Any comic book geeks in the house?

[kirk13]

I'm on a bit of a Chris Claremont/Jim Lee X Men kick at the moment,as well as keeping up with 2000AD.

Are there any other comic book geeks in the house,and if so whats your thing?

[Grant Lamontagne]

I am, sort of.  I haven't bought any in probably 15 years or more, but I used to be a hardcore collector and I have thousands- somewhere.  I'm actually going to donate them to a good friend of mine who is trying to get a new comic shop off the ground.

Claremont era X-Men is probably one of the finest examples of what a good writing and art team can accomplish when given lots of leeway to really explore a story.  John Byrne was another great, in that he not only wrote the stories but also illustrated them, and the first 20-30 issues of Alpha Flight were epic.

I also got into a lot of the stranger characters, none of whom have their own title anymore I'm sure- guys like Nomad (getting into Punisher style shootouts with a baby on his back!) or Quasar who were popular for an hour or two.  I thought Quasar was an excellent character and the writing was fantastic the way they always poked at stuff behind the scenes.  I remember one time someone who knew his secret identity wondered who he thought he was fooling by slicking back his hair and putting on glasses, and they commented that his disguise was Definitely Crummy. 

In another issue he met up with a being that was responsible for creating all the super heroes- I think the being was called Origin or something.  Anyways, Origin told him that there were so many mutants in the world today because he got tired of constantly coming up with stories of how people got their powers.  Then, in an interview with Stan Lee, Stan said the exact same thing, which I found hilarious.  I see that interview is now on Netflix, and well worth watching for comic nuts.

Anyways, I have seen almost all of the new superhero movies in advance showings the night before they open, so I think that even though I don't buy comics these days I think my status as a comic geek is still pretty solid.

Def

[PyroJames]

I also got into a lot of the stranger characters, none of whom have their own title anymore I'm sure- guys like Nomad (getting into Punisher style shootouts with a baby on his back!)

If I remember correctly, the baby's name was Bucky... I think.

I haven't touched a comic in probably 15 years but I have a very small collection stashed away somewhere.  I was always into Marvel and Image more than DC.  I'm a big fan of Jim Lee and even ran out to buy two Gold WildCATS #1; one with Jim Lee's autograph and one without.  I also loved collecting those comic cards (Marvel Masterpieces) because they were painted by artists like Joe Jusko, Julie Bell and the Hildebrandt brothers.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yeah, he called the kid Bucky.  Nomad was the second Bucky, Captain America's sidekick.  He eventually went off on his own and called himself Nomad. Then he gave up on the spandex and oversized lapels, grew his hair long and started fighting bad guys with a sawed off 12 guage.  The baby was taken from a crack who're so she'd have a better life.

The coolest part though were his brass "stun disks."  He could throw them like Captain America did with his shield or he could open them up and use the small tools and lock picks inside.  A super hero with a multitool. No wonder he stands out in my mind!

Def

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[Beerplumber]

Funny to see this thread... I've recently started buying comics again, found a guy at our local farmers market with thousands of comics. I always thought they would become valuable but this guy sells for two dollars a pop! I've been buying issues to fill in gaps I missed in story lines, I'm not a collector but there's nothing like sitting on the deck on a Sunday afternoon with some beer and a stack of comics. I'm a spidey guy but read anything from the marvel universe. I really like "Darkhawk" and spider man 2099, and this guy hooked me up with the number one issues of both along with like I said the few in between I missed long ago. Late '80's and early '90's is my golden era. All the X titles had good stories and art.

[Gareth]

A bit of a comic geek I have to admit.  I didn't read them for years but got back into them a couple of years ago with Marvel's "Civil War" series and carried on from there.  Liked the "death of Captain America" and also enjoyed Kevin Smith's take on Green Arrow.

I think my avatar might have given me away though.
 

[Whoey]

I like comics, never collected or read any particular one continuously... I was more the pick up a stack at a flea market for a few bucks and read through them. I did over the years gather a couple comics, but nothing really mindblowing. My big problem is that I feel comics are meant to be read, comfortably, not with gloves and straining not to make any marks and returning to a vacuum bag so as to retain any resale value...

[Chako]

When I was a kid, I would buy the odd comic. My absolute favorite was G.I Combat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunted_Tank

[Hull_ n_Back]

Haven't bought an individual issue for about 20 years but have got the occasional TPB recently.

A few weeks ago I set about bagging/boarding all my old comics and putting them in proper boxes.I had great fun although the missues wasn't impressed with having piles of them all over the lounge as I sorted them into title/number order. Also had to make sure my 5 year old didn't see them either...

The one thing that brought all the memories back though was the smell of old paper, wonderful!!

[Beerplumber]

Yesterday I bought some comics to read on my flight tonight, packs of five for twelve dollars.  I got a pack of a wolverine series and an x-force pack.  Both series are early 90's actually the x-force is issues #1-5, and I love old wolverine.  Had a pack of "spawn" in my hand but x-force won that decision.

[AlephZero]

Threadnomancy!

I've been a huge Marvel fan, mostly X-Men (X-Factor, X-Force, New Mutants, Gen X etc. included), but also Thor and Fantastic Four.

Later on I found Hellblazer (obviously not Marvel) which is probably my second favorite of all times (just who doesn't love John Constantine really )

Also one of my newer favorites is Marvel's Supreme Power (Squadron Supreme) which, I admit, is a blatant ripoff of DC's Justice League

[Gareth]

I have to say that when the Scarlet Witch declared "no more mutants" I do think Marvel knew what they were doing.  The whole idea that every other superhero was a mutant was just a little dull IMO.  Can't be bothered to come up with a decent back story?  Just say they're a mutant.

[kirk13]

I think Garth Ennis hit the nail on the head with the concept behind 'The Boys'...a CIA sanctioned team of enforcers who keep superheroes under control!

Shame he stopped hitting the nail,and choose to hit his thumb repeatedly instead As a series it went badly off the rails!

Still 2000AD is still the business.

I recently finished Sandman,and very nearly found myself in tears . I'm a bit lost for a new series to look at

[Gareth]

I've ready the first few of the 'the Boys' and have really enjoyed them.  Definitely NOT one for the kids, nor adults who are easily offended.

[AlephZero]

I have to say that when the Scarlet Witch declared "no more mutants" I do think Marvel knew what they were doing.  The whole idea that every other superhero was a mutant was just a little dull IMO.  Can't be bothered to come up with a decent back story?  Just say they're a mutant.

Well, now that you brought it up, most of the Marvel superheroes could be counted as mutants, not all of them tho, Thor and the like, or Iron Man... Or Sasquatch

[Gareth]

Well at lot are results of scientific experiments or accidents rather than being 'natural' mutants, but I take your point.

[AlephZero]

Point taken on "natural" mutants

Last thing I want to fight upon is comics

PS: We can also easily rule out Dr. Strange and Adam Warlock

[Gareth]

non-powered (Hawkeye), Aliens (Captain Marvel), augmented (Black Widow), robot aliens (The Vision)...

[kirk13]

non-powered (Hawkeye), Aliens (Captain Marvel), augmented (Black Widow), robot aliens (The Vision)...

Accidents involving some form of radiation...

Hulk,Spider-Man, DareDevil,Fantastic Four...

Thing is though,with mutants, mutation of genes progressing the evolution of a species is a natural phenomena,albeit you don't often see guys firing lazier beams from Thier eyes

[AlephZero]

As for aliens, we can also rule out Silver Surfer (and Thanos, but we haven't even started on villains have we? )


PS: Not quite sure how to categorize Inhumans... and then there are the Shi'ar

PS2: One else to rule out, Illyana Nikolievna Rasputina, AKA Magik (also Colossus' sister), she got her powers from Limbo

[Lynn LeFey]

PS2: One else to rule out, Illyana Nikolievna Rasputina, AKA Magik (also Colossus' sister), she got her powers from Limbo

No, she's a mutant too. Her 'stepping disk' power is mutant. Her soulsword/armor are magic. Unless they've retconned the smurf out of her since the 'Magick' 4-issue miniseries in the 80s.

I remember picking up a Batman/Green Arrow comic while in a barber shop when i was maybe 2 or 3, and have been a nut since. Spiderman was my big fave for a few years, then someone bought me a stack of Ms. Marvel (and Howard the Duck) at a yard sale. Then I started collecting, mostly Marvel. As a teen, I got into X-Men, Alpha Flight (I agree, Grant, that the first two years or so were fantastic), New Mutants, and a smattering of other Marvel (Cap, Iron Man, Hulk, and a lot of the crossover stuff, like Marvel Team-Up).

I got seriously burned out on Clairmont's (frankly soap opera-like) writing, and got out of comics until late high school, when someone suggested 'Dark Knight Returns' and 'The Watchmen'. That led me into an Indy/Vertigo period, with Tick, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sandman, back issues of Swamp Thing, and a friend got me into old Perez 70s-80s Avengers.

In the early 90s, I did a foray into small press comics, doing colorist work and general editing. I met John Byrne, George Perez, and did an actual colorist try-out at Wildstorm with Jim Lee standing over my shoulder. No pressure there. I was reading Spawn, Wildcards, and a following a bunch of obscure indies, like Scud:The Disposable Assassin.

I drifted away from comics after the industry collapse in the mid 90s, only picking up occasional books like TPBs of Astrocity and Martha Washington. Since then, the only comic I've read was 'Rising Stars', now (finally) available in TPB which finished in 2005.

I just haven't had the funds to keep with it since then.