After True Believers 2020

I'm amazed about how life changes. I remember how, the morning after True Believers 2016, I wrote a post about that con while my car was being repaired. This year, however, it's taken me a whole day and a half extra before I could make the time.

The joys of parenthood I guess.

Anyway, so True Believers return to our lives this past Saturday (the 1st) and, for me, it was a return after skipping out on last year due to an upcoming birth of my second child. But, while I was initially unsure that I would return again this year, a ticket for my birthday from my darling wife meant that, like the Rock, I was finally coming back to the first convention of the year (even if it wasn't at the same location), with funds for comics, a bag to carry them and my kids in tow (more on that in a bit).

Jack Kirby, this years' lanyard, joining my others from Cons
gone by.

I have to confess, as I drove to the Cheltenham Jurys Inn (TBCF's new home), I found myself a tad concerned about what I was walking into. While Troobs has never let me down before but I've had mixed experiences with Cons in Hotels (almost always involving Bristol).

Fortunately, I have to confess that I was glad to see my fears were unfounded. As soon as I got there I felt very much at home with friends aplenty scattered throughout a room which (I felt anyway) was very nicely spread out (apart from the one aisle at the back) to give all the patrons plenty of room.

That said, the day for me was a mixed bag, not because of the event itself but for how I handled it. As I've already mentioned above, I brought my children along for this rather colourful ride (mostly just to show off that which I'm most proud of. My reviews, my comics, this blog, can all burn down for all I care next to my boys!!!), with my wife electing not to join me inside, we split the load as my youngest went shopping with her and my eldest came with me before swapping for the afternoon shift.

Unfortunately, I overestimated the amount I thought I would get done in their presence as I momentarily forgot that they are my priority. That said, while the hello's were short and the purchases were minimal in the presence of my eldest, he was still good as gold (mostly) and his brother certainly made up for this by sleeping, allowing me to have some fairly in depth conversations, with Kev Brett and his incredibly talented nephew, Sam, Dave from FutureQuake Press, David Broughton of Shaman Kane fame, a number of Sarah's in the form of Millman, Dunkerton and Gordon about their respective titles, the standard Big Punch convo and a catch up with Disconnected Press and J.P. Kamath, who I haven't seen since Kapow many moons ago.

I also, had a nice wrestling based convo with Pipedream boss Alex and two-thirds of the ACP.

Therefore, in hindsight, I did actually manage a lot of conversations (I also spoke with Sam London, Sam Roads, Nick Bryan, Emily Owens and Gavin Mitchell, Grayham Puttock and Russell Mark Olsen briefly), and so I can't really complain that I didn't. I think the mistake was that I'm not sure I spoke in great detail asking about any of their future projects, but that was squarely my fault and probably down to rust from not being here last year.

Of course, I did manage to do one thing right and pick up a whole host of comics in my last 15 minutes:

The TBCF haul 2020!!

• Vanguard Vol's 1, 2 and 3 - This was one of two mandatory purchases for the day and I'm glad that I could pick up all three (thanks to Dan's generosity) and I'll have to ramble my thoughts when I get to them.
• Gateway City - This one from Russell Mark Olsen was a last minute decision given a lot of titles I gained interest in. However, the crime noir-esque cover piqued my interest enough that it made it to the top of the list.
• Beast Hunting Battle Badgers #'s 4 and 5 - The second of my mandatory purchases for the day, Steve Sims comic series is equal parts gorgeous and hilarious. The only downside to it is that issue 6 wasn't available on the day (as it was in production).
• Time and Vine - A lucky, cheap bin purchase from Proud Lion's stall. Time and Vine was a comic I heard about on the Creator Talks podcast and its concept, about using Wine to time travel, was such an interesting one that I couldn't resist taking this off my wish list.

Of course, there were plenty of other comics which I really wanted to look at but just couldn't afford it by the end. However, here they are noted for future interest:

• NPC Tea Trade Kickstarter by Sarah Millman is currently underway and while I read issue 1 way back when, Sarah's revelation that the story ends at eight, makes me tempted to pledge once the coffers are replenished.
• Closely by Grayham Puttock, part of the Red Rocket Comet/Glass Hood creative team, had this creepy horror/crime looking title (based on the cover) that I really should have picked up. Maybe next time!!!
• FutureQuake Press titles also intrigued me after a conversation with Dave, the man behind the table. I've provided the Pipedream email so we can check out his comics, but I may also have to do that independently.
• Extraversal by Big Punch Studios is maybe the last of the gang's comics which I don't own and, based on how it looked on the table makes it something to consider for next time.
• Silicon Hearts by Sam Roads is one I've eyed up for years, but the recent reading of Kristos, bumped it up my ladder, just missing out this year. But I need to make more effort to purchase next time.
• The Seven Sagas of Silverbeard is a comic I had the opportunity to read during January and, wow, was it a fantastic read. While only the issue I read was available, I do need to keep an eye out for new content.
• The Vicious Creatures Collection by Sarah Gordon was an unusually looking collection of comics, but again ones which caught my eye (along with her other comic strip, well... Strip). This, like NPC Tea is becoming a collected edition and so I might have to look in to that.
• Mulp #2-5 by Sara Dunkerton is the last and one I wish I'd got issue 2 for. The first issue was one I enjoyed unexpectedly and so I need to make a better effort to pick up in future.

Finally, while walking around, I was also Reminded about a load of comics I owned but were yet to read:

• Samuel London's Milford Green - I pledged to the kickstarter but have yet to read the pdf. I need to get on that.
• Vince Hunt's Stalkerville - I picked up when he was in Swindon.
• Nick Prolix's Slang Pictorial Comics - Also picked up in Swindon.
• Disconnected Press' The Story of Luis Aguado - This title I've had since the 2018 True Believers. It needs to be read pronto!!
• Nick Bryan's The Catalyst - A high entry on the Pipedream Top 50, I need to get on Comichaus and really check this out.
• J.P. Kamath's London Horror Comics - Not a title I haven't read (I read them long ago), but I think they deserve a re-read since J.P. and I's reconnection.
• David Broughton's Shaman Kane - This has a fourth issue. Like Catalyst, I need to get on Comichaus and check it out.

I'm running out of lunch and so I'm gonna wrap this up. I really thought that going to True Believers, the only con near me, was a thing of the past after having kids as well as something I wouldn't terribly miss. However, the funny thing is that, despite the rushing around and the struggling to talk about anything substantial (from my point of view), going this year was a great experience and reminded me how much I love going and meeting people who are just like me.

 

It kind of does make me hope I can return next year (ideally with a bit more of a strategy in how I manage my time better).

Spider-Man: Life Story

The Christmas/Birthday period of December was a gainful time of year as I was gifted with four new graphic novels. This was raised to five when I spent the last of my trade budget (Yes, I even budget for trades) with the purchase of Firefly: The Sting the day before New Years.

Since then, it's been tough going getting round to these new additions to my shelves due to prioritising comics in need for review over at Pipedream Comics, real life work regarding my family and occupation and also the struggle to actually decide what I should read next (which I've talked about previously).

Spider-Man: Life Story tpb

However, this week I managed to both make time and a decision and made the time to read through Chip Zdarsky and Mark Bagley's Spider-Man: Life Story.

For anyone, not yet in the know, Spider-Man: Life Story is, essentially, the retelling of the Spider-Man story from his beginnings to present day. However, unlike the original series, this 6 issue mini asks the question 'what would happen if Spidey and all of his supporting characters actually aged with the times of release. What follows is an ever-aging Spidey taking part in some of the most monumental stories from his entire run and showing us how they might have ended differently if time flowed normally.

(So, obviously, while I will try and keep spoilers to a minimum, they will be here for...... well, a LOT of Spidey comics from years gone by. Just to warn you)

Now, a couple of things drew me to this series once it was released in trade. The first was that it was written by Chip Zdarsky who, while I've never actually seen his art (expect for a single issue of Sex Criminals), wrote one of my favourite series of recent times in Marvel 2-in-1. The second was the amount of praise I saw this run was getting as the singles were being released which, along with the fact it was a guaranteed 6 issues, was what gave me incentive to get this as a print trade to add to my now space limited trade shelf.

The thing is, I did enjoy this series. It was a great read and lots of fun. However, I didn't think it was as great as I was led to believe from the hype (reinforcing rule #1: NEVER listen to the hype!!!)

I really enjoyed the concept. It was cool seeing Peter Parker truly grow and evolve in a natural way (i.e. not a comic 'non-aging' way) and I also loved how the entire story integrated events which related on/were originally based in the various decades in which Peter passes through. Now, I have to confess that not all of these events seemed perfect to me. For instance, I had kind of wished that Gwen's canonical death had managed to be fitted into the plot somehow (I would have said a 'Harry' went off the deep end and killed in the Green Goblin guise). Regardless though, it was still cool seeing Peter deal with events like the Clone Saga and Kraven's Last Hunt and even Civil War with the added benefit of experience and greater 'responsibilities'.

Possibly my favourite panel of the entire series,
inspired from Kraven's Last Hunt. (I couldn't get
a decent photo, so this was taken from the internet)

In fact, I also loved Bagley's art in this series. Just as beautiful as I remember his work from Ultimate Spider-Man, Bagley's style really works perfectly as it gives the series greater weight and presence all the while giving classic scenes this truly epic look. That said, I won't lie and say that as much as I loved this artwork, I do think it would have been equally awesome to see various styles which were each fitting the house styles of those time periods (like Allred for the 60's, someone Miller-esque for the 80's, Liefeld or Lee for the 90's and so on ).

However, while I did enjoy Life Story, what stopped being truly excellent in my eyes was that it was very brutal and a little depressing. As I think back over reading it, I have to confess that I wonder if Zdarsky was trying to double down and remind us that, in the end, superhero comics aren't real (I know, right?!). This is because I just found this to be a little brutal as we witnessed bitter Reed Richards, absent May Parkers and pathetic(lly evil?)Norman Osborns. By the end I felt that, while it came across as hopeful in a small way, this world was a rather ugly one and that maybe this is what happens as we get older, our cynicism destroys the beauty we used to see (deep stuff huh?).

Also, just as a side note, seeing Spidey age also made me wonder if the old Parker Luck is simply a case that Peter acts self-destructively out of a sense of guilt?

Anyway, the deeper questions/quibbles aside, Life Story was indeed a fun reads, kind of reminding me of book/film 'One Day' (which is a good film, you should watch it). Of course, it does make me ponder as to what happened in between all those issues. I would certainly love to know

Who knows, maybe we'll get an ongoing to fill in those gaps.

(Well, maybe not. But I can dream.)

My fear of new comic books.

No word of a lie, but since 2019 became 2020, I've found myself struggling with a lack of time and motivation. Whereas last year it seemed like I had an abundance to talk about, so far this year it could be argued that the reverse is true.

One of the main issues is that, during my plans for the year I chose to talk less about specific comics and more about comics in my life and in the community as a whole. Unfortunately, finding some topic I've really wanted to give my feelings about hasn't really happened.

Except for this....

Last night (as of when I wrote this), I tweeted to ask if anyone else ever had the trouble of selecting a new comic to next read from a big selection, confessing that I struggled to find the incentive to do so.

Well, I thought I'd built upon this a little.

As the title explains, I think that the best way to define how I feel is to say that I have a 'fear' of new comic books. Now this is an oversimplification as I love new comics like anyone, but my problem is that when the number of comics I've still got to get around to gets bigger I find it more and more difficult to pick something to actually read. Almost to the point where I dread starting something new.

For instance, my new comic books list (I.e. Comics which are still unread by myself) consists of:

• Firefly: The Sting
• Fantastic Four: Behold Galactus
• Marvel Knights: Fantastic Four
• Mister Miracle
• Road of Bones
• Volumes 4, 5 and 6 of Locke and Key
• The Expanse
• Bad Luck Chuck
• Monstress Vol. 1
• The Pride Season 2
• Bullseye: Perfect Game (2 Issue story)
• 3 Motorcycle Samurai one-shots
• Stumptown Vol. 1
• Batman Ego and Other Stories
• The Immortal Hulk Vol. 1
• The Sheriff of Babylon
• Black Bolt Vol. 2
• Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther Omnibus 1
• Wonder Woman Rebirth Omnibus 1
• Sgt. Fury Masterworks Vol. 1
• Jean Grey Vol. 1
• Americatown
• Skyscraper
• Milford Green

Meanwhile, there are also recently purchased (digital) versions of comics I previously owned that I have not yet read and so are considered 'unread' by Comixology.

• Mass Effect Omnibus 1 & 2
• Black Panther: Man Without Fear
• Charles Soule's Daredevil run
• Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force run
• Immortal Iron Fist Omnibus 1 and 2
• Black Magick Volumes 1 & 2

I think you would agree that this is quite a substantial number of titles still to read (and that's before I even include the titles sent over by creators for review purposes).

Just a snippet of the digital comics I still need
to read. Notice the number at the top (I know,
not as extreme as some. But still....)

Now, you would think that this isn't really a problem as I have so many choices. Unfortunately, more and more I find it a struggle to decide what to read, eventually getting to the point that I just read something I've already gone through which I've enjoyed.

In fairness, this makes sense to a theory I had once heard of (which, as I found out later, is in Barry Schwartz' book, the The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less) which posits that having too many choices is actually more of a hindrance than a help, as an abundance of options makes it more difficult to make a final choice, eventually causing emotional and psychological issues. In the end, rather than being a liberation or choice to improve happiness, it all ends up being debilitating and having the opposite effect.

I'd say that this is my problem, that with far too many to choose from, I'm trapped in this unending indecision as my mind is overloaded by the excess that I've brought upon myself.

But why do I have such a problem choosing a comic to read? Well, in my opinion, I think it is this unconscious fear that the comic in question will actually be a far worse reading experience than I believe (or even hope) it to be.

For example, I've heard tremendous things about Immortal Hulk and it is due to this positive word of mouth that I now have a copy of the first trade waiting to be read. But what if it isn't as good to me as it is to everyone else? It is this case of Schrodinger's Cat in that if I don't open the box, then I will not know if the cat is dead (or in this analogy-less case, the comic is crap).

I've already had this problem thus far, in the case of the recently read Green Arrow run by Lemire and Sorrentino. This run was another fantastic thought of run, a really high mark of the New 52. However, because of it's praise, it took me almost a year to finally get around to it as I worried that it wouldn't live up to the hype.

Now, I worried about nothing there as Green Arrow was a damn good read, but this wasn't always the case. I picked up the Black Hammer omnibus about six months ago after hearing yet more praise about this series. However, upon cracking it open, I found that I didn't enjoy it half as much as the hype had made me believe I would.

Of course, this is a part and parcel of life as no form of entertainment across any medium is guaranteed to make you absolutely the happiest person alive. Therefore, why can't I just get stuck in and just take all comics as they come?

I should point out, I don't have this problem with the single issues on my pull list as I just immediately read them and take them as they come. So why is it so easy with singles and not trades?

In truth, I don't know. Nor do I know how to move past this rather annoying hang-up I have. Hopefully, my plan for the year to significantly reduce my impulse buys and avoid the sales on Comixology will help so I can reduce the backlog, and make such decisions easier.

As will my recent decision to start reading Spider-Man: Life Story, which (based on the first issue, which I thought was ... ok) will help me remember that not all comics need to be masterpieces for me to enjoy.

And that not everything is meant for me. All that matters is trying.