Do you know anyone who reads comic books?

[Turn7]

Used to love Asterix, then "progressed" onto the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Fat Freddies cat....

[Perseverant]

Nice set of responses. I like Asterix and "The Simpsons", not to mention "Sandman". I have very fond memories of "Commando" comics at primary school too - well drawn and exciting. I reckon we could all read reasonably well as a result. I also remember "The Hotspur" and "Rover". I think the latter was about the last comic to feature actual prose stories in columns of tiny print. I liked the post with the Curtiss P40 - the dame on the wing draws the eye away from the exhaust stubs as the Allison engine was a V16 surely?

[Jonmx]

Perseverant said:

Nice set of responses. I like Asterix and "The Simpsons", not to mention "Sandman". I have very fond memories of "Commando" comics at primary school too - well drawn and exciting. I reckon we could all read reasonably well as a result. I also remember "The Hotspur" and "Rover". I think the latter was about the last comic to feature actual prose stories in columns of tiny print. I liked the post with the Curtiss P40 - the dame on the wing draws the eye away from the exhaust stubs as the Allison engine was a V16 surely?

I had about 150 Commando Comics until recently, great fun little things to read. I sold them on Ebay to a collector for around £100 which was a nice surprise.

[Flip Martian]

Jonmx said:

I had about 150 Commando Comics until recently, great fun little things to read. I sold them on Ebay to a collector for around £100 which was a nice surprise.

I learned all my German from war comics as a boy. "Achtung! Hande Hoch! Mein Gott! Gott in Himmel!" etc...

[zbc]

Strangely enough I've just asked my daughter for this this for my birthday. It'll be my first trip outside of Tintin and Asterix. The novels in the series are amazing and I really didn't want to miss it.

[Yipper]

Can't beat the Beano.

[Jonmx]

Flip Martian said:

I learned all my German from war comics as a boy. "Achtung! Hande Hoch! Mein Gott! Gott in Himmel!" etc...

The writers of the Commando comics apparently went to great lengths to ensure that German soldiers were portrayed fairly in the books and not all of them as rabid Nazis. The second editor Ian Forbes was an ex WW2 Army officer himself and had a great respect for the Germans.

[Flip Martian]

Jonmx said:

The writers of the Commando comics apparently went to great lengths to ensure that German soldiers were portrayed fairly in the books and not all of them as rabid Nazis. The second editor Ian Forbes was an ex WW2 Army officer himself and had a great respect for the Germans.

Have to say I don't remember them being portrayed especially badly in the comics I read. A bit stupid in comics like Valiant, maybe. But the Commando ones and similar, no.

[Lance Catamaran]

Flip Martian said:

Jonmx said:

The writers of the Commando comics apparently went to great lengths to ensure that German soldiers were portrayed fairly in the books and not all of them as rabid Nazis. The second editor Ian Forbes was an ex WW2 Army officer himself and had a great respect for the Germans.

Have to say I don't remember them being portrayed especially badly in the comics I read. A bit stupid in comics like Valiant, maybe. But the Commando ones and similar, no.

The way the Japanese were shown however was not quite as PC

[Flip Martian]

Lance Catamaran said:

The way the Japanese were shown however was not quite as PC

Oh! Yes, just reminded me. All evil slitty eyes, vindictive and shouting BANZAAAIIII!! all the time...

[havoc]

Lance Catamaran said:

The way the Japanese were shown however was not quite as PC

True, but the way they treated POWs in WW2 was rather worse on average than the Wehrmacht (I'm excluding the Waffen SS for obvious reasons), so whilst not PC, possibly partially justifiable - the Japanese had a very strong racial-supremacy undertone to their society 80 years ago...

[London424]

I read them quite a bit, though I steer away from the superhero stuff as for the most part you'd need to spend a fortune to catch up/fully understand.

Currently reading The Fade Out. Written by Ed Brubaker. Really enjoying it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fade_Out

[philwhite]

London424 said:

I read them quite a bit, though I steer away from the superhero stuff as for the most part you'd need to spend a fortune to catch up/fully understand.

Currently reading The Fade Out. Written by Ed Brubaker. Really enjoying it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fade_Out

I finished The Fade Out a few months ago, thoroughly enjoyed it and Brubaker totally nailed the whole 40's Hollywood noir feel. Plus Sean Phillips' art is fantastic throughout. I can't recommend this enough, or in fact anything Brubaker has written, Fatale, Criminal and Incognito are all great. His latest work, Kill or be killed, has also started really strongly.

I agree with previous posters on superhero comics though, I've read a fair few DC comics and they can be a punishing read for new readers, especially as nearly everything is canon and writers love to reference obscure old stories, not to mention they love plucking characters from other dimensions - take Infinite Crisis for example, which features three Supermen!! Same with Batman, last story I read he was on his forth Robin plus the whole 'Bat Family', much prefer earlier set Batman stories when hes unencumbered by a battalion a allies, Year One and Long Halloween are great examples.

Can't believe Preacher hasn't been mentioned on this thread yet! I'm currently rereading it for about the fifth time and it's still fantastic, I'd certainly recommend it to anyone looking to dip their toe into reading comics.

[Lance Catamaran]

havoc said:

True, but the way they treated POWs in WW2 was rather worse on average than the Wehrmacht (I'm excluding the Waffen SS for obvious reasons), so whilst not PC, possibly partially justifiable - the Japanese had a very strong racial-supremacy undertone to their society 80 years ago...

That is true, when I was a child I remember meeting old people who would flat out refuse to buy any Japanese products on account of WW2. But as new generations come along with no memory of these events attitudes change, and their culture and products now have a big influence on ours

[London424]

philwhite said:

London424 said:

I read them quite a bit, though I steer away from the superhero stuff as for the most part you'd need to spend a fortune to catch up/fully understand.

Currently reading The Fade Out. Written by Ed Brubaker. Really enjoying it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fade_Out

I finished The Fade Out a few months ago, thoroughly enjoyed it and Brubaker totally nailed the whole 40's Hollywood noir feel. Plus Sean Phillips' art is fantastic throughout. I can't recommend this enough, or in fact anything Brubaker has written, Fatale, Criminal and Incognito are all great. His latest work, Kill or be killed, has also started really strongly.

I agree with previous posters on superhero comics though, I've read a fair few DC comics and they can be a punishing read for new readers, especially as nearly everything is canon and writers love to reference obscure old stories, not to mention they love plucking characters from other dimensions - take Infinite Crisis for example, which features three Supermen!! Same with Batman, last story I read he was on his forth Robin plus the whole 'Bat Family', much prefer earlier set Batman stories when hes unencumbered by a battalion a allies, Year One and Long Halloween are great examples.

Can't believe Preacher hasn't been mentioned on this thread yet! I'm currently rereading it for about the fifth time and it's still fantastic, I'd certainly recommend it to anyone looking to dip their toe into reading comics.

Agree about Brubaker and Philips, I think i've got all those.

Also got Preacher, I like the Hellboy stuff, Y The Last Man is really good too.

Just got East of West: The Apocalypse Year 2...it's a pretty far out there story but looks great!

[RobinSullivan]

My friend.

[Halb]

Colonial said:

Sandman series is absolutely top notch stuff.

Lucifer is excellent as well.

[irocfan]

I never used to much like comics as a kid (ok the odd Commando or Battle but especially The Trigan Empire), I come into comics in my 30's. I think it was Elected Mercenario by Vincent Segrelles (?) that kicked me off again the artwork was, imo, stunning and that was me hooked.

Interestingly enough I still don't do many mainstream US comics (though Groo the Wanderer is a firm fave) it seems to be the Euro-stuff

[Halb]

Groo!
I still have a load of Groo issues from the 80s.

[marcosgt]

Flip Martian said:

Jonmx said:

I had about 150 Commando Comics until recently, great fun little things to read. I sold them on Ebay to a collector for around £100 which was a nice surprise.

I learned all my German from war comics as a boy. "Achtung! Hande Hoch! Mein Gott! Gott in Himmel!" etc...

I know I'm dredging this up, but I can't believe you missed the ever useful "Achtung! Spitfeur!" - I use it as a greeting whenever I start a business meeting with a German, always gets them on my side

"Donner Und Blitzen" is always useful for expressing surprise!

M