#Tradewaiting

[tradewaiters]

The TradeWaiters are back and ready to join the Nancy Renaissance! We read the first print collection of Nancy by Olivia Jaimes, and weigh in on the new artist who has taken over an ancient but venerated comic strip. Spoiler: Olivia Jaimes is lit, and you’re wrong if you think otherwise. We discuss the fraught circumstances of rebooting legacy newspaper comics, and have a lot to say about what makes Nancy #relatable.

Also mentioned in this episode: Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson Opus and Outland by Berkeley Breathed Mutts by Patrick McDonnell B.C. by Johnny Hart Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson Family Circus by Jeff Keane For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston Popeye and Mousetrapped by Randy Milholland Cards Against Humanity The Cartoonist Cooperative and Baby Reindeer created by Richard Gadd

Music by Sleuth

You can find us at: J Dalton Jam Jeff Ellis

You can also follow the TradeWaiters on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Ko-Fi.

[cloudscapecomics]

The TradeWaiters 105: "My Aunt Is a Monster" by Reimena Yee

[mytradingdays]

#tradewaiting Infosys at range of 800-900.

[davidmann95]

Comics this week (8/4/2021)?

Anonymous asked: Comics this week?

The Nice House On The Lake #3: I'll have to go back soon and check all the symbols to retain who's who, but this just keeps...damn. We've talked about Tynion's unbelievable level-up, but we're not even getting the benefit of watching Martinez Bueno become a giant in real time, he went and did it nice and casual-like while all our backs were turned.

Stillwater #9: The bits and pieces of worldbuilding keep luring me in, but the actual events are lying flat on the page for me at this point and I think I should back out rather than continue committing to a title I enjoy so little month-to-month, or at least tradewait. Guess I'll go to #12 so that if I choose the later there'll be a nice clean line of division.

The Good Asian #4: I think I'd appreciate noir a lot more in general with recap pages that illustrated everybody's relationships with one another. Easily my favorite issue yet though. That opening! That raindrop page! That ending!

Commanders in Crisis #11: Oh hell yes, the most the book's lived up to its enduring promise and gosh is it sweet. Countdown's on to the big finale and then for good measure my very own comics debut with one of the backup features in the Vol. 2 trade.

The Wrong Earth: Night & Day #6: Dangit I guess I became emotionally invested beyond just the strength of the core concept without even having noticed, huh.

Batman #111: Yes, yes, this is Tynion doing standardey-standard superhero stuff to finance the real work going elsewhere but he's real good at that so I'm happy, who cares, is Ghostmaker getting an entire goddamn annual to himself please

The Joker Presents A Puzzlebox #1: My dad was interested in this one; I wasn't blown away, but it is nice that someone's finally putting in the effort to make Joker actually funny.

Justice League Infinity #2: A nice little Superman spotlight issue - it makes a predictable decision in one aspect that'll surely rankle some, and it's not what I would have picked myself, but it handles it as well as one could. In any case, this book's still going well above and beyond what I ever would have expected, expanding beyond what the show could have done instead of feeling like a watered-down reencapsulation ala the second season of Batman: The Adventures Continue.

Justice League #66: Better than the last few issues anyway, and a testament to Synmar being one of Bendis's few all-the-way-good ideas during his time at DC.

Avengers #47: Turned out dad dug the start of this arc so I decided to stick with it and I'm pretty happy I did, I can feel the gonzo creeping back in.

X-Men #2: Thus far this run feels as close to the platonic ideal not of X-Men but what I want from a Justice League comic as anything since at least Sixth Dimension - bunch of fun archetypal personalities dealing with big problems in weird cool ways with minimal fuss or muss. There is a certain kind of distinctly charming comic that makes you go "y'know, in a perfect world, this would be the absolute bare minimum for how good an ongoing needs to be. Rocks no boats but everything you asked for" - will this rewrite the playbook aesthetically, conceptually, thematically, or character or otherwise storytelling-wise for the X-Men? Basically not a chance in hell. Did Pepe Larraz draw them turning into a Voltron in the first issue and does this issue continue in that spirit with Duggan still turning in a surprisingly good Hickman impression? YOU BET.

Guardians of the Galaxy Annual #1: It was a perfect comic, up until the last couple pages where it became a perfecter comic, an expression of praise I feel is truly in line with the thought processes of this wonderful tales' focus. Backup was nice too even if I couldn't tell what was going on.

The Immortal Hulk #49: Oh hell and heck, Ewing doing prose again and baby you know I missed you. Wasn't sure how this could properly wrap things up with so little space left but even if the finale wasn't quadruple-sized there's no mistaking that this is go time.

[kryptonians]

Last night I made my first post to my own comics blog tradewaiting! My mission statement is to focus on graphic novels and collected editions. There will be a lot of stuff coming soon so give it a follow on Twitter at @trade_waiting and share with your friends!

[thecomicon]

Tradewaiting – February 12th, 2020 Releases: Behind the Curtain

Tradewaiting – February 12th, 2020 Releases: Behind the Curtain

A lot of comics come out every week. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of #1s and dramatic new status quos as they crash. That’s why I’m here. Whether you said you’d revisit checking that series out when it was collected in trade or you simply never noticed the announcement of that awesome OGN, whether you’re just waiting for that hardcover to be published as a trade or have been longing for a…

[deathchrist2000]

Thoughts on Arkham City : The Order of the World ?

Tradewaiting

[wqintraining]

Top 15 Current Comics (July 2018)

15. CHAMPIONS (Marvel): Very worried about what’s going on with Sam, but Zub has managed to produce some strong work so far. Much better than the second half of Waid’s run.)

14. WE ARE THE DANGER (Black Mask Studios): A+ title. Pretty good slice of life story so far.

13: FENCE (BOOM!): The opening arc needs to END.

12. MS. MARVEL (Marvel): I’ve given up on the book ever being as good as it was originally but it remains a solid book nonetheless.)

11. DOMINO (Marvel): It’s no Secret Six, but I think it’s shaping up to be as good as Simone’s first BoP run.

10. X-MEN RED (Marvel): I really hope Laura doesn’t start calling herself X-23 so I can keep reading this book.

9. DETECTIVE COMICS (DC): Eyy, the only DC book on the list! Hill had a fantastic first issue and I can’t wait to see where his story goes.

8. UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL (Marvel): There are no bad issues of Squirrel Girl. I have been reading this book longer than any other on the list and I have no intention of stopping. Thanks Scholastic!

7. PAPER GIRLS (Image): Vaughan is a genius.

6. EXILES (Marvel): It took it awhile to get going but I’ve come to love the cast and issue #4 was bloody fantastic.

5. MAXWELL’S DEMONS (Vault): By far the best book out right now on a technical level. Deniz Camp is going to be a BIG writer, people. Of course there are only 3 issues so far and the next issue isn’t coming out till December so that kinda sucks.

4. QUANTUM AND WOODY (Valiant): I love these bois.

3/2. MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS/ GO GO POWER RANGERS (BOOM!): Shattered Grid is the best event comic of all time.

1. RUNAWAYS (Marvel): I have problems with the current storyline, but it’s still my favorite comic out there right now.

OTHER BOOKS I’M READING:

THE WILDSTORM: MICHAEL CRAY (DC): Great book, but I’m tradewaiting the second half.

THE FLASH (DC): Flash War is actively pissing me off at this point.

MECH CADET YU (BOOM!): Only still reading it because it’s ending. The second half hasn’t been nearly as strong as the first half.

[uncannycyke]

Tbh I was basically one of those people. I stopped reading comics monthly altogether before HOX/POX. I would tradewait on indie/creator-owned projects I liked, and occasionally pick up DC/Marvel stuff that seemed interesting or I heard good things about, but I went something like THREE YEARS without going to my LCS regularly. Literally as soon as they announced Hickman was back? I'm like I don't care what he's writing, I'm buying it. (I was an X-fan before Hickman tho)

yeah a lot of my friends were like this too. a LOT of people i joined this fandom with are no longer in it because hickmans relaunch didnt vibe and still doesnt. and to be honest....if it weren't for my incessant need to know *everything* scott is doing and my job as a reviewer, i probably wouldnt have stuck around either.

there are some diamonds in the rough like hellions but. overall its not what i personally want from the xmen. i've been finding myself enjoying more indie these days just because im so exhausted with the big two and their handling of properties i love.

[westofwonder]

Pull List (08/04/2021)

Crime Syndicate #6 Guardians of the Galaxy Annual #1 Justice League #66 Justice League Infinity #2 Sensational Wonder Woman #6 Seven Secrets #11 Silk #5 Sinister War #2 Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider #1 Suicide Squad #6 The Swamp Thing #6 Ultraman: The Trials of Ultraman #5 X-Men #2

Crime Syndicate - I am a little disappointed on what happened in this series, and that I mean I think it didn’t do enough. I do like that Earth 3 is getting focus

Guardians of the Galaxy Annual - The Prince of Power! I wonder if he get’s any explanation on his backstory. I am curious on who he is fighting on the cover.

Justice League - I hope Bendis is going somewhere with this. Hrm.

Justice League Infinity - What happened to Superman? Fun book nonetheless.

Sensational Wonder Woman - We are getting some fun Wondy villains in this! Woohoo!

Seven Secrets - Behind with this series, but looking forward on catching up.

Silk - I was pleasantly surprised on how much I enjoyed the last issue. I think adding Silvermane’s connection to the villain in this story was a good idea.

Sinister War - It’s okay so far. Nothing wowing me.

Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider - This looks like it could be a lot of fun. Cover is fun.

Suicide Squad - Besides having Bloodsport go up against Ultrman, I think this issue deals slightly with the Superboy question. I still find that a little odd it’s happening in this book and not a Super-title but oh well.

The Swamp Thing - Confused on why this is bringing in characters from an ongoing when this book is a limited series. Feels a little off.

Ultraman: The Trials of Ultraman - There seems to be plans for another miniseries, but I think after this showing and the last series showing, I will have to tradewait it. I think I’ll be better off if I read it all in one chunk than for five consectutive monts.

X-Men - Love when heroes do that team together motion.

Mostly caught up. Lots to read regardless.

Happy readings!

[tradewaiters]

Join Jam, Jeff, and JD for another episode of the TradeWaiters. This time we read Roaming by Canadian paragons of cartooning Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki. It’s a story of three young women visiting New York and discovering themselves, and in true Tamaki fashion, pushes the medium of comics to its limits. We’ll discuss our own adventures, the genre of comics that I GUESS we’re officially calling “mumble-core” now, and also the “Darryl Ayo method” of how the comics industry should work.

Also mentioned in this episode: Skim and This One Summer also by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki Super Mutant Magic Academy and Boundless by Jillian Tamaki Emiko Superstar by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Rolston Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell The Sculptor by Scott McCloud Witch Hat Aetelier by Kamome Shirahama Old Caves by Tyler Landry The Sopranos by David Chase The Boys by Eric Kripke Disco Elysium published by ZA/UM Gundam created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise and the Canadian cartoonist stamps

Music by Sleuth

You can find us at: J Dalton Jam Jeff Ellis

Our next episode will be on My Aunt Is a Monster by Reimena Yee

You can also follow the TradeWaiters on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Ko-Fi.

[cloudscapecomics]

The TradeWaiters 94: "Descending Stories" Vol. 1&2 by Haruko Kumota

[makeyourownmyth]

best read in 2017.

As always, there are disclaimers: this isn’t a best of the year list. It’s more like a fave list. I don’t read much that’s current (other than comics) so there’s little cultural zeitgeist-y-ness here. However, on a sad note, my goodreads list says I only read 12 books this year. A couple years ago, I was almost to 50 a year. Damn. That being said, almost all of the books I read were fantastic. Here’s my list.

5. All The Light We Cannot See - Brilliant. A bit predictable, sure, but way better than the smut kids usually read. If it’s on your kid’s summer reading list, be grateful.

4. Cat’s Eye - Margaret Atwood is having a different moment in the sun right now, but this work stood out, even more than Handmaid. It’s her predicting her own end? Maybe? It’s filled with ruminations about art and self and our place in the world after we’re done being the people we used to be. 

3. The Underground Railroad - I thought the premise was a little wonky when someone described it to me, but the writing was powerful enough to get me through the wackiness. 

2. Americanah & We Should All Be Feminists - Adichie is the best. Americanah only had one bad part and Feminists had none. This should be your new default gift for new parents. 

1. Invisible Man - A classic that I’d never read before and perhaps the best book I’ve read since I started teaching. It’s way better than it starts, and it’s a marvel. This should be required reading. 

Comics? Well, I’m in a baaaad place with them. I basically think there’s nothing good happening with the Big Two, and am more than willing to tradewait for everything from Image. But here’s what was good.

4.  Infamous Iron Man - Bendis and Maleev get to work with one of the best characters of all time in Vic and they do great things with him.

3. Royal City - Lemire knows family drama.

2. After Death - Incredibly slept on. This is a masterpiece. 

1. Saga - Still the undefeated champion, still the best comic coming out. 

[davidmann95]

Realized it was silly to wait for the singles when I keep seeing panels from it online that spoil stuff, I've caught up and I'll just tradewait for the physical experience. It feels breezier than I'd like between the team-up format and it taking place in the earlier volumes - the appeal of Bennett's original RWBY comic was getting to slow down for types of character stuff the show proper doesn't quite have the time to devote to, and the necessity of constant introductions this time doesn't really allow that - but it's still a fun adventure with some clever bits. I do hope though that there's somehow a threequel, and with everyone now established there's more room to explore how everyone interacts.

So, RWBY/Justice League is now out. Thoughts?

I’ll be getting the book physically, but I checked out the first digital chapter this morning and was really interested in how it contextualized Clark’s powerset within this setting; that “I can do whatever Dust does, but more so!” is clearly half him trying to divert from the true nature of his origins (we don’t know what the incident was and that’ll surely come back around) and half him trying to contextualize what he does for himself in the terms this world has available is a nice bit. And the way to keep him from being gamebreaking within this setting being “he’s literally a reverse-Night Girl” - at least for now even if it’s hinted that could change - is both hilarious and makes sense for the rules of this world; boy ain’t gonna go fly off to throw Salem into space when that lady literally lives at Evernight Castle in The Land Of Darkness.

As for the storytelling, it’s not as on-point or emotional as the original RWBY comic but that makes sense between the different setting, DC probably ranking this as a lower-priority, and that you only have so much space in a team-up. More surprising to me is the time period, I’d have thought this was going to clear up some lingering threads from the first book but I guess not.

Anonymous said: First four issues of RWBY/Justice League out. Apparently DC's answer to how to fit Superman into the universe is just plopping him in there and have a crush on Ruby.

We already knew the JL would just be there as embedded characters. As for your second point I initially thought you were overblowing it but looking back you actually have it backwards, it’s Ruby who seems to have a bit of a thing for him; I’ve seen some folks get fired up over that, but 1. It’s hardly like this comic is straightwashing when I know there’s plenty of flirting between Yang and Blake later, and 2. From panels I’ve seen later this is dropped pretty quickly. I guess it’s just a folks in capes thing.

EDIT: Anonymous said: My apologies I didn't mean to sound angry, I was trying to make a joke about how Superman was in RWBY but it came across differently than I thought. I don't actually have a problem with it, ignore this if you want.

It would have been fine if you did! That’s not the angry opinion in my inbox that bugs me. Glad to hear it didn’t actually bug you though, appreciate the clarification.

[thecomicon]

Tradewaiting – February 5th, 2020 Releases: Bests of 2019

Tradewaiting – February 5th, 2020 Releases: Bests of 2019

A lot of comics come out every week. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of #1s and dramatic new status quos as they crash. That’s why I’m here. Whether you said you’d revisit checking that series out when it was collected in trade or you simply never noticed the announcement of that awesome OGN, whether you’re just waiting for that hardcover to be published as a trade or have been longing for…

[compartmentalisinghmpf]

I googled around for podcasts featuring my favourite cartoonists and their work to listen to while alone in the workshop yesterday, and found this particularly nice example of people gushing articulately about why exactly Finder, the comic about which I wrote my M.A. thesis eight years ago, is so deeply fascinating. Reminds me that it’s time for a reread of the series! (When I’m done rereading Multiple Warheads, that is... The podcast trawl yesterday also reminded me that I needed to reread that, and it’s much shorter than Finder, so it goes first.)