Advance Warning: The Twelve Days of Classic Comics Christmas 2012

[thwhtGuardian]

Well poopy on you, Mr. letter of the law.

Considering the Hellboy problem, that actually leaves a vacancy on my list now too. Dang.

I filled it with another great story by Mignola, it meant giving him two slots in my list but as he's my favorite writer and artist I figure that's okay.

[shaxper]

I filled it with another great story by Mignola, it meant giving him two slots in my list but as he's my favorite writer and artist I figure that's okay.

So I only own the trades and can't check for myself, but according to the GCD:

Future Hellboy one-shots and limited series continue its numbering next to the Hellboy logo on their title pages, although all are discrete series according to the titles and issue numbers in their indicia

That would mean Hellboy is still eligible. Can you double check this?

[thwhtGuardian]

Seems I was wrong about the publication information stating number X in a series, a mind is a silly thing to waste.

I can't find a scan to illustrate the point but basically the title pages look like this:

Hellboy37

The Wild Hunt

Story by
Mike Mignola
Art by
Duncan Fregredo

colors by Dave Stewart
letters by Clem Robbins
editor Scott Allie

Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #1,December 2008. Published by Darkhorse Comics inc.

So while it's listed only by it's number within the miniseries in the publication information the number within the ongoing series is published next to the title.

I don't know if that would disqualify it, perhaps wiser minds than mine will prevail.

[shaxper]

Thanks for all that!

I would assume that means it counts, but Kurt's already thrown me a curve ball once today...

[foxley]

Damn! Just when I thought I had my list figured out, I realised the original six-issue Astro City mini-series from Image is eligible.

So now I have to figure out what goes. It looks like the one reprint title I had on my list is going to get bumped.

[hondobrode]

This racked my feeble brain for days after I read it.

It was torturous getting the list narrowed down.

I'm feeling guilty about 4 of my picks being reprints, but they're really good. I think you guys will agree.

Thanks Cei-U for contributing again this year. It was loads of fun last year.

[Scott Harris]

Damn! Just when I thought I had my list figured out, I realised the original six-issue Astro City mini-series from Image is eligible.

Now, just to clarify, I don't believe the original Astro City series was a mini-series, was it? Not that this affects eligibility, but it's my understanding it was an ongoing series that happened to end after 6 issues when they relaunched it due to the change from Image to Homage as publisher.

[icctrombone]

It was a regular series. I think they took too long to come out with the issues so they started fresh with #1 after a bunch of months.

[foxley]

Now, just to clarify, I don't believe the original Astro City series was a mini-series, was it? Not that this affects eligibility, but it's my understanding it was an ongoing series that happened to end after 6 issues when they relaunched it due to the change from Image to Homage as publisher.

I think you're right. But it still qualifies and, given my love of this series, I cannot leave this one of my list, which means something else has to get bumped.

[dan bailey]

I made the Astro City eligibility discovery fairly early on while looking up something else. I'm restricting myself (with one possibile exception at this writing) from choosing series that've gone on to long, healthy lives, though.

[hondobrode]

40's reprints in the 80's : 2
50's reprints in the 70's : 1
70's reprints in the 70's : 1
70's : 2
80's : 1
90's : 3

DC : 3
East Coast Comics : 1
Acclaim : 1
Eclipse : 2
Dark Horse : 2
King Hell : 1

I feel bad there's no Marvel or Epic on here. There were almost some but on honest analysis, they were barely edged out.

BTW, I have a few scattered issues of Kull back from my childhood. I never gave them much notice but am def going to complete the run based on the high praise you guys have given the series.

[berk]

I suppose it is all one big story, but I bought them individually and I thought of each Invisibles series as a thing unto itself.

Understood, and I think that this kind of personal experience is how I"ll be resolving the question of whether or not to include things that qualify with the letter but possibly not with the spirit of the rules: so for me, I probably won't include the Invisibles, but if I had read them the way you did I probably would include one or more of those volumes. Similarly, I won't include the reprinted Warlock, but probably will include another reprint series since I first read its complete run in that format.

On the reading front, I don't think I'll have time to re-read anything, but I am going to try to read for the first time a few short things that qualify and that I've been meaning to get to for some time. The rest I'll just have to look at briefly to confirm my impression of its quality, although there's one thing I might re-read in its entirety just because its been so long since and I was so young when I first read it (and I'm not sure I ever did get my hands on every single issue back then).

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

I am trying to read everything on my list (two down, ten to go), but we'll see how that pans out. The prospect of having to read some series again played a part in determining my list. I left some things off my list because the prospect of reading the whole series was too daunting, while I included other things on my list because I was eager to read them and in one go rather than piecemeal.

[Slam_Bradley]

I think I have my final 12. Though it's always subject to change. Very DC-centric. Very weighted to the 80s and 90s.

I will add that I'm thinking about just doing them in alphabetical order as there isn't much stratification here.

[berk]

I'm leaning towards chronological order myself, though that could get complicated if a few of them overlap. Alphabetical might be an option, since that would also get around ranking them in order of quality or personal enjoyment, which I want do want to avoid. Of course, it's quite likely that part-way through I'll remember or be reminded something I've forgotten about which will throw off the order anyway.