speedboy

September 9, 2011 8:09 pm Excellent article, Josh. I live in Berkeley, and the stores in the area (there are three I frequent: The Escapist, Fantastic, and Dr Comics, which is a bit farther away, in Oakland) are top notch places to go, especially in drawing in new readers. Every Wed when I go to pick up my books, there will be someone who is just starting to read comics, or a parent/grandparent who is finding something for their kid/grandkid; the people working are as polite and cordial as someone can be. Also, at all of these stores there is a cat roaming the floor and rubbing against people's legs (come to think of it, this is common in a lot of places in Berkeley/Oakland....isn't anyone allergic to cats here?), which is always a welcome touch. Comic shops should be all-inclusive, places where someone who has never thought of reading a comic in their life should feel like they are able to without fear of being judged or put down in any way. I know that if employees are jerks, there's nothing that really can be done, but in that lies the problem of the environment the shop puts off; it kind of is on everyone to create a fun, safe space where comics can be enjoyed. That might sound kind of unrealistic, but hey, it's something to shoot for. I guess what I'm trying to say is it's on the owners/employees, but also on customers, to make a comic shop great.

August 25, 2010 2:39 pm Awesome movie, one of my favorite parts in the entire thing was the universal logo at the beginning, the 8-bit track....

July 19, 2010 11:33 pm

Ditto on the good show stuff; I had a thought about pointing out the Joker's origin, and how it might add to the ongoing conversation, but then I remembered that The Joker is one character I, and possibly others, DON'T want to really delve into...like with Wolverine, the reasons the Joker gives for being a sadistic, psychopathic criminal aren't as important as his antithesis to Batman. Bruce Wayne's origin shapes his character, while the Joker needs no origin story because of his place in the Batman universe, and the psychological impact he has on the series.   

July 15, 2010 2:36 am

Picked this book up yesterday, along with bendis' and maleev's spider woman, and I wil say this: first read through, kind of wary on book as a whole; it was the story and the dialogue that threw me off, because I know too many people like scarlet. The difference is when I read it again, seeing if I missed anything, and boy did I.

The fact that she reminds me of those too many people I know makes her all the more real, makes the story more believable, and the art more in tune with everything else. Nothing feels left out, which is good.

@Neb: ditto on the three page spread of her life, loved those profound realization panels. 

July 14, 2010 2:13 am First read through kind of wary: this is a scenario I've seen and heard all too often, but reading it again, found it very good, liked the photoreal art, can't wait for next issue

July 6, 2010 11:53 pm Finally, something happening with miracleman, or marvelman as it will now apparently be called again.

June 29, 2010 2:31 am Holy crap, that was a really good read; I agree, these slice of life stories are a great part of comics, they seem more real than the outside world, but only because it may or may not have happened to us.

June 26, 2010 12:41 am I wish I had a dragon. Or a manticore....nope, a dragon.

June 22, 2010 7:51 pm

I actually like the paper quality of these new trades; it's not just like crappy printer paper or the glossy stuff in most of marvel's trades. 

 Anyways, these alan moore issues are the beginning of the american gothic story arc, the one he is most known for; to PraxJarvin, the issues where he goes to Gotham, fights Batman, and the entire dendrophilia thing are collected in trade #5: Earth to Earth. The stories in this trade are wonderfully chilling, especially the vampire story, but more so the first two chapters, "The Nukeface Papers." They're not chilling in that it's a jump out and scare you chilling, but in a way that appeals to, as Alan Moore does really well, the actual horrors in the world at the time, and still present. In all, I'd recommend it, these issues are the ones that got me hooked on swamp thing.

June 19, 2010 1:57 am The Sandman was the first comic I truly loved; I had been on a sort of comic hiatus for a few years (more like....oh...seven years), and it was a welcome introduction; I too don't really care to be labeled under the entire canon of solipsistic teenagers who aren't really aware of the world around them....so fuck the whole "who am I" stage of life all teens believe they are going through at this time, especially in this day and age (contradictory, because I am still in that stage, but not to such a level as your average seventeen year old)...but back to the Sandman, one of my favorite mini-stories is from Fables and Reflections: Three Septembers and a January. It's a mix of the American ethos that our interesting and borrowed history has birthed, part the power of a single dream, and part insane guy walking through the streets of San Francisco shouting OFF WITH HIS HEAD! in his Emperor-iest voice. Great story, great characters, one of my favorite characters is Rose, because of the difficulty I faced in really recognizing how she related to the story...sometimes you gotta just let got of preconceptions of what you know or don't.