Comicry #0 (Special Origin Issue)
I think it’s high time for me to talk about a huge obsession I developed in my time away from this here place: Comic books. Now, don’t get me wrong. When I was a kid, I kinda, sorta collected comic books (mostly just Spider-Man stuff) and made a quarter-assed attempt to get into it in earnest in the mid-90’s thanks to the hype around Superman #75 (you remember that whole "Death of Supeman" storyline, right?) and the "Knightfall" story playing out in the Batman family of books. That really didn’t go anywhere, because, like I said, it was a quarter-assed attempt (y’know, half of a half-assed attempt….nevermind….). From then up until about two years ago, I gave not a shit about comics. Didn’t keep up with them at all. Still loved some of the characters, really got into the newer live action movies, but didn’t keep up with the books. The thing that changed it was being bored at work. I don’t even know what I started with, but I started reading about different characters on Wikipedia (of all places) and, after several months, got interested in reading Infinite Crisis. This was the book that turned me into a junkie.
In that books, I feel in love with three things: the DC Universe of characters, the writing of Geoff Johns, and (to act as an unexpected tie in to my quarter-assed attempt at collecting in the 90’s) Conner Kent, a.k.a. Superboy. Since Superboy died at the end of Infinite Crisis, I found myself having to move backwards to catch up on his adventures. Enter Teen Titans (vol.3). Much to my joy, I found out that the bulk of this series had been written by none other than Geoff Johns. In the interim, I read the immediate follow-up to Infinite Crisis, 52, which was also quite the incredible story. As I was wrapping up 52, I had ordered the entire run of Teen Titans, which ran through #54 at that time. I plowed through those, and started buying it every month. Then I ordered the full 52 issue run of Countdown (to Final Crisis), which was….okay, at best. Then I started getting into various Elseworlds stories, which only hooked me more. The best of them? Superman: Red Son, Kingdom Come, and The Dark Night Returns.
Which kinda brings me to where I am. At the moment, my monthly pull-list consists of Booster Gold, Teen Titans, Titans, Power Girl, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Batman, Green Arrow/Black Canary (for now), The Outsiders, and various other mini-series or specials (currently consisting of Flash: Rebirth, Batman: Battle for the Cowl and its various off-shoots, Legion of three Worlds, and very soon, Blackest Night). Not to mention that I’m going back and buying the entire run of Blue Beetle (starring Blue Beetle #3, Jaime Reyes) along with having gone through several other things in the recent past. Let’s just say I’ve built up a rather large collection in two years.
Recently, I’ve been thrilled by the return of both Bart Allen (back as Kid Flash) and the aforementioned Superboy, Conner Kent (how much do I like the character of Conner Kent? Heather and I are going to name our first born son after him…whenever that will be…seeings as how Kent is her dad’s name, it works perfect as a middle name for our eventual son). At this point I’m hoping for a full-on reunion of the Teen Titans as the were (well, mostly) when I first met them (Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, Wonder Girl, along with older Titans Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, and, later, Raven). But with Tim Drake (Robin) soon to move on into the guise of Red Robin (it isn’t official yet, but it’s pretty obvious), Kid Flash’s future kind of uncertain because of what’s going on in Flash: Rebirth, and Superboy being put into the lead spot of his own book (Adventure Comics), it doesn’t seem exactly imminent. I at least want to see the reunion of Tim, Bart, Cassie, and Conner. In continuity, they’ve were friends and teammates for several years, starting as younger teens in Young Justice. So…yeah….this is something I’m very interested in.
Now Playing in Dave’s Mental Jukebox: "Nero" by Nightwish, "Careless Whisper" by Seether, and "Teen Titans Go!" by Puffy AmiYumi
Anyway… I just wanted to dive into the nerdiness and the history behind it for a little bit before I launch the (hopefully) weekly updates on this subject alone (they’ll all remain numbered like this one). Other stuff, of course, will continue whenever I feel like it. So…until the next time…OOT!
**By the way…the title is pronounced like "Comic-ree." It comes from a word in Tales of the Abyss, which was an awesome PS2 RPG. The word was Fomicry, which was the science of cloning people in that world. I chose it just because I could make such a horribly nerdy references.**
Sayonara.