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Nuns with Guns posted:Even if you can tolerate Willingham's point of view, the slow death of the series is a bigger concern. That's why I mentioned the writing before Willingham's (repellant) personality and political position. All packaged together though, it's almost an interesting train wreck. Except for the comic itself; that's just dull. I'm in the mood for something a little different from superheroes in spandex, and Amazon.ca has the deluxe editions on sale. Vol. 4 goes up to issue 33 + 1001 Nights of Snowfall.
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# ? Feb 20, 2012 19:41 |
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# ? May 29, 2024 15:42 |
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SpaceMost posted:When would you say the series starts to go south? It's been a while since I read it, but the first volume should give you a feel for whether the series is for you at all. It has different characters, some interesting plots but the author likes his characters too much to give them real problems and their voices fall flat after a while.
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# ? Feb 20, 2012 20:01 |
SpaceMost posted:When would you say the series starts to go south? I liked Fables, not loved but it was a really entertaining read. Then the narrative climax occurs (and you will know exactly when this is, but it is in Trade 11 if you want to be specific), but instead of just ending it nice and tidy, it...just keeps going, but without the momentum of the previous story behind it. In a way, it's sort of like reading an actual storybook to a child, then having the child ask, "And then what?" But instead of just stating that there really is nothing left or providing some clever excuse to walk away, you go on and continue the story, in that sort of meandering way without a clear destination, all for the sake of appealing to your audience. That's what Fables is like right now, and I have no idea why I keep reading it, except out of some obsessive habit.
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# ? Feb 20, 2012 20:10 |
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FourLeaf posted:How do Vertigo sales compare with the sales of mainstream DC titles? Very few Vertigo titles from that same period -- I think Fables and American Vampire being the only exceptions -- even reach 15-20k beyond a first issue. Vertigo's single-issue-preorder cutoff seems to be in the 6-7,000 range, though if a longrunning title is approaching its natural ending (DMZ, Scalped) they'll ride it out. This is because on the whole, Vertigo books do better in collected form. People are still buying collections of 100 Bullets, Scalped, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, Hellblazer, Y the Last Man, the Invisibles, Lucifer, Shade, Unwritten, Fables, Sandman, etc. years after the series are over. It's relatively common for that to happen with a Vertigo book, while it's exceedingly rare for that to happen for a DC Universe book. So even though a given single issue of DMZ or Scalped only sold ~6k recently, which is horrible compared to even the lowest selling New 52 title, within a couple printings of the DMZ v10 or Scalped v9 or whatever, that issue will have sold more copies and ended up in more hands than the issue of Hawk & Dove or OMAC that initially sold three times as much. bobkatt013 posted:So I have gotten into Shade The Changing Man and due to DC's trade system being horrible I will reach a point were I will have to get the floppies. So my question is are any of them going to be expensive or will I be able to get them all at a cheap price? I had a complete run that was one of many things lost when my basement flooded a few years back, and so I am right there with you hating DC's trade department for lollygagging. Edge & Christian fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Feb 20, 2012 |
# ? Feb 20, 2012 22:49 |
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Edge & Christian posted:Probably none will be expensive, but they might be hard to find. Everything up to the last year or so when the bottom fell out of the book/the industry in general can be found pretty easily for a buck apiece or possibly less. The last ten issues or so are pretty hard to find/'expensive' (like in the $5 range, not EXPENSIVE) Well luckily there is a convention coming up soon so hopefully I will be able to get most of them.
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# ? Feb 21, 2012 20:09 |
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Vertigo Books actually end which gives them a sense of timelessness that Batman comics lack.
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# ? Feb 22, 2012 01:58 |
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Bitchin Kitchen posted:Has Tim Hunter been in anything since Life During Wartime? As much as I enjoyed that series for what it was, I want a proper Books of Magic back. Nope, he's ceased to exist until someone remembers him. Though I think Harper Collins put out a couple YA novels based on the original series.
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# ? Feb 22, 2012 05:41 |
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^burtle posted:Vertigo Books actually end which gives them a sense of timelessness that Batman comics lack. Yeah, that's something I really like about Vertigo. Even in the best books of mainstream DC you have multiple eras of wildly differing quality.
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# ? Feb 22, 2012 08:59 |
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I've been reading Fables for a while now. Is it me or does the comic go a bit naive after a while? All these perfect badass characters and nothing really bad happens to them. The terrible Empire was defeated like in a single volume. I could get past the conservative slant (wow, the writer isn't really trying to hide it), but I can't derive much enjoyment out of it if it keeps being like this. Does it get interesting again at some point (I'm around issue 80).
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# ? Mar 2, 2012 04:37 |
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DarkCrawler posted:I've been reading Fables for a while now. Is it me or does the comic go a bit naive after a while? All these perfect badass characters and nothing really bad happens to them. The terrible Empire was defeated like in a single volume. Sadly...no. It's painfully obvious that Willingham had zero plans after the end of the Empire and is just reaching for plot points now. Jack was even worse--there WAS no ending planned, it just happened.
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# ? Mar 2, 2012 04:49 |
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You know I really wish Skinner wasn't back in American Vampire. He's becoming the Wolverine of the series: so popular that the creator is over-exposing him.
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# ? Mar 2, 2012 21:33 |
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Mister Roboto posted:Sadly...no. It's painfully obvious that Willingham had zero plans after the end of the Empire and is just reaching for plot points now. Jack was even worse--there WAS no ending planned, it just happened. It's very obvious that Willingham is creatively bankrupt at this point. I wish he'd farm out the Fables books to more creators like the old Sandman Presents line, there's tons of potential in the property but not in Willingham himself.
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# ? Mar 2, 2012 22:08 |
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SpaceMost posted:When would you say the series starts to go south? If you're getting the deluxe versions, you'll be fine for a while. The obvious end to the series would have been in about trade 11, which are issues 70–75. If you go much farther than that you'll hit the Fables Crossover and be totally lost unless you've been reading the Jack series, too, and apparently that's a bad idea because it dissolves into nothing even faster than the main series. Have you read other go-to Vertigo comics? You might be more satisfied in the long run by picking up the Absolute Sandman collections or some Lucifer trades. Or maybe jumping out of the big two and grabbing some Dark Horse books?
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# ? Mar 2, 2012 22:46 |
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cyberpunksurvivor posted:You know I really wish Skinner wasn't back in American Vampire. He's becoming the Wolverine of the series: so popular that the creator is over-exposing him. That's the part you dislike? I think Skinner is one of the few things keeping the series from being overstuffed with trite, boring, cliches.
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# ? Mar 3, 2012 04:55 |
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bairfanx posted:So, in Unwritten news, does this mean Pullman is Cain? Is that what we're supposed to take away? My knowledge of the story of Cain is limited mostly to Vertigo titles anyway, but the whole immortal schtick and the mark of Cain being a circle in Sandman, as well as his saying that he was one of the oldest stories, based on a mistake in his youth. Quoting myself for this, as I'm a little annoyed Carey just came out and said it. I guess it does go with Tom being a bit clueless and frequently piecing things together aloud, but I felt like there were enough hints that it didn't really need to be stated. Glad I was right, at least.
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# ? Mar 21, 2012 16:10 |
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bairfanx posted:I felt like there were enough hints that it didn't really need to be stated. I dunno have you ever been in tviv? There's times thing are very clearly stated and super obvious but goons still don't pick up on it.
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# ? Mar 21, 2012 16:54 |
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Did anyone get Saucer Country? I didn't pick it up but I kind of wanted to know what the general response was.
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# ? Mar 21, 2012 17:14 |
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Kull the Conqueror posted:Did anyone get Saucer Country? I didn't pick it up but I kind of wanted to know what the general response was. I thought it was good, but it's clearly going to be a slow build. Which'll be interesting, because we've never seen Cornell do long-term stuff before.
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# ? Mar 22, 2012 23:05 |
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I liked it a lot. This is probably overhyping it but it seems like it's combining the conspiracy/alien stuff from X-Files with the political stuff of West Wing. I really liked the balance between the two (two of my favorite hobbies!) and hope it keeps up in later issues.
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 05:35 |
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American Vampire #25 has been delayed 'till next Wednesday here in So-Cal. Son of a bitch. You know, I think I've come full-circle on the whole Skinner Sweet being immortal thing. I mean, I just gotta look at it from a Castlevania perspective. cyberpunksurvivor fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Apr 1, 2012 |
# ? Apr 1, 2012 02:31 |
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cyberpunksurvivor posted:American Vampire #25 has been delayed 'till next Wednesday. Son of a bitch. Or like the really, really old vampire from Pratchett's "Carpe Jugulum". I blew through a buddy's Books of Magic collection, only to discover that there hasn't been a Tim Hunter book in years and there's no plans for more at this time? Vertigo, why?!
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# ? Apr 1, 2012 02:57 |
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Tim Hunter is an awesome guy that I think takes a writer with a really solid idea to make it work. I haven't read all of the older Books of Magic series but I read all my library had and it took the idea of Boy Wizard and really ran with it. Last series (Life During Wartime) Tim was grown up and running around in a different reality with an Alt John and Zatana. Crazy idea, don't think it was that well received. I liked it enough to buy the whole thing.
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# ? Apr 1, 2012 17:34 |
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iZombie is being killed in August. Saddest news I could hear today.
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# ? Apr 1, 2012 19:33 |
Well, it's coming to a natural seeming end point, at least.
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# ? Apr 1, 2012 19:55 |
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I think one problem with any continuing adventures of Tim Hunter is that the original Books of Magic series had an incredibly satisfying ending that I thought wrapped things up very well. Tim finally took responsibility for his actions, accepted his past failures, and was ready to move forward without being the whiny tit that he sometimes was during his less well written moments. Hunter and Names of Magic, I thought, really didn't do a very good job of capturing the character and were pretty lousy overall. Life During Wartime was an interesting story, but I'm not sure I really liked it all that much as a continuation of the series. Overall, I still think Books of Magic works so well as a self contained story that doing anything more with it is a bit unnecessary, in the same way that I don't think I need to see new Lucifer or Jack Knight Starman stories. That said, if John Ney Rieber, Peter Gross or Peter Snejbjerg did ever decide to revisit the character, I would tread the scorched and dessicated remains of my friends and loved ones for a chance to read it. Maybe Mike Carey could help too, as long as I'm dreaming.
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# ? Apr 2, 2012 03:39 |
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I supported iZombie for a few trades worth of singles but Mike Allred really is wasted on that book.
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# ? Apr 2, 2012 12:59 |
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I only bought it for Allred. It seems like a thing that would be perfect for teenage girls getting into comics, though. Guess that's what they were hoping for anyway.
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# ? Apr 2, 2012 13:32 |
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Kull the Conqueror posted:Did anyone get Saucer Country? I didn't pick it up but I kind of wanted to know what the general response was. I picked it up because I usually like Cornell's stuff - I really liked the lead character, and the mix of sci-fic and politics was interesting. It was a pretty solid lead issue, and I'll probably get the next one, and trade wait after that. I did go and see a signing that Cornell was at last FCBD at my local comic shop, and he's a lovely chap. Anyone get The New Deadwardians? I'm thinking about picking up a copy when I go into town later in the week.
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# ? Apr 4, 2012 03:24 |
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Whelp, I just read American Vampire #25... Wait, Skinner's an agent for the Vassals?! Henry's dead?! Travis was indirectly affected by Sweet?! And wait...does Agent Sweet mean that there's a vampire war coming up?! Was it the Agents that revived Sweet in order to do battle with the Carpathians?! And yeah this ain't a spoiler: the arc after next features Skinner and Pearl in Hollywood. The Vampire Civil War is upon us!
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# ? Apr 5, 2012 05:36 |
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cyberpunksurvivor posted:Wait, Skinner's an agent for the Vassals?! Henry's dead?! Travis was indirectly affected by Sweet?!
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# ? Apr 5, 2012 05:44 |
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IShallRiseAgain posted:Henry being dead might have meant something if they hadn't been constantly making it appear that he was going to die before it finally happened. In any case, it was definitely a Carpathian that did him in (red glowing eyes).
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# ? Apr 5, 2012 05:55 |
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I just started rereading The Unwritten because I fell behind and haven't read anything since 19. Why in issue 1 is some instances of the name Tommy Taylor in blue?
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# ? Apr 11, 2012 03:38 |
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Len posted:I just started rereading The Unwritten because I fell behind and haven't read anything since 19. Why in issue 1 is some instances of the name Tommy Taylor in blue? It appears in blue when a real person is referring to the books; in all but one instance, it's part of a title.
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# ? Apr 11, 2012 08:15 |
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Jedit posted:It appears in blue when a real person is referring to the books; in all but one instance, it's part of a title. I figured it was something like that but wasn't positive. Thanks. Edit: I forgot how wonderful issue 12 was. Len fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Apr 11, 2012 |
# ? Apr 11, 2012 12:24 |
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Len posted:I figured it was something like that but wasn't positive. Thanks. No spoilers, but wait until you hit issue 24.
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# ? Apr 11, 2012 17:40 |
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And isn't #36 out today? God, I love the Mr. Bun issues.
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# ? Apr 11, 2012 21:16 |
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Jedit posted:No spoilers, but wait until you hit issue 24. Just got to the first .5 issue. 24 was really quite good. I can't wait to see where that subplots going.
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# ? Apr 11, 2012 21:50 |
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FoneBone posted:And isn't #36 out today? God, I love the Mr. Bun issues. Yeah, 36 is out this week - I didn't say because it's delayed a day in the UK due to the Easter bank holiday, so I don't know if it's a Mr Bun yet. But yes, I do like the Mr Bun issues. I like the Mr Bun issues a lot.
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# ? Apr 11, 2012 23:17 |
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His NAME is PAULY BRUCKNER! But yeah, his stories are so good.
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# ? Apr 12, 2012 09:12 |
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# ? May 29, 2024 15:42 |
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How many issues is The Unwritten set to go for? I just marathoned 30-35 last night on Comixology last night and hot drat, I don't want this story to finish!
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# ? Apr 16, 2012 14:54 |