Anyone reading BLACK HARVEST by Josh Howard. I love his artwork, and Dead @ 17 had some great moments. I look forward to seeing what he does for DC this year (heard he'll be doing at least some art).

To go back a bit. I really love those first 20 some issues of Exiles. I came away from that book really giving a shit about the characters. For how many books I read, it is still rare for that to happen. Winnick did a fantastic job of creating a family out of that crew and I never really got tired of the gimmick of world jumping during his run. I did jump of once he left, but I may give those other issues a chance. I really hope the they jump to the Zombie Marvel World. That would be cool, but only for 1 or 2 issues.

I hate comics. Hate them! Bagging and boarding, storage...all of it. It really is liberating to get rid of them and keep them gone. TPB's and HC's are the way to go. Not only are the easier to store, but it makes rereading certain story arcs a 1,000 times more likely. How many times have you all gone back and reread a certain story arc of comics you bought in 92 vs grabbign a tpb off the shelf on a rainy sunday afternoon to reread? I still buy comics, but I give them away or sell them once I'm done and buy the trades later.

Are you saying the art from OMAC is better than Teen Titans or just the story? I found the art in OMAC to be really lackluster and very muddy. The story was kind of a let down for me as well, but that could be because I went in expecting something other than what a got, so I wouldn't hold that against him. Teen Titans 30 was kinda random, but I loved it (I am a bat family whore). This whole Red Hood business is working for me something major. I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop to let us know what's really going on.

You aren't the only person who has had issues following the latest Supes/Bats storyline. Actually to be honest, I've had issues following both of the last 2 storylines. I think it's because the books stories act more like mini-series than a cohessive comic book. The first arc has nothing to to with the supergirl arc has nothing to do with the alt univers arc has nothing to do with...whatever the hell is going on now.

Yeah, the Superman/Bats book is like a series of miniseries. But the last one just dropped you in medias res and I still have no idea what's going on. The long delays between issues doesn't help.

I guess I'm just not up on the Bat books, so the Titans issue felt like a throw-away. That's after two throw-away Liefeld issues, making 3 in a row that I didn't care for. Ooo... the red hood dresses up in his old Robin costume to beat the crap out of the new Robin, and just leave him there. Hey, let's attack him in Titans tower, where there are a lot of other superheroes. Good thing Cyborg programmed the Tower to let in all past members of the Titans, dead or alive.

The OMAC thing seemed more cohesive and driving towards a bigger story. In some ways, the early part of the book reminded me of Owlman (based on Blue Beetle) finding and confronting Ozymandias (not to compare the book to Watchmen, but I thought that was pretty cool). Sure, people were out of character (why would Jonn just tell Beetle to get out?), but I think it did a decent job of presenting a story that held together. Maybe it helps that I read it all at once.

Meanwhile, stuff like Supergirl (where she just fights every superhero team in the DC universe for kicks), Superman/Batman (which I think I would drop if I didn't love Mcguinness's art so much) and the latest Titans issues just don't make much sense to me. I think I'm pretty good at suspending my disbelief (these are superheroes after all) but I've just been disappointed lately. And the fact that the artists on Supergirl (ugh, though I thought he was decent on cable) and Titans (what happened to Daniels?) aren't going anywhere might make me drop the titles.

This is going to make some of you want to boil me in oil, but ... nobody says you have to bag and board them. I have mine in a big pile. When the pile gets too high, I buy a short box, put them in the short box (still without bags and boards) and start the pile over. When I'm feeling industrious, I sort through them, putting them in order by series and issue number. Every couple of years, I take a couple of short boxes full of stuff I think I'm never going to read again and sell it to my shop for whatever they'll pay (usually about $25 per short box, give or take).

After spending a couple weeks waiting and waiting for Buy.com to ship my copy of Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths, I decided to cancel my order with them and buy from an Amazon Marketplace seller. I placed my cancel request with Buy and was told it would take a day to clear the warehouse. I proceeded to order from the Marketplace seller.

Today, I check into my account with Buy to find out it shipped! Pretty shortly, I'll have two copies.

It sure seems like funny timing how it doesn't ship for weeks but then does once the order is canceled.

Chew, if you're looking to sell one of 'em, I might be interested. Sorry to hear about your luck...

Once I have both in-hand, I'll let you know.

Well, don't forget, I want a "Packers Fan" discount.



Here's a question I posed on another thread I frequent and I'd like to get all of your thoughts. If there are that many, what five books would you never drop?

Oh, I was never a bag and boarder. My comics would come that way and it was a pain in my ass. I'm a big fan of the stack method, so I'm with you on that. I have really big hands and I think I just prefer the sturdiness of a trade vs that of regular comics. Pretty much trades were like HDTV or Tivo for me. I was totally fine with what I had (comics) until I actually started to use the good stuff (trades) and now I cannot go back...and probably a bit over zelous trying to convert others to my ways

The only draw back to going trade only and why I won't is for stories like Identity and Infinite Crisis and even House of M. I don't think it would be half as fun reading it after the fact. I almost enjoy discussing the stories as much as reading them

Speaking of what did everyone think of Infinite Crisis 3?

Usually the only reason people will never drop books is because they've been collecting a series for a long time and want to be a completionist, or because they've loved the characters for so long that they feel the need to collect them no matter what. I used to be like that. But then with the fact that artists and writers can change at the drop of the hat, I've stopped.

I collected the Busiek/Perez Avengers series when it first came out, and stuck through it even through the horrid last storyline, but even if New Avengers hadn't replaced it, I surely would've stopped anyway. I love JSA, but if the writing and art suffered, I'd drop it. My favorite teams growing up were Teen Titans and the Legion of Superheroes, and I've mainly stuck by them through thick and thin, but even I didn't collect the Jurgens pseudo-Titans, and barely convinced myself to give Waid and Kitson's new book a try (though I'm glad I did). I will suffer through a few issues of crap (like the recent Titans Liefeld stuff) because I still have a little bit of completionist in me, but I won't continue to pick up a book I hate.

Now if you could guarantee me that Johns would always write JSA well with a decent artist, or that the quality of something like Invincible would never drop, then I'd put those two on my never drop list. But I can't even always count on creators to keep up quality: both Claremont and Byrne have really dropped since their heyday in Uncanny.

Sorry, guess I'm no help on this topic. But I'm not going to put up with crappy issues of Spiderman or X-men just because I collected them in my youth, especially if I don't enjoy them. I found that going to college and missing a few months of issues broke me somewhat of my compulsion...

Well, not too much of one. I can get all my money back ($54.99) from Buy.com after I pay for return shipping.

I'm with fujishig, I don't think I'm a slave to any book. If it gets to where I don't like it anymore, I won't be buying it.

Probably the only one I can think of is Legion of Superheroes. I started collecting it with Zero Hour, quickly built myself a complete collection of all the back issues, and have been collecting ever since. I bought some back issues knowing they were bad (Legion on the Run and a lot of the stuff from the 2-3 years before Paul Levitz started his second run on the title), and I kept buying the book off the stands even when it wasn't good (the end of McCraw/Peyer/Stern, for example, or the begining of DnA). I didn't even care for the Waid/Kitson stuff at first, though it's grown on me (still doesn't feel like LSH, but the last 4 or 5 issues have felt like a very good comic).

I've read it twice now. Still enjoying it.

My best friend who seems to ALWAYS guess or read enough clues to figure out correctly at what will happen in comics is 99% sure that -



So now my friend is moping around after guessing that one and he has convinced himself it will be. He's always been a favorite for him. Mine to, but not as much.

Not saying it will happen, although I think it's a solid theory. just thought it was interesting that you brought him up as well, boredsilly. I'd like to read what you have to say.

It was well written, but I now find that I can't bring myself to give a damn about these big stories. "The (whatever) universe changes forever!" "(insert hero's name)'s life changes forever!"

Forever = until a new editor and/or writer comes in and pisses all over everything the original writer did. Be it because they think they can make more money by bringing dead character A back for the 50th time, or just because the new guy hates the old guy and wants to destroy everything he worked on (Rob Liefeld destroying Peter David's "Aquaman" run, and pretty much killing the entire book in the process.)



Actually, what I had heard several months back was that

james,

did you get my message requesting your list of stuff that you are getting rid of?

Regarding Infinite Crisis: is there a time where ultra-detailed art becomes distracting? There's so much going on in every panel here that you feel you're missing something if you don't commit all the details to memory.

Glad we have the JLA answer from a few months ago.

Kevin, I got your message. I'm still making that list. I think I spoke a bit too soon. I'll have it in your email box sometime in early January. I've just been swamped with other things.

Thanks!

I really enjoyed IC 1 and 2, but 3 was a big letdown. The art was very good, but I didn't like anything about the writing. A lot of the scenes should have either been expanded or left out, I didn't care about any of the major plot points, and the dialogue was terrible all the way through.

The posters here are DC biased, but I'm still surprised that there hasn't been much talk about Marvel's big events. I love Marvel, but their big events have been a bit of a joke. I thought the HOM mini was good, but the tie-ins were terrible.

Decimation seems like it could create some interesting stories, but there's a couple huge flaws with it. The big idea, that mutants will be more persecuted now, seems backwards. With so many of them being eliminated, you'd think people would either just be happy that there were fewer around or that they might sympathize more with the mutants and former mutants. The other problem is that we're told that 99.9% of mutants have lost their powers, but every major character kept their powers. It's so absurd. Magneto and Quicksilver were obviously going to lose their powers because they were the primary targets of Wanda's hate, so I don't count them. Besides that, the only other major character to lose his power has already got it back. I also hear Angel lost his power, but I'm not sure if they've actually shown that yet.

I'm undecided how I feel about the Other so far. I've liked some of it, but overall it's pretty poorly done.

I really wanted to get excited about Civil War, but I don't like Millar. All of his stuff has potential, but he always manages to fuck it up. Oh well, I'll definitely read it because I really like McNiven and I can't help being interested in big event stories. Quesada recently revealed the subject the story will revolve around and I don't know how I feel about it, but it could make for some good stories.

I don't know anything about Annihilation because I'm not that interested in cosmic characters, but I'm sure I'll be curious about it by the time it comes out.

Somehow I think you found your answer to why the posters here are DC biased.. Because Marvel really has blown it big time with their big events.

Secret War was just proof to that. Oh my god, so many delays that no one gave a fuck about it and it ended how? ugh.. totally worthless.

How far did you read back? We had very lengthy discussions on Exiles and The Other. HoM is old news now. I read it but wasn't impressed. Have enjoyed Decimation and Deadly Genesis so far.

When OYL starts at DC, they will be getting most of my comic money as I sample the 'new and improved' titles.

You're getting more on it. but here is what happens


there's your one year later spoiler for the moment.

Awwweeee. in'nat cuuute.