My First Comic Book

People imagine my childhood far differently than it actually occurred. Some people think that I have stacks of comic books and have been collecting them ever since I was a child. This is not the case. I didn’t get into comics until I was in high school and couldn’t wait for the next issue of The Age Of Apocalypse came out. Before that I would read Wizard when it was nearby or a friend had it but I wasn’t running to the comic shop every week buying comics.

With the AOA series they took Marvel and made a history that was affected by the fact that Charles Xavier was killed. The art in almost every issue was good. The stories were fresh and new. It ran for a while and I ended up buying pretty much every single issue. Then it was done and so was I.

Shade the Changing Man was the next series of comics that had me running to 7/11 and Golden Apple. Remember that place? No, its not gone. I just stopped going there when they decided that toys and yoyo’s were more important than, you know, comic books.

The very first comic book I ever got was Daredevil Issue 261. No, I didn’t beg my parents to buy it, head to the shop, or have any interest in daredevil. I didn’t even know what the hell Daredevil was. I bought it from this guy I think was named Henry. A tall White guy that wore camouflage pants every day and would have all us kids chase him while he pretty much parkour’d away from us.

One day he needed money for the bus right when we were leaving school. He said “I’ll sell this for a quarter.” I happened to have one so I got it. The cover looked cool. Imagine my shock when I read it on the bus ride home and The Human Torch never lights up completely and Daredevil isn’t even in costume. It pretty much all took place in a bar.

Since that first comic I’ve become a huge fan of Daredevil. I’ve given away boxes of comic books. All I have are trade paper backs and graphic novels. The last time I read regularly was when Mr. Soot was letting me borrow all those DC 52 comics which was the inspiration for even starting this blog. I wish I knew where that dude Henry was so I could thank him for accidentally creating a monster.

Introducing: Shade The Changing Man

You think you’re emo, kid? You ain’t seen emo until you’ve picked up an issue of Shade The Changing Man. I first discovered Shade the same way I discovered a lot of my comic books. By going to 7/11 stores and buying chips and Slurpees. Hey, I was a little fat ass with extra cash because I ironed my brothers clothes for money. They sold these packs of four comics for $2.99. The downside was that you didn’t know what comics were in the center. I got at least twenty issues of Shade this way. This turned out to be one of the weirdest and awesome comic books I’ve ever read till this day. Not to mention the cool stories by Peter Mulligan and great art by Chris Bachalo who went on to draw Neil Gaimen’s Death, Generation X, Ultimate X Men, and Steampunk.

Shade was first drawn by Steve Ditko who is known for his distinctive style and for drawing ROM Spaceknight, The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, and Dr. Strange to mention a few. In it his full name was Rac Shade and he was a fugitive from a planet called Meta. He had the ability to use his M-Vest to create a monster looking version of himself. Shade is an agent that is framed for murder and he ends up living in a place called the Area Of Madness. That sounds awesome. This version of Shade is far different from what he would eventually become which if you know your comic books is not as strange as it seems.

Later after joining the Suicide Squad the character was redone for DC’s Vertigo line which included titles such as The Sandman, 100 Bullets, Hellblazer, A History Of Violence, and V For Vendetta. Those last three have become films. In the first story arc he falls in love with Kathy while trying to defeat The American Scream. While he is dating her is goes into super-emo mode and ends up making another version of himself named Hades that handles emotion better than he does. Meaning he doesn’t whine like a little bitch as much.

When Shade dies or leaves a body (which is how he survives) he ends up in the body of a recently murdered chick. Normally when he takes a body over he can morph it to look like himself but since the spirit cant rest he stays in woman form. He even has sex as a woman. Told you this was a weird ass comic. Eventually Shade figured out who killed her and then he is able to transform into himself. While all this is happening there is all kinds of drama with Kathy and her friend Lenny.

Later on after being killed angels make Shade come back. He ends up in the body of a guy in an asylum with spiky black hair who is batshit insane. Apparently there are people born empty just for things like this. Shade and Hades are mixed perfectly together which is bad for everyone since Shade no longer can control himself. At one point the rushes outside and has sex with the ground which causes a bunch of tiny versions of himself to spring up. After this awesome storyline and version of Shade Chris Bachalo left and it all went to shit. I stopped caring about the character until he resurfaced in DC’s 52 in Justice League Dark. Go back and see if you can find old issues of Shade. They are really fun and different. Plus each cover was a work of art.

Those Who Shaped Me

As any self respecting nerd knows, you have to have a hero. No, I’m not talking about your father who’s sitting in the living room wondering where he went wrong with raising you. No, I’m talking about fictional characters. Much like the blog I wrote about hot cartoon and video game characters this is about the types of characters I have liked throughout my life. This is the cream of the crop, ya’ll. You can tell a lot about a man by who he worships.

Batman



Of course he starts this list off. What is there not to like about Batman? I grew up liking him in all forms from the cheesy TV show and the silliness of Super Friends. Burton almost killed my love of Batman but the awesome ass animated series saved him. Batman is what every hero should be. Smart, fast, brutal, and efficient. How many other people can say they’ve been kicked out of the Justice League because they have a contingency plan to take out every single member of the team?

Blackbolt



This guy doesn’t get the amount of respect he deserves. Blackbolt is the king of the Inhumans and has so much power he cant use it. See, Blackbolt has the ability to destroy things with his voice. Not like many other characters that shout and bring down planes. No. Blackbolt could crack a country in two if he yelled. He has spoken very few times and even knock down The Incredible Hulk with a whisper.

Brock Samson



Brock is what could clinically be classified as a psychopath. He has no superpowers but somehow manages to not die no matter what situation he is in. He took enough darts to kill a man and was buried alive only to wake from the dead, use his car to crash through a super villains lair and kill all of his henchmen without dropping his cigarette. And he’ll fuck anything that moves…except for that one Russian lady and Dr. Girlfriend.

Deadpool



I used to have every issue of Deadpool. Yeah, they ruined him in that terrible Wolverine movie but “the merc with a mouth” is one of the coolest characters in comics. He is terribly insane and violent. One of the only characters that manage to float between evil and good without being jailed for his crimes.

Marv



When I first read the Sin City graphic novels Marv was like what I always wanted to be. Just human but indestructible. He has been stabbed, shot, hit by cars (I’ve been hit by cars!) and managed to keep on going. His determination and loyalty to the very few people that can stand to be around him makes him an admirable guy.

Rock Lee



This kid is from Naruto and honestly when I first saw him I thought he looked goofy. That was until I learned his story and saw him battle Gaara in one of the coolest and intense fights I’ve ever witnessed in a cartoon. The only student with no actual magical abilities Rock Lee has fought and beaten ninjas with far more power than he has with speed and his teacher smiling all the while.

Shade The Changing Man



I first got this comic book on accident at 7/11 and the bizarre story and art by Chris Bachalo pulled me in. He’s from a planet called Meta and he inhabits the bodies of people that have just died, in a coma, or empty. He has been in the body of a redhead (the one I am most familiar with), a psycho, and a woman. He had sex as a woman just to see what it was like. He had sex with the ground and it gave birth to mini Shade’s. Why are all of my favorite guys insane?

Shadowhawk



Again, another one that doesn’t get respect. Imagine if Batman decided to take his level of violence a step further. When Shadowhawk finds and catches criminals he breaks their spines. That’s his thing. And he does his thing well. This artist that drew him (I couldn’t find his version of Shadowhawk) drew in such a chaotic way it inspired my art in the sense that if something wasn’t completely visible it didn’t matter because I knew what was what and where was where.

The Maxx



Another one I first got from 7/11 and went nuts for. The cartoon was amazing as well as it was taken directly from the comic book. Sam Keith was an amazing artist as was Maxx. A man with the spirit of a rabbit. Long claws which are actually his middle fingers dipped in lava and sharpened. He fights Mr. Gone and switches between the “real” world and the fantasy world of Pangaea. Damn, I am really missing good comic books right now.

Skulduggery Pleasant



This guy is the reason I now have a tattoo. My friend and the best human alive Camille first told me about this book about a skeleton and this girl that used magic. I started reading the book and was hooked immediately. Four books later and the story just keeps getting better. He lost his original head and won a new one in a bet. He has a history that is hinted at where he committed very brutal acts. He throws fireballs! This character is amazing and one of the best ones I have ever read or seen.

And this is my tattoo.