Did anyone else become comic crazy?

[The Ferg]

Yep, that happened to me too. I used to think they were for little kids, but after S8, I was like, "Oh, dang, comics are badass!" So, I decided to try out "The Umbrella Academy" (by the singer of My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way). It turned out to be amazing, and I am now, obssessed with it. I've also read every Firefly/Serenity comic, (some of) ATF, and the online comic, "Sugarshock!". I totally recommend Sugarshock, it's totally funny. Check it out on myspace.com/darkhorsepresents.

EDIT: And actually, I still don't really like "You-Every-Day-Average-superhero" comics. I do dig superhero movies, but I can't get into superhero comics (Superman, The Hulk, Batman, Ironman are good examples). I'd have to say I mark for Dark Horse at the moment. 🙂

 

[PurplePoof]

I've enjoyed comics and graphic novels in the past...but the season 8 comics are just ungodly atrocious, so in fact they've actually turned me OFF the medium somewhat...

 

[Crazy Flakes]

Oh, they definitely have!

I'd read maybe one or two comics in the past, but nothing major...I didn't have anything against them, I was sort of indifferent toward them. Then, the season 8 comics came along, I liked them, and I thought, "Huh, maybe I can check out more comics." Once I was caught up with season 8, I went ahead and bought Fray, and thought it was absolutely amazing (far better than the other Buffy comics.)

After that, I decided to break away from the Buffyverse. The first other comic I bought was Watchmen, since it's basically known as the best graphic novel of all time, fell in love, and started buying more comics. My favorite non-verse comics so far are Watchmen and Runaways, and I have a few issues Fables, Y: The Last Man, the first volume of Sandman, and V for Vendetta waiting to be read.

I didn't get nearly as comic crazy as my sister, though...she's a total Batman freak.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

Buffy Season 8 is definitely my favorite comics series right now, and probably my favorite since Transmetropolitan ended several years ago.

Other recommendations of sci-fi/fantasy type series:
FABLES
TRANSMETROPOLITAN
SANDMAN
PREACHER (if you can deal with Garth Ennis's style)
BONE

 

[The Ferg]

So... No one's read Umbrella Academy... 🙁

EDIT: Damn it. On PurplePoof's reputation I meant to write:
I find it funny that you're the only person I've ever heard say S8 is horrible... Are you like professionally pessimistic?

 

[RuhiWarrior19]

So... No one's read Umbrella Academy... 🙁

EDIT: Damn it. On PurplePoof's reputation I meant to write:
I find it funny that you're the only person I've ever heard say S8 is horrible... Are you like professionally pessimistic?

I can understand why a comic lover or certain fans might not like S8. I like it because Xander rocks more than ever! It has ruined Buffy for me, I am kinda hoping she won't be a character in Season 9 😛

 

[Randy Giles]

The Buffy comics have definitely turned me into a comic fan. Much like the OP I was never into them, and when I tried reading them I was extremely confused. But then I decided it was worth the headache for Buffy, and after I caught on to them I realized how much fun they were. And when you can get into them they can be more than just artwork and words, you can imagine the action in your head because the pictures are like a jump start to your imagination.

Aside from the Buffy and Angel continuations, I've really gotten into two other comic series so far: Witchblade and Preacher. And there are lots more on my to-get-into list, but I need to make some more money first...

 

[AndrewCrossett]

FABLES is a series that Buffy fans might find especially appealing. Set in the present day, it deals with many of the famous characters from mythology and fairytales who were driven out of their own land by an evil "adversary" and now live in secret among us, in their own little self-policing society. Don't let the premise fool you, though... this is definitely NOT Disney.

It's being developed as a TV series. I've said a couple of times that if SMG's HBO series doesn't pan out, she should go for the role of Snow White in this.

 

[Randy Giles]

Fables is definitely the next one I want to get into. I read the first couple of issues a while back and they were great.

 

[RuhiWarrior19]

After reading a bit about Fables I think it is probably the best comic for me to try next. As Gaiman fan I was thinking I would try Sandman next, but Gaiman can be a bit denser than I think I can handle in a comic yet.

 

[Randy Giles]

The Sandman looks GREAT. Maybe I'll read that one next instead of Fables.

 

[Skytteflickan88]

I read a few children's comics when I was young and a little spider-man, but since I didn't have money on my own and rather played with barbies, I never got that into comics.

Then, a year or so ago, I heard about the Buffy comicsa dn decided to read some. I liked some (mostly the Angel ones) but didn't become a comic-geek until I feel in love with Season 8. Today alone I bought comics for about 50£ and will probably buy as much next month.

It's not a practical obssession, since I used to be into books which are way cheaper if you compare how long it takes to read books to comics, but I can't get enough of the art of comics.

 

[PurplePoof]

So... No one's read Umbrella Academy... 🙁

EDIT: Damn it. On PurplePoof's reputation I meant to write:
I find it funny that you're the only person I've ever heard say S8 is horrible... Are you like professionally pessimistic?

This board seems to have a disproportionate amount of S8 fans...the other Buffy message board I frequent...the people who enjoy the S8 comics are in the far minority and are usually laughed at.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

This board seems to have a disproportionate amount of S8 fans...the other Buffy message board I frequent...the people who enjoy the S8 comics are in the far minority and are usually laughed at.

Because everybody loves a community where people in the minority get laughed at.

Glad I wound up here instead...

 

[ckg927]

I should also note that, over the past year, I've picked up a couple of graphic novels.

One you know a lot about-Watchmen. (Makes me want to stand in line and see the movie next year...)

The other is Soul Stealer, about a guy who's able to bring the souls of the dead back with him to Earth-who's also searching through time for his lost love. The art is quite funky, BUT the story(done by Michael Easton)is what gets you. And, my understanding is he's working on the next volume of the series.

 

[FeastOnScraps]

I remember not knowing how to read comics. But then I started getting The Simpsons/ Futurama comics and once you are a few pages in it just easy lol. I have loved comics for ages but have only recently (last week) started collecting.

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

Okay, I don't know if this makes me a bad Buffy fan, but even the Buffy s8 comics haven't turned me into a comic fan at all yet. Even worse, I only read the first 4 issues and then I switched to reading summaries of the new comics online because I just can't stand to read comics. See, I even tried.
To me, reading comics is actually a lot harder than reading real books. I just never quite get the pictures. And it's just so....I don't know...weird. In books, I have to imagine everything myself, which is great. On TV, everything is given to me, with real people, real buildings etc. And comics are just in between, neither here nor there. Not everything is given to you like on TV, where you take these clear images to your brain, but you still have something you can't compeltely ignore either. This is not just a comic problem (though there it's the worst), but the same with animated films. I just can't take anything seriously that is just drawn. I can enjoy shows like 'Futurama' but only because those are really meant to be funny nonsense. And Buffy is something I personally like to take serious. And especially with the television series in my mind the comics just don't feel right.
So no, I'm not comic crazed since Buffy simply because even Buffy comics, with the stories and characters I love, fail to really get to me, let alone other comics.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

It's true that some people just aren't "wired" for comics. It might actually be an interesting exercise for fanfic writers to do "novelizations" of the comics in prose form. Not sure if the copyright holders would appreciate it, though.

 

[goldenboy]

It's true that some people just aren't "wired" for comics.

It's an odd medium. Yeah, so many prose readers find them confusing, distracting, overly simple. So often I can't maintain the right pacing cos I'm jumping ahead to look at the images, or I'm dragging, lingering over the images. Or I'm kind of repelled cos the art is hideous 🙂

When the writing and the art synch up and suit your taste it's the best thing going. Think I'm gonna read Fables next (would be cool if the show actually makes it on the air). Umbrella Academy's been so well reviewed, gotta check that out.

I must plug Brian K. Vaughan incessantly. If you liked the Faith arc of Season 8, you'd probably like Y: The Last Man. Tremendously readable. Funny, sort of Jossian dialogue. Beautiful, traditional comic book art. And there's Ex Machina, another cool series.

And I'm addicted to anything Darwyn Cooke manages to put out. Justice League: The New Frontier, Batman: Ego, The Spirit. And some great Catwoman stuff. Selina's Big Score...it's like a really cool, smart heist/crime/noir movie...in retro comic book form.

 

[NightBird]

I've been comic crazy since I was 16 so thats 6 years now, I buy around 40 comics a month it varies as alot of mini-series have been coming out lately, not to mention all the bloody tie-ins for Final crisis and S invasion.