Comic Books

[Dan Hocker]

I thought I'd post just a general thread for comic books and what people have been reading or found that cool and interesting. Just general stuff. So that's what this thread is for.

[Dan Hocker]

I've actually been reading a lot lately. Hitting up some older event books and what not that I never read. Cisis on Infinite Earths, Dark Pheonix Saga, Infinite Crisis, World War Hulk, Civil War, Age of Ultron. Most reacently though I read all of Batman Eternal. Which was a weekly book the just ended and has been going on for about a year. It was really very good and I totally didn't see the ending coming.

[Theli]

I haven't been keeping up to date on comics recently. More DC than Marvel for me, but I grew up with the X-Men. Lately I have actually been reading through the deluxe edition of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind.

[bookworm 1]

I have been reading the Spiderman comics. Just finished up Spider verse. It was a fun story but got a bit weird near the end. I loved The Superior Spider-Man series. I thought I would hate it but after five issues it turned into a super story. Other then that I have a bunch of stuff to catch up on.

I read the whole Civil war series years ago. Loved it. They are rebooting it this summer with the idea it never ended in an alternative universe. It will be. Interesting to see how it goes.

[frik51]

I'm sort of interested in some of the IDW Disney series, like Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck. Sort of, because I'll definitely get the upcoming TPBs and don't really need the separate comics.
But....that's easier said than done: I already ordered Uncle Scrooge #1 (405) - four states, Donald Duck #1 (three variants), Mickey Mouse #1 (3X) and finally, Walt Disney Comics and Stories #721 (3X).
Do I need these different editions? Of course not!!! But do I really need 8 editions of King's The Stand?? ummmm.....uhhhhhh.......errrrrr....now let me think....
Actually, all I would really like to order are the 1:25 incentive editions, but not at all costs. I managed to get the Uncle Scrooge #1 incentive at a decent price (TFAW), but can't find the rest.

Anyone: what would be my best option to get these rare issues?

sk

[Theli]

When searching for rare comics I keep my eyes peeled here:
http://mycomicshop.com/search?TID=27856814

Though as you can see it seems that 1:25 variant is also sold out here. Still, it is new, it's only a short matter of time before they will have it in stock.

[Dan Hocker]

I haven't been keeping up to date on comics recently. More DC than Marvel for me, but I grew up with the X-Men. Lately I have actually been reading through the deluxe edition of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind.

I'm also more of a DC guy as well, though I do enjoy the Marvel event books. I don't really keep up to date either, I only actually have maybe 3 or 4 ongoing non event based titles that I'm reading 2 of which I'm way behind on.

I have been reading the Spiderman comics. Just finished up Spider verse. It was a fun story but got a bit weird near the end. I loved The Superior Spider-Man series. I thought I would hate it but after five issues it turned into a super story. Other then that I have a bunch of stuff to catch up on.

I read the whole Civil war series years ago. Loved it. They are rebooting it this summer with the idea it never ended in an alternative universe. It will be. Interesting to see how it goes.

Civil War was pretty great, but World War Hulk (which I think came after Civil War) was probably my favorite of these event books. They are actually rebooting the entire Marvel Universe starting this week with Secret Wars. Though they aren't calling it a reboot, but it really is. I'll be interested to see how it goes. Honestly I think they need to be pretty aggressive with the reboot but I doubt they will be.

[Dan Hocker]

I'm sort of interested in some of the IDW Disney series, like Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck. Sort of, because I'll definitely get the upcoming TPBs and don't really need the separate comics.
But....that's easier said than done: I already ordered Uncle Scrooge #1 (405) - four states, Donald Duck #1 (three variants), Mickey Mouse #1 (3X) and finally, Walt Disney Comics and Stories #721 (3X).
Do I need these different editions? Of course not!!! But do I really need 8 editions of King's The Stand?? ummmm.....uhhhhhh.......errrrrr....now let me think....
Actually, all I would really like to order are the 1:25 incentive editions, but not at all costs. I managed to get the Uncle Scrooge #1 incentive at a decent price (TFAW), but can't find the rest.

Anyone: what would be my best option to get these rare issues?

sk

When searching for rare comics I keep my eyes peeled here:
http://mycomicshop.com/search?TID=27856814

Though as you can see it seems that 1:25 variant is also sold out here. Still, it is new, it's only a short matter of time before they will have it in stock.

Yea I'd say waiting is probably your best bet. With recent books those varient covers tend to be pretty scarce early on, but as the demand drops and prices start the fall the speculators will start dumping their copies.

[bookworm 1]

I hope that they are aggressive also. My big fear with reboots has been the numbering DC especially with the whole new 52 then going to one then back to where they left off. It drives the comic retailers crazy also. My comic book guy and another one I know are saying how frustrating it is and a lot of long time comic buyers are so confused and frustrated an think it's only about money have stopped buying comics and are just waiting on the trades or not buying at all.

[frik51]

Yea I'd say waiting is probably your best bet. With recent books those varient covers tend to be pretty scarce early on, but as the demand drops and prices start the fall the speculators will start dumping their copies.

That's what I'll do - wait, and see what will show up eventually.

sk

[Dan Hocker]

I hope that they are aggressive also. My big fear with reboots has been the numbering DC especially with the whole new 52 then going to one then back to where they left off. It drives the comic retailers crazy also. My comic book guy and another one I know are saying how frustrating it is and a lot of long time comic buyers are so confused and frustrated an think it's only about money have stopped buying comics and are just waiting on the trades or not buying at all.

I think DC actually did it pretty well with the New 52 stuff. I think comic book readers where a bit upset because it changed a lot of stuff with their favorite characters, but it was really needed. Marvel on the other hand is constantly renumbering their books, it's pretty ridiculous. From what I understand they have basically been renumbering any time a creative team moves on. Where for the most part DC has relatively few renumberings.

I think their thoughts behind a renumber is that it's a good place for new readers to jump on. The counter to that though is that it's also a good place for current readers to jump off.

[Sock Monkey]

I guess I can be the case-in-point for the "jumping off" side. I'm a huge DC fan, but stopped with the New 52. It was initially due to financial issues as I had planned to pick up all the new titles, but now when I thinking about dipping my toe back into the comic book waters, I feel disenchanted with what the Marvel and DC are doing. Not that they both probably don't have some great books out (the Hawkeye book has been getting some love and I really wanted to check out both Animal Man and Swamp Thing from DC as I love both of those characters), but most of their flagship books just don't interest me. Though to be fair, I'm a huge Wally West fan (favorite run of any series of all time has to be the first few of years of Mark Waid's run on the book) and started to lose interest once DC decided to bring Barry Allen back. I'm obviously in the minority as the New 52 has been a huge success for DC.

I also think that the argument that a large issue number on a book is intimidating to new readers is rather weak. I've never once handed a comic to a non-comic reader and they gave resistance because it was issue 325 or whatever. As a kid, I also never cared that all the comics were in the high 200-300 issue mark. I just wanted to see what was going on with Batman or Superman. Now maybe if it's part 32 of a massive universe-spanning crossover there might be an problem...

I've have been thinking about reading some of the older runs of some titles. I've always wanted to tackle Peter David's massive run on The Incredible Hulk and I heard that his X-Factor series was pretty good. I also have a huge chunk of Grant Morrison's Batman books that I haven't read yet and I picked up the full run of Rucka's Checkmate series before I quit collecting, so I should probably read that too. I've also wanted to re-read The X-Tinction Agenda crossover in the X-books. I loved it when it first came out.

[Sock Monkey]

Has anybody read the new Archie horror stuff? Is it any good?

[Dan Hocker]

I guess I can be the case-in-point for the "jumping off" side. I'm a huge DC fan, but stopped with the New 52. It was initially due to financial issues as I had planned to pick up all the new titles, but now when I thinking about dipping my toe back into the comic book waters, I feel disenchanted with what the Marvel and DC are doing. Not that they both probably don't have some great books out (the Hawkeye book has been getting some love and I really wanted to check out both Animal Man and Swamp Thing from DC as I love both of those characters), but most of their flagship books just don't interest me. Though to be fair, I'm a huge Wally West fan (favorite run of any series of all time has to be the first few of years of Mark Waid's run on the book) and started to lose interest once DC decided to bring Barry Allen back. I'm obviously in the minority as the New 52 has been a huge success for DC.

I also think that the argument that a large issue number on a book is intimidating to new readers is rather weak. I've never once handed a comic to a non-comic reader and they gave resistance because it was issue 325 or whatever. As a kid, I also never cared that all the comics were in the high 200-300 issue mark. I just wanted to see what was going on with Batman or Superman. Now maybe if it's part 32 of a massive universe-spanning crossover there might be an problem...

I've have been thinking about reading some of the older runs of some titles. I've always wanted to tackle Peter David's massive run on The Incredible Hulk and I heard that his X-Factor series was pretty good. I also have a huge chunk of Grant Morrison's Batman books that I haven't read yet and I picked up the full run of Rucka's Checkmate series before I quit collecting, so I should probably read that too. I've also wanted to re-read The X-Tinction Agenda crossover in the X-books. I loved it when it first came out.

The New 52 Batman stuff by Scott Snyder has been some of the best Batman story arcs there have ever been, and I've read pretty much all of modern Batman. I don't really think it's the issue numbers that are a the big barrier. I think as someone who's never bought a comic before, with something that's been going on as say Batman knowing where to start is just intimidating. Which is why the New 52 was pretty much perfect for me. I jumped on there started reading, loved it, and then went back and read all the old stuff.

I don't really think renumbering is the way to go though, I really just think these companies need to do a better job and advertising on the covers and in the titles what the story arcs are and which book the issue is in the story arc. I almost think they'd be better doing a Volume / Issue thing. So for example Batman's Court of Owls story arc could be Volume 1 Issues 1 - 6 then the next story arc could be Volume 2 1 - 6, but I don't think that would sit well with traditional comic book readers.

On a side note I read Alias not that long ago kinda in preparation for the upcoming Netflix series and because I've heard such good things about it. Man was that an awesome book.

[Dan Hocker]

Has anybody read the new Archie horror stuff? Is it any good?

I haven't actually read it myself, but on the comic podcast I listen to they said that the zombie one is hugely popular and sells tons of copies.