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[Mikeside]

With the many lovers of comics on NeoGAF, it's long overdue that we set up some kind of comic book club.

This is how I think it'll work:

We'll decide on a comic to read by voting between 3 selections (which will be suggested by 3 randomly chosen members each time). Everyone will have 1 week to put their votes in, then we'll read and discuss our chosen comic together!

I'm not sure how long is going to be best to give to each read, but I think we should start off with 3 weeks and see how we go from there.

We're also going to do our best to try out as many different genres and types as possible - I don't want to stick to super heroes the whole time, but I definitely would love to include them, obviously!

So, I'm going to suggest the following 3 to start us off.

1. 100 Bullets Vol. 1: First Shot, Last Call
2. V for Vendetta
3. I Kill Giants


Please post your vote in this thread in bold and I'll count up and decide the winner on Sunday night (16th) at 12pm BST and we can start reading!

If anybody has any suggestions for improvements, please post them here or PM me and we can work on making this even better.



EDIT

New mantra for the thread:

...we all just read and discuss comics - all comics - together like a big happy family <3

 

[Garryk]

I've been wanting to read 100 Bullets so I will selfishly vote for that one.

I Kill Giants

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I vote I Kill Giants because 100 Bullets deserves its own club to go through the whole series, not just vol. 1.

 

[BuddyJoeHooker]

I Kill Giants

I would like to hear Gaf's opinion on the book.

 

[Garryk]

I vote I Kill Giants because 100 Bullets deserves its own club to go through the whole series, not just vol. 1.

This is a good point. I'm switching mine.

 

[Supermanisdead]

Voting for I Kill Giants because I don't want to get into the epic 100 Bullets right now and I've already read V for Vendetta.

 

[ReiGun]

I Kill Giants. Would rather we go through a complete story than vol. 1 of series, and unlike V, I already own IKG (and wouldn't mind rereading it). >.>

 

[Mikeside]

I vote I Kill Giants because 100 Bullets deserves its own club to go through the whole series, not just vol. 1.

Well hopefully when we read the beginnings of a great series like 100 Bullets, anyone who enjoys it will go on to read more!

 

[Baconsaurus Rex]

I'm fairly new to (American) comics so I'd like to give it a shot. My vote goes out to I Kill Giants

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Yeah, in the regular comic thread I advised against any vol. 1s and sticking with self-contained trades.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Well hopefully when we read the beginnings of a great series like 100 Bullets, anyone who enjoys it will go on to read more!

Why, so then the entire thread will be like "Man, I wonder what happens with Dizzy" and half the thread will be like "Oh, well, in #54..." It's a bad idea for a million reasons.

It's a completed series that many people have completed. To hamstring the conversation in order to keep it spoiler free for those just starting out is a terrible idea. It's best to stick to self contained material so everyone can be on the same playing field, ESPECIALLY with something like 100 Bullets which is so intricately plotted and stuff in the first volume doesn't pay off for another 92 issues.

 

[Viewt]

I vote I Kill Giants because it's a wonderful, emotional little story with a non-traditional protagonist.

It's one of those stories that you read and just say, "Comics, man. Comics!"

I <3 it.

 

[Mikeside]

Yeah, in the regular comic thread I advised against any vol. 1s and sticking with self-contained trades.

Do you not think that will limit us from some really great comics? As I said above, I think that any vol 1s we read will be long enough for enjoyable discussion, but obviously not so long that everyone is stuck with it for months - but anyone who really enjoys it is then able to read on from there.

I'm not sure I'd want to rule them out - I'd love to be able to include stuff like Sandman, Walking Dead, Batman, Bone, Elephantmen and plenty more ongoing comics as a part of this.

Obviously, if most people want to avoid doing that, then that's OK too.

 

[tim1138]

I Kill Giants works for me, it's the only of the three I haven't read and the library has it.

 

[Parch]

Love the idea.
I vote for I Kill Giants

 

[Anticitizen One]

i never even heard of I kill giants and im a huge comics fan

 

[esai]

I kill giants
Since I've read the other 2.

 

[Mikeside]

I'm starting to see an early lead developing for I Kill Giants.

I haven't actually read it before and it looks fantastic, so that's A-OK with me

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Do you not think that will limit us from some really great comics? As I said above, I think that any vol 1s we read will be long enough for enjoyable discussion, but obviously not so long that everyone is stuck with it for months - but anyone who really enjoys it is then able to read on from there.

I'm not sure I'd want to rule them out - I'd love to be able to include stuff like Sandman, Walking Dead, Batman, Bone, Elephantmen and plenty more ongoing comics as a part of this.

Obviously, if most people want to avoid doing that, then that's OK too.

I just think it's bad for conversation. The 25% of newbs are going to have one conversation and the 75% of everyone else is going to be having another in spoiler tags. My personal suggestion would be to have this thread for self contained material and then every year pick another ongoing (preferably finite) and have a separate thread to go through the entire thing over the course of a year.

 

[Dynamite Ringo Matsuri]

100 Bullets is pretty freakin awesome but I doubt anyone would get much out of the first vol. Vol. 3 Hang Up on the Hang Low on the other hand is satisfying enough to stand all on its own.

Never heard of I Kill Giants so I vote for that

I can also see this becoming a very expensive club if some of these series hooks me :/

 

[~Devil Trigger~]

never read 100Bullets

 

[Mikeside]

I just think it's bad for conversation. The 25% of newbs are going to have one conversation and the 75% of everyone else is going to be having another in spoiler tags. My personal suggestion would be to have this thread for self contained material and then every year pick another ongoing (preferably finite) and have a separate thread to go through the entire thing over the course of a year.

Surely if you wanted to talk about the rest of the series you could move it over and do that in the main comic book thread?

Still, if it's something people want to avoid then we can stick to self-contained. As long as we still get Batman.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Surely if you wanted to talk about the rest of the series you could move it over and do that in the main comic book thread?

Still, if it's something people want to avoid then we can stick to self-contained. As long as we still get Batman.

If no one else agrees, that's fine. Just throwing in my .02.

 

[Mikeside]

If no one else agrees, that's fine. Just throwing in my .02.

Yeah, no worries there - we disagree but I see your point and I'm happy to go with whatever the majority of people want.

It's early days, but I don't think we'll be reading 100 Bullets this time anyway, lol.

 

[C-Jo]

I vote for 100 Bullets.

 

[Chuckl3s]

I Kill Giants is my vote. I read the other two.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

I Kill Giants

Been looking for an excuse to re-read

 

[Parch]

Hmm. Not sure what we can do about long series. Where do you draw the line? One trade? 20 issues? I don't want to spend a year covering 100 issues of a title.

I think covering the first trade is just fine. If you like it then you can continue on with it on your own, but for this book club I think one book is sufficient. I'd like this to be a variety of comics and genre. If the story is self-contained then that would be best, but if it's the first of an ongoing then consider it just a "sample" of the title. It's up to you if you want to continue.

I hate spoiler tags and rather not see them. It should already be implied that there's going to be spoilers, but future titles shouldn't be talked about anyway.

And hopefully it's obvious that a book club means that you actually read or have read the book. If you're just posting to voice your dislike for the character or writer, that's just trolling and adding nothing to the discussion if you've never actually read it.

The only other thing I can think of is any future suggestions should be PM'd to the OP, just to avoid flooding the thread with suggestions and making it easier for him to keep track so he can pick the 3 choices.

Sounds like fun. Looking forward to it.

 

[bangai-o]

where are we going to go?

 

[Necrovex]

I really dig this idea, I cannot do the normal book club because of my workload for this semester. However, a comic is a lot more doable.

I'm tossing my vote at V for Vendetta. I have never read it, and it would be the ideal time to give it a go.

If we decide to do a many-volume comic, which I really think we should do in the future, we should aim to find a compendium version such as The Walking Dead Compendium One, which covers 48 issues.

 

[Mikeside]

Hmm. Not sure what we can do about long series. Where do you draw the line? One trade? 20 issues? I don't want to spend a year covering 100 issues of a title.

I think covering the first trade is just fine. If you like it then you can continue on with it on your own, but for this book club I think one book is sufficient. I'd like this to be a variety of comics and genre. If the story is self-contained then that would be best, but if it's the first of an ongoing then consider it just a "sample" of the title. It's up to you if you want to continue.

I hate spoiler tags and rather not see them. It should already be implied that there's going to be spoilers, but future titles shouldn't be talked about anyway.

And hopefully it's obvious that a book club means that you actually read or have read the book. If you're just posting to voice your dislike for the character or writer, that's just trolling and adding nothing to the discussion if you've never actually read it.

The only other thing I can think of is any future suggestions should be PM'd to the OP, just to avoid flooding the thread with suggestions and making it easier for him to keep track so he can pick the 3 choices.

Sounds like fun. Looking forward to it.

Yeah, the plan currently is that we'll stick to single trades if it's not a self-contained story

I absolutely agree with everything you've posted, though I think it might be worth discussing what we're going to do about spoilers a bit more, actually - I personally don't have a problem with everything being posted, because I'll probably avoid reading the thread and will just pop in to post updates on how far I am and what I think so far whilst I'm still not finished with the comic of the moment, but others may feel differently.

 

[jon bones]

I Kill Giants

100 Bullets is way too long for something like this. Great idea, btw.

 

[Vyer]

There shouldn't be too large a problem with using the start of a long series. Everyone will have read something on the list, regardless. Just ask that people stick to reading/reviewing/discussing the issues in question.

 

[SmellyHands]

V for Vendetta

 

[Ratrat]

Read V and IKG. Didn't the latter was good at all. 100 bullets!

 

[LiQuid!]

Don't see the problem with reading/discussing the first volume of a long series. It's not like people couldn't then read more of it outside the confines of the thread if they got into it. If not for something like this I would probably never get into something like 100 Bullets.

I haven't read any of the three and they all sound equally uninteresting to me so I'll read whatever the consensus is (which seems to be IKG at the moment).

 

[kswiston]

I Kill Giants

A bit of a selfish vote, as it's the only one I have yet to read. I never finished 100 bullets, but I read the first 60 something issues.

EDIT: I also agree that picking Vol 1 of a longer series or creator arc is fine, but we'd have to be a little choosy about the book. For instance, I love Sandman, but Vol 1 (while a necessary read) is not the best representation of the series. Volumes 2 and 4 are way stronger, and set the tone of the rest of the run. On the other hand, the first Volume of Preacher or Y the Last Man are pretty good representations of what the series is like, even if I enjoyed a few of the later volumes more.

 

[Mikeside]

I Kill Giants

A bit of a selfish vote, as it's the only one I have yet to read. I never finished 100 bullets, but I read the first 60 something issues.

EDIT: I also agree that picking Vol 1 of a longer series or creator arc is fine, but we'd have to be a little choosy about the book. For instance, I love Sandman, but Vol 1 (while a necessary read) is not the best representation of the series. Volumes 2 and 4 are way stronger, and set the tone of the rest of the run. On the other hand, the first Volume of Preacher or Y the Last Man are pretty good representations of what the series is like, even if I enjoyed a few of the later volumes more.

Yeah, I guess it's difficult to settle on what's best in these situations but I'm sure we'll find our feet before long.

 

[Parch]

Take a look at those Amazon links for description and reviews. I imagine there's going to be a lot of stuff I won't recognize, but I like the idea of trying something I've never heard of before.

 

[Fusebox]

I suppose I could read I Kill Giants again if I have to, but all 3 choices are fairly over-rated imo.

 

[Troll]

I'd rather re read V for Vendetta, but I kill giants would be fine.

 

[Parch]

I also agree that picking Vol 1 of a longer series or creator arc is fine, but we'd have to be a little choosy about the book. For instance, I love Sandman, but Vol 1 (while a necessary read) is not the best representation of the series. Volumes 2 and 4 are way stronger.

That's actually a good point. I don't think we have to restrict ourselves to vol 1 only, especially for some of the larger series. I'd like to get the really good story arcs, so a trade mid-series would be fine with me. I don't need to read everthing before it.

 

[Mikeside]

That's actually a good point. I don't think we have to restrict ourselves to vol 1 only, especially for some of the larger series. I'd like to get the really good story arcs, so a trade mid-series would be fine with me. I don't need to read everthing before it.

I agree with this, a great idea I hadn't really thought about - I think we'd need somebody to write a 'catch-up' paragraph to help people new to whatever series it is, but this could work too and solve the issue of the first trade generally not being the best.

 

[Dynamite Ringo Matsuri]

EDIT: I also agree that picking Vol 1 of a longer series or creator arc is fine, but we'd have to be a little choosy about the book. For instance, I love Sandman, but Vol 1 (while a necessary read) is not the best representation of the series. Volumes 2 and 4 are way stronger, and set the tone of the rest of the run. On the other hand, the first Volume of Preacher or Y the Last Man are pretty good representations of what the series is like, even if I enjoyed a few of the later volumes more.

I hear that from Gaiman as well, but I loved Vol. 1 of Sandman. I love the wildly experimental art and unconventional layouts, as well as the macabre story telling in Passengers, 24 Hours and Sound and Fury. But yeah, Dollhouse is far stronger... I feel like this sort of rule might find us excluding excellent comics whose first volumes aren't as strong as successive ones.

I'd also rather sub Ex Machina in place of 100 Bullets.

Spoiler

election time is coming up lol

 

[coldvein]

if you guys want to send me free comics i'll totally read and discuss them here, i'm serious.

 

[C-Jo]

I'd also rather sub Ex Machina in place of 100 Bullets.

I'd be down with that too!

 

[ericexpo]

I kill Giants, been in my amazon wish list far to long

 

[BlackBanditSho]

Recommend putting in Locke and Key from IDW while it's currently on sale via Comixology. AMAZING series. Just read it over the weekend. The final part of the series begins in Oct.

 

[Dynamite Ringo Matsuri]

Recommend putting in Locke and Key from IDW while it's currently on sale via Comixology. AMAZING series. Just read it over the weekend. The final part of the series begins in Oct.

Fo'sho. Can not friggin wait for it to be wrapped up, but it saddens me as well. L&K is another example of a comic whose successive volumes are stronger than the first though :/

Edit: Holy shit, didn't even realize that a stand alone issue came out just a week ago - Grindhouse :O

 

[LiQuid!]

Sounds like comic creators need to start taking notes and writing better first volumes. I know you don't want to start the show with a showstopper but I can't tell you how many times I've tried to recommend a comic to somebody only to have to quantify it with a "The first trade isn't as strong, you should read to x."