Superhero comics: What insane story/character developments do avid followers take for granted but would blow the minds of anyone only peripherally aware of them?

even the trades they do put out are double the price of an image trade, bcz something something marvel? idgi

Yeah, their trade prices are often ridiculously steep. I don't see other paperback books selling for $35-40 dollars. I guess the argument with TPBs in that price range (e.g. the Ultimate trades, which usually collect around 12 to 16 issues) is that they're roughly equivalent to the price point of the individual issues? Except that those are ridiculously overpriced, as well. All the more reason why it's such a shame that they've done away with the Essential line.

i know i say this in every thread but if you have a tablet get a marvel unlimited subscription.
seventy bucks gets you access to about 80% of everything listed above

There's another symptom of the price hikes, too, I'd wager. Marvel Unlimited as a loss leader for physical reprints.

As much as I like having access to stuff digitally and the convenience thereof, I'm apparently afflicted with the inability to ever fully give up on floppies and trades. I way prefer reading stuff that way.

As much as I hate parting with $35 freaking dollars for a trade paperback, I like supporting my local comics shop. If I was just buying stuff from Amazon or whatever anyway, the subscription thing would of course be a great deal.

As much as I love physical copies, I have nine or ten bookshelves filled with floppies, trades and hardcovers and i'm trying desperately to transfer to digital wherever possible.

Oh yeah, I understand that problem too. Fortunately, I'm not quite there with comics, but I've had to sell or give away most of my physical book collection simply for space limitation issues.

weirdly, i've given away most of what i own multiple times due to space limitations / moving and I've lost half of my collection multiple times but every goddamn time i get a little cash i seem to blow it on a comic library and that shit's gotta stop at some point

^ This. Except I've finally conceded that it's never gonna stop, so I've just given in. The realities of physical space be damned.

(I figure the continued employment of actual bookshelves will stave off hoarderhood.)

yeah, but that means every three to five months i have to have the awkward conversation with my girl about how "we totally have room here for another bookshelf, right? and then we can get these books off the table and you want that right? and you're not saying i should get rid of anything right?"

Ha. We live parallel lives, forks. There is, thankfully, a storage room in our building, but that's only going to keep the dam from bursting for so long.

sooner or later my gal is gonna figure out that my ongoing efforts to get her into comics are just a smokescreen for plausible deniability when the entire apartment becomes a constant wall packed with comic storage and ebay will not be kind to me.
thank GOD i got the action figure / collectible bug out of my system in my thirties

Yeah, thankfully, I've largely purged my CD & DVD collections because I don't have the physical or mental space for more than one obsessive pursuit anymore.

going non-physical with music was one of the more important decisions in my twenties; has save me SO MUCH heartbreak

and i imagine as much money as opting not to have a child!

is batman digitizing damian to save on batcave storage more morrison or ellis?

ellis, certainly

seconded on Marvel Unlimited. despite their godawful design problems, I've been having a good time reading the last couple weeks

I was trying to think of something to steer this thread back on topic and realized that, despite the wealth of Kitty Pryde revelations here, no one ever pointed out that Widget was revealed to be KP's future consciousness inside a robotic body.

wow, that is a surprise. wonder how that would impact a reread of the early excalibur books. i mean, not enough to actually read them, but

xp
If that fails the very fact that this happened should work,
http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/14/142926/3543170-snowflame.jpg
but then I can't be sure how many avid followers are actually aware that someone at DC in the 80's thought this was a good idea
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Snowflame_(New_Earth)

"I am Steve Englehart Snowflame! Every cell of my being burns with white hot ecstasy."

helluvadrug

'Powers: Cocaine Touch: Touching Snowflame was sufficient to give The Floronic Man a contact high.'

and then somebody rolled up the floronic man and smoked him, circle of dope

Powers: Unique Physiology: The more cocaine he used, the more powerful Snowflame became.
Weaknesses: Drug Addiction: Cocaine

i am dying here

that took me all the way to the ongoing fan webcomic about this guy and dear lord

oh woooooowwww, that's great

http://www.snowflamecomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2012-08-30-8931b9ce.jpg

http://www.snowflamecomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/814311492_1352973.gif

hahaha

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Murderers-of-Marvel-Infographic.jpg
wait, cap killed truman?

and how is Truman neutral?

immediate nitpicks: X-23 has surely killed WAY more than than that, even counting on-panel only. you'd think her own mother would be a "notable kill"

good thing they didn't include Bishop who straight up committed multiple genocides into the billions during his crazy time-traveling spree to kill Hope Summers

lol at Iron Man's having killed 5 heroes and 1 villain

I guess they're only counting deaths that weren't reversed by the end of the story arc? Otherwise Thanos should be on the top of the list.

Though they do list The Torch killing Mr. Immortal, even though the guy's literal superpower is that he always comes back to life after getting killed.

man things got really murder-y from the 90s on, I don't recognize the names of at least 2/3rds of the characters involved on that chart

Stpuid superhero deaths