Back in the 80’s, my favorite part of any week was a trip to the now-defunct Top Shelf Comics in Victor, NY, to spend my tiny allowance on comic books. My cousin hooked me on comics when I was a wee lad in the late 70’s, and I stayed hooked for about a decade. Back in the day, my faves were Batman and The Man Called Nova. Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of Nova. You’re not alone.
When I moved back to the Rochester area five years ago, I started going to Comics Etc. in Village Gate, the best comics store in the area. I read Sandman and a bit of Preacher and a few others, but I stopped after a while.
About a year ago, I fell off the No Comics Wagon again — even going so far as to set up a weekly reserve list at Comics, Etc. That means that the fine folks at CE pull a bunch of comics for me every week, and I troop in every Wednesday to pick them up. I’m hooked again.
I’m not sure why I’m enjoying comic books so much these days, but I’m definitely recapturing some of the excitement I felt when I was a kid. There are a lot of great comics out there these days, although most of them seem to be outside the normal superhero realm. Here are a few I’ve been reading recently:
- Fell
- DMZ
- Local
- Batman
- Detective Comics
- Ex Machina
- Tom Strong
- Chicanos
- Daredevil
- Fear Agent
- Ferro City
- Godland
I’m reading more than that, but the memory ain’t what it used to be.
Turns out that my love of podcasting dovetails nicely with my new funnybook passion. And one of the best comic book podcasts out there is The Comic Book Haters. Two guys from New Jersey who spend 30 minutes every couple days hatin’ or lovin’ (but mostly hatin’) a particular issue of some comic book. Sloofus digs comics, Schooly G hates ’em. They’ve done a dozen-plus episodes so far, and you’d be doing yourself a favor to check them out. NOTE: If you’re easily offended, beware. However, if you’re easily offended, we probably don’t run in the same circles, and you’re probably not reading this blog. ANOTHER NOTE: You can subscribe to The Comic Book Haters podcast through iTunes, too, using this link. If you drop the guys a note, tell them you heard about them at jasoncrane.org. Enjoy!
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