Warp_Factor

This is good advice too, just make sure you get an SG that's interested in doing the things you want to do in game. Some groups are looking for people who mostly want to run content but stay in character while they do it, others are interested in social RP, others want to run more in-depth storylines. Some are also more accessible to new RPers than others, so you'll want to take that into account. Activity level is important too; if you're comfortable with doing a lot of pickups, a lower activity group might be fine for you. If you want SG activity on a very regular basis, you'll want to be sure to get a group that does a lot of preplanned activities or who just have a lot of players active on a regular basis. If there's anything you absolutely can't tolerate (ERP, text fighting, the usual complaint fodder), keep that in mind too. Don't be afraid to ask questions or to say no to an SG that doesn't fit your needs, but don't be a dick about it.

Coming from you I'll take that as a compliment. :P

Because chain mail makes no sense in any sort of remotely realistic context. Seriously, stop and think about it. Chain mail weighs way too much compared to any modern armor and it doesn't stop any modern weapon a guy like Cap would need to worry about. Modern movie viewers and comic book readers expect a little more realism than that. Put Cap in chain mail in the movie and it would push the costume from "kind of tough to believe, but I'll give it a chance" to "that's effin' stupid, no one would wear that, what is he, in Lord of the Rings?" territory.

Yeah, Image is kicking a$$ these days. They seem to be emphasizing publishing creator-owned work in general rather than focusing on books the Image partners created, which is a good thing IMO.

According to this interview with Tom Brevoort, Marvel's not downsizing, they're going back to big events. He also has some interesting thoughts on how to get new readers into stores.

See, I don't buy into any of that. It's certainly not true at either of the comic shops I frequent, and with regards to event crossovers (not sure about death issues) everything I've read and heard suggests the opposite: the core readers eat them up and lose interest without them, while newer readers find them inpenetrable. Marvel's even said outright that they're going back to big event crossovers because while they were laying off of them this year DC and Dark Horse ate into Marvel's market dominance. Meanwhile, they're keeping the first arc of the new Thor series separate from their upcoming Fear Itself event exactly because they want new readers who like the movie to buy it and not be put off by a big crossover. Fans claim they don't like the big crossovers, but fans also talk a lot of bollocks. When it comes down to it, they buy the books. They've been complaining about event fatigue for years, but events still sell and books that aren't tied to events don't.

As for death issues, you may be right about them attracting some new or irregular readers, I couldn't say one way or another. They certainly don't put off existing readers, though. Captain America's death and the stories coming out of that got good reviews and are well-loved by Cap fans, and the same can be said of Dick Grayson's tenure as Batman (Bruce's death not so much, but that likely had a lot to do with him getting two totally different death scenes). Certainly both Captain America and the Batman books do very well at comic shops. When Thor returned from the dead his book did extremely well over time, and Marvel's confident enough to launch a new ongoing around Loki's recent reincarnation. Meanwhile, where is continuity-free, no-event-having Thor: The Mighty Avenger? Cancelled. Didn't sell well enough despite critical acclaim. The same with Nextwave, Agents of Atlas, Manhunter, Simon Dark, The Order, and god knows how many other really good books that were a couple hundred people's favorite books and weren't read at all by anyone else.

Marvel's even come right out many times and said "If you don't like the books, don't buy them. If they don't make money we'll try something else". They keep making money, not just in one month but over the course of months. They'd be cancelled if they didn't. Instead we have something like 8 or 9 Batman books and so far they all appear to be selling better than Scalped. It's a shame IMO, but people like what they like and they let publishers know with their wallets.

See, the thing is most mainstream comic book readers do enjoy this stuff. They enjoyed Jeph Loeb's run on Hulk too. If you could sit everyone on this thread down in a room and asked those who actually buy comics on a regular basis to raise their hands, you'd probably have a substantial number with their hands down. Then ask anyone who has actually seriously considered even looking at a Fantastic Four comic recently to raise their hands. Odds are you'll only get a couple hands up. People who actually enjoy where comics are going don't usually read threads like this because they know it's going to be all negative.

Yes, Morning Glories is flippin' excellent. I've been nerding out pretty hard on that and Hack/Slash lately. I'm looking forward to checking out Twilight Guardian too when my comic shop gets more copies in.

I don't think Amazon does single issues, but there are online comic shops you can use. I've used Khepri Comics and liked them, but their selection can be a little limited so they may not have it. I've heard good things about Mile High Comics, Westfield Comics, and Midtown Comics, but I haven't used any of them.
Troy, do you know if it'll show up on Comixology in the near future? I'm buying it in print anyway, but it'd be cool to have it on the iPad as well at some point.

I think that's only true if you ignore the last 10 years of comics, and/or if you assume that resurrecting a character is automatically bad no matter how well executed it is. DC's practically had a revolving door to the afterlife between Darkest Night and the results of Superboy's "reality punch" in Infinite Crisis, whereas Marvel has at least created some meaningful and high quality stories with their resurrections of Bucky, Steve Rogers and the Asgardians. That's not to say that Marvel is innocent in this area or has a better track record overall than DC, just that I think you're giving DC a bit of a free pass for the last decade of comics and ignoring the really good stories Marvel has put out around resurrected characters.

Fair point, but if you really like the comics medium I'd suggest skipping the Big 2 and checking out some of the really good work some of the independents and smaller publishers are putting out. I still enjoy some of Marvel and DC's stuff, but most of the stuff that's really clicked with me in the last few years has been by other publishers, or creator owned and controlled stuff on Marvel's Icon imprint. There's a lot of really good work out there that's free of the problems a lot of readers have with Marvel and DC, and most of it isn't selling half as well as it deserves.

Ironically, Jean's last death seems to have stuck. She's been gone for a good 6+ years, and no sign of a return yet.

The existence of vampires, werewolves and other monsters in the Marvel Universe is pretty common knowledge. Especially if you happen to be a mutant right now.

To be fair, I think Batman, Inc, the new lantern corps, and possibly the Wonder Woman revamp (depending on how the story behind it works out) legitimately count as new ideas. I'm not sure that's enough newness even to match what's happening in the X-books though, never mind the entire Marvel U. If we start counting Vertigo and Wildstorm in DC's favor, then we'd have to start doing the same for Ultimate Comics and Icon over on the Marvel side, and as bad as the Ultimate stuff seems to be right now you really can't argue they aren't doing new things there.

Marvel has been killing DC in overall sales for quite a while now. Batman and event books are really the only things DC has been putting out lately that have been competitive with Marvel in the top 10.

Batman is currently featured in more monthly comics than Wolverine is. Granted, in Wolverine's case more of those are team books and DC does have multiple Batmen at the moment, but I really doubt there are many people out there saying "I'd be tired of having Batman in so many books, but since there's more than one Batman it's OK."