Ken Aldred

Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth Not tear-inducing but extremely bleak and depressing. I read it while actually clinically depressed and it had quite a powerful effect on me. In that respect, probably the most moving comic book story I've ever read.

Swamp Thing 60 Hulk 271 Marville

Special price? Huh? They should've paid me to take a copy of this drivel home from the LCS.

Many a Bronze Age kid like myself would wholeheartedly agree. A classic storyline from my teen years.

+1 Excellent gothic horror comics. Except for issue 60, which is pretentious, unreadable garbage.

I agree. There's a spectrum, though, in that not all teenagers are quite so together and need more time to develop a resilience against peer pressure.

Pretty much my favourite Jack Cole comic, showing his incredible range as a cartoonist.

Yup. In many ways I wouldn't wish to go back.

Looking back to the 70s and 80s, I wish I hadn't felt so overly concerned then about being stigmatised if I'd disclosed my comic book geek status, because most everyone already thought that I was a complete nerd anyway.

It's a difficult call for a product like this. Original reading copies aren't expensive, but the later 70s and 80s issues have extremely poor paper and print quality, and it's possible that with decent-but-pricey remastering the Zeck and Day artwork from this period could be markedly improved.

Yup. I'm still working through a period of adjustment; trying to deal with the fact that I'm no longer part of a cultish underground, no longer misunderstood, marginalised and ridiculed by the general public or my peer group, longing for the days in the 70s when a secret hand gesture would've been required to gain entry to a British comic mart or Forbidden Planet. Sadly, it's just not the same anymore.

Disappointingly, no Honey Badger.

Great BWS originals there. I only have the two later hardcover reprints of the Storyteller material, which collect together individually the Young Gods and Freebooters storylines.

Just realised, I've never read a certain very popular zombie comic called The Walking Dead.

Not bad at all. I'd thought the gouging had started much earlier than that.

Despite its basic nature, to the British it is one of the most significant forms of humour. This morning I had a particularly extreme experience with it. Unbelievably powerful. I can't pin down the underlying cause, but that doesn't matter, because I know I'll eventually look back on today as one of the happiest days of 2017.

+1 I've always liked Smith's clean style and strong page layout / storytelling.

100 Bullets Runaways Gotham Central Akira

When Eisner returned from WW 2, his Spirit Sections were up on another level entirely compared to the pre-war material. Essential, classic Golden Age. Admittedly, I'm biased. Haven't read the Outer Space Spirits in years. IIRC, Wood did most but not all of the Sections in the storyline, and they were written by Jules Pfeiffer rather than Eisner. I also hope my Alex Toth recommendations were useful.

One of my favourite archival editions. Excellent comics, superb remastering.

Not every situation requires an Ultimate Nullifier.

Then you had Ron Frenz mimicking Ditko later on.

The Big Wheel doesn't look as if it's moving that fast, and yet it doesn't appear to be wobbling or tipping over to the side. Terrible villain, impressive stabilisation system.

- Creepy Presents Alex Toth - Bravo For Adventure - Genius, Isolated : The Life and Art of Alex Toth - Genius, Illustrated : The Life and Art of Alex Toth - Genius, Animated : The Cartoon Art of Alex Toth These are the ones I have. Nice books.

I enjoy goofing around here with Jimmers and everyone as much as my hatred of voles is a bottomless pit. It's a polar opposite, Likefro / Hatefro thing.