The economy is rough. Not much room in the budget for new comics. Time to dust off the oldies. What old comics are you revisisting?
I’m checking out a lot of old Star Wars comics from the Jason Aaron era. Grant Morrison’s Zenith. Lee and Kirby’s Fantastic Four. Claremont’s X-Treme X-Men.
I’ve been slowly getting through the Avengers Vs X-Men reading guide, the one where the Phoenix takes over 5 X-Men. I ignored it when it actually came out, but it turns out I like Bendis.
Also, I read the first Magik and Colossus issue. It didn’t really hook me, but it did make me play Witcher 3 again.
I’ve been reading DAREDEVIL to keep up with the Villain discussion here. Once I hit Nocenti’s run, though, I ended up devouring the whole thing. It was a first time read for me, and holy crap, I am absolutely a Nocenti booster now. (Which is kind of funny, considering I found the LONGSHOT mini an absolute slog.)
I recently picked up the first SUPERMAN: NEW KRYPTON omnibus. Better than I remember, and reading it in the order it was intended to be read is really kind of captivating.
I’m slowly working my way through the old 80’s DC STAR TREK comics I got from the GIT discs. Fun, if *desperately* uneven.
And I’m continuing my years-long obsession with Reading Every X-Men Universe Comic In Roughly Chronological Order. I just wrapped up issue 300 of UNCANNY, and IIRC that also means I’m at the tail end or just finished PAD’s X-Factor run, and Im about to finish Davis’s EXCALIBUR. Hooray for Marvel Unlimited for helping me achieve that misguided dream! (And yes, for those curious, that DOES mean I read 42 issues of DAZZLER.)
@Derek Moreland: read those last few Alan Davis Excalibur issues slowly. Savor them. The series takes a nosedive right after he leaves.
I haven’t reread comics in a while- I’m still buying new issues despite the price – but I’ve been collecting late-Silver and Bronze Age Legion of Superheroes comics, and I have a stack of those to check out. The Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell art is quite good, even if the writing is all over the place.
I too found describing Jason Aaron’s Star Wars as “old” to be funny. I expected a mention of reading Archie Goodwin’s Star Wars comics.
I don’t often reread something once it’s been read any longer (I’ll make an exception for Eco’s The Name of the Rose or Gerber’s Howard the Duck). I have far too many books waiting to be read at this point. I’m not buying back-issues of comics anymore. I went through that period of buying as many comics as I wanted to read from my 20s to my mid-40s. I’ve really run out of room. I’m mainly a collector of prose fiction at this point. I do still buy new comics, but I have cut back to a minimum number of new comics. Every so often, I see a new series which can still excite me. Currently, Odin and Of the Earth are the comics I am looking forward to reading.
Writer Brian W. Aldiss, in his elderly days, said that he was only reading fiction by Tolstoy. In my elderly days, I think I may end up reading only books that had been originally published in the USSR.
I’ve read everything Nocenti has written. Her run on Daredevil was her best work. It was also her longest work in a comic, by far. She doesn’t have many other lasting stints as writer on a comic series. If you are looking for more by Nocenti after you finish her DD, I’d say to look for her Kid Eternity series at Vertigo. It only lasted 16 issues. It is one of the weaker series from the early days of Vertigo, but that’s because the bar was so high back then. Something like that would be a breath of fresh air compared to the majority of by-the-numbers comics being published by the “Big Two” today. You could also hunt down her X-Men prose novel, Prisoner X, which was surprisingly high on my list of the “best of Nocenti”. I usually avoid tie-in fiction, but Nocenti made this X-Men novel her own, with lots of nice social commentary and characterization for Jean Grey. I’m sure this “Prisoner X” will end up being superior to Simone’s “Inmate X”.
I recently reread Nextwave, too, and it’s just as fun and dumb as you remember. I found myself getting lost in the gorgeous art more than once.
One day I’ll start pulling together some cheap runs of Marvel comics from the ’70s. I think those are my “retirement comics.” I’ve always been curious to experience the heyday of the Defenders, for example.
As for old comics, I’ve just started my first reading of the original New Mutants. In contrast to Claremont’s X-Men, it hits the ground running. I might stick with these kids through the original X-Force run, which I’ve also never read, and then the Zeb Wells run, which will actually be a re-read.
(I’ll skip the Academy X New Mutants, since I’ve re-read that a few years ago, and anyway it only has Karma and Dani and a little Wolfsbane, anyway.)
Based on Bleeding Cool, one of only three nominations Marvel received. Hilarious. Marvel’s chances are not looking good this year. I mean, on the plus side, I think Marvel only received two nominations last year (winning zero, as expected).
As long as Deniz Camp and Assorted Crisis Events cleans up, Storm can win that one for all I care. No, it really shouldn’t win. It also will not.
@Chris V- Four, including All the Hulk Feels.
Of course, one of them is Black Cat and I can’t imagine why anyone likes Wilson’s writing on that title. (Probably she was nominated out of nostalgia for Ms. Marvel.) I know she’s going for absurd but it just comes across as contrived and nonsensical. Look at the last arc.
In other news, the sales figures for last month are out. Uncanny X-Men 24 came in 14th, X-Men United 2 came in 22nd, Uncanny X-Men Annual 1 came in 24th, Wolverine 18 came in 33rd, Cyclops 3 came in 40th, Uncanny X-Men 27 came in 41st and Magik and Colossus 3 came in 49th.
This was a short month so the titles did better than usual. Still Uncanny X-Men, and Wolverine did better than usual. And Cyclops and Magik and Colossus stayed in the top 50- not bad for limited series.
(As an aside, Amazing Spider-Man 26 beat Daredevil. Daredevil still did very well but I was expecting it to outsell every Marvel book except the Spider-Man/ Superman crossover.)
I’ve been reading Claremont’s early ‘90s post X-Men oeuvre—Star Trek: Debt of Honor (not bad, but not likely to hold up on re-reading), Aliens vs. Predator: Deadliest of the Species (packed with ideas, none developed well), and his “Renegade” two-parter in Dark Horse Comics (ideas so poorly developed they don’t even hint at a direction).
Claremont was into his hybrid-fetish phase. What the contrast between DOH and DOTS reveals is Claremont really does need deep continuity to draw upon; when he starts from scratch, concepts take priority over characterization.
Speaking of Claremont, I’m up to the Savage Land mini series of my X-Treme X-Men reread. Not as bad as I remember… but still fairly bland. We’re doing mind control and there’s a bit about Brainchild wanting Storm to be his bride… ideas Claremont has well run into the ground by this point. And the art seems to struggle with continuity at some points. Not sure what’s happening panel to panel sometimes.
I don’t think I read this series past the alien invasion arc. I hear the book gets better when it gives up on the hunt for the Diaries arc entirely.
It also sort of loses its purpose for existing outside of being the X-comic book that Chris Claremont is writing while Grant Morrison is breaking new ground and Chuck Austen is trying to be offensive. I thought the diaries would give the series some type of focus for Claremont, so yeah, that gets dropped pretty quickly.
I don’t blame you for once giving up at the alien invasion arc, as it must have lasted for fifty issues at least. Not that long you say? You’ll never convince me.
It could only greatly improve after that point. Those were some truly awful comics, as if Claremont was trying to compete with Austen. Only with boring and pointless comics instead of stupid. Which isn’t to say that “stupid” didn’t show up in X-Treme after the early issues, like the Australian lifeguard and surfer siblings. A lot of the later issues of X-Treme seem to be Claremont writing in response to Morrison’s New X-Men, and why Claremont doesn’t agree with these new-fangled ideas.
@New kid- To be fair, at least Claremont had the other X-Men point out how many times someone had tried to force Storm to be his bride after the invasion arc.
Xtreme X-Men also suffered from Sage and Claremont trying to convince the readers she was a mole all along despite how little sense that made.
I just realized that the podcast that had been catching me up on all the bad X-Men eras that I skipped (Jay & Miles) isn’t going to be doing X-Treme X-Men or Chuck Austen or any of the other bad post-Morrison stuff. Maybe if Paul and Al are looking for something to recap after Thunderbolts…..?
Thread hijack time!
The economy is rough. Not much room in the budget for new comics. Time to dust off the oldies. What old comics are you revisisting?
I’m checking out a lot of old Star Wars comics from the Jason Aaron era. Grant Morrison’s Zenith. Lee and Kirby’s Fantastic Four. Claremont’s X-Treme X-Men.
I’ve been slowly getting through the Avengers Vs X-Men reading guide, the one where the Phoenix takes over 5 X-Men. I ignored it when it actually came out, but it turns out I like Bendis.
Also, I read the first Magik and Colossus issue. It didn’t really hook me, but it did make me play Witcher 3 again.
I recently reread a bunch of Tom King’s DC minis.
— Miracle Man: Genius.
— Strange Adventures: So good.
— Danger Street: Fun. Holds together surprisingly well.
— Rorschach: Interesting. Kind of a bummer.
I also read the giveaway first issue of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Not bad, but I have a hard time getting into the space fantasy/Western vibe.
I keep hearing that Trinity is good, so I’m thinking about picking that up.
Imagine me in slow motion shouting “NOOOOO!” as I hit the Submit Comment button a minute ago.
Clearly, I meant Mister Miracle above, not Miracle Man.
“…a lot of old Star Wars comics from the Jason Aaron era.”
Old? Laughs in Jaxxon.
I’ve been reading DAREDEVIL to keep up with the Villain discussion here. Once I hit Nocenti’s run, though, I ended up devouring the whole thing. It was a first time read for me, and holy crap, I am absolutely a Nocenti booster now. (Which is kind of funny, considering I found the LONGSHOT mini an absolute slog.)
I recently picked up the first SUPERMAN: NEW KRYPTON omnibus. Better than I remember, and reading it in the order it was intended to be read is really kind of captivating.
I’m slowly working my way through the old 80’s DC STAR TREK comics I got from the GIT discs. Fun, if *desperately* uneven.
And I’m continuing my years-long obsession with Reading Every X-Men Universe Comic In Roughly Chronological Order. I just wrapped up issue 300 of UNCANNY, and IIRC that also means I’m at the tail end or just finished PAD’s X-Factor run, and Im about to finish Davis’s EXCALIBUR. Hooray for Marvel Unlimited for helping me achieve that misguided dream! (And yes, for those curious, that DOES mean I read 42 issues of DAZZLER.)
@Derek Moreland: read those last few Alan Davis Excalibur issues slowly. Savor them. The series takes a nosedive right after he leaves.
I haven’t reread comics in a while- I’m still buying new issues despite the price – but I’ve been collecting late-Silver and Bronze Age Legion of Superheroes comics, and I have a stack of those to check out. The Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell art is quite good, even if the writing is all over the place.
I’ve been meaning to re-read Nextwave and it’s working my way up the do list. I also need to finish Persepolis and start on Essex County.
I’m thinking of re-reading a favorite run of mine, the Wolfman/Perez Titans run (in all it’s various titles).
I too found describing Jason Aaron’s Star Wars as “old” to be funny. I expected a mention of reading Archie Goodwin’s Star Wars comics.
I don’t often reread something once it’s been read any longer (I’ll make an exception for Eco’s The Name of the Rose or Gerber’s Howard the Duck). I have far too many books waiting to be read at this point. I’m not buying back-issues of comics anymore. I went through that period of buying as many comics as I wanted to read from my 20s to my mid-40s. I’ve really run out of room. I’m mainly a collector of prose fiction at this point. I do still buy new comics, but I have cut back to a minimum number of new comics. Every so often, I see a new series which can still excite me. Currently, Odin and Of the Earth are the comics I am looking forward to reading.
Writer Brian W. Aldiss, in his elderly days, said that he was only reading fiction by Tolstoy. In my elderly days, I think I may end up reading only books that had been originally published in the USSR.
I’ve read everything Nocenti has written. Her run on Daredevil was her best work. It was also her longest work in a comic, by far. She doesn’t have many other lasting stints as writer on a comic series. If you are looking for more by Nocenti after you finish her DD, I’d say to look for her Kid Eternity series at Vertigo. It only lasted 16 issues. It is one of the weaker series from the early days of Vertigo, but that’s because the bar was so high back then. Something like that would be a breath of fresh air compared to the majority of by-the-numbers comics being published by the “Big Two” today. You could also hunt down her X-Men prose novel, Prisoner X, which was surprisingly high on my list of the “best of Nocenti”. I usually avoid tie-in fiction, but Nocenti made this X-Men novel her own, with lots of nice social commentary and characterization for Jean Grey. I’m sure this “Prisoner X” will end up being superior to Simone’s “Inmate X”.
That Star wars book came came out 11 years ago. It’s not ancient but it’s got some dust on it. John cassaday isn’t alive anymore.
I recently reread Nextwave, too, and it’s just as fun and dumb as you remember. I found myself getting lost in the gorgeous art more than once.
One day I’ll start pulling together some cheap runs of Marvel comics from the ’70s. I think those are my “retirement comics.” I’ve always been curious to experience the heyday of the Defenders, for example.
Storm is up for an Eisner.
As for old comics, I’ve just started my first reading of the original New Mutants. In contrast to Claremont’s X-Men, it hits the ground running. I might stick with these kids through the original X-Force run, which I’ve also never read, and then the Zeb Wells run, which will actually be a re-read.
(I’ll skip the Academy X New Mutants, since I’ve re-read that a few years ago, and anyway it only has Karma and Dani and a little Wolfsbane, anyway.)
Based on Bleeding Cool, one of only three nominations Marvel received. Hilarious. Marvel’s chances are not looking good this year. I mean, on the plus side, I think Marvel only received two nominations last year (winning zero, as expected).
As long as Deniz Camp and Assorted Crisis Events cleans up, Storm can win that one for all I care. No, it really shouldn’t win. It also will not.
@Chris V- Four, including All the Hulk Feels.
Of course, one of them is Black Cat and I can’t imagine why anyone likes Wilson’s writing on that title. (Probably she was nominated out of nostalgia for Ms. Marvel.) I know she’s going for absurd but it just comes across as contrived and nonsensical. Look at the last arc.
In other news, the sales figures for last month are out. Uncanny X-Men 24 came in 14th, X-Men United 2 came in 22nd, Uncanny X-Men Annual 1 came in 24th, Wolverine 18 came in 33rd, Cyclops 3 came in 40th, Uncanny X-Men 27 came in 41st and Magik and Colossus 3 came in 49th.
This was a short month so the titles did better than usual. Still Uncanny X-Men, and Wolverine did better than usual. And Cyclops and Magik and Colossus stayed in the top 50- not bad for limited series.
(As an aside, Amazing Spider-Man 26 beat Daredevil. Daredevil still did very well but I was expecting it to outsell every Marvel book except the Spider-Man/ Superman crossover.)
One correction- Daredevil was on the March charts- It came in 2nd on the March charts and 6th on the April charts- that IS impressive.
I’ve been reading Claremont’s early ‘90s post X-Men oeuvre—Star Trek: Debt of Honor (not bad, but not likely to hold up on re-reading), Aliens vs. Predator: Deadliest of the Species (packed with ideas, none developed well), and his “Renegade” two-parter in Dark Horse Comics (ideas so poorly developed they don’t even hint at a direction).
Claremont was into his hybrid-fetish phase. What the contrast between DOH and DOTS reveals is Claremont really does need deep continuity to draw upon; when he starts from scratch, concepts take priority over characterization.
Speaking of Claremont, I’m up to the Savage Land mini series of my X-Treme X-Men reread. Not as bad as I remember… but still fairly bland. We’re doing mind control and there’s a bit about Brainchild wanting Storm to be his bride… ideas Claremont has well run into the ground by this point. And the art seems to struggle with continuity at some points. Not sure what’s happening panel to panel sometimes.
I don’t think I read this series past the alien invasion arc. I hear the book gets better when it gives up on the hunt for the Diaries arc entirely.
It also sort of loses its purpose for existing outside of being the X-comic book that Chris Claremont is writing while Grant Morrison is breaking new ground and Chuck Austen is trying to be offensive. I thought the diaries would give the series some type of focus for Claremont, so yeah, that gets dropped pretty quickly.
I don’t blame you for once giving up at the alien invasion arc, as it must have lasted for fifty issues at least. Not that long you say? You’ll never convince me.
It could only greatly improve after that point. Those were some truly awful comics, as if Claremont was trying to compete with Austen. Only with boring and pointless comics instead of stupid. Which isn’t to say that “stupid” didn’t show up in X-Treme after the early issues, like the Australian lifeguard and surfer siblings. A lot of the later issues of X-Treme seem to be Claremont writing in response to Morrison’s New X-Men, and why Claremont doesn’t agree with these new-fangled ideas.
@New kid- To be fair, at least Claremont had the other X-Men point out how many times someone had tried to force Storm to be his bride after the invasion arc.
Xtreme X-Men also suffered from Sage and Claremont trying to convince the readers she was a mole all along despite how little sense that made.
I just realized that the podcast that had been catching me up on all the bad X-Men eras that I skipped (Jay & Miles) isn’t going to be doing X-Treme X-Men or Chuck Austen or any of the other bad post-Morrison stuff. Maybe if Paul and Al are looking for something to recap after Thunderbolts…..?