Falling In Love All Over Again – With Comic Book Monthlies

You may have heard that Captain America #600 was released last week.  Certainly Marvel and Joe Quesada tried very hard to publicize the return of Steve Rogers.  Issue #600 didn't really feature Rogers' return; merely the revelation that there was more to his "death" than first appeared in Captain America #25 two years ago.  For his actual return, you have to buy a five issue mini-series, Captain America: Reborn starting in July.

I'm not sure how the event went over with retailers.  But I do know this.  After reading the press release, I was thunderstruck by the need to possess Captain America #600.  With the cover by Alex Ross.

I can't really explain why.  I haven't bought a comic book monthly in years.  I'd become one of the walking dead who waited for the trades.  I thought I had given that up for good.  My back aches whenever I haul my long boxes around to locate my treasured copy of Giant-Size Defenders #1.  My comics collection has migrated to my garage.

I already knew the big revelation in Captain America was going to involve Steve Rogers.  It had to be.  Marvel wasn't going to let one of their first and greatest characters remain dead.  No way.  The past two years have all about bringing Bucky back and restoring him to greatness.

I know a few things about addiction.  Addiction is never really conquered.  If you're an alcoholic, surrounded by booze, one drink can start you tumbling down a rocky road.  A heroin addict's veins always crave for another fix.  A comic book collector can get enticed back by #600 anniversary issues.

It wasn't a thought that led me back to the comic book store last week.  It was animal instinct.  As a teenager, I had bought Captain America #100-#200, and a number of runs afterward.  Did I ever think as a kid that any Marvel title would have a #600 issue?  Only DC Comics series like Action and Detective Comics reached that milestone.  This was an event.  Captain America was still going 600 issues strong, and so was I.  We're both alive and kicking.

I went to Jeffrey's Toys in San Francisco and found one of the last copies with the Alex Ross cover.  The story looked just fine with a great selection of artists:  Ross, Guice, Chaykin, etc.  The backups were nifty, too.  Of course, I couldn't just buy one comic.  No. 

Now I had to buy all Marvel #600 anniversary issues. 

I found a lone retail copy of Thor #600 at a nearby shop, Comic Ink, in Dublin, CA.  Thor's anniversary issue has a great story and beautiful artwork by Olivier Coipel.  I have to confess, I already read this one, in another format.  I'll let you guess how I read it.  But let's just say my previous reading experience was nothing like holding the actual physical comic in my hands.  The detail in the artwork is much clearer and amazing in this form.  And even though you can see that in a trade (which I was planning on buying) the monthly has other alluring properties.  The smell.  The size, easily transportable to the bathroom.  Even the ads for milk, video games, and anti-marijuana propaganda are just cuter than heck.  But what's really sexy is how Cap and Thor 600 look when they are bagged and boarded.  It's like the orbs in Crackdown.  I've got two, but I gotta get a lot more.

The comic collecting urge flooded back in my brain the way that gamma energy overcomes Bruce Banner.  I bought Batman and Robin #1.  I can't miss that one, it's a landmark issue, right?  Hulk 11 and 12 feature the Defenders, my favorite Marvel super-team.  That is justifiable.  Ghost Rider is my current favorite Marvel title and Tony Moore's artwork looks even better on the printed page.  All three issues, ka=ching.  Suddenly I feel like the Joker in the Killing Joke.  I'm just going insane buying comics.

I stopped myself after I spent $65 in a week.  Not very much to some of you.  But more on monthlies than I have spent in a while.

Now I had to take some kind of action before things got out of hand.  The scene in Robocop 2 came to mind where the cyborg grabs an electrical conduit to give himself instant shock therapy.  That seemed a bit too drastic.

There's too much good stuff coming out in the next few months.  Wednesdays Comics from DC will be a totally different experience in the newspaper format than anything on the market.  I bought Batman and Robin #1, why not go for a complete run?  More Marvel Anniversaries, too: Amazing Spider-Man #600, Daredevil #600, Hulk #600.  I got hooked up with my crack dealer (M&M Comics) and ordered two months worth of comics in advance.  That takes some of the sting out of the $4 cover price for most titles.

I remember a few years ago, when the trade collection market really started to take off, there was an interview with an industry vet who said (something to the effect):  That's it, I'm done with floppies.  She was done with hauling around long boxes, trades were more convenient and easier to store.  Suddenly the comic book monthlies were referred to as floppies.  Maybe we a lot of us hit that point in our collective consciousness, as our closets filled up.

Trades are great, especially those Omnibus' and Absolutes, all shiny and new and digitally re-mastered.  But they are not same experience as the original monthlies.  I cracked open my copy of Amazing Spider-Man #121 the other day.  It wasn't just the story and art that gave you the silver/bronze age excitement.  It was also the ads, the letters pages, the editorial content, and yeah, even that sweet smell of newsprint. 

Nuff said.