I spotted the following meme on the subject of comic books over at SamuraiFrog‘s last night and thought it’d be fun to do it today, in honor of Free Comic Book Day. If you’re unaware of it, Free Comic Book Day is held annually on the first Saturday in May, and it’s exactly what the name suggests: Participating comic shops nationwide give away free comics to anyone who sets foot through the door. The idea is to try and draw new readers — and customers — into the somewhat insular world of this hobby that, quite honestly and sadly, is in decline.
Unfortunately, I ran out of time before I had to leave the house for the day, and the moment of maximum relevance has now passed. That’s pretty typical for me anymore, I’m afraid. Always a day late and a dollar short. I’m going to do the meme anyhow, though. Hope nobody minds.
For the record, I am really just a dilettante in the world of comics. I’ve been lurking around the fringes of this particular scene off and on for years, and I enjoy reading the form, but I’ve never gotten into full-bore into the hobby. Much of my knowledge of the important characters and stories comes not from the primary source material, the comics themselves, but from the movies and cartoons based upon them, and from occasional research when something comes up in conversation.
Just so y’all know where I’m coming from…
- Did you read comics as a kid?
Yes, I did, a lot of them. In fact, I remember taking a little suitcase filled with them on my family’s trip to California in 1977. I mostly liked the ones that tied in with other media I liked, so my favorites were Bugs Bunny, Space: 1999, the various incarnations of Star Trek (Trek has had a very complicated history in the comic world, with various publishers holding the license at different times, and none of them enforcing any continuity between the different runs), and, of course, Marvel’s old Star Wars line. (I still consider all the Marvel stories that took place between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back to be as canonical as anything in the modern Expanded Universe tie-ins — and yes, I’m including the giant green rabbit, too!) I also liked Marvel’s Battlestar Galactica, Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, and Micronauts series; all of them started with the original source material, but quickly spun off into original territory that might not have had much to do with the official “canon,” but were fun and exciting stories that could be seen as co-existing alongside canon, perhaps in an alternate universe or something.
I liked plenty of non-tie-in titles, too: Richie Rich and all the assorted denizens of his universe (Spooky, the Tough Little Ghost and Hot Stuff, the Little Devil), Grimm’s Ghost Stories, and especially Uncle Scrooge and his nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Oddly, given that most people associate comics with superheroes, I didn’t read a lot of superhero comics until I was an adult. - Who bought you your first comic?
My dad. I was very young, five or six, maybe, and suffering from some illness — I remember having a fever and drinking 7-Up through a straw — and he came home from Riverton Drug with whatever medical stuff I needed and a surprise, a jumbo-sized issue of Superman stories. I don’t recall that I’d ever read a comic prior to that, but he thought it might give me something to do and take my mind off how lousy I felt. I still have that tattered old rag of a comic, somewhere down in the fabulous Bennion Archives… - Did you take any time away from comics? Why?
Yes, I’d pretty much lost interest in them by middle school and I didn’t buy another issue until I was in college. Why? I don’t know… just outgrew them for a while, I guess. - What brought you back into comics?
Pure chance. I was walking through the student union at the U of U one afternoon and saw a dude sitting at a folding table with a bunch of his collection spread out on it, for sale. I guess he was downsizing or trying to earn money for textbooks or something. I ambled over just out of curiosity and ended up buying two four-issue miniseries from him, Alien vs. Predator (nothing to do with the execrable film of the same name, and about a million times better) and Lobo: The Last Czarnian, a truly twisted (but very funny) spoof on sci-fi and superhero tropes that were popular at the time. - Do you prefer getting comics monthly or in trades?
I like the aesthetic experience of reading the regular monthly issues, but they’re pretty expensive these days for what you get; the trades (i.e., trade paperback collections of material previously printed in monthly issues) are a better bargain, and a more convenient way to get a complete story . - Do you know the name of your Local Comic Shop (LCS)?
Of course: Night Flight, with two convenient locations to serve you, downtown at Library Square, and in Midvale across from the Fashion Place Mall. I used to stop into their location at Cottonwood Mall pretty regularly, but of course Cottonwood Mall is now a big hole in the ground. (For my out-of-town readers, that’s a long story…) - Does your LCS know your name?
No, but the owner of the place, a lovely gal named Mimi, seems to recognize my face, no doubt from the old Cottonwood Mall days when I was a more frequent customer. - Do you own any old issue number-one comics (must date before 1980)?
Sure: Star Wars #1, Star Trek #1 (from the DC run that tied in with the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture), Battlestar Galactica #1 (the old Marvel run), and The Micronauts #1. There are probably some others. eBay was a wonderful thing a few years ago, when it was like a giant yard sale instead of an actual business, and I picked up quite a few complete runs of the titles I loved as a kid for very little money. - Do you own any original comic art?
No, but I do have a pretty nifty Al Williamson lithograph of Flash Gordon standing on a rocky outcropping, looking very manly and heroic beneath an alien sky. I keep meaning to get that framed for my office, but I’ve never gotten around to it. - Do you bag and board your comics?
Yes, but not so much because I’m concerned with monetary value. (I actually think the collector’s mentality that everything will be valuable in the future has bled a lot of the pleasure out of reading comics, because everyone is so concerned with keeping them in near-mint condition.) I just like to keep things looking nice and dust-free. - Where do you store your comics?
In short boxes, in my basement, a.k.a. the fabulous Bennion Archives. (For non-comic people in my audience, I’m talking about specialized storage boxes designed and sized specifically for comics. They come in standardized short and long lengths; I prefer the shorter ones.) - How many comics do you read right now, in either floppy or trade format?
None, to be honest. After that spur-of-the-moment purchase back in college, I developed a modest monthly habit for a few years, but eventually got tired of it once again, especially when I started trying to decide where to store all the bloody things. Nowadays, i just pick up the occasional trade from the library, or if it’s something I really like, I’ll buy it from Night Flight. But that only happens two or three times a year, really. - What would be your number-one, all-time, desert island, favorite comic series?
Hm. Either Marvel’s old Star Wars series — simple, swashbuckling fun that instantly takes me back to childhood — or Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, a fascinating treatise on storytelling itself, set in one of the most imaginative universes I’ve ever encountered. - Do you follow comic creators on Twitter?
No. I don’t follow anybody on Twitter. - Do you have a favorite comic creator?
Hm. I’ve never gotten enough into the scene to know the names of many creators, but of the ones I am aware of, I think Dave Stevens — the man who created, wrote, and drew the remarkable Rocketeer stories, all on his own — was just amazing. I love his art style, and his storytelling. And everything I know about him suggests he must’ve been an amazingly nice man, too. - Do you harbor any aspirations to create your own comics?
Not really, although I did have an idea years ago for what I thought would’ve been an excellent Indiana Jones mini-series, back when Dark Horse was putting out a four- or six-issue Indy series every year. I never got around to doing anything with it, naturally… - Do you access comic news online? If so, where?
No, not really. Well, not from any sites dedicated to the comic news, anyhow; I occasionally glean tidbits from the various blogs I read.
Time to pick sides… - Marvel or DC? Probably Marvel, based on how many of my favorite series they published when I was a kid. I suspect this question is actually asking which superhero pantheon I prefer, though… and I’d probably still have to say Marvel. They’re a bit more relatable to ordinary people, since the usual Marvel character is a normal, working-class joe who one day realizes he or she has some amazing ability.
- Superman or Batman? A few years ago, I would’ve said Batman without batting an eye. Superman was a sanctimonious bore, and there was no conflict because nothing can hurt him. But then I outgrew my romantic interest in dark, brooding, tortured characters, and suddenly Supes became much more attractive. Superman can be a hopeless goody-goody, but he’s also all the things we aspire to be and dream of becoming. Batman is just messed up. Of course, part of this is probably due to my rediscovery of Superman: The Movie and my total indifference to The Dark Knight and all the hype that surrounded it, as opposed to anything going on in the actual comics.
- Spider-Man or Wolverine? Wolverine. Because retractable metal claws are just cool, man.
- Iron Fist or Luke Cage? I know who these characters are, but I’ve never read either of them, so no opinion.
- “Normal” Nick Fury or “Samuel L. Jackson” Nick Fury?. I don’t care — I remember Nick Fury was a white guy when I was a kid. Now he’s a concession to diversity, and also a nifty casting stunt for the Iron Man and upcoming Avengers movies. Both versions are equally cool, in their own ways.
- Spandex or real-life stories? What does this mean? Superhero comics vs. graphic novels about ordinary people and realistic problems? I think they both have their place. I love superheroes; I love stuff like Art Spiegelman’s Maus.
- Golden Age, Silver Age, or Modern Age? Silver Age. Comics had grown up by this point and were attempting to have some degree of realism, but they were still fun to read, before Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns convinced everyone that “mature” meant heavy, dark, cynical, and self-conscious.
- Digital or paper?
Paper. I hate reading on a computer screen. I could change my mind, depending on what happens with the iPad or some future version of the Kindle, but for now, definitely paper. - Gotham or New York? New York. It’s shinier and less scary.
- Hero or villain? Hero, of course.
- Cape or no cape? Depends on the character. Batman needs a cape to look like a bat; Superman needs a cape because otherwise, he’s just a dude in a union suit. On the other hand, a cape would really get in Spider-Man’s way.
- Cowl or domino mask? I had to look up the term “domino mask.” If you don’t know either, it’s the Lone Ranger style of mask that only covers the area around the eyes. So to answer the question, I’d have to say a cowl. Those little masks don’t really conceal your features at all; I’ve never understood how these are supposed to keep people from noticing that Robin looks just like that punk kid that hangs around Wayne Manor…
And now that Free Comic Book Day is over, and it’s way past my bedtime too, I’m going to call it a night. May your dreams be filled with endless old back issues, beloved and tattered reading copies from your childhood so you can actually enjoy looking at them instead of having to look for your archivist’s gloves…
