Books / Lit Comic Book Discussion Thread

[VashTheStampede]

This thread began in the "What Are You Reading?" thread:

Doctor Strange Omnibus vol. 1 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Most of these stories are B plots in the old Strange Tales comic, so Strange is playing second fiddle to the likes of Human Torch, the Thing, and Nick Fury here. Well before he got his own book.

I don't normally go for Silver Age comics, but it's been very interesting seeing the growth of Marvel in this era. The panels start with very little in the way of background art and quickly evolve as the character gains an audience and they decide to actually spend time on him.

Most of the early stories just end up with Strange using his medallion as a deus ex machina.

Also Stan Lee's inherent sexism is on full display, as every woman who shows up fails to even get a name. Clea (daughter of Dormammu and Strange's future wife) has made a half-dozen appearances up to where I am, and she still has yet to be given a name.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

Doctor Strange Omnibus vol. 1 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Most of these stories are B plots in the old Strange Tales comic, so Strange is playing second fiddle to the likes of Human Torch, the Thing, and Nick Fury here. Well before he got his own book.

I don't normally go for Silver Age comics, but it's been very interesting seeing the growth of Marvel in this era. The panels start with very little in the way of background art and quickly evolve as the character gains an audience and they decide to actually spend time on him.

Most of the early stories just end up with Strange using his medallion as a deus ex machina.

Also Stan Lee's inherent sexism is on full display, as every woman who shows up fails to even get a name. Clea (daughter of Dormammu and Strange's future wife) has made a half-dozen appearances up to where I am, and she still has yet to be given a name.

I wondered if there were any other graphic novel fans among us. I have been increasing both my graphic novel collection and the time I'm spending reading graphic novels. I've just finished the entire Ultimate Spiderman run from start to finish, which was great. I then read Ultimate Galactus and Ultimate Doomsday, just as two stories in that universe that I liked the look of.

My overall approach was to read the main Marvel stories from Disassembled, which I started a few years ago, and I'm now on the cusp of Secret Wars. I want to do as much reading around that as I can to get as much out of the story as possible. That obviously does mean doing as much of my reading in the Ultimate Universe as I can now, but I've also read the first part of Aaron's Thor run, I have Remender's Cap omnibus ready to read, and a few other good runs from that period. In terms of the Ultimate universe, Spiderman is done, I've got Miles ready to go, and I think I do want to read the Ultimates runs as well. I'll probably leave X-Men and Fantastic Four. I got myself a Marvel Unlimited subscription last month and I really like it, particularly the fact that they've now made it easy to read comics on phones. So I can hit all sorts of extra stories and runs that I don't physically own. Very excited by that.

Feel like we need a separate graphic novels thread actually.

 

[VashTheStampede]

I wondered if there were any other graphic novel fans among us. I have been increasing both my graphic novel collection and the time I'm spending reading graphic novels. I've just finished the entire Ultimate Spiderman run from start to finish, which was great. I then read Ultimate Galactus and Ultimate Doomsday, just as two stories in that universe that I liked the look of.

My overall approach was to read the main Marvel stories from Disassembled, which I started a few years ago, and I'm now on the cusp of Secret Wars. I want to do as much reading around that as I can to get as much out of the story as possible. That obviously does mean doing as much of my reading in the Ultimate Universe as I can now, but I've also read the first part of Aaron's Thor run, I have Remender's Cap omnibus ready to read, and a few other good runs from that period. In terms of the Ultimate universe, Spiderman is done, I've got Miles ready to go, and I think I do want to read the Ultimates runs as well. I'll probably leave X-Men and Fantastic Four. I got myself a Marvel Unlimited subscription last month and I really like it, particularly the fact that they've now made it easy to read comics on phones. So I can hit all sorts of extra stories and runs that I don't physically own. Very excited by that.

Feel like we need a separate graphic novels thread actually.

I started collecting comic omnibuses...omnibii...omnis in earnest about a year and a half ago and it's become a bit of an obsession. An expensive obsession.

I'd be all about a separate thread for collected editions of comics (there's a lot in your post I would like to discuss in detail) but I fear it would be a small crowd. More like a huddle than a crowd really.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

I started collecting comic omnibuses...omnibii...omnis in earnest about a year and a half ago and it's become a bit of an obsession. An expensive obsession.

I'd be all about a separate thread for collected editions of comics (there's a lot in your post I would like to discuss in detail) but I fear it would be a small crowd. More like a huddle than a crowd really.

I have no issues with a huddle. Yes, I caught the omni bug too, but I'm hoping that having the digital subscriptions can wind me back from it a little bit now, because with the best will in the world they look so much better on the shelf and are so much cooler to own than they are to actually read, in terms finding the space and time to open them. I've come to realise that I'd prefer formats that are easier for my kids to read (and for me to be happy for them to read without the risk of everything getting damaged).

 

[VashTheStampede]

I have no issues with a huddle. Yes, I caught the omni bug too, but I'm hoping that having the digital subscriptions can wind me back from it a little bit now, because with the best will in the world they look so much better on the shelf and are so much cooler to own than they are to actually read, in terms finding the space and time to open them. I've come to realise that I'd prefer formats that are easier for my kids to read (and for me to be happy for them to read without the risk of everything getting damaged).

I'll split our comic discussion out into it's own thread after work today. Other than Christina I have really no one else to talk to about this stuff so I'm looking forward to it.

 

[VashTheStampede]

My overall approach was to read the main Marvel stories from Disassembled, which I started a few years ago, and I'm now on the cusp of Secret Wars.

Its funny because I've always avoided the Ultimate line, partly because a weird part of my brain considered it a waste of time because it's not the normal continuity that I've spent so much time in...and partly because I just really disliked Ultimate X-Men.

But then Secret Wars happened and it is probably my 2nd favorite comic book story of all time, and established Hickman as my favorite writer.

It is wild that I enjoyed it so much, because so much of the fun of it was reading all those little mini-series based on old and mashed-up storylines, that would ultimately (lol) be meaningless after the resolution of the main Secret Wars plot. All those different minis really clogged up my pull list, as I was actively collecting single issues at the time

At the end of this month they're releasing a Secret Wars Battleworld omnibus that I've pre-ordered, excited to revisit this era and check out a bunch of the miniseries that I missed the first time.

 

[rktaker]

i’ve been debating about whether or not to start this thread for awhile lol.I didn’t cause I wasn’t sure how many people here read comics. Also I’m not a big comic book reader myself so that’s another reason why I didn’t

 

[VashTheStampede]

Well only one thing to do then.

Read more comics.

 

[rktaker]

thing is a lot of comics just don’t interest me at least not for very long. I don’t read DC and even from Marvel I mainly read Spider-man but those have been so bad I haven’t read that in a while. I’ve read Donny Cates Venom run but then fell off of that, I read Al Ewing’s Venom run and fell off of that. i might stop reading the new venom run also by Ewing as well. I’ve read some Image comics and then stopped reading those eventually

 

[VashTheStampede]

Spider-Man was my first favorite character and my entry to comics.

Its so depressing how bad it's been for so much of my life.

It even dragged down Zeb Wells so people think he's trash, even though he was an incredible writer on the X books.

 

[VashTheStampede]

The current Ultimate Spider-Man run seems really good. Because, of course, Hickman is writing it.

 

[rktaker]

while Wells run wasn’t great the main issue is Marvel itself because they refuse to let any of the status quo especially for Peter change. no one can age, get married, have kids, etc and for Peter he has to be broke, be single and generally just be unhappy all his life

 

[Crazy Jamie]

The current Ultimate Spider-Man run seems really good. Because, of course, Hickman is writing it.

I didn't really keep up to date with very recent storylines because I was always choosing from 2000 onwards books and there was no need to keep my eye on recent releases. But now that I've got Marvel Unlimited I noticed that Hickman has relaunched the Ultimate universe, and I'm very excited about that, particularly as I've just read Ultimate Doomsday (which is the Maker's origin, and is worth a read for anyone who doesn't know who he is, as he's pivotal to the relaunch). So I feel like I can and should start reading that universe, particularly as Hickman is writing it.

In terms of previous Ultimate lines, I am not going near Fantastic Four and X-Men because they're too long, and I have seen enough of those characters in other arcs. I also know a lot about what happens in X-Men due to my experiences reading Ultimatum (which is one of the most hated storylines in comics from what I've seen). So both for spoilers reasons and quality reasons I've avoiding that. Plus, I have lots of 616 X-Men and Fantastic Four to read, so want to focus on them.

My next focus in terms of Marvel is Miles Morales pre Secret Wars, then Hickman's Fantastic Four run. Then probably back to Ultimates (including Cataclysm). Then a few other pre Secret Wars runs, including Cap and both X-Men runs post Vs Avengers. Then Avengers, Infinity and into Secret Wars. I've just picked up Last Days of the Marvel Universe to read before that, which is very difficult to find over here. So I'm confident I'm going to enjoy it.

So in terms of Spiderman, which runs would you actually recommend? Before doing this properly I read Spiderverse and Super Spider Man, both of which I loved. I've bought the rest of Slott's run now in HC, though I think there is some before that and post Civil War which I'm missing and might be in the Brand New Day omni. But other than that I'm aware of the various runs, and had a random HC with Morlun in it from a while back (which helped my enjoyment of Spider Verse), but have read very little.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

Also, Vash, you know how I said I wasn't buying omnis anymore? I did mean that, but, er, this listing just popped up on Ebay. And it is really, stupid good value, so I bought it. And I regret nothing. The same seller was also selling the Alias omnibus and Fraction's Iron Man run in HC, and I've negotiated a really good price to include those as well. But now I'm done buying big physical books. I swear.

 

[VashTheStampede]

Also, Vash, you know how I said I wasn't buying omnis anymore? I did mean that, but, er, this listing just popped up on Ebay. And it is really, stupid good value, so I bought it. And I regret nothing. The same seller was also selling the Alias omnibus and Fraction's Iron Man run in HC, and I've negotiated a really good price to include those as well. But now I'm done buying big physical books. I swear.

YO that is an insane get!

The Annihilation Omnibus is one of my top targets (reprint coming in April thankfully), but that whole run is absolutely fantastic.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

YO that is an insane get!

The Annihilation Omnibus is one of my top targets (reprint coming in April thankfully), but that whole run is absolutely fantastic.

I know. I did already have Annihilation in Complete Collection format, and Conquest in HC, but certainly the Annihilation Omni has more content than the paperbacks, and to have that whole run in omni is great. Not sure exactly when I'll read it, but I am looking forward to it, and in the mean time it can go right next to my Civil War HC collection on the shelf. Price wise these books are never all in print at the same time, so it will always be good value to buy them all look like that. I think it's probably a good 25%-33% below the price he could have got for them.

 

[VashTheStampede]

My next focus in terms of Marvel is Miles Morales pre Secret Wars, then Hickman's Fantastic Four run.

My main focus right now is Claremont's X-Men, but in between books I'm taking sidetrips to other stories (which is why I'm reading the original Dr. Strange stuff currently).

But now that I was gifted Hickman's Avengers at Christmas I'm probably going to jump into that very FF run soon to get the full 616 side of the Secret Wars story.

I was never a huge FF guy but I read Mark Waid's run last year and I REALLY liked it.

So in terms of Spiderman, which runs would you actually recommend? Before doing this properly I read Spiderverse and Super Spider Man, both of which I loved. I've bought the rest of Slott's run now in HC, though I think there is some before that and post Civil War which I'm missing and might be in the Brand New Day omni. But other than that I'm aware of the various runs, and had a random HC with Morlun in it from a while back (which helped my enjoyment of Spider Verse), but have read very little.

I dig the black suit era (Kraven's Last Hunt might be the best Spidey story) and most of the 90s run, but haven't revisited it in ages so I don't know how much of that is nostalgia.

I really liked the whole Ben Reilly Clone Saga stuff as it was happening and Maximum Carnage blew my freaking mind so I might not be reliable when it comes to Spidey.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

My main focus right now is Claremont's X-Men, but in between books I'm taking sidetrips to other stories (which is why I'm reading the original Dr. Strange stuff currently).

But now that I was gifted Hickman's Avengers at Christmas I'm probably going to jump into that very FF run soon to get the full 616 side of the Secret Wars story.

I was never a huge FF guy but I read Mark Waid's run last year and I REALLY liked it.

I just read Waid's run before I started on Ultimate Spiderman, and really enjoyed it. I didn't really have much of a handle on the Fantastic Four as characters, but the Latveria and Galactus arcs in that run really had a maturity of storytelling that I didn't expect. Hickman's run is pretty iconic (as is most of Hickman's stuff) as well as being integral to Secret Wars, so I'm looking forward to that.

I dig the black suit era (Kraven's Last Hunt might be the best Spidey story) and most of the 90s run, but haven't revisited it in ages so I don't know how much of that is nostalgia.

I really liked the whole Ben Reilly Clone Saga stuff as it was happening and Maximum Carnage blew my freaking mind so I might not be reliable when it comes to Spidey.

Ha! The Clone Saga stuff in particular is a story that I'm staying away from because of reviews. Not knocking your view, whether nostalgia laden or not, but I only have time to read so much, which means I have to be guided by reviews to some degree.

The only pre 2000s runs that I'm interested in at the moment are Busiek's Avengers run (because it ends with Kang Dynasty), and some Claremont X-Men stuff, simply because my reading of the pre Vs Avengers arcs have peaked my interested in X-Men a little more. But both will probably have to wait a while.

 

[rktaker]

So in terms of Spiderman, which runs would you actually recommend?

it's not a run it's one particular story arc funny enough written by Zeb Wells called Shed I have a soft spot for it since it was the first trade that I got and it has to do with the Lizard and it is gets dark at a certain point. this is also from like 2009 so it's not part of his last run.

 

[rktaker]

Diamond Comic Distributors Files Voluntary Petition for Relief Under Chapter 11

www.diamondcomics.com

well this could be bad

 

[VashTheStampede]

Thankfully most companies had already moved away from Diamond... they aren't the monopoly they used to be.

It's mainly the little guys who still use them, as even IDW had gone another way.

It still sucks that they mismanaged themselves into this situation, and hopefully the smaller imprints aren't totally boned and pivot away from floppies and go full digital. That would be real shitty.