Why are there so many comic book collecting Canucks around here?

[CGCMINT]

We know more about comic books than you Americans!

 

John

 

[ninanina]

Yea!

[Bronty]

Yeah man.......you gotta have the courtesy shower if at all possible.

 

But, if you're picking up your date, don't you normally have a shower before going out? Second shower before sex (and third of the day as most people myself included shower in the morning) seems unnecessary..

 

Or am I just gross? Girlfriends have never complained..

[Bronty]

We know more about comics than Americans...

 

This forum must be the ONLY place on God's green earth where knowing more about comics is considered cool

[COI]

Yeah man.......you gotta have the courtesy shower if at all possible.

 

But, if you're picking up your date, don't you normally have a shower before going out? Second shower before sex (and third of the day as most people myself included shower in the morning) seems unnecessary..

 

Or am I just gross? Girlfriends have never complained..

 

Having one before you go out should be enough as long as you aren't out doing deadlifts for your date, or you aren't out for 8 hours straight. I personally like to grab em' right out of the shower, but that's just me. Obviously, that's not always possible.

 

I'm glad we had this discussion.

[comicwiz]

It's just as hard to tell Canada from the US on that shot of the world at night as it is to tell you guys from us culturally. It seems so much like Canada is another US state, except that you guys might be able to legally smoke pot before we can.

 

The first clear signal that Canada was fighting the notion of becoming the next American state was the east/west expansion period (a few hundred years back, Canada had constructed a railway system that travelled from one end of the country to the other). Since that time, Canadian tundra had been mapped out in the following manner;

 

i) urbanization potential (usually near a water system, located near the railway)

ii) resource potential (usually near expansive land for grain/wheat/agrarian potential, near ocean for fisheries (east/west coasts), and northern outback region for lumber and reparative pursuits)

iii) reparation and preservation (for its First Nations people and Canadian wildlife and resources renewal)

 

The glue that would hold the economy intact would be its resources, and its transport by railway. Colonization, an impetus if not only for a much needed immigration imperitive (community, culture and religion were put on the backburner for ambitious economic policy). The most blatant examples of this are:

 

i) between 1896-1910, Canada adopted one of the most racist immigration policies in its history, which specifically oultined, among many things, requirements for southern European/Italian workforce for infrastructure development; Chinese immigration strictly for the purpose of railway construction/mining.

 

ii) dubbed Canada's apartheid, the unmistakable assimilation/segregation of Canada's First Nations people, culture, and religion.

 

Whatever wasn't charted for colonization and econmic benefit got left behind, lets say for a lack of a better term, as inhospitable land, and over the last hundred years, slowly got developed for provincial campgrounds (crown land), reparation services for First Nations people, wildlife preservation, and outback/cottage country.

 

Culturally speaking, our differences are nearly transparent. Is this is partly to do with our rich cultural diversity? Perhaps. Canada is made up of a heterogeneous, vibrant, group blessed with diverse cultural, professional and social backgrounds. In our not so distant memory, the Americans and a cataclysmic race war that seperated the north and the south: a MAJOR influence, helping to inform the ideological direction of Canadian forefathers, and their attempts at colonization and the development of community.

 

Canadians are Internationally noted for being reserved and tolerant. However, do not for one moment believe that tolerance signifies acceptance. Canadians pride, although not as overbearing as American triumphalism, has brought with it times of faction and divide amongst First Nations, Anglophones (English-speaking) and Francophones (French-speaking). Why our cultural differences have become so tranparent has largely to do with the information media. Everyday, we are bombarded with stories about crime, murders, gangs, turfwar, drugs and unspeakable violence. Some would argue that its part of the social and economic makeup, and part of our desire to be politically aware. I would argue that people, no matter whether they are American, Canadian, French, Italian or German cope with social and economic upheaval best when we know that these types of problem are present in other cultures, and in our efforst to cope with a changin world, our differences are gradually blurring because absent from our minds is what makes us all diverse and unique.

[aardvark88]

BRAVO. I learned more from this 1 post than all of greggy's posts combined. Socio-economic historical summary of all that is wacked out about Canada including the atrocities perpetrated on the Chinese/Cdn immigrants as slave labor to build the Cdn railway. Don't forget the head tax for the Chinese immigrants to buy their way into Canada. Was decades later when they were able to vote in Canada after serving in her Majesty's service in WWII.

[comicwiz]

BRAVO. I learned more from this 1 post than all of greggy's posts combined. Socio-economic historical summary of all that is wacked out about Canada including the atrocities perpetrated on the Chinese/Cdn immigrants as slave labor to build the Cdn railway. Don't forget the head tax for the Chinese immigrants to buy their way into Canada. Was decades later when they were able to vote in Canada after serving in her Majesty's service in WWII.

 

Yes odin, I actually met a second generation Chinese woman who was speaking on the atrocities of Chinese-Canadians during those times, and I learned much about the crimes perpetrated against her family. I was literally speaking to a "dinosaur" as there were very strict laws governing the Chinese Canadians abilities to procreate while working in Canada (also clearly outlined in that same Immigration policy). Meaning, Chinese Canadians were only brought to Canada to to slave away on the railway, and were not allowed to fraternize, or have relations with ANY women. And as you indicate, decades later, initiatives such as universal franchise had a rippling effect on human rights and liberties globally, but was a far cry from undoing the wrongs of the past. We still have a ways from ever reaching the same rights and liberties for all living things under the sun.

[Kevin Boyd]

CANADA

 

1. So complicated that nobody knows how it works, which causes Canadian social scientists to talk about it all the time, which causes foreigners to say it's boring because nothing ever happens.

 

2. The most decentralized country in existence, which causes Canadians to complain constantly about the power of the central government.

 

3. Administered under the third oldest constitution in the world, which causes Canadians to insist that it has never worked and must be changed.

 

4. The only major country in which the two leading western cultures have managed to live peacefully together for several centuries, causing Canadians to insist that they cannot live together.

 

5. Burdened by the laziest élite of any developed nation; people who have made their fortunes by selling off the country's resources and by working for more energetic foreigners. They are most comfortable on their knees, admiring those from larger countries who have purchased them.

 

6. A country where 95 per cent of the land is north of the major cities, which causes its urban inhabitants to treat their hinterland as an embarrassing and backward region, while pretending that they themselves are situated hundreds of miles to the south, somewhere between New York and FLORIDA.

 

From John Ralston Saul's "The Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense".

[Zonker]

Canadian topics...

 

...for folks in the US, I'd advise that the Canadian culture = US culture is somewhat true out West, but gets much less true the closer you get to Quebec. ("Real Quebec," outside the surprisingly-Anglo Montreal). I remember the first time I saw the Parliament building in Ottawa, I finally got it that I really was in a different country. Also, folks in Canada seem in general more ready to embrace or at least debate a much wider spectrum of political philosophies (particularly left-of center). Maybe a result of not having to rally-around-the-flag as the US did in the Cold War period as one of the then-2 superpowers? (Just a guess)

 

...that night-time picture of the planet is really cool. Reminds me of the joke going around a few years ago: Apparently Dan Quayle tried to mobilize the US Army once he discovered the threat posed to the US by all those sneaky Canadians massing within a couple hundred miles of the US border!

 

...this Southern boy, in his single days, was most appreciative indeed of the glasnost exhibited in the Canadian strip clubs! (Barbarella's, anyone?)

 

...what was the original topic of the thread? Oh yeah, Canadian representation on the CGC forums. Some theories:

- Comics shops seem to be less stereotypically fan-boy-ish up North. Silver Snail seems to be a cool focal point for the counter-culture. Less of a stigma than in the US perhaps?

- Nevertheless, comics collectors may be farther spread out, making these forums more appealing as a way to bridge the gap?

- Likewise, Canadian collectors might have been unusually dependent upon mail-order, and so the arrival of CGC would be a particular God-send from their point of view.

- Finally, (and I'm really going out on a limb here, Canadians please advise) are US comics seen as foreign, almost exotic, and therefore cool things to read/collect? Or is it all of a piece of the same North American pop culture landscape?

 

Thanks!

Z.

[greggy]

Finally, (and I'm really going out on a limb here, Canadians please advise) are US comics seen as foreign, almost exotic, and therefore cool things to read/collect? Or is it all of a piece of the same North American pop culture landscape? Yes...you are going out on a limb!

[Kevin Boyd]

- Comics shops seem to be less stereotypically fan-boy-ish up North. Silver Snail seems to be a cool focal point for the counter-culture. Less of a stigma than in the US perhaps?

 

I've yet to meet someone who buys all of their new releases at the Silver Snail. It's like the "back-up" store if your regular store sells out. It is a nice pop culture shop, with a great staff.

 

- Nevertheless, comics collectors may be farther spread out, making these forums more appealing as a way to bridge the gap?

 

Actually... no. You'll find that most of the Canadian collectors on the boards are from the following cities.... Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary, Montreal. There are many Canadian forum members who I know quite well off-line.

 

- Likewise, Canadian collectors might have been unusually dependent upon mail-order, and so the arrival of CGC would be a particular God-send from their point of view.

 

I've never used mail order before e-bay. I don't know anyone who has ever used mail-order to get their comics. There are actually more comics outlets in Canada than you can possibly imagine. I think it has something to do with the fact that most of our population is well educated (i.e. they can actually read).

 

- Finally, (and I'm really going out on a limb here, Canadians please advise) are US comics seen as foreign, almost exotic, and therefore cool things to read/collect?

 

NO.

 

Comics were about as intrinsic a part of growing up in Canada as they have been anywhere else in North America. They are distributed in the same manner as they are in the US (except during short periods of time around WWII). They are not seen as "foreign" publications.

 

Or is it all of a piece of the same North American pop culture landscape?

 

Yes.

 

I have never, in my life, referred to comic books as "American comic books" (well, not before this, I mean).

 

Growing up in Canada I have always had access in comics. As times have changed we have the same problems that everywhere else in the US has - comics have retreated to just the direct market and have little presence outside of comic shops (of which there are still many).

 

Kev

 

 

[Zonker]

- Likewise, Canadian collectors might have been unusually dependent upon mail-order, and so the arrival of CGC would be a particular God-send from their point of view.

 

I've never used mail order before e-bay. I don't know anyone who has ever used mail-order to get their comics.

 

Sorry, should have been clear I was speculating about vintage comics, not the new stuff. Didn't see a big back issue selection at Silver Snail, but as you say, Silver Snail may not have been the best place to look. Thanks for the insight!

[Kevin Boyd]

I don't know anyone who shops at the Silver Snail for back issues of vintage comics except to fill in a hole in a more recent series run.

 

Once upon a time, they did sell a decent amount of vintage comics, but the SS has become less about back issues and more about everything else. They rarely buy collections of older books and usually refer them on to other stores.

 

Kev

[aardvark88]

Lots of immigrants to Canada. The 1st or 2nd generation of Canadians may have received comic books when they were little kids from neighbors or older cousins to help them learn/read English. Melting pot in the urban areas Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton/Calgary.

Long 5 month winters in Winnipeg, MB with not much to due except stay indoors & read books/mags/comics.

[Kevin Boyd]

When I was a kid growing up in East Vancouver and in North Toronto, everyone read comics, regardless of ethnicity or nationality, what generation Canadian you were, how tall, short or fat you were. If you were a male born growing up in the late 1960's, 1970's and early 1980's then comics (particularly Marvel Comics) were a focal part of your growing up experience.

 

It was as communal and about peer pressure and social status as how every male kid under 10 seems to be obsessed with Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

 

Hand-me-downs were important, but personally, my older brother never let me read his comics.

 

And I always found that summertime was always the best time for comics, because you could take them on long car trips, to camp, throw them in a plastic bag and ride with them on your bike over to a friend's house to read and swap comics. I used to have a big medical bag that I used to cart my comics around in on the handle bars of my bike.

 

Kev

 

[THE_BEYONDER]

The difference between the US and CANADA, in regards to collecting comics......

[aardvark88]

So that's why I could not afford hockey cards. The extra 15 cents/issue went to Marvel & DC funny books.