Kev Smith delighted.

Spiffy?

Only if the indy, non-big two books are what are selling the most.

Interesting. That isn't even counting digital sales, which is how I do all my buying now. I only buy a few titles on the day of release, (the rest I grab on sale), so it isn't worth it to make a trip down to the local shop. Plus, I much prefer having them on my tablet instead of having to store long boxes.

More like the content owners are saying, "KEEP MAKING THOSE MOVIES, BOYS! And you, the drawing geeks! Retcon your sh*t to be more like the movie! We got IP to sell here, people, move it out!"

verbaltoxin: More like the content owners are saying, "KEEP MAKING THOSE MOVIES, BOYS! And you, the drawing geeks! Retcon your sh*t to be more like the movie! We got IP to sell here, people, move it out!"

What? They try to align continuity with the movies? You mean like when Batman was dead and punching his way back from the past, withe zurinah and others posing as batman, while kids the just watched the batman movies furrowed their brows in a vs in attempt to understand?

sendtodave: What we need are some gritty reboots.

Or another major character death.  We already had Spider-Man pretty recently.  Who else can we knock off for a couple years?  Has Daredevil ever died?  He could be due.  He could return just in time for a movie reboot.

Fano: You mean like when Batman was dead and punching his way back from the past,

From now until the end of time, this will be carved on a virtual Mjolnir used to hammer the heads of every Batman fan for the excess of the plot armor afforded him in order to appease their unhealthy pseudosexual obsession.

PIP_the_TROLL: Fano: You mean like when Batman was dead and punching his way back from the past,

From now until the end of time, this will be carved on a virtual Mjolnir used to hammer the heads of every Batman fan for the excess of the plot armor afforded him in order to appease their unhealthy pseudosexual obsession.

When did Batman die in the comics?  I guess I must have missed that since I've never been a big follower of DC.  I only remember Bane breaking his back for a while.

NeoCortex42: PIP_the_TROLL: Fano: You mean like when Batman was dead and punching his way back from the past,

From now until the end of time, this will be carved on a virtual Mjolnir used to hammer the heads of every Batman fan for the excess of the plot armor afforded him in order to appease their unhealthy pseudosexual obsession.

When did Batman die in the comics?  I guess I must have missed that since I've never been a big follower of DC.  I only remember Bane breaking his back for a while.

During one of the multiverse shattering events a couple years ago he killed Darkseid with a special bullet but was hit with one of Darkseid's unerring Omega beams set to "obliterate." Naturally this sent him back to the past and in a series he punched his way through the stone age (oddly not meeting Vandal Savage, iirc) the age of sail, puritan america, etc., leaving bat clues behind for people to find in the future. I suppose it wasn't that bad, but it makes me think of "Russell Crowd punches his way around the world." I think it was around the time of the Dark Knight movie, I'm probably wrong about that, though.

Fano: NeoCortex42: PIP_the_TROLL: Fano: You mean like when Batman was dead and punching his way back from the past,

From now until the end of time, this will be carved on a virtual Mjolnir used to hammer the heads of every Batman fan for the excess of the plot armor afforded him in order to appease their unhealthy pseudosexual obsession.

When did Batman die in the comics?  I guess I must have missed that since I've never been a big follower of DC.  I only remember Bane breaking his back for a while.

During one of the multiverse shattering events a couple years ago he killed Darkseid with a special bullet but was hit with one of Darkseid's unerring Omega beams set to "obliterate." Naturally this sent him back to the past and in a series he punched his way through the stone age (oddly not meeting Vandal Savage, iirc) the age of sail, puritan america, etc., leaving bat clues behind for people to find in the future. I suppose it wasn't that bad, but it makes me think of "Russell Crowd punches his way around the world." I think it was around the time of the Dark Knight movie, I'm probably wrong about that, though.

That sounds pretty terrible.  Kind of reminds me of Superboy punching the universe apart.

I've mostly given up on following the main comics from DC and Marvel.  Outside of a couple of exceptions (like going back to the start of the Brubaker run on Captain America), I'm just reading completely finished stories like Sandman and Preacher, or at least standalone titles like Walking Dead.

mooseyfate: NeoCortex42: sendtodave: What we need are some gritty reboots.

Or another major character death.  We already had Spider-Man pretty recently.  Who else can we knock off for a couple years?  Has Daredevil ever died?  He could be due.  He could return just in time for a movie reboot.

Whoa, whoa. You can't really biatch about Ultimate Spider-man dying as he should have been reinvented from the very beginning, otherwise what's the friggin point. Besides, the Miles Morales Ultimate Spider-man has been damn good so far. Certainly enjoying it more than other Spiderman storylines that I've read.

I was actually talking about the Peter Parker death in the normal continuity.

I have no problem with the Ultimate Universe re-imagining the characters.  Otherwise, what would be the point of the Ultimate line.

I don't know why a digital comic would be over $.99, hopefully tablets will resurrect the medium.
And Marvel, DC, Archie, and Disney should be packing kid-friendly freebies into every Happy Meal and box of cereal they can.

mooseyfate: I subscribed to the Marvel digital comics unlimited thing last September. I've since read over 400 comics that I'd been dying to read for years (and many that I never imagined I'd become a fan of). I'd have spent at least $800 if I'd been buying these comics. Best purchase I've made in a while.

/Immortal Iron Fist may be my biggest "pleasant surprise"

I never had any interest in iron fist until then and boy howdy what a fun run that was.

mooseyfate: NeoCortex42: Fano: NeoCortex42: PIP_the_TROLL: Fano: You mean like when Batman was dead and punching his way back from the past,

From now until the end of time, this will be carved on a virtual Mjolnir used to hammer the heads of every Batman fan for the excess of the plot armor afforded him in order to appease their unhealthy pseudosexual obsession.

When did Batman die in the comics?  I guess I must have missed that since I've never been a big follower of DC.  I only remember Bane breaking his back for a while.

During one of the multiverse shattering events a couple years ago he killed Darkseid with a special bullet but was hit with one of Darkseid's unerring Omega beams set to "obliterate." Naturally this sent him back to the past and in a series he punched his way through the stone age (oddly not meeting Vandal Savage, iirc) the age of sail, puritan america, etc., leaving bat clues behind for people to find in the future. I suppose it wasn't that bad, but it makes me think of "Russell Crowd punches his way around the world." I think it was around the time of the Dark Knight movie, I'm probably wrong about that, though.

That sounds pretty terrible.  Kind of reminds me of Superboy punching the universe apart.

I've mostly given up on following the main comics from DC and Marvel.  Outside of a couple of exceptions (like going back to the start of the Brubaker run on Captain America), I'm just reading completely finished stories like Sandman and Preacher, or at least standalone titles like Walking Dead.

I can't tell if you'd like them or not (though I understand your frustration with the lack of any real foresight in most titles), but I thoroughly enjoyed the Iron Man series since Extremis. Matt Fraction did an awesome job with it after Warren Ellis' brief run. I think I'm just a fan of Fraction, though, so ymmv. I also enjoyed the Brubraker Darevil run and as mentioned upthread, the Immortal Iron Fist run between 2004-2006

The problem I've had with ongoing titles like those is that I've taken a lot of years away from following all the various storylines, so it's always a bit daunting to just jump back in.  I also hate whenever there's a big event that requires keeping track of and following a dozen different titles.

I do occasionally pick up TPB copies of stories that I've heard are good, like Planet Hulk, though.  I might look into picking up Extremis and reading it before the next movie comes out.

buttery_shame_cave: csb time: at the first emerald city comic-con, i got to meet Erik Larson. nice guy. very jovial. answered fan questions with humor and aplomb.

then i asked MY question.

'so Erik, what the fark were you retards thinking at Image back in the 90s, fueling the bubble like you were and doing such irreparable harm to the industry?'

gasps from the crowd of fanboys and sycophants. i started to wonder if i was going to have to beat my way out of a crowd of outraged nerds.

his answer impressed me.

'we got really blinded by the money. we'd gone to image to make our own material, our way, and all the money coming in suckered us. we were just artists and we got suckered into the game of making as much as we could as fast as we could and not caring about the future.'

shows how impressed i was that i remember him saying that, almost a decade later.

fwiw, he did make out like a bandit in the boom years, and has been self-publishing savage dragon ever since.

/nice guy, but what an epically crap comic...

Well, here's the deal... Erik Larsen was the guy running Image just after the Walking Dead began, and Image turned from a bad 90s comics punchline to the company putting out some of the best books out there today.

So give him that much credit... during his run, Image became Story-first, as opposed to the KEWL ART AND NO PLOT company it was when it started.

PIP_the_TROLL: Fano: You mean like when Batman was dead and punching his way back from the past,

From now until the end of time, this will be carved on a virtual Mjolnir used to hammer the heads of every Batman fan for the excess of the plot armor afforded him in order to appease their unhealthy pseudosexual obsession.

Lol. And to stir the pot unnecessarily, remember folks, Superman is lame because he's "invincible" and "unbeatable."

PS I like Batman

Empty Matchbook: verbaltoxin: More like the content owners are saying, "KEEP MAKING THOSE MOVIES, BOYS! And you, the drawing geeks! Retcon your sh*t to be more like the movie! We got IP to sell here, people, move it out!"

Even though there's absolutely no link between comic book movie sales and comic book sales, SURE, I'm absolutely sure you're right, person who clearly hasn't picked up/read a comic in at least ten years!

/remember when all of Manhattan got spider powers in that one movie?
//how about the time Red Skull used Professor X's brain to inspire hate-fueled, anti-mutant riots?
///how about when Wolverine's son abducted one of his students in an attempt to trigger a super-villain freakout?

First of all, Marvel won't make their Spider-Man or X-Men comics match the movies because Marvel Studios doesn't have the film rights to Spider-Man or the X-Men, so Sony and Fox can go f♥ck themselves.

But I think he's talking about the following:

* The Avengers stopped their previous series and started up a few new ones, with members set up to reflect the members in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

* White Nick Fury has been retired in the mainstream Marvel Universe (616) and replaced by Nick Fury Jr. who just happens to be a one-eyed Black man who looks like Samuel L. Jackson.

* Hawkeye dumped his old costume in favor of one that looks like the movie costume.

* Captain America is also wearing a version of the movie costume (which SUCKS).

* The Hulk was hastily rushed back into good-guy status and plopped back on the Avengers roster.

* They have been pushing Black Widow on the readers more than usual. And she kinda looks like Scarlett now when some artists draw her.

* Stark has been rearranged quite a bit to make him more like movie Stark. Apparently, he now has a flux capacitor on his chest (yes, I'm being snarky) and he has suddenly developed a razor wit, not unlike RDJ's version. He's also talking to his on-board computer, named J.A.R.V.I.S., which never existed until the movies.

* Agent Coulson is now a prominent figure in the mainstream Marvel Universe. He didn't exist until after the movies.

* Thor has been toned down a bit to match the movie version. His appearance is more in-line with the movies, too.

And all this within the course of the past year. They've been radically rearranging things to match the Cinematic Universe, and I really don't like it. The movies should remain separate. I want them to be true to the comics. I don't want the comics redesigned to reflect the movies.

urnotallrightspider: Used to be comic collector here,
Would someone mind telling me how the non-Ultimate Spiderman died and around when he died? Thanks.

I actually had kicked around the idea of collecting a couple of titles again. Used to love it into my teens, thought it would be fun. It's just obscenely expensive. How about they go back to old school newspaper instead of mylar pages and save us all a buck or two. Or is it no more expensive to print them on mylar?

They want to be able to name a hero CLINT FLICK

Fano: urnotallrightspider: Used to be comic collector here,
Would someone mind telling me how the non-Ultimate Spiderman died and around when he died? Thanks.

I actually had kicked around the idea of collecting a couple of titles again. Used to love it into my teens, thought it would be fun. It's just obscenely expensive. How about they go back to old school newspaper instead of mylar pages and save us all a buck or two. Or is it no more expensive to print them on mylar?

They want to be able to name a hero CLINT FLICK

It took until the 1960s to get a hero named Clint.

/Of course, Hawkeye did usually act like a coont, so maybe that WAS his real name.

urnotallrightspider: Used to be comic collector here,
Would someone mind telling me how the non-Ultimate Spiderman died and around when he died? Thanks.


I'll field that one... Give it a minute. I'll post a full answer.

ryarger: Mad_Radhu: Interesting. That isn't even counting digital sales, which is how I do all my buying now. I only buy a few titles on the day of release, (the rest I grab on sale), so it isn't worth it to make a trip down to the local shop. Plus, I much prefer having them on my tablet instead of having to store long boxes.

Though I've recently found that 64GB holds a finite amount of HD comics. It's the only time I've wished the iPad had an SD slot.

Storage space is not really an issue with Comixology, since they don't seem to have a limit on how often you can delete a comic off of a device and redownload it. I've used my account on a lot of different devices and not run into any restrictions. Just delete the issues you haven't read in a while.

urnotallrightspider: Used to be comic collector here,
Would someone mind telling me how the non-Ultimate Spiderman died and around when he died? Thanks.

First of all, he didn't die.

In issue #700 of Amazing Spider-Man, Otto Octavius' mind, in the body (and brain) of Peter Parker, defeated the dying Doctor Octopus with Peter Parker's mind. The swap was done several issues earlier. At the end of issue #700, Otto, piloting Peter's body, also gained Peter's memories and heroic morals. He became the new Spider-Man for real.

However, Peter is still present in Otto's subconscious, as evidenced in Superior Spider-Man.

So to break it down for you: Peter Parker didn't die. Peter Parker's body didn't die. Peter Parker's brain didn't die. Peter Parker's mind didn't even die.

The best guess: A copy of Parker's memories and personality were temporarily in the dying body of Doc Ock, and possibly even there until death. But Peter Parker is still Peter Parker. His consciousness is still in his own body-- He's just being controlled by Otto's dominant mind.

So Spider-Man didn't die. Doc Ock died, but found a way to put off the death of his consciousness by essentially possessing Parker. Ock thinks Parker's dead, but he's also finding that he's acting out of character a lot. This is when Parker's mind exerts control.

It's kind of messy, but the end result will be that eventually Parker will gain full control of his brain and body again, and Otto will somehow be forced out, killed off, or transplanted. At least, that's the current guess.

If you want to collect the HOW portion of the brain "swap", you'd need to get the preceding dozen issues or so. Ock did the whole thing remotely, from his deathbed, using octobots. Parker never knew it until it was too late.

So, I'd say pick up Amazing Spider-Man issues 690 - 700 if you want the whole story.

But rest assured. Spider-Man isn't dead. Peter Parker is still swinging around Manhattan as Spider-Man. It's just that he's sharing the body with Otto for a little while, and currently Otto is in control and doesn't know he has a roommate in there.

eggrolls: 1990 comic were $1.00 each.

Now a single issue costs $3.99.

Fours times the cost for the same level of profit means your selling one fourth the books.

When you adjust for inflation, $1 turns into about a $1.73 of 2012 money. If you go digital, back issues usually drop down to $1.99 after about a month or so for most titles, so the cost is similar in regards for downloads.

Digital could be a great thing for the industry around. It makes it easy for busy casual readers like me to get back into to comics in our middle age, and it could be great for print collectors because it will limit the number of actual printed issues out in the wild, which will increase rarity and could make collecting more profitable than it was in the bad old days of the market being flooded with so many comics that nothing in the 90s is really worth anything outside of stuff like early issues of Preacher, which never got the kind of print runs the Liefeld crap did back then.

buttery_shame_cave: FirstNationalBastard: buttery_shame_cave: csb time: at the first emerald city comic-con, i got to meet Erik Larson. nice guy. very jovial. answered fan questions with humor and aplomb.

then i asked MY question.

'so Erik, what the fark were you retards thinking at Image back in the 90s, fueling the bubble like you were and doing such irreparable harm to the industry?'

gasps from the crowd of fanboys and sycophants. i started to wonder if i was going to have to beat my way out of a crowd of outraged nerds.

his answer impressed me.

'we got really blinded by the money. we'd gone to image to make our own material, our way, and all the money coming in suckered us. we were just artists and we got suckered into the game of making as much as we could as fast as we could and not caring about the future.'

shows how impressed i was that i remember him saying that, almost a decade later.

fwiw, he did make out like a bandit in the boom years, and has been self-publishing savage dragon ever since.

/nice guy, but what an epically crap comic...

Well, here's the deal... Erik Larsen was the guy running Image just after the Walking Dead began, and Image turned from a bad 90s comics punchline to the company putting out some of the best books out there today.

So give him that much credit... during his run, Image became Story-first, as opposed to the KEWL ART AND NO PLOT company it was when it started.

yeah, to his credit things turned around.

but, in the beginning, he was on the board. he was just as gung-ho about alt-covers and reprints and all the other bullshiat as the other guys were. atoning for one's sins does not erase the physical history of said sins. Image was one of the primary catalysts that almost imploded the industry altogether, and he was a major player.

No doubt.

But, he did make up for it in some way.

...you know, If just a little over 10 years ago, you had said that DC and Marvel would be flooding the market with horrible gimmicky books in an attempt to stay afloat while Image was putting out solid, interesting, well written, critically acclaimed books with many of them being developed into TV and Film properties, I would have asked what drugs you were on and where I could find such quality stuff.