Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Hey Comic Book nerds, I paid for a month subscription of DC Universe because I wanted to watch the "Titans" tv show there (it's good by the way), which expanded into a monthly subscription to Marvel Unlimited and Comixology Unlimited. Now I have this massive pantheon of 50,000+ comics at my disposal to read from DC, Marvel, Vertigo, and a couple others for at least a month and don't have a clue where to start.

Watched all the new and current  Marvel and DC movies, and all the CW/ABC/Fox/Netflix comic based shows, and a lot of the old cartoons from the 80s-90s (Superman/Batman/X-Men), but never really actually read any comic books themselves, so learn me up on some "Must Reads."

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

I've collected comics since I was a kid ( Spider Man and X-Men) and have some of the earliest issues of both.

Some of my favs during the X-Men run that are in tpb would be the Dark Pheonix Saga, X-Cutioners Song, The Phalanx Covenant, Messiah Complex, Second Coming, and the entire Age of Apocalypse is great IMO.

As for Spider Man, Kraven's Last Hunt is a must, the 1st several appearances of Venom, Maximum Carnage is pretty good.  The whole "Clone Saga" is really long.

Edited by Elmer_Fudd
  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

I have a strong feeling that my son will be into comics since he gets really engrossed in stories and pictures.  I never got into them as a kid, so I'd like to know what a good entry point is for younger kids.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

One of my favorite comics is "Y the Last Man" which I think is Vertigo. I think it's being made into a miniseries which is great news because it's super long. Years ago there was talk about making it into a movie starring Shia Labeouf. So glad that didn't happen. btw - I heard somewhere that modern Vertigo comics are total trash now, which is a shame.

Another good series, one that is dying to be made into a movie is "The Sword" by the Luna Brothers. That might not be in there though.

Posted
On 3/21/2019 at 10:44 AM, ajax said:

One of my favorite comics is "Y the Last Man" which I think is Vertigo. I think it's being made into a miniseries which is great news because it's super long. Years ago there was talk about making it into a movie starring Shia Labeouf. So glad that didn't happen. btw - I heard somewhere that modern Vertigo comics are total trash now, which is a shame.

Another good series, one that is dying to be made into a movie is "The Sword" by the Luna Brothers. That might not be in there though.

Love y the last man.  But saga is the best

  • 3 years later...
  • 1 year later...
Posted
On 1/11/2019 at 8:15 PM, MillerEP said:

Hey Comic Book nerds, I paid for a month subscription of DC Universe because I wanted to watch the "Titans" tv show there (it's good by the way), which expanded into a monthly subscription to Marvel Unlimited and Comixology Unlimited. Now I have this massive pantheon of 50,000+ comics at my disposal to read from DC, Marvel, Vertigo, and a couple others for at least a month and don't have a clue where to start.

Watched all the new and current  Marvel and DC movies, and all the CW/ABC/Fox/Netflix comic based shows, and a lot of the old cartoons from the 80s-90s (Superman/Batman/X-Men), but never really actually read any comic books themselves, so learn me up on some "Must Reads."


You must read House of X / Powers of X, by Jonathan Hickman, especially if you liked Claremont's peak and Morrison's run with the franchise. It's a stunning reset of the X status quo, and every X book after HoX/PoX for the next two years (barring one or two) is a banger. After Hickman's mini Inferno concludes and he leaves the X-Office, the quality gets a little more erratic, but the X-line remains the best thing going about Marvel right now. Immortal X-Men and X-Men: Red, by Kieron Gillen and Al Ewing respectively, are incredible books that are currently ongoing. Leah William's X-Factor (tragically cut short by the pandemic) is great, as is Ewing's S.W.O.R.D. For awesome one shots, check out Planet-Sized X-Men #1 and Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost. However, if you only read one series after HoX/PoX, make it Zeb Well's Hellions, imo. Though it helps if you're familiar with 80's Claremont. Hilariously, this era of the X-Men was getting started just a little bit after you made this thread, so it's possible that you already read some of those.

Jed McKay's current run on Moon Knight is the second best run other than Warren Ellis (vomit). Lots of fun, especially if you know a lot of the history of the character. McKay's Black Cat is a heist comic that is a great easy and fun read, too. As as his 5 issue Taskmaster mini.

Al Ewing's 50-issue run of Immortal Hulk from a couple of years ago is maybe the best 50 issue run of any comic writer/group of artists in the history of the medium. It single-handedly made me give a shit about the Hulk for the first time in my life. And if you like body horror...hoo boy does this series have it.

Rainbow Rowell's current ongoing She-Hulk is a lot of a fun, and a nice change of pace from your typical hero books. Some lawyering, some romantic comedy, some fun capers. Highly recommend.

I don't read much DC, but Tini Howard's Catwoman is cool.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted

Oh, somehow I glossed over you not having really read comics...

Start at Giant-Size X-Men #1, and then read the series through it becoming Uncanny X-Men. So many all-timers by Claremont on his 16 year stint. @Elmer_Fudd mentioned a lot of them. But honestly, the entire Claremont run is worth reading up to and through the Inferno event (which is the best Marvel event imo).

Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_241.jpg

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 1
Posted
17 minutes ago, safe sex said:


You must read House of X / Powers of X, by Jonathan Hickman, especially if you liked Claremont's peak and Morrison's run with the franchise. It's a stunning reset of the X status quo, and every X book after HoX/PoX for the next two years (barring one or two) is a banger. After Hickman's mini Inferno concludes and he leaves the X-Office, the quality gets a little more erratic, but the X-line remains the best thing going about Marvel right now. Immortal X-Men and X-Men: Red, by Kieron Gillen and Al Ewing respectively, are incredible books that are currently ongoing. Leah William's X-Factor (tragically cut short by the pandemic) is great, as is Ewing's S.W.O.R.D. For awesome one shots, check out Planet-Sized X-Men #1 and Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost. However, if you only read one series after HoX/PoX, make it Zeb Well's Hellions, imo. Though it helps if you're familiar with 80's Claremont. Hilariously, this era of the X-Men was getting started just a little bit after you made this thread, so it's possible that you already read some of those.

Everything you've mentioned is great.  I have all those runs and are on my pull list at my local comic store.  I noticed the X-lines got a new editor and rumors are X-Men may be getting a soft reboot sometime next year when the Krakoa era ends.  I've seen back to the mansion type stuff, but just message board talk for now.  The Krakoa era has definitely been the best run on the X-books in a long time.

Posted

I'm still emotionally recovering from this year's Hellfire Gala. I hope a full reset of the status quo doesn't happen. I think Krakoa takes the mutant metaphor to its apex, and to trash it after less than five years would be a drag. I think it's Tom Brevoort who's taking over the X-Office, which is...a safe choice. Good chance the mansion will come back, and I'm very apathetic about it.

Have you read Jean Grey #1? I'm in love with Louise Simonson.

Posted (edited)
55 minutes ago, safe sex said:

I'm still emotionally recovering from this year's Hellfire Gala. I hope a full reset of the status quo doesn't happen. I think Krakoa takes the mutant metaphor to its apex, and to trash it after less than five years would be a drag. I think it's Tom Brevoort who's taking over the X-Office, which is...a safe choice. Good chance the mansion will come back, and I'm very apathetic about it.

Have you read Jean Grey #1? I'm in love with Louise Simonson.

No, I only picked a few of the current minis.  I got X-Men, X-Men Red, Immortal, X-Force, and Wolverine on my pull list.  The minis I went with were Children of the Vault, Dark X-Men, Dayd of Future Past:  Doomsday and Alpha Flight.

Also have Amazing Spider-Man and Venom.

Yeah Breveroot is the guy taking over.

Edited by Elmer_Fudd
  • Hook 'Em 1
  • 1 month later...
Posted (edited)

Hickman's G.O.D.S. is off to an interesting start...it's always weird with entirely new IPs with the world building and working in how these characters fit into 616 Marvel. We'll see! Issue #2 is on my pull list.

Really enjoying the reboot of Rowell's She-Hulk into The Sensational She-Hulk, though!

X-Men Blue: Origins is coming soon, and I've been waiting 25 years to see these two women kiss on the cover of a comic. Beyond excited for it.

xmblueorig2023001_dauterman.jpg

Edited by safe sex
Posted (edited)

I don't read much in the way of traditional comic books, but what I do read, I love. I read a lot of webcomics that are also available in book form, mostly (see below).

My favorite comic-book comics are, in no particular order:

  • Gwenpool. The original series written by Christopher Hastings.
  • Giant Days. Shoot, I don't even know if you can get this through any of those, but it's ... I can't even describe it. If I told you it was a coming-of-age comic about three girls attending University, that tells you really nothing, because it doesn't sound nearly as interesting as it really is. The author, John Allison, is brilliant. And in this series he got paired up with some artists who are as good at drawing as he is at writing.

I also own a few series that I have no idea if they're available on comiXology or not, but damn well oughtta be:

  • Girl Genius, the brainchild of Phil and Kaja Foglio, that won so many Nebula awards they had to recuse themselves from the awards to give someone else a chance
  • Drive. Imagine if Jim Davis or Charles Schulz wrote a serious epic Sci-Fi opera. Dave Kellett is that kind of guy. "The story is serious; the characters are hilarious."
  • Sandman. Now this one, you damn well better find on comiXology.
  • Gunnerkrigg Court. If you like Neil Gaiman, you'll like this. By Tom Siddell.

I find that if you go after the good authors, you'll find the good comics. I also used to hang out on a message board with one Gary Whitta, who has done some good things. For example, did you enjoy the movie Rogue One? Well, he's also done comics.

Edited by Rimbo
Posted (edited)

oh and in terms of must-reads (that I just assumed you had already read):

  • Batman: The Killing Joke
  • Batman: The Dark Knight
  • The Watchmen
  • And the aforementioned Sandman.

Those last three are the comics that basically broke us out of the shitty-ass Silver Age of comics. Granted, 90s went into full on grimdark stupidity, inexplicably giving guys like Rob Liefeld and Todd McFarlane careers.

Oh and ...

  • the 1997 Deadpool series is what made the character what he is today.
  • Oh.. Did I mention Bone? You should read Bone.

but i don't really read very many comics

Edited by Rimbo
  • 4 weeks later...
Posted
On 12/5/2023 at 9:37 PM, mdmost said:

These are some great videos if you grew up on 80s/90s comics like me.

I've watched the second one (about him losing everything) and that was fascinating as hell.  Talked to a friend of mine from high school who never got out of comics, and he was like "yeah, McFarlane caught a lot of shit, and he was cocky, and made a few mistakes, but he's always been amazing to the fans, and he's always wanted to do his own thing free from the major labels."

  • 1 year later...
Posted

ComicRack is extinct? What a terrible turn of events.

I have thousands of digital comics and previously used ComicRack to organize them all.  Anyone have a recommendation for something that manages a CBR/CBZ library and serves/syncs books to a tablet reader? I'm shocked that in 2025 there isn't another obvious ComicRack successor. We used to be a proper country.

  • Rage+1 1
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Man, I really need to organize catalog my comics.

 

I haven't collected in years - Marvel really ruined that for me in the 90s as an X-Men fan (30 crossovers to make me buy every book they printed).

 

But I have some really good books I know have value: First Deadpool, First Cable, etc

 

But I just came up with a freaking weird one. A random purchase when I was in 4th grade at the grocery store - Marvel Tails #25. Look it up.

Edited by Captain Ron
  • Like 1
Posted

I stopped around 2000 or so. The industry took a big turn with the formation of Image. I liked McFarlane, but he had a negative impact on the industry as a whole.  
 

I had several Marvel books. All the big titles going back to the beginning of the '80s. From 1980'ish to around 1996, the books were great from both DC and Marvel. 
 

A few years ago I went to a convention in Dallas and I had Chris Claremont sign every X-Men #1 variant from 1991. That was the rebranding/relaunch of all the X teams that had 4 different covers form one big poster. 
 

A few weeks ago I was in Houston at a convention and I had Jim Starlin sign my Infinity Gauntlet #1 and Thanos Quest graphic novels.  Larry Hama was at the same event, I had him sign my G.I. Joe #1 comic. 
 

Several good memories from my comic book years. 

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted
2 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

But I just came up with a freaking weird one. A random purchase when I was in 4th grade at the grocery store - Marvel Tails #25. Look it up.

That is an old one! 1969? I wasn't even a thought then! 

Posted

I collected in the late 80s/early 90s. I have a lot of McFarlane Amazing Spider-Man comics but none of the Venom ones that are pretty valuable. Also have the first Deadpool and Cable ones. The oldest one I have is Amazing Spider-Man 238, which is the first appearance of the Hobgoblin. I thought about selling some on Ebay or to a store but I don't know how to grade them honestly enough. I loved the art of the Jim Lee/McFarlane era of Marvel. I think after they left, it all went to shit but I think that's true of the industry. I've found some good comic book reader programs and you can find back issues. I use that to read some of the better written ones like the Miller run on Daredevil or Claremont's Uncanny X Men run. 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
1 hour ago, mdmost said:

I collected in the late 80s/early 90s. I have a lot of McFarlane Amazing Spider-Man comics but none of the Venom ones that are pretty valuable. Also have the first Deadpool and Cable ones. The oldest one I have is Amazing Spider-Man 238, which is the first appearance of the Hobgoblin. I thought about selling some on Ebay or to a store but I don't know how to grade them honestly enough. I loved the art of the Jim Lee/McFarlane era of Marvel. I think after they left, it all went to shit but I think that's true of the industry. I've found some good comic book reader programs and you can find back issues. I use that to read some of the better written ones like the Miller run on Daredevil or Claremont's Uncanny X Men run. 

When I was single, working, and had money to blow, I got a lot of the early issues from Amazing Spider-Man and Uncanny X-Men (were lot cheaper 20+ years ago).  Oldest issue of Amazing I have is #2 in real good condition (1st Vulture).  I also have the 1st Annual (Sinister Six) and several others in the single digits and teens/twenties.  I am jealous of your #238.

Oldest Uncanny X-men I have is #4 (1st brotherhood).

Posted (edited)

When I was a teen, my parents would take me to dinner and then we'd go to a local used book shop. I would go through the comic book bins they had. One time I ran across Uncanny X-Men 1-4. This place sold everything for cover price or less. I thought I had just bagged a fortune for about $5. Turns out they were just reprints and weren't even worth the cover price which was $2. For a second though, I thought I had hit the jackpot.  I'm not sure why my dumb ass thought comics from the 60s would just magically be in the bin of a used book shop. 

Edited by mdmost
Posted
2 hours ago, DeepEastTexas said:

That is an old one! 1969? I wasn't even a thought then! 

Not Tales. Tails, it was 1984. And it was the first appearance of Spider-Ham. Total throwaway buy for me and I’m shocked I never really threw it away, but now that the Spider-verse films came out, it has some value. 

Posted

So all thes follow-ups got me reminiscing

 

5 hours ago, DeepEastTexas said:

I stopped around 2000 or so. The industry took a big turn with the formation of Image. I liked McFarlane, but he had a negative impact on the industry as a whole.  
 

I had several Marvel books. All the big titles going back to the beginning of the '80s. From 1980'ish to around 1996, the books were great from both DC and Marvel. 
 

A few years ago I went to a convention in Dallas and I had Chris Claremont sign every X-Men #1 variant from 1991. That was the rebranding/relaunch of all the X teams that had 4 different covers form one big poster. 
 

A few weeks ago I was in Houston at a convention and I had Jim Starlin sign my Infinity Gauntlet #1 and Thanos Quest graphic novels.  Larry Hama was at the same event, I had him sign my G.I. Joe #1 comic. 
 

Several good memories from my comic book years. 

 

I collected early 80s to mid-late 90s. My big collection was X-Men. I had an uninterrupted run of Uncanny from somewhere in the 140s (I think 146) to well around 325. I also had a solid run of New Mutant, X-Factor, X-Force, etc. Some great stuff. I have something like 8 copies of that X-Men #1.

I originally collected G.I.Joe, wiht a pretty solid run of those (but I never got Issue 2 with Quinn). Larry Hama was the man (cameo in an episode of MASH).

 

4 hours ago, mdmost said:

I collected in the late 80s/early 90s. I have a lot of McFarlane Amazing Spider-Man comics but none of the Venom ones that are pretty valuable. Also have the first Deadpool and Cable ones. The oldest one I have is Amazing Spider-Man 238, which is the first appearance of the Hobgoblin. I thought about selling some on Ebay or to a store but I don't know how to grade them honestly enough. I loved the art of the Jim Lee/McFarlane era of Marvel. I think after they left, it all went to shit but I think that's true of the industry. I've found some good comic book reader programs and you can find back issues. I use that to read some of the better written ones like the Miller run on Daredevil or Claremont's Uncanny X Men run. 

 

I was never a Spider-man guy, but what killed me was that I did have Amazing 300 - first Venom (on panel). Kills me that I sold it for $40 a few years later (to buy a few other books). Don't get me started on that regret.

I got to meet/serve drinks to Frank Miller when he came into my bar during the filming of Sin City.

 

 

I've been meaning to go back and really make a run into all of my books and see their value. Just on age alone, a lot of the X-men have some value. But I know I have some good ones in there too (my oldest Uncanny is 100).

  • Like 1
Posted
51 minutes ago, Captain Ron said:

I collected early 80s to mid-late 90s. My big collection was X-Men. I had an uninterrupted run of Uncanny from somewhere in the 140s (I think 146) to well around 325. I also had a solid run of New Mutant, X-Factor, X-Force, etc. Some great stuff. I have something like 8 copies of that X-Men #1.

I originally collected G.I.Joe, wiht a pretty solid run of those (but I never got Issue 2 with Quinn). Larry Hama was the man (cameo in an episode of MASH).

We have similar tastes! I had good run of the X books in the '80s. I believe it was Uncanny 274 that has Magneto tearing ass through the Savage Land while bagging Rogue. That was a favorite of mine.

As luck would have it, I do have G.I. Joe #2 with Quinn. Great story, good ending. Hama was a cool dude. He's a big reason why I drove all the way down to Houston for that show. Got a few selfies with him. He's not in the best shape these days. He was also selling photos of him from his M*A*S*H cameo! 

Posted
8 hours ago, DeepEastTexas said:

Larry Hama was at the same event, I had him sign my G.I. Joe #1 comic. 

My son and I went through my original run of G.I. Joe (I collected most originally, but was able to fill in the gaps in the 90s) and we've been following the new Joe comics (including Hamas) stuff.  It's been great. He's not really interested in anything else outside of Spidey.

Posted
21 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

My son and I went through my original run of G.I. Joe (I collected most originally, but was able to fill in the gaps in the 90s) and we've been following the new Joe comics (including Hamas) stuff.  It's been great. He's not really interested in anything else outside of Spidey.

I haven't picked up the new Joe series, but I've heard good things. Might be time to get back into it. 

Posted (edited)

I settled on CDisplayEx Comic Reader for organizing and displaying the comic collection on the tablet. I started reading Claremont era X-Men (with Giant Size #1. It's lol but the build up to the classic Claremont primetime timeline, I want to experience it with this context.) and it works great. Very intuitive book navigation and makes good decisions on what to display next given the current panel/page state. I'm impressed.

In other news, this got me into thinking about filling in some holes from my collection. I haven't collected in decades, but my first job was at 15 and it was at a comic store and I was paid in comics, so the collection choice. But, even with that access there were plenty of unobtainium books, even back then. So I've been bouncing around comic stores in Austin and on my travels and see that grading and slabbing comics has become very popular. Am I missing something, but this strikes me as the absolute dumbest shit I've ever seen in this hobby. It almost never failed that a store would have a book on my want list, but it was encased in that god-awful, joy-killing plastic. Is this what the devil's been up to since I've been gone? Fucking hell this is terrible. 

Edited by BoomMF
  • Hook 'Em 1

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...