Comics fans?

[Buffy Summers]

Anyone here into comic books? What do you read? Who are your favorites?

 

[emptyvessels]

Other than a few of the Whedonverse comics and graphic novels, the only comics I ever really got into were Superman and Spider-Man, because when I was growing up, my dad had a pretty good collection. Unfortunately he no longer has them, which is a shame because comic books are pretty pricey nowadays.

However, I discovered a comic book shop about twenty minutes away from my house and I've (very) recently been going in and checking out some of the X-Men comics. So far I like them, but I've only read a few.

 

[Blaze]

I love comics! But I'm too broke to afford buying them lol

If I had money though, I'd be investing in the X-men franchise. I'm currently saving to buy Watchmen (which I have read, just not bought).

I'm also a fan of graphic novels!

 

[NY State of Mind]

I don't read comics really anymore except maybe once in the blue. My favorites as a child were Batman, Spider-Man, and X-Men....I also liked the Punisher a lot. I also liked Blade, however its the only character I could think of that I actually liked the guy more after the film then prior

 

[Robb Stark]

I'm a huge comic fan. I've been following DC and Marvel actively since I was about 12 years old. I've got a huge library I've assembled of hard and softcover books over the years.

Batman is easily my favorite superhero of all time, and the extended Bat-family is just awesome.

Right now, I'm reading all the Bat books except Batgirl, Justice League, all the individual Justice League character books except Wonder Woman, and Teen Titans. From Marvel, I'm reading All New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Uncanny Avengers, Captain America and Winter Soldier.

 

[nightshade]

I'm a fan of the Sandman comics, haven't read that many of them, my town library doesn't have many 🙁 but would love to get the whole collection one day

 

[JCoatsworth]

I only own a few Buffy Comics, but my brother has a bunch of Batman comics.
Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns is awesome. But so far, my favorite is Batman: The Long Halloween. It's amazing! It's like The Godfather meets Zodiac meets The Dark Knight. I can't recommend this highly enough!

 

[nancylives]

i have been actively collecting comics for over thirty years. at the moment, my monthly pull list includes:

superior spider-man
superior foes of spider-man
superior team-up
ultimate spider-man
daredevil
swamp thing
the wake
buffy
star wars
star trek
the walking dead
rachel rising
optic nerve
berlin

i'm a bit annoyed with marvel and dc at the moment, so i've really pared down. i'm just tired of big events, renumbering, reboots, restarts, rotating creative teams, and so on. i miss the days of a nice, self-contained spider-man story, tho i can never quit spidey, even when he's doc ock.

the wake is a really cool 12 issue maxi series from dc/vertigo, about a team of scientists who head into the deep ocean to study some lovecraftian fish people. it's totally cool.

if you are not reading rachel rising, let me encourage y'all to do so. it's a gothic-horror-drama about friendship, death, and witches. it's utterly gorgeous. terry moore is, in my opinion, the finest creator currently working in comics today. his writing, his art, are both whip-smart. it's like he writes for buffy fans. also, check out terry's echo and, of course, the magnificent stangers in paradise, my fave non-spidey comic of all-time!

from rachel rising by terry moore

 

[brinkster130]

I enjoy Brian K. Vaughan's work; Y: The Last Man and Saga are both really good.

I've also dabbled in the DC New 52...Wonder Woman, Batgirl and Nightwing are my favorites, though I've given up buying issues as they release.

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

Joss really opened the door for me into graphic novels. Not my favorite medium by any means, but the classics are great!

The first graphic novel I read after I started on Buffy Season Eight was DC: Kingdom Come, I chose it because it was the only graphic novel on the assignment list for my English Lit class, and it turned out to be easily the best graphic novel I have ever read.

It was really excellent. I also read the novelization of Countdown to Final Crisis. I know the actual comic-version was panned, but apparently the novelization resolved many of the issues with the comics--I didn't read the original.

In the Countdown to Final Crisis novel, Mary Marvel's character underwent such an amazing and engulfing journey. I absolutely loved it! The other characters not connected to the Mary storyline weren't the most enthralling. Batwoman was a complete letdown. I had never heard of any of these characters before, so maybe that added to my enjoyment of following their evolution. I rate it as excellent.

I tried reading the ongoing Batman series, but didn't get into it, despite being a fan of Batman in film & animation. The only ongoing comic series I read is Batman Beyond Universe, coincidentally penned by Christos Gage, producer of the Angel & Faith series. I quite enjoy this series because it builds from the Batman Beyond TV show that I watched as a kid 🙂

---------- Post added at 12:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:24 AM ----------

continued...

I really enjoyed issue #1 of Christos Gage's Batman Beyond Universe, and expect to read #2 when it come out next week.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, it's the world of Batman & Superman when they're in their 70s.

Batman has long retired, physically incapable of fighting crime. Having been so many decades, Batman became something of an urban legend, and Bruce Wayne became a reclusive eccentric.

A young man, eventually uncovers the Batman legacy, and takes up the fight after Bruce Wayne's own company became so corrupt, the new CEO murdered the teenager's father.

It was a fantastic series, that was actually never cancelled, but the producers went back to doing shows about Batman & Superman in their prime.

The comic gives Superman nearly equal involvement in the plots, where he was a minor character in the show.

Superman, at this stage of his life is something of an insight into where Angel or Spike might be if they ever did settle down with Buffy.

The implication is Superman & Lois Lane did settle down together, and she died in her late 60s of an illness. Superman isn't like a Buffyverse vampire in that he does age, but drastically slower than a human. He seems to appear roughly 20 years younger than he is, which must've been odd when Lois looked old enough to be his mother towards the end of her life.

Now he's struggling to cope with life. He abandoned his Clark Kent identity, presumably because even folks fooled by a pair of glasses as a disguise would eventually notice a seventy year-old who's first starting to gray, and barely has hints of crow's feet wrinkles.

A coming-of-age Batman, and mid-life crisis Superman makes for a fascinating plot.

 

[Spiral]

Anyone here into comic books? What do you read? Who are your favorites?

Grew up reading Marvel & DC....but i'm definitely not very happy w/ "Marvel Now" or "New 52" b/c many of my fav characters have been deconstructed or retconned out of existence 🙁

I'm trying to give this "battle for the atom" storyline in All new X-men a chance...but I HATE Brian Michael Bendis. I have ever since what he did to the avengers w/ disassembled & house of m onward. I know ppl like him fromhis Ultimates work...& yes those were good, he should never have been allowed to ruin the avengers & now the x-men.

In DC...i've finally found something about "New 52" that i like, which is Batwoman, but now that the writing team that made her great is leaving due to DC being stupid about her getting married to Maggie Sawyer, the book may take a dive

 

[Robb Stark]

I'm trying to give this "battle for the atom" storyline in All new X-men a chance...but I HATE Brian Michael Bendis. I have ever since what he did to the avengers w/ disassembled & house of m onward. I know ppl like him fromhis Ultimates work...& yes those were good, he should never have been allowed to ruin the avengers & now the x-men.

What don't you like about Bendis. I thought his Avengers run was some of the best stuff I've ever read. Sure, there were a few moments when it dipped, which happens to every lengthy run, but he put a ton of new energy into characters like Captain America, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Drew, Spiderwoman and Hawkeye. He really took The Avengers to some interesting places. He kind of defines the "Event Era" for Marvel over the past nine or so years.

The only thing I wasn't crazy about with Bendis was how he wrote Spiderman. It wasn't awful or anything, but he was a very one-dimensional character. He just acted as the humor outlet for the team. The only time he really rocked was in AvX.

 

[Taake]

I've just gotten into The Sandman and am really enjoying it and I've just gotten to borrow The Unwritten from a friend. I haven't finished it yet but it's good so far 🙂

 

[kittenpoker]

I adore any and all hulk comics!!!!!

I also very much enjoy spiderman and x-men comics, particularly those featuring x-23 cause I find her to be a fascinating character!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AndrewCrossett]

Apart from the Buffy and Angel comics, my all-time favorite series have included:

Transmetropolitan, by Warren Ellis & Darick Robertson (my favorite)
Sandman, by Neil Gaiman
Y: The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
Preacher, by Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon
Fables, by Bill Willingham

I've never gotten much into superhero comics, but one exception has been Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey. I also liked her run on Secret Six. She just started a run on Red Sonja that's very good so far.

My favorite current comic is Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.

 

[Buffy Summers]

^^ I read the 1st TPB of Saga and it was excellent. And if a friend hadn't recommended it, it's not something I would have normally picked up.

 

[Bluebird]

I enjoy Brian K. Vaughan's work; Y: The Last Man and Saga are both really good.

Absolutely adored Y: The Last Man - it quickly became one of my favourite things, comics or anything! Definitely gonna try Saga next. 🙂

 

[Spiral]

What don't you like about Bendis. I thought his Avengers run was some of the best stuff I've ever read. Sure, there were a few moments when it dipped, which happens to every lengthy run, but he put a ton of new energy into characters like Captain America, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Drew, Spiderwoman and Hawkeye. He really took The Avengers to some interesting places. He kind of defines the "Event Era" for Marvel over the past nine or so years.

The only thing I wasn't crazy about with Bendis was how he wrote Spiderman. It wasn't awful or anything, but he was a very one-dimensional character. He just acted as the humor outlet for the team. The only time he really rocked was in AvX.

Oh Robb...:cry3:

I dont know how long you read the Avengers, but I was reading them even before the amazing, GLORIOUS dawn of Vol III (circa 1998) under the legendary George Perez & Busiek. Vol III, more than anything before- was the PERFECT synergy of legendary pencils & great writing that respect & referenced the past but also had gave many fan favs & also more obscure characters subtle upgrades to make them more relevant & powerful.

Then, around 2004, along came Bendis, & he destroyed EVERYTHING w/ Disassembled. He retconned & undid all of the progress of the Scarlett Witch, who had, for years, suffered from bad power definitions & a fluctuating personality. From disassembled, to house of M...all the way through seige & age of ultron...Bendis just did TOO MUCH & little of it was good.

Ppl like myself who have read/followed these characters for 20+ yrs could see the change, the DECLINE in the characters. In New Avengers (the roster you mention) characters were flat, 1 dimensional & overly-quippy. characters lost the definitions & unique qualities that made him/her worth caring about & became charicatures. Bendis also does this OVER WROUGHT "cross over events" (House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion & most recently A vs X) some of which start off w/ promise but usually ALWAYS fall FLAT. He doesnt respect canon or continuity & sometimes he's gotten so out of hand that he's had to retcon HIS OWN retcons!? ( A vs X basically served the purpose of undoing House of M/Decimation- both of which were VERY BAD to begin with) 😕

I know alot of ppl loved his work on the Ultimates, before Quesada turned him loose on the rest of Marvel...& yes, that was solid work but just b/c someone does good in one area, doesnt mean they'll do good in another. I mean look @ John Byrne....LEGENDARY for Dark Phoenix Saga...needed his ass KICKED for what he did in WONDER WOMAN in the late 90s.

So to sum it up- Bendis just does too much. He ruins characters, he ignores canon to suit his whim, his cross over events are overwrought & I'm just sick of him!

 

[Randy Giles]

I don't really like "superhero" comics. I avoid Marvel and DC, other than Vertigo, and I really love Top Cow comics. My favorite comic series are Witchblade, The Darkness, and Preacher. Also like Locke & Key.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

I tend to avoid superhero comics mainly because the publishers so often feel free to just retcon everything without explanation... like DC did with their entire universe a couple of years ago. It makes it impossible for me to think of these characters as anything other than ink on paper when they can be "rebooted" like that.

I tend to like comics that are creator-owned, published by someone other than Marvel or DC, and guided by the same creative team throughout. Many of my all-time favorite series were published by Vertigo, which is a subsidiary of DC but specialized in creator-owned, non-superhero comics.