I've almost always loved the classic pop look of comicbooks from the Silver Age and earlier. Even when I was way deep into Image comics as a 12 - 15 year old, I always had a deep fascination with the comics from when I was born. In fact, a huge chunk of my excitement about Image comics was that I was witnessing the birth of the next "Marvel Comics" -- surely Youngblood was the next Fantastic Four, Spawn was the next Spider-Man, WildCATs was the next X-Men, Dragon was the next Wolverine, etc.

But even when my friends would laugh and look down upon the old books -- "Man, the old guys really suck compared to Todd McFarlane!" a friend would say -- I would agree but also secretly like those books. Before the era of TPBs, you really couldn't read those old books except via reprint -- I remember making a horrible deal to cut the grass and wash my dad's car just so he'd buy me a $3 reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #1 (he gave me a $5 a week allowance which I promptly blew on crap, so I think he was trying to get me to be more thoughtful about saving money until I saw something I really wanted -- the lesson never took root, even today).

But while I always revered the old books by Jack, Steve and Stan, there were older books I always thought were too weird and incomprehensible to get into -- New Gods, Creeper, Demon, etc. I bought my first New Gods TPB when DC released the black and white paperbacks in the late 90s. Every time I tried to read it, I sorta zoned out and couldn't really pay attention. Later, DC reprinted Kirby's Jimmy Olsen run and at that point, I always thought my ultimate comic would be Lee and Kirby on Superman -- and this was the closest I would ever get to it. Again, I tried reading it and again, I zoned out.

A turning point of sorts came when Erik Larsen's constant promotion and enthusiasm of Kamandi finally convinced me to buy the DC Archives books despite it not featuring a powerful warrior like Thor or Orion as its lead protagonist. And man -- I absolutely LOVED it. I hadn't been this into a comic since I first discovered Frank Miller's 80s output. Perhaps my tastes had changed and I would now enjoy those acclaimed New Gods books I had always struggled with. So later, when DC would release the New Gods Omnibus books, I decided to buy them -- and zoned right out. It was not to be.

And just three or so years ago, I found I was becoming more and more apathetic to the Marvel and DC mainstay superheroes. I realized I didn't care if some hotshot came along and did a really great Spider-Man or Thor run on a book -- I already had hundreds of good issues with those characters and didn't need to add more to the pile. I stopped buying the event books around World War Hulk or Siege or whatever. I loved comics, loved the artform -- but it was getting increasingly difficult to find material I didn't already own that I was interested in.

And then I decided to try reading New Gods again -- and man, it finally just clicked in a BIG way. Other than the Jimmy Olsen issues, I was absolutely blown and away and in love with this series of books! Then onto OMAC! Then onto the Demon! Then I discover Ditko's Dr. Strange and holy shit, it's even better than his Spider-Man run! Then I am completely blown away by Shade the Changing Man!

And at this point in my life, it really feels like it's gotta be weird to capture my attention. The last highly acclaimed mainstream book I tried to get into was the complete Jason Aaron Thor run via TPB and while I loved Ribic's art, I found the whole thing tedious. I guess it's fine and everything, but where's the weirdness from the Kirby and Simonson stuff? It's all paced very well, the dialogue reads well, it's dramatic and cinematic like a movie and all that -- but where are the interesting ideas and the sense of "wow, I haven't seen this anywhere else"? Even stuff that seems like it's trying to go for that, such as Fraction and Allred's "FF" -- it was seems so tedious and a struggle to get through.

And now, weird shit is basically all I want to read anymore. The Dark Knight Strikes Again and Batman Incorporated seem totally awesome while the Snyder stuff just seems like the superhero equivalent of a primetime drama or something. Scioli's American Barbarian. Fiffe's Copra. 70s Kirby. 70s Ditko. 70s Wood.

No real point here, just relating my experience to you guys. What are you way into these days?

The usual good vs evil...all that Jazz...the classics they are well made...

The only comics I buy now are the Carl Barks collections, but I still recommend:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1631401831/?tag=imwan-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1631401831/?tag=imwan-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1631401831/?tag=imwan-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0919359078/?tag=imwan-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594650934/?tag=imwan-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613775164/?tag=imwan-20

I'm with Hanzo. I have gained a higher appreciation for Kirby's New Gods, Eternals, & Captain America, Ditko's Shade: the Changing Man, and over the past few years have decided that Promethea is Moore's best work. I've always liked Milligan and Fegredo's Enigma, and like Grant Morrison, think it is far superior to Watchmen. Morrison's Doom Patrol is up there as well.

Enigma is better than anything Morrison has ever done, but I still think From Hell is Moore's best work.

Also, Frank Miller peaked with the first issue of Ronin.

tho he did the bat thing next and I enjoyed that one too.

Man, I think he really just knocks it out of the park on a lot of his stuff going through the mid-90s, well after Ronin. Dark Knight Returns, Born Again, Year One, Sin City: The Hard Goodbye, Big Guy & Rusty the Boy Robot, all the Martha Washington stuff...

Well, there's a difference between saying he peaked and saying he sucked afterwards. He rocked well into Sin City.

BTW, Simonson? Still rockin'.

I feel the same way as the OP. And it caused me to get more into EC Comics and old genre comics. That appetite for weird or offbeat led me to enjoy non-superhero more than superhero.

To your point on Dark Knight Strikes Again, I wasn't joking a while back when I said I enjoyed Holy Terror. I'd much rather read a book like that than some contemporary version of Batman. And the notion that it was non-PC taboo was a plus factor on the weird enjoyment scale.

Love this quote by Neil Gaiman:

He's stupid. That's not what it means.

I didn't like black and white comics until I was 40 and discovered Xenozoic Tales.

I was reading Elfquest and Cerebus in my teens. The indy/direct sales stuff rocked my world in the '80s.

I recently bought a complete run of Twisted Tales #1-10. It was a Bruce Jones series started by Pacific and continued by First (edited: Eclipse).

Interesting. I think I'll buy it.

Twisted Tales was awesome! I think there was a Sci-Fi companion mag, too....

Correct. It was Alien Worlds.



And I said Pacific/First up there. It was Eclipse that bought them and continue them briefly.

Same here. I'd rather read something with a strong point of view that I disagree with (unless it's total Nazi propaganda or some such) than something with no point of view that's done well on a technical or commercial level.

Stop trying to lock my thread, you stupid assholes.