"The Stash", as of 14/04/2015. Some will soon be given away.
If you follow me on Instagram (and to a lesser extent, on twitter), you’ll see me mention comic books a lot. In 2014, a comic book store opened in Peterborough, and I have been a very, very frequent visitor there since*. I think it is safe to say that I love comics, and I am some-way to building a very, very good library (subjectively speaking) of comic books.
Whilst I’ve always been an appreciator of comic book culture, mythologies, histories, movies, timelines, etc, I’ve done all of this without actually reading comic books.
From that point, to finally delve into comic books, with the single issues and trade paperbacks**, and the delectable cover artwork and variants, and the bagging and boarding of issues to preserve them, and the descriptions of M/NM/VF/F***, and trawling through back issues to find obscure and not so obscure #1s and other special issues/editions …well, its a whole different subculture and I am very glad to be partaking of it at this moment in my life.
What comics give you that is different from both books and movies is a lack of descriptive prose. A novel will have both dialogue and written description for scene setting. A movie will have auditory dialogue, and will visually set the scene. A comic has written dialogue, and the scene is set visually by the artist in the panels. What you get from this is that you see first hand how the writer of the tale imagines it, whereas with novels you have to imagine yourself, and with movies, you see the director’s vision. If you can get round that, you’re in for a fantastic treat.
I am not sure how long I will be into comic books for, but right now, I am loving it.
As an aside, I am surprised by how much I appear to love DC over Marvel; I’d say at a rough guess DC comprises 75% or more of my collection, nearly half of which is just Sandman. Which leads me on to…
THE SANDMAN
“Excellence is its own master, owes no allegiance, bows it’s head to no regimen. It exists pure and whole like the silver face of the moon”
- Ralph Ellison, Introduction to Sandman, Volume IV
Ralph is right. The Sandman is one of the most amazing works of fiction I have come across in any format. Neil Gaiman is a master storyteller, and I continue to be impressed beyond measure by his vision, and the way he seems to start with a premise, extend it in multiple directions, and in his extending plant the seeds for closing the tale. Then, when he closes the story, it is done so neatly, so elegantly, that I’m just in awe.
The tale once told is then complete. And it is not just a good tale, told well, but rather, a fantastic tale, excellently told. He’s done this over and over for novels and comics, so this is no accident.
I have absolutely no qualms about putting the Sandman series right next to Shantaram in my list of recommended literature. If you’re in the mood for something different, unique, and very well made, give Sandman a go.
Finally, whatever you do, try to achieve the same level of excellence and polish as this series, and you will go very, very far.
Sometimes you wake up.
Sometimes the fall kills you.
And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.
- The Sandman, Volume VI
With duas for you and yours
I
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* As an aside, I think there are enough people to support exactly one of each type of enterprise in a small town/city, and then this number grows as the population gets bigger. Example: Peterborough has exactly one Kurdish restaurant, one dessert parlour, one comic book store, one shisha cafe, one grand library, one mall, etc.
** A trade paperback usually collects a story arc of single issues and normally have no advertisements in them as well.
*** Mint / NearMint / VeryFine / Fine
