Black Panther # ? (1970-something). Don't remember the issue number itself, but I remember seeing it and practically begging Dad to buy it for me (so technically I didn't *buy* this myself but it *was* the first book I ever picked out from a stand and wanted (up to then I'd relied on reading my older sisters' comics) so that's how I'm playing this). It's lost to the sands of time now, but I distinctly remember thinking the character looked too cool for me not to have that issue.
Day Twenty Four: Comic That Makes You Laugh
I've already mentioned Yotsuba@! and it belongs on any list like this, but just to throw more interesting funnies in the mix, the short-lived side-project of Tim Seeley Lovebunny and Mr. Hell always gets me to crack a smile based on the concept alone.
Day Twenty Five: Comic From Your Favorite Creator
Ambush Bug (first mini-series) #3 by Keith Giffen. I don't know that you can even count this as a comic, per se, as it's not really sequential art, but just a series of panels with hilarious writing and crazy artwork (equal credit should probably go to Robert Loren Fleming). The book stands as a love letter to DC Comics, and moreso to all those bit players and also-rans who never lasted the full test of time (Quisp, the Inferior Five, Egg-Fu, etc.). It's easily the best book out of four brilliant issues that changed how I read my funnybooks (both then and now).
Day Twenty Four: Comic That Makes You Laugh So many, but I've got to back to Ben Edlund's original dozen-or-so issues of The Tick. I laughed so hard reading what turned out to be his last issue, that I actually tore the comic nearly in half.
Day Twenty Five: Comic From Your Favorite Creator Again, this is tough to choose. The singular "creator" will allow me to eliminate the Goodwin/Simonson Manhunter, so that leaves a toss-up between Matt Wagner's Mage and Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier. At this point, I will give the nod to New Frontier, as it is a complete work. Once Wagner completes Mage, I may well (hope to) change my answer.
Got extremely behind on this because of some stuff going on that's been keeping me busy. Here's the first of what will be many marathon posts as I attempt to catch up.
Day Twelve: Favorite Holiday Comic
The Sensational Spider-Man #24. This comic hit all the right notes for me as a Christmas comic. I love the story about Peter trying to find the perfect gift for his partner, Billy Walters (a criminally under-developed character that I would have loved to see more of in Spidey's supporting cast). I also really dug how the issue referenced the -1 issues of the Spidey books. And a standalone story, to boot!
Day Thirteen: A Great Plot Twist
Watchmen. 'Nuff said.
Day Fourteen: Comic That You Love That You'll Never Read Again
I really can't see myself ever reading The Killing Joke again. It's one of my favorite Joker stories but I prefer to remember it the way I read it the first time and not to dilute that memory through repeated future readings.
Day Fifteen: A Comic That Makes You Smile
Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #20. This is a really nice single-issue story that has one of the most rewarding endings of any comic I've ever read. And it makes me smile every time I read it. What a great beginning to Paul Jenkins run.
Pretty much any yuri book I read falls under this topic, so I'll eliminate all of them for consideration. Just too obvious. So I'll own up the simple fact I'm not reading Lady Rawhide for the writing. :) Or any time Frank Cho decides to do a story about a jungle babe. :)
The Amazing Spider-Man #400. J.M. DeMatteis is without question my favorite Spider-Man writer. His understanding of Peter, his supporting cast, his villains and his world make his absence in the Spidey titles these days painful to endure. It doesn't matter how many times I read this issue, it gets me every time... And then I read "The Final Chapter" and cry harder but for very different reasons.
Day Seventeen: A Comic That Reminds You Of Someone
One More Day. It reminds me of a time when I had to choose between two people and chose very poorly, hurting both, which is a choice that still haunts me to this day. Joe Q and I were very much alike in that we both made selfish decisions without considering the consequences. The difference between us is that one of us regrets our actions. In the real world, magic doesn't make things work out okay in the end and reboots don't exist.
Day Eighteen: A Comic That Deserves A Soundtrack
I like to imagine a sometimes whimsical, sometimes epic orchestral score when reading Bone.
Day Nineteen: Comic That You Quote From
I rarely quote from comics. More often I quote from movies or song lyrics. So, I'm going to cheat a little and amend this question a bit. My sense of humor and deadpan style of telling a joke are a direct result of reading Garfield collections obsessively since I was old enough to read.
Day Twenty: Comic With Witty Dialogue
Anything written by Peter David. Being a Spider-Man fan, the most experience I have with his writing comes from his runs on Spectacular, 2099 and Friendly Neighborhood but I've also enjoyed Soulsearchers And Company quite bit in the past and was enjoying his most recent All-New X-Factor.
Day Twenty-One: Comic You Used To Love But Now Dislike
This question is almost impossible for me to answer because I rarely change my opinion on anything and when I do, I usually come to enjoy something through repeated readings rather than dislike it. Perhaps I'll come back to this one in time.
Day Twenty-Two: Comic That Makes You Want To Have Sloppy Makeouts With Someone
The Emmanuelle comic. When I get to the scene where Emmanuelle is getting it on with a gorilla, I just want to throw that thing across the room and start making out with my wife on the spot.
Day Twenty-Three: First Comic You Bought
Spider-Man #49. The Clone Saga was my trial by fire in comics. I came out of it looking like Freddy Krueger but I came out of it a man!
Day Twenty-Four: Comic That Makes You Laugh
Everybody on the forum by now is well aware of my love for Spider-Man, so I'm going to avoid the obvious and instead choose Evan Dorkin's Milk & Cheese. I always laugh when reading those shorts and I love the characters so much my wife even bought me a Milk & Cheese lunchbox for Christmas.
Day Twenty-Five: Comic From Your Favorite Creator
Justice League Quarterly #2. This was my first exposure to J.M. DeMatteis' DC work and I love every page of it. This comic also helped me in my efforts to muddle @Adam_Murdough and win a beautiful page of artwork from Meridian. Thanks, Mr. DeMatteis! I knew my love for your work would pay off someday!
While I don't keep an active count I'll base it on sheer wear and tear I've put on a book and it has to go to pretty much the entire run of 'Mazing Man from back in the 80s. I read and re-read those issues so much they'd have to develop a negative number if they CGC-graded them. The book re-defined for me what a comic could be - particularly a mainstream book like a DC title. Nowadays there are a million comics and web-comics that deliver that whole slice-of-life thing...and certainly there were indie books out at the same time who might have done it better. But 'Mazing Man was a great book back when DC took chances that didn't involve reboots or breaking the internet. They just took a chance on doing something different.
Day Twenty Six Guilty Pleasure Comic Gotta be Spider-Man by McFarlane, beautiful to look at but boy was the dialogue bad. Yet at the time I thought it was sooooo good.
Day Twenty Seven: Comic You Have Read The Most TImes The classic Wolfman/Perez Crisis on Infinite Earths still the gold standard when it comes to big events if you ask me. Great pacing, plotting and scripting, the art by Perez is gorgeous and it had tons of impactful story beats. Honorable mentions for Vigilante by Wolfman and Think Tank.
Avengers #145 "The Taking of the Avengers" February of 1976. I just checked out the issue on ComicbookDB. My memory had this as a George Perez issue but it was apparently a Don Heck fill-in issue - the first of two parts (I don't think that I've read the second part).
Day Twenty-Four: Comic That Makes You Laugh
Going back to the old standby - The Tick. It offers a level of quirk and silliness that is just about perfect. In general, I'm not a big fan of comedy comics, but I really dug this book during the Edlund years (years potentially being the time period between issues).
Greg Rucka - Queen & Country was great. His run on Checkmate was also a whole lot of fun! Have I mentioned Lazarus lately?
Dan Brereton - the Black Terror. My first experience with Brereton. No turning back after reading it.
Bill Mantlo - Rom and Micronauts.
Paul Levitz / Keith Giffen / Tom & Mary Bierbaum / Jim Starlin / Mike Grell / Dave Cockrum - Legion of Super Heroes.
Day Twenty Six Guilty Pleasure Comic Early Image books - mostly from the Homage/Wildstorm studio. I was particularly enamored with WetWorks.
Day Twenty Seven: Comic You Have Read The Most TImes This one is easy - Avengers #160. I read the cover off of that one as a kid and have bought the issue itself on multiple occasions (as well as buying the Greatest Avengers Stories TPB). I still occasionally pull the TPB out to give it a reread. Wonderman was such a bada$$ in that issue!
Sonic The Hedgehog #33. As a fan of terrible puns (my favorite author is Piers Anthony, after all), I simply can't resist a story that involves Sonic shrinking himself and entering his sick friends to team up with their Auntie Bodies to combat Robotnik's French Frirus.
Day Twenty-Seven: Comic You Have Read The Most Times
Spider-Man, Storm And Power Man. This is an anti-smoking comic in which the three titular heroes battle Smokescreen! This comic was handed out for free at my elementary school and I've probably read it more than any other comic I own combined. This was the only comic I owned for a very long time other than the comics in Disney Adventures magazines I had. People can make fun of these old PSA comics all they want but this was my world when I was a kid and until I bought my first comic for myself years later, it was all I had.
Behind on this and don't really have the time to come up with some of them, but I would like to weigh in on this one though ...
Day Twenty-Three: First Comic You Bought
Avengers #139 (Sept, 1975)
I was 10 years old and had gotten a $1 allowance for the first time ever. I remember going with my dad on Sunday morning to the coffee shop to get the Sunday papers because they had a spinner rack there and I was determined to blow some of my hard-earned cash. I can remember being completely mesmerized by this cover, even though I don't think I had any idea who any of the characters were (with the possible exception of Thor) and bought it on a whim.
In an example of art eventually imitating life, I can recall thinking the floating head in the middle (Iron Man) must have some connection to the green and yellow-clad guy with the red face up by the logo (The Vision), because their faces were somewhat similar. Apparently Joss Whedon agreed with me. :-)
Day Twenty-Four: Comic That Makes You Laugh Superior Foes of Spider-Man. Just a great, fun read.
Day Twenty-Five: Comic From Your Favorite Creator Kingdom Come. My first real exposure to Alex Ross. I was completely taken aback by the artwork and still am to this day
Day Twenty Six Guilty Pleasure Comic Ms. Marvel. A comic about a teenage girl superhero having to deal with supervillains, cheerleaders, peer pressure, hormones, a curfew and her strict Muslim parents? Sign me up!
Day Twenty Seven: Comic You Have Read The Most Times The Dark Knight Returns. Every couple of years I'll bust it out and give it a read. I still get chills with the part early on where the various TV newscasters are reporting on the rumored sightings of ... the Batman.
Avengers #145 "The Taking of the Avengers" February of 1976. I just checked out the issue on ComicbookDB. My memory had this as a George Perez issue but it was apparently a Don Heck fill-in issue - the first of two parts (I don't think that I've read the second part).
You and I started buying comics at roughly the same time so this one is right in my wheelhouse. Loved this story arc, the whole "The Assassin Never Fails" thing. There's a great scene where Cap is lying in the hospital near death surrounded by the Avengers and Wanda goes *OFF* on (sombody for something that I can't remember) because she was so distraught about Cap.
Should've been everyone's first red flag about House of M. :-)
Bone. Didn't even hesitate putting that first. Cuteness, comedy, action, just enough scary stuff, a princess in peril, villains you hate, villains you like, and dialogue every parent should sit and read aloud with their children. I don't know that anything comes close.
Avengers #145 "The Taking of the Avengers" February of 1976. I just checked out the issue on ComicbookDB. My memory had this as a George Perez issue but it was apparently a Don Heck fill-in issue - the first of two parts (I don't think that I've read the second part).
You and I started buying comics at roughly the same time so this one is right in my wheelhouse. Loved this story arc, the whole "The Assassin Never Fails" thing. There's a great scene where Cap is lying in the hospital near death surrounded by the Avengers and Wanda goes *OFF* on (sombody for something that I can't remember) because she was so distraught about Cap.
Should've been everyone's first red flag about House of M. :-)
I really do need to locate the second part (and reread the first part as well!)
Day Twenty Eight A Comic For Kids Art and Franco's Tiny Titans, it's a great read for adults who love the Titans, but where it really shines is in introducing the little ones to classic DC characters in an easy to enjoy and to understand way. The art is great, the stories are funny and fun. The issues are full of monkeys, fun adventures and cute jokes. I'll give an honorable mention to Jeremy Dale's Skyward.
I have multiple offerings here. First - the entire series of Timm-verse DC comics. My son absolutely adored the Justice League Adventures books in particular, but dug the Batman Adventures and Superman Adventures books as well.
Going the slightly more scholarly course - Classics Illustrated. I remember checking the digest versions out of our school library when I was in elementary school and, as I previously noted, absolutely loved the First Comics Classics Illustrated that came out in the late 80's-early 90s.
Day Twenty Seven A Comic For Kids I like all the ones suggested before, but I'll pickthe comics I thought were the best wayyyyy back when I was a kid: The GOOD Uncle Scrooge comics, which I eventually learned were the Carl Barks issues.
Damn, those were great stories.
And it was always such a thrill to realize it was one of the GOOD ones.
Day 25: Comic from Your Favorite Creator I really don't have a favorite creator. How do you pick between Alex Toth and Darwyn Cooke, or Nick Cardy and Bob Oksner, or Paul Pope and Joe Kubert...? I could go on. I think I'll use this as an opportunity to put down one of my absolute favorite single issue comics: Mad Love by Bruce Timm (and Paul Dini). About as perfect a comic as I could ask for.
Day 26: Guilty Pleasure Comic I don't feel much guilt about any comic I find to be a pleasurable read. I guess I'll go with Torpedo. Despite it's sexism and racism—done as parody, but still—it's a freaking gorgeous series.
Day 27: Comic You Have Read the Most Times Well, it definitely has to be a comic I had as a kid. Because I had a limited number of comics back then, and plenty of time to read them over and over, unlike now where I barely can keep up with the new comics I want to read. It's probably one of three: the aforementioned Adventure Comics #442, Justice League of America #145, or DC Special #29 (The Untold Origin of the Justice Society)... but it could have been one of a dozen others. I literally read the cover off of several comics.
Day Twenty Nine - A Comic That Changed the Way That You See the World
I know I keep coming back to it, but it deserves every accolade I can give it. Yotsuba@! basically showed me that being a pissant throughout life is no way to live it. The world is a horrible place that doesn't love you, precious snowflake that you are, and it doesn't give a shit if you live or die. Or your kids. Most people have their own lives, their own agendas, and though we touch each other on a tangent every now and then, we're basically on our own until we die. Those are the cold facts of it.
So enjoy everything. It's printed at the end of every volume. It's a mantra, a motto, a daily affirmation. And the book reminds you with each story that during at least one point in your life you were a kid and everything was new and brilliant and wonderful. And then you lost it.
Comments
Black Panther # ? (1970-something). Don't remember the issue number itself, but I remember seeing it and practically begging Dad to buy it for me (so technically I didn't *buy* this myself but it *was* the first book I ever picked out from a stand and wanted (up to then I'd relied on reading my older sisters' comics) so that's how I'm playing this). It's lost to the sands of time now, but I distinctly remember thinking the character looked too cool for me not to have that issue.
Day Twenty Four: Comic That Makes You Laugh
I've already mentioned Yotsuba@! and it belongs on any list like this, but just to throw more interesting funnies in the mix, the short-lived side-project of Tim Seeley Lovebunny and Mr. Hell always gets me to crack a smile based on the concept alone.
Day Twenty Five: Comic From Your Favorite Creator
Ambush Bug (first mini-series) #3 by Keith Giffen. I don't know that you can even count this as a comic, per se, as it's not really sequential art, but just a series of panels with hilarious writing and crazy artwork (equal credit should probably go to Robert Loren Fleming). The book stands as a love letter to DC Comics, and moreso to all those bit players and also-rans who never lasted the full test of time (Quisp, the Inferior Five, Egg-Fu, etc.). It's easily the best book out of four brilliant issues that changed how I read my funnybooks (both then and now).
So many, but I've got to back to Ben Edlund's original dozen-or-so issues of The Tick.
I laughed so hard reading what turned out to be his last issue, that I actually tore the comic nearly in half.
Day Twenty Five: Comic From Your Favorite Creator
Again, this is tough to choose.
The singular "creator" will allow me to eliminate the Goodwin/Simonson Manhunter, so that leaves a toss-up between Matt Wagner's Mage and Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier.
At this point, I will give the nod to New Frontier, as it is a complete work. Once Wagner completes Mage, I may well (hope to) change my answer.
Low Life by Rob Williams and D'Israeli
Day Twenty Five: Comic From Your Favorite Creator
Judge Dredd: The Pit by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra
Day Twelve: Favorite Holiday Comic
The Sensational Spider-Man #24. This comic hit all the right notes for me as a Christmas comic. I love the story about Peter trying to find the perfect gift for his partner, Billy Walters (a criminally under-developed character that I would have loved to see more of in Spidey's supporting cast). I also really dug how the issue referenced the -1 issues of the Spidey books. And a standalone story, to boot!
Day Thirteen: A Great Plot Twist
Watchmen. 'Nuff said.
Day Fourteen: Comic That You Love That You'll Never Read Again
I really can't see myself ever reading The Killing Joke again. It's one of my favorite Joker stories but I prefer to remember it the way I read it the first time and not to dilute that memory through repeated future readings.
Day Fifteen: A Comic That Makes You Smile
Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #20. This is a really nice single-issue story that has one of the most rewarding endings of any comic I've ever read. And it makes me smile every time I read it. What a great beginning to Paul Jenkins run.
Pretty much any yuri book I read falls under this topic, so I'll eliminate all of them for consideration. Just too obvious. So I'll own up the simple fact I'm not reading Lady Rawhide for the writing. :) Or any time Frank Cho decides to do a story about a jungle babe. :)
Amazing Spider-Man #1
The pleasure is owning it, the guilt is how much it cost.
Day Sixteen: A Comic That Makes You Cry
The Amazing Spider-Man #400. J.M. DeMatteis is without question my favorite Spider-Man writer. His understanding of Peter, his supporting cast, his villains and his world make his absence in the Spidey titles these days painful to endure. It doesn't matter how many times I read this issue, it gets me every time... And then I read "The Final Chapter" and cry harder but for very different reasons.
Day Seventeen: A Comic That Reminds You Of Someone
One More Day. It reminds me of a time when I had to choose between two people and chose very poorly, hurting both, which is a choice that still haunts me to this day. Joe Q and I were very much alike in that we both made selfish decisions without considering the consequences. The difference between us is that one of us regrets our actions. In the real world, magic doesn't make things work out okay in the end and reboots don't exist.
Day Eighteen: A Comic That Deserves A Soundtrack
I like to imagine a sometimes whimsical, sometimes epic orchestral score when reading Bone.
Day Nineteen: Comic That You Quote From
I rarely quote from comics. More often I quote from movies or song lyrics. So, I'm going to cheat a little and amend this question a bit. My sense of humor and deadpan style of telling a joke are a direct result of reading Garfield collections obsessively since I was old enough to read.
Day Twenty: Comic With Witty Dialogue
Anything written by Peter David. Being a Spider-Man fan, the most experience I have with his writing comes from his runs on Spectacular, 2099 and Friendly Neighborhood but I've also enjoyed Soulsearchers And Company quite bit in the past and was enjoying his most recent All-New X-Factor.
Day Twenty-One: Comic You Used To Love But Now Dislike
This question is almost impossible for me to answer because I rarely change my opinion on anything and when I do, I usually come to enjoy something through repeated readings rather than dislike it. Perhaps I'll come back to this one in time.
Day Twenty-Two: Comic That Makes You Want To Have Sloppy Makeouts With Someone
The Emmanuelle comic. When I get to the scene where Emmanuelle is getting it on with a gorilla, I just want to throw that thing across the room and start making out with my wife on the spot.
Day Twenty-Three: First Comic You Bought
Spider-Man #49. The Clone Saga was my trial by fire in comics. I came out of it looking like Freddy Krueger but I came out of it a man!
Day Twenty-Four: Comic That Makes You Laugh
Everybody on the forum by now is well aware of my love for Spider-Man, so I'm going to avoid the obvious and instead choose Evan Dorkin's Milk & Cheese. I always laugh when reading those shorts and I love the characters so much my wife even bought me a Milk & Cheese lunchbox for Christmas.
Day Twenty-Five: Comic From Your Favorite Creator
Justice League Quarterly #2. This was my first exposure to J.M. DeMatteis' DC work and I love every page of it. This comic also helped me in my efforts to muddle @Adam_Murdough and win a beautiful page of artwork from Meridian. Thanks, Mr. DeMatteis! I knew my love for your work would pay off someday!
While I don't keep an active count I'll base it on sheer wear and tear I've put on a book and it has to go to pretty much the entire run of 'Mazing Man from back in the 80s. I read and re-read those issues so much they'd have to develop a negative number if they CGC-graded them. The book re-defined for me what a comic could be - particularly a mainstream book like a DC title. Nowadays there are a million comics and web-comics that deliver that whole slice-of-life thing...and certainly there were indie books out at the same time who might have done it better. But 'Mazing Man was a great book back when DC took chances that didn't involve reboots or breaking the internet. They just took a chance on doing something different.
Once again: Manhunter.
Watchmen
Gotta be Spider-Man by McFarlane, beautiful to look at but boy was the dialogue bad. Yet at the time I thought it was sooooo good.
The classic Wolfman/Perez Crisis on Infinite Earths still the gold standard when it comes to big events if you ask me. Great pacing, plotting and scripting, the art by Perez is gorgeous and it had tons of impactful story beats. Honorable mentions for Vigilante by Wolfman and Think Tank.
Avengers #145 "The Taking of the Avengers" February of 1976. I just checked out the issue on ComicbookDB. My memory had this as a George Perez issue but it was apparently a Don Heck fill-in issue - the first of two parts (I don't think that I've read the second part).
Day Twenty-Four: Comic That Makes You Laugh
Going back to the old standby - The Tick. It offers a level of quirk and silliness that is just about perfect. In general, I'm not a big fan of comedy comics, but I really dug this book during the Edlund years (years potentially being the time period between issues).
Day Twenty-Five: Comic From Your Favorite Creator
Tough one... I've got multiple favorite creators...
Greg Rucka - Queen & Country was great. His run on Checkmate was also a whole lot of fun! Have I mentioned Lazarus lately?
Dan Brereton - the Black Terror. My first experience with Brereton. No turning back after reading it.
Bill Mantlo - Rom and Micronauts.
Paul Levitz / Keith Giffen / Tom & Mary Bierbaum / Jim Starlin / Mike Grell / Dave Cockrum - Legion of Super Heroes.
Day Twenty Six Guilty Pleasure Comic
Early Image books - mostly from the Homage/Wildstorm studio. I was particularly enamored with WetWorks.
Day Twenty Seven: Comic You Have Read The Most TImes
This one is easy - Avengers #160. I read the cover off of that one as a kid and have bought the issue itself on multiple occasions (as well as buying the Greatest Avengers Stories TPB). I still occasionally pull the TPB out to give it a reread. Wonderman was such a bada$$ in that issue!
Sonic The Hedgehog #33. As a fan of terrible puns (my favorite author is Piers Anthony, after all), I simply can't resist a story that involves Sonic shrinking himself and entering his sick friends to team up with their Auntie Bodies to combat Robotnik's French Frirus.
Spider-Man, Storm And Power Man. This is an anti-smoking comic in which the three titular heroes battle Smokescreen! This comic was handed out for free at my elementary school and I've probably read it more than any other comic I own combined. This was the only comic I owned for a very long time other than the comics in Disney Adventures magazines I had. People can make fun of these old PSA comics all they want but this was my world when I was a kid and until I bought my first comic for myself years later, it was all I had.
Day Twenty-Three: First Comic You Bought
Avengers #139 (Sept, 1975)
I was 10 years old and had gotten a $1 allowance for the first time ever. I remember going with my dad on Sunday morning to the coffee shop to get the Sunday papers because they had a spinner rack there and I was determined to blow some of my hard-earned cash. I can remember being completely mesmerized by this cover, even though I don't think I had any idea who any of the characters were (with the possible exception of Thor) and bought it on a whim.
In an example of art eventually imitating life, I can recall thinking the floating head in the middle (Iron Man) must have some connection to the green and yellow-clad guy with the red face up by the logo (The Vision), because their faces were somewhat similar. Apparently Joss Whedon agreed with me. :-)
Day Twenty-Four: Comic That Makes You Laugh
Superior Foes of Spider-Man. Just a great, fun read.
Day Twenty-Five: Comic From Your Favorite Creator
Kingdom Come. My first real exposure to Alex Ross. I was completely taken aback by the artwork and still am to this day
Day Twenty Six Guilty Pleasure Comic
Ms. Marvel. A comic about a teenage girl superhero having to deal with supervillains, cheerleaders, peer pressure, hormones, a curfew and her strict Muslim parents? Sign me up!
Day Twenty Seven: Comic You Have Read The Most Times
The Dark Knight Returns. Every couple of years I'll bust it out and give it a read. I still get chills with the part early on where the various TV newscasters are reporting on the rumored sightings of ... the Batman.
Should've been everyone's first red flag about House of M. :-)
Bone. Didn't even hesitate putting that first. Cuteness, comedy, action, just enough scary stuff, a princess in peril, villains you hate, villains you like, and dialogue every parent should sit and read aloud with their children. I don't know that anything comes close.
Well, Barbrabarian, of course... heh heh heh...
Art and Franco's Tiny Titans, it's a great read for adults who love the Titans, but where it really shines is in introducing the little ones to classic DC characters in an easy to enjoy and to understand way. The art is great, the stories are funny and fun. The issues are full of monkeys, fun adventures and cute jokes. I'll give an honorable mention to Jeremy Dale's Skyward.
I have multiple offerings here. First - the entire series of Timm-verse DC comics. My son absolutely adored the Justice League Adventures books in particular, but dug the Batman Adventures and Superman Adventures books as well.
Going the slightly more scholarly course - Classics Illustrated. I remember checking the digest versions out of our school library when I was in elementary school and, as I previously noted, absolutely loved the First Comics Classics Illustrated that came out in the late 80's-early 90s.
I like all the ones suggested before, but I'll pickthe comics I thought were the best wayyyyy back when I was a kid: The GOOD Uncle Scrooge comics, which I eventually learned were the Carl Barks issues.
Damn, those were great stories.
And it was always such a thrill to realize it was one of the GOOD ones.
I really don't have a favorite creator. How do you pick between Alex Toth and Darwyn Cooke, or Nick Cardy and Bob Oksner, or Paul Pope and Joe Kubert...? I could go on. I think I'll use this as an opportunity to put down one of my absolute favorite single issue comics: Mad Love by Bruce Timm (and Paul Dini). About as perfect a comic as I could ask for.
Day 26: Guilty Pleasure Comic
I don't feel much guilt about any comic I find to be a pleasurable read. I guess I'll go with Torpedo. Despite it's sexism and racism—done as parody, but still—it's a freaking gorgeous series.
Day 27: Comic You Have Read the Most Times
Well, it definitely has to be a comic I had as a kid. Because I had a limited number of comics back then, and plenty of time to read them over and over, unlike now where I barely can keep up with the new comics I want to read. It's probably one of three: the aforementioned Adventure Comics #442, Justice League of America #145, or DC Special #29 (The Untold Origin of the Justice Society)... but it could have been one of a dozen others. I literally read the cover off of several comics.
Bone
I know I keep coming back to it, but it deserves every accolade I can give it. Yotsuba@! basically showed me that being a pissant throughout life is no way to live it. The world is a horrible place that doesn't love you, precious snowflake that you are, and it doesn't give a shit if you live or die. Or your kids. Most people have their own lives, their own agendas, and though we touch each other on a tangent every now and then, we're basically on our own until we die. Those are the cold facts of it.
So enjoy everything. It's printed at the end of every volume. It's a mantra, a motto, a daily affirmation. And the book reminds you with each story that during at least one point in your life you were a kid and everything was new and brilliant and wonderful. And then you lost it.
Get it back.