I don't.

Whoa, careful what you say about the first X-Men movie. If not for it's mainstream approachability, likely Marvel and to a lesser extent DC wouldn't be on the comics movie rampage they're on now. The success of X-Men and Blade proved that comic-book based movies could reach and sustain the interest of a larger audience than just us fanboys.

And if you REALLY want to read good comics, don't buy anything with a corporate logo on the front. I only read mainstream stuff anymore cause I'm attached to the characters. I worked in a comic store for some time, read practically all the titles, and some weren't half bad. Crossgen in particular consistently beats the pants off Marvel's writers and artists. But nothing published by the major companies comes close to some of the stuff being done by independents. Give some stuff you never heard of a chance -- try Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze (retelling of the Trojan War), Carla Speed McNeil's Finder (post-apocalyptic anthropological sci-fi with the most bad-@$$ main character I've seen in ages), Dave Sim's Cerebus, Neil Gaiman's Sandman run (do I even need to write this? You've all read it, right?), obscure Aussie comic Platinum Grit... the heart and soul of comics are printed in black and white these days.

Right, rant over. Carry on.

--J.

you don't read any x books but you're fast to jump the gun on how much they suck?

"And if you REALLY want to read good comics, don't buy anything with a corporate logo on the front."
Quote by AlaskanXIII

I couldn't agree more!!

One good title I am reading is Heros Anynomous, put out by Bongo Comics.
Hellboy is great, and always has been......

Some more good titles are
Firebreather
Invicible
Stormwatch Team Achillies

I have read every X- book out there.......

And with that knowledge I know two things
-I wasted good money
-X books suck.

I do not get on these boards and slam things without good reason........

X-Statix is the only Marvel book I'll pay money for, although I'll read the Ultimate books (apart from Spiderman) when I find them lying about at friends places.

I'm so glad they laid all those stupid X-Force characters to rest.

Tried reading NEWXMEN; Morrison's still a hack.

Tried reading Exiles; Judd Winnick left, so did I.

Yeah, Exiles was the book that broke the X-rule of them sucking but, with winninck gone it has defiently lost something......probably soon to be put on the chopping block.

you said you don't buy x books, know you say you wasted money on them?.

retconning or something

I currently don't buy x-books......('cept Exiles if that even counts as an x-book) but I have in the past bought x-books henceforth I know what I am talking about when I state their lack of being good.......

The most challenging problem Comics face today and particularly Morrison's run on X-Men here, started in the 80s with Liefield and McFarlane. Todays comic writers and artists think they are the stars of these books, instead of the icons they are lucky enough to be writing for. Only to compound this problem are the Editors who would rather make a buck by trading of a top artist's name than do their jobs and tell these high profilers that they need to be true to these characters and write some stories that make sense while being creative and fun at the same time. I am thankful to Joe Q for helping to pull Marvel back from the brink of Bankruptcy, but he and his team need to put aside the idea of attracting big names and worry a little more about keeping their fan base.

I know I am only one consumer, but I have all but stopped buying comics in favor of TPBs for two reasons. I can thumb through a TPV to see if its carp or not before I commit to buying it (in my area you MUST have a saver at your comic book shop in order to reliably get each issue of a given series) and also because I can read reviews by trade mags like the good people at Wizard of what the best TPBs coming out are. If more people did what I do, Marvel and DC would have to drastically rethink their way of doing business.

As far as the one comment on this thread about stories ending after an arc like a book or movie...that's what the old TPBs were and many of them were very good.

I blame the editorial direction more than anything. I've ranted on this before. I loved Morrison's JLA run. I firmly believe that DC kept a tight editorial reign. Quesada (I think) just says, "sign up and do whatever you want, I just want to say I signed you." I think that's why X-Men has been so off...lack of direction.

For 30+ years it's been Jean Grey and Cyclops. Suddenly a villain gets between them? Xavier has a sister? Come on

I do think the art has improved tremendously over the last few issues which has helped.

As to why I read it, I love the X-Men. The only thing worse than Morrison's run is Austen's so I read Morrison

Well, Morrisson did create Xorn so you can't really get on him for ruining the character. The whole Xorn arc was his from start to finish.

I didn't like Planet X as a storyline either, but Morrisson had some great other parts. He only has one 4-issue arc left and it looks pretty interesting (I saw the preview copy of #151). Might want to stick it out until the end of his run.

Comic store people I know have told me that TPBs are actually producing far more revenue than individual issues ever did. They print much lower print runs and anything worth half a #### they put in TPBs because they sell so well and they can sell them at mass market (check Barnes & Noble's huge TPB section).

In other words, Marvel and DC want more people to do what you do.

It's a catch twenty two. If someone doesn't support the ongoing books, there will be nothing to TP. You don't see a whole lot of original graphic novels anymore. Because the pay to income ratio wasn't so good.

The only problem I have with the TP situation is stories being forced to fit. Either squeezed or overextended. Either allow TP's to be more variable in length, or do like the Japanese do. Have each TP just collect the next batch of issues. This means sometimes you will have to get the next TP to get the rest of the story, but overall it would be better.

Morrison freely admits to hacking out JLA and X-Men for the money while he's still the flavor of the day. For the real Morrison, you have to read The Invisibles, Animal Man, and Doom Patrol.

Somehow, don't think hte Marvel Executives would allow Morrison to do with X-Men what he did with Doom Patrol. They know he is popular, but they don't know why. They got him on the book, but he is not allowed to alter the "brand name product" too far. Part of the reason he is burning the bridge behind him.

As for Scott and Jean? That red head was always too much trouble. If Emma says let's go, well, I know what I'd be doing. LOL!

Besides. Emma Frost hasn't been a villain since the death of The Hellions some fifteen years back, publishing time. And unlike other characters, she doesn't keep switchng back and forth.

As for Magneto not acting like Hitler, I suggest everyone go back and read the first fifty issues of Uncanny. He was a much different guy before Claremont fleshed him out. He does always start out mellow and gets worse and worse. It makes you wonder if using his powers makes him insane.