Happy Valentine’s Day, my beloved readers!
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Hey folks, just a quick update to let you know what’s what. Starting in November, I had built up a decent buffer of strips (meaning that I was doing my strips way ahead of the update dates). However, since I’ve had to move to working full time, and because of the complexity of some of the more recent strips, that buffer has dwindled down to nothing. So, basically, I’m back to pumping out a strip as fast as I can to meet my deadlines.
I’m telling you this because there may be some delays on updates in the near future. I’m still going to be doing my best to update twice a week, but there may be times when a strip is a day or two late. I’m hoping things will change so that I can start building up my buffer again, but there are no guarantees at this point. So thank you in advance for your patience.
Incidentally, how are you enjoying the new story line?
It’s been a couple of months, but I’ve got a new wallpaper for you folks. The idea was given to me by one of my readers, and is a reference to this strip. Here’s a preview:
Just click on the “Support the Artist” button to the left and donate any amount to get a wallpaper. And, though I hate to sound like I’m begging, we are in much need of support at the moment. So if you have a few bucks to spare and you’d like a shiny new wallpaper, and you’d like to support your favorite webcomic (and it IS your favorite, right???), please consider supporting Bardsworth!
I got a pretty decent response to my comic book post, so I figured I’d keep up with it. This past week I got a few more comics under my belt, and a few other things.
The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures (IDW) – I mentioned last time that I wasn’t enjoying this collection, and it just got worse. I couldn’t deal with the poorly written characters, so I ended up returning it to the library without finishing it. And I was very disappointed because I wanted to like it. Oh well.
Bloodties (Marvel) – This is a trade paperback that collects the “Bloodties” storyline, which was the 30th anniversaries of the Avengers and X-Men combined. It was about a civil uprising on the island of Genosha between humans and mutates, and the political consequences of the previously mentioned teams. This story is one of the biggest reasons I’ve always loved Marvel. It’s rich with issues that can be translated to real life, and it looks at things from different philosophical perspectives. There was action, but I was more intrigued by story that was being told.
Legionquest (Marvel) – Unfortunately, with as many homeruns as they’ve had, Marvel tends to miss every now and then. “Legionquest” collects several issues from the early nineties dealing with Charles Xavier’s psychotic and powerful son traveling into the past to kill Magneto before he becomes Magneto. While it was interesting to see the bits about Charles and Eric as friends prior to being enemies, there wasn’t much to this story at all. And, it was a time travel story that ended with events never actually happening, and I HATE those kinds of stories. It always feels like a waste of time when things end up never having happened because that means there is no resolution and no one learns anything. I felt very empty when I finished the story.
Green Lantern: Rebirth (DC) – I’ve mentioned that I’ve always been a Marvel guy over a DC guy. However, one of the things I’ve always loved about DC is the Green Lantern mythos. It has that quality of epic galactic fantasy that I really enjoy, and from what I had heard, “Rebirth” was the story that brought all of that back into the limelight and was essentially a reawakening of the Green Lantern universe. I loved the heck out of this story. I didn’t really grow up with the Green Lantern, but the stuff that I did read sporadically I enjoyed, and this just kind of brought all of it to a head for me. I’m very much looking forward to reading the next handful of stories that have followed after this one.
Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme (Marvel animated movie) – As with the Green Lantern, in the Marvel universe I had characters that I liked, but didn’t necessarily read much about. Doctor Strange was one of those. Being a fantasy geek, a character who can do magic is pretty awesome. So I decided to give the animated movie a chance since it’s been on my Netflix queue for a while. It was all right. I think more could have been done with the story, but the animation was pretty tight. I just really didn’t care for the whole manifesting magic as a weapon thing, and wished for some of the classic spells that Doctor Strange would cast in the comic (shouting things like, “By the crimson bands of Cyttorak!”). I’d watch a sequel, though.
Comic Book Men (AMC television show) – My uncle suggested this show to me, since he was the one who got me into comic books. Essentially, it’s a half-podcast, half-reality show about the comic book store in Red Bank, NJ that Kevin Smith owns – Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. It revolves around the antics of the store’s employees, which can be entertaining, but I’m more into watching the stuff that customers bring into the store to sell. I love watching the looks on the employee’s faces when something big ticket gets brought in. It’s been a fun watch for me, and I’ve seen a number of things from my childhood pop up. So while the antics portion of the show can get a little annoying sometimes, the “pawn shop” portion of the show never fails to intrigue.
And that’s all I got for now! I have another TPB and a graphic novel to read, and I may watch another animated movie, and I’ll report back to you next time. As I mentioned last time, if you have any suggestions, please let me know!
I’ve been out of the comic book loop for a long time, with sporadic reintegrations into the comic book community for short periods before disappearing again. My history with comic books is steeped heavily in a variety of issues from both Marvel and DC, from the eras of the 60s to the 80s mostly. My uncle had given me several big boxes of these comics, his personal collection from over the years, and I read through most of it (before they were destroyed in a flood… long story). I was more a Marvel fan (still am), enjoying the Avengers, Doctor Strange, and the X-Men (and spin-offs of). But I had some fun in the DC universe, mostly with the Doom Patrol and the Legion of Superheroes. Throughout the years following my childhood, I’ve collected some trade paperbacks and graphic novels, and a few bundled collections of comics, but for the most part it’s a habit that I don’t take part in.
Recently, I’ve started checking some stuff out of my local library’s graphic novel section, and I’ve wanted to talk about some of my reads, but haven’t had a particular place to do so. So I figured, Bardsworth is a comic, there are bound to be some comic book readers here, right? If not, I won’t bother doing this again, but for now, I thought I’d talk about some of the things I’ve recently read.
Watchmen – Yeah, I had never read it up until recently. And, to be honest, there’s not a whole lot that I can say about it that hasn’t already been said throughout the years. Blasphemous to some, I saw the movie before reading the graphic novel. I enjoyed the movie, and still do even after reading the source material. I can see where some hardcore fans could get a little irked at the movie version, but I don’t get the hatred for it, except that it’s cool to jump on the “I hate Zack Snyder” bandwagon. Sorry, I don’t go for mob mentality. In any case, I loved the graphic novel, although I’m not sure I’d ever bother to buy it because I’m not sure I’ll ever read it again.
Doctor Who: Fugitive - Being a Whovian, I figured I’d love the comics. And I liked the writing, but the artwork… holy moley, what was up with it? It’s terrible, and I almost stopped reading it because of that. But the story kept me going to the end, although despite the cliffhanger I’m not sure I want to bother moving on. That was the first strike against publisher IDW in my eyes.
The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures - I loved the movie The Rocketeer when I was younger, and I never got to read the original comics, so I was a little excited when I found out IDW was going to be publishing a new series based on the story. Well, I’m still in the midst of reading it, and… ugh, this time the artwork is pretty good, but the writing is awful. Inconsistent characters, forced dialogue, pacing that needs to be slowed way down. It’s a disappointment, a big disappointment. Not sure if I’m going to finish it. The second strike for IDW.
The Death of Superman – I’ll be honest up front: I hate Superman. I’ve never been interested in him as a character, I grew up thinking he was overpowered and overhyped, his sense of morality got on my nerves, and let’s not even talk about his costume. I know that DC changed him or has done other versions of him over the decades, but I don’t care. Just never liked him. So – and yes this a bit sick – I wanted to read his death. Again. I read it back when it first happened (I knew a guy who had collected them all), and decided to do it again. Really, it just cemented why I didn’t read much of DC at the time. The characters didn’t interest me, the writing was over the top, and I never found the artwork to be on par with most of Marvel’s. I’m sure you could argue with me on those points, but I’m speaking from limited experience, so while you’re probably right, it won’t mean much to me.
I’m in the middle of one more right now, and I’ll be checking out more soon. I’m thinking of grabbing up some of the recent Green Lantern stories (one of the only areas of the DC universe that ever really grabbed my attention) and maybe a random choice by an indie publisher, just for fun. Feel free to make suggestions, too – the selection at my library is slim-pickens, but I could probably special order them.