What comics are you reading ?

I've been a comic reader since around the age of 6 or 7 and have an attic full of over 5,000 old Marvel and DC's plus over a 1,000 in digital format on Comixology (my digital comics reader of choice).

Graphic art and storytelling isn't a subject I've covered (in more than passing terms) on the blog before so I thought I'd mention it now and cover off what I'm reading on a regular basis.

Being honest I've always been more of a Marvel than a DC guy and although I read the DC staples in the 70' and 80's - Detective, Action Comics, JLA, Flash, Bats, Superman, Teen Titans etc I was always much more into Fantastic Four, X-Men and Avengers and certainly into the 1990's I became almost exclusively Marvel and at the time stuck with Iron Man and the FF mainly with a few X-Men and Spiderman books on occasion. In the early years of marriage (1991 onwards) and then into the noughties I dropped off reading comics for the most part, only buying occasional issues.

The advent of digital comics though has brought me back into the fold and buying an iPad 1 on day of release and now with my trusty IPad 4, comics are once again a mainstay for me. As a general rule I buy four or five books a week on a Friday evening as a reward for finishing work.

At the moment I'm especially enjoying DC's new 52 over Marvel - so I decided to begin reading from issue 1 of the following :

Action Comics
Batman
Batman/Superman
Earth 2
Flash
Green Lantern
Justice League
Stormwatch
Superman Unchained
Swamp Thing

I have stalled with Action, Flash and Green Lantern - didn't get too involved in the comics and in particular for Flash got a bit disappointed with direction of the stories.

I rotate buying the other books so that I can try something different each week and because I'm behind current issues on these (I'm up to 23 on JL but only issue 3 on Earth 2 and 13 of Batman for example) it will take me ages to catch up to current continuity.

For Marvel I'm only currently buying Iron Man and Fantastic Four.

From the above list I'd really recommend Jim Lee's early issues of Justice League - great take on the DC big five or six characters, especially enjoyed the Flash/GL and Batman fight with Supes and then the later introduction of Wonder Woman.

The Batman book is full of great ideas and fantastic art but I'm finding the stories a little variable - I stuck with the Court of Owls story to the finish but frankly found some of it dragged a little - hoping the Death of the Family storyline will be a bit more consistent.

Lastly, I'd really recommend Sndyer and Lee's Superman Unchained - only first three issues out at the moment but the art is superb and Snyder seems to be bringing some mystery and genuine threat to big blue - so let's hope that continues to be as good.

Really recommend the Superman Unchained first 3 eps by Lee & Snyder