KidCroesus

It occurs to me that what the comic book industry, and hey maybe this site needs, is a Netflix like recommendation engine. Because the comic book world has seriously changed. Prior to say 1985, you basically had two flavors of comic books: Marvel and DC. Marvel dealt a little more with "real-world" personality issues than DC, but basically they were the same thing. (Interestingly, I was a DC guy until I was 12, then almost purely Marvel, and back to almost purely DC after 17).

But now there is such diversity in the marketplace: Art driven comics, hot chick driven comics, dark underground comics, adult theme comics, etc. This is true even within a single character...there are Batman's aimed at 12 yr olds, and Batman's aimed at me. (Like Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's stuff).

So we really need a recommendation engine -- and frankly onsite in the comic store.

I want to be able to put in the authors and comics that I like, say the list I have on this blog, and get back a recommendation.

The closest thing they have at most comic stores is a staff recommendation shelf, and only sometimes are they close to tastes.

I guess Amazon might be reasonably good at recommending comics...I haven't really tried.

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This is not my list of the ten best comics. Partially because there are twelve entries...but mostly because this is really a history of me and comics...the ones that mattered.
1. This crazy serpent crown story (circa 1982)
This was my first comic book, I can't even tell you where I got it from, but I found it at my cousin's house (ok, I stole it from him) when I was 12 or so. It was missing a cover. But It featured this serpent crown that was made of snakes, and I think Madame Hydra was involved (that Viper is a hottie), and it was a long double issue. I had dreams about that comic for years...it really drew me in, even though I had no idea what was going on. A quick check of Wikipedia reveals that it was probably Marvel Team-Up Annual #5
2. Chris Claremont's Xmen, (circa 1981)
My first bought comic book, at an airport in Cairo, Egypt of all places. It was the only reading material for kids they had, and I read it over and over. Right around the time of Callisto and the Morlocks. Liked Wolverine, and dug the way Colossus called Kitty "Katya". Hated the whole X-men in space thing with that weird silver alien chick. Began my boarding school "Marvel era" 1983-1986. Never touched the DC stuff, except for Vigilante (pretty, slick paper) and the occasional Teen Titans.
3. Spiderman 252. (circa 1985)
My buddy gets Spiderman 252 and I can't get a copy because of the stupid collector craze. And he doesn't even like comics. This is totally unfair bullshit. Stupid costume, anyway. Secret Wars pretty much sucked too. Thats it, I quit.
4. The Sandman, Dream Country - The amazing Shakespeare issue (circa 1989)
Picked this up at a newsstand in college ("that looks different") and was just blown away. Got me back into comics in a big way. Gave it to my Shakespeare English prefect, who was really hot. I go back and buy it again, and all the previous issues. Chicks dig Neil, I realize -- I pocket this little tidbit for future seductions.
5. The Dark Knight Returns.(circa 1989)
Actually studied this in a Postmodernism class at Princeton. Got my only A+ on a paper ever, writing about comics. Reread it, well, quite a few times. It still holds up today.
6. The Watchmen
Funny, around 1987 when this came out there were some skater/stoner kids who were reading this and I ignored them, having "grown out of comics" -- I was more into Playboy at the time. Read it later in collected form in 1989. Extraordinary. Inspired to write an essay called "A case for comics" and won a "book collecting" writing prize of $1000 from the library. Can you believe it? So you are going to give me $1000 bucks so I can buy more comics? Sweet. You are a way easier mark than Mom was.
7. The Flash(?!) (circa 1991)
A person from a famous family who I really shouldn't disclose reads my comic book essay in the Princeton Library Chronicle and invites me to see his complete Flash collection, in a specially built, air controlled vault. Crazy, but really cool. But I mean, who likes the Flash? He, like, runs? My professor to me "You get more mileage out of your comic collection than anyone I have ever met."
8. Sandman, Season of Mists, Hardcover (circa 1992)
Neil is in town...I drag my girlfriend to go see him at the local strip mall. You know...I actually sort of "discovered" him -- there is only like 5 people in line so I get to hang with him a little. He draws very cool drawing on my rare leatherbound hardcover edition. It becomes one of my prized possessions.
9. rec.arts.comics.vertigo (1995)/HellBlazer/Sandman
Law school sucks, but this message board is very entertaining. There is one guy named Tannhauser at Oxford who is just brilliant. I'm reading a lot of the vertigo stuff and Hellblazer, and sadly, even Sandman seems to be going downhill. Neil is doing the right thing by ending it. And I can't stand John Ney Rieber and the Books of Magic. Can't really get into the Invisibles, or Preacher. Once Sandman is over, thats it, I'm out. But by the way, this whole Internet thing is pretty cool.
10. Astro City 1998
Ok, I concede that this is actually really good stuff...I'll collect this for a while, but thats it...no more comics. I'm what, almost 30 for chrissakes.
11. A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Mmmmm this is soooo good. Why the hell is Alan Moore still writing comics with this kind of talent. (I try to read his terrible book and see why. Man, thats really impenetrable stuff there.) I gloat over the fact that I read V for Vendetta back in the day, and I have to laugh at just how bad the movie of Extraordinary Gentlemen is. Its almost as if someone orchestrated a personal soul-destroying conspiracy against Alan Moore -- some kind of Sartre hellish vendetta. What other possible explanation could there be?
12. Neil Gaiman writes OP Ed page, Halloween 2006.
Did I mention to everyone that I personally discovered him? Yeah, I totally called that one.

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Comics for the most part aren't intended to be art, they are intended to be mass entertainment. And mass entertainment is driven wholly by economics.

I was actually thinking back the other day to a comment I made around 12 years ago, when Gaiman's Sandman was in the middle of its arc. I thought at the time that this was probably the highwater mark for the medium -- that Gaiman/Moore/Miller (although I take Miller off that list now) would be remembered in 100 years as the Dickenses of the Comic book medium. (Especially Gaiman; I think Moore is much more contextual to an audience that really knows comic books, while Gaiman's best stuff could work in almost any century. Even though Moore may be more talented.) But that wasn't my point.

My point is that nothing in comics I have read in the past 10 years have come close to that highwater mark -- from Dark Knight Returns/Watchmen (1986?) to the end of Sandman (1993?) -- when comic titles were selling 1 million copies, and people were churning out great literature. Why was this the renaissance of comics? At least partially the money --driven by the collector boom, the way the Medici's drove the renaissance. The best talent followed the Willie Horton rule, and went where the money was. If Michelangelo were alive today, he would not be painting ceilings or illustrating comics.

Also people had some interesting things to say about comics (Watchmen, etc.) which have now pretty much been said. Now the money has since dried up, and the best selling comic sells 100,000 issues, tops. When talented guys like Jeph Loeb or Joss Whedon write comics today, it practically seems like a charity case. That won't last.

Today, comic books exist for only two reasons: 1) to keep the important comic book influencers happy, who create buzz around the Marvel movies, etc, and 2) as option value for potential movie rights/licenses. Talented writers and artists will still be drawn to comics, but only until they can move to the next level (Clowes, Loeb, Gaiman, etc...)

Which brings me back to Dickens. Dickens wrote serial fiction at the end of 19th century. Why that medium, which no one really writes in today? Because for a short period of time, it made perfect economic sense for the reader and the publisher. For the reader, it substantially reduced the cash outlay required to pay for fiction: for a novel in monthly installments like PICKWICK, one had to pay only one shilling a month, instead of a guinea (21 shillings) or more for an entire novel. For the publisher, they could make money off of the advertisements (and take less risk in publishing). For the writer, they could get paid by the word, and churn out huge books.

Serial fiction had some great moments (in some cases, liked Dickens, reached the level of high art) but no one writes it today--there is no point, unless you do it from a love of the art form (Stephen King's online serial). We will remember Sherlock Holmes and Fagin -- just like Batman and Superman will still be around in 100 years. But the last non-independent (Marvel/DC) comic book will be printed the day both the DC and Marvel Studios have two consecutive years without a hit.

I'd say no more than 10 years from now, tops. And the remaining 10 comic book stores will be be full of balding quintagenarians. (If you want to see what I mean, go visit a coin collecting convention -- those were all 13 yr old kids once)

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