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 the last day of previous month, and ends at dawn on the first day of the next month
- 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)

Want a personal checklist to help you pick stuff to read?

Feel free to edit my checklist to fit your needs.

Read something from my:

Comixology -
Dark Horse digital -
DC -
FCBD books -
Groupees bundles -
Humble bundles -
Marvel -
original graphic novel -
physical collection -
physical single issue -
treasury edition -

Trevor

Doh! I knew my horror binging would make me forget things.

Last year's thread in perhaps our least most popular Challenge.
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/comic-book-...er-2015-a.html

davidh777

You'd think this one would be easy with all the funny books available, but maybe that's not our thing.

Trevor

We, and the general comic buying public, are probably close to 100% superhero oriented.

It's funny (no pun intended), but a humor book was key for me becoming a collector. Plop was a foundation of my early comic buying days. I would read those books over and over again, and was heartbroken when the title was cancelled after 24 issues.

Most likely, the presence of horror hosts Cain, Abel, and Eve in Plop led me to get into the DC horror books. House of Secrets, Unexpected, House of Mystery, and The Witching Hour replaced the departed Plop as my monthly must purchases.

The horrific book Swamp Thing was my route into more mainstream superhero fare. When that title was cancelled, also at issue 24 iirc, I dived into more DC books, Flash and Justice League becoming favorites.

I read other humor books as a kid, enjoying Archie and Disney books, but rarely religiously collected a humor book after Plop. I briefly collected most of the Gladstone Disney books, but quit when they became too numerous to afford. There are probably a few other humor books over the years that I collected, but they're not coming to mind at the moment.

There are probably more superhero humor or fantasy humor books that we have that we think. Oh, Groo!

majorjoe23

I think I have some good stuff for this challenge. I didn't do so well in October.

jjcool

I know I usually say that I have limited titles for these challenges, but this month is really slim pickings. I think the closest to comedy I get in my collection is some Deadpool or Howard the Duck.

davidh777

Would Bone count as well?

My most notably unread humor books are Fantagraphics' new Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck reprints, and the Gottfredson Mickey Mouse as well. I like Archie but the only ones calling out to me right now are the horror ones.

HyperWeather

I've jinxed myself the past 2 months of this and haven't read a single thing that counts, but I do have some things that count towards the top of my tbr at the moment, some Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, new Archie and Jughead, maybe next volume of Chew.

davidh777

I just scrolled through my recent digital purchases and remembered that I'd been meaning to try Lucky Luke and got a couple on sale. I could also dig into some of my unread Asterix.

Trevor

Bone would count. I'm ashamed to admit that I started a re-read of that a dozen or two Challenges ago, hoping to finally finish it for the first time, but stalled at around the 3/4 mark, just like I did when it was originally being published. Or maybe I did finish it. Crap, I hate my memory. Time to recheck these threads.....

Trevor

I just did my monthly digital-update-of-shame, where I load up my Dark Horse and Comixology apps with dozens of books, and delete the ones I loaded last month and barely read.

Trevor

I need something funny to take my mind off the country's issues. Off for a week after today, anxious to dive into my funny books.

Undeadcow

Undeadcow's Comedy Comic Book Challege 2016

Sixsmiths v1 (1-4) - so far it's a 'meh' cute series that varies from risque to very safe struggling to catch the right tone hinting at some promise that it just doesn't quite achieve. Worth a browse but not as cool of a series as I had hoped for from the silly premise of a 'Satanist' family trying to make it in suburbia, the 'fish out of water' plot is a little too familiar and the satanic elements are not provocative enough.
Sixmiths v2 (1-3) - better with a series of rotating artists that produce interesting changes between segments showings characters slightly differently and a more targeted plot. The ending seems abrupt and out of context.
Ghostbusers v1 (2011, 1-4) - clever continuation for the movies with lots of references, doesn't quite come into it's own and makes me wonder how well Ghostbusters would really stand as a mythos beyond the movies.
Ghostbusers v2 (2011, 5-8) - slips into a 'ghost of the week' vibe that works on the strength of interesting ghosts and injects subtext into a larger plot.

Issues: 15 (4 trades)

HyperWeather

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1-4

Issues Read: 4

Trevor

My list.

Read something from my:

Comixology - multiple
Dark Horse digital - Little Lulu 88, Plants vs Zombies: Lawnmageddon 1-6
DC - Formerly Known as the Justice League 1-2
FCBD books - Mis-adventures of Adam West FCBD 2011
Groupees bundles - Jughead #1
Humble bundles - Bee & Puppycat #1
Marvel - The Trouble With Girls: Night of the Lizard 1
original graphic novel - Jingle Belle
physical collection - It's Science With Dr Radium collection
physical single issue - multiple
3D - Gumby 3D #1
treasury edition - Angel and the Ape story from DC Christmas
TwoMorrows- Back Issue #39

Trevor

Holiday thread up, likely double credit opportunities for the next ~10 days.
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/comic-book-...1-02-17-a.html

Trevor

I've had a couple of not great experiences revisiting great humor comics of my youth/college years.

While it wasn't the original B&W indy series that I loved, the later Marvel version of The Trouble With Girls was slightly disappointing. I only read the first issue, so perhaps it improved, but it didn't seem up to par with the earlier Malibu, Eternity, and Comico published issues.

A highlight of my comic collecting heyday was the work of Scott Saavedra for Slave Labor Graphics, particularly It's Science with Dr Radium. Those sporadically published dozen or two appearances were fun to track down and read, and I have Saavedra in the Comic Book Comedy Hall of Fame with Evan Dorkin and Mark Martin. But re-visiting those early issues for the first time in 10-20 years has not been the LOL-fest I expected. I'm only a few issues in, and I'm sure it'll get better, but I'm starting to doubt my nostalgic memories.