It could be just that I haven't found a nearby store that I can call my own. But the low online prices are great... it's just that I don't have the chance to make impulse buys like I used to. Not to mention that I live in a major metropolitan area, and a lot of the local stores turn me off because they also scalp toys that they buy from local toystores.


I like McKone and JMS, but the FF as a group are not all that interesting to me. I was interested in the family dynamics Waid was going for, the old Challengers of the Unknown kind of thing, but he was getting pretty far out there even for me, and I was beginning to think the characters were behaving out of it. Plus I've loved Ringo since his early Flash issues. Not sure I'm interested enough in the title now, though.

Hmm... okay, I'm going to start buying Invincible, because it really is that good. I think the problem with a lot of comics these days, especially Marvel comics, is that they collect them really quickly (and hardcovers are dirt cheap), and most of the time, the stories seem written for collections. So why should I buy the comic monthly, when it's not as fun to read month-to-month as it is collected, and I'll end up saving all of them to read when the last one comes out? Plus I'm getting spoiled by manga.

I've also been turned off a lot by reboots, which invalidate years worth of stories at a time. For instance, when Claremont took over the X-books again a few years ago, I collected all of them. Now, his writing wasn't up to par with his old stuff (should've seen the writing on the wall with his Sovereign Seven), but a short time later, they reboot the whole X-franchise. I can't even keep up with all the crap the X-men are going through. This recent Avengers stuff had me stopping my Avengers pull, because I know they're going to collect this stuff, and if they don't, it probably wasn't worth reading anyway. This, along with the glacial pace that some of these titles move at, makes it hard for me to follow a monthly comic.

BTW, I may be a month late on this, but that first Age of Apocalypse collection was perhaps one of the most poorly conceived collections to date. Hey, lets put all the non-core, crap AoA related titles in the first collection! Ugh.

Previews of the Green Lanter monthly

http://www.comicbookresources.com/ne...em.cgi?id=5210


Previews of the Rann Thanagar war
http://www.buzzscope.com/reviews.php?id=4198

Sweeeetness

Previews of the Green Lanter monthly

http://www.comicbookresources.com/ne...em.cgi?id=5210


Previews of the Rann Thanagar war
http://www.buzzscope.com/reviews.php?id=4198

Sweeeetness

Did anyone catch the JLA preview in Wizard? HO-LEE-BATSHIT.

HEY GUYS!!! IT'S FREE COMIC BOOOK DAYYYYYYY!!!! go out to your local shop and collect the crappy books they are giving out. free is free!

Oh yeah! I forgot!

And while you're there, pick up the final issues of "Fallen Angel" and "Human Target".

It's a damn shame that two of the best new series in recent years just couldn't find enough reader despite critical acclaim and good word of mouth.

"Human Target", at least, ended with one of its best storylines. A very fitting conclusion that makes perfect sense for the book. Here's hoping that we get another miniseries somewhere down the line.

The "final" issue of "Fallen Angel" was a bit of a letdown since I don't care for the characters of Sachs and Violens. There are still a lot of unanswered questions. The good news is that another publisher seems to be very interested in continuing the series. Let's hope it works out.

Isn't IDW or something like that picking up "Fallen Angel"?

Well, at least I can say I tried both of them (issues 1-3 of HT and 1 of FA) and didn't care for either.

lol - for some reason, none of the books mentioned on the FCBD sparked my interest so I didn't waste the gas...my comic shop guy prob held some of them for me anyway though (which would be nice).

It hasn't been made official, but they are interested. Peter David states that #20 was the last issue "for now". So things sound promising.
The biggest problem with this, other than that the book will reach an even smaller audience, is that we probably won't see another trade collecting those hard to find issues.

My city's store sucks. Little to no discount and selection is "first come, first serve". I missed issues like crazy, even when I had them on my pull list.

I never miss an issue from ordering online and the discounts are at least 35%, sometimes 50%.

I agree. I used to mail order comics from Westfield and I'm now seriously thinking of starting up again with them online. Keeping up with just the few comics I read is a pain. I go down to get this issue or that issue and it's gone already. With Westfield I would order 3 months in advance and it's all taken care of. Another beef I have with some comic shops is when they automatically up the price on anything older than a week. Suddenly a week old issue goes from $2.50 to $2.95. Not all shops do it so I call bullshit.

In what condition do you receive your books? I'm a stickler for mint comics, and I've always been a bit worried about letting some unknown punk kid handle my books and stuff them into a box.

I'm in the process of switching between Midtowncomics and dcbservice because the discounts are sooo much better (My July order with Midtown would be $115 with biweekly shipping. While, $75 at dcbservice with weekly shipping). So, I can only say for Midtown:

Each comic is bagged, boarded and is flat with no marks or dents. I'm hardly a grader, but would call them NM. They are then put in a bag with additional cardboard surrounding, then put in a heavy cardboard box for shipping. I've never received a comic in a condition I could complain about.

Sorry, Sessa, but I'm a mail order guy too. Most of the decent comic shops around me closed and the one that is left is owned by an ass so, mail order for me.

I used to use Westfield back in the day but now use www.mailordercomics.com. Not trying to be a shill, but they haven't let me down yet. Customer service is better than I experienced w/ Westfield, for example, when I received a damaged Essential Human Torch I sent a quick email off to the owner & received a free copy, in perfect condition with my next order. Forget to add something to my order? No problem, Mike does everything he can to help. One need only ask.

Oh, & prices? Check these comparisons out:

Liberty Meadows Vol. 3 - MOC: $9.72 - Westfield: $12.35
Mage Vol. 2 Hardcover - MOC: $24.98 - Westfield: $41.25
All Star Batman & Robin - MOC: $0.75 - Westfield: $2.50
JSA 75 - MOC: $1.94 - Westfield: $2.50
New Avengers HC - MOC: $11.99 - Westfield: $16.50
New Captain America Vol. 1: Out of Time (hc) - MOC: $11.00 - Westfield: $18.15

I picked these titles at random from my current order and wasn't expecting to find so big a difference myself but, as you can see, those prices are quite impressive! I'm sure there are many more that are closer or where Westfield might be slightly less, but on just those half dozen alone I think I make out pretty well on the overall order.

Not to slight Westfield, as I said, I used them in the past, and for several years too. They were always pretty good to me & if they have your loyalty, enjoy.

Comic stores need to find a way to cater to the non-Geek. They need to bring in new readers. I mean, my comic shop still has a huge Pokemon drawing on the window out front. If that's not driving people away, I don't know what is.

There needs to be a place to gather and talk about comics and graphic novels. Maybe have a reading group or something. Or creator signings. And by all means, have a friendly, knowledgeable staff. There needs to be a place to get together to enjoy books on the next level, just like at bookstores with novels and such. I'm not saying this would make people second guess the mailorder comics, but if it was fun to go to the comic shop, maybe more people would.


And this might be further off topic, but where did comic shops advertise the Free Comic Day? Anyone know? I mean, if only comic fans knew about it, the whole thing is pointless.

Yeah, it blows, but I understand the on-line buying a little. I could never compete with those discounts. Our subscribers get a discount based on the amount of monthlies they subscriber to. So the highest tier gets a 25% discount, but we offer so many other benefits.

For me, & I'm not just saying this b/c I own a store, it goes back way before that. I could NEVER mail order comics b/c I just love going to the store every Wed. & look at all the new books. I love talking to everyone there, it is how I came into co-owing a store on the side, it comes from getting to know the old owner as a kid. Plus, I need my comics when they come out, even if I am behind more than a year on reading some titles. I don't mind spending a little more, hell I bought into a store just b/c I love comics so much.

If you guys here ever miss an issue or need anything just let me know. I won't charge you for any shipping.

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/

The problem with this year's Free Comic Day is it was scheduled on the only weekend that didn't have a comicbook movie open. (OK, that's stretching it just a bit, but you get the point).

In other comic book news, they've given the DC Bullet the extreme makeover treatment:



Here's an article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/09/bu.../09comics.html

Well, that'll take some getting used to.

I like it.

Seems a little too big on a cover though.

Ugh.

I think in the case of the Donna Troy cover, the logo is a part of the title which would account for its large size. I'd expect it to be a much smaller size on the other covers where its purpose is just to serve as a logo.