Man.

I like comics.

They’re really good right now, especially at Marvel (I’m biased, sure, but hey, we’re all biased. Bein’ from Mississippi, I think the Mississippi State Bulldogs are gonna beat the snot out of everyone in football, even though they’re, y’know…bad).

You got ASTONISHING X-MEN (Joss rules), you got DAREDEVIL (Brubaker/Lark…ahhhhh, comfort food), you got everything Bendis writes (pretty sure he types on two different laptops at the same time. HOW does the man write so much?), you got WORLD WAR HULK (John Romita, Jr. I swear, that kid ain’t a bad drawer). Good stories, pretty art, great color. Fun stuff.

So yeah, I like comics.

But I used to LOVE comics.

They’re just as good now as they used to be. Some may be better. But I’m not a kid anymore. You get old, you get busy, you don’t get to eat as much candy as you used to…nothing’s as much fun as when you were a kid. You could spend a whole Saturday sitting in your tree house with a stack of 50 comics, most “borrowed” from your next door neighbor, and just read all day. That was considered productive.

So this blog’s about comics that have stuck with me since I was little, the comics that I think all kids today should be required to read, and some newer comics that make me feel that same giddy warm feeling in my stomach when I’d read them as a kid.

So let’s jump right into a list, whatcha say? Something simple to kick it off:

MY SEVEN FAVORITE MARVEL STORIES THAT SHOULD BE READ TO ANYBODY THAT CAN’T REALLY READ YET

If you can’t read yet, then you’re probably not reading this. But parents…if your kid can’t read yet, read ‘em these comics. It’ll make them want to read more. And who knows, if they read comics, they MIGHT just want to read the occasional book without pictures (hey, it worked on me).

This list’ll be for stories that’re more than one issue, or lasted for an entire run of the series. I’m not doing single issues, because I wanna save that list for later.

Countin’ down!


MARVELS
My first list, and I’ve already started with the controversy. Yes, this ain’t a kid’s book. No, there’s not THAT much fighting in it. But I wish this was the first Marvel comic I’d ever read, or was read to me. There’s some adult stuff in here that needs to be explained, but that’s what comics do sometimes: They introduce grown-up ideas disguised as super hero fun. And Kurt Busiek is the KING of making the serious medicine go down with a spoonful of sugary excitement. He tells the story of Phil Sheldon, a newspaper photographer in the 1940’s who's having trouble coping with living in a world that used to be pretty normal…before all these flying and fiery people started showing up. Alex Ross makes the re-introduction of Marvel’s greatest characters seem new and prettier than a picture. It’s a complicated, sophisticated look at the dawn of the Marvel universe; Required reading for anybody who likes comics.
Where you can find it: There was a super-pretty 10-year anniversary version of all four issues a few years ago.


Thor Croaks
All hail Mister Walt Simonson. He’s responsible for some of the most fun comics that Marvel’s ever published. His best? The Mighty THOR #363-#366, where Thor’s half-brother Loki turns him into a frog. Frog Thor ends up in Central Park, where he gets caught in a war between the true-of-heart frogs and the evil rats (believe me, even if you’re a thunder god like Thor, you should STILL be scared of New York rats. They’re bigger than poodles). Read this and try not to smile when Thor allies himself with Puddlegulp, Gullywhump and the beautiful Princess Greensong (well…she’s kinda pretty for a frog). You’ll get so into the story and start rooting for the frogs so much that you’ll forget how silly (but wonderful) the whole thing is.
Where you can find it: THOR VISIONARIES – WALT SIMONSON, VOL. 3


UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN
99 cents. With tax, my favorite comic for two years and two months was only $1.06.
Remember that nice stuff I said about Kurt up there in the MARVELS paragraph? Turns out he am write good other places. Take this baby, for instance. Busiek (who I guess read every Spider-Man comic from 1963-present) went back, found cracks in Spidey’s looooong history and found ways to tell cool little timeless stories about Peter Parker in his teenage years. Couple Kurt’s brilliant characterization of Spidey with Pat Olliffe’s super-fun throwback (but not TOO throwback) art, and you’ve got one of the best forgotten runs in Webslinger history.
Where you can find it: There’s an UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN trade that collects the first eight issues (I think they’re reprinting it soon), but when you (or your kid) has the chance, go treasure hunting in the discount bins at the comic book store or check on eBay…the whole run is great (and don’t forget the Annuals!)


X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
I know this one’s good, because I help edit it.
Who knows who Jeff Parker is?
Anyone? Anyone?
He’s one of the best writers working in comics today. (The joke in my office is that EVERY review of Parker’s comics begins with the sentence, “I’ve never heard of this Parker guy, but…” followed by a glowing review.) He wrote AGENTS OF ATLAS (read it), he writes MARVEL ADVENTURES THE AVENGERS (reeeeeeeead it), and we’d have him write a lot more, but he’s kinda slow (love ya, Jeff!). And I think this is probably his all-around best title (and I say that as somebody that doesn’t really dig X-Men). This book is the best current All Ages title (and top five Best Book) at Marvel right now because it’s just sooooo much fun: The original five X-Men (Cyclops, Beast, Angel, Iceman and Marvel Girl) are college students being taught by Professor Charles Xavier. They fight, they bicker, they flirt, they have FUN…and sometimes they fight monsters. The teammates care about one another, as evidenced in the absolute joy they feel being around one another. And Roger Cruz’s art is just the best. I defy you to look at his Jean Grey and NOT fall in love. (Special shout-out to colorist Val Staples, whose warm, autumn-y palette adds to the book’s fuzzy-chicken-soup feel)
Read this. Then like it. In that order.
Where You Can Find It: There’s an X-MEN: FIRST CLASS hardcover of the first 8-issue miniseries out right now…aaaaaaaand it’s an ongoing series too, so it’s on this month’s new releases shelf! (check out issue #5, where the team fights the Hulk! He’s the green and strong one)


ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Kurt Busiek takes you back in time and tells you some of the best Spidey stories from yesteryear. Brian Michael Bendis starts Spidey from scratch and takes you on a journey of angst-filled discovery.
Getting rid of a new comic book reader’s worst enemy (CONTINUITY, otherwise known as “trying to tell stories about 25-year-olds that have 45 years worth of stories about them”), BMB masterfully introduces us to dorky Peter Parker, a Queens-born teenager living with his loving aunt and uncle. One day he gets bit by a radioactive spider and begins developing weird powers. If you know the rest, I won’t bore you. If you don't, I won’t spoil it. BMB takes his time getting where he’s going in a story, but with his sparkling ear for dialogue and realistic depiction of modern-day teenagers, you’re going to want to spend a lot of time reading his work anyway.
Where you can find it: It’s monthly, with really pretty art by Stuart Immonen, but BMB still hasn’t topped that first arc (ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, VOLUME I), where he really made Spider-Man seem like a new and fresh concept again.


MARVEL ADVENTURES THE AVENGERS
I can just see it now: You’re gonna go pick up a copy of MATA, see my name in it and say, “Psh. Messed up, Nate. You can’t keep putting books on this list that YOU work on.”
Hey, look. I can’t help it that I’m lucky enough to work on some of the best books at Marvel. Just worked out that way.
Making the list for the second time is Mr. Jeff Parker, whose quirky (and I mean quiirrrrrrrrky) sense of fun instills every issue with such a sense of well-meaning whimsy that you enjoy the ride, even if you don’t know where you’re going most of the time. Best Avengers team ever: Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Storm, Wolverine, Hulk and…bestest of all, Giant-Girl.
Big ol’ group of popular characters getting together to fight criminals bigger than any one hero can handle, and having fun doing it. Whhaaaaaaaat a concept.
Where You Can Find It: Highlight of the series has to be in the Volume 3 digest (BIZARRE ADVENTURES), where the team all get REALLY big heads, fight giant snakes and ancient witches, and try to stop a living planet from falling in love with Earth. And yes, that last one is just as weird and funny as it sounds.


Mini-Marvels
Remember PEANUTS? No? Well, you’re probably too young. PEANUTS had Charlie Brown and Snoopy and Peppermint Patty and there was a pretty redhead girl and a football and a kite that got caught in a tree no matter what and a security blanket and…well, anyway. It was/is the longest running comic strip ever. And it was my favorite. Every time I looked at a PEANUTS strip, I just grinned ear-to-ear, no matter what mood I was in.
Mini-Marvels makes me feel that way now. Chris Giarrusso is the rarest of rare: A master of his artistic craft with a brilliant mind for storytelling and dialogue. Before I worked at Marvel (and at a time when I wasn’t really reading comics) I would thumb through Marvel books at the store just to read the little Bullpen Bits that Chris used to draw on the Marvel letters pages. What he can do in four panels would many times be deeper and more entertaining than the other 22 pages in the rest of the comic. Chris’s profound ability to boil down Marvel heroes into their silliest core concepts is awe-inspiring to me. I truly don’t believe any other writer could stretch the idea of Johnny “Human Torch” Storm not wanting to turn off his flame into five pages…and have each page be funnier than the last.
He’s my favorite writer working at Marvel today. And my favorite artist. Because I know, every time I read something by him, I’m going to grin, ear-to-ear.
Where You Can Find It: The back of Power Pack every month, in addition to Marvel Adventures, most of the time. For the dedicated fan, he had two one-shots, GIANT-SIZE MINI-MARVELS: STARRING SPIDEY #1 and . He’s done SO many cartoons at Marvel that you’ve GOT to figure he’ll get his own digest soon…fiiiiiiingers crossed…