Originally Posted by fujishig (Post 10426420)

You left at the right time (maybe even a bit too late). It started going downhill, IMHO, around Titan's Hunt. I liked the concept behind Team Titans (and the early Dodsen art) but then they decided that Monarch or whatever was behind it and destroyed that book. Then they did the whole "Atom is a teenager with a bunch of new people" as the Teen Titans, Byrne massively screwed up Donna in his Wonder Woman run, they reformed the real Titans but eventually they destroyed Young Justice to create a new, younger Teen Titans penned by Johns, which went to heck when he left and hasn't been good since. But I still collect it. I blame Wolfman and Perez. Did I mention they hired some Gossip Girl writer to pen the series, despite her having very little comic work and being universally reviled by fans of the series? How far the Teen Titans, who once were at the top of the sales charts over Uncanny, have fallen.

Originally Posted by mrhan (Post 10426413)

Your welcome. :) BTW, I noticed your from the Bay Area, too. You know of any good comic stores in your area that carry a good selection of GA, SA, or BA books? Thanks.

Originally Posted by Navinabob (Post 10426544)

My local store R&K Comics in Sunnyvale has an ok selection but nothing I'd say deserves a road trip. I find I get the best bargains and selection when I go down to WonderCon in San Francisco every year. each year I try and fill in one or two more holes in my Daredevil collection.

Originally Posted by Suprmallet (Post 10426317)

I can see your point, but that's a bad analogy, as movies of the 40's often do stand up to The Godfather. Also I'd say Sandman is the top comic of all time. I only used it as an example because I just finished re-reading it.

So let's be more fair and take Claremont's run on X-Men. Claremont brought a level of sophistication and emotional connection to the series that was thoroughly absent in the 60's run (imo). The obvious example is the Dark Phoenix Saga, but even beyond that Claremont really brought out a lot in the team. And if you're looking for good examples of ham-fisted writing in 60's titles, X-Men is full of it. I recall in one of the first issues, Jean Grey telling Professor X not to worry about the team going on a mission, and Xavier says to himself in a thought bubble, "As if I can't help but be worried about the woman I love! But I can never tell her how I feel!" I mean, come on, how corny can you get?

Another good example of how the writing got better after the 60's is Miller's run on Daredevil. The 60's comics were great for laying the foundation of what we know and love today, but the actual mechanics of the stories were often clunky, with cheesy dialogue that said too much in a medium where less is more.

Originally Posted by Suprmallet (Post 10426317)

I can see your point, but that's a bad analogy, as movies of the 40's often do stand up to The Godfather. Also I'd say Sandman is the top comic of all time. I only used it as an example because I just finished re-reading it.

Originally Posted by Navinabob (Post 10426725)

Really? Small world. R&K always has a 50% off sale going on it seems. They just moved a few stores down into a bigger area where they are going to add a lot more back-issues. I've been to Heroes a few times for Magic cards.

I've seen nothing on a San Jose WonderCon yet, but SF is always a fun day. I'll post when it come up and maybe we can try and see if any other DVDTalkers are gonna attend.

Originally Posted by Navinabob (Post 10426858)

I'd call and ask for Danjer (408) 732-8775 before you make a trip out there. Unless you just like visiting random shops...

http://www.comicsconspiracy.biz/ is also around the corner. The store is sorta small... but they do a lot of collectibles there.

Originally Posted by toddly6666 (Post 10426185)

Yes, I've read all of those and I wasn't pulled in by the stories. Just not gripping enough for me. Dark Phoenix is one of the most overrated storylines as well. I just don't get what's so great about it.

Originally Posted by mrhan (Post 10426870)

I'll probably just swing by; my kids have been begging me to take them to the Toys R Us there. We haven't been to that one in awhile. Is it still haunted? I'm assuming you know that lot was once an old indian burial ground; at least that's what I heard when I was a kid. LOL

Originally Posted by Lemmy (Post 10427307)

I agree. And I'll take it a step further and speak Marvel blasphemy: I hate the X-Men, period. Never liked the stories, and hated every character, pretty much. I only ever read them because they tied into so many other books/plots that I did like to read. Too many fucking guest appearances just to sell a book.

What makes all this obscenely bizarre: I liked all three movies just fine. Maybe because I didn't know/care about the characters in the comics enough to know (or care) if they weren't done correctly on the screen. :shrug: But every copy of every Fantastic Four movie should be burned, including Corman's.

Originally Posted by Suprmallet (Post 10427339)

I think you're biased because you can't respect The Blob for his weight problems. ;)

Originally Posted by Lemmy (Post 10427307)

What makes all this obscenely bizarre: I liked all three movies just fine. Maybe because I didn't know/care about the characters in the comics enough to know (or care) if they weren't done correctly on the screen.

Originally Posted by JasonF (Post 10427410)

Oh, man. When I was a kid, I had a That's Incredible book and one of the stories in it was about that Toys R Us. I haven't thought about that stuff in 25 years.

<embed id=VideoPlayback src=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-3025561889854800093&hl=en&fs=true style=width:400px;height:326px allowFullScreen=true allowScriptAccess=always type=application/x-shockwave-flash> </embed>

Originally Posted by mrhan (Post 10423925)

Originally Posted by JumpCutz (Post 10431467)

:thumbsup:

Bolded for the truth.

To this day, I still pour over my extensive collection of Neal Adam's Silver Age comics in awe and amazement. His work was so ridiculously far ahead of the curve.

Originally Posted by JasonF (Post 10432372)

Adams was great, but if you're talking about late Silver-Age realism, nobody beats Steranko.

Originally Posted by mrhan (Post 10426870)

I'll probably just swing by; my kids have been begging me to take them to the Toys R Us there. We haven't been to that one in awhile. Is it still haunted? I'm assuming you know that lot was once an old indian burial ground; at least that's what I heard when I was a kid. LOL

I remember there were also 2 other comics stores behind the SunnyvaleTown Center. One was next to a biker bar on the street where Rooster T. Feather is on and another across from Macys. I can't recall their names, though. I'm sure their not there anymore.

Originally Posted by davidh777 (Post 10436972)

I grew up in the South Bay too--Cupertino. The last time I kept up with floppies was in high school when I used to go to ComicScene on Stevens Creek by Lawrence Expressway. When I go back these days, there's a good shop in the empty shell that used to be Vallco Fashion Park (I think it's called Cupertino Park now).

Originally Posted by gmanca (Post 10436510)

Funny there are people from this part of the South Bay; used to go to R&K near Longs for many years as wells as Brian's Books near Kiely in Santa Clara, Comics Conspiracy, Heroes, and some smaller shops like the first Black Cat Comics in the Captiol Plaza on Capitol and McKee.

Originally Posted by Navinabob (Post 10438175)

Cosmic Comics was the shop in Sunnyvale on Murphy Street. That came to me last night.