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1apokoliptian
We know... every kid reads comics, but some people got struck after finishing a comic book, thinks "Man, I need more of this" and it will be till death do them part.
Share with us your key moment. What was the comic book/ story that turned you in a comics lover.
Remember, sometimes this lightning hits more than once.
Share with us your key moment. What was the comic book/ story that turned you in a comics lover.
Remember, sometimes this lightning hits more than once.
2apokoliptian
For me, the square 1 was a brazilian edition of the Kazar/ Spider-Man/ X-Men in Savage Land story from the Marvel Fanfare 1 - 4. Art by Michael Golden and Paul Smith. I think that I'd read this a 1000 times.
It started me in collecting comics.
It started me in collecting comics.
3BruceCoulson
Although I grew up with Golden Age and EC Comics in the house, my personal epiphany was my father (with some nagging by my mother) buying for a few dollars a box of Adventure Comics featuring the Legion of Super Heroes when I was 12.
4TomWaitsTables
It was at a football game. They were giving out free comic books. That unexpected gift made an already great day with my dad even cooler. Second, when he explained that it was a stratagem to boost attendance, that forever lodged in my mind the idea that comics were a greater lure (and thus better) than football. So when football made me not-a-social-pariah anymore after everyone found out my mom was making me take ballet lessons, in my mind there was still this concept that, however great its power of redemption, it was still eclipsed by comic books.
I don't remember a single thing about that game (except that one team wore green, or was that the field?), but I can still recall that issue. It was Iron Man and he helped The Winter Guard (?), a Russian Avengers team, fight some mercenaries, then at the end, Tony Stark snuck aboard a giant flying robotic dragon that served as the personal aerial battleship of the villain, Mandarin. And it used its tail as a weapon to smack Iron Man out of the sky! For an eight?-ten?-year-old, that was the greatest thing that can ever happen. No game played by mere mortals can top that.
I guess that was when I fell in a love with comics.
Unfortunately, I never really followed up on it, though I tried to. I really did. But there wasn't a comic book shop anywhere near my home. And the only comic book store I ever went to--funny story: I think it was the first one in the phone book (long time ago, when the Internet came in AOL CDs and Google came in big yellow pages) and my mom finally drove me across town after a lot of pestering. Unfortunately, its main business was porn, with some comics on the side. There were back issues in cardboard boxes near the middle of the store, and porno mags and videos everywhere else. We didn't know that, when my mom took me there, so when she came in to get me and found me holding holding an issue of Witchblade . . . I'm pretty sure she got that place shut down because when i told my friend about this place that allowed kids in for the comic books, when he went there, it was shuttered.
So I grew up associating comic books with childish things, pulp (to put it kindly) and guilt (over destroying someone's livelihood). I did not read any comics during that long drought. Instead, I was reading Gatsby and Dune and comics was something I was in a hurry to put behind me.
But in high school I was taking classes at the college and there was this used book store near the campus. It was cramped, dark--the guy literally had a grudge against Edison--and a fire hazard waiting to happen. I was looking for a copy of Card's Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (or The Abyss, I'm not completely certain which) when I found it on a shelf over this doorway--it looked like an arch formed out of books so when I removed the book, I felt like I was taking out the keystone and, silly as it sounds, the whole thing thing would collapse on top of me. It felt surreal. I would never have otherwise entered that barely lit, dusty room. Which turned out to be the graphic novel section. And on the lectern in the reading nook was The Absolute Sandman Volume One. I took it out into the back patio and spent the remaining lunch hour feeling like Howard Carter. While I couldn't afford it, my library did have a copy. I requested it, got it in less than a week and Neil Gaiman proceeded to blow my mind. I went through Volume 2, Volume 3 and while they didn't have 4, the librarian did recommend I check out Watchmen. And the rest, as they say, is history. Since then I've discovered Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Grant Morrison, Kingdom Come, Mike Mignola . . . It's been a moveable feast.
Those are my two epiphany-like moments. When I first fell in love with comics and when it came back into my life.
I don't remember a single thing about that game (except that one team wore green, or was that the field?), but I can still recall that issue. It was Iron Man and he helped The Winter Guard (?), a Russian Avengers team, fight some mercenaries, then at the end, Tony Stark snuck aboard a giant flying robotic dragon that served as the personal aerial battleship of the villain, Mandarin. And it used its tail as a weapon to smack Iron Man out of the sky! For an eight?-ten?-year-old, that was the greatest thing that can ever happen. No game played by mere mortals can top that.
I guess that was when I fell in a love with comics.
Unfortunately, I never really followed up on it, though I tried to. I really did. But there wasn't a comic book shop anywhere near my home. And the only comic book store I ever went to--funny story: I think it was the first one in the phone book (long time ago, when the Internet came in AOL CDs and Google came in big yellow pages) and my mom finally drove me across town after a lot of pestering. Unfortunately, its main business was porn, with some comics on the side. There were back issues in cardboard boxes near the middle of the store, and porno mags and videos everywhere else. We didn't know that, when my mom took me there, so when she came in to get me and found me holding holding an issue of Witchblade . . . I'm pretty sure she got that place shut down because when i told my friend about this place that allowed kids in for the comic books, when he went there, it was shuttered.
So I grew up associating comic books with childish things, pulp (to put it kindly) and guilt (over destroying someone's livelihood). I did not read any comics during that long drought. Instead, I was reading Gatsby and Dune and comics was something I was in a hurry to put behind me.
But in high school I was taking classes at the college and there was this used book store near the campus. It was cramped, dark--the guy literally had a grudge against Edison--and a fire hazard waiting to happen. I was looking for a copy of Card's Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (or The Abyss, I'm not completely certain which) when I found it on a shelf over this doorway--it looked like an arch formed out of books so when I removed the book, I felt like I was taking out the keystone and, silly as it sounds, the whole thing thing would collapse on top of me. It felt surreal. I would never have otherwise entered that barely lit, dusty room. Which turned out to be the graphic novel section. And on the lectern in the reading nook was The Absolute Sandman Volume One. I took it out into the back patio and spent the remaining lunch hour feeling like Howard Carter. While I couldn't afford it, my library did have a copy. I requested it, got it in less than a week and Neil Gaiman proceeded to blow my mind. I went through Volume 2, Volume 3 and while they didn't have 4, the librarian did recommend I check out Watchmen. And the rest, as they say, is history. Since then I've discovered Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Grant Morrison, Kingdom Come, Mike Mignola . . . It's been a moveable feast.
Those are my two epiphany-like moments. When I first fell in love with comics and when it came back into my life.
5groovykinda
4> great story!
For me, it was my older brother's Mad Magazines (this was before he started on Playboy, but that's another discovery).
I really can't remember falling in love with comics. They were always around in the 60's. I could go to the nearest drugstore and buy them, all my friends had them, and when we'd go to my uncle's cabin on the lake, there would be a trunk full of Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis comics (among others).
For me, it was my older brother's Mad Magazines (this was before he started on Playboy, but that's another discovery).
I really can't remember falling in love with comics. They were always around in the 60's. I could go to the nearest drugstore and buy them, all my friends had them, and when we'd go to my uncle's cabin on the lake, there would be a trunk full of Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis comics (among others).
6edgewood
My name is Charlie, and I'm a comic-holic.
Like groovykinda, comics were always around when I was a kid in the 60s: Archie, Casper, Richie Rich, Little Dot, Baby Huey, and the newspaper funnies (especially Peanuts). A high point: once our piano teacher gave us a box of Disney comics that her son had read in the 50s. I didn't know the name Carl Barks back then, but I loved those ducks! (That box of comics didn't survive long among me and my 3 younger siblings.)
At summer camp one year (let's say 1971), a cabin mate's grandmother (!) sent him a care package including two Crumb comics: Zap #0 and Home Grown Funnies. Those amazed me. But I got hooked for life shortly thereafter when a friend's older brother gave us a copy of Zap #3 (the "69" issue). My little mind was permanently blown. I wasn't old enough to legally buy undergrounds, but eventually (in my mid-teens) found a mail order place to get 'em.
Another conversion, back to mainstream comics, happened in high school when I chanced upon Savage Sword of Conan, the black & white magazine, in my local 7-11. I was intoxicated by the intricate linework of Alfredo Alcala & company. That was my gateway drug into Marvel color comics (X-men, Tomb of Dracula, Howard the Duck, Ironman). Not sure why I was never attracted to the DC books.
I outgrew Marvels in the early 80s, and kept reading undergrounds (now dubbed "alternative comics"). But I got hooked in *yet again* when I saw David Mack's gorgeous covers to Daredevil in 1999. I'm a selective reader these days, but I will always love the medium.
Like groovykinda, comics were always around when I was a kid in the 60s: Archie, Casper, Richie Rich, Little Dot, Baby Huey, and the newspaper funnies (especially Peanuts). A high point: once our piano teacher gave us a box of Disney comics that her son had read in the 50s. I didn't know the name Carl Barks back then, but I loved those ducks! (That box of comics didn't survive long among me and my 3 younger siblings.)
At summer camp one year (let's say 1971), a cabin mate's grandmother (!) sent him a care package including two Crumb comics: Zap #0 and Home Grown Funnies. Those amazed me. But I got hooked for life shortly thereafter when a friend's older brother gave us a copy of Zap #3 (the "69" issue). My little mind was permanently blown. I wasn't old enough to legally buy undergrounds, but eventually (in my mid-teens) found a mail order place to get 'em.
Another conversion, back to mainstream comics, happened in high school when I chanced upon Savage Sword of Conan, the black & white magazine, in my local 7-11. I was intoxicated by the intricate linework of Alfredo Alcala & company. That was my gateway drug into Marvel color comics (X-men, Tomb of Dracula, Howard the Duck, Ironman). Not sure why I was never attracted to the DC books.
I outgrew Marvels in the early 80s, and kept reading undergrounds (now dubbed "alternative comics"). But I got hooked in *yet again* when I saw David Mack's gorgeous covers to Daredevil in 1999. I'm a selective reader these days, but I will always love the medium.
7Gendy
>6 edgewood: I think I'm also a comic-holic.
My addiction to comics started with French Bande Dessinée (BD). My Dad has a pretty big collection of them. While most of them were kids friendly he pretty much had all kinds of them. While he stop actively buying them a bit before my older brother was born the collection was big enough that I continuously had BD to read and re-read.
Mid-high school, I discovered Manga. At the I was reading mostly French Manga but they were pretty hard to find in my small town. When I moved to a bigger city to go to university I realized that English Mangas were being released faster and were, at the time, more easily accessible and definitely cheaper.
In order to keep track of my growing list of titles I set up an English Manga pull list at a local comic book store. At around that time I also started to listen to more and more podcasts and some of them were about Manga. Comics were eventually mentioned. The first American Comic I actively read was Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughan.
With time, I started to read less and less Manga and more and more North American comics.
These days I pretty much read all kinds of stuff. While most of the stuff I read comes from the comic book store there are still a few manga (I'm back to reading them in French) and the occasionnal BD (I would love to read more of those but they are so expensive)
I've got to admit, it's fun to read how everyone got into comics.
My addiction to comics started with French Bande Dessinée (BD). My Dad has a pretty big collection of them. While most of them were kids friendly he pretty much had all kinds of them. While he stop actively buying them a bit before my older brother was born the collection was big enough that I continuously had BD to read and re-read.
Mid-high school, I discovered Manga. At the I was reading mostly French Manga but they were pretty hard to find in my small town. When I moved to a bigger city to go to university I realized that English Mangas were being released faster and were, at the time, more easily accessible and definitely cheaper.
In order to keep track of my growing list of titles I set up an English Manga pull list at a local comic book store. At around that time I also started to listen to more and more podcasts and some of them were about Manga. Comics were eventually mentioned. The first American Comic I actively read was Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughan.
With time, I started to read less and less Manga and more and more North American comics.
These days I pretty much read all kinds of stuff. While most of the stuff I read comes from the comic book store there are still a few manga (I'm back to reading them in French) and the occasionnal BD (I would love to read more of those but they are so expensive)
I've got to admit, it's fun to read how everyone got into comics.
9LolaWalser
For me too there's no single pivotal title, there were always comics around. Asterix the Gladiator is the first comic book I remember (as opposed to comic strips, which I knew from a little kiddie magazine), and the second one is Asterix at the Olympic Games. The first Tintin was The black island. An older friend (she must have been about ten) gave us several Archie Digests. In the single bookstore that sold foreign language material (this was in Syria), we then found Archie singles (all the various titles, my fave being Betty & Veronica) and Marvel and DC. People visiting from abroad would always bring us comics, the Bonelli titles (Zagor, Commander Mark etc.), Disney, etc. We got Classics Illustrated from somewhere.
My passion peaked in my teens, but I was off superheroes for some time by then, jaded by the endless drama (nothing short of The Entire Universe was perennially in mortal danger!) I also resented the skinniness of American comics, the ads taking up precious space, while the stories would be thin, rushed, and always, always end with a cliffhanger! And completing a series wasn't easy, with this one shop importing titles more or less randomly. I never found out the end of the Wonder Woman story when someone conjured a demon... Etragon was his name, and there was a man who was turning into a Minotaur (he'd been crippled? This was the only way to regain mobility?)
But the unfinished story remained somehow magical precisely because it was unfinished.
In my teens I read a ton--a TON--of comic strip mags and BDs. I wonder if that wasn't the crucial difference between the reading habits of us Euro comic lovers and Americans--where Americans seem to have known only "skinnies", DC or Marvel, we had a gazillion mags combining all kinds of stuff. Like Heavy Metal in format and structure, but aimed at a much wider audience, at just about anyone, so with less (blatant) sex.
Does anyone know the British Beano comic mag, was it something like that, and whether anything like it existed in the US market?
My passion peaked in my teens, but I was off superheroes for some time by then, jaded by the endless drama (nothing short of The Entire Universe was perennially in mortal danger!) I also resented the skinniness of American comics, the ads taking up precious space, while the stories would be thin, rushed, and always, always end with a cliffhanger! And completing a series wasn't easy, with this one shop importing titles more or less randomly. I never found out the end of the Wonder Woman story when someone conjured a demon... Etragon was his name, and there was a man who was turning into a Minotaur (he'd been crippled? This was the only way to regain mobility?)
But the unfinished story remained somehow magical precisely because it was unfinished.
In my teens I read a ton--a TON--of comic strip mags and BDs. I wonder if that wasn't the crucial difference between the reading habits of us Euro comic lovers and Americans--where Americans seem to have known only "skinnies", DC or Marvel, we had a gazillion mags combining all kinds of stuff. Like Heavy Metal in format and structure, but aimed at a much wider audience, at just about anyone, so with less (blatant) sex.
Does anyone know the British Beano comic mag, was it something like that, and whether anything like it existed in the US market?
10drasvola
> 9
Lola: If you want to reminisce those times, Beano and British comics, see Great British Comics: Celebrating a Century of Ripping Yarns and Wizard Wheezes by Paul Gravett. Beano is still being published. I suppose that the closest US character would be someone like Dennis the Menace...
Lola: If you want to reminisce those times, Beano and British comics, see Great British Comics: Celebrating a Century of Ripping Yarns and Wizard Wheezes by Paul Gravett. Beano is still being published. I suppose that the closest US character would be someone like Dennis the Menace...
11LolaWalser
Hm, I was thinking of the comic magazine (I handled a few copies, a good long time ago), not a character. A comic magazine which would contain one or more full stories, and/or an ongoing serial, plus individual strips, and maybe other material, anything from text stories to drawing boards etc.
Maybe I'm misremembering the name? Well, if anything like the above rings a bell... to reiterate, I'm curious whether any such magazine ever existed in the US market.
Maybe I'm misremembering the name? Well, if anything like the above rings a bell... to reiterate, I'm curious whether any such magazine ever existed in the US market.
12groovykinda
11-there were a lot of black and white horror anthologies in the 70's-Warren published Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella, and there were a lot more "off brand" ones as well. They had individual stories and some had reoccurring characters (Hunter for one). DC published Batman Family and Superman Family, which were collections. They sometimes had outside characters.
I don't remember anything along the lines of Beano though. It's funny-I never heard of Beano until I went to work at this used bookstore. We've got three hardcovers.
I don't remember anything along the lines of Beano though. It's funny-I never heard of Beano until I went to work at this used bookstore. We've got three hardcovers.
13Papiervisje
There were lots of comic books around when I was a kid. Most of them translations of Asterix, Tintin, Gaston le Gaffe, etc., but also comics magazines like Pep, Kuifje and Tina. By the time I started to live on my own, I had a nice collection of about 200 books. But then a friend showed me Arzach and I was completely overblown. I did not know any of these comics and started collecting anything I could find.
And that is how it began. 30 years later, I now have about 12000 graphic novels, paperbacks, hardcovers and a few American comics.
And that is how it began. 30 years later, I now have about 12000 graphic novels, paperbacks, hardcovers and a few American comics.
14Nicole_VanK
Sorry, can't exactly remember how or when it happened. Do know that my love for comics lead to a love for visual culture in general, and ultimately made me becoming an art historian.
15simppeli
In 1980's I first got sucked into comics by Disney's Donald Duck (or Aku Ankka, as Donald is known in Finland). I also liked Asterix and Lucky Luke a lot. Little later I started reading Tex Willer and The Phantom. My collection of Phantoms was huge, but like all my old comics, I have given or thrown them away years ago.
In my early teens (or about 10-12) I started reading Marvel comics. First Marvel that I bought (or my mom bought) was perhaps Hulk, but the one that got me hooked was a Byrne and Claremont X-men story that took place in some land within the earth (or something like that...). The Dark Phoenix saga (or at least what of it was published in Fnland) was really, really cool back then ("Holy hell, did Jean Grey just blow up entire planet?"). Frank Miller's Batman and Daredevil were also my favorites then. After high school my comic reading waned a little but little afterwards I got into Sandman and Watchmen.
Now I have started to read comics again with replenished vigor and basically just borrow whatever my local library has (Sacco, Delisle, Moore, Satrapi etc.).
I feel a little priviledged about the fact that I am into comics. Lots of people even here in Northern Europe still consder that Comics are for children or teens or short comedy comic strips one sees in newspapers. Those kind of people get me really mad.
In my early teens (or about 10-12) I started reading Marvel comics. First Marvel that I bought (or my mom bought) was perhaps Hulk, but the one that got me hooked was a Byrne and Claremont X-men story that took place in some land within the earth (or something like that...). The Dark Phoenix saga (or at least what of it was published in Fnland) was really, really cool back then ("Holy hell, did Jean Grey just blow up entire planet?"). Frank Miller's Batman and Daredevil were also my favorites then. After high school my comic reading waned a little but little afterwards I got into Sandman and Watchmen.
Now I have started to read comics again with replenished vigor and basically just borrow whatever my local library has (Sacco, Delisle, Moore, Satrapi etc.).
I feel a little priviledged about the fact that I am into comics. Lots of people even here in Northern Europe still consder that Comics are for children or teens or short comedy comic strips one sees in newspapers. Those kind of people get me really mad.
16groovykinda
It's nice to know that America's not the only place where comics can be looked down on.
"Are you still reading those funnybooks? Why don't you read some real books?"
I work in a library, and I'm constantly telling parents that it's okay for their kids to read manga and graphic novels.
"Are you still reading those funnybooks? Why don't you read some real books?"
I work in a library, and I'm constantly telling parents that it's okay for their kids to read manga and graphic novels.
17BruceCoulson
#16
At least they're reading...why can't parents look at the positive side of comics every now and then?
At least they're reading...why can't parents look at the positive side of comics every now and then?
19apokoliptian
>18 LolaWalser:
In the end, Serge gets the girl!
In the end, Serge gets the girl!
20bookstothesky
When I was 9 years old, I lived in an apartment complex next to a 7-Eleven, so many hours were whiled away sitting by the spinning comic rack, with slurpee in hand (they were doing plastic superhero slurpee cups with Marvel and DC characters and I used to have 'em all, too) and open comic in lap. This was 1974, and Kung-Fu was big, big, big, so I would have to say my first real comic love was Iron Fist as he appeared in the Marvel Premiere issues of that time (I still prefer the socially inept, no-nonsense Iron Fist of those early years to any of the later renditions).
My next love had to be Wolverine as written by Chris Claremont, drawn by John Byrne and inked by Terry Austin (who doesn't get enough recognition, in my opinion) in the Uncanny X-Men; still, cool as Wolverine was in those days, I still love those early Iron Fist comics more.
My next love had to be Wolverine as written by Chris Claremont, drawn by John Byrne and inked by Terry Austin (who doesn't get enough recognition, in my opinion) in the Uncanny X-Men; still, cool as Wolverine was in those days, I still love those early Iron Fist comics more.
21groovykinda
Oh gosh, I remember the classic Claremont, Byrne, Austin X-Men comics. They were great (for a few years). And the Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, Terry Austin Batman run, with Silver St. Cloud.
Yeah, Terry Austin doesn't get enough appreciation. What a clean, clear inker.
Yeah, Terry Austin doesn't get enough appreciation. What a clean, clear inker.
22edgewood
Ditto on the Claremont/Byrne/Austin team. That late-70s - early-80s run was when I was deepest into Marvel, and X-Men was my favorite book (after Howard the Duck).
Other inkers I noticed & liked back then were Tom Palmer and Klaus Janson.
Other inkers I noticed & liked back then were Tom Palmer and Klaus Janson.
23apokoliptian
21>
My most fond memories of the triad Englehart/ Rogers/ Austin is for the Dr. Strange run, that is not so commented, don't know why.
For me, Austin is the best of his times, and figures in the same pantheon with Joe Sinnott, Mike Royer, Joe Rubistein and Dan Green.
My most fond memories of the triad Englehart/ Rogers/ Austin is for the Dr. Strange run, that is not so commented, don't know why.
For me, Austin is the best of his times, and figures in the same pantheon with Joe Sinnott, Mike Royer, Joe Rubistein and Dan Green.
24AnnieMod
No clue really.
When I grew up there were no comics so I am not used to them since childhood. There was a total of one magazine with comics back in Bulgaria and it was... special (mainly SF really) and even if was before my time and I found out about it in my late teens.
At the same time they started translating some comics in Bulgarian - some of the Marvel stuff, some of the Disney stuff and some Italian. The thing that convinced me that comics can tell a story beyond X-Men and really be a medium that can work outside of the standard all known heroes was W.I.T.C.H. - back in 2001/2002 when it was translated parallel to the Italian edition. English language ones could not be bought in any way or form - and I really dislike Spiderman (which is what had been translated mainly from the Marvel ones; DC was nowhere to be seen)
Fast forward a few years, 2 jobs changes and a few other important changes and I had some spare cash to actually buy some comics from Amazon so I decided to throw in a few DCs (mainly Batman), a Daredevil title, a few non-superheroes titles... Not quite sure what happened next but I was buying more comics than any other books including single copies.
My mother's first few reactions were kinda funny - "books with pictures, really?" then she got used to it.
Since then it is mostly the same - buying a lot, reading a lot, taking a few months off now and then (any kind of books make me do that occasionally) and pretty much being very well acquainted with the main cannons...
PS: Never got the fascination with manga though - I read a few but as a whole it looks weird and rarely works for me..
When I grew up there were no comics so I am not used to them since childhood. There was a total of one magazine with comics back in Bulgaria and it was... special (mainly SF really) and even if was before my time and I found out about it in my late teens.
At the same time they started translating some comics in Bulgarian - some of the Marvel stuff, some of the Disney stuff and some Italian. The thing that convinced me that comics can tell a story beyond X-Men and really be a medium that can work outside of the standard all known heroes was W.I.T.C.H. - back in 2001/2002 when it was translated parallel to the Italian edition. English language ones could not be bought in any way or form - and I really dislike Spiderman (which is what had been translated mainly from the Marvel ones; DC was nowhere to be seen)
Fast forward a few years, 2 jobs changes and a few other important changes and I had some spare cash to actually buy some comics from Amazon so I decided to throw in a few DCs (mainly Batman), a Daredevil title, a few non-superheroes titles... Not quite sure what happened next but I was buying more comics than any other books including single copies.
My mother's first few reactions were kinda funny - "books with pictures, really?" then she got used to it.
Since then it is mostly the same - buying a lot, reading a lot, taking a few months off now and then (any kind of books make me do that occasionally) and pretty much being very well acquainted with the main cannons...
PS: Never got the fascination with manga though - I read a few but as a whole it looks weird and rarely works for me..
