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After going round about a bit on it, I've decided to drop Matt Kindt's Mind MGMT. Yes, I know it's really clever and inventive and ground-breaking and all that, but I can't justify paying the $3.99 price point any more for something that's consistently at the bottom of my read pile when I buy it and an easy "leave in bag" choice when the weekly haul is too big.

It's not a bad comic at all, but it's missing one crucial element: characters that I care about. I just don't. they have interesting back stories, wild abilities, etc., but I just don't care about any of them...even Meru, the lead who we're supposed to root for. They're not unlikable or anything, but they just don't come alive at all for me. And that's where a comic pretty much HAS to succeed for me. This one simply hasn't.

Ultimately, if the price point were $2.99, I might have stuck with it a while longer. Maybe I'll even eventually pick up trades where I left off. But for now, it's gone.

Sorry, Cobie.

Wow, I'm surprised! But, different strokes and all that.

I'm actually enjoying it more than ever. Your point on characters you can care about is justified I'd say except for Meru, which I disagree on.

Unfortunately, all Dark Horse, Dynamite, IDW and Boom comics are $3.99. The way Image seems to have a leg up on them should make them reconsider that IMO, but who knows what they're looking at.

For the record (in the spirit of EDE ), while I like Killjoys, I liked Umbrella Academy MUCH more. I loved UA, while Killjoys does have a lot of negatives which Lardy pointed out. Without Cloonan, I would have dropped.

It's not all DH books but most of the creator-owneds are the higher price point. Buffy, Star Wars, Conan....those are usually $2.99 or $3.50. Even The Massive is either $2.99 or $3.50, even though it's creator-owned.

I read somewhere that Image lets the creators pick the price point.

Funny, I was just coming here to say I picked up the Mind MGMT hardcover and am hooked (granted I'm only up to issue #2). It's almost exactly what I'm looking for right now (though I reserve the right to further judgement as the revelations play out).

Don't get me wrong...it's far from a bad book. It's very interesting, and I like the stuff Kindt has going on in the margins and all. It just isn't my kind of thing, really.

Also, Kindt's art kind of wears on me after a while. While I thought it was kind of lovely and unusual at first, it eventually came off as flat. He's particularly weak at facial expressions. It seems everyone usually has that same flat expression on their faces.

So in this vein--and time to break Cobie's heart, yet again--I've also dropped Peter Panzerfaust. Again, it has an interesting story to tell, but there's not much depth to the characters. yes, you've got the narrator of each arc adding some color to what we're learning, but you don't really get that from the story itself. You just see characters doing what the writer tells them to do, stuff like characters falling in love and getting married because they're supposed to. It's like writer Wiebe has to constantly tell you how to feel about the characters instead of you just feeling it.

And the art never grew on me. Blank facial expressions. A smirk is the most common one in the artist's range. The angular heads and super-pointy chins distract me every time I read an issue. Some would call it a stylistic choice. I call it lazy.

Really a worthy idea for a comic book and one I can see why people enjoy, but ultimately not my cup of tea.

Now you've gone too far!

I LOVE both Peter Panzerfaust and Mind MGMT still--they're two of my favorites! But, I guess they're not for everyone.

Yet, now I'll sit and wait in the darkness for the day you proclaim your love for a random series, only to tell you how much I HATE IT.

(You don't like Snyder's Batman, right? Because it sucks. :P)

Another comic I tried because of its promising premise was Avatar's Uber, written by notable Marvel writer Kieron Gillen. The interesting concept centers around what may have happened if the Germans had found a way to give soldiers devastating super powers to give them a second win literally moments before their defeat in WWII.

Sounds pretty interesting, right? Well, the book is a confusing mess from the get-go. It throws characters and moments at you so fast that you literally have no chance of figuring out who's who and what the hell they're doing from page to page. Well, maybe you would if each page had footnotes? Doesn't help that the artist, while creating striking images, has no talent for creating distinctive-looking characters. Having that skill on hand would have been a help but still may not have saved a muddled script that's in too big of a hurry to dump scene after scene on you.

And if it's published by Avatar, then of course it has to be preoccupied with ultra-violence. I'm not saying the situation may not merit it; I have no illusions about war being pretty. But the book lingers on things like this too much in lieu of some compelling story to tell instead. As interesting as Gillen's back-matter is in every issue, like his stated desire to respect the heroes of the conflict, I have to wonder how the high concepts he speaks of never seem to make it into the book.

Very disappointing and a much easier drop than the last two I mentioned.

Hey, bitch ( ), the word "hate" never came out in my reviews of those two! read the damn things!

Seriously, I'd love for you to tell me how I'm totally wrong about the points I make...?

Nope, Snyder's Batman is gone from my pull (and my house!) along with the rest of the DCFU! Snyder's pre-Flashpoint run on Detective, however, is a keeper!

I know, I know. I was being overly dramatic. You have some valid points about why neither might not appeal to you or some others.

On Uber, I gave it a pass even though I like Gillen a lot, just because Avatar comics usually are such garbage. The only one I like is the mentioned-before web comic, "Crossed: Wish You Were Here" that I check in on every so often (it's been awhile actually). I also find the way Rich Johnston pimps out Avatar, and Gillen himself, annoying. We get it; it's your publisher and he's your friend.

I'm actually in the process of culling my list a bit. Since there's basically no DC comics, it's coming from the independents too. (Re: Dynamite's the Shadow, and possibly Unwritten).

Actually this is one of my favorite things about Legion World ... with those of us who hang out in Gym'LL's ... Sometimes we have incredibly different tastes!

I think I've come to accept that the Shadow is just a character and book I'll never really dig. Garth Ennis didn't do it for me, and now, Matt Wagner, of all people, isn't doing it for me. I was really pumped for both, but both fell off my pull very quickly.

Usually, though, me and Cobie are really incredibly in sync about what we like and don't like. But there are definitely exceptions. Oddly, though, I'm more likely to disagree with him than him disagree with me...

Getting back to Paladin's point about pricing, as I'm stepping out of my DC comfort zone, sticker shock is definitely and issue. Since I'm not as invested in a lot of these titles, I'm finding myself more amenable to *gasp* waiting for the trade. I grabbed the first two trades of Mind the Gap in July, and just got a Hardcover Mind MGMT this week (it was on sale down from 21.99 to 21.95. heh).

Up until now that would be heretical statement from me, but unless it's a creator I want to try and support (Milligan, Doran, etc), I'm re-thinking my buying habits completely.

Of course the big fight will be sneaking even more books past my wife onto our beleaguered shelves, vs. long boxes tucked out of sight in the closet.

I've played with trade-waiting a lot over the years. the biggest problem I'm finding is that they're so inconsistently priced! Just for example, Marvel's seem terribly over-priced for what you're getting. I mean, the HCs of All-New X-men are $24.99 and only contain FIVE issues/112 pages! REALLY?!?! I know you can find sites with much better deals on them, but that's riDONKulous! I'm sure the SC price will only be, like, $19.99, which amounts to original issue cover price. Idiocy!

I'm trying to think of a series Lardy really loved and recommended that I didn't like--one I actually gave the time to (not one I haven't gotten to yet)--and I can't think of many. Or any really. I'm sure there's a few. I hated DCnU Batgirl but that's not a good example because Lardy didn't love it like I do Peter Panzerfaust. The guy has good taste, what can I say?

The Shadow has been such a major disappointment--mainly because I'm all geared up to love it! But no one has given me the type of story that wows me yet, not even the aforementioned Ennis and Wagner who I adore and admire. Maybe the Chaykin mini will do it.

Dave, I trade wait occasionally with no real rhyme or reason. But that's not my usual m.o. in buying comics. Usually it's because I missed the boat and am catching up, which I proudly say rarely happens these days. Some examples are: Walking Dead which I eventually converted to floppies; Scalped, which I'm still trade collecting, and will finish up literally my next trip to the CBS, and Hellboy, which I'm years behind on.

I bought Preacher and Sandman in trades and with Scalped I guess I just kind of feel that "old Vertigo magic" as I did with those, so I like collecting it that way. It just feels right to read it in a trade.

If I do miss the boat the first time around, it does take quite a bit of convincing to get me to buy the trade though. I need high praise from reviewers I trust have similar tastes--quite frankly, Lardy and Fat Cramer are two major ones. The vast majority of trades I've bought come from LW recommendations. I never trust comic books resources or bleeding cool or whatever. Maybe for individual issues but not trades.

I never buy Marvel or DC superhero comics in trades either. The format just format work for me there.

I loved and recommended the hell out of the Stephanie Brown Batgirl series, but you never tried that one out. That may have been the one, perhaps. There's also The Boys, which you've never tried. I've always been curious as to whether that would be the one you hated.

You'd unequivocably LOVE Sandman Mystery Theatre if you ever got off yer sorry ass, though.....



Good to see that Wagner struck out with you as well. I didn't think it was possible for him to disappoint us with his track record. What someone really needs to do with the Shadow is somehow make him an interesting character. They make him so enigmatic to the point he's uninteresting.



'Bout effin' TIME! Hasn't it been literally YEARS since the last time you bought a frickin' scalped trade?!?

The ending of Scalped is the best, out of a very awesome run. I remember there was a slump towards the end, or a lull, but the ending was a home run!


Also, the Boys was good, but it wore me out towards the end, I imagine I will go back to it someday but ... it was pretty continuously violent. I made it through like 9 trades but ... I just couldn't take it anymore ... it is very well done but just dark issue after issue. The story justified it at first, as I have reviewed but ... after like 20-30 issues ... I was just tired.

I'll disagree there. I thought it was consistently excellent throughout and the tension just grew and grew.

Trying to remember how far Cobie's read. I don't think he even got to the point where we learned something unexpected about Shunka. (Don't spoil, Peebz!)

Did anyone happen to pick up DC Universe Legacies #8, by Frank Quitely and Len Wein. DC. ?

Quitely and the New Gods! I am so bummed I missed it!

Lazarus. I liked it. First two issues anyhow.

I've been reading Chin Music - the supernatural meets the untouchables. Art by Tony Harris.

No offense intended, but "Chin Music" has to be the silliest title I've seen for quite some time. At least they didn't call it "Chin Muzak."

I picked it up in a hurry because I thought it was Chin Muzak. Boy, was I disappointed.

It takes to the end of #1 to get a feel where it's going. Having sat through the first couple of issues of the screaming skull mini, this is definitely a step up for that.