I love For Tomorrow. Well, at least the first half. The second half sputtered a bit for me, but I'm still excited about the HC when I read all 12 issues together to see how it all holds up.

i would not be surprised in the least to see the lee/azzerello run on superman be collected soon in absolute form.

I agree about the TPB situation...but most of the time, the publishers force readers into buying trades. As someone said before, Marvel is the worst offender in this category. Most of the stories they write are best suited for trade format - monthlies are just too hard to keep up with. BUT...and this is a pretty big BUT - Marvel DOES NOT need any help in the monthly sales category for the stories that are best suited for trades. Is anyone really complaining that New Avengers and Ultimate Spider-man - their two top consistent sellers - are really suffering due to the TPB market? In fact, when it comes to publishing trades for the lower-selling yet still-hot books, Marvel has done a pretty good job of not eating into their own sales (She Hulk was a good example of this).

I read other books strictly as TPBs because they just read better, but also because it's more cost effective. Comics are an expensive habit, and it's not getting any cheaper. To read 6 issues of The Walking Dead costs $18, but the trade is only $12. I feel that a lot of the cost to the reader could be cut down if they stopped using cardstock covers and super-high quality paper.

Biggest problem I have with manga, many times I can not tell what it is I'm looking at. I have to really stare at it figure out I'm looking at giant space ship or a lady dancing, you know just about anything. Its hard to get into something when you can not tell what is going on.

I didn't think For Tomorrow was that bad of a story, I just thought it wasn't really suited to the monthly format.

Someone here at the comic talk is famous:

http://bookshelfcomics.com/interview...rtyoffive1.htm

Part of that may be getting used to some stylistic differences between the countries... but another may be just plain bad manga art. For instance, while I think Trigun's artist Nightow is an incredible pinup artist, very stylistic, I can't follow his sequential art to save my life. It's hard for me to tell what's going on most of the time. Then again, you could say that about dozens of American artists, even critically acclaimed ones who are more stylistic than realistic (there are times when Frank Miller or Mike Mignola art leaves me staring at the page before I realize what they're depicting).

Anyway, Dark Horse has compiled quite a backlist of great classics: Masamune Shirow's Appleseed books (if they're still available, they might get reprinted soon, if rumors are true) and Ghost in the Shell, Otomo's original Akira work, and if you like dark fantasy, the currently running Berzerk is good. All have art on par with Blade of the Immortal, meaning that I think it'll appeal to fans of Western art who aren't big on the "big eyes, cute characters and tons of speedlines" stuff. Project Arms and Battle Angel Alita (Gunnm in Japan, there are actually two different series out right now) are also pretty mature action titles. (for less "mature" but no less enjoyable action fair, check out One Piece or Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin)

There's an incredible diversity in the domestic manga market: you have titles aimed at girls, action titles aimed at young boys (like Dragonball), pure comedy titles, fantasy, lots-of-pretty-girls-surrounding-one-guy, cooking, vampires, samurai, sports, board games, sci-fi westerns, giant robots, politics, etc.

That was a very interesting discussion. I agreed with most of their points.

Yeah, the pretty much hit on anything you could say about the topic. I hope to have some more interesting questions in the future, but being the first one on a graphic novel site, I felt like I almost HAD to start with that question.

Gee, I wonder who the Maximums in Batman/Superman #20 were meant to represent? :rolleyes:;)

Man was that ever random. I hate when I read a first issue of a new arc and have absolutely no clue what's going on. That might of just been me though. Their "Thor" did look really kick ass, so there was that.

I've just started to read The Authority (up to issue 20) and damn! If this isn't one fantastic comic I don't know what is. It's just like The Ultimates (I know Authority came first), except it's better in every possible way (not a knock on The Ultimates). Midnighter is rapidly becoming one of my favorite characters. It's great to see gay characters who's sole comic book purpose is to be gay. There were moments when I was reading where I was just smiling because things were just so awesome. I ever gave an audible "Oh shit!" and I never do that when reading comics. And The Authority/Maniac Doctor issue long fight? Best comic fight ever!

To me, Authority pretty much goes downhill after a while, though, and I haven't followed any of it since the series petered out the first time. I would suggest checking out some of those Stormwatch trades, though, if you want to see the characters that would become the authority. Never been a huge fan of Raney, but he does decent enough art for it. Not even sure if these are still in print, though...

I liked the Authority vol. 1, but that was pretty much it. Millar's arcs were pretty fun and I loved the art but it was just too sporadic when it was coming out. If you thought delays on The Ultimates were bad...The Authority was even worse.

It's kinda funny that the whole deal with the Avengers knock-offs led to him writing Ultimates. I haven't decided which one is worse.

The Authority Revolution doesn't feel like an Authority book, and it doesn't even feel like an Image/Wildstorm book. It feels really like a JLA book to me.

I don't think I ever get tired of seeing Avengers/JLA archetypes in other books. It's sorta funny and it reminds me how well these characters could be written if the writers were just given free reign.

Planetary's great for that (the FF in that book is particularly frightening).

Anyone pick up books this week? It was a small new book week for me.

Here is what I picked up today. . .

Conan & The Jewels Of Gwahlur #3 - Waiting for this to finish before I read it. I can never get enough Conan.

Usagi Yojimbo #84 - One of the greatest comic in the history of the medium. Should be mandatory reading if you are a comic book fan.

Adventures Of Superman #641

Art Of Batman Begins HC - I love these "Art of" hardcovers.

Batman Dark Detective #4 - Also waiting until this finishes before I read it.

Batman Gotham Knights #66 - Such an underrated Bat-book. Great art.

Birds Of Prey #83 - I really miss Benes on this one.

Day Of Vengeance #3 - Initially this was the mini-series I was looking foward to the least out of all of the Countdown books just b/c I don't like the Spectre. But it has turned out ot be my favorite of the 4. Detective Chimp needs his own monthly.

Ex Machina #12 - Comics don't get much better than this.

Hawkman #41

JLA Classified #8 - Not really diggin' this arc, its gone on way too long.

Manhunter #11 - Really enjoying this book, a shame it will be cancelled soon.

Prelude To Infinite Crisis - I have all the individual issues, but figured I might as well get this since I have every issue so far.

Seven Soldiers Klarion The Witch Boy #2 - Diggin't the hell out of all things Seven Soldiers.

Vimanarama #3 - About F'n time.

Hero Camp #2 - Loved the first issue. Really fun series.

NYC Mech Beta Love #2 - I get this just for the art, but the story is not that bad.

Astonishing X-Men #10 Ltd Ed Variant

Daredevil #74 - The worste this comic has ever been & DD has seen some very, very bad years.

Uncanny X-Men #461

Wolverine #29

Western Tales Of Terror #4 - Really awesome indy book.

Scott Pilgrim Vol 2 vs The World GN - Finally, I've been waiting so long for this sequel to one of the best comics of last year. This is a brilliant & hillarious comic that is being made into a movie by the always amazing Edgar Wright (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead).

And my ONE comic you must buy this week:

Street Angel TPB
http://www.midtowncomics.com/images/.../33606_ful.jpg

Collecting the first 5 issues of from the first mini-series. This is a totally original & fun indy book about a homeless girl who is also a skateboarding superhero who battles everything from evil ninjas & zombies to hunger & nepotism.

I have the following set aside but I won't get them til next week. All DC of course. :p:lol:

Really? I love it. It reminds me of the old days of JL:Europe :up: Plus it's nice to see Blue Beetle in better times. :(


I've always been a fan of the more powerful "magic beings" of the DC universe. The Spectre, Dr. Fate, and Phantom Stranger being my main 3. I'm truely curious where they're taking The Spectre. Will he take on a new host?


This is the second time I've heard it's going to be cancelled. Too bad. I really like this book.

I can't wait to get my hand on this one. I may have some of the stuff featured in it but I don't buy all the comics the story is "arc-ing" through.

I'm also picking up:

JSA: Black Reign TPB. -I think- this will bring me up to date on my JSA collection. I started with individual books going back to Jan 05. I think I'll start buying JLA TPB next.....

Crap, I forgot to ask about Street Angel. The store I use didn't have any copies hanging out and I didn't remember to request one. Du'oh!


Say, I'm looking for someone to be the "fan" in the next Party of Five feature at bookshelf comics? Anyone interested? It's easy...

This week I went total indy GN crazy. I bought:

Mail Order Bride
A Complete Lowlife
Flight v1 (because v2 was so good)
Same Difference and Other Stories (read most of these already, but totally worth owning)
Blankets (see if all the hype was warranted)
Tricked
Sleepwalk: And other stories
32 Stories: The Complete Optic Nerve
Summer Blonde
Slow News Days

I guess I just feel like being depressed.

Anybody here read Box Office Poison? That book doesn't get enough love.

I'm one of the few that is of the opinion that Blankets is definitely not worth the hype. There is a lot of religious subject matter in the book, and some of it comes across as very heavy handed. At the same time, other aspects of the story that I was far more interested in only get a few panels here and there. In the end, I just had a hard time relating to the charcter in any meaningful way.

I've been singing the praises of Box Office Poison for years to anyone who will listen. It was a wonderful story with fully developed characters. I can't say enough good things about it.
Alex Robinson's new book, Tricked , is finally coming out in August. You can see a preview here:
http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/pulse...6%3Bt%3D003737

How could you not like JLA: Classifed with a cover like this:

http://www.ibulle.net/comics/images/...cjcdv1n008.jpg

Yeah, I saw Tricked on Amazon. I hope it's as much of an opus as BOP was. One of the great things about that was just how massive the book was. You really got your moneys worth with that book.

Thanks for a link to the preview.

I liked Blankets. Growing up in a fundamentalist environment, it really spoke to me. On the other hand, some parts of the book were really underdeveloped.

I picked up only a few books this week.

Ex Machina was excellent as always. Sometimes I wonder if i'm dreaming when i'm reading a book written by BKV and drawn by Tony Harris. I'll get that feeling again when i'm reading Superman written by Morrison and drawn by Quitely.

I was going to start a new thread, but I guess this would be a good spot for it. Alright, I'm starting to get into comic for the first time since I was a kid. I am interested in Spider-Man, the X-Men, Hellblazer, and some Batman.

1. What current series are their for the comics mentioned above and which series are still a good read?

2. Could someone please explain a few differences between the different series out there? For example, how is the Amazing Spider-Man different from Ultimate Spider-Man?

2. Are there any current spinoffs? I know there is a Wolverine series, how is that?

3. What sites could give me a history of the comics ever made for each character?

4. What is a good site to buy back issues?


Thank you very much for any responses. I hope that all made sense.

Just read the latest issue of Gotham Central. Incredible stuff.

1. I'd suggest going with collected editions. From your list, I'd suggest Ultimate Spider-Man (check Barnes & Noble for a massive collection), the Astonishing X-Men, and the upcoming All Star Batman by Frank Miller.

2. "Ultimate" is a sort of second Marvel universe that takes place outside of regular continuity. I hated the concept when they first announced it, but Ultimate Spider-Man is very good. As is the Ultimates (Ultimate Avengers basically).

3. The quality of the Wolverine series is dependent upon the creators working on it. I recently read the recent Millar/Romita Jr. collection and it was pretty good. I'm a fan of JRJR so I'm in for their next series too.

4. Not too sure about individual comic issues, maybe milehighcomics.com. As for tpb's & hc's you can shop around at amazon.com, talesofwonder.com, mailordercomics.com, dcb.com.

Good luck & have fun!