Topic: Mafia XLVIII: DC Universe. Prize Thread!

[Khushrenada]

Prizes to choose from:
 
Blackest Night Collection: CLAIMED BY JRLIBRARIAN

Note: This is a pretty bloody, horrific story. I remember that by the time Blackest Night: Batman #2 came out, as I was reading it, I began to think I might be done with this series because of the amount of killing that goes on at the start of this story. The focus shifts around the midway point fortunately but you may need to pace yourself when first reading this.

Grant Morrison (Final Crisis & Batman): CLAIMED BY UNCLEBOB

Note: This is not the complete Batman epic that Morrison has been writing for a few years. For the complete story, you would have to go back to the issues of 52 and then jump to the start of Morrison's run on Batman with "Batman & Son." The issues I'm providing jump in at the Batman R.I.P. arc at the time of Final Crisis. As well, this stuff and Final Crisis can get pretty dense. I like them but a lot of people have been quite confused over this stuff. But there are some helpful websites that can expand on every detail shown and really increase one's appreciation for the saga.
 
Brightest Day: CLAIMED BY BUSTIN98

NOTE: With regards to the Brightest Day Prize. It will not ship until the end of April/start of May due to the fact that is when the final issue will ship.

Red Robin & Batgirl: CLAIMED BY SHYGUY

Red Robin is a comic that I was up and down with for awhile until issue 7. That issue seemed to turn things around and I thought it had a great run up to it's 12 issue. When they switched writers, I decided to drop it. As for Batgirl, it just never got me excited and I stayed with until issue 8 when it crossed over with the Red Robin arc. I dropped it after that. Surprisingly, it seems to be getting more and more praise as a good book these days but I've never given it another go. You may feel differently.
 
Wednesday Comics: CLAIMED BY APDUDE

This was an interesting experiment done by DC. It's a few comic strips the size of a newspaper page. It's like the color comics you get Saturday/Sunday but done like they were back in the 40's/50's. I actually made a copy of all the Adam Strange strips and framed them. They now line my hallway.

Battle for the Cowl/Bruce Wayne: The Road Back: CLAIMED BY SUNDOULOS

These were tie-ins to the big changes going on in the Batman books. They're all right but nothing I'd consider that significant over many of the other prizes offered.
 
Batman: Reborn: CLAIMED BY STRATOS

This is the run of Batman following the Battle of the Cowl specials written by Judd Winick and Tony Daniel. The Winnick story stinks but the Daniel story is alright about the rise of the new Black Mask and return of the Falcone crime family.

Birds of Prey/Cry for Justice

I was thinking of giving this away to the person who came in last (which in this case is Vudu) but with him not around, I'm thinking I'll just leave it out if someone actually wants them.
 
 
 
I've just been going over if there is anything else I want to give away. Right now, I think this is it. Maybe in a year or two, I'll do this again and be willing to part with them then. Especially with the next event "Flashpoint" just around the corner.
 

[Khushrenada]

Order of Selection:

Bustin98
Shyguy
UncleBob
JRLibrarian
Stratos
Apdude
Sundoulos
Stevey
Nickmitch
Maxi
GoldenPhoenix
Dasmos
TJ Spyke
Toruresu
The Unagi
Insanolord
Mop it up
Vudu


I'm keeping this thread locked until 10 PM EST. Then I'll open it up and we'll begin the selection process. So, Bustin98 will make the first post selecting what he wants. Once he makes his selection, Shyguy can make a post selecting a prize. Once he's made his selection, then UncleBob will make a selection and so on until all prizes are claimed. If a player wished to decline to take anything, they may post that they waive their claim to the prizes. Please post something so as not to hold things up too long.

Talk to you all later tonight.

[Khushrenada]

Whoops. Should have opend this sooner. Sorry about that. Give me 5 more minutes to gather myself and we'll begin.

[Khushrenada]

Alright. I added the Batman: Reborn issues to the prize list and gave a quick little description on each prize to help people decide what they might be interested in. Thanks for waiting on me. Let the choosing begin.

Bustin98, you're up.

[bustin98]

First of all, many many thanks and Internet cookies to you Khush and thatguy for bringing a fun game to our community. Also high fives and handshakes to everyone who played, even those who only got one day. I am proud to have played with everyone and you all did a fantastic job.

Second, I appreciate very much that Khush is giving up part of his collection to bring more players into the fold. I am humbled by his generosity. Makes me consider some prizes if and when I do my Transformers G1 mafia (it hasn't been done yet, has it?).

I pick Brightest Day.

Blackest Night is cool, but I ended up getting all but 0 and 8 of the main story. And I grabbed Final Crisis in paperback. As a note, I would recommend interested people in reading Final Crisis BEFORE reading Blackest Night. It answered a number of questions that popped up during Blackest Night, though I wouldn't consider Final Crisis required reading. You just have to accept some things without knowing what happened.

[Khushrenada]

EDIT: Nevermind. JRLibrarian suddenly removed his post. Whatever.

Anyways, thanks for the kind words. Like I mentioned, your prize will take the longest in reaching you but it might be worth it. Brightest day and the Green Lantern books are heading into an interesting direction.


Next up: Shyguy!
 
He's not online right now so could be awhile before he claims his choice.

[ShyGuy]

I will choose Red Robin and Batgirl. I've read some of the Batman by Morrison, and I don't like his current work. Judd Winnick is one of the worst regular writers Batman has ever had.

Thanks to all who voted for me, I thought UncleBob and Bustin98 both played a better game.

[UncleBob]

I'm going to go ahead and post without Khush's permission, since ShyGuy has already answered and I want Khush's input.  For someone who hasn't read comics in years, but was a huge DC/Batman fan, would you recommend the Blackest Night or Grant Morrison collections?  Both sound great and I can't decide which would be better for someone who would really like to have the "Whole Story" (or, at least, most of it) without having to pick up and backtrack through a bunch of back issues.

Also, PM me your PayPal address so I can send you something to cover shipping.

[Khushrenada]

I'll try and answer it as best I can. If you know much about the New Gods, they figure rather prominently in Final Crisis. In fact, Morrison hits up a lot of DC trivia and history in his writings. He also writes with a lot of abstract ideas. For instance, while Final Crisis is about a fight against Darkseid, it's also his musings on stories and why they exist and how they relate to the DC universe. It's the same thing with his Batman run. Little spoiler: it's about ideas that are alive. If you aren't sure what that means, that's the abstractness I'm referring too.

Blackest Night is a more straightforward story. It does span a large amount of the DC Universe though it more focused on Green Lantern lore. If you aren't up to date with where things are in the DC universe, it might take a moment to figure out why certain characters are missing or why they've changed a bit. But they try and do what they can to update a person at the start of the adventure on the current state of the DCU and then take off on the adventure.

The truth is, I do like Morrison's stuff. It's pretty deep and while I can get the broad strokes of the story, there's sometimes a deeper layer that isn't always as easy to understand. The best way I can describe it is that I always feel like the mysteries he's set up are slowly being revealed to me and I'm getting some answers but while the story always seems to be on the verge of a big reveal and the final answers, it never seems to happen. I don't know how else to describe it. But I will say this, I've re-read the Morrison comics more than I've reread the Blackest Night comics.

I guess it is what you are in the mood for. If you want something that can be easily accessable, Blackest Night. If you want something you might be digging into for awhile. Morrison.

[UncleBob]

I'll go with Morrison.  If Final Crisis plays into Blackest Night, then Blackest Night plays into Brightest Day, I might as well start at the beginning - and if I decide I want to read more, I'll follow up.  Also, JR wants the Blackest Night set.

[jrlibrarian]

Thanks UncleBob. 
 
I guess that leaves me to take the Blackest Night set.

[Khushrenada]

Alrighty then. Stratos is next.

[Stratos]

Ooh!

I knew what I wanted before but now I have to think about it. I'll decide before work tomorrow, probably before I go to bed tonight.

For Batman Reborn, is that the complete volume 1 of the 'Batman and Robin' series? (issues1-6)

Or is it the first three issues? Both seem to be referred to as 'Batman Reborn'.

[Khushrenada]

All the Batman titles carried a Batman: Reborn tag with them after the Battle for the Cowl mini ended. This just referes to the "Batman" series from around issues 688-699. I also throw in a Batman 80 page special with it.

All Batman and Robin issues were included in the Grant Morrison package.

[Stratos]

OK, I'll go for the Batman: Reborn option. Thanks a bunch Khush!

[apdude]

Guess that makes it my turn.  The Wednesday Comics sound interesting.  I think I'll go for that one.  Thanks again this game was a lot of fun.

[Stratos]

The last game this fun and intense I recall was Mario Paintball.

[Khushrenada]

Glad to hear it. Next up is Sundoulos.

[Sundoulos]

Thanks, Khush.  This is only the third mafia game I've played, but it was awesome.  I'd love for someone to try something like this again.  I'll take the Battle for the Cowl/Bruce Wayne: The Road Back.

[Mop it up]

Congratulations to the prize winners, you played a hard-fought victory. Good thing Vudu didn't show either or else I'd be in last place.

And no, I didn't vote for myself.

[Khushrenada]

Alright. Stevey is up next. The only thing left is the Birds of Prey/Justice League combo. Do you want Stevey or are you passing?

[stevey]

I'll pass

[jrlibrarian]

I'd just like to thank Khush once again for offering up what appears to be a rather large percentage of his collection as prizes for this game. It has been the most fun out of the three I have participated in, and I look forward to playing in his next game, whenever that may be.

[Khushrenada]

Again, thanks for all the kind words everyone. With Stevey declining, Nickmitch is next to decide if he wants the final prize pack.

[nickmitch]

Sure!