Comic book contributors and what they mean to you.

[quadman78]

My first foray into comics didn't last very long because I was super smart and spent all my money on hockey cards. The first time I bought a new comic book was a McFarlane Spider-man #1 in the 90's. Then got into X-Force. It wasn't until 4 years ago that I started collecting again. Started with my love of Superman and expanded from there to the ridiculous point I'm at now.

 

One aspect of comics I missed out on that interests me is the connection a lot of you have with the contributors to the books of your youth. I've watched documentaries, and read books about the history of comics, but it obviously isn't the same as having gone through it.

 

I know all the big names(Frazetta, Schomburg, Ditko, Adams etc.) but don't have a connection with any of them like a lot of you do.

 

So my question is, who influenced you or affected you the most and what was it that drew you in?

[JayT]

Todd Mcfarlane was the first creator name I knew. Sure, I was aware of who Stan Lee was because he was in every comic with a column but in terms of going through my older's friends comics, stopping, and going..."wait, what was that?". "That's Todd McFarlane." I was this little kid in Italy going through a short box of comics, and it was that's dude's cover who gave me pause.

 

When I got into comics, or started paying attention to creators, Frank Miller and Alan Moore were already old school hands who Mcfarlane was giving an issue of Spawn to write.

 

That put me squarely into that very popular Marvel era that turned into the birth of IMAGE, and I wasn't an old guy who hated it, that era was my golden age, and I would have never picked up a DC comic if it wasn't for the changes of that time to Supes, Batman, and Green Lantern.

 

I also was a huge fan of VALIANT and DEFIANT, which I labels me as someone who appreciated the vision of Shooter as it applies to comic book universes. I remember vividly him being on QVC debuting VALIANT and getting my dad to order me a copy of Warriors of Plasm #1 signed and not being able to afford the sweet lithograph of Mongrel by David Lapham - the first DEFIANT product.

 

It stuck with me so much that I hunted down and bough both the original art and the colors to that litho

 

Being a G.I. Joe fan I of course also saw Hama's name on everything but it never spurned me to go get things with his name on it (even though he wrote a lot of popular books I did read - Wolverine etc)

 

I don't really revere older creators for the sake of it. They did a job for a base, just like the guys of my era did.

[Moondog]

The two most influential men in my life - men who taught me right from wrong and how to treat others with respect - were my dad and Stan Lee. One through his everyday actions and the other through the adventures of the characters in his comics.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Alan Moore, because he didn't treat the artform as a means of entertaining children, and he was the first to succeed at it.

[quadman78]

Alan Moore, because he didn't treat the artform as a means of entertaining children, and he was the first to succeed at it.

 

Can you elaborate on that? How old were you when he made that impact on you?

 

The two most influential men in my life - men who taught me right from wrong and how to treat others with respect - were my dad and Stan Lee. One through his everyday actions and the other through the adventures of the characters in his comics.

 

Were you a kid when you were reading Stan's books that affected you?

[Moondog]

Alan Moore, because he didn't treat the artform as a means of entertaining children, and he was the first to succeed at it.

 

Can you elaborate on that? How old were you when he made that impact on you?

 

The two most influential men in my life - men who taught me right from wrong and how to treat others with respect - were my dad and Stan Lee. One through his everyday actions and the other through the adventures of the characters in his comics.

 

Were you a kid when you were reading Stan's books that affected you?

 

I was 13 in 1964.