New Listener? New to Comics? Don't be afraid. Ask Away!

[Chris]

With the New DC 52 I've noticed a jump in AC downloads & plenty of new forum members & twitter followers.

I REALLY hope that these are new comic readers that are testing the waters of the online comics communities. In that spirit, I want anyone and everyone to know that no question about comics is too basic. Feel free to ask anything and the larger 11 O'Clock community will be here to help.

Promise!

[slurmo]

So glad you're doing this thread Chris. Saw your tweet about it.

Any new people we're here to help 
Glad to have you aboard!

[leafinsectman (Dan)]

Good idea and nice to have this thread as a sticky.

Feel free to ask anything and the larger 11 O'Clock community will be here to help.

Glad to have you aboard!

[valance_the_hunter]

I know a lot of people who have fallen along the wayside comic book wise and are using 52 as a jumping on point.  This forum is great for them too.  

[BobBretall]

I'm not new, but I have a question that got lost in the "why isn't Amanda Waller heavy anymore" furor over on the DC thread......

On the subject of Batwoman #1......why is Kate Kane's skin so white.  Maybe I missed something, but she is beyond "redhead pale" (I know, my wife is a redhead).   She is drawn with a vampire/albino white skin tone.

Maybe I'm forgetting some issue where she went to the skin-bleaching clinic with Michael Jackson......  Or does she liberally apply clown makeup over her whole body every morning?

I'm serious.  Is there something that happened to make her skin that white?

(Other than that, I loved Batwoman #1....)

[Lucien21]

I's probably just a design decision to make the red and black stand out more in the art.

I certainly don't look that White even with my red hair.

[BobBretall]

I certainly don't look that White even with my red hair.

That's why it stood out for me.  I spend all day looking at redheads (my wife & 2 sons) and I've never seen a redhead that is vampire-skin white.  

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had some verified insight on this coloring.   Is it just a bizarre style choice because Williams and/or colorist Dave Stewart has never seen a redhead in real life, or is there an actual story reason for it that I missed somewhere.

[Chris]

I think it's 2 things.
A - To really make the red stand out.
B - My guess is to show that she just doesn't get out in the sun much. Night time is the right time for fighting crime.

[Jon O]

She was super pale in Elegy as well.  I thought Kate Kane was just a pasty woman, but when I just went back and looked through Elegy she's way paler as Batwoman than a civilian. This doesn't seem as pronounced in the new book.  Way back in 52 she had a normal skin tone.  And that's probably more information on a fictional characters complexion than any of us needed.

[badartdog]

Remember in 52 she was

was murdered and revived - does something that old need a spoiler?

- maybe the stark whiteness is due to that or to remind us.

[LA Rabbit]

I'm not new, but I have a question

OK, Bob started so now I can ask my dumb question.  I know there are some printing experts out there.  This might be the most ridiculous question ever, but here goes . . . .
The last few months I have noticed that on many of the Marvel^TM brand comics, the dang staple that binds the books seems off center.  I wouldn't care except that it pinches the pages prior to the staple unnecessarily close and cuts off the interior margins.  What is going on with that?  We can put a horse on the moon but we can't put a

ding-dang¹

$2.99 comic together correctly?  Is it me?  Am I crazy?  While we are at it, if someone could figure out why this bothers me, it would probably help me out.



¹Apologies if my language offends

[whirlwindx]

OK, Bob started so now I can ask my dumb question.  I know there are some printing experts out there.  This might be the most ridiculous question ever, but here goes . . . .
The last few months I have noticed that on many of the Marvel^TM brand comics, the dang staple that binds the books seems off center.  I wouldn't care except that it pinches the pages prior to the staple unnecessarily close and cuts off the interior margins.  What is going on with that?  We can put a horse on the moon but we can't put a

ding-dang¹

$2.99 comic together correctly?  Is it me?  Am I crazy?  While we are at it, if someone could figure out why this bothers me, it would probably help me out.

¹Apologies if my language offends

This happens to me at random. A production type of thing? Sometimes with glue as well.

[JoeyN]

Sometimes with glue as well.

I used to get that a lot in DC books.

[Steve Raker]

OK, Bob started so now I can ask my dumb question.  I know there are some printing experts out there.  This might be the most ridiculous question ever, but here goes . . . .
The last few months I have noticed that on many of the Marvel^TM brand comics, the dang staple that binds the books seems off center.  I wouldn't care except that it pinches the pages prior to the staple unnecessarily close and cuts off the interior margins.  What is going on with that?

That's right up there with when there's a mis-cut interior page & there 's that uneven, tumor of paper at the corner, folded in to hide the error till you start reading the book....that's the printing process......how reliable are the best printers out there for these kind of companies to use? Do they skimp and 'get what they pay for', or is it just they way it is for jobs this big on paper like this?

[Gerard van der Waal]

Yeah, not a new reader or a new listener, but this strikes me sometimes: How come, on the books that are released in October, companies like DC and Marvel often print December somewhere in the vicinity of the bar code???

Isn't it confusing enough that you have to order these things three months in advance without them putting the name of yet another month on the front?!?!

Thanks in advance for answering a stupid question...

[bean6344]

Yeah, not a new reader or a new listener, but this strikes me sometimes: How come, on the books that are released in October, companies like DC and Marvel often print December somewhere in the vicinity of the bar code???

Isn't it confusing enough that you have to order these things three months in advance without them putting the name of yet another month on the front?!?!

Thanks in advance for answering a stupid question...

I think hat goes back to the news stand days.  When the comic book reached the month on the cover, the vendor could strip the cover and return it for credit as an unsold item.   This is also where the "cover stripping" practice originated that Marvel has been spinning by having sellers strip DC books to get an exclusive Marve Cover in return.

Bean

[soup23]

New reader to comics here.  Never got into them as a kid as I had other interests (baseball cards, pro wrestling, power rangers , etc).  Have also enjoyed Batman whether it be the cartoons or movies and finally decided to check out the new 52 based on some hype I was receiving from friends.  I picked up Justice League, Batman, and Flash.  I thought Justice League 1 was ok, but really enjoyed Justice League 2.  I thought Batman 1 and 2 and Flash 1 were fantastic.  I am only wanting to spend around $20.00 a month to this hobby, so my question is which comic besides these do you recommend me adding.  I would like to stay in the DC universe to not get too convoluted.  I think I would mainly perfer super heroes but am not oppossed to trying something like OMAC if the overwhelming opinion is that it is something you can jump right into.  Batgirl seems interesting to me as it seems like familar territory (Batman, Gotham, etc) but with a new character for me to learn about.  Let me know what you think and thanks for the responses.

[Dean S.]

New reader to comics here.  Never got into them as a kid as I had other interests (baseball cards, pro wrestling, power rangers , etc).  Have also enjoyed Batman whether it be the cartoons or movies and finally decided to check out the new 52 based on some hype I was receiving from friends.  I picked up Justice League, Batman, and Flash.  I thought Justice League 1 was ok, but really enjoyed Justice League 2.  I thought Batman 1 and 2 and Flash 1 were fantastic.  I am only wanting to spend around $20.00 a month to this hobby, so my question is which comic besides these do you recommend me adding.  I would like to stay in the DC universe to not get too convoluted.  I think I would mainly perfer super heroes but am not oppossed to trying something like OMAC if the overwhelming opinion is that it is something you can jump right into.  Batgirl seems interesting to me as it seems like familar territory (Batman, Gotham, etc) but with a new character for me to learn about.  Let me know what you think and thanks for the responses.

I'm mostly a Marvel and "other" reader, so I can't help you too much on individual titles in the DCU.  But...my advice would be to start with whatever seems interesting to you.  Read that until it bores you and then switch to something else.  There are so many good comics being published today that there's no excuse for reading anything that you don't really enjoy. 

But....for the comics you've listed, I think that's a pretty good set.  Batman is great.  Justice League is going to be somewhere between good and great with the current creative team.  With your budget, I'd be a little cautious about dipping toes into other parts of the Bat-universe because it quickly can become tempting to get them all.  I always find that I'm able to read ONE title from Batman, X-Men, etc., but if I add a second title I quickly find myself reading all of them.

[Gerard van der Waal]

I think hat goes back to the news stand days.  When the comic book reached the month on the cover, the vendor could strip the cover and return it for credit as an unsold item.   This is also where the "cover stripping" practice originated that Marvel has been spinning by having sellers strip DC books to get an exclusive Marve Cover in return.

Bean

Thanks, that makes as much sense as could be expected of the direct market...

[Dean S.]

I think hat goes back to the news stand days.  When the comic book reached the month on the cover, the vendor could strip the cover and return it for credit as an unsold item.   This is also where the "cover stripping" practice originated that Marvel has been spinning by having sellers strip DC books to get an exclusive Marve Cover in return.

Bean

I think that's right.  Didn't they also do it so that newsstands could keep the comic on the shelf for longer before it looked out of date?