Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 4, 2024 20:01:04 GMT -5
I just go with shaxper 's recomendation of 20-25 pages equaling 1 comic. That's what I did for the Belgian Blake & Mortimer albums I read in January. Yes, I agree, but the collected newspaper strips are where I think it gets a little less obvious. I lean towards 4 weeks=1 comic for those, because a day's strip feels like around 1 page of a comic book. Most collections print at least 3 weekday strips per page, which would usually be 12 panels - which I concede is not too many for a single comic book page, though I think many, perhaps even most comic books would average less than that. However, because of the structure of news-strips, most single days contain something of significance to the plot, which is more than would happen every 4 panels in most comic books. But all this is just groping for an explanation for my intuitive feeling that the 20-page rule might not work for strip collections. And another thing, what about collections that print 4 or 5 strips per page? That would really stretch the point, to my mind.
Personally, I wouldn't overthink it because, even if we are just talking about floppy U.S. comic books, there's a world of difference in terms of time required and volume of text between reading 5 issues of a mid-2000s comic and 5 issues of a densely packed early 60s comic. So, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just estimate it as best you can. It's not a competition to see who can read the most issues, after all. That said, I guess even with newspaper strips the 20 page guideline would still work when determining a regular comic issue's worth, no? Like, if you were reading Peanuts strips, with maybe 4 or 5 strips per page, that's still roughly a page of a comic which would be somewhat similar in volume to a page of a Tintin album or a page of an issue of the Ditko/Lee Amazing Spider-Man. And even if you're reading something with longer daily strips, a page is still a page, surely? |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 4, 2024 19:32:59 GMT -5
Happy GM's Day! Today is the anniversary of the death of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax, and is a day set aside to honor his legacy by honoring all those who have GM'ed a ttrpg. -M A lot of the time I used to prefer GM'ing to being a player, back in the day. This was especially true if I was GM'ing one of my own homebrew adventures. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 3, 2024 23:05:55 GMT -5
I just use 20 pages as my token divider for OGN and strip collections-20 pages of an OGN or 20 pages of strips equal 1 comics. I don't however use a divider for individual issues (or collected editions that have full issues in them), no matter how many pages. A Bronze Age Marvel with 17 pages is 1 issues. A Golden Age book with 64 pages is 1 issue an issue of Savage Sword with 64 pages, 1 issue. I only use a token divider if it's in a format other than individual issues, otherwise 1 comic=1 comic no matter how many pages. But everyone has their own method so use one that works for you. -M The 1 comic=1comic and the 20 pages of an OGN =1 comic make sense to me, but the newspaper strips feel a bit less obvious to me, for some reason. Maybe I'll try timing myself to see how long it takes me to read 4 or 8 weeks of Canyon next time I get back to that one, and compare it to the time I take over a comic or 20 pages of an OGN.
I just go with shaxper's recomendation of 20-25 pages equaling 1 comic. That's what I did for the Belgian Blake & Mortimer albums I read in January. 3) When calculating your total number of comics read for each month, a single comic book is generally considered to be a modern age 20-25 page comic book. Any book of a significantly longer length can be counted as such (i.e. a comic containing 70 pages of CONTENT, not including adds, could be counted as 3 issues). |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 1, 2024 10:23:54 GMT -5
More re-reading of Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man, with issues #539–543…  These comics make up the "Back in Black" story arc, in which Aunt May has been critically wounded by a hitman who was hired by the Kingpin, due to Peter Parker having revealed his identity as Spider-Man to the whole world during the Civil War event. Peter rushes May to hospital, where medics endeavour to save her life, but she lapses into a coma from which she is not expected to wake. As a result, Peter dons his black costume again – the fabric version, not the symbiote (Venom) – to reflect his darker mood or something??  He goes after the hitman, working his way up the organized crime food chain until he comes to the Kingpin. Spidey confronts the gangster in prison and beats him to a pulp, vowing to kill him if Aunt May dies. With Money dwindling and the police sniffing around, Peter breaks the law a total of nine times in order to move his elderly aunt from one hospital to another to buy time and evade the authorities. May's health continues to deteriorate and Peter ruminates on how he has been forced to become a criminal in order to try and save her life, thus betraying everything that Spider-Man stood for. Wow! This is a pretty bleak story arc. On the one hand, having Aunt May's health hanging in the balance is just like old times in Amazing Spider-Man, but this time it's not due to some illness or a heart attack: this time it is a direct result of Peter's actions, and he knows it! Straczynski really milks the drama and every moment of Peter's inner struggle in these issues, while giving us a gritty, brooding, violent, Batman-esque take on Spider-Man, with the hero spending a lot of his time posturing moodily in the shadows and threatening criminals. I don't mind this slightly darker take on Spider-Man and the circumstances certainly seem to justify it. Plus, it's not the first time we've seen Peter with the gloves off like this. Putting him back in the black costume to reflect his darker mood though seems...contrived or just a bit silly. I dunno, it just comes across as a bit naff to me. One thing I will say is that, in hindsight, knowing that the God-awful "One More Day"/"Brand New Day" reboot is right around the corner and knowing what was going on behind the scenes between Straczynski and Marvel editorial at this point, it's obvious that the author is being forced to paint Peter into a corner. Peter is unmasked and his secret identity is known by the whole world; he and MJ are homeless and out of money; his beloved Aunt May's life is hanging by a thread; and he is forced to break the law to keep himself and his loved ones out harm's way, thus betraying what Spider-Man stands for. It's a testament to Straczynski's writing skills that he was able to give us such enjoyable comics, while his hand was being forced like this. But these events are clearly designed to make sure that only a complete reboot/reset will save Peter and get him out of his predicament. And that's exactly what happened, of course. But more of that car crash later. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 1, 2024 9:33:05 GMT -5
I read 38 comics in February, which isn't many compared to you guys above, but it was still 15 more than I read in January, so...
I was mostly re-reading my way through J. Michael Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man, but I did slot in 3 vintage early '60s issues of Daredevil and a bunch of late '50s/early '60s Marvel monster stories from the Monster Masterworks TPB.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 28, 2024 20:18:57 GMT -5
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 28, 2024 20:16:03 GMT -5
R.I.P. Charles Dierkop. The name probably doesn't mean much. But he was one of those faces you always remembered in movies and on TV. Oh yeah...that guy. I definitely remember him best as Floyd in The Sting. He'll always be Flat-nose Curry from Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid for me. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 28, 2024 19:54:54 GMT -5
He didn't want to send it for a tenner or he'd ask you if you still wanted the books and send them. I only had one incident in the past year, guy apologized for taking 2 weeks to get his crap together and asked me if I still wanted the item, saying he'd have to issue a refund without even getting the money from paypal yet. It was a $100 item (giveaway price) that usually has an asking price over $500 because it's a rare exclusive from one of those kickstarter things (only 100 produced with a HC and signed by creators)....so after I cussed him out I said okay and he sent it.....  You could be right. If his story is that his wife sent it out without a tracking number, then it's still enroute. But I doubt it will be arriving. Yeah, I agree with Rags...the tracking number story is almost certainly a load of old b*llocks. I reckon he just thought better of letting you have the comics for 50 cents an issue. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 28, 2024 13:11:28 GMT -5
Yet more re-reading of J. Michael Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man, with issues #529–538…  This bunch of comics takes Spider-Man through the events of Marvel's 2006-07 Civil War event. Peter starts off on the pro-superhero registration side, as Tony Stark's right-hand man, and even reveals his secret identity to the world, at Tony's urging, as a gesture of support for the registration initiative. Soon, however, he is disturbed to discover that the heroes who have been captured for opposing registration are being held in a Negative Zone prison of Mr. Fantastic's designing without due process. This causes Peter to break from Stark and join with Captain America's anti-registration forces, essentially making him a criminal. He, Aunt May and Mary Jane are therefore forced to flee Stark Tower and go on the run, hiding out in a cheap motel. Meanwhile, the Kingpin, having found out about Spider-Man's secret identity (like the rest of the world), puts out a hit on Peter from his prison cell. The assassin who is given this task is instructed that, if he cannot kill Peter for whatever reason, then MJ and Aunt May are to be regarded as legitimate secondary targets. Shortly after, the superhero Civil War comes to an end with Captain America's arrest and Peter returns to the motel where he, MJ and Aunt May are hiding, watched by the Kingpin's assassin. Amazing Spider-Man #538 ends with the assassin's bullet missing Peter and MJ, but critically wounding May. Let me just say up front that I really liked the whole Civil War event. Outside of the main 7-issue mini-series, these issues of ASM are arguably the most important piece of the whole thing, due to Peter's close allegiance to Stark and subsequent switching over to Cap's side. Overall, Peter comes across as quite naïve and idealistic in the early part of this arc, and I guess that does sort of fit in with his character to a degree, though it also smacks of Straczynski being forced to write Peter like that due to the demands of the plot of Civil War. Nevertheless, it's fascinating to see Peter's dawning realisation that he is fighting on the wrong side of the war. This transition is handled very naturally and organically by Straczynski. As for Stark, he really does come across as an arch manipulator here, though it's obvious that he believes that what he's doing is for the good of everybody – public and superheroes alike. One of the most interesting elements of Peter's close friendship with Stark is the so-called "Iron-Spider" suit that the millionaire designs for him. This is basically a red and gold spider-suit with lots of Iron Man-esque gadgets and tech built into it. It certainly looks cool and I guess it's a nice change of pace to see Spidey using so much advanced technology. But I'm equally glad that, once he breaks away from Tony, Peter returns to wearing his familiar red and blue outfit. Straczynski, abetted by Ron Garney on art duties, does a pretty good job of illustrating the fight for the very soul of Spider-Man and highlighting both sides of the moral and political arguments associated with superhero registration. I dunno if it's just me though, but I always thought that the anti-registration side were in the right; the dangers of registration were just too big and too counter to all the good that superheroes clearly do in the Marvel Universe. As for Peter revealing his secret identity to the world, now as then I think it was a colossally naïve error of judgement, but it sure was exciting back in 2006. However, even back then, I couldn't believe that it would last, and so it turned out. I had no idea how Marvel were gonna put that genie back in the bottle, but I had no doubt that they would somehow. Still, it made for maybe just less than a year's worth of very interesting stories in the ancillary titles like Sensational Spider-Man and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, as Peter's friends and foes alike reacted to the revelation. Overall, these issues of Amazing Spider-Man are pretty good and an excellent supplement to what I consider to be one of the best story lines in semi-recent Marvel history. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 27, 2024 22:59:42 GMT -5
If, like me, you're a fan of Peanuts and Charlie Brown, you'll enjoy this 17 minutes of Charles M. Shulz drawing the strip and characters. It's a compilation of footage from different sources and I have to say that it's a rather relaxing watch...
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 26, 2024 21:08:38 GMT -5
We're all going to die eventually. It's just a fact of life. I figure I can live slightly longer and be miserable or I can eat and drink the stuff that I like. The latter is more acceptable to me. Agreed to a point, but eating poorly makes me feel worse, both physically and emotionally. Short term gratification versus long term, Yeah, this is the thing, it's not necessarily an "either/or" type of thing. "All things in moderation" is a really good rule for eating at least reasonably healthy, I feel. I do hear what Slam is saying though: life is for living, after all. But although we might all be going to die eventually, I'm sure we all have family and loved ones who would like us to stick around and kick the bucket as late as possible. For myself, it comes down to the fact that I do feel much better in myself if I don't eat and drink crap all the time and put on loads of weight, clog up my arteries and f*ck my pancreas. But at the same time I absolutely refuse to give up all the good stuff completely; I just try to ration it out a little bit. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 26, 2024 16:08:48 GMT -5
I wanted to share this lovely Roger Garland painting of Smaug. This was used as the front cover of the 50th Anniversary paperback edition of The Hobbit here in the UK. That particular edition was the first Tolkien I ever owned myself, though I'd read a friend's copy a year or two earlier. We all have a soft spot for our first though, right? Anyway, it's nice to see the painting in its natural state, unspoilt by the book's title and trade dress. So this was from the 1980s? Interesting - I think I would have guessed a little later if I had seen it with no other information. The background especially might have made me think computer imaging of some kind.
Yeah, I can kinda see what you mean. But no...this was painted in 1986 or thereabouts. Way before computer art could render stuff like that background. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 26, 2024 16:05:03 GMT -5
You just described everything Bendis has ever written. Hey, Alias was all right!  was fantastic. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 25, 2024 21:53:46 GMT -5
I wanted to share this lovely Roger Garland painting of Smaug. This was used as the front cover of the 50th Anniversary paperback edition of The Hobbit here in the UK. That particular edition was the first Tolkien I ever owned myself, though I'd read a friend's copy a year or two earlier. We all have a soft spot for our first though, right? Anyway, it's nice to see the painting in its natural state, unspoilt by the book's title and trade dress.  |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 25, 2024 21:18:58 GMT -5
I finished reading the Monster Masterworks TPB I picked up recently. It gathers together eighteen of those old, weird Marvel monster tales from the late '50s and early '60s.
The majority of the stories were produced by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers, though there are a few Steve Ditko drawn stories too. A couple of these tales were vaguely familiar to me from having read them in the pages of Star Wars Weekly, where they were used as backup strips, way back in the early '80s.
Mostly, the plots are ridiculously simplistic or just plain ridiculous, with plot holes that you could drive an 18-wheeler through. But the Kirby and Ditko art is always nice to look at and the stories do have a certain period charm, despite their other shortcomings.
I have to be honest and say that this was almost one of those collections that I jokingly call my "I hate my money purchases". But it isn't actually quite bad enough to truly qualify as one of those. I will keep this book in my collection, because it's a decent compilation of pre-FF #1 comics, but I'm unlikely to re-read any of its contents again.
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He goes after the hitman, working his way up the organized crime food chain until he comes to the Kingpin. Spidey confronts the gangster in prison and beats him to a pulp, vowing to kill him if Aunt May dies.
