Best ongoing comic book series right now?

[timrpgland]

What's your favorite ongoing comic book series these days?

I have to say I've been really enjoying the Streets of Gotham. More so than Batman & Robin at least until Quitely returns. The first 4 issues of Streets of Gotham were really well done. Not sure my verdict on Yost's 2 parter but issue 5 was decent (haven't read 6 yet) and Dini will be back for issue 7 anyway.

Brubaker's Captain America is still just as good as always. Rarely misses a beat. Reborn is good stuff.

[Zomboid]

I've been reading reborn, too. Deadpool is usually pretty solid, but probably the best limited series I've read recently has been the Dark Reign Hawkeye stories. Bullseye as Hawkeye is just great.

[timrpgland]

I'd agree that Deadpool is pretty good usually. He sure is getting tossed all over the place lately. I have yet to read Team-up 899. His current "main" series has had the good fortune of having Daniel Way onboard for the whole run so far.

Haven't read that Hawkeye series.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

As long as Deadpool doesn't become Wolverine.

[captain516]

Am I the only one who doesn't see the appeal in Quietly's art? It just looks weird to me. Streets of Gotham is currently my favorite too.

[CaptainXenu]

I don't think i've read an ongoing comic book for a few years now. The last one I did was when Superman/Batman first came out.

I have been meaning to get around to reading Green Lantern/GLC and the recent Batman books since Dick Grayson took over the cowl because from what i've heard, they're some of the better stuff from DC right now.

[BatmanJohnson]

I personally love the Walking Dead. The art is awesome and the story is even better.

[Zomboid]

I've really had enough of Geoff Johns. He's got a really shitty tendency to make things very convoluted, and that's one of the things that I really dislike about comic books. Sometimes he's got some good stuff, but a lot of it is just over-hyped and ends up being kinda shitty and full of "OH NO YOU DI'INT!" moments. The Blackest Night series is kinda underwhelming in that regard.

[captain516]

I read the first few issues of The Marvels Project today and it was really good. It was also the first Marvel series I read in a long, long time.

[ZeldaQueen]

I'm rather fond of Runaways. However my library takes forever and a day to get the latest editions.

I'm also a big follower of Fables.

[BatmanJohnson]

I haven't read Runaways yet. I've heard good things. I just read Kick-ass. It was nice and unconventional take on Vigilantes. I'm looking forward to the next issue.

[Ant10708]

Starting reading "The Walking Dead" about a week ago based on batmanjohnson's comment on it. I am really enjoying it so far. Keep surprises me with some pretty good twists. I am on issue 17.

[BatmanJohnson]

It twists a lot. It's hard to predict some things in the Walking Dead.

[Ant10708]

Yeah it is and I try not to even guess twists because I have found from movies that when you go in waiting or looking for the twist it ruins the entire movie, for me at least.

[timrpgland]

I couldn't get into "The Walking Dead" too much. I read the first 2 TPB but I just thought it was boring and stopped. I found most of the characters to be pretty dull and very inconsistently written, even considering. Maybe it gets better but I couldn't get into it. I know the critics like it. I'll get my zombie fix from movies/games.

I've really had enough of Geoff Johns. He's got a really shitty tendency to make things very convoluted, and that's one of the things that I really dislike about comic books. Sometimes he's got some good stuff, but a lot of it is just over-hyped and ends up being kinda shitty and full of "OH NO YOU DI'INT!" moments. The Blackest Night series is kinda underwhelming in that regard.I think it's the concept more than the writing. I'm just not a huge fan of this event as a whole. Final Crisis, on the other hand, was really well done.

"Viking" has been kind of fun so far.

I'm a little confused with Streets of Gotham issue #7...
#1. The cover has Manhunter on it, who isn't part of the series issue itself just the second feature like it was last week.
#2. The top of the cover says "Also featuring Batman & Robin".... uh no... it's not....
How the hell did that cover pass QA?? Wrong cover and wrong feature...?

[MrSmiley381]

Deadpool is always great. I love the guy.

Savage Dragon has potential to be one of the best superhero comic series out there, but Erik Larsen is usually too busy with other projects, so poor old Dragon suffers.

[Ant10708]

Chew has been alot of fun for the first story arc.

[BatmanJohnson]

Chew has been alot of fun for the first story arc.

I love Chew! other than the one lackluster issue. Can't wait to pick up #7 today.

[timrpgland]

Batman & Robin has picked up pretty nicely lately. Morrison is giving us less of his "inner dialogue". Issues 8,9 and 10 are all quite solid. Streets of Gotham, on the other hand, needs to refocus.

[Ant10708]

we need more comic disscussion on these boards.

comics are too damn expensive for me to keep up with :(

[wizbenny]

Marvel lost me - which is sad since I practically devoured any Marvel title growing up and into my early adult years. Civil Wars were the death knell for me.

DC grabbed me for awhile with the Identity Crisis stuff and kept me until we ended up with Carebear colored power rings and all this "Dark Reign" nonsense.

Anymore, I find myself reading things by the independent guys. A lot of webcomics-turned-print like Looking For Group and PVPonline have consistently good ongoing storylines that are amusing and solid without being angsty.

Also the Eliopolis books are fun reads with my kids.

[Fathom Zero]

I like this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_Chevalier_Vampire

The translated version tends to appear in Heavy Metal from time to time.

[wizbenny]

Thanks for the link! I usually don't go for the dark stuff, but actually the premise sounds very interesting. I did watch that anime anthology/collection Dante's Inferno and it reminds me somewhat of that, which I did enjoy.

[Fathom Zero]

Olivier Ledroit is a wizard. Everything he does looks freaking brilliant.

[timrpgland]

I don't seem to check out web comics much but maybe someday I'll get into them. Most of my computer time is spent either gaming or working on projects. Other than that I have to get away. I like the fact that you can still go into a comic book store and pick up the issues in your hand. :( Let's try to still support that industry. Newspapers can fuck off... but not comics.

I still like DC and Marvel although I have to get both in select doses. I've avoided the last few special events pretty much other than the crossovers.

As long as you follow the right series/issues both of them, Marvel and DC, still produce some good stuff.

[wizbenny]

Oh believe me, I'm not for abandoning, nor do I wish, the print comic market. But when I do a print version of my webcomic (which I think looks better than most comics out these days) even if its a top seller, the best I can expect is to sell 10,000. Batman and other TOP selling books sell 100k if they're lucky from the big two. It's depressing.

To put this into perspective, back when I worked at Marvel, a book selling under 30,000 units was cancelled. Now, that number is 5,000. The top-selling books at Marvel back then sold in excess of 500,000 copies consistently. Those were the numbers for the mid-to-late 90's

Just 5 years prior to that, a top-selling book sold over a MILLION copies and any book selling less than 100,000 units was canned.

Now, think about this... the price on the covers has gone UP over the years, but the margins on the books have gone DOWN. Print/pulp industries have only gotten more expensive. The costs of shipping have gone up. Now there's only one distributor, so they take more money and charge more now for their advertising in Previews. Yet the numbers have gone DOWN.

Then you add into this the fact that the core audience of comics are now engaged in OTHER activities... you have a real problem. A kid has to plunk down $50 for a new PS3 game they can play for a hundred hours or more OR they can buy a dozen comics that (frankly) are depressing and the entertainment value is over with in 30 minutes to an hour (if they're an exceptionally slow reader). Which are they going to choose? Seriously.

The core audience USED to be teens/tweens. This is an audience that doesn't HAVE disposable income. It's not like when I was growing up and I actually had a job at age 14. Heck these kids don't even do paper routes or mow lawns. And even if they do, they're STILL not going to spend money on a comic.

UNLESS (and here we get to the heart of it) they're already INTO that property from some other source... like, say, a free Webcomic.

Webcomics have a long way to go, but the readership of an average Webcomic outnumbers that of their print counterparts incredibly. My webcomic just launched last week and I've already had over 10,000 readers! That's more than most comics. Some comics (like Dreamland Chronicles) have over 10 MILLION MONTHLY READERS!!! That's 10 times the number of readers than comics had at their height!

And with iPad and other apps, these things are becoming items that can be carried.

Fundamentally something radical is going to have to occur to change things in the comic pulp industry if it's going to be saved.

I'm rooting for it, but I dispair that it may be a lost cause.

[captain516]

Personally, I think a print/web combo is the way to go. I know that marvel promoted Secret Invasion online. Don't know if it worked or not, but it's a step in the right direction.

[Pentegarn]

Might be something to that.

Webcomics like OOTS and Erfworld post a hundred or so pages, then compile those into a trade paperback to sell. It is a solid business model.

[wizbenny]

That's our business model as well. But to be honest, if we get the readership of other top guys, it might be interesting to see which makes more money... the online or offline components.

Of course, a good business platform doesn't rule out the cumulative "profits." That's why we'll be doing both... and we're in discussions for print versions (translated) in China, Japan, France and other countries.

All or nothing mentalities are silly IMHO.

[MLE]

The translated version tends to appear in Heavy Metal from time to time.

Didn't Moebius draw some of the Heavy Metal comics?

[The Leader]

OH MY GOD YES

The best ones. :>

[wizbenny]

SOME of the best ones, absolutely. Moebius is a master storyteller with his illustrations.

[Fathom Zero]

Yes yes yes yes. Good stuff. Good stuff you can back order, no less. :D

[Tadao]

Heavy Metal just cut up his graphic novels, right? I would rather just order those.

[The Leader]

But can you read french? :eek

[Fathom Zero]

They sell them, too. :eek

[The Leader]

Buy them for me.

[Fathom Zero]

I take that back, they don't have any at the moment. :(

[The Leader]

>:

[MLE]

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