I just discovered this fun blog last week, and I've really been enjoying nosing around over there. It's called Obsessed with Comics, and it is posted by a real comics-lover and collector named Jason out in Washington. His site - in his own words, celebrates "seven months of generally coherent opinions" - but that (funny) description does it a disservice. This is actually great resource for reviews of comic-books old and new.
For instance, you can find a post on this year's Captain America #9 on September 21, 2005, but not far from that is a review of a classic Fantastic Four issue from 1970, #101. As I delved deeper into the archives, I found information on The Comic Reader # 95, from 1973, (a blog posted on August 1, 2005), a TV Guide of comics which advertised, among other things, the Spider-Man comic in which Gwen Stacy meets her fate. That's very cool. And I like that he posted some illustrations (i.e. comic book covers) to show us what was being discussed in comics more than 30 years ago. Jason is a contemporary of mine (I'm 36 in December, and his profile says he's 39...) so I feel like we speak the same language, even if I focus on TV and movies, and he focuses on comics.
Of course, I found Obsessed with Comics to begin with, because a review of new Doctor Who DVD releases is periodically posted. I enjoyed reading the critique of a Tom Baker story from 1980 ("The Leisure Hive"), a 1972 Jon Pertwee adventure, "Death to the Daleks," and my all time-favorite Who: Patrick Troughton's classic "The Tomb of the Cybermen." I very rarely see folks commenting on their discovery of Patrick Troughton's unique and highly underrated incarnation, so I enjoyed this post in particular. I felt it captured exactly the joy/pathos of both the serial overall and the central performance.
Exploring Obsessed with Comics, you even find the blogger's street creds: the statistics on his impressive comic-book collection. He owns 8,815 comics in all. 2,257 are from DC, and 2,124 are from Marvel. Yikes! That's a collection that a.) must be difficult and expensive to store and b.) probably puts my own crazy office toy collection (blogged here in pieces as retro-toy flashbacks...) to shame.
For all the reasons, I hope you'll swing over to Obsessed with Comics, my link of the week.
For instance, you can find a post on this year's Captain America #9 on September 21, 2005, but not far from that is a review of a classic Fantastic Four issue from 1970, #101. As I delved deeper into the archives, I found information on The Comic Reader # 95, from 1973, (a blog posted on August 1, 2005), a TV Guide of comics which advertised, among other things, the Spider-Man comic in which Gwen Stacy meets her fate. That's very cool. And I like that he posted some illustrations (i.e. comic book covers) to show us what was being discussed in comics more than 30 years ago. Jason is a contemporary of mine (I'm 36 in December, and his profile says he's 39...) so I feel like we speak the same language, even if I focus on TV and movies, and he focuses on comics.
Of course, I found Obsessed with Comics to begin with, because a review of new Doctor Who DVD releases is periodically posted. I enjoyed reading the critique of a Tom Baker story from 1980 ("The Leisure Hive"), a 1972 Jon Pertwee adventure, "Death to the Daleks," and my all time-favorite Who: Patrick Troughton's classic "The Tomb of the Cybermen." I very rarely see folks commenting on their discovery of Patrick Troughton's unique and highly underrated incarnation, so I enjoyed this post in particular. I felt it captured exactly the joy/pathos of both the serial overall and the central performance.
Exploring Obsessed with Comics, you even find the blogger's street creds: the statistics on his impressive comic-book collection. He owns 8,815 comics in all. 2,257 are from DC, and 2,124 are from Marvel. Yikes! That's a collection that a.) must be difficult and expensive to store and b.) probably puts my own crazy office toy collection (blogged here in pieces as retro-toy flashbacks...) to shame.
For all the reasons, I hope you'll swing over to Obsessed with Comics, my link of the week.
John, thanks so much! I really appreciate your comments, and it's cool that we're on the same wavelength. I really rediscovered Doctor Who with the new series. i had watched it during high school, but around '83 or '84, I just completely lost track of the show. It's fun to go back and rediscover the show, especially now that shows like the Troughton episodes are available on DVD.
ReplyDeleteAs to where I store my comics, when we bought a new house in 2001, I insisted in having space set aside for my collection. Since we have 3 kids, the garage had to become the home for my ever-expanding collection. I can't wait for my oldest to move away so I can steal his bedroom :-)
Anyway, I'll keep up my blog if you keep up yours!
Hey Jason! Thanks for writing. That's a deal on the blog! I really enjoy your writing tremendously.
ReplyDeleteThe garage? That's cool. My wife wants me to build an outbuilding to store my toys and make my office more livable. We're talking about weeding out some of my collection this morning, in fact. Sad, really!
But hey, your site is great and I hope a lot of folks check it out! (I know I'll be back!)