What are you reading in February/ 2017?

February 2nd is Groundhog Day! Let's talk about our latest readings while Phil, the Groundhog, tells us the weather forecast.

Starting The Fade Out, for which I have high hopes, and then after that will be Faith, Vol. 1, which I know nothing about and picked up on a whim.

2> Let us know your thoughts on Faith. I liked her character in Harbinger, didn't know she received her own book.

I'm going to the library this weekend to pick up Black Science. I liked the first two volumes, well-paced, and a nice pulp feel.

I watched the pilot of DC's Legends of Tomorrow and it is hard to put in words what I've felt. While it presents beloved b-heroes (Rip Hunter, Firestorm, Atom (Ray Palmer), Hawkman,etc), the quality of the story is terrible, the dialogues are irrelevant, the actors seem like amateurs, the characters are all unidimensional and... out-of-characther (Palmer acts like a dork and has an armor like Iron Man).

>4 apokoliptian: Have you watched the other shows in the 'stable'. That makes Palmer's stuff make a little more sense. As well as Sarah's. But, I do have to say that my favorite of the four shows (Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, DC's LoT) is Supergirl. Although a little less this season with no Cat Grant. :(

I've read DC Universe: Rebirth. I really have a soft spot for Wally West, the Kid Flash (Wolfman and Perez's New Teen Titans were my door entry to DC).
It seems that DC will try to make their characters cohesive or coherent in front of their myriad of versions (Silver age, post crisis, cartoons, movies, etc), but I'm old and really tired to start it all again.
I will pass.

>4 apokoliptian:

I'd say to stay with it -- it has some very good episodes (it does have some very bad ones as well). However - if you are not watching Flash and Arrow as well, a lot of things won't make sense. The characters came from the other two shows - not from the comics at large. And there are major differences.

>5 DanieXJ:
I have watched Arrow's first 4 episodes of the first season and I thought it was great. Flash didn't worked for me. I will try Supergirl.
I think that the biggest problem of Legends for me is that I really like those characters and my expectations were high.

>7 AnnieMod:
Thanks for the tip. I will try to stay with it a little more.

>3 brianjungwi: I honestly don't know that I've ever read anything from Valiant before, so I'm coming at Faith from a blank slate. I just know I've seen some good reviews for it, and it was new at the library. Fingers crossed!

>9 apokoliptian: As for Palmer - his suit can miniaturize (I do not remember if he did it in the pilot) - that's how they made Atom in the Arrow series workable basically. It can do other things as well of course. I know it does look a bit weird without the back history.
Good luck and hopefully you get a bit warmer towards it. :)

>8 apokoliptian: I think that the official line from DC is that the TV vs. Comics vs. Movies are all in different Universes. So, even as they try to un-multiverse the comic series, they're making it even more complicated too (plus, add to that the fact that there are books like Arrow: Dark Archer and Adventures of Supergirl, and Flash: Season Zero that are Comic Books but belong to the TV serieses...

As for DC Rebirth, so far I like it. I really didn't enjoy about 60% of the New 52, so many characters were missing, and I never saw the reason why. And now that's switched and I'm liking about 75% or so of the Rebirth Titles. Of course, I only read TPBs for the most part, so I'm wayy behind. But... :)

The Fade Out was just as great as I'd hoped it would be. As for Faith, Vol. 1, it was a cute, optimistic story. I haven't read anything in this universe before, so I'm probably missing the context of her former team and the main villains, but Faith was a fun character and missed the melodrama traps that so much superhero stuff falls into recently.

I came into comics with the DCU (post-Crisis, pre-Flashpoint ... so much 90s-ness) and still have a lot of fondness for that universe (and the DCAU cartoons), but I gave up on regular readership of DC with the "new" 52 after a couple years of being frustrated with nearly everything DC did. Frankly, reboots make excellent exit points, the movies have none of the charm, and I haven't gotten invested in the Arrowverse by virtue of almost never watching TV. Crossover-free Image or Vertigo titles and standalone graphic novels are much more my speed nowadays.

So this is my very long-winded way of saying I'm hesitant to pick up any of the Rebirth titles, but am interested in opinions on them. If I do decide to fall off the wagon and get back into DC, which individual series are worth it? How's the present editorship? Are there actual stories, or are signs that this will devolve into another mess of predictable "gritty" series and needless, overhyped event crossovers?

>13 Euryale:
The titles that I really liked in the New 52 were Animal Man and Swamp Thing (by the simple fact that the authors got the best bits from the Vertigo versions and put a little of creativity into it); and Aquaman (because there are no bad characters, only bad authors). These books worked under the radar and were free for develop their lines.

In the new DC enviroment, I'm curious about Doom Patrol, but I only read the first issue.

Just picked up Mooncop and the graphic adaptation of How to Talk to Girls at Parties.

This weekend I read Lumberjanes, Vol. 1, which was adorable, and Injection, Volume 1, which is an interesting sci-fi/horror/fantasy mashup. I'll have to get the second volume at some point.

>13 Euryale: I haven't read all of the Rebirth titles that are sitting on my TBR pile, and honestly, I go pretty easy on the Cape comics that I read, but, the two Rebirth titles that I've enjoyed the most are Superman, Vol. 1: Son of Superman, it has my very favorite Superman in it, the Clark Kent that went toe to toe with Doomsday back in the day, not to mention married Lois Lane! It has an interesting story too, and Tomasi is a pretty solid author.

The other one that I really liked was Batman Detective Comics, Vol. 1: Rise of the Batmen. I don't know a lot about James Tynion IV or the other stuff he's written, but I liked this, and I'm also really looking forward to his Batwoman standalone series that he's doing with Marguerite Bennett (I think the #1 is coming out tomorrow?? But of course, I wait for the TPBs, doh!).

I would definitely recommend staying far away from the Green Lantern titles. Rage Planet is okay, but, ugh, I did not love the Hal Jordan title.

And, Aquaman was a little political for my taste, but, really well done too.

Sorry, was that too much?

Also, if you're looking for an awesome New 52 read I recommend either Suicide Squad and New Suicide Squad as well as the new 52 Harley Quinn titles!

Humble Bundle is having a 'sale' of Valiant titles so I'll be reading those in a bit. I finished The Wake last week which I enjoyed. Basically it's a bit of a horror/sci-fi mix with strong female leads and a dolphin side-kick.

Finished Saga Vol.6. What can I say? Great as ever!

>17 DanieXJ: Seconding the recommendation to try out the new 52 Harley Quinn. FWIW.

I've been behind on reading in general lately and even more so with comics. I did, however, read the first two volumes of Bandette, which was recommended by someone in this group if I remember correctly (perhaps Joe?). I'm currently awaiting volume 3 from inter-library loan.

I loved Essex County by Jeff Lemire.

>21 sushicat: Me, too. Still my favorite of his.