Trevor

We have all kinds of threads like this over the rest of the forum; so I figured that we should have them in Comic Book Talk too. They might be fun, and spur some additional conversations.

Elephantmen #1 - Image - July 2006

Had this as a freebie on Comixology, but didn't read it until I saw that they had the whole series on sale. Read it and enjoyed it enough to buy the first TPB.

mallratcal

Deadpool #10 - May 2013. I'm quite a bit behind in my reading and have a stack of comics to get through.

fujishig

If we're including digital, I buy singles all the time, mainly 99c issues on Comixology, the last of which was Wolverine and the X-men up to #18. I also subscribe to the digital version of Viz's Shonen Jump, so I read that every week.

If we're talking physical comics, I occasionally buy a comic or two with my monthly order (which mostly consists of tpbs and hardcover collections), mainly because it's on heavy discount. I bought Age of Ultron #1 for 99c, I think, though I have yet to read it. The main problem with this is that I have to order a couple of months in advance, and then I forget to pull the second issue, after which point it's basically a one shot for me since I'm not going to go track it down unless it's really, really good (which is rare).

I haven't actively collected a series (without a sale) since the very start of the new 52, when I begrudgingly kept collecting both Legion titles and Action comics on a monthly basis before I dropped everything. Prior to that I was collecting at least 10 or so monthly series from DC (none from Marvel, because they collect EVERYTHING). I was considering ordering some of the villains month titles that interested me (since the cover wouldn't work digitally anyway), but I ultimately decided I didn't want to support that kind of "event."

There is still an itch there, though. I'm very close to starting up again, probably digitally, on a title like Saga, Transformers MTMTE (which is actually good), or maybe even a DC title like Batgirl, which seems to get a bunch of praise here.

Maxflier

Finishing up the last two issues of this miniseries and then moving on to the 2005-2011 Supergirl series.

fujishig

Ugh... I collected that series for a long time because I liked the original pre-Crisis character (and Peter David's take on the Matrix, convoluted as it was), but they had absolutely no idea what to do with the character and it abruptly changes direction multiple times (I think early on they either forgot she was a teenager or were trying to be really edgy/creepy), trying to cover it all up with multiple guest stars and what not. A later writer basically sweeps pretty much the entire early part of the series under the rug.

I'm sure you know this, but the Superman/Batman arc where she's (re)introduced is pretty much required reading to even halfway understand the first arc.

PhantomStranger

DC Comics Presents #16...I recently bought a semi-complete run of the series off of eBay.

Maxflier

I did read the first Superman/Batman TPB with her introduction, but not the second. Hopefully that will be enough.

Out of curiosity, what did you think of the previous version of the character (the Linda Danvers version)?

The Valeyard

Doctor Who Classics Series 4 #1. I'm reading through IDWs Doctor Who Classics series before their license expires at the end of the year. Trying to tie everything up before a new publisher starts releasing stuff.

fujishig

You're talking about the Peter David one, right, the one that started off with Gary Frank as the artist? I actually liked that series, even though I was iffy on the Matrix character before that. It was pretty dark at times (especially the background of Danvers), and I wasn't a big fan of bringing the animated series costume into the comic books, but otherwise it's definitely something I'm longing to read again (along with PAD's run of Young Justice). I think, like his X-Factor, it was largely because he was allowed to work with minimal interference and he just went all out with the character, and I didn't mind so much because it wasn't really pre-Crisis Supergirl.

The newer series, with the Kryptonian Supergirl... I just thought they tried too hard to make her this dark character with this dark past, and really just preferred when they finally settled her into the role of teenage cousin to Superman (then they kinda retconned her into pre-Crisis Supergirl, complete with a bac. I actually really enjoyed the last few arcs of the series. I haven't read the new 52 version, but the whole dark, cold alien bit kinda soured me on it.

PhantomStranger

DC has pretty much ruined Supergirl as a character with all of the different permutations. There should have always been one Supergirl, and her name is Kara Zor-El. They should have made her Superboy's permanent replacement in the Legion.

fujishig

When, immediately after Crisis? They couldn't, the mandate was Superman is the only surviving Kryptonian... to the point that they made up a Daxamite character to (kind of) take her place in the Legion. They should have just retconned her back into existence like they did Krypto, instead of making this convoluted new Kryptonian character, but hey, that's all water under the bridge now, because nu52!

PhantomStranger

The mandate was a dumb idea in the first place as a long-term solution and ended up savaging the Superman brand. Supergirl should be one of their most popular characters, she is one of the few recognizable female teen heroes in the entire world. Instead DC denied her existence for years and gave us weird imitation copies.

We got a couple of years of good storytelling from John Byrne's changes to the Superman mythos, but I don't think it is a coincidence the character drastically declined in popularity since DC stuck with his changes for so long.

rw2516

Read comics religiously for 30 years. Began losing interest in mid 90s when Marvel began ending long running series and rebooting with #1s. Last one I bought and read was the Spider-Man with birth of Peter and Mary Jane's baby. Some old lady stole the kid and gave it to the Green Goblin. Peter and Mary Jane told kid was dead. What ever happened with that?
Now I just buy TPBs of silver age reprints.

PhantomStranger

Poor Spidey has been trashed by Marvel since the '90s. It is probably better you don't know what they've done with Peter and Mary Jane since that point.

terrycloth

this week i picked up and read
Collider #1
Captain Midnight #1
The Wake #3

TheBang

Read Superboy #9 this morning.

I've been spending the last year or so working my way from Infinite Crisis to the New 52. I'm almost through the first year of New 52 for the titles I read.

Superboy #9 was part of my Teen Titans reading. I'm only reading Teen Titans because I like Tim Drake. But I've kind of liked how Teen Titans started, so I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.

The Valeyard

Started reading Secret Wars II and its crossovers this morning. It actually starts off better than I remember before falling apart midway through. My only memory of the mini-series (from when I first read it back in 1985) was the Marvel heroes piling on the Beyonder at least once an issue. He scatters them and walks away. Issue 2, they attack again. He scatters them and walks away. Issue 3, etc. It use to crack me up as a kid.

csant

I can't remember the last comic I read (probably Spawn like issue 30ish) since I stop collecting comis like 10 years now.

I just can't get into anything now cause the art is so terrible. For me art/story are equally as important.

I recently went through my collection and was reading the Frank Miller run on Daredevil. I loved Bullseye and when he killed Electra that was awesome.

Maxflier

If you mean the white belly shirt, gloves etc costume then yeah, I hate it. It is hard to take the character seriously with that costume.

Jacoby Ellsbury

I am probably the least qualified to speak in this forum since I have only collected for about 2 years total in my life, around 1991(sold my 100 or so books as fast I bought them) and this past year. But, I think the artists today blow away years gone by. In 1991 Todd McFarlane was the biggest name in comics in my neck of the woods. His Marvel work blew away anything else I was seeing at the time. Nowadays(well up until a few months ago) the covers of Amazing spider-man blow away anything Todd did back then. I've been reading Crossed from Avatar comics, even this independant company has better artists than the stuff I was looking at in the 90s

fujishig

Yeah, I there are some great artists working on a variety of titles today; I think what somewhat ruins that for me is that they insist on keeping a monthly schedule for comics even though they know artists can't keep up with that schedule. I mean, we always had fill-in artists, and I don't mind so much when the coordinate it so that alternating artists do alternating arcs, because at least it's consistent, but in this day and age, when most writers seem to be writing for trades, it's jarring to have dramatic art shifts in the middle of stories. But there's some beautiful stuff coming out, and the times when they can get a consistent writer/artist combo on a book, the results are often amazing. Not that I'd wish anyone to get back into the addiction that is comics, especially at modern day prices, but csant if you want some books with great writing and art, let us know, I'm sure people would be happy to oblige. For instance, Bendis and Brubaker have done some great runs on Daredevil, and the recent Waid run is great (in a different way) as well.

I remember reading that the older artists were actually upset at McFarlane and some of his peers when they were coming up in Marvel, because they put so much extra (some would say extraneous) detail in their work that even though the older artists could do similar, it would cut their workrate dramatically (obviously someone like George Perez was an exception). Then when those guys started Image and weren't a slave to the monthly grind, they couldn't keep up even a semblance of a monthly schedule.

csant

Give me a list of all the good artist of days, cause I have walked into a couple of comic book stores and nothing really jumps out at me.

Andy Kubert, I see is still around and not sure if Jim Lee is still drawing, but his stuff with Superman and Batman was pretty damn cool.

PhantomStranger

I would say the production standards for comics have gotten much better since the '90s. Digital coloring and lettering makes modern comics look more professional than older comics. Art is always wildly subjective.

Trevor

Capote in Kansas - This was a free preview on Comixology, and is more of the first part of a graphic novel than issue #1 but it was quite good; a fictional account of Capote's research for In Cold Blood.

terrycloth

read Ghosted 1-2 and Watson and Holmes 1-2 today