Thinking of Getting Into Comics

[nageov3t]

as a hobby... you know, something to read and discuss.

anyone have any tips or recomendations? I haven't really been into the scene since the early 90's... I checked out Marvel's selection, because I've always been a big X-Men fan, but immediately got confused by trying to figure out the difference between Astonishing X-Men, Ultimate X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, and just plain ol' X-Men.

also looks like they've trimmed down their line-up a lot. I mean, what? no more Silver Surfer?

 

[gigapet]

i hope your not getting into this as a means to meet girls to get laid.

 

[NuclearNed]

I haven't been into comics for a while myself, but the Uncanny X-Men is the oldest X-Men comic book being published, so I consider it to be the main one.

 

[yukichigai]

Oh damn, I thought you meant drawing them. I'm looking to find me an artist, to put my whackjob stories into images.

It's easiest to get onto the spinoffs, and many of them are good. I personally got hooked on Venom, and the newer comics are getting really interesting.

Joss Wheadon's (did I spell that right?) X-Men recently hit the shelves. Considering it's Joss it should get you hooked pretty quick.

NYX is also good if you like stuff dealing with Mutants. Neat stuff.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: gigapet
i hope your not getting into this as a means to meet girls to get laid.

::cough:: I thought girls weren't really a concern for Loki.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: gigapet
i hope your not getting into this as a means to meet girls to get laid.

darn. and I heard all the hotties hung out at comic stores

 

[sygyzy]

If you get into comics right now, think of it as just a reading medium. The collectibility market has become nearly extinct.

 

[edro]

Just download the .torrents of whatever series you want. Much cheaper. (and easier to make backgrounds and such with the actual graphics)

 

[austin316]

Originally posted by: edro13
Just download the .torrents of whatever series you want. Much cheaper. (and easier to make backgrounds and such with the actual graphics)

ummm, well, a, yeah, its illegal.

 

[GasX]

The Dark Knight

start there

 

[maziwanka]

check out some manga too.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: sygyzy
If you get into comics right now, think of it as just a reading medium. The collectibility market has become nearly extinct.

yeah. I'm not looking to it as a means of making money. I miss the excitment of having something to look foward to at the end of every month (other than a paycheck and a rent bill. heh.)

I was into it in the early 90's (around the time of the whole Infinity Gauntlet thing), but the comics that I liked at the time started to go downhill, and I found better things to spend my money on. but I make enough now that I can easily justify a couple yearly subscriptions.

 

[xboxist]

Originally posted by: sygyzy
If you get into comics right now, think of it as just a reading medium. The collectibility market has become nearly extinct.

That's very true for 90's and current comics, yes. Many comics from the mid-70's and before are completely exploding in terms of collectibility.

I haven't purchased comics on a monthly basis since about 1994. Back then Valiant and Image was superhot. Batman was getting his back broken. Wolverine had his adamantium sucked out of him. And stupid-ass "collector's" editions were EVERYWHERE. No more $1.50 comics, folks. Costs an arm and a leg to keep up these days. Choose a couple of titles only, and choose wisely.

 

[Dissipate]

Loki: you should have gone to the San Diego Comic Convention. It ended yesterday.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

I'd really suggest not getting into comics for the following reasons:

1. They're too small and won't cover all of you.
2. The ink runs and will get all over your skin.
3. Cheaper quality paper can be an irritant.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
I'd really suggest not getting into comics for the following reasons:

1. They're too small and won't cover all of you.
2. The ink runs and will get all over your skin.
3. Cheaper quality paper can be an irritant.

took me a minute, but lol

 

[Kaiser__Sose]

Punisher

 

[Daxxax]

I jumped back in about a year and a half ago. The entire Ultimate line is very good.

This includes,
Ultimate Fantastic 4
Ultimate Spiderman
Ultimate X-men
The Ultimates (Should be called Ultimate Avengers)

The whole Ultimate series of comics is basically the Marvel universe rebooted.
All the same characters with fresh new starts and a slightly different tilt.

For instance,
Aunt May is younger "maybe 50?, she is also a big liberal/women?s rights advocate.
Gwen Stacy is still alive......well not after last month.
Nick Fury is an African American. (Still has the patch though)
Tony Stark has cancer and his suit is the only thing that keeps him alive.
Captain America is a complete badass.
Thor has major psychological problems.

I like it because I don't have to know twenty years of continuity to understand what is going on. Ultimate Spiderman is running through a Carnage arc right now, Good stuff.

EDIT: Almost forgot, I picked up a few issues of the new Conan series from Dark Horse comics, I really like it. Give it a try if your into that type of world.

 

I have like 5000 comics somewhere. I wish I could sell them on Ebay but what a PITA.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Start out with the Dark Night Returns, and Origin (it's about Wolverine's way early past).

 

[skace]

Tempted to suggest Berserk and The Preacher. But I am not sure if "The Preacher" is the correct name and Berserk is only fan-translated from japaneese....

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: dwell
I have like 5000 comics somewhere. I wish I could sell them on Ebay but what a PITA.

Yeah, your best bet would be to sell it as a lot and lose a TON of money. That's why I am not selling mine.

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: edro13
Just download the .torrents of whatever series you want. Much cheaper. (and easier to make backgrounds and such with the actual graphics)

I am curious what format these are in? Are there special "readers" for them? How about programs to organize them?

 

[Epoman]

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: edro13
Just download the .torrents of whatever series you want. Much cheaper. (and easier to make backgrounds and such with the actual graphics)

I am curious what format these are in? Are there special "readers" for them? How about programs to organize them?

99% of Scanned comics use the .cbr or .cbz extension. Its a free program that rocks. People scan the comic then either zip it up or rar it. so it makes 1 file then you use CDisplay to read it in order.

Here is a link.

Comic Book Reader

Now a days the most used way of distributing comics is a .torrent, also Direct Connect (DC++) is really popular.

 

[sygyzy]

Thanks a bunch. So what if you don't have it zipped up? And you have it in the .cbr or .cbz extension? Can Comic Book reader still read it?

What exactly is .cbr and .cbz? Is it a new image format that the CBR author just invented? How do you scan something into CBR format? Is it just like a jpg with the extension changed?