Sacred Cows: Time makes Gods of Men

Recently I was talking with folks on Twitter about the works of a very famous creator, and how some of his works get more praise than they deserve.  Regardless of how you feel about that, it got me thinking that there are sacred cows; creators that can’t be discussed because the mythos of their work has grown beyond the reality of it. Beyond that, time itself turns people into myth, myth into legend and legend into religion. I can see this starting to happen with comic book creators of the past. I'm guilty myself of placing reverence on deceased creators that I had no connection to because they are no long accessible, the memory of them is becoming a tale to be told rather than a reality to be explored.

I find that debating revered creator's works fails even before the discussion begins because people aren't talking about the same thing. While I may be talking about a book by someone through the eyes of a reader that doesn't know the original creator, someone else is talking about it with the full history of the work in their mind. It’s not the same debate. It’s so hard to establish the ground rules for discussion that what ends up happening is that works are considered untouchable simply because they no longer can be talked about. The weight of their work and roots in the industry are so deep they have become foundational and no longer living or vibrant.

Are there creators out there, works that are so revered that to talk ill of them will only serve to get you scorn? How do you, or do you even dare bring these up for debate and discussion? I find myself more often than not just letting the establishment have its idols and keeping my opinions to myself.

Till next time true believers...

FF Signing Party Recap

Yesterday (11-28-12) I had the opportunity to attend a signing party of the release of FF #1 from Marvel, written by Matt Fraction Drawn by Mike Allred and colored by Laura Allred at our local comic book shop here in Eugene OR, Nostalgia Collectibles. It was a rare opportunity to have comics creators in our town doing a public event and it was a great time. I was able to talk a bit with Mr. Fraction & Jamie S. Rich who was also in attendance for signings and meet and greets.

Karaoke  took over the store as people got their comics signed and met with the creators. Mike Allred is one part artist, one part rock star and one part ringmaster. My time was short at the party, our son had reached his limit after about an hour in attendance, but I was happy to get to see these creators again and get some items signed from them, they are all such nice people and a real treat to get to see. Hopefully we will have more events like this here in the future!

Event[ually] We All Grow Up

As I'm writing this, the 20th anniversary of “The Death of Superman” event has just passed.  Through the lens of time maybe this event doesn't matter anymore, and was just another in a long line of deaths and rebirths of super hero characters. For me as an adolescent, this event was shocking and formative. I remember the anticipation I had leading up to it, the dread and the fear as the buildup to the end took place. I mourned with the nation as we had our funeral for our friend, and rejoiced when out of the ashes our hero returned.

Shortly after Superman's death, all hell broke loose in Gotham. I voraciously bought every issue of Knightfall and felt the agony of Bane's knee, myself, as the Dark Knights' back was broken before our very eyes. I was so shocked and enthralled with this run of Batman as a child; it’s forever burned into my psyche.

When people talk about great comic book events, for me these two are ingrained into my memory. I'm sure they aren't the best, or the greatest, but so many comics, music, movies that stick with you over the years are so dependent on the time of life you experienced them. This made me wonder.  Are these "major" events as powerful anymore? Will children now be talking in 20 years about the death of Professor X? As I’ve talked about in the past, I don't read many Marvel or DC super hero books these days, about 8 total on a monthly basis. But this doesn’t change the power and impact they had on me growing up. I have so much love for these characters and wonder if that same love is being fostered in youth of today. I don’t have an answer but I wonder if children will find that same power in modern comics, or if the magic and naïveté of my youth is lost on the iPad generation.

A Week In The Life Of A Comic Book Nerd

 
If you are reading this the chances are great that you are a comic book enthusiast. You might have other hobbies, pursuits and distractions in your life; I know I do (or did before I had kids). Regardless of all that, first and foremost I am a comic book nerd. My week is filled with this hobby, this way of life, and I thought I’d break down a typical week for me. 

Monday:
The start of my work week and my comics week. On my breaks I’m creating my pull list for the week drawing from two sources:

The Comics List

and

Comixology Pullist

Between these two I put together what I will be buying for the week, and when I'm done, sharing it with my twitter community for feedback & to see if I missed anything. Other items ill work on during the day include beginning my blog post for the week, reading any news released and interacting with my friends on twitter and Facebook discussing some of last week's comics, the comics coming up, and older comics we might be reading from the backlog.

Additionally I’m listening to two podcasts:

Burntweiners

And

War Rocket Ajax

Both of which I highly recommend. 

Tuesday:

The day before the big game. Tuesdays I’m doing several things. Of course I’m checking twitter for the buzz about the next day that might be brewing; I’m usually writing my blog post for the week (like I am right now) and catching upon a graphic novel or back issues. Additionally I will try to submit questions to my favorite podcasts if I have a topic I'm interested in and would like them to answer, I'm sure many of them are annoyed by me at this point.

Wednesday:

The holy day for any comic book nerd. This is a big big day for me, probably for you too. I spend the morning trying to avoid too many spoilers that might creep up on the internet; most people are good about not giving away too much. I leave work promptly at 9:45am to head to my local comics store.

I arrive at Emerald City Comics a few moments before 10am, their opening time. I pick up my stack of pre-orders from my box and then head to the rack to pick up my other pulls for the week. If I have time ill bother the folks who work at the store a bit with some comics talk and then head back to work. I will try to read issues for my review column at Two-Headed Nerd and write during my breaks.

During the day before I can start really reading my comics I listen to the Fight For Comics podcast which talks about the week's previous comics and is a great show to listen to.

Once I get home and put the day to bed, I get into my comics. I tend to organize them by excitement factor. I will put some I'm most excited for first, then the "middle road" comics next then cap it off with some for sure gems at the end. Like a comic book enjoyment 3 layer dip.

If I finish with my comics by the end of the day I'll listen to the latest episode of The Pullpile Podcast to listen to what the guys thought of this week’s comics, if not ill save that for Thursday.

Twitter is very busy on Wednesday since everyone is talking about the new books out. This will keep me busy that night once all the "real life" work has been taken care of.

Thursday:

The hangover day. There are usually some books left over that I couldn’t get to on Wednesday, I’ll read those during the day on breaks or at night if I didn’t have time. Twitter is busy again this day since everyone is talking about the books from the day before.

In the afternoon I will listen to The Big Planet Comics Podcast which is a fantastic show that covers mainstream and independent comics in a review and round table format.

Friday:

Everybody's reading for the weekend! Friday is a day to catch up, to read some back issues or graphic novels from my ever growing pile of unread books I would like to get to.

I try to plan out what my next blog post will be, write down some rough ideas, and often I'm working on an article for one site or another. I regularly contribute to Read Comic Books "best of the week" column and will send in my picks for the week on this day.

For social media, I take Friday to do detailed and focused "Follow Friday" recommendations to my comic book community. I try to highlight 10 people and one creator on Twitter that love comics and deserve to follow by my other followers. I have found that if you take the time to write about why people should follow someone it works much better than a list of names. When the people I follow, follow each other, the conversations are so much better.

Saturday:

This is usually my "day off". Family, side jobs, work around the house is first and foremost. Talk on twitter and other sources are slow too. It’s a good day to take stock and get ready for the next week.

Sunday:

This is the big media day! Lots of podcasts come out on Sunday and I will listen to them while taking care of all the regular life business. It's a great day to recap the week, read some more back log and get any unfinished writing done. Shows that I listen to on Sunday include:

NonCanonical - A great show. Well produced, full of great reviews, discussion and thoughtful topics.

The Nine Panel Podcast - Eager guys who love comics and are enthusiastic about talking them.

The Panel Culture Podcast -Canada's best and brightest comic book lovers talk comics. One of my long standing favorite shows.

iFanboy Pick Of The Week Podcast -One of the most popular comic book podcasts out there. Always entertaining and packed with great information.

Two-Headed Nerd Comicast - The Shining Gem of comics podcasts. Amazing production quality fast paced, funny, entertaining and engaging.

Post-Mortem:

If you made it this far in reading, good for you! I thought it would be fun to actually break down what I do each week when it comes to this hobby I love so much. Hopefully some of these links turn you on to some new entertainment and give you some more things to do with your comics life.

What schedules do you keep? Are you a slave to ritual like I am? Id love to hear how your week compares to mine. Thanks as always for reading!