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Whilst reading the comedy goldmine that is the latest feminist 40k thread the recent sales dip on some of the recent Marvel titles came up.

This got me thinking, do my fellow funny book fans on Dakka tend to follow Writers, Characters or Brands, or a bit of each ?

I generally tend to follow writers from title to title, and whilst there are a handful of characters I'll pick up regardless of writer its usually writers I'm more interested in

Have at it Dakka's

Writers and characters.

Good writers bring me comic books I normally wouldn't read at first sight, like Matt Fraction and Sex Criminals.

Beloved characters I can see over some flaws, though I will skip titles if it's just too boring. A recent example would be the Clooney Punisher run that was annoyingly bad because it was trying and failing to imitate Ennis.

It depends. In terms of brands, I've yet to deviate outside of The Big Two, even the Star Wars stuff I've read is technically Marvel. I probably should branch out, but haven't found anything particularly compelling yet.

Some writers are good enough that I'll happily trust them to do a good job on just about anything. For instance, across Flash, the N52 Justice League and the seminal Green Lantern run I've not read a Geoff Johns comic I haven't liked. Likewise, Dan Abnett and Scott Snyder I can generally trust to tell a good story regardless of exactly who they're writing about.

Characters are a tough one, off the top of my head I can't think of any character/team that I've read a significant amount of that have been universally good. Even my favourites, like Justice League, Green Lantern or The Avengers, have had plenty of rubbish stuff. On the other hand, I generally won't even consider reading something about characters I don't already have a vested interest in; you're not going to get me to read a Deadpool comic no matter who's writing it.

The other thing that factors into whether or not I read something is simply the age. I struggle to read anything from the Silver Age era of flat colour backgrounds, motion lines and endless expositionary dialogue, as those elements just really take me out of it. There are a few classics that hold up very nicely and are written well enough to overcome that (I love Watchmen, I love Frank Miller's Daredevil: Born Again), but on the whole, I tend towards newer stuff as without quality (in terms of personal preference, translate that to detailed, somewhat realistic and neat) art I just struggle to invest in the stories. There are people who would doubtless call me a snob and say I'm missing out, but when you're talking about a medium that's largely conveyed through visuals, if those visuals don't work for you then you're not going to get anything out of it.

A bit of each. There are certain writers in certain brands that I wouldn't follow if you held me at gunpoint.

Aubrey Sitterson, for one. Loathes the 'fetishization' of the military, anti-gun, believes that no one should memorialize 9-11 on social media unless they were in New York, lashes out at his critics and calls them 'Nazis'...

... this is the current writer for GI Joe, mind you.

G. I. JOE.

Despite loving things like the original X-Men from the 90s, I never got into comics when I was younger; partly I suspect because the UK hasn't got the came comic scene and highstreet setup as the USA - so unless one is in a very big urban area there just aren't comic shops around with legions of comics.

Recently I got into them, though I've avoided DC/Marvel mostly because of their repeat rewrites of characters and settings. I prefer single stories over one that repeats itself over and over and over again. Right now its too much of a huge backlog of legacy for me to "catch up".

I've also stuck to digital reading, it lets me get a bright high gloss/colour visual and doesn't take up much space for storage.


At present I tend to enjoy reading from certain major outlets, they are at least the first thing I often check.

Dark Horse - Humanoids - Image - Dynamite. If the artwork really impresses me I'll often have a click on their name and see what else they've worked on.

However in general I tend to spend 10 mins going through comixologies daily release (Tuse, Wed, Thurs being the big days) and pluck out anything that looks interesting. I try not to limit myself to brands or groups and instead try out new things or see what appears interesting or neat.


I've also started reading some manga - Nausicaa - Claymore and Battle Angle Attila - much inspired to read them by the anime that I've seen and knowing that in all 3 the stories go way beyond what the anime were able to convey.


But in general I'd rather list the creations I've followed and liked rather than the brand or company.


Doritos - that is one reason that I generally never look into the person behind a creation. Games, books, comics, etc... I generally never go into creator hero worship, nor feel any great desire to know more about them as a person. In general I prefer to know more about their creations.

Back in the dim and distant past when I was buying comics (as opposed to just reading other peoples when the rare chance comes up) I tended to follow characters much more than writers or brands

but I was also quite prepared to dump a character I liked if the writer or artist changed and things went a way I didn't like

I also tended to read a fair bunch of mini series rather than ongoing titles because that meant I knew the artist and writer were fixed for the run, and there would actually be an end to the story arc in some reasonable length of time rather than it dragging on for ages, or worse still petering out as the main writer changed with little or no resolution

I read a fair bit of small press stuff, great for mini series as getting the cash together to publish 3/4/6 issues of something was a lot easier than getting the cash to try and producing a reccuring comic,
adaptions of books and movies I liked (eg there were some excellent Moorcock mini series of his eternal champions stuff with excellent artwork I've still got)
dark horse pulled in initially by the alien and predator stuff,
marvel
and the odd bit of DC (well Batman really) but more of their Vertigo line

If we are talking about US comics, aren't most characters actually brands?
Or maybe franchise or something?
Batman, spider-man, superman definitely aren't characters.
Anyway I should buy all the Donjon comics (but there are SO MANY of them), all the Formidable aventures de Lapinot, and all the Hellboy, I guess.

Up until 1993, I simply read comics. Didn't matter what company did it, I just leafed through a book at the local drug store and picked up what I liked. If I liked a character, I kept up.

All that changed in 93 when I picked up Hardcase #1. The story was captivating, and I was on the ground floor with not only a character, but an entire comic book universe. My mom told me how she was on the ground floor with the Silver Age of both Marvel and DC, and this was my chance for that. I got EVERY Ultraverse comic from Malibu, yes, even when it went downhill after the Marvel buyout. I stuck it out to the end because of the attachment I had to that universe, and actually boycotted Marvel for years because of what happened. If it hadn't been for the Heroes Return event after that Heroes Reborn Liefeld/Lee debacle, I would still be boycotting Marvel's books.

Now I simply don't have time, energy, or extra extra extra money in the budget to feed my dwindling love of comics. Add on that the changes that have happened to both Marvel AND DC have put me off from even wanting to keep up. Flash and Green Lantern both had Rebirth comics that had me sucked in, but convolution and rerererereboots have chased me off.

I listen to a few podcasts and go for titles or runs that have good or interesting stories going on. I only buy trades. Kill the Minotaur just came out and I intend to pick that up tomorrow. Deadpool and Ever After are the only 2 ongoings I am reading at the moment. I have all of Hellboy, but that ended.

I have read the first few volumes of Invincible. I kind of want to get all of that but its sooo many volumes now. Walking Dead should have ended years ago.

 Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
If we are talking about US comics, aren't most characters actually brands?
Or maybe franchise or something?
Batman, spider-man, superman definitely aren't characters.
Anyway I should buy all the Donjon comics (but there are SO MANY of them), all the Formidable aventures de Lapinot, and all the Hellboy, I guess.

sort of kind of maybe ? It was more some folks stick to one of the big two merely because they are the big two, despite both having spin-off imprints and a wide range of writers meaning there really isn't a 'Marvel' comic or a 'DC' comic

I think writer is the only thing that makes sense to follow. It's the only thing that really persists in a quality sense. I know this, I believe this, but I still from time to time follow my favorite characters like Green Lantern even when I know its probably going to disappoint me. That said, you've got to have a way to find new writers and following characters can help you do that. Probably better to listen for word of mouth though on that front.

Characters mostly - if the writer is bad or not to my taste I will look to forget it - same with the artist.

I do read less comics now but a wider range.

I haven't read a marvel (or DC) comic in a couple of decades.

... and the last DC titles I read were "vertigo" label - Sandman and a couple of others, but then I tired of Gaiman's writing style and gave up after a couple of years.

I grew up with Dredd, Stronty Dog and Rogue Trooper from 2000AD. Much preferred them to the spandex short-bus kids.

For comics, the artist is what attracts me (otherwise you're just reading a book) Steve Bisley is one of my favourites though.

None. I follow pencillers...... barely.

 Easy E wrote:
None. I follow pencillers...... barely.

pencillers are fine, its those tracers that can get a bit touchy

 Adeptus Doritos wrote:
A bit of each. There are certain writers in certain brands that I wouldn't follow if you held me at gunpoint.

Aubrey Sitterson, for one. Loathes the 'fetishization' of the military, anti-gun, believes that no one should memorialize 9-11 on social media unless they were in New York, lashes out at his critics and calls them 'Nazis'...

... this is the current writer for GI Joe, mind you.

G. I. JOE.

Larry Hama, the original writer of the GI JOE comics is on record about being critical of the sanitized violence of the GI JOE cartoon. He didn't care for the lack of death and consequences for the characters in the show and thought it sent a bad message to children.

Pulling from this...did anyone read Nathan Edmonson's run on "The Punisher"?

I enjoyed "Red Wolf" and my local comic shop is about to celebrate their birthday with 30% off trades and was wondering if anyone had read them. This would've been circa 2014 or so, with the collected volumes being "Black & White"(volume 1), "Border Crossings"(volume 2), and "Last Days".

I haven't read them but I really enjoy punisher when done right (pretty rare). Max is obviously the best. But I enjoyed him during Dark Reign. Il give these a look. Thanks for bringing them up.

Sure thing. The guy did a great run on "Red Wolf" but it seems it wasn't a really popular book.

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:
Larry Hama, the original writer of the GI JOE comics is on record about being critical of the sanitized violence of the GI JOE cartoon. He didn't care for the lack of death and consequences for the characters in the show and thought it sent a bad message to children.

Yep.

Did you know that the GI Joe comic characters were originally written to be the next generation of the Howling Commandos?

Anyway, also I found out that Aubrey Sitterson got fired. So happy day.

 Kanluwen wrote:
Pulling from this...did anyone read Nathan Edmonson's run on "The Punisher"?

I enjoyed "Red Wolf" and my local comic shop is about to celebrate their birthday with 30% off trades and was wondering if anyone had read them. This would've been circa 2014 or so, with the collected volumes being "Black & White"(volume 1), "Border Crossings"(volume 2), and "Last Days".

It's alright. Starts to grow on you the more you get into the story. Then Marvel has another stupid event which leaves the volume story arc unfinished.

While Marvels cross over events have been significantly better than DCs they really need to slow them down.

Give comics at least a year of normal runs before some kind of big event you release quickly over a month or 2 at most. Event after event after event gets stale.

When I read comic books I followed artists and characters. I couldn't tell you who wrote those titles.
I heard recently about the diversity movement in comics and as I understand it several of those titles aren't doing well. It occurred to me that those characters going away would be a good thing. They can always be brought back. If 4 or 5 individual books aren't selling why not put them all under one banner. then they can tell several stories each release. Marvel used to have at least one title like that.
But now days I have no real interest in comics. The last "new" title I picked up to read was Mars Attacks but I just didn't find it interesting enough to keep following.
Before that I followed titles from Image, Wild Storm, Mad Cow, Dark Horse and Marvel.

The 'diversity' thing is just a clickbait dumpster fire born out of unadventurous brand loyalties, if you don't like something stop buying it and find something you do like

I agree.
I know it wasn't super popular but I do wonder how many fans it actually had. If it were me and I saw that there was money to be made with the diversity thing, I'd find the most cost effective way to sell it with out ruining my main selling titles.

As far as comics though. Once I got into Warhammer my interests drifted away from comics.

I think it just kinda stings to hear about what has happened to thing I was into, Like GIJOE. But it is what it is.
Doesn't matter I can't see myself ever going back now.
Although just for the closure I'd like all the MAXX comics after issue 20. I have everything up to 20 and I think it's only another 10 issues or so. Oh well. lol.

I read whatever looks interesting. Usually I pick a book when a shakeup occurs. I started reading Batman when Bruce “died” and Gordon took up the mantle. Superman when he lost his powers for awhile. Miss Marvel is good. Miles. Spider Gwen. I like Champions but that one has been overly preachy at times. I also read a lot of Image and independents.

As in every comic booked oriented thread, got to recommend the frankly wonderful 2000ad.

As a weekly anthology, I've always found it a great way to discover new writers and artists etc. And the editors aren't squeamish about varying the stylistic content of each Prog.

In the same issue, there might be some art I detest (there's a guy that drew Dredd in the 90's who's style I cannot stand. All a bit Picasso looking), but there'll be other stuff I love.

For instance, Clint Langley. He does a fair amount of stuff, from strips to covers. And I love it. He's also done work for Marvel and Black Library - mixing photos with digital art.

Going to second Doc's plug for 2000AD, it can be a bit hit and miss but that's only to be expected with the vast range of writers and artists used

I didn't buy comics, until I saw the Judge Dredd compendiums they started bringing out a few years ago. I'd wanted 2000ad when I was tiny, but got given Eagle comic instead :(
Since then,
Rogue Trooper compendiums, having seen things in White Dwarf in the early 90s,
Watchmen, from around the time of the movie,
Top 10, following Moore, but only the first 3 so far,
Serenity, since Firefly,

I have yet to get anything from Neil Gaiman, despite hearing good things about Sandman, and having most of his novels. Stardust is a probable, what with the movie, but I went for the Marvel 1492 he did. The later ones didn't do so well though. Eternals was good, but I won't be going back to look for the originals.

If anyone is looking to delve into 2000ad?

http://www.2000adcollection.com/

http://www.judgedreddcollection.com/

Dredd collection is very nearly finished - original run of 80 all released, 10 more to come (And yes, it does look lovely on my bookshelf!)

2000ad collection is a mere 14 in out of 80. £10 a chuck for hardbacked comics is worth it in my book!