saintpetesam
Well-Known Member
Y'all have given me such a warm welcome that I feel right at home. And since I love to hear myself talk (or read my own words in print, as the case may be), I'll put my feet up on the virtual coffee table and start spilling my guts about whatever comes to mind. You'll be sorry, mark my words!
I grew up reading mostly DC comics. As a kid, my favorite heroes were Superman and Flash and my favorite book was Justice League of America. Of course I would occasionally get an issue or two of Amazing Spider-Man, but I never really took to the Marvel universe.
I stopped reading comics in college, because money was too tight. By the time I got out of grad school and had a stable job, The Marvel universe was so convoluted that I despaired of ever feeling comfortable with it. On the opposite extreme, DC had taken to rebooting its universe seemingly every other month. As a result, I didn't get back into reading comics at all.
An unspecified number of years passed. And then...
X-Men hit the theaters. OK, it wasn't the greatest movie I'd ever seen (Godfather II, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and Casablanca are my top 3), but it awoke in me that sense of wonder and awe that I'd gotten reading comics as a child. Shortly thereafter, I wandered into my local comic book store hoping for another dose. The clerk steered me to a number of indy comics that I might like (I didn't, with the exception of Astro City, because it turns out that I'm a philistine). AND he handed a copy of Ultimate Spider-Man #1.
The idea of getting in at the very birth of a continuity was attractive, and the story blew me away. I was hooked. Over time, I dropped all the indy titles except Astro City and picked up the rest of the Ultimate books as they appeared. I even read (and loved) Ultimate Adventures.
Say, Sam, that's an interesting story and all, but WHAT'S YOUR STINKING POINT?
Oh. I was supposed to have a point? Hmm. OK. How 'bout this:
I've enjoyed all of the Ultimate storylines (yes, even THAT one, although I have to admit that the Doctor Magnetoctopuss twist left me scratching my head). I think that it has a lot to do with my having no clue what various characters were/are like in 616. (Also, see above re: I'm a philistine.) I can take the characters as they are presented, with no idea whether Bendis et. al. are trampling on beloved memories because I don't have those memories. Half the time I don't even know that someone is significant because I don't recognize the name.
Now if DC does its own version of an Ultimate line and turns Lois Lane into a gossip columnist divorced from Pete Ross, trying to raise her adopted autistic child named Jimmy Olsen, I'll probably throw a fit.
I grew up reading mostly DC comics. As a kid, my favorite heroes were Superman and Flash and my favorite book was Justice League of America. Of course I would occasionally get an issue or two of Amazing Spider-Man, but I never really took to the Marvel universe.
I stopped reading comics in college, because money was too tight. By the time I got out of grad school and had a stable job, The Marvel universe was so convoluted that I despaired of ever feeling comfortable with it. On the opposite extreme, DC had taken to rebooting its universe seemingly every other month. As a result, I didn't get back into reading comics at all.
An unspecified number of years passed. And then...
X-Men hit the theaters. OK, it wasn't the greatest movie I'd ever seen (Godfather II, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and Casablanca are my top 3), but it awoke in me that sense of wonder and awe that I'd gotten reading comics as a child. Shortly thereafter, I wandered into my local comic book store hoping for another dose. The clerk steered me to a number of indy comics that I might like (I didn't, with the exception of Astro City, because it turns out that I'm a philistine). AND he handed a copy of Ultimate Spider-Man #1.
The idea of getting in at the very birth of a continuity was attractive, and the story blew me away. I was hooked. Over time, I dropped all the indy titles except Astro City and picked up the rest of the Ultimate books as they appeared. I even read (and loved) Ultimate Adventures.
Say, Sam, that's an interesting story and all, but WHAT'S YOUR STINKING POINT?
Oh. I was supposed to have a point? Hmm. OK. How 'bout this:
I've enjoyed all of the Ultimate storylines (yes, even THAT one, although I have to admit that the Doctor Magnetoctopuss twist left me scratching my head). I think that it has a lot to do with my having no clue what various characters were/are like in 616. (Also, see above re: I'm a philistine.) I can take the characters as they are presented, with no idea whether Bendis et. al. are trampling on beloved memories because I don't have those memories. Half the time I don't even know that someone is significant because I don't recognize the name.
Now if DC does its own version of an Ultimate line and turns Lois Lane into a gossip columnist divorced from Pete Ross, trying to raise her adopted autistic child named Jimmy Olsen, I'll probably throw a fit.