Fell out of comics for a while, around the mid-90s. Was an avid collector for years, but always valued stories over any sort of perceived investment. The tie-in's, multiple covers, characters coming out of nowhere and disappearing just as quickly, year-long stories that dragged through a dozen titles you could care less about... I eventually sick of it, tired of feeling used and taken advantage of. I quit following comics all together for well over 10 years.

Then in the early 2000's via the then Marvel website, I got to preview some Bendis Ultimate Spider-Man and Daredevil runs. I was blown away by the writing (which was better than most Hollywood films) and soon, I realized that I didn't have to keep up on a month-to-month; I could simply keep track of the Trade Paperbacks via my Amazon Wish List. As soon as I realized that virtually everything was inevitably being collected in trade paperbacks, I was once again completely hooked. I felt as if the publishers had figured out a way to appeal to my needs personally!

All I ever wanted was to be able to pick up a good, self-contained story, with a beginning, middle and end. I didn't want to have to worry about years of missed continuity, so the Ultimate line really hooked me in. Soon, I was buying 2-6 trade paperbacks a month, eating up what I was calling the "new comics renaissance." I've always been more attracted to good writing than artists or characters, and here there was finally a way for me to keep up with my favorite writers at my own pace. The marketing people at Marvel really knew how to tap right into my particular needs.

And then they blew it. Events of the year, cross overs, etc. meant that my dreams of self-contained stories written by my favorite writers and featuring my favorite characters were quickly over. I tried to keep up with the first few, House of M, Secret War, Civil War, but finally, when trying to track down where I was and what I was missing from the Skrull Invasion, I realized I was right back where I was in the mid-90s, completely lost and buying garbage in an effort to and keep up. Disillusioned, I stopped buying my monthly stack of DC and Marvel trades.

I thought the majors had finally figured out how to appeal to both fanboy's and casual fans like myself, who preferred a good trade paperback to a good movie any day. They had it right for a second, Bendis' entire run on Daredevil was self-contained as was his run on USM. It was a thing of beauty; a moment in time where I felt like I was back to my childhood, yearning every month for the next Miller's Daredevil, Byrne's Fantastic Four and Alpha Flight, Sienkiewicz and Moench's Moon Knight... I could go on.

It's going to take a lot for them to earn my trust again.

The problem is those cross-over events almost always lead to a short-term bump in sales. They're probably like a drug addiction for the industry. You have to do them more and more often to even approach the excitement of the last one... and before long your entire line is in disarray and your sales are lower than ever.

Read Paul Dini's Batman in Detective comics if you want some good self-contained stories.

Captain America has been great under Brubaker, and Fraction's Iron Man is da bomb, yo.

Brubaker's Criminal, Sleeper, and Incognito are also worth picking up.

Why not step away from Marvel and DC and avoid shared universes entirely?

Image, Dark Horse, and IDW all publish great books. The world doesn't begin and end with Marvel and DC.

Yeah, I do like some of the indies, but the writers and characters that are important to me are mostly with the Big Guns.



Are these self-contained and available in trade-paperback?

If he's like me, it's because those are the characters he wants to read about. I read some non superhero stuff, but I'm very attached to Spider-Man and Batman.

Duke, there's still a lot of self-contained stuff available that's not part of crossovers. You just have to kind of be choosy during big events. Much of the time, while a book you're following may be tied into the big crossover, you can still follow that titles story without keeping up with the rest of the tie ins or even the main event book.

Hell, you can find great self-published books on Indyplanet and Comixpress in just about any genre you'd want. Even super-heroes.





Although I certainly know the draw of characters you loved as a kid.

Yes!

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Cool, and I'll definitely link up from here. One of the last things I remember loving was Extremis, and I'm normally not an Iron Man guy. Also love Dini and Brubaker, but haven't read any of those runs. I'm trusting you on this one! Self-contained!!

Are Bendis, Maalev, Miller or Seinkevich up to any good these days? Self-contained that is. Loved, loved, loved Bendis's Alais.

Bru's Cap is tied into Civil War; but it's the kind of tie-in I mentioned above, where you don't really need to buy any of the rest of the books to get the full Cap story.

Wow. I read Cap and didn't even know that it was tied into Civil War. That's the way that it should be done.

Bendis and Maleev have a new creator-owned book coming out through Marvel's Icon line.

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/20 ... s-scarlet/

Fair enough.

THAT looks amazing!! I hadn't even heard about an Icon Line at Marvel, but again, I don't keep up on comics like the rest of you here.

DIdn't you wonder why Cap was arrested when he was "killed"?

Fables, Jack of Fables, Y (when it was still going), and random non-big 2 trades I pick up from the library monthly say otherwise. I like lots of material but have no interest in stepping away from Marvel and DC... well, half true; I have stepped away from DC.

If you like that then you need to check out Bendis and Maleev's Spider-Woman. The trade goes on sale next week.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785147683/?tag=imwan-20

ALSO looks amazing. But I have to ask... is it self-contained.



I mean, can I jump right in and know what's happening if I haven't read a marvel title since The Skrull Invasian?

Yeah, me too. They had me in a Superman reader's utopia for a while... then right down the shitter.

I am trying out First Wave though.

She is searching for Skrulls and there are some Avenging guest-stars, but the overall story is very self-contained and you don't need another series to read to understand what is going on.

The art is INCREDIBLE.