Trevor

Fantasy Challenge

What's a Comic Book Challenge?

- monthly threads to encourage more reading and discussion
- a way to figure out "what do I read next?"
- motivation to try different genres
- motivation to keep reading and make progress on our unread piles
- a place to get recommendations

How does it work?

- we pick a genre (or company, or title, or whatever) for a month
- we post in this thread and talk about what we plan to read and read throughout the month
- you could keep a spoilered list in one post and update it all month, or post as you read
- in theory the lists could be kept in a separate thread to allow for fancier formatting while avoiding clutter

What makes it a "challenge"?

- well, unofficially, the goal is to read 100 comics a month, but that isn't stressed
- the group discussion will challenge and encourage you to read more (the main goal of most participants I imagine)

Who can participate?

- anyone and everyone!
- you don't have to list your reading or even post at all to participate, but what's the fun in that?
- quasi-technically, anyone on the planet who reads a qualifying book for the month is a participant, whether they know it or not

When does it start and end?

- it begins at dusk on the last day of previous month, and ends at dawn on the first day of the next month
- this bonus time allows for possible "double counting" cross-Challenge content
- content eligible for both Challenges has the bonus of being able to be counted for all 24 hours of the last/first days of both Challenges

How does counting work?
- as with every other 'rule', we're pretty liberal and you can count any way you want really
- in general, a comic book counts as one
- for graphic novels and oversize books, feel free to count one for every twenty pages

Who wins?

- there are no losers, the person who reads one page a month is equal to the person who reads 20 books a day

What is the schedule?

January - TV/Movie/Book
February - Eisner/Harvey/Etc Winners
March - Rotating Company
April - TBD (random idea every year)
May - Make-Your-Own
June - Reality
July - Science Fiction
August - Fantasy
September - Outside-Your-Comfort-Zone
October - Horror
November - Comedy
December - Holiday (w/ bonus Thanksgiving and New Year's time)

Want a personal checklist to help you pick stuff to read?

Obviously you'll want to edit the below spoilered example checklist to fit your needs.

Trevor

First four year's threads for ideas:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/comic-book-...st-2015-a.html

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/comic-book-...st-2016-a.html

https://forum.dvdtalk.com/comic-book...st-2017-a.html

https://forum.dvdtalk.com/comic-book...st-2018-a.html

PhantomStranger

Does Camelot 3000 work for this challenge?

Trevor

Yes! Good idea, I haven’t re-read that one in awhile.

PhantomStranger

I've been meaning to read the Deluxe edition I picked up last year.

davidh777

Trevor

I bet I can say something that no one else on the planet can or ever has/will. The only comic I read this week was Eclipse’s 1987 spoof Elf-Thing #1. Best of the week by default, but it’s about what you’d expect from a parody book around the time of Adolescent Blackbelt Radioactive Hamsters. Not as unfunny as I initially feared, but all over the place in it’s attempts. The best thing about the book were the ads, and Eclipse’s lineup that month. Zot, Scout, Airboy, Fusion, Stig’s Inferno, Mr Monster, Crossfire, Destroy 3D, some DC indexes, and Miracleman. Ads for coolness like a Ken Macklin book and Whodunnit?, a book with a cash prize. Lovely trip down nostalgia lane to my favorite time in comics.

Trevor

If you have an opportunity to read Grand Abyss Hotel, do so. Favorite book of the year so far. Beautiful art from David Rubin, and an intense slightly challenging dystopian story. It’s on Hoopla, but I’ll be buying it for sure.

ytrez

Does Conan count as Fantasy? Sword & Sorcery is sort of fantasy, no?

Anyway, I'm inadvertantly participating as I've been working my way through the Conan Marvel reprint TPBs from Dark Horse for a while now. I think I'm on the sixth.

Trevor

Conan definitely counts! Every August it’s on my list of potential reads, my own to read ratio on Conan is disgustingly high.

PhantomStranger

I probably should dive more into Eclipse's comics from the 1980s. I always saw them on the shelves but usually passed them over in favor of familiar DC and Marvel comics.

Trevor

They have there fair share of clunkers, but Eclipse was awesome back in the day. I’d give up my Marvel collection before I gave up my Eclipses, despite having ten times as many Marvels.

shadokitty

Trevor

Last day! I loaded my Hoopla with fantasy for the month. Some of the items are already past my checkout date, so I’ll have to go to airplane mode, manually set my date back, and read them offline.

davidh777

Trevor

I’ve always wondered about that title, and backed a recent Kickstarter iirc. Thanks for the mostly thumbs up.

davidh777