Comic Book General Thread

[abazaba]

I've been into comics even before I could read, and let my parents read them to me. Since then, it's been alternate periods of 'reading everything the budget allows for' and 'totally nothing at all' for me. Currently I am at the 'nothing at all' stage. The reason I stopped last time was because of all those endless 'events'. But I still have good memories of things like Garth Ennis' run on Punisher, the Bendis/Maleev run on Daredevil, Frank Miller's The Dark Knight, Geoff Johns run on Green Lantern, Mark Millar's Red Son, the original 'Authority' series, the original 12-issue mini-series of 'The Ultimates' by Mark Millar/Bryan Hitch, Watchmen, the original John Constantine/Hellblazer series (Vertigo), 'Old Man Logan' by Mark Millar, and, and, and... the list is endless...

And now, somehow, I feel like reading some comics again. Thanks !

 

[gnarlygninja]

I've been reading the Godzilla vs America series and they've been, like almost all of the recent Godzilla comics, a mixed bag. I'm not sure I'd call any of the stories bad, but few of them are really good either. My favorite one has probably been the story "Godzilla vs The Lobster That Attacked Boston".

 

[beta-ray]

I've been reading since the late 70s and buying my own since the early 80s. Every week I go down to the comic shop and get from my pull list. It's mostly supers, and almost all of that is Marvel. I read more DC for a short time (during the first Heroes Reborn), but fell off after the second or third Johns Green Lantern event. I don't dislike DC, just haven't been into it.

Though I have been buying consistently, because of life i am actually a year behind in my reading but am kind of aware of what is going on because I read the monthly solicits to order my books. I don't have a current series that I am really jonesing to read, but there have been a few gems here and there that really excited me, usually short runs. I could never get into the digital versions, so my house is a mess.

EDIT: Guess who my favorite character is

 

[Thierry-Advent]

As an adolescent I had to choose between AD&D books or reading comics. I choose AD&D. I didn't read many comics over the years but some stood out:

• Watchmen
• Batman Returns
• Stray Toasters
• Doctor Strange Into Shamballa
• The Rocketeer
• Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Mike Mignola
• Tankgirl
• Lazarus

Canadian Indie:

• Yummy Fur, Chester Brown
• Dirty Plote, Julie Doucet
• The Jam, Bernie Mireault

French Albums:

• Valerian
• Yoko Tsuno

 

[Reynard]

I love the form but between single issue costs and DC ruining my favorite character, I have kind of stopped reading comics. I should get Marvel Unlimited or DC Universe and binge the last 10 years or so.

 

[jian]

How did I miss this thread?

Anyway, I've been reading comics for over 40 years, starting with Asterix, and have (like so many people) an abiding love for superhero comics. My heyday was probably the 90s, there's so much Claremont and Waid in my personal narrative DNA that I can run superhero campaigns in my sleep. But there have been so many others over the decades - Usagi Yojimbo, Atomic Robo, Nimona, etc.

Most recently, my comics reading was given a massive acceleration by taking a Kindle Unlimited free trial (yes, apologies, please judge me) for a month and reading a ton of comics that way a couple of months ago. So in that month, I read:

• Absolute Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman. It's a better attempt at a universe reboot than the recent Ultimate nonsense over at Marvel. The basic premise here is that this is a reality which Darkseid has warped so that evil is more likely to win, and with our heroes that starts with them not having many of their foundational advantages. So Diana, in the Absolute universe, is the last of the Amazons (it's implied the rest were imprisoned or massacred by the Olympian gods because they're dicks - the gods, not the Amazons) and was brought up in Tartarus by Circe (Apollo dumped the baby on her one day and said "do whatever you like"). Despite this, Diana is awesomely compassionate, powerful, and heroic. Kelly Thompson's writing is incredible here.
• World's Finest, Absolute Power, Justice League Unlimited: This is mostly written by Mark Waid and covers Clark and Bruce in the early days (with some nice insights into Dick and Kara's relationship, which is funny and cute) up to more recent times when Amanda Waller takes over the world with anti-superhero tech, and then the decision by the Justice League to just recruit everyone and run them 24/7 out of the Watchtower satellite. I loved the JLU cartoon so this is right up my alley. It won't last long, of course, but it's so much better than what came before. It also makes me stoked to use the Justice League Unlimited RPG when it's out.
• Nightwing by Tom Taylor: Tom Taylor more or less debuted on the Injustice comics, which are the comics adaptation of the two video games of the same name, and which are far, far better than they have any right to be. Taylor reminds me of Ewing in that he flawlessly combines decades of continuity with positive characterisation and fantastic stories that aren't afraid of the zany side of superhero comics. With Nightwing, he's more grounded but the story is stronger for it. Alfred dies and leaves Dick a billion dollars, and Dick IMMEDIATELY uses it to go full Zohran Mamdani and make his home city, Bludhaven, a much better place. This makes Dick as much a target as Nightwing and makes him a whole stack of new enemies, which he fights off using his old friends, because Dick Grayson is the best-connected and best-loved (and not just by the ladies) hero in the DC universe. No wonder Bruce nominates him as team leader for Justice League Unlimited.
• Superman, Son of Kal-El: Yet more sterling work from Tom Taylor, this time about Jon Kent, Clark's teenage son (he spent a decade or so in a hell universe; let's not get into it, it's so Angel), who fills in for his dad while he's away. Jon is a fantastic character, equally influenced by both his parents, and his commitment to truth in particular (he gets it from his mom) makes him a very different and even more trustworthy hero than his father. His boyfriend Jay, a guerrilla investigative journalist, is also a treat. There are similar themes to Nightwing, above, and it's very good. It also features a cameo from the Revolutionaries, a team from Taylor's run on Suicide Squad, who are basically the Authority if they weren't overpowered @$$holes.

 

[gnarlygninja]

The other Absolute titles are ok to good. My absolute favorite is Martian Manhunter, because it is weird in a refreshing way.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

Well, as I understand it, the most common comics readers read a whole lot for just a couple of years, and then fall off, even if they really liked what they were reading. Folks who stick around for decades are rare.

Back in my day, I read pretty much everything Marvel I could find. I never really got into DC. And college killed my regular comics reading dead in its tracks. Since then, I've read only in a targeted fashion.

I actually thought that you said since then you only read fashion.

 

[Minion X]

Is Bone by Jeff Smith the only normal American comic not to rely on text panels?

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I decided a few years ago that I'll just treat a writer's run on a title as a stand alone thing. When they finish I finish.

Now and then I try out a "new" writer if something catches my eye. I put "new" in inverted commas because I'm most likely grabbing back issues of trades. E.g. I've just read the first 3 collected trades of Rainbow Rowell's She Hulk. Good fun! Looking for #4 & #5. (I believe these are from 2022-23, so not that old.)

I really enjoyed Dan Slott's Renew Your Vows. It's an alternate timeline Spider-Man who marries MJ and they have a kid. It's Peter and MJ, adulting hard, very much in the same vein as original Peter Parker teen-agering hard. These have to be about 10 years old now.

Jason Aaron's run on Thor. It's what got me back to comics after 20 years away. I only just learned that he continued Jane Foster's story, now as Valkyrie. Don't know how I missed it but I'll have to track down the trades when I have some spare $$$.

I read Tom Fleecs' King of Yancy Street a few weeks back. He has a really solid grasp on Ben Grimm. Enjoyed the heck out of it.

I have the 3 trades of Kate Leth's Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat. Love em. So much fun. Also about 10 years old.

Am slowly collecting Paper Girls. As the budget allows. Have the first 2 trades so far.

I recently heard of N.K. Jemisin's Green Lantern. I went out and grabbed that. A good read. She really knows how to build a fictional world. Great characterisation too.

I do my best to avoid reading any sort of crossover event.