1st Loves

[CharmCityComics]

For me comics have been a big part of my life since the early 90's; Jim Lee's X-men, Brigade, Batman Knightfall, Wildcats, Stormwatch, Wetworks, and even X-Force(and please don't hold that against me).

What are some of your first loves and early adventures into the world of comics?!

 

[Andy C.]

I first got into comics in the early 90s, right at the peak of the Liefeld/McFarlane mania, so naturally, my first real exposure to comics were X-Men and symbiote-era Spider-Man, the only DC comic I had at the time being Death of Superman. I also loved getting my hands on Dark Horse's Aliens vs. Predator comics whenever I could. Sure, it was mostly puerile, barely-readable gritty 90s dreck, but it served the purpose of getting my foot in the door so I could appreciate actual good comics later on.

The first comic I collected with any real regularity, however, was Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic. Loved the living crap out of it, and will still pick one up every now and then just to see what they've done with it since.

 

[CharmCityComics]

@Andy C. Yeah, comics in the 90's were definitely the "gateway comics" for me! Don't get me wrong I still love those books like a favorite shirt that you can't bring yourself to get rid of. My tastes have changed and matured, 15 years ago I would've had trouble comprehending Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis, and Alan Moore. Forget about Garth Ennis, my parents would've had a stroke if they caught me reading his stuff when I was a kid.
What kinda books you reading now?

 

[Johnny Drama]

My first ever comic book was an issue of Amazing Spiderman from the mid 80's.

I was a total Marvel kid, and the first comic I regulary collected was The Fantastic Four, as I was a big fan of the 60's tv series they would play late night on Cartoon Network when it first premierd.

X-Men is what got me hooked, by 9 I was collecting X-Men, Uncanny X-Men and Fantastic Four.

 

[CharmCityComics]

What are some of the titles you guys read now? I'm always looking for something new to get into. If you want suggestions please ask.

 

[Mace Dolex]

My first comic was a Marvel Tales from the 80's that reprinted the first appearance of Spider-Man's Sinister Six villians, I remember reading that for hours because it was such a long story and there were splash pages of Spidey confronting each villian.

Later because of the massive hits that were Transformers and G.I.Joe I naturally starting collecting their comics.

 

[CharmCityComics]

@ Mace Marvel Tales, is that the old oversized book from the 80's? If you like Trans and Joe, there's a mini series by Dreamwave that takes place during WWII that was friggin awesome! It's definitely worth hunting down.

 

[Ipodman]

My first love: Ultimate Spider-man
and Ultimate X-men

 

[CharmCityComics]

@Ipodman Check out The Ultimates volumes

 

[Mace Dolex]

@ Mace Marvel Tales, is that the old oversized book from the 80's?

Marvel Tales was the title that reprinted classic Spider-Man stories, the comic I had was dated 1983.

If you like Trans and Joe, there's a mini series by Dreamwave that takes place during WWII that was friggin awesome! It's definitely worth hunting down.

Way ahead of you, those mini series actually came out several years ago, and yeah they were good.

 

[J. Custer]

Had to chime in on this one! We'll I came up during the greatest comics era EVER...the 1980's. There was one X-Men comic and it was great every month. I was a Marvel kid mostly so I also bought the New Defenders, The New Mutants, Peter Parker, Amazing Spiderman, Avengers, Marvel Team Up, the Wolverine LS, Power Pack, Conan, and John Byrnes runs of the Hulk, Alpha Flight, and of course the Fantastic Four(legendary!). Marvel had a monthly news comics called Marvel Age that featured great little comics by Fred Hembeck. and they put out a 12 part epic called Secret Wars. Marvel had a certain feel back then..and it was good. I miss newsprint and old school coloring!

Love and Rockets was full of emotion, hot women and great stories and art. Neat Stuff (Hilarious every time!), Cerebus, Yummy Fur and Eightball were on my list as I started to explore the world of indy books. I anxiously awaited Comico's Elementals, Grendel, and Justice Machine comics. I was also drawn to books from the Eclipse line; like The Prowler (book kicks major ass), and Airboy. I was there when The Dark Knight Returns first hit the stands and fell in even though I hated DC back then for no good reason. Back then you were either DC or Marvel period. The Crow, The Punisher LS, Alan Davis Detective run.... What else... Comics Scene, Comics Interview. i'd come home with a stack of comics and spend the whole weekend reading them. Ah man.. those were the days!

 

[CharmCityComics]

@Custer Yeah, my girlfriend calls me a freak whenever I open up a silverage books and take a whiff. There's just something about the paper, and the dot coloring back then.
You ever seen Neal Adams' Batman?It's one of my favorite artist/character combos. What are some of your current titles?
@Mace Check out New Avengers/Transformers, pretty cool.

 

[J. Custer]

^Can't say I buy too many books these days, CCC. If I bought comics today the way I did back then...I'd be homeless! Now I buy the occasional trade here and there. if Bill Willingham is drawing something (a rarity) I'm there in a heart beat since he's my favorite artist. I read the Old Boy manga and enjoyed the hell out of that one... Deathnote, that intrigued me. Tempted to take on another manga series called Vagabond. I will definitly be picking up the Neal Adams "Odessey" book. The art is incredible! looks like his best stuff ever. If Miller puts out that Holy Terror, Batman thing I'll get that. Yeah. Really nothing new these days though. Though this new Batman project with Gary Frank looks good. i did try the new New Mutants but couldn't get into it. Lately I've been into old R. Crumb trades If you have any good suggestions I'm all ears!

 

[Max J Power]

I got into comics in the summer of 2005 watching the 90s X-Men show on Toon Disney every night. Millar's Ultimate X-Men was the book that really got me into comics, so I'd call it my first love. Other first loves were Straczynski's Spider-Man, Frank Miller's Daredevil (Volume 2 of the visionaries series was the first trade I ever bought), some of Claremont's X-Men, Batman: Hush, Hellboy, and V For Vendetta.

What are some of the titles you guys read now? I'm always looking for something new to get into. If you want suggestions please ask.

I'll give you the rundown on my current pull list, and the current books I'm collecting the trades of.

-Batman and Robin--Great. I've never read a Batman book like it.
-Captain America--I'm a bit behind on this one since I haven't read the Reborn mini-series yet, but everything before that was terrific, so I figure the book still is.
-Chew--Has one trade so far. A really good and unique dark crime comedy.
-Criminal--One of the best crime comics I've read. It's published in mini-series. The current one is about to end, and I don't know when the next one comes out.
-Daredevil--It's been one of Marvel's best books ever since its relaunch, and Diggle's current run is no exception.
-Fantastic Four--I've been loving it since Hickman started writing. It kind of reminds me of Waid's run, with a bit of Morrison's New X-Men mixed in.
-Invincible Iron Man--Full of exciting plots and quality characterization.
-Irredeemable--I've only read the first trade but there are two. The first volume is a promising set-up.
-Mighty Avengers--I've not read a lot of Avengers stuff, but many classic Avengers fans like this book best out of the current Avengers lot. It's a good, fun read, but not essential. And it's ending in a few issues (though the trades are well worth picking up).
-Uncanny X-Men--I'm way behind on this book because I didn't read the Utopia crossover. Before that it was good, but if you're not an X-Men fan you could do better.

 

[Doc Ock]

Close friends of my family throughout the late 90s had a son who had tons of comics (mainly form 1991), and so I slowly gained that entire collection and read and read and read and read. I don't remember what the exact issues were but it was alot of Amazing Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, Spawn, and much more. The comics were a variety of Marvel(mostly), DC, and Image comics...I quickly become a fan of the entire world of comics. Although I don't collect anymore, I recently picked up a trade paperback of Spiderman, it brought back old memories and I have now decided to start a collection of trades. Spiderman and Wolverine quickly became my favorites, I just adored them, I was 8-11 years old in 1998-2001 reading comics from 1991. I still love Spiderman today, but I can't say the same for Wolverine.

 

[CharmCityComics]

@Custer & Max I know what you mean,I feel bad when I spend $20 a week on books! If you get a chance check out Incorruptable,Iredeemable,Chew,The Anchor,Dynamo5. These are so of my current faves right now. Empire by Waid & Kitson, Point Blank and Sleeper by Ed Brubaker

 

[CharmCityComics]

@Custer & Max I know what you mean,I feel bad when I spend $20 a week on books! If you get a chance check out Incorruptable,Iredeemable,Chew,The Anchor,Dynamo5. These are so of my current faves right now. Empire by Waid & Kitson, Point Blank and Sleeper by Ed Brubaker

 

[CharmCityComics]

@ Doc Ock You should check out Wolverine:Weapon X, it's a new series written by Jason Aaron. It's super violent!

 

[J. Custer]

@ Max J Power

"-Batman and Robin--Great. I've never read a Batman book like it."



yeah, I bought the Frank Quitely(sp?) issues and want to pick up the others.... I like the spirit of this book and what Morrison is doing. Love Dick Grayson as Batman and Damien is pretty funny.

 

[J. Custer]

@Custer & Max I know what you mean,I feel bad when I spend $20 a week on books! If you get a chance check out Incorruptable,Iredeemable,Chew,The Anchor,Dynamo5. These are so of my current faves right now. Empire by Waid & Kitson, Point Blank and Sleeper by Ed Brubaker

I'll check those out because I'm really looking for some good monthly(or whatever) reads. The guy at my local shop recommended Iredeemable to me . the other titles sound interesting..I'll check them out thanks for the recommendations. much appreciated....

 

[CharmCityComics]

@Custer Iredeemable and Incorruptable take place in the same universe.Def check out Point Blank before Sleeper,it's a prequel of sorts.Lemme know what you think

 

[CharmCityComics]

@Max Batman and Robin is really good,I'm a little behind though. Streets of Gotham was really strong then it went right down the ****ter same with Red Robin. If you like gritty books check out the book I suggested to J.Custer above.

 

[Max J Power]

I read the first Sleeper trade awhile back, and it was good but I didn't like it nearly as well as Criminal or Incognito. I'll probably read the whole series since it's out in the two "season" trades, but it's not near the top of my to-read list.

 

[CharmCityComics]

@Max Point Blank will help fill in some gaps of Sleeper. I thought the samething when I read Sleeper, thats was before I new the stories were tied together. I haven't gotten to Criminal yet,but I love Incognito,just wish it came out faster! I just finished reading Ellis' Stormwatch again, love that stuff!

 

[CharmCityComics]

I just read Wildcats World's End and Family Secrets, it's the 1st time I've read them in years. It's pretty good, Wildstorm has destroyed their entire universe and basically is starting over, going in a new direction. I already read Authority Worlds End and was wondering what the hell happened.Apparently, there has been a couple of big events over the last year or so that has left everything in a post-apacolyptic chaos. Now I gotta read all the books that lead up to it, to understand who,what,when, and why! If any one has read Wildstorm lately lemme know .