Thursday, June 18, 2009

Some random thoughts about comics, and the greatest thing you'll see this week

Over on its blog The Source, DC just announced writer James Robinson and artist Mark Bagley will be taking over as the creative team for Justice League of America in October. I think that's good news; I've been enjoying Robinson's work on Superman, and of course he's the author of an amazing run on Starman, so I've got my fingers crossed that he'll be doing something interesting with the JLA.

I do feel a little bad for current JLA writer Dwayne McDuffie, though. He just found out he was getting the boot a few weeks ago, and even though he's apparently been less than happy during his tenure it still seems he had some ideas he wanted to explore. That said, I haven't read a JLA book in a long time, including McDuffie's. Maybe a change will do the title some good.

Personally, it'd be great to read Justice League again. I miss the chemistry of a team book, and I was always more a JLA man than an Avenger's guy. As a matter of fact, let's make that a poll! And let's keep it simple: JLA or Avengers, who ya got? Vote for your favorite in the sidebar, and be sure to stump for your team in the comments.

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As long as you're answering questions, let me ask another: Have your buying habits changed?

This week, between the special issues and newly higher-priced titles, I definitely had to be more choosy about what I picked up. As a matter of fact, I had to leave a couple of books behind because it didn't fit into my weekly budget (keep in mind it's fairly modest compared to some). I'll still be picking them up sometime in the future, but that's when — and if — it fits into the expense account. Is anyone else feeling the effects of higher cover prices?

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Speaking of this week's comics — was the wrap-up for Mysterius The Unfathomable awesome or what? Sure, it was slightly unfathomable itself thanks to a lot of threads that had to be stitched together all at once, but it's nothing a quick re-read of past issues won't fix. And in any case, this is a series worth re-reading anyway. If you weren't getting this in single issues (shame on you), be sure to get it when it comes out in trade — it's great work from Jeff Parker and Tom Fowler, whose artwork I want to make sweet, sweet love to.

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And now, as promised, the greatest thing you'll see this week:


Panel from Captain America #600 (originally published in Captain America Comics #16)
Stan Lee, writer; Al Alvison, artist

5 comments:

Khairul H. said...

JLA all the way, baby! But this JLA is probably the worst I ever read. I dropped it after the second trade. Heck, the 'Detroit JLA' was better than this incarnation (Vibe notwithstanding).

rob! said...

I would love to read a good JLA book, but sadly DC hasn't published one in a long while.

I give each new JLA writer a shot, so I'll start buying the book again once Robinson takes over, and see how it goes...

Maxo said...

Robinson has been doing a good job of making me more and more invested in Superman as a reader since he took over, so I'm hoping he can do the same with JLA. True, Superman has been a slow burn, but there's nothing wrong with that.

And I think Vixen is becoming my personal vibe — oooh, I shake my fist at you, Vixen!

Jon said...

JLA. It's got Batman. That's my general rationale for preferring DC to Marvel as well. It's got Batman. And I followed The Ultimates more than The Avengers just based on the writer, Mark Millar. I don't think anyone I like has ever helmed The Avengers.

And on buying patterns, yep, there's been a change. Last month, I was at the comix shop and going thru the racks to see if there was anything interesting. And stuff I was on the fence about, the Daredevil Noir series, for example, I took a look at the cover price and went, Nope. And it's not that I don't have the cash. I can afford it, I just thought, Why should I? I have fewer and fewer titles in my pull list as well, but that may be coz all my favorite books have ended, and I haven't found anything exciting enuff to replace them.

Maxo said...

(By the way, the above comment and my following reply originally took place on Facebook, and I'm reposting it here with Jon's okey-dokey.)

I've had to do the same thing; there have been comics I was interested in, but was then turned off by the price. This happens a lot with Marvel books because it seems as if the company is just bumping the price without giving any added value to the reader. At least DC is increasing the page count and including back-up stories. As a reader, I feel as if I'm actually getting something for my money.