Chad’s Comments (group member since Mar 22, 2018)

Chad’s comments from the I Read Comic Books group.

Geoff wrote: "Nick/Chad, this is absolutely fantastic! Thank you for the terrific reading recommendations, and getting supplied a reading order to boot! It looks as though I have a bunch of great new reading ahe..."

I'm a Valiant fanboy (of both the current universe and the O.G. 90's version). Feel free to hit me up with any questions.

I'll second Archer and Armstrong. It's a blast. And if you like that, Armstrong's brother was in Ivar the Timewalker which is fantastic. It's time travel done right

You can rarely go wrong with the Valiant universe but it can be difficult to navigate if you are trying to read it in the proper order.

Geoff wrote: "I have very little experience in the Valiant universe. After reading this (and I read Secret Weapons #0 right afterward), do you have other recommendations for me to continue on?"

Live Wire is from Harbinger. You might want to start there if you want to go backwards. Or forwards would be Harbinger Wars 2 and then the new Livewire series that starts next week.

X-O Manowar is a good place to start for the Valiant universe in general.

Humble Bundle has had quite a few Valiant digital bundle offers if you're willing to wait a few months for the next one. They're a steal of a deal.

You can also just use the following code within your post minus the asterisk. [*bookcover:Batman, Volume 8: Cold Days|39727249]


The number at the end is the ID that can be found in the URL of the book.
If you want a link without the cover, it's [*book:Batman, Volume 8: Cold Days|39727249].
Batman, Volume 8: Cold Days

Welcome Geoff!

Erin wrote: "I love all the droids, so R2D2 is my fave - need to find a comic with BB8 in it, he is so cute!"

Check out the Poe Dameron comics to find some BB-8 action.

Nathan wrote: "There are lots of Dungeons & Dragons based comics from what I understand.

I own a few:

Dungeons & Dragons: Evil At Baldur's Gate
Is graphic version of a campaign being told"

Those Jim Zub D&D comics are a lot of fun. There are 3 trades I believe. There's also a series of Pathfinder comics that I thought were pretty solid. Zub wrote the first 3 volumes of those as well. I'm not that familiar with Pathfinder but it seems very similar to D&D which I did play throughout my teens and twenties.

Christopher wrote: "You know when you try to link from the GR listing to the Kindle store, it links to Teen Titans vol. 2."

You should contact GR support so they can fix that. The Amazon link points to the correct book.

Christopher wrote: "But it seems like there was an annual left out between issue 8 and issue 9- I don't know what's up with a decision like that."

The Culling was a crossover collected in a separate trade. DC did an awful job collecting crossovers during the new 52. The regular titles sometimes would literally have 4 issues occur between them in other titles. You're always better off getting the separate crossover book instead and then use the library to fill in the remaining issues.

DC is having a HUGE Vertigo sale through the 17th. Almost every normal trade they've ever released is $4.99.

https://www.readdc.com/Vertigo-Sale/p...

I believe the sale is on Comixology as well.

All of the Aquaman trades are $4.99 too!

Christopher wrote: "I liked Red Hood New 52 so much, I also started Teen Titans, Volume 1: It's Our Right to Fight and liked that too.

But I can't find examples of what I liked about it online, so..."

Oof. That's another New 52 series I hated. The previous Geoff John's series and even the Marv Wolfman / George Perez book is SO much better. And then all that stupid stuff with Harvest. It made no sense.

Christopher wrote: "I thought Red Hood and the Outlaws, Volume 1: Redemption (and vol. two) was a standout New 52.

Though, of course Red Hood (Jason Todd), Starfire, and Arsenal (aka Speedy) all go ba..."

I thought Red Hood from the New 52 was terrible. Both runs. That's why I was surprised the Rebirth Red Hood series has been so good since it's all by Scott Lobdell.

Whitney wrote: "Ah, okay. I didn't know that Crisis was the first. I will definitely read Flashpoint, so I can better understand the New 52."

There's a lot of crap titles at the beginning of the new 52. They actually released 52 titles. You may want to check what your library or hoopla has before you spend a lot of money. Titles I really enjoyed back then were Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, Batman and Robin, Batwoman, The Flash, Justice League, Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. I'd hold off on the GL books for a while though because GL continuity predates the New 52 and goes back a few years to the beginning of Geoff Johns's run. Johns was the architect of Flashpoint and didn't want to interrupt what he was doing on GL. DC's continuity is a clusterfuck You're probably better off not knowing what happened pre-Flashpoin, at least until you're caught up to current continuity.

Whitney wrote: "I've been researching DC Comics (it's really hard to find the right place to start for a noob) this week, so I wasn't as productive with my reading as I should have been."

I would start with some of the Rebirth titles. It was intended as a new jumping on point. If you want to go further back, Flashpoint is when they rebooted the DC universe into the New 52. If you want to go all the way back, Crisis is when they rebooted the DC universe the first time. I'm planning on doing a Crisis reread in the next couple of weeks now that DC recently released a book of the Crisis crossover issues.

I've been reading DC and Marvel comics regularly since the 80's, feel free to hit me up with any questions you have. I love talking comics. That goes for you too Christopher or anyone else in the group.

Erin wrote: "Is there a book I should be reading before Star Wars: Vader Down? I've only seen like 2 or 3 Star Wars movies so I don't have a ton of background info."

It takes place after the original Star Wars movie (A New Hope) so that's all you need awareness of. Vader Down is a crossover between 2 different Star Wars series, Star Wars: Darth Vader and Star Wars. There are 2 volumes of each series prior to this story. I would say though if you aren't a hardcore Star Wars fan, you could skip them. Although both series are pretty great.

Erin wrote: "They added in skill points so even people who have beaten the old games can find something new - but the levels are beautiful and all the dragons are unique and I cannot get enough of it. I think after all this time though Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon are not as fun as I remember them being - in my old age I like to 100% a level and move on, and in those you have to go to the next world to learn a skill you need to complete levels in your current world, which I find super annoying. But its honestly so cheap and even if you just play the first game of the trilogy it is beyond worth it! "

I'm glad to hear you like it. I saw it was on sale for $30 at Target this week and was tempted to buy it. Hmm...

Erin wrote: "Looking forward to extra time off around Christmas to lay around playing Spyro and reading comics! "

Have you played the Spyro remasters yet? I'm curious how it is. I remember playing the originals.

I wish there were further volumes of this series. I'd read a whole series of Abbott's adventures.

Phillip wrote: "I've read the first volume of Wayward and Birthright and enjoyed both quite a bit. I haven't brought myself to read any further into either series though. Do you think the later volumes are as good (or better/worse) than the initial books?."

I've read the first 4 trades of each and think they are both really good. Birthright may be the best colored book I've ever read. (Not that the story and art aren't good as well. I just find the colors really striking in that book.)

Will wrote: "Really enjoying the Hawkman series. Lemire seems to be building to something bigger that could impact the whole DCU in the near future. "

That's good to hear. It's been a LONG time since Hawkman was treated properly, during the Geoff Johns run.