Comics for 2014

This means comics for me, not an exciting preview of new titles and revivals that will be coming out over the year; I'll leave that to the professionals.

Last year was a big year for me. Reading comics started in 2012, but 2013 saw the MOOC and ICAF and volunteering at Stumptown. None of that will be happening this year. Well, I guess it is possible that another MOOC could come up that sounds interesting and I would go for it, but I definitely can't go to ICAF. Even if it would not be unreasonable for someone at my level (not at all professional or academic) to travel for the conference (it will be in Ohio this time), I am already booked for something else that week. I was lucky that it did get held in Portland and that I found out about it.

Worse than all of that, they have ended my beloved Stumptown Comics Fest. A big part of that was because of Rose City. What a world. The good news is that Stumptown may still try and do other, smaller events, like bringing guest speakers, and that does have potential. Still, taken all together, it kind of feels like 2013 was magic and the magic has ended.

However, there is still a lot of magic to be had within the comics. As we got closer to the end of the year, I started writing a lot more reviews, and I want to do that more. It is not something that will conform to a regular schedule yet, like the music reviews. I'm still getting the hang of this.

I still keep getting so much pleasure out of the things I find. Even the ones that are kind of disappointing lead to interesting thoughts, and new ways of looking at things, and I feel like I understand a lot more now.

There are a lot of unknowns. I don't know if I will find it in me to try Rose City. For those who are into that, don't mind me; I know my aversion is atypical, and a bit crotchety. I don't know how often I will write reviews. I might do weeks of three reviews at a time in between other series, so maybe a week after I finish updating on my life, before starting on music videos, and then another as we switch from music to teen girls. It will probably depend on what I read and what I have to say. I do have some ideas on the reading.

We'll be starting off with the fruits of another .99 sale, though this was from Dark Horse. They had a sale on Rock comics, so I snapped up all of Orchid and Emily and the Strangers. The sale also included Killjoys, but I have been getting those at Things From Another World because I wanted print.

After that I need to return to my trove of free digital comics from Dark Horse. There were so many good ones already, there should be some good ones coming up. Those are all first issues, so then I will want to take some of those series and continue. So far, that probably includes 47 Ronin, Alabaster:Wolves, The Answer, and Colder.

Otherwise, there is this list I keep of things that I want to read. Technically there are two, because there is a mental list, and then there are things that I actually write up and enter. This year I want to make some headway on the written list. I am aware that this will just lead to me writing down new things from the mental list and I am comfortable with that.

I will read The Black Beetle and Ultrasylvania. I will read some Shigeru Mizuki, probably his new one. It looks pretty good. There are several web comics I want to explore more, including some from my Eugene crew; I would love to bring them some new readers. I intend to check out Bandette. There is a graphic edition of The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. I want to check that out.

I said in an earlier review that I need to read more of Lazarus, and that is going to happen. One thing is that there are so many creators and studios that I feel attached to, without having read their work yet, and that's because of the other things. They were on a panel, or spoke at the MOOC, and I have learned from them. Or, I see their tweets. There is always something more to check out. Also, because of Twitter, I have two quests.

The first comes via Steve Morris of Comics Beat and other publications, but it is through Comics Beat that I know about International Darkstar Day:

http://comicsbeat.com/happy-international-darkstar-day-2013/

Yes, the second sketch is mine. He had tweeted worrying that there wouldn't be many submissions, and so I committed that I would. I had many attempts that did not work, and then I just let my instincts take over, and it did work, but it turns out that I have the artistic instincts of a 14 year old girl. It's a little disappointing, but there are reasons that makes sense.

Obviously, there is a larger quest there of learning to draw better, and there will be more on that next week, but also, I want to know Darkstar better before I try her again. That list in the article? I am going for it!

Accomplishing that goal should be pretty easy; the next quest is trickier. After coming back from my Stumptown, I saw a tweet from one of the Twins about an artist selling his book there. I had the program with me, so I replied with the booth number, because that was an easy and helpful thing to do. However, I was then aware of the artist and the book, I'm a German Shepherd by Murilo Martins:

http://murilomartins.tumblr.com/post/48481699805/im-a-german-shepherd-is-my-new-graphic-novel-im

It looked like something I would enjoy, but I had no idea how hard it would be to find. It would have been so easy to buy it that day, if only I had known that would be something to do. It's the limited edition part. The few places that should have had it are either sold out or simply not communicative, but I can't quite give up. A copy may turn up on eBay eventually, or since it seems to be well-liked, perhaps he can do a second edition, but I'm not ruling out travel to Brazil. It's nice there in December, right?


Related posts:

http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/04/greetings-from-stumptown.html

http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/05/gender-through-comic-books-my-first-mooc.html

http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/06/international-comic-arts-forum-source.html