that I think I must have been wrong at the time and should revisit it now I’m older to see if I “get it.” His All-Star Batman was absolutely Gods awful. His recent artwork is atrocious.
That said, if you do read Sin City I hope you enjoy it. As I said, I’m very much in the minority regarding my thoughts on Miller, but I don’t begrudge anyone that does enjoy his work.
ill keep that in mind! Oh my fucking god i just looked up his recent art and oh yeah it’s. It’s. a sight to behold. again, ill keep that in mind, since sin city seems up my alley, but jesus christ dude. ill likely avoid his other comics AHEHAHEAHAHAHHAHAH
I’m loving Polar too, especially Victor Santos’ artwork! The transition from the webcomics to the Dark Horse series was interesting, and I agree that the dialogue picks up after a bit. Book 2/Season 2 was a highlight for me as well.
whatre yr thoughts on no mercy for sister maria? i know ive already said mine, but i want to expand- it tries to get all big and complicated but it just ends up with the story and characters suffering as a result. polar works best when it’s more contained and allows the characters more wiggle room to develop and truly shine.
Just finished reading Jeff Smith’s Bone. First time I’ve read it in probably 10-15 years. It’s so amazing. I’m honestly a little emotion now it’s done. I don’t want to leave those characters behind.
Have you played the Bone games by Telltale? They only made two episodes sadly but they are pretty fun IIRC, especially if you’re a fan of the comics.
I never finished the comics. I remember loving the art style but not able to get into the story so much.
No, I’ve not played the games, but I’m aware of them. Shame they were never finished. How long ago did you try to read the book? I’d recommend giving it another go as it’s quite a different book by the time it ends compared to how it begins.
I think I read it maybe 6-7 years ago or something.
I’ll give it another go. Even if I end up feeling the same way about it I wouldn’t mind looking at that art again.
Last night I read the Lives of Wolverine one-shot by Jim Zub and Ramon Bachs.
While I’ve not read a heap of X-Men I have always enjoyed what I have read, and this was a wonderful summation of Wolvie’s history. A bit “dryer” than a regular story, probably by necessity, but really interesting.
Tried reading Cullen Bunn’s The Last Book You’ll Ever Read. Got halfway through and put it down. It’s a really clumsy, kinda lazy look at the craziness that’s currently consuming the world. It uses so many tired and boring tropes that have been seen in so many other places that you can straight away see where it’s going.
I initially picked it up because it was receiving some good reviews in the comics press and because it was being advertised as a folk horror tale (it’s not). What I found was unlikable characters, predictable, boring “twists” and a plot ripped from many other, much better, stories. Oh, and the most inconsistent art I’ve seen in a long while.
So the re-imagining of Black Cat in Ultimate Spider-Man has been revealed. Of course, the loudest voices on this are those complaining about the race swap and “woke pandering.”
Although I’ve been reading comics for the better part of 30 years, it’s always quite distressing to see those voices become louder and louder. I like to think it’s because actual decent comics fans don’t bother commenting anymore as they are sick of the trolls, but part of me worries that maybe now it’s because more comics fans are racist wankers than not?
The only thing I’d say is the costume is rather generic. They should have included some of the white fur of the traditional costume, or given her white hair. End of the day though, it’s been an amazing series so far so I’m not gonna complain.
The news of John Cassaday’s death hit me pretty hard. He was/is an artistic hero of mine, having discovered him with Astonishing X-Men in 2004, right when I started art school.
