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I thought it would be nice to talk about our favorite comics and maybe learn about different titles that others are reading. You don't have to follow this format, but I thought it would be fun to divide them up in categories like Keepers, On the Fence and Dropped. Keepers are titles that you buy every month and plan on continuing to buy every month. On the Fence books are ones that are currently on your pull list, but you are thinking of letting them go for whatever reason. Dropped titles are books that you are definitly going to remove from your pull list or maybe titles that you have let go of recently. There isn't a General Comics Topic on the site, so unless someone objects, let's not limit our discussion to strictly DC titles. Please tell us a little bit about the comics you're reading to help others decide if it's something they'd be interested in. Thanks!


Keepers
1. All-Star Western - Really fast-paced and crazy fun. Right now Jonah Hex is in modern day Gotham.

2. Batman - Not counting the Villains Month tie ins, the Art and Writing make this one of my favorite books right now!

3. Batman '66 - Just started but so far it's a lot of fun.

4. Danger Girl - This isn't a regular ongoing series, but IDW has been doing one mini-series after another for a while now and I get them all.

5. Daredevil - Mark Waid is tearing it up on this book and I love Chris Samnee's art!

6. Kick-Ass 3 - These issues trickle out every 2 or 3 months. It's a fun book if you don't mind waiting.

7. Thor: God of Thunder - Jason Aaron is one of my favorite comics writers and the artwork has been top-notch so far. The last story arc brought together Thors from 3 different time periods and introduced a new villain who murdered thousands of Gods.

8. All-New X-Men - Cyclops is public enemy No. 1 after the events of AVX. Beast goes back in time and brings the Original 5 X-men to the present to help Scott come to his senses. Jean Grey finds out she's going to die and refuses to go back to her original time. This book has turned me into a major Stuart Immonen fan!

9. Wolverine and the X-Men - Wolverine is headmaster of a school for gifted youngsters. Kitty Pryde, Beast, Iceman & Storm are instructors. This is what X-Men is all about for me, Superhero teachers and students getting into wild adventures. It's a little more light-hearted and the characters are all really endearing.

10. Jupiter's Legacy - Old School heroes and their superpowered, screw-up children fight against eachother over the fate of the world. Should they push humanity aside and run the planet for us, or should they just stick to heroics and let us struggle with issues like Global Warming and the Economic Crisis?

11. Revival - The recently deceased are coming back to life in a small Wisconsin town. They aren't exactly like zombies though, and after they revive they cannot be killed again. The local law enforcement tries to keep control of the situation but the town is about to boil over under the pressure of a government quarantine and the media frenzy. Oh, and there's a psycho killer on the loose.

12. X-Files: Season 10 - picks up right where the TV series ended. Shapeshifting Aliens are after the young boy that Scully put up for adoption years ago. X-Files Creator Chris Carter is attached to the series and so far it's been pretty cool. The art is a little rough looking sometimes but they nail the likenesses of the actors from the show in every panel.

On the Fence

1. Ame-Comi Girls - I like the fast-paced action and the (almost) all-girl cast, but the art has never really felt like Manga or Anime except for #3 several months ago. It's not terrible but I'm losing interest pretty fast.

2. Detective Comics - I was bored to death during the whole Penguin/Emperor Penguin story-line. The Wrath story arc was okay but not great. I love Jason Fabok's artwork and I really dig the Man-Bat backups too, so I'll give it a few more issues.

3. Aquaman - I was just about to lose this title when Throne of Atlantis started so I kept it for a while longer. Now I'm thinking about dropping it again. Johns goes for several issues without getting much acomplished and then tries to cram all the details into 20 pages at the end of a story arc. Every story that features "The Others" has either been a total snooze-fest or I just get too confused to care. I miss Ivan Reis too.

4. Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight - There have only been a few standout issues in this series so far and it's $4.

5. Batman: Lil Gotham - I like the artwork and the stories are cute, but the novelty is wearing off for me. I love how Dustin Nguyen is totally ignoring the New 52 redesigns. If I had a kid I would definitly buy it for them though.

6. Earth 2 - I love the artwork but the story is only so-so. If the current storyline doesn't impress me, this book is off my pull list.

7. Judge Dredd - Started reading it to learn about the character and see if I was missing something. So far I haven't been too impressed. If you've seen one dark, urban dystopian future, you've seen them all.

8. Star Wars - I love the Original Trilogy but SW comics usually don't do much for me for some reason. This stroy takes place between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. The artwork is okay but the ship to ship space battles are never done very well and they don't even attempt to capture the likeness of the actors. If Luke and Wedge both had the same color hair, you couldn't tell them apart.

Dropped

1. Avengers Assemble - Started about the same time as the New 52 and looked like it was going to be new-reader friendly for folks who just saw the Avengers movie. That was not the case. Every issue of this book is a throwaway tie-in to whatever big event Marvel happens to be doing at the moment. It's total crap!

2. Batman: The Dark Knight - This title is kind of a stand-alone Batman series, so you didn't have to keep up with every other Bat-title to follow this one. I was about to drop this when Ethan Van Sciver took over the pencils, but that only lasted a few issues. Now Szymon Kudranski is on it regularly and it's really boring to look at. Two thirds of each panel is blacked out and he hardly ever draws any backgrounds. He does a fraction of the work that any other artist does. Some might say that it's cinematic, but to me it just looks flat and lazy. I know the title is "Dark Knight" but Gregg Hurwitz takes it to a whole new level. It is a bleak and joyless comic series.

3. Batman/Superman - I only started picking this one up because I fell in love with Jae Lee's artwork during the Before Watchmen: Ozy series. This book was confusing enough between the multiple Batmen and Supermen, but now Wonder Woman is inexplicably thrown in the mix. I don't really care enough to try to figure it out anyway.

In no particular order...

Earth-2: On the fence here, while the end to the last issue was surprising in its brutality, I'm not sure I'm crazy about the direction. No spoilers, but I feel like we've done that route before. Plus Robinson leaving might be a good time for me to leave.

Green Lantern: Was on the fence here too since the book wasn't that great the last year or so with Johns. but I enjoyed the Relic one-shot so I'm willing to see Lights Out goes. Might be it after.

Aquaman: Yet another book I'm close to dropping, and Johns departure might again be my departure. Started out great. A little plodding of late. Think Johns is stretching himself too thin with too many books and responsibilities.

Avengers: I love Hickman's crazy sci-fi big feel to his books. His FF run was great, and his Avengers run has been pretty expansive in scope. But I haven't read Infinity yet.

Guardians of the Galaxy: not sure why I'm still reading this other than my loyalty to the Abnett/Lanning version. Bendis and Iron Man equals Space Avengers. Yawn.

Uncanny Avengers: not quite as amazing as Uncanny X-Force but Remender is still one of Marvel's best.

Amazing Spiderman: the whole SpideyOck thing was interesting but it's sort of run it's course with me. Still like Slott, and Phil Urich as Hobgoblin was fun. Not sure where everything will end, but I hope Peter returns soon.

Batman: the first year on this was epic. Snyder is still great, haven't cared as much of late. But book gets a long leash from me.

Superman Unchained: probably the first Superman book I've found remotely interesting in 30 years.

Walking Dead: kind of ho hum of late, but same deal as Batman, long leash.

Justice League: was ready to leave this book, hasn't been very exciting. Forever Evil needs to be really good to keeo me around.

Justice League of America: same as JL, only picked it up for Stargirl.

That's about it. Dropped a lot of titles in the last few months, probably not done either.

Oh, I forgot about Walking Dead and Saga. I read those both in trade and I love them both!

I haven't been reading Avengers, but I was sad to see Hickman off Fantastic Four when Marvel Now started. I gave Fraction's FF books a shot but didn't like the direction he went.

I really liked Dan Slott's run on She-Hulk and started reading ASM several months before they killed off Peter Parker. I dropped it after #700.

Yeah, Hickman's FF was great. I dropped Fraction after the first issue.

I picked up Saga 1 because it was a $1. I actually collected up to issue 6 and hadn't read it yet so I dropped it. Then I heard the reviews were great the first few issues were selling for crazy money. So I started collecting again at issue 9 and went back and got 7 and 8. By issue 12 I still hadn't read any of it so I just gave up. I have a real hard time staying interested in anything non-DC or Marvel. Fatale was pretty good, but just lost interest after five or six issues. I even avoided Walking Dead for the first 90 issues, but when season 2 ended I just needed more. So I started collecting then, and went back and got 90% the first prints from issue 9-up (will probably never own 1-8).

So you still haven't read Saga? It's not the greatest thing ever, but it's pretty freakin' awesome. There is some unnecessary sex stuff that wouldn't be appropriate for kids and might be too much for people who are really sensitive, but aside from that it seems like it would be a real crowd-pleaser. I can't imagine someone wouldn't at least kinda like it if they were interested in the sci-fi and fantasy genres.

How many copies did they print of Walking Dead #1? A dealer told me that he had bought one for $300 and could resell it for $1000 if he had it professionally graded. That was back when the first season of the show was wrapping up. Earlier this year Tony Moore was at a con in KC and while I was in line I spoke to some dude who bought the issue that introduced Michonne for $250. Too rich for my blood, but I like reading it in trade anyway. It would be hard for me to only read 20 pages at a time.

this is my current list:

DC-
Batman
Batman and Robin (or whoever is in the issue)
Green Lantern
Aquaman
Justice League of America

Marvel-
Superior Spiderman (I know people hate on it, but ive been with it since the start of BIG TIME, and Ive enjoyed the journey.)

Daredevil ( I have NO love for the character, but this is the best written superhero book ive read in a while. I picked up #1 as an experiment, and Ive been with it since. Simply amazing, and it has made me a Daredevil fan.)

Other-
Crossed(I love it so much!!! in fact, sometimes I feel bad, because I enjoy it, for such horrible things happening, I really have a blast)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (CITY FALL has been awesome)

I leave room for events and random stuff, im currently reading FOREVER EVIL and INFINITY, and go back and forth wtih the IDW Transformers books. I get SEX, but havent read the issues yet.

I recently dropped both SONIC and MEGAMAN, but will probably pick up the missing issues for the latter, maybe on a back issue day. with so much stuff going on in DC last month, I had to cut down. I was getting BATMAN INC., as well, but Im pretty sure thats done.

Daredevil is SOOOO GREAT! I caught onto this title a little late. I think I started back around issue 6 because it was getting lots of good reviews and then I had to go back and get the first 5. I have always liked the character and I had a bunch of Frank Miller's old DD stuff in trade, but I think this is even better. I was really sad to see Rivera go on the pencils, there were a few issues where it looked a kinda rough, but since Samnee has taken over it's been incredible IMO. I like how Matt Murdock is still able to have fun despite all the villains and personal tragedy that's being heaped on him all the time. Superhero comics take themselves entirely too seriously nowadays and this one is really refreshing. I want an "I'm not Daredevil" T-shirt so badly!

Thats the thing, Ive never been huge on his art, Mark Waid is an ok writer, but not one of my favorites, and Ive never been interested in the Daredevl mythos.

And thats why the book is SO good. It converted me, someone who had not even the slightest interest in ANY aspect of the book. I could say all my favorite parts of the story so far, but it wouldnt do it justice. Lets just say, MoleMan is a CREEP.

Keeps-
-Batman: DC's most consistent title by far. Night of the Owls is still the standout arc thus far, IMO, but the quality is pretty high on a continual basis.
-Swamp-Thing: And then there's this gem. Seriously, if you're into Moore's Swampy, you owe it to yourself to check out this title.
-Justice League Dark: Another pretty fantastic title, although "Sexy Constantine" is something I could do without. Still, the characters mesh well together, and I really dig the art.
-Wonder Woman: Another comic that is pretty consistent, although it doesn't have Snyder's writing.
-All Star Western: If you were reading this before the reboot, it's the same exact book.
-Green Lantern Corps: Ditto. Except they sometimes delve into DCnU stuff.
-The Avengers: Yeah, this one's mostly about the art. I'm not digging Infinity too much, but it's way, way better than DC's Justice League, which I've dropped entirely.
-Ultimate Books X-Men: It was this or Cornell's Wolverine...and one issue of that was enough. It's not my favorite X-Men book ever, but it'll do until Marvel remembers how golden the X-Men were in the 80's.
-The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West: Bizarre, but I love it. The art's fantastic, and it's the kind of fun, inventive reboot of the Oz world that Disney's Franco-fied piece of crap wasn't.
-The X-Files: I loved this show, even when it got really, really goofy and T-1000 showed up. "Season 10" is back to the consistency of the fifth and sixth season, at least, and the art is phenomenal.
-Fables: Always consistent, and the one title from Vertigo that survived the the reboot with quality 100% intact.
-Invincible: I've been with this book from the beginning, even when it dips in quality, and I'll stick with it until the end. Unlike Kirkman's other book, this one isn't continually rehashing old plots to please the fans who jumped on during the premiere of a very popular TV show.
-Animal Man: Forgot about this one. I really miss the original art still, but it's easily on the same level it was when Morrison wrote the character.

Just Dropped:
-Justice League. Eh, it's too expensive, and the quality just isn't on par with Batman - I'll still check into the trades, but I'm done with the book itself.
-Superior Spider-Man: Okay, my trial run with this is done. I still don't care much for Spidey, and this title seems like they're reeeeeaaaaaally reaching for plots.
-Batwoman: Yup, I hate doing it because I feel like I'm buying into hype, but when you have an aces creative team (which Batwoman did) and you just let 'em walk? Uh-uh.
-Hack/Slash: I was holding off on the final editions of this one only because I'm REALLY gonna miss it. But, alas, it's over and done now...sigggggghhhhhh....

I've dumped a bunch with more dumping to happen soon...haha

Revival (intrigued from the promo, not to mention I live 40 minutes away from Wausau, WI)
Justice League
Star Wars
Velvet (when it comes out)
Pretty Deadly (when it comes out)
Batman
The Star Wars (based on the George Lucas original screenplay draft)
Superman/Wonder Woman
Batman/Superman
Batman '66
Batman: Black & White
Smallville (still a sucker for that show...god I hate myself!)
Superman: Unchained
Jupiter's Legacy
Walking Dead

I think that's it...time to cut back some more cuz I know I have more on my list just can't remember them now!