Current comics i'm into

I haven't posted any comics analysis, or anything about comics in quite some time, it seems. I have still been reading, of course. I dropped all the Marvel comics from my pull list, something i've been thinking about doing for quite some time. That's a hard decision. There are some quality books coming out from Marvel right now, but I think it's the right time to step away. That, and i'm broke. Anyways, there's just a saturation point that i've reached with Marvel where I can definitely wait for the trades. I'd like to support smaller books and jump on some new stuff. Here are some of my current favorites:

Godzilla by James Stokoe. IDW Publishing.

Godzilla + Stokoe= must buy. I've long been a big Godzilla fan, and James Stokoe is an artist of the highest caliber, so I had to see his take on the property. It's great stuff. Stokoe's art is pure eye candy. I'll buy anything he draws.

Nowhere Men by Eric Stephenson & Nate Bellegarde. Image Comics.

This is an interesting book. The writer is the long time publisher for Image, so i had to check it out just based on that. The art is really good too. It's a very interesting post-watchmen take on science fiction. The backstory's of the main characters are all well developed and not revealed in chronological order, as the story skips around key moments of character development. I've heard someone describe this comic as a mixture of the beatles and the fantastic four, and that's kind of what it is. I mentioned watchmen earlier because there's an obvious influence here, with the metafiction and charts, corporate holdings and supplemental material at the end of each issue. I want to see where this is going.

The Manhattan Projects by Jonathan Hickman & Nick Pitarra. Image Comics.

Another great series from Hickman and co. This is one of his best outings yet. I've noticed that Hickman uses a lot of real people in his stories (Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Einstein to name just a few) and it makes me wonder if it's really smart of him to use them, or it's a lack of creativity on his part that he can't come up with fresh characters. A minor criticism, as I enjoy all of his stories unequivocally. Anyways, this one is similiar to his S.H.I.E.L.D. book for Marvel which I wrote about on here a while back, I think. This series is about the Manhattan Projects being  a front for another series of super secret black ops shit, or something like that. It's cast features such titans of science as Richard Feynman, Albrecht Einstein, Joseph Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, (Fermi Paradox is named after this guy, a bit of trivia.) and Harry Daghlian. Google the ones you don't know. Hickman always does his homework, and the plot is just crazy. Usually he maps his stories out way in advance, but for this one he's doing the opposite, which is nice to see from him. It's different from his other work in that respect, and it's good to see him have fun with this project. Nick Pitarra's art is a strenghth, and he may be my favorite collaborator of Hickman. His Moebius style art looks better than ever with this series. This is going to be a good one.

Change by Ales Kot, Morgan Jeske, Sloane Leong, Ed Brisson. Image.

The first issue of this four issue series is a stunner. It's a great hook, it's got some seriously weird and trippy characters and dialogue. A plot that doesn't entirely make sense, and they throw in some Cthulhu for good measure. It raises some interesting ideas and there are some great bits of dialogue, but they didn't really stick the landing with the last issue. Still, a good read and Ales Kot is a writer who has a great future in comics. If nothing else, the art by Morgan Jeske is fantastic. Really captures the surreal tone of the story. This is worth checking out.

Clone by David Schulner & Juan Jose Ryp.

First off, Juan Jose Ryp is the man. One of the best artists in the biz. I love his style, it's so detail heavy. The premise of this series may seem pretty passe these days: what if you had a clone? What if somebody made clones? However, this book is totally awesome and rock solid. David Schulner is apparently a TV writer, and his style of writing a comic is that of every page having a cliff hanger. It's wonderful. I love it, and it works. This is a fun book with and the plot has me hooked.

Mara by Brian Wood & Ming Doyle. Image Comics.

I'm mostly here for Ming Doyle, not to say i'm not a fan of Brian Wood. The story is about a megastar athlete in the future, where hyperconnectivity has been taken to the nth degree. She develops super powers and is scouted by the military. This one is worth it for the art alone, in my opinon. 

47 Ronin by Mike Richardson & Stan Sakai.

Must buy for me. I am a huge HUGE fan of Sakai. It's nice to see him draw something outside of anthropomorphic animals. I'm also just as interesting in the tale of the loyal retainers. The first couple issues are kind of slow, but the pacing is no problem for me.

Musings on stuff

So yeah, I've been in something of a creative rut recently. That doesn't mean I don't have ideas. I have a ton of ideas and projects in the works, I just haven't felt as inspired recently. However, there is some movement, and hopefully my webcomic will be live before Christmas. I've been developing another project recently that has nothing to do with comics, and it's kind of reinvigorating me. I have been reading quite a lot and watching a lot of tv more recently. I know I haven't put up any reviews, and there's a TON of stuff over the summer that I absorbed that I'd like to go into detail about, but it was consumed in such rapid fashion that it's kind of just blurring together. Either way: I got some quality reading time in, and I finally finished a book that's been sitting in my queue for just about two years, and before that, it was on my "to-buy" list for like 5 years: The Clash Of Civilizations by Samuel P. Huntington.

I attempted to start this book no less then three times, and on the third time, I finished it. I've taken my fair share of Poli Sci classes, but sometimes reading this did feel like homework. In fact, I probably should have written a paper on it, just to reinforce the wealth of information on every page. Basically, Huntington predicts 9/11, and he goes into great detail about how The United States is losing power and influence to China and exactly why it's going to continue like that for the next 100 years and beyond. Honestly, I couldn't do this book justice trying to remember it here today when I finished it in July. Suffice to say, it was fucking brilliant and still relevant, I believe. I'm definitely going to have to read it again. 

I also finally finished the Monster anime, based on the manga by Naoki Urasawa. Couldn't be any more different than the book above, but it was just as brilliant. I've been wanting to finish this for years. I bought the first couple volumes of the manga in like 2009 and was blown away by how good it was. The anime is no different. Naoki Urasawa has crafted such an intricate plot it makes me want to cry tears of joy, it's just a treat to see it unravel. It's got complex characters (and a lot of characters, to boot) and it does go on for quite a bit, like 70 episodes I believe, so it's a time investment, but the pay out is definitely worth it. I give this my highest recommendation. It's more for adults than most anime, and I'd compare it to Death Note on scale and general feel. This was great.

Okay, there was much more stuff, especially graphic novels (Like Locke & Key) but I will save that for another installment. This is what i'm currently digging:

CM Punk: Best In The World

This gives me hope for pro wrestling. I've mentioned it on here several times that I'm a huge CM Punk fan, and if you are a current wrestling fan, odds are, you are also a huge fan of this guy. He's one of the most unique and intelligent guys to ever lace up the boots. This set has a great documentary on his life and career, and how he struggled to make it to the top. It's good stuff, and of course it's awesome to see a home town boy make it big. It's crazy how much I identify with this guy: He's A) A guy from Chicago(land) who's into the punk rock scene B) A huge comic book fan C) Pro Wrestler. It's so refreshing to see someone who refuses to compromise on being them self reaching the pinnacle of the business. He's done almost everything right in his career, and even when they gave him some what less stellar programs or people to work with, he almost always hit a home run. He's going to go down as an Icon, on the same level as Macho Man, Bret Hart, HBK, and others. Best in the world.

Finally making my way through Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. Can't believe it took me this long to get to this since i'm a HUGE Warren Ellis fan, but here we are. John Cassaday on pencils does not hurt one bit. Currently starting the fourth and final volume, and it's typical Ellis. Typical Ellis is really fucking good comics. Critics love this book and rank it among his best work, so far it's pretty interesting.

Finally got the third and fourth volumes of Walter Simonson's Thor. Can't wait to dig into this goodness. 

I also picked up iZombie, heard it as good, and I tragically do not own anything by Michael Allred. Crazy. 

I am in love with anything by James Stokoe right now. I finally got the first Orc Stain trade for my birthday and it was fanfuckingtastic. This guy does comics with much love, and  I will buy anything he does. His current Godzilla book (and pretty much everything he does) is like candy for my eyes. Love it.

That's it for today. Check out my Walter White/Heisenberg look for Halloween this year. Not bad eh?