Comic book/graphic novel fans intro thread

[anotheranon]

Just reading through my Friends page and realizing there are a lot of you who are into comic books, graphic novels, Comic Con, the Small Press Expo and the like, and I'm not sure that you all know each other.

Please feel free to use the comments to this post to introduce yourselves, say hello etc. if you're so inclined. You might meet some people to chat/hang out with :)

Comments

[folo1.livejournal.com]

I got hooked on funny books when my father died, and neighbors gave me a bunch of old comics (yes, that sounds weird, but that's what happened). I was 7, and the two events warped me greatly. I collected comics through the sixties, much to the dismay of my mother who thought people who read books were just subhuman. "Wait until you get married, and see what your wife says about those damn things," she said. (She stopped saying this when I brought my fiancee home and saw her taking out my old Legion of Super Hero titles to read).

I collected comics until last year. Mainly DC and independens, was a regular for many years at the Chicago Comic Con, had a few letters printed, published in fanzines and mini-comics and ran a local comic book club for many years.

I sold about two-thirds of my collection and bought a tent. Then I sold some more. I wasn't reading them, waiting instead to read the more convenient compilations. And then not rereading them.

Last year, I realized that I was buying the comics, not reading them and then buying the trade compilation. This year, as a New Year's resolution, I stopped buying comic books (except for Northlander and an odd comic here and there). I buy graphic novels and compilations and have never been happier, especially with the various b&w reprints, which are mainly the stuff I loved as a kid. Recently, I got into the Dark Horse reprits of odd titles such as Turok, Joe Kubert's Tarzam and the Creepy/Eerie archives.

I love artists as diverse as Hal Foster, Steve Ditko, John Byrne, Carl Barks, Neal Adams, Frank Miller Jeff Smith, Gil Kane, Will Eisner, Gary Frank, Wally Wood, Frank Moore and, of course, the God himself, Joe Kubert. Writers such as Stan Lee (in the 60s), Neil Gaiman, Wolfman & Wein, Steve Englehart, Kevin Smith, Jeff Johns and, despite himself, Alan Moore. And many others besides.