I still go with Marvel- I think they have a better stable of characters than DC. (DC has my single favourite character, Batman, but they have loads of others that don't interest me.) But I began to waver for a minute there because DC does its events SO much better than Marvel.

 

Just compare the brilliance of Blackest Night, just about the best executed event ever, with the total turd that was Fear Itself. And it's not just that one event, in general DCs events are much better managed. With Marvel in particular being so relentlessly event oriented ever since Disassembled, this is a major point. Basically every Marvel event since (and including) Disassembled has taken a really exciting premise, started really well and then fizzles out with a narrative that becomes increasingly diluted and patchy. Throw in big changes to the status quo that are quickly undone and the obligatory deaths that are always undone if it's a character anyone cares about and that's all Marvel events.

 

But DC on the other hand, if you read something like Final Crisis, (as long as you read the tie-ins too) comes togethers like a symphony.

 

Speaking of tie-ins, that's another thing. Blackest Night had nine core issues and a total of 82 related comics. (Of these you could be satisfied with the nine Blackest Night, ten Green Lantern and nine Green Lantern corps issues, the rest just add details, though the 18 Black Lantern Corps issues were pretty handy.)

 

So that's still a lot of comics, far too many for anyone to buy.

 

But Fear itself, had 186 issues. Seven core issues, 179 tie-ins. Now the problem with this is not just that it is absolutely unreasonable to expect anyone to get their hands on 186 comics (it shouldn't be a life's work to follow an event) but that Fear Itself despite having 100 issues more than Blackest Night, told much less of a story and had much less impact. It was just pants from an editorial perspective. Also if you got the core books of Blackest Night you would be OK- the core books of Fear Itself simply didn't tell the story, you HAD to get tie-ins. But which ones, there's 179 of them! A lot of people just despaired and walked away and they were right because Fear Itself turned out be a turkey. (However, the post Fear Itself title, The Fearless was much better than the main event).

 

Oh and don't get me even started on how Spiderman has been handled in the past few years.

 

And I don't think we have enough monthly Avengers titles.

 

So it's Marvel still but with a sour taste in my mouth. A few more episodes like that and I could be a DC fan after all.

Such a boss. Love him to death. 

What the hell does that make me? I could never financially handle collecting comic books, so I've been content with using CDisplay and lots of images. It hurts my heart to recall that I once parted with 8 USD for a copy of Moore's The Killing Joke. I could never see myself paying more than a quarter for any single comic issue at this point. 

I'd really like to get into the Sandman series because of the things I've heard, but I'm not ever going to pay hundreds of dollars for a handful of graphic novels. The local stores don't have it and the nearest store that does is charging 20 dollars per graphic novel or more. 

 

Over at DC though, they did have the Ambush Bug comics. Almost as funny as Howard The Duck, but HTD had more of a philosophical point.

 

The other thing is that Marvel has the lion's share of the classic pencillers. Gene Colan, John Buscema, Jack Kirby, John Romita, Bill Sienkiewicz*, Charles Vess and more.

 

However, today DC has Doug Mahnke whose stuff I really dig.

 

 

*You know you're talking to the elite/hardcore when they can spell Sienkiewicz.

Wouldn't Archie be worst? 

Iván

 

I once wrote a mock article about how comic fans across the land were incredibly shocked to learnt that Archie had still not been canceled.

 

Once it became clear that a threesome between Archie, Betty and Veronica was never gonna happen, it lost its appeal.

 

Marvel absolutley demolishes DC in the movie department, though, even what with Nolan reviving the Bat-franchise.  The Avengers was just freaking amazing.

 

Some people think including Vertigo is "cheating" as Marvel doesn't have an equivalent, but Fables on Vertigo is almost certainly the best comic currently being produced.

 

I've actually heard rumors that the upcoming Flash and Superman movies are going to lead into a Justice League film in 2015 or so, like Marvel did with the Avengers franchise.  It's still just a rumor, though, and if they did do that they'd have to reboot Batman again.

 

What really made me cross was Green Lantern. Green Lantern has fantastic material for a series of movies, but they just screwed it up. The problem wasn't Reynolds- I think he was a good choice actually. The problem was a rotten script and clueless direction.

 

BF: Yes, that is Daredevil and as for "anyone remembering him", he is one of Marvel's most enduring characters and is quite regularly among their most critically acclaimed franchises.

Didn't kniow we were talking about the films.

Hellblazer

Swamp Thing

Sweet Tooth

Sandman

The Unwritten

Fables

Jack Of Fables

The Invisibles

The Exterminators

Doom Patrol

Lucifer

Preacher

Transmetropolitan

Y The Last Man

Scalped

Sandman Mystery Theatre

Shade The Changing Man

The Dreaming

American Vampire

The Losers

 

And there's others still (like DMZ and Northlanders which I didn't forget, I don't like them, but I know other people do.)

 

Frank Miller's Daredevil run (Vol 1 158-191) is necessary reading for anyone who wants to understand the recent evolution of comics and is still considered one of the highpoints of superhero tales. But the character has remained critically respected with a run of writers (Kevin Smith, Brian Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Andy Diggle) that have kept the comic worthwhile. (OK so Shadowland was a bit pants but it was no Fear Itself.)

 

So good, all of these. I'd also add The Boys to the list.

Nicolia Dante is on his final story, he has been through the wringer in previous stories. Durham red is back with Carlos Ezquerra on art duties as is Strontium Dog. In my opinion Sinister/ Dexter hasn't bee good for years where it was once superb. Major events occuring at the moment in Dredd. A huge story arc.

 

PS You forgot Ace Trucking Company.

We know.

 

...Oh, I forgot ABC Warriors and Slaine - they were good too.

 

I've got a lot of old Marvel comics in cheap black and white reprints and no kidding, a lot of them look better. Until the 90s, colouring could be pretty suspect, especially something like the Hulk where there were all sorts of crimes against the eye regarding his purple and green colour scheme. In black and white you get nice clean lines and bold inks, makes it so much easier to appreciate the artists skill. Colouring can distract you from the quality of the pencilling.

2000AD is £2.40 I think, not sure about the Megazine as I simply cannot afford both. Both ABC Warriors and Slaine are still going though, as returning stories. depends how busy Pat Mills is I suppose.

 

AND trailers for Batman 3 and the Spiderman reboot. Both look good- you expect that of Batman though, while Spiderman seems like it might be an improvement on the previous series. (Which isn't saying much if you're talking about Spiderman 3... what a turd that was... going to the premiere of that was just about the most inadvertently terrible birthday gift I ever got.)

I think my favourite character is Deathlok the Demolisher.  The internal conversations he has with his in-built computer are pure pathos:

What do you mean "Eh whatever"? Are you surprised? I don't get it. I  have made no argument about money either. don't know what you're getting at.

Quite. I doubt we have similar tastes at all.

 

While I spent my youth in Canada, I did more or less read some US comics, but my European heritage made that I concentrated on Belgo-French commics... Soo i kind of never looked at the editors.

 

I've known the CD and Marvel names for years, but I can't really see who publishes what heroes/series

 

Could anyone list of few of the main ones (not just the old classics, but the new "best sellers") per publishing house? Thanks

 

 

 

Strangely enough, I got into North American comics authors in the 90's, once I crossed back the pond? Seth, Robinson, Chester Brown, Rabagliatti, Beaulieu... but most of these guys are loners, auto-didacts and autobiograhical. They're just not representative iof the US comics of today and yesteryears