Marvel's Civil War

[SoulReaver]

I've been intrigued by this new comic series, though I've never read any comics before. Now seems to be a good time though, with a lack of good movies coming out (besides Lake House :o and Superman Returns, that is). Does anyone read the Civil War series? I know only 1 issue has come out and the next one is coming out tomorrow. Will it be confusing for a new comer or will I be able to understand it?

[BobtheCkroach]

As with any comic, if you're not a continuous reader, you'll miss some nuances that are mentioned in relation to previous storylines and revelations. However, a basic understanding of each character/story arc should be more than enugh for that comic, it sounds like. That actually sounds like a really interesting read - I might have to look into it, if I can find a place that carries it around here. I'm sure you know the basic story of the fantastic four, daredevil, x-men, spider-man, etc, so you probably know enough to keep up. There may be a nod here or there that you have to look up to understand, but for the most part I think you'll be in the know.

As you learn new characters, the internet has a TON of info about them, so you can easily get a grasp of characters that you don't already know.

I learned a lot about Batman in a matter of mere hours when I got into that series for a while a few years ago.

In any case, one of the great things about comic books is that it's only like $3 a book, so you can easily buy the first 1 or 2 and find out if you like them w/o breaking the bank.

[SoulReaver]

As with any comic, if you're not a continuous reader, you'll miss some nuances that are mentioned in relation to previous storylines and revelations. However, a basic understanding of each character/story arc should be more than enugh for that comic, it sounds like. That actually sounds like a really interesting read - I might have to look into it, if I can find a place that carries it around here. I'm sure you know the basic story of the fantastic four, daredevil, x-men, spider-man, etc, so you probably know enough to keep up. There may be a nod here or there that you have to look up to understand, but for the most part I think you'll be in the know.

As you learn new characters, the internet has a TON of info about them, so you can easily get a grasp of characters that you don't already know.

I learned a lot about Batman in a matter of mere hours when I got into that series for a while a few years ago.

In any case, one of the great things about comic books is that it's only like $3 a book, so you can easily buy the first 1 or 2 and find out if you like them w/o breaking the bank. Yeah, I do know the basics of Marvel characters. The problem is, I have no clue about certain groups that I heard were in the series like New Warriors and She-Hulk. Its going to be annoying looking up information, but I suppose I have time to blow.

Anyways, do you have any recommended readings? DC Comics don't seem to really interest me, nor does Spider-Man.

[Sirc]

SoulReaver, if you are getting a bit bored with comics it's probably because you need less pictures and a bit more meat in the story line. I suggest you start reading books. I'm not trying to be sarcastic here, I'm serious. There are some amazing sci-fi/fantasy books out there. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised if you took the time to start reading them. I've got quite a collection up in my attic from my younger days. Lord of the Rings (starting with The Hobbit) is probably my favorite, but the Dragon Riders of Pern series was also very good, as were countless others. At least consider it. :)

EDIT: I'm sure there are people here that could recommend some good books.

[EXEcution]

SoulReaver, if you are getting a bit bored with comics it's probably because you need less pictures and a bit more meat in the story line. I suggest you start reading books. I'm not trying to be sarcastic here, I'm serious. There are some amazing sci-fi/fantasy books out there. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised if you took the time to start reading them. I've got quite a collection up in my attic from my younger days. Lord of the Rings (starting with The Hobbit) is probably my favorite, but the Dragon Riders of Pern series was also very good, as were countless others. At least consider it. :)

EDIT: I'm sure there are people here that could recommend some good books.
First Post: "though I've never read any comics before. Now seems to be a good time though" :rolleyes:

Graphic novels and comic books sometimes have very sophisticated plots (from what I understand since I haven't read a comic book in 8 years). Take a look at V for Vendetta. The movie is based off of a graphic novel and it had one of the most intriguing plots ever, imo. Books are good, and even though I perfer books to comics (no matter how "adult" the comic is I am not very akin to the comic book art style) I can respect the fans that read them.

[Sirc]

First Post: "though I've never read any comics before. Now seems to be a good time though" :rolleyes:

Graphic novels/comic books sometimes have very sophisticated plots (from what I understand since I haven't read a comic book in 8 years). Take a look at V for Vendetta. The movie is based off of a graphic novel and it had one of the most intriguing plots ever, imo. Books are good, and even though I perfer books to comics (no matter how "adult" the comic is I am not very akin to the comic book art style) I can respect the fans that read them.

Second post: "Anyways, do you have any recommended readings? DC Comics don't seem to really interest me, nor does Spider-Man." :rolleyes:

I'm not dissing comic book readers. Just suggesting an alternative.

[EXEcution]

Second post: "Anyways, do you have any recommended readings? DC Comics don't seem to really interest me, nor does Spider-Man." :rolleyes:

I'm not dissing comic book readers. Just suggesting an alternative.
Well from what I understand he can't be getting bored with comics since he hasn't been an avid reader. Therefore he posted on GM hoping to find people that could actually offer some advice whether he should start reading this particular series or not.

Books aren't the alternative to comics, it's the other way around (assuming alternative demeans the latter). Cool desgins and flashy pictures can be a lot more interesting to look at as opposed to plain and simple text.

[Sirc]

Well from what I understand he can't be getting bored with comics since he hasn't been an avid reader. Therefore he posted on GM hoping to find people that could actually offer some advice whether he should start reading this particular series or not.

Fine. Forget what I said. You happy now Exe? Go find someone else to criticize please. Maybe someone will post another SS or Flash movie they made or something so you can rip it apart. That's what you do best.

[Sirc]

Books aren't the alternative to comics, it's the other way around (assuming alternative demeans the latter). Cool desgins and flashy pictures can be a lot more interesting to look at as opposed to plain and simple text.

Nice edit. Yeah, pictures good, text bad. :thumbs:

I'm done with you now. :)

[JIMINATOR]

comic books are fine. i wish i wish i had not given away my starwars series so long ago.... doh! I always liked the marvel characters more because they were about people with problems, whereas dc had shallow super heroes, and besides, how can superman fly in place? All that has changed though, with the dark knight series and so forth. comic books are adopting darker and more mature story lines.

but like sircles says, there are tons of fantastic science fiction books out there. a comic book may entertain you for 30 minutes. A good book can transport you for a week or more. no need to buy anything, your local library probably has a good selection.

but like exe says, if your brain requires constant stimulation and you lack the ability to imagine anything, then comic books are the way to go. :thumbs:

[SoulReaver]

Geez, chill guys.

As for books, I finished reading 1984 about a month ago. It was great, one of my favorite books of all time probably. I started reading Pet Semetary (yes, its spelt with an "S") and it was better than I thought it would be. This is because Cell, King's newest novel, sucked. I had to return Semetary to the library though and couldn't renew it because it just closed and I had to put it in that quick return thing. I'll probably drop by the library one day and rent it out again.

The only book I've read that is Sci-fi is some Starcraft novel. Got bored of it halfway through. I read two Magic: The Gathering novels that I enjoyed. Started reading another one and got bored only a few dozens pages through.

[EXEcution]

I actually never finished 1984 and after someone kindly gave away the ending I don't really plan on finishing it. But I do "get" Orwell and I've read Animal Farm as part of our required high school cirriculum, I enjoyed the book overall.

I happen to be a Stephen King fan myself and I hate to admit that most of the films based on his novels are a joke (except for The Shawshank Redemption which isn't even a horror story).

If you liked Pet Semetary I'd recommend reading Salem's Lot and The Tommyknockers. I also enjoy his short story works especially Skeleton Crew and Night Shift.

He's also got an illustrated novel out called Cycle of the Wherewolf, it's old but pretty neat and you seem more interested in that department.

[Die Hard]

Hey, sircles has competition! Go Exe :)

[BobtheCkroach]

Anyways, do you have any recommended readings? DC Comics don't seem to really interest me

Gasp! :eek: Blasphemy! :P I'm a Batman guy, so you know...

What I've read of the X-Men books (very little) has been fantastic. I was a HUGE fan of the Ironman cartoon, but I know fairly little about the comic series.

Frankly, I'm not very well versed on the Marvel universe, outside of what has been made into movies.

[BobtheCkroach]

Yeah, I do know the basics of Marvel characters. The problem is, I have no clue about certain groups that I heard were in the series like New Warriors and She-Hulk. Its going to be annoying looking up information, but I suppose I have time to blow.

Anyways, do you have any recommended readings? DC Comics don't seem to really interest me, nor does Spider-Man.

Do you have a dedicated Comic Book store down there somewhere? A lot of titles you could pick up a few for roughly the same price. In fact, the comic store I used to go to had a whole rack of "used" comics that they sold for a quarter. I have over 100 batman books that I got @ that price.

[BobtheCkroach]

Wow you guys are some spammy flamers :P

There's nothing wrong with liking comic books, and there's nothing wrong with not liking them. You're not "dumb" or "lacking in imagination" if you choose to read comic books. There are things that comics can that books just can't, and there are things that books do that comics just can't. At least not in the same manner.

Comics are great in that they're short. You got a nice little story in 20 minutes worth of reading. That fits nice into almost anyone's schedule. If you're into art, then the value of a comic doubles. I hate art with a passion, but I love reading a comic and then spending an additional run-through just taking in the pictures. They're both totally awesome forms of storytelling, they just each do it their own way!

As for books, I highly recommend lord of the rings (as has been said). I too am a huge fan of Stephen King, and I recommend the Dark Tower series. That thing is loooooong (7 books) so it'll keep ya busy for a summer :P The Stand is another excellent King book.

I also recommend the Michael Crichton books (the guy that did Jurassic Park). All his books are superb.

[SoulReaver]

I have a Bagged and Boarded 30 minutes from my house walking distance. I went there today and picked up the first issue of Civil War and Civil War Frontline. Read about 1/4 of it and so far I'm enjoying it. I didn't check too thoroughly at the comic store though, because it felt really awkward and weird. It was so quiet in there and the only noise was the bootleg copy of X-Men 3 playing on the tv. I was kind of surprised by the thinness of the comic. I expected it to be a lot bigger since its a major event in Marvel.

Exe, a friend of mine told me the last line of 1984, which basically spoils it. I was mad but just went ahead and finished the whole book. I liked it slightly more than Animal Farm.

As for the Lord of the Rings, I don't really feel like reading it after seeing the movies. I read about 10 pages of The Hobbit and got bored of it.

I'm probably going to read A Clockwork Orange after finally renting and finishing Pet Semetary and my summer reading projects.

[JIMINATOR]

i thought the hobbit was more of a kids book. lord of the rings, now the series was damn good, one of the best. try seeing if you can find asimovs foundation trilogy, or anything by him... :)

[BobtheCkroach]

Dennis McKeirnan (or smoething close to that) put out a series of books called the "Iron Tower Trilogy". They are HUGE ripoffs of the LOTR series, but they find their own special niche and in that right are pretty darn good. You'll see a ton of material that is almost straight from LOTR, but it's still a darn good read. If you finish them, he has about 20 other books that take place in the same fictional world.

As for the comic book store...they're ALL quiet and awkward, it seems. You walk in and the guy has nothing better to do that just watch you walk around. I know the feeling.

[SoulReaver]

As for the comic book store...they're ALL quiet and awkward, it seems. You walk in and the guy has nothing better to do that just watch you walk around. I know the feeling.

The thing was, there was a table in the back of the store with a couple of guys around it. It seemed like they were just sitting there, doing nothing. I stayed away from that area, so maybe the used section was back there.

I'll look into those books all you guys mentioned and see if I'm interested. Do you guys know of any books that are like Orwells?

[BobtheCkroach]

The thing was, there was a table in the back of the store with a couple of guys around it. It seemed like they were just sitting there, doing nothing. I stayed away from that area, so maybe the used section was back there.

I'll look into those books all you guys mentioned and see if I'm interested. Do you guys know of any books that are like Orwells?

I don't. I read Animal Farm when I was far too young to appreciate the depth of what was covered in that book, and I've never read anything else of his. Frankly, I'm not well versed enough to really know what else is like his material, but if I had to guess, I'd say that I don't read much of that style.

[BobtheCkroach]

I read Animal Farm when I was far too young to appreciate the depth of what was covered in that book

Actually, come to think of it, I was about your age (forgot that you're still a youngin'), so I guess I was just uber-stupid when I was that young :D

Scratch that. I was brilliant. You're uber-brilliant. Yeah. I like that terminology better.

[EXEcution]

Yea I think Soul is actually a genius not to mention that he is very mature for his age. As for authors that resemble Orwell I would recommend Ray Bradbury or Kurt Vonnegut who both write contemporary and deep science fiction.

[SoulReaver]

I'm the total opposite in real life. I'm kind of immature and always seem to be the one cracking jokes. That and being stupid is what I'm known for in my class. I guess I am smart though as I've been in the gifted class for 4 years, though I definitely am not the smartest one in the class.

Anywho, the prinicipal and vice principal have a thing against me ever since I created a forum known as The Panty Raiders. God, me and about 20 other students got into so much trouble. Good times. ;)

Anyways, back onto topic. I saw a Metal Gear Solid 2 comic at the store. I might want to check it out sometime but am worried it'll spoil the story for me, as I haven't played it yet. Do any of you know if it is directly about the game or just perhaps a prequel to it?