Why do you read a title (Character? Writer? Artist?)
JRA
Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes is as well.
I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck Dixon is another can't
go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler, but I won't buy the title just
for his writing.
Thoughts?
ssze...@my-deja.com
Interesting question.
When I first start collecting as a wee lad back in the 70's, I
collected by the character (Fantastic Four, Captain America, Dr. Doom,
Avengers) and was totally oblivious to writer and artist. For the FF,
for example, I'd be buying FF, Marvel's Greatest (yes, I was somewhat
clueless and didn't realize at first that these were reprints of - at
the time - readily available books), Two-In-One, Human Torch, and any
crossover. It ended up being a lot of books (but they were cheap then).
After a 20-year layoff, I still collect mostly by character. Now, tho'
my characters are Avengers and Spider-Girl.
With higher prices and less leisure time, I've modified my collecting
algorithm. If a crossover is in a mini/limited-series and it looks
good (both art and writing), I'm likely to jump on board. If it's just
a one-off in another series and doesn't have a big impact on the story
line and/or the art doesn't grab me, then I'll probably skip it.
A favorite writer/artist may make me try out a new book (or characters
I've previously dismissed), but it's no guarantee. After all, for me
it is the character and their story. If it doesn't stay true to my
personal vision, then I'm not interested.
Thanks,
Scott
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
TangleToy
love with a character and just followed them book to book. I would say I hated
that story he was in, and in that one he was drawn horrible. But I always
stayed loyal to a title as long as the chracter stayed who he/she was.
This is the reason why I hate when a writer/artist comes in and drasticly
changes a character (Kitty de-aging). Once the character becomes something so
different from the one I had been enjoying, I don't stay loyal to the title.
Tangles
"Oh look," Wayfinder joked, "you grew a third eye. He must have hit the
wrong button." The X-Mansion PBEM
geocities.com/Area51/Capsule/5613/X-Mansion_PBEM
Game On!
JJ
writer/artist working on the book doesn't really mean much to me. For example,
I really enjoy Fabian Nicieza's work on both Thunderbolts and Gambit, as well
as his previous work on X-Men and New Warriors, but if he starts writing a new
title for DC or another company, I'm not going to run and pick it up. Also, if
Fabian picked up writing Thor, for example, I wouldn't buy that either, as Thor
has never appealed to me, and I suspect never will.
What keeps me is the characters. I started off reading Uncanny X-Men
exclusively back at the beginning of the 90's, and encountering different
characters helped me branch off into different titles. Another example, meeting
Misty Knight and Collen Wing back in the early days of the New X-Men (obviously
I was picking up back issues, I wasn't even born when they were on the stands)
prompted me to pick up back issues of Power Man & Iron Fist, which in turn
prompted me to pick up the most recent Heroes For Hire.
Characters like Scarlet Witch and Carol Danvers brought me into the Avengers,
and so on. Also, friends insistent recommendations will prompt me to pick up
specific books, and I'll usually stay with them, such as with Daredevil and
Thunderbolts, but not always, as the case with Captain America.
So, basically what I am getting at is that, for me, it is the characters, not
the writer or artist which keeps me coming back to my favorite books each
month.
~JayJay~
Bubba2
ssze...@my-deja.com wrote:
> In article <87ug0r$em7$1...@gaddy.interpath.net>,
> "JRA" <jra...@ncrb.org> wrote:
> > Just curious as to why you read a title. For instance, anything
> > George Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes
> > is as well. I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck
> > Dixon is another can't go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler,
> > but I won't buy the title just for his writing.
> >
> > Thoughts?
>
> Interesting question.
>
> When I first start collecting as a wee lad back in the 70's, I
> collected by the character (Fantastic Four, Captain America, Dr. Doom,
> Avengers) and was totally oblivious to writer and artist.
This statement is pretty true for me. I started reading comics in the
late '60s, early '70s, and I bought mostly characters I liked or stories
I wanted. For example, at one time I read Amazing Spider-Man, Peter
Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk,
Captain America (and the Falcon!), the Defenders, the Invaders, the
Avengers, the Champions, Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two-in-One, Thor, Marvel
Presents, Marvel Jungle Action, and assorted Western or War titles (hey,
comics were a quarter back then!). I usually bought for the character.
I didn't even pay attention to the writer or artist names at the time!
Now, it is different.
Now I collect by a combination of writer and character. For example, I
feel in love with Busiek's writing on Untold Tales of Spider-Man, so I
naturally picked up Avengers and Thunderbolts (although I don't get Iron
Man, never really felt a need to read it). I also like Christopher
Priest, so I've followed him in Ka-Zar and now in Black Panther (two
characters I also tend to follow!). I like PAD, so I'm reading Captain
Marvel even though I never really liked "cosmic" heroes before. I'm
picking up Lost Generation because of Roger Stern, but I read Captain
America because of the character (no slight to Jurgens, though, I do
like his writing!). I don't collect for the art, although I gotta admit
I've enjoyed the likes of Kubert, Garney, Ollife, Chriscross, Perez, and
Velluto (I'm sure I've missed some or mispelled some, I'm sorry). I
don't, however, buy a book just because a certain artist is working on
it. I gotta like the character and/or the writer. That's what works
for me!
--
Happy Birthday,
Bubba2
Michael Deeley
JRA wrote:
>
> Just curious as to why you read a title.
What I read and why:
Cerebus: IT's just a damn good comic! There's nothing else on the
stands like it.
Starman: A mix of the writing and the character. Bot hare unusual.
Daredevil: Got hooked with Kevin SMith's story. Now David Mack is
keeping up the quality. The character is also interesting enough for me
to buy up the back issues.
JLA: IT's fun.
Earth X: THought it would be Marvel's "kingdom Come". Became something
else entirely. Can't really explain it, but I like it.
-Rex, Robert S.
> Just curious as to why you read a title. For instance, anything
> George Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes
> is as well. I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck
> Dixon is another can't go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler,
> but I won't buy the title just for his writing.
>
> Thoughts?
I'm character driven. Have been since I started reading. While I appreciate
good art ( no, love it!) I don't follow artists and writers around like
a puppy. I didn't care when Waid picked up Cap, that Claremont is writing FF
is unimportant, I don't care about the name, I care about the stories. If
the creative staff delivers, then I'm happy.
Bob Rex
Balvenanco
>
> Just curious as to why you read a title. For instance, anything George
> Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes is as well.
> I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck Dixon is another can't
> go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler, but I won't buy the title just
> for his writing.
>
> Thoughts?
Overall, I stick to mainstream or Sci Fi. I'll buy anything written by
Warren Ellis, and anything written by Grant Morrison unless it's
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay(as opposed to waaaaaaaaay) over my head or has
crappy art. Violence is a plus, T&A is a plus, but not in the absence
of a story(unless it's Lobo).
Not only do I not particularly care about characters, but I've somehow
come to the point where I hate nearly all of the X-Men, while oddly,
I've been reading both main titles for half the decade. I think I just
prefer reading about mutant outcasts than about normal heroes, and there
just aren't enough well-written antisocial deviants in mainstream
comics. That's why I picked up Dv8(by Ellis, before that piece of shit
Mike Heisler turned it into a fucking soap opera).
Did I say violence doesn't work in the absence of a story? I was
lying. I love violence, so long as there is red, well-drawn blood.
None of those stupid energy effects for me. Simon Bisley's Body Count,
as far as I can tell, was nothing but gory, gory violence. No plot that
I could identify. One of my favorite comics to date. Right up there
with Savage Dragon#1. Oh my god, that issue was beautiful. Red
bloodshed like that is so hard to find nowadays. What, other than
Preacher, is currently being published with geysers of red blood?
Anybody know?
Populous
appearances
Kryptonkid
"JRA" <jra...@ncrb.org> wrote:
> Just curious as to why you read a title. For instance, anything
> George Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes
> is as well. I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck
> Dixon is another can't go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler,
> but I won't buy the title just for his writing.
>
> Thoughts?
I mainly buy for the character, but I don't read (and can't afford) anything
else but the Superman books and specials/mini-series. I stuck with the books
when readers were leaving right and left because I loved the character. But
a writer and mainly an artist may make me pick up something. For instance,
if I'm choosing between two Superman issues, I'll choose the one with the
artist/writer I've enjoyed in the past. Marv Wolfman's work on the first
year of Adventures of Superman was really good, so I'd be inclined to pick
up something else of his.
--
Ben Grose krypt...@bigfoot.com
http://www.bigfoot.com/~kryptonkid
Bush or Gore? Vote!
http://cgi.dreamscape.com/throb/gore_vs_bush/
Beverly Allen
tang...@cs.comstopspam (TangleToy) wrote:
> I've never paid much attention to who wrote or drew. *shrugs* I always fell in
> love with a character and just followed them book to book. I would say I hated
> that story he was in, and in that one he was drawn horrible. But I always
> stayed loyal to a title as long as the chracter stayed who he/she was.
>
>
For me it's a combination of character, loyalty and habit. If I've liked a
character (not always the protagonist), I tend to keep buying the title in
the hope that the character will again be done "right."
A few times I've dropped a title because things were going well for a
favorite character, and I didn't want to wait around and watch things go bad.
Once I lose the plot thread, I usually don't resume a title.
The Bee
If you can't think of a good quotation, invent one.
Johanna Draper Carlson
good story than others (although even the best have their off days), and
there are some characters whose story I'm more likely to enjoy than others,
but how well it's told is key for me.
As a result, I don't tend to follow mainstream superhero titles
consistently, because most of them are hit or miss.
Johanna Draper Carlson joh...@comicsworthreading.com
Reviews of Comics Worth Reading -- http://www.comicsworthreading.com
You Die Joe
JRA <jra...@ncrb.org> wrote in message
news:87ug0r$em7$1...@gaddy.interpath.net...
> Just curious as to why you read a title. For instance, anything George
> Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes is as well.
> I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck Dixon is another
can't
> go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler, but I won't buy the title
just
> for his writing.
>
> Thoughts?
Once in a blue moon I'll actually buy a comic partially for the lettering.
The only example I can think of offhand, though, would be Roxanne Starr.
YDJ
George Koch
nearly anything Ellis does, nearly anything Busiek does. After that, I
follow the buzz. I generally am in sync with the internet types, so stuff
that gets high reviews across the psycomic/wfcomics/comicbookresources sites
will get my interest piqued.
I prefer solid all around artists over "flashy" (i.e., joe mad, rob
liefield). I believe the writing takes precedence over the art.
Alan Maxwell
JRA wrote in message <87ug0r$em7$1...@gaddy.interpath.net>...
>Just curious as to why you read a title.
I look for a combination of many factors, the main ones being listed below.
Basically, the more of these factors a comic has the more likely I am to buy
it. For example, I buy Catwoman because I like the character and have
enjoyed most of the writing - that makes it easier to stomach the horrific
art by Jim "if I draw her tits big enough nobody'll notice the rest" Balent.
* a character I like
* an artist I like
* a writer I like
* a premise that sounds intriguing
The latter was best used on the classic Silver Age covers, where you always
had a great hook, e.g. Batman (thinks) "Oh no! If I don't reveal my secret
identity to the world and marry Commissioner Gordon, Robin will be turned
into a haggis by the Joker's magic Scots Ray!"
Or something like that.
Alan
Kal-El
>Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes is as well.
>I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck Dixon is another can't
>go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler, but I won't buy the title just
>for his writing.
>
>Thoughts?
entire second-series runs of FLASH and GL, and ten years of SUPERMAN
taking up space. Now, though, I find that I'm following writers more.
Robinson's one-shots will grab my attention. Waid has gained (and then
lost, and then gained back) my trust. I like Morrison. He's a good
writer, he has complex, exciting plots (and he's Canadian!).
I'd say, at this point, a character (or team) will draw me to check
a title out, but the writing determines whether I stay. I looked at
JSA because I've always loved the team (alas, only four original
members!) -and- Robinson started it off (irony being that I didn't
like his scripts, but am hooked ont he new guy whose name I can't
remember).
The only thing I've picked up -just- for the writer is RISING
STARS by J. Michael Straczynski creator/writer of BABYLON 5, and I was
NOT dissapointed! It's brilliant. No plot yet, but still brilliant!
Alan Travis
> Just curious as to why you read a title. For instance, anything George
> Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes is as well.
> I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck Dixon is another can't
> go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler, but I won't buy the title just
> for his writing.
>
> Thoughts?
Sometimes I buy for character. I buy all appearances of Union Jack and the
Imperial Guard simply because I like the characters. I used to be able to say
that I always read Avengers and Iron Man, but the Crossing and Teen Tony drove
me off the books for the first time since the seventies. Didn't come back until
Heroes Return.
Sometimes I buy for writer. I buy all of Busiek's books. I buy all of Warren
Ellis' run (except Strange Kiss) and all of Alan Moore's books (save Tomorrow
Stories).
Sometimes I buy for artist. I follow lots of artists, but I can't say that I'd
follow any artist onto any book. Much as I like Perez, I didn't follow him onto
Sachs and Violens or Crimson Plague or Ultraverse/Avengers.
It all depends, I guess.
Alan
StAkAr Karnak
better chance of getting read this way. (::Sinister laugh::)
On Thu, Feb 10, 2000, JRAwrote:
> Just curious as to why you read a title. For instance, anything George
Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes is as well.
I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck Dixon is another
can't go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler, but I won't buy the
title just for his writing. Thoughts?
Glad you asked! In no particular order:
Characters: I'll buy *anything* with Justice, so if he goes back to the
WARRIORS, I'll start picking that up. I'll also get anything with the
Guardians of the Galaxy (sort of a loyalty thing) and any cosmic types
(Surfer, Genis, etc.). I started comics with Spidey, but I dropped his
line when Byrne came along. Star Wars books always get looked at, and
Star Trek gets a chance.
Creators: Anything by Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, Carlos Pacheco, Travis
Charest, Jeff Smith, Chris Ware and Ricardo Delgado deserves a try.
Companies: I love the Marvel Universe, but can only count the DC issues
I own on both hand and feet. Anything from ABC or Cartoon Books is
worth looking at.
Crossovers: I wouldn't touch THUNDERBOLTS with a ten meter pole until
THOR crossed over with it by way of Hercules.
Word on the street: I've decided to pick up a lot of books based on
coverage in online reviews as well as articles in THE COMICS JOURNAL and
WIZARD.
Impulse: Maybe 30% of the books I buy are impulse buys. If it looks
like an interesting read, I'm game. Picked up KABUKI, ACME NOVELTY
LIBRARY, THE ATOMICS, and GIANT KILLER this way.
- StAkAr Karnak, who aughta live inna library...
***
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Studio/8390/dime.html
rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe FAQ
http://welcome.to/racmu
"May you live in interesting times." - Ancient Chinese curse
Dave Groening
JRA <jra...@ncrb.org> wrote
> Just curious as to why you read a title. For instance, anything George
> Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes is as well.
> I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck Dixon is another
can't
> go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler, but I won't buy the title
just
> for his writing.
Years ago, I used to follow characters. But then I realized that there's no
telling what pit of badly written crap that might lead into. I followed
Spider-Man - my very first exposure to American comics - into the Clone
Saga, and decided then and there that I was going to focus on writers (and
to a lesser extent, editors) from that point on.
Since then, my reading habits have been determined mainly by what writers
such as Priest, Busiek, Ellis, Nicieza and Ennis choose to devote their
efforts to.
no.fun@all
translations. There where seven series (FantFour, Spider-Man, Hulk,
Thor, Avengers, Dracula and Frankenstein) with the first five having a
backup-story (Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, X-Men, Silver Surfer, Captain
Marvel). Later they added Iron-Man (+Ant-Man) and Dr. Strange.
But as you can imagine chaos was pre-destined, as series that started
years apart in the U.S.A. came out the same month in Germany! Like
Fant Four #1 and Silver Surfer #1. Further there were no annuals or
specials - so important plot developments passed by (wedding of Sue &
Reed). Others were referred to, but we never saw them (like the first
appearence of Psycho-Man). All in all it was not too satisfying.
When I had the chance to get the original versions I did and gave up
collecting German Marvels completely.
Nowadays I have access to all series and specials that are published
and as I am a completionist - and my financial background allows it -
I get every Marvel comic, except those where I have no interes in the
protagonist (like Cable, Venm, Deadpool, Punisher).
I try to see them as much fun as possible, so I do not stop collecting
just because the colorist made an error. And therefore I can enjoy
many stories (even stories I read mostly negative reviews in this very
ng).
And I do not even give up series I have been collecting for ten years
or more, just because I do not like the way a writer handles the
characters or they bring back somebody from death. Of course, there
are events that will make me reconsider this policy, but they are far
and few between.
So, I read most titles because I enjoy them (at least most times) and
others just to have the full run.
Markus
Visit the Unofficial Database of Marvel Comics Creators at
http://members.tripod.de/maelmill/INDEX.HTM
Cecil Newson
JRA wrote:
> Just curious as to why you read a title. For instance, anything George
> Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes is as well.
> I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck Dixon is another can't
> go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler, but I won't buy the title just
> for his writing.
>
> Thoughts?
The writing, the writing, and . . . oh yes, the writing.
Richard Lyon
>Just curious as to why you read a title. For instance, anything George
>Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes is as well.
>I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck Dixon is another can't
>go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler, but I won't buy the title just
>for his writing.
>
>Thoughts?
>
>
Characters! Course, the writing has to be decent before I will
continue buying the book, but I don't buy simply because something was
written by a specific writer.
Unless artwork is really, really bad, it doesn't influence whether I
get a book or not.
Richard Lyon
_
Mindspring is blocking some of your email without your permission!
Read the details at http://www.mindspring.com/~rlyon/antispam.htm
Drew Wortman
>
> Just curious as to why you read a title. For instance, anything George
> Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes is as well.
> I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck Dixon is another can't
> go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler, but I won't buy the title just
> for his writing.
>
> Thoughts?
I think most everyone will agree that you're drawn to comics as a kid
for the characters and will usually stick with those characters through
thick and thin. Everyone tends to branch out from there by following
fav artists or writers (for me it's writers, I won't instantly pick up a
title because of a favorite artist).
For me, I loved the Hulk as a kid, it introduced me to Peter David, then
I followed PAD to every title he wrote.
Disruptor
>
> Just curious as to why you read a title. For instance, anything George
> Perez pencils is a must have. Anything Kurt Busiek writes is as well.
> I've started collecting all of Grayson's work. Chuck Dixon is another can't
> go wrong writer. Byrne is a great penciler, but I won't buy the title just
> for his writing.
>
> Thoughts?
I drop it(Crisis, Fall of the Mutants, Inferno, Zero Hour). I might come
back(Green Lantern) and I might not(X-Factor). As to starting out book,
I started with Freedom Fighters.
Pumba_D_Warthog
Supergirl, because when I returned to comic books in the
early '90s, it was right around "Death of Superman"
and "Knightfall," and those characters were prominent.
I pick up Avengers for Perez' artwork (and I can't wait until
George starts doing Crimson Plague again). I buy Liberty Meadows
because Frank Cho is so damn funny, and does such a great job
drawing his characters.
I buy Strangers in Paradise, because I love Terry's stories and
artwork (I like that his female characters wouldn't have back
problems from 40ZZ breasts and too-tight spandex), and because
you never know when he'll throw in a cliffhanger or two to
surprise you.
I love Peter David's work. I'm still working on finding back-
issues of his Hulk run (those damn McFarlane books are hard to
find, and too expensive), but it was great fun to read. His
Young Justice is a fun book, too, and his X-Factor is probably
the best X-writing ever (with the exception of Claremont's first
run).
For the most part, I have to have good artwork in order to
really enjoy a book. There have been a few exceptions (hated
Terry Moore's art at the beginning), but if the artwork doesn't
attract me to the books, I simply can't buy it to muddle through
ugly artwork to read a good story. A good example of this is
Earth X. I love Ross' covers, and from what I've heard, the
story was top-notch, if not a little slow. But I HATED the art.
I knew when I read in Previews it was the same artist who did
The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, I wouldn't buy
the book. His artwork just sucks beyond belief.
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