Day Four: First Comic Series You Seriously Pursued
Spider-Man. I'm referring to the adjectiveless series that started in the 90's. The very first comic I ever purchased with the intent of returning to it every month was Spider-Man #49, written by Howard Mackie with pencils by Tom Lyle and inks by Scott Hanna. That quickly became one of my first favorite creative teams.
Peter and Mary Jane. Their relationship is a very complex one. And also tragic from the very start. She always is second best to someone. Gwen Stacy. The Black Cat. Peter's immortal aunt. But her love is so pure that she always stands by Peter's side. Well, until the devil gets involved...and Mephisto, too.
I know most people will cringe at my selection for this category but this is once again a choice that is very personal to me. It's a tie between the Clone Saga and the Onslaught crossover. As I stated above, I started reading comics in the 90's. The Clone Saga happened right after I started reading Spidey's titles and a couple of years later when I got into the X-Men, I started reading right before Onslaught. Those comics take me back to my childhood and I've probably read the issues a million times.
This is difficult for me to narrow down. I was going to choose Dan Slott and Michael and Laura Allred's Silver Surfer but that's a little too obvious for me. So instead I'm going back to 1985 and a little masterpiece called Moonshadow. I first came across this comic about ten years ago when I picked up two or three issues from a flea market because I saw J.M. DeMatteis' name on them and he's one of my favorite writers. It soon became one of the only cases where the artwork overpowered his writing for me. Jon Jay Muth is now a name I look for as well.
A Comic That totally Blew My Mind: I am going with a title that I had no idea what to expect when I read it. The reboot of Harbinger from Valiant. This book was a must-read, can't put it down sort of book right from the start. Joshua Dysart is an amazing writer and this book gets my highest recommendation.
A Comic That totally Blew My Mind: I am going with a title that I had no idea what to expect when I read it. The reboot of Harbinger from Valiant. This book was a must-read, can't put it down sort of book right from the start. Joshua Dysart is an amazing writer and this book get my highest recommendation.
Great pick. One of the big things I miss about Jamie on the show is that he was the big Valiant cheerleader.
Day 9 A Comic That Totally Blew My Mind - I remember seeing an issue of Heavy Metal for the first time when I was seven or eight years old. Mind blown.
Day One: Your Favorite Comic I honestly don't know, so I'm going to go with The Tick (only the original Ben Edlund issues), because that's one of the two books that got me back heavily into comics my freshman year of college.
Day Two: A comic you would recommend to anyone. Bandette. It puts the fun in funny book. Granted, it's a web comic, but there are hard copy collections. Seek it out and thank me later. If you need something superhero-related, go with Thor: The Mighty Avenger (by Langridge and Samnee).
Day Three: Great Adaption or Remake of Another Work Darwyn Cooke’s Parker graphic novels. Outstanding adaptations of great books.
Day Four: The First Comic You Seriously Pursued I do not remember exactly. Sorry, I'm old(ish)! I'm assuming this category involves tracking down back issues. In that case, it would probably be the Bwah-ha-ha era Justice League. It was one of the first titles I picked up once I got back heavily into comics, but it was already in the 30s by that time. I picked up two or three of the back issues each week until I got them all. Getting the first issue was one of the only times I've paid more than $10 for a single issue of anything.
Day Five: A Great Love Story I thought about going with Cerebus and Jaka, but that gets kind of weird toward the end. I also thought about Ralph and Sue Dibny and their whole Nick and Nora relationship. But I think I'm going to echo Stewart and go with Wesley Dodds and Dian Belmont from Sandman Mystery Theatre. And really, the book was as much about the development of their relationship as it was about the mystery of the week. Very well handled, and Guy Davis brought it to life beautifully.
Day Six: Nonfiction Comic You’d Recommend to People Who Don’t Do Nonfiction Understanding Comics is a great book, but I'm going to go with something on the journalistic side and say A.D.—New Orleans after the Flood. It's a great bit of reporting and really brings the story home in an engaging, personal way. An honorable mention to pretty much anything by Joe Sacco.
Day Seven: Your Comfort Comic All of them! Okay, not all of them. All right, how about this: Anything by Nick Cardy or Bob Oksner. Sorry, that's as much as I can narrow it down.
Day Eight: A Gorgeous Comic Anything by Alex Toth.
Day Nine: A Comic That Totally Blew Your Mind I don't know if I'd describe any comic in that way. But then, I don't think there's much of anything I'd describe in those terms. I guess I'll go with the first book I read that made me realize how broad the comic book medium can be in terms of storytelling and subject matter: The Cowboy Wally Show.
1 Favorite Comic 1970's Amazong Spider-man and Marvel Team-up. My favorite character in my two favorite books. Enjoyed hard luck Parker and seeing him team-up with the Marvel U.
Day 2 A comic I would recommend
Based on the success of Guardians of the Galaxy I would recommend the entire Annihilation series and all miniseries. Those were some great books my Abbet and Lanning. When I cull my books they stay.
Day 3 Adaptation
Rom and Micronauts - I couldn't believe how good these were. God bless Bill Mantlo.
Day 4 First Comic I seriously pursued
Spectacular Spider-man #1 I got it at Wizard World Chicago for $15 after walking past tables that had it for $60-85. I met the CGS crew there too!
Day 10 - the most beautiful scene in any comic Hob Gadling's dream in Sandman the Wake: Sunday Mourning
Day 11 - old comic you love Amazing Spider-man #1 The comic I told me son I would barge him out of the way to rescue if the house was on fire (just kidding, maybe)
Day 10 - The Most Beautiful Scene in Any Comic Wow! Yet another really, really tough one. How about Valerie from V for Vendetta?
Day 11 - Old Comic You Love This one is pretty easy - Adventure Comics 247. Cheesy stuff, but the birth of the Legion so hard for me to put anything else above it.
The Most Beautiful Scene in Any Comic: Uncanny X-Men #137 The final sequence of the Dark Phoenix Saga is beautiful in so many ways. Gorgeous art by Byrne, the love of Scott and Jean, a tension filled climax written by Claremont and finally Jean's heroic sacrifice to stop the Phoenix force by destroying herself.
Old Comic That You Love: Superboy #117 This is Silver Age goodness at it's finest and it guest stars the Legion of Super-Heroes. Alternate dimensions, Legion traitors, an all-powerful Superboy and 2 pages full of exposition as Superboy figures everything out and solves the problem in an instant. You could not ask for more.
New Teen Titans #34 - "Endings...and Beginnings" - No way is Terra a bad guy. NO FRICKIN' WAY! Honorable mention for the Crisis where Supergirl died.
Day Ten: The Most Beautiful Scene in Any Comic
Batman single-handedly taking out all the white martians in the beginning of Morrison's run on JLA. Always bet on Batman. Along with Superman's smack talk about why the martians, despite their apparent victory over the rest of the team, need to be afraid right now. Very afraid. Sums up perfectly why "He's just one man" is the best way to describe him, and defines the character for me.
Day Eleven: Old Comic You Love
I don't have many "old" comics, even though I've been reading them for decades. So I'm going with Action Comics #252 - the first appearance of my favorite hero(ine). Supergirl, of course! :)
Day Nine: A Comic That Totally Blew Your Mind Watchmen Somewhere around issue 3, when I realized that the cover of each issue was also the first panel. At that point, I stopped looking at the comic as just a story, but became hyper-aware of the conscious craft that was going into every panel of every page of every issue. I experienced that "dolly zoom" sort of disorientation as my whole perspective shifted.
Day Ten: The Most Beautiful Scene in Any Comic First thing that leaps to mind is when Jean Grey uses her powers to hold back Scott's beams so she can finally look him in the eyes. (Uncanny X-Men #125 maybe?) Day Eleven: Old Comic You Love Criminy. Define old. Almost all the comics I love are old.
How about Detective Comics #442? Alex Toth's only Batman story, a chapter of Manhunter, and a handful of silver & golden age reprints. 100 pages for only 60 cents.
Not really a specific comic but an entire publisher: CrossGen. Discovering CrossGen is THE reason why I became interested in indie comics. I got into comics in '94 and was a Marvel zombie for six years before picking up The First #1 in 2000. I was never the same. What blew my mind about CrossGen's books is that they really felt larger than life. The art was breathtaking. The writing epic. These books weren't content just being comics. They were Shakespeare. They were Homer. They were Arthur Conan Doyle and Tolkien. They demanded my attention and they got it. And even when CrossGen died, it had still left it's mark on me. I bore my own Sigil now and I would never again limit myself to only one publisher because now I knew what this art form was all about and what it was capable of. I needed CrossGen and it filled that need briefly but sufficiently.
Day Nine: A Comic That Totally Blew Your Mind Watchmen Somewhere around issue 3, when I realized that the cover of each issue was also the first panel. At that point, I stopped looking at the comic as just a story, but became hyper-aware of the conscious craft that was going into every panel of every page of every issue. I experienced that "dolly zoom" sort of disorientation as my whole perspective shifted.
Day Ten: The Most Beautiful Scene in Any Comic First thing that leaps to mind is when Jean Grey uses her powers to hold back Scott's beams so she can finally look him in the eyes. (Uncanny X-Men #125 maybe?)
Great picks! I probably wouldn't have thought of Uncanny, but that is pretty terrific!
Not really a specific comic but an entire publisher: CrossGen. Discovering CrossGen is THE reason why I became interested in indie comics. I got into comics in '94 and was a Marvel zombie for six years before picking up The First #1 in 2000. I was never the same. What blew my mind about CrossGen's books is that they really felt larger than life. The art was breathtaking. The writing epic. These books weren't content just being comics. They were Shakespeare. They were Homer. They were Arthur Conan Doyle and Tolkien. They demanded my attention and they got it. And even when CrossGen died, it had still left it's mark on me. I bore my own Sigil now and I would never again limit myself to only one publisher because now I knew what this art form was all about and what it was capable of. I needed CrossGen and it filled that need briefly but sufficiently.
Love, love, love Grossgen. I still miss those books. If i were to somehow obtain millions of dollars one of my goals would be to buy these properties from Disney/Marvel and give them a proper relaunch like the new Valiant did with the old Valiant properties.
Put me on the Crossgen train as well. I still scour the back trade bins to find the ones I'm missing.
Day Twelve - A Great Holiday Comic
Easy one. The Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer. The understated brilliance of what Ambush Bug was comes home in a big way when everything stops around the 22nd page, and Ambush Bug talks about how he's glad the issue is over...only to find out it's a double-sized issue and he's got to bring the funny for another 22 or so pages!
Cemented my love for Giffen's particular brand of madness...
Day Twelve - A Great Holiday Comic I could go traditional, but I'm going to go with an issue of Dredd Rules! (I don't recall the number) from the mid-90s that reprinted several Christmas themed progs from 2000 AD. Alternate would be for theTreasury Edition of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Day One: Your Favorite Comic Secret Avengers. So funny and clever. Plus the Modok / Maria Hill pairing is one of the greatest team-ups in the history of ever.
Day Two: A comic you would recommend to anyone. Ms Marvel. A fun, quirky read that would appeal to comic fans of all ages.
Day Three: Great Adaption or Remake of Another Work Eh, don't really have a lot to offer here. I did enjoy the recent Star Trek: City on the Edge of Forever series though.
Day Four: The First Comic You Seriously Pursued Super-Villain Team-Up #3 from the mid-1970s. Loved issues #1 and #2 and couldn't wait for #3. I didn't realize the book didn't publish monthly and hunted and hunted and hunted for it ... until it was eventually released right on time. Yes, I'm a dumbass.
Day Five: A Great Love Story Black Bolt and Medusa. I love the dynamic. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, even more so when one is unable to speak, yet Medusa is able to flawlessly interpret every subtle non-verbal cue. Day Six: Nonfiction Comic You’d Recommend to People Who Don’t Do Nonfiction I got nothin' here. (EDIT: Let me go with "300" here. Beautifully drawn and artfully told story of the Spartans heroic stand at Thermopylae.)
Day Seven: Your Comfort Comic The Avengers. You can never go wrong with Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
Day Eight: A Gorgeous Comic Elric - The Ruby Throne. Loved the Elric series of books and so took a flyer on this. Wow, I was absolutely taken aback by the amazing artwork!
Day Nine: A Comic That Totally Blew Your Mind Pax Romana by Jonathon Hickman. The Vatican acquires time travel technology and sends a military force back in time to enable the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine, to conquer the world. An exceptional "what if" type of read.
Day Ten: The Most Beautiful Scene in Any Comic Secret Avengers #11 (currently on sale). Hawkeye, Phil Coulson, and Modok are in a "Mexican stand-off" of sorts against each other in the pouring rain. Hawkeye is trying to talk some sense into a distraught Coulson. The scene ends with Coulson breaking down crying in Hawkeye's arms. Such a great scene. So moving.
Day Eleven: Old Comic You Love The "Terror on the Planet of the Apes" storyline from Marvel's 1970's POTA magazine. Human and chimp best friends are falsely accused of murder and forced go on the run into the Forbidden Zone. Great, great stuff, especially the amazing artwork by Mike Ploog. I always especially loved the part where they found refuge in a hidden base built by President Nixon inside Abraham Lincoln's head at Mt Rushmore.
Day Twelve - A Great Holiday Comic Avengers Annual #1 (2013). The Avengers are finishing up mentoring a group of super-powered yutes before they all go their separate ways for Christmas. Unbeknownst to anyone, one of the yutes, Zamira, has nowhere to go for the Holidays and decides to hideaway inside Avengers tower. The Avengers, it turns out, all lied to each other and also had nowhere to go and thus were planning on hiding out inside Avengers Tower as well. Mix-ups and hilarity ensue followed by warm, fuzzy Christmas-y feeling at the end.
Day Thirteen - Great Plot Twist Infinity #4. Most of the civilized worlds have fallen to the Builders. Captain America, leader of the allied army, agrees to surrender and sends Thor as his emissary to accept their terms. When Thor arrives, the Builders take exception that he came "armed" with his hammer and order him to toss it aside. With the surrender being broadcast to all of the conquered worlds, Thor, as if to capitulate, throws the hammer deep into space, only to have it slingshot around the sun and return to him ... right through the chest of the Builder general. This then prompts the allied forces to mount instantaneous strikes on the Builder-conquered worlds and proves to be the war's turning point.
Day Fourteen - A Comic That You Love That You'll Never Read Again Y: The Last Man. Great book, but it's not like you can just pick up a couple of issues and read them. The entire series is one long story. Couldn't do it again.
Day Fourteen - A Comic That Makes You Smile: Superior Foes of Spider-Man. So funny throughout it's entire run. Okay, I guess it makes me laugh, more than smile, but close enough.
Day Eleven: Old Comic You Love The "Terror on the Planet of the Apes" storyline from Marvel's 1970's POTA magazine. Human and chimp best friends are falsely accused of murder and forced go on the run into the Forbidden Zone. Great, great stuff, especially the amazing artwork by Mike Ploog. I always especially loved the part where they found refuge in a hidden base built by President Nixon inside Abraham Lincoln's head at Mt Rushmore.
Day Twelve - A Great Holiday Comic 2000AD Prog 2015 - a perfect introduction to the world of British anthology comics. Available digitally from the 2000AD online store. And the dark judges return, what could possibly be more Christmassy than that?
Favorite Holiday Comic: Captain America #50 "Silent Night, Silent Morning" A great example of visual storytelling by Dan Jurgens. The entire Christmas themed story is told without any dialogue. Other stories have more holiday spirit perhaps, especially some of those classic DC Holiday stories from the late 70's and early 80's, but this is the first one I thought of due to the uniqueness of the storytelling. I'll also give an honorable mention to the Enemy Ace story from DC's Christmas with the Superheroes #2 from 1989. It was a silent story as well, written and drawn by John Byrne
Comments
Spider-Man. I'm referring to the adjectiveless series that started in the 90's. The very first comic I ever purchased with the intent of returning to it every month was Spider-Man #49, written by Howard Mackie with pencils by Tom Lyle and inks by Scott Hanna. That quickly became one of my first favorite creative teams.
Peter and Mary Jane. Their relationship is a very complex one. And also tragic from the very start. She always is second best to someone. Gwen Stacy. The Black Cat. Peter's immortal aunt. But her love is so pure that she always stands by Peter's side. Well, until the devil gets involved...and Mephisto, too.
The only non-fiction comic I own is To The Heart Of The Storm. Thus, "The winner by technical knockout! Will Eisner!" Check, please.
I know most people will cringe at my selection for this category but this is once again a choice that is very personal to me. It's a tie between the Clone Saga and the Onslaught crossover. As I stated above, I started reading comics in the 90's. The Clone Saga happened right after I started reading Spidey's titles and a couple of years later when I got into the X-Men, I started reading right before Onslaught. Those comics take me back to my childhood and I've probably read the issues a million times.
This is difficult for me to narrow down. I was going to choose Dan Slott and Michael and Laura Allred's Silver Surfer but that's a little too obvious for me. So instead I'm going back to 1985 and a little masterpiece called Moonshadow. I first came across this comic about ten years ago when I picked up two or three issues from a flea market because I saw J.M. DeMatteis' name on them and he's one of my favorite writers. It soon became one of the only cases where the artwork overpowered his writing for me. Jon Jay Muth is now a name I look for as well.
Warrior, that 80s anthology magazine from the UK
I am going with a title that I had no idea what to expect when I read it. The reboot of Harbinger from Valiant. This book was a must-read, can't put it down sort of book right from the start. Joshua Dysart is an amazing writer and this book gets my highest recommendation.
I honestly don't know, so I'm going to go with The Tick (only the original Ben Edlund issues), because that's one of the two books that got me back heavily into comics my freshman year of college.
Day Two: A comic you would recommend to anyone.
Bandette. It puts the fun in funny book. Granted, it's a web comic, but there are hard copy collections. Seek it out and thank me later. If you need something superhero-related, go with Thor: The Mighty Avenger (by Langridge and Samnee).
Day Three: Great Adaption or Remake of Another Work
Darwyn Cooke’s Parker graphic novels. Outstanding adaptations of great books.
Day Four: The First Comic You Seriously Pursued
I do not remember exactly. Sorry, I'm old(ish)! I'm assuming this category involves tracking down back issues. In that case, it would probably be the Bwah-ha-ha era Justice League. It was one of the first titles I picked up once I got back heavily into comics, but it was already in the 30s by that time. I picked up two or three of the back issues each week until I got them all. Getting the first issue was one of the only times I've paid more than $10 for a single issue of anything.
Day Five: A Great Love Story
I thought about going with Cerebus and Jaka, but that gets kind of weird toward the end. I also thought about Ralph and Sue Dibny and their whole Nick and Nora relationship. But I think I'm going to echo Stewart and go with Wesley Dodds and Dian Belmont from Sandman Mystery Theatre. And really, the book was as much about the development of their relationship as it was about the mystery of the week. Very well handled, and Guy Davis brought it to life beautifully.
Day Six: Nonfiction Comic You’d Recommend to People Who Don’t Do Nonfiction
Understanding Comics is a great book, but I'm going to go with something on the journalistic side and say A.D.—New Orleans after the Flood. It's a great bit of reporting and really brings the story home in an engaging, personal way. An honorable mention to pretty much anything by Joe Sacco.
Day Seven: Your Comfort Comic
All of them! Okay, not all of them. All right, how about this: Anything by Nick Cardy or Bob Oksner. Sorry, that's as much as I can narrow it down.
Day Eight: A Gorgeous Comic
Anything by Alex Toth.
Day Nine: A Comic That Totally Blew Your Mind
I don't know if I'd describe any comic in that way. But then, I don't think there's much of anything I'd describe in those terms. I guess I'll go with the first book I read that made me realize how broad the comic book medium can be in terms of storytelling and subject matter: The Cowboy Wally Show.
Day 2 A comic I would recommend
Based on the success of Guardians of the Galaxy I would recommend the entire Annihilation series and all miniseries. Those were some great books my Abbet and Lanning. When I cull my books they stay.
Day 3 Adaptation
Rom and Micronauts - I couldn't believe how good these were. God bless Bill Mantlo.
Day 4 First Comic I seriously pursued
Spectacular Spider-man #1 I got it at Wizard World Chicago for $15 after walking past tables that had it for $60-85. I met the CGS crew there too!
Hob Gadling's dream in Sandman the Wake: Sunday Mourning
Day 11 - old comic you love
Amazing Spider-man #1
The comic I told me son I would barge him out of the way to rescue if the house was on fire (just kidding, maybe)
Wow! Yet another really, really tough one. How about Valerie from V for Vendetta?
Day 11 - Old Comic You Love
This one is pretty easy - Adventure Comics 247. Cheesy stuff, but the birth of the Legion so hard for me to put anything else above it.
Uncanny X-Men #137 The final sequence of the Dark Phoenix Saga is beautiful in so many ways. Gorgeous art by Byrne, the love of Scott and Jean, a tension filled climax written by Claremont and finally Jean's heroic sacrifice to stop the Phoenix force by destroying herself.
Old Comic That You Love:
Superboy #117 This is Silver Age goodness at it's finest and it guest stars the Legion of Super-Heroes. Alternate dimensions, Legion traitors, an all-powerful Superboy and 2 pages full of exposition as Superboy figures everything out and solves the problem in an instant. You could not ask for more.
New Teen Titans #34 - "Endings...and Beginnings" - No way is Terra a bad guy. NO FRICKIN' WAY! Honorable mention for the Crisis where Supergirl died.
Day Ten: The Most Beautiful Scene in Any Comic
Batman single-handedly taking out all the white martians in the beginning of Morrison's run on JLA. Always bet on Batman. Along with Superman's smack talk about why the martians, despite their apparent victory over the rest of the team, need to be afraid right now. Very afraid. Sums up perfectly why "He's just one man" is the best way to describe him, and defines the character for me.
Day Eleven: Old Comic You Love
I don't have many "old" comics, even though I've been reading them for decades. So I'm going with Action Comics #252 - the first appearance of my favorite hero(ine). Supergirl, of course! :)
Watchmen
Somewhere around issue 3, when I realized that the cover of each issue was also the first panel. At that point, I stopped looking at the comic as just a story, but became hyper-aware of the conscious craft that was going into every panel of every page of every issue. I experienced that "dolly zoom" sort of disorientation as my whole perspective shifted.
Day Ten: The Most Beautiful Scene in Any Comic
First thing that leaps to mind is when Jean Grey uses her powers to hold back Scott's beams so she can finally look him in the eyes. (Uncanny X-Men #125 maybe?)
Day Eleven: Old Comic You Love
Criminy.
Define old.
Almost all the comics I love are old.
How about Detective Comics #442?
Alex Toth's only Batman story, a chapter of Manhunter, and a handful of silver & golden age reprints. 100 pages for only 60 cents.
Not really a specific comic but an entire publisher: CrossGen. Discovering CrossGen is THE reason why I became interested in indie comics. I got into comics in '94 and was a Marvel zombie for six years before picking up The First #1 in 2000. I was never the same.
What blew my mind about CrossGen's books is that they really felt larger than life. The art was breathtaking. The writing epic. These books weren't content just being comics. They were Shakespeare. They were Homer. They were Arthur Conan Doyle and Tolkien.
They demanded my attention and they got it. And even when CrossGen died, it had still left it's mark on me. I bore my own Sigil now and I would never again limit myself to only one publisher because now I knew what this art form was all about and what it was capable of. I needed CrossGen and it filled that need briefly but sufficiently.
Though neither series has shown up in any of my entries, they both hold places of honor in the Pure Comic-y Goodness(TM) Hall of Fame.
Day Twelve - A Great Holiday Comic
Easy one. The Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer. The understated brilliance of what Ambush Bug was comes home in a big way when everything stops around the 22nd page, and Ambush Bug talks about how he's glad the issue is over...only to find out it's a double-sized issue and he's got to bring the funny for another 22 or so pages!
Cemented my love for Giffen's particular brand of madness...
I could go traditional, but I'm going to go with an issue of Dredd Rules! (I don't recall the number) from the mid-90s that reprinted several Christmas themed progs from 2000 AD. Alternate would be for theTreasury Edition of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Secret Avengers. So funny and clever. Plus the Modok / Maria Hill pairing is one of the greatest team-ups in the history of ever.
Day Two: A comic you would recommend to anyone.
Ms Marvel. A fun, quirky read that would appeal to comic fans of all ages.
Day Three: Great Adaption or Remake of Another Work
Eh, don't really have a lot to offer here. I did enjoy the recent Star Trek: City on the Edge of Forever series though.
Day Four: The First Comic You Seriously Pursued
Super-Villain Team-Up #3 from the mid-1970s. Loved issues #1 and #2 and couldn't wait for #3. I didn't realize the book didn't publish monthly and hunted and hunted and hunted for it ... until it was eventually released right on time. Yes, I'm a dumbass.
Day Five: A Great Love Story
Black Bolt and Medusa. I love the dynamic. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, even more so when one is unable to speak, yet Medusa is able to flawlessly interpret every subtle non-verbal cue.
Day Six: Nonfiction Comic You’d Recommend to People Who Don’t Do Nonfiction
I got nothin' here. (EDIT: Let me go with "300" here. Beautifully drawn and artfully told story of the Spartans heroic stand at Thermopylae.)
Day Seven: Your Comfort Comic
The Avengers. You can never go wrong with Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
Day Eight: A Gorgeous Comic
Elric - The Ruby Throne. Loved the Elric series of books and so took a flyer on this. Wow, I was absolutely taken aback by the amazing artwork!
Day Nine: A Comic That Totally Blew Your Mind
Pax Romana by Jonathon Hickman. The Vatican acquires time travel technology and sends a military force back in time to enable the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine, to conquer the world. An exceptional "what if" type of read.
Day Ten: The Most Beautiful Scene in Any Comic
Secret Avengers #11 (currently on sale). Hawkeye, Phil Coulson, and Modok are in a "Mexican stand-off" of sorts against each other in the pouring rain. Hawkeye is trying to talk some sense into a distraught Coulson. The scene ends with Coulson breaking down crying in Hawkeye's arms. Such a great scene. So moving.
Day Eleven: Old Comic You Love
The "Terror on the Planet of the Apes" storyline from Marvel's 1970's POTA magazine. Human and chimp best friends are falsely accused of murder and forced go on the run into the Forbidden Zone. Great, great stuff, especially the amazing artwork by Mike Ploog. I always especially loved the part where they found refuge in a hidden base built by President Nixon inside Abraham Lincoln's head at Mt Rushmore.
Day Twelve - A Great Holiday Comic
Avengers Annual #1 (2013). The Avengers are finishing up mentoring a group of super-powered yutes before they all go their separate ways for Christmas. Unbeknownst to anyone, one of the yutes, Zamira, has nowhere to go for the Holidays and decides to hideaway inside Avengers tower. The Avengers, it turns out, all lied to each other and also had nowhere to go and thus were planning on hiding out inside Avengers Tower as well. Mix-ups and hilarity ensue followed by warm, fuzzy Christmas-y feeling at the end.
Day Thirteen - Great Plot Twist
Infinity #4. Most of the civilized worlds have fallen to the Builders. Captain America, leader of the allied army, agrees to surrender and sends Thor as his emissary to accept their terms. When Thor arrives, the Builders take exception that he came "armed" with his hammer and order him to toss it aside. With the surrender being broadcast to all of the conquered worlds, Thor, as if to capitulate, throws the hammer deep into space, only to have it slingshot around the sun and return to him ... right through the chest of the Builder general. This then prompts the allied forces to mount instantaneous strikes on the Builder-conquered worlds and proves to be the war's turning point.
Day Fourteen - A Comic That You Love That You'll Never Read Again
Y: The Last Man. Great book, but it's not like you can just pick up a couple of issues and read them. The entire series is one long story. Couldn't do it again.
Day Fourteen - A Comic That Makes You Smile:
Superior Foes of Spider-Man. So funny throughout it's entire run. Okay, I guess it makes me laugh, more than smile, but close enough.
2000AD Prog 2015 - a perfect introduction to the world of British anthology comics. Available digitally from the 2000AD online store. And the dark judges return, what could possibly be more Christmassy than that?
Captain America #50 "Silent Night, Silent Morning" A great example of visual storytelling by Dan Jurgens. The entire Christmas themed story is told without any dialogue. Other stories have more holiday spirit perhaps, especially some of those classic DC Holiday stories from the late 70's and early 80's, but this is the first one I thought of due to the uniqueness of the storytelling. I'll also give an honorable mention to the Enemy Ace story from DC's Christmas with the Superheroes #2 from 1989. It was a silent story as well, written and drawn by John Byrne
Day Eight - A Gorgeous Comic
DC: The New Frontier
Hard to bet against Cooke!
Uncanny X-men #137
Wow!
PS- Yikes! That sounds dramatic. Hope you are recovering well.