I didn't see an ongoing, general comic book thread.

After a 10 year hiatus from comic books, I started picking up some recently and I've been impressed. After Image Comics' single handed destruction of the medium, its starting to bring me back around. (The ability to actually purchase these $3.00 comics helps too.) I cant believe comics are $3, though.

I've picked up Astonishing X-Men, New Avengers, Young Avengers, and the Ultimates regularly. They are all really solid. The Ultimates is whats really knocking my socks off though, seeing how these characters have been reimagined and such, pretty damn sweet.

Anyone reading these comics or others they can recommend?

8/29/2005 2:10:19 PM

The Astonishing X-Men


The New Avengers:


The Young Avengers:

8/29/2005 3:03:20 PM

i got into the ultimate series: ultimates, ultimate spider-man, ultimate x-men, etc. when they first started coming out. so i have about the first 20 or so issues in each series. Brian Michael Bendis is an amazing writer and thats what actually got me hooked initially. i even read one of his other books, "powers." if you like his writing i would check this one out. its about a town full of superheroes and normal people and two police officers who investigate superhero related crimes.

8/29/2005 4:40:59 PM

Astonishing is great, though I got behind on the issues and am waiting for the second trade. I've mostly been reading older Loeb and Busiek stuff, so snag those if you didn't read them back in the day.

8/29/2005 4:42:47 PM

If you're looking for good mainline hero stuff:

Straczynski's doing good stuff with Amazing Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four. Warren Ellis' slow but awesome Iron Man story, and the previously-mentioned New Avengers and Astonishing X-Men.

I enjoy all the Ultimate books save Ultimate FF. And even that hits often enough that I check it out every once and again.

If you're looking for less traditional books, BM Bendis' Powers is a good read, you need to check out Vaughn's Y: The Last Man, and treat yourself to some Warren Ellis-y goodness with Desolation Jones and Planetary(which is the best book out there right now).

Damn, I'm a nerd.

Oh, if you dig Loeb, it's worth tracking down the paperbacks for Hush and his Superman/Batman stories.

[Edited on August 29, 2005 at 5:12 PM. Reason : Brian said Loeb]

8/29/2005 5:10:23 PM

Crap! One more thing. Bendis is also going to be doing a Spider-Woman book with Alex Maleev pretty soon. Those two had a great run on Daredevil that's wrapping up after a few years of awesome.

8/29/2005 5:13:55 PM

man... im such a nerd

i work at the comic book store though.....

8/29/2005 9:03:53 PM

i put a few i found interesting in http://www.brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=336612

8/29/2005 9:43:24 PM

Yeah, my thread is quality....read the New Frontier in tradeback its is AWESOME. DC Comic set in the vietnam-space race time period. Honestly one of the best comic books Ive ever read.

[Edited on August 29, 2005 at 9:53 PM. Reason : extra]

8/29/2005 9:49:40 PM

i can't really get into buying books again
especially when id rather have TPBs

i mean, spending $3 for like 22 pages is so unfulfilling
but for some reason
spending $18 for 132 pages isn't...

can't explain why

8/29/2005 10:45:20 PM

btw
check out the Wolverine: Enemy of the State/Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff
kinda cool

its Hand-controlled-zombie Wolverine vs like all sorts of marvel heroes

8/29/2005 10:46:27 PM

the new transformer comics are goin to be comin out soon, the #0 has been partially released, i think they might be worth checkin out

8/29/2005 10:47:34 PM

orson scott card is to do an ultimate iron man miniseries
http://www.marvel.com/publishing/stories/showstory.htm?id=12

8/29/2005 11:26:13 PM

^the first few issues of that have been really quality story-telling. Before Ellis and Card, I never gave two shits about Iron Man.

8/30/2005 12:09:27 AM

Fables is where it's at.

8/30/2005 8:17:26 AM

i really enjoyed the 4 part Superman: Secret Identity run from DC

8/30/2005 3:27:22 PM

Has anybody bought those cd-rom or dvd-sets that has come out?

I know that for now, all they have is Spiderman and the Fantastic Four.

With Spiderman, they have every comic book the Amazing Spiderman from 1-500

Fantastic Four is 1-400 or 450 (up to Dec 2003/4)

The only problem with them is that if it's a crossover series, you won't get the whole story. Also, I think annuals may not be included. Regardless, I've always wanted to read the old comics without having to shell out tons of money. I just want to know if it's worth a buy. (They're worth $40 each) Or that the lack of having the crossovers to complement the stories will ultimately hurt more than help.

8/30/2005 3:34:47 PM

why dont you burn them and give them too cool people, like me.

8/30/2005 3:45:40 PM

I'd have to buy them first.

8/30/2005 3:46:33 PM

If you're lucky, they may have some of these disks at a library.

8/30/2005 4:03:45 PM

more like

if you're lucky
they have these discs on the internet

and every other comic book

8/30/2005 4:20:04 PM

obligatory "comic books are gay"

i mean val, aren't you like 31 or something?

-ZiP!-

8/30/2005 4:44:26 PM

Dood, why you gotta rat me out like that! I'm 32! Ho Tran Brasky!

8/30/2005 5:04:03 PM

OMF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 400: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY

8/30/2005 5:30:12 PM

DIECAST CHROMIUM SPECIAL EDITION SUPER SECRET 1/2 ISSUE!

8/30/2005 10:50:11 PM

OMAC~~WHAT WHAT

8/30/2005 11:30:23 PM

COUNTDOWNOFTHECRISISOFINFINITECRISESTOINFINITY

8/30/2005 11:38:42 PM

CONTINUING THE AWESOME CROSSOVER

#5 OF 22

FOLLOW THE ACTION IN THIS MONTHS ALPHA FLIGHT!

8/31/2005 8:54:38 AM

speaking of crossovers

is anyone reading the House of M shit?

8/31/2005 10:32:23 AM

I picked up the prelude in Excalibur, and I picked up the first House of M and its kind of underwhelming. However, I heard that around the 3&4 it picks up. I read through some of book 4, and it was pretty good. I'm going to wait for the TPB though. The art is good and the dialogue isnt too bad. Plus, Hawkeye puts an arrow into Wolverines head, point blank, that was pretty badass.

8/31/2005 10:47:04 AM

HAWKEYE!

he has always been a favorite

i was pissed when scarlet witch killed him

i can imagine why he puts the arrow up in wolvie's dome piece

8/31/2005 11:10:14 AM

I remember when the Trial of Peter Parker (TRIAL OMG) was in all four Spider-books at once and you could just go to the shop and buy the whole storyline off the new books table. That was some ridiculous shit.

I'm sure there are numerous other storylines like that, but this was a TRIAL!

[Edited on August 31, 2005 at 1:59 PM. Reason : d]

8/31/2005 1:59:12 PM

I heard that printed comicbooks may be replaced by online comicbooks.

9/1/2005 1:00:48 AM

^Never gonna happen. Online comics are a pain in the ass to read.

I've really enjoyed House of M. The first issue gets the exposition out of the way, 2 & 3 let us live in the world for just a spell, and then 4 starts some shit. But the best thing about House of M has been the mini's. The Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and suprising Mutopia X books have been way better than the mainline story.

9/1/2005 5:13:50 PM

Damn there are some good comics out now. Its well worth the money I'm shelling out again... all $1 per book of it. Ultimate Iron Man is pretty good. Pretty much all the Ultimate line is good.

10/4/2005 12:35:24 PM

wait
where are you getting comics for a dollar?

also, astonishing x-men became the biggest letdown in comic history with the last 2 or 3 issues

10/4/2005 1:32:13 PM

^ I've missed the last issue but the one where Prof X crashes a semi (?) into Danger Room girl was pretty weak.

I went to the Wizard World Boston comic book convention this weekend, it rocked. I got 2 comics signed by Josh Middleton. He rules, I love his work. He said he does his own coloring, pretty impressive. In retrospect I should have bought Nyx 3 and gotten it signed as well. Oh well. Tim Sale, Quesada, Van Sciver and alot of other people were there, should have gotten more signed. Oh yea, they had a shitload of pretty recent books on sale for a buck. I got New X-Men 115-170 for a buck each. Glad I waited all these years to buy 'em.

On a side note: Unfortunately, Liefeld wasn't there.

10/4/2005 11:06:01 PM

I was able to pick up Volumes 1,2 and 3 of Ultimate Spiderman for only 35 bucks

This Ultimate series is great. I'm really enjoying it. I've got that itch to get back into comics again. I'll pick up Astonishing when the first volume comes out...I've found that I'll be better at taking care of them this way.

10/20/2005 12:48:51 PM

i wonder if liefield shows up at many cons

i would think there is a bounty on his head

10/20/2005 12:52:37 PM

does anyone know where i could sell a bunch of comics from the early 60's?

10/20/2005 1:45:12 PM

^^ Haha, I bet if he showed up to a con, he'd get the Shaft. Hahah, I kill me.

^ Stores or dealers at comic cons like to buy lots. I'd watch out though, they lowball like crazy if you dont know what you're selling. Research what you have. If you're selling small lots, or single comics I'd try ebay. Watch out though, like I said, research what you have. I bought Uncanny X-Men 129 (first appearance of Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat/Sprite/Ariel and White Queen/Emma Frost) in a lot of 10 comics for 25 bucks. U.X-men 129 alone is 90 bucks. Its like a 9.6 grade. Set a decent minimum price or a reserve.

Oh yea, the new Ultimate Iron Man is pretty hott too.


[Edited on October 21, 2005 at 2:48 PM. Reason : ]

10/21/2005 2:44:11 PM

where's the nearest comic book store relative to NCSU?

10/22/2005 10:23:12 AM

Foundation's Edge next to Amore's Pizza on Hillsborough.

Capital Comics across from Cup A Joe on Hillsborough.

10/22/2005 11:01:38 AM

^^ Don't do it man, it'll take all your money away

10/22/2005 8:09:19 PM

New Avengers is probably one of the worst titles Marvel is putting out right now that isn't written by Reggie Hudlin. Aside from the title taking four issues at a time to go absolutely no where, the book makes no sense and may as well be written a three year old. I was impressed, though, that Bendis had the balls to have the last arc (Sentry) star Emma Frost, who isn't even ON the fucking Pretenders. I refuse to call this travesty "The Avengers."

Speaking of Bendis, how this asshole still has a job is beyond me. The only thing the man is good at is dialogue, and even that gets boring when each and every issue is filled with it and nothing more. House of M could have been three fucking issues, but instead, Bendis raped it for all it was worth and amazingly managed to get eight issues out of it. Hell, the first issue of Infinity Crisis had more happen in it than the first arc of New Avengers and all of House of M put together.

Nothing Bendis writes right now is any good except for Daredevil, which I don't read but am willing to give the benefit of the doubt, because surely one man couldn't be all bad... could he? Powers stopped being interesting half-way through the first volume, and Ultimate Spider-Man has been taking a trip down the slippery rectum of decreasing quality since the first arc. New Avengers is crap put to paper and wouldn't sell worth a shit if Spider-Man and Wolverine weren't on the team.

The last time the X-Men were interesting is when Grant Morrison was writing them, and his work was retconned the second he left the title. Way to go, Quesada. And speaking of Quesada, who the fuck picked him to run Marvel? The man has no concept of timeliness at all.

Right now, two titles define how Marvel books should be written, The Punisher by Garth Ennis and Amazing Spider-Man by JMS. The Punisher is non-stop violence and action that actually makes sense. Effectively removed from the super-hero community as soon as his title hit the Max line, Ennis puts his trademark insanity to good use. Meanwhile, Marvel puts the one member of their Holy Trinity of writers that has any consistent skill at all (the other two being Mark Millar and Brian Bendis) on what deserves to be their flagship book: Amazing Spider-Man. Although Deodato's art isn't half of what John Romita, Jr.'s art was, the book combines elements of drama, comedy and action to create a book that other Spidey writers (read: Hudlin) should aspire to. Hopefully Peter David on Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will live up to the hype surrounding the new title.

Other books that are actually worth reading coming from Marvel right now are Marvel Team-Up, Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four and Iron Man. The problem with Iron Man is that it only seems to come out every other year. (That's exaggeration, but only a little.)

The fact that no one has discussed any DC titles is disgusting. Right now, regardless of the Marvel Zombie-ism that many non-hardcore comic fans typically display, DC is kicking the crap out of Marvel in terms of quality.

Not only is Infinite Crisis, after only one issue, rocking ass, but nearly every other in-continuity title is at least "good," if not "great," and some titles are simply stunning, such as Adventures of Superman, JSA, Teen Titans, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Birds of Prey and the Outsiders.

But don't get me wrong, DC has it's share of unbelievably shitty titles, too. Chief among them: All-Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder. Aside from having a title who's acronym is longer than many other comics' full titles, ASB&BTBW is a crap-fest from beginning to end. Frank Miller is either senile or has gone completely insane (he's been half-way insane for years). Miller hasn't written a good Batman story in years (DKSA and Batman/Spawn were some of the worst comics staring Batman ever written, ever), and he is apparently continuing that streak with this title. At least the art is amazing.

10/24/2005 1:55:35 PM

[Edited on October 24, 2005 at 2:06 PM. Reason : ]

10/24/2005 2:01:11 PM

I've been wanting to settle for the hardcover volumes over TPBs, but I've found that only the most popular comics are converted to hardcover. I'll probably pick up almost all of the Ultimate Series in hardcover. What's the difference between Ultimates 1 & 2? Did Ultimates 1 simply end with 12 issues and Ultimates 2 basically starts off where 1 ended..? I'd hate to have to purchase books that are different in the time continuum or whatever.

That said, for TPBs, I want to check out Exiles. The story of it seems to have some really good promise. The New X-Men also seems pretty good (Not the Morrison ones, I know they're good, but the one that parallels the "New Mutants" of before).

Has anybody read the Earth X (Earth X, Universe X, Parasise X) series? Is it any good?

Marvel 1602 sounds like a great concept worth checking out. I'll probably pick it up before the end of the year.

Alias and Powers are two that I don't know much about...I've heard good things about Powers, but not so much about Alias. I guess I can give Powers a try.

I know earlier in the thread I mentioned the DVD-Roms. Still nobody has picked one up? Spiderman is getting it's version converted from CD to DVD and will be out in Early November. X-Men will have theirs out in Mid-November (Some 480 issues...I'm guessing it's a mix of X-Men and Uncanny). The Avengers comes out in January with some 550+ issues of their own. All retailing for about $40.

I'm interested in the House of M series, but I'll wait for it all to be congested into one volume. Makes it easier that way. I'll probably pick up the AOA books...I just don't know how many volumes are supposed to make up the AOA. I know there are 2 now...are they the only two? Is there more? Trying to do research is pretty tough. Marvel's website doesn't help for crap.

Speaking of which, does anyone have a good site to check out that has a simple issue list of some of the more popular superhero books? Like, at what issue did the Spectacular Spider-Man end..? Or Avengers West Coast? I'm not seriously trying to find those, but I'm trying to find a site that lists those kind of things. It's mainly for the 4-6 issue miniseries that get converted to TPBs. I want to make sure that I got all the issues and that one didn't get left off. I know some are bunched differently to give a TBP more "flow".

For those wondering, I am pretty much a Marvel fanboy. Never really got into DC. Plus, venturing into both would leave me plenty broke

10/24/2005 2:54:50 PM

The Ultimates 2 is a direct sequel to The Ultimates. The only thing that keeps them from being the same series is "2" in the title and about six months. You see, The Ultimates was notorious for being late to come out, and finally Marvel basically said, "okay, this shit is always late, so we're going to stop releasing it for six months to give our artist time to catch up with the writer in terms of issues, and then we'll release it with a new number one."

Earth X his quite a fan following, although I didn't like it all that much. The sequels (Universe X and Paradise X) are universially acknowledged to totally suck, so unless you're a completionist, save yourself the heartache and only read Earth X.

1602 was great. 1602: The New World, it's sequel which is being released right now, is really, really, really bad. Again, save yourself the heartache and only read the original.

Powers is really popular and has won a few Eisners, but like I said above, it stopped being an interesting read for me and more of a chore half-way through the first series.

House of M is entertaining, I'll grant it that, and the art is great, but that's pretty much all it has going for it. Quality-wise, it's in the toilet. It's supposed to have longstanding effects on the Marvel universe, one of which was revealed in the recently-released issue 7, so it has that, too. Age of Apocolypse was recently re-released in the form of one, massive TPB. Not too long ago, Marvel revisted it with a new mini-series and a few one-shots, which I'm sure will be collected shortly.

If you want a good back-issue comic book site, try milehighcomics.com.

10/24/2005 4:17:23 PM

10/24/2005 6:18:57 PM

I'm putting this shit right back to the top, just watch me.

10/25/2005 3:05:05 AM