Comic Books We’re Thankful For in 2019: Legion of Super Heroes, House of X, More

I’m Steve Gustafson and thanks for stopping by. If you enjoy reading or discussing anything comic book related, you’ve come to the right place. I throw out a subject, you comment below. Easy. Let’s get started. 

Previously on…

  
 
Last time we asked, What Gives You Comic Book Fatigue?. Here’s what some of you had to say:

Stanislaus Zbyszko: “I don’t really read comics anymore, but Spidey was my man, until they had 10,000 different series of him. I grew up when you had to buy the comics in the ’90s, not torrent an entire series. People growing up in the 2000s and beyond had it made with torrents.”

poopsadaisy: “For me, the regular trend of cancelling and then rebooting series got old fast. Why even cancel a book if you’re going to bring it back a year or two later? Why not just work the character(s) into another series if you want to keep them around?”

Richard H1S: “2 things:

1) Crossovers without breathing room- I don’t mind crossovers, and there are some that I absolutely loved, but give them a minute to breathe and for the new status quo to be reached before starting the next one. I can remember when I got back into Comics in 2005-2006 I immediately gravitated towards the X-Men books because I loved X-Men as a kid. I went to pick one up and this was shortly after house of m. They were on “Messiage Complex” (I think) and it was this massive X only crossover, that went directly into another Massive X crossover. It never seemed to end.

2) Reboots that throw away continuity. I just at this point don’t care anymore. I want continuity to exist. I want it to work. I don’t want everything to change every 3-4 years. I was fine initially with New 52, but after a while it just wore on me. When they came out a few months in and went “Oh we decided there have been no crisis events here” and “Oh superman never died” it suddenly went from Soft Reboot to Hard Reboot. Same thing with Rebirth.

Just give me my normal continuity or if you really need to screw around with it create a line of Earth 47 books that are a new continuity or god forbid actually use Earth – 1 books as they were intended and use that line.”

Moody: “Events! They are meant to be these world/universe changing things and at the end nothing feels different. I’m all of a big crossovers/events when the outcome matters and it has lasting effects. But having one right after another, trying to make each one mean more than the last….It’s exhausting. I feel like every time one happens it’s less and less important. Sadly there have been so many of them that they don’t even matter anymore….”

D-Unit: “Giant Crossovers. Always have”

Dexter Plisskin: “What finally wore me down was “Writing For the Trades.” It began to feel as if every story had to be a 6-issue story arc. In Ye Olden Days of the Bronze Age of Comics the majority of stories were either done-in-one or two-parters. A couple of times during the publishing year of a title there would be three-issue stories. The rare times a story lasted more than four issues, it was considered an EPIC!

When “Writing For the Trades” became a trend, stories that could easily be told in two or three issues were padded with useless filler so that the resulting collected edition would contain a single narrative. I guess two or three stories in a single trade paperback would have made it too difficult to come up with a title for the cover or something.

Anyway… when seemingly every issue of every comic on the shelf was another chapter in a six-part story, I focused my hobby on collecting back issues from an era when writers and editors were talented enough to create more than two stories for a title in a year’s time.”

redraptor: “Nothing Matters. The endless reboots, resets, redirects, resurrections, whatever keep everything in a state of flux and it’s not like anything sticks for any significant length of time before ANOTHER hot young writer rolls along to tell everyone how crappy the previous iteration of a character was. Of course that’s before the next writer comes along to say how crappy the other iterations were and the original is king before its revealed the original is at best a total jerk if not borderline evil due to “dark secrets” in their past.

Next would be the pace. Everything seems to whip around at a breakneck pace with barely any time to take in the consequences of the previous page. There’s rarely any depth to the characters. I know pre 2000 there would be entire issues dedicated to the aftermath of a death or event. Now it’s barely a panel before we go racing off to another adventure.

Heaven help you if you like a character that doesnt have a dedicated book like Ghost Rider, who is the poster boy for the first problem. Following the path of Johnny Blaze between the end of Jason Aaron’s story and the start of the newest series is circuitous at best requiring you to read multiple different series that are related to the original in name only. I dare you to start with the original series and work forward. Total mess. So much easier to just say the heck with it and save several hundred dollars.”

Too many great comments to share. Go back and see for yourself. Also, as always, thanks for the input!

This week we discuss…

Comic Books We’re Thankful For

Another year and another cliche Thanksgiving themed, “stuff I’m thankful” for column. As I should, I’ll start off thanking you all. I’ve been around 411wrestling.com for almost 12 years. I’ve seen a lot of people come and go, including readers. When I started doing the Comics 411, the first thing I saw was how many passionate comic book fans we had. I do my best to crank out something to create debate weekly and I admit that sometimes, when I’m in a time crunch, I produce something that’s barely legible. I admit to writing at bars, friends houses, and even outside in the cold so I could use my neighbors WiFi because mine was wonky. I’ve never minded comments or emails attacking me. It’s the nature of the beast. But I appreciate the comments that have some thought put into them. Especially when it comes to comics. If you’ve ever read or commented before, thank you.

I frequent 2 comic book stores. Comics & Gaming Fairfax (www.cgoffx.com) is simply awesome! Some of the best customer service I’ve ever received and they go above and beyond to make you feel welcome. Not too far from them is The Amazing Comic Book Shop (www.amazingcomicshop.wordpress.com), which has an awesome selection and some cool people working the register.

I started this piece with the intention of listing off a bunch of comics that I’m thankful for but I’d rather just do a general overview. I’m thankful for comics. As I’ve grown with the industry, I admit that I mostly purchase graphic novels and collected storylines. I still pick up single issues every week, to get a taste of what’s coming out. Once I’m done, I usually hand it off to a friend’s kid, as long as it’s appropriate. I still find myself getting older stuff a lot. That’s what I like so much about comic books. You can always enjoy great artwork and writing. Not only that, you can enjoy a crappy book that you once thought was awesome because of the memories and feelings it stirs up. I’m thankful for all those independent guys, pursuing their dreams. I’m thankful for the web comics that provide laughs and inspire thoughts.

As far as comics this past year….wow. It’s been a tremendous year for comics. The biggest highlight for me was the return of the Legion of Super-Heroes. I could name the ‘Powers of/House of X’ series, along with their respective spin-offs, DC’s ‘Year of the Villain’ was strong as was their Black Label imprint output. Oh, and ‘Doomsday Clock’.  Independent comics are just pumping on all cylinders right now as I’m loving what Aftershock, Titan, and BOOM! are putting out. So much creativity on the stands.

It’s a great time to be a comic book fan. Even with all the turmoil and problems we hear about the industry, I can’t think of any other form of entertainment that provides such lasting fun.

What about you? What comics are you thankful for?

That’s all the time I have. Check out our Comic Book Reviews tomorrow and see you next week!