Comics are awesome.

[andersonh1]

I've started reading the Superman Chronicles today. There's a library branch about 10 minutes from where I work, so if I'm bored at lunchtime I'll go up there occasionally and read for a bit. I discovered that they have a fairly decent selection of trade paperbacks, at least if you like Superman, Batman or Spiderman. There's a few other characters represented, but those make up the majority of the selection. In any case, it's been enjoyable to catch up on some trade paperback reading without having to spend anything to do it.

Back to Superman, "every story in the originally published order", as the blurb says. I've read a few of these old Golden Age Superman stories before, but it's been a long time. It's interesting to see how the character began and compare him to the modern version. The original Superman couldn't fly of course, and wasn't totally invulnerable. His origin takes about a page to tell. He also apparently worked for a paper in Cleveland Ohio. And he's very much the tough guy, roughing up the bad guys and threatening them with bodily harm if they don't do whatever he demands. He acts more like Batman! Superman's hopping around the city from skyscraper to skyscraper, holding one guy by the scruff of his neck, so he can scare the guy into talking. He scares another guy into joining the military of some country in South America to show him the error of his ways for selling munitions. It's hilarious.

They're got about 8 of the Superman chronicles and about 9 for Batman, and I'd enjoy reading the original stories in order. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes Batman to go from his original characterization to the somewhat friendly version that I associate with Dick Sprang and the 60s.

[Onslaught Six]

And it's even weirder when you consider early Bats is running around with a gun strapped to his thigh. (No, really.)

[andersonh1]

And it's even weirder when you consider early Bats is running around with a gun strapped to his thigh. (No, really.)

Yeah, I remember that. That's a really bizarre thing considering how Batman developed.

A few weird moments from early Superman that jumped out at me as amusing or wildly out of character for the modern day version:
- Superman goes undercover to bust up some illegal betting in a college football league. He disguises himself as one of the players, then kidnaps the actual player, drugs him to render him unconcious, then ties him up and leaves him that way.
- Lois Lane asks Clark out on a date in order to steal a story from him. She drugs him so he's knocked out so she can get the interview! Though in this case, he's just fakin', because he's Superman and the drug doesn't work on him. Heh.
- It's also pretty funny when the newspaper editor won't let Lois cover a story because "this is no job for a girl!"
- I had to laugh at the story where Superman decides that traffic is just too crazy in the city, so he breaks into a live radio broadcast, manhandles the announcer out of the way, and basically threatens the city if they don't shape up and drive better. He then goes out and starts destroying cars in the impound lot! The cops try to arrest him without success, and then Superman goes after not only a car dealership (who is selling inferior cars), but goes and busts up a auto manufacturing plant! Then he goes after the bad drivers and then the mayor for not enforcing traffic laws. Let's see... Superman's mad about traffic laws being violated, so he indulges in vandalism, destruction of private property and assault in order to fix the problem!

The covers of the various Action Comics issues are reproduced, and I have to just gaze longingly at the 10 cent per issue price. If only!

[Dominic]

Wow, Superman was every jack-ass adolescent stereotype.

Truth be told, it fits the pattern of most Golden and Silver Age comics. As much good stuff as we have gotten over the years, it is hard to believe that it al started with....well....yeah.


Dom
-would be happy with consistently paying $3 for comics...not creeping up on $5.

[andersonh1]

Wow, Superman was every jack-ass adolescent stereotype.

Truth be told, it fits the pattern of most Golden and Silver Age comics. As much good stuff as we have gotten over the years, it is hard to believe that it al started with....well....yeah.

Yeah, he's not the Superman we're used to today. That's one of the things that interests me about these old stories. If nothing else, watching the character evolve makes them worth reading at least once.

Dom
-would be happy with consistently paying $3 for comics...not creeping up on $5.

$4 is my limit. Once they creep past that point, I'll either drop them entirely, or go completely with trades. And given how long it takes some series to be reprinted, that might amount to the same thing, since I'll probably have forgotten that I was interested in a series by the time it's available in tpb format.

[Dominic]

I am at the point where I am just adding less books. I am currently signed on for 3 ongoing series, including "Transformers", and a few minis. Everything I read is $4, and I never rule out $5. The prices seem to be going up more quickly these past few years as well.

Compilations are the wave of the future. At this point, I am picking up the single issues almost as a preview of the compilation. Of course, the cost of that is becoming prohibitve.

Anderson, do you really think the turnaround on reprinting comics is that bad? IDW, Marvel and DC seem to reprint things pretty consistently. The biggest problem with compilations is that bookstores are lazy about stocking things on time.

Dom

[andersonh1]

I am at the point where I am just adding less books. I am currently signed on for 3 ongoing series, including "Transformers", and a few minis. Everything I read is $4, and I never rule out $5. The prices seem to be going up more quickly these past few years as well.

I'm only buying five monthly books right now: The Flash, Green Lantern, Brightest Day Justice Society and Transformers. If you want to count the Transformers mini-series running on the side, that's six monthly series. An extra $4 or $5 a month honestly isn't going to make that big a difference money-wise, but there's just a point where I don't want to pay any more for something than I already do.

Anderson, do you really think the turnaround on reprinting comics is that bad? IDW, Marvel and DC seem to reprint things pretty consistently. The biggest problem with compilations is that bookstores are lazy about stocking things on time.

IDW turns their mini series around fairly quickly, so there are no real complaints there. I can't comment on Marvel, but with DC it's variable. I picked up the latest JSA trade a month or two ago, and it wasn't published until almost 8 months after the last of the issues collected in it was published. And I'm still waiting for paperback versions of Rage of the Red Lanterns and Agent Orange. Rage is over two years old at this point. I could buy the hardback, admittedly, but why be forced to pay more?

[Dominic]

The hardcovers cost a little more. But, the are not terribly expensive in absolute terms. More importantly, they hold up better and look better. Given the choice, I will always take the hard cover. I just get annoyed when they jump formats, as IDW did a few times.

Dom
-stops buying them at that point.

[Shockwave]

If it's Transformers I buy it, but I get the single issues not the compilations. The only exception to this is the UK stories. For example, I bought the Target: 2006 compilation even though I have the single issues because I would rather read/trash the compilation rather than further damage the individual ones that I have. I kind of broke this with Spotlight because the collected edition was the only way to get the Hot Rod and Doubledealer issues out here.

[andersonh1]

The hardcovers cost a little more. But, the are not terribly expensive in absolute terms. More importantly, they hold up better and look better. Given the choice, I will always take the hard cover. I just get annoyed when they jump formats, as IDW did a few times.

Eh, that extra $5 bucks adds up over time. Yeah, the hardcovers are nice, but I'm cheap.

I've only got one hardcover at the moment, volume 2 of "Thy Kingdom Come". It looks pretty lonely on a shelf of trade paperbacks. I got it dirt cheap on Ebay, which is why I went ahead and bit on the hardcover instead of the paperback. I like keeping any given series in the same format if possible so they all match on the shelf. I guess you can add that to being cheap as another reason I tend to go with tpbs.

If it's Transformers I buy it, but I get the single issues not the compilations.

That's my usual habit as well. I've got compilations for the issues I missed during the year and a half I'd quit buying comics. I do prefer the collected volume format (ad-free, more durable, entire storyline in one place), but I'd rather read the issues as they come out so I go ahead and buy the monthlies.