Week 9 Reading

X-Men: Dark Pheonix Saga

Getting to the end of this comic made me horribly sad. I found it really sad that there was no hope for Jean Grey being able to control her powers, or find a way to deal with them. The finishing of the story was incredible, and extremely well told. I don't even know what else to add to this because I am still lightly dumbfounded.

I Saw It:

The story was super well told and the art was very descriptive, especially during the macabre like scenes. This comic brought me to tears. The part that made me cry especially was the scene where the mother was not able to save her husband and children under their burning house after the bomb was dropped. I can not fathom what is must have been like to live through the hiroshima bombing, or to be a mother not being able to save her family. Like the author said at the end of the story, his comic is only a tiny part of the entire story. I am further separated from the event by only reading his point of view, not knowing much else history, and making my own connections about the story. Yet this comic moved me in a way that none of the other comic readings have before. The story was horribly sad yet lovely at the same time.

I would say this is must read for those who are able to handle the sad and gruesome story.

Journey

"Course... Some are bigger."

This comic was hilarious. That two page spread where you see Wolverine McCalister running through the prarie, and then soon after being tailed by this gigantic savage bear, made me laugh so hard. The art and facial expressions were great, and the story telling in the southern like speech was great. It was super fun to read. The only part that had me a little confused was the short introduction comic, but I loved the actual chase comic.

That two page spread.... priceless.

eh-eh-eh-eh-X-MEN!

I'm so glad I bought the rise of the dark phoenix book, it really was a good look into all the underlying storytelling that's going on in todays marvel saga. I've got to say though, I think I definitely would have enjoyed the pacing of the story a lot more if I was reading it issue by issue. The fact that it's all compiled into one book I think takes away from a lot of the experience that the writers intended. (Im of course referring to a ton of flashbacks throughout the book) Oh well, but who am I to complain? How else am I going to come across an affordable read of this renowned superhero saga in my lifetime? The characters are incredibly well developed. I didn't even think I would like a character such as colossus but he, and along with nearly every other individual, are suddenly so much more compelling to me. I have a feeling it's because that their is a narrative going on three levels describing each character: the caption box, the thought bubble, and the speech bubble. Each is used to capture the exact emotion and expression that each character goes through. At first I thought it seemed like a dated old superhero fodder with how much description was needed, but it really helps to flesh these guys out when you think about it. But yeah... I had to stop at the end of the required reading... just when things were getting good.

A success story was downright hilarious. I had actually never taken a look at it's artwork compare to other EC titles, and I was pretty impressed. The ink was handled in an incredibly stark and intuitive way, using lighting to enhance the mood and drama to it's peak. I really liked how the people were drawn too for some reason, sometime the gesture was what really creeped me out, like when the artist was hunched over his victim. And what comic artist could not love that detail put into those zombies. Also, it had a great juxtaposition of complementing text and image! This was a fantastic little read, and hopefully my future career will not follow suite.

Oh god Batman never brought me so close to tears as the crime ally story did. I've seen the first splash page for that story without color and I gotta say I wish I could see the rest. The color doesn't do it much justice, but the inking in that story is incredible. This was a story that really captured Bruce's character rather than batman, which is something that doesn't happen to often being that Bruce Wayne is a very minor character in comparison to his alter ego. It made me feel much more connected to the individual, and showed a side to batman that isn't seen all too often. I mean really, When's the last time you've seen the guy smile with content?!

Given my time parameters, the most I got out of Sabre was all of Don McGregor's intro to the book. Goddamn that man was passionate about his profession. All I can really get from it is a huge swell of inspiration. I could tell the guy went through a hell of a lot of blood and sweat just to get his stories out into the public like he intended them to be. He seems like a guy who wasn't going to cut any corners. No matter what people thought of his work, he knew what was the right thing to do for his stories. As for the comic, I got about five pages in and had to start working on my paper. But the character sabre; definitely equals a Dirty Harry and Jimmy Hendrix combination. Awesome.

Week 8 Reading;

I was pleasantly surprised by this week. I saw that the readings have been getting longer and longer, but the longest ones were the ones I read through the fasted because I enjoyed them so much.

X-Men: The Phoenix Saga

X-men was definitely the hardest to put down. I found myself to be on page 118 before I realized that I read a little too far ahead. Not that it matters so much, but I thought it was kind of amusing. The art and the story telling was great. I loved every panel of that comic. I had watched the cartoon show as a kid so I was familiar with some of the characters, though I had no idea there was an "old x-men" and a new set of characters. I like that this story keeps evolving with characters leaving, coming back, new ones showing up to fill in gaps and add in a new twist because of different abilities and powers available to the group. It's an interesting dynamic to the way the story is told.

Batman:

Batman was my next favorite and definitely my favorite batman comic so far. I LOVED the art, especially the use of color in and out of the panels. In this strip again, like Robin Dies at Dawn you see an incredibly tender side of Batman that completely balances out the ruthlessness shown to his enemies. He really is a dark knight, showing chivalry and kindness to those who mean a lot to him. I hope there are more stories like this one, art included. I would most definitely recommend this Batman comic to other readers if they haven't yet. The 12 pages goes by way too fast.

Creepy Archives:

This comic has a strange story. The ink work was incredible to say the least. This comic was definitely the classic EC macabre story from the documentary was watched about EC comics in class. The zombie artists' blood-inked picture was definitely a fun gruesome touch added to the end of the story. I wish that bit would have been left in color, or at least red. It made me think about artists I have come across on the web who do use their own blood for their artwork. Maybe that discussion should be saved for later but if there is anyone curious about it I can show you some artwork and ideology about working with blood as a medium you guys might find interesting.

Sabre:

I think I would have enjoyed this comic better if I could understand what was going on. There seemed to be a lot of plot holes in the story. I was able to read about halfway through with out getting a headache, but after that things were still not making sense. I flipped ahead.. and there were no clues as to answer my many questions about the story. I'll have to go back and re-read that just out of curiosity. I liked that the story took place in a V for Vendetta/ 1984-esque america. The fact that Melissa was a test tube baby brought up some interesting ideas about what it really means to be born with that kind of connection to your mother, not to mention Brave New World scenarios.

I liked both Sabre and Melissa as characters. I can't say why I was drawn to either of them, but from what I could put together from the reading, they were instantly likable, but strange. That is definitely not the most eloquent way of saying it, but this comic leaves me a little lost.

week7

So this week had some incredibly surreal stories. The Aliens surprised me in terms of how interesting the story got after the beginning. Sure it was dated and a lot of their ploys didn't seem to make sense given the technology they had, but it was still able to draw my attention with the looming motiff of accepting the unknown. That being said the art fit the narrative well: bizarre and eerie. What I noticed most was the overwhelming experimentation of color in the comic. Especially when the humans on the alien ship went through that hypatomic field thingy. I find it pretty commendable that this comic was written and drawn by Russ Manning. I'd suggest that people look up this guy and check to see just how successful of a comic artist he was.

The green lantern story also had an eye for peculiar adventure. I really haven't read a silver age green lantern comic before. I've known about him with my understanding of the justice league, but I think this comic really opened my eyes as to how weird his solo adventures were.

Blind man's bluff had a very abrasive art style, which turned me away from it at first. But as I got further into the story, I believe it really helped to convey the mood of tension and suspense throughout the story. It was a psychological thriller, and brought up an intriguing topic. The fact that the artist's newfound perceptions wasn't explained thoroughly enough upsets me initially. I can't decide if that's good writing or not. either way it was a freaky, intriguing, and, unbelievable story.

The disney comics were once again a pleasure to read. However the story featuring fethry was downright terrifying. Ducks hunting ducks? I mean come on even if they are domesticated? The character himself freaked me out enough. I definitely thought the story including goofy and the crow character was the most complex story out of the whole bunch.

Modesty Blaise is a comic that I highly suggest to be on the required textbooks next year. I can find no loose end to this comic that doesn't immediately fascinate me. I left a really longwinded review of why I found it so remarkable on the blackboard discussion, so I hope no one's too upset that I don't repeat myself or use copy paste. The best way I can put it is that I found it to be a landmark for comics. It proved that the medium can engross a wide enough amount of audiences as film can.

week 7

The Aliens No. 1
I found this book to be fairly interesting. I was intrigued by the peaceful solution the aliens and the humans had to split up their crews and head back to their respective planets. I was immediately thinking of possible betrayal situations etc. The art didn't necessarily blow me away, but I did find several panels to be very interesting I.E. the panel where the fanatic aliens try to gas the human visitors in "An Alien Welcome" or the few pages where the crew is stuck in hypatomic vibration and everything turns in to color blobs in "A Case of Nerves". I totally agree with what Lindsay said below about the character design and the space gumby comment. I like how the story makes you realize how primitive our instincts can be sometimes when we feel threatened.

Green Lantern
This book seemed to flow nicely while having very interesting and complicated artwork. While I had to get over my personal feeling that the green lantern is the dorkiest hero of all time (the dude carries around a battery to recharge off of? wtf?) I thought the story was very interesting. I literally laughed out loud when he took control of the sea beast and it grew wings and flew off into the sky. I tend to root for the underdog so I enjoyed the battle between Thraxton and himself, while the green lantern chose to rely on his brute strength instead of the ring's powers.

Week 7 reading:

The Aliens # 1:

I absolutely loved the art for this comic. The story telling was great and easy to follow *coughunlikekonacough* Half of the time I was expecting the aliens to turn around and betray the human beings, using them for some plot for planet domination or whatever. It was surprising and made me really happy when the aliens did turn out to be the good guys, except for those two paranoid ones back on the alien's home planet. In a time when comics reflected the fear of the unknown, it was nice to see something peaceful come out of it, unlike Challengers where they just kick the attacking threat's butt. I also really enjoyed the character design for the aliens. Those flat limbs were pretty funky. They reminded me of a space version of Gumby.

Green Lantern:

Wow... I have to say, the art for this comic was incredible. The fight scenes especially. They were very believable because the movement looked awesome and cinematic as well. Who doesn't want a power ring like the green lantern's when it can even conjure food? That would make every college here incredibly happy.

I don't even know what else to say about this comic. Just... Wow.

Best Crime:

This was a very strange crime comic indeed. The part where Teddy and her husband have a psychic connection made me laugh. I didn't quite understand how Teddy could understand what was going on while being def and mute. I did think it was interesting how the artist character was more tortured when he got his sight back again (from a bullet grazing his temple? how does that work?).

Modesty Blaise:

By far, one of my absolutely favorite comics read in class. Oh my goodness do I love the story, the writing, the art, the characters themselves were all stunning. I'm glad this comic wasn't forced to be censored for the general public. This comic was definitely a huge contrast from past readings such as John Carter, Batman or Captain Marvel. I really love Modesty as a character because she reminds me a lot of Wonder Woman, but with a little bit of Batman's vengeance and crime fighting.

Modesty Blaise is definitely my recommended reading for the group. Bad Suki was a heck of a lot of fun to read. I'm sure all her other stories are just as well done and thrilling.

Week Six, Or How I Learned to Love the Camp

(Ooops, typed this out last night but forgot to post it!)

The readings this week were very enjoyable, for various reasons, and also very important for various reasons.

Let's start with MAD. I find it interesting to put these MAD comics in context of the Lawsuit readings from earlier on. Obviously this is not the same thing, but the comparison is interesting. I mean, they are lampooning the TOP DOG comic characters of the time, and perhaps of all time. They made a point many times to assure you this was a lampoon (not a spitoon!), as if that was ever unclear? Apparently there was never any legal issue, as parody is a different ballgame. All that being said, I found them to be pretty funny some of the time, but it was maybe like 1 in 5 jokes that worked for me. I laughed every time BatBoy deftly missed with the lasso.

CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOOOOWNNNNN!!
So. Challengers of the unknown is super campy. At first I just thought it was really bad. But then! I was won over somewhere in the ULTIVAC story. Maybe it's just that I love stories about living machines, or giant robots? I don't know. I mean, the writing was really bad. Like, really really. I don't think I have seen more plot holes ever. BUT! That's okay, because it is amusing and funny. Further than that though: Why is this reading important? Well, I think that it typifies a certain kind of story popular at the time. Or at least runs along many currents that were a hit back then. In any regard I went from being repulsed by this to finding it very amusing (Probably not for the reasons it was intended.) Also, Jack Kirby is the King of Comics.

Robin Dies at Dawn! This was bizarre. Also, it was interesting in the context of seduction of the innocent. I hope I'm not stretching here? I mean, as far as 'evidence' the Robin/Batman gay thing. I mean, Batman is so broken up by the fact that he could MAYBE cause robins death, he breaks the vow he gave over his dead parents? Instead of just letting Robin not be in harms way at all? And continue crime fighting himself? Also there was the whole tentacle monster thing, and Robin comes to his rescue, just as he had hoped (I hope I'm not reading too much into these.) Regardless, there were also parts of this that were very funny (read: We're gonna kill you by strapping you to a balloon!) At any rate, it was a good story to read as a barometer of the time; It certainly shows off the storytelling trends, wants, and fears of the time just via contrast.

KONA: I may be alone in not finding Kona that enjoyable. I think we all know that it was poorly written, but I may be alone in thinking the visual beauty didn't make up for it. You all seemed pretty stricken. I mean, yeah it's beautiful, but who cares? I have no idea what is going on in this and it seems pretty boneheaded (I don't mean to be rude.) It is similar to CHALLENGERS, in that it has that pseudo science thing going, along with the supermasculine hero who fixes major problems, etc. But! It is written even more poorly. So why bother? Maybe I'm being very harsh. Either way I was not fond of this, but I know it is important because there were many stories like this popular at the time.

War Comics: These were interesting for several reasons. One, they were very down to earth in a way these other stories were not; they're very realistic. Two, there are similarly very much darker than these other stories. People have drawn comparison to the EC stories, in particular with Souvenirs, which I think is fair. Souvenirs tries to teach a moral lesson in the EC way, that is, for an example of the wrong to get it's just desserts. The dogfight comic was different. It was more a commentary, in the end, of the mindlessness of war and the inherent atrocities and, perhaps, the worthlessness of valor. Or at least, it felt that way to me. Also the art on both of these was very good.

I give my vote for WAR COMICS to be the reading other groups have to read.

week6

Challengers of The Unknown was a good read. It obviously borrowed elements from a lot of science fiction at the time, but it translated well into the comic I think. Of course, the plot gets pretty hokey. It was kind of neat that they tried to throw in a lot of science lessons for their readers, especially in the metal man story. Overall, that was probably the most attractive aspect to the stories. A lot of these scientific principles that the challengers face in the comic aren't as developed as they are today, which might be why a lot of us today find it so cheesy and unnecessarily text heavy. But I assume that's what the kids loved back in the day, and I'm sure this resulted in more kids of that generation searching for careers in physics and chemistry rather than art. That being sad, I see the best part of it being Kirby's artwork: dynamic, zany, and extremely stylistic. I really should study the guy's artwork more in some spare time because he has such an unusual take on his figures. all the humans are extremely, dynamic, but I love it when Kirby gets his hands on a robot story. I loved ultivac, it shows how much of a unique understanding Kirby had on mechanical design. But in general, I think Kirby's figures are at their best when they're are made of anything else but flesh.

Personally thought Kona by Sam Glanzman was one of the most intriguing comics on the reading list this week. Partly because his process, rendering with ink over very loose "stick-figure" drawings shows that this guys really understands how the human form and environments work. I find it commendable, because I can relate this to new findings in my own practice of inking. I really respect the pacing of the visual storytelling, and the speed in which he brought the reader through. This is all achieved through very practiced use of design in each one of the pages. I think it's important to mention that of course the plot and writing were not nearly on the same level as the visual storytelling. Overall I thought it was fantastic and visually arresting.

The MAD magazine's didn't attract my attention as much because I'm used to a lot of superhero parodies. So unfortunately it washed over me. But this is good stuff. The the grotesque exaggeration and the flurry of random elements of pop culture make this something pretty extreme for the time. I don't know if I'm getting my facts right but I really do believe there wasn't a more powerful device of parody at the time other than MAD magazine. It went after two of the most iconic and highest grossing figures in the comics business, no wonder it was so popular!

Robin Dies at Dawn was downright hilarious in my opinion. All the creatures he faced while under the testing were very strange, and the gorilla gang really didn't help to elevate the dire situation that Robin faced at the end. However I think the character advancement was the most important element of the story. The imagery really didn't seem to fit it at first but this is some pretty serious subject matter being taken on in the plot. however weird it was I could definitely read this and still understand what Batman was going through at the time.

The two stories from the Best War Comics were alright. I didn't find the dogfighting comic that interesting because there was much more narration going on rather than visual storytelling. It was a decent plot and good art, I just didn't think they were merged together very well. The Story about the thief in the pacific theater used the EC formula for teaching the reading a moral by making a main character learn the hard way, which was fairly enjoyable.

Week 6 Reading

MAD Volume 1 and 2:

These comics were great. I love it when artists can make fun of each other and themselves. The little details in all the panels in both Superduperman and Bat Boy were great. I found that I was staring at each panel just trying to find the differences in the last one. Robin's changing pant patterns and logo was great, especially when Mickey Mouse somehow shows up. The other great thing about these comics, was it seemed a vast knowledge of the characters and story-lines wasn't necessary to understand the jokes. I love how Captain Marvel also made an appearance in the Superduperman comic.

Art in Time: Kona

The art in this comic was nice, but the text/ story was hard to understand. I could get a gist of what was going on but I didn't understand what was going on and why.. if that makes any sense. It was definitely very action packed, with all sorts of groups of creatures going after each other. It somewhat reminded me of that extremely long chase scene from Peter Jackson's King Kong. There was no breathing room for you to put together what was going on. I enjoyed looking at the different mutant creatures. The comic might have made more sense to me if I had read some of the previous comics.

Batman:

This comic was pretty adorable. Batman obviously cares about Robin like his own son. The story telling was great and the art was spotless. I haven't read enough Batman to really support this statement, but it seems that most of the Batman stories have villains with some kind of a mental illness or psychological problem and this was true in the comic we read except there was an interesting twist. Instead of someone attacking Robin, most of the danger was caused by Batman himself and the hallucinations left over from the stress test he was given. It wasn't until the end of the comic that Robin was put into any real danger, but Batman was able to come through and save his sidekick.

War Comics: Love Hawk and Souvenirs

The first comic was really interesting. I liked how the story was historically accurate and the manner that it was told. The imagery was beautiful as well. I can't imagine what it must have been like to fly in a plane all day for the sole purpose of bringing down enemy planes, and then being lucky enough to have a long, successful career and not be a martyr in the process.

This comic seemed to follow the Tales from the Crypt philosophy, where the bad man gets his just rewards in the end. It was one of the solider's greed that ended getting him killed, though it saved the rest of his troupe. It was an interesting twist. That must have been the same fate of the first man the troupe of soldiers found at the beginning of the comic.

Challengers of the Unknown:

The first comics with the metal man was pretty strange (as Jack had forewarned me). A bunch of scientific facts were used to make the technology and story seem more real, but somehow a ball of rolling force ray energy, when collided with the metal man, was able to knock him out with the Challengers being unhurt. What happened there?

The second comic about the mirage world was pretty awesome. It was fun to read. Again, the art and the nature of the story telling was great for both of these comics. I'm liking Challengers more and more, and will most likely end up reading more from the text book when I have some free time. I would gladly lend someone my copy, with the mirage world chapter bookmarked, as recommended reading.

week5

To begin I loved John Carter. I might have at first been distracted by how dated it is, but the premise was just far too intriguing for me to pass up. It's a staple in science fiction fandom of the of the 20th century. Finally, all those painting by Frazetta seem so much more relevant now! This is what I believe to be pure escapism, because almost all the characters seem fabricated out of John Carter's head. Every feat of strength he pulls off seems to magically appease anyone, no matter how hostile they were before. I skipped through the rest of the book after I finished reading the required part, from what it looks like Burroughs gets really psychedelic with his style later on.

The batman story was delightful to read because there are so many reinterpretations of him finally achieving revenge. I finally see how it was originally depicted. Does it make me think less of him? How can I? One of the great thing about super hero comics is that the villains who wrong the hero always seem to find death at their own hands. Superhero comic artists seem to find Divine justice as one of their most attractive motifs. I think that pretty much sums up the EC readings as well! I really haven't read enough of those, so these were pretty rewarding. I find the EC story formula pretty rewarding no matter how many times it's used. I really like their art; the inks and color work very well together to create very convincing emotions and moods for the characters. And they totally nailed the pirate dialogue!

The two comics by Jack Kirby and Frank Frazetta were amusing since that kind of stuff is most definitely not what I associate either of them with. I didn't see any resemblance to the drawing style of Frazetta's comic but there was that specific energy he always seems to channel so well into his characters movements. Kirby's unique inking style can definitely be seen in the Lockjaw character, and although humorously portrayed, each of the character's seemed to be dynamically placed within the composition of the pages.

Wonder Woman was pretty fun to read. It made me chuckle a bit and seemed to give her more character than before for sure. I found her opposition to be humorous, but at the same time rewarding to see her defeat her ignorant and selfish boyfriend.

The Disney comics, Pluto trying to protect the lumber, and the wolf boy trying to help his dad were emotionally endearing and incredibly well written. It's odd to say but I really do think that these disney comics were some of the best written comics around back in their prime. It's difficult to achieve a well written comic, because they don't work the same way a normal book can describe action and imagery. I think the images and the dialogue blend together seamlessly in these comics.

Week 5 Reading

This week seemed to have a lot to do with origin stories and just rewards... or maybe that just happened to be a coincidence...

Wonder Woman:

I loved this comic. I really enjoyed the art style better in this comic than the earlier ones. I hated Steve Trevor for cheating to find Wonder Woman, as flattering as that may seem at first. I still find the whole idea with "hiding under one's nose" to be pretty funny and pathetic on the love interest's part. If Diana is so gorgeous, how could she look that much different with glasses on? I'm sorry.

Batman:

I also liked the later batman comic better than the first one we read. The art and storytelling was much better. In the last comic I couldn't see how Batman was the archetype for a vengeance character (yes, i knew the story line from the movies and such, but I hadn't seen it from the comics) but in this particular story, it was very clear. He wasn't as brutal as I thought he would be. He did try to legally put Chill away, even though he did enjoy a few punches in the process. Eventually, Chill's own decisions lead him to his death and Batman doesn't have to do anything.

Disney Treasures:

Now these comics would be the perfect defense against Seduction of the Innocent by Dr. Wertham. They were all adorable, model stories that showed proper behavior. Lil' Wolf rebelled against his dad's bad behavior and reputation by buying the chickens instead of actually stealing them from the Brier Bear. His father got his just reward at the end. Chip, Dale and Pluto had a mini struggle, then worked together to save the construction wood from being stolen and everyone was happy and rewarded in the end. The Grandma Duck found a creative solution to her problem and managed to get her knitting done. There were no bully, bondage or brutal themes present whatsoever. I loved reading them and i thought they were adorable with great attention to the detail of the art.

John Carter:

Definitely blew my mind a little bit. The colors, costumes and characters were all crazy and wacky. I think saying out of this work would be too much of a pun. At first I was turned off by the oddness of it all, but once I got used to it I started to appreciate the comic for what it was and really enjoyed it. I wasn't entirely sure how John Carter got to Mars. It seems to me that he just wakes up in this strange mid-dimention before being sucked onto the planet. My first conclusion was that the gas gave him some kind of a hallucinogenic dream. But he never wakes up at the end like Nemo did in his comics.

Two Fisted Tales:

Both of these comics were pretty brutal and I know the titles slightly forewarn the reader of what they are getting into, I was not expecting this. I think these were the first comics which made me realize how powerful comics are as a story telling medium. It's almost worse than watching a gorey movie because you have the words and pictures to guide you through the scene, but your mind has more of a chance to take over with all the excruciating details that would bother you the most. In the first comic, the end was pretty clever with how the good guys set up the bad soldiers to be shot up by their own men. I was just sad that the most courageous of all the characters was the one sacrificed to save the others. It was the blonde american man that was somehow able to live and tell his story to the soldiers who found him. In the pirates comic, I thought it was great how the amnesiac captain ended up dying in the quicksand he was using to protect his treasure from other people. I started off liking the character, feeling sympathetic for him and his plight. Once I got to the end of the story I was pretty darn happy that he killed himself.

Hucky Duck:

This comic would also be another good example of how not all comics seduce the innocent. It was funny to see the duck's world being turned upside down as he was the one going to be cook for dinner once he was fished. Poor Hucky Duck was allowed to fish in that pond after all after he had his horrible dream. Go figure.

Lockjaw the Alligator:

I thought this was also an interesting comic. It was a little on the rambunctious side because Lockjaw would use violence to get what he wanted, especially in the dentist's office when he wanted to have his teeth checked. This comic had good story telling and it was funny, especially the cute little professor when he realizes it's silly for him to have a tooth ache when he has dentures.

My recommendation for the week would definitely have to be John Carter. It's just weird and awesome and everyone should have at least read a good science fiction comic at least once in their lives.