This Modern Age Snob was wrong 1 1

[Westy Steve]

After about 20 years of sticking to older comics, I’ve started buying some moderns. 
 

After watching into the multiverse again, I started reading and collecting the first Miles Morales books, I found I really like them, even though they are 11 years old. And that lead me to hunt them down , which I found somewhat challenging unless I just wanted to pay EBay prices. 
 

In my quest to find more Miles books, I picked up Little Monsters and the New Dr Strange book at the LCS.  Both good reads.  It’s occurred to me that I can read the reviews on books before I buy them so the odds of enjoying them and maybe even getting my money back out of them is pretty good. 
 

My mantra used to be that I could always buy a Bronze Age book from a series that I know I would enjoy (if I could find the time) and that money would be refunded to me later…but I can do that with Moderns too 

Today I went to my LCS and said, “hey it’s Wednesday, is the new Clea Strange book in? “. I was gently told that I still need to wait a month…books come out weekly which I knew, but they are different books.  (Probably should’ve known that). I haven’t waited on the next issue for decades.  Really…decades. 
 

So here we are. I’m enjoying the thrill of the hunt with modern books, I don’t feel like I’m wasting my money, and I’m enjoying reading comics again. Oh, and it helps that when I drive to the LCS I can deduct my mileage to offset my eBay sales (seriously, it’s a big “paper loss”). Bottom line is that rigidly not buying modern cut me off somewhat. Feels kind of weird to wait for the next issue. 

Edited March 16, 2022 by Westy Steve

[Stefan_W]

Awesome!

Some modern books are really good. When I returned to collecting comics after many years I went straight back to collecting Star Wars, and I found a lot of the modern Star Wars (especially Darth Vader) books were amazing to read. There is definitely some good stuff out there.

[Ken Aldred]

I've always maintained that there's good and bad published in every Age. Moderns are no different to Bronze in that respect. Miles Morales' stories are worth reading, if a little dragged out by Bendis in his initial run of books.  Reads better in Omnibus format.

[Westy Steve]

On 3/16/2022 at 4:09 PM, Ken Aldred said:

I've always maintained that there's good and bad published in every Age. Moderns are no different to Bronze in that respect. Miles Morales' stories are worth reading, if a little dragged out by Bendis in his initial run of books.  Reads better in Omnibus format.

Interesting you say that about Bendis.  I was reading Uncanny  X-men 94 - 100 in a TPB and I kept thinking, “man, these guys can’t catch a break!”  It was just a series of constant ambushes and fights that probably made a lot of sense when you had to wait 30 days between each issue but when you read them back to back it seems ridiculous.  I read issue one through five of ultimate comic ms Spiderman in a trade paper back and it read well.  I can imagine it might’ve been a little grueling waiting 30 days between issues. Still a good read though.

[Dave2739]

On 3/16/2022 at 7:58 PM, Westy Steve said:

Interesting you say that about Bendis.  I was reading Uncanny  X-men 94 - 100 in a TPB and I kept thinking, “man, these guys can’t catch a break!”  It was just a series of constant ambushes and fights that probably made a lot of sense when you had to wait 30 days between each issue but when you read them back to back it seems ridiculous.  I read issue one through five of ultimate comic ms Spiderman in a trade paper back and it read well.  I can imagine it might’ve been a little grueling waiting 30 days between issues. Still a good read though.

Not that this nerdy quibble changes anything you stated, but X-Men was every other month back then.

[Westy Steve]

On 3/16/2022 at 8:01 PM, Dave2739 said:

Not that this nerdy quibble changes anything you stated, but X-Men was every other month back then.

My first thought was, “interesting”. My second thought was, “dude, it’s all nerdy quibble here”.

[D2]

Old. Man. Logan. Millar. McNiven. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

Every "Age" has something to offer. Most of Batman's best stories are from the Modern Age.

[Lord Gemini]

On 3/16/2022 at 2:23 PM, Westy Steve said:

After about 20 years of sticking to older comics, I’ve started buying some moderns. 
 

After watching into the multiverse again, I started reading and collecting the first Miles Morales books, I found I really like them, even though they are 11 years old. And that lead me to hunt them down , which I found somewhat challenging unless I just wanted to pay EBay prices. 
 

In my quest to find more Miles books, I picked up Little Monsters and the New Dr Strange book at the LCS.  Both good reads.  It’s occurred to me that I can read the reviews on books before I buy them so the odds of enjoying them and maybe even getting my money back out of them is pretty good. 
 

My mantra used to be that I could always buy a Bronze Age book from a series that I know I would enjoy (if I could find the time) and that money would be refunded to me later…but I can do that with Moderns too 

Today I went to my LCS and said, “hey it’s Wednesday, is the new Clea Strange book in? “. I was gently told that I still need to wait a month…books come out weekly which I knew, but they are different books.  (Probably should’ve known that). I haven’t waited on the next issue for decades.  Really…decades. 
 

So here we are. I’m enjoying the thrill of the hunt with modern books, I don’t feel like I’m wasting my money, and I’m enjoying reading comics again. Oh, and it helps that when I drive to the LCS I can deduct my mileage to offset my eBay sales (seriously, it’s a big “paper loss”). Bottom line is that rigidly not buying modern cut me off somewhat. Feels kind of weird to wait for the next issue. 

Give the recent Moon Knight series a shot. One of my favorites coming out of Marvel right now. I enjoyed Little Monsters as well, but there are few Jeff Lemire books I don't like.

[LudaToke]

On 3/17/2022 at 8:46 AM, Lord Gemini said:

Give the recent Moon Knight series a shot. One of my favorites coming out of Marvel right now. I enjoyed Little Monsters as well, but there are few Jeff Lemire books I don't like.

I really like Jeff Lemire but there were a few releases recently that were simply OK.  I absolutely love Black Hammer and the expanded universe that was built around it.  I also loved Sweet Tooth, so much so that when I watched the Netflix show, I lost interest after a few episodes.  The comic felt dark and gritty.  The show looked as though it had been brightened up for the purpose of appealing to a wider viewing audience.  Most recently I read Primordial which I didn't think was that great.  Mazebook tugged at the heartstrings if you have ever experienced significant loss. 

[Lord Gemini]

On 3/17/2022 at 9:49 AM, LudaToke said:

I really like Jeff Lemire but there were a few releases recently that were simply OK.  I absolutely love Black Hammer and the expanded universe that was built around it.  I also loved Sweet Tooth, so much so that when I watched the Netflix show, I lost interest after a few episodes.  The comic felt dark and gritty.  The show looked as though it had been brightened up for the purpose of appealing to a wider viewing audience.  Most recently I read Primordial which I didn't think was that great.  Mazebook tugged at the heartstrings if you have ever experienced significant loss. 

Primordial was pretty anticlimactic at the end. I loved Mazebook, and Gideon Falls is one of my favorite series. I haven't finished the Sweet Tooth series on Netflix either, but it was decent enough IMO that I'll go back sometime and finish watching it.

[JazzMan]

I was out of comics for 25 years or so until Civil War and the death of Captain America got me interested again.  There's diamonds out there in moderns, no doubt.  It's a matter of having to dig through all the dung...and there's plenty of it.

[LudaToke]

On 3/17/2022 at 10:54 AM, Lord Gemini said:

Primordial was pretty anticlimactic at the end. I loved Mazebook, and Gideon Falls is one of my favorite series. I haven't finished the Sweet Tooth series on Netflix either, but it was decent enough IMO that I'll go back sometime and finish watching it.

I really like Gideon Falls as well, except for the ending.  It was a really cool concept that was strung along nicely and then the ending felt cheap.  I got to the ending and my knee jerk reaction was:

Spoiler

"So Lemire just repurposed the ending for Michael Jackson's Thriller Video?  Lame."

 

[chrisco37]

On 3/17/2022 at 12:37 PM, JazzMan said:

I was out of comics for 25 years or so until Civil War and the death of Captain America got me interested again.  There's diamonds out there in moderns, no doubt.  It's a matter of having to dig through all the dung...and there's plenty of it.

Ask the guys at your LCS what they recommend.  That’s what I do when I’m looking for something good.  The guys at mine typically aren’t interested in the Big 2 mega-event type stuff (they’ve read enough of those tired stories) and are into stuff that’s a little more interesting.  Some of the titles that have been recommended to me over the years are amazing books like Planetary, Manhattan Projects, Black Hammer, Deadly Class, etc.  

[theCapraAegagrus]

Come to think of it, almost all of DC's notable and "must-read" stories are from the Modern Age... All-Star Superman, Death of Superman, Kingdom Come, The New Frontier, all of the Crises, Flashpoint, Brightest Day/Blackest Night, Sandman, etc.

Oh, and all of Alan Moore's mainstream work.

Marvel's best stuff is arguably from the Silver Age, but there is still the Infinity Trilogy (after Gauntlet is mixed reception), Civil War(s), some Avengers, House of _, Alex Ross' Marvels, etc.

Spawn and Hellboy were both born in the MA. There's a lot of great non-hero (traditional) horror titles, too.

Without a doubt in my mind, you will find the best art and writing within the Modern Age, it's just a matter of avoiding some of the worst art and writing in comic book history.

[Ken Aldred]

On 3/18/2022 at 11:53 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Without a doubt in my mind, you will find the best art and writing within the Modern Age, it's just a matter of avoiding some of the worst art and writing in comic book history.

Absolutely.  Then again, there’s also a lot of appalling art and writing dating all the way back to the Golden Age.  No period in comics is immune.

[chrisco37]

On 3/18/2022 at 7:53 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Come to think of it, almost all of DC's notable and "must-read" stories are from the Modern Age... All-Star Superman, Death of Superman, Kingdom Come, The New Frontier, all of the Crises, Flashpoint, Brightest Day/Blackest Night, Sandman, etc.

Oh, and all of Alan Moore's mainstream work.

Marvel's best stuff is arguably from the Silver Age, but there is still the Infinity Trilogy (after Gauntlet is mixed reception), Civil War(s), some Avengers, House of _, Alex Ross' Marvels, etc.

Spawn and Hellboy were both born in the MA. There's a lot of great non-hero (traditional) horror titles, too.

Without a doubt in my mind, you will find the best art and writing within the Modern Age, it's just a matter of avoiding some of the worst art and writing in comic book history.

All-Star Superman is great.   The best Superman stuff I have read.  I liked GL: Rebirth as well.   

Lots of good DC stuff, actually.   Long Halloween.  Multiple Vertigo titles.  

[chrisco37]

As far as Marvel goes, when I got back into the hobby in the early 2000's, I had a bunch of books on my sub list at the LCS.  Ultimate Spider-Man, Daredevil and The Ultimates (vol 1 & 2) were all on the top of my read pile each month.   

[Ken Aldred]

On 3/18/2022 at 3:20 PM, chrisco37 said:

As far as Marvel goes, when I got back into the hobby in the early 2000's, I had a bunch of books on my sub list at the LCS.  Ultimate Spider-Man, Daredevil and The Ultimates (vol 1 & 2) were all on the top of my read pile each month.   

A good point at which to return as the quality started to improve again around then.

[ADAMANTIUM]

With all the talk in the cgc burns moderns thread in comics general, I'm bumping this one for those who continue to be shocked of the modern forum news being revealed in comics general for "the first time" for most of you given the reaction 

Edited September 2, 2022 by ADAMANTIUM