As long as I'm breaking my own rules by posting about random stuff, here is a link from cracked.com:
4 Ways 'Death Of Superman' (Accidentally) Changed Pop Culture
In particular, I found myself identifying with point number 1:
It Created A Whole New Generation Of Obsessive Readers
To quote from the article:
The story starts with Superman fighting a bunch of sewer mutants created by a secret genetic experimentation facility who had teamed up with some alien warriors that got stranded on Earth during a recent invasion and now planned to take over Metropolis. None of this has anything to do with Superman's death. In fact, everything in this comic seems specifically designed to stump anyone who only knows Superman from TV or the movies. Why is Lex Luthor a red-haired young Fabio with an Australian accent? Why does Supergirl turn into putty upon being punched?
...yep, yep, yep, that describes me perfectly. I remember being confused by all of these things when I first picked up this comic collection.
The article continues:
To a lot of readers, these and more details are just frustrating -- but to hundreds of thousands of others, they were endlessly fascinating.
Yes, again, that was me. The Death of Superman was my first entry into DC comics, and I was fascinated to discover how many plot threads were running around in the background. I had no idea what was happening, mind you, but this kind of story-telling fascinated me and I wanted to know more. The article continues:
Unlike other famous comics like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, the overall "Death" saga didn't exist in a vacuum -- it was the nexus point for years of plotlines. The current Superman continuity (which had started in 1986) was secretly one big, messy story, and if you dug through the older issues, you could put the puzzle together and see how it all fit by yourself.
...well, yeah, that's what you had to do in the 1990s. Nowadays, of course, you'd just go straight to Wikipedia to find out what is going on. But back then, there was no Wikipedia, so you'd just have to go back to the comic book store and find the back issues. And gradually, the more comic books you found, the more the pieces of the puzzle started to fit together.
...but of course, nowadays we have Wikipedia. And so, from Wikipedia, I've learned that most of the Superman plotlines that fascinated me in the 1990s were actually leftover from the Jack Kirby's run on Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen in the 1970s. (The back issues in my local comic book store seldom went back as far as the 1970s, so this is something that I would have never known if it weren't for Wikipedia.)
...but I know it now. In fact, a few years ago, I wrote a whole blog post on it.
Interesting Random Facts--How Jack Kirby Characters from the 1970s Figured in the Superman Comic books of the Early 1990s
I'm sorry I didn't comment on your earlier post. I had a similar "Hmmm..." moment in my 30s, when we were visiting my parents in San Jose. There was a snappy-looking comic book store I'd been meaning to check out, so one afternoon I left the kids with grandpa and grandma and made a break for it. The store was everything I dreamed it might be. Also: there were three guys my age, two of them with kids in strollers, arguing with the proprietor over the recent Daredevil movie. I bought a Carl Barks book, and beat a hasty retreat.
ReplyDeleteI still enjoying talking about comic book continuity in the abstract, but no longer have the patience to actually read comic books anymore. But maybe that's just me. Steve Donoghue (a much smarter man than I'll ever be), still loves reading, talking, and writing about comic books--and not just the artsy graphic novels either, but the old DC and Marvel standbys.
ReplyDeleteI get the impression from your blog that you still indulge in comic books every now and then. That experience in our 30s didn't scare you away from comic book stores entirely then?
Oooooh, yeah. Digital completely reeled me back in. I may even be on the verge of subscribing to Amazon Unlimited (don't tell anyone). And while I don't want to protest too much, it is worth mentioning that I've all but abandoned any concern I once had for the standard cast of characters in the MCU/DCU. Soop, Bats, Spidey, DD = crickets. Marvel's work with the SWU, OTOH, is surprisingly fun and engaging -- an unexpected and very pleasant revelation for me. Hellblazer continues to attract (altho it looks like it died a premature death) and the Mignola-verse is a source of curiosity.
ReplyDeleteMy last visit to the comic book store, though, was a couple of years ago while I was waiting for my kid to get out of minor surgery. It was a seedy place, in a seedy part of Canada's Motor City. And the proprietor was, again, roughly my age. And, having never seen me before, he went completely Comic Book Guy on me. I tried not to laugh, but I could not keep the grin from my face. I bought some Mignola, wished him well and went on my way. Some things never change.
Okay, confession time: I have this reoccurring dream where I stumble upon an American style comic book store here in Vietnam (sometimes its a normal bookstore with a comicbook section). There's several overpriced full cover hardback books. I flip through them, and realize they're all superheroes I lost interest in a long time ago. But the comfort of these old comics is such that I usually part with a considerable sum of money anyway to walk away with a couple of those overpriced full cover hardbacks.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I'm not as over comic books as I thought I was.