Meeting #26: Open Forum 4

[JohnLees]

Hey Clubbers! It’s crazy to think we’ve been doing this for a whole year already. Well, if we’re being precise, the one year anniversary actually fell on the day I posted the LAST meeting, accommodating for various delays. But officially speaking, I’m counting this as the point where we’ve had a year’s worth of meetings, and we can simultaneously look back on what we’ve covered in Comic Book Club so far, and look forward to what lies ahead for us.

I don’t know about you guys, but one thing I’ve really loved about running Comic Book Club is that it’s put me in a place to read a whole lot of comics I otherwise would never have gotten round to reading. It’s given me a sampling of a wide range of texts, and helped make my tastes more versatile.

But this brings up a point I want to address moving forward: getting a sampling of texts. We’ve read a whole lot of volume ones, and if you’re like me, that’s awakened a whole lot of curiosity for how these worlds we’ve been introduced to develop. While typically we discuss a general idea by looking at a range of different titles, perhaps it would benefit us to take a really close look at a single title over multiple volumes, really explore the characters and themes at play in that specific series, and the work being done by the writer and artist(s) over an expanded time-frame.

I also recognize that there are plenty of comics we haven’t got round to discussing at all. Tiggerpete mentioned Preacher, which is definitely a biggie, and I’m sure there are others you guys are itching to see featured.

So here’s my idea. I’ve set the agenda long enough. Now, I’m leaving it in your hands. Tell me what comic series you most want to see explored in-depth in Comic Book Club. If you guys mention it here, I will put it on a list, prioritizing the most popular choices and working them into the schedule for this upcoming block of meetings. Your chosen titles will get an entire meeting in the spotlight, with 3 or 4 volumes from the series set as the reading list, and the series as a whole discussed in depth here by the club. It can be a series we’ve talked a little about already – perhaps you read the first volume as part of Comic Book Club, and want to read more – or it can be a favorite title that’s not yet been touched on at all. Marvel/DC superhero titles are allowed for choices as well, but you must limit them to the run of a specific creator. For example, you can’t just say you want a focus on Daredevil, you have to say whether it’s Frank Miller’s Daredevil or Brian Michael Bendis’ Daredevil, or whatever. The only limitation I would suggest would be to stick to work that is readily available in graphic novel format, to ensure we can all get the books required for the meetings.

I’ve chosen the texts set for in-depth study over the next couple of meetings: The Sandman and The Walking Dead. Then the meeting after that, we’ll be taking a break from this scheduled block for a special one-off meeting on a subject to be revealed next time. But after that, the schedule is clear, and the future direction of Comic Book Club is in your hands. What do you want to talk about? Let me know!


Meeting #27
The first series to be discussed in our spotlight block of meetings will be one of the all-time classics. We’ve already looked at the first volume of The Sandman back in Meeting #5, but Preludes and Nocturnes barely scratches the surface. Next time, we’ll discuss the way Neil Gaiman employs a longform narrative to slowly expand and enrich this world he has created.

RECOMMENDED READING:

The Sandman: The Doll’s House
Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli

The Sandman: Dream Country
Neil Gaiman and Kelley Jones, Charlie Vess, Colleen Doran

The Sandman: Season of Mists
Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg, Kelley Jones, Matt Wagner


Meeting #28
The Walking Dead: Here We Remain
The Walking Dead: What We Become
The Walking Dead: Fear the Hunters

[wiegeabo]

Fables!!!

Seriously, I like this idea. Should get participation up from those slackers. I'll have to dig through all my stuff and find some specific things to go over.

[tiggerpete]

Green Arrow: Quiver is one of my favorites because it combines two of my favorite things, Green Arrow, and Kevin Smith's writing, it isn't serious and brooding, but it isn't kids fare either, it is something people forget about in comics sometimes, its fun.

[jamesfairlie]

Two things come to mind right away. The first one is Buffy Season 8, which has the privilege of being the only tv spin off comic I know of that isn't crap, and is, in fact, rather good. It had am impressive line up of writers over the first few arcs, including Joss Wheon (of course), Brian Vaugn and Jeph Loeb.
The other one is Grant Morrison's run on Batman, leading up to and including Batman R.I.P (and the black casebook, because without it R.I.P makes about as much sense as a gas teapot). I've only read R.I.P, but I've been meaning to read the lead up to it, and I think it deserves looking at in more detail than I would normally bother with.

[LanternLight]

Okay here are my two cents for this week, and by two cents I mean three choices.

The first would be my favorite series of all time, Crisis on Infinite Earths. It's definitely a title which one could delve into a deep analysis, and it reshaped the entire DC Universe and along with Marve's Secret Wars popularized the blockbuster crossover event that DC and Marvel seem to use yearly now.

Second on my list is Queen & Country which is one of my favorite series I've read, and an exciting ride for anyone who's interested in spy fiction. It's kind of like what if James Bond were an attractive blonde woman who chain smokes. Only unlike Bond, this is spy fiction done without fancy gadgets, cool cars or unrealistic situations. It is a completely realistic dive into the world of a British spy.

Third, is a book I'm reading right now, and mainly due to the movie coming out this summer. Scott Pilgrim is a totally fun read, with tons of humor and geeky nods. From bands named after video games and video game characters, to little nods to Role Playing games like a "Mithril Skateboard" for which the titular character has no proficiency to use, because he didn't take "Skateboard proficiency" back in fifth grade, I've found the book to be loads of fun. It doesn't hurt that Michael Cera in the title role has to beat both Captain America and Superman (Evans and Routh) as two of the Seven Evil Exes.

[wiegeabo]

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced we need more Fables. The first 5 issues cover so little of everything about this world. I'll need to go through the issues and pick out some specific arcs.

Also, I think we should look at Secret Six because Gail Simone is teh awesome. And it's really unlike other DC books with it's highly disturbing and dark tone and humor. I'm think we read the first Secret Six book (I don't think Villains United is necessary, but it might be worth it just for the chemistry between Ragdoll and Parademon), and then an arc or two from the current book to see it's progression.

Thirdly, well, I don't have a solid thirdly. I have a number of potentials, but nothing that calls out to me as something we definitely should discuss.

[tiggerpete]

I may have to add Morrison's run on JLA, the art is very late 90's, but it is very well written and includes one of the best villains ever created, though he has fallen on hard times with Cry for Justice (Prometheus). It is also an example of what the League can be compared to what came before and after. I think it is a good look at a team book done really well, and should be required reading for fans of the DCU and of Grant Morrison.

[LanternLight]

I'm also going to throw up a second vote for both Fables (naturally) and Buffy.

[JohnLees]

Okay, I'm primarily looking at stuff that spans over multiple volumes, that I can build up a good reading list from, so considering that and narrowing down the suggestions thus far appropriately, the top choices (with multiple nominations) at the moment seem to be:

Fables
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8

Other emerging candidates include:

Grant Morrison's Batman
Grant Morrison's Justice League of America
Queen & Country
Scott Pilgrim
Secret Six/Villains United

Nearer the bottom of the list (due to being single volumes), but ones I could definitely consider working into future meetings, are:

Crisis on Infinite Earths
Green Arrow: Quiver

Keep 'em coming!

[MattDocMartin]

Gath Ennis Punisher Max run. Several volumes of great stuff.