I buy way too many comics, but I allow myself to buy a lot because I no longer ever own these books and in fact mail them out to two people, who I know also share some (if not all) of these books. And after collecting books for years this seems to be the right thing. I think comics were made to be read and passed on. If it is really good, now days it will be collected. If it is an excellent story they will collect it in multiple formats until you feel like a total idiot buying the same story three or more times. Before all of the trades, saving stuff to read again made sense, but in today's world it seems foolish to have these long boxes of comics that no one ever sees. My main collection is hard covers and trades and they are on my book shelf to be read and enjoyed by any who asks.
Tomorrow I'm picking up 52, Aquaman, Legends of the Dark Knight (just for this arc), Doom Patrol Trade (great Grant Morrison stuff), Fables, Firestorm, Green Arrow, Green lantern, Green Lantern Corps, JLA Classified, Martian Manhunter, Annihilation, Captain America, Hulk, Wolverine Origins (fast fading book), Talent (very cool) and Wasteland (see prior posting). So it should be some decent entertainment.
DC has been my favorite company for a few years and I think they have done a good job at making most of their line interesting again. A large portion of their cape books are enjoyable enough for an ongoing series and some are excellent. Others , Flash chief among them, are dumpster material. Plus DC has Vertigo and Wildstorm so their books have more viewpoints and different types of material. Marvel is essential stuck with capes and has not really generated a major hit character since Wolverine. It is amazing when you realize the company has lived off the concepts that Lee/Kirby/Ditko all started 40 plus years ago. Marvel feels like style over substance. This is not always true as I enjoy Next Wave, X-Factor and Daredevil a lot, but on the whole it is the feel I get from Marvel.
The independents are the most fun right now as they have no vested interest in maintaining the status quo so their material is wide ranging and all over the place. There is a lot of self published crap out there and some really weak stuff, but if you look you can find some of the best books being published today.
I almost hope that sales go way down for DC and Marvel so they are forced to make real changes. It would be more interesting to have Superman dealing with an aging wife, Green Arrow failing as he got too old and pushed it too far, or Connor being Green Arrow full time again and him and Speedy being the main characters. The newer and younger characters are almost blank slates that have stories that could pour out of them. The stories for the human heroes aging would be fascinating. But it seems real change only comes when it is forced to happen, otherwise the status quo rules with "events" being the story.
Good post! I thank you for the books in advance. It also nice to know that you buy a lot of books so that you can spread the word on what's good and what's not so good on the excellent CosmicConversations, now in their second year. Feels so much better to read a comic that brings you joy, then give it to someone you know in hopes that they find joy in it too. Pass it on and receive much more joy than stuffing the comic in a plastic bag.
ReplyDeletePlus it really occurred to me while I was posting, that the idea of saving the book was never to just collect it, but to re-read the story someday. So with the advent of trades the reason to horde all your books seems even more crazy.
ReplyDeleteI understand holding onto a few long boxes, but once you have over 10 to 12 long boxes it is time to pare down.
I'm essentially down to two to three and could easily get to one.
hmm, I have 4... I really need to find to time to organize my books and slim them down. I have to say you're right though - the whole reason to save comics was to be able to reread them later and a trade is a much easier thing to access.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you don't like CASANOVA, but you should be reading PHONOGRAM.
ReplyDeleteThe second issue was even better than the first.
Cheers.
-SJD
You're probably right, and I should go back and get issue #2 of Phonogram. I only half liked the first issue, so I owe it to myself to try issue #2.
ReplyDeletePlus your recommendations are usually good ones that I enjoy. Casanova we will have to agree to disagree.