Just out of curiosity, how many of us will publicly (and proudly) admit their nerdhood? I, for one, love to read comics. I'm a rather large fan of Marvel and Image's offerings, particularly Spawn and more recently the Marvel Civil war...
I'm a huge fan of comics. Marvel: Loved the X-Men: Age of Apocalypse series from 1995, like a lot of the older X-Men comics. Runaways is a good series, Spider-man has his moments. And I like some Wolverine comics (where they don't focus only on his "OMG HE'S L33T, AND INVULNERABLE AWESOMENESS!!!!!". Why are these ones becoming harder and harder to find.) DC: Don't like these as much. But I like bits and pieces of all of them. Superman: Red Son was a nice alternate version of Superman. And of course there's Sandman. That really rekindled my love of comics. Unfortunately, right now I'm saving money and not near any comic shops. So I can't read any of them. And I loaned all of my collection, mostly traders with my Brother.
Personally, Marvel used to be the best. Now notice the emphasis on USED. For in cold war era, Marvel was everything a good comic was: It had superheroes, supervillains, evil propagandic plots involving whatever Asian country we were fighting at the time (C'mon, you know you get a guilty pleasure from those stories) and everything else. It even had a hint of the issues faced by today's superheroes (i.e. depressing moody crap.) But it had a perfect mix of stories and action. Today, however, everything's gone crappy: Storylines are unoriginal and boring, everyone seems cardboard-cut, and whenever they try to make a character seem human, it seems to equal "humanity=emo." Honestly, HOW MANY ISSUES OF SPIDER-MAN CAN YOU HAVE WITH HIM SITTING AROUND FEELING SORRY FOR HIMSELF?!?!?! ...ahem. Lost control there. But anyway, the only good thing Marvel has had going for it recently is the X-Men titles (Which has always been Marvel's best line), but even that was screwed up with House of M, which instead of being a cool reality-altering thing like Infinite Crisis, was just a dumb comic following Marvel's recent recipe of "things sucking for the heroes = good comics." DC, on the other hand, has gone from boring, campy, beginnings, to a wonderful, complex universe that balances perfectly emotional storylines with fist-smashing, sound-effect-inducing action. It forges ahead with new storylines like Infinite Crisis, 52, One Year Later, and all that stuff, while still staying connected to it's roots. I always catch myself wondering how the people at DC can stay up with themselves- they drag up characters from the 40s or 50s, using them perfectly in the modern context; deal with multiple universes/histories; and orchestrate events like Infinite Crisis without blinking an eye. Their lack of continuity errors is astounding; they never get old, even when they stick to old ideas, and their recent meddling with time and reality makes me love them even more- that's the kind of storyline that, when well executed (koffkoffnotHouseofMkoff), I can't get enough of. So in the 20th century, Marvel beats DC- but right here, right now, DC smacks Marvel down any day. ...so yeah, I like comics.
I haven't read comics in a long time, but I loved Image...when it FIRST came out because it had a different feel then Marvel or DC. I got into HEAVY METAL (the graphic novels)for a while, though not all of the issues were the greatest, many were pretty damn awsome. Sometimes even if the artwork sucked, the story-lines made them worth reading.
Gotta agree with ya Crazy Ivan. Marvel has definitely gone downhill recently. Thats why I bought mostly traders from Marvel and DC. That way I only get the good story lines without all the garbage in between. And they're a heck of a lot easier to carry around than regular comic books.
Hmm. I know you fellows meant comics as in comicc books, but I'll proudly put in a plug for web comics. My favorite is The Order of the Stick at Giantitp.com. You have to know how to play Dungeons and Dragons in order to understand the humor, but it is still truly excellent. One of my favorite quotes: "On yer feet an' face me! Ye may have the upper hand in magic, but thar's no way a primary spellcaster like ye can survive in melee fer long if'n he hadn't prepared for it!" *Pause. The enemy spellcaster glares and turns into a bear.* "Ah, right. Druid. Never mind, then."
I prefer the Marvel characters to the DC ones, but I agree that recently the Marvel plots have been quite lackluster. When I read a comic my intention is not to read some kind of long emo whining session. I want my action and intrigue and well, un-depressing stuff.
Oh, and also, two words that forever and always win the case of DC against Marvel: Alan. Moore. I win. ^.^
i gave up reading comics back when 'archie' and 'blackhawks' and 'wonder woman' were in their heyday... but i certainly spent a chunk of my babysitting money on 'em, way before most of you were a gleam in your parents' eyes... and probably before most of your parents were gleams in your grandparents' eyes! those were the golden days of comics... hey, we even got a comicbook version of some apocalyptic bible story, in catholic school!...
I read web comics. =) It can be annoying though, when the author doesn't keep to the time frame they say they will and you have to check back every day just incase they decide to post the next page. That being said, I've managed to stick with a few good ones because I don't mind to wait to see what happens. They are just that good!
I'm a fan of Jim Lee's art work. I liked the Hush series, and I like a bit of Frank Miller when he's not a complete dick.
I haven't read comics in ages.. But when I did (as a ten year old) it was always Archie and whatever other random one I could find. I wasn't a big fan partly because I never had the opportunity to be one, and the fact that they're freaking expensive. Now, say, online comics, definitely. : )
Nor me really. Though I have re-read a transformers classic stuck in a grapthic novel. .............Well I did grow up watching transformers generation one.
I have a subscription to The Flash. I recently let my Green Lantern subscription lapse because the latest issues have been more about adolescent fantasies than good action stories.
I'm a HUGE comic fan. I love DC more than marvel. I can't really get into x-men or spiderman, but I LOVE batman, green arrow, and green lantern. My husband got me hooked on comics a few years ago when we first met.
On second thought... some of the recent Hellblazer work is okay. If you're not affraid of being consumed with demons, I highly reccomend this series to anyone.
