Comic books anyone?
 

I'm sure this has already been mentioned here as most of you people are complete toolbags, but who here enjoys reading comic books? I have by no means been a lifelong fan, but I used to read them back in the day. I was never a fan of the super hero genre, but I own all of the Shogun Warrior comics, and a lot of Transformers and 80's GI Joe comics as well. (With some Spider Ham thrown in for good measure)

Now recently I was talking with this nerd at work and he got me to reading Y: The Last Man. He told me that "comics have really matured" and "It's not just some kiddy crap, you'll like it!" I didn't believe him buhh.... Some really entertaining and worthwhile stuff here!

Then I asked him about more stuff and he turned me on to Fables, Powers, Black Hole and Watchmen. Then I heard about Maus (not really a comic, but a graphic novel) and loved that as well. Now, most of the titles I've mentioned are for mature audiences and they're not for the kiddies (especially Black Hole! No more penis pictures please!!) But I've gotten so crazy about this newer stuff that I even bought my daughter the first book of Bone, which contains the first year or so of the comics and she really loves it. (Cmon, I'm a good dad. It's nothing like it sounds. Back off HA) In fact, most of the comics have complete episodes available in graphic novel format.

I'd have to say that out of all of them, I'm completely addicted to Powers. Not only is it one of the best comics I've ever read, but it's one of the greatest stories in written media that I've had the pleasure of experiencing.

Here are some synopsis (synopSEES?) of some of the ones I've mentioned above:

Powers - Tells the story of a detective who investigates murders involving those people in his city who have super powers. He just happens to have been a superhero previously himself. Very creative and very original writing. Witty dialogue and a great story! If you read no other "new" comics, read this one!

Fables - Fairy tale characters come to life in modern day NYC after being driven out of their homeland. Snow White is the mayor and the Big Bad Wolf is the sherriff. (I can't even spell the word correctly anymore, thanks a LOT Darkiller...) Lots of funny and interesting stuff.

Maus - A Jewish son interviews his father about the Nazi oppression and his time in Auschwitz during WWII. The Jews are portrayed by mice, the Germans by cats, the polish by pigs and the Americans by dogs. A classic graphic novel and from what I hear one of the most renowned.

Black Hole - Teenagers become infected by an STD which causes them physical deformities of various and a sometimes brutal nature. Very graphic but a good read.

Y: The Last Man - A disease kills every man on earth except for one guy and his monkey. Seriously. Not all is fun and games as you'd think for the guy, though, and it explores gender issues I wouldn't touch. Loved it.

These are just some of the comics that I've been enjoying lately, but I hope to find more. I never knew being a geek could be so much fun! (well.... yes I did....)

Anyone else have anything to recommend?

Get yourself a copy of "Squadron Supreme" too. Read that before you pick up on any of the "Supreme Power" TPBs.

I PM'd you a couple more other series and writers (Brian K Vaughn, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, etc), but I'd also suggest "The Walking Dead".

I was about to suggest Supreme Power as well. Good stuff.

Along with Walking Dead, another good comic by the same author is "Invincible", which is worth picking up the hardcover -- it's on sale right now on Amazon.

EDIT: for those that are interested, backissues can be read of Powers for free:

http://comics.newsarama.com/powers/

I reckon the list below was covered by the PM, but I'll share for everyone.

I've been going through a bit of comic book renaissance over the past few years. I was really big into them when I was in highschool. I collected for about 4 years or so (88-92) and then stopped for the most part. About 4-5 years ago I started re-discovering comics, mainly through TPBs and the like. I don't have the time (or money) to collect single issues anymore, so I sort of sit back and wait for the interesting stuff to come out. I'm always interested in hearing what else of quality is out there. So...

I'd second (or perhaps third) the Squadron Supreme and Supreme Powers books. Both are quite good. I also liked this guy's Rising Stars. Well, at least the first TPB. It lost quite a bit of steam in the second and third came out years later and I haven't read it yet.

I also enjoy Walking Dead quite a bit as well. I loves me some zombies.

Other good series include:

Preacher by Garth Ennis. It's definitely for mature readers as it's pretty over-the-top in pretty much every way shape or form. If certain folks were upset by the "Divinci Code", they'd flip their fucking lids if they read "Preacher." Seriously. It has good characters. It looses its way a bit in the middle, but the it's worth reading the entire series. The entire run is available in TPB.

Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis. It's about a journalist, Spider Jerusalem, in a dystopian future (that has surprising parallels to our present). Spider is an amazing character and it's a great run. The city and surroundings he's in are incredibly vibrant and you can spend minutes studying each frame to see what's going on. It's a little less "mature" than Preacher, but has its fair share of violence, etc. The entire run is available on TPB.

Hellblazer by various. This series is what that mediocare Keanu Reeves movie "Constantine" was based on. The comics are much, much better. There are tons of TPBs available. It's an on-going series with various authors and artists doing work so the quality varies. Garth Ennis has had a few runs, all of which are great. Constantine is a great character and a lot of the stories are interesting. I'd reccommend most of them.

Top Ten by Alan Moore. While this is techincally a superhero book, it's wildly different than your typical fare. It's sort of a "Hill Street Blues" set in a massive city full of superheros, aliens, robots, gods, etc. The book focuses on the cops in this city where, after WW II, all countries "banished" their superheroes et al. too. Sadly it was a short run with only 12 (I think) issues printed. All issues are contained in two TPBs. It's really some of the best stuff I've read in a while.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore. Both books are great. The movie is an abomination. They are fantastic reads and well worth picking up. I wont mention Watchmen here because it's pretty much a given that it should (must) be read. Obviously the other Moore stuff, such as V For Vendetta and From Hell are worth a read.

The Light Brigade by ??. This isn't a series, but sort of a "one shot" (perhaps originally a mini-series) if you will. It's a bout a squad of American soldiers in WW II who get tangled up in this struggle with Angels and devils and such. It's a decent read. Some very cool characters and it builds a decent mythos. A nice, climatic finish as well.

That's all I can think of at the moment...

I'll add in a few faves as well as echoing the fans of Powers, Hellblazer, Preacher, Bone, and Y.

Other great books, more or less outside the "capes and tights" mainstream, include (in no particular order):

Current ongoing series:

100 Bullets: Currently my favorite book out there, it is best read in the trade formats. Starts with a mysterious older man in a black suit who offers a briefcase filled with an untraceable gun, 100 untraceable bullets, and evidence implicating the person that ruined your life. From this revenge fantasy beginning, the story has grown into an excellent modern noir with heavy conspiracy elements. Great art, great dialogue, and an amazing mystery with clues placed throughout the story. Issue 75 (of a planned 100) is out now, and new trades come out fairly regularly.

Ex Machina: By the same writer who does Y, this follows the political career of independent New York Mayor Mitchell Hundred, who also happens to be the former superhero "The Great Machine." Amazing art by Tony Harris, and the writing is every bit as strong as that in Y.

Older books (the run is already finished on these):

Sandman: Neil Gaiman's masterpiece, a 75 issue tragedy (in the Shakespearian/classic sense) telling the story of the living embodiment of dreams and his ageless family. Horror, fantasy, and all-around great storytelling. Easily in my top 5 of all-time series. All the books have been collected for ease of reading.

Sleeper: By Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Follows the story of a deep undercover agent; the agent is so deep under, in fact, that only one person knows he isn't a criminal - and that person happens to be in a coma. Collected in 4 trade paperbacks (Season I and Season II, two volumes each), the story is really excellent, and IMO better than even the fine work Brubaker has turned in for the big two companies on the superhero books.

Starman: My favorite superhero title, bar none. The run by James Robinson, with art chores originally handled by current Ex Machina artist Tony Harris, this tracks the career of reluctant hero Jack Knight, son of DC's original Golden Age Starman. Great art, and an amazing story about fathers and sons and what it really means to be a hero. Jack Knight is easily my favorite character in the DCU. Most of the series has been collected, and while there are issues missing, you can get the best part of the story from the various collections.

I'm sure I'll think of others later, but these are definitely at the top of my list.

3rd volume of Rising Stars was...interesting. I wouldn't say it had the impact the first couple of volumes, but if it's closure you're looking for, I'm pretty sure Volume 3 would provide it.

On a side note, since we're on Straczynski, another pickup to look into would be Midnight Nation.

I found that book to be quite enjoyable.

Funny this comes up. I have just decided that I need to read a regular comic. I dont know why I have decided this, but I have. Being newly arrived in the land of its creation, I have picked up a couple of progs of 2000 AD. Loving it.

I am the law.

For me, Astro City by Kurt Busiek is my favorite currently running series. He's created a city and a history around it with the addition of superheroes/villains. The stories aren't just straight superhero fare, you learn about the people behind the masks more than see them in action. And with each arc you learn a little more about the city and its history. The art, by Brent Anderson is really good as well, adding to the quality of the series overall.

The problem with Astro City has been its intermittent publishing schedule due to Busiek's other committments and (I believe) health problems at one point. Most if not all of the earlier stories have been collected in graphic novel form though, and probably can be read out of order without much confusion.

Busiek's doing a good run on the Conan books. :)

I'd echo the sentiments about:

Y: The Last Man. It's a great read and the TPBs are reasonably cheap. I picked up volume 7 (?) while I was in KC but I left it in my motel room when I checked out yesterday.

Preacher. Anything by Garth Ennis is gold. I like him far better than any other writer out there. The Punisher under Marvel's Max line is great.

The Walking Dead. This is a pretty good series, but it comes out pretty sporadically. There was a huge pause after issue 24.

Astonishing X-Men. Forget Ultimate, Uncanny, or any other X-comic. This is written by Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly) and is a great book.

Identity Crisis was good as a self-contained read while Infinite Crisis was not. Civil War is somewhat blah.

reviving an old thread here...

I follow and enjoy NBC's Heroes very much but I have never read any comics in my youth, at least no "American" superheros comics. My youth was filled with more European comics, the likes of Asterix, Tintin, and Spirou et Fantasio because, well, I learned English later in life. My first Tintins were actually hand me downs from my dad and uncles that I had found in the basement of my grandmother's house. :)

Now, seeing the link from Heroes to Watchmen (yeah, I'd never heard of Watchmen before, I live in a cave ;)), I got curious and found this thread here. Watchmen is now definitely in my "to buy" list but I just read the first 25 pages or so of Powers and wow, that's nice reading. Thanks for the link WVUFAN!

I had already spotted Rising Stars and Y: The Last Man as possible buys but this thread has simply confirmed this.

Thanks for all the ideas, if you have others, I'm listening.

FM

Try Fables, it's very very well written and there are 8 TPB's out that I'm aware of.

Deus Ex Machina is quite good as well.

From what my buddy tells me, there's a Watchmen movie that's going to be in the works.

As for TPBs, lately I've been grabbing Seven Soldiers of Victory (3 volumes so far? Not sure if they're continuing) as well as Garth Ennis' Punisher runs (at 6 volumes right now).

I only subscribe to 2 issues - Runaways and Young Avengers, while everything else I grab up via TPB.

I actually have a HUGE stack of Asterix books somewhere in my parents house from back when we lived in Germany. There are also at least a couple of Tintin books in there as well.

Man, the roast boar always looked so damn good, I always wanted to try one...

Jeebs, you never cease to amaze me. From drinking Unibroue beer to reading Asterix and Tintin, you're one cool dude. :) You been in Europe in your youth if I remember corrrectly, right? Must be where you got those Asterix from.

Asterix is my favorite from my youth, no contest. Funny thing is I never owned one, was always borrowing them from my uncles' and dad's old collection. A couple years ago, I started buying a few here and there and made it known I'd like to have the whole collection someday. I think I have like 10 or so in a box. I think I'll get back to maybe buying one a month or something like that...

And yeah, the roast boar just look so tasty... :D

FM

edit: doh, read afterwards about Germany, thought I'd dreamed it up :)

I heard somewhere that Captain America was killed by a sniper. Is that true?

Yup, I lived in Germany when I was a kid... :)

Man, after reading over the Wiki entry I really need to find those books and read them again. There's probably tons of humor that I missed or just plain didn't get as a kid. Hell, I never even caught "Getafix" back then. I need to see if I can find the books at my parents house, or else go and see if I can pick up some old issues...

Do you mean Ex Machina, by Brian K. Vaughan?

I think 100 Bullets is pretty good as well.

Hrm, someone recommended that to me just the other day (fellow FOFCer...). Someone else recommended Fables, and I'm a couple chapters into the first TPB.

Ex Machina is very much on my radar screen, seems very interesting.

FM

I'd missed Kurtism's snippet about it and after reading it and other reviews out there, I agree that it looks interesting. One more on the list. I won't buy all of them up front, but I'm keeping a list of what seems interesting so I can be on the lookout. :)

FM

I don't read anything regularly, but i'm looking forward to the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 stuff (continues where the TV show left off). Yes, Im a fan of Buffy. deal with it.

Oh yeah duh - he's the one who recommended it to me. I missed it up there too. :D

I'm actually reading that now (picked it up today). Good stuff. You can definitely tell it's Whedon doing the writing on it.

There's a test image done by Zach Snider for the upcoming Watchmen movie hidden in the R-Rated 300 trailer:

speaking of Ex Machina, I just downloaded issue #1 from the comic's page on dccomics:
http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=2500

FM

okay, I thought I had seen a comic books section to my local bookstores but a trip there last evening reminded me of one thing: it really sucks to be into things in English in French speaking Quebec... sigh.

They had just about NOTHING! Or at least nothing of interest to me. Tons of manga stuff, tons of european stuff, all in French... I saw three copies of the Marvel Encyclopedia, so not really a comic book per se, and 3-4 copies of three different Playboy comic books. Playboy? oh well :D

Anyway, snowed in and unable to go to karate this morning, I went online shopping and was very surprised to see that indigo.ca had a bunch of the ones I was interested in, all shipping in 24 hours and all at reasonable prices with free shipping when over 39$cdn. (MikeVic, you should check them out, chapters.indigo.ca).

Anyway, after much mulling over which one to get without spending like $450, I went with two separate orders. First, from indigo I'll be getting Watchmen and the first hardcover collection of Powers (issues 1-24). Both are already sowing "awaiting shipment" in the order status page.

I then went to amazon.ca and ordered the Rising Stars hardcover that has the whole series, including the preludes. That one is supposed to ship only in 5-8 weeks though, but I'll take it when it gets to me. :)

Thanks for the input guys, as always FOFC is there when you need info. :)

FM

I read a bit about Runaways, how is it? I assume it's good since you subscribe to it but I'd be interested in hearing about it...

FM

Now I'm not quite so sure how much validity this statement I'll type up has, but when I first heard about BKV's Runaways, some of the locals at the comic shops here in San Diego were telling me that "...reading the Runaways will show you why California, or the west coast in general, isn't really mentioned much in the Marvel universe in general!".

Naturally, I was a bit curious, so I ended up picking up the miniature TPBs of the first release of the Runaways, which was only a certain amount of issues. It's a simple story of a bunch of kids, whose parents are pretty much supervillains who've ruled California with an iron fist.

I always liked the underdog heroes (the 'C' rated heroes, so to speak) getting some good representation, kind of like how Fabian Nicieza always showed the 'background' heroes and villains some love in his books, and when Cloak & Dagger did an impromptu appearance, I just kept on reading.

Also, BKV used to frequent a comic book shop here in San Diego - Comickaze, off Balboa, and signed off a bunch of his TPBs there. I caught him in passing on the way out, and had to pause for a moment before figuring it out. Apparently, his girlfriend was going to grad school either at UCSD or USD from what I was told. The funny thing about it, is that further down the street was another comic shop that my buddy and I went off towards, and for a moment we had thought BKV was following us around from shop to shop.

I'm personally still waiting for a sequel to The Hood! :D

Thanks FM! I want to stop buying so many monthlies, so this looks like a viable option.

yeah, while they are still a generalish bookstore, I'm impressed by the many TPB they carry in stock. Since I've got much catching up to do, I'll probably only buy TPBs anyway.

If you don't mind me asking, where do you currently get your comics from, a local shop or somewhere online?

FM

Local shop for me. I should switch to getting more TPBs myself.

Dola: hxxp://www.bigmonkeycomics.com

finished reading that first issue yesterday and it's definitely the kind of thing I'll want more of in the future. Very interesting, even if the pdf format is definitely not the best when they keep going back and forth with flashbacks and such.

My copies of Watchmen and the first Powers HC have left the store and should get to me within a week or about.

Since my last order of Rising Stars, I've also placed an order for the Hellblazer Original Sins TPB. Sue me but I actually liked the Keanu Reaves movie, probably way more for the back story than for the acting. Never guessed until I started reading this thread that it was based on a comic series.

Another one I've not seen mentionned here and that I've found on my own is a manga called Blade of the Immortal. I'm not very much into manga but I love me some martial arts action and that one's got my curiosity piqued. Here's the description from indigo.ca: " To end his eternal suffering, he must slay one thousand enemies! Manji, a ronin warrior of feudal Japan, has been cursed with immortality. To rid himself of this curse and end his life of misery, he must slay one thousand evil men! His quest begins when a young girl seeks his help in taking revenge on her parents' killers...and his quest won't end until the blood of a thousand has been spilled.".

I've seen many manag now publish in the unflopped right-to-left version and would not be able to read that way. From wikipedia, it appears that Blade of the Immortal is the one of the last to still be published flopped with some cut and pasting of panels...

FM

I currently get mine at a local shop... called Comics America. I want to start buying more TPBs online though.

I am very lame and no little to nothing about TPBs. Can I expect most books to make it to a TPB or only the real popular ones? I would like to thin out my subscription list and move to TPBs for a lot of them.

for the last week, my source of information for just about anything comics has been this site:
http://www.comicbookdb.com/

Pretty much an IMDB for comic books. Pretty expansive... They will list you all the TPBs and usually what they collect...

FM

Finished the first volume of Fables last night, give it the thumbs up. I'll be getting more in the series.

Also, I'm pleased to find out that 52 has two volumes out soon - I didn't know it would be available this quickly. I'll probably look to pick those up too.

edit: jumped the gun a little on '52'

Hmmm I thought 52 wasn't supposed to have TPB's out until the series was finished? Guess they changed their minds.

I am way behind on entering my stuff (probably 100 issues or more), but I have all my comics listed there. http://comicbookdb.com/collection.php?ID=2554


I have all of the 52s thus far.


52 is done very soon. :) So I assume "two volumes out soon" probably means "when the series is complete". They're somewhere between 48-50.. I can't remember exactly what number.

Looks like May/July for the first two (I mistakenly thought they were out already as they were on their site, Thomkal might have read my pre-edit post). I guess that's going to be right after it (on 46 now?). But it's much better than the year or so I'd heard speculated (by Mali at the least).

Ah thanks for the explanations. I was expecting them to come out soon after the series was over from what was said when the series first started, so May/June seems right. Yes I did read your pre-editted post cuervo. Get it right the first time will ya? :)

yeah, I figured you pretty much knew about the site ;)
Still probably the best place to check if you wanna know if a series has TPBs out or not. No clue how the "industry" works it as far as what warrants a TPB or not though

Pretty impressive collection too :eek: I plan on entering what little stuff I get whenever it gets to me :)

FM

FWIW, the Hellblazer movie was so loosely based on the comic that it might make your eyes bleed - and the comics is tons better than the movie. Constantine is a great character, but he has always been a Brit, and blonde, and is nothing like Keanu Reeves. That said, read the trades - consistently entertaining, scary, and well-done.

Oh, and another couple of strong online vendors:

www.impulsecreations.net has a great subscription service and good prices, and www.milehighcomics.com has some of the best prices on trades and such, usually with discount codewords if you are on their mailing list. finally, i've found good prices on trades at both amazon and overstock.

As I said, I got Original Sins coming, which I think is the first TPB. I'll read that one and will probably add more. I'm pretty sure it'll be interesting, but thanks for pointing the difference with the movie. :)

I knew about the impulsecreations site and also thought they had good prices. My fear is with both shipping fees to Canada and then the damn custom duties. I just hate them and when you take them into account, the indigo.ca site has very similar prices. Thanks for the info though, I'm sure some other FOFCers might use it.

FM

Wow, Mile High has tons of stuff.

The other thing I've read which I kinda like is the series Preacher. It's violent, it's probably a R-rating, but it's got an interesting premise (essentially a priest who can control minds due to the fact that he has a spirit living in him --> offspring of a union between a devil and an angel).

Stopped by the comic shop on the way home. I'm going to give both Justice Society of America and The Spirit a try, as well as Green Lantern (starting with the next issue, which looks like it starts a new storyline). Read the first issue of JSA...looks like good stuff. Just opened Spirit #1 a second ago, and the opening panels are screens from a news network. One of the crawlers (which are all fairly funny/absurd) reads:

"ifteen year old accused of having sex with his teacher gets"

:D :D

bought a couple of spider-man t-shirts (and even a cool looking buttoned shirt) for my four year old a couple days ago and among the copyright tags, there was one claiming you could get 3 free comics.

Here'S a link to the offer:
www.marvel.com/3free

Bascially a 3 issue subscription for Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, or Ultimate X-Men, that will not renew itself, where you only pay shipping charges, $3 ($5 for canadians).

You can also subscribe to 12 issues of some of their series for $18.97 ($28.97 for canadians) which seems to be a bit lower than their regular fee.

FM

I just picked up the frist three "Y: The Last Man Standing" TBPs. I've been meaning to for a while and finally found them at Barnes & Noble and was able to use my gift card.

I also picked up "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud. It's basically a comic book that explains the medium of comics and the different techniques and styles that are used. I am very much looking forward to reading this.

speaking of buys, my order of Powers (vol 1 HC) and Watchmen have come in and woah. I've started reading Powers first, since I'd started reading it online and the quality of that hardcover is very nice, pretty dans heavy book, I didn't expect that, with a whole bunch of extras at the end (interview, scripts, such things). Yeah, I'm a newb. :)

FM

As a birthday present, I just subscribed Andrew to 12 issues of Marvel Adventures Spider-Man. I figured that he's starting to learn English and that should be just the right incentive for him to read regularly without it being too tough a read. :)

And he's been into Spider-Man since he was, what, maybe 8 months old. Mommy used to give him the bottle while watching it on TV in the afternoon. :D The kid's got much more comic knowledge than his old man, that's for sure...

FM

okay, took me a while to realize that DC not only had the first issue of Ex Machina, but also for many of their Vertigo line of comics, many of them that had been mentionned in this thread. I've downloaded the first issue of quite a few to take a look at (Y the Last man, Lucifer, 100 Bullets, Fables, Transmetropolitan), but you can check it out for yourself:
http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?cat=VERTIGO

Any graphic novel with a bolded #1 next to it has a downloadable first issue. Some others only have sneak peek.

I also read the first issue of Runaways in the digital comics section over on marvel.com. That convinced me to put in an order for the first hardcover of the series. :)

I finished the first hardcover of Powers and really enjoyed it. I can't for the second one to be released. Supposed to be in early May.

I'm currently reading Watchmen and finding it very good, lots of fun. :)

FM

My monthly reading list
 

For the 1 or 2 people that might be interested, here's my monthly pull list for comics:

The Authority - Yes, Morrison's writing it, but The Authority is one of my favorite books. Get the original series trades with Ellis and Millar writing them. Fantastic stuff)

Avengers: The Initiative -- New ongoing Avengers title based off the "50 States Initiative" gimmick. War Machine leads the team.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8: I'm a Buffy fan, and Whedon is writing this. 'Nuff said.

Countdown: New DC series coming off the weekly 52 series.

Crossing Midnight: Vertigo series by Mike Carey with Japanese mythology. Really interesting.

Fall of Cthulhu: New ongoing Lovecraftian series by Boom! Studios.

Friday the 13th: One of the best written comics out there. SERIOUSLY. It's much more than just Jason killing people. I was very much surprised at the writing quality of this title.

Gen13: Revamp of the 1990's series by Gale Simone.

Immortal Iron Fist: Ed Brubaker writes this. I've got stuff from all three incarnations of the character, and this is so far been the best one. Art is very Jae Lee-ish.

Justice Society of America: The best drawn monthly title period. Dale Eaglesham(the artist) is the man.

Mighty Avengers: Second ongoing title with Frank Cho as the artist. Here's an example of Frank Cho artwork

NewUniversal: Back in the 1980's, Marvel tried to create a new line of comics called "The New Universe" where superheros were inserted into a world much like our own. It didn't work, mostly because it was not done in a "realistic" way. This is Warren Ellis taking characters in those original series and twisting them in his own unique way.

Welcome to Tranquility: Wildstorm title about what happens when heroes retire. They go to a retirement town, called Tranquility. Cool concept.

This thread inspired me (never read a comic in my life) to take a look at a few comic books at the local Barnes the other day, and I honestly did not know they were as expensive as they are.

I need to find a cheap hobby.

What the heck - I'll post mine too, now that I actually may be building one. :D

Justice Society of America - agreed with WVUFAN, I like this a lot. Doesn't hurt that it has a cute redhead in it. ;) But not my #1 at the moment. That goes to...

The Spirit - I don't know what it is exactly, but this one really works for me. I like the art a lot, I like the character a lot - heroic, but imperfect. It has adventure, with a good bit of humor. It will probably get me to read Eisner's originals too.

Green Lantern - just because I've always liked GL. Though I was a little less than thrilled with #18, mainly with the style of the art [from what I understand, there is a sub artist on this current arc]. Oh, that and it seemed like GL was just Maverick with a ring (even *looked* a little like Tom Cruise to me). Sinestro Corps though, that was pretty good.

Birds of Prey - I think Morgado would have kept yelling at me to read this until I did. Kurtism backed him up - they're both fans of Simone. And you know what? I liked it.

(Very) Possibles:

Shadowpact - I haven't read this yet, but I intend to. I mean, it has a talking chimp. I can't resist that.

Dr. Fate - Held up due to a change in artist, but I will check this out when it comes out.

Justice League of America - yeah, I'll probably end up adding this too, though it may take a back seat to Justice Society. The JLA/JSA crossover will force me to try a couple anyway. :)


It's funny - I was just thinking about Frank Cho and wondering what he might be doing (glanced upon a few Liberty Meadows books the other day). I've liked what I've seen of his stuff (ok, so that has mainly been large chested, scantily clad women, but whatever), so I may give that a try. Even if it's Marvel. :)

(hrm.... http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/n...TAVN003cov.jpg )

Dola. This is true Neuqua. I think my wife would cut me off eventually if I kept buying at the early pace that I have the past couple weeks. Luckily, my library appears to have quite a nice collection of TPBs (DKR, New Frontier, the Sandman series, Fables, Best of The Spirit).

Oh - and I think I might try Countdown too. Came in too late for 52, though I am considering the trades when they come out.

I haven't tried this, but alot of people I know really enjoys it. It would be wierd seeing the Spirit drawn by someone other than Eisner. I might give it a shot.



I looked far and wide for a Safe for Work Frank Cho picture that's not uber Cartoony (he does a strip called Liberty Meadows that's very cartoony). It's hard to find. :-)

I spend waaaay too much money on TPBs every damn Wednesday.

That being said, and having glanced at the collection currently in my bookshelf (not much room left, everything's in the closet or in boxes somewhere), the current books I'm following up on eagerly are:

Conan: Dark Horse published, Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord. I hope these two stay on this run for a long while, and if anyone can find a hardcover copy of Volume 1 of Conan, please let me know!

Runaways: Yeah, I still subscribe on it's second running, though I still collect the TPB hardcovers when I can. Still looking for Volume 2 hardcover, though I'm sure it's a matter of me just waiting for the local shops to get more stock of it.

The Walking Dead: Volume 1 is out on hardcover, and I'm very much tempted to pick it up - if the Borders that I saw it at had one in a far more acceptable condition.

Ultimate X-Men: It's been awhile since I've been reading these, and like the other Ultimate lines, I keep these softcover. Honestly, I haven't read anything past Volume 11, I think, though I continue on this strictly for continuity.

Ultimate Fantastic Four: It's on Volume 7 now, though I can't recall reading past Volume 5. Still collecting it however!

Punisher: Garth Ennis' run, which I think is supposed to switch over from MAX to Marvel Knights. Volume 6, still going strong for me.

Supreme Power: Still collecting this as well, up to Volume 3 for me. There's another edition out there, in hardcover format, something of a precursor I think? Not quite sure, haven't looked into it.

The Ultimates (2): My favorite out of all the Ultimate lines, and I'm extremely pissed off at how Marvel is seriously fucking this up with inconsistent releases.

Cable & Deadpool: Hands down, one of my most favored and treasured series that I've been following up on. Deadpool! Whee! Up to Volume 5 still, and eagerly checking Diamond Comics for upcoming releases!

Annihilation: Snagged up Volume 1 of the hardcover. Eagerly awaiting for Volume 2 (I'm very patient, since I don't collect these issues) as well as seeing what happens to the space-side of things.

Beyond!: Just picked this up in hardcover format (Marvel). Haven't really gotten a chance to dig in yet.

Moon Knight: The Bottom: Marc Specter! Yeeeeah!!

Batman: Under the Hood: Volume 1 and 2, good reads.

Batman: Hush Returns: Had to get some sort of closure over the Batman Hush 2 volume release not too long ago.

Secret Six: Gail Simone's triumphant sequel to Villains United! Woohoo, Catman!

GLA: Misassembled: So they're called the Great Lakes Champions now. Still, when you've got a teammate called 'Squirrel Girl', you simply can't lose! Unless you're the GLC though. Haha! Good, funny stuff.

Ultimate Adventures: One Tin Soldier: A nice spoof of Marvel's version of Batman and Robin, let's face it, Chicago needs more superheroes in the Marvel Universe, no?

Spider Man: The Other (Evolve or Die): Seriously a good book explaining a lot of things about Spider Man during those New Avengers run. Having picked this up at the same time with Powers, it was a good month.

Captain Atom: Armageddon: Took me awhile to figure things out, since I haven't really followed up with the DC universe in awhile. I did snag up the Identity Crisis TPB awhile ago, and went through it, however I hadn't really delved deeply into a single character since picking up Flash: Rogue War near the end of last year.

Overall, I still keep an eye out for any future Seven Soldiers of Victory TPBs, Ex Machina and District X TPBs if I come across another. I still have my collection of The Authority books, but honestly, Grant's writing is boring me with that series.
In a month or two from now, Planet Hulk is coming out - and my buddy has been keeping me up to date with how World War Hulk is going to be an exciting thing to read about this summer.

If you're a fan of Gail Simone (and I am), check out Gen-13 and Welcome to Tranquility. Both are written by her, are relatively new titles which require no backstory to get into them (Gen-13 is a complete revamp/retcon) and are easy to slide into.

Oh, Ex Machina. That's another series my library has.

How's "Secret Six"? I loved Villians United and planned to pick up Secret Six once it came out on TPB.

While I really enjoy Simone's writing, I've always been a huge Deadshot fan. I've loved him since his time in "Suicide Squad." In fact, he's easily my favorite D.C. Character. Well, along with Rorschach from "Watchmen", but I don't think he really counts.

Ok, since it seems the (relatively) cool thing to do, here is my list of current titles:

Birds of Prey - for me, as good as a monthly gets. Funny, exciting, and interesting characters.
Powers - talked about Powers before. Bendis at his best, with great stylized art by Oeming.
Astonishing X-Men - Joss. Cassaday.
Buffy Season 8 - Joss. Buffy.
Justice League of America - bumpy start so far, but I'm willing to wait to see where Metzler is going.
Justice Society of America - great, great stuff. Eaglesham's art is, as mentioned above, top notch. And I've always had a love for these characters.
Firestorm - interesting run. Current storyline involves the New Gods, which seems to bring me in every time.
Superman Confidential - at least through the initial story arc by Darwyn Cooke with art by Tim Sale.
All-Star Superman - when it comes out... neither Morrison nor Quietly are reknowned for their timeliness.
The Ultimates Vol. 2 - speaking of reliability, apparently Bryan Hitch does about a page a month... been waiting on issue 13 for about half a year I think, and this 13 issue series will end up taking about 3 years... great work, guys!
Shazam - both the Winick/Porter mini and the Jeff Smith mini. Great stuff, particularly the art by Porter. Jeff Smith simply tells great stories.
Astro City - Whenever it comes out...
the Brave and the Bold - fun team-up book. Busiek can always be counted on for a solid tale.
Teen Titans - not sure if I'll keep this once Geoff Johns steps down, but his run has been great. His replacement, Adam Beechen, has done a solid job on Robin, so I'd guess the new run will also be ok.
Green Arrow - guilty as charged, I'm a huge Ollie Queen mark.
Thunderbolts - yeah, odd choice as my lone Marvel book. Perhaps if JMS had not crapped on Spidey, I'd still be reading Amazing.
Manhunter - former prosecutor turned vigilante? Interesting characters and great art? Yes please.
Green Lantern - don't get every issue, but the ones I do grab hold my attention.

I keep up with other books through various means, so I am usually up to speed on the big happenings in DC; less so with Marvel. I collect Daredevil and 100 Bullets via trade; the latter is particularly suited for trade-waiting.

Firestorm huh? I've seen it mentioned in more than one place I think that it is surprisingly (underated) good.

thanks to all of you for sharing your lists, I hate you at the same time. Now a whole bunch of new stuff I wanna check out :)

Since I've never read any comics before, my reading is right now entirely done from TPBs. Powers is currently the only series I've read that will be a must buy as soon as the second hardcover comes out. I'm currently reading Watchmen but that's a one shot.

Among near future reads I have the following:
Runaways really liked issue #1 and have placed an order for the first hardcover (issues 1-8 I think), 3-5 weeks delay.

Blade of the Immortal I bought a couple TPBs for $3 each from a local comic shop, #2 and #10, skimmed through the #2 and I'm quite impressed by it. It's all black and white but pretty well done. It's probably my heart of martial artists that makes me like it though. It comes with a glossary at the end of each book for Japanese words that remain in the text. I like its authenticity. An order for TPB #1 has been placed but there's a 3-5 weeks delay as with Runaways, but they're on the same order, so it'll all get to me around mid-May.

Ex Machina the first TPB will also be on my next order after again reading the first issue, then maybe one per month or so.

Y: The Last Man another one that I will be getting into after reading the first issue online.

Ultimate Spider-Man & Ultimate X-Men these are two that have tons of hardcover trades that I'll want to dig into.

FM

I would suggest "Lone Wolf and Cub" if you're a fan of samurai-ish stories. Dark Horse has several trades with the entire series.

thanks. Checked it out on darkhorse.com and they have a big preview of the first TPB, may be something I'll wanna check further. Foudn 18 TPBs available in all at amazon.ca, one of my shopping spots.

Definitely is a manga that I could live with, as opposed to the big eyed ones, heh. That's also one big thing that Blade has for it...

FM

dola,

holy moly, comicbookdb has 28 TPBs of Lone Wolf in their database while Blade is up to 16 but the series is still going...

FM

I'll post my subscription list later.. It's way too long. I'm just trying a lot of books out and I really need to trim it down.

Ok, Mighty Avengers is now officially on my list, until the day comes when Frank Cho stops drawing hot babes. :D

Mighty Avengers #1 didn't have a lot of cleavage, but it was fine. I'm new to the Marvel world, so we'll see how it goes. As a kid I read Image, so both Marvel and DC are fairly new to me, but DC has more "classic" characters that I am familiar with.

Well, it's not only cleavage that Cho does well, imo. He draws a mighty fine ass, too. ;) (really, I like the entire proportions he uses)

By and large I agree, DC >> Marvel, at least for my own tastes. Those are the heroes I grew up with (hi Superfriends!). But I figured I'd give this one a shot.

it's now official, I hate you. With the Lone Wolf and Cub suggestion you were cool cause you introduced me to some old stuff I could try to get in TPBs without sinking into the comic subscription thing, but I just researched that list of yours and damn! Too many new things (i.e. on their fourth issue or less) that I find very cool. AAAAARRGGGG!!!

Adding to my hell is the fact that I have found a canadian online place that does subscription with very reasonable shipping fees (www.everythingcomics.ca) which makes me very, very tempted to start a 4-5 comics pull list. As of now, the list would look like this:

New Universal don't know about you, but the whole premise of it has a very Heroes feel to it, I like the idea behind it

Immortal Iron Fist the fist thing is getting to me, some Japanese background it, interesting

Mighty Avengers okay, WVUFAN, you're not the only one to blame for that one. Cuervo and the babe talk has me on the ready, that and I discovered that it's written by Powers' Brian Michael Bendis.

Welcome to Tranquility I like the idea behind it, looks pretty cool.

Omega Flight well, that one I found on my own, a team of Canadian Superheroes!!! :) And to top it off, it's written by Powers' co-creator and artist Michael Avon Oeming. The first issue is coming up and the previews I've seen looked interesting. Some shots for the Canadian Parliament. LOL :D

FM

The original lineup back in the mid-80's I think was the first attempt at a "realistic" look at superheros. But, yeah, I agree with you.


Give Crossing Midnight a shot. I would describe it as Sandman meets Japanese mythology.


Frank Cho is very good at drawing beautiful women.

If Omega Flight does well (it's a limited series right now), they'll turn it into an ongoing.

quick question if you're still reading the thread, mostly about Meltzer writing for comics, how is he?

I ask this because I'm a huge Meltzer fan, have read every one of his novels, except the most recent one, which I will get when it shows up on bookcloseouts.com.

FM

Yeah, I thought about it, read a little about it and I'm not too sure how if I'd like it. Seems a bit too mythic and fantastic for my taste. I connect with the martial arts aspects of Japan, but not all that much with the deep spirituality within.

That, and I need to draw the line somewhere. I wanna keep some money to go after older stuff, TPB style. :) There's just a whole lot of stuff I wanna read right now, gotta control myself, heh. :)


Interesting. I had seen the "#1 (of 5)" next to it on the online store, but didn't really know what it meant. Thanks for the info.

FM

Metzler is solid, imo. I liked Identity Crisis (7 issue mini he did a couple years ago, available in trade), even if it was a bit dark and overly-retcon happy. His run on JLA has been ok, but certainly not as good as Johns on JSA.

I wanted to like Identity Crisis, but I just... didn't. It seemed off to me some how. Perhaps it's because I am not too terribly familair with all the intricacies of the D.C. personalties, but it was just... I dunno.

anybody have read (or even simply heard of) Sam Noir Samurai Detective?

It's fairly new, from Image Comics, and written by a team of newcomers to print comics. They've only put out a couple of three issues mini series which I came upon #3 of the second series while looking at what was shipping this week.

Pretty much every review I see is very positive, here are a few links:
http://www.playbackstl.com/index.php...3016&Itemid=31
http://www.brokenfrontier.com/review...ls.php?id=1013
http://fractalmatter.com/main/?p=379
http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=82595

The newsarama one has a ten page preview of the first issue and Image has the 3rd issue (or part of it) to read online.
http://www.imagecomics.com/onlinecomics.php (link on the right side)

That one would probably make it as my sixth if I ever get started with that subscription... :)

FM

I'm sorry I got to this pretty late - I've only been a few pages into it, but I'm slowly getting into how it's progressing as of late. I've been on a spending binge - which is pretty unwise for me to do so (especially after today's latest releases, or should I say 'yesterday') since I've been laid off from work.

As of now, I'm getting into 'part 2' of the book, but it seems pretty promising so far. I don't think I've been really into a book like this since Identity Disc...or Marvel's "Usual Suspects" so to speak.

I'm sorry I got to this pretty late - I've only been a few pages into it, but I'm slowly getting into how it's progressing as of late. I've been on a spending binge - which is pretty unwise for me to do so (especially after today's latest releases, or should I say 'yesterday') since I've been laid off from work.

As of now, I'm getting into 'part 2' of the book, but it seems pretty promising so far. I don't think I've been really into a book like this since Identity Disc...or Marvel's "Usual Suspects" so to speak.

I just picked up a great new comic today called "The Secret History" which is a square bound comic (first of seven volumes). Originally in French, it was written by Jean-Pierre Pecau and drawn by Igor Korday, which drew X-Men for a good while.

FANTASTIC story. It's a nice take of how certain big events in history were actually set in motion by 4 people protecting totems. Sounds strange, but it really works. Each volume is a separate section in history -- the first volume centers on the beginning and also in ancient Egypt.

I highly recommend it. The story is interesting and the art is fantastic.

hxxp://www.aspcomics.com

Okay, I did set up the pull list with everythingcomics as well as ordered all the issues to bring myself current, damn you WVUFAN :p ;)

I'm starting with the 5 listed above in addition to Sam Noir which I talked about previously.

Another one is tugging at me though, Loners from Marvel. #1 of an original series of 6 is supposed to be released this week. Looks like something in the vein of Runaways, mainly about heroes who were once teen superheros but now in the young adulthood, have to go through therapy to live out of the spandex. :) A preview is available:
http://bullpenbulletinspodcast.com/i...d=240&Itemid=2

FM

oh, and that Secret History series is definitely on my radar list, looks very interesting. Can't find it anywhere though and the same 48 page issues in French are selling for 22.95$cdn over at amazon.ca, ouch.

FM

Honestly, I stopped collecting comics when they cost less than a dollar (.75). I had several thousand. If I had held on to them, I would have had some valuable books now. Grrrrr!!!

I was a Marvel kid. Spider Man was my favorite. Also collected The Hulk, Fantastic Four, Thor, Avengers, Defenders -- and most of the lesser character titles such as Dare Devil, Dr. Strange, Black Panther, etc. etc.

DC sucked balls at the time except for Neal Adams' retro rendition of Batman...when he went from the Adam West inspired camp icon back to his mysterious roots and bad guys started calling him "The" Batman again.

I also really liked the old reprints of Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Junior, and even...Mary Marvel. That series had a nice fantasy element that I enjoyed (although the talking Tiger, Mr. Tawny, was a bit much for me).

Every now and then I'll look at today's comics in a book store and I feel two things...I'm saddened that almost every hero I grew up with has been "reimaged" for modern times, and that the themes in most books are so bleak. I'm also amazed that people actually shell out the money they want for these things...for a lot less pages than I got when I was a kid.

Jeff Smith, who did a comic series called "Bone" aimed at kids, is retooling Captain Marvel. Might be something you might like.

And the new weekly series Countdown's main character will be Mary Marvel. Many think she's getting an ongoing title after Countdown is done.

I'd like to get caught up with the Dark Tower series. Any suggestions as to the best place to get the back issues and subscribe to the future ones?

A couple of places I go to online is: www.midtowncomics.com for back issues, and www.scifigenre.com for subscriptions. Midtown's books are immaculate when they arrive and decently priced. SciFiGenre has the best subscription service I know of the ones I've tried.

Couple of people have mentioned Brian K Vaughn in this thread (he writes Y the Last Man among other things). Just read that the second arc on the Season 8 Buffy comics (issues 6-11) will be written by Vaughn and be about Faith.

I'm currently reading the Original Sins TPB from the Hellblazer series (collects issues #1 through #9) and damn, this thing is scaring me, very powerful, riveting stuff. I can now see how different it is from the movie.

My wife just doesn't want me to tell her anything of the stories, she's afraid she'll have nightmares about it. :)

FM

I have a bunch of those Hellblazer TPBs. It's somewhat of a mixed bag at times, but usually much more hit than miss, especially when you have the right combination of writer (especially anything written by Garth Ennis or Warren Ellis) and artist.

I am readig Red Sepulchre at the moment and enjoying it quite a bit.

I think Dangerous Habits is probably my favorite. I liked Son of Man quite a bit too.

don't know what this means for it becoming an ongoing, but Marvel has announced that Omega Flight #1 has sold out and that they're going to a second printing.


I've yet to receive my copy as I'd agree to delay the first shipment for a week, so I can't really comment on the quality of the series. Still very much looking forward to it.

FM

Best I could describe it .. it's very anti-limited series-ish.

Most limited series, because they have to tell the full story in a certain number of issues (usually 4 or 5), then compress the story to get as much out of each issue as possible, especially when dealing with a new team or character. It was the exact opposite in this one. They only introed I think 2 or 3 characters in the issue, and it was definately reading as if this is gonna be ongoing.

Initally it was supposed to be ongoing, then they switched it to a mini. Maybe the first issue was written before they decided to change the format.

Looking forward to tomorrow: BoP #105, JLA #8, Shadowpact #12, The Spirit #5, WWIII 1-4, Mighty Avengers #2, maybe Brave & the Bold #3. Lots of comics for me!! :D (and one more, if Dr. Fate #1 is actually out...some question about that as they changed artists, but their site still lists it for 4/18).

Good timing too, as I've caught up pretty much, having gone through the monthlies I've bought, along with Watchmen, Fables 2 & 3, New Frontier, Best of The Spirit.

very interesting, thanks for the info. Very much looking forward to reading it.


from what I've read, the going from "announced ongoing" to "limited series" has created some sort of outrage in the community. Lots of emails were sent to Marvel, some of them apparently not really nice. I also read that Michael Avon Oeming was very much into this project and I also think that this first issue might have been written before the switch to limited series had been announced...

We'll see...

FM

You probably already know this, but Gail Simone is leaving Birds of Prey. She's taking over as the new Wonder Woman writer.

Yeah...I actually forgot to mention that when she gets there, I'll probably be picking up WW too. :D And kurtism has assured me that McKeever will do just fine on BoP (which I couldn't find at my local today, which annoyed me...also, McKeever pops up at Newsarama and seems to be a good guy).

Loved Brave & Bold, btw. I'll be looking for the first two to catch up, and I think I'll be adding Blue Beetle as well.

I have a few books by McKeever, he's good times. I think BoP is in good hands. I am stoked for Simone on WW, though. She's a perfect fit for that title.


I buy Brave and the Bold because it has one of my favorite writers (Mark Waid) and my second favorite artist outside of Dale Englesham (George Perez). Perez's stuff never ceases to amaze me. He puts so much in each panel.

In issue #2, the teenaged Supergirl hits on Green Lantern, who constantly has to say "She's Seventeen" to himself over and over again. Funny stuff.