[williamssl]

Discussion seems to have died down a bit but it's clear from posts to date that there's enthusiasm and passion out there, and there are varying degrees of passion and knowledge in this space. Some folks are more on the casual side...others may very well be wearing superhero costumes on days that are not Halloween.

So....let's have some fun with it. How big of a fan / dork are you? The above 10 point scale is illustrative, but 10 is OMG freakout and 1 is the most basic of basics. Rate where you're at, and share your reasoning / history below that got you your rating. Enjoy!

[Krydor]

I'm seriously on the fence regarding reading comics again. A buddy of mine is recommending stuff by Frank Miller. From what I've seen, it's a visual smorgasboard.

[williamssl]

4

I had about a 7 year spell from late HS through college where I would plop down about $10 a week on books, about 90% from the Marvel family. A few graphic novels here and there. And buying "back-issues" of a lot of the old mini/limited series because I had a thing going for "having all of something". On occaision nowadays I'll get wind of something "big" going on and read about it on the marvel or dc website (e.g. Civil War, Avengers Disassembled), but that's about it. I've said this before, but haven't spent a dime on comics in at least 10 years.

Probably the biggest joy is that I managed to save everything such that it didn't end up the all-to-often casualty of "mom cleaned out the house and threw away/sold everything I had"...and now that I have a 6/soon to be 7 year old who likes superheroes, I'm gradually introducing him to my mini-collection.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

1

I read them when I was younger but eventually moved on to actual you know, books.

[The Canadian Content]

4 for me. I'm in about the same boat as Tex. At one time, I was up to 13 titles a month (this was at the height of Marvel's crossover madness). I also am the type that wants a complete collection, so I had to buy back issues as well. I finally gave it up because I couldn't afford it. Now, I'm collecting CW and Justice. I'll start in on the new Thor when that launches, and maybe Omega Flight if it looks good.

[Batman]

I put down a seven. I care about them passionately, and can discuss them verbosely, as one can tell from my "the case for [so-and-so]" posts. But I haven't been to a comic book convention since I was a little kid, and I catch up on the latest comics once every few months, when I have some money and time to spare. And by, "the latest comics" I just mean Y, Fables, and Hard Time.

[OpTard]

i voted 10, despite that my son will NOT be named jor-el. don't spend any of my actual money on comics, but i work at comic store every saturday to support my habit. 13 titles a month? try a week. i do go to every convention, but i'm there working, selling sketches and copies of my book.

comic books are basically my life, so i felt i had no choice but to give myself a 10. but on specifically the dork side of things, i'd say i'm really only a 7.

[Ryan Who Loves Punk]

I put a 4, because I used to be really into them. Unfortunately, now you need to spend a shitload of money to keep up with even one of your favourite character's adventures, due to crossovers being extremely common. Now I just get comics that I like once in a while, and keep up with the rest through the internet.

[salmonjunkie]

I'm closer to a 7, I'd say. I go to one comic convenetion a year (but I live right by the BIG one, so maybe I'm an . My favorite t-shirt is a Spider-Man shirt (I also have a Daredevil shirt), but I am not dorky enough to buy those button up "party shirts" with marvel characters printed on it. Obscure characters aren't really my cup of tea, though, (unless you consider Madrox obscure - he once was, I suppose), although I do know of a lot of them.

I've been reading comic books since I was 14, stopped while I was in college except for Sandman, and then got back into it when Kevin Smith was writing Daredevil. Now I collect about 15 titles a month.

Amazing Spidey, Astonishing X, X-Factor, Ultimate X, Ultimate Spidey, Ultimates, giving up on Ultimate FF soon, New Avengers, Daredevil, Punisher, Nextwave, Powers, Fables, Y! The Last Man, Robin, I'm off and on with Batman, Green Arrow, and Captain America and I recently gave up on 100 Bullets.

I spend about $50 on comics a month, so that definitely puts me up there on the discretionary income scale, but I'm always trying to give up on a book to do this (after Civil War is done, though). Ultimate FF is next on the chopping block, Nextwave is getting cancelled soon, and any minute now, I'll give up the Punisher. Fucking Ennis and his magnificent writing.

So yeah, 7. Close to an 8, I guess. I can spend hours on Wikipedia looking up characters I don't know.

[Pun]

4

I collected comics a ton from Junior High through High School, stopped for a while while I was living on my own and working (had to pay the bills first), then started again when I found out my roommate in college was into them as well. I started with the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Punisher books, but sold a lot of those to pay for Senior Prom. (Yes, stupid mistake, I know, but I was 17 at the time and thought I would get laid. ) I also collected almost all the Batman books. Once I got into college, my roommate turned me on to stuff like Deadpool as well as some Image stuff like WildCATS.

Since graduation, my comic purchases have pretty much died. The wife really doesn't see the point in them and wants me to get rid of the 10 long boxes I have stored in my office. I will keep up with what's going on through the Marvel and DC websites as well as Wizard, though.

But, I might have to start getting a few titles again. All this discussion makes me want to see what's been going on in the Marvel and DC Universe.

[OpTard]

the trade paperback business has exploded and is perfect for someone like you, pun. you can pretty much get whatever books you want and it's cheaper, takes up less space, and is much more convenient. you should look into it.

[Pun]

Plus, the trade paperbacks would look better on a bookshelf in my office. The wife might not mind that as much.

[OpTard]

EXACTLY

[Lucky]

I'm somewhere between a 6 and 7, I'd say. I read when I was kid and used to bust a lot of my money on them. I have damn near half of the first 400 issues of FF that I just kept buying back issues (or the hardcover collections of stuff like 1-10 and 11-20). And back when I was a kid I knew this one store that would let you purchase a paperbag and fill it with a bunch of their cheaper stuff. I ended up getting pretty much the entire All Star Squadron run and a ton of Superboys that way.

In high school I stopped. Other interests and all took me away. Then towards the end of high school and through college I started slowly getting my interest back. I never really started collecting again. I'd just pick up the occassional trade or whenever I saw some sort of "grab bag" of comics. Costco used to sell shrinkwrapped packages of them. But that's really it. Sometimes I'd wander into Forbidden Planet or the Wizard and look around and pick up a couple of books but that's all. And mostly I'd just stick to miniseries and stuff because I know that if I that if I picked up 6 issues of Spider-Man and read them I'd then want the next issue.

Then post college I started to get really interested again. The thing is, I go on and off. I do that with a lot of things really. I'll spend 6 months spending WAY too much of my time and money on comics and following EVERYTHING. I'll be spending hours on Wiki and messageboards getting info and I need to cross reference stuff. When I found out you could download comics on bittorrent I went crazy. My thing is that if a comic book brings in a guest star or references another book, I want to then read that book or learn about that star. Even if I'm not terribly interested. I don't know what the word is for it but I've always called myself a "completist." I bought Matrix on DVD and someone gave me the 2nd movie. Then, even though I hated the 3rd movie and had no interest in the series I HAD to buy the 3rd movie just so I had the set. Because what's the point of owning 2/3rds of it?

So I go on and off. I haven't read comics in MONTHS. My life got busy and it just became something I cut out. And everything I've wanted to get back into it I just can't jump start myself. But this stuff is probably going to do the job. And the first few buys/reads will be slow and I'll be trying to fit them into my schedule. But I KNOW that once I get some read then I'll get passionate again and start going crazy. That will last me for awhile and then I'll get distracted and busy again and the cycle will presumabely repeat.

So I don't know. 6 or 7. I own a lot, I've read a LOT, and I have a ton of knowledge. But my passion goes up and down. Probably 7.

I've been to ONE convention in my life. And that was only because it was connected to a line of baseball card conventions. And me and my dad always used to go to those and planned to buy a table at one sooner or later.

[Batman]

I find it incredibly amusing that the adsense links at this site have figured out both that I am a geek and that I like country music (can't be the most common combination in the world) and are trying to sell me a Johnny Cash action figure. "It's not a doll, mom!"

[Loki]

I rated me as a seven, and I like the “100 reasons” line.

I grew up on ‘em . My father loved them when he was younger and gave them to me and my brothers at an early age (one of my earlier recollections is “the Death of Jean DeWolfe” and “The Spot” from Spider-Man). We liked them, and it kept us interested in reading, so my parents kept it up.

I’d pedal up to the 7-11 on my bike each month to check out the spinner rack. I’d go with my mom to this one store where they always sold 3 packs of the lesser stuff (usually something like “Shogun Warriors”). Never went to a convention, but once I was pold enough to drive and found where they held the local shows with the quarter boxes I was right there.

I cut back and eventually stopped when in college.

I slowly picked it up again after I moved out to New England, really got back into it with CrossGen and have been going non-stop since. I got out of comic books and into graphic novels a while back. I prefer to read the stories all at once instead of waiting month by month. Besides, GNs are easier to collect and take up less space.

My wife, bless her, has no problems with my habit. It helps that I borrow a lot from the library instead of buying them. I’m a proud comic geek and make no bones about it. There’s a group of us at work who swap GNs, which has exposed me to Invincible, Starman, Hawkman and the JSA, among others. I have a cool Batman baseball jersey (not the dorky one for sale last year, but one of Bats swooping down across the back) that I like to wear. My professional work watch is this nice Batman number I picked up a while ago, and my bumming around watch is a Superman one.

In my boy’s room I painted the Bat symbol and the S shield on two of the rocks decorating the wall. I faded them so you have to look for them, but if you know what you’re looking for you can see ‘em. I also bought my boy big Batman and Spider-Man stuffed pillows from Target. Granted, at three months of age he couldn’t care less about them, but next year he’ll start to like them. I’ve read my munchkin “A Superman for all
Seasons” and we’re currently reading “Astro City: Life in the Big City”. When he can start to read I’ll make sure to have plenty of the kiddie super hero adventures for him.

[Loki]

Duh. I forgot to add this (and this will probably push me up to a 9 on the geek meter). My boy is named Cole. And for Halloween I was trying to figure out what to dress as. The thought of going as a character who shares the same first name as my boy was too good to pass up (that, and the costume was pretty easy to make. I love being able to come into work carrying guns, even if they are fake blue and red ones along with a transformed Megatron), so I dressed as Cole Cash from his Team 7 days.

[Outback Frito Pendejo]

I clicked 3, but maybe rate a little higher. Haven't actually read any in years, but enjoyed the old (early 90's) X-Men TV show. My kid has given me an excuse to watch the more recent comic-inspired TV shows.

Wikipedia is a great resource, but I find that I keep needing to follow a link to put something in context, and then that page has another link of interest, and so on.

I do understand that the comic writers want to put their own creativity to work, but need to keep using famous characters to sell the product. I also understand that sometimes they want to rehabilitate a character they feel was misused. But these alternate universes and alternate story lines and resets and do-overs must be really daunting to casual fans, or kids starting to discover the Marvel universe.

By the way, is Jughead a mutant?

[Batman]

Yes.

[The Canadian Content]

If anyone needs a good resource on comics (far more reliable than Wikipedia), check this out:

www.comics101.com/archives/comics101/archives.php

The guy who writes the articles is insanely knowledgable and willing to answer readers' questions.

[modify = typo]

[salmonjunkie]

loki said:

Duh. I forgot to add this (and this will probably push me up to a 9 on the geek meter). My boy is named Cole. And for Halloween I was trying to figure out what to dress as. The thought of going as a character who shares the same first name as my boy was too good to pass up (that, and the costume was pretty easy to make. I love being able to come into work carrying guns, even if they are fake blue and red ones along with a transformed Megatron), so I dressed as Cole Cash from his Team 7 days.

You also could've been Cole from Harlem Heat, who was either Booker T or Stevie Ray before they got to use those names.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

2, I don't read any of the comic books but I do see most of the comic book movies even if I've never heard of the comic.

[williamssl]

loki said:

Duh. I forgot to add this (and this will probably push me up to a 9 on the geek meter). My boy is named Cole. And for Halloween I was trying to figure out what to dress as. The thought of going as a character who shares the same first name as my boy was too good to pass up (that, and the costume was pretty easy to make. I love being able to come into work carrying guns, even if they are fake blue and red ones along with a transformed Megatron), so I dressed as Cole Cash from his Team 7 days.

There's always next year, Loki.

www.collegehumor.com/video:1719034

Copy/paste this into your browser as somehow the colon is messing up the direct hyperlink.