Let's Talk Comics (geekiest geek thread, spoilers inside)

[Lanx]

quick tips
watch out for spoilers in here, hopefully ppl use the "spoiler" tag
comics come out on wednesday, if you know your local comic guy just setup a "list" with him/(or even her) and they'll happily hold any comics for you (they want your business)

so the reason why you want your local comic guy to be your friend, is they read all the incoming comics and they know your tastes after a while.

I'm saying this cuz i hate, hate, hate spider-man. spider-man comics are the worst in the world

1. yuk yuk i swing
2. oh no villian
3. bam villian in prison

oh look, a new superhero needs advice.

yuk yuk, spidey to the rescue! "with great power..."

oh look the avengers is boring, yuk yuk i'm an avenger now!

so my comic guy knows this, and still he said, "ok try this out i saved amazing spider-man 698 for you and 699 came out, just try it"

so ok, wow, but we'll have to see, so far comics have been pretty, sad and boring. I mean i like comics, always have i kind of follow it and i visit my comic store twice a month (which is why you make that list and your guy will just have your favorites ready for you) and yea digital comics suck  or i wouldn't go out of my way for a comic store lol, i haven't ever visited a barnes and nobles in forever. It's nice my nephew follows comics too, he's kinda more into it, he always goes to ny comic con and get's the artists to do commission work and stuff.

oh so spider-man 698
it's a boring comic, but feels weird for the first 10pages, i'm like why am i reading about spidey swining around like always? actually this is more boring than usual, then you see oh doc oc is gonna die, that's different, oh doc oc is calling for peter parker... he knows spidey's identity, he said peter parker, not spider-man.oh spidey is visiting doc oc, ok, guess it's goodbye. Then you see the twist, doc oc, swapped brains with spidey and it's actually peter parker in doc oc's dying body. 699 you see "how" it happens, my comic guy said this took a few issues to happen, so i'm guessing a year? maybe someone else knows.

so, comics.

[hashbaz]

I've had lots of friends who were into comics, but never got into them myself until the The Walking Dead TV show made me buy the first compendium.  I quickly caught up and have been a monthly buyer for the last six months or so.  Been slowly branching out into other stuff, trying a lot of #1s on comixology.  The only real gems I've found so far are Saga and Rachel Rising.

My local library has almost all the Hellboy trades, and I've been enjoying those thoroughly.  I'm slowly working my way through the American Vampire trades as well.

Superhero comics don't really interest me, though I'm giving All New X-Men a try since the art is so good.  The new Hawkeye book is also awesome so far, and not really a superhero comic per se.

Digital comics are nice for browsing and sampling, but if I'm going to read something regularly or collect it for its art, paper is a must.

[noisyturtle]

Sandman, Preacher, Watchmen, Batman Year One, Grendel. Ok, that's all I wanted to say, good day.

I will add something. I think digital comics, although good for a struggling industry(in so much as paperback hard copies and comic stores/printing etc are dying) they really take away a certain mysticism to the joy and experience of curling up with the real thing as the digital versions do much of the thinking for the reader by adding effects that cement a specific intonation into the reader's mind. I feel it's a shame kids today don't get to really delve into the medium and explore it with imagination and wonder, and it hurts some of the mega talented writers and artists out there who are trying to convey their story the only way they feel it ought to be told. There is a process of being 'dumbed down' that goes from the hard copy to the digital and eventually to the Hollywood version that loses it's base along every step leaving a watered down presentation that legal departments and big studios have picked through like buzzards through a dying calf. Some comics will never, and probably shouldn't, be made into films like the Sandman series, but not reading or being aware of them or their influence is just a damn shame.

[Lanx]

i tried digital comics last year, they sucked, you couldn't get any recent stuff and you couldn't get access to the full library if you wanted to, i haven't looked at it since, until the day digital comics becomes as easy to use as itunes/amazon where you can buy any comic you want directly to your kindle/ipad/smartphone/tablet it'll be silly. I mean i would really love to give up my comic guy, just put
the punisher "buy as subscription" (i don't like the punisher, just using as an example)

and just get notified when there's a new release, and they just take it out automatically, how difficult is that? and guess what, marvel wouldn't have to **** out their comics to make semi-decent (avengers) to horribad movies (spider-man 3)

i've not been in japan, but i heard that a lot of japanese ppl read manga on the train now with their smartphones, anyone got insight to this?

[hashbaz]

Check out comixology.com  It doesn't have everything, but it has a ton.  Most everything new is on there same day as print.

[Lanx]

well got, issue 700 of amazing spiderman (the last one) and the reason

because it becomes the superior spider man becausedoc ock has ultimately killed peter parker in doc ock's old dying body, now we have spider-man with doc ock's brain and ambitions, imo it's a desperate grab for sales, they should have killed ppl besides peter parker, then it would make a difference, otherwise this is just a "wait till we reboot with mephisto" or something stupid.

[Malphas]

Watchmen is pretty much the perfect comic. although I think Alan Moore is hit and miss personally, even though most comic books guys worship him. 100 Bullets was cool when it started but kinda drifted off and got badly dated by the time it finished, since it played it kind of like a 90's crime movie. Same with Walking Dead, by the time they get run out of the prison I pretty much hated every character as well as the ennui of it all and just wanted them all to die and stopped reading.

Hmm, what else... That run of Conan comics by Darkhorse was pretty solid. Oh yeah, and I absolutely abhor everything by Mark Millar, truly an awful, cynical hack if ever there was one.

I mostly read 2000AD as a kid and they're still pretty good, despite being a bit hokey due to being for kids and the serial format. Simon Bisley comics are always worth a look at even if the story sucks, just cause the art is so great.

And those are my opinions on comics.