Comic Book General Thread

[Reynard]

Lots of folks in this thread are holding on to the stuff they loved in 1992. I implore them to try new stuff.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

I used to be a huge superhero comics guy. I stopped buying DC books regularly with their New 52 initiative. It was definitely my jumping-off point, and I never fully went back. Marvel lost me after all of their solid writers left, Brubaker, Fraction, Bendis, and those guys. The last really great thing that Marvel did was letting Hickman take control of their X-Men line with House of X / Powers of X, but editorial interference messed that up, so he didn't get to end it how he wanted to, and it just petered out.

Ever since then I feel like Marvel has been aimless with constant retreads and nothing really new OR interesting.

Now I just mostly buy Omnibuses and collections of things that I know I like and want on my bookshelves as opposed to my longboxes.

Oddly enough, the only things I tend to buy as singles when they come out are pretty much anything by Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips, and Lazarus by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark. Oh and anything that Jonathan Hickman does for Marvel. I did pick up the latest Dr. Doom event, which I enjoyed, and I'm also reading Chip Zdarsky's run on Captain America.

But as someone who used to spend and INSANE amount of money on comics weekly? I'm down to one or two regular monthly titles.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Lots of folks in this thread are holding on to the stuff they loved in 1992. I implore them to try new stuff.

Why don't you make some suggestions instead of implying that people haven't tried new stuff?

 

[Reynard]

Why don't you make some suggestions instead of implying that people haven't tried new stuff?

I'm not sure why you are getting defensive. If you read some of the posts here, there are lots of people talking about their favorite comics from the 90s or so. And I love my 90s-00s comics too. Waid's Flash, Morrison and Waid's JLA, Busiek's Astro City, they are all great books. But I think we (I mean our age cohort) has a tendency to embrace our formative comics and not even look at newer stuff. I bounced off the New52 and subsequent DC stuff, for sure, but I have found some enjoyment in things like King's Mister Miracle.

What I really want, to be honest, is new superhero comics about characters I have not heard of before. I love superheroes, but so much of the genre is regressive. Where are the forward looking books?

 

[ShinHakkaider]

I'm not sure why you are getting defensive. If you read some of the posts here, there are lots of people talking about their favorite comics from the 90s or so. And I love my 90s-00s comics too. Waid's Flash, Morrison and Waid's JLA, Busiek's Astro City, they are all great books. But I think we (I mean our age cohort) has a tendency to embrace our formative comics and not even look at newer stuff. I bounced off the New52 and subsequent DC stuff, for sure, but I have found some enjoyment in things like King's Mister Miracle.

What I really want, to be honest, is new superhero comics about characters I have not heard of before. I love superheroes, but so much of the genre is regressive. Where are the forward looking books?

Sorry, I just took umbridge at the idea that people haven't tried anything new. It came off a bit too much like we're stuck in the past and don't like anything or haven't tried anything new. And I know that's not the case as far as I go.

To that point, however, you're not exactly wrong about most comic readers being stuck in the past and just wanting more of the same. I'm not one of those. And in the realm of Marvel and DC, it's doubtful that outside of standalone things like King's MISTER MIRACLE or STRANGE ADVENTURES you'll get stories that are deep and move things forward. The editorial mandate for both companies are to tell their stories, but once your run is over, make sure everything goes back into the box the way they found it. I feel that moreso with Marvel than with DC these days.

 

[Richards]

My current comics pull file includes the following:

• Amazing Spider-Man
• Black Cat
• Daredevil
• Doctor Who
• Fantastic Four
• Hulk Smash Everything
• Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong
• Punisher

I'll also pick up the occasional Godzilla miniseries or one-shot if the art looks decent.

Johnathan

 

[Reynard]

My current comics pull file includes the following:

• Amazing Spider-Man
• Black Cat
• Daredevil
• Doctor Who
• Fantastic Four
• Hulk Smash Everything
• Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong
• Punisher

I'll also pick up the occasional Godzilla miniseries or one-shot if the art looks decent.

Johnathan

If you had to recommend just one, which would it be?

 

[Richards]

Probably Fantastic Four at the moment, as the writing has been pretty good for a decent run now and it's paired with good artwork. (The writer's been doing mostly shorter, science-based stories, too, instead of lengthy multiparters.) Amazing Spider-Man would probably be a close second, but of course that can all change at a moment's notice with a change in the creative team. For example, Daredevil's starting over next month with a new creative team, so whether I keep on with it or drop it from the list depends on what the new team does with the title.

Johnathan

 

[MGibster]

I still look at the images & so forth online because Supers is my favorite RPG genre, but I’m not buying anymore.

I'm thinking when I retire I'll get an online subscription that lets me read all the Marvel and DC comics produced throughout the decades.

 

[Arnie_Wan_Kenobi]

My buddy, a die-hard Spider-Man, and to a lesser extent X-Men, guy, once characterized my reading temdency as "All that weird indie stuff."

At the time I was reading...Hellboy (and BPRD).

Right now, my pull sheet is short:
Cyberpunk (it's been hits and misses, but I'm usually entertained).
Duck Tales (My kids are reading it. Kinda.)
Falling in Love on the Path to Hell (this is good.)
Saga in trade paperback.
Dungeons and Dragons: Fallbacks is on my pull sheet( but as of this writing only issue 1 has been released, back in October, and 2 isn't due til March).
And I just added Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theater Presents: Romeo & Juliet and Godzilla for April

I'm looking for good caper and/or film noir flavored books. I bounced off the Ghost Machine books, but am looking for suggestions.