As if that wasn't great enough, I found an unanticipated treasure there: a 1986 first printing of Will Eisner's semi-autobiographical graphic novel "The Dreamer". On the shelf for little over cover price. And who'd believe it, when I opened it there was a signed bookplate by the comics giant himself!
Will Eisner was an idol of mine, right up there with Stan and Jack. Regretfully I never had the opportunity to meet the man, but stumbling across a signed book is a pretty fine consolation. Have any of you had the experience of meeting one of your true heroes, or acquired a memento of one? Oh, and a bit more on this subject next week...
Ok, story time's over for now. Time for you to posit a topic for the day; let the discussion begin!
8 comments:
Great story, Redartz - and the photos are fantastic. How exciting!
Today I'm thinking of formats. Reading formats, transportation formats, ease-on-the-eyeballs formats.
Comics come in the basic trim size of a floppy, and the tpbs and hardcovers that collect runs (historic or otherwise) are generally the same size. There are digest-sized comics, such as Archie or the Panini tpbs that Edo and I are fond of. A year ago Marvel released the Behold... Galactus hardcover that has to be laid on a table to be read (they have a Thor volume coming out this summer, called King-Size Kirby). And, of course there's also digital - which can conform to just about any size depending on your device and its zooming features.
So what do you like? Is convenience a factor? Are aging eyeballs a factor? How many formats do you have on hand that you use to enjoy your four-color heroes?
Thanks in advance for participating, and to Martinex and Redartz for this weekly forum.
Doug
Hmmm-- it's that tricky juxtaposition (or balancing act?) of ergonomics vs nostalgia vs technology vs plain-ol'-habit, isn't it?
I might posit that comic books may quickly evolved into their "ideal" form very quickly-- that's probably one of the advantages of a high-turnover product in a fast-selling market. The favored form often surfaces without much delay, and becomes the standard. A floppy (as it gets called now-- nice reminder, Doug!) was just big enough to serve the artwork, but small and thin enough to be easily transported, held, and then read with extreme ease. And, as opposed to even your average book, it could be read very comfortably in a wide number of situations: in bed, in a chair, on a tabletop (next to yer baloney sandwich), on the floor, in a vehicle (always less prone to induce motion sickness than a novel--), on a bookstand, etc, etc. It could be held fully open OR do the fold-over for single-page reading.
And by being available to such a wide array of reading environments, the experience of reading a paper comic book opens itself up to associated memories of where you were when you were reading a specific story, yeah? Along with smells and food (in particular--). It's always been a uniquely visceral experience for me, hence the heightened nostalgia, of course.
So digital comics. . . enh. . . they are obviously anchored to that screen. And I may still like them for story and art, but the experience never feels "complete" to me.
Also, the Artifact Factor still touches my old collector soul. The physical "thing" that is an old back-issue comic has an unshakable appeal to me. It's a little time-capsule all its own, frozen on pulpy old newsprint. . .
HB
Yeah, I guess I'm old school as far as comics (and books) go ... I like to have them in my hand if I can. Even different formats (Essentials, Blue Ribbon Digests) are fine.
That being said, I like the convenience and portability of E-Readers; you can take a whole library with you and read it whenever you want. Assuming your Reader is compatible with comics, that is; one of the reasons I bought a Kobo Glo was because it was supposed to support CBR/CBZ files, but mine doesn't, so that didn't make me too happy :(
Yep, like - I'm assuming - most people who frequent this site, I prefer physical books that I can hold in my hand, but like Mike W., I agree that you often can't beat the convenience of the digital format. Over the past decade or so, I've acquired a number of digital comics, either by purchase or otherwise (a friend over here let me copy all of the digital Marvel comics on DVD from the early '00s). I usually read them on a tablet I have, on which I installed a reader that supports several formats, including, most crucially, cbr/cbz.
As for Doug's other questions, my current collection includes standard, old-style floppies, tpb and HC reprint books and digests - both in the smaller, classic Archie format and the slightly larger ones (the Panini books that Doug mentioned). I'd have to say that my very favorite of these formats are probably the Epic collections: they're softcover, in beautiful full color and they collect a big chunk of comics between their covers.
Otherwise, though, speaking of the Panini digests, just today I received a package from Awesomebooks.uk which contained five of them (one FF, one Spider-man, one Hulk and two Iron Mans). It's a little over a thousand pages of comics, for which I paid a just a little over $19 total.
By the way, Red, given the question you asked in your post, and the fact that you're going be writing a bit more on the same subject next week - why not just make that next week's discussion topic?
Nice find Red! Hope you get lucky this weekend at C2E2!
I like to handle the comic as everyone has noted more/less. I enthused to see Marvel is coming out with the "Facsimiles" offering later this year. IIUC this will be a 100% reprint of the original "great"comic book... ads and letters and etc.
And as for my Public Service Announcement for the day, I am in a way happy the younger generations don't need a physical good and are more content with the digital experiences. Time to give the earth a break... But I'll still be there buying the floppy, lol.
Like most of you, given a choice, I like the physical presence and experience of an actual book. My shelves contain a couple Onmibi, several Essentials, DC Showcase editions, and quite a few other reprint volumes. Yet I still purchase, and maintain, a fair collection of 'floppies'. Even as I sell off chunks, I'm still picking up a few here and there.
That said, I do read comics on my tablet as well. The practice of scanning coverless and ragged books I acquire and downloading a cover has proved pretty satisfying. Added the classic Daredevil 7 (DD vs. Namor) to my reader that way recently (a book quite out of price range now). In an auction purchase was a copy of Marvel Superheroes that reprinted that issue, albeit in poor condition. So I just scanned the story and added the original DD cover, and voila!
Edo- good suggestion; next week it is...
I Will say this about that:
I like my beer cold.
I like my women hot.
I like my coffee sweet and milky, so there's that.
I like reading my comics but I know I can't lug them around like I used to so that was the inspiration to converting my collection to a digital one. And also why I post what I can to share what I have with those looking for comics in their original form.
What can I say, I share. I'm a "sharer"!!!
Hey Doug, speaking of sharing, I put up two of my black and white comics!!!
(Ain't it foggy outside
All the planes have been grounded
Ain't the fire inside?
Let's all go stand around it
Funny, I've been there
And you've been here
And we ain't had no time to drink that beer
'Cause I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned
Ain't the years gone by fast
I suppose you have missed them
Oh, I almost forgot to ask
Did you hear of my enlistment?
Funny, I've been there
And you've been here
And we ain't had no time to drink that beer
'Cause I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned
I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned
I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned
I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned).
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