Not Lying
July 20, 2013 7:05 AM Subscribe
Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples , has swept the Eisners, taking home awards for Best Continuing Series, Best New Series and Best Writer. Here's why you should be reading it.
I was talked into buying the first tpb by my irregular comic shop owner (my visits are irregular, and he's pretty damn irregular, too). It's really good, although I don't love the art quite as much as everyone else seems to and the story could be a bit more leisurely, but, hey, on the whole, excellent. You owe it to yourself to check it out.
Also, Lying Cat is the best.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:12 AM on July 20, 2013
Also, Lying Cat is the best.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:12 AM on July 20, 2013
Also it has Esperanto. More scifi should have Esperanto.
posted by graymouser at 7:14 AM on July 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by graymouser at 7:14 AM on July 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
And the delightful Michael Kupperman takes one home too!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:16 AM on July 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:16 AM on July 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
It's a great batch! King City got one too. I'm also very happy to see Marvel Comics: The Untold Story get a nod.
(Chris Ware took a bunch too, but you know, that's a given.)
posted by Artw at 7:24 AM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
(Chris Ware took a bunch too, but you know, that's a given.)
posted by Artw at 7:24 AM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Is just getting the Kindle edition OK, or do I want some comic-specific e-version?
posted by Sand at 7:24 AM on July 20, 2013
posted by Sand at 7:24 AM on July 20, 2013
Brian K Vaughan on "SAGA'S" Success, Controversy & the Future of Digital Comics
posted by Artw at 7:30 AM on July 20, 2013
posted by Artw at 7:30 AM on July 20, 2013
Sand - I've been reading it in print, but despite recent upsets you should be able to get it all on Comixology - I've found that a better experience than Amazons own attempts to put comics on Kindle.
posted by Artw at 7:31 AM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 7:31 AM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
I saw them opening for Tull. They were OK.
posted by thelonius at 7:31 AM on July 20, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 7:31 AM on July 20, 2013 [5 favorites]
Previously.
NPR on the recent Comixology "banning" controversy.
I'm kinda tired of Comixology taking the heat for this, when Apple's issues regarding content are well-known and there was probably only a limited window for Comixology to get a book in front of a much larger company that might or might not have bothered to address it in a timely fashion. Further, all I know from this situation is that if you're a Hollywood big shot and you write a comic with a money shot in it, Apple supports your right to do so 100%. This isn't really a surprise...
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:36 AM on July 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
NPR on the recent Comixology "banning" controversy.
I'm kinda tired of Comixology taking the heat for this, when Apple's issues regarding content are well-known and there was probably only a limited window for Comixology to get a book in front of a much larger company that might or might not have bothered to address it in a timely fashion. Further, all I know from this situation is that if you're a Hollywood big shot and you write a comic with a money shot in it, Apple supports your right to do so 100%. This isn't really a surprise...
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:36 AM on July 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
Sand - I've been reading it in print, but despite recent upsets you should be able to get it all on Comixology - I've found that a better experience than Amazons own attempts to put comics on Kindle.
Amazon's attempts at formatting comics for Kindle have improved a great deal. Their guided-view-without-Guided-View is imperfect due to human error more than programming issues, I have found (anecdotally)...that is to say, when confronted with a complex page layout, Amazon's idea of the correct reading order of a given set of panels does not always gel with mine, or indeed I suspect with the expectations of most people taught to read left to right. But the panel pop-out thing they're doing is itself okay, and maybe a little less awkward than Guided View. Optimally, one would have a tablet that made it comfortable to read an entire page at a time, though.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:50 AM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Amazon's attempts at formatting comics for Kindle have improved a great deal. Their guided-view-without-Guided-View is imperfect due to human error more than programming issues, I have found (anecdotally)...that is to say, when confronted with a complex page layout, Amazon's idea of the correct reading order of a given set of panels does not always gel with mine, or indeed I suspect with the expectations of most people taught to read left to right. But the panel pop-out thing they're doing is itself okay, and maybe a little less awkward than Guided View. Optimally, one would have a tablet that made it comfortable to read an entire page at a time, though.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:50 AM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Meanwhile, on the SA forums, Gavok is doing some great mashups.
posted by boo_radley at 7:57 AM on July 20, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by boo_radley at 7:57 AM on July 20, 2013 [7 favorites]
Just caught up with Saga last week has it happens... I can see why everyone raves about it as it's refreshingly different in many aspects and I really like it for the most part but it's a little bit on the too decompressed side, prefer things to move on a bit quicker.
More scifi should have Esperanto.
Ripozo En Paco Harry Harrison
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:00 AM on July 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
More scifi should have Esperanto.
Ripozo En Paco Harry Harrison
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:00 AM on July 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
Oh and hat tip to Pope Guilty for that link!
posted by boo_radley at 8:03 AM on July 20, 2013
posted by boo_radley at 8:03 AM on July 20, 2013
Just got the second volume yesterday, but am only a few pages in. It's really great to read a genre graphic novel that's centered on the complexities of family.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:05 AM on July 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:05 AM on July 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
Also, Lying Cat is the best.
LYING.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:27 AM on July 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
LYING.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:27 AM on July 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
Brian K. Vaughn and Brandon Graham are both doing amazing things right now. As Artw pointed out, King City is incredible, and Graham and several others are doing mind-blowing work on the revival of Prophet.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:30 AM on July 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:30 AM on July 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
Fiona Staples needs more of a mention - her art really makes the series. Looking at the competition I can see why she didn't get a nomination - and David Aja would be hard to beat this year - but it would have been nice.
posted by Artw at 8:33 AM on July 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 8:33 AM on July 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
Yeah, while this is a cool book I actually find Prophet more to my taste, which is incredible considering it has its genesis in Rob Liefeld.
Really if you look at the "Best Continuing Series" nominations there isn't a comic there I don't love. Viva comics!
posted by selfnoise at 9:52 AM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Really if you look at the "Best Continuing Series" nominations there isn't a comic there I don't love. Viva comics!
posted by selfnoise at 9:52 AM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
I recently picked up the first trade for Saga and while I thought the general idea was okay, Vaughan's writing just turned me completely off. Every character has the same voice, and it's an irritating one. They don't talk like real people, they talk like a comic book writer trying to be "edgy". (Vaughan's Ex Machina lost me when a character tells another, "You're a cunt hair away from being shot" as though that's something anyone would say. If the general ideas of the book were better, I might could work with it, but putting a bounty hunter in at the beginning of your space saga leads me to believe I'm okay with skipping this.
posted by Legomancer at 10:23 AM on July 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Legomancer at 10:23 AM on July 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
>Also, Lying Cat is the best.
LYING.
You are the lying liar! Lying Cat says so!
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:25 AM on July 20, 2013
LYING.
You are the lying liar! Lying Cat says so!
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:25 AM on July 20, 2013
>Also, Lying Cat is the best.
LYING.
>You are the lying liar! Lying Cat says so!
LYING.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:45 AM on July 20, 2013
LYING.
>You are the lying liar! Lying Cat says so!
LYING.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:45 AM on July 20, 2013
I'm kinda tired of Comixology taking the heat for this
Well somebody made the bizarrely capricious decision NPR is making fun of.
posted by straight at 11:59 AM on July 20, 2013
Well somebody made the bizarrely capricious decision NPR is making fun of.
posted by straight at 11:59 AM on July 20, 2013
Something really rubs me the wrong way in that "why you should be reading Saga" article. I should be completely on board with it since I've loaned the first Saga trade to five people to get them hooked. Maybe its the obsession with framing everything to Star Wars. If that's the only sci-fi reference point you have, you probably shouldn't be speaking authoritatively on science fiction
posted by lownote at 1:02 PM on July 20, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by lownote at 1:02 PM on July 20, 2013 [5 favorites]
> Maybe its the obsession with framing everything to Star Wars.
Before I risk getting caught up in this thing, does Little Nell make it through the series OK? Somebody tell me if the bastards kill off Little Nell.
posted by jfuller at 1:20 PM on July 20, 2013
Before I risk getting caught up in this thing, does Little Nell make it through the series OK? Somebody tell me if the bastards kill off Little Nell.
posted by jfuller at 1:20 PM on July 20, 2013
Maybe its the obsession with framing everything to Star Wars. If that's the only sci-fi reference point you have, you probably shouldn't be speaking authoritatively on science fiction
This. I don't know what rung of the nerd hierarchy I'm on, but I feel considerably above those who aren't aware of anything beyond TV and movies.
posted by signal at 2:30 PM on July 20, 2013
This. I don't know what rung of the nerd hierarchy I'm on, but I feel considerably above those who aren't aware of anything beyond TV and movies.
posted by signal at 2:30 PM on July 20, 2013
Well, I guess that I'm above the fray because I tend to put things in the context of the Culture. (A Culture Mind meets the Death Star: "Oh, that's cute. I remember seeing those a few thousand years ago. Now point that cannon somewhere else, before I displace a kilo of antimatter into its core, hmm?")
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:08 PM on July 20, 2013
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:08 PM on July 20, 2013
Well somebody made the bizarrely capricious decision NPR is making fun of.
Somebody was trying to interpret a capricious policy made a gigantic corporation that has the sway to allow itself a lot of wiggle room; Apple could have as easily decided that the issue of Saga was porn or whatever, could have decided that Comixology was using Apple to distribute said porn or whatever, and ended its relationship with Comixology, a decision that would most likely barely affect Apple's bottom line at all and quite possibly destroy Comixology.
In real life, when BKV rightly complained and nerddom assembled rallied behind him, Apple was all, Those fuckers at Comixology! when in fact had the situation gone the other way, with a bunch of moral crusaders losing their composure over a dirty, dirty book that Comixology was sullying Apple's reputation with -- if, let's say, that book had been a self-published comic by some random guy no one had ever heard of instead of a book by a comics superstar who has worked on one of the last decade's most popular TV shows -- Apple could just as easily have said, Those fuckers at Comixology! due to an opaque policy that their partners have no real choice but to accept because, well, they're Apple. Apple is in a position where they're never at fault, no matter what; it is left to others to read the tea leaves and try and determine what might irk them.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:16 PM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Somebody was trying to interpret a capricious policy made a gigantic corporation that has the sway to allow itself a lot of wiggle room; Apple could have as easily decided that the issue of Saga was porn or whatever, could have decided that Comixology was using Apple to distribute said porn or whatever, and ended its relationship with Comixology, a decision that would most likely barely affect Apple's bottom line at all and quite possibly destroy Comixology.
In real life, when BKV rightly complained and nerddom assembled rallied behind him, Apple was all, Those fuckers at Comixology! when in fact had the situation gone the other way, with a bunch of moral crusaders losing their composure over a dirty, dirty book that Comixology was sullying Apple's reputation with -- if, let's say, that book had been a self-published comic by some random guy no one had ever heard of instead of a book by a comics superstar who has worked on one of the last decade's most popular TV shows -- Apple could just as easily have said, Those fuckers at Comixology! due to an opaque policy that their partners have no real choice but to accept because, well, they're Apple. Apple is in a position where they're never at fault, no matter what; it is left to others to read the tea leaves and try and determine what might irk them.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:16 PM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
I just bought this and am so hooked. Thank you MeFi!
posted by basicchannel at 8:17 PM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by basicchannel at 8:17 PM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Had this Watchlisted on Comixology for the last few days, because I have a frickin' backlog involving Cerebus (I blame MeFi), Starstruck (yay the 80's) and Sandman 9 (physical glossy real print copy).
However MeFi just forced me to prise open my wallet and insert CC into PC.
Gah! Lucky I don't have to work for my excesses.
posted by arzakh at 8:56 PM on July 20, 2013
However MeFi just forced me to prise open my wallet and insert CC into PC.
Gah! Lucky I don't have to work for my excesses.
posted by arzakh at 8:56 PM on July 20, 2013
I hadn't read comics regularly since the 90s, but with the timing of the iPad and Comixology I lucked out on what seems to be a great time for new and renewed titles. Prophet, Hawkeye, Locke and Key, Saga, Revival, Morning Glories, Young Avengers, East of West, The Manhattan Projects, and the Valiant revival. Nice time to be reading.
posted by eyeballkid at 6:46 AM on July 21, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by eyeballkid at 6:46 AM on July 21, 2013 [2 favorites]
[Off-topic: Yeezus boo radley, you have ruined my morning. Been laughing so hard I had to take an antacid supplement.]
posted by artof.mulata at 9:59 AM on July 21, 2013
posted by artof.mulata at 9:59 AM on July 21, 2013
You're welcome!
posted by boo_radley at 10:29 AM on July 21, 2013
posted by boo_radley at 10:29 AM on July 21, 2013
SDCC’13: Genre in Comics: Can Image Do Anything?
To people whose only reference points are SF/fantasy and horror, they already are! It'll be interesting to see whether Image publishes the next Ghost World or American Splendor. I think it's a very strong possibility.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:47 PM on July 21, 2013
To people whose only reference points are SF/fantasy and horror, they already are! It'll be interesting to see whether Image publishes the next Ghost World or American Splendor. I think it's a very strong possibility.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:47 PM on July 21, 2013
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Saga, but this seems like as good a place as any to point out Matt Kindt's MIND MGMT was robbed.
posted by togdon at 9:22 AM on July 22, 2013
posted by togdon at 9:22 AM on July 22, 2013
Masters of the Universe - The space story Saga is the comic world's big hit
posted by Artw at 6:29 AM on July 26, 2013
posted by Artw at 6:29 AM on July 26, 2013
Brian K Vaughan: the king of "creator-owned" comics
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:39 PM on July 28, 2013
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:39 PM on July 28, 2013
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NPR on the recent Comixology "banning" controversy.
posted by Artw at 7:09 AM on July 20, 2013