01-04-14
I have been listening to comic book pod casts more then is probably healthy. I like listening to people talk about things that bring them joy, and i like comics so its natural. One of thees is called the Fire and Water pod cast. ( http://fireandwaterpodcast.blogspot.com/ ) Here Rob and Shagg discuss two of DC comics second tier heroes, The fabulous fused Firestorm and the amazing Atlantan Aquaman. They also do the "Who's Who" podcast biased on the old DC Who's Who. This post is more then just a shout to the world about a great pod cast,that if you have ANY interest in comic books you should listen too. (Although it is that as well)
This is me, Reverend Null, here to preach an idea that Shagg Matthews put in my head. At the time that the New 52 Firestorm was canceled. Mr. Matthews put forth the idea of "Follow Your Comic Book Bliss" which means find the Comic books you like, a run from anywhere be it DC in the 40's, Image in the 90's or Marvel in the post "we make movies now" era, or what ever and "read the hell out of it". in other words read the stuff you like DONT read the stuff you don't.
Its that second bit that seems too tricky for me and A LOT of Superhero fans. (I say Superhero not Comic book here for a reason, my friends who like "independent books" have ZERO problems with dropping a title they dislike, or makeing a snarky coment about why...but that is a blog for another day.) I was loyal to the X-men long past the point I was sick of the series. if I had followed my comic bliss at the time I could have saved a lot of cash and storage space. However even after both Kitty Pryde and Kurt Wagner were in Excalibur, I still bought the X-Men even though I complained about the direction the book was going. Making a dark book even darker. I hated that the whole X team was now as willing to kill as Wolverine, but I kept buying it any way. i'm not saying it wasn't a good direction for the book in general, sales were strong, we got movies out of it. However I am a fan of the X-men from when Wolverine was the only lethal member, and the rest of the team were CONSTANTLY calling him on it. His best pal, Nightcrawler flat out asks "But does that make it right?" at the end of the first ever comic I bought to start collecting (X-Men 140, with Windigo). "My X-men" ended not long after the Brood Saga, but i stayed loyal and not happy it until The Age of Apocalypse. (thats also when I started reading Green Lantern which WAS my 'comic bliss' even if I didn't have that term yet) I can sit here and tell you all the reasons why I hung on. I could whine some more about how the X-Men changed on me. OR! I can ignore ANY X-men book that I don't like and read the ones i do until the cover falls off. I can follow my Comic bliss. I loved Grant Morrison's run on the X-men, and have defended it as more like "the Real X-men", but the truth is I like weird cosmic, he brought it, and if you don't like weird cosmic you wont like what he brought. Its my bliss I will read it. its not yours? then dont. we read this stuff for fun (most of us) and if it doesn't bring you some kind of emotional fulfillment you are just investing in colorful paper. So read what you like, not what you don't" Its simple its brilliant and it might actually lead you to a good time.
Rev. Bradleyman Null
(I have two "expansions" on Shagg's idea, but I am planing to blog more often and will save those for the future)
