I'm with Beverly and Robin. I think that my only comic purchase was Fray #1, and I'm not too sure where that's currently at. I only read it once, anyway. I did like watching the '70s cartoon of Spiderman, and I also liked the first couple of Superman movies. But, I didn't see the first Spiderman movie until it had been out on dvd for some time, and still haven't seen Spidey 2, although I probably will eventually.

I can appreciate the artwork behind the best of the comics, and I did think that the graphic novel "Maus" is brilliant allegory (I paged through it on my lunchbreak at the bookstore once). I guess I'm just more of a comic strip fan--I can practically give lectures on Charles Shultz and Walt Kelly.

I'm with Beverly and Robin.

We're gonna have to start excommunicating people, aren't we?

t sits with Beverly and Robin

t sticks tongue out at Sean

Won't somebody think of the comics-impaired? Would a text version be so difficult to do?

For a lot of them, yeah, because in a perfect world the whole of text + art is much greater than the sum of the parts. So, while you *could* do a text-only version of, say, Batgirl Year One, you'd miss the incredible sense of movement and nostalgia in the pencils, the vivid beauty of the colors, and all the visual nods to that which will, timeframe-wise, come later.

There *are* novelizations of some big storylines out there. In the Batverse, Knightfall and No Man's Land have been done as novels (the latter is good, and I haven't read the former).

The art interferes with the story, for me. I can't assimilate the implied movement, figure out which dialog balloon in a given panel should be read first, assimilate a visage change...all stuff schoolchildren do with alacrity.

If your library has a copy, check out Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, which can really help with that sort of thing. And keep in mind that the art is the story, at least in part.

I don't know what the barrier is, but for example, comics art never elicits an emotion from me the way words can do. Traditional art, yes. The work of illustrators like Wyeth and Rackham and even Rockwell? Yes. But comics art...doesn't. It leaves me completely unmoved.

I did, however, buy a copy of the McKean tarot, and I find it much more penetrable than the comics.

My mind is a place where there is no linear path, I fear.

eta: Thanks, Plei. I'll look for a copy. I'm definitely feeling impaired in many discussions lately.

I am in a third corner. I liked "Fray." However, most comics bore me, although I have liked some of the movies based on them (such as the original "Batman", the original "Superman" and both "Spider-Man" films).

I don't know what the barrier is, but for example, comics art never elicits an emotion from me the way words can do. Traditional art, yes. The work of illustrators like Wyeth and Rackham and even Rockwell? Yes. But comics art...doesn't. It leaves me completely unmoved.

What all have you tried?

There are so many different styles now, some Pow! ZAP! BANG!!!, others (Michael Lark, and the best of Zircher's pencils) that evoke a sort of gritty, noir feel, where you can almost taste the sweat and dirt of the job.

What all have you tried?

Well, because there's been so much buzz, I went to the bookstore and just picked up a handful, went and sat down and tried to get into one after the other. The pow-zap-zang ones actually repel me. Oh please.

The dark, gritty, noir ones I thought might have a chance, but they just seem all surface and no depth. Overdone. (Batman. Forgive me. And Sandman.)

See, I know I'm not reading them "right." I know I must be missing something, because people whose spicy brains I respect really love this genre, so there has to be something more there than I'm seeing.

I'ma look up McCloud and see if he can give me the key, or whatever to turn my brain that quarter-turn.

(BF's uncle is a famous comics guy who runs a school for illustrators in NJ, plus we just know and hang with a bunch of comics folk)

Huh. That's pretty cool. (Pretty sure I know who the uncle is.)

I'ma look up McCloud and see if he can give me the key, or whatever to turn my brain that quarter-turn.

He might.

As a warning, he does the book in comic format, but it works really well if you can make it the whole way through: scanning it won't help.