Suggestion for 365 Reasons to Love Comics?

[BillR]

Got ideas for stuff you think is awesome and want to see spotlighted?

Bring 'em on! One-offs, theme weeks, whatever-- I'm all for it.

[Matthew E]

Sergio Aragones.

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld.

Phil Foglio.

Brainiac 5.

Warlock, of the New Mutants, as portrayed by Bill Sienkiewicz.

[Tony Bang]

Prez

Fletcher Hanks

[stealthwise]

The Goon

Simone's Deadpool and Agent X run (including Mini-Rhino)

Todd Klein's lettering

Merv Pumpkinhead

[dancj]

Ambush Bug (and Cheeks the Toy Wonder)
Commissioner Gordon
Tim Sale
Flex Mentallo
Mr Zsasz

[goman]

The Local Comic Shop
Marvel Essential/DC Showcase volumes
Bone/Jeff Smith in general
Non Marvel/DC Publishers
Ed Brubaker

[Deep_Sleeper]

Grant Morrison's Marvel Boy
Earth X

[Punch]

Sam Kieth
Art Adams' X-Babies

[Trey]

The Punisher meets Archie one-shot

Thanos, the Mad Titan

Darwyn Cooke

[BillR]

You people are very smart.

Keep it up!

[Jack Zodiac]

Annuals. Quarterlies. Fifth week events.

[Gingold]

Letter collumns and famous letterhacks

Superhero pets

Kyle Baker

Dial H for Hero

Fictional countries and cities from DC and Marvel books

Ramona Fradon

[StrikeForce Albert]

Jonah Hex--where else can I get my old school Clint Eastwood fix? :D

One Shots--The, almost, lost art of Done-In-One comics

JUSTICE--Super Friends with the Badass turned up to 11

All Star Superman--You Will Believe A Man Can Fly

Dan Slott--Comics that make you smile

Nazis--Cause seeing Nazis get the hell beat out of them is ALWAYS fun

[Punch]

Comic Book Sound effects( BAM! POW! BOFF!)

[Reptisaurus!]

Completely random week!

[Omar Karindu]

-- Horror hosts, including the grandaddies of them all, EC's; and, of course, DC's

-- Non-superhero genre characters who were later integrated into superhero universes. (Kulan Gath as a Marvel supervillain, the villainous Trigger Twin descendants and Pow-Wow Smith's great-grandkid in Chuck Dixon Batman stories, etc.)

-- Jhonen Vasquez and Evan Dorkin Weeks

-- Most original premises, stuff like the innovative premises of My Faith in Frankie, Angel Love, Steelgrip Starkey, and so forth. Not all the books needn't have been <I>good</I>, mind you...

-- Robert Loren Fleming's crazy little corner of the DCU

-- Best non-Disney/WB funny animal titles/characters

-- Dell/Gold Key TV comics

-- Beanworld

-- Greatest one-off concepts, deliberate one-issue-only premises like the Alphabet Supes and the Amazing Screw-On Head and so forth

[thehod]

British comic creators

Judge Dredd, Zenith & 2000ad

Dan Dare

Charleys War - actually just war comics in general

Asterix

Tin Tin

[DubipR]

A salute to the 80s indy comics:
Love & Rockets
Mister X
Rocketeer
Grendel
The Badger
Nexus

While some of us here were reading those along with DC and Marvel, some might've passed on these....showcase time!

[Jack Zodiac]

On that note.

Showcases/Essentials. Archives/Masterwoks. Absolute editions and omnibuses.

[Jack Zodiac]

Jack Kirby.

[Matthew E]

Finishing up Black History Month: how about Jazmin Cullen, the second Kid Quantum? A member of the reboot Legion, she followed in her (killed-in-action) brother's footsteps to join the Legion with her quantum-stasis powers. In the Abnett-and-Lanning series 'The Legion', she eventually became one of the few black women to lead a superhero team (the only ones I can think of are her, Storm and Captain Marvel, which would make her the only one at DC, unless I missed one). Also, when she and Cosmic Boy started a relationship late in the run of 'The Legion', she became one of the few members of the reboot Legion to actually have sex.

[Dan K]

How about Tike Alicar from X-Force/X-Statix?

Also, you could cover the 50's EC comic story 'Judgement Day' which featured a Black astronaut and got savaged by the CCA.

[BillR]

Jack Kirby.

He was #1! I apologize for still not getting around to setting up a nice, comprehensive list-like archive, but I'm going to try and code it sometime this week.

As it was the earliest column, it's not as fleshed out as they've since become, but I'm definitely going to cover a lot of the King's works in their own spotlights.


Kyle Baker

February 1st!

Again, apologies for my slacking.

[BillR]

How about Tike Alicar from X-Force/X-Statix?

Also, you could cover the 50's EC comic story 'Judgement Day' which featured a Black astronaut and got savaged by the CCA.

Ooo, good ideas...

I've done a scant bit of research on Judgment Day, and it's a fascinating story. Any idea where I can find the entire thing to read? Has it shown up online anywhere?

[Chickeninja]

Since most of the black superheroes featured so far have been from the Big 2, I'm requesting some love for even lesser known heroes, like Quantum from Valiant's venerable Quantum and Woody? Quantum is pretty much the antithesis of every other black hero mentioned so far, he doesn't have a 'fro, he didn't come from the inner city and he isn't fighting "The Man". He was a guy who after being trapped in a tragic lab accident (Is there any other kind?) is turned into a being of pure energy who is kept intact by a special set of gauntlets that have to be touched together once every twenty four hours or he dissipates into pure energy. The only problem is that the other gauntlet winds up on his ne'er-do-well best "friend", Woody (Imagine Matthew McConaughey, only lazier and dumber). Now inexorably linked together, Quantum uses his ability to control energy to fight crime while Woody mostly lays around and gripes. And they have a goat for a sidekick. The book was certainly the best thing Valiant ever published but sadly died when the Acclaim's publishing division folded. The Wiki Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_and_Woody) is a decent write-up of the basic premise, but it's thin on the overall plot. Regardless, you'd make my day if you'd feature Quantum on your list. Hell, I registered just so I could request him. Who knows? Maybe it could drum up enough interest to spark some kind of revival. Probably not though.

[bird]

Dynamo Joe! i haven't re-read them recentlty but i remember loving that book. since i'm on first comics i'll have to second the badger and nexus. it was kick ass to have a hero active in wonderful little madison wi!! will our streets ever be safe again? :D maybe chaykin nipples too. perhaps that's a reason to hate comics.

i'd also like to second evan dorkin. if he doesn't get at least 1 in 365 reasons to love comics i'll have to cry. please don't make me put you on the list of people that have made me cry.

[StoneGold]

With modern paper stock, it's harder than ever to get a paper cut when you rub your comics all over your naked body.

[mgs]

1. they are relatively cheap entertainment.

2. not always, but lots of times, you have to read them. I've always been told reading is good and fundamental.

3. you know those experiments where peoples' brains have 'turned off' while watching tv and stuff, i doubt as many experiments have been done with comics, but I doubt anyone's brain has turned off while reading a comic book.

4. if you want porn, you got it! superheroes, you got it! horror, you got it! the list goes on and on....

5. all the other entertainment meduims pick up on the coolness of comics. tv, film is big again, toys, video games, music, prose authors....

6. for now, people can actually make a living out of these things, everyone. artists, comic shop people....

7. on the flip side of entertainment, they can be serious works of art, literature, or anything else! maus, kirby, those action philosopher! guys.

[moosenlawyer]

I know that this suggestion is coming on the tail-end of Black History Month but how about a mention about Rage, one-time Avenger, or Brother Voodoo from Marvel Comics.

[Kevin]

More variety. I was disappointed that "Black History Month" was basically an assortment of black superheroes. I would have liked to see something about Richard Green or some black creators who didn't work almost exclusively on mainstream superheroes. A mention of George Herriman would have been nice, too, though his race is a matter of dispute.

[Reptisaurus!]

I would have liked to see something about Richard Green


Who?



or some black creators who didn't work almost exclusively on mainstream superheroes.


Such as?

Th' thing is most of the Fantagraphics and Drawn and Quarterly guysngirls are white, with a couple Hispanic dudes. Ditto the Zap alums and the other underground comic creators of the seventies.

Other than Kyle Baker (who WAS covered), I can't think of any black creators offa the top of my head who work the indy comic book circuit.

(I thought Rob Vollmar was. But nope.)

I mean, there COULD be a bunch of black folks who's art I'd recognize. But how the hell d'you tell, ya know?


A mention of George Herriman would have been nice, too, though his race is a matter of dispute.

Yeah, but it's unknown if he was black!

(I know you already said that, but I've got thousands of these factoids saved up and I NEVER get a chance to use them.)

But, yeah, agreed. 'Specially since we had Jump Start.

Would've been cool to see Keith Knight too.

[BillR]

More variety.

I'm working on that, but one thing this column's taught me is that I don't know as much about comics as I thought I did.

[Reptisaurus!]

Ok. I'm 90% sure that Ho Che Anderson's black. So that's one.

[Kevin]

Who?

One of the few (and only that I know by name) black underground cartoonists. He went by the nickname "Grass."

http://lambiek.net/artists/g/green-grass.htm

[Pól Rua]

I think it'd be nice to look at some of the late, lamented companies like Eclipse, Pacific and First. The guys who gave it a red-hot go.

[Krypton King]

Captain Carrot and the Amazing Zoo Crew (and the Justa Lotta Animals)
Leave it to Chance
Adam West version of Batman
Giant Treasury/ Collected/ Limited Editions
Gorilla/ Ape Comics Week (Bill probably already has this one written up)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay
The Super Friends
Hostess Ads
Kurt Busiek's Astro City
Alex Raymond
1963 (Alan Moore's Image series)
Go Go Checks
Dave Stevens/ Rocketeer
and
Fred Hembeck

[The Mutt]

The Haunted Tank
The War that Time Forgot
Enemy Ace
Combat Cheeks: Frontline Medic

[Alan2099]

The Marvel G.I. Joe comics

Intercompany crossovers

[twilight]

Devil Dinosaur.

[dancj]

Intercompany crossovers
No

98% of intercompany crossovers are crap. Even more crap than the bad company crossovers.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Hilariously bad comic marketing stunts.

U-decide, for instance.

Comics are so bad at marketing, it makes me love them.

[Citizen V]

Saying bad things about comic writers you do not like
Jack Kirby`s contributions to comics

[Reptisaurus!]

My Monkey's Name is Jennifer!


Weeping Gorilla!

The Invincible Super Apes!

Julius Schwarz!

National Gorilla Suit Day (And Scott Shaw!)

[Karen El]

Millie the Model!

Also Tessie the Typist and Sherry the Showgirl.

[MattMBird]

Jon Sable
Nexus
Badger
Grim Jack
Dreadstar
American Flagg
Munden's Bar...

Hell, how about First Comics fortnight?

(You could fill an Eclipse Comics week, too. And Pacific Comics! Maybe even Comico!)

[dancj]

You could fill an Eclipse Comics week, too.

With reasons to LOVE comics?

I can't think of anything worthwhile other than Miracleman that ever came out of Eclipse.

[BillR]

No

98% of intercompany crossovers are crap. Even more crap than the bad company crossovers.


Correct. The other 2% is Archie Meets the Punisher.

[The Mutt]

Herbie Popnecker: The Fat Fury!

http://www.toonopedia.com/herbie.jpg

[benday-dot]

With reasons to LOVE comics?

I can't think of anything worthwhile other than Miracleman that ever came out of Eclipse.

Ragamuffins (McGregor/Colan)
Sabre (McGregor/Gulacy/Billy Graham)
Ms. Tree (Collins/Beatty)
Crossfire (Evanier/Spiegle)

Perhaps not masterpieces, but certainly in the worthwhile category.

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

Robin/Tim Drake (pre-emo, natch)
Harley Quinn (villains need help, too!)
Robyn "Toybox" Slinger
Natt The Hatt

[Toku King]

Spider-Man

[tangentman]

They go well with PB & J sandwiches.

Wolfman & Perez' 1st 3 or so years of New Teen Titans

Runaways

Goofy Legion of Super-heroes stories from the Silver Age.

[ultramandingo]

.......... internet comic book threads like , " how shiney is thors helmet ?"

[Omar Karindu]

-- Best moments of utter surrealism impossible outside the comics medium: everything from David Mack's impressionistic fantasies in Kabuki to Evan Dorkin and Jhonen Vasquez gags to Grant Morrison moments a la "ceci ne pas des bandes dessinees"

-- Best photcollages in American comics Kirby, Steranko, et al.

-- Best Spirit titles: Eisner to Cooke

-- Mad Comics, before the magazine: from Mole! to Stupomran s. Captain Marbles

[BillR]

Herbie Popnecker: The Fat Fury!

http://www.toonopedia.com/herbie.jpg

Oh, yes.

It's coming.