Anyone here read American or European comics?

Non-anime/manga-related TV, movies, books, and comics, especially but not limited to pre-2000 titles
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Char Aznable
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Re: Anyone here read American or European comics?

Post by Char Aznable »

A new comic shop opened up a few months back, and they have tons of back issues for $1 each. So I've been buying up a ton of Captain America issues from the late '80s/early '90s. Fun stuff. The '90s Marvel era gets a bad rap, and rightly so--but prior to 1994, they were still printing some great comics. I just finished reading the 6 or 7 issue story arc where Cap gets turned into a werewolf...otherwise known as Capwolf. Of course, being the '90s, there's the obligatory Wolverine cameo, for no apparent reason. Great stuff though. I miss when the comics were genuinely fun.

I've been trying to read some of the recent Detective Comics and Batwoman issues. Not bad, but not great either. I think DC's Rebirth stuff is better than the New 52, but I hate how every story-arc is made for the sole purpose of filling the eventual trade paperback (ie six issues, with a stretch out plot that could fit into two). You can't pick up a single issue of a comic anymore and get a one-off story. It's a shame...and the writing in comics today feels so rushed and uneven (not to mention the art), even when compared to a decade ago.
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llj
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Re: Anyone here read American or European comics?

Post by llj »

Char Aznable wrote:A new comic shop opened up a few months back, and they have tons of back issues for $1 each. So I've been buying up a ton of Captain America issues from the late '80s/early '90s. Fun stuff. The '90s Marvel era gets a bad rap, and rightly so--but prior to 1994, they were still printing some great comics. I just finished reading the 6 or 7 issue story arc where Cap gets turned into a werewolf...otherwise known as Capwolf. Of course, being the '90s, there's the obligatory Wolverine cameo, for no apparent reason. Great stuff though. I miss when the comics were genuinely fun.

I've been trying to read some of the recent Detective Comics and Batwoman issues. Not bad, but not great either. I think DC's Rebirth stuff is better than the New 52, but I hate how every story-arc is made for the sole purpose of filling the eventual trade paperback (ie six issues, with a stretch out plot that could fit into two). You can't pick up a single issue of a comic anymore and get a one-off story. It's a shame...and the writing in comics today feels so rushed and uneven (not to mention the art), even when compared to a decade ago.
The Clone Saga is where Marvel really started to jump the shark in the 90s.

I dunno. I think there's a point where after reading X amount of superhero titles, you can think "I think I've read all there is that can be read now."

Today I may pick one up to look more at the craft than the title. There are a lot of technically REALLY great artists out there now, moreso than there was in the 90s. Lots of really good photorealist artists. I look at some panels and think "I wonder how long this artist took to draw this." But I do wish they would stop trying to be movies on paper. I sense a distinct move from mainstream comics to try NOT to be comics. Lots of "widescreen" panels.

90s Image Comics gets a bad rap today, but I haven't seen anyone attempt to re-evaluate their reputation as a kind of crazy era of kitsch. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on in some of those comics. I was flipping through some WildCATS issues and the hyperbolic layouts still fascinate me. I "get" what attracted me to them, even if the actual art styles aren't to my taste anymore. J Scott Campbell came of age in the peak of this era and his stuff is interesting because his work is a summation of all that was good and bad of the 90s Image Comics heyday. There's a real dumb giddiness to his Danger Girl comics that is fun to look at. Those oversized Danger Girl comics reprints made me re-evaluate him as more interesting than just a hack. I haven't looked at his recent stuff though. I'm of the understanding he's not as active these days except for the odd cover or two.
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Re: Anyone here read American or European comics?

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That said, I have to add that I am not a fan of J Scott Campbell's GI Joe covers. In fact I get extremely annoyed whenever I see them.
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Re: Anyone here read American or European comics?

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llj wrote: 90s Image Comics gets a bad rap today, but I haven't seen anyone attempt to re-evaluate their reputation as a kind of crazy era of kitsch. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on in some of those comics. I was flipping through some WildCATS issues and the hyperbolic layouts still fascinate me. I "get" what attracted me to them, even if the actual art styles aren't to my taste anymore. J Scott Campbell came of age in the peak of this era and his stuff is interesting because his work is a summation of all that was good and bad of the 90s Image Comics heyday. There's a real dumb giddiness to his Danger Girl comics that is fun to look at. Those oversized Danger Girl comics reprints made me re-evaluate him as more interesting than just a hack. I haven't looked at his recent stuff though. I'm of the understanding he's not as active these days except for the odd cover or two.
I'll admit - I was a total mark for nearly everything Image printed between 1992 and 1997. WildC.A.T.S and Gen13 were probably my favorite books of that time period, even if I was voraciously reading other Image books, Valiant's re-makes of those classic Dell/Gold Key books, any and every piece of trash Marvel would put an X on and Batman/Detective comics. I never realized that those books had a bad rep outside of "product of their time". Of course, I haven't really read cape comics since the late 1990s, including some of those favorites.

I've been interested in looking to see if there are some trade collections of some of those books (WildC.A.T.S and Gen13 particularly, but also some of the X-Book crossover stuff) from my youth and then ditch all of my single issues that are literally buried at my parents' house.
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llj
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Re: Anyone here read American or European comics?

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The joke these days is that all the 90s Image comics can be found in the 25 cent bins. Even the trade paperbacks. :lol:

I do have one TPB collecting the first 5 issues of WildCATs
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Re: Anyone here read American or European comics?

Post by Drew_Sutton »

So, during an Easter gathering this weekend, my folks left us with two long boxes of comics. Not really a gift, because these are all comics I bought 20 years ago. I now have comics I haven't seen in almost as long that I have little interest in having anymore, not to mention, my wife and I don't have the space for them. I've put a link in my last buy/Sell thread here.

Nothing's priced yet and I am willing to do 3xF deep (Friends, Family, Forum Posters) discounts on what these might be "worth" so if anyone is interested, PM me an offer.
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Char Aznable
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Re: Anyone here read American or European comics?

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The Clone Saga is where Marvel really started to jump the shark in the 90s.
I always cite the Clone Saga as the exact spot where I fell off the Marvel train. And from there it just went from bad to worse. Before the Clone Saga, I had really been enjoying the Spider-Man comics, even the Maximum Carnage storyline. Nowadays, I can go back and re-read some of those Clone Saga trade paperbacks and not be quite as off-put as I was back in the '90s (of course, it's still an awful story). But I'll always hate how they resurrected Norman Osborn/the original Green Goblin.

I was never as big into DC Comics as I was Marvel, but the Death of Superman was their jumping the shark moment for me. I enjoyed some of the early '90s Batman comics, even when they introduced Bane and did that overlong Knightfall arc. During Knightfall though, it all just kind of fell apart...having to read numerous issues of Detective Comics, Batman, Catwoman, Robin, Shadow of the Bat, and Azrael just to get one full story killed any interest I had in the whole thing.

Completely agree about J Scott Campbell's GI Joe covers. All the characters' faces look misshapen.
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Re: Anyone here read American or European comics?

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Char Aznable wrote:I was never as big into DC Comics as I was Marvel, but the Death of Superman was their jumping the shark moment for me. I enjoyed some of the early '90s Batman comics, even when they introduced Bane and did that overlong Knightfall arc. During Knightfall though, it all just kind of fell apart...having to read numerous issues of Detective Comics, Batman, Catwoman, Robin, Shadow of the Bat, and Azrael just to get one full story killed any interest I had in the whole thing.
I had a similar impression - I thought the 'Death of Superman' was pretty impactful but then they did the follow up where they brought him back to life - yeesh. I also liked Nightfall a lot but mostly because I would up reading the complete story through a TPB and collecting the singles as back issues. I've always preferred getting everything in a collection like that, when they cross over multiple titles (Marvel did this a lot with X-Men and Spider-Man, too, as I'm sure you remember).

Oh, and I liked Maximum Carnage as a story, too but I was a kid and Venom and anything like him was the shit.
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Char Aznable
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Re: Anyone here read American or European comics?

Post by Char Aznable »

Drew_Sutton wrote:I had a similar impression - I thought the 'Death of Superman' was pretty impactful but then they did the follow up where they brought him back to life - yeesh. I also liked Nightfall a lot but mostly because I would up reading the complete story through a TPB and collecting the singles as back issues. I've always preferred getting everything in a collection like that, when they cross over multiple titles (Marvel did this a lot with X-Men and Spider-Man, too, as I'm sure you remember).

Oh, and I liked Maximum Carnage as a story, too but I was a kid and Venom and anything like him was the shit.
I vividly remember buying that Death of Superman issue that came in the white bag with the red "S" on it. It was pretty exciting at the time, but then DC introduced the four different Supermen--each with their own monthly title--and I dropped the storyline just before they brought Superman back with that crazy black and silver costume.

The trade paperbacks have really revitalized my interest in a lot of these titles, especially ones that were infamous for those multi-title crossovers. Marvel's also been releasing some great new TPBs under their "Epic Collection" line, which are all in full-color at around 450-500 pages. Pretty cheap on Amazon too (around $25 each). I love that they're finally reprinting some of the '80s Captain America stories and some late '80s/early '90s Iron Man and Spider-Man.

Same here with Venom. I was big into him as a kid, even getting suckered into buying some of those solo Venom mini-series titles...which started out okay, but some of them got really bad.
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Re: Anyone here read American or European comics?

Post by runesaint »

So, the Valerian movie didn't do so well (I enjoyed it all the same... even if they ramped up sexual tension and cut the ages of the main characters in half ..or a third). Still, hearing about the movie lead me to pick up 3 of the translations of the French comics from the 1970s... so I am grateful for that.

Out of random curiosity, did anyone else see Valerian?
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