I still read Image Comics because they never did wrong by me. I read Marvel but generally none of the newer material unless it involves Luke Cage or Lord Rand.
As for New 52 I liked Superboy, and Animal Man was cool. I hated Superman though.
So much.
What they did to him in New 52 made me so hard rock hard with anger. That, and what they did to Lobo.
Re: who around here still actually read comics?
Originally posted by leonidasI download everything every week[I actually get them free digitally and sometimes paper as a reviewer for a website], and my Amazon and Instocktrades preorder lists contain dozens of books both up to date and old items being recollected. Though I don't get individual issues often or have a LCS pull list anymore. Though I did sneak in and grab rebirth.
i know this will be moved (sorry to be a pain in the a$$ pr) but no one really reads the comic book forum it seems. which is too bad since there is some good sh!t over there.... 🙁anyway, just legit curious--how many here still ACTIVELY read current books? i mean newly published WHOLE books, not just the posted bits and pieces in the forum or ownage threads. aside from galan and myself, who's still reading??
i ask, because so many opinions on matches are outdated or simply...uneducated. so who reads what and how much?
I read a lot of Image, IDW, Darkhorse and Valiant, mostly in TPB form, Indy very rarely disappoints. I very seldom buy single monthly issues anymore.
Marvel and DC are both straight shit, if Marvel ever gives Thor his own book again I'd buy that, but other than that the big two need a massive change in their overall directions if they ever want my money again.
Originally posted by StiltmanFTW
Heh. So it's bad?👆
I have like a few dozens of trades to read...
Bad, insulting, shite, pick one.
Originally posted by Digi
I exclusively read stuff that catches my eye in the "great reads..." thread in the comics forum. I may go months without anything, then read 4-5 books back to back.And I haven't touched DC since Flashpoint (aside from keeping up on scuttlebutt in the Ownage Thread), and haven't read Marvel since...I honestly forget. I held on the longest with Spidey, may have almost made it to Secret Wars with him. But it's been a while for anything else. Like, years.
None of y'all read sales data. Comics is a high-turnover industry with its readers. This is nothing new, dating back to literally forever. Their entire target demographic is [b]new
16-24 year olds with expendable income and less than adulthood-level bills to pay. That is entirely who Marvel and DC are making comics for. It's why there are constant soft reboots. Makes it easier to jump on. Also why they shoehorn movie tie-ins all the damn time. Because each new movie is a new pop for a particular character's comic. So it has to align as closely as possible. But their average customer is out of the hobby within 4 years, so they don't give a sh*t about us cranky bastards talking about continuity. Sure, they'll throw us a bone with nods to nostalgic stuff and BS continuity explanations. But that's to placate. A certain percentage of superfans and collectors will stay regardless of what they do, just as a certain % will be lost to natural attrition. But we represent exactly 0% of their growth planning. We aren't the audience. [/B]
The problem isn't the soft-reboots. It's the strange repackaging and nonsensical changes that seem to be happening wholesale.
I don't care if they rewrite Superman's origin every few years, as long as he's written like Superman. The quality of comics in the big two has fallen drastically in the last few years, imo.
Originally posted by StiltmanFTW
Superman and interesting in the same sentence...?
Don't you like Wolverine?
Originally posted by -Pr-
The problem isn't the soft-reboots. It's the strange repackaging and nonsensical changes that seem to be happening wholesale.I don't care if they rewrite Superman's origin every few years, as long as he's written like Superman. The quality of comics in the big two has fallen drastically in the last few years, imo.
Maybe characters you follow haven't had the best treatment. But there are always "good books" at the Big 2 at any given point (and shite books). But I saw - and still see - my personal issue with it as a systemic one. I can handle the quality ebbing and flowing. It's inevitable. But what I lost patience for was the cyclical grind of the events, changes, reboots, etc.
But my original post wasn't so much about the "problems" in comics. It was more just explaining the business model in light of some complaints from long-term fans.
Originally posted by Digi
Maybe characters you follow haven't had the best treatment. But there are always "good books" at the Big 2 at any given point (and shite books). But I saw - and still see - my personal issue with it as a systemic one. I can handle the quality ebbing and flowing. It's inevitable. But what I lost patience for was the cyclical grind of the events, changes, reboots, etc.But my original post wasn't so much about the "problems" in comics. It was more just explaining the business model in light of some complaints from long-term fans.
Not trying to be hostile; just saying that the business model wasn't a problem five years ago. Or ten years ago, because the comics were good back then.
Or maybe it's just me.
Originally posted by -Pr-
Not trying to be hostile; just saying that the business model wasn't a problem five years ago. Or ten years ago, because the comics were good back then.Or maybe it's just me.
No no, I didn't read any hostility. 😉
I think it's hard to comment on the quality of an entire company with anything approaching certainty. I certainly can't weigh in on that. So you may very well be right. And I don't think the increasing pace of big events helps much with this. But it's also easy to get jaded, or to have a higher and higher threshold for "great" books as you mature as a reader. Not saying that's the case with you, but there are a lot of factors.
Originally posted by Digi
No no, I didn't read any hostility. 😉I think it's hard to comment on the quality of an entire company with anything approaching certainty. I certainly can't weigh in on that. So you may very well be right. And I don't think the increasing pace of big events helps much with this. But it's also easy to get jaded, or to have a higher and higher threshold for "great" books as you mature as a reader. Not saying that's the case with you, but there are a lot of factors.
TBH, I've actually found that my interests have broadened over the years. The quality of comics, or at least the ones I used to read (which to be fair, is a lot), has gotten to the point where if a comic is "okay", that's acceptable to a point, whereas a while back, I wouldn't have accepted the same thing. That said, when a comic that is REALLY good comes along, I, like you said, am going to have a greater appreciation for it (though I still think Miller's Batman is overrated).
I'm honestly of the opinion that both companies have all but thrown in the towel on a lot of characters, and have, instead of being steadily cyclical, are far too eager to shake things up in ways that don't always make sense in an attempt to be "edgy" and "cool".
I don't think Marvel have as much concern as they used to with their properties. The sabotaging of the X-Men for example. Or how their movies provide so much financial safety that they don't have to try as hard as they used to, and even change things to suit the movie universes more (which isn't always a bad thing mind you, but it tends to be done far too much imo).
DC, instead of owning the reboot, is going back on it when they really shouldn't, and their ridiculous tendency to shuffle writers around has hurt them.
As cyclical as comics are, we're seeing the biggest downturn since the 90s, imo. I'm not going to pretend there aren't good books in each company, but I honestly can't remember a time when so many of the major properties were in such dire straits across the board.
And that's even without going in to all the "SJW" stuff.
-Sigh-
I just want good stories that are at least somewhat faithful to the characters. You can still shake things up without drastically altering the landscape, especially when it's been shown that it hasn't worked for many of them.
Originally posted by -Pr-
TBH, I've actually found that my interests have broadened over the years. The quality of comics, or at least the ones I used to read (which to be fair, is a lot), has gotten to the point where if a comic is "okay", that's acceptable to a point, whereas a while back, I wouldn't have accepted the same thing. That said, when a comic that is REALLY good comes along, I, like you said, am going to have a greater appreciation for it (though I still think Miller's Batman is overrated).I'm honestly of the opinion that both companies have all but thrown in the towel on a lot of characters, and have, instead of being steadily cyclical, are far too eager to shake things up in ways that don't always make sense in an attempt to be "edgy" and "cool".
I don't think Marvel have as much concern as they used to with their properties. The sabotaging of the X-Men for example. Or how their movies provide so much financial safety that they don't have to try as hard as they used to, and even change things to suit the movie universes more (which isn't always a bad thing mind you, but it tends to be done far too much imo).
DC, instead of owning the reboot, is going back on it when they really shouldn't, and their ridiculous tendency to shuffle writers around has hurt them.
As cyclical as comics are, we're seeing the biggest downturn since the 90s, imo. I'm not going to pretend there aren't good books in each company, but I honestly can't remember a time when so many of the major properties were in such dire straits across the board.
And that's even without going in to all the "SJW" stuff.
-Sigh-
I just want good stories that are at least somewhat faithful to the characters. You can still shake things up without drastically altering the landscape, especially when it's been shown that it hasn't worked for many of them.
I feel for you, dude, and agree with most of what you're saying here. But retiring to "just a movie watcher" and retreating to good indie titles saved my enjoyment of the medium. My gripes weren't the exact same ones you have here, but a lot of them were variations on the same frustrations. These problems may never go away at this point. Letting go of it, while keeping the good parts of it in my mind, did wonders for my enjoyment of the comics I do still read.