 Murphy  | 09 Jul 2009 7:20 p.m. PST |
I've been reading comics since I was about eigth years old, (that's around 1971), and have been a pretty steady reader of Batman over the years.
However recently I started reading some of the issues (within the last six months), and have realized…
This sucks…
I'm giving up on Batman comics… Why?
Well, lets go with cost. Six comics; twenty bucks. Twenty dollars for six comic books, (and I needed to pick up the back issues to be able to figure out what the heck was going on!) Crossovers: I'm tired of having a umpteen issue storyline that crosses over umpteen titles, (some of which you will never be able to get so you don't get the entire storyline); and some of them needing brand new issues to cover them… Example…
Recently we've had something call "BATMAN RIP", which I have about half the issues, and can't even begin to understand what the heck it was about… THEN…it becomes an umpteen issue crossover story on "The Battle for the Cowl", where you have all the pseudo batmans and batman wannabes…so where's Bruce Wayne? NOW it's "Batman Reborn"…with Dick Grayson, pretending to be Batman, Timothy Drake (?) who's he? Some kid named Damian…. Seriously…can SOMEONE tell me WHAT THE LIVING BLUE BLOODY H*LL is going on here?!?!…These stories make no sense…and honestly? I don't have time, desire, nor the money to keep pumping into endless issues to try to figure it out for myself. So, instead of keeping decent storylines in just Batman and Detective Crossovers, they've added uber titles, and well…honestly…just lost a customer of over 30 years… If someone can explain it to me (other than saying "It's not about the story, it's about marketing and selling comics), then I willing to listen with a jaded, but open, mind… |
 John the OFM  | 09 Jul 2009 7:27 p.m. PST |
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| Alxbates | 09 Jul 2009 7:48 p.m. PST |
Tim Drake is one of the Robins, but I thought he was the one the Joker beat to death with a crowbar…? Damian is (I think) Bruce Wayne's illegitimate kid by Talia Al'Ghul, now an evil bastard. But I haven't bought regular Batman comics in a looooong time, just the occasional author or artist that I like, and the occasional trade paperback collecting interesting issues. -Alex |
| Murphy | 09 Jul 2009 8:20 p.m. PST |
I thought that was Jason Todd that joker killed… who then was brought back from the dead and became "The Red Hood"… |
| Jana Wang | 09 Jul 2009 8:21 p.m. PST |
This is the reason I never could get into collecting for this hobby. I even tried subscribing to a couple series, only to have issues never arrive… and then try to find replacements with no luck… just gave up on the whole thing. |
| CPBelt | 09 Jul 2009 9:18 p.m. PST |
This is why you wait until the trade paperbacks come out and buy them discounted at talesofwonder.com. I gave up on comics in the early 1990s. Still, I love classic Disney comics, especially the ducks. |
| Space Monkey | 10 Jul 2009 1:26 a.m. PST |
This is why I never got into superhero comics as a kid… I could never understand the stories cause what issues I got a hold of were always in the middle of some epic tale that branched out in a dozen directions.
There were always these footnotes with an * saying "see issue #1233 of Whateverman for details."
No way was I gonna convince my parents to take me on a hunt for all the back issues and crossover whatnots that it would take for me to be on top of those things. Actually, I thought they'd stopped doing that sort of thing a long time ago… I still read plenty of comics… just not superhero stuff. |
| brambledemon | 10 Jul 2009 4:24 a.m. PST |
You should check out some of the independent publishers-like Image. They are doing some pretty cool mini series-that don't hve all that crossover stuff going on. Personally, I almost always read horror comics-or anything that looks like it could be translated into a movie or tv series. |
| timlillig | 10 Jul 2009 6:00 a.m. PST |
I get around this confusion with two aids: 1. I only read the collected volumes, usually from the library. 2. If I don't understand something, I look it up on wikipedia. Comic book characters often have extensive entries. |
| nazrat | 10 Jul 2009 6:57 a.m. PST |
Great advice all around, Tim! |
| Hexxenhammer | 10 Jul 2009 7:31 a.m. PST |
Shame on the OFM! That's totally hypocritical. You play with toy soldiers, dude. Comics can be literature. Pretend Superheroes can be real role-models. |
| Daffy Doug | 10 Jul 2009 9:55 a.m. PST |
"Robin"? Whothehell is this "Robin" kid? (looks like a cross-dresser for sure to me) Nothing on this thread makes any sense, at, all. Perhaps it is overlapping with parallel universe crap? Just a theory…. |
| Gear Pilot | 10 Jul 2009 3:47 p.m. PST |
"1 Corinthians 13:11" Really? Compaired to playing with army men? |
| Greyalexis | 10 Jul 2009 4:23 p.m. PST |
I still like batman but sometimes those panseys at DC ruin perfectly good heros, Jason todd was the robin we voted to kill "death in the family" tim drake was invented because the toy companies threatned to sue if they could not get to sell robin merchandise. no one like jason, so they made tim drake a well behaved nice kid. my favorite all time batman is when guy garnder (green lantern)  es off batman. and batmn knocks him out with one punch. Black canery gets there too late and saays "I missed it? I am so depressed" |
| brambledemon | 10 Jul 2009 5:16 p.m. PST |
"1 Corinthians 13:11" Really? Compaired to playing with army men?" And watching professional wrestling… |
| Last Hussar | 11 Jul 2009 7:01 p.m. PST |
Hold on, this is very hard to believe. Murph was born in 63? He's older than that, surely. |
| Daffy Doug | 16 Jul 2009 9:27 a.m. PST |
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shows one way to base 15mm figures on a stand.