Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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As we enter the final Tuesday of the month, all thoughts turn, once more, to the return of the feature they said could never be done.
Come to think of it, they said it should never be done.
And, yet, done it has been.
It's the feature in which the first person to comment gets to decide what the rest of us get to talk about!
We could talk about sport, art, films, flans, books, bagels, cooks, nooks, crooks, rocks, music, mucous, fairy tales, fairy lights, Fairy Liquid, fairy cakes, Eccles cakes, myth, moths, maths, magic, tragedy, comedy, dromedaries, murder, mystery, mayhem, Moorcock, May Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Doris Day, Marvin Gaye, the Equinox, parallelograms, pemegranates, sofas, sodas, sausages, eggs, whisky, broth, Bath, baths, Garth Marenghi, Garth Brooks, Garth Crooks, Bruno Brookes, Bruno Mars, Mars Bars, wine bars, flip-flops, flim-flam, flapjacks, see-saws, jigsaws, dominoes, dunderheads, flowerpots, flour pots, bread bins, bin bags, body bags, body horror, shoddy horror, doggy bags, bean bags, coal sacks, cola, cocoa, pancakes, pizzas, baking soda, sci-fi, Wi-Fi, Hi-Fi, sewage, saunas, suet, Silurians, Sontarans, Sea Devils, sins, suns, sans, sense, sludge, slumps, sunshine, slime or sandcastles.
We could talk about something else altogether.
Because, as always, that's a decision only you can make.
Saturday, May 7, is Free ComicBook day!
ReplyDeleteIf ‘FreeComic Book Day’ is more of a friendly reminder than an actual suggested topic:
ReplyDeleteDESERT ISLAND COMICS
You’re stranded on a desert island, but fortunately, you had some comics with you on the plane. Space in those overhead bins IS limited, so you can either have 10 floppies or ONE collection (trade paperback or hardcover).
I’ll post my selection momentarily….
b.t.
Here’s what will keep me amused while I wait to be rescued (and wait….and wait….)
ReplyDelete1 - CONAN 37 (‘The Warrior and the Witch-Woman’, pencils and inks by Big John)
2 - WEREWOLF BY NIGHT 10 (‘The Sinister Secret of Sarnak’, pencils and inks by Tom Sutton)
3 - THE SHADOW 8 (‘Night of the Mummy’, pencils and inks by Frank Robbins)
4 - AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 130 (‘Hammerhead Is Out’ by Conway, Andru and Giacoia)
5 - EERIE 60 (Corben, Wrightson, Wood, Neary, Sanchez, Ortiz, Mones, with covers by Wrightson and Kelly)
6 - GIANT-SIZE MASTER OF KUNG FU 2 (Moench, Gulacy and Abel, with 2 Kirby Yellow Claw reprints)
7 - TALES CALCULATED TO DRIVE YOU MAD 2 (collecting MAD 4, 5 and 6 — ‘Superduperman’, etc)
8 - FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL 5 (Lee, Kirby, Giacoia — Black Panther, solo Surfer)
9 - THE SPIRIT 6 (Warren, 1974)
10 - MARVEL’S GREATEST 23 — FF and CAP (Kirby/Stone), IRON MAN (Heck), DR. STRANGE (Ditko)
b.t.
Take a chance. Take some free comics from Free Comic Book day to that desert isle. If you need paper for other reasons like kindling you might not feel so bad.
ReplyDeleteI’d just go with Absolute Swamp Thing Vol.1 by Alan Moore. That or the Miller Daredevil Omnibus.
ReplyDeleteSorry. Boring choices.
Got to be the Fourth World by Jack Kirby
ReplyDeleteMatthew:
ReplyDeleteNot boring choices at all! There’s a definite appeal in having one fat volume of Great Comics You Love. I was sorely tempted to just pick FANTASTIC FOUR EPIC COLLECTION #4 , collecting FF 52 (first Black Panther) thru 67 (first Him), plus Annuals 4 and 5. I think that would help fill my long, lonely days very well.
Wanna talk ‘boring’? All but 3 of my actual choices are from 1974, so clearly I’m just going for Nostalgia in a big way. Those are like ‘Comfort Comics’ to me.
ianintheuk:
Is there a FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS that has ALL of the Fourth World comics in it? Because I love JIMMY OLSEN and FOREVER PEOPLE nearly as much as NEW GODS and MR. MIRACLE. And yeah, that’s another Single Big-ass Volume that wouldn’t wear out its welcome in a hurry.
Anonymous:
Thinking about it, I’m not sure I’ve EVER picked up a Free Comic on Free Comic Book Day. Which is CRAZY! I love Comics and I love Free Stuff. Maybe I’ll get all double-masked and hit my LCS this May 7th….
b.t.
Anonymous and Bt, thanks for the combined topic.
ReplyDeleteThis is going to take a lot of thinking about.
I'd definitely include:
Warlock #11 - The Strange Death of Adam Warlock.
Savage Sword of Conan #4 - Iron Shadows in the Moon.
The Red Nails Conan Treasury Edition.
Batman #255 - Moon of the Wolf because it's got 100 pages, and I feel I should include at least one 100-page comic.
X-Men #100. The New X-Men vs the Old. What's not to love about it?
Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1. Spidey vs the Sinister Six.
Mighty World of Marvel #4 because it's the first Marvel UK book I ever read.
Amazing Adventures #32 - Only the Computer Shows Me Any Respect. The appeal of Don McGregor's Killraven has faded for me, over the years, but I still have warm, fuzzy feelings about this tale.
There are usually several dozen free comics on offer. This year is no exception with at least 46 comics on offer. Google it and one will find everything from The Three Stooges to Donald Duck to Red Sonja to Spider Man to Captain Under Pants. Mostly it is the smaller producers though and they can produce some choice reading.
ReplyDeleteThere IS a Fourth World Omnibus b.t. - a monstrous hardbacked tome of over one and a half thousand pages of total awesomeness!
ReplyDeleteRivalled only by the similarly weighty Jack Kirby's DC Bronze Age Omnibus. Featuring OMAC, The Losers, Spirit World and of course the timeless classic Dingbats of Danger Street (if only Kamandi was in it I'd definitely opt for that as, but its separated out into a third volume, a minnow at a mere 800 pgs or so).
Ok, I'm going to have to think about this for a bit...
-sean
Off the top of my head (because these things change so frequently), and in no particular order:
ReplyDelete1. Graffiti Kitchen - Eddie Campbell's finest hour (ironically about an episode that was far from his finest hour). Probably the Tundra edition (for nostalgic reasons);
2. ACME Novelty Library #13 - Chris Ware. The stand alone story of hero, Jimmy Corrigan's grandfather. Heartbreakingly good;
3. Essential Fantastic Four volume 3 - Covering Lee and Kirby's standout #41 to #63 (plus annuals 3 and 4). Awesome content and highly absorbent paper stock;
4. Miracleman #4 (Marvel edition) - Moore, Davis and Leach. The final three chapters of book one plus a gorgeous Warpsmith backup;
5. Daredevil #190 - Miller Janson. Double-sized return of Elektra. Double-tastic;
6. Planet of the Apes (UK) #4. My first comic and what it lacks in excitement it makes up in paper stock.
7. DeeVee 2001 - Australian anthology included for purely personal purposes;
8. X-men #162 - Claremont and Cockrum. I have no idea why, but my favourite issue;
9. Warrior #1 - A game changer at the time; and
10. 2000AD #17 - Another nostalgic favourite and featuring an early Bolland cover.
DW
Great question! I’d like to be stuck with a Spiderman Omnibus #1! A great chance to re-read all those great Ditko-Lee stories which I’ve not read since the early 1970s… 50 years ago!
DeleteBecause lets be honest: thats where our great love of comics began! And Ditkos art was far superior and more interesting to Kirby’s FF at that time.
But to satisfy my carnal golden age desires id definitely smuggle a few DC hundred-pagers from the early 70s too!
Frank Robbins, b.t.... are you trolling us, or what?
ReplyDeleteSo anyway... this is tricky. There aren't that many comics that hold up to frequent re-reading so its the artists that would determine most of my choices.
Like Steve, I'll cheat a bit and go for a Conan Treasury, but mine would be the one with 'Song of the Red Sonja'. Because as well as some classic work by Barry Smith you also get the John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala team - 'Black Colossus' - and a bit of Gil Kane (with decent inking).
Also, I'll have that Thor Treasury with Kirby's Mangog.
A couple of those Best of 2000AD monthlies - whichever had the Slaine 'Sky Chariots' story by Pat Mills and Mike McMahon, and Halo Jones book 3 by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson (that would probably have been reprinted over two issues - if so, the second half would do me).
OMAC #2 - because having completely dodged the spirit of the question so far, I thought I ought to include at least one or two actual single issues of a comic, and thats probably my favourite from the 70s.
Heavy Metal #4 - features a whole load of Moebius, including the first part of 'The Long Tomorrow' and an episode of Arzach (with a double page spread that may be the greatest single piece of artwork ever). Plus, theres also some classic Corben, an episode of Conquering Armies featuring the amazing artwork of Jean-Claude Gal, and a bit of Vaughn Bode. Plenty to appreciate over time there.
Rogan Gosh #1 - I like Brendan McCarthy's stuff, and while its maybe it his best it seems to be the handiest way of getting a decent amount of it (without opting for that Best of Milligan & McCarthy book over anything else).
Action Comics #1 in mint condition, because I like the irony of having the most collectable comic ever, but it being completely worthless cos no-one's around to buy it from me.
-sean
*Arrgh, typo - don't know what happened there, but that should be "while it maybe ISN'T his best" about Rogan Gosh...
ReplyDelete-sean
Sean:
ReplyDeleteNot a trick, not a joke; I genuinely love Frank Robbins.
I tried to get something from all my favorite artists, but I ended up with nothing from Romita, no Colan, no Steranko, no Frazetta, no Maroto, no Kubert, no Moebius, no Toth, no Johnny Craig, no Jack Cole or Reed Crandall, no Dave Stevens, no Mike Golden, no Frank Miller, no John Byrne, no Barry Smith or Neal Adams — and no Mike Kaluta — but I have a Frank Robbins comic.
b.t.
Charlie cannot be confined.
ReplyDeleteHe can't walk into a wine cellar and pick one bottle.
He can't walk into an ice cream shoppe and pick one flavor.
He can't be confined to 10 comics. And yet he must play within the rules.
But the rules don't say anything about meta-comic books.
Charlie is taking Gerber's 4 Photo Journals of comic covers from 1938 to like 1975.
Though Charlie won't be able to read any stories per se, he'll be able to look at every cover to every comic he ever loved.
And if there is still a little bit of space in the overhead compartment: Beano 1973 Annual from DC Thomson. That cover still rocks Charlie's world big time! Such a clear and concise representation of the UK's Dennis the Menace and the UK's own world of comics!
B.T. - Charlie digs the Frank Robbins pick.
ReplyDeleteHe had a certain "je ne sais quoi" for doing the Shadow and the Invaders, given the context of the 1930s and 1940s and the actual art of the time period..
I mean, dissing Robbins on the Shadow and Invaders would be like dissing Caniff on Terry and the Pirates. It's the whole ensemble that makes it lovely.
It never occurred to me that anyone would be sneaky enough to slip any Treasury-sized books onto the plane as part of their ten, but I guess they ARE kinda floppy. We’ll allow it!
ReplyDeleteThey’re DEFINITELY good value — Marvel’s were a full 100 pages at first, before knocking ‘em back to 84 from #7 on, but that’s still a big hefty package.
So, if I could have 10 Treasury-sized comics on my desert island…
1- #2 FANTASTIC FOUR (Galactus etc)
2- #3 THOR (Hercules etc)
3- #4 CONAN (Red Nails etc)
4- #6 DR. STRANGE (Ditko, Colan, Brunner etc)
5- #7 THE AVENGERS (mucho Buscema)
6- (c22)TARZAN (Kubert)
7- (c51) BATMAN VS RAS AL GHUL
8- SUPERMAN VS SPIDER-MAN
9- SUPERMAN VS MUHAMMAD ALI
10- 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
Alas, no Frank Robbins…. :(
b.t.
Matthew, I read 2000AD from the start too, and completely agree about prog 86 being a qualitative step up (although I'd say Dredd was already there by the start of the Cursed Earth).
ReplyDeleteThe strange thing though is that I never thought Starlord was that great in the first place.
Flesh bk2 is one for the Belardinelli sceptics out there...
-sean
Top notch double-page spreads for Flesh II.
DeleteIndeed. The Meltdown Man a bit later looked great too.
ReplyDeleteFwiw my theory is that drawing Ace f****** Garp for ages ruined Belardinelli.
-sean
Uh oh. Late again. And a tough question; 10 floppies or a volume? So tough to choose. But as I like variety, an extended desert island stay might be better with the 10. So:
ReplyDeleteAmazing Spider-Man Annual 1. So much Ditko goodness.
Giant Size Avengers 2- a great story and a classic reprint.
Fantastic Four Roast- just for laughs. Might need some of those.
Detective 481- a giant with some great art and story.
Warren's Spirit 7- Eisner greatness.
Best of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge- another giant, from Gold Key, with Barks wonderment.
Man-Thing 5 and 6- two favorites, and as I'm loading up with giants (is that a cheat?) I should include a few 32 pagers.
Star Spangled War 138- Kubert Enemy Ace. Nuff said.
Amazing Spider-Man 238- my personal favorite.
Oh, and regarding Free Comic Book Day: always fun, and a good opportunity to support the local comic shop. I pick up a few freebies, but also make some purchases...
I just checked prog 86 and agree it was part of a very nice run. Bolland on Dredd, Gibbons on Ro-busters, and both Belardinelli and Ezquerra raising their respective games (Flesh and Strontium Dog). It looks like Bolland was replaced by Brendan McCarthy and Gibbons by Kev O'Neill and so the quality stayed high for a while.
ReplyDeleteMatthew, I almost included The Daredevils #9 in my list for pretty much the same reasons as your #10. Those were the days...
DW