Can't stop buying old comics...

[Paperghost]

I hadn't read comics for a long, long time till I heard about the whole countdown to infinite crisis / identity crisis / all the other crisis comics "thing". I admit, I got hooked back in and devoured practically every single tie in to Infinite Crisis, as well as trade collections and pretty much everything else that had gone down in DC over the past 10+ years.

then it all started to go pear shaped, and more and more titles started dropping from the OH WOW pile to the OH NOES pile.

Now I'm not even picking up Batman or Superman regularly, and the only thing I'm getting all the time is 52....just to see which JLI member gets screwed over next and then moan about it for the next twenty years.

and so....i find myself religiously sweeping up entire runs of old comics i used to buy but for one reason or another got hurled into the bin. the entire run of jle / jli / jla.....the flash, second series (around the 40 to 60 mark)....odd issues of the armageddon disaster (the "what if" annuals were fun in a mindless way)....and those issues of detective with the absolutely jaw dropping covers (maybe 626 to 638-something?)

conclusion - old comics pwn. but it doesnt say much for dc that upon managing to achieve what they likely set out with IC - dragging people back through the doors - they're now just wandering off as quick as they came in.

thoughts?

[Strannik]

I started reading comics around 2002-2003. I picked up new comics for a while, but, lately, with a few notable exceptions, both Marvel and DC seem determine to go back to the 70s and 80s, respectively. Virtually all the characters I liked have either been sidelined, killed or changed beyond recognition. So, lately, I found myself picking up no DC books and very few Marvel books. However, I still pick up indies and manga. And, if Wildstorm revival lives up to it's legacy, I will start picking up Wildstorm titles again as well.

As for back issues, I have developed a fascination with 80s-90s era universes, such as Valiant, Milestone, Defiant, Neil Gaiman portion of Tekno universe, New Universe, Triumphant, old Hillman-based Eclipse stuff, etc. Since most of the titles from those companies/universes wind up in quarter/fifty-cent bins, I can get them even when I am broke. As for old-school DC/Marvel stuff, honestly, I am just not interested.

[Reptisaurus!]

I started reading comics around 2002-2003. I picked up new comics for a while, but, lately, with a few notable exceptions, both Marvel and DC seem determine to go back to the 70s and 80s, respectively.


I hear this a lot.

Actually, I hear "back to the Silver Age" a lot. So you're accusation is about ten to twenty years less inaccurate than the commnonly held version of this completely inaccurate statement. Speaking as someone who's read a bunch of comics from the sixties, Seventies, and the eighties, it's not even remotely true. If you REALLY want I can toss off a hundred reasons, or you can just believe me and save us all a bunch of time.


Virtually all the characters I liked have either been sidelined, killed or changed beyond recognition.


Fair enough. I'm still pissed about the good X-force, too, and... Actually I can't think of any other examples.

Except for Green Lantern.

And if it's Green Lantern I'm cutting this conversation off now, because Green Lantern fans scare me more than X-men fans. And I am terrified of X-men fans.

As for back issues, I have developed a fascination with 80s-90s era universes, such as Valiant, Milestone, Defiant, Neil Gaiman portion of Tekno universe, New Universe, Triumphant, old Hillman-based Eclipse stuff, etc. Since most of the titles from those companies/universes wind up in quarter/fifty-cent bins, I can get them even when I am broke.


This is perfectly reasonable, though. I mostly missed '88-'96, but from what I've found in the dollar bins the Milestone and Valiant books were generally stronger'n the DC and Marvel offerings from that time.

And I've always like Eclipse. More the creator-driven stuff (Tales of the Beanworld is the Greatest Comic ever.)


As for old-school DC/Marvel stuff, honestly, I am just not interested.


Yeah. I know. Because the old school Marvel and DC that exist in your head and that today's Marvel and DC are turning into.... Well, you see where I'm goin' with this, right?

It's fine, of course, not to be interested in 'em. And it takes a lot of effort to seperate the wheat from the proverbial chaff.

[Strannik]

I hear this a lot.

Actually, I hear "back to the Silver Age" a lot. So you're accusation is about ten to twenty years less inaccurate than the commnonly held version of this completely inaccurate statement. Speaking as someone who's read a bunch of comics from the sixties, Seventies, and the eighties, it's not even remotely true. If you REALLY want I can toss off a hundred reasons, or you can just believe me and save us all a bunch of time.

Yeah. I know. Because the old school Marvel and DC that exist in your head and that today's Marvel and DC are turning into.... Well, you see where I'm goin' with this, right?

Since you made a valid point, I think the least I can do is clarify my position.

Unlike other people, I don't think this reversion has anything to do with returning to 70s-80s storytelling. But, given the fact that many 70s/80s characters from both companines have gained new prominence, that sublots and ideas from that era are suddenly creeping back into the current-day storylines and that some writers went so as far as to actually admitting that they preferred some of the said characters to be closer to the way they were in 70s/80s, I don't think I am that off-base, either. Furthermore, this seems to happen at the expense of 90s/00s characters.

So, do I think DC/Marvel want to bring back Silver Age or Bronze Age or whatever. Of course not. Just the same, there seemed to be a certain trend torwards mining the said period for story ideas and characters. It's not universial, but it's there.

Maybe the older fans are happy about this. Me, I am just not interested.

At least this time around, most of the characters/plots in question are settled with better writers (though that, once again, is my opinion)

Fair enough. I'm still pissed about the good X-force, too, and... Actually I can't think of any other examples.

Except for Green Lantern.

And if it's Green Lantern I'm cutting this conversation off now, because Green Lantern fans scare me more than X-men fans. And I am terrified of X-men fans.

Well, Green Lantern controversy nonwithstanding, I can think of a couple other examples:


Batgirl/Cassandra Cain
Spoiler/Stephanie Brown
Superboy/Kon-El/Conner Kent
Green Arrow/Conner Hawke
Nightwing/Dick Grayson
Jade
Zatanna (although, in all fairness, she isn't doing too bad these days)
Kiden Nixon
Max Mercury (though, technically, he's the retconned version of Golden Age Quicksilver, but whatever)
Plastic Man
The entirety of Wildstorm's Eye of the Storm output.


The list goes on.

The truth is, in the end of the day, I find less and less reason to stick around with DC and Marvel. I am not sure if it's a bad thing or a good thing. I just wish they put out more books I could be interested in. But I am selfish like that ;)

[Erisu Kimu]

I started reading and collecting comics when I was about 7-8 years old and that was a long time ago. I still have the Marvel superheroes cards that I collected back then.

Throughout high school, I kind of dropped out of the whole comic circle, but I always liked them. I just got back into them in 2004 and have been frequently collecting again. Unfortunately, so much has changed and advanced in both Marvel and DC that I can't seem to keep up with the events. I'm either unable to keep up with DC or I just can't get into them (except Batman). The same can be said about Marvel, except I do enjoy the new Moon Knight issues, Ultimate Spider-Man (mainly because it's just a retelling of the classic tale with modernized art and lengthier elaboration) and the main Civil War issues (excluding the tie-ins). I'm all for the essentials also. I love the old stories.

Other than that, I stick with non-Marvel/DC (excluding Vertigo) graphic novels.

[Brian Cronin]

Buying old comics is awesome, because you know which ones are good beforehand!!!

-Brian

[Moon]

I just started collecting comics again after a ten year break, and almost feel obligated to complete runs of some of the books I read in the 90's. It seems that most of what I read wasn't considered very good because 90% of the books are in the 50cent boxes like x-force for example. So every wednesday I pick up my pull list and 5.00 worth of bargain books.

[Reptisaurus!]

I just started collecting comics again after a ten year break, and almost feel obligated to complete runs of some of the books I read in the 90's. It seems that most of what I read wasn't considered very good because 90% of the books are in the 50cent boxes like x-force for example. So every wednesday I pick up my pull list and 5.00 worth of bargain books.

I love the three for a dollar box. I've walked out with 21 dollars worth of three for a dollar box. Got HUGE runs of J.M. Dematties Spider-man and Captain America, Suicide Squad, a few coverless Little Lulu and Donald Duck books from the fifties, a good pile of DC Comics presents (I like team-up books), some Ka-zar (I like Dinosaurs) all of Skreemer...

[Hulkamaniac]

.

As for back issues, I have developed a fascination with 80s-90s era universes, such as Valiant, Milestone, Defiant, Neil Gaiman portion of Tekno universe, New Universe, Triumphant, old Hillman-based Eclipse stuff, etc. Since most of the titles from those companies/universes wind up in quarter/fifty-cent bins, I can get them even when I am broke. .

WOW, didnt know that there was another guy out there doing that too!
I love all of those old titles and companies, had some from when I bought them new but started a year or so ago to grab them up in the same manner that you are describing. Love it all, i'd actually would add Comico, and DArk Horse to that list in my case, been gobbling up all that stuff. :D