Also, I want to extend the love for comics and your local comic book store PAST the day when you can get a free comic. The point of the day is to encourage you to visit your comic book store all year long.
So for today's Monday Discussion, I wanted people to share their favorite comic and/or spread some love for their favorite comic book store. And if you participated in Free Comic Book Day personally or in your library, share your experiences here too.
I'll go first...
Favorite Comic Book Stores:
I have two comic book stores I want to give a shout out to. The first is my local store Chimera Comics. They are located in the heart of my community's vibrant business district, I am a customer, and they work with the public library throughout the year.
The second is not near my home, but still in the Chicago area, Comix Revolution but I bring it up because it is owned by the husband of a librarian friend.
Favorite Comics:
Here I want to encourage you to think back to the first comics you enjoyed as well as those you still love.
As a child I was an Archie Comics girl. Each summer I would stock up on as many of those larger paperback compilations as my mother would buy me.
Readers of this blog know I still read many graphic novels. My current favorites are anything by Joe Hill, Brian K. Vaughan, Gene Luen Yang and The Chew Series. Use the links to see more of my love for these comics.
Now it's your turn. For today's Monday Discussion share your favorite comic ever, now, in the past and/or your favorite comics store.
For past Monday Discussions, click here.
3 comments:
I really loved the "Sweet Tooth" series by Jeff Lemire, and I also absolutely loved "Locke and Key"
My favorite comic book store, sadly, no longer exists. It was on Clark street in Chicago and used to display comics on metal racks that looked more like barbeque grates than shelves. I used to go there as a kid and honestly, I don't ever remember seeing an adult in there other than the guy who ran the place. It also sold cheap candy and, my personal favorite, Garbage Pail Kids - which for those who don't know, were comic spoof cards that were a parody of Cabbage Patch Kids and which showed the dolls in horrific and disgusting scenarios and with hilarious names. What a utopia that place was!
As for favorite comics, my favorite of all time was Vampirella. It was about a shapely vampire woman who came to Earth from outer space to feed on humanity. It had outstanding artwork particularly for the covers. It ceased publication in the early 80s but was brought back later. A close second is Tomb of Dracula which was put out by Marvel and is by far the best of the many Dracula comics to appear over the years. Neither of these have ever, to my knowledge, been collected into anthologies. I've collected many of the original issues however. Looking through them, I sometimes can't believe how much more gory and explicit comic books were years ago. I appreciated that. I miss it. Happy Free Comic Book Day, Vampirella, wherever you are.
As a kid, I loved Archie and The Smurfs. I was allowed one comic book from the pharmacy adjoining my pediatrician's office during each visit. I'm surprised I didn't fake illness more often!
I discovered ElfQuest by Wendy and Richard Pini in junior high and fell instantly and completely in love. Scouring local comic book shops for back copies of ElfQuest led me to find The Books fo Faerie and The Books of Magic. From there, I hit a vampire phase and delved into Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics and graphic novels based on Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.
This FCBD, I managed to get to three comic book stores this year. (We usually hit many more, but we had plans in the morning.) Rockhead's in Kenosha was our first stop. They have a huge warehouse-like location with rooms and rooms for gaming. There were several local graphic artists and crafters there selling everything from crocheted "minion" hats to signed comic books. Also, there were free cookies. Next, we headed over to Legendary Comics in Racine. It's a small store, but we always manage to leave with more than just the free comics. Something always catches someone's eye and "Gasp! It must be mine!" The last store we got to was up in Milwaukee - Lost World of Wonders. This is probably the largest comic book, game, and random geekery shop I've every personally visited. We likely would have been there for hours if it weren't for the fact that we'd already been up and about for ten hours and the endless line that curled around the store like some labyrinthine serpent ready to strike at anyone too foolhardy to step in its path.
For more local comic book stores, I recommend Graham Crackers Comics. There are several locations in the area.
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