GearsWar666

Thinking about seriously limiting my comics to 5/month...not including the All-Star, Confidential, etc... to 5 Regular Monthly titles....Any suggestions??

My five so far are....

1. Superman
2. Action Comics
3. Ultimate Spiderman
4. Ultimate X-Men
5. Batman

PalmerJoss

Man, only 5 comics a month? On a slow week for comics I usually have 5 books, sometimes upwards of 10 or 12. If I had to pick only 5 comics to read a month these would be my choices:

1. Y: The Last Man(until it finishes it's run in a couple months)
2. The Spirit
3. JSA
4. Captain America
5. Ex Machina
6. The Brave & The Bold - this would move up to #5 when Y finishes it's run this summer.

GearsWar666

for some reason, I cannot get into JSA

Rocketdog2000

Tough call there. I'm sure this answer could change again tomorrow, but for this moment...

1. JSA (or now known as Justice Society Of America)
2. Teen Titans
3. Green Lantern
4. Ultimate Spiderman
5. Daredevil

Rocketdog2000

I have a friend who feels the same way, (doesn't like the characters), but it's been my #1 book every since it's debut as JSA some years back. It's been pretty much consistently great, with only one exception - that being the last "Gentlemen Ghost" story arc that finished up the last run under it's old title. Worst story they ever did.

Sessa17

Most here don't get 5 monthlies per month, so it's going to be easy for most here to pick 5.

On the other hand I get over 70 monthly titles.

But if I had to choose, & you can only get 5 on-goings a month, these are definitely what they should be IMO. I choose them simply b/c they are the best quality & most content for you buck & if you are only gettting 5 books, IMO you should spread the genre around & diversify. Not just get 5 books that are all superhero books, unless that is all you like.

The Walking Dead

Criminal

The Spirit

Captain America (You need at least 1 pure superhero book)

The Incredible Hulk (simply for the innovation to the character & the epic story being told unlike any other superhero comic out there)

The Goon would definitely be 1 of the 5, except it doesn't come out frequently enough right now.

GearsWar666

I've heard good things about The Walking Dead, might have to check that out.

stingermck

I might could take it down to 10, but not 5

Superboy

I read a ton of comics a month but it's easy for me to choose.

1. Y: The Last Man
2. Ex Machina - although I really don't start reading these until the storyline is concluded.
3. Invincible
4. The Walking Dead
5. Spider-man loves Mary Jane - it's astonishing to see how little hype this book has. It's the way Ultimate Spider-man should have been.

uncle charlie

my 5 would be

1.The walking dead
2.Batman
3.Invincible
4.Detective Comics
5.Ultimate Spider-man

Chew

EW gave it an A as well. It's that good, eh?

Might have to place a Midtowncomics order.

PalmerJoss

The Spirit is really that good. All self-contained stories(so far, anyway) that are great fun with a lot of tongue in cheek humor and amazing artwork. I recommend this book to any and all comic fans.

slop101

I can't really answer this question, as I haven't bought a book because of it's characters in over 10 years. I buy strictly based on writer/artist. And since the really good creative teams either change titles a lot, or they have limited runs, it's difficult to pick 5 books now, because next month 4 of those could either suck or be wrapped up.

exharrison

The character is pretty well-written. Worth checking out.

wlj

i have only read #1-7, but it is an unbelievably wonderful comic. great art and story.

Sessa17

I don't really get this response, I buy books mostly on creators as well, & I had no problem picking 5 comics. Walking Dead has had the same creative team for over 2 years, as has Captain America, Ex Machina, The Goon, Invicible, Conan (with a few fill-ins), Y The Last Man, Ultimate Spider-man (although I don't like it most do), & that is just writer/artist combos. For me, I'll follow writer's more than an artist & there are dozens & dozens of books where the writer has been on it for way more than 5 issues. So, I don't really get what your complaint is.

Superboy

I think he was speaking mostly of mainstream franchise comics, like X-men and Batman. Most of those books you listed were creator-owned works, so of course there's not going to be a sudden shift of storytelling quality when the writer or artist changes. Yet the thing to remember with creator-owned works is that they have a very inconsistent publishing schedule (think of how often The Goon comes out), and once the writer wraps up the book, IT'S DONE AND GONE FOREVER. Outside of cameos or the occasional one-shot, creator-owned works typically don't last longer than 60 issues. It's at this point you mention Bone and Cerebus. But the quality of those books also varied wildly, as much as mainstream books did, as did the publishing schedule. Furthermore, for books to carry on that long under the same writer actually hampers the book's potential, as it creates a daunting sense of continuity understanding necessary to read it - almost more so than franchise books like X-men. The ultimate conclusion he was trying to reach was that it's really the story that matters to him and not necessarily the appeal of the characters involved; they have really only become incidental to the value of the work.

I feel the same way concerning buying books. All the books I listed were either creator-owned or limited series. However, I don't buy complete runs of issues, even when the writer is consistent. Teen Titans was probably the biggest offender in this category for me. The quality of the storytelling varied wildly.

slop101

Yeah, what superboy said - I wasn't taking into account books that are limited series.

dadaluholla

Hmmm. This is actually pretty easy for me since I only buy like 6 regular books anyway:

1. Punisher (MAX)
2. Walking Dead
3. Incredible Hulk
4. Daredevil
5. Captain America

I think thats it. The only thing that got dropped was Astonishing X-Men, and I'm not really going to have to worry about that one much longer.

The Bus

Y: The Last Man
Ex Machina
The Losers
Runaways

These are the only titles I plan on keeping up on anyways (and I buy them as TPBs).

Sessa17

I didn't mention any books that were limited series, everything I posted was an on-going monthly.

I'm just curious what writers you say you follow? B/c even on mainstream comics, I still don't get the complaint. Pretty much every one of the best writers in the industry & most popular have been on the same main stream book for years, let alone 5 issues. Ennis on Punisher, Johns on Teen Titans, Flash, JSA, Bendis on Ultimate Spider-man, New Avengers, Busiek on Aquman, Brubaker on Daredevil, Captain America, Uncanny X-men, Simone on BoP, Nicieza on Cable/Deapool, New X-men, any Vertigo book, She-Hulk, Hulk, & many more, this is a lot of mainstream comics I've mentioned all with the same writer on a book for more than 5 issues. Unless you only buy comics for art, I just don't see not buying comics b/c the creator changes so much, has having much weight when so many mainstream writers have long stays on books.

slop101

Both Y and Ex Machina (two books I love) are going to end very soon, IOW, limited series.

Here are some people who's work I buy: Alan Moore, Brian Vaughn, Garth Ennis, Alan Davis, Dan Slott. But even they're dependant on who's writing and drawing. AFAIK, Dan and Garth are the only ones on on-going books - and I only pick up their work when I like the art also, hence, fluctuating creative team - all I'm saying is that NO book (outside of a limited series) has a consistent enough creative force to commit to.

Trevor

I used to think that I would always buy certain titles no matter what (Swamp Thing, Daredevil, JLA). But not anymore. The quality varies too much from writer to writer, and I don't want to spend the money on mediocre books just to be a completist anymore.

The economics have changed too much. When I was a kid, I could mow one lawn and buy 20 comics books. Unless kids are getting $60 per lawn now days, inflation has not been kind to comics.

There are a few writers that I would likely buy a title for, no matter how long it lasted or who the artists were, but those writers (Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Bob Burden, Scott McCloud, maybe a few more) will likely never do a true unlimited series again.

The No Man

A lot of people seem to be raving about the new Darwyn Cooke Spirit. Is it really that great? I just had my comic shop reserve #1-4 for me so I can see what all the hubbub is about.