Tuesday 22 October 2013

On a Foray into Comics


I have a fairly addictive personality, which is the only reason I can come up with for avoiding comics for so long.  I've always been a fan of manga but (despite a slight obsession with superhero movies) never really made the move to Marvel or DC.

However, this has all changed in the past week.

Tasked with finding a costume for my group of friends' annual Halloween party (this year's theme: super heroes and super villains) I turned to the Twittersphere for help.  I wanted to go as a female character, and yet have a distinct lack of love for leotards and hypothermia, hence the dilemna.

Then the delightful Holly Casio pointed me in the direction of the latest incarnation of Miss America in Vol. 2 of the Young Avengers.

Her look - red hoodie under a denim jacket, blue t-shirt, black shorts and what look like red converses - only underscores how kickarse this latino version of the character is, as well as how she's slightly different when compared to the 'clean-cut-ness' of the rest of the team.

The artwork's pretty gorgeous and I love that there are short cameos from the 'old' avengers dotted throughout the issues.  Plus I'm genuinely rooting for the characters and more than a little annoyed that the next book doesn't come out til February! (And yes, I know I could get the monthly issues, but that won't match my first set of the comics).

So now I find myself ordering series such as Gotham Central (a noir-style look at the Gotham's human police force) and Secret Six (cos who doesn't love a group of anti-heroes?!) and am currently stuck on a toss-up between Secret Avengers, Thor:  God of Thunder and Brian Wood's X-Men.

Essentially I'm teetering on the edge of what appears to be an unstoppable torrent of comic addiction.  And all in the week before NaNoWriMo.  I'm so screwed.

2 comments:

  1. Joss Whedon. Astonishing X-Men. Get hold of it by hook or by crook! I was reading those suckers in the computer lab in first year. ;)

    Runaways is fantastic as well, well worth a read. Also excellent is Nextwave, though the humour in that is pretty referential to comic books in general, so maybe worth holding off until you're fully steeped in comic culture. Freakangels is great for something slightly more indie, especially if you would take any kind of vindictive pleasure in seeing London slightly post-apocalyptic, and has the advantage of being online for free. I thoroughly enjoyed the X-Men Legacy series that's still being released at the moment, though I'll admit I'm several issues behind current - what I've read is laugh-out-loud funny.

    Uh. Apologies if I've contributed to ruining your NaNo...

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    1. Haha! You were the next person I was going to ask as I vividly remember you reading Whedon's Astonishing X-Men - something about Kitty Prior...

      I will definitely try the others (free Freakangels sounds awesome!). :)

      When d'you head off on honeymoon? Cos after (or before) we should meet up! <3

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