Chew

DCBS has been updated with the new books.

kevin75

woo hoo! another new DCBS month!

edit: well after looking at this month's listings, i am yet again disappointed. as someone who collects trade and hardcovers almost exclusively, DCBS seems to be getting less and less of my business. they used to have a lot more TPB monthly specials from marvel and dc than they have had the last few months. they only have 2 or 3 books on their list now as opposed to the past where they would have 4 or 5. they seem to be focusing alot more now on comics instead of collected editions. or is it just me?

MBoyd

The Dark Knight Absolute is 40% off. Good price to me. I didn't really look at the other trades, but are they not 40%?

Superboy

Boy, if DC likes turning their characters into psychos, Marvel sure likes turning their characters into jokes.

boredsilly

Yeah, that sounds about right. Cause really at the end of the day Batman shouldn't be able to hang with the JLA like he does - no matter how extensive his training. I was just looking to see if Joker's "threat" was explained the way Bat's skill is through years of training or Lex's threat to unlimited resources and intelligence.

And Civil War? I liked the first issue. Actually I read this and the Illuminati special together and my main problem with these books is that they felt a little rushed. People were picking sides WAY too quickly and the flow of the story just didn't feel right. The slow burn towards IC had spoiled me for events. I really liked the art in the book, but something about it looked plastic. No like Ross, but like everyone was carved out of wax.

Jackskeleton

I wish Crisis spanned atleast three or four more issues. The epic battle in the city needed an issue all to itself after the build up in VU Special. The whole issue just felt rushed and suffered a lot from just bearly touching on some of the mini's that lead up to it.

Civil War was pretty damn good and I'm a DC fan. Though if this does tie in with Annaliation then I'll be a bit peeved. I like how Marvel is keeping it simple. I don't know what's down the line but it looks pretty good so far.

Superboy

I too felt that IC wrapped up too fast, considering the last 6 issues and all the specials have been really building to something spectacular. If you read the original Crisis it had the same problem.

areacode212

I thought the original Crisis had great pacing, especially the climax: the universe gets rewritten at the end of #10, then we have all of #11 devoted to the heroes coming to terms with what happened to them (I loved the Huntress scenes where she finds out that she & her father never existed), then the big bloody final battle in #12. I never really got that sense of grandeur & scope in IC. It didn't help that the art looked really rushed, with the background of that big splash page (the Metropolis fight) looking uninked, all the fill-in artists, etc.

Rogue588

So...

In JSA, Jay Garrick is old and keeping watch over an eyepatchless Alan Scott.

In Outsiders, Jay Garrick is wearing a sleek black costume and looks like he could be Nightwing's brother.

Prepper

Perhaps you should check out their trade paperback store ?

Josh-da-man

A few months ago, they increased their baseline Marvel/DC discount from 35% to 40%. So now, all Marvel and DC TPBs are at 40% off, whereas before, they were 35% off.

This is probably why their specials list is shorter now, because a lot of their specials were 40% off. Now that that's their regular discount, they aren't showing up on the specials list unless they're 50% off.

Liquid Death

So what was worth picking up from FCBD? I wasn't able to make it out, but my LCS held a few of them for me.

Also, TwoMorrows publishing also has a free comic related magazine offer good through today (Sun, May 7th):

www.twomorrows.com

Saw it awhile back mentioned in Augie's column on CBR.

MBoyd

I totally missed FCBD. I would have picked up everything I could though and given it a try. Last year one comic store I visit limited everyone to a single free comic but the store down the street just had them lined up for the taking. I wanted to see how it was done this year out of curiousity.

The Valeyard

The owner of my LCS said this would probably be the last FCBD for him. There's apparently no change in business for him (and it's a pretty popular store) so he doesn't see the need for it. Personally, I always made it a point to pick up my Free Comics and buy something at the same time each year.

I only picked up a couple of things this year. The Star Wars comic (for my son), the Donald Duck comic (for my daughter) and Liberty Girl (for ME). Liberty Girl looks like a lot of fun and I'm glad I was able to sample it for free. Looking forward to picking up #1 when it comes out July 4th.

Other than that, none of the other Free Books jumped out at me. I thumbed thru a few but nothing said READ ME this year.

Chew

That's a big problem with the day: it seems like a lot of companies use it to "dump" stuff. Reprints of popular comics, for example. No attempt to really sell the company or a title. How about a new story with an important event in the life of Invincible for example?

DGibFen

There was a X-Men story especially written for this event (it was the typical meet-and-greet new mutants.) I picked up Liberty Girl #0, which was interesting.

Other than that, not much. DC reprinted Superman/Batman #1 and Justice League Unlimited #1. Dark Horse had a Star Wars/Conan comic, a few independents had some stuff printed, and Wizard reprinted their "Top 100 Trade Paperbacks of All Time" article in comic book format.

You can check out what they offered at the FCBD website. Some stores should still stock several issues today.

Billyspunk

About FCBD, does everyone local comic stores stamp their store info on the covers? The local store here in MA has been doing it since the start of FCBD and it pisses me off! Now I have to go to Ebay and buy a set unmarked to have for the collection. I understand their point of promotion but why ruin the books? BTW, our local store limited customers of 3 books per person. Not bad in my opinion, enough for everyone.
One thing that really sucks about the day is the cheapskates who go and get free books and leave, not buying a damn thing. I always make it a point to check their sale items and buy a few things. I mean the store has to make some money right?

Liquid Death

I think they did a new Invincible story for the FCBD last year?

Chew

Did they? It should be something like that for the "big guns" every year.


There was a link a while back for a subscription to 52. The Chicago Tribune had an article on it and a buddy was asking about subscriptions. DCComics has it listed on their website, but that's among the standard yearly subs and doesn't give 52-specific prices. Even though it starts in two days, does anybody remember where that link was?

fujishig

I guess I have to ask what the purpose of FCBD is. I thought it was to get people not reading specific comics to get interested in them (whether they haven't read comics at all or they just haven't been into a particular series). In that case, I have no problem with them being most reprints of popular stories, something that has a hook that makes you want to pick up the back issues and monthlies. If you put out an original story for Invincible, say, you'll have the Invincible fanboys pick all of them up... none left for new fans.

Also, aren't stores still charged for shipping these "free" comics? I could see some stores dropping them if it hasn't been worth the expense.

Finally read the One Year Later issue of the Titans... please tell me that's not really the new team. Seriously. At least it makes some sense why they had Kid Devil a few issues back, but I still have no clue why they devoted half of each of those issues to Captain Carrot... I mean, I love the Zoo Crew, but is there going to be some follow-up on that, or was it just a fun thing to try?

JSA is losing me fast...

Chew

The new creative team isn't doing anything for me either. But, the final issue was in listed in the current Previews. I hope when it relaunches, it returns to it's roots.

Jon Snow

Thoughts on this month's DCBS order (that I've read so far)...my budget is getting a little high and I need to trim stuff back.

-Aquaman sucks. I can't believe I have to get 2 more issues of this before I cancel. Bleh.

-Blue Beetle #2 was much better than #1 imo. I think a lot of people here liked #1, but I wasn't impressed. However #2 seemed to gel a bit better for me and it's saved from the scrap heap.

-Jonah Hex #6 was good, as were the previous 5 issues. Just the same I think I'm going to stop getting it simply because it's the same thing over and over and over again. Jonah gets into an impossible situation, he shows he's hardcore, he wins, and then something else hardcore is shown. The End. No deviation whatsoever. It's like reading the same good book over and over with minor variations each time.

-Checkmate #1....meh. I order too many books as it is, and this just isn't for me.

-Outsiders...I'm still on the fence if I'm going to keep this one. This issue was a bit more engaging, but I thought last months (the first OYL issue) was awful for a book that should be trying to grab new readers. I was lost.

That's all I've had time to read so far....I generally save the best stuff for last (i.e. I finish with Catwoman, Fables, and Birds of Prey).

bishop2knight

That's interesting. I used to read my favorites first. Always. Now that you mention your habits, I too realize that I save my favorites for last now. Interesting...

DGibFen

52: The Website

Superboy

I read less and less every month as well. I like going to my LCS just because I like chatting people up about current books, and it makes it easier to drop books or to pick up something that might have fallen under my radar.

superman this week was great. Apparantly Busiek's Secret Identity was enough to get him put on the book. can't wait to see Dini and Morrison helm Batman though.