[Comics] The "Let's Bitch about Comics thread!"

[Hailey Knight]

Hellboy always played like an anthology book, where you would often have events taking part over many years, both backwards and forwards. But I think the bigger issue was that you had to follow... what, three books to get the complete story?

Sort of? Hellboy spawned BPRD so they were running concurrently. Then each of those series ended and each has a sequel, Hellboy in Hell and BPRD: Hell on Earth. Recently they've rebranded a new print of the BPRD trades as BPRD: Plague of Frogs, which is confusing because that was the name of one particular volume of the previous BPRD trade print.

But really the chief problem is that for all the books you have to follow and the meshing that Yoshi is talking about, ultimately the story isn't very good and not worth the effort. Though the art is fun and there's a lot of imagination, the writing is weak. Many characters sound the same, some stories go nowhere, and often conflicts are resolved by some deus ex machina that is not explained in text, just cool imagery that the reader is probably supposed to figure out, but I think it's less that Mignola had an answer and more expected people to come up with their own so he wouldn't have to. I base this on because when he does want you to understand something, it gets explained in detail.

So, who wants to buy 24 trade paperbacks?

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Huh. I thought I was the only one that felt that way about the Hellboy comics. Honestly, I wish Dark Horse would re-collect Hellboy into the nice, bigger trades like they've been doing with BPRD. Or even the smaller omnibuses they do with almost everything else, like Aliens and Predator.

I've recently considered selling what I have of Hellboy, myself. In my case, it'd be bringing them into my local comic shop and trading them in for credit. I'd already sold my BPRD volumes. I think I will add them to the pile to bring Monday. So far, my stack includes the 8 volumes of Peter David's Hulk, since Marvel seems to have stopped collecting his run. I'm sure they'll get around to it some day and they'll be in nicer, big, complete collection editions. I'm also selling my Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths with the intention of buying the much more manageable omnibus that came out recently.

I...do that a lot. I'll sell or trade in older editions of collected editions in favour of newer and nicer ones. For example, I used to have the first collected run of Grant Morrison's JLA, as well as the first collected run of Gotham Central. I sold them both when new hardcover editions started coming out (especially for GC, since it included content that hadn't been collected before). And...then they announced softcover editions of those same things. So I sold the hardcovers and gradually got the softcovers. I've done this process far more times than I'm willing to admit (Preacher was another I did that with).[DOUBLEPOST=1463877810,1463877221][/DOUBLEPOST]Oddly enough, aside from the movies, you know where I enjoyed Hellboy the most? The novels. Christopher Golden did a couple and I found I really enjoyed them. They felt like self-contained pulp adventures.

 

[Sparhawk]

Nick, do you have volume 5 of that Peter David run? Dale Keown did most of the art and it features Doc Samson and the merge into the one Hulk. If so, would you be willing to sell that to me?

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Nick, do you have volume 5 of that Peter David run? Dale Keown did most of the art and it features Doc Samson and the merge into the one Hulk. If so, would you be willing to sell that to me?

I do, but why would you want just Volume 5?

 

[Sparhawk]

Only one that I'm missing.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Only one that I'm missing.

I'm not sure if I want to break up the set. Knowing Strange Adventures, they'll want to sell the whole thing as a pack.

 

[Sparhawk]

Ok.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Holy Hell. So in my clearing of comics, I've actually cleared so many I plan on selling that I filled a longbox.

So my entire collection is now 3 longboxes and two bookcases.

 

[PatrThom]

"Only."

--Patrick

 

[ThatNickGuy]

"Only."

--Patrick

It used to be much worse. I've been widdling down my collection here and there. A few years ago, I cleared away all of my single issues. Just trades left now.

 

[phil]

So DC only does reboots, right? Like I feel like every 3rd year is a new reboot and they just immediately start on the next one.

Like Dr. Manhattan created the universe and it'll immediately go something something Darksied, something something Flash, something something reboot.

 

[Yoshimickster]

So DC only does reboots, right? Like I feel like every 3rd year is a new reboot and they just immediately start on the next one.

Like Dr. Manhattan created the universe and it'll immediately go something something Darksied, something something Flash, something something reboot.

Then something something Superboy Prime then something something Grant Morrison then something something I don't fucking care anymore. The worst Marvel event series hurts INFINITELY less to my intelligence than these reboots.

 

[DarkAudit]

Then something something Superboy Prime then something something Grant Morrison then something something I don't fucking care anymore. The worst Marvel event series hurts INFINITELY less to my intelligence than these reboots.

I missed Secret Wars I. My big comics phase was during Secret Wars II when everything was something something Beyonder. To the point where I cringe every time I see Secret Wars mentioned.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Huh. I thought I was the only one that felt that way about the Hellboy comics. Honestly, I wish Dark Horse would re-collect Hellboy into the nice, bigger trades like they've been doing with BPRD. Or even the smaller omnibuses they do with almost everything else, like Aliens and Predator.

They actually have been doing so, putting them into big Deluxe ones with four of the small volumes in each big book. Which makes more sense for slimmer trades like Hellboy, as opposed to The Sandman where several of the books are already pretty chunky.

But yeah, you're not alone in thinking the Hellboy comics are mediocre. I haven't read any of the novels, but I feel like the movies, both live action and animated, did more with the characters than the comics. And that's the weird thing, because they are great characters, but they're not written well in the comics.

I've recently considered selling what I have of Hellboy, myself. In my case, it'd be bringing them into my local comic shop and trading them in for credit. I'd already sold my BPRD volumes.

I feel like my local comic shop has been struggling too much to be taking in people's own content. When I moved to this area, they had three locations and usually multiple employees working at a time. Now they're down to one, though surprisingly I did see other customers in there when I went in on Friday. I guess there's no harm in asking.

 

[Cog]

So DC only does reboots, right? Like I feel like every 3rd year is a new reboot and they just immediately start on the next one.

Like Dr. Manhattan created the universe and it'll immediately go something something Darksied, something something Flash, something something reboot.

I actually like when the inevitable reboot happens. It give me the chance to start reading a new series and if I don't like it, I just have to wait for the next reboot. Same with marvel with their events. Having no previous attachment to the characters also helps to enjoy a comic.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I don't mind old series dying and new series coming out, but resetting the numbers repeatedly, only to bring back the old numbers when hitting a milestone, gets tiring.

But it gets really bad when the cover of Squirrel Girl's reboot says "Only our second issue #1 this year!" Spider-Gwen, hit 5 issues, reset. Ms. Marvel I think hit 14 issues and then reset. Not because their stories necessitated it, but because of Secret Wars. Just no reason for that nonsense.

But I am glad Marvel's putting out new stuff. I'm liking a lot of it and it won't take too long to get caught up on the things I'm interested in.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I actually like when the inevitable reboot happens. It give me the chance to start reading a new series and if I don't like it, I just have to wait for the next reboot. Same with marvel with their events. Having no previous attachment to the characters also helps to enjoy a comic.

This is where I usually follow creative teams rather than characters. Especially if it's a team that's allowed to do their own thing without too much interference from crossovers.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I wanted to subscribe to Gwenpool through Marvel's website, but didn't see it on there, so I sent them an email. Got a response this afternoon:

"We don't offer that title for subscription."

Um ... it's your own fucking publication, ya bums. You don't offer subscription for something you create and print? Why the hell not? It's a new comic, it was one of the higher sellers for April.

No wonder this industry's dying if the company itself can't be arsed to support their own products.

 

[Covar]

Who the fuck still gets mail order subscriptions to comics in this day and age?

 

[AshburnerX]

Who the fuck still gets mail order subscriptions to comics in this day and age?

People who don't have a local comic shop? Or the ones who don't have a tablet to get get digital issues?

 

[Hailey Knight]

Who the fuck still gets mail order subscriptions to comics in this day and age?

Yeah, who the fuck orders things online and gets them in the mail? That whole Amazon gig is gonna flop hard.

 

[phil]

Steve Rogers captain America #1

Spoiler

What the actual fuck?! Steve Rogers has been a Hydra agent the whole time? That seriously doesn't make even the least amount of sense. But apparently there are hints to it so fuck me I guess!

This just might be the worst thing ever. It's so stupid. They'll do a brainwashing or triple agent reveal in a year or so and it's just going to end up being hilariously dumb. Kinda fuck comics.

 

[AshburnerX]

Steve Rogers captain America #1

Spoiler

What the actual fuck?! Steve Rogers has been a Hydra agent the whole time? That seriously doesn't make even the least amount of sense. But apparently there are hints to it so fuck me I guess!

This just might be the worst thing ever. It's so stupid. They'll do a brainwashing or triple agent reveal in a year or so and it's just going to end up being hilariously dumb. Kinda fuck comics.

Spoiler

Yes... let's make the Hitler punching, all American Hero created by two Jewish Kids be a Nazi all along. That SURELY does justice to their memories.

 

[CynicismKills]

Steve Rogers captain America #1

Spoiler

What the actual fuck?! Steve Rogers has been a Hydra agent the whole time? That seriously doesn't make even the least amount of sense. But apparently there are hints to it so fuck me I guess!

This just might be the worst thing ever. It's so stupid. They'll do a brainwashing or triple agent reveal in a year or so and it's just going to end up being hilariously dumb. Kinda fuck comics.

Yeah I mentioned this in the Comic News thread. It's a stupid HEY LOOK AT WHAT WE'RE DOING TO A BELOVED ICON move, just like Superior Spider-Man was.

Spoiler

Difference is, this time the most white-bread, fascist-punching hero of all is now a fascist lackey himself. It's dumb.

 

[Yoshimickster]

I'm with y'all in hoping its a Red-Skull brain-washing...or more expecting it, dear LORD can we just stop with these stories?!

 

[Hailey Knight]

Other shit tying into Civil War II, the deaths of two characters kick it off

Spoiler

James Rhodes and She-Hulk

And as is the usual, their deaths don't mean anything for their own stories; it's just to motivate their good buddies who will be leaders of the Civil War II factions.

I'm particularly pissed about the latter, partly because she's a character I'm fond of, but also because of what this means for her comic.

Spoiler

A-Force JUST FUCKING STARTED. They're just finishing the first story arc in June. And then in July, they're killing She-Hulk, the team leader. I guess that means Captain Marvel is in charge? BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE STUPID TO COME. In the August issue, turns out another team member is a murderer, so now the whole team is at each other's throats.

It's like, why do I fucking bother? I was all excited to be finding cool new titles I wanted to get into, and Marvel can't give them room to breathe before dragging them into the summer shithole.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Other shit tying into Civil War II, the deaths of two characters kick it off

Spoiler

James Rhodes and She-Hulk

And as is the usual, their deaths don't mean anything for their own stories; it's just to motivate their good buddies who will be leaders of the Civil War II factions.

I'm particularly pissed about the latter, partly because she's a character I'm fond of, but also because of what this means for her comic.

Spoiler

A-Force JUST FUCKING STARTED. They're just finishing the first story arc in June. And then in July, they're killing She-Hulk, the team leader. I guess that means Captain Marvel is in charge? BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE STUPID TO COME. In the August issue, turns out another team member is a murderer, so now the whole team is at each other's throats.

It's like, why do I fucking bother? I was all excited to be finding cool new titles I wanted to get into, and Marvel can't give them room to breathe before dragging them into the summer shithole.

This is why - except for some VERY rare exceptions - I've given up on Marvel and DC. Besides, Image is putting out too many quality books for me to give a shit about superhero continuity that'll be undone or ignored in a year or two. If that.

 

[Hailey Knight]

This is why - except for some VERY rare exceptions - I've given up on Marvel and DC. Besides, Image is putting out too many quality books for me to give a shit about superhero continuity that'll be undone or ignored in a year or two. If that.

Some predict that they'll just start doing reboots every year.

Some books are spared by fact of be irreverent, but I bet people who are fans of Guardians of the Galaxy figured that out in the cosmos, they'd be spared from this crap. Nope, they're on Cap and Iron Man's side. Why? Solely because they're popular right now, so throwing them into the muck is supposed to increase event sales.

I get ditching the big too, but it's difficult when they have stuff I genuinely am interested in. It just sucks when they dick around with that stuff. End up getting punished for liking things in the first place.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Some predict that they'll just start doing reboots every year.

Some books are spared by fact of be irreverent, but I bet people who are fans of Guardians of the Galaxy figured that out in the cosmos, they'd be spared from this crap. Nope, they're on Cap and Iron Man's side. Why? Solely because they're popular right now, so throwing them into the muck is supposed to increase event sales.

I get ditching the big too, but it's difficult when they have stuff I genuinely am interested in. It just sucks when they dick around with that stuff. End up getting punished for liking things in the first place.

So go the other route: collect collections of older stuff that you may have heard were great. I could, of course, provide a laundry list of stuff there if you want.

I mean, you look at the stuff I got yesterday for myself. A lot of it was DC, but it was all older stuff being reprinted, like Chuck Dixon's run on Nightwing, Batman Adventures, or Secret Six. They're all mostly self-contained with not a lot of event interference.

But yeah, I get what you mean by being interested in stuff that's going on right now. You can't help but be curious to see what they'll pull off. Hell, I actually bought DC Rebirth today. I figure, if I'm going to criticize it, I should at least read it and be informed.

 

[CynicismKills]

WOAH

WOAH WOAH FUCKING WOAH

Spoiler

They're killing She Hulk? I like She Hulk. Goddamnit Marvel, come on. I'm sure it's yet another fucking temporary thing but ugh.

 

[Celt Z]

WOAH

WOAH WOAH FUCKING WOAH

Spoiler

They're killing She Hulk? I like She Hulk. Goddamnit Marvel, come on. I'm sure it's yet another fucking temporary thing but ugh.

WTF?! Dislike!

 

[Hailey Knight]

WOAH

WOAH WOAH FUCKING WOAH

Spoiler

They're killing She Hulk? I like She Hulk. Goddamnit Marvel, come on. I'm sure it's yet another fucking temporary thing but ugh.

That's the pain in the ass of it. If it's going to be temporary anyway, why not just go with a coma? Or something. There are more interesting ways to change things up than death. Maybe if comics stop grabbing for death and undoing it so much, it might start to have meaning again.

Honestly, if she's back by summer's end, I'll even give A-Force a shot. As it is, I was going to pick up the trade, but now why bother seeing how the team begins if within eight issues they're being split up? The title might even be gone, because guess what's coming after summer?

MARVEL NOW!, ROUND TWO. New titles! New status quo! New etc!

So go the other route: collect collections of older stuff that you may have heard were great. I could, of course, provide a laundry list of stuff there if you want.

I mean, you look at the stuff I got yesterday for myself. A lot of it was DC, but it was all older stuff being reprinted, like Chuck Dixon's run on Nightwing, Batman Adventures, or Secret Six. They're all mostly self-contained with not a lot of event interference.

But yeah, I get what you mean by being interested in stuff that's going on right now. You can't help but be curious to see what they'll pull off. Hell, I actually bought DC Rebirth today. I figure, if I'm going to criticize it, I should at least read it and be informed.

It's not purely curiosity; I mean new titles came out with the "All New All Different" thing that had me going "I'd actually want to read that." Interesting, weird comics that drew me in again after so many years of absence. Only for a month to go by and Marvel remind me why I got out in the first place, because they can't leave well enough alone. Marvel's been taking chance with strange books lately--maybe they could try an even stranger concept of not fucking with everything.

This particular shitlery pisses me off because I didn't expect one of the characters who was drawing me back to be one of the primary victims.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

WOAH

WOAH WOAH FUCKING WOAH

Spoiler

They're killing She Hulk? I like She Hulk. Goddamnit Marvel, come on. I'm sure it's yet another fucking temporary thing but ugh.

Give it a year or two. They'll be back.

 

[CynicismKills]

I mean in most cases it's not even a year, I'm just disappointed that they keep going back to this kind of thing for the crux of a big event.

 

[figmentPez]

Other shit tying into Civil War II, the deaths of two characters kick it off

Spoiler

James Rhodes and She-Hulk

And as is the usual, their deaths don't mean anything for their own stories; it's just to motivate their good buddies who will be leaders of the Civil War II factions.

I'm particularly pissed about the latter, partly because she's a character I'm fond of, but also because of what this means for her comic.

Spoiler

A-Force JUST FUCKING STARTED. They're just finishing the first story arc in June. And then in July, they're killing She-Hulk, the team leader. I guess that means Captain Marvel is in charge? BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE STUPID TO COME. In the August issue, turns out another team member is a murderer, so now the whole team is at each other's throats.

It's like, why do I fucking bother? I was all excited to be finding cool new titles I wanted to get into, and Marvel can't give them room to breathe before dragging them into the summer shithole.

This is just rumors thus far, isn't it? I can't find any confirmation that those deaths are official yet.