This thread is starting to devolve towards the way of the forums. This is supposed to be about comics kids :)

I'm looking for some comics to subscribe to, as this seems to be like half price to what I would normally pay. Trouble is, I don't know what to get.

Any suggestions? I'm already getting Cable, Thor and Hulk. But was thinking of getting into some DC / Vertigo. But really, anything you think is worth mentioning is welcome.

Justice Society of America has been very good since the relaunch. Shadowpact is a fun title. Um...let's see what else do I read...hmmm...give me some time and I might think up more.

Oh, can't go wrong with Daredevil.

I bought Watchmen and some Ghostrider stuff today.

Hacen't read Watchmen yet, but Ghostrider was plain awesome ( it was written by Ennis though so s too be expected). The artwork was utterly superb. It was like the guy who drew it looked in my head took everything I like and put it into a picture of a dude on a motorbike with a flaming skull for a head.

I do have one problem with it though, the way Ghostrider was portrayed by Ennis didn't quite work to an extent. Not sure what it was, but there was something slightly off about it. Nothing major but something small I can't put my finger on.

At 3/18/08 12:53 PM, Tri-Nitro-Toluene wrote:

Haven't read Watchmen yet.

That book is gonna blow your mind.

At 3/18/08 12:53 PM, Tri-Nitro-Toluene wrote:
I do have one problem with it though, the way Ghostrider was portrayed by Ennis didn't quite work to an extent. Not sure what it was, but there was something slightly off about it. Nothing major but something small I can't put my finger on.

All of a sudden Johny Blaze was a lot more conserned with the violence in northern Ireland?
I'm a big Ennis fan but the man has his themes.

Avie is right about daredevil. I just got the colelction "hell to pay" and there was one panel that summed up the post civil war marvel universe.
A rookie cop was about to shoot at the man without regestration and his partner said "You're not from around here. New law or not if you shoot at Daredevil you better put one in me."

Well then, add DD to the list I guess.

Anyone got anything else?

At 3/18/08 08:42 PM, stafffighter wrote: All of a sudden Johny Blaze was a lot more conserned with the violence in northern Ireland?
I'm a big Ennis fan but the man has his themes.

Not quite :P

There was something about Ghostrider that suggested that he SHOULD be more self serving. Being trapped in hell and ripped to shreds each night by demons and then being remade so it can happen again the next night should make people bitter, self serving and resentful. In short, it should make Ghostrider more of an anti-hero. Ennis, whilst not doing anything explicit kind of made it feel like that wasn't the case though and it kind of annoyed me.

Well here's the thing. Ghost Rider is fighting pretty much directly against the devil. That might give him a little more insentive than can be understood outwardly.
This is what I love about characters with direct dies to these religous themes. RIght and wrong aren't abstract subjects to them. They operate with this certianty that there is a final reward or punishment because more often than not they've been there a few times.
Anyone to bring up the avenging angel Punisher will also become well aquainted.

At 3/19/08 09:00 PM, SevenSeize wrote: I have just started Watchmen and confess my mind is currently being blown.

Excellent...it's all going according to plan....

To be honest, when reading Watchmen for the first time, my mind was just "eh" until about 3/4's of the way through it. Then everything came together and I was like "THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER".

Now every time I re-read it I get the "best comic evar" feeling the whole way through, and it's even more gratifying when you haven't read it in ages, and forget little parts of the story, and discover them all over again.

At 3/20/08 10:53 PM, SevenSeize wrote: It's going to be hard for anything I read to take the place of Sandman. I fell in love with that series.

Alan Moore is a lot like Neil Gaiman in terms of writing. Though where Neil is more straight fantasy stuff, I think Alan is a bit more well rounded and such. That was a very political point in his career when he did Watchmen. Definitely a trifecta in that period of heavy political stuff with Miracleman, Watchmen, and V for Vendetta. Though Miracleman isn't as heavy with it as Watchmen or V.

At 3/21/08 09:59 AM, SevenSeize wrote: But if it's got a political feel to it, I will probably like it. I enjoy politics. I've only read like 2 pages. Need moar free time.

Yesh, free time is always good.

Just hit the Chuck Austen point on Exiles...god, I forgot how bad some of the stuff this guy did was. "I'm going to kill you Danny and Luke. Because my sister from an alternate reality said we all need to die, so it must be true!!!" Stupid alternate reality Colossus....very stupid...

Just started reading Watchmen.

Am somewhere in between mind blowing awesomeness and 'wtf?'. The whole bit with Doc Manhattan on Mars looking into the past in the present kind of lost me slightly... he's supposed to be able to contorl atomic structure right? So the fact he can view time implies that on some level time, like everything else is a solid item with ana tomic structure...that makes no sense O_o

Cracking read though. should finish it off tomorrow if I get the chanc ein between my essay research.

I also started to sort out my dads old comic collection which I've inherited. My living room floor was filled with comics to the point we couldn't move without stepping on them. He has far too many issues of Thor, The Avengers ( of which we found issues 1 and 2 in the collection), the Fantastic Four and Iron Man.

At 3/24/08 05:51 PM, Tri-Nitro-Toluene wrote: Am somewhere in between mind blowing awesomeness and 'wtf?'. The whole bit with Doc Manhattan on Mars looking into the past in the present kind of lost me slightly... he's supposed to be able to contorl atomic structure right? So the fact he can view time implies that on some level time, like everything else is a solid item with ana tomic structure...that makes no sense O_o

What blew my mind was the idea that for him, he is like everywhere in his own personal timeline at once. He's living not just the current moment, but past moments, and future moments at once...I can't even begin to imagine what the hell that's like.

Your comments about Thor straight after talking about Dr Manhatten put this into my head: Dr M is essentially Odin. An all powerful god, still restrained to the whims of the Fates.

What got me was how the atomic particles (can't look them up right now) essentially freed him. He could act through various times simultaneously, essentially able to use his powers as he wished without having to conform to the puppet strings. But he's quite pleased to go back to his (seemingly) depressing life, and become the god he truly is.

I don't know, I could have said that so much better, but every story in Watchmen is an odessy, truly.

At 3/24/08 09:47 PM, aviewaskewed wrote: What blew my mind was the idea that for him, he is like everywhere in his own personal timeline at once. He's living not just the current moment, but past moments, and future moments at once...I can't even begin to imagine what the hell that's like.

It would be very weird, experiencing every emotion you've ever felt, and ever will feel, all at the same time would probably break a normal person. And I'm not entirely convinced it hasn't broken Manhattan seeing as despite being all powerful and able to do anything he likes he's still bound to follow his own future no matter what it may lead to so jsut continues with his normal life ( for the most part)

Also: if he can change his appearance ( as he does when he goes to the interview where it he gets accused of giving people cancer, and turns a darker shade of blue) why doesn't it just turn himself a more normal colour to remove some of the ' freak factor'.

At 3/25/08 03:16 AM, Mr-Silv3r wrote: Your comments about Thor straight after talking about Dr Manhatten put this into my head: Dr M is essentially Odin. An all powerful god, still restrained to the whims of the Fates.

Never thought of it like that, but it does seem to work.

But he's quite pleased to go back to his (seemingly) depressing life, and become the god he truly is.

I guess ultimate power is only appealing when you don;t possess it. As soon as you do you start to crave normality again. A case of the grass is always greener on the other side I suppose.

I think the limitation of Dr. M is that he's utterly a man of science who beleives that one thing means the next and so on. If he's seen something then that's how it must be. And he dosen't try to look human because he honestly feels no need to. He's not human and the base acceptance he'd get for looking like one is meaningless to him.

At 3/25/08 05:00 PM, stafffighter wrote: I think the limitation of Dr. M is that he's utterly a man of science who beleives that one thing means the next and so on. If he's seen something then that's how it must be. And he dosen't try to look human because he honestly feels no need to. He's not human and the base acceptance he'd get for looking like one is meaningless to him.

I think that's dead on. Manhattan is completely aloof. He is just utterly the man of science, he just uses his powers to move the world forward technologically with no thought towards anything even approaching "should I do this?" everything is fated, everything has already happened for him. He's completely aloof. That's why that conversation on Mars is so important and so jarring. It's the first time that we really see that John Osterman, the man, the human being caught in a horrible horrible freak accident, is still in there, his heart still exists within the god. Even God has free will, and freedom of choice.

Moving away from Watchmen for a second:

Whilst cataloguing my dads comic collection I stumbled across issue number 1 of SIlver Surfer ( slightly damaged as the cover is coming off but in decent nick). Apparently that's worth about £50 ( 100 dollars I think).

I went to my friendly neighbourhood comic store today and picked up the first part of The ' Astonishing X-men'. I wasn't going to get it till I saw it was written by Joss Whedon. Read it this morning and it's a cracking good little story he's penned for it.

At 3/26/08 12:04 PM, Tri-Nitro-Toluene wrote: Whilst cataloguing my dads comic collection I stumbled across issue number 1 of SIlver Surfer ( slightly damaged as the cover is coming off but in decent nick). Apparently that's worth about £50 ( 100 dollars I think).

Cool beans. Always nice to find old stuff. I have a few cool things in my collection, first Venom, first Gambit, marriage of Earth-2 Superman and Lois Lane.

I went to my friendly neighbourhood comic store today and picked up the first part of The ' Astonishing X-men'. I wasn't going to get it till I saw it was written by Joss Whedon. Read it this morning and it's a cracking good little story he's penned for it.

Yeah, I think Whedon's Astonishing has been fun, modern classic? No, but still very fun. I like that he picked up the baton of what Grant Morrison was doing and kept it running, as it seems Marvel almost immediately moved away from it the minute he moved off New X-Men.

At 3/26/08 02:00 PM, aviewaskewed wrote: Cool beans. Always nice to find old stuff. I have a few cool things in my collection, first Venom, first Gambit, marriage of Earth-2 Superman and Lois Lane.

Nice. My dads colelction has so much rather nice stuff in it. I need to get it properly evaluated to find out what it's all worth. As much as I'd be loathe to do it, if I could get enough cash for them all, I'd be in a decent position to help fund my final two years at university. I'd hate to sell them, but if the price is high enough it would make things a lot easier.

Yeah, I think Whedon's Astonishing has been fun, modern classic? No, but still very fun. I like that he picked up the baton of what Grant Morrison was doing and kept it running, as it seems Marvel almost immediately moved away from it the minute he moved off New X-Men.

I particularly loved the one bit where all the X-Men are in a fight and it's runs through all there thoughts in the battle and WOlverines is simple' I like Beer'. My mom actualy had to come in and ask me what I had found so funny as I was laughing so loud.

I'm easily amused.

Whereas the most valuable stuff in my collection is the Punisher / Deadpool crossover, first appearance of DP and first appearance of Cable. Suffice to say, the valuable stuff in my collection is for me, not for selling.

I thought about picking up the first appearance of Gambit actually, and Y-The Last Man #1, for posterity, but then I spent my money on a gym membership instead. Oh wells.

At 3/26/08 04:57 PM, Tri-Nitro-Toluene wrote: Nice. My dads colelction has so much rather nice stuff in it. I need to get it properly evaluated to find out what it's all worth. As much as I'd be loathe to do it, if I could get enough cash for them all, I'd be in a decent position to help fund my final two years at university. I'd hate to sell them, but if the price is high enough it would make things a lot easier.

Buy an Overstreet Price Guide, and just follow the guidelines. Comics grading can be very subjective, and it's also all about the trustworthiness of the grader (for example, you probably don't want your buyer as the final arbiter of the value of your wares). It's not necessarily hard to figure that stuff out yourself I think, and then put it on ebay and gouge people.

I particularly loved the one bit where all the X-Men are in a fight and it's runs through all there thoughts in the battle and WOlverines is simple' I like Beer'. My mom actualy had to come in and ask me what I had found so funny as I was laughing so loud.

Yeah, I loved that bit too. That was just such a great and unique use of Wolverine, as the dude is the epitome of that 80's grim and gritty stuff, and is ripe for some comedic use (mind you, so long as it's in character comedic use).

At 3/27/08 12:34 AM, aviewaskewed wrote: Buy an Overstreet Price Guide, and just follow the guidelines. Comics grading can be very subjective, and it's also all about the trustworthiness of the grader (for example, you probably don't want your buyer as the final arbiter of the value of your wares). It's not necessarily hard to figure that stuff out yourself I think, and then put it on ebay and gouge people.

Overstreet price Guide huh? I'll check it out.

At 3/27/08 11:27 AM, SevenSeize wrote: I'm working on winning the lottery. If I do, I will give you a million dollars.

I will hold you to that should you ever actually win the lottery :P

I don't want to sell the comics ( I am giving a few away to a family friend who's helped out a lot in the past few weeks as a way of saying thanks) and hopefully I won't need to. Hopefully...

I finished Watchmen. You were all right. I loved it. However:

The bits with where the text from the Pirate Comic that was being read by the guy near the news stand were annoying though. Really didn't see the need for including those extra bits of text in.

At 3/27/08 01:15 PM, q13qew wrote: Nah l desegree so can l join or something

Sure, just come back, and be active and follow our rules and your good.

I liked the Pirate stuff, obviously it was a bit of an homage to old EC comics. Also it does play thematically with the larger story somewhat. Plus, that could be a really good comic all by itself.

So I just read on our forums that a judge have given the Siegel's domestic control of the Superman character now. Bout damn time, for what DC makes off that character, they've NEVER remunerated the creators or they're heirs the money they really should share in for that work. Yeah yeah, I know that business is business, but Superman isn't DC's sole revenue stream. Pay the people that made the super hero boom possible what they deserve. But I guess this is already being challenged.

At 3/27/08 07:18 PM, aviewaskewed wrote:

At 3/27/08 01:15 PM, q13qew wrote: Nah l desegree so can l join or something

Sure, just come back, and be active and follow our rules and your good.

I liked the Pirate stuff, obviously it was a bit of an homage to old EC comics. Also it does play thematically with the larger story somewhat. Plus, that could be a really good comic all by itself.

If someone were to produce a comic solely for the Pirate stuff then I agree, it would work very well on its own. But as something in the middle of Watchmen it just annoys the hell out of me.

Also, did anyone else notice how at the end of Watchmen after Ozzymandius zaps Manhattan and he disappears for a few panels and then coems back, he refers to his old life and past as though it were a different person? Have to say that was one fucking brilliant piec eof writing to hit that as it kind of sends shivers down the spine.

Bets line is at the beginning though I think when Rorsach is narrating and he goes on about how corrup[t mankind is and how they are all going to be looking up to him for saving ' and I'll look down and whisper ' no' '. awesome line right there.

Need tog et some mroe stuff by Moore.

Can I join?

My knowledge is mostly limited to Marvel, but only the more classic kind, not the New Ultra Happy Happy Funland Teenage Mutant Club X-people bubble gum crap, if you know what I mean.

My collection is mostly just Marvel Masterworks, crossovers such as World War Hulk, Civil War, House of M, etc., and classic comics.

Of my collection, my most prized gifts are my mint condition Avengers #1 and Hulk #1. (My dad was a huge comic geek, he bought the Avengers #1 off the newsstand and he bought Hulk #1 for 800$ back in the 90's)

As for favourites, my all time favourite is probably Iron-Man or Captain America, but after World War Hulk I have gained interest in the Hulk. My favourite team would be the Avengers or the X-men.

My recent buys have been the Marvel Encyclopedia, Fallen Son, and Wolverine Origins.

If you got into WWH, I can hope that you've been reading The Incredible Hercules. Now that Cable and Deadpool is over, its my favourite monthly title that Marvel's bringing out.