Hey Corrose, was wondering how do you decide what to read/where do you get info on recent good. TPB's. I am slowly leaning this way as storage, $ and crappy stories are getting me tired of the weekly comic stop. Thanks!
I'm a Marvel fan mainly, not DC so much.
I got out of comics in the late 90s because I got so sick of the variant covers, crossovers forcing you to read new titles, hologram covers, polybagged issues, the gimmicks and crossovers, thats when I stopped collecting single issues.
Since Im so invested in the characters what I do is I just buy TPB's of the MAJOR Marvel stories and crossovers every year. It's enough to kinda keep me updated with whats going on in the Marvel Universe, plus I find the re-read value is higher on these stories rather than single issues where the stories aren't always exciting.
As far as where I keep an eye on whats happening, you can grab those "Previews" books at comic shops, they used to be free, not sure about now and they give you sneak peaks about whats coming up Marvel crossover wise. Seems like marvel does about 2 major crossovers a year. I think of it as "skimming" the Marvel lore every year, rather than reading it in its entirety.
If you are a Marvel Fan as a whole, not just a specific character I might recommend:
- Civil War
- Infinity Gauntlet
- The Seige
- The Illuminati
- Planet Hulk
- World War Hulk
- House of M
- Secret Wars (the original)
I also never gave a rats a** about Thor comics until I read the new-er series that came out awhile ago that was done by Straczynski and Copiel. I own that run on TPB also, FANTASTIC stuff.
You mentioned Spider-Man specifically I think.
He was my favorite title to read when I was really into it. If you haven't already, these are some of my favorite TPB stories:
- Kraven's Last Hunt (Ive read this one hundreds of times!)
- Spider-Man: One More Day (YES I LIKED THIS STORY!!)- Acts of Vengeance
Hope some of this helps!