Julesxsxex

July 1, 2013 2:02 pm My senior year of highschool my birthday present was skipping school on a friday and making the four hour drive with my dad to Dallas for Wizard World Texas. And it was a blast. Probably the best time i ever had at any con experience. It wasn't too crowded, there were lots of people sure, but not to the point where i couldn't walk around and i didn't have to show up a day early for a panel. It was great standing in line and talking to other people about their costumes, what characters they're into, all that stuff. San Diego, i look at it now and i know, i just know in my gut that it wouldn't be like that at all. It would be me fighting the crowd like a salmon swimming upstream to try to get to the stuff I want, only to find out it's already gone or the line is at the back of the building where i came from. I've made peace with the fact that i'll never go to san diego. and i don't really want to anymore. The smaller local shows feel more worth it.

December 3, 2012 12:33 pm God, so many times when i mention comic books i get the "oh you must love The Big Bang Theory right?" No. I do not. And i'm glad to see that for the most part, no one else does either. I work at a comic book shop, and the majority of our customers are reading mainstream comics, but even in that the diversity is incredible. There's older gentlemen who have been reading since they were little boys and now bring in grandsons, Kids who are spending their allowance money on that one issue of spider-man, teenagers who think Young Justice is the best thing ever, jocks picking up books after practice, cute hipster chicks that like Dr. Doom more than anyone for some reason, and every other number of person that i can't fit into categories except "comic book fan". And all differences are left at the door over our shared appreciation of the medium. Unfortunately, none of those people make it on tv. Kevin Smith is probably the most prominent comic book fan in the popular culture, and he's cringeworthy on so many levels. But that's the price i guess.

November 21, 2012 5:28 pm I'm gonna pick up the first few issues of Superior Spider-Man, but man am i gonna miss Peter Parker. I don't understand why Marvel hates Peter Parker so much and needs to kill him across the multiverse, but it kind of reminds me how much i actually connect when the character.

November 19, 2012 12:25 pm Luckily for me, i'm an employee of a comic shop so i get a pretty sweet discount on all my books. Never spending more than 20 dollars at any given time. That being said, i did skip all the anuals for the $4.99 cover price and don't even consider getting the alternate covers or retailer incentive variants. I do have customers who come in and spend upwards of 70 dollars and say "man, i miss two weeks and it piles up" and i'm thinking "two weeks?!?!!? this is two weeks?!?!?! did you really need every cover to black kiss, five avengers books, AND the skottie young variant to Deadpool?" But who am i to say.

October 1, 2012 1:22 pm When i first heard about the New 52 i was also up in arms. And this was that i wasnt' reading Comics at this point, much less dc titles when i had been. I was just outraged at the idea that my stories were being wiped from history. Then i thought wait, Dark Knight Returns isn't in continuity now. Neither is Kingdom Come, or The Golden Age. So why can't Year One still be awesome and out of continuity? Year 100 isn't in continuity. I relaxed. And then i started reading. Batman, Inc. is one of my favorite titles right now. Action Comics has been phenomenal, and i was ecstatic to see Dial H getting a book again after the mid-2000's series i had loved. So with Marvel Now!!! i'm being optimistic. Mike Allred and John Cassiday drawing books again is enough for me to pick those up. I was anti Brand New Day too, and through the glowing reviews from other people i'm back on Amazing Spider-Man and playing catch up on all the issues i missed during my years of protest against no one in particular. So, maybe if we unclench our fists, we'll be pleasantly surprised.

March 13, 2012 2:34 pm I'll remember being fifteen and getting my first job because my weekly stack was getting to big for my parents to pay for. I'll remember passing around comics in Government class and arguing with the teacher whether or not Toby Mcgruire accurately captured Peter Parker's character (he thought he came off to whimpy, i thought he was perfect). I'll remember heroclix on saturday's at Purple Cactus Comics, I'll remember being the only sixteen year old with a spiderman beach towel at church camp, i'll remember the first time i read watchmen and was actually having my teenage brain challenged by a comic book, and i'll remember buying mature reader comics at 17 cause the guys at the shop were cool with me. I'll remember comic cons with my dad, skipping school on friday cause we had to get to dallas by 11, being 12 and laying on my stomach on the floor trying to get that perfect spiderman pose in my drawing they way he was drawn in Marvel vs DC. My dad picking up a Wizard magazine every once in a while at HEB and me absolutely gobbling it up because i couldn't afford to by my own comics yet, chasing back issues and con exclusives at the shop, running to three different shops to find sold out titles, falling in love with Gary Frank's art work, and thinking Ed Mcguinnes was over rated. Remembering comics will be remembering my youth.

February 7, 2012 12:42 pm He, and this is to me, comes off to confident for Peter Parker. He seems less like a shy nerdy guy and more like a rebellious outcast. Idk, the movie looks fun, but I have a hard time seeing Peter Parker as the guy parents try to keep their daughters away from.

November 23, 2011 12:30 pm I've never really dealt with that in comics, but music is a big area of that for me. Rise Against for instance. I love the music but politically could not be further on the other side of the spectrum from them. And then every kid i think discovers Queen at some point and thinks this is the greatest thing i've ever heard in my entire life. But there is a conflict when you are a dir hard born again christian and Freddy Mercury is unusually gay. Same with Elton John. Music has always been that spot for me where i know what you think, i don't like it, but the stuff you make is amazing.

November 23, 2011 12:26 pm I remember being 8 years old and seeing Alex Ross art for the first time in an issue of Wizard and i thought this is the greatest thing i've ever seen in my entire life. And maybe a year or two later seeing Mike Alred for the first time and thinking what the hell is this even? I hate it. Now i guess as i've grown up and diversified my taste and learned to appreciate more art styles I absolutely love Alred. But I think my number one guy right now would have to be Gary Frank. Anything he does is golden.

October 2, 2011 5:30 pm Comic books to me are like another thing that i enjoy very much, pro wrestling. They're niche. A man once said about pro wrestling, for those who love it, no explanation is necessary, and for those that don't get it, no explanation will do. Pro wrestling will always be for a group of people but never appeal at large to the general public. much like comics, in even in the nineties when it was hot, it was hot for a period and then everyone remembered, oh yeah, this is wrestling, we're not into this. And as much as they try to rebrand it as Sports Entertainment, and as much as we try to rebrand it as graphic fiction or graphic novels, comic books will always carry that stigma. just like pro wrestling will always carry that stigma. So in a sense, it's not neccesarily a bad thing to stick to who you know is going to keep coming back. The average desperate housewives or grey's anatomy fan isn't going to pick up a romance comic because it's still a comic. just like the average fight fan isn't going to tune into monday night raw because it has elements of a fight in it. i think at a certain point you have to accept that your product has it's fans and that it's not going to be mainstream, no matter how many superhero movies they make any given summer.