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[Shadowlink]

Not sure if this would be the right thread to ask, but I want to start reading Batman books. Which set of books/comics should I start off with?

 

[bucsfan0210]

Starter Batman
-Batman: Year One
-The Dark Knight Returns

If you want to catch up with what is going on right now get:
-Batman: RIP
-Batman and Robin V.1 and 2
-The Return of Bruce Wayne
That will put you all the way up to whats going on now in Batman Incorporated

Some people probably have other suggestions for good Batman stories; I haven't read a lot of the older stuff like Long Halloween and Hush but I have heard those are good as well.

 

[Shadowlink]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1401207529/?tag=neogaf0e-20

and

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1563893428/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Anyone else have any other books that I should read, or am I good to go?

 

[Htown]

The Long Halloween is a good follow-up to Year One, though as a mystery it doesn't quite work. Still a good read, though.

 

[Shadowlink]

The Long Halloween is a good follow-up to Year One, though as a mystery it doesn't quite work. Still a good read, though.

Nice! Will start with Year 1 followed by Long Halloween, and then the Dark Knight.

Thanks for the recommendations bucsfan0210 and Htown!

 

[beat]

My least fave, nay hated, comic was JMS' failed attempt at writing anything. Wonder Woman, Superman: Earth One and the despicably awful Superman series.

/spit

co-sign on the Superman JMS series. I'll grant that Supes walking across America sounded like an interesting concept, but it clearly had problems right there that were never fixed. Was he booted off, or did he quit? And if the former, why did DC not end the walking stuff ASAP?

 

[Spike Spiegel]

co-sign on the Superman JMS series. I'll grant that Supes walking across America sounded like an interesting concept, but it clearly had problems right there that were never fixed. Was he booted off, or did he quit? And if the former, why did DC not end the walking stuff ASAP?

'Superman: Earth One' turned out to be a big hit, prompting JMS to declare direct-to-market graphic novels to be the future of comics and abandon writing monthlies in favor of fast-tracking an 'Earth One' sequel. And DC is too far committed to Superman's walk and Wonder Woman's fashion faux-pas to abandon those stories in mid-swing, so they handed JMS's notes to other writers to finish.

 

[Tom_Cody]

I was finally ale to get a copy of Nemesis #4 last night. I loved it. What a great ending.

Spoiler

I really enjoyed the twist that Blake ended up winning in the end.

Also, The President of The United States' suicide attack against the president has to be one of my favorite comic moments in recent memory. :lol

 

[Zabka]

If you want to catch up with what is going on right now get:
-Batman: RIP
-Batman and Robin V.1 and 2
-The Return of Bruce Wayne
That will put you all the way up to whats going on now in Batman Incorporated

Some people probably have other suggestions for good Batman stories; I haven't read a lot of the older stuff like Long Halloween and Hush but I have heard those are good as well.

If you jump straight into Batman RIP you will be lost. You should also pick up Batman and Son along with Batman: The Black Glove. They're all a part of one giant story Grant Morrison is telling.

Where the wheels explode off the truck and going flying into innocent bystanders is when he tries to tell a story with pictures. It's something subtle you may not observe if you're just like "OH DAMN! LOOK AT THAT PICTURE OF BATMAN PUNCHING THAT D00000000D!", but things like establishing shots (showing a setting, establishing a location for the events), an ability to draw characters that look unique (George Perez is the master of this, but Jim Lee can pull it off at times too for the more common reference point), and just not making a bunch of "COOL PICTURES" in 22 pages.

Except for his weird Killer Croc design, Finch's work on The Dark Knight was a nice improvement. The writing was nothing amazing, but it's nice to have a straightforward Bruce Wayne comic not involving Batman Inc or Bush Robots and immortal devil gods (as of the first issue). It has the establishing shots the kids are clamoring for. MAD CRAZY establishing shots.

 

[Platy]

That Flash cover is hot.

bigger version for you

 

[IrishNinja]

...Take Out Bandit trash-talking Finch? say it aint so

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Zoom/Thawne's "origin story" in this issue of Flash is totally awesome. I encourage everyone to pick it up.

Spoiler

Kid brother f*cks up my life? (Not anymore.)

Somebody else gets my dream job? (Not anymore.)

Parents worried my experiments are out of control? (Not anymore.)

Girl of my dreams is with someone else? (Not anymore.)

Girl of my dreams still won't have me? (Not anymore.)

Oh man, such a trip. :lol

 

[Odious Tea]

Okay. I think I have my list. I'm going to let it simmer, until tomorrow but I think it's pretty solid.

Here are the categories I went with: Best Cover, Best Issue, Best Arc, Best Event, Best Artist, Best Writer, Best Team, Biggest Surprise, Biggest Disappointment, Best Series, Best New Series, and Best Miniseries.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

...Take Out Bandit trash-talking Finch? say it aint so

I already know you have no taste.

Speaking of bad storytelling - as much as I love Kaare Andrews line work this last issue of Xenogenesis had some pretty bad action scenes. :|

As jokey as Thunderstrike may be the Frenz / Buscema art is a powerful god damn team. All D-List comic characters should be lucky to get this level of artistic treatment. :O

 

[krypt0nian]

I already know you have no taste.

Speaking of bad storytelling - as much as I love Kaare Andrews line work this last issue of Xenogenesis had some pretty bad action scenes. :|

As jokey as Thunderstrike may be the Frenz / Buscema art is a powerful god damn team. All D-List comic characters should be lucky to get this level of artistic treatment. :O

I think you'd be surprised how well Finch is doing already in his new book. Boy's learning some storytelling.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

I think you'd be surprised how well Finch is doing already in his new book. Boy's learning some storytelling.

I'm willing to be proven wrong, that doesn't mean I'm willing to spend money on his work. I'll wait for the library to get a collection of it. :lol

Batman as a character I could care less about. I'm filling out my Alan Davis collection so I'm picking up his run on Detective with Mike Barr; but the only bat things I am interested in seeing are the cancelled Holy Terror Batman - because Frank Miller getting paid to troll DC comics by DC comics always interests me, and Batman Europa (despite more terrible Jim Lee renditions of the Joker).

Zatanna #8 is all kinds of awesome! :O

 

[bucsfan0210]

Detective is super awesome. The main story had an awesome ending.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Pick up stakes, every other comic. Scalped raised the bar and then threw it in the river this week.

 

[Odious Tea]

I've mulled it over and I'm pleased with my list. Some have runners up because I thought that they while they may not have been the absolute best, they're still certainly worthy of an embarrassing amount praise.

Best Cover - Batwoman #0, the Amy Reeder variant.

Best Issue - The Brave and The Bold #33 (J. Michael Straczynski, Cliff Chiang). If you read it, you know why. If you haven't, go read it. You absolutely must.

Best Arc - Grim Hunt (Joe Kelly, Michael Lark) from in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man.
Runners up: American Vampire's opening arc, #1-#5 (Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque). Shed also from the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man (Zeb Wells, Chris Bachalo).

Best Event - X-Men: Second Coming (by a bunch of people). This crossover was really second-to-none. Each issue involved in the core of this crossover was absolutely exceptional in every regard. It's found a nice, warm spot in my heart as one of my favorite X-Men stories.

Best Artist - Rafael Albuquerque (American Vampire). Albuquerque is versatile, exceptional, and on-time. Don't really think you could ask much more from the guy.
Runners up: Sebastian Fiumara (Loki, X-Factor) and Francis Manapul (The Flash and Adventure Comics)

Best Writer - Grant Morrison (Batman and Robin, Batman - The Return of Bruce Wayne, Batman, Inc.). It's almost impossible to say anything about Grant Morrison that hasn't already been said -- he is a crazy, Scottish, mad-scientist, bat-genius. We're lucky to have him for at least another two years.
Runners up: Jonathan Hickman (S.H.I.E.L.D., Fantastic Four, and Secret Warriors) and Geoff Johns (Blackest Night, Brightest Day, Green Lantern, The Flash).

Best Team - Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque (American Vampire). If there was one word to describe this book, I'd say it'd be "solid". If I'm not arbitrarily giving myself a word limit, it'd be "unexpectedly solid". Each issue unfolds deliberately and beautifully. I'm a little reticent to declare absolute favorites, but I really, really love Snyder's and Albuquerque's interpretations of vampires.
Runners up: Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul (The Flash and Adventure Comics) and John Layman and Rob Guillory (Chew).

Biggest Surprise - S.H.I.E.L.D. - Jonathan Hickman writes the secret history of the Marvel Universe? Yes, please! Although, I imagine it'll read MUCH better once collected.
Runners Up: Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine (Jason Aaron, Adam Kubert) and Batgirl (Brian Q. Miller, Lee Garbett/Dustin Nguyen).

Biggest Disappointment - JMS' year-long stories where Superman walks a bunch and where Wonder Woman is stuck in an alternate dimension. Neither were good. And he quit in the middle of both. Thanks for nothing, guy.

Best One-Shot - X-Men Curse of the Mutants: Storm & Gambit #1 (Chuck Kim, Chris Bachalo). I didn't particularly care for the X-Men vs Vampires deal, but it's pardoned as it brought this underlooked but excellent one-shot to me.

Best Miniseries - Superman - Secret Origin (Geoff Johns, Gary Frank). A definitive and beautiful retelling of Superman in the vein of Green Lantern - Rebirth. Absolutely loved it.
Runners up: X-Force - Sex and Violence (Chris Yost, Gabriele Dell'Otto) and Avengers - The Children's Crusade (Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung).

Best New Series - Thor - The Mighty Avenger (Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee). This wins, if not for the outstanding job it did in its short existence then it wins for issue #4.
Runners up: Uncanny X-Force (Rick Remender, Jerome Opena) and The Flash (Geoff Johns, Francis Manapul).

Best Series - Ultimate Spider-Man (Brian Michael Bendis, David LaFluente, Sara Pichelli). Say what you want about Brian Michael Bendis but the guy juggles an incomprehensible amount of writing gigs and does a pretty goddamn good job of making them all at least good.
Runners up: Batman and Robin (Grant Morrison, good artists) and The Amazing Spider-Man (good writers, good artists).

Welp. That's 2010 in comics. Hope everyone has a great new year!

 

[Splatt]

 

[VGChampion]

The end of my first year reading comic books. It's crazy how many series and comics I've bought in the past 6-7 months. It all started because I saw the Free Comic Book Day thread and, while I've seen these before, I decided to actually go and see what was out there. From there, I've become a fan picking up comics almost weekly just like the rest of you.

I had already read Sandman (all time favorite) and had been reading The Walking Dead trades and a few Batman trades like the Killing Joke but without this thread I never would have read Fables or Invincible. Picked up most of Grant Morrison's run on Batman after seeing how amazing Batman & Robin was (picked up the complete B&R off of eBay after the issue when you find out who Oberon Sexton is after seeing the reactions here) and became more of a Batman fan. Now I have a hard time keeping up with him and his family these days. :lol

Recently started going through the Green Lantern and Green Lantern corps trade paperbacks until I catch up and then I'll go monthly with them as well. May pick up The Flash stuff soon. I know I'm missing some right now but yeah, just wanted to thank you for your awesome work putting these threads together as you made me a fan Spike.

 

[Odious Tea]

Pick up stakes, every other comic. Scalped raised the bar and then threw it in the river this week.

If by "Scalped" you meant "The Jimmy Olsen backup in Action Comics #896", then you've never been more correct.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Dang, didn't realize Ultimate Thor #3 was out this week, all I got was S.H.I.E.L.D. #5 & filled in the gap in my Thunderbolts collection (Parker's run turned super-fun after Siege, I dropped it just before it).

Stuff I liked this year:

Morrison successfully reinventing Batman yet again. This run is unprecedented.

The return of the Legion. The books weren't always amazing, but they were fun and the characters feel relevant again.

Thor-mania. Amazing that a character who was out of continuity a couple of years ago now has like 6-7 books a month, many of them really good.

S.H.I.E.L.D. bringing brainy Vertigo-style oblique occult references to mainstream Marvel.

Dark Reign ending on a high note before it wore out its welcome. It took guts to axe Dark avengers when they did, but this way that book and DR in general will always be fondly remembered.

Didn't like:

The Flash being such a snooze, especially after the same creative team was doing such a lovable book on Adventure Comics.

Fraction being given like 2 years to prepare for his Thor book, prematurely ending an excellent, thoughtful and mythic Gillen run, talking up all his BIG IDEAS CRAZY THEORETICAL PHYSICS take...and then having absolutely nothing interesting happen in like half a year's worth of books. All he had was a pablum "invaders from another dimension" storyline with 3 plot points in 5 issues; hopefully it picks up in the new year. At least we got a ton of other amazing Thor books.

Mighty Avengers ending before its time. It was way more fun than the old-school flavoured Avengers book marvel put in its place.

DC having absolutely no idea what to do with Superman. I get the impression the character is going to languish until Morrison feels spiritually developed enough to write him full-time.

JSA getting beaten into the ground by mediocre-to-bad writing for yet another year. This book was once one of my favourite things ever, now I don't even read it.

 

[Odious Tea]

You know, I'd be okay if this was the Superman Grounded arc.

 

[Mistouze]

I know next week's thread is coming up but something just came up :

Flex Mentallo is back

GET HYPE!

 

[Penguin]

Also seems like MArvel got themselves a new Editor in Chief

Axel Alonso

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/axel-alonso-editor-in-chief-marvel-110104.html

 

[Parallax]

Also seems like MArvel got themselves a new Editor in Chief

Axel Alonso

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/axel-alonso-editor-in-chief-marvel-110104.html

lets see how long it takes for spidey to go back to the status quo

 

[Dead]

Those last 2 posts are like, the greatest one-two punch of awesome comic news thats ever been posted in one of these threads

 

[Splatt]

I hope this means no more huge events ... oh who am I kidding :|