Animal Man and Shade the Changing Man
willia...@my-deja.com
re-interested. I bought all the Sandman collections when they came out.
In the last three months, I have purchased and read swamp thing from
issue 18 to 156 (I'm going to my local comic store today to get some
more) and I have started on Hellblazer (I currently have the first
twenty issues). My question is could anyone tell me about Animal Man and
Shade the Changing Man? I was wondering what they were about and if they
were some of the better vertigo books. Thanks for any info.
will j.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Eric Gimlin
willia...@my-deja.com wrote:
> My question is could anyone tell me about Animal Man and
> Shade the Changing Man? I was wondering what they were about and if they
> were some of the better vertigo books. Thanks for any info.
Other people can tell you more about SHADE- I have about half the run,
but I was never into the series like some people. Animal Man is rather
variable, but excellent. Morrison's run (1-26) is some of the best
comics I've ever read, but then again I love well-done metafictions,
which a lot of people don't care for. Vertigo didn't exist at this
point, but the series was very NOT proto-vertigo. It crossed over
heavily with the DCU and was all-ages acceptable. It's only
vertigoesque was extremely intellegent writing. The later runs are
variable. 27-32 (Milligan) are a good little story, but Morrison
claimed at the time that his goal was to leave any series he left
hopeless to follow up on. Milligan avoided this by going off on a real
tangent, which gave some breathing room for the next run. Veitch (33-
50) told a decent story, but it works better as a whole and I really
started to lose interest in the series durning his run. Delano did turn
the book into a mature readers title during his run (51-?), and I felt
that was just not the right style for the character, so I left about
half a year after vertigo began.
Hope that helps, I'm sure somebody can give a fairer assessment of the
later issues.
Eric Gimlin
willia...@my-deja.com
Eric Gimlin <etgi...@nwlink.com> wrote
>
> Hope that helps, I'm sure somebody can give a fairer assessment of the
> later issues.
>
> Eric Gimlin
Yeah, it does a lot. Thank you.
Ratatosk
> My question is could anyone tell me about Animal Man and
>Shade the Changing Man? I was wondering what they were about and if they
>were some of the better vertigo books. Thanks for any info.
Shade the Changing Man lasted for 70 issues. All were written by
Peter Milligan. Artists varied but the 3/4 of the first 50 were drawn
by Chris Baccalo (sp) before he left. It reads (IMO) like 4 volumes:
1- 19, 20-32, 33 - 50, and then 51 - 70. From other talk here, 33-50
seem the most popular while many people hate 51-70. I don't, I just
dislike 59-70. IIRC, it was cancelled, and the last 3 issues were a
fairly rushed ending. There was supposed to be a miniseries
following it, but this hasn't happened and since Milligan has left
comics, I doubt we'll be seeing it anytime soon.
Animal man had several different authors working on it. The first 50
issues are only sort of half vertigo. They aren't mature and are set
inside the DCU. Guest shots and everything. But they are written
more as serial novels than most mainstream comics. Morrison's 1-26
are very good, some of my favorite stuff anywhere. Several of the
things that occur Morrison uses again and expands upon in The
Invisibles. And there's some things that may be considered a
prototype for Hypertime. Milligan's 27-32 ( 32 may not be right but
it is close) is a short story told in an alternate universe. Tom
Veitch (sp), not the former swamp thing author/ penciller but a
different guy, told his issues 33-50 as a science fiction story. Not
great but not horrible, IMO. 51 -79 were Delano's. I liked the first
half, but they soon started following a theme or plotline or whatever
that I really didn't like. I bought tthem as a lot online so I went
ahead and finished them, tho if I were buying one at a time I would
have quit. The last ten or so issues, which I haven't read, were
written by a guy named Prosser (sp?) I have some of them, but not
enough to be able to read them and follow the story, so I haven't
tried. And then it ended.
Kirk
Doug Ellis
the Changing man.
Shade the Changing man, in my oppinion, is a fantastic book. Just recently
I got issues 1-14 from Ebay (I have 14-72 or something)
I love it.
The first 3 issues arn't exactly the best, but what it turned into was just
fantastic. The character development is great, the use of surrealism is
just fantastic. I mean amazing amazing stuff. Like Preacher, a main
character in Shade the Changing man is America, which is really interesting
to see. From New York to Hollywierd to San Fran, to Santa Fe. They hit
all the spots and you see it through the eyes of an alien. Great stuff.
<willia...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:8fhchc$8rr$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> I recently got interested in the vertigo line. I should say
> re-interested. I bought all the Sandman collections when they came out.
> In the last three months, I have purchased and read swamp thing from
> issue 18 to 156 (I'm going to my local comic store today to get some
> more) and I have started on Hellblazer (I currently have the first
> twenty issues). My question is could anyone tell me about Animal Man and
> Shade the Changing Man? I was wondering what they were about and if they
> were some of the better vertigo books. Thanks for any info.
>
>
Paul O'Brien
<Ki...@altcastlenet.com.nospam> writes
>
>Shade the Changing Man lasted for 70 issues. All were written by
>Peter Milligan. Artists varied but the 3/4 of the first 50 were drawn
>by Chris Baccalo (sp) before he left. It reads (IMO) like 4 volumes:
>1- 19, 20-32, 33 - 50, and then 51 - 70. From other talk here, 33-50
>seem the most popular while many people hate 51-70. I don't, I just
>dislike 59-70.
I'd agree with that - it only got really dire towards the end. I'd
still rather it had finished with issue #50, though. It completely
lost direction after that, and while there were a few good issues
in there, issues #1-50 are the ones that really deserve to still be
read today.
Paul O'Brien
THE X-AXIS REVIEWS - http://www.esoterica.demon.co.uk
Flowers: the practical alternative to capitalism, apparently.
wild damonials
Paul O'Brien wrote:
>
> In article <391c8a7...@News.CIS.DFN.DE>, Ratatosk
> <Ki...@altcastlenet.com.nospam> writes
> >
> >Shade the Changing Man lasted for 70 issues. All were written by
> >Peter Milligan. Artists varied but the 3/4 of the first 50 were drawn
> >by Chris Baccalo (sp) before he left. It reads (IMO) like 4 volumes:
> >1- 19, 20-32, 33 - 50, and then 51 - 70. From other talk here, 33-50
> >seem the most popular while many people hate 51-70. I don't, I just
> >dislike 59-70.
>
> I'd agree with that - it only got really dire towards the end. I'd
> still rather it had finished with issue #50, though. It completely
> lost direction after that, and while there were a few good issues
> in there, issues #1-50 are the ones that really deserve to still be
> read today.
>
nonsense, you silly man.
issues 1-19 or so were among the best comics ever published.
19-50 were merely spectacular.
51-62 or so still deserve to be read today.
THEN it got to be total crap,
which in this case means 40 pages of wonderful story randomly cut
into 20 pages of actual story each month,
rendering it muchly incomprehensible.
--
"I bruise the air,
with little sharp words as grey as stones."
Area, "Our Corner Drowning"
Echo Mute
> Tom
>Veitch (sp), not the former swamp thing author/ penciller but a
>different guy,
Yes; not Rick Veitch, but his brother, Tom.
Not terribly confusing really.
-Mute.
______________________
putting something useful here soon
JoeQuick
blown ass, but the rest of shade up till seventy wasn't that bad. Really, it
was just different. Kathies Death had forced shade to grow up in certain ways
and the book changed direction because of it. Still krazy, but a slightly
different direction. No more lesbian love under shade the changing blanket.
Instead we have Lenny and the blind girl popping georges cherry before he dies.
It's a good series. I put it well beyond sandman because it made you care
about the characters. Of course the best comic is Cerebus, as long as you read
more than just the first volume.
willia...@my-deja.com
Morrison writing Third Rock from the Sun? I need a little more of an
idea before I commit. I am currently up to the Tainted Love arc in
Hellblazer and finished Swamp Thing vol. 2. I'm spending a lot of money,
but I'm enjoying every minute of it! I think Animal Man will be next on
my list. I also saw an earlier series of Shade the Changing Man, like
circa 1970. Is there a tight connection between the two incarnations?
Jose Aragao
news:8gbeft$t0m$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> Soooo is it like Mork and Mindy meet the X-Files or more like Grant
> Morrison writing Third Rock from the Sun? I need a little more of an
> idea before I commit. I am currently up to the Tainted Love arc in
> Hellblazer and finished Swamp Thing vol. 2. I'm spending a lot of money,
> but I'm enjoying every minute of it! I think Animal Man will be next on
> my list. I also saw an earlier series of Shade the Changing Man, like
> circa 1970. Is there a tight connection between the two incarnations?
There's an inspiration on the 70's series for the background, but i think
the two work better alone.
By the way, i havent given you my opinion yet, so here it is:
Animal Man: as people already said, to read in blocks (one block by writer).
Each one has its strenghts, so don't dismiss a block if you didnt like
another (unless you really dont like the baker family). It would be better
to try read some issues of each block before buying of course. I liked all
blocks but the last, and i think its a series worth buying.
Shade: works in blocks too, even if all written by Milligan. The first block
(1 to 35) is (simplifying) a on-the-road-movie-love-triangle/square :) The
second (35 to 50) is the best written and drawn. The 3d block is uneaven.
Some great stories, some not-so-great-but-good stories. Some good art, some
weak art. Its one of my all-time favorite comics series, even if in the last
5/10 issues were rushed.
-----
José Pedro Aragão
jose....@altitudesoftware.com
quick
this post so the vertigo newsgroup shows up in my
remarq "subscribed folder" don't ask.
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