Marvel Runaways...

Im curious now, but am too lazy to find a website that delivers to the UK. Anyone willing to do the footwork?

Theres some shop in a shady area of town that sells comics, but the guy is dirty and horrible.
 
Just back off my hols and leaping in here with a big cheer for one of my faves...everyone should rush out and read Sandman by Neil Gaiman et al...absolutely brilliant work all about the nature of stories and stuff 🙂 People who think comics are just greasy kid stuff should be pointed at Gaiman's (and Alan Moore's - as Jill mentioned above) work just to show them that the ol' four-colour world is capable of coming up with great literature 🙂

I think that I'll have to check out Runaways...after I finally get round to GB's recommendation of Y:the last man

BTW - I've always preferred DC over Marvel but still a big Buffy fan 🙂

Xander said:
Im curious now, but am too lazy to find a website that delivers to the UK. Anyone willing to do the footwork?

Theres some shop in a shady area of town that sells comics, but the guy is dirty and horrible.
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You still in or near sunny Brum? try Nostalgia and Comics in the city centre. I went there for years and always found it excellent
 
I've read a couple of short story collections from Gaiman. I know Sandman's waaaay up there in the comic book pantheon. I got his Marvel 1602 series in hardcover. Not crazy about the artwork, but it's an interesting idea: reimagining the Marvel universe as a part of Elizabethan England.

And what about Frank Miller? Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil, Sin City, etc. I haven't gotten to his stuff yet, but I'm curious.

Planetary, by Warren Ellis is kinda fun. Basically X-Files meets superheroes meets Japanese monster movies. Kind of assuming the world contains all the scary creatures you see in cheesy monster movies, mythology, sci-fi, etc...Joss's X-Men artist John Cassaday does the artwork.
 
goldenboy said:
And what about Frank Miller? Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil, Sin City, etc. I haven't gotten to his stuff yet, but I'm curious.
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Blimey...with all my Moore/Gaiman enthusiasm I'd forgotten about Mr Miller's contribution to the "comic book as art/literature" genre...I heartily recommend The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil and Elektra as well as Mr Gaiman and Mr Moore's aforementioned works 🙂
 
I've always felt that Buffy was Marvel to the guts. But Angel, ah, Angel owes his heart and accursed soul to DC.

[confession]Admittedly based largely on Sin City, I'm not a huge Millar fan, [/confession] and I think the sheer harshness of his stuff might be chucking-em-in-at-the-deep-end (like From Hell wouldn't be?). That said, somebody once told me that Sin City makes a good companion to a bit of James Ellroy and that's very true.
 
That's a good thought about Buffy and Angel Jill. Never thought about it in those terms. Huh.

I think I mentioned these ages ago, but...a couple of books concerning comics may interest a few folks.

Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book, Gerard Jones
This one is fascinating. It deals primarily with Siegel and Shuster (creators of Superman) and Harry Donenfeld, their publisher. It goes into the origins of the modern geek too, lol. Way back in the 1920s—boys were beginning to write what you might call fanfic today. Starting clubs, becoming sci-fi, fantasy geeks—eventually inventing superheroes. It contrasts this with gangsters and pornographers—the original publishers of comics, pulp fiction, etc. It’s epic. Scorcese could turn it into a movie or series for HBO or something.

Also,

Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book, by Jordan Raphael, Tom Spurgeon
A fun biography of the man. His ups and downs, how he revitalized comics in the early 60s (after their near complete destruction in the 50s). Neat stuff.
 
goldenboy, I really have to thank for you telling me about Y: The Last Man. Obviously I love Brian K. Vaughan now, and Y is really good. Not like Runaways, but very great, mhm.

Also, Ash, I usually order from play.com (like BEG said), and it tends to be cheaper than buying stuff at least in Sweden...
 
G
goldenboy
Glad you dig Y
eponinethen said:
goldenboy, I really have to thank for you telling me about Y: The Last Man. Obviously I love Brian K. Vaughan now, and Y is really good. Not like Runaways, but very great, mhm.
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I second that thanks, haven't read as much as epo but I still really like it.

We went to a comic store today, and I picked up Y: The Last Man - Cycles (issues #6-10). And I just must say that even if I loved going to the comic store the first time I was there, it's so much more fun now that I recognize at least a few of the different comics and writers even, so thanks once again for all the info.

eponinethen said:
Also, Ash, I usually order from play.com (like BEG said), and it tends to be cheaper than buying stuff at least in Sweden...
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Mm, I think they are pretty cheap, though I was trying to order from them but for some reason they wouldn't ship Runaways to Sweden 🙁
 
Mr. Pointy said:
You still in or near sunny Brum? try Nostalgia and Comics in the city centre. I went there for years and always found it excellent
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Nearish, but a trip to Brum is expensive (oreos!).

But cheers everyone, next time I have a bit of spare money I'll pick it up.
 
So cool that Buffy Summers decided to create a comics forum. This piece is from about a year ago. Whedonesque links to an EW piece about Watchmen. Lots of interesting background info on Moore..

Watchmen: An Oral History

Nearly two decades after creating a comic book about superheroes in the modern world, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons revisit their work

by Jeff Jensen

Citizen Kane. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Sopranos. Watchmen. Of this list, the following can be said: (1) Each is a masterwork representing the apex of artistry in its respective medium; (2) you might have no idea what Watchmen is.

Except that in our superhero-saturated, cult-pop moment, Watchmen's fingerprints are everywhere. On Lost. On author Neil Gaiman and Buffy the Vampire Slayer auteur Joss Whedon. On almost every comic book published since 1986. Yes, Watchmen is a comic book. But for many honest-to-God not-crazy people, it is much more. ''Watchmen,'' declares Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, ''is the greatest piece of popular fiction ever produced.''

Or, at least, just plain great. First published in 12 installments by DC Comics, Watchmen is considered the first ''adult'' (meaning sophisticated, not naughty) superhero comic. It is the signature work of English writer Alan Moore, whose trailblazing oeuvre also includes the movie-friendly V for Vendetta, From Hell, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Produced in close collaboration with artist Dave Gibbons, Moore's saga concerns Rorschach, a demented vigilante with a morphing inkblot mask who investigates the murder of a mystery man named the Comedian à¢â‚¬" though that might be the skimpiest summary ever of a comic book that's also an intricate conspiracy thriller, a radical deconstruction of superhero archetypes, a furious allegory of Cold War anxiety, and a tour de force of narrative technique. Says Whedon: ''Watchmen took the history of comics and used it as a template for examining the human condition in a way no one had seen before...''
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http://whedonesque.com/comments/8587

http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1120854_1|37644||0_0_,00.html
 
Who watches the watchmen? Neil Gaiman, Joss Whedon, Damon Lindelof and according to Wikipedia, David Bowie, of course. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Gah. Joss is clearly jumping on the Alan Moore bandwagon after me. 😀

It's an interesting article actually. I love Watchmen, but I couldn't really say I see it's "fingerprints" on Joss Whedon's stuff. Where Whedon stubbornly clings to the notion of most people being basically decent, Moore does... welll... that. Moore does that.
 
I feel there's more the spirit of Stan Lee in Joss's stuff. The humor, the pathos, the personal problems of the protagonists. But not quite as corny, or pompous, lol.

But as far as the postmodern pop culture deconstruction stuff, Moore obviously helped usher that era in, with comics anyway. Joss definitely swims in that stream.

To me, it seems like that detached, ironic, reflective postmod thing seemed to explode in the late 80s, simultaneously in all pop forms: movies, TV shows, music, comics. Catching up with fine art, literature.

I think what Joss, Brian K Vaughan and some others manage to do is maintain a basic humanity, a basic love of Western culture, literary traditions...while still making use of those postmodern tools of self-examination, detachment. It's a tough balance to maintain...seems like.

Other writers, artists have the detachment down—the critique, the pure, aesthetic love of certain forms, techniques...but the humanity sometimes just isn't there..
 
Haven't read it all since I'm trying to keep away from spoilers, but from what I read I gotta say: Awesome interview, those two are just too funny..
 
Brian K. Vaughan loves Whedon's first Runaways issue

(Hope this has already been posted, I haven't been here in a few days, but didn't see it, so..)

BROKEN FRONTIER: With all the acclaim you've received in the last few years, do you ever fear that you'll be lulled into a false sense of security about your writing?

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN: Wow, never. I just read Joss Whedon's first Runaways script, and it was so goddamn good, it makes me want to set my stupid Powerbook on fire. As my wife will be happy to tell you, I'm a never-ending font of misery and insecurity about my own abilities as a writer.

BF: There are complaints among the comics community that the industry is momentarily star-struck, or alternately that it remains an insular old boys' club. Are these real problems?

BKV: Ask Robert Kirkman or Bryan Lee O'Malley or Zeb Wells or any of the dozens of other insanely talented, disturbingly young creators who are doing fantastic work in this medium. It's only a problem if you're a writer or artist not willing to do the hard work necessary to make your mark on this medium.

[...]
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Read whole interview here
(Most of it is not about Runaways though, but hey, it's Brian K. Vaughan, so..)
 
I'm honestly a bit unhappy about BKV being replaced by anyone. It's kinda like if Whedon had left the Buffyverse around Season 3 and been replaced by someone else. Runaways was one of the few completely original books out there (character-wise), and I'm just worried that it'll have a really fanfic-esque feel of a new author trying to play with toys that don't belong to him.

Not that I have to worry too much, though. BKV is taking a few of his Runaways with him when he leaves to start a spin-off comic, or at least that's what retailers were told at a recent convention.
 
Well, I started reading Runaways after I found out Joss was going to write it, and I'm not very worried, the story/characters/dialogues feels so Joss-y to me. If anyone should do it it should be Joss, and I think he's prefect for it.

JoeHundredaire said:
Not that I have to worry too much, though. BKV is taking a few of his Runaways with him when he leaves to start a spin-off comic, or at least that's what retailers were told at a recent convention.
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Really? I haven't heard that, hm.
 
JoeHundredaire said:
Runaways was one of the few completely original books out there (character-wise), and I'm just worried that it'll have a really fanfic-esque feel of a new author trying to play with toys that don't belong to him.
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If we weren't talking about Joss Whedon, I might be feeling like this too. But I am really not worried, especially since Brian seems tolove all Joss' ideas when it comes to Runaways, etc..
 
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