Author Topic: Comic Books (Read 13289 times)

CoconutMikeNIke · « **on:** September 03, 2010, 12:21:46 AM »

Comic books, graphic novels, funnies, sequential art.

Personally, I live comics. Reading them, reading about them, enjoying them through games and movies, anything. I stick with Marvel a lot, Spider-Man, Avengers, X-Men, but have grown quite attached to a number of DC's not-gigantic books, like Birds of Prey, done by the fantastic Gail Simone, and Zatanna, written by Paul Dini. I really enjoy the works of John Romita and John Romita Jr., as well as Chris Bachalo, who draws a wonderful Spider-Man, and Klaus Jansen. For Writers, other than Simone and Dini, Greg Pak and Fred van Lente, whom I was introduced through Incredible Hercules, which I can't recommend enough.

Do you read them? Is there a character you really enjoy? A team? Which of the big two (DC or Marvel) do you generally gravitate towards? What about Image and Darkhorse? Anything about the medium that you feel makes it special, unique? Do you enjoy the superhero fare, or do you stick to less mainstream stuff? Do you have a favorite creator(s)?

Chupperson Weird · « **Reply #1 on:** September 03, 2010, 01:19:18 AM »

I like the Fantastic Four most of all.

Turtlekid1 · « **Reply #2 on:** September 03, 2010, 07:58:38 AM »

Is Bruce Wayne back yet?

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #3 on:** September 03, 2010, 08:46:02 AM »

I'd start reading comic books, but I know I'd never stop. As far as graphic novels and comic compilations go, though, I've read my fair share: The Scott Pilgrim series is great, as are Penny Arcade and xkcd, and--to some extent--I unironically enjoy Garfield. Watchmen was a classic, as well.

Also, Power Girl is about neck-and-neck with Ivy on my Hit List.

Toad · « **Reply #4 on:** September 03, 2010, 10:16:56 AM »

I still enjoy reading Garfield on occasion.

There are several webcomics that I follow. Brawl in the Family, Penny Arcade, VGcats (not so much VGcats as of late. Updates are few and far between..), Dueling Analogs, Dr McNinja, Planet Zebeth (if BP were here, he wouldn't like this one. It's a sprite based Metroid comic: didn't he not like sprite comics..?) and also a couple more, but I can't list them due to questionable material.

nensondubois · « **Reply #5 on:** September 03, 2010, 01:00:02 PM »

I rarely read comics in any form. The closest you'll see me reading if ever are Garfield, Dilbert, and Ziggy from the newspaper.

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #6 on:** September 03, 2010, 03:21:31 PM »

There was a thread vaguely similar to this elsewhere, but it focused on comic strips. That's where my complaints about a few of my least-favorites can be found.

Weegee · « **Reply #7 on:** September 03, 2010, 04:31:31 PM »

Zits, and formerly Neglected Characters until I stopped finding it funny.

CoconutMikeNIke · « **Reply #8 on:** September 03, 2010, 04:40:36 PM »

Ah, I forgot about webcomics. I read the standard fare; Penny Arcade, Questionable Content, Something Positive, Megatokyo, and Girl Genius, along with some I feel are smaller. Unlike print comics, though, I tend to avoid Super Hero strips because I haven't found any that are that great, though Spinnerette is a good hero parody.

And on the topic of parody, I would reccommend Weapon Brown, a post-apocalyptic Charlie Brown. It's absurd and violent and funny. I do belive you can read it online, though I bought the print version and don't know for certain.

TEM · « **Reply #9 on:** September 03, 2010, 09:15:32 PM »

A slightly outdated list of my fledgling comic book collection: cleeck

Chupperson Weird · « **Reply #10 on:** September 06, 2010, 10:59:43 PM »

I just scored a copy of Fantastic Four #15.

TEM · « **Reply #11 on:** September 07, 2010, 12:05:15 PM »

Pics or it didn't happen.

Chupperson Weird · « **Reply #12 on:** September 07, 2010, 02:20:23 PM »

Weegee · « **Reply #13 on:** September 07, 2010, 07:13:38 PM »

Record yourself removing the plastic cover and besmirching each of the comic's pages with your greasy digits, then upload the footage to some hardcore comic collectors' forum.

Chupperson Weird · « **Reply #14 on:** September 07, 2010, 08:07:37 PM »

That would be kind of a waste of $40.

Also my digits aren't greasy and I already read it without causing damage.

CrossEyed7 · « **Reply #15 on:** September 07, 2010, 09:13:07 PM »

Buy a second copy and then burn the first one to increase the value of the second one.

TEM · « **Reply #16 on:** September 07, 2010, 09:20:07 PM »

I knew you weren't lying, I just wanted to see what condition it was in. Looks great for $40 USD bucks.

Chupperson Weird · « **Reply #17 on:** September 07, 2010, 11:24:44 PM »

Totally. It was buy one get one free at work so I got #34 as well. For some reason we have a boatload of awesome comics right now. We have FF #10; I'll probably pick that one up soon.

Lizard Dude · « **Reply #18 on:** September 07, 2010, 11:38:04 PM »

I'm actually currently a professional Comic Book Guy. I get paid to take comic shipments out of boxes, stock comics on shelves, put comics in bags, and organize old comics. I read a lot of comics in-store. I prefer Marvel to DC and try to keep up on most of their books. One universe is enough to keep track of so I don't check out the DC books very often. I do read a few things, like Gotham City Sirens. (If anyone's wondering (TEM), this is the same store I've worked at forever, but we had a remodel which included creating a giant comic section so I switched over to be in charge of that, from my old position of being in charge of pornography.)

When I was very young, a local supermarket carried the Archie-published Sonic the Hedgehog series and my parents bought me issues sometimes, starting with #3. Somewhere in the 40's I started getting every single issue and eventually got a subscription. I've never stopped buying them, including the spin-off series, so that's the one area where I'm a collector. I'm a couple years behind in actually reading them, but I will catch up someday, haha.

My favorite comic writer of all time is Peter David and my favorite series of all time is the current incarnation of X-Factor. My second favorite comic is possibly Chew (Image-published). I read and like a lot of different things, though. Bendis can be extremely hilarious at times, particularly in stuff like Ultimate Spider-Man and New Avengers. He writes great banter.

I recently picked up the first couple trades of The Walking Dead.

Turtlekid1 · « **Reply #19 on:** September 08, 2010, 06:58:24 AM »

I liked early issues of Ultimate Spider-Man. Good stuff. I just wish they had done something with Venom other than making him Black Hulk Who Eats People.

TEM · « **Reply #20 on:** September 08, 2010, 12:07:03 PM »

A comic I'm a big fan off for its odd story and awesome artwork is Four Eyes published by Image comics. It seems like it got axed after 4 issues though, last year. I can't find any info regarding any issues made after that. Bummer.

Pornography to Comics. Downgrade or upgrade?

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #21 on:** September 08, 2010, 09:49:24 PM »

With some of those superheroine series, the line is pretty thin. Not that I'm complaining.

Every time I open this thread, I read "funnies" in the first post as "furries".

CoconutMikeNIke · « **Reply #22 on:** October 02, 2010, 01:09:58 PM »

So, finally got around to checking my reserves box at my local shop, picked up my usual fare, and I've gotta say, Zatanna is getting better and better. Which makes me wonder -

Has anyone else ever picked up a title because you like a person working on it, and enjoyed it so much that you became a fan of that series even after the person leaves the book? Aside from Zatanna, which still has Paul Dini writing it but I'm sure I'll keep reading it after he's gone, this happened with Punisher Warzone. I started reading it because I'm a fan of John Romita Jr.'s work, but it was such a good story, I still enjoyed it a great deal even when he left.

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #23 on:** October 03, 2010, 12:32:17 PM »

Quote from: CoconutMikeNIke on October 02, 2010, 01:09:58 PM

Zatanna

Chupperson Weird · « **Reply #24 on:** October 06, 2010, 12:42:35 AM »

So it seems like right now in Marvel there's so much going on it's basically impossible to keep track since everything that happens is also happening in 37 other comics each month. I am really enjoying Bendis' current Avengers run though.

CoconutMikeNIke · « **Reply #25 on:** January 02, 2011, 05:09:56 PM »

Has anyone here listened to Kirby Krackle? They're quite good, I think, and what I find is a great part of their songs is that, since the two have been in bands before, thay make good songs that have game and comic themes, rather than some others that just shove references with no concern to enjoyable music.

Comic-wise, can anyone recommend a good team book? I used to read Avengers and Uncanny X-Men, but stopped during Dark reign with Avengers and I got sick of Cyclops' only characterization being that he was the team dick. Are any of the new Avengers good, or should I try Justice League/Society?

Lizard Dude · « **Reply #26 on:** January 02, 2011, 09:22:19 PM »

Of the main four Avengers books right now (vanilla, New, Secret, Academy) I definitely like New Avengers the most. Plus they just hired Squirrel Girl as their nanny!

As I mentioned in my last post here, X-Factor is great. Kieron Gillen's new Generation Hope series has only had a few issues so far but I've liked what I've seen. All the other X-books just kind of blur together. The current goings-on in the Wolverine family are pretty crazy I guess.

My final recommendation would be Fantastic Four. It's nicely self-contained and not a member of a giant family of books. Hickman has been going bananas with it and weaving a "fantastic" tale of secret societies, time travel, nu-worlds, multiverses, and dimensional manipulation. Chupperson may be able to back me up here. The Mark Millar run before Hickman was good too.

I don't know jack about DC. :)

CoconutMikeNIke · « **Reply #27 on:** January 02, 2011, 11:10:10 PM »

Yeah, I started reading FF again about a year ago, and I've enjoyed it immensly. I like the long form storytelling, with elements being introduced months before they're used. I'll pick up X-Factor with the rest this week.

I will probably be dropping my Birds of Prey reservation. While Simone's writing is good, the art lately has been lacking. For example, in the last issue, the girls were in similar outfits, and I couldn't tell the difference immediately between Black Canary and Lady Blackhawk, the faces weren't different.

Turtlekid1 · « **Reply #28 on:** January 03, 2011, 08:27:23 AM »

You're doing it wrong. You're supposed to be looking at the fishnets. ShadowBrain, back me up here.

JazzyLuv · « **Reply #29 on:** January 03, 2011, 01:14:44 PM »

It's been a good while since I read through a comic book. My brother has a BUNCH of books and large character info cards in the attic. I used to just go through them and look at the characters, see them in action--X-Men and the like. I remember there was a special collection of deceased characters, and the info (and pics) would show how they died. LOVE those!

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #30 on:** January 04, 2011, 11:22:11 PM »

Quote from: Turtlekid1 on January 03, 2011, 08:27:23 AM

ShadowBrain, back me up here.

Can do--but, for honesty's sake, I require pictures.

Turtlekid1 · « **Reply #31 on:** January 05, 2011, 08:33:43 AM »

You seriously don't know what Black Canary looks like?

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #32 on:** January 05, 2011, 10:37:32 AM »

All right--Go-Go ShadowBrain Gadget Google Image Search!

...Well, I prefer cat-themed fictional women, but yeah, I could go for that.

CoconutMikeNIke · « **Reply #33 on:** January 05, 2011, 11:52:17 PM »

Yes, yes, good, good, it's well established the 1 dimensional view of women most share on this board that borders on unreal. Which, incidentally, seems to be the kind of women most the lewd comments lean towards, the not real. But that's the buzz of a of a different bee.

Looking at the faces here, can you tell the difference? I'm not saying the art is bad, per se, it clean and expressive, but the artist, either Lee or Melo, does not convince me that he knows how to draw more than one woman for all characters.

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #34 on:** January 06, 2011, 08:36:05 AM »

Indeed, you're right--then again, I don't know much about comics, but I'd assume the vibrant style of the costumes could compensate for that. It is a close-up shot, after all (yes, I know there's millions of other comics where you can tell characters apart from that close).

And I can, have, and readily will make lewd comments about "real" women, but it just so happens that art and science have provided some much more appealing alternatives.

CrossEyed7 · « **Reply #35 on:** January 06, 2011, 10:57:56 AM »

Telling women in comic books apart would be easier if they weren't all skinny big-busted pouty-lipped blondes. Seriously, there's a huge variety of attractive body types, and the media and society at large does a major disservice to both men and women by pretending there's only one type of woman that looks good (not to mention the bigger disservice they do by making good-lookingness the end-all-be-all).

Turtlekid1 · « **Reply #36 on:** January 06, 2011, 11:06:07 AM »

I never really got the insistence upon turning every female character except possibly Granny Goodness into fan service. Actually, scratch that - I think there was a flashback at one point wherein even she was fairly attractive (well, if baldness is your thing).

The Chef · « **Reply #37 on:** January 07, 2011, 11:50:02 PM »

I may not draw in a comic book-style per se, but I deliberately go out of my to avoid sexualizing any female characters I come up with.

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #38 on:** May 19, 2011, 06:25:23 PM »

I've recently read Moyasimon Volumes 1 and 2, and I'm working my way through Death Note. In the case of the former, it's kept making me think of that Weird Al Yankovic song "Germs".

Black Mage · « **Reply #39 on:** May 19, 2011, 07:18:39 PM »

Quote from: Turtlekid1 on January 06, 2011, 11:06:07 AM

I never really got the insistence upon turning every female character except possibly Granny Goodness into fan service. Actually, scratch that - I think there was a flashback at one point wherein even she was fairly attractive (well, if baldness is your thing).

What's not to get? Sex sells. It's as simple as that.

Also, I imagine we get a lot of immature and sexist comments here due to pent up sexual aggression. I would be surprised if half of the posting members here actually engage with a woman (who is not their mother or teacher) on a daily basis.

Edit: I picked up the first issue of the new Mega Man series. Recommended!

CoconutMikeNIke · « **Reply #40 on:** May 19, 2011, 08:01:33 PM »

Cool, I'll check it out next time I'm out. I'm generally unusually happy when liscenced comics are good, and not just a cash in.

I have not read page one of any manga title, just because all the ones people recommend to me tend to be in the 30th volume, and I don't like not starting at the beginning.

Which brings me to The Runaways. I picked up the first digest volume a couple months ago, and got the last one yesterday, and it's up there with Incredible Herc for my favorite series. Great writing, great characters, and all the artists were fantastic and varied. I just wish they would do something with it. Supposedly a movie for it is in the works, but I haven't heard anything lately.

CoconutMikeNIke · « **Reply #41 on:** June 04, 2011, 01:44:25 AM »

So...

DC is restarting all titles at #1, there's a continuity reboot coming with it, some of the major heroes are going to be younger, digital are going to be released day and date and at the same price for a few weeks, and there will be creative team changes almost all around.

What do you think of it? How's any of this going to affect your comic reading habits/preferences? Any thoughts on their digital plans?

Personally, I don't think much either way for most of it. Reboots and Crisis events happen in comics. They aren't new, and shouldn't be scary or fought just for being. I do think it's kind of a half hearted digital front, though. There is no need to have the digital copies cost the same as floppies. It's too bad that DC is clearly trying to appease retailers with this, and not even in a great way.

Just off the top of my head, and borrowing from recent trends in gaming, if someone buys a physical copy, provide a digital copy, or offer the digital copy at a discount of $.99, and drop the price of nondiscount digital to $1.50 - $2.00. There would be the issue of people stealing the code (or whatever method to claim the digital copy).

But a few options could be: 2 releases of the comic, one without the discount digital, and one with. The ver. with the code could be polybagged. This will let people check out the book without potential loss. Downside is polybagged issues come off kinda badly after the 90s.

Alternatively, with the purchase of the comic, have the retailers hand out a code that will offer the discount.

Retailers don't lose as many sales, and consumers get a bonus for shop loyalty. Plus, it will help with the issues of "who owns digital comics"

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #42 on:** June 04, 2011, 07:38:12 AM »

I know zilch about comics, but I do know that there's few if any valid reasons to charge the same for the digital and physical versions of the same product.

CoconutMikeNIke · « **Reply #43 on:** September 23, 2011, 02:15:42 PM »

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/09/22/starfire-catwoman-sex-superheroine/

The reboot/relaunch/redone DC New 52 is around halfway through it's initiation, and while I have only gotten the new Birds of Prey because it's the only one on my pull list that is being continued, it appears that there have been some issues with the portrayal of some characters. Namely, that they aren't being used as characters, but as lusty objects. Now, I'm not going to recap it all that much, because the article is there, and it's said there much better than I could ever articulate.

But, I wonder what the general thoughts are of the people here. I'll admit, I'm not really looking forward to the responses, because this is place that has used 'hit-list' to describe women that are attractive, but I guess I'm just being optimistic in giving it a shot. Maybe I'll be surprised. (This could have also gone in You Rage, You Lose, just for the disgusting comments for the article). Really, though, I just don't see how it can still be so hard to create characters that don't **** an entire gender off. Sexy looking is fine, and I get it, it sells. But this is supposed to be a narrative, character driven, not cheap thrills pandering to the most base of the male 13-16 year old desire. Even if you want to put sexiness in make it part of the greater whole of what the person, male or female, is.

As far as less rage-y comics, I am really enjoying the Spider-Island event going on with Marvel right now. ASM is really good, and I think it's doing a great job of having the event weave through the other books and the main title. Too often I find that events have a hard time keeping focus with as many tie-in books, but this seems to be better at dealing with the main problem, and showing that more is happening elsewhere that you can read about. The whole Venom/Anti-Venom storyline is really interesting. Plus, they're doing a Cloak and Dagger book, and I really enjoy those characters.

Turtlekid1 · « **Reply #44 on:** September 23, 2011, 02:34:27 PM »

Yeah, it's stupid, but female-comics-characters-as-sex-objects is not a new thing. But maybe the issue is less that it's happening and more that it's happening in yet another reboot. Like, did people actually get their hopes up that things would change (and change in a good way)?

CoconutMikeNIke · « **Reply #45 on:** September 23, 2011, 03:38:46 PM »

That's a bit of a defeatist attitude. I think part of why it's an issue now, even when objectifying women in comics isn't really new is that they DID have a chance to do better. And after the hoopla with the lack of diversity in the creative teams, how did no one in the process of creating these stories that are entirely intended to bring in new readers not think for a second "Well, maybe making Starfire stand around like this, nailing anything that moves, might not draw in a new group of readers".

And many times when things like this are brought up, someone will say something to the effect that there are other comics out there, not Marvel or DC or whoever is under scrutiny, but that runs into the problem that, when done well, I enjoy these characters and stories. I like Batman. I want to read Batman stories. I want Batman stories to not represent a group wholesale in a terrible fashion.

Lizard Dude · « **Reply #46 on:** April 04, 2012, 09:49:05 PM »

I dislike Romita, Jr. but Avengers vs. X-Men #1 had some neat panels, particularly the one where Cyclops blasts Captain America. I wish the book didn't have those ugly AR markers all over the pages though.

Poop flew out of my butt when Spider-Man punched Al Gore in the face in Amazing Spider-Man #683. Dan Slott, ladies and gentlemen. Dan Slott.