sadly...

It used to be here at CBR, but sadly they dropped it.

I understand that most Cinebook stuff is readily available at bookstores in jolly ol' Britain, which may make up for Diamond dropping them. US readers are screwed, though.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

They are all available through Diamond. 2000AD and its related publications are solicited every single month in Previews, as are the Cinebook releases.

Hmm... that didn't actually occur to me... I don't shell out on Previews,as I've slimmed down my pull list from what used to be well over a hundred titles about four years ago, to just under twenty now...

Most comic book shops here in the UK (that I've been to anyway) tend to stock Tintin and Asterix as standard, and Waterstones has a really good stock of the Cinebook lines...

I've heard a lot of arguments from US retailers that they don't like "the European format, because it doesn't fit on the shelves properly", which I still think is one of the laziest excuses ever...

They are all available through Diamond. 2000AD and its related publications are solicited every single month in Previews, as are the Cinebook releases.

If your comic shop doesn't get them, you should ask it to get some for you. If they don't do that anyway, tell them to sod off and order the books online. There are A LOT of online retailers that don't charge shipping for US customers.

I mean, when I lived in Brazil, the ONLY way for me to get some euro stuff was to order the occasional US translations that appeared on Previews. If I could get them in distant Brazil, it shouldn't be too hard to get in US itself.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

Knowing multiple romance languages like I do isn't too hard, they are very similar to each other! French is a bit different, but Portuguese, Spanish and Italian are very close (not that I can speak Italian, to be fair, I can read and understand people speaking, but lack the skill to speak it myself!).

My problem with Japanese are the multiple alphabets they use, not just the kanji. I'll never understand why don't they just CHOOSE one instead mixing up three different alphabets on the same text (sometimes the same PHRASE!). Since taking the time to learn that many alphabets to know a language that, frankly, is only useful for reading comics isn't too cost-effective, I gave up on it. I could learn, say, Chinese AND German at an equivalent amount of time - and those languages would be FAR more useful to me both professionally and personally than Japanese.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/How-to-Learn-Any-Language/Barry-Farber/e/9781567315431/?itm=2

Probably; the complaints leveled at Grant Morrison’s writing seem to overlap here. It’s not that the critics can’t follow it, but that they won’t bother to.

My problem with Grant Morrison's writing is that I often feel like I need to often go beyond the four corners of the page and immerse myself in an obscure comic history lesson to get what he's writing. Like, I COULD understand Final Crisis better if I got the tie-ins. And if I read Seven Soldiers, the few issues of which I found unbearable and untolerably boring and dropped immediated. And if I read more of Kirby's New Gods. And if I read the online annotations for the comic book, if I knew more obscure DC history, etc. I think it would be very hard for someone who does not come into the book with a lot of this previous knowledge or a friend with all this previous knowledge to explain it to them to follow the story well enough to come up with a coherent narrative.

I mean, I COULD have understood it better if I put in the amount of work to research all this stuff and read the pedantic annotations scattered across the web. What I read of the miniseries though didn't entertain me enough to inspire me to do so however.

Brian's doing a sterling job, considering the comics that he has actually been exposed to... Sure there are English translations available for things like Tintin, Asterix, Lucky Luke, etc. but they are much harder to get in the States... and don't get me started on 2000AD...

It's a subjective list. Like all lists. It is his opinion. If you have your own opinion, feel free to comment, start your own blog, or write your own comic.

Personally I just enjoy reading other people's lists and cheering when something comes up that I agree with, and trying not to get too wound up with something I don't agree with...

I know Portuguese, English, French, Spanish and Italian (not Japanese, that's friggin' HARD!). Am I a resurrected Doug Ramsay? I learned all those languages just to read their comics...

To be fair, you only need to know French. EVERYTHING is translated to French! For obsessive comic fans (like me!), French is the best language to know. Of course, I do live near France and have a decent access to french publications, although I understand that most of that stuff is also available in Canada.

But I don't blame Brian for putting mostly (entirely?) english-language comics here. Except for commercial manga, there is a serious lack of english translations of most classic comics worldwide. When there is a translation, it's usually of more modern stuff.

Doesn't mean he shouldn't try and get some eurocomics from Cinebook, like I keep telling him to...

And please do not call foreign comics pretentious without having read them. Call their fans pretentious as much as you like, but do not judge something without knowing.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

I forgot to get an answer for this, but I think I can infer that the answer is "no."

I think I like this translation better.

Probably; the complaints leveled at Grant Morrison’s writing seem to overlap here. It’s not that the critics can’t follow it, but that they won’t bother to.

I followed it all perfectly, I still didn't think it was very good.
Individual sequences were great, but as a whole, it was just a bunch of individual sequences.
Like the alien squid in the boxing ring at the start - that's a great visual, but it never tied into anything.
I get that it may have just been crazy sequence after crazy sequence and that's why people love it, but when I got to the end and itt didn't all come together, I was let down.
Ideas alone don't make a story.

Translation: fuck off with your manga and your European comics, we’re going to have a 15:1 ratio of superheroes to everything else because that’s AMERICA. And America means forgoing anything even the slightest bit alien in favor of mass produced well trodden mainstream crap.

Why don't you go start your own blog, and do a year of cool comic book moments focusing on non-American comics.
That is an option open to you.

Translation: fuck off with your manga and your European comics, we're going to have a 15:1 ratio of superheroes to everything else because that's AMERICA. And America means forgoing anything even the slightest bit alien in favor of mass produced well trodden mainstream crap.

Well, it's not a leap of logic to imagine that a gorilla body was under that covering; it's really just a tiny hop.

" There is just a tiny bit of range between not explaining anything and just throwing crazy random events around to stun the uncritical reader (see, I can throw insults around too) and piling on massive towers of expositions. The Umbrella Academy fails badly at basic storytelling and what story it does tell isn’t a good one. It’s as though Way figured the only two options were being so heavy handed with obvious concepts that he felt the need to beat the reader to death with them (most of the family relationships) or just being zany (see Zombie Robot Gustave Eiffel who as one scene works but to keep doing that kind of thing in lieu of plotting is bad). And don’t get me started on how overcranked the deus ex machina must have been for that last issue. "

As others at CSBG have noted, the " weird for the sake of weird " criticism is a poor substitute for critical reading. If Umbrella Academy were truly just random eye candy a la a low-end Adult Swim cartoon, it wouldn't be given the kind of critical acclaim and discussion it's received. The interest in it from critics is BECAUSE there's ideas behind the wackiness.

As for the climax being a Deus Ex Machina; really, wasn't it more of a classic Chekov's Gun twist? That Seance, the pill-popping headcase, is the one whose abilities save the day?

"The ” Miracle Operation Saves Boy’s Life ” paper also had an image of a younger Spaceboy’s head attached to the gorilla body on an operating table; plus, Spaceboy’s conversation with Rumor had him bemoan the fact that he can’t have a normal life on the account of his gorilla body."

The art looks more like an iron lung to me. I certainly can't identify it from the picture as a gorilla body. And that conversation would be in issue four, or to quote myself: "more than halfway through the series".

There is just a tiny bit of range between not explaining anything and just throwing crazy random events around to stun the uncritical reader (see, I can throw insults around too) and piling on massive towers of expositions. The Umbrella Academy fails badly at basic storytelling and what story it does tell isn't a good one. It's as though Way figured the only two options were being so heavy handed with obvious concepts that he felt the need to beat the reader to death with them (most of the family relationships) or just being zany (see Zombie Robot Gustave Eiffel who as one scene works but to keep doing that kind of thing in lieu of plotting is bad). And don't get me started on how overcranked the deus ex machina must have been for that last issue.

And I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants to see more of The Horror!
Awesome looking character.

Those panels are brimming with energy.

Also: The Horror -- the kid with the tentacles coming out of his chest -- needs more face time. His death is a lingering mystery that I'd like to see solved/revealed sooner rather than later. Because I'm damn curious about what went down.