Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Follow The Leader: Episode 18: Reading Comics Today!


Martinex1:  Here we are on the third day of the week and therefore it is Follow The Leader time!  

Last week we talked about misunderstood lyrics; today will be something entirely different.   It is all up to you. We will take any topic suggested and throw it out to the masses for consideration and conversation.     The challenge is to keep the conversation rolling and going, so keep in mind that sidebars, tangents, and non sequiturs are welcome! 


Here again for the uninitiated are the general rules for our Tuesday discussions:

1) Whoever gets here first (or even second) post a topic starter in the comments that others can jump on and discuss for the day; supply as little or as much detail as necessary to get the ball rolling.

3) The range of possible subjects is broad - comics, movies, music, television, fiction, hobbies, queries, etc.  Try to have the topic touch some aspect of Bronze Age nostalgia if possible.

4) Keep it clean and family friendly.

5) All others...Follow the Leader! Your job is to keep the conversation rolling.   (As I said - follow the topic wherever it takes you; a conversation started about comics may lead to comments on jazz for all we know)!

Note:  There is one caveat... if Redartz or I notice that the suggested topic is something we already have in the pipeline, we will let you know and inform you of the projected date for that subject for discussion.  That is just so we don't double up.   Hey - great minds think alike, right?

So give us something to sink our teeth into and we will be back later with our own comments on the topic!   Cheers!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

1. Do you still like to read comics, meaning, beyond the nostalgia effect of reading them?
2. If so, do you read anything that's not Silver/Bronze Age?
3. What was the last thing you read that really moved you?

1. On line only when the bug bites me
2. Yes
3, The last Giant Sized issue of Whedon's Astonishing X-Men. That thing with Kitty Pryde was masterful and surprisingly moving.

Yoyo

J.A. Morris said...

1. Occasionally.
2. My wife subscribes to Star Wars, Buffy and Patsy Walker. I read Star Wars sometimes when I'm bored. I buy Christmas-themed comics every holiday season, so I dip my toe into "current" comics at least once a year.
3. I don't know if it "moved" me, but I especially enjoyed last year's Gwenpool Holiday Special.

Anonymous said...


1. I like reading comics. A lot is devoted to nostalgia (reading my own back issues), and even stuff I've never read before often harkens back to nostalgic eras (I'm going through the 80s Suicide Squad trades from my library). Having said that, a lot of my reading is not nostalgic, those comics usually from companies not in the Big Two.

2. I don't read any modern stuff from the Big Two anymore. I stuck with it for most of the 2000s, and there were lots of quality comics featuring my beloved characters, but the constant reboots make me unable to feel "moved" by the stories, as they all feel like What Ifs, where even if the story is somewhat compelling, no one really feels like the characters I grew up with anymore (most recent e.g. Hickman's New Avengers; interesting idea, but kind of requires you accepting none of these heroes resemble what you grew up with, and it's kind of an alt. universe exercise that may be reversed in a year or two)

What I do enjoy are independent, closed-universe stories from Image, Vertigo, and other indie publishers (I know technically Vertigo's DC but you know what I mean...)

3. My favourite modern stuff has been Walking Dead, Unwritten, Scalped, Deep Sleeper, Locke and Key (HUGELY recommend that one, by IDW), The Boys (to my shock, wasn't expecting to like it going in, but kind of swept me along). I also recently read all of Concrete, something I mostly skipped in the 80s and 90s, and found it wonderful.

I'll also mention that I don't buy anything anymore, all the above examples were borrowed from my local (really good) libraries. Can't afford the expense and, more importantly, the space (those back issues take up a lot of room).

-david p.

Doug said...

I enjoy reading comics both as a literary vehicle but also certainly for nostalgia. I'd say I read comics at least four times each week. I do not have single issues any more, so my reading is either digital or more likely trades/hardcovers.

It is quite rare if I read anything outside the historic parameters of my heyday of buying. However, I recently read the first trade collection of DC's Bombshells. I actually purchased the first two volumes based on recommendations from some Twitter contacts. The first volume wasn't horrible, but it also wasn't great. My middling reaction is such that I'm not excited to read the second book and may even sell them on eBay. The other "new" material I recently read is U.S. Representative John Lewis's civil rights memoir March. That... I would highly recommend. It was wonderful, and if I'd had the time to commit, I might have immediately begun reading again.

As to the last thing that really moved me? That seems a strong term in regard to my general reactions, but if I could soften it to simply "enjoyed", I'd say three Bronze Age Thor trades, a volume of Silver Age Batman imaginary stories, and a Panini pocketbook trade collecting Amazing Spider-Man 121-128 (plus Marvel Team-Up 15). I had a satisfied smile upon completion of each book. Next on my reading pile is a hardcover I purchased a few days ago that reprints the first 20 or so appearances of Superboy from 1945-46. As our friend Paul O'Connor from Longbox Graveyard says, "with the right mindset, you can have a lot of fun".

Doug

Disneymarvel said...

1. Yes, I continue to read and enjoy comic books & comic strips.

2. I start each day reading about 30 comic strips on line. I check out trade collections of current comics from the library quite often. Can't justify the high price to purchase 6 stretched out issues for one story that should've been done-in-one. The only comic book I still buy is DC's Future Quest. I should probably stop and buy these as trade collections, but there is just something about revisiting my childhood Hanna-Barbera cartoon heroes teamed up together that is hard to pass up. And, of course, i still enjoy rereading my own collection of comics, especially Fantastic Four, Thor, Spidey and Avengers.

3. I've really enjoyed most of the current Star Wars comics coming out from Marvel. I would say the trade collections of Fables really impressed me, too.

david_b said...

1) I still collect a few dozen Silver and Bronze comics a month.., for either hole-filling, awesome VF+ condition covers, or perhaps adding a new 'milestone' comic (Avengers 4, etc...), kinda on whims. I enjoy reading the Marvel bullpen comics, house ads, MMMS ads, etc.

2) Nope, the only 'non-vintage' read I did recently was the splendid 'Worlds Greatest Comic Magazine' FF hardcover by Erik Larsen and Eric Stephenson, which essentially revisited/emulated the vintage style of Lee/Kirby. Simply a fantastic read.

3) I guess the 'Worlds Greatest Comic' hardcover I mentioned above. A great trade book that still amazes me, where the FF teamed up with the Avengers, Captain America and Falcon circa 1969, you name it.

ColinBray said...

I stuck with new comics (well, the Avengers titles) until 2014.

At that point it struck me that the rate of bronze-copper-and-silver-back-issue-pick-up meant I was getting so far behind with all my books that it would take about 7 years to catch up. And that is if I never bought a new comic. So that was that - given infinite time I will go back and read every comic ever published (except perhaps Force Works) but until then the reading backlog is the only game in town.

Have to agree with David P that the last truly memorable 'new' series was The Boys. Freaking hilarious and just a little naughty for us bronze age babies.

Unknown said...

1. Yes, usually digitally
2. Yes, post 2014 though
3. Astro City and the new Valiant stuff are both great, still hanging onto the Cap/Hydra arc too!

Collin Bray, I thought we were supposed to keep things clean, "Force Works" is as awful as most 4 letter words!!!

Mike Wilson said...

1) Yeah, I still love comics. That's one of the reasons I started my blog, so I could go back and read a lot of issues that I missed the first time around. There's a lot of cool stuff out there.

2)Haven't read any new stuff for a while. I was into Fables and Walking Dead, but tired of them after 100+ issues. I tried to get into Saga, but lost interest after a dozen issues or so.

3) It takes a lot to "move" me; I can't think of any comics that have done it recently, but if we expand to books, "Lovecraft Country" by Matt Ruff really made me think.

ColinBray said...

Apologies Luther, accept my dime for the swear box :)

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Great question!

1) I still read them. Probably 10 - 15 / year.

2) The Shadow and Suicide Squad (DC) and Daredevil and Astro City. But the Shadow was a pulp in the 1930s so...

3) To some extent DD does satisfy beyond whatever interested me as a young boy. Like an episode a few years back where a badly injured Matt Murdoch had to lead a bus load of blind kids through a blizzard b/c the bus crashed and the driver was killed.

I must say I do have trouble reading comics due to the pacing. After so, so many years of university, grad school, and work engagements, my mind became adept at reading at a high pace strictly searching for information. So, it took me a good 10 years to learn to "slow down" and "enjoy" what I was reading (vs. a race for information.) It all started when I heard a radio show discussing the original Beowulf (like 900 AD?) which I had read in high school. I went and re-read it and said I've got to recalibrate: reading should be a pleasure, too!

Garett said...

1- Yup! I like to distinguish between nostalgia and inspiration though. I like stuff that inspires me now in some way.

2-Yup! Although silver/bronze is my favorite, there are good new comics, and good pre-silver comics.

3-I think The Fade Out by Brubaker/Phillips is something of a masterpiece. Velvet by Brubaker/Epting was cool and entertaining, but The Fade Out has the ring of art about it.
Other recent inspiring stuff: Jimmy Olsen by Kirby, Epic Thor: To Wake the Mangog by Lee/Kirby, Heart of Juliet Jones by Stan Drake (you can see his influence on Neal Adams).
Now reading Teen Titans by Geoff Johns and Mike McKone. Came out in 2003-04, but recently reproduced in this nice volume: https://www.amazon.com/Teen-Titans-Geoff-Johns-Book/dp/1401265987 I only liked the Titans by Wolfman/Perez till now, but this one's actually very good!

Good autobiographies: Ernest Borgnine, Ronnie Spector.

Chim said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chim said...

1. Yes. I've some subscriptions at my local comic shop including The Walking Dead, Stray Bullets. Horizon, Silfer Surver, Daredevil and BUG THE ADVENTURES OF FORAGER. And of course from time to time I pick a masterwork paperback from Silver Age Marvel comics. I think every 5 years I re-read the Kirby/Lee FF run.

Oh and this week arrived "Fantastic Four: The World's Greatest Comic Magazine by Larsen, Erik", which david_b mentioned recently in the comments section of this blog!

2. Yes see above. I also liked Paper Girls or real-world illustrations like the travel stories by Guy Delisle.

3. I really love Dawn in the current Silver Surfer run, Mike Allred really has a talent for creating believable women.

Redartz said...

1. Absolutely. I love comics not only as a nostalgic return to past enjoyment, but as a medium. Old comics, new comics, underground, indie, you name it. And there is SO much material to discover! Yes, there is much dreck out there, but also much of worth. Kind of like comics in the 70's, and comics in the 40's.

2. Again, yes. I try to check in on current comics every month or two; I don't have a pull list or any titles I follow completely, but I do pick up a few here and there. And I do grab any issues of Squirrel Girl I come across.

3. As my reading ranges wildly, so does that which stuck with me. Loved Jeff Smith's "Bone", more recently I read Carl Barks' classic "Back to the Klondike" with Uncle Scrooge. First time I've ever read it; wonderful. Still working my way through "Y- The Last Man" by Brian K Vaughn, and it is gripping. Perhaps the comic with the greatest effect on me remains Art Speigelman's "Maus"; I reread it almost annually. And it never fails to hit me like a brick (and I mean that in a good way...).

pfgavigan said...

Hiya,

I still read and I occasionally read some of the new stuff, either web comics or regular comics done by creatives that I've enjoyed in the past.

When it comes to modern shelf books I wind up feeling like Marvin the Martian after Bugs takes off with the illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator. "Where's the kaboom? There was suppose to be an earth-shattering kaboom!"

Seeya,

pfgavigan

Graham said...

1. Do you still like to read comics, meaning, beyond the nostalgia effect of reading them?

I still like to read them, mostly trades and the occasional electronic. I enjoy the nostalgic effect of them, mostly, but most of them are still good stories.

2. If so, do you read anything that's not Silver/Bronze Age?

Just about all of them are either comics that I read back in the day or comics that I missed back in the day. I will occasionally read a new story....read a good bit of the early Walking Dead last year and finished The New Frontier, which is not really new, but more of a new look at the old, so I don't think it really counts as non-Silver/Bronze Age, does it? I have picked up a few series over the years, but nothing really from the last five - eight years.

3. What was the last thing you read that really moved you?

My kids got me the first volume of the Golden Age Batman for Christmas and it's been a blast reading through those. Some I had seen in the 100 pagers from the 70's or the Limited Collector's Editions, so it really was cool to revisit them and the others that I'd never seen before.

Rip Jagger said...

1. I love the whole notion of the classic comic book and admit much of my reading is infused with a nostalgic gleam. I used to absorb them, but now I merely read them.

2. I read old comics almost exclusively, trades mostly. Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age all get represented pretty regularly.

3. The last new comics that moved me was Astro City by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson, a modern series which mines a love of comics and comics lore. Great stories about characters both large and small, both super and not.

Rip Off

Chim said...

Not related to the orginal question, but related to the answers:

I want to express my love and gratitude for this blog and all the people who post in the comments. Pretty nice to follow these conversations, because most of my friends are not into comics and I can not share my love for this art form. And I also get great inspiration for new material, such as

david_b with 'Fantastic Fout - Worlds Greatest Comic Magazine' by Erik Larsen and Eric Stephenson

or Graham with 'DC's The New Frontier" (even if I am a strictly Marvel guy, I might try this one. I like the art style).

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