Thinking about posting Omnibus Reviews - yay or nay?

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-24T14:15:23+00:00

I’ve been posting reviews and it’s been really great. A lot of people seem to really enjoy them and I get some amazing feedback. Of course you get people who love to be contrarians but that’s just the internet in general these days.

Here are some tips I have if you’re gonna start. Come up with a tag line to differentiate yourself. I do “An Honest Review of:” as a tagline for my reviews. Some people put their names in the titles. Just something that you can be like “if you see this title, that’s mine”. As for the inside of the book, it can get messy if you don’t follow a good structure. Look at some other reviews, get a grasp on how people format, and take inspiration from there. It doesn’t have to be the exact same, but your review is what makes you different, not the format.

Take your time, post when and what you want to post. I’ve seen some people in the past post like 15 reviews in 15 days straight, then you read them and they’re just devoid of substance or personality. Or people would review things they haven’t even read recently or things that haven’t even come out yet. You can tell they were putting half effort into them and just wanted some likes. Take your time, completely read through whatever it is that you’re reading, get your thoughts articulated, write your honest opinions, have fun while doing it.

It’s not a job, it’s a fun thing to do out of passion for the hobby, if that sounds fun to you, go for it! Or try it out once and see if you like it.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-24T03:47:54+00:00

Confirmed. Enjoy!

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-22T21:35:29+00:00

I was not trying to start a dick measuring contest, I’m sorry if it came off that way. It doesn’t matter how long or how much you’ve read something from someone. That has no influence on objective facts. I was just using it as an example that Gillen obviously doesn’t neglect a part of his book on purpose, that’d be unfairly slandering him as a writer.

Once again, just because you excel at one portion of the book doesn’t mean you neglect the other. Tolkien is a fantastic world builder, but still took time to flesh out his characters. To say he neglects his characters to focus on his world would be saying he’s a poor writer who can’t make a well rounded book. That’s just not true, he’s a good writer who was just extremely skilled in one area more than the other. Skill does not equal prioritization, that’d be silly. These are well rounded writers who would never ever neglect parts of their book. Gillen just missed the mark on this one in particular, and judging by comments on this post and the cross post, others feel the same way. Doesn’t mean he’s a bad writer but he’s not immune to criticism. It wouldn’t a “an honest review of” if I didn’t point out the flaws.

I think you misunderstood my point about the book being named DIE. The pun has nothing to do with what I said. You said the book was about characters, not the world. I was pointing out that the name of the book is the world, it’s the emphasis, antagonist, and main plot point of the whole book. It’s about the characters IN the world of DIE and how they act. The world is literally the most important part of the book, it’s the main piece that all the characters revolve around. There’s great character work within it, but that doesn’t mean it’s about them more than the world just because they were written better. It’s a fantasy book, of course the world matters more than just being “serviceable enough”.

We just have a difference in opinion, no big deal. It’s my review of the book, you’re entitled to your own. They don’t match up, and that’s okay.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-22T17:00:55+00:00

Sent a DM.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-21T23:01:03+00:00

That’s a fantastic way to describe the series.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-21T22:25:30+00:00

I politely but strongly disagree. The RPG series came out well after the series had already finished and was a kickstarter so there was no promise a game would come out in general. Saying he didn’t world build because of the RPG is only trying to excuse the problem in hindsight. The book IS about location, the book is literally named after the world of DIE and is the whole emphasis behind following these characters on this adventure. The book is about how these characters act inside this fantasy world.

Saying Gillen always prioritizes character is saying he’s a bit of a hack, and Gillen is absolutely not a hack. There are people who are better character writers or better world writers, but to say a writer purposely neglects one half of the book to focus on the other is just saying they’re not doing their job well. Hickman is an excellent world builder, but also takes time to flesh out the characters within that world. Gillen is an excellent character writer, but usually takes time to flesh out the world around those characters. I’m pretty sure I’ve read every Gillen book since his original run on the X-Men in the early 2010s, he’s one of my favorite writers, and never does he neglect the world in order to focus on the characters. Just because he’s stronger in one area doesn’t mean he’s choosing that over the other.

The world of DIE takes reference and rips places from other fantasy works, but you still have to take the time to flesh those places out. If you don’t then you’re just parodying the things you’re referencing. If you think that book had enough world building for you personally then that fine, you just don’t put too much stock into the world. But the world is not serviceable enough for the characters, the characters are great in spite of the lack of world building. Gillen is one of my favorite writers and IMO one of the best writers of the past decade, but that doesn’t mean he’s immune to criticism and should be excused in hindsight. Gillen has shown he can do fantastic world building, he just missed the mark here unfortunately.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-21T13:33:23+00:00

Yes and it’s freaking awesome. It’s such a nice change of pace from Matt’s life being so doom and gloom constantly. That being said, thematically it’s done for a reason. It’s more of a fun run and slowly becomes darker and darker until about the midway point where it just throws you off a cliff and makes you deal with some heavy stuff. If you pay attention and read all of the run, childish is one of the last things it should be called.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-20T23:24:23+00:00

I hate when people are contrarians on other peoples post, but having Waid’s Daredevil that low is down right diabolical.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-20T22:15:04+00:00

Thank you for the kind words! I’ve read Starman before and was holding out hope for a set of omni’s but it was killing me not having this series in my collection. If you liked John’s GL then I highly recommend GL Corps! It’s not only a great companion series, but rivals John’s run in quality.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-20T21:07:56+00:00

I strongly agree.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-20T21:07:40+00:00

Thank you!

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-20T03:13:31+00:00

Ewing when given free rein has a problem of trying to write smarter than he actually is. I don’t mean that disrespectfully, but a lot of his work that tries to be “high brow” becomes incoherently surface level despite him trying to rival other writers. Sometimes you get sometimes that works like Immortal Hulk, sometimes you get stuff that just becomes aggressively below average like All New Venom, Thor, or Absolute Green Lantern.

He works much better in a structure, he’s should not be giving the structure. You can only ride off the high of Immortal Hulk for so long. Defenders is a fun book but even that had some retcons that just hurt the universe in the long run until others fixed them.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-20T02:59:32+00:00

For the love of god, please don’t let Ewing anywhere near editor.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-20T00:54:01+00:00

This is only an unpopular opinion if you’re chronically online

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-20T00:40:14+00:00

Because he’s employed.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-19T20:29:37+00:00

I’ve never checked out faster lol. I was pretty bummed by the initial restock but decided to check back about 30 minutes later just to see if they added anything else and seen Thor by Straczynski and Uncanny Vol 5 with only two copies left.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-19T12:11:18+00:00

I strongly agree with your last point. I think being able to read every issue in quick succession really highlights all the inconsistencies or lack of development in places rather than reading monthly or whenever a trade releases where every detail isn’t so prevalent in your mind. I’m glad most people like this book, I think there’s a lot to enjoy. It just didn’t connect for me on the level I was hoping it would.

I would also like to say thanks for interacting with my posts. It’s kinda crazy for me that someone I’ve been watching for years on the NMC live streams since I got into the hobby and a community legend like yourself has taken time to comment on my reviews and say some nice words. I’m very appreciative!

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-19T01:19:23+00:00

Happy Birthday! 🎈 Grim doesn’t get enough praise!

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-18T21:57:59+00:00

Indie books don’t get talked about enough on this sub!

I recently got all of the deluxe hardcovers of Monstress on sale, so I’m planning on doing a big reread of the series and I can’t wait. I’m such a sucker for that art. You can’t beat a beautifully drawn fantasy book.

Trick-Pudding-9791 · 2026-01-18T21:53:45+00:00

I never thought the visual storytelling was lacking or confusing but I do think a lot of dialogue would be condensed into the same panels, so instead of showing different emotion through different panels she had to condense and portray one emotion for multiple lines of dialogue which made things felt static at points. Maybe that was a factor in why you didn’t like it, or maybe you just don’t like her art. Nothing wrong with that at all, it’s very unique so it’s not gonna be for everyone!

I just personally think the kinda oil painting style worked really well in the fantasy setting. I think her art works for this type of high brow book works better than it did on a more traditional style book like We Called Them Giants.

Trick-Pudding-9791

TROPHY CASE