@kaijuking:Spawn Issue 10 isn't featured in the Origins TPBs or the original TPBs. I think it's only in Omnibuses. Superman/Batman Metalmen 3 story arc is only collected in the Ultimate collections of the Superman/Batman line.
@phisigmatau: Same. I always look for the trades because it's guaranteed to have all the issues to compose a story. With issues, it's not a guarantee that I'll find the individual issues for a story arc. I might have to go that route to get the remainder of GI Joe Reloaded because the Acts of Treason TPB seems to have never been made which stinks, and IDW never made TPBs for the Reloaded stuff just Marvel and DDP's ARAH comics.
Also, public libraries and standard book stores such as Barnes & Nobles only carry trade paperbacks and graphic novels.
That's part of the reason I think the industry should just move to Graphic Novels/Trades. Those sell much better than issues. They're also more accessible.
Good blog. You raise a lot of good points. I think the industry will do just fine and more media adaptations will continue to get people into comics. I started reading Invincible after watching the show. I have friends who started reading comics after watching so many CBMs that they wanted to get into comics and asked me for recommendations. On a statistical level, the industry is doing well. Here are the 2021 sales according to Comichron.
Comics and graphic novel sales topped $1.2 billion in 2019, according to a new joint estimate by Comichron's John Jackson Miller and ICv2's Milton Griepp. Total comics and graphic novel sales to consumers in the U.S. and Canada were approximately $1.21 billion in 2019, an 11% increase over sales in 2018.
This is helpful. It shows that the industry as a whole is still in good shape and thriving. Here are the 2020 numbers.
Interesting review, I'll definitely keep this in mind whenever I see it. I definitely have high hopes and I'm more excited for this than anything the DCEU has to offer, WB has dropped the ball on that so badly. So seeing Reeves handle Batman without the studio actively interfering with the project like they do with so many DCEU movies is a positive. However, from your review, it sounds like my only concern was validated was that it tries way too hard to reinvent the Dark Knight instead of going in a more original direction. Also, it's interesting that you critiqued Zoe Kravitz and Robert Pattinson's portrayals because most reviews have vaulted them as the best Catwoman and Batman in live-action. I was never really impressed with Zoe's bits in the trailers. I didn't get much of Pattinson in those trailers. Though I had heard from Jeremy Jahns' review that the ball on the Bruce Wayne/Batman dichotomy was mishandled and that Bruce acts like Batman all of the time in this movie. That was always a problem I had with the Burton films and Keaton's Batman was there wasn't enough distinction between Bruce and Batman. The Nolan films handled it much better and Bale felt like he was playing three different characters depending on the situation. Affleck was never really given an opportunity to flesh that dichotomy out because he never got a solo movie. Speaking of Ben Affleck, I'm curious would you have liked to see the version of The Batman that he directed, wrote, and starred in if it had ever happened?
Interesting list, I don't feel like doing a top 10 because some of the items that made the top are films I thought were mediocre and wouldn't really be deserving of a top 10 spot had I seen more 2021 movies. So I'll instead rank all the 2021 movies I saw from best to worst. 1 being the best, 18 being the worst.
2021 movies ranked from best to worst
1. Spider-Man No Way Home
2. Dune
3. The Suicide Squad
4. Zack Snyder's Justice League
5. Candyman
6. No Time To Die
7. Shang Chi The Legend of the Ten Rings.
8. Don't Look Up
9. Nobody
10. Venom Let There Be Carnage
11. Mortal Kombat
12. Snake Eyes GI Joe Origins
13. Black Widow
14. Matrix Resurrections
15. Tom Clancy's Without Remorse
16. The Eternals
17. Spiral From the Book of Saw
18. Halloween Kills
I feel like if I had seen more 2021 movies that Nobody and Venom 2 wouldn't be in the top 10. As an added bonus I'll leave my fan film ranking here too because I love those things.
@monsterstomp: The second ASM film wasn't received well by critics, the first was actually well received. The first Amazing Spider-Man was "certified fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes.
@ravenvice01: Yeap. Especially given that TMNT has been owned by various comic publishers. You have to have the Mirage TMNT Comics, the Archie TMNT Comics, Image/Dreamwave Comics, and the IDW TMNT Comics. I like that IDW is willing to do reprints of all the previous TMNT comics prior to acquiring the property.
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