I blame elmegil. Completely. :-)

[quasigeostrophy]

Ya know, I was getting along fine for years without being into one of the larger geek-supported industries. Peripherally, I always had a childhood/adolescent fascination (for hopefully obvious reasons given in certain ways I am poster het boy) with the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman series, and I loved the first three Burton Batman flicks, but for the most part, it stopped there. Of course, I had to really get into the X-Men and Spider-Man movies in the last few years. It started off very slowly a couple of years ago when I was encouraged to start reading Gaiman's Sandman series. I have most of the trade paperback collections of those, but haven't finished. I never should have discussed the X-Men movies and their relationship to the comic books with elmegil a few weeks ago, though. Now I find myself hitting the local shop every Wednesday when the new stuff comes out.

Currently picking up Top Cow's Witchblade and Tomb Raider series. Surprising, I know. Also Futurama, Dork Tower, and a couple of others. I've gotten some of the back story collections of X-Men, but there are so many spin-offs and variations, I have no idea what's going on with them currently and so haven't started that. Could be a good thing, actually.

[Edit: And I forgot to mention, but yes, I've also gotten into Foglio's Girl Genius. I forgot about it because I have almost completely caught up with it in a very short time. Fabulous.]

Comments

[geekchick]

Currently picking up Top Cow's Witchblade

I've got a bunch of back issues of Witchblade that you're welcome to; they're hardly complete though. I can hunt down the issue numbers for you when I get home tonight and you can have anything you want.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

You really are an enabler, aren't you? ;-)

Thanks, BTW!

[geekchick]

Yes, plus I get to free up space on my shelves for more stuff! Muahahahaha! ;)

And as elmegil mentioned, you definitely should pick up "Girl Genius".

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I forgot to mention GG in the post, but I've almost caught up on it already, and yes, it is fabulous. :-)

[elmegil.livejournal.com]

I will let you touch issue 0, the Secret Blueprints, but IT IS MINE! ALL MINE!!!! :-)

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

What else will you let him touch???

Oh, wait, I forgot, y'all are our token het boys ;-)

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Found a copy actually. :-)

[elmegil.livejournal.com]

You on the GG mailing list?

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

No. Sign up at studiofoglio.com, I presume?

[elmegil.livejournal.com]

Actually it's a yahoo group....http://groups.yahoo.com/group/girlgenius/

[geekchick]

Nope, didn't know about it before now. Thanks for the pointer. =)

[elmegil.livejournal.com]

Be warned; MUCH over analysis of the storyline and characters goes on. And I will be more than happy to live forever without any further discussion of who "fictional sparks" might be (like Doc Savage, Sherlock Holmes, etc).

On the other hand, Kaja Foglio and sometimes some of the other Airship Books staff, and to a lesser extent sometimes Phil too, are all members and regularly contribute.

[elmegil.livejournal.com]

Never should have discussed the former and their relationship to the comic books with [info]elmegil.

BWA HA HA! YOU SHALL BE ASSIMILATED!

Here's what you really need to go back and read:

Vertigo Sandman series. Start with the "main" series, it'll take you long enough. After that, you'll want to read the little side stories and spinoffs....

Watchmen

Anything by Alan Moore, though you may want to wait on the Swamp Thing stuff for a while. Promethea is very cool.

The One by Rick Vietch

Cerebus, at least up to the point where he's ragging on women all the time (High Society and Church and State in particular are hilarious)

You already know about Dork Tower

PVP is pretty good too, you can read it online if you prefer

If you like the X-Men and such, you'll probably want to wander through old Eclipse books like Electra: Assassin (though I admit I never had the background in Electra to understand all the references). I also liked Moonshadow and some other things they were doing back then.

Of course TMNT--don't let the movies put you off, the book is pretty good, at least through the first several years. About the time the movies came out, the comic started getting kinda tired.

The Dark Knight Returns

The Tick!! Old stuff only though, when Edlund actually was doing the book)

Bone is good and a very different thing from the rest of these

The first 35 or so issues of Spawn were pretty good (again don't let the movie color your opinion too much)

ANYTHING by Sam Keith, but particularly The Maxx

I had The Invisibles recommended to me, but at that point I'd started shutting down my habit, so I didn't get engaged. If you like conspiracy stuff, you'll like it though.


And of course Girl Genius without a doubt.


Next time you visit maybe we can find time to dig through my boxes of comics for things I don't think about very often.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I have books 1-5 and 10 of Sandman, and I've read through book 3 I think. I like it a lot, I just got pulled away from it by other things when I was trying to get through it before.

I do read PVP online. Dork Tower, too, but I like the extras Kovalic puts in the print versions. Wish he could go afford to go color, though.

I was wondering about a Batman series to check into. I'll look at The Dark Knight Returns.

I have the first three collections of The Maxx - I wish they'd get the short-lived TV series out on DVD.

Girl Genius is fabulous - I've already caught up on it except for a couple of issues.

I'll check out the other stuff you mentioned over time.

[elmegil.livejournal.com]

I have The Maxx video somewhere I think....if I only had the TIME to do the cap....

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

*thwap*

Stop that!!!!!

He doesn't need a new obsession.

Oh, shit, too late.....

[elmegil.livejournal.com]

he he he :-)

Y'all just need to move up to Chicago, then I could LOAN him this stuff :-)

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Then I could follow the practice Al has adopted. She's letting me get them and then borrowing them. :-)

[mac-arthur-park.livejournal.com]

:::innocent whistle::: What?

[djinnthespazz.livejournal.com]

There is a nice Electra/Wolvie crossover that came out some time ago. Prolly could pick up in a collected version. Gorgeous stuff.

I like to pick up Wolvie on one-offs and short solo series. He's a lovely character. Lots of depth, even if it's not apparent on the surface.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like Wolverine a lot. After reading some of the comics having seen the movies first, I think Hugh Jackman got the personality pretty good.

An Elektra/Wolverine crossover definitely sounds intriguing. Stop that! ;-)

[origamislayer.livejournal.com]

If you want I can dig out my other Foglio stuff and ship it to you. I love Girl Genius, but my local comic shops never have it and I keep forgetting to order it. I have other obsessions now.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

That would be very cool. Thanks! I'm not familiar w/ any of Foglio's stuff beyond GG and the upcoming Steve Jackson's Game, SPANC. What sort of stuff is it?

[origamislayer.livejournal.com]

Well, there's Buck Godot, Zap Gun for Hire and the old What's New with Phil and Dixie. I also have a GURPS sourcebook called Illuminati University which is illustrated by Phil and Kaja. And that's the only reason I have it.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Cool! I'd been curious about GURPS Illuminati University anyway. If you want to negotiate, e-mail me at my indyansel at hotmail dot com address.