JD's Comic Book Thread

[JD]

C_Miller wrote:

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If you're looking for a Superman story, look no further than All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly. While it's a wee bit dense in parts and really utilizes all aspects of Superman's mythology (even parts some would rather forget), I have never read a more perfect Superman story and in many ways, I don't think I ever need to read another Superman story (but I will break that in September when he starts on Action Comics!).

I'm going to have to second Y: The Last Man. It's one of the few series' where I bought many trades at a time (I bought 2, 3, 4 and 5 at once). Man, when I discovered it, I raced through it. It's also the only series I've read that could work in any medium without adaption and not lose anything. Comic, Novel Series, Film, Radio Serial, Television, Rock Opera (maybe not that last one). Just an amazing well written series. As far as adult content, there's the occasional tame sex scene, female and male (in only one case as far as I know) nudity, some light violence and some cartoon gore (the art really isn't that realistic)

Also, are there any characters you're especially interested in. I am fond of the statement that there're no bad characters, just bad stories (and the converse). So each character has amazing stories and stories that define them. So if you let us know who you're interested in and perhaps what kinds of stories you're interested in, we can better direct you to comics you'd enjoy.

Last statement: I'm not sure if anyone told you here, but DC Comics is "relaunching" in September. With everything restarting at #1, some with some type of rebooted continuity. So if you want to start with regular monthlies (the bread and butter of the comic industry for the past 70 years), that will be a great place to start and they're designing it so you wouldn't have had to read a single comic before that point.

Cool! Thanks for the info.
And I've been counting down the days until September 1st since they first announced The New 52. At this point I'm planning on working through some of the older stuff until September, and then probably doing a combo of older and newer stuff.
As for characters I'm most interested in:
Pretty much any members of the Batman, and Superman Families
Justice League
Hawkman
Flash
Wonder Woman
Green Lantern (all of them)
Green Arrow
Zatanna (They don't have any of her stuff on Comixology, but I might be willing to pick up some trades of her stuff)
Legion of Superheroes (same deal as Zatanna)

[C_Miller]

Batman: The Long Halloween and Dark Victory are very good. They kind of have the same vibe as the cartoon from the 90s, which as big a compliment as you can give Batman, IMO. I'm also really digging Morrison's run, but I know that's not for everyone. If you're into super realistic stuff, I must recommend Gotham Central. That was a great series. Also the current Batgirl comic by Bryan Q. Miller is one of my favorite comics every month.

Superman: All-Star Superman. There are no substitutes.

Justice League: I personally really enjoyed Justice League: Year One. It's out of continuity now, but it's a great story. Grant Morrison's JLA was fantastic. It's collected in six trades (New World Order, American Dreams, Rock of Ages, Strength in Numbers, Justice For All and World War III). Also, while I have very little experience in it, people seem to love Justice League International, which was recently released in trades. It's not the Big 7, nor does it pretend to be. Overall it's a lot of fun and doesn't take itself too seriously.

Hawkman: He is a tough character. There are two main camps in how he should be treated and frequently they are at odds. Geoff Johns had a great run on Hawkman in the middle of the last decade. It was short but good. It also heavily tied in with JSA, which was downright amazing.

The Flash: The Flash was a rather lucky character in the 90s and early 00s. Mark Waid had a stellar run on the title starting with issue #62 and went through 129. He would also occasionally write the one or two issues here and there. Geoff Johns began a run starting with #164 and went through 225. Those stand as some of my favorite comics ever. He made Flash's Rogues Gallery into one rivaling Spider-Man and Batman.

Wonder Woman: I'm really not all that familiar with her. I hear Rucka's run from the 00s was pretty good. It was issues 195-226. I have the first trade. It was good. Not mindblowing, but good.

Green Lantern: I liked Rebirth. Geoff Johns' run is considered the epitome of Green Lantern runs, but I find it rather dry and boring. So, yeah... I like them when they guest star, but not as a main book.

Green Arrow: I know people liked Longbow Hunters, but that wasn't for me. I really liked Kevin Smith's run (yes, the movie director). Quiver and Sounds of Violence. Were just great, light action comics. The Archer's Quest by Brad Meltzer (which follows up Kevin Smith's run) stands as one of my favorite comic arcs of all time, but you need to read at least Quiver first before delving in to this one.

Zatanna: Zee is a character who's always been around, but I can't recall her ever having a staring role for long periods. She had a pretty major role in Identity Crisis. She has some run ins with Batman here and there which you can find in various trades. She also was one of the main characters of Grant Morrison's Reboot of Seven Soldiers of Victory from several years back. I don't recall how that was (because I haven't read it), but I have yet to read a Morrison book I haven't liked.

Legion of Superheroes: Like Hawkman, they tend to get rebooted all the time. I believe this will be their 5th reboot. You have the Silver Age Legion, the Post-Zero Hour Legion, the Threeboot Legion, Post Final Crisis Legion (which is more or less the Silver Age Legion) and now they're rebooting Legion for September. Personally, I really liked the first 14 issues of Mark Waid's Threeboot. As far as I'm concerned that's The Legion for me.

[JD]

Cool, I'll see how much of that is on Comixology.
Here's my marvel list:
Spider-Man
Fantastic Four
Iron Man
Thor
Hulk(s)
Avengers
Hercules
Black Widow
X-Men (Individuals and Teams)
Doctor Strange

[C_Miller]

I'm not as familiar with Marvel, but I'll try.

Spider-Man: It's actually really hard to beat the original Stan Lee run. He had a near record breaking run on the title with an uninterrupted run from 1-100, coming back to the title for a couple issues here and there, but he was more or less done with writing at that point. Truth be told, this is really the only occasion I like Stan Lee as a writer. I also really enjoy Brian Michael Bendis' run on Ultimate Spider-Man, one of the few to actually beat Stan Lee's run on the original Spider-Man. He's actually still writing it and he started in 2000. It was relaunched after issue 133, but now it's been set back to it's original numbering and he's now pulling around to issue 200, I think this is record breaking. But yeah, it puts Spider-Man in a modern setting. I haven't read it in years, but the first 11 or so trades are fantastic and I hear it keeps its quality up until the relaunch at 133.

Fantastic Four: John Byrne's run from the 80s was fantastic and by all accounts, it's definitive. He wrote from 209-221 and then from 232-293. I also am a huge fan of Mark Waid's run on the title. He wrote from #60 to #70 and then it was renumbered when it hit #500 and he continued to #524. I also hear great things about Jonathan Hickman's run from #570-588. It was relaunched as FF and I hear it's still good, but I'm a purist when it comes to the World's Greatest Comic Magazine.

Iron Man: Not really familiar with him outside of the movie.

Thor: Also not familiar with his comics. I do know that there's a lot quality runs of him through the years. Walt Simonson's run is from 337-382. That run is more or less considered the definitive Thor. I also hear great things about Dan Jurgen's run where he wrote from 1-79 (volume 2).

Hulk: Haha again, not really a fan. When I first got into comics, the Hulk was in the middle of a rather long and drawn out run. Apparently it started good, but just went too long. So I never got into it. I hear Peter David's (yes the Star Trek writer) run is the definitive Hulk. I couldn't find issue numbers but it was in the mid-80s.

Avengers: Literally there is something for everyone. It's the main headline book right now and there are four different titles. I liked Geoff Johns' short run from 57-76. There are some great trades out there like Avengers Under Siege and Avengers Forever, which are good. Kurt Busiek, who wrote the title from 1-56 (with a small break somewhere in the middle) also apparently was very good. I've read parts and I really liked them. Bendis' run who wrote after Johns is... controversial at best. I'd say read it. It may be for you. Certainly not for everyone.

Hercules: Don't know. He's more of a supporting character. Can't think of anywhere he's been featured off the top of my head. I think he had a solo series not too long ago.

Black Widow: Same as above. She's had a few solo series', but can't think of any stand outs.

X-Men: The group that got me into comics. The X-Men has two phases. Inspired and creatively bankrupt. Really nowhere in between. Right now, they are creatively bankrupt. My favorite run of theirs was Grant Morrison's (took me too long to mention him... haha) run from the early 2000s. He wrote a title called New X-Men which ran from 114-154. It's different, but I think hands down it's my favorite comic run of all time. There's also Chris Claremont's run of an astounding 16 years. 94-279 uninterrupted. It has its ups and downs but nearly every major thing in the X-Men mythos happened on his watch.

Doctor Strange: Not really sure. I always found him more interesting popping up from time to time in random books.

[JD]

I'm trying to stick to digital comics as much as possible.
Of the stuff you've recommended, from DC I've found Batman: The Long Halloween, All Star Superman, Green Arrow Long Bow Hunters and Kevin Smith's run, Green Lanter Rebirth and 1-66 of Johns' run, 1-25 of Johns' Hawkman. As for Marvel, they have Amazing Fantasy #15 and all of Lee's run, Ultimate Spider-Man 1-133 and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man 1-12, 215-294 of Byrne's Fantastic Four, 337-382 of Simonson's Thor and 1-8, most of Jurgen's Thor (there are a couple gaps I noticed), 57-74 of John's Avengers and most of 1-56 of Busiek's, and all of Morrison's New X-Men. So it looks like I've got quite a bit of stuff to look forward to. Thanks!

[C_Miller]

Nice. In all fairness, I'd start with Spider-Man. It may take you a while, but it's going to be super rewarding. Start with the original stuff, because you may find it tedious after reading the very modern Ultimate Spider-Man.

[JD]

Well, for months now I've been wanting to read Batman: Year One, so that is going to be my next purchase from Comixology. I'm really frustrated because they don't have Marvel CX, so I have to get the stuff off of Marvels official site. It just annoys me because I would rather be able to get my comics from the same place and have them all together.

[Praetor_Shinzon]

for Black Widow check out her mini Deadly Origins and Widowmaker. those were quite good. Hercules had an ongoing, Incredible Hercules, and it was very good. i really suggest you check it out. the recent Hickman run on Fantastic Four was great.

[JD]

I've been watching Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and I was wondering if the Black Widdow is a traitor arc was something they made up for the show or if it came from the comics?

[Praetor_Shinzon]

JD wrote:

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I've been watching Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and I was wondering if the Black Widdow is a traitor arc was something they made up for the show or if it came from the comics?

i think its from the Ultimate line of comics. i could be mistaken, as i haven't read very many Ultimate comics. in the regular 616 Marvel Universe she worked for the Russians before defecting and joining the Avengers.

[JD]

Ah ok. I was partly wondering because I really liked Scarlett Johansson in IM2 and I was wondering if I should expect her to turn out to be a villain in the movie too.

[Myasishchev]

Praetor_Shinzon wrote:

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i think its from the Ultimate line of comics. i could be mistaken, as i haven't read very many Ultimate comics. in the regular 616 Marvel Universe she worked for the Russians before defecting and joining the Avengers.

Widow was a double-agent for the Liberators in Ultimates 2. She totally killed Jarvis. And Ultimate Jarvis was great.

[JD]

In Gotham City Sirens, are the ladies presented as heroes or villains?

[Myasishchev]

In Gotham City Sirens, the ladies are simply presented.

[JD]

I've been asking alot about good comics, but now I want to switch that around to the bad. I was just wondering which Marvel and DC comics from the last 20 years or so I should avoid?