Author: comicgeek76

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you all must have heard that Stan Lee passed away this week. At the age of 95, one of the most influential figures in the comic book industry and superhero genre has left us. I was genuinely sad when I heard the news, because Stan was a real hero to me and I’d like to explain why.

All over the news and internet people are talking about his amazing body of work. How he had a hand in creating some of the most legendary Marvel superhero characters and stories ever, along with other creators like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, John Buscema and others. And that is absolutely true, but besides that, Stan was also the face of an entire genre and industry, even in times when it wasn’t popular at all.

I remember opening my very first Marvel comic back in ’84 and on the first page it said “Stan Lee presents”. I was 7 years old and had no clue who that was, but that name kept popping up in every single comic I bought. As a child, I read comics that were translated in Dutch, but in high school I started reading the original American versions and I always read Stan Lee’s “soapbox” column, which I really enjoyed. After that I saw Stan appear on various TV shows and stuff like that, always being charming and funny and always telling people how much he enjoyed telling (and reading) good stories about relatable characters.

I’m not saying the guy was a saint. I’ve read a lot of stories about his relationship with the likes of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. And sure, he played a big part in creating the Marvel universe that we all know and love, but so did a lot of the other creators that I mentioned earlier. But like I said, Stan was the face of an entire industry. He put superheroes on the map and I don’t think we would have all these wonderful movies and TV shows, based on comic books, if it hadn’t been for his efforts. Nowadays everybody knows who characters like Iron Man or Thor are, not just us shy and nerdy kids who actually read comic books.

So yes, he was a hero to me as a kid and he still is. And I will forever be grateful for all the amazing characters and stories that he helped to create and that have entertained me for 34 years. Those comics often gave me a world to escape to when times were rough and they still do. So thank you, Stan Lee. Thanks for all the wonderful stuff you created and thanks for making us geeks and nerds feel less like outcasts, in a time when it really wasn’t cool to like superhero stories. You will be missed. Excelsior!

For those of you who aren’t up to date with the latest episodes of the TV show or the latest issues of the comic book series: spoiler alert!!

If you have been keeping up with the latest developments: please keep reading 😉

I’ve been a fan of TWD for a long time. I started out with the first compendium and finished that in a couple of days. After that I started collection the trades, but when I was al caught up and didn’t want to wait for the next one to come out anymore, I had it put on my pull list at the comic book store and I’ve been reading the monthly comics ever since and picked up issue #185 last friday.

So as a long time reader, you can imagine that I was pretty exited when they announced the TV show. And I’ve been a fan of that show as well, ever since the first episode aired. Of course the TWD “universe” expanded even further as time went on. I read the first two novels, but I never made it through the third one. And I watched the first two seasons of Fear The Walking Dead, read the official magazine, watched Talking Dead and even gave the Telltale games a try, but none of those really stuck with me. To me, The Walking Dead is still the story of the core group, lead by Rick Grimes, in both the comic and the TV show. But now things have changed.

The comic book came first, of course, and had been running very succesfully for several years, before it was adapted as a TV show. And even though the big picture was largely the same and they took the main storylines from the comic, the TV show was always slightly different. Some characters lived longer or shorter and some characters, like Daryl for instance, never appeared in the comic and were exclusive to the TV show. I really liked this, because it still kept things exciting, even if you had read the comic books. But like I said, the big picture was largely the same until now.

The differences were always around. Shane died a lot earlier in the comic, Andrea lived a lot longer, Carol already died when they were in the prison and so on. These were all pretty important characters, but the main character was still Rick Grimes. Both in the comic book and the TV show. And now Andrew Lincoln has left the show and all the other survivors think Rick is dead. Of course we all saw him fly off in a helicopter, but apparently he’s not returning to the show. Or at least not any time soon. I’ve read that Andrew (and Rick) will be returning in future TWD movies, but we’ll have to see about that.

I’ve also read that Lauren Cohan, who plays Maggie, will be leaving the show as well this season. And with Chandler Riggs, who played Carl, leaving last season, that will mean some serious changes in the cast. Especially since all three characters are still very much alive in the comic book and are still playing very big roles there. That means that the show and comic will become more different from each other from now on. And that could actually be a good thing!

I thought it was cool that the show made the same time jump that the comic did some time ago. And I loved that the Whisperers appeared in the show this week. That’s another major story line from the comic that they will be adapting, so I’m excited to see how that will turn out. And seeing Judith as a kid and interacting with Neegan was also nice. In the comic, she died in the prison when she was still a baby, so it appears she will be kind of taking Carl’s place on the show. But it still felt a little weird to not have Rick around anymore.

My guess is that they will be pushing Daryl to the forefront now. He’s like their ace in the hole. He never appeared in the comic and is very popular among fans. So it makes sense that he will become the lead star of the show now. Will that work out? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Daryl was never much of a talker and I don’t know of he’ll ever be a true leader like Rick was, but it’ll sure be interesting to watch.

As long as they’ll keep adapting great stories from the comic, it will be fun to see how a different group of characters, with a different leader, will react to certain situations and “villains”. I’ll keep watching (and reading!!) anyway and I hope both formats will continue for a long time to come.

I know the Venom movie is still playing in theatres right now, so if you haven’t seen it yet, there are going to be spoilers here.

I went to see it with a friend a couple of weeks ago and went into it with mixed feelings. I really liked the thought of a Venom movie, but it just felt wrong that there were no ties to Spider-Man. And even though I thought the movie was very entertaining, I still felt like that after seeing it. I know that it has gotten a lot of on-line criticism because of the lack of Spider-Man, but to me it’s a bit more “personal” and I’ll try to explain why.

I bought my first Marvel comics back in 1984. They were the Dutch translations published by Junior Press and one of the first books I picked up was the Amazing Spider-Man issue where Spidey returns from the first Secret Wars, wearing his new black costume for the first time on earth. I later read some books where he was still in his old red and blue costume (some titles took longer to be published in Dutch) but “my” Spider-Man was the one in black. I thought he looked a lot cooler wearing that and it made him more bad-ass. Of course it turned out to be a symbiote and the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards freed Peter of it, but I always hoped that Spidey would wear it again some time.

Of course Marvel had different plans. Eventually the symbiote bonded with Eddie Brock and Venom was born. What made Venom such a cool villain, in my opinion, was that he knew Spider-Man so well. The symbiote knew everything about Peter, it had his super powers (wall crawling, web shooting etc.) and it was immune to Spidey’s spider sense. And with Eddie being a big, strong guy himself, Venom was also more powerful than Spider-Man. That made him a very dangerous adversary and it made for some great stories. They were very much linked to each other, which you could tell by the big spider symbol on Venom’s chest and back. And now this movie comes out and there is no spider symbol anywhere….

I really didn’t like the Topher Grace version of Venom, because it just wasn’t Eddie Brock. And even though Tom Hardy isn’t that physically impressive either, I think he was a better Eddie Brock than Topher. But at least Topher’s version was tied to Spider-Man. And at least he had a big white spider symbol on his suit.

Marvel took the Venom character in some different directions through the years, including the Flash Thompson version that even was part of the Guardians of the Galaxy at one point, but to me Venom will always be tied to Spider-Man. Maybe not for everyone, but that’s the Venom I grew up with. And since the first movie featuring a certain “superhero” usually contains the origin story of that character, I really felt that Spider-Man should have been part of that.

I realise that it all has to do with movie rights. But why would you make a movie about a character so closely tied to Spider-Man if you can’t use Spidey himself? Apparently the new Joker movie is not going to feature Batman either. I honestly believe that a big part of every great superhero is his rogues gallery and Spider-Man has a whole bunch of classic villains. And that’s exactly what Venom still is in my opinion: a great Spider-Man villain.

I guess that’s just my problem. Or at least just the problem that long time comic book readers have with this movie. My friend, who I saw the movie with, is more of a movie fan and has never really read any superhero comics and he enjoyed the movie for what it is. And another friend, who saw it some time later, also had no problem with it. They just saw a fun and action packed movie and didn’t care about the missing spider symbol on Venom’s suit. But I did… That’s why I hope that we’ll eventually see a Spider-Man/Venom crossover, even though that seems very unlikely at this moment.

The picture at the top of this page is a photo of my own comic book collection, because this week I’d like to talk to you about collecting and storing your comics. I see a lot of pictures on-line of people putting their comics in special display cases or keeping their paperbacks or hardcovers on bookshelves. That’s cool if your collection isn’t that big yet, but when you’ve been buying and reading comics for as long as I have, you have to look for different ways to store them and keep them safe and dry.

As a kid, I just put my comics on stacks. And when those stacks got too high after a while, my dad made me some shelves to put them on, including a couple of book ends. But eventually even those shelves were getting too small. And since it was mostly actual (Dutch versions of monthly) comics back then, and I didn’t bag or board them yet, keeping them on shelves wasn’t exactly the best sollution. That’s why I decided to invest in bags and boxes during my teenage years in the 90’s. I never used backing boards actually. I just filled all the boxes up to a point that the comics would remain upright and not bend or fold.

And that is still the same way that I store my comics. I still use those same short boxes that I bought all those years ago and I’ve just been adding new ones ever since. And I’ve got my own “system” of sorting them. Some characters or teams have their own box or boxes and they’ll include characters that are asociated with them. For instance, a Batman box will als include Nightwing comics or a Conan box will also include Red Sonja comics. After I decide what titles are going to share a short or long box, I’ll sort them by alphabet and number.

Even though I still have a pull list at the comic book store, I mostly buy trade paperbacks these last few years. I just enjoy the fact that you can read an entire story without having to wait a month after each issue. And it’s also nice that you don’t get an add every couple of pages. Now you don’t really need to put trades in a box, but I do that anyway. The same goes for hardcovers or big omnibus or compendium editions. They are mostly the same size as regular comic books and they help to keep the comics upright, since I don’t use backing boards. Of course I don’t bag the trades, since they have a much sturdier cover than regular comics.

Here in the Netherlands, and most other European countries, the size of comics is different. Most European comics are released with the same kind of cover as a paperback or hardcover, but in a bigger size. More like a magazine size. And this also goes for a lot of American comics that are translated in Dutch. I solved this problem by putting those books in short boxes in longitudinal direction with the back facing up. But of course there are also titles that include various sizes, like Star Wars for instance, so I keep those in magazine sized short boxes. I even put a lot of Conan books in a long box, with the back of the box being filled with big magazine sized hardcovers and the front of the box containing regular sized comics and trades. That way I can still keep all my books in simular boxes.

I always used regular white boxes, but recently I bought my first couple of printed art boxes and I love those. I wish these would have been around back in the day, because they’re so much more fun than white boxes. These printed boxes can have a theme or have certain characters printed on them, so that you can put titles in there that match the box art. For instance, I have a Silver Surfer/Galactus style box that contains most of Marvel’s cosmic titles like Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova, Warlock and of course the Surfer himself. And my Walking Dead books are now in a zombie themed box. These printed boxes are more expensive than regular white ones, but they really are a lot more fun. Every new box that I buy from now on will be a printed one.

As with all things in life, there are constant developments and new ideas as far as storage systems are concerned. Not only has the material of the bags and backing boards changed, but now you also have hard, plastic boxes or special PVC crate systems. And there are also cardboard long box systems that function like a drawer that you can pull out of the box. I basically stuck with the system that I started with in the 90’s, but there are a lot of alternatives out there these days.

Keeping your comic books safe and dry is definitely important. I still own every single comic book that I ever bought. And this goes back to the early 80’s. The reason I never lost any books and that they’re all still in good shape, is because I’ve always stored them in boxes and kept them in bags. I’ve moved a couple of times and had my collection stored in garages and attics, but my books are still in great condition. It’s a relatively small investment to get a decent storage system and it will be worth the while. Unless you decide to read your comics digitally, which has more advantages, but more about that in a future entry.

I guess the title of this week’s entry pretty much says it all. I fell in love with this wonderful comic book series a while ago and today I’m gonna try to convince you to give it a try too, if you haven’t already. With all the hype and awards that Lumberjanes has been getting, you had to be living under a rock to have missed it.

I first found out about Lumberjanes through several youtube channels about comics that gave it a lot of praise and positive reviews. As you might know, I’m usually more of a superhero comic fan, but of course I read other books as well. Especially Image and Vertigo titles like The Walking Dead, Fables, DMZ, Y: The Last Man and Scalped. And one of my all time favorites is Jeff Smith’s Bone, which is actually what Lumberjanes reminds me of most. A cartoonish art style, stories accessible for young readers and a host of supernatural beings. These are all ingredients for a fun read, so I decided to give trade volume 1 a chance. By the time I had finished it, I had already ordered all the other volumes.

Lumberjanes is developed by Grace Ellis, Shannon Watters, Noelle Stevenson and Brooke Allen. The fact that Noelle Stevenson was involved, was a good reason for me to give it a try. I had read her Nimona graphic novel a while before that and really liked that. It was so different than anything else I was reading at the time and I really liked her art style. It’s incredible what that young lady has accomplished at such a young age. She is now even the showrunner on the upcoming She-Ra Netflix/Dreamworks cartoon that’s coming in november. And if you’ve read my previous entry about He-Man and She-Ra, than you’ll understand that I’m pretty excited about that.

Another good reason to give this title a chance, is the fact that it is written and drawn by an all female team and that the five main characters are also all female. And to top it off, one is even a transgender girl and some of them obviously have more feelings for each other than just friendship. This really shouldn’t be a big deal, but in the very male dominated comic book world, it actually is. And the fact that this title is so popular and successful now, is a clear sign that times are definitely changing. Marvel has also put a lot of effort in making their superheroes more diverse as far as ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation is concerned these last couple of years, but this is taking it a step further and it really proves that there is room for equality, feminism and LGBT characters in the comic book world.

But all that aside, it’s just a really fun book to read. It actually had me laughing out loud on several occasions. The 5 lead characters are all very different, but it’s those differences and their unconditional friendship that make it so much fun. And the situations that these 5 girls get caught up in are often so bizarre, that you can’t help but think: “WTF??” They encounter stuff like dinosaurs, sea monsters, shapeshifters, Greek gods and yeti’s and that’s not what you’d expect from a book about 5 girls at a summer camp. It’s a perfect combination of humor, adventure, heartwarming interaction between the characters and just good old fun!

Since I loved the comics so much, I also just ordered the Mariko Tamaki novels, which also have illustrations by Brooke Allen. They should make a nice addition to the collection and I’m looking forward to reading them during my summer vacation. And since comic books are the inspiration behind Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters these days, 20th Century Fox is currently working on a Lumberjanes movie, which should be a breath of fresh air among all the superhero movies coming out these days.

So if you want to try something different, give Lumberjanes a chance. When I first heard about the title, I thought there would probably be a lesbian/feminist undertone, and there definitely is, but it’s done in such a nice way, that it’s still very suitable for all ages. Like I said, it’s one of the most fun books I’ve read in quite a while and I hope the series will continue for a long time to come.

Those of you who have read the previous entries on this page, know that I’m a huge comic book superhero fan. It’s probably my biggest passion and the thing that has stayed with me my whole life. But there is one other superhero, who doesn’t have his origin in comic books, that keeps popping up every couple of years: He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe!

I was born in 1976, so I grew up with all the comics, cartoons, toys and video games of the 80’s. And that is still the stuff that I’m into as an adult. I remember when Masters of the Universe was released here in Holland. I had a bunch of 3.75” Star Wars and A-Team action figures, had just started reading Marvel and DC comics and watched a lot of pro-wrestling on TV. And then I saw the first MOTU figures at the toy store and was completely blown away!

These figures had everything that I thought was cool. They were basically superheroes and supervillains, each with their own unique superpowers or skills, they had the same alien/science fiction elements that I loved about Star Wars and they were built like pro-wrestlers. And to make things even cooler, the artwork on the boxes, posters etc. was absolutely amazing. It had such a dark and mysterious vibe about it, that I was instantly fascinated by this weird and wonderful new world.

The first figure I got was He-Man himself. Since all my other action figures were smaller, he mostly battled my Kenner Star Wars Wampa, which was about the same size. Soon a lot of other MOTU figures followed, including a bunch of knock offs, and I couldn’t be happier. I was finally able to re-enact the massive superhero battles that I read about in Avengers and X-Men comics. But they were also often used as wrestlers. Pro-wrestling wasn’t very popular in the Netherlands in the 80’s, so you couldn’t get any wrestling action figures or other merchandise anywhere. I was lucky enough to find a wrestling ring with two MOTU knock off figures at a local toy store and so a lot of my figures became wrestlers as well. Buzz-Off became Superfly, Rio Blast became Big Boss Man etc. This is also why a lot of my MOTU figures were damaged and had paint wear, because we were doing hardcore and falls count anywhere matches long before ECW came around 😉

Another thing I loved about Masters of the Universe were the mini comics that came with the figures. I must have read each one a hundred times. And when the Filmation cartoon started airing over here, I was overjoyed. That was the coolest thing I had ever seen and I must have watched every episode multiple times, including the She-Ra series that followed. Luckily the Marvel/Star comics were also published in Dutch, so I got to read those too. The “legendary” He-Man/Superman crossover by DC was never published in Dutch as far as I know, but I managed to read that years later. I also liked the Image/MV Creations comic series, based on the 2002 line, and the more recent run by DC, including the crossover with DC’s own heroes. And I bought two big hardcovers by Dark Horse, one with all the artwork and designs of the MOTU line and one that collects all the original mini comics.

I never really liked the “New Adventures” line, that followed the original line, but I thought the 2002 reboot was awesome. As a fan of the original series, I was skeptical at first, but the cartoon was really well done and I also liked the new designs of the characters. Some origins were further explained or slightly changed, but it had the same overall mysterious feeling that the original series had. And the battles between the heroes and villains were so much cooler in the animated series. A little bit too “manga” for my taste, but they were now actually using their weapons. I even owned a couple of the figures and statues from that line.

And then there’s the MOTO Classics line. That is seriously one of the coolest action figure lines I’ve ever seen. The designs and sculpts on those figures are just amazing. And it ran for such a long time that they released new versions of all the original He-Man and She-Ra lines, but also figures based on stuff like prototypes and characters that had only appeared in the mini comics. A great homage to He-Man’s long and colourful history.

I sold and traded all my old MOTU figures years ago. Along with other 80’s toys like Star Wars, Transformers, MASK, Dino Riders, Turtles etc. I did have a huge G.I.Joe collection for many years (more about that in an upcoming blog), but eventually sold and traded those as well. As far as collecting goes, I wanted to focus on comic books. And even though I still have some Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Transformers and MOTU figures, I wouldn’t consider myself a toy collector anymore. I do, however, still consider myself a MOTU fan, because I still read the comics, I still rewatch the old cartoons regularly and I still keep up with what’s coming out.

I guess He-Man and the Masters of the Universe became more than just toys. The characters became popular through comics and cartoon shows and He-Man, Skeletor and She-Ra became household names, just like the superheroes who came from comic books or characters from other 80’s toy lines like G.I.Joe and Transformers. And with Super7 still releasing cool new figures, She-Ra getting her own Netflix show later this year and a MOTU movie coming up in 2019, I think He-Man is here to stay. He’s the ultimate combination of Conan the Barbarian, Luke Skywalker and Superman/Clark Kent. How can you go wrong with that? 😄

I just finished reading the Conan/Wonder Woman crossover, which was actually done very well, and it made me think about all the crossovers that I’ve read through the years. That’s why this week’s entry is all about crossovers.

Crossovers are the ultimate “what if”. Could this character beat that character in a fight? What would happen if these two characters met? Within the same universe, this happens all the time. But when it’s two characters from different publishers or franchises, it’s always exciting to see what happens.

I remember when I discovered comic books for the first time. I was just 7 years old and had a friend who was two years older than me, who already had some comics. One of those books was the classic Superman vs Spider-Man crossover. I didn’t know about Marvel or DC at the time, so I didn’t think it was too big of a deal. But later on, when I really got into comics myself, I found out that this was actually the very first time that a DC and Marvel character met and that it certainly was a big deal.

Talking about Marvel/DC crossovers; those are of course the ones that everyone got really excited about. To this day, that is still the stuff of many discussions. But if you look at the early ones like Superman vs Spider-Man, Batman vs The Incredible Hulk and Uncanny X-Men/New Teen Titans, then the funny thing is that they don’t give any explanation as to why these characters never met before. Apparently they had heard about each other, but they just never met, which I even thought was kind of strange as a kid. Luckily, in later crossovers like Avengers/JLA and Marvel vs DC, they did make an effort to explain how these encounters came to be.

But those are just the crossovers between the “big two”. Of course there have been many more, especially in the nineties. With Image becoming a serious player in the superhero comic world and Dark Horse owning the rights to publish comics based on a couple of big sci-fi movie franchises, the possibilties became endless.

But were all these crossovers really that good? To be honest with you: no. Some were actually pretty bad. As exciting as it often seemed that some of these characters were finally going to meet, it was often a disappointment when you finished the book. Sure, there were some really good ones too, but when there’s two characters owned by different parties, it’s often hard to get a good story done, without one character looking better than the other or the story having an impact on one of the chracters.

But like I said, there were a bunch of really cool ones too. Batman vs Predator was done very well and so was the Batman/Judge Dredd crossover. Come to think of it, most of the crossovers including Batman were actually pretty good. And I really liked the X-Men/Star Trek TNG one too. And even though I own (and have read) a lot of these crossovers, there must have been a lot of them that I missed out on.

Of all these franchises, there is only one that has never had any crossovers. As long as there have been Star Wars movies, there have also been Star Wars comics, by Marvel and Dark Horse. And even though a lot of other sci-fi and movie franchises have done comic book crossovers, that has never been the case with Star Wars in the 40+ years that it’s been around. As far as I can remember, the only crossover that Star Wars ever did, wasn’t in a comic book, but in a TV show. When Luke, Artoo and Threepio appeared in an episode of the Muppet Show 😉

If you’re into reading comic books, there are several ways to acquire them. These days digital comics are also a big deal, and I regularly read digital comics on the iPad myself, but more on that subject in a future blog entry. Today I’m going to focus on the printed variant, which comes in several formats. You can buy monthly comic books, so you can get the latest issues once a month, printed on “floppy” paper and filled with advertisments. And if you want to store them, you’ll have to bag and board them for protection. That is why a lot of readers go for collected editions in the form of trade paperbacks. That way you get 5 or 6 issues in 1 edition, with a sturdier cover and no advertisements. One trade paperback or “TPB” will often contain a complete story, so you won’t have to wait a month to see what happens next. The only downside is that you have to wait for it to come out, which usually takes somewhere between 6 months and 1 year. Hardcover collected editions are often released earlier than the trades, and even though they look really nice on your bookshelf, they are also more expensive than TPB’s. And a lot of classic series are also released in an omnibus format, containing 20 issues or more, which makes for a great, long reading experience.

But the thing I really want to talk to you about is where you buy these books. Trade paperbacks and hardcovers are available at any on-line book store, like Amazon for instance, and there are tons of on-line comic book stores as well, but to me there is nothing like visiting an actual comic book store. I just love driving up there, picking up my pull list or other stuff I ordered, browsing around the store for other new books, talking to the people who work there and often meeting new people, who are also into comics or other related stuff. Visiting the comic book store is just a fun experience that you’ll miss out on if you buy all your comics on-line.

Another advantage is that you can actually browse through the books that you’re looking to buy. And most stores will have people working there that know what they’re talking about. I’ve bought books that were recommended to me by the staff of the comic book store, based on the other comics that I was reading, and they turned out great. And if you’re new to comics, there’s no better place to start than a comic book store. If you’re into certain superheroes or other characters that you’ve seen in movies or TV shows, and you want to start reading their adventures in comics as well, they can help you get started.

I remember buying the Dutch translated versions of several Marvel and DC titles at the grocerie store or book store as a kid, but when I started reading the original American versions as a teen, I discovered an actual comic book store just 25 km from where I was living at the time. When I first visited that store about 28 years ago, I was blown away by the fact that such a place actually existed so close to home. And I’ve visited a lot of great comic stores in the Netherlands, in cities like Sittard, Den Bosch, Breda, Amsterdam and Utrecht, but I still buy 90% of my comics at the same store I discovered all those years ago.

That store is Eppo Stripspeciaalzaak in Eindhoven (www.eppo.nl). Eppo is the name of a Dutch comic book character from the 70’s, that the store is named after, and they are celebrating their 40^th anniversary this year. Next to a lot of classic Dutch and European comics, they also sell all the newest releases and a lot of memorabilia. From classic toys and action figures to new merchandise and from board games to Funko Pop! figurines. But it’s also the place where I have my own little “P.O.Box” where they put my pull list comics and the trades I ordered. I can’t make it there every week, but I try to stop by once a month to pick up my books and have a chat with Marc, who is their expert on American comics and manga.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with buying your comics on-line or reading digitally, but you might want to try stopping by one of these stores. The vibe there is mostly great, because everybody there is enjoying their hobby and going home with some fresh stuff to read. Support your local comic book store, people!

There are a lot of popular brands in the world of geek culture and these have all become multi media franchises, that include movies, cartoons, comic books, novels, TV shows, toys and video games. I’m talking about franchises like Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Star Trek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, G.I.Joe, My Little Pony, Masters of the Universe etc. To someone like myself, who grew up in the 80’s and was already a nerd as a kid, it’s pretty clear where the origins of these various franchises lie, but I’ve noticed in conversations with other, younger people that they don’t have a clue. So this week I’d like to explore the various backgrounds of the geeky stuff that we all know and love.

As far as most superheroes are concerned, I guess it’s pretty obvious that they originate from comic books. Marvel and DC were originally comic book publishers. Eventually popular superhero characters started appearing in cartoons, TV shows and movies and things just got bigger and bigger through the years. Now it has reached the point where most people know the various superheroes from movies and consider themselves Marvel or DC fans, even though they have never read an actual comic book.

Star Wars and Star Trek are probably the two biggest science fiction franchises ever. They have also both expanded into various forms of media, but their origins are quite different. Star Trek started out as a TV show in 1966 and Star Wars started out as a movie in 1977. Of course Star Trek started doing movies as well later on, but the main focus was still TV shows for many years with The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. And Star Wars completed the trilogy with Empires Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and eventually we also got the prequel movies. But before that, it was mostly novels and comic books that had to keep the die-hard Star Wars fans happy. And another thing that Star Wars is still very well known for, is it’s hugely successful action figure line by Kenner from the 70’s and 80’s.

I am personally not a fan of Michael Bay’s version of the Transformers, but you can’t denie the fact that these movies are very successful. And of course there are a lot of toys being released, based on these movies. But what a lot of people don’t know, is that Transformers started out as a toy line in America in 1984 and was made up of Japanese toys from Takara’s Diaclone and Microman lines. And the very popular comic books and cartoons that followed were created to help sell toys, not the other way around. And the same goes for other famous 80’s toy lines like G.I.Joe, My Little Pony and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Those all started out as toy lines and any stuff that followed was purely created to sell more toys. But if you asked me who my favorite comic book characters were in the 80’s, then G.I.Joe’s Snake-Eyes would definitely have been in my top ten. Larry Hama’s run on Marvel’s G.I.Joe comic is still regarded as a classic and those characters outgrew the status of “just toys”.

And then there’s the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Most people of my generation (late 30’s, early 40’s) know them from their popular cartoon series from the late 80’s and early 90’s and the Playmates action figure line that came with it. But they actually started out in an independent, black and white comic book series in 1984. That comic was inspired by Frank Miller’s Daredevil comics, as you can see when you put Raphael and Elektra next to each other (red bandana, using sai’s as weapons), and comics about teenage superheroes like New Teen Titans and New Mutants. And of course the Foot Clan is based on the Hand. Eventually this comic was picked up by a licensing agent and was turned into a huge franchise, but like Marvel and DC’s superheroes, it also started with comics. 

And of course there are a lot of franchises that are based on popular fantasy novels, that have now reached the mainstream audience through movies and TV shows. I’m talking about stuff like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. Apart from reading some Tolkien in school when I was a kid, I never read any of these novels, but I do enjoy the movies and show. However, I wouldn’t call myself a fan, especially since I’ve never read the actual novels. But like with comics, it’s proof that people just enjoy watching stuff on a screen more than they enjoy reading. 

The Walking Dead is another great example. I’ve been reading the comic book series since the very beginning and I was very exited when the TV show started and I still watch it. But there are a lot of people out there that don’t even know that it is based on a comic book series. And once they find out that it is, and that you’re one of those nerds that actually reads those books, they start asking you questions about what’s going to happen. Which makes no sense, because the comic’s timeline is very different from the TV series. 

I guess things are just different now, because every franchise has expanded into so many different forms of media. You can be a superhero fan without ever having read a comic, you can be a fantasy fan without ever having read a book and you can be a Transformers fan without owning any toys.

I was reading an Action Comics trade paperback today and this inspired me to do a short blog entry on Superman. After all, the man of steel was the character that started this whole genre that I’ve been a fan of for practically my whole life. And even though he wasn’t in the top ten that I posted last week, he’s always been a character that is very dear to my heart. The quintessential superhero and the inspiration for so many more that followed.

Even as a little kid, before I discovered comic books, I knew who Superman was. I got my first comics in ’84, but before that I had already seen the Christopher Reeve movies. And for some reason Superman was such a well-known character, that everybody just knew who he was. I don’t know what it was like in the USA in the early eighties, but that was certainly not the case with other superheroes here in Holland. And even now, when every superhero is popping up on the big screen, I still think Superman is better known by the mainstream audience that doesn’t watch these kind of movies. Whenever a superhero character appears in a cartoon or TV show, it will have that red cape, will be able to fly and will strike those classic Superman poses.

But how does the character fit into today’s comic book world? Things have changed a lot through the years. During the 90’s a lot of violent anti-heroes became popular and these last few years the focus has often been on diversity as far as subjects like ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation are concerned. Batwoman became a lesbian, Jewish woman, Thor became a woman, Captain America became an African American guy, Iron “Man” became an African American girl and Ms. Marvel became a Pakastani American girl. Personally I think this different take on a lot of characters is a nice breath of fresh air, but how does a guy like Superman fit into a world like that? He’s not a killing anti-hero like the Punisher or Deadpool, who are now popular thanks to their movies and TV shows, and he’s still just a very straight, white guy. Can a character like Superman still be relevant in this time?

I think it’s a good thing to keep Superman exactly the way he is. Sure, there have been some small changes during The New 52 and Rebirth, but the basics of the character really haven’t changed that much. I suppose it’s a pretty hard character to write for, since he’s practically flawless and unbeatable, but that is also what makes him the classic superhero that he is. There are enough other characters out there that have a lot of personal issues and very questionable moral codes, so we need Superman to show us what the right thing to do is. And that’s exactly what makes his interaction with Batman so much fun, both in the Justice League comics and in the movies. He may not be my favorite comic book hero and not even be in my top ten, but the man of steel certainly has a special place in my heart and the character should definitely get the respect he deserves.