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Those of you in comics fandom - what's on your pull list? Or reading list, if you don't maintain a pull list. Have you dropped or added anything recently?

I'm reading: She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Wonder Woman, Transhuman and Scalped

I dropped: Iron Man Director of SHIELD and Invincible Iron Man

I'm heading to my LCS tomorrow-ish, to pick up Secret Six. Any recs?

One of the things about comics fandom that I like and dislike at once, is the close relationship between fans and pro-creators. Since getting back into comics fandom I've had pleasant conversations with Gail Simone, Brian Michael Bendis, Christos Gage and lots of lesser-known artists and writers.

I've also had uncomfortable-lack-of-boundaries conversations with a number of other creators. You know the kind. Rob Thomas of Veronica Mars is infamous for them - the sort of favour-currying, too-close, give and take that results in blatant fan service. The kind of conversation that makes you wonder if your favourite artists have such delicate egos that they need to make absolutely sure that no one on the internet is dissing them. And should they discover a hater, somewhere in the dark nether regions of the world wide web, they post and post, and freaking post about how said hater is simply, fundamentally wrong to hate. They're ~~interrogating~~ hating from the wrong perspective!

Maybe it's just me, but I hate, loathe, despise! people begging me to like them. Whether we have a personal, professional or commercial relationship, I can't seem to respect these people-pleasers gone over the deep-end. These neurotic, black holes of emotional need that demand to be filled with love! devotion! or even, on a bad day, acceptance!

Comics professionals: please stop seeking emotional validation from your fans! Or if you must, do it from afar (like really, really afar), so I don't ever get asked (back-handedly) to plump your ego ever again. Seriously.

***

I did some fannish things! OMG, really? Yes really.

I updated my Essential Ms. Marvel link dump, with some reviews, interviews, cosplay photos, fanart, fic, merch links and more scans. People of fandom! If you have a Ms. Marvel link saved, please share. Right now I'm particularly looking for:

- commentary
- fic
- vids
- fanart
- icons

I also wrote two whole stories. Both of them are for the

cap_ironman Alphabet Challenge. Which was over a month ago. *facepalm*

Vade Mecum
Fandom: Avengers
Summary: Tony keeps an eye on the national consciousness (and his own) after Steve's death.
Characters: Tony Stark, Maria Hill (briefly)
Word count: 1000

This one is basically a drabble x ten, with an obvious alphabet theme imposed on it. More of a writing exercise than anything else, with a small side order of character study.

Orbiter Dictum
Fandom: Avengers
Summary: Steve is at the sink, washing the few dishes that pizza for two generates, when he realizes that Tony is in love with him.
Characters: Steve/Tony
Word count: 7420

A full-on romance. I haven't tried to write romance since my first couple of fics, back in Harry Potter fandom, but I think this turned out alright.

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Comics professionals: please stop seeking emotional validation from your fans!

We must be hanging out with different creators. None of the writers I know are like that at all. :-) What boards do you hang out on that you bump into Bendis and Gage?

Gage was CBR or 'Rama iirc. Nice guy. With Bendis you have to go into occupied territory, like the Bendis board or Fraction's site. I went out of curiosity, and it turns out he's quite polite and respectful to fans. At least when he 'knows' you like his stuff. ;)

Most of the really neurotic creators I've encountered online have been big names, but I've also met a few small names in person that I hope to NEVER meet again.

I've got more than a few big names on my flist, and I've had a few that read and comment on my journal, and they've never struck me as neurotic or fawning at all. In fact, I'd classify some of them as belligerent if they see that they aren't liked, while the rest are the soul of non-asskissing politeness and righteousness.

Oh! My pull list! When I'm less tired, I'll type it out. It's gotten smaller over the last few months due to overall suckage of so many books. Virgin Comics is also really shutting down, which breaks my heart, because their India Authentic line was so damn good.

I didn't even know that you ran a Ms. Marvel site. When did this start? The biggest Carol fan in the UNIVERSE, the one with encyclopedic knowledge of her continuity, is on LJ.

I don't run a Ms. Marvel site, I'm just collecting more and more Ms. Marvel stuff. At some point I may turn it into an actual site, but right now it's an index of links to awesome stuff. It's win-win because I get to learn more about Carol, and what her fans are up to, and it's an easy way to make converts. :)

The biggest Carol fan in the UNIVERSE, the one with encyclopedic knowledge of her continuity, is on LJ.

Who? I'm all excited now.

I've got more than a few big names on my flist, and I've had a few that read and comment on my journal, and they've never struck me as neurotic or fawning at all. In fact, I'd classify some of them as belligerent if they see that they aren't liked, while the rest are the soul of non-asskissing politeness and righteousness.

That's why I say the closeness is good and bad. There are so many incredibly cool people working in this business, so when you get to be close to them, it's great. It's the weirdos that make me uncomfortable, since I come from a big-media fandom background, where the creators are vague outlines of actual people. Generally my enjoyment of art is pretty divorced from the personality of the creator, so having creators say, harp on me to read their new mini, is just... distasteful, you know?

I have a handful of novelists on my flist who are Good People. The best part of reading them over the years has been seeing them go from hobbyists to pros.

Sadly, my list of comics that I buy has shrunk recently. It currently consists of Immortal Iron Fist, MA: Avengers, MA: Super Heroes, and a couple of miniseries (Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas and Avengers Fairy Tales, both of which have been behind schedule).

I still read Captain America, but I don't buy it for myself.

I will start buying Mighty Avengers, just as soon as the Mighty Avengers are actually in it again. That won't be for two more months minimum, given previews, and it's been about four or five months already. *sighs*

Yeah, I'm waiting out all the EVENTS too. I'll catch up on Secret Invasion and Final Crisis via

scans_daily and Wikipedia, if it turns out to be relevant to my fannish interests.

What's MA: Super Heroes? Is it as awesome as everything else in the MA line? Also, how's Avengers Fairy Tales? The scans I saw rubbed me the wrong way.

I will start buying Mighty Avengers, just as soon as the Mighty Avengers are actually in it again. That won't be for two more months minimum, given previews, and it's been about four or five months already.

Beeeendis! I hate that's he's merged the two titles into one big mess of a paen to Nick Fury. I like me some Fury but SI is just... silly. And bad. Silly and bad and taking far too long. It's had some good moments, but those moments could be coming far more often if they gave him a decent editor.

Yeah, I'm waiting out all the EVENTS too. I'll catch up on Secret Invasion and Final Crisis via scans_daily and Wikipedia, if it turns out to be relevant to my fannish interests.

Because I'm a bit of a completist (so dangerous in comics fandom!), I am planning to read Secret Invasion, but I'm going to wait until it and all of its tie ins are done, and then I'm going to dig up the chronological list of relevant issues that someone is sure to compile and read them all in order. At least that way I can forge through it as fast as I can and see where the end is. *g*

I hope to God that they take a break between events after this, though. Because, as far as I can tell, after Civil War we went straight into World War Hulk without a break and from there into Secret Invasion without a break. I sick to death of EVENTS.

What's MA: Super Heroes? Is it as awesome as everything else in the MA line?

MA: Super Heroes is a brand new MA title (just two issues to date, one of which was released week before last) about Spider-Man, the Hulk, and Iron Man. I wasn't planning to buy it (I may have been a bit bitter about MA: Iron Man ending and believed this new title was part of why), but I flipped through it in the store and had to buy it when I encountered a page in which the Kree punish Iron Man for bad karaoke by locking him in a room full of hundreds of loudly meowing kittens. *grins*

It's fun and, as demonstrated by the above, a bit more fluffy than even the usual MA titles, but the art is very much to my taste and I love Spider-Man, Hulk, and Iron Man's friendship.

Also, how's Avengers Fairy Tales? The scans I saw rubbed me the wrong way.

Avengers Fairy Tales is...uneven. What about the scans you saw rubbed you the wrong way? That might determine if it's gotten better or worse for you.

Beeeendis! I hate that's he's merged the two titles into one big mess of a paen to Nick Fury.

After reading Secret War, I'm beginning to think that Bendis has this hierarchy in his brain and Nick is at the top of it. Thus he feels he can twist any character or do any pointless or badly constructed plot as long as it makes Nick look kick ass.

The worst part is that I know Bendis can do better. It's not like he's just a generally awful writer.

I *can* be a completist but thankfully I've got so much else on my plate that I can't be bothered. Being busy is saving me so much money. ;) I'm also not dling, which is freeing up a lot of time.

I hope to God that they take a break between events after this, though. Because, as far as I can tell, after Civil War we went straight into World War Hulk without a break and from there into Secret Invasion without a break. I sick to death of EVENTS.

Totally agree. The storytelling in the big two is suffering. You barely get to know a character before they're revamped in the next event. And change direction at the drop of a hat. Makes for a frustrating reading experience, particularly if you're not going to buy into the shared universe. It would be hard to read *just* She-Hulk and impossible to read *just* The Mighty, without being mired in confusion. House of M dragged, Civil War was muddled and WWH was a huge disappoint (strangely, for vastly different groups of fans).

My DC reading has mostly been trades of standout stories, rather than whole runs. This (Wondy, I mean) is the first time I'm reading a DC book regularly since that Death of Superman SNAFU. The upshot is that Final Crisis is the first Event I've had to ride through month to month. Their last Event, Amazons Attack, was just finishing up when I started reading the book, so I was able to breeze through it. Since I seem to be a lot less bitter of AA than most Wondy fans, reading Events after the fact might be the way to go. *g*

MA: Super Heroes sounds awesome, and I think I saw a preview of it somewhere. The art *is* adorable.

I'm trying to remember what I didn't like about Avengers Fairy Tales. I know I disliked the Scarlet Witch/Quicksilver story because it sidelined Pietro for no real reason, and I remember something about a Peter Pan!Cap that creeped me out... I remember vague dislike?

I'm beginning to think that Bendis has this hierarchy in his brain and Nick is at the top of it. Thus he feels he can twist any character or do any pointless or badly constructed plot as long as it makes Nick look kick ass.

No, you're completely right. And it's fair to a certain extent. Nick Fury is Marvel's all-pwning super spy, but Bendis takes it to ridiculous extremes. I still don't understand how people worship Secret War.

This is a very belated reply. Sorry about that!

The storytelling in the big two is suffering. You barely get to know a character before they're revamped in the next event.

Yes, exactly. And the more of these big events we see, the more I realize that the SOP for Marvel, at least (I don't ready any DC, so can't speak to them), is to come up with a "cool" plot and then crowbar the characters into it. Some require less crowbaring than others, but I'm getting pretty tired of seeing the character made to fit the stories. The story should emerge from who the characters are, especially in comics, where the characters have been around orders of magnitude longer than any given storyline. If a novelist wrote this way, it would be considered bad craft.

It would be hard to read *just* She-Hulk and impossible to read *just* The Mighty, without being mired in confusion.

So true. I just have to skim over some parts of the titles I read, or just assume that they don't have an immediate impact and ignore them.

Since I seem to be a lot less bitter of AA than most Wondy fans, reading Events after the fact might be the way to go. *g*

*grins* I think you're absolutely right, though. Big events in Avengers and Iron Man back canon don't bother me at all, but I can get through them in three or four days of reading. I doubt I could have shrugged off Heroes Reborn, for example, so easily if it had actually lasted for months and months, instead of being something that I power-slogged my way through in about two hours.

I know I disliked the Scarlet Witch/Quicksilver story because it sidelined Pietro for no real reason, and I remember something about a Peter Pan!Cap that creeped me out... I remember vague dislike?

I think the fairy tales suffer from the fact that they're squeezing and entire story down into a single issue. Thus why Pietro got sidelines--Wendy has always been the central character in Peter Pan, and that was Wanda's role, so. *shrugs* I was also a bit weirded out by PeterPan!Cap, though. It took my forever to accept that yes, the Peter Pan character was Cap, even though it should have been obvious. It just didn't seem even faintly like him. And the shadow being his shield was bizarre. But there were other cute bits in the story (like the Avengers/lost boys) that redeemed it for me.

I still don't understand how people worship Secret War.

Me neither. Even ignoring the characterization issues, that story was just full of examples of really poor writing craft. :-(

Some of the stuff I read: (New and Mighty) Avengers, Wonder Woman, X-Factor, Daredevil, most X-men titles, Hellblazer, The Boys, Midnighter, Thor.
Would love to read Ultimates, Supreme Powers and Powers if the could cough up the next part in timely fashion.:D

Dropped: Amazing Spider-girl, Ultimate X-men (seriously, Northstar again?), Genext, Amazing Spiderman and possibly X-Force.

One of the things about comics fandom that I like and dislike at once, is the close relationship between fans and pro-creators.

Makes you appreciate Alan Moore even more.

I updated my Essential Ms. Marvel link dump

V. Shiny.

Totally agree about those Special! events in comics.
It's like extortion. To keep up with the plot you *must* read every comic in the same universe or you might miss something.
I usually download all those things just out of spite. :D

Wow, you're still reading Avengers? The Nick Fury Invasion drove me off. *g* X-Factor I'm backreading, but since I'm backreading a bajillion different titles, it'll be a while before I catch up.

I recently spreed through the whole run of Supreme Power and it's great. I'm looking forward to the two (?) minis. I've seen some scans of Ultimate Power, the Ultimates/Supreme crossover and it looks hooorible - such a betrayal of what the series was trying to do. Actually, I haven't been able to get into any of the Ultimate titles.

The X-titles I sort of vaguely follow via s_D, Wikipedia and quickly leafing through books at the store. I can't actually justify the expense, when the books aren't really to my taste, you know? It's more a keeping up with old friends kind of thing for me.

I usually download all those things just out of spite.

I've been known to do this as well. The sad part? I dled a lot of the peripheral CW books and I've never read them. Just couldn't muster up the interest. Same goes for HoM. If I ever get into a continuity argument, I've got it available for consultation (as if I will *g*), but otherwise they just sit on my hd, collecting digital mold.

Btw, The Boys - should I try this one? I'm a big fan of Preacher but Ennis does grate sometimes...

I know, I know! Dude, I still read *X-Men* in all of it's incarnations. What's wrong with me!!

but since I'm backreading a bajillion different titles

Same here, which is only possible with hellacious pirating. I'd feel guilty as hell if I didn't spend truly horrific amounts of money in comics anyways.

The Ultimates/Supreme Powers crossover *is* horrible. So bad I have no words for it. And the plastic art doesn't help. Avoid, avoid, avoid.:D

You haven't read The Ultimates (original, the Avengers one)??????

For the rest of Ultimate books the word of the day is 'potential'. Great potential but the execution is often not so great. Why do the blank slate thing if you're just going to do the same thing all over again?
(There are some nice surprises tho.)

I can't actually justify the expense, when the books aren't really to my taste, you know?

Yep. And the X-Titles are known to bite one in the ass quite regularly.

If I ever get into a continuity argument, I've got it available for consultation (as if I will *g*), but otherwise they just sit on my hd, collecting digital mold.

That's what Wikipedia is for.:P
Also, what were they thinking??? What happened to those days when you could have one long, interesting, meaningful story arc that was only in one or maybe (OMG!) two books? I remember nineties X-men actually being worth buying.

The worst part about CW is that it could have been *awesome* but got lost in all that blah blah.

Hmm, The Boys is very much an Ennis book.
Violence, people get the shaft in more ways than one, more violence and *really* twisted humor.
It's on the cruel side. Might not be your kinda thing but dling costs nothing?
Familiar with The Pro?

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