Tag: new to comics

In this final episode, we spend a significant chunk of time discussing Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli. While I haven’t had a chance to dig in and read Asterios Polyp yet, it was fascinating to flip through the book as we were recording. When we started this journey, one of my primary goals was to uncover a story that could only be told in comic form. Asterios Polyp is one such story, where everything from the art style to the lettering change throughout the book in order to to tell the story.

The show notes are shorter than usual, mostly because we spend the majority of the episode discussing the art and deeper meanings that can be found in comics. Think of the notes as guide posts for the conversation.

(By the way, when ABC is airing a Star Wars / Marvel crossover TV series Chewie and The Beast [aka Hank McCoy] in a couple years, just remember that you heard it here first).

What starts as an explanation of pull lists quickly morphs into a conversation about comic book stores. So far, I’ve been to three different comic book stores and the general vibe towards anyone who was obviously not a seasoned veteran was…less than welcoming. It’s a problem that plagues the comic (and geek) culture. Unfortunately, there won’t be any drastic improvements until people start to recognize there’s a problem and become more proactive in making n00bs feel at ease.

Did you know there is a right way and a wrong way to read comic books? Yeah, I didn’t either until last year. I’m working on widening my appreciation and understanding of different types of storytelling, and I thought comics would be a good place to start.

To get started, I enlisted to the help of a couple of comic aficionados – who also happen to be two of my best friends – Nick Lane and Lauren Williams. Listen in as we discuss how to read comics for n00bs like myself, as well as which books you should read first and which ones to save until you’re more experienced.