Wayne Markley

by Wayne Markley

For those of you who know me, you know I am not a great one for asking for help in regards to almost anything. I much prefer to muddle through and try and solve the problem or question on my own with thought and research. Well, the time has come where I want to ask the readers of this blog for help. I am not asking for donations to start a new project, and I am not asking for you to give anything other than your opinion. Yes, I want to hear from you. I am going to discuss a few books that I have read over the years and given up on because I was not enjoying them and I am asking you, the readers, to tell me if these books deserve a second chance. I try to give any book a good chance to get my attention, but sometimes they do not click for me and I stop reading them (and I read a lot), but it struck me that maybe I have not been fair to these titles. Since I do read so much I am not overly anxious to start new titles, so I am asking you to tell me what I gave up on too early. I look forward to your comments. Now onto the titles I have abandoned. (And please suggest titles I have not listed here that you enjoy as this is just a partial list of titles I stopped reading.)

Wonder Woman

First off is Wonder Woman. This is a tough title because every month I have read this book and I have sort of enjoyed it, but I get the feeling it would read much better as a trade than a monthly book. I find the stories to be sluggish and convoluted. Am I overlooking the big picture?

Superman

Superman is a book I enjoyed in the beginning, but over the last year I have found the book to get messy and bloated. I liked Perez’s and Jurgen’s early stories (as they reminded me of the classic Superman stories), but as it went on (past issue #10) I just gave up on it. The same is true of Superboy and Supergirl. I liked them early on but as time went on, I found them to be a chore to read.

Age of Apocalypse

Age of Apocalypse. As a general rule of thumb I really like David Lapham’s work but this is one title I could not get into. I read it through issue twelve and I kept getting lost and confused and frustrated. I suspect this might be a book that also reads better in trade format. Alas, the title has been cancelled so I guess it really is not that big of a deal, unless someone can tell me the last story arc was amazing.

Green Lantern Corps

Green Lantern Corps. This was another title I liked early on but, over time, I became less and less interested in it as the stories were not keeping my interest. And by the time I read the next issue in line, I forgot what I had read the prior month. I still read and enjoy the monthly Green Lantern title, but I no longer read Green Lantern Corps or New Guardians for the same reasons. Am I missing out on something? Are Green Lantern Corps and New Guardians really not that good as the monthly Green Lantern title?

Deadpool

The next title I think I do not care for more because it is not my cup of tea vs. it being a bad book. That’s Deadpool. I know Deadpool is extremely popular and has a very loyal following with fans who almost worship the character. I have read a fair amount of Deadpool over the years and I do not find the joy that his fans find. I enjoyed the Deadpool Classic collections, but they are also hit and miss. Should I give the new Deadpool NOW! a try? Am I missing out?

Justice League

Justice League to me has been a disappointment. The art was amazing by Jim Lee (I have written my criticisms of this book a number of times in past columns), but the stories are just plodding and nothing ever seems to happen. To me it reads as filler for a collection that does not interest me. It seems to be missing a strong story to bring me in. I find this odd as Geoff Jones is a great writer and I have really enjoyed a number of books over the years, but this one seems to be missing something.

Swamp Thing

Another writer I really like, but I do not care for one of his titles, is Scott Synder. I really like his Batman stories (not as much as John Layman’s Detective Comics, though) and I loved his miniseries Severed. But I do not enjoy his Swamp Thing. In fact I really dislike it. The whole Rotworld story has left me cold in both Swamp Thing and Animal Man. I think perhaps part of the problem is Synder (and other creators before him) are always trying to live up to what Alan Moore did with the character and no one is Alan Moore (and the time is not the same, culturally). Am I looking for too much in this title?

The Boys

A title people are in love with that just recently wrapped up is The Boys. I did not read past issue #10, but I am willing to go back and read all the collections if someone makes a strong argument for the title. I am traditionally a big fan of Garth Ennis’ writing, but I just never enjoyed this title. I found it to be mean-spirited and just violent and vile for the sake of violence and being vile. I do think I may have missed out on something with this title, but I have yet to find anyone to tell me why I should read this book.

Witchblade

Witchblade is a title a number of people have raved about to me, particularly our own Josh Crawley. He gushes over Ron Marz’s run on the book. Personally, I am a big Ron Marz fan; I loved his Green Lantern and Silver Surfer stories. But Witchblade has always left me cold. Is it the character or is there something in these books that I overlooked? I admit I gave up on the title fairly early on so I can be convinced to go back and read what I missed.

There are a number of other titles I could discuss, but I think this is a good sampling of titles I would like your opinions on. Please feel free to offer other title that I have not mentioned, and if I am not reading them and you can make a case as to why I should, please do so and I will give them a try and write about it in a future blog. If I get enough feedback on this blog, I might do this again with a new crop of titles. As always everything here are my thoughts and do not reflect the thoughts of Westfield Comics or their employees. Any thoughts, comments, or review copies can be sent to MFBWAY@AOL.COM.

Thank you.