Ramblings of a 20-Something
Posts tagged Comics
James and the Digital Comic Books
03 months ago
Over the past six months or so I’ve dove head first into digital comics. I gave up on single issues awhile back but I never gave up on the print graphic novel. I still read them and it’s easy to take one off the shelf. This changed as I started playing with the Marvel Comics app on my tablet. Marvel is doing digital right. I’m not talking about giving away a digital copy of a book when you buy the print version. I think that’s silly and a waste. Of course, there’s no data to back up whether or not people are actually redeeming them.
Anyway, here’s what Marvel does: Every week they give away 2-4 comics on their app. They change up the books every week, but the free titles are available for two weeks. Once you “buy” them, they’re linked to your account and you can read them whenever you want. The free issues are usually the first issues of a title or a new arc. This is now as a “good jumping on point.” I like to call it “sampling” because that’s what it is. You know that phrase “The first taste is free”? That applies here too. I tried out Avengers Academy and Secret Avengers because Marvel offered the first issues of both books free on their app. I liked them and went out and bought the first trade paperback of Avengers Academy
There are some drawbacks to the medium though. I don’t actually own these comics. What I own is a license to read some titles through these apps or on my computer. I can’t make a backup of them to read later or print them out or something. If comiXology goes under, my comics are gone. Sucks, doesn’t it? But fortunately, they’re doing very well.
The pros far outweigh the cons. I can access hundreds of comics whenever I want as long as I have an Internet connection. Why limit myself to a single trade paperback when I can carry around my tablet and read whatever I want? Plus I can read the comics panel-by-panel, giving the art lots of room and allowing me to look at all the little details that make up each one.
In addition to all this, I signed up for Marvel’s Digital Comics Unlimited. It’s a service like Netflix but for comics. You can access a library of over 10,000 issues but you can only do it through their site in their flash based viewer. This is great for me because I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab which allows flash and not an iPad because I hate Apple products (I write as I type this on my MacBook, which I also now hate). The viewer is a little wonky and the library can be spotty, missing sporadic issues. What bugs me most is how slow the site can be when browsing through the directory. I can load up a page and it takes forever to load which is a crime in this day and age.
Now that I have access to all of these comics through a single device, I’ve found that I don’t read physical comics all that often. I have a bunch of graphic novels that I haven’t read yet sitting on a shelf in the next room but I can’t bring myself to pick them up. They feel so annoying to go through now. How can I go back to that when I’ve had such a better experience with digital funny books? These are the problems that I find myself facing now.
Now to Figure Out What Character to Dress Up As…
01 year ago
Yes, I have a lot to write about with buying a house and a few other things, but this just happened and I’m excited about it.
About a year ago I started writing news and reviews for HorrorTalk, focusing mainly on comics. I did it not because I like horror as a genre as it’s not my favorite by far, but because I like comics. That was it really. Since then I’ve gotten in touch with several publishers and I’ve been writing up news and reviews on a regular basis. I even got quoted on the back of the Nanny & Hank trade paperback
I received a press pass for the New York Comic Con. To come from having absolutely no comic book coverage to getting accepted as press for a major comic convention is such validation for the work I’ve done on HorrorTalk. This will be my first convention too so I’m not exactly sure what to expect. It’s not as big as the San Diego one in July but it’s the largest on the east coast and it’s a quick train ride away for me. Who knows? Maybe I can piggyback on this and get into the San Diego one next year. Of course, I’d have to pay to get there but that’s something else entirely. Plus I’d have to be able to bring Monica because while she’s not interested in the NYCC, she might want to go to San Diego if for nothing else than to see Joss Whedon.
I’m going to have to get a new battery for my MacBook in preparation and I’ll make sure to have my phone, video camera and probably my wife’s digital camera with me at all times to bring all the updates to HorrorTalk as soon as possible.
James Knows…Comics: Fly #1
01 year ago
I received a copy of this book for review on HorrorTalk. While it doesn’t really fit into the stuff we cover on HT, I liked the book a great deal and wanted to write a quick review for it anyway, so here goes.
I think it’s safe to say that we’re never going to totally win the War on Drugs. It’s just not going to happen. What we can do is educate people so they know what they’re getting into and hopefully they make the right decision. Zenescope Entertainment sets out to enlighten and entertain with their latest ongoing series, Fly. Based on personal experiences with meth addiction, author Raven Gregory takes a look at a world with a drug that could give you super powers and the dangers it could cause.
The first issue of Fly really sets the groundwork for everything. It starts up with this guy Eddie having a really bad day. His car is on top of a lamp post and his super powered ex-wife Danielle is looking for something. She thinks Eddie’s got it and she begins beating him senseless in an effort to get it out of him. That’s now. Then there’s then.
We get a Lost-style flashback to Eddie and Danielle meeting in high school. Eddie seems like a great guy and later saves geeky Francis from some bullies. Francis decides to reward Eddie by showing him something in his dad’s safe: a drug called Fly that gives Francis the ability to…well…fly.
This is great framework and left me wanting some more. Eric J handles the art duties for the present-day stuff which looks great. It has this feel of darkness surrounding each panel. You can just tell that Eddie is in for a rough road ahead. The flashbacks are clearly done by another artist though as the style is completely different. It looks almost cartoony in the way it’s handled. I like that they have different styles for the flashbacks and the present day storyline though. The past is filled with bright colors and hope while the present is the complete opposite.
As I mentioned, this is a great setup for a new comic. I’m looking forward to more from Fly. There have been comics that are a little similar to it. The one that comes to mind first is Mark Millar’s never finished War Heroes, but this has an interesting take on it. Zenescope just announced that the first printing was sold out, so look around for a copy at your local shop. It’s worth checking out.
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James Knows…Comics: Batman: Cacophony by Kevin Smith
02 years ago
Sometimes two great tastes don’t taste great together. What works with peanut butter and jelly doesn’t work for everything. This was the case for me with Kevin Smith and Batman. I’m a huge Kevin Smith fan and I f-ing love Batman so when I heard that Kevin Smith was writing a Batman story I had to go change my Spider-Man underpants. Smith’s previous comic work on Daredevil and Green Arrow were both great so I was looking forward to what he could do with Batman.
I don’t know if it was the time away from comics or the tremendous exposure I’ve had to Smith lately through the various pieces of the SModcast network but this book just didn’t do it for me. Not only that, but this was one of the worst Batman stories I read. I understand Smith’s devotion to the character and I know how much artist Walt Flanagan put into the story but this was just not a good story. I think Batman was alright in the story but the Joker was where I was lost. It didn’t feel like the Joker. It felt like Kevin Smith in a Joker suit. It was clearly his voice throughout the book so the Joker’s dialogue is filled with poop jokes and thinly veiled gay innuendo.
The art by Flanagan is just OK and adds nothing really to the book. It felt average at best. I want to like it more because I like Flanagan but this was just blah.
Even with all this I’m still planning on picking up the duo’s next Batman book, The Widening Gyre
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No One Cares About Wonder Woman So Shut Up Already
22 years ago
If you’re anywhere near as big as of a nerd as I am, you’re no doubt aware that Wonder Woman got a new costume this week as her comic finally hit 600 issues. The same month saw Batman and Superman reach the 700 issue mark. The reaction has caused a sudden surge in Nerd Rage all over the Internet. I don’t understand this at all.
First of all, these are comic books we’re dealing with. Costumes change for characters all the time. It’s a stunt to sell more issues and keep people talking. It’s happened with Spider-Man at least half a dozen times (Black costume, Iron Spider, That weird metal costume from the ’90s that lasted a single issue, the Scarlet Spider, I could go on), not to mention Superman (do I really have to bring up Electric Blue?) and tons of others. People talk about it for a little while and then after a few months everything goes back to normal because nerds hate change. This will probably happen to Wonder Woman as well. They’ve even thrown out the buzz words like “bold new direction” and “never be the same” which are always surefire signs that nothing will actually make a difference.
Aside from that, I don’t know what people are talking so much about this anyway. No one actually cares about Wonder Woman to begin with. Despite the fact that she’s one of the Holy Trinity at DC along with Batman and Superman, she’s relegated to the back seat. If the Big Three were the daughters of the Brady family, Wonder Woman would be Jan. Her comic has been canceled a bunch of times because readers stopped buying it. They only got to 600 issues after adding up all of the previous volumes of the comic to get there. Did they have to do that with Batman and Superman? Nope!
Yes, Wonder Woman had that TV show with Lynda Carter
So bottom line: Shut Up. Nerds freak out over change when everyone knows that the comic companies will just go back to the status quo within a few issues anyway because they want your money. Giving Wonder Woman pants is not going to destroy the character or ruin your life. They’re pants. Here’s a newsflash for you: Women have been wearing pants for decades. They don’t actually wear giant star covered panties. Deal with it.
I Fought the eBay and…It Was a Draw?
03 years ago
As some of you may know, I’ve been in the process of selling off my single issue comics for the past few months. It’s been a slow process, but I put up about 2-3 auctions each week on eBay consisting of groups of comics that go together. Basically I put storylines in one bunch so that a buyer can come in and pick up an entire run of a series without missing something. Throughout this whole time I haven’t had a single problem with any of the auctions. The transactions were smooth and occasionally some books would sell for less than I’d like them to, but I was getting rid of them. At this time I’ve already cleaned out 2 or 3 long boxes worth of comics. I’m also taking my winnings and buying the comics I’d like to read again in trades so I’ll actually read them instead of letting them sit in a box.
So with all this going well, it was only a matter of time before I had some sort of problem. I sold a batch of comics to a guy in Canada. I don’t normally ship to Canada but he asked and I figured I’d do it. I packaged the comics like I do every other batch that I put through and sent them out. A week or so goes by and I totally forget about them until I get a message from the guy out of the blue. He received the comics and claims that they’re all bent and he wants, no DEMANDS, a refund. Buh? I’m shocked by this. I don’t understand how this could have happened at all. I respond as polite as I can asking for more information and explaining that this has never happened to me before.
Eventually he sends me pictures of the comics and the “damage.” I put that word in quotes because if you didn’t know where the “damage” was you wouldn’t notice it.
If you look real hard, the right hand corner of the book is slightly dented, as if someone dropped the box on it’s corner. The buyer said himself that the box was “slightly torn” when he received it. I’m totally taken aback by this. Are you serious? This is what’s wrong with the books? He even went so far as to say he was really irritated because he was looking forward to reading these. I ask him what is stopping him from reading the books as clearly there is no pages missing or anything like that. His response confirms my suspicions about him. He said that it didn’t matter anymore because he had just bought the hardcover collections of the books and that these would just be added to the collection anyway (which amassed 40+ boxes of all near mint books as that is the standard of his collection). I really wish I was making this up.
I asked eBay what I should do and they said that the buyer should open up a case regarding this if the items were damaged. I asked the guy to do that and then escalated the case for a decision from eBay. My auction stated that I do not accept returns and this guy didn’t offer to buy insurance for the package even though he said this has happened to him before. Within a few hours, eBay had made its decision. They sided with the buyer. What will happen now is as follows: The buyer returns the comics to me but does so with a shipping confirmation. Once eBay confirms that the comics have been received (by using the shipping confirmation), they’ll refund the amount paid for the auction and take the balance out of my PayPal account. Then I can re-list the comics on eBay and hopefully sell them to a less picky buyer.
This whole experience has left me rather disgruntled. I was on a good run with getting these comics out and now there’s a small part of me that doesn’t want to bother. That part will disappear once I remember that the next time I move I’ll have to lug these comic boxes down all those stairs. I’m sure I’ll be back on the eBay wagon again. Also, I’m a little disappointed that this guy got all rude and stuff. I could have probably sold him more comics.
The Comic Book Pile is Slowly Shrinking
43 years ago
My plan to sell off my single issue comic book collection is now underway. Last week I tossed up the first of many ebay auctions for a batch of Marvel Civil War comics. The 40 comics sold for $76, which is way more than I thought they’d go for. As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, my goal is to make enough money to re-buy the issues as trade paperbacks. I understand that I’m going to take a loss on the initial sale, but this way I’ll get rid of the comics that I’ll never read again and basically trade in the other issues for graphic novels that I’ll actually read and will be readily available on my book shelf.
I put up three more lots this week. (Green Lantern, Batman: War Games, and Y: The Last Man). I think that the Green Lantern one will sell for big. I hope so at least because it’s 53 issues. Y will probably go for an OK amount, but I don’t know if Batman will sell because even though it’s about 30 issues, the storyline included wasn’t that popular. We’ll see though. I’ve still got a few days before it ends.
I thought about putting up more, but with all the stuff going on with the move and our road trip it’s going to be a pain in the ass to get all these together and ship them. I’m going to stick to about three each week and take it from there. That way I’m not overwhelmed with shipping and whatnot. I’ll have to move some of the comics with me to the new apartment, but that’ll be OK. At least by that time they’ll take up a little less space.
Comics Corner – Week of 12/4
04 years ago
My ever-shrinking comic pull list got a little smaller this week. I almost didn’t go to Alternate Realities this week since there were only 5 comics that I wanted to pick up, but with the conclusion to Secret Invasion amongst them I figured I should probably make the trip. So here’s what I think of this week’s books. Feel free to skip to the end to call me retarded.
Batman #682 – I thought that the previous issue (which I didn’t really care for) would be the end of this whole Batman R.I.P. thing. Unfortunately, I was incorrect. It seems that there’s this issue and one more that basically consist of Grant Morrison trying to make sense of DC’s embarrassingly fucked up continuity. See, Batman R.I.P., this story that’s supposed to completely change the Batman stories forever and ever, takes place BEFORE the current crapfest, Final Crisis, where Batman (Bruce Wayne) is currently held captive and strapped to some weird machine. So all the thought of Bruce dying or in any way leaving the Batman cape and cowl behind is for naught because we know he’s still running around later on in Final Crisis. This issue jumped around like a crazy person and I still don’t really understand it. I think it’s supposed to be told from Alfred’s point of view and it basically jumps from weird point to weird point in the life of Bruce Wayne / Batman. I was going to pick up this and the next issue to make sure I had the issues that were in the trade. Now? Eh. I’m good with this. I don’t need anymore.
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My Comic Book Storage Solution…For Now
04 years ago
With my comic book habit reaching critical mass, I’ve realized that I just can’t keep collecting single issues, especially when trades are just so easy. I made this decision about two months ago and I’m working on canceling all of my regular issues. Now what to do with all the books I’ve already got? They’re all collecting dust in a bunch of long boxes in a corner of my apartment, never to be read again. I could try and sell them and then buy the trades of the ones I’d like to read again, but that seems illogical, especially since I literally just bought some of them.
I think a main reason that I don’t re-read the single issues is accessibility. They’re in their boxes and it’s a pain in the ass to rifle through them, lifting up box after box to get to a story buried in the back. Once it gets filed away, it’s basically out of sight, out of mind. So I set out to find a way for me to make the comics I had readily available like a regular book. I think I found a rather affordable way to do it too. (more…)
Comics Corner – Week of 9/24
04 years ago
A relatively small week in the grand scheme of things. I picked up 10 books that came out on Wednesday plus Welcome to Hoxford #2 which came out a couple weeks ago. In addition to these, I dropped about 7 titles including X-Factor, The Boys, and Angel. More will be coming as more storylines end though as I make my transition away from regular monthly comics.
Now for some reviews! Don’t forget to call me retarded at the bottom as your opinion is always welcome. K THX. (more…)
