Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006) - Page 15

For the most part, me too. I'd keep up with Star Wars titles and writers like Brian K. Vaughan and Garth Ennis but that'd be about it. And if I had the choice between paying to read them online or just waiting months for a trade, I'd definitely wait for the trade rather than reading them on a computer monitor.

Part of the fun of reading comics is going to the store and browsing the racks, talking to people, hearing about new titles, writers, etc. Take the comic store out of the equation and I'd lose alot of interest in the hobby.

Fourth issue of Ultimate (Comics) Spider-Man, and it's still a great read.  But, I've come around to the position of not being thrilled with the art.  Peter's hair is ridiculous and I hated the way the colorist put eye makeup on Gwen.  It was like they just used the spray paint tool to haphazardly apply what was supposed to be makeup.  Other than that, Johnny being Peter's new brother and MJ being welcomed back into the fold is cool.

Right now, the Ultimate line is back to being just about the best thing Marvel offers.  Ultimate Avengers is outstanding and I'm even enjoying Armor Wars in spite of not being an Ellis fan.  It's just a shame that Marvel has TWO Loeb Ultimate titles coming up.  Leave it to Bendis and Millar for a while, huh, guys?  Geez.

It's funny, I didn't care for the art on Ultimate Spider-man 1 and then issue 2 came out and suddenly I totally dug David Lafuente's style and art. Then I read issue 4 yesterday and I was back to not liking it. Like you said, it's a still great read and the art isn't bad- it's just not my taste.

I don't think anyone else here is reading it but The Boys is flat out great right now.

^ Last week, Dynamite reprinted the first issue of The Boys. It's only a buck so it's an inexpensive to check out the series.

The past couple months, after about 6-8 years of only buying trades, I got back in the habit of hitting the comics shop on wednesday and checking out the racks.  Here's links to my lame blog where I review two of my current faves.  They're about the only titles I'm buying at the moment aside from the new Tom Strong series:

 

IZombie:

http://ruzzellsrambles.blogspot.com/2010/06/comic-book-round-up-izombie.html

 

DCU Legacies:

http://ruzzellsrambles.blogspot.com/2010/06/comic-book-round-up-dc-legacies.html

 

I'm also currently reading my way through the "Wednesdays Comics" hard cover collection.  Easily the most handsome book I've bought in a while, there's already been a couple of top notch stories.  Oddly, it's the 3rd raters that are fairing the best, with DEADMAN, METAMORPHO (by Gaiman and Allred!" and especially KAMNDI written by Dave Gibbons in a loving tribute to Hal Fosters "Prince Vallent", I'm glad to of picked this hard cover up. :)

 

As a huge fan of Sandman, I'll probably pick up Action Comics 894 this week to see what they do with Death in the DC Universe.

 

How's that for an oddball thread revival?

Anybody checking out the JMS DC Earth One: Superman graphic novel coming out tomorrow? I haven't read a comic in a LONG time, but I'm considering making an exception for that one.

Thanks for the reminder Travis, I'll have to see if I can snatch one off the racks on Wednesday.  I picked up all the Sandman Omnibus's and the Death one, so this will be cool to stick with them.

 

I just read some of the old comments regarding on-line comics. I have to say that I'm on the opposite side of the fence on that issue. I'd like to see more comics offered on-line, especially if the result was a considerably lower cost to read them. I find that monthly periodicals are getting too expensive and the space requirements too onerous. Thanks mostly to cost I'm down to only a couple of books: Usagi Yojimbo and a couple of Uncle Scrooge books. I'm also reading DMZ but for that one I wait until the TPBs come out. Reading books on-line and then picking up TPBs of ones that I like would suit me fine. Also anything that helps speed the demise of Diamond Distributors is fine by me. I'm mostly interested in anthro books and almost all of that stuff is small or specialty press due to its limited appeal to mainstream comic collectors. Diamonds profit requirements are going to single handedly kill small press publishers that put out the type of low press run, small readership material that I like to check out. 

What are the chances of that happening though? Marvel and DC (if not every company) will keep the price the same but make a lot more money by not having to spend a penny on manufacturing anymore.

I'll stop reading if it is *only* online, unless they come up with some new innovative way to make them more readable.  Dragging the pages around and zooming to read the text doesn't work for me.  In the meantime, I bought Action just because I figure it'll sell out pretty quickly.  Never read a thing about Sandman.  I also bought the previous issue because it features the introduction into the DC Universe of Chloe Sullivan.

Yeah, keep that version of "Superman" away from me, my TV screen and my movies and all will be fine.

 

Appalling, just appalling what they're doing to my favorite Superhero.

 

Maybe by issue three he'll OD on Kryptonite and die.

Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?  The Earth One Superman?  I haven't read enough about it to know how badly they've screwed him up.

Well here ya go, Jesus H. Christ what a horrible thing to do to The Man of Steel...

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101028/ap_en_ot/us_new_superman

If it was truly online only (no trades), I'd still read Star Wars comics and MAYBE I'd read one or two writers like Garth Ennis or Brian K. Vaughan. When the single issue market does eventually die, I'm sure online comics will see print in trade paperbacks so I'll just wait for them.

 

I think that's what cool about comics as opposed to movies is that they can try something different since there's not a $200 million budget on the line and they can simultaneously continue publishing the regular Superman books too. Even if it's a disaster, they at least tried a different take on Superman that they could never do in a movie when a studio understandably wants as sure of a thing as possible.

Gotcha.

 

I hate it...with a burning passion equaled only by the flames of hell itself.

 

Thank God it only exists in comic form.

Probably not good. I don't know what the cost of DC and Marvel comics are because I don't read any of their titles. I'm paying almost 4.00 bucks a book for UY and that's in B&W, so I suspect that Marvel and DC titles in colour can't be much less. Comics publishers need to do something to bring down the cost of reading their books, otherwise the periodical comic is going to go the way of the Dodo.  I used to pick up a lot of titles, but the list got whittled down continually as the prices rose. It just became too expensive to follow all of the books on my pull list. Comic publishers may make a lot of money in the short term, but how does it help their bottom lines over the long term when their customers have to drop title after title because of the high cost for 10 minutes of reading? Frankly, most of these comic publishers don't give a shit about the books. All they care about is the licencing of the characters for merchandising, movies, etc.

 

 

Repurposing Superman to appeal to fans of "Twilight" and Stieg Larsson crime novels? I'm sorry but I just have to say it. How the fuck do they reconcile those two vastly different demographics and make a Superman story that would appeal to them both? I just can't see it. Also, if Straczynski was such a fan, you would think he would have just said no when they approached him with the idea. This just sounds likethe  comic book equivalent of letting Frank Miller make a SPIRIT movie.
 

 

 

 

 

h

DC just announced that they were lowering their prices back down to $3 since they knew a $4 price tag was losing readers and damaging the industry. Marvel apparently doesn't care if they damage the industry (like you said, movies and merchandising) so they continue to charge an obscene $4 for most of their titles.

 

Fortunately for me, the only Marvel title that I read is Ultimate Spider-Man so the price increase didn't really effect me much but I think that price has made many people reconsider alot of purchases and is driving their numbers down.

That's fine with me.  I dropped all DC titles in the last year or so, and a dollar extra for a backup I didn't even want was part of the reason.  I don't read any Marvel titles with a backup, either. 

 

Marvel's announcement that they were following suit with price drops has been seen as a cynical (and successful) attempt to steal DC's thunder.  Their latest solicitations haven't shown a whole lot of drops.  That's fine, too.  Makes it easier on the wallet since I can drop any title just like that.  I think their "all limited series at $3.99, and throw as many limited series on the market as you can" strategy has backfired, judging by the monthly sales reports.

For straight-up monthly books, I'm basically down to three titles. I read The Boys, Ultimate Spider-Man, The Walking Dead and Buffy: Season Eight (which ends in about three issues but starts up again as Season Nine in late 2011). The Boys and Ultimate Spider-Man are $4 each and since I've loved Spidey since I was a little kid, I continue to buy it but if there was another price increase, I'd drop that book in a second. On the other hand, I'd pay $8 for The Boys if I had to (don't tell Dynamite Entertainment).

 

In terms of mini-series, it seems like most run between $3 (most Star Wars books) and $3.50 (for Criminal, Incognito and Kick-Ass and those books have no ads, include 'extras' and manage to cost less than $4).

For monthlies I get one, iZombie.  I've also been getting that DC Universe Legacies thing (which is actually really good by the way) which is a 12 issue mini I think.  I might grab the odd other thing if it looks interesting, like thos DC war comic singles last month, but mostly I wait for and buy trade paperbacks or worse, those giant hardcover collection.  I'm reading the Martha Washington one at the moment.  20 minutes with that thing makes you feel like you've been doing arm curls. 

 

 

It's a great read too.  I haven't read most of these since they were first published.  It's scary how accurate Millers future ended up being. 

If you're some kind of Death in the DC Universe completist, she actually cameos on the last page of the previous issue, which I bought because it's the Chloe in the DC Universe debut.  So, get that one too in case this turns out to be like Wolverine debuting on the last page of the issue before his proper first story, and you can finance your kid's education with them! 

 

Death's a cutie, and the issue was enjoyable, but not enough that I'll continue on next month.  The main draw for me was Chloe, and she wasn't even recognizable--physically or otherwise. 

 

Edit: alright, according to wiki, she's been in the DC Universe before.  I know literally nothing about Sandman.

Don't quote me but I think Action Comics is the first time that Death's appearance in the DC Universe has been approved by Neil Gaiman. Given the opening of Action Comics 894, I figured she was in 893 as well but thanks for the confirmation. Goofy as it sounds, I'll probably go and pick that issue up.