Greg tests his knowledge of comic books and asks Eric about his history of reading and collecting comics. They trade stories about favorite comic tv shows, movies, and characters as well as artists and writers. For both, Marvel is the favorite company and X-Men are the favorite characters.
Eric gives Greg the green light to talk to other comic book aficionados and comic shop owners.
Transcript
Suburban Folk 0:00
This is the Suburban Folk podcast, Episode Six comics and media and comic book collecting.
I’m looking forward to having some real talk with some real folks. Hey, this is Greg with the Suburban Folk podcast. Our guest today is Eric who may be a semi regular co host of the show. He has an extensive knowledge of comic books, as well as an impressive comic book collection. I wanted to talk to him about his history in the world of comics, as well as test my knowledge. Okay, so we are live. I’ve got Eric here with me, Eric, how you doing? I’m good. So I’m going to preface this conversation with I am a comic book guy sort of that, you know, read some comic books as you know, when I was little probably got away from it quite a bit, and in the last few years have started to pick it back up. If I’m being honest with myself. Probably The movies and all the craze that had gone on there with the MCU. And the Batman movies got me back into those comics. And I know you’ve been a big resource for me of going back into some of the source material and seeing what you can get out there that’s electronic now and seeing how that relates to all the other media that seems to have come with new comic books. And spoiler here, I was going to approach even my local comic book shops and say, Hey, what’s it like to have your own comic book store and what all goes into that, but there does seem to be a bit of a stigma that those guys a little bit judgey so you’re my starting point to see what I know what I don’t know. And maybe how nice or not nice those folks would be towards me if I actually tried to offer them to be on you know, a show like this. So let’s get started by getting some of your history with comic books. Obviously, I know, a decent bit us growing up together, needless to say, but, you know, as I was putting some notes together, I don’t know as far as ages or maybe let’s say other friends for your perspective that were into comic books that maybe first piqued your interest. When do you first remember getting into comic books as a form of entertainment?
Unknown Speaker 2:24
Yeah, I mean, I think this is the story that you know, the internet has really been waiting for is my history with comics. So I, I thinking on it, I would say two things in that just sort of randomly were in conjunction. One was the x men the animated series, which I love that show and I don’t really know why I wasn’t familiar with the characters. I wasn’t into comic books, but that show came on and it really captured my attention. And then simultaneously, I had a friend with a group of comics that I was over first over something and there was a Punisher comic book that kind of caught my eye and dark Hawk, I don’t even know if you remember it was sort of like do like a flavor of the week for Marvel that they were trying to, I think they thought they had a real winner, but nobody else really got on board with it. So, but they were kind of pumping that character for a while and there was a cover, I think like an anniversary cover of dark Hawk that just sort of caught my eye. And it just so happened that that friend it was sort of losing interest. So he said, you know, give me I don’t remember how much 15 bucks 10 bucks or whatever, you could just have the whole the whole set of them. So I kind of got that set. And then based on you know, the x men comic series, I remember looking at some x men comics at the grocery store, they sold them at the grocery store then and you know, it was really just kind of by the cover thing, but I do remember that was x men number 17. I still remember the number of it though that was kind of the first one where I, you know, bought it retail.
Suburban Folk 4:07
That sounds like a very similar recollection that I have, like you said, the x men animated series. I remember we would sit and watch that week over week, more religiously it seemed like then I can remember any other Saturday morning cartoon show. And I was trying to think of the age I’m going to say for me, what 910 so you probably
Unknown Speaker 4:29
that sounds right. Yeah, I think it came out in like 92 or something. So I was like 10 or 11, something like that.
Suburban Folk 4:37
And I also seem to remember that thinking that this was sort of a watered down version of the comics and almost like the comics themselves were the Bible. And then the the shows were just a summary or some like bastardized version of it, give a similar thought or you managed Punisher. I know. I did. did not go right into something like that. And I’m sure it will keep hitting x men and all of that world sort of is what I stayed into for for the amount of time that I was reading, but I know what were your thoughts of the animated series as it related to just comics in general?
Unknown Speaker 5:15
Well, I think, you know, TV for as much movie stuff is out there televisions, in my opinion, a better medium for comic books. I mean, it kind of has that same story arc and kind of quick, you can do either one off stories or you can do more, you know, long arc stories, and that just lends itself better I think to television. So I mean, in a lot of ways the movie boom for has kind of popped up but TV really led that largely with animated stuff even before they started doing the live action. And and I remember liking that about that show that, you know, I didn’t know it at the time. I didn’t think I was into comic books, but then as a younger kid, my favorite show was GI Joe. Which, you know, worked in conjunction with comic books. So GI Joe never did anything like that. It was like, you know, you had your episode or maybe you’d have like a small mini series but it was sort of done pretty quick and then you get your now you know, message at the end of it, you move on with your life. But x men had sort of like the whole season would would kind of build on on the story. And I thought that was pretty neat. And I think that’s kind of what appealed to me that about the comic It was like, Okay, well, they’re, they’re only going to make I don’t remember how many shows were in that series? 1516, something like that. Probably. It’s like, Okay, well, they’ve only got 16 shots at it. But if I read the comics, those can go on literally forever, it seems.
Suburban Folk 6:45
Yeah. What and I don’t know why, again, this sticks in my mind, but even just the look of the shows versus the comics themselves, even out of my mind, like, okay, the comic is what the characters really supposed to look like versus the shows itself now. The x men animated series. was pretty spot on with what they were. But when we get into some of the movie pieces using x men as the example like didn’t look like it at all and for whatever reason in my head at that time, it was this is how it’s supposed to be any deviations just, you know not part of well cannon I guess when I guess that would actually be true when you’re talking about official Canon and they need to get back to that which Yeah, and I wonder if that’s one of the reasons why the MCU has done as well as it has with that. One other thing that you mentioned GI Joe and have you ever seen the series called the toys that made us Yeah, yeah. Well and the other for the comic book thing with so they do GI Joe right and, you know, your your adult eyes of marketing, and so realizing what they’re doing and they talk about the only reason they made a comic book to go with that show is because they had to have some sort of an educational aspect of it. A book, in this case, a comic book to go with the TV show.
Unknown Speaker 8:05
It Transformers had a similar was, you know, it was like basically they made the toy and was like, Well, we’ve got to tell kids something we kind of they sort of invented, you know, the characters and and you know, it is interesting, as you said, as an adult to kind of see, oh, well, we were just, you know, dupes of marketing. But now Hey, it worked on me. And I guess it’s still working on me. So congratulations to those guys.
Suburban Folk 8:30
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And even for the TV medium of having that cliffhanger, which has become in your name, the Big Show, whether it’s Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad or whatever it happens to be that cliffhanger then gets you the next episode. It’s like, well, I don’t know if comic books came up with that. But certainly, it’s something that they rely on. So that you know, it keeps you coming back buying, you know, issue to issue and of course, we’ll talk about as it expanded from when we first came in was that Yeah, hi. When they’re just so many books and let’s be honest, most kids probably don’t have enough money to pay for all those and you know, there’s there’s sort of a limit to being able to keep them keep them hooked. But But yeah, that sort of cereal. One other thing that came to mind is I once had a an assignment where you had to write a letter to like a company that you were interested in. So I wrote one to marvel and I remember the teacher said, this sounds like a like a soap opera, which I was super insulted by at the time, but it’s like, when you look back, it’s like
Unknown Speaker 9:37
and it’s kind of it’s sort of a fair assessment it’s it’s a soap opera, but with a lot of fighting. They don’t have that so much in soap operas, but otherwise that’s a spot on analogy. So
Suburban Folk 9:47
Alright, so getting back to the history so getting in from the the cartoons, Punisher maybe being that first thing that’s really good that you remember the exact x men comic, I can’t say I remember the first one that I would Have the first bought or read from there? How did that then expand over the years? And did it? Did your interest grow, let’s say into high school and college, or did you have like, I know, I definitely had a regression, let’s say, at least through college. How about for you?
Unknown Speaker 10:20
Yeah, I mean, it was the same.
Unknown Speaker 10:24
I mean, I was largely buying comics just based on, you know, covers and that kind of thing, just just sort of what look neat and the idea of kind of an ongoing story really. I never really realized it as a kid because I wasn’t collecting them consistently enough to get those stores so it was sort of like, you know, I’d pick up an issue and then I’d pick up an issue three issues after that and try and figure out what happened between the two just because I wasn’t getting the consistent run. But yeah, I know, when the mail order stuff came out, and I can’t remember then there were there were a couple different name of those companies. One I think was like entertainment this week. I can’t remember the Name of some of the other American comics or something like that, I think. And it was basically like Amazon before Amazon, they would paper catalogs, but you could go through and you know, that was like a dream come true for me at the time because they were selling at a bit of a discount versus cover price. So I could go through and get, you know, half off or whatever. So, I remember getting those boxes and it was sort of, you know, it was like an unboxing event before that was a thing of what was in there. But after that, you know, I started relying on those companies and as you said, started collecting comics in the 90s, which was kind of the height of speculation and a lot of the, you know, multiple versions and anniversary covers and, you know, there was just a glut of content and then the market tanked. A lot of comic book stores went out of business, including a lot of those mail order companies. So the mail order companies went out business. So I kind of stopped buying just because I stopped getting those catalogs. And then you know, college and that kind of thing happens and and it just sort of fell off the rails Not that I wasn’t interested anymore. It’s just I wasn’t actively buying
Suburban Folk 12:16
in, keep me honest here, the mail order companies, like you said you could get a subscription where you’re getting the newest issue of whichever book you’re interested in, but they also offer a pretty large selection of back issues as well that you could fill in whatever you maybe had missed from a run. Am I remembering that
Unknown Speaker 12:36
right? Yeah, you are. And then that’s kind of why I liked them because they would have the back issues. And I would go through because I was just getting an issue here there. And I just thought they’d have like, they’d have it ranked by pricing. And I remember they had a quarter section. And I just go through and if it was like x force or x men, if it was an issue I didn’t have it was just like yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes. Everything that was a quarter I got it if I didn’t have it.
Suburban Folk 13:02
Yeah. Which, you know, I guess, again around that time where they had so many. Hopefully there were quite a few. And I will give you a kudos as well, I remember when you and I probably first did a subscription. You know, it was probably a debate for who was going to get x men versus the other experts of the times x force X Factor, and I think you’ve let me get uncanny x men. And then I think you did x force and X Factor if I, if I’m remembering correctly, which Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 13:33
I think it was X Factor. But yeah, you’re right. You got uncanny and I got X Factor.
Suburban Folk 13:39
That’s right. You you ended up with all of them eventually. Anyway. So
Unknown Speaker 13:44
actually, that X Factor series was pretty, you know, and that’s a good example of just you know, see, I tend to just kind of stumble into stuff. I don’t necessarily have a plan going in and that would be a good example, I took X Factor because it was, you know, the the other option, but it was Kind of a cool book, I remember enjoying it.
Suburban Folk 14:02
Yeah. And, and not to go back to the same theme. But I feel like if, let’s say if we were into x men, and it’s come up and in, let’s say late 70s, early 80s. And through when they started making all these other x men related books, and it goes back to the same thing of, hey, let’s throw as many of these exact not exact same things, but from the same group that people will hopefully keep buying, you know, maybe would have had a different perspective of, you know, whether or not it was a derivative of the core group or, like, Hey, give me as much as you possibly can from this particular series or not. So
Unknown Speaker 14:45
yeah, I mean, I would agree there’s definitely a money making aspect to comic books, especially during that period of time. So it was, you know, x men is getting popular. Let’s put x in front of a bunch of stuff and you know, see if it sticks in there. You know, some are better than others. But, you know, keeping, you know, keeping kind of the quality consistent was not always the case.
Suburban Folk 15:10
Agreed. And so kind of going back to the history, so college, hey, people don’t have a whole lot of money, so probably not you’re not doing much there. So sometime after college, what prompted you to get more into the world of comics, because the punch line here, of course, is going to be your reveal of how many comics you currently have. And as we’re saying, x men was definitely our our way into the comic book world. But I know for your collection now, it’s well expanded beyond that. So talk about when that journey started to occur. And how did that get you to where you’re at now as far as your tone?
Unknown Speaker 15:54
Yeah, well, and you know, there’s a downside with comics. I think the way I approach comics is, is a mix between an addict and a child. So, you know, I don’t know if that’s necessarily the mind frame, you want to go at anything but you know, it’s worked out okay at this point. And yeah, as you said, I kind of fell off. And it just so happened I was at a discount bookstore. And they had a bunch of this is, this is really before the movies started taking off. So, you know, comics were definitely a thing, but it was sort of after the 90s crash, and they were kind of resetting and, you know, a lot of comic book stores didn’t survive. So I think just in general, like comics were kind of rethinking where, you know, what they were and where they were, and I happen to be in a discount bookstore and at the time that there just wasn’t the demand, like there seems to be now and they had a whole rack of comic books. And again, it was there were a quarter apiece, I think, so I happen to see them and was there with Lisa, my wife and, you know, as a guy, you know, but I don’t need comic books. I mean, they’d be fine. To get some comic books and she’s, you know, much to her regret now, like, Oh, go ahead, you know, get a few but it’s, you know, it’s like an addict, you can’t have just the taste you gotta, you gotta go for it. So it started there and I bought those and then I found myself back at the discount store and I bought another big set of them. And then that kind of led into to buying more bulk which was somewhat of a conscious decision. But using you know, things like eBay and Craigslist to kind of be things up
Suburban Folk 17:33
Do you remember in that first purchase, what were some of the comics that were in there in particular? What were maybe some new ones that you know, the tween to teenage you would have rolled your eyes and said, I’m not going to read that but maybe was in that first bundle?
Unknown Speaker 17:52
Oh, I think the teen me was just as open to giving just about anything a whirl as the adult me I don’t remember. All of them. I do remember new wires. I don’t know if you remember that comic book series, but it was sort of I had, I had just a couple of them and it was like a spin off superhero group book that Marvel released. And I just thought it was kind of a neat group of characters and they had a big run of them. Like, I want to say it was like 20 straight issues they had sitting there for a quarter and I was like, Oh, I kind of liked that group of characters and you know, these are dirt cheap, and they’re in good shape. Why the heck not? So I don’t remember all of them. But I do remember there being a bunch of new warriors that caught my eye.
Suburban Folk 18:34
Well, and so that’s a Marvel one as well. And I know for me, I’m almost exclusively Marvel and if I compare that to let’s say, the music world you know, if I’m a punk rock I’m not into you know, stadium rock and I’m afraid that hardcore comic book people that’s what they view Marvel Comics as when did you you expand to DC of course is the other big one. But when or did you ever expand to any of the lesser known? I mean even like the image or the dark horse or others was that sort of at the same time or how do you regard the big two Marvel and DC versus the other comic book company?
Unknown Speaker 19:19
Um, well I always again through those mail order now some of them like image I mean, that was so highly promoted that you know, it was hard not to, you know, I feel like everyone that was getting comics had at least a few Image Comics because you had to see it, I mean, spawn was everywhere. So I image I think, was kind of on my radar any way, dark horse was a little bit mostly because they had the license to Star Wars. And while I really have never collected Star Wars comics, you know, make it made a real conscious effort of collecting Star Wars comics because they had Star Wars. They were sort of on my radar, but that was probably about it for the non Marvel and DC and I think like the Marvel Universe I just like I’ve kind of heard that same thing it’s like a DC for sophisticated people and maybe that’s true because I’m definitely not as good maybe Marvel is not for you know maybe Marvel’s for me because I’m not sophisticated but but DC there for me like the Batman you part of DC I love it. The the other parts I like it and I’ll read it. But you know, like I got a big run of Superman at one point and I liked it. I mean, who doesn’t like Superman, but I didn’t allow that. I mean, it just was not the character that spoke to me.
Suburban Folk 20:43
Yeah, I again may just have been the years that we would have been prime time for reading comics, but the seminal events of The Death of Superman rights was huge. And then the nightfall series for Batman which I had quite a few You have and, you know, for the for the final dark night movie even that’s basically the premise there. I always regarded that as like, okay, DC knows they’re losing the popularity contest and they’re doing these, you know, massive things to their two biggest characters and at the time I almost thought of that as a desperate act to to keep their readership and that may be more of a Marvel guy but like I said, Now I’m almost sensitive to I guess what more avid comic book readers would say as well Marvel that’s that’s kind of what everybody does. And you ever got into anything else? Yes, I’ve heard the same it’s kind of sophisticated, which is also funny to me because I’ve read maybe two comics maybe you know, if I go outside of the Death of Superman, and I yeah, I always thought Superman was sort of very straight laced, and there wasn’t much to it because hey, right actually beat Superman and any particular case so so yeah, that was always a strange Way to define that for me as well. And then you had like I said from from there it would just Marvel seem to keep me going and let’s be honest there’s enough books in that yeah, that you if you get it must have immersed in it you don’t have time for anything else necessarily.
Unknown Speaker 22:17
Yeah, that’s true. You don’t have to branch out but you know, I find that the stories are good to kind of, you know, there are differences and sometimes largely for me Batman, some of those some of those stories, I think, especially with the villains I mean, they get dark I mean dark maybe not to a level that Marvel does. I’m thinking of like, Killing Joke. death in the family. You know, some of those types of stories are there still if you go read them, there’s some cheesy parts of it like that are more focused to kids, but there’s some actual storytelling going on there. That’s thought provoking for adults.
Suburban Folk 22:57
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m Batman was already Like that was the exception for me as well. So kind of going back to the timeline. So you started that first entry into a collection based on bookstore that had a bunch they were trying to get rid of. You mentioned the Craigslist and eBay, which, of course, I know is where your search went from, from that point. What were your methods for? I guess, picking up people’s comic collections, because I assume that’s how it went is people that were ready to give up their collections. How did you go about getting those? Tell me what price points? And then I know you’d sort of put together runs and what what happens? Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 23:42
So for me, like from a price perspective, because I’m just sort of interested across the board, I’ll usually look to get, you know, really, whatever I mean, if the price is right, I’m probably interested and I’m usually shooting for like a quarter. So in fact, that’s still kind of my my target. Pr Pr
Suburban Folk 24:01
book.
Unknown Speaker 24:03
And as I kind of expanded eBay is the natural, easy place to go, or at least it was at the time, I feel like eBay is kind of fallen off a bit lately. But I had gotten just sort of what they had. And that got me thinking of what were the series that I really, really liked. And I’ve got a handful of them, but I never really sat down and read, you know, issues issue issue issue, which went to x men, because that’s still largely as my favorite. So I started buying lots on eBay. And again, this was kind of before comics took off. I don’t think this is the case anymore, but I could find runs of comics where they easily were, you know, 50 cents or under for sure. 25 including shipping 25 cents in a lot of cases. So I started getting a lot of those X series that I had big gaps in and eBay is great and that, you know, it’s all pretty straightforward. Especially if you can do like a buy it now you know you buy it it shows up at your door there’s there’s not a lot of legwork to do with it. But I found to your point, if you’re buying lots on eBay duplicate start to become a problem pretty quickly because you know, there’s there’s gonna be a lot of overlap. So what I would do is kind of just set aside duplicates until I got enough of a run and then I would sell those on eBay. But eBay also has its hassles when you start getting into buying and selling. I mean I haven’t sold in years on eBay. So maybe they’ve made it a little easier. But you know, you’re sorting comics, you’re trying to keep it all straight, you got to get boxes, you got to get to the post office, yada yada yada. So, that kind of led me I started looking on Craigslist because I had bought, you know, odds and ends on Craigslist before and thought maybe I’ll give that a whirl and again, I think it was just the time around like 2008 and 2008 2009. And I only remember that because it was during, you know, kind of during the market crash and whether that contributed or not to the availability. I remember telling one guy, and I think I was on and he had some good books in his collection, and I told him outright, I was like I, you know, I’m these books are worth more than I, I’m paying for them. And he said, Well, you know, no one else is buying. And I said, well, it’s funny you say that because I I’ve kind of set aside a budget for buying comics. And there’s more available than I can buy. It’s just, you know, there’s there’s too much there. So, that was good and that I had a lot of, you know, good opportunities to buy and I got to read a lot of different stuff and kind of see things I wouldn’t necessarily buy. It was bad and that, you know, even though comics are not very big, if you buy enough of them, they start to take up a heck of a lot of space. So my That’s kind of where it really you know started expanding exponentially
Suburban Folk 27:07
Yeah, for sure as far as the space and and it’s funny you say the downturn because I at for a brief time because obviously I knew, you know sort of what you’re doing with Craigslist stuff. So would peek here in there maybe every couple of months and say okay, yeah, if people are putting it on Craigslist, that means they’re not looking for top dollar because otherwise they put it on eBay and they’re just looking for somebody local that can take it off their hands and the prices, you know, like you say the quarter up to 50 Cent’s I just wasn’t seeing them and it was probably some couple of years at least, let’s say removed from the bottom of the, of the financial crisis and I almost compare it to even even like buying a house the few years later. For people that didn’t want to accept let’s say what their house was worth, you know? After, after the market correction. And I wonder if I don’t know if maybe the same happened with comic books at the beginning of the downturn? Yeah, you know, we’ll take whatever we can get. And then a little bit after that, you know, hey, let’s be honest, some people were buying this comic books because they thought it was going to be an investor or baseball cards, then they don’t want to accept that, Hey, sorry, a lot of people have that same idea. So the more of these there are, the less years is worth it, and nobody’s going to pay these prices. So I never quite found that same price point some number of years later. So again, that’s interesting that sort of had it around that same downturn, period. I wonder if there was any correlation.
Unknown Speaker 28:42
Yeah, and I suspect there was only because I, you know, mentioning to a few people, it’s like, why are you selling? You know, I can think of one collection in particular, he had a couple really key issues and he was selling me the entire lot for like, it was under 20 cents apiece. I’m like, why are you selling it? He’s like, cuz no one else’s willing come out here and pay me any money for it. And he kind of said he’s like, I think, you know, the market being what it was. And I remember another collection, which this is in my, my list of sort of what might have been, I had contacted a person who he was working for a company that cleans out foreclosed properties. And he had come across a big collection of comics that had been left behind and he was selling them. And one of my, you know, boy, wouldn’t it be cool to have comics, his giant size x men one and he had it in that he had, I guess, a big run of, you know, 70s ish era uncanny books. And I said, why I can’t, you know, there’s no way I’m gonna be able to offer you something competitive and we kind of left it at that. But then he re posted, you know, several weeks after I had talked to him, and he had sold just the uncanny to a collector, but he had everything else left and he said, I whatever you’ll give me, you know, Come Come, come take them. So I went and I bought the rest of them. It was a huge run of Avengers like 70s era Avengers and I specifically remember it had the first appearance of Rogue in it and I was thinking boy, I wonder what I missed out on what was in that uncanny lot that he sold already.
Suburban Folk 30:20
Yeah ya know if there’s any any opportunities for a similar type of type of find like that now so all told, like you said I think your Big Lots of collecting like that days have have tapered some but all told, you know how many comics you have in your collection right now?
Unknown Speaker 30:41
I haven’t finished completely cataloging it, but it’s going to be somewhere just over 20,000. So that’s a ballpark. Yeah.
Suburban Folk 30:50
Oh, wow. That that’s significantly more than I thought and of course, for those that are not you know, familiar with the world or while you have read everything. I have not read every single What
Unknown Speaker 31:00
now would be an exaggeration and now I’m finding that just organizing them is, you know, a bit of a struggle. And digital comics are a godsend for that reason, and, you know, getting them all organized and read ready is a heck of a lot easier when they’re, I prefer print, I just like having something tangible. But as far as hitting the button, there is something to be said for digital.
Suburban Folk 31:28
Well, and when you were collecting some of these, I gotta imagine that the cheaper comics were probably newer comics, like you mentioned, again, sticking with our x men theme, that the 70s was when it really well obviously giant says f7 and then hit his stride, late 70s into the 80s. So I got imagine you probably were getting books that were closer year range, as I say, to what we’re reading, so like what’s a late 80s probably in so So were you having to read backwards A lot of the time just for the fact that there’s probably where the most readily available and cheapest to buy, how did you keep that straight as far as certain runs and certain stories or anything? Or did you have to go back to ones that you did by just to remind yourself what had occurred as you were getting into new stories?
Unknown Speaker 32:16
Yeah, I mean, I’d have to go back and reading backward. I mean, I, I feel like I’m pretty good at story, following a story, but reading backward that might be beyond me. So I would, I would go back and look. And then, you know, sometimes I think some of the nature of comics and the way that they’re produced is, you expect there’s going to be some gaps here and there in the story, and you kind of have to fill in those gaps based on, you know, what the next piece of the story is. So sometimes I would just kind of go off memory. Sometimes I would just accept that there was a gap in the story that I would kind of have to fill in. Or if it was a story that I really wanted to, you know, kind of dive into, I’d be different You know that that’s that series of comics and refresh my memory on what exactly it happened?
Suburban Folk 33:07
Well, and then like you said, the electronic comics is huge. And I am trying my best to get through spider man from the beginning through at least again early 90s when what I would have remembered, at least anyway from actually collecting comics, so that makes it much easier to start from the beginning to what has occurred. Of course, even in those the nature of comics, where they reference, this random event or this random person, you know, the, you’d have no idea how they twist together. But on the other end of that have if you didn’t have all of them, what I’ve found, again, looking for my adult eyes, is nearly every one of them has occurred. So I guess there’s also that crutch that which again, makes sense from from being cynical from a marketing standpoint. Hey, new reader, don’t worry Couldn’t you jump in wherever and start, you know, buying from here on out but, you know, if, if you had the had the books before then you also have some sort of a reference point to go on. So,
Unknown Speaker 34:10
yeah, a lot of the comics would have the little asterisks at the bottom. If somebody’s making a statement it’s back and read issue number, you know that that’s all a marketing ploy I got, you know, let’s get people hooked up by the back issues.
Suburban Folk 34:23
Yeah, and and again, just with what I’ve read for spider man so far, I mean, you can see it from the beginning ones in the 60s where there’s not that many of them, because they don’t have that many books be because they’re starting out and they’re not trying to be the behemoth that they would eventually become. Once you get a little bit further, maybe late 60s, into the 70s. You started to see a few more and the amount of teams you mentioned the warriors. I do remember the new warriors just because that was right, right during that timeframe that we would have been reading but I don’t know some of the ones that have come up the defenders, the champions slipping sticking with the Marvel characters and this just sort of, Okay, what what characters can we throw together to have a new book here and see what sticks?
Unknown Speaker 35:06
Yeah, and I mean, they’ve after the fact pretty much it made it. Yeah, I was like, well, we looked at the marketing data and we found that if people liked one superhero, they liked six better. So let’s throw them together and see how that sells. Which, you know, I’m not criticizing that’s, you know, the nature of the business. But yeah, you can definitely see those trends
Suburban Folk 35:23
it will or and back to Batman. My Library has the nightfall and I forget the name of the series right after it. nite
Unknown Speaker 35:31
nite quest. Yeah.
Suburban Folk 35:34
And, you know, so even classic, you know, Batman comics, it’s, I hate to say formula that that makes me sound like a non comic book guy, you know, new villain in a lot of them. But at least for a couple issues. Hey, who sticks? Who’s who’s going to be a good one to the readers like, Oh, no. All right, we’re done with that. And we’ll go to the next one. You know, of course here and there, then you’ll get sort of the really mainstay villains and get more of a story. But there is that, that way of going through episodes to seeing what sticks with some of the character names and the ones that you see and don’t see. And it’s like yeah, hey, the ones you love is really because they introduced it at one point they got reader mail or reader reaction so so whether or not as you bring the person back, and that’s what they did.
Unknown Speaker 36:21
Yeah, you know, they’re an even worse I think during like the 90s period because they were doing that see if it sticks but in in conjunction with kind of the collectible piece of it so I’m x force annual to I remember getting that as a kid and I don’t even remember the care. I remember they introduced the character and it was like, this guy’s you know, he’s the best thing since sliced bread. And it was like, well, forget about saving for retirement. I got this thing. I guess. This guy’s gonna be you know, the new Spider Man or whatever. And as I just said, I can’t even remember that guy’s name. So yeah,
Suburban Folk 36:56
yeah. Well, they’re doing it. Do you read any of the current things and yeah, admittedly, I you know, on social media I have a like for Marvel so I see their stuff that comes up. I saw something that said, I don’t know the guy’s name but an up and coming writer has been assigned to x men, they’re doing this big revamp, reboot. seem to be all about it. And then Mike say, yeah, that’s where my mind goes, like, we’ll see. But you know, it’s it’s very different. It’s very different look than my x men
Unknown Speaker 37:27
look. Yeah. And I mean, Marvel. I’m not just Marvel, I mean, the comic book, they’ve been doing that for years. And usually there is kind of a nerd backlash, like, these aren’t my x men. And I mean, I understand like, why people would say that and you had said earlier kind of a cannon, I mean, cannon and comic books, is, you know, loose at best. So it’s like, right, and I understand why I mean, who can keep that many years and that many stories straight and you know, kind of make like a cohesive arc. So I understand why it is the way it’s, it is But spoiler alert, you know people for the some of the newer Marvel movies, it’s like, oh, you know, this person died and this person died. Calm down. If I know one thing about comic books, it’s that death is just a that’s a temporary inconvenience. They’re not they’re not gone.
Suburban Folk 38:18
Well, and that might even segue us into another couple of questions that I’ve had as far as going back to DC and one thing maybe for Marvel that would have just been more fresh by the fact that they were a newer company relatively speaking than DC. Like your origin stories for the Marvel Comics characters are pretty set in stone, you can go back to those issues. If you go through the Batman stuff or Superman. Yeah, there is relatively the origins but it’s a little more hazy just because I think right out of the gate, there were different iterations just because comics weren’t as established as their in their place. in pop culture as they are now. And so, something else I’ve also noticed in getting into the comics is there’s a lot of references to people talking about the artists and the writers. And I will admit I never read who was the artist and a book or the writer and a book, but one that comes to mind Ken sticking with a Batman theme. So Frank Miller, and I guess he’s credited as one of the first and again, I only know this from now adult researching. The idea of this is a good day, but being the guy that makes rhyme in the dark, more brooding character than most people maybe would say the 60s Batman TV show type of
Unknown Speaker 39:47
Yeah, he kind of took it out. It was like very campy and he’s the one that kind of returned it to that, you know, dark detective type. Yeah.
Suburban Folk 39:54
So did you ever you know, and again, your teen and tween and teen years really pay attention to the writer of a particular book or the the artist?
Unknown Speaker 40:07
No, I mean, during my teen years, not at all, even now, it’s definitely not I mean, there are people that are like encyclopedias and and I’m not one of those people. I mean, they can rattle off for free Comic Book Day, the my comic book shop that I like nearby, they always have to artists and that’ll do sketches and stuff. And it’s really cool to see it. You know, I don’t wait in line, there’s usually a line for it. I just like seeing the other people and, and I usually have to look those artists up to know what books they’ve worked on. But then I’ll do that beforehand. And it’s neat to see these other folks that come in, they know it, you know, it’s like, can you do Spider Man or can you do Wolverine? I mean, they know what these artists have drawn and they know exactly, you know what it is they want them to do for them at the at the event. So I enjoy seeing it. It’s really fun to see those folks, you know, really haven’t nailed down some of the The big names like, you know, Frank Miller. Yeah, I mean, I know. You know, his work, Chris Claremont is a big one for me because he kind of I like Stanley’s like, you know, kind of the Stanley jack Kirby and who doesn’t love that stuff, but right. I think Claremont for me is kind of an interesting story where he sort of made the x men what they are, I mean, Stanley created them but they they were dying on the vine and Claremont came in and and I think, what I start to pay attention when a writer has done something either out of the ordinary or they’ve, they’ve really put a genuinely good story together and in Claremont, the one that basically started you know, the x men is I mean, I think, either a metaphor for you know, racism or homophobia or or you know, kind of the feelings around that and, you know, he did it in interesting kind of sci fi ways, sci fi ways, but You know, that’s when I start to take notice more. I mean, you have on your list here as well, Todd McFarlane, I mean, yeah, he’s great. And but he’s, I think he’s, as an artist, you know, great. I know, he does a lot of writing and he kind of was, you know, the creator of spawn and spawn is still going. Like it’s still around. But it’s usually like a bigger name person that they kind of have a body of work, and then they’ll show up on my radar. I know there’s other people that will kind of zoom in on a certain book and be like, Oh, you know, this series is killing it, and they will they’ll go right, you know, who’s the artist? Who’s the writer? You know, that sort of thing?
Suburban Folk 42:39
Yeah. And I guess that would make sense. Going to going back to Okay, if it’s not Marvel or DC Are there other up and coming comic companies where one of these guys maybe did something differently than they otherwise would have? Or even for Marvel DC? And I’m thinking, honestly, I don’t know who did the watchman but Washington, DC as far as I’m aware, but a very different type of story than they maybe otherwise would have had. That could point you to something like that or another I think, was Sin City if I’m not mistaken. Yeah, so so maybe those examples of like, say, you can follow the writers that way so that if you’re branching out from the characters that you know, you can at least trust the writer and what they do and what they’re bringing to the table for maybe a different type of series if you’re looking for something new, which I never really got to that point, I guess so maybe why didn’t pay attention to particular artists and just like you said, For Todd McFarlane, I remembered it for spawn because spawn had a lot of fanfare coming out. Honestly, I think him and his Spider Man run was a Leah before just before my time, at least anyway. I don’t think I actually even knew that. That’s where she made his name before leaving Marvel.
Unknown Speaker 43:55
Yeah, and it’s awesome. I’ve collected that and I mean, it’s his run on Spider Man. There’s a reason that it was as popular as it was. It’s awesome. But yeah, and also, watchmen, by the way is Alan Moore, who’s a great writer. So like watchman was sort of his like combination. Well, I don’t know if combination is the right word, but that was sort of his take on like, you know, what would the world potentially really be like, if there were superheroes? We’ve got, you know, Superman, it’s kind of all, you know, mostly upside. And in the, you know, watchman I think was his take of, you know, would it really be all upside if these people actually existed, which I think is what makes it a great story. It’s kind of a different twist on, you know, what the world might be like with superheroes? Hmm,
Suburban Folk 44:45
yeah. So, getting to the end items that I wanted to cover. Yeah, admittedly, for to some extent. For me getting back into comic books, is as much as they’ve come into pop culture, the MCU being the most obvious, obvious example and recent memory we kicked off with the animated x men series, when we didn’t hit on was the Batman series right around the same time, which has really been revered, I think as one of the best adaptations. What were some of your other highlights? The as far as multimedia for comic book representation?
Unknown Speaker 45:29
Well, I mean, yeah, Batman, the me series is great. I mean, there’s, there’s story I rewatch that series as an adult and there’s episodes of that, that I’m like, Mike, this is just absolutely heart wrenching. Even as an adult, some of those episodes stand up and then you know, obviously that shows become famous because it was the introduction of Harley Quinn. So, you know, it’s kind of that one was sort of firing on all cylinders. And, you know, you mentioned blade and that’s often talked about is, you know, kind of introducing the big, bigger budget. superhero or or Marvel movie? Although I don’t know Do you know what the first big budget Marvel movie was like in theaters?
Suburban Folk 46:09
If I had to guess I’d say Howard the doc but
Unknown Speaker 46:12
yeah, that’s it. Yeah, Howard the back because they tried to produce, you know, a few others and they either were really bad and never got released or they were really right to DVD, Howard the Duck, which like I like the new Howard the Duck, but that movie is, you know, it’s not exactly cinematic. And it’s a Lucasfilm production. So it’s like, how, you know, this is not what I would have expected from the first Marvel you know, collab with Lucasfilm for a movie. But anyway, you know, I remember, I wasn’t even that familiar with blade and I remember watching it and just enjoying it. And I found that, you know, the movies by and large, they they’re pretty darn good. I mean, they’re just, they’re just fun to watch. I mean, I’m not qualified to say whether they’re cinematic art or not, but I do enjoy watching them. And it’s, it’s rare, I find one that
Unknown Speaker 47:08
I know DC has kind of gotten
Unknown Speaker 47:11
a lot of criticism for their movies, and I understand the criticism, but even then even those movies that are not as good or that people tend to criticize, I usually find that I enjoy it, I I’m still kind of wrapping my head around the fact that some of these properties are, you know, actually being produced. You know, I see some of these things and, like I, you know, never in my wildest, right, like, when the x men movies came out, it was like, wow, this is neat. And it’s so cool to see it. Even though as you said earlier, it’s kind of a different take. I mean, there, there’s all kinds of stuff on the internet, you can look up like, you know, what would a live action version look like? If they use the suits from the comic books, the costumes for the comet, and it looks looks absurd. So I you know, I’m a They’ve kind of taken it and made it their own. But I’m, I’m still kind of surprised at, you know, how deep of a dive that it seems like they’re taking into comic books now
Suburban Folk 48:13
with the MCU. Again being what it is, if I remember with Iron Man coming out, and I think I read something not that long ago, that in the comic book world Iron Man is a B level character certainly was when it first came out. It’s just that’s what Marvel had left. After the breakup of all of their intellectual properties, they just happen to do really well with it.
Unknown Speaker 48:41
So yeah, and I’m not sure how he surface. I mean, I know they had a nightmare with things had gotten licensed by people that clearly didn’t understand what the characters were. I mean, like Iron Man was licensed somewhere. Captain America was licensed somewhere else and the Avengers was licensed. It’s like, well, how How do you do to the Avengers without, like Captain America? So? Yeah, I mean, they’ve kind of for as long as it took them to kind of get out of the gate. I mean, they’re doing it right. And I think, you know, as I was saying earlier, I think we’re seeing what was there was a mini series or something about the Inhumans. And I was like, does anyone I mean, I know I’m lockjaw. Like, I’m like, please show me a live action lockjaw. But I was like, does anyone even know who the Inhumans are? We making the you know, how does this exist? But, you know, I know that was not the most well received thing, but just the fact that they made a production of it still boggles my mind.
Suburban Folk 49:42
Well, even the internet, the eternals is coming out next year, and I’ll bet I know, almost nothing about the eternals. I know it’s supposed to be almost like the creation story. expanse from there, but yeah, that that tends to get pretty obscure, of course. people point to Ant Man is being one words like okay, Marvel pretty much things that can do whatever
Unknown Speaker 50:04
this point. And they are. I mean, yeah, ant man’s another good example. It’s like, really they made an Ant Man. Really? It’s successful. So yeah, I mean, I’m good for them. Clearly they’re right, because they seem to keep knocking it out of the poor.
Suburban Folk 50:18
And I think something else, you know, I had in my notes, that it seems like the comic books into movies, being a good idea is relatively new. But when you do some research about other comic books that are not your capes and cows comics. There really are others again, as some of the lists that I noted like Road to Perdition it’s a really good movie based on a comic book. History of violence was another one that I know I saw I really liked. And there’s a handful of others that are now Heck, Howard the Duck people may not know you know, to ourselves that we actually originated from a comic book but you know, it’s not A brand new concept and you know, also I think there’s a Netflix documentary that goes through all these things and the the fanfare that came out with the Michael Keaton Batman movies. And I remember those two and being pretty excited to watch them. Obviously, they went a little downhill afterwards. But it wasn’t that long after those of the x men movies did come out. So there was a, you know, it wasn’t today where there’s Gosh, five or six of them seemingly coming out every year, but, you know, one or two a year so it’s always been I think somewhat in the pop country pop culture forefront, just just not quite as noticeable as it has been now. And so the other question I had here is so what do you think do you come across people that that’s their only experience with the comic book world is just the movies I know I have a couple buddies that this does apply to and dear roll your eyes at all because they only know let’s see the movie stories, nothing else going on? Or is it just Hey, cool Welcome to the party. Any any thoughts on on people that are only only familiar based on the movies?
Unknown Speaker 52:07
Yeah, I mean, if if someone just likes the movies, I don’t I don’t take exception to that. I think the only time I take exception is if someone kind of poo poos comic books for you know, kind of the reason you just said if it really doesn’t matter what you’re into, like, whatever you’re interested in, or whatever type of story you want, there’s probably a comic book around it. And I’ve kind of found that more. As you know, I’m looking for comics that my kids might be interested in on free Comic Book Day and you know, there’s, there’s still like Care Bear comic books and like, you know, so there’s like really cutesy kid things. There’s really dark like explicitly for adults only, I mean, you said Road to Perdition that’s it. I actually didn’t know when I saw that, that it was a comic book, but I loved the movie, and then soon after found that it was comic book and after finding out it was a comic book, it was like, Oh, yeah, I can definitely see how this was a comic book, you know, I probably should have had it pegged as, as such. So, I mean, I think people are getting a taste of that. In the movies, I mean, you have some of these movies that are PG, you’ve got some of them that are rated R. So the superhero thing is definitely, you know, most people, that’s, that’s what they’re going to be familiar with. So I don’t take exception to it. I know that there’s not. I’ve read several articles that there’s not necessarily a correlation between the people that are watching the movies and those that are picking up comic books. And I wish that was a little different, just because I feel like people probably would enjoy them. But you know, I don’t think they’re obligated in any way to do that. Like, go see the movies if that’s what you want to do. But you might pick up a comic book just to see you know, what it’s about. I tend to agree with that.
Suburban Folk 53:57
So last question, and completely full circle. Is comic book shops. So you said there is one close to you sounds like maybe once in a while you’ll you’ll visit that shop, I have one near me, they’re actually getting ready to expand, interestingly enough, so hopefully that means businesses good for them. But do you make your way to the comic book shop on any kind of a regular basis?
Unknown Speaker 54:20
I still I’m, I’m kind of in a period where about capacity from a space perspective. So I try to be a little selective in what I buy. And as we talked about earlier, I think I’m not seeing the collections and lots as available and I’m not seeing them as inexpensively as I once did. So I’ve kind of pulled back from that, but I’m always kind of just interested in seeing what’s out there. And if I can get it at a fairly inexpensive price, like I’ll just I’ll just buy a bunch of them and you know, give it a read and see what I think. And yeah, I do have a comic book shop near me. They always do free Comic Book Day, which if anyone doesn’t know, it’s the first Saturday in May, it’s definitely worth going. Almost every comic book shop does it. Almost every comic book shop has some kind of really good deals going on on comics or graphic novels. So you can go you can pick up a handful of comics for free, buy something at half price or whatever, so that they get a little business out of it. And of, you know, whatever topic it is you’re interested in. But it makes for, you know, kind of a fun day. And then they also will do a like Black Black Friday type thing where they’ll just this particular comic shop doesn’t have a lot of space. So I think what he does is he just lets his dollar Ben build up and then twice a year, it’s like, we got to move these things out, and he’ll cut those either in half or 75%. So I’m picking up comics for 25 cents, 50 cents, and they’re newer stuff. That’s kind of how I read newer things. If I’m buying other people’s collections, it’s usually at least a couple years old, so I’ve kind of apologize to A few times, it’s like I show up, I buy like, you know, 500 comics or whatever, you’ve got to ring them up individually and you know, you’re, you’re just kind of getting rid of them. I’m sure he’s selling them at a loss. But he said multiple times, it’s like I, you know, I gotta clear out some inventory here. So I appreciate that you just come and you buy it. So that for me is kind of a good, easy way of doing it. I will venture into different comic book I mean, that’s my go to, it’s the closest to my house and I really like the owner there. And it’s, it’s a nice store. It’s it’s a bright retail space. Other comic shops, you know, comic shops, I think are like people. I mean, there’s, there’s a reason comic book guy is a stereotype. I mean, those places do exist. I’ve been into comic shops that are in the basement, you literally there’s one I can think of you wouldn’t even know it was a comic shop. It’s in the basement underneath, like an office building and you go down and it’s the guy is is you know, helpful enough but it’s cramped and it you know, it’s just It’s not exactly a nice retail space. So, my God feels you probably just have to give it a whirl to see, you know what the person’s like, you know, some places. It’s great. Other places I know there’s a few places I’ve gone in with. with Lisa, it was Lego, what’s a girl doing here?
Unknown Speaker 57:22
I guess well, we’ll get
Unknown Speaker 57:24
get out of here. So, you know, it comes in all flavors like us.
Suburban Folk 57:28
Yeah, well and that’s like you said I did sure every shop is a little bit different and hey, at least for me, I feel like most of the things we’re talking about here I at least have some recognition of so that gives me maybe a little bit of credit versus get at least comparison of somebody that maybe watch the movie and for fun went into a comic book shop after that, and then you just got to see how open those folks are from there because I would be very curious to know you know, for those that own a comic book shop, what is that like? What’s the day to day like? You know, I guess like other things of maybe, is it? Is it more glamorous, let’s say? Or is it less glamorous than it sounds as far as
Unknown Speaker 58:09
speaking as someone who has spent a few days like trying to sort and organize someone else’s collection to integrate it with my collection, you know, you do that for like three or four hours, and it’s not it stops being fun, you’re back.
Suburban Folk 58:23
It’s like,
Unknown Speaker 58:24
it’s like, oh, man, I’m ready for a drink and the kind of, you know, move on to something else. So I’m sure doing a day day to day. I mean, I’m sure parts of it are awesome. But I’m also sure there’s days where your back hurts, and you just can’t look at one more bag and board. Well, actually, I
Suburban Folk 58:39
that reminds me of a story that I was going to tell when we were doing our Disney recap, and you’ll appreciate this. So we had our Disney t shirts. And finally one day I’m like, All right, I’m gonna not wear this new t shirt and I have a daddy shark shirt right? So everybody that sees me says, Oh, that’s in my head that’s in my head that daddy’s sharks So we’re finishing lunch and there’s a teenage girl worker. And she says the same thing like, Oh, now I have that song in my head and I said, Yeah, I think I put that in a few people’s head and she goes, Hey, as long as it’s not a Disney song and and the reason why you would probably relate to this is the only thing I could think of as the Simpsons episode with itchy and scratchy land. And when they’re at the New Year’s place in March says, it must be nice ringing in the New Year’s like every 15 minutes, just like the police. Yeah, and if
Unknown Speaker 59:35
you watch that episode, later in the episode when things are going bad, they
Unknown Speaker 59:39
come over the radio. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 59:40
we have another jumper.
Suburban Folk 59:44
Yeah, the New Year’s pavilion or whatever. So that’s all I could think of for that was like, yeah, you know, it doesn’t matter where you’re at the like, you know, to some extent a job as a
Unknown Speaker 59:58
Yeah, and I mean for comic book store. It’s Return. In fact, I was. I was the last time I was at the comic book store. He was ringing up. And I mean, individually, they’re bringing these things up. So when, when he runs the receipt, it’s gigantic. I mean, it’s probably I bet it’s 12 foot tall if you like, you know, laid it out. And And so again, I was sort of apologizing to him. And I said, Whatever’s easiest on you guys. Just, you know, if you want to run up part of it, and then check out other people or he said, Now, I think we can just run through these. He said, Do you want a receipt? And I said, I don’t even print it. He said, Well, I have to print it based on the system. And I said, Well, I’m not going to use it. So just, you know, throw it out. I’m not going to bring anything back and civil, you actually are not allowed to bring back comic books. And I said, Oh, you know, I never thought of that. Does that happen a lot to people like my comic and try and he said, it happens more than it should. Like, you know, we’re not so you know, it’s retail. So I’m sure you get, you know, a fair amount of odd, you know, requests and suggestions.
Suburban Folk 1:01:00
For sure. So, hey, we are an hour. So I think I’ve gotten through everything that I had on my list anything that had come to mind in the world of comic books that’s worth mentioning.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:13
No, I don’t think so. I mean, I think what you said is it, you know, give it a whirl. If you’re interested. I know. Some of the events I go to what I find most fun is there’s like the hardcore comic guys that are out front. And usually there’s one or two that work there. And they’re, they’re debating, you know, what the best arc is who the best character is who the best crew, I mean, they know this stuff inside now, way more than I do. But, you know, then this last time around, I, I kind of set up shop by a few long boxes, and I’m going through them, and there was a kid that was probably, I don’t know, he couldn’t have been any more than 12. And he’s looking through the box next to me, and I’m looking through the box. And, you know, I realized that he wanted to get into the box I was in just because he kind of kept looking over so it was like, Hey, you know you want this box. So we kind of Switch spots? Well, then he’s going through the boxes like what books are you interested in? Can I pull anything? So you know that me in this 12 year old are chatting about calm, that’s not going to happen and like a lot of arenas where
Unknown Speaker 1:02:12
it’s just like,
Suburban Folk 1:02:13
yeah, that’s Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 1:02:14
I guess in some arenas it shouldn’t happen. It was kind of a, you know, just sort of a fun thing that it’s not unique to comics. I think any kind of, you know, hobby might lend itself to that. But, you know, there is a bit of a community and like any community, I’m sure you get some jerks, but there’s also, you know, some interesting, folks. So, yeah, if someone’s interested, you know, give it a whirl, see how it works. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll try somewhere else, or maybe it’s not for you.
Suburban Folk 1:02:40
Yeah, yeah. I think that’s good advice. So, appreciate it. I’ll catch up with you later. Okay, thanks. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to give us a rating on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get podcasts. If you’d like to be notified of future weekly shows, please hit the subscribe button. Thank you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai