Now eventually you are going to have a Comic Book thread on this Comic Book forum, right?

My stance lately is that if they can't get characters right in the main books they shouldn't be trying to Ultimate/Absolute them to begin with.

Not that I don't enjoy them. Honestly I enjoyed Ultimate Spider-Man and the Ultimates for most of their runs. Haven't tried out any of the Absolutes but from what I've seen and heard they are less my kind of books anyways. I've always been more Marvel than DC, but I don't really pick up much DC unless we got some Batman Beyond stuff going on. Did pick up some of the start of the latest Supergirl run out of some curiosity as it just looked like fun mostly.

But really I don't really like where either side has been overall in their mainline books. I'll give DC some credit as they are really trying to shake things up in a more radical way at times. But Batman with no Alfred, Vandal Savage as Commissioner, Superman replaced by Prime. It's giving me some 90's feeling and not in a good way.

That said Marvel has no idea how to handle Spidey and all his other Spider friends now. It's sad that I enjoy Miles much more than Pete and I've even dropped his main book. It also doesn't help when the main book keeps restarting to #1 all the damn time. And while I'm glad to have Paul now in the rear view (until they zombify him into some new villain I'm sure), I'm so frazzled on MJ's status. I don't actually mind her stepping into her own. I loved the Amazing MJ run, and seeing her go hero as Jackpot didn't faze me other than the actual power set. But her with Venom.... It's just a bit too weird considering history. But there's also the whole problem with it. Pete and MJ's history since BND started is a mess. I'll have to type more later. Gotta head to work.

Absolutely love what they're doing with Norman, though. My biggest fear is that they'll walk it back and I lose all interest in him.

Just a reminder, this upcoming Saturday May 2 is Free Comic Book Day!

...Or "Comics Giveaway Day" or whatever the powers that be want to call it.

Either way, here's a list of most of the comics that should be available:

Just as a reminder, you can tell what books are appropriate for what ages by the color of the FCBD or CGD logo on the books. Green Logos mean they're appropriate for even really little kids. Blue or Yellow Logos mean they're good for general audiences. And Red Logos mean they're meant for adults.

Some highlights include:

Energon Universe Special 2026-It'll probably be a good idea to pick this up, if you're following the current Transformers comics. These almost always have some sort of a important reveal or tease in them.

Masters of the Universe/Dungeons and Dragons-The new He-Man comics have been fairly solid, so far. So, this may give you a chance to check them out.

Dungeon Crawler Carl-The rising star of the novel world is getting a comic book adaptation. It might be a fun introduction to the series, if you've never heard of the books before.

Power Rangers-A comic that's giving us our first look at the new status quo for the new line of Power Rangers comics.

Avatar Legends/Minecraft-These Avatar the Last Airbender comics are always worth checking out, if you're a fan of the show.

Megaman Showdown Special-Protoman versus Bass! Need I say more?

Street Fighter Forever-The Udon comics ALWAYS have solid art. So, even if you know nothing about Street Fighter's story, the FCBD offers are always worth checking out.

Inanna-Which I'm just highlighting because I like the art on the cover, even if I know NOTHING about what this is. Looks like a Wonder Woman homage, but the art might be worth checking out.

And there's two different Conan offerings from two different companies to try out. If you like Conan the Barbarian, you're in luck this year! It seems like Ablaze's "The Cimmerian The Pool of the Black One" offering will likely be more "adult" than Titan's "Tides of the Titan King", so just be aware if you're letting any kids read these.




So, if you're interested, try to get out this Saturday and pick up some free books. And maybe buy a few, too, to support your local comic shop. Some shops have surprisingly good sales on FCBD.

ZakuConvoy said:

Megaman Showdown Special-Protoman versus Bass! Need I say more?

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"Yes, you dooooooooooooooo!"

M. Virion said:

And on that note, I'm very much considering going monthly on Absolute Green Arrow cause I'm so curious who they're going to have in the mask considering Ollie's current (assumed) status.

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I set up a pull list for Absolute Green Arrow. In the process solidified which local shop is going to be my Comic Shop going forward (I'd previously picked up the Absolute Wonder Woman Annual there and been impressed with them) - and realized it's been 15 years since I last actively collected, and turned to dust.

M. Virion said:

I'll see how I feel when I read it, but from what I'm familiar with I think I'll probably still enjoy it. I'll report back in a few weeks

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Well I headed to my lcs for free comic day, grabbed what remained from the piles, since I couldn't get by till just before close and picked up Volume 2 since they had everything 10% off, before grabbing a surprisingly nice little plastic box at a Walmart to keep it all in for like a buck fifty.

I absolutely agree that it goes very, very off the rails. Just actual horrors beyond human comprehension and over the top ridiculousness.

I loved it. It's NOT as strong as the opening arc, though. That really felt like it fired on all cylinders, but it's still the mix of cool and stupid that I think is what's most appealing about Absolute for me. I described it to my partner earlier as "The 60s/70s outrageous campiness filtered through the aesthetic of the 90s." And I'm realizing that's my personal preference for comics, on that note my standout from Free Comic Day was probably the MASK parts of the Energon comic. Might have to pick that up too.

ZakuConvoy said:

Megaman Showdown Special-Protoman versus Bass! Need I say more?

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Wonder who wrote that Mega Man book?

The last comic book I picked up was The Incredible Hulk by Peter David vol. 4 Omnibus from a bargain store for $30 back in December of last year. I was moving at the time I know where it is, but that sucker is heavy.

Steevy Maximus said:

I still miss the old B&W Essential line Marvel used to do. Had a huge chunk of the "Classic" X-Men era (Giant Size until a couple years after Dark Phoenix) in that format. That old art played very well with that format.

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I got some of The Amazing Spider-Man B&W Essential including the classic If This Be My Destiny arc with the famous scene by Ditko of Spidey trapped under a ton wreckage and trying to free himself and looks like art from a coloring book, and I got DC's New Gods when they reprinted them in black and white with grey tones and IMHO that looked awful. When I saw a color version of it, it looked so brilliant and popped in a way that B&W just didn't for me. I think some books like From Hell look better in the original B&W than colorized remaster, and I never will look at a version of James O'Barr's The Crow in color.

I loved checking out the Essential stuff from the library.