Monthly (Comic) Book Club - October - Trio of Spooky Tales15878
 If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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Quote:Originally Posted by dielinfinite The intro to my copy mentioned how O'Barr talks about various influences at conventions (Joy Division and so on), but doesn't mention his own reason for telling the story. Wikipedia says that his fiancee was killed by a drunk driver, which I could certainly understand leading to these kinds of feelings. |
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| Post 26 • IP flag post | ||
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Quote:Originally Posted by xkonk In my copy he does talk a little bit about it. He doesn’t actually mention that it was his fiancée but he does say that at the time he wasn’t paying for car insurance. A fact that the local police were aware of and they knew his car on site. One day he needed a ride and given the whole insurance thing, felt he couldn’t afford another ticket so he called his fiancée for a ride. It was in the process of going to pick him up that she was killed, so he felt he was personally responsible for her death. His feeling of guilt then became Eric’s. |
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| That's rough, even without having asked for a ride. I imagine the sense of rage would be there either way, and some people would feel guilt regardless. As an aside, I did like that the comic was clearly set in Detroit. The street references and signs in the art and things like that are places you would know if you've spent time in the city. Not that it says nice things about Detroit, but it feels like the story is actually there as opposed to a lot of comics or movies that are supposed to be set somewhere but could really be anywhere when you get into the details. |
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| I haven’t read any Hellboy books before and my familiarity with that universe comes mainly from the two Del Torro films. Issue #1 of Hollow Earth is bery much embedded in the Hellboy stories that came before and since I’m not familiar with them it is a little difficult to understand each character’s mental state. I recognized Elizabeth from the movies. Despite the opening being a flashback, it seems to take place after significant events in the main Hellboy books. She seems to be seeking help from a remote monastery. The fear and uncertainty in the character is recognizable from the films though I am unsure if here they stem from the dame cause or if it’s related to something from the Hellboy stories. In the present day Kate is introducing a new recruit at BRPD when her boss tells her that Abe is thinking about leaving the agency and that they want to try to keep him to maintain funding for the agency. Abe at this point seems to have some serious baggage from the Hellboy stories that isn’t recapped but Hellboy himself has already left the agency and Abe os disillusioned. Kate tries talking to him and we get to hear Johann’s backstory. He was a spirit medium who was conducting a seance when his body was destroyed leaving his disembodied astral form nothing to return to. Later, Liz appears to Abe in a vision begging him to come find her. Liz reveals that the agency has kept track of her after she left pointing the team to the monastery we saw her join earlier. Once there, Kate, Abe, Johann, and someone else (is that the Roger that factors in to Abe’s strained relationship with the agency?) arrive at the monastery only to find everyone dead, except Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s body is found but after Johann examines her they discover that her essence is gone from her body. Abe discovers a smashed demon-like statue and suspects it may have been involved. This first issue was a tad frustrating only because I am not familiar with the Hellboy universe and the characters are very much continuing from those past events and the book doesn’t do much to onboard new readers. My other main gripe about this issue is that it fees very…bureaucratic? It just feels a bit heavy on the office management side with the mandate from upper management and Kate trying to reduce employee turnaround. That said, I do enjoy the setting and the characters. It is very much set in the paranormal and occult but tries to cast a wider net with the subject matter than we often see. It’s not just Christian hell and demons but we have pyrokinetic and a fish-man (from the previous books) and a disembodied German mystic that basically inhabits an inflated field suit. The setting of the monastery in the mountains is also unusual. The artwork, though not by Mignola, very much retains the feel of his work. Lots of large patches of black along with the limited and desaturated palate helps create an oppressive, somewhat noir-ish atmosphere. |
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| Hellboy still hangs heavily over season 2 and it almost feels like the purpose of this mini-series is to have the characters move past Hellboy’s departure and learn to stand on their own. What I thought was a statue at the end of the previous issue was actually a little goblin-like corpse. Johann and then Roger dig into the corpse’ remaining consciousness to learn more about where they came from. As the Abe, Johann, and Roger descend into the pit, bringing Liz’ hollow body with them, Kate is left behind to direct; her being field director and all. As they descend we learn a little more about Abe’s relationship with Hellboy, specifically eatly on when Hellboy stopped BPRD’s tests on him. It is after this that Johann comments on Hellboy’s leadership and explains that with him gone, Abe has now taken up the role. It doesn’t seem to have been something he’s thought about but it seems like that’s the arc; Abe and the team moving beyond Hellboy with Abe ascending as the team leader to lead them on new adventures. Shortly afterward the team is attacked by a group of those little goblins but a more primitive type. They end up frightening them away by projecting a large frightening creature. As they continue to explore they come across some ancient machinery. Using what they learned from the corpse at the monastery they learn that the creatures were created as slaves to serve the creators of those ancient machines before turning on them. Of course, the Nazis had also sought that ancient race only to find disaster themselves. One thing I really like about the Hellboy world, from what little I’ve seen of it, is all these independent mythologies co-existing and then connecting that to recent history and the present day with the Nazis and the BPRD. The team comes across more machinery, these in nearly functioning condition, they spot one of the goblin things and are shortly afterward attacked by the warrior goblins The issue ends with Liz inside some kind of contraption with a priestly-looking goblin forging a sword and proclaiming “at last.” I imagine that the goblins were perhaps the ones repairing the ancient machinery but to what end? |
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| Post 30 • IP flag post | ||
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| I've seen both of the del Toro Hellboy movies and have read an issue here and there, but nothing steady. That's the background I'll be bringing in. I got caught up doing some grading, but I'll use the spare week to catch up on reading. |
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| Issue 3 begins with another flashback with Hellboy, this time showing Liz meeting Hellboy for the first time. He’a the only one not afraid of her and willing to interact with her as a person. Back in the present the team makes a quick escape from the warrior goblins only to come across more machinery. The place is where the ancient race built their war machines and where the goblins first rebelled against their masters. Johann feels a cry from a spirit in anguish. They follow it to another machine, a furnace powered by Liz’s burning spirit. As the team figures out how to free her spirit back into her body they are attacked by the priestly goblin. In its unintelligible language we learn the sword is a key of sorts allowing them to control the ancient machines and use them to take over mankind as their masters would have. Knowing it was nothing good, Abe shoots the goblin out of the air, sending the rest of the goblins i to a frenzy. I was afraid that Abe had killed him outright which would have been disappointing simply for the ease of which this seemingly important villain was dispatched but we do see a few pages later that he is injured but not dead. As team then works together to fight off the goblins while freeing Liz from the furnace. Roger unleashes the power he gathered from the furnace into the ground as the goblin priest activates the war machines. Combines with Roger’s power the machines cause the caverns to collapse forcing the team to make a quick escape. The team is found by BPRD all the way in Scotland where Liz indicates we will be staying with the team for a while. Overall, I felt the story was quick but it was fun. It managed to pack in some character introductions and some neat mythology into a very short package. Ancient machines are a favorite trope of mine so I would’ve loved to have seen more and have that mythology described in further detail but it worked for the story they were telling. I thought the design of the machines drew a bit of inspiration from Jack Kirby’s work. I think they would’ve looked at home in something like the New Gods or the Celestials. The story certainly works in getting me interested in the further adventures of this team. The story definitely grew out of the Hellboy stories which felt strange sinply because you see a lot of spin-offs where they try to avoid referencing the original too much for fear of using it as a crutch. For the most part I felt this story used the Hellboy connections well to develop these characters in advance of their own adventures. I would still prefer future stories to spend less time with Hellboy and more time fleshing out the team’s adventures. |
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| Issue 1 would probably make a little more sense in spots if there were more familiarity with the series, but I think it gets along ok. I basically pretended I was Johann - first day on the job, people say things that may or may not make sense, and training is optional. Whatever the people in the temple were saying about the serpent means just as much as what Kate was saying about Roger and the bomb (Roger is not a character I remember from the movies). I like that the characters in general have the same sort of "well, what do we have today?" vibe. It adds some humor, like when Kate describes who the monks are supposed to be. Abe and Roger act like it's ridiculous, although they are a fish man and some kind of homunculus. There's so much unknown that you basically just have to feel your way through. The art is Mignola-esque. If they didn't have the credits at the beginning I would just assume it was him. It's nice in that it gives an overall similar feel to the stories; you can tell you're in the Hellboy world. I agree that it does feel like Hellboy hangs over everything and it's also a little HR heavy. I suppose that makes sense though, since the book is about the BPRD. Aaaaand... reading your summaries, I just found out that my trade doesn't have issue breaks. This is an annoying feature that I don't feel like I saw that often until we started book club. I did already have a couple like that, like my Powers trades, but most of mine have a break with the issue cover and everything. There's something to be said for joining the issues together so you get a continuous feel of the story but it makes it tough to do things like book club. |
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| Post 33 • IP flag post | ||
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| Not too much to say about issue 2 on my end. I do admire the artists on monster books for coming up with creative designs and worldbuilding as much as they have to. I assume at some point you develop a shorthand for things (I'll make them like little trolls!) but it's probably more work than drawing big muscley dudes all the time. Plot-wise, things are still mysterious. We've found that they're using Liz to power some kind of furnace, which maybe makes swords?, but we still don't know a whole lot. |
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| Post 34 • IP flag post | ||
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| Even though Hellboy isn't a formal character in the issues, appearing only in flashbacks, you do get a good sense of him as a character. Being the longest-serving 'monster' in the BPRD, he knew what it was like for the other people coming in and how to accept them. Otherwise it was just the BPRD running studies and the people's own fear of themselves. It also gives some insight into the BPRD, as they treat Liz the same as a child (roughly speaking) as they do Johann and Abe as adults. And, Liz has been dealing with power control issues for quite a while. I enjoyed the short arc as well. It's a good combination of mysterious, weird stuff; humor; and action. It's also sort of funny how often (in my limited Hellboy experience) all this ancient, magical-type stuff gets solved by a punch in the face or a gun. I'm sure some people would view that as a negative, but it contributes to the rough-and-tumble, Indiana Jones-ish feel. I would read more if we wanted to dip our toes in again. |
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Quote:Originally Posted by xkonk I’m pretty sure we’re reading the same trade lol. What I’ve done in these situations is try to find the book on Comixology and then look at the first preview page which is the first page of the book. The unbroken trade is definitely something I’ve seen more of since we started doing this. Possibly because I mostly stuck with books from the big two and they seem to break up their trades fairly consistently. Smaller publishers seem hit or miss. I personally prefer issue breaks even outside of a book club setting. My reasoning being that they weren’t really meant to be read continuously. Having the issue breakshelp preserve a bit of the original episodic nature. Having the covers in between issues allows it to do its job and build curiosity and anticipation for the upcoming issue. |
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Quote:Originally Posted by xkonk That makes sense. It’s a technique you see a lot where the story starts with a new character joining an organization. The audience can follow them and get up to speed as the character does. A little confusion in a story isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially at the start, so long as it doesn’t make the experience unapproachable. Here I think it’s more of a bonus of sorts for longtime readers as they get to see what has happened with the characters they’ve read before. |
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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Quote:Originally Posted by dielinfinite Oh, I agree. I like to see the covers with the issue they match, and sometimes the lead-in material is also nice. My daughter and I read have been getting the larger Squirrel Girl trades when they come out, and each recap page (first page of the issue) is not only a bit of a recap, but basically a Twitter conversation between characters with jokes and stuff. It would be a loss to stick strictly to the story pages. But, it also makes it hard to coordinate for book club discussions  |
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Monthly (Comic) Book Club - November - Superman: Emperor Joker Superman: Arkham Superman #160 Adventures of Superman #582 Superman: The Man of Steel #104 Action Comics #769 Reign of Emperor Joker Superman: Emperor Joker #1 Superman #161 Adventures of Superman #583 Superman: The Man of Steel #105 Action Comics #770 Week 1 (11/1-11/7): Superman #160, Adventures of Superman #582, Superman: The Man of Steel #104, Action Comics #769 [b]Week 2 (11/8-11/14): Superman: Emperor Joker, Superman #161 [b]Week 3 (11/15-11/21): Adventures of Superman #583, Superman: The Man of Steel #105, Action Comics #770 |
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