Episode 1208 Talkback: Comic Talk: Listener Feedback Edition

Pants

After some announcements about the forums and upcoming conventions, we dig into our voice mails and e-mails. We hear from our listeners about their experience at the London Super Comic Convention, get a question about Comic Now! magazine and get asked about our apparent 'DC bias'. All this plus some Shazam talk and Muddle the Murd! (1:06:45)

Listen here.

John_Steed

get a question about Comic Now! magazine

my favorite short run of a magazine....and I'm probably still the only Swiss owning that run...

mguy1977

Everyone has their own bias & things they like over other things. It is just a fact of life. To quote Jimmy McMillian of New York "The Rent is 2 Damn High Party" well it is a fact that "Marvel is too dang high party w/ their prices". It is that just plain & simple. Are there some books worthy of the $3.99? I found that DC did the best price in some cases by giving more content. Justice League #7 has Shazam (Captain Marvel) in it. I gave All Star Western a try for 7 issues but it wasn't the same w/ the change over from Jonah Hex w/ the new Batman/Gotham City mentions for my own preference. I enjoy Usagi Yojimbo & Fatale even Criminal before that at $3.50 a pop from DCBS. It is all about balance, I look forward to reading BKV's Saga once it comes in my shipment & giving that series a chance. I read Daredevil, Fantastic Four, FF (2.0) & Criminal from Icon when it does come out. If X-Men had a good writer & a steady art team, no double shipping & no $3.99 price tag I would have given Uncanny vol. 2 & Wolverine & the X-Men a chance but saidly Marvel & my wallet could not agree.

I would welcome a Uncanny X-Men vol. 2 & Wolverine & the X-Men spotlight episode. Have guests on if you need a second & third voice for the topic. With a AvX spotlight be it monthly two issues in a month (or 4 issues every 2 months), whatever works for you guys. I still miss episodes showcasing Wonder Woman's comics & history from CGS months ago. As for indies bring them on be it "classic" indies or new recent indie titles. Just do what suits you & you find is appealing to the CGS audience.

Embrace your uniqueness & bias as comic geeks.

Matthew (a DC fan who tries to expand my horizon but not my wallet too much from the threat of increasing prices. A comics reader/fan of 29 years IN DCBS/IST I TRUST)

electric_mayhem

good ol' comic talk.. oh how I enjoy these..

JaxUr

I knew Adam would defeat me in the Muddle segment. Here's a brief history of Willie Lumpkin before he met the Fantasic Four:
http://www.toonopedia.com/wililump.htm

Caliban

This is the HoS #92 cover, and yes I did get this signed at LoSCCO
Would love to see the original art

BlackUmbrella

Marvel has driven me away with their prices, especially for digital. I use Comixology via DCBS, and Marvel isn't participating in their 5% store credit program, so it's a double disincentive. I'm buying behind the curve on DC and paying $1.99 for most titles, and loving it.

I'll basically get two free trades a year from DCBS (and they told me in an email that you'll be able to use the credits at In Stock Trades soon), so I'll use those to buy Mark Waid's Daredevil or something else from Marvel.

LibraryBoy

Nice job on the "yoink," Adam. I was really rooting for you, and will continue to do so until my attempt comes up in the queue, at which point I hope you choke. Nothing personal, sir, I'm just a big Alex Serra fan. :D

Oh, and I always find the snarkiness of the Comics Foundry editor regarding the Nova cover to be hilarious, because although that was a decent mag, too, it's not like they lasted very long, either (I think 4 issues to CN's 3). The ancient Greeks called that sort of thing hubris.

And, oh, the old "DC bias" claims. Wow, forum reboot, Comics Now, bias complaints... it's CGS Old Home Week! Yeah, you guys talk a lot about DC. But you know what? It's your show, you provide it free of charge, and I have the option of not listening to the episodes I'm not interested in, so I don't particularly care. You can only talk about what you read, and if there aren't enough people who have read a given thing, it's not much of a discussion. Though I do think that if you have an opinion on a book, share it even if you're the only one who has read it. Maybe it's not the lengthy discussion you're hoping for, but still, it's your electronic soapbox, use it.

Also, to be fair, EVERYONE in the "talkin' comics via the internets" world is mostly talking about DC right now because that's where the big news is happening. To their credit, they've made it really difficult *not* to talk about the New 52 (and love it or hate it, people are still talking about it, so DC totally wins there). Back during Civil War, most of the talk was about Marvel because that was The Really Big Thing Going On at that moment. Give it time, things will cycle around again because that's what happens in comic books.

mguy1977

Agrees w/ @LibraryBoy the focus will shift once the baby powder newness wears off of the new DC Universe. Soon it will be AvX, Before Watchmen, & some must read indie books (ie BKV's Saga perhaps or something different indie entirely). An indepth creator interview or two, con season is around the corner, with some surprises along the way. Thanks for the comic talk episodes every week or two weeks.

Thanks for the fun.

Matthew

mbatz

Anne Rice is probably doing C2E2 because she recently returned to her genre writing roots (as opposed to all the angel/religious books she has been doing) by putting out a novel about werewolves/shapeshifters. The book is called The Wolf's Gift and I am currently half way through it. It's, so far, entertaining, not as good as her original Louis/Lestat trilogy- not much is however:)

KyleMoyer

The DC bias is obvious in the way you keep rebooting the forums. It's a very "DC" thing to do.

kgforce

I use Comixology via DCBS, and Marvel isn't participating in their 5% store credit program, so it's a double disincentive. I'm buying behind the curve on DC and paying $1.99 for most titles, and loving it.

I'll basically get two free trades a year from DCBS (and they told me in an email that you'll be able to use the credits at In Stock Trades soon), so I'll use those to buy Mark Waid's Daredevil or something else from Marvel.

Does DCBS keep track of your purchases through their Comixology front? Is there a benefit to you from doing that? Free trades? I'm curious!

Urbalcloud

Just how low was the print run on Comics Now #3? I have a copy, and it's in great shape. Is there a collector's market? :-P

@LibraryBoy above encouraged you guys to talk about any comic you read, even if you're the lone voice on it. I second that. The more opinions on more books, the better!

Love the show. Thanks for your time!

mwhitt80

Comics Now is a sore spot for me.
I have 2&3 but not issue 1. If anyone has an extra copy that they would be willing to part with for a long time listener (listening since the double digits) please pm me. I love CGS and do my best to support the show; so yeah I'm looking for Comics Now 1.

Pants

I'm pretty sure we still have copies of Comic Now! #1 in the studio somewhere. When I get back from Seattle I'll check.

mwhitt80

Pants you are the man.

BlackUmbrella

Does DCBS keep track of your purchases through their Comixology front? Is there a benefit to you from doing that? Free trades? I'm curious!

(Hope I'm using this quote thing correctly)
Yes, you just associate DCBS with your Comixology account (can't remember exactly how I did that but they have instructions at the DCBS website), and after that you get 5 cents of DCBS credit for every dollar you spend at their Comixology storefront, good for one year. So at my current pace it looks like I'll rack up enough to purchase a trade a couple times a year.

Gonzogoose

I don't feel you guys have a bias at all. I've actually been on general topic podcasts that do heavily lean one way or the other, and it's very obvious. I think you guys do a good job of mixing it up personally.

fredzilla

If you guys have a bias, I think you adequately justified why on this episode. I grew up with Marvel and I find because of the price, event fatigue, and flooding of the market, I find myself moving to DC and more independent stuff. And while there's a lot of independent stuff that's awesome, I propose that there's a lot of it that's not. Because of that it's very difficult to find something that's worth continued supporting. I like my independents to be complete (unless its by a proven writer/artist/company), otherwise why bother? Buy an issue, then wait 2 years for the next issue? No thanks, just call me when it's done. But as I look through my collection I think I've got a good 1/3 Marvel, 1/3 DC, and 1/3 Independent.

I'll call it now, in two years, someone will be asking why you guys are so biased to Marvel.

i_am_scifi

As I said on Twitter, I'd be happy to come on the show to talk marvel if you ever need an extra voice or two!

KyleMoyer

For me what makes independents so difficult is the complete crapshoot nature of it. For example, Avengers Assemble #1 came out this past month. I can't imagine very many people who would buy an issue of Previews who would not already have their own opinion on the Avengers, Bendis and Bagley. Of course, it's possible that you like all three, but they just completely misfired on this or it's possible that you can't stand all three and they hit it out of the park, but you have a general idea what you're in for. I try to go through the back of the catalog indies and look for at least something that sounds interesting. But you still don't know. You could find something that has an interesting premise so you buy it, but it turns out the author and/or artist have no idea how to tell a story and it's crap despite being an interesting idea. Or it might be the other way around. You might pass over something that really doesn't sound interesting, but it turns out to be amazing (go ahead - try to give me a one or two sentence synopsis of Strangers in Paradise that assumes I know nothing about the story and makes me want to read it. I doubt anyone can come up with a synopsis of it that would sound interesting to me, but I love that series even though I haven't quite finished it). And then there's the frustrating order system. If I decide to take a chance on the first issue of a mainstream book, I know that if I only pre-order the first issue, I should be able to pick up the next couple off the shelves and then pre-order the next issue available after that. I'll miss out on the DCBS discount, but I'll still have the book. There is no guarantee of that with indies. A couple months ago, paging through the back of the catalog, I saw a listing that caught my eye for a book called "The Secret History of D.B. Cooper" from Oni. It looked interesting, Oni doesn't usually put out crap, so I pre-ordered it from DCBS. The book is in my next shipment, which I should probably get within the next week or so. Meanwhile, I had to already order issues 2 and 3 without even knowing if this book will be any good or if it's any good, if it's something I'll like. You could wait for the trade and find out if it's any good before ordering that. But if everybody takes that attitude, there might not be a trade because the book might not be able to support itself. So while I try to support indies, it's not always easy.

jaydee74

I have all three issues of Comics Now and I am one of those who had Murd to autograph issue 1 at the beginning of his Crisis story. I have all three bagged and boarded as well. I like the episodes you guys do. Not all of them but a majority of them. The ones where you go over a topic or have an interview I'm not particularly interested in, I usually don't listen to them if I don't have a lot of time. Sometimes I will if time permits. As for what you cover. You cover the things your interested in. Why cover something that you're not into? That wouldn't make any sense to me. My suggestion for those that feel that this show isn't covering something you want them to? Find another podcast that covers the stuff you into and listen to them in addition to CGS. Everyone wins that way.

Koen

There was more interesting stuff to say about DC last year = non-debatable. That's not the fault of the CGS-crew. ;)

I think it's a bit strange that everything that's not Marvel or DC is considered independent stuff. I don't see much difference between Image, IDW, Dark Horse,... and the big two, only the sales numbers. There could be more talk about guys like Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, Charles Burns, the Hernandez brothers, etc...
But I'm not complaining. I love listening to the CGS geeks, if they would be talking about their home plumbing I think I would still keep the earphones plugged in. :D

Adam_Murdough

Nice job on the "yoink," Adam. I was really rooting for you, and will continue to do so until my attempt comes up in the queue, at which point I hope you choke. Nothing personal, sir, I'm just a big Alex Serra fan. :D

I don't mind telling you, Bill, I am straight-up dreading the day your entry slides into the chamber! For if any man alive has the mettle to Muddle the Murd, it is He Who Wields the Trusty Plinko Stick!

Not that I blame you for gunning for me, of course--I'm a big Alex Serra fan, too. :) Those of you who may not know what you're competing for, here's a sample of Alex's beautiful character artwork from my own collection (Thanks, Alex!):



*EDIT: Okay, including images in posts is apparently a bit iffier in the new Forums. The thing I tried to post is a drawing of Bizarro (natch), and just trust me, it's impressive!