Didn't see a comics thread for this year, but thought I should remind everyone that tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day.
http://www.freecomicbookday.com

I'm taking the kids.

I'm taking the girls after we wade through the hell that is youth soccer round-up day.

OK, we went - girls each got three free comics, a sucker and a heroclix Green Lantern toy. I was glad to see a fair amount of people in our hole-in-the-wall comic shop.

i had to work and do family stuff, but my friend snagged me the Heroclix. Woohoo! The only thing I missed was the Simpsons/Bongo comic, which I try to get every year. Maybe I'll go out tomorrow and see if anyone has one.

We went directly after soccer and got there 2 minutes before the place opened. The guy there is a super nerd but real nice. He gave each of us 2 free comics, so we walked out with 10. The Simpson's wasn't an option for us (unless it was once of the double issue ones and they had it in the case upside down.) I did buy some stuff so I wouldn't look like a cheap skate, but the kids had a blast.

I'm looking at a couple graphic novels for my 13 year old cousin for Christmas. Will his mom kill me if I get him Watchmen? The movie was pretty violent from memory...
Also looking at The League of Extrordinary Gentlemen, The Dark Knight Returns, and 300.

Those are all pretty dark. Depends on the kid though, ya know.

I don't think the violence is much worse that other comics... some people could get upset about the (male) nudity though.

I'd guess that a lot of what makes the Watchmen great might be over the head of a 13 yr old, though. Same goes for League. How about the Killing Joke, or something a little more... accessible?

he's a smart kid, get's A's and whatnot...Killing Joke looks good though.

I don't know, it might be a few years too soon for any of these. At least in his mom's eyes.

Violence isn't so much an issue in the Watchmen as at least one of the characters getting raped. Also League of Extrordinary Gentlemen has some pretty racy stuff involving the Invisible Man and some kind of convent full of women who think they're having sex with an angel or the holy spirit or something.

Dark Night Returns or The Killing Joke* might be OK, but what about Batman: Year One? I think I read it around the time I was 13-14, and it's great.

Some others I'd recommend:
All Star Superman
This kind of expensive but awesome-looking collection of the first several Hellboy books
Marvels
Bone

Like contra said, it depends on the kid, but these probably wouldn't get you in trouble with his mom.

*This may be a little on the short side. And isn't it the Joker killing Robin and crippling Barbara Gordon? Been a while since I read it, and definitely not that dark by today's standards, but I don't know.

thanks, Drink.

I recently got some Brand New Day Spider-Man stuff, and thought it was great. It's kinda a clean slate/reboot but not really. Fresh and traditional at the same time.

I like the current spiderman stuff too.

Anyone excited for Avengers vs. X-Men? So far, it's pretty meh. I like the idea of the phoenix returning, but the premise of AvsX is kind of weak.

Not excited about it all, but I haven't read any of it yet. I'm hopeful of what could come out of it, though, like Hickman possibly taking over Avengers, and, best possible case scenario, a paring down of all the Avengers and X-Men books and teams. More likely though we'll probably just get more books in place of whatever ones get cancelled.

I guess we should have a 2012 thread now, not that anyone would post in it.

AvX started out well enough, but I think I'm still suffering from event fatigue (although the Night of the Owls thing at DC has been incredible so far...).

In the end I think They just need a shakeup over there, since we've seen the same Avengers stories playing out over and over the past 5 years.

There are SO many good books going right now, it's a shame that stuff like this outsells them 5 to 1.

...and it looks like May 5th is the date for Free Comic Book Day 2012.

I still have not ever gone to a Free Comic Book Day. To me it feels like even less of an event than Record Store Day (which I might actually go out for tomorrow to try to get that Mclusky album on vinyl) where nothing really happens. I can't think of any Free Comic Book Day giveaways that I've missed by not going to one. And usually there are boxes full of those free books sitting around the store for the duration of the following year.

Just finished reading Annihilation, which is now what? 6 years old? Anyway, I liked it. I should probably look into the more cosmic Marvel stuff.

Thanos Imperative was good. It happened a few years after Annihilation (which I haven't read) and continues along the same line of events.

I think there was another event in between them, but you don't have to read it before you read TI.

did you read Annihilation: Conquest too? That's even better.

From there a Nova series started and a Guardians of the Galaxy series started and were interspersed with War of Kings. This is the series (with Hickman's Secret Warriors and Sinestro Corps War that got me into comics). Really great stuff.

After War of Kings, Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy continued but weren't as good. The next event was Realm of Kings which was pretty bad and after that was Thanos Imperative which was pretty great most of the time but had some lackluster art in tie-in issues I seem to remember?

Anyway, I'd totally suggest getting War of Kings and the first couple of Nova/Guardians trades that lead into and and coincide with it.

oh and obviously Annihilation: Conquest if you only read Annhilation

Yeah I'm not a big fan of what little GotG I've read. I do like Nova and Thanos though.

The kids love it and it fits right into my budget.

If I'm not working, I'm going just for the Heroclix figure and the Bongo Comics freebie.