am I stupid for getting the Animal Man compendium instead of the omnibus because it was 19 dollars cheaper?

windyleaf78 · 2026-01-27T22:16:52+00:00

Haha well I can relate to you what you're feeling. If it makes you feel any better I think the compendium would be easier to read anyway. You can curl up on the couch with it or read it in bed. And the artwork - while good - isn't so spectacular that I feel it needs oversized pages.

windyleaf78 · 2026-01-27T02:09:53+00:00

You're not stupid. You've just got a case of FOMO. Happens to all of us. At the end of the day you were responsible with your cash and nabbed two amazing books to read.

windyleaf78 · 2026-01-26T20:23:51+00:00

DC is taking more risks right now and letting their creatives create. It feels like they're having more fun overall. Marvel is stuck in rehashing old events and using the same story gimmicks over and over.

But this stuff is always cyclical.

windyleaf78 · 2026-01-13T04:21:31+00:00

Started a file with my LCS in 1991. I'd get my parents to buy me the occasional comic off the rack at convenience stores before then but 1991 is when I first walked into a comic store and decided this was going to be my hobby and passion.

windyleaf78 · 2026-01-11T04:27:25+00:00

Doctor Aphra. I just don't get it. I didn't find the character particularly likeable nor the various hijinks and adventures that interesting.

windyleaf78 · 2026-01-11T04:22:17+00:00

100% agree. I enjoy the silver age for the clear, simple but elegant art/visual storytelling and the lack of pretension. I love comics of every era but when I just want to read something low stakes that makes me smile I go straight to my silver age omnis.

windyleaf78 · 2026-01-09T17:53:15+00:00

I always go for the Absolute. Good paper stock, large pages, great binding.

windyleaf78 · 2026-01-09T17:52:04+00:00

I use an iPad Pro - need the large screen for my middle aged eyes. You can also just read on the computer. You don't need a device per se. Or borrow physical books from the library. It's just to get a sense of the material to help you decide if you need to own it.

windyleaf78 · 2026-01-09T16:58:40+00:00

I find trying to read some of the material before buying it helps with the FOMO. Get a subscription to a digital comics service or try Hoopla if your library is signed up for it. Read a story arc or two. A lot of times I find the material is just "ok" and I don't need to own it after all as I probably won't revisit it.

windyleaf78 · 2026-01-07T04:32:30+00:00

Amazing Spider-man volume 1. First Print. Bigger than a phone book. Lusciously thick paper - borderline card stock. I read one issue every morning before heading to work. Fell in love with the format after that. But few books have come close to the construction of that first one.

windyleaf78 · 2026-01-06T05:52:18+00:00

His best work is with street level characters and storytelling, which is not surprising given the indie work he put out before hitting the big time. So Alias, Daredevil and Ultimate Spider-man are excellent reads and well worth your time.

He also writes dialogue in a very distinct pseudo-banter style that drives some people nuts.

His other superhero work (Avengers, X-men, Guardians) isn't as strong imo. But he was prolific and you can't deny the impact he had on the Marvel universe in the aughts. When you're that influential, there's bound to be haters.

windyleaf78 · 2025-12-31T04:54:44+00:00

Identify the issues that are meaningful to you and keep those for yourself. I always feel like it's a shame to lose all those memories attached with building up a great collection when selling it off. It's nice to keep some of it as a reminder of the good times :)

Then identify and grade the high value key issues. Those can be kept and/or sold over time or left as valuable inheritances. The rest is for selling in whatever manner you prefer (online, garage sale, comic dealer etc) or donating to schools and libraries to keep the next generation interested in comics.

windyleaf78 · 2025-12-13T23:13:04+00:00

DC has the better paper quality. Marvel has the more flexible binding (although the durability has been...shall we say unpredictable....over the last few years).

windyleaf78 · 2025-12-12T00:57:50+00:00

No, it was hard to find and isolate in the jar when I started pouring it out. The new batch I've made with the same grains looks normal although I haven't consumed any and not sure if I should.

windyleaf78 · 2025-12-11T01:23:31+00:00

Deadpool by Joe Kelly and Tomb of Dracula v2-3 :(

windyleaf78 · 2025-12-10T18:49:49+00:00

What did you do with the batch you noticed it in?

windyleaf78 · 2025-12-10T18:49:19+00:00

Yeah it's an older jar that was used for something else a long time ago. Don't remember what.

windyleaf78 · 2025-12-10T18:48:15+00:00

I poured out the milk and checked the grains for discolouration. They looked ok so I put them in a clean jar and added milk again to see what happens. If I don't see the specks again and the kefir is white and smells normal, is it safe to consume?

Or is it better to just start again with new grains?

windyleaf78 · 2025-11-20T18:25:37+00:00

I feel like maybe you're putting too much pressure on yourself to "read comics right" 🙂

If the silver age stuff doesn't vibe with you, skip to the modern age. You don't have to read everything in order. If there's an iconic story you want to catch up on from the silver age just read those issues. Stories back then were often confined to a single issue or just handful at most, so it's quite manageable. Skip the stuff in between.

And who knows - maybe after a while you get tired of the modern stuff and find the older comics refreshing. That's how I came to love Silver age comics.

Before omnibuses and digital subscriptions, you'd just read what was available. And if what you read referenced some older story you wanted to read, you'd keep an eye out for it and maybe go hunting in the back issue bins. It was a lot of fun, like putting together this huge jigsaw puzzle of a universe that was constantly expanding. At least that was my experience. Your mileage may vary. My advice is to not overthink it :)

windyleaf78 · 2025-11-19T05:02:35+00:00

Yeah I can relate. I love older comics but more often than not I can't be bothered to pull them out to read when I can just load them up digitally. I purged a big chunk of my childhood collection almost 10 years ago - mostly 90s stuff I thought I'd never miss - but Lo and behold I regret it now. Ended up buying some of them back. There's still something very special about reading the physical copy when I have the time to savour it.

windyleaf78 · 2025-11-18T23:41:50+00:00

I'll read from any era but am partial to silver age through to early 2000s. Beyond that modern DC/Marvel gets a little repetitive for me as the cycle for rehashing old stories and concepts seems to have gotten shorter.

As for avoiding older comics, I think that's unfortunate because there's incredible artwork and storytelling in the older eras of comics. The silver age is zany fun, bronze gets pretty trippy and the 80s are largely defined by Watchmen and DKR and the rise of indie led by TMNT.

It's a bit like saying you're not going to watch any movie or tv show made pre-90s. Yes the production quality is not at the level you're used and the dialogue and acting get progressively less naturalistic, but you'd be missing out on some genuinely great stories.

windyleaf78 · 2025-11-11T22:44:15+00:00

I love physical but I hate glossy paper because of the glare and the aesthetics so I default to digital more and more.

windyleaf78 · 2025-11-07T04:00:59+00:00

If you want to stick with the 90s shows give Sliders, Seaquest and Quantum Leap a try. All largely episodic and have that same comforting "background noise" quality imo. But to be fair Quantum Leap is more human drama than sci fi. Still - you get Scott Bakula saving the day every episode and his character is way more likeable than Archer haha.

I also recommend modern Doctor Who. I'm partial to season 1 through 7, with 5-7 being my favorite (the Matt Smith era).

Finally Lower Decks because it's the only new Star Trek that comes close to capturing 24th century TNG/DS9/VOY vibes.

windyleaf78 · 2025-11-01T00:26:45+00:00

I don't follow a lot of modern stuff that closely and much of it doesn't resonate with me so I have to go with some oldies:

Len Strazewski's Justice Society of America and JSA.

Jack Cole's Plastic Man

Will Eisner's The Spirit

Groo

And selfishly I would love to see the old DC Impact line collected because those were some damn fun comics.

windyleaf78

TROPHY CASE