Lit The Trades Thread (Discussion and Review for All Comic TPBs)

For November 2013 we have:

Dunno who's going to buy this, the next item however.... Guaranteed smash hit!

For some reason I really like the fonts used for Legacy Volume II Book 1! Cannot wait for this one.

 

Definitely buying the 2nd one.

 

Been out of the comics game for a while so i've missed more than a few works. What'd you all think of:

Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison

Darth Vader and the Lost Command

Crimson Empire 3 (This one i'll just be buying the entire saga collection)

 

I liked the whole Crimson Empire saga. Haven't read the other two so I can't comment.

 

Awesome beyond words.

As bad as Ghost Prison is good.

I have to admit I never liked Crimson Empire and #3 was especially bland.

 

Ghost Prison is excellent, heard only bad things about Last Command.

Crimson Empire is excellent fun, but its 2 sequels can't match it. You'd be better off getting the TPB of CE1.

 

got wild space omni vol. 1 yesterday and have one quick questions: why are some of the stories colored, others not. I know those were comic-strips from newspapers, but in the second story it starts out (re?-)colored and then goes on b&w. any ideas? did DH run out of money or time?

 

In the original printing the Marvel UK stories were printed in black and white and were exclusive to Europe but Marvel started to bring them over to North America in a magazine called Pizzaz, and in said magazine they were coloured. The magazine got cancelled before they could finish World Of Ice so it didn't get all its parts coloured. (Keeper's World was also republished in a hard to find single issue "Star Wars #0) The other Marvel UK stories were eventually coloured in two digest trades sometime after but it's assumed that the coloured versions were either lost or unattainable as one of the UK stories (Day After The Death Star) had to be specially recoloured in the recent Luke Skywalker Last Hope For The Galaxy hardcover. It's beyond me why they didn't use the newly recoloured version of Day After The Death Star for this release, but it would have been much to expensive to hire new colourists for the other stories.

As for the 3D stories they were originally printed in black and white on account of being shown in Blue and Red 3D, colour in 3D printed material is much to confusing and painful to read in a comic format. All the other stories are in colour as they were originally printed in colour in their original releases.

 

thank you very much!

 

My copy of Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral is on its way!

 

How was Lost Tribe Of The Sith? I was hesitant on buying it in single issues cause I was low on cash at the time. I've never read any of the short stories, is it easy to get into without prior experience with the material?

 

I'm going to have to buy trades now due to money, I couldn't keep up with the individual issues. At least I got a few! But I prefer trades anyways, it was just nice to be caught with everyone....for a while.

 

Tell you when I've read it! It's now in the to-read pile, glaring at me yellow-eyed in baleful fashion!

 

Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral was pretty good imo. You should probably read the book before the comic.

 

To anyone considering getting Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral I will say this, echoing FS' post above: Read the Omnibus first. The comic does its best to enable new readers to get up to speed but it has very limited space to do so. The book is much better by far.

Second, having read it, it is quite clear why there is not going to be another one. The reason is simple - it's out of fuel and there's nothing left in the tank. To do further stories would wreck the concept, which is that of the tribe being Sith and yet not. Real Sith don't work together but these do, real Sith think they can do anything and this lot do. In a way, having a Sith Lord from millennia past return in the form of Dreypa brings this strange hybrid aspect to the fore.

Yet, while the characters are reasonably interesting they are never going to command much in the way of reader allegiance. There's no getting around that what you're reading about is a bunch of despots, perhaps a more benign version in the form of Hilts, but a despot nonetheless. I also enjoy the series for the way it could be said to parody the quite stupidly macho individualism that pervades western society, Sith really think they owe nobody nothing! What we've got is 2 great books, one in each medium, and better that it stays as that by far. (And no, I'm not recognising FOTJ here!)

Get it online with a nice 30-40% off and it's a fun read. Some of the character relationships don't really stand up to scrutiny, but the story's brief enough that that doesn't really matter. As you might expect from a JJM SW work, there is some very skilful use of continuity and some excellent easter eggs for readers to spot.

 

Got the Lost Tribe of the Sith TPB 2 ago and read it in one go. Sadly, it didn't do anything for me - just like JJM's attempt at prose with the Knight Errant novel. Really loved his KOTOR stories - and still think they are one of the best EU bits ever - but outside of KOTOR JJM's work just doesn't blow me away. I really hope the Kenobi novel will be good.

Back to the LTOTS - I think the story was somewhat "forced", the art was not up to par to e.g. Jan's work and I somehow imagined Kesh completely different. Also, the natives of Kesh were sold short in my opinion

 

Hey guys I'm new to this but I was requested to do this and I would be happy to do this anyway. Im not from the UK but from the US and am happy to help u find sales on the Omnibus books for UK sales because I know u guys have stuff that is WAY too expensive and i would be glad to help u guys find a sweet deal online. I'll find deals on Omnibus books and nothing else.

Now thats out of the way lets start.

I searched for omnibus books on UK amazon and only got kindle editions of it. there all mostly 6-10 pounds. idk crap bout kindle and idk if u get a kindle edition if it works on another tablet other than kindle. if someone can clarify that would be great. for me i prefer the physical copy, just my opinion, and a copy of them (for free, if u know what i mean ) on my computer to do my reviews of the omnibus books.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...digital-text&field-keywords=Star Wars Omnibus

As for UK Ebay. search for your specific Omnibus and it should come up. If i were u, i would buy a collection of Omnibus books instead of one, getting more bang for your buck (or pound) getting a collection of Omnibus books like 2 or more and buying it when its posted.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=star+wars+omnibus&rt=nc

i know this is not much to go on, but at least i tried. i hope this helps.

 

Have a problem in the bathroom that just won't go away? A loo that defies your cleaning solutions?

Go to the dark side! Use ....



Hmm, Sidious Cleaning Solutions does have quite a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

But no, this is about the very recently released Purge TPB. Collecting the first 3 one-shots and the recent 2-part tale it's a neat little collection. Of the stories, the second, Seconds To Die remains the weakest. The first is renowned as an excellent Ostrander-Wheatley collaboration but the other two are perhaps more overlooked...

Hidden Blade has Chris Scaif on art, who I'm a big fan of, his visuals are glorious. Right there the story has a boost but it has a bigger one with Blackman being on form. Vader has been sent to ensure a group of Imperial Walkers are operational on a backwater but is distracted by reports of a Jedi. While Vader is ultimately successful in dealing with him, the Jedi inflicts a defeat on Vader too. For 22 pages, it does quite a bit with the space it has and seeing Scaif depict Vader well is just great.

The Tyrant's Fist story is deceptive. It starts off as a standard Vader on a hunt tale and then becomes far more due to how we see the Empire engaging with the local populace of a planet that reveres the Jedi. The story then shows how the Empire systematically goes about destroying and discrediting this reverence - statues are blown up, every trace of the Jedi erased, before Vader tracks down and kills the sole Jedi fugitive. There's a lot of talk about stories where the bad guys win but often there's a glimmer of hope at the end - no such luck here! It's a very well-done and chilling story.

These two tales really sell the collection, as they haven't previously been collected.

 

I got the second Agent of the Empire TPB today from Amazon. I almost don't want to finish reading it as I know there are no more AotE stories to come and I have loved this series.

 

Was Honor and Duty ever collected into an Omnibus, or would I need to get it as a trade if I want to read it?

 

I think it'll probably be included in the Dark Times Omnibus that's in the works, but that's only my guess.

 

It was collected:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-H...0253&sr=1-1&keywords=star+wars+honor+and+duty

Up to you as to whether you wait for the Omnibus.

 

I had no idea there was going to be a Dark Times Omnibus! Looks like I won't be getting the Dark Times trades yet.

 

I just read AOTE Volume 2, and I'm calling the police, because canceling this series was a CRIME. One of the best SW comics I've ever read. The first arc was great, but diminished some with the whackadoodle galactic-domination plot at the end. This stays fantastic all the way through, perfectly capturing the dark spirit of Bond while putting Cross on a more realistic, and far more intriguing, political case in the world of aristocracy and diplomacy. From Cross's Bond-style remorseless badassery to the diplomatic intrigue to the twisty plot to Davide Fabbri's magnificent art to the incredibly fun action to the emotional heart to the GODDAMN SKY PIRATES, this has everything you could possibly want from the series. It's A+++ work.

PLEASE UNCANCEL.

 

Dawn of the Jedi: Prisoner of Bogan is an improvement on Force Storm. Previously, I didn't care about Xesh's drama; now it's going somewhere and the big plot is clicking. I'm not sure I'm completely sold yet, but this really is a big improvement and I'm on board to see the next arc. The one thing that really bugged me is the homogeneity of Jan's style. Basically every major male lead is a hunk with long hair and a chin-scruff goatee. Xesh morphs to follow the design before thankfully going back to his old look, and Daegen Lom trades his awesome bearded-madman look in to become just another long-haired hunk with a chin-scruff goatee. I'd like a little more variety in everybody's personal style. I'm also not the biggest fan of every female character having an improbably cleavage-revealing outfit. Trill especially stands out as silly. Jan can do fantastic and original design work, but I guess she tends to slip back into the same formula too often.