March 30th - 2022: My Library, Its Purpose - Part 1

With the massive collection of comic books and graphic novels, being published for over 100 years by now, there is only so much that one can read, unless having a digital mind.

So, I shall be diving into my own collection and taking a look at a series of titles which are important to me, and can be used as influence and reference in my project. Let us begin.

MARVEL:

Marvel, even though being a huge comic book publisher, one of the strongest on the market, on par with DC Comics, is not a big part of my own library, be it as single issues (otherwise known as floppies) and volumes (referred to as trades and hards). Due to how they publish their floppies, with the amount of adverts in it as well as the limited amount of story in it, the collected volumes of the single issues cost a lot more, since they do not have any adverts. On top of the high price tags, I quite frankly don't really enjoy many of the Marvel Comics, since they are really hard to follow and there is too much material to read in order for long comic runs to make sense.

That's why, most of the time, I just read spin-off stories or self-contained (narrative that is not affected by and does not affect any other universe created and published under a specific publisher, usually the stories being focused and contained in their own separate and contained universe. These are often called What-Ifs by Marvel, or just a limited series) as I do not have to read endless amounts of unnecessary and confusing information that has no real importance to the story that I am reading.

Some long Marvel runs are rather good, none that I can name off the top of my head but I have read and hear about them often. I wouldn't mind getting into one, but no one has endless amounts of money.

Besides, below are a few of my personal favourite titles which I have read, and reread (overall like) that have been published by Marvel, as well as a few titles which I have simply bought because I liked the artwork and the style of that comic's artist:

DC COMICS:

Now, onto the bad publishers of the industry. I won't get into why I dislike DC Comics too much, as you can read my in depth reasoning here:

https://havenmilne20.wixsite.com/website/post/march-4th-2022-break-through-the-pages

Brief summary of them though, there are too many adverts, its overpriced and there isn't enough story in their single issues. Okay, now regardless of that, I have the same feelings towards some of the same feelings towards DC that I have for Marvel, previously mentioned above, again buying the odd collected story here and there, maybe a few volumes from an odd run, maybe an alternate story (these are called Elseworlds in DC), but mainly the covers and artwork that I am after with DC.

Here are a few of my favourite titles in my library by DC:

Batman: Year One

Batman New 52: Court of Owls

Batman Earth One

BOOM STUDIOS:

Okay, something a little more positive now. BOOM STUDIOS may not take up a huge space on my shelf, mainly because their books are hard to get a hold of at a good price, and that is not because they are overpriced, oh no, what they sell for is exactly what they are worth, in my opinion anyways. But they do mean a lot to me in my collection as what I have read so far has lived up to my expectations.

Apart from that, the art and the writing for the stories they publish are amazing, just truly incredible, all because in a lot of people's eyes, if you want to tell a story that is original or touches on sensitive topics, BOOM STUDIOS is the company people want to go to.

On top of that, and no offence with the language, the company is not bullshitting you with what they sell, there are adverts yes, but the adverts are nothing compared as to what the issues hold, the stories published by this company are incredible. Below, are a number of my favourites by BOOM STUDIOS which I highly recommend reading, you don't have to read them all, just pick one:

Thomas Aslop Volume 1

WYND Book 1

FOLKLORDS

Magic: The Gathering #1

IMAGE COMICS:

TITAN COMICS:

Bibliography:

• Lemire, J., 2016. Moon Knight: The Complete Collection. [image] Available at: <https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41I11ntAgXL._SX323_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Coipel, O., 2021. House of M. [image] Available at: <https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.marvel.com%2Fcomics%2Fcollection%2F41994%2Fhouse_of_m_trade_paperback&psig=AOvVaw1P5RK5CREUn865_20bhMdD&ust=1648806642280000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCPCeyMOJ8PYCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAP> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Fraction, M., 2012. Hawkeye: My Life As A Weapon. [image] Available at: <https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81OUVqrDrOL.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Kubert, A., 2003. Marvel 1602. [image] Available at: <https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51i5XU0npXL._SX342_SY445_QL70_ML2_.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Hickman, J., 2019. House of X. [image] Available at: <https://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/mg/9/50/5d2c9219cea44/clean.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Ross, A., 2019. MARVELS Annotated. [image] Available at: <https://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/mg/9/80/5c5c5570c3e8c/clean.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Capullo, G., 2013. Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls. [image] Available at: <https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91H1elJFgML.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Mazzucchelli, D., 1988. Batman: Year One. [image] Available at: <https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41F58rFCMwL.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Frank, G., 2012. Batman Earth One. [image] Available at: <https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91w3KbtbfuL.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Dialynas, M., 2021. Wynd Book One: Flight of the Prince. [image] Available at: <https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71j4c4e+ffS.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Smith, M., 2020. Folklords. [image] Available at: <https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81ZngR+TODL.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Di Med, S., 2021. We Only Find Them When They're Dead. [image] Available at: <https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71OpiC0IR6L.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Guara, I., 2021. Magic: The Gathering #1. [image] Available at: <https://s3.amazonaws.com/comicgeeks/comics/covers/large-3694173.jpg?1623122822> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Schmidt, P., 2015. Thomas Aslop Vol.1. [image] Available at: <https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51RxaQsXqbL.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].

• Kambadais, G. and Gianfelice, D., 2020. Firefly: The Outlaw Ma Reynolds #1. [image] Available at: <https://getyourcomicon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Firefly_OutlawMaReynolds_001_Cover_Variant_Walsh_PROMO.jpg> [Accessed 31 March 2022].