Trevor

What's a Comic Book Challenge?

- monthly threads to encourage more reading and discussion
- a way to figure out "what do I read next?"
- motivation to try different genres
- motivation to keep reading and make progress on our unread piles
- a place to get recommendations

How does it work?

- we pick a genre (or company, or title, or whatever) for a month
- we post in this thread and talk about what we plan to read and read throughout the month
- you could keep a spoilered list in one post and update it all month, or post as you read
- in theory the lists could be kept in a separate thread to allow for fancier formatting while avoiding clutter

What makes it a "challenge"?

- well, unofficially, the goal is to read 100 comics a month, but that isn't stressed
- the group discussion will challenge and encourage you to read more (the main goal of most participants I imagine)

Who can participate?

- anyone and everyone!
- you don't have to list your reading or even post at all to participate, but what's the fun in that?
- quasi-technically, anyone on the planet who reads a qualifying book for the month is a participant, whether they know it or not

When does it start and end?

- it begins at dusk on February 29th, and ends at dawn on April 1st
- this bonus time allows for possible "double counting" cross-Challenge content
- content eligible for both Challenges has the bonus of being able to be counted for all 24 hours of the last/first days of both Challenges

How does counting work?
- as with every other 'rule', we're pretty liberal and you can count any way you want really
- in general, a comic book counts as one
- for graphic novels and oversize books, feel free to count one for every twenty pages

Who wins?

- there are no losers, the person who reads one page a month is equal to the person who reads 20 books a day

What is the schedule?

January - TV/Movie/Book
February - Eisner/Harvey/Etc Winners
March - Rotating Company
April - TBD (random idea every year)
May - Make-Your-Own
June - Reality
July - Science Fiction
August - Fantasy
September - Outside-Your-Comfort-Zone
October - Horror
November - Comedy
December - Holiday (w/ bonus Thanksgiving and New Year's time)

Trevor

We did DC last year right? So next month, make yours Marvel!

Trevor

From last year, just reverse the examples/watching to Marvel: Also, we should start thinking about what to do in April for our yearly "to be determined" open month. Last year, we did Avengers to counterbalance the March of DC and to coincide with the opening of the second Avengers film. I'm not positive of the timing on the Batman vs Superman movie release, but perhaps we could mirror last year and do Batman/Superman this year?

terrycloth

total read - 38

3/1
Spiderman 1 (2016)
The Mighty Thor 1

3/2
Spiderman 2
Oldman Logan 1-3
Avengers Standoff assault on pleasant hill
Black Widow 1
Invincible Ironman 7

3/3
Captain Marvel 1/2
New avengers 7
silver surfer 1-2

3/4
The Might Thor 2-4

3/5
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1/2
Uncanny Avengers 1-6
Doctor Strange 1

3/6
Doctor Strange 2-5

3/7
All New Hawkeye 1-4

3/7
Ms. Marvel 1

3/10
Mockingbird 1
The Mighty Thor 5
Uncanny Avengers 7
Doctor Strange 6

majorjoe23

I think Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman would be good, since she seems to be a pretty prominent part of BvS.

shadokitty

I have a What If TPB of Dark Avengers, and an Infinity Crusade TPB.

sven

Was hoping for Image so I can participate. Oh well maybe next month.

majorjoe23

March 28-31
Weapon X (I'm counting it at 6 issues)
Spider-Man Tangled Web 20-22

Total books read: 49

majorjoe23

It's too late now, but Image has a ton of Eisner winners that qualified for last month. And May is "Create Your Own Challenge" month, so that could be Image month for you.

Trevor

Marvel isn't close to my favorite, perhaps my fourth or fifth favorite publisher, but they still have thousands of incredibly good comics in their rich history. If you don't own any, there are always the public libraries and of course hundreds free on Comixology.

Trevor

And one could read hundreds of Image books for the Challenges in January, June, July, August, etc etc. Actually, every month except this one could be filled with tons of Image or any other company.

jjcool

Looking through my tiny collection last night, it dawned on me that I am seriously lacking in Marvel titles. I have several titles from DC, but only 1 from Marvel. Which is surprising considering how much I enjoy Spiderman and the X-Men, among others. So my goal for this month is to get some more Marvel in my collection. I think a good place to start would be reading some Deadpool. I want to see what all the fuss is about. I also plan to start reading the GI Joe original collections.

majorjoe23

I'm kind of lacking in Marvel digital books, but I have several TPBs I've put off reading for years. Like a copy of Daredevil: Loves Labor Lost that I picked up for a bargain and a Punisher graphic novel that I'm forgetting the name of. I need to get some of this stuff off my "to read" list.

davidh777

I managed to slip in five issues of the previous Invincible TPB (#21) on Monday, but had to read the final issue and TPB 22 on Tuesday without credit.

Maybe I'll dive into some of the Omniboo I've been buying!

Too bad I don't have anything lying around unread featuring any of these characters.

Trevor

Sounds like a recipe for a broken neck!

davidh777

Wait, is that how you ruined your shoulder?

PhantomStranger

I've started reading my Captain America: Scourge of the Underworld trade. The story is centered around Captain America #318 to #320 and various tie-ins. It was a little before the time I started reading Captain America on a regular basis, back in the day.

Mark Gruenwald was the writer.

davidh777

Instock Trades has bumped their discount on Marvel titles from 42% to 45%, presumably to coincide with this challenge!

I bought the X-Men Omnibus #3 last week at 42% after dragging my feet on 50% the previous week.

davidh777

List

3/24
1. Uncanny X-Men #154 (Omnibus #3)

3/25
2-3. Uncanny X-Men #155-156

3/26
Fantastic Four 21 "The Hate-Monger"
Strange Tales 135, 136-140* (SHIELD: The Complete Collection by Lee & Kirby TPB)

3/28
Punisher Max Born 1-6, Punisher 1* (Punisher Complete Collection vol. 1)

Trevor

I wish that was the reason! Much better than the doctors/experts saying, 'it just happens sometimes, have a fun 1-3 years of pain!'

Not making much progress on my Man-Thing omnibus, but darn is it pretty!

Edit to add much later: I guess this is my list post. No clue what I read besides 10-20 issues of Man-Thing. Maybe my Comixology history will help....
X-Force (2014) 1
Nightcrawler (2014) 1
Amazing Fantasy 15
Spider-man 1

jjcool

Wanted to read some Deadpool for this months challenge, as I was pretty unfamiliar with the character. I had heard of him, and knew what he looked like, but I don't think I had ever read a book featuring him. That is now remedied. I finally finished the TPB Deadpool Classic Vol 1. I enjoyed it. I liked that I also got some exposure to some other characters that I didn't know too much about as well, like Juggernaut and Cable. I did find Deadpools unceasing commentary a bit annoying after awile, but isn't that the point? A couple of times i laughed out loud at some of his comments. I was a little disappointed that I didn't find out how he got to be who he is, but I imagine that will come in one of the other collections in the series. If anyone knows where I can find a Deadpool origin story feel free to speak up.

Up next, I plan on reading Civil War: Amazing Spiderman, which I believe contains Amazing Spiderman issues 532-538.

davidh777

Well, that'll teach me to open my mouth. I was saying in the purchase thread that I rarely carry books around, then on Saturday I had to bus downtown to the anime con and took a TPB with me. I selected the Lee-Kirby SHIELD collection which I recently got on sale, even though I even more recently bought the SHIELD omnibus. I'd read the first FF story in which Fury appears, then the first SHIELD story, but not the others so it was a good read, even if false-ish advertising since Kirby only did the layouts for many of the stories.

I really wanted the omnibus for the Steranko issues so I'm sure I'll still read that. I'd never gotten around to buying the Steranko SHIELD TPB then I got the Omni anyway.





I don't know much about Deadpool either. I did run across a new TPB called Deadpool Firsts that seems to include his first appearance, but I don't know whether that was an origin story or not.

My problem is that I'm really not a fan of '90s comics, and what I flipped through wasn't that appealing.

jjcool

Funny how that works, isn't it? Talking about something that you may not do on a regular basis, and then the opportunity presents itself.

His first appearnce, The New Mutants 98, is in the Deadpool Classic Vol 1 that I read. The story hits the ground running, with a few references to his backstory, but no real answers. The rest of the books in the colection are a few 4 issue series, that again touch on his origin and give some answers but no true origin story. I enjoyed the collection, but I was actually actively reading and collecting comics in the 90s, so I am used to that style. I can definitely see how they may not appeal to everyone though.
Deadpool Firsts looks like it contains everything in Deadpool Classic Vol 1 plus some other #1 from a couple of different Deadpool series.

davidh777

Getting my first read of the Punisher Max line and I like the first seven issues. I was trying to get a taste of vol. 1 while IST still had vol. 2 at 50% off, but I just missed it so I'll probably finish this and get that later.

jjcool

Just finished Civil War: The Amazing Spiderman this morning. Maybe it is because Spiderman was a favorite of mine in my younger days, but I really enjoyed these books. I think I could say I liked these stories better than the actual Civil War books. Perhaps this was because it was a story about a single character. It wasn't trying to tell too many stories the way the overall Civil War books were. Makes me want to check out some of the other individual Civil War books.