Greatest Comic Stories

It has been a few days since I wrote anything so I decided I should say something. Since the title of the blog is "Hobbies that drive the wife insane" I figured I should write about something that actually drives her crazy. What better thing to do that than COMIC BOOKS!

I used to be one of those crazy collectors who had boxes and boxes of books. I think at the point where I sold my collection about 14 years ago I was sitting at 16 long boxes and 6 short boxes of books. At the time I was just sick of the industry as a whole with their die cut-foil embossed-glow in the dark-1 of 10 different cover-scratch and sniff-see through-sparkle covers. The whole thing to me seemed to get away from the great story and artwork, and became more about how we can make the most money for shitty product.

So I thought, what would be a great thing to post about now that I have started collecting again as of last year? How about some of my favorite books past and present. These are the books that, while not the "it" books, are the ones whose stories and art I enjoyed the most. Sure I could post stuff like Giant Size X-men #1, or Hulk #181, or Amazing Spiderman #129...or hell even Action Comics #1, or Detective #27 but that is not the point. Here are my favorite books of all time.

1. Sandman by Neil Gaiman. - Best series I ever read. Not just one book, the whole damn series.



2. Jack of Fables by Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges.



3. The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman



4. Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon



5. Amazing Spider-man - no particular writer or artist. I just love the character and the series.



6. Hellblazer by Garth Ennis - The Ennis run was just fantastic



7. Swamp Thing by Alan Moore



8. Marvel Zombies by Robert Kirkman



9. Marvel Civil War - Mark Miller



10. Wolverine Limited Series by Chris Claremont



11. Batman - The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller







These are just some of the many books that I have enjoyed over the years. These are books that I can read over and over and still enjoy them as much as the first time.

I do have to say after taking such a long break from colleting that the quality of books has increased over the years. The page stock, and cover paper is a huge upgrade. The quality of writing has greatly increased as well. The only thing that has not increased to the degree of the others is the artwork. There are some amazing artists creating right now, but as a whole the hey day of the Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Sam Keith, Liam Sharp and others is just not what it used to be. I guess what I am saying is that there is not an over abundance of amazing artwork out there right now. It used to be that every book put out had some amazing artist doing the work, now it is more sparse.

The one thing I am not liking is the$2.99 and $3.99 cover prices for books. If the trend to up the price continues I may have to seriously cut back on the number of books I am getting each month. I have already cut back to the bare minimum, but if the prices go up again I am going to have to stop some things. It will be an Ebay or a convention hunt to find them at discounted prices. $3.50 and up for a book is just getting out of hand.

If you are looking for back issues, gaming items, toys, or supplies I would suggest checking out Captain Comics. The are located in Boise Idaho (where I live) and the team there are fantastic. Even after all these years Corbit still has a passion for the books he sells. The entire staff goes out of their way to know your name, and what books you are getting. The do mail order, and also have a weekly newsletter that is emailed out. You can sign up for it on the website.

Happy Reading!