Fantastic Realms

Writing about Comics, Books and Movies

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I Am Batman 1

Olivier Coipel doing art on a Batman book? That’s more than enough to get me interested in “I am Batman”.

Coipel’s pencils coupled with Sinclair’s colors result in something darker and moodier than what I am used to seeing from Coipel. (His work on Thor was what made me a fan). And some of the results of this pairing are fantastic - scenes of Batman tearing down the streets of Gotham on his motorbike are kinetic and exciting.

A few of the action scenes don’t flow/read as well as they should however. But the real let down in this book is the writing. Bland and obvious story telling diminished my interest in this book. A real shame, both the character of Jace Fox, and the art team deserve better writing than what is served up here.

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An expensive hobby?

There is no doubt that collecting comics can be an expensive hobby. New comics are not cheap. Comic publishers find clever ways to incentivize you to spend more money. Variant covers. Story events. Multiple titles featuring the most popular characters of the day. These are just some of the many tricks of the trade.

Even collected editions can come at a premium. Those shelves full of pristine volumes of omnibus editions that appear on popular youtuber and twitch streamers would set you back a small fortune. A single omnibus retails at around $100. All those shelves smack of a (great) marketing campaign to me.

And then we get into the realms of indiegago and Kickstarter backed projects. A 64 page comic can be touted at upwards of $30 on some such campaigns. Clever and confusing promotions involving game of chance elements and packaging up cheap bonus items can help propel the price of the comics ever higher.

Caveat emptor!

But is any of this a real problem? Not really. If people didn't enjoy such products they wouldn't be successful. If you can afford to buy the most expensive variant covers and wall fulls of omnibus editions, more power to you!

But what if you can't? Does that mean you can't enjoy comics as a hobby? Of course not. And to prove it I'm going to give you some ideas on how to enjoy comics and not go thermonuclear on the bank account.

Back issue bargains

Not all back issues are slabbed up, marked up, investment opportunities of lifetime[^Spoiler: Comics are not an investment vehicle at all]! You can actually find some great comics written & drawn by great creative teams for bargain prices in the back issue boxes of your local comic shop.

And if you look in the discounted boxes you can find some eclectic and often overlooked titles. Sure some of these will be pretty terrible, but you’ll also find some hidden gems. Keep an open mind and a sharp eye out to find some comic treasure.

Variant zero of one

Don’t buy variant covers no matter how pretty they are. You’ll almost certainly be able to find a picture online of most variant covers, so if you really like one, you can still enjoy the art without the pesky issue of paying a premium to own a copy.

Trade paperbacks

Forget dreams of shelves full of omnis. Forget the tyranny of having to store box after box of single issues. Buy trade paperback collections of the stories you want to read.

Sharing is caring

Got a friend who is into comics? Well… find some. Maybe set up a reading group, and share your trade paperbacks with each other. Or take sharing to an industrial scale… and hit up your library. Chances are they have a graphic novel section.

Failing to plan is planning to spend money…

If you just hit up the comics shop with no real idea of what you intend to buy and how much you are prepared to spend you may well find yourself spending a lot more than you intended to.

Setting and planning a budget for your comic book hobby is the best approach, but may seem too restrictive to some. An easier step is to check the release list ahead of time and make a list of what you intend to buy and perhaps more importantly what you are not going to buy when you visit your comic book store of choice.

And if, dear reader, you too find yourself one night scrolling through a long list of REWARD TIERS and ADD-ONS for some comic Kickstarter campaign… I would humbly suggest you do the math for what you are getting for your money, and then quickly close the browser tab…

Do you have any tips or strategies on how you enjoy comics and save money? Share them in comments or reblogs or whatever.

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Conan 25

Or Conan issue 300 depending on which number you choose to go by from the cover.

I’m not a fan of the modern Marvel Conan comics, and gave up on them fairly early on. But the 25th or 300th issue - depending on how you are counting, and Marvel is counting on both and either, whichever will maximise sales - was an opportunity to pick up a beautiful cover and get a number of stories in a single issue.

Two of the stories are mostly forgettable, but the story by Dan Slott (with art and colours by: Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vincente) is worth the price of admission alone. A great piece of visual storytelling that feels more authentic to the character than anything else in this book. The final tale isnt bad either, and perhaps a fitting end to the anniversary issue.

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The Last Book You’ll Ever Read #2

After an underwhelming first issue, I decided to give this series one more issue to see if it would add substance to its premise. Sadly it fails to do so. A very pedestrian and uninspired issue despite the subject matter it aims to tackle. Worst pick of the week.

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Ka-zar #1

A fantastic variant cover by Peach Momoko, and fondness for some issues of a 90s run by Mark Waid and Andy Kubert meant I couldn’t resist picking up the first issue in this new series.

The interior art is beautiful - it manages to capture a classic, slightly cartoonish feel and uses rich colours to paint vivid images of the Savage Land.

The writing however fails to land. There are some unclear callbacks to previous events - Ka-zar is apparently back from the dead, and dealing with it like a mild hangover. Some potentially intriguing ideas (bio-tech) seem poorly utilised and stripped of potency. The characters portrayals feel very artificial, and their interactions unrealistic.

A wasted opportunity.

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The Last Comic…

…that I was planning to buy was Conan #25.

But comics happen.

Peach Momoko’s cover for Ka-zar reeled me in, and once I was buying two comics, why not give “The Last Book You’ll Ever Read” one more issue to prove itself?

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The only comic I plan to get this coming week. This is a variant cover so the price is $4.99

I'm assuming I won’t be able to get the Alex Toth variant cover

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So… I kinda had high hopes for the final issue of the current run of Barbaric. Unfortunately I was left mostly disappointed. Most of the issue is as action scene, but not a particularly well executed one. Disjointed images of action don’t make a good action scene, and good action is kind of a prerequisite for a barbarian book. Also the main character acts out of character during a pivotal moment. It’s only when the BIG BAD had been vanquished that we get a couple of pages of the writing returning to form… setting up the next book in the series. Being able to do a good set up is great… but you’ve got to follow through. And Barbaric has failed at that in its final 2 issues.

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This week’s comic haul

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Have been looking forward to the concluding issue of Cult of Dracula.

Just read it… but there is no recap, not even any blurb on the inside cover. So, I have to admit, I was kind of lost reading it. Will have to re-read the earlier issues, which will be a pleasure. But still… indie comics makers - do yourselves a favour and make life easy for returning readers and potential new readers!

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I picked up the first issue of TechnoFreak today. Decent enough story premise and a good setup, nice art, but… they use a ‘cute’ narrative device which (imo) just distracts and annoys. There is nothing wrong with telling a fairly straightforward story, using exposition where you need it.

Needless breaking of the third wall to seem cute or edgey? Bleh.

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Issue 1 of “The Last Book You’ll Ever Read”.

The premise is fine and has potential, but the first issue feels like a whole lot of set up that could easily be condensed or even skipped. The interior art is ok, although some emphasis on gore is unnecessary in my opinion. I’m not sure I’ll continue with this in single issue form… but will be keeping an open mind on it and seeing how it is received when the whole series is finished.

The two covers pictured are the “Vault Undressed” editions. There was no sexual content whatsoever in the first issue.