Ken Aldred

Far more variety in the comics, always lots of alternatives to multiverse stories, whereas the films are comparatively one-note at present.

I’m joking.

Cocaine Gorilla would’ve polled even higher, but Cocaine Bear is a happy medium. That’s assuming that the ape effect is the same in films as in comics.

May as well put Liefeld on as well. Now we mock, but perhaps future generations will better understand the abstractions in his art and consider him an old school master of cover design. Just as Dali introduced symbolism into his masterpieces, perhaps the absence of feet in those created by Liefeld will be better understood by our descendants, rather than ridiculed by the limited, unsophisticated intellects of the present.

Good alternative for a more cartoony style. You’d also have to consider Darwyn Cooke.

Any opportunity to post my favourite modern cover.

Powerful image. For me, this one…

That’s an obscure but good one. Far superior to this …

What saves individuals like this guy is that I’m extremely non-tactile. A common feature in Aspergers and many other forms of autism. Other boardies advocated your hands-on approach as well, but I’m not that capable of it.

Fairly well-behaved compared to some of the thugs I’ve encountered over here, especially in a certain Manchester store, going back near enough 20 years ago now. I’d stopped buying from them for a few months, as experiences there had killed my motivation somewhat. One such was when I passed too close to a customer accidentally and was told that if I did that again he’d punch me out. I mentioned this threat to the sales assistant nearby and was informed that the guy spends a lot with them, and so couldn’t really give a toss if I got my head kicked in by him. Literally that. Not the kind of comment that stimulates customer motivation much. Apparently, they were getting frustrated with me not buying anything when I went in the store following on from this. (Actually, not true, one-or-two comics per visit, but expectations were higher.) The manager was in a very irate mood that morning, a short, weedy little guy compared to me, who exited a storeroom, rushing up to me, facing me down and snorting away, and, as I turned to walk off, he slapped me on the back of the head. The two wage slave lackeys of his at the rear of the room looked horrified, but of course selfishly did nothing. Being autistic and a bit detached at the best of times, I walked out and left the shop, processed what had been done to me, and the following week sent a Bridge Burning letter to the company’s MD, cutting his narcissistic, arrogant, entitled lieutenant down to size, undermining his sense of superiority, self-importance and indispensability as much as possible. I’d never really liked going in the store, finding the original university location very inconvenient, didn’t like their attitude even in the early 80s, and had quickly found alternative sources which suited me better and who I bought from continuously for many years, both at the regular monthly comic marts and in stores more local to me. Surprising that he never noticed this, far too misguidedly overconfident and a little slow on the uptake. Occasionally a shop would close down or relocate and there’d be temporary supply problems during which I’d throw him a few scraps, but that’s about it. I also remember that a few years prior to the above incident, while I was talking with him in the university store, his quite obnoxious wife and business partner came over and kicked my backpack across the floor. He, of course, did nothing other than tacitly enable. A friend was shocked when he heard this… ’What! No-one does that in shops!?’ Well, it’s the kind of bizarre, atypical experience that I’ve encountered all too often. Of course, I never set foot in there again for years, another mood-killing incident. Regardless of the fact that we didn’t get along, you still don’t behave in that kind of way in retailing. Then again, comic shop staff can seem a little anomalous at times, making comments such as ‘You’ll pay our new, higher prices or go and collect something else!’. Occasionally there’s a sense that the enthusiasm of geeks like myself is interpreted as a form of exploitable dependency, and normal retailing and social filters can sometimes vanish from our domain. From the mid-80s, right up until I went back north after university in the early 90s, I only recall buying a couple of Richard Corben graphic novels from them: like I said, scraps. The manager was the former owner of the store who’d had to sell out to the big chain in the mid 90s implosion. In my letter I said that I found it impossible to care about that financial predicament. Many other former customers didn’t like the attitude in the place either and had left to graze for their comics elsewhere as well, and similarly, while talking to them in the years following in the other city centre comic stores, they too considered this starved predator to be a bit irrelevant. The only reason I started going in there again was because some of the other comic geeks I hung out with still shopped there, a tag-along situation. Just poor luck I’d decided to go in by myself for a change that day, stupidly walking into a dark alley and getting mugged. Sarah, Marvelfangirl, I think it was, had a great description for him, a meathead, IIRC. We don’t use that over here, but it’s a good one. This was all well before I had a cell phone, otherwise now I would’ve called the police immediately, got any CCTV footage at the shop and looked into getting him done for assault. And that was the last time I ever set foot in a Forbidden Planet. No response from the MD, no sanction for the manager, as obviously I wasn’t going to be returning with coin. Two decades - I should buy a cake and some candles.

Great indie book.

Although it polarises opinion, I've always liked Brennert and Breyfogle's Batman Holy Terror.

The Captain Marvel GN felt quite apart from the main run; an abrupt, shocking coda to his story which has remained canon to this day.

My favourite is Evan Dorkin's World's Funnest, where Mr Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite lay waste to the DC Multiverse.

At the opposite extreme... A very large one-shot book.

I've always seen prestige format comic one-shots as small graphic novels. To me, the line's a little blurred.

Batman Mad Love Gotham by Gaslight Hulk The End Batman Ego Death of Captain Marvel (Just a few good ones that I recalled)

I couldn't understand it because I needed a British English translation, but the Cliff Notes sorted that out. I was thinking more along the lines of an unintelligible Bob Haney SA Teen Titans comic rather than Claremont dialogue. Same effect.

For 70s Bronze Age I would’ve chosen House of Secrets / House of Mystery over Tomb of Dracula as horror titles because they had many very bizarre and disturbing stories, whereas, looking back, Tomb of Dracula, though very well-written and nicely illustrated and more consistent, wasn’t really particularly scary. As well as the DC titles, another less consistent but darker alternative to Tomb of Dracula, with great art and stories at times, would be Warren’s Creepy and Eerie magazines.

Either that or Weird Science. Pretty much on par, quality-wise. I have a fondness for Weird Science as it was the first EC comic I ever read, in the Library format, and was absolutely blown away by it. Simply top-level, all-time classic science-fiction comics, both titles.

Great choice.

Yes, it is. Talented creators. I also like Gabriel Ba’s Umbrella Academy and Casanova.

Same problem with Miller’s Daredevil. Crosses the 70s - 80s division. A fairly close call, though.