* The Comic Book and Graphic Novel thread *

roccles · 12 Jan 2015 at 00:12

I have a Marvel unlimited sub works out around 6.50 a month. I hadn't read much before starting my subscription so I find it pretty good value.

Loads of stuff on there I am currently working my way through The Ultimates from this reading order link I am about 100 issues in and have only found one issue missing from the list (Ultimate Spiderman Super Special) so seems pretty complete.

No1newts · 19 Jan 2015 at 09:50

I've just picked up my first ever DC comic. Never fancied them in the past but saw Court of Owls from the Batman new 52 in Forbidden Planet and picked it up. Great read! It's only one edition but preferred the darker, grittier style of the comic than the marvel offerings. The art and the general colour tone to the whole thing was great too.

any other new 52 recomendations? Want to stay in Gotham so was thinking Nightwing for now and perhaps Catwoman too?

shorttricky · 19 Jan 2015 at 11:11

No1newts said:
I've just picked up my first ever DC comic. Never fancied them in the past but saw Court of Owls from the Batman new 52 in Forbidden Planet and picked it up. Great read! It's only one edition but preferred the darker, grittier style of the comic than the marvel offerings. The art and the general colour tone to the whole thing was great too.

any other new 52 recomendations? Want to stay in Gotham so was thinking Nightwing for now and perhaps Catwoman too?

Batman and Robin is a great title, I'd recommend that - I'd agree with Nightwing too.

I haven't read enough Detective Comics/Dark Knight to recommend them yet. They're ok, but have periods of "meh"

Personally I wasn't that impressed with Catwoman. Batgirl was a much more interesting read.

CK61938 · 20 Jan 2015 at 09:41

No1newts said:
I've just picked up my first ever DC comic. Never fancied them in the past but saw Court of Owls from the Batman new 52 in Forbidden Planet and picked it up. Great read! It's only one edition but preferred the darker, grittier style of the comic than the marvel offerings. The art and the general colour tone to the whole thing was great too.

any other new 52 recomendations? Want to stay in Gotham so was thinking Nightwing for now and perhaps Catwoman too?

As stated above, Batgirl is really good. Up until issue 34. Which was Gail Simone's last issue on the character. After that Babs gets a costume change with a new creative team. Another one to pick up is Batwoman. But again, that was short lived and you can read the reason why here. It's due to be cancelled soon. But the story and artwork (by Blackman, Williams and others) is just beyond amazing.

No1newts · 26 Jan 2015 at 23:01

Well I finished batman v2 and nightwing v1. Both were good but not up to the standard of bat v1. V2 felt a little rushed and belted toward an ending that had been really well set up by v1. The first Nightwing volume was good, I liked how they tied it into the court storyline and it was an interesting read. Didn't particularly like the character of Dick Grayson though for some reason.

Got v2 to read next then probably going batman&robin and red hood.

Interspersed I read the last few bits of Secret Invasion and I was surprised how turgid I found it in comparison. I'll still finish the marvel arc from avengers DA through to AvX but will be going to DC stuff first and only narvel when I have spare cash/time.

BombayMix · 27 Jan 2015 at 13:40

Been reading AvX + tie in from the start. Using a reading list to see the reading order.

I always thought the main AvX mini series as too summarized. Reading all the tie ins in order, fleshes it out more. Much more enjoyable and makes more sense.

Batman one of those I always mean to read but never get round too.

JeffyB · 29 Jan 2015 at 15:57

Waiting on more Saga and Manhattan project, love both those.

No1newts · 31 Jan 2015 at 12:19

Finished Nightwing v2. It was good enough but I felt the whole court of owls part was hugely underplayed especially considering how integral it was to Dicks character but still, better than the first. The actual court of owls part was really good as was the history but it was just a fight when the interaction and relationship between Dick and the Talon (won't say who he is

) had so much potential for exploration.

Just picked up batgirl and batman&robin v1 from FP and will work through those this week.

roccles · 3 Feb 2015 at 10:50

After seeing a recommendation I just read the first 18 issues of Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan really enjoyable and would definitely recommend and I also really liked the artwork by Adrian Alphona who is currently working on the new Ms. Marvel.

Its available on Marvel Unlimited if you have a subscription

Runaways

Shamikebab · 3 Feb 2015 at 10:58

Runaways is really good. Kind of lost it's way a little at the end though. It's supposed to be coming back at some point I believe (and a movie has been long rumoured)

One arc is written by Joss Whedon too which is awesome

EddScott · 3 Feb 2015 at 16:21

Having popped in here briefly and looking for something new to read I've ordered the following from the rain forest.

Y The Last Man
Sandman
Locke and Key
Saga
Manhattan Projects

Deep · 4 Feb 2015 at 09:08

EddScott said:
Having popped in here briefly and looking for something new to read I've ordered the following from the rain forest.

Y The Last Man
Locke and Key

These two are absolutely brilliant!

Saga is on my list to read.

dannyjo22 · 4 Feb 2015 at 17:51

I'm not normally a comic reader but I'm interested in reading the walking dead, what's the best way to get these now? I have been looking in my nearest forbidden planet at the compendiums like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Dea...70831&sr=1-1&keywords=walking+dead+compendium

I would get them digitally if there is a reasonable priced alternative?

Shamikebab · 4 Feb 2015 at 18:59

The compendiums are pretty good value, the only negative is in if you want to be up to date then you have to wait for the next 'block' to be finished to get the next compendium. If that is important to you then maybe get the trade paperbacks.

roccles · 4 Feb 2015 at 21:10

dannyjo22 said:
I'm not normally a comic reader but I'm interested in reading the walking dead, what's the best way to get these now? I have been looking in my nearest forbidden planet at the compendiums like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Dea...70831&sr=1-1&keywords=walking+dead+compendium

I would get them digitally if there is a reasonable priced alternative?

I know it's not much help now but the digital version of compendium volume 1 was part of a recent humble bundle, but they have had a couple of Image based bundles in the last year and each time has included a load of walking deads so might get worth signing up to their book mailing list.

Welshy · 4 Feb 2015 at 23:18

Hey all, just getting into graphic novels myself!

Have read/currently reading:
The Boys
Y the Last Man
Old Man Logan
Civil War
Fable
Saga
Walking Dead

As I get into more of these I have been considering downloading digital copies as opposed to getting every physical book I read (my book shelf is only so big!).

What are peoples opinions of Comixology? That seems one of the more popular digital download sites...

roccles · 4 Feb 2015 at 23:47

I thought The Boys was absolutely brilliant and loved every issue of it.

I notice you have read a few Marvel comics and would say if you find yourself spending more than 6 quid a month on digital Marvel comics it might be cost effective to look into Marvel unlimited, obviously you don't get to keep them and you are always ~6 months behind but there is tons of stuff on there.

shorttricky · 5 Feb 2015 at 09:30

dannyjo22 said:
I'm not normally a comic reader but I'm interested in reading the walking dead, what's the best way to get these now? I have been looking in my nearest forbidden planet at the compendiums like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Dea...70831&sr=1-1&keywords=walking+dead+compendium

I would get them digitally if there is a reasonable priced alternative?

If you keep an eye on the compendiums, they regularly drop under £30 on Amazon - cracking value for 48 issues. They are quite tough to read though, there's a lot of paper there

No1newts · 6 Feb 2015 at 16:51

Finished Batgirl and Batman&Robin volume 1 this week. Both impressed me much more than Nightwing. I liked the problems/dilemmas they introduced in both characters lives and bad guys of Nobody and Mirror were actually both quite compelling. I liked hearing a bit more about why Batman won't kill anyone, nice to see real reasons behind that as its a constant comic book frustration of mine that they never kill the beggars!

Picking up robin and batgirl volumes 2 tomorrow and then can't decide between Catwoman 1&2 or Red Hood, will play it by ear

dannyjo22 · 6 Feb 2015 at 20:47

Shamikebab said:
snip.

roccles said:
snip.

shorttricky said:
snip

Thanks all for the advice, I'm unsure now what to do as the compendiums like Shami said would leave me waiting 40 odd episodes for a new one. Maybe volumes would be better?

The compendium says collects 1-48, so how many does the volumes contain?

Roccles I didn't even know about humble until your post

edit: done more digging so volumes is 6 comics. I think I like the idea of the volumes better even though the compendium is much better value. I need to decide if I want to go digital or not as tbh I have enough crap clogging up shelves

Is that comixology the only place or best place to get them? £5.99 for first volume , then it seems to be £6.99 for the next ones upto about 7 or 8 then it's £10.49.