How To Talk To A.... Comics Book Fan (Part 3)

There are moments in life that are sent to try us. When you discover that a bird has done its business over your car, or find out that Katie Melua is currently in a relationship and thus unable to return your sexual explicit phonecalls. But how about when you start talking to someone, only to find out that they have an obscure fascination of some kind which completely passes you by? In our occasional series here at Illicitly Eating Flowers, we’ll try to help you bluff your way through such conversations, with your sanity still intact.


The Other Comics:

Marvel and DC aren’t the only comic people out there, and if you start hearing about companies such as “Image” or “Dark Horse”, it’s tempting to cry uncontrollably. Stay strong though, because you can still bluff your way through it. Apart from the two major companies there are three other publishers who almost as popular, being Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, and IDW. Despite not being anywhere near as big as Marvel or DC, these three companies still make some of the most recognised comics in history, and you’re going to need to know them if your comic book fan happens to be an independants guy.

Dark Horse Comics are the third biggest company of them all, and you’ll recognise several of their comics. They own the rights to Mike Mignola’s Hellboy series about a giant red demon who hunts Nazis, that was turned into a film (which is getting a sequel this summer, no less). On top of this they are the place to go for Frank Miller’s independent work, which includes Sin City and 300. You see where I’m going here – a lot of Dark Horse’s work is linked to cinema. And in fact, their biggest series at the moment are the continuation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Joss Whedon as a comic, and their Star Wars comics, which go into just another level of hardcore obsessiveness entirely. Recently they also published “Umbrella Academy” by My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way, which has been highly acclaimed.

Image Comics are a fascinating story, actually. They were founded by seven high-profile writers as a means to create work which they could keep the rights to. Amongst the writers were Jim Lee, Mark Silvestri, and Todd McFarlane, who created one of the most successful comics, Spawn. Image Comics are interesting in that most of their stories seem to inolve the supernatural and demons and such, all sharing the same Universe (the comics cross over occasionally). One of the biggest successes for the company though has been the rise of writer Robert Kirkman, who writes the two most critically acclaimed comics on the imprint at the moment. Invincible tells the story of a young man as he grows into his role as a superhero, while The Walking Dead chronicles the story of a group of people trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. Both are worthy weapons in your comic-credibility arsenal.

IDW are the fifth biggest company, and generally work off licenses. At the moment their biggest selling book is the comic which spins off from Angel the TV series (Joss Whedon has done a fair bit for comics, you’ll realise by now) and tells the story of what happened after the show finished. IDW also has the rights to Dr Who, which is due to get a series later this year. Their biggest success though is arguably the series “30 Days of Night” which tells the story of a group of people again, this time trying to survive 30 days in an Alaskan town overrun by vampires. Because the sun isn’t going to rise during this time, the people are trapped, and… you see the idea.

There are certain people who are above and beyond any conventional publishers. People who tend to write and then sell their work to whoever wants it. These people can use their name, and are arguably as famous in some cases as the publishers they work with. These are the final weapon you have when talking to a comic book fan, because by saying you like their work you automatically win. Save these three people for when you’re really struggling, though – don’t waste them all at once.

Terry Moore – Terry Moore writes comics featuring strong female characters, such as his most recent work “Echo”, which features a young girl gaining some kind of superpower after a radiation accident (as ever). However, his most famous and popular work is called “Strangers In Paradise”, and completely avoids the superhero thing. It tells two stories at the same time, the dominant one being the relationship between four people which escalates into a complicated love quadrangle. Moore is also an artist, and is often called one of the best cover artists currently working in comics.

Mark Millar – He’s written a lot of things for Marvel, and still does, but his own company “Millarworld” have recently been making a big impact on comics with his works “Kick-Ass” and “Wanted”, which is going to be released as an Angelina Jolie film this year. Kick-Ass in particular is noteworthy as it takes the piss out of traditional superhero comics by featuring young characters who want to be superheroes and so dress up in costumes and attempt to fight crime, only to get beaten up and killed by the criminals. Turns out, Millar points out, that in real life the villains aren’t so willing to be defeated.

Alan Moore – Of course. Alan Moore could very well be the most famous comic book writer on the planet. His series include V For Vendetta, From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen… some of the most well-known and admired comic book works ever written. His masterpiece, however, is “Watchmen”, which takes a completely amoral stance of the idea of superheroes and super-villains, and has been nominated as one of the 100 best books from 1923-present by Time Magazine. It’s a complex, challenging story, and needless to say is being released as a film this year. Read it before then though, and quote it as often as you can, to gain bonus credit before the thing is released theatrically.

Hopefully this guide has been interesting, but remember that it’s just a primer: to get full details, you can’t do better than to head to Wikipedia and type in whatever interests you most. While you’re at it, have a look for “Maus”, Art Spiegelman’s work that was the only graphic novel to ever win the Pulitzer (they changed the rules for entry the next day!)

And I know some of you were wondering, and yes, you’re right: I’m a comics fan myself. Marvel Comics, specifically the X-Men, make up my reading of choice. So now you know.

How To Talk To…. A Comic Book Fan (Part 2)

There are moments in life that are sent to try us. When you go on a trip to the seaside and it starts raining, or when you try and tape a TV show and realise you’ve accidentally recorded ITV instead. But how about when you start talking to someone, only to find out that they have an obscure fascination of some kind which completely passes you by? In our occasional series here at Illicitly Eating Flowers, we’ll try to help you bluff your way through such conversations, with your sanity still intact.

The Different Comics: Marvel

The Marvel Universe is based more around teams than the DC Universe is, because there are so many characters running around together. Marvel own the X-Men, and Spiderman, and the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four, as their four main titles, and all of them are simple enough to follow in a conversation, if you know where to go. The important thing when talking to a fan of Marvel comics is to mention how much you hate “retcons”. A retcon is when a writer in, say, 2002, revisits a story from 1975 or something and changes the reason why it happened, or the ending, which means that characters come back to life or die or turn evil. This happens a lot in Marvel, and is in fact the only thing you need to mention if someone tells you they like Spiderman. See, Spiderman has just undergone a story called “One More Day” which wiped out the past 20 years of comic-book continuity, thus rendering all the stories told about him over the past 20 years void. It’s the most talked-about thing in Marvel at the moment, and by saying “I don’t care about Spiderman because of OMD (one more day), which ruined the series” you can skip having to talk about him altogether. There are other comics though:

The Fantastic 4 – The Fantastic 4 are made up of Mr Fantastic Reed Richards, who can stretch his skin into any shape he wants; his wife Susan, who can turn invisible; her brother Johnny who can burst into flames at will and fly around; and Ben Grimm, Reed’s best friend, whose skin has been turned into rock. They were all affected by gamma radiation during an experiment gone wrong, thus giving them super-powers. Their main enemy is Doctor Doom, and their stories tend to ignore the general Marvel Universe in favour of deliberately complicated and paradoxical stories about different dimensions and time travel and space.

The X-Men is the group with Wolverine in it. Founded by Charles Xavier, the X-Men run a school where mutants can gather to learn about controlling their abilities. The X-Men themselves are a military team who protect mutant rights around the globe, as they are thought of as a lesser species. The X-men are currently split up due to a massive event that happened last December, but all you need to say here is that your favourite comic is either ‘X-Factor’ or whatever Mike Carey is currently writing. Your favourite X-Man must NOT be Wolverine; he appears in at least five different books monthly and is oversaturated to the point of ridiculousness. Cyclops should be your character of choice, or Jean Grey (who is currently dead, but very much beloved by fans)

The New Avengers/The Mighty Avengers are also where you will find Wolverine. These two groups of superheroes are made up of pretty much every other famous Marvel character, including Iron Man, Captain America (although he has recently been killed), and Spiderman – who has his own book on the side. The two groups are on opposing sides of the law; the Mighty Avengers are a legal team, the New Avengers are an underground team made up of heroes who don’t want to work with the law (Wolverine, Spidey, and several lesser-known characters are in this group).

The main issues with Marvel are that there are so many different characters who have some kind of importance to the Universe they live in. DC comics focus generally around their big five people, whereas Marvel… well they tend to tell lots of big stories with as many people as they can. Another issue is that Marvel is currently in the midst of a big event called “Secret Invasion”, where many of their characters have been taken over by evil shape-shifters, thus rendering it the worst possible time for you to get drawn into a conversation about Marvel Comics. If the conversation does take this route, then quickly derail proceedings by mentioning your respect for one of the following writers:

Ed Brubaker – he writes Captain America and Daredevil, two of the most acclaimed comics at Marvel at the moment. Captain America especially is hailed as the best comic you can buy anywhere, currently. Brubaker killed off Captain America, who is a massive character in the States (of course), and has just introduced a new one. Brubaker is the first name you should drop into the conversation, followed by endless words of praise.

Chris Claremont – who is responsible for the X-Men, more or less. He took over X-Men after they got to issue 70 or so and ran with it for hundreds of issues. This guy is the God of X-Men, and is responsible for classic stories such as “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past”. Nowadays he’s been pushed to the side and writes stories which mainly seem to concentrate on filling in the gaps on the X-Men, but in his ‘glory days’ nobody was more important.

Joss Whedon – loved and hated in equal measure by Marvel fans, because his stories for the Astonishing X-Men (the most famous team – Cyclops, Wolverine, etc) and Runaways (about a group of kids who, uh, run away from home. Incidentally, he took over this title from Brian K. Vaughan, who is as loved by Marvel as he is by DC) are fantastic, but take ages to arrive. So mention how much you enjoy Joss Whedon’s stories, but point out that he takes so long to get each one out that it’s hardly worth it anymore. This will get you kudos.

All three are keeping out of Secret Invasion, thus rendering them unconfusing… well, considering. If you really want the conversation to end quickly, however, then tell the other person that your favourite writer is Chuck Austen. He’s possibly one of the most hated writers for Marvel of all time, and you’re guaranteed to disgust the Marvel fanboy just by mentioning him. That’s Marvel sorted, then: tomorrow we look at independents. And yes, the primer is going to involve bearded wizards from Northampton.

How To Talk To…. A Comic Book Fan (Part 1)

There are moments in life that are sent to try us. When you come back from a shopping trip to discover you’ve forgotten to buy any milk, completing a jigsaw only to find that some of the pieces are missing. But how about when you start talking to someone, only to find out that they have an obscure fascination of some kind which completely passes you by? In our occasional series here at Illicitly Eating Flowers, we’ll try to help you bluff your way through such conversations, with your sanity still intact.

Comic Books have been around for over forty years now, and what with the rise of the Superhero movie recently, they have reached a prominence never before attained by something so insufferably insular. Comics are enjoyed by millions of people, and to those people the intricacies of the different heroes and stories are fascinating to dissect and anticipate, waiting for the next issue to arrive so they can find out about the next twist in the life of Captain America, or Batman, or whoever. To the rest of the population, comics are impossible to get into due to their convoluted back-story, and the sign of a geek. But what if you get stuck in conversation with someone? Over the next three days, we’re going to try and help, starting with the basics.


The Different Comics: DC.

There are two major companies who make comics: Marvel and DC. They fight between them for the position of ‘top company’, with neither of them ever really managing to isolate themselves at the top. When you first talk to someone and they mention comics, they will mention which lines they prefer most: DC or Marvel. When they do so, you can immediately make several snap judgements on the person which will help you get through the conversation without your head exploding.

We’ll focus on Marvel tomorrow, but for today it’s best to just take DC comics. These are the people who run Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman as their top three titles. A fan of DC comics generally prefers their heroes to be mythologized. DC have a policy where the name and legend of the hero should always bigger than the hero himself. This basically means that when one hero dies, someone else takes up their name and title and continues their work, so the name continues. Obviously, this makes the back-waters of DC comics a thoroughly confusing place, what with all the different people going round using the same name. Here’s a primer on the characters you could expect to be told about, and their relevance.

Superman – One of the original super-heroes. Superman is an alien from a planet far far away who is invulnerable, invincible, and generally brilliant. He’s the most prominent DC character, and one of the most famous Superheroes of all time. His main enemy is called Lex Luthor, and his only weakness is the crystal “kryptonite”, which comes from his home-world, which was destroyed. When not saving the world, he works as a reporter, disguising himself by looking exactly the same, but wearing glasses, and calling himself Clark Kent.

Batman – Bruce Wayne is one of the most beloved heroes, as he doesn’t have any super-powers at all. Instead, he has a lot of money, which he uses to make weapons and costumes that make him strong enough to fight baddies. His main opponents include the Joker, the Penguin, Two-Face and Bane. He works alongside other heroes, traditionally someone called Robin. He’s gone through a few of them.

Wonder Woman – Diana Prince leads the Amazons, a group of women chosen by the Greek Gods (who exist in DC continuity) to help protect the world. She traditionally wields a whip as her main weapon to help save the day. She’s pretty invulnerable, and can fly. In some ways, she’s the female equivalent of Superman, and the only really famous female superhero in print.

The Flash – This is where it gets tricky. There have been four different heroes called The Flash, who all have the same ability: super-speed. The four different flashes keep getting killed and returned to life as is the DC publishers’ wont: at present the main Flash is Wally West, although the previously thought dead Barry Allen has recently returned in DC’s big event of 2008, Final Crisis. There’s also another Flash wandering around somewhere called Jay Garrick. It’s… confusing.

The Green Lantern – There have been FIVE Green Lanterns, four of whom are currently roaming the DC Universe even as we speak. The Green Lantern has a magic ring which is the source of his power. Together, all the green lanterns work as a team from time to time, and recently other ‘colour’ teams, such as the yellow lanterns, have been introduced. Again, it’s really confusing.

These are the five main characters of the DC Universe, although there are countless other members and teams. Continuity is impossible to define, because there are at any one time any number of comics with Superman or Batman in, where they are in different teams or working on their own. Anyone who says they like DC comics is going to start delving into the realm of confusing storylines, so the best thing to do is steer them away from this and focus instead on individual writers. These three, in fact:

Grant Morrison – Grant Morrison is widely considered one of the most brilliant and creative writers currently working in the industry, and saying that you like his work is akin to saying you think Hitchcock is the best director ever – it’s an easy thing to say, and will get you instant credit. His main work with DC at the moment is with Batman, who he’s been threatening to kill off this year, and with the big event “Final Crisis”, which will impact upon most of the other books DC currently have running.

Geoff Johns – Johns works alongside Morrison quite often, but is also very prolific in his own right, writing all kinds of books, including The Green Lantern, the Flash, and some Superman stories. His work at the moment is leading up to “Final Crisis”, and he’s tapped to write the big event story of 2009, called “The Blackest Night”, which will centre around the Green Lanterns.

Brian K. Vaughan – the second most guaranteed name in comics, after Morrison. He’s generally kept away from the mainstream DC Universe, instead writing his own titles “Y: The Last Man”, “Ex Machina”, and “Pride of Baghdad”, all of which have been massively acclaimed as some of the greatest writing of all time. Y: The Last Man, which has a story about what happens when all the men on Earth are killed except for one guy and his pet monkey, is in particular a guarantee. Mention your appreciation of this comic, and you’ll have already set your credibility.

So there you have a basic guide to what you need to know when talking to someone about DC Comics. Tomorrow: a primer on the Marvel Universe, and what, who, and where you need to know if someone starts talking to you about it. And just remember: if someone asks you questions about what you know and like regarding comics… walk away. You don’t want to get involved in any of that.