A Comic Book Revolution

AsmodeusXI

United States15536 Posts

August 13 2014 16:26 GMT

Last Thursday, my girlfriend and I went out for dinner at a great St. Louis tex-mex restaurant called Mission Taco (seriously, go if you have the chance). Appetizers, drinks, and two massive burritos later, we left sated to search for a way to occupy ourselves until we were ready to go back home. As we were on the Loop, I suggested Star Clipper, our friendly local comic book store, so we sauntered over and browsed. After about a half hour, we left after buying Moon Knight #6, the House of M trade (one of them anyways), and I Was The Cat (which was only decent, in case you were interested). I spent the same amount on the new comics as we had paid for the dinner earlier. Whoops.

I became a comic book reader only recent. My childhood did not include running down to the local store for some candy and comic books like the childhoods of many young nerds did. I definitely enjoyed my fair share of manga and webcomics (and still do), but neither the caped crusading tales of DC and Marvel nor the dark, strange fantasies of Dark Horse and Image caught my eye. Not like they do now. Standing on the sidewalk with a stack of exciting impulse buys, I had to wonder how exactly I turned into a comic book fan.

Early Days
It began with a comic book that shared my name. The only comic I remember on the shelves (read: in the attic) of my childhood home was Sam & Max: Surfin’ the Highway, a book my dad bought because the titular characters shared his sons’ names. Of course, if he’d read it first, he may have reconsidered the association he was implicitly creating between these characters with his only children (or maybe not. He is my father). Surfin’ the Highway is a grotesquely humorous series of cop stories featuring a six-foot tall dog (Sam) and a three-foot tall hyperactive rabbity thing (Max), both of whom carried guns and neither of whom carried badges. Once my brother and I found it, it took us a few years to put down. The rampant silliness and insane imagery appealed to both of us even when we didn’t get all the jokes. Yet this small sample was merely my introduction to the world of comics. My immersion came much later.

Gateway Drugs
Oddly enough, my first forays into “western" comics began when I lived in the home of manga. In Japan, I met the first of my friends who were comic-book lovers. While most of my friends prior to this loved Batman: TAS, Justice League, Teen Titans, and other comic cartoons and everyone I knew enjoyed the first Iron Man and The Dark Knight, there were still no comic collectors in the group. A few of the friends in my Japanese-language program, however, curated vast and totally-not-pirated libraries of comics, which they were more than happy to distribute. Though I was vaguely intrigued by some of the classic titles I’d heard of on the internet, it was a middle ground between manga and western comics that first enchanted me: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life. At the insistence of a friend, I started Bryan Lee O’Malley’s incredible series and could not stop. Scott Pilgrim was perfect for a nerdy initiate to comic books; it resembled manga yet it possessed a distinct style as well as tons of references to American nerd culture that, unsurprisingly, don’t typically appear in manga. I devoured as much of the series as I could at the time and kept reading them over and over. It was only after that became tiring (read: a while) that I began to search for more.

An Occasional Graphic Novel
At this point, I decided I was definitely interested in comics and that I’d be on the lookout for new ones to read. My favorite comics at the time were larger graphic novels that allowed me to consume a completed storyline without investing in dozens of single issues. Not long after reading Scott Pilgrim, I read Watchmen for the first time and absolutely adored it. My fascination with the complex and difficult repercussions of superheroism and crime fighting likely began with Moore, Gibbon, and Higgins’ examinations of the complexities of caped crusading. My next graphic novel was Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman (specifically the Omnibus). For those who haven’t had the pleasure of reading it, it’s a marvelous semi-episodic narrative about the immortal aspect of dreams and his timeless siblings. It’s absolutely gorgeous and its whimsical tale is a ton of fun. While I stuck to shorter stories for a while, I eventually got addicted to the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics, which are about Team Avatar’s journeys after the conclusion of the Hundred Year War. As a dedicated Avatar fan, I had to get these new installments, so I official started my comic book collection with them (though these are still a lot like the manga I loved for a long time). I expanded said collection with the Firefly graphic novels, which I also couldn’t ignore and which represented additions to my library far more similar to comic book than manga. Slowly, the comic book section of my shelf grew, though additions to it were irregular and rare.

The Turning Point
In the end, it was one day that turned me from a comic book dabbler to comic book fan. It was the summer of 2012, and I had gathered with a few of my Japan friends in New York. With the whole of the Big Apple at our fingertips on a warm, sunny day, we went to Midtown Comics. One of the friends who was hosting the gang had to pick up her copy of Hush, a seminal piece of Batman canon. It only took a bit of browsing around the store for me to brake down and buy a few things. At the recommendation of a few my companions, I grabbed the first trade of Young Avengers, a series that centers around my beloved theme of the difficulties of superpowers and crime-fighting, especially for those who are also coping with being teenagers. With the same theme in my, I added a few volumes of The Runaways to my purchase. Then I scooped up The Killing Joke since the idea of Hush got me interested in my own piece of Batman canon. After we all bought a bunch of comics, we headed back to my friend’s living room to read. Sitting in that room, trading and talking about comics, is still one of my happiest memories. On that day I became a real comic book fan thanks to the quality of those purchases and the fun I had reading them with my friends.

Starting on Single Issues
Even as a “newly inducted fan” I mostly bought trade paperbacks, but I found myself looking for more and more opportunities to get them. Rave reviews quickly directed me towards Saga, a brilliant and fantastical love story that I’m constantly wanting to read. The same friend who took me on her Hush-purchasing trip also turned me on to Hawkeye: My Life As A Weapon, which is an enthralling take on an Avenger who never peaked my interest prior to Matt Fraction’s incredible interpretation. Of course, I was already on the path towards becoming a monthly comic book buyer and it only took two new comics to begin this vicious cycle. The first was Serenity: Leaves on the Wind, the comic book sequel to Firefly and Serenity that I couldn’t pass up. Unfortunately, while this comic’s dialogue was reminiscent of the show, the poor art was distracting and the overall plot was nothing to write home about. My other impetus, Ms. Marvel, was the exact opposite: an unexpected delight. I was certainly intrigued by the conceit of a Pakistani-American girl donning Ms. Marvel’s mantle, but I did not foresee just how fun and exciting her first arc would be. Those two formed the snowball at the top of the mountain. Now that snowball has gained incredible mass as I’ve added Moon Knight and Lumberjanes to my monthly collections and continued to pick up the latest Avatar adventures and random graphic novels like East of West and Seconds (another incredible O’Malley comic). This leads me back to last Thursday, standing on the street holding $60 worth of comics and wondering when I had turned into a comic nerd.

My comic addiction is growing exponentially, but I couldn’t be more pleased about it. If you’re a comic fan, how did you get started? What brought you into the fold? If you aren’t… well… I highly recommend checking out some of the great selections above. That is, if you’re okay with starting your own collection.

You can read this personal history and a lot more different stuff at the N3rd Dimension.

TOCHMY

Sweden1692 Posts

August 13 2014 20:25 GMT

I saw Patrick Rothfuss ( I think it was him) recommend Saga on goodreads.com so I bought all 3 books. I was not disappointed.

Yurie

11781 Posts

August 13 2014 20:32 GMT

Just wanted to comment that it was nice reading about "western" comics a bit. I got into manga during High School and have read that on and off over the years.

Recently I've been reading a bit of "western" series but never really liked what I was reading. (Tried a few series off humble bundle out.) They often feel too full of themselves even when they had interesting settings. Probably just me selecting the wrong series. Aphrodite sounds great on paper but is just a jumbled mess when actually read.

Another example is the Honor Harrington comic,Tales of Honor, that recently started releasing. It is just so disappointing after reading the books. Though I guess I will read it anyhow as the only "western" comic I'm following.

What has really captured my attention in recent times are the Korean series. Stuff like Tower of God, Noblesse (went downhill), Girls of the Wild's (went downhill) and Knight Run (wish there was more of it translated). I think it is because I am after something new and unique when reading comics and most western stuff feels like I've already seen it in a TV series or book. Probably feels even more that way since I mostly limit myself to fantasy and sci fi while also reading/watching a decent amount.

I guess I will try Saga out and see if that fits.

Edited a lot of content into the post.

stuchiu

Fiddler's Green42661 Posts

August 14 2014 17:31 GMT

I found a site where I could download all the comics for free. Well if you liked Sandman you should probably read Lucifer. A kind of sequel about what Lucifer does after the ending of the Sandman comics.

RookUK

United Kingdom283 Posts

August 14 2014 20:52 GMT

If you enjoyed Watchmen, I'd recommend looking into some more of Alan Moore's work - particularly V For Vendetta and the first two volumes of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (after Volume 2 I feel he completely loses the plot, literally and figuratively).

Personally I have very seldom enjoyed American comics. I find the superhero stories put out by the big publishers very inconsequential, especially because of the constant reboots, crossovers, and labyrinthine continuity. Instead I read 2000AD every week - if you're not familiar with it, it's a British weekly anthology which began as a then-typical boys' comic in 1977 and has gradually matured with its audience.

Judge Dredd is the flagship character and has been the core of a consistent continuity which has run unbroken since 1977. Ignore the very weak 1995 Stallone film - Dredd is a brilliant character who can star in stories based around humour, action, satire, horror from week to week. In the US, you generally have to buy 2000AD in packs of four (to meet the usual US monthly release schedule, in contrast to the weekly schedule which has traditionally held sway in this country). It's extremely light on ads compared with US monthlies.

If Dredd interests you, don't worry about the continuity (which is there, but very seldom the emphasis of the stories) and dive into a classic trade like "America", or "The Apocalypse War".

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