March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Well I almost forgot to start a new thread since our "winter" edition has technically come to a close. I barely find the time to read these days, and I'm not really buying much either. From the lack of discussion going on in the forum I'd say I'm not alone?

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Some days I check this forum and I think everyone has stopped reading comics. :lol:

I still buy but I'm waaay behind and I have stacks of unread stuff. I keep telling myself I'm going to download official "checklists" for stuff like Batman RIP and Final Crisis so I can go through my stacks and get back on track but I haven't done it yet.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I've pretty much lost interest in most of the current age superhero titles, but that's not new. I just wish DC editorial would get it's head on straight, it seems like they have all these cool ideas, but execution and cohesiveness is lacking.

I thought I would drop JSA after Johns left, but I see that Ordway has helped co-write the last issue, and as I really really enjoyed his Power of Shazam! series, I'll stick around. What worries me is... wasn't he the artist that took over at the end of the last JSA run, with that throwaway story? And WTH happened to Mary Marvel? Did that happen in final crisis? At least it looks like they're reversing that.

I was close to dropping Teen Titans, but I actually liked the Kid Eternity issue, and they look to be finalizing on a team. I did hate how they made it seem like the formation of the Teen Titans with Superboy, Robin, Wondergirl, etc. helped turned them into a family, completely ignoring that they were already close in Young Justice. Oh well.

Now I'm close to dropping JLA. I like the Milestone Universe, but this made no sense, and I'm sure it'll continue in some miniseries I won't collect.

I did like the Darkest Night Omens and Origin stories... a cool little bonus, and a peek into the future of each title.

The great thing is that there are a lot of great series that I either haven't read at all, or haven't read in a while. Starman Omnibus has been a great re-read. I had time recently to re-read Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory,and they made a little more sense when read back-to-back, though the ending still doesn't make sense to me. Finally started picking up Walking Dead, though I assume I'll be in for a long drought after I pick up the fourth HC. Read the Agents of Atlas miniseries, which I didn't know was a few years old now. Going through 100 Bullets from the beginning, and debating whether to start the Invisibles or just wait until they inevitably re-release them. Also looking into getting the library edition Hellboy collections. Just ordered Sandman Absolute, my first Absolute (though I've read through Sandman before). The bad part about reading old stuff is that I have to really dig to find other people's opinions of issues I just read, and there's not really any active discussions that won't result in spoilers of stuff I haven't caught up on yet.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

DC is doing me a big favor by ripping Superman out of 2 of his titles (I'll just buy the Superman-less issues in the $1 bins in 6 months from now), and this probably means I'm almost done with Supergirl as well as I was buying it mainly to follow the current New Krypton storyline, but I may stick around for the "Who is Superwoman" storyline to wrap up. The same with the 2 Batman books, I don't give a crap about the Battle for the Cowl crossover mess. I'm almost close to dropping Wonder Woman, even with Gail Simone writing the book, and it mainly because there is no good hook in the book with WW as the main character, she is still just not written in an interesting manner, no juicy character development banter in this title. JLA will be dropped when the new line-up shows up.

But that being said, I will pick up Flash, and may start picking up Green Lantern on a monthly basis (I tended to just pick them up in the $1 bins at the local comic conventions that occur on a quarterly basis). I'll try Adventure Comics (LSH) and see if I like it.

I'll probably drop Fantastic Four once Millar/Hitch are done with their run. The same for Hulk. Still getting Iron Man, not sure if I'll continue with Wolverine after the Old Man Logan storyline is done in a month or so. There might be another few Marvel titles I'll be cutting, but I'm picking up Agents of Atlas. I'll stick with Captain America for a while longer, and will check out the new Brubaker/Eptin Marvels project.

Terry Moore's Echo is probably on the chopping block for me, not enough story for the $3.50 cover price. Perhaps another $1 bin title I peruse later to catch-up.

Wow, I'm just plowing through my "pull" list in a negative light. Perhaps some of it is the economy, but I think it's mostly the enjoyment level is waning on many of these titles for me.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

FWIW, I've dropped all $3.99 books that are under 24 pages of story/art.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Well for DC Im down to Green Latern and Green Latern Corps and will pick up the Flash when Johns starts... Marvel is Fantastic Four (will drop when Millar is done), Inv. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Uncanny, and Iron Fist. Basically just a Johns, Brubaker (still can't get into Daredevil though), and Fraction fan, with Thor and Iron Fist just being fun titles.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

That reminds me, I'm going to drop Angel since it's a $3.99 title (but it's always been, and I think it's time to take a stand, plus I figure I'll buy it for $1 later on if my interest in the title still exists for it later).

I'm not buying any of the regular $3.99 titles. Screw that noise.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Not to turn this into a Marvel pricing rant thread (too lazy to search ), but there was absolutely no reason for them to increase prices, as they just posted a 38% profit margin for 2008.

On sales of 124.4 million Marvel made a net profit of 47.3 million, giving them a 37.8 percent profit margin. This profit margin is much higher than anything you will see in other industries. 10% is considered very good in most industries. To give you an idea, "big oil's" profit margins are 9-13%.

They were also one of the 3 stocks that "Blew the Market Away". "To put things in perspective, the average profit margin for corporate America over last 25 years was approximately 8.3%, 200 basis points less than today's average."

Which pretty much means that there was no need for them to try and raise profits from a cost angle, just a desire soak the customers as much as possible.

Fuckers.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Not that I want to defend Marvel, but that wasn't the comics division, right? That included Marvel Studios, because of Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk movies. I doubt their comics division is posting that large of a profit margin.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

No, I was talking about the publishing, which is their comics

If you look at the chart in the yahoo article, you'll see 3 sections: "film production" (movies like Iron Man), "licensing" (action figures, underwear, etc.) and "publishing" (comics, trades).

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Ah, I see... still, if we're talking pure numbers, it's down from 2007, a 42.6 profit margin. As I collect Marvel in trades, I have no idea what the big event was in 2007... was that Civil War?

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I think it was the 2nd half of CW and the 1st half of WWHulk.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

The comics line probably lost money. The article states: "The revenue and net income growth principally reflects the contribution from Marvel Studios which released its first two feature films, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk..."

Is Marvel's pricing different than DC's? If not, I don't begrudge them a thing. Good for them. If they can pull off 38% profits in this economy, and you enjoy Marvel's comics, then this assures that they'll continue to release their products. In an environment where businesses are folding left and right I'm happy that a publisher is doing well.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I've stopped with monthlies all together too, I have been picking up the occasional clearance book at my LCBS, but since i have realized how cheap the trades can be had online, that has killed my drive to buy monthlies...I ended up getting the Batman RIP deluxe edition HC for 16.50 from Amazon, I dont need to buy sleeves or backing boards or long boxes to put it in, and if I hate it, I would atleast be able to get $10 out of it on ebay. Often i wait until the storyline was done to read them, so why not just pickup the trade? so for $16.50 I had the hardback trade on my bookshelf instead of having 8 floppies ($24) with 8 boards and sleeves ($1.60 if bought individually at time of purchase) in a box that would end up buried in storage with the rest of my books.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I really enjoyed this:

Showcase Presents Brave and the Bold Vol. 3
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA240_.jpg

I used to subscribe as a kid. I knew I liked the Aparo art, but I'd forgotten how funky some of the stories were, like Batman meeting Kamandi, and to me Mr. Miracle was just another costumed hero, not part of the New Gods universe.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

The kid-you would probably love the currently-running Batman The Brave and the Bold cartoon. There are DC characters just thrown in there with little to no introduction. Each episode also starts off with a five minute, self-contained mini-episode, usually the conclusion of an adventure we never really get to see the rest of, but featuring different guest stars. Not only Kamandi, but Jonah Hex, Deadman, Bronze Tiger, Blue Beetle (all three), Plastic Man, Elongated Man, Green Arrow (pre beard) and Speedy, the Demon, Guy Gardner, the Green Lantern Corp, Owlman from the alternate universe Crime Syndicate, Red Tornado, Aquaman, the Asian Atom, etc... maybe not exactly like their comic book counterparts, but close enough.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I had planned on picking up Avengers - Reunion (or THE Reunion? meh) but saw the $3.99 price and passed on it. It's difficult for me to not grab things like that, but 1) there's just been too many mini-series that really don't need to be, and 2) the economy is suck (raise your hand if you didn't see that one coming). If/when regular titles I collect make that price jump, it will most likely end my collecting current issues. Just think of the money I'll save towards Action #1! w00t

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Yeah, I've been reading the B&B TV thread and salivating but have never gotten around to programming the DVR.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Still going through the trades I got at the beginning of the month...

I have to say, Avengers: the Initiative has been a pleasant surprise to me. The 3rd volume, happening during the Skrull Invasion, focuses on Triathalon/3-D Man and the skrull Kill Krew, and it was the most enjoyable out of the Avengers titles I picked up. Art is decent, and I think I just love having tons of superheroes, and focusing on a few at a time. I'm not sure how the book will change with the changes to the Initiative, but we'll see.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I am picking up Jack Shit....$2.99 is bad enough but $3.99?!!!WTF?!

Marvel :badmonkey:

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I am picking up Jack Shit....$2.99 is bad enough but $3.99?!!!WTF?!

Marvel :bmonkey:

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I read Batman Rip last week...I actually thought it was a mess, I guess there had to have been stuff going on parallel to the story in NIghtwing and Robin that would have helped, but overall...meh.
I just started the Bendis Daredevil Omnibus, a few books in, I really like it. The artwork is crazy though, it seems to be taking forever to read because I an trying to absorb the stuff going on in the side panels and all the weirdness, really like it though...

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

And a large part of this thread is people dropping stuff because of the price :(

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I know participation in this thread is pretty low... but did anyone collect DC's Trinity as it was coming out? The first trade is up for solicitation and I'm wondering whether to pick it up. I liked 52 (enough to actually pick it up weekly instead of waiting) but Countdown fell flat for me.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I am collecting it, yeah. Although I've only read up until issue 16. I like it so far. It's no 52 but it's better than Countdown.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I ordered the 1st couple of issues then saw the art in a preview somewhere and it bugged me. Especially Clint, so I didn't even bother ordering the others.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I've been following it since day one and for the most part I like it because it's a fascinating concept. That being basically Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are part of a Trinity that holds the Universe, as the DCU characters know it, together. However, to me the main story in each issue is too short because they have 2 stories running in the same book each week; and the secondary stories aren't always interesting.

That said, I still don't know where they're going with this because it seems like yet another Crisis in a series of DC Crisis'. How many DCU Crisis' do we need DC?

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I can see it now... Final Final Crisis. Or, following Final Fantasy's lead, Final Crisis II.

thanks for the input on Trinity, btw. I still have a week or so to think about it, but I think I'll pick up the trade.

BTW, when you say there are two stories... is the issue split in two, or is there just a mini-story at the end? The reason I'm asking is because I don't think either the 52 or Countdown trades had the backup Secret Origins stories.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

They're like back up stories. They deal with what's happening but with other characters and locations. It varies a bit.


From Wiki's "Trinity" page

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

I'm reading through this now, and I'm totally lost. I'm guessing reading the rest of Morrison's run puts the pieces in place a little better? Because right now, I can't understand the praise it got.

On a side note, I enjoyed Tony Daniel's work on Batman much more here than I did in his recent stint in Teen Titans.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Wow, there really is a huge fall off in people collecting week to week... or at least people excited enough to post about it.

Got only four monthly comics in my latest shipment. Teen Titans and Teen Titans annual was just ok, though they spoiled the new roster on the cover, and I'm not super excited about who they have now. JLA, with the whole "JLA Detroit" feel and them even referencing that in the plot (how does Vixen not say anything about that?), seems lackluster... all they did was remind me that despite collecting a couple of years worth of issues, the team did nothing.

However JSA... I wish I had enough self control to just collect the trades, but man do I love this title. Everything I hated about what they was recently done to Captain and Mary Marvel was undone, and while it's not exactly back to status quo for them, they're in a place to start fresh. And then they go and swerve me with the roster shakedown.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

That's what happens when you leave good characters in less-than-capable hands. I felt the same way about Green Lantern for a long time.

The Walking Dead is finally exciting again. I guess he waited way too long to pull the trigger on the last storyline because it dragged on for YEARS.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

The last issue of Walkind Dead I've read was 53. I haven't lost interest in the series, but I did feel like I needed a break from it since it felt like the wheels were spinning for an issue or three.

It does feel like a dead zone around here. I haven't helped much since I don't post much anymore, but my enthusiasm for comics is pretty high right now. I'm not really feeling the current plot threads at DC and Marvel (Dark Reign? No thank you), but I've been reading a lot of interesting trades over the last few months that more than make up for that.

Hazed - which is like Mean Girls, only centered around college sorority girls. Surprisingly "adult" (like American Pie "adult) and funny.

Screamland - a book imagining that all of the Universal Monsters were actual actors, and since they've fell our of fashion, are washed up has beens -- except for Dracula. Really interesting and funny.

The IDW Transformers trades - These are just dumb fun. Pretty much Transformers that are written at a level that doesn't make you feel dumb for reading them. Though, that isn't to say these are pretending to be sophisticated or anything. They just aren't awful like the old cartoons.

Solanin - A really great coming of age manga about 20-something. Surprisingly touching story with some really great art.

The Essex County trilogy - Pretty much the comic equicalent to independent films. I didn't like these as much as the collective comic community did, but these were really good stories.

The Surrogates -- BADASS scifi comic. Like Blade Runner type scifi? You'll like this.

And I just finished catching up with Fables, and I'm reading Y The Last Man all the way through now for the first time. I was reading it when it was released, but I stopped around issue 30-something. So I'm looking forward to getting to the issues I haven't read yet.

So I'm loving comics right now. It just seems pointless to post, since most of the conversation centers on mainstream comics since those are the books most of us read. I just haven't been reading that many. I'm keeping up with Old Man Logan, Hulk, X-Factor, and a few others on a monthly basis, and a few more in trade. Along with reading some random collections I've missed over the last 10 years, like say Spider-man Blue -- which was awesome.

I will tell you, I was really excited to learn that one of my local library systems has all of the Peter David Hulk Visionary trades. I wish they were in color, but what can you do. I've heard so many good things about this run, I can't wait to crack into this and see what all the fuss is about. I LOVE the idea of the Hulk, but I've only ever really read Planet Hulk and the current Hulk series. I really enjoy both of those series, but I want to see what David did, especially since I really love his X-Factor.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Peter David's Hulk from back in the day is probably one of my fondest comic book memories. I was never a big Hulk fan before that, then one day at a drugstore, I picked up a issue during the Mr Fixit/Vegas story and was hooked.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Did they turn the Visionaries TPBs into Essential volumes or something? I have the first few Peter David Hulk Visionaries volumes (as well as the Simonson Thor ones, the Miller Daredevil ones, and a Perez FF one) and all are in color...

I am confused that they are doing an Alan Davis Excalibur Visionaries series. Isn't that essentially what the Excalibur collections are supposed to be?

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Oh sweet! For some reason, I always assumed Visionaries trades were in black and white. I haven't actually looked at the trades yet, since they're in a new library for me.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

The Excalibur collections (AKA X-Men:Excalibur Classics), which was 4 volumes, started with the beginning of the series up to issue 28.

The A.D. Ex. Visionaries collects issues 42-50, which was the first storyline Davis wrote himself.

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

Dilbert 2.0 in the Gold Box today for $34. I almost put this in the classic/nostalgia comic-strip thread but that would have made me feel too old.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...hL._AA250_.jpg

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

When does Blackest Night start?

Re: March/April/May General Comic Discussion (Spring Edition)
 

My monthly shipment is coming in this week (and it's a really small one) but I've been catching up on some trades:

Justice League International v. 1: I think I actually own the previous version of this trade (and somewhere the original comics as well), but this time they're actually doing more than one volume, so I decided to support it (but I didn't care enough to go after the earlier hc volumes). Classic Bwah-ha-ha Justice League before they got all serious again, with early Kevin MaGuire art. Of course, looking at this roster it pains me to think of what became of pretty much every single one of these characters in the DC Universe of today: of all of these characters, only Gardner and Canary (and Booster) are better off today, and Gardner went through that horrid "Warrior" faze before Johns took over Lantern duties.

Hellboy Library Edition v. 1: This collects the first two stories: Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil in an oversized hardcover edition. Love the look of the book, even though it is a pet fur magnet, and much bigger than I originally anticipated. You know, I collected Seed of Destruction when it first came out, and even recollected it when the first trade came out, but the "series of miniseries" stuff just lost my interest, and this is the first time I've revisited the series since the movies came out. I have to admit, in my youth I just didn't "get" Mignola's style. It wasn't flashy, it wasn't what I was used to, and while I enjoyed "Cosmic Odyssey" that was more because of my love of the New Gods... it was an artist friend of mine in high school that really pushed him on me. But it's obvious that this is in his element, and his style really shows through even in these early stories. Already ordered the second volume and preordered the third.

SpiderMan loves Mary Jane, the second big hardcover and the first premiere edition collecting Terry Moore's run: The book is enjoyable, though I found that a large part of the that enjoyment was because of what originally attracted me to the book: Miyazawa's art. The change in artist in the big hardcover really stood out. Still overall enjoyable, and it's hard for me to believe that this is the same writer that I can barely read over in Teen Titans. Moore's initial few issues seems like a good restart, and the art is decent. Is this still an ongoing series?