I guess you liked her since you didn't tell her what happened to Superman Jr. in that book, huh?

Ditto. I sure hope DC gives us reprints of the original series. Lately, it seems that the vast majority of what I'm reading and enjoying is reprints of 60s-80s stuff. I just blasted through the latest Essential X-Men in like 2-3 days. Then I read Classic Excalibur Vol. 1. Now I'm reading Classic New Mutants Vol. 1. I'm on a Chris Claremont kick!

Only Marvel can have 3 crossovers going on at once.

I've dropped almost all of my DC books. This OYL stuff has been a real damper on storytelling. They can't reveal too much but they can't take characters in more than a very limited direction. That and I voted to kill Jason Todd. The Superman books are the best OYL stories right now, but that's cuz they don't feel so OYL so much as they feel like a good Superman story. Wow, a good Superman story running through the monthlies...it's been a while...

Ex Machina was great this week, even though it was a fill-in artist his work was just as good as Tony Harris'. I liked Sprouse on Tom Strong, and here he really shines.

It's sad how little I read every month now...I used to pick up tons of x-men books, and my pull list every month was almost 50+ books. Now I can't stand to read almost ANY mainstream Marvel or DC books. It's the independent books I really like (although not necessarily published under an independent label). Invincible is almost too worthy of the Image comics label, as is The Walking Dead. I'm disappointed when I go to my LCS and only find a few comics every week that I read - even perusing the ailes I find little to nothing that interests me.

Regarding Batman, I've dropped the storyline. It's the same problem with the Batman monthlies that's made them unreadable for nearly two decades now - they stories are really, really tired. There's only so many times that a villain can pull the exact same stunt while Batman broods.

That doesn't mean that a comic can't be FUN even though it's treading old ground. Take New/Astonishing X-men. It's the same basic story, but it's done in a lighthearted, fun manner. Why aren't comics allowed to be fun anymore?

Most comic readers go through that form of comics buying malaise of cutting down their monthly intake of comics.

That's precisely why I don't have a pull list at the LCS near me. I go in every Wednesday if possible and just pick up what I want to buy on a given week with no "pull" inertia to keep me buying books when they have gone stale for me.

Sometimes, I just follow a writer/artist team around the different titles they bounce around from. Or just a specific artist. I didn't think I've been buying the Superman books, but Ed Benes was doing the art, so there I was, and then Pete Woods starting on Superman, so I stayed on, and it's been a decent OYL ride so far. I'll pick up anything Cassaday works on, and the same with Quitely and Jim Lee (for now).

Currently I buy around 12-20 titles a month depending on mini-series that come and go:

DC 6-8/month
Marvel 3-6/month
The rest 3-6/month

I used to be a completist per title, but finally understood the futility of that particular form of OCD, and just started flittering around like a butterfly nowadays at the LCS.

I went through a similiar line of thinking several years ago. Then I got dragged back in by a few titles and that spread.

It's like a cancer really. You think you're in remission, but it's always there ready to take over again.

Personally, with the new product placement that's going on, I think now is the perfect time to jump ship.

I used to collect monthlies consistently, but that was back in the day. It seems like every year that goes by, writer/artist teams spend less and less time on a book, and there are more "event" crossovers per year. I don't mind when a storyline runs through a book that I don't normally buy, as long as its good. It's a good way to keep momentum going through a story that could possibly run 10-12 parts.

But still, i'm so used to extended runs, and those kinds of runs are really what can push a monthly from good to great. Peter David on Incredible Hulk is one example - it's a shame he dropped X-factor (THE best x-men book from the 90s) and Aquaman was fun while it lasted - but I acknowledge that there are only so many things you can do with Aquaman. Bruce Jones doing 4 years on Hulk was also an awesome, awesome run that was quashed by a poor conclusion that came outta nowhere - It left a bad taste in my mouth that's turned me away from anything else Jones writes. I just don't like the hit-and-run most writers do these days; there's so little intrabook continuity. PAD doing Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man is probably one of the most painful things for me - for years i've wanted to read a David/Weirengo Spider-man book, and only to have it constantly wrap around with other storylines just shuts the book out completely for me. JMS on Spider-man has been a gradual, downhill slide. His first issue was dramatic and had a nice, down-to-earth feel that Spider-man books have been missing for years. But contrived villains, and some utterly stale storylines really drove me away.

What it boils down to is that some books, despite being fluff and having one-dimensional characters are more entertaining to me than a book that's filled with overbearing messages and intellectual tripe (wow, we're going to comment on the socio-political effects of Hurricane Katrina! because obviously, everyone thinks that those that suffered weren't wronged at all!). Astonishing X-men is great because it's been the first comic in a while that made me actually laugh out loud, and not because of how stupid it was - it was because the comic itself is acknowledging how silly this whole affair is, and how these characters who have been to hell and back act so quaint around disaster.

There are still "fun" comics being put out by the Big 2: All-Star Superman, She-Hulk, Dead Girl, Marvel Zombies, Birds of Prey, Shadowpact (this will probably be fun, judging from DoV). True, none of these are "core" titles, but they're out there. It's still way too early to judge OYL, seeing as how most of the books have only had 1 or 2 issues out, some aren't even out yet (Supergirl, Checkmate, Shadowpact), and some of the new creative teams haven't even started (Morrison, Dini).

I'm actually more into mainstream comics now that I have been since like 2001.

Superboy, I hear where you're coming from, but there are always gems out there to be read. I just caught up on Marvel Team-Up, and I really believe it is the best marvel book on the stands. It certainly would be the one Marvel book I would buy, if I could only buy one from the house of ideas. It's got everything. A great sense of humor, a varied list of characters from the marvel-U, a nice book-centric continuity that doesn't require you to read anything but MTU...it's great.

I do really enjoy the big mainstream titles as I like to know what is going on with the big guns from DC and Marvel, but the lower tier books that let the creators run wild (and have fun) are almost always better experiences IMO. Your Runaways, She-Hulk, Marvel Team-Up, Thunderbolts, Birds of Prey, Black Panther, eXiles (the first 30 issues anyway as that's all I've read so far)...etc. And of course you can find what you're looking for from indy publishers, like you've said, like Walking Dead and Invincible.

I do wish creators would stick with books for the long haul. I have yet to read Bruce Jones' Hulk (I heard the ending was pretty lackluster, but I still really love the art so I'm going to get around to it eventually), but I commend him for staying on the book for so long. That is one thing people (love or hate him) can't take away from Bendis. He will stick on a book and be very consistent (now whether you like his style is another argument all together) for a nice long while. That leads to a very rich experience if the writer in question gels with you.

eta: areacode beat me to it.

Oh this bothers me FAR less in comics than the movies I watch.

And The Thing = fun book. But it looks like it's going away.

Well, at some point, there'll be a time when a writer or artist has to change the way the story is told to get that product placement in there. That's just not a good thing. Plus, the companies are getting money for it, but we don't see a reduction in cost. Lame!

Is anyone reading JLA Classified? I didn't think I'd be into this storyline but for some reason it has me hooked. I also LOVED Wonder Woman's battle outfit she's worn in the last 2 or 3 issues.

Be warned about SciFiGenre. They do have some nice pricing for big subscriptions, but they don't count limited run and mini-series stuff as part of the monthly subscription discounts. I used to use them but they wanted to charge full price for all the Crisis specials and the GL limited run stuff. I switched over to dreamlandcomics.com which has a standard 35 percent off everything and flat $5 shipping. It's much much cheaper for me since I only get 10-20 books a month.

Is this the Gail Simone arc? I haven't yet but I plan to. Glad to hear you're liking it.

Does anyone know of a "crisis counseling" kind of guide for Civil War? I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be reading all of the books, but I would like to follow along, and possibly read the books that are more than just tangentially relation to the event.

Captain Atom is back in the DCU.

Gotta fix your spoiler MBoyd, not that it's a terrible one. Is gonna make me read something I wasn't planning on .

That Battle For Bludhaven book is craptastic.

I dug Villians United (then again, I dug the mini too).

Batman was pretty good. Then again, i'm probably the only one that's glad that the Commish and Bullock are back (what exactly happened to Bullock?).

Also read Astonishing. I'm not sure if it's an unintentional personal backlashing against Whedon, but it did nothing for me.

And after doing the recent Previews, I am SO not looking forward to the new x-lineups.

Oh, and i'm glad the painful, life-altering process of becoming Apocalypse's horseman seems to be so easy to undo.

I noticed I missed the spoiler tag as well, but for some reason the quote and edit buttons arent available here on my work computer. Weird. I'll do it when I get home.

I think I will stick with Bludhaven. But I agree with the Astonishing comment. The last issue didnt do much for me.

How about Checkmate? The White King was a big surprise.

I guess it is. It's "The Hypothetical Woman" storyline. I don't know, "jaded comic readers" may think it's crap. Either way I've been really enjoying it.

Anyone read Ion? I dont know, wasnt that great in my opinion, and I liked Rayner as GL. I dug Villians United and Checkmate, but couldnt get into Ion. Ill continue to give it a go as I have it ordered on my next 2 DCBS shipments, but I hope it gets better. I had to give up on Bludhaven. Just wasnt into it at all.

I picked up Ion but I haven't read it yet. I'm like you in that I like Rayner as a GL. Screw this Ion stuff. Especially after his performance in the GL Corps reboot.

Green Lantern was one of the first comics I bought...#50 I think, during Emerald Twilight. It was my favorite book for years, right alongside Starman. Seeing what's been done with his character is much worse than what was done with Hal Jordan. Hal's writing went against what creators had done before, but at least it went in a definable, interesting direction. Kyle has gradually turned into a character that really belongs on a stupid TV sitcom with bad writers...he's boring, stale, and he's gone from being a Peter Parker for the DCU to being...? nothing. Well, I guess that's what happens when someone from "reality television" writes a comic book.

Ion was really flat, which didn't surprise me. It seems like DC doesn't really know what to do with Rayner now that Hal's back.

I re-read House of M today, and found it to be one of the most stale crossovers ever. Anyone read "JLA: Midsummer's Nightmare"? or really, any story where heroes wake up to a dream world. Hell, it's happened to Spider-man dozens of times...I have this one issue of Amazing where he has this hallucination everything's ok and Ben's alive and he's married to Gwen and blah blah blah but it's all a dream or some crap. And he took it better back then and then kissed Mary Jane. It was a great story. Apparantly having Peter beat himself up again and again just doesn't get old.

Which kind of touches on something that's bothered me for some time with comics. It's like rolling a ball up a hill and having it roll back down on you, only to start the whole thing all over again. There's no progress; characters are always put back to the status quo eventually. Something really effective about the Clairmont run on x-men was that a lot of the original X-men grew up eventually and trained a new generation - that's what DC and Marvel really need to do. They need to evolve their characters. Imagine in 10 years...what's Spider-man going to read like? is he going to be the same, ever unchanging, fighting the same enemies, still going to sleep at night beating himself up over everything that's happened in his life?

That's what I've been bitching about for a long time in other forums, and around here since the announcement of House of M. No matter how "earth shattering" or "life altering" or "(character name)'s life will be changed FOREVER!" the taglines to a story are, eventually a new editor or writer will change things back to the status quo. Or even the same writer / editor. They either figure they can make more sales by undoing the previous event or, in the case of Whedon's run on X-Men, they just didn't like it that a certain character died so they decide to come up with some pathetic reason why they didn't die.

I would've preferred his death over this Ion bullshit.

I'm also getting the feeling that Selina baby isn't Bruce's.