Superhero Week Day Four: Comic Book Q&A

Recently Lee, my antipodean pop culture guru, has been running a series of interviews with his readers about their comic book reading habits. He has very kindly agreed to let me publish my answers here as part of Superhero Week.

I probably should warn you that this post is about as geeky as it gets. In fact there is a real risk that unless you have at least a passing knowledge of comics then you will only understand about every third word. But in the immortal words of that woman who sang that song:

It’s my blog and I can geek out if I want to.
Geek out if I want to, geek out if I want to.
You’d geek out too if it happened to you.

So here we go true believers, my answers to Lee’s excellent questions:

Favorite regular series right now?

Right off the bat I’m having to start spouting exceptions and caveats when answering this questionnaire. I don’t actually follow a regular series at the moment. I get all of my comics either from Lee’s cousin Larry or by sneakily reading graphic novels in Borders. As a result I tend to read comics in big blocks of back issues rather than waiting for monthly installments.

The comic that I’m most enjoying at the moment which is currently a regular series is probably Batman Confidential. It chronicles Batman’s adventures in the early days of his crime fighting career. Like Legends of the Dark Knight the stories aren’t strictly canon, but that sort of stuff has never really bothered me anyway as long as the feel of the character was right.

I haven’t quite reached the more recent issues in my reading, but if they are anything like the earlier ones then this title is well worth taking a look at.

Comic book character you only recently discovered/started reading?

I’ve recently started dipping my toe into the waters of Marvel, focusing mainly on the Ultimate line of books. I’m really enjoying the Ultimate Fantastic Four at the moment, which is suprising as I’ve had nothing but contempt for them in the past.

If you could draw/write one character who would it be?

Assuming I suddenly developed enough talent to pull it off I’d love to write a Blue Beetle/Booster Gold team-up book.

They kept on promising one in the letters pages of Justice League International, but it never got delivered. Damn their eyes.

The new version of Blue Beetle is pretty cool, and I like what they are doing with Booster at the moment. But nothing will ever compare to those glorious days of Giffen and DeMattis.

Are you a fan of the big Multi-issue crossover extravaganzas.

I must admit I do get a little fanboy jolt of excitement every time “The world’s mightiest heroes team up to face the greatest danger they have ever known!!”.

However, every time DC hold a Crisis on Infinite Zero Hour Armageddon event they end up killing or ruining one of my favorite characters. Hawk and Dove, Blue Beetle, Elongated Man, The Question – all victims to the murderous editorial staff at DC. Why can’t they ruin characters that I’m not interested in, like Wonder Woman or Aquaman. It’s a conspiracy to drive me out of comics I tell you.

Last comic book series that you dropped and why.

I think it was probably Batman. I dropped it purely because I could no longer justify spending two or three pounds a month in order to gain about five minutes of reading pleasure. That was about five years ago now.

As I say, these days I get all my comics from Lee’s cousin Larry. It’s immoral I know, but I’ve made my peace with it. I really wouldn’t be reading comics otherwise.

Favourite Character?

The Ted Kord version of Blue Beetle, hands down. Closely followed by Booster Gold, Batman, Robin, Mister Miracle, the Martian Manhunter and of course Gnort.

Are you a DC or a Marvel?

DC all the way baby.

Do you remember your first comic/series

In my early teens DC used to put out a Batman reprint anthology in Britain. This was the only American style comic available in our local newsagents and I eagerly swopped my subscription for the Beano for it, even though it came out only monthly and the Beano was weekly.

Is Watchmen the movie going to be as good as the comic book?

I think it has the potential to be, as long as you haven’t read the comic. If you see the movie first then the development of the plot and characters will be fresh. If you’ve already read the book then you’ll start to focus on the inevitable flaws.

Favorite Comic Book movie?

Batman Begins. In order to protect myself I’d managed to keep my expectations pretty low for this film, and as a result I was completely blown out of the water by it.

The Dark Knight was damn good too, but it was the first movie that made me believe in a celluloid bat again and so it will always have a very special place in my geeky heart.

Worst comic book movie?

Kerry and I watched Ghost Rider the other day. Sweet Jebus it was awful. That film undershoots the “so bad it’s good” barrier by about seven hundred miles. Apparently they are talking about making a sequel. May god have mercy on our souls.

Character you’d like to see in a movie?

I think there would be plenty of milage in a decent Nightwing movie. Lighter in tone than Batman, but still gritty and with a focus on his feelings of inferiority towards his mentor.

Series that you’d like to see on TV?

A really good quality Teen Titans live action show with high production values. The Warner Brothers animated cartoon is fantastic, but there would be room for so much character development in a live action show aimed at late teens/adults.

As long as they keep all the bloody intrigue out of it that is. I’m fed up of mysterious Smoking Man-esqu characters in my Sci Fi. Can’t we have a show without a bloody conspiracy for a change? Swop subterfuge for explosions, that’s my motto

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So there you go. Tomorrow: The Mighty Wombat

Related posts:

1. Superhero Week Day One: Top 5 Batman Villains
2. Superhero Week Day Five: Why I don’t like heroes
3. Superhero week suspended
4. Superhero Week Day Two: Keys to the Fortress of Solitude
5. Superhero Week Day Three: Video Pirates #2