If you like my blog, may I recommend another...

Mainstream comic books have been in a bit of a renascence since around the time that the first X-Men movie came out (SHAMELESS PLUG: Be sure not to miss X3: The Last Stand!!! In theaters today). One of the better more mature writers (notice that I said more mature and not just mature there is a difference) that is in the industry today is Mark Millar. I recommend The Ultimates. It is good old fashioned superhero fun, but spun in a very modern way. What does that mean? Basically, it is Captain America, Iron Man and Thor uncovering space alien conspiracies while at the same time they are trying to keep Freddie Prinze Jr. from getting smashed by the Hulk for dating the green guy's girlfriend (although Hulk is Gray in the Ultimate world).

Check out his site www.millarworld.tv. He updates his blog less often than I do. His most current post was from last August, but then again he probably has writing gigs that he is busy with and I have this blog. Does anyone even read this? Hello? Is anyone there?

An excerpt from one of Millar's posts...

--------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, I was reading The Guardian a couple of weeks ago and read a really wanky article by a couple of wanky Guardian types about passing on books you love to total strangers. The idea was that, instead of the book gathering dust on your shelf, you leave it on a park bench or a bus or in a cafe where someone might spot it, pick it up, take it home and read it.

They did a pretty interesting experiment with a hidden photographer trained on park benches and most books were picked up within 30-60 minutes and this made me wonder if the same thing can be applied to comics. I only really hang onto my old, old back issues and tend to box up, lose or give away the new stuff (just grabbing the trade on the books I enjoyed as a comic). So I’m going to try this. I’m going to grab some great mainstream stuff like Joss and John’s X-Men, Ultimates (ahem), Runaways, Superman/ Batman, Geoff and Allan’s JLA, etc, and leave them in public places like cafes and parks. Then I’m going to get some good mature stuff like Punisher, Ex Machina, Walking Dead (which I just picked up and LOVE), the Cal MacDonald stuff, etc, and leave it in any pubs I’m in this week.

Sure, there’s obviously going to be a percentage that ends up in the bin, but there’s going to be a lot that makes it into the paws of new readers and old, lapsed readers too. Even in a worst case scenario, some of the bigger, magazine-sized books I’m going to sprinkle liberally around Glasgow could provide some kind of blanket for tiny, tiny vagrants.

But have a think about this and see what you can spare. We’ve all got stuff we never look at just taking up space and you get bugger all these days when you try trading the stuff in at a comic store.

Do your bit for the cause.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I am supposed to leave that hardcover Ultimates Volume One that I just bought at the Pittsburgh Comicon at a park bench? Sir, I think not!