Comments on: Comics You Should Own - Enigma

By: marcela

marcela — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:22:51 +0000

o.k.thanks for all the information!!
the separate parts must have been pretty thin though.
thanks again!!

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:36:26 +0000

That sounds like the collection of all eight issues. It's the same story, all in one place. I'm not positive, but it sounds like it.

By: marcela

marcela — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:41:19 +0000

hi!!!
yeah thanks, i just checked it and found few!! they are not in .co.uk. where i was looking before.
but im still a bit confused.
there is one comic - enigma - in purple color and just a mask with lizards displayed on the cover.
is this like an ultimate version where all these parts are together??
or is it completely different story??
please let me know - if they are different im going to order the separate parts immediately!!
i love that comic!!
and ....do you know any chance about similar ones?

thanks!! marcela

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:25:20 +0000

Marcela: I'm sure you can get it at Amazon.com. It's still in print.

By: marcela

marcela — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:27:36 +0000

superb comic!!! my most favorite!!!
does anybody know where i can get all 8 series?
had it just borrowed from library....
want to own it!!!!
pls, let me know.

By: Tanzim

Tanzim — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:41:57 +0000

Ah.......finally, some love for Enigma. It just might be the most underappreciated comic book of the century.

By: Giancarlo

Giancarlo — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 11:24:17 +0000

I read this when it first came out and just reread it a couple months ago actually. Makes me wish Milligan gets back to doing more Vertigo stuff, I liked all the stuff he has done for them. Remember Egypt and Extremist?

By: gus

gus — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:47:14 +0000

This is like my favorite mini-series ever, and I bought it just as I was discovering my sexuality. It helped tons. Great art. Great story. Great characters. Great twist that I didn't even understand first time around.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:29:04 +0000

I think the book works even if you know the identity of the narrator. Great stuff is like that - the twist is fun, but it has to be able to draw you back. I hope people who haven't read this will still check it out, because there's so much interesting stuff going on.

By: Gil Jaysmith

Gil Jaysmith — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 09:11:59 +0000

True. I suppose it's down to whether the column is a dissection of what makes the comic great, which you'd expect would target people who've read it and would like to know about the extra layers - like the excellent 31 Days Of 7 Soldiers - or whether it's doing the comic a public service by trying to sell it to some brand-new readers. I appreciate it's tricky, though... it's just that this comic in particular made me stop and boggle at its audacity, and that, sadly, just doesn't happen with enough comics. Good article, anyway. ~ Gil

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 04:38:52 +0000

Gil - yeah, that's true. Whenever I do these posts, I spoil a lot, because these are comics that have been out for a long time and it's like giving away the ending of "Citizen Kane." The identity of the narrator, I think, has a lot to do with what Milligan is doing in the book, so to discuss the book in great detail without revealing it is kind of impossible. These comics, to my mind, stand up even if you know the revelations, and although the lizard is an important revelation, I don't think it destroys the reading of the book at all. And I didn't spoil what happens to our three main characters, did I?

By: Gil Jaysmith

Gil Jaysmith — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 03:56:02 +0000

Mmmm.

I thoroughly agree that Enigma is a great comic, and that it stands up to rereading (which is unusual)...

... but I'm not sure that writing "You should read this comic, it has one of the best surprise twists ever - and this is what it is" is the best way to sell this comic to the uninitiated. And that goes double for putting it in the opening sentence.

~ Gil

By: Matt Brady

Matt Brady — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:21:17 +0000

I actually do own this series (found most of it in a discount bin!), but I haven't read it yet. I can't wait!

By: MarkAndrew

MarkAndrew — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 16:04:33 +0000

Yeah, one of my favorite superhero books ever. Maybe my single favorite from the past two decades.

(And a very nice write-up.)

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:27:04 +0000

I vaguely remember Fregredo commenting that that was a result of him getting more confident as the series progressed

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 14:29:59 +0000

Tim - check out Fegredo's work on the scans - the early issues seemed sketchier. The art was definitely busier, but the art got tighter as the series went on. It MAY have been because he was working faster and didn't have time to obsess over things, which certainly works for Bachalo these days. But early on, the art was definitely more vague, for whatever reason.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 13:21:00 +0000

Enigma is indeed fantastic!

Milliganâ€™s stuff, while very good, always leaves me cold, with the exception of the X-Force issues he did (X-Statix sucked until the final arc, with the hilarious Mr. Sensitive vs Iron Man battle in a field full of flowers).

Interestig point of view. For me, X-Statix was better than X-Force except for that last Avengers storyline which was a bit crap

By: The Cosh

The Cosh — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 09:58:26 +0000

Finally, a comic I do actually own. Enigma is brilliant stuff and I agree with Dave up there that this and parts of Shade are some of the best comics (surprisingly little) money can buy: Milligan has a way with words which can really leave a mark. As with many of the 2000AD alumni, it's definitely worth trying to get a hold of his earlier work: the TPB of Bad Company should be fairly easy to get hold of and there's a reprint of The Dead on the way.

By: stealthwise

stealthwise — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 06:23:05 +0000

Milligan's stuff, while very good, always leaves me cold, with the exception of the X-Force issues he did (X-Statix sucked until the final arc, with the hilarious Mr. Sensitive vs Iron Man battle in a field full of flowers).

By: dave

dave — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 05:27:29 +0000

Enigma was (is) indeed fantastic. Peter Milligan misses the mark so often; but when he gets it right he's easily as good as, if not better than, any of his 2000ad/Deadline contemporaries (which include Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Mark Millar, etc. etc)