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Confessions of a Comics Fan: My Secret Shame
| Posted on August 10, 2009 at 11:19 AM |
Julia Keller, Cutural Critic for the Chicago Tribune, grew up in my hometown, Huntington, West Virginia, and graduated from Marshall University. She was the keynote speaker at MU a couple of years ago. Afterward I talked with her for a couple of minutes and got her autograph!
Keller writes of her love of comics in this recent column (scroll down to link) and the new graphic (illustrated) novel of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, which happens to be my favorite novel. I'm going to dash out to the nearest book store and buy this innovative version with artwork by Tim Hamilton.
Why? Because I'm an unabashed fan of Bradbury, and I, too, grew up reading comic books as a kid. I bought many of them at the local Grayhound Bus Station or stood by their turnstile reading for free if I didn't have enough money.
So, what were your favorite comics growing up?! Do you own any graphic novels?
I'll tease you with some of Keller's thoughts on the virtues of graphic novels:
"The truth is that too many years as a book critic have threatened to turn me into a reading machine. I read too fast. I mow down rows of type like a scythe murdering a field. With a graphic novel, however, I'm forced to slow down. I can't rush. I can't go hell-for-leather across the page. I have to consider both the images and the words. I have to linger. I have to let things sink in. I have to learn all over again how to savor."
Read Keller's entire column below!!!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0809-lit-life-mainaug09,0,1870888.column
Here's the link to Amazon with a preview of the artwork!
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laura7
02:58 PM on August 16, 2009
Here's what Yale grad and avid reader, Julie Sullivan, had to say.
"My favorites as a small child were all the Classics Comics Illustrated. I especially loved the World War II and Reign of Terror ones. (I bought them on eBay and now have them again.)
As an older child, I loved all the Marvel comics. I had a subscription to Spiderman for years and Kit and I were subscribers for the first issue of X-Men. That would probably be worth a lot now!
For modern times, Art Spiegelman is great, but I haven't kept up. There are so many good graphic novels now--it's definitely an exciting trend."
"My favorites as a small child were all the Classics Comics Illustrated. I especially loved the World War II and Reign of Terror ones. (I bought them on eBay and now have them again.)
As an older child, I loved all the Marvel comics. I had a subscription to Spiderman for years and Kit and I were subscribers for the first issue of X-Men. That would probably be worth a lot now!
For modern times, Art Spiegelman is great, but I haven't kept up. There are so many good graphic novels now--it's definitely an exciting trend."
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Phyllis Wilson Moore
01:44 AM on August 15, 2009
I like the idea of graphics to slow down us greedy rapid readers. One graphic novels on my shelves is Red Badge of Courage. Thee graphics do intensify the impact of this moving novel.
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laura7
04:58 PM on August 14, 2009
I read all different kinds of comic books as a kid, but I'm new to graphic novels. I have one that I love of JANE EYRE, illustrated by Dame Darcy. It's spectacular. Soon I'll own a second: FAHRENHEIT 451, illustrated by Tim Hamilton.
Another of my Facebook friends and former student turned English teacher (!), Danielle Stobie, had these comments that I wanted to share with everyone plus a link to a discussion board for teachers about graphic novels.
Here's what Danielle said:
"I love Dame Darcy! I'm a bit of a comic book geek. I do own more than a few graphic novels and have enjoyed more. My personal favorites are Blankets by Craig Thompson, the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman, Watchman by Alan Moore, Lost at Sea...and the Fables series. I was moved by Maus II and look forward to reading Persepolis sometime as well. There are some really interesting remakes of classics as graphic novels that have been coming out in the last few years."
Here's Danielle's link for the yahoo group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Teaching_graphic_novels/?yguid=296
366714
Another of my Facebook friends and former student turned English teacher (!), Danielle Stobie, had these comments that I wanted to share with everyone plus a link to a discussion board for teachers about graphic novels.
Here's what Danielle said:
"I love Dame Darcy! I'm a bit of a comic book geek. I do own more than a few graphic novels and have enjoyed more. My personal favorites are Blankets by Craig Thompson, the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman, Watchman by Alan Moore, Lost at Sea...and the Fables series. I was moved by Maus II and look forward to reading Persepolis sometime as well. There are some really interesting remakes of classics as graphic novels that have been coming out in the last few years."
Here's Danielle's link for the yahoo group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Teaching_graphic_novels/?yguid=296
366714
Reply
laura7
04:40 PM on August 14, 2009
Here's Ray Bradbury's Buck Roger's story!
"I learned early on just how wrong the world could be when it judged my loves. I can't judge your loves. If you are going off to the Himalayas to write poetry, then do it. I'm never going to do it, I'm scared of heights! But bravo, eh? When I was nine I collected Buck Rogers and people made fun and I tore them up. A month later I burst into tears and I said to myself what's wrong and the answer was Buck Rogers was gone forever and I was dying on my feet at the age of nine. So I don't know what kind of a process I went through just an emotional purge when I said, Hell, I'm going back and collect Buck Roger again. And live again. And, I'm not going to listen to people anymore. So, from the age of nine I never listened. I stopped listening to people and their taste. They were always wrong for me. Right for themselves. But, I just went ahead and collected Buck Rogers."
Ray Bradbury
"I learned early on just how wrong the world could be when it judged my loves. I can't judge your loves. If you are going off to the Himalayas to write poetry, then do it. I'm never going to do it, I'm scared of heights! But bravo, eh? When I was nine I collected Buck Rogers and people made fun and I tore them up. A month later I burst into tears and I said to myself what's wrong and the answer was Buck Rogers was gone forever and I was dying on my feet at the age of nine. So I don't know what kind of a process I went through just an emotional purge when I said, Hell, I'm going back and collect Buck Roger again. And live again. And, I'm not going to listen to people anymore. So, from the age of nine I never listened. I stopped listening to people and their taste. They were always wrong for me. Right for themselves. But, I just went ahead and collected Buck Rogers."
Ray Bradbury
Reply
laura7
08:38 AM on August 14, 2009
Hey, Ian,
Great comments! Keep reading those graphic novels buying those dream-inspired comic books! You know Ray Bradbury tells a great story about how he used to read and collect Buck Rogers comic books and was shamed into giving them up. Shortly after, though, he changed his mind, and we ALL know about his legendary imagination and literary success! I'm sure Buck Rodgers had something to do with it! I'll see if I can track down Bradbury's story (in his own words) on the Internet and share it here.
Speaking of sharing, here's a wonderful comment from one of my Facebook friends, Marc Hashman, who just happens to be an a wonderful and award-winning writer himself! Here's what he said on FB: "My favorite, don't remember why, was THE GREEN LANTERN. And CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED purchased in an old tobacco/confectionary shop where we always stopped when we came to town. There we would also buy fresh potato chips in brown paper bags stained w the grease -nothing has ever matched that taste. Graphic Novels? All of Art Spiegelman, especially IN THE SHADOW OF NO TOWERS. He's got a new spread in the latest London Review of Books."
Great comments! Keep reading those graphic novels buying those dream-inspired comic books! You know Ray Bradbury tells a great story about how he used to read and collect Buck Rogers comic books and was shamed into giving them up. Shortly after, though, he changed his mind, and we ALL know about his legendary imagination and literary success! I'm sure Buck Rodgers had something to do with it! I'll see if I can track down Bradbury's story (in his own words) on the Internet and share it here.
Speaking of sharing, here's a wonderful comment from one of my Facebook friends, Marc Hashman, who just happens to be an a wonderful and award-winning writer himself! Here's what he said on FB: "My favorite, don't remember why, was THE GREEN LANTERN. And CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED purchased in an old tobacco/confectionary shop where we always stopped when we came to town. There we would also buy fresh potato chips in brown paper bags stained w the grease -nothing has ever matched that taste. Graphic Novels? All of Art Spiegelman, especially IN THE SHADOW OF NO TOWERS. He's got a new spread in the latest London Review of Books."
It's funny you posted this today because I spent most of the afternoon putting things off while I laid on the couch and read comic books.
I'm re-reading Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan. (I know the artist is usually supposed to get equal credit when discussing graphic novels, but I always land on the side of the author.) It's a decent comic. It finished its run some time last year and I never read the last few volumes of it, so I'm starting over from scratch after picking up the last of the trade paperbacks on Amazon.com. It's an entertaining little dystopian science fiction story about a plague that kills every mammal with Y chromosome on the planet Earth except for a struggling magician and his pet monkey. I dig end-of-the-World stories for some odd reason, and this one is clever, moving, and engaging. It isn't holding up as well as when I read the first few volumes in 2003 or so, but it's still enjoyable.
I've always been a comic fan since I was a kid, and I got these hardcover books from the Milton library that told you all about the Fantastic Four or Spider-man with little prose passages describing their histories and excerpts from those old Stan Lee/Jack Kirby runs from the '60s.
I never really bought comics regularly until I was about twenty. I had a dream I was in a comic book store wandering around. So the next day I went down town and bought a handful of issues. Then I just kept going back every week. I bought and read almost anything that came out. I was averaging spending something like $20 bucks a week on comics, which is a sizable number of issues a month. It was sort of a compulsive thing. This went on for a few years. Then one week, I didn't have any money so I was like, "Eh, forget it." And--just as mysteriously as it started--my comic buying frenzy ended. Now they're all crammed in long boxes taking up room in my office, but I like to keep them archived. For some indescribable reason it brings me satisfaction to see them bagged and boarded in their polyethylene homes.
The Cabell County Public Library has a pretty quality collection of graphic novels--including one of my favorites, Alan Moore's From Hell. Thought it was serialized at first, it really reads like a single, complete narrative and it is the first book I think of when I hear the term "graphic novel." Generally, I just like to call them comics, but Moore's work here is definitely novel-esque. It's about the Jack the Ripper murders, but digresses wonderfully to talk about everything going on at the time from Victorian society to the architectural history of London. Alan Moore might not be for everybody, but From Hell is definitely a standout in the genre.
I'm re-reading Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan. (I know the artist is usually supposed to get equal credit when discussing graphic novels, but I always land on the side of the author.) It's a decent comic. It finished its run some time last year and I never read the last few volumes of it, so I'm starting over from scratch after picking up the last of the trade paperbacks on Amazon.com. It's an entertaining little dystopian science fiction story about a plague that kills every mammal with Y chromosome on the planet Earth except for a struggling magician and his pet monkey. I dig end-of-the-World stories for some odd reason, and this one is clever, moving, and engaging. It isn't holding up as well as when I read the first few volumes in 2003 or so, but it's still enjoyable.
I've always been a comic fan since I was a kid, and I got these hardcover books from the Milton library that told you all about the Fantastic Four or Spider-man with little prose passages describing their histories and excerpts from those old Stan Lee/Jack Kirby runs from the '60s.
I never really bought comics regularly until I was about twenty. I had a dream I was in a comic book store wandering around. So the next day I went down town and bought a handful of issues. Then I just kept going back every week. I bought and read almost anything that came out. I was averaging spending something like $20 bucks a week on comics, which is a sizable number of issues a month. It was sort of a compulsive thing. This went on for a few years. Then one week, I didn't have any money so I was like, "Eh, forget it." And--just as mysteriously as it started--my comic buying frenzy ended. Now they're all crammed in long boxes taking up room in my office, but I like to keep them archived. For some indescribable reason it brings me satisfaction to see them bagged and boarded in their polyethylene homes.
The Cabell County Public Library has a pretty quality collection of graphic novels--including one of my favorites, Alan Moore's From Hell. Thought it was serialized at first, it really reads like a single, complete narrative and it is the first book I think of when I hear the term "graphic novel." Generally, I just like to call them comics, but Moore's work here is definitely novel-esque. It's about the Jack the Ripper murders, but digresses wonderfully to talk about everything going on at the time from Victorian society to the architectural history of London. Alan Moore might not be for everybody, but From Hell is definitely a standout in the genre.
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