Supergirl 9 - ow, my head hurts, it was just so disjointed. I think I'm about done with this title. I'll check out #10, but if it don't catch my fancy, I'm dropping the title.

52 - Week 16 - Well, there's a wedding, and a bomb scare. Also a group gets off a planet they were stranded on for these 4 months. The Black Adam origin wasn't too bad.

Supergirl and the Legion 21 - Brainy still can't let Dream Girl go, and uses various Legionnaires in using a computational approach to bring her back, but it's just GIGO for Brainy. The Colossal Boy subplot wasn't all that interesting.

Jack of Fables 2 - Liked the sarcasm and narcissistic outlook Jack has (only for laughs). He's shagged Goldilocks, but couldn't wait to push her out the door, and gets the riot act read to him and Jack is not going to let anyone decide his fate.

Wonder Woman 2 - Finally it arrives, and it was a good read. We get a little bit more insight on Diana Prince becoming a Fed and allowing Donna and Cassie handle things while she watches from afar. Good action and loved the 2nd-to-last page before the reveal of the last page for the next "guest-star" in this revamped Wonder Woman.

Batman 656 - Another good Morrison setup for what will surely be an intriguing storyline to come. Batman has to deal with many Man-Bats and that leads him to having to face his past in an unexpected way. Can't wait for the next week. Kubert's art was taking on some of Neal Adams' energy and look.

Astonishing X-Men 16 - Kitty takes control of the situation but finds even darker forces at play. Wolverine continues to be a bit afraid of everything, but still manages to protect himself against a Beast attack. Not a bad issue, looking forward to the next issue.

Justice League 1 - It appears that the Red Tornado will be the lynchpin to the reformation of the Justice League, with the lineup decided by Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. It's a decent start. I am miffed about the 2 covers by Ed Benes, but another cover by Michael Turner. To get the "full" cover by Benes, you have to buy cover A and cover B to get the full line-up of past and possible JLA members, and that's just cheesy. Boo!

Birds of Prey 97 - Black Alice is the focal point, and she's got some evil flanking her on one side (Talia, Cheetah and Felix) and the Birds of Prey on the other (Black Canary Huntress, Zinda). I didn't much like the ending as it seemed a bit rushed, but the artwork was easy on the eyes.

I like Bendis. He writes pretty good stories and can knock things out of the park sometimes (his Purple Man in Alias was fantastic). If I'm only mildly interested in something (a character or story line) but see him attached I'm that much more likely to pick it up. That being said, Ultimate Spidey is not that great. It's decent-to-good, but I really don't see what the fuss is about. I own the Barnes and Nobles HC with the first 50 issues in it and I was entertained while reading it, but nothing from that book stuck with me. I am tempted to read the clone saga story just to see how he twists it though.

Ult Spidey was at it's best when he wasn't trying to re-imagine some classic storyline. I really dug the stuff with Kingpin and I hear the Kitty Pryde relationship is good.

I've always thought Bendis best work was his non-superhero, like fortune and glory, torso, etc.

And Fell, Dini's Batman, and Jonah Hex - best comics being published right now.

So whay you're saying is you like very decompressed storytelling?

Fell is a book I keep meaning to give a try, but I really don't like the art style.

I don't normally like asking a question like this, but how much does everyone spend on comics a month? The reason I ask is that I'm finding myself more and more interested in these high dollar books. Seems that there's an Absolute book coming out every month now and they're $50+ with discount. Marvel has announced that there will be seven omniboo books next year, and those are $75+ with discount.

Sure, I don't have to buy these and blah blah blah. But in a way, aren't these publishers competing for their own money? I mean, how many comic readers can afford their monthly take of books PLUS these big dollar books too?

It's hard to squabble over price when there's so much reading crammed into these books, but if you have a comic budget of $100 a month for example, 60% or more of that is sucked up with one massive book.

Sorry for the long post, but what do you guys think of these monster, really expensive books?

I think I spend like $15-20 a month at most. I'm down to like 6 regular titles, and I rarely ever buy a new trade or collection.

For me, $30-40 per month but Im beginning to cut back, and only get bare essentials for me...Going to try and get down to $15-20 a month, and with the lateness of everything lately, probably wont be too hard.

I've averaged $318/mo. from mailordercomics.com over the last year, but that includes all kinds of things like statues, toys, plush Godzillas, and other stuff for the kids. Very few actual comic books are in the orders as I mostly get trades and hardcovers.

Forgot to answer this one, but I love the moster books, but hate the prices. The Absolutes are pretty hard to defend in a lot of cases. The $50 ones I'm okay with but the $100 editions are just crazy. I did order Absolute Sandman Vol. 1 at a discount but, man it hurt. Marvel's Alias was a huge book and I thought the price was reasonable on that. I'd prefer to see more like that than $100 Absolutes.

It's funny. Well, not funny funny, but you get the idea. I've cut back and cut back on my monthlies. Now I only get those with Cho or Hughes covers. So I've gone all trade pretty much. But with all the hardcovers and deluxe books coming out, I might have to cut back to just hardcovers. I mean, that cuts way back on the number of books, but when you're ordering trades and graphic novels, $100 or even $150 doesn't go that far anymore.

I'm typically $80-$90 per month, but am currently cutting back a bit.

This month was Absolute Sandman and last month was Absolute New Frontier. That pushed both well over $100 (even $170!).

Apparently, I have to actually set a comic budget and stick to it.

The great thing about Fell is all the stories are "one and done". Pick up any issue to give it a try, you don't need any of the backstory to understand it. I think it's a great book.

If you don't like the art, I guess you never read 30 Days of Night?

Words out of my mouth. I'm ok with the books being in the $40 to $50 price range (after discounts), but above that I just can't do. I'm all about the cheap HC collections though like the Waid FF HC's, the Invincible HC's, or The Ultimates v1 HC.

Books like New Frontier (can't wait to get this), Crisis, and JLA/Avengers beg to be in the oversized format, while stuff like Hush (which I have) really didn't need that treatment IMO.

As far as budget, I like to keep it around $50 a month. I don't buy everything I read, and I only try to buy trades of things I know I like so I want feel the need to get rid of stuff down the road. I also treat my comics just like my dvds and try my best not to buy trades of things I don't think I will reread again. That helps keep things in check.

It's not that the story didn't grab me, I haven't even read an issue yet, it's just when I first glanced at the art I was turned off. However, If the stories are good I can get past the art (prime example Walking Dead), thats why I'll probably have to force myself to read a few issues down the road.

I was hoping Image Comics had a full issue of Fell on their site, but they don't. They do have a five page preview you could check out to give you a feel for it: http://www.imagecomics.com/previews.php
(right column listing, fifth from the bottom)

For the most part in the past, I try to only get the Absolute Editions that cost me under $50 after discount, so I decided to pass on Abs. Sandman, and also Abs. Dark Knight Return/Strikes Back, but I did pick up Abs. Kingdom Come recently.

Here's the funny thing about getting older: My eyesight has shifted into farsight mode (after corrected for nearsightedness with contact lenses), so it's getting harder to see things up close for me, and then your get these oversized Absolute Editions, and it's even harder to read and gaze at the artwork unless I put them a little further away than it's comfortable with such large heavy books. I may have to just cut out Abs. Editions in the future.

I am at about $140 per month, only monthlies, with bi-weekly shipping from DCBS. Around 70 monthlies or so.

I'm done buying any sort of trade or absolute from dc.

I picked up the absolute watchmen for like 50 bucks and the slip cover was placed on wrong so it folds at the wrong spot, which ruined the entire cover. I like the large art and re-coloring but it really wasn't worth the 50 bucks, I can't even sell the thing now because the covers all bent.

And the special treatment they're doing with the absolutes should have be done on all trades, re-lettering, re-coloring, printing away from the middle so you can actually read the book. I picked up the 10th anniversary arkham asylum and was really pissed at the way that book was printed, you'd have to bend the spine back just to read the thing. Or splitting new frontier and hush into two seperate volumes.

Speaking of oversized hardcovers, the rumor is 6 omnibuses from Marvel next year.

Yeah, that's what started this whole discussion. I heard 7, but still, it's madness. $100 each? That might be a little market saturation if you ask me.

Thats what I get for not reading before posting.

At %50 off I can see myself getting a few. I'm on the fence about the Morrison Omni. I'd rather see older stuff especially 70s and early 80s.

It's just that they are so tempting. I know they are expensive, but you get so many issues in one. And presented nicely, too. But dang, my wallet will be hurting and my shelves sagging if I get too many.

I usually try to calculate the average price per issue when I get a trade (especially a hardcover), and whether it's available in a cheaper format. Marvel has a lot of trades that are a great bang for the buck... I started out collecting Ultimate X-men in paperbacks because I thought the HCs were overpriced, only to later find out that the HCs collected multiple trades. I do love reading giant volumes of comics... while not HCs, I love the $50 "Gold Brick" gold Digger collections. Maybe it was because I loved reading those small, thick digests as a kid.

Even though absolute Kingdom Come was cheaper than the other Absolutes, it was also much shorter, and I really didn't need another copy of it, regardless of the extras. I think I'll stick with my oft-read Sandman TPBs as well. I remember years ago, when DC came out with the first New Titans archive... I really wanted it, but it cost way more than I could get the backissues for...

My monthly pull (after discounts) usually hovers around $65 a month average. Depending on what's coming out, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Two out of the last three months has resulted in my debit card being declined by DCBS (I try to avoid credit card use if at all possible!). There was plenty of money available in each instance.

I don't know whether to blame DCBS or my credit union.