Image Post part II

from Charlie:

Do you have any particular style of storytelling you holad as a standard of good storytelling or subject matter you prefer or that completely turns you off.For my part I follow creative teams or individuals that have delivered what i consider good entertainment. like you I've been around since 92ish and just cannot afford to buy a comic because it's X-men or Batman. I expect a certain level of quality for my 3 dollars and following a property doesn't increase my chances of getting a good book.Because of that i don't follow mush continuity in comics universes therefors i'm able to bounce from ultimates and back again without any much care for the surrounding events in marvels other 28 titles. I ignore crossovers completely as well as the company that publishes a book.I make a few rules as possible for myself either than creative team takes precedent for me. It also allows me to be exposed to new comics, for instance if I'm buying a book with John Romita Jr as the artist, I'm exposed to writers like hudlin, JMS, Millar, Jenkins and if I like what they do on that Jrjr book, i follow them to another project, which exposes me to a new artist whom if I like exposes me to new writers.That way I'm always getting something of value with my comics, which at todays prices i can't get following 4 spider-man titles or what have you.I'd really recommend this approach to you, you'll find over time that you'll cross into every publisher and dozens of genres and be exposed to alot more variation that's available in comics today, all the while having a far better success rate at finding the quality you seek in story and art.Just my humble suggestion.

That is a good rule. For instance, I get anything done by Peter David. I would never have picked up the Hulk otherwise. I remember way back in 86 I bought a New Universe title called MERC (only thing in the grocery store that day as I remember). I ended up buying it every month, even though it didn't last. Years later when I go to catalog my stuff into a computer system, I notice lo and behold that Peter David was the author on those first issues. No wonder I liked the title.

I think I started following properties because that's what DC and Marvel did a lot of the time. Superman had those triangle numbers that went through all the titles. Justice League relied on knowledge from other titles. Marvel ran Mutant crossovers all the time.

When it came down to it, I liked the new X-Factor circa 1992 because Peter David wrote it. I bought X-Force because I thought I had to keep up with the universe. That was when a comic was still $1.25 or so. Can't do that now. (Boy, I wish they'd go back to newsprint, but that's another topic.)