stevetwo

March 21, 2013 2:55 pm Omnibuses please!

March 21, 2013 2:45 pm Astro City 1/2: "The Nearness of You." On my list of all-time best single issues in comic history, this is in the Top Three. We've seen this kind of ending in other media before, but no other story gets you there like this one. You don't even have to read or like superheroes to feel the emotional impact Busiek hits you with on every page. Combined with Brent Anderson's art, AC 1/2 is a short and bittersweet tale that begs to be read over and over and over.

March 16, 2013 11:06 am Unfortunately, when we talk digital comics, when anyone does, we never hear about a certain aspect of this product. But Gabe's column made realize what that is. Sure, we love or hate digital. Sure we will or won't pay .99 or 3.99 or whatever. We like that it doesn't take up space or we can't hold it in our hands. We we we. Oh we're a selfish bunch. Has anyone thought about having the ability to buy a digital comic, and then, like a Hallmark e-card, GIVE it to someone? Can you imagine how many more potential readers you could recruit if you, me, any comic reader, thought a non-comic friend might enjoy a particular story - even if they won't read comics in general - just to experience this gift? Not everyone is a candidate, but man, at .99 a pop I'd buy 10 or 20 digital issues and email them to a lot of people on Free Comic Book Day. Long before digital came along, I've often thought about sending copies of Astro City 1/2 and the ASM issue with "The Boy Who Loved Spider-man" to anyone and everyone just so they see how absolutely freakin' wonderful sequential art is. I KNOW people who would love them. Can I find enough of those copies out there? No. If I had digital copies I could do this with? (blue sky here folks, don't care about # copies per copy etc. details right now) A thousand times yes!

March 13, 2013 10:02 am Ah, CC! Here's now much I loved this book: After reading the Titans preview and first issue, I shoveled snow off people's driveways for THREE DAYS to buy a subscription so I wouldn't miss a single issue. Maybe it's because I have a thing for funny animal books when I was a kid...

March 7, 2013 1:07 pm FINALLY! This series has always been in my top 10 of all-time best books, even when it wasn't being published. I wonder if this means DC will do an omnibus of previous material. Some of the hardcovers which broke up the second series are out of print.

March 5, 2013 4:00 pm I have no problem with “Batman and Robin” changing permanently to “Batman and Nightwing.”

March 5, 2013 3:48 pm MutantSentry: "I just wonder, if Marvel hired him to writer Spider-Man… would I read it or not? I just don’t know…" I hadn't thought about that until you brought it up. I have no interest in reading anything Card writes now, but that's easy to say at the moment because I don't read Superman. What if he or someone of similar ilk is hired to write one of my all-time favorite books? If the controversy didn't cause the company to drop him (which is what I'll go out on a limb and say DC may do to Card), I would probably just not buy the books he wrote (notice I didn't say 'boycott').

March 5, 2013 10:29 am You know, maybe it's "Out of sight, out of mind." I'm very aware of the available kids comics out there - and there are a ton of them - because I currently have kids under 10. BUT, can the average comic shop goer easily point out where the kids comics are in the shop? In my day (old prospector voice), Pink Panthers, Bugs Bunnys and Caspers were on the same rack as Spiderman and House of Mystery. I'm not advocating putting Peanuts next to Punisher, but you have to admit, there's something missing there. That and the fact that many kids comics cost $4, or the digests are $7-$10! What kid is going to spend that kind of money over Pokemon cards or action figures?

March 5, 2013 10:15 am Can't we all just get along?

March 4, 2013 12:49 pm I'm going out on a limb here. Devil's Advocate. Face the fire. Scott Snyder's "Court of Owls" run in Batman? Totally for kids. WITH just a few tweaks here and there (had you there for a moment, right?). And don't get me wrong. I wouldn't change a thing about "Court of Owls." It's a masterpiece. What I'm saying is that as a 10 year old kid, I watched Spiderman get drugged, grazed by bullets, almost drown in NYC's water pipes, escape exploding buildings... he didn't scream in anger too much. He did brood, but not for long.... see a pattern? You could easily convert "Court" into a psuedo-kid accessible book. The difference between then and now? A lot of it has to do with the art. No reflection on the great Greg Capullo at all. The art back then was much brighter. Blood was absolutely minimal if shown at all. But then, and here's Jim's point: culture and how kids absorbed it was very different back then. Kids today are used to more terrifying stories and images. But Jim is right, (heaven help me). The industry has gone overboard. You don't have to show a little girl cutting a guy's head off and watch blood coat the entire room. Sure, that would probably happen in real life, but is it really necessary to the story? Some places yeah, some places no. However, if the industry wants to attract younger readers - besides putting out kid books - they need to realize that they've ramped up the violence and adult themes tooo far. They're mistaken in the belief that they have to be completely over the top to attract readers. Mario and TMNT do just fine in their respective formats without excess gore (both visually and aesthetically). My work is done here. Now to read 'The Walking Dead'... "Wha-? Carl! Nooooooo...!"