Comics Cam Week 3

So I guess I'm sort of trying to give a weekly update every Sunday about this "going back into fandom with comics" thing. It helps me gain perspective and reflect which is the principal reason for my recent dedication. A few things:

1) I was ill this week (much better now, thanks.) On Wednesday (when new comics come out) I was really looking forward to picking up some issues for the bus ride home, knowing I'd be at the end of my rope. All the Marvel Now! stuff I'm excited about doesn't start until this week and mostly the next few months. However, I had just read about this idea of Rotworld that DC was in the midst of launching with Animal Man and Swamp Thing. The first "Issue #1" I remember buying off the rack was Grant Morrison's Animal Man in 1988. I loved it. And like many comic fans, I enjoy Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. So I was excited about the characters. Also - the current writers of both these series are some of the best in all of comics. Jeff Lemire is writing Animal Man, but I was introduced to him through the bizarre and lovely Sweet Tooth. Scott Snyder is writing Swamp Thing; his work I met in the dark and delightful American Vampire. I had just finished reading the relaunch of Animal Man in a library-provided graphic novel, and loved it. Basically, I was sold.

Unfortunately, the comic store wasn't ready to sell me. I stopped by Jeffrey's Toys on my way to work. They are my choice of convenience, over the Isotope experience and selection. They just had the Animal Man issue, not Swamp Thing. Dang it. I went to the office to start the real day. Suddenly, I was struck by the "duh idea." I could buy the digital copies through Comixology on the iPad. It was a quite the easy way of doing things. Check, check, check, check, check, check, download .... done. I had my Rotworld for the road home. It is a wonderful horror comics story, by the way. Beautiful art, engaging story, frightening idea, thoughtful concepts - overall just superb. I went ahead and added the remaining issues to my pull-list at Isotope. I liked the digital convenience, and it will replace my buying from Jeffrey's, but not the true comic store oasis and joy I find in Isotope. Also, Marvel doing the free digital comic with a physical purchase sort of downgrades the value of the DC digital-only. I am curious to see how my digital buying patterns develop.

2) I totally got to geek out on Marvel NOW! this week. I jumped into an Avengers/New Avengers liveblog event with the series writer, Jonathan Hickman. While he was on a conference call with the press, an editor was publishing his comments and publishing a few of our liveblog comments (of which I got two posted. The experience was fun. Getting into this fandom/geek thing again has allowed me to participate as things are breaking and understand the significance of the details. I was very excited about the posting of the New Avengers cover:

I loved seeing the Black Panther featured so prominently in a team. Hickman had some bold statements about one of my favorite characters:


I mentioned that the Avengers/New Avengers was #3 on my anticipated list. Well, that was prospecting. And it still sits that high. These Avengers books sound really exciting. OK, that is the geek update for this week.