poll: comics

Sara drew this picture of me on the way to the cottage.
She was in the back seat with Annie, and could see me in the
rear view mirror from where she was sitting. :-)
(click on image for larger version)


My family used to go on camping trips each summer, and these usually involved long car rides. To keep us occupied and to keep themselves sane, my parents used to let us buy comic books to read in the car. So we loaded up with Archie, Richie Rich, Casper, and other supermarket type of comics. As a teenager, I was also fond of MAD magazine and Plop! magazine.

In university, I was reintroduced to comics by my friends Reid (then boyfriend) and John Swain. Reid got me interested in Swamp Thing, Power Pack, Dark Knight, X-Men, Miracle Man, Cerebus, Elektra. John Swain bought me the first five issues of Dr. Strange as a birthday gift, and I was intrigued enough to continue collecting the series for a while. A bunch of us made regular trips to the Silver Snail on Queen Street and Bakka.

I quit collecting comics after while because of the amount of money I was starting to spend on the hobby, except for occasional collections like Elfquest. Then I met Rand and Adam (who wrote "Stop Talking About Comic Books Or I'll Kill You"). :-) Rand introduced me to the work of Chester Brown, Seth (who did the cover of the most recent Aimee Mann CD) and Joe Matt, as well as many others. I find it ironic that I found about about these three Toronto artists through an American. Anyway, I grew interested in the idea of autobiographical comic strips, and thus blame Rand for my own.

When I was living in Philly a couple of years ago, one of my co-workers (Leone Atchison, Sequential Tart Webmaster) took me to the local comic bookstore as well as introducing me to some of her favorites. Rand and Lee have apparently run into each other a couple of times at comic book conventions.

While Jeff and I were at the cottage, the National Post ran a series of articles about Seth. We took the motorboat across the lake to the Portage Store to get each issue. One of the articles mentioned a Toronto comic bookstore, The Beguiling, so we decided to check it out last night.

Wonderful place! Not only does the store have a ton of comics and original artwork, but also has a wonderful collection of used children's books. Jeff bought a new Neil Gaiman comic called 1602 and I picked up a $4 used copy of "Homer Price" by Robert McCloskey. I was very tempted by a copy of "Freddy the Detective", but decided to resist. Jeff also saw me drooling over a Kabuki graphic novel (I love David Mack's artwork) and bought it for me (thank you, Jeff!).

If you're in town for Torcon and are a comic book fan, you should consider checking out The Beguiling (601 Markham St., see this panel by Joe Matt of Seth, Joe, and Chester Brown in front of the store). Other comic book stores downtown: Silver Snail (367 Queen St. W. - 15-, 20 min. walk from Torcon), Hairy Tarantula (354 Yonge Street,†second floor, short subway+walk from Torcon)

Survey: What were your favorite comics as a child? What comics do you read now, if any? (yes, online comics count)

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