Elfquest

Welcome to the World of Two Moons – Elfquest is the longest-running independent fantasy series, with more than 15 million comics, graphic novels and other publications in print. The story of Cutter, chief of the Wolfriders, and his quest to find others of their own kind on the World of Two Moons, Elfquest was first published in 1978 by creators Wendy and Richard Pini.

Another rec, this time a ‘classic’ that started in 1978 as an independent. My LCS in the mid-eighties carried all the usual Big Two suspects, including the Dark Knight stuff that was just coming out (Arkham Asylum anyone?) but the guy behind the counter was a friend and pointed me at this oversized black and white comic. They only had two issues in stock and it came out quarterly I think so it was super slow. I fell in love even though it was issue 16. The original arc ran through issue 20 and was part of what hooked me on comics. Over the years it’s been an independent, a Marvel re-release, digital, collections, a few novels, anthologies and a few aborted attempts at movies.

Here is a link to a forthcoming collection of the original for $125 that was the black and white line art. Yes, it’s a bit dated in the style but I still have love for it.

And if I needed another copy of it, this is what I’d buy to give to someone today. A trade paperback of the first 20 issues from Dark Horse that is due out in August. It’s 720 pages for $25. It does have mature content (on screen violence, character death, sex, bigotry, polyamory – most of those I would consider enticements, not warnings fyi) so if you have kids I’d pre-screen it before handing it over or be prepared for questions. It may look cutesy but it really isn’t. It opens with a character being tortured and subsequent rescue.

Nota Bene: Sometimes the labeling can be confusing. If you haven’t read Elfquest before I do recommend starting with First Quest [if you can’t wait until August the first quarter of First Quest was collected under the name Fire and Flight or Volume 1 originally and stops in at a great point if you want to dip a toe in. Yes, this is what happens when the same series is collected and re-collected under different sets over this many years.]

Elfquest

Black Widow (2014-) Digital Comics – Comics by comiXology

You’ve seen Black Widow as an Avenger and even an Agent of Shield. But on her own time she searches for atonement for her past as a KGB assassin–in ways of which those teams just wouldn’t approve.

Another rec in the ongoing series. Black Widow with amazing art by Phil Noto. So far it’s been loosely linked stories so you can start with any issue. The last few (as of this posting #8 was getting ready to come out) are starting to lean on big names to draw you to the book which makes me a little sad but I do love seeing how she holds her own (and lightly makes fun of) the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye.

Black Widow (2014-) Digital Comics – Comics by comiXology

scifigrl47:

gingerhaze:

ryannorth:

There’s a Boom Studios Humble Bundle going on right now and it’s NUTS. Pay what you want for TONS of rad comics, but if you pay $15 or more, you not only get the COMPLETE Midas Flesh series, but also Lumberjanes, Bee and Puppycat, AND Bravest Warriors! ALL OF THESE COMICS ARE GREAT.

My name is Ryan North and I have an opinion on what you should spend $15 on today.

WOW WHAT A DEAL

HUMBLE BUNDLES!

Go do the thing if you can!

I thought Hawkeye was deaf, then became “undeaf” or something… he’s deaf again?? I don’t follow the Hawkeye 2012 comic so I’m quite confused! My apologies u_u

bobbimorses:

he became deaf in Hawkeye v1 #4

which lasted around 15 years (in which there were only about 10 references to his hearing loss- i could post those panels if you want)

until, after some extreme 90s alt-universe event where all the heroes ended up dead,

_{the “heroes reborn” universe, where the panel above is from}

he was revived in 1998 with completely restored hearing

it’s shown that he knows sign language when she-hulk attempts to unsubtly warn a revived hawkeye (after he died in avengers disassembled, not heroes reborn) of his impending doom

_{but he was napping in the jury}

now, clint’s been deafened again in #15 of the current run of hawkeye

and it seems it’s being retconned that clint had actually been deaf for a time in childhood, before he sacrificed his hearing in hawkeye v1

Great recap of the Hawkeye deafness (yay comics timeline!)

door:

I work in a comic book shop. Today a black woman I’d never seen before came in (neither the fact that she was black nor female are unusual for my store—it’s got an awesomely diverse customer base). She was looking for Afterlife With Archie, but stuck around to browse after I pointed it out.

Sometime later, she walked up with a small stack of issues, and while I was ringing her up, asked if I knew the name of a black superhero from way back. I suggested Black Panther. ”Yes! Does he have a comic?” I told her that although he was in a few titles, he didn’t have one of his own. But, I asked her, had she heard of Miles Morales?

She hadn’t. I grabbed the first issue I came to in the stack where his face was visible on the cover (#25, I think), and she positively lit up. ”The comic is all about him?”

“Yup!” I said, “and it’s great. One of my absolute favourites. If you want to start at the beginning, the first five issues are in a book.” I grabbed the first volume off the shelf, and she added it to her stack. After a moment’s hesitation, she looked back at the wall of issues.

"Can I get the first one you showed me, too?”

“#25? Sure, but…you might not really know what’s going on.”

“That doesn’t matter. I just want my brother to see it. He used to love comics, but he hasn’t read them since he was a kid. I want him to see this boy’s face.”

Representation matters. Diversity matters.

Ms. Marvel (2014-) Digital Comics – Comics by comiXology

The all-new MS. MARVEL, the ground breaking heroine that has become an international sensation! Kamala Khan is just an ordinary girl from Jersey City–until she is suddenly empowered with extraordinary gifts. But who truly is the all-new Ms. Marvel?

Part 2 in ‘put your money where your mouth is’ about comics. Ms. Marvel launched this year and as I write this has 5 issues out. Kamala Khan is a teenage Pakistani-American girl, Muslim, superhero and just trying to figure it all out.

Writer’s website. (female creator books are a Good Thing).

And a drop quote: As much as Islam is a part of Kamala’s identity, this book isn’t preaching about religion or the Islamic faith in particular. It’s about what happens when you struggle with the labels imposed on you, and how that forms your sense of self. It’s a struggle we’ve all faced in one form or another, and isn’t just particular to Kamala because she’s Muslim. Her religion is just one aspect of the many ways she defines herself.

Ms. Marvel (2014-) Digital Comics – Comics by comiXology

Free Comics – Comics by comiXology

Download and read free comics and comic books on your iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire, Android, Windows, browser and more.

Recommendation (with caveat) for comixology as a platform and place to peruse:

I don’t know how many people know that comiXology has a freebie section. It’s curated and usually has some good stuff in it. It’s one of the ways I find new stuff and remember old stuff to re-buy in digital form so if nothing else, do use it for that. They have, at least until recently, done some very nice incremental upgrades to the website including finally being able to subscribe to a series and have it auto deliver to you.

And here comes the caveat: comiXology has been swallowed by Amazon in the not too distant past which means you don’t own what you buy, you have a license to it. With that in mind, go forth and shop and know that you are subject to the whimsy of Amazon’s business practices.

If you find something there you can also look elsewhere to get it. Marvel has their own portal (but I believe it loops back through comixology), Dark Horse is stand alone, as is Vertigo, etc.

About digital comics in general:

comixology is an easy portal/way to go if you’re dipping your toe in for the first time. You buy through the website and then view it there or through their app on your device. There are apparently ways to crack the comixology app (or were) and rescue out your cbr files and own them, haven’t done it.

Other portals: You usually download a .cbr file and then find a comic reader app to read your awesomeness. There are some great free ones out there.

Pirated: Yep, if you know where to look there a lot of places to find pirated books, usually the same day they come out. It’s also often the only way to find a lot of the older comics (especially silver and golden age) and the nerds have usually put them into collections in order so you don’t have to try and figure out what to read next (non-trivial).

I’m old school and I want paper:

Ah yes, your LCS isn’t local or isn’t so great with the pull list or you don’t want to cope. Here is where I go to one of the old school behemoths – Midtown Comics. Especially good if you want to actually get your hands on the variant covers or other collectibles.

Free Comics – Comics by comiXology

scifigrl47:

copperbadge:

gege-qurban:

fucknorickremender:

Sales figures from www.comichron.com.

In the month following the hugely popular Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie release, the Remender-penned Captain America solo comic book posted its worst sales since launch, shedding more than 4000 readers (>10%) and falling more than ten ranks.

Way to pull in all those potential new fans!

His sales were tanking since issue 6. Journey into Mystery Featuring Sif sold 10,000 copies more and it was cancelled on the 10th issue.

The drop from #1 to #2 cracks me up. I’m sure there’s a drop every time there’s a #1, but I bet its not usually this steep.

It’s almost like nobody cares to read about Steve Rogers in an alien dystopian landscape with none of his friends.

Steve on his own is fine.

As long as he has a sweet van, a vendetta against the government, and a hobo beard.

Remender missed that part of the ‘steve gets SAAAAAAAAAAAD and runs away from home’ arcs. You know, the fun part.

Also the lady killing. Puts a damper on things.

Okay, so some back of the napkin math. (Caveats all over the place for the math. I wanted to see how this worked out.)

Cap 2 made 95mil it’s opening weekend domestically. At $15 a ticket average (regular tickets are around $9 but it also opened in IMAX/3D so I’m gonna skew high), that’s 6,333,333 people who saw the movie that weekend. Assume (generously) that the hard core fans saw it twice, so let’s knock off a third of that. That’s 4.2 million warm bodies that went to see the movie. From the chart it looks like sales are around 36,000 copies. [I’m going to skip the absolute byzantine ways that comic sales are counted. I don’t know if this chart includes digital or not, if returns were counted, ect.]

But, based on that and assuming everyone who buys the comic went opening weekend (a fallacy but let’s go there), 1 in 111 viewers bought the comic. It was a little tough to track down something about seating capacity but the numbers I saw were 150 to 300. The megaplex I went to had Cap2 in the biggest capacity theaters they had.

What does that mean? Well, for one thing it means that there were probably 3 people in the room that could have bought Cap #21. And a whooooolllllleeeeee lotta people that hadn’t.

That, as a comic book fan in general, sucks. I love comics and think they are a great medium for a lot of people. They are (or can be) accessible in ways that a textual heavy book isn’t. It bridges the gap between text and pictures and in the best books, melds the two together.

It does look like there was a tiny bump between 18 and 19. Probably all those folks who went to the movies then went to their LCS (or who had never been in one before) and said ‘I just saw Captain America. Can I have the book with him in it?’ And they got handed #19 (and probably a few back issues if the store could afford to stock them). None of those people came back for #21 – and some of those that had been getting it stopped getting it.

Are comics for everyone? No. My daughter can’t read comics, the format just doesn’t work for her brain. But .00056% of the movie going audience that weekend is the same audience (with all the caveats above) for Remender’s Captain America title.

That’s so small I’m pretty sure that’s statistically insignificant.

(and this is probably a derail from the bigger point except not, because comics COULD be relevant to culture again except they say shitty things and people aren’t putting up with that any more, at least not as much).

Watson and Holmes Digital Comics – Comics by comiXology

WATSON & HOLMES is a modern urban take on the tales of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Re-envisioning Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson as African Americans and taking place in New York City’s famous Harlem district

Alright. So I’ve been ranting about the problems with comics and culture on and off for a week. Time to point out something that is GOOD in comics. I discovered Watson and Holmes on Comixology when they offered the first issue for free. The summary caught me, Dr Watson is an ER doctor in Harlem and Sherlock is a PI. The first issue is pretty self-contained and re-casts the whole comic with POCs that all. make. sense.

Good stuff.

Watson and Holmes Digital Comics – Comics by comiXology

tamorapierce:

taibhsearachd:

You know what, I changed my mind. Forget fire Remender. Fire everybody. The writers, the editors, just everybody. Replace them with people who can deal with criticism like fucking adults.

I’m all for that, but you’re going to have to re-staff at least half of comics.

If that’s what it takes I’m up for it. Being a shitty human being doesn’t entitle you to a job.

I’ve collected comics for twenty years. I’m past tired of watching an industry I love think that because I’m female my opinion is not only worth less than a male’s, it is actively hindering to their view of what they think it should be. It has become oh so very easy to spend my money elsewhere in the last decade. The comic book industry wonders why when a movie like Avengers makes over a billion dollars (and yes Avengers is a sausage fest of largely white men) that a best selling comic book is under 50,000 copies. Yes, some of it is the format. People don’t read the way they used to. LCS being your main point of distribution is a problem. Digital distribution is helping a lot but it isn’t solving the bigger issue. The issue where if you aren’t a straight white male you’re treated as something to advance the straight white male’s storyline. That’s disgusting.

When a human on any disadvantaged axis starts yelling about how they’re being mistreated by the media/the world I listen. I listen because 999.99 times out of 1000 in my past experience they’ve been right. What the fuck does that say about our culture? About how we treat our fellow humans?

Comics is a symptom of a bigger problem in our culture. Comics and art reflect the larger culture they are in and what is allowed to be said. The Big Two have a platform and a voice and that voice says terrible things.

It needs to stop.