Do you, or did you, read comics as an adult?

Cafe Society
1

I did, in my 20s, up to about 31. I lost interest for a couple for reason I’ll explain, but here’s how I got into them.

Someone tipped me off about a magazine called Raw. It published so-called “underground” comics, stuff that wouldn’t be “approved by the comics code.” They were called “underground,” because what they were was intended for an adult audience, but if they were called that, everyone would think they were pornographic, period.

In every issue of Raw was a new installment of something that was eventually published on its own, and won a Pulitzer, a serial call* Maus*.

Well, once I was in the comic book store I discovered the following: Ms. Tree, The Maze Agency, She-Hulk (which was very tongue-in-cheek), and old issues of Silver Age Wonder Woman (the so-call “Mrs. Peel” era). and I started amassing back issues. Then DC came out with a new Wonder Woman in the 90s, and I started collecting from day 1. I also started collecting back issues of* Ms. Tree*. Shortly after this, Maggie Sawyer, the lesbian character was introduced into Superman, so I started reading that, and I started reading Alpha Force when one of the characters came out. I also found Gay Comics. I also discovered the very best thing in the world after Maus: Love and Rockets. I couldn’t get enough of the “Hoppers” stories.

This was when the original EC comics with the gross-out horror stories were reissued. I bought a lot of those. They were just as gross as promised, and I understand why parents objected. I bought some “Approved by the comics code” horror comics for comparison, and there was none.

Lastly, when Barbara Gordon in her wheelchair joined Suicide Squad, I started reading that.

That about covers it.

L&R stopped publishing, Raw, Maze Agency and Ms. Tree stopped. DC introduced a huge multi-crossover storyline that was hard to follow, and I resented having to buy all the Batmans, and other things I didn’t like just to try to follow this stupid storyline. The horror comics got repetitive.

I still have all my comics, but after about 8 years of being totally into them, the interest faded. People tell me the 90s were a great time for independents, and it hasn’t been as good since, so maybe that’s what I responded to.

2

No.

3

I read many of the Elseworlds stories when DC was still doing that. I buy a bound edition of a particular story once in a while. I haven’t been a comics buyer in any regular sense as an adult since the original Crisis on Infinite Earths which was published around the time I graduated from college. The rebooting and elimination of characters put me off comics enough that I stopped buying and reading and sold off my collection.

4

I have not read a comic book in years, although I do still follow comics.

5

No, but I also didn’t read them as a kid.

6

I’ve read comics my whole life and I’m not likely to stop any time soon. My one caveat is that as I get older, I lean towards series like Sandman and Preacher. I am less interested in the mainstream superhero comics than I used to be, although I still enjoy them occasionally. My big criticism of the Marvel and DC superhero comics is that their ongoing continuities become too convoluted and their major event stories (like the reboot Crises and the recent Marvel changes) are just nonsensical.

7

Yes, but mostly not the mainstream ones. For instance, Aaron Williams has a book called PS 238, about a school for the children of supers (most of whom are metahumans themselves). The characters include pastiches of most of the major superheroes from both Marvel and DC.

8

I still follow the big two, sort of, and I watch the Marvel movies either when they come out or at least when they hit TV, but the only comics I read at the moment are IDW’s Transformers comics. If Humble Bundle puts out an IDW G.I. Joe book bundle I think I’d like them too, but the Transformers comics have been impressively good stories for the most part.

Continuity is good. What makes Marvel and DC suck is the repeated willingness to twist continuity into weird shapes to make room for their story. Continuity that flows well instead of constantly running into “Oh, now he’s dead. Now he’s evil. Now he’s a hero. Now he’s evil again. Now he’s a werewolf.” is not a burden except to the idiots who want to twist it into stupid shapes.

9

The day you’ll get my Legion of Super-Hero comic collection is when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands. Even in a time of recent poverty, I did not sell them.

10

I read all of Larry Hama’s G.I. Joe run recently because i loved the toys when i was young but in my country we got neither the cartoons nor the comics. It was a lot better than the goofy ass 80’s cartoon.

11

I do. I read Fables until it ended. The Walking Dead. A few other series. I read Superhero stuff too. Mostly DC but some Marvel as well.

12

I quit reading superhero comics regularly when I was 13 or so. At 14 I started reading “underground comix” (note the preferred spelling), and have been reading them ever since. Included RAW way back in the 1980s, and LOVE AND ROCKETS. Anything put out by the underground greats: R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez, Justin Green, etc. Also the new-wavers who came along later.

The undergrounds are meant for grown-ups, anyway.

I also read lots of web comics. GIRL GENIUS and HARK, A VAGRANT and OGLAF should be on everybody’s list.

13

Nope. It’s a genre I know absolutely nothing about.

14

Oop-- I also read Groo the Wanderer.

15

Yes, but just to replace the same ones I read as a kid. Only now I can afford the buy them myself and not have to ask my father for a buck. So I’ve bought the compiled versions of The Punisher so I could fill in the large gaps of story from my long lost single-issue collection, and I’ve been buying the recent Fantagraphics Carl Barks and Don Rosa Library collections as they’ve been released (most of my old collection was Gladstone Disney comics).

16

I read most of the Marvel line of comics regularly until I was nearly 30 in the mid 80s. The last few years had a lot of changes, much better art, but the stories were taking a different turn, too much consolidation of the universe, and it all wore thin for me at that point.

17

Thank you, thank you for bringing this forgotten adolescent memory to the surface.

18

Anybody like Bone? I just read this 1300 page volume to my 6-year-old child and he wants to hear it again. This was my first deep dive into comics. I really liked all the visual-only storytelling frames, but I find the medium is prone to excessive exposition “As you know, Bob…”.

Anyone have any better suggestions for a 6-year-old?

19

Ukelele Ike brings up a good point, that the line between comic books and webcomics is pretty blurry, nowadays, especially since most webcomics eventually get printed and bound into a comic or graphic novel form, anyway. And some that started off printed end up getting posted online, too.

20

I was big into alternatives for a few years. I bought everything Dennis Eichhorn, Chris Ware, Peter Bagge and Jim Woodring (among others) put out. Loved auto-bio comics. Had almost every issue of Weirdo and Raw. Pictopia was a compilation magazine worth finding, as was Monte Beauchamp’s Blab.