Wednesday 2 January 2008

What I want from my comics in 2008

Happy New Year!

Here are a few things I'd like to happen in 2008...

Fewer events: World War Hulk, Civil War, 52, Countdown, Sinestro Corps. Yada, Yada, Yada. 2007 was event heavy and left me feeling heartily fed up. I didn't want to be forced to buy Civil War to understand what was happening in Captain America or put up with the fact that Green Lantern suddenly made no sense because everything had been fast forwarded by a year thanks to 52.

I enjoyed Sinestro Corps, but significantly this was a tale which was largely contained in Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. It certainly didn't feel like a cynical ploy to make me spend a fortune on a bunch of comics that I didn't want just so that I could follow the story in the comics I did want.

More single issues that work as single issues: It gets a bit tedious buying comics that are clearly being written with one eye on collected editions. One of my favourite comics of 2007 was All Star Superman because every issue stood on it's own. As for most of the others? Pah!

I'm seriously considering kicking single issues altogether this year. The trades are cheaper, 90% of comics seem to be written with the collected editions in mind and a good proportion of them come out at irregular intervals that make remembering what is happening in the story difficult.

A NEW 2000AD: I'd like a decent British comic to read. I'd like that comic to be 2000AD. I don't mind the fact that the comic is now aimed at a more mature audience, but to make that work they need to ditch the old format, you just can't tell the stories they seem to want to tell in short eight page bursts. Ditch the weekly format, make it thicker, cut it down to two strips per issue.

A decent horror comic: Walking Dead is the only really decent horror title out there. I want something that does the same job House of Mystery used to do. Tales from the Crypt is pants. Strange Cases isn't scary. Someone's got to do a proper scary book.

More affordable Golden age reprints: Dear Marvel and DC. I like Golden age comics, put some of them on the same crap paper that you put Essentials and Showcases on and sell them to me cheap. Thank you.

Collect The Crunch: I can't find The Crunch anywhere. Not even on e-bay. It's genius. I have proved as much HERE. I demand that someone collects the entire run in a beautiful omnibus for me to read. Thank you.

1 comment:

mr wheatley said...

i like weeklies, i wouldnt be half as adventurous if i had to shell out £5-£12 to find out something was shit. but there is the library for that i spose or online ( i dont download comics as i dont like reading them off the screen) I also like the ritual of weeklies.. though i am not as far along as you are with the obsessive buying, also i dont have a to read pile, so my experience is week to week. I guess if you are stashing them away you might as well buy volumes.
2000ad. Yes, it needs new alan moore's and morrisons et all. It just feels old and on its ass. I think all the really mental thinkers have sloped off to games and are sitting there stewing.
civil war and hulk, yup the event stuff was shit... its always been shit. secret war was a dogs egg. sigh
special forces is a horror comic..dmz...exterminators.. i think.. its the twist on current events issues stuff thats scary. Well the times in general are pretty scary. Or am i just fat old comic collecting fraidy cat?