Ken Aldred

62 / 100

Probably only amateur ones like me.

Daredevil has done okay.

Yup. Despite Amazons being from Greek mythology, Lee would have had her talking in mock Shakespearean English like Thor.

From the 90s speculator boom-and-crash period, I'd put Ron Perelman far, far above any actual comic book creator.

Perhaps not if they're extremely psychotic, but there are too many occupationally-successful individuals with Antisocial Behaviour Disorder and tolerated indicators of narcissism or psychopathy who can function and persistently abuse over the long term.

Batman 251, 1973, was the significant turning point in his characterisation; from clown to psychopath.

Great super-villain name.

I don’t recall Chuck Norris being in any comic ads quite this extreme. IIRC, just some for action figures, but, then again, if you’re as hard as he is, you don’t need to overcompensate by bragging as much as those two.

I've never seen that ad before. Far more impressive than Count Dante's claims back then.

+1 A short, but great, Bronze Age run.

+1 Recently purchased the Complete Animated Series Blu-Ray box set, which also has Mask of the Phantasm and Sub-Zero included. So, I'm quite fond of it, as well.

True. I've always been interested in mythology, and Sandman was fascinating in that respect.

If only Lancashire Kitchens diversified and started their own comic book publishing company. It would signal the beginning of the end for Marvel and DC.

Easy access to complete, unbroken runs, not just settling for one favourite such as the ERG-1 / Wildfire story. Eventually, you might find Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol 10 or another equivalent, and everything by Cockrum, in an effortless, cheap, one-stop digital sale sometime.

I first started getting intrigued by the potential of tablets when I read some public domain Golden Age material on Digital Comic Museum years ago, while using an early model, standard size iPad. Too small, I thought, to read a full page easily, but the pinch magnification made me think about the possibilities if a larger size iPad existed. So, you can guess how overjoyed I was when I got hold of a 12.9 iPad Pro version 2. A perfect size to read a comic book or magazine page, and the same ability to focus in on the detail in every panel. Crystal clear, vibrant colours, and very comfortable with True Tone optimisation.

Graham Ingels?

Or, in my case, an entire digital Omnibus, Archive or Masterworks volume.

Resembles my EC Library. I have every New Trend and Picto-Fiction volume. So much incredible artwork to be appreciated in this oversized, black-and-white format. And, great stories are abundant.

Unsurprisingly, the writer of the series is British. You'd never guess from that.

I was in my twenties when I read Sandman. For me, it only started getting really interesting around the Corinthian storyline, issue 10 onwards; "The Doll's House" arc. I did feel that from the final, long story arc, 'The Kindly Ones', it began to drag a bit. But, for most of the run, a title I looked forward to picking up.

Claremont is wordy, but I still enjoy most of his X-Men work from the 70s through to early 90s. One of my all-time most significant comics writers. McGregor's prose is much more purple and, while the stories are good, they can be a bit of a chore to work through. At least Killraven features one of my all-time favourite artists, P. Craig Russell, with an amazing evolution in style through that short run.

You'll find more expositional dialogue the further you go back. The titles you've mentioned aren't too bad in comparison to my recent re-read of some of Don McGregor's Bronze Age work; a benchmark for extreme, persistent overwriting in older comics. The Alan Moore titles are probably the most densely-written of your selection, with Watchmen being the most memorable to me.