1000 books in 2020 1 1

[F For Fake]

36 minutes ago, srezvan said:

Interesting. I was hoping things pick up - there are so many interesting characters introduced before the series goes on hiatus. I'll keep my expectations low.

Hey, who knows, you may dig it! If you can just hang in there until Roy Thomas and Neal Adams show up, it definitely picks up a lot there. So there's something to look forward to! For me, the post-Kirby nadir is when the Frankenstein monster shows up. I think that was my "whooo, boy", moment. ha

[ttfitz]

4 hours ago, srezvan said:

Interesting. I was hoping things pick up - there are so many interesting characters introduced before the series goes on hiatus. I'll keep my expectations low.

They say this for a lot of comics of the time, but I really think you need to be a young male comic reader of the time. By which I mean, at that age - in those years - I found a lot to identify with, in particular Cyclops. The whole "Jean could never love me" thing would resonate with the me of the time, along with the hope that secretly the beautiful girl I had a crush on would feel the same about me.

[Ken Aldred]

17 hours ago, D2 said:

I’ll go back to reread 110 to 140, but I needed some hope. Surprised how dated these books got. 

Claremont’s very expositional writing isn’t for everyone, describing details that could more economically be shown in the artwork, though I still like his 70s / 80s stories.

Different if you’re starting from scratch rather than re-reading them over decades as I’ve done.

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Ken Aldred

[D2]

1 hour ago, Ken Aldred said:

Claremont’s very expositional writing isn’t for everyone, describing details that could more economically be shown in the artwork, though I still like his 70s / 80s stories.

Different if you’re starting from scratch rather than re-reading them over decades as I’ve done.

 

That’s exactly what it feels like. 
It feels like it would be a great nostalgic trip, something to crack open when you remember to. 
For a first timer, it’s a slog. I was shocked. I expected it to be more timeless. 
 

Truth be told, I’m nervous about The Dark Phoenix saga now. We’ll see. 

[Talapas1]

1458-1476

Adventures in my pull box plus some additions.

As I’ve already written about many of these series, I’ll just stick to a few highlights.

The Cimmerian Frost Giants Daughter:  This series is pretty awesome and I was pretty happy that they finally got to this story.   Worth checking out if you are a fan of Conan. 

RWBY:  Didn’t know much about this but it was okay.   Very much a gamer/anime influenced fantasy story as one would expect from Rooster Teeth.   Don’t know if I am going to go out of my way to find the next ones, but if I see them in a bargain bin, I’ll snag them.

Spider-Man:  End of the miniseries and leaves the future open for Ben Parker.  Hopefully we can revisit this divergent timeline from time to time.

Crossover:  Interesting story from the mind of Cates.  World where literal comic book characters enter the world of the living and how they are dealt with.   Excited to read the next issue. 

Swamp Thing:  I loved the (flawed) movie when I was a kid and this sent me back.   This was the first time I’ve ever read the original run and now I really want to grab a decent condition run of the Wrightson stuff.  

Weird War Tales:   I’ve always been fascinated with these books.  I got a small stack from my cousins when I was a kid and was quickly a fan.   I’m slowly collecting the whole series and reading them as I find them.   

 

[F For Fake]

11 hours ago, Talapas1 said:

 

Swamp Thing:  I loved the (flawed) movie when I was a kid and this sent me back.   This was the first time I’ve ever read the original run and now I really want to grab a decent condition run of the Wrightson stuff.  

 

Craven's movie isn't great, but I also have a place for it in my heart. Plus Adrienne Barbeau, and her Barbeaus. Hubba!

The Return of Swamp Thing, now that one is a turd, though Heather Locklear helps soften the blow, a bit.

[Talapas1]

51 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

Craven's movie isn't great, but I also have a place for it in my heart. Plus Adrienne Barbeau, and her Barbeaus. Hubba!

The Return of Swamp Thing, now that one is a turd, though Heather Locklear helps soften the blow, a bit.

I've never seen the Return.  I think I was under ten when I first saw it.  I loved it then but have since watched it as an adult and while not as awesome as I remembered, it was pretty solid for a comic book based movie in that time.   

 

[F For Fake]

3 minutes ago, Talapas1 said:

I've never seen the Return.  I think I was under ten when I first saw it.  I loved it then but have since watched it as an adult and while not as awesome as I remembered, it was pretty solid for a comic book based movie in that time.   

 

I think it's definitely cheesy, but a lot of fun. And I think they did a decent job with Swampy's suit in the first one.

[Talapas1]

1 minute ago, F For Fake said:

I think it's definitely cheesy, but a lot of fun. And I think they did a decent job with Swampy's suit in the first one.

yeah that was one of the things that I remembered the most from it was how real (to child mind me) it looked.    Have you watched the new TV series?  I've been debating about grabbing the DVD set.   

[ttfitz]

On 12/16/2020 at 6:13 AM, D2 said:

That’s exactly what it feels like. 
It feels like it would be a great nostalgic trip, something to crack open when you remember to. 
For a first timer, it’s a slog. I was shocked. I expected it to be more timeless. 
 

Truth be told, I’m nervous about The Dark Phoenix saga now. We’ll see. 

One of the books I read this year was Classic X-Men, which reprinted from the start of the New X-Men, along with a few pages of new material by Claremont as a bit of "untold tales", paralleling the time of the reprint. I started out just reading the backups, as I had already read the main story years ago, but the further I got - and the closer to the Dark Phoenix story - the more I started reading the front story, until I found I was reading the entire comic. I think it definitely got better as time went on.

[paperheart]

471-520

Hellblazer #201-250; think i'll end the year on this X-Mas special

[srezvan]

Our fun journey through the Age of Apocalypse continues. We've now finished all #2 issues. It's been a while since I read these, but I still enjoy them overall. X-Calibre and X-Man are not as good, in my opinion. Amazing X-Men and Astonishing X-Men are the best. I'm reading these aloud to my daughter, and she's still engaged. Half way there!

I'm at 280 comics for the year! So many fun books completed this year. I hope someone starts a 2021 thread in a week!

Edited December 23, 2020 by srezvan

[ttfitz]

Closing stretch....

Hotspur 1-3

Eclipse mini-series from John Ostrander, with some Tim Truman thrown in for fun. Not his best work, but not his worst, either.

Action Comics 403-408

Bronze age Superman, what could go wrong?

Defenders 80-96

Continuing on with this title, finally caught up to where I had been reading regularly in the early 80s.

Klaus and the Witch of Winter

More from Grant Morrison on the (not so jolly) Santa.

Ms Tree Vol 2 Skeleton In the Closet
Mike Hammer 1-4

Got in the mood for some detective work, and thought I'd give some classic work from Max Allan Collins a try. Pretty good stuff.

Avengers 23-62

Avengers Annual 1, 2 (double-size)

Fantastic Four 117-132

Dove back into the Silver and Bronze Age Marvel's, continuing where I had stopped on these titles. Some good stuff, some clunkers, and some classic storylines - Black Panther joins the Avengers! The Vision! Ultron! Yellowjacket! Crystal and Pietro!

The Tick FCBD 2015, 2018

Found these in the stack. Remember The Tick being much funnier than this. SPOON!

The Boys FCBD

First of these I've read, seems pretty interesting, might give the title a try.

Okay, I'm counting the Avengers Annuals as 2 issues each, given their size, which gives an even 100 more.

So, grand total for the year - 900

Will he make it????

[Ken Aldred]

2 hours ago, ttfitz said:

Will he make it????

In my case, no chance.

I'll make a better effort next year.

Thanks to everyone who participated. I've found myself getting deeper into thinking about the stories and artwork since I started reading digitally and then also going back through my older collected editions, and it's nice to see others appreciate this material in a pure form, regardless of chosen format, detached from the commercial obsession seen elsewhere here on the boards.

All the best for Christmas, the holidays and the New Year.

Edited December 24, 2020 by Ken Aldred

[srezvan]

5 hours ago, ttfitz said:

Closing stretch....

Hotspur 1-3

Eclipse mini-series from John Ostrander, with some Tim Truman thrown in for fun. Not his best work, but not his worst, either.

Action Comics 403-408

Bronze age Superman, what could go wrong?

Defenders 80-96

Continuing on with this title, finally caught up to where I had been reading regularly in the early 80s.

Klaus and the Witch of Winter

More from Grant Morrison on the (not so jolly) Santa.

Ms Tree Vol 2 Skeleton In the Closet
Mike Hammer 1-4

Got in the mood for some detective work, and thought I'd give some classic work from Max Allan Collins a try. Pretty good stuff.

Avengers 23-62

Avengers Annual 1, 2 (double-size)

Fantastic Four 117-132

Dove back into the Silver and Bronze Age Marvel's, continuing where I had stopped on these titles. Some good stuff, some clunkers, and some classic storylines - Black Panther joins the Avengers! The Vision! Ultron! Yellowjacket! Crystal and Pietro!

The Tick FCBD 2015, 2018

Found these in the stack. Remember The Tick being much funnier than this. SPOON!

The Boys FCBD

First of these I've read, seems pretty interesting, might give the title a try.

Okay, I'm counting the Avengers Annuals as 2 issues each, given their size, which gives an even 100 more.

So, grand total for the year - 900

Will he make it????

I've found the Tick books to be very uneven in terms of humor. I also remember the original run being fantastic, with some of the other stuff so-so. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the 2020 FCBD issue from my LCS.

Did you watch the Boys Amazon show? It's awesome.

[ttfitz]

4 hours ago, srezvan said:

Did you watch the Boys Amazon show? It's awesome.

I  have not, but I have been considering it, having heard good things about it.

[kccoig14]

Here are the next few posts from the DC App where I was keeping track of the books read this year.

From Sept. 22:

Haven’t had much reading time in the past 2 weeks but here’s what I’ve got.
Batman: The Dark Knight (2011) Vol. 1 (9)
Batman: Night of the Owls TPB (14)
Amazing Spider-Man 48
Web of Venom: Wraith 1
Death Metal: Trinity Crisis 1
Joker/ Harley: Criminal Insanity 5
Batman 99
Fearless Dawn Meets Hellboy 1
Detective Comics 1027
Star Wars: Rise of Kylo Ren 3-4
X-Men 1-3
Excalibur 1-6
Marauders 1-2
Fallen Angels 1-4
X-Force 1-3
New Mutants 1-4

Total: 55
2020 Total: 773

From Oct. 13:

B.P.R.D. 1946-1948 Omnibus (16)
Witchfinder Omnibus vol.1 (16)
Baltimore Omnibus vol. 1 + 2 (35)
Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea (1)
Dark Knights :Deathmetal: Speed Metal, Multiverse’s End (2)
Rock & Roll Biographies: Sublime 1
Marvels X #5
Batman/Joker: War Zone 1
Spawn #9-10 (2)
The Goon #12
Venom #28
Batman: Three Jokers #2
Superman #25
Immortal Hulk: The Threshing Place #1
Alien: Original Screenplay #3
Thor #8
Marvels Snapshot: Spider-Man
Amazing Spider-Man #49/850
Legend of the Swamp Thing: Halloween Spectacular #1
Batman #100
Walking Dead Deluxe #1
Wolverine #6
Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology #1

Total: 88
2020 Total: 861

From Nov. 5 :

Detective Comics 1028-1029 (2)
Strange Adventures 6
Dark Knights: Death Metal 4
" ": Robin King 1
" ": Rise of the New God 1
Justice League 54-55 (2)
Rorschach 1
Batman 101
Batman: White Knight Harley Quinn 1
Batman: Three Jokers 3

Captain America 24
Amazing Spider-Man 50,51, 50.LR (3)
Marvels X 6
Venom 29
Web of Venom: Empyre’s End 1
Wolverine: Black, White & Blood 1
Daredevil (2019) 1-14 (14)
X-Men 5-6 (2)
Marauders 5-6 (2)
Empyre 1

Spawn 311
Hellboy & the B.P.R.D.: The Return of Effie Kolb 1-2 (2)
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Madame Satan 1
Alien: Original Screenplay 4

The Visitor: How and Why He Stayed TPB (5)
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1956 (5)
" ":The Best of Vargu & Others TPB (5)
Rise of the Black Flame TPB (5)
Abe Sapien: The Drowning & Other Stories (16)
Hellboy: Seed of Destruction TPB (4)
Hellboy: Wake the Devil TPB (5)
Hellboy: Library Edition vol.2 (10)
Hellboy: Library Edition vol.3 (9)

Total: 109
2020 Total: 970

[paperheart]

threw these onto the read pile

521-561

Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion #1-7

X-Men: First Class mini #1-8 + #1 on-going

Ultimate Spider-Man (2009) #1-10

Annihilation Prologue + #1-6

Nova Annihilation #1-4

Silver Surfer Annihilation #1-4

Edited December 29, 2020 by paperheart

[Raze]

417-483

The Walking Dead 117-193
Finally finished The Walking Dead. I started with issue 1 and bought every issue and the TPBs. I liked the way it ended. 

[srezvan]

My daughter and I continue to read the Age of Apocalypse storyline. We are more than half way done. I think I'll go back and read some of the supplemental issues (Tales from the Age of Apocalypse, Universe X, etc.) on my own.

   

 

I also finished another Witcher TPB. This was possibly my least favorite of the stories, but still worth a read. If you haven't watched the Netflix series, you are missing out.

 

I'm up to 286 comics for the year. 200 more than last year! I don't know how many novels I read this year, but I did read a few, including the new Thrawn novel. Good stuff.