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COMICS! |OT| July 2016. Everyone Loves A Hero, Everyone Loves You

Brian Fellows

Pete Carroll Owns Me
If people give me a list of books they want to see in the Comic Start Up Guide I'll add them in.

Removing Valiant entirely.

These are all over 2 years old so they might be in there already but.....

Revival
East of West
Deadly Class
Southern Bastards
Chew
 
Went through the Old Town portion of Stockholm where our only comic shop is(to give you a idea of why paper comics are dead in Sweden, a new Marvel issue costs 60SEK=$7) and pretty much our version of Forbidden Planet(where I picked up vol. 2 of Johns!Flash). Thought I should post some pictures.

Comic shop:
image9ws08.jpeg
imagee1sgm.jpeg
imagee2sxa.jpeg

Bookstore's comic sections:
 
Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #1: Never cared much for Venditti before but this was a really solid issue. It is infinitely better than Green Lanterns (worse Rebirth title imo). I was bummed when I saw the gorgeous Kevin Nowlan cover because I wish he did more interior work but Sandoval's art was actually fairly reminiscent of Nowlan throughout the issue. I expected to drop this title quickly because of Venditti but I like it a lot.

People who give Venditti a bad rap usually haven't read his Valiant stuff. He's written nothing but high tier comics; that's how he got the DC gigs in the first place.
 

Zombine

Banned
I can't remember what mine was the last time I stayed in NY, but it was three days split across three people, so it was almost nothing.

It's all relative to when you go. I go a few times a month but I'm local. Off season is cheap as shit. When you start getting into holidays the hotel prices sky rocket.

And it's $900 for two days, but I'm 3 short blocks from the actual entrance to the Javitz center. It's beyond convenient. It's about a 4 minute walk (if that).
 
Screw it, I'll figure it out myself, then. (To be honest, the biggest thing intimidating me is how I don't recall why I own Eternal Warrior vol. #2 specifically, but I'm sure there was a reason, so I'll just tough it out and do the research). I guess I'll report back what the damage was once I have it all figured out...

Edit: I can't recall if More than Meets the Eye is on that list, but if not it deserves to be, especially since it's such a damn good comic that's so incredibly easy for people to overlook.

Sorry m8, didn't see your post.

Top off your Harbinger and Archer & Armsteong. Pick up a bit of XO through armor hunters (I made a post on the crossovers a few days ago). Grab The Valiant, and then Bloodshot Reborn and Book of Death. Then go for Wrath of the Eternal Warrior. Concurrently, do Rai vol 1-3, then you can start reading 4001 AD (the current event).

Also, grab Ivar because it's amazing, despite being standalone.


It helps that Parallax-Sinestro looks fucking cool as all hell

Fuck yeah he does
 
Went through the Old Town portion of Stockholm where our only comic shop is(to give you a idea of why paper comics are dead in Sweden, a new Marvel issue costs 60SEK=$7) and pretty much our version of Forbidden Planet(where I picked up vol. 2 of Johns!Flash). Thought I should post some pictures.

Comic shop:


Bookstore's comic sections:

Interesting. When you're talking about a comic store, do you mean a store specialized in american comics or is the comic industry in general (including manga and european stuff) small in Sweden?

We have comic-book stores everywhere in France and a few stores specialized in american comics in some of the big cities. You can also buy a lot of Marvel and DC stuff in most newsstands although they're becoming harder to find. As an example: a monthly issue of Batman is around 6€ for about 100 pages and includes Batman, Detective Comics, etc. It's a pretty sweet deal but I prefer to read comics digitally in english.

I'm always interested in how people read comics in other countries. I was surprised when I realized that it was such a niche thing in many places. In France, there is no social stigma attached to reading comics, everybody reads them as a kid. Although there definitely was a social stigma for kids specifically reading superhero comics when I was a kid but that has changed over the years thanks to the movies.

Edit:
People who give Venditti a bad rap usually haven't read his Valiant stuff. He's written nothing but high tier comics; that's how he got the DC gigs in the first place.

Yeah, I guess I only knew him through his DC work, I stand corrected.
 

Boogiepop

Member
Sorry m8, didn't see your post.

Top off your Harbinger and Archer & Armsteong. Pick up a bit of XO through armor hunters (I made a post on the crossovers a few days ago). Grab The Valiant, and then Bloodshot Reborn and Book of Death. Then go for Wrath of the Eternal Warrior. Concurrently, do Rai vol 1-3, then you can start reading 4001 AD (the current event).

Also, grab Ivar because it's amazing, despite being standalone.

I actually already went in heavy and just bought everything but the old stuff. So I guess we'll see how I like it and if I've made a terrible mistake soon enough. (But to be perfectly honest my tastes are pretty wide, so if someone heavily recommends something I'm very rarely disappointed, so I'm sure I'll be fine).

I think I'll make it my next reading project, once I finish reading through the Sonic stuff I have also bought waaaay too much of (almost done with all the awful, awful pre-Flynn stuff, so that should start being good instead of mindnumbingly bad soon. I've said it before, but Ken Penders seriously has to be one of the worst comic writers ever, because anything with his name on it is baaaaaaaad. I have put myself through waaaaay too much suffering to plow through this crap in the past few days).
 
It's all relative to when you go. I go a few times a month but I'm local. Off season is cheap as shit. When you start getting into holidays the hotel prices sky rocket.

And it's $900 for two days, but I'm 3 short blocks from the actual entrance to the Javitz center. It's beyond convenient. It's about a 4 minute walk (if that).
The last time I was there, I stayed in Chelsea in '07. NYCC was in February at that time.
 
I actually already went in heavy and just bought everything but the old stuff. So I guess we'll see how I like it and if I've made a terrible mistake soon enough. (But to be perfectly honest my tastes are pretty wide, so if someone heavily recommends something I'm very rarely disappointed, so I'm sure I'll be fine).

I think I'll make it my next reading project, once I finish reading through the Sonic stuff I have also bought waaaay too much of (almost done with all the awful, awful pre-Flynn stuff, so that should start being good instead of mindnumbingly bad soon. I've said it before, but Ken Penders seriously has to be one of the worst comic writers ever, because anything with his name on it is baaaaaaaad. I have put myself through waaaaay too much suffering to plow through this crap in the past few days).

Wow, ok! Post your thoughts. I doubt you'll be disappointed.


Yeah, I guess I only knew him through his DC work, I stand corrected.

I have a trout with Tim's name on it for whenever he says Venditti sucks
 
Interesting. When you're talking about a comic store, do you mean a store specialized in american comics or is the comic industry in general (including manga and european stuff) small in Sweden?

We have comic-book stores everywhere in France an a few stores specialized in american comics in some of the big cities. You can also buy a lot of Marvel and DC stuff in most newsstands although they're becoming harder to find. As an example: a monthly issue of Batman is around 6€ for about 100 pages and includes Batman, Detective Comics, etc. It's a pretty sweet deal but I prefer to read comics digitally in english.

I'm always interested in how people read comics in other countries. I was surprised when I realized that it was such a niche thing in many places. In France, there is no social stigma attached to reading comics, everybody reads them as a kid. Although there definitely was a social stigma for kids specifically reading superhero comics when I was a kid but that has changed over the years thanks to the movies.
It's really small. Around 10 years ago Marvel still had Spider-Man and X-Men in the newsstands(collecting like 3-4 issues at a time which is how I experienced JMS+Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Civil War which was titled as just one big special Spider-Man issue and Morrison New X-Men)but they didn't make any real money and they didn't want to pay for translations so they stopped. Manga has also stopped being translated so just the comic store that imports issues and books and places like the bookstore are where you can find comics or manga.

Donald Duck and the Phantom are the only real comics still on the newsstands.
 
It's really small. Around 10 years ago Marvel still had Spider-Man and X-Men in the newsstands(collecting like 3-4 issues at a time which is how I experienced JMS+Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Civil War which was titled as just one big special Spider-Man issue and Morrison New X-Men)but they didn't make any real money and they didn't want to pay for translations so they stopped. Manga has also stopped being translated so just the comic store that imports issues and books and places like the bookstore are where you can find comics or manga.

Donald Duck and the Phantom are the only real comics still on the newsstands.

Wow, not even mangas and Marvel anymore, that's really sad to hear. I wonder where the comic industry will be in 20 years globally. I love digital comics but it's going to be hard to introduce comics to new potential readers when the presence of physical media fades and they become reduced to an app among a million others.

Good that Donald is still putting up a fight though, I used to love the Duck comics. But... the Phantom??? As in Billy Zane? Is this a thing like David Hasselhoff being weirdly popular in Germany?
 
Wow, not even mangas and Marvel anymore, that's really sad to hear. I wonder where the comic industry will be in 20 years globally. I love digital comics but it's going to be hard to introduce comics to new potential readers when the presence of physical media fades and they become reduced to an app among a million others.

Good that Donald is still putting up a fight though, I used to love the Duck comics. But... the Phantom??? As in Billy Zane? Is this a thing like David Hasselhoff being weirdly popular in Germany?
It's still coming out over here. This is the latest swedish issue:
Going strong for 80 years now.
 
I've always really liked the concept of the Phantom, way back to Phantom 2040 and Defenders of the Earth as a kid, but I kind of feel the same way about his canon the way the average person feels about comics in general. It's just so vast.

Those reprint comics still run here, I collected them for many, many years. It's still the only way I own JLA/Avengers until a reprint comes. The Marvel books are all relaunching next month as the current issue of Avengers Universe was the finale of Secret Wars (after not printing any Hickman Avengers, IDFK). DC's only recently gotten into the market with Titan handling their reprints, along with Titan's own Doctor Who Comic (oversized, paper cover, 11th and 12th Doctors) and Doctor Who: Tales from the TARDIS (regular size, cardstock cover, 9th, 10th Doctors + all miniseries).

The DC line is vast though, they have at least three Batman books, four if you count Harley Quinn. One of them is reprinting Gotham Central of all things, which is pretty cool IMO. There's also no Superman book, but there is a Supergirl book. All the TV characters have their own books, even Legends but that's more of an anthology book I think.

I hope they bring TAS out on blu ray someday, I'd buy the shit out of a nice collection. Same with Justice League and JLU. Seems like a no brainer to me.

No HD version of Batman TAS exists. It would have to be upscaled, which wouldn't look good. Otherwise Mask of the Phantasm would have gotten a Blu-Ray release already.
 
First two trades of X-O Manowar (14 issues) are surprisingly fun. I like how quickly the story progresses. It feels like more happened in these issues than the entirety of Rebirth thus far.

First trade of Harbinger (5 issues), not so much. I find the protagonist fairly dull, and I don't see this series growing on me.

Both were free fifty free on Scribd. Decent entertainment for the price. I wouldn't actually pay for either series.
 
Went through the Old Town portion of Stockholm where our only comic shop is(to give you a idea of why paper comics are dead in Sweden, a new Marvel issue costs 60SEK=$7) and pretty much our version of Forbidden Planet(where I picked up vol. 2 of Johns!Flash). Thought I should post some pictures.

Comic shop:


Bookstore's comic sections:

Oh wow, your comic shop is tiny. That's like one aisle at the shop I go to.

I did visit one of my friends in California years ago and his comic shop wasn't much bigger than that though. It's a shame, because I always love going into comic shops even if online retailers have better prices and libraries for the most part.
 

JTripper

Member
I'm actually rewatching Batman TAS too. I just finished the two part Two-Face story in season 1. The last time I watched this show was at least 15 years ago as a kid, and watching them now makes me realize how well they balanced its appeal to both kids and adults. Some of the mature dialogue and subject matter would just fly over my head as a kid. Like the early Scarecrow episode (only episode 3 I think) where Bruce has to overcome his fear of being a failure to his parents was not something I truly understood as a kid.

Just from hazy memory, my favorite episodes are Christmas with the Joker and Beware the Gray Ghost. There's another one I somewhat remember as another fear related episode with Batman where he's hallucinating through most of it but I don't remember much else, other than loving it as a kid.

I also vividly remember Robin's origin story episode and enjoyed the episodes where he was a regular on the show.
 
Remember to put any Catwoman episodes near the bottom.
Whoa the one where she's on parole and attempting to reform was decent. But yeah, "The Cat and the Claw" sucked, made even worse by it being a two-parter. I didn't think "Cat Scratch Fever" was the worst, but it certainly wasn't great. "Tyger, Tyger" is actually just straight garbage.
 
It's still coming out over here. This is the latest swedish issue:
Going strong for 80 years now.

I'm blown away that there's still a Phantom comic being published somewhere. I'm looking at his wikipedia page right now and I really had no idea that he was that popular in some countries. That cover looks great btw. And TetraxShards mentioning Phantom 2040 brought back some long lost memories, I used to love that show, it was so weird. Looking back at it now, I assume the Aeon Flux team worked on it, same art style. I should track down some episodes.

And TetraxShards, I assume you're from the UK? I bought some of the Panini stuff when I visited a few years ago but I imagine the market for that is a little bit different than in other european countries since there is no language barrier so it's competing with actual american comics. And do you guys have access to european comics like Tintin and company? Is 2000AD still going strong? I buy some Dredd reprints from time to time but there's so much to choose from, it's a little bit daunting.

Sorry for all the questions, I'm really curious about that stuff ;)
 
No HD version of Batman TAS exists. It would have to be upscaled, which wouldn't look good. Otherwise Mask of the Phantasm would have gotten a Blu-Ray release already.
It all depends on what source material they have. It wouldn't have to be upscaled if they have the resources to create a new master. It's been done well with other things that were never HD originally, like the Star Trek shows, and even with cartoons, like Rescue Rangers.

Mask of the Phantasm debuted theatrically, so there should be a 35mm print to base a Blu-ray transfer on.
 
Batman Animated Series renowned for its synthesis of 50+ years of Batman stories, its "dark deco" timeless style, its peerless voice acting and music orchestration, its often thematically dark material(or at least handled with a sense of realism), its classical film influences and cinematic three act structure. There's over a 100 episodes, and I say about 50 are well worth watching. The show gets more consistently good as it goes along and they learn what works and what doesn't.

Excellent - The creme de le creme, the masterpieces, some of the best Batman stories in any medium
Two-Face
Beware the Gray Ghost
The Laughing Fish
Over the Edge
Read My Lips

Very Good - Exemplary episodes with a strong combination of animation, characterization, and design
Bullet for Bullock
Harley's Holiday
Critters (Controversial, but I love it)
Growing Pains
The Man Who Killed Batman
Joker's Favor
Beware the Creeper
Avatar
Deep Freeze
Catwalk
Mad Love
World's Finest(Batman/Superman 3-part crossover)
Never Fear
Heart of Ice
Perchance to Dream
Robin's Reckoning(the first part is excellent, second one is just aight)
See No Evil
Almost Got 'Em
Legends of the Dark Knight
Second Chance
On Leather Wings
Vendetta
House & Garden

Good - Solid stories that even amongst their flaws succeed as entertaining superhero drama
Mask of the Phantasm
Heart of Steel
His Silicon Soul
The Clock King
Harlequinade
Showdown
Joker's Millions
Double Talk
The Demon's Quest
Mystery of the Batwoman
Time Out of Joint
Judgment Day
Fear of Victory
Mudslide
Harley & Ivy
Knight Time(Superman episode where he takes over for Batman)
The Ultimate Thrill
Bane
Riddler's Reform
Fire from Olympus
Holiday's Knights

Okay - Shaky concepts, cliche-filled scripts, weak animation, and/or pedestrian plots. These episodes have their joys, but only in spurts
Mad as a Hatter(an EXCELLENT script and vocal performance let down by terrible animation)
Cult of the Cat
Joker's Wild
Mean Seasons
You Scratch My Back
Trial
If You're So Smart Why Aren't You Rich?
Baby-Doll
Day of the Samurai
Feat of Clay
Chemistry
Sub-Zero
Mean Seasons
What is Reality?

Eh - Totally forgettable episodes, not good enough to recommend but not so bad as if to offend
Dreams in Darkness
Appointment in Crime Alley
Batgirl Returns
Be a Clown
Christmas with the Joker
Cape and Cowl Conspiracy
Blind as a Bat
Sins of the Father
The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne
Torch Song
P.O.V.
Paging the Crime Doctor
Night of the Ninja
Off Balance
Deep Freeze
Sideshow
Old Wounds
Demon Reborn
Zatanna
Love is a Croc
Pretty Poison
Make 'Em Laugh
Lock-Up
Girls Night Out
Birds of a Feather
The Worry Men
It's Never Too Late

Awful - Lousy animation, shrill melodramatics, boring action setpieces. These episodes should be avoided
I Am The Night(controversial, but I hate it)
The Demon Within
The Terrible Trio
Animal Act
Moon of the Wolf
The Underdwellers
Tyger Tyger
The Last Laugh
The Mechanic

Crap - The worst of the worst. Episodes that should be erased from time.
I've Got Batman in my Basement
Cat Scratch Fever
Eternal Youth
The Forgotten
 

Zombine

Banned
"I've got a great idea for a cover...lets parody Giant Sized X-Men #1. Nobody has ever done this before"

-All artists

ever
 
I'm blown away that there's still a Phantom comic being published somewhere. I'm looking at his wikipedia page right now and I really had no idea that he was that popular in some countries. That cover looks great btw. And TetraxShards mentioning Phantom 2040 brought back some long lost memories, I used to love that show, it was so weird. Looking back at it now, I assume the Aeon Flux team worked on it, same art style. I should track down some episodes.

And TetraxShards, I assume you're from the UK? I bought some of the Panini stuff when I visited a few years ago but I imagine the market for that is a little bit different than in other european countries since there is no language barrier so it's competing with actual american comics. And do you guys have access to european comics like Tintin and company? Is 2000AD still going strong? I buy some Dredd reprints from time to time but there's so much to choose from, it's a little bit daunting.

Sorry for all the questions, I'm really curious about that stuff ;)

I'm Irish, but in terms of comics markets, it's basically the same thing as the UK. If they get it, we get it. It just tends to be more expensive once you factor in pound to Euro and our VAT is higher (23% as opposed to 20%, though some trades are exempt as they are considered books and not magazines like single issues).

You can get Tintin and Asterix here, but they tend to be thought of as library books first and foremost. I don't know anyone who actually bought them, but almost everyone has read a ton of them through getting them at libraries as kids. That's how I read all the older Asterix anyway. I was never that gone on Tintin, though I though the 90s cartoon was alright. My own library has a ton of Euro comics that I find pretty intimidating. That's how I read The Incal which I found to be fantastic.

2000 AD is still going strong, my older brother has been buying it since the early 80s and still does to this day. I credit reading lots of old issues and annuals as part of what got me interested in comics, it was like reading The Real Shit when the common stuff was relatively tame. These days, I get the Judge Dredd Complete Case Files as they come out which print everything in order. Volume 5 is considered the best place for a newcomer to start since it has two great stories in Judge Death Lives and the first Mega Epic, the Apocalypse War (still the second-longest Dredd story ever printed at 25 issues, even longer if you consider Block Mania part of it). The earlier volumes are a bit rougher. Still interesting, but more as a historical curiosity than Good Comics.

It wasn't until Essential X-Men and Astonishing Spider-Man launched around 1993 or so that I started reading the non-tie-in comics on a regular basis. The Clone Saga and the Phalanx Covenant, it's a wonder I stayed a fan.

It all depends on what source material they have. It wouldn't have to be upscaled if they have the resources to create a new master. It's been done well with other things that were never HD originally, like the Star Trek shows, and even with cartoons, like Rescue Rangers.

Mask of the Phantasm debuted theatrically, so there should be a 35mm print to base a Blu-ray transfer on.

Even the DVD versions have a lot of grain and damage relative to how old they are, if there is a version, there would need to be a LOT of work. I don't buy discs anymore but I'd buy a nicely presented BTAS set.

I didn't know there was a 35mm print of MOTP. I always forget it was released in cinemas.
 
Batman Animated Series renowned for its synthesis of 50+ years of Batman stories, its "dark deco" timeless style, its peerless voice acting and music orchestration, its often thematically dark material(or at least handled with a sense of realism), its classical film influences and cinematic three act structure. There's over a 100 episodes, and I say about 50 are well worth watching. The show gets more consistently good as it goes along and they learn what works and what doesn't.

Excellent - The creme de le creme, the masterpieces, some of the best Batman stories in any medium
Two-Face
Beware the Gray Ghost
The Laughing Fish
Over the Edge
Read My Lips

Very Good - Exemplary episodes with a strong combination of animation, characterization, and design
Bullet for Bullock
Harley's Holiday
Critters (Controversial, but I love it)
Growing Pains
The Man Who Killed Batman
Joker's Favor
Beware the Creeper
Avatar
Deep Freeze
Catwalk
Mad Love
World's Finest(Batman/Superman 3-part crossover)
Never Fear
Heart of Ice
Perchance to Dream
Robin's Reckoning(the first part is excellent, second one is just aight)
See No Evil
Almost Got 'Em
Legends of the Dark Knight
Second Chance
On Leather Wings
Vendetta
House & Garden

Good - Solid stories that even amongst their flaws succeed as entertaining superhero drama
Mask of the Phantasm
Heart of Steel
His Silicon Soul
The Clock King
Harlequinade
Showdown
Joker's Millions
Double Talk
The Demon's Quest
Mystery of the Batwoman
Time Out of Joint
Judgment Day
Fear of Victory
Mudslide
Harley & Ivy
Knight Time(Superman episode where he takes over for Batman)
The Ultimate Thrill
Bane
Riddler's Reform
Fire from Olympus
Holiday's Knights

Okay - Shaky concepts, cliche-filled scripts, weak animation, and/or pedestrian plots. These episodes have their joys, but only in spurts
Mad as a Hatter(an EXCELLENT script and vocal performance let down by terrible animation)
Cult of the Cat
Joker's Wild
Mean Seasons
You Scratch My Back
Trial
If You're So Smart Why Aren't You Rich?
Baby-Doll
Day of the Samurai
Feat of Clay
Chemistry
Sub-Zero
Mean Seasons
What is Reality?

Eh - Totally forgettable episodes, not good enough to recommend but not so bad as if to offend
Dreams in Darkness
Appointment in Crime Alley
Batgirl Returns
Be a Clown
Christmas with the Joker
Cape and Cowl Conspiracy
Blind as a Bat
Sins of the Father
The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne
Torch Song
P.O.V.
Paging the Crime Doctor
Night of the Ninja
Off Balance
Deep Freeze
Sideshow
Old Wounds
Demon Reborn
Zatanna
Love is a Croc
Pretty Poison
Make 'Em Laugh
Lock-Up
Girls Night Out
Birds of a Feather
The Worry Men
It's Never Too Late

Awful - Lousy animation, shrill melodramatics, boring action setpieces. These episodes should be avoided
I Am The Night(controversial, but I hate it)
The Demon Within
The Terrible Trio
Animal Act
Moon of the Wolf
The Underdwellers
Tyger Tyger
The Last Laugh
The Mechanic

Crap - The worst of the worst. Episodes that should be erased from time.
I've Got Batman in my Basement
Cat Scratch Fever
Eternal Youth
The Forgotten
Oh good "The Laughing Fish" is at the top. I got scared, but I assumed everyone loved that episode. Bet Joker episode by a mile. Also Deep Freeze is on there twice. I forget what a good chunk of these are about though.
 
Personall, I'd rank stuff like His Silicon Soul a lot lower. The show was never very good at tackling stuff like that, it always ended up feeling super heavy handed.
 
I'm Irish, but in terms of comics markets, it's basically the same thing as the UK. If they get it, we get it. It just tends to be more expensive once you factor in pound to Euro and our VAT is higher (23% as opposed to 20%, though some trades are exempt as they are considered books and not magazines like single issues).
[...]

Thanks for the answer, very informative. That volume of Dredd was the first one I read because I thought Judge Death was a fun concept so that's where I wanted to start. I really loved it.
And yeah, I started american comics with the Clone Saga, the post Age of Apocalypse X-Men and the early Image titles. It's a miracle I still read comics but I actually loved all of those (mostly) terrible stories as a kid.
 
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