SUGGESTED READS FOR YOUR PLEASURE!

[TomLupo]

A BIG PART OF MY JOB AT THE SHOP IS TO SUGGEST WHAT TRADES PEEPS SHOULD READ......I HAVE 40-50 REGULAR PEEPS THAT BUY ONLY THE BOOKS I SUGGEST....AND ALL THE NEWBIES AND CASUAL READERS.....I HAVE GOTTEN MAYBE 3 COMPLAINTS OUTTA THOUSANDS OF TRADES I HAVE SUGGESTED. I HAVE 5 GUYS THAT COME IN ON WEDNESDAY AND AND I SELL THEM WHATEVER NEW TRADES ARE OUT I KNOW THEY WILL LIKE!! I DON'T BULLSHIT ANYONE.....IF I THINK A STORY SUCKS...I TELL THEM!

ANYWHO---HERE IS SOME OF MY SUGGESTIONS AND WHY--

"I'M NEW TO BATMAN...WHATS A GOOD TRADE TO START WITH??"

"LONG HALLOWEEN"......ITS A GREAT MYSTERY STORY THAT INTRODUCES ALL THE MAJOR PLAYAS AND SALE'S ART IS AWESOME!

"I JUST READ WATCHMEN FOR THE FIRST TIME...IT WAS GREAT...WHAT SHOULD I READ NEXT?"

"TOP TEN" IF THEY LIKED MOORE'S WATCHMEN THEN THEY WILL LOVE THE EQUALLY ENTERTAIN' TOP TEN MAXI SERIES.....I ACTUALLY PREFER IT TO WATCHMEN.

"I HAVEN'T READ COMICS IN 20 YEARS...WHATS GOOD TODAY IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE I WILL ENJOY?"

"NEW AVENGERS" ANYBODY WHO BUYS THE FIRST TRADE GETS THEM ALL!!!

"I'M LOOKIN' FOR SUMMIN' DARK....YET HUMOROUS!"

"PREACHER" I PROBABLY SOLD OVER 150 PREACHER TRADES THIS YEAR ON MY SUGGESTION....

I GOT THIS ONE TODAY---"I'M LOOKIN' FOR A GOOD POST APOCOLYPTIC STORY"

I SOLD HIM "HULK--THE END"...BUT IT WAS MORE FOR THE OTHER STORY IN THE BOOK "FUTURE IMPERFECT!"

THE LIST GOES ON, AND I'LL PROBABLY TELL YOUSE SOME MORE....WHAT WOULD YOUSE SUGGEST AND WHY???

[ScottWilliams]

What would you suggest to get your kids into comics? (Ages 11 and almost 9)

I've been trying to get them to start reading comics for years, but it just seems the little buggers are too lazy to read and just want to watch the latest comic book movie or cartoon. Any suggestions?

[TomLupo]

MARVEL ADVENTURES DIGESTS IF THEY WANNA READ ABOUT SUPERHEROES. ARCHIE COMICS ALSO PUTS OUT SOME NICE TPBS!

ITS HARD TO GET KIDS TO READ COMICS TODAY BECAUSE OF VIDEO GAMES, ****PUTERS, AND DVDS. ANOTHER PROBLEM IS THE ****INUITY.....ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO EXPLAIN TO KIDS THE STATE OF DC AND MARVEL COMICS....

I CAN PACKAGE SOME BOOKS AND SEND THEM TO THE KIDS IF YOU WANT ME TO!

[MattGrant]

My 15 year old is interested in stuff thats coming out in movies. I've gotten him less continuity intensive stuff, though to get him started like Two-Face Year One. He dug that. I also just got Watchmen for him and he's loving it. Plus he'll read just about any manga. Naruto, all that shit.

My 10 year old, like DW said, I've gotten him Marvel Adventures, and then also Archie Double Digests. He loves the Archie's. I used to work at a library and someone donated a huge box of them. They were gonna get recycled, so I saved them. Have had em for years. He's read through just about all of them over the last year.

Its true though-- vs. video games... its tough to get kids to read comics--

[TomLupo]

READING WATCHMEN AT 15 HAS TO BE CRAZY....GOOD FOR HIM!

[MattGrant]

Yeah. With all the hype for the flick, he was curious about it... I warned, "This is pretty heavy duty," because his approach to comics is typically to blow right through them. But he was pumped about the film, so I got him his own copy for christmas and he's loving it, re-reading chapters, really digging into it. I think thats cool, cause it can really change your outlook on what comics can be.

I have to wonder, though, how it differs what he gets out of it-- having grown up in a different time* and all... Heck, even I read it for the first time at like probably 16 or 17... and then again much older (I try and get through it every year or so), and having a completely different experience.

Anyhow-- I'm glad he's reading it. Comic or not, its a great book to have under your belt.

-----------
*Anecdote: He and I were watching the Superman: Doomsday movie/toon and he said to me, "Wasn't John F Kennedy at his funeral in the comic book?" I said, "What?" He says "Yeah, you know, he was the president!" I said, "DUDE! Superman died in 1992!" He looks at me for a second and then says, "Oh.. yeah... I mean Nixon."

[ScottWilliams]

*Anecdote: He and I were watching the Superman: Doomsday movie/toon and he said to me, "Wasn't John F Kennedy at his funeral in the comic book?" I said, "What?" He says "Yeah, you know, he was the president!" I said, "DUDE! Superman died in 1992!" He looks at me for a second and then says, "Oh.. yeah... I mean Nixon."

PRICELESS. :D

And Tom, I appreciate the pointers. I can pick up some stuff the next time I hit the store though. It's just getting them to sit their little buts down and start reading it seems is my problem. I think once they start reading it, they'll actually enjoy it. My youngest son got some miniature Transformers comics that the guy at my LCS gave him and he really dug those but he says regular comics are "too big for him"... go figure.

[DavidPaul]

Dude, I don't always agree with your postings but I think you've really got something here as a resident store owner. In fact I would like to see you with your own column here, so long as you could remain tactful in your presentation. Alright, so maybe tact isn't your thing. How bout a little civility? Well fuck it. You just write it the way you want to write it. I'll be a regular reader of an irregular writer.

By the way, I love The End. Both for Future Imperfect and The End. However, I would love to add it to my collection for The End. To me Peter David's Hulk is canon and I feel his "End" should be considered the only end.

The Long Halloween: What a great suggestion. Absolutely correct with your assertions and it's a great crime novel. Everything a Batman comic should be.

Okay, so I'm about to get pummeled for this. I am not, nor have I ever been, a fan of Watchmen. Recently, to get ready for the new movie I re-read it, hoping to change my opinion but I can't lie. I just don't like it. That's not to say I don't recognize its significance to graphix and comics. Yes, in many ways I do see what is acclaimed as its brilliance in story-telling, in that at the time of its publication it was something we had not seen in the world of comics. For that, and other reasons, I do respect it. But still, I'm not gonna kiss anyone's ass about it. I don't think it sucks. I just don't like it. With that said, I am on the other hand looking very forward to the movie. In fact, I believe the movie is going to be far better than the graphix. Especially with its altered ending. And about that: the ending in the book is a cop-out. It's an old writers tool, used mostly by the pulps, to facilitate their need for an ending, in that the writer has little to no idea how to end the story. Sometimes it's referred to as the over used surprise ending, something publishers and editors today HATE to read. More often than not a writer of the pulp era just ran out of space. He was getting paid by the word and had to stretch it out and in doing so he forgot the all-important ending. Weird Tales published a lot of these. Went something like this: beginning - pow - middle - pow - over the top surprise ending - what the hell was that??? Some good authors even had troubles with this formula. They got it done, but it was still lacking. So with that criticism I'm validating my argument that Watchmen's ending is weak. I understand why Snyder had the need for his film (as true an adaptation of graphix we might ever get) to make sense. Indeed any changes he may have made, I'm sure, is for the best of the film. So calm down, fanboys. Fox willing, it's going to be a great movie and you'll go to see it a million times.

Shit. I'm rambling. Anyway, get your own column, man. I'll support that.

[MattGrant]

PUMMLE! Now kiss my ass!

Ha!

Hey if you don't like something, there's nothing wrong with that. I've seen similar things about DKR on boards. People say "I thought this was supposed to be good, but its total crap" and then... you know... flame flame flame.

I happen to love both. Probably DKR more so (Miller fan in general here). Both books are generally revered quite highly, due not only to their quality, but also their proximity (of release) and significance in being a turning point in comics (or, if not a turning point in and of itself, and turning point in the mainstream non-comics consciousness). So they're significant for those reasons. But that doesn't mean EVERYONE has to like them. I think there's a mentality that if you read comics, you HAVE to like those two books... OR ELSE. But really that's like saying that if you watch movies then you HAVE to like Citizen Kane.... OR ELSE. Its silly, so I wouldn't worry or get too much on the defensive if the books happens to not be for you.

I wouldn't talk about it much though.. or... PUMMLE! hahah just kidding.

[DavidPaul]

lol Thanks for the pummeling. Yeah Dark Knight Returns, I have to comment on. Indeed, I too liked it. But yes, it was kind of in the same vein as Watchmen, in that it was something that had not been seen before. I dig it because I dig Frank Miller, but that does not mean I like ALL of his work. Personally I knew The Spirit was just not going to work. I haven't seen the movie yet so I want to reserve my final judgment til I do. I might actually like it. Point is I did have a feeling the movie was not going to appeal to mass audiences and fanboys were going to trash it. Most don't get The Shadow so why would they get something even more abstract like The Spirit? Something Miller took and made into his own liking. I'm not going to come down on him like so many supposed fans have done recently. The man has done wonders and should continue to enjoy great opportunities for the chance to bring us more abstract things to enjoy. Or bash. But back to my original point. I liked DKR but I felt/feel it was overrated. Like a lot of things. You hear so much hype and by the time you get to it there's no way it can ever live up to your expectations. So I try my best to judge works based on their own merit and not what others have pumped me up to believing. This should be true of movie adaptations but the excitement seems to be too much for many fanboys. I hope Watchmen doesn't let them down. At this point they are building this into something it might not be able to live up to, no matter how awesome the movie is. And I think that is what Frank Miller is now suffering with his movie The Spirit. Too much expectation. If Dark Knight Returns is ever adapted, and it SHOULD be, it might make the money that fanboys will throw at it. But in the end it will be just as big a victim of expectation that recent adaptations are now feeling the sting of. Let us take The Dark Knight, for example. It is by and large a good and enjoyable film. For me, however, that's all I can say for it. I like the movie, yes. But I don't love it the way others do. I've rewatched it once since I've had it on DVD but I am not sure I'll get back around to rewatching it. Once was enough. Twice might have been too much. For me. Why? Expectation. I went in expecting too much from too much hype. A good movie, yes. But not the end all and be all that everyone told me it was. Then again, this could also be my own tastes. I'm one of the few who truly enjoy ALL the Matrix films. So where was I? Oh, yeah... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[TomLupo]

I'LL TELL YOUSE THIS....WHEN ANYONE WANTS A DAREDEVIL TRADE, I TAKE THEM STRAIGHT TO THE MILLER STUFF! THAT IS THE ONLY MILLER STUFF I CAN STOMACHE! ITS THE JUNKIES BEST STUFF!