Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with comicbooks

Total Crud Face Universe and Galaxy

Juliet Banana — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:13:39 -0800

I am obsessed with artist&writer Lynda Barry, and don't believe she has any peer or equal in the world of comics. Prove me wrong; who else would I love? I like how the art is appealing but from a totally different planet than the enviable mechanical precision of, say, Chris Ware.

Her work represents how my youth actually was; instead of a bland suburban innocence that doesn't really exist, she depicts the bloody skinned knees and lack of parental supervision and messy school assignments and gnawing anxiety and fear and destructive crushes and cruel teachers and wild neighborhood dogs and bittersweet memories of childhood.

Reading her work is having the feeling "I had no idea anyone else felt like that!" over and over. She manages to be nostalgic without kitschiness or saccarine sugar overload.

The closest I've found is Rebecca Kraatz's House of Sugar. I know I'm totally slacking by not having read any Ariel Schrag. Your suggestions don't have to be female, or even comic book artists, if you feel the feeling fits.

I know bonus questions are frowned upon, but how many Ask theads about Lynda Barry can I possibly start? I want to know how many more Lynda Barry books I need to buy before I have a reasonably complete collection of all the Marlys-Maybonne-Freddy-Arna-Arnold stories. I currently own Down the Street, It's So Magic, The Freddy Stories, and The Best of Marlys (which collects a lot of the strips, but not all). I still need My Perfect Life, Come Over Come Over, and The Fun House, I know. Do any of her other books contain Marlys-Maybonne-Freddy-Arna-Arnold stories?

Did xmen invent the mutant genre?

jeffreyclong — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:30:34 -0800

Did the original xmen authors invent the mutant genre? Today, "Heroes," and "Push," are stories about mutants with special abilities who are misunderstood by society who fears them. No different really then between Xmen except the lack of costume. Was this genre completely created by the writers of xmen? Or did it exist in other places that I'm unaware of. Thanks

My comics are cluttering up my house.

Faint of Butt — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:12:35 -0800

Casual comics readers: What do you do with your old issues? I'm trying to clean my damn house, and I keep running into piles of old comics. I don't read many monthly titles, but they accumulate over the years. I'm a pack rat, and am loath to throw them away, on the grounds that I may want or need to read them at some point in the indefinable future (yes, this is a psychological matter, but right now I'm concerned with the practical). Cutting them up for art projects also strikes me as horrible. On the other hand, though, I don't need to preserve them for investment purposes. I just want to keep them without letting them take over my house and infuriate my wife.

So what do you do with your old comic books? The whole bag-and-board thing? Stick them in any old box and put them in the basement? Do you just *choke* throw them in the garbage? Give me some good ideas, please.

"Heroes" writing: Stupid or Stylized?

Alabaster — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:42:12 -0800

Cheesy writing in "Heroes" -- is it stupid or is it stylized? **** I'VE WORDED THE QUESTION VAGUELY ENOUGH TO AVOID SPOILERS, BUT OBVIOUSLY I CAN'T VOUCH FOR THE ANSWERS WHICH MIGHT COME LATER ON THIS PAGE ***

I just finished watching Season 1 of "Heroes" (haven't seen any more yet, so please no spoilers).

I've enjoyed the show but I've had my share of cringes at the writing.

I'd be willing to entertain the notion that some/most/all of the "bad" writing was crafted this way intentionally to mimic a comic-book style -- but I've never been into comic books so I can't back this up.

Some examples (vague enough to avoid spoilers):

-Sappy, melodramatic scenes which don't "work" because the relationships don't support them
-Sudden, implausible changes of heart from many characters
-Scenes that may as well have a flashing neon sign that says "Exposition"
-Cliche after cliche along the lines of "what's in your heart is what counts" and trite "can destiny be changed or is it written in stone" fluff
-Powerful arch-villains with poorly explained motives/backgrounds (in a way that seems superficial, not intriguing in the tip-of-the-iceberg I-can't-wait-to-find-out-more way).
-Plot threads abruptly/too-neatly tied up or left dangling (not in an intriguing way, but seemingly careless or rushed)
-Dialogue discrepancies between a scene and its recap (this happened enough that I'm sure it was intentional)
-Deus ex Machina ad nauseum

The final episode was the worst offender -- someone randomly shows up just in time with no explanation for how they knew where to go, someone conveniently gets a shoulder injury and can't lift a gun, someone reveals their first name and *gasp* it's from the Bible and makes his whole story seem somewhat allegorical if you don't think too hard about it, someone gets called away from a crucial fight to sit and watch from the sidelines with family, someone with godlike powers stops using them for a few minutes in order to get beaten up by a few punches and kicks, etc....

Anyone care to weigh in? How much of this is cleverly stylized cheesiness that I'm too comic-ignorant to recognize? How much is simply poor writing?

I'm most interested in finding a convincing explanation from someone in-the-know, but I'd also welcome personal theories, opinions, and rants.

(also: should I watch seasons 2 and 3? Do they deepen/thicken the plot in an interesting way? I'm a huge "Lost" fan, no matter how weird it gets, but I'm not convinced yet that Heroes is quite so multi-layered).

Some Marvel-ous gems?

np312 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:49:38 -0800

Please recommend some off-the-beaten-path Marvel comics titles that are really good, and that don't involve any of the big name superheroes (like X-Men, Spidey, etc.) (Due to a connection through which I can get Marvel books for free, I'm only interested in Marvel-owned properties.)

I just read Runaways and really enjoyed it. I am interested in some (possibly more obscure) Marvel titles that are whole storylines unto themselves-- i.e. I won't need to be super familiar with each character's past exploits in order to understand the story and enjoy it. Bonus points for origin stories or stories where it's not just superheroes fighting each other with lightning bolts.

I liked Runaways especially because it was set in present day earth and I got to see how all the characters originated, and it just seemed more fresh and original than a lot of other 'kids with powers' storylines. No footnotes needed to understand who was fighting who and why.

I am also interested in any dark, psychological Marvel comic books or storylines that are a bit offbeat and quirky.

Thanks!

Nerd-tastic Philadelphia

Edelweiss — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:44:09 -0800

Nerdfilter: Where are the biggest and best nerd stores in Philadelphia? Specifically, I'm looking for Games Workshops and other purveyors of Warhammer paraphernalia. I know there are a couple of GW stores; which is the better of them, though? And are any of the "independent retailers" of GW products better than the official store? Finally, what of local comic shops? I'll be going to the Philadelphia Comic Convention, but are there any stores that qualify as must-sees for a nerd-tastic trip?

TIA

Behind the scenes in the comic industry?

John Kenneth Fisher — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:34:28 -0800

Are there any good comic book industry tell-alls, or behind-the-scenes books? Not so much interested in the Wertham-era fun with congress, but more who was a dick, what arguments were had over story arcs between writers and editors, what happened at story meetings that led to major events, etc. etc.

The type of thing you see all the time by high-level campaign staff after presidential elections. Just, you know, about people in capes.

Feel free to point me to blogs or columns if you have them too, but actual books are my main interest.

Who was the artist who learned to draw hands really well?

lore — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:07:07 -0800

Who was the comic book artist who improved his hand-drawing skills to mastery? A friend of mine is attempting to recall a story he heard. In it, an artist, possibly a comic-book artist, realizes that he's much worse at drawing hands than most of his peers. He decides to focus on learning to draw hands well, and eventually he becomes well-known for being one of the best artists at drawing hands in his field.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? He'd like to know the name of the artist in question, and an actual cite would be extra-great.

Iron Man Comics

penguinliz — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 06:30:59 -0800

Recommend me some Iron Man comics. I got the Iron Man DVD for Christmas and really enjoyed it, and now I want more. What would you suggest as a starting point? I haven't read many superhero comics, so ones which don't rely on knowing the details of Marvel continuity are good.

What comic did this come from?

electroboy — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:19:09 -0800

Does anyone know which comic book this image came from? OptimusChyme posted it in the Katrina's Hidden Race War mefi thread, but didn't know the original source. Any ideas?

Just who came up with Rex the Wonder Dog, anyway?

the bricabrac man — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 12:15:04 -0800

I'm looking to learn more about the history of the comic book industry. Although I've long had an interest in newspaper comic strips from the first half of the 20th century, and in the underground / alternative comics of the 70's, I've never had any interest in superhero stuff. But thanks to a good auction purchase of a big stack of golden-age comic books, I suddenly want to learn more about the history of the comic book industry.

I realize that most of what's out there will probably be superhero-centric -- and that's ok -- but bonus points for stuff that includes information on scifi/horror comics, war comics, funny animal comics / westerns...you get the idea.

Biographies or autobiographies would be ok if they included lots of information about the industry in addition to an individual artist.

Trying to find an old comic book story

woodblock100 — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:25:53 -0800

Have you ever seen a snake-like arm and hand coming up out of the toilet? Late fifties, maybe early sixties. My brother and I were big comic book fans, and eagerly took our allowance down to the drugstore to blow it on whatever was new that week.

One day though, we bought a comic book that contained a kind of horror story about a long snake-like arm and hand that came up out of the toilet, grabbed people, and dragged them to a porcelain death. It scared the s*#t out of us, and neither of us could get any sleep that night. "Mommmmmmmmmmmmm!" And I guess it was ages before we would go into the bathroom alone again. My mother took the comic away from us, threw it out, and removed our comic book 'privileges' for a while.

I don't have the slightest idea of the title, series, brand, etc. of this comic, but I would really like to see this again, and re-visit some of those memories. I think I can handle the stress now - without calling for help in the middle of the night. I think!

Any comic experts out there have any ideas what this might have been, and where I might be able to get hold of a copy?

Looking for english-language blog about french graphic novels.

yeoz — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:36:27 -0800

I'm looking for english-language blogs about french or franco-belgian comic books or graphic novels. There was one that I think that was linked on MetaFilter some time ago, but, I can't find it again, and i'm not even sure that was english-language ... But, any blogs about french comics/graphic novels that you can share would be great! Thanks.

Looking for new comics to read

reenum — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:18:57 -0800

I need some recommendations for daily comic strips to read I've checked the old threads and found one thread that led me to some good stuff.

But, alas, that thread seemed to be filled with comics that were not to my taste. Plus, the thread is over 3 years old. Surely new stuff has come out since then.

My favorite comic strips in the past and present are as follows:
Calvin and Hobbes
Bloom County
Doonesbury (especially the Uncle Duke character)
Sinfest
My Filing Technique is Unstoppable (except for the excessive cursing)
Dilbert (Dogbert's my fav)

I'm looking for comics with a quirky point of view and an edgy sense of humor. I'm not big into sci-fi, gaming, or fantasy, so a lot of those might be out. I'm not closing myself off to such comics, but they would have to be really outstanding for me to get into them.

Also, I don't want to limit myself to webcomics. If there are nationally syndicated or paper-only strips out there that you think I might like, please recommend them too.

Thanks!

Post-apocalypse in comic book form?

cowbellemoo — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:13:07 -0800

Comic Book Recommendation: What well-done series are like the Age of Apocalypse? (Whole-Earth holocaust featuring emotionally vulnerable resistance fighters/mutants/superheroes) Preferably serious in tone. Any imprint and series duration welcome. I'm after a great ruinous setting and emotional realism more than the appeal of a crossover/what-if/movie franchise/gimmick title, but those are welcome too if the quality is great.

Where can I find English translations of European comics?

monkeyagent — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:13:54 -0800

Is there any database or online fan community focused on translating European comics? I recently spent a month backpacking across Europe and along the way I tried to pick up comics local to some of the countries I visited (when I could). I amassed a pretty good collection, with some fantastic artwork, but I was hoping to find some kind of fan-driven resource for translations (similar to the fan-translations manga that are so popular).

The French stuff I can mostly read fine on my own (though a translation would still be helpful), but the Czech, German, and Italian I have no hope of understanding. The list is below (title, author, ISBN - best as I could figure):

Brussels/France
Supreme Dimension (comic magazine - issue 12)
Skydoll - 978-2-84946-674-2 (Marvel just started releasing this, but only a few issues are out)
Le roi des bourdons - David de Thuin - 2-9600409-0-2
Chacun cherche sa case - delfine - 2-35123-129-5
Loup y est-tu? - Allan Barte - 2-35123-120-1

Berlin
Orang Comic Magazin #7 - The End of the World (Publisher: Reprodukt) - 978-3-938511-92-3
Klassenfahrt (Publisher: Reprodukt) - 3-938511-03-6

Prague
Kytice - Karel Jaromir Erben - 80-86955-25-7
Komiks Fest!revue (Magazine - issue 1)
Czekomiks - Stepan Kopriva (Publisher: Dlouhe PRSTY)

Venice
Giacomo Casanova - Dario Missaglia (picked this one up in the Venice tourism office - no other info is given)
Tex - Il Villaggio Assediato (#552)
Sprayliz - Luca Enoch (issue #2 - Publisher: macchia nera)
Vasco Comics - Basta Poco (Issue #1 - Panini Comics)

Even if I can't get any help with these (still very happy with them), any collected resource for European comic translations would be handy for future use.

Thanks!

There are six-- I mean, five replicants.

EatenByAGrue — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:03:06 -0800

I have a plot question concerning the movie The Dark Knight. If you haven't seen the movie, you won't be able to answer my question, so there are definitely spoilers inside. At the end of the movie, when Gordon and Batman are discussing how to cover-up Two-Face's crimes, Gordon mentions that five people were killed by Two-Face, including two cops. The problem for me is that I only count three people killed by Two-Face, one of which is a cop. The cop in the bar was killed, and the mob boss and his driver. That makes three. Ramirez, the other crooked cop, wasn't killed, as far as I can tell, because the flipped coin came up clean. So even if you count Harvey Dent as one of the killed (which doesn't seem right to me), that leaves one person unaccounted for; two if you don't include Dent. Can anyone help me figure out who the missing people are? Thanks.

What to do during our SDCC hangover?

bodgy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:49:45 -0800

In San Diego for 2 days, hate zoos and most museums. Willing to travel. What should we do? My husband and I are going to San Diego Comic Con and got tickets that fly out from LA MONDAY night rather than our intended SUNDAY night. So we have all day Monday and, as we're usually done with SDCC after Saturday, we can also have all day Sunday to do something.

This is not our first trip to SDCC but we usually feel we only see the convention center and the gaslamp quarter. But we're not Zoo people, museum people, or Seaworld people.

We love going places where we can take scenic and cool photographs, or just have good experiences and see unique things. Are there some things in San Diego we should do?

If not in San Diego, we'll have a rental car and need to go back to LA by Monday night, so should we drive somewhere? We can't think of anything really fun in LA. We've seen the Tar Pits, Hollywood, Venice Beach, filming of the Tonight Show etc. so unless LA has some hidden treasures we'd like things outside of LA...

Thanks!

Help Me Sell My Comics

ursus_comiter — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:12:53 -0800

How can I optimize the liquidation of my not so exciting comics collection? Difficulty: I'm moving to the UK in 3 months. I've got your standard'70s/'80s/'90s assortment of comics - 8.5 long boxes worth. Yeah, most of it is dross, but I want to do what I can to extract whatever gold I may have in there. I've read up on the topic here and elsewhere, but there's a few things I'd like to hear from the AskMefi comics collective on. I do have some Silver Age stuff, but nothing terribly exciting unless you're really jazzed about comics referenced in a Hembeck strip.

I've been indexing my comics using Collectorz. However, I'm clueless as far as grading comics, so while I know I've got a few interesting things in there (First Wolverine 4 issue mini-series, First appearance of the New Teen Titans, TMNT 3), I'm not sure how to maximize their sale price. Would it be worth my time and money to go the CGC route with items in that range? - i.e. potentially worth something (up to a few hundred dollars), but nowhere near the value of Amazing Fantasy #15. Also, with my database in hand, are there any resources out there that I can use to dig into my collection to find anything I might be missing that's of value? I could pore through the CBG by hand, but... Meh. I'd be happy to pay a premium to get my collection evaluated as far as finding anything worth looking closely at.

I also have some series that are more or less complete and might still be of interest to folks who are looking at getting them to read or collect. Would it be worthwhile to go out and dig up 1 or 2 missing issues to complete a run and then offer the whole thing on eBay? I'm thinking of Vertigo stuff here, mostly.

I'm willing to make some effort and I don't mind pulling stuff that's worth significantly more than cover and doing what I can to get the best deal for it. The rest, I'm prepared to donate, recycle, or whatever.

What should I do with comic books after I read them?

raddevon — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:37:08 -0800

What should I do with comic books after I read them? I'm starting to get into comics and would like to read some of them on a regular basis. However, I am in the process of uncluttering my life and don't want the comic books to defeat that. For those of you who don't keep your comics, how do you dispose of them? I don't want to just throw them away. I wouldn't mind giving them away to friends, but if there is a way I could get just a little money for them or, better still, trade them for other comics I would like to read, I would prefer those options. I should clarify that these are brand new comics--not classics or anything like that. I will purchase them new, read them in a week or so, then get rid of them.

This story should totally be a comic!

overglow — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:06:53 -0800

What's the process by which published fiction gets adapted into comic book form? I'm most interested in how this happens or could happen with short stories, but if you have information on novels, feel free to share that too. Does an author/story just get famous enough for a comic book company to approach them? Or is there a way for authors to propose adaptations to comic companies? Do you know of any examples of not-already famous short stories which have been adapted into comics? Alternately, are there spaces (virtual or real) where more DIY-style comic artists who are looking for short stories to adapt might go? Thanks!

I'm totally ignorant about comic books

keith0718 — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:55:57 -0800

I'm totally ignorant about comic books. My 4 yr old son is into superheroes, cowboys, samurais--anybody who can whip a bad guy's ass. I'd like to start reading comic books to him, but I know nothing about them. I'm a methodical/purist kind of person. When I get into something, be it reggae music, philosophy, or comic books, I like to go back to the roots, the beginning. Now I know that I can't just walk into Wal-Mart or my local library and pick up, say, the first batman comic book. I don't even know if comic books are re-issued, but I'm hoping to be able to find compilations/re-issues which start at the beginning of a series. What would it take to read, say, Batman from the first issue? If it's not possible to start at the beginning of batman, spiderman, superman, etc., then what sort of logical starting point do you suggest? School me about the world of comic books.

How to best submit comics to CGC?

humannaire — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:21:08 -0800

I am about to begin submitting a number of valuable comic books for CGC grading. Does anyone have experience with/recommendations about the process? These are the real deal. First editions of all the big Marvel hitters from the 60's. The entire Spiderman collection from his first appearance (including if I am not mistaken Amazing Fantasy #15). Crazy comic books, really. Stuff most of us may have heard of but never actually seen or (in latex gloves) held.

So my buddy turns me on to CGC grading, and tells me it's the way to go. And from what I have learned, I agree: The time and expense seem extravagant at first blink, but the price jump from valuable but non-CGC graded comic books to their CGC-graded counterparts is astronomical.

Is CGC the way to go? Any advice about the submission process and what to expect?

I want to scan my comics, in a non-pirating way.

Jonsnews — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:54:15 -0800

I would like to be able to scan in the bar codes on all the comics of my collection into a software that will track and allow me to manage my collection. Scanning being the main requirement. I know there are several software packages out there like collectorz.com that will allow me to track and manage my comic collection, but has anyone used one that will allow me to scan in the barcode with a barcode scanner? I allready have the scanner, and just need the software piece. If anyone has experience with intelliscanner and can tell me that its worth the money, I would even be willing to rebuy a scanner. FWIW I use windows xp.

Have home, need superheroes

aburd — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:28:49 -0800

Last week I bought The Alphabets of Desire by Todd Klein and Alan Moore on the recommendation of Neil Gaiman's blog. I love it. It looks great and I love having an interesting piece of art that is comic booky. Where can I find more prints like this? Bonus points if you can help me find peices by J H Williams III.