Comics: The Meaning

com-ics (kom'iks)n. plural in form, used with a singular verb. 1. Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.

"If Comics' spectacularly varied past is any indication, comics' future will be virtually impossible to predict using the standards of the present.... Those of you who make comics for a living - or would like to someday, probably know that keeping up with all the advances in today's comics is a full-time job. However much we may try to understand the world of comics around us, a part of that world will always lie in shadow - a mystery.... As it is, it should be kept in mind at all times that this world is only one of many possible worlds!
Our attempts to define comics are an on-going process which won't end anytime soon. A new generation will no doubt reject whatever this one finally decides to accept and try once more to reinvent comics. And so they should. Here's to the great debate."

Excerpts and paraphrased from the amazing Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art."

Monday, May 21, 2012

TOP 10 - AVENGERS GRAPHIC NOVELS YOU MUST READ!

The Avengers movie is the biggest movie of all time and has sucked in legions of new fans and brought back old fans into the world of comic books.  What a great time to be a comic fan.  So you loved the movie and have seen it multiple times and are now left with this empty void as what to do next with your obsession with the Avengers.  Don't know what to read?  Don't know where to start?  Here is where you start with the Avengers!

01 - AVENGERS OMNIBUS VOL. 01
BY STAN LEE & JACK KIRBY
The Avengers, comics’ greatest super team, burst onto the scene in 1963 at the forefront of revolutionary Marvel Age of Comics. Iron Man, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Ant-Man and the Wasp joined together to face the menace of Loki — and set off on a streak of tales that nearly 50 years later still sets the trend for super-hero epics. From Captain America’s return from the icy depths of the Atlantic to the first appearances of classic enemies like Kang the Conqueror to the game-changing introduction of a trio of former villains into their ranks — Avengers was a bona-fide comic-book blockbuster! And you’ll experience every story, every villain, even every letters page in this painstakingly restored Omnibus collection — written by Stan “The Man”‌ Lee, and illustrated by Jack Kirby and Don Heck. It’s a must-have for every Marvel fan’s collections — so reserve your copy today, True Believer! Collecting AVENGERS (1963) #1-30.
 
02 - AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED
BY BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS & DAVID FINCH
In possibly the worst day in Avengers history, an unknown assailant caused catastrophic events that would bring about the end of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes. These actions left some critically injured while others would die at the hands of their enemies. If not for the aid of Doctor Strange, who uncovered that the attacks were magic based, the Avengers might never have revealed, or defeated ...
 
03 - NEW AVENGERS VOL. 01 - BREAKOUT
NEW AVENGERS VOL. 1 #0
BY BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS & DAVID FINCH
In the aftermath of "Avengers Disassembled" come the New Avengers! With the Avengers disbanded following an attack by one of the team’s oldest members, a shadowy villain has taken advantage of their absence to initiate his ominous plans. Employing Electro to disrupt the electrical systems of the maximum-security prison known as the Raft, hundreds of super-powered villains are freed to wreak havoc on New York. Without the Avengers to answer the call, a group of heroes must form a makeshift alliance to subdue the rampaging villains and save the city. In the heat of battle, this new team fills the void left by the Avengers’ demise --- the New Avengers. After shocking the Marvel fans with the series-shattering "Avengers Disassembled" storyline, writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Finch begin an all-new chapter in Marvel Comics history with New Avengers. Featuring a cast of fan-favorite characters including Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman teamed with the hard-edged heroes Luke Cage and the Sentry, New Avengers presents a 21st-century revitalization of the classic Avengers concept. Plus: The mystery of the Sentry revealed! The Avengers try to help the most powerful super hero in the world figure out who he is and where he came from! But will this knowledge destroy the man they’re trying to help? Collecting NEW AVENGERS #1-10, NEW AVENGERS MOST WANTED FILES and NEW AVENGERS GUEST STARRING THE FANTASTIC FOUR, a never-before reprinted salute to the real-life heroes of the U.S. military.
04 - ULTIMATES THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION
BY MARK MILLAR & BRYAN HITCH
Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. The X-Men and Magneto. Strange beings with incredible powers have risen up to challenge the old order, and ordinary citizens are scared witless. The government's solution: a small but lethal army known as the Ultimates, created to protect us all from the newly rising threats to mankind! Millar and Hitch's widescreen super-hero epic helped define Marvel's then-new Ultimate line pf comics. Now you can own all the action across two titanic trade paperbacks! Collects Ultimates #1-13.
 
05 - AVENGERS/DEFENDERS WAR
 BY STEVE ENGLEHART & SAL BUSCEMA
Captain America. Iron Man. Thor. Doctor Strange. Namor the Sub-Mariner. The Hulk. The world's greatest heroes at the forefront of its two most titanic teams! But when the dread Dormammu and the lying Loki manipulate the Defenders and Avengers in an effort to obtain the awesome Evil Eye, the groups' first team-up is almost their last! Hero vs. Hero across the world, with world-destroying power as the stake! Guest-starring Sunfire and Prester John, later of Cable and Deadpool fame! Collects Avengers #115-118, Defenders #8-11
 
06 - AVENGERS KREE/SKRULL WAR
BY ROY THOMAS & NEAL ADAMS
Caught in the crossfire, Earth has become the staging ground for a conflict of star-spanning proportions! For those eternal intergalactic enemies, the merciless Kree and the shape-changing Skrulls, have gone to war, and our planet is situated on the front lines! Can Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers, bring about an end to the fighting before humanity becomes a casualty of war? And what good are even a dozen super-powered champions against the vast military machines of two of the great empires of the cosmos? The key to victory lies with the expatriate Kree Captain Mar-Vell and his human host, honorary Avenger Rick Jones! Featuring the trend-setting artwork of Neal Adams, the Kree/Skrull War is universally acknowledged as one of the finest and most important sagas in the Marvel canon.
 
 07 - AVENGERS UNDER SIEGE
Image Featuring Captain America (Steve Rogers), Thor, Monica Rambeau, Avengers
BY RON STERN & SAL BUSCEMA
Home are the heroes, but the villains are waiting for them! Avengers Mansion becomes the site of one of the team's greatest battles when Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil take down Earth's Mightiest Heroes one by one, one seemingly forever! Plus: an odyssey of Avengers, Alpha Flight and Atlantean civil war! Guest-starring Ant-Man, Doctor Druid and Paladin, later of Thunderbolts fame!
 08 - THE INFINITY GAUNTLET (THE SOON TO BE INSPIRATION FOR AVENGERS 2)
BY JIM STARLIN, GEORGE PEREZ & RON LIM
For the dark Titan, Thanos, the Infinity Gauntlet was the Holy Grail, the ultimate prize to be coveted above all else. With it came omnipotence: the absolute control of all aspects of time, space, power, reality, the mind and the soul. The gaining of supreme might meant the beginning of a black nightmare for the entire universe. Now, on the edge of Armageddon and led by the mysterious Adam Warlock, Earth's super heroes join in a desperate attempt to thwart this nihilistic god's insane plunge into galactic self-destruction. Should the heroes fail, the astral gods of the universe wait to step into the fray. But in such an awesome cosmic conflict will anyone prevail? Will anyone survive? Collects Infinity Gauntlet #1-6.
 
09 - NEW AVENGERS VOL. 02 - THE SENTRY
NEW AVENGERS (2007) #9 (JOHN ROMITA SR. VARIANT) COVER
BY BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS & STEVE MCNIVEN
The Avengers try to help the most powerful super-hero in the world figure out who he is and where he came from! But will this knowledge destroy the man they are trying to help? Collecting New Avengers #7-10 and New Avengers Most Wanted Files.
 
10 - JLA/AVENGERS
BY KURT BUSIEK & GEORGE PEREZ
The once-in-a-lifetime crossover that brought two super-teams together and rocked the comics world is at last available in trade paperback! Own the entire 4-issue co-publishing event between DC and Marvel and written by Kurt Busiek (TRINITY, Marvels) with stunning art by George PĂ©rez (final crisis: legion of three worlds, Avengers). This collection also features introductions by original Avengers writer/editor Stan Lee and JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA editor Julius Schwartz.
LIVE IT LIKE YOU LOVE IT!
 
D&J COMICS

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