Damn.
I just saw that Sal died. Sal Buscema was a massive part of my comics life. He drew comics that were fun and exciting. He knew how to push all of the right comics buttons. Spreading over decades his work, especially for me at Marvel, was full of all that good storytelling and superhero drama.
Recently, myself and some friends have started saying that ‘…sometimes all you need is Sal.’
He is already sorely missed.
Something slightly different this week.
What do you get out of your addiction.
I took the last week to study this in a personal measurement. I came to the conclusion that I get a lot. I read comics on my daily commute and over a coffee at breakfast. My phone fills up with messages about comics deliveries and digital versions. I spent, easily, twelve hours of the recent weekend listing my collection and pausing, very often, to read long forgotten comics. I also spent time researching reviews and recommendations for the weekly Awesome Comics Podcast and then chatted for three hours with friends. And hanging over all these twenty-four hour cycles is the ACP Slack community and thoughts on what I’ll write on there or here on a Tuesday (or Wednesday).
Alongside a twelve hour work day that’s a pretty full week. I revel in distraction.
With this contentment of a hobby (aka lifestyle) i don’t need the new and weekly/daily dramaramas of those weirdos online getting revenge on the world for being bullied as children and mostly being a bunch of unconvicted (and occasionally convicted) nonces.
I’m sure you know the type.
“Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” – George Orwell.
So in honour of reaching the one third completed point of my listing challenge I’m switching up this weekly column to celebrate the last fifty(ish) years of reading and collecting comics.
An Old Comics Cover I forgot I had.
Return to my favourite.
John Byrne is a forgotten rock star. I first really noticed him on Uncanny X-Men and followed him wherever he went. I’ve read the new and old over the last few weeks. He remains a rock star to me.
An almost complete run that surprised me.
Captain America has had some pretty darn great moments. I’d forgotten how I’d buy him from the newsagents shelf every month and later bought up the issues I’d read in the black and white Marvel UK weekly format.
The Team they fucked up and need bringing back.
I have Longbox after Longbox filled with the various versions of this future team. Their innocence lost in a five year leap I soldiered onwards. A small blip of fun from Johns left us quickly and nothing has been the same since. But now, I think, they are villains. Let’s return to their Enterprise(ish) spaceship and getting kicked in the brain bollocks at the death of Karate Kid!
Back to abnormal programming next week.
Thanks for reading.
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