Watch Closely!

Ah. I really thank God my dad is a comic collector.

Yes, I have all the finest literature in the house.

I’ve just declared Friday as my Comic Book day, cause its usually when I have free time just to catch up with the comic book universes (and also when Dad brings back a bag load of funny books).

Currently I’m quite picky with the comics I read, but heres a list of what i’m reading off the top of my head

Marvel

Astonishing X-men – Joss Whedon’s 1st Arc was brilliant, and Cassaday’s art is beautiful. Nuff’ said

New Avengers – Not really into Lenil Yu’s art, but the current story arc is interesting

Incredible Hulk – Hulk SMASH! Anything with Hulk is awesome now following the “Planet Hulk” storyline. Just showed the Hulk in a very different light.

Runaways – Ok I pirated it, but that doesn’t underline its literary value.

D.C. Comics

All-Star Superman – You’ve got to give it to Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, they’ve really made all those cheezy stories with Superman cool again. Don’t believe me? See the current arc with Planet Bizarro! (It made me a believer.)

CountDown – B-list characters? Check. Twisty-twisty plot? Check. All round awesomeness? Check.

Read Below to see my DC rant.

Seriously, if you’re not into comics, I suggest you get into it now; the 90s were the fluff period, with all flair no substance and the early 2000s the comic book industry was picking itself up from recession. (Also with some help with the comic book movie tie-ins!)

I was never a D.C. person, always a Marvel freak. D.C. usually had these superheroes with uber-powers and little vulnerability. This usually led to either uninteresting or cheesy stories (check the 60s if you don’t believe me).

Marvel always had these heroes who had more interesting powers, but yet had very real human problems (Peter Parker’s love life problems to give a very simple example).

Until recently, I always regarded picking up a D.C. as Taboo. I think the turning point for me was when they started something called… Identity Crisis.

I don’t want to spoil anything for you but Identity Crisis started out as a simple “whodunnit?” story in the DC universe which lead to something more epic called… Infinite Crisis.

Which lead to the weekly series 52 (which I recommend as a good read to those who want to get into the DC universe)

For me, 52 was ground breaking because the main cast wasn’t Batman or Supes, it was B-list characters like the Question, Booster Gold (whom I loved.) etc. The weekly format also proved successful, as the writers were able to craft the many twists and turns of the story and yet kept you intrigued and begging for more every week.

52 has ended, and now the ongoing weekly series to replace it is called… Countdown

Again, it uses the winning formula of using B-list characters like Mary Marvel and Jimmy Olsen (remember him? He’s Superman’s best friend!) and a plot with more twists than a hula night.

To all the comic book geeks out there, I say, be proud of who you are. You might not know the 101 ways to ask a girl out, but hell, you know who really watched the Watchmen.

And which Bat-Pocket that Batman reaches for when he looks for his Batarang.

And who would win in a fight between Aquaman and Namor the Sub-mariner (Namor of course! Aquaman is such a emo pain-in-the-butt!)

And yes I’m proud to declare myself a comic book geek, because it has just just been too much a formative factor to who I am now!

Jaimes would like to learn the 101 ways to ask a girl out.