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Seeing as how this weekend is Free Comic Book Day, I thought I might help spread the word and also find out if anyone here read comic books

I'm just wondering if anyone here reads comic books or graphic novels here. I'm not talking about manga, more the stuff that comes out of America and even Europe - nothing against manga but another thread can be started for that by someone else

So if anyone picks up stuff I'd be interested to know what you're currently reading.

I'm currently buying, in tradepaperback format because it's significantly cheaper for me at Kinokuniya:
- New Thunderbolts. Not exactly my favourite but I liked the previous volume a lot so I like seeing characters like MACH-4 and Songbird step up to leadership roles. And I like Zemo so I'm glad he's back
- Astonishing X-Men. Just bought the hardcover. I like Joss Whedon and it's a good book but it's a bit of a disappointment in that I expected so much more from him
- Young Avengers. My favourite monthly book right now. Love the characters, love the dialogue. I like it for respecting and building on previous Avengers continuity whilst doing something new with it.
- Teen Titans. I'm kind of a few trades behind because I've dropped it but with the Doom Patrol appearing in the current arc, I'm going to do my best to catch up. Quality on this book kinda varies for me though. Sometimes I'm digging teh hell out of it and sometimes it's boring as ********/>- Seven Soldiers. Most brilliant thing I've read this year, though I'm a big fan of Grant Morrison so it's not much surprise. Didn't care much for the first volume but I really dug the hell out of the second volume. I love seeing as these random events in the individual characters miniseries just criss-crossing and often unintentionally affecting the outcome of the other superheroes in the other books. Klarion with his wide-eyed enthusiasm at the wonders of our world is my favourite mini out of the Soldiers books
- Top 10. DC/ Wildstorm was hopeless at getting the trades to Season 1 out quickly but the recent minis have all been collected pretty quick. Loved the more light-hearted feel of Smax recently and the explanation of why he was such a jerk in Season 1. I'dve 49ers right now but there seems to have been a mix up in orders at Kinokuniya and the "Beyond the Farthest Precinct" mini should be out in a few months. I love the mix of police action in a world of superheroes
- Solo. I get this around 50% of the time, depending if I like the artist involved. Too bad DC's recently cancelled it but the concept's really good, letting the artist do whatever he/ she wants for 48 pages
- Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol. Yeah DC are very slow getting this out. But each volume is always something to look forward to. Each volume is weird and crazy and everything a comic should be because this type of weird stuff always works best in comics. And every storyarc always ends with a really cool twist and doesn't involve the Doom Patrol beating the crap out of a villain but finding a different solution to end the conflict. One of my favourite comic book runs ever

And if anyone's interested about Free Comic Book Day you can check for a participating comic store in your area by going to:
http://www.freecomicbookday.com/fcbd_global.asp

So yeah anyone here buy any comics or graphic novels? Have any faves or a pull list? Favourite store? Want to rant on a writer butchering continuity? Looking forward to X3 and/ or Superman Returns? Come here and post

Actually what I meant to say is this upcoming weekend is Free Comic Book Day. So you didn't miss it. It would also be funny me mentioning it when it's passed so yeah you can relax over it xd My fault, it's been a long day sweatdrop



Are you liking Annihilation? The only Marvel space books I've picked up was the recent Captain Marvel book which I liked but he's not involved in this crossover so I'm still deciding on whether I should pick this up. I'd just like to hear some fan reaction before deciding if I should eventually get the trade

Likewise for Civil War. I recently picked up all the Infinite Crisis miniseries and thought they were a waste of money so I'm still unsure of whether I'll pick up Civil War because crossovers can sometimes be a lot of fun or they can be an excuse to have a whole bunch of characters turn up in a book that's nothing more than a marketing exercise



I used to be a big Marvel fan but I've kinda drifted towards more DC books recently. Not sure why really. Though Young Avengers is reminding me why I loved Marvel, in particularly Avengers, when I was growing up and I'm really looking forward to Mike Carey on X-Men

Not a big fan of Hush personally. Love Jim Lee but hate Loeb, except for when he's paired with Tim Sale. Still Hush is a popular arc, especially with new Batman readers, so I can't really complain with what Loeb did.

Of the four Annihilation comics I have read, it is looking as though it might get interesting. At this point in time I am really just trying to figure out who the characters are because I have not really read much of Marvel Space.

Yet, the one I really want I can not find. Nova, which is based around the sole survivor of the NovaCorps destruction, looks frantic. Having almost infinite power and then having nothing, what more could you want.

Now Civil War, I am interested to really see how it plans out because as well all know from the best crossover - SECRET WARS - that Marvel can pull it off. And from some of the lead up information I have been reading, it seems as though it will be good.

But what is with that new Spiderman suit? It just looks too funky to be Spidey.

Slave Labor? Never heard of them. Although I have really been out of the loop for a while.

Sounds interesting. I do like Super-skrull a bit also so I'll just decide when Marvel announces the trades on this thing




Best crossover? Don't you mean Age of Apocalypse xd I've yet to read Secret Wars though I've seen it in my library so I'll hopefully get round to it eventually

It does sound more interesting than that House of M thing but with this Infinite Crisis stuff at DC, I think I'm suffering a little burn-out on the whole crossover thing right now

And Millar's a good writer when he wants to be. He does sound excited on this project and he always covers anything with a political angle pretty well. But the last thing I picked up by him, the Marvel knights Spider-man, I thought was just awful.

I like the new Spidey suit. The pincer and Spider legs look kinda weird but I like the suit overall. And it'll likely be removed by next year anyway with Spidey 3 coming out so I think it's a nice, fun change for a short while


I've heard of Slave Labor but haven't picked up any of their books. I tend to drift towards the more mainstream superhero stuff. But I do like picking up the occasional Vertigo book and I like reading all-ages books from the small press like Bone and, Herobear and the Kid.

Sure I'll do my best

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/fcbd_global.asp
If you want to know if a store is participating in your area, click the link, choose Australia from the countries obviously, then select a City from that thing that pops up

The free comics are divided into two categories:
- Gold titles
http://www.freecomicbookday.com/sponsors_gold.asp
These are from the big publishers, Marvel, DC and a few others. All stores participating will have these titles come in. Marvel's also publishing their first original story this year as part of FCBD as previously they offered only reprints of old material

- Silver titles
http://www.freecomicbookday.com/sponsors_silver.asp
Here you get some of the smaller press companies. Certain stores will get these also. I prefer to pick up one of these books just to try something different. A late inclusion here is also a reprint of Superman/ Batman #1 from DC which they're offering to stores picking up the Silver titles


Ok how this will work will depend entirely on the store you go to. I live in Sydney and Kings Comics are partcipating again - 4th year I think now. I can't speak for other stores but last year Kings worked like this: go in, look at the comics they have behind some glass case at the counter, ask for it and get it for free. That was it and they had a limit of 1 free comic per customer. You don't have to buy anything but I'll generally pick something up because while the consumer gets these things for free, stores often have to pay a small amount for them - not a lot, it's something like a few cents each, but the stores here also have to pay for shipping these things down here.

Kings have also been advertising that they're having a sale on the day, not sure if it's everything, or select items. Kings will also carry all titles again this year, as their website at http://www.kingscomics.com/ lists Scott Pilgrim, which is the Silver title I'll hopefully get, as being available on the day.

Best thing to do is if you know a store's partcipating from the link above, ask them ahead of time or just go in on the day and see what's happening. Some of the comic fans on this site that live in America often get a pile of free books. Kings don't do that but maybe other stores are nicer and might give more than 1. I also had one of my friends go to Kings few days after the FCBD that was on 2 years ago and they gave him a free Heroclix of a Marvel character.


I've never read Cerebus before but I read Lying in the Gutters, a comic column every week and there was something on the Cerebus trades:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=2418
It's towards the bottom of the page but the publisher of the trades has gone bankrupt. The writer of the article says that you may want to pick them ASAP in case they're unable to be reprinted.

Yeah Super skrull is a lot of fun. Though I only really cared for him in Captain Marvel. I've never read him elsewhere which is why I'm interested to see how he's written by someone other than Peter david




I've only read issue 1 of it because I'm waiting for the trade and I only picked up that issue last week because Kings had Geoff Johns and Phil Jimenez come in for a signing biggrin So far it seems more of a disagreement between the 3 on how they should work together and how they should trust each other. Batman and Superman don't trust Wonder Woman after she snapped Maxwell Lord's neck in The OMAC Project mini. Her warrior training means she's not afraid to cross that line if she has to and Maxwell Lord was intent on using Superman as his pawn, through mind control, in controlling the metahuman population. Batman thinks Superman isn't doing enough saying the only time Superman inspired anyone was when he was dead.

The lead-in miniseries had other stuff like all the villains uniting together to form a Secret Society, the Spectre going on a rampage and destroying a few of the magic users in the DCU and a big interplanetary war between Rann and Thanagar that has a whole bunch of other space races aligning themselves to one race or another.

The main Infinite Crisis book also has the Superman of Earth-2 coming back after DC wiped the whole alternate Earth thing in the 80s and a few of those characters from the alternate Earths

But yeah I didn't really enjoy the lead-in minis to Infinite Crisis too much. Most people have mixed reactions on the whole thing. Borrow them if you're interested in seeing where the DC Universe is going but I don't think they're worth paying for.




Nah it was all the X-books in 94. There was a lot of planning between all the writers of the books which is why I think it worked. And I always love those stories with dystopic futures as all the heroes join together to make that final stand. It did introduce X-Man as well as Holocaust, Sugar man (who was lame) and Dark beast, all of whom jumped over to the main Marvel U after its conclusion. It also had popular renditions of Blink, Sabretooth and Morph, who've since been regulars in Exiles and a popular rendition of Sunfire, so much so that they've taken his costume design from this storyline and given it to him in the main Marvel U now that he's a Horseman of Apocalypse

I thought they brought Venom in plausibly in the Spidey cartoon in the 90s with John Jameson picking up an unknown space rock, only to have it go crazy when re-entering the earth and then crashing into the river in New York - okay maybe the ship could've chosen a better area to land in xd But then it got Spider-man to free the astronauts and have this unknown black ooze across his back after he washes up on shore and figures it's just nothing. Then later that evening after falling asleep finding himself on a building with the black suit on. I liked it and it was my first intro to Venom as a kid




I've never read Sensational. Spidey was one of those characters I dug the hell out of him growing up but I've struggled getting back into the book since. I've tried with Straczynski on Amazing and Bendis on Ultimate but I just can't maintain interest in either. Also tried Millar on Marvel Knights Spidey and those early issues were just awful. I think that Marvel Knights title is the one that's recently had the title change to Sensational Spider-man. I love Peter David so I want to check out his current work on the Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-man book but I just don't have the money sad

I saw the solicitation on that Evolve or Die trade. It's actually pretty well-priced. But yeah wallet's not very kind right now. And I've also heard different reviews on the story. Some like it, some dislike the whole magic/ mythical angle being put into Spidey in this story, some just hate Reggie Hudlin's issues, others thought the early issues did nothing happen then the last issue tried to fit too much in. Though most of the Spidey fans on this messgeboard seemed to like it




Yeah can't wait for this movie either. Though there seems to be a lot going on. The mutation being a disease story and a cure for mutation that was in Whedon's Astonishing X-Men arc is in the movie. The Golden Gate bridge being ripped apart by Magneto from Morrison's Planet X arc is in the movie. And then there's some Jean going Dark Phoenix by blowing doors open was in the trailer, and there's Morlocks, Juggernaut and now Sentinels. I just hope they can all fit it in well

And on the Sentinels:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSCfrPxnD1I
There's a fastball special in the movie whee

I've only read Jenkins when he's paired with Jae Lee. I have a few issues of their Inhumans book but I didn't get to read them in a proper order and I'm having gaps in my collection but most people think it's quite good. Their Sentry mini-series is pretty good also once you get past the bogus marketing Marvel used on the book. A lot of the main Marvel characters liek Reed, Spidey and Tony show up in that book. I haven't checked out the recent Sentry miniseries with Jenkins and Romita Jr so I can't really comment on that.

I'm not too big a fan of Ramos. A few people here are big fans of his though. I liked his early Wildstorm stuff but not a big fan of the more distorted art style he's been doing recently. If you like it though he's now the regular artist on the Wolverine monthly




There's 4 trades on AoA. First 2 are out, 3rd's out soon, 4th should be out eventually. The first trade's a lot of filler that explains how of the background of the universe but it does have the important X-Men: Alpha 1-Shot that sets the rest of the series up

I'll just keep searching my library for Secret Wars. I know it's there but it's always borrowed. It must be pretty popular




Sounds interesting. I've previously ignored it but I'll flick through it when I go to the shop tomorrow for FCBD




I'm the opposite. I need promos otherwise I lose interest in the project

Superman trailer also came out recently:
http://supermanreturns.warnerbros.com/trailer.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4IOoyrfi0s

I had to use Youtube because I couldn't get the original site to load. I am in heart with Singer now. Spacey is so perfect as Luthor in the trailer. I was more excited about X3 previously but I can't wait for both now

Some preview art by Ramos on Wolvie:
http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69009

I also forgot that Jenkins is writing the Civil War: Frontline miniseries that's coming out related to the big event. IIRC it's from a journalist's point-of-view on the whole event, with one of them being Ben Urich




Peter David's a pretty good writer and I loved how he balanced action and humour in Captain Marvel volume 3. He seems like he'd be a great fit on Spidey with his type of humour seeing as how Spidey often spouts witty stuff during battles and I'd love to check this book out eventually because he hasn't disappointed me yet and I think he could make me excited on a Spidey book again


[qupte]I should be able to find up the information from Marvel.com and possibly order it from there. I think they might have just released a "complete" collection of AoA.

Yeah that complete volume is what I'm referring to. Except it's 4 complete collections and I think each volume is like 300 pages


I stopped by my store for FCBD today except I got there like 4pm and just about every book was gone, even most of the small press ones I wanted crying I picked up Amelia Rules which I've never heard of but it turned out to be a fun, all ages book. I doubt I'll pick up more of it but it was still a nice read with some really funny scenes