Comic book fanboys and fangirls

[ZipBlockBloodie]

So any fans of comics around these parts?

 

[Evil_Geoff]

I like Carlos Mencia...

 

[ZipBlockBloodie]

I like Carlos Mencia...

Thats cool..Nice to meet you by the way, I'm fairly new the BDSM part of Lit

 

[Homburg]

Comic books? Used to be, years ago. I didn't like the direction the major publishing houses were going and decided to ditch my pull lists. I haven't seen a reason to come back of late.

 

[ZipBlockBloodie]

Comic books? Used to be, years ago. I didn't like the direction the major publishing houses were going and decided to ditch my pull lists. I haven't seen a reason to come back of late.

Missing out on good stuff man, but I can see why you are not interested.

 

[Homburg]

It just got to the point where my ROI was way to low to keep it up. I kinda regret it here and there, as I know there's some brilliant stuff out there. I keep on thinking about picking up certain books that I KNOW I'll love, but I keep telling myself not to reopen that can of worms.

An example of this would be LOEG.

 

[ZipBlockBloodie]

Yeah to each their own

 

[Plasmaball]

indeed

 

[Vixandra]

I'm an otaku.

Just got the last Fruits Basket and am working on my AMG/OMG, Karin, and Loveless.

I do read and collect American comics too. The Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter ones are pretty well done, and hubby reads them as well. I also liked the Dark Hunter comic, though their release schedule is way too lengthy.

I also have a smattering of Sandman and Calvin and Hobs books around.

 

[Evil_Geoff]

Actually I was a serious collector for years, my monthly budget on regularly collected titles was $60 - $80. Back in the day when titles were running $1 each. I have somewhere between 3k and 4k books bagged and boxed...

But getting married, raising a family, etc has a way of re-prioritizing the budget, know what I mean?

I don't collect anything actively now. When I see a mini-series that catches my eye I might indulge (Anita Blake and The Dark Tower adaptations being the most recent examples), I might pick them up, but I just can't do it on regular basis.

 

[Evil_Geoff]

Thats cool..Nice to meet you by the way, I'm fairly new the BDSM part of Lit

Nice to meet you too! Welcome to the Cafe'!

 

[Homburg]

I also have a smattering of Sandman and Calvin and Hobs books around.

I actually had reason to pull out some Sandman recently. Man, the book that goes over the story of Emperor Norton was such an incredible book. That series really was stunning.

 

[BlitzKrieger]

I was a big fan of The New X-men (huge X-man geek here), but since I live so far out in the sticks I couldn't keep up with each issue month to month. I really enjoyed Marvels direction in the early to mid 2000's under that one CEO (can't remember his name). That was some of their best work to date, IMHO.

 

[Vixandra]

I actually had reason to pull out some Sandman recently. Man, the book that goes over the story of Emperor Norton was such an incredible book. That series really was stunning.

My favorite stories are Caliope and The Dream of a Thousand Cats. The Midnightsummer's Dream one is really good too.

I also collect the Sandman spin offs, like the Dream Hunters, a story he did with Yoshitaka Amano and the artwork is amazing.

 

[malinborn]

I'd wager I have somewhere between five and seven thousand books down in my basement.. maybe more. Mostly mainstream as for a long time i was an art elitist .. the art had to look a certain way or i wasn't interested and for that i missed out on a lot of fantastic stuff that now i can buy in collectors editions or drop a lot of coin on the issues at my local shop

i do still collect but as was mentioned.. priorities change now that my son is here

 

[BlitzKrieger]

for a long time i was an art elitist .. the art had to look a certain way or i wasn't interested and for that i missed out on a lot of fantastic stuff

I suffered from this too for a very long time. One of my big examples is John Romita and John Romita Jr. I hated, hated, hated their style for so long... until one day I picked up an old Spider-man issue that the older Romita had drawn and it was like a lightening bolt of realization hit me. I was stunned. Suddenly I saw just how amazing his art was. From that point on, and up until today, the Romita's are two of my favorite comic artists.

Here's one of my fav's that I doubt any of y'all know or remember Chris_Bachalo. He drew most of the first ... two years of Generation X, including the Age of Apocalypse crossover.

Any of y'all got fav artists/writers?

 

[Vixandra]

Are we including webcomics in this discussion?
I honestly adore http://questionablecontent.net/ by Jeff Jaques.

Flipside is pretty good too: http://flipsidecomics.com/

 

[Homburg]

I suffered from this too for a very long time. One of my big examples is John Romita and John Romita Jr. I hated, hated, hated their style for so long... until one day I picked up an old Spider-man issue that the older Romita had drawn and it was like a lightening bolt of realization hit me. I was stunned. Suddenly I saw just how amazing his art was. From that point on, and up until today, the Romita's are two of my favorite comic artists.

Here's one of my fav's that I doubt any of y'all know or remember Chris_Bachalo. He drew most of the first ... two years of Generation X, including the Age of Apocalypse crossover.

Any of y'all got fav artists/writers?

All of the ones I would mention would be old ones.

I was a fan of Walt Simonson's work on Thor. The assault on hel was particularly good. The Executioner's final stand is an image that I still find compelling.

I thought that Frank Miller's work in Daredevil was some of the best writing in comics, with the "Born Again" series being literally some of the best I've ever seen. That story was incredible, and more than once I got emotional reading it. Miller has done a ton of great work period.

I liked a lot of stuff that John Byrne, especially on the X-Men and Alpha Flight.

"The Nam" had some really good writing in it here and there. Couldn't tell you names as they rotated creative teams through that book a good bit.

There was a Robin miniseries shortly after the intro of Tim Drake that I really liked.

Already mentioned Sandman, and stuff like Watchmen goes without saying.

Cerebus. The writing, while I was reading it, was solid.

I liked a lot of indy stuff too. Things like The Tick, Boris the Bear, Bone, and other oddball stuff.

Geeze, it makes me want to page through some of the stuff I have looking at the work I liked.

--

Are we including webcomics in this discussion?
I honestly adore http://questionablecontent.net/ by Jeff Jaques.

Flipside is pretty good too: http://flipsidecomics.com/

If we get into webcomics, yeah, bigtime. Questionable Content, Something Positive, Order of the Stick, Sinfest, Least I Could Do, etc etc.

 

[BlitzKrieger]

I had a thought when you mentioned Daredevil (fucking awful movie btw).

Over all these years that it has been in print, Daredevil has been graced with some of the most talented artists and writers in all of comic-land. Even though it is a somewhat low-key title, never reaching the insane popularity of the X-men or Spiderman, it has some of the most engaging and intelligent story lines of all the marvel titles. A very underrated title in my opinion. It fits right along with Punisher: give it the Indy treatment and it shines.

 

[Kyle2182]

Are we including webcomics in this discussion?
I honestly adore http://questionablecontent.net/ by Jeff Jaques.

Flipside is pretty good too: http://flipsidecomics.com/

I would say both of those are quite fun. I'm a huge fan of xkcd: http://www.xkcd

As to comic books... I'm a huge fan. I felt out of the loop as the 90's muscle-mania/huge guns/Spawn/Gen universe took over, but the last few years I've been coming back to the fold.

And since Daredevil was mentioned... Daredevil Yellow is one of the better series that has come out in the recent years featuring our beloved blind superhero

But how can we leave out Hellblazer, Alan Moore's Swampthing, Y-the Last Man... oh I could go on and on...

 

[Homburg]

I had a thought when you mentioned Daredevil (fucking awful movie btw).

Over all these years that it has been in print, Daredevil has been graced with some of the most talented artists and writers in all of comic-land. Even though it is a somewhat low-key title, never reaching the insane popularity of the X-men or Spiderman, it has some of the most engaging and intelligent story lines of all the marvel titles. A very underrated title in my opinion. It fits right along with Punisher: give it the Indy treatment and it shines.

I completely agree. Matt Murdoch, however weird it might be to say this, is a compelling character. And Frank Miller's changes to that title were spectacular. I would put the storyline I mentioned up with the best writing in comicdom, and it deserves to be there. DD has been a truly great book at times.

And, yeah, the Punisher has had some really solid moments too. I think the core of that book is that Frank Castle is someone that you can identify with. Yeah, Peter Parker is a low-rent geek just like most comic guys, but he's not always that believable. How does he not just snap? Well, not questions in that with Frankie-boy. He did snap. And a lot of bad guys have died over the years as a result. There have been times when the book was cartoonish and silly, and others when it was really gritty, gut-wrenching good stuff.

--

As to comic books... I'm a huge fan. I felt out of the loop as the 90's muscle-mania/huge guns/Spawn/Gen universe took over, but the last few years I've been coming back to the fold.

This was about when I stopped reading too, and basically for those reasons. Blah, awful stuff.

 

[Kyle2182]

I recently read Punisher: MAX.... holy hell.

I've never been a Punisher fan, I always thought it was too much a revenge comic and while it entertaining it never gripped me as a reader. But Punisher: MAX.... well I kept finding myself saying "What the hell is Frank doing... HOLY SHIT THAT IS SO MESSED UP!"

It was one of the more compelling and frankly frightening dissection into the character of Frank Castle... and while it was intense it was incredible.

And yes, Spiderman has gone from cheeky fun to ridiculous to unbelievable... but he is a classic and some of the comic book arches I still find highly entertaining and even moving (I mean come on the Gwen Stacey arch still crushes the middle school boy in me). But did Peter Parker ever snap? I believe he did several times... but whereas Frank Castle has been portrayed as a realist Peter shows the eternal-optimist that some people have deep down, so he always had that foundation to pull him back.

 

[Ravenwind]

My Husband is really into comics... he has an insane amount of comics bagged and boxed, everything from stuff like Marvel, DC, Dark Horse... and a crapload of really obscure stuff. In his younger years, he even had plans to be a comic artist... he made a submission to Marvel (I think it was, anyway)... they rejected him, but kept the idea and produced it themselves... damn plagiarism.

I've never been huge on comics, but I really enjoyed The Maxx, and as a kid, I was a Spiderman, Fantastic Four, X-men, and Dragonlance fan... I used to also read www.megatokyo.com, but when Piro and Largo split ways, it just wasn't the same for me any more... it became less about gaming, and more a love story... it lost the action aspects of it, I feel. Being parents though, has put a damper on his comic collecting, though, so we've not really been able to enjoy anything new for the past 10 years or so.

 

[TikkaT3]

I have almost all of the X-Men comics up till about 93.

 

[Homburg]

I recently read Punisher: MAX.... holy hell.

I've never been a Punisher fan, I always thought it was too much a revenge comic and while it entertaining it never gripped me as a reader.

*snip*

But did Peter Parker ever snap? I believe he did several times... but whereas Frank Castle has been portrayed as a realist Peter shows the eternal-optimist that some people have deep down, so he always had that foundation to pull him back.

Yep, revenge comic, I agree. But on occasion, it has risen to be something beyond that. You mentioned a series that you read where that happened. I wasn't trying to blow sunshine about the Punisher. The book didn't really grip me either, and I only have a few, but there have been times.