What Are You Reading?

[Foggle]

Haven't watched anything from Linkara in years, but that was a great review. Really enjoyed it.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, I think going by an episodic nature with story arcs that don't heavily relate to one another is probably the best way for comic books to go if they want to be more accessible to the average reader. I mean, if you think about it, animated TV shows have been using that format for years and it has worked gloriously. I mean, you don't need to have seen the the Cadmus arc of JLU to fully follow and enjoy any of the season 4 episodes, and stuff like BTAS and BB are almost completely episodic, and both are great shows. If comic books want to have a strong sense of continuity, then they should be organized in an easy to understand chronological order of volumes rather than having a bunch of clustered up stories that people need to research just to find the very beginning of where to start at. If they want to have an arc-based structure or different stand-alone story-lines, then make them "STAND ALONE" rather than expecting people to have read everything that came before it.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I do find it rather tragic that very few comics have tried to accomplish a arc that has lasted for hundreds of issues though. Cerebus tried it, resulting in an insane creator who has invented at least several religions. I do know that Robert Kirkman wishes to try something like that for The Walking Dead, but patience is a cruel virtue.

[Spark Of Spirit]

TB&TB does it too. It has entirely episodic adventures with multi-part storylines and foreshadowing in unrelated episodes and it worked great.

This whole obsession with crossovers and sweeping "grand" epics with "dire consequences", while refusing to develop characters just leads to a big 'ol yawn from me.

For instance I thought having Dick Grayson become Batman was a good idea as it showed progression. I mean, it wasn't like BTAS or TB&TB where it was serial stories with some multi-parters- it was an ongoing story that never ends. With that formula it requires that eventually either something changes or people get bored. Then what happens? They reset to status-quo in the most ridiculous way possible because "Bruce Wayne has to always be Batman"... Then what's the point of having an ongoing story if it can never change?

[Dr. Insomniac]

I'm just thinking, is it too hard to ask for a sweeping grand epic in the likes of A Song of Ice & Fire or The Wire, and have it done right? Then again, most of the great finite graphic novels usually end at ten volumes.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The problem is, at least from my experience, to do something like that you need a lot of planning and time to do it right. It can't just be rushed out and winged like so many of these arcs are nowadays. If you have a story to tell, then logically it has to have a beginning, middle, and end, as well as a point- no matter how long or short the story is. Looking at the recent "Epic" comic arcs prove that these are clearly not thought on very long or very hard.

Especially if your name is Garth Ennis.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Someone must have read the latest Boys issue.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I just realized you could have put any of his works in place of that and it would illicit the same response from me.

Man, I must really not like the man's work.

[Dr. Insomniac]

To be fair, Hellblazer was good. Punisher was good. The Boys, while still good, reads like a deranged diatribe about how superheroes are the absolute worst thing to happen to society.

[Angus]

I'm glad my local library stocked up on 20th Century Boys 

[Avaitor]

Sometimes I forget how ugly some of the later Avengers cover art could be.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, my friend came back and this time he brought me the first few volumes of essential Spider-Man. I think it covers the first 100 issues or so.

Avaitor, do you have any good stories within those issues to recommend to me in particular? I doubt that I'll have enough time to read them all before I have to go back to college, so I'm interested in reading the most "essential' ones.

[Avaitor]

First 100? Off the top of my head:

• Read the origin. It's not exactly one of the best stories, but it is a national landmark
• I think the Lizard has the best origin story of his earliest villains. That's #6
• There's a really cool 2-parter involving Doc Ock killing Betty Brant's brother and Spidey trying to have his revenge. That should be 13 & 14
• The first 2 annual stories are a lot of fun. The first introduces the Sinister Six and has Aunt May meet Doc Ock for the first time, and the second is a crossover with Doctor Strange
• I've recommended's 32 and 33 before, but you might also want to read #31, since it introduces the whole arc
• Near the end of the second Essential book has the two-parter where Spidey and the Green Goblin learn each other's secrets. Those were classics I forget which issues exactly, but I have a T-shirt of the cover of the second one, and the cover to the first is also the cover on that exact collection. You can easily find them.
• #50. A classic story which Spider-Man 2 took a lot of points from, especially one particular panel.
• Near the late 90's, there's the classic 3-parter where Harry gets addicted to drugs which the comics code did not approve of. That's actually a really good story.

I only own the first 3 Essentials, so my memory on the latter part of the first 100 issues are a little hazy, but I hope that helps you.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

• Read the origin. It's not exactly one of the best stories, but it is a national landmark

Is that Amazing Fantasy #15 that you're referring to?

• I think the Lizard has the best origin story of his earliest villains. That's #6

Oh, that sounds good, especially after having watched the recent movie featuring The Lizard as the main villain.

• The first 2 annual stories are a lot of fun. The first introduces the Sinister Six and has Aunt May meet Doc Ock for the first time, and the second is a crossover with Doctor Strange

I need to read more story featuring Doctor Strange, now that I think about it. I don't know anything about him, but he was pretty awesome in Infinity Gauntlet.

• I've recommended's 32 and 33 before, but you might also want to read #31, since it introduces the whole arc

Oh yeah, that was in your favorites list, wasn't it? That sounds great.

• Near the end of the second Essential book has the two-parter where Spidey and the Green Goblin learn each other's secrets. Those were classics I forget which issues exactly, but I have a T-shirt of the cover of the second one, and the cover to the first is also the cover on that exact collection. You can easily find them.

Yup. The funny thing is that I've always wanted to read that story since I learned about it in the special features of the DVD of the first Spider-Man movie.

• Near the late 90's, there's the classic 3-parter where Harry gets addicted to drugs which the comics code did not approve of. That's actually a really good story.

Oh, that reminds me of that part in TSSM where Harry was addicted to that Green Goblin syrum/formula/juice thing. Was that a reference to this particular story?

I only own the first 3 Essentials, so my memory on the latter part of the first 100 issues are a little hazy, but I hope that helps you.

Yeah, thanks a lot. That gives me a really good idea of what to read.

[gunswordfist]

Whoa, that makes me want to read that. So did the new movie do Doc Connors any justice. I of course saw it day one on my birthday but never read a good story with him in it.