Friday means many things to many people. For some, it means it’s payday. For others, it means it’s two-for-one from 4pm to 6pm at the local alcohol emporium. And for others still, it means it’s time to think up some good reasons as to why they don’t look anything like Matt Damon even though that’s what the personal ad said.
At iFanboy, Friday means it’s letter column time.
You write. We answer. Very simple.
As always if you want to your email read on the show, or answered here, keep them coming — contact@ifanboy.com
Hey! It’s all me this week because Ron is too busy working on some super secret project that he won’t even tell Josh and I about and Josh is, for some reason, consumed with finding an authentic American Revolution uniform and doesn’t have time for the mailbag “with all the damn Brits around.” Whatever that means…
So let’s get to it!
I love reading comics but at $3-$4 bucks a pop I can hardly afford to buy them. I’m super parsimonious and am totally not a collector type. I’m willing to buy trades and graphic novels because I can recoup some money by selling them on Amazon, but single issues are frustrating, expensive, and time consuming collecting. I just want to read the stories. I don’t want to collect them. Life’s too short. Is there anyway to sell single issues online that’s easy, fast, and efficient?
Ben
Short answer? No. Long answer? Aaaaah… no, not really. Selling single issues is tough. There isn’t much of a market for single back issues. More and more stories that I’ve been to are cutting way back on floor space dedicated to back issues and giving it to trades and I assume that’s that because the consumer has shifted their focus from single back issues to trade paperbacks and collections. Sure, people still buy them but not to the levels they once did.
From what people have said to us in e-mails and on the iFanboy forums, selling back issues can be a bit of a crap shoot. Sometimes you get lucky and find willing buyers and other times your books will linger and linger on places like eBay.
You can definitely sell back issues — but from what I gather it’s labor intensive and definitely not easy, fast, and efficient. Or, you can do what Josh did — before moving from Los Angeles to New York City he dumped the vast majority of his back issues at his local comic book store and got store credit — just enough for a few trade paperbacks of his own.
Conor Kilpatrick
I love the Teen Titans, but more so I love the old Teen Titans, that’s why I was so stoked to hear that Judd Winick is writing the Titans book focusing on those guys and gals. But I read through the first few posts on the CBR forums, and apparently no one likes Winick. I loved what he did with Arrow/Canary, why don’t people like him? Is this a common theme? Is this Titans book going to suck?
I’d love to hear from you as soon as humanly possible, as I’m about to sit down and write an article about it, and I’d like to be less depressed about it then I am now… and only 3 minutes ago I was super stoked! Ack! Stupid fricking internet!
Joshua S. H.
I don’t if there is a more polarizing writer in comics today than Judd Winick. He has a reputation for “pushing issues” on readers by focusing on gay rights and AIDS and other social issues and some people just don’t want to hear about real world (I’m sorry) societal ills in their super hero comics. I’m not one of those people. I love his work and I love that he challenges people with his work. That’s what art is supposed to do.
I’m super psyched for Judd Winick’s Titans. We can’t say enough good things about Green Arrow and Black Canary and I feel like his run on Green Arrow itself was one of the great, underrated super hero runs of the last few years. He had a really solid stint on Batman, despite being the one to bring Jason Todd back — grrrrr — and his The Outsiders was pretty good. A little uneven at times, but overall it was good. So don’t feel bad — you’re not alone. You and I will be brothers in being excited for Titans.
Conor Kilpatrick
I have never really gotten into comics up until now. Where I grew up there wasn’t really a market for comics, and no one I knew read them. now that I’ve become exposed to it I am really excited to find comics I would enjoy.
So here is my question. I like Batman a lot! I’ve never read the comics but my childhood was saturated with Batman cartoons, games, and movies. So my question is, If I’m going to pickup a Batman comic… which one should I start with? And should I just pick it up or should I read the back issues?
Adam
Woof. Daunting. I wish I had a little more information, like do you want to get into monthly single issues, or do you just want to read collections? Which Batman has been your favorite? Without more information, it’s tough.
But they don’t pay me to answer the easy ones so here goes nothing.
If you are a big fan of Batman and you liked the cartoon then I can assume you liked Batman: The Animated Series. If so then you’re in luck! Paul Dini — one of the writers behind that cartoon — has written 14 issues of Detective Comics since September of 2006. They are all one issue stand alone stories and you can pick up any random issue and get a complete story — assuming it’s an issue he wrote, he hasn’t written them all. There are two collections of those issues — Batman: Detective
If you want to jump on single issues, I’m not sure if I can recommend anything beyond Detective Comics at the moment. Grant Morrison is writing a very experimental Batman and it’s definitely not for everyone. And as interesting as I find most of what he is doing, I am kind of ready to get back to good, solid Batman comics which we haven’t had from both Batman and Detective Comics at the same time for about five years.
Conor Kilpatrick
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“Grant Morrison is writing a very experimental Batman and it’s definitely not for everyone.”
Conor I caught a mistake, that sentence should read: “Grant Morrison is writing an awful Batman and it’s definitely not for anyone.”
In fairness, I’ve been warned off Winick by people who don’t have any problem with his stand on social issues. I never really asked WHY, actually. Probably mostly the Jason Todd thing.
Though if the Internet hate really is about ‘pushing social issues,’ that’s kind of funny. Because it’s not like Denny O’Neil was shy about that.
Because it’s not like Denny O’Neil was shy about that.
Had there been message boards at the time, I’m sure it would have been similar.
When Countdown started, I picked up Winick’s entire Batman run because I liked Jason Todd. If you don’t have hang ups about the character, his return was well handled. In my opinion, Winick is a modern master and I cannot to see what he’s going to do with The Titans.
I can totally see Josh pulling off the tri-cornered hat.
Despite how others feel, I’ve always been a fan of Winick’s work. I think he writes really solid super hero comics, and I have no problem with social issues being in comics. If comics were solely about tightly clad men and women beating the snot out of each other, they would be plain boring.
For good Batman stories, I always reccommend Batman: Year One to people who want a good introductory Batman story. It lays the ground work for the characters, and as we all know, it is one of the finest Batman stories out there.
I second Brandon’s thought on the current Batman. I HATE what Morrison is doing with Batman right now. Ugh. It’s so bad. I enjoy when an artist tries to push the limit of a character or expand the character’s purpose/motivations/whatever, but Morrison is writing this comic in a way that requires the reader to be tripping on acid. Major ugh.
I can totally see Josh pulling off the tri-cornered hat.
In the 3 man march, is he the flutist or the drummer boy?
Yeah, I think Judd Winick is good. Huge fan of his Green Arrow/Black Canary series and am totally excited for the upcoming Titans(those are my favorite Teen Titans!). Love his work.
Though I am hesitant to put him on the level of your Johns or Brubaker, Winick is a very refreshing superhero comic book writer. It’s good to have guys like Winick & Bendis around if anything new is to be done with the genre.
I also will agree with Conor in that Grant Morrison’s Batman is very experimental and obscure. Perhaps a title such as Batman, with it’s broad appeal, is not the best place for high minded meta-textual commentary on the pop art of comic books.
However, much like Winick, I am glad Morrison is subverting the familiar idioms of the superhero genre.
On selling back issues:
If you have every issue of a complete story, you should sell them on ebay together, below the price of what the collected trade is worth.
You’re not going to make your $3 back per issue, but you should make something.
Despite delays in Kubert’s art last year, and hiatuses due to the Ra’s event, Morrison’s Batman is slowly proving to be one of the most interesting comics published.
I love where he’s going with this. This latest issue of Batman was the best single issue I’ve read in a long time. It is really experimental, really avant garde, and most of all really interesting. Though, I wouldn’t recommend it to a new reader, either.
Memo to philistines: You don’t need to “understand” a story or a work of art every step of the way in order to enjoy it. Some of the best art ever made does not make sense in anyway, though I expect that some of the insanity that Morrison has created will be resolved eventually.
Also, I don’t think the “Batman” title has a really broad appeal. It sells, what, only 75,000 copies a month to the whole world. No comic really has a broad appeal anymore–but I love it that Morrison is doing this right in everyone’s face on the “core” book of the franchise. If it’s off-putting to some people, good. It’s clear that he’s done so much research for this and put so much thought into it. I’m not a huge Morrison fan; I didn’t like the all ‘text’ issue last year, but again I really like where he’s taking this.
In my post above I wrote “anyway” when it should have been “any way”.
While it wasn’t everyone’s taste, Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee’s Hush storyline was a fun story – nothing too deep and a pretty decent mystery story – pretty art, too. Another less-mentioned Batman story was Mark Waid’s first JLA story Tower of Babel. While it was in the JLA book and is a JLA trade, it is beyond a doubt a Batman story.
Can’t get away without recommending Dark Knight Returns once you get your Batman feet wet a little. It really is the best Batman story ever, but you should be a bit familiar with the character.
I’ve also always been a fan of Winick’s work. His Exiles run was some great X-book fun. I think he got away from his ‘issues’ phase about half way through the Green Arrow run, so if that’s the kind of thing that turns you off, check out those later issues.
Comics are meant to be read. There are some books that I read in single issue form, and some in trades (damn you, Y: The Last Man)… and there are other books I buy in single form that I wish I read in trade (and usually buy in trade anyway) (DMZ). How you get the stories isn’t that important… I guess there is a convenience factor of storing trades vs. single issues, having the story all at once… I guess my question is what do the creators prefer? Do they make more money one way vs. the other?
There are two comics creators I refuse to purchase work from: Judd Winick and Steve Niles. Shallow minded? Sure… but, there are some lines that I feel needn’t be crossed.
Judd Winick is hit or miss with me. That has nothing to do with the issues he writes. Sometimes I like him and sometimes I don’t.I am debating if I am going to pick up Titans. I might pick up the first couple issues to give it a chance.
Grant Morrison is a writer I love but I haven’t been wild about his run on Batman. I am kind of hoping something happens towards the end that makes everything come together and puts a reason to all this madness. I am going to stick it out to the end.
Gotham Central while not really Batman centric is also a lot of fun if your a Batman fan.
I can’t help noticing that in any conversation about Grant Morrison, his detractors usually sound like this:
“Grant Morrison is writing an awful Batman and it’s definitely not for anyone.”
And his supporters usually sound like this:
“Memo to philistines: You don’t need to “understand” a story or a work of art every step of the way in order to enjoy it. Some of the best art ever made does not make sense in anyway.”
Is he just one of those writers who’s always going to be divisive? Or can there possibly be a conversation that explains what’s so great about the guy’s work, and makes sense to people who don’t already ‘get it’? (I’d say that should be a video show except I wouldn’t want to force Ron to read ‘New X-men’ again).
The “text” issue from last year was in my opinion one of the best books of last year. Comics are never going to grow if every book is 6 or 7 panels a page for 22 pages a book, 4 books every story arc. Not everything G.M. has done on the book has been great but it is obviously well thought out and i cant wait for his great finale.
The “text” issue from last year was in my opinion one of the best books of last year.
You mean that illegibly printed magazine with the Batman cover on it? I liked the recipe column.
Back on topic:
Conor is definitely the flag carrier.
Ron beats the comic fan drum the loudest.
So I guess that leaves Josh with the flute.
Also, I don’t think the “Batman” title has a really broad appeal. It sells, what, only 75,000 copies a month to the whole world. No comic really has a broad appeal anymore–but I love it that Morrison is doing this right in everyone’s face on the “core” book of the franchise. If it’s off-putting to some people, good. It’s clear that he’s done so much research for this and put so much thought into it.
I meant the Batman character has a broad appeal given the wealth of movies, cartoons, videogames, lunch boxes and whatever other merchandising have you. Batman has a great cache in popular culture as an iconic superhero.
Other than that, I would agree with most of what you said in regard to Grant Morrison’s daring and experimentation in one of DC’s flagship books.
Good art should challenge expectations. And to do that in Batman is all the more impressive.
You don’t need to “understand” a story or a work of art every step of the way in order to enjoy it. Some of the best art ever made does not make sense in anyway, though I expect that some of the insanity that Morrison has created will be resolved eventually.
But why would I want to spend my money on something that doesn’t make sense to me? Part of what makes things enjoyable for me is that they make sense. Are you saying that movies that don’t make sense should be enjoyed more because, well, it’s art and it doesn’t have to make sense? Comics is an entertainment medium that is visual, and often times, artistic. But because it has inherent entertainment value, often times creators have to decide where entertainment and artistic expression mingle. It’s a fine balance. And right now, Morrison is so lost in trying to be artistic and meta, it’s making the book unentertaining.
For a character like Batman, DC should be willing to push the bounds of the character to change and shape him/her into something the reader will enjoy. Batman should not be having psychotropic fantasies that are really a subversive jibe at pop culture. To me, that is not why I buy the comic
If people are enjoying it, that’s great. But this is not what I expect from a Batman comic, and for me, even if it’s great art, it does not deserve my dollar.
Winick has been money on The Trails of Shazam.
In every comic he writes, hit or miss, I appreciate Morrison’s drive to experiment with the comic medium. He’s broad and versatile, playing with nostalgia elements in a modern way or propelling stories to far futures. If sometimes I really don’t understand him, I enjoy trying to.
Morrison wrote one the classic and personally one of my favorite Batman story: Arkham Asylum
Not to detract from all the Battalk.
Adam, pay attention.
I have the perfect Batman recipe for you. Follow this in order and I’m sure that you’ll be quite pleased.
Batman: Year One (Miller)
Batman and the Monster Men (Wagner)
Batman and the Mad Monk (Wagner)
Batman: The Man Who Laughs (Brubaker)
Batman: The Long Halloween (Loeb/Sale)
Batman: Dark Victory (Loeb/Sale)
Follow this (tpbs/hcs), and you’ll have a perfect reinvention of the 2 year plan from the origin of Batman to Robin joining.
Everything else can wait. Trust me.
Clayton.
I also don’t like Winnick for other reasons other than him inserting “issues” into his comics. In fact, that was one of the reasons I picked up Green Arrow in the first place. To be honest, nothing I have read of Winnick’s has been all that controversial. And while the ifanboys heap praise for Green Arrow/Black Canary, I ended up dropping it after four issues because I found it utterly derivative and emotionally exploitive (even for a comic book).
As for Morrison’s run on Batman, yeah it isn’t for everybody. From talking to X-Men and Batman fans, I’ve come to the conclusion that his biggest detractors are all long time fans of whatever title he is/has worked on. Morrison is the comic industry’s Derrida, and if you realy want to appreciate him as a writer, you have to be willing to disconnect yourself from that love of the hero and his status quo.
WHile the :text” issue wasn;t as bad as I thought, the only real problem was that they didn’t solicit it as such….which pissed a lot of people off. I did feel slightly cheated out of the Joker story with Kubert art that I had wanted.
Morrison is the comic industry’s Derrida, and if you realy want to appreciate him as a writer, you have to be willing to disconnect yourself from that love of the hero and his status quo.
Very great point and I definitley agree. The only other thing I’d say in reference to Neb, is that I don’t beleive Don meant that you shouldn’t have to understand the book (and correct me if I’m wrong Don).
I think the key was that you don’t have to get the logic of every single beat. The latest issue of Batman was very much about the experience painted through reading it instead of laying out plot point to plot point. I think a lot of people had trouble when trying to approach it that way.
“From talking to X-Men and Batman fans, I’ve come to the conclusion that his biggest detractors are all long time fans of whatever title he is/has worked on.”
Speaking as a fan of other X-men series who didn’t like Morrison’s run, I think that’s a fair point.
I don’t think this means that ‘long-time fans of a series hate deconstruction,’ though. I disliked most of Morrison’s Xmen series because I thought his work paid little to no attention to previously established characterizations. It’s basically the same reason I disliked Chuck Austen’s series that ran at the same time, and I doubt anyone has ever compared Chuck Austen to Derrida.