What American Comics are You Reading ?

Mostly Marvel for me at the moment, though I must admit I'm not entirely sure why-there's some truly depressing stuff coming out of the house of ideas these days! Still, there are some gems out there, including Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy, both of which have a rather lighter touch and a more old school feel than the morass of Earth based titles connected to the interminable Dark Reign event. My DC reading is pretty much confined to a handful of titles right now, including the excellent JSA, the slowly improving JLA, Booster Gold, the wonderfully retro Brave & the Bold, Superman (which is surprisingly engaging, considering that Superman isn't actually in it at the moment) and Blackest Night. I'm also finding myself rather surprisingly enjoying both Power Girl (which got off to a mediocre start but has been steadily improving) and Doom Patrol, a book I was originally going to skip entirely. And there are a handful of Vertigo titles, too: Fables, Jack of Fables, Hellblazer and House of Mystery.

Back in 1991, I was lucky enough to go to California and meet up with Jack 'King' Kirby for the second time. On this occasion I filmed over 45 minutes of video of my discussion with the King. Part of this video footage was donated to the Kirby Museum and its showing on their site now (and on YOU TUBE).
Anybody out there interested in seeing the whole thing if I put it together as a DVD?

GBF wrote:Back in 1991, I was lucky enough to go to California and meet up with Jack 'King' Kirby for the second time. On this occasion I filmed over 45 minutes of video of my discussion with the King. Part of this video footage was donated to the Kirby Museum and its showing on their site now (and on YOU TUBE).
Anybody out there interested in seeing the whole thing if I put it together as a DVD?

Well, I am-but that's probably not the response you were looking for.

tony ingram wrote:

GBF wrote:Back in 1991, I was lucky enough to go to California and meet up with Jack 'King' Kirby for the second time. On this occasion I filmed over 45 minutes of video of my discussion with the King. Part of this video footage was donated to the Kirby Museum and its showing on their site now (and on YOU TUBE).
Anybody out there interested in seeing the whole thing if I put it together as a DVD?

Well, I am-but that's probably not the response you were looking for.

I am too! Not a Kirby fan, but interested enough (Marvel zombie!).

Spiff_B wrote:

tony ingram wrote:

GBF wrote:Back in 1991, I was lucky enough to go to California and meet up with Jack 'King' Kirby for the second time. On this occasion I filmed over 45 minutes of video of my discussion with the King. Part of this video footage was donated to the Kirby Museum and its showing on their site now (and on YOU TUBE).
Anybody out there interested in seeing the whole thing if I put it together as a DVD?

Well, I am-but that's probably not the response you were looking for.

I am too! Not a Kirby fan, but interested enough (Marvel zombie!).

Really? What are you reading at the moment? I'm rather enjoying the 'cosmic' titles, Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova.

Blue Monday- Thieves Like us Vol 1. I really love this Oni Press series. I like Chyenna Clugstons manga/american style and the over all 1980s feel her works presents.

Hourglass wrote:Blue Monday- Thieves Like us Vol 1. I really love this Oni Press series. I like Chyenna Clugstons manga/american style and the over all 1980s feel her works presents.

I believe Blue Monday was on the list of recommended reading you gave me. I asked Rob at Central city to look a couple of issues out for me so I shall check it out next week...

I have to admit I did succumb in the end to reading the adventures of Ms Marvel, as collected in the various graphic novels. And yes, they are quite hard to follow, and I get the impression that there's a lot more going on outside the story - not the least of which are the adventures of Ms Marvel herself in arious other titles! Still enjoyable though - and I've actually enjoyed reading about the usurpation of Ms Marvel's identity by supervillian "Moonstone", and Carol Danvers' subsequent "death" and apparent resurrection.

Melkur40 wrote:I have to admit I did succumb in the end to reading the adventures of Ms Marvel, as collected in the various graphic novels. And yes, they are quite hard to follow, and I get the impression that there's a lot more going on outside the story - not the least of which are the adventures of Ms Marvel herself in arious other titles! Still enjoyable though - and I've actually enjoyed reading about the usurpation of Ms Marvel's identity by supervillian "Moonstone", and Carol Danvers' subsequent "death" and apparent resurrection.

The Moonstone arc was quite a good one, true, but thois latest Ms Marvel series has been plagued by that most insidious of comics related diseases, Crossover Syndrome. Virtually every story since the beginning has tied into an ongoing 'event' outside that particular title, which doesn't really help any new book find an identity and an audience of its own, and it's taken its toll on the sales figures I gather. Marvel have now seemingly given in to the inevitable and the book is expected to be dropped with issue #50 in a couple of months time.

tony ingram wrote:Really? What are you reading at the moment? I'm rather enjoying the 'cosmic' titles, Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova.

I've tried the newest phases of comics but couldn't get into them. Liked the Silver Surfer, Nova, GotG and Quasar comics of the late 80s/early 90s, as well as the earlier Nova.

I'm mostly Spider-Man and Avengers, but also X-titles and other things. Trying to cut back! Ghost Rider fan since the 70s, dunno whether it's ending after the current mini.

Only ever liked the Flash, mainstream DC-wise, and Green Lantern to a lesser extent. Shade and Preacher favourites from Vertigo; haven't tried anything like that for a few years because of been trying to cut back for years!

Outside of the big two, fan of Peter Bagge (tho his last coupla thigs have been for Marvel and DC!), Hernandez bros, Evan Dorkin, early 'Deadworld' (got a big Walking Dread omnibus, haven't started it yet) and stuff I've no doubt forgotten.

Spiff_B wrote:
I've tried the newest phases of comics but couldn't get into them. Liked the Silver Surfer, Nova, GotG and Quasar comics of the late 80s/early 90s, as well as the earlier Nova.

All good titles, though I preferred the Guardians original series in Marvel Presents in the 70s. Quasar was definitely one of the highlights of the 90s, a terrific book by the late, great Mark Gruenwald, a writer with a real feel for Marvel history.

I'm mostly Spider-Man and Avengers, but also X-titles and other things. Trying to cut back! Ghost Rider fan since the 70s, dunno whether it's ending after the current mini.

Spider-Man has been picking up lately, I think. I was very sceptical about the whole 'Brand New Day' thing, but it's worked out surprisingly well (though I still expect a reset at some point).

Only ever liked the Flash, mainstream DC-wise, and Green Lantern to a lesser extent. Shade and Preacher favourites from Vertigo; haven't tried anything like that for a few years because of been trying to cut back for years!

Outside of the big two, fan of Peter Bagge (tho his last coupla thigs have been for Marvel and DC!), Hernandez bros, Evan Dorkin, early 'Deadworld' (got a big Walking Dread omnibus, haven't started it yet) and stuff I've no doubt forgotten.

Is Love & Rockets still going? I haven't seen any new Hernandez Bros stuff in ages...

tony ingram wrote:All good titles, though I preferred the Guardians original series in Marvel Presents in the 70s.

Would like to read that, but doubt if it's reprinted and don't want even more individual comics!

tony ingram wrote:Quasar was definitely one of the highlights of the 90s, a terrific book by the late, great Mark Gruenwald, a writer with a real feel for Marvel history.

Yep. Never been a Cap fan but loved Gruenwald's run.

tony ingram wrote:Spider-Man has been picking up lately, I think. I was very sceptical about the whole 'Brand New Day' thing, but it's worked out surprisingly well (though I still expect a reset at some point).

How things are now, where apparently Peter *did* go ut with MJ at some point, the differences are that great: Harry back from the dead and Peter's secret identity back to being such.

Having one title three times a month, rather than three different stories in different monthlies, was a good move and many of the stories have been good or better -- better overall than the Spidery range in the few years before BND.

tony ingram wrote:Is Love & Rockets still going? I haven't seen any new Hernandez Bros stuff in ages...

L&R is definitely one to buy in reprint since the original magazine format volume ended! It split into individual mini-series (separate comics for Jaime and Gilbert) in standard comic format, then there was another mixed L&R volume (this time in standard format), then more individual series, and now I can't remember whether that's still the case or it's back to L&R!

In fact, the 70s Guardians of the Galaxy series is indeed available in a collected edition, which came out quite recently-and I heartily recommend it!

tony ingram wrote:In fact, the 70s Guardians of the Galaxy series is indeed available in a collected edition, which came out quite recently-and I heartily recommend it!

This one?
Power of Starhawk (click)?

There's another vol that reprints Marvel Super-Heroes #18, Marvel Two-In-One #4-5, Giant-Size Defenders #5, and Defenders #26-29.

Spiff_B wrote:

tony ingram wrote:In fact, the 70s Guardians of the Galaxy series is indeed available in a collected edition, which came out quite recently-and I heartily recommend it!

This one?
Power of Starhawk (click)?

There's another vol that reprints Marvel Super-Heroes #18, Marvel Two-In-One #4-5, Giant-Size Defenders #5, and Defenders #26-29.

That's the one...

I'm currently reading;

Buffy Season Eight
Angel - After The Fall
The Stand
Locke & Key
plus various Marvel Essentials and DC Showcase collections when I can get round to them.

Mel Horton wrote:I'm currently reading;

Buffy Season Eight
Angel - After The Fall
The Stand
Locke & Key
plus various Marvel Essentials and DC Showcase collections when I can get round to them.

Buffy season eight proved to be a pleasant surprise to me (I was never much of a fan of the TV show, though the wife is, but the strip version really has thrown up some excellent stories).

Anyone read those American Doctor Who comics? Saw some in Traveling man before Xmas, looked good but a bit pricey.

Hourglass wrote:Anyone read those American Doctor Who comics? Saw some in Traveling man before Xmas, looked good but a bit pricey.

I've tried a few, and the quality is tremendously variable depending on the writer. The ones dealing with older Doctors seem to be attracting writers who put a bit more thought into the storylines...

Just read about half a dozen current DC comics which all tie-in to the ongoing 'Blackest Night' crossover storyline. For those not up on currrent events in the DC Universe, this is a storyline involving a a demonic entity called Nekron resurrecting dead heroes and villains as 'Black Lanterns', zombie versions of the Green Lantern Corps, to take revenge on the universe in general. In the course of the story, which is crossing over into several titles, a number of established characters have been killed off, including Hawkman and Hawkgirl. But the interesting thing is the rumours of what's to come after this storyline: DC have confirmed that there will be a series called 'Brightest Day' which will reflect a more optimistic new direction for the DCU, which has become quite a grim place in recent years. Many fans are theorising that Blackest Night will conclude with all the characters DC have killed off in recent years being brought back to life. I'm actually unsure whether I'd be in favour of that. Does resurrecting dead characters devalue the storylines in which they ended up dead in the first place? And given that DC are already deeply confusing for many new readers, would bringing back characters like the Superman of Earth 2 really help to make the books more accessible? I was a fan of many of these characters, but I'm in two minds about the idea...

Reading the IDW Star Trek graphic novel 'The Enterprise Experiment' written by DC Fontana (who wrote for the original series). The art is a bit pedestrian and smacks of copies from TV screen grabs, but I have to say it does evoke the feel of the TV series quite nicely. Very well written, as you can actually hear the actor's voices in your head as you read it, and nice use of previous TV guest stars and situations, notably the Klingon Commander Kor (it's Baltar!!) and the Romulan chick from 'The Enterprise Incident'. Also messing about with the new Digital Comics downloads from Marvel and enjoying looking at the freebies on my PSP. Particularly like Aleister Arcane and might have to invest in issue 2... House of M seems promising as well.

Good God! I never realised Commander Kor was John Colicos before!

DC = Wonder Woman (for now), Worlds' Finest (for now), Detective Comics, and Batman Eternal (the weekly book)

Marvel = just All-New Invaders, but may start buying Daredevil again

Dark Horse = Black Beetle (whenever the new one comes out), Lobster Johnson, and toying around with Captain Midnight and a few of the Hellboy-related books

Dynamite = had been reading many of their pulp-type of comic books (Green Hornet, Shadow), but most of those are ending

IDW = Dexter's Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, will be getting Super Secret Crisis War, and probably more Rocketeer if they ever put out more issues of those.

I'm now reading mostly Marvel and Dynamite, though I do also have a weakness for Archie comics. Sadly, as already noted, most of the Dynamite pulp books seem to be winding up, though, and I have little interest in the former Gold Key characters.

tony ingram wrote:Good God! I never realised Commander Kor was John Colicos before!

OMG , me too, after a while, more....!

Some nice stuff out from Dynamite at the moment: recent picks include Invincible Red Sonja (just up to its second issue, but already far better than the adjectiveless Red Sonja book, which is due to conclude with the next issue), Red Sonja 1982 (a fun one-shot with a time travelling Sonja mistaken for a movie stuntwoman) and Bettie Page and the Curse of the Banshee (which is just mental).