The iFanboy Letter Column – 02.11.2011

Friday means many things to many people. For some, Friday means it’s wing night. For others, Friday means cake. For yet more, Friday is just another day when you eat more vegetables, and want steak badly. So badly.

At iFanboy, Friday means it’s letter column time.

You write. We answer. Very simple.

As always, if you want to have your e-mail read on the any of our shows or answered here, keep them coming — contact@ifanboy.com

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Today I learned that a family member died, and I also learned about who died in the FF. Now, whether I want to or not, if I recall one event I’ll remember the other. I’m not suggesting that comics are as significant in my life as passing family members — sometimes your mind just ties the most random of events together. Like it or not, that’s what I’ve got here.

Are there any happenings in your life that you associate with something that happened in the comic book world?

Sheli

That’s a really good question. I think it would work for any form of entertainment: albums, movies, books, whatever. For me, comics have been around my whole adult life. Because of them, I’ve met and even become friends with some of my favorite artists and writers.

I have some very specific memories about comics though. I remember Conor reading Watchmen for the first time on my couch in college, surrounded by dudes playing Goldeneye on N64. I remember going to the Ithacon in the snow, and Ron was driving, and we drove into a Saab. I still made it down to the show, and got a Thor sketch from Walt Simonson, my first ever, and it’s on my wall today. I remember reading Box Office Poison in one single stretch, because I could not stop reading it, writing to Alex Robinson to do an interview, and becoming friends with him a decade later. Ask me about any point in my life, and I’ll tell you the comic shop I was going to at the time, and how much I liked the guy running the place. I remember getting Absolute Watchmen just before going on a trip to Joshua Tree National Park to go camping in 116 degree heat, and deciding not to bring the book along, and calling in to the audio show by phone for the first time ever.

That’s how these stories get intertwined into our lives. That’s how they become important. That’s why people get so bent out of shape about things changing, because it’s all related in our minds. I kind of love that.

Josh Flanagan

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I have been reading comics for about 20 years. I mention this because I should be an expert comic reader by now. However, I have noticed that it is still difficult to have the same emotional connection with a comic book as with a movie or even novels (The Walking Dead comic and Scalped may be exceptions, but then I think the Scalped movie experience would be pretty damn good). This may be attributed to the lack of actual voices, music score, or having a movie and its pace directed to you. But on occasion I find myself speed reading through comics and not “directing” the comic properly to myself. This gives me the feeling that I would be more emotionally invested, it if it was a movie played and interpreted by actors with a score.

Do you guys deal with this issue at all? Any tips on how to read comics to give the story a bigger impact? Why can’t I lose myself in a comic the same way I do in movies and novels?

This is the part where you help.

Michael from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

*Puts down newspaper*

Oh, I believe I can help, Michael. Actually, we covered this in a recent show we did, “Comics That Make You Cry”. On that show I revealed that no comic book has ever made me cry. Nor has any prose book. I have a cold, dead heart of stone!

Only, no, wait, I don’t.

At least once a week I weep like a baby during any number of emotionally manipulative melodramtic network dramas. And films! When King George IV finally steps up to the microphone in The King’s Speech? Woof. I’m a big ol’ softy when it comes to movies and TV shows and yet no comic book nor prose novel sets me off.

You’ve hit on a lot of the reasons why I think this is the case. For me it’s a lot easier to immerse myself into a television show or a film than it is a comic book or a novel. There are actors and there is music and I am experiencing the stories through multiple senses all of which can illicit an emotional response. I love comic book art but for me seeing heartbreak on a face drawn in a comic book can’t compare to seeing it portrayed by a skilled actor. I think the fact that there is that extra layer of fantasy between me and the story in a comic book works to its detriment. Intellectually, I know that what the actor is going through isn’t real, but because it’s being portrayed by a real person I can invest myself, emotionally. When it’s a drawing on a page not only do I know, intellectually, that I’m reading a story, but emotionally I’ve got nothing to really latch on to because I’m looking at a drawing and not a real person. This doesn’t mean that I don’t feel anything while reading a story rather than watching one on a screen, it just means that I just never get into that headspace where I have fully given myself over to the story, emotionally.

It’s a tricky thing, these brains of ours that we have. What one person responds to in a real, emotional way won’t even cause the next person to bat an eye. It’s fascinating.

Now you mention that you speed read your comics and that might be a reason why you don’t connect with your comics emotionally. Well, that could definitely be a reason, but even if it isn’t — slow down, man! Take your time and enjoy these funny books. If you’re speed reading through your comics every week ask yourself this: are you reading these comics because you enjoy them or because you feel like you have to, like it’s something you need to get over with.

Conor Kilpatrick

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I’ve been a steady comic reader for a few years now, and I was just wondering what you guys thought of good X-Men titles going on now that I should read. I don’t have a whole lot of history with the X-books other than a few trades of the Lee/Kirby and Claremont/ Cockrum run through the Marvel Masterworks collections. I would really like to get into some of the new stuff either in trade or monthly issues. If you could let me know that would be awesome.

Matt

This is the question that seems to have plagued the X-Men books for decades. It seems as if everyone “knows” about the X-Men, with most comics fans at least reading something along the lines, most likely the Claremont/Byrne golden age of X-Men comics (most notably “The Dark Phoenix Saga”). And like a good soap opera, the X-Men books have built up years of stories and characters to the point where it sometimes can feel daunting to start reading them now. As I’ve always said when asked this question, no time is better than the present and to just dive right in! So, in terms of what books should you read? I’m proud to announce that new official answer to the “What X-Book should I read?” question here at iFanboy HQ is: Uncanny X-Force.

The new series written by Rick Remender with art by Jerome Opena provides a unique window for the reader who’d like to jump on to the X-Books. Why is this book the answer? A few reasons:

1) It just started, so there’s not a ton to “catch up on.” The first issue came out in October, 2010, and they just wrapped up the first story arc. So you could literally pick up the next issue and jump right on.

2) It features a small, tight knit group of characters: Wolverine, Archangel, Psylocke — characters you may know about already, along with Deadpool and Fantomex, who may be new to you and could be some fun.

3) It’s the best X-Book on the stands right now. The stories Remender is weaving and the art by Opena is dynamite. X-Book aside, this is just a fantastic comic book and worth every penny of it’s cover price.

There’s your answer, Uncanny X-Force.

Honorable mention would have to go to the flagship book, Uncanny X-Men, which has been hit or miss in terms of must-read-ness. But with a writer change happening, transitioning from Matt Fraction to Kieron Gillen, along with the fact that I do like the direction it’s been going in, I can’t quite recommend it over Uncanny X-Force yet, but in a few months time, maybe I will.

Ron Richards