Why I left comics :-(

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

If I read Marvel and DDC the biggest pain would be the renumbering and the giant OCD "mini" series'. WAY too much attention spent on marketing the books and not enough on the books themselves.

Don C.

[Brazoo]

I know you're paying lots for the vintage value.. but they're SO COOL to finally hold them in your hands..!!!

I've going for the BIG couple now.. #48 and #49 with Galactus and Silver Surfer.. I'll pay a few hundred for 'em in F+/VF condition, but it'll be so worth it.

david_b

I just get reader quality ones - my only rule is it has to have the staples attached and be attractive overall. I've gotten some good deals along the way.

My earliest is #5, I bought that for $80 a few years ago - a nice attractive copy with one major flaw - the part where The Thing dressed as Black Beard dumps out the treasure from the chest Doom wants, a kid very neatly clipped out the treasure for some reason! I actually find that flaw kind of charming - and it sure made it more affordable.

My #12 is my ugliest one - there's a fair amount of yellowed old tape on the top center of the cover and it's kind of faded - but that one goes for a lot and I got a good deal on it.

I don't think I payed much for my #48, but that was a while ago, I've yet to get #49. I don't know if I'll ever afford a #1.

[Brazoo]

Russ Cochran reprinted all the EC's.
I have them all.
oops...except for a few issues of one of the war ones. I think Two-Fisted Tales. I didn't care for that one but I did get Frontline Combat.
Rich

Those are my favorite ones! I'm a huge Harvey Kurtzman fan.

[kryptosmaster]

Those are my favorite ones! I'm a huge Harvey Kurtzman fan.

i KIND OF WISH i WOULD'VE JUST BOUGHT THEM NOW BUT AT THE TIME i WASN'T TOO INTERESTED IN THE WAR ONES.
Oops, had caps lock on, sorry. Not going to retype it now, haha
Maybe someday I'll pick them up if I find them cheap. They don't hold much value so shouldn't be a big deal.
Rich

[Mod Style]

It's sad; but I'm afraid that comics have more good days behind, than ahead.During the 3 years I owned a comic store,I notice very,very few young kids coming to comics.

[toys2cool]

yeah i stopped in around 93-94, they were getting to expensive

[Earth 2 Chris]

I walked away from modern comics for the most part, after buying them monthly for close to 30 years. I blame most of my complaints on the lack of strong edtiors. No one takes stewardship of these characters seriously anymore. The endless death and mutilation has gotten completely out of hand. The only comics any kid can read are the animated spin-off books, nothing else is suitable.

Mainstream super hero comics aren't fun anymore. It's all doom and gloom and gore and never-ending events. And if everything is an event, nothing is.

One bright spot I'm enjoying: Superman: Secret Origins. Johns knows how to write a fun, inspiring story. Unfortunately he's also been known to go overboard with the gore as well.

Chris

[Werewolf]

Mainstream super hero comics aren't fun anymore. It's all doom and gloom and gore and never-ending events.

I totally agree. I stopped collecting comics in the mid 90s and they've only gotten worse since then. Still love the characters but I can't stand what's being done to them.

[saildog]

The only comics any kid can read are the animated spin-off books, nothing else is suitable.
Earth 2 Chris

I'm on record as fully enjoying the whole Blackest Night thing....and I really do, but I have to agree completely with you on this statement. Not only are they fit for kids, I enjoy the heck out of them, too.

I have been buying Batman: Adventures, Superman: Adventures and Justice League: Adventures for my Neice and they are fun, well-produced, and satisfying enough that I enjoy the heck out them.

In fact, as a full-blown child of the 70's, I can't believe I wasn't buying them all along.

Today, we have some very good "Kid's Stuff" on the market and the best signal we can send is to support anything we find to be valuable. Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam, Tiny Titans......get on it and maybe the Big Two will get the message.

Pardon my inability to want comics to be anything more than what they have made their money on (historically). Kidz first!!!!!

Historically, the prurient, sexy, controversial, adult-stuff done by comics can be found in spades on the Web. It's absolutely stupid to focus on that. Comics of an adult nature aren't scratching any of my itches.........and certainly not at three bucks a pop. No need for comics to try to tap into a market that is essentially available for free.

Jeeze, what most comics seem to want to provide can be found just by looking around. The Web is generally "Kid-UNfreindly". Comics should absolutely tap into the Kid Market and if they expanded their audience.....to stuff that parents appreciate, find appropriate yet, is creative enough to find an audience with kids, they might discover an economic goldmine.

WHY do they not see this???? ALL it would take is some thought and creativity and the whole medium would be revitalized. Think about it, economic downturn aside, where did comics get a toe-hold???....in a depression.

Shuck yer current model and step-out! Something selling well by today's standard is nowhere near to the broad audience that Comics once had.

And if kids can't enjoy them, why bother???

[cjefferys]

I haven't bought a new comic in years and years. It seems like all the superhero comics are a complete mess now, and individual issues are so expensive, why bother. It's sad, but I'm completely done with them.

It's cool to see that I'm not the only one buying EC reprints. I'm currently trying to put together a set of the Cochran B&W hardcovers book by book. I have some original ECs, plus 70's, 80's and 90's reprint issues, but the B&W artwork in the hardcovers, taken directly from the original art is so clear and beautiful, I prefer to collect those. I'm getting some of the Warren hardcover reprint volumes as well, they look really good too.

[saildog]

I haven't bought a new comic in years and years. It seems like all the superhero comics are a complete mess now, and individual issues are so expensive, why bother. It's sad, but I'm completely done with them.

This is the optimistic crusader in me, but why is it that they THINK they are marketing to us, yet most of us are dissatisfied? They couldn't be writing this stuff toward 20-somethings because outside of the gore, the twenty-somethings have no idea what they are reading. I've held impromptu clinics with them and shed so much light on things that I have to think even the best among THEM have but a tiny bit of understanding of what comics are compared to us kids of the 1970s. WE get it. THEY get what has been put in front of them with no real understanding of the meaning or history behind it all. There is no future with them as things stand.

WE get it, we just don't seem to like it, but as that seems to be all there is, we settle for it.

Screw that. We seem to be THE audience and from what I can tell, most of us only buy out of brand loyalty....if we buy at all.

I've seen the numbers and even a great selling comic book pales in comparison to a modest book when we were kids.

Where is the revolution here??? Why does it have to be THIS way?

[samurainoir]

Which EC reprint collection do you collect?

I had a love/hate relationship with the new colour Gemstone EC archives and now they've stopped making them.

The DC Mad Archives are great, but they seem to take forever to come out.

Those DC Mad Archives are absolutely gorgeous. Kurtzman and co's work is finally in a format suited to the material. As much as I loved the black and white paperbacks and Mad Super Special bound in reprints and even the Magazine format reprints from a few years back, it's finally great to see the entirety of the material at this size in a permanent quality package.

They need to release these on a faster schedule.

The recent Kurtzman coffee table book is a jaw-dropper for me.

[Duncan]

I quit in the early 90s, after buying too many copies of the same comics with slightly different foil/hologram enhanced covers. Now when I consider reading some new books, I see that the regular cover prices are $3-$4, which is way more than the books are worth to me. I'll occasionally go to a con and buy a stack from the $.25 boxes, which have a surprisingly good assortmant of new books.

Sorry, but I also don't see a lot of kids in the hobby. I'm guessing the industry will head the way of newspapers in 15-20 years, when today's 40 year olds start to downsize. I had wanted to hand my collection down to my kids, but I'm increasingly thinking I should sell it while I can.

[Duncan]

Where is the revolution here??? Why does it have to be THIS way?

Unfortunataly, enough people must still be buying, so the publishers see no need to change...and why should they? They're behaving rationally. It's the people who keep buying a product that they don't like who are the problem.

Something I don't get - I can buy a year of Sports Illustrated for $20 (including a free NFL fleece jacket), so why are comics so expensive? I almost wish WalMart would introduce a line of $.99 comics and force the industry to compete.

[Cosmicman]

Marvel fixed the "numbering" and went back to the original numbers.

Most main titles have been returned and continued where they left off before the numbering got screwed up and "relaunched."


Don't ever give up on Captain Ameirca! He's coming back! The real deal!!

No more fakes! Steve Rogers! Woo Hoo!

Sorry, I got excited and drew a picture of Cap