Photo Credit: the-x-gene.tumblr.com
By: Dave Clark
As we’ve just started this site, I thought it might be a good idea to give you guys some insight into how my Comic Book Geekdom all started. Once I’ve finished rambling coherently (I hope), the plan is for you all to share some of these things as well and we can begin our Atomic Geekdom Community. This place is designed for you all to give your opinions on everything we talk about.
Photo Credit: www.comicvine.com
The first comic book I can remember owning was Wolverine 50. It was given to me by my father after I discovered his long box of comics that he’d been saving since he was a kid. He had some very old issues of Action Comics, Detective Comics, mostly all DC Comics. He was a very big Superman fan, which might explain why I don’t like Superman. Regardless, Wolverine 50 went everywhere with me and mostly it was me just checking out these amazing pictures, never really reading the book till much later. Also, you’ll discover that I don’t much like Wolverine, which makes this a bit ironic as well. Batman was my favorite comic book character, and that was mostly because of the Tim Burton film and less to do with actual comics.
My collection would begin to grow soon after this. Using my “allowance” to go to the comic book store in the local mall to purchase X-Men books. The animated series really had a big influence on me, making the X-Men my favorite comic book. The first real story arc I can remember getting into, meaning I was at the store every week to buy the newest issue, was Age of Apocalypse. I had to buy every single issue associated with that story arc. For me, the news that this may be the next film in the X-Men series, was huge news. I loved the ‘what if’ design of the whole series and it took things in a new an interesting angle for the X-Men and everyone involved in their universe. At this point, I was a comic geek for life.
In High School I started getting into Spawn. I thought it was new and exciting and to me it was adult so I had to get into because I was an adult now (or so we all think when we reach High School.) I was buying every issue and collecting some of the figures as well. I remember trying to track down Badrock, that was like finding the Arc of Covenant, it was an adventure. It was also in High School when I returned to my childhood favorite, Batman. I started reading, but not purchasing, Batman books while at the comic book store. The movie franchise had just about killed everyone’s interest in the Bat, which was sad. But I still had to check in with him because he had always been my favorite hero.
Photo Credit: www.marvel.com
Speaking of favorite heroes, while Batman was my absolute favorite, coming in at a very close second was Gambit. He was my favorite character in the X-Men Animated Series, and I continued to consume his adventures in the comics as well. I’ve always thought of him as a better version of Wolverine. An outsider through and through, a sarcastic, witty, and mysterious anti-hero. He had secrets and for some reason he was in this group of heroes when you always felt he would much rather work alone.
After High School, I didn’t keep up with my collection at all. I got away from comics and spent more time with music. Comics were always in my heart though, and never far from my mind. The classics always stayed with me. The Dark Knight Returns being chief among them, but also some select JLA issues and arcs, X-Men books as well. These days I’m reading just about every New 52 series that comes out, and I’m working on catching up with the Marvel Now! series as they are released.
As I got older I started to also take notice of the writers and artists of the books I loved. Jim Lee, Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Todd McFarlane, Neal Adams, Alan Moore, Brian Michael Bendis, and many many more. I loved how they wrote, how the depicted my favorite characters in their artwork. These were the geniuses behind some of the greatest stories every told and I could easily get lost in their work for hours on end.
The argument for most comic book fans is Marvel or DC. Debates rage all over the internet about which company is better and obviously that’s all subjective. You’re going to choose the company that houses your favorite books. For me, I’m split down the middle. I love the X-Men books, but I also can’t get enough of the Batfamily books along with Justice League and Green Lantern. They both have their merits and accolades but each fan has their right to think one company is doing it better than the other. Gun to head, if I had to choose, I’d probably go with DC Comics right now. However, and this is a separate topic that we’ll tackle later, I believe Marvel is much better with handling their film adaptations than DC has been lately.
That’s my story folks, up till now at least. As the site grows we’ll be reviewing the current books as they are released and we’ll preview issues and arcs that are coming up as well. For now, I ask you the same questions I answered. What was the first book you remember owning? What’s your favorite story arc? What’s your favorite book? Who’s your favorite hero? Where do you stand between Marvel vs DC? Do you have a favorite artist or writer