What Do You Prefer to Read: Solo Characters or Team?

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infantfinite128

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Poll What Do You Prefer to Read: Solo Characters or Team? (31 votes)

Solo Characters 61%
Team Characters 39%

Do you prefer to read comics of solo characters or teams? It's tough but no ties.

Give your favorite solo story/comic book run or your favorite team story/comic book run after voting to show the best of the best, and why one wins out over the others.

While Batman and Spider-man may be the most popular superheroes, but there was a time when DC's most popular comics was Marv Wolfman's and George Perez's The New Teen Titans and Marvel's most popular comics was Christ Claremont's Uncanny X-Men, so it'll interesting to hear what you guys all think.

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deactivated-63a9b6c4ccaff

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Personally, i usually start reading team books and if some character catches my eye, i take a look on their solo runs

My favorite solo run is probably Invincible, or Green Lantern (Johns)

Although X-Men are my favorite team as a whole, my favorite team runs would be Hal jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (Venditti), or Busiek's Avengers

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infantfinite128

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@firefly894: That's a great point about team books being a good entry point. It's a reason why I'm struggling between the two options because team books are such a helpful jumping on point. It's also a reason why events can be great.

Also, you put Green Lantern Corps up with Busiek's Avengers?

Woah. I want to read it now.

This thread was actually somewhat inspired by me recently reading Busiek's Avengers. I just read up to the Ultron stuff and I loved it. If it remains just as good, it could be my favorite team book, and maybe my favorite take on Captain America. Captain America rocks in the issues so far.

And the reason why I read is because of @combo-man writing about it. Thank you @combo-man man!

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Ghostodoofus2

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Solos, I prefer deeper character studies.

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infantfinite128

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cocacolaman

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#5 cocacolaman  Moderator

Solos tend to make for better character driven stories and teams tend to make for better plot driven stories in my experience

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NamelessMonster

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Both.

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infantfinite128

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Solos tend to make for better character driven stories and teams tend to make for better plot driven stories in my experience

Yes, and that's what's making it tough because they're both so good.

I'm leaning toward solo for sake of fandom investment.

Both.

I'll choose, if you do.

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skywalker95

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Teams.

Multiple dynamics and a variety of characters interacting make it much more interesting for me.

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infantfinite128

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@ghostodoofus2 Just thought of something. Have you read Batman: No Man's Land? That's a book that focused on the broader psychology of Gotham City. Not sure if that would be considered a team book, but that storyline shows the potential for a bunch of intimate character studies for a team book.

Also, I think a reason why Marv Wolfman's and George Perez's New Teen Titans took off was because of the deeper characterizations compared to what people associated with DC.

And, did you think the level of character study from Watchmen was deep enough to be satisfactory?

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anthp2000

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#10 anthp2000  Moderator

You'd think team-ups make for better plot-driven stories, but honestly my experience with the medium tells me even that is hardly the case. It is definitely solos for me.

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ProfessorRespect

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Team dynamics when done right.

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infantfinite128

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Ghostodoofus2

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@infantfinite128: The first 600 issues of Amazing Spider-Man and any multi-title story arcs it branches into.

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Ghostodoofus2

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#14  Edited By Ghostodoofus2

@infantfinite128: I've not read No Man's Land but absolutely loved Wolfman and Perez's Titans run, it was definitely more ground-breaking for DC at the time as the Titans were shown to be far more personally involved in the team, the JLA at the time acted more like co-workers than family. Watchmen offered great studies for Manhattan, Rorschach and Ozymandias which I believe was satisfactory as those three characters were the most important in the sense that they each represented a point-of-view, you've got Ozy's extreme utilitarianism which conflicted with Rorschach's views based on truth, then you've got Manhattan accepting nature and refusing to interfere.

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infantfinite128

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@ghostodoofus2: If you had to pick a single run though, what would it be? I understand it being tough because Spider-man's continuity was so good for so long.

Interesting that you read Wolfman's and Perez's Titans, but not surprising, because of Perez. I never finished it but when I read it when I was younger I enjoyed it more than Chris Claremont's X-Men. It helped me get into DC comics instead of being a Batman/Marvel guy.

It's good that the JLA act more like co-workers than family since they're adults with responsibilities of their own, but a reason why I enjoyed reading younger characters like Titans and Spider-man is because they had the room develop being younger characters.

A problem with modern superhero stuff is that creators make the adults act like teenagers to give them growth, and it's weird. They should act there age. A reason I think the upcoming Batman movie looks lousy is because he's a man acting like a teenager. No thanks. I saw some of Gotham with a teenage Bruce, and it was reasonable the way he was acting, because he was a teenager!

I agree that those were the 3 most important Watchmen characters (although, maybe the Comedian would join them), and, it's a shame Alan Moore acts so oddly that people gravitated to Rorschach. Nite Owl and Silk Spectre weren't very pleasant.

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SAR_Annihilator

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Solo.

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infantfinite128

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Rhubarb

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#18  Edited By Rhubarb

Have no problem with solos, but i guess my favourite characters are all in teams so i have to go with teams.

Favourite team run: Legion of Superheroes Vol 6 or Simones Secret Six Vol 1 or Suicide Squad Vol 6 or The Terrifics Vol 1

Favourite solo: Darth Vader 2017 or Dr Aphra 2016 or Green Lantern new 52

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deactivated-64456b84cf5e8

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I have read No Mans Land a few weeks ago. It was basically a crossover. On topic though I usually prefer reading team books at their peak. I usually think a character can flourish even more so in a team book if it is written dynamically. Take 52 or Watchmen for instance.

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infantfinite128

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@rhubarb said:

Have no problem with solos, but i guess my favourite characters are all in teams so i have to go with teams.

Favourite team run: Legion of Superheroes Vol 6 or Simones Secret Six Vol 1 or Suicide Squad Vol 6 or The Terrifics Vol 1

Favourite solo: Darth Vader 2017 or Dr Aphra 2016 or Green Lantern new 52

Nice.

Thanks for listing runs.

Not familiar with Legion of Superheroes or The Terrifics so will have to look into that.

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infantfinite128

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#21  Edited By infantfinite128
@vishop_ said:

I have read No Mans Land a few weeks ago. It was basically a crossover. On topic though I usually prefer reading team books at their peak. I usually think a character can flourish even more so in a team book if it is written dynamically. Take 52 or Watchmen for instance.

What did you think? I thought it was inconsistent quality, and the writing got weaker near the end, but the big picture psychology of Gotham was great. Really enjoyed the Cataclysm lead up.

And thanks for giving examples.

Agreed on what you said about character. As good as Frank Miller's Daredevil was, a team book like Watchmen or New Teen Titans had deeper character stuff going on.

I'm leaning toward team books again.

Would you choose 52 or Watchmen as your favorite Team Book?

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Penguin-Dust

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Generally, I prefer team books because I enjoy character interaction most. The Fantastic Four, Doom Patrol, New Mutants and the various Justice Leagues have been some of my favorite books for years. This isn’t true for every character book, of course. I prefer Hulk solo because he’s meant to be isolated and shunned by society.

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Ghostodoofus2

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@infantfinite128: I wholeheartedly agree with you, yes younger characters have greater room for growth and character development, it's part of why I love Spidey so much. Hmm, it's difficult to pick a single favourite comic book run when you've enjoyed reading so many, I pick Lee's run of Spider-Man, I read it five years ago and never before have I felt so connected to a fictional character.

Well I look forward to the new Batman movie to see Robert Pattinson prove himself as an actor, he's currently a bit of an underdog albeit a highly talented one. I don't expect it to be anywhere close to my favourite interpretation of Batman, that being the one by Alan Grant, but I believe I'll have a good time if I go in with modest expectations; I also believe in Matt Reeves as a director and in Paul Dano playing Riddler.

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SamJackson

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Depends on the solo character. I’ll take a solo Mace Windu story over pretty much any team story.

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infantfinite128

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@Penguin-Dust: Is that preference for Hulk being solo have to do with a power fantasy angle of having one stand out character?

Do you have a favorite run to nominate to showcase your enjoyment for peak team book character interaction?

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deactivated-64456b84cf5e8

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@infantfinite128:

What did you think? I thought it was inconsistent quality, and the writing got weaker near the end, but the big picture psychology of Gotham was great. Really enjoyed the Cataclysm lead up.

It started out pretty strong but when it got divided into "Batman sidekicks" it got pretty meh. Still, there were a few things that actually turn out decent. Like Cassandra Cain or Leslie.

And thanks for giving examples.

Agreed on what you said about character. As good as Frank Miller's Daredevil was, a team book like Watchmen or New Teen Titans had deeper character stuff going on.

I'm leaning toward team books again.

Would you choose 52 or Watchmen as your favorite Team Book?

I see a majority of team books have various ways of elucidating their plot with their worldbuilding or character focus. Whereas it gets pretty two-dimensional for me when I read solo(it's either villains or heroes) for most of the time. Obviously, there are exceptions like Invincible or even Green Lantern I guess.

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infantfinite128

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@ghostodoofus2: Great choice. I was considering the Stan Lee Spider-man or Tom DeFalco Spider-man as my nomination if I chose solo.

Great choice on Alan Grant Batman being your favorite interpretation. It's a great run.

Good point on the Batman movie. If the performances, visuals, and music are good, it will still be an entertaining movie.

I didn't like the characterization or message of the Joker movie, but since the acting and visuals were good, my interest was held throughout the entire film.

It's just that I don't like the division on the interpretation of the character to the general public similar to how I don't appreciate how the Disney MCU characterizations ingrain more clownish version of the characters as definite versions of the characters to the mass audiences.

For what they are, Joker (for acting and visuals) and MCU (for overall story--definitely not visuals since MCU movies look cheap) movies are actually good movies, but I don't like them.

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infantfinite128

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@vishop_: Appreciate your thoughts. I thought Scarecrow was great in early No Man's Land. Joker was annoying.

Thanks for your perspective on team books.

Did you like Invincible? I started reading it but there wasn't much depth to the characters so I bailed. It seemed shallow.

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#29  Edited By Ghostodoofus2

@infantfinite128: Hey, we're pretty likeminded then, I'm not very impressed by the MCU's more comedic interpretations of beloved Marvel icons either, particularly that of Thor. Yeah, Joker was just a Scorsese-inspired film that just incorporated the Batman brand, good movie, but it doesn't do a lot of justice to Batman lore, clearly Todd Philips just wanted to sell tickets by making the main character A Joker (he's definitely not THE Joker) lol.

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infantfinite128

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#30  Edited By infantfinite128

@ghostodoofus2: Man, we are like-minded. I thought of Thor too.

I was recently reading Kurt Busiek's Avengers and Thor is such a noble character so far.

And of course, Walt Simonson's Thor run was so good. It's such that Thor is viewed as a meat-head joke.

The person who wield's the hammer should be someone who is of high nobility.

Ghostodoofus...

Loading Video...

Still like Iron Man in the first Iron Man movie though.

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Solo titles are usually better. Team books often feel crowded

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infantfinite128

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@mcflicky: Do you have a favorite solo book to nominate as a peak example?

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Ghostodoofus2

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#33  Edited By Ghostodoofus2

@infantfinite128: Well, Thor being a God prompted the MCU to try to humanise him more, so he did not act godly, they wanted to make him more relatable and negate that godly, mythical vibe... and that just sucks. No one watches Thor to connect with him, he's the God of freaking Thunder, he's meant to be epic and way above us, he's not meant to be relatable, leave him be lol

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deactivated-64456b84cf5e8

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@vishop_: Appreciate your thoughts. I thought Scarecrow was great in early No Man's Land. Joker was annoying.

Thanks for your perspective on team books.

Did you like Invincible? I started reading it but there wasn't much depth to the characters so I bailed. It seemed shallow.

Because they aren't fully-fledged. It comes along with consistent writing. People usually have the tendency to give up if they are postulant or a bit casual from the begining.

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Mo_Ali

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Solo as I prefer Nightwing much more in his Solo than in Titans or Titans Academy

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infantfinite128

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@vishop_: What do you think about people who don't answer questions about what what they like and instead talk about people in a general sense when it is clearly aimed at the individual they're talking to?

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infantfinite128

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@mo_ali said:

Solo as I prefer Nightwing much more in his Solo than in Titans or Titans Academy

Favorite Nightwing run?

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@mo_ali said:

Solo as I prefer Nightwing much more in his Solo than in Titans or Titans Academy

Favorite Nightwing run?

Well this may be a disappointment but I’ve only read the rebirth one which I loved but I’d love some suggestions on classic nightwing runs.

OT: Though I love the young avengers comic, I’d looove a Wiccan solo series

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infantfinite128

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#39  Edited By infantfinite128

@mo_ali: Definitely recommend Chuck Dixon's Nightwing run. It's the definitive Nightwing run, and another reason why I considered voting solo run over team run in this thread.

And then be sure to follow that up with Peter Tomasi's Nightwing.

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Mo_Ali

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@mo_ali: Definitely recommend Chuck Dixon's Nightwing run. It's the definitive Nightwing run, and another reason why I considered voting solo run over team run in this thread.

And then be sure to follow that up with Peter Tomasi's Nightwing.

Thanks I’ll be sure to read them as soon as I get time

:)

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ANGELICA10

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Both. If the story and the artwork is intriguing I'd definitely read the book

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infantfinite128

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@angelica10: CHOOSE!!!!

And don't forget to list your favorite solo comic run/story or team story!

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infantfinite128

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@mo_ali: Let me know what you think when you get around it! Chuck Dixon's run is so good near the end. It gets epic.