Just finished reading Vol. 1 of the DC character Damage. This came out during DC’s “Age of Heroes” where they were spawning a bunch of new heroes/titles in an attempt to diversify their line and hope that something would stick.

Here, we have Ethan Avery, a soldier who takes part in a dangerous military experiment that transforms him into the rampaging Hulk-like monster. Due to the nature of the serum being based on the Miraclo formula (similar to Hourman), Ethan only has this power for an hour before he needs to rest and recharge. But an hour is PLENTY of time to do some serious (for lack of a better word) damage.

Long story short, he goes rogue from the military and is on the run, struggling to figure out how to control his dangerous alter ego. While he figures it out, he’d prefer to be left alone. Fat chance since the military, Task Force XL, The Justice League, & God knows who else knows of Damage’s existence.

Waller sends her Suicide Squad and Ethan, transforming into Damage, defeats them all. Wonder Woman tries to apprehend him, and she gets bested. He goes into hiding once more where he ends up being confronted by a certain Bat-villain (not saying who) and things take another surprising turn.

I enjoyed this initial volume, though much of this just seemed like DC wanting to do a Hulk knock-off (even all the way down to following similar story beats). I’m curious enough to track down the remaining volumes to see the story continue.

For those who read it, what did you think?

I always felt that comics are very expensive for the amount of time I get from them.

Haven’t timed it but i guess I pay roughly 10 $ for 20 min.

How can you justify this hobby? Are you well off?

Hey guys im a big fan of the movies and i love when comics are related to the movies so i was wondering if there are any good terminator comics out there worth reading?

Would love to get your thoughts on what what I have here and what should go for next!

The winners were announced a couple days ago at Comic Con and I don't think I saw a thread so I thought it would be worthwhile to post. Warning that the pictures are sized really poorly for desktop but seem to look better on mobile.

I'll also list the winners for each category below with spoiler tags, but if you want to see all the nominees checkout the site. Here are the nominees on the official site, but for some reason they haven't updated their winner records since 2024.

Book of the Year:

Absolute Batman Vol. 1: The Zoo by Scott Snyder & Nick Dragotta (DC)

Digital Book of the Year:

The Lycan by Mike Carey, Thomas Jane, David James Kelly, and Diego Yapur (Comixology Originals)

Best Children's Book:

Inbetweens by Faith Erin Hicks (First Second)

Best Young Adult Book:

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki & Nicole Goux (Abrams Fanfare)

Best Manga:

Billy Bat by Naoki Urasawa & Takashi Nagasaki (Kana/Abrams)

Best International Book:

Nocturnos by Laura Perez (Fantagraphics)

Best Adaptation from Comic Book/Graphic Novel

Spider-Noir (Prime Video/MGM+). Based on Spider-Man Noir (Marvel Comics) by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky & Carmine Di Giandomenico

Sophie Castille Award for Comics in Translation:

True Colors: Growing Up Weird in the ‘90s by Elise Gravel, translated by Montana Kane, published by Drawn and Quarterly

Harvey Award Hall of Fame Inductees:

David Mazzuchelli, Jenette Kahn, Klaus Janson, & Frank Miller

Posthumous Inductees:

Jerry Robinson, Dick Sprang, Carmine Infantino, Frank Robbins, Denny O'Neil, Dick Giordano, Jim Aparo, Marshall Rogers, & Tim Sale.

Looking for mainly groaning novels where one person is in charge of the whole creative process, mainly some indie stuff maybe.

I am not interested in comics with a lot of issues or runtime in it and I'd rather have "one and done " Experience even if it's made in 1-3 book volumes. I also don't enjoy reading superhero stuff and I like horror stories mostly or books made with bad really unique style in them.

Thank you for your time!!!

With Halloween approaching, the bookshelf is already ready.

I'm looking to buy and read graphic novels. I'd really love it if it's very chunky and long (relative to most) to get through. Also, might be just me, but I cannot really justify buying buying a relatively pricey graphic novel just for me to finish it in one sitting 😭. I'm used to novels, so I would really want a book that I can take my time with, and would feel "complete" when I finish it. Also I'm really really new to the medium, so I I'll probably be open to most of the classics. I do have some DC Compacts which I liked. But some other GNs I'm interested in getting are From Hell by Alan Moore, Maus by Art Spiegelman, Blankets by Craig Thompson. Any other recommendations? It would be great if they're a standalone too, like just one big chunky book! Thanks!

Are there Graphic novels similar Marjan Satrapi's Embroideries? you know , ones without the action framed inside boxes? I find they have a nice flow to them and easier to read

A beautiful graphic novel about a guy - Nick -  who "thinks he's sad", has trouble letting people IN, and is quite troubled with the various games people play (most of all himself) instead of truly communicating... till he meets his Plumber!

The simple black-and-white art interspersed with GORGEOUS color-pages present a unique internal landscape of Nick's INner Self, or rather his feelingscape. The humor is dry, witty. I found the Cafe Ads to be really funny.  

Lessons in short - Go out, listen to people, be empathetic, be honest with your feelings - especially with your loved ones. Time can heal, but also be fickle.

Great read.  ⭐4/5

Every week, I change out the display on this bookshelf, This week's display is off-the-cuff book series. This is just a little collection of some of the more interesting indie series Or Manga series or dynamite/big name series, I find interesting, not all of these are indie books and not all of these are off the wall per se, but they find a nice home in my collection.

1. Saga has been one of my favorite book series.Not from the big two in a while , even though it's been slowly trickling out the last couple years , it has still been one of my favorite reads

2. I've always loved the Thundercats and the dynamite series has been excellent.It's been a nice revival of the franchise because we haven't had a cartoon series or a movie series for a minute.I also deeply love the artwork for the covers.And in the books

3. I've posted it before , but the resurgence of kaiju comic series , particularly around godzilla and his mythos , has been amazing Mothar is one of my favorite kaijews from the godzilla universe

4. The owl house was one of my favorite animated series on Disney and the fact that it was canceled and everything that happened behind the scenes is a testament to the treatment of artists and creators in Hollywood and in the animation space. I'm happy to see the Dana. Terrace has continued on writing graphic novels for the series, and her new series with glitch has been amazing so far.

5. Speaking of glitch, the amazing digital circus is one of my favorite animated independent series to come out of glitch.I absolutely loved it.And the fact that it got amonga adaption is insanely awesome.I am happy they are expanding and continuing to build within the universe.I would love to see more from goose works and her coming series

6. And finally, we have the monkey series for the legend of Zelda, twilight princess, this is my favorite Zelda game of all time.I think the world is amazingly built.I love the story of it and the manga , it's just awesome to own.

Is it just a few bullet points on my little collection here And just kind of an expansion on what I love about each one of these series and I just wanted to share.

I can imagine a cynical edgelord like him to write good superman. But RomCom lol i dunno. I am just intrigued what he has written

From what I can tell this has to be the most baffling comics I’ll read in a while.

On the one head, you have a slow boiling and effective horror, the protagonist (Cy) slowing going insane as he finds evidence of the occult.

And the deaths add up first his uncle shooting himself, then another academic getting his jaw shot off, another getting his jaw shot off, his girlfriend stabbing herself by a knife he got, all with an ending of him in an insane asylum though very ambiguous if he is truly insane or just stuck in dreamlands.

And I like Harlot as a character she starts as obvious lawful evil character but as you realize she accepts minor sacrifices like wisdom teeth, you realize she is dragging along Cy vs doing anything else.

But then you get to the plot and best I can summarize it....

The Mad Arab got killed by the arabian occultists.

Mr. Arkham (Nyarlathotep') needed to harvest his still semi-fucntioning corpse.

Cy's uncle killed himself after killing Cy's sister to stop Cthulhu and his south american adventures.

Mr. Arkham wants to revive cthulhu but only on the right time table for reasons to get in a fight with the elder god of hunting who is currently stuck in Dreamland.

This leads Mr. Arkham to get the Black chorus including the priest to stop the rise of Cthulhu.

The harlot is doing 4D chess by hopes the hunting elder god Nodens, who she personally hates and gets in fights with in dreamland will really kill Mr. Arkham.

So what it seems to me is you have an effective piece of after distressing and disturbing comic about mental disintegration due to the accumulation of unexplained horrors and a baffling Lovecraft-lite comic that uses August Derleth material (one of the least liked mythos writers from what I can tell as a non-reader).

And the dreamland art by the way is leagues above in its coloring and drawing from the art of the main story, which fits the story in its scratchiness but is otherwise pretty banal pseudo-realistic comic art I have seen way too much of.

This gets better if you read the rest of the story I gamble.

Gave it a 3.25/5 because of the quality gap btw the two stories.

I just bought this book a couple hours ago. I watched the original movie a year ago. Not that awful remake .i let you guys know in a couple of days how it goes

Just finished reading THE OUTSIDE CIRCLE. It’s about these two Indigenous brothers, Pete & Joey, who deal with a drug-addicted mother and live in a violent environment marred by gang activity and poverty. After getting into a fatal altercation with his mother’s loser boyfriend, he is incarcerated while Joey ends up in the foster system.

While imprisoned, Pete tries to maintain his toughness but eventually realizes he needs to turn his life around. And that’s when this traditional Indigenous healing program comes in, determined to set him on the right track.

Meanwhile, Joey has had enough of the crooked foster care system and hits the streets where he’s taken in by his big brother’s old gang, and he seems destined to get caught up in the same violence unless Pete can manage to reach out to his brother and stop the cycle.

Though a short read, it’s a powerful story that sheds a light on the incarceration of Indigenous men and the importance of cultural healing to erase trauma and the strength of community to uplift one another and honor the history of those who inspired and paved the way.

For those who enjoyed this novel, what did you think?

Gon

This was a fun read- well not actually - there’s no writing; you just follow along in a sequential order. Little fella gets wrapped up in all sorts of hijinx

Thought it was very unique at the time (circa 1996 when I picked these up. * Can’t find my issue number two darn it!)

Title: The Weight of Our Sky (Prose book adapted as a digital comic/webtoon)

Writer: Hanna Alkaf

Artist: Nisrina A.N. (with colourists Nurel and Toadfrog)

Genre: Historical Fiction / Drama

Pages: Serialized digital comic format (Webtoon chapters)

English Publisher: Webtoon

Country (about): Malaysia

Translation by: Written in English

Plot (Spoiler Free)

When the historic race riots broke in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Melati was at a cinema with her friend Saf. The story follows Melati's attempts to get back to her mother whilst battling the intrusive thoughts of OCD that make her ruminate about losing her mother in the riots.

Plot (Spoiler Included)

The narrative tracks Melati’s intense survival journey through historical tragedy of communal clashes between Chinese and Malay. When ethnic violence erupts on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Melati and her friend Saf are at a cinema. Though Melati was saved by, by a Chinese woman (Bee) and sheltered at her home, Saf was a victim to the clashes. Her guilt about Saf's death, and her worries about her mother's safety are worsened by the Djinn that possesses her (a representation of her obsessive compulsive disorder which was not fully understood by her or her family in the 1960s), and makes her do counting, touching, and tapping rituals.

Facing her crushing anxiety / OCD, the danger of the clashes around her, and a twenty-four-hour curfew, Melati embarks on a journey to find her mother. Though initially helped by Bee's son Vince, when the family falls victim to an attack, Vince leaves town. Melati, now left on her own, has to battle her demons whilst traversing the city in search of her mother.

Review

This webtoon is adapted from a prose book which I have not read. So, I am not sure how this graphic novel version compares to it. On its own, the graphic novel starts very strong. The story slows down in places but mostly kept it engaging. There are tough and emotional moments to deal with and the story is heavy but was well written. The death of Saf and Jay were hard pills to swallow but realities of community clashes. The interaction between Melati and Saf's father; and Frankie's prejudice and resentment toward the Malay community due to being victim of casual racism by Malays was well portrayed.

The depiction of OCD and the intrusive thoughts worked well. The limited awareness of mental illness, the reliance of alternate treatments, shunning by friends and family, beliefs about possession by Djinn are remnants of that era and well captured. The ending was predictable but overall a good read.

The art was beautiful and well-drawn. Having never read a webcomic before, I was uncertain if the format would be enjoyable. After learning of the premise, I felt I should give the webcomic a try and I am pleased this was my first webcomic. The vertical scroll format and digital panel pacing offer a great way to experience Melati's panic attacks and the chaotic street scenes, making her OCD feel even more viscera.

Rating: 4.25 / 5 Stars

Previous reviews: Book 1-2

Hey guys i recently finished reading Fear agent and i absolutely loved it so i wanna read some more of RR’s work. What do you guys recommend?

It's a rogue-light deck building game called Shroom and Gloom, and while that's not really my genre of game, I LOVE the art style. Bold lines, pretty simple shading, but so full of detail. Does anybody know any comics/graphic novels in a similar style?