Poll: Do you read comic books?

Gaiman = god. Forget that other thread in the forums.

Oh, also?

FIRST POST! WHOOOOOOOO!!!!

Neil Gaiman + John Romita Jr. = comicgasm

web comics are the roxor or some trendy saying like that.

btw, Questionable Content is also 1337 or whatever the kids are saying these daze...

QC rocks the socks.

Queens College? My alma mater? Well it can rank Paul Simon, Jerry Seinfeld, and Myself among its alumni.

I read lots of webcomix ... but no comic BOOKS. I'm not THAT much of a dork. :D

If you mean webcomics published in to books then yes I read comic books.

Both were good when I did read comics in the 1970's
my favorites
Swamp Thing Berni Wrightson(DC)
Dracula-Gene Colan(Marvel)
Batman-Jim Steranko(DC)
Captain Marvell-Jim Starlin(Marvel)
The Shadow-Denny O'Neill(DC)
Vampirella was pretty cool

I don't read many american style comic books...execpt for Gaiman's Sandman and Pini's ElfQuest (DC)....but most of my time and money are devoted to manga (japanese comics for those not familiar with them). My collection is reaching 300 books right now and I'll post pictures once my beloved manga wall is re-assembled - it's down now due to house painting). I read several different series, authors and publishers - tho I have a special spot in my heart for any and all books by Clamp. They are the author/artists of my all time fav series - Cardcaptor Sakura. One series I'm reading now that's rapidly climbing the charts to tie for #1 spot is Fruits Basket. I know I should be getting too old for this type of thing, but I can't help it...reading them makes me smile ^_^

I wish someone could explain the attraction of anime and manga. My daughter and son are into it.Maybe it is some sort of generational thing but to me it seems totally lacking in emotion in the storyline as well as the characters. The drawings seem really simplistic and repetitive,  often lacking any sort of background just the main characters in the frame. I've tried to read their manga but is seems really dull. The target audience is obviously not 47 year old white males but still. I still enjoy sci fi and fantasy and comix but don't see what is so interesting about manga.

Well, I don't know how old your kids are, but I'm a 28 year old married woman and have been fascinated by Japanese animation every since I was young.  I used to watch Voltron when I was 6 and I always knew there was something different in it's style that set it apart from regular cartoons.  Yes, the animation and manga style use a much more simplistic approach to drawing, esp compared to today's cartoons -  many of which rely strictly on computers to add detail and realism to the picture - but I don't find this a drawback at all.  In fact, for me it makes me more aware of the story itself and the emotions of the characters than paying attention to how real to background looks. As far as the characters and stories go (and again I don't know what kind of anime/manga your kids like)...they range from the very child oriented Pokemon - which really does not have any character development, but is not meant to - to much more mature stories like Ruroni Kenshin and Fruits Basket.  By mature, I AM NOT referring to the smutty/semi porn image that many people think of when they refer the term anime, but more developed stories with real, emotional characters.  For example, in Ruroni Kenshin the lead character at first seems like your ordinary "Robin Hood" protecting-the-weak type hero, but the ghosts of his past continues to haunt him on a mental as well as physical level, all revolving around the semi historical early Meiji era in Japan, which makes him much more dynamic as a character and not always to hero figure. I could go on with many more example, but I think you get the picture.  Basically, I personally enjoy it because it gives me a light release from otherwise dull and dreary existence that I find myself it.  Granted, not everyone who likes sci-fi/fantasy will like anime (and visa versa) but I definatly don't think it's an age or generational thing either.

ok....end of dissertation. ^_^

What I don't understand is the use of 'anime' as a genre. It's Japanese animation. Manga are comic books (or graphic novels, if you prefer). You can tell any story in either medium, so I really have a hard time understanding how people can say they 'like anime', when it can vary as much as anything else. It seems to me that saying you like anime would be pretty similar to saying you like books over 400 pages.

The Boys and Criminal are the Fa-shizzle right now.
The Boys is about a team of humans who keep the superheros in their place. It's violent, over the top and has some very graphic sex sceans in it, but it is great! From Garth Ennis, the writer of Preacher and Derric Robinson the artist of Transmetropolitain.

Criminal is *THE* best crime drama ever in comics and they have only three issues out. Ed Brubager (Captain America, X-Men, and Daredevil) teams up with Sean Phillips once again to produce a top notch drama. Their previous series was Sleeper.

Transmetropitain is a brilliant Sci Fi political thriller with potty humor! Trust me, it was a brilliant book, buy all the graphic novels. By Warren Ellis and Robinson.

Sleeper is a superhero spy book that took the tention up nicly in every issue. The 4 graphic novels are not to be missed. By Brubager and Phillips.

Planetary just ended. It was about the Archioligists of the unknown. It began deconstructing superhero standards but had a bizzare twist to every story, however as you read the series you realize there was a consperiacy going on and climaxed buitifully to it's end. Some of the best art in comics can be found right here. By Ellis and Sean Cassidy.

Astonishing X-Men. There are two reasons to read this:
1) Joss Whedon. He is a little known telivision writer on shows nobody ever watched (Buffy, Angel, and Firefly)
2) Sean Cassidy. He is genius.

Dessalation Jones. It's kinda like "The Prisoner" meets "Chinatown" if QUinton Terentino directed it. It's about Jones, a surviver of the Dessalation project who is a retired spy in LA. LA is a haven for retured spies and he has become a detective for hire. Jones is so messed up that he takes speed and heroin to keep himself straight. By Ellis and different artists.

The Ultimates. America's superheroes. It is the Avengers done right! Captain America, Iron Man, The Wasp, Giant Man fight for America and eachother in the ballsiest series you have ever read. By Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch

I also read Daredevil, X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Stray Bullets, New X-men, Ultimate X-Men, and Ultimate Fantastic Four.