The Campaign Builder's Guild

Quote from: SDragonReading Gunnerkrigg Court. This is really, really good stuff. I can't help, however, to compare it to Harry Potter. It might be the British schooling system, it might be the magic, or it might even be the protagonist being exposed to a world considerably more grandiose than they expected.

In any case, this is good stuff.

It does have a bit of a harry potter undertone to it. That being said it's IMO about a thousand times more awesome than harry potter.

Quote from: Nomadic

Quote from: SDragonReading Gunnerkrigg Court. This is really, really good stuff. I can't help, however, to compare it to Harry Potter. It might be the British schooling system, it might be the magic, or it might even be the protagonist being exposed to a world considerably more grandiose than they expected.

In any case, this is good stuff.

It does have a bit of a harry potter undertone to it. That being said it's IMO about a thousand times more awesome than harry potter.

I actually liked Harry Potter, so the undertone is welcome, in my opinion. I will agree, though, this is much better. New favorite quote: "Hmm. Suddenly I am wearing a party hat."

Quote from: SDragon

Quote from: Nomadic

Quote from: SDragonReading Gunnerkrigg Court. This is really, really good stuff. I can't help, however, to compare it to Harry Potter. It might be the British schooling system, it might be the magic, or it might even be the protagonist being exposed to a world considerably more grandiose than they expected.

In any case, this is good stuff.

It does have a bit of a harry potter undertone to it. That being said it's IMO about a thousand times more awesome than harry potter.

I actually liked Harry Potter, so the undertone is welcome, in my opinion. I will agree, though, this is much better. New favorite quote: "Hmm. Suddenly I am wearing a party hat."

You may appreciate this then: http://gunnerkrigg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1185

I just made a pretty fantastic purchase on eBay.
[spoiler=THIS]This is the entire run of Green Lantern Vol.3!! The series that introduced Parallax and Kyle Rayner and with the last story leading into Green Lantern: Rebirth!!! All comics are from Fine to Near Mint condition (Most Near Mint but the ones from 20 yrs ago or so aren't in as good of shape).

In this collection you will get:

Green Lantern Vol. 3 #0-#181 and #1,000,000

Green Lantern Quaterly #1-#8

Annuals #1-#9

Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn #1-#6

Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn 2 #1-#6

Green Lantern/Sentinel: Heart of Darkness #1-#3

Brave and the Bold #1-#6 (starring Green Lantern and The Flash)

Green Lantern: Circle of Fire #1-#2 plus one-shots

Green Lantern Secret Files and Origins #1-#3

Green Lantern 80-page Giant #1-#3

Green Lantern plus The Ray

Green Lantern 3-D Special w/ glasses still inside

Green Lantern: Our Worlds at War Special

DC 1st: Green Lantern

DC Comics Presents: Green Lantern

Green Lantern/Flash: Faster Friends #1-#2

Green Lantern: The New Corps #1-#2

Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale

Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame

Green Lantern: Brightest Day/Blackest Night (has nothing to do with recent events from DC)

Green Lantern/Silver Surfer

Green Lantern: Dragon LOrd #1-#3 (Elseworlds)

Green Lantern: Evil's Might #1-#3 (Elseworlds)

Green Lantern: 1,001 Emerald Nights (Elseworlds)

Green Lantern: THe Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan HC OGN

Green Lantern: Fear Itself HC OGN

Plus many other comics that cross-over with the series such as issues of Green Arrow, Flash and Superboy![/spoiler]

I've decided to take a shot at reviewing a comic.

Transformers: Hearts of Steel

 


Imagine a Transformers universe where instead of coming to earth in the 20th or 21st century, they came in the 19th century. A universe where in the year 1864, Jules Verne was just getting Journey to the Center of the Earth published, and then an epic war between strange alien robots, calling themselves the Autonomous, and the Deceptuals, has been brought to earth. The autonomous side with the american union, while the deceptuals throw there pitch in with the confederates, while the deceptuals leader Megatron whispers in the ears of the british royal family and fanning the flames of war. The series goes alot of places from there including an investigation into the jungles of south america, where they must battle dinosaurs, and even a few of them take on there forms, an expediton to the moon, where the autonomous must enlist the help of Jules Verne in order to build a cannon to shoot them to the moon, so that they may discover some sort of secret, but revealing said secrets would be spoilertastic. There also appears to be bizarre tie ins such as the swashbuckling inventor Nemonico of India who meets up with Jules Verne, and he shows him his super submersible.
 
The artwork for this unbelievable masterpiece of steampunk sequential superiority is whoever did the artwork for these beauties.
 [spoiler] [/spoiler]
 [spoiler] [/spoiler]

Yes this is an incredible sounding comics series... Which Transformers Hearts of Steel is certainly not.

IDW comics decided to do an experiment series where they would try to do alternate universes with the transformers, flinging them into different timelines. There first venture into this was a 4 comic series called Hearts of Steel, where bumble bee meets up with john henry, and they must keep the Decepticons from getting to new york city. That's it. That is literally the entire consummation of the series. They keep the decepticons from getting to the big apple... Oh but it's ok! cause just look at Optimus Prime! He's a train! I love trains so much! Ever since i was a toddler, and i wouldn't stop bauling my head off until we went off and listened to a train pass by! I mean just look at this concept art!
[spoiler] [/spoiler]
Oh boy!... Wait... you mean you're saying that optimus prime isn't really making an appearance, and he won't be a train.... WHY ARE YOU RELEASING THIS CONCEPT ART THEN???? Oh and megatron's not making an appearance either? Well that's swell!!!!

Here's all i can say about this. If you were to follow my steampunk transformers concept, you might not have a super sales streak the world over, but you would have a very loyal cult following of the series, and have a lot steampunk enthusiasts slobbering all over themselves.  As you can imagine, Hearts of Steel didn't exactly go well, and now IDW refuses to do anymore alternate series transformers, which is sad, cause i could totally see a great series where the transformers wake up in the early 20th century, or a medieval version where the transformers turn into robotic versions of mythical monsters.

In conclusion, there is something worse than a bad idea, it's a great idea, which had it's potential wasted. Atleast a bad idea doesn't make you yearn for what wasn't.... Atleast there are people making cool action figures of steampunk prime...
 [spoiler]   [/spoiler]
What do you mean they aren't mass manufactured???

All right, i edited it now, and since i hate to waste a perfectly good post, i'll ask a couple of questions.

Did my review suck that much?

What makes a good superhero?

Okay, i've decided it's time to expand my horizons as a comics enthusiast, and begin taking a swim into superhero comics. I've read alot of manga, read all of the flight anthologies except for #7, and i got the Zot! black & white collection. I love Zot!, but that's not really a "mainstream" comic. So speaking of Zot!, I was thinking back to what Scott McCloud said in Reinventing Comics (great read, but it's kind of "of its time") and he was talking about how superhero comics to him are like "chocolate cakes with vanilla frosting" but who wants to eat nothing but cake? Well i've had alot of full course Flight meals, a bitter cup of Evangelion, and a sweet n' sour pork fest of FMA, but now I'm ready to try a slice of cake.

The root problem with me is, i love "cartoony" superheroes, like Darkwing Duck, The PPG's, Freakazoid, The Incredibles, and Zot! is cartoony to a fair degree. And i never really got to grow up with Superhero comics, because my mom wouldn't let me. Cont.

As to why, Moviebob put it best http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/3105-Done-With-Dark In retrospect i'm glad I was raised on DWD instead of that crap.. But still, i feel it's time to take a shot at mainstream superhero comics. I have forty bucks, twenty of which is going to the second volume of Darkwing Duck, but i also have twenty bucks left to spend on something else, and i was thinking of making an investment into a superhero comic. Still theres really only one  hero that has peaked my interest, and that's Captain Marvel (DC). Also maybe some alternate reality heroes like Spidergirl, but that's about it. So what do you guys think? Are there any other heroes that would interest me, is Captain Marvel a good investment, or should i save my money?
And while i'm at it, Dr. Strange looks kinda cool.

Quote from: Newb MSTieAs to why, Moviebob put it best http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/3105-Done-With-Dark In retrospect i'm glad I was raised on DWD instead of that crap.. But still, i feel it's time to take a shot at mainstream superhero comics. I have forty bucks, twenty of which is going to the second volume of Darkwing Duck, but i also have twenty bucks left to spend on something else, and i was thinking of making an investment into a superhero comic. Still theres really only one  hero that has peaked my interest, and that's Captain Marvel (DC). Also maybe some alternate reality heroes like Spidergirl, but that's about it. So what do you guys think? Are there any other heroes that would interest me, is Captain Marvel a good investment, or should i save my money?
And while i'm at it, Dr. Strange looks kinda cool.

Captain Marvel is a tough one, for me. I loved the early Fawcett stuff, but the few times I've glanced at how DC has handled him, it seems like they've made him a little more of a Superman copy. Most creators try to avoid that, but some are better than others. If you like him, though, then go for it!

As a Marvel fan (probably should've mentioned that before giving my opinion on a DC character, huh?), I'm not sure what to say about alternate reality characters. I, for one, like them, but it seems there's not an exceptionally large fanbase for stuff like 2099 or Age of Apocalypse. Though, if you like McCloud's American/Manga hybrid style, check out anything that Joe Madureira drew back in the 90's, including his work on Age of Apocalypse.

Sidenote: I just quickly looked into a listing of his stuff, and it seems there was a trade paperback of the old Generation X released late last year.

Doctor Strange really is pretty cool. There really isn't much that I can say that doesn't emphasize that point. I think his cameo rate is second only to Wolverine and Nick Fury.

@SDragon

Thanks for the help. I've always cared more about the characters than the companies they came from. I only had a couple minutes to glance over the comics at Hastings while getting my dvd set, and that was pinching it. I should probably mention that I've read some other stuff, including that medieval alternate reality comic that Marvel came out with, and I also read an issue from the Civil War saga. And i read a reprint of the first batman comics (wish they'd do the same for Captain Marvel).

If you want to check out reprints of the first few Captain Marvel stories, check out The Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics. This also has a reprint of the first Batman story, the first Superman story, a few stories from The Spirit, the first Red Tornado story, and quite a bit more.

McCloud's description of superhero comics aside, I'd probably compare them more to a bottle of Mott's grape juice. It's not a bottle of Vreeg's Finest Wine, but it's where most of us (in the US, anyway) get our start, and sometimes you just want to enjoy something comfortably familiar. Then again, that's just my view.

Witness the magnificent horror of Pictures for Sad Children.
Great webcomic and I don't think it has been added to this list yet. The humor is very... odd. Sometimes tragic. You don't always get why you are laughing.
For examples see
problems
shopping
unlikely medicine

Also, Buttersafe (half the terror, double the whimsy):
http://buttersafe.com/2008/03/13/romance-on-the-floating-island/

So i've thought about it long, and hard, and decided to save up an extra ten dollars to get that Blacksad collection. What do you guys think?

Haven't heard about it until just now, but after a quick Google search for info, it looks pretty good. I'd pick it up, myself.

Interestingly enough, despite the level of realism, the artwork looks like it was influenced by the work of Jason:

[spoiler=Blacksad][/spoiler]

[spoiler=Jason](from: I Killed Adolph Hitler)
[/spoiler]

I've decided to start writing out my ideas for comics. Like i said before, i'm a little paranoid about people stealing my ideas, but i am trying to find comics to study. What are some good alternative history comics to read? Webcomics would be best. Thanks!