shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 11, 2014 11:54:40 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure I started a topic like this back at the old place. I'm curious to know what everyone's decade of comics was; not necessarily your favorite decade, but the first one you were personally a part of, for better or worse.
For example, though the 1970s is my personal favorite, I first came into comics in 1989 (though I'll count myself as the 1990s, as I kept buying/reading through 1994), and coming in at that particular time inevitably shaped my perceptions and preferences. In my case, it led me to detest most of what the 90s stood for -- hype, pandering to the lowest common denominator, and exaggerated artistry over solid writing.
So when did you start reading, and what impact has that had upon you as a reader of classic comics?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2014 12:08:23 GMT -5
2000s for me. I started with back issues, specifically Ostrander's Martian Manhunter and some Iron Man issues that I never read because he seemed to never be in the suit. The first "new" book I bought was Barry Ween.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2014 12:28:49 GMT -5
Forgot impact.
Martian Manhunter is my favorite character, but I never got to finish Ostrander's series (for some reason these issues were elusive). Luckily last weekend I found the entire thing (0-36, both annuals and 1,000,000), so I'll finally get to finish it.
My three favorite ongoings were JSA, Flash and Teen Titans, which probably makes my favorite writer obvious. Flash doesn't hold up at all for me, but I still enjoy JSA. Haven't gone back to Teen Titans. Also, haven't cared for anything I've read from Johns since.
I didn't really read non-cape stuff at the time, but I have since and that's really the only stuff from that era I can stand.
Didn't read much Marvel, because by the time I got to it Bendis was writing everything and I'm not a fan.
I look at this era as pretty bleak, and it ultimately made me lose interest (for some reason despite starting with those two series in back-issues I never went further) until New52, which was horrendous,but lead me to branching out both in terms of content and era and I'm loving comics more than ever.
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Post by Randle-El on Nov 11, 2014 13:07:21 GMT -5
I got into comics during the mid-to-late 80s and read/collected into the early 90s. I think the period I started reading had a lot to do with shaping my tastes -- most of my collection is comprised of books from 1980 to about 1993. The period I left comics pretty much coincided with high school and college. When I started to get back into comics as an adult, I read some 90s comics and realized that I didn't miss much during that decade.
Even though the late 80s to early 90s was my comic reading prime period, my favorite era is the late bronze age period, specifically the early to mid 80s -- Frank Miller Daredevil, Dark Phoenix and its aftermath in X-Men, Hobgoblin and black costume Spidey. This will probably sound odd, but even though I wasn't reading comics during those years, I feel a greater sense of nostalgia for that era than I do for the years I was actively reading comics.
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,871
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Post by shaxper on Nov 11, 2014 13:08:50 GMT -5
This will probably sound odd, but even though I wasn't reading comics during those years, I feel a greater sense of nostalgia for that era than I do for the years I was actively reading comics. No, I absolutely feel the same way. 90s comics felt disposable. The mid 1980s were the last time comics felt like part of a legacy. Maybe the Crisis is what ruined that. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 11, 2014 13:09:45 GMT -5
1975.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 11, 2014 13:13:49 GMT -5
Damn fine time to get into comics. If I could have chosen, I would have picked '74. I'd be there for all of Marvel's big expansion into new genres and formats, as well as the rise of folks like Englehart, Moench, Gerber, Starlin, and Claremont. |
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Post by MDG on Nov 11, 2014 13:21:21 GMT -5
Get into comics or reeeeealy get into comics?
Mid-60s: dalliance then full speed into Bat-mania
Early-mid-70s: obsession with ECs and undergrounds (no, I was not old enough to buy them legally)
Late-70s-early 90s: mainstream fandom, minimal pro experience
late-90s-present: fringes of fandom, mostly interested in the history and contemporary alternative stuff (though not buying much)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2014 13:28:23 GMT -5
I started around 1964/65 School Year - and that's the time that I started reading the Original JLA, Fantastic Four, Batman, Brave and the Bold, and Spiderman and occasionally Avengers as well.
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Post by justicefreak on Nov 11, 2014 13:37:02 GMT -5
sometime in the early 80's
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Post by Pharozonk on Nov 11, 2014 13:39:30 GMT -5
2006
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Post by Randle-El on Nov 11, 2014 13:47:38 GMT -5
This will probably sound odd, but even though I wasn't reading comics during those years, I feel a greater sense of nostalgia for that era than I do for the years I was actively reading comics. No, I absolutely feel the same way. 90s comics felt disposable. The mid 1980s were the last time comics felt like part of a legacy. Maybe the Crisis is what ruined that. Yeah, the late 80s is when things started to change into what became 90s comics, but there were still some remnants of the bronze age aesthetic. Maybe that was what appealed to me as a kid over the more "kewl" aspects of 90s comics that were slowly being introduced, and so that would explain why I would feel more "at home" in the late bronze age era. Of course, as a kid then I wouldn't have known that, but looking back as an adult who has read stories from the years both before and after the 90s metamorphosis, I can see that what appealed to me about comics in the late 80s was present more fully in the bronze age era. The same can probably be said for me about the 1970s, except that I haven't read as much from that era as I have from the 80s. On the other hand, while I do appreciate the Silver Age for its contributions, and I definitely can understand the nostalgia that people have for that period, it doesn't have the same appeal for me as the Bronze Age does. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Nov 11, 2014 14:00:38 GMT -5
The summer of 1975.
I started with Jungle Action and Daredevil, and within a few months I was reading Hulk, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Avengers, Iron Man, Thor and Captain America.
I didn't read much DC at first, except for reprints.
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 11, 2014 14:08:05 GMT -5
As I've mentioned before, my mother taught me to read at age 3 (c. 1961) using comic books so I've been into them since before I was literate. I actively started collecting in '68 but didn't get serious until I started subscribing to my favorite titles in college (1975-80). I dropped out of comics altogether in '86, started up again on a much smaller scale from '93 to 2000 or so before giving up on contemporary comics (with an occasional exception) for good. Still a collector, not so much a fan as I once was.
Cei-U!
I summon the mini-bio!
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,871
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Post by shaxper on Nov 11, 2014 14:09:38 GMT -5
I'll be curious if no one else started in the 1990s. Considering the state of comics back then, I can see why not many classic comics fans were born out of that decade. If it hadn't been for my back issue bin experiences with The New Teen Titans and X-Men, I likely wouldn't have made the leap either.
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