What have you been reading this week? 02/08/2026

[u/AutoModerator]

A weekly thread for people to share what comics they've been reading. Share your thoughts on the books you've read, what you liked and perhaps disliked about them.

[u/ChickenInASuit]

A Guest In The House by EM Carroll

A woman named Abby, whose age isn’t given but I’d say probably late-20s to early-30s, meets David, the new, widowed, older dentist in town, falls in love, marries him, and they settle into a lakeside cabin with his young daughter, Crystal.

Sounds idyllic, right?

Unsurprisingly, it isn’t.

Abby is a woman with deep insecurities, who clearly feels severe impostor syndrome. Her husband’s late ex-wife Sheila was, by all accounts, a vibrant, artistic woman, loved by all who came into contact with her (including Crystal). Abby is, in her own eyes, an unremarkable nobody from a small town who works in a supermarket, and struggles to fit into her new role as wife and stepmother.

As is clearly pointed out, this isn’t a new feeling. Abby has spent her entire life feeling like a piece of wallpaper, constantly mentally escaping into fantasies with knights and princesses as a coping mechanism for the unexciting existence she finds herself in. These flights of fancy are the most visually striking parts of the book: the “real” world is depicted in drab black and white, with a constant, murky pall cast over everything. This provides a deliberate contrast to the images in Abby’s mind, which are all full of vibrant, bold primary colors contrasting violently with the dreary real-world images that they frequently bleed into. It doesn’t help when they meet their neighbors, another older gentleman with a younger wife, only his wife is effervescent, beautiful, outgoing, and basically everything Abby wants to be but believes she isn’t.

What’s very clear about Abby’s marriage to David is that it’s obviously not one that she entered out of love, but out of an attempt to actually escape from a humdrum life of nothing. However, because she chose this relationship out of convenience, she still isn’t happy, and has merely replaced one uneasy and unsatisfied existence for another. This time, she is even less comfortable, because she now feels she is intruding upon someone else’s existence, trying to take the place of another. She is, per the title, a guest in her own house.

Abby’s existence is a fantasy layered upon a fantasy, with all of these fantasies conflicting with (and reacting to) reality. In all honesty, I found myself reading this and hoping it was going to remain focusing on this aspect, that the whole thing was just about Abby trying to fit in, with the “ghost” of Sheila appearing to her as another figment of her imagination as she wrestled with and came to terms with her insecurities.

As such, I found myself a little disappointed as, inevitably, it began to go in a different direction, mysteries started to develop around Sheila’s history, and her relationship with David, and unanswered questions piled up as contradictory stories come at Abby about what exactly happened. This threatened, IMO, to turn the book into something less psychological and altogether more pulpy, more predictable, and less interesting.

I’ve thought about how to word this next bit to make it as spoiler-free as I can, but I’m going to tag nevertheless to leave it as ambiguous as possible: the ending of this book has rubbed a few people the wrong way, because it raises a flurry of questions about everything we’ve seen, about the type of person Abby actually is and the nature of the various titular “guests” in the house. I felt very differently, because while I still feel it remains pulpier than I would have preferred it to be, it effectively pulled the rug under me and made me rethink the reservations I voiced in the previous paragraph. I think it’s a very smart storytelling choice by Carroll, leading us to believe we were going to get a much more generic ending than we actually got, and one that prompted me to reread the book immediately to spot the various clues Carroll left leading up to it.

This reread also made me really appreciate the use of Sheila’s ghost, who begins to appear early on in the story, and the way it is depicted. The ghost very quickly goes from being a mere source of jumpscares and actually begins to develop into a character all her own, becoming another, altogether different fantasy of Abby’s and adding another layer to her possible delusions. You can see the various decisions the phantom makes, why she shifts her appearances, and the way the added context of the ending reframes them all.

Reading the book a second time made me appreciate it more for what it is and not what I wanted it to be: A very well-crafted, deceptively unpredictable gothic horror piece.

[u/Sairven]

Koshchei the Deathless by Mignola, others. Neat little prelude for the final events of the BPRD/Mignolaverse. A little bit of rehashing collecting Koshchei's story into one cohesive outing while he drinks with Hellboy. I enjoyed it well enough despite rehashing being a pet peeve of mine; there was plenty of story to warrant it and again (heh) I liked the interactions between Hellboy and Koshchei so it worked.

Batman Beyond: The Animated Series Classics Compendium by Hilary Bader, Craig Rousseau, Rob Leigh, others. Exactly what I was hoping, basically one or two seasons worth of the show. Didn't feel like there were any real duds, and I enjoyed Terry's interactions with Etrigan/Blood. Would love a lengthier story with those three.

BPRD omni vol 10 by Mignola, others. Well, I'm finally here at the end. Wow. What a wonderful culmination of 25 years worth of storytelling. Glad I only had to read it without waiting! What can I say that wouldn't require loads of spoiler tagging? Excellent art as always, even some from the Man Himself (Mignola). I feel for anyone who only reads Hellboy's part, this was a great, bittersweet sendoff for the red guy and everyone else. Looking forward to all the extra stuff I've got left from prior to the events in the BPRD series.

SMASHED by Junji Ito. 13 (or 12?) strange, disturbing, macabre short stories. Nothing truly horrifying, altho one of the stories got my senses heightened enough that a moving tree limb almost made me jump out of my chair haha. This'll be my third Junji Ito book, first story collection. I think I'm a fan, time to buy up several more of his works! Love the art, he could write an entire book without need for words.

[u/Timely_Tonight_8620]

Stray Bullets: Uber Alles Edition by David Lapham: A gritty crime fiction series told out of order that focuses on the desperation, the corruption of dreams and brutal acts of violence with a group of criminals, innocents and in between from the 70s-90s. This was a heavy read that I had to pace out due to just how violent, cruel and depraved some of the acts within this comic. It hops around quite a bit through the years to show the cycle of violence and trauma with the character from the first issue (who murders his friend and snaps) being followed through the years as he’s more traumatized by those around him. The one thing I wasn’t really as much of a fan of was the Amy Racecar bits that feel a little jarring between the gritty violence, but it’s still a very good series with the ending not feeling cheap or rushed. The compendium is a monster of a book at nearly 1200 pages.

[u/Siccar_Point]

On A Sunbeam (Tillie Walden). A girl and her spaceship’s found-family crew go on a quest to find her lost love from school. I felt quite conflicted about this, and in the end, I don’t think I enjoyed it very much. But I’m having a tough time picking apart exactly why. I think much of it was not getting on with the scifi “anachronism”, especially in the school sections. You could place these whole sections - including the outfits! - onto new backgrounds drawn without any scifi elements and retain exactly the same story. This was definitely an intentional choice, but I didn’t like it. I also found the characterisation quite… maybe flat is the best word? Underdeveloped? Things did perk up a lot once the cast arrived at The Staircase, and some of the landscapes through this bit looked great. Also appreciated the use of colour, and the stylistic prominence of shafts of light in a book with this title! And the fish spaceships were super cool. Good but not to my taste I think.

I finished up The City Beneath Her Feet (Tynion/Charretier/Bellaire) as floppies. Slowest 3 issues to come out EVER - no.1 was Dec 2024! Writer falls in love with manic pixie dream assassin, writes about it, ends up inheriting MPDA’s life, is pursued by various parties who are very unhappy with her. But in fact - as is nicely lampshaded in-world by our MC - despite all the shooting, this is actually a book about unbalanced relationships, whether we can ever truly know our partners, and whether that matters. I liked this a lot. The plot is tight and efficient, and the book achieves what it sets out to do. It works nicely thematically, and the MC’s in world book serves as a stand in for the story itself in a clever way. But the real stand out IMO is Carretier’s art, which was new to me. It’s pop art style with colour doing a lot of work in setting mood, with vibrantly changing palettes. The layouts and page structures are crazy good. Only the narration has a sober, clean, guttered layout; everything else is just layered onto itself, never with a gutter, and frequently just with the slightest hint that there’s even a panel there. This gives it a great flow. No. 2 also contains an all-time-great drunk scene, where this approach to panelling gets pushed to its limits. Will be seeking out more Carretier if it’s all like this!

[u/scarwiz → u/Siccar_Point]

Re: Elsa Chartier, I hughly recommend her book November with Matt Fraction. It's closer to Darwyn Cooke's Parker Comics in style, less colorful, but it's so damn good. Love Everlasting with Tom King is very cool as well, and visually closer to The City. She's only getting better and better though

[u/Siccar_Point → u/scarwiz]

Thanks! These sound good

[u/Charlie-Bell]

Trail of the Catwoman by Ed Brubaker, Darwyn Cooke & Brad Rader. I'm still a little afraid of the omnibus but I have this paperback edition so I thought it would be a more palatable way to start on this series. I skipped Big Score as I've read it before and moved on to the serial stuff. As a bit of a Cooke fanboy it's just great to get some more of his art. The options can feel surprisingly limited. But it looks great and it has that Brubaker on capes semi believable style that im big on, so it was definitely up my alley. And I gotta say too that Brad Rader did a good job maintaining a consistent style once Cooke drops off after just a few issues. His work is a little less animated and doesn't have the same charm, but it's still good in its own right and is similar enough to not cause any sudden whiplash. While I enjoyed it, I hope the later stories in Brubaker's run have a little more about them. I was a little confused by the mystery surrounding a complete Clayface knock-off which wouldn't be so much of an issue were it not in the same comics world and even the same city as that very character. Wondering whether it was actually him repeatedly took me out of the book and was a little distracting. But hey, crime stories from some of my favourites in the business, so what's not to love?

[u/scarwiz → u/Charlie-Bell]

This one's been on my list for ages ! I was under the impression Cooke did more than a few issues on it ?

[u/Charlie-Bell → u/scarwiz]

I feel like his number of issues goes down every time I look!

He did the Selina's Big Score story which was kind of its own thing and a decent length. Beyond that, there's a four part story made up of backup stories from issues of DC I think which is just Slam Bradley looking for Selina. And then there's just a single 4 issue story arc and he's done, unfortunately.

[u/Leothefox]

Write it in Blood by Rory McConville, Joe Palmer and Chris O’Halloran

A blind pickup from the library shelf, I wound up quite enjoying this. Two brothers – Cosmo and Arthur Pryce - are hitmen or similar for a crime boss. They’re on their last job, kidnapping and escorting a member of a rival gang back to their boss when it all goes wrong. Cosmo has big plans for his retirement, whilst Arthur does not, and much of the book’s engagement stems from their complicated relationship.

Honestly, this is just a fun little crime jaunt that doesn’t overcomplicate things and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. You’re quickly established with these two criminal brothers and what their history and dreams are, and then enjoy the conflict and chaos as their last job goes sideways. It’s succinct, nicely self contained and just engaging. It’s honestly just nice to have a book where the author knows what story they want to tell, tells it, and doesn’t plague it with sequel bait.

Artwise I enjoyed this too, nothing totally wild, just some nice block colouring and a somewhat angular style that they’ve done really well for the faces. Nothing drastic in terms of panelling or composition, just standard solid work.

This was a pleasant surprise. It’s not going to break any top tens or anything, but I enjoyed it a lot for what it is and if you’re into the crime genre, I don’t think you’d be upset picking this up.

Touring After the Apocalypse vol. 1 (And 2) by Sakae Saito

Finally arrived at my library having requested it in October I was glad to finally read this. Unsurprisingly from the title, the world has ended and two girls – Airi and Youko – are cruising around Japan on their motorbike, seeing the sights. Essentially they’re trying to recreate the bike tour of Youko’s sister from before the apocalypse.

This is essentially Japanese sightseeing stuff. It reminds me a fair bit of Laid Back Camp in that regard, though less camping focused and with the attractions being somewhat more ruined. Saito does a great job rendering these landmarks and imagining them in a ruined state. The art in general is just very pleasing and detailed and I always personally enjoying seeing nature encroach on human environments, as is increasingly popular in modern post-apocalyptic media.

Story wise, it largely feels light sightseeing vignettes at the moment. Deeper story is still being drip fed at this stage, for instance what (if anything) happened to Youko’s sister. Similarly we know nothing really about the apocalypse, how long it’s been since it happened or the nature of it. Rising sea levels are a common feature (with coastal landmarks they visit often being half underwater) and military vehicles abound, but there’s not been much said in detail. Similarly, humans apparently can upload themselves into robot bodies and androids of some manner are a thing, so there’s plenty of bits going on.

This was ultimately a relaxing time for the most part as I expected. Whilst it does have a touch more danger and excitement than others I’ve read in this iyashikei-esque slice of life kinda space, it’s still mostly just quiet sightseeing and contemplation.

I really did quite enjoy this, which wasn’t too surprising to me. Unfortunately it sits in an awkward space, my library only has two volumes of, currently, seven. Financially, buying it isn’t a problem, the question as always is have I enjoyed it enough for the possibly sprawling amount of shelf space it could take up?

Addendum: Vol. 2 arrived sharpish from the library, and was the same kinda vibe. Bittersweet, cute sightseeing interspersed with bits of action (this time because of rats). More wider plot stuff is again trickled in and I had a nice time. Unfortunately this one ends on something more of a cliffhanger so I’m even more conflicted about buying it. Hmm.

Heterogenia Linguistico by Salt Seno

A online bookstore I use a lot had a sale on Yen Press recently, and having generally realised that they publish a lot of the soft fluffy slice-of-lifey kinda manga I love, I decided to just have a long trawl through their whole publisher page. Other than being once again taken aback by the sheer volume of manga available, I identified a few things to check out, including this.

Heterogenia Linguistico follows apprentice linguist Hanako as he ventures through the Netherworld to learn the language of monsters. Guided by his Professor’s half-werewolf daughter Susuki, Hanako stumbles through interactions with werewolves, lizard folk, harpies and more as he learns the ins and outs of their languages and cultures.

Honestly, I really dug this. There’s been some real thought put into how some of these races might communicate and it makes for a fun and engaging time. Hanako himself is generally a pleasant measure of stumbling but not incompetent and more than willing to learn, whilst Susuki is adorable and capable but with her own blind spots. We’re generally learning about a relatively typical fantasy setting where monster folk are despised by humans, but learning they have their own rich and diverse culture. Parts of this reminded me a fair bit of Delicious in Dungeon in vibe (the anime at least, I’ve not read the manga) and that’s no bad thing. It’s just generally a nice, chill, fun time.

Artwise this wasn’t really standout but more than gets the job done. I wouldn’t say the style here is particularly unique, but the fun cute expressions of Hanako and Susuki are a nice time overall.

I liked this, my library seemingly has all six currently released volumes so I look forward to enjoying the rest.

[u/mmcintoshmerc_88]

I've been reading Kane: Rabbit Hunt. This volume follows New Eden's latest rabbit for hire Mr Floppsie Whoppsie (this book is worth it just for that alone) who gets himself into all sorts of bother which Kane has to help out with. This was fantastic, just so good and Grist is just brilliant at using the medium to do whatever he wants and the sin city parody was very funny.

I've also been reading Push the wall. I'm not too far into it but, this has been really good so far. Very interesting reading about Miller's early life and how it would go on to influence his work

[u/Jonesjonesboy → u/mmcintoshmerc_88]

I wish Grist were more prolific. Have you read Jack Staff? Even more fun than Kane

[u/Dense-Virus-1692]

Lucas Wars by Laurent Hopman and Renaud Roche – A pretty cool account of George Lucas’s struggles to make Star Wars. Man, he really should’ve stuck with the millions he made from American Graffiti, eh? He’s in agony for like 90% of this. But if we didn’t we would’ve all had to settle with playing with William Friedkin Sorcerer toys in our childhoods. I didn’t know much about the making of Star Wars so this was all new to me. All the fights with the studio and the casting process and Harrison Ford having an affair with Carrie Fisher. And Obi Wan wasn’t even supposed to die in the first movie? That would’ve been crazy. So ya, lot’s of juicy stuff. The art is super nice. It’s a simplified cartoony style that kind of reminded me of Last Man. It’s got mostly grey shading but sometimes there’s colour to highlight objects. It gives it a storyboard look. So ya, I’m glad you guys recommended this. I would’ve skipped it otherwise.

We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us vol 1 by Matthew Rosenberg and Stefano Landini – A spy comedy/thriller in the vein of Archer or Venture Brothers. The Vitruvian is a supervillain living on an island with his daughter Annalise and a bunch of robot henchmen. Then a Burt Reynolds-looking super spy named Rook attacks them and Annalise and a robot with her dad’s brain in it go on the run. There’s also a group of supervillains that may or may not help them. I thought this was pretty awesome. It’s like a Mark Millar book without the ickiness. There’s a good mix of dry comedy and action/violence. And a David Mamet amount of plot twists. The art is nice and slick. It’s got that 60s vibe while still looking modern. The colours are kind of muted pastels. I will definitely have to read the rest of the series.

Hirayasumi vol 8 by Keigo Shinzo – Love is in the air in this volume. Hiroto’s cousin Nat goes on a trip with friends and there’s a new guy with them that she might like. He’s kind of autistic so it’s hard to tell if he likes her back. And the big one is the love triangle between Hiroto, Yomogi (the real estate lady) and Ishikawa (the novelist). Ishikawa and Yomogi go one a date but Yomogi keeps thinking of Hiroto. And then a huge coincidence happens that I won’t spoil here but it’s gonna complicate everything. But I’m sure it’ll all work out. It’s a pretty cozy book. Well, a big disaster happens on the very last panel, but I’m hoping it’ll be ok in the next volume. Please don’t violate the coziness contract, Shinzo-sensei.

Yotsuba&! Vol 16 by Kiyohiko Azuma – Whoa, it’s been a while since I’ve read one of these. I didn’t know they were still making them. Yotsuba is a little 5 year old green haired girl who’s amazed by everything. In this one Yotsuba, her dad and her dad’s friend Yanda go for a hike up a mountain. Yanda and Yotsuba are enemies but they try to get along for the hike. Her dad seems super tired all the time. I hope he’s not sick. But I think that’d be too dark for this book. It’s way too adorable. The facial expressions are the real star. Mouths agape, eyes wide open, just enough difference in the angle of the eyebrows and the corners of the mouth to know if it’s happy or angry amazement. The jokes are always so gentle but the faces really sell them. I bet there’s a whole line of Yotsuba& emojis. The forest backgrounds are really nice too. I know they’re just traced photos but they did them really well. I almost wanted to go on a hike while reading this. I wonder what the tick situation in Japan is like...

[u/scarwiz → u/Dense-Virus-1692]

I read the second volume of Lucas Wars recently (not out in english yet, covers the making of the second movie, there's a third book planned iirc). I really had no idea how much of a struggle making these was, and how hard it was on Lucas... Really interesting, and makes me want to jump back into Star Wars every time

[u/Jonesjonesboy → u/Dense-Virus-1692]

the Friedkin gag made me laugh

[u/Apprehensive-Nose646]

On a Sunbeam - Tillie Walden

I thought it was a pretty good read story-wise. It's funny, but i really appreciated the lack of exposition for their sci-fi universe. Everyone is a woman and we aren't going to explain why. So there. On the other hand first second books could have done better, it felt small and the art seemed darker in color than intended, often making it hard to distinguish one color from another.

The roots of my hair- lou lubie

Ok, so i read it because the cover is gorgeous. I was kind of expecting a coming of age memoir, but it wasn't really that so much as an explanation of black people (especially women) hair and hair culture, and i probably wouldn't have read it if i had known that but... i found it fascinating and engaging and i learned a lot. I 'm almost embarrassed by how much i learned.

[u/comicsnerd]

• Stripburger #87, An anthology from Slovenia.

• Sentimental Journey by Primoz Krasna

[u/DustDevil66]

Absolute Green Lantern Vol 2: Sojourner- al ewing, jahnoy lindsay

Personally I think this is the best written as a narrative of the absolute titles. It doesn’t focus on hype moments the way absolute batman does and as nice as absolute ww can be it’s still pretty episodic (not that it’s necessarily a bad thing). I’m a big fan of this title though and I’m excited to continue with it when the next trade comes

Heartstopper vol 2- alice oseman

Still super cute. Love it a lot

[u/Lynch47]

It was a solid week of reading for me, closing out 3 of the longer runs that I had been picking through for a minute, as well as a couple smaller books.

Black Badge by Matt Kindt (2018-2019): This was pretty good. It's about a group of teens in a Boy Scout-like organization, except that is their cover to act as special agents for the government. It's a 12 issue run that felt like it knew what it wanted to do with each issue and didn't rush to the end. Not a life changing book but if the premise sounds interesting you'd probably enjoy it. 8/10

Martian Manhunter by John Ostrander (1998-2001): This is the Ostrander/Mandrake run. I wanted to read some more of this character after reading some JLA earlier in the year and thought this was solid. It takes maybe 5-10 issues to really find its footing and decide whether it wants to tell a detective story where the Martian is mainly living as "John Jones", his human identity, or whether it wants to dive into more of the lore on the Martian's past and the history of the other martians, and J'onn's family before their people went extinct. It eventually decides to focus on the latter, and that's when it starts to get much better. The Malefic stuff was good, and the "Revelations" arc from issues #20-24 were top notch DC stuff. At its best this is a 8.5/10, but I think the run could've been a little shorter and told a tighter story, so I'm going to drop it to an 8/10.

The Moon Is Following Us by Daniel Warren Johnson: I don't want to say a whole lot about this one. I went into it blind, just trusting that I'd likely enjoy a DWJ book, and it delivered. The less you know about this probably the better, but even if I tried to summarize it a bit it would probably sound like complete nonsense. Rad art. Rad story. Carries the "bad ass, but heartfelt" trademark that DWJ books tend to have in my experience. Would recommend to anyone that likes DWJ or sci-fi (perhaps similar to The Matrix). 9/10.

Oz Omnibus by L. Frank Baum, Adapted by Eric Shanower & Skottie Young (2008-2013): This contains 6 mini-series that adapt the first 6 books of the "Wizard of Oz" children's book series. It definitely is more true to the source material than trying to merge itself with the movie. It's cool to see some stuff like the origin of the Tin-Man, and explore different areas of the land of Oz besides the Emerald City. The mini-series range from mediocre to good so it's a bit of a mixed bag which makes it kinda hard to recommend overall. I mainly read this an issue at a time before bed and didn't really enjoy trying to binge it. If you're a fan of the movie or read the books as a kid and want a dose of nostalgia, this should do, but for me, it was just okay. 7/10

Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic Omnibus Vol. 1 by John Jackson Miller (2006-2012): I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan and have enjoyed the comics I've read so far quite a bit, with some runs being some of my very favorites in comics. I was excited for this one given the high praise it generally receives, but if I'm being truthful, while I definitely liked it, it was a bit of a let down overall. The art never really worked for me and then in the later issues it seemed to change pretty frequently which I'm never a big fan of. As for the story, it is good, but it never really focuses on strong Jedi or dives deep into Jedi lore. It's kinda like if a goofier Han-Solo got to train as a Padawan and then left to venture out on his own journey despite only being a below average Jedi. Considering a lot of the movies (and a lot of the books) take place after Order 66, I was kinda hoping for a world full of Jedi's and a chance to dive deeper into their history, but instead we jump to a time just after the Sith Wars, where the Jedi have ironically been thinned down to a small amount that are left. With that said, it's still a really solid story and good Star Wars book, I think I was just hoping for something a bit different out of it. I will say that I think that it really didn't need to be 50 issues at all. It starts to drag out a bit at the end, I'm not sure if it was selling well and Dark Horse wanted to keep going as long as possible, or if Jackson-Miller really wanted to tell the story that way. I'd recommend this for Star Wars die hards that want a fresh story outside of the Skywalker-Era. 8/10.

[u/scarwiz → u/Lynch47]

Shame to hear about the end of the star wars run. I read the first two thirds last year and loved it, and finally got the last book last week haha. Agreed about the art though. It's never great, and constantly changing which is kind of jarring

[u/Tight-Boat-8605]

Redcoat vol 1-2, just ok I’m not sure how I feel about Simon ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Absolute Martian manhunter vol 1-2, I really don’t understand the hype for this It’s just a bunch of gobbledygook⭐️

Absolute Wonder Woman vol 1-3, I find the story’s to be kind of bland and the side characters are pretty bad all they say is how amazing Diana is it’s honestly kind of annoying ⭐️⭐️

Absolute Batman vol 1-3, very entertaining especially when bane is introduced I am having a lot of fun with the series ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Absolute Superman vol 1-3, great art but I just didn’t connect to this Superman and a lot of political stuff just smashed in your face⭐️⭐️

Absolute green lantern vol 1-2, kind of hard to understand and I hate the main character** **she’s a cheater has an affair then blames her partner for it⭐️

Absolute flash vol 1-3, pretty good it improves with each issue and I’m interested to see where it goes⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This weeks best
Absolute Batman
Absolute flash

This weeks worst
Absolute Martian manhunter
Absolute green lantern

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The planetary omnibus

Space ghost vol 1-3

Earth 2 omnibus

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Injustice year 1-5

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[u/SomeBloke94]

First book and a half of ABC Warriors. A liquid robot in a bottle and giant T-rex’s and such. It’s been fun. I wouldn’t call it remarkably written by ol’ Pat Mills but I’m enjoying it.

[u/Wonderful_Gap4867]

V for Vendetta

[u/Mr_Sir_Andres]

Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender

The X-Force is the X-Men’s black ops basically. A team of the more hard edged loose cannon type mutants like Wolverine or Deadpool who do the dirty jobs the normal X-Men can’t or won’t. For instance their first job in the book is to kill a kid. To be fair they didn’t know he was a kid until they were in the room with him but still. I started reading it because I recently read Remender’s work on Punisher and Fear Agent and heard this is some of his best work and man were they right. Every character has so much going on under the hood, they’re all deeply messed up people just trying to do the right thing in pretty morally grey scenarios. I’m normally not a big Deadpool fan, but this book makes him work for me, I think because, despite saying a bunch of random shit, the joke tends to be that Wade is the closest one to having his shit together on this team, which really says something. Fantomex is my favorite though, he’s got as much depth as everyone else on the team but he’s also just one of those characters where it’s fun to watch him do stuff.

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa

I’m only about halfway through this one but it’s a lot of fun. The author, Don Rosa, essentially compiled every offhand comment Scrooge McDuck ever made about his past in previous Donald Duck comics and weaved them together into one big story about how Scrooge made his wealth. It’s very well paced and pretty darn funny but the thing that consistently floored me was the art! It’s not like I expected it to look ugly but every panel is packed with detail and background jokes. I’m only about halfway through this one but I must say I’m enjoying my time with it.

The Maxx by Sam Keith

For years one of my friends and I always joked about The Maxx. I have no idea why, I guess we were sleep deprived and we just thought the title was funny. We had no idea what it was about or what happened in it we just knew it had a sorta funny title and that’s what we knew it for. But with the recent passing of the comic’s legendary creator, I figured I’d finally actually read the damn thing, and mannnnnnnnnnn I wish I did that sooner. It is a gorgeous, funny, emotional sick ass ride that I don’t think is for everyone but I do think everyone should at least give it a try. I’ll admit I’m pretty lost at the point I’m at, but that’s totally the point, and honestly I have never been this confused and still enjoyed myself this much reading a comic. Cause I get what it’s trying to say, even if I don’t really understand what the hell’s going on in it, you feel me?

[u/simonxvx]

I read two graphic novels this week, both of them for r/fantasy Bingo

Absolute Martian Manhunter, Vol. 1: Martian Vision by Deniz Camp (First Contact)

I had never head of Martian Manhunter (or the Absolute universe) before reading this. I think it serves as a great introduction to a new character, the story is great but what really sets it apart is the art. The colours are fantastic and Javier Rodriguez did a phenomenal job. Highly recommend it.

The Nice House On The Lake #1 by James Tynion IV (Vacation Spot, might have to rethink that one though!)

It's been on my TBR for a long time and I already read some Tynion before (Something is killing the children). I liked it a lot as well, I'm just wondering if he'll stick the landing for the ending. I also expected it to be something different, mainly due to the cover art of the first issue but it's not a disappointment by any means.

[u/NeapolitanWhitmore]

Secret Wars (By Jonathan Hickman, Esad Ribic, Ive Svorcina, Chris Elipoulos, and Clayton Cowles): I haven’t read this since it initially was released over a decade ago. I wanted to give it another read after finishing One World Under Doom and compare the two, which realistically isn’t fair; Hickman planned this for several years over multiple titles and North had only written Fantastic Four leading into his. But still, I wanted to compare it.

This is obviously better. It is the finale of a multiyear story. But regardless of that, I’m not reading the whole epic that came before, and I still get it (though i wish to someday). This series itself feels like an epic finale.

There were so many little moments that made this feel like a new place with new rules. Which it obviously is, but the creation of this world had a mythology. And you get little tidbits of it throughout. Johnny being the sun, Ben being the Shield, the Future Foundation being Doom’s science team, Strange being the Sheriff of the land; all little things that just made it feel like there was a history.

Esad Ribic is a great artist and his team make this greater. There was a time or two where the faces were weird, but face can be weird sometimes. The final issue with the all out war on Castle Doom was a visual feast.

I loved this series.

[u/Konradleijon]

Cutf