How to make the hobby FUN again !

[Dale Roberts]

It is little wonder that modern comics are failing. You can read Amazing Spider-man for 5 issues, and go back for the next issue, and the characters not only look completely different, but act in a different manner as well. Or the story will just go off on some tangent with nothing to relate to the previous arc.

 

When Marvel Comics was at its peak, they looked like Marvel Comics. They didn't look like some horrible independent. For example, some people liked Crimson and Humberto Ramos art. However, nobody wanted to see it on Spider-man. Same thing with the X-Men run by Quitely/Morrison. From one issue to the next, the Beast turned into a dog, and Emma Frost grew nuts. I mean it is just horrible. You can never establish a reading base when you change creators after every story arc.

 

Quesada has really led Marvel down a bad path, and I hope the Disney people can fix it.

[Speedy-D]

The Killing Joke though, is more of a Joker story than a Batman story, though I see what you mean. The Alan Moore Superman story, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow is one of my favorite stories of all time -- just terrific.

 

No doubt. When the Legion leaves and Supes is sitting there all alone? That was so touching! And the whole atmosphere ... Moore was great at creating a melancholy mood there, tension, a real sense of finality, even though I knew that in the end, even the end of "The Last Superman Story," things would pretty much work out.

 

At the risk of changing the subject though ... Alan Moore's Swamp Thing I think has become my favorite work of his. It's just one killer one-off story after another, for like two years or something. Totally amazing stuff, maybe more attractive to me these days than Watchmen even.

[TheShadowKnows]

It is little wonder that modern comics are failing. You can read Amazing Spider-man for 5 issues, and go back for the next issue, and the characters not only look completely different, but act in a different manner as well. Or the story will just go off on some tangent with nothing to relate to the previous arc.

 

When Marvel Comics was at its peak, they looked like Marvel Comics. They didn't look like some horrible independent. For example, some people liked Crimson and Humberto Ramos art. However, nobody wanted to see it on Spider-man. Same thing with the X-Men run by Quitely/Morrison. From one issue to the next, the Beast turned into a dog, and Emma Frost grew nuts. I mean it is just horrible. You can never establish a reading base when you change creators after every story arc.

 

Quesada has really led Marvel down a bad path, and I hope the Disney people can fix it.

Indeed.In the old days it was Ditko on SM Kirby on FF Colan on DD etc.You expected them to look the same every months

 

Emma Frost grew nuts

[Not*Sure*]

I enjoy reading my back issues more than anything else.

 

A friend's son had to have an emergency appendectomy. When she told me about it and that he was home recovering I brought some comics for her to give to him. I dug out some low grade old Scooby Doo, Archies, Richie Rich etc he is little so I didn't want anything to advanced. When I told her I brought him comics she was a bit reserved about it. When I showed her what I chose she was relieved. She had said that some of the advertising much less the art in some new comic books were too mature for him.

 

Then she was worried because they were from the 70's she was like "Aren't these worth money?" I told her no they were worth less than most modern off the rack books so even if he decided to color on them he was welcomed to cut color do whatever made him happy.

 

I just brought him what I thought he would have fun with.

 

 

[evokolek-migration]

 

I'm not even bothering to read them though. To tell you the truth, I don't really like reading comics. They're almost always pretty silly. I know, it's a strange position to take considering how much money I spend on the things.

 

Thanks for that Speedy-D (and for some others who said similar things) - now I know I'm not alone. I was thinking "what is wrong with me that I spend so much money on these damn things and don't read them?" Even in my early 20's they still seemed cool & cutting edge, but now (most) just seem, as you say, silly.

 

Eddie

[batman_fan]

I'm not even bothering to read them though. To tell you the truth, I don't really like reading comics. They're almost always pretty silly. I know, it's a strange position to take considering how much money I spend on the things.

 

Thanks for that Speedy-D (and for some others who said similar things) - now I know I'm not alone. I was thinking "what is wrong with me that I spend so much money on these damn things and don't read them?" Even in my early 20's they still seemed cool & cutting edge, but now (most) just seem, as you say, silly.

 

Eddie

 

I will be the first to admit I don't read any new comics. I have tried but the stories are not that great and a lot have really bad artwork (in my opinion). Re-reading the older stuff is a lot about remembering back when I first read it and looking at the artwork again. I wanted to be a comicbook artist all the way up until I registered for college my freshman year. I decided to hedge my bets by going into elecrical engineering with the plans on taking a lot of art classes, but ultimately they engineering classes always happened when the art classes did so I took the engineering classes. Looking back at this artwork is what makes me remember how much I enjoyed drawing comics in my youth.

[Not*Sure*]

Whhhaaaa you do not READ comics..WTF..I guess I am the only one who takes the toys out of the packages and plays with them as well??? You guys are unfun!!

[arexcrooke]

 

I will be the first to admit I don't read any new comics. I have tried but the stories are not that great and a lot have really bad artwork (in my opinion). Re-reading the older stuff is a lot about remembering back when I first read it and looking at the artwork again. I wanted to be a comicbook artist all the way up until I registered for college my freshman year. I decided to hedge my bets by going into elecrical engineering with the plans on taking a lot of art classes, but ultimately they engineering classes always happened when the art classes did so I took the engineering classes. Looking back at this artwork is what makes me remember how much I enjoyed drawing comics in my youth.

Not to be snarky, but then you arent reading the right stuff.

Check out the Captain America by Brubaker, Lark, and Epting. Just effin good stuff.

Then, there is Astonishing X-Men that i really liked. Immortal Iron-Fist was good for me as well.

Batman: Under the Hood :thumbsup: as well as Hush.

The Brubaker DD stuff is supposed to be hella good too.

The new GL stuff/Sinestro Corp war is

There is plenty of good stuff out there to read, you just need to find it.

[VintageComics]

 

I will be the first to admit I don't read any new comics. I have tried but the stories are not that great and a lot have really bad artwork (in my opinion). Re-reading the older stuff is a lot about remembering back when I first read it and looking at the artwork again. I wanted to be a comicbook artist all the way up until I registered for college my freshman year. I decided to hedge my bets by going into elecrical engineering with the plans on taking a lot of art classes, but ultimately they engineering classes always happened when the art classes did so I took the engineering classes. Looking back at this artwork is what makes me remember how much I enjoyed drawing comics in my youth.

Not to be snarky, but then you arent reading the right stuff.

Check out the Captain America by Brubaker, Lark, and Epting. Just effin good stuff.

Then, there is Astonishing X-Men that i really liked. Immortal Iron-Fist was good for me as well.

Batman: Under the Hood :thumbsup: as well as Hush.

The Brubaker DD stuff is supposed to be hella good too.

The new GL stuff/Sinestro Corp war is

There is plenty of good stuff out there to read, you just need to find it.

 

I agree. Saying that there are no good moderns to read is like saying there is nothing to watch on television. With the amount of stuff to watch (read) there is always something for everybody. It's just a matter of finding it.

 

Brubaker's Cap is top shelf. I'd also recommend Bendis and Maleev's Daredevil and the new Thor redux is pretty good too. DC has been over the top these past few years as well...just too much good stuff to name but I particularly enjoyed All Star Superman.

 

R.

 

[Speedy-D]

I did like the first few Geoff Johns GLs, but after that I got tired of it. The Sinestro Corps War was lame imo. Same with All Star Superman. The first few were alright, then blah. I tried to read Hush in the bookstore but it left me completely cold.

 

The way I quit modern comics was as follows: I stopped buying all new comics and waited a month or two. Any stories or series that I was still thinking about or wanting to get updates on I went back to. And after those two months, there weren't any at all that I cared about having missed.

 

I don't watch tv or cable either, but I do get series from Netflix if I hear they're awesome. And I think it's safe to say that tv, unlike comics, is at a real high point these past few years.

 

O, but y'know what comic I loved the out of last year? Kubert's 6 issues of Tor! That was awesome!!!

 

[Darth Corgi]

Here are 3 excellent modern reads:

 

Fables - (A good one to re-read too! Lots of layers)

Jack Of Fables

Walking Dead

 

 

 

[batman_fan]

 

I will be the first to admit I don't read any new comics. I have tried but the stories are not that great and a lot have really bad artwork (in my opinion). Re-reading the older stuff is a lot about remembering back when I first read it and looking at the artwork again. I wanted to be a comicbook artist all the way up until I registered for college my freshman year. I decided to hedge my bets by going into elecrical engineering with the plans on taking a lot of art classes, but ultimately they engineering classes always happened when the art classes did so I took the engineering classes. Looking back at this artwork is what makes me remember how much I enjoyed drawing comics in my youth.

Not to be snarky, but then you arent reading the right stuff.

Check out the Captain America by Brubaker, Lark, and Epting. Just effin good stuff.

Then, there is Astonishing X-Men that i really liked. Immortal Iron-Fist was good for me as well.

Batman: Under the Hood :thumbsup: as well as Hush.

The Brubaker DD stuff is supposed to be hella good too.

The new GL stuff/Sinestro Corp war is

There is plenty of good stuff out there to read, you just need to find it.

 

You may enjoy those titles, but that doesn' mean I do. I looked at Hush and tried to read it, but not that interesting. I love Jim Lee's artwork though which is what made the series bearable for me. Captain America hasn't done anything for me in a real long time and I don't see it ever changing. You have to remember, just because you like something doesn't mean everyone else will. We all have different tastes. I collect GA Batman and almost every story is pretty lame (IMO) ...

[500Club]

 

I will be the first to admit I don't read any new comics. I have tried but the stories are not that great and a lot have really bad artwork (in my opinion). Re-reading the older stuff is a lot about remembering back when I first read it and looking at the artwork again. I wanted to be a comicbook artist all the way up until I registered for college my freshman year. I decided to hedge my bets by going into elecrical engineering with the plans on taking a lot of art classes, but ultimately they engineering classes always happened when the art classes did so I took the engineering classes. Looking back at this artwork is what makes me remember how much I enjoyed drawing comics in my youth.

Not to be snarky, but then you arent reading the right stuff.

Check out the Captain America by Brubaker, Lark, and Epting. Just effin good stuff.

Then, there is Astonishing X-Men that i really liked. Immortal Iron-Fist was good for me as well.

Batman: Under the Hood :thumbsup: as well as Hush.

The Brubaker DD stuff is supposed to be hella good too.

The new GL stuff/Sinestro Corp war is

There is plenty of good stuff out there to read, you just need to find it.

 

+1

[evokolek-migration]

Whhhaaaa you do not READ comics..WTF..I guess I am the only one who takes the toys out of the packages and plays with them as well??? You guys are unfun!!

 

Well, I wouldn't say I never read comics. My problem with the Modern stuff was that some of it seemed too complex - it seems like it's just too hard to jump on, and there so many threads, continuity, etc. that it just seemed hard to follow. I guess I was reading a few years ago, when every other comic was written by Bendis, and it just wasn't my style.

 

Actually books I like today are less the superhero-type books and more stuff like Goon or Bone (or I guess anything with a 4-letter title, pretty much).

 

The biggest dissapointment is with the older books. I have such fond memories of them, but when I read them again, it's somehow disappointing. It's not such much that they're bad, it's just that I have such high expectations.

 

Or maybe I've "grown up" too much - I don't really have anybody to talk comics with, which probably keeps your interest up.

 

Eddie

[Marvel1967-migration]

I'm doing a similar side collection; I'm going for all the comics that would've been on the stands in June 1974 when I started collecting. Since the bookstore I bought my first comic at (JLA 111, odd since I'm a Marvel fan) had a single spinner rack, I bought a spinner rack to fill up. I've been scouring websites to find out which Marvel and DC titles were on the stands in May/June 1974. Now I'm waiting to get my comic book room finished, so I'm delayed putting them in the spinner until December.

[Marvel1967-migration]

Thanks for the Mikes Amazing World of DC tip, it helped me add 6 titles to my DC June cover date want list.

[batman_fan]

Just a quick update. I have about 13% of my list done so far. Average paid per book is $5.13 per book. I have decided to organize the run by month. I will post more pics later.

[DarkKnightReturns]

One of my favourite things to do that I love is to buy raw books from people off of craigslist etc or through others and not dealers. People that no longer collect. Not the hot book of the month but just books that I was interested in when I was a kid.

 

I love bringing these books home and flipping through and admiring the art and the minty white pages. I'm not talking about expensive key books but just avg Spideys etc from the bronze/copper age.

 

People get too caught up in the money and 9.8 grades and forget what it was that first got us into comics.

 

 

 

 

[Norrin_Radd]

You may enjoy those titles, but that doesn't mean I do. I looked at Hush and tried to read it, but not that interesting. I love Jim Lee's artwork though which is what made the series bearable for me. Captain America hasn't done anything for me in a real long time and I don't see it ever changing. You have to remember, just because you like something doesn't mean everyone else will. We all have different tastes.

Have you read The New Frontier?

 

Just re-read it. It's a great re-imagining of SA DC. (thumbs u

[MR.COMICBOOK]

Whhhaaaa you do not READ comics..WTF..I guess I am the only one who takes the toys out of the packages and plays with them as well??? You guys are unfun!!

 

Well, I wouldn't say I never read comics. My problem with the Modern stuff was that some of it seemed too complex - it seems like it's just too hard to jump on, and there so many threads, continuity, etc. that it just seemed hard to follow. I guess I was reading a few years ago, when every other comic was written by Bendis, and it just wasn't my style.

 

Actually books I like today are less the superhero-type books and more stuff like Goon or Bone (or I guess anything with a 4-letter title, pretty much).

 

The biggest dissapointment is with the older books. I have such fond memories of them, but when I read them again, it's somehow disappointing. It's not such much that they're bad, it's just that I have such high expectations.

Or maybe I've "grown up" too much - I don't really have anybody to talk comics with, which probably keeps your interest up.

 

Eddie

You grew up, most of the superhero books were catered to the adolescent 12 year old male, even Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen were aimed at a young adult male crowd, why don`t you try Jonah Hex,Sgt.Rock and House of Mystery comics? they haven`t dated like most of our costumed friends have and you might be pleasantly surprised with them.