We Stand On Guard

Okay, but seemed a little bit like Vaughan was on auto-pilot.

Ex Machina comic series

I really enjoyed it but I felt like not being an American and even more specifically a New Yorker in 2005 hindered me from appreciating certain nuances

Seconds

Looks great, recognisably O'Malley storytelling but without the video game layer, occasionally a touch of Chris Ware too. Lovely! (iirc the ending was slightly waffly, same as Scot Pilgrim.)

Incognito

I really liked the world they set up and the mix of pulp and psychological realism. Shame Brubaker and Philips didn't do any more.

Building Stories

Very good, though not as narratively showy as I was expecting - the "read in any order, lots of different bits and pieces" thing doesn't actually make much difference to the story, and outside of that it's no more experimental than Jimmy Corrigan.

Sandman comic series

After a slightly more traditionally DC Comicsy start, it spreads out into something absolutely wonderful. It's so diverse in its subject matter, settings and storytelling modes, and the art is gorgeous. I love how experimental it gets without ever disappearing up its own arse, and all the little touches like how Dream's visual abstraction varies without mention - sometimes he looks like a goth icon, sometimes like a portrait of Neil Gaiman, sometimes like a Jim Henson creation.

Rating: Exellent

RASL (2013)

By Jeff Smith (Bone). Great to see him turning his talent to a contemporary, adult tale. And it's just beautiful. I even stared at the covers for a long time before actually starting to read - the colour scheme, design, paper/finish choice, lovely.

I definitely enjoyed it as much as Bone for the most part, although it doesn't have that initial accessibility where he eases you into the story with cartoon antics.

It turned out to not have such a great ending, but the telling of the story up to that point was fantastic. It felt like it could have done with going on for a bit longer and expanding its scope a little, though. The themes, settings and sequences tend to feel repetitious at points, at first to good effect but eventually a little frustrating. iirc there was a bit of a fizzle-out issue with Bone, too...

Paper Girls posters and volume covers

Along with my compilations of the Paper Girls single issue covers, I had hoped to put together all the 4-part posters. Unfortunately, the digital versions were missing a couple of pieces:

I didn't want to spend money on physical copies just for this, and couldn't find anyone online willing or able to scan them in. However, just a few days ago, someone on Reddit posted their complete version. Like me, they had started with the digital versions; they found a physical copy to scan in for one missing piece and "redrew the other based on a blurry photo of a printout". It looks really good!

In the comments, someone also links to this photo of the six volume covers, which also link together.

I love how many different little puzzles this series provided for the reader!

Paper Girls back-and-front covers

Here's a compilation of all the covers from the Paper Girls comic series.

First, the front-and-back landscape versions:

https://i.imgur.com/Q8gUdig.jpg

And the standard front cover portrait versions:

https://i.imgur.com/XeJhppX.jpg

Paper Girls translations

In commemoration of the release of Issue 30 of the wonderful comic book series Paper Girls, here are the translations of all the instances of future speak.
I'm working from digital versions, so my page numbers may occasionally be off.
Please let me know in the comments if you spot any errors or omissions.

Issue 1
Page 34
Panel 2
GODDAMMIT.
Panel 3
SPLIT UP. WE’LL MEET AT THE SECOND FOLDING.
Panel 4
STAY AWAY FROM ME!
Page 35
STOP!
Page 36
PLEASE!
Page 37
YOURE GOING TO GET YOURSELVES KILLED!
Page 38
Panel 3
YOU PEOPLE ARE OUT OF YOUR
Panel 4
NO

Issue 2
Epigraph
NOSTALGIA IS DEATH
Page 3
SHIT.
Page 4
SHIT!

Issue 3
Epigraph
DEATH IS FOREVER
Page 12
Panel 4
NO.
Panel 5
NOT JUDE.
Page 13
Panel 1
MY LOVE.
Panel 2
GOODBYE.
Panel 3
- WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS, HECK?
- I GOT NO CLUE.
Panel 4
BUT SHIT JUST GOT MESSY.
Page 20
BUT I DID.
Page 21
Panel 1
EVERYBODY BE COOL. WERE THE GOOD GUYS.
Panel 3
LIKE HELL.
Panel 6
YEAH.

Issue 4
Epigraph
FOREVER IS NOW
Page 7
Panel 2
SHIT WAS THAT AN EDITRIX?
Panel 6
THAT.
Page 9
HECK!
Page 16
ITS OVER NALDO.
Page 17
WE CANT STAY HERE.
Page 19
Panel 1
THIS WAY.
Panel 5
FINALLY.
Page 20
Panel 1
ILL START HER UP.
Panel 3
NO.
Panel 4
BUT IT WILL TAKE HER SOMEPLACE THAT CAN.
Page 21
Panel 4
STAY RIGHT HERE.
Panel 5
WELL BE BACK SOON.

Issue 5
Epigraph
NOW IS GONE
Page 1
IM ON IT.
Page 15
Panel 2
WARNING VERTEX HAS BEEN BREACHED.
Panel 3
EVACUATE THE TUPLEQUAD IMMEDIATELY.

Issue 6
Page 15
Panel 1
STAY AWAY!
Panel 4
DAMMIT. IM HERE...
Page 16
...AND I ALREADY HATE IT.

Issue 7
Page 1
HEY!
Page 2
Panel 1
DONT DO THAT!
Panel 2
HOLD ON WOULD YOU KEEP SAYING STUFF PLEASE?

Issue 8
Cryptography Corner
HELLO
HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS
YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO THIS LANGUAGE
DO NOT TRUST THE ANDG
PETEY IS NOT YOUR FRIEND
RITA IS NOT YOUR FRIEND
IF YOU ARE READING THIS MESSAGE WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE
IF YOU ARE READING THIS MESSAGE WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE
IF YOU ARE READING THIS MESSAGE WE KNOW WHEN YOU ARE
THIS IS NOT YOUR TIME
DO NOT ENTER THIS CONTEST
DO NOT ENTER THIS CONTEST
THE APPLE HAS FALLEN FAR FROM THE TREE
LUNCHBOX

Issue 10
Page 6
Panel 3
CUNT!
Panel 5
YOU FUCKING INGRATES. UNCLE HECK GAVE HIS LIFE FOR YOU.
Page 7
Panel 3
WHA
Panel 4
NO! WHAT HAVE YOU
Art contest entry
COOL! (note: the entrant forgot to flip their second "O"!)

Issue 11
Page 4
PERIOD

Issue 17
Page 2
Panel 1
SHIT!
Panel 2
- AN OLD COP CAR JUST RAN RIGHT INTO US!
- STAY CALM HECK. CONCENTRATE ON THE ENEMY.
Panel 3
WE CANT BEAT THEM JUDE!
WE DONT HAVE TO LOVE.
Panel 4
JUST TRY TO BUY US A LITTLE TIME.

Issue 19
Page 5
KEEP MOVING!
Page 6
Panel 1
THEYRE RIGHT BEHIND US!
Panel 3
- AN OLD TIMER!
- HECK DONT!
Page 7
SHES JUST A LOCAL. COME ON.

Issue 20
Page 10
Panel 2
ANIMALS.
Panel 3
- FORGET THEM HECK.
- YEAH NALDO SAYS THE COUNCIL STASHED A LIFEBOAT DOWN HERE.
Panel 4
LETS GO.
Page 11
Panel 1
YOU REALLY WANT TO RISK TRAVELLING ALL THE WAY HOME IN ONE OF THOSE THINGS?
Panel 2
SCREW THE FUTURE HECK.
Panel 3
I SAY WE PRESS DEEPER INTO THE PAST.

Issue 25
Charlotte's letter in the letters page
YOUR DREAMS ARE CODED MESSAGES FROM ANOTHER TIME. PLEASE, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER. THE WAR IS ALMOST OVER. IF YOU....

Issue 27
Page 4
Panel 1
WHAT THE HELL?
Panel 3
FUCK

Issue 28
Page 3
COMPANIONS
Page 13
ZEROTH FOLDING